Chap.29- Survival
The sudden rapping on the kitchen window jolted Vaughn out of his deep- dreamlike sleep. He jumped and Donovan whined at him in irritation before going back to sleep.
"Sorry, boy." Vaughn apologized, looking over to the kitchen window where the pesky birds had flown away. His eyes wandered back to the couch Donovan was sleeping on. The couch that Sydney had sat in only hours before.
Sydney...
He threw back the light covers and walked down the hall, slowing when he neared the bedroom. His steps became light and his breathing shallow. Placing his hand on the golden knob, he softly turned it, wincing at the click of metal against metal. Vaughn leaned his weight against the door to control its range of movement and he glanced toward the bed.
Vaughn sighed and chided himself at his own disappointment. The thick white comforter had been neatly folded and placed on the foot of the bed. His pillow had been plumped up to release the indentation that her head had made the night before. He walked to his closet and found that Sydney had placed his flannel pants in the same drawer that he had taken them out of. His favorite sweatshirt hung from its original hanger.
His alarm clock on the bed stand went off and he looked at the time grudgingly. He dressed in running pants and threw on the sweatshirt that he had observed, knowing that it would be cold from the late-night storm.
He opened the large front door and stepped outside into the new day. The morning cold caused his bare hands to habitually place themselves in the front pocket of his sweater. Vaughn frowned and when he brought his hands back out, one held a crinkled piece of paper. Smoothing it out the best that he possibly could, he stood, leaning on the hood of the car to read.
'The Hickory and Norway kindling you ordered urgent HAVE ARRIVED.'
Vaughn read the short sentence three times and the creases on his forehead disappeared as he deciphered what Sydney had written.
'Thank you.'
He looked over to Sydney's garden and saw that the lilies had survived. They hadn't bloomed yet, but their stems stood straighter and stronger than they had before the storm, holding up the buds with a seemingly regal and dignified air.
--
Sydney pulled into her usual space in the parking lot and she walked towards the elevator doors half-wanting to bump into Vaughn, as she always did in the mornings, and half wanting to avoid him altogether.
She had almost reached her desk when a brisk, heavy step caught her attention and she turned.
"Sydney." He called.
"Dad?"
"Come inside." Jack beckoned, taking her arm and pulling her into his private office. He closed the door after she stepped inside and turned to face her with a concerned expression.
"You know?" Sydney asked, the lump that had settled in her chest rising into her throat.
Jack nodded.
"I'm so sorry, honey. How is Scott?"
"He doesn't know." Sydney answered.
"What?"
"He's away. At a medical conference in Switzerland, I think..."
"You've been alone? In the hospital? At home?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"Not exactly....but, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to be at Langley for two weeks."
"I heard about you and I flew back the next flight I could get."
"Thank you, Dad."
"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you, Sydney. I should've checked up on your mission earlier..."
"No...Stop. It's not your fault."
"I'm your father, Sydney."
"And I'm your daughter. I haven't exactly been easy on you, have I?"
Jack smiled.
"You know that I wouldn't have you any other way."
The tears that Sydney had been holding back began to flow freely as she moved to Jack. Sydney held on to her father, her stronghold, her rock in treacherous waters with all that she had. Jack embraced his daughter, his pride and joy, his whole reason for living with the life that he had risked so many times for her.
A single tear found its way down his cheek and he discreetly wiped it away without Sydney's knowledge.
Sydney's beeper went off suddenly and she looked down to check the small, lighted screen.
"I have to meet with Gerard." She told Jack and couldn't help but groan in frustration. "I'm a mess..."
"You don't have to go." Jack said dismissively.
"What?"
"You don't have to go." He repeated. "I'll get you a pardon."
Sydney looked at him amazed. She smiled.
"Have I recently told you how much I love you?"
--
The mornings and nights seemed to pass and mix into each other. Neither Sydney nor Vaughn were assigned new missions and James, Mark, and Ana accepted their heavy workload without a word of complaint.
Sydney was getting ready to go home and cook dinner in preparation for Scott's arrival home when Vaughn walked by and slipped a note under her desk calendar. She unfolded the paper to reveal the familiar scrawl.
'Have faith.'
The note was simple. Short and sweet. There was no code or any hidden message. It was straight-forward and honest. He could have suddenly remembered and had just written it out of politeness or these two words could have taken him half an hour to think of.
Whatever it was, they held a great truth and a powerful meaning.
She couldn't have said it any better herself.
--
Sydney was standing over a pot of simmering soup, stirring occasionally as instructed, when the opening and closing of the garage door was heard clearly throughout the whole house. Her body tensed as Scott walked into the kitchen and walked over to give her a kiss.
"Hey." Sydney whispered.
"Hey." He whispered back. "Are you sick?"
"No, why?"
"You're whispering. Why are we whispering?"
"I don't know." Sydney answered.
"Did you miss me?" Scott asked.
"Yea." Sydney nodded. "This house is too empty."
"Well, that won't be a problem soon." He said, placing his hand on her flat stomach where a small mound had been before. "Sydney, why..." Scott started, in confusion.
Sydney turned off the stove and removed his hand from her stomach. She turned to him and told him as much as she could.
"I'm sorry, Scott. I killed our baby..."
"No, Sydney. No. It's not your fault. You couldn't have known." Scott said, trying to reason with her although his pain emanated from his heart and his tears had already begun to flow.
"I just shouldn't have gone. The day I found out I should have extracted myself from field duty or....or retired..."
"Are you okay?" He cut in.
"What?" Sydney asked, distracted.
"I said, are you okay? Were you hurt?"
"Other than.....no, I had a slight concussion but nothing serious..."
"No permanent damage?" Scott asked.
Sydney frowned.
"No."
"Were you in the hospital?"
"Yea..."
"Why didn't you call me?"
"You didn't leave a number."
"Were you by yourself?"
She was silent and then nodded.
"Yea...I...I was by myself."
"I'm sorry, Syd. I shouldn't have gone to the conference."
Sydney jolted and then looked at Scott.
"What'd you call me?"
"Sydney..."
"No, you said 'Syd'."
"No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did."
Scott sighed.
"Does it really matter?" He asked, his tired sapphire eyes meeting hers.
Sydney looked at him and her mind wandered guiltily back to the accident.
"No....I guess it doesn't."
---
Author's note: Sorry that took longer than usual to get up. Let's just say that I've had a bad bad week. BAD. Halloween made it better though, got lotsa candy and had fun!
SO ANYWAYS!
I'm going to ask my usual question here: What did you think???
Now for my answering section (hehe):
-I have no idea where I learned the thunder & lightening thing...but I remembered and I was like "Wow! I shall write that in!" Yes, I actually said 'shall'. It's not my fault, my friend always says it and it just sticks to me.
-Yes yes! I know that a lot of you would have liked Vaughn to watch her sleep, but if you think about it, he must have watched her sleep quite a bit in the hospital when she was unconscious and on sedatives and then he watched her sleep on the plane and well...that's a lot of watching somebody sleep. So, let's not get stalkeresque. =D Because anybody that has had a stalker will tell you....that's just quite scary.
-star16: No...Lauren didn't find Syd in their bed. Although that would be quite a nice physical fight scene because we ALL know who would win THAT one....;-)
-serendipity112233: Grasshopper! OMG! I love that! =D
-landi104: LOL! It's okay! The predictions will come...
-STOA: You'll see......
-Agent Lopez: I know how you feel. I have Geometry too...sucks...be glad that you didn't have to stay up until 12:48 doing your homework like I did....err....Thursday......Hope you did well on your test!
-Jayme: LOL. I can't tell you how much I was cracking up when your review ended suddenly and then the next email was the continuation. Hehe. I can't believe you went through it! So much effort! But I like highlighting. And Post-It notes. So that actually sounds like something I would do. Hmm...about the whole CODE thing....I dunno. Do you really want to know? I don't think you really want to know. But you WILL find out....eventually....
Yes, I read Anne Frank, but did you know that there are different ones? For English this year we had to make a scrapbook on a person so we had to read their biography and I just chose Anne Frank because I already had the book. So in class there were two other people that were doing her and we were comparing and it was DIFFERENT! In my book, the helper's name was Bep and in my friend's it was something else. SO....yea. Totally off topic.
Again, the lightning thing. How I learned to do it was when you hear the thunder start counting. And then when you see the lighting stop. And the number that you get is how miles away it is. So I guess it's a BAD thing when the lightening flashes while you hear the thunder. =0/
Yes yes! Chapter 28 was quite fluffical. The 11 miles and 3 miles.....err, I actually didn't think of that. YES....it is true that there are hints in there. Subtle hints. But hints nonetheless. There are also hints in HERE too! Not a lot though. One or two maybe.
Oh yes! You guys, I totally forgot to tell you! Look for SYMBOLISM! Yes! Yes! I can think of two examples of symbolism off the top of my head. If you can't find anything, I'll tell you....if you care anyways.
ETU: Friday-Saturday
Jen
P.S. Thanks for the reviews!! P.P.S. Did anybody pick up on how to decode Syd's message? I actually made one for Vaughn's original response, but then I edited that......so poo.....
The sudden rapping on the kitchen window jolted Vaughn out of his deep- dreamlike sleep. He jumped and Donovan whined at him in irritation before going back to sleep.
"Sorry, boy." Vaughn apologized, looking over to the kitchen window where the pesky birds had flown away. His eyes wandered back to the couch Donovan was sleeping on. The couch that Sydney had sat in only hours before.
Sydney...
He threw back the light covers and walked down the hall, slowing when he neared the bedroom. His steps became light and his breathing shallow. Placing his hand on the golden knob, he softly turned it, wincing at the click of metal against metal. Vaughn leaned his weight against the door to control its range of movement and he glanced toward the bed.
Vaughn sighed and chided himself at his own disappointment. The thick white comforter had been neatly folded and placed on the foot of the bed. His pillow had been plumped up to release the indentation that her head had made the night before. He walked to his closet and found that Sydney had placed his flannel pants in the same drawer that he had taken them out of. His favorite sweatshirt hung from its original hanger.
His alarm clock on the bed stand went off and he looked at the time grudgingly. He dressed in running pants and threw on the sweatshirt that he had observed, knowing that it would be cold from the late-night storm.
He opened the large front door and stepped outside into the new day. The morning cold caused his bare hands to habitually place themselves in the front pocket of his sweater. Vaughn frowned and when he brought his hands back out, one held a crinkled piece of paper. Smoothing it out the best that he possibly could, he stood, leaning on the hood of the car to read.
'The Hickory and Norway kindling you ordered urgent HAVE ARRIVED.'
Vaughn read the short sentence three times and the creases on his forehead disappeared as he deciphered what Sydney had written.
'Thank you.'
He looked over to Sydney's garden and saw that the lilies had survived. They hadn't bloomed yet, but their stems stood straighter and stronger than they had before the storm, holding up the buds with a seemingly regal and dignified air.
--
Sydney pulled into her usual space in the parking lot and she walked towards the elevator doors half-wanting to bump into Vaughn, as she always did in the mornings, and half wanting to avoid him altogether.
She had almost reached her desk when a brisk, heavy step caught her attention and she turned.
"Sydney." He called.
"Dad?"
"Come inside." Jack beckoned, taking her arm and pulling her into his private office. He closed the door after she stepped inside and turned to face her with a concerned expression.
"You know?" Sydney asked, the lump that had settled in her chest rising into her throat.
Jack nodded.
"I'm so sorry, honey. How is Scott?"
"He doesn't know." Sydney answered.
"What?"
"He's away. At a medical conference in Switzerland, I think..."
"You've been alone? In the hospital? At home?" Jack asked in disbelief.
"Not exactly....but, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to be at Langley for two weeks."
"I heard about you and I flew back the next flight I could get."
"Thank you, Dad."
"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you, Sydney. I should've checked up on your mission earlier..."
"No...Stop. It's not your fault."
"I'm your father, Sydney."
"And I'm your daughter. I haven't exactly been easy on you, have I?"
Jack smiled.
"You know that I wouldn't have you any other way."
The tears that Sydney had been holding back began to flow freely as she moved to Jack. Sydney held on to her father, her stronghold, her rock in treacherous waters with all that she had. Jack embraced his daughter, his pride and joy, his whole reason for living with the life that he had risked so many times for her.
A single tear found its way down his cheek and he discreetly wiped it away without Sydney's knowledge.
Sydney's beeper went off suddenly and she looked down to check the small, lighted screen.
"I have to meet with Gerard." She told Jack and couldn't help but groan in frustration. "I'm a mess..."
"You don't have to go." Jack said dismissively.
"What?"
"You don't have to go." He repeated. "I'll get you a pardon."
Sydney looked at him amazed. She smiled.
"Have I recently told you how much I love you?"
--
The mornings and nights seemed to pass and mix into each other. Neither Sydney nor Vaughn were assigned new missions and James, Mark, and Ana accepted their heavy workload without a word of complaint.
Sydney was getting ready to go home and cook dinner in preparation for Scott's arrival home when Vaughn walked by and slipped a note under her desk calendar. She unfolded the paper to reveal the familiar scrawl.
'Have faith.'
The note was simple. Short and sweet. There was no code or any hidden message. It was straight-forward and honest. He could have suddenly remembered and had just written it out of politeness or these two words could have taken him half an hour to think of.
Whatever it was, they held a great truth and a powerful meaning.
She couldn't have said it any better herself.
--
Sydney was standing over a pot of simmering soup, stirring occasionally as instructed, when the opening and closing of the garage door was heard clearly throughout the whole house. Her body tensed as Scott walked into the kitchen and walked over to give her a kiss.
"Hey." Sydney whispered.
"Hey." He whispered back. "Are you sick?"
"No, why?"
"You're whispering. Why are we whispering?"
"I don't know." Sydney answered.
"Did you miss me?" Scott asked.
"Yea." Sydney nodded. "This house is too empty."
"Well, that won't be a problem soon." He said, placing his hand on her flat stomach where a small mound had been before. "Sydney, why..." Scott started, in confusion.
Sydney turned off the stove and removed his hand from her stomach. She turned to him and told him as much as she could.
"I'm sorry, Scott. I killed our baby..."
"No, Sydney. No. It's not your fault. You couldn't have known." Scott said, trying to reason with her although his pain emanated from his heart and his tears had already begun to flow.
"I just shouldn't have gone. The day I found out I should have extracted myself from field duty or....or retired..."
"Are you okay?" He cut in.
"What?" Sydney asked, distracted.
"I said, are you okay? Were you hurt?"
"Other than.....no, I had a slight concussion but nothing serious..."
"No permanent damage?" Scott asked.
Sydney frowned.
"No."
"Were you in the hospital?"
"Yea..."
"Why didn't you call me?"
"You didn't leave a number."
"Were you by yourself?"
She was silent and then nodded.
"Yea...I...I was by myself."
"I'm sorry, Syd. I shouldn't have gone to the conference."
Sydney jolted and then looked at Scott.
"What'd you call me?"
"Sydney..."
"No, you said 'Syd'."
"No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did."
Scott sighed.
"Does it really matter?" He asked, his tired sapphire eyes meeting hers.
Sydney looked at him and her mind wandered guiltily back to the accident.
"No....I guess it doesn't."
---
Author's note: Sorry that took longer than usual to get up. Let's just say that I've had a bad bad week. BAD. Halloween made it better though, got lotsa candy and had fun!
SO ANYWAYS!
I'm going to ask my usual question here: What did you think???
Now for my answering section (hehe):
-I have no idea where I learned the thunder & lightening thing...but I remembered and I was like "Wow! I shall write that in!" Yes, I actually said 'shall'. It's not my fault, my friend always says it and it just sticks to me.
-Yes yes! I know that a lot of you would have liked Vaughn to watch her sleep, but if you think about it, he must have watched her sleep quite a bit in the hospital when she was unconscious and on sedatives and then he watched her sleep on the plane and well...that's a lot of watching somebody sleep. So, let's not get stalkeresque. =D Because anybody that has had a stalker will tell you....that's just quite scary.
-star16: No...Lauren didn't find Syd in their bed. Although that would be quite a nice physical fight scene because we ALL know who would win THAT one....;-)
-serendipity112233: Grasshopper! OMG! I love that! =D
-landi104: LOL! It's okay! The predictions will come...
-STOA: You'll see......
-Agent Lopez: I know how you feel. I have Geometry too...sucks...be glad that you didn't have to stay up until 12:48 doing your homework like I did....err....Thursday......Hope you did well on your test!
-Jayme: LOL. I can't tell you how much I was cracking up when your review ended suddenly and then the next email was the continuation. Hehe. I can't believe you went through it! So much effort! But I like highlighting. And Post-It notes. So that actually sounds like something I would do. Hmm...about the whole CODE thing....I dunno. Do you really want to know? I don't think you really want to know. But you WILL find out....eventually....
Yes, I read Anne Frank, but did you know that there are different ones? For English this year we had to make a scrapbook on a person so we had to read their biography and I just chose Anne Frank because I already had the book. So in class there were two other people that were doing her and we were comparing and it was DIFFERENT! In my book, the helper's name was Bep and in my friend's it was something else. SO....yea. Totally off topic.
Again, the lightning thing. How I learned to do it was when you hear the thunder start counting. And then when you see the lighting stop. And the number that you get is how miles away it is. So I guess it's a BAD thing when the lightening flashes while you hear the thunder. =0/
Yes yes! Chapter 28 was quite fluffical. The 11 miles and 3 miles.....err, I actually didn't think of that. YES....it is true that there are hints in there. Subtle hints. But hints nonetheless. There are also hints in HERE too! Not a lot though. One or two maybe.
Oh yes! You guys, I totally forgot to tell you! Look for SYMBOLISM! Yes! Yes! I can think of two examples of symbolism off the top of my head. If you can't find anything, I'll tell you....if you care anyways.
ETU: Friday-Saturday
Jen
P.S. Thanks for the reviews!! P.P.S. Did anybody pick up on how to decode Syd's message? I actually made one for Vaughn's original response, but then I edited that......so poo.....