A/N: Whew.. I hate this cheesy title.. This was hard to write. This chapter was suppose to be the last one but after a lot of wonderful encouragement from wonderful reviewers, (have I told you guys I loved you today?) I decided to take this fic in a whole other direction. I still want to do the other ending so that will be up after the end of this story for you guys to read and hopefully review. I was really blocked when I wrote this chapter and Rick was originally going to be a stingy guy who criticizes Vaughn but I luckily, I got that out of my system. This chapter is short, a little different, but less angsty, so that's good. Ehr.. I think.
Archive: FF.net, COVERme, and Allies. Elsewhere, e-mail me and I promise I'll say yes unless you have a "Crappiest Fics Online" archive, in which case, I'll have to think about it. Lol
Dedication: To linz again, who I promise I would love nothing more than to see alive. :P Also to bubbles, for telling it like it is, TheUpTownGirl, largemarge416, notjustme (at least I think she liked it) and other anonymous reviewers who I successfully made cry/sad/choke up; yes! Lol. I'm kidding. But them and all the reviewers rock and I'm officially doing it for you guys now. :D
Soundtrack: "My Sundown" by Jimmy Eat World- kind of inappropriate since it was played during the infamous "morning after" scene but a great song for wallowing, dwelling or Vaughn's position.
Disclaimer: They belong to the head honcho and his homies (hee) and for the record, I still believe in J.J!
Chp. 3 - The "One"
When I wake up the next morning, it takes me minute to register my surroundings. I take a sigh suddenly when I notice that she's not awake. She's in the same dead state she was last night. I didn't expect a change so why am I so disappointed? She has no emotion on her face- no shy smile I used to love waking up to. No face concentrated on pretending to sleep just so I could wake her up the way she'd like me to.
The guilt is killing me.
I can't stand to see her here anymore- but when I stand up to leave, my feet take me no where. I sit back down on the chair and only then I realize I'm clutching a thin blanket. I look around the room for a moment. Except for the curtains covering the next bed behind me, the room is filled with colors: flowers of every kind, stuffed animals and some balloons bearing the message, "Get Well Soon!" I let out a sharp breath. Wrong, all wrong.
None of the flowers were daises, Sydney only like stuffed dogs and I laugh when I try to figure out who was stupid enough to think a balloon would work the miracle she needed. Nobody knew her like I did. A voice in the back of my head speaks, And nobody but you did this to her.
This wasn't their fault; this was my fault. They cared enough to care if she got well and they cared enough to put a blanket on me and here I was damming them to hell. I take another breath.
"Doing a lot of breathing there, boy."
I look around me quickly and almost paranoid. "Uh.. Hello?"
I hear a chuckle before the curtain behind me is pulled aside. "Washington used to make them much more smarter."
On the adjoining bed is an older man- late seventies I quickly guess. He pulls out a controller to bring his bed to a sitting position, staring at me before speaking again. "You do work for the country, don't you?"
He catches me off guard before I stupidly nod my head. What the hell am I thinking? I don't know this old guy- for all I know he could be a terrorist or something. Or worse, he could have been sent by Jack to get his revenge. The man notices the confusion on my face before I do.
"Don't worry. If you didn't notice, you're in a government hospital." He looks around. "Oh, and I heard some of your friends talking about you when you were asleep earlier." He winks at me.
I'm still unsure about this guy so with paranoia still evident on my face, I nod, afraid of making the wrong move. I extend my hand to him. "I'm Michael Vaughn- unless you already know that."
He lets put a hearty laugh before shaking my hand. "Rick. And no, I didn't know that." I get a little more confidence and I actually sort of smile. "I figured I should introduce myself, seeing it is we'll be spending some time to together." He looks over at Sydney and even though he's more grave, he still has a twinkle in his eye. "Girlfriend?"
"It's uh.. complicated." I stutter out.
He nods with a knowing look. "If you don't mind me asking, what's stopping you? You care about her enough."
That's a bit of a loaded question. I start to talk but realize that I don't know what to say. "I do love her-"
"But?" Rick looks at me with an expression that reminds me of Jack when he's interrogating someone. He just shakes his head with the grin is back on his face. "Hey, what are you going to answer me for? I'm just some old man you just met."
"That's not it-" I say quickly.
He cocks his head to the side. "Oh?"
I clear my throat. "She means everything to me," I say softly. "But I couldn't stop him from hurting her.."
"Don't blame yourself; it's the biggest mistake." He says gently. "I know it doesn't feel that way.
"I've lost her once already and I don't know what I'm going to do if she-"
He's smiling now. "I've been where you are, boy. You love and you lose- it's a part of life. The thing you got to keep in mind is not to lose the one." He looks off in the distance. "I lost her about three years ago this month. Beautiful creature- Roselyn."
"Oh- I'm sorry.."
"Don't be- I had thirty eight wonderful years with her. You only get one person for yourself in a lifetime and she was mine." He reaches out and places a hand on my shoulder. "Do me the favor and don't lose yours."
Instinctively, I look over at Sydney who's still a million miles away. I could feel Rick watching me over my shoulder.
"By the looks of it, you found her already."
TBC
A/N: Super short, but I had to get it out of the way before the next chapter. Please be a kind soul and give me feedback. And yes, what you say does matter; I changed the direction of the fic because of wonderful reviewers! Pretty please? Review and I'll love you forever 'n ever. ;)
