Unexpected Surprises-ch. 6

Before Sydney even had a chance to begin the story one of the kids cried out from her bedroom. She and Gage ran into her room to find Seth in the middle of a nightmare and Sara trying to wake him up. Syd immediately went over to Seth and shook him awake. As soon as his eyes popped open he threw his arms around Sydney and cried

"Don't leave me. Please. I don't want you to leave me again."

"Shh, its okay sweetie I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here." Sydney said trying to calm the boy.

"Um, Syd I'll just be in the other room when you get done." Gage told her as he left the bedroom. Sydney just nodded back to him with Seth still in her arms and Sara just lying there.

While Sydney was rocking Seth back and forth trying to calm him down Sara snuck out of bed and headed to the living room. Gage was sitting on the couch and saw her.

"Hey Sara, what are you doing up?" he asked with a fatherly tone in his voice.

Sara just looked at him and went to the kitchen. Gage sat on the couch watching her as she opened the refrigerator and got out some milk. He kept watching as she stood on her tiptoes trying to reach a bowl and cereal. He got up and went to the kitchen and asked her if she wanted some cereal. Once again he just got stared at by the bright blue eyes of the eight year old.

"Here I'll get you a bowl," Gage offered.

Sara took the bowl from him and got out a spoon. Then she looked up at the top of the refrigerator where three kinds of cereal were. Gage saw her look up there and reached for the Lucky Charms thinking that was probably what she would want. Sara took the cereal and poured some in the bowl along with some milk and then started eating. Gage put away the milk and cereal and sat down at the table with her.

"So you know Sara you are a beautiful girl. I really wish you would talk to me. I bet you have a beautiful voice," Gage tried to coax the little girl to say something.

Gage then got an idea and went over to the refrigerator and found a lime and two oranges. He went back over to the table and stood across from Sara.

"You want to see a trick Sara," he asked hoping for an answer. But she just looked at him and kept eating.

Gage started juggling the lemon and oranges and noticed that Sara had stopped eating and was eagerly watching him. At about that time he missed timed the orange and wasn't going to be able to catch it so he swung to knock it out of the way so he didn't drop the rest but he ended up knocking it right into Sara's cereal bowl causing milk to splash all over her, the table, and the floor. Just when Gage thought she was going to cry she got a huge smile on her face and she started giggling, which caused Gage to get a huge grin on his face and he started laughing,

"I'm sorry Sara. I didn't mean to get you wet," Gage added.

But Sara just kept laughing. Gage looked at her and said,

"Well I'm glad to see you can laugh," which made her stop smiling.

So he kept juggling with the orange and lime he had left and threw the orange up and purposely didn't catch it so it hit him on the head. He fell to the ground pretending to be unconscious. Sara got down from her chair and ran over to him. She knelt beside him looking at him. Then she shook his arm a little. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Gotcha," he said to her while he grabbed her and started tickling her making her laugh as loud as she could.

All the noise made Sydney run into the room and all she saw at first was milk and cereal everywhere. Then on the floor she spotted Gage tickling Sara who was covered with milk and cereal. But Sydney couldn't help but smile at the scene before her. She didn't want to break it up but she had just gotten Seth back to sleep.

"Alright you two kids, ya'll are going to need to calm down because I just got Seth back to sleep," Sydney said to Gage and Sara.

Gage stopped tickling Sara and got up to help clean up the mess they had made, rather the mess he had made.

Sydney looked at Sara and said, "C'mon Sara we can get you cleaned up while Gage cleans the mess up."

But Sara ran over to Gage and took his hand to lead him to the bedroom. Gage just looked at Sydney and shrugged. So Sydney looked at Sara again and said, "Okay Gage you get her cleaned up and I will clean up the mess."

Gage then grabbed Sara and slung her over his shoulder and ran across the living room causing Sara to laugh. Then after he got her cleaned up he put her to bed and kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight Sara. I had fun tonight." Gage whispered to her.

When he got back to the living room he saw Sydney on the couch, so he plopped down next to her.

"What's wrong," he asked

"Nothing" Syd answered quietly without looking him in the eye.

"Syd c'mon did I do something," Gage asked

"Not exactly. Its just Sara hasn't laughed like that for me in so long," she answered

"Well she's only been here for a couple weeks right," Gage asked

"Well sort of'" answered Sydney "It's just you come here and make some kind of connection with her in one day. I mean you got her to laugh and she let you touch her," Sydney replied with tears in her eyes. "She won't even let me hold her hand. The only time I can touch her is if I am putting her to bed and she is asleep."

"Sydney I'm sorry. I was just playing with her and I thought maybe I could get her to talk," Gage answered sadly.

"I know Gage, I'm not mad at you. I'm just sad she won't laugh for me. The last time I heard her laugh she had barely turned four." Sydney said as tears started to fall down her cheeks.

"Sydney I'm so sorry." Gage said as he put his arms around Sydney to hold her close. He hated that she was crying. He hated to see her sad. She rapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. She felt so safe in his arms. 'I wish I could stay here forever,' she thought to herself.

"Gage," Sydney whispered

"Yeah," he answered

"I want to tell you the truth. I don't want to lie to you anymore." Sydney said as she looked up into Gage's blue eyes.

"Okay," he answered her while still keeping his eyes locked on Sydney's deep brown ones and pulling her closer to him not wanting to let her go.

'This time I will tell him the truth. I can't lie to him anymore.' Sydney thought to herself.