Part Twenty-five
"Do you think someone should go check on Mike, Syd?" Francie asks. They have finished lunch; Michael excused himself to "make a quick phone call" nearly twenty minutes ago and never returned.
"I'll do it," Sydney says, flashing apologetic smiles at Francie and Will. "Take Gracie?"
"Sure," Francie says eagerly, taking the little girl from her friend.
Sydney walks into the house to find Michael, seated on the living room couch, head in his hands.
"What's wrong, baby?"
Michael looks up at her with a weak half smile. "I'm not meeting Eric, Syd."
"Sure you are," Sydney says encouragingly. "I'm coming with you, it's going to be--"
"It's not my decision not to meet him, Sydney."
It takes Sydney a moment to realize what he means. "You called to say you'd meet with him, and he said no."
"Some emergency at work," Michael says.
Sydney sinks down next to him on the couch. "Well, you know how those go."
"Yeah," Michael sighs. "I'm actually a little relieved. I don't know if I was ready to meet with him yet."
Sydney slips a comforting arm around him and rests her head on his shoulder.
"I think it's important that you at the very least stay on speaking terms with your father, Sydney," Michael says slowly. "The kids love him, they always have, and I think it's good for them to know their grandfather. But Eric--" he shakes his head. "We were friends for a lot of years, yeah. But we don't have anything in common anymore. I'm not sure if he even respects me, and I sure as hell don't respect him."
Sydney doesn't say anything.
"Maybe we'll be friends again, someday, if something changes, but I'm really okay with it if we're not, right now. I mean, if we were still in LA, I'd have to at least be civil with him because at work, but since we're not--" he breaks off, shrugging.
"I'm glad we're not," Sydney says firmly.
"Syd, you don't have to pretend you don't miss it here."
"I miss certain things," Sydney agrees. "But I miss the way things were when we were here, and that's not the way things are anymore." She shudders. "Just think. If we were still here, I'd have to hang out with Shawna at your office functions."
"Maybe you'd like her," Michael teases.
"She's a gold-digging, home wrecking little bitch," Sydney says crisply. "I think not."
"Easy," Michael laughs.
Sydney smirks. "I suppose I'd do better to direct my anger at him, not her."
"If it hadn't been her, it would have been someone else," Michael agrees.
There is a pause before Sydney speaks again. "Fran wants me to talk to Kerri about Ben."
"What about him?"
Sydney sighs. "Fran thinks Kerri needs to take some time for herself before she commits to marriage."
"So why doesn't she talk to her?"
"She seems to think it would mean more, coming from me," Sydney responds. "I don't know, Mike. If the opportunity's there, I'll take it, but I just don't see myself going out of my way to make things more awkward between Kerri and me. Maybe that makes me a bad friend, I don't know."
"I'm afraid I'm not the best person to give advice in that department," Michael confesses, running a hand back through his hair. "Look at me, I'm friends with a philanderer and a forty-five-year-old man who acts like he's twelve," he says, referring to Weiss and Jake.
"Well, you can't expect all men to be as highly evolved as you," Sydney teases.
Michael's face grows serious. "I don't know about highly evolved," he says softly, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "But I must have done something right, to end up with you."
Sydney feels her insides turning to mush almost in spite of herself. It's a cheesy line, to be sure, but coming from him… "God, I love you," she breathes, leaning forward to capture his lips in a kiss. He returns the kiss enthusiastically, and she has almost forgotten where she is when she hears a loud--
"Jeez! And people wonder why they never see you without a baby on the way."
"Shut up, Will," Sydney rolls her eyes.
"You guys are crazy, you know," Will says, leaning against the wall with a smirk. "Having four kids."
"We're not crazy," Sydney corrects, rising from the couch with mock huffiness. "We're lucky."
"Crazy," Will repeats, but he's smiling. "Seriously, you guys. Congratulations on the new baby."
"You, too, Will, I'm so excited for you and Fran," Sydney says warmly. "I can't wait to meet little-- have you decided on names yet?"
"Fran keeps changing her mind," Will rolls his eyes. "Though Emily just informed us that it's going to be a girl named Lucy, and that when Lucy gets big she'll marry Sam."
"If Emily said it, it's probably true," Michael says, eyes glinting with laughter.
"I take it Sam's the name of the new baby?"
"Or Maggie," Sydney says. Michael loops his arms around her from behind, and Sydney leans against him. "Emily's just sure it's going to be Sam, though."
"Two boys and two girls would be nice," Will agrees. "So what are you guys's plans for the afternoon?"
"Actually, I'm kind of tired, I think I'd like to go back to the hotel," Sydney confesses. "Do you mind, Mike?"
"Of course not," he assures her.
They collect their children and say goodbye to Will and Francie, and within minutes they're heading back to the hotel.
"Sam or Maggie tiring you out?" Michael asks her, taking one hand from the steering wheel to rest on her abdomen.
"That, and the thought of seeing Kerri," Sydney admits. The stress of the last couple of days is catching up with her in a hurry; she can already feel her eyelids beginning to droop. "Is it wrong for me to kind of hope that she cancels, too?"
"It's not wrong," Michael says. "But then we wouldn't get to meet Ben Strand."
"You and Ben Strand," Sydney murmurs drowsily.
They are the last words she manages before she drifts off.
