Due to complaints about supposed spoilers in my last author's note, of which there were actually none, it has been removed. I will no longer post author's notes beyond this chapter to avoid the problem. The next chapter of this story is finished, and chapter 11 is begun, but will not be posted on this site now. Thank you for reading though.

Chapter 9

Sydney's POV

Dad and I sat there in his hotel room talking for the

next three hours. He had ordered room service as

promised, but I was so absorbed in our conversation I

barely ate a bite until Dad insisted I have something.

After we'd finished our food and there was a break in

the conversation, I admitted I was tired.

"You can go home and rest, Sydney. Or go to the hotel

with your sister. You can come back here tomorrow, all

right?"

I shook my head. "I want to stay here. Please? I can't

go home. Not today..."

"All right, Sydney." I looked up, surprised Dad had

agreed so quickly. "Just for tonight. Michael will

think to call here, if he gets home later today."

"I don't care if he would think of it," I said

harshly. "I've got you now, and my... my best friend

just died. I'm not ready to deal with Michael yet,

even if he does get home today."

"Sydney, that isn't fair," Dad admonished, but without

much force. I think he could see I really was tired,

and didn't want to press me. A few minutes later, I

was reclined on one of the double beds, already half

asleep.

"Don't let me go to sleep for the whole night, Daddy,"

I whispered. "I want to be able to talk some more.

Okay?"

"All right, Sydney. Go to sleep. I'll stay right here,

you'll see me as soon as you wake up."

Dad seemed to know just what to say. I soon drifted

off to sleep, with Dad sitting so close to the bed I

could feel him next to me.

Jack's POV

Not long after Sydney fell asleep, the phone rang. I

quickly answered, not wanting to wake her.

"Hello?"

"Jack, it's Michael. Is Sydney there with you? I

showed up at her house, no one was home. I knew she

wouldn't be at work and I didn't know where else to

call." I heard the worry in Michael's voice and

hastened to reassure him.

"Yes, she's here. Eric gave her my letter this

morning. She needed to see me because... because she

found out that Francie died in a car accident."

There was silence on the end for a few minutes and I could tell that Michael was very disappointed in himself for leaving Sydney. I decided to tell him all that had happened before he could reply.

"This hasn't been the worst part of it either, Michael. Just when you left and she started the medication and went home she started having seizures, too. For a while she thought she'd killed you. You really shouldn't have left her. What does that tell her you'll do to her in the future?"

He was silent for a long time. It was a very uncomfortable silence, and I liked it that way. He had severely hurt my daughter to follow a whim and he was going to pay for it. Finally, he spoke again.

"Jack, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break my promise to her, and I swear to you that I'll never do it again. Can I come over and see her, please?"

"No." My reply was firm. "She's not ready for that yet. She hasn't spent much time talking about you lately and I want to make sure she'll be ok before I let her see you again. She's under my protection now and I won't let her descend back into illness again. I just won't. I'll call you tomorrow if she's ready."

"I really have missed her, Jack. I'm really sorry for what I did. I wasn't thinking and it was really stupid of me to leave her like that. I hope she'll be ok so I can see her soon."

"You should have thought about those things before you left. Now you'll just have to wait until I think she's ready."

He waited a few seconds before conceding and then we both hung up the phone. I then turned my attention to my sleeping daughter. I looked at her peaceful face and wondered what she was dreaming about. Whatever it was would have to be better than reality. Her world had been turned upside down in the past few weeks and only now was it starting to heal. I let her sleep for a long time, and finally she got up around dinnertime.

While I made a simple soup for dinner, we talked some more. I hated to bring up the subject of Michael's call, but she had a right to know that her fiancé wanted to see her.

"Sydney, I know this probably isn't the best time, but Michael called today. He's worried about you, and he wants to see you. What do you think about it?"

"No, it can't be," was her reply. Fear began to take hold in my heart but I let her continue. "I killed him daddy, just like I thought I'd done to you. I killed him, and I remember how upset I was about it! It couldn't be! You can't both be alive!"

With that she burst into tears. I ran over to hold her, and she buried her head in my chest, sobbing even more intensely. I held her head up so she was forced to look at me. When she stopped resisting, I spoke softly to her.

"Honey, you didn't kill him. You just thought you did. If you're not ready to see him yet, that's just fine, but he is alive." I was thankful to see that she believed me and the truth was returning to her mind, but she kept sobbing. I tried to soothe her and the tears let up enough for me to continue.

"Do you remember being told that he went away because there was a chance that his father was still alive?"

"Yeah," she consented quietly through her tears. "Eric told me."

"Well, he's back now. He wants to see you. But I told him he would have to wait until you're ready."

Her response was a single word. "Why?" I was confused because I knew she'd understand that I wanted him to wait, but she continued to explain when she saw my expression. "Why did he leave me? Why did he betray me? What if he does that to me when we're married? What if he just walks out on me like that to follow a whim? Do you think he loves me, daddy?"

"Yes, I do. He has had a… lapse in judgment, but as

soon as he got home he went to your house looking for

you. But you can wait to see him, Sydney. I told him I

wanted him to wait before coming here."

"Okay," she said faintly. Soon after finishing her

small dinner, she drifted back off to sleep. I then

went into the bathroom and shut the door, wanting to

get as far away from Sydney as I could before placing

a call on my cell phone. I was relieved when Eric

picked up right away.

"Is Sydney ready to come home?"

"No. She's staying here with me tonight. She's

extremely tired and upset. When she's ready, I'll be

able to bring her home. Tomorrow I'll start looking

for a proper place to live."

"Okay. Jack, after I dropped Sydney off, I actually

came back to her house. I'm still here, taking care of

a few things. I was here when Michael called you... He

was very upset, and he's gone home. After you two hung

up, someone called here looking for Sydney... someone

from the morgue. They said they'd found her name in

Francie's address book, and wanted her to come I.D.

the body. But I told them I didn't think she could..."

"No, not today, anyway. If those people call back,

please ask if you can go in her place. She's really on

edge, and I think one more upset will push her too

far."

"I know. I'll take care of it, if it comes to that.

Tell Sydney I said hello... and I hope she feels

better."

"Thank you, Eric. I will. Goodbye."

When I hung up the phone I quietly left the bathroom and went to see my daughter. She was still asleep and I let her lay there for quite some time. The events of the past few days had been extremely stressful for her and she really needed the rest.

I then went into the bedroom and started looking for a place to live. If Sydney was to live with me, my residence needed to be more stable than a hotel room wherever one was open. I looked through newspapers and called real estate agents randomly from the phone book until finally I heard of a little place not two minutes away from Michael's apartment which would be perfect for us. I thought that Simone might also like to come stay with us because I didn't think she had a house either.

I knew Sydney wouldn't be too thrilled at first if I invited her to stay with us, but I hoped that those conditions might force Sydney's recovery along more quickly. I decided to call Simone before I got any deeper into my plans. That way if she rejected I would not have wasted all the time planning. I found her number and dialed it. I was relieved when she picked up her phone right away.

"Hello?" Her voice was beautiful. I wished more than anything that I could have been the one to raise her.

"Hi, Simone. This is Jack, your father. Sydney's fine. I didn't know if you knew she was here with me but she is. I have a proposition for you, if you want to hear."

"Sure, dad. What is it?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you would want to come live with me and Sydney once we get a place. She might not like it right at first but she would get over it soon enough. I'd like it very much if we could finally be a family together. I know it wouldn't last very long because of her engagement to Michael, but it would be nice for as long as it lasted." I tried not to let her hear how anxious I was for her reply, but with little success.

She took a long time to think it over. It was agony waiting to hear, but I knew it was best that she thought about this first. I didn't want her to rush into something she wasn't ready for. Finally, her voice came over the telephone. "I'd love to, dad. I know it'll be hard with Sydney angry at me, but we'll get through it. I'll just try to stay out of her way for a while until she accepts me. Did you have a place in mind that we could live together? No offense, but I don't think a hotel would be the best place to live together."

"Yeah, I'm looking for a place now. I think I found one that would be big enough for the three of us, so when I get it I'll let you know. The money they were asking for wasn't bad so I think I'll be able to handle that end of it."

"Ok dad, just let me know when Sydney's ready for me to come over. We all have so much to talk about. I'm really anxious to see you two together."

"Why don't you come over right now? I'm warning you she won't be pleased, but I'll try to moderate. It would be good for her to start to face these issues; otherwise they'll get out of hand. She's getting really possessive of me with you, and I can see that this will turn into a bigger problem in the future."

"Ok, dad. I'll be over as soon as I can come."

"Ok, honey. See you when you get here. Bye"

"Good bye dad."

When I hung up the phone and turned around, Sydney was standing in the doorway staring at me. My heart sank because I had not wanted her to hear this conversation, but she had.

"Daddy, how could you? You're MY daddy, not hers! Why would you invite her to come live with us? This was going to be OUR time and we were going to live together, just the TWO of us. Why would you let HER in on it? She hasn't been there until just recently. Just let her be on her own, and let US be together."

I knew she had heard the whole conversation, so I had to be careful what I said. "Sydney, she is your sister. Your mother did some terrible things to all of us, including her. Just because she didn't grow up with you doesn't mean she's any less your sister. Can't you try to be nice to her? Just try it, honey."

I knew from the sour look on her face that this wasn't going to be easy, but just then there was a knock on the door. I hoped it wasn't Simone. Sydney was not ready yet. I just needed a few more minutes. Thankfully, it was Michael.

"Sorry I came early, Jack, but I had to talk to Sydney. I know she's mad but I think I can handle it. Where is she?"

I was so relieved that I didn't even care that he had disregarded my request. I led him to the bedroom and he immediately went over to Sydney. When she saw him, her face lost all color and she began to shake. I knew what was happening, and what was going through Sydney's mind before she spoke. "I killed you. You can't be alive! No, Michael, you can't be alive!"

Michael started to say something but I stopped him. Nothing he could say would help. I began, "Sydney, remember I told you earlier, you didn't kill him. He left for a while to find his dad. You didn't kill him, honey."

What I said didn't help either, and she just slipped further into her nightmare. "No, I remember, I killed him, and you too! You've been given back to me, but there's no way that you could both be alive! No!"

With that she began shaking her head violently and screaming that it couldn't be. No matter what Michael or I said, nothing worked. Eventually she fell down to the floor, shaking. It got so bad that we finally had to call the hospital and they had us take her in right away. Michael drove behind us so that Sydney would not get any more upset, and by the time we got to the hospital she had calmed down some.

When we got into the doctor's office, I requested that she be taken off all of the medication, as she was not doing any better on it than she had done without any at all. The doctor consented and then suggested that nothing else could be done medically to help her. I agreed, though I was a little angry at having to make the trip in the first place.

Throughout the appointment, Sydney lay on the couch in the doctor's office, shaking and unconscious. Michael sat next to her, whispering in her ear, trying to pull her out of the world she was in. At the conclusion of the appointment, Michael and I carried her back to the car, and put her gently into the front seat.

I hadn't noticed until just then that Michael was crying. I had seen it but I was too concerned with my daughter to really notice, but he had been crying the whole time. I knew he was kicking himself for leaving in the first place and I suggested that he follow us back to my room so we could talk.

On the ride back, Sydney got a little better but remained unconscious. When we arrived, Simone was at the front door. She and Michael helped me carry Sydney into the room, and then we went outside to talk, leaving Simone with Sydney. I was angry at Michael for leaving my daughter, but he had enough people mad at him right then, and what he needed was a friend.

"Michael, I know you're upset with yourself for leaving Sydney, and I can't say that I'm not, but right now she needs you. If you don't force her to confront her delusions, they will start to run her life. She needs you, Michael."

"I know. It's just that I left her for a stupid rumor that my father might be alive. Do you know how it feels to be that gullible? I put myself in a potentially dangerous situation just out of hope that I could have him back but the truth is that I never will. I will never have him back."

"Michael, I know it's hard on you, and I'm really sorry, but really soon, you're going to have a wife who loves you, and a father-in-law behind you with full support. It may be hard to accept, but your father is dead, and I know the circumstances of his death do not create a comfortable situation for you and Sydney and I, but you have shown your ability to cope with that and move on through your decision to marry her."

"Thank you, Jack. I appreciate it. Would you mind if I stayed here with you all for a while, so I can be here when Sydney wakes up?"

"Not at all. Let's get inside."

When Sydney did awaken quite a few hours later, she was better than before, but she was still very protective of me, and she had a lot of questions for Michael. I sat out for a while and let them talk. In this feud, I was to be the mediator, not the dictator.

"Michael, why did you leave me? You promised you'd be there. I trusted you. I loved you."

He cringed at her use of the past tense, but pushed forward. "You know I love you, Syd. I messed up. I followed a dream when I should have seen reality. I know it was wrong now, and I promise you that I'll never do it again. I will always stick to my word in the future. I'll never let you down again."

"No, Michael. It's not as easy as that. You betrayed me. You left your friends to take care of me. You didn't even tell me your plans. What am I supposed to think? Is your dead father more important to you than your living fiancé?"

"Sydney, please understand. I realize what I did now. Not only do I realize that I terribly hurt you, but I also realize how hurt I could have been had anyone been out to get me. You mean much more to me than anything possibly could. I will never lie to you again."

"It's still not that easy. Why didn't you just tell me about him?"

"I didn't want it to hurt you. I was hoping I could just go and come back but it took longer than I thought. Please don't make me explain. Suffice it to say that he's not alive, and any hope of that possibility was extinguished with this trip."

"If you're expecting it to be over just like that, you're terribly wrong. You're going to have to earn back my trust. I'm very disappointed in you, Michael, but right now I need the friendship more than revenge, so for now, I'm going to say that we can still be friends."

I was happy to hear that Sydney was so willing to acknowledge her condition. It told me that there was hope of her recovery. I admired my daughter and hoped that her argument with Simone would be settled just as easily.

Michael continued. "I understand, but, can't we be a little more than 'friends'? We've been through so much."

"If you're talking about the engagement, I'm not sure completely at the moment, but for now, we can keep it. I'd really like to marry you, if I was sure this type of thing will never happen again."

"It won't."

"We'll see."

With that, she turned to Simone. I was afraid when I saw the look in her eyes. The phone rang and I sent Michael to get it. I couldn't miss this conversation. Sydney threw a glance my way, and then turned on her sister. "…and you! You have no right to be here! This is MY dad and MY family. You should never have come. All you are is an intrusion on my family and my life! You ruined everything. You took away my mommy, and now you want my daddy too. I got over my mom. Dad convinced me she wasn't really that great anyway, but I'm not going to let you take him!"

"Sydney," she began, "I don't know our mother any more than you do. She gave me up at birth. I don't remember anything about her. Is it really fair to say that I have no right to this family just because my mother chose to dump me in France away from you two?"

"No, but I've known daddy much longer than you have. You have no right to him! He's mine!"

I was ashamed at my daughter's words, but she needed to get them out if this was ever going to work.

"Sydney, I'm not trying to take your life or your father's. I'm just trying to get to know my family. I'm not out to separate you; I just want to be with you both, as a family. Please, don't deny me that. It's all I've wanted since I was a small child."

"You can be with your family without living with them. Why do you have to live with us? Why can't it just be me and dad?"

"Sydney, I don't have to live with you. I'm just accepting our father's invitation to me. I would like to live with the two of you. It could be fun."

"I know you're lying. I heard him tell you that it would be good for me. I'm telling you now, it's better for you if you leave the country. I hate you, and I don't want you anywhere near me."

I could tell Simone was extremely hurt by this comment so I chose to intervene. "Sydney, be nice to your sister. She's just trying to help. You can't make her go away, and I'm not going to take your side on this. She's going to stay with us so you'll just have to get used to it, and that's final. No questions about it."

Simone was relieved, but Sydney started to cry. Daddy, I'm only trying to make it so I can be with you. I want it to be us. Just us. No one else. Just us."

Her own words comforted her, and I was glad to see her calming down. "We'll have those moments, Sydney, but we can still have time alone with Simone here with us. She helped you before, and she's trying to help now. Can't you tell that she loves you? She's trying to make things right. Just give her the chance to help."

She turned to Simone, and I was afraid that what she said next would be the breaking point for Simone, but I was surprised and relieved to hear Sydney's reply. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, Simone. I'll give you the chance, as long as daddy and I can still have time together."

With that, the three of us went to go find Michael, who had been on the phone for some time with Francie's family. They had been telling him about the details of the funeral and had invited us all to attend. I didn't know if Sydney was ready, but I knew she had to be there, so I accepted the invitation and wrote it on the calendar for the next week.

Sydney, Simone, Michael and I then went to Sydney's house to pick up some things from the apartment so she could stay with me. We let Sydney stay in the car, as it would be too traumatizing for her to go back in, at least for the moment. We gathered enough clothes for her to get through the next week or so and basic hygiene items, and then headed back to the car.

When we got back, Sydney was asleep inside the car, and we quietly got in and drove back to my hotel. She woke up once we got there, and seemed to be in a better mood. I assumed it was because she had gotten so many feelings off her chest, and she didn't have to hold them in any more. I began to see the progress she had made over the day and it made me happy.

The situation still was not perfect, and there were many more trials to face, but she was well on her way to recovery and eventually marriage. It was sad to think of losing my daughter, but I knew that the man she married would treat her well and take just as good care of her as I would. However, that was a way down the road, and this was now. I turned my attention to the present and conversed long into the night with my daughters and my future son.