Chapter 11

"Danny! What are you doing here?" Sydney looked questioningly at him, as he glared coldly at herself and Vaughn. He looked truly shocked to see Vaughn there, but they were just as shocked to see him.

"I came to talk to you, so that we could sort things out..." He quickly glanced at Vaughn as he said that, which didn't go unnoticed by Syd. "But obviously you were too busy doing something else!" Danny turned to go but he was stopped by Vaughn's hand, grabbing hold of his arm.

"Who do you think you're talking to? You have no right talking to Sydney like that. You don't know how lucky you are having her as your girlfriend... you should think about that next time you try to treat her the way you do." Vaughn spoke in a harsh tone of voice. He had never really been one for violence but he couldn't stand the thought of jerks like Danny getting away with treating Sydney in that way. Sydney stood beside Vaughn, not knowing whether or not she should intervene. After all she was kinda the reason why they were fighting.

"I don't need you to tell me how to treat my girlfriend, so why don't you do us all a favour and go back to France or where ever you came from. After all, we wouldn't want your time here to be unpleasant now would we?" Danny taunted him, his face showing Vaughn that he meant every word that he had been saying.

"Is that a threat?" Vaughn asked already aware of what the answer would be.

"Oh, so you're not as dumb as you look! I'm surprised! All I'm saying is that we wouldn't want to ruin that pretty little face of yours now would we?" Danny informed his as he walked closer to Vaughn, obviously ready to punch him.

"DANNY! That's enough! Now get inside, we need to talk." Sydney ordered him, as she came and stood between them, stopping either of them getting hurt. The two guys stood glaring at each other for a couple of minutes, before Danny finally broke away and pushed his way past Michael. "Just stay the hell away from my girlfriend." Danny entered Sydney's house, only to stop when he heard Vaughn speak again.

"Your threats don't scare me Danny. I'll only stay away from Sydney if and when she tells me to. I'm not gonna take orders from guys like you, so you can think about that next time you try to threaten me!" Danny chose to ignore what he had just said and walked into the living room of the house, leaving Sydney and Vaughn standing outside.

Sydney put her hand on Michael's arm, making him turn his attention from Danny and back to her. "You better go, the quicker I get this over with the better." Vaughn turned to face Sydney, his eyes displaying all the concern that he was feeling for her.

"Are you sure you're gonna be ok with him in there?" Vaughn asked, nodding towards the house where the psychotic boyfriend was waiting. Sydney smiled at him as she addressed his concerns. "Hey, I know how to handle Danny. I'll be perfectly fine. Go on go, you don't wanna keep Weiss waiting..." He nodded in agreement. "I might come and find you guys later after I'm done. If that's ok with you?" She asked as she looked down at the floor, feeling not quite sure about what his answer would be.

"I'd like that...I'd like that a lot!" Vaughn watched her face as she looked up from the floor, meeting his gaze. Their eyes locked for a couple of seconds as they both stood there, smiles glowing from their faces.

"Yeah, me too." Sydney admitted. "I best go and sort Danny out." She sighed as she left Vaughn standing in the driveway, so that she could go and face the inevitable.

Sydney slammed the door shut and marched into the living room. It was funny how she had woke up this morning in this very room, feeling happier than ever. And now she was full of anger and rage. Danny sensed that she was angry, so he prepared himself for the lecture that he knew she was about to give him.

"What gives you the right? Huh?" She saw the confused look on his face, but she wasn't about to be fooled by one of his acts. "Tell me what gives you the right?"

Danny looked at her not knowing what she was talking about. "The right to do what Sydney? I don't know what you're on about!"

"The right to come around here and treat my friends the way you do. To threaten them and tell them what to do! So go on I wanna know why you think you have the right to do that." She stood with her arms folded, her face knotted with anger.

"Well I wanna know what gives you the right to sleep with other guys behind your boyfriend's back." Danny rose from the couch where he had been sitting and stood facing her, his face now mirroring the look of anger that was spread across hers.

"What you saw this morning is not what it looks like. Yeah Vaughn stayed the night, but it was totally innocent. He slept on the couch." I'm not lying to him; I'm just not mentioning the fact that I slept on the couch too. Sydney tried to tell herself that she was doing the right thing by not telling Danny about her and Vaughn's sleeping arrangements from the night before. "It was too late for him to go home, so I let him crash here for the night. It's what friends do they help each other out."

Danny laughed in her face. He knew that Sydney had become attached to this guy, but the thought that they were friends was ridiculous. "He's not your friend Sydney. You've only known him for a week. He's probably only after one thing, and we both know what that is."

Sydney's mouth dropped in astonishment. Danny had no right judging Vaughn when he had never even said a nice word to him. "Vaughn's not like that Danny, you don't even know him. So don't even try to assume that you do, because you couldn't be more wrong about him. And as for me only knowing him for a week, that doesn't make him any less of a friend to me." Sydney thought of Vaughn as she said that last sentence. She wished that he were there with her, not because she couldn't handle Danny. Just because she wanted Danny to see how good friends they were.

"Fine Sydney. We'll just have to agree to disagree. You like him and I don't. Let's just leave it at that." Danny thought that this would be the end to the argument. But he couldn't have been more wrong.

"Danny, this isn't working out anymore!" The rage had suddenly disappeared form inside of her. All she was feeling was the will to be free. Free from Danny's glaring eyes, free from the confinement that had become their relationship.

"What's not working out Sydney?" Danny had a feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer that he got. He took a deep breath trying to make the lump in the back of his throat go away.

"This." She waved her hands between them, trying to tell him what she was talking about. "Us. We used to talk, we used to connect. Being with you Danny used to be fun, but now it feels more like a chore. All we ever seem to do is argue and fight."

He was hurt she could see that. His eyes were glistening with tears that would remain unshed. He wouldn't cry infront of her, he would never let his guard down when she was there. "So what are you saying? You don't want us to be together anymore?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying!" She felt a weight being lifted off her shoulders, as he finally understood what she was saying.

He moved towards her, taking her hands in his. "You can't break up with me Sydney. I love you." His voice had become soft and gentle, as he tried his hardest to convince her not to go through with this.

"I know you do Danny. And I still love you, but just not in the same way anymore." She looked into his eyes, hoping that he wouldn't make this any harder than it had to be.

"Are you breaking up with me because of him?" He released her hands, the anger in his voice returning quickly.

"Partly. But this just isn't right anymore; I would still be doing this even if I had never met Michael." She watched the look of jealousy and sadness washed over his face. She wasn't happy that she had made him feel like this, but she wouldn't stay for the wrong reasons. "And if Vaughn and me start dating then that'll be great, and if not that's good too. But I can't stay in a relationship that I'm not happy with anymore."

"You do know that if you date him, you can kiss your popularity goodbye. No one's gonna want you to be the prom queen if you dating a loser like that. They're not gonna look up to you, or respect you the way they do now. Do you know that?"

I can't believe I'm hearing this. "Is that seriously all you think about? Popularity isn't everything Danny, and I pity you if you think it is. Sure, being popular is fun, but I'm not gonna let it rule my life. I'd rather be happy and not that popular, than being the most popular girl in school and not an ounce of happiness in my life." She never knew just how much being popular meant to him, but she was different. It had been fun while it had lasted but if she went to school on Monday and she was no longer in the 'in- crowd' she'd live with it. What else could she do?

"And what about your friends? Do you really think Phoebe, Piper, Paige and Francie are gonna be seen talking to you? You stop dating me Sydney; you'll become a nobody. They're not gonna wanna know you." He knew that his words were hurting her, but he had to make her see that what she was doing was wrong on so many levels.

"Don't flatter yourself Danny." She laughed at him. How could he be this shallow? "How do you know that when I stop dating you, your popularity won't go down the drain?" He stared straight at her, not showing any reactions to what she was saying. "But to be honest with you I've had enough of the popular gig, I don't really care any more. And as for my friends not talking to me anymore, well if that's what they do then they obviously weren't worth having in the first place." She knew did down that her friends wouldn't abandon her. Would they?

"Fine! It's your loss Sydney. Just don't come crying to me in a couple of weeks when you realise what you're throwing away, because I don't wanna know anymore." He threw his arms up in the arm, signalling how much he couldn't care about her any longer.

"Whatever Danny. Now if you don't mind, the door's over there." She pointed to the front door and watched as he walked out and slammed it shut. It was finally over. She was finally free.