Hi guys! Here's another update... hello to a few new readers. :) It's nice to have you on board. I know the updates have been slower, but I'm working full time now and it blows, less time to write. But this story is still going strong and I'm always finding some time to write. Almost always real late at night. :) Anyways, enjoy the chapter. Maybe I'll postanother one at the end of the week if you guys like it... Hehe.
PART II- Chapter 12.
Vaughn's POVI spent the night staring at my ceiling. When Syd and I were in 8th grade, we spent the whole day placing those glow in the dark stars all the over my ceiling creating this fake galaxy. And almost every night that I couldn't sleep after those stars were placed on my ceiling, I'd stare endlessly at them.
Most of the time they gave me a peaceful feeling and calmed me. They brought back fond memories and of course reminded me of Sydney. Sure it wasn't the manliest thing a guy could have on his ceiling, but I never dared to take them down.
With my hands tucked behind my head and Syd resting peacefully beside me, I wondered why my parents were cursed with such bad luck. It was bad enough my dad was taken from us when I was just 8 years old, but now my mother? She spent the last 11 years mourning, grieving, and missing him to the point where she would drive herself crazy.
I had always been a strong believer in the idea that things happen for a reason. Even after my father had died, I was still thankful for what I had. I would've traded anything in the world to bring him back, but the relationship I developed with my mom because of his absence became priceless.
After my mother got sick, I started to question my beliefs. I found myself cursing God for putting me through this, for putting my mother through all the pain. I didn't understand what fate had against me. I was forced to grow up too fast when my father died. I took on responsibilities that a young boy should've never had to. But I did it because I knew it's what my father wanted.
I managed to get in an hour of sleep until I glanced at my clock and saw that it was 5:15am. Scooting out of bed carefully, I crept over to Syd's side and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. She stirred slightly, blinking her eyes a few times and reaching for my hand.
"Hey… I'm going to bring my mom to the hospital now. Sleep here as long as you want. I'll see you at the hospital, ok?" I whispered, brushing her hair out of her face.
"You sure you don't want me to come with you guys? Are you going to be ok, Vaughn?"
"I'll be fine. Just come to the hospital as soon as you wake up. I should actually have some time alone with my mom before she goes in."
"Ok. I'll be there as soon as I can. I love you." She told me as she cupped my face and kissed me on my cheek.
"I love you too."
The ride to the hospital was dead silent. My hands shook while I gripped the steering wheel tightly as my mom sat in the passenger's seat with her left hand clenched around her rosary. After all these years and all that has happened to her, she still believed in her faith and it was something I found remarkable.
Checking into the hospital, my mom was brought into the large pre-op room where she changed into her hospital gown and tucked herself tightly into the bed. I cringed when the nurse came over and stuck the IV in her hand. I could almost feel the pain shooting up into my own hand while my mom didn't even flinch.
After her IV was successfully put in and all of the pre-surgery procedures were finished, we had only 20 minutes before she would be taken in. I pulled up a seat right next to her bed and kissed her hand before holding on tightly.
Silent tears rolled down her cheeks and for the first time, my mother showed fear.
"Don't cry mom," I whispered. "Everything's going to be ok."
"I know… I was just thinking about how grown up you are now. I still remember when you were 11 years old and would come into the house every night before dinner covered in dirt from head to toe." She laughed in between tears.
"I wasn't that much of a trouble maker, was I?"
"Of course not. You were so sweet and considerate, even at a young age. Oh and you were so handsome as a child."
"What? I'm not handsome now?" I joked, hoping I would make her smile.
"Oh Michael, I don't need to remind you how good looking you have grown up to be. I was just saying people used to compliment me at the grocery store all the time saying how cute of a child you were. Your light blonde hair and green eyes always got other mothers smiling at you." She told me as she patted a tissue under her eyes.
A silence hung over us for awhile as I watched the nurses hurrying around the work station. Other patients began to fill the room one by one while my mother watched the silent TV in the corner. Minutes passed and soon Dr. Martin entered wearing green scrubs instead of her usual white coat.
"Hello Amélie. How are you feeling this morning?" Dr. Martin asked, looking over her chart.
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Well, everyone is set up and ready to go in there. Like I said before, this procedure is long, but we have every belief that you will pull through fine. Are you ready to go?"
"Yes." My mom sighed. "Just give a minute alone with my son, please."
"Of course. I'll be back in a couple of minutes to take you in."
After Dr. Martin walked away, my mother turned to me and took both of my hands in hers. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes already as I fought to hold them back.
"Michael… sweetheart. No matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you and I am so proud of you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me." She said to me, running her thumb lightly over my knuckles.
"No Mom." I choked out. "Don't act like you're saying goodbye because you're not. You're coming back to me."
"I'll try as hard as I can to come back to you."
Pulling me forward, I embraced her tightly while tears ran down both of our cheeks. Finally pulling back, she placed a kiss on my forehead and then on my cheek.
"I'll see you in a little while." She told me smiling.
Syd's POVI ran a mental check list off in my head right before I left the house. Extra clothes, snacks, magazines, and Vaughn's game boy were all tucked into my backpack as I patted Donovan on the head and shut the front door.
Leaving my father a message on his voicemail to tell him I'd be at the hospital all day, I hopped into my car and sped off towards the hospital.
Weiss and Francie weren't due to arrive at the airport until 6pm which gave Vaughn and I plenty of time at the hospital to wait. When Francie called me the night before she was already livid with Weiss. Apparently he wouldn't stop talking about Emily's Christmas gift for him and how she surprised him on Christmas Eve and showed up at his house.
I believe Fran's words were, 'I want to strangle that whore and shoot Weiss in the face.' Funny how you can look at Francie and never know she has a complete violent side to her.
When I finally made it to the hospital, I quickly parked the car and took the elevator up to the 5th floor. Vaughn was sitting in the corner of the small waiting room staring down at the bottom of his sweater. As soon as he spotted me he got up from his chair and threw his arms around my body.
"Oh baby, I'm so sorry." I told him, dropping my backpack and wrapping my arms around his waist.
"She… she was so scared Syd. She tried to act like everything was ok, but I could see it in her eyes. I felt so helpless." He sighed.
Taking his hand, I led him back to the couch and placed myself closely next to him. He clutched to my hand tightly, not being able to bring his eyes up to meet mine.
"Hey… she's going to be fine, Vaughn. Your mom is the strongest person I know. She'll pull through." I tried my best to comfort him, but I didn't know how helpful I was being.
When Vaughn was worried, or angry, or sad, he wouldn't talk about it. Instead, he'd just stay silent and keep everything inside.
"I know." He responded quietly. "Don't leave me, ok? I need you Syd."
"I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here as long as you need me too."
Hospitals always gave me a weird, unsettling feeling. They were always so depressing with people being rushed in and out of the emergency room, children coming out with casts around their arms and legs, and concerned family members sitting patiently in the hundreds of waiting rooms.
After getting tired of watching Dr. Phil on the TV screen, I pulled out my Cosmo and began to read. The first headline I see jumping out at me in bright, bold orange writing reads 'Sex Treats for Him.' Immediately I flipped to the table of contents and found the exact page I was looking for.
Nudging Vaughn in the side, I flashed the page in front of him hoping I would get a laugh or two out of him.
"You want to do that now?" He asked surprised.
"No! I was just showing you for future references and hoping I'd make you smile."
"Oh…" He sighed in relief. "I was going to say, what has gotten into you? Thanks… yeah, make sure you keep that."
It was good to see him lighten up a bit. He'd been sitting there so seriously, either gnawing on his nails or running his hands over his face.
I was actually glad hearing his stomach growl in the early afternoon and realized the two of us hadn't eaten anything except for the pack of skittles we shared from the vending machine. Convincing him to leave the hospital for an hour, I grabbed his hand and lead him across the street to Pete's Café.
Somehow, the hospital food always grossed me out. I had experienced eating the watery soup after my car accident and didn't want to risk eating food from the cafeteria. I doubted it would be any different from the stuff I was forced to eat.
Vaughn picked at his burger slowly once our food had arrived and I was hungrily nibbling on my French fries.
"Ok Vaughn, you're going to have to eat." I told him concerned as I gently rubbed his back.
"I'm not really hungry." He sighed.
"But your stomach was growling back there. At least eat half so you get some food in you."
Out of all the years I had known Vaughn, he had never lost his appetite for anything. He was the same guy that could eat a whole pizza after Thanksgiving dinner. I never understood how he would keep his body in almost perfect shape after eating as much as he did. Although, I did see an Ab cruncher under his bed once and figured that was his trick.
Once Vaughn had gotten started on his food, he was ok and managed to finish his whole meal. I even distracted him for a bit when I was telling him the story about how Weiss bought 3 goldfish for the family room and ended up killing them after 2 days.
Leave it to Weiss to overfeed goldfish when they're the ones that can live off of no food for a whole year. We had a proper burial at sea for Sonny, Tom, and Fredo by flushing them all down the toilet. Weiss was heartbroken saying he had an emotional attachment to those fish after naming them after the brothers in the Godfather.
Vaughn's POV"I can't believe you don't eat ketchup on your fries. It's like a crime not to eat fries with ketchup." I joked with Syd after I downed my burger and watched her finish up her food.
"Geez Vaughn. I'm not the one that uses a whole bottle of the stuff every time we eat out at a restaurant." She shot back.
"What? They don't put it on tables for people NOT to use them."
Smiling to herself, she ate the last handful of her French fries smiling and sneaking glances at me.
"What are you smiling at?" I asked curiously.
"Nothing… it's just, it's good to see you laugh, that's all."
"Well, I feel a bit better after eating. I'm sorry if I seem distant, I just can't stop thinking about my mom in there. I don't know what's going on and I feel so helpless."
Reaching her hand over to mine, she entwined our fingers and then moved closer to me to kiss me on the cheek.
"Stop thinking about it, ok? If you keep worrying, you're going to drive yourself crazy. It's out of your control and all you can do is pray and hope." She sighed.
"I know. You're right. C'mon, let's get back."
Scooting out of the booth, I walked over to the cash register and paid our bill. I never let Syd pay of anything since I always felt the need to take care of her. Whether she liked it or not, I always believed in the old fashion way of the guys taking care of the bill.
As soon as we got back to the hospital, I fell asleep on Syd's shoulder, exhausted from not getting a wink of sleep the night before. I was nudged awake a few hours later. Thinking it was Syd touching my shoulder, I grabbed her hand and was about to kiss it until it felt unfamiliarly hairy and big.
Squinting from the bright lights of the waiting room, my eye sight finally came into focus and I found Weiss standing a little too close to me.
"Ahhh! What the hell! I thought you were Sydney!" I yelled, jumping up from the chairs and off of Sydney's lap.
"Well hello to you too Mike. I haven't seen my best friend for 6 months and that's the greeting I get?" Weiss joked.
I was still a little out of it from my long nap, but after coming out of it, I realized Francie was sitting next to Sydney and Weiss was eying me like something was wrong.
"Sorry man, I was out of it. It's good to see you Weiss." Shaking his hand firmly, I walked over to Francie and gave her a tight hug.
"Michael!" She shouted. "Weiss and I walked in here and you were asleep on Syd's lap. I didn't want to wake you but it was Weiss' idea."
"Yeah, I figured."
Standing up, Syd walked towards me and started running her hands through my messy hair.
"You were so out of it you started snoring." She said chuckling.
"I guess I was more tired than I thought. I didn't sleep that much."
Leaning down to kiss her, Weiss cleared his throat while Francie let out a string of, "Awww's."
"Ok, I really felt bad that you two were away from each other, but really, stop making out in the middle of the hospital. There's two old ladies over there in the corner glaring at you." Weiss told us, lightly punching Vaughn in the arm. "How's your mom? Have you heard anything?"
"I haven't heard anything since a couple of hours after she went in. The nurse said she was doing well and they were right on schedule. It should be over pretty soon."
The four of us took a seat around the waiting room and laughed and reminisced about my time up in San Francisco. It was great having Weiss and Francie around again because they surprisingly comforted me.
Francie looked exactly the same as her and Sydney flipped through a magazine while Weiss and I chatted about the hockey season. His hair was longer and his face was unshaved, but he was still the same Weiss I knew.
He managed to slip in a little info about Emily, but kept his voice quiet while stealing a glance at Friancie. I knew he didn't like talking about Emily when Francie was around from what Sydney had told me.
He looked happy, not as happy as he would be with Francie, but I didn't tell him that. He was obviously fighting an inner battle within himself and I didn't need to feed fuel to the fire. I had wished things would've worked out differently, but it wasn't my right to say anything.
"You look good, man." Weiss complimented me. "You've been lifting weights? You're thin."
"Yeah, I've been working out a lot. You know, it helps with the stress during the hard days. I set up this makeshift gym in the garage of my house."
"Sydney looks happy. She's pretty quiet when we're at school. She's ok and all, but you can tell she misses you."
"I know." I sighed. "Believe me, you don't even know how hard it is to be away from her. I'm going to have to miss this semester too. After my mom's surgery, she has to go into radiation. So, I'm not going back up there until August."
"I'm sorry Mike. I wish things were different and your mom didn't have to go through this. It must be rough."
"It is. But, I get through it. My mom's so strong and I have Syd to always rely on." I responded, glancing at my watch and realizing it's been almost 10 hours.
"Well, you're lucky. Sydney Bristow is as good as it gets. I know you know that."
Just then, my mother's doctor came walking through the waiting room obviously searching for me. She looked exhausted with her hair in a messy ponytail and her scrubs looking ruffled. My heart raced as I realized what she was about to say to me was extremely important.
I stood up quickly while Sydney came over and grasped my hand tightly. Planting a comforting kiss on the side of my head, she leaned over and rubbed my back soothingly.
"It's going to be ok, Vaughn." She whispered into my ear.
As soon as Dr. Martin approached us, she spoke quietly. "Michael… I'm afraid I have some bad news."
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