Ok, I felt bad after reading all of your reviews and leaving two evil cliffhangers. But aww, I'm just having fun with you guys. :) So I updated in case you were all ready to kill me or something. Enjoy the chapter! I know you'll like it. Please review after, thanks!
PART II- Chapter 14.
Vaughn's POVI felt like I was about to vomit. The room was spinning and I felt like someone was choking me. Gasping for air, I grabbed on to Syd's arm as she helped me to the waiting room. I didn't remember what had happened after I began to bang on the door of my mother's room. The last thing I saw was her heart rate flat lining.
Finally being able to catch my breath, Syd smoothed the hair from my face and handed me a bottle of water.
"What the hell happened?" I asked, still leaning on her body.
"I think you almost passed out. Vaughn, you need to relax. Your blood pressure is through the roof."
Taking a few swigs of water, the cool liquid went smoothly down my throat while I leaned my head back on the chair and closed my eyes. I could feel Syd rubbing her hand up and down my bare arm, pausing to examine the faded scars.
Her hand stopped completely when she reached the underside of my elbow. Her fingertips lightly trailed over the 4 inch scar that required stitches after my championship baseball game when I was just starting high school.
"Michael?" I heard Dr. Martin call from the end of the hall. Swiftly walking over, she immediately reassured us that my mother pulled through.
"Your mother is stable once again. The infection caused her body to go into shock. We have revived her, but because her body shook that much, some of her stitches were torn. We increased the pain medication since she shouldn't have been moving, but her infection is breaking. She shouldn't wake up until tomorrow morning so I suggest you two get some rest." She instructed, nodding her head, and then walking back down the hall.
"She's really testing us." I sighed to Syd, leaning down to rest my head on her shoulder.
"Well, your mom is always one for dramatics." She joked. "We really should get some rest, Vaughn. I know the both of us are exhausted."
Taking Syd's hand, we walked back into my mother's room to see her resting peacefully again. Her body didn't seem as heated after I touched her forehead to check on her temperature. Making sure she looked comfortable, I planted a kiss on her forehead and moved to sit next to Sydney.
Immediately, Syd took her hair out of her ponytail and lightly ran her fingers through her brown locks, smoothing out all of the tangles. She had changed into my gray SF State sweatshirt and sweats making my clothes look gigantic on her.
"I brought some extra clothes for you if you want to change, Vaughn." She whispered, grabbing the extra pillow and blanket off of the table.
"No, it's fine. I'm comfortable in this."
"Please tell me you're going to get some rest. I'm not going to sleep until you do."
"I promise, I'll sleep as much as I can." I reassured her, pulling my sweatshirt over my head.
Patting the chair lightly, Syd motioned for me to come and sit next to her. It wasn't the most comfortable chair in the world, but it was big enough for two people to sit on. How badly I wished the nurse would bring in an extra hospital bed or something.
Syd placed the pillow at the opposite end of the chair, then spread the blanket out over the both of us. I already knew my neck was going to ache tomorrow morning, but I had no choice if I didn't want to sleep on the floor.
"You comfortable?" She asked, running her fingers along my jaw.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
Placing a good kiss on my lips, she whispered goodnight and snuggled her body close to mine. Soon, her breathing leveled out against my chest and I could tell she was sleeping. Planting a kiss on her temple, I shut my eyes and attempted to attain some well-needed sleep.
The next time I awoke, I felt like I was in one of those sleep comas. My mind was conscious, telling my body to wake up, but I couldn't move my arms or legs. Finally being able to shake myself awake, I jumped up from the chair and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
The room was still dark, with the light peaking out from under the curtains. Reaching my arm out for Sydney, I felt around only to find that the rest of the chair was empty.
"Syd?" I called out quietly, searching around in the dark.
With no answer, I pulled my sweatshirt back on and made my way towards my mom's bed. I could see she had shifted some time during the night with her body turned slightly on her right side. Her breathing was normal and her heart rate was steady.
She had given me the biggest scare of my life the night before. The image of her body violently shaking and the nurses having to push me out of the room still flashed through my mind, bringing tears to my eyes.
The fear that cursed through my body was indescribable as my throat tightened up and I felt like someone was squeezing my windpipe shut. I thought I had truly lost her and as much as I tried to prepare myself for that moment, it still hit me hard.
Picking up her small hand, I placed it in mine and squeezed tightly, taking in the fact that she was still here with me.
"Hey sweetie… I brought you some coffee." Sydney greeted me while she walked in the door holding two coffee cups.
"Thanks Syd. What time did you wake up?" I asked, taking the coffee from her hand.
"About a half hour ago. You were freezing during the night. I kept waking up and your arms were cold. Did you sleep ok?"
"Yeah, I got a few good hours in. My mom should be waking up soon. She looks more comfortable and she's not as pale as yesterday." Running a hand over my tired face, I sighed loudly before taking another swig of my coffee.
"You ok Vaughn?"
"I don't know. Seeing her almost gone last night… it was like a million different things were flashing through my head. The one image I had was standing over her grave as they lowered the casket and me watching all the roses being thrown in. I couldn't shake it out of my mind."
Dr. Martin entered a few minutes later, checking on my mother and informing us that she was responding well to the antibiotics and pain medication. Francie had slipped in quietly while the doctor was talking to us, holding a box of delicious looking donuts.
To our surprise, Jack entered the room minutes after, hugging Sydney and shaking my hand firmly. He was dressed in his business suit, holding a small bouquet of tulips in his left hand.
"I don't know if your mother likes tulips, but I brought these because I know she enjoys working in her garden." He stated, handing me the flowers.
"Thank you Jack. She'll really enjoy these when she wakes up."
"I actually have to head to work. I just wanted to stop by to see how your mother was doing and to ask if you or Sydney need anything."
"We're fine. Thank you for stopping by. You know, it means a lot to us." I said sincerely. Patting me on the back, he glanced at my mother before giving Sydney another hug and walking out the door.
Syd's POVAfter Vaughn exited the room to go get cleaned up, Francie and I sat near Amélie's bed and munched on the donuts she had brought. I could tell she was still worried about Weiss and upset about their fight last night.
Neither of us had heard from Weiss after he stormed out of the hospital room and Francie feared she had blown their final straw. For weeks they had tiptoed around the Emily situation like it never existed, ignoring the awkward tension that surrounded them every time they were together.
I knew it was just a matter of time before Francie would blow up on him. I can't say I don't condemn Weiss for reacting the way he did. I had seen both of their sides and neither one was to blame. It was all a matter of bad timing and Weiss had moved on.
"I still think Emily's a tramp." Fran groaned suddenly, biting into her sprinkled donut.
"So do I. You know, when she first started liking him, she used the excuse that she needed help with her Math class and she asked Weiss?"
"She asked Eric? That is so lame. He couldn't even pass his Math class the first semester. It's a good thing Vaughn isn't up in San Francisco with us. She'd probably try to get with him too."
"Yeah, no kidding." I murmured.
"I have no way out of this, Syd. I can't go over your place to escape them because Eric is there. I can't stay at my place because she is there. Everywhere I go they're always together! Who spends that much time together?"
"Vaughn and I."
"Oh you two are an exception cause you're not normal." Fran joked. "Everyone else needs their space once in awhile. Doesn't she have any girlfriends to hang out with?"
"Francie… she thinks we're here girlfriends."
"Good point. We need to clear that up the next time we see her."
A few minutes later, Vaughn emerged from the bathroom wearing only his jeans with his blue boxers peaking out from the top of his pants. Francie's eyes widened a little as she looked at me and whispered 'Wow.'
Vaughn apparently spilled coffee on his shirt and had to rummage through my bag for an extra one. Not that I minded the sight or anything. When he bent down, his back muscles tightened in all the right spots while his strong shoulders looked unusually tanned.
My eyes were glued to his hips while he slipped a t-shirt over his head. With his jeans laying low without his usual belt, I was conveniently provided with a good view of his hip indents and lower back.
I said a silent thank you to the makeshift gym he built in his garage because it definitely benefited his body. Shaking my head, I scolded myself for having such thoughts while we were in a hospital where his mother was knocked unconscious.
Suddenly, a creak in the bed all brought our focus towards Amélie where she began to stir slowly out of her sleep. Her eyes squinted shut, shielding herself from the bright morning lights while her hands tightened around the blanket.
"Mom? Mom can you hear me?" Vaughn asked quietly.
Motioning for Vaughn to take the oxygen mask off, he carefully slid it off of her face and asked Francie to go find a nurse.
"Can you hand me some water?" She choked out, barely being able to speak.
"Are you feeling ok? How's the pain? Do you remember what happened last night?"
After taking long, slow gulps from the paper cup, Amélie attempted to sit up, then winced in pain as she realized it was best to stay immobile.
"Mom, you can't move. Your might tear some of your stitches again."
A nurse appeared in the doorway minutes later holding Amélie's chart in her hands. Immediately she asked her if she was hurting anywhere, holding up this ridiculous looking chart with smiley and unhappy faces as indicators of how much pain you were in.
Amélie responded by telling the young nurse that she didn't care what they gave her, as long as they increased the pain medication. I knew how intolerable she was to pain so hearing her asking for medicine made my heart drop.
Finally injecting another needle into Amélie's IV, the nurse left as Vaughn walked over to his mom and handed her another cup of water.
"You gave us one hell of a scare last night." He joked, hoping to get a smile out of her.
"I'm sorry, Michael, but I don't remember what happened." She whispered.
"Well… let's just say you gave me a heart attack at the age of 20. You woke up in the middle of the night and complained that you were getting too hot. All of a sudden your body started jerking all over the place and your eyes tilted back in your head." Vaughn paused for a second, the events of the previous night obvious shaking him up. "They pushed me out of the room and I watched your heart monitor go flat. I thought I had lost you, mom."
"Oh Michael…" Amélie cried. "I would never ever leave you. You hear me? I fought to come back to you."
Slow tears ran down Vaughn's face as he clenched his eyes shut in attempt to hide his emotion. Although Amélie couldn't do much to comfort him, she held on to his hand tightly and ran her thumb across the top of Vaughn's hand.
Tears began to spring up to my eyes while watching Vaughn and his mother from across the room. After all they had been through in their life, they still had that unbreakable bond I so badly wanted with my father.
Amélie was soon too weak to stay up for long periods of time, falling asleep shortly and leaving Francie, Vaughn and I to talk quietly.
"Tonight, I'm sleeping out in the waiting room. This chair killed my neck last night. Syd, will you rub this knot out for me?" Vaughn asked, scooting towards me and guiding my hand to his neck.
Pressing hard into his neck with my fingers, I tried my best to loosen up the built up tension in his shoulders.
"Really? I was comfortable last night."
"That's cause you used me as a pillow." He teased.
"What? I always lean on you when we're sleeping. Even in bed when I…"
"Ok!" Francie interrupted. "That's enough information than I want to know. I don't want to know what goes on when you guys are in bed."
"I wasn't going to say anything dirty. I'm not like that." I defended myself while Vaughn let out a little sarcastic laugh.
"I'll have to disagree with that one." He murmured, hoping I wouldn't catch what he said.
"Vaughn!" I yelled.
"What? Did I say that out loud?"
"Yes! And Fran, don't act innocent! You asked me yesterday if Vaughn was good in bed."
"You did? What did you tell her Syd?"
Before I could give an answer, Weiss walked in with a big bouquet of daises looking awfully tired and in bad need of a shower. He was tentative to enter the room at first, lingering at the doorway and sneaking a glance at Francie.
"Hey Weiss. What's up man? You didn't have to get my mom flowers or anything." Vaughn told him, reaching out to grab the daises.
"Actually… these are for Francie." He stated as he looked down at his shoes.
The room suddenly went silent while Weiss fumbled with the flowers. Francie's mouth had dropped open when she heard they were for her, but quickly recovered and hid her initial reaction.
"Oh... C'mon Syd. Let's give these two some privacy."
"No." Weiss put his hand up in the hair, halting our movements. "You guys stay."
Vaughn and I froze in our seats while we watched Weiss walk over to Fran and handed her the bouquet of flowers. Giving him a slight smile, she placed them in her lap and drummed her fingernails on the armrest anxiously.
"I… I wanted to apologize for last night. Well, for more than last night. But, mostly for running out on you like that and calling you a bitch. I didn't mean to say such harsh words." He paused for a moment, running a hand through his messy hair. "The truth is, I've been frustrated. I've been frustrated because Emily isn't the one I want to be with. I started dating her because I saw it as an opportunity to get over you. I figured that if I started spending time with another girl, even if I didn't like them that much, that I'd eventually forget about you and my feelings for you. But, I can't. As much as I tried Francie, I can't."
"Oh Eric." Fran choked out.
"No… let me finish. I broke up with Emily this morning. I know it's cruel to do it over the phone, but I couldn't lie to her anymore. She's a nice girl and she deserves better."
"Have you ever seen Weiss so serious before?" Vaughn whispered into my ear.
"No. But this is getting good so quiet." I responded.
"I thought a lot about what you said to me last night when you were arguing. And if you're still sticking to your word, then I'd love nothing more than to see if we can start things up."
Francie sat there shocked, as did Vaughn and I. First off, we couldn't believe how sober Weiss was being. I had never been in the same room with him for more than 10 minutes where he wouldn't crack a joke or have a wise comment for us.
"Eric… I… I want to take things slow. You know, if that's ok with you." Francie finally responded.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you want Fran."
Placing the flowers gently on the table, she stood up and enveloped Weiss in a big hug, laying her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. I wanted to clap out of pure joy while Vaughn wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. After kissing me on the cheek, he tilted his head to whisper in my ear.
"It's about damn time."
See, I made things all better, right?
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