Thank-you so much. Once again your response to the last chapter was incredible. I feel bad about killing off Emily, but it just worked so well with the plot- I just couldn't help myself.
Well, anyway, I'll just shut up (or stop typing, or whatever) and let you get to this chapter.
"What is it?"
"Sydney, it's Emily."
"Is she ok?"
"No." Sydney looked at her father in alarm. "Sydney this afternoon..." Jack trailed off.
"Dad, tell me."
"This afternoon, Emily suffered a massive heart attack. She-she didn't make it Sydney."
Sydney stared at Jack in utter shock. With each second that passed a ringing in her ears grew louder and louder. This wasn't happening- this couldn't be real. Surely her father must have been mistaken.
"No." Sydney shook her head hard, almost violently. "That's not true. I saw Emily on Tuesday and she was fine. Somebody has given you the wrong information."
"Sydney, it pains me so much to have to tell you this, but it is true." Jack said, uncharacteristically gentle. "Emily passed away this afternoon. I was at the Sloane's when it happened."
Sydney looked at her father through watery eyes. "But how...I mean what happened?"
"It happened very suddenly, while she was in her garden. The paramedics said that she would have gone almost instantly, that she would have felt no pain."
"Dad, this can't be right. I knew there was the possibility that the cancer could get her eventually- but not for a long time. This is too soon. She can't be gone- she just can't!"
"Sydney, I understand how you feel."
"I didn't get to say good-bye. I never got to tell Emily how important she was to me. I never told her how much I loved her." Tears spilt over Sydney's eyes and streamed down her cheeks.
"Sydney, Emily knew how much you cared for her. And I know that she loved you just as much as you did her." Jack said as Sydney began to sob uncontrollably. She felt him put his hand tentatively on her shoulder, and then for the first time that Sydney could remember, her father wrapped her in his arms, in a safe and warm, though somewhat awkward,embrace.
Sydney spent the night in the couch. Jack had left a little before midnight and by that point Sydney was too exhausted to make the trip to her bedroom. When she woke she found that Francie had covered her with a blanket at some point during the night. Sitting up she wrapped it around her shoulders, staring blankly at the wall.
The news of Emily's death was still surreal to her. Sydney felt as if she could pick up the phone and speak to her. She didn't want to accept that Emily was gone- because acceptance would make the situation real. It was easier to tell herself that what had happened the night before was just a horrible nightmare.
After she had been sitting there for a few minutes, Francie came out of her bedroom.
"Morning Syd." she said tentatively.
"Morning." Sydney's voice was a barely audible whisper.
"Do you want some breakfast?" Sydney replied with a short shake of her head. "Would you like me to run you a bath or something?" Again it was just a shake of the head.
Francie felt lost. She had no idea how to behave around Sydney. Did she need a shoulder to cry on or did she want to be left alone? Francie had never experienced the loss of a parental figure and couldn't even begin to imagine what Sydney was feeling at the moment.
But she knew somebody who could.
Vaughn woke to the sound of his phone ringing obnoxiously on his bedside table. His head felt fuzzy- a result of the numerous beers that he and Weiss had knocked back the night before.
Still half-asleep he reached across his bed and picked up the phone.
"Hello."
"Michael?"
"Yeah. Who is this?"
"It's Francie."
"Oh."
"Michael, I need for you to come over here."
"Francie, I'm not coming over until Sydney is ready to apologise."
"She is ready. She was going over to your place last night to do it."
"Well, she never made it."
"That's why I'm calling."
"What is it?" Vaughn sat up slightly. The desperate tone of Francie's voice was telling him that something was really wrong. "Is Sydney hurt?"
"No, she not hurt...physically anyway." Francie paused. "Emily Sloane passed away yesterday."
"What?"
"She had a heart attack and Sydney is completely devastated and I don't know what to do. She needs you Vaughn, please come over."
Vaughn was already up and out of bed, grabbing some clothes from his wardrobe. "I'll be there in ten minutes."
"Where is she?" Vaughn asked as soon as Francie had opened the door.
"In her bedroom. I only just got her in there- she'd been on the couch ever since she found out." Francie looked towards Sydney's bedroom. "Look, I'm going to go see Will and let him know what happened. You can stay here with her, can't you?"
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Thank you for coming." Francie said, as she was about to walk out the door. "I know things aren't great between you guys at the moment."
"Well, it's times like these that make you realize the importance of some people in your life." Vaughn shook his head slightly. "It was a stupid fight that should have been resolved half an hour after it happened."
"Except that pigheadedness is another thing you guys share in common." Francie smiled slightly at him. "Take care of her Michael."
After Francie had left Vaughn made his way to Sydney's room. Looking in he saw her curled up tightly on top of her doona,a blanket wrapped tightly around her.
"Syd," he said softly, closing the door behind him and approaching the bed. She sat up and looked at him, a surprised expression on her face.
"Vaughn? You're here?"
"Of course I'm here." Sydney tried to smile but instead was overcome by the tears that had been threatening to fall since she woke up. Immeadiately Vaughn got on the bed and pulled Sydney securely into his arms.
"It's Emily. She-she..." Sydney choked on her words.
"Shhh," Vaughn murmured, stroking her hair. "I know. You don't have to say a word. I know."
Vaughn looked down at Sydney's sleeping form, gently stroking the side of her cheek. After crying on his shoulder for a good hour or so Sydney had conked out. She'd been asleep for about three hours and Vaughn hadn't moved from her side. He knew that she would be feeling utterly alone at the moment and the last thing Sydney would need was to wake up by herself.
"Vaughn." Sydney murmured and he looked down at her as she stirred and opened her eyes.
"I'm here, Syd."
"I am so sorry Vaughn." Sydney sat up, grabbing his hand. "I should never have lied to you and I swear that it will never happen again."
"Sydney, we don't have to go through this now."
"Yes we do. I need you to know how sorry I am, for lying and calling you insecure. I need to know if you can accept my apology."
"I should have accepted your first apology. Yes, you did hurt me, but I know that you are sorry for that and that's enough for me."
"Thank you for coming over."
"You should thank Francie for calling me."
"I think I might have freaked her out a bit this morning."
"No you didn't. She was just worried because she didn't know what to do."
"Well she certainly made the right choice calling you." Sydney's face crumpled slightly. "I still can't believe Emily is gone. I mean just the other day she was encouraging me to talk to you."
"Come here." Vaugh opened up his arms and Sydney fell into them.
"What would I do without you?" Sydney asked, just as they heard a knock on the door.
"Do you want me to get that?" Vaughn offered and Sydney nodded. He made his way out and opened the door- to be greeted by Jack Bristow.
"Mr Bristow, hello."
"Hello Michael. Where is Sydney?" Vaughn couldn't gauge how Jack felt to see him on the otherside of Sydney's door- the older man's face was completely passive.
"She's in her bedroom." Jack walked straight past him and towards Sydney's room, where she had curled up on the bed again.
"Dad." she sat up when Jack entered the room.
"Hello Sydney." he turned and looked pointedly at Vaughn.
"Umm, I'll just go and make us something to eat." Vaughn said. "Do you feel like anything in particular Syd?"
"No, I don't want anything."
"Sydney, you need to eat." Both Vaughn and Jack spoke at the same time and the looks on their faces brought a small smile to Sydney's face.
"Fine," she conceded. "I don't care, make whatever you can find."
"When did he get here?" Jack asked after Vaughn had gone out to the kitchen.
"Dad, don't start."
"I'm just worried about you."
"Well you needn't be. Vaughn proved just how great a guy he is today."
"How so?"
"He and I had a big fight the other day. It was my fault and we hadn't spoken since. But after Francie told him what happened, he was straight here."
"Why did Francie call him if you were fighting?" Jack asked, sititng down on Sydney desk chair.
"Because he would know what I'm going through."
"How?"
"His father died when he was eight."
"Oh."
"Dad, you have to accept that Vaughn is a good guy." Sydney said, bluntly. "You need to understand how important he is to me."
"I do know that Sydney."
"Then why don't you show it?"
"Because as you are aware, when it comes to being a father and expressing myself, I tend to do the wrong thing." Jack replied, wryly.
"Well at least you are speaking to me now."
"Sydney, I know what I said at the dinner hurt you. But you have to understand where I'm coming from."
"I am trying." Sydney said, sitting on the edge of her bed so that she was closer to Jack. "I just can't understand you distancing yourself, when we both needed each other for support."
"Sydney, you're mother was so wonderful with you. You two had your own special, private world that I had no way of accessing. My parental abilities would have never been able to do your mother justice. I figured I'd do you more damage trying to raise you myself, instead of hiring a nanny."
"Dad, this isn't about how you could have raised me. This is about me never knowing if my father really loved me."
"Sydney, you need to know that despite my limited abilities as a father, I love you more than I can say."
"Why couldn't you have been saying that for the past fifteen years, dad?" Sydney asked as her eyes began to well up again.
"I know that our relationship needs a lot of work, but I do hope it isn't beyond repair. You've already lost two mothers- it's time that your father was there for you."
"That would be nice." Sydney replied, well aware that she and Jack were a long, long way from an average father/daughter relationship. Still the fact that he was willing to make an effort gave her hope.
"Come on." Jack said, standing up. "Let's go see what that boy has put together out there."