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Zara didn't notice what was going on until Vaughn touched her on the shoulder offering her a drink. She smiled weakly and shook her head she was having trouble enough keeping her stomach down at the moment without adding anything else to it. Vaughn crouched down in front of her and took her chin in his hand gently making her look at him.
"Zara" he said and sighed "Well done" Her eyes widened in shock at those words and he smiled slightly "What did you think I was going to say little one?"
"I don't know" she said looking at him "Not that"
"That was obvious" She gave him a look and he smiled. He looked behind him and smiled at Sydney. She walked over and sat next to her.
"Well done" she said quietly.
"Why is everyone saying that?" she asked innocently.
"Because those questions were hard to answer and you did without cracking completely" said Sydney.
"But I did crack I was crying"
"Yes but you still told us" said Vaughn. He smiled then put his head on one side "Just take a compliment ok?"
"Ok" She tried to smile but her tears her starting to spill over. Sydney put an arm around her and Vaughn sat on her other side.
"You can cry" said Vaughn softly "It is allowed"
"No" Zara was shaking her head "I have to keep things under control"
"Let go" said Sydney "You need to trust me I know"
"No" Zara was shaking with emotion "I can't"
She moved away to the other side of the clearing and sat with her head on her knees curled up arms around her head. She was visibly trembling. Jack and Dixon had looked up at this sudden movement. They looked from Sydney and Vaughn to Zara.
"We shouldn't have pushed her" said Sydney guiltily.
"I know" he said putting a hand on her arm. Sydney got up pulling him after her she walked over to Zara and knelt in front of her. She didn't touch her but the young girl still shrank away.
"I'm sorry Zara" Zara looked up at the sincere apology.
She looked so lost Sydney just wanted to hug her and take all this away. Zara tried to speak but gave up and just smiled shakily. Sydney put a hand on her arm and smiled at her she carefully sat next to her. Zara was still trembling slightly so Sydney gently rubbed her back to calm her down. It seemed to work her breathing became steadier and she stopped shaking.
She looked up at the adults suddenly she took a shocked breath and stood up quickly running into the trees. Sydney followed her quickly following the sound of coughing. When she found Zara she was covering up what she had done.
She was white and leaning against a tree. She pushed herself off it and walked to another tree. She fell down onto her knees. Her head fell into her hands and she started to whisper
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" she was crying "I couldn't save any of you"
She tried to speak again but couldn't and ended up punching the tree sobbing. Sydney ran over and held her back she fought her hard and got away only to run into Vaughn's arms who held her tight. She fought against him too but quickly gave up and fell to the ground taking him with her. Sydney ran over and held the young girl letting Vaughn call the others.
"It's alright we're about hundred meters away. We'll be back soon" he said into his phone closing it before they could even reply.
He knelt down again next to Sydney and Zara he stroked the child's hair while Sydney kept a firm grip on her to make her feel secure. Zara was crying almost uncontrollably and had latched onto Sydney's sleeve. They just sat with her quietly comforting her after half an hour in which Jack had found them seen what was happening and told them they weren't needed for the rest of the day. Sydney and Vaughn had smiled at that and thanked him. They had been surprised when he leant down and touched Zara's face showing his concern for the girl.
Right now Zara was half asleep trying as had as she could to not go to sleep. Ten minutes later she had fallen asleep the emotions had exhausted her.
"She seems to sleep a lot doesn't she?" said Sydney.
"I know but it's good for her" he gently picked her up out of Sydney's hold "I still can't believe how light she is or how she can pass for 16"
"I know she barely looks 12. That might be because we've only seen her scared though"
"Yeah" he sighed he knew they avoiding the subject of what she had been through "Where shall we go now?"
"We?" she was surprised.
"What I'm not going to leave you here?" he looked at her "Your car is still at work anyway. Come on I'll give you a lift."
"Ok" she said "What are we going to do with little one?"
"To be honest I have no idea" he thought "Do you want to ring your father and see if we have to take her back now or later?"
"Ok" She took out her phone and speed dialled her father's number after talking to him for a few minutes she turned back to Vaughn. "Well he said that we can take her back anytime but if we go out we have to be a family again. He also said that you have to go…go home tonight you can't avoid Lauren. You have to act as if nothing has happened so that they can catch her in the act. You have to act Vaughn"
"I can't" he hissed his eyes clouding over in anger.
"Vaughn listen to me we'll talk about this later, please. We need to get Zara somewhere safe." She thought "Shall we go to the warehouse?"
"Yeah" he nodded "Lets go there it's safe she doesn't know about it" Sydney smiled at that trying to calm him down.
They walked out of the trees and out of the park quickly, reaching Vaughn's car in five minutes. They carefully put Zara in the back then drove off.
TBC
Hope you like.