Vaughn couldn't believe it...he didn't want too. He had seen enough not to trust things like this. He threw the picture across the table and shook his head at the picture of his dead daughter. "No...it's a fake." "Vaughn..." SYdney sighed. Instead, he shook his head again, "No! I don't believe she is dead, Sydney. Not by a picture." Marshall raised his hand slowly, and avioded looking at the picture. "I can, uh, help to...you know, answer that?" Sydney and Vaughn turned to him and when all eyes were on him, he continued. "Well...in every picture, there are pixels. Tiny little pieces of the picture that make up the whole picture, you know? Well...when images are created to...alter, whatever the real image is, then...the pixels wouldn't actually be pixels. The would be larger than normal to make the illusion of a actually picture."
"How long will you take you Marshall?" Sloane asked.
"A few hours...at least," he said.
Jack looked at Sydney adn Vaughn. "You two should get some rest."
Sydney had gotten back to the house before Vaughn. Sydney walked right into Isabelle's room and turns on the light and looks around. Sydney reaches on Isabelle's bed and picks up her Mickey Mouse animal and looking at it, smiles.
Isabelle rips through her present and jumps up and down. "Yay, you got me Mickey, you got me Mickey!"
Sydney and Vaughn look at each other and smile, laughing, as Sydney and Vaughn watch Isabelle take out her beloved Mikey Mouse doll.
"Do you like him?" SYdney asked.
"Yes!" Isabelle runs up to them and hugs them. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"You're welcome, Princess," Vaughn smiles.
"Can we get to see the real one?" Isabelle asked
Vaughn looks at Sydney. "Of course we will."
"Really, Daddy? Because you said that last year."
"No baby," Sydney said. "We will do it this month, okay?"
"This month? You guys are the best parents ever!"
Isabelle hugs them again.
Sydney stares at the doll and walks over to Isabelle's dresser and sees a book she made in school. Sydney reads the title; 'Why I love my family'. She sits in the corner on the floor and opens it up.
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Vaughn opens his car door and get's in, starting the engine. He sits there for a while and sees the CD player, playing. He turns up the voulme, and listens to the song.
Vaughn is driving along the highway, with the windows down and Isabeel next to him, with the song blasting and Isabelle singing along with it. "Thanks to you years ago, I guess I'll never know, What love means to me."
Vaughn looks over at her and smiles. "Shouldn't you be singing to...I don't know, Barney, or something?"
Isabelle rolls her eyes, "Dad, please."
Vaughn smiles at her. "You listen to this song a lot?"
"I've memorized all of Pink's songs Dad, I like her music."
"Really?"
"Yeah...sing along with me."
"Oh no...I don't sing."
"Come on. Mom does."
"Well, she-" Vaughn looks at Isabelle who only smiles at him. "She does?" Isabelle nods. "Is she good?"
Isabelle thinks for a moment. "Um...no comment."
Vaughn laughs and Iasbelle smiles at him.
Vaughn leans back in his chair and listens to the words...
I'll keep rolling down this road
But I've got a bad, bad feeling
It's gonna take a long time to love
It's gonna take a lot to hold on
It's gonna be a long way to happy
Vaughn starts to cry and rests his head on the steering wheel, sobbing.
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Sydney, still sitting in the corner of Isabelle's room, still holding Mickey, stares ahead, No more tears left to cry. No more emotion left to hide or give away. Sydney was spent. She had no idea what to do now, she was lost. Vaughn entered the room and saw Sydney. "Hey," he said softly.
"Hey."
"What are you doing?"
Sydney shrugs...unable to respond. Vaughn shoved his hands in his pockets. "What do we do, Vaughn?"
"What?"
"Funeral?"
"Syd..."
"Or...should we wait?"
"Sydney, she's not dead."
Sydney looks up at Vaughn. "I would like to believe that. But...with this group...I don't." Sydney stands up. "We've had our problems, Vaughn, But this...this is the last straw."
As she starts to walk past him, he stops her. "What are you saying?"
Sydney turns to him. "I'm not sure what to do anymore Vaughn. I've lost Isabelle...I've lost you...I've lost myself..."
"Syd..."
"I want a divorce."
Vaughn blinked. He should have seen it coming, but it still hit him hard, "What?"
"I can't do this anymore Vaughn...pretend that we're okay because you and I both know the truth."
Vaughn nodded. "Isabelle was keeping us together, Strong."
Sydney nods and blinks back another flood of tears. Vaughn nods at her again. "I'll call our lawyer."
Sydney nods, and walks out.
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Eric walks into his house and sees Nadia sleeping. Careful not to disturb her, he quietly gets into bed.
"Everything ok?"
Eric gasps and sighs as Nadia turns over and smiles at him.
"You know how quickly I could get a heart attack," he joked.
Nadia frowned. "Have you talked to Sydney and Vaughn?"
Eric shook his head. "I don't think they're in a mood to actually talk, lately."
"I feel so bad. I feel like I should be doing something."
"There's nothing we can do," he assured her. He stares up at the ceiling and Nadia studies him.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing," he said.
"Eric..."
"It's just, I had this planned you know? And leave it to the bad guys to screw it all up."
"Have what planned?"
Uh-oh. "Oh, nothing."
"No...now you have to tell me."
Eric goes in his drawer and pulls out the ring. "Well, I had this all planned out."
He hands her the ring and her eyes widen. "Nadia...will you be my wife?"
"Eric..."
"I want to spend the rest of my, aging life, with you. The person who makes me laugh, who is so beautiful, who is my best friend makes me a better man each and everyday since the moment I had met you. Please, marry me."
"Oh..of course I will!"
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Eric smiles and puts the ring on her finger and kisses her. Nadia then suddenly frowns. "What is it?" he asked
"Do you feel guilty? That we're happy and they're not?"
"Well...would it make you more comfortable if we talked to them?"
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Eric pulled up to a club in his car, and spotted Vaughn's car parked outside. Eric got out of his car and walked up to the entrance. Two security guards stop him. "What's your name?" one of them asks. He pulls out a clip board with people's name listed on it.
"Oh, I'm not on the list. I just have to get a friend."
"Then you can't enter," the second security guard said.
"Look, I have to get in. It's important."
"Sure it is."
"Just..."
"Look," the guard pulled back his jacket to reveal his knife clipped on his belt. "I suggest you go back to eating your Milky Way bars before you get hurt."
"Really? Okay..." Eric pulled out his gun and hit the first guard with the knife. The second guard raised his hands up, not wanting any trouble. Eric looked at the guard on the guard, holding his jaw. "I prefer German Chocolate...not Milky Ways. Just so you know."
Eric holstered his gun and entered the club. The minute he walked in, he was utterly surprised. It was a strip club, not just a bar. What the hell is Vaughn doing here? In a minute or two, but he finall found Vaughn. He walked over to him and sat down.
"Vaughn?"
Vaughn looked at Eric, his eyes slightly red. "Hey."
Before Eric could say anything though, I stripper came over to Vaughn, attemting to dance for him. "Hey," Eric said. "I'm trying to have a conversation here."
"I'm just doing my job," she retorted.
Eric showed her his gun. "Leave now, before I do mine."
The woman gave Eric a sneer and left. "Why'd you do that?" Vaughn complained.
"Number one: You're drunk. Number two: You're married and number three: I just saved her life because if Sydney found out..."
"Sydney left me."
"What?"
"My marriage is over...and Sydney left," Vaughn grumbled.
"God...where did she go?"
"I have...not a...clue." Vaughn picked up his drink and finished it off, and called for another.
"Oh no," Eric said, "I'm cutting you off. Come on."
Eric grabbed Vaughn and left the club.
"Where are we going?" Vaughn asked.
Eric took him to his car and opened the door. "We're going to the airport and you're going to talk to Sydney."
"I already tried."
"Well, try again." Eric looked at Vaughn and his appearance and frowned. "First, we have to get you cleaned up."
Vaughn looked down at himself. "Why?"
Eric pulled out his cell phone and dialed, looking at Vaughn and his wrinkled up clothing. "Because, you smell like booze and look like hell. Nadia?" he said over the phone. "Yeah, I found Vaughn. I need your help."
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TBC
the best is still yet to come...reviews please?