As they approached Francie's room, Sydney could see a figure slumped down in the chair by the door. Upon getting closer, she saw that it was Eva, Francie's mother.
"Eva." Sydney hastened her steps until she reached her. "What's wrong?" she asked, sitting down.
Eva looked up, her eyes red. "The doctor was just here. He said…he said that the affects of the anaesthetic should have worn off by now, but Francie is still unresponsive. Because she hasn't woken…because she won't wake…she's unconscious…" Eva paused, struggling with her words and Sydney could feel her stomach start to churn. "He said that she is in a coma. That my baby is in a coma and that we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that she might never wake up."
As the next few days passed there was no change in Francie's condition. She had not worsened, yet did not seem to be getting any better. And trying to get some definite information from the doctors was like trying to get blood out of a stone. All they would say was that at this point Francie was 'stable'.
Will, on the other hand, had been recovering steadily and had been told that he should be home by the end of the week. However, that news, although fantastic, did nothing to dampen the worry and concern everybody was feeling for Francie.
Sydney and Vaughn spent their time between visiting Will and Francie in hospital and preparing for the new school year, which started on Monday. Sydney, in particular, always seemed to be busy. If she wasn't at the hospital, she was planning classes. If she wasn't planning classes, she was dropping in at school to clean her office. And when she wasn't doing any of these things, she was doing housework- all the time. When Sydney was stressed, she couldn't sleep, and when she couldn't sleep, she liked to have something to do. Which explained why Vaughn found her doing the folding at 2.30am Wednesday morning.
"Syd?"
She looked up. "I couldn't sleep."
"I figured." Vaughn gave her a small smile. "You want some company?"
"I'm fine. I really want to get this done. I won't have a chance to do it today."
"Syd, sooner or later you are going to have to take a break."
"Later," Sydney replied absentmindedly.
Rubbing his eyes, Vaughn headed back to the bedroom.
"Mike, can I ask you something?" Craig asked late Wednesday morning. Vaughn had just returned from a run and was waiting for Sydney to get out of the shower.
"Yeah, what?"
"Is Syd…is she…I don't know, ok?"
Vaughn looked at him for a few seconds. "What do you mean?"
"Well, for the entire time that you were out running she was cleaning the sink. And I don't mean just wiping it down or anything. I'm talking about full on scrubbing, let's remove another layer of whatever the sink is made of cleaning." Craig paused. "The whole time."
Vaughn sighed, a small smile on his lips. "Syd is fine. That's just what she does when she's in a stressful situation, or one she doesn't have any control over."
"She scrubs the sink?" Craig asked dubiously.
"And vacs and does the laundry and gardens and dusts and sweeps…you want me to keep going?"
"Uh, no. I think I've got the idea." Craig said. "So there's nothing to worry about?"
"No." Vaughn said firmly. 'Not yet anyway,' he thought.
"Hey Eva," Sydney greeted Francie's mother as she walked into the hospital room. She was sitting there with Francie's younger brother, Toby. "Any change?"
Eva shook her head sadly, her expression tired. "The same as yesterday, and the day before…" she trailed off.
"Why don't you go get yourself a coffee?" Sydney suggested. "Toby and I'll stay here with her."
Eva nodded as she stood up. "I'll be back soon."
As she walked out, Sydney sat down on a chair by the bed.
"You look tired," Toby commented.
Sydney looked at him. "I'm fine. What about you? Have your classes started yet?" she asked in regards to the economics course Toby was studying at university.
He nodded. "On Monday." He looked at Francie. "Not the best way to start," he said, his expression falling.
Sydney's own eyes fell upon her best friend, looking peaceful in the bed. "I wouldn't worry too much, Tobes. After all, Francie always says that the first week of uni was never intended for classes."
A ghost of a smile crossed Toby's face. "She told me that before my first day. Said that if I learnt anything academic in my first week she'd be bitterly disappointed."
"And did you?" Sydney asked.
Toby shrugged. "I can't remember. But if I did, I certainly didn't tell her."
Sydney let out a soft laugh, but stopped short, a slight feeling of guilt settling in her stomach. "That was probably a smart move."
"Did you hear that Will is going home Friday?" Toby said and Sydney nodded.
"Yeah."
Toby paused then, a thoughtful expression on his face. "That other guy who was in the car…"
"Craig?" Sydney prompted.
"Yeah, the way Will was speaking…are he and Francie together?"
Sydney glanced at Francie. "I'm not sure how you would define their relationship, but what I do know is that Francie likes him a lot. It's been the first time in a while that I've seen her truly excited about a guy." Sydney took a deep breath, composing herself. "Whatever is between then, Craig is very special to your sister."
Toby nodded slightly. "I just wish Fran could have the chance the tell me about him."
"She will," Sydney said softly, trying desperately to believe her own words.
Friday morning Will was discharged from the hospital, with the large bruises on his body the only reminder of the injuries he had sustained.
Even though he was free to go home and was desperate to get there, Will instead decided to go and sit with Francie, keeping both Sydney and Craig company. The atmosphere in the room was tense, and the conversation was sparse and stilted.
All they could do was sit and wait for their friend to open her eyes.
As he pulled into the hospital car park, Vaughn could feel himself growing more and more concerned about Sydney. It wasn't the fact that she was still spending her days making sure that every hour was filled. It was more the fact that she was walking around, appearing completely void of emotion.
Hands in pockets, he headed inside. In all their years together, he'd never known her to be so…well, blank. Since being told that Francie was in a coma, Vaughn had not seen even a hint of a smile on Sydney's face. Not even a forced, false one trying to send out the message that she was ok. She wasn't trying to keep up a farce that she was fine, common for Sydney to do in times like these, Vaughn thought, his mind going back to what happened to Emily.
Vaughn almost wished that she were pretending to be ok, instead of just going through the motions. He knew how to deal with the former, but the latter? He had no idea.
On Saturday, Vaughn dropped by Craig and Will's apartment to see how they were doing. When he returned back home, he walked in to see Sydney vigorously scrubbing the sink, again.
"How are they?" she asked, not looking up.
"Fine. Television and prescription painkiller, what more could they ask for?" Vaughn replied. "Will's words, not mine."
No reaction from Sydney. "Ok. Good."
"Hey Syd," Vaughn stepped towards her. "I was thinking that maybe we should catch a movie tonight."
Sydney shook her head. "They've added a new text to the year ten booklist. I want to start reading tonight," she replied, still scrubbing away.
"Syd," Vaughn placed a hand on hers, the one that was wielding a sponge. "I think the sink is clean."
Sydney stepped back, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "I know, but I have to clean it."
"Why?"
Sydney's face crumpled. "Because if I'm not doing something, then I'm thinking about Francie. And…" she paused, furiously wiping her eyes. "And if I'm thinking about Francie…"
"Then what, Syd?" Vaughn asked gently.
"Then…then…" Sydney sniffed. "I just can't lose her, Vaughn. There is no way that I could deal with that. I can't think about losing her."
"Come here." Vaughn opened his arms and Sydney gratefully collapsed into them
"Promise me I won't lose her," she mumbled into his chest.
"Syd, I want nothing more than to be able to tell you that," Vaughn said softly in her ear. "But I can't. I have no idea what is going to happen."
"I just want to talk to her, you know? I have spoken to Francie every single day since we've met. And now, it's been a week. I need her, Vaughn."
"Listen to me. I can't tell you that everything is going to be ok, but what I can tell you is that if I know Francie, and I think I do, then I am positive that she is putting up the fight of her life. She's got family, the restaurant, Craig, her friends, Will, you and somehow I don't think she'll willingly give up the chance of being Aunty Francie. She is not going to give up all that without a fight." He stepped back, looking Sydney in the eyes. "And you know just how capable she is at kicking butt," he added, hoping to illicit a smile from Sydney.
It didn't work. There was no smile. Instead, Sydney just wiped her eyes. "Thank you," she said quietly. "I really needed to hear that."
Before Vaughn could reply, Sydney picked up the sponge and turned back to the sink, leaving him to wonder if he'd really done any help at all.