Chapter 31: The Oral Episode
"May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty." – An Old Irish Toast
"Love wins when everything else fails." – Fanny Jackson Coppin
Morning came far too quickly for Sydney's taste. With the interruption of Vaughn's nightmare and the stress of all that had occurred in the past weeks, she woke up more exhausted than she was when she went to bed. Vaughn was still sleeping, and that made her happy. He needed the sleep more than she did and she tried very hard not to wake him as she moved off of him. Thankfully, he only grunted when she moved, but seemed to still be in a peaceful slumber. She tiptoed out of the room and went out into the kitchen yawning.
Will and Francie were in the kitchen when Sydney came out of her bedroom. She took one look at the pair and burst out laughing.
"What?" they both asked.
"You're much better dressed this morning!" She could barely get the words out, "You two……when you came in…the ducky shorts would have totally made an intruder run for the hills Will……and Francie, the no underwear-Will-shirt look was priceless, but the frying pan really added to the picture…" she trailed off into hearty laughter.
Both Will and Francie were laughing as well. Will said, "Well, I'm glad to see that we were so threatening…"
"Oh, yeah, totally could have taken town a couple of armed burglars…really," Sydney attempted through giggles. "So terrifying…"
They all spent a few more minutes laughing before Will said seriously, "Is he ok? He looked pretty bad last night…"
"Yeah, he's ok…just a nightmare…but to warn you guys, that's not the first one and I'm sure that won't be the last one either…you should prepare yourselves…"
"Does he get them a lot?" Francie asked.
"Well…no, not really. He only had one that I know of in the hospital, but I think last night's probably had a lot to do with all the transitions he's been making recently. Just know, that if you hear yelling, he's probably just in the throws of another nightmare."
Will shot Sydney a look with a gleam in his eye, "Or, he could be in the throws of–"
Sydney cut him off, "If you finish that sentence Will, I'll kick your little ducky-boxered ass out of this kitchen."
"Ok, ok…" he smiled. "Is there anything we can do?"
"No guys, I'm sorry, it might be kinda rough for awhile. Vaughn and I are probably in for a bunch of sleepless nights. I don't know what to tell you…maybe you want to stay at Will's place a few nights?"
Will looked at Francie and said quickly, "No, Syd…there's no need to apologize. We knew it would be rough for him…we get it…we know what we signed on for…it's ok, really…we just wanted to know if there was something we could do."
"Just give him space when he needs it…that's about all…"
"You got it Syd. You let us know if we can help." Will came over and hugged Sydney and Francie came over to join them. The three friends spent a few minutes in a group hug before setting about their tasks for the day.
Sydney grabbed a cup of coffee and made her way back to her room. She opened and shut the door as quietly as was possible. Vaughn was still sleeping peacefully and she took a few minutes just to watch him. Vaughn slowly opened his eyes and yawned. "Syd?" he asked.
"Right here," she answered moving closer.
"Morning, how long have you been awake?"
"Not long…I was just watching you sleep." she smiled. "Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?"
"Yeah, I could eat," he smiled at her as she sat on the bed.
"What do you want?"
"What do you have?"
"How about eggs? And toast? How does that sound?"
"Mmm…sounds good to me…"
"Alright, I'll be back in a bit…" she propped him up with a few of the pillows that she had thrown to the floor yesterday and kissed him and then handed him the TV remote. "Just relax, ok?"
"Mmm hmm…" he turned on the TV after she left.
