Chapter 34: Discovery

"The best looking-glass is the eyes of a friend" – Irish Proverb

"'The time has come,' the Walrus said, 'To talk of many things: Of shoes-and ships-and sealing wax-Of cabbages-and kings-And why the sea is boiling hot-And whether pigs have wings.'" – Lewis Carroll


Sydney busied herself preparing the bathroom for his bath. She got plenty of towels out, soap, shampoo, and also set out his shaving materials, which Weiss had brought along with Vaughn's clothes. She was going to put bubbles in the water, but decided against that when she thought of all the wounds that might not take extra soap and fragrance lightly. She could only imagine how that might sting. She ran the water especially hot, knowing it would probably take awhile to get him in the bathroom. While the tub filled, she also went to the kitchen and grabbed her checklists and retrieved the bandages that she'd need after the bath. Lastly, she grabbed a chair from the dining room and put it as close to the tub as she could get it, so Vaughn could sit while she made sure the bath was ready.

She returned to the bedroom about fifteen minutes later. She opened the door quietly and it looked like Vaughn was sleeping again. She didn't want to wake him if he was; she knew that he was going to be tired a lot. Donovan was resting comfortably at his side and Sydney smiled at the two males on the bed. She watched Vaughn's chest rise and fall for a few minutes, and then went out of the room again, deciding to wait with the bath.

She let the water drain out of the tub and then settled on the couch in the living room and was watching some nature show on the Discovery channel to pass the time when Will walked in the front door.

"Hey Syd!" he said and then added quickly, "Oh God! I'm so sorry, is Vaughn sleeping? I shouldn't have been so loud."

Sydney smiled as she looked at him, "Don't worry, duck man, I think it's fine. He'll be out for a while."

"Please tell me that you're not going to start calling me duck man? And why will he be out for a while?"

"Duck man or Duckie, you know, like Pretty in Pink? You can choose which one you'd prefer. We had a rather nasty muscle spasm after you guys left, I think he's pretty wiped out. The doctor told him he was on strict bed rest or he'd come over and kick his ass. Where's Fran?"

"She's at the restaurant…whatcha watchin'?"

"I really have no idea, I only turned it on a second before you came in."

"How are you doing?" Will asked tentatively.

"I'm fine…how are you?" She asked.

"No, Syd. Really, how are you?"

"I'm fine Will, really…I'm not the one who was tortured…"

"Are you gonna tell me now? I know you couldn't over the phone…what happened exactly."

"It was Sloane." Sydney stated flatly, but Will could tell her whole demeanor had changed.

"He took Vaughn?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah, he tortured him the whole time he had him. You should see some of the wounds he has Will…they are so awful…Form what Vaughn's told me, it was hell…"

"I'll bet…is he ok…you know emotionally?"

"I think he's all right. He's better if he's with me, or people he knows. We talk about it when he needs to. I think he's dealing with it ok, he's been in this line of work, he knows what happens…I don't know, I guess we'll have to see…he seems to be handling things quite well all things considered."

"Are you handling things well?" Will asked quietly.

She smiled at him, "Yeah, Will…I'm ok. Really, I just want to be there for him. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it was really easy seeing him like this, but I'm going to help him. I need him to be ok too…I just try not to think about what they did, or I get really angry. Right now, I'm just focused on him getting better. I'll deal with kicking Sloane's ass after he's ok again."

Will seemed happy with that answer. They watched the show for a few minutes in silence.

There was a quiet "Syd?" that could be heard from down the hall. Sydney was up in an instant.

"I'll be back Will." She said as she raced down the hall.

"Ok Syd." Will stayed on the couch watching the show.

Sydney entered the room thinking that something was wrong, but Vaughn was smiling at her when she came in.

"Are you ok? What's wrong?"

"Nothing currently. Mixing pain medications is a wonderful thing."

"I'm glad honey. Do you want to try that bath now or you wanna wait a while?"

"No, we can do it now…are we going to share like last time?"

"Vaughn, you've already had one muscle spasm today, I don't want to give you another one." Sydney said with a sly grin.

"Touché," he replied.

"Plus, I'd probably drown you with all the drugs you're on right now. It's just a good thing you don't have any tox screenings anytime soon." She sat down on the edge of the bed and kissed him.

"Sydney?"

"Yeah."

"It's not that I don't have confidence in your ability, but exactly how are you going to get a guy who can't really walk yet and is hopped up on pain medication to the bathroom?"

"I was thinking about that actually…Will just came home…would you be uncomfortable if he helped us get you to the bathroom?"

"Uh, I guess not…no…"

"Are you sure, cause I can do it by myself."

Vaughn smiled at her tenaciousness, "No, Syd it's ok…I'll let Will help…and I won't get weird if you're worried about that."

"I wasn't, but I know Will would understand anyway…I'll get him."

She left the bedroom and went back to find Will still watching the program she had been watching.

"Will?" she asked.

"Hey Syd. You know, this is actually pretty interesting…it's all about these frogs that live in the Amazon and they–"

"Will."

"Yeah Syd?"

"Can you do me a favor."

He stood up and said, "Sure, whatdya need?"

"I need to get Vaughn to the bathroom, I'm going to give him a bath…and I need help getting him in there, because he's not ready to walk on his own…and I think it might be difficult for me to do it alone. Can you help me out?"

"Sure! He doesn't mind?" he asked.

"No, he said it was ok…Just give me a minute to go get the bath water back in the tub…"

"Ok, let me know Syd."

She went down the hall to the bathroom and ran the tub again until it was full. Then she went back to the living room. Will was sting on the edge of the couch, arms folded across his chest, concentrating on the frogs on the screen.

"Will?"

He jumped, "God! Yeah, you ready?"

She smiled, "Yeah duck man, I'm ready…"

He smiled and let her lead the way back to the bedroom.