Chapter 47: The Visitors
"And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught." – Kahlil Gibran (The Prophet)
When Sydney woke the next morning, the first thing she saw when her eyes opened were the ashes from last night's fire. The
fire was out, silenced, and she thought it was a fitting end to the whole scene from the previous night. She was still laying on Vaughn, and could feel him inside her. She looked up at him, smiling; he was still sleeping. She eased herself off of him, but stayed lying prone on top of his sleeping form. She looked around the house, wondering if Francie and Will had left, or if they were just somewhere being extremely quiet. Her guesses were answered by the opening of Francie's bedroom door; as Will bounded out, hair disheveled, mouth open wide in a yawn. His bare feet slapped against the tile floor as he made his way to the bathroom. When he emerged, he risked a glance over at the couch, and Sydney smiled at him. He quietly padded over towards the couch, scratching his head as he walked.
"Hey," he said in a whisper.
"Good morning," Sydney answered with her own yawn.
"So you made it out here all night, huh?"
"Yes, we did," Sydney said, realizing suddenly that had it not been for the blanket that was covering her and Vaughn, she would be giving Will quite a show. She blushed and Will looked at her strangely. She smiled, but didn't make any motion to answer his curiosity.
He seemed to slowly figure it out however, and shifted nervously on his feet.
Sydney finally said, "Fran still here?"
"Nope," he answered. "She left really early...she had some stuff to take care of; we left in kind of a rush you know yesterday. It's still really early anyway," Will finished, gesturing to the window.
Sydney looked over and realized that the sun was just beginning to come up. "Oh, I thought it was later, what time is it exactly?"
"About 6:30..."
"And Francie left already?"
"Yeah..."
"Hmm…so who's gonna make breakfast today?" Sydney asked with a hinting in her tone.
"Hmm…I wonder...you want Will's wonderful pancakes?"
"Yes!" Sydney said a little too excitedly. Vaughn stirred and his eyes opened slightly. He yawned and gripped Sydney tighter. Gradually, he came out of his sleepy stupor and smiled up at the already smiling Sydney.
"Hey," he said throatily.
"Hey yourself. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"S'alright. May I ask why you moved?"
Sydney suddenly remembered that Will was standing right next to them. She looked up and Vaughn followed her gaze. He smiled at Will. "Oh...morning Will," he said as he too realized their combined state of undress.
"Morning Michael," Will said obliviously, "You want pancakes too? Sydney's hinting that I'm supposed to make breakfast because Francie left already."
"Sure Will, that'd be great."
"Ok…"
Once Will had left to go back to the kitchen, Sydney looked back down at Vaughn.
He looked up at her with a gleam in his eyes, "Well?" he asked.
"Well what?" she replied.
"Why did you move?"
"I didn't know what time it was, I didn't want Will and Francie to catch us in a compromising position, but Will did anyway, although I really don't think he figured it out…"
"No, I don't think he did."
"I'm glad he's gone, so I can go get us some clothes…stay here, I'll be right back…" She bolted to her bedroom, taking one of the blankets with her, covering her naked body.
Will poked his head into the living room, and looked to Vaughn. Vaughn shrugged his shoulder and Will shook his head and went back to the kitchen. Sydney came back out dressed, with clothes under her arm for Vaughn.
She approached the couch, and got a pair of boxers on him. At least if Will came in, he might not suspect she thought. Will didn't come back in though, and she had ample time to help Vaughn dress, thankfully so she didn't need to rush him.
Once he was fully clothed, she looked at the dead fire and then back to him. "Vaughn?"
"Yeah?"
"I thought about something when I first woke up."
"What was that?"
"The first thing I saw when I woke was the fire…the fire that had gone out, and maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but I thought it was kind of a fitting metaphor."
"How so?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Well…last night, the fire was in full blaze – like your torture, then, when we were making love, I think it changed into something else for you…am I right?"
"Yeah…I have something nice to think about now instead."
"Right, and every fire dies Michael…you're memories of your torture are going to go away or at least lessen. In the end, all that'll be left of them is embers…embers of the pain, embers of the terrible memories."
He smiled at her, "That's awfully philosophical for this early in the morning Syd," he joked, but his tone was loving.
She smiled bashfully, "I know…"
"You're right though…thank you…for giving me another wonderful memory to replace a bad one."
"You're welcome."
The two were just beginning to kiss when Will interrupted with a clear of this throat.
"Uh, sorry guys, but the pancakes are ready."
"Ok, Will…"
He brought in three plates with several pancakes on them, and another one with extras. Sydney got up to help him bring in syrup and juice and she also grabbed Vaughn's pain medication as well.
They had a quiet breakfast, but enjoyable. When they were finished, Will cleaned up and then came back into the living room to the lounging couple.
"You want me to help you get to the bedroom before I leave guys?"
Sydney looked down at Vaughn, "You wanna go back to the bedroom, or you want to try to park it out here today."
"I think I'll try out here, change of scenery."
"Ok…I think you're off the hook Will."
"Alright, good luck today, I'll see you guys after work." He grabbed his jacket and took off out the front door.
Once Will had left, Sydney looked down at Vaughn. It was almost 8:00. "You wanna start your exercises for the day, Mr. Vaughn?"
He groaned, "Ok," he grumbled.
"K…let's see…let's start with our old stand-by: the deep breathing exercises!"
She moved over and took off the rib wrap and let him do his thing. She ran to the kitchen and put a piece of paper on the refrigerator with a magnet. The piece of paper said "Breathing" on the top. Sydney also had listed the next two weeks' dates on the sheet. Then she made one hash mark next to today's date.
She came back into the living room just as he was finishing. She moved again to change his bandages, easing him into a sitting position.
"Does that count as sitting up once?" he asked cheekily.
"No, Vaughn, it doesn't," she said sternly.
"Humpf…" he said.
She finished with the bandages, replaced the wrap and stood in front of him.
"What now?" he asked.
"Now, we can either exercise your ankle or we can do the sitting up crunches…you're choice."
"Let's do the ankle," he chose.
She moved down to his ankle and elevated the leg with her hand. "Ok, rotate please."
He attempted whilst wincing, which she sympathized with, but she knew he had to do it, so she didn't say anything. After a few minutes, she said, "Ok, that should be good for now."
He looked extremely relieved.
"Let's do the crunches…"
"Sydney that's totally gonna suck. I'm gonna be in pain the minute I move."
"I know…but we have to…I wouldn't make you do it if we didn't have to." She looked at the sheet of instructions that Tom had left. "Ok, you have to lay down first, then I sit on your legs and help pull you into a sitting position. We do one, hold if for a count of three and then you lay back down and rest for a minute…ready?"
"No." he stated flatly.
She smiled compassionately, but moved the pillows and lay him down on the couch. She sat on his legs, and grabbed his right hand. She stopped, "Hmm…yeah, the sheet is for people with the use of two hands…I wonder what we do with someone with the use of only one?"
He looked at her as if to say 'I told you so.' She continued to sit on his legs, looking at the sheet and obviously deep in thought. He swore he could actually see the wheels turning up there as he watched her in amusement. She got off of his legs, grabbed the phone and dialed what was now Speed Dial #6 – Tom Barker. It rang twice, "Dr. Tom…"
"Yeah, it's me…"
"Hey Syd, what's up?"
"I put you on speed dial…"
"That's nice…is that all you called to tell me?"
"No…sorry, uh…Vaughn and I were going to start the sitting up stuff, but I'm a little puzzled as to how to carry it out."
"Ok, well…just sit on his legs so he can't use them to move and then pull him up into a sitting position, hold it and then let him back down…"
"Yep, it's the getting him up to the sitting position that's got me puzzled."
"How so?"
"Well…I'm supposed to pull him up with my hands…pull his hands…"
"Right."
"Yeah…how?"
"I'm not following, just grab his hands and pull him up…just take each of his…" there was silence. "Oh…OH! Sorry…I wasn't thinking…right…only one hand for now…hmm…well, we can modify…one hand won't give either one of you enough power to pull him up. Let me think a minute." There was silence again.
Sydney waited patiently. A full minute passed. She started to wonder if she had lost him, "Tom?"
"Yeah, still here, just thinking…I was thinking you could pull him up by the shoulders, but you'd have to sit up farther, and that would do no good for his muscles, plus there's the whole shoulder problem…can I call you back?"
"Sure…"
"K, I'll figure something out and then I'll call you right back."
