Chapter 69: Gymboree!

"Paradise is there, behind that door, in the next room; but I have lost the key. Perhaps I have only mislaid it." – Kahlil Gibran

"Our mind is a sponge; our heart is a stream. Is it not strange that most of us choose sucking rather than running?" – Kahlil Gibran

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." – Theodore Roosevelt


Sydney left the house and drove straight to the gym. She made sure that she had her cell phone with her in case Amélie needed to call. She contemplated calling the house to check on them but refrained; she hadn't called when Eric was there and Amélie could certainly take care of Vaughn better than Eric. She threw the phone into her bag and walked into the gym.

The receptionist greeter her upon her entry and a few staff members exchanged pleasantries with her as well.

She made her way to the locker room and changed from her jeans and tee shirt to a sports tank top and shorts.

Once changed, she made her way out to the workout area. She stretched and warmed up and then ran a mile. After cooling down, she made her way over to the room that contained the punching bags.

When she walked through the door, a man grabbed her from behind. Without thinking, Sydney flipped the man over, sending him across the floor. He ended up laying flat on his back, sprawled out.

Sydney moved into a fighting stance, ready to take on an attack, but the man only groaned. Sydney flew over to where he lay.

"Oh God! Cade! I'm so sorry!"

The man moved slightly, "Jesus Christ! I mean, I knew you were well trained, but my God woman!"

"I know, I'm sorry…I just sort of went into self-defense mode…I'm really sorry…are you ok?"

She offered him a hand, helping him up.

"Yeah, I'm ok. I'm rather proud actually. There aren't many people that could lay me out like that. Of course, you did have the element of surprise."

"I did…really, I'm sorry."

"It's ok…now get over here and give me a proper hello!"

He reached out his arms and Sydney closed the gap between them, giving him a large hug.

After they parted, Cade asked, "So…I haven't seen you here in a while…where ya' been? Find someone else's bag to punch?"

"No, of course not! I love punching your bag. I've just been very busy…with personal stuff…you know…"

"Oh…that hot new boyfriend of yours keeping you busy?" he asked with a wink.

"Oh yeah – more than you know…" she replied.

"Good!"

She smacked him on the arm.

"Ow! First you throw me around, now you're gonna hit me? Why don'tcha just use ME as the bag!"

"Because you'd enjoy it too much!"

"Yeah…that's true," Cade said smiling, "anyway, 'nuf small talk, let's dance!"

He bounded over to a vacant bag as Sydney chuckled, but followed after him. He handed Sydney the tape and helped her with taping up her hands. Then he helped her into the gloves.

"Ok," he started when she was all set, "let's punch out your problems."

Sydney smiled at his common phrase, but then turned serious as she listened to Cade bark out instructions on what and where to hit the bag. He held onto it, keeping it stable as she punched and kicked.

Once he knew she had a good rhythm going, he shut up, letting her work on whatever she needed to.

He let her go on for quite awhile, just patiently holding the bag as it received a beating from Sydney.

Sydney tried not to think as she started hitting the bag, but she found that the more she tried not to think, the more she thought about. She thought about Vaughn, hurt, at home, looking at still another three months of recovery. She thought about Vaughn's mother, subjected to the horror of almost losing her son and not really knowing it. She thought about Francie and Will and how much their lives had changed as a result of knowing her. She thought about her mother, her ever-perplexing mother, and what she had planned, why she helped Vaughn. She thought about work, about the house, about Weiss, about her father. Hell, she even thought about Donovan. Her thoughts turned to Vaughn again, and her punches became slightly softer, pulled back. He was such a wonderful man, tortured for no good reason, brought to the brink of death and subjected to more pain and fear than anyone should ever have to endure. She thought of him helpless and alone on that cement floor, beaten and burned and taunted; her punches were no longer being pulled.

Cade struggled to hang onto the bag as Sydney's punches changed.

She thought about the men that had beaten Vaughn, had burned him. She thought of Sark, the errand boy, the rat who did Sloane's bidding…….Sloane……the name alone brought a wave of nausea to her, bile rising every time she was forced to think of his face. Sloane…the man responsible for Vaughn's torment, responsible for taking the man she loved away from her, responsible for making him afraid, making him desperate. She threw punch after punch, imagining it was his ugly face that she was hitting. Her arms were like a whirlwind; passers-by would have scarcely seen her arms moving anymore; it was like a hailstorm of tracks in the air.

Cade sensed another change as Sydney's punches and kicks became frantically violent and aimless. Finally after she'd been punching for about a half hour, he stopped her, "Ok Syd…that's good…let's take…Uhn!…Jesus! Let's take a break…"

She continued hitting until he yelled, "Sydney!" a few more times.

She stopped, looking at him strangely.

"What?" she asked.

"I thought I better stop you before you punched a hole in the bag. Other people like to use them you know."

She smiled out of breath, mild embarrassment on her face, "Sorry…I guess I got a little carried away."

"Hmm…I see that…anything you wanna talk about?" he asked, moving over to help her out of the gloves and tape.

"Mmm…no, it's ok…I'm good. I think I worked out a fair amount of frustration, thanks…"

"Sure, anytime…"

He watched as she waved and started to walk away.

He jogged after her to catch up, "Syd!"

She turned, "Yeah?"

"You said you had a lot of personal stuff going on – it's not that boyfriend is it? Is he giving you trouble or something – cause I'd be glad to–"

"No, Cade, nothing like that…It's not him," she smiled reaching a hand out to touch his cheek, "but thanks…that was really sweet."

"Sure," he said returning the smile, "so it's not anything I can help with?" he said one more time, just making sure.

"No, really though, you've helped a lot."

"Good," he said, obviously relieved, "you should take a swim – it'll relax you, before your shower."

She smiled again, "Thanks Cade, I think I will," she hugged him, "Excuse the sweat…"

"Any day sweetie, any day."

He watched her go; waving as she gave him one more glance and then turned around and put the gloves in the pile to clean.

He threw the tape away and went over to the door to wait for his next client.