Chapter 89: Recapitulation

"When I'm feeling weak / And my pain walks down a one way street
I look above / And I know I'll always be blessed with love
And as the feeling grows / She breathes flesh to my bones
And when love is dead / I'm loving angels instead
And through it all she offers me protection / A lot of love and affection / Whether I'm right or wrong
And down the waterfall / Wherever it may take me / I know that life won't break me
When I come to call she won't forsake me / I'm loving angels instead" – "Angels" – Robbie Williams


Sydney walked back to the bedroom and sat down next to Vaughn.

She looked over at him and he turned his gaze toward her, "You know…this is really gonna put a crimp in our sex life Syd."

She laughed as he cracked up.

She was amazed at his ability to still find humor in all of this, "You're amazing you know…"

"Nope…you are…" he said pulling her down to him for a kiss, "I wouldn't be able to function normally without you."

"Thank you…"

She smiled at him softly for a few minutes, thinking. "You gonna be ok with all of this?" she asked.

"You don't think so?"

"This had to be your decision, but I wanted you to do it…I think it's important…but I want you to be ok…"

"I hope so…" he said smiling.

She looked at him for a few more minutes.

"It scares me though…"

"The therapy?"

"Yeah…I really don't want to talk about it…especially not with her…and not with you not in the room either."

She cupped his cheek, "She's not out to get you."

"I know that…it doesn't make it any easier…"

"I know…you don't have to tell her everything Vaughn."

"It's just so much easier to talk to you…it's not forced…"

She smiled, "You can still talk to me…I want you to…This session wasn't that bad, was it?"

"No," he admitted, "It's just hard to talk to a complete stranger about something you don't even want to talk about in the first place."

"I know honey."

"And three times a week? I think that's a little much…"

"Well…it'll scale back when you don't need it anymore…"

Vaughn let out a sigh.

"Are you tired?"

"Not really…"

"Are you hungry?"

"Not really…"

"You wanna pencil in one of those S.H. sessions?"

"Not–Holy HELL! Yes! You caught me off guard there…"

She smiled, "Well I did mention that we could think about taking off the boxers after Barnett left…and today we have two hours before Will and Francie get home…"

"Two hours is a long time…"

"Yes it is…" Sydney said moving herself to lie on the bed next to him.

She kissed his neck, trailing her hands up and down his chest and the removing the pants and boxers in one swift movement.

"I don't wanna ruin the mood, but I have to remind you that we have to check your bandage, do your exercises…and you can't be on your back…"

She followed her sentence with a long, languid kiss, and then she grabbed onto his waist, pulling him with her until he was on top of her. He let out a grunt and stayed perched on her chest, eyes closed.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Just give me a minute…"

She traced patterns on his back, and smiled to herself, because she'd been so caught up in the moment, she hadn't taken his shirt off…or any of her clothes for that matter.

She squirmed under him, making him moan again, but managed to get at least her pants and panties off.

She went back then to tracing patterns on his back.

He didn't stir for a while, and when he did, she noted his wince as he picked his head up.

"Are you ok?" she asked again.

"Yeah…"

She smiled and pulled his erection up to her wet folds.

His head dropped back to her chest and he sighed contentedly when he felt her open her legs more and pull him up into her fully. She entwined her legs with his, her feet coming to rest on the backs of his knees so when she pulled her legs up, it sent him further into her moist heat and tightness. She let out a low moan herself as she felt him sink into her more deeply.

She settled her arms on his waist and waited for him to look at her to tell her he was ok to start.

He picked up his head tiredly and smiled.

"Doing alright?" she asked and he answered with a nod.

She gripped him tighter and began a simple, gentle rhythm of pulling him out and in.

She couldn't see his reactions, because his head was again on her chest, but she could hear his moans and sighs and he wasn't complaining.

She worked in a pattern of using her arms and hips with a combined effort of her muscles inside her to help him with the thrusts. For all intensive purposes, she was doing all the work, but she was getting incredibly close to climax herself.

His breathing was ragged and pitched, and if she looked down at an angle, she could see his face contorting with a visage of the 'soon-to-be-released' club.

She smiled down at him when she realized that he was waiting for her.

She came hard and quickly, surprising herself as her inner walls fluttered and spasmed hard against him. That was all it took for him to come, grunting his release as she helped move him in her deeper.

She moved her legs down to a more relaxed position, but one that still held him inside her.

His breathing evened out some, but she could tell it was labored.

She carefully rolled him over again, watching as the pain rippled across his face as they moved. His back came in contact with the bed and he yelped in response.

Once she had him off of the wound, he calmed considerably and closed his eyes.

She looked at him concerned, "You ok?" she asked.

"Mmmhmm…" he said smiling at her.

"You're first on top sex…" she said tracing his jaw line.

"I don't think it qualifies Syd…"

"Why not?"

"You did all the work…I was just along for the ride…"

She smiled, "We should do your exercises…"

"Ok."

She moved to dress him again, but just settled for the boxers this time, and sat on his legs, helping him with the crunches. As long as his back didn't hit the bed, he was fine.

After the crunches, Sydney helped Vaughn do the standing exercise and then came the deep breathing.

She removed the wrap and they started that, but he was having a lot of trouble.

"Vaughn…"

"Y…yeah…" he said through half-hearted deep breaths.

"Are you out of breath?"

"Kinda…"

She put her head to his chest, listening for any abnormality, but she couldn't find any.

She only let him struggle for a few more seconds and then replaced the oxygen, "That's enough for today," she said gently.

He smiled relieved.

She moved to sit him up, and he flinched when his back muscles stretched and pulled on the wound.

They once again went through the ordeal of getting the bandage off and when she finally peeled it off, it wasn't much different from before. With the usual oozy matter there was some blood, but the wound itself didn't look any better or worse. She replaced the bandage after cleaning it and then lay him down to rest until dinner.

She could sense that something wasn't right with him, but until he told her or until she could visually see the problem, there wasn't much she could do.

She left him resting on the bed, with the ice pack on his back again and he fell asleep before she was even out of the room.