Chapter 133: Shattered Soul

"Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind." – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame." – Benjamin Franklin

"If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?" – Kahlil Gibran

"Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms, you would never see the beauty of their carvings." – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross


Sydney and Amélie left the mall quickly after finishing their coffee. Sydney tried not to speed on their way back to the house, but she was terribly worried about what had taken place in the last hour.

She was at the front door scarcely seconds after she had the car in park.

She opened the door, not even checking to see if Amélie was behind her, but the door closing confirmed that she was in fact right behind her.

The house seemed quiet, eerily so…she walked quickly to the bedroom, the door was open but she hesitated before entering.

She closed her eyes momentarily, feeling Amélie's presence behind her and then moved into the bedroom.

She stopped when she entered; Vaughn was lying on the bed, Barnett was in the chair. They looked largely…normal…but something was off.

Vaughn's eyes met hers and she instantly knew something was wrong. He reacted suddenly, making a move to reach out for her, but he groaned and winced when he tried and landed back on the bed.

She moved immediately to his side, leaning over him as he tried to control the pain, "Vaughn?" she asked.

He looked up at her and tears started to pour out of his eyes as the full weight of what had transpired hit him unexpectedly.

Sydney was terribly confused, having no clue what had happened. She looked helplessly to Barnett for answers but Amélie beat her to it.

"What did you do to my son?" she yelled.

Barnett turned to Amélie quietly, "Michael and I had a very productive session. Things got rather intense…"

Amélie refused to accept that as an answer, "What does that mean? Things got intense? How? Why?"

Barnett kept her tone calm, "Sometimes when patients are resistant to therapy, extreme measures must be taken. I thought this the best route with Michael…"

"Extreme measures? Hasn't he been through enough?" Amélie shouted angrily.

"He reacted as I suspected he would…" Barnett explained.

"He's hurt," Sydney said to no one in particular.

"What did you do to him!?" Amélie screamed.

Barnett regarded her coolly, "I didn't do anything to your son…"

"Well you obviously did something!" Amélie screamed.

Barnett and Amélie continued to go back and forth, Amélie screaming and Barnett answering her calmly. Sydney tried to interject to find out what had actually happened.

For the most part, no one was looking to Vaughn for answers.

He was in pain, he was crying, he was scared and everyone was yelling. He tried to make the voices in the room distinct in his head, but they all ran together, creating just one large bit of chaos and noise.

His crying intensified before he yelled, "STOP IT! STOP IT!! EVERYONE JUST STOP!" The pain medication seemed to do nothing for the pain at that moment; it shot through his body as he overexerted his lungs with the force of his yelling.

It was quite effective however, because the room became utterly silent.

"Shut up! All of you!" he said with tears running down his face. He took a moment to compose himself slightly, looking down, not meeting anyone's eyes.

No one said a word, just waiting for him to continue.

His voice was strained, obviously hoarse from yelling, "Dr. Barnett didn't do anything to me…I did it to myself…"

"What do you mean you did it to yourself?" Amélie said in a voice mixed with anger and confusion, "How did you hurt yourself? Why didn't you stop him?" Amélie yelled again at Barnett.

"I stopped him when he needed to be stopped…" Barnett responded calmly.

"What the hell is going on? We leave you and he's hurt when we come back?"

"I didn't hurt him, he's in pain right now because of what transpired…"

"Damnit! I want a straight answer!" Amélie yelled.

"Stop it mom!" Vaughn yelled back at his mother, meeting her gaze.

Amélie stopped abruptly, looking into her son's eyes, shocked that he had yelled at her, but the look in his eyes was what scared her more.

Sydney looked between mother and son and then to Barnett. Barnett shared a glance with her but said nothing.

"Michael…" Amélie said in a soft, startled voice.

"Barnett didn't do anything to me," he said in that same strained voice, his throat seeming to constrict more and more by the minute. He finally looked up at Sydney again, the tracks from his tears still evident as a few trailed silently down.

The look in his eyes scared her, because he looked terrified; more terrified than she had seen him. The look reminded her of how he looked in the hospital those first few days.

"What happened Vaughn?" Sydney asked him calmly, her voice low and steady.

He started to cry again when she asked him, "I…I…" he broke off, and Sydney moved closer, keeping her body in contact with his, trying to encourage him to get it out. She looked to Barnett, but she shook her head in a negative manner to indicate that this was something Vaughn needed to admit for himself.

Sydney was patient, waiting for him to calm. He took a raspy deep breath and tried to get his body to stop from shaking, "I attacked Barnett," he said flatly and hastily.

Sydney's eyes got wide and when Vaughn looked up at her, he started to cry again.

She looked over at Barnett, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine…that's what I thought would happen…it's happened many times before…I pushed him to that level…he'll be ok…"

Sydney looked back at the sobbing man on the bed. "Hey," she said, waiting for him to look at her, but he wouldn't meet her gaze again.

She tilted his chin up and his resolve crumbled, his body falling into her arms for comfort.

She grabbed him and eased him back, letting him rest on the bed, but staying close to him.

She looked over at Barnett, who smiled warmly.

"I gave him his medications…all of them…he had them about fifteen minutes ago. He's just very emotional right now. We've talked about it, and I'm fine. What he needs right now is rest and calm…not people screaming around him…"

"Vaughn, honey," Sydney started, "Can you tell me where you're hurt?"

She waited a few moments, but after a few she could see it was fruitless to ask him at that particular moment. She looked helplessly at Barnett, "Do you know where he got hurt?"

Barnett smiled, "Well, he ripped that sling off, so I'm sure his shoulder is sore…and I'd gather by the sounds of his breathing…there's a little overexertion…"

Sydney nodded, "Ok…is there anything else?"

"No, I don't think so…he needs to process…I'll call you to check in, talk to Michael, alright?"

"Ok, thank you Dr. Barnett," Sydney said quietly, "If you don't mind, I'm gonna stay with him, you can let yourself out."

"Of course," Barnett said warmly. She moved towards Michael and laid her hand on his shoulder.

Sydney was surprised to see that he didn't flinch at all by her touch and he met her gaze.

"Michael, you rest…we'll talk more later, ok? I'll call…"

He nodded, fresh tears sprung to his eyes, "I'm sorry…"

"No, Michael, we already talked about this…"

He nodded and seemed to calm slightly.

Barnett smiled and gave Sydney's shoulder a squeeze, "You'll be ok…so will he…"

She walked out the door and Amélie followed her.

She opened the door and regarded Barnett for a moment.

"I'm a professional Mrs. Vaughn…I'm completely capable of handling situations such as your son's. I have nothing but confidence in his complete recovery. I understand that what occurred scared you, but I want you to know that it's a normal reaction."

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Amélie admitted.

"Don't be…it's alright, won't be the last, and it certainly wasn't the first…" Barnett offered her a warm smile and turned, "Michael's in good hands all the way around Mrs. Vaughn…"

Amélie smiled and shut the door. She stood a moment with her back against the door, thinking about the last hour. Michael had completely broken…her son was broken…she cried silently, her little boy doing the same in the next room.

As soon as everyone else left the room, Sydney laid down beside Vaughn, pulling him into her arms. She tried to be careful, not knowing the extent of his injury; but he was clinging to her so tightly, she doubted he'd notice.

"Vaughn…can you do something for me?" she asked quietly.

His crying had reduced slightly while wrapped in the safe haven of Sydney's arms, and he was trying valiantly to calm down, but his breath kept hitching and catching, his lungs heaving at all the exercise they'd just received.

He attempted to stop himself somewhat though and he managed to at least seem to be listening, although he wouldn't look her in the eyes.

"Vaughn, I need you to tell me where you're hurt so I know if I should call Tom…"

His voice was barely above a whisper, the overexertion catching up with his wounded body, "Shoulder…ribs…chest…" he got out.

She regarded him carefully, trying to determine just how badly he'd been injured, "Should I call Tom?"

He pinched his eyes closed momentarily as a wave of pain shot through him, "Yeah," he gasped out.

She bolted off the bed and launched herself at the phone. She hit the speed dial number for Tom and tapped her foot nervously as she waited for him to answer.

"Hello?" a voice that was certainly not Tom's answered the phone, very out of breath.

Sydney stopped at the voice, "Um…hello?"

"Yes?"

Sydney looked at the phone, thinking maybe she hit the wrong speed dial, but the number she punched was for Dr. Thomas Barker, "Um…Is Tom there?"

"He's in the shower," the voice said.

"Is this Kaia?"

"Um…yeah…who's this?"

"This is Sydney Bristow…I really need to talk to Tom…can you get him out of the shower?"

"Mike's Sydney?"

Sydney smiled, "Yes."

"Hang on, I'll get him."

Kaia walked back into the bathroom, "Tom?"

"Yeah baby?"

"Sydney's on the phone…sounds really upset…"

Tom turned the faucet off immediately and threw the shower curtain back as he hastily wrapped a towel around himself, "Sydney? What happened?"

"Tom…I'm sorry to interrupt…but…Vaughn's hurt, I'm not sure how bad."

"Don't worry about that and hurt how?" Tom asked.

"The session went as Barnett planned it…Vaughn attacked her, he hurt himself while doing that…"

"He did what?"

"I'll explain when you get here. Can you get here soon?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there, just sit tight."

"Ok, thanks Tom."

"Bye," Tom said turning the phone off and hurriedly rushing out of the bathroom and grabbing some clothes.

"Tom, what's going on? Mike is hurt?"

"Yeah, I gotta go over there…"

"I'll go with you," Kaia said, throwing some clothes on as well.

Tom stopped for a moment and looked at her. He pulled her over to him, "Thank you. I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, "Let's go, I'll drive, we'll get there faster."

Tom smiled, "Yeah, we need to get there alive baby."

Kaia flashed him a sexy grin, God he loved this woman. She got in the driver's seat and buckled her seatbelt.

"What happened to Mike?"

"Therapy went as expected, Sydney said, sorry you have to meet them this way, that's not how I wanted this."

"What better way to meet them Tom?"

He smiled, and kissed her as she peeled off down the road, heading towards his injured friend.