(no subject)

[sunshine_queen]

So... I wrote a fic.

Sydney talks in her sleep.

Her father recalls this as he sits at her bedside, garbled words tumbling from swollen lips. He is ridiculously grateful that of all her injuries, her face was not harmed.

Sydney sleeps restlessly, hands moving and legs kicking, fretful names. Sometimes she calls for her mother, sometimes her sister. There is an occasional "Daddy," that breaks his heart, but mostly she reaches out for Vaughn, who is one floor down, in critical condition.

When she calls for her father, he takes her hand and squeezes it and says her name softly, like he would when she had nightmares as a little girl. She has opened her eyes a few times, her pupils dilated and eyes glazed. Sometimes, he is enough, but mostly she asks for Vaughn and drifts off again. Her engagement ring rests safe in his breast pocket. It is lovely.

Sydney wakes up after a few days, and the doctor tells her father to ask her questions about what she remembers. The gash in her forehead has cleaned up nicely, but they aren't sure if she's suffered any memory loss.

"Sydney," her father asks, and the afternoon is bright and sunny, "What do you remember?"

Sydney screws her face up delicately, mindful of her stitches and bites a lip, which she releases quickly when she realizes it's still sore. She speaks quietly as she tells him of their mission, and then her vacation to Santa Barbara with Vaughn.

"We... we were driving to the zoo," she says hesitantly, and her throat is scratchy. He hands her a glass of water, and she sips at it as she tries to remember more. "I was... I was distracting him."

"Is that all, Sydney? Do you remember anything beyond that?"

Sydney shakes her head slowly. "We were talking about getting married on the beach. And then I was here."

This bothers her. She has woken up once before with no memories.

She sips at her water again, her eyes big and round and perhaps six years old as she looks at him over the rim. "Dad?" she whispers, "Where's Vaughn?"

He tries to think of a way to soften the blow, because she's looking at him with such innocent eyes, and finds that there is none. He tells her, his tone gentle, and she nods slowly.

The next day she goes down there, her IV trailing forlornly as she goes down the elevator in a yellow terrycloth robe she asked for from home.

Vaughn looks better to him than he remembers, but Sydney is horrified and wells up with tears. She traces her fingers just above his stitches as if memorizing the new contours. She takes in the dark bruises, the casts, and the miles of tubing with a few whimpers. "Vaughn," she whispers to him, but then she looks confused, and hesitantly looks back at her father. He is standing sentry in the doorway, trying not to intrude.

"You won't hurt him. It's alright."

She sits and takes his hand. She apologizes for misplacing her ring, and promises to find it soon. Vaughn, she whimpers, I'm sorry I was distracting you. I'm sorry you're hurt, Vaughn, it's all my fault.

There is only the answer of his heart monitor.

Comments

[puggywuggy.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwww. That's so depressing! But very pretty, of couse. I loved the imagery of Sydney in her robe.

And remember now, his name isn't really Michael Vaughn. :P

[thepodsquad.livejournal.com]

Awwww, Madi, it's so sad. Poor Sydney. And poor Not!Vaughn!

*sniffle*

[dollsome.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was wonderful. I love the concept of Sydney not remembering what he'd revealed to her -- it makes the piece just so . . . mind-boggling, sort of, because we know something that Sydney and Jack are completely oblivious to, and it just gives so much impact. And it being told from Jack's point of view was really wonderful -- very bittersweet, and it made Sydney all the more heartbreaking because we're seeing her childlike, through her father's eyes.

Oh, Madi, you are so good. Too good.

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

VAUGHN POR SIEMPRE!

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

*pats* I'm sorry, doll.

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

I'm very into that idea. It's amazing. Because it would be so interesting to see if Vaughn cares to bring it up again, and if Syd finds out he didn't tell her....

It just kinda fell into Jack's POV. I totally intended it to be Sydney's.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I like this quite a lot. To me, it read as though Sydney did remember but was covering for Vaughn, who is perhaps past being covered for. Jack's bedside vigil tugged at my heartstrings, definitely. Lovely stuff.

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

I like that you picked up on Sydney's hesitance at saying Vaughn's name. I didn't really have an angle when I wrote it, but I think what I was going at was that Sydney knew there was something a bit off, but she couldn't put her finger on what.

But it's open to interpretation. Glad you enjoyed.