SYDNEY POV
I wake up and I swear it feels like I'm breaking through the water. I can actually see what is going on around me and I can hear the sounds that are around me.
I'm in Vaughn's arms. He's holding me and it feels nice. It feels like his hands are wiping away what all those other men put on me.
I try to put those other men out of my head, but I don't seem to have any control over my mind and I'm soon going under the water again. My body stiffens up and it's so tense it hurts.
I think that he just woke up because there's another noise over everything else. I can feel all their hands on me and they burn. But then there's another hand, one that's pushing all the other ones away.
Please, oh please make them go away.
VAUGHN'S POV
Sleeping is one of those things I never got enough of. And it doesn't seem like that is going to change now.
Sydney's awake again and the panic has set in again. She's as stiff as a board and fighting against an invisible opponent. I put a calming hand on her back and start to stroke the length of her vertebrae. She relaxes a little bit but it takes at least ten minutes for her to become limp in my arms.
"Syd? Do you want anything to eat?" She looks up at me and I'm glad because her eyes seem clearer and she seems to understand what I'm telling her.
"What can I have?" I sit her onto the couch and move to the little kitchen. Opening the refrigerator I find.....not much.
A yogurt, a banana, and......old cheese.
"Sydney? What have you been living on these last few months?" She just stares at me, her eyes vacant again and her expression one of pain. I sigh and grab the yogurt and a spoon. I open it for her and bring it back to the couch.
She stretches her hand out for it and I lay the spoon on the coffee table.
"I have to make a phone call, eat." I grab my cell phone and move into the bathroom. Dialing my home phone number I wait for someone to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Lauren. It's me."
"Sweatheart, thank god. I called Agent Weiss and he said that you were no longer at the hospital."
"I know, um I'm with Sydney. She, she needs someone right now and I'm the only one she'll let help her."
"When are you coming home?"
"Well I'm going to need to pick up some clothing." I know that's not what she's asking but what do I say? I can't very well tell her 'never'.
"Oh, alright, I'll get some ready for you."
"Thanks, I'll ask someone else to get them actually. I'm not sure if I can leave Sydney right now." With that I hang up and move back towards the living room.
Sydney hadn't touched her yogurt at all. He sat down next to her, keeping his eyes on his hands which were together in his lap. For what seemed like an eternity, they sat there in silence.
"You don't have to stay here just because you feel bad."
I'm taken aback by her statement. Is that what she thinks? That I feel guilty and that's why I'm staying here? I say this to her and she looks down, obviously ashamed.
"I stay with you because I care. Because we need each other and because I don't want to wake up one morning and find out that you killed yourself." Her head snaps up to look at me, there is anger in her eyes.
"Is that what you think I'm going to do? Just because I was..Ra-aped doesn't mean that I'll kill myself." She stumbles over the word rape and a sob almost escapes her beautiful lips.
"No I mean. Yes, maybe." I mentally kick myself. Could I be any more insensitive and stupid?
"Well if that's why you're staying, you can just go, I don't need you here." She turns away from me, her chin held high. If it were anybody else they would have fallen for her semblance of strength. But he knew better. Her chin was trembling slightly and he could see the dark circles under her eyes, not to mention the almost unnoticeable clamminess of her skin. Which meant that she was upset, it always happened when she had cried or had been through a lot of stress.
"That's not the reason I'm staying, nothing you say will push me away. You can't give me a reason to leave you." With that he took her yogurt and brought it to the kitchen.
I wake up and I swear it feels like I'm breaking through the water. I can actually see what is going on around me and I can hear the sounds that are around me.
I'm in Vaughn's arms. He's holding me and it feels nice. It feels like his hands are wiping away what all those other men put on me.
I try to put those other men out of my head, but I don't seem to have any control over my mind and I'm soon going under the water again. My body stiffens up and it's so tense it hurts.
I think that he just woke up because there's another noise over everything else. I can feel all their hands on me and they burn. But then there's another hand, one that's pushing all the other ones away.
Please, oh please make them go away.
VAUGHN'S POV
Sleeping is one of those things I never got enough of. And it doesn't seem like that is going to change now.
Sydney's awake again and the panic has set in again. She's as stiff as a board and fighting against an invisible opponent. I put a calming hand on her back and start to stroke the length of her vertebrae. She relaxes a little bit but it takes at least ten minutes for her to become limp in my arms.
"Syd? Do you want anything to eat?" She looks up at me and I'm glad because her eyes seem clearer and she seems to understand what I'm telling her.
"What can I have?" I sit her onto the couch and move to the little kitchen. Opening the refrigerator I find.....not much.
A yogurt, a banana, and......old cheese.
"Sydney? What have you been living on these last few months?" She just stares at me, her eyes vacant again and her expression one of pain. I sigh and grab the yogurt and a spoon. I open it for her and bring it back to the couch.
She stretches her hand out for it and I lay the spoon on the coffee table.
"I have to make a phone call, eat." I grab my cell phone and move into the bathroom. Dialing my home phone number I wait for someone to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Lauren. It's me."
"Sweatheart, thank god. I called Agent Weiss and he said that you were no longer at the hospital."
"I know, um I'm with Sydney. She, she needs someone right now and I'm the only one she'll let help her."
"When are you coming home?"
"Well I'm going to need to pick up some clothing." I know that's not what she's asking but what do I say? I can't very well tell her 'never'.
"Oh, alright, I'll get some ready for you."
"Thanks, I'll ask someone else to get them actually. I'm not sure if I can leave Sydney right now." With that I hang up and move back towards the living room.
Sydney hadn't touched her yogurt at all. He sat down next to her, keeping his eyes on his hands which were together in his lap. For what seemed like an eternity, they sat there in silence.
"You don't have to stay here just because you feel bad."
I'm taken aback by her statement. Is that what she thinks? That I feel guilty and that's why I'm staying here? I say this to her and she looks down, obviously ashamed.
"I stay with you because I care. Because we need each other and because I don't want to wake up one morning and find out that you killed yourself." Her head snaps up to look at me, there is anger in her eyes.
"Is that what you think I'm going to do? Just because I was..Ra-aped doesn't mean that I'll kill myself." She stumbles over the word rape and a sob almost escapes her beautiful lips.
"No I mean. Yes, maybe." I mentally kick myself. Could I be any more insensitive and stupid?
"Well if that's why you're staying, you can just go, I don't need you here." She turns away from me, her chin held high. If it were anybody else they would have fallen for her semblance of strength. But he knew better. Her chin was trembling slightly and he could see the dark circles under her eyes, not to mention the almost unnoticeable clamminess of her skin. Which meant that she was upset, it always happened when she had cried or had been through a lot of stress.
"That's not the reason I'm staying, nothing you say will push me away. You can't give me a reason to leave you." With that he took her yogurt and brought it to the kitchen.