. . .Previously:
“Base I have the package, I’m in room 214. I need extraction.”
“Copy that Mountaineer. Team’s on it’s way. E.T.A. in” a pause as he checked with the team “4 minutes” came over the static in her comm link.
...
Too late . . .
A fraction of a second too late and time was against her once again.
She should have kept her head in the game, shouldn’t have been thinking about Vaughn
“Goodbye” Koreshnokov said to her in Russian as he squeezed the trigger, gun aimed at her chest.
She closed her eyes.
Goodbye
...
“At approximately 10:16 this morning, Agent Sydney Bristow was shot” Dixon’s voice wavered for a moment before strengthening “in the chest while on a routine mission.” There was a collective gasp in the meeting room as he continued. “She was taken to Mount Sinai hospital and is currently in surgery . . .”
...
“How is she?”
“Is she ok?”
“The bullet fractured her ribcage and a bone fragment punctured her heart . . . There was internal bleeding. We repaired the damage the best we could and she made it through the surgery . . .” Both men let out a breath of relief. “But she slipped into a coma soon after. I’m sorry . . .”
...
“Michael, is that you?” he heard called from the living room.
“Yeah it’s me” he answered solemnly, shutting the door behind him.
Lauren stepped into the entryway with a slight smile on her face that slowly fell as she met his gaze.
“Lauren, we need to talk . . .”
...
“...I know the last few weeks have been hard . . . Losing your friends . . . Finding out Vaughn is married . . . For everyone else the world changed gradually. For you it changed overnight . . . I know it may not seem like there’s much of a reason for you to come back, but-” his hand shook slightly as he continued to smooth her hair “but I need you here Sydney. You’ve been my silent strength all these years and I need you to wake up honey . . . Daddy needs you to wake up now . . .”
...
“Hey Syd” he said quietly, his voice breaking on her name. “It’s Will.” He swallowed. “Your father arranged for me to come back . . . He thought you’d want to hear from me . . .”
“...They say you might not wake up . . . But you have to . . . I know I’m in witness protection and we won’t see each other, but the world needs Sydney Bristow . . . *I* need you Syd . . . I need to know you’re ok . . . that you’re alive and you’re ok . . . So wake up Syd” he began to cry again softly. His head came to rest on their joined hands. “Wake up Syd please . . .”
...
“Sydney, it’s your mother . . .”
“Maybe I forfeited the right to call myself that when you were 6 years old, but I am still your mother . . .”
She stood and pulled a syringe out of her pocket.
“So I’m going to help you . . . Help you out of the place you’re in right now . . .”
She removed the cover from the syringe.
“I’ve had this lab in France for awhile now, where they work on medical experiments . . . They created this formula that combats ‘the rising dark’ . . . What the scientists there call a coma . . . I pray it will help you too . . . It’s been thoroughly tested and you aren’t on anything that might counteract it, I checked . . . I would never give it to you if it weren’t safe . . .”
She injected the contents into Sydney’s I.V. and then, capping the syringe, she leaned forward and placed a kiss on Sydney’s forehead.
“You’re going to be ok now Sydney . . . I promise . . .” she said softly.
She stood there for awhile, looking down at her daughter . . . Then she sighed and left the room. The only sounds left behind were the beeping of the heart monitor and the sound of the respirator pumping air into Sydney’s lungs. As the door shut behind her, Sydney’s hand twitched, then lay still . . .
...
Dr. Williams looked at Sydney’s chart and frowned at the nurse standing beside him.
“I’m noticing a spike in her temperature since this morning. Has she been administered any drugs that weren’t noted on the chart?” he asked, flipping the pages, looking for anything that might have been missed.
“No doctor, nothing new has been administered since she was admitted to the ICU” the nurse answered.
“Well, she may be getting an infection. We need to treat it before her fever gets any higher. Give her ten cc’s of sepataxime. Let’s see how she does on that . . .”
...
And now . . .
~Vaughn returns~
Part 10: Hush
I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz or arrow of carnations that propagate fire
I love you as certain dark things are loved
Secretly
between the shadow and the soul
I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself, the light of those flowers
And thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth
I love you without knowing how or when
or from where
I love you simply, without problems or pride
I love you in this way because I don't know
any other way of loving
but this, in which there is no I or you
So intimate that your hand upon my chest
is my hand
So intimate that when I fall asleep
it is your eyes that close . . .
– Pablo Neruda, Sonnet XVII
Vaughn pushed the door to Sydney’s room open slowly. It slid with a soft whoosh across the floor as his gaze moved hesitantly around the room until it fell on her form lying so still in the single hospital bed . . .
He took in everything in an instant . . . The paleness of her skin, it was almost translucent, the dark smudges under her eyes, they looked like bruises, and the tube that was taped to her mouth that trailed to the respirator, the reason her chest continued to rise and fall . . .
It nearly broke his heart but he took it all in, hungrily, thankful that she was still here . . . Still tethered to this world, however faintly . . .
Not gone . . .
He blinked rapidly when her image became hazy, tears clouding his vision . . . This wouldn’t, couldn’t, end the way that day had . . .
Memories drifted to him . . .
“Earth to earth” despair “Ashes to ashes” crumbling sand “Dust to dust” the wind carried her away . . .
<<Dr. Harris to Exam room 3. Dr. Harris to Exam 3>>
The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the first thing that registered as Vaughn blinked the hospital room back into focus and dragged a hand down his face to wipe it . . . Exhaling a shaky breath, he stepped fully into the room, allowing the door to close softly behind him . . .
In the silence, Jack’s words drifted back to him . . .
“You’re not alone, Vaughn’s here . . .”
He’d heard the hushed words Jack had spoken to Sydney before he’d pulled Vaughn half into the hallway . . . He’d then informed Vaughn that he was to stay with Sydney while Jack went on the mission to retrieve the man who had shot her. Even at the mention of Koreshnokov, Jack’s features had hardened and his jaw tightened and Vaughn found himself almost pitying Koreshnokov with Jack on his trail . . . But as the sounds of the hospital seeped in, any possibility of pity for him dissapeared.
Jack had placed one hand on his shoulder even as his features almost imperceptibly shifted when he looked over at Sydney. Then, with one final order to Vaughn, “Notify me if anything happens . . .” he’d departed, his brisk stride and stiff posture carrying him down the hall until he turned a corner and dissapeared from view . . .
Vaughn shook off his memories as Sydney’s presence seemed to pull him across the room and he followed, sitting down heavily in the chair next to her . . . He was quiet for a long moment, trying to gather his emotions . . . She looked so small and pale and broken lying there . . .
Not gone . . .
He picked up her hand as he shook his head. She had to be ok . . .
He opened his mouth to speak. “Syd” his voice emerged, hoarse from emotion. “It-it’s me” he cleared his throat. “It’s Vaughn” he sighed and reached out with his other hand. “I’m here Syd . . .” he said softly, reaching over to trail his fingertips lightly down her cheek. “I’m here . . .”
His breath left him in a deep sigh as his hand slowly returned to his side . . .
“I wish . . .” he shook his head, trying to drown out the hospital sounds around him . . . “I wish things were different Syd . . . so much . . . I just . . .” His mouth twisted into a sad smile. “I wish for so much now . . . I wish you weren’t in this place, I wish you weren’t in a coma, I wish I had had more faith” his voice cracked and he paused. “Maybe we wouldn’t be here if I had . . . Maybe you would be ok, maybe . . .” his voice trailed off and he ran a hand down his face, wiping away an errant tear in the process. “You were gone so long Syd . . . Seven hundred-” his voice hitched “-seven hundred and thirteen days, six hours-” emotion choked him “-and fourteen minutes . . .” His eyes closed briefly. “So long . . .” He smoothed her hand as he inhaled shakily. “I got so lost Syd . . . without you . . . It-it’s not enough but I-I’m sorry . . . I just . . .” he looked down, drained “. . . I got so lost . . . ” His hand tightened around hers. “Syd, please . . . Don’t leave me again . . . I-I can’t do this without you . . .” His other hand rose up to cradle her pale one between his and his eyes rose to the ceiling. “I need her here . . .” His voice shook. “Please send her back to me . . . Please . . .” His voice trailed off as his head dropped and sobs shook his frame . . .
“Shh . . . It’s ok Vaughn . . . Everything’s ok . . .” she said to him softly, running her fingers, featherlight, through his hair . . .
“Syd?” Vaughn rasped as he looked up quickly, hopefully . . . only to encounter empty air and a still comatose Sydney . . .
“I’m here . . .” Her hand turned in his, solid yet light as air . . . “I’m right here . . .”
He shook his head in denial even as her voice eased some of the constriction in his heart. “I can’t lose you again . . .” he said, then softer “I can’t lose you . . .”
“Shh . . .” Her voice silenced the words he still wanted to speak and emotion closed his throat.
“Shhhh . . .”
Beeeeeeeeep
Her phantom touch left his hair and her hand became still in his as the relative quiet of the room was pierced by a high-pitched sound and a whisper that sounded eerily like ‘I’m sorry . . .’ and Vaughn was left with a heart monitor whose steady beeping had now changed to a flatline and a single thought moving through his head:
I can’t lose you . . .
~*silence*~
) . . . For those who don't remember this story (understandably since it's been so long since I posted), there's even a summary, of sorts, between the lines . . .
. . . Hopefully you all will stick around (re: lurkers