Dirty Little Secret

Author: Janet (SkyGirl5)

Genre: S/V, AU

Summary: Whatever happened to Sydney Bristow that made her so guarded and untrusting? That's what Michael Vaughn wonders about his personal assistant every day.

Disclaimer: Sydney, Vaughn, etc are properties of JJ Abrams and ABC.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapters 1-10 // Chapters 11 - 20 // Chapters 21-25 + Epilogue

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 21

When Michael told his mother about Sydney joining them for Thanksgiving dinner, she was thrilled, but a bit surprised that Sydney didn’t have plans to spend the holiday with her family. Fearing his mother would pose this question to Sydney during their meal, Michael felt compelled to explain enough about Sydney’s situation to placate his mother curiosity. He told her that Sydney’s father was the famed director Jonathan Bristow, but that years ago they’d had a falling out and no longer spoke to one another. This, of course wasn’t a total lie; Sydney did have a falling out with her family, just for a much more dramatic and tragic reason that Michael let on. At any rate, his mother was glad she at least had some ‘family’ to spend the holiday with. At his mother’s use of the word family, Michael was thrown slightly, and couldn’t help but hope his mother didn’t use that term in Sydney’s presence.

Michael’s mother flew in on Wednesday night and then the two of them woke up fairly early on Thursday to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. This was a Vaughn tradition that dated back ever since Michael was actually able to help his mother in the kitchen. They’d spend all morning working on their meal together and eat it when it was ready around four in the afternoon. During their mother-son bonding time, Michael’s father was usually watching football while intermittently coming in and stealing food. After his father’s death and Michael’s subsequent move to LA, he and his mother upheld their cooking tradition and he was glad they did.

Sydney arrived at Michael’s at two p.m. that day, stating that she was bored out of her mind and had no idea what to do with herself. She offered to help and Michael gave her the task of setting their table. “Oh… hey, where’s Daisy?” Sydney asked as she laid out the plates and silverware, finally realizing she hadn’t been tackled upon entering the house.

“Michael locked her in the laundry room,” his mother informed her.

Sydney looked at him in shock. “Why would you do that?”

“Um hello,” he said, gesturing around the kitchen, “there’s food everywhere! I can’t possibly watch her every second either, so the next thing we know ‘BAM’ she’s sprinting across the house with a turkey leg in her mouth.”

“Totally happened, didn’t it?” Sydney asked with a knowing smile.

Michael nodded. “First year I had her.” Sydney laughed.

“Oh Sydney, Michael told me all about that wonderful surprise party you threw for him! That was so thoughtful; however did you think of it?” Mrs. Vaughn asked her with a smile.

“Oh, I don’t know…I just thought it was a cool idea. I’ve never thrown anyone a surprise birthday before…or any party really so I thought it’d be a great way to give a little something back to a great boss,” Sydney smiled at him. Michael smiled back though the term ‘boss’ made his heart twinge painfully.

The three of them continued to chat while they finished making their dinner and then they sat down to eat. Michael was very thankful that his mother didn’t say one word about Sydney’s family or her famous father, which would have caused unnecessary awkward tension.

Just as they were finishing up their meal, loud whining sounds were heard from down the hall along with banging and claws scraping against a wooden door. “Aw Michael, you gotta let her out and let her have Thanksgiving too,” Sydney said in a sad voice.

“Fine,” he groaned. “We’ll let her out for a bit and give her some turkey – but she has to go back then until we put all this food away.”

“Yay,” Sydney smiled. She rushed to the laundry room and the moment she opened the door, Daisy bounded out on her. Sydney managed to grab a hold of her collar before she ran away, at which point Daisy began to drag her towards the kitchen as her nose worked overtime.

Michael laughed at this sight. “You’re the one who wanted to let her out.”

“Throw her some turkey or something! Distract her!” she grunted as she scrambled to get to her feet. Michael laughed and tossed his pet a slice of white turkey meat. She caught it immediately and began chomping on it, giving Sydney a chance to clamber to her feet. She walked around to the other side of Daisy, still holding onto Daisy’s collar. Once Daisy finished that piece of meat, she saw Michael’s mother holding out another and lunged for it, knocking Sydney forward into Michael.

“Whoa!” Michael laughed as he caught Sydney in his arms. Sydney’s face landed in the crook of his neck and she tried to push herself back up to a standing position with her hands on his chest, but she suddenly forgot how to move when she felt his arms safely around her. “See, I um, told you it was a bad idea to let her out,” Michael laughed softly after a moment.

“Yeah,” Sydney sighed as she forced herself to take a step back from him. “I’ll put her back then.” Sydney grabbed Daisy’s collar and dragged her back to the laundry room before returning to the table and helping to clear the used plates.

After eating some pumpkin pie, Michael’s mother announced that she was going to take Daisy for a walk since she felt like walking instead of sitting and waiting to get heartburn. Michael and Sydney offered to go with her, but she assured them she’d be fine; she was only going around the block. Once she was gone, Sydney helped Michael do the dishes. “Your mom is so great… I forgot what it was like to have a mom around; it’s nice,” Sydney told him.

“Yeah, she’s great,” Michael smiled. For another minute, he debated asking his next question. “Why don’t you, um, talk to your mom? I mean, I know your dad is… but…your mom…?” he asked, hoping it wouldn’t be a mistake.

Sydney sighed and stared down into the soapy water in front of her. “I haven’t talked to my mom in like three years. It’s just… every time we talk, we fight. I can’t understand why she won’t leave my father and she can’t understand why I can’t understand why she stays. It’s just… it’s hard. I really love my mother and I just can’t sit by and watch her hurt herself on purpose like that,” she told him. Michael nodded, understanding her point.

“I mean, god, it’s been like thirty years. I just can’t understand why she’d do that to herself…although, she tells me that before I was born, it was just verbal abuse – not that that makes it better – but after I was born the physical stuff started. I guess that’s just another thing I can add to the list of things that’s wrong with me that I need to discuss with the shrink, right?” she laughed bitterly.

Taking that as a stepping stone, Michael asked, “Do you ever think of talking to anyone about it?”

“No,” Sydney shook her head. “I couldn’t do that. I mean…it’s hard enough talking to you about this stuff, which is why I don’t, if you hadn’t noticed,” she sighed.

Of course he had noticed, but he wasn’t going to point that out to her. “Why, um, why do you talk to me about it?” he asked boldly. Truthfully, with that question he was fishing for an answer he’d only heard so far in his dreams.

She looked at him almost shyly. “I dunno… because you’re Michael. You’re…,” she paused to really look at him. “You’re-” before she could continue, she was cut off by Michael’s mother returning to the house.

“Michael, this dog is impossible to walk!! All she does is bark at everything she sees and then tries to run after it,” she sighed as she walked in the house.

Silently cursing his mother’s timing he turned to her with a smile, “Yeah, she’s a mess.”

“Aww poor baby, he doesn’t mean that,” Sydney cooed to the dog as she bent over and scratched Daisy’s ears. Daisy barked at her and everyone laughed.



Chapter 22

Much too quickly, as it always seemed, December was upon them. Along with that month, came the holiday season in full swing. Commercials involving Christmas or the New Year ran almost constantly. Along with being overwhelmed with holiday cheer, Michael was feeling a sense of a new beginning with the current year coming to a close. With each passing day he thought more seriously about bringing up his ever-increasing feelings toward Sydney. As Eric continued to mock him for being a chicken, Michael decided that he was definitely going to talk with Sydney about their relationship (or lack thereof) sometime between Christmas and the end of the year. That gave him a nice window of opportunity, yet plenty more time for procrastination.

Michael was enjoying a quiet Wednesday evening at home in the middle of December, when his doorbell rang unexpectedly. Immediately, Daisy’s ears perked and she let out a soft yip in the direction of the door. Michael’s brow furrowed as he got up from the floor and walked cautiously towards the door. In all his time living there, his doorbell had only rung a handful of times and only one of those times had he not been expecting it. That time, it had been a door to door fundraiser during the day. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out who would show up at his house in the dark without calling first. When he opened the door, he found his answer.

“Sydney,” he said, his voice indicating his surprise. She was standing on his doorstep, entirely shadowed by his figure blocking all the light emanating from his house. He knew it was her, though, without a doubt.

“Hi…,” she said. That one syllable told him a world of information. Her voice was cracked; she was crying. Her voice was also strained as well, she was upset and looking for comfort.

“What is it? Come in, come in please,” he said as he stepped aside. When he did so, light shone onto her face and he gasped. Her bottom lip was split and bleeding. The corner of her mouth was beginning to discolor; it would be bruised by morning. There was also a gash above her right eye that was also beginning to bruise. Black makeup streaks lined her face from the tears that had fallen. She also appeared to be trembling.

“I… I’m sorry… I didn’t know where to go…,” she said distantly, looking up at him.

“My god, what happened to you?” Michael asked softly. He reached out and gingerly touched her split lip and she winced. “Your father did this?” he asked. She gave a gentle nod and shrugged off her jacket as she walked further into his house. Michael took the jacket from her and hung it on the banister beside them.

Sydney began walking towards the back of the house, but she barely took two steps before Daisy approached, her claws clicking on the floor. It appeared Daisy sensed the tense situation, for she didn’t jump up on Sydney like she normally did. Instead, she sat right in front of her and nuzzled her nose into Sydney’s outstretched hand. “Hey girl,” Sydney sniffed.

“Syd, hey Syd,” Michael said as he approached her. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she immediately turned and fell into his arms. He gathered her up tight to his body and held her there. She didn’t cry, but she clung to him while rubbing her face up against his neck.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffed after a few moments of silence.

“No, don’t be sorry. You came to the right place,” he assured her.

“No, no I’m sorry…I got blood on your t-shirt,” she said, gesturing towards the spot on the neckline of his shirt that now showed a few red dots.

“Nah, it’s fine; I needed an excuse to throw this shirt out anyway,” he said casually. This elicited a half-smile from her. “Come on, let’s go get you cleaned up. I have band-aids upstairs.” He put his arm gently around her back and led her up the stairs. He walked her up the stairs, down the hallway, across his bedroom and into his bathroom. There, he cleared off a space on the counter and gestured for her to sit while he looked for the appropriate supplies. Upon noticing how quiet and distant she looked, he asked softly, “You wanna tell me what happened?”

“I was,” she began softly, “thinking about Thanksgiving and how great your mom was… and then I got to thinking about how much I missed my mom, even if we argue over the abuse thing… and today was her birthday – she’s fifty. So anyway, after work I decided that I was going to go over and see her… I’d heard on the news that my dad was making some movie up in Canada so he wasn’t going to be there… or so I thought,” she said with a sniff, more tears forming in her eyes. Michael began dabbing antiseptic on her cuts while she continued her story.

“So I went over to the house and as soon as my mom saw me she started crying… and then we both were crying and it was really nice. I told her about you and my job and how I’m slowly making my way through school and she was really happy for me. We were having such a nice time until…until he came home.

“When he saw me, he was furious. He just started yelling at me for being a waste of life and he told me h-how w-worthless I am and h-how I’m such a disgrace to him and then he hit me in the face and when I-I tried to get away he hit me a-again,” she choked out through her tears.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Michael soothed her as he put one arm around her back.

“He just kept telling me that I was nothing… nothing like him, big ol’ Oscar winner,” she sniffed.

“You’re not nothing, Sydney, you’re not. You’re everything. You’re such a wonderful person and if your father can’t see that then I feel sorry for him because he’s missing out. You shouldn’t let someone as low as him make you feel bad Sydney, because you’re better than him,” Michael assured her. Sydney shook her head softly as she looked down to her lap. Michael used his fingers under her chin to tilt her head up and force her to look at him. “You are,” he repeated softly. They locked eyes for a moment before Michael moved his attention from the cut on her head to her split lip. He dabbed some antiseptic on it and then put the bottle away before declaring softly, “You’re as good as new.”

“Thanks,” she said, giving him a soft smile. In doing this, though, she caused her lip to split one more. She winced and quickly touched it with her index finger.

“Oo,” Michael cringed slightly, touching it as well. Without even thinking, he leaned over and kissed the split spot on her lip gently. He meant it to merely be a ‘kiss it and make it better’ type kiss, but, since it was on her lips, it sent more signals that he’d originally intended. When he realized what happened, he pulled back and looked at her nervously. He saw that instead of fear in her eyes, there was hope.

Cautiously, she sat up straight and brought their faces even closer together. Michael leaned towards her and closed all the distance between them, giving her a real kiss that time. She snaked her arms up and around his neck, pulling herself close to him. It wasn’t just the comfort she needed at that moment; it was him and nobody else.

When they broke their kiss, both of them gasping for breath, Sydney nuzzled her face against his, feeling the slight sharpness of his stubble against her cheek. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him to see that he was looking at her with the most caring look she’d ever seen. Carefully, she removed her arms from around his neck and dropped them down so she could pick up his hands. She grasped his hands from their spot on the counter on either side of her and lifted them up so that his fingertips were resting at the top button on her shirt. While still holding on to his hands, she unbuttoned the top button herself and then let go so he would do the rest. He hesitated and for a moment she thought he was going to step back, but he didn’t; he began unbuttoning each button, one by one at an agonizingly slow pace.

Once her top was fully unbuttoned, Michael slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her off the counter, leading her out of the bathroom and towards his bed, switching the bathroom light off on the way. Just before he sat down on the bed beside her, he nuzzled his face into hers and whispered, “I love you,” to her, three little words that made her heart beat even faster as tingles shot all the way down to her toes.



Chapter 23

At ten thirty, after laying beside Sydney in his bed for only an hour, Michael knew he had to get up to let Daisy out or risk scrubbing his entire kitchen floor in the morning. He reluctantly moved his arms from around her warm, sleeping body before slipping from bed and dressing quickly.

Half an hour later, he returned to find Sydney still asleep in the same position. He carefully slipped in beside her so as not to wake her. For a moment, he just stared down at her lovingly with a huge grin across his face. Then, he settled down with his arms around her once more and slipped off into the best night of sleep he’d ever had.

~*~

The next morning when Michael awoke, the previous night’s events washed over him and he smiled immediately. He rolled over to face the other side of his bed and, with his eyes still closed, he gently reached over with his arm. His fingers immediately came in contact with something soft that felt like hair. Confused, Michael moved his hand further down and still felt hair. He was utterly lost until he heard Daisy whine softly. Immediately, he groaned and propped himself up on his elbow while opening his eyes. “Syd?” he said through a yawn, but there was no response. He looked towards the floor and saw that her clothes were missing. Perplexed, he began looking around until he spotted a tiny piece of paper on the pillow where she’d slept. He picked it up and looked at it closely trying to read it in the dimly lit bedroom.

I won’t be in to work today, it read. Then, an inch below that message, there was another, PS – now this is our dirty little secret.

Staring at the note in his hands, Michael didn’t know what to think. On one hand, it seemed to be screamingly obvious that sleeping with Sydney had caused her to run in the opposite direction. It had caused the one thing he feared the night before during that millisecond he listened to his conscience in the bathroom; sleeping together caused such and uncomfortable, awkward situation that Sydney couldn’t even come to work or face him on the morning after.

Daisy barking pulled him from his thoughts and he reluctantly got out of bed and followed her downstairs so she could go outside. As he stood in his kitchen waiting for his coffee to finish brewing, he couldn’t help but feel incredibly confused. It was Sydney who had initiated their prior night’s activities. If it had been up to him, he would have recommended stopping at just the kiss. As much as it pained him to do so, he knew Sydney was in a very distressed mental state and was seeking comfort. Perhaps therein lay his answer; Sydney was seeking comfort and not thinking one hundred percent rationally, which was why the morning after, when her head had been cleared, she began to regret what they’d done.

Shaking those thoughts from his mind, Michael took a long drink from his coffee cup. He couldn’t think about that now; he needed to get to work.

~*~

“Hey Mike! Where’s your little friend? You didn’t fire her, did you?” Eric asked Michael later that morning.

“Um, no, what would give you that idea?” Michael asked cautiously.

“Well, she’s not here and I know you have that whole ‘I will not sleep with my employee’ attitude, which, you know, is all gentlemanly of you, but come on Mike – this is the twenty first century! It’s like…a rule that you gotta sleep with your secretary!” Eric proclaimed.

“For starters Sydney is my assistant not my secretary,” Michael clarified, “and… actually…”

“You slept with her!” Eric gasped actually sounding very shocked. Michael gave him a sheepish look. “Sweet! Gimmie details!” he grinned as he sat in a chair across from Michael’s desk.

“Eric,” Michael groaned. “It was just… well, she came over to my house all upset and…”

“One thing let to another,” Eric continued for him, “yeah, I know how it works.”

“Right, so then this morning she was gone and Daisy was in bed with me and there was a note that said she wasn’t going to be at work today,” Michael sighed. Eric grimaced. “Exactly! I think it freaked her out!”

“Obviously,” Eric sighed. “Well, think of it this way – it wasn’t meaningless sex, right? I mean, you love the girl, don’t ya?”

“Yeah, I do…I also told her that,” he cringed slightly, recalling his words at that moment.

“WERE YOU TRYING TO SCARE HER TO DEATH!?” Eric shouted in an accusatory way. Michael grumbled under his breath. “Okay, okay – this is fixable. Just give her a day or so to chill. Don’t call her until Saturday, okay? I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Saturday?! What about tomorrow at work?” Michaels asked.

Eric laughed softly. “If you actually think she’ll show up for work tomorrow, I almost feel bad for you.” With that, he left.

~*~

Unfortunately, Eric had been right. Sydney didn’t show up for work on Friday either. In fact she didn’t even call or send an email to let him know she wouldn’t be in. Concerned and slightly annoyed with such unprofessional behavior, Michael called Sydney’s house, but there was no answer. He tried calling her three times that morning, but still, there was no answer.

By the afternoon, he was beginning to grow genuinely worried for her safety. Sadly, his concern didn’t dissipate any when he received his mail at home after five p.m. that day. In addition to the typical bills and junk mail, he found a letter to him addressed in Sydney’s writing. Quickly, he tore it open and found two pieces of paper inside. The first was a letter of resignation from her. It was very professional, thanking him for the opportunity he’d given her, but saying she could no longer hold her position. The second piece of paper held a more personal message.

Michael, I’m sorry I left so suddenly this morning, but I had to leave. I want you to know, though, that I don’t regret what happened. I appreciated your kind words to me and with them you made me realize something important.

I’m twenty-five years old and I should no longer let my father abuse me that way. You were right; I shouldn’t feel bad because I am better than him. That’s where I’m going, right now, to tell him that and

Michael stopped reading to gasp aloud, “No, no! That’s not what I meant!”

and to let him know that I’m going to the police and I’m going to tell the whole world what he’s done to me and my mother. The world won’t worship him as much if they know the horrible man he truly is.

Thank you Michael, for everything. I’ll see you around.
Sydney

“Oh god,” he sighed as he looked down to Daisy. Fearing the absolute worst, Michael rushed to the phone and called Sydney once more, but she didn’t answer. Sighing in defeat, he flopped down on the sofa and, in doing so, sat on the remote thus turning on the TV.

“…a missing person’s report has been issued for the famed director, who failed to show up on set for two days in a row and refused to answer phone calls. Bristow’s new film titled ‘Gone’ had just begun filming in Canada…”

Michael glanced up at the E! news report on the screen in front of him. In the upper right corner there was a small photograph of Jonathan Bristow, Sydney’s father, with the bold letters MISSING underneath. “Oh shit…”



Chapter 24

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” Michael repeated as he rushed to his computer. He needed to find the full story on Jonathan Bristow’s disappearance. Sadly, he didn’t find much more than what he’d heard on the TV. Bristow was last seen leaving his movie set at four Wednesday afternoon. No one had heard from him since. Amazingly, Michael knew more to the story. He assumed that after leaving his set, he went directly to the airport and got on a plane; how else would he have been able to assault Sydney later that evening? After that, though, he was at a loss.

As Michael paced around his house with Daisy following him close behind, terrible scenarios ran through his mind. What if Sydney had left his house early Thursday morning and gone straight to her father’s, aiming to talk to him before he left for Canada once more? What if she’d gotten into an intense fight with her father leaving her severely injured? Surely the police would have checked his home, but what if her father had taken her with him somewhere? Somewhere to dump her off…somewhere where she’d never be found…

For a moment, he contemplated calling the police and leaving an anonymous tip, telling them about Jonathan Bristow’s abuse. That, surely, would be a relevant factor in their search, especially since the only two people who would be able to tell the police about it were missing as well: Sydney and her mother. After thinking it over another minute, Michael decided he couldn’t tell the police what he knew about the abuse; it wasn’t his place, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do some investigating of his own.

~*~

When Michael pulled his car up in front of Sydney’s apartment, he thought himself to be mad. His intention had been do use his spare key, go into her apartment and search for anything that would indicate where she could have gone. A massive violation of her privacy, yes, but at that point, he was too overwhelmed with worry for her to think about anything else but getting her home safely.

He rushed to the door and opened it quickly with his key. Inside it was dark (the blinds were closed) so he flicked on a light switch. He spotted a half-full coffee cup on the counter by the sink, but not much else. Sydney obviously kept her minimalist apartment very neat. For a solid minute, he stood by her kitchen, wondering what, exactly, he’d come in search of.

Before he could even move, the door swung open once more and Sydney stepped inside, gasping with fury when she saw him. “Michael! What the hell are you doing in here?!” she demanded.

Michael was too overcome with relief to even notice how angry she was. “Oh Syd, thank god!” he sighed as he rushed over to her. He pulled her into a hug and held her tightly, even though she was trying to squirm away from him. “I was so, so, so worried about you!! You weren’t answering your phone and then I got your letter and I was so afraid you did something stupid and I’m just so glad you’re okay!!”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she sighed. Her anger completely dissipated upon hearing how relived he sounded. It appeared he truly had been concerned for her well being and she couldn’t be angry with him for that. “I just… I went to the beach to think; I’m sorry I didn’t call, I was just…,” she sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” he said, brushing a soft kiss against her forehead. Then, he moved his hands up so they were cupping her face. “I love you Syd, so much and I was afraid you were freaked out about what happened and-”

“I know, I was freaked out, but only because it was you, you know. Which is why I sent that letter of resignation and-”

“About that,” he cut her off before she could continue. “I want you to come back and work with me Syd, please? We work so well together and-”

That time she cut him off. “I know we work well together and I’m going to miss working with you, but I can’t come back.”

“Why?” he asked.

A soft smile crossed her face. “Well, I can’t work with someone I’m in a relationship with.”

Michael’s heart nearly exploded. “Oh Syd,” he sighed before kissing her. Then he wrapped his arms around her and rocked her gently back and forth.

“I love you too,” she sighed into his ear as they hugged. He pulled back, grin across his face matching hers, and gave her a long sweet kiss. “Gee, maybe I’ll go to the beach more often if I’m gonna get this reaction when I come home,” she laughed.

“Oh Syd, don’t you know? Your father’s missing,” Michael told her.

“What?!”

“Yeah, he’s been missing for two days and then I got your letter and I was so afraid you went over to talk to him and something terrible happened to you,” he told her.

“No… no, I went to his house Thursday morning but no one was home so I just went to the beach… wait, where’s my mom?” she asked.

Michael shrugged, “Missing too, I guess.”

“Oh god,” Sydney gulped. She wrapped her arms around her body and walked over to her couch slowly so she could sit down. As much as she hated her father, she did not want to see anything bad happen to him (not really anyway) and she especially did not want to see anything happen to her mother.

Michael walked over and sat beside her, putting his arms around her immediately. “Syd,” he began cautiously, “do you think your dad would…” he let his voice drift off; finishing that aloud was unnecessary.

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I mean, I don’t think he would on purpose but…I don’t know.”

“I think…I think we should go see the police,” he suggested quietly. Slowly, she nodded and allowed him to guide her off the couch and out of the apartment.



Chapter 25

As it turned out, the police were actually looking for Sydney, but had been unable to find her because of her name change. With Michael by her side, holding her hand, she told them everything she knew, starting with how she’d seen her father Wednesday night and continuing on with how he abused her and how he had been abusing her and her mother for most of her life. The police were shocked, but they took down her story like she told it before letting her go.

By the time they left the police station, Sydney was exhausted. Michael took her back to his house and they stood together on his back porch while Daisy roamed around the backyard. Sydney leaned her body against Michael’s with her head resting on his shoulder, exhausted from the tears she’d cried while telling her story to the police. They stood there silently until Daisy was finished and walked inside, then the two of them went up to bed, slipping under the covers beside each other and hugging tightly, never saying a word.

The next morning, Sydney awoke with her head tucked into the crook of Michael’s neck. He was holding her tightly, one thumb lazily stroking her arm. Lying there, she felt much better than she had the night before; she felt safe. She stretched her body out and looked up to see Michael smiling down at her. “I’m glad you didn’t sneak out this time,” he said softly.

“Me too,” she smiled at him. Then she kissed him gently before rolling over onto her back and stretching out some more. “Oh, I love Saturdays.”

“Me too,” Michael agreed. “Monday’s going to come too quickly though and, oh,” he groaned, “I have to find a new assistant thanks to you,” he said, poking her side gently.

She giggled and slid further away from him. “No you don’t; you didn’t have one before me.”

“Yeah… but I don’t wanna go back to photocopying my own stuff…,” he whined.

“Well, I can work for you until you find a replacement,” she offered.

“Or you could just work for me permanently,” he offered. She shook her head. “Fine, but what are you gonna do now?”

“Well,” she sighed, “I don’t think it’s too late to enroll in classes for the spring semester… but I still need a job… and I need a place to live since the lease on that apartment is up at the end of the year, right?”

“Yeah, but I could get you another year lease on it… or you could move in here,” he suggested.

“Well, that’s the other thing I wanted to talk about… I wanted to move slow with our relationship, Michael, because…god, I don’t even know the last time I was in a relationship with anyone and-”

He cut her off with a kiss. “Taking it slow is fine with me as long as you share with me everything about your life,” he sighed as he pulled her close.

“Everything?”

“Yes. Everything.”

“Even when I have terrible cramps?” she offered with a smile.

He grimaced, “Well, maybe not everything…but seriously if you move in here, you can move into the guest room, so it’s like we’re living separately, except we’re not and Daisy still has her favorite little buddy to play with.” Sydney laughed, but said nothing of his offer for them to move in together. “Promise me you’ll at least consider it?”

“I promise,” she began with a long exhale, “that I will move in here on December thirty-first, but only because there’s no way I could find another place by then. I might stay, I might not, but I promise to consider staying.”

“Deal,” he smiled at her.

~*~

When Sydney and Michael finally dragged themselves from bed, they made a plan to do something fun for that entire day to keep their minds off the sad events that had taken place. Michael drove Sydney home and waited while she showered and changed before they went window shopping, grabbed lunch and then took in an early afternoon movie. When they went home to let Daisy out, though, their happy, peaceful day was destroyed.

A message from the police informed them that the body of Jonathan Bristow had been found. He had taken his own life by way of a bullet to the head. Sydney was understandably upset, yet part of her, she hated to admit, was relieved; no longer could he hurt her or her mother. Her mother’s whereabouts were still unaccounted for at that time, which concerned Sydney, but the police assured her they were still looking for her.

After the news came in, Michael sat with Sydney silently on the couch as they watched TV. Understandably, Sydney wasn’t in a very talkative mood. Michael made them dinner and they ate silently with Daisy (who was uninterested in their meal since they were eating pasta). Not too long after dinner, Sydney asked in a soft voice, “Can I use that big tub in your bathroom to take a bath?”

“Sure. I haven’t used it in a few months so it might be a little dusty. Want me to clean it out for you?” he offered.

Sydney shook her head. She was about to walk away before she asked, “You used it to bathe Daisy, didn’t you?”

“Yep,” he grinned at her. Smiling ever so slightly, she shook her head and walked away.

An hour and a half passed and Sydney had not returned downstairs. Michael went up to his bathroom to make sure she had not drowned, but found her already in bed. It was obvious she didn’t want to be alone that night, but that was okay because Michael didn’t want her to be alone either.

~*~

The next morning brought news that Sydney’s mother was perfectly fine. Apparently, on Wednesday night, after Sydney left, she finally mustered up the courage to leave her abusive husband. She had gone to stay with her sister in Texas and had not heard about her husband’s suicide until the previous evening.

With her mother safe and sound, Sydney was finally able to begin picking up the pieces of her life. She moved in with Michael and Daisy before Christmas, not wanting to wait until the end of the year. She also began helping her mother go through the belongings in their house. With her husband gone, Sydney’s mother was moving to a smaller, more manageable house, instead of the sprawling mansion where Sydney had spent her teen years.

A week after her father’s suicide, Sydney received unexpected news. What she thought would be a routine meeting with her father’s lawyer, during which he would tell her that her mother inherited all of her father’s wealth and assets, turned out to be very different. After wandering around for an hour from pure astonishment, she faced Michael, her face still bearing the shocked expression she had been wearing for the previous hour. Naturally, Michael asked what was wrong and she responded, “My father left me ten million dollars.”

“T-t-ten mi-million?” Michael stammered at that astronomical sum. Sydney nodded wearily. “Wow… I guess you don’t need to find a job now,” he laughed.

“Not summuch,” she mumbled. She was silent for another minute before an amused smile crossed her face at a very interesting realization. “I have more money than you.”

“Yeah, I guess you do,” he laughed. “What are you gonna do with it, Captain Moneybags?” he asked as he snaked his arms around her waist.

“Dunno… but I’ve got some time to decide,” she smiled at him.

“Mmhm,” he nodded before kissing her. Before their kiss could continue, Daisy walked over to them and whined softly. “Look, she’s asking you for money already,” Michael said. Sydney couldn’t help but laugh.



Epilogue

“Michael!! Come get Daisy!! She’s gonna eat this cake!” Sydney shouted across the house to her husband. She struggled to keep Daisy at bay with one arm while juggling the cake and her one-year-old daughter, Ella, in the other. The cake had been resting on the table until Daisy had creatively used one of the chairs to climb up to the table. Sydney narrowly saved it only moments before it would have been smashed by a doggie nose.

“I got her, I got her! Your mom just pulled up out front,” he informed his wife while yanking at the collar of his dog, who at eight-years-old was still very mischievous.

“Oh good,” Sydney sighed as she put the cake back on the table. Then, she pressed a kiss into the top of Ella’s head before setting her down in her play pen to finish the rest of the preparations for her daughter’s first birthday celebration.

Sydney and Michael got engaged on Valentine’s Day only two months after they moved in together. As soon as Sydney realized how wonderful it was having Michael in her life as her fiancé, any plans to take their relationship slow blew right out the window. They were married in June, only four months after their engagement, and by January the next year, Sydney was pregnant with their precious Ella. Michael had been coaxing his mother to move out to California to be with their expanding family, but she always refused until Ella’s birth pushed her over the edge. She made the move only shortly after her granddaughter was born and had never been happier in her suburban condominium.

“I got it!” Michael announced when the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of Sydney’s mother. Michael greeted his mother-in-law with a warm hug before helping her with the large bag she was carrying. The two of them then walked back through the house as Daisy barked continuously from the laundry room.

“Hello Angel,” Sydney’s mother greeted her green-eyed granddaughter by lifting her out of her playpen. “Are you having a good birthday so far?”

“Oh well, you know she’s eaten and slept – the usual,” Michael laughed, rubbing his daughter’s back. Just as Sydney’s mother went in the kitchen to greet her daughter, the doorbell rang once more signaling the arrival of Michael’s mother.

Once the while family was together, they all gathered around the kitchen table, Ella in her mother’s lap, Michael with the video camera, to sing happy birthday. Sydney’s mother placed the cake in front of Ella and after only a moment, Ella reached forward and slammed both her hands down into the cake causing everyone to laugh.

“And you were worried about the dog,” Michael laughed, continuing to video tape the event.

“Right,” Sydney rolled her eyes, but the truth was, she wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

---------------------------------------------------------------