Taken

Author: Janet (SkyGirl5)

Genre: S/V, AU

Summary: After their daughter is kidnapped, how will Sydney and Michael cope with the uncertainty of her return?

A/N: This is the sequel to The Right Time

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

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Chapters 1-10 + Epilogue

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Chapter 1

“Daddy, put me dooooown,” five-year-old Beth whined to her father.

“But you just asked me to pick you up,” he laughed softly at her. She stuck her bottom lip out at him and folded her arms across her chest as her father looked at her. “Okay, okay,” he sighed as he let her slide down from his hip. “Be careful!” he called after her as she raced off to the wooden playground.

It was the second Saturday in September and they were having ‘father-daughter day’. Michael and Beth, together with Eric and his seven-month-old daughter, April, enjoyed this time together while their wives spent some time away from their families for some retail therapy (otherwise known as shopping).

Michael looked back at his friend slash brother-in-law struggling to push his stroller over the uneven grass in the park. “Damn thing,” Eric muttered.

“Eric, you’re just pathetic,” Michael laughed at him as he helped to wheel the stroller over to a nearby bench. “Isn’t that right, April? He’s pathetic,” Michael cooed to the little girl in the stroller as he poked her belly. She giggled and smiled at him.

“Ugh, take her please,” Eric groaned.

Michael rolled his eyes and lifted his niece from her stroller and onto his lap. “Eric, you’re a terrible father,” Michael told him bluntly.

“I know!” Eric whined. “It’s just the babies I’m bad with. Once she’s Beth’s age, I’ll be cool.”

Michael nodded in agreement. Eric was far better with Beth than he was with his own daughter. Michael, however, preferred the baby stage, when they weren’t off running around on their own and thus making it harder to protect them. “Eric, you’re scared of babies, just face it,” Michael told him with a smirk.

“I’m not scared of them. I just don’t know what to do with them,” he sighed helplessly.

“You just… take care of ‘em,” Michael told him with a shrug as he began to tickle April’s belly and she giggled even more.

“Uh huh… anyway, didn’t Beth start kindergarten his week?” Eric asked him.

“Yep, she loves it. She won’t stop talking about all the other kids and her teacher,” Michael told him.

“That’s great,” Eric said. “Way better than coming home crying…”

“Like you?” Michael laughed softly. While Eric was grumbling, Michael looked towards the playground a few feet from them. His eyes scanned through the crowed for a few moments before he found Beth sliding down a metal pole. Then, he turned back to Eric, who was sulking. “I was kidding!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he sighed. “You think the girls are still shopping?”

“Well… it’s only been two hours, so that’s a safe bet,” Michael told him. “Why? You miss Nadia already?”

“No, I’m watching my precious free time closely,” he explained.

“Gee Eric, you don’t want your wife to come back, you don’t know how to take care of your daughter… you’re just pathetic,” Michael laughed.

“Well, when you say it that way it sounds horrible. But I’m not that bad,” he defended.

“I know, I know. Once thirty hit, everything went downhill, right?” Michael smiled.

“Something like that, yeah,” Eric laughed. “You’re one to talk though. You, my friend, will be thirty in only three short months – less than!”

“I know,” he sighed. “It’s not so bad though… I mean I thought I’d freak out at thirty, but I’m cool with it.”

“Uh huh,” Eric said suspiciously. “You’ll be singing a different tune in a month or so.”

Michael shrugged causally. Truthfully, he wasn’t worried; he loved his life. Almost seven years earlier, Michael had married Sydney during a beautiful, winter-themed wedding ceremony around Christmastime. Their wedding was everything they had dreamed of and more. For over a year, they worked and were thrilled and completely in love newlyweds, living in the apartment they had purchased shortly after graduation. Then, they found out that Sydney was pregnant and though it wasn’t planned, it seemed to be the perfect time for them to have a baby, even if Sydney was only twenty-four. She had always wanted to be a young mother and Michael had a stable job and was able to support them enough so that Sydney could take six months of maternity leave. After that, their mothers were all too eager to watch their adorable cherub-cheeked granddaughter so that Sydney could return to work.

Shortly after Sydney returned to work, she and Michael moved to a small house, since their apartment was too small for the two of them plus a baby. A year after that, Nadia and Eric were married after a very short engagement.

Michael loved his family more than anything. He spent all his free time with Sydney and Beth. Occasionally, the entire extended family would get together, especially during the summers, when they would have barbeques in Michael’s backyard. He loved it all and wouldn’t change it for anything.

“Daddy, will you push me on the swings?” Beth asked as she ran up to her father.

“Sure sweet-pea,” Michael smiled at her. He handed April to her father, who groaned slightly and took her very cautiously, and then grabbed Beth’s hand as she tried to yank him towards the swings as quickly as she could go.

“Higher Daddy!! Higher!” she called when Michael began to push her.

“Okay, okay,” he laughed. He grabbed onto the metal chain holding the swing and pulled it back as far as he thought was safe and then let her go. She cheered.

After only a few minutes, Beth tired of the swing and ran back towards the wooden play area. “Crazy girl,” Michael laughed softly and shook his head as he walked back to Eric. “How’s it going here?”

“Awful…she’s whimpering,” Eric sighed towards his daughter in his lap.

“Lemme see, what’s the matter sweetie?” Michael asked April softly. “Eric she needs changed.”

“Aw maaaaaaaaan,” Eric groaned.

Michael rolled his eyes. “I’ll do it; just give me her bag, honestly,” he shook his head. He took the bag and stood up to walk to the nearby bathroom to change her. “Keep an eye on Beth, please,” he added before walking away. Eric nodded and waved his hand casually.

“Where is she?” Michael asked when he returned a few minutes later. Eric pointed towards the tiny balance beam on the ground, which Beth was struggling to walk across. “Okay, good,” he sighed and sat down. The fathers then fell into their usual conversation about the upcoming hockey season.

At a break in the conversation, Michael looked up to find Beth, like he had a few minutes earlier, but he couldn’t see her. “Where’s Beth?” he asked, trying not to panic because most likely, he was just unable to see her.

“Dunno,” Eric said.

“Help me look, would you?!” Michael snapped as he got up from the bench. He walked quickly over to the wooden jungle gym where she had been playing, but found she wasn’t there. “Beth!! BETH!” he called out, frantically searching the rest of the playground, but his baby girl was nowhere in sight.



Chapter 2

“BETH!! Beth, where are you?!!” Michael called out, frantically running all over the playground.

Eric finally caught up to his friend and held his own daughter close. “Okay Mike, calm down, she has to be here somewhere.”

“But where?! She’s not… I don’t see her… I only looked away for a minute. Oh god, how could I do this??” he said painfully as he rubbed his forehead.

“This isn’t your fault Michael, we’re going to find her,” Eric said, trying to sound calm even though he was beginning to get rather frantic himself. “This is what we’re gonna do, I’m going to look through the playground some more and you take that picture from your wallet and ask some of these mothers if they saw her, okay?”

“Okay,” Michael nodded. They went off in different directions. Eric began to search high and low all over the wooden jungle gym while Michael pulled the picture of Beth from his wallet and tried to pull himself together enough to have a meaningful conversation. He walked up to the first woman he found and asked, “Have you seen this girl around here?”

The woman took a good look at the picture and shook her head, “No, I’m sorry.”

Michael moved onto the next person and the next. Finally at the fifth woman he asked, she said, “Oh, was she wearing jeans and a green top?”

“Yes, yes that’s her!” he said feeling relieved.

“Well… I saw her walking towards the parking lot with a man… I-I thought she was his daughter…,” the woman said very sadly. Michael nearly collapsed onto the ground. Noticing that he was entirely pale the woman said, “Oh no, oh dear I’m so sorry. Here, sit down. We’ll call the police…”

Michael didn’t hear another word she said, his world was spinning. He had lost his baby girl. She had been kidnapped by someone who was most likely a sick freak. It was his fault. Then an even sickening thought crossed his mind. What would Sydney say when she found out that he lost the one thing she loved more than anything in the world?

“Mike? Michael?” Eric gently shook his shoulder.

“She’s gone, Eric…someone took her,” he said distantly.

“What?!” Eric gasped. “Oh, oh god,” he gulped, feeling utterly heartsick. April reached out her tiny hand and touched Michael’s gently. He lifted his head slightly and removed his elbows from his knees so that there was room for April in his lap. She slid out of her fathers arms and into his as Michael hugged her tightly and rocked gently back and forth, fighting the tears from coming.

Within a few minutes, distant sirens were heard. They came progressively closer until a squad car parked in the lot beside the park and two officers walked over. “I… I called you about the missing girl,” the woman said to them.

“Is it your daughter, ma’am?” the officer asked.

“No, it’s his,” she said as she pointed to Michael. “But I saw her being taken away.”

One of the officers pulled the woman aside to interview her and the other officer, a woman, walked over and sat beside Michael. “Sir, I know this is difficult for you, but I need to get some information from you. Your name, please?”

“Michael Vaughn,” he croaked. “My daughter is Bethany Vaughn, but we call her Beth.”

“And how old is Beth?” the officer asked.

“She just turned five… H-here,” he said, handing over the picture of Beth he had been showing around.

“Oh, she’s beautiful. Is this recent?” the officer asked; Michael nodded.

For the next ten minutes, the officered interviewed Michael and the woman who had last seen Beth, and then they moved on to talk to other people at the park to see if they had seen anything. Michael just sat on the bench, completely numb as he clung to April, who didn’t seem to want to let go of him either.

“Well, we don’t have much to go on, but it’s a start,” the one officer told Michael once their interviews were complete. Michael said nothing.

“What do we do now?” Eric asked.

“We’re going to follow you home and interview your wife. It doesn’t seem that you, in particular, or Beth were targeted specifically. Do you come to this park often?” the officer asked Michael, but he still didn’t speak, so Eric answered, “Yes, they live nearby.”

“Well, it’s possible whoever did this has just been watching the park and picked someone; anyone. We’re going to do everything in our power to get her back as soon as possible, Mr. Vaughn,” the officer said.

“Come on, Mike,” Eric said as he tried to pull his friend from the bench.

“Syd…,” Michael croaked, still horrified.

“I know, I know,” Eric sighed sympathetically.

Michael and Eric had driven together to the park (Eric had left his car at Michael’s) so they walked to the car and Michael slid into the passenger seat while Eric put April in her car seat. The two men drove home in silence, both of them too horrified to speak at all. When they arrived at Michael’s modest two-story home, Eric’s car was the only one there; Sydney wasn’t back yet.

“Our wives went shopping,” Eric explained when he, Michael and April got out of the car and were faced with the police officers once more. “It’s been three hours, but they’re sisters, so…,” he laughed softy and shrugged.

“Can you call them?” the female officer asked.

“Yeah… um, one second,” Eric said as he unclipped his phone from its clip on his belt loop. He stared down at it for a moment. What could he say to them? Finally he dialed his wife’s number slowly. “Hey Nad, it’s me… you still with Syd?”

“Yeah, we’re about five minutes from home, why?” Nadia asked.

“Just wanted to tell ya something, see you in a few,” Eric hung up. Then he turned to the officers, “They’ll be here in five minutes.”

“Okay then, let’s go inside,” the male officer said.

Eric gave April to Michael since both of them seemed to be happier when he was holding her and they all went inside. “Can I get you guys something?” Eric offered, knowing Michael was in no state to be hospitable. Both officers refused. Michael flopped down on the couch with April while the other three people stood in a painful silence until the women arrived.

“Guys? Why are there cops out front!?” Nadia called when she walked in from the garage, weighted down with bags. Upon walking through the kitchen she saw them and froze. “What’s… going on?” she asked slowly.

Michael stood and walked over to her, still as stone faced as ever. She took April, who was reaching out to her, from him and looked even more concerned.

“Nadia, you left me with all the – what’s going on?” Sydney echoed her sister upon seeing the police. She immediately dropped the bags she had been holding and turned to her husband. She felt ill when she saw his expression. “Michael?”

“Syd,” he croaked. “Beth… she…”

“Beth? Where’s Beth? Oh god, did something happen to Beth?!” she asked in horror.

The female officer stepped forward and cleared her throat. “Mrs. Vaughn, we believe your daughter has been kidnapped-”

Before the officer could finish her last word, Sydney let out a blood-curdling scream. “NO! NO! Where’s Beth?! BETH!” she cried out as she collapsed down onto the floor.

Nadia looked on in horror as she held April tighter. Michael collapsed down into the floor beside his wife. Sydney grabbed onto him and clung to him as they both wept.



Chapter 3

After letting them cry a few minutes, the female officer knelt down on the floor beside the devastated parents. “I know this is incredibly difficult for you,” she said softly. “But we need to find Beth as soon as possible and we need your help. Do you know of anyone that could have done this?”

“NO,” Sydney choked. “Who would do this? Who would take my baby?”

“I wish I knew,” the officer said sadly. “We’re going to have an officer stationed here in case the kidnapper calls, but chances are, he doesn’t even know her name.”

“He?” Sydney choked.

“A woman at the park saw a man walking towards the parking lot with Beth,” Eric told her quietly.

“Well, who was he?!” Sydney demanded.

“We don’t know yet,” the officer told her softly. Sydney broke down into sobs again and grabbed fistfuls of Michael’s t-shirt.

“Syd, I’m gonna call Mom, okay?” Nadia asked with a trembling voice, on the verge of tears herself. Sydney didn’t respond so Nadia walked over to the phone and dialed her parent’s number.

Twenty-five minutes later when Irina and Jack arrived after being given the grave news by their younger daughter, Sydney and Michael were still in their same crumpled position on the floor. Irina, who was in tears when she arrived, got down with them and pulled them both into a hug while Jack spoke with the police.

“I assure you, we’re doing everything we can, but with so little to go on, it’s difficult,” the officer told them.

By dinner time, the officer’s left and Sydney and Michael had moved from the floor to the couch, but they still clung to each other in silence. Eric and Nadia left temporarily to change and feed April, but they promised to be back. Jack ran out for pizzas and Irina tried to coax her daughter and son-in-law into eating.

“I’m not hungry,” Sydney said in a distant, haunted voice.

“Sydney, you have to eat or you’ll get sick and you’ll be no help to Beth then. Come on, just eat one slice,” Irina said as she held out a plate to her daughter. Sydney took it and nibbled on it slightly, but refused to eat much; she had no appetite. Michael wasn’t hungry either, but he managed to eat one slice of pizza.

“My god…what are we doing?” Sydney said suddenly as she bolted up from the sofa. “I mean… we’re all just sitting here… Beth is out there… she’s probably terrified and that… that… that man,” she choked. “He has her and he could be… he…he…”

“Sydney, Sydney,” Irina said as she walked over to her daughter. “There is nothing more you can do to help Beth. She’ll be alright.”

“But what if-”

Irina cut off her daughter, “She will be.”

It wasn’t too long after dinner that Sydney went upstairs. She hovered in the doorway of her daughter’s painfully empty room for a few minutes before walking inside and sitting on her pink bed. Tears flooded her eyes as she thought about where her baby was at that moment, what was happening to her and how scared she must be.

Sydney reached over to Beth’s pillow where there was a worn teddy bear; a gift from her Uncle Eric named Al Bear. When Beth was three years old, she and Al Bear were inseparable. She took it on every outing, even to the supermarket and especially to the doctor. A few weeks before turning five, Beth had announced that she was a lady and she couldn’t carry Al Bear around with her, but she still insisted on sleeping with him during the night.

Sydney gently rubbed her fingers across Al Bear’s worn fur and hugged him tightly as tears slid down her face.

“Syd,” Michael croaked from the doorway.

She looked up. “What are we gonna do?” she sniffed.

He shook his head, having no idea. Then, he walked in the room and flicked on the lamp by Beth’s bed before sitting down next to his wife. “I’m sorry, Syd,” he said quietly.

“Sorry? For what?” she asked him.

“It… it’s my fault,” he said painfully. “I should have been watching her; I let this happen.”

“No, Michael, no you didn’t. It’s not your fault,” she told him.

“Yes, it is,” he insisted. “I was there. I should have been watching her more closely. I was talking to Eric and I-”

“Michael,” she cut him off while touching his hand softly. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re an amazing father and I know you were watching Beth, but you can’t shadow her around the playground.”

“But-”

She cut him off and pressed a finger to his lips. “It’s not your fault. Let’s just go to sleep, okay?”

He nodded. “Your parents left when I came up here. They said they’d be back tomorrow and we can call them if we- oh no, I never called my parents,” he sighed.

“Okay,” she nodded. She switched off the light to Beth’s room and brought Al Bear with her to their bedroom while Michael called his parents. The phone conversation was painful even though she could only hear half of it.

“They had already heard the Amber Alert on the news,” Michael told her when he hung up. “But they didn’t know it was Beth.”

Sydney just nodded slowly and then finished getting ready for bed. Both she and Michael were silent as they crawled into bed and clung to each other while Sydney still cradled Al Bear. “She’s going to be okay, isn’t she?” Sydney asked him quietly.

Michael sighed heavily. He honestly wasn’t sure that he could say ‘yes’ to that and whole-heartedly believe it was true. “I hope so,” he sighed finally.

She leaned back and kissed him softly before tucking her head back into his neck. The two of them held each other close and, before they went to sleep, sent out a silent prayer that their baby girl would make it home safely.



Chapter 4

Sydney awoke the next morning and for one brief heart-soaring moment, she thought that the events of the prior day had simply been the worst nightmare of her life. However, as soon as she realized she was still clutching Al Bear tightly, she knew it had been a sick reality. She rolled over and saw that Michael was awake and staring up at the ceiling. When she moved, he looked down at her. “It wasn’t a dream,” she said sadly. He shook his head. “Michael,” she whimpered and buried her face in his chest. He kissed the top of her head. Neither of them wanted to face starting the day without their baby girl.

Slowly, they got out of bed and made their way downstairs, where they sat at their kitchen table in silence. After a few minutes, Michael got up and made his way to the phone to call the police to see if they had any more information. They told him they were ‘working on the situation’ and nothing more. Defeated, he sat back down and stared down at his cup of coffee, not knowing what else to do.

About an hour after had awakened from their tortured sleep, they were still seated at the kitchen table, just as numb as ever, when Nadia, Eric and April arrived. Surprisingly, Nadia was beaming, but Eric looked even more upset and distraught than he had the day before. Nadia greeted both her sister and her brother-in-law with tight hugs and then she put her daughter in Sydney’s lap. Sydney gathered up April in her arms and hugged her warm body while she kissed her head.

“What’s with the bag?” Michael finally broke the silence between them by pointing to the rather large tote bag Nadia brought with her, which was sitting on the floor beside April’s diaper bag.

“Oh! Well, I decided we needed distractions,” Nadia smiled.

“Nadia,” Sydney sighed.

“No, we do. We’re not going to help Beth by sitting around and moping all day, so we’re going to…. reminisce,” she said as she pulled out a photo album from the bag and waved it enticingly in front of them. “Your wedding album?” Sydney asked dully.

“Uh huh,” Nadia smiled. “Come on, let’s all go sit on the couch!”

Nobody moved. “See, I told you that was stupid,” Eric told her.

Nadia hit him lightly. “Come onnnn, just for a few minutes? Then you can go back to sadness, I promise,” she told them with a smile.

Sydney and Michael reluctantly followed Nadia to the couch, where she sat down in between them and opened up the book. “See, okay, look at this, remember my first freak out at the church?” Nadia smiled over at her sister.

“First?” Sydney laughed softly. “You mean eightieth.”

“Well… yeah,” Nadia said casually.


“OH MY GOD!!” Nadia wailed for the fifth time since putting on her dress. The first two had been panics about the dress, the third a panic about the rehearsal, and the fourth a panic about Eric’s strange bedroom habits that made Sydney nearly gag.

“What?” Sydney sighed exasperatedly.

“I just thought of something! Eric is the only man I’ve slept with… and… and if marriage is forever then I’ll only get to sleep with Eric! I’m YOU!” she wailed helplessly.

“Nadia, you need to calm down,” Sydney coached her. “Deep breath in, out, in, out.”

Nadia only tried the breathing for a moment before whining once more, “I’ve only slept with Eric. What if there is someone out there better than Eric?!”

Sydney sighed and tried to come up with an answer to that that wasn’t a joke, but instead, something helpful. “Well… it’s not just about the sex, Nadia. It’s the whole package.”

“I could have been with more guys! DAMN YOU!! This is your fault!” Nadia screeched with an accusing finger directed towards her sister.

“Me?!” Sydney gasped.

“Yes, you! If it hadn’t been for you and your Captain Virgin attitude I would have been a slut!” she said in an almost disappointed manner.

“Nadia, listen to yourself. You don’t want to be a slut!” Sydney told her.

“No…,” Nadia said quietly.

“Besides, sleeping with only one guy isn’t so bad,” Sydney smiled hopefully at her.

“Easy for you to say,” Nadia muttered as she folded her arms over her chest. “Your husband is hot!! Mine looks like… the Pillsbury dough boy!”


Sydney and Michael had cracked smiles by the end of the story as Eric began to sulk. “This is horrible! How was this supposed to cheer us up?!”

“Not you, Eric, them,” Nadia smiled. Eric grumbled.

“Well, it was fine… until Michael fell down in the aisle,” Sydney said, barely able to keep her lips from cracking into a smile as she pointed to the picture of her husband flat on his face.

Michael’s expression turned to stone. “That kid tripped me,” he said bitterly.

“Sure he did, Michael,” Nadia told him with a sympathetic pat on his shoulder. He glared at her and Sydney couldn’t help but let out a tiny giggle at recalling that hilarious image of her husband.


Right after the ‘I Do’s, the wedding guests began to clap and cheer as a smiling Nadia and Eric made their way back down the aisle. Sydney, who was the maid of honor, took the arm of her husband, who happened to be the best man, and they began to follow Nadia and Eric.

They had only walked a quarter of the way down the aisle when, all of a sudden, Michael wasn’t walking beside her and Sydney’s arm jerked violently. She looked down and saw him sprawled out on the ground as the entire church burst out laughing. “Oh god Michael, are you alright?” Sydney asked, crouching down beside him.

“Kill me,” he whimpered helplessly.

“Why? Are you alright?” she asked.

“You mean, aside from mortified,” he grumbled as he pushed himself up off the ground. As he did so, he noticed a little boy around the age of seven smirking and trying to hide his giggles. Michael was about ready to attack him, but Sydney pulled him down the aisle to keep the wedding party moving.

When they reached the end of the church, Eric was doubled over, resting his hands on his knees, laughing hysterically. “That was smooth man, really smooth.”

“Shut up,” Michael growled.


“I can’t believe you guys kept that picture,” Michael grumbled.

“Of course,” Nadia smiled.

“Hey, you guys remember when I taught Beth to say ‘Daddy go boom’ after he fell?” Eric laughed. The room fell silent at the mention of the missing little girl and Eric only felt worse, so he shrank back against the couch and decided not to say anything else.

After a few minutes of silence Nadia cleared her throat. “Anyway, remember when Mom put cake on Dad’s nose?”

“Oh god, I thought he was going to kill her!” Sydney exclaimed.

“I know it was great!” Nadia smiled. Just as she turned the next page, April began to grunt and squirm in Sydney’s arms. She crawled over into her mother’s lap and placed her chubby hand in the photo album at the picture displaying Beth dressed up in her pretty flower girl dress.

Sydney looked away as a tear fell from her eye and Nadia just hugged her daughter tightly.



Chapter 5

Around lunch, Jack and Irina came bearing enough food to feed a small army. It was a mixture of takeout and things Irina had whipped up that morning. “Mom… really, you didn’t have to…,” Sydney sighed at the mounds of food.

“Nonsense. You don’t need to be worried about cooking now. You have plenty,” Irina smiled at her. Irina then took her youngest grandchild and carried her over to Beth’s old high chair, which was set up in the Vaughn’s kitchen because of April’s frequent visits. Irina fed her while the rest of the adults picked through the food that had been brought.

“God, I just…ugh!” Sydney groaned exasperatedly. “Why haven’t they found her? Where is she? They say the first twenty-four hours are critical and it’s been freakin’ twenty-four hours!!” she choked as she raised her trembling hands to her face and covered it. Michael pulled her into a hug.

“Sydney, you need to calm down, sweetheart,” Jack said soothingly. “The police are doing everything they can to find her.”

“I just feel so… so helpless,” she sniffed.

“Syd, sweetie, you’re shaking,” Michael sighed. “Why don’t you go take a hot shower and calm down, okay?” he asked softly.

“Okay,” she said shakily as she went to take a step forward, but stumbled.

“Maybe a bath would be better,” Michael suggested. “Come on, I’ll help you upstairs,” he said as he guided her with a strong hand on her waist.

She pushed her head into his chest and locked her arms around him as they slowly made their way up the stairs and back to their bedroom. She clung to him as he pulled out her favorite ‘comfy’ clothes from the drawer, since at that point they were still in their PJs, and then he walked with her over to the bathroom.

“Syd, I can’t turn on the water, loosen up a bit,” he told her quietly.

“Sorry,” she said softly and removed him from her death grip. He turned on their bathroom heater and then cranked on the water to fill up the tub, but Sydney stopped him before he could put the stopper in the drain. “I don’t want to take a bath.”

“You sure?” he asked. She nodded and pulled him to his feet. Once he was standing, she leaned up and kissed him while tugging at his white t-shirt. He pulled back and looked down at her, their eyes revealing the same thing; a desperate need for closeness and comfort.

~*~

After their shower, Sydney and Michael took a two-hour nap because of their combined level of emotional exhaustion and the fact that they didn’t want to have to sit around and worry about their daughter. When they awoke, they made their way downstairs, still looking sleepy. They found their house empty except for a note on the counter from Sydney’s mother saying that they didn’t want to wake them, but Nadia and Eric left to put April down for a nap and Irina and Jack had gone down to the police station since they couldn’t get through on the phone.

Michael walked over to the couch, flopped down on it and began to flip through some television channels. Sydney walked over and curled up beside him. “You think we need a lawyer?” she asked softly.

“Lawyer?” he questioned.

She nodded into his shoulder. “For when we get her back,” she said, emphasizing the word ‘when’. “Don’t we need a lawyer?”

“I suppose… but it’s Sunday, so there’s nothing we can do today,” he told her quietly.

“Right…,” she sighed.

“Should we call into work and take tomorrow off?” he asked.

“Oh… yeah, I guess we should. I don’t really want to sit around here but I know I’d never get anything done,” she sighed. Then she slid off the couch and walked over to the phone. She called her work’s answering service and left a message, though saying the words ‘my daughter’s been kidnapped’ was the hardest thing she had ever said and it nearly caused her to break down in tears.

After Sydney finished, Michael called his work and was forced to painfully explain the situation. Once he hung up, he returned to the couch, where he and Sydney sat for another half hour before Jack and Irina returned, looking far more haggard than they had when they left.

“Sorry we took so long,” Irina said as Sydney and Michael walked into the kitchen to meet them. “The police had us… looking at something,” Irina said distantly.

“What? What was it?” Sydney asked. Her mother refused to look her in the eye and said nothing. “Mom, what was it?” Sydney asked more firmly.

“They thought they had found her, but it wasn’t her,” Irina admitted reluctantly. Then she lowered her voice and said, “They made us look at a body…”

At the mention of the word ‘body’, Sydney immediately rushed to the sink and emptied the minimal contents of her stomach into it, before crumbling down on the cold tile kitchen floor.

“It wasn’t her, Sydney. I swear it,” Irina said frantically as she knelt down beside her shaking daughter.

“I just…. I want my baby back,” Sydney choked. Michael knelt down beside her and pulled her into his arms as she trembled. No one knew what to say to make it better.

Shortly after the incident in the kitchen, Michael carried Sydney upstairs to bed and then returned to the kitchen, where he sat silently with his in-laws for about twenty minutes before Nadia, Eric and April returned. Michael took April into the family room and played with her while everyone else spoke in hushed tones in the kitchen. He knew Jack and Irina were telling them about what had happened at the police station, but he didn’t want to know. He only cared about having Beth back; that’s all that mattered.

After eating a very minimalist dinner, Michael decided it was best for him to just go lay in bed with Sydney, even if he didn’t fall asleep right away. He didn’t want to be by himself and he knew she needed someone close by. She was asleep when he got into bed, but within twenty minutes she had snuggled closer to him and he held her tightly, hoping that the morning would bring good news.



Chapter 6

The next morning, though they awoke rather early, Sydney and Michael didn’t bother getting out of bed until after eleven. For three painful hours, there was nothing, and then the phone rang. Michael raced over to it and answered it quickly.

“Mr. Vaughn, we found your daughter,” came a voice through the phone.

Michael nearly collapsed. “You did? Where is she? Is she alright?” he asked frantically into the phone. Sydney approached with tears in her eyes.

“She’s at Mercy Hospital. They’re checking her over, but she appears to be fine.”

“O-Okay, we’ll be right there,” he said before hanging up. “They found her. She’s at the hospital. She’s okay,” Michael said in one long breath before his wife was in his arms and they were crying and hugging together.

“Okay… okay, we have to go… get her,” Sydney sniffed as she wiped her cheeks. “But we can’t go like this… look at us,” she gestured towards their wrinkled pj’s.

“Right…,” Michael nodded, sniffing back his own tears. Then they both raced upstairs and quickly threw on the first decent clothes they could find. “At least we showered yesterday,” he jested with a wink. She gaped at him before laughing softly.

Five minutes later they were tearing out of the house and into their car. On the way to the hospital, they called all their family members to let them know they were going to pick Beth up and of course everyone was ecstatic but dying for more details, as were Sydney and Michael.

Michael drove no less than ten miles above the speed limit the whole way to the hospital and was almost shocked when they arrived there and he hadn’t been pulled over by the police. Shocked, but thankful. Sydney and Michael were about to race into the emergency room, when they were intercepted by the two police officers who had helped them two days earlier.

“Where is she?! Is she okay?! What happened?” Sydney and Michael fired questions at them.

“Beth is fine. She’s a little dehydrated, but the doctors have given her a clean bill of health,” the female officer told them.

“Oh, thank god,” Michael said.

“He…he didn’t hurt her?” Sydney asked with a trembling voice.

“No, there are no signs of that. She has a few bruises on one of her arms, but they could have come from the playground,” the officer told her.

Sydney let out a long relieved breath as she tried to calm her trembling hands. “C-Can we see her?”

“In just a second,” the officer paused. “Beth was pretty terrified when we found her, as you can imagine. She hasn’t said anything, which isn’t uncommon, but she might be suffering from post traumatic shock.”

“Sh-she’ll be okay; she just needs her mother, please,” Sydney begged them. The officer nodded and led Sydney and Michael inside and back towards the back of the hospital where another police officer was standing guard in front of an examination room. He stepped aside and allowed Sydney to open the door. When she saw Beth curled up on a hospital bed wearing a cream color hospital gown with bright colored polka dots, Sydney burst into tears once more. “Beth,” she choked out.

At the sound of her mother’s voice, Beth sat up and crawled over on the bed towards her mother’s open arms. Sydney scooped her up and held her close as she sobbed and sat down on the edge of the hospital bed for support. Beth locked her arms around her mother’s neck and buried her face in her neck.

A moment later, Michael joined his family in the hug and Beth took one of her arms from her mother’s neck and put it around her father’s. Michael kissed all over her head and hairline as he held them both closely.

“Oh Beth,” Sydney choked out. “You’re ok, sweetie, let me see you,” Sydney sniffed as she pulled out of the hug and looked down at her daughter. Her cheeks were tearstained, as well as smudged with dirt and her hair was a mess, but other than that, she appeared to be fine. “Are you alright, Beth?” Sydney asked her. Beth nodded her head once before reaching out for her father.

Michael collected her in his arms and hugged her tightly. Sydney walked over to the officer, who was hovering in the doorway, and asked, “Can we take her home?”

“The doctor wants a therapist to speak with her. It’s common procedure after such an incident. I’m sure after that, you can go,” the officer told her.

Sydney nodded then she leaned in close to the officer and asked in a low voice, “Did you catch the man that took her?”

“Yes, we did. He’s in custody-” before the officer could continue, the hospital’s therapist arrived and pushed her way into the room.

“I’d like just a few moments alone with Beth if you don’t mind,” she said to Michael, who was clinging to his daughter with a death grip. Michael reluctantly set Beth down on the hospital bed.

“This nice lady’s going to talk to you now, okay? But I’ll be right outside the door Beth, okay?” he said softly. Beth gave a single nod. Michael then kissed her forehead and walked out of the room with Sydney.

The police officer pulled them aside and began to explain. “We were able to find the suspect’s car and through that we found an apartment about twenty minutes from here. Using force, we entered his home and we found Beth locked in a closet.”

Sydney whimpered slightly at this and Michael wrapped his arms around her. “Why would he do this?!” Sydney asked in a very hushed, horrified voice.

“I’m sorry, I wish I could tell you,” the officer said sympathetically. “He confessed to the whole thing though. In fact, he almost seemed relieved when we showed up. I believe he took her and wasn’t sure what to do with her.”

“He should have let her go!” Sydney sobbed.

“Shh Syd, it’s okay; it’s over,” Michael said calmly as he hugged her. She clung to him for a moment before they heard Beth wail from the adjoining room and both of them panicked.

“What’s happening?” Sydney asked frantically. Without waiting for a reply, Sydney burst into the room and gathered up her daughter. “What did you say to her?” she asked the therapist accusingly.

“Nothing; she’s just upset. She’s been through a traumatic incident. She still isn’t speaking, though,” the therapist said.

“Well, you said it yourself. She’s been through a trauma. She needs to come home and calm down,” Sydney told her.

“Alright, I’ll make sure the doctor signs her discharge papers,” the therapist said before leaving.

“Shh baby, it’s alright,” Sydney soothed her shaken daughter. “We’re going home, sweetie, you’re alright.”



Chapter 7

Half an hour later, Sydney, Michael and Beth were on their way home. Sydney was sitting in the back seat, holding Beth tightly while she sat in her booster seat. Once home, they saw that Sydney’s parent’s car was parked in the driveway. Irina and Jack met them at the front door and Irina nearly burst out sobbing when she saw her slightly disheveled granddaughter. Beth, who had always been extremely fond of her maternal grandmother, reached out to her and Irina lifted her from Sydney’s arms.

“Hi sweetie,” Irina sniffed and hugged her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Jack reached over and rubbed his granddaughter’s back while he put his other arm around his wife.

“I’m gonna take her upstairs and give her a bath,” Sydney told her mother. Irina nodded and passed Beth back.

Upstairs, Sydney ran the bath while Beth sat on the floor of the bathroom with her legs tucked underneath her. Sydney occasionally looked back and gave her a reassuring smile, but Beth never smiled or said anything in response. The fact that her usually chatty, bubbly daughter had said nothing worried Sydney beyond words, but she managed to calm herself down by talking herself into the fact that Beth was probably still scared and exhausted. Tomorrow would be better.

Once in the tub, Beth didn’t play with her mermaid toys like she usually did, she simply sat there and let her mother wash her hair and wash the dirt from her face and arms. After she was out of the tub and dry, Sydney set her up on the counter to comb through her hair and then blow it dry, a ritual that usually had both girls giggling as Sydney tried to tickle her and Beth would use her wet hair to splash her mother. But there was no laughter that day; Beth sat expressionless the whole time.

“Are you tired, sweetie? Do you want to take a nap?” Sydney asked her daughter once her hair was dried and she was dressed in clean clothes. Beth said nothing, but she walked across the hall and into her room where she picked up Al Bear and crawled up on her bed.

“Okay Beth, I’ll be right downstairs if you need me,” Sydney said while tucking the little girl in. Then she leaned down and kissed her head and whispered, “I love you,” before going downstairs.

“How is she?” Michael asked when his wife appeared in the kitchen where everyone else had gathered.

Sydney shrugged. “She still hasn’t said anything. She’s taking a nap now though.”

“That’s good. She must be exhausted. Honestly, it’s horrible,” Irina said with a disapproving click of her tongue. “What kind of twisted person would do such a thing?”

“I don’t know,” Sydney sighed. Michael put an arm around her and hugged her tightly. “I’m just so worried about the fact that she’s not talking to us.”

“Don’t be,” Irina told her. “Not until tomorrow anyway. If she doesn’t talk tomorrow, then I’d be concerned, but not now.”

“Okay,” Sydney sighed.

They had only been talking in the kitchen for fifteen more minutes when Beth came tearing down the stairs and charged right into Michael’s leg, which she held tightly. “Beth? Sweetie, what is it?” Michael asked softly as he tried to pry her off his leg and pick her up. He noticed then that her cheeks were moist and he brushed away her tears with his knuckle. “Beth? What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?” he asked. Beth locked her arms around his neck. Michael looked around at the other adults with a rather helpless look and they all exchanged glances, not knowing what else to do or say.

For the rest of the day, the family was inseparable. Beth sat in Michael’s lap and clung to him or went over to her grandmother and sat in her lap. She refused to sit anywhere where she wasn’t attached to someone she loved. They tried to get her to talk, but she said nothing. They tried to get her to play, but she just watched them play; never actually participating.

At dinner, Nadia, Eric and April came over just as Jack and Irina were leaving. When she was set down on the couch, April immediately crawled over to Beth and tugged at one of Beth’s hands. Beth, who usually loved crawling along the floor with her little cousin, didn’t respond except to look at her.

“She hasn’t said anything,” Sydney told her sister quietly.

“That’s awful,” Nadia sighed sympathetically. “But I’m sure she’ll come around.”

“Hey ya Bethany-Smefany,” Eric greeted his niece with his usual hyper attitude and loud voice. This elicited the first half-smile from Beth as she reached out to her uncle. Eric scooped her up willingly and bounced her on his hip. He threw her up slightly, pretended as though he was going to drop her, but caught her perfectly fine. Then, he blew a raspberry on her tummy and tried to tickle her armpits. All things that would have usually made Beth hysterical with laughter only resulted in a tiny giggle.

“See, she’s fine,” Eric announced. “Now how about we get some food, huh? What are you hungry for, Bethy? Uncle Eric will make you annnnything you want… or have someone make it for you,” he enticed, but Beth said nothing.

“Okay…,” he said slowly. “How about Mac and Cheese, hmm? That’s our favorite, right?” Beth didn’t respond but Eric took her over to the refrigerator so they could peer inside. Beth squirmed and Eric set her down. She managed to tug open the freezer half of their side-by-side refrigerator and pointed up at the ice cream.

“Ice cream after you eat, sweetie,” Eric told her. “Here, how about some of this? You love pasketti, huh?” he smiled at her. She said nothing but Sydney took the bowl from him and heated some up in the microwave for her.

Everyone gathered around the dinner table and ate, but Beth only picked at hers, eating a few spoonfuls and then pushing it away. “You’re not hungry, sweetie?” Sydney asked her.

“Oh, just give her the ice cream,” Eric told his sister-in-law. “It won’t hurt her and it’s better than eating nothing.”

Knowing that he had a point, Sydney put some ice cream in a bowl and gave it to her daughter. Beth ate most of it before crawling out of her seat and walking over to her father and clambering up in his lap. He kissed the top of her head and then looked over to Sydney, who looked as though she was about to cry but fighting it desperately.

The family went to bed early that night after calling their respective places of employment to say they wouldn’t be in the following day either; they needed to stay with Beth. After making sure she was settled in her bed, Sydney joined Michael in their bedroom where she finally broke down in his arms. “What if she doesn’t talk, Michael? Our baby….”

“I know,” he sighed and rocked her gently, having the same concerns. “We just need to take it one day at a time, okay?” Sydney nodded and clung to him.

They had only been in bed about an hour before Beth quietly made her way into their room and crawled into bed between them, something she only did when she was truly scared and upset. Usually, Sydney and Michael tried to move her back to her own bed, but tonight they didn’t. They just let her stay so she felt safe and secure again.



Chapter 8

The next morning, Sydney awoke early to watch her daughter sleep. She was amazed at how peaceful and angelic she looked, and yet at the same time, it broke her heart because she had been through something horrible that had affected her so. It wasn’t much longer before Michael awoke and stared down at his daughter as well. Sydney reached across her stomach and linked hands with him while they watched her.

They watched for a little more than half an hour before Beth woke up, stretched and rolled closer to her mother. “Hey sweetie,” Sydney said softly as she stroked Beth’s hair. “Did you sleep alright?”

Beth said nothing, but she picked at the frayed edge on the neck of Sydney’s t-shirt. Sydney’s eyes darted up towards her husbands and saw that he was looking just as worried as she. Deciding it was best to coax her into talking with a few more questions, Sydney asked, “What do you want to do today, hmm? Mommy and Daddy are staying home from work and we can do anything you want,” Sydney told her. Beth said nothing.

“Sweetie,” Michael spoke softly. Beth rolled over to look at him and he smiled at her. “You want to do something special? We can do whatever you want,” he repeated his wife’s offer. Still, Beth said nothing. Michael sighed, slightly discouraged, but he wasn’t giving up. “How about we go have breakfast first, okay?”

Beth clambered out of bed and raced out the door. Taking that to be a sign that breakfast was a ‘yes’, Michael and Sydney followed her and found her already seated at the kitchen table. Sydney laughed softly, “I guess that means she’s hungry.”

“I guess so. Do you want pancakes or waffles, Sweetie?” he asked his daughter. She just looked up at him. “Okay… how about pancakes?” She said nothing so he took that as a ‘pancakes are okay’ and he began to get out the ingredients.

The whole time they were making breakfast, Sydney and Michael tried to entice their daughter into talking with no avail. They tried every subject they could think off, all the ones that usually had her babbling endlessly, but it was no use; she refused to speak. She managed to eat two large pancakes before sliding off her chair and heading into the family room. Sydney gave Michael a sad glance.

“You go; I’ll clean this up,” he said.

Sydney slid her chair out from the table, got up and walked over to her daughter, who was searching around the couch cushions for something. “What are you looking for, Sweetie?” Sydney asked her. Beth said nothing, but spotted the object she was searching for on a chair across the room. She walked over, picked up the TV remote and carried it back to the couch and held it out to her mother. Sydney took it and put on Nickelodeon for her.

Beth then climbed up into her mother’s lap and Sydney began combing through Beth’s hair with her fingertips. She braided her chocolate brown tresses and then put a clip on the end of it to hold the braid in place. Beth then leaned back against Sydney’s chest and continued to watch Dora, the Explorer.

Just like they had the day before, Sydney and Michael tried to get their daughter to play, talk to them, or at the very least, say one word all day long, but she did none of that. She simply sat around in one of their laps. As the day progress, Sydney grew more and more disheartened. She was glad to have her baby back, but this wasn’t her baby, this was some timid, shy, silent child, not her bubbly Beth.

While Beth was occupied with a movie, Sydney pulled her husband aside and asked in a hushed voice, “Do you think we should stay home with her tomorrow?”

“I don’t know,” Michael sighed as his gaze drifted back towards his daughter. “I think one more day… and then, well, I just don’t know what to do. She really shouldn’t miss much more school but…,” he let his voice drift off.

“How can she go to school if she can’t talk?” Sydney said sadly as her bottom lip began to tremble.

Michael snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her in close. “It’ll be okay,” he said in a soothing voice.

“How can you be so sure?” she sniffed and mumbled into his chest.

“How can I not be?” he laughed softly. “We’re going to be okay… maybe we should sacrifice some parental dignity in order to get her to laugh.”

Sydney lifted her head and looked at him curiously. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

“Well I was thinking something along the lines of ballet class…”

Sydney burst out laughing. “I haven’t thought bout that in ages.”

“All the more reason to do it,” he smiled.

“Miiiichael,” she whined. “I can’t. I’m old, fat, and out of shape.”

Michael couldn’t help but laugh at her comment. “You are definitely not old or fat and while you might be slightly out of shape, I have full confidence in you.”

“Why don’t you just sing to her?” Sydney suggested.

“Well… that could be a less painful plan,” he smiled.

For over half an hour, Michael sang every song he could think of to get a smile or a laugh from his daughter, but nothing worked. Even Sydney joined in and they harmonized to silly children’s songs, but those didn’t work either. Finally, they gave up and let her watch TV in peace while they tried to formulate another plan to get through to their daughter.

“You think that maybe we could try a therapist?” Michael asked. Sydney looked wary. “I know, I know, I don’t love the idea either, but,” he sighed. “She can’t just not speak to us ever again… and it can’t hurt to try, right?”

“Well… it’s just… last time she started crying,” Sydney said with concern.

“I know, but that was also only a few hours after she was rescued,” he pointed out.

“True,” she sighed. “And it’s obvious she’s not getting better with just us… I guess I’ll call the police and ask if they can recommend someone. I’m sure there’s some type of specialist, or something.”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“I just want her to be better,” Sydney sighed and covered her face with her hands.

Michael walked over, hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “Me too.”



Chapter 9

In the next month, things didn’t exactly get better for the Vaughn family, however they didn’t get worse either. Only a few short days after Beth returned Sydney and Michael took her to see a therapist they had found. The therapist allowed Sydney and Michael to stay in the room during the first session, which eased their trepidation, and she simply wanted to talk with Beth. Unfortunately, Beth had no interest in talking to her.

The therapist suggested that it would be best for Beth to get back into her regular routine so that all her stress and trauma would slowly fade away. So, Sydney took her back to Kindergarten after she had a long talk with the teacher and explained Beth’s situation. The teacher was more than willing to work with them and Beth. When Beth returned to school, everyone was very hopeful that within a few days, she’d want to talk with the children and thus, start talking once more. That, however, wasn’t the case.

Instead of interacting with the other children at kindergarten, Beth stayed by herself and when the teacher tried to get her to play with the other kids, she didn’t budge. She still participated in class, though. Doing drawings and making crafts. She just did so silently.

At home, things improved slightly. Beth answered yes or no questions with the shake or nod of her head and she branched out into shrugs or grimaces, but still, she didn’t speak. Sydney, Michael and the other family members were growing progressively more frustrated with each week of Beth’s silence. No one had any idea what to do and the therapist kept telling them that it would work out in its own time, but Sydney and Michael wished for a more specific time.

It was nearing the middle of October and after a month of silence from their child, Sydney and Michael were literally on the edge of sanity, wishing to hear just one tiny word from her. Sydney, however, discovered something that she hoped would trigger a reaction from Beth. It was a lazy Saturday morning and Beth had spent the night with her grandparents so Sydney and Michael were reveling in their sleeping-in time. Sydney rolled over on her side, propped herself up on her elbow and smiled down at her husband. “I’m pregnant.”

His eyes widened in a mixture of shock, joy and awe. “Really?” he gasped. She nodded with a grin. “Oh Syd,” he sat up and captured her lips with his before hugging her tightly. “Seriously?”

“Yes seriously,” she laughed.

“When did you find out?” he asked.

“I didn’t… I mean, I just sorta figured it out. I didn’t take a test or anything, but I’m still like ninety percent sure,” she told him. His brow furrowed. “Well… I don’t know, I just know, plus I’m late… and I was trying to figure it out and one thing stood out in my mind…” she let her voice drift off, hoping he would continue the thought.

A sly grin crossed his face. “The shower.”

“Yeah,” she laughed. “And that was about five weeks ago so…”

“Oh my god, this is so exciting! I love you so much,” he said as he kissed her.

“I love you too,” she grinned. “I bought a home pregnancy test but I wanted to wait so we could see the results together.”

“Okay, go, take it now,” he waved her towards the bathroom excitedly. She giggled slightly as she rolled off the bed and walked into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, they were sitting on the bed, hand in hand, waiting for the timer to go off. When it did, they walked into the bathroom together and Sydney picked up the stick. She turned around with a grin and pointed to the digital readout. “It says pregnant!” she squealed happily.

Michael picked her up and spun her around in their tiny bathroom. “This is just so…. I have no words for this!! I can’t wait until we have another baby.”

“I know me neither!” Sydney squealed. “And I must say you’re taking it much better than last time,” she said with a tiny laugh.

He grumbled and set her down. “Never going to live that down, am I?” She shook her head with a grin.


Sydney paced nervously around the tiny kitchen of their apartment, wringing her hands as she went. She had only known for three hours and already she was having trouble keeping it inside, but Michael was sick, really sick with a miserable cold, and he was asleep on the couch so she didn’t want to wake him.

Finally, she heard him padding his way into the kitchen and she practically jumped with giddy excitement. “Uhh, need medicine,” he mumbled, his voice clearly indicating that his nose was totally stuffed up.

“Michael, I have something to tell you and I just can’t wait!” she began.

“Uh?” he grunted as he walked over the fridge to get some water.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out. He turned and looked at her, but only for a moment, because before she knew it, he was flat on the ground on their kitchen floor. Sydney screamed and rushed over to him. He was out cold; he had fainted.

“Michael, Michael,” she said as she shook him and slapped his cheeks gently.

“Uuuh,” he groaned. “What the hell happened?”

“I think you fainted,” she told him.

“Oh… yea… that used to happen when I was a little kid and got sick,” he sighed as Sydney helped him to sit up and he covered his face with his hands. “Wait, did you say pregnant?!”

“Yeah…,” she said cautiously as she bit her lip, now thinking that this wasn’t such an amazing thing.

Michael reached over and stroked her face. “That’s… I don’t think I have words to describe that,” he laughed softly.

“Is that good?” she asked cautiously.

“Yes, that’s very, very, very good and I’d kiss you if I wasn’t so gross and sick,” he told her.

“It’s okay,” she smiled and kissed him softly. “I can’t wait until we have a baby… I mean I know it wasn’t planned…”

“No, it’s perfect,” he smiled.


“At least you didn’t faint,” she giggled.

“I was sick!”

“I know, I’m just teasing you,” she grinned.

“Yeah, yeah, he muttered as he picked her up over his shoulder and carried her back to bed; she squealed.

~*~

Later than morning, Sydney and Michael were downstairs eating breakfast when Irina and Jack returned with Beth. “Come, sit down a second. We need to tell you something,” Sydney grinned at them. She scooped up her daughter and carried her to the couch, where they sat down. Michael sat down beside her and they exchanged smiles.

“Well, um, we’re going to have another baby,” Sydney said with a giddy little giggle.

“OH!” Irina gasped. “That’s wonderful sweetheart.”

“That’s great,” Jack added with a smile.

Sydney then looked down to her daughter. “Beth, did you hear that? Mommy and Daddy are going to have a baby. You’re going to be a big sister, isn’t that great?”

Beth looked up at her and shrugged. Sydney’s heart broke a little. She was sure that Beth would have said something after that. Even a negative reaction would have been better than a simple shrug.

“See the baby’s right here, Beth, and he or she is going to grow big until they’re ready to come out,” Michael added as he rested his hand on Sydney’s stomach. Beth put her hand on top of his, but still said nothing. Sydney and Michael looked up to the other two adults in the room, who gave them sympathetic glances, and then they looked at each other. Suddenly their happy day wasn’t so happy anymore.



Chapter 10

Sydney and Michael were hopeful that the next opportunity to entice their daughter into talking would be Halloween. The previous year, Beth had loved going trick-or-treating with her father, and Sydney had a wonderful time dressing them in their costumes.


“Okay, okay, come on. You guys are just so freakin’ cute. I gotta take your picture,” Sydney giggled.

“Syyyyyd,” Michael groaned.

“No, I gotta,” she insisted.

Michael grumbled and adjusted his carrot colored wig and then picked up his four-year-old, who was sporting hair of a similar color. Sydney had come up with the ingenious idea of dressing them up as Raggedy Ann and Andy. She found the carrot-red wigs at a costume shop along with some white hats to fit each of them. At another shop she found the red and white striped socks necessary for the ensemble.

She had made her daughter an adorable white apron to go over a blue dress she already had and then the final touches of freckles on the cheeks were added with face paint. For Michael, he was wearing denim overalls he borrowed from his father and a rather ugly red and white checked shirt Sydney had ‘borrowed’ from her mother’s ‘discarding Jack’s clothes he’s never worn in his life’ pile. He too had black freckles painted on his cheeks and in his words, looked ‘like a loon’.

“You two are just so precious,” Sydney giggled as she snapped pictures. “This should be our Christmas card.”

“NO!” Michael said firmly.

“Daddy cute,” Beth giggled.

“Awwww,” Sydney sighed.

“Yeah yeah, you’re cute too, Sweet Pea,” he kissed her cheek; she giggled again.

“Hey, this is better than the Halloween you were a nerd,” Sydney smiled at him.

“Oh yeah… that was the year you were a wh-”

“SHH!” Sydney cut him off by clamping her hand over his mouth. “Not in front of young ears.”

“Sorry… but next year we’re being something manly… or you’re dressing up with her,” he said.


Unfortunately, every time Sydney and Michael would mention Halloween, Beth would shake her head vigorously. She didn’t want to go trick-or-treating that year. This made Sydney and Michael even more distraught. Pretty much the only thing keeping them together was their new baby, who, according to the doctor, was perfectly healthy.

For Thanksgiving that year, Sydney and Michael decided to have a huge family get together, to surround Beth with as much love as possible. They were having both sets of parents as well as Nadia, Eric and April over. Though it was a lot of work, Sydney was sure it would be worth it. Sadly, she couldn’t have been more wrong.

The first part of dinner went perfectly fine, until suddenly, out of nowhere, Beth ran screaming from the table. The whole table fell silent and exchanged glances for a few moments before Sydney got up and followed her daughter. She found Beth cowering in the corner of her room.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Sydney asked her softly. Beth said nothing. Sydney approached her slowly and picked her up. Noticing that she was trembling, Sydney cradled her close and sat down with her on the bed. “Sweetie, what happened? Are you okay?” Sydney asked her, but Beth didn’t respond.

“Okay, why don’t you lay down a few minutes? I’ll lay here with you,” Sydney told her. She laid down in Beth’s bed and rubbed her back while whispering soft things into her ear until Beth seemed to be calm.

Then, just as suddenly as she had screamed, Beth got off her bed and went downstairs like nothing had happened. Sydney went to follow her, but instead, broke down in tears in her daughter’s tiny bed. She curled herself up in a ball. A few minutes later, Michael came into the room and sat down on the floor beside her (since there was no more room in the bed) and hugged her tightly.

“Syd,” he said softly after a few minutes.

“I just… I don’t know how much more I can take,” she choked out.

“I know,” he sighed. He was feeling the same way, and he knew that her pregnancy only heightened her emotions, so he was shocked this breakdown hadn’t come sooner.

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” she sobbed.

“I don’t either Syd, but we have to keep trying. We can’t give up on her,” he said to his wife.

“I-I know that,” she choked. “But it’s so h-hard.”

“I know,” he sighed. Then he leaned in and kissed her moist cheeks and lips a few times. He held her tightly until she had regained her composure and then they walked down the stairs together.

Downstairs, they found Beth had taken her place at the table once more. They too, took their places, and the conversation continued, though it was slightly more stressed than before.

“Oh Michael, we nearly forgot. Happy Birthday son,” his father said as he handed him an envelope.

“Oh…yeah… thanks,” he laughed softly. He had actually forgotten about his birthday because of the events with Beth.

Eric chuckled. “You’re ooooold.”

“Thanks,” Michael rolled his eyes.

“He’s old?! How do you think we feel?!” Amelia laughed softly. Jack and Irina laughed at this.

~*~

Saturday morning, the morning of his birthday, Michael awoke with Sydney curled up in his arms, completely exhausted after the ‘present’ she had given him the previous night. He hugged her lightly and kissed her head. Thirty wasn’t so bad after all, he decided.

“Mmm Michael, are you waking me up?” Sydney mumbled.

“I wouldn’t dream of it my dear,” he said softly, moving his hands to her belly, which was still flat (for the time being, anyway).

“Okay,” she sighed as she snuggled back up to him.

A few minutes later, Beth came barreling into the room. She dove onto their bed and slid across it with a huge grin on her face. “Morning princess,” Michael laughed softly.

“Happy Birthday Daddy!” she squealed.

Both Sydney and Michael were convinced they were having strokes. Sydney’s eyes snapped open and she stared at her beaming daughter. “W-what?” she choked, thinking she had imagined the whole thing.

Beth clambered up into her father’s arms, where she kissed his cheek. “Happy Birthday Daddy! You’re ooooold,” she giggled, obviously mimicking her mischievous uncle.

Michael couldn’t help but laugh. “I think that’s the best thing I’ve ever heard. Thank you so much, Sweetie,” he said as he kissed her.

Sydney simply stared in disbelief. Beth was talking again just like nothing had ever happened. The therapist had told them it might happen that way; as if a light switch had simply been turned off and then back on suddenly.

“Come on, Daddy! Come get presents and breakfast!” Beth said as she tugged on his arm.

“Okay, okay,” he laughed softly. He turned and kissed Sydney softly before following his daughter out of the room. This was going to be the best birthday ever.



Epilogue

“Beth, come ‘ere. You wanna meet your brother?” Michael asked softly as he walked into his house with his wife and newborn son in tow.

“Yay baby!” Beth squealed as she bounded down from Eric’s lap.

“Shh Beth, you need to be quiet,” Michael said in a soft voice.

“Baby!” Beth said more quietly.

“That’s good,” Michael laughed softly. “Now sit down on the couch and Mommy will sit beside you.”

Beth bounded onto the couch and a moment later, Sydney slowly sat down with her bundle of blue blankets. “Sweetie, this is Jonathan,” Sydney told her softly as she pulled the blankets away from the very pink infant’s face.

Beth scrunched up her nose and looked inside the blankets. “He’s ugly.”

Everyone in the room laughed at her bluntness. “Beth!” Michael exclaimed.

“Well, he is!”

“Sweetie, he’s a baby; babies look like this,” Sydney explained. Beth just shrugged and walked away. “Oh well,” Sydney sighed. “You guys wanna hold him?” she offered her sister and brother-in-law.

“No, not me,” Eric backed away slowly.

“You’re pathetic,” Michael laughed at his friend’s baby aversion. “Besides, this one’s a boy. Our kind. We can mess with him,” Michael smiled proudly.

“Excuse me,” Sydney said. “You cannot mess with my angel.”

“Well, Syd, you have to leave the house sometime,” Eric grinned wickedly, warming up to the idea. Nadia elbowed him in the stomach and he groaned.

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