State of Grace

To everyone: Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 8

Sydney

There was knock on my door. Benjamin was sleeping, so I whispered to the person.

“Come in.”

The door opened a crack, and a bunch of flowers appeared, followed by the face of Eric Weiss.

I jumped from the bed and ran to the door, hugging him with all my might.

“Syd, shouldn’t you not be out of bed?” he asked, hugging me back.

“Good God, Eric,” I teased him. “I had a baby, I’m not dead.”

“Can I see?” he asked.

I walked over to the bassinet and picked up Benjamin, bringing him over to Eric. He stirred a bit, and opened his eyes.

“He was premature, so the doctors wanted us to stay a couple of days. Make sure he was all right.”

“Syd,” Eric breathed. “He is amazing. What is his name?”

“Benjamin,” I replied. “Benjamin Bristow Vaughn.”

“I love it. It’s perfect.”

“Do you think so?” I took up at him, “Do you think he would have liked it?”

We both knew what “he” we were talking about.

“Of course Sydney. It is a perfect name.”

I rocked him gently, and he went back to sleep, I put him back down, “He scares me sometimes, he’s so tiny I feel like I might break him.”

“I’m sure you’ll be a great mom,” Eric said. “Now me? If I was ever to be a dad, they would call Social Services right away.”

I laughed, then, in quiet voice I asked, “Have you seen Nadia?”

He shook his head, “Not yet. I came straight from the airport to here. Well, expect for the flower stop.” He gestured to the bouquet, which I took from him and placed in a vase of water.

“They’re beautiful, thank you.”

We were quiet for a moment, then Eric asked, “How is she?”

“Stable. Sloane’s still searching for a cure. I had Marshall whip up a mini-Echelon that is programmed to cross-reference searching for key words about Sovogda, Rambaldi, anything else I can think of. So far, nothing.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

I shrugged, “I just bat my eyes at Marshall and he’s glad to help. You know I’ll move mountains to help Nadia.”

“Let me know if there are any law you need help breaking.”

“Gotcha.”

He was opening his mouth to say something when the door opened and Thomas walked in.

“Hello,” Thomas said.

Eric looked a little confused, “Uh…hi.”

“Thomas helped get me to the hospital, and help with the baby’s birth,” I said, by way of explaining to Eric what this man was doing in my hospital room.

Eric extended his hand, “Thank you.”

Thomas took his hand, “No problem.”

The three of us stood in awkward silence for a moment, then Benjamin began to cry. I picked him up, rocking him back and forth. Then I sat down on the bed, unbuttoned my gown and put him to my breast. I draped a towel over my shoulder, as Carrie had shown me so I could, as Carrie put it, “Feed your child and still remain in society.”

Thomas wasn’t flustered, but I could tell Eric was a little embarrassed, “I’m going to go see Nadia, I’ll be back tonight.”

As soon as he was gone, Thomas asked me, “I thought Nadia was your sister. The agent in the coma, right?”

I nodded, “But she and Eric were…together, they were perfect for each other, and he took it pretty hard. I think that is part of the reason he left, too many painful memories.”

I gestured and he sat on the edge of the bed, “Anyone else come and visit you today? Marshall was threatening to.”

“Yeah, he and his wife, Carrie, came. They offered to give me parenting lessons. I think I’ll need all the help I can get. It’s not that I think I’ll be a bad mom, but…” I paused, trying to get rid of the lump that had just appeared in my throat, “I always thought that he’d be here too. That I wouldn’t have to do this…alone.”

Thomas reached over and cupped my chin in his hand, raising my eyes to meet his, “Sydney, I don’t live that far from you. If you ever need any help, or a night off, let me know. I don’t want you to feel alone.”

Those words, “I don’t want you to feel alone.” They simultaneously thrilled and scared me.

“Thank you,” I said.

He ruffled my hair in a familiar way, like a brother, and that moment was gone, “You’ll be a great mom, Sydney.”

“I hope so.”
 
loved the update!!! love the lil feed your child and remain in society!! good point!
and i loved how marshal is doing so much to help nadia and syd both!! i just love him!! thanks for the PM!!
 
To everyone: Thanks for the reviews! You guys rock!

Chapter 9

Sydney

Once Benjamin and I were back home, Rachel came to see me.

“Hi,” she had a plate of food that she had cooked. “I thought you might not have time to cook. I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier, but-”

“It’s fine,” I cut her off, and took the food into the kitchen.

“How is he?” Rachel asked.

“Sleeping, thank God! He doesn’t do that enough.”

Rachel smiled, something she was doing more and more.

“How is everyone at APO?” I asked.

“Thomas is fine,” she replied, slyly.

“That wasn’t what I asked,” I retorted.

“Marshall and Dixon are fine, they said they saw you at the hospital. Your dad is busy and says he will stop over and see you as soon as he can.”

I noticed she didn’t mention anything about Sloane, who, except for flowers, I hadn’t heard anything from.

A cry from the other room cause me to walk in and pick up Benjamin, bringing him out.

Rachel gasped when she saw him, “He is so small!”

“Would you like to hold him?” I asked.

She nodded.

We sat on the couch and she cradled him in her arms, “Oh, Sydney, he is so beautiful. Tom says his name is Benjamin.”

“That’s right. Benjamin Bristow Vaughn.”

“Vaughn?” She asked.

“He was my fiancée.”

Rachel colored, “Sorry.”

“That’s fine.”

We were quiet for a moment, Rachel looking at Benjamin and me looking at Rachel.

“How are you doing?” I asked her.

She shrugged, “It depends. Some days I don’t remember him at all, I’m so busy at APO. Then he’ll hit me and I just want to kill him, that feeling takes me over. It scares me. Does it get better?” She looked at me hopefully.

“You find ways to live with the hate,” I said honestly. “It never really goes away. At least it didn’t for me.”

Rachel handed my baby back to me, “Thank you. Are you going to come back to APO?”

“Maybe, but only desk-work. I don’t want Benjamin to grow-up with an absent mother.” Since he’d already have an absent father, the thought came to me, but I didn’t say anything.

Rachel

After I kissed Benjamin and hugged Sydney, I got in my car and headed for work. I thought about what Sydney said about the hate.

My phone rang, it was Tom, “Where are you? Jack’s called a briefing.”

“I’m leaving Sydney’s, I went to see her baby.”

“Well, get in here!” Tom snapped.

“Sure thing Sunshine,” I responded and hung up the phone.

I was a computer geek in high school and, in college, had few friends. I had never really learned much about dating and, as Sydney had witnessed, my flirting came on less like a butterfly and more like an elephant.

The only problem was, I really liked Tom.

I knew he was older than me, and my superior, and he didn’t like me, and a million other reasons.

The main one being he had a major crush on Sydney.

He was about as obvious as me, but for some reason Sydney didn’t notice, or, if she did, pretended not to.

The sad thing was, she was as much out of his league as I was out of his. I had a feeling that working in APO over the next couple years was going to be very interesting.

I sped up and shifted lanes, still thinking. Maybe, now that Sydney had a baby, Tom would lose interest in her. I could be waiting there, ready for him to finally noticed me.

Hey, a girl can dream, right?
 
To everyone: Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 10

Thomas

It was about one in the morning, and I was sitting in bed, reading a variety of documents that Jack gave to me, when the phone rang.

I picked it up, “Grace.”

“Tom?” A voice mewed.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“Tom, its me, Sydney. I’m sorry to call you so late but-”

“No that’s fine, I’m up anyway, is everything okay?”

Sydney gave a little gasp, “He’s crying and I’m so tired, I haven’t slept in days.”

“I’ll be right over,” I told her and hung up the phone.

I dressed quickly, wearing a plain shirt and jeans, then drove over to her house. Sydney did look tired and I could hear Benjamin crying.

“You get some sleep,” I told her and picked up Ben.

I rocked him back and forth, like I used to do with my littlest sister. He cried a little longer, then hiccupped and was silent. I looked at him, at seven months old he was amazingly big and small at the same time. He was beginning to make sounds and pull himself up on tables, which made Sydney even more exhausted.

“Hey,” I whispered to him and saw him stare at me with those blue-green eyes, “Are you bothering your mom tonight?”

He blew a spit bubble in response.

I laughed, “If you ask me, you should be a little easier on her. She’s doing the best she can, raising you all by herself. I can tell you, Ben, it isn’t any fun to grow up without a dad, not fun at all. But Sydney, your mom, is a real cool lady and I bet you’ll grow up to be a pretty cool kid.”

I glanced down at Ben, and saw he had gone to sleep. I rubbed the top of his head and placed him in his crib. I was exhausted, tomorrow was my day off and I was in no mood to drive home. I grabbed a blanket and laid down on the couch, and drifted off to sleep.

I awoke the next morning about ten, and saw, out of the corner of my eye, Sydney sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. I went to the bathroom and was pleased to see that my hair was only semi-mussed. I went into the kitchen.

“Hi,” I said and she started.

“Hi,” she replied, “Would you like some coffee?”

“Coffee would be great.”

She poured me a cup.

“Thanks.”

We sat in silence for a moment, then Sydney said, “I really am sorry about last night, I was just so tired and-”

I stopped her, “It’s fine, I told you that if you ever needed anything.”

“I know. But now that he’s crawling, I yearn for the days when all he could do was lay in his crib.”

There was another uncomfortable silence between us. The doorbell rang.

“I’ll be right back.”

I drank some more coffee and glanced at the newspaper, then I heard Jack’s voice.

Well, I was screwed.

Jack came into the kitchen, Sydney trailing behind him and froze.

“Hello Mr. Bristow,” I said, giving a half bow.

His eyes narrowed, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Dad-”

I shrugged, honestly, Jack didn’t scare me that much. I had dealt with much scarier guys in my life, “Sydney called me last night, she needed some help with Ben.”

I could tell Jack was a little taken back, he wasn’t expecting the simple truth that I gave him. It appeared he was hoping to trap me in some elaborate tale.

He glanced at me, then at Sydney, then back, “And you spent the night?”

It was a little bit fun to see Jack this riled up, “Yes sir, I did.”

“Dad,” Sydney glared at me, “he slept on the couch.”

Jack gave me another evil look, “Well, I’ll be going then. I have to get to work.”

He walked out and closed the door. As soon as he was gone, Sydney started laughing.

I looked at her quizzically, “Something amusing?”

“It’s…it’s…it’s just that…did you see the look on his face?”

I smiled, “Yeah, I think we can safely say I just gave your dad a jolt.”

She wiped her watering eyes, “The poor man.”

This time I laughed, “I don’t think those words are often used to describe Jack Bristow.”
 
Is she going to date Tom?? Don't get me wrong I love Vaughn but I think she should be happy and if Grace is the man to make it I survive it :smiley:
Awesome update. Can't wait to read more :smiley:
 
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