A/N: Okay, it's obvious this fic is a bit vulgar. Believe me, it would probably be worse if i didn't have to keep it on the downlow, not that it would be horriblely graphic in the sense of what most r-rated fics are, but rather emotionally. There is stuff that i don't want to leave out because it has to do with other chapters and stuff like that, so, i don't really know what i'm talking about anymore, just...read. lol
~Part 14~
He’s starting to feel it. The way the disease is eating away at his body and so willing to eat his soul as well. He thought he was strong enough to fight off not feeling well, but it wasn’t working. He’d been confined to his couch for four days, only getting up to go to the bathroom. His food of choice was a bag of stale Doritos on the coffee table only a few inches away after he had slid it closer to him while watching television.
It’s been two weeks since the night him and Sydney started something that he knew would never again would be able to be taken away from him even after death. Being with her gave him some hope for himself, not for living, but for healing emotionally before he took his last breath.
She called everyday, usually three or four times. She’d leave a message every time, and every time he was too tired and sick to pick up the phone. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone, although, he might have made an exception for her if he had the phone by his side.
Hearing her messages made him feel better sometimes.
“Hey, it’s me, just wondering what you’re up too. I guess I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Michael, I just got off work. I guess you’re not home. I’m worried about you. Call me soon.”
And then, the one where she cries. The one that makes him feel the most guilty and the most sick at the same time.
“I don’t know….what’s wrong. I’m scared, why aren’t you calling me back? Vaughn? Please call me back, I love you.”
His answering machine was almost full after awhile, he knew because the phone would ring, but no message would be left.
It’s Thursday evening, and his eyes start to feel heavy on him as he watches Wheel of Fortune. The host and contestants always so chipper and happy about life. He’s about to fall asleep when he hears the lock on his door start to click. He puts the TV on mute and listens as the door creaks open seconds later.
“You’re sure he’s home, right?” Her voice fills the hallway and he feels relieved and annoyed that she’s found him.
“Yes…yes…he been in there for four days he has.” He hears his landlords reply. “Everyone, worried.”
“Thank you.” The door closes again and all is silent for a moment. He turns the volume back on and begins to watch the program again. It doesn’t take her long to put down her things and come to stand at the end of the couch near his feet. She stares at the tv for a moment before letting her eyes fall upon him. His skin is pale and his hair oily from not being washed in days.
“I was worried about you.” She says. “You don’t ever answer your phone?”
When he doesn’t answer her she takes the remote from him and turns off the television. She moves the coffee table away from the couch and sits down on the edge of the cushion near his chest.
He sighs softly and closes his eyes.
“Michael, what’s wrong?” She asks as she sets her hand on his over stubbled cheek. She immediately feels how clammy his skin is and becomes worried.
“I started chemo.” He tells her. “I haven’t been feeling very good.”
She runs the pad of her thumb across his eyebrow and leans down, placing a soft kiss on his forehead.
“I’m so drained.” He breaths.
She looks at the bag of open chips on the coffee table and the empty water bottles littering the floor.
“When’s the last time you had a shower?” She asks as she looks back at him.
He mumbles slightly. “The water heater broke.” He tells her. “No warm water.”
She sighs under her breath as she shakes her head and closes her eyes painfully. She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear before standing up.
“Alright, I’m taking you out of here. We’re going to my hotel.” She says as she walks to his bedroom. “Do you have a suitcase!?” She asks from the other room. He watches her walk back and forth past the doorway.
“Closet.” He tells her. He should be embarrassed. Having a woman pack his boxers and other essentials, but he’s not, because it’s Sydney.
She comes out ten minutes later with a suitcase full of his stuff and she brings it by the door. She grabs his losay coat and his shoes from the front door and walks back over to the couch.
“Come on, sweetie.” She helps him up and with her assistance gets his shoes and his jacket on. Once she knows they have everything they slowly make their way downstairs and she hails a cab quickly, as to not keep him in the cold too long.
They arrive at her hotel nearly five minutes later and the bellhop carries the suitcase up to her room while she keeps an arm around her lovers waist in his weakened state. As they get to the room she helps Vaughn to the bed and then quickly tips the bellhop for his help. She thanks him and shuts the door before going back to aiding the man she loves.
She kneels down in front of him and unties his shoes for him and carefully slips his jacket off of his shoulders.
“I’m gonna help you take a shower. It might make you feel a bit better.” She tells him as she helps him up again. She leads him into the bathroom and closes the door slightly before turning to him and pulling his t-shirt over his head. She throws it on the floor and then lets her fingers play with the waistband of his sweatpants. He stands there with no emotion as she pulls down his pants and helps him step out of them before turning to the water in the shower.
She then goes to work on her own clothes. Shedding each article quickly before turning back to him and pulling him closer to the enclosed shower built in. She helps him through the glass door and slips in with him. She secures her arms around his waist in fear of his weakened state.
The look he gives her breaks her heart in two. To see him suffering hurts her more than any heartbreak in the past.
“Doctor said I’m on a transplant list. But not to give my hopes up. There’s…a lot of people before me, and they have to kill the cancer before they successfully give me a new pair of lungs.”
Her arms fall limply from his sides and she quickly turns around as tears begin to form in her eyes. He’s so young, she knows there is no good reason for him to be going through this, he’s felt so much pain already.
She covers up her upset emotions by picking up the shampoo and conditioner in one and squeezing a good amount of it into her palm before turning back to him and raising her hands to his thick hair.
He stares at her as she tries to find every possible way to aide him. Her compassion is all too much for him as he stands there with her, and in order to break the uncomfortable silence that has settled over them, he leans forward and kisses her sweetly. The warm water heating their kiss even further as the droplets run between their joined lips.
Her lathered hands find their way to his chest for a moment, and suddenly she pulls away, startling him. Her arms wrap around his sides and her fingers massage the muscles in his back. She clings to him, her cheek against his shoulder as she starts crying.
“I don’t want you to die.”
“I’m not going to die.” He tries to desperately reassure her as her tears run ramped down his chest.
“Promise?” She asks.
“I promise.” He says it with sincerity, only because he doesn’t want to see her cry anymore.
She pulls back only slightly, and just as before her lips are once again on his. Her arms wrap around his neck as he pushes her back against the cool tile wall, away from the warm spray of water. Her hand runs through the hair on the back of his head as he lifts her against the wall.
“I love you.” She mutters against his lips. Just as he opens his eyes to look at her, the sound of the door slamming interrupts them.
“Oh felgercarb…” She mutters as untangles her legs from his waist and stands on her own two feet.
“Honey!?”
“I thought you said he was with a client?”
She nods softly and gives him one more kiss.
“Stay here, please?” She begs as she quickly turns off the shower. She gets out of the shower quickly and wraps herself in a towel, meeting Jacob at the bathroom door.
“Hey…” She says with a fake smile. “…you’re home early.”
“Yeah, well, I couldn’t be away from you for one night.” He says as he picks her up and carries her to the bed.
“Jacob…” She starts protesting. But it’s no use, like usual. Within moments she’s thrown on the bed and the fluffy white towel is forgotten on the floor as he starts stripping at the end of the bed.
Michael listens from the bathroom after putting his clothes back on. Anger boils as he hears Sydney stating that she simply wants to relax tonight, and the jackass doesn’t listen. He has to force himself not to interfere when he hears Sydney cry out in pain. The law would consider it rape, because she doesn’t want it, but yet, she’s allowing it to happen so he can slip out undetected.
He forces himself out of the bathroom, and the sight of the high school pimp on top of the woman he loves with all of his heart, nearly breaks him. She bites her lip as she spots him moving across the room over Jacob’s broad shoulder. She raises her hand slightly and waves for him to go as he meets her tear filled eyes. He shakes his head in utter disgust and slips quietly out of the room, making his way down the hallway and out of the hotel.