Hemlock Grove

I think with a good amount of civil discussion they could get past this, but with their inability to stay in room together for long I don't know if that will happen.
Great update
 
I chose to go to school so I could make something of myself whereas you chose to stay here and be a mechanic and now that’s all you’ll ever be - a worthless mechanic covered in grease! At least I’m doing something with my life!”

Well Syd was wrong there. Michael did make something out of his life in the small town.
 
oh my dog.......yep......see that's what happens when you get married when you're too young......welp it's time for them to come to an impass and start to become friends again because pretty sure that they're both at fault. Syd can't keep blaming herself for everything, and Michael can't possibly say that the fact that he never went to see her was her fault too.....can't wait for more!
 
Chapter 7
Wallowing in regret there on the bridge, Sydney did not even notice that Michael had entered the clearing, even though his feet were making rather echoing crunching noises on the ground as he broke twigs in his path. He walked towards her and stood at the foot of the bridge, but still she did not look up. Finally, to call her attention, he said softly, “I thought I might find you here...”

She jumped slightly at the sudden noise and glanced over to him, surprised he was there. “Oh…my car…,” she sighed, realizing it was still parked out in front of his house.

“Yeah,” he said, walking two steps up the bridge, “I figured I’d either find you here or dead in the woods somewhere… I decided to be optimistic.”

Sydney laughed softly and looked towards the stream flowing beneath them. “You mean you weren’t optimistic that I was dead in the woods somewhere?” she asked dryly.

Taking two steps towards her, he made something very clear. “I would never, ever want you dead Sydney,” he told her seriously. She looked over to him cautiously. “And I’m sorry for what I said back at the house. I was being mean on purpose and I shouldn’t have been…”

She gave him a soft smile. “I guess we both have a lot to be sorry for,” she sighed. Then, looking down at her hands on the railing, she noticed something for the first time. “Hey…its not here,” she said with confusion, her fingertips rubbing across the wooden railing.

A decade earlier, Sydney and Michael had carved an emblem to them and their relationship in the wooden railing of that bridge. Since it was the location of their first kiss, they thought it was appropriate to carve, SB + MV forever into it so that the memory of their relationship would always be preserved no matter what happened later in their lives. Sydney remembered fondly the hour the spent with a screw drive and a hammer, etching the crooked letters into the railing. They never told anyone about it, either, mostly out of fear for being charged with vandalism. Now, looking down at the bare wood void of any sort of markings, Sydney couldn’t help but feel very sad.

“Nah, a storm a few years back totally destroyed this bridge; it had to be rebuilt,” Michael explained simply.

“Oh I see,” Sydney nodded. At first she thought that maybe Michael, in his anger, had removed it along with every other memory he had of them together. But, if the bridge was destroyed by a storm, then there was nothing any of them could do about it.

After silence hung between them for a few awkward minutes, Sydney turned to Michael and said sincerely, “I’m sorry I hurt you…left and didn’t call. I was stupid…”

“Yeah well that’s nothing new,” he teased lightly with a grin. She rolled her eyes and gave him a light shove. “Don’t worry about it; it’s in the past. C’mon back to the house and I’ll make you some dinner – I promise to be unarmed at all times.”

“Dinner?” her brow wrinkled. “But it’s only…,” she glanced down at her left wrist only to see that she had forgotten her watch that morning. When she arrived at Michael’s earlier it was barely after two o’clock; she was unsure how much time had passed as she stood on that bridge.

“It’s almost five o’clock,” Michael informed her.

“Oh,” she laughed softly, “I didn’t realize… yeah, dinner sounds nice. Thanks.”

“Of course. While we eat you can tell me about life in New York,” he said as they began the trek back to his house.

“Oh you mean where I have my Ebenezer Scrooge existence?” she asked. He blushed slightly and turned away, which caused Sydney to laugh inwardly.


For the remainder of their walk through the brush they did not speak. Michael did hold tree branches out of the way for Sydney to get by, though. This simple reminder of his gentlemanly qualities instilled by years and year of nagging on Amelia’s part made Sydney smile; she really had missed how they used to be when she lived in Hemlock Grove.

“You seriously did an amazing job on this house, Michael,” Sydney spoke when they walked out onto the gravel driveway facing the house. “I am very, very impressed.”

“You had that little faith in me?” he asked. His tone did not indicate hurt, though, for he was teasing her.

“No of course not!” she insisted. “I just didn’t expect…this. I thought you’d make it livable for yourself but this…it has flowers and fresh paint…,” she let her voice drift off as her words were once again consumed with amazement.

“Well I can’t take all the credit; Mom did the flowers,” he admitted. Then added, “but I water them!”

“I’m sure you do,” Sydney laughed softly. Then she followed Michael into their former abode and took notice that it was significantly cleaner than it had been a few hours earlier. Apparently, Michael used the time he was waiting for the repairman to arrive to straighten up the messes accumulating on the floor, coffee table, and pretty much every surface area of the home. “So do I get the fifty cent tour or what?” she questioned.

“Tour yourself; I’m starting dinner,” he said simply before disappearing back through the house. Sydney watched him go before she began walking around on her self-guided exploration. It appeared that in her absence, Michael had removed some of the walls in the home, opening it up to a more spacious living arrangement. The main room had once been two separate, smaller rooms. Sydney felt it looked much better the way Michael made it, though.

After wandering around Michael’s worn sofa and taking note that he had very few knick-knacks around, she made her way down the hall towards the two bedrooms the house had. The one, as she suspected, was completely empty aside from a few boxes randomly placed on the floor. The other was the room Michael used as his bedroom. It appeared he purchased a new wood frame bed that did not match at all with the beat-up dresser across from it, but Sydney knew full well that Michael did not care for such home décor trivialities; as long as it functioned he was happy.


“Looks like you got a pretty nice bachelor pad here,” Sydney said as she joined Michael in the kitchen.

He laughed under his breath. “Bachelor pad, right,” he rolled his eyes slightly before handing her a beer. “I throw wild parties every night, have tons of women here, orgies – you know, the unusual.”

“I’m sure,” she said before taking a long drink from the bottle in her hand.

“So…,” Michael said after a few minute long silence. “New York… is it what you expected it to be?”

“Not at all,” she said honestly. “It was much harder to get used to than I thought it would be. It’s so different… no one talks about you or gossips on the street about how terrible Henry Reid’s toupee is…”

“That must be tragic,” he said with obvious sarcasm. They both laughed. “But I’m sure there’s gossip around the office. You know, things like, ‘Oh my god, did you here how Sydney Bristow totally pulled a Monica Lewinski when she was under the boss’s desk and-’”

“Michael!” Sydney screeched, punching his arm rather hard. He whined and backed away from her. “That’s disgusting…although you do have a point – people did gossip about who was sleeping with who around the office.”

“Scandalous!” he mocked.

She rolled her eyes at him. “So what about here? Big changes goin’ on?”

“Oh yeah, tons,” he emphasized dramatically. “Haven’t you heard? We’re not the most popular hangout spot in northern Pennsylvania. Yep, we even got our own little dot on one of them fancy map things!”

“You must be proud,” she sighed.

“I am indeed,” he smiled.

“No, seriously – your dad…used cars… I never saw that one commin’. What gave you that idea?” she asked.

Michael turned away and said as evasively as possible, “What? No… what made you think I had somethin’ to do with it….”

“Uh, your dad,” she said in an ‘isn’t it obvious’ tone. “He told me it was all you.”

“Nah he’s just sayin’ that…,” Michael said, still avoiding her gaze. “It’s no big deal really… it was just something…”

“Sure,” Sydney said in a rather uncertain tone. She was positive Bill had not lied to her when he told her that it was all Michael’s idea. The only thing she could not understand was why Michael was so unwilling to take credit for his idea. The Michael she knew would have been glad to admit any idea was his, so long as it was successful, of course.

Sighing slightly, she sat down at the table centered in Michael’s kitchen; it certainly was going to be an interesting evening.
 
hmmm maybe that was what he wanted to do with his life and that was the way he found to do it in their town. which gives him reason to be mad cause he changed his ideals to stay there, why couldnt sydney? right?
 
Chapter 8
“So, how long did it take you to finish the house?” Sydney asked as she reached in to the refrigerator to grab another beer. For some reason, being alone with Michael was making her extra thirsty. Of course, this was probably stemming from her nerves. Sure, so far they had been cordial, but she was just waiting for that polite barrier to snap and the claws to come out once more.

“Depends on what you mean by finish,” Michael responded.

“Um,” Sydney hesitated, not sure how to make ‘finish’ any more clear. “Finished? Like done? Complete? No more tools lying around?”

“Well I wasn’t sure if you meant done done, or livable done,” Michael said. Sydney shrugged, indicating that she did not care which meaning he choose to explain. “Well, I was living here by…March I guess – so just about six months. But as for completely one hundred percent done… probably another year. My dad was laid up so I had to put in extra hours at the shop and help my mom with stuff, so I didn’t have as much free time,” he explained.

“Laid up? With what?” Sydney asked.

“Broken leg and arm… yeah he didn’t have the car lift secured and it fell on him,” Michael said with a slight cringe. Sydney grimaced back at him. “Yeah, he was in pretty bad shape for a while.”

“I’ll bet…that’s terrible. I…I didn’t know what happened,” she said rather awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.

“Yeah, well, you weren’t here,” he said. Though he could have, he did not use a tone to purposely make Sydney feel guilty about her absence; he simply stated a fact. “Anyway, the house got done and… and I think it’s pretty good if I do say so myself. It’s at least livable.”

“You did a great job,” Sydney assured him.

“Well thanks,” he smiled softly.

As they waited for dinner to cook, they chatted pleasantly about various topics. Mostly, they alternated telling stories about their lives from their eight years apart. Michael told Sydney about some of the more interesting escapades that resulted from converting an auto repair shop to a used car dealership as well as the interesting and unique used car dealers they met while researching the endeavor. In turn, Sydney laughed her way through stories about the richer-than-God clients she had come in contact with, one of whom desperately wanted to invest his money wisely so he could double it and buy a gold plated toilet that, apparently, he had always wanted.

They continued to chat as they ate, but they were interrupted by Sydney’s father calling her to ask where she was. She informed him of her location and he laughed, warning her that he was not keen on bailing her out of jail that evening. To this, Sydney rolled her eyes and assured him that she and Michael were being perfectly civil; no one would end up in jail that evening.

“Oo who’s this?” Sydney asked as she made her way to the sink with her now empty dinner plate. She spotted the picture hanging on a bulletin board on the wall and went over to investigate. “She’s pretty,” she commented at the blonde Michael had his arms around. Both of them were grinning for the camera.

“Oh she’s no one,” Michael said quickly, yanking the picture off the wall and putting it face down on the desk.

“Michael you don’t have to lie to me. You can tell me the truth; what am I going to do – freak out and ask for a divorce?” she teased with a smile.

He rolled his eyes slightly. “Well she was just someone… we had a thing for a few months and then she went back to Philadelphia where she lives…”

“Why was she here at all?” Sydney asked.

“Her parents live here; they were sick,” he explained simply. Sydney nodded in understanding. “So what about you? Anyone special?”

Sydney snorted. “Uh, no; definitely not.”

“Sworn off men for good?” he asked.

“No,” she laughed softly. “Just… I dunno. I dated a few guys, but they were all too metrosexual for me. I need a guy with a bit of an edge.”

“Edge like… nose ring and motorcycle?” Michael questioned.

“Oh be still my beating heart,” Sydney teased as she fluttered her eyelashes; Michael laughed. “No like… a guy who doesn’t feel the need to get a manicure every week.”

“Ew,” Michael grimaced.

“Exactly! I like a guy who knows how to use his hammer – not in that way sicko!” she shouted at his wicked grin. “I’m serious!”

“I know what you mean – you want a manly man with a hammer and a shotgun who brings home dinner in the flat bed of his pickup truck and then chops it up with his hunting knife and cooks it over a fire he built himself,” Michael said.

“Uhhhh…. Not quite, but closer,” Sydney laughed. Really, in her mind she was picturing Michael, who could obviously use his hammer seeing as he practically built the house she was standing in, but also had enough romanticism in him to bring her a bouquet of flowers for no reason at all except that she was beautiful.

“Hey you know what you should do before it gets dark? Go check out the garden out back,” Michael nodded towards the door in the kitchen which led to the back yard.

“But the dishes…”

“I’ve got ‘em,” he smiled.

Sydney nodded before making her way out to the backyard. There, she found a large circular garden, containing a trio of bushes and dozens of flowers in between. She suspected that it had been doing professionally since it appeared far too perfect for Michael’s or even Amelia’s talents, but it was beautiful none the less. Off to one side of it stood a wooden bench swing that Sydney had never seen before. Judging by the fact that the wood appeared to be in very good condition, she guessed it to be only a year or two old. The top plank making up the swing appeared different than the others, but from a distance Sydney could not tell why. As she approached, she saw the wood clearly and gasped softly.

There, atop the swing, was the very railing containing the SB + MV forever carving. Sydney reached out her hand and touched it gently, utterly amazed. Not only had Michael salvaged this item from the wrecked bridge, but he had used it as the center peace for the beautiful swing in his back yard.

“Thought you’d like that,” he said softly from behind her.

Sydney turned around and shook her head in disbelieve. “You…kept it,” she said as more of a question as to why he had done so.

Michael nodded, and walked past her to sit on the swing. “Yep… they were good memories; I didn’t want them to be thrown away.”

“Did you make this?” Sydney asked as she sat down beside him.

“It’s supporting our weight, so what do you think?” he responded. Sydney laughed softly. “No I had a friend do it.”

“Well it’s amazing. All of this is amazing… you did a wonderful job Michael,” she smiled at him.

“I’m glad I have your approval,” he smiled back at her. Then he turned his eyes towards the carving of their names. He traced his thumbs against it very gently before smiling to himself. “Remember the day we did this?”

Sydney laughed. “Yeah…god we were crazy, huh? I mean whose idea what is to do this anyway?”

“Uh, yours,” Michael pointed out with a laugh.

“It was not!” she gasped.

“Was too,” he laughed. “Remember, you wanted to do it in a tree like they did in some movie and I said that’s stupid because a tree would grow and our letters would be grown over. Then you suggested something that couldn’t grow and we came up with the bridge.”

“Oh yeah,” she laughed softly. “We were still crazy though.”

“Nah we were just…in…love,” he said slower once he realize what words were coming out of his mouth. Both of them feeling the tension, they looked away from each other and out towards the circular garden before them.

“You know,” Sydney began after a minute of silent, “I’ll always…I’ll always love you Michael. No matter what happens, that’ll never change,” she said, venturing a guess to see his reaction. She saw that he was not looking scared or angry; he was smiling.

“Yeah, right back atcha kid,” he said. She laughed softly and shook her head at him. To seal their conversation, Michael leaned over and kissed her cheek gently. Instead of pulling back quickly, though, his face lingered against hers, his nose brushing against her cheek.

Feeling rather reckless or perhaps the affects of the two and a half beers she had at dinner, Sydney turned her head and kissed his lips briefly, just to see what it was like once more. Her one quick kiss was returned by a slightly longer one by Michael, which was followed by an even longer one until they were heavily making out there on that bench.

“Michael I…,” Sydney broke their kiss for a fleeting moment of logics to take over. That was quickly replaced by her increasing desire to kiss him once more and feel his hands on that sensitive spot on her neck once more; that spot that drove her absolutely insane. Her words were lost as he swept her into his arms and continued to kiss her while they stumbled their way back to the house.
 
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