Melting the Ice

That was great ... poor Syd ... aww he made he dinner ... he want to see if there is somthing betweem them ... bet it cause of JAck she said she couldnt ... wounder what going to happen on monday when she has to see him again ... more soon please
 
Micheal Caught Syd completely of guard...
Hell he caught me completely of guard...
Where did all of this come from...
I understand why she ran away, but I hope
that she will reconsider.
can't wait for more.
 
Chapter 6
For the rest of the weekend, Sydney couldn’t even relax. All she could think about was how much she dreaded returning to work on Monday, or rather, how much she dreaded facing Michael on Monday. It was going to be awkward and horrible, just like it would have been if she and Michael actually did pursue a romantic relationship and it didn’t go well.

Sydney couldn’t think of one reason that would have possessed Michael to suggest such an idea. Well, she could think of one reason, but she didn’t like that one very much, so she tried not to dwell on it. The only possible answer she could think of, was that since, as far as she could tell, Michael rarely left his house, she was the only woman he was in close proximity to in years and thus developed romantic feelings for her.

She decided however, no matter what the reason, she couldn’t begin a romantic relationship with Michael. For starters, their professional relationship would be utterly destroyed. Not to mention, she was convinced that them dating broke some sort of ethical guideline. On top of that, well… Michael just wasn’t her type of person, no matter how desperate she was.

On Monday, she went to work feeling slightly anxious but convinced that the whole situation would be better off ignored; never mentioned again. Sure, that was slightly delusional, but it was the only thing giving her motivation to walk into work that day.

When she entered the office, she sighed with slight relief upon hearing Michael’s elevated voice level coming from his office, meaning that he was on the phone with someone and would thus be distracted when Sydney delivered his daily schedule to him. Quickly, she printed it and slipped into his office, hoping to deliver it before his phone argument was completed.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t quite fast enough, for with a few choice words, Michael slammed the phone down onto its cradle. Sydney avoided eye contact with him at all cost as she gently laid his schedule on the desk in front of him. Before she could escape his office though, he said, “Sydney, wait. I don’t understand.”

Sighing slightly, she turned and looked Michael in the eye for the first time. She wasn’t surprised to see that he looked confused. “I… I don’t understand either,” she told him.

“What don’t you understand?” he asked, getting up from his chair and approaching her.

“I don’t understand why you’d want to … be more than, um, just business associates with me,” she told him quietly, but honestly.

He smiled softly and took a step closer to her. “So I can wake up beside you just to see how beautiful you are. You’re so beautiful now but I imagine that your beauty then would be unmatchable,” he told her softly.

Not expecting that type of response, Sydney was flustered slightly as her face flushed and her heart skipped a beat. She looked down to her feet and tucked her hair behind her ears quickly before looking back up at him, taking a deep breath to calm herself. “I…. I don’t know what to say,” she stammered with a slight shrug. It was the truth; she couldn’t have formed a coherent thought if her life depended on it.

“How about saying that you’ll give us a try?” he suggested softly.

Lowering her eyes once more, she sighed, “I can’t; I’m sorry.”

“Why can’t you? You could at least give me a reason!” he said, his voice rising slightly.

“A reason?! I can give you more than just one,” she told him, her voice rising as well. “For starters we work together, which just has disaster written all over it. If it goes well, how will we focus on our work? And if it goes bad… how will we focus on our work? We’ll be too busy hating each other. Not to mention…,” she let her voice drift off on that last thought, not wanting to continue it.

“What?” he asked her.

“Never mind,” she said quietly.

“No, what? Tell me. I deserve a real reason,” he told her.

She sighed before saying, “Well, quite honestly, I just can’t see myself being with someone like you.”

His eyes narrowed at her. “‘Someone like you’, what is that supposed to mean?!”

“Well… you… you’re… you’re mean, alright?!” she told him in a frustrated tone.

“Mean?!” he gasped and took a step back.

“Yes, mean! You yell at everyone for no reason at all. You insult them for making the littlest, most simple mistake. You have a very short temper and at least once a week you throw a glass at the wall,” she told him with a sigh, but looking in his eyes, she saw that he looked as though she was telling him he had purple hair; he didn’t get it at all. “I’m sorry, I can’t be with someone like that,” she told him before turning and attempting to walk out of his office.

“Wait… wait! I’m… I’m not like-”

“Oh don’t even,” she cut him off and spun around to face him. “Don’t even try to say that you’re not because you are. I’m sorry Michael, but it’s the truth, whether you like it or not. I don’t know what made you that way, but I’m sorry that you are. I mean… You can be kind to me… but you also yell at me and-”

“I apologized for that!” he defended loudly.

She held up her hand and said gently, “I know and I forgave you for it, but…,” she sighed, “I’m sorry. I just can’t.” Then, she turned and walked out of his office and sat down at her desk. Luckily, only a few moments later Michael’s first appointment arrived, so any more awkwardness was avoided, at least for the time being.


Later on that morning, Michael chased a client out of his office, shouting all the way. Once the client was gone, Sydney gave him a ‘see, I told you so’ look. Michael, looking slightly miffed, returned to his office without a word.


At lunch, Sydney was rocking back in her chair as she ate a cup of yogurt, when Michael emerged from his office with a rather determined look on his face. “What if I can change?” he asked.

“Can you?” she retorted, not looking up at him.

“You don’t know anything about me,” he snapped in return.

She looked up at him as she set her yogurt down on her desk. “No, I don’t, but unlike most of the other people running in and out of this office, I’m not scared of you either.”

His brow furrowed slightly, wondering what she meant. “I can change,” he said firmly. She looked at him expressionless. “You don’t believe me.”

“You haven’t demonstrated it so far,” she told him.

“That’s because I wasn’t trying!” he shouted.

“You’re yelling,” she said calmly.

“BECAUSE YOU’RE DRIVING ME INSANE!” he yelled at her before storming into his office. A small smile crept across Sydney’s face; she couldn’t help it, she just found it amusing.
 
OMG... AllAlias is back on...


He smiled softly and took a step closer to her. “So I can wake up beside you just to see how beautiful you are. You’re so beautiful now but I imagine that your beauty then would be unmatchable,” he told her softly.
Click to expand...
Awww... :love: That's such a sweet line. That's the Michael we know, instead of this mean-spirited Michael in this story.


“I can change,” he said firmly. She looked at him expressionless. “You don’t believe me.”

“You haven’t demonstrated it so far,” she told him.

“That’s because I wasn’t trying!” he shouted.

“You’re yelling,” she said calmly.

“BECAUSE YOU’RE DRIVING ME INSANE!” he yelled at her before storming into his office. A small smile crept across Sydney’s face; she couldn’t help it, she just found it amusing.
Click to expand...
Loved the banter between Sydney and Michael in this scene. I really hope Michael makes the effort to change... I know he can do it. :smiley:


Great chapter. Can't wait to see what happens next.
 
I really really hope he can change because they have to be together and he can't hurt her. She already has so much to worry about
Please update again soon
 
I'm glad that AllAlias is back up. I have been keeping up on this and YJR at Allies, but I figured I would save my comments for here.

I'm glad that Sydney finally decided to put him in his place and show him that he is a jerk.
Great update
 
okay so here's the deal
i know a bunch of you have been reading at Random Fans -i've been posting my updates there while AA was down -i'm also now posting again at Allies
in the mean time, i'm going to post two chaps today and two chaps tomorrow here to get all caught up - during that time there won't be any new chaps at allies or RF - i'll wait until they're all in sync again before i continue


Chapter 7
For the next few days Sydney and Michael continue their half-arguing (in his case) and half-calm discussion (in hers) routine. Every time Michael would start to raise his voice to someone, Sydney would give him a cautioning glance, or clear her throat purposely. Michael would then take a deep breath and attempt to use an even tone, which didn’t always work. Sydney had to admit, though, he did make some progress. Michael didn’t make anyone cry that week, not one person. Small progress, yes, but progress none the less.

By Friday afternoon, though, Sydney knew he was at the end of his rope because a client he was working with was being very disagreeable. She had to admit that if she had been in Michael’s place, it would have been difficult for her not to lose her temper with this person, let alone Michael, who was already somewhat of a loose cannon.

Finally, as Michael’s face turned red from anger and frustration, he exploded his voice far above a normal decibel. Sydney simply shut her eyes and closed her ears, preparing for the worst.

The shouting continued for five minutes before his disagreeable client left, looking as though he had been knocked down a few rungs on his ladder of pride (which Sydney found to be a good thing). Once he was gone, she walked cautiously into Michael’s office and found him at his desk with his face buried in his hands. She stood in front of his desk silently for a few minutes, just watching him.

“I’m trying,” he mumbled, not looking at her.

“I know,” she said softly.

“I… I just… it’s just so…. I … can’t,” he said in a defeated tone, looking up to her slowly.

“You can,” she told him.

“No I can’t!” he shouted.

“Why not?” she challenged. He looked away. They stood in silence for a few minutes before Sydney cautiously took a step forward and rested both her hands on his desk, leaning closer to him as she said quietly, “Bad things happen to everyone Michael, but it’s your choice to let them affect you this way.”

He looked to her slowly, almost with a ‘how did you know’ expression, but that quickly faded away into a harsh defensive one. “I’m not letting anything affect me,” he insisted sharply. Her expression was steady as she tried to stare him down. “I’m not! You… you don’t… you don’t know a god damn thing about anything so… so just go,” he told her sharply.

Sydney turned and left his office with a sigh. Maybe he was hopeless, but by insisting that he could change, he had opened her up to a challenge. She wanted to make him change, for his own good, of course. At least, that’s what she told herself while she lay awake in her bed at night, thinking about possible rationalizations for his behavior. If she were truly honest with herself, she would have admitted that she wanted him to change, not just for himself, but for her too, for in the unfortunate circumstances of her life, it appeared he was her only chance for a way out.

Sydney did have feelings for him, or at least thought she did; thought she could. She found him attractive, physically anyway. His personality was not attractive to her, but if he could change… well, hope wasn’t completely lost yet.


After about twenty minutes, Michael emerged from his office looking slightly calmer. Sydney looked up to him when he stood beside her desk. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Why?” she asked cautiously. He gave her a slightly embarrassed look. So she saved him from having to voice his intentions, “I can’t; I’m sorry. My father… he wouldn’t allow me to go out with someone unapproved by him on a Friday night….or any night really,” she added quietly.

“What if you told him you were working late?” Michael suggested.

“You’re encouraging me to lie to my father?” Sydney asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, no… under normal circumstances, no,” he corrected. “But it’s clear your father doesn’t exactly fit under the category of ‘normal circumstances’. You deserve to live a little,” he told her.

“Ah, I see,” she nodded. “And that living should be with you?” she asked with a smile. Pleased at the fact that she actually made him blush slightly, Sydney continued, “What did you have in mind?”

“Dinner?” he suggested.

“More exquisite cuisine from Chef Michael? How could I resist?” she smiled.

“So you’ll stay?” he asked hopefully.

She nodded in confirmation. Michael practically jumped he was so happy. Sydney laughed softly as she watched him run off to the kitchen. Then, she took a deep breath and reached for the phone to call her father. “Dad, it’s me… this last minute business thing came up and I’m going to be late… how late? Uhhh, maybe not until seven… yes, I know it’s a Friday… well, I really need to be here… yes, fine, bye.”

Sydney rocked back in her chair and sighed after hanging up the phone. She hated lying and she was horrible at it. “Can you stay?” Michael asked, poking his head into the office from the doorway that led to the house.

“Yes,” she laughed softly.

“Good, come on then,” he motioned for her to come closer.

“What if someone else comes in?” she asked.

“No one else is coming today; it’s almost five. Come on,” he smiled. Sydney sighed, stood up from her desk and walked over to where Michael was standing and waiting for her. She followed him back into the kitchen and leaned up against the counter as he rummaged through his large, stainless steel refrigerator.

“So, what is the brilliant chef making tonight?” she asked casually.

He turned and smiled at her. “Filet, sautéed vegetables and… I guess that’s it.”

“Sounds good to me,” she smiled back at him.

“Can I get you something to drink? I’d offer you wine, but I don’t have any,” he told her.

“Water’s fine,” she said. As she watched him prepare the steaks and then wash the vegetables, Sydney began observing as much of his house as she could while not moving from the kitchen. “You’re house is… interesting,” she proclaimed after ten minutes of silence.

He looked over to her. “Interesting… bad?”

“Not bad… just mysterious…. Like you,” she pointed out with a sip of her water.

“Me?” he laughed. “I’m not mysterious.”

“Yes you are,” she told him seriously.

“Okay, how am I mysterious?” he asked.

“Do you have any family? Siblings? Parents? Friends? What do you do when you’re not working?” In between each question she paused for a few moments, giving him a chance to answer, but with each question, he appeared to concentrate even more on the carrots he was chopping. “See, you answered your own question,” she said softly.

“What about you?” he challenged. “You have a father? What else?”

“My mother died when I was four; I hardly remember her. She was pregnant when she died, but the baby died along with her, so I have no siblings,” she told him simply.

“I’m sorry to hear that, about your mother,” he told her.

She shrugged. “It’s alright. It was a long time ago.” He nodded wordlessly. “Can… can I help you with something?” Sydney offered after a few minutes of silence.

“Can you cut vegetables?” he asked.

“Of course,” she told him in a ‘isn’t it obvious’ sort of way. He laughed softly before handing over the knife he was holding and then checking on the filets.

Once their meal was ready, they moved to the dining room to eat, where they sat in the same positions as they had almost a week earlier. Throughout their meal, they spoke of many general topics: the weather, current events, politics, and their business. Thought Sydney tried to casually direct their conversation to something more personal, especially about Michael, he always steered them back towards the general with a sharp topic change. Finally, she gave up trying and just let their conversation flow the way he guided it.

“This was lovely Michael, but I really should be getting home. My father…,” she let her voice drift off at that thought. After helping him carry their empty dishes to the kitchen, she slipped her shoes back on (which she had removed earlier) and headed towards the hallway leading back to the office.

“Let me walk you,” Michael offered.

“It’s okay; I won’t get lost, I promise,” Sydney flashed him a smile. He laughed softly and smiled back. “Thank you for dinner. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Monday,” he nodded. Then, she left.


Chapter 8
Sydney and Michael ate lunch together for the first three days of the next week. It started on Monday, when Michael commented how cramped and uncomfortable Sydney looked attempting to eat her cup of yogurt but not spill any on the papers across her desk. He then invited her to join him in his kitchen, where Sydney found out he ate standing at the kitchen counter, which she laughed at. He explained that going into the formal dining room to simply eat a sandwich, was ridiculous. To this, she countered that eating a sandwich hovering over the counter was equally ridiculous and that he should have a smaller table to fill the massive empty space in the center of his kitchen. He then told her that he had no use for it and Sydney rolled her eyes at him, not wanting to continue their obviously circular argument.

On Tuesday, Michael simply called her name on his way to the kitchen at lunch time, and she followed. That day, Sydney laughed at Michael for burning himself on soup he had heated in the microwave and then quickly reaching for an ice cube to suck on to quell his burnt and throbbing tongue. In response to this, Michael threw ice at her. Unfortunately, the cube went directly down the front of her shirt, causing her to squeal loudly and jump around the room, at which Michael laughed. It was then that Sydney heard perhaps the first real, true laugh she had ever heard from Michael. She determined at that moment that he had a good laugh, a very good laugh. What the exact definition of a ‘good laugh’ was, she was unsure, but Michael definitely had a good laugh.

On Wednesday, Michael simply walked towards the kitchen with only a brief glance back, expecting Sydney to follow, which she did. During that meal, Sydney revitalized her attempt to entice Michael into talking about something, anything, about his personal life, but, like he had before, he quickly changed the subject at each attempt. Discouraged, Sydney walked slowly back to her desk. Though she was proud of his progress, slight as it was, she wanted him to open up a bit more, but suspected it would take a bit more time, if it ever happened.

On Thursday, Sydney was even more impressed by Michael. When being berated by a client for a slight loss of money the client had suffered, Michael kept his cool, though Sydney knew he was on the edge. Throughout that week, he had only raised his voice once, and even then, it wasn’t to its normal shouting decibel; it was only slightly raised. Once the angry client left, Sydney slowly crept into Michael’s office and saw him on the edge of seething, his fingers wrapped tightly around the glass he was holding, ready to strike.

“Let go of the glass,” she said calmly. He glanced up at her briefly, his hand tightening around the glass slightly. “Let it go,” she repeated. Slowly, he released the glass. “Now close your eyes, take a deep breath, and use your fingers to count to ten slowly. Go on, do it,” she instructed firmly, but not harshly. With a slight grumble of disapproval, he did as she asked.

Once he was done counting, he opened his eyes and saw her smiling proudly. “See, you’re not as angry now, are you?” she asked knowingly.

He sighed, averted his eyes from hers, and mumbled a very quiet, “No….,” before letting his voice drift off. Then, he looked up to her and asked very seriously, “Why are you doing this?”

“Because someone needs to have faith that you can,” she told him simply before turning and leaving his office.

Later that afternoon, after their last appointment of the day had gone, Sydney was sitting at her desk finishing some paperwork before leaving for the day, when Michael emerged from his office silently. After a few moments, when Sydney noticed he hadn’t walked past her desk, she looked up and noticed him leaning up against the wall right next to his door, a pensive look on his face as he stared down at the carpet with his arms folded over his chest. She set her pen down and looked up at him curiously. He looked as though he was about to say something, but wasn’t quite sure how to say it.

She was about to pick up her pen once more, figuring that after nearly five minutes, he wasn’t going to speak, but then he did. “It was my father,” he said in a quiet, weak voice. She leaned forward in her chair, resting her hands on her knees, but said nothing.

“My father,” Michael continued with his voice a little stronger, “wasn’t a good man. Why my mother was with him… I’ll never know; I never understood it much. I don’t think she liked him very much, but then again, how could you like someone who abuses you verbally and physically?” he asked rhetorically with a bitter laugh.

“She… she was a good person. She died when I was seven – cancer. She was the only one who ever cared for me. We were inseparable. My father wouldn’t let her work… he made enough money that she didn’t have to. My mother and I would spend the whole day together before I was in school and during the summers. I can’t remember specific things; I just know we spent that time together.

“The three of us – my father, mother and I – we were hardly in the same room for more than five minutes a day. He… he couldn’t be bothered by us,” Michael said rather resentfully. “I don’t know why he even had a family, he never cared. Not even when my mom got sick.

“It was so fast… I remember one day her sitting me down and telling me that she was sick, but it was going to be okay and that I shouldn’t be scared…. Less than six months later she was gone and I was left with my father. He didn’t even know what to do with me. Everything I did, he yelled. He’d hit me when I did something really wrong.

“He… he didn’t know how to behave around a child, I suppose. He’d bring me here, to his office and tell me things… but a seven-year-old doesn’t want to learn about finances… a seven-year-old doesn’t even understand money, so when I’d ask to leave, he’d yell at me some more.

“Eventually, I just learned to take it, I didn’t have any other choice. I learned how not to make him mad and that’s how I lived, every day. When I was nineteen, he died of a heart attack. I was… I was at school at the time and… I didn’t even care,” he shook his head slightly. “In fact, I was relieved. If he was gone, he couldn’t yell anymore. He couldn’t make me miserable.

“That first year after he was gone was actually a good time for me. The best time I had since my mother’s death. Then… I don’t know what happened. It hit me that I was so young, but in control of so much. Because he died so suddenly, he didn’t have a will, or anything like that, which was actually a surprise to me, considering the businessman he was. Since there was no will and I was over eighteen, all his money came straight to me, no questions asked. So there I was, twenty years old, in control of so much… I was confused, I had the business, but I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know how to run it, so I ran it the only way I could; the only way I could think of. I ran it like he did.

“I became just like him; just like the thing I swore to myself I’d never be,” he paused and looked up to her, obviously strained from what he was saying. “You were right… it’s my choice to be this way but…,” he let the word drift off and hang for a full minute as he averted his eyes down to the carpet. “I don’t know how to fix it,” he added in a soft whisper.

Sydney just sat there for a moment, silently soaking it all in. She was nearly brought to tears by his story, wondering how someone could be so cruel to a child; their own child. Then suddenly, she stood and walked over to him. When she was only a foot from him, she saw a single tear running down his left cheek. With her right hand, she reached out and touched his face gently, brushing his tear away with her thumb.

He refused to look at her; his eyes were trained on the floor at their feet. Gently, she leaned in and kissed the line the tear had burned across his cheek. Then, in a very soft voice, she said the only thing she could think of to say, “You’re going to be okay.”

Slowly, he turned his eyes up to meet hers and, for the first time, Sydney saw in them an emotion other than anger. She saw fear and uncertainty, but most of all a deep sadness, which she guessed came from, in addition to his father’s cruelty, a lifetime spent truly alone. Without another moment’s hesitation, she slipped her arms around his neck and hugged him gently.

It took Michael a moment to respond, but when he did, he moved his arms from their position folded across his chest, to her waist, where he hugged her back tightly, clinging to her as though she was his only life raft in a choppy, rough, dangerous sea. In that moment, Sydney found something, she never expected to. Their embrace felt so wonderful, so perfect, so right that it scared her.
 
I'm glad he's trying to remain calm for Syd!!!! :woot:
-And I'm really glad he finally told her why he is the way that he is!!!!!! I had a feeling his 'jerkness' came from his father!!!! Now at least Syd understands!!!!
-Great updates!! Can't wait for more!!!
 
What Micheal went through was really hard, I understand why he is like that
I guess that's what happens when you have a father like William and a dysfunctional family :P . I'm really happy he talked to Sydney, I just hope she will be able to help him to forget his past and move on. She could also help him to find happiness ^_^
 
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