Graduation got closer and closer and I was freaking out on a daily basis. Where had the last four years gone? I was almost to the point of regretting the drinking and blacking out throughout the years. I knew for a fact that I spent the majority of the time surrounded by my friends. I remembered all of the laughs and smiles we shared together and I was grateful for that at least.
I was kind of beating myself up for wasting so much time with Dean. I could have been happy with Danny a lot sooner, but that was time that I was never going to get back. I couldn't dwell on it. The past was in the past and I had so much changing and happening right in front of me that sometimes it made my head spin.
I hadn't exactly addressed the fact that Danny pretty much proposed to me and I had given him an answer and sealed the deal when I was tearing into Tess. That wasn't how I pictured it happening, but it was out there, so now I had to survive the grilling from my mom. She was excited and she and Dad were both completely taken by surprise. Dad was a little salty that Danny hadn't asked for his permission. But then Mom tore into him, ranting about how that was so old school and I wasn't a piece of property that someone could just hand over.
"So where's the ring?" Mom asked, locking her eyes on me. I turned my head and locked eyes with Danny. "Yeah, babe. Where's the ring?" He looked at the two of us like a deer caught in the headlights. "Hey, I'm good with surprises! I never said I was good at planning!" he said with a smirk. "The ring is coming," he added. I had to explain how he proposed, leaving out all of the dirty little details. Saying vulgar things to Tess to put her in her place was one thing, but I'd never go into detail about my sex life around my parents if I didn't have to.
Today was really the first time ever that I actually felt like an adult around them. Danny and I had spent a good three hours with them. I took it as the perfect opportunity to tell them and Danny about Dean stopping by the house the other night. Thankfully Mom was able to calm him and Dad down. I was almost certain that they wanted to go after him with torches and pitch forks. Mom was pretty pissed off about it, but she praised me for how well I handled it. Dad and Danny both went on about how he could have hurt me, but Mom made sure to tell them not to underestimate me. I was a lot stronger than I looked. It showed me even more that Mom had always been in my corner and our relationship was exactly where it needed to be.
Fauna yawned and squirmed in my arms. I looked down and she was struggling to keep her little eyes open. She was usually pretty alert, but you'd definitely know it if she was getting tired. We were lucky because she wasn't much of a fighter. She'd gladly curl up in your arms and be fast asleep. I was terrified of her getting used to being held while she slept, so I usually tried to get her into her crib before she went to sleep for the night. Seeing her making herself comfortable was a red flag and we needed to get home as soon as we could.
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"I'm glad you're in a better place with your parents. You look so happy," Danny said as he pulled my shirt over my head. "Yeah, I never thought I would see the day," I said as I stood on the tips of my toes to kiss him. It often felt like he was a completely different person now. He had matured over night since we bought Fauna home. "I'm glad. You know I live to make you happy," he said as he wrapped his arms around my waist and connected his lips with mine. It felt like it had been forever and a day since the two of us got completely lost in each other. We had plenty of babysitters that were willing to take Fauna off of our hands so we could have a break, but I enjoyed every moment I spent with my baby. I didn't feel like I needed a break from her.
He placed one hand on my hip and tangled the other in my hair. Our bare chests were pressed against one another as we deepened our kiss. Here we were, making out in the laundry room like the good old days even though we had a whole bedroom to ourselves. Somehow, that made it even more exciting. My hands eased up his back, taking in the shape of every muscle before my fingers locked in his hair.
He bent down and gripped the backs of my thighs before sitting me on top of the washer. His lips didn't leave mine. He caressed my neck and allowed his hands to drift over my chest. He got frustrated with the fabric of my bra being the only barrier between us. He quickly unclasped the back and yanked it off. His chest was pressed against mine again before the cool air throughout the apartment could harden my nipples. I could feel the bulge in his pants pressing against me and now was the time to head into our room.
I pulled my lips away from his with a wicked grin on my face. "Let's get comfortable," I said as I trailed my index finger down the center of his chest, "and then we can pick up where we left off." He groaned and rolled his eyes. "I guess I can go take a cold shower to calm the hell down," he sulked. I giggled and hopped off of the washer, bending down to grab the t-shirt and pajamas I took off last night. He took the opportunity to slap my ass, letting his hand linger there. "Don't take too long, Mrs. Connor," he said with a wink. Hearing that caused me to shiver and I was definitely going put some fire under my ass to finish what we started.
I skipped through the apartment, turning off all the lights while the shower was running. I knew that he was going to make it quick. He knew how impatient I could get.
Fauna was neatly tucked in. I stood in the doorway of the nursery with a soft smile on my face. I waited a few minutes to make sure I could see the rise and fall of her chest and hear her snoring before pulling the door up, leaving it cracked.
I turned the light off in the living room and pulled the blinds together. The whole time, I felt like I was going to explode from the happiness I was feeling. It only made me imagine living the married life and how great it would feel to do this for the rest of my life.
Finally, I stepped toward the entrance to turn off the light outside. The door was cracked slightly. We must have left it cracked when we were trying to haul the car seat into the house. I shrugged and pushed it, but was met with some resistance. I tried to push it once more without any success.
"What the fuck?" I whispered. This time, I tried to use all of my weight, but I bounced back. I looked down to see if something was stuck in the threshold. My eyes spotted a shoe that was creating a wedge. My head snapped up as a body pushed it's way in, knocking be onto my ass.
Before I could hop up onto my feet to charge at the intruder, I realized it was Dean again.
"You really thought this was over?!" he growled. I couldn't get away from him. He swooped down, locking both hands around my neck and lifting me up onto my feet. My heart was pounding in my ears and my chest was burning. I was getting really fucking sick of seeing his face. I knew that this wasn't over after our last encounter and I was thankful that I wasn't pregnant anymore. This motherfucker was about to be in for the fight of his life.
Despite the pressure increasing on my windpipe, I took a swing at him with a closed fist, connecting with his nose. That was his weak spot. He had broken his nose more times than I could count throughout the years. It worked like a charm. He dropped me and immediately covered it with both of his hands, doubling over. My fist was covered in blood. Before I could get dizzy from the sight of it, I was throwing my fists at him uncontrollably. I landed one on his cheek, connected both fists with both of his eyes, and threw one up into his chin.
"You came here at the wrong fucking time!" I shouted as I jabbed my foot into his stomach, causing him to groan. "Syd!" I heard Danny call out to me when the door of the bathroom creaked open. "I'm so fucking tired of you, you stupid piece of shit!" I spat in his face. He looked up at me with glazed over, blood shot eyes. His skin was covered in a sheen of sweat. This was the Dean that I always hated and it only pissed me off even more. I grabbed his chin and tilted his face up. "It's fucking over! Get the fuck out of my sight!" I shouted. I drew back and hit his mouth with a punch that echoed throughout the apartment. My hand began to burn with pain shooting through all five of my fingers. I didn't give a shit if it was broken. This was one of the proudest moments of my life.
My chest heaved up and down as I tried to catch my breath. Dean was slumped over on the floor. I turned around to check and see if Danny was making his way down the hall. I couldn't wait for him to help me roll this bastard out onto the curb.
"Danny, hurry!" I shouted. I held my head in my hands, trying to make my mind catch up with what had just happened. I knew that I hadn't killed him, but I knew that he wasn't going to be out for long. I had some pretty powerful punches, but when he was high, it would take a lot to knock him out for a long period of time. I didn't know how much time I had. My anxiety caused me to shake uncontrollably and I didn't know what he was going to do to me if he woke up before Danny was at my side. "Get your ass out here!"
Suddenly, something cold was pressed against my hip. "I'm going to kill you, bitch! If I can't have you, no one can!" Dean growled in my ear. He towered over me and as I looked down, I saw that he had a silver handgun pressed against me with his finger lingering on the trigger. My heart stopped for a second and I was completely frozen. "You're mine and if you know what's good for you, you'll get your shit and say goodbye to that fucker," he said slowly. "And if I don't?" I challenged when I shouldn't have. He dug the barrel of the gun into my hip bone. "Then he can bury you."
I was still frozen. I couldn't move or try to fight back if I wanted to survive.
My head turned down the hall and a tiny spark of hope shot through me when I heard Danny's footsteps coming closer. I wanted to make a run for it when I saw him coming closer to me. He stepped toward me slowly, just as surprised as I had been. It was the first time that I saw the look of true fear in his eyes. "You'll tell him that this is over, all of this little happy family bullshit is over, and you're going to be with me," he snarled in my ear.
"Sydney, what the fuck?!" Danny screamed. I stood there, staring at him, praying that he could see the panic in my eyes. My hands were in the air and surprisingly, I was staying calm about the situation. I was standing there with a maniac ready to squeeze the trigger and I wasn't crying or begging for my life. I thought that would have made me a coward. "Tell him!" Dean screamed, tightening his grip on the gun. I knew that I had no choice but to listen and do what he said. Even if I did, the least he would do was wound me. I knew that he didn't have the balls to kill me.
My eyes darted quickly to Danny and I was hoping that he could see how sorry I was for what was about to come out of my mouth. "Fucking tell him!" Dean shouted even louder. "Or I swear to God, I'll blow your fucking brains out!" He raised the gun and slowly pressed it against my temple, but I could tell that he was entirely too high to be able to make a clear, point blank shot. Deep down inside, he still loved me and had feelings for me, so I knew that tonight wouldn't end with me taking off with the Grim Reaper. "Tell him that you love me, Sydney! Tell him that you're mine and you always will be!" he said through clenched teeth.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I had to think. I couldn't let my emotions get the best of me even though the sight of Danny staring at me was just too heartbreaking to handle right now. "Tell him that you were meant to be with me. You don't want to marry him and live happily ever after," he said more calmly. I noted how he was shaking as he struggled to aim the weapon properly. If I could catch him off guard, I could at least manage to get the gun off of me so Danny could kick the shit out of him, I thought to myself. My silence was pissing him off even more and I knew that I was running out of time. I locked eyes with Danny and frowned, hoping that he knew that I didn't mean a single word that was about to come out of my mouth. "Danny, I love Dean. All of this was a mistake. It's him. It's always been him. I can't be with you or marry you."
Dean moved the gun away from my head and draped one arm over my chest, pulling my body into his. "She doesn't mean that. She gave up on your sorry ass a long time ago," Danny said with a smirk. I started to panic. I feared that he would try to do something bold to get the attention off of me. "You were just a rebound. No one gives a fuck what you think," Dean spat back at him. Danny stood there with his chest out like he was a super hero. I wanted so badly to scream at him that he wasn't bulletproof. I hated to say those things to him just to save my life.
"Danny, don't,"I said firmly. The look in his eyes let me know that he had a plan brewing. I didn't know how well it would go over. I just wished that he would shut up and let me control the situation. "You have nothing with her. She's fucking me every night, she's moved in with me, and she's agreed to marry me. On top of that, she had my baby." Fuck, I said to myself, closing my eyes because things were about to get ugly.
"Fuck you!" he shouted as he raised the gun at his face. Danny prepared himself to charge at him, but I quickly jumped to wrap both of my hands around his to try to yank the gun away from him without even thinking twice. "Sydney stop!" Danny screamed, charging into both of us in an attempt to pull me away from him. We wrestled blindly for a few minutes and I had no idea how this was going to end.
The gun went off.
It felt like time had stood still. I couldn't hear anything else but Fauna crying through the house. My ears were ringing and I was in shock from what I thought was the noise.
Danny and Dean had separated with me standing between them. The two of them stared at me with their eyes bulging out of their heads. I could see Danny's lips moving, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I turned to look at Dean and his hands were shaking uncontrollably. His mouth hung open as he stared at me.
All at once, I felt a burning sensation in my hip. I looked down to find a splotch of blood growing bigger and bigger across the fabric of my white t-shirt. I was actively bleeding. I grew lightheaded at the sight of the blood continuing to run out of my body where it rolled down my leg and splashed on the linoleum. "I've been shot," I mouthed quietly. When my ears finally decided to start working again, I could hear Danny screaming uncontrollably. He dove in my direction to wrap his arms around my body. Black spots were dancing around in my vision and my breathing was erratic. My legs gave out and I was beginning to feel more and more pain as I slowly collapsed into his arms.
"Stay with me!" Danny cried. My eyes were growing heavy as they darted around the room. Dean sprinted out the door, leaving it wide open. I turned my head back toward Danny. His eyes were red and he was trying his best to keep me from losing consciousness. "Please, stay with me Syd! We're going to get you some help!" he yelled as he continued to sob. He placed his hand on my cheek and I gathered enough energy to bring my hand up to hold it there. If I was going to die, I'm glad that I was going to fade away in his arms. I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer and I couldn't fight the pain. I was growing cold and my body began to shiver.
My eyes locked onto those familiar gray eyes that had stolen my heart as he screamed into his phone. "I love you," I whispered. I could only whisper. I didn't have the strength to speak up and tell him all of the things he needed to know before it was too late. "I love you too, baby. Just keep fighting. Don't leave me," he said calmly. I wanted so badly to fight, but as more blood flowed out, now pooling on the floor with the smell of copper lingering in my nostrils, I could only close my eyes and drift away.
