Discovering...Love?

Alright, here is the second part of the chapter. Don't ask me why I chose to put it into two parts, cause I'm really not quite sure. It just seemed to fit for this chapter. Oh, and I also changed the story just a little bit. I some how totally forgot about Sid's birthday so I made that the night he took the girl home, sorry if I cause any confusion. And just a heads up, it may be a while before I can post again. Sorry to leave you here on a depressing chapter, but I had already had them written for a while now and was excited to get them out there. 

~ Aeryn

Sid's POV

I call her for the 5th time on her cell but it again goes to her voicemail, I had tried the house numerous times but she wasn't picking up. I even tried the office but it was closed. I board the plane to go back to Pittsburgh with the team, worried as to why Caitlin wasn't picking up the phone. Did I she some how find out?

A few hours later I pull into the driveway and walk into the house. It was dark and there was no light anywhere.

"Hi guys," I say greeting the pack, "Where's Caitlin?"

Flash perks up his ears and looks upstairs. I take the hint and run up the stairs. I walk over to the small amount of light in the bedroom. I spy her on the edge of our bed, staring off into space.

"Caitlin? Hun what's wrong, I tried calling you but you wouldn't answer," I say sitting on the edge of the bed. She doesn't even turn to look at me, it's as if I'm not there. Normally coming home from a road trip she would be laughing and hugging me right now, but instead she doesn't even acknowledge me.

"Caitlin, hun what's wrong? Please talk to me," I say in a shaky voice, hoping to God that she didn’t find out about the night from someone else.

She inhales as if coming back to life and looks over at me. It's then I notice her tear stained cheeks and a tremendous amount of hurt in her eyes. Oh God, she knows.

"Babe what's wrong? Did I do something?" I ask, wiping a tear from her cheek, not wanting to give anything away if she didn’t know.

"No Sid,"she whispers her voice shaky.

"Then what, Caitlin tell me what's wrong," I plead, half hoping that she will yell at me, slap me, do something to let me know that she knows.

"I took Bran to the vet today because his glands were kinda swollen," she sniffles.

"And..." I ask gently, maybe she doesn’t know.

"Bran has cancer Sidney," she says bluntly, biting her lip and holding in the tears.

"Oh babe, come here," I whisper pulling her into my arms. I expect her to break down, but she doesn't, tears just pour down her cheeks silently. This was worse than I could have imagined.

"Sidney, I don't think I can do this. Not again. I've already lost one dog to cancer and that hurt like hell. I remember coming home from school and walking up the road in tears because I didn't know if Annie would be alive when I got home. And then she got so skinny, you could feel almost every bone in her body. Even though she was eating more food than she had ever eaten in her life. In the end she could hardly stand up and she was in so much pain. Sidney, I don't think I'm strong enough to go through that again," she whispers.

"You are strong enough. Caitlin, you are the strongest person I know, and right now Bran needs you. You always say to live in the moment," I say stroking her hair.

"I know, it's just... with Annie, I had to make the decision to put her down. Sidney, that was the hardest decision I have ever made," she whimpers.

"But she died in peace, didn't she?" I ask.

"She didn't even make it in time. She died an hour before we were going to take her to the vet. “

I could almost see the images passing through her brain as she remembered the past event. This would be devastating to her. I knew how much Bran meant to her, he was her partner. He was the “man” that it seemed like I could never be, her other half.  I sit there with her in my arms, her tears wetting my shirt, but she never makes a sound except for the occasional sniffle.  I find myself wishing that it was me that she had found out about, not Bran. How could I tell her I cheated on her now, when she was in so much pain? I couldn’t. I would just have to try to forget the event ever happened, I couldn’t remember most of it anyway.

“Shhh… everything is going to be ok my little warrior. You’ll see,” I say planting a kiss in her hair and hugging her more tightly against me.