Dislaimer: if the charicters were mine the disclaimer wouldn't be here.
Chapter 1:
Sheridan screamed to wake herself up from her nightmare.
*Luis awakened to the sound of her scream and ran into her bedroom and shook
her awake. She had been having these nightmares every night since the
incident on the wharf when she had to shoot Les. And as the nightly ritual
began he would hold her in his arms and rock her and whisper word of comfort
till she stopped crying. He stopped asking her about the dreams because it
never got him anywhere, she would tell him when she was ready if she was
willing.
*He comforted her every night and lost sleep but never complained, he didn't
even ask why anymore. He was there for her at anytime with no questions
asked, at least now. It didn't really coincide with the behavioral patterns
of some one who was using her. This thought literally confused her out of
tears. She brought her tear stained, blue eyes up to meet his brown ones and
peered into them and saw compassion and what might, for a second, be
translated as love, but figured it must be some sort of pity.
*When she brought her teary blue eyes to meet his, he felt his heart wrench
when he saw the fear and pain and confusion. He hated seeing her like that,
he felt so powerless to help her.
*Something in his eyes seemed to comfort her. She felt safe. She closed her
eyes and cuddled up next to him and started to relax. He eyelids were heavy
from crying and lack of sleep so she quickly drifted off to sleep.
*This was an interesting turn of events, he thought to himself. Usually he
was able to tuck her in and go back to sleep on the couch but she was cuddled
up so tight to him that he would not be able to leave without waking her, and
she looked so peaceful, more so than she had in a long while. He debated
waking her but in the end he couldn't bring himself to do it. He got as
comfortable as possible and went to sleep.
The next morning
Sheridan was the first to wake. She felt more rested than she had in weeks.
She felt to strong arms holding her tight from her haze of slumber. As she
reached full consciousness, she remembered falling asleep in Luis's arms and
smiled to herself as she realized that he must have fallen asleep too. She
looked up at him. He looked so peaceful. She wanted to wake up like this
every morning she thought to herself. She scolded herself for that thought
because she knew it would never happen.
Although he had been really
sensitive and caring towards her lately, she wouldn't let herself hope. She
didn't understand how he could be a user. She would have to get to the
bottom of it. And maybe she could take a risk and get to the bottom of her
nightmares. Although if she didn't have them, Luis wouldn't comfort her,
'bad Sheridan' she scolded herself.
*Luis felt Sheridan start to stir and started to come back to consciousness
from a deep sleep. He opened his eyes and focused on Sheridan who was
watching him.
"Good morning" she said.
"Morning"
"Thanks for staying with me last night."
"No problem."
Luis realized just how right it felt to wake up next to her. The sparkle in
her eyes right now showed no sign of the previous night's cry.
"You look much better this morning, you must have slept well."
"Yeah, thanks to you."
He didn't know how to respond to that. He wasn't sure what he meant by that,
so he just smiled and asked him what she would like for breakfast.
"If you want eggs I'll scramble some up while you shower."
"Ok"
"That way you can make us something really good for lunch."
"I knew thee was a catch."
She just smiled at him and got out of bed. She was wearing her pink satin
nighty, and she looked good in it especially when she was in a good mood. He
would enjoy herself if she was feeling better.
To Be Continued...
Chapter 2:
At breakfast
They were halfway through their eggs when out of nowhere
"Luis, I need your help with something personal, it has to do with the
nightmares."
"You know I'll help you Sheridan, no matter what it is."
"Well I started to have this nightmare when I was little, it seems really
real but I have told over and over that it is nothing but a nightmare. There
is a bloody sheet over a dead body and I have blood on my hands. I keep
saying that I didn't mean to do it. And my father keeps telling me that I
did. There was a bloody letter opener and later there was a coffin. It's
all jumbled up and I can't make much sense of it except that I must have
killed someone."
"And that is why you reacted to the body under the sheet. Sheridan you would
never intentionally kill anyone."
"I was sent to a mental hospital a little after that, every one tells me that
it's a dream but it seems too real."
"Sheridan, your not a murderer."
"There's more. I was sent to the mental hospital the day after your father's
disappearance."
"What?"
"I think that the body in my dream could be your father's"
Luis just stared at her for a long time while it processed.
"You think you killed my father."
"What else could it be? It would make sense"
"Sheridan I don't think you killed my father, my instinct tells me that you
didn't. Maybe you just say the body, or saw it happen."
"But I had blood on my hands."
"Maybe we could look around, for a clue or something. Maybe your father has
something to do with this, or your brother. There has to be an answer
somewhere. The truth is out there, you just have to know where to look."
Sheridan wasn't really sure why she believed him, or why he believed that she
didn't kill anyone but she wasn't going to complain. He would help her find
the truth about her past and she needed to know that to regain some of her
sanity.
Inside the Crane mansion: living room
"This is where I see the body." Sheridan stated pointing to the rug on the
floor.
Luis got down on his hands and knees and started looking for clues. Sheridan
was looking around too although she had no idea what she was looking for.
After a while of searching and not getting anywhere Luis stood up and stated
"well if anything happened here it was cleaned up well. Is there anywhere
else we should look?"
"Well we could always look in Julian's office, something could be in there."
"We tried that once before, remember, and it has alarms."
"Oh yeah, how could I forget." All Sheridan remembered how ever was the
cover up make out session. "Well we could stick to the desk, there have to
be some papers or records or something if something actually happened."
"Unless they are smart enough to get rid of incriminating documents."
"Well father might be that smart but Julian isn't." So headed to the office.
They stopped at the door to listen for any sounds coming from the office.
After hearing nothing Sheridan poked her head in and when she saw the coast
was clear they entered to begin the search. They headed to the desk to find
what they hoped would be something that would lead them to the truth, but
would it be the truth they were looking for?
To Be Continued...
Chapter 3:
Julian's office
Sheridan pulled a gun out of the drawer. She held it out for Luis to see.
"Do you think that the bullet you found in the wall would match this?"
Sheridan asked.
"It might, I would have to bring it in to the station and have it checked
out."
"But Julian might miss is before then."
"Lets see what else we find."
They both continued their search. Opening drawers and going threw papers.
None of which that they found had anything illegal on them.
"Anything really incriminating must be in the safe. They wouldn't have left
the gun out if it was any sort of evidence."
Sheridan went back to the drawer where she found the gun. She searched
deeper into the drawer. She felt something hairy and cringed.
Just then they heard Julian coming. Sheridan put the gun back into the
drawer and they stared at each other trying to figure out what to do next.
They ran to the couch and sat down on it and waited for him to enter.
"What are you two doing in my office?"
"We were waiting to talk to you." Sheridan quickly answered.
Julian looked at them quizzically.
"I, well we, were hoping that either you or father might have been able to
find a way to get me another body guard since we are having trouble standing
each other at present."
Sheridan hoped that her oh so bright brother would buy the story.
"Sheridan dear, you know that our hands are tied, you are just going to have
to live with it."
Sheridan let out an overdone exasperated gasp and stood to leave.
"Well I would have hoped that you could have done better."
With that they left. After getting out of the office Sheridan sighed with
relief.
"Remind me to thank God that my brother isn't the brightest light on the
Christmas tree."
Luis laughed and they went around the corner waiting to see if Julian would
leave.
"What should we do now?" Sheridan asked Luis.
"Besides waiting for him to leave? I don't know that is as far as my plan
goes at this point."
Just then Julian came out of his office, they ducked behind the corner and
waited till the coast was clear. They entered his office again and scoped
out the safe.
"How do you think we could get in?"
"Would they be dumb enough to leave the combination lying around? In a
drawer maybe?"
"It's possible. Doesn't hurt to look."
Sheridan and Luis went back over to the desk and started looking for a new
answer.
To Be Continued...
Chapter 4:
Julian's office
Sheridan was once again searching threw Julian's desk looking this time for a
clue as to the combination to the safe. Her hand once again hit the fuzzy
thing and again she cringed but she pulled it out of the drawer to find out
what it was. She let out a small gasp she looked at the familiar face.
"What?" Luis asked confused by the look of surprise mixed with disgust spread
across Sheridan's face.
Without a word Sheridan handed the mask to Luis.
"I don't understand."
"Father or Julian must have had some one impersonate you to keep us apart."
"I still don't understand."
"First off I'm sorry for slapping you, I should have know better, but the
rest will have to wait for a more opportune time for a heart to heart."
"So this is the reason you slapped me?"
"Basically but right now we have a job to do."
Sheridan went back to her search, after a few more minutes she let out an
exasperated sigh and looked at the safe.
"I could guess at the combination."
"Go for it if you think you could without setting off any alarms."
"At this point I don't care." With that she went over to the safe and
thought for a moment. This would have been her father's before Julian's so
maybe the code was the same. She decided to try her mother's birthday; he
did after all seem to love her when she was alive. When her mother was alive
Alister seemed almost happy! So she tried the combination, and it worked!
It almost scared herself. Luis looked over as the door to the safe opened?
And looked at Sheridan questioningly.
"Good guess."
They then proceeded to look in the safe for some evidence of Sheridan's past.
There were a ton of papers so they split them in half and went threw them
looking for anything suspicious. They went through all kinds of different
papers that had to do with expenses and business agreements. They didn't
think that they were getting anywhere, until Luis came across a paper about
tax fraud that was signed by Alister, Julian, and Martin Fitzgerald.
"This could have to do something about why they had to get rid of my father."
"A little tax fraud would not be enough to get rid of him in such a drastic
way!"
"If they would lose enough money they might, or if it would heard their
reputation or power you never know what a Crane would do."
"First of all, not all cranes, and second they are not that heartless!"
"Give me one example of when a Crane did something out of the kindness of
their heart."
"You're sticking me with them again aren't you. I'm just another Crane to
you!"
"Your putting words in my mouth!"
"Well my family might not be the kindest, most loving family in the world,
but we are not all bad!"
"I know your not bad Sheridan, I could never care about some one who was that
uncaring the way I care about you!"
"What did you say?"
"Um, we don't have much time we better look for some more clues before Julian
comes back."
To Be Continued...
Chapter 8:
Still in Julian's office
"Well my family might not be the kindest, most loving family in the world,
but we are not all bad!"
"I know your not bad Sheridan, I could never care about some one who was that
uncaring the way I care about you!"
"What did you say?"
"Um, we don't have much time we better look for some more clues before Julian
comes back."
Sheridan wanted to press is but knew this wasn't the time of the place to get
into a conversation about feelings. She did however promise herself to sit
Luis down for a nice long talk. Sheridan went back to her search.
"Luis! I just found a receipt for the purchase of a coffin on the night of
your father's disappearance!"
"Well now that we have proof that your family is involved we have to find out
what happened."
"We are not just going to find that kind evidence here, that would have been
destroyed, my family isn't that stupid, that's obvious."
"Good point."
"I remember watching this episode of The X-Files (sorry couldn't help myself)
where Mulder was hypnotized to remember his sister's disappearance, do you
think if I was hypnotized I would remember what happened that night?"
"Maybe, but its not always accurate, but its worth a try."
Dr. Russell's office
"Sheridan, you are feeling very relaxed…" (you know the drill) "Go back to
the night where your nightmares started. Where are you?"
"I'm in the living room."
"What do you see?"
"I'm alone in there, I hear arguing, I hear someone coming, I'm afraid, I
grab a letter opener. Ouch! It cut me, I'm bleeding, I drop it. I'm
hiding. A man enters, I know him, he is the nice man that lives in the
cottage.
He is staggering. Oh no, he's bleeding; he's falling to the ground.
I run over to him. He asks me to find help. I run for the door. I knock
over a vase, and it crashed loudly to the floor. Alister comes out and grabs
me, I'm screaming about the man bleeding to death, he puts me down and tells
me to leave. I hide up stairs where I cam see. No! No! my father shot
him! It's all my fault, I didn't get help! I failed the nice man! I see my
father leave the room and I go back down there. There is now a sheet
covering him, I'm crying. My father comes back, he is yelling at me, telling
me I should have stayed away.
I didn't mean to do it, I didn't! My father
keeps telling me that I did! He grabs me and puts me in the coffin for what
seems like a long time. I'm screaming and crying! I'm so scared!"
Sheridan is crying uncontrollably now and Eve brings her back. Luis is
holding her hand, and he gives it a comforting squeeze. Sheridan looks over
at him and gives him a weak smile, trying to reassure him that she was ok.
"That's all we should do for today. Sheridan if you want to do more fell
free to call me. I put my home number on my card too."
"Thank you Eve." With that Sheridan and Luis got up to leave. Once outside
her office Luis spoke up.
"So what did you make of what you remembered."
"Well it would make sense, and I want to believe that I didn't kill anybody,
but why would my father do that."
"My father knew to much about the tax fraud and you knew to much about my
fathers murder."
"It just seems so unbelievable that some one could be that cruel. What do we
do now?"
"Well we have to have more proof before we can arrest your father. Right now
I think we should get you home so you can rest."
To Be Continued...
Chapter 6:
Crane mansion
"Welcome back Mr. Crane."
"Thank you Pilar, I have been away for far too long." Alister looked around
his home. Not much had changed. He had left here for so long because
everything reminded him of his beautiful wife that he had lost. He still had
a hole in his heart where she used to be. After her death he had become a
bitter, horrible old man. Now that he was so old he regretted pushing his
family away.
Just then Sheridan and Luis walked in the front door. Sheridan saw her
father and stopped dead in her tracks, and started shaking in fear. In her
mind something really horrible must have happened for him to come back,
something Julian couldn't handle himself.
When Alister saw his daughter he was brought back in time. She looked
exactly like her mother.
He suddenly regretted being so cruel to her. She
didn't deserve that kind of treatment and her mother had loved her so much,
she certainly wouldn't have wanted him to turn his back on her. Impulsively
he went over and drew her into his arms in a hug. She gasped and went tense.
It broke his heart. His own daughter was afraid of him. When he released
her she went instinctively to Luis side, as if for protection. He
immediately sensed the love between these two.
"I'm sorry Sheridan."
"What for?" she asked carefully. She didn't trust him and it was quite
evident.
"For not loving you, for hurting you. When all you wanted was to be loved
and I denied you that all because you were so much like your mother it hurt."
Tears were steaming down Sheridan's face. She had dreamed her entire
childhood that her father would one day say things like that to her. She
went to him and wrapped her arms around him and cried into his shoulder. I
did love you Sheridan, I just never let you know. I was to bitter after
losing your mother."
Approx nine months later
Sheridan's father had died a week after his return to Harmony and was buried
next to his beloved wife. Sheridan and Luis were married the morning before
he died. Alister had walked her down the isle. Sheridan had become close to
her father in the week before he died. Although she missed him she was glad
she got to know him before he went. Alister had left her in charge of Crane
industries and in charge of the estate. Alister had decided that he wanted
his business run properly and his family to be more moral than he had ever
been, and Julian hadn't shown himself worthy. Luis and Sheridan never found
any evidence to convict Alister but after his return neither care because of
his miraculous change.
"Push Sheridan! Push!"
Luis was with Sheridan at harmony hospital where Sheridan was in labor with
their first-born child.
Sheridan pushed with all her might and a few seconds later they heard the
scream of their new baby.
"What should we name him?" Luis asked gazing at their beautiful child.
"How about Martin."
"Martin Crane Lopez Fitzgerald. That's a mouth full." Luis teased.
"Well then we will have to call him Martin for short." Luis laughed and
kissed his wife.
THE END