Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters I write about. They belong to JER and NBC’s Passions.

Sheridan lifted her head off the pillow as she awoke from her restless sleep. This was it she thought, the day had finally come. Roger and Pierre had been caught yesterday and today Luis would leave. He would walk out of the door and her life forever. She didn’t want that to happen she wanted the strength to tell him to stay, but this is the way it had to be.

After Luis left she promised to swear off love. It was to confining for her. And she never seemed to win. Every time she met a man she seemed to jump in the pool with both eyes closed. The pool always contained water, but the water was deceiving. It wasn’t trustworthy, for ever time she was in its grasp she never seemed to make it up for air. And a little piece of her died every time this happened. She wasn’t going to let it happened again. This was going to be the first day of the rest of her life. She didn’t care if she had to become a Nun, there weren’t going to be any more men in her life. Sheridan rolled out of bed and took a deep breath.

"Here we go" she said to herself. She took a shower and readied herself for the new day. As she immerged from her room sweet smells floated through the air. She made her way to the kitchen to see Luis standing in front of the stove. He was doing his best impression of a chef to date. He was hurling pancakes into the air and miraculously ever one land right back on the skillet. She smiled as she walked into the room, he really was amazing. She cleared her throat making her presence known.

Luis turned to her and smiled. He seemed to be in a good mood this morning. Probably because he got his freedom back. He was more than likely revealing in the fact he never had to see her again after today. Again she wondered why he couldn’t have just admitted to saying those awful things about her. She could be in his arms right now if he had. But no he had to be just like the other men in her life. He was going to be another scar left on her heart. It wasn’t fair. It all started out the same, everyman would win her heart, then eventually cut it to pieces, all leaving their mark.

"Good morning Luis" she said politely trying to mask her sadness.

"You look lovely this morning, did you sleep well?" she was obviously doing a great job pretending to be happy.

"No actually, I hardly slept at all"

"Then why are you so chipper" he looked at her and seemed to look past her eyes and into her soul. "Oh I get it" Luis’s cheerful mood vanished.

No he didn’t get it she thought. If they were so connected like everyone seemed to think they were why couldn’t he see her pain? That this was tearing her up inside. Maybe he didn’t want to see it. Their connection could just be Luis’s gut instinct. It might have been just an illusion. Sheridan hated seeing him like this, confused and hurt. He didn’t know where he stood with her any more than she knew where she stood with him. And yet they were both too stubborn to talk to each other about it.

"I thought I would make breakfast for out last morning together, but I can see you don’t want this to last any longer than it has to" he turned off the burner and staked the pancakes on a plate for her. "Enjoy your breakfast. I already have my stuff packed. I’ll be gone in a couple of minutes" he started for the kitchen door. "Oh and Sheridan?"

"Yeah?"

"Have a nice life"

Sheridan sank into a kitchen chair as Luis disappeared into the living room. Within a minute or two she heard the front door click and she knew he was gone. She looked at the plate in front on her and poked the pancakes with her fork. Her stomach growled, but she couldn’t make herself take a bite. This was the last thing Luis was ever going to do for her. And she didn’t want to ruin it. She would stay hungry forever if it meant keeping a piece of him with her.

What Sheridan wouldn’t give to change things between them. To whisk all the pain and misunderstandings under the rug. But it couldn’t be that way. She wouldn’t let it. She left the kitchen the way he did. She didn’t clean up a thing, she couldn’t bring herself to change things. She didn’t normally leave things for the maids but this was her new life. Maybe she would turn into more of a Crane. She shook her head furiously shaking the thought from her mind. She couldn’t believe it even popped into her head. She could never act like a true Crane. But for this morning she was glad she had a maid. She made her way to the couch and opened up the book she left on the coffee table. She paged through a couple of chapters, but when she realized she hadn’t remembered a word she read she put in back to its spot on the table. As she set the book down her hand accidentally knocked over the vase that sat in the center of the table.

"No" she gasped. She quickly got to her feet and took the single rose from the puddle of water. The rose Luis had given her over a week ago still thrived. It seemed to bloom bigger everyday, but this morning it started to wilt. And now out of its water the petals fell off in her hand. Even it knew he was gone and never coming back. She opened her hands and let the petals and the stem fall back into the puddle on the table.

She couldn’t even be in her own home without thinking of him. The memories of him were everywhere. And right now standing in the middle of the living room, the memory of teaching Luis the Paso Double was the strongest. They seemed to be able to dance fluently even when one of them didn’t know the steps. Where one went the other followed. They were so totally in sync. And then there was the kiss. They got caught up in the music and the dance and let their guard down. Sheridan enjoyed the kiss immensely. But when it ended she chickened out and blamed the dance. She was so afraid of letting him see her vulnerable that she hid the truth. And then the dance fell apart. They were no longer connected as they were before. They were too afraid getting their hearts broken they couldn’t enjoy the pleasure of the dance. Sheridan was suddenly emotionally exhausted decided the only way to forget things for awhile was to take a sleeping pill and catch up on the sleep she missed last night. She walked back into her room and crawled back into bed. She reached into her nightstand and pulled out the pill bottle. She took one onto her tongue and sipped it down with some water. The she pulled the covers over her head and drifted off to sleep.

Sheridan hoped that sleeping would let her escape her thoughts of Luis, but she was wrong. In fact her dreams were filled of Luis. She inhaled the sweet smell of the warm ocean air. The sun beat down on her as she lies in the warm sand. She heard someone walking up behind her but she didn’t move, she remained calming basting in the sun. The person sat down besides her and still she didn’t move.

"Hungry?" she immediately recognized the voice. She opened her eyes and smiled at the man she loved.

"What did you bring me?" she slid to a somewhat sitting position resting her weight on her elbows. He held out his hands, in one held a plate of strawberries, in the other was a bottle of champagne. "Didn’t you forget something?"

"What?" he looked confused. He thought his surprise was perfect.

"Glasses?" she teased. She knew he wasn’t hiding them in his pockets, they hadn’t worn clothes since the arrived on the secluded island. He sat down on the blanket next to her, putting the strawberries and champagne out of her reach. He took a strawberry in his and gently rubbed it over Sheridan’s lips. After tracing every inch of her lips she parted them and took the strawberry in her mouth.

"Who need glasses" he said seductively as he took the bottle on hovered it over her mouth. She opened her mouth and tilted her head back and Luis maneuvered the bottle to pour it in her mouth. He quickly got a devilish grin though and moved the bottle so it poured the sweet liquid onto her neck and chest. He threw the bottle of his shoulder and went to clean up his mess. He placed kisses on her neck and then let his tongue rub across the area. He licked the champagne off her skin and she giggled with excitement.

"Mmm Luis" she sighed as she rolled in her bed. The sound of the vacuum in the other room caused Sheridan’s eyes to open and realize she was no longer in paradise. She pressed her eyes closed hoping that she could get back to that place, but it was no use. It was gone. She wished she could live in her dream, she never wanted to wake up if it meant living a life like that. But she knew it wasn’t possible. It was only a dream after all. Her dreams never came true and she cursed her mind for even leading her on. No it would never happen.

That was all Sheridan could take. She needed to get out of the cottage. Away from everything that reminded her of him. But where would she go? The whole town reminded her of him. It was his town. But it was also hers and she refused to run away again. She was just going to have to find a spot to call her own. She had heard of the beautiful gardens the city kept up near that surrounded the town hall. Sheridan hadn’t been there since her return to Harmony. She would adventure there today. She grabbed her coat and head into the chilly autumn air. The town hall wasn’t that impressive of a building, but it was what surrounded it that made it amazing. The Hall was surrounded by a brick wall. You could easily go from the sidewalk to the entrance of the Hall, there was a clear path. But between the wall and the building was a great garden. The interior of the wall was covered in ivy and had a bench against it every so often. Sheridan walked into the garden and looked around. Most of the flowers were dead this late in the season, but the roses seemed to like the autumn air. She walked down the garden enjoying the sweet smell of the air. She turned the corner to head to the back of the garden and there he sat. On one of the benches Luis seemed to stare at the wall. He didn’t even notice she was there. She tried to turn around, but she stepped on a twig and caught Luis’s attention.

"Hi" was all she offered.

"Hello"

"I didn’t expect to see you here" she now couldn’t just leave so she walked up to him.

"Would you like to sit down?" he scooted out of the middle of the bench. She obliged and sat next to him.

"Do you come here often?" she asked wondering if she should try coming here again and chance running into him.

"Only when I need to think. It’s secluded and not a lot of people come here, especially after the blooming season"

"Oh" she now felt like she was intruding on his privacy. She took that as a hint and got up to leave.

"Why can’t you believe me?" he asked gluing her to her seat.

"I can’t ignore what I heard and saw Luis. You were there, you say those things" She immediately knew what he was talking about.

"But I didn’t. I promise you"

"Luis, too many men have suckered me. I can’t give into it anymore"

"I am not like the other men. I would never say or do anything to hurt you"

"I can’t ignore the proof" she said forcefully.

"Luis we have discussed this over and over again. I’m not going to change my mind"

"Why are you so afraid of me?"

"I’m not afraid"

"You are! You know deep inside you that I would never hurt you. But you’re afraid of losing yourself in me. You’re afraid that if you give me your soul, you’ll lose your identity. But you won’t. I’m not going to control you. You will still be able to live the life you wish to lead. I just want it to include me. I am not your father or your brother, I am not going to stop you from doing things you want to do"

"Why do you say such things when you knew they aren’t true" she protested.

"Stop denying it. Give into what you feel and follow your heart"

"You don’t know how I feel, so stop pretending like you do" she got angry. But she wasn’t sure if she was angry at him, or angry at herself for denying the truth. She couldn’t take it though. "I’ll leave you to your solitude" she got up and continued to the back of the garden. She wasn’t going to let him chase her away from her exploration.

She stopped behind the hall and looked at some more roses. These didn’t look as healthy as the ones in front and she thought it was because the Town Hall probably blocked most of their sun. She sat on a bench across from them and stared at them. She didn’t know why, but she started to cry. She didn’t hear the footsteps coming in her direction. Luis wasn’t going to give up on her. For some reason he felt so close to breaking through her stubbornness and making her see the truth. He startled her when he sat next to her. She jumped slightly and looked up at him with her tear filled eyes.

"Don’t cry" he put his arm around her shoulder.

"I can’t help it. They were so beautiful" she pointed to the flowers.

"They’ll be back next year Sheridan. The seeds have already been planted"

"Luis, I’m sorry" she flung her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. "You were right about everything"

"Shhhh. It’s ok" he rubbed her back.

"No it’s not" she popped out of his arms. "You were right about me being scared of losing myself, of denying how my heart felt, and … and … just everything" she was beginning to become irrational.

"Ok I wouldn’t go that far, but I’m glad you have opened your eyes"

"That’s not all I have opened" Luis looked at her and had no idea where she was going with this. "I have also opened my heart to you. It’s yours if you still want it"

"Would I follow you around like a lost puppy if I still didn’t want things to work out between us. I knew you would come around eventually" he smiled and she nestled back into his arms.

"How did you know?"

"Because true love always grows stronger and never dies"

"Love huh?" she jested. He reached over and picked the only rose still full of life and placed it in her hand. Her eyes sparkled and his mirrored hers. She brought the rose to her nose and took in the scent.

THE END

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