Learning By Heart
Chapter 2
By April
Disclaimer: The Passions characters featured in this story are the
property
of NBC, Passions, and its writers.
If it weren't for these people, I
could
not have come up with this story. This one is really more or less just
dedicated to the time once Sheridan gets to Paris that was not on the
show,
what could have happened, etc. The story gets much more creative in
the next
chapter.
Enjoy! From April
LEARNING BY HEART
Chapter 2
Sheridan was speechless. 'What is he doing here?' she thought to
herself. He had heard her. She knew that there was no way she could
talk
her way out of it, so she finally made a decision.
"Luis, what are you doing here?" Sheridan asked quietly. She
always lost
her train of thought when he looked at her.
"I came to bring you home," Luis answered, never taking his eyes
off of
her.
"Listen, Luis, what you just heard..." Sheridan began, "I don't
want you
to think that I meant that..."
Before she could finish, Luis stopped her with a nod.
"You don't have to explain," he stated simply. The look in his
eyes was
quickly turning from desire to fierce anger. "As a matter of fact, I
don't
want you to explain."
"But I..."
Luis' glaring eyes silenced Sheridan.
"I came here because I finally realized that it was because of me
that
you left Harmony, and I needed to know why. I thought, after
everything you
said that you thought I had done something to you, and I wanted to make
up
for whatever it was that I did."
He finally let his eyes move off of
Sheridan and looked out the window instead. "I came here to tell you
how I
felt about you, how much I realized you meant to me."
Sheridan's stomach was doing flip-flops. 'Does this mean that he
loves
me as much as I love him? Is there a chance for us after all?' Just
the
thought almost brought her to tears. What Luis said next stopped her
short.
"Obviously I made a mistake," he said.
"What do you mean, you made a mistake?" Sheridan asked, alarmed
that
things were suddenly going south.
Luis turned to Sheridan again, and she realized that it wasn't
anger in
his eyes. It was pain. She knew those eyes well. She had seen them
every
day in the mirror since she left Harmony.
"I thought you were different. I thought that if I loved you
enough, we
could get through anything. I thought that if I came here, you would
give me
another chance to prove that I am the man you've been waiting for. I
thought..." he stopped, trying not to let his voice betray the despair
in
his heart. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking!" he concluded,
not
meaning to shout at her.
"Luis, I don't understand," Sheridan cried suddenly, genuinely
confused
by Luis' words.
Luis just shook his head. "I know now that you were right. 'You
need to
go back to your old life, and I need to get on with mine. That's just
the
way things are supposed to be,' " he stated, using the same words she
had
used when they met on the roof of the Seascape.
"You've made me
realize that
we are two different people from two different worlds, and that
anything more
than acquaintanceship is impossible. I may have been right about you
being
different from the rest of your family morally, but you've got Crane
stubbornness and you've got a double-dose of Crane pride. You're more
of a
Crane than even you realize yourself, and I know now that there is no
way I
can compete with that."
Luis did not mean to hurt Sheridan with his last comment, but as
soon as
he saw the look on Sheridan's face, he realized that it had, and he
suddenly
regretted saying anything at all, but it was too late to take anything
back.
The words hung between them like an impenetrable wall.
Sheridan was the first to break the silence, and the strength she
found
in her voice surprised them both. "Is that all?" she asked slowly.
"If so,
then I would like a chance to respond."
Luis looked at her, confused. He just nodded, noting the sudden
businesslike tone she had taken.
Sheridan walked over to the window and looked at the city below.
'The
city for lovers,' she thought to herself. 'Ironic that this is the
place
where I am losing my best hope for one.'
Tearing herself from her
reverie,
she turned back to the man to whom she had given her heart. She was
ready to
take it back.
"Just who in the hell do you think you are?" she asked him
matter-of-factly. "You want to talk about MY stubbornness and MY
pride?
News flash, Officer. In case you didn't know, you happen to have the
preverbal corner on the market in that department."
Luis sat in stunned silence.
Sheridan didn't wait to let him
gather his
thoughts before she started again. "I was right, even though I am just
now
seeing that. There was no chance for us. But it is not just because I
am a
Crane. You can tell yourself that if it makes you feel better. Hell,
tell
yourself anything you want to. God knows I have. But the truth is
that my
family has very little to do with this. This has to do with US," she
said.
"We are attracted to each other. We have been since day one, and don't
try
to deny it, because I remember very well the look on your face when you
saw
my face after I hit your police car."
He couldn't deny it. Remembering back to the first day he met Miss
Crane, he remembered most the feeling in his gut when he laid eyes on
the
beautiful woman who had tried to run from him.
He had never admitted
it, but
he had always wondered what would have been had they met under
different
circumstances.
Sheridan's voice broke into his memories.
"Even when I hated you, I was attracted to you, which just made me
hate
you more at the time," said Sheridan, not being able to keep a small
smile
from creeping onto her lips. "The fact that you were a cocky, arrogant
jerk
bugged me, but the way I felt when I looked at you bugged me most of
all. We
have an incredible, uncanny chemistry. You affect me in ways that no
one
else ever has before."
It felt good to say it out loud. It was
something
they had both known needed to be said eventually. Sheridan just wished
it
were under different circumstances, before things had gone bad.
Luis looked at Sheridan solemnly. "Yeah, I know what you mean.
You were
always able to get to me, get under my skin."
He began to smile as
well.
'Why did it take you running off to Paris for us to say this to each
other'
he thought to himself sadly. 'Why did we wait until it was too late.'
Sheridan and Luis just looked at each other for a long time, both
lost in
memories of how they had come to this point.
They both thought about
the
time they played basketball, and Sheridan had fallen on top of Luis.
They
thought about the little battles they had fought over anything they
could
think of, just to hear what the other would say.
They thought about
how they
had gone to New Mexico, both looking for answers. They thought about
how
they didn't get those answers, but they came back with a new
understanding
and appreciation of the other person.
They had actually talked to each
other
instead of at each other for the first time. After Luis saved Sheridan
from
drowning, he had found out her greatest fear: that she would never find
a man
who loved her for who she was and not what she had.
He remembered her
looking at him in her delirium. 'Are you the one? Are you the great
love of
my life?' she had asked, reaching for him.
He had tried to tell that
it was
just him, she had the wrong guy, but she would not let him go. 'If I
let go,
you'll disappear, and it will break my heart!' she had cried, begging
him to
stay with her. He tried to cover her up more, and she had grabbed him
and
kissed him. Then later, when he had to lay next to her naked to keep
her
warm, she had turned to him. 'Make love to me.' she said. 'You have to
make
love to me now.'
He would never forget hearing those words come out of
her
mouth, and how he had realized for the first time that there was much
more to
this rich and beautiful woman than he had ever imagined. No amount of
money
kept her demons from haunting her.
They thought about the Martin
imposter,
how he kidnapped Sheridan and forced Luis to choose between his father
and
her. They thought about how Luis did choose, and how Sheridan had
taken care
of him after that, from offering a shoulder to cry on up to lending a
couch
to sleep on.
They thought about their first dinner, and how Luis asked
Sheridan to help expose her family in his father's disappearance, and
how she
answered him with a glass of wine in his face. He had gone back and
apologized, trying to make up for what he had done. She had accepted
his
apology, and he had admitted to her that the only thing he could not
live
with was knowing he had hurt her. 'I don't want to be that guy, what's
his
name? Jean-Luc, in your life.' he had said adamantly.
They thought
about
their first real date, how Julian had tried to bribe Luis into not
seeing
Sheridan again, and how he had refused, not because he didn't want what
was
offered, but because he knew if he did, Sheridan would never trust him
again.
He would have been just like all of the others.
They thought about
how shy
they had felt around each other at the end of the date, and how Luis
politely
asked if he could kiss Sheridan. She thought about how sweet she
thought it
was that he only kissed her on the cheek, and how she had felt weak
just
because he was so close to her, his breath lightly caressing her face
as he
kissed her.
"I've suddenly forgotten what I was saying," Sheridan confessed, a
little
embarrassed.
The smile melted off of Luis' face. "We were talking about why we
can't
be in a relationship."
"Oh yeah," Sheridan said, suddenly realizing that that was what she
had
meant to do. She looked at Luis again, noting how he was not looking
at her
anymore, but at the floor. "The point is all of that is in the past.
Yes,
we have chemistry, and at one time I thought that there might be a
chance for
us, but it has become painfully obvious that there isn't. We are just
too
different, but..." Sheridan decided to go out on a limb. "I'm not
angry.
Actually, I've missed you," she confessed. "I would like to think we
had
become friends. I would really like to be, anyway." 'I can do this,
we can
be friends, though it would be a lot easier if you weren't so
incredibly sexy
all the time...' Sheridan thought to herself.
"It'll be awfully hard to be 'friends' if you still want to keep an
ocean
between us," Luis stated, not quite sure how else to respond. 'Does
this
mean she doesn't have feelings for me anymore? Maybe she can do this,
but I
don't know if I can! Okay, Luis, calm down. Just get her to come back
to
Harmony, and we'll go from their. Maybe we can be just friends after
all.
If only you weren't so damn beautiful...'
Sheridan smiled, knowing what he was looking for. "Yeah, I guess
so.
Well, now that we have everything cleared up, I don't see any reason
why I
need to stay in Paris. Besides, Ethan is getting married in a few
weeks, and
I should be there to support him."
"So," Luis asked, trying not to sound overly excited, "does this
mean
you're coming back to Harmony after all?"
"Yes it does. I just need a day or two to get my things together."
"Then I'll see you in a few days. My flight leaves tomorrow, so I
need
to go ahead and go," Luis said moving towards the door.
"Wait, Luis," Sheridan said, grabbing her purse. "I'll drive
you."
"You don't have to.." he started to protest, but Sheridan cut him
short
with a smile.
"I insist. This is what friends do, after all."
To Be Continued...
TO: CHAPTER 3
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