An amazing story written by Liz.
Chapter 1
Sheridan and Luis were sitting in Pat’s living room. Pat was resting along side her new born baby boy, Luis Sheridan, and they were telling Joey and Lori a fairy tell before putting them back into bed.
"Tell her it will have a happy ending Luis—tell her that the Princess and the Knight fall in love and live happily ever after!" Joey demands.
"Joey… sometimes things just don’t turn out the way we want them to…" Luis looks over at Sheridan and sighs.
Sheridan holds the little girl in her arms tighter, "How would you like it if I finished the story for Luis? You see I think I know a little part that he is leaving out…" she starts to remember her earlier conversation with Pat; when Pat asked her if she was sure she had made the right decision about Luis, and she had said ‘no’.
Luis looked from the floor suddenly, "Oh really? Well I am interested in hearing this part…what about you Joey?"
"YES! And I know Lori wants to! She won’t go to bed unless she gets a happy ending!" He climbs up on the couch beside Sheridan and Lori; "Does the princess ever forgive the knight?"
"Well," Sheridan shifts Lori over to one knee so that she can look at Joey, and Luis, "She decides to talk things out with him, and she says that she would like to try and get past their misunderstanding, and forgive him for all that he has done."
"And does the knight say that everything’s OK? Does he tell her he loves her?" Joey looks back and forth from Luis and Sheridan.
Sheridan looks up into Luis’s eyes, searching them for some kind of answer.
"Yes… yes he does…" Luis says slowly.
"So See Lori? They do live happily ever after!" Joey takes his sister out of Sheridan’s arms, "Now, can we please go to bed?"
Sheridan laughs, glad to relieve some of the tension, then she helps tuck Joey and Lori in.
"Sheredon," Lori whispers, "Tell Luez that you really love him too, jus like the princess loved the knight… please?"
Luis is standing at the door way watching the little scene unfold, and he can’t help but smile as he sees Sheridan wipe the hair back off Lori’s face and kiss her forehead.
"Goodnight Lori," Sheridan says as she leaves the room.
Luis returns to the chair infront of the fireplace before Sheridan gets to notice that he was even gone. She goes in and sits down on the couch, not quite sure of what to say.
"So…" Luis starts off nervously, "About this Princess, does she really want to forgive the knight, even though he knows he didn’t do anything wrong."
Sheridan looked up at him, the fire glistening on his face made her heart melt, "She would like to try…" She said softly.
"What made her change her mind?"
"She decided that she could be missing out on her dream come true… that if she didn’t at least try and give things a shot with this knight that she may regret it for the rest of her life, and she knew she couldn’t bare to go on without him in her life…" She slowly looked down at the floor.
Luis felt his heart stop, she really wanted to give things a chance. He went over to the couch and sat down next to her, and lifter her chin with his forefinger so that their eyes met, "This knight… he doesn’t think that he can go on without the princess in his life either…"
Sheridan’s eyes welled up with tears as she looked into his. At that very moment, she knew that he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t use her, all she saw in his eyes was love… true, real love… love that was meant for her. She reached up and touched his face.
Her touch sent fiery waves throughout his body, he had ached for her for so long… and now he finally had her… he lowered his face to hers and kissed her with more passion than either of them could have ever known existed.
When they finally pulled out of their kiss, Luis reached up and wiped her tears away. Sheridan lay down on his chest as he lay back on the couch, and there they slept the rest of the night, together…
~end of flashback~
Sheridan rolled over in her bed. She was sick and tired of all the dreams she kept having about the past, it had been nearly a year now! Nearly a whole year, and she kept dreaming about it all, they weren’t dreams either… they were replays. Replay’s of both the happy, and the horrible times she had shared with Luis. All she wanted was for all the memories to just stop…
She rolled back over and closed her eyes once more…
~flashback~
"Sheridan!" Luis walked into the door of her cottage; Sam had just called him to the station.
"Luis… you’re back… did you find out what Sam needed?" Sheridan came in the living room and sat down on the couch.
"Yea… yea I did…" He said slowly, "They caught those drug lords Sheridan…"
"Oh…" She said sadly. They both knew what it meant, he was no longer her bodyguard. Sure, they had admitted their feelings for one another, months ago, but Luis had decided it best not to do anything more than an occasional kiss here and there, because he was afraid of being too distracted from his job to keep her safe… and she had agreed.
But now, this meant he wouldn’t be staying at her cottage anymore…there would be no more waking up to each other’s smiling faces, no more good night kisses… none of that.
"When will you have to leave?" Sheridan recluctanly asked, but she had to know… for the sake of her heart.
"Well, that’s up to you…"
"What do you mean?" She started to perk up a little; if it were up to her, he would never leave.
Luis walked closer to her and took her hands in his, "Sheridan, you know I love you right?"
"Yes…" She smiled at him, she could never look at him without being lost in his beautiful brown eyes.
"And I know you love me…"
"You better!" She said playfully.
"OK… so here’s the deal…" He was breathing heavily, he had gone from calm and serious, to a nervous wreck, "I don’t want to be away from you for one minute Sheridan, I don’t want to leave you… I have enjoyed living with you more than anything else in my life… I guess what I am trying to say is…" He bent down on one knee, an pulled a tiny box out of the back pocket of his jeans, "Will you marry me Sheridan Crane?"
Sheridan watched as he opened the box, and the most beautiful ring she had ever seen appeared before her eyes, "Oh Luis…" Tears were streaming down her face, "Of course I’ll marry you!"
Luis slipped the tiny ring on her finger then kissed it. Then he stood up and kissed her lips. She returned his kiss with a hunger he never knew she had. The both wanted each other, and they made sure the other knew it.
"It’s all right Luis…" Sheridan whispered between hungry kisses, "You’re not my body guard anymore… remember?"
That was all he needed, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, and there they made love for the first of many times…
~a few months later~
Sheridan sat nervously in the kitchen with Theresa, waiting for the right time to leave. She was dressed in a long and beautiful white gown, and Pilar was placing her vial.
"Are you ready to go ladies?" Pilar asked while handing them their bouquets, Theresa was Sheridan’s maid of honor.
"Yes!" The both exclaimed at the same moment, and they all three went to the car.
"What’s that?" Sheridan said as they arrived at the church, "Why are all of these police here?"
"Luis probably just wanted extra security for you today Sheridan," Theresa told her, and Pilar agreed.
They got out of the car and walked in the back of the church, where they saw a solemn looking Sam, who immediately called Pilar over to him.
"What is it Sam?" She asked with a shaky voice.
"Luis… he uh… Hank had a gun…"
Sheridan overheard everything and her mind flashed back to the night Hank left the hospital and wound up at her place with that gun, and how she didn’t tell Luis, "No…" she said out loud, "Oh God… no…"
"Sheridan… Pilar… I--- I am so sorry… the doctor’s did all that they could…"
"NO!…" Sheridan fell to the floor crying. Theresa immediately ran to her, wrapping her arms around her, and allowing her to weep on her chest, while crying herself.
"I didn’t even get a chance to tell him…why?" Sheridan cried.
"Tell him what Sheridan, what didn’t you tell him?" Pilar asked through her own tears.
"About our baby…"
~end of flashback~
Sheridan was awakened by the crying of the little baby in the bassinet next to her bed, "Shhh.. shh…" She got up and held the little baby girl to her chest, "Shhh.. Martina, Mommy’s got you now.. shhhh.." she waited for the little girl to fall back asleep before trying the impossible feat for herself once again.
Chapter 2
"Sheridan, here, let me take her, you get some rest." Pilar ran into Sheridan’s room and took the baby out of her arms; "You need to sleep." She said softly.
Sheridan smiled and sat down on the bed while she watched Pilar rock the tiny little girl back to sleep. She loved Pilar just like a mother. Pilar had taken her in after her father and brother kicked her out of the cottage when they found out she was pregnant with Luis’s child. Pilar and Theresa had been there for her every step of the way throughout her pregnancy. That’s why she had chosen to name the baby Martina, to give the Lopez-Fitzgeral family credit, she named her after Martin. She gave her their last name as well.
Pilar stood up and placed little Martina back in her basinet, then turned to Sheridan, "Please, get some rest Sheridan. You’re doing yourself no good like this." Pilar often worried about her. She never seemed to sleep, and when she did, it was only for short periods of time. If she wasn’t reliving the nightmares of her life with Luis, everywhere she looked, she was staring straight at a memory of him. He was always on her mind, and there was nothing anyone could do to help her.
"I’ll try Pilar…" Sheridan was tired of having this same conversation with Pilar everyday. She was tired of being totally and completely dependant on Pilar and her family. She was tired of all the memories, all the nightmares. She was just tired.
"I’ll take Martina down stairs with me, so you can rest without worrying about her. I don’t want you to come down till you rest, understand?"
"Yes Pilar." Sheridan smiled as she slipped back underneath the covers, "Thank you, for everything." She watched Pilar tote her daughter out of her room before laying her head down on the pillow and trying to sleep once again.
~flashback~
Sheridan walked into the cold funural home. She didn’t want to be here. Everything still seemed so unreal. Two days ago she was supposed to be getting married. Today she was supposed to be arriving in Spain for her honey moon, but instead she was at the funeral of her fiance.
She saw Pilar and Theresa standing near the casket and walked over to them. Pilar’s eyes were red, swollen, and bloodshot, much like her own.
"How is she doing Theresa?" She whispered.
"She’ll be fine, Momma’s a strong woman." Theresa gave her a hug, "How are you?"
Sheridan fought back the tears once again, all she had done for the past two days was cry. She just shook her head, she was afraid to speak, afraid of the lump that had gathered in her throat.
"Oh, Sheridan…" Pilar saw her standing there and threw her arms around her, "How are you holding up?" She held her hands, "How are you feeling?"
"I--- I am doing good, under the circumstances." She let a few tears fall down her face as she placed on hand on her stomach, "I had a doctors apointment yesterday."
"Oh?" Pilar wiped away her tears, "And what did they say?"
Sheridan started crying then, "I am going to have a baby girl." She wasn’t sure weather to smile or sob. This was her baby with Luis, only he wouldn’t be there to share in her joy. Their little girl would have to grow up without her father.
Pilar didn’t know how to reply. She was happy for Sheridan, but saddened at the same time. She would have to raise this baby on her own, without a father.
"You know, I will be here for you Sheridan, every step of the way." Pilar gave her a reassuring hug.
"Thank you Pilar. I needed to hear that." Sheridan smiled. Then she looked behind Pilar and noticed the casket. She sucked in a deep breath.
"Why don’t you go and say good-bye Sheridan." Pilar said sadly.
"I- I don’t think I can…" Sheridan stared helplessly at the casket, she wanted to go and look at him, but she was afraid. She was afraid of falling apart, afraid of getting too upset and loosing the baby, but mostly, afraid of letting him go, of going on without him.
"It’s the only way you’ll ever get closer, Sheridan, just go look." Pilar said sofly.
Sheridan shook her head slowly. She slowly walked over to the casket. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she looked over at Luis’s lifeless body. She reached into her pocket and pulled out what should have been his wedding band.
"Oh Luis… I think it’s only right for you to have this." She held it between her thumb and forefinger, "I didn’t ever get a chance to tell you about our baby." She had tears streaming down her face, "So I had to find a way to make sure that you knew…" She slipped the ring on his finger and turned it so that the word she had engraved on it would face up for everyone to see, it read "Daddy".
She reached up and touched his face. She shivered, he felt so cold. His face didn’t feel real, more like a cold, damp, rubber mask. She couldn’t believe he was gone. She didn’t want to, it seemed almost impossible. She slowly bent down and placed one last kiss on his cold, soft lips, "Good-bye my love…"
~end of flashback~
Sheridan sat up in bed sweating with tears on her cheeks, and breathing heavily. She wanted so badly to stop remembering. She had to get away from Harmony, she had to leave all these memories behind.
~mean while, in a hotel in Spain~
"Julian!" Alastair screamed across the room at his son.
"What is it father?" Julian walked in toting a glass of brandy.
"Where are those two idiots! What are they doing?"
"Don’t worry father, they are both asleep, they are fine. When they wake up, neither of them will know anything. They won’t even recognize us!" Julian laughed.
"Will they know each other?"
"Yes, but the won’t know anything of their real past. They will think they have been in Spain for their whole lives. They will know nothing of their family. They will think that they work for us." Julian couldn’t stop laughing. He loved the thought of the tourture he was causing.
"Good… good…" Alastair took the drink out of Julian’s hands and finished it up himself, "Now just imagine the look on everyone’s faces when the Lopez-Fitgerald men come back to Hamony, and don’t even know who they love!" The Crane men burst out with laughter.
Chapter 3
Sheridan walked downstairs. She smelled bacon cooking, “Mmm.. Pilar, that smells delicious.” She smiled.
“Thank you Sheridan, I hope you’re hungry, I cooked plenty for everyone.” Pilar began setting the table.
“Pilar---I’ve been thinking…” Sheridan started off nervously. She knew what she wanted to say, but she didn’t know how Pilar would react.
“Yes…”
“How would you like to come to Spain with me?” There, she’d said it. Now she was praying Pilar would say yes.
“WH—what? Spain? Where did this come from Sheridan?” Pilar sat down at the table and placed two cups of coffee down.
“Well, I feel like I need to get away. It’s just that no matter where I turn, I feel like I am staring straight at Luis.” She let her eyes well up with tears; “I just need to get away from it all for a little while… you understand don’t you Pilar?”
Pilar smiled softly and reached out and touched her hand with hers, “Yes Sheridan, I understand. Remember, I went through this once also… only I had five children to care for.”
“So are you saying you will come with me? Just me, you, and Martina, in Spain?”
“Yes, I will come with you Sheridan.”
She jumped up and hugged Pilar, “Oh thank you so much! I want to get started packing right now! Will tonight be too soon to leave? If we leave tonight, we can sleep on the plane, and be there by morning!”
Pilar laughed, it had been so long since she had seen Sheridan this happy, “Whenever you are ready…”
Sheridan gave Pilar one last squeeze before running back upstairs to pack.
~meanwhile in Spain~
Julian walked into his father’s study, followed by two tall, dark, muscular men. Julian pointed to a near by couch, and the two men sat down without saying a word.
“Father, the guests have arrived.”
“Very good Julian.” Alistair walked closer to the three men, “Mr. Lopez-Fitzgerald and son, how are you? I am your boss Alistair Crane, and this is my son Julian. I heard you both were in a terrible accident and can’t remember much about yourselves?”
“Yes sir. We know we came from Harmony, USA, and I grew up here, in Spain, but everything else is a blur.” Martin spoke up first.
“Well, you are correct. In Harmony, you both worked for me, on my estate. You both built and maintained my gardens, and other small jobs like that.” Alistair had started with his lies, and was doing a good job at it.
“And what of my mother? Surely I had a mother.” Luis finally spoke.
“Yes… yes you did have a mother… and a fine one at that…” Alistair was already beginning to have regrets, Luis was too smart for his own good, brainwashed or not, he was too smart. “I am sorry to say that you’re mother died, years ago. She became very ill one night, and by the next morning was gone. The doctors did everything they could to save her, they still are puzzled by what caused her illness.”
Luis had a sick feeling in his stomach about all of this. He did believe this man, for the most part. He knew there had to have been some sort of accident, or else he wouldn’t have all the bandages that he did. The thing that didn’t make any sense to him was how, and why he was in Spain. If they worked on Mr. Crane’s estate in Harmony, then why had he brought them all the way to Spain?
“Was my son married, or even in love?” Martin spoke again. He completely trusted the Cranes. He had to, there was no one else, and no other explanation for anything. They seemed to be telling the truth.
“No… he had met one girl in high school, but she left him for his best friend, and ever since he had completely given up on women. He was totally devoted to his work, nothing more.” Alistair didn’t even mention Sheridan. If anything could make Luis’s memory return, it would be her, and he wasn’t about to test it.
“If it’s all right with you fine men, than you can just continue your jobs here, until we return to Harmony, then you’ll both come back with us. Right father?” Julian said, he was proud he finally put his two cents in.
“Right Julian. That is, if it’s all right with these two?” He looked at Luis and Martin.
“That’s fine with me.” Martin quickly agreed.
Luis still wasn’t sure, he didn’t want to agree to this so quickly, and something just didn’t feel right to him.
“Mijo?” Martin asked again.
“Yes Papa, that’s fine…” He reluctantly agreed.
~about 16 hours later, in Spain~
Pilar walked into their hotel room and sat down their bags. Sheridan slowly came in behind her.
“I can’t believe how beautiful it is this time of year.” She was toting a sleeping baby Martina in her arms.
“Why don’t you go out and take a walk alone? I am tired, and the baby’s asleep, so you can just leave us here for a few hours. Go out and enjoy yourself.” Pilar suggested.
“Really? Oh, thank you so much Pilar.” She handed her the baby, “I won’t be out long, I promise.”
“Go!” She ordered, and practically pushed her out the door. She was tired of watching Sheridan suffer, she needed to get out and just walk in the fresh air for a while.
~~~~~
Luis walked around inside Alistair’s office. He looked out the window. It was the most beautiful view of the ocean. He turned around and looked on Alistair’s desk. There he saw a picture of Alistair’s family. Julian was there, alongside two beautiful blondes, and another young man.
“Why does she look so familiar to me?” He asked himself while running his finger over the younger blond with the short hair.
“Ah, so you’ve seen my family?” Julian said while walking into his father’s office.
“Yes… which one of these lovely ladies is your wife?” Luis asked while flashing him the picture.
“Her,” He said while pointing to Ivy, “And please, don’t remind me. Her and what I thought was our son!” He took a sip of brandy.
“And the other woman? Is she your son’s wife?”
Julian burst out laughing, “Sheridan? Ha, no… She’s my sister. And second of all, he’s not my son. My wife had an affair on our wedding night, and he’s what came out of it. Only I didn’t find out until his wedding day, which we never maid it through because he declared his undying love for our house keeper’s daughter.” Julian was careful not to let Luis know that he was talking about his sister. He took another giant swig of his brandy.
“Well,” Luis sat the picture down, he still felt like he knew this Sheridan woman from some where, “Have I ever met her, Sheridan?”
“Y---no… I don’t believe you have… why?” Julian went to pour himself another drink.
“She just looks familiar to me, that’s all.” Luis turned back out to the window, “Hey, do you mind if I go for run on beach?”
“No… I don’t mind, go on…” Julian was glad to get him out of that office.
~~~~~
Sheridan was walking along the beach. For the first time in her life since Luis had gone, she smiled. She was actually enjoying herself. She just wished that Luis were there with her. She stopped for a moment to pull of her shoes and walk barefoot in the edge of the water.
Just as she bent down to unfasten her shoe someone ran into her and knocked her down into the sand, “Hey!”
“Oh, I’m sorry miss. Let me help you up.” He extended his hand down to help her to her feet.
Sheridan looked up at the man, and her breath caught in her throat, “No… it can’t be… can it? Luis?…”
Chapter 4
Sheridan couldn’t believe what she was looking at; “It can’t really be him? Can it? He’s dead, isn’t he? I saw his body in the casket… how can it be him. Luis?” she asked herself.
“Here miss,” Luis bent down and helped her to her feet, “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to knock you down.”
“I- I’ll be fine.” She stood up and rubbed her head, constantly looking at the man standing next to her.
Luis laughed, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost… are you sure you’re OK?”
“Yes, I’m fine, thank you.” She stared at him again, not sure of why to do or say next.
Luis looked at her. She was a very pretty woman he couldn’t deny that. He felt like he knew her from somewhere, he just couldn’t put his finger on it, “Have we met before?”
“I, well… I don’t know…” She answered honestly. He just looked so much like Luis, “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but, what is your name?”
“Luis… Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald.”
“No… no… you can’t be… no…” Sheridan suddenly felt very dizzy. Everything was clouding in around her. She couldn’t be standing right infront of Luis, it was impossible. He was dead! She had seen his body, touched it, and now, here he was walking and talking, right infront of her! It was too much for her, she felt faint, and passed out.
Luis caught her just before she hit the ground, “Lady, please, are you all right? Come on, wake up!” He sat her down next to a rock and went to the ocean to get water for her face.
When Sheridan felt the cool water hit her face, she felt like she was waking from a dream. More like a horrible nightmare. Part of her knew what she saw was real, but the other part denied it ever happening. She slowly opened her eyes. There he was. Luis.
“Ma’am, are you feeling all right?” Luis asked with pure concern.
“I… I don’t know…” She slowly stood up again, “I, uh, I have to go…” She started running, back into the hotel. She had to get away; it hurt too much to look at that man. She didn’t know who he was, but he couldn’t have really been Luis, could he?
Luis stood there on the beach a moment, terribly confused about what had just happened. He didn’t understand why she had fainted after he told her his name. It didn’t make any sense. He also didn’t understand why he felt like he knew her. He had to find her again. Luckily, the hotel that she ran into was the same one that he and his father were staying at for the time being.
~~~~~
Sheridan ran into her hotel room, right past Pilar, and flopped down on the bed, sobbing.
“Sheridan, what’s wrong?” Pilar had just laid Martina down for a nap and walked in to comfort Sheridan.
“Luis…” She whispered through her tears.
“Luis? What do you mean?” Pilar questioned.
Sheridan slowly sat up on the bed, “I saw him.” She sobbed.
“Sheridan, that’s not possible,” Pilar wrapped her arms around her, “You know he’s gone…”
“I know… but I saw him! He was running on the beach, and he knocked me down. I didn’t realize it was him until he helped me up. Then he told me his name, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald. It was him!” Sheridan stopped to breathe, “Pilar, he didn’t even know my name! He didn’t recognize me at all! How is this possible? How can Luis be here, how can he be alive?”
Pilar had tears in her eyes; she didn’t know what to say. She just let Sheridan cry on her shoulders, “I don’t know, I don’t know…”
~~~~~
Luis went back to Alistair Crane’s office to tell him he was off for the rest of the day.
“Luis,” His father met him at the doorway, “Mr. Crane isn’t here right now.”
“Oh, well I was just going to tell him I am going back to the hotel for the rest of the day.” He didn’t want to say why, they would all laugh in his face if he told them that woman was getting to him.
“Well, just leave him a note on his desk.”
“OK. I’ll see you later Papa.”
Luis walked into Alistair’s office, and went to his desk. He finished writing the note and laid it down infront of the Crane family photo. He raised his eyes to the picture. “That’s her!” He said outloud to himself. “I just caused Sheridan Crane to pass out? Why?” He ran out of the office. He had to go and find her. He was told they had never met before, but part of him didn’t believe it. He needed to talk to her, to see why she had acted so strangely around him, why she passed out, and why he felt this connection to her that he couldn’t begin to explain.
To Be Continued...