disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever in any way owned the X-Men. If I did, I would be rich and have lots more time to write about them. This is a work of fiction based on the X-Men comic book owned by Marvel Comics Group and I expect to recieve absolutely no monetary compensation for it. Dammit.


Farewell Sunshine
by Dizi

Chapter 2

My day wasn't going well. It was no consolation whatsoever that Sunshine's was worse and would never get better. Yet it was the spur that drove me.

The first thing we heard upon entering the station was grumbled warnings from fellow detectives that Captain DeCarlo was on the phone with the Mayor. So his day wasn't going well either. It was never good to get a call from the Chief of Police or the Mayor. Usually, it meant someone had done something wrong. If not wrong, then not completely right. Either way was bad for us all.

I was wondering who was in trouble, never once thinking it might be me. Yeah, I admit to going my own way, but I hadn't done anything worth a call from the Mayor. Or so I thought.

The phone was to my ear and I was pressing the buttons to request my warrant, when I heard the Captain call out, "Sanchez! Frickman! In my office!"

After being given a rousing lecture on the right and wrong way to treat fine upstanding citizens of our town, I was informed to not bother asking for a warrant. I was further informed there would be no more contact with the Xavier school without clear evidence it was complicit in the case. From the Mayor to my Captain to me, my case was dead in the water. There would be no logbook, no interviews, no searching for any evidence because Xavier's was my only lead. I shouldn't have been suprised. I was, but I really shouldn't have been.

Xavier and Frost had made me angry before but this brought it to a new level. They must have been on the phone with the Mayor before we left the building. If things had been the other way around with any bum on the street accusing the mutants of even jaywalking, the two of them would have been ignored. Instead it was a mutant girl needing justice and everyone just seemed to love the "Mutants take care of their own" philosophy. Unless they were the bad guys, then we were right there.

There was also the "money talks louder than words" thing. I would bet a year's pay the Mayor had recieved a donation to his re-election campaign fund for a larger amount than that to get me out of Xavier's hair. Like he even has any hair. Why would I possibly think such a thing of my duly elected Mayor? Easy, any other time Xavier and Frost would be called muties who had more than they should instead of 'fine upstanding citizens'. My captain never even talks like that.

"So that's it? We're done?" Frickman asks me when we're back at our desks.

"What do you think?" The stupid dipshit thinks I'm giving up? Well, maybe not so stupid but still a dipshit.

"I think I'll work on the Streissler case and leave you alone for awhile." See? Not so stupid anymore, I've taught him well. Frickman was a lot worse before I got my hands on him.

But he has a point. What could we do? They'd tied my hands. Or so they thought.

First, I could contact the court house and verify through records Frost was telling the truth about being Sunshine's guardian. She was.

Second, I could go to an arcade I know of where the 'mutie students' are welcome to spend their money and question them there, casually. But I don't like that one and decide to skip it for now. The way my day has gone, they would tell a teacher, who would tell Xavier, who would call the Mayor, who would call my captain, and I wouldn't have that avenue any more.

My third option was to talk directly to a 'teacher' away from the campus. It was already in motion by way of Mrs. Logan to a certain Mr. James Logan. Actually his name's just Logan and he got papers from somewhere adding the 'James' part when he decided to get married, but as a cop I don't know about that. However, as a woman who frequents Harry's Bar, I know that and a whole lot more. I've known the Wolverine for years. We were a little close some time ago, but it was a passing thing and now we're friends. I even bought him a beer to celebrate his wedding. Not sure if his wife knows just how close we once were, but neither of us is the kind to kiss and tell, and I'm happy he's happy. Besides which, even if I don't know her that well, I like Jubilation Logan.

But option three won't happen until after my shift is over and it's barely midmorning now. In the meantime I have other cases to work on. What? You think we only get one at a time? I wish. Really, I do. If only the world were that good a place and it was that easy.

Most of what I have are either almost done or domestic problems. Don't get me wrong, they are as important to me as Sunshine, but they're essentially done or I've gone as far as the victim will let me. On one the wife decided at the last minute to drop the charges against her husband, another woman is in a protected women's shelter scared stiff and starting her wait for trial, and the others I just have to type up the reports. Done or as far as I can go, except for the paperwork.

However, they are time consuming mindless tasks to finish and I need to zone out to get my temper under control. Despite what I said about how I should treat her, Sunshine is different from most of my cases. She's a victim who can't speak for herself and demand we do the right thing for her. I have to do it for her and I intend to.

Before I know it, it's time to leave and 'get my money' from Logan. As though the day didn't drag by and I wasn't watching for the clock to strike five. Off I go home to shower, change clothes, and brush my long midnight hair for ten minutes to relax, which doesn't help much but is habit. Then I'm off and running again, this time to Harry's.

Strolling in, I wave to Jenny Wagner and sit at the bar to wait. Logan's not here yet and that would be because I'm earlier than he would expect. Most nights I'd be working late on a case. How would he know I need him for the case I'm working on? Sunshine's case.

Maybe it's my 'hot Latino blood' but just thinking her name brings back some of my anger. So much so that I down the beer Harry had sat in front of me too fast. Not too fast to handle, just too fast to keep drinking for long or Jenny and Harry will cut me off. The cop in me appreciates they would but the bitch in me doesn't. If push comes to shove, Logan will make sure I get home alright; however, if I get drunk I might forget to ask him all that I need to. I can't allow that to happen. Sunshine needs me.

Hell, even in my own mind I'm sounding obsessed! Probably it's because since I first saw her Phil Goski and I are the only ones who give a damn about Sunshine at all. That can't be right. I had needed those interviews to tell me otherwise and they were denied to me. Someone has to care for the victim. Right now, I'm it.

While I'm reconciling my feelings, I wasn't paying attention and Logan startles me by slapping a fifty dollar bill on the bar as he sits beside me. "Just ta make it look right. Ever'body knows I always pay up an' don't owe nobody, especially a pretty lady cop. Wanna tell me what's goin' on?"

That's Logan, straight to the point. Rather than explain yet, I counter with a question of my own. "You notice anything out of the ordinary up at the school lately?"

"Hell, it's a school fer mutants, describe 'ordinary'." He apparently doesn't like my question though because he goes on to say, "Don't tell me you've joined the bandwagon blamin' ever'thing on us, that'd really disappoint me, Essie."

"Shhhhh! Keep your voice down saying that!" Looking around I make sure no one was close enough to have heard him calling me anything but 'Sanchez'. As a woman police officer, I try real hard to hide my femininity while working. I'm also a little embarrassed by my full name and he knows that. It's just his way of needling me because I irritated him. How does he know when no one else does? Well, I said we'd been close and only people allowed certain sexual privileges get close enough to learn it. "And you know I wouldn't do that."

"Just wanted ta be sure 'cause I know yer under pressure ta join up an' thats the first thing the other kind asks." Nonchallantly, he grabs the beer Harry just put in front of him along with a whiskey chaser, and I know he's laughing at me. Logan would have known if anyone was close enough to hear him. "But I ain't seen nothin'. Why?"

"Because you've been missing a student since between sometime late in the night to early morning at best guess." Oh yeah, that got his attention.

Setting his beer down carefully, his eyes narrow. "Who?"

It's not really a secret and I want answers, so I say, "Marian Jessup, Sunshine."

"Goddamn," he says so quietly I barely hear him. Logan doesn't need to know what's happened to her to know it's bad, the tone I used was enough. Then like he can't help himself, he says louder, "Damn."

There was a comforting reaction. Logan's as upset as I had expected Xavier to have been. I feel better about my impulsive decision to arrange the meet with him. Yeah, it became necessary later, but originally it had been impulse. Now I'll get some of what I need. "You know her?"

"Not too much, just saw her in passin'. I work with the more advanced groups an' she don't got no powers an' she ain't a fighter." He downs the whiskey and signals Harry for another round. "Jubes though, she knows her some, likes her. Knew my wife was tore up 'bout somethin' but all she'd say was the cops had been round an' I needed to get here an' talk ta one of 'em."

"Oh, I was there alright. Got zip from Xavier and Frost, but I was there." Bitter much? Me? Nah! But here was some of the information I needed given freely. What a change for the better.

His expression blank, no one but me would know he took in what I said. Like me he compartmentalizes what goes on around him and he hears EVERYTHING. "Can ya tell me what happened ta her?"

Why can't I have a partner as smart as him? Logan isn't asking what happened or demanding answers, he's asking if I could tell him. He wants to know or wouldn't have asked, but he doesn't assume I'll do it. Because it's Logan and I already told Frost and Xavier, who I wish I hadn't so forthcoming with, I do. "After being raped and having her head smashed in, Sunshine was thrown in the river. She was found at Jenkins National Park. Dr. Goski's calling her condition a vegetative coma and I get the impression he expects her to die at any time."

Now he knows as much as I do. Unlike Frickman, I don't have to explain what that means. Logan understands everything I say right away. He doesn't have to be told the perp is most likely at the school and he heard me say I didn't get any cooperation. Because of all this, he makes his next words a statement instead of a question. "Ya told 'em ya suspect it's one o' ours."

"Not exactly. I made it clear it's possible and let it be known I wanted to look into any visitors, and they understood I wanted to question her acquaintances. It's normal and has nothing to do with mutants, that's the way to investigate a crime like this. You know that, Logan." Because I can hear the frustration in my own voice, I take a drink of my beer. It's been sitting there since before he arrived so is warm, but I don't care.

"It woulda put their backs up anyhow. They'll wanna handle it themselves. Didn't even talk ta me, so they're keepin' it real close." Logan shakes his head. "Chuckles an' Frosty don't know shit about stuff like this, what're they thinkin'?"

"You said it, they want to take care of it by themselves. So far they're going to because it doesn't matter if I'm on the case or not when they've talked to the Mayor and fixed it so I can't investigate squat." There's that bitterness again. Gotta work on that. "There's more."

"Shit, Sanchez, how much worse can it get? Got us a violent rapist in our midst an' it gets worse?" He's saying what I was thinking the whole time I was talking to Xavier.

"Sunshine's in a bad way, Logan." Xavier should know this by now. With the way he and Frost acted, I'm not sure he really cared. But there's things he might not have taken into account and Logan will completely understand. "Her doctor's sure she won't last long. If or when Sunshine dies, it won't be my case in any more, it'll go to Homicide. There's a good chance Peterman or someone just like him will get it then. They'll get the search warrant they want but there won't be anything for them to find."

"An' the school'll get torn apart while they're lookin' any way." His lip curls as he's heard all about Peterman. Logan was a good listener during that time.

"Do you really think they'll be too worried about a dead mutant girl? Once they get inside they'll look for absolutely anything to bring the place down." I've said some of the major ramifications but not the one I was concerned about. Meeting his eyes, I finish with, "And Sunshine's attacker won't get caught. He'll slide by and there will be no justice for anyone. Worse he'll be free to do it again."

Neither of us like the idea. I'll be honest and say I know of more than a couple cases which officially are unsolved but not really. Logan took care of them. Jenny Wagner was once Jenny Green and the men who committed the atrocities on her are still being looked for but will never be found. A child molester I was investigating but couldn't get any evidence on disappeared and I'm sure he won't be found in one piece, if at all. Logan takes things into his own hands. The cop in me doesn't know about any of these incidents, of course. The woman in me is grateful. Hell, so is the cop but that part can't say so.

"Jubes ain't the only one who liked the kid. I'll get a bunch of 'em together an' we'll talk ta Chuck, Frost won't listen. With a little time..."

He trails off and I feel the need to remind him, "We don't know how much time we have."

"Then I best get started tonight." Downing his drink quickly, Logan stood to leave. "Ya should expect ta hear somethin' tomorraw."

Considering the look on his face, I have no doubt he'll get some results. It's enough to almost make me feel sorry for Xavier. Almost, not quite.

to be continued.


note: No guesses yet as to where Sunshine and Sanchez are from? I'll give you a hint: they're in the same story.

I've noticed some concerns as to Charles motivation for his actions. I'll just say that it will be explained as the story progresses. You do want to remember he's being seen from Sanchez's point of view and may act differently with the mansion's residents than he would with her.

I would also like to thank everyone for the positive response to Sanchez. I like her a whole lot and am glad you like her too.

Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi