Title: Surrender
Rating: PG.
Warning: angst, allusions to character death, drive-by mention of nudity and past amorous actions.
Pairing/Characters: Sheridan/Luis, Sam, other characters.
Word Count: 414.
Summary (for chapter): prompt: odds and ends. Sheridan walked into the Harmony Police Department with the clothes on her back and a few odds and ends of a borrowed life.
"You don't have to go."
Sheridan lifted sore, reddened eyes to Luis's somber face. He meant it; she could tell. But she couldn't. Stay, that is. She'd already taken so much from him. She couldn't take this from him too: his resolve, his gesture of charity, his offer of absolution. "We both know I do."
Luis's expression was grim as he regarded her, resigned as he walked away, his heavy steps echoing in the quiet hall.
The closet looked empty with her colorful clothes already gone from it, the dresser drawers bare. The bathroom was neat, almost militarily so, without her perfume, her shampoo, the body wash he always used to smell like on those lazy early mornings where nothing was more important than him and her and just enjoying each other in the warm water sluicing over their naked skin.
Sheridan picked up her toothbrush, zipped it away in her small toiletries bag, cast her gaze around the darkened room, took a shaky breath. She stepped out into the hall, glanced at the two closed doors on either side of its end, felt grief and regret well up again.
Luis's shoulders were slumped, his head bowed, in the living room. He said nothing as she entered the room.
The overfull suitcases wobbled when Sheridan set them down. Her heels clicked a lonely rhythm out against the hardwood floor. The denim of his jeans felt rough against her palms as she slid them upward from his knees to curl around the fists clenched in his lap. Her voice was thin and hoarse and guilt-laden to her own ears as she forced out an apology. "I loved you, Luis. That part was never a lie."
Luis didn't look up as she placed the cool metal in his hand, didn't move to stop her as she walked out the door and out of his life.
Sheridan walked into the Harmony Police Department with the clothes on her back and a few odds and ends of a borrowed life. "I'm here to surrender myself," she announced, to a room full of Luis's shocked co-workers and friends.
"Sheridan," Sam softly pleaded. "You don't want to do this."
"Sam," Sheridan blinked back tears. "You know better than anyone that I have to do this." She outstretched her arms, offered Sam her wrists.
Sam sighed as he withdrew a set of cuffs, placed them on her gently. "Sheridan Crane Lopez-Fitzgerald, you are under arrest for the murder of Martin Fitzgerald."
So...even though I'm still three chapters ahead, I won't be able to post the next chapter of this story until this weekend due to RL butting in (work, as much I'm sometimes reluctant to drag myself out of my cozy, warm bed to go is a necessary evil, I'm afraid).
:(
Good news, though. I hope to have more chapters prewritten so that I can keep up the steady updates on this story, get it out of my system, and go back to some of my other WIPs.
In the meantime, feedback on the first few chapters? Would be lovely!
Thanks so much for reading!