~10~

Title: Crazy for You
Rating: PG, tops
Warnings: off-screen violence, some angst
Characters/Pairings: pre-Sheridan/Luis, original character, Sam, Pilar, Theresa, Miguel, minor character
Summary: prompt: secret. "I'm still not following here," Sheridan threw up her hands. "Could someone please just cut to the chase?"

Her cranky toddler daughter hanging heavily from her neck, Sheridan burst through the emergency room doors on a mission. "Where is he?"

Pilar and Theresa sprang from their seats to meet her, and someone, maybe Miguel, took Emma from her trembling arms.

"Oh, mi hija," Pilar cried, clenching Sheridan to her in a crushing hug. "You're here. Who told you?"

Sam had been the one to break the news, gently and with compassion, but hours too late (she wasn't family, wasn't even a professed friend) in a vigil that had already been long and on-going. When this whole ordeal was over, Sheridan knew she owed the man an apology, but she couldn't think of that now, not when her thoughts were solely focused on a man brought down in the spray of a madman's bullets. All while she was agonizing over how many children to invite to Emma's third birthday party in a matter of weeks. In hindsight, debating the merits of store-bought cupcakes with sprinkles over one of Grace's homemade cakes was a monumental waste of her time, especially when there were more important things to worry about, like living and dying and the serious stuff in-between. Sam appeared as a wall of support behind Pilar's back, and his blue eyes were not judging, were nothing but kind as he spoke, and for that, Sheridan was forever thankful.

"I told her, Pilar. I didn't want Luis to be in any more trouble than he already is, playing the hero again."

Theresa and Pilar, even Miguel, smiled at the implications of that statement. Only Sheridan didn't see the humor in it, her blue eyes darkening with worry.

Theresa pulled Sheridan down into a hard, plastic chair beside her, and Sheridan searched Pilar's troubled brown eyes for answers. "What happened? The Chief here," she nodded in Sam's direction, "wouldn't tell me anything except that Luis had been hurt."

Glancing at Sam, Pilar began a halting explanation. "There was a robbery. On the far side of town, just outside of Castleton, actually. Luis was already off-duty, but he was the closest one when they got the call, so he…he…" Floundering for words, she looked to Sam, and nodding, gave her permission for him to disclose the details only the authorities and Luis's family were privy to.

Sam took over where Pilar left off, a kind of quiet pride in his voice when he spoke of Luis's bravery. "Luis was the first responder on the scene. He was too late to save one of the victims, but he negotiated with the perpetrator to let the other injured party go so that she could receive medical treatment."

"What happened to her?" Miguel joined the conversation, Emma in his arms, her honey curls disheveled and wild as her head lolled heavily against his strong shoulder.

"She's being treated by doctors here at the hospital. Anything more than that, I'm not at liberty to say," Sam told them apologetically.

"What I don't understand is what he was doing all the way over in Castleton," Sheridan remarked with a troubled frown. "What?" she asked when she caught a glimpse of the looks passed between Pilar and her children and Sam.

"Do one of you want to tell her or should I?" Sam finally spoke up.

"I'm not ruining the surprise," Theresa replied, standing up and walking over to meet her brother. With a gentle, affectionate hand, she smoothed Emma's hair back from her face, only to reveal that the irritable little girl had fallen fast asleep and was none the wiser to the underlying turmoil each of the room's older inhabitants were trying so desperately to suppress.

"What surprise?" Sheridan glanced around at Luis's family in bewilderment. "Pilar?" she finally questioned. Pilar acknowledged her with what Sheridan thought was a strange statement, true but hardly having any correlation to the night's events. Or so she thought.

"Emma's birthday is soon."

"Less than three weeks," Sheridan nodded. "Forgive me, Pilar, but I don't understand where you're going with this."

Sam stepped in again, telling Sheridan a story that simultaneously made her heart melt and her anger build. "There's a man over in Castleton. Luis helped him out a time or two with some trouble he's had in the past, nothing serious, but important enough to this man that he felt like he owed Luis something."

Sheridan found herself nodding along as Sam continued to speak.

"This man, he breeds dogs."

Sheridan frowned again in confusion while Pilar and the rest of the waiting room's occupants kept quiet (Theresa with admittedly more difficulty than the rest).

"Dogs that he trains, and that we use for our K-9 unit."

"I'm still not following here," Sheridan threw up her hands. "Could someone please just cut to the chase?"

With her mother's implicit permission, Theresa left her brother's side and crouched down in front of Sheridan, offering her a soft smile. "The man repaid his debt to my brother by giving him one of the puppies from his latest litter for Emma, Sheridan. For her birthday."

Sheridan's blue eyes filled with horrified tears. "That's…that's the reason why?" She blinked against the stinging moisture when she felt Pilar's hand squeeze her own.

"Mi hija, my son, he worries," Pilar said with a fond smile. "About all of the people that he cares about," she stressed. "He worries about you and Emma all alone in that big old house, and he thought a dog would be good for you both, as a companion and a protector."

"A dog?" Sheridan repeated, dumbfounded. "He got my daughter a dog, when her mother, me, can't even keep a fish alive for longer than three months. And then proceeded to get himself shot because he just happened to be in the neighborhood, and he can't resist playing the part of the damned hero. If he makes it through this, I'm going to kill him myself," she ranted, raking her hands through her short blond hair. "Where is the dog now?"

Pilar remained her usual tight-lipped self, Theresa looked almost afraid to answer her, and Miguel obviously didn't know all of the details.

Sam, apparently, was the only one with those. "I've got Quinlan keeping an eye on her for the time being. I know Luis wanted to surprise Emma on her birthday, and Marty didn't mind helping out."

"This is unbelievable," Sheridan muttered, her anger suddenly flooding out of her body in a rush. "Just you wait until I get a hold of that man."

Her comment brought a smirk to Theresa's lips, and the young woman couldn't resist adding her two cents. "Maybe we should let Sheridan go in first, Mama, talk some sense into Luis for the rest of us."

Pilar surprised Sheridan by agreeing. "It would do your brother good."

They traded comments like that, back and forth, into the wee hours of the morning. Sam eventually left, taking Emma with him, promising Sheridan that Grace and his girls would take good care of her. Theresa finally fell asleep, slumped against her dozing brother. And Pilar, well, she never, not once, let go of Sheridan's hand. Not until a harried-looking young doctor in wrinkled scrubs appeared before them and told them the good news.

Luis had successfully made it through surgery and was expected to make a full recovery.

As his family left to visit him, grateful and relieved smiles on their faces, Sheridan sat there in that empty waiting room, the rising sun spilling through the windows, and contemplated the next biggest step in her life thus far, behind choosing to have and love Emma, but not that far behind: telling Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald that she was unequivocally, one-hundred percent, in love with him.

Who else wants to simultaneously slap and hug Luis?

LOL!

Thanks so much, Shaun, for your continued feedback (I love eeettt, hehe).

Can't wait to read your thoughts on this installment-and anyone else that is brave enough to reply, hehe.

Thanks so much for reading!

Until next time.