"Luis?" Sheridan gasped. "What is all of this?" Sheridan's smile grew larger and larger as she glanced around the apartment.
"I asked Mama to send these pictures over with the rest of our things." Luis rested his forehead against hers. "I just wanted to remind you of all the people who love you."
Sheridan smiled up at him and took her hand in his, tugging him gently behind her as she started toward the first set of photos. She and Ethan touring Paris. She, Luis, and the entire Lopez-Fitzgerald family, laughing at Harmony's annual Memorial Day celebration. She and Gwen smiling at the camera—their arms wrapped around each other's waists.
"Luis, I don't know what to say," Sheridan said. "I . . . I don't know that I deserve all of this . . ." Sheridan glanced back toward the bedroom, her eyes lighting up as she caught sight of the framed picture sitting beside the bed. "Oh, Luis, look at this one!"
Luis grinned as Sheridan dashed into the bedroom, picked up the framed photo, and hugged it to her chest. "When on earth did you find time to get this one to your mother?"
"I didn't," Luis whispered, smiling down at their wedding picture. "Hank must have done this one all on his own when he set up the apartment for us."
"Sometimes I can't believe that I ever got so lucky."
"You're an amazing woman, Sher. I mean, just look at what you did today." Luis stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "For you to donate your blood to Julian, of all people . . . Sheridan, your capacity to forgive is greater than that of anyone else I've ever met."
Sheridan bit down on her lip. "He's my brother, Luis. No matter what he's done to me in the past, I couldn't let him die."
Luis took her hands in his and sat her down on the bed. "That's exactly what I mean, Sheridan."
A tear slipped from Sheridan's eyes. "Thank goodness I have you, Luis."
Luis smiled and brushed her chin with his thumb. "More importantly, you have you. You've got to realize your self-worth, Sheridan."
Sheridan averted her eyes to the floor. "Luis, what if Eve was right? What if Julian really did everything he did because he was trying to protect me, to save me from Father's wrath?"
"I know you want to believe that, Sheridan," Luis said. "Hell, I want to believe it, too. But Julian, he's never given you any reason to believe he wants to be a real brother to you. "
"Until yesterday that is. . ." Sheridan looked up at her husband, her eyes filled with pain.
"I wish I could make this all better for you, Sheridan," Luis said. "I wish I could wipe away every horrible thing your family has ever done to you."
"I know you do, Luis." Tears welled in Sheridan's eyes.
"Hey, hey, it's okay . . ." Luis rubbed her arms and tilted her face back up to face his. "You have a real family now, remember? Me, Mama, Theresa, Miguel . . ." Luis smiled. "In fact, if it weren't for Miguel helping me drum up the courage to ask you out to dinner after you and I did that tango at the youth center, we wouldn't be sitting here right now."
Sheridan smiled softly and squeezed Luis's hand. "You never told me that."
Luis chuckled softly. "Yeah, well, even big bad cops like me get scared sometimes." Luis smiled at her, his eyes twinkling. "Especially when there's a beautiful woman on the line."
Sheridan smiled weakly at him. "If it makes you feel better, I'm pretty sure Charity was working on me at the same time Miguel was harassing you." Sheridan blushed, her eyes falling to the floor. "She even told me that she thought I loved you—and that she sensed that you loved me, too."
Luis laughed and shook his head. "Well, Miguel wasn't quite that blatant, but he did tell me he thought I was crazy if I didn't act on my feelings for you."
Sheridan chuckled. "I guess everyone else saw it before we did."
"Yeah," Luis smiled, raising her chin and locking his eyes on hers. "But I definitely think we both see it now."
"Are you sure that wasn't a mistake, Luis?" Sheridan asked. "Are you sure you won't wake up one day and regret marrying me?"
Luis furrowed his brow. "Why would you ever think that, Sheridan?"
"I . . . I don't know," Sheridan stammered. "It's just a feeling I have. That one day you're going to wake up and realize that I'm not what you want after all. That you're going to feel like being with me isn't worth all the baggage it comes with—that you're going to realize that my father is right not to love me."
"Sheridan, please don't think things like that," Luis pleaded with her.
"I can't help it, Luis," Sheridan cried quietly. "It's the way I've been conditioned to think."
"I know, Sher." Luis rubbed her back. "I just wish I could change that for you."
Sheridan looked up at Luis, her eyes welling with tears. "I don't think it's ever going to change for me, Luis."
"I must have hit my head harder than I thought." Gwen squinted as she opened her eyes, bracing herself against the bright lights. Was that really Hank Bennett sitting there next to her bed?
"From what I've heard, you're lucky you didn't hit it harder." Hank glanced over at her heart monitor and then smiled back at her. "It's good to have you back with the living, Gwen."
"Thanks." Gwen frowned and rubbed her forehead. "But why are you here?"
"Sam told me you'd been in an accident. I just wanted to come down and check up on you." Hank folded his hands in front of his face and smirked. "Just consider it part of my best man duties: to make sure the maid of honor gets home all right."
Gwen raised her eyebrows. "Hank, the wedding was over last night."
"I know." Hank got up and poured Gwen a cup of water. "But you can't blame me for wanting to make sure you were okay." Hank handed Gwen the cup. "That's how it works on this side of the tracks. You're friends with Luis and Sheridan, so I've got your back."
"Sheridan?" Gwen's breath caught in her throat. "How is she, Hank?"
"Pretty well, considering . . ." Hank shook his head. "I can't even imagine finding out that your own father has a hit out on you." Hank's eyes rose up to meet Gwen's. "She was pretty upset about your accident, too. It was all Luis and I could do to convince her to go home and get some rest."
"You two are good friends to her." Gwen smiled sadly.
"So are you." Hank sat down again and scooted his seat right up next to Gwen. "Not many people I know could stand there and watch their best friend marry a man whose sister stole their fiancé."
Gwen hung her head. "Thanks for saying that. Not many people have acknowledged it."
Hank leaned forward and squeezed Gwen's hand.
"I mean, don't get me wrong—Sheridan deserves the best," Gwen insisted. "And I'm truly happy that Luis makes her so happy. It's . . . it's just that . . ."
"You wish Luis wasn't Theresa's brother?"
Gwen looked up. "I'm sure Luis wouldn't be thrilled to hear you talking about his sister like this."
Hank shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, well, I call it like it is. I mean, don't get me wrong—I don't really know anything about what went down between Ethan and Theresa—but I definitely don't believe she's the doe-eyed innocent that Luis thinks she is."
Despite herself, Gwen couldn't help but smile. "Thank you for seeing it like it is—not many people do."
"Yeah, well, you and I live in the real world, right?" Hank leaned back in his chair.
Gwen's smile fell. "The real world? Right."
"Gwen, what's wrong?" Hank sat up again.
"Nothing . . ." Gwen cupped her hands over her mouth. "Sometimes, I just can't believe what my life has become. I mean, a few months ago, I was all set to marry Ethan, and now . . ."
"Now, what?"
Gwen closed her eyes and breathed in, fighting back the tears she knew were close to coming.
"Gwen . . ." Hank traced circles on her back.
"Oh, Hank, I've done a horrible, horrible thing!" Gwen burst out.
"What are you talking about, Gwen?" Hank's fingers paused. "Is that what you were trying to tell Sheridan before?"
"Oh, God, Sheridan?" Gwen looked up. "Hank, what did I say to Sheridan?"
"Nothing much." Hank fixed his eyes on hers. "Just that you were sorry—that you had to make something right." Hank glanced down at the floor and then back up at Gwen. "Sheridan said you seemed pretty delirious, Gwen."
Gwen's eyes flew to the door. "I have to get out of here, Hank. I have to go talk to her right now."
Hank glanced at his watch. "Gwen, it's a quarter after ten. Chances are they're not springing you from this place until morning."
Gwen bit down on her lip, her eyes swimming with unshed tears.
"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay," Hank said, pulling her into a hug. "I promise you, come morning, everything's going to be all right."
"I hope you're right, Hank," Gwen whispered, tucking her chin into the nook of his shoulder. "I just hope that you're right."
"Sheridan, please don't think like this," Luis begged. "I could never regret marrying you."
Sheridan slipped out Luis's arms and rose up from the bed. "I'm such an emotional mess, Luis. You've spent your entire life taking care of everyone else. You don't need to add another person to that list."
Luis stood up behind her and turned her around to face him. "I spend my life taking care of the people I love, Sheridan. And you're at the top of that list." Luis tilted her chin up, searching her eyes with his. "Besides, you take care of me, too, Sheridan—just by being you."
"Right." Sheridan rolled her eyes. "Come on, Luis. Even I know how much I can be to take sometimes. I know how old it must get to have to constantly save and reassure me."
"Sheridan, don't you realize that you've saved me, too?" Luis took her hands in his own. "And I'm not just talking about that night down at the dock with Les."
Sheridan blinked back tears. "You're not?"
"No, Sheridan. Not at all." Luis squeezed her fingers. "Before I met you, I was just surviving—not living."
Sheridan's voice dropped to a whisper. "I love you so much, Luis."
"I know," Luis said softly. "But, Sheridan, you were right all those months ago when you called me a macho control freak. When Papa left, it caught me totally out of the blue. I know people say I've always been hard on Theresa, but, if I'm being honest with myself, I know it was because, deep down, I was afraid of losing her, too."
"Luis, I'm sure Theresa knows that."
"I know, but it doesn't make it okay," Luis said. "When you crashed into my life, it was like someone had finally turned on the lights. Like I had been seeing the world in shades of gray and only suddenly realized that there were all these different colors. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fight my feelings for you, couldn't stop you from walking away."
"I'm sorry, Luis," Sheridan cried softly. "I was just so afraid of my feelings for you—terrified that I was starting to fall in love with yet another man who only wanted to use me."
"Shh, shh . . . it's okay." Luis massaged her shoulders. "I understand why you felt that way. And, that night in the cottage—the night we finally got back together—I suddenly felt like I had to take a risk. That risking you rejecting me was infinitely better than not knowing if we could make our relationship work. That even if you walked away and never looked back, that I would never regret loving you."
"You let me go . . ." Sheridan whispered.
"I did." Luis's eyes glistened at hers. "But you came right back, Sheridan. You showed me that it's okay to take risks with my heart sometimes—that maybe letting go of having control over my life could actually make me happier than I ever thought possible."
Sheridan sniffled and smiled at her husband. "Luis, have you ever told Theresa any of this?"
"No," Luis admitted, his lips inching up in grin. "But I probably should, right?"
Sheridan smiled gently and brushed the pad of her thumb over his cheek.
"She's my kid sister, Sher. I just wanted to protect her, just like I want to protect you." Luis's eyes fell to the floor. "What kills me the most is that I was so hard on her about Ethan, while all the time, she was the biggest cheerleader of me and you."
Sheridan gathered Luis up in her arms and pulled him tightly against her chest. "Luis, Theresa knows you love her. Just as I do."
"Yeah, but I think it's about time I formally apologized to her, don't you?"
Sheridan leaned back and looked into his eyes. "I'm sure she's already knows. I mean, don't get me wrong—I think it would be wonderful for you to have this talk with your sister, but I'm sure she's already seen the change in you."
"But don't you get it, Sher?" Luis eyes remained locked on hers. "That's what I've been trying to tell you all along—that change was because of you."
