Ok a quick note before I begin the chapter, originally I had a few probs with it, and I'm not sure I like how it turned out. But this is essentially a POV from Pilar, although Theresa's view would be pretty good, I guess I wanted the readers to get how disturbing it was, not just for Theresa since it is being directed at her, but also for those around her, like Pilar, Luis, Whitney. And with Pilar being her mother I felt that was the best choice. There's nothing like a mother protecting her young. So with that said I hope it's not to confusing. If it is I'll redo it, buttttttt (you knew there was a but didn't you, lol) I need reviews to help me on that. Also it has a disturbing scene, nothing overly graphic, but it is detailed. So if you're a bit squeamish, I did warn. please. R&R

Ch. 19 – Surprise, surprise pt 2

Oh Dios Mio, all these cars in front of the house, all the lights flashing. Dios, permitió por favor que Theresita es bien. Y me da la fuerza a obtener por esto para ella. Amén.

Pilar parked the car and walked up toward her house. This all feels so surreal, it can't be happening. She began to feel herself come apart at the seems and repeated her earlier prayer, this time out loud. "God, please let Therisita be ok. And give me the strength to get through this for her. Amen."

As she stepped on the porch and reached out a hand to turn the doorknob she felt a sense of well being wash over her, a sense of empowerment. And she knew that God would help her help her daughter. He would be the strength she needed for her Therisita.

She took a deep, calm, cleansing breath and pushed her way through the front door. All the commotion outside of her house did nothing to prepare her for what was inside. Cops were rifling through drawers, talking on their radios, dusting for fingerprints. And Luis, Luis was trying to stay calm, but it was hard. She could see the lines on his face as he strained to reel in his temper.

Pilar, walked past the cop looking through her desk drawers, and the one going through her family albums. She knew they were looking for clues, but she couldn't help but feel that they were violating her privacy. What did they expect to find in family photos, or in desk drawers? From what she was told, when Whitney had called her with the urgent message to come home, everything that they needed was in Theresa's room.

With a sigh she walked over to her second eldest and placed a hand on his arm. "Mijo, dónde está Theresa?"

"She's upstairs mama. I'm not allowed to question her or Whitney, or even be apart of the investigation. They claim it's a conflict of interest." Luis ran a hand over his eyes, before running the same hand through his hair. Setting his already messy hair into even more disarray.

"Luis…" Pilar began, but was cut off when Luis banged his hand on the wall.

"I know mama, but damnit, she's my baby sister. And some pervert is out there targeting her, and we don't know why. She said… She said that this is what happened 3 years ago. This is why she disappeared." With a sigh he slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

"I not supposed to do anything mama, but when we got here… seeing her like that. Jeez, whoever did it, they are sick. And then to hear from both Whitney and Theresa, this isn't the first time. It blew me away. I'm supposed to protect her mama. How could something like this happen once…let alone twice?"

Pilar saw the anguish her son was in and knelt down beside him. "Mijo, escúchame. It's not your fault. You're here now, and now that we know, we can help her. And find the person who did this to her."

She turned her attention back to the mayhem that was now in her living room, but something he said played itself over and over again in her mind. "Luis what do you mean 3 years ago?"

"She was getting threats then. Telling her to stay away from Ethan or else. It escalated from letters to phone calls, and ended in the fire that was supposed to kill her."

"No! No mijo, you're not saying that someone has wanted Theresa dead all this time. Oh Dios Mio what have we done? Luis by bringing her back here we may have put her back into harms way."

"I know mama. I know."

Luis watched as his mother got to her feet and held out a hand to him, "come on, let's go see your sister. She needs us. Later, we will discuss this and what is best to do. I love my daughter, I love all you kids, but I don't want something bad to happen to her because I was too selfish to let her go. If she is safer in Milan, than here in Harmony, then so be it. I will just have to rack up some frequent flyer miles."

Luis laughed at his mother's attempt to make a joke, but he knew that once she saw what had been done…. He just hoped for Theresa's sake their mother was as strong as she appeared to be.

Pilar let Luis guide her up the steps, past the cops who looked at her with sympathy in their eyes. Past the room in which she saw Theresa and Whitney with a couple of cops and Dr. Russell. She cast a confused look at her son, but saw that he wasn't looking at her. Instead he attention was focused straight ahead, toward Theresa's room. Upon closer inspection of her son's face she saw the lines of stress that weren't there just moments ago, and a tick on his jaw as he clenched his teeth. As they drew nearer, the tick that was barely noticeable became more and more prominent.

Coming to a stop outside of Theresa's room, Pilar felt a sense of unease, much like she had earlier that day, but brushed it off. This time though she couldn't. She knew just beyond the half closed door, blocked with police crime scene tape, was something terrible.

Luis turned to face his mother and saw how pale she had become in that short of time. Could see her try to swallow past the lump he was sure was there. Holding her hand tight in his he made to push open the door, but she stopped him in surprise with her next words.

"I want to go in by myself."

"Mama, I don't think that's a good idea. You haven't seen what's in there. You don't know how bad it is." He never got a chance to finish his thoughts as Pilar shook her head.

"I don't care Luis. I need to see this by myself. I don't know why but I just have to."

"Ok mama, but I will be right here and the door will be open, if you need me…"

"I'll call you." She finished for him.

Pilar walked to the door and reached up to touch the crime scene tape. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think that she would see that sight. Bright yellow, crime scene tape barring her access to her child's room. She touched the tape and traced the words 'do not cross' lightly with her fingertips, as if she was in a trance.

Gathering her courage she pulled the tape from its position, but when she went to push the door so that it was fully open her courage faltered. Slight pressure in her other hand made her look down. Luis had squeezed her hand gently, letting her know that she didn't have to do this alone if she didn't want to. That he would walk through the door with her, but she couldn't depend on her son. She had to be strong for her daughter, and that meant facing this alone, so that she could find her own strength to help her daughter. Borrowing some from Luis wasn't an option; he had to be strong for Theresa, as well as Sheridan and himself. No she would find her own strength, and if that wasn't enough she had faith that God would help her find some more.

Mind made up, Pilar pushed open the door and let go of Luis' hand at the same time. A step into the room made her stop as she took in her surroundings. If she hadn't known beforehand that this was a crime scene she would have thought that this was just an average room. Nothing was amiss. Clothes were on the floor, papers were over the desk, the room had a controlled messiness to it. Her eyes glanced over the photos that littered the dresser, and nightstand. Took in the rumpled covers on the unmade bed and the pillows thrown haphazardly. It looked like someone had just gotten out of it and flung the covers to one side and they just piled up there leaving a big lump.

She moved closer to the bed, she wasn't sure of her intention, or if she knew that was where she would find the 'crime'. That thought made her smile wryly, a crime… here… in her house. Who would have thunk it. But then she remembered that was why she was here, cause a crime did happen.

A smell assaulted her nose as she moved closed to the bed; she sniffed the air trying to place it. It wasn't like anything she had ever smelled before, but yet it seemed so familiar. Coppery, and sickingly sweet.

Blood!

It was everywhere on the bed, the sheets, the pillows, blankets, part of the wall. Pilar took a step back and stumbled over the clothes she had side- stepped when she first walked into the room. The cross that she wore around her neck as a symbol of her faith was clutched tightly in her hand.

"Oh Dios mio. Dame fuerza, por favor."

She repeated those words, like a mantra in her head, as she inched closer to the bed. The shock having now worn off, she gazed at the bed again. The amount of blood still shocked her, but it was the image on the bed. A blow up doll was deflated on the bed, the hands and feet were tied to the legs of the bed. The face, what could be seen of it, resembled Theresa's, but what made the resemblance even more was the wig placed on the head. A blindfold covered the eyes, and a multitude of cuts marked the face, the blood oozing from the cuts. The most disturbing was a small hole that was on the forehead, she could only assume that was supposed to be a bullet hole. Her eyes moved to the torso of the doll, and she could feel some of her courage and strength leave her body. Someone had stabbed the doll through the heart, but they didn't stop there. Where the stomach should have been was a gaping hole, puddled with blood, which ran over the fake body and onto the bed. And as gruesome as that was, it didn't stop there, peeking out from the hole was what looked like a stuffed animal. A cat. With a noose around it's neck. But the eyes… the eyes, were what gave it away. It wasn't a stuffed animal, it was real.

Pilar turned and stumbled to the wastebasket, and in a move that mimicked Whitney's earlier, she threw up. She sat there waiting for her stomach to settle, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Raising her head she saw the message, partially covered by the pillows that she had missed earlier when she was standing over the bed. Written in what she could only assume was blood were the words. 'I'm no longer playing. Stay away or else!'

On shaking legs, she rose to her feet and walked out the door. Spying Luis further down the hall she made her way to him.

"Mama, are you ok?"

"I'm fine Luis, it's Theresita I am worried about."

"Dr. Russell is still in with her, as is Whitney. She was given a sedative to calm her down." Luis cast a glance into the room, in which his sister was in.

"Mama, I don't know how she is holding up. I don't know what to do. I feel so damn helpless. I can't comfort my sister, I can't be a part of the investigation. What am I supposed to do?" Luis turned his tear filled gaze toward Pilar.

"Be strong. That is all we can do. We have to be strong for her, Luis. She needs us to keep it together. All of us. You, me, Antonio, Miguel, Paloma."

"I know. It's just so hard." Luis wiped his eyes, and took a deep breath, swallowing the sob that threatened to break free.

"You go on in, I'll be there in a few minutes. If she asks, just tell her… just tell her I wanted to talk to some of the officers."

Pilar looked at her son, and saw how hard it was for him. For years he was the man of the house, taking care of the younger ones while she was at work. Wiping their noses when they got sick, drying their eyes when they woke up from a bad dream. He was their big brother, a position he took seriously. And not being able to protect Theresa from whoever it was targeting her was killing him.

"Go on mijo, she will understand. Maybe you should check in with Sheridan. Make sure she is ok, her due date is coming up."

"Yea, that's what I'll do."

Luis pulled his mother in for a hug, each one giving the other strength. Knowing that they had to band together for family, and stay strong. Abruptly Luis pulled away from his mother and strode toward the steps.

Pilar watched as her son made his way down the steps stopping a few times to talk to cops he saw along the way down. When he disappeared from view she walked into the room. Her heart breaking as she caught sight of her daughter's tear stained face.

Dr. Russell was the first one to spot her and she excused herself from the cop she was talking to. "Pilar."

"Eve, how is she?"

"Well she's in shock. I gave her a sedative to calm her down. I don't know what happened between the time I got Whitney's phone call to the time I got here, but she was hysterical. With her memory the way it is, I thought it was best to calm her down. I don't want her to hurt herself even more. Something this traumatic might push her over the edge, and the outcome wouldn't be good."

"What do you mean?"

"You know about her memory. My colleagues and I think that it is because something traumatic happened to her. She's started to remember on her own, things have been coming back in bits and pieces, and she's accepting them. But this… this could set her back days, weeks, months, even years.

Her mind could have shut down again. It could have done a couple of things. One of them being that it could have pushed this incident to the far recesses of her mind, and she wouldn't remember this happening at all. Or it could have taken her back to a time that she felt safe. Which could have wiped out all memory of you, Luis and everything else she has remembered these last few weeks. There's no way of knowing which one would have happened for sure. So I sedated her, it wasn't a strong dose, just something that would help her calm down. Give her time to process things, without shutting down."

Pilar looked at her daughter huddled up on the bed, and nodded at Dr. Russell's words.

"Thank you Eve" she whispered.

Dr. Russell placed her hand on her friends shoulder, "Your welcome, Pilar. I think of Theresa as another daughter, and it pains me to see her like this. If you need anything, call me Pilar. No matter what time. I will be here to help."

Dr. Russell walked out the door, leaving Pilar alone with Whitney and Theresa.

"Whitney," Pilar quietly spoke.

Whitney looked up to see her friends' mother in the door, moving slowly so she didn't disturb her sleeping friend.

"Whitney thank you for being here. I'm glad someone was here with her when she came upon that. I don't want to think about what might have happened had you not been here."

Pilar sighed and gave Whitney a quick hug, knowing instinctively that this girl needed a hug. "Thank you so much."

"I'm glad I was here." Whitney said, while breaking out of the hug.

The two women watched as Theresa slept on, oblivious to all the commotion going around her. Cops swarming all over the house, like bees to a honeycomb. Neighbors dropping by with the minutest of details hoping against hope that they had some information that would pan out. And through it all she slept, like sleeping beauty, Pilar thought.

"Whitney, I'm going to stay with Theresa. I don't know if you can go home yet. I haven't talked to any of the cops, so I have no idea what is going on, but if you want something to eat, or drink please go ahead and help yourself."

"Thank you Mrs. Lopez-Fitzgerald. Actually I need to call Chad and let him know what is going on, I promised to keep him updated. And I am kind of hungry." She admitted, sheepishly.

Whitney gave Pilar a quick hug. "Would you like me to bring you anything?"

"No, no thank you. I'm fine."

Pilar heard movement behind her as Whitney left the room. Alone in the room with her daughter, Pilar moved to the bed. The tears that she had been holding in, fell as she saw the tension in her daughter even as she slept. Climbing in beside her shoes and all, Pilar gathered her daughter in her arms. Softly she sung a lullaby she used to sing to Theresa when she was a child.

Baby mine, don't you cry. Baby mine, dry your eyes. Rest your head close to my heart. Never to part, baby of mine

Little one when you play. Don't you mind what they say. Let those eyes sparkle and shine. Never a tear, baby of mine

If they knew sweet little you. They'd end up loving you too. All those same people who scold you. What they'd give for the chance to hold you

From your head to your toes. You're not much, goodness knows. But you're so precious to me. Cute as can be, baby of mine.
Hope you guys like this one. The song is a fave of mine, I used to sing this to my son when he was little. It's from the movie Dumbo. Thank you for reading.