Chapter Twenty-One:

Revelations

2 of 2 chapters uploaded 7/17

Earlier that Evening
Sheridan's Cottage

Sheridan winced as she picked up the teapot, forgetting to use a potholder. "Ouch!" She waved her burned hand back and forth, then went to run it under some cold water. She was so distracted-had been since the Danceathon earlier than night. The past couple of weeks it seemed as though things were getting better between her and Chris. He'd been so apologetic since that night he'd hurt her arm, loving, attentive, understanding about her work hours...

But tonight was different. Chris had been quiet and sullen since they'd come from the theater, and Sheridan knew why. They'd run into Luis and Fancy. The two couples had only spoken for a moment, but at the end, Luis had touched her arm and quietly asked her if she was alright. Maybe he saw something underneath her gleaming smile, or the wariness in her eyes. She didn't know what he had picked up on, but it showed that their connection was still there. Fancy had realized it-Sheridan flinched as she'd remembered the hurt look on her niece's face. And Chris had noticed. The knowledge was there, in his furrowed brow, his tight jaw, his brooding eyes.

He was angry at her, and Sheridan felt the apprehension grow. A few weeks ago, she would have laughed if someone had suggested Chris could ever hurt her, but now, she wasn't so sure. The feeling was back-the feeling that she didn't know her husband at all. Warily, she glanced at him from the kitchen. He was sitting on the couch, arms folded, watching her. She shivered, feeling chilled. This was getting ridiculous. She couldn't live like this-they had to talk this out. Maybe get some therapy-maybe they needed a separation. Something had to give, because she didn't want to live in fear.

The phone rang. Chris started to get up but Sheridan quickly spoke, eager for the chance to distract herself from him. "I'll get it in here, Chris!" She called. She picked up the wall phone before he had a chance to argue.

"Hello?"

"Sheridan, it's Jared." His voice was tight, tense.

"Jared, hi! What's going on?" She looked at the clock on the wall. It was late-must be important business for Jared to call her. In fact, she couldn't ever remember him calling her at home before.

"Sheridan, I need you to listen to me, very carefully. Don't speak, just listen. I need you to trust me. We've gotten to know each other pretty well since we've been working together, and I think that you know I'm a stand up guy. I need you to get James, right now, and come over to the mansion. Don't tell Chris that I told you to, and don't act like it's a big deal. Make up some excuse, something casual. Do that for me, Sheridan, please, right now. OK?"

Sheridan felt goose bumps break out all over her skin. She wanted to demand that Jared tell her what was going on but some sixth sense commanded her not to, told her to act like everything was OK.

"The Walllingford Report?" She managed a light, casual tone. "Of course I'll get that for you, Jared. In fact, I'll bring it to the mansion right now. See you in a few minutes."

"Good." Jared's voice was relieved. "If you're not out the door in one minute, I'm coming to get you." He disconnected the line.

Sheridan turned to face Chris, who was now standing in the doorway, and managed a shaky smile. "That was Jared. Some last minute details on an important report have gotten mixed up, and I have to bring it to him. You know, I think I'll take James. We can pop in and say hi to EJ really quick."

Chris folded his arms. "You want to take James to see EJ at this time of night?" His voice was disbelieving, and Sheridan swallowed nervously.

"Well, I heard EJ talking in the background, so he's still awake." She lied. "We'll only be there for a few minutes. Anyway, I'd better hurry. Let me go get James." She started to move towards his room but Chris blocked her.

"I don't think so, Sheridan. How stupid do you think I am? I don't even believe that was Jared on the phone, was it? It was Luis!" His voice was deep with rage, and Sheridan shrank back.

"Chris, that's ridiculous!" She stared at him in horror. "Why would you think that?"

"Why would I think that?" Chris echoed in disbelief. "Because you're still in love with him! You've made me a laughingstock, Sheridan. Every time you look at Luis it's written all over your face. Everyone in this mess of a town knows it! And I saw the way he looked at you tonight! You're having an affair with him, aren't you? And now you want to sneak off and meet him somewhere, and you think I'm just going to stand here and let you go. Why do you want to take James to meet your lover, Sheridan? Is it because you don't plan to come back?"

Sheridan shook her head frantically, terrified by the wild eyed look on her husband's face. "That isn't true, Chris, none of it. I'm just meeting Jared at the mansion about business. You can stand at the front door and watch us walk over there if you want, but I'm leaving now, with James." Her anger started to grow, overcoming her fear. How dare he talk to her like that? How dare her own husband frighten her, and threaten her? Determined now, she turned again towards James's room.

In a second, Chris was on her. Sheridan screamed in fear and rage as he grabbed her arms tightly. Lashing out, she kicked him as hard as she could and he groaned and released her, doubling over. "That's it, Chris! You have hurt me for the last time! Now I am leaving, and you know what, you're right. I'm not coming back, at least not until you're gone!" She ran towards James's room but Chris, recovering quickly, raced after her, grabbing her, spinning her around, and slapping her hard across the face.

"You are not going anywhere!" He hissed, nearly foaming at the mouth. Sheridan braced herself for a struggle, and that's when it happened. The front door burst open and Jared was there, holding a gun.

"Let her go, Chris." His voice was icy and his hand steady as he held the gun. Both Sheridan and Chris stared in shock as suddenly, nearly a dozen men and women poured into the room behind him. They were all holding guns pointed directly at Chris and they were all wearing dark blue jackets and hats, all emblazoned with the same bright yellow letters: FBI. Openmouthed, Sheridan stared at Jared, noticing for the first time that he now had a badge pinned to his jacket.

"I don't believe this!" Chris stared at Jared, hatred in his eyes as he tightened his grip on Sheridan. "You're with the FBI?"

"Obviously." Jared's finger tightened on his gun. "For the last time, Chris, let Sheridan go and put your hands in the air."

"I don't think so." Chris's grip on Sheridan tightened and she gasped in pain. Then, before he could make his next move, she jabbed her elbow as hard as she could in his rib cage. He grunted and his grip on her slackened. Taking quick advantage of the moment, Sheridan tore herself free of his grip. A second later, Chris was on the ground as four FBI agents pinned him to the ground, then rolled him over, pulling his hands behind his back and cuffing him.

Jared grabbed Sheridan and pulled her back behind him. Once he was sure that Chris was under control, he turned to her. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to do it like this." He turned to look at the chaos around him. An FBI agent was carrying James out of his room, the little boy sniffling and crying. Sheridan gasped and hurried to comfort him, but Jared pulled her back. "Sheridan, he's going to be fine, but we have to take him right now. A social worker is waiting to interview him, and then make arrangements for his custody."

"What?" Sheridan's knees weakened, and Jared took her arm and helped her over to the couch. "I am so sorry, Sheridan, but Chris...he is a dangerous guy."

Sheridan shook her head. "But what does that have to do with James? He is my son! I adopted him!"

Jared looked at her, sympathy in his eyes. "Sheridan, the adoption isn't legal. I am so sorry to tell you this, but Chris lied to you...about everything. James isn't even his son."

"No!" Sheridan's face crumpled, and she began to sob. "Jared, no! What...what's going to happen to him? Am I going to lose him?"

Jared sighed. "I don't know. That will be up to Social Services, I'm afraid."

Sheridan shook her head in bewilderment. "I don't understand...I don't understand any of this! Jared, what is happening?" She stared at him with wet eyes.

Jared sighed. "Sheridan, I'm with the FBI. I was sent here over a year ago as part of an undercover investigation. Chris became the target of that investigation shortly after I arrived here. The more we dug into his past, the more we found things that didn't make sense, but as the investigation went on, we started to discover some very disturbing things. Chris is not who he says he is. Everything he told you was a lie, even down to his name. His real name is Gianni Santiago, and he's from Miami. He has been involved in criminal activity since he was a teenager, robberies, assault, identity theft, just to name a few. Then, when he was he was 21, it appeared that he had finally settled down. He moved to San Diego, got married, and had a daughter. That lasted for almost eleven years."

"Until?" Sheridan whispered, her heart in her throat.

"Until his wife and eleven year old daughter were found shot to death in their home. He was the only suspect, but nothing could be done about it. He'd disappeared."

Sheridan began to shake with shock. "No, no...this can't be happening. He killed them? His own wife and child? Why?"

Jared shook his head. "I don't know. It was rumored she was having an affair, or at least that he thought she was. He was abusive, that much we could document. Plenty of her family and friends had seen her injuries, but unfortunately, she never filed any charges against him. Maybe she was afraid to. Anyway, we believe that she had attempted to leave him, and he shot her, then their daughter, because she was a witness."

Sheridan put a hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. This couldn't be happening-it had to be a nightmare. She'd wake up, any minute...

"That's not all, Sheridan." Jared sighed, hating to hurt her more but knowing it had to be done. "A few months ago, we arrested Spike. We suspected he'd been working for Alistair. Since then, he's decided to cooperate with us. And he had some very interesting things to tell us about Chris. It seems that Spike was not Alistair's only employee. Chris was, as well. Alistair hired him to pose as James's father, and to ingratiate himself with you. Alistair was the reason why Gianni Santiago was able to develop a whole new identity as Chris Booth in the first place. He gave him everything he'd need to start over here in Harmony, as long as Chris did his bidding."

Sheridan couldn't believe her ears. Shock was starting to sink in, and her tears had dried, but her heart felt like it had been ripped from her body. "If...if you knew all this, why didn't you arrest him sooner? How could you leave me and James in the same home with that monster?"

Jared shook his head. "We didn't know it all. It's been a long, hard road trying to piece this all together. We started with the information about Chris working for Alistair, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that we began to figure out that Chris was really Gianni Santiago. Even our suspicions weren't confirmed until recently. As it is, the case isn't as ironclad as we would have liked. There is still a lot about Alistair's Omega plot that we weren't able to uncover, but once I saw the bruises on your arm, I knew we had to move forward with this."

"You saw?" Sheridan turned scarlet. Jared nodded.

"Yes, I did. I figured things were going sour and I wanted to arrest him immediately, but my superiors didn't think it was the right time." Jared's voice was filled with disgust. "We've been battling about this ever since. But finally tonight they gave me the go ahead. Like I said, I didn't want to do it like this. I was hoping to get you and James over to the mansion before we moved in on him, but I guess Chris suspected something was up."

At that moment, angry, raised voices could be heard outside.

"You can't go in there, Ma'am!" They heard one of the FBI agents bark outside the door.

"The hell I can't!" Theresa's voice sounded back. "Just watch me."

"What the hell is going on here?" Sheridan and Jared heard Ethan's voice chime in. "Where is Sheridan and James? Why are you arresting Chris?"

"Uh oh." Jared groaned softly, and Sheridan looked at him in astonishment.

"Theresa doesn't know, does she?"

At that moment, Theresa burst through the door, Ethan hot on her heels and an angry agent right behind them. "I told you not to go in there!"

Theresa skidded to an abrupt stop, staring openmouthed at Jared and Sheridan sitting on the couch, then her shocked gaze dropped to the badge on his jacket.

"I guess she does now." Jared whispered softly. He looked at the shock and hurt on Theresa's face. What would happen between them now? How was he going to explain that he'd been lying to her for almost a year and a half?

TBC