~21~

Title: Falling Slowly
Rating: PG, maybe.
Warnings: unresolved sexual tension.
Characters/Pairings: pre-Sheridan/Luis, mentions of Pilar, Paloma, Ethan/Gwen, original character.
Summary: prompt: freak out. She felt so helpless, so utterly useless in the face of her baby daughter's obvious pain, and not for the first time, she wondered if she'd made the right decision, the fair decision, in deciding to bring such a beautiful little soul into the world with little more to offer her than love.

Emma was screaming when Sheridan answered the door. Face red and little fists clenched as they waved in front of her, she wouldn't be consoled, and she continued to howl when Luis crowded close to her mother, carefully shifting her onto his shoulder.

"How long has she been like this?" Luis asked as Sheridan pushed the door shut behind him, looking near tears herself.

Raking her fingers through her unwashed hair, Sheridan blew out a shaky breath then bit her lip in consideration. "I don't know. An hour, maybe two."

Luis took in her harried expression, her unkempt state, and lifted a disbelieving brow.

Sheridan quickly folded under the pressure of his intense stare. "Going on three hours," she reluctantly admitted. "I've tried everything. She's not hungry and she isn't wet. Nothing works. She won't stop crying, and I know your mother offered to help any time I needed her, but I don't want to take advantage of her generosity like that." Her lips trembled with emotion as she finished on a whisper. "I'm so sorry to drag you out here like this in the middle of the night, but I didn't know what to do. Ethan and Gwen are spending the weekend in New York, and there wasn't anyone else I could think of to call."

In that moment she looked terribly alone, and Luis felt a wave of protectiveness swell over him, not too unlike the feelings Emma so effortlessly aroused within him, and he shifted the wailing three-week-old to his other shoulder so that he might take Sheridan by the hand. He didn't know who he surprised more, himself, or Sheridan, with the tender gesture. "Don't do that, apologize. It's okay to ask for help sometimes."

Sheridan smiled at him then, nearly sagging with relief, tears of gratitude shimmering in her blue eyes, and squeezed the fingers that had snaked around her hand. She lifted her free hand to knuckle away a few renegade tears, her breaking heart in her eyes when Emma let loose another ear-splitting scream. She felt so helpless, so utterly useless in the face of her baby daughter's obvious pain, and not for the first time, she wondered if she'd made the right decision, the fair decision, in deciding to bring such a beautiful little soul into the world with little more to offer her than love. Watching Luis cradle Emma close, she felt selfish and small for ever being fooled into believing she could do this, and do this alone. Emma needed a father. Emma needed a mother who didn't feel overwhelmed and inadequate and unfit (for God's sake…she hadn't even known how to change a diaper until Luis had shown her how). Sheridan didn't bother to stop her tears this time. As Luis looked on in concern, her brave smile crumpled. "I don't know if I can do this, Luis. Not by myself."

Stripped of all her bravado, her sarcasm, her pride, she looked young, helpless, achingly vulnerable, and Luis knew then, Sheridan Crane was so much more than the spoiled princess he'd labeled her as in the beginning. She was human, just like Theresa, just like Mama, just like him. He let go of her hand to palm her damp cheek. "Stop selling yourself short, Crane, and look around. In case you haven't noticed, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."

"Luis, you don't have to…"

"I'm not going anywhere," Luis repeated firmly, removing his hand from her face and rubbing it in gentle strokes up and down Emma's tiny back as she drew her short legs tight to her body. "Now, when was the last time you took a bath?" Luis bit back a smile when some of the old fire returned to Sheridan's blue eyes, and he didn't have long to wait for her indignant response to his question.

"Excuse me?"

"Relax, Crane," Luis could no longer resist cracking a smile, even as Emma continued to cry. "I'm not making a comment on your personal hygiene. Emma's colicky. Warm baths seemed to help Paloma when she was little. And since you look like you could use a Calgon moment, I thought two birds, one stone."

A warm bath actually sounded wonderful to Sheridan, but there was one problem: she was exhausted, dead on her feet, and she feared water and fatigue weren't a good mix (and adding Emma…). "What if I fall asleep?" she worried as she fell into step behind him, following him wordlessly up the stairs.

Ahead of her, Luis pressed his lips to Emma's fuzzy curled head in lieu of making a sarcastic comment, and offered Sheridan a solution to her problem (that would later spell trouble for him). "What if I promised to sit outside of the door? As long as you keep talking, I'll know you're still awake."

"So door open then?" Sheridan couldn't resist asking as she caught up with him at the top of the stairs and reached out a hand to Emma's cotton-covered back.

Their hands met, fingertips kissed, and Luis was hit with a frisson of awareness that the woman staring into his eyes so intently was wearing next to nothing beneath the ratty-old robe tied loosely around her waist, and he felt a tiny shift in the air between them when Sheridan realized that too. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he told her, "It doesn't have to be all the way. Just enough."

"Just enough," Sheridan agreed. Turning down the hall toward her open bedroom, she hesitated to leave his side. "I'll just…do you mind staying with her until I run the bath?"

"We'll be waiting for you," Luis said, inwardly cursing himself for his poor choice of words (and the images that accompanied them). "I meant Emma will be waiting for you." Sheridan's smile made heat lick and curl at Luis's nerve endings, and the soft timbre of her voice did funny things to his equilibrium, made him feel as if the ground beneath his feet was giving way and he was falling, slowly, from a deceptively gentle slope.

"I know what you meant, Supercop."

"Get moving, Crane, before I draw the bath myself."

"Not tonight," Sheridan called over her shoulder. "Maybe next time?"

"Is that a promise?" Luis all but growled.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

Luis kept his promise; he didn't go anywhere, sitting outside her bathroom door and listening to her sing lullabies (and shift in the tub, all naked skin and curves), even enduring her endless questions about his childhood, hell, his whole life, until the hour grew even longer, and he felt his own eyelids start to droop heavily. He drifted off around 3 a.m., only to wake a few minutes later, and realize all was blessedly quiet, Emma's crying had stopped, and Sheridan…it seemed she had run out of inane questions to ask. "Sheridan?" he called softly. Sheridan didn't answer, and Luis nudged the door to her bathroom open with a hand that felt like pins and needles, a guttural curse building in his throat at what he found.

The next time Emma had colic, Sheridan couldn't help blushing (from the memories of waking, alone, naked, in her bed, with only a blanket to cover her) when Luis suggested a midnight drive around Harmony. Sheridan told him all about her childhood spent in fancy foreign boarding schools as his jeep ate up the miles of Coast Road.

By the time Emma was four months old, those restless nights were a thing of the past.

Luis couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

First of all, thank so much Tom and Shaun for your wonderful feedback on the last chapter. You guys totally made my day!

Tom, Luis is a stubborn man; Sheridan's a stubborn woman. We already know she's admitted to loving him. So you want to know if Luis is ever going to say the words back to Sher? Well, you'll just have to keep reading. :D He may not have been able to spit out the words yet, but I think his actions over the years pretty much speak for themselves, don't you (judging him on that one night alone is a little harsh even though he did some major damage to the trust Sheridan had in him)? Speaking of the brackets...are you talking about these (where I ramble on incessantly sometimes?) or something else? LOL! Thanks so much again (thanks for saying it was beautiful, too...I'm glad the emotions shone through).

Shaun, Luis obviously made a very big mistake. The question is, will he be able to fix it? That remains to be seen. He would be livid if he found out some guy that pretended to care (although we all know he's not pretending) for either Emma or Theresa did the same thing. You definitely have a point. Now it makes more sense, doesn't it? Why she went to Hank? Thanks so much for the feedback. I love it. :D

As for this chapter...thoughts?

I can't wait to read them. ;) Especially since I'm breaking my own rule and posting this chapter BEFORE 22 and 23 are completed. Don't worry though...22 is coming along nicely.

Exhibit A (or maybe it's B, C, D, E, etc.) that those blue-eyed Crane girls had Luis from hello?

LOL!

Thanks so much for reading!

Feedback is loved and adored.