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My Only Love Part 3

"What did you say?" Ethan asked.

"Yea, What did you say?" TC asked too, hoping that they would bring down the Cranes.

"Just what I said," Sheridan said.

"With the exception of Sheridan and Ethan, the Cranes are nothing but a careless, selfish, exploiting, snobbish family," Charity explained. Pretty much everyone else already knew this, but it shocked them to hear Charity talk like that. They didn't spend much time thinking about that however, since they knew that neither Charity or Sheridan would bring the Cranes up unless something big was going to happen. "Sheridan and I know of some of the worst acts done by Alistair and Julian that we will bring to light that will bring down the Crane empire." Everyone was too shocked to say anything. TC was happy. He couldn't wait to watch Julian crumble under everything when they would confront him. He knew that one of the things Charity and Sheridan would bring up would be Julian ending his Tennis career. He just knew.

Sheridan walked over to Ethan. "Don't worry Ethan," she said. "You won't be affected by this. At least not negatively." Ethan simply nodded. He was starting to believe that his family had done some pretty bad things in the past.

"Let's go then," Luis exclaimed. They all left and drove down to the Crane Mansion.

When they arrived, Ethan was about to unlock the door but then Gwen opened it from inside. She was there waiting for him, as was Rebecca, Julian, and Ivy. Alistair was on the other line of Julian's cell phone.

Everyone entered nervously. "Hello," Ethan said.

Julian handed him his cell phone. "ETHAN!" Alistair yelled from the other end. "If you don't marry Gwen Hotchkiss you're cut off without a cent!"

Sheridan took the phone. "Father, it's you who are going to be cut off!"

Julian, Ivy, and Rebecca hadn't seen Sheridan or Charity until then because they were being blocked by everyone else. "My God, it's true. Gwen wasn't going crazy," Julian said. Ivy and Rebecca didn't say a word, though their faces said what Julian had just said.

"I told you!" Gwen yelled.

"Yes father! I am alive! And so is Charity Standish!" Sheridan almost yelled.

"Is this some kind of a joke!" Alistair demanded. "You're dead. You have to be!"

"I'm alive, father. And for your information I will not tell Ethan to marry Gwen in case you're wondering. He and Theresa are meant for each other. And one more thing. In a matter of minutes the empire is going down." She hung up and tossed the phone back to Julian

Julian just stood frozen because of his sister's last words: "The empire is going down." "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Just what I said. I've seen everything, Julian. I've seen all you and father have done. Well, you won't get away with it." She turned her attentions to everyone else. "Come on, everybody upstairs to Julian's office." They all left.

"Now just a minute..." Julian started after them.

Rebecca, Ivy, and Gwen stayed in the living room. Rebecca was the first one to speak. "Well surely Luis isn't going to allow his sister to marry a Crane."

"You're wrong, mother," Gwen answered upset and panicky. "He and Ethan made up their differences and are now almost eager to call each other brothers." Rebecca began to look panicky and stunned too.

Ivy was disappointed that Ethan didn't marry well, but since Ethan loved Theresa she didn't make such a big deal out of it. She would learn to get used to the idea. "Come on, we're wasting time down here. Let's see what they're doing." She was so eager to see the Crane empire come apart, she hurried up the stairs before Rebecca and Gwen could stop her. They decided to follow her anyway.

"We were waiting for you," Sheridan said to them when they got there. The three of them regained their composure quickly and were ready to listen.

"Mr. Crane you may want to call your father back for this," Charity said, but she spoke to soon, for Julian's phone was ringing when she finished.

"Julian, what is going on!?" Alistair demanded when Julian answered his phone, loud enough so that everyone could hear him.

"You'll get your answers, Alistair," Luis said. "As will we."

Sheridan began. "First of all, there are so many atrocities that my family has committed. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Sam spoke for all of them. "You didn't do anything."

Sheridan smiled her thanks. "Second of all, because there are so many of them, we cannot name them all or otherwise we'll be here forever." TC just smirked. "We'll just name the 3 most important. Third of all, here we go."

"Wait!" Julian yelled.

"Shut up, Julian!" Sam exclaimed.

"How dare you speak to me like that, I am a Crane.

"Shut up, father! I want to hear this!" Ethan yelled from across the room. Julian was too shocked to say anything. Ethan was thinking that whatever Sheridan and Charity had to say was true and he was beginning to not be proud of being a Crane, and Ivy knew it. Everybody else was too engrossed in what Charity and Sheridan had to say to pay much attention to Ethan.

Charity started. "TC, you already know this. As well as many other people." TC knew what she was about to say. "It was Julian Crane that hit you that night. It was Julian Crane that ended your tennis career." Then more calmly, she added "I'm sorry."

TC turned around and looked at Julian angrily. "You son-of-a-bitch!" And then he went at him, grabbing him at his shirt collar.

Before he could swing a punch, Eve stopped him. "Don't you want him to stand trial for what he did?"

"And don't you want him to stand trial for the other thing he did that we'll tell you all about?" Charity asked.

TC stopped reluctantly. "Fine." He let go and shoved Julian.

Sheridan opened one of the drawers in Julian's desk. She pulled out the mask that looked like Luis's face. "Julian hired someone to wear this mask and pretend to be Luis. He told him to say that he was using me so that when I would overhear it I would dump Luis." Luis stood there stunned. Sheridan walked over to him. "I'm sorry I ever could have thought that you were using me." She hugged him.

"It's okay. Now at least I know that you weren't imagining when you told me what you heard. It was all just a big misunderstanding," Luis said, smiling. They kissed.

"Can we move on please?" Simone said. She was still hurting over losing Chad, she didn't want to see any romance.

"I just want to know why exactly Julian did this," Luis said, glaring at him.

Charity and Sheridan just looked at each other with worried looks. What they would say next would provide all the answers for the Lopez-Fitzgeralds', but at the same time cause a lot of pain. Before Julian could answer Luis, Sheridan cut him off. That had been happening all throughout the meeting as well as with Alistair; everyone would interrupt them. "That has to do with our last and biggest thing that we'll uncover now." Everyone was looking at her and Charity with anticipation; Julian with fear. "Luis, do you remember that bullet that you found in my cottage a few weeks ago?" Sheridan continued.

"Yes."

"Here's where it came from." She held the gun that was in Julian's desk drawer. Luis just looked at it wide-eyed; as did everyone else, although they didn't know exactly the whole story behind it. Sheridan put the gun down and she and Charity looked away from everyone, especially Luis and his family. "About 20 years ago, my father fired this gun," she continued. "He had to fire it several times because the intended victim kept dodging the bullets. Finally, two of the bullets hit the victim. He managed to get away and enter the main house. I came downstairs at the time and I was afraid of him so I grabbed a letter opener off my father's desk when he suddenly fell down. I walked over to him and the letter opener got covered in blood because I dropped it on him. I wanted to see if he was alive. My hands got bloody because I was checking for a pulse on his chest where he had been shot. He was dead." She was stuttering several times in telling this. She was ready to cry for Luis's family.

Luis was beginning to figure out what Sheridan was about to say. He was too afraid to put it all together. He was too afraid of what the answer would be. Eve figured out completely what Sheridan was going to say. And she felt bad for ever thinking that Sheridan could have committed such a crime.

Sheridan continued. "My father came in then, with Julian, and said I killed him. I believed him because I didn't know what had happened, and I forgot a lot of what I had just seen. I saw the bloody letter opener and my bloody hands and took them to mean that I had stabbed him to death." She stopped, it would be painful for her and Charity when she said this. "Then, when I died, I saw everything. Charity and I did. We know it was really my father who killed him."

"So who is it?" Ethan asked. He was beginning to have a feeling, so did everyone else in the room. Eve already knew who it was. Deep down inside of them, Luis and Pilar did too.

Sheridan sighed. "He had been planning to kill him for some time. He told Julian about it." She stopped. "Here it comes," she thought. "Alistair Crane killed Martin Fitzgerald." After a second, she ran over to Luis and hugged him. "Oh God, Luis, I'm so sorry." She was almost crying.

Luis just stood there. For 20 years he didn't know what happened to his father. Now he knew. His father had been murdered. He couldn't absorb it. He then thought about what his father must have been thinking as he was dying. That did it for him. He embraced Sheridan back and then cried on her shoulder.

"It's okay. Let it out," Sheridan said, hugging him tighter.

Pilar was already crying. Grace was the first one to console her.

Charity ran and embraced Miguel. He was trying so hard not to cry.

Ethan was too shocked to move. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. His grandfather was a murderer. His father knew about it. He was beginning to see his family through Sam and TC's eyes. He was not proud to be a Crane anymore. He then looked at Theresa. He saw his fiancé on the verge of tears. He went over to her. They immediately hugged. He didn't know what to say. "Theresa..."

"Just keep hugging me," she said. And then she let burst into tears.

"I'm, so, so sorry."

All Theresa was thinking about was her father. Her father who gave her piggie-back rides as a little girl. Her father who read her stories at night so she could go to sleep. She cried harder. Ethan hugged her harder.

Sam walked over to Julian. "Mr. Crane, you're under arrest."

"On what grounds?"

"Generally, for being an asshole and ruining people's lives. Specifically, Hit-and-Run; Assault with an automobile; Conspiracy to commit murder; Harboring a fugitive; and Withholding a capital crime." He cuffed him, and read him the Miranda.

Luis picked up Julian's cell phone. "Where is the body, Alistair?!!" he screamed at him. There was no answer. "Answer me, you son-of-a-bitch!"

"He's dead Luis," Charity said, still hugging Miguel. "The shock of his empire being brought down and knowing that he would probably get the death penalty gave him a stroke and a heart attack."

Ethan was almost glad. An hour ago, if he heard that his grandfather died, he would have been devastated. Now, he was glad another murderer got what he deserved.

Luis didn't move for a second. Then he shoved Julian against the wall. "Where is the body Julian?!!"

Julian was afraid, yet he said the dumbest answer anyway. "I don't have to tell you anything."

Luis shoved him again. "WHERE IS IT?!!"

"Alright, Alright, I'll tell you." He 'fessed up and told them where it was.

Sam called for more units to meet him there, and he left along with TC and Eve. (And, of course with Julian).

As much as Ivy was sad for Pilar and her family, she was happy she had a reason to divorce Julian. And when she would divorce him, she would get the entire Crane empire.

Rebecca, meanwhile, was having second thoughts about her daughter marrying Ethan. "Do I really want Gwen to marry into a family of murderers?" she thought.

Gwen was thinking the same thing. "I still love Ethan," she thought. But his name has murderers behind it. I don't want that to be on my shoulders too. Theresa can have him." That officially ended the Hotchkiss bid for Ethan to marry Gwen.

Luis and Sheridan sat on the bench outside that Martin Fitzgerald made, their arms wrapped around each other in a comforting hug. Finally Sheridan spoke. "How are you feeling?"

"Considering I just learned that my father was murdered, fine," he said sarcastically. "For 20 years, I thought that he abandoned us. For 20 years, I thought that he just walked out on us like that." He shook his head. "I can't believe I ever thought that. I can't forgive myself." He buried his face in his hands.

"It's okay. It's okay." She hugged him. "He's okay with it."

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I met him."

Luis looked up at her. For a second he didn't say anything. He was too stunned. "What?"

"I met him in Heaven. Along with my mother," Sheridan said.

"Wow," Luis replied; it was all he could think of to say. "Did you like him?"

Sheridan smiled. "Who couldn't?"

"Apparently, your father," Luis said solemnly.

Sheridan hugged him again. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." He kissed her on the cheek. "It's not your fault at all." They stayed hugging each other for a while, not saying anything. "Where is everyone?" he finally asked. With the exception of Sheridan he had been so inert to what was going on around him.

"Gwen and Rebecca went home. Ivy went to a lawyer to file for divorce. Theresa went home with Ethan, Chad, and Whitney. Simone went home. Miguel and Pilar went to the Bennetts' house along with Charity and Grace."

Luis sighed. "It's been an unbelievable 4 days," he said. "The first day went from the best day of my life, to the worst. We come this close to consummating our love, and then I think you're dead. The next day was your funeral, we bury you alive and don't rescue you in time and Hank gets killed. Next, your second funeral and Charity gets murdered. Today, Charity's funeral and I find out Papa was murdered." He turned and looked at Sheridan, the love of his life. "But I have to say that overall, this day was good; beyond good. Charity came back to Miguel, and you came back to me." They kissed, and hugged again. "You came back to me." It was a minute before he could say anything else. "I love you."

"I love you too." Sheridan said.

"Promise me you'll never leave me again."

"I promise, Luis. I promise." They looked into each other's eyes.

"Come on. Lets go home." Luis smiled, standing up, still holding Sheridan's hands.

Sheridan stood up. They walked to the car and drove home, Luis driving, Sheridan leaning on his shoulder the entire time.