AN: Here's the second story! To Elizabeth: I know Paloma's the youngest L-F. I just wanted to spice things up a bit, since we never see her and they barely talk about her on the show. I thought it'd be cool. (In my other story, which is a Paloma/OC story… you should read it! [It's called "Meant to Be Together: The Story of Paloma and Jacob".] LOL sorry, trying to shamelessly publicize again… the fact that she is the youngest is stressed.)
Now… this story switches gears a bit. It's a Shuis. It's a fic set in the future. That's all I have to say.
This (*…*) means thinking. I didn't want to italicize anything… I'm trying to preserve the fics from when I wrote them (two-three years ago)… so yeah.
And… ashes of roses, I'm getting your reviews as I write this, so yeah… thanks for all your great comments! and I LOVE your story (Kay's Story)… I'm one of those people who read and don't review. Sorry. But I thought I'd let you know here. =D
Onto the story…
Love Always (part 1)
Sheridan Crane was driving. *It's been so long since I've been here, I wonder what everyone will think when I come back...* She stopped at a red light and looked back at her little girls. Yeah, they were still asleep. "We're almost there, sweethearts," she said. *Almost there.*
Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, the Chief of Police, was going about his duties when his ex-best friend, Hank Bennett, called to him from behind bars. "Luis," he said, "you gotta help me. Please."
"No," he said sternly. *Not after what you did.* Hank had chased the love of Luis' life away, and now he was miserable. *That was five years ago, Luis. Sheridan's never coming back. Never.*
Sheridan pulled up into the driveway of her old house, where she hadn't grown up but where her nephew now lived, the CEO of Crane Industries. Now, everyone in Harmony loved the Cranes, particularly because Julian and Alistair were dead, and because it had just been revealed that Ethan was not Julian's son, but everyone wanted him to be the CEO anyway. He lived with his fiancée, Theresa. *Theresa... I wonder if she knew that she has nieces...*
"Mommy?" a little voice asked from the back of the car. It was Rachel Theresa, named after her aunt. "Rachel, honey, I'm here." She gently unbuckled her daughter and helped her out of the car. "We're going to meet your cousin and his fiancée, okay? Be a good girl and wait while I wake Skylar up." Sheridan reached into the car and gently stroked the face identical to Rachel's. "Skye, honey, wake up."
Skylar Veronica stirred in her sleep. "Mommy?" she asked, panicky.
"Shh, I'm here," Sheridan said as she tried to calm her other daughter. "Come on, now, Skye, we're going to meet your cousin now," she said, pushing Skylar's long blonde hair out of her brown eyes. *Her mother's hair... but her father's eyes.*
"Mommy?" Sheridan slammed the last door of the car shut and turned to Rachel. "Yes, honey?"
"Are we finally going to meet Daddy?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Luis had finally dealt with Hank when he got a call from the Crane Mansion. It was probably Theresa, his sister. Or Ethan. He and Ethan had become pretty close once Sheridan had left, all those years ago, and when he and Theresa became engaged.
"Hello?"
"Luis? It's me." Ethan.
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Could you come over? Theresa and I are kinda lonely tonight and we wanted you to come and have dinner with us."
"Well... okay. I'll be right over."
Just as soon as he put down the phone, the doorbell rang. Ethan looked at Theresa. "Were you expecting anyone, Scarlett?"
Theresa smiled. She loved it when Ethan called her that. "No, but why don't we go see who it is." She put her arm around Ethan's waist and went to go open the door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sheridan was holding her daughters' hands, one in each. "Now remember what I told you girls."
"Be nice, and polite, and be good girls," Rachel said.
"That's right," Sheridan said, as the door opened.
"Sheridan?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah, it's me... You didn't expect it, did you?"
"No! Come in!" He held the door open and led his aunt and his cousins in. "And these would be...?" Theresa asked.
"Theresa! Oh, I'm so glad to see you, too," Sheridan said, hugging her. "I'm so glad you and Ethan are going to get married."
"Mommy," Skylar said, tugging on her mother's shirt, "I'm hungry."
"Me, too," Rachel chimed in.
Ethan and Theresa looked at each other, then at Sheridan. "You guys, I want you to meet my twins, Rachel and Skylar. Girls," she said, squatting to their height, "this is your cousin Ethan and his fiancée, Theresa."
"What's a fiancée, Mommy?" Skylar asked.
"That means that Ethan and Theresa are getting married, honey," Sheridan said.
"Like you and Daddy were?"
Theresa raised an eyebrow. "So, Rachel, Skylar, you're hungry, huh? Well, my brother is coming over, so why don't we all have dinner together?" She looked at Sheridan, realizing what would occur. "Sheridan... could I talk to you alone?"
"Sure, Theresa. Girls, you listen to your cousin Ethan, okay?"
"Okay!" Theresa and Sheridan went to the kitchen.
"Which one, Theresa, Miguel or Luis?"
"Luis." Sheridan became really sad when she heard that name. "We weren't expecting you coming..."
"I know, I know."
"Does he know yet?" Other than Ethan, Theresa and Gwen were the only other people who knew about the twins' paternity.
"No..."
"Well, he's got to know sometime," Theresa said.
"Yeah, I know... but when do I tell him?"
"As soon as you can..."
Sheridan realized that her girls were talking a lot about their dad lately. She had told them only little details, but she had given them a picture that they treasured more than anything. They were okay living without a father, but they missed him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So," Ethan said, "you're Rachel." He pointed to the girl with the blue headband, white blouse, and green skirt.
"Yup," she said, nodding. "I'm Rachel Theresa LF Crane."
"You've got a pretty long name," Ethan commented.
"But mine is longer!" Skylar piped up.
"Oh, really?" he asked the little girl with the purple headband, pink shirt and jeans.
"Yeah, my name is Skylar Veronica LF Crane." Skylar looked proud. "But my mommy calls me Skye."
"That's very nice to hear, Skylar... Do you girls know what LF stands for?" he asked.
"Mommy said that's the last name of our daddy, but it's too long so she just changed it to LF."
"Do you know who your daddy is?"
"No, but we have a picture, see?" Rachel took the picture of Luis out of her pocket and showed it to her cousin. *So they do know who their father is... problem is, does he know he has these two beautiful little girls?* He looked at his cousins, who had Sheridan's face and hair, but Luis' eyes and smile.
"You know what?" Ethan said.
"What?" Rachel and Skylar asked in unison (that twin thing).
"You are two very, very pretty girls," Ethan said.
Rachel blushed. "Thank you," she said, shyly. Skylar, on the other hand, said loudly, "I know... my mommy tells me that all the time. I'm hungry! Where's Mommy? I want to eat!"
*Definitely takes after her father,* Ethan thought.
Just then, Sheridan came back out into the living room. "Rachel, Skye, could I talk to you for a minute?"
"Okay, Mommy." They scampered to their mother and looked up intently.
"Listen, girls, I just want you to keep quiet about your daddy, okay?"
"But why?" Skylar asked. "We want to meet him! Does he live here?"
"Not in this house," Sheridan said.
"When are we going to meet him?" Rachel repeated.
"Soon. You'll see. But just for now, keep quiet about your daddy. Okay?"
"Okay, Mommy."
"My sweet little girls. Come here." She gave them a big hug and kissed them both on the forehead.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Luis
stood on the doorstep of the Crane Mansion, looking around. *God, this place reminds me of Sheridan...* He
remembered how she had looked. Yeah, it had been years, but he could still
remember exactly how she looked.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Girls, you stay right here, and I'll be back. I'll just go and help out with dinner. Be good." Sheridan waved to her daughters.
Just then the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, I'll get it!" Skylar said, racing to the door. Rachel ran up after her sister, with Ethan following. After a little fumbling, Skylar managed to open the door. She looked up at the man. "Rachel," she whispered to her sister, "he looks like Da..."
"Skye," she responded, elbowing her sister, "Mommy said not to talk about him, remember?"
Luis was really confused. "Ethan? Who are they and what are they staring at me for?"
"Come in, Luis," he said, laughing. "Girls...?"
"Oh! Sorry," Skylar said, moving out of the way. *He really looks like Daddy...*
"So," Luis said, squatting to the twins' height, "I see we have twins here. You are...?"
"I'm Rachel," Rachel said.
"And I'm Skylar Veronica LF Crane," Skylar stated, very proudly.
"Oh. Well hello, Rachel and Skylar. I'm Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald." He stuck out a hand.
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald," Skylar said, shaking his hand. Luis couldn't help but laugh. Then he looked at Skylar, and saw the amazing resemblance to Sheridan. His eyes instantly got a sad look in them.
"Are you okay, Mr. Luis?" Rachel asked.
"What? Oh, I'm fine, Rachel. And just call me Luis."
"Okay." Rachel smiled, and he could see his sister Theresa in her. "So, you two are Cranes, huh? You related to my friend Ethan?"
"Uh-huh," Rachel nodded. "He's our cousin."
*Cousin...?*
Just then, Sheridan came into the room, announcing, "Dinner's ready..." She trailed off when she saw Luis.
"Mommy, come meet our new friend!" Rachel and Skylar ran across the room to their mother and grabbed her hand. Skylar whispered something into her mother's ear. "Mommy, he looks like the picture of Daddy!"
"He does, doesn't he," Sheridan said, still entranced by the gaze Luis was giving her. "Come and introduce me to him."
"Okay," Skylar said. "Mommy, this is our new friend, Mr. Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald." Hearing her daughter say her father's name so well made tears well up in Sheridan's eyes. "Mr. Luis, this is our mommy, Sheridan Crane. Is that how you say it, Mommy?" Skylar looked up at her mother.
"Yes, Skye," Sheridan said. "Now I thought you said that you were hungry..."
"Oh yeah! Where's the food?"
"In the kitchen. Go on, have some dinner with Theresa and Ethan." Theresa led the girls into the kitchen, and left Sheridan and Luis behind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Sheridan? Is that really you?" Luis asked.
"It's me," she said, a tear falling from her eye. Luis lifted her head up. "Hey, don't cry." He wiped a tear from Sheridan's cheek. "So... those girls of yours. Why do they have the same last name as you do?"
"Because I chose to give them that name," Sheridan responded. She looked into Luis' eyes and saw her daughters' eyes. "I'm so sorry I had to leave you, Luis..."
"You're married now? Or engaged or something?"
"No. I'm a single mom."
"You mean your kids are growing up without a father? Trust me, Sheridan, the worst thing that could happen is Rachel and Skylar growing up without their dad. Who's the bastard that left you with these two? Not that they're bad... In fact, I think they're adorable." Luis smiled fondly.
"I'm glad you like them, Luis," Sheridan said. "Because..." *It's now or never.* "Because I think they like you very much, too. And..."
"Mommy, Mommy, come on! Let's eat!" Rachel darted out of the kitchen, grabbed her mother's hand, and started to drag her across the room. "Luis... I'll explain later, okay?"
"All right." Luis followed Sheridan and Rachel into the kitchen.