song credit:

"The Hardest Thing" – 98°

Love Will Find a Way

Chapter 8

        The woman walked up to Sheridan. Amazingly, the resemblance was almost identical. Except you could see the evil in the impostor's eyes. "Hello, Sheridan," she said, with a hint of mockery in her voice.

        "Get away from me, you b*tch!" Sheridan yelled. "No way are you going to take over my life. I won't let you hurt Ethan and Luis like that!"

        Suddenly there was banging on the stairs. "Whoever you are, don't worry, we're coming to save you!" The three villains looked at each other.

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        Ethan and Luis had arrived in London. They looked for the Evans residence, but found it empty, yet again. "Damn," Luis cursed under his breath. "That must mean they moved again."

        "Well, I'm exhausted, so why don't we call it a day and find a good place to stay for the night?" Ethan suggested.

        "Might as well," Luis agreed. They got back into the car and drove to the nearest hotel. Luis took the luggage while Ethan checked in. After they were done, they went to their assigned room. "Hey," Luis said to Ethan. "Check this out." He walked to the door next to theirs, which was open. Ethan followed his lead and went inside, but something caught Luis' eye. He picked it up. "A picture," he said. "I wonder..." He turned it over and found himself looking straight at his reflection. His and the woman he loved.

        "Ethan! Come here!" Ethan rushed out of Sheridan's room, saying, "Luis! Sheridan's staying here!"

        "I know! Look!" Luis showed the picture to Ethan.

        "It's... you and Sheridan."

        "Yeah. And no one in London knows Sheridan or me. So she must have been carrying this. What happened to her?" he wondered aloud.

        "Her room looks fine," Ethan observed. Suddenly, there was an announcement on the PA system: "All police officers, American, French, and English, please report to the basement immediately."

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        Two men were standing at the base of the stairs. "Whoever you are..." he began to say, when he noticed the Frenchmen and the Sheridan look-alike pointing guns at him. "Hey, I just want to help whoever screamed."

        "I did," Sheridan tried to say, but Pierre (the one that had the gun held to her face in the beginning) shut her mouth and held the gun to her head, which made the tears appear in Sheridan's eyes once again. Suddenly, there was more banging. Ethan appeared at the bottom of the stairs, which made Sheridan's eyes light up. "Sheridan!" he exclaimed, running towards his aunt.

        "Ethan!" she said, but the sound was muffled.

        "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ethan demanded of the three gunpeople.

        "We're getting exactly what we deserve. Sheridan was innocent, but she happened to cross the wrong person at the wrong time. So we have to kill her."

        Sheridan was shaking with fear. //Please, dear God, if I have to die, just let me see Luis one last time...// she prayed.

        "NO! You're not going to kill her. I won't let you!" Everyone turned to the sound. It was Luis, followed with about a dozen police officers.

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        He walked towards Ethan, Sheridan, Pierre, Roger, and the Sheridan look-alike, hate in his eyes, and a gun in his hands, pointing to Pierre. "Drop that gun, or else you die."

        "What gives you the authority to tell me what to do?" Pierre asked, not fazed.

        Luis pulled out his ID. "Harmony PD. I have the right to arrest you," he countered, angry.

        "But you're in England."

        "That doesn't matter! We also have some French police officers here, if you want to deal with that." He stepped aside, showing the faces of the angry French officers.

        "We've been looking for you three," one of them said, with a heavy French accent. "Now, there's no escape." He pulled out a gun, and so did Luis. Pierre tightened his hold of Sheridan, when all of a sudden, a shot was fired...

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        "Oh, my God," Sheridan said. She looked down at the fallen man, with a pool of blood forming around him. "Thank God," she said, relieved. Pierre and Roger were dead. The Sheridan look-alike ran, but one of the English officers caught and arrested her. "Thank you, men," the English captain said. "You can go now."

        "Actually," Luis spoke up, "I've got it under control."

        "Okay, then," he said. "We'll finish all the reports and paperwork."

        "Thanks," Luis said. The police officers left, and it was just Luis, Sheridan, and Ethan.

        "Luis," Sheridan said, "you saved my life. Again. You don't know how grateful I am to you."

        Luis didn't say anything, just untied her. Ethan was confused. *Didn't he say he loved her? Why does he have that look on his face?*

        Sheridan stood up. "Luis," she began, "I have something to say to you."

        "And I do, too." At that moment, he was filled with both love and hate, with a feeling of dread yet he was lightheaded... it was so overwhelming. He loved Sheridan, but hated that she was a Crane. And that she had murdered his father in cold blood.

        "What is it, Luis?"

        "How... how could you do this to me, Sheridan?"

        "Do what?"

        "You knew the truth about my father all this time, and you didn't tell me? Sheridan, we were supposed to be honest with each other. And yet... you keep the one thing I've been searching for from me? I... I don't understand."

        "Luis," Sheridan pleaded, with tears in her eyes, "I didn't mean to do it, I swear! It was just an accident... I was so young... Please, can you forgive me?"

        Luis looked at Sheridan. [God, it hurts so much to see her like this...] "I... I don't know, Sheridan. I need time to think. But until I talk to you again, I don't want anything to have to do with you. Goodbye, Sheridan." Luis turned and left Sheridan, who was sobbing. Ethan, who had witnessed it all, comforted his aunt, then helped her out of the basement.

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        Luis walked to the elevators, where there was a song playing. Actually, it was the tail end of the song.

[It's the hardest thing I'll ever have to do,
to look you in the eye and tell you I don't love you
It's the hardest thing I'll ever have to lie,
To show no emotion when you start to cry
I can't let you see what you mean to me
When my hands are tied and my heart's not free
We're not meant to be
It's the hardest thing I'll ever have to do,
To turn around and walk away pretending I don't love you...]

        He walked out of the elevator, deflated. He was walking towards his room when Ethan cornered him and hit him.

        "Ethan, what the hell was that for?" Luis said, angry.

        "You bastard! You tell me that you love Sheridan, that you want to be with her, but when you finally see her face to face, you tell her you never want to see her again! What's up with that?" Ethan demanded.

        "I said, I have to think," Luis said quietly.

        "Well, then, go and think!" Ethan opened the door. "I'm going for a walk." Ethan opened and closed a few drawers, slamming them all. "Good riddance, Officer Lopez-Fitzgerald." He slammed the door.

        Luis lay on the bed and began to make the toughest decision of his life.