Authors Note: Girls, you're really keeping me going with the reviews, Thanks!
Thanks to Scarlett for beta reading this, as always girl, HUGE help.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sheldon Jeffrey Sands, or any other characters from Once Upon A Time In Mexico, they belong to their respected creators, I just let them come and play, alot.;)
He woke up some time in he middle of the night, and at first couldn't pinpoint the sound that had woken him up. He lay there, very still, listening. He heard Cerise sleeping in the chair next to the bed, and could still feel Lily lying next to him. At first he thought it may have just been a dreams, but then he heard the sound again. There was a scuffling coming from outside the room, in the hall. He strained his ears, hearing a muffled cry and more scuffling. He knew the sound well... someone was being strangled.
He sat up slowly, one hand on Lily, lying her down in his place gently, continuing to listen. The sound of someone going through charts got his attention, then a soft whisper in Spanish.
"El está en allí."
Sands had the feeling he was the only he they were talking about.
Sands moved silently, getting out of bed and to Cerise's side. His hand over her mouth woke her up with a start, and Sands brought a finger to his lips. "Are you armed?" he breathed.
"Yes..." She replied just as softly.
"Give me your gun."
"Sheldon.."
"Just give me your gun."
Cerise pulled the 9 mm from her bag and slipped it in to Sands' hand.
"Get Lily," he ordered in a whisper, moving towards the door. Cerise swallowed, but didn't question. By then, she'd heard the noises coming from the hall. She stood and moved through the dark room and scooped Lily up from the bed, managing not to wake the child.
Sands stood near the door and listened. To his dislike, another nurse entered the scene.
"Hey! What's going on!?"
Night nurses. Sands was glad Kate had already gone for the night. Someone grabbed the nurse and he heard her struggling, then nothing. There was a thud a moment later as the goons dropped her body on the floor. Sands swore silently and slid the safety on the gun off. He moved back towards Cerise and stood between her and the door.
They listened for a long moment, then the sound of the door knob being shot broke the short silence, and the door being pushed open. "Get down," Sand hissed to Cerise, pushing her down beside the bed. He listened to the footsteps and someone opening fire.
Two shots and he heard the thud of a body falling. He heard someone struggling away from the nurses station... there was more then one of them. This one came skidding into the room and Sands didn't give him a chance. Sands pulled the trigger and shot the intruder. He heard the clatter of a gun falling to the floor, followed by a body.
Sands stood still, waiting. When he didn't hear anyone more, he spoke to Cerise. "Who are they?"
Cerise got up, Lily was now awake and clinging to her. "They're not from the Company, if that's what you're wondering." Cerise said. She put Lily on the bed and told her to stay put, then she moved over to the bodies. "They've got no identification, but they look Mexican..."
"The last of the Barillo cartel," Sands muttered.
"They'd travel all the way to D.C. to finish you off?" Cerise asked.
Sands shrugged. "I think we should go, NOW!" Sands ordered.
Cerise had the feeling he was right. She moved back over to the bed, picked Lily up, and grabbed her bag.
"I can make it as far as the cafeteria, after that, you'll have to be my eyes." Sands said dejectedly, stooping and picking up one of the men's AK-40s. He shouldered it and moved into the hall. One of his bare feet connected with a nurse's bodyand he stooped again, feeling around for a pulse, but found none.
Cerise looked around the dimly lit hall; there were three nurse's bodies. "Professionals..." Cerise muttered. "They've cut the power to the security cameras," she told Sands after spotting one in the dead cameras, the little red light had gone out.
"Great. Makes me feel a lot better," he drawled, standing again. With out a word, he headed for the elevator. Cerise followed, Lily buried her face in her mother's shirt. Sands hit the elevator button, but nothing happened. "I see they've cut the power to the elevators as well..." Sands growled. "Where's the door to the stairs?"
"About ten steps to your left" Cerise answered, looking up and down the hallway.
Sands counted his steps and reached out with a hand, pushing the door to the stairs open. "Let's go Cherry."
They took the stairs two at a time, their footsteps the only sound in the stairwell. Cerise found it very creepy, and her mind had been turning ever since they'd left Sands' room. "Sheldon... those men... they might have been the Delgado cartel..."
"Who are they?" Sands asked, stopping to listen to both Cerise, and for anyone who may be coming up or down the stairs.
"The cartel I was working to bring down... they... Delgado... he was partnered with Barillo."
Sands raised an eye brow. "How fascinating. When were you going to tell me this?"
"Once I had more of the puzzle pieces," Cerise replied, knowing she'd better tell Sands everything.
"Tell me all of it, Cerise."
That was a command, not a request. Cerise sighed. "I was working an operation that was in sync with yours. My results depended on your results. I don't know why you weren't told another Officer was in the area."
"And?"
"When what happened to you happened, the Delgado cartel came after me. That's not it..."
"I didn't think it was."
"I sent Sarah to take a look at your 201 file... there are pages missing from it, as well as from mine and hers."
Sands was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Let's go." He turned and headed down the stairs. He didn't even reply to what Cerise had told him, but his mind was turning. So some one was trying to frame him. He'd expected this by the false bona fides on Ajedrez. Whoever planted those wanted him to get caught. But why would someone want to frame Cerise and Sarah? When they got to the first floor, Sands shoved his pride back enough to ask Cerise if anyone was around.
"It's clear..." She said softly. They made a break for the main door and gunfire erupted. Sands spun, but Cerise grabbed him, dragging him behind a nurses station. Cerise slipped Lily under the desk and told her to stay put, setting her toy bag next to her.
"Fuck!" Sands yelled.
This brought another round of bullets over their head, shattering the glass above them. Cerise covered her head, moving backwards to escape the glass, but hissed in pain when she backed her shoulder into a shard. She raised her head to see Sands stand and turn in one fluid motion, pulling the trigger of the 9mm. When he'd emptied the clip of that, he chucked the gun and slipped the strap of the AK-40 off his shoulder. His fingers expertly clicking off the safety and opening fire.
"That's all of them...." Cerise said from her spot, voice trembling slightly. It had been a long time since she'd been in this kind of spot with Sands.
Sands lowered the gun, half turning in the direction of Cerise's voice. He heard Lily scrambled out from under the desk, and throw herself at her mother with a whimper. "Are you both alright?" Sands asked.
"Other then a few scratches from the glass, perfectly fine," Cerise said, holding Lily. "Well, a little shaken..."
Sands dropped down to the floor behind the desk, leaning against it, and drawing up his knees. He was frustrated by his lack of sight, and by the idea someone, who ever the fuck it was, was going to serious lengths to put an end to him. And he was tired, this whole 'escape' was the most moving he'd done since he'd been able to. He sat the gun on the floor. Still breathing hard, he leaned his head back against the wood a moment, listening to the silence of the lobby. Then he reached up and started undoing the bandages from around his eyes. Cerise watched a moment, before digging through her bag and pulling out a pair of black sunglasses. "Sheldon, here."
Sands dropped the bandages on the ground and reached out, feeling for what Cerise was offering. His fingers closed around the plastic and he grinned slightly, taking them from her and slipping them on. "What do ya say we get the fuck out of here?" he asked her.
"I'm all for it." Sands stood, grabbing the AK-40 just in case. He followed Cerise out the front door, and though the parking lot.
Cerise fumbled with the keys for the car as they walked at a quick pace. When she stopped at the black SUV, so did Sands and he threw the automatic weapon under the nearest car, disposing of it. Cerise pulled open one of the back doors as Sands found the handle for the front passenger and opened it. She buckled Lily in and slammed the door. As she started around the front, Sands grabbed her arm tightly, but gently. He had one foot in the car. "You alright?"
Cerise sighed. "Just shaken," she admitted. Sands nodded and let her go, getting in the car.
Cerise shut the engine off in the parking lot of Sands' apartment. He'd said nothing the entire drive back. The car ride had lulled Lily back to sleep, which Cerise was glad of.
"Home?" Sands asked finally.
"Yeah.." Cerise whispered, leaning on the steering wheel. Sands said nothing, getting out of the car. Cerise watched him. How he pulled off moving around so easily with out being able to see was keeping her in awe. She watched him turn to the car door behind him and after a moment, he pulled it open, reaching in with both hands and unbuckling Lily.
Cerise got out after grabbing the keys and walked around the front to stand next to the car, as Sands slammed the door and turned to Cerise. Lily was laying over his shoulder, still fast asleep, a thumb in her mouth, her rag doll in her arms. "We've got to talk, Cerise." Sands said seriously. Cerise had the feeling where this was going to lead.
She followed Sands into the building and up the stairs, not for the first time, and she doubted it would be the last. She unlocked the door of the apartment, no words where said until they were inside and Cerise was shutting the door.
"Where should I put her?" Sands asked.
"The bed.." Cerise said softly, forehead leaning against the cold wood. She turned the lock and watched Sands move through the apartment with ease. Nothing had been moved, so he knew the home by memory.
Cerise didn't doubt this, and so she moved through the hall to the bathroom and turned on the light. Pulling the medicine cabinet open, she took the first aid kit out. She slammed the medicine cabinet and saw Sands standing in the doorway, reflected in the mirror. There was a 22 in his fingers, the small silver gun gleaming in the light. "What's the point of that, Sheldon?" She asked dryly, taking her shirt off and looking at her shoulder.
"Just in case," he said evenly, leaning against the doorframe.
"I don't think you told me everything, you know."
"And that's supposed to make me tell you?" Her eyes steeled, and she didn't mask the anger in her voice, making sure Sands' heard it.
He raised the gun in front of his face, as if looking at it. "I know other ways of getting the truth out of you." Something soft slapped him in the face, knocking his sunglasses askew. "What the fuck was that for?!" he growled, closing the bathroom door, leaving them in the small light blue room.
"That you would even bloody well imply that I would double cross you!" Cerise hissed.
"Next time it'll be my hand," She threatened.
"I'm still armed, gorgeous." Sands stated.
"You wouldn't fucking dare!" Cerise snapped.
"Fine." Sands tossed the gun towards her, it clattered as it landed in the sink.
He held up both hands to show he was unarmed. Cerise stood there, a bandage to her shoulder, watching him close. "What the fuck do you want, Sheldon?"
"What do I want?" he asked dryly. "Gee... I wonder?" His tone slipped into sarcasm. "Why don't you tell me what you're doing back in my life after three years of such clever deception."
Cerise was tensing up, well aware what was going to happen and unable to stop it. "What I'm doing back in your life? Gee Sheldon," she matched his sarcasm. "I figured that was obvious."
"Oh, Lily? I don't doubt she's mine," he replied in an ironic tone.
"So what, Sheldon? what do you want to know?"
"Three years, Cerise, and NOW you contact me?"
"I had my orders," Cerise said softly.
"Orders for what?!" he pressed, swallowing. The only way he was going to get answers was to be relentless and hard, and he knew where it would end. He steeled himself. If it drove her to tears, he'd worry about it later, and if she attempted to the leave the bathroom there was another 9 mm in his back waistband. He had no intention of physically harming Cerise, but his trust was not present.
"Orders to stay away, to throw everything I'd worked for in the last eight years into the fucking dust and walk away!" Cerise snapped.
"And the Cerise Stone I knew didn't turn away from something like... what we had." The last three words came out with a swallow of air. First of all, what HAD they had? That little nasty voice crept forward. "Oh you fuckmook, you know exactly what you two had! You LOVED her." Shut UP! "LOVE," the voice screamed. "You loved her and you fucking know it, and you STILL LOVE her!" Sands took a deep breath, shoving that nasty little voice back, because frankly, he was starting to realize who it sounded like.
Now is NOT the time to have a fucking Norman Bates moment.
Cerise stood there, glaring with a raised eyebrow. Sands shook his head as if in disgust before tilting it to continue facing her.
Cerise swallowed back the tears before answering. "I had my daughter to think of as well..."
"Our daughter."
"Oh, NOW you except her!"
"You weren't the type to sleep around," Sands said simply.
"No, I didn't, and you know WHY?" Her temper was raising in defense. "Because I loved you, I still LOVE you!"
Sands didn't answer for a long moment, unsure how to reply. But his own defenses kicked in. "Then again...after being raped by your father so much, maybe you enjoy that kind of thing."
The crack echoed through the bathroom, followed by the soft thud as sunglasses hitting the floor. He stood there, the sting tingling through his cheek, hearing the sound of her stifling sobs before him.
"You fucking ruddy bastard!" she cried. "How DARE YOU!" Her voice was rising and didn't hide the hurt or anger. "How fucking dare you even suggest something like that, or that I'd sleep around. You don't KNOW what it's been like these last three years. You will NEVER know."
"Oh don't give me that fucking shit!" Sands snapped, finally able to find his voice. "You don't know what this is like!" He was standing there, with out his sunglasses, knowing she had full view of where his eyes should be and he wasn't going to retrieve the sunglasses until he was sure he'd gotten his point across.
"No, Sands. You know why I don't know what it's like?! BECAUSE YOU WONT FUCKING TELL ME!" she screamed.
He knew when she used Sands, it was bad between them.
"Sometimes," Her voice had dropped considerably, "I think I'll never understand why I fell in love with you, Sands, and sometimes I understand why Connie left."
If anything, that hit him harder than her slap. He didn't stop her from moving past him. Didn't stop her from opening the door. He heard her footsteps moving towards the bedroom as she continued to cry. The mention of the woman he'd almost married, until he found her cheating on him, stung hard.
But the idea that Cerise was leaving now, made him move. He stooped, picking up the sunglasses and slipped them on. He left the bathroom, snapping off the light out of habit, and headed for the bedroom. He heard Cerise scooping up Lily.
"I'm sorry, darling," he heard her whisper.
"Cerise..."
"I don't want to hear it Sands!" she snapped.
She slammed the door in his face and he heard the lock turn. "Cerise!" He said loudly, pushing on the door, but it didn't give in. "Don't do this shit, Stone!" He hit the door in anger.
"You started it!" she declared from the other side, and he knew she wasn't going to open the door anytime soon. Sands spun on his heel and stalked back towards the living room. He sank down on the couch, an angry look on his face.