Authors Note: Nice to see you girls are still with me after the last chapter... Alas, it gets worse. sigh Thanks for the great reviews girls!
Thanks to Scarlett for the beta-ing, keeps me going. ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own Sheldon Jeffrey Sands or any other characters from Once Upon A Time In Mexico, they belong to their respected creators. I jsut let them come and play. And nor do I own anything to do with Queen. Long Live Freddie Mecury!
Cerise came to with a jolt, someone was pounding on the door. Sands was still fast asleep. They'd somehow moved together until they were both stretched out on the large couch, Cerise still curled up against him. She listened to the pounding a moment, then silently crawled over him, grabbing his shirt. Buttoning the few buttons left intact from the night before, she moved towards the door. His shirt hung down past her thighs and was open enough to show her bra. Her hair was a complete mess, coming lose from her braid.
She undid the locks, but left the security chain hooked and opened the door. Sarah was standing in the hall, smoking down a cigarette, looking impatient. "Open the door, Cerise," Sarah said upon seeing the other woman's face. "There's trouble."
Cerise sighed and shut the door, removing the chain. Then she opened the door again. Sarah entered the apartment and looked at Sands, then back Cerise. Cerise nodded to the kitchen and she and Sarah went inside. "What's going on?" Cerise asked her softly.
"Well, the security officers are all over the hospital, they're looking for Jeff, and they want to know what happened last night."
"Simple, someone tried to kill Sheldon," Cerise said.
"They've questioned me, they want to question Jeff and they want to question you."
Cerise opened the fridge and looked at the contents. She took out a bottle of water and opened it, shaking her head at the bag of half rotten limes and glass bottle of tequila.
"What do we do, Cerise?" Sarah asked, watching her.
"They won't arrest Sheldon on self defense. It was self defense."
Sarah sighed. "If they think..."
"I was a witness." Cerise insisted quietly. She heard moving around in the living room and stepped back a bit, looking in. Sands was sitting up on the couch listening to them.
"Listen Ce," Sarah said, leaning on the counter. "You know I love you like a sister... and if truth be known, I love Jeff as a brother..." Cerise grinned slightly, listening to Sands get up from the couch. "I just mean.... six years working with you all... I'm always going to be on yours and Jeff's side."
"Well, that's nice to know," Sands said, standing in the doorway. Sarah jumped with a yelp and turned, looking at him. She raised an eyebrow, taking him in completely. He was in his light blue boxers with sunglasses covering his eyes.
"How much have you heard?" Sarah asked.
"All of it," Sands replied, moving past them to the fridge. He opened it and reached in, but didn't find his bottle of water. Cerise shook her head and handed the bottle to him, letting it touch his arm. He felt the cold and took the bottle, opening it.
"So then..." Sarah said softly. "I told the security officers what I could..." she muttered.
"Thanks, Sarah." Sands replied, setting the bottled water down on the counter. The three were quiet a moment. "Look," Sands said finally. "We've got to have a plan.."
"Yes..." Cerise said, wrapping her arms around one of his, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"I've got Sammy processing the micro film." Sarah said. Cerise nodded, letting go of Sands.
"Micro film?" Sands questioned, turning his head towards Cerise, an eyebrow raised.
Cerise shot Sarah a look, but said, "I told you that I sent Sarah on an errand... that would be what the micro film is..."
Sands shook his head. "Glad to know you're doing all this without me." He mumbled. Cerise didn't answer. She couldn't form the words.
Sarah sighed. "We just... you've been through enough, Jeff."
Sands slammed the bottle of water down on the counter. "Fuck you, Sarah! This is my fucking life you're playing with!"
"We're not playing!" Sarah retorted angrily.
"No, then what the fuck are you doing, cause you're not helping me!"
"Oh, you ungrateful bastard!" Sarah shot back.
"Go to hell!" Sands spat back.
"You first!"
"ENOUGH!" Cerise snapped loudly, she was standing against a counter, rubbing her temple. "Enough, both of you."
Sands was gripping the counter tightly, biting his tongue to keep from retorting. "Sheldon, we had our reasons for not telling you of our actions. And Sarah's right, it was for your own good." Sands said nothing and left the kitchen. Sarah and Cerise watched him go, with out a word.
Sarah departed from the apartment a few minutes later. Cerise closed and locked the door again with a sigh. She guessed that Sands was in the bedroom. Picking the clothes up off the floor, she walked back through the hallway to the master bedroom. She stopped in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Sands turned his head slightly in. He was lounging on the bed, with Lily curled up against him, his head propped up by an elbow.
"Just so you know..." Cerise said softly, taking the clothes over to the hamper. "Sarah's gone."
"So?" Sands muttered, running his fingers through Lily's hair. Cerise watched this as she moved towards the bed slowly. "I wish you'd stop being such a bastard." She sighed.
Sands snorted. "You know me so well," he said sarcastically.
Cerise rolled her eyes. "Shelly..." She sat down on the edge of the bed.
"What?" he asked tonelessly.
"I wish you'd understand that what Sarah and I did was for your own good."
"So you've said." He said bitterly. She didn't say anything after that. After a few minutes, she got up, intending to go back into the living room, when Sands grabbed her hand, pulling her back towards him.
He turned slightly as if looking up at her. "I realize, you're just trying to help, sweets, but I'm not that helpless." He said strongly.
Cerise sighed, "All right, Sheldon."
"No, I don't think it is all right because I don't think you get what I'm trying to tell you. I don't need to be coddled like some fucking baby." Sands stated.
Cerise growled, rolling her eyes. "If I was treating you like a fucking baby, I wouldn't have told you ANYTHING. You know me by now."
Sands was about to reply when he heard a whimper next to him. Lily was waking up. She first looked at Cerise, then at Sands and cuddled closer to him. Sands snapped his mouth shut and wrapped an arm around Lily. "We'll finish later," he muttered. Cerise didn't answer.
Lily was sitting on the floor of the living room, playing with her dolls by mid-afternoon. Cerise was sitting cross-legged on the couch, watching her. She had a clear view of Sands, who was sitting on the bed, deep in thought. She watched out of the corner of her eyes. Sands got up from the bed and moved towards the balcony, taking a cigarette from the pack he'd had with him last night. She heard him pause, and then a moment later, the balcony door opened, letting a stream of sunlight into the bedroom.
Cerise sat back on the couch with a sigh, head tilted and watching Lily when she heard the soft sounds of a guitar. Leaning forward, she could hardly believe he'd picked it up again. Listening, she finally gave in and got up. Walking softly through the hall to the bedroom, she heard him singing the lyrics softly while he played.
"Who dares to love forever?
When love must die.
But touch my tears with your lips,
Touch my world with your fingertips.
And we can have forever.
And we can love forever."
As things had happened three years ago, she moved out onto the balcony, sitting down in the chair opposite him, watching, and not saying a word. It wasn't until Sands finished the song that he turned his head towards her.
"Sheldon," She started timidly. "I'm sorry for not telling you what Sarah and I were up to. I promise in the future to fill you in completely."
Sands let a contemplating look slip over his face. "Well," he drawled. "I don't know if I can forgive you."
She kicked him in the shine. "Ass!"
He grinned a crooked grin. "Scouts honor?"
"I was never in girl scouts."
"Figurative...." He said in a singsong tone.
"All right, all right. Scouts honor!" she snapped.
She was about to say something else, when Sands turned his head towards the apartment. He was putting down the guitar and pulled a concealed snub nosed 9 from under the lounger. He knew he'd heard the door close softly, but Lily couldn't POSSIBLY have undone the locks. He strained his hearing, and it was when he heard the clatter of one of Lily's toys on the coffee table that he got up. Cerise wasn't far behind him.
"She was in the back seat...it was a black SUV with no plates.." Cerise breathed in defeat, crumpling onto the stairs.
"FUCK!" Sands shouted, throwing up his arms in anger and failure. "Fuck, fuck fuck!" He heard a stifled sob come from Cerise and moved back to the stairs, sitting down next to her.
"I always knew something like this was going to happen, that's why I wanted out!" Cerise sniffled.
Sands wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer and kissed the top of her head. "We'll find her," he promised gravely. "We'll find her... I'll find her."
Cerise turned her head, burying her face in Sands' shirt, and cried. Sands just held her, not knowing what else to do.