Okay folks, you asked for it :). Please keep in mind that English is not my first language. Honest, constructive critisism is very much appreciated as I want to evolve my writing. I also might need a boost in the long run.

Chapter Two

July 1994

Sully's hormones were killing him! Or was it his hot temper acting up again? Or was it just his little brother's annoying character and nerve-grating antics?

He just had to get out of the little cabin and vent off for some minutes before he was able to join his family in their vacation home again. It was always like that. Sully still remembered the serene, quiet days before his brother had come along. Those days he had constantly been laughing and cuddling up with his parents, never experiencing an ounce of anger or aggravation. At least, that was the way he remembered it.

Suddenly, he had to stop and smile despite himself. Just before they had flown out to Mexico two days ago, he and Wills had watched this year's hot horror movie on their home theater back in Colorado Springs. His little brother had strewn out some sticks and branches in front of their cabin by the beach just the way the teenage slasher in the flick had done right before starting his killing spree.

"Ya little demon," Sully exclaimed and began to clear up the signs before any of his parents realized that Wills had been watching a movie he had been way too young to watch. Another set of feelings towards his brother welled up in Sully. Respect for his wicked sense of humor, love, dedication and a fierce kind of protectiveness. William Sully had that way about him. He could nag and pester his older brother until that one usually eventually gave in and allowed Wills do the things their parents usually forbade. Like watching the first ten minutes of a horror movie.

Noticing that black clouds formed on the horizon and the wind had picked up, Sully drew his light jacket close and started to walk along the deserted beach, hoping to catch a little peace and quiet before the storm began to rage. He marveled at how the weather seemed to match his inner feelings. Usually, Sully was a quiet, polite, even-tempered young man. It was only since entering puberty that everything inside and about him - his feelings, his appearance, his temper, was being whirled around. Being the biologists that they were, his parents put all the blame on his growth spurts and the hormones. And most probably that was about it. Sully knew that he was changing into a man and he was grateful for that. But he could do without the mood-swings he seemed to experience every now and then.

It was not the girls, he pondered, as he walked along the shore. At age fourteen, he still liked the girls as much as the boys. Well, maybe a little bit more. And he certainly noticed and was interested in the lady parts many of the young girls showcased on the beaches here in Mexico. But he was yet to like a girl as more than a friend. Until now, he had not met a girl that caught his gaze and interest for more than friendship just as he felt for Grace or Abby back home. No, he decided, it was not lady troubles that bothered him so much.

But since last fall, Sully did not feel like his inner, truest self any more. Always being edgy, bordering on being rebellious against his Dad. Having a short fuse and little patience with his brother sometimes. Sully knew he was better than that and he had been raised better than that.

He had not been fair to Wills back in the cabin. William looked up to his big brother. He thought the world of him. He had been looking forward to spending this summer vacation with his hero and only wanted to make sure that his brother would play with just him for the whole three weeks that they were here. Granted, Sully had been a little rude when Wills had come over with the Monopoly board and nagged him to no end. Sully promised to himself that he would make sure to be more accommodating and loving to his baby brother.

Brooding, he walked on, making sure to avoid the palm trees whose branches were precariously waving about in the wind.

Brooding, she trudged along the white sandy beach.

"That's just not fair!" she exclaimed. "Just because Maureen got knocked up at sixteen I am never to get a social life. Ever!"

In her mind, she heard her mother admonishing her. 'That's no way to talk young lady!' she heard Elizabeth say just as clear as if she was walking right beside her. And to be honest, the thought made her feel guilty. Usually, she truly did not talk like that.

Angrily, Michaela kicked a little shell out of her way. "Just one time…. " she spoke to herself "... the lady could trust me. I am thirteen years old! I'm not stupid! I didn't want to tag along because of meeting boys! I'm not a boy-crazy airhead like my sister. This was my only chance! For the first time Marjorie's finally agreed to let me come with her…. I just wanted to have a look how it is. I wouldn't have done anything! Just standing by the side and seeing what the real world is all about… But Mom must go and spoil everything... .. I blame you for my misery!"

She spoke down to her perky, firm chest, concealed under a red top. "Ever since you showed up, Mom wouldn't let me do anything any more!"

Scowling, Michaela thought about the misery that was her life. As long as she could remember, her mother Elizabeth was the stricter of their parents. Sure, her Dad wasn't laisser-faire either but with the long hours he worked as a head surgeon at Boston Memorial, much of what was going on in his house flew under his radar. Which did not mean that he was not invested in the upbringing of his five daughters. Not all all. He loved his girls very much. But his work demanded a lot from him, too, and he and his wife had an understanding that Elizabeth was to be a stay-at-home mom, laying the family-related responsibilities mainly on her shoulders.

Michaela still remembered her mother "before Colin". She recalled her Mom as fun-loving, friendly and outgoing. Gentle and accessible to her daughters. Not that Elizabeth was not a doting and loving mother these days. But something had changed in her when Michaela's middle sister Maureen had become pregnant by a classmate at age sixteen. The classmate had left but luckily Colin had stayed. Maureen had been very adamant at keeping her baby even when people outside the family suggested adoption or other means of getting rid of the baby. Michaela was very glad for her little nephew Colin Quinn. He was turning four next month and was the sunshine of their family. Even Elizabeth had come around when she had went along for the doctor's appointment and had seen her grandson at the ultrasound monitor for the first time. Their Dad had been his supportive self through this whole time, never making accusations to Maureen and smoothing her way when she had expressed the wish to part-time study for a business degree at a Community College. Only the ex-boyfriend was not spared from a long, good talking-to. Nevertheless, something had changed within her mother with Colin's conception.

At first, her daughters noticed that their Mom was overall more cautious than they knew her and she seemed to listen to the opinion of her friends, neighbors and social circle more than ever before. Over time, stricter rules had been implemented in their household. Elizabeth appeared to care more what other people thought of the once well-respected family instilling stricter rules and behavior in her two younger children. One of the unuttered rules was 'no boys before you are of age". A guideline, her sister Marjorie had not wanted to acquiesce to and clashed over many a time. Michaela had no problems sticking to that particular rule whatsoever. At age thirteen, she had much more going on for her than her looks and chasing after boys. She was top of her class at school. High School, to be exact, as she had skipped two grades in Junior High. She had many interests in science, in the arts, in equestrian sports and in books overall and she was aspiring to step into her father's footsteps to become a doctor.

What she missed as of late, was a social life. Sure, she had a few close friends like Rory, Rob and William. But all of them were a few years older than her due to her going to High School and that presented a particular problem. Her relationship with the boys of their group had slowly developed some small little rifts when Michaela's mother had noticed her girl becoming a woman and put ever more restrictions and rules on their meetings. Embarrassed, Michaela had avoided telling Rob and Will the reason for her mother's reserve. She refused to acknowledge that her body was changing, taking on the curves of a woman and what was more, she refused to believe that this had got anything to do with anything. Why could she not just be friends with the boys the way they had been since preschool?

It was certainly not that she was thinking of any of them in that way! No way, José! They were her friends, her brothers.

Rob, or Robert E as he casually preferred to be called these days, she knew since they were little. Although the boy had been two years her senior, he had never had any qualms spending time with the toddler she was back then. As he had a knack for repairing things, he had often helped mending Michaela's things that older and meaner children had managed to break. In retrospect, they had both realized what had pulled them together in the first place. They both had been an outsider to their respective peer group. Robs parents, some Bostonian upper-class, African-American doctor and lawyer had put their kid in a daycare establishment where the boy had stood out for nothing else than the color of his skin. Michaela on the other hand, had been fairly introverted, very studious and a bit shy. A combination that had not really attracted that many play mates.

Her friend Will had always been there. She had known him as long as she could remember. As the Burkes were close friends to her parents, Will had always been around. As he shared the same dream of becoming a doctor, they had endless things to talk about.

Michaela thought of both of them as her elder brothers.

Which was exactly why she just could not grasp her Mom's line of thinking. For her mother those boys, or any young man in general, were some kind of predators endangering the virtues of her daughters. As Rebecca and Claudette had married their respective spouses John and Patrick at a rather young age and as in Maureen's case the horse had already left the barn, Elizabeth now devoted her sole focus on the moral upbringing of her youngest daughters Michaela and Marjorie. And look how that had turned out!

At eighteen years old, Marjorie flat out refused to be corralled in by their mother any longer. In fact, she had agreed to join the family vacation in Mexico under the only premise that this was to be the last one she had to endure with her parents and little sister. What was more, she almost managed to spoil the whole trip for everyone with her constant scowling at any proposals her parents made regarding day trips, her inattentiveness and her nonstop phone-calls with her current boyfriend.

"Ugh! Everett!" Michaela crinkled her nose at the notion of the milquetoast douchebag.

He was one hundred years old! Why else would he be blessed with such an old-fashioned name? Although Michaela was not her sister's greatest champion, she could, for the life of her, not understand what Marjorie saw in the aspiring patent lawyer. It sure was not the good looks her sister usually went for in guys. And certainly it was not that he had managed to arouse romantic longings in Marjorie.

Michaela cringed at the thought.

No, she knew for sure that her sister had every intention to wait for the ultimate consummation of their relationship until the wedding night. With compliments from their dearest mother and her set of moral values!

However, Marjorie's intention of staying a virgin until marriage did not hold her back from flirting with every handsome face she saw. Flirting and boys and party seemed to be everything the girl ever thought about these days. And that was were Michaela's anger stemmed from on this stormy afternoon.

After days of nagging and begging, Marjorie had finally privately agreed to take her little sister along for her last evening in Cancún. Michaela had not wanted to come because of the boys or the parties. She knew that a) she was far too young for any of those b) those kind of things did not seem like her kind of scene. No, she had just wanted to see what the fuss that her elder sisters had been invested in at one point in their lives was all about. Michaela was a curious and studious girl. She was always up for an experiment and getting to know the unknown. She wanted to see for herself what made young people tick. She wanted to see the fun and games and freedom. She wanted to get a whiff of what life was about for them. And maybe, maybe just a tiny little part of her had wanted to feel for one minute that she could belong... ..

But her curiosity was not to be satisfied this time. When they had asked their parents, their Mom had immediately refused. Her teenage daughter was not to attend something she perceived as some wild party. Michaela had scowled at her mother, knowing that she did not trust her good judgement and decency. After a few heated words, she had left the quaint, blue little house and headed for the adjacent beach.

Stumping over the white sand, she did not particularly care where she was headed.

Sully pulled his dark blue hoodie over his head as the strong wind had begun to seriously blow some sand in his direction. Contemplating if his temper had cooled off enough for him to start heading back, he caught a glimpse of something on the horizon. Surprised, Sully halted in his tracks. He had not anticipated seeing another soul out here in this weather. But the red figure in front of him moved, making it a real person.

A woman! ...

... A girl?

Yes, a girl dressed in jeans, sneakers and a bright red loose-fitting top. She had long, brown, beautiful hair floating all about her shoulders. The wind pressed her top tightly to her body and he could gather that despite her being young, probably a bit younger than him, she already began to fill the garment in all the right places. Sully was curious to see her face but she had turned it down so much, not bothering where she walked, that he could not take a look. From her posture alone he perceived that she was distressed. 'No wonder,' he thought. What kind of dork was walking around on a beach right before a tropical storm? Just when Sully tried to make a final decision if he should turn around to his family's cabin or if he should stay put in hopes to see if the girl came any closer, a loud tearing noise erupted on his front-right side.

Horrified, Sully watched as a strong blast separated a huge chunk of palm fronds from a big tree. Another gust of wind heaved it up and forcefully blew it into the direction the girl was taking.

"Watch out!" he roared but yet he instinctively moved into action in case she had not heard a thing against the wind.

For Michaela, things happened in slow motion. A sound roused her from her reveries. A person... .. a boy in front of her shouted something. He came at her but she could not move. Waiting for the blow, it came when the boy lunged at her, wrestling her to the ground. A huge palm frond whooshed past over them, missing both of their heads by mere inches.

That was when she came to. This boy, this stranger had gotten her out of harm's way and protected her with his own body. Then she looked up.

Their fall had pushed down his hoodie and brought about a full head of curly-brown hair caressing a very cute face. Cute was not the right word, she thought. Handsome….. intriguing. But what pulled her gaze in like a magnet was the depth of his beautiful blue eyes. Michaela's breath caught in her throat. She had never seen eyes like that… Or had she?

Sully had not thought of the consequences for himself when he surged ahead to get the girl out of the tree's way. He just prayed that it would miss them when he shielded her body. It was a millisecond later that she lay under him and the danger had passed. Surprised at his own quick thinking, he leaned back as to not crush the girl. His attempt to stand up and brush off was halted when he gazed into her face for the very first time. She was lovely. Downright beautiful. Stunned, he took in the porcelain skin over high cheekbones, a curvy little pink mouth and a cute nose. But it was her eyes he fell into. One olive green the other hazel brown. He just wanted to open his mouth to utter that her eyes looked unusual, when she squirmed under him.

They managed to stand up albeit a bit wobbly. She was the first to find words. Mistaking him for a local boy, she uttered. "¡Muchas gracias! Probablemente, tú salvaste mi vida. No sé cómo agredecértelo." *

Perplexed, he looked at her. She was speaking Spanish. She must be a local girl even if she did not particularly look like it. Desperate, he searched his brain for shreds of Portuguese he had fluently spoken as a young boy, figuring it was close enough to Spanish. But he had been too young when he left Brazil with his parents and he had not used the language in a long time. Plus, he did not speak much Spanish either except for his holidays here on the beach so his knowledge was only rudimentary.

So he began to stammer "No habl..." But he was forcefully interrupted by a loud shout.

"There you are!" a woman yelled. "What on God's green earth are you doing here? Your father and I have been looking for you for the longest time now. Since when do we walk out on the family, young lady?"

"And in this dreadful weather!" she cried herself into a fit, stomping up to them through the hindering sand.

Michaela rolled her eyes and shuffled her feet. She was totally embarrassed by her Mom's condescending behavior. When her mother yelled at her in front of a total stranger, she was in real trouble.

Elizabeth had joined their circle. "And who are you?" she rather barked at the boy in front of her.

Sully was too amazed at the force that was Elizabeth Quinn to reply but also to instantly realize that the beautiful girl must be American after all.

"I...," he stuttered.

"Never mind!" she exclaimed. "You are coming with me! Your father must be getting worried." she reached for Michaela's arm.

Michaela withdrew it. "But Mom!" she tried. "This boy..."

"For God's sakes! I see that he's a boy. And I won't have you gallivanting around with him any longer."

By now, Michaela truly wished that the Mexican boy could not understand a word of the English language.

Apologetically, she looked at him, trying to convey with her eyes her embarrassment and her gratitude for what he had done for her but her Mom insistently drove her on. Giving in to the inevitable, she waived her rescuer goodbye. "¡Gracias!"

Her mother was persitent.

"Lo siento..."** she whispered.

Groaning, she turned around to her mother who unceremoniously pulled her home by her sleeve, vowing to somehow get back at the boy for saving her from serious injuries.

„I...," Sully could only croak after the disappearing figures. „I don't even know your name," he realized.

In stunned silence, his blinked his eyes. Had those last few minutes truly happened? That girl was beautiful. He had never seen anyone like her. Who was she? A tourist, probably, like he was. He had to find her and talk to her just to find out if she was as nice on the inside as she looked on the outside. There were not that many vacation houses around here. This was still a rather secluded beach. Surely, he could find out from Pedro if another American family spent their holidays in these parts.

How fast things could change! His former scowl was replaced by a huge, silly grin he simply could not swipe off his face. Whistling, he turned around to get back to his family's cozy little white cabin. Maybe he was up for a round of Monopoly after all.

The ensuing rain still had not let up when Michaela climbed into in the car driving them to the airport on the next day. Dreary, like the weather, she felt when she sunk back into the seat.

She had wanted to find out the identity of the boy who had rescued her, through their landlord Rúben who had come by early this morning to see the American family off.

Rúben was a nice man in his sixties who was always happy to rent his beloved house to the doctor's family. He liked them, especially Josef and his youngest daughter who both bothered to speak to him in his own language. It was always like family visiting when he had them here. But today he could not help Señorita Michaela and he saw her face drop with disappointment.

At her question if he could tell her who the Mexican boy was, Rúben had told her that there were no local boys her age in these parts at this time of year. School had already started and the next one was some dozen miles away. So he was sorry to disappoint her, but he did not know of a young Mexican around here.

Michaela sighed, her breath creating condensation on the windshield. The boy must think of her as a rotten, ungrateful, entitled Americano who took for granted that he risked his own health for her. Sadly, she looked at the house one more time, the palm trees and a glimpse of the grey sea when they slowly pulled away.

When he had asked Pedro, the owner of their little white cabin on the beach this afternoon, the Mexican had immediately known where to guide him. He knew that his friend Rúben also rented his house to tourists and he believed that an American family was actually staying there right now.

When the weather had finally cleared and the sun came up behind the clouds again, Sully began his walk into the described direction.

It was not too hard to find. A pale blue, two-story house, white shutters, grand porch. It was a little apart from the beach and also the road, nestled into a tiny valley of lush green shrubbery. It he had not had the directions, he maybe would not have known of its existence. But he liked what he saw. The house was similar to their own little wooden cabin at the beach. Cozy and unpretentious. What he did not like when he came nearer was that all the shutters were closed. Only the front door was open and an old, battered car stood in front of the house. Out emerged an older, round lady with a huge bucket full of sheets.

Sprinting to her side, Sully helped her load it into her trunk. She must be the cleaning lady, he thought. She smiled a very happy thank you at him. Berating himself that his Spanish was not good enough and hoping for the best, he inquired. "Do you know where the people in this house are?"

Lucky for him, she understood English well but unluckily, the content of her message was not good. "They left for the airport this morning. I'm sorry you missed them."

His face fell. "Do you know where to?"

Seeing his distress, she laid a hand on his arm. Sympathetically, she said. "No, lo siento. I'm sorry. Rúben just called me to clean up. I have not met them." She patted his arm. "Well, thank you for helping me."

"No problem," he vaguely said, turning around.

He did not know why he felt so strongly about it. So she left. So what? He did not even know her. What had he wanted here anyway? Had he just wanted her to know that he was American too and that they could spend a friendly time? Had he wanted for her to worship him because he had managed to shield her from that tree? Had he wanted her praise… in plain English this time? No, it sure was not that. He had just followed his impulse. He had wanted to get to know her a little.

It was not meant to be. He still had his little brother as a companion for the vacation. Why should he need more? Trying to shrug the unexplainable sad feeling off, Sully got back to the road and when he was there, he fell into a jog, heading for his home.

*Thank you! You probably saved my life. I don't know how to thank you.

** I'm sorry.

AN: I'm probably going to post every week or so. So please tune in, if you like the story. And please, let me know what you think.