The Matchmakers

Chapter Four: Whole Lotta Trouble

Thank you so much to Emerald0319, SkintheKat, and Heather for your reviews!

At The Briar Rose

"Well, hello, Sheridan! This is a pleasant surprise." Kieran smiled at her as she walked in the door. "Didn't think you were the type to stop for a drink after a hard day's work."

Sheridan smiled. "Normally, I'm not, but I was actually hoping Gwen would be here. Is she?" She looked at Kieran hopefully.

He shook his head. "Sorry, she's home with the girls. Is it important? I'm sure I can arrange-"

"Oh no, please, don't put yourself out. I can always call her too, or stop by." Sheridan sighed. "Well, I guess I'll be going." Her gaze drifted across the room and stopped as she saw a morose figure at the bar, downing a drink. "Or maybe I'll stay for a few minutes."

Jared looked up as someone slid onto the stool next to him. "Oh, hello, Sheridan. How are you?" His words were slightly slurred.

Sheridan raised an eyebrow. "Better than you are, apparently. Is this a solo pity party, or can anyone join?"

Jared laughed. "You sure are developing a mouth lately, aren't you?" He flinched as he realized what he'd just said-and to his boss of all people. "I'm sorry. You're right-I've probably had a few too many."

Sheridan smiled at him. "I understand, believe me. What you need right now is something to eat-and a friend. And lucky for you, here I am. I'm offering my services." She signaled a passing waitress. "Excuse me, Miss...we need a table, please."

xXx

"Thank you for agreeing to come with me, Fancy." Luis opened the door to the Briar Rose and gestured her inside.

"Sure, no problem." Fancy murmured as he took her arm and steered her towards an empty table.

A few minutes later their drinks had arrived and Fancy was finally starting to relax. From the way Luis was acting, he felt horrible about what had happened the other night. Maybe there really was a chance for them after all.

"Fancy." Luis picked up her hand. "I never meant to hurt you. I'm so sorry that I let myself get so distracted. You were completely right to be so upset after I blew off our anniversary dinner. I was a jerk. When I came home and saw that you'd moved out...well-it hurt. It hurt more than anything and it made me realize that I'd taken you for granted. I don't want you out of my life, Fancy, I miss you. And I love you, you know that, don't you? I love you so much."

Fancy felt herself weakening. When he looked at her like that it was all she could do to keep from leaping across the table at him and- She shook her head, determined to remain strong, even if she was allowing her own fingers to caress his right back. "But what about Sheridan, Luis?"

"What about her?" Luis shrugged. "I care about her-I'm not going to lie. And I'm worried about her, especially with Chris/Gianni out to get her. But it's you I love, and it's you I want to be with. Give us another chance, Fancy. Move back in with me-tonight." He reached out and stroked her face and Fancy nearly melted right there on the floor.

"Well..." She smiled flirtatiously. "I suppose we could talk about it."

Luis grinned at her and sat back, looking relieved. "Oh, we're going to do more than talk tonight, if I have anything to say about it."

Fancy laughed, feeling herself flush with anticipation. "Is that so? And how are you going to get me to agree to that?" She suddenly felt lighthearted and giddy, the pain she'd felt the last few days evaporating. He loved her-he really did. Maybe they could make this work after all.

Luis leaned forward. "Do you really want to know?" He whispered huskily. Their eyes met and held each other for a moment, the sparks nearly visible between them. Then something behind Fancy caught Luis's eye and he straightened up, glowering.

"What the hell?" He muttered.

"Luis?" Fancy felt the connection break and her heart sank. "What is it?"

Luis looked at her, obviously distracted. "Uh...hold that thought, Fancy. I'll be right back." He got up from the table without another word, his expression grim. Fancy stared after him, wondering what had him so upset. Then she saw them, and her heart didn't just sink-it plummented right through her shoes and into the floor. Sheridan and Jared sat at another table, laughing together-and Luis was heading straight for them, his face like a thundercloud.

xXx


"Beer battered shrimp." Sheridan murmured, looking at the menu. "You know, I don't think I've ever had such a thing."

"Somehow I suspect beer battered anything wasn't big on the chef's menu at the Crane Mansion." Jared grinned as he looked at his own menu.

"You can say that again." Sheridan laughed. "I think I'm going to try it."

"Oh, feeling adventurous, are we?" Jared teased her. "Because if you are, I have a pickled egg I'd like to introduce you to."

Sheridan opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, she found herself distracted-by a very angry Luis.

"What the hell is going on here?" Luis snapped, grabbing Jared by the nape of his neck and dragging him to his feet. "Stay the hell away from her!"

"Luis!" Sheridan cried, standing up. "What are you doing?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Jared pulled himself out of Luis's grip and stared at him. "What is your problem, man?"

"You. You're my problem." Luis glared at him, his eyes shooting sparks, then turned to Sheridan. "What are you doing, Sheridan? This guy is bad news. You can't trust him."

"What?" Jared and Sheridan exclaimed simultaneously. Sheridan continued, feeling bewildered. "Luis, you know that's not true."

"What I know is this guy lied to everyone in Harmony about who he was for almost two years. He played us for fools, Sheridan. He even lied to my sister, and they were going to be married. He put you in danger, or have you forgotten that? He let you stay married and live in the same house with Chris, when he knew how dirty that guy was. You could have been killed!"

"I think you're forgetting the circumstances, Luis." Jared snapped. "Hello, FBI agent here, remember? I'm one of the good guys! Sheridan and Chris were under constant surveillance. We did our best to make sure she was as safe as possible. Now I didn't like not being able to tell her the truth about him, but we had to build our case. I did what I had to do, and I think as a cop you should be able to understand that."

"What I understand..." Luis growled. "Is that you're a lying, two faced bastard. I don't know why you're still in Harmony after Theresa left you at the altar, but you can be damn sure you're not getting your hooks into Sheridan, not if I have anything to say about it!"

As they continued to argue, Fancy stood up, watching the three of them with tears in her eyes. It was no use. She'd allowed herself to believe for a moment that she and Luis could work things out, but no matter what, Sheridan would always be there, like a ghost between them. Luis may say all the right words to her, do all the right things, but in the end, it was his ex that he would always find a reason to run to.

She moved slowly towards the door, hoping, although she knew it was futile, that she was wrong. That Luis would take his eyes from Sheridan, see her, and realize what he was doing, what he was giving up. She refused to look back but still, she was waiting and hoping to hear him call her name.

It didn't happen. His voice didn't ring out to stop her, his hand didn't reach for her. And unnoticed, Fancy opened the door and disappeared into the night, her heart breaking once again.

The Lennox Residence

Tabitha finally found her voice. "Charity, dear, what on earth are you talking about? Eradicate evil? What would that have to do with me?"

"Oh, Tabitha." Charity shook her head. "You didn't think I'd find out, did you? You see, I've been researching and using my powers to root out all sources of evil, and I knew there was something awful in Harmony. How could there not be, with all that's happened here? Imagine my surprise though, when I tried to trace it...and all roads kept leading back to dear, sweet Tabitha Lennox. I didn't believe it at first-I really didn't. Turns out though, that I'm not the only one who's had dealings with you. My teachers told me all about you, Tabitha. You are responsible for all the pain and misery in Harmony-you're a witch! And you killed..." She pointed an accusing finger at Tabitha, her eyes welling with tears. "You killed my mother!"

"Did not." Tabitha crossed her arms and looked defiantly at the young woman.

"You did too, Tabitha! I know you did-I've used my powers to reach back in time-to pull back the veil and see the truth!" Charity's voice raised to an indignant squawk.

"Well, then your crystal ball is broken, dear." Tabitha snapped. "Either that or your teachers are as inept as your mother was. Oh, don't look at me like that. She's not dead, you whiny chit!"

"What?" Charity gasped, her arms falling to her sides as shock colored her face. "She is! We never found her-and the fire..." She began to cry.

Tabitha rolled her eyes. "Charity, use what little common sense you have. Harmony Search and Rescue couldn't find a tree in the forest, much less a person. I admit I was trying to kill you. She cast a spell to stop me. It was supposed to protect you, but your mother was as bad with her powers as she was with her parenting skills. It backfired on her and put her in a state of limbo."

"L-limbo?" Charity asked shakily, her chin trembling.

"Yes, limbo." Tabitha brightened. "Would you like to see her again? I could send you there, you know. It's quite fun, really, except for the part where it's limbo and all. What do you say?"

Charity's face darkened and she narrowed her eyes. "You evil...you vile..."

"Witch?" Tabitha shrugged. "I believe we established that already. The question is, what are you going to do about it?"

"Oh, there's quite a bit I can do about it." Charity smiled, and Tabitha's eyes widened as she saw the glowing ball of light form on Charity's palm. "And Endora is going to help me."

'What?!' Endora's eyes widened.

The Book Cafe

Pilar looked around at the tables, half of them empty. The Briar Rose had really cut into their dinner traffic but she couldn't say she was upset about it. The Book Cafe was doing so well during the day, catering especially to commuters and delivering out to office buildings that profits were up considerably. She'd just have to readjust a few things-maybe offer a simpler dinner menu and divert some more staff to the morning shifts where they were almost always swamped. Yes, that would work... Lost in thought, she didn't notice the uniformed man in front of her until he cleared his throat.

"Oh, Sam! I'm sorry...I was just thinking..." She smiled at him. "What brings you in at this time?"

Sam smiled at her and indicated the container he was holding. "We're shortstaffed as usual down at the station so I'm working over. It was my turn to make the coffee run."

"Yes, it's really too bad that things didn't work out for Fancy. I think she would have made a welcome addition to the force and maybe she would have eased the burden a bit." Pilar shrugged.

"Yes, I was surprised at how good her instincts were. But with the paparazzi stalking her everywhere, showing up during her first drug bust and blowing the whole thing-well, it just wasn't going to work. Still, once she finishes law school and starts working in the D.A's office the Harmony police will have a great ally. Things have a way of working out the way they're supposed to. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure we're still on for breakfast tomorrow." Sam smiled at her and Pilar felt her pulse speed up.

"Of course, Sam." She smiled back at him. For the past week, Sam had shown up for the breakfast rush everyday and asked her to join him. It was rapidly becoming a regular routine for them, and Pilar had to admit that she looked forward to it. Maybe a little bit too much... Lately she'd had a hard time keeping Sam off her mind. The more time they spent together, the more she realized how much they had in common and how well they got along. And the more she resented Ivy for being the one at Sam's side, the one he was planning to spend the rest of his life with. There was no way that icy socialite was ever going to make the blue collar police chief happy, and Pilar had found it more and more difficult to restrain herself from telling him what a mistake he was making. She kept telling herself it was none of her business, that she shouldn't even care, but she did. How much, she really didn't want to explore.

Shaking the uncomfortable thoughts away, Pilar said goodnight to Sam and discreetly covered a yawn with her hand. She couldn't let her staff see how tired she was. She needed to set a good example for them all.

The chime on the front door sounded again and Pilar looked up idly to see Fox Crane coming through. Her eyes widened slightly. While it was true that he was a regular customer of theirs via delivery, she hadn't expected him to stroll inside for a meal anytime soon, especially with all the bad blood between him and her son, Miguel.

Laura, her hostess, picked up a menu and started forward but Pilar stopped her. "Laura, I'll serve Mr. Crane myself, please." She smiled authoritavely and took the menu, heading towards him.

"Fox, hello! This is a nice surprise. May I seat you?" She adopted a more formal tone then she normally would, the Book Cafe being a casual environment. Still, Fox was a Crane, even if she had known him since he was in diapers, and she couldn't help falling back into old routines.

"Oh, no, Pilar. Actually, I didn't come in to eat. I wanted to thank you, actually." Fox said, looking at her with a small smile.

"Thank me?" Pilar's eyebrows raised. "What on earth for?"

"For what you've been doing, you know, trying to cheer me up." Fox rubbed the back of his neck, perplexed by Pilar's obvious confusion. "I mean, I figured it was you putting all those special touches on my breakfast orders this past week. The smiley face pancakes, the notes, the extra muffins, the flowers... It was nice of you to go to the trouble."

"Fox, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about. Someone has been doing things to your breakfast order?" Pilar stared at him in bewilderment.

"Yeah, I mean I thought it was you. I thought you felt bad because of Kay and Miguel..." Fox's voice trailed off.

"No. What I mean is, of course I feel terrible that you got hurt, Fox, but I haven't been doing anything to your orders." Pilar looked around in confusion. What had been happening in her cafe this past week?

xXx

In the cafe's kitchen, Rina frowned as her cell phone suddenly went off for the umpteenth time that day. She felt a burning desire to dump the irritating thing in the trash, but quickly shrugged off the ungrateful thought. The phone had been a gift from Theresa, who knew full well Rina never had such an item before, and normally she loved it. But lately, it had been more of a bane-ever since she'd made the mistake of giving Jessica Bennett her number. Looking at the Caller ID confirmed it-it was Jessica again. Rina rolled her eyes and shut the phone off in mid ring.

"Why is she calling me all the time?" She murmured to herself. It frankly bewildered her. Jessica hadn't paid her the least amount of attention in all the time she'd been in Harmony until these last few days. Now suddenly Jessica came into the cafe two or three times a day, always making an excuse to talk to her and acting like they were suddenly best friends. Rina barely knew her and she didn't understand why Jessica would suddenly act so desperate to be her friend. Nor, she had to admit to herself, did she particularly like her, but Rina hated to be rude. Maybe Jessica was just lonely. She knew that Paloma and Simone had fallen out with her-that had to be it. Jessica needed someone. Perhaps she should make a point to spend a little time with her after all.

"Order's up, Rina-booth six." One of the chefs, Mike, caught her attention. She picked up the plates and walked out of the kitchen to the dining area-and suddenly froze as she saw Fox deep in conversation with Pilar.

"Bloody hell!" The whisper slipped off Rina's lips before she could stop them, and she mentally kicked herself for swearing, something she tried hard not to do. It was just that seeing Fox here, in the flesh...she remembered the day last week, when she'd put the smiley face on his pancake. Ever since then, she'd done something to his breakfast. This morning she'd made a tiny buttercup garland and put in on an orange, drew a tiny face on it, and put it in the styrofoam box along with his pancakes and eggs. She knew it was a silly thing to do, but just the idea of him opening the box every day and smiling, having a second where the loneliness in his eyes was gone, was too much for her to resist.

Now, though, he was here, probably asking Pilar about it, and Rina suddenly felt like she'd done something very stupid. What had she been thinking, believing that a waitress's tricks would bring a moment's happiness to someone as powerful as Fox Crane? He was probably irritated-maybe she'd embarrassed Pilar and the Book Cafe with her playfulness. Flushing, she bit her lip. She should confess to them right now and apologize...but she couldn't. It would just be too humiliating. Maybe they wouldn't figure out it was her. Maybe they were talking about something else completely-that was it. He'd probably never even given it a second thought.

Deliberately she turned her face away as she passed the two, walking as fast as she could to the back booth, nearly dropping the plates on the table and not giving the customers even a tenth of her usual courtesy. She just wanted to get back to the safety of the kitchen, where she could go back to her corner and be anonymous again. Hurrying, she couldn't help but take a tiny peek out of the corner of her eye at Fox and Pilar, and realized to her horror that both of them were looking right at her, Pilar's expression that of someone who had just realized something surprising. Rina's face turned scarlet. They knew-they knew it was her. She nearly ran back into the kitchen, ignoring Mike's raised eyebrows as she dashed past him.

"I'm taking my break!" She called, and not waiting for his reaction, she hurried into the employee's break room. For the next few minutes she sat on the couch, heart pounding, waiting for the door to open and an angry Fox and Pilar to demand an explanation for her childish behavior. After ten minutes, her fear eased. They weren't coming; she'd overreacted. In a strange way, she felt disappointed as well as relieved. At least if Fox had gotten angry, she would have known that he'd noticed her. She didn't know why that was important to her-just the thought made her feel silly and vulnerable all over again.

Making her way back into the kitchen, Rina stopped to peer through the windowed door into the dining room. Pilar was back at the counter, going over receipts, and Fox was no where in sight. Exhaling, she smiled to herself and turned back to tell Mike she was available once again to take orders.

And then, she found herself face to face with Fox Crane.

To Be Continued...

in the next chapter:

Jessica's mental instability becomes more apparent

Chad pleads with Whitney

Luis and Sheridan have words

Charity forces Endora to choose sides.