disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever in any way owned the X-Men. If I did, I would be rich and have lots more time to write about them. This is a work of fiction based on the X-Men comic book owned by Marvel Comics Group and I expect to receive absolutely no monetary compensation for it. Dammit.

Farewell Sunshine
by Dizi

Chapter 5

"Mi Dios, save me from this pain and I promise to try to go to Mass every Sunday."

I woke to the morning sun shining in my eyes and thought I was seeing the Light. Then I thought I was going blind. The pounding in my head made me hope I was dying. No such luck. Since God didn't respond to my plea, he's either not listening, knows I'd never be able to keep my promise, or thinks I'm getting what I deserve.

There is a universal tradition in times like these that I felt the need to follow. Truthfully, I'm not one for most traditions. If I was I would never have become a police officer. Such is not a 'traditional' role for a female. Along with everything else, I'm also the 'black sheep' of the family. For example, I was raised in a good Catholic family and have a firm faith in God, but I'm not a good Catholic. It's rare I go to Sunday mass and I've missed every single Holy Day of Obligation for the last three years. My mother thinks I should be excommunicated. It's no wonder God didn't believe me.

Frickman suggested this particular tradition, actually. Three little words, "Maybe get drunk." So I'm going to blame him entirely because I got STINKING drunk. Don't think my mother would approve of me following this particular tradition. Oh well, what she doesn't know won't hurt me.

Drink of choice is different for everyone. My brothers prefer Tequila. Ansley tells me beer does it fine for him, but he doesn't drink much and has a low threshold. Harry swears whiskey, preferably aged Scotch, is the best way to go about it. As the owner of a bar and a bartender, I cited him as an expert witness and bought three bottles of Jack Daniel's. One to get drunk, a second to make sure I was very drunk, and a third just in case. Might not be exactly what he ordered, but it did the job.

Very well, in fact. Too well. I have the worst hangover of my life.

'Course that's what I always think. Not that I get drunk that often, but it's been known to happen. Logan used to think it a hoot to drink me under the table. Tied one on with Ansley a few months ago when his son was born. I swore that time never to do it again. Who knew I'd lose my job, my life? It sounded like a good idea last night. This morning... not so good.

Like most everyone, I tend to do stupid shit when I'm drunk. Now to figure out what I did. Give me a few minutes and it'll come to me.

Okay, I remember the phone ringing a whole helluva lot so I unplugged it. Didn't want any bad news, which is pretty much all it could have been. Nothing yesterday was good, or too little to count anyway. Things keep up this way, I might just go to my mother about getting help for the 'evil eye'. Couldn't hurt. Hopefully.

Let see... what else? I'd drunk the first bottle and started the second, all the while feeling sorry for myself... Someone banged on the door... I knocked over the bottle... It spilled all over the coffee table... I didn't feel like cleaning it up... Vaguely, I remember getting up from the couch when the banging continued...

'Banging' could have just been my perception. I was a little irritated at the interruption. Which would be why I was less than friendly when I opened the door to... the guy from the waiting room? Oh God! It's really coming back now!

I offered him a drink... He hesitated before accepting... We talked about God knows what...

And I jumped him.

At the hospital he looked so young. Please, please, please, let him be over eighteen! Shit! I gave him liquor! I need him to be over twenty-one!

I don't know about other people, other women, but when I drink I get... well... horny. It's one of the reasons I drink with friends, so they can keep me from picking up strange men. It's also why I was drinking alone. At home. In my apartment. Without pretzels or peanuts to snack on. I was trying to be responsible! Dammit!

Though, you know, now I'm remembering more and more, I have to say he was damn good lay. Guy has shoulders to die for, pretty eyes, great big... hands. Hands that seemed to be everywhere at once. Or it might have been all the alcohol. I can't quite remember everything but my body's aching in aaaalllll the right places. Don't even remember when we made it to the bedroom, I'm sure we started out in the livingroom.

Wait a minute! Hold everything!

Sitting up straight, I look around. Nothing seems to be out of place and the other side of the bed is empty. Maybe he got his rocks off and left, like any good one-nighter should? Something just doesn't feel right about that. How did he know where I live? Why the hell would some guy I met at the hospital come to my place? Did he follow me home? No, something's definitely not right.

Grabbing my robe off the floor, I pull it over my naked body, tying the belt tight. First, I'll plug the phone back in, then call Goski. Find out how Sunshine's doing and ask a few questions about the cutie from last night.

Only I go into the other room and... there he is. Washing my dishes? That's different. Most just leave when they see me the next morning or are already gone - I prefer the second option. Logan used to stay in bed and pretend to be asleep until after I left for work. This one might be worth keeping around. After I know he's not some weirdo stalker type.

I try to be quiet as I go to the phone. Huh, it's already plugged in. He must have done it. The Jack Daniels is cleaned up too. Oh yeah, this one's a keeper. For a little while. If he's wacko, I'll just call my good buddy Ansley to come over and arrest him. He doesn't look so tough, I'm sure I can handle him long enough for the cavalary to arrive. Problem solved.

"Making yourself at home?" No need to be too nice about it and my head is pounding. Can't expect niceness to come with a hangover.

"Mornin'." He turns around without looking the least bit startled. Was I that loud while I held my head moaning? Probably. "I was about tah wake yah up but Ah thought the coffee would do the trick."

"Coffee would be great." It would have been enough to wake me on a normal day, but I'd been a little preoccupied. Also fresh coffee coming out of my coffee pot was unheard of. I usually get out of bed in time to run out the door. Don't have to worry about that anymore. Leaning against the counter, I watch him get a mug from the dish drainer. Good thing he washed dishes because all three of my mugs had been dirty. "Not to complain, but you didn't have to do all this."

"Ah woke up early an' had a lotta energy. Besides, mah Ma taught me not tah leave a mess sittin' around."

Mine did too but you don't see me cleaning up after anyone else. Hell, I don't clean after myself much. He gives me the mug along with a half-smile. He really is cute, whatever his name is. Maybe I should ask? Nah. Why complicate things?

"Yah don't have much time before yore meetin' with Professor Xavier."

I didn't spit out the coffee. It was a close thing, but I didn't do it. Would have been a waste of good coffee. I did have to sit it on the countertop due to the anger making my fingers shake. "I'll be happy if I never see Xavier again. So that's not a problem, is it?"

"But last night yah said-" he begins in confusion.

Not letting him finish, I interrupt in the bitchiest tone I can manage, "If you couldn't tell, I was drunk last night. I don't care how good a screw you are, there's no way I agreed to meet that bastard."

"Ah knew yah had been drinkin' but Ah didn't know yah were drunk."

"Trust me, the way my head hurts, I was VERY drunk." And it does hurt, it really really does hurt. Probably why I haven't been thinking as quickly as usual. I'm getting there though. Some things are too obvious not to be understood. "You go to Xavier's."

"Yah could put it that way." Shaking his head at me, he seems to be disappointed. "Yah don't remember anythin' we said, do yah?"

"What we said? No, I don't." Never have been a good liar, it's really not necessary when the truth hurts someone so much more. Seeing his lean body relax against the wall, there are many images from last night running through my head. Hot instances giving me thoughts of trying it all again to see if he's as good as my faulty memory is implying. But I'm not remembering any words and I don't have time for more sex, especially with some guy from Xaviers - who might be a kid.

"If yah tell me where the aspirin is Ah'll get yah some. Then we can go over it all again."

He stated it so simply, without accusation, I'm inclined to listen. Myself, I'd be exasperated and irritated beyond belief. I'd say he's too good to be true but I get the feeling he wants something. Gut instinct or something else, who knows? He made me coffee, did my dishes, and I don't have to do whatever it is he wants. I can listen. "Second cabinet on the left, right by the sink."

Silently, he gets the pills. Mmm, aspirin and coffee, just what I need. "Speak, oh wondrous Man-Who-Does-Dishes. Start with your name and tell me you're over twenty-one."

"Samuel Zachary Guthrie an', yes, Ah'm over twenty-one." He flashes a quick smile at me. "Ah look young for mah age."

"Lucky you." I wait for him to go on but he just stands there. "And?"

"Aren't yah gonna introduce yoreself?"

"Call me Sanchez." I can see him getting confused, perhaps hurt. Relenting, I explain, "I'm not cutting you out, that's what everyone calls me, except family. You're not family, so you're stuck with 'Sanchez'."

"Yes, ma'am. Ah'm more informal, yah can call me Sam."

I think he might be laughing at me. As long as he does it quietly, due to any loud noises might make my head explode, I don't care. "You want to move this along, Sam?"

"Ah suppose Ah gotta, we're wastin' time." He sighs, letting me know he's reluctant. "It's not easy for me. Ah didn't know who yah were when we first talked. When yah said that about Sunshine an' how we don't care... Well, Ah didn't want yah tah think that's how we all feel. Logan yelled himself blue in the face, but the Professor didn't budge. Jubilee was upset an' Logan don't like that. No, ma'am, he does not."

Just nodding, I take another drink of my coffee. Xavier got mad at Logan and took it out on me. Sam isn't helping my mood or even telling me anything I hadn't already figured out.

"Scott has a position like Emma but he doesn't have as much patience with administrative stuff. Now yah gotta understand, he backs Emma an' the Professor in everything. It's why Logan didn't go tah Scott for help."

And I care about this because...?

"Ah'm sorry, this was easier when we were drinkin'." Under my steady nowhere-near-friendly gaze, he swallows. "What yah said last night... Ah don't know Sunshine eithah. I saw her in the hall an' I knew who she was, but I didn't know her. She was just like everyone else, just therah. Somebody did that tah her an' I'll nevah get the chance tah know her bettah. I don't like that, don't like it at all."

That's what I liked about him at the hospital. Sam says what I'm thinking. Or what I would be thinking if it had been me seeing her every day then finding out she had been attacked like this. Close enough.

"Jubilee an' Ah checked with the nurses an' yah was right about nobody visitin' her. Ah couldn't believe it, but yah was right. Her doctor said yah spent a lotta time with her. He said yah care about her an' yah got in trouble for it."

Goski was making free with my business. I need to put a stop to that. Good intentions or not, he had no right.

"So Ah did what Logan didn't, Ah talked tah Scott." Dropping his eyes, he shifts uncomfortably. "Ah told him yah lost yore job, that yore not with the police anymore. Logan was therah an' threw a fit. Scott hadn't known about yah an' wasn't happy they kept information from him. He'd just found out Sunshine was in the hospital an' gone tah see her a few hours before."

"Look, all this is very interesting. It sounds like you have a dysfunctional family thing going on over there." I don't know who this Scott person is. I don't care who he is. He has an internal problem from what I'm hearing and I don't want to get pulled into it. All I'm interested in is the point. "You said it yourself, I'm not a cop anymore. What is it you're wanting here?"

"Logan says yore good, real good. Yah care about Sunshine the same way Ah do, so Ah want yah tah get the chance tah do what yah shoulda been able in the first place. Ah want them caught an' Ah want 'em tah pay for what they done."

His fierce expression warms my heart. I want them to pay for it too. Finding the perp won't help Sunshine, she won't know or care, but there wouldn't be another like her in the future. Someone who gets away with a crime like this almost always does it again. Perps are more arrogant than Xavier and Frost could dream of being. Because nothing happened to them the first time, they think there's no consequences, that they're better and smarter than everyone else. It's a rush to see the look on their face when they find out they are so very wrong. However...

Shaking my head, I pick-up the coffee cup again. "Unless the phone rang and I didn't hear it, there's nothing I can do. I lost my badge because I didn't leave this case alone. Strings got pulled and I'm out of it. All I can do is be there for Sunshine so she's not alone when she dies."

"That's what Ah'm sayin', yah can do more," Sam persists. "Ah don't have the power tah get yore badge back, but yah'll be able tah work the case. Tah do it, yah gotta meet with Scott Summers an' Professor Xavier."

So nothing would really change for me in the long run. "Will Frost be there too?"

"Sorry, but it's almost guaranteed. Emma likes tah make sure she's involved in everythin'." He pauses a second and adds, "Other's like me an' Logan will be there too. We won't leave yah without support."

I get the impression he thinks I'll need all the support I can get. He's right, I would if I do this. Can I? Should I? I don't have a job and money isn't going to just show up in my bank account out of the blue. Fuck it, I have savings. Enough for a few months. I can give the time to Sunshine. But I don't have to come right out and say that. "Fine, I'll meet them. No promises other than that. It all depends on what they say."

Sam's shoulders sag in relief. "Ah was gettin' worried, but that's what yah said last night too."

A little déjà vu for him, huh? That's fine, I live with it regularly. I can only hope my particular form of it will work in our favor. Since I know little about the situation at the school other than what I've gleaned from Logan and what Sam just told me, I really am going to need all the help I can get. From what I've heard the place is a world all its own and I don't have a map. Oh well, my job was never an easy one. As always I'll do the best I can and hope it's enough.

By the time we drank more coffee and ate some cereal, then showered and dressed, we were close to running late. I took some time to check in with Goski. Sunshine's still hanging in there. I took a little more to gripe at him for sharing too much. He didn't seem concerned about it, mentioned Jordan again. Considering the prick officially on Sunshine's case, I guess I can't blame him. Doesn't mean I like it. By the time I was done yelling at Goski, we were definitely cutting it fine. Like I cared.

Sam was dropped off which meant we had to take my car. Suited me fine, I like to have a way to leave a place. Takes the drama out of a good exit if I have to wait for a taxi. Xavier's seems to excel in drama so it's good to be prepared.

Along the way, Sam continues his explanation. He tells me they hadn't found out I'd been 'indefinitely suspended' until I myself shared too much with him last night. 'Scott' had needed ammunition to change Xavier's mind about having me investigate and that had been it. Bastard hadn't meant to get me fired, just out of his way. Poor poor Xavier. What a shame he feels bad about ruining my life but can't do anything to fix it. Wah-wah, let me get out some kleenex.

So because he feels so very bad, Xavier is willing to listen to why I should be allowed to find the violent rapist he's harboring in his school. Lucky, lucky me! Sarcastic much? Oh yeah.

Trying to defend the man, Sam goes on to say that for years they've had to save many mutants from wrongful prosecution and the Professor is being cautious, trying to protect the school more than the responsible party. 'Scott' would be backing him except for Sam and Logan letting him know that I'm more neutral than other cops. Otherwise, it's about a human - meaning me - treating them as normal which is what they've been working years for. Apparently, I'm a good sign. Yippee.

I don't care about any of that shit. Their problem. Whatever they have to tell themselves is fine with me. It's results that are important. The perp being put in prison for a long long time. The rest is political and not my thing.

Pulling up in front of the school, Logan's standing outside smoking a cigar, his hat pulled down low and a scowl on his face. He appears to be mad as hell, practically growling as he greets me. "Sanchez."

The stance alone would be enough to send most running, but not me. Why? Because I know him, like I said before. Logan would see me getting my ass kicked out of the police force as being his fault. He's not really angry, he's feeling guilty. It just comes across as anger because he doesn't like guilt. Since I know whose fault it really is, I don't need him to make us both uncomfortable by apologizing - even though it would be a treat as he doesn't do it often. "Save it."

His lips tighten but Logan keeps them shut. Good. I haven't stopped him but I put it off. None of us have time for that kind of thing. Not Sunshine or anyone else involved. The perp doesn't know it, but they're on borrowed time.

"Ah'll show yah the way, Sanchez." Sam pauses and tacks on, "Ma'am."

He's been doing that since after we had our little talk. Poking fun at me, I think. Teasing because he said "Ah don't feel right callin' a woman by their last name." So he calls me "ma'am." I'm considering it a job perk. Actually, I'm considering him a job perk. Sam's nice to look at even if he's not my type. I don't usually go for blondes, no matter if they have great shoulders, pretty eyes, and great big... hands. Doesn't mean I can't look. It's like having an office with a window you don't have time to look out of. A job perk.

Time to beard the lion in his den. Walking at his side like my head isn't still hurting, I square my shoulders. Nothing hurts me. They don't scare me. I have a purpose which I will let no one get in the way of.

Whether Xavier believes it or not, I was professional before. Something he won't be seeing anymore. They might just see how tough this bitch gets.

to be continued.

note: By the way, the next chapter is the one that was lost along with my flashdrive. I was three quarters of the way done with it when it was lost. I'd been in the zone and gotten all that done in two days. Then it was gone. It was like two months later that it was found again and by then I'd been writing on something else. I did finish chapter 6 (obviously) but had some trouble getting into chapter 7. However as of last night, I'm about halfway to three quarters done with chapter 7.

Okay, NOW Sanchez is revved up and ready to kick butt! She's really got the fire back, huh? The first part of this chapter got rewritten five times before I was happy with it. Honestly, Sam was speaking to me during that part more than Sanchez. Hope you all like the inclusion of Sam, I wanted to break away from my 'usual' main characters somewhat.

Next chapter next week!

Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi