Harmony: Homecomings Chapter 6 part 4

Disclaimer: I only own myself and any other new characters that pop up a long the way, expect for characters that have been mentioned but have not be given life. I am working for Lennie Marie Inc., well not really working for them but they sponsor my story and my writings. Elizabeth is just a pen name, there is a real person around here somewhere. NBC and the creators, directors, and such are the ones that own Passions and I just borrowing the characters to play with. I promise to put them back where I found them when I am done. Thanks! Bye!
Harmony: Homecomings
by Annabelle
Chapter 6 part 4
Elizabeth's Bedroom
"Drat it all! Of all the things for me to forget to pack I left out toothpaste," Elizabeth said after spending ten minutes searching threw her bathroom. "And of course no one paid any attention to that small fact. They were too busy worrying about that trunk." She sighed to herself, "Well maybe Ethan has some toothpaste that I could borrow, I know his room is around here somewhere."
Elizabeth walked out into the hall in the general direction of Ethan's room. She listened for voices. She figured that Theresa would probably be talking about something silly just so that they could be together for a few extra minutes. Young love was so sweet. Just as she was about to go past Ethan's door she heard his voice.
"Thank god I found you in the crazy maze Ethan darling. I thought I would be lost forever," Elizabeth said as she opened the door to Ethan's room.
Elizabeth should have knocked but she had made the mistake not to and now she was in for the rudest surprise of her life. There standing in front of her was a very unhappy Gwen Hotchkiss.
"Darling? You said that there was no one here with you Ethan. But no, you were lying, because here is this little tramp dressed in a robe coming into your room and calling you darling," Gwen yelled at Ethan.
"Excuse me! Who are you to call me a tramp. I just came in here looking for," Elizabeth tried to defend herself but Gwen would not let her.
"I don't want to hear it slut," Gwen said as she moved in to attack Elizabeth. "I am going to get you for trying to steal my man you little whore!" Gwen punched Elizabeth.
"Witch!" Elizabeth screamed as her body was slammed against the wall. The pregnancy had made her weak so she could not fend off Gwen.
"What did you call me you tramp?" Gwen yelled as she kicked Elizabeth in the stomach.
Ethan watched stunned as Elizabeth sunk to the floor. He did not know what to do. He was so busy trying to cover up the fact that Theresa was in the room that he had been thrown into totally shock when Elizabeth came in.
"Ethan! Get this mad woman away from me! She is going to hurt the baby," Elizabeth yelped as she held her stomach in pain.
"Baby!" Gwen shrieked. "How long have you been sleeping with this tramp Ethan!" Gwen yelled at him as she lugged for Elizabeth
Elizabeth managed to roll over and Gwen missed her. But Gwen was not going to give up that easily. "Ethan don't stand there like an idiot! Help me. She is hurting the baby."
"Shut up about your baby. You should not let yourself get worked up about a bastard child," Gwen said as she started to pound on Elizabeth's lower stomach.
"Luis! Sheridan! Anybody! Help me! She is trying to kill my baby," Elizabeth was in tears now. Try as she might she could not escape Gwen's attack.
Luis and Sheridan came bursting into the room. Luis grabbed Gwen away from Elizabeth and flung her on the bed. Sheridan led Elizabeth to a chair so she could sit down.
Elizabeth still had tears streaming down her face as Ivy, Pilar, Miguel and Paloma came rushing into the room. Theresa some how managed to sneak out from her hiding space to make it look like she had just entered the room.
"What is going on here? I heard screaming," Ivy asked as she saw a distraught Elizabeth sitting in a chair and Luis holding Gwen's arms behind her back.
"We came in here and found Gwen attacking Elizabeth. Punching her stomach. I think she was trying to force Elizabeth to have an abortion," Sheridan said as she stroked Elizabeth's hair trying to get her to calm down.
"Of course I was trying to get her to have an abortion. Why should she be allowed to keep a child that should be mine? I am Ethan's fiancé not her!" Gwen struggled to get free from Luis.
"Gwen! Elizabeth is pregnant with Alistair's child. She is Alistair's wife!" Ivy spoke in horror as Pilar rushed to Elizabeth's side.
Elizabeth was still crying from the near loss of her child. She did not know what was going on. She only heard Sheridan telling her that everything was going to be okay.
"Theresa, go get Mrs. Crane a glass of water. It might help her calm down. Ethan go call a doctor to come over her right now," Pilar instructed as she examined what damage Gwen had done.
"She is Alistair Crane's wife?" Gwen asked meekly.
"That's right Gwen. You just made the biggest mistake of your life. You attacked Alistair Crane's wife and his child. I would say that you about to serve about 10 years in jail. Looks like the wedding is going to have to be put off," Luis said as he still held her arms behind her back.
Ivy was shocked. She could not let Gwen go to jail. Too many things were riding on Ethan marrying her. It was the only way to ensure that he would be the next in line to head up the Crane Empire. "Luis, I don't think any charges are going to be pressed tonight. Elizabeth is far too distraught to do anything but go to bed. Why don't I just show Gwen out and we can deal with this tomorrow. Come one Gwen," Ivy led Gwen out of the room.
Theresa came back with the glass of water for Elizabeth and handed to her mother, "Here Elizabeth drink this slowly. It will make you feel better," Pilar held the glass up to Elizabeth and let her drink from it.
Once Elizabeth had finished she had managed to find her voice, "She was trying to kill my baby and me. Why?" Elizabeth could barely speak her body was still trembling.
Sheridan shook her head, "I am afraid she thought that you were trying to take Ethan away from her. When she heard that you were pregnant she just lost it because she thought the baby was Ethan's."
Elizabeth began to sob again, "The baby. Oh my baby."
Ethan came back into the room followed by a youngish woman, "The doctor is here to look at Grandmother Elizabeth."
The woman saw how upset Elizabeth was, "Would everyone please leave so I can take a look at her."
Ethan and the others started to leave the room but Elizabeth stopped Sheridan, "Please do leave me alone. I am so scared."
Sheridan looked at the doctor, "Is it alright if I stay, she is really shaken up by this."
The doctor nodded and the others left the room and waited out in the hall. Ethan slumped against the wall and turned his head towards the ceiling.
"Some girl you got there Ethan," Luis started to comment
"Hijo now is not the time for this. We must be strong for Elizabeth," Pilar scolded her son. Luis remained silent and Theresa went to stand next to Ethan.
Paloma was surprised to find that she was actually concerned about Mrs. Crane. She grasped Miguel's hand as the waited to find out what had happened. No one spoke and it seemed like hours passed as the waited to hear news.
Finally the doctor came out of the room. Ethan stood to face her, "How is she doing? Is everything is going to be okay?"
The doctor nodded, "Everything appears to be fine, which is lucky because this pregnancy really has taken a toll on her. She still in shock but she will be okay. You are going to have to make sure that she takes it easy for the next couple of days until she has her strength back. It's a good thing you got that woman away from her when you did. If you hadn't I don't know what kind of news I would be giving you right now."
Everyone let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you doctor. I'll show you out," Pilar spoke for them and showed the doctor to down the hall.
"Alright everyone you heard the doctor. Elizabeth needs her rest. I want all of you to go to bed now. We will see you in the morning," Luis told his brother and sisters.
"Goodnight Luis," Paloma give her brother a hug. "I am glad she is going to be okay."
Luis laughed, "Starting to come around Pali?" She just winked at him and went to her room
"Night bro," Miguel said as he followed Paloma down the hall.
"Goodnight Luis. Goodnight Ethan," Theresa gave her brother a small hug and Ethan a look but she went to her room.
Just then Elizabeth and Sheridan exited Ethan's room. "Hey you guys don't look so grim," Elizabeth gave them a weak smile.
"Are you okay grandmother," Ethan asked walking up to her.
Elizabeth gave him a little hug, "I am fine dear. The doctor said that everything was going to be ok. Get some rest. I will see you in the morning."
Ethan went into his room and Sheridan and Luis helped Elizabeth to hers.
"I am going to be fine you two. Geez! Your grandson's fiancé attacks you and everyone thinks it's the end of the world. Well it is for Gwen but this is great news for the rest of us," Elizabeth joked trying to lighten the mood.
"You sure you're going to be okay Liz?" Sheridan asked as they stood in front of Elizabeth's door.
"I am sure. You two go back to whatever you were doing. I am going straight to bed," Elizabeth smiled at them. "Goodnight Sherie. Goodnight Luis," She gave them both a hug and walked into her bedroom.
Luis and Sheridan walked in silence to Sheridan's room and the sat in front of the fire that had been started in fireplace. Neither of them had realized that they has just followed Elizabeth's request of going to back to what they were doing. Sheridan pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on them. Luis just sat crossed legged; both of them stared into the fire.
"Rough night, huh?" Luis asked not looking away from the fire.
"To say the least. Well I guess there will be no dance lessons tomorrow. I plan on taking her straight to the hospital. She needs a to have a full examination. Plus she needs a permanent doctor," Sheridan was really worried about her friend. "I can't believe Gwen did that! I mean yeah she didn't know that Elizabeth was Alistair's wife but still to think that she would have done that to any woman who had walked through that door at the same time Elizabeth did. I just can't believe it."
Luis put his arm around her shoulders, "Hey don't worry so much. The doctor said everything was fine, Elizabeth said she was fine. Everything is okay."
Sheridan rested her head against his chest, "So tell me again about this whole plan Elizabeth has. The dance studio and all."
Luis laughed, "Well alright but afterward its bed missy."
Sheridan giggled and listened to Luis tell her what Liz had told him, "She said that she had a star dance team all ready to compete in this years competitions but the two decided to run off and get married. So because Elizabeth was coming to the United States she decided to move her school here. She knew that people in Harmony would not be interested in paying to have her teach their kids how to dance but she needed to have couples in the competitions in order to keep her status as a champion teacher. So she would train who every wanted to be taught and then take the best of her students to American competitions."
"Did you know that Elizabeth lost her family when she was young," Sheridan was tried but she did not Luis to leave. It felt so right to be with him.
"No I didn't. She just told me that the Cranes were the only family she has," Luis kept stealing glances of Sheridan while she was looking into the fire. The light firelight light made her more beautiful than ever.
"When she was about ten or twelve. It was very traumatic for her. She does not remember anything about her family just want she learned from he adopted father. He told her that her father was the head of one of the Spanish mafias but he had gotten himself in trouble with another mob boss from America. So one-night goons from the other mob came bursting into their house. Elizabeth and her young brothers and sisters ran for cover. The goons killed everyone but Elizabeth.
"Somehow Liz ended up at her adopted father's house. He never really told her how; she just figured that he owed her real father a favor. She stayed with him until she was sixteen when he tried to marry her off to another American mob boss's son. Elizabeth would no hear of it and she took what money she had and the education she had gotten from her private tutors and took Spain's national secondary equivalence test. She did much better than just pass it she was able to go to a local college for about a year where she got her degree in business.
"After that she went to Washington DC and took some dance lessons at a studio there while working full and part time jobs. Her father tried to give her help but she would not take anything from him. He actually secretly deposited money in her account one time. She felt bad and just thanked him for it. He really did love her and wanted to make up for the mistake he made by trying to marry her off. So she decided to return to Spain and that's where I met her. Keep in mind I had no idea that she was a daughter to mob boss. She just introduced herself as Elizabeth Felipes dancer extraordinaire. She and I became friend really fast. She taught me all she knew about dancing. When I said I had to go back to France she just said that she was coming with me. I only met her father when he called her back to tell her everything he knew about her past. It was her eighteenth birthday. We searched for a week and found out that the police had found all the bodies of her family expect hers and her mothers. She always wondered," Sheridan realized that she was now just talking about nothing. She was just talking in order to keep him with her.
Luis smiled and kissed her on the forehead, "Okay my little babbling brook it's time for you to go to bed."
Sheridan looked at him and giggled, "Are you sure it is me who needs to go to bed. It looks like you are the one about to head into dreamland."
"Come on," he helped her up. "Bedtime. We can talk more tomorrow." He suddenly felt a sense of dread, as if he were being separated from the one thing he needed in order to live.
Sheridan was feeling the same things as Luis but she did not know it, "Yeah I guess so." She walked him to the door. "Night sleepyhead," She teased as he opened the door.
He tried to think of a good comeback but gave up and just gave her a quick hug goodnight. Sheridan watched him walk to the room next door. She gave him a silly wave as he walked in his room and then closed her door.
She sighed happily as she climbed into bed. Today had been a near perfect day. Her best friend was now staying in the room next door to her and Luis was staying in other room next to her. She had been able to dance most of the night with him and now knew that she was going to be spending a lot of time with. Training for the national competitions was not going to be easy but she knew that Elizabeth would make it a lot of fun. Sure there had been that huge misshape with Gwen but Liz seemed to be fine now. The only thing left was to sleep. She felt sure that she would have no nightmares tonight. Too many good things had happened during the day.

Sheridan's Dream
She was running from something. What was it? She couldn't see. She just kept running her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was in her throat. She had to get away from it. What ever it was she had to get away or it would ruin her life.
Then she was in the living room standing in front of the sheet-covered body. Only she was not a little girl anymore she was the full-grown Sheridan Crane.
"Sherie how could you let this happen? How could you let this ruin your life! After everything that I have done for you, you decide to mess everything up," Elizabeth came up from behind her and forced Sheridan to face her. "How could you do this? How could you let my baby die?"
Then Sheridan felt another hand grab her. She was now facing Pilar, Paloma, and Theresa. The two girls were crying but Pilar spoke, "I treated you like a daughter and in return you killed my husband. Why Sheridan? Why did you let this happen? What will Luis think?"
Then another hand grabbed her. She was crying now. She did not know how to help herself. She just wanted to get away from this place. She saw Luis looking into her eyes, "Luis you have to help me. Please you have to take me away from them."
Then Luis's face turned into that of her Fathers, "You are a wicked, wicked girl Sheridan. You are a wicked girl! You killed your mother, your best friend's baby, and now you killed the father of the man you were destine to be with. You are a wicked girl!"
Somewhere in the distance she heard someone calling her name, "Sheridan! Sheridan where are you? I can't see you! Where are you Sheridan?"
She recognized the voice as belong to Luis but Elizabeth and the other had surrounded her. There was no way out. They were circling around here. "I am here Luis! Help me please! I didn't mean to do it! I didn't mean to do any of those things! Help me! I didn't mean to!"
Sheridan's Bedroom
Elizabeth rushed into her daughter's bedroom when she heard the screaming. Luis who was only two steps behind her followed her to Sheridan's bedside.
"Sheridan wake up! Please wake up," Elizabeth said as shook Sheridan's arm. "I thought she was over this nightmares."
Luis shook his head, "I remember that she had them when we were in New Mexico. I thought she only had them after a..."
"A bad day," Elizabeth finished for him. "There is glass in her bathroom go fill it up with water. Hopefully we will only need to give it to her to drink. But if I have to I will throw it at her. Sheridan wake up!"
Luis hurried to get Elizabeth the glass of water. Sheridan was really out of it. She wasn't screaming anymore but she still groaned in pain. Then she started to whimper. Luis handed the glass to Elizabeth, "Before you throw it at her let me try something." Elizabeth nodded and watched as Luis took Sheridan's hand in his.
"Sheridan, listen to me. It's Luis. You are safe. All you need to do is wake up," Luis squeezed her had and Sheridan sprung up in bed. She was crying at full force now but she appeared to be awake. Luis took her in his arms and comforted her, "Shh... It's okay now Sheridan. You are a wake. It's all over now. You are safe."
Sheridan was now half aware of what was going on, "It was so awful. It was worse then it had ever had been. I tried to get away but everyone was surrounding me and they would not let me go. I heard you calling for me but you couldn't help me because you couldn't see me. I heard you Luis, you were trying to save me."
Elizabeth chuckled, "Well it appears you even save her in her dreams Luis. You are some man. Here Sherie drink this." She held the glass up for Sheridan to take.
Sheridan took the glass quickly because she had just realized what she had said. She was embarrassed and started to gulp down the water. She wanted to hide the way she felt.
Elizabeth reached out to take the glass from her, "Not so fast Sherie. You'll get the hiccups. Drink it nice and slow."
Sheridan finished the glass of water and handed to Elizabeth, "Well this has to be with out a doubt one of the most exciting nights of my life," Elizabeth said as she put the glass back into the bathroom. Luis was still sitting on the bed with Sheridan wrapped in his arms.
Elizabeth walked out of the bathroom and saw how peaceful Sheridan looked in Luis's arms and how comfortable he looked having her there. She knew that Sherie would not have any more nightmares that night if Luis stayed with her. Now the only problem was giving Luis the excuse to stay. Then an idea dawned on her.
"Alright kiddos! Time to make yourselves comfy. Mama Liz is gonna tell you a bed time story," Elizabeth knew this was the most ingenious way to have them stay together that night. If they just fell asleep in each other's arms. It would make Alistair happy too because he would know that their plan was working.
"Elizabeth you are kidding right?" Luis asked but he did not move from Sheridan's side.
"I assure you she is not kidding," Sheridan told him looking up at him with a smile as she snuggled in closer to him.
Elizabeth sighed as she climbed up onto bed and leaned up against the headboard, "You know me too well Sherie." She said as she made herself comfortable on sitting on opposite edge of the bed from them. The bed was huge but still she needed a way to make an exit without waking them once they were asleep. "Now get comfy," she said as waved her hand at the two of them. "I need the practice, so you two are going to help me out here. I am sure Luis has told a few more fairy tales than I have."
"The floor is yours Elizabeth," Luis said as he adjusted the pillows behind him and Sheridan with a hand that he had struggled to take away from Sheridan. That hand returned to its original position so fast once it was done fixing the pillows that Elizabeth almost choked on her laughter.
Then she became serious, "Alright. Here goes nothing," she said as she formulated the story in her mind. "As so many of this story often start, once upon a time in a land not so far away, a land that can be reached but making a simple wish or by journeying through a magic mirror, there were nine kingdoms. Now this nine kingdoms were each ruled by a different person. Queens ruled some because queens had always ruled them. Kings ruled others. But all the kingdoms worked together and they knew the reason the worked together was because of the three great queens..."
Luis and Sheridan listened intently as Elizabeth told painted them a picture of this perfect land with its nine kingdoms. She told them about a young king who had just taken on his full responsibility. How lonely it was for him because he did not have anyone that he could really talk besides his royal castle builder who was often to busy too talk. How he missed the friends from the tenth kingdom and longed to visit them but could not because that would mean living his kingdom.
"King Wendell knew that because he was the ruler of the 4^th kingdom, the largest of all the nine kingdoms that he would be responsible for keeping the peace between the kingdoms. One day as he was working on some new contracts in his study a royal squire came rushing in.
"'Your Highness! Your Highness,' the squire cried as he bowed his head before the king.
"'What is it young squire?' King Wendell knew that it would probably be new about a diplomat from one other kingdoms coming to see him. He really did not want to hear about it.
"'The 8^th kingdom has disappeared,' the squire informed him trying to catch his breath.
"'What are you talking about? A kingdom cannot just disappear.'"
Luis and Sheridan tried not to laugh as Elizabeth changed her voice for each character. They were so interested in her story that they did not feel sleepy at all. A bad sign for Elizabeth because she was starting to grab at straws to keep up with her story.
"So King Wendell and his loyal magic dog stood at the edge of the 4^th kingdom which used to boarder the 8^th kingdom. Now however there was a huge channel of water separating the 4^th kingdom from the new 8^th kingdom. He now understood why his subjects in the Little Lamb Village were disturbed and why the 7^th kingdom was fearful. The 8^th kingdom that stared at them from across the channel did not look at all like the 8^th kingdom that he had grown up knowing. There was a tall castle in the center of the now island kingdom. Surrounding the castle was a large maze that covered the entire island except for one part, which appeared to be a beach that went around the perimeter of the island.
"'Well old chum,' Wendell said to his dog, 'it looks like we are going to have to swim to take a closer look at this new kingdom.' The dog just barked his reply as he watched his master roll up his sleeves in preparation for their journey across the channel."
Sheridan felt her eyes start to get heavy but she wanted to know more about the woman who found Wendell washed up on the shore of the beach. The young woman was strong and had told Wendell the only way back to where he came from was to reach the center of the Labyrinth where the Castle was. Then the woman had disappeared. Wendell however had been lucky and run into some old friends who were stuck in the same situation as he was. Together they began their journey through the Labyrinth.
Luis was also captured by Elizabeth's story. He wanted to know more about the young man that had accompanied Wendell's friends to the nine kingdoms. The man was looking for a friend that had been missing for a few days and had left clues that she had gone to New York, which was where he had stumbled upon Virginia and Wolf.
Both Sheridan and Luis were shocked to find out that Wolf was actually part wolf and that he and Virginia were soon going to have a little wolf cub join their small family. But despite their bond with each other the friends had a hard journey ahead of them through the Labyrinth.
They ran into horrible fairies, life sucking water nymphets, the Summer and Winter Princesses. Wendell felt sure that the Winter Princess was the one who had found him on the beach and that she was responsible for the bad weather, which brought him to the island. The Summer Princess made parts of the trip unbearable hot for them. She would cause the sun to steal all their water. Then the Winter Princess would have snow and sleet freeze them until they could barely move.
However none of them failed to see the beauty of the Labyrinth. The high brick walls that surrounded the first section, some the walls were now covered in ivy. There were silver lakes and interesting people running around. Some of them were quite ugly and disturbing to look at, others were beautiful, graceful, but their beauty paled in to comparison to that of the Winter Princess who appeared briefly to freeze the lakes and cause all of the people to run for cover. Then the Summer Princess had felt sorry for them and tried to help them but she disappeared and they did not see her again.
The young man of traveling group noticed that the book he carried with him was that a journal of a girl who had made her way through the Labyrinth in order to save her brother from the Goblin King Jareth. She warned that nothing is as it seems in the Labyrinth and to only trust their instincts. The journal really did not help much because they seemed to have taken a different path than she did. They did run into the little man named Hoggle which girl had befriended.
He did not appear to have aged a day from the drawing that was in the girl's journal. He explained to them that he does in fact age but it is a slow process. King Jareth and the Princesses would never age but only so long as they stayed in the Labyrinth. It used to be that they were would be able to leave their kingdom when it was still in its old land. But Lady Kailieya, the Winter Princess, had angered Prince Daemon of the Trolls because she refused to marry him. Lady Kailieya had been promised to Prince Daemon since she was a baby but because she was adopted had yet to receive her real title as the Princess of the Labyrinth.
Sheridan could feel that sleep was about to over take her. She wanted to stay awake to have Elizabeth finish the tale but between Liz's soothing voice and being in Luis's arms she had become over relaxed. She settled in closer to Luis and fell asleep. Luis followed her into dreamland. They began a journey through a labyrinth of their own.
Elizabeth yawed once they two were fast asleep, "Gosh I never thought they would fall asleep. Note to self never make a bed time story so captivating that it keeps your listeners up for anymore than twenty minutes."
She slipped off the bed and quietly walked across the room and closed the door. Maybe she should be come a writer of fairy tales. Too bad that she had borrowed the ideas from her friend Dana. Dana once told her that she dreamt that she had wished that goblins had come take her brother away and in her dream they did. The only thing was sometimes she felt that the dream was real. Elizabeth sighed and climbed into her own bed and went to sleep.
Hate it? Love it? Wanna kill it or me? Help me out here people, tell me what you think and I'll see wait I can do to improve my writings.
©2000 Lennie Marie Inc. (don't mess with me! :) )