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 3 Harmony Airport Sheridan pulled her car into the Crane Terminal and parked as near to it as possible, she did not want Elizabeth to have to walk far. One of the many benefits of being a Crane was that you had your own landing area, even if you had to share the runway. Sheridan smiled because that comment reminded her of something that Luis might say, then the smiled faded. I have to stop thinking about him, she said to herself. She walked though the door of the small building that was set up in front of the landing area, the building was mainly for show. There was no actually gate inside the building, just a guard to make sure that no one got in except the people who were supposed to. "Is she here yet?" Sheridan asked the guard. "Yeah she has been here for a while now," he replied with a sly smile. Sheridan almost turned pale, "Is she mad at all?" The guard leaned back in his chair, "Not yet, but if you don't get out there soon, who knows what will happen?" Sheridan walked out onto the airpark. There in the middle was a pile of luggage with a young woman sitting on one of the trunks. She looked like someone from "Casablanca", with her naval blue hat, suit outfit, and white gloves. This was all very typical of Elizabeth, she never liked what modern day business women wore, she preferred to go with older more distinguished styles. Sheridan new for a fact that Elizabeth's favorite time period, fashion wise, was the "Old South", but since that was not really practical she chose to dress in her next favorite time period, the 1940's. Elizabeth looked up from the compact that she was holding and almost knocked over Sheridan in her attempt give her a hug. "Sherie! Sherie! I am so happy to see you. Oh Sherie, I am here now, everything is going to be okay." Elizabeth was shedding a few tears now. Hearing her voice and seeing her again made Sheridan start to cry too. "Liz, it is so good to see you again. Wow, we are both acting like a bunch of blubbering little girls." Elizabeth laughed, and then sniffed. "It's okay we deserve it. Here let me look at you." Elizabeth held Sheridan at arm's length. "Turn around." Sheridan laughed but she humored Elizabeth and turned around. Elizabeth shook her head. "Sheridan you just get more beautiful by the minute. I don't know how you do it. Here I am well dressed, make up in place, and wearing all the right colors and I'll still never look as good as you do." Sheridan laughed at her. "You know what I think. I think you would still look good if your clothes were made out of a burlap bag." "Elizabeth you look lovely. Stop worrying." Sheridan said in attempt to stop the young woman from rambling. "I'll speak my mind when I want to, and no one will ever be able to stop me. Now I know you don't like hearing me tell you how good you look so we'll talk about something else. I brought you a few presents back from Paris," Elizabeth looked around for her briefcase. "You were in Paris?" Sheridan asked in confusion. Elizabeth nodded, picked up her briefcase and started to rummage through it. "Yeah, I got there just a few hours after you left." Sheridan snorted. "You mean before I was kidnapped." Elizabeth shrugged, "Kidnapped, saved. Call it what you like, but the press never lies, well they don't most of the time." "Elizabeth, what are you talking about!" Sheridan's tone was verging on being harsh. "I am talking about this dear daughter," Elizabeth's own tone was harsh and promptly reminded Sheridan whom it was she was talking to. Elizabeth handed Sheridan a newspaper. Sheridan took the French newspaper and saw immediately what the headline on the front page. It read 'American Princess saved by Super Cop from the States.' She couldn't believe it. What on earth was going on, she looked up at Elizabeth for an explanation. "Keep readying," Elizabeth ordered as she went to sit on her luggage again. Sheridan read the article that followed trying to scream and tear up the paper. The article told her that shortly after she and Luis had gotten on the plane, the Drug Cartel thought they spotted her in front of her hotel getting into a car. They followed the car until it came to a spotlight. Then they sped up and rammed their car into the one they thought was hers. They managed to push the car 4.5 meters into the intersection where another car hit the driver side front door. There was a cop at driving though the intersection and he was able to arrest the Drug Cartel members, who where later found to be the leaders of the cartel. Unfortunately the woman in the car, who was later identified by Mrs. Alistair Crane as not being her daughter, died in on the way to the hospital. Sheridan was dumbfounded. She did not know what to think, "That could have been me in that car." Elizabeth nodded. "Thank god it wasn't. I mean it is terrible that young woman had to die in order for those Drug Cartel men to get caught, but thank god it wasn't you. And it could have been if Luis hadn't taken you back to the States. I don't know how but somehow, someone found out that one of them had been at the airport around the same time you were there. I am sure he would have done the same thing to you as he did to that woman as soon as you got in your car." "I was in a cab," Sheridan said in a daze. "What?" "I wasn't in a car I was in a cab. Luis left his plane ticket at my hotel on purpose so he could get me to follow him. I took a cab." "Well whatever, it doesn't matter. What is important is that he saved your life, and somehow, I don't know how, I managed to cover the Crane family name. You little stunt of having Luis arrested almost got to the press, but I stopped it. Do you know how bad it would have looked if these people found out that you had Luis arrested? The Cranes would have looked like idiots! Sheridan, from what I have heard, this guy saved your life more then once while you where in Paris, and even more than that when you were in Harmony. What the hell were you thinking! The people of Paris gave him the key to their city, and you had him thrown in jail!" Elizabeth had gotten up and was standing in front of Sheridan. "Luis was given the key to the city of Paris. How did that happen?" Sheridan sounded more confused than ever. Luis was in jail, Elizabeth just said that the press in the Paris almost found out about that, how the did he manage to get such good press in Paris? "My excellent PR skills, of course," Elizabeth gave Sheridan a sly smile. "I don't know about you, but I like this Luis guy, I mean he has saved your life countless times. You should consider yourself twice as lucky because he is not half bad to look-" "Elizabeth!" "Hey, I may be married and pregnant, but I am not blind. Anyway the point being when I found out that wasn't you in the car I called Alistair, he told me that you had been taken back to the States by, and these are his words, 'that confounded Lopez-Fitzgerald cop who didn't know when to let well enough alone.' So I did my best to try to make him see things my way, then when he didn't listen I told him that it didn't matter because the Paris press was going to make him a hero so he should just go ahead and do what I ask." Elizabeth's tone showed how proud she was of herself. "So basically you are telling me that you told the press that it was because Luis had kidnapped me, I was save at home in Harmony?" Sheridan asked, although she knew that she really did not want to know the answer. "Well, no. I told them take Officer Lopez-Fitzgerald was the only who was brilliant enough to realize that you had to be taken back to Harmony, and that because of him you were a live and well in Harmony. The press just jazzed it up a bit. And since you had been living in Paris for such a long time, and the Crane family is so widely known, they decided that he should get the key to the city. Alistair almost had a fit when he found out," she sighed and then giggled. Sheridan couldn't help but smile at Elizabeth's ability to get what she wanted from Alistair. "What did he do when he found that not only was Luis in jail but that he had the key to the city of Paris?" Elizabeth shook her head, "I am not sure, but I do know this. Since I was going to be sent to Harmony anyway, he told me to make sure to have the charges against Luis dropped, and to have him reinstated as a Detective on the police force. Oh and to have you apologize and thank Luis for saving you." "I have to what?!?" Sheridan was in a state of shock. "Hey you should consider yourself lucky. Before Alistair wanted you to a press statement official apologizing to Luis, I don't know how I managed to talk him down to just a simple apology. Well yes I do, but I am not going to tell you," Elizabeth gave Sheridan a wicked smile. Sheridan was beginning to feel sick to her stomach. Her best friend had married her father, she was young enough to be his granddaughter, and she was going have a baby, his baby. The more she thought about the sicker she got, and then she started to feel dizzy. "Sherie? Sherie!" She heard Elizabeth call her but she could not say anything, everything started going black. She was falling, falling fast but she could not even reach out for help, and it seemed like her fall was endless. Then it stopped. She felt something stop her fall, someone had caught her. She felt like she had been wrapped in a blanket of warmth and comfort, like the person who caught her just wanted to erase all of her pain. Then she heard voices talking in a rapid panic. She thought she could her Elizabeth yell at people in shrill voice trying to get someone to help, but here was another voice that she couldn't quite place, it was telling her that everything was alright, that she had to wake up. "I don't believe this! How could Sherie do this to me, especially when I don't even have any have smelling salt with me!" Elizabeth was beginning to feel faint herself. "Well it's not her fault that she fainted, you overloaded her with information, she just couldn't take all everything that you were saying. I mean look at it from her point of view, you married her father and you didn't even tell her about. That's a lot to take in one day. Then on top of that you tell her that she has to talk to a man that she never wants to see again," Luis said as he kneeled on the ground holding Sheridan in his arms. "You and I both know that is not true. You two just had a serious gap in communication that wasn't either of your faults. Now where on earth is that smelling salt." Luis looked down at Sheridan and was about to suggest that they stand Sheridan up or something so that he wouldn't be the first thing that she would see when she came to but the guard came running towards them with the smelling salt. Elizabeth snatched it from him, opened the bottled, and handed it to Luis. Luis mentally shook himself to prepare for the battle that was about to ensue. He waved the smelling salt under Sheridan's nose and watched as she came to. She pushed the smelling salt away in a weak gesture. "Yuck, get that away from me," she said in a shaky voice. She looked up at him and smiled, "Luis you will never believe this but I just had the worst . . . well I guess you would call it a nightmare. I dreamt that I put you in jail and that my best friend, who had married my father was the one who helped you get out and that she was ordering me to apologize to you." Luis tried to smile and helped her up. Elizabeth was looking at them both with pain written all over her face. She looked as if she was going just break down right there, but somehow she managed to put on a good face. "Well I am sorry to disappoint Sherie, but it wasn't a nightmare. You just fainted. I frankly am tired of seeing this airpark and would like to get out of here. Luis would you please help Sheridan to her car and then drive all of us to the beach that is supposedly somewhere in Harmony. The flight crew has already started to put my bags into Sheridan's car. I just have a few things to handle here and then I will meet you at the car," Elizabeth did not wait for a reply she just started to walk into the building with the guard. "Of course Mrs. Crane," Luis said under his breath. "Come on Sheridan we better get going." Sheridan was still so unable to grasp what was going on that she just allowed Luis to guide her. Then she realized that she had really hurt her one true friend and the only other person besides Pilar that tried to be a mother to her. She didn't know what was wrong with her, she was just hurting people left and right. "How mad do you think she is?" Sheridan asked as and Luis made their way to the car. "She isn't mad, she is just disappointed because you don't understand that she loves you and your father and that she never meant to hurt you," Luis tried not to show how shocked he was that she was talking to him. Sheridan just nodded, she barely noticed the fact that flight crew had managed to get her trunk open and was rushing to put Elizabeth's bags in it. For her it was simply logical that Elizabeth had gotten her keys out of her purse and given than to the crew. Elizabeth somehow had managed to root herself in every aspect of her life without even being around her for more than an hour. It was just the way things worked, now instead of having Julian or her father run her life Elizabeth was in charge and things were never going to be left to her handle again. Elizabeth came out of the building and got into the car. Luis looked at both of them but neither said a word. So he started the car and began to drive to the Harmony Beach. Harmony Beach Elizabeth grabbed her briefcase, took off her shoes, and bolted out of the car. She ran into the sand and toward the water not carrying about the hat that she had lost in her dash to the sea. Luis and Sheridan both looked at each other trying to figure what they were missing, and then they gave up and decided that Elizabeth had just lost it. Sheridan picked up the hat as they walked to catch up with her. Elizabeth stopped as she got close to the wet sand and dropped her briefcase. She took in a deep breath of the salty air and just laughed. She always loved the sea and now she almost felt like she was part of it. She began to spin around and around with her arms stretched out, laughing, not caring that her hair net had come loose and that her hair was flying in every which directions. She just loved this feeling of freedom, she was free from everything, from everyone, and she only needed herself. It was a feeling of pure bliss, which ended promptly as she realized that Sheridan and Luis were staring at her, wondering what on earth she was doing. "What can I say?" she shrugged at them. "I love the ocean and the smell of salt water." All of a sudden Sheridan began to feel very uncomfortable, "Elizabeth will you please explain to me what is going on here?" Elizabeth looked at Sheridan and the turned to look out to sea. She was still very hurt by Sheridan's reaction to her marriage to Alistair, she did not expect Sheridan to be overjoyed by the union but she did not expect for Sheridan to think that the whole thing was a horrible nightmare. However she was not going to hold that against Sheridan, no good mother would. "Well my dear I have something very important in my briefcase that I want you to see. Something that will not only change your believes, your mind, but it will also change your life forever," Elizabeth walked over to the briefcase and picked it up. Sheridan could swear that she saw Luis roll his eyes but she could not be sure. She than looked at Elizabeth who was holding the briefcase close to her body. She knew what Elizabeth was waiting, she knew that she was going to have to ask to see whatever this life changing thing was, and think about it carefully before she asked. "Elizabeth I don't understand," Sheridan shook her head. "Even if what you have in your briefcase is going to change my life, why is Luis here?" Elizabeth shook her head, "I don't know if I should really tell you. I think you need to find out on your own. Find a nice place to sit, this is going to take awhile." Elizabeth walked off down the beach. She knew it was mean of her not to tell Sheridan out right what was going on but she was still hurting from the earlier events at the airpark. Sheridan turned and saw Luis standing there. He was not looking at her, he was watching as Elizabeth tried to find a place for them all to sit. Sheridan did not know if she should ask Luis what was going on, or if she should yell at him to leave. All she wanted was for this whole thing to be over with and to get away from him before she did something that she would regret. "I suppose you know what is going on here, and that it would absolutely ridiculous of me to ask you want was going on?" Sheridan asked him as she began to follow Elizabeth. "Right as always Ms. Crane," Luis replied with a huge smile. Sheridan sighed, she had a feeling that what she was about to find out was not something that she wanted to hear. That it was something that was going to do more damage than good. For that reason and others she just wanted to make a dash for the car but she knew that would be pointless. Elizabeth finally found a place that she thought was good enough, and far enough away from the main road that they could sit and talk. It was semi-surrounded with tall beach grass and there were some logs for them to sit on. Elizabeth sat down and popped open her briefcase. "Sheridan I am sure that you remember our friend in the FBI, Dana Scully?" Elizabeth looked up at Sheridan and motioned for her and Luis to take a seat. Sheridan sat on the log to Elizabeth's right and Luis sat on the one to her left. Sheridan remembered meeting Dana some years ago when Elizabeth was living in Paris. Dana, who was a few years older than Sheridan, was there visiting Elizabeth for a few weeks while she went through Paris. She and Elizabeth had met a while back when the both at the same dance studio. They had all gotten along marvelously and had tons of fun trekking around Paris and some of the other small towns that surrounded it. Sheridan still kept in touch with Dana. "Sure I do, but what does she have to do with any of this?" "Well a few weeks ago the FBI arrested some guy who was hired to impersonate people. One of the people was your father. Naturally we were sent the part of the case file that considered us. When I was going looking at one of the photos in the case file I recognized another face besides your father. I called up Dana and asked her to send me a full official copy of the case file," Elizabeth pulled the huge menial folder out of her briefcase. She hesitated for a moment, unsure if it was fair of her not to be the one to change Sheridan's life, she thought about it for a moment more and then made up her mind. "I am going to give this to file to you, but it is up to you whether or not you read. Just know that the truth about something very important is in there." Elizabeth got up and walked to Sheridan. She looked at Sheridan and tried to figure out what was going on through her head. She could see a mixture of confusion and fear. She wanted to tell Sheridan that everything was going to be okay, that this would not hurt her, but she knew that it would not be true. Elizabeth finally just thrust the file into Sheridan's hands. "Come on Luis, I think we should leave Sheridan alone so she can read it in private," Elizabeth turned and walked away. Luis wanted to stay with Sheridan but he knew that Elizabeth was right. Sheridan needed to read the file on her own, so much of what happened between them in these last few weeks that was based on what she believed to be true, and once she read the file she would find out that she had been wrong from the beginning. He knew that it was going to be hard for her and he wanted to be there for her. Then he felt Elizabeth looking at him, he knew that she would come and get him if he did not start walking, he headed to where she was standing. Sheridan stared at the file she was given as she listened to Elizabeth and Luis walk away. Luis stayed longer than Elizabeth did, but why? Why was this important to him? Sheridan knew that this had something to do with him, something that was going to change their relationship forever, and that scared her. She did not know what to do or think, she did not even know if she wanted to read the file, but she knew that she had to. She opened the thick file and started reading. Luis was such a bundle of mixed emotions that he could not keep still. He had original followed Elizabeth back to the car but he could not just stand here so he went back to the beach and stood at the water's edge watching the little waves crash along the sand. Then merely watching was not enough, he began to pick up little rocks from the ground and started to try to skip them in the water. At first he did not do so well, but he finally figured out how to get a few hops out of the rock before it fell to the sea floor. Then he sensed that Sheridan was coming up behind him, he turned and looked at her as she turned her face towards the sea. Sheridan stood there for a while, breathing in the salt air. Then she faced him, "I don't know what to say. I just don't-" Luis took her hand in his. "You don't have to say anything, Elizabeth explained everything to me." 'Just say that you will never leave me again, that you will trust me always' Luis thought to himself. Sheridan started to become teary eyed. "Oh Luis. I am so sorry! I wish none this had ever happened. I should have just listened to Ethan and gone talked to you about what I heard you, well not you but that actor say." By this time Sheridan was crying, "I should have known that you would never use me, that it wasn't you on the wharf that night." Luis took her face in his hands, "It's okay now. That's all over. Please just forget about it. It was a mistake, and a perfectly understand able one." Sheridan stared into Luis's eyes. He was so good to her, how could she had ever believed that he would have even thought about using her? She did not know what she did to deserve such a good...friend, well for now that would have to do. There had been a lot of damage down by what happened, it was going to take time to repair. Hopefully with Luis's help it would go a lot faster. Elizabeth watched her daughter and new friend talking to each other. She was happy. Sure it was not the stealing your breath away kiss that she had wanted them to share but it was a start, and with those two anything was a step in the right direction. Well, she thought to herself, with my plan those two will at least be engaged by the time Alistair comes home. She smiled and started to walk towards Sheridan and Luis. 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! :) )