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Chapter Three: I Can Love
You Like That
Sheridan would never forget Halloween, though Luis had
tried his best to erase the terrible memories from her mind. In fact, when Sheridan awoke that next morning, he
had a bath ready for her and helped her wash gently, so she wouldn’t scrub too hard. He had been taught all the
thoughts that would go through her mind, part of a violence seminar he had gone to years ago. Of course, he had
prayed that the information had never been useful, but was thankful he had it. Now, as Thanksgiving was only two
days away, Sheridan and Luis had managed to work their way though the pain that night had caused. Luis still blamed
himself, however, and that was one thing Sheridan planned on ridding him of.
The radio was playing as she cleaned the cottage, dusting her favorite knick-knacks with care. It had become something
she would do to pass the time away, much to the relief of the maids on staff. Luis sat on the couch pretending
to read the newspaper, though Sheridan knew he wasn’t. In fact, it was obvious that he was thinking about something
by the way the pages never turned.
"Penny for your thoughts, handsome," Sheridan sat beside him.
"Huh?" he put the paper down and looked at her, again the memories playing in his mind.
"I said penny for your thoughts…where do you keep going off to?"
"No where," he replied gruffly, returning to the sports section.
"Luis, you’ve been like this since Halloween…in fact you refuse to sleep in our bed anymore. What’s with you?"
He barely noticed her calling the bed theirs. "Nothing," he pretended to be skimming the scores.
"Don’t you love me anymore?" she placed her hand on his arm. He pushed it off.
"I just think that maybe we should keep some distance. I didn’t do my job that night, Sheridan. It’s my fault."
"Luis, there is nothing you could have done…we’ve been over this. Had you been asleep in here and I in the
bedroom, you would have been killed or tied up in here. I would have been at their mercy…never having even hidden.
We both would be dead today had we not been together."
He shook his head and looked down. "I failed you, Sheridan. It’s my fault they got to you. I should have been
more careful. I think maybe we should just go back to how it was before I was shot so that I can do my job better…maybe
I shouldn’t even sleep."
"Luis, no," she pleaded. "I don’t want to go back…I want to be with you. I love you."
He looked into her eyes. "How can you forgive me?"
"There’s nothing to forgive, Luis. You still saved me in the end." She threw her arms around him, hugging
him close. "I don’t ever want to be without you."
"Nor I without you," he replied. Pulling her into his lap, he sighed. "Do you know how impossible
it’s been to stay in here?"
"I know how impossible it’s been to stay in the bedroom," she snuggled closer. "I was lost without
you."
"I’m always lost without you," he revealed. "It’s hard being away from the love of my life. I’m
just so afraid to lose you."
"You will never lose me."
"I hope not."
"I know not."
"Mama wants us over at noon on Thanksgiving day. She says we’ll be eating at three."
Sheridan smiled. "My first Thanksgiving with a real family…"
"And your first as my girlfriend," he grinned. "I can’t wait to bring you home with me."
"I can’t wait to go home with you," she pecked his lips lightly. "Should we make anything to bring
with us?"
"You? Cook?" he laughed. "No offense, sweetheart, but we want to be able to eat it."
"Hey!" she swatted his chest. "I’m sure with your help I could make a nice pie or something."
"Ok, I’ll call and see if there is something we can bring and then you and I can cook it together. Deal?"
"Deal," she was beaming. "I bet we can make a delicious pie…or some cookies…or…"
"We’ll see, Sherry angel. Just don’t get your hopes up. Mama love to do her own cooking for the holidays."
Luis rubbed her stomach unconsciously.
"Do you think we should have used protection all the times we made love?" she asked, linking her hand
with his over her stomach.
"Do…do you?" he asked, never having considered it.
She shook her head and then laid it on his chest. "No, Luis. I would love to get pregnant…especially with
your baby."
Luis smiled at the thought of having a baby with Sheridan. A little boy that looked just like him or a little girl
that had eyes like her mother. "I kinda like the thought of having a baby with you too," he stated, his
mind playing visions of the two of them caring for a baby.
"Really?"
He nodded. "I think we’d make a beautiful baby."
She sighed, thinking of what their baby could possibly look like. "I love you."
"Love you too. I have an idea," Luis kissed her cheek.
"What idea?" she asked, sitting up more.
"We can surprise Mama and bake her some cookies. How about that?"
"Good idea!" Sheridan became excited. "Can we make chocolate chip ones?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of M&M cookies."
"M&M?" Sheridan turned to him, confused.
"Yea, they’re kinda like chocolate chip cookies except you use M&Ms in the batter. They were Antonio and
Papa’s favorites, which made them Mama’s favorite when they disappeared."
"Then M&M it is," she smiled and pecked his lips softly. Getting up, she dragged him into the kitchen
to check their supplies.
He was a sucker.
Somehow, he had known deep inside that he would never be able to deny Sheridan anything, especially once she stuck
her lower lip out in a pout. Now, he stood in the center of the kitchen, a blue cooking apron on, watching as Sheridan
dug out a large bowl for them to mix the cookie batter in.
This was going to be a disaster and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Once his Sheridan had her mind set
on something, she was going to do it. She did look good in her tight jeans and white blouse, especially crouching
the way she was by the cabinets. Sheridan was wearing a frilly pink apron that once belonged to her maternal great
grandmother. God, she was beautiful.
"Ok, is this bowl big enough?" she asked as she stood again, a large yellow mixing bowl in her hands.
"Yea, that’ll do," Luis replied as he moved closer to her. "Are you sure you wouldn’t rather be
doing something else?" He snaked his arms around her waist from behind.
"Luis, I know where that mind is, but get it back into the kitchen. I want to do this for your mother and
I know the first batch will more than likely be inedible."
He laughed at her, knowing she was more than likely right about the cookies being inedible. Sure, he knew how to
bake and had done it many times before, but Sheridan was another story. "I’m sure the two of us can make decent
cookies, Sheridan," Luis replied.
"I don’t know, with those horrible eggs Benedict you made me that one morning as an example of your cooking,
I’m not sure we can," she teased. The breakfast had been a surprise after her attack on Halloween night. He
had tried to cheer her up with a romantic breakfast in bed after her bath: a rose on the tray, fresh squeezed orange
juice and her favorite breakfast. Unfortunately, he had messed around while cooking, changing bits and pieces of
the recipe as he went along. The eggs had been horrible.
"All right, you aren’t ever going to let me live that one down, so I’m not even going to try, but I know the
recipe to this and have been making it them for years. Mama taught me to make these when she was working to keep
Theresa and Miguel entertained and to let them have a little treat when we could afford it."
Sheridan could see a little pain in his eyes when he mentioned the past. "I guess we both had hard childhoods,"
she took his hands into hers. "We’ll work together to make the future the best for both of us to make up for
all of that. I want to make all your dreams come true…" Grinning, she walked to the fridge to get the eggs,
milk and butter out. "But right now I want to bake cookies!"
He chuckled and searched the kitchen for the rest of the supplies they would need to bake. Sheridan even had a
hidden stash of M&Ms she kept "in case of a chocolate emergency." Setting it all across the table,
he sat her in the chair and placed the bowl in front of her. Instructing her on what to put in the bowl, he searched
for a good spoon to mix with.
With his back turned, the mess began!
When Luis turned back around, Sheridan had her arm in the flour sack, which she had carelessly torn open sending
a mist of flour everywhere. Her blond hair was tinted with the powdery substance and her table, floor and clothing
had a sheer layer on them as well. Luis tried to fight the laughter that was bubbling in his chest, but he couldn’t
help it and he erupted.
"What, may I ask, is so funny?" she glared at him, her hands folding across her chest in her battle stance.
"Nothing," he tried to control himself, but the chuckles kept coming.
She shifted from one foot to the other, her eyes never leaving his. She reached into the bag of flour and moved
towards him. He tried to back away, but ended up backing into the cabinet. The next thing he knew, his head was
covered in flour.
"You didn’t!" his laughter was gone.
"I did," she grabbed his arm and pulled him to the table. "Now stop teasing me and start helping
me make these cookies."
He laughed again and they set off to the task at hand.
Twenty minutes later, the first batch was in the oven and the happy couple was cleaning the kitchen.
"Sheridan, you are the only woman in the world that could make such a mess making cookies," Luis groaned
as he swept up some M&Ms she has spilled on the floor.
"Those bags are hard to open!" she defended, putting the remaining eggs, flour, milk and butter away.
"Besides, you’re the one that dropped two eggs in your attempt to show off."
"I wasn’t showing off, I was attempting to help you crack them over the bowl. You just were too tempting,"
he continued to clean, remembering the scene. He had been standing behind her, her hands in his, as he attempted
to help her crack the eggs without getting the shells into the bowl. She had smelled so wonderful, some vanilla
spilled on her apron and her body still covered in flour. Luis’ hands traveled up her arms, stopping at her shoulders
and then traveling down her back. As if they had a mind of their own, his hands continued around her waist, making
small circles until they reached her firm belly.
Shaking his head, Luis tried to clear away the thoughts of how his lips had found her neck and he had kissed his
way to her ear, causing her to lose control and squeeze the eggs in her hands, the yolk splattering all over.
"See, you’re fault," she laughed, knowing all too well they were both remembering what had happened.
"Fine, so I made you break the eggs, but I didn’t spill the M&Ms, the flour or the milk…"
"I knocked the milk over when you started tickling me…"
"Because you said I had something against eggs…I couldn’t cook them and now I couldn’t even teach you to break
them," he pouted.
She giggled and kissed his lips lightly. "I hadn’t meant to offend you, my love. I merely wanted to tease
you back. You’re always telling me how terrible I am at cooking and things and I just wanted to have something
to tease you about," her eyes became sad like a lost puppy’s and her lower lip protruded in a little pout.
He chuckled and kissed her cheek. "All right, Miss Crane, we’re even." He wrapped his arms around her
and laughed. "Come on, let’s clean this place up and then clean you up."
She smiled and pecked his lips lightly and they returned to the chore at hand. By time they had come remotely close
to completing the cleaning, the first batch of cookies were done and ready to be removed from the oven. Luis helped
Sheridan put them out on cooling racks and then they placed the new batch in, returning to their clean up. When
they finished cleaning and baking, they both decided to take a shower together before tasting their treats.
The shower had taken much longer than expected, but that wasn’t anything new to them. Most times they would plan
to wash and the light touches would cause the small fire of love inside them to turn into an all out blaze. They
would lose control and allow their love to control their bodies as they traveled to a heaven made for lovers. This
shower had been no different and had led to some snuggling in bed before they decided to get up and taste their
first attempt at baking.
Entering the kitchen, their hands linked, they headed for the tray of cooling cookies.
"You grab some cookies, I’ll get the milk and we’ll meet in front of the TV," Sheridan winked, sauntering
over to the cabinet and grabbing two glasses.
Luis removed a plate from the nearby drain board and placed a few lukewarm cookies on the dish. The pair walked
into the living room and settled on the couch. Luis turned on the TV and found an eighties sitcom to watch while
Sheridan poured them each a glass of ice-cold milk. Moving closer, they snuggled and Sheridan grabbed a cookie.
"Ready for the taste test?" Sheridan asked, breaking a piece of the cookie off and holding it to his
lips.
"Me first?" he pretended to look worried as she dangled the morsel of cookie in front of him.
"Yes, sir…do it for me," she gave him the lost puppy look and he sighed, knowing there was no way he
could deny her even this tiniest of wishes. He opened his mouth and she became positively giddy as she slid the
piece into his mouth. Before she could remove her index finger, his mouth closed, sucking on her digit before releasing
it and chewing the cookie.
"Does it pass inspection?" she excitedly awaited his verdict, her hands holding tightly to one of his
forearms as she sat on her legs beside him. Her face was above his, but close enough that he could kiss her if
he wished.
He finished chewing and pretended to mull the taste over in his head. "Sheridan, baby, these cookies are as
good as Mama’s. I think we’ve mastered baking M&M cookies!"
Sheridan was glowing; there was no other way to completely describe the excitement on her face as she tackled Luis
in a bear hug, her first lesson as a Lopez-Fitzgerald girlfriend. She kissed him hard and then pulled away, her
eyes twinkling with the excitement of her accomplishment.
"We didn’t burn or mutilate them in any way?" She asked, tasting the cookie herself, though slightly
unsure of how they should taste. Having never had these cookies before, she was afraid they weren’t just right,
but she was surprised to find that they tasted almost exactly like Pilar’s chocolate chip cookies.
"No, Sherry angel, we made them just right. In fact, Mama’s not going to believe you had anything to do with
this feat."
Sheridan pulled away, offended. She knew that her cooking was definitely not top notch in any way and that somewhere
a five star chef would laugh at her feeble attempts at making meals. However, to learn that her own boyfriend considered
her cooking to be comparable to garbage upset her and to know his family would think he made these cookies on her
own cut at her heart. "Am I really such a terrible cook that you cannot believe I would follow a recipe on
a card with a little assistance?"
"Sheridan, that’s not what I meant at all, sweetheart. Mama knows that you aren’t the greatest cook on earth
and I’m sure any attempt at cooking would have pleased her immensely, but I know she’s not going to believe that
you were willing to bake for her when you can barely make scrambled eggs."
She jumped up from the couch. "I’ll have you know I make damn good scrambled eggs, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald!"
"Sheridan, please, I don’t want to argue," he begged.
"Oh, don’t worry about it, Mr. High and Mighty gourmet chef, we won’t be arguing," she got up, taking
her glass of milk and a cookie. "I’ll be in *my* room!" Sheridan stamped off angrily. The use of the
word my not going unnoticed.
"Sheri…" SLAM, his voice was cut off before he could finish her name, "dan." Luis sighed. He
hadn’t meant to make her angry; in fact, he had been trying to be honest. It would be hard to believe that she
baked the cookies; even she admitted what a terrible chef she was. How was he supposed to know that was such a
touchy subject? "Then again, what isn’t with that woman?" he asked himself in a grumble.
Deciding he couldn’t let her sulk in her room, he got up and walked over to her door, knocking softly and hoping
she would let him in.
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