Chapter 36: I made her a promise I could not deliver

Chanda primps for the mirror before heading out to work, hoping for a promotion. Being pretty isn't the only way to get ahead, but, my goodness, doesn't it help?

"I hear you've got a boyfriend," Sheridan tells Dulce at breakfast.

"Please, just leave him alone," Dulce groans.

"What? I'm your brother. I'm just looking out for you."

"I don't need you looking out for me," she sighs.

When he picks Dulce up for the prom that evening, Duane can't help but check out the brother who scared off any competition he might face for Dulce's attention. He's heard stories about Sheridan's prowess on the field and in a fight, you can't live in Riverblossom Hills for long without hearing them, but in person, he seems tame enough.
Dulce hurries Duane out of the house while Sheridan is distracted.

Sheridan is too busy trying to prove himself to Chanda to hassle his sister's prom date.

Tonight isn't really about romance, though. Chanda has to pass some grueling physical tests before she can be promoted, and Sheridan has offered her his personal gym to work out in. He spends a great deal of time in here himself, and Chanda doesn't resent a second of the time he spends working on his body. It's one of his main attractions, after all.

And of course, after such an intense workout, comes the shower.

Late that night, Sheridan wakes to sounds of a prowler. Some freelance burglar is attempting to break into his house.

This one is clearly not from around here, or he would have known better than to try to steal from Sheridan Enmity.

Chanda has only to hint that she's feeling sore and Sheridan is up delivering a massage to ease her pain.

"You've been very sweet lately," she says, turning into his arms.

"I love you," he answers, "I'd do anything for you."

Flowers and massages are lovely, but they are a far cry from 'anything'. It's too early for Chanda to pass judgment on Sheridan's ability to become the responsible, mature man she wants him to be, but circumstances have given her little choice now but to take him as he is and hope it's right.

"Listen, Sheridan," she says, launching into it, "I have a doctor's appointment today. I think - I'm almost sure that I'm pregnant."

"That's great, Chanda," he says, with no hesitation or doubt, "Move in here now, and we'll get married as soon as you're ready."

"And if it turns out I'm not pregnant?"

"I still want to marry you," he says, still with firm and unwavering.

"Sure, okay," she agrees, with nothing like his resolve. He was always one to know what he wanted and to go for it, Chanda thinks. She's very much the same, but the problem is she's not sure now, that he is what she wants. She wants him to be what she wants, but that isn't the same thing.  But even without her doctor's confirmation, Chanda knows she's carrying his baby, and being a single parent is definitely not what she wants. Sheridan will have to be what she wants, because he's what she's got.

While Chanda is with the doctor, Sheridan is meeting with Demond Riley.

Sheridan alerts his boss to the interloper burglar who attempted to break in the night before. Demond would want to know there's a poacher on his territory.

"Where do do these fools spawn from?" Demond sighs, world weary, "He seriously tried to come through your front door? And he was unarmed?"

"I'm impressed with the improvement in your work, Enmity," Demond changes the subject, "And I think it's time to move you up to something more serious. I'm planning a major heist, and I need some muscle for the job. And you, my friend, are all muscle."

Sheridan is glad he noticed, he's put a lot of effort in developing his strength, and he's far more suited to jobs that require muscle than those that require stealth.

After getting the details of the job, Sheridan asks a more personal question.

"You were married to a cop once, weren't you? How did you manage that?"

Demond looks away. "I like you, Enmity, so I'll allow that," he says after a long pause. "Yes, my wife Sundari was in law enforcement. It's hard to find a Ramaswami that doesn't take that path. Some of them were very devoted to law and order, and some were more interested in the power and authority of the badge. My Sundari fell into the latter category, and she was very useful in keeping me informed on the movements on her side of the line. Where does your Chanda stand?"

Sheridan sighs, "She's a good cop. She'd kill me if she found out I work for you."

"Then you have a difficult path ahead of you," Demond observes, "Be sure that she doesn't turn you into an informant as I did to her aunt. Or I will kill you."

Sheridan can't be sure he means that threat metaphorically. As far as he knows, Demond has never killed anyone, but the vampire has lived far longer than Sheridan's memory reaches.

"I went to school with your grandson," Sheridan observes, just trying to warm up the cold silence that followed Demond's last statement.

Demond stands up sharply, "I like you, Enmity, but you're pushing too far. I'll see you tonight. Wear something dark and menacing, I don't want you looking like some hapless surfer." Demond's daughter with Sundari is human, and not long from the grave, and he's kept away from her and her son rather than treat them as family, only to watch them wither and die as humans do. It's not a subject he cares to discuss.

The doctor conformed Chanda's suspicion, and she announces her pregnancy to Sheridan's family over dinner. Rex and Tamsin are thrilled and immediately welcome her into their home.

Sheridan and Chanda enjoy a private celebration after dinner.

But it can't last long, Sheridan has to meet Demond by ten.

"Where are you going?" Chanda asks, "Dressed like that?

"I have to meet someone," Sheridan says. Having her live with him is much harder than he realized.

"Who are you meeting?" she insists. Everything about this late night assignation smells fishy.

"Babe, I have to go. Can we talk about this later?" Not that it will be any easier later, but Sheridan really wants to get out now.

"You can't take two seconds to tell me where you're going? Are you having an affair?"

"No!" Sheridan can deny that accusation with confidence, "I'd never cheat on you."

"Then why can't you tell me where you're going?" Chanda insists, getting angrier the more he dissembles. "It's fine if you want to go out for a drink or whatever with your friends. But if I'm going to marry you, I have a right to know where you are."

Sheridan has never been good at leashing his anger, "I'm going out. That's all you need to know!" he shouts.

"Go then. Get out of my sight!" she shouts back, turning from him, "But we are not done with this conversation."

Sheridan walks out, leaving Chanda feeling empty and deflated.

Tamsin is outraged at her son's behavior, and does her best to comfort her future daughter-in-law, but Chanda is not assuaged. She wants this to work, but Sheridan is making it damn difficult.

Demond's heist goes poorly, an informant had tipped off the cops and they were busted before they even got started. With his vampire speed, Demond was able to get away, but Sheridan was not so lucky.

During the long ride to the police station, Sheridan can only regret what this arrest is going to do to his relationship. Chanda will never forgive him.

Once again, Sheridan is locked up.

Darius watches as his great-grandson gets taken in.

Chanda sleeps alone in Sheridan's bed, plagued by nightmares.

The next morning, she learns of his arrest. He wasn't out with another woman, or partying with his friends, he was out on a heist. Heartbroken, Chanda visits her mother's grave to cry about her situation. The grave can give no comfort or advice.

Chanda gathers herself and seeks out her partner, Tenille Dorman, to get the details of Sheridan's arrest. She needs to know everything about what he was doing last night that got him arrested.

"He's working for Riley," Tenille says, "The slippery bastard got away again, but we picked up a few of his thugs." Chanda frowns at the word 'thug' being applied to the father of her child. "Uh, sorry," Tenille squirms. "Anyway, Riley is posting bail. Comes in smooth as you please, and we can't do anything. He moves so fast, witnesses can't say they ever saw him at he scene of the crime. These vampires should be outlawed." Chanda frown again, her paternal grandfather, Collin Martin, is a good, law-abiding vampire. "Uh, sorry," Tenille apologizes again.

Chanda returns to the Enmity house to find that Sheridan has been released.

He's out of jail, but he's not free from her anger. "You're working for Demond Riley? Were you working for him the last time you got picked up? The time you said it was just for thrills and promised me you weren't going to do it again?"

"I'm not working for Demond Riley," Sheridan says. It's absolutely crucial that Demond's name be kept out of this. He and the others that got picked up are small time, and it's Riley the cops are after. Anyone who squeals on him will pay, Sheridan is sure of that.

Chanda slaps him, hard. "You're covering for him? I'm not questioning you as a cop, I'm asking you as the mother of your child.

"Baby, you know I can't talk about this. But I promise, I'm out now. I love you more than anything, Chanda, and I'd do anything not to lose you."

Despite everything he's done and the promises he's broken, Chanda loves him, and wants to believe in his love for her.

That night, she goes into labor.

Chanda and Sheridan have a daughter. Chanda is too distraught to give the child a name.

She sends Sheridan back to bed while she settles the newborn into her crib. No matter how much she wants it to, no matter how hard she works at it, this relationship isn't going to work. Sheridan makes promises he cannot deliver on. She believes he loves her, but that love is not enough to temper his behavior. Nor will it be so easy for him to get out of Demond Riley's sway; he's made a choice he will not be allowed to back away from. She cannot be a cop and be married to a criminal.

"I won't be far away," she says to her daughter, "I love you, and I'll always be part of you life." It's not going to be easy, living apart from the man she still loves and their child, but the fact that they have a child means he'll always be part of her life.

Leaving behind the daughter she cannot even bear to name is the hardest part. But she's on her own, her parents both dead, and the life of a cop is demanding. As the child of two cops, no one knows that better than her, and she'd rather not see her child raised by babysitters the way she was. She would shoulder that burden herself rather than leave the child alone with her criminal father, but the baby won't be alone with Sheridan. Tamsin and Rex will provide the best possible home for her, filled with constant love and attention, and Chanda knows their door and hearts will always be open to her, the mother of their grandchild.

________________________________________________________
Generation 6's one child is born, so she is obviously the heir.
Roll for generation 7:
Mixed Couple, 4 kids. Primary career Author, Secondary Band/Busker. My goal is property mogul, and Misc Fun will be Fashion Diva. So that should be a fun roll. I've gotten a lot of music related jobs in this legacy, which is fine by me. I'm also stoked that Rex's granddaughter will be a writer, since he was mostly frustrated in his desire to be one. Though he did get to write a few books for opportunities, at least.

A note about my vampire population control: Since I didn't want vampires to overpopulate, I came up with a rule about which born vampires get to stay vampires and which get changed (via master controller) to human. Any vampire born of two vampire parents can stay vampire. For vampire children born to one human and one vampire parent, they stay vampire if they have blue skin. If they have a 'normal' skin color, I change them to human. Exceptions are vampires born before I started this policy, like Collin Martin, who is Chanda's grandfather. (He appears in this legacy as a guest at Darius and Autumn's wedding party). So that's why Demond's daughter and grandson are human, they have normal skintones.
Riverblossom Hills starts out with a fairly large extended vampire family (the Vamps), all of whom have blue skin, except Constance Vamp, who has had many relationships since I started this legacy, but only one child. Her son's children have all been cleansed of vampirism. He gets around, a lot, so he could have populated my whole town with his kind if I let him.

Poor Sheridan, when his baby was born he rolled wishes to get married and quit his job. But that's not in the cards for him. He's actually been rolling 'marry Chanda' wishes since he turned YA, poor guy.

credit for chapter title is to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.