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More Than Eyes Alone Can See	By : Psnoo17 Category: M through R > Once Upon A Time In Mexico Views: 1450 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time in Mexico, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-More Than Eyes Alone Can See
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 4-4
- 5-5
- 6-6
- 7-7
- 8-8
- 9-9
- 10-10
- 11-11
- 12-12
- 13-14
- 14-15
- 15-16
- 16-17
- 17-18
- 18-19
- 19-20
- 20-Index of Quotes
- 16
- 17
- 18
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Tess woke the next morning as the sun pierced her
eyelids. She moaned as her neck and back
let her know they did not appreciate having spent the
night sitting up against a hard wall.
Her eyes opened, squinting as light came in the wide open windows. She looked down; there was a dark head
resting against her collarbone. Sands
had twisted sometime during the night so that his temple was resting above her
heart. Tess sighed, wondering how she
was supposed to get out of bed without waking her companion. Almost without thought, her hand came up and
brushed some hair out of his face, revealing that he was still wearing a pair
of sunglasses. She would have preferred
that he have something wrapped over his eyes, but his
nerve-endings were even more alive now than they had been in Mexico; the pain would have been too much.

Danger, Will Robinson. '>
The voice sent a surge of panic through her, making its opinion known.

Tess noticed what her hands were doing.
I need to get out. Very, very carefully, she shifted Sands off
her and onto the bed, making sure he was lying on his back to keep the arms of
his glasses from digging into his face.
Get moving.
I have to make
sure he�s alright.
That is my job. It was chilly in
the room, so Tess went to the closet and got a light blanket to cover Sands with.
Then make sure you keep things
businesslike, Teresa. You don�t want him
to start to influence any part of your life.
He�s like me � you�d never be able to control him. I�d use him, you know that. He�d become my unwitting ally in your
eventual mental destruction.
You may be able to
control me, but you can�t control him.
You really want to bet that madness can�t
spread?

�I�m leaving, alright? You can
stop your nagging and your threats.�
Tess paused despite her words. If
they could just get through this next week.
Six more days. Then perhaps the
sun would be able to wake him as well.
As she stood looking down into Sands� face, Tess whispered, �For the
Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,/And
breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;/And the eyes of the sleepers
waxed deadly and chill,/And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew
still.�

Tess was halfway out the door when the sound of Sands� voice stopped her. �I was wondering when you were going to show
up.�

�What?�

�You. My very own angel of death.
Are you quoting one of your dead
friends, or were you simply reading my future?�
You�re probably right. I guess that makes you a weakling, doesn�t
it?

�Stop it. Just stop it
already.� If placing her hands over her
ears would have done anything other than make the voice easier to hear, then she probably would have done it. �You�re just teasing me now.�

�You�re no fun, chiquita.� Tessa�s attention snapped from her voice to
Sands� voice. �You make me stop teasing
and I�ll have nothing left to fill my days with.� She couldn�t deal with this at the
moment. Tess turned on her heel and left
the room before things got more confusing � before her voice could start in
again. Before Sands could go through
another mood swing. Before she gave into
the temptation to find a quiet corner somewhere and let the world take care of
itself. As she closed the door, she
heard Sands� self-satisfied laughter and heard her voice pick up where he�d
left off after the door had cut off the sound of his conceit.

Sands laid
in his bed for some time after Tess left the room. His head throbbed, the space behind his
forehead screamed, and his back was strangely cold. But that was nothing when compared to feeling
that something had happened the night before that he couldn�t remember. Which was ridiculous,
because he remembered going to bed the night before, listening to the quiet
turning of pages as Tess sat across the room from him. But there was
still that feeling . . . .

To be quite honest, it had been a shock to wake up and find her mumbling
over him. For a moment he�d had a hard
time remembering where he was; reality, memories of Mexico, and his dreams had mingled together in a seething mass
that threatened to overwhelm him. So
he�d started talking. Hearing his own
voice seemed to help cut through the confusion at times, even if it only helped
him remember who he was and not who he was with.
p>

That was the worst part of it . . . the times when his mind
wandered. The lack of control he had and
the lack of memory that often went with it.
The knowledge that Tess was there for it all the the fact that she never
said anything. Despite feelings that
smothered him at the thought that he was saying and doing things without any
knowledge, he couldn�t bring himself to ask his nurse what actually happened in
the periods he couldn�t remember. And
she never asked him anything that with what he couldn�t remember ing ing about,
which she would have if what he�d been saying had been trivial � which meant he
could have been spilling all his darkest secrets and dancing around the house
naked. Damn the woman for not being more
inquisitive. For being silent. For being supportive. For being harmless enough for him to start to
trust her.

There�s a brilliant idea.
Trust. If I remember correctly,
this entire predicament can be laid at the feet of people you �trusted� but
were proven to be rather . . . untrustworthy.
Well, except for the rat you hired to get �El� and his team into
pr
president�s residence.
I didn�t say I did
trust her. Just that I think she
couldn�t hide a thing to save her life.
Even her silence screams information. To betray, you
must first belong. That doesn�t apply in
this circumstance.
Make sure you keep that in mind.

Three more days.
Just three more days. If doing so wouldn�t have been life-threatening,
she would have resorted to keeping Sands sedated by now. Luckily, he didn�t have much energy any more
either. He�s not even up yet today.

Tess heard the front door open and close but didn�t bother looking to
see who it was. It could only be Tina or
Logan; they were the only ones with keys to the house.

W tha that or Mr. Keel finally tracked you down and is now going to
take you back to Mexico to face whoever is intent on taking over the cartel.
By now, that would
seem like a vacation. At least then I
would know what to expect. Tessa raised her eyebrows without opening her
eyes; she heard two sets of footsteps.
And they both sou lik like women�s.

�Well, I can see that my evil twin wasn�t exaggerating when he said that
you needed a break.� The woman�s voice
was full of wry humor and a bit of exasperation. It wasn�t Tina.

I know that voice. Tess opened her eyes to find Jessica Pierce, Logan�s twin sister, standing in the threshold of the living
room, her arms crossed carelessly over her chest.

�I hope you don�t take any offence, T, but you look like death warmed
over.�

�Jessica.� Tess stood up to greet her friend but instead
found herself reaching for support as the blood
drained from her head and the room spun.

�Easy there, Trix.� Jessica had moved across the room when she�d
seen Tessa go pale. �I know you won that
diving competition our freshman year, but I�d prefer you not reenact it without
a pool.�

�I�m fine.�

�Of course you are. You�re always
fine.� The two women sat back down on
the couch. �You also smell. As soon as you�re able to stand up without
passing out, I want you to go take a shower.�

�I can�t. I have to look after
Sands. Where�s Tina? And I thought you weren�t coming until next
week.�

�Yes you can, leave Sands to me, Tina�s putting away some groceries
before she hurries off to assist my brother, and I came early.�

�Why?�

�Because Logan called me and said that he was worried about you. So I took some sick leave and flew out. Shower.
Now. We can talk later.�

Tess shook her head but did as she was told. Jessica was one of her best friends and more
importantly . . . no one ever said �no� to her.
Logan was the laidback twin, Jessica the overachiever. If Jess wanted her to take a shower, then
that was what Tess was going to do. �Umm
. . .make sure you make noise and perhaps hum so Sands
knows there�s someone else in the house besides the two of us. He�s been a little . . . jumpy lately. I don�t want any misunderstandings.�

�Will do. Go take a shower. You�ll feel better after you do. Just don�t faint while you�re in there
because I�m not big on doing first aid on people while they�re in the nude.�

�I thought you were an OB-GYN.�

�I am.�

�Then wouldn�t it be more precise to say that you�re not used to giving
first aid at all?�

�Teresa. Shower. Now.
Or I�ll really make you regret it.�

�Mmm . . . nice to see you too.�
Tess got up and went into the bathroom, not at all surprised to find
that she�d missed Jessica even more than she�d missed Logan.

Once she heard water start running, Jessica went into the kitchen.Tina was still there unpacking and putting
away groceries. �I want to thank you for
keeping an eye on T. She�s a fighter but
sometimes she doesn�t know when to give up.�

Tina just nodded her head. �To
tell you the truth, I was getting a little worried about her myself. The other day I caught her looking at a
rather large bruise on her side; Marcus and Lena, the
oldest of the four children she took in, tell me that she stays up most of the
night. She�s taking her responsibilities
very seriously.�

�Yes, well, that�s Teresa for you.
She tells very wild stories of her college days, but she never mentions
that they only happened after she�d gotten all her studying and homework out of
the way. And extra credit if it was
being offered.� Jessica shook her
head. �The only reason she has any
escapades to tell stories of is because Ingrid took her under our collective
wing.� Logan, Inge and Jess had all grown up together, but while the
twins had opted not to live in the dorms, Inge had, and Tess had been her
roommate. For the first semester of
ol, ol, Tessa had been a very serious little freshman . . . and then she�d
joined their study group.

Tina chuckled. �Looks like you�ve
got your work cut out for you then. As
do I. Today I�m briefing the other
nurses who�ll be assisting in the operation about what to expect and what
procedure to follow. Your brother has
everything planned out down to the last second.�

�I can believe that. By the way,
thanks for the ride up here. I think I
can take care of things from here on.�moved over to stand in front of the two people in the room. As she did, things came into focus; a bed,
monitors, curtains, a window. I know this place.
It�s a hospital room, she
thought. With that realization, she was
in front of the two people in the room.
Curious, she examined their faces: it was Logan and Sands. Logan was in a lab coat and had a stethoscope
around his neck, Sands was in a hospital gown and had bandages around his eyes.
Tess spun to find a mirror
behind her. You�re a fool, Teresa Adame.
Tess covered her hands, but the voice rang in her head, overcoming any
defenses she had in sleep.Mine.
Tess screamed.

After more than an hour of butting
heads with Tessa�s friend, Sands went outside for a smoke. Not that he was conceding or admitting
defeat. No, he was simply taking the
time to rethink his tactics. The woman
was extraordinarily stubborn; she didn�t evade questions, but fired her own back
before he could realize she hadn�t answered.
It was rather frustrating.

He hadn�t been outside long when he heard screams erupt from inside the
house. Damn it. He tossed his
cigarette to the concrete patio and drew his guns, going back into the house. Just underneath the screams he heard the
woman�s voic:p>

�Tessa, wake up.� There were the
sounds of a struggle near the couch.
�Tess, stop fighting me. You need
to wake up.� Sands put his guns
away. A nightmare. Quickly, he crossed the couch and tipped the
back, tumbling Tess off it. There was a
thud as she hit the floor and then everything went silent.

Jessica looked up from the floor where her friend was catching her
breath, then at Sands. �Well, that
worked. I�m not it was entirely necessary,
but it worked.� Sands resisted the urge
to flip the woman off, and went back outside, lighting another cigarette and
leaning against the house.

Twenty minutes or more went by before he heard someone come outside with
him. He knew immediatehat hat it was
Tess. The other woman, Jessica, would
have started pestering him � it was the kind of person she was. Tess knew better.

After five minutes had gone by without Tess saying anything, Sands
asked, �Is there something I can do for you, se�orita?�

�No.� He could hear that he�d
surprised her. �No. I�m fine.
I just . . . I just needed to be in the sun for a bit. I�m sorry if I disturbed you. Do you want me to go?�

Sand dropped his cigarette, listening for the sound of it hitting the concrete,
then snuffed it out with his shoe. Tess watched, tracking his movements in the
same manner that she�d been doing so for weeks.
It was second habit by now. And
it was comforting to see him free of blood.
�Running from the terror in there?�
For a moment Tess was confused.
It wasn�t like Sands to comment on nightmares or bad dreams. He never even asked what happened during
his. Why would he be interested in
hers? �I�m talking about your friend.�

�Oh, Jessica. What�s wrong? She didn�t let you push her around?� She waited for Sands to answer her, but no
reply was offered. Tess took this as an
indication to let the subject slide.
However, he�d never told her to leave either, so she assumed she had his
permission to invade his refuge for awhile.
With a sigh, Tess went and laid herself on the lawn, watching the clouds
as she let the sun calm her nerves.

�I�m going to go for a walk. You kids behave yourselves while I�m
gone.�

Tess rolled her eyes as Jessica left the house with a bounce in her
step. �I think you may be right about
Jess becoming more like your mother every day.an san style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
Logan chuckled, but Tess knew there was something else on his mind. �I knew it was a bad idea to leave the two of
you alone together. She told you about
this afternoon, didn�t she?�

Logan sighed, but didn�t deny it.
�Want to tell me what it was about?�

�No. It was just a bad dream
generated by stress and my concern over the procedure, that�s all. I�ll be fine.�

�Well, at least you have one less thing to worry about.� That was true. an>San>Shortly before Logan had left the office that
night, word had come that the donor eyes had arrived. Since they�d arrived early, the surgery had
been moved ahead to the next morning; something for which Tess was grateful. The sooner this was all over, the sooner her
life could settle back into something that resembled normal.

It was getting late; near ten o�clock.
The children were in bed and Sands had followed their example after
agreeing to move the date of the surgery up.
With Jessica out of the house, Tess and Logan were left sitting up at
the kitchen table, and Tess was quickly loosing the ability to stay awake. �Was there anything else you needed to talk
to me about?�

�Well . . . actually,� Tess felt her heart sink as Logan stalled. �Umm . . . yes. Yes, there was.� She watched him get up from the table and go
into the foyer. The click of a briefcase
opening reached her ears, and then he was back with a large manila envelope in
his hands. �Remember that time a few
years ago when we all met up in Tijuana?�

�Yes, although I�m surprised any of the rest of you do.� Logan, Jessica, and Inge had all come down to
visit her, and they had all gotten very drunk.
Except for Tess, who wasn�t allowed to have alcohol. �What does that have to do with anything?�

�Remember how we were talking, and you mentioned that you�d like to know
who your mother was?�

Oh. That.
Squashing the anxiety rising up in her, Tess said, �Well, I think I was
talking more along the lines of wondering what kind of mother gives up her
child.� The comment was meant to be
offhanded, but it didn�t come out that way.
Trying again, Tess tried to joke, �Don�t tell me you tried to track her
down.� The joke fell flat when Logan
simply looked at the envelope he was holding.
�Logan . . . .�

�Well, I didn�t exactly find her, but the man I hired did find several
documents. A contract or two, a death
certite, te, and . . . and your birth certificate.� Logan handed the package over to Tess,
regretting the numbed look that was taking over her face. �I haven�t opened anything.�

�Thank you for that much, at least,� she whispered. �This really wasn�t necessary, Logues.� The package was heavy, and she played with the
flap. She didn�t want to, but she knew
she was going to open up the envelope and look at the contents anyway.

�Do you want me to leave?�

�Umm . . . no. That�s alright. You�ve gone
through a lot of trouble to do this.
Are you sure that you don�t want me to stay?
�Yes. I just need time to absorb everything.� Tess rose from the table and walked to the
front door, Logan following behind. �I�m
sure that I�ll thank you for this one day, once I�ve had time to process
everything. That�s going to have to wait
a bit though. We still have a few rough
weeks ahead of us.� That�s right. Concentrate on Sands,
She�s right. You should get some
sleep.
Fine. Tess dropped the
shirt was trying to fold and left the laundry room. She was tir tired to argue with her voice and her emotions at the same time.
That and deep down you know it is your fault.
You�re the last Barillo. You know
that now. The unpaid debts of all the
rest fell to your shoulders. He�s
right.
He is right. �No.�
The word escaped her mouth as a whisper.
He hated the
acceptance in her voice. She wasn�t
supposed to be different. She was
supposed to be like them. �Why not?�
�You�re right. My . . . my father . . . my half-sister . . .
they used you.� Her words said
everything that had been lurking in the back of his head. The master manipulator had been used. The untouchable judge of character had made
one fatal mistake.
Tess stopped
speaking as Sands� face came closer to hers.
His hand snapped up unexpectedly and cuffed the side of her head hard
enough to make her ears ring.
�Shut up.�
There so mso much
emotion behind the order. Suddenly things
began to click into place, and Tess was glad that he couldn�t see her
eyes. �She was more to you than a
corrupt agent, wasn�t she? Her betrayal
hurt more than the rest. What �� Tess gasped as Sands� closed his hand tightly
over her throat, making it difficult to breathe.
�You really want to
know? Yes, I was fucking Ajedrez.� His voice was calmed and controlled, the
raging emotion from earlier tamed. For
the first time, Tess started to fear where this might end. �She was very
good in bed. Almost as good as she was
at lying.�
�Revenge . . .
.� Tess just barely managed to get the
word out without gasping for breath.
�Are you asking if
that�s why I killed her, or if that�s what I want from you?� The hand on her arm let go; his body pressed
against hers as her knees started to go limp from a lack of air. Tess wondered why her voice was being so
quiet. �What are you offering, ni�a?�
The pressure
lessened, enough for Tess to wheeze a few breaths of air into her lungs. Was she offering something? Did she have anything left to give him? You have yourself. �Whatever you need.�
Was she offering
him a pity fuck? �Are all the women in
your family whores?� he asked quietly in her ear.
Tessa�s thoughts
slipped back seven years. She�d been
home all of a month, but it was her wedding day.She didn�t want to marry, but her Father had
decreed that she would, just so he could ensure himself of the loyalty of one
man. Were all the women whores? Her mother had been a prostitute who�d been
lucky enough to get pregnant by a man who�d pay her well for the child . . . or
at least that�s what she�d always been told.
Ajedrez slept with the men her father wished to ensnare. Were they all whores? �Yes.�
Sands
shrugged. The hand that wasn�t pinning
her by the neck came up and brushed against the skin of her collarbone; it was
soft, silky under his hand. He touched
her cheek � she flinched but her body didn�t move otherwise. No protest � no reason to stop. Slowly Sands moved his hand over Tessa�s
face.
She had
semi-prominent cheekbones, a long nose, and a high forehead. He could feel her breath rushing over the
inside of his wrist in uncertain huffs.
This was a really bad time to get interested in her body, and she was an
even worse person to even consider taking to bed, but Sands didn�t really give
a damn about those things. Maybe it was
the drugs; maybe he was nuts. �What
color are your eyes?� He didn�t know why
he needed to know � he just did.
�They�re
blue.� Like my father�s. But it�s best
that you didn�t know that. Tess bit
her lip as hands started to roam over her body.
The memories from the last time she�d been in this position threatened
to overwhelm her.
�Do you like
that?� Sands doubted it, but he couldn�t
help tormenting her. Her fucking family
had played with him � he didn�t mind having her under his thumb. He�d gladly play the cat to her willing
mouse.
�No.�
�Then why don�t you
run? Fight? Scream?�
�Because I�m used
to this.� She gasped as his hand grew
rough. �And I don�t want to hurt you.�
You
really are a bastard, Sands. After all
she�s done for you, you�re going to rape her for her pains?
She�s not arguing. Why are you?
She
thinks you�re no better than her family.
You know enough from listening to her nightmares that she was nothing
more than a slave. An object. You�re treating her the way they did.
She�s never said anything like that.
His conscience or
whatever proved him wrong as Tessa�s voice softly chimed in his memory: �I was brought up among the ranks of henchmen
to be a doctor . . . Ajedrez� personal medical slave if you will.� ck'>
They were both
silent as a moment as Sands continued his punishing exploration. Finally, his other side spoke up again. She doesn�t fight you because she never
fought them. Yeah, they may have fucked
you over, but at least you chose to play the game and you had a chance to
fight. She�s had neither � but she�s
cleaning up after them anyway.
It�s still her choice.
Is it? Touch her face.
Sands hesitated,
but eventually moved his hand back to her face.
His ers ers found moistness on her cheeks. Tears.
She�d cleaned blood off his face.
She�d shed tears over him. Now
she was silently crying because of him. Damn you. Sands abruptly let go of Tess, and she fell
to her knees on the carpet. �Get out.�
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