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More Than Life	By : Psnoo17 Category: M through R > Once Upon A Time In Mexico Views: 1900 -:- 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 Life
- 2-1
- 3-2
- 4-3
- 5-4
- 6-5
- 7-7
- 8-It Begins
- 9-Double Agent
- 10-10
- 1
- 2
- 3
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Tess swung her leg up to rest on the porch railing. The railing was the perfect height � her leg
was at a 90� angle to her body. She�d
just finished her evening jog and now she was ready to stretch.
With a deep sigh,
Tess bent over and tucked her intertwined fingers around her foot; her forehead
rested on her knee. As she counted to
one hundred and twenty, she absently removed her ankle weight. It dropped to the porch with a thud. One-seventeen,
one-eighteen, one-nineteen, one-twenty.
Standing up, Tess switched legs as the door opened. She looked over her shoulder � Alma
come out to join her. �Buenos noches,
chica.�
�T�a? I need help with my math.� They�d only been in the states for less than
a year, but Alma was nearing the
point where Tess would say the girl was fluent in English. Marcos was
fluent � he�d leaned the language eagerly.
Alma had depended on
stubbornness to learn it, Ren� knew the English words for most things but
delighted in refusing to speak any, and Selena could often be found babbling in
a mixture of both languages.
�What kind of
help?�
�Times tables.�
As Tess finished
her stretching, she helped Alma run
through her multiplication tables up to eight.
The last round gave her trouble, but she eventually got through it. By the time Alma
was comfortable with the �eights�, both woman and girl had moved to sit on the
porch swing. For awhile they sat in
silence, watching the moon rise over the houses across the street. Tess tried to spend a few moments alone with
each child every day, and tried to be accessible, but she feared she wasn�t
very good at it. Often she felt
bewildered or overwhelmed. If Cora
hadn�t come along, she didn�t know what she would have done.
�T�a?�
�S�, Alma?�
�I don�t want to go
with Cora tomorrow.�
Ah. Tomorrow.
D�a los Muertos. �Why not?� The girl shrugged. �Cora was going to have you all help her set her her altar, and then you were going to make candles and sugar rolls, and she
ever dried some marigolds for you to arrange.
Doesn�t that sound like fun?�
�Yes . . . but . .
. M�ma and P�pa died last year on D�a los Muertos.�
�And you�re not
sure you should be having fun?� The girl
shrugged, but Tess thought she was right.
�It�s alright for you to keep living your life, chica.� Still no response. �It�s important that you remember them.�
�Then why can�t we
celebrate here? Why are you seg usg us
away? Why aren�t you coming with us?�
Because I find no joy in remembering my
family. I find no joy in remembering
that day. �I have to work, chica.�
�But after that.�
�After that I�ll
have papers to grade.� Tess sighed. �You�ll have a better time without me. But, I�ll have my phone with me all day and
you can call me at any time to talk, or to have me come get you, or
whatever.� Tess really wanted to spend
the day alone, contemplating everything that had happened in the past year, but
the kids were important. She had a duty
to them, and she found she also wanted to . . . to be able to nurture
them? She didn�t exactly know how to do
that, but the past year hadn�t been too painful where the kids were concerned.
�Okay, T�a.�
A few more moments
passed in silence before Tess realized how late it was getting. �Are you done with your homework?�
�No. I have to read a chapter of my book.�
�Well, that needs to be done before bed, so
in you go.� Tess watched as the girl
went back inside, noticing that she�d donned a coat before coming out. The kids were still used to Mexico�s
much warmer climate, and they didn�t really like the cold. But
they like snow, so it balances out, I guess.
Balance . . . �The best way to predict the future is to invent it . . . Wise
words. I did that. And it was all fun and games until someone
got their eyes poked out.� Tess shivered
and stood up. Even after a year, that
voice rang clear in her memory. When
would it leave?
Stretching one last
time, Tess looked over her neighborhood.
It was a quiet place filled with doctors and bankers and lawyers and
their families.n stn style='mso-spacerun:yes'> All was peaceful and
pristine . . . except for the car parked across the street. People around here had nice cars that they
kept in garages. This car was nice
enough . . . just out of place.
Maybe the O�Connors
have a child visiting or something.
Her neors ors across the street were empty nesters, although they seemed
to miss having children around.
Then
why isn�t the car in their garage? They have the room.
Speaking of his
eyes, they were burning anyway. As much
as Sands appreciated being able to wear contacts, they were a pain in the ass
at the moment. With an irritated sigh he
removed them, placing them in their little container. The world immediately went grainy and
completely out of focus. It wasn�t as
bad as things had been during his recovery, but it was a dangerous position to
be caught in.
He quickly put on his glasses, relaxing as things became clear
again. Once the house settled for the
night, he�d go back to the hotel and develop his roll of film.
He didn�t have long
to wait � a fact for which he was grateful.
In a little over an hour the last light blinked out. Finally. Sands started his car and drove off,
reviewing his plans for the next day.
It was only a ten
minute drive to his hotel. Unlocking the
door to his room, Sands walked in and threw his coat on the bed, heading
directly to the bathroom.
One of the reasons
he�d chosen to stay here had been the bathroom.
It had two sinks � one to use for normal things, one to for developing
his pictures. In the six days that he�d
been in town, Sands had already developed several rolls of film. Most of the pictures were of his quarry, but
pictures of others had sneaked in. There
were several of the kids and the housekeeper � one Cora Mendez, daughter of
Gregory and Christina (Tina) Mendez.
Tina Mendez was Logan�s
personal assistant, and possibly the only person he�d met in LA that hadn�t
pissed him off.
She wasn�t bad looking, but she didn�t hold Sands� interest either. He�d bugged the house three days ago when
everyone had been out, and he had to admit that the woman�s phone conversations
were not all that interesting. Not as interesting as the fact that Tess
could often be found muttering to herself when she was alone.
He had felt a bit
of guilt about wiring the house, but to allay that, he hadn�t planted any
cameras. Instead he settled on following
the routines of the house�s inhabitants.
Tomorrow morning he planned on sneaking into
one of Tessa�s morning classes before setting things into motion. Information was good, and he wanted to make
sure he had enough before confronting her.
Information like when the best time to get Tess alone was,
what kind of car she drove, where she worked, where the kids were during the
day � anything that would help.
It�d paid off. Yesterday he�d overheard that both the
housekeeper and the kids were going to be out of the house for the Day of the
Dead, but that Tess was going to be at the house. Alone.
It was perfect, really. Almost
ironic.
Tomorrow he�d put
his plan into action. And on November 3^rd,
then he�d get down to CIA business.

*************************************************

�Professor?�
Tess jumped back to
herself, somewhat ashamed to be caught with her mind wandering. �Sorry.
Yes, you had a question?�
Semi-reluctantly, she moved her eyes from the man in the back row who
had warning bells going off in her head, and looked at the girl who�d
apparently had her hand raised for some time.
�Yes.� Standing,
the girl help up a copy of some medical journal. �I was reading this last month, and when you
started the unit on transplants, I remembered reading about this. It was written by a doctor in California
who was recently granted permission to ��
Tess held up a hand
to stop the girl. Med students, she thought in exasperation. Of all
the things to bring up today.
Yes. One might think that someone
doesn�t want you to forget what you were doing at this time last year.
It�s only 9 am. At this time last year, I was
having breakfast.
And waiting for the slaughter
to begin. �I�ve heard about that
. . . experiment, Leslie.� I
should hope so. After all, you supplied
the guinea pig. �I believe I�ve
even read that same article. You don�t
need to go into further detail. What is
it that you wanted to ask?�
�I was wondering
how you felt about how quickly Dr. Pierce got permission to start human
trials. Looking at the body of data he
collected beforehand, it doesn�t seem as if he should have been allowed to
proceed with human trials for another few years.�
�It�s true that Dr.
Pierce had only, what was it? Seven
trials before getting government approval?�
The girl nodded. �Alright. However, in each of those trials, the data
gathered was almost identical. Just like
in any other transplant procedure, as long as the donor eyes are compatible,
the host body won�t reject them. What
actually took the longest was developing the drugs that regenerated the nerves
and tendons. And ever with the tens of
thousands of dollars that went into that research, I believe the article states
that there were unforeseen interactions between the different
medications.� Tess sighed and took a
seat on the table in the front of the room, crossing her legs at the
ankle. �Now�s not the time I would have
chosen to get into this, but. . . .�
Sands watched from
the back of the room as Tess described the events of last winter with as few
details and as little emotion as she could.
Every word out of her mouth was both clinical and diplomatic. He resisted the urge to scratch as the glue
holding on his fake beard and eyebrows started to irritate his skin. The tweed jacket he�d picked up at some
secondhand store itched as well, but he could put up with that. After all the months of recovery and boredom,
it was good to be back in the game . . . even if he may have gone overboard on
the glue.
Tess was clearly in
her element here. She ran through the
facts of his case without ever hinting that she�d been there to experience any
of it firsthand. After a few minutes,
Sands tuned out what she was saying, examining her instead. This was the
closest he�d gotten to her since she�d left � the first time that he was
staring at her without the aid of a camera lens.
He had to admit
that she wasn�t the worst looking female he�d ever seen, but she wasn�t her sister
either. At the moment her hair was
tucked into some kind of knot behind her head, not a single strand escaping or
misbehaving. Not that he�d expected
otherwise. Tess was a woman who liked
things to stay tidy � her appearance should always reflect that, at least in
public. The privacy of her own home
might be another matter altogether.
Her clothing was
simple and chosen to keep attention from being drawn to herself. She was wearing charcoal grey dress with a
turtleneck, and had a black jacket on over that. The only adornments she was wearing was a
pair of glasses with oval frames and a silver wristwatch. No rings, no earrings, no necklace.
For the most part,
this morning class was silent, occasionally asking a question, but not showing
any of the energy that normally characterized college students. Monday
mornings get to everyone, I suppose.
Sands met Tessa�s eyes as she glanced up at him again. Undoubtedly, she was trying to figure out
what he was doing there. He was confident
that she had no clue as to who he was � not with the blond beard and wig � and
his appearance would be too out of context for her to figure out why he made
her uneasy.
Finally, a buzzer
on the table went off. Students packed
up their materials as Tess reminded them of reading assignments. Sands waited as students filed out of the
lecture hall, sitting until he and Tess were the only ones in the room. She was openly staring at him now, standing
in a position that clearly communicated her uncertainty. When she opened her mouth to question him,
Sands stood an went out a nearby door, leaving her in
the room with her mouth open.

*************************************************

As Tess packed away her papers and files for the day, her
mind drifted back to the strange man who�d been in her nine o�clock class.
She was still trying to decide whether he�d really been there or if she
needed to see her doctor about adjusting her medication dosage. She�d gone so far as to walk to the chair he
was sitting in and feel the seat to see if it was warm or not. It had been, and Tess grasped this evidence that she wasn�t hallucinating, but . . .
something about him hadn�t been right.
Did you catch the way he was looking at you the entire class?
This is a college, and I�m a professor. Most of the people in me classes �look� at me
the entire time they�re in here.
Yes, but most of them don�t
send shivers down your spine.
Neither did he.
But he almost did. I could fehe ihe impending shivers. I�m telling you the wae was no good.
Well, if he shows up again tomorrow, I�ll
call security, alright?
I don�t think he�s dangerous .
. . he just reminded you of someone you�re trying hard � but unsuccessfully �
to forget.
That man looked nothing like Sands. Besides, the last I heard � she
stopped herself. She didn�t want to
admit that she�d been keeping her ears open for news of the man.
What did you hear?
It�s not important.
It is if you remembered. Relax, it�s not like
I�m asking you to talk to me out loud.
Just a little admission.
I don�t owe you anything. Besides, I should be focusing on other things
today.
Like keeping your mind off
Sands? Understandable. The man did get under your skin. He was important to you. And then you left him
Yes. I
left him. I left him knowing that he�d
hate me if I stayed and he�d despise me if I left, but I chose what was easier
for me. It�d be easier for me to leave
and never hto What�s this?
al'> A present from the Unibomber. I
wouldn�t open that if I were you.
Tess slowly walked back to the house,
looking over the package. That�s ridiculous. It�s not something from the Unibomber. Fine. But don�t come crying to me when you don�t
like what�s in that package.
Opening her front
door with her keys, Tess asked, Why
wouldn�t I like what�s in here?
Remember the last manila
envelope you opened? Tess knew
exactly what the voice was talking about. The night that Logan
had come over. His admission that he�d
had someone digging into her past. You
should have done something about that.
It�s not safe to let people find out whatever they want about you.
She closed the door
and locked it behind her. He�s a friend. She�d known that she wasn�t going to like
whatever had been in the envelope, but she�d opened it, and rummaged through
the papers anyway. Only one document had
been important enough to look at immediately; her birth certificate. And in the end, she probably would have been
better off without ever finding it.
Barillo. He branded you. From beyond the grave, he reached out to make
a misery of your life one last time. In
one second, you discovered that you were never going to be able to leave your
father behind, because he is a part of you and he recognized that. You�re still fighting it though. I don�t know why. You can�t win in the end.
Tess set her briefcase down by the front
door, hanging her keys from the key rack.
If any part of my
is my father, then it�s you. You�re the one always pushing me to do
things I�d never consider on my own.
You�re the one laying guilt and suspicion. You�re the one always telling me that I can
never truly escape my family, even though they�re dead. Tess realized just how long she�d been
debating her voice. Oh my goodness, she thought. Look. A quiet evening at home is all I�m asking
for. As she stripped off her jacket
and hung it from the coat rack, she asked, Can
I at least have that?
I
don�t know. I suppose that depends on
you. After that, the voice was
silent.
Tess kicked off her
shoes, glad to be rid of the things, but suspicious that her voice wasn�t going
to give up that easily. If her thoughts
kept returning to the Day of the Dead, no matter how she tried to redirect
them, she doubted that she�d get much peace tonight. It�s
rather warm today. It was warm that day
too, she thought as she walked into the kitchen for a bottle of water.
Yeah,
hot just like you�re hot for Sands. Will you just admit it already?
Where had that come from? What the hell are you
talking about?
We
both know it�s true. No other
man has managed to weasel his way into your thoughts for the past year. You seclude yourself from other adult company. You dream about him �
Because of you.
The voice ignored
her. Admit it. You never wanted to leave. You wanted to stay. You wanted to be by
his side during his recovery. You wanted
his company, even though you knew he would have done nothing but ignore you,
verbally abuse you, and perhaps use you.
I really do think you�re a masochist.
Who willingly puts up with that sort of thing?
One would think you�ve dulled me to that sort of abuse by now. But for the sake of argument, let�s say
you�re right. Let�s say that I wanted to stay with Sands. What would have happened eventually? One of us would have left, and then it really would have hurt. And
I would be alone.
The voice was cloying,
mocking. Ah, but you are alone. Who knows what you have spoken to the
darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all your life seems
to shrink, the walls of your bower closing in about you, a hutch to trammel
some wild thing in? Then in a
more matter-of-fact voice, it continued, You
really should have laid him when you had the chance.
You�re not helping.
You�re
boring
�Shut up. You�re not being helpful or successful, so give it up.�
Tess looked down to discover that not only had she gotten a bottle of
water from the fridge, but she�d make herself a snack as well. I
really have to start paying attention to what I�m doing. �Why am I even talking to you? You�re not real.�
I�m
as real as you make me.
How comforting. Sitting at the bar, Tess opened her bottle of
water and took a sip. Sighing and taking
a bite of the apple she�d cut up, she opened the envelope that�d been in her
mailbox. When she saw the note on top of
the stack of papers she pulled free, Tess froze. �I�m
watching.� Those were the only words
on the letter, but they were enough to give her a very bad feeling.
What else is there? The voice sounded distinctly cheerful.
Tess fouto kto keep
her hands from trembling as she looked at the stack of photographs she found
under the letter. They were pictures of
her, of her kids, her house, her car. With each new photo, Tess felt dread and
panic fighting for dominance of her mind.
Some
cultures believe that if someone takes your picture, they�ve stolen your
soul. What do you think, Teresa? If your soul isn�t gone, has something else
been taken in its place? Or has
something replaced it? Wouldn�t it be
interesting if I was what had replaced your soul?
�No,� she whispered. Getting up, she set the pictures on the
counter. I should call the police or something. . . .
You�re being watched,
Teresa. There�s someone in the
house. Turn around before death sneaks
up on you. Tess spun around and
screamed as her voice was proven right.

*************************************************

Sands had to contain his surprise as Tess finally turned in
his direction. The scream had been a
surprise � he didn�t think it was possible to overset Tess that much. The woman had always seemed somewhat
controlled � in a very scatterbrained sort of way. Then, when she turned to run, he jumped after
her, grabbing her arm to stop her from running off. True, he wanted her unsettled, but not
terrified. �Calm down, conejo.�
Rabbit?
Tess froze as the familiar nickname reached her ears. Shaking her head, trying to clear a space to
think amongst the demands for flight and the gleeful delight of her other side,
she looked down, still poised to free herself should she need to. Slowly she looked at the hand locked around
her elbow, then traveled up the arm to the shoulder. Swallowing, she looked at the man�s face, not
going so far as to look in his eyes. She
was nowhere near ready for that.
Come
off it. You know it�s
Sands.
I don�t like sand. I never even go to the beach, she thought
bewilderingly. What makes you think this is a good thing? Out loud, she asked,
�What are you doing here?�
Sands smirked at
the uncertainty in Tessa�s voice. He
wanted to have the upper hand � it was clear that he had it. Tess was frozen as still as a statue,
although she was standing as far from him as possible.
�What? No quote for the occasion?� Slowly, Sands stepped closer to Tess � she
retreated.
�I can�t seem to
think of one that would be appropriate.
No.�
�Isn�t it possible
I just dropped by to say �hello�an san style='mso-spacerun:yes'> To
take you our for dinner for saving my life?�
Tess laughed
disbelievingly. �The cross on his breast, and the devil in his heart.�
Sands kept walking,
forcing Tess to keep retreating before him.
�Is that any way to treat an old friend?� he asked.
�I wasn�t aware
that we were friends. I was under the
distinct impression that you hated me.�
Tessa�s gaze had sunk to the floor, watching his feet as he kept walking
towards her.
�Well, yes, I
suppose there is that,� he murmured.
Finally he�d managed to back her into a wall. The moment she realized she�d been corralled,
Tess tried to bolt, darting to the side while trying to pull out of his
grasp. Sands had been prepared for
that. He grabbed her other elbow before
she could even make a proper escape attempt.
Now that he had her fully under control, he made a soft �tsk-tsk�
sound. �Just try to relax, chiquita.�
Yeah, right. Tess could feel the impulse to fight
throbbing demandingly at the back of her head, but she contained it. If there was one thing she�d learned under
her father, it was that fighting never helped.
The only reason to fight would be if one was reasonably sure they would
win, or if death was a preferable option.
Things hadn�t reached that point yet.
Told you. I knew you wanted him.
If this is desire, then I�d be perfectly
happy to become a nun.
This
isn�t desire . . . yet. But you�re not
running, are you?
I have nowhere to run to. He�s in my home. Tess flinched as Sands reached for her face.
�Shh. I�m not going to hurt you.� He reached for her again, and again she tried
to pull away. �What�s got you so upset,
ni�a?�
What has me upset? �Let�s see.
You�ve invaded the only home I�ve ever been able to create for myself. You�ve been spying on me. You scared me out of my wits. Oh, yes.
And the last time I found myself in this position, you held a gun to my
head, nearly strangled me, and did your best to give me a concussion.�
�Hmm . . . I seem
to remember there being a bit more to things than that.�
Tess knew what he
was talking about, but refused to comment on it. �You never answered my question.�
�And which question
was that?�
�Why are you here?�
�Well, that�s where
things get interesting,� he drawled. �You see, I seem to remember you offering me a
pity fuck. I also seem to remember
turning you down at the time.� He
finally managed to grab her chin.
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More Than Life