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She had sent her sister to pick him up. There were a couple of different reasons she did this. First off, the doctors had suggested it. She had thought they were crazy; it was no big secret that her son didn't like surprises. She had told them this but they had insisted. They said that he needed to get used to the roadblocks that being blind would throw at him. This basically was their way of saying that as long as he remained in the hospital he was sheltered, protected. Once he was removed the real fun would begin. When Marie-Anne had warned them that a startled Sheldon usually resulted in a body count they had laughed at her. Fine. Their funeral.

Laura Shells walked into the hospital. She reminded herself that she was doing this as a favour to Marie-Anne. She never really liked her nephew; his behaviour had always seemed a bit odd to her. But Marie-Anne had no one else to turn to, so she had volunteered her services.

Laura couldn't figure it out. For years she hadn't heard anything about Sheldon, and then Marie-Anne had been looking for someone to pick him up. That afternoon, after she had went to her sister's and told her that she was on her way to the hospital; Marie-Anne had looked her straight in the face, "Don't be shocked."

Now she was wandering around the hospital; hopelessly lost trying to find his room. Finally she found it, one of the doctors was standing outside the door and she presumed that he was waiting for her.

"You must be Mrs. Shells."

She nodded pleasantly and shook his hand. "Is he ready?"

The doctor peered into the room. "The men that came to talk to him are almost finished. I have to admit; with a personality like his it must be hard being related to him."

She shrugged. "We don't talk much."

"I see. When you go in, start talking right away. Let him recognize you."

She hadn't the slightest idea what the doctor was talking about. The confusion that she was feeling must have shown on her face.

"Mrs. Shells, did Mrs. Sands tell you about Sheldon's….condition?"

"He's blind."

The door swung open and the two men stormed out. They obviously weren't happy about the conversation they had. Laura snickered; if Sheldon hadn't changed drastically since the last time she saw him then just the act of having a conversation with Sands was unpleasant.

"Hey Shelly." Laura said cheerily as she walked through the door.

He turned to face her. I know that voice, "Who the hell are you?"

She stood in front of him. "I'm surprised you don't recognize me."

You didn't even see it coming, did you?

He had to push Ajedrez's voice out of his head. Now was not the time to become disoriented and lost; inside his head no less. He tried to concentrate on the voice. It was far away and yet familiar. "Say something again."

She smiled; she could literally see the wheels in his head spinning. "When you were little, every summer you'd come to my house. You loved to watch the ducks swim in the pond."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows; she could see it over his sunglasses. "Aunt Laura?"

She put her hand over his. "Do you know anyone else who calls you Shelly?"

"Yeah. But I killed them all." The smile that he had on his face suggested that he was joking.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Definitely."

She was surprised when he pulled a folded blind stick out of his pocket. She felt sure that he would've counted such a thing as a weakness. Weaknesses were not acknowledged or tolerated as far as Sheldon was concerned. She figured that he probably realized that fir him it wasn't a weakness but a necessity.

He followed the sound of her footsteps but despite his best efforts he was already starting to panic. The dark seemed too final, too close.

Laura was shocked as she felt his hand clamp down on her shoulder. "Shel?"

He shook his head. "I'm okay, just keep walking."

She walked out into the parking lot; his hand never left her shoulder. As soon as they got outside he found his cigarettes, and with only with a little difficulty he managed to get it lit.

He took a drag and released the smoke in a shaky breath. He took a longer drag and more confidently released the smoke. He could literally feel the nicotine working on his fraying nerves. This was exactly what he needed. He threw what was left of his cigarette on the ground. Laura stepped on it to put it out as she walked over to his side of the car and opened his door.

"Can you buckle in okay?"

He reached his arm up and found his seat belt. With his other hand, he found the buckle; he connected the two with no difficulty at all. He looked in her direction and grinned. He knew that she had been expecting him to have trouble. He knew that she thought that he had it down, what she didn't know was that it had taken all of his concentration to make it look easy. He sat listening to the sounds around him.

She sat in her seat and started the car. She could hardly believe that this man that sat beside her was blind. She drove towards her sister's house. She wondered what sort of mess her nephew had gotten himself into. By the time she reached her sister's house, she decided that she didn't care. After all, as soon as Sheldon is out of my car, he ceases to be my problem.

"Okay Shelly. We're here."

She got out of the car. She closed her door; Sheldon was already out of the car and tapping his way to the front door. She watched him walk and for the first time she believed that the Great Sheldon Sands was blind. It was just a slight awkwardness to the way that he walked. She could tell that he was desperately trying to make it look like he knew where he was going.

Marie-Anne heard the car and opened the front door. She was standing on her porch watching her son struggle with walking to the front door. She didn't like the way that his face was expressionless; it made his moods almost impossible to read. She sawLaura start to walk towards Sheldon but Marie-Anne shook her head. She knew that to offer him help now would be the same as assuming that he was unable to do it. She knew her son; his fierce sense of independence would not allow for such a thing.

Sheldon managed to get to the porch in one piece and without looking totally lost. He felt something lightly brush his hand and he sharply pulled away.

Marie-Anne smiled. Even after every thing that he had been through, he was as paranoid as ever. "Sheldon. It's okay, it's just me." She was grateful that he seemed to relax.

"I'm holding the door open. Come on in."

Laura stayed silent as Marie-Anne went through the living room, kitchen, bathroom and his room. She didn't bother going through any of the rooms Laura was surprised how quickly Sheldon seemed to gasp on to where things were. If she didn't know any better she wouldn't have known that he was blind.

He turned so where he thought his mother stood. "If it's all the same to you and Aunt Laura, I'm going to bed."

"I'll wake you when supper's ready." He made a face. "You'll have to take your painkillers then anyway."

He nodded, showing an air of indifference. He stumbled up the stairs and cursed himself for being tired.

After they heard his door shut, Laura looked at her sister. "He's strange. How sure are you that he'd blind?"

Marie-Anne smiled. She had wondered if her son had told her why he's been in the hospital. "He can't be faking his condition. My son has no eyes."

Laura looked skeptical but didn't ask anything further. She knew that her nephew was CIA and that meant risky missions with drastic consequences should he fail. So the chances of torture were quite high. Laura looked at her sister. "Do you need anything else?"

Marie-Anne seemed to seriously consider the question. She debated on asking her to stay but she knew she couldn't do that. She had already asked too much. "No. But thank-you so much for bringing him home."

She smiled. "No problem." Laura left the house, not envying her sister in the slightest.