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Jena listened to the message that Marie-Anne had left on her machine.

"Jena. We need to talk. I know what you did at the hospital. I think that was in extremely poor taste. Call me."

She turned off the answering machine. She figured that Sheldon wouldn't have been released from the hospital already so it would be safe to see Mrs. Sands. She got into her car and drove to the house.

Marie-Anne was surprised to see Jena at her front door. When she had said that they needed to talk she hadn't meant right away. Although she was glad that Sheldon was napping, the last thing she needed was a fight (or a corpse) in her living room. "Jena, how are you?"

"I can't complain. May I come in?"

"Certainly."

They sat at the dining room table. Marie-Anne made coffee. "As I said in my message, I consider what you did to be shameful. You two were planning a future together and the minute there's an obstacle you bail."

"Now hold on Marie-Anne. To be fair this wasn't just any obstacle. I went from having a fiancée that had a good job and stability to one with no eyes. That's quite a big jump."

Marie-Anne put both hands around her cup and glared at the blond woman. This was the woman that her son had loved—probably still did love and here she was acting like an idiot. "Did you see?"

Jena shook her head. "No. I couldn't. It would have been too much."

Marie-Anne smiled. "I want you to go upstairs to his room, look at him and tell me if you think he's any different." Marie-Anne stood up and waited for Jena to do the same. As they walked up the stairs Jena began to feel nervous. She knew that there was a possibility that he might have his sunglasses off. She couldn't bear to look at what may be underneath.

She quietly opened the door to his room. He was lying on his bed; his stick folded in his hand but still attached to his wrist. He was on his stomach, his shirt slightly riding up his back and she could see some of the familiar scars that marred his body. Watching him like this, his head slightly turned so that his sunglasses didn't dig into him, too much, she could pretend that he was normal. But that wouldn't be fair to Sands and she knew that sooner or later she would have to face him without the sunglasses.

Marie-Anne closed the door and they walked back downstairs and sat at the table. "Is he still so different?"

Jena looked at Marie-Anne, almost as if she was trying to read her thoughts. "With the sunglasses on I'm sure he looks fine but what do I do if he decides he wants to take them off? I can't go through with marrying him and expect him to never take them off."

As they talked they never heard him walk down the stairs and into the room. He recognized Jena's voice immediately. He extended his cane and tapped into the room.

"Jena. How very thoughtful of you to visit me. However, I don't want to—I don't want you here."

Jena looked at him. He had that sharpness to his voice that usually meant that you were pissing him off. That tone never used to bother her but now it sent chills down her spine. "Sheldon I-"

He walked towards her, and with uncanny accuracy he grabbed her chin and jerked her head forward. With his other hand he ripped the glasses off his face and stared right at her. "Is this what you were afraid to see? Now you have nothing left to fear. Can you see me now? Can you bear it?"

He was shaking with anger. She was trembling with fear. Marie-Anne stayed quiet; she knew what was coming next. Sheldon was his father's son and had inherited his father's temper. That was why when he hit Jena, hard enough to knock her to the floor, she didn't move to stop him or get in between them.

He looked down at where he thought she had landed. "I don't want your pity. Get out."

As Jena got up she pointed her finger at Marie-Anne. "I told you that me coming here was a bad idea. And look at all the good it's done me. I hope you're happy. Whatever future we may have had is dead." She all but ran out of the house. It was true she had loved him once. She had even wanted to have his baby-once. But that was a long time ago, before she realized what an ass he could be.

As soon as Jena was gone Sheldon sat in the empty kitchen chair. "You invited that bitch here. I can't believe you."

Marie-Anne stared at her son. They had been close, when he was small. Now they were like strangers. Her little boy had turned into a monster. He was cold and calculating. If she didn't know better she would have doubted that he was human. "Sheldon…"

"Be quiet. Give me my glasses."

She picked up the glasses off the floor and placed them in his hand. As he recovered his sockets, once again hiding them from view she realized that she was afraid of him. She knew what his father had done to him wasn't right. She knew what the Cartel had done to him was even worse, but that didn't mean that he had the right to be abusive.

All the same, having been married to Jeffrey Sands (also an abusive husband) she was very quiet and cautious when he spoke to him. "Sheldon, for years before you were born I put up with your father's physical and verbal abuse because I was told that's what a good wife did. I know that you only act the way you do because you don't want to get hurt. I understand that."

Sheldon shook his head. "I hit her because she was being stupid. I don't know what you were thinking. Don't invite anyone I know over again. I know that it's just going to end in disaster. I'm going back to bed."

She watched as her son walked back up the stairs and shook her head. She remembered a time when Jeffrey Sands had called the boy soft, she wondered, if they were to meet now if that bastard would still think that. She didn't think so.