Golden Stars

By Jennifer



Francesca stood looking over the blue-green Pacific Ocean.

"If only life could be easier," she sighs to herself. "My life has been one roller coaster after another...but none was easy and most not even any fun."

She recalls all the good times she and Cole had, stealing jewels. It was especially fun when Phillip wasn't around.

But then Cole left. And then Phillip changed. He was obsessive about Cole, always convinced that Cole was going to come back and steal his "prize" wife from him. So he found out where Cole was and got on that cruise. Bad move...it cost him his life.

When Francesca came to Sunset Beach, she had nearly wrecked everyone's life with those crazy Rosario jewels, who came about two seconds from killing three quarters of the town's population. It was no wonder she wasn't the town's most liked person.

"So a person makes one mistake, are they destined to pay for it forever?" she wonders aloud. "Or maybe it was more like five or six mistakes! So what!"

Francesca gazed up at the golden stars. She could see the Leo constellation. That was her sign, the Leo. Her birthday was August 12th. A Leo is a drama queen type person. They are loud, ambitious, and love to be the center of attention. Francesca used to be that way.

Until that thing with the jewels happened. All the sudden no one wanted to be around her. Why? She wasn't sure. She didn't have any more cursed jewels! Why couldn't they just forgive her?

Francesca looked at those beautiful golden stars awhile longer. It had become a hobby of hers, to come out on the beach when she couldn't sleep at night, and watch the stars, those beautiful stars.

Suddenly she saw a gleaming one begin to shoot through the sky. Make a wish, was her instant thought.

She closed her eyes, raised her face towards the wind and the roaring surf, feeling the drops from the ocean hitting her face.

I wish that I could find love and happiness. If not here...somewhere, someday.

Francesca opens her eyes to see the star go past the horizon.

Well, that was one hokey wish, alright! she scoffs to herself.

Francesca slowly walks back toward her beachfront apartment, hoping to catch a few winks of sleep before she had to get up in the morning.

Looking one last time at the stars, she vows aloud, "I will make my wish happen. I will."

Chapter 2



It is now the following day. Francesca Vargas is sound asleep in her bed when her alarm begins to ring, way too loudly. "Shut up," she groans, but it continues to ring until she gets up and shuts it off.

Francesca looks around her messy apartment for a minute. "I can't believe I have to go to work. I haven't gone to real work in years!"

But she had to to continue to live here. She certainly wasn't going to go out and steal anymore jewels! So Francesca had gotten a job as a secretery over at the Liberty Corporation.

"A secretery!" She says out loud, disbelievingly. "Who would have imagined I'd ever end up a secretary??"

She slowly starts to head towards the bathroom for a shower, when she thinks of something.

"Cole! Cole works at Liberty Corporation now too! AJ got him a job there!" Francesca begins to do a little dance around the room. "This must be a sign that my wish is going to come true!"

Francesca dances right on into the bathroom.

Cole Deschanel was getting ready for his first day of work at Liberty Corporation. He adjusts his tie and glares at his reflection in the mirror.

"I don't see why I have to wear this stupid suit and tie," he complains.

Caitlin walks over to him and puts her arms around him. "Don't be a baby," she scolds him gently. "It's that kind of job. You can't wear the kind of clothes you wear to the construction site."

"You're right," Cole sighs, and then smiles. "Well, I better go, sweetheart. I'll see you when I get home." He kisses her. "I love you."

"I love you too," Caitlin replies, and Cole leaves.

He drives over to Liberty Corporation, fidgeting with his tie the whole time.

He walks in the front foyer to see AJ Deschanel waiting for him. He walks over. "Reporting for duty, SIR!" he says, nearly saluting, but AJ grabs his arm quickly. Around them, serveral well-dressed employees and clients are staring at them.

"Not here," AJ mutters under his breath. He quickly leads Cole across the building to his office. He looks at Cole and says, "Don't goof off around those type of people. At least wait until you're in the privacy of an office."

"Okay, okay," Cole grumbles, thinking, This is not the type of job for me...

"Now," AJ says, "You told me you've done some work in this field before, so you don't need a lot of on-the-job training. Right?"

Cole nods, although of course it had been an out-an-out lie.

"Good. Here's some stuff for you to start on. Good luck," AJ says, guesturing to a huge mound of paperwork. He leaves the office.

Cole drops his head to his arm dramatically. "How am I going to do this?"

The door opens. Cole looks up, half-expecting to see someone there to fire him already.

But instead he sees a very demurely dressed Francesca. "Cole!" she says, pretending to be surprised.

"Francesca," Cole says, trying to regain his composure and look like he knows what he's doing. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, didn't you hear? I'm one of the new secretaries, and they told me I'd be working for the employee in this office," Francesca replies, conveniently leaving out that she had requested this office after seeing Cole go into it earlier.

"Oh," says Cole, not bothering to hide the fact that he's not too happy. "Well, I've got a job for you already!" he says, getting an idea. "Get started on these right away, Ms. Vargas," he says, guesturing to the pile of paperwork on his desk. "I'm going for a coffee break."

He quickly strides out of the room, muttering to himself, "A very long coffee break."

Francesca watches him leave the office, a scowl on her face. "You're not going to get rid of me that fast, Cole," she says aloud. She looks at the mound of paperwork on the desk and almost bursts out laughing. "He expects ME to do this? Yeah right!"

Still, she sits down at his desk and pretends to look busy, but really plotting.

"Okay...let's see. Cole is married to Caitlin...that's point A. I want his to be married to me...point C. So what's point B? Come on, Francesca, figure it out!" she says, not caring that this wouldn't make sense to anyone but her.

She stares at the little map she's drawn on some boring document. "It can't be blackmail...tried that. It can't be nearly getting him killed...tried that. So what can it be?"

She thinks for a long time. "Hard to get! That's it! I know he'll come crawling to me soon if I do that!" Quickly she scrawls under point B, "Play hard to get."

Just then Cole walks back in. "Ms. Vargas, what are you doing?" he says sternly, liking this newfound control.

"Oh...nothing," Francesca says, silently slipping the document with the map on it out of Cole's view. "Absolutely nothing."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, Mr. Deschanel, I have...um, some work to do," she says, scooping up the pile of papers and carrying them into a tiny office off of Cole's, barely even glancing at Cole.

She glances back and sees Cole looking sorta bewildered. "It's working already!" she whispers excitedly, and shuts the doors separating their offices.

Chapter 3



*3 DAYS LATER*

Francesca storms down the hall at Liberty Corporation. "This isn't working!" she mutters aloud. "All it seems to be achieving me is work!"

It was true. All that had happened in the last three days was Cole had gotten used to giving her all his work and taking off on "coffee breaks." Coffee breaks that lasted for quite some time.

"Why doesn't anything ever work out for me?" she says aloud, not paying any attention to where she's going. Suddenly she runs right into someone! All the papers she was holding fly everywhere!

"I'm so sorry," apologizes the man. Francesca looks up and sees Ricardo Torres.

"That's alright," she mutters, bending down to pick up the papers. Ricardo leans down to help her.

"This is the last place I expected to see you," Ricardo remarks.

"I work here," Francesca says icily. "What's your excuse?"

"One of the employees here reported something stolen, so I had to run a check on it," explained Ricardo.

Ricardo looks at Francesca. Her hair is a mess and she looks exhausted. "You look like you could really use a break. Why don't you accompany me to the cafeteria for a coffee break?"

"I'd love to," Francesca says. She drops her stuff back off at her office, not even glancing at Cole, who was actually in his office for once.

When Francesca arrives in the cafeteria, she spots Ricardo, who has already gotten two cappacinos and sat down with them. "Thank you," she says, sitting down across from him.

By the time Francesca has finished her cappacino, she is laughing and having a great time, as is Ricardo. Francesca is surprised at how much fun she's having and how much she and Ricardo have to talk about and have in common.

"I better go," Francesca says reluctantly. "I've got a ton of work to do."

"Alright," Ricardo says, standing up as Francesca does. "I enjoyed your company, Mrs. Vargas."

"And I yours, Detective Torres," says Francesca with a smile, before heading back in the direction of her office.

Ricardo leaves Liberty Corporation, heading in the direction of Surf Central. He was supposed to meet Gabi for a late lunch.

He arrives at Surf Central to find the living room dark. He walks in without knocking and heads into the kitchen.

He stares at the sight that met him there in stunned silence. There was his brother and Gabi...together...kissing. Ricardo can't believe what he's seeing.

Finally Gabi notices his presence and breaks off the kiss with Antonio. "Ricardo! I, um, I - "

"Don't bother," Ricardo interrupts. "You can't explain this any better than my brother can."

"Ricardo, I'm sorry," Antonio says, looking sorrowful. "I didn't mean for it to happen. It's just that I've been having these feelings for Gabi for so long, and then today, she was so beautiful, and I just couldn't -"

"Save it," Ricardo orders him, his eyes full of betrayal and hurt. "I don't know how you - my own brother and a PRIEST - could do this to me."

Ricardo spins on his heel and leaves.

Outside, Ricardo takes a deep breath. "At least I found out," he mutters aloud to myself. "What if they'd started to have an affair behind my back? That would have been even more humiliating and degrading."

Ricardo decides to take a walk on the beach.

Meanwhile, Francesca is just leaving Liberty Corporation. She's still disgusted with how things with Cole are going, and she's mad at him for always giving her all his work, so she decides to cut out of work early today. Francesca begins to walk the back ways toward her beachfront apartment building. As she walks, she begins to have a strange feeling that she's being followed.

Francesca enters an alley and hears footsteps behind her. Beginning to get scared, she speeds up without looking behind her, and the footsteps speed up too.

Francesca starts to run. She's not about to take any chances, she knows how much a lot of the people in this town hate her. Probably most of them would kill her if they had a chance.

She hears the footsteps start to run too. Francesca runs right onto the beach and slams right into someone. "Oh my God!" she shrieks.

"Whoa! Whoa, Francesca, what's wrong?"

Francesca looks up to see Ricardo for the second time that day. "Someone...someone is following me!" she gasps, out of breath.

Ricardo holds Francesca at arms legnth and looks in the direction she came from. Nothing. "I don't see anything," he tells her.

"There was! Someone was chasing me!" Francesca cries, nearly hysterical. "Half this town is after me!"

"Okay! Okay, I believe you. Don't worry, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you," Ricardo says, pulling her to him and hugging her. "You're safe with me."

Francesca pulls back a little and offers a half-smile. "Why are you being so nice to me? I got your brother and girlfriend in a lot of trouble with those jewels too."

"Not enough trouble," Ricardo mutters under his breath, but aloud, says, "I like you, Francesca. You've got spunk and I like that. Besides, I'm a police officer. I'm assigned to protect the public.

"Now, we should be going. If your...stalker is still out there, we don't want them following us. Come on."

Ricardo and Francesca walk off down the beach.

Meanwhile, a figure watches from the alley. "Oh, Frannie, dear. I see you are still throwing yourself at men right and left. Well, not for long." The figure disappears.

Chapter 4



****THE NEXT DAY****

Francesca hums happily to herself as she enters Cole's office to pick up her work load for the day.

Cole looks at her strangely. "Why are you so happy?" he says curiously.

"Oh, no reason...I'm just in a good mood!" says Francesca brightly.

"Well, that's good," Cole says uncertainly. "Here's your work for today."

Francesca takes it without a word, and waltzes right on into her office, shutting the door with a bang.

Cole shakes his head and heads out for one of his coffee breaks.

Meanwhile, in her office, Francesca goes over the documents, only halfway paying attention to it. In her mind, she's replaying the fabulous time she and Ricardo had had together after he...rescued her or whatever on the beach. And then Ricardo had asked her for a date. A date! She hadn't had one of those in quite some time.

So tonight they were going out for dinner together. Francesca had been confused to begin with - she'd thought he was dating Gabi Martinez. Ricardo had just mumbled that that was over and he was ready to move on. Francesca just smiled, knowing she was the perfect person.

As Francesca goes over the documents, and daydreams about Ricardo, she's unaware that someone is watching her...just waiting for the right time to pounce.

THE POLICE STATION

Ricardo is in his office, thinking about Francesca. He knows that he simply asked her out on the rebound, but he really did like her, and wanted to get to know her better. There was just something about her...

There was a knock at Ricardo's door, pulling him out of his reverie. "Come in," he called.

Chief Harris opened the door and walked in. "Ricardo, I just wanted to let you know that you are going to be working on a new assignment," he says, his face grim. "There's apparently some sort of foul play going on involving some sort of green crystal thing...apparently it's cursed and some idiot is using it on people. Now, I know what you're going to say. Normally, I don't believe in cursed jewels either, but after everything that happened at Christmastime with your brother, Gabi, the Deschanels, et al...well, let's just say you can never be too careful."

Ricardo grimaced at the thought of working on something else having to do with jewels, but reluctantly agrees. "Uh...sure, boss. Whatever you say. What do you want me to do?"

"Well, of course, keep your eye out for any green, glowing crystals. Sleuth around and find out any jewel connections to anyone." Chief Harris leans foward. "You might want to keep an eye on that Francesca Vargas and the Deschanel kid."

Ricardo, keeping a straight face, nods in agreement.

"Until we know more, there's nothing else we can do," Harris says. "But with your...expertise, I'm sure we'll catch this guy in a matter of days." Chief Harris leaves the office.

Ricardo sighs. He tries to convince himself that Francesca has nothing to do with this, nothing at all...but he can't help a few doubts creeping into his mind.

THE WOODS

The mysterious man we first saw in the last chapter appears in the forest, holding a gleaming green crystal. "Who should I use this on?" He asks aloud. He smirks. "Well, of course I'll use it on Francesca...eventually...but who now?"

Maybe it's best to lie low for awhile, he decides. He places the crystal in his pocket. Since I am planning to pin this on Francesca...best to not give any more connections to this crystal and me.

Yes, this is definitly the way to do it, the mystery man decides. This will destroy the trust anyone in this town may have for her, and when she's all alone and has no one to turn to...she'll be mine again, for eternity.

The mystery man scurries off.

GRENADINES, 8:00 P.M.

Francesca and Ricardo have just been seated at a table at Grenadines. They place an order for their wine and an appetizer, and Ricardo begins to tell Francesca about the crystal.

"So, apparently, there's another person running around town with a cursed jewel!" Ricardo exclaims. "Isn't that unbelieveable?"

Francesca suddenly seems awfully interested in the tablecloth. "Um, yeah," she says.

Ricardo notices her behavior. Is she hiding something? he wonders, and immediately dismisses the thought. Quit thinking things like that, he orders himself. She's just nervous because of what happened with those last jewels. She'll be back to normal any minute now.

And sure enough, over dinner, Francesca loosened up immensely. Before long, she was her old, sassy yet loveable self.

An hour later, Ricardo and Francesca are outside of her beachfront apartment. "I had a really, really good time tonight," Francesca says, smiling at him with her eyes sparkling.

"So did I," Ricardo says softly, looking into her eyes, which were illuminated by the millions of golden stars overlooking them. Their faces were very close as they stared into each other's eyes. It was such a tease for the both of them, until simutaneously they both moved foward, and their lips met.

After a few moments, Francesca pulled back. "Wow," she whispered, stunned at the electricity she had felt.

Ricardo laughs softly. "That's the word."

Francesca puts her arms around Ricardo's neck, and kissed him with all the passion in her heart that had been dying to get out, while the stars shined down brightly upon them.

Meanwhile, a short distance away, the mystery man watches the two kiss in the starlight. "Just enjoy it now, while you can, Frannie dearest," the man says, before hurrying off into the dark night.

Chapter 5



Francesca hums to herself as she gets ready for work the next day. I haven't felt this happy in weeks! she thinks to herself. In her minds eye, Francesca replayed the events of the previous night. She had never even imagined feeling this way for Ricardo before. But she did now. And there was nothing she wanted more than to love someone and have them love her back, and by now she was confident Ricardo feels the same way.

Francesca heads for work and walks into Cole's office. "Hello, Cole!" she says cheerily. She takes another look at him and sees he looks upset, maybe even angry. She sits down next to him, her forehead creased with worry. "What's up, Cole?"

Cole stands and starts to pace. "Well, there's this small matter of how I am getting interrogated by the police about this new jewel in town, although I have absolutely nothing to do with it." He stops and looks Francesca in the eye. "Now, you wouldn't happen to know anything about this jewel, would you?"

Francesca jumps up. "Of course not!" she yells. "How dare you accuse me of that?!"

"Well, what am I supposed to think?" Cole cries in frustration. "You're the only person in this town with an obsession about jewels, and you were the one who started it last time!"

"Don't you think I learned my lesson? Cole, we were almost killed by those jewels. I'm not in any hurry to do it again!"

As Francesca and Cole continue to argue, the mystery man hangs outside the office, listening. Perfect, he thinks. Now that everyone suspects my dear Frannie, even that cop boyfriend of hers, it's time to make my move.

The man, being careful to hide his face from anyone who might recognize him, leaves Liberty Corporation and heads for Francesca's apartment. Once there, he picks the lock and goes in. "Once a jewel thief, always a jewel thief," he mutters to himself.

He removes the green crystal from his pocket. "What a beaut," he mutters, carefully placing it beside one of the end tables. "Now way Torres can miss it there." He chuckles to himself and walks back out of the apartment, being sure to lock it behind him.

Later that night, Francesca and Ricardo had just gone on another wonderful date, helping to bring Francesca out of the bad mood she'd been put in by both Cole and interrogation from the police. Now, they were arriving back at Francesca's apartment. "Would you... like to come inside?" Francesca asks with an entreating smile.

Ricardo returns her smile. "Sure. But you go ahead. I'll be there in a minute."

Francesca walks up to her apartment, goes in, and sits down on the couch to wait for Ricardo.

She jumps back up. "Wine! We need wine. Yes, wine." She starts to head into the kitchen, but something catches her eye and she stops short.

"Oh my God," Francesca whispers. She kneels and picks up the crystal. She realizes what it is, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head, and she starts to nod erratically.

She hears a noise at the door and turns to see Ricardo staring at her and the crystal with an angry, pained, and hurt look in his eyes. "You did," he whispers. "You were the one with the crystal!"

"No-Ricardo-this isn't what it looks like!" Francesca cries desperately.

"I'd like to hear your explanation," Ricardo says, coming over and grabbing the crystal. At the same time, it begins to glow, bright green. Ricardo's eyes widen with surprise, and suddenly he groans and kneels, his eyes shut tightly.

"Ricardo! Oh my God...what's happening?" Francesca asks in terror, and then hears a strange noise. A chanting noise.

"Juae manie yimina," a voice whispers from the door. Francesca turns to see a face she never thought she'd see again. Someone she'd thought died six months ago. Someone she never wanted to see again.

"Phillip," she whispers.

GOLDEN STARS, CHAPTER 6

"That's right, sweetheart, I'm back," says Phillip as he stares down at Francesca, who is kneeling next to the now-unconscious Ricardo.

Francesca holds on to Ricardo's hand as she looks at Phillip in horror. The entire left side of his face was horribly scarred, and he looked more maniacal than ever.

"What - how - but..." Francesca manages to stammer.

"Francesca, Francesca, Francesca. Don't you know evil people never die? Just because I was shot on a ship and then it exploded doesn't mean I had to die. Just..." He reaches up and touches the left side of his face. "I'm just scarred. Which can be fixed someday with the magic of plastic surgery."

Francesca nods errantly. "But what are you planning to do to us?"

"Well, you're going to come with with me and pay for the things you did. And Ricardo here is going to help me."

He begins to chant "Juae manie yimina," again, and the crystal begins to glow bright green once more. Suddenly Ricardo's eyes fly open, but instead of the usual color, they are bright red.

"Slave," Phillip hisses, "Rise and escort Mrs. Vargas out of the building." He looks at Francesca. "And if you even dare to scream or struggle, then both you and your boyfriend die."

Ricardo grabs Francesca's arm. His grip is like a vise and Francesca knows there's no way she can get loose. Resigned, she lets Ricardo drag her downstairs.

Outside, Ricardo drags her out on a deserted part of the beach, Phillip following close behind. Once they reach the water's edge, Ricardo tosses Francesca to the ground, and they both turn and look back at Phillip.

He raises the crystal to the sky, and screams out his chant, "Juae manie yimina!"

Francesca is stunned to see the waves suddenly slow and stop, and suddenly the water parts in the middle, like with Moses and the Red Sea.

"Slave," Phillip tells Ricardo, "Take her to the center and stay there with her until I tell you to come back."

Ricardo obligingly picks up Francesca. She begins to scream this time, realizing what Phillip was planning to do. She had always been terrified of death by drowning, and he knew it. It was the worst form of torture he could think of for her.

However, no one could possibly hear her screams above the roar of the waves. Ricardo begins to carry her.

"Ricardo!" she screams, her voice muffled by sobs. "Ricardo, please, please, please look at me!"

Finally, about a quarter of the way out there, Ricardo turns his head and looks into Francesca's eyes. "Ricardo, it's me, Francesca," she sobs, reaching out and touching his face. "Please, you have to fight the evil or it will kill us both! Please, Ricardo!"

Ricardo looks at her for a long minute, and Francesca can see the indecision on his face as the red flickers in his eyes, and her heart swells with hope. He had to make the right choice, he had to.

Finally, the red light leaves his eyes, and he shakes his head, hard. When he looks at Francesca again, she can see the confusion in the eyes. "What the hell - " He looks at the walls of water on either side of them and his mouth drops wide open.

"Ricardo, there's no time to explain right now!" Francesca exclaims. "We have to get out of here before Phillip lets the water go again! So put me down!"

Ricardo does so and the both of them begin running as fast as they can back to the other side. They're almost there when Phillip sees them.

"Nooooo!" he screams, and brings down the crystal, and at the same time, the walls of water begin crashing down behind Francesca and Ricardo. They run as fast as possible as the water comes closer and closer to them. Finally, they reach the shore just as the water crashes around them. They're caught in a wave, but are together thrown onto the shore.

Both of them look up to see Phillip holding the crystal, screaming and crying as suddenly he's pulled into the water, the crystal in hand. They watch as he goesunderwater, never to be seen again.

Later that evening, Ricardo and Francesca sit out on the beach with a big towel wrapped around them as Francesca finishes telling him what had happened. He couldn't recall anything from the time he had entered the apartment and seen her with the crystal. "I can't believe I thought you had done it," he mutters, shaking his head.

Francesca lays a hand on his tenderly. "Don't worry about it, Ricardo. If I'd been in your position, I probably would have thought I had done it too."

They're both silent for a moment until finally Francesca says, "Do you realize what just happened here? Your love for me overcame the evil!"

Ricardo looks at her for a long moment, realizing she's right. He reaches out to her and she collapses in his arms, and they kiss passionately as the golden stars twinkle above brightly.

THE END.....

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