A/N: Once again, thanks to Kadi219 for checking this over and picking up on all the British/American spelling conflicts.

Andy Flynn was in a trance. He stood on the roof of City Hall opposite his workplace – the Police Administration Building – and watched with a strange abstraction as a huge explosion ripped through the ninth floor. The floor which he had been on not fifteen minutes earlier. The floor where he had left the rest of his division and his fiancée.

For a few seconds, he could do nothing but stare at the scene. Just moments ago, pointing his gun at their suspect, he had been full of adrenaline, relishing being back in the field. Now, however, he was stunned into inactivity by the by the thick, grey smoke billowing out of the windows and the shower of debris falling to the ground.

He felt as if he couldn't breathe, an icy fist of dread closing around his heart. Images raced through his mind; terrible images. Sharon trapped under rubble, unable to move and in excruciating pain. Sharon sprawled on the floor, bloodied and burned. Sharon lying there frightfully still, her eyes closed and her face deathly pale.

Shouts and screams from the street below filtered through Andy's overwrought mind, bringing him back to the moment. Turning away from the devastation, his eyes fell on the dirtbag who had planted and detonated the bomb. Unbridled anger bubbled up inside Andy. He felt the weight of the gun in his hand but knew he couldn't fire on an unarmed man. So, stalking towards the bomber, Andy raised his gun and, without another thought, brought it crashing down into the side of his head.

Moments later back up arrived and Andy stepped away, allowing uniformed officers to restrain Christian Ortiz. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled Sharon's number. The call went straight to voicemail.

"No, no. Please God no," he pleaded. Fate couldn't be this cruel, he thought darkly. Not when they'd just gotten engaged. Not when she'd already gotten out of one explosion unscathed this week. Disconnecting the call, he scrolled further down the list of recent contacts, past Rusty, Nicole, Ricky until he found another member of the team. Provenza. He hit dial. This time it rang out.

Andy willed someone to answer. "Come on, come on," he muttered impatiently.

"Flynn!" Andy let out a sigh of relief as he heard his partner's gruff voice. "Oh Flynn, tell me you have that son of a bitch."

"Yeah, I got him. Are you okay? How is everybody? Is… Is Sharon…" Andy couldn't even bring himself to say the words.

"Just hold on. Hold on."

Time dragged as Andy listened intently, waiting for some indication from the other end of the line that Sharon was okay. Second seemed like hours. He thought the feeling of terror inside him would never disappear.

"Andy."

It was her! He closed his eyes, relief cursing through him. She was alive. Her voice was raspy and she sounded drained but she was alive.

"What are you doing over there?" Sharon coughed to clear her throat of some of the dust she'd inhaled. Andy took advantage of her pause, cutting her off before she could give him hell for disobeying his doctor's orders.

"It's just a walk across the street. And I'm the only guy this asshole didn't know. I'm more worried about you guys." His voice softened slightly. "Are you okay?"

"I can tell you," interjected Provenza, trying to lighten the mood, "the janitor's going to have a serious meltdown."

"We're okay. We're all go… we're going to be okay."

"Good. That's good. I…" He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but he was conscious of the officers both at his end and the rest of the division on speaker at the other.

"I know. Me too." Another cough. "I will see you in a few minutes, Lieutenant."

"Yes Captain." Andy smiled. She was definitely going to be okay.

Andy hurried past the crowds of officer streaming out of PAB to the elevators. He pressed the 'call' button several times in quick succession, before realising that, due to the evacuation, they were out of order. Turning on his heel, he rushed to the stairwell. He took the stairs two at a time in his eagerness to get to Sharon. Arriving at the ninth floor, he leant against the wall, pausing to catch his breath, before opening the door. He didn't want to give Sharon any more reasons to worry about him.

The dust-filled atmosphere hit him as soon as he stepped into the corridor. The place was teeming with emergency personnel, assessing and triaging those involved in the explosion. Cables and tiles dangled from the ceiling like vines; some still sparking with what vestiges of energy they had left flowing through them. The emergency lighting was dim. Andy squinted, hoping to see better through the dust and darkness, but let seven years of familiarity guide him through the halls. He wandered the devastated corridors, searching frantically for Sharon, his eyes darting around the hallway.

He almost collided with Julio as the detective rounded the corner near the break room. "You okay?" Andy asked, his hand clasping the younger man's shoulder.

"I'm fine, sir," Julio assured him. "We're all-"

"Ah Lieutenant Flynn," interrupted Chief Pope as he appeared behind Julio. "I believe you were quite the hero today."

"I… er…was just doing my job Chief."

"Not according to your doctor," Pope quipped.

Andy just about managed not to roll his eyes. "I did what needed to be done." He shuffled from one foot to the other, eager to get away from this conversation and find Sharon. He watched over Chief Pope's shoulders as paramedics and firefighters came and went with casualties, but he couldn't spot Sharon among them.

"Yes well, I'm sure your Captain will have something to say about that. Where's the suspect? You didn't shoot him, did you?" The last thing he needed after an explosion on his watch, was FID on his back about an officer involved shooting.

When Andy didn't respond, Julio gave him a nudge. Andy refocused his gaze on the detective. "Ow. What the hell?"

Julio supressed a smirk. "The Chief was asking about the suspect sir."

"Oh, yeah right." He turned to Chief Pope. "Uniforms have him secured downstairs."

"Good. Good." No OIS. If he was lucky, he'd maybe even get the FBI to bear the cost of prosecuting this. Blowing up a police station, no matter the motivation, was still an act of terror. Every cloud had a silver lining and he might have just found one.

"I did hit him with my gun though," admitted Andy. "Probably an excessive use of force."

Pope sighed; or perhaps not. Not that he could blame the lieutenant for his actions. He'd have probably done the same if he'd thought his team and fiancée had been blown up. It was the same reason Flynn couldn't wait to get away from him now. "Right, well. Thank you gentlemen." He gave them both a nod as he passed them, before turning back with a smirk. "Oh and Lieutenant Flynn."

Andy let out a frustrated sigh. "Yes Chief?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Captain Raydor is around the corner."

This time Julio couldn't help it. He laughed out loud as the Chief left, an extremely satisfied grin on his face.

Muttering a few quiet curses, Andy rushed past Julio in the direction Pope had indicated. His eyes fell on Sharon as soon as he got around the corner. She was seated on the floor against the wall. His eyes widened to see an oxygen mask on her face.

"You said you were okay!" he exclaimed, kneeling down at her side.

Sharon lifted her hand to remove the mask, but Provenza, who sat next to her, put a hand on her arm to stop her. "It's just a precaution," he explained to his partner. "She was having a little trouble breathing, what with all the dust."

Sharon shook off Provenza's hand and lifted the mask. "I'm okay," she croaked. "Andy, what were you thinking. You could have-" She began coughing, the dust irritating her throat and making it impossible for her to continue.

Andy covered her hand with his and helped her put the mask in place. "Sssh," he soothed, cupping her cheek. "You can chew me out for breaking the rules later, okay?"

She nodded, leaning her head into his hand. The lack of oxygen from her breathing difficulty had left her tired and woozy.

"Here Flynn," Provenza called, "give me a hand up and I'll see about getting her out of here. This dust isn't helping."

Andy stood and held out a hand to pull his partner up from the floor. He groaned at the effort it took. "Geez, old man, would it hurt you to eat more of those salads Patrice keeps making you?"

Provenza wagged his finger at Andy. "Now you listen here," He was interrupted by another bout of coughing from Sharon. He glanced down; she was pale and her eyelids were drooping "This is not over," he continued as he went looking for help. "There will be a conversation."

Chuckling at how easily he could wind his partner up, Andy lowered himself gently to floor and settled next to Sharon. He raised an eyebrow as she leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

She merely shrugged; she needed to feel close to him. When she'd heard his voice over the phone and realised that he'd taken himself across the street she'd been both surprised and worried.

Andy reached for her hand, interlacing their fingers. "I think we're even now."

"Hmmm?" she asked.

"Y'know, health scares, close calls… Scaring the other half to death."

Sharon considered his words and shook her head. She pulled the oxygen mask away from her face. "Not quite." Letting the mask fall back into place, she pointed at him and held up three fingers, before pointing to herself and holding up only two.

"Ah but I had to watch you be almost blown up twice in the space of three days? That's gotta be worth more."

Sharon shook her head again. "Nuh-uh."

Andy arched an eyebrow at her chosen expression and shook his head. "What are you? Five? You've been spending too much time with my grandkids."

They'd taken them to the beach the previous weekend. She'd spent hours playing with them; building sand castles, chasing them through the waves, splashing and kicking up water. Andy loved watching her with them – how gentle she was with them, the sound of her carefree laughter as the boys splashed her with water, the fairness with which she refereed the boys' disagreements. That could have been the last time they'd seen her. The last time he'd gotten to see how the love and affection she felt for him also encompassed his family. Andy shuddered at the thought.

Sensing where his thoughts had taken him she squeezed his hand, reiterating that she was still here. That she was okay.

Provenza returned then; a paramedic and stretcher in tow. "Captain Raydor, we want to send you down to St Leo's, and have them observe you for a bit." She shook her head.

"Sharon," pleaded Andy. "Let them do their jobs. There's nothing any of us can do here now anyway. They need to assess for structural damage before we can even start clearing up."

"It's just until your breathing returns to normal. Any luck," continued the paramedic, "and you'll be out of there in time for dinner."

"Okay," nodded Sharon, her voice muffled by the mask, "but no stretcher."

Andy shook his head and helped Sharon to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her and, picking up the oxygen tank she was currently attached to, supported her as they made their way slowly down their stairs.

Sharon blinked as they stepped out into the bright Los Angeles sunshine and leant further into Andy to steady herself.

"Mom!" The shout came from the crowd, behind the police cordon and Andy glanced up to see Rusty slip past the officer and rush towards them. "Oh my god, Mom!" The young man gathered Sharon into a hug, squeezing her tightly.

Andy placed a comforting hand on Rusty's shoulder, squeezing gently. "It's okay kid. It's okay."

A/N2: I have an idea for a second chapter, dealing with the clean up/Sharon's promotion, if you guys want it that is. Be sure to let me know.