DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters. They belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Morning after Scare

Sharon and Andy lay in Sharon's bed together holding each other close. Sharon was snuggled into Andy's side. Andy was drawing lazy circles around Sharon's hip on the exposed skin there as Sharon's left hand was doing the same to Andy's chest. Andy chuckles to himself. "What's so funny?" Sharon whispers. "The technician who did the ultrasound of my heart was rubbing circles around my chest and I thought of you doing what you are doing right now to me" Andy said in a low voice. "Hmm" Sharon said, "well I hope me running circles on your chest is a lot better". Andy pulled her in closer, "definitely better" he replied and pulled her in for a kiss. They continued to lay there holding one another. "So tell me how my kids had conspired against me and gave you their blessing in purchasing a ring for me?" Sharon asked as she was looking at her left hand while she smiled. "I had told them that I was selling my house to move closer to you and that eventually I wanted us to live together" Andy started to say as Sharon shifted herself to lay further on him. Now in this new position, Andy was rubbing her back up and down. "Ricky then jokingly said that before I move in with you, I should buy you a ring. Emily agreed with him." Andy had said as he continued to rub her back. Sharon laid her head on his shoulder and her face was inches from his neck. Andy continued speaking softly to Sharon "so then I asked Nicole to come with me to pick out a ring for you and we did right before I had found that house with the pool". "Wait, the night that Gus came over here to make dinner, did you really meet Nicole for dinner or was that a ruse?" Sharon had asked. "She did go to dinner with me after she helped me pick out your ring" Andy had said. "Hmm, well you did a good job on that, I will have to thank her later" Sharon said as she smiled and gave Andy a lingering kiss on his lips. She laid her head back down on Andy's shoulder. "Wait, when did you talk with Ricky and Emily about this?" Sharon asked. "Umm, before we caught that case with the teenager who volunteered at that homeless shelter. I had texted both of them that I wanted to talk and they had set up a time and they, you know, skyped me" Andy said proudly. "Oh, and you called me the sneaky one?!" Sharon had chuckled.

The sun was starting to come up and the rays of light started to change the look of Sharon's bedroom. He didn't remember them falling asleep after they had talked. Sharon was snuggled into his side now and slowly started to stir. "Good morning beautiful" Andy had said. "Morning handsome" Sharon replied. "What do you want to do today?" Andy asked. "Well, since you are supposed to be taking a week off for rest I think you should stay here while I go make breakfast" Sharon had said as she started to get out of bed. She put her robe on and tied it together, gave Andy one more kiss and left the bedroom and headed towards the kitchen. Andy had laid back down and wondered when his life had changed. Who would have thought that he would be laying in Sharon's bed, let alone actually living together, and that he had asked Sharon to marry him? They both had certainly come a long way since her time in Internal Affairs and his in Priority Homicide. He smiled to himself and grabbed his phone. He wanted to tell the world that Sharon had said yes but he thought that perhaps this was something that they should do together. He decided that he could tell Provenza and texted him 'she said yes' only. He knew he wasn't going to get a reply because it was still early in the morning. He then left her bedroom and padded his way down the hallway towards the kitchen. When he got closer, he saw Sharon cooking something on the stove. He moved in behind her and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back into him. "Hmm, somebody's happy this morning" she had said with a smile. "I can't help what you do to me" Andy said smiling seductively back at her and kissed her neck. "What are you making?" Andy asked as her continued to kiss her neck. "Vegetable omelets with egg whites" Sharon answered. "When did we get egg whites and vegetables?" asked Andy. "While you were still in the hospital, Patrice had volunteered to do some grocery shopping for us and your new heart diet. So she did and Rusty let her in the condo and helped her bring all the groceries up" Sharon had said. "See you are still the sneaky one" Andy replied, leaned into her and gave her a deepening kiss and then let go of her so that she could continue to make them breakfast. He walked over to the dining room table with some plates and silverware and set them down. He then leaned against the counter watching and waiting for Sharon to finish placing the omelets on a plate. She turned the stove off and followed Andy to the dining room table to sit down and enjoy their breakfast. There was fresh fruit already on the table and Sharon stopped by the toaster to pick up some whole grain toast she had also made. Andy sat down and took his pills. All during breakfast Andy kept glancing at Sharon every chance that he got. He couldn't help it; he was completely in love with her. When Andy would glance up at her, Sharon gave him a smile "you need to eat your food". "I am eating see" Andy said as he took a big forkful of omelet and placed it in his mouth, smiling afterwards. Sharon just shook her head chuckling to herself and continued to eat her breakfast.

An hour had passed and they were sitting on the couch together. Sharon was looking at some paperwork while Andy was rubbing Sharon's legs. Andy's phone had chimed that he had gotten a text message. He picked up his phone and saw it was from Provenza. 'It's about time' was all the message said. "We don't have another call out do we?" Sharon asked him. "No, he's just replying to my message I had sent earlier" Andy said and went back to rubbing her legs. Sharon just hummed and went back to her paperwork. "I think you have looked at that stuff enough for one day Sharon" Sharon looked up at him and smiled. "Hmm what else should I be doing then?" she said to him in a sensual voice. "I can think of a couple of things we could do" Andy replied back. He started to push her back against the couch but Sharon was too quick for him and got up. "I'm going to take a shower" she said laughing "it would be nice if I wasn't alone in there" she said continuing to walk backwards down the hall. She had turned around to walk to her bedroom and Andy quickly followed behind her. They both quickly undressed and met each other in the shower. "I'm glad you are okay" Sharon had said as Andy held her and let the water run down their bodies. "Me too" Andy replied back. "Would you like to go away with me for the weekend?" "Yes I would love that" Sharon answered. After they washed up and dried each other off, Sharon got dressed while Andy stayed in the bathroom to shave. "What did you have in mind this weekend?" Sharon had asked. Andy walked towards the bedroom in nothing but a towel and shaving cream still on half of his face "there's this cottage by the ocean up the coast I saw being advertised in a magazine, I reserved it for us, well actually Nicole did after she knew I was going to be released from the hospital." "Oh" Sharon questioned. "I was planning on asking you up there but since you said yes last night, it will just be a nice romantic getaway for us to enjoy, you know, and rest" he had said winking to her as he walked back in the bathroom to continue shaving. Sharon looked at herself in her mirror on her dresser, when did she get to be so comfortable with Andy she questioned herself. When did she let herself fall in love with that man, who was just a thorn in her side her beginning years in Internal Affairs. Things changed when he got stabbed that one night after his AA meeting, then she audited his department and they got to know one another, later she took over Major Crimes as his Captain and became friends with him. Now, after the whole not-dating to dating debacle, who would have thought they would be living together, searching for a house to share, and now engaged to one another. 'I guess life is funny like that' she thought to herself as Andy walked back into the bedroom, clean shaven and got dressed for the day.

The doctor wanted Andy to take it easy for a week, meaning no work and try to rest as much as he could. Sharon had agreed with this and took the week off herself too. It wasn't that she didn't trust him to take it easy and relax, she wanted, no needed to keep an eye on him for herself, so that she wouldn't worry. Plus, she could work from home if she needed to because all they had was just paperwork to finish. Rusty had come home to find both of them sitting on the couch watching the movie Casablanca on the TV. Rusty never saw it before and didn't understand what the hype was about watching a movie in black and white. "Hi Mom, Andy" Rusty said to them as he walked over to one of the chairs. "Hey kid" Andy replied. Rusty glanced at Sharon's hand and saw the ring on her finger. "Anything happen last night?" he asked. Sharon looked across at him "No, nothing really" she replied. Rusty was shocked at her reply, why wouldn't she mention the ring to him? I bet you she's playing a mind trick, Rusty thought to himself. "Okay, well I'm going to go to my room and finish something" Rusty got up and started walking down the hall. "Okay" was all that Sharon had said as her and Andy finished watching the movie. Andy poked her side "Why didn't you tell him about the ring?" Sharon looked at him and smiled "just wait". Three seconds later Rusty walked out of his bedroom and back to the living room "You're not going to tell me about the ring?" "Oh, I think you already know about the ring Rusty" Sharon had said calmly. "Apparently all of my kids conspired against me for this ring" she continued. "We got together and wanted you to be surprised, with Andy's health scare two nights ago, we didn't think the ring would ever happen." Rusty hesitantly answered. "You're not mad at us are you?" "No Rusty, I'm not mad at you or Emily or Ricky. I'm very happy right now" Sharon said as she turned around and looked at Andy and smiled. "Good, oh Buzz invited me and Gus to the movies tonight so I will be out with them" Rusty said as he turned around and went to his room. "Okay" Sharon shouted down the hall so she heard him and then snuggled up against Andy's left side. She sighed "I love this movie" "Me too" Andy said as they watched Humphrey Bogart say his famous lines to Ingrid Bergman as she got on that airplane. When the movie was over Andy turned off the TV and stood up heading towards the balcony. "Where are you going?" asked Sharon. "Join me outside?" Andy stated and Sharon got up to follow him.

Andy sat down on the chase lounge and encouraged Sharon to sit down with him. She laid back into his arms and he enveloped her. He kissed the back of her head and smelled her hair. "I want to make sure you are okay with everything, the ring, and everything it represents" Andy said to her. "I am okay Andy with everything" Sharon said. "I know you struggled with the whole courthouse shooting and I know you found the absolution you were looking for. I don't want you to struggle with this" Andy continued. "Andy, I spoke to Father George, you know that, and we discussed everything, including our relationship" Sharon said as she turned around in Andy's arms and looked at him. Andy looked back at her and then looked down "I don't want you to regret anything" Sharon lifted up Andy's chin "I would never regret loving you or saying yes to you" and leaned in to give him a kiss. "What brought this on?" Sharon asked. "I don't know, stupid movie I guess" Andy replied. Sharon smiled back at him "Andy, I love you, and I don't want to lose you, ever." Andy smiled back at her "I love you too, and you'll never lose me, ever." They held each other and laid outside. They both figured that they could tackle anything that came up to them as long as they were together.

The end