Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters (except Melanie) or The Closer, but if I did, this is what would happen.
A/N: So, this story came about as a result of an anon prompt I was sent on Tumblr that asked me to write a fic where Sharon and Andy share a kiss during sometime in The Closer era and this is what I came up with. I usually don't write fic for The Closer era (I usually try to stick with Major Crimes era Shandy), so this was a bit different for me. Enjoy!
You've Got a Friend in Me
Lieutenant Andy Flynn wasn't sure exactly what it was about that moment a few hours prior in electronics, but something about the Captain quoting Supreme Court law made her quite attractive in his eyes and now he couldn't stop thinking about her. Which is how he'd ended up following her into the hallway outside the murder just now as she was leaving.
"Captain Raydor," Andy called down the hallway.
"Yes, Lieutenant Flynn?" Sharon asked him as she turned around.
"That whole thing you said earlier about marriage and privileged information was quite impressive," Andy told her.
"Thanks…I guess. Lieutenant Flynn, what is this really about?" Sharon asked him suspiciously.
"Well, judging by your dramatic eye roll as you were saying it, it seems like we share similar opinions about marriage," Andy told her.
"Lieutenant Flynn, I don't mean to be rude, but what point are you trying to make here?" Sharon asked him.
"I guess my point is…maybe we have more in common than you think," said Andy as he began moving closer to Sharon.
"Lieutenant Flynn, what exactly are you doing?" Sharon asked him.
"I was trying to pay you a compliment and I hope I'm not being too forward here when I tell you that I found you quoting Supreme Court law off the top of your head to be quite attractive," Andy told her as he began inching his face towards hers until there was just inches of space between them.
As Sharon realized what was about to happen, she put both arms out in front of her to stop him before she said, "Lieutenant Flynn, not that I'm not flattered or if I'm being completely honest, interested, but despite my apparent attitude towards marriage that I displayed in that room earlier, I am unfortunately still married."
"Really? You're still married to Jack?" Andy asked her.
"Unfortunately, yes. The point is it's complicated and whether I like it or not, I'm still married and from a personal beliefs standpoint, it would feel wrong to engage in any sort of behavior that might be considered, shall we say, adulterous. Again, it's not that I wouldn't be interested if the situation were different," Sharon told him.
"I understand. Now, this isn't me not taking no for an answer or being an ass, but would you want to get coffee later? As friends, of course," Andy clarified.
"I don't have many of those here. So, umm…sure. Give me about an hour or so. I've got some paperwork to finish up before I leave. There's a coffee shop on Spring St. near the Japanese American National Museum called Zinnia's. We can meet there around 8:30 or so," Sharon told him.
"Great. I guess I'll see you then," Andy told her.
"Yeah," said Sharon as she continued to stand there looking at Andy.
When she realized she was still standing there staring at Andy Flynn like an idiot, she said, "I better go."
As Sharon walked towards the elevator, Andy said to himself, "Yeah."
About an hour later, Andy arrived at Zinnia's. It was a small modern café with a few rustic touches. He didn't recall having ever been here before, but it seemed like a nice little coffee shop.
He looked around, but saw no sign of Captain Raydor yet. So, he decided to get in line and order his coffee. He perused the menu and found a Columbian Roast he thought he'd try, as that's what he usually got when he got coffee elsewhere. He stood in line for a couple minutes before he got up to the counter and placed his order. A couple minutes later, his coffee was ready and he decided to find a table to sit at while he waited for the Captain to arrive.
About five minutes later, he saw her walk in.
"Captain Raydor," he called as he waved her over.
"Lieutenant Flynn. Sorry I'm late," Sharon told him.
"No worries. I haven't been here too long," Andy told her.
"Well, let me order and then we can sit down," said Sharon as she made her way towards the counter to get in line.
Andy grabbed his coffee and followed her before standing next to her in line.
"This place is nice," he told Sharon.
"Yeah, it is. I discovered it a couple years ago. I come here after work sometimes or on the rare weekend I have off," said Sharon.
As she made her way up to the counter, the barista asked her, "The usual, Sharon?"
"Yes, Melanie. Thank you," said Sharon as she went to grab her debit card out of her wallet.
"Here you go," said Andy as he magically produced his debit card and handed it to the barista.
Melanie took the debit card and gave Sharon a knowing look before she processed the payment and handed the card back to Andy.
"It'll be ready in a couple minutes," Melanie told Sharon.
As her and Andy walked off to the side to wait for her order, Sharon said, "I thought this wasn't a date."
"It's not," Andy told her.
"Then, why did you just pay for my drink?" Sharon asked him.
"Let's chalk it up to me being a nice guy," Andy told her.
"Okay. Well, thank you," Sharon told him.
"You're welcome. See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Andy asked her.
"What?" Sharon asked him confusedly.
"Acceptance. Of compliments. Of someone showing genuine kindness towards you. You know, you strike me as the kind of person who has a hard time accepting those types of things from other people. It's like you always have your defenses up with people for some reason," said Andy.
"I came here, didn't I?" said Sharon questioningly as she grabbed her drink.
"Well, yeah, but-" said Andy before Sharon turned back towards the counter.
"Thank you, Melanie," Sharon told the barista before her and Andy made their way towards the table Andy had previously been sitting at.
Once they both sat down, Sharon said, "I'm sorry. That was a bitchy thing for me to say. I guess your observation was so startlingly accurate that I got a bit defensive about it."
"Well, I do investigate crimes for a living, so that would make sense," Andy told her.
"Yeah," Sharon said before she chuckled.
"So, if you don't mind me asking, what's the deal with you and Jack?" Andy asked Sharon.
"You really are an investigator. Seriously though, how much time do you have? Cause it's a pretty long story. Like I said, it's complicated," said Sharon.
"I'm not doing anything tonight," Andy told her.
"Okay, where to begin. Well, as you probably remember from way back when, Jack liked to drink a lot. Still likes to drink a lot, and over the years, he's added gambling into the mix as well," Sharon began.
"That's never a good combination," Andy commented.
"No. The first time he left, Emily, that's my daughter, she was about five and my son Ricky was only two. I came home one day and all his clothes were gone. Left me a note saying he was off to win the big jackpot in Vegas. No explanation of how long he'd be gone. Nothing. Didn't hear anything from him for almost six months. Then, out of the blue one day, I come home from work with the kids and he's sitting on the couch like nothing happened. Said he was sober and had given up gambling. Of course, he knew just what to say to make believe he'd changed. I'd encouraged him to go to AA before he'd left, so he thought by telling me he'd been sober that I'd take him back, which the first time, I stupidly did," said Sharon.
"That wasn't your fault. You tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and he manipulated you. That's on him," Andy told her.
Sharon smiled weakly at him before she said, "I know that now, but back then I was completely devastated by the whole thing. He just up and left one day without even a second thought about me or our children. After a while, I didn't even care about the fact that he'd left me. It was the fact that he could so easily leave his children behind. Oh, that's another thing. One time he came back and told me that he wanted to be there for his children. So, since he had nowhere else to go, I let him sleep on the couch. That was until I got a phone call from Emily one night while I was at work. She was about eight or nine at the time and Ricky was five. She called me crying hysterically and told me that Jack was passed out on the couch and that he wouldn't wake up. She asked me if she should call 911. I knew he was probably just passed out drunk, so I told her it was going to be okay and not to call 911. Then, I remember racing home right after that to make sure my kids were okay. Physically, they were fine, but emotionally it was a whole other story. Emily was crying hysterically when I got there and Ricky kept asking all kinds of questions about why Jack wasn't waking up. Up until that point and even after, I tried to shield them from all of that. You better believe that was the last time I let him stay at my house though. After that, if he wanted to see his kids, I told him that the only way he'd see them is if he could prove he was sober. He didn't come around very often after that. He'd show up every once in a while to visit them, but it never lasted long. Soon enough, he'd be gone again and I'd once again be left to deal with the fallout. It was difficult because I could see that he wasn't ready to get sober and stay sober, yet I couldn't be that woman who keeps their kids away from their dad. Whether I liked it or not, he was still their father," said Sharon.
"Yeah, but speaking from past personal experience, sometimes it's best to keep them away from all of that. I know I came home some nights in some pretty ugly states. My kids saw that and it of course affected them. Still does. Hell, I'm still trying to repair those relationships and it's been over ten years now. I understand now that my drinking took a toll on them too. My point is, until Jack makes the decision to get sober and stay sober, it might be best for them to put up some rules and boundaries as far as what they need him to do in order to have a relationship with him. How old are they now?" Andy asked Sharon.
"Emily's twenty four and Ricky's twenty one. Emily's in New York studying to be a professional ballet dancer and Ricky's down at Stanford studying Computer Science. What about you?" Sharon asked Andy.
"My kids?" Andy asked her, just to clarify.
"Yeah," Sharon replied.
"Well, my daughter, Nicole, is twenty seven. She works on the business side of things for an advertising agency downtown. My son, Brandon is twenty three. He works as a graphic designer for a publishing company. They're great kids. Not sure how that happened, but by some miracle it did," said Andy.
"I'm sure you're a great dad. Sure, you made some mistakes in the past, but the important part is that you corrected them," Sharon told him.
Yeah, I guess so. What about you? I'm sure you're a great mom. Just the way you were talking about your kids just now shows that you obviously care a lot about them and from the sounds of it, they seem to have turned out pretty great. You should be proud. I'm sure it wasn't easy doing it all on your own," said Andy.
"It wasn't easy, but they both turned out great. I'm really proud of both of them. Oh my god, look at me. I must sound like some stepford mom over here bragging about my kids like they're perfect. Let me assure you, they're not," said Sharon.
"It's allowed. It's our right as parents," Andy told her.
"Yeah," said Sharon.
So, besides being a mom and a cop, what does the infamous Captain Raydor like to do in her spare time?" Andy asked.
"One, that is such a date question and two, it's Sharon," Sharon told him.
"What?" Andy asked her.
"You can call me Sharon. I think I've shared enough with you tonight that we can be on a first name basis," said Sharon.
"Well, in that case, you can call me Andy. I have one request though," Andy told her.
"Oh god, what?" Sharon asked him.
"That you answer my question," said Andy.
"Again, such a date question, but I'll humor you. Well, I enjoy reading and going to museums and going to see the occasional movie. You could say I'm a bit of a geek," Sharon told him.
"I doubt that. I think it makes you cultured and smart. Like that whole thing with you quoting that Supreme Court law earlier. I couldn't do that off the top of my head. Where'd you learn all of that anyways?" Andy asked her.
"Well, before life happened, my plan was to go to law school. To answer your next question, no I don't regret it. I did what I had to do at the time and now I couldn't imagine doing anything else. Believe it or not, I like the idea of helping people. I don't solely exist to bust everyone's balls all the time," said Sharon.
"I can see that," said Andy.
"What about you? Why did you become a cop?" Sharon asked Andy.
"Well…this is embarrassing, but when I was a kid, my older brother and I wanted to ride my cousins' motorcycle. My cousin wouldn't let us drive it because we weren't old enough. So, one day, my brother and I got this great idea that we'd take it for a ride for a while and bring it right back," said Andy.
"Oh god, I can already see this going in a bad direction," said Sharon.
"Believe me, it did. I guess one of my cousins' neighbors saw us rolling the motorcycle out of the garage and called the cops. Needless to say, we got caught red handed. The cop ended up letting us go, but not before taking us down to the jail and showing us where we would end up if we continued down the road we were on. Sure scared the crap out of me. From that day on, I decided I'd rather lock dirtbags up than end up in jail myself and the rest is history," Andy told her.
"Well, it seems like you've made significant progress since then," Sharon commented.
"Yeah. It's taken me a long time, but I think I'm finally getting there. You know, I wasn't always the guy everyone sees now. For years, I was a pretty shitty person. It took me a while to deal with all of the damage I'd done when in the midst of my addiction. Especially the damage I did to my family. It's difficult to come to terms with the fact that you've hurt the people closest to you. Once you get sober, you look at yourself and you think how could I have been such an asshole to the people that cared about me the most? All you can really do at that point though is make amends and try to move forward the best you can if you're lucky enough to get a second chance," said Andy.
"Well, at least you're trying your best to be a good father and a good person. That counts for more than you think," Sharon told him.
"Yeah. For me, there's no other option. I'd rather be healthy and sober and spend time with my kids than take a drink because I'm too much of a coward to deal with whatever made me drink in the first place. I'm a much happier person sober than I ever was drunk," said Andy.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question? Well, two questions actually," said Sharon.
"Sure, go ahead. I'm an open book," Andy said to her.
"First, would you like a refill? They're gonna be closing soon and I don't know about you, but I'm getting one for the drive home," said Sharon as she got up to order another raspberry green tea.
"Sure, but I better make it decaf since it's getting kind of late now," said Andy.
As she stood at the counter, she asked Melanie, "Can I get another raspberry green tea and a cup of decaf for my friend here?"
"Sure. I'll have it ready for you guys in a couple minutes," replied Melanie.
After Sharon paid for the two drinks, Andy said, "Thanks. Raspberry green tea though? Who would've thought that the fierce Sharon Raydor would be drinking something as delicate as green tea? I myself pegged you as a coffee person."
"You're welcome. I drink both actually. I try to limit myself to only having coffee in the mornings or if I'm burning the midnight oil working a case. Otherwise, I usually just drink tea. If I drink coffee this late, it usually ends up keeping me up half the night," said Sharon.
Just then, Melanie set the two drinks on the counter and said, "You two have a good night."
"You too, Melanie," said Sharon.
"Yeah, thanks," said Andy.
As they took their cups and walked outside towards the parking lot, Andy asked, "What was your second question?"
"What?" Sharon asked.
"Before, when we were inside, you said you had two questions. You only asked me one of them. What was your other question?" Andy asked her.
"Oh, I was gonna ask what you do to stay busy. Cause I know, at least for me, when I'm not at work or spending time with my kids, I get a bit restless," said Sharon as she leaned against the back of her car.
"Yeah, I'm literally the worst with that. If I sit home doing nothing for even a few hours I start going stir crazy. I find that working out helps a lot with that though. I go to a 24 hour gym off of Echo Park Avenue near my house about four times a week. It's convenient, especially with the crazy hours we work because I can literally go there at 5 am before work or I can go at midnight if I'm working late or can't sleep. I also enjoy going to the movies from time to time or the beach if it's not too crowded or if it's summer time you'll definitely catch me at quite a few Dodger games," Andy told her.
"Well, you're right there in Echo Park. Might as well take advantage of it," said Sharon.
"Oh, believe me, I do," said Andy.
"Well, I appreciate you meeting me all the way out here. I didn't want to meet anywhere near work. Too many people gossip and jump to the wrong conclusions, you know? Anyway, I had a good time tonight. This was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be," said Sharon.
"How'd you think it was going to go?" Andy asked curiously.
"To tell you the truth, I didn't know what to expect, exactly. I was shocked to say the least when you started flirting with me and then tried to kiss me in the hallway right outside the murder room. If you think about it that was kind of bold considering nobody in your division really likes me. So, when I stopped you from kissing me and you asked me to meet you for coffee, I wasn't sure what to think," said Sharon.
"Well, it occurred to me that even though I'd struck out with the whole kissing thing, that you could at the very least, still use a friend. I'm not a total jerk," said Andy.
"I know that now," said Sharon.
"I had a good time too, Sharon. We should do this again sometime," said Andy.
"I thought this wasn't a date," said Sharon.
"It wasn't. Just two friends talking and drinking coffee and tea. Nothing date-like about that. Believe me, if this was a date, I'd be taking you to some kind of fancy restaurant." replied Andy.
"Looks like I missed out on quite a nice date," Sharon commented.
"Maybe, but we still had a good time. You don't have to miss out you know," Andy told her.
"Andy…" Sharon trailed off warningly.
"I'm not trying to push my luck here. All I'm doing is giving you some friendly advice," said Andy.
"Okay," replied Sharon.
"And as your friend, I'm telling you that if your husband is a complete asshole who doesn't treat you like you deserve and you've met someone you're actually interested in, why not at least reconsider your options? With that, I'll say goodnight," said Andy as he leaned over and kissed Sharon's cheek.
"Andy…" Sharon trailed off warningly again.
"Just a friendly goodnight kiss. It's not a date, so there's no pressure to return it. Just letting you know, as a friend, that I care," Andy told her.
"Andy, I can't ask you to do this. It isn't fair to you," Sharon told him.
"You didn't ask. I offered. If it takes you five weeks or five years, I'll be here, as your friend, waiting until you decide you're ready to not be just friends anymore. I sure as hell don't plan on not dating anybody else," said Andy.
"See. How can you say that after spending only one evening talking to me in a coffee shop?" Sharon asked him.
"Because I found out tonight that you're worth it. I won't go into specifics now because I feel like that would be unfairly pressuring you to make a decision that you may or may not be ready to make yet. What I will keep telling you though, is that you're worth it. Whether you're upset and complaining about something Jack has done or I get flack for defending you to people we work with and whether we stay just friends forever or we eventually become something more, I'll always remind you that you're worth it. Cause you are, Sharon," Andy told her.
"Wow. I don't think anyone's ever said anything that nice to me before," said Sharon.
"That's what friends are for," said Andy as he began walking off towards his car.
"Yeah. Goodnight Andy," Sharon told him.
"Goodnight, Sharon. Same day and time, next week?" Andy asked.
"Provided neither of us gets stuck working late or gets called out on a case, then the answer to your question is yes," said Sharon.
"Great. Take care of yourself, Sharon and always remember that you're worth it," Andy told her.
"I will. Looks like I have a friend who won't let me forget it," said Sharon as she smiled at Andy.
"Lucky you, I guess," said Andy before he got into his car to leave.
Sharon shook her head and laughed as she did the same. Maybe not everyone in Major Crimes was the bane of her existence. However difficult it was to believe, maybe, just maybe, one of them was actually her friend.
A/N: So, I'm fully willing to admit that this story was a lot more fun to write than I initially thought it was going to be. I haven't watched The Closer in a very long time, but with the help of YouTube, I was able to find a moment that resonated with me and I ran with it. As always, let me know what you thought of this story by leaving me a review. Thanks for reading!