September, 1996

"So, you're stuck hugging the desk for the duration, huh?" laughs Detective Andy Flynn, tousling his partner's immaculate hair slightly, knowing that it'll probably drive her nuts.

Sergeant Sharon Raydor, known fondly to those in Homicide as 'Rulebook' Raydor (a nickname that would become less fond in time, though still persevere), glares at her partner semi-exasperatedly. "Looks like it. Think you'll manage out there without me?" she teases, her eyes shining with mirth as she straightens out the disrupted locks of hair.

"Oh, I'd say I can," chuckles Andy, "I can't promise that I won't get into a few scrapes, though."

"I'll bet," sighs Sharon, only half-amused by the likelihood that her partner will probably end up with another leaf in his jacket if left to his own devices.

Their banter is interrupted by the loud thwack of several files landing in a pile on Sharon's desk.

Leaning on the pile, Captain Nichols – Sharon's immediate superior – directs her attention to the Sergeant sat in front of her. "You've caught a cold case, Rulebook. Seems like the boys upstairs don't want to let you off easy just 'cos you're pregnant."

Meeting her eyes guardedly, Sharon glances towards the pile, "is this all one case?" she asks.

"What can I tell you? Lots of paperwork but no leads – just what a benched Sergeant needs to fill her time," laughs Nichols, tickled by the horrified expression on Sharon's face.

"Great," grouses Sharon, spotting the look of amusement on her partner's face.

Nichols notes Flynn's reaction with mirth, and she turns to him before casually remarking, "Since your partner's on desk duty, you'll be acting like the gentleman I know you are and doing the leg work on this one."

Andy rolls his eyes before nodding in assent, causing his Captain to smirk good-naturedly.

"'atta boy!" chuckles Nichols before taking her leave.

Snorting under his breath, Andy turns back to face Sharon, who has already started distributing the files evenly between them.

"So, who died?" asks Andy bluntly, earning himself a bemused glare from his partner.

"Victim's name is Anna James – it says here that she died twenty years ago."

"Shit, this case isn't cold – it's frozen. Why are they defrosting it now?"

"Apparently the husband – who has been in prison since '76 – received new information and has put his case forward for an appeal."

"Well, better late than never, I guess. Though, if you ask me – it's always the husband." Andy smirks, knowing that his partner disapproves of his view.

"Yes, I'm well aware of your favourite adage. And in this case, I'd be inclined to agree with you," she mutters, her eyes scanning through all of the charges listed beneath the husband's name, "Have you seen how many domestic disturbance calls the man had against him in the years leading up to his wife's murder?"

"Damn, you're right," Andy whistles quietly through his teeth as he flips through the same information, "I'm guessing, then, that most of the papers on our desks are officer reports for the Domestic Disturbances over the years."

Though Andy and his wife had had their fair share of problems before the divorce, he could never knock her about, especially not the way this guy had beaten his wife. He wonders how much of an asshole the guy had to be to do this to someone he'd sworn to love until death do them part.

Shaking himself out of it, Andy asks pensively, "What's the new information?"

"Apparently, Mr. James received a phone call from an anonymous tipster indicating that his wife had been having multiple affairs before her death. A few days later, his lawyer was handed evidence of the affairs."

"Evidence?" questions Andy.

"CCTV footage of Anna and her lover at an ATM days before her death, coincidentally at the same time that her husband was being treated in hospital for alcohol poisoning," explains Sharon, reading through the report.

"What was the cause of death?" asks Andy, glancing down at the crime scene photos that have finally come into his hands.

"Internal bleeding as a result of multiple-contact blunt-force trauma. Apparently there was also a skull contusion that was non-fatal but would've knocked her out. He beat her to death," replies Sharon quietly, the information on the file doing nothing to truly explain the horror of the beating the victim had been subjected to.

"Shit," curses Andy quietly, noting the distressed expression on Sharon's face, "you okay, Rulebook?" He uses the nickname fondly, knowing that it usually brings a smirk to her face. He peers at her expression again, but it seems frozen with horror.

"I'm fine," she breathes quietly, a slight tremor in her hands as she places the file on her desk carefully. "It says here that the victim was pregnant when she died."

"Man, they really know how to assign cases, don't they," growls Andy, reaching protectively over the desks for Sharon's hand. He swipes his thumb comfortingly over the back of her hand before sliding it back to his own case file.

"I'll be fine, Flynn." Her tone becomes business-like, cold, even. Andy knows that this is how she detaches herself from the cases, but still wishes that she would allow herself to feel the same rage that has started to burn in the pit of his stomach. "The report states that the object thought to have caused the skull contusion – a bookend – was originally missing from the scene but was later recovered from the husband's car as a result of, what do you know, another anonymous tip."

"What's the significance of the bookend?" asks Flynn.

"It was found much later in the investigation, when it looked like there was no other evidence against the husband," a note of suspicion enters Sharon's voice as she relays the information.

"That's pretty lucky," hedges Andy, his own suspicions raised by the fortunate and timely retrieval of evidence, "who were the other suspects at the time?"

"It looks like there weren't any," replies Sharon, her tone brittle.

"Then we'll just have to find some," states Andy confidently, hoping to rouse his partner from her irritation at a fellow detective's work.

"Do you want to go through the neighbour's statements that were used for the trial? They might help," suggests Sharon.

"Sure," agrees Andy.

"Fine, then I'm going to make sure that the bookend wasn't the only evidence against Mr. James at the time of his arrest," replies Sharon resolutely.

Hi guys! This is my take on Sharon's past with Andy prior to their 're-introduction' in The Closer. I hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter :) If you have, please leave a review!