Louis Provenza would never claim to like Sharon Raydor. He wasn't her friend and he never would be. Maybe he didn't hate her so much anymore, but that wasn't the point. He put aside his indignation at her promotion because it was for the good of the team: He was a senior officer of the LAPD after all, and the other detectives looked up to him. And yes, it annoyed him that the rest of the team had fallen under her spell-and so quickly. Not even Chief Johnson had managed that feat.
But it was hard to hate a woman whom he saw cry. Three times so far. At first, it didn't make sense.
This was a woman he'd alternatively referred to as 'The Wicked Witch' and 'Darth Raydor.' She'd downed a (pretty scary) perp with a single beanbag-and then had played it off with a crack about the recoil. She was tough-and a good cop (although he preferred to forget that most of the time).
Yet she'd cried. Thrice. And it wasn't a ploy for his sympathies. She had been every bit as uncomfortable shedding those tears as he had been watching them fall. And she had done that thing where she ran into her office before anyone could really see them. But he'd seen them, and he'd wanted to...fix the problem for her. Each time.
He'd told Sharon he and Flynn would stay at the station until they found Rusty - that they would find him. It wasn't much but it was the best he could do.
He'd told Sharon that what happened to Amy wasn't her fault - that it was simply bad luck. Again, it wasn't much, but there wasn't much he could do.
He'd told Rusty why he was so wrong about Sharon. That she...cared for Rusty. Loved him even. He hadn't said that exactly, but what he'd said was enough. That woman loved Rusty more than the boy's mother did, and everyone in the division knew it. So if running interference between them and the donor would help Sharon, Provenza had been willing to do that.
But he didn't like Sharon Raydor. He tolerated her. For the good of the team, of course. And also because Rusty was a good kid. And she was a pretty good cop and a decent boss. He could admit that. But that was the extent of his feelings for the Captain.
So why was he so angry when Jackson Raydor strolled into town? Was it simply because he despised the man? And it was true, he did. Whatever his feelings were toward Sharon, (ranging from tolerance to outright hatred) his feelings for Jackson were tenfold. It wasn't because the man was a bad husband: Provenza knew he was a crappy husband and a pretty bad father himself, so he couldn't hate another man for that. The difference was that Provenza made a clear break from his wives. He didn't use them; he didn't maintain contact except for alimony or child support. And he didn't waltz into their homes at 3 AM, unpacking groceries like it was perfectly normal. Jack was especially great at making his problems Sharon's problems, and that annoyed Provenza. The woman had enough problems-most of which weren't even hers-she didn't need a grown man adding to the pile.
So he stood by and waited for Sharon to cry again. Ready to fix this problem too. But she didn't cry, and she fixed it herself. Maybe she'd always fixed them, and all he was doing was assisting. But he wasn't blind to the damage that man left in his wake. He hoped they'd seen the last of Jackson Raydor, and if Sharon ever divorced the scumbag, he would officially welcome her to the club. It wouldn't be much, but it would be the best he could offer, and maybe it would be enough.