Brand New Day

By Kadi
Rated T

Disclaimer: Not my sandbox. But I do love it! It has all the best toys!

A/N: For my darling Sara and Roni, who asked so sweetly for a sequel to Between Want and Need. Here you go girls! I hope that you enjoy it!

The couch was no place for anyone over the age of thirty to be sleeping. Sharon really didn't know how Ricky had managed it the last time that he visited. Of course, he wasn't over thirty yet, but he was considerably taller than she was. That was the thought that entered her head when her eyes fluttered open an hour later. She woke up feeling crowded and entirely too warm, and realized immediately the reason for that in the arms that were still wrapped around her. It wasn't an altogether unpleasant feeling. She had almost fallen right back to sleep, and the feel of fingers moving through her hair was very nearly enough to make that happen, but she had stubbornly forced her eyes to remain open.

Sharon looked up at that point and found Andy half asleep. He grunted quietly when she moved, and his arms tightened around her. She placed a hand against his chest and slowly began to untangle herself. His eyes blinked open sleepily. He stared at her for a few seconds and she realized that he was disoriented. Sharon smiled when it cleared, when she could see that he was remembering why they were wrapped up together on her couch. Sharon tried to sit up again and this time his arms fell away from her. Keeping her eyes open was a chore, and she hid a yawn behind her hand as she rose from the sofa. As tired as she was, and with all that they had been through recently, she could only imagine that he was just as exhausted. After all, it had been Andy that she called in the middle of the night. He hadn't exactly been sleeping very well either, and looking at him now, she felt such an immense guilt for that.

She drew her bottom lip between her teeth as he sat up. The hunch in his shoulders was more pronounced now, and she knew with the way that he rubbed at his eyes that he was fighting a headache. It was in how his eyes squinted and his brow furrowed when he looked up at her. Sharon knew that she should probably send him home, but she couldn't fathom the idea of putting him into his car at this hour. Sharon glanced toward the windows. The sky beyond was only just beginning to lighten as dawn neared. She held out a hand to him instead and smiled gently. "Come on." Her voice was thick and low, husky with fatigue.

His brows drew together in a deeper frown. Andy looked at her hand and then at her face again. His back and neck were already killing him just from the short time that they had spent on the couch. He shook his head at her and sighed as he rose. Tired and stiff muscles protested the action. "I should go," he rumbled quietly. "Are you going to be okay for the rest of the night?"

"No." She arched a brow at him. "I'll be worried that you wrapped your car around a pole on your way home because you fell asleep at the wheel. Andy..." Sharon sighed at him. She reached out and took his hand. She tugged on it as she turned. "I don't have a guest room, so you'll just have to make do with me."

"Sharon." He drew her up short and pulled her back around to look at him. "I should go home," he said again, this time with a little more confidence. He shook his head at her. "I won't fall asleep."

She took a step closer. She was much too tired to argue with him. "Andy, I would believe that if you weren't about to fall asleep just standing here." She laid her hand on his chest again. "You know, if nothing else, we are still very good friends. I think we can share a bed without it having any negative or sexual connotations." She tugged on his hand again. "Now would you please stop being so stubborn and come on? I'm so tired my hair hurts."

He bowed his head and sighed. "It's funny, you calling anyone stubborn." He looked up at her again and offered a crooked half grin. This time when she took the step toward the hall he went with her. He could offer to call a cab and come back for his car another time, but she was right, the urge to close his eyes was a strong one and he didn't really care if it meant falling over. Andy let her pull him down the hall toward her room. The bed looked so inviting that his back actually twinged with anticipation.

Sharon drew him with her to the bed. She tossed the sweater that he had wrapped her in earlier onto the bench at the foot of the bed and then she sank contentedly into the mattress. When Andy seemed to hesitate, again, she tossed an irritated look at him. "How old are we?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "So I don't walk around taking for granted that I can sleep in a beautiful woman's bed, sue me." He climbed in, jeans and all, and stretched out beside her. He was right. The minute he was laying flat on the bed the tension that was knotting his back muscles began to release. He sighed. It felt too good and already his eyes were heavy again. Yeah, he was glad that he hadn't bothered to try and drive home. The pounding headache behind his eyes was glad for that too. Andy curled an arm behind his head and let them drift closed again when she turned out the light. What he wouldn't let himself do was think about the fact that he was laying in bed beside a woman he had been fantasizing about getting into bed for a couple of years now. It helped that he was too damned tired to really give it more than a passing thought.

Andy was just beginning to drift off again when he felt the bed shift beside him. He jerked awake and looked down when she curled up beside him, her head once again resting against his shoulder. He wanted to smirk. Instead he just arched a brow at her. "How old are we?" He parroted back at her instead.

"I'm still cold," she muttered, but a smile was curling her lips upward. Sharon wrapped an arm around his waist and burrowed under his arm. When he wrapped it around her, she sighed happily. It wasn't entirely a lie, but she had rather liked being held by him, and waking up held by him, and if it was only a precursor of things to come, she saw no reason to not continue to enjoy it while the opportunity presented itself.

"You're a terrible liar." His hand settled against her hip and he tucked her against his side. When her leg curled around his, he smirked. "Rule breaker." Their relationship, if they were going to call it that, was in no way official yet. One of the things they would have to do is report it, and before they could do that, they would have to actually discuss it. Here they were, though, with at least two crucial steps bypassed and neither of them caring.

"Learned it from the best," she mumbled. Sharon knew that was one of the reasons that people found them so unlikely. He liked to push the line, without really crossing it, but he got very close sometimes. His opinion of the rules was well known, even if he did follow them most of the time. It was one of the reasons she had been so reticent in the beginning. Now rather than thinking that they were so opposite, she rather thought they complimented one another. She could be rigid in her adherence to the rules, she knew, but he offset that. He could play it a little too fast and loose sometimes, but in the last few years he seemed to have mellowed a bit. She would never try to change him, and knew that he wouldn't attempt that with her either, but she still liked to think they had managed to influence each other, just a bit, and in all of the right ways.

They fell asleep in only moments, lying just as they were. When Sharon woke up again sunlight was filling the room. They had shifted at some point while they slept. She had rolled to her other side, the side that she typically slept on. He had followed her, it seemed. There was an arm draped around her waist, and a hand resting loosely against her stomach. She could feel the warmth of his chest pressed against her back, and somehow their legs were still tangled. It wasn't a terrible way to wake up, she decided. Sharon looked at the clock on the table beside her bed and smiled. It was nearing mid-morning. They had slept a full six hours since lying down together in her bed. Sharon couldn't remember when she had last managed to sleep that long without interruption.

As carefully as she could, and without wanting to wake him, she reached for the phone that was plugged into the charger on her bedside table. She lifted it toward her and was relieved to see no missed calls, and only a single missed message from Rusty. He had gone out, plans with Buzz, he told her. Research probably, she thought, for whatever story he was working on next. He told her that he hadn't wanted to wake her. She replied back that it was okay, and they would talk later. She told him to have fun, and then Sharon replaced the phone and lay her head back down.

Andy's hand flexed and moved against her stomach. She smiled. She felt the change in his breathing. It was still deep, but he was no longer snoring softly. He was close to waking. She eased onto her back and then her side, this time facing him. Sharon lifted her head and placed it in her hand. She smiled as she watched him. His hand moved to her hip, and them slid slowly up her side before he pulled her closer.

Sharon had to place her hand against his arm to keep from tumbling into him. She chuckled quietly as he rolled onto his back and seemed intent to drag her with him. He grumbled at her, while his nose wrinkled and his brow drew into a frown. He wasn't much of a morning person. She had glimpsed that over the years. Andy was never pleasant to be around until at least his second cup of coffee, and god forbid anyone try to pass off some kind of fancy latte as coffee where he was concerned. Her hand moved to his chest as he settled on his back. Sharon's lips pursed as she watched him, and she wondered just how awake he really was.

He sighed, but didn't open his eyes. His hand had fallen away from her to drape against his own stomach instead. Sharon took that opportunity to study him. The lines around his eyes and mouth were softer. She could see the dark growth of his morning beard, and her fingers itched to reach out and touch his stubble-covered jaw. She bit her lip as she lifted her head out of her hand and settled her arm against the pillow, just over his shoulder. She balanced her weight on it and leaned over him. Her finger drew a line down the bridge of his nose.

She watched his lips twitch and his eyes flutter. Sharon smiled again. He was awake. His hand slid beneath her body so that his arm could wrap around her. She felt his fingers dance along her spine as it moved up her back. The stubble of new beard growth tickled her fingers when she did touch it. Her fingers moved along his jaw in the faintest caress as she leaned even closer. She didn't know what spurred her forward, but suddenly, as his bottom lip jutted out, she wanted to kiss him. It wasn't the first time that she felt that particular desire. This was only the first time that she allowed herself to act on it.

Her lips hovered over his. She felt his breathing change. His hand moved between her shoulder blades and rested there. She lingered there for just a moment; their breaths mingled as they poised to cross a line that they had only just started to acknowledge existed. When she felt his lips curve into a smile, she lowered her mouth to his in a soft, and almost chaste kiss.

His fingers ghosted across her cheek. He caught her hair as it fell forward against his face and pushed it back. His fingers threaded into the thick curtain of it and cupped the back of her head. His thumb stroked the line of her jaw, from the tip of her chin to the soft spot just beneath her ear. She hummed against his mouth, and he grinned as she lifted her head again. His eyes opened. Sleep rumpled with the mid-morning light shining in her hair she had never looked lovelier. His thumb caressed her bottom lip. His other hand moved to the small of her back and he pulled her toward him again. Her bottom lip was red, and he knew it was having been worried by her teeth. When their lips met again his tongue swept across it, and he couldn't name how many times he thought of doing that. It was every time she pulled it between her teeth or rubbed her lips together in thought.

He had wanted to kiss her any number of times, and there had been moments when the need was so great that he had to turn away from her to stop from making a fool of himself. Andy had not imagined that when the moment finally arrived it would be so casual, or so languid. He hadn't expected her lying beside him, lips curving into a smile while he explored her mouth with a lazy abandon.

Andy rolled her onto her side and moved with her. He lay facing her, eyes hooded and dark as he placed soft kisses along the line of her jaw, her cheek, and the tip of her nose. She laughed at him, a soft almost musical sound, but he simply pushed her hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear. His fingers traced the line of her neck, and along the curve of her shoulder. His eyes followed the trail until he reached her hand. As his fingers curled around hers, he lifted his gaze to her face again.

"Hi." The deep rumble of his voice broke the silence in the room.

"Hi." She smiled again. They were laying only inches apart. There was hardly any space between them at all. He let go of her fingers and lifted his hand to her face again. Her eyes closed as his fingers traced the curve of her cheek. He traced the bridge of her nose, and she wrinkled it in response. When his thumb touched her lips again, she pursed them against it. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him. He was watching her intently, and never had the emotion in his eyes been more intense. He was hardly touching her at all but her breath caught at the current that it sent through her. His hand moved to her neck and she hummed as his fingers swept her hair over her shoulder.

Her hand moved to his waist. She pushed her fingers beneath the edge of his t-shirt. Over the waistband of his jeans his skin was hot. Her fingers tips tingled as she touched him. Sharon felt his breath quicken. She tipped her face closer to his and let her lips tease his toward a languid kiss. As the heat of it rose she curled her fingers into one of his belt loops and pulled herself nearer to him, until she could press herself along the length of his body. She moaned thickly when his hand gripped the back of her head and he tilted the angle, only to deepen the kiss.

His mouth slanted over hers as he pressed her backward. Andy settled a hand against her waist as he pushed her onto her back. The other he braced against the bed. He settled his weight on it and rose over her. Her body lifted toward him, chasing his warmth and the feel of him as she sought to stay pressed against him. Her hands slipped beneath his t-shirt and moved slowly up his back. He groaned, and the sound rumbled right through her. She curled a leg around his thigh and tugged his body against her. She wanted the feel of him against the heat that was slowly building between them.

There was no great rush of desire, no intense and mindless moment of lust. She wanted him, and whether or not she would have him in that moment was still unknown, but she reveled in the slow kisses and the first touch of his hand sliding up her ribcage. She drew a breath when his thumb skirted the underside of her breast in a teasing caress.

They had moved beyond conversation and all the careful consideration that she thought they might need. It was a moment that was completely unplanned and equally as unhurried. They were lost in emotion and chasing a rising sense of want.

Between heated kisses, he told her good morning. While her hands explored the planes of his back, she asked what he wanted for breakfast. They laughed at the ridiculousness of it. They marveled at the comfort that they found in it. Was this what they had been holding back from? Why had they hesitated? There was heat and desire surely, she could feel him hardening against the inside of her thigh. There was an ache at her center, and it only intensified as his fingers moved beneath her tank top to tease the soft skin above her naval.

Every time her teeth scraped across her bottom lip he would draw it into his mouth. His tongue would caress the abused flesh. When her nails scraped across the back of his neck while she toyed with his hair, a low growl rumbled in his throat. She found that she rather liked the sound, and did it again. When he captured her hands and drew them over her head she arched her body against his and triumphed at the flash of desire she saw in his darkening gaze.

They spent the morning learning. Her sides, he discovered, and the backs of her knees, were ticklish. Her laughter rang off the walls of the room, and she was left breathless as he exploited that little fact. He learned in an instant, when she pinched his arm, that she didn't like being called baby. The corners of her eyes crinkled when he called her sweetheart. He discovered quickly that her neck was especially sensitive and that her usual brand of hums would devolve into soft mewls if he paid enough attention to it. It was a sound that he liked, and so he had.

They already knew each other's hobbies and habits. They knew each other's friends and families. He knew how she liked her tea, and she could recall his favorite meal without a moment's hesitation. Those were things they'd learned in the year or more that they spent not dating. When she had called them very good friends, she had meant it. They had talked about any number of things in the past, details and facts, and all the things that they needed to know to lay the groundwork for the moment they found themselves in now.

She knew that he had been shot as a young detective. She found the scar with the removal of his shirt, along with a few others that she expected to see. She kissed every one of them. Andy found the scar, faded and barely visible, from the cesarean that was necessary when Ricky was delivered. He found another that stretched across her side, an injury from a car accident more than a decade before.

They talked and they laughed, and his jeans and her sweats joined their shirts on the floor. Without thought of the consequences or hesitation at the unknown, they spent the remainder of the morning making love.

Andy didn't finally get his coffee until much later. For once, he didn't mind greeting the day without it. They were seated at the table when Rusty came home. They hadn't been up long, but they were showered and dressed, and both nursing cups of coffee when the door opened. They were discussing what to do with the rest of their day, as if it was how they spent all of their days off. When Sharon thought about it, with the exception of having spent the morning in bed together, it wasn't that dissimilar from how they typically spent their days off. She had never considered before just how much time they spent together outside of work.

Sharon's head tilted as Rusty came further into the apartment. Her smile softened. "Hello you. Did you have a good day?"

"It was okay." Rusty looked between the two of them. His eyes narrowed as he studied them. He placed his bag on the sofa as he passed it and walked into the kitchen. "Um… did you sleep?" God he hoped the answer to that question was yes. It was weird to him that the Lieutenant was still there. Rusty glanced back at them as he pulled the refrigerator open.

"I did." Sharon lifted her cup and hid a smile behind the guise of taking a drink. "I suppose I should thank you for that." From the corner of her eye she saw Andy quickly duck his head. He hid a snort behind a cough. She kicked him beneath the table and shot a warning glare at him.

"Please don't." Rusty didn't want to think about it. Whatever was going on with them, or why the Lieutenant was still there, or how he had gotten her calmed down. He was just happy that he had. The rest he was good not knowing about. Rusty got himself a bottle of water and walked over to lean against the bar. "Just… if there was something wrong, you would tell me right?" Rusty turned the bottle in his hands. "Sharon, is this about that guy that was following me around campus? Because if it is, I haven't seen him again, and I could have just been wrong about it."

"No," she lied, but only partially. "It has nothing to do with that, Rusty. There isn't anything wrong. It has just been a very difficult few months on the cusp of a few very difficult cases." That was almost true, but she saw no reason to ever tell him about the protection detail now that it was gone. Sharon smiled fondly at him. "It happens, Rusty. I'm sorry that I worried you."

He squinted at her. Rusty was trying to gauge the truth, and when she only continued to smile at him, he nodded. If there was more to it, she wasn't going to tell him, and he wondered if it had to do with Flynn. Relationships were weird, he decided. Rusty was going to leave it at that, but he would keep an eye out for any more sleepless nights. It was the only way that he would really ever know if things were better now. "It's okay," he said finally. "I'm just glad that you were able to sleep, and I'm sorry…" He looked at the Lieutenant. "That I freaked you out when I called last night."

"Don't be sorry about that." Andy placed his coffee cup on the table. "If you need to call me, then you call me. It doesn't matter what time it is, and you were pretty freaked out yourself, so it's okay."

"Yeah." Rusty took his water and walked around the bar. "Thanks." He walked over and picked up his bag again. "So, I'm going to go and work in my room. You two can… just never tell me."

Sharon rolled her eyes at him. "From the boy who insisted more than six months ago that we were dating. Now he doesn't want to know," she mused.

"I see that." Andy shrugged. "I don't know if I should be flattered or worried about what he thinks is going on here."

She hummed quietly. "Indeed." That was a conversation that she would have with Rusty alone. In the meantime, beneath the shield of the table, she placed her hand atop his thigh. Sharon turned her attention back to Rusty and caught him making a face at them. She chose to ignore it. "We were talking about going to a movie. Would you like to join us?"

"God no." Rusty backed away from them. He held up his hands, as if to ward them off. "I'm good, I promise. I have things to do. But you go, and you know, have fun." His nose wrinkled as he thought about the kind of fun that they could have at a movie. "Or something like that," he quickly added.

Sharon's lips pursed. "I see." She shook her head at him and fought the urge to laugh. "Okay then, would you like for me to stop and pick up dinner on my way home?"

"I'll order a pizza." Rusty was trying very hard to retreat down the hall, so why was she still talking? He cast a wary look at the two of them. "You can, like, take your time or whatever. I'll be fine."

Andy rolled his eyes heavenward. He sighed heavily. He couldn't help himself. The words came unbidden. "Don't mind if I do."

Sharon's eyes widened. She turned toward him. Her cheeks began to flush and she knew that Rusty was making good his escape. She pinched his side. "Andy."

"I know." He leaned over and kissed her downturned mouth. "Rule breaker," he reminded her.

She huffed as she pushed him away. "You are terrible." Her eyes were sparkling, however, and belied the annoyance that she was trying to convey.

"Yeah." He took her hand and kissed the palm before he stood up. He took both of their coffee cups and carried them into the kitchen. He rinsed them out before placing them in the sink. When he was done he walked over and leaned his hip against the side of the bar. "So, a movie, or do you want to stay and talk to the kid?"

Sharon looked toward the hall as she thought about it. Her lips pursed in consideration. "No," she said softly. She shook her head and smiled at him. "I think it's best if I leave him alone for now. I'll talk to him later. He had a rough night too."

Andy nodded quietly. He wouldn't tell her just how bad the kid sounded when he called. It would make her feel worse. He decided it was better to just leave it alone. It was enough that she knew that Rusty was bothered enough to call. Andy pushed away from the bar and walked toward her. He braced a hand against the table and the other on the back of her chair. He leaned over dropped a soft kiss to her lips.

She hummed against his mouth. Her hand came up to cup his chin. When he drew away, she smiled brightly at him. "We can drive out to Santa Monica," she suggested. "Have lunch at that little place on the beach." It had the best lobster ravioli.

"We can do that." He kissed the tip of her nose. "But you'll freckle if we sit outside." She would want to sit outside on a day as bright and pretty as this, without the dark cloud of death casting shadows over them.

Her hand settled against his shoulder and slid down his arm. "We'll find a spot in the shade." He would grumble about how bright it was if they didn't. She knew his habits as well as she knew her own. Her eyes lit and shined brightly with emotion. She was only spending another rare day off with her best friend. It wasn't all that out of the ordinary at all. If he kissed her while they strolled along the boardwalk, our put his arm around her as they watched the movie later, she was looking forward to that too.

Andy took a step back and held out a hand. "Ready?"

Sharon's eyes moved from his hand to his face and she considered all of the implications of such a simple question. She didn't know if she would be okay once night was upon them again, and she wouldn't know until she lay down to sleep. For now she felt better about everything, but it was a process. Her worries would not completely recede overnight. It was a new day, however, and would be followed by others, and she would not be greeting them entirely alone. Their situation was still complicated. They would need to move forward carefully, but it no longer seemed at all as intimidating as she thought it would be. People would know about them, and they would talk about them, but with him smiling at her the way that he was in that moment, she knew that she just wouldn't care. Sharon had no way of predicting what would happen next, but she was more than willing to find out.

"Yes," she told him, and placed her hand in his. "I'm ready."

~FIN