A/N: I saw a post while scrolling on Facebook, and I decided to make it a little prompt for myself. One shot time :)
"A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other... Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever."
Dave Matthews
ASASASASASASASAS
Weightless. She felt weightless, like the first time she had jumped off of her backyard swing; the feeling of pure bliss before she hit the ground.
Only now she was an adult, and she was weightless in different ways, feeling bliss in different, strange, unexplainable ways. And there was one thing she wanted: To never hit the ground again. Scratch that... She wanted two things: To never hit the ground again, and to have Andy catch her before she could.
Those two things she knew she could never have for a variety of reasons. Those two things she now craved, yet never expected to find herself feeling.
How did they even get here? She wasn't quite sure. Somehow, they had gone from despising each other to becoming... friends? She honestly hadn't noticed that change at first either, but atleast her son didn't need to explain friendship to her. The relationship- well that was a different story.
They weren't dating. Sharon told herself that often, almost as if it were a lie she was trying to convince herself was true. In all fairness, she was never one for the dating scene, and neither was Andy. She preferred the solitude of her condo and he preferred the blondes, so the idea of a 'date' put them both out of their element.
She speculated that Andy knew what he was doing all along, trying to win her over with good old-fashioned chivalry. And it had worked. She wasn't sure when, wasn't sure how, but subconsciously, where she locked away all the information to process later, she had known exactly what was happening.
Yet somehow, having it all laid out in front of her in black and white caused her to hesitate. And hesitating wasn't something Sharon Raydor did. She didn't think twice when it came to threats from cartels or assassins, but the most harmless, charming man she knew, that gave her a reason to double-take.
It didn't make sense. Out of every woman he could have fallen for, he fell for her, and hard. She wasn't his type and she knew it, but he was persistent. Patiently, subtly, and charmingly persistent. At first she hadn't thought anything of it, in all honesty she had appreciated him from the beginning. The first time he had placed his hand on the small of her back she was surprised, but now she understood. He was protecting her from the beginning, and she was too focused on the rules, the divide of right and wrong, to even notice.
She wouldn't admit it, but she was falling for him (that is, if she hadn't fallen already.) And that scared her. Daily chastising had become a part of her routine nowadays, internally yelling at herself to pretend it didn't matter and to pull herself together before he noticed.
But it did matter, and he did notice. He noticed the way she had become withdrawn, the way he was no longer 'Andy', but 'Lieutenant.' Their 'non-dates' -as Rusty insisted on calling them- were now few and far between. Even their weekly dinners were now monthly dinners, and that's if he was lucky.
It hurt him in ways he couldn't put into words. He was weightless for a split second before finding himself crashing to the ground in a grand display of misplaced affection. He had fallen for her and it was the wrong time. He saw that now, that she didn't want him. He went to AA more often, and started seeing his shrink again. Gravity had pulled him back down to earth, yet there she was, floating past him- floating through him almost- that aura of weightlessness still surrounding her.
He loved her. Only after having his heart broken did he realize he loved her, truly loved her, and that that false placement of emotion was what had brought him here in the first place.
How could she do this to him? Andy had wanted to know, still wanted to know, but couldn't phrase the words without sounding like a jackass. So he stayed silent, something Andrew Flynn rarely did.
That's how she knew he was upset, his silence. What on Earth could she say to ease his pain? 'I want you but the rules say we can't?' 'I'm sorry if you feel that I lead you on, I didn't mean to?' They were all hollow excuses, but that's all she could offer him.
And she hated herself for it. He was the only one that had supported her, both personally and professionally. He defended her against Chief Taylor, and had listened to her numerous rants about Jack. What had he gotten in return for it? Anger, apparently. What had she gotten in return for it? Nothing but fear and heartbreak.
He wouldn't wait for her anymore, hadn't for quite some time. He wouldn't even bother to say goodbye, wouldn't even bother to bring her her customary mug of herbal tea.
She sighs and slides her laptop into her large purse before closing up her office and heading for the elevators.
ASASASASASASASAS
As soon as she stepped off of the elevator she saw him, leaned against the drivers side of her car, the light from his phone illuminating his face.
"Lieutenant." She nods, stepping slowly towards him, "I thought I sent you home earlier."
"You did." He doesn't look up from his phone, each of them trying to decide what to say.
"Can I help you with something?" She asks, a hint of frustration in her voice, "I have a son I need to get home to and you're in my way."
That was it, the last straw for Andy Flynn, "Well you're in my way." He grumbles, pushing rudely into her as he storms to his car. Sharon turns and watches him go, he was the one that pushed her away, why was he being so hotheaded?
"Lieutenant!" She exclaims, her voice echoing through the empty garage, "What are you doing?"
He stops in his tracks but doesn't turn to face her, "What am I doing? What are you doing?!" He questions bitterly, "What are you doing?"
"I'm sorry... I don't... What?" She steps towards him, her heels clicking on the cement floor, "What is going on with you? Do you need to see a psychiatrist? I'm sure Dr. Joe would be happy to talk with you."
How could she act so friendly? That infuriated him more than anything else. She had made him this way, and now she was trying to 'help' him.
"I already have a shrink, and I sure as hell don't need your help." He starts walking again, reaching for his keys and unlocking his car, "It's your fault anyway." He mumbles under his breath.
"Andy!" Hearing his name roll so easily off of her tongue was enough to make him stop again.
"What." He pulls out his phone and starts doing something again, his back still to her, "Are you going to say something?"
"Why are you doing this to me?" She asks and he can hear the hurt in her voice, but he doesn't care. He was hurting just as badly.
"What about what you did to me?!" He exclaims, only this time out of surprise, not anger, "You pushed me away!"
"So did you!" She argues, stepping towards him quickly, "You let me believe you wanted me, and as soon as the going got tough you stopped trying!"
"You stopped trying too!" They could go on like this all night, each blaming the other, both knowing they're at fault, "You got scared and you shut me out. How the hell do you think that made me feel?!"
"I'm sorry!" She stomps towards him, going around to face him, "I didn't mean to!"
"That's not good enough." They were all hollow excuses, but that's all she has to offer him.
"Look at me." She commands, but he doesn't, too preoccupied with his phone, "Andy, look at me."
He won't. Maybe it's because he's afraid of what she'll see in his eyes, or maybe it's because he's afraid of what he'll see in hers. She reaches up and takes the phone from his hand before dropping it into her purse.
"Now," she emphasizes, "stop avoiding me."
"Don't you have a son to get home to?" He chuckles cynically, "I thought you didn't have time for this."
"Rusty is fine. You're not, and I don't understand what's going on here."
"You broke me." He throws his hands up in the air, still refusing to look at her, "I was prepared to give you my heart, I even started to, and you shut me out."
"It's against the rules, we can't, no matter how much we want to."
"Sometimes I think you wrote those rules to save your own ass." He spits, "You let me believe we had a chance."
"I..." She reaches out to squeeze his arm but thinks better of it, "I was ready to throw away my career for a relationship with you." She admits, and is surprised when his eyes lock with hers.
"What the hell are you doing?" He asks lowly, "You don't want to break the rules but you'll lose your job over this? This job is the best thing that's ever happened to you."
She hums, stepping closer to him and leaning up to kiss his cheek, "No it's not, and I'm willing to let it fall through. Goodnight Andy."
"Sharon, you can't..." He grabs her wrist as she walks past him, gently pulling her towards him, "You won't let yourself do that, especially not for me."
"I will." She answers strongly, "I'm willing to do this, but I need to know-"
"I love you." He cuts her off, "When I realized you didn't want me, I knew I loved you. It didn't matter how shitty I felt, seeing you made me feel a little better. I just," he sighs and runs a hand through his hair, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply, "I wanted someone I couldn't-"
Her lips ghosting his derail his train of thought. It's so gentle he thinks maybe he just imagined it. But then he feels her breath warm against his nose and he can tell her face is mere inches away from his. This is what he wanted, had wanted for quite some time, and now that he found himself here, he didn't know whether to kiss her or just walk away, teach her how he felt.
"Andy." He can feel his name on his lips as she says it, his eyes are still closed and he sighs again, unsure of what to do.
"Sharon, what the hell is wrong with you?" He chuckles and reaches blindly, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her even closer.
"You." She whispers before capturing his lips strongly, humming into his mouth as he depend the kiss, their tongues fighting fiercely, "You."
ASASASASASASASAS
"A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other... Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever."
Dave Matthews