December 30th 2013

Sharon Raydor stood on her feet as Assistant Chief Taylor explained to her the situation.

"But Chief..." she started protesting. "Is it really necessary? The team just closed the car bomb case and with Rusty failing his field test..."

"This is not negotiable, Captain" Taylor interrupted her waving his hands with his usual arrogance.

"But Major Crimes division was supposed to have the next two days off, since we've worked on Christmas" In her voice there was a hint of annoyance. Her team had barely had any free time and they were all exhausted.

"I'm well aware of that, Captain, but things have changed. I need you at the gala party. Both the City Mayor and the Governor of California will be attending. With these new threats against the Governor, the Chief of Police and I have agreed that everyone must attend the party so we can have extra surveillance"

She frowned hands on her hips "So what you're really saying is that we are guests, but in reality we will be working without getting paid"

Chief Taylor shot her a glare. He could definitely see that Provenza and Flynn were having a bad influence on the always diplomatic Captain. "This is an order Captain, so make it happen!" he ordered before leaving the office.

Sharon watched her boss leave and with a sigh she dropped heavily on her chair. These holidays weren't going exactly as planned. Case after case her Christmas festivities had been interrupted and with Rusty being nervous and grumpy about this police operation and complaining she didn't feel the Christmas spirit. She had been disappointed that her kids didn't to come to visit and the only time she had heard from them was during a quick phone call on Christmas day. And now, on top of that, New Year's Eve was going to be ruined.

She looked up and from the window giving to the murder room she saw her team laughing and joking while waiting for the day to finish. With all the paperwork done, there was nothing much to do. She knew that they probably already had plans with family and friends and now she was about to ruin them. She slowly got up and walked out of the office giving herself the courage to shatter the carefree atmosphere.

"Captain!" Provenza shouted from where he was leaning in his chair. He had his hands entwined behind his head and a big smile on his face. "Are we ready to finally call it a day and leave this place for the next two days? No offence" he swung his chair to look at everybody else in the room. "but I'm pretty sick of seeing your faces every day."

"Yeah, we love you too" Flynn glared at him playfully.

"You know you'll miss us, Lieutenant" Amy grinned no longer afraid of the older man's rough attitude, he only used it to cover his teddy bear side.

"Yeah, that's why he won't retire. He doesn't know what to do without us" Sanchez joined the teasing.

"Hey, hey... what is it now? Pick on Provenza day!"

They all laughed.

"I'm afraid I've got bad news" Sharon felt bad about interrupted them and their laughter suddenly died.

"Don't tell me we have another case" Flynn grunted. "There are another divisions in the department"

"It's not a case" she sighed. "We have to attend the gala tomorrow evening. It's mandatory, the Chief insisted."

"Wait? What?"

"But we've already had plans, captain" Amy Sykes said. "My family is here and..."

"I know detective, I know..." she rubbed her forehead, a headache was coming. "Both the Mayor and the Governor will be attending the party and there've been some threats. The Chief of Police thinks that having more police officers attending the gala will increase security."

"So we're going there as guests, but we'll be actually working." Tao shook his head.

"Yeah" Sharon confirmed. "And I'm afraid you can't bring any plus ones so, Lt. Tao if your wife and son don't mind having Rusty for the night..."

"It's fine, Captain. Kevin is having some friends over, some sort of pyjama party, I'm sure Rusty will fit in just fine."

"Thank you" she smiled gratefully. "Taylor approved for extra agents monitoring your house during his stay if you're worried about security"

"It's really no problem, Captain."

"And Buzz, you don't have to attend, being a civilian, but you're welcomed to join us if you don't have any plans"

"Thank you Captain, but my sister is taking me to a party with her friends..." the young technician answered.

She nodded. "I know this isn't what we've planned and I'm as disappointed and angry as you are, but it's out of my hands"

"We understand, madam." Sanchez said letting her know they didn't blame her. They all stood in silence, the mood changed in the room

"Hey, what's with the long faces?" Provenza exclaimed. "We've still got the rest of the tomorrow and the1st January off, right captain?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we've just have to be there at the party"

"Okay, so if everything goes smoothly we'll just go there for a few hours, eat free food, drink," Sharon glared at him. "Okay, no drinks since you'll be on duty" he grunted rolling his eyes at his always-follow-the-rules Captain. "and when the party ends we can go away and continue our vacation. I might even find a cute girl to kiss at midnight" he smirked and everyone rolled their eyes at him.

"I say we've finished here for today. The party tomorrow starts at 8 o'clock and dinner will be served at 9. Taylor assured me we will be all at the same table. Also, no uniform. We need to mingle with the crowd and it's black attire so it's tuxedo for men..." she heard the men in the room groan in complain "and cocktail dress for women" she looked at Amy who nodded. "So, I'll see you tomorrow night" she turned around and entered her office to gather her things. She put the files on her desk away and sent a quick text to Rusty telling him she was on her way. The young boy wasn't going to be happy about the change of plans. He got really scared earlier today when he thought he was in trouble and detective Sykes reprimanded him for not following the rules. It had taken her nearly an hour to calm him down and she was still shaken by the all situation. She knew it had been necessary so the teenager would finally realized how serious the situation was, but she was a mother and her only goal was to protect him.

She turned the lights off and exit the office.

"Lt. Flynn" she exclaimed seeing him still sitting at his desk. He was the only one there. "I thought I said you could all leave"

He turned around. "Yeah... I'm just..." he looked sad.

"Something wrong?" she walked towards his desk and leaned against it, her coat and bag in her hands in front of her. "Trying to figure out how to let your date down?" she joked, but she really hoped that wasn't the case. She didn't know why, but she didn't like the idea of him seeing other people.

"What?" he frowned. "Oh," he shook his head once her words registered in his brain. "No, of course not." He took a deep breath "I'm trying to come with way to tell Nicole I won't make it tomorrow night. I was supposed to go to her party at her house"

"I'm sure she will understand. You've still got the 1st free, maybe you can invite her for lunch or something." she suggested. She understood how important it was for him to keep making things right with his children. After the mess with their misunderstood relationship, he was trying to make amends again.

"Hey, that's actually a great idea." His eyes lit up "I can invite her and her family and my son Matt out for dinner. It will be easier without having my ex-wife around"

She smiled. "See. There's always a solution." she patted his arm. "I'm sure that if you explain Nicole how things are, and no free interpretation," she eyed him grinning, still teasing him for the all friend/girlfriend ordeal "she won't be angry and she'll understand it's just work and it's out of your hands. That, if you could, you would have loved spending new year's eve with her." she paused. "And if you still have trouble, I could call her too and explain the situation" she promised him.

"That's why I need you. You're great at all this family stuff. I'm..." he sighed "I never know the right thing to say."

She grinned. "Which is actually ironic since you're great dealing with victims' family and comforting children" Her mind tried to ignore him saying 'I need you', things would get too complicated if she acknowledged how it made her feeling hearing those words from him. The slight blush on her cheeks, the butterflies in her stomach, the happy feeling surrounding her. Yeah, it's something that she shouldn't be feeling for her lieutenant.

"But when it's about my kids and my family I just freeze. I stop thinking and make a mess of everything"

"It will get better, Andy." she reassured him. She stood back up "Well, I should be going. I told Rusty I was on my way there"

"I'll walk with you" Andy got up and put his jacket on. He turned off the lamp on his desk and walked with her to the lifts.

"So, they've finally managed to drag us to one of those stupid, monkey suit galas" he said while they waited for the lift.

"I've been a couple of times when I was in IA. Never liked them. Everyone is so false. Smiling at you while they talk bad behind your back"

"I used to attend the annual police party in December when I drank. Free booze, what's not to love?" the lift arrive and they got in. "But once I got sober, I realized how boring they really were. I spent the last New year's eve watching Provenza getting drunk and make a fool out of himself. Definitely more entertaining"

Sharon laughed. "You two are going to behave tomorrow, right? We don't need the headlines to say: two police officers kicked out of Governor's party"

"Oh, I'm sure Taylor would love it" he joined her laugher.

They arrived at the car park and Andy followed her to her car. "Well..." she said once they got there. She was looked around embarrassed not sure what to do.

"Hey, how about I'll come and pick you up tomorrow?" he said nervously. "We're all car-pooling. Sanchez is picking up Amy while Provenza and Tao are going with one car"

"Thank you, Andy. I wasn't really looking forward driving with stilettos and a cocktail dress. You're sure it's not a problem?"

"No problem at all" he smiled. "I'll come by at half seven?"

"That's perfect. See you tomorrow"

"Bye" he waved at her.

Sharon watched him from the rear view mirror of her car as she drove off. She wasn't sure how but it felt like she had just got invited on a date by Flynn… again.

A/N I'll try to update this fic regularly and soon I'll update my other Sharon/Flynn in progress fic. Thanks for reading and all your wonderful reviews on my previous fics, I really appreciate them! :D