Pushing Boundaries

by Kate04

A/N: This one addresses an aspect of Sharon and Andy's relationship that has bothered me for a very long time. It always seemed very much on Sharon's terms. We never really saw a truly equal relationship (except for those few scenes during the season that never happened, but since that season never happened, neither did those scenes, which is a shame, because they were the only good thing to come out of that atrocity, and yes, I'm still bitter about that). I wanted to give Andy a chance to get his say, to push back a little bit, and give them a chance to discuss their boundaries like the adults they are.

A big hug and thank you to NarcissaNerea for her awesome beta work. All remaining mistakes can be considered homeless and are up for adoption.

This one is for Kadi219, because doormat!Andy is one of her pet peeves.

Disclaimer: Not my sandbox, not my toys, and what a shame that is!

"Boundaries are good, but without a gate, all that you have are fences."

― Anthony T. Hincks

The elevator deposited them on the eleventh floor of Sharon's building, and they slowly made their way to her door. Her hand rested in the crook of Andy's arm, and she leaned into him just enough to feel his warmth through the layers of their clothes.

They'd had a lovely evening watching a screening of Goldfinger at Hollywood Forever, and Sharon felt pleasantly full and utterly relaxed from the lavish picnic he had packed and the bottle of Chardonnay she had almost emptied over the course of the evening.

The last time she had been at the famous cemetery to watch a movie hadn't been that long ago, and she still recalled how uncomfortable it had been. Instead of pleasant conversations and easy silences it had been fraught with tension and emotional landmines that she had tried her best to navigate around in deference to the children that had been with them.

With Andy she never had to worry about having a glass or two of wine. He was secure enough in his sobriety not to be fazed by people drinking around him. That last time, with Jack, she'd had sickeningly sweet iced tea instead of her favorite, dry white wine, and still she had caught her husband's surreptitious glances at the people around them with their wines and beers. With Andy she'd had a comfortable shoulder to rest her head on when her eyes had grown heavy, and his arm had felt good as it gently held her. She hadn't had to scoot aside discretely to avoid unwanted touch, nor had she felt the need to cringe like she had when Jack had brought up a happier past that had been long since gone, made redundant by years and years of neglect.

Sharon had not spent a great deal of the evening thinking about the past, but the distant and not so distant memories were a part of her, and maybe they ensured that she appreciated Andy's company even more. Despite their similar pasts, Andy and Jack couldn't be more different if they tried, and she was sure that what she had gone through with her husband had sensitized her to all the ways in which Andy had changed, tried to be better, made amends with the people he had hurt. He was the kind of man she had always wished Jack had been, the kind of father she still hoped he would some day be for Ricky and Emily.

Maybe all of those mostly subconscious feelings and ruminations had led up to that moment. Maybe she should have seen it coming, been more aware of her own emotions. If she had been, she could have stopped herself from upending the delicate balance of their relationship with one incredibly reckless action. Those thoughts didn't enter her mind until much later, though. When she felt his lips move against hers, when she swallowed his surprised grunt at her unexpected move as they stumbled into her condo, she didn't think at all.

Her hands held onto the back of his head, fingers threading through the short hair she found there. She felt his arms come around her once he caught up with her, gently, almost hesitantly pulling her closer as he returned her heated kiss. His lips were soft, yielding to her explorations, allowing her tongue entrance when she demanded it. Andy let her lead, but he was far from passive, eagerly responding to her passionate touch.

He felt strong and solid against her body, his warmth and the enticing scent of his cologne surrounding her. His hands ran trails of fire up and down her back, and the feeling of his tongue caressing hers sent a shiver down her spine. Her head was spinning, and she clung to him as if her life depended on it. Desire pooled deep in her belly, sending heat along her veins until she thought she might burst into flames.

Sharon moaned when he gently pressed her up against the foyer wall, when his lips began to trail along her jaw and down her throat and his hands slowly moved over her ribs, thumbs brushing against the sides of her breasts. At the back of her mind she registered the sound of her front door closing, but she didn't give it any thought. Instead, she pulled his head down, encouraging him in his journey along her collar bone towards her heaving chest.

It was the feeling of his strong thigh pressing against her center, the sharp spark of desire it provoked, the sound of her own desperate moan, that pulled her out of the haze of lust long enough for a tiny spark of common sense to flare up. When she realized what they were doing, she pushed back against him, and it took him a painfully long couple of seconds to catch on to the sudden change of her mood.

He stepped back reluctantly, staring at her with confusion written all over his face. His hair was disheveled where she had run her hands through it, his eyes were dark with desire, there were smudges of her lipstick at the corner of his mouth, and he was breathing hard. Sharon wondered idly if she looked just as frazzled, just as ready to come apart with lust as he did. She certainly felt like it. But that was out of the question. They were friends. He worked for her. She was married. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Oh God, Andy. I'm so sorry."

She closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath, trying to keep the panic she felt rising inside her out of her voice. When she looked at him again, there was a deep frown on his face, his body visibly tense. The realization that he probably suspected what was coming only made her feel worse.

"I shouldn't have done this. I'm married. We can't do this. I'm sorry."

In hindsight, she had to admit that it was naïve of her to expect him to simply accept her words and allow them to go back to being just friends. Maybe she was too used to being his commanding officer, to having him follow her directions. She had always felt completely sure that she was in control of what was happening between them. That was most certainly not the case in that moment, when his eyes narrowed and he threw up his hands in frustration.

"That's just great. So now you're suddenly married again?"

She was taken aback by the anger behind his words, and his loud voice rang unpleasantly in her ears. She didn't want to fight with him. Raising a hand to lay it on his arm in order to calm him down, she flinched when he took another step back, effectively avoiding her touch.

"Andy, please," she begged him to be reasonable. He wasn't inclined to accommodate her, though.

"Please what? Please stop having feelings? What is it you want from me, Sharon?"

That was the question, wasn't it? Before she was able to come up with an answer, Andy had already gone on.

"And don't you dare look at me as if you don't know what I'm talking about," he snarled. "It's okay for us to go out and for you to flirt with me all the time. And then you kiss me like that, and all that is just fine, but as soon as I come too close you're suddenly a married woman again. What do you expect me to do here?"

His frustration was understandable, but Sharon didn't appreciate his tone. It made her own temper flare, and, standing tall with her arms crossed in front of her chest, she glared right back at him.

"What I expect you to do is respect the fact that I am married and that there are certain things I will not do because of that. I truly am sorry for what happened just now. It was completely out of line for me to do that, and it will not happen again." She paused for a moment, blowing her rising anger out with a long breath, and continued in a calmer tone. "Can't we just forget about this and go back to the way things were?"

"That's not how this works, Sharon. I'm sick of you playing with me. I'm not a little dog you can pet when you feel like it and send away when he starts to annoy you. Either you're married and we're just friends or not, but you don't get to hide behind that joke of a marriage every time I overstep that line you keep moving around."

She felt her face flush with irritation, her tone of voice deceptively low and calm.

"I'm not playing with you, and the state of my marriage is none of your business. I'll thank you to keep your nose out of it."

A cold shiver went down her spine when she saw the flash of hurt and resentment darken his eyes, but she refused to back down, holding his gaze and raising her chin in defiance.

"Fine, I'll keep my nose out of your business and myself out of your life. Let me know when you've made up your damn mind about what the hell it is you want from me."

With one last sneer, he turned around, ripped open the door, and stalked out into the hallway. "I'll see you at work, Captain." The derisive tone of his parting shot stung as much as the words, leaving Sharon staring after him in open-mouthed shock.

Her first impulse was to follow him, to ask him what the hell gave him the right to speak to her like that. Instead, she slammed the door behind him and angrily slapped her hand against it. Apart from making her palm sting painfully, it did little to dispel her frustrations. It had been years since Andy had last addressed her with anything but the utmost respect. She understood that he was unhappy with the turn their evening together had taken, but the absence of his usual kindness stunned her. As embarrassed as she was by her behavior, she would have preferred to discuss what had happened, but instead he had decided to run off in a huff.

If she were prone to such juvenile behavior, she would give in to the need to beat her fists against the door to vent some more, but any considerations of that kind were interrupted by the sound of bare feet slapping on the hardwood floor. Sharon straightened her shoulders, took a cleansing breath, and turned to face her approaching foster son with an almost convincing smile. His concerned frown told her that her attempts to keep her state of mind from him wasn't particularly successful.

"Hey Sharon. Is everything all right?"

Resisting to flinch at his unsurprisingly direct approach, she bent down to pick up her purse and jacket that had slipped out of her hands when she had gotten carried away with Andy. Setting the purse on the small table underneath the mirror and draping the jacket over the coat rack, she turned back towards him.

"Of course. I'm sorry about that," she said, gesturing towards the door. "I hope I didn't wake you."

When Rusty let the issue of the banging door go with no more than a speculative narrowing of his eyes, she almost sighed in relief. She didn't want to lie to him, but telling him what had actually happened wasn't an option, either, and she was too exhausted and confused to think of a way to navigate around it.

"Did you have a nice evening?"

Rusty's tone suggested that he was fishing for information, and she was glad that, this time, the truth would satisfy his curiosity.

"Yes, I did. We had a very good time."

It was true. They did have a very good time. Until she decided to ruin everything by kissing him. That was something Rusty didn't need to know, however, and she was certain that it fell well within the area of things he didn't want to know about. He still seemed skeptical, but obviously decided that he wouldn't get any more information out of her at that moment, so he padded on to the kitchen, where he got himself a glass of water before he wandered back in her direction again.

"I was just about to start with the second Hobbit movie. If you want we can watch it out here."

They had watched the first movie together a few days earlier, because he had asked so nicely, and she had wanted to spend some time with him. It hadn't even been such a bad movie – at least the part that she remembered. At some point during the three hour epic she had fallen asleep, however, so watching the second part before she had caught up on what she had missed of the first didn't seem to make a lot of sense to her. Besides, there was little hope of her keeping track of the storyline, anyway. Her mind was still too occupied with what had just transpired between Andy and her.

"I'm sorry, honey, but I probably won't be able to stay awake long enough. How about we watch something together tomorrow night?"

Her smile and the gentle brush of her hand against his back seemed to finally put him at ease, and he gave her a cheeky grin.

"You just don't want to admit that you totally lost track of what's going on half way through the first part. But it's okay. We can watch something more suited to your limited attention span tomorrow."

He skillfully dodged the affectionate slap she aimed at his arm and skipped down the hallway towards his room, throwing a cheerful good night over his shoulder.

"Don't stay up too late," she yelled after him, but if he heard her, he didn't acknowledge it. Shaking her head, Sharon made her way into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Her hand automatically went for the bottle of white wine she kept in there, but she decided against it at the last moment. She had quite a lot to think about and wanted a clear head to do it, so she put on a kettle instead and started to prepare a cup of herbal tea.

A little while later, she settled into one of the chairs on her balcony, a soft cardigan wrapped around her and a steaming cup of tea in her hands. Usually, the sight and sounds of the city at night had a calming effect on her, but her mind was still too preoccupied with Andy's words.

Was she toying with him? Her first instinct was to deny his accusation emphatically. The longer she sat there and thought about the development of their personal relationship over the past year and her behavior towards him, especially in recent months, the more she realized that he might have had a point. Of course, she had never intended to lead him on in any way, but maybe she had allowed herself to enjoy the closeness of their friendship a little too much. It was so easy to be with Andy. They had many interests in common, they worked the same crazy hours, and they understood the pressure of the job. He was simply fun to be with. He made her laugh. He listened patiently, sometimes for hours, when something was bothering her. And some days, all it took was one look and he knew where her head was and what to do to make her feel better. He was the perfect friend, and if she was honest, there was a lot of potential for more. Over the last weeks and months she had started to lose sight of the once clear line between friendship and the frightening, yet exciting idea of something beyond that.

Looking back at her interactions with him, she had to admit that she might have flirted with him a little. It wasn't something that she set out to do, and she hadn't even been conscious of it until he had pointed it out to her. It was just that he sometimes smiled at her a certain way or gave her that intense look that made her skin tingle, and she couldn't help but respond. A little harmless flirting wouldn't even be a problem if it weren't for the fact that there were obviously deeper feelings involved. Andy definitely had them; his earlier behavior had made that clear. As for herself, after the kiss they had shared, she had a hard time denying her own feelings, no matter how much she might want to. No matter how hard she had tried to hide from them.

It felt good to be desired like that again, after all those years, and she enjoyed the freedom of indulging in that feeling without fearing that it would go too far. That was the problem, wasn't it? She had thought that they would always stay in that comfortable state where she could enjoy the benefits of a close relationship without having to let him get too close, without compromising her beliefs and, more importantly, without putting her heart at risk. She had used him, and that realization shocked and disgusted her. That kind of behavior was something she was accustomed to from her husband, but she had never believed herself capable of treating anyone that thoughtlessly.

Swallowing hard, Sharon closed her eyes against the tears. Her fingers curled around the warm cup so tightly that her knuckles turned white. It took her a moment to regain control of herself. When she did, she sat up in her chair, determined to make sense of her wayward emotions and to find a way to make things right with Andy.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was a long, exhausting week, and by the time she was working on wrapping up the last of her reports on Friday evening, Sharon was ready to scream. Andy hadn't acted improper in any way. He treated her with the utmost respect and followed her orders without question. There was nothing at all wrong with his behavior. And yet, she hadn't felt this uncomfortable and awkward in her own murder room since she had first taken over the division. It wasn't that they had been overly friendly before their argument, but there had been smiles and light touches, soft looks and shared lunches. She hadn't realized how much she relied upon and enjoyed these small gestures until they were absent. It wasn't in her nature to leave conflicts unresolved, especially with people who were close to her. She missed her friend, and if their case hadn't kept them so busy, she would have found a moment to talk to him already. Instead, she had spent her days being miserable with the tension between them and her nights tossing and turning as she thought about everything he had said to her and everything she needed to say to him.

When she finally packed it in for the week – always assuming that they wouldn't catch another case – Andy had already gone home, and she was too tired to even think about having a serious conversation with him. At least that was what she thought when she headed towards Los Feliz, braving the evening rush hour traffic. She still thought it was a good idea to wait until the next day when she poured herself a glass of wine and curled up on her couch, and a couple of hours later, when she climbed into her bed. It was still early, but a week's worth of restless nights had taken their toll. And yet, sleep refused to find her.

Traffic was much lighter at this time of the night, but Sharon still had forty minutes to think about all the reasons why it was a bad idea to drive over to Andy's place shortly before midnight to have the talk they had been postponing all week. Several times, she had been ready to turn around and drive back home, but each time she reconsidered when she thought about spending another sleepless night berating herself for everything she had done wrong. In the end, she found herself pulling into his driveway, relieved to see the living room window still illuminated.

It was a slightly rumpled looking Andy who opened the door a good minute after she had rung the doorbell. He was clad in comfortable, blue sweatpants and a plain, white t-shirt, and his hair looked as if he had run his hands through it repeatedly the way he tended to do when he was frustrated. When he realized who disturbed him at that time of night, his eyes darkened almost imperceptibly and a deep frown appeared on his face.

He had not expected her to show up. When he heard the doorbell, he thought that it would be Provenza who had forgotten his keys again. It was a surprise to see Sharon standing on his front porch, nervously chewing on her bottom lip, her shoulders visibly tense, and her hands stuffed into the front pockets of the too large Dodgers hoody that she had confiscated from her son the last time he had stayed over. A week earlier, it would have been a pleasant surprise, and he would have welcomed her presence without question. After what had transpired between them, he was not sure what to make of the situation, though.

Andy knew that she had been angry at his outburst the week before, and on the way home from her place he had berated himself for practically yelling at her. He hadn't handled himself the way he should have, but that didn't change the fact that he still thought he had been right to say something. He just wished that he had been a little calmer and a little clearer about his message. It was just that she had dangled something he had been dreaming about for well over a year in front of him, only to take it away again before he'd even had a chance to fully realize what had been happening. It was frustrating, and he hadn't been able to keep that frustration to himself.

Looking at her now, he wondered what she might have to say. Would she rake his ass over the coals for the way he had spoken to her? Would she accuse him of pressuring her into something she didn't want? He half expected her to tell him to pack up his desk and transfer to Traffic, although the logical part of his brain told him that she wouldn't stoop to that level. Or maybe she was going to try and talk him into forgetting about the whole damn thing like she had after their kiss the week before. He was determined not to let her get away with that, no matter how much he missed their friendship. It was necessary for his own mental health to have at least some level of certainty about what they were to one another. He needed her to make a clear decision, and if she wasn't able to do it… He didn't even want to consider that option.

Sharon saw the rapid succession of emotions flitting over his face, before it settled on a mixture of apprehension and resignation as he stepped aside and silently allowed her to walk past him. She paused just inside the foyer and turned to face him, watching as he slowly closed the door.

"Do you want to come inside?" he asked, gesturing towards the living room where she could see the flickering light of the television.

Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and started to recite the words she had rehearsed over and over on the way to his house.

"No, thank you. I won't stay long." She paused for a brief moment, forcing her eyes to meet his.

"Andy, I want to apologize to you. I know that I haven't been fair to you, and I'm truly sorry. Our friendship is very important to me, but you're right." She took another shuddering breath, studying the tips of her shoes, her nails digging into the palms of her hands where they were still hidden in the depth of her pockets.

"I have been hiding behind my marriage, because the prospect of allowing another person into my life again scares me." That was maybe the hardest thing to admit, and she rushed through the words, relieved when they were finally out.

"I have been married my entire adult life, and most of that was not very pleasant. I realize that it's hard for you or anyone to understand why I've been clinging to this for so long. Believe me, you're not the first person to question me on this subject. I hardly understand it myself." With a shrug, she drew her hands out of her pockets and laced her fingers in front of her, her thumbs nervously flicking over her nails.

"For years, it helped me professionally to be married. People don't tend to accuse you of sleeping your way up the ranks if you have a ring on your finger, and more importantly, it makes it easier to discourage offers of that nature." There had been so many occasions over the years, especially in the beginning, when she'd had to wield her ring as a protective shield. That had only changed much later, after she had made a name for herself within the department. Those were times she didn't miss.

"It was also a convenient way of keeping relationships casual, and I think it is fair to say that that is what I was trying to do with our relationship as well. You deserve better than that and I want to do better, but I'm not ready for us to move down that road."

Sharon practically felt his shoulders sag in disappointment, and she wished she could reach out to him, to reassure him that she very much wanted the same thing as he did, but it would not be fair. She would only be playing with those boundaries she had just reestablished, and that was something she had sworn to herself she would no longer do. Raising her eyes once more, carefully assessing how he was taking her words, she launched into the last, maybe the most frightening part of her apology.

"Before this, before you, I've never had a good enough reason to seriously consider divorce, and I'll need some time to wrap my head around that. I know it is a lot to ask considering everything that happened, and I understand if you don't want to put up with this mess. Just, whatever happens, please let's not lose our friendship."

Andy was not the only reason she had been thinking about getting a divorce lately, but that was a completely different issue that had no place in their current conversation. She would discuss her thoughts about possibly adopting Rusty at another time, once she had spent a little more time looking at all angles of that particular idea and what it might entail. Despite those recent thoughts, she had never seriously considered severing her ties with her husband before. So far, she had been resigned to spending the rest of her life married to the man she had promised forever to over thirty years ago. He no longer made her happy, and hadn't done so in more years than she could count, but she had once loved him, and she had vowed, in front of God, to be by his side for the rest of their lives. That was not a promise she would break lightly, and she hoped that Andy would understand that.

He studied her for a long moment, thinking about everything she had said. He had not expected her to be this honest right away, and it threw him a little. Gradually, Andy examined his jumbled feelings, trying to figure out how to respond. There was relief that she wasn't angry, a little bit of disappointment that things would not move forward as he might have dreamed, but most of all he was happy that there seemed to be some hope for them, that she didn't outright dismiss any possibility of them becoming more than friends.

"I don't want to lose our friendship, either, and I'm happy to give you all the time you need. And I want to apologize, too."

When Sharon opened her mouth to protest, he shook his head and went on before she was able to interject.

"I'm not sorry about what I said to you. It was something I needed to say, and I think that you needed to hear it. What I'm sorry about it the way I said it. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

A small, barely noticeable smile accompanied her nod as she accepted his apology, and he was relieved to see that she didn't seem to hold his behavior against him. For the past week, he had worried about what kind of message his outburst might have sent. He hadn't wanted her to think that he was one of those guys who felt entitled to sex just because a woman had flirted with him. He cherished their friendship, and even if he liked the idea of exploring a more intimate relationship with her, he would be absolutely happy with just remaining close friends. What he needed was clarity on where she stood and maybe a little more openness where her personal life and feelings were concerned. She had made first steps towards providing the former, but in order for them to develop a balanced and equal relationship, he knew that she would have to work on the latter.

"There's one thing I'd like you to do, though. Not today, but when you're ready. Talk to me, okay? I know figuring out if and how to end a marriage is hard. I've been there, and I want to understand what you're going though. You know practically everything about me, but you never talk about yourself. I want to help you, but I need you to open up a little more. Can you do that?"

Even long before they had become friends, Sharon had known a great deal about him, about his struggle with addiction, about his marriage and the custody battle that followed his divorce. It had been part of her job to be aware of these things, because they had frequently impacted his work performance in those days. How many fights had he gotten into because Sandra had pissed him off and he had needed a way to vent? More often than not after one of those instances, Sharon or one of her colleagues had sat him down and made him spill his guts. He was convinced that a lot of his personal history was part of that giant file IA had on him.

Once she had taken over Major Crimes, she had learned even more about him. Sharon was the kind of boss who liked to know her team. She wasn't nosy, but she cared. That was one reason why she had invited herself to his daughter's wedding the year before. Ever since that day, they had shared regular lunches or dinners during which they had discussed all the problems he had with his family, his sobriety, his friendships, and occasionally even some of the relationships he had been in since his divorce. Of course, they had also talked about Rusty and her other two kids. She had even mentioned Jack occasionally, but only as far as his role as the father of her children was concerned. The truth was, he knew her pretty well as a colleague and as a mother, but he knew next to nothing about her as a woman. He didn't expect her to share intimate details about her marriage or other relationships she might have had. She was a very private person, and he respected that. However, she was holding a very large and significant part of her personality back from him. Not only was it frustrating to be on such uneven footing, it also made it a lot harder for him to figure out where he stood with her.

Her first impulse was to protest, to tell him that he was silly for claiming that she was holding anything back from him. As she had resolved to make more of an effort to take his feelings into account, she gave herself a moment to reflect on their past interactions. She wanted to believe that she trusted him, that she was open and honest with him, but the truth was that Andy was right. She did hold a substantial part of herself back. It was something she had gotten used to after years and years of being on her own. Who was she supposed to talk to about these things? Certainly not her children, and Jack had gambled away the right to be privy to her more personal thoughts a long time ago. Of course she had friends, but for too many years she had not had the time and energy to cultivate friendships close enough to share these kinds of things. Her job and her children had been her priority, and once they had moved away from home, giving Sharon more free time, having frank conversations about her personal problems didn't even occur to her anymore.

"I do not usually talk about that part of my life – with anyone," she replied, her words slow and deliberate, cautioning him that they were entering uncharted territory. "But I will try to be more open with you. You just have to be patient with me, okay?"

Andy studied her closely, attempting to figure out if she meant that or if she was simply trying to placate him. Her gaze was open, though, meeting his steadily. It was tempting to point out to her how ridiculous it was to ask him of all people to be patient, but he realized that he truly wanted to fight his own nature for her. There were no guarantees. It might not lead to anything, but Andy decided that, even if they ended up being nothing but very good friends, it would only be good, for both of them, if she learned that she could trust him with her more personal thoughts and feelings. If nothing else, it would certainly strengthen their friendship even further.

"I can do that, just as long as I know that we're moving in the same direction and that I'm not making a fool of myself by hoping for something that has no hope of ever happening."

Sharon smiled up at him and let her hand run down his chest, where his tie would have been. For a man who tended to be a little on the cocky side, and who exuded so much self-confidence most of the time, Andy could be incredibly insecure sometimes. She was honored that he felt safe enough with her to let her see that side of him. It gave her even more reason to try and jump over her own shadow, to leave her own insecurities behind and see what the future would bring. As a start, she would make sure that he knew, without a doubt, that he was not the only one who thought about the potential of their relationship. It was a small step, but it was an easy one to take.

"You're not making a fool of yourself," she whispered reassuringly.

Gently catching her wandering hand in his, he placed a tender kiss against her knuckles, giving her a long, penetrating look, before he smiled and nodded his head towards the living room.

"Good. Do you want to come in for some tea?"

He was reluctant to let her go just yet. Despite being almost dead on his feet after an exhausting week at work and very little sleep, he longed to spend a little more time with her. Even if it had only been a week, and they had seen each other every day, he had missed her and was eager to make sure their friendship was back on track.

"I think I should head home so that we can both get some sleep. It's been a long few days." At his sad expression, she gave him a soft smile. He certainly didn't make it easy to leave, even if she would see him again in a few days. "Rain check?"

Andy nodded and opened the door for her, his hand lingering at the small of her back as he guided her out onto the porch. Once outside, the soft breeze playing with her hair, she turned around to face him, caressing his arm briefly.

"Good night, Andy. I'll see you at work."

Studying him for a long moment, noticing the warmth and affection in his gaze and his soft, content smile, she took a step back towards him, laid both hands flat against his chest, and placed a tender, lingering kiss against his cheek. Her lips tingled with the sensation of his warm skin and the slight stubble that was the result of a long day, and she breathed deeply of his familiar, comforting scent. She felt one of his hands touch her hip in the faintest of caresses, as if he were unsure of the appropriateness of such a gesture. Before the situation could become too fraught with the kind of tension she wasn't ready for, Sharon slowly stepped away and gave him a shy smile, her hand slowly sliding down his arm until it clasped his in a final, light squeeze.

"Good night. Drive safe," Andy finally replied, his voice a little huskier than usual as he stared at her with wide eyed wonder.

It was with a much lighter heart that she climbed back into her car and began her drive home. She felt that she still had a lot to make up to him, but they had taken an important step towards something promising. Only time would tell if and how that was going to work out, but Sharon felt more optimistic and enthusiastic about her future than she had in a long time.

~FIN~