Authors Note: This is an extended ending to Major Crimes episode 2x11. I though the episode was incredible! After watching it I was daydreaming about everything that the audience did not get to see and this is the result of my daydreaming. It's a quick one shot between Sharon and Rusty.
Rusty exited the Major Crimes murder room and felt instantly out of breath even though he had done nothing to exert his body. His mind, on the other hand, would not slow down enough for him to process anything. He tried to anticipate what he would be facing in Taylor's office and as much as his brain was aware that he was about to be confronted with the secret he had spent the past three months hiding he couldn't bring himself to admit that that's what he would be facing. He seemed as if he was in a daze, knowing exactly what was going on, but entirely unable to prepare himself for it.
Sykes, Provenza, Flynn, Toa, Sanches, and Buzz had all looked so tragically disappointed in him, but especially Buzz. The moment Rusty saw Buzz's face he saw the disappointment and betrayal written all over it. Rusty knew that Buzz was less than thrilled about becoming his personal tutor and over the course of his summer class Rusty genuinely tried to improve on his assignments and show Buzz that the time spent with him was not wasted. Rusty couldn't stand to see Buzz looking at him like he no longer had any respect for him and as soon as they broke eye contact Rusty started walking away towards an uncertainty he could never prepare himself for.
As soon as Rusty rounded the corner into the main hallway he knew that Buzz's agonizing stare had been nothing. In front of him stood Sharon leaning against the hallway wall, holding every letter that Rusty had tried so hard to hide, and looking at him with a look that conveyed more meaning than Rusty's overworked brain could possibly understand or evaluate.
Shoran was horrified that Rusty was in such grave danger and she had no idea about it.
How could he not tell her about the letters? Hadn't she showed to him that he was as important to her as he own children? Did he really not trust her to take care of him?
As Sharon leaned against the hallway wall waiting for Rusty to find her all these questions shot through her mind. She was frustrated and even angry that the boy she had come to see as her own had been keeping this from her. If he had only come to her with each letter she could have formed a plan to handle Chief Taylor and DDA Rios. They, her team and herself, could have worked something out to ensure that Rusty would not have to go anywhere unless he wanted to. And she could have proven to him that he would always have a home with her. Why didn't he just com to me was all Sharon kept thinking right before she heard Rusty's foot steps round the corner.
As Sharon looked at the young seventeen year old who had lost everything in his life including his childhood all her feelings of frustration, betrayal, and anger disappeared. All the different options Rusty had were pointless speculation now and none of it really mattered. All she could do was take the few moments they had now and say what she was uncertain she would ever get a chance to say again.
As the emotionally beaten duo come together in the hallway Sharon spoke, saying what she had been felling since the moment Rusty moved in with her.
"Whatever happens next...know I love you."
As Sharon spoke Rusty began to feel his breathing grow shallow. There was so much he wanted to say but the knot developing in his throat prevented him from saying anything at all. Rusty tried to swallow but he couldn't.
He wanted to tell Sharon how sorry he was. That all he ever wanted was to not lose her. That he couldn't bear loosing everything all over again. That he was terrified of everything the letters might have done to his life but he had no idea how to ask for help. That she showed him what a real mother was like. That she was his mother. That he didn't want to leave her.
Everything Rusty wanted to say was boiling in his head, but none of it was coming out; rather, tears where flooding his eyes and the lump in his throat was beginning to suffocate him.
Sharon moved to open the door to Taylor's office as Rusty began to move toward her. He could barely breath and he no longer had anything to loose. In his head he had already lost everything. Rather than walk through the door Rusty turned into Sharon, he wrapped his arms around her middle, and buried his face in her shoulder.
"I love you too."
Rusty heaved the words out in shaky whisper that betrayed any semblance of composure he might have had before. He held on to her trying to hid from what he knew was coming, what he knew he couldn't run away from.
Sharon wrapped her arms around Rusty and held him as tight as she could. She didn't move her arms or hands. As much as she wanted to she was not comforting the young boy, rather she was grounding them to the moment. Holding onto whatever they had left together. Sharon closed her eyes and steadied herself and she could feel Rusty doing the same thing in her arms.
The two did not say anything else. There was no need for it. Rather, they walked through Chief Taylor's door side-by-side to face whatever was before them.