Set in my own little Major Crimes universe.

Sharon never married Jack, she doesn't have children (yet), and everyone is in their early twenties. Yes, this means there is no Detective Sykes, Buzz, or Detective Sanchez (yet).

Confused?

Bare with me as I build this little AU world, and I hope you like it!

(As always, Major Crimes is not mine)

Cadaver #1

As rough as it was being handed children straight from the academy (Chief Pope wasn't exactly handed them), they weren't too bad. Or so it seemed.

Glassy eyed and confused, Pope watched as the rookies examined the new area and exchanged introductions. Everyone seemed to be getting along, except for a beautiful woman who stood off to the side and forced a smile when someone approached her. She stood still, glancing around the room, and taking in every last detail. She was the only female in the group.

The three males stood in a semi-circle, laughing at the other's jokes. After a couple minute, one of the males, Andrew Flynn, Pope recalled, approached her. Flynn seems to (attempt) a conversation, but to no avail. The woman must've answered his question and nothing more. Flynn seemed a little upset, but he kept talking.

Probably about himself, Pope thought as the woman just listened and nodded. No flirtatious smile, or twinkling eyes.

The rest of the guys finally realized they were missing a man and quickly, they joined him again—including the woman. She stood rooted in her spot for a while, before she slowly began to back away and towards the windows. She gazed out across the Los Angeles skyline. Flynn kept his eyes on the woman, but hid ears on the guys. Pope decided it was the perfect time to make his grand entrance.

Stepping out of the office, Pope made his way to the whiteboard.

"Excuse me," Pope called over the chatter of the men. "Please choose a desk." Pope gestured to the shining desks in front of him, one for each rookie. These rookies were lucky, when Chief Pope was a rookie, he was lucky if he had standing space. The board thought it would be good to pull the top detectives from the academy, toss them into a group and hope that they work well together. The whole idea was to see how detectives work together, an experiment.

The woman stationed herself by the windows, slightly isolated from the group. Flynn took the desk in front of hers. The other men filled Pope's center and right side.

"So," Pope began. "My name is Chief Pope, I will be overseeing this mess until one of you guys earn the team and can properly lead. Until then, there is much the academy hasn't taught you, that you must learn." The group gave Pope tight nods as they waited for him to continue. "Let me just go over simple things right now, everyone just want to tell me their name?"

"It's not preschool," a short heavy set man snarled.

"Knew there was going to be a smart-ass in the group. What's your name?"

"Nap time!"

The guys let out low rumbles of laughter. Pope sighed and stalked back into his office. Seconds later, he returned with manila folders. He flipped quickly through each, although everyone was pretty sure Pope had the files memorized.

"Louie Provenza. Arrested at eighteen for public nudity," everyone chuckled and Provenza blushed a little. "Arrested at nineteen again for public nudity. Says here your mother made you walk out of the holding cell nude still-"

"Wanted me to walk out with as much dignity I walked in with," Provenza smirked, a brighter blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Andy Flynn," Flynn said standing up.

"I know," Pope said dismissively. "You're Michael Tao," Pope lifted his chin to a bald man. The man- Tao- nodded back. "That leaves you," Pope smiled towards the only woman of the group, "to be Sharon." Sharon nodded, her delicate features stoic. "Anyways, since I've been handed all you people and I haven't seen your skills yet. So, I have a crime scene staged downstairs. Acquaint yourselves with this floor, and met me in the garage in half an hour."

The staged crime scene was a perfect place to evaluate the new group's detective skills and profiling abilities. The academy shows test scores, not what they've been tested on.

"Okay!" Provenza shouted, breaking the momentary silence in the room. Provenza sat flat on his ass and started counting scuff marks on the floor.

Tao and Flynn smirked at the wise man, and Sharon just rolled her eyes. Sharon stood and walked around the room, examining everything in greater detail. Flynn stood too, and started to follow Sharon around. Pope shook his head at the interaction.

"How'd you graduate from the academy?" Flynn asked, clasping his hands behind his back and carefully stepping towards Sharon. Their shoulders bumped in a flirtatious way- until Sharon stepped to the right, breaking the contact.

"Same way you did, detective," Sharon mumbled walking down the hall into yet another room. It seemed like a break room, equipped with a state-of-the-art coffee machine. Flynn trailed her into the room and watched as Sharon familiarized herself with the cabinetry.

"Do you like coffee?"

"No, I like tea. Detective," Sharon asked turning to face Flynn. "What is it you want?"

"What makes you think I want something?"

"I'm not sure I should grace that with an answer."

"You just did."

Sharon shot a narrowed eye look at Flynn as she brushed passed him and into an interview room.

"Will you have dinner with me?" Flynn asked as he followed Sharon into the interview room.

"No."

"Lunch?"

"No."

"Breakfast?" Flynn asked hopefully.

"No."

"Gosh, I'm hurt!" Flynn feigned, a hand dramatically gripping his heart.

"Detective, I've known you for thirty minutes, I will not go out with you," Sharon said sternly as she headed back into the hallway and into electronics.

"Why'd you become a cop?" Flynn asked as he shuffled like a lost puppy after Sharon.

"Personal reasons," Sharon replied defensively. There were many questions she wanted to ask Andy, but I didn't seem like the right time.

"I became a cop because I was a terrible kid, I felt I owed it to myself to be better. Plus the girls at the academy were hot," Flynn spoke with a quirky smile as he leaned against the doorframe. Sharon let out a faint sound of disgust as she slipped by him.

Sharon headed into the hallway a fourth time, leaving a bewildered Flynn behind her.

"Where are we going now?" Flynn asked stepping into the elevator with Sharon. Sharon pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

This job was going to be interesting

…

"What do you think of the woman?" Provenza asked Tao a little while after Sharon had left with an awestruck Flynn at her heels.

"She seems quiet, private, doesn't seem to trust many people, she seems mature-"

"No, I don't need you to profile her. I could easily do that, only thing I'm good at. I think she's hot. Flynn seems to think so too," Provenza said hoisting himself off the ground and back into his swivel chair.

"Sorry, I've got a woman," Tao said holding his hands up in mute surrender.

"Ah-ha! Tell me about her."

"She's very special and beautiful," Tao said a smile spreading across his face. Every guy likes boasting about his girl. "She's smart. Played heard to get for a while. Eventually, she agreed to go on a date with me, and it was perfect, she was perfect."

"I had a girl like that once. On the third date, she told me she was married to an old rich guy. I think it was her way of dumping me nicely," Provenza shared with a smile. Tao chuckled and glanced at the clock.

"Let's head to the garage, the Chief wanted us down there by now," Tao mentioned, never one to be late. Provenza groaned but got up. The two friends walked to the elevator.

…

"Okay. So here we have a staged crime scene. I will be using this scene to evaluate your skills, and the way you work with others. Ignore me, work, and return to the main floor so you can profile the killer," Pope explained to the rookies as the four entered the 'crime scene'.

"Looks like blunt force trauma to the head. Small abrasions along the wrist and forearms-"

"Looks like a dog or cat scratch," Provenza commented, interrupting Tao, and looking over the dummy doll.

"I've got cat food in this cabinet," Flynn said as he picked up the food from the cabinet to show the rest. Sharon stood off to the side, pacing around the room, slowly moving in a spiral technique she must've picked up from the academy.

"Sharon?" Flynn asked. Tao and Provenza stopped their work to look at the interaction. The two friends exchanged a quick glance before their attention fell back upon Sharon and Flynn.

"What are you doing?" Flynn questioned, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Listening and observing," Sharon replied as she crouched down to look at the rug. Tao shrugged and Provenza rolled his eyes. The two getting back to work. Flynn eyed Sharon and watched her every move. Sharon stood and walked two more small steps before crouching again to study the rug.

Pope observed how the guys shared their findings amongst themselves, ignoring Sharon. But Sharon was doing her own thing, not touching anything but observing and listening. Eventually, Sharon stood off to the side, her hands clasped behind her back. Sharon's emerald eyes studying the men just as Pope was studying her. She had a bubble surrounding her, full of authority and control, and Pope was seriously considering putting Sharon in charge of the division. Although this was a trial run, there was no definite end to the project. If it worked, it worked, if it didn't, then there was the threat of being shut down. The project was a test, an attempt, Pope just hoped to God that this would work.

Chief Pope checked his watch, their time was up.

"Alright," Pope announced with a clap of his hands. "Return back upstairs, and profile this guy."

The team of four stopped their work and headed back to the elevators.

Pope stayed behind, he examined the scene with interest, looking at everything thr guys touched. Then, Pope crouched and studied the rug.

He didn't see whatever it was Sharon saw.

I hope this made some sense to everyone! I will be posting more chapters later on.

As always, please review!