Wedding Date
by Miss Shannon
A/N: I wrote this for Lordsofkobolhearmycreys who has an awesome tumblr blog and makes me squeal with laughter every week because of her fabulous "Major Crimes Subtext Recap". The prompt was inspired by Major Crimes' showrunner stating that Andy and Sharon would attend a wedding together which turned out to be that of Andy's daughter.
For a short moment, just before he remembered to retrieve his cocky attitude from where it had tumbled to at the sight before him, Andy Flynn was sure that he would just keel over and die on the spot. If asked, he would always affirm that he liked his women young, preferably blonde and scarcely dressed but Sharon Raydor was neither of the above. She approached him where he was leaning against his car, pretending to be completely unimpressed by her appearance. He was probably already failing to hide his shock at the sight of her, so he decided he might as well look, well, stare. While taking in the elegant cream dress that hugged her slim but curvy body just right, he thought back to the devastation he'd been feeling just forty-eight short hours ago...
A balled-up piece of paper hit the back of Flynn's head and he swiveled around in his chair to glare at his partner and resident nuisance. He was already in a foul mood and Provenza's stupid pranks did nothing to improve his overall dire situation. Unwilling to even speak to him, he slowly unwrapped the paper and flattened it. It turned out to be a discarded draft of a press release on which someone had misspelled "murder" as "umrdre" which reminded Flynn of his days as an alcoholic when such typos had been the bane of his and his boss's existence. He dropped the sheet of paper into his waste basket and continued his attempt to stare down his computer screen. A groan was heard behind him when Provenza got up and perched on his partner's desk.
"What the hell is wrong, Flynn? The rain cloud hanging over your head is obscuring my view of the Murder Board."
"Shut up, Provenza," Flynn murmured, listlessly clicking on random icons on his desktop to look mildly busy.
"Oh, you shut up!" Provenza was on a roll and when that happened, one might as well surrender. "You came in this morning looking like Darth Vader's little sister and you will tell me now what's the matter or I swear I will make your day hell."
"It already is," Flynn muttered without actually looking at Provenza and the other man snorted at his childish behavior.
"Tell me your sorrows, little girl," Provenza demanded. "Now."
Flynn threw his hands in the air. "Alright, alright. My daughter's getting married the day after tomorrow."
A dark grin was tugging at Provenza's lips. "Oh, been there, done that. Now you're getting all mushy because your little girl has grown up and all?"
"No, no... She's almost thirty, I am used to her being all grown-up." Flynn opened the solitaire game on his computer and began to move the cards to avoid eye-contact.
"Then you hate the guy?" Provenza inquired with renewed impatience.
"Nah, he's a keeper," Flynn admitted. To be honest, his feelings towards the groom were of a rather fond nature as he seemed like an honest, intelligent guy who liked baseball.
"Then what the hell is the problem?" Provenza thundered, almost causing Flynn to fall out his chair.
"My ex-wife."
"Ah, lovely Rhona. What about her? Is she still nettling you because you screwed-up your marriage like two-hundred years ago?" Provenza nodded knowingly. For years, Rhona had kept up a steady hatred of her ex-husband even though he had apologized a thousand times for his misgivings during their marriage. She'd only been warming up to him again during recent years, like in 2010, when she'd invited him to spend Christmas with her and the kids for the first time in years. However, now that he knew the reasons for her lenience, he didn't feel so happy about it anymore. The problem was that she hadn't exactly forgiven him, she just didn't care anymore.
"She got remarried last month. Guy named Frank," he growled with vigor, but jumped when Provenza slammed his flat hand down on to the desk in front of him.
"Don't be ridiculous! You two have been divorced for decades! You jealous or something?"
"No..." Flynn wasn't lying. It wasn't jealousy so much; he was just feeling inadequate. While his ex-wife, the mother of the bride, would attend the wedding with a new husband, he, the father, would be on his own. "It's just that I don't have a date for the wedding." Although he had spoken very quietly due to embarrassment, Provenza had heard his words and broke into a loud, annoying fit of laughter. Sykes, the only one present in the Murder Room despite them, looked up and furrowed her brow in annoyance.
"What's the matter, guys?" she asked, already half-engrossed in her paperwork again.
"Flynn here doesn't want to go to his daughter's wedding without a date!" Provenza cackled.
"Not funny," Flynn growled.
"Hey Sykes, what are you doing Friday, huh? Care to help him out?"
Flynn had to admit that it actually sounded like a good idea. While he kept catching himself calling her "kiddo", she was in fact a beautiful woman and she would definitely look good on his arm.
Once again, Sykes proved to be a little less empathetic than she should have been, because she just shrugged. "Nah, I don't think he'd want to be seen with a woman who's about his daughter's age, right, Lieutenant? I mean, that would look kind of desperate."
Despite his anger at his partner and friend, Andy found himself worrying for the older man's health for a second because he choked on his laughter and his head began to shine a bright red. Sykes gave an irritated frown and returned to her report while Provenza continued to laugh hysterically.
"Stop giggling like an old fishwife," Flynn snapped, but Provenza didn't even seem to hear him while he was wiping tears of laughter off his cheeks.
"Do I want to know what's going on here?" Captain Raydor had approached his desk without his noticing and was eying the hysterical lieutenant with a mixture of interest and concern.
"No," Andy hurried to say, embarrassed enough in front of Sykes. Smart and dumb at the same time as ever, Sykes looked up and smiled brightly at her superior officer, always ready to do her bidding.
"Oh, Captain. It's just that Lieutenant Flynn is looking for a date to his daughter's wedding because he doesn't want to go alone, given that his ex-wife has remarried."
Flynn was a both mortified and a little soothed faced with a genuinely sympathetic look from Raydor that was accompanied by a subtle pursing of her lips. Sykes couldn't be stopped, however, and he considered grabbing his stapler and throwing it at her to silence her. But random acts of violence wouldn't get him into Raydor's good graces and so he just hung his head and waited for the inevitable.
"Provenza thought maybe I could go with him but, really, I told him that it would be inappropriate, me being so much younger..."
He hadn't expected her next move although he should have seen it coming from the sudden light in Sykes' eyes.
"Well, Captain! Why don't you go with him? You're much closer in age."
Sharon displayed the same emotionless face that she always had when someone talked about her age and her eyebrow twitched slightly when Sykes clapped her hands together.
"You two would actually make a cute couple!"
Provenza chose this precise moment to topple of the desk and take Andy's keyboard with him. He was ignored by everyone else as he crouched on the floor, laughing too hard to be able to get up any time soon. Over the now wheezing lieutenant, Flynn's eyes met Raydor's.
"I must say I can relate to your dismay at the prospect of attending a wedding dateless. I find it rather uncomfortable myself," she said very carefully, basically offering him to accompany him.
Provenza managed to stop neighing to say: "Of course you do, Captain."
"Shut up, Provenza," Raydor hissed, slapping his shoulder in a quick but unhurried gesture.
"Well, that's settled then!" Sykes sang. "No need to thank me. I'll just finish this report."
Flynn looked at Raydor who gave him the smallest of smiles.
"Would you do that?" he finally asked her weakly. "Accompany me?"
"The last time I was asked on a date by someone other than the person who wanted to date me was in third grade, but yes. Of course."
So here they were, her looking positively otherworldly and him staring at her and wondering how to ever thank Amy Sykes. He would have never dared asked her to be his date but she had also been the precise reason that he hadn't asked anyone else. They were by no means flirting at work but he found himself always standing right behind her, pretending to be really casual about it, to be able to get a whiff of her scent. She, in turn, had taken to communicating with him by means of looks and hums which seemed to open up a channel of communication between them that no one else was privy to. He knew that she was comfortable around him but the sparkling smile she gave him when she spotted him waiting for her nearly knocked him over. Sure thing, a murder investigation usually didn't allow for smiles like that, but he was still somewhat reeling from it.
"Looking good, Andy."
She leaned in slightly to place a kiss on his cheek. When she saw his look of surprise, she shrugged.
"Sorry, I just thought we shouldn't be acting like I'm your boss. Would kind of blow our cover, wouldn't it?"
"Sure," he murmured, well-aware of the fact that there was no one around to witness their interactions right now.
"You look very beautiful, Captain," he said sheepishly, having actually meant to say something lighter like "looking good", but she had just stolen that line.
By the time he stopped the car in front of her condo hours later, he was exhausted and elated at the same time. Having endured numerous shoulder claps and an ill-timed waltz with his daughter, he was completely done being the father of the bride. His elation, however, was caused by the presence of Sharon who had turned out to be a completely different person outside of work. He liked her laid-back persona and the easy, warm way she took to people. Where she was restrained at work, she was open in private. Where her face was hard and largely unmoved at the office, her features came to life outside of it. And she could dance, having spared him more embarrassment by gently taking the lead as they swayed on the dance floor. If he hadn't been smitten before, he definitely was now.
Sharon turned towards him with a warm smile. "Thank you, Andy. I've had a wonderful time." She placed her hand on his arm.
"It's me who has to say thank you!" Andy hurried. "I was the one in dire need of a date."
Great, Andy, he thought. Way to make her feel appreciated.
But she just chuckled. "I hope I was sufficient."
"Very much so," Andy said truthfully. "Your legs are way nicer than Provenza's."
"I guess I should take that as a compliment," she joked.
There was a short silence that quickly went on to become a little uncomfortable so he hurried to break it.
"Well, as you did me such a favor today... maybe I could- take you out to dinner some time?" he asked cautiously, a bit scared of being shot down immediately. If she was capable of displaying a persona that was so different from whom she seemed to be at work, she might as well turn back into Captain Raydor in a heartbeat.
Instead she smiled, more tenderly than before.
"I think you should," she confirmed.
"What about tomorrow?" A male voice asked and since Andy was the only man in the car, he was pretty sure that he must have been the one saying it. For a second he debated hitting his forehead against the steering wheel in order to achieve instant unconsciousness. Maybe if he was injured, she wouldn't kill him.
"Okay," she said evenly. "Pick me up at eight?"
He was pretty sure that his eyes were widening.
"I'm looking forward to it," she added softly. "Goodnight, Andy."
And before he managed to snap out of his stupor, she leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth. Given that he was completely still because of his unfortunate freezing at the prospect of having dinner with her the next day, he didn't think she'd just accidentally pressed her lips against the wrong spot on his face.
"Goodnight," he croaked and she smiled at him one last time before getting out of the car and throwing the door shut. The sound and impact made him sit up straighter, enabling him to turn the key in the ignition and drive off in order to preserve what was left of his dignity.
In a goofy voice, Flynn sang along to the Adele album he pretended not to own the whole way home.
The End