"Jack, what are you doing?" Sharon dropped her purse on the table.
"I wanted to talk to you and you won't answer my calls."
Sharon put her hands on her hips in disbelief, "Do you think that might be because I don't have anything to talk to you about. I signed the divorce papers, that's it."
"That's not it. I still love you, Sharon." He slowly stepped closer to her.
"No! 20 years Jack. 20 years we have been separated and not once have you come here or even called unless you needed something." She moved closer, challenging him, "Where was your love all those times?"
Jack was able to look past her walls and see the hurt in her voice and her beautiful emerald eyes, "I'm sorry, Shar-"
"How did you get in?"
He gestured to his key ring sitting on the coffee table, "I still have my key."
She stormed past him but he caught her wrist, "You're only doing this because of that boy."
Sharon snatched her arm from his grasp, "That boy is my son. He is a part of my family," There was a catch in her voice and she took a deep breath to regain her composure. She refused to cry in front of Jack ever again, "I love him.
She grabbed the keys off the table and began searching through them for her door key. As she searched, she grew visibly frustrated, "Dammit! Which one is it, Jack?"
Jack looked at her then turned and headed for the bedrooms.
"What are you doing?" She followed him until he stopped in front of her bedroom closet.
"I need one of my suits."
Sharon laughed, "Your clothes have not been in my bedroom for 20 years. I want you out of here and I will send you all of your clothes."
"Dammit, Sharon, I just want to talk to you."
Finally Sharon lost it, "Fine! Fine, Jack! You want to talk, talk! What the hell do you want to talk about? Do you want to talk about your gambling debts? Do you want to talk about not being there for our children? Do you want to talk about how for the last 20 years I have still loved you against better judgment and for the first time in a long time I have a chance to be happy with someone else and I am ready to let you go!"
Jack stepped closer to her, "Sharon." He tried to put his hand on her arm.
She pulled back, "Get out! Now!"
Shocked by her outburst Jack hurried out of the room. Sharon held her breath until she heard the door close, and when she exhaled, the tears she was holding in came out with her breath. She didn't know what she was crying about and that frustrated her even more. She still had feelings for Jack but they were for what they used to have and for him as her children's father but no more as a husband. Cutting those ties was what hurt the most and Sharon could no longer hold it all in.
Five minutes later when her phone rang she was still crying but she took a second to try to compose herself. She picked it up and was relieved when Flynn's name popped up.
"Andy."
"Sharon, is everything ok?"
She paused for a minute preparing to lie but she found herself telling the truth, "No." The tears came again and this time she couldn't reign them in.
"I'll be right there, Sharon."
She nodded through her tears then put down the phone and walked into the living room. She made her way to the couch and as she sat down she noticed a single silver key sitting on the coffee table with a note.
Sharon thought back to the last note Jack had left and how she had torn it up and threw it out. That time she was upset because she thought he was changing but he had disappeared again without any warning. This time was different. This time she was the one who had made him leave. She picked up the note and opened it.
"Sharon, I know I've said it many times before but this time I mean it. I'm sorry. I can't say that I never knew how much pain I was causing you because that would be a lie. I allowed myself to ignore what I was doing to you because I knew that you would still be there. I screwed up this time and I get that. The lies I told before aside I do love you, Sharon."
Flynn walked in as she was standing over the stove watching the note burn.
"Sharon, what's going on? Are you ok?" He noticed what she was doing and gestured to the last edges of the note, "What is that?"
"The last fragment of my marriage." She stood watching it burn as tears slid down her cheek.
Flynn walked over and wrapped his arms around her and she rested her head on his chest and lets the tears fall.
A few hours later they are on the couch together with glasses on wine. He was sitting up with his arm around her as she half-laid on his chest. Soon he looked down and noticed that Sharon had fallen asleep. He slid out from under her then picked her up and carried her into her room and softly laid her on her bed. As she, still asleep adjusted herself he brushed a strand of hair off her head and kissed her forehead.
The next morning Sharon woke up, confused about how she had gotten to her bed until she walked into the living room and found Flynn asleep on the couch. Looking at him she faintly remembered feeling a soft kiss on her forehead. She smiled at the thought as she went into the kitchen and started breakfast.
Flynn woke smelling pancakes, eggs, bacon, and coffee and sat up.
"Good morning, Andy. Would you like some breakfast?"
"I would love some but no bacon, please. Still trying to keep down my blood pressure." He chuckled as he thought back to when he fainted in the squad room.
"Of course, I must have forgotten."
They ate breakfast silently until Sharon spoke up after clearing the dishes, "Andy, I apologize for last night, making you come was completely inappropriate."
"Sharon, you didn't make me come. Hell, I didn't even ask if you wanted me to. It's just that on the phone you sounded like you could use some company and with Rusty out of town I thought I'd help."
"Thank you."