Major Crimes Season Six AU
As The World Falls Down
Episode 1 - Intruder Alert (part 1)
A/N: I'm not going to beat around the bush, I thought the sixth season was a massive let down, and not just because Sharon died; because I actually felt Stroh and the team got short changed. There just wasn't enough time to give everyone the focus they deserved. I had hoped for an epic showdown, a thrilling chase, but no. So I decided to rewrite it, lol. We'll see if I can do any better.
This is my season 6 AU. FYI, it begins a few weeks before JD's season six. It will eventually include mentions of the cases from the show as well as some of my own creation.
Disclaimer: I don't own Major Crimes, The Closer or any characters and storylines from those shows.
Andy Flynn opened his eyes, blinking tiredly as he attempted to identify what had awoken him. The room was still dark, so he couldn't have been asleep for long, but there were no sounds that were out of place in the bedroom. He raised his head, straining for about a minute to hear movement in the condo, but there was nothing.
He focussed on the figure laying on her side in his arms, facing away from him. Sharon Raydor, his fiancé, was burrowed as far under the blankets as she could get. Since she had come down with a bad case of Flu, she sometimes unintentionally woke him when she experienced swings in temperature, or when she insisted on getting up to dash to the bathroom to vomit, despite having a waste basket by the bed. This was not the case now though, she slept soundly, her rhythmic breathing almost soothing him back to sleep.
A sharp buzzing from beside him, somewhere on his left jolted him back to wakefulness. His phone was vibrating. He sighed, reluctantly removed his arm from around Sharon's waist and rolled over, reaching for his cell. A quick glance at the screen told him he wouldn't be going back to sleep any time soon. There was only one reason Provenza would be calling him at 2am. He swiped a finger over the screen and brought it to his ear.
"Yeah?"
"Mason has given us a case. Buzz will text you the address, don't let the Cap- Commander come with you." Provenza said, and Andy couldn't help the smirk at his partners slip up. Sharon had been 'The Captain' for so long, it would be a while before they got used to calling her Commander.
"You don't need to worry about that. This Flu has her wiped out; she sleeps like a log. She won't even notice the shower going." he replied, proving his point by not even trying to keep his voice quiet. She didn't stir, her slightly congested breathing remained steady, deep and slow.
"Fine, fine." Provenza hastily replied, banishing the reminder that they were involved and what that entailed. "Just don't take too long. Robbery/Homicide is apparently on scene and none too happy with losing this case to us." Provenza ended the call in his usual brusque manner and Andy rolled his eyes. A turf war, fantastic. He lowered the phone and noticed he already had a text message from Buzz. That must have been what had woke him up.
Andy took a moment to tuck the duvet in around Sharon's back and then made his way through his morning routine as swiftly as he could, doubly glad that he always took the time to lay out his outfit the night before. It had always been essential to do so when he could get a call out at all hours of the night and, now that he shared a bedroom once again, it helped to not disturb his fiancé, whom was usually a light sleeper like him.
Once he was dressed, and his badge and gun were secure on his belt, he checked on Sharon one more time. He quickly made sure her medication was on the nightstand, beside the glass of water she had left there before bed. Mindful of the time, he left the bedroom and walked down the hall intending to switch on the coffee pot, when he noticed the kitchen light was on. He internally cringed; just because Sharon wouldn't stir while he got ready didn't mean the kid wouldn't. He sighed and rounded the corner, hoping his expression was appropriately apologetic.
Rusty was leaning against the counter, eyes closed, his head drooping. If someone had told him in that moment that the boy had sleep-walked to the coffee maker, he would've believed them. Andy made his last few steps louder to give the kid a moment to regroup and stifled a chuckle as he jolted upright, his eyes snapping open. Rusty gave him a sour glance, which if he recalled his 'teenager' correctly meant 'thanks for ruining my life' or something similar.
"Coffee's done." Rusty muttered as he rubbed his eyes and gestured towards the coffee pot, which was indeed freshly brewed and waiting to be poured.
"Thanks." Andy opened a cupboard and pulled out his travel cup. "Hey, sorry kid. I forgot you were home tonight." Andy offered, hoping to get back on his good side. Rusty gave him a flat stare.
"Mom doesn't make that much noise getting ready, and she uses a hairdryer." he replied and Andy wondered if the sass he was receiving was because he woke Rusty up or because he could have woken Sharon. After all, this was the first time Sharon had been ill in all the time Rusty had been here and it came in the wake of two explosions that could so easily have taken her from them.
"You're right. I'll be more mindful, but you know that medication knocks her out pretty good." he offered.
"Right." Rusty stifled a yawn and filled a glass with water as Andy filled his cup with coffee. Once their respective tasks were completed in companionable silence, Rusty turned and left the kitchen. Andy assumed he was going back to bed, so he was surprised to hear the door to Sharon's room open. Andy curiously ducked around the corner while he screwed the lid on to his travel cup, so he could see down the corridor to the bedrooms. Was Rusty waking her up? He should stop him, she needed to rest.
He didn't take more than two steps before Rusty reappeared, quietly slipping back out of the bedroom, holding the glass of lukewarm water that had been on her nightstand. Realising that smirking right now would not win him any points with the kid, Andy fought to keep his expression neutral while he busied himself with picking up his keys from the side table by the door. Someone would be hovering all day today. He fully expected to get an exasperated phone call from Sharon later.
"Her medication is on the nightstand." Andy told him as he passed on his way back to the kitchen with the glass.
"I know." Rusty replied shortly, and Andy looked heavenward for a moment before walking to the door. He reminded himself that he had earned the attitude with the early wake up. "See you later, Lieutenant." Rusty's slightly warmer tone made him pause in the act of walking through the door and glance back. Rusty waved tiredly as he passed him and went back down the corridor to his room. His heart feeling a little lighter knowing the kid didn't hate him all of a sudden, he smiled and quietly closed and locked the condo door.
The drive to the crime scene was uneventful, and the coffee helped wake him up, so he didn't feel as run down when he pulled up to the curb behind Provenza's car. Andy quickly drained the last of his coffee and then got out of the car, looking around to see if he could spy any members of his squad. There didn't look to be any taped off areas outside, so obviously the team must all be inside the property.
"Aw, geez." he groaned, irritated by the sight of Detective Ross waiting by the door of the house with his cell phone to his ear and a glare on his face. Andy quickly crossed the garden and moved up to the house. He took some shoe covers from the officer at the door, studiously ignoring the fuming Robbery/Homicide Detective, who lowered the volume of his voice as a rival neared. Andy entered and identified himself to the officer holding the crime scene log and looked around. It was a nice place- not high end, but on the higher side.
"Ah, Flynn. Glad you could join us." Andy turned towards Provenza's mocking voice, rolling his eyes as his partner waved him over to what looked like the kitchen.
"Yeah, yeah." he grumbled, pulling his gloves on as he strode over. "So, what's important enough to make this one ours?" He asked Provenza, but it was Julio that answered.
"The family that lives here came home from vacation and found someone in their house. The father saw the intruder had a weapon, panicked and shot him." He gestured to the blood stain on the carpet near the kitchen island in the middle of the room. "Neighbours called 911."
"Paramedics took him to Ceders." Buzz interjected from his place holding his camera, filming Sykes while she was spraying the counter tops and utensils which were laid out on it. Usually that was something that Tao would be doing, however because of the Flu outbreak Sharon, Mike and Wes were all on sick leave, resulting in the squad being at half strength right now.
"Ok, but how is that a Major Crime?" Andy asked.
"By itself, it isn't, but when officers arrived on scene and cleared the house, they found this." Julio held up an evidence bag, containing a wrapped block of what looked like uncooked homemade burgers. Andy leaned a little closer to read the label, and immediately wished he hadn't.
"Human flesh burgers?" he asked incredulously. Julio nodded.
"They found this in the burger press. There was also a mincing machine on the counter top next to it. It still had obviously human flesh in it which hadn't yet been fed through and minced meat in the receiving tray," Julio sombrely reported, "and the freezer is full of human remains."
"Ah, sirs? We're ready over here." Buzz called, while Amy picked up the black-light. Andy, Provenza and Julio all moved closer to Buzz and Amy for a better view of what would undoubtedly be a horrifying sight.
"Lights." Provenza shouted, and the uniformed officer positioned by the light switch flicked it off. Amy turned on the black-light and waved it over the counter top slowly, allowing Buzz time to record everything that lit up. The counter top itself was one of the things that did; as well as all around the chopping board and all over the sink, the chopping board itself, the burger press, a few knives, and most disturbingly; a plate with a steak knife and fork on it left on the draining board.
"Ugh. I've never been so happy to be vegetarian." Andy muttered, shaking his head.
"It looks like he froze some of the body pieces, while others were hung over the sink to drain, then chopped and... processed." Amy theorised. She gestured to the plate. "I guess he got hungry while he waited for them to drain and made himself something to eat." She turned off the black-light and the houselights were switched back on. "We also found an air mattress in the living room, along with changes of clothes, so he was definitely squatting here while the family were away." she said. She then busied herself with putting the black-light and spray bottle back into Tao's bag of tricks.
"Ok. Maybe our nut job off-ed someone," he gestured to the mincing machine, "and was trying to eat the evidence." He averted his eyes to settle his stomach. Sykes shook her head and pointed in the direction of the living room.
" There was a plastic wallet filled with printed labels and a wad of vacuum packing supplies next to his air mattress. Plus, the officer who found the remains in the freezer said it looked like more than one body. This doesn't look like a spur of the moment killing to me, Lieutenant; it looks like a business." Amy countered.
"In someone's home? They couldn't have been gone that long." Flynn protested. It was possible, but most criminals would find that too risky.
"Maybe they were in on it." Sykes suggested, shrugging. Andy nodded, conceding the point.
"The freezer is through here." Julio stated, leading the way over to a side door. Through the door was a set of stairs leading down to a small cellar, which contained some cardboard boxes with knickknacks strewn across them, a broken bicycle and a chest freezer.
The freezer was open and Kendall was already there, quickly removing bags and laying them on a gurney. Some of the bags were clear, some were opaque white, and all were covered in frost. He carefully felt each one and sorted the jumble of different limbs into piles as he went.
"Kendall, what can you tell us?" Provenza asked, as they all moved closer and sadly took in the sight. The Coroner Investigator sighed and straightened up from the freezer, another bag in hand.
"Not much, Lieutenant. So far we have eight arms; three with a hand still attached,-"
"At least we'll get fingerprints for three of the victims." Andy interjected.
"-five lower legs, seven shoulders, two thighs and three feet." he replied, placing the bag in his hand down with two others. "No torso's or heads. There's not enough left of any of the bodies for me to give any kind of guess as to cause of death, you'll have to wait for Morales to look them over once they've thawed. You're probably looking at waiting for blood tests, though. I'd only be guessing at how long they've been frozen, too." he said, shrugging in frustration. Provenza pinched the top of his nose slightly, and sighed.
"How about a ball park figure?" he asked, gesticulating impatiently.
"Well, the limbs were frozen for the first time when they were packed into this freezer, or they wouldn't have fit in as snugly, so... however long the family was gone is probably about the right time." Kendall responded.
"Alright, lets' wrap this up." Provenza said impatiently. "Flynn, we're going to the morgue with the frozen body parts. Sykes; follow up with Cedars on our cannibal. Sanchez, Buzz; escort the family downtown. We need to make sure they aren't involved." They dispersed as Provenza gave out his orders, all moving back upstairs and out to accomplish their tasks.
Andy and Provenza waited by the front door for Kendall to bring the remains out so they could accompany him to the morgue. Andy noted that Detective Ross was no longer outside. Hopefully that meant he had given up trying to get the case back, though he remembered all too well how aggravating it was to have a crime scene usurped.
"What are you thinking?" Andy asked while they waited. His own thoughts about this case seemed to be centred on those burgers and he really needed to focus on something else before he puked. Provenza glanced at him briefly before refocusing on the gurney as Kendall appeared, wheeling it out.
"I'm thinking; why only keep the limbs?"
A/N: Well, I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep you guessing, I'm quite a predictable writer, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Detective Ross is a Robbery/Homicide Detective from The Closer, in case you don't know.
