We Are Not Promised Tomorrow

by Kadi219

[Raydor/Flynn] - In all their sudden intimacy there is a need to take a step back now that Andy is on his own again. She just wants to help, but he is feeling a little smothered. What to do about it?

We Are Not Promised Tomorrow

By: Kadi

Rated: K+

Disclaimer: This has never been my sandbox, I simply like to dig in and play.

A/N: The title comes from the song "Like I'm Gonna Lose You"; although the version I prefer is the cover that was used in dreamycupcake's beautiful Shandy video. This story was not inspired by that video, but the song wanted to play in my head while I was writing, so a shout out to her! You should look up the video, it is absolutely stunning, and so very perfect.

For kate04, lontanissima, and Sara who asked for feels, and bolstered my mood when it wanted to wane. Much love girls!

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By the time that Friday evening rolled around, Andy was already in something of a foul mood. He tried to ignore that fact as he got ready for his date with Sharon. He had been back on his own for a week now, and life was slowly getting back to normal. It was the slow factor that was bothering him so damned much. That and the way that some people were still tip-toeing around him, as if he was going to keel over at any moment, his damned girlfriend included. He tried to put it aside, to put himself in her shoes and focus on how he would feel if their positions were reversed. He knew that he wouldn't like it any damned better than she currently did if Sharon was the one that had been hurt on the job. He would be worried as hell.

The act of ignoring his frustration, though, when he just wanted everything to get back to the way that it used to be, was a hard feat to accomplish. Yeah, people were worried about him, and he should be touched by that, and truth be told, he was touched by it. He also thought that enough was enough already. He was fine. Andy even expected his doctor to put him back on active duty at his next follow-up appointment. He got hurt, he had a rough time of it, and he was getting over it. Time moved on. It was time for everyone else to do the same. That included Sharon, but he was giving her a little more room than he was allowing the others to have. She had seen more of it up close, and maybe that was what bothered him the most. Andy wasn't sure. What he did know was that he was beginning to feel a little put out and, frankly, smothered by the whole damned thing.

He was still trying to push those thoughts aside when Sharon dropped by that evening. Andy also tried to ignore the fact that he was supposed to pick her up. He felt more than a little perplexed when he let her into his house, and especially when he noticed that she was carrying a takeout bag from their favorite restaurant, and his dry cleaning. Hadn't he just told her that morning that he was going to pick that up tomorrow? Andy replayed the conversation in his head, and perhaps he was in a bit of a confused stupor, because he just stood there as she tipped her face up and leaned in to kiss him in greeting. His gaze followed her as she strode through his house, seeming as familiar with it as she was with her condo. Andy decided that was to be expected, they were friends for a long time before they began dating, and most recently, Sharon had been the one to drop by and get his personal things and water his plants while he was recovering at her condo. It would have given her an opportunity to become familiar with the house. Just as familiar as Andy now was with her condo.

He watched her step into the small kitchen where she deposited the takeout on the counter and then she strode across the living room toward the hall. The entire time she was keeping up a running chatter, but Andy wasn't really hearing the words. Instead he was focused on the fact that he had told Sharon earlier that day that he had some errands to run during the day on Saturday, and unless the team got rolled out to a crime scene, he would be picking her up at six so that they could go to dinner before going to the ballet.

The Nutcracker was becoming their tradition. While they weren't going to be seeing his grandsons perform the following evening, because Nicole and her family were still out of the country, Andy was taking Sharon to watch the Los Angeles ballet company perform their seasonal production. This time his family would not be surrounding them; it would only be the two of them, and there would be no doubt that it was a date. At least, that was the plan. For now, Andy was trying to clear the confusion out of his head. Confusion that he knew full well had nothing to do with his surgery or the concussion that he experienced prior to it.

Tonight he was meant to pick Sharon up. It was only a casual evening. They were going to a movie, and yes, dinner was on the schedule for the evening too. Andy planned to take her to her favorite place on the boardwalk. It was going to be a mild night. He thought they might sit outside and enjoy the atmosphere, watch the moon rise, and listen to the waves crash against the shoreline. He had something that he wanted to tell her too, but thought maybe he would save that for after dinner. Maybe they would even take a stroll along the beach. There were quite a few things that he would like to do that evening, all of which were quickly forgotten as he watched his girlfriend return from having put away his dry cleaning.

Andy frowned at her. He realized that he was still standing by the door and in something of a daze. He closed the door and followed Sharon as she walked back into the kitchen. He tilted his head at her while a confused frown drew his brows together. "Sharon, what are you doing?"

She was currently pulling foil takeout containers from the bag and placing them on the counter. "I got you the spinach ravioli that you like," she told him. Sharon tossed a smile at him from over her shoulder and then reached up to pull down a pair of plates. "I know that we talked about going out tonight, but I thought that maybe we could watch a movie here. We're going out tomorrow, and I am sure that it will end up being a late night. I don't want to be too tired to enjoy it, do you?"

There was something in the way that she looked at him, the way that she smiled at him that immediately had his ire rising. Any other time he would have enjoyed it. Andy would have even found it adorable, but tonight, he was just fed up. He scowled at her. "Yeah? Well if you didn't want to go out, you could have just said so. I could have made dinner." He watched her lay out a couple of salads and his scowl darkened. "Sharon, you didn't have to do all this." He waved his hand in the direction of his bedroom. "I was going to get the dry cleaning tomorrow. What are you doing?"

"Well," She said easily, and smiled at him again, "I was over there. I thought that I would save you the trip." Sharon tilted her head at him. Her eyes sparkled as her smile turned indulgent. Sometimes he could be like such a boy when he puffed up like this. It was as endearing as it could be irritating; just one of the little things that she had come to like about him. Sharon shook her head. "Andy, it was not a problem. Now you needn't bother with it. It is already done. As for dinner," Sharon shrugged at him, "It was a long day. I cannot imagine that you would feel like cooking, and you do not have to do that. Oh! While I am on the subject of conveniences, Rusty is driving over to check out the campus on Monday," she said of UCLA. "He has an appointment with his advisor in the Journalism department." As she spoke, her eyes lit up with pride and excitement. "So I was thinking," she continued and gave him a small smile, "that Rusty can pick up your car on his way and drop it off at that tire shop you were going to take it to over in Century City. He is going to be out that way, and then you will not have to worry about rushing back tomorrow to get ready for the ballet if the technicians decide to take all day. He can drop your car off at the PAB when he finishes up with everything. What do you think?"

She wriggled her fingers at him, as if to wave it all away and say that it was a forgone conclusion that they would do exactly that. She had made up her mind, made all of the arrangements, she had cued up the Official Flynnsitter and he was meant to fall in line. That just made him mad as hell. "Bullshit." Andy felt a little jolt of something that might have been adrenaline move through him when her head snapped up and she looked at him. Now he had her attention. "Sharon, if you want to stay in, I can make dinner. Or I could pick something up. I can take you out to a damned movie and not be too tired to go out tomorrow night." While he spoke, he gestured with his hands, waving them around in his frustration. "I can pick up my own damned dry cleaning, and I can sure as hell put it away by myself. I do not need you waiting on me hand and food, and I sure as hell don't need you to curb my errands like I'm some kind of invalid!"

Sharon blinked at him. She placed the items in her hands on the counter with careful precision and turned toward him. Her brows rose in surprise. Sharon folded her arms across her chest and tilted her head in askance. She could not have heard him correctly. Was he actually yelling at her? She took just a moment to study him. He was so angry that even his ears were turning red. That his blood pressure was that high concerned her, but she was more concerned with the idea that he was upset about something. "Excuse me?"

The deliberate way that she spoke just angered him more. She had used that tone on him, the one that she usually reserved for the office and recalcitrant officers and suspects. Andy pointed a finger at her. "You heard me. I don't need a babysitter, Sharon. I don't need my errands run for me, and god almighty, with the nagging! I am not going to be too tired. I've hardly lifted a finger to do anything to be tired about!" He threw his hands up in exasperation. "You won't let me!"

"I see." Sharon didn't know what to say. She was surprised at his outburst and more than a little hurt by it. Sharon never imagined that he would view her attempts to help him as he got settled back in to taking care of himself and recovering from his ordeal as some form of nagging. "Well then." She swallowed hard when her voice wavered. Sharon shook her head. She stepped away from the counter and walked quietly over to retrieve her purse from where it had been left upon her arrival. "Perhaps the next time that you find yourself requiring the assistance of someone who is only going to nag at you, you should call your ex-wife… no…" Sharon stopped and turned. She fixed him with a hard look. "On second thought, I doubt that she will bother to answer the phone, since she could not be bothered to do so this time. Best of luck to you, Lieutenant; I will see you at work on Monday."

He didn't think that she would be exactly thrilled with what she had to say, but the use of his rank made his stomach lurch and twist uneasily. Andy's jaw dropped open as she walked away from him. She didn't slam the door when she left, but rather closed it quietly behind her. Somehow the quiet click that it made sounded that much louder. He wasn't surprised. That was exactly what he would expect from Sharon. Perhaps it was her silence that really drove home for him just how angry she was. Andy was aware that should have bothered him, but it pissed him off. He was the one that was being backed into a corner and not allowed to live his own life, and she was mad? He shook his head. There was a small voice in the back of his mind that whispered that he should go after her, but he ignored it. He walked over and picked up the take out containers instead and then promptly dropped them in the trash. He could damn well feed himself. He wasn't an invalid, and he wasn't a child. If Sharon could not recognize that fact, then maybe there was a harder conversation that needed to be had.

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Sharon drove directly home. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts that she tried to quiet. Her first response was abject irritation. She understood that Andy was frustrated with the way that things were going for him, but he was going to yell at her for that? As his little diatribe continued and she paid closer attention to the words that he was saying, the annoyance gave way to hurt. She could not imagine what she had done to so anger him, but he was truly angry.

Sharon thought back over the last several weeks, but could not identify any point during that time when she may have crossed a line. Andy had needed someone to take care of him and she was only too happy to oblige. Even Rusty had stepped forward in ways that she could not have dreamed of, but was so very thankful for, and seemed to have grown closer to the other man in doing so. It seemed to her that during this time, while Rusty still had some discomfort around them, he had come to finally accept her relationship with Andy. She would even call his reactions now normal for any boy his age whose mother was involved in a romantic relationship.

That was, apparently, as far as it was going to go. Sharon could not understand why Andy would be so unhappy, but to liken the care that he had been provided the past few weeks to nagging hurt too deeply to ignore. She felt as though she had been struck, and the closer she got to her own home, the angrier that she became. Sharon had gone to great lengths for Andy, both personally and professionally during the course of their relationship, and his response was to yell at her in anger over his current circumstances. She was not the one that had asked him to jump onto a moving vehicle. Sharon wondered if she should remind him of that fact, but chose instead to file that away. She would not engage his immature approach to his displeasure. Quite frankly she had enough of that over the course of her life. Nor would she be accused of nagging by another man with whom she was involved and attempting to assist.

If Andy Flynn was so convinced that he could take care of himself, she would allow him to do so. There would be no more help from her corner. Not unless he specifically asked for it, and then she promised herself that his reasoning had better be quite convincing. Not that she imagined he would be asking. No, the problem with Andy was his pride. It was as bruised as his body had been. Sharon hoped that would keep him warm, as she certainly would not be.

Rusty was surprised when Sharon stepped into the condo. He had not expected her home for several hours. It was the first actual date that she and Flynn had been on since he got hurt, and while he didn't want to think about it, at all, he figured that she would be gone for a while. Rusty was seated at the table with a bowl of cereal in front of him. He looked a little guilty at having been caught; he knew that Sharon hated it when he had cereal for dinner. "Hey." He put his spoon back in his bowl as she came into the condo. "You're home early."

"Yes." That was all that Sharon said as she peeled out of her jacket and heels. "Plans changed." She offered him a small, wan smile as she walked toward the kitchen. She saw the bowl, and the box of cheerios that was left on the counter. She chose to ignore it. There was too much else for her to be upset about at present. The condo had seemed large just a few days before, as she realized that it was once again just her and Rusty residing within those walls. Now it seemed entirely too small. Sharon suppressed the urge to sigh as she put the kettle on for tea.

"Oh." Rusty frowned at her back. She sounded a little odd to him; she was also acting a little down. Rusty watched as she moved around the kitchen. It was her usual evening routine. She made herself a cup of tea and then retrieved her heels before making her way to the hall. Rusty lifted his spoon again. He supposed they must have caught a case, or wondered if Flynn just wasn't up to the whole dating thing yet. The guy seemed fine to him, but he decided that he would ask Sharon later, when she seemed more open to talking. For now he let her go and turned his attention back on his cereal and the notes that he was reading following his last meeting with Slider.

By the following day, he was a little more concerned. Rusty could usually tell when Sharon had a bad day. She didn't yell or slam doors. That wasn't her style. She didn't believe in behaving that way. She thought each moment, even the challenges in life, should be faced with grace and maturity. Every new challenge was a lesson learned, she told him. When she was really upset, though, she would get quiet. She wouldn't speak of it until she was ready to, and even then, unless it involved him in some way or she believed that he should know about it, she may not discuss the matter at all. There were times when he tried to get her to talk, and she just wouldn't. Sharon didn't close up on him; she just wouldn't discuss it. She would change the subject instead, or turn the conversation on him. Rusty resolved to not allow this to be one of those times. He could see that something was truly bothering her. She wasn't just upset, she was sad.

Sharon had come home upset the night before, and Rusty had brushed it aside. Everyone had a bad day, even Sharon. That it was still affecting her was what bothered him. He wouldn't say that she was moping, because that wasn't her way either. Nor was she depressed, or any other words that he could think of to describe the usual bouts of angst that people dealt with on a daily basis. No, Sharon was simply sad.

They both had things to do that day. It was a Saturday, and that meant errands for Sharon and catching up on all of the television shows that he missed while he was studying for his finals. Rusty waited until they sat down at dinner. He knew that Sharon might not want to talk about it, but she wouldn't just get up and leave the table if the topic of conversation was uncomfortable. She could compartmentalize and redirect like no one else that he had ever met before, but outright avoidance was just not her way.

Dinner conversation had gone the way that it normally did. Sharon wanted to know about his classes and carefully avoided any topics that might bring them around to his VLOG or the Slider trial. At the first pause in conversation that they had, Rusty tilted his head at her. He gave her a carefully curious look. "Is everything okay with you?"

"Hm?" Sharon hummed quietly as she looked up at her son. She gave him a surprised look before smiling at him. It did not quite reach her eyes. "Everything is okay, Rusty. There is nothing at all for you to worry about." She knew that he had been concerned about her relationship with Andy at its start. She would not inflict what was quite possibly its end on him. Even the thought of things ending with Andy filled her with a deep sadness. Her stomach twisted painfully. Sharon looked down at her dinner. She was no longer hungry. She sighed quietly as she pushed the steamed vegetables around on her plate.

"Okay," Rusty replied slowly. That was the least convincing that she had ever been. Rusty turned his attention to the roast on his plate and thought through all of the events of the last week. He knew that Major Crimes had just wrapped up a case, and that Sharon was home on a Saturday told him that they had not caught another one, although that could change at any time. Now that he thought about it, Rusty recalled that Sharon was not supposed to be home on Saturday evening. She was supposed to have plans with Andy. He remembered clearly rolling his eyes at the fact that they were having back-to-back date nights, although tonight was a special occasion. It was the Nutcracker. It was a thing, not that he really wanted to think about it, although he planned to tease them about it after the fact. Rusty speared a piece of steamed broccoli and considered it for a moment. "Wasn't tonight the ballet?" He tried to ask casually. That Sharon seemed more sad than angry made him wonder if something was going on with Andy rather than with work.

Sharon's fork struck her plate a little harder than she intended it to as she pierced a piece of roast. She drew a breath and let it out slowly. "It was," She replied truthfully. Sharon glanced up at Rusty before reaching for her water glass. "Plans changed," she said, repeating the same reason that she had given him the previous evening.

Rusty's brows rose in surprise. Sharon had gone a little stiff as she spoke. That was not a reaction that he expected. He studied her closely. She seemed to be avoiding his gaze now. "What happened?" He decided to just ask. There was no reason to dance around it. She would either talk about it or she would not. Rusty was really hoping that she would tell him, especially as she seemed so effected by whatever was going on.

"Nothing happened, Rusty." Sharon exhaled quietly as she replaced the water glass. "Things change. That is all. It is nothing for you to worry about."

Evading. Rusty tilted his head at her. So there was something going on with Andy. If this was his other mother he would definitely know what was wrong by now. He would not even have had to ask. She would have ranted and complained, then she would have cried and acted desperate. But this was not his biological mother. This was Sharon. She never did any of those things. Rusty put his fork down. His gaze was unwavering. "Did you have a fight or something?"

Persistent. That was her boy. When he truly wanted to know something he wasn't willing to easily let it go. She supposed that he would realize sooner or later that there was an issue with her relationship with Andy. "Or something," She stated simply. Sharon put her fork down and leaned back in her chair. She folded her hands in her lap and shrugged at her son. "There is really nothing that you should be concerned about," She assured him. "Some people simply lack the maturity to understand when others are attempting to help them, that is all."

Rusty watched Sharon's eyes flash in annoyance and sat a little straighter in his seat. She was trying very hard to suppress her anger, but he could see it, simmering right beneath the surface of her sadness. They had definitely had a fight, he realized. Rusty thought about things for a moment. His first reaction was distrust, but he pushed the thought that he should have expected this aside and concentrated on what Sharon had said. "I guess Andy was a little more upset than he let on huh? The other day when I walked him to court?"

"Oh Rusty, no." Sharon leaned forward immediately. "This has nothing to do with you, I promise. Andy is…" Sharon felt herself beginning to make excuses for him and stopped. She shook her head instead. "Andy is unhappy, but it isn't you. He is apparently quite upset with me." She looked down and toyed with the edge of her placemat. "Andy is… quite used to taking care of things on his own. I suppose he didn't like having someone else involved."

"Yeah." Rusty watched her. "Or maybe…" he shrugged. "Sharon… what if it was just too much? I mean… maybe he's just ready for everyone to back off?" He smiled when she looked up at him. "He didn't need me to walk him to court. He probably doesn't need me to take his car to be serviced either. Sharon…" Rusty laughed quietly. "I know that you're just trying to help, but you know, it's a little…"

When he trailed off and didn't complete the statement, Sharon frowned at him. "A little what?" She arched a brow at him. She straightened where she sat and watched her son fidget in his chair. "Rusty, a little what?"

"Smothering." Rusty gestured helplessly. "I know you mean well, but Sharon, sometimes… it can be kind of much." He loved her, and he would always be thankful that Sharon had come into his life, but Rusty had been on the receiving end of her caretaking. He understood how Flynn probably felt, and had even started to see a little bit of it before he moved back into his own place. He wanted to be able to take care of himself, he didn't want to lean on Sharon, but that hadn't meant that he didn't appreciate it. Rusty knew that he did. The same way that Andy had appreciated his help too.

"Smothering?" Her voice pitched a little higher in her disbelief. Sharon blinked at him a few times. Did they truly feel as if she smothered them when she tried to take care of them? Sharon shook her head slowly. That made her feel quite a bit sadder, that the people in her life felt somehow… bad about the way in which she tried to make them feel better. "Rusty, I do not…"

He winced at her response. "I don't mean it like that." Rusty shifted in his chair. He leaned forward and rested his arms against the table. "I just mean…" He didn't know how to explain it, not without making her feel worse, and that was the last thing that Rusty wanted. "Okay." He had an example, but it might not be the best one. Rusty decided to use it anyway. "Remember when I started getting the letters?" He wasn't sure that she could forget, or that he could either for that matter. That was a period in time that would be forever written across his memory. "What did you do? We didn't really know that it was a threat at first, but it could be. I wasn't in complete lock down, but it was pretty bad. At least it felt like that at the time. I couldn't go anywhere without a police escort, and I was pretty much stuck just being here, at school, or in the Murder Room. It turned out later that it wasn't a bad thing, but at the time…"

Rusty smiled at her. "Then there was Jack." He watched her bristle a little at the mention of her ex-husband and hurried to explain. "He was only supposed to stay for two nights, Sharon. You let him stay for almost a month, even though you really didn't want him here. It wasn't about him, and we both know that. It was about me. He was another pair of eyes, and I'm not stupid enough to think that Jack cared." Rusty made a face at the thought. "Acting like the Official Rustysitter just gave him an excuse to hang around and he did it as long as he was getting something in return. That was really all he was; it was the same reason that you had Buzz hauling me around everywhere, or Julio, or any of the team. I know that you only did it to take care of me, and I am not saying that I don't appreciate it. I do. More, I think, than I will ever be able to tell you. I understand all of it now, Sharon. When it was happening, it was kind of hard to think outside of it. It just felt like I was being put in a box and I would only be taken out of it as I was needed. That isn't what was happening, but at the time," he explained, "that was the reality that I was feeling." Rusty smiled at her again. "It was kind of hard for me to deal with, and I was just a kid. Think about how someone who isn't a kid might feel?"

Sharon folded her arms across her chest while she thought about what he was telling her. "That is not quite the same thing." Sharon was trying to connect the dots between his situation and Andy's, but was stuck on the fact that Rusty had needed protecting, where Andy was injured and in need of care. "You were in police protection, Rusty. Andy is not."

"No," Rusty agreed with a smile, "but you're still the one taking care of everything." He tapped his fingers against the table for a moment, and then he leaned back again. "What if it wasn't Andy?" He folded his arms across his chest. "What if you were the one that was hurt?" Rusty didn't even want to entertain that thought, but he put it out on the table. It was the reality that they lived in. He understood that better since Andy had been injured. "What if you were hurt, and couldn't take care of yourself, and Andy was the one that was doing everything that you have been doing for him for the last month. How would you feel? If you had to live with him, and depend on him to help do things that you were used to doing by yourself. How would you feel if he was constantly there, making sure that you were okay and didn't need anything? What if he made sure that someone else was with you when he couldn't be? He didn't let you drive, and he didn't let you go anywhere alone. If he even arranged for Nicole to keep an eye on you doing something as simple as walking down the street to a prearranged appointment. What would you think, Mom?" He used her name when he was trying to make a point, and wanted her attention. But he found more often these days that he dropped the name and simply addressed her as what she was, his mother.

Sharon had to put herself in that position. She slumped a bit in her seat as her mind took her down the path that he created for her. She had been injured before, and knew how difficult it was to manage on one's own. She also knew that she was fully capable of doing so. Sharon had been taking care of herself, and her children, on her own for a very long time. She grimaced and looked away as Rusty's words struck a cord of truth. She would feel rather smothered if she were in Andy's shoes. Sharon allowed her hands to fall into her lap. She shook her head and looked up at her son. "I think that I would be feeling very much the same as Andy is right now." Sharon pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and sighed. "Rusty, if you thought I was going too far, why haven't you said something before now?" It was obvious to her that he spent enough time with Andy lately that he fully understood where the other man was coming from, and even sympathized with him. Sharon huffed quietly. She supposed that was exactly why Rusty had given away her little subterfuge the other day in having him accompany Andy to court.

When she considered Rusty's attitude at the beginning of her relationship with Andy, she couldn't say that she would ever imagine that he would be taking Andy's side in a situation like this. Not that she believed that Rusty was choosing sides, not in the least. She just never imagined that it would be Andy with whom he would be able to relate. She realized that they really had come a long way, although she didn't know what they would do with that now. Sharon looked away again. She honestly did not know how to repair what was happening between them currently. "Thank you, Rusty." If anything he had given her a lot to think about.

He watched her rise from the table and gather her dishes. Rusty sighed quietly. "Mom, it's going to be okay." When she looked at him, Rusty shrugged and grinned. "People argue all the time. Even we don't get along all of the time."

"No we do not." Sharon gave him a small smile. "Do not worry, Rusty. I am certain that everything will work itself out as it is meant to." She carried her dishes into the kitchen and placed them in the sink. "If you will excuse me," she told him, "I am no longer very hungry and I think that I would like to be alone."

"Okay." Rusty had expected that. She would want to think about things, and if she planned to talk to Andy at all, she would not do that in front of him. "Good night. I love you."

Sharon smiled more brightly at him, and if her eyes were a little wet, she ignored that. "You are precious to me, always. Never forget that." She stopped to cup his chin. "I love you too. Good night, Rusty."

He watched her make her retreat down the hall and slumped in his chair a bit. Rusty didn't like that she was sad, but he felt a little better for having helped her understand where Flynn was coming from. Relationships were hard, that was something that he was learning more and more of every day. They were complicated and there were pitfalls everywhere. When it was good, though, it was really good, and for the most part, Rusty had come to realize that his mother's relationship with her Lieutenant was really good. He kind of hoped that it would be again. But that still didn't mean that he wanted to see any of it. God had he seen enough. If they did work things out, Rusty made a mental note to talk to them about no kissing in communal areas. It was kind of gross!

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Sharon retired to her room for the evening and once left alone, she was able to really think about what Rusty had said. She let her mind wander back over the previous few weeks and removed herself from the equation. She considered everything that Andy had gone through and how he must have felt. After his surgery he was resistant to the idea of coming back to the Condo. He mentioned, more than once, that he didn't want to be a burden to anyone. That hadn't changed the fact that the hospital was not going to release him to go home alone. Sharon hated the idea of his going to the convalescent center until he was cleared to go home. She simply wasn't going to allow that, not when he could be perfectly comfortable at her home.

Maybe that was the problem? She had not allowed it. Sharon had not really paused long enough to consider if there were any alternatives, or to give Andy the opportunity to suggest any alternatives. Not that there were many. His son lived in Sacramento and his daughter was out of the country. Most of his family lived back east, and the rest of them, well, Andy didn't exactly speak to them often. She supposed that he could have gone home with Provenza and Patrice, and she was certain that they would have offered, except for the fact that she had not exactly left much of an opening.

Sharon continued to think about that as she went through her evening routine. She operated mostly on autopilot while her mind was turned inward. Had she listened to his reservations or hesitation at all? Or was she so swept away in wanting him to be better that she missed the obvious while she was helping him to get better. Maybe she had ignored the fact that his pride was wounded, and in wanting him to be physically better, she forgot to take care of the more intricate nature of his emotional wellbeing too.

It was no secret that he was frustrated. There were a lot of things going on at present. She was not the only one worried about him, and at the same time, Sharon was very aware that he was taking a lot of comments and teasing from the rest of the team. She thought that he had given back as good as he had taken, but she guessed that, just as she liked to keep work separate from her personal life, so too did he. He may be a sarcastic, macho guy, her Andy, but he was also very sensitive and incredibly private too. He had taken it well that the others had found out just how serious his condition was, but now that he was on the mend, she was beginning to understand that all he wanted to do was put it behind him and move on.

The hour had grown late. Sharon had changed for bed and even ventured out once to fix herself a cup of tea, only to find that Rusty had retreated to his room for the night. The tea had not helped as she hoped that it would. Instead she spent the night tossing and turning. Her mind simply would not turn off. It was too full of thoughts and questions, and so many emotions that she wasn't sure that she could catalogue them all. When it became so loud that she could no longer stand it, Sharon sat up in her bed and reached for her cell phone.

When she was this caught up in a problem there was really only one person that she could speak to about it. She just didn't know if he would want to speak to her. She debated the message before she sent it, but it was simple and to the point. She had no way of knowing if Andy was still awake, but she hoped that he would be. "Can we talk?"

Andy was seated in his recliner when his phone lit up on the table beside his chair. He had spent the day stubbornly going through all of the errands that he had planned, and then he had come home to make himself dinner. The result was that he was completely exhausted, but he had felt the need to do those things for himself. He had not heard from Sharon, and although he considered calling her a couple of times, he had refrained. He looked at his phone now and arched a brow at the display. He was surprised that she was reaching out to him first.

He had some time to think about what happened after Sharon left the previous evening. He wasn't as angry as he was before, but he was still very upset about the way that their argument had unfolded. There was even a part of him that was upset that it wasn't even an argument. Sharon had simply walked away. Not that he wanted to fight with her, but she could have said something.

Andy sighed as he reached for his phone. He considered ignoring it for just a second. It was late. She would think that he was asleep, but he was pissed, not a bastard. Instead he sent back a simple, if clipped response. "Is there anything to talk about? I think you were pretty clear, Captain."

It stung, but Sharon understood why he had done it. She chewed on the corner of her lip while she stared at her phone. She could ignore it. She could leave things as they were and wait until they were together again to discuss matters. The longer it lingered, though, the more she worried that it would be harder to fix. As that thought occurred she realized that was exactly what she wanted. She was not ready to walk away from this relationship, and certainly not at the first sign of trouble. It was worth more than that to her. He was worth more than that to her.

Sharon drew a breath and let it out slowly. She turned the phone over in her hands and closed her eyes. He had filled such a part of her life, and become so very dear to her, even before the start of their romance. If nothing else, at the center of everything, they were still friends. At least, she hoped that they were. "I had a stupid fight with my boyfriend," she typed, "and I need to talk to my best friend."

Andy put his phone down and stood up. He walked away from it. She was calling it a stupid fight? He figured maybe that was exactly what it was, but it didn't exactly feel all that stupid. He walked into his bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. He leaned forward and let his arms drape across his knees. What the hell kind of game was she playing? That was the first question to cross his mind, but then he recalled very quickly that this was Sharon and she didn't play games. He sighed warily and shook his head. She was looking for a friend, and he was struck by the fact that he had promised her at the beginning of all this that she would always have one, no matter what else happened between them. She was too damned important to him to risk losing. But maybe that was exactly what he was doing?

She had come to him the night that he asked her on that first date. Andy had immediately thought, upon letting her into his house, that she had come to let him down easily. He figured that once she had time to think about it, she realized that dating him was not what she wanted. He was concerned that she had felt cornered and had only agreed for lack of a better response. What actually transpired was very far from that; she had come to talk. He was her sounding board, and even if it was about him she needed to know that they would still have that connection.

"I really just felt like I needed someone to talk to, is that okay?"

She looked so earnestly at him that Andy couldn't stop the flutter of his heart. His jaw clenched for a moment and then he sighed. He leaned against the cabinet adjacent to her and nodded quietly. "Yeah," he said. "Is…" Andy didn't even know where to begin. On the one hand, he wasn't sure he wanted to hear what she would say, and on the other, it wasn't in him to turn her away. "Is everything okay?"

Her lips pursed. Sharon looked into her coffee. "Rusty asked me the same thing. I told him that nothing is wrong. I don't think there is." She lifted her gaze and looked pointedly at him. "I just can't exactly talk to Rusty about what is on my mind. When I did look for someone to call, I realized that I have a very serious problem."

His brows drew together in a frown. Andy shook his head. He wasn't sure that he was following her. She didn't seem upset, or really all that pensive. If he had to gauge her mood, he would say that it was curious, and maybe a bit nervous too. Where she was going with this train of thought still worried him, but now he was concerned about her, rather than himself. "What is it?"

She sighed softly. Suddenly she felt awkward again. Sharon averted her gaze and looked down once more. She ran her finger around the rim of her coffee cup and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. "You," she said softly. "I wanted to call you, but I cannot talk to you about you. It made me wonder if… I started to think that…" Her eyes closed for a moment. She had to give in to her own uncertainty and when she did, she looked up at him with shining eyes and a small smile. "How are we going to do this?" She asked him.

"I guess maybe…" Andy shrugged. "I kind of need to know what it is that you're talking about first. How are we going to do what? Sharon, I'm not entirely sure anymore that we're on the same page. You're going to have to say it." He had been picking up her signals and working on his response, and now he had to question if maybe he had gotten them all wrong.

She supposed that was fair. She had decided that honesty was the best option for the night, hadn't she? Sharon placed her coffee mug on the counter beside her and turned to face him more fully. "You and I," she explained quietly, "dating. You will talk to Lieutenant Provenza," she acknowledged, "if you haven't already. That's okay, I understand that," she trusted them to keep it out of the Murder Room. "Andy, when I got home tonight my mind was all over the place. I needed a sounding board, and when I reached for my phone, my first thought was of you. I call you when I need to talk. Yes, I have other friends," she said, and waved a hand between them, dismissing that thought. "I didn't want them. What bothered me, was the thought that…" She shifted where she stood, because saying it was hard. She had admitted it to herself, but giving voice to her concern made it real. "I do not want to lose you," she said thickly. When he looked away from her, she took a step forward. Sharon laid a hand on his arm. "That does not mean that I do not want to move forward either."

He expected her to let him down gently, and thought she was doing just that. Once again she managed to surprise him. Andy stared at her. There was an emotion in her eyes that he had never seen before. The delight that he thought he saw earlier wasn't imagined, and he felt a little gratified to know that he hadn't so completely misread her. At the same time, he was shocked by what he read in her gaze. It was a little hard to find his voice, and so he ended up quietly rasping her name. "Sharon." There was fear in her gaze, but determination. He thought that he even saw a little bit of hope, and something else that he couldn't quite define, something that he wasn't sure that either of them could define this early in the game. "I…"

His inability to speak sent a smile curving across her lips. Her eyes lit with it. "Yes," she agreed. "Me too. Which is exactly what I needed you for earlier." Sharon's eyes sparkled. She took another step forward. "You see, there's a guy," she began, her voice lilted softly, "and I really like him. He makes me laugh," she said, "and he drives me crazy. Sometimes I just want to shake him, but most of the time, he's really wonderful..."

So they had talked. They had spent the evening defining what this was between them and how they could separate it from what they already had. They promised each other that they would move slowly, and that they would remain friends, and that they would talk. That was the one thing that they could both identify that had gone wrong in their marriages. They had not communicated enough or effectively with their spouses, and so something precious had been lost and left to ruin. They did not want that for each other.

They agreed to move a day at a time, a date at a time, and see how the possibility of romance unfolded before them. It was something that they both wanted. There was potential there, quite obviously if everyone had seen it but them; they only had to open themselves up to it.

Moving slowly hadn't even bothered him. Andy wasn't going to say that it couldn't be frustrating, because there were times that he wanted her so badly that it almost hurt. Being with Sharon was more important, however, than getting her into bed. He wasn't looking for a fling; he was looking for a partner.

Andy sighed again and ran his hands through his hair. He stood up and walked back into the living room where his phone waited. He regarded it for a moment. There were no other messages from Sharon. Maybe she was right, maybe it was just a stupid fight, but it was something that they needed to talk about. Even if they didn't agree, the other person deserved to have the opportunity to understand why each of them felt the way that they did. It was the promise that he had made her. It was one that he would keep.

MCMCMCMCMCMC

Sharon's eyes fluttered open and her head rose when her phone vibrated on the bed beside her. It still rested where she had placed it after sending Andy that last text. When he had not responded she laid her head down and resolved to try to sleep, despite the sinking of her heart and the building sadness inside of her. She had really hoped that he would feel like talking about things. She knew that Andy could be stubborn, but she truly hoped that he would understand what she was trying to do. The possibility that they had lost what was most precious to her, their ability to always communicate with one another, was what saddened her most about their current situation.

She tried to push that aside as she lifted her phone. The light from the display hurt her eyes, but they quickly adjusted. The words in front of her, however, pulled a gasp from her throat. "Open the door, let's talk."

Sharon dropped the phone back onto the bed as she stood. She pushed a hand through her hair as she moved through the condo. Her heart was beating a little faster in her chest. It had been a while since she sent that last text message to him, and the hour was very late. It was well after midnight. She had not expected that he would come to her, but then, he had surprised her before. He hadn't knocked, but he wouldn't, not at this late hour. He wouldn't want to wake Rusty. As Sharon pulled open the door, she drew her bottom lip between her teeth. She found Andy standing on the other side, his phone in his hand, looking just as solemn as she felt.

Andy stepped forward into the condo and closed the door quietly behind him. His eyes swept over her quickly. She had obviously been in bed, if her slightly rumpled appearance was anything to go by. Her hair was mussed and she was dressed in a pair of blue, plaid pajama pants and a t-shirt that he hadn't realized that he was missing. Andy chose to file that fact away for later, along with the resulting fact that he liked seeing her in it. As his gaze settled on her face, he realized that she had not been crying, but the lines around her eyes and the downward turn of her lips told him just how upset that she was. Sharon wasn't one to rage and sob and curse the world. She was too strong for that; she had needed to be. She saved her tears her for moments of deep grief and resounding despair.

While they stared at one another, Andy slipped his phone back into his jacket. He took another step forward and reached slowly for her hand. When she did not pull away, he tugged her closer. The embrace that he pulled her into was slow, almost tentative. When she did not resist he wrapped her closer and turned his face into her mussed hair. After a moment he felt her slide her hands up his sides. She curled her hands around his shirt and he felt her sigh and relax.

"So," he said quietly, voice low and rumbling deeply in the quiet room. "What did the idiot do?"

His words brought forth a wet chuckle. Sharon turned her face into his shoulder an inhaled. She let the familiar scent of his aftershave wash over her and took a moment to just enjoy how good it felt to have his arms around her. When she finally lifted her head to look at him, her eyes were moist. She touched the curve of his jaw, and let her thumb sweep over his chin. She wondered if he had even the slightest idea just how dear he was to her. "He wasn't the idiot," she replied quietly. "I think I was."

Andy's eyes softened. His shoulders slumped as the last of the anger that had been fueling his mood faded away to nothing. It could be the sadness in her gaze, or the way that she looked up at him through her lashes, tentative and a little hopeful. There was regret there too, and he knew it was for the argument and what might have precipitated it. Andy allowed his head to drop until their foreheads rested together. "No," he said. "I'm just an ungrateful ass."

Her eyes closed, but her stomach still clenched painfully. There was so much emotion filling the room, but at the center of it, there was still the fear that she had experienced the day of his fall, and again on the day of his surgery. Sharon shivered, despite the warmth of his arms around her. Her jaw clenched at the ache that was building in her throat and the sting of the tears that she didn't want to shed. There were too many things that had gone unsaid for too long. Their time on this earth was not infinite, and neither was their time together. "I almost lost you," she whispered.

She had not given voice to it before. Words held power, and so she had swallowed these. She had focused instead on his recovery and being strong for him and those that were in their lives. She was strong for Rusty, who had been frightened by the fall. She was strong for Nicole who was so very far away and worried for her father. Sharon had promised to take care of him, and to keep her updated on his progress. She was strong for her team, because the idea of losing one of their own had suddenly become very real. Finally she was strong for Andy, because she had not wanted him to worry about her while he should be focused on his health. Through it all she had only wanted to hold him, but she had stood tall instead, because that was what she did. "You could have died," she said, voice growing thick with emotion. "I'm just not sure that I know how to let go again, Andy. I can take care of myself, and I can take care of my career, and my children, but this is different…"

She lowered her gaze and focused on his t-shirt. Sharon brought her hands up to rest against his chest. Sharon looked up again when he started to speak and shook her head, silencing him. "No, let me say this. I allowed myself to get too comfortable. With you, with everything, really; I think that I became complacent. I allowed myself to believe that we had all the time in the world and if I have learned anything at all this past month, it is how very untrue that is. Being faced with our very real mortality frightens me, and I am not someone who let's go easily." She smiled at him. "I think you know that. So I held on to you in the only way that I knew how, because taking care of you made it seem as if I had some control over the situation, when nothing could be farther from the truth. That is the way that I have always handled everything. When my marriage was falling apart, I took care of my kids and focused on my career. When Rusty was in danger, I kept him as close to me as I could, even at the expense of doing something that I promised that I would never do again."

She rolled her eyes at his questioning look. "I let Jack move in for a little while, and that turned out just as I expected that it would, but as Rusty so kindly pointed out to me this evening, I did that for him. I would do it again, because that was more preferable to me than allowing him to go into witness protection. He was mine." Her gaze lowered again and she took a small breath. "But you are not one of my children for me to protect, or to smother in love until you forget just how big and mean, and terrible the outside world is. That does not change the fact that I just do not know how to live without you anymore." That admission alone was frightening, but so was all of the emotion that went with it. She was coming to love him in ways that she did not believe that she would again, and it was as alarming as it was exhilarating, especially when faced with the prospect of loss.

Andy didn't respond immediately. His heart was beating too quickly at what he thought she was trying to say. He let his hands slide down her arms instead and stepped around her. Andy pulled her with him further into the condo and over to the sofa. After they were both seated, he took her hand in his and let his gaze drop to study it, and just how small and delicate it appeared in contrast to his wider palm. His thumb stroked the length of her fingers while his mind worked through everything that she had told him. If she took care of him, she could control his recovery. She could make him okay, because the alternative was beyond her ability to accept. It was just the same way she faced most things in life, and he was wondering if he should have expected this. Andy looked up at her again and offered a small, crooked smile. "I'm trying too hard to prove that I'm okay, so that everyone can stop worrying about it."

He sighed and shook his head. Everything was healing, and he was doing okay. He still tired pretty easily, and his neck was kind of tender and aching after a full day of activity, but it wasn't too bad. Every day was a little better than the last one. The headaches came and went, less often now, a week after the concussion, but he had been told to expect them. He was going to get better. It was just a process, but one he wanted to have over with already. "You're not the only one," he told her. "It scares the hell out of me too. I'm not too fond of the idea of dying." Andy shrugged. "What I hate most is that I had to be one more person that you had to take care of. Maybe it's my own damned macho pride, but as much as I know that you don't need me to take care of you, I want to. You are strong for everyone around you, but what about you? Who is strong for you?"

He was too filled with energy now. As he spoke, Andy stood up to pace. Despite how tired he was earlier, the idea of sitting still seemed impossible. He ran a hand through his hair and waved the other one at her. "Our relationship is not about me being your patient, and all month that is the only thing that we've had going on. What the hell does that leave for us now?" He asked, because that question had been ever present on his mind. How did they step back from the level of intimacy that had been thrust upon them? "You know, I'm not one of those guys who finds it sexy when his girlfriend is waiting on him hand and foot, and there's just nothing romantic about you having to do my laundry." He never imagined that she would be folding his boxers before they ever took that final step and became lovers in the physical sense.

Andy huffed an irritated sigh. It was not Sharon that he was annoyed with, but the situation that they were in. "We've been more damned intimate in a month than I think I was with Vicki the entire first year that we were married!" He looked down at her, and as he spoke, he began ticking things off on his fingers. "We have fought over doing the dishes, and whose turn it is in the bathroom, not to mention this place isn't all that big so we have all been dancing around each other in some pretty crowded living space. I've seen you without makeup," he waved a hand at her face, which was even now, completely scrubbed and devoid of any cosmetics, save the moisturizer that he also now knew that she used morning and night. She was always beautiful, and if he was honest about it, seeing her at her most natural was his favorite thing. "You've seen me before I've shaved, and you know, it's just…" Andy's shoulders slumped again as he gave her a sad look. "I never wanted you to think that I was someone else that you have to carry along. I don't want to be your dependent, Sharon. I want to be your partner."

There were tears swimming in her eyes. Sharon shook her head at him as she stood. "Andy." She wanted to roll her eyes at him, but knew that if she did those tears would fall. Instead she blinked them back and moved to stand in front of him. "I never thought of you as a dependent," she assured him. "I never considered, even for a moment, that I had to carry you along. I only wanted to help. You are right, this relationship has never been about either of us taking care of the other, but rather…" She reached up to touch his face again. "I thought that we were taking care of each other. Everything that I have done for you is something that I know, without even a moment's worth of doubt, that you would do for me." Sharon watched him lower his gaze again and she followed it, ducking her head until he looked at her. "How many ways have you taken care of me over the years? And especially since we became friends? You are right, I can take care of myself, and I do not need to be protected, but it is nice to know that you care enough to try, and to do it in ways that don't…" She did roll her eyes then and chuckled quietly. "Smother me."

Sharon took his hand and drew him back to the sofa with her. When they were seated again, she leaned in to his side. His arm wrapped around her and she nestled into his warmth. "Andy you were the first one to try and see past Rusty's negativity and attitude, even when it really annoyed you. You were the one that took him to the bus station that night to meet his mother, not to get rid of him, but to help me, and him. You were willing to stay at the precinct all night until we found him after he ran away, and thankfully that wasn't necessary." She settled her hand against his chest and smiled gently at him. He looked surprised, but she remembered every detail of the early days of their fledgling friendship, when respect and trust had been such a precious and rare thing between them. "Who keeps the tea cabinet stocked at work? You rarely touch any of it, and do not think that it goes unnoticed that the choices are all of my favorites. When Rusty was in police protection and relegated to spending all of his time with us in the Murder Room, who was it that always suggested that we order dinner from his favorite burger place? When I was still learning how to separate myself from FID and find my place in Major Crimes, who made that easier for me? Who was it that explained the finer intricacies of homicide investigations, on his own time, and away from the others so that I could save face and still be effective? Andy…"

Sharon smiled warmly at him. He had been taking care of her for such a long time, that it had become like second nature to them, and she had started to take for granted that she would always have him there to look out for her in those small, but oh so important ways. "When our cases are too much, who takes me to dinner so that I can decompress and not bring it home to Rusty? Who listens to me ramble on about how unfair our justice system can be, and who takes me to boring museum functions so that I won't have to go alone?" Now that she was naming all of the ways that he had moved into her life, and into her heart, Sharon realized that he had become one of the few people in her life that she could count on to be there without asking, and without thought. In so many ways he was the other part of her, and that was even before they had become romantically involved. No wonder their children had seen this before they did.

"Every time that you take me to a movie," she said, voice much softer now and filled a deep sense of joy, "you order the popcorn with extra butter, because it is what you know that I want. You hate popcorn." He didn't even like the smell of it, but he would sit there, and he would share it with her, and they would enjoy themselves. "Andy I know that this relationship has not been easy for you, or rather it's the pace that I set that hasn't been easy. You have been patient, and you have been understanding, and put up with a lot…" Rusty's misplaced sense of distrust seemed to be behind them now, but he had weathered it for her, because he had understood that it had nothing to do with him, but everything to do with that child's very painful past. "You have done everything that I have asked of you, and asked very little in return, so yes… absolutely, of course… once, just once, I was able to return the favor. I hate that it had to come because you were injured, but just once it was my turn to take care of you. I am sorry if I have backed you in to a corner, or made you feel as if you were being maneuvered. That was the last thing that I wanted."

"Sharon…"

"No." She placed her fingertips against his lips. "Andy, I already knew that I cared about you a great deal. You have been my friend, and so very dear to me. The thing is, I know that I cannot live without you any longer. I love you, but more importantly, I know that I am in love with you. That is something that I should have said before, but I did not want you to think that the idea of losing you frightened me into some kind of grand declaration. The truth is, knowing how very little time we could have together is frightening, but not nearly as terrifying as the idea of losing you without you knowing exactly what you mean to me."

He had been trying to work out how to tell her exactly that. Andy hadn't wanted the uncertainty of his health outcome to overshadow that moment. The words had been there, hovering between them. He was so close to telling her a few times, but he wanted to be stronger, more himself again when he admitted how important she had become to him. He took her hand again and lifted it. He pressed a kiss against her palm. "I love you," he told her. The words rasped thickly between them. "Waiting for you isn't hard, Sharon. You're worth waiting for. You always have been. I can't see that changing anytime soon."

"I really hope not, Andy." She closed her fingers around his and leaned closer, "because you are worth waiting for too. I meant what I said," she tipped his chin up with her other hand. "I will wait for you." Until he was completely healthy again, and until he felt whole. "I am not going anywhere. Not even when you are being an ungrateful ass because I am being an idiot."

He laughed. Andy pulled her closer. He slipped his hand into her hair and cupped the back of her head. Her lips were soft against his, but he let the kiss linger for only a moment before he lifted his head again. "I don't know what's gonna happen. No one does, but I am gonna be here for as long as I can, and with any luck, I'll be here for as long as you can stand it."

"Good." She tugged playfully at the front of his t-shirt, "because I can stand you just fine." Sharon leaned against his side and laid her head against his shoulder. "Having you here is exactly what I want." But when she nestled her head into the crook of his neck, he winced. Sharon pulled away from him and folded her lips together. Her brows lifted. They had only just moved beyond an argument about his wellbeing. She wasn't ready to go there again, but he was sore, and he was tired, and if his neck was bothering him, there was a reason for that.

Andy watched her look away. He knew that she was struggling with the urge to say something. He sighed. "Yeah, alright, I over did it today." He had taken his car to have it serviced, and done the grocery shopping, and then because he was feeling spiteful after their argument, he had done his laundry too, just to prove that he could. Now he had a headache that was a dull roar, and really more annoying than truly painful, while the rest of him just ached all over. That hadn't stopped him from driving across town to see her, though. That had simply been too important to avoid.

"What am I going to do with you?" Sharon stood up, but shook her head at him. She gave him a wide, indulgent smile as she held out her hand. "It's late. Come on." She could only hope that her phone would not ring before they managed a few hours of sleep.

He looked at her hand and then at her. Andy took it as he pushed himself up. "Yeah, I should head home. You'll be okay?"

"Oh, I will be fine." Sharon gave his hand a tug but she led him, not to the door, but to the hallway. "So will you." She tossed a smile at him from over her shoulder. There was no reason to displace Rusty from his bed at this late hour, and she wouldn't let him sleep on her sofa when he was already aching and weary. Sharon felt him hesitate and turned. "Andy, I am not going to let you drive across town at this hour, and I wouldn't even before your accident. Rusty is already asleep, and that sofa really is not fitting to sleep on for anyone past the age of twenty-five." She took a step closer, and mindful of the thin walls of the condo and her sleeping teenage son, she let her arms slide around the man that held such a large part of her heart. "I think that I can manage sleeping beside the man that I love, and after everything that has happened recently, I really think that I would like for him to hold me."

It was another step forward, one that needed to be taken. He had only wanted to be certain that she was ready. Holding her was something that he could definitely do, and something that he also very much wanted to do. "Okay." He kissed the corner of her mouth and let his arm wrap around her. He pulled her in to his side and let her maneuver them both into the bedroom.

The shirt that she was wearing was not the only thing that he managed to leave behind during his stay at the condo. Sharon produced a pair of sweats for him to sleep in, items that she had intended to send home with him, or hold on to… in case the need for them arose. That seemed to be now, and after he had changed, Andy joined her in the bed. She slept on her side, facing the windows, and as he slid in behind her, his arm wrapped around her middle. He pulled her back against his chest and they both sighed in relief while their bodies relaxed.

He nuzzled her hair aside and kissed the side of her neck. Sharon smiled. Andy had left her bedroom door cracked, so that Rusty would not get the wrong idea about his being there. Sharon stroked his arms while he held her, and waited for him to relax completely before she allowed her eyes to close. They were still taking care of one another, but the difference was that now they both understood it better.

He wanted to be strong. She wanted him to feel strong. They both wanted a tomorrow that neither of them could guarantee would ever arrive. All they had was now. They had to live in the moments as they happened, and not fear what they could not control. Every challenge was a new lesson. Every day was a new memory. Every minute was another chance to hold on to one another.

A hello could be spontaneous, and a goodbye may not be planned. They could only live between the two.

~FIN