You wanted a sequel to my story Merry Shandy. Well, here it goes. :)

Chapter 1 - A Tedious Monday

"Here you go, Captain," Andy said, coming into Sharon's office uninvited and dropping a piece of paper on her desk.

The door was open, but she still gave his route a pointed look before setting her eyes on his. He was grinning at her, not a single worry on his mind, apparently. She then carefully took hold of the so unceremoniously offered piece of paper and when she realized what it was, let out a soft laugh.

Still grinning, Andy, said, "Need Friday off, Captain." He gave her an amused raise of an eyebrow and added, "Got something of a rather personal nature going on."

"Interesting," she said, putting the document aside, "I'm taking the day off as well."

"Huh," Andy let out, feigning surprise.

She gave him a broad smile and an appraising look. "I'll take it under consideration. Now, go back to work, Lieutenant," she instructed, waving him off with a hand.

"Yes, Ma'am," Andy quipped and gave her a mock salute on his way out.

They were both taking Friday, February 24th, off because they were getting married that afternoon. She was not surprised by Andy's sudden theatrics. Their getting married was still not against department policy, but she had, earlier in the month, taken a moment to reiterate to Andy the importance of conducting themselves professionally and by the book at work. So naturally, he decided to make a show of doing exactly as she asked, minus the rude barging into her office, by putting in an official request for a day off.

Despite the change in their relationship status, Taylor had never made any changes in regards to her making decisions about Andy's paid leave or similar matters, and had left her in charge of those, resting assured she would not abuse her power. Howard, who was (still only temporarily) filling in Taylor's tragically vacated position, had not deemed any changes in that regard necessary either. And as she sat back laughing quietly to herself about her future husband's antics, she mentally thanked them for their trust in her, or else she would have missed out on this fun exchange.

That Monday was a rather tedious day otherwise. With no hot case on her division's platter, she was currently counting down the minutes to finally punching out and going home. Gazing through her office blinds, she saw the rest of her team was in a similar mind set, having completed the last of their paperwork, just as she had, and killing their final work minutes with relaxed chitchat.

So she let her thoughts drift.

She was getting married on Friday. That was the predominant thought on her mind at the moment. She felt positively giddy at the prospect of it and she didn't even have to worry about making it to her own wedding or not. Both her and Andy had decided to officially take the day off and had scheduled the ceremony for after work so that, unplanned cases permitting, the rest of their division could join them. Lieutenant Provenza though, would be joining them no matter what. He was Andy's best man and if push came to shove, he would run out of work long enough to attend the ceremony and do his part, running back to work afterwards if necessary (his words, not hers).

More importantly, however, all their children would be in attendance. And that thought alone made her giddy with excitement, too.

A knock on her, still open, door startled her out of her thoughts. She looked up to find Andy standing there, jacket draped over an arm. He tapped his watch, "Ready to go home?"

She looked at the time on her phone and let out a surprised, "Oh."

"You okay?" Andy asked, concern in his voice at her somewhat lost state.

"I'm fine," she waved him off, smiling and already getting to her feet to collect her things and herself. "Got lost in my thoughts," she explained, quite happily.

He gave her a brief appraising look, then, obviously deciding she was indeed fine, shrugged and said, "Alright, need any help?"

"No, I've got everything," she assured him, brushing past her desk towards him. She walked past him, knowing he would follow, and threw her team a goodbye on her way out. Reaching the outside of the murder room, she grabbed hold of Andy's hand and said, "Let's go home."

Home. Although she still sometimes caught herself thinking of the condo at the word home, whenever she found herself mentally correcting herself, she also had to smile to herself. More than a month ago, they had finally moved out of the condo and into a large three-bedroom, and more importantly, two-bathroom house. Rusty had moved with them, too. He had made some noises about moving out right at the beginning of the year, but had not made any final decisions on that front yet. Whatever he ultimately decided, he was welcome to stay as long as he wanted, whenever he wanted. That much both Andy and Sharon had made clear the moment they gave him his own keys to the house.

"I could go for a swim," she told Andy, when they reached his car. They had come into work together that morning.

"What a shocker," he told her on a sarcastic chuckle, opening the door to her seat.

She laughed and folded herself into the offered passenger seat. It was no shocker, he was right. Ever since they moved into the house, she had spent at least half an hour almost each day doing laps in the pool they bought with the house.

"You're free to keep me company," she told him when he sat behind the wheel as she put her seatbelt on.

"In or beside the pool?" he asked, fumbling with his own seatbelt.

It was no secret he preferred watching her over swimming with her. Mostly, not that he would ever admit it, it was because he simply couldn't keep up with her, and being the competitive soul that she was, she never tried slowing down for his benefit.

"Can't keep up with me, can you?" she teased.

"Okay, I'll just get started on dinner then," he told her sarcastically, making a pointed show of pulling the car out of its parking space as if to put an end to the topic of the conversation that way, too.

"That's a shame," she told him, as seriously as she could past her laughter.

"Sure," he said, still somewhat sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm being serious," she assured him.

"What did you do?" he slanted her a quick, suspicious look.

"There's only one way for you to find out," she told him, smiling coyly now.

"Urgh," he grunted, stepping on the gas pedal, getting the car to speed up.

"That," she gave him a pointed look, "not being the right way," she admonished.

Andy only grunted again, but slowed down.

...

"So we order in and then enjoy the pool?" Andy asked as they made their way up the porch's steps.

"Sounds like a plan," Sharon agreed, unlocking their front door and letting them into the house.

"Rusty?" Andy asked, slipping off his suit jacket and hanging it up on the coat rack to the left of the door. He shot a look at one of the closed doors at the end of the hallway there. The other door led to the guest room and if he were to walk down the hallway and take a slight right turn he'd find another door leading to the second bathroom.

"Count him out," Sharon told him, depositing her purse on the little commode to the right of the door and her keys into a bowl they kept on it there. "He texted that he was staying with Gus tonight," she added, now busy slipping out of her heels.

"Oh," Andy quirked an eyebrow at her, taking off his service weapon and depositing it safely into a box next to their key bowl. "I'm glad I agreed to your pool idea then," he told her on a cocky grin.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Andy," Sharon admonished, no real heat behind the words, as she made her way into their living room.

"Bossy," Andy mumbled, but followed her.

Their living room was larger than the living area of Sharon's condo, however, they had furnished it more or less the exact same way it had been in the condo. The only new thing was Andy's larger TV and a couple of bean bags that Andy's grandchildren had picked out. The boys had helped out (as much as boys their age could help out) with the move and Sharon and Andy had quite jokingly told them that, as a reward, they could help pick out at least one piece of furniture. They then actually took them furniture shopping, since they needed some things for their guest room, and when the boys fell in love with the fluffy, dark orange seating possibilities, they bought them on an impulse. They haven't regretted the buy either. They boys really did sit on them whenever they visited, and both Rusty and Gus seemed to like them, too, considering they sat more often on them than on the chairs or the couch.

At the end of the room, there was a set of glass doors leading out onto the patio. To their right they would be led into the dining area and the partially closed off and separated kitchen. On the wall left of them was a door leading into Sharon's and Andy's bedroom, from where they had sole access to the master bathroom and a walk-in closet. Having their and Rusty's bedroom on opposite sides of the house had been quite the selling point for Rusty, although he quite enjoyed the perks of a pool and covered patio, too.

"Chinese sound good?" Sharon asked, fiddling with her phone as she turned the corner into the kitchen.

"Yeah," Andy told her, already busy with putting on some water to boil for her usual tea.

"Oh," Sharon let out in surprise, when the phone she was holding suddenly went off.

Andy gave her a questioning look. "Patrice," she told him, reading the caller ID.

"Hello, Patrice," she said cheerfully into the phone, offering Andy a smile.

When her eyes went wide and she suddenly lay a hand flat against the kitchen counter, Andy frowned and took a step towards her. Something was wrong. "What is it?" he whispered.

Sharon waved him off and instead, answered Patrice. "Where are you?" She spoke calmly. Too calmly and it instantly had Andy even more on edge.

"We're on our way," she said after Patrice clearly told her where she was. "Do you need me to call anyone?" she then asked, already making her way out of the kitchen, making Andy go after her. After a pause she said, "No? Okay."

Another pause, as Sharon nodded, not that Patrice could see her. "I know, we'll be there as soon as possible."

With that Sharon hung up, taking a deep breath. Andy, hot on her heels, immediately asked, alarmed now, "What the hell is going on?"

Calls with Patrice were not an unusual occurrence, but this particular call definitely was.

They had already reached their hallway so Sharon put her phone down next to her purse, and turned toward Andy, putting a hand on his arm. "It's Lieutenant Provenza," she told him softly, squeezing his arm in an attempt to calm him down before he could even get agitated.

But Andy instantly reached for his suit jacket, asking "What happened?" as he did so.

She sighed, the reaction not being one she hoped for, albeit not a surprising one either, but sprung into action, too, slipping back into her heels and grabbing the keys and her purse. "He collapsed 10 minutes ago. They took him to Cedars," she explained.

"Oh, my God," Andy let out, flinging the front door open. "I'm gonna kill him if he's done something stupid," he declared, walking through it.

Sharon took a breath and followed him out, just as worried as Andy.

TBC

Do tell me what you think? I have a lot more planned for you.