Rusty woke up to the smell of something wonderful—bacon. That meant Sharon was home. He bolted out of bed.
In spite of Taylor's policies, Sharon spent many Saturdays at the office—often on her own dime. She hated to cost the city money, especially when it was so poor. Rusty liked hearing about how she spent her career saving the department money from law suits-he liked hearing any story she cared to tell. It may not have been as glamorous as running the Major Crimes Unit, but he knew it was partly due to her work MCU was able to run in the first place. Now that she was running MCU, her awareness of the situation throughout the department hadn't changed.
But on this Saturday Sharon was home—and cooking bacon.
He went into the kitchen. "Good morning, Sharon."
She turned to face him, looking surprised. "Did I wake you? I was trying to be quiet."
He gestured to the frying pan. "I smelled the bacon."
She smiled. "Of course."
"You're home."
"I am. I'm glad too. I have so much to do." She looked around the condo. "I feel like I haven't been here in weeks."
He nodded. "You've been working really hard."
"I have. It's worth it, though." She gestured to the table. "Have a seat, and I'll get your breakfast."
"Okay."
She brought their plates over, as he took his seat. He looked at the plate she placed in front of him. She made the cheesy scrambled eggs he loved.
"What do you wanna do today?" she asked between bites.
"Play chess."
She nodded. "I can drop you off at Jeff's house-"
"I don't wanna play with Jeff. I want to play with you."
She smiled. "How do you know I can even play?"
He smirked. "Oh, I'm pretty sure you can play."
"You sure you wanna play an old woman?"
"You're not old, Sharon."
"Oh, honey! You're sweet, but I am."
"But that has nothing to do with your playing chess."
She conceded. "We'll play after breakfast."
.
.
.
Sharon cleared the table, and Rusty got his chess set. She picked it out for him when he came home talking about the chess club. She said it was supposed to be a great set. It was beautiful. He'd treasure it always.
He brought the box to the table and started setting it up.
"Why do you have the black facing you?" she asked.
"I always play black."
She nodded. "Okay."
Rusty could tell she was already calculating her moves. He'd probably regret having her go first, but he liked playing black—and he had some moves of his own.
.
.
.
Sharon knew exactly what her first move should be. It didn't matter that it was the most common opening move-or that Rusty was expecting it. It was a common move for a reason, and she was doing it. She moved the pawn to e4. She watched his face for a reaction, but there was none. Perhaps they were playing the wrong game.
He mirrored her move. It seemed they both wanted to control the center. Sharon smiled. It was going to be an interesting game.
.
.
.
Rusty shook his head. He was doing so well at first, but he made two fatal mistakes: He developed his bishops too early, and brought out the queen way too soon. All three were captured, and Sharon dominated the board with her remaining rook, queen, knight, and bishop. She forced his knights into a corner, where they could do little damage. But his rooks were hanging in there.
It didn't matter. He could see the writing on the wall. She'd have him in fewer than five moves. If there was one thing he was glad about, it was that she didn't take it easy on him. Not that he thought she would. That wasn't how Captain Sharon Raydor did things.
.
.
.
"Checkmate," she said, a few moves later.
The black king was directly in front of the white queen, but it was the white knight that clinched it.
Rusty nodded. Reached his hand across the board to shake hers and said, "Good game."
She smiled. "Did you learn from your mistakes?"
"Yeah, I did. Thank you."
"What for?"
"Kicking my ass, I guess."
"Anytime, Rusty." She glanced at the board. "Clean it up, and I'll teach you another game."
He grinned. "What?"
"Poker."