~Rusty's Mother's Day Surprise~

Disclaimer: I own nothin' of Major Crimes, nothin'!

Rusty had noticed that Sharon hadn't been like herself lately. That she seemed down for the last week, it took him texting Emily to realize why. His new sister explained that their mother was feeling low because this coming Sunday was Mother's Day. Emily had said that she and Ricky both couldn't make it back to LA to be there with her. She had told Rusty that they didn't often make it home for this day and they knew it was hard on their mom only seeing them once a year at Christmas. They planned on doing their usual delivery of their mom's favorite flowers on Mother's Day though.

Having not done anything for his birth mom for Mother's Day before Rusty could honestly say he hadn't really ever thought about the holiday much. Maybe back at a time when he was in grade school, he might have made a hand-print card thing for his mom. Rusty was sure it was lost in one of their moves, they weren't in one place long enough to hang it on the fridge like he had seen at his friends if he ever had one. His other mom wasn't sentimental like he found out his new mom is. His birth-mom like to pack light, she would say they couldn't keep thing so they could leave quickly. Or as Rusty always thought of it as, so they could make a quick get away from the last guy she was dating. So usually Sundays in their place or wherever they were crashing at the time, would end up being used for his mom as a day for recovering from partying throughout the weekend. He would have to help her try and clean up to go to work or she'd lose yet another job and they would have to move again.

Mother's day? He wondered about what could he do for Sharon to help cheer her up. Rusty started to have ideas run through his head. Her kids weren't with her right now but he was here. Maybe he could make this Mother's Day better for her and technically he was her son now. Rusty carried a lot of guilt from the way he had treated her when he first came to live with Sharon. He had said some really mean things to her but he didn't think she would want to keep him around. Rusty had assumed she like everyone else did in his life would just give him away; even his own mother had abandoned him. Why would a complete stranger take in someone else's problem?

Though he known for some time now that Sharon had already considered him her son and that was long before the official papers were signed. Sharon had told him once that it was a miracle to have him in her life. Hearing that was hard for him to let sink in, that this person was just happy to have him with her and without excepting anything in return. Well except to be safe and be kind. Rusty had promised to make her proud of him someday. He was still working on that one.

Rusty knew he owed Sharon more then he could ever repay her in his lifetime. For taking in an ungrateful teenager into her home and for not ever giving up on that pain in the butt kid with an attitude. So Rusty took it upon himself to give this little thing back to her. To try and make her happy for this special day would be the least he could do. Sharon deserved some more happiness in her life. As long as he's had been living with her it had been about him and her other kids. She didn't do much outside of work besides come home, work on files, go through their current cases and worry about Ricky, Emily and Jack if he was in town bugging her again. There were only a few times besides with him that he had really seen her smile and laugh. Rusty was going to try and give her more of those moments.

Getting excited about what he wanted to do for his new mom. Rusty had started his planning on Wednesday after talking to Emily. Most of the fancier restaurants were already booked for Mother's Day but he managed to get one at a nice place that he knew they would both agree on. So in otherwards, it wasn't just high-end cuisine they offered. His other part of his plan was rather simple to set up. Rusty wanted all this to be a surprise for Sharon on Sunday but he couldn't watch her moping around the rest of the week either. So he decided he'd tell her a little bit of what was going on but not too much, Rusty didn't want her to know about all that he had planned. So Thursday morning while they hurried through breakfast to get them both out the door on time Rusty said casually, "oh Sharon can you make sure you don't make any plans for Sunday?"

She asked looking up from her coffee cup and tilted her head to ask, "Why?"

"Nope, I'm not telling you any more about it and no you won't get it out of me." Rusty took a few more bites of his pancakes then looked up at Sharon, "nope I'm saying anymore even with that Raydor glare you're giving me."

"Hmmm." He didn't know if it was an agreement or another question to him.

So he kept talking so she couldn't start to try and grill him for answers. "It's nothing really. Just make sure you don't make any dinner or any non-date plans with Lieutenant Flynn." Rusty said with a knowing smile.

Sharon who was leaning against the kitchen counter gave an eye-roll to her son then rinsed out her coffee cup and put it in the dishwasher. Then she turned to him, "I don't know what your hinting at mister but the Lieutenant and I are..."

"Yeah, yeah yeah I know you two are just friends." Rusty started to head to the door and called out to her, "well if you two are just friends then you both should stop looking at each other like you'd like to take the others clothes o..."

"Rusty Beck!"

He couldn't help but laugh at Sharon sounding so shocked. Isn't this what kids did to their moms? Try to embarrass them. "Ok ok, I'll stop but keep Sunday clear on your calendar, if you don't catch a case that is. Bye, Mom." Rusty grabbed his backpack and keys then headed out the door.

Throughout the rest of the week Sharon had tried to get any information out of him that she could. She would ask him random questions. Did she really think he didn't know what she was doing? There were the blunt questions at first. What are you planning? Where are we going? Then she would get more creative with her questions as she was trying to get information out of him. What should I plan on wearing? Would I need a jacket? If she did would she need a heavy or light one? Rusty would give her short and generic answers. Not telling you. You'll find out when we get there. One of your dresses is fine nothing to fancy. Now he knew how she felt when he asked a lot of questions just to try and bug her into telling him what he wanted to know.

Luckily the team hadn't been called out on a case so far. As Rusty sat watching TV, Sharon was just getting back from one of her usual Saturday night non-date dinners with her friend. Andy Flynn was dropping her off afterward and Rusty had invited him in to watch a movie with them. Rusty had taken to noticing that lately, the Lieutenant had been walking Sharon to her door. When this whole dinner thing started awhile ago it was usually the two of them meeting after a busy day at work because they didn't have to time eat and would drive home in their separate cars. Then on their days off she would meet him at the restaurant or movie and still have separate cars but lately Andy had been picking her up, first she would tell Rusty bye and meet him downstairs. Lately, it would seem that Flynn would come to the door to pick her up and walk her to their door instead of just dropping her off at the lobby.

Sharon never made it through one of their movie nights so Rusty wasn't surprised when he noticed her falling asleep. He actually thought it was funny when Flynn seemed to realize she was asleep because Sharon's head was slowly falling to the side and finally came to rest on Flynn's shoulder. Andy had a panicked look in his eyes when he looked to Rusty but he just gave the Lieutenant a quick shoulder shrug, popped a piece of popcorn in his mouth and went back to watching the movie. He really didn't care what went on between the two of them as long as his mom didn't get hurt in the process. As Provenza would say these two idiots need to figure out that they are in love with each other. To him, Andy looked comfortable enough to go back to watching the movie with a sleeping Sharon resting against him. Rusty turned off the lights then the TV off when it was over and left the two of them sound asleep together on the couch. He almost wished he could be there when Sharon woke up just to see the look on her face.

"Well, you see the Mother's Day dinner and dessert is on me but there's one more surprise." Sharon just looked confused as Rusty drove away from the restaurant. The dinner had gone great she was happily surprised at his choice of food because there wasn't one type of burger on the menu. Sharon had teared up when she opened his gift. She had really liked the Mother's necklace he had got her. It wasn't easy to get a jeweler to make a pendant with all three of her children's birthstone in it in time for Sunday. The look on her face as she put it on was worth all the time it took to find one that would.

"Rusty, you have already made this a great Mother's Day for me." Sharon added as she twirled the open heart-shaped pendant in her fingers, "you don't have to do anything else." As Rusty drove up to the valet of a small quaint lounge that was known for its great music and dancing, she looked even more confused. "Rusty, what's going on?" She asked in a concerned voice when both his and her car doors were opened at the same time.

He didn't move he just turned towards the open door saying to the valet, "oh no I'm not staying just she is." Sharon now looked a little worried until she heard a voice next to her from her opened door, "may I?" As she turned to the very familiar voice she couldn't help but smile. All she could see was a hand being held out to assist her out of the car.

"Go," Rusty added in a soft voice, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom. Now, will you please go have some fun with the man you are in love with." Rusty added when he saw the panic in her eyes, "Yes, love will you just admit it already and he loves you too by the way. Stop thinking of everyone else for a change, you deserve this. Remember it's your day, now go on, go."

He could see the tears starting to form in her eyes but Rusty knew she would will them away like she always did. Then she gave him a simple nod of her head. It was to acknowledge that she heard all he said but she just couldn't voice it yet. Rusty watched her swallow hard; he knew the feeling of having too many emotions building in your throat to speak. Even though they weren't blood related they were a lot alike in so many ways. When she could finally speak he noticed that her voice sounded a little shaky, "thank you, Son and I love you. Thank you for everything you've done for me." They both knew she didn't mean just tonight. Sharon was thanking him for so much more than that. Rusty smiled at her and gave her a head nod too, showing he understood her meaning. Sharon leaned in and gave Rusty a kiss on the cheek, "good night, Son and drive safe."

Deciding to take her very wise beyond his year's son's advice. Sharon turned in her seat, setting her high-heeled feet on the cement and accepted the patiently waiting hand that was still being held out to her, she softly placed hers in his. As their palms touched and he wrapped his warm strong hand around hers, Sharon felt a spark of electricity shoot through her. It hit every nerve-ending in her and came to settle in the core of her body. Sharon slowly stood up on shaky legs and she came face to face with her very handsome Lieutenant Andrew Flynn.

Just before the car door closed Sharon heard Rusty call out, "now, I don't expect you home 'til really late if you make it home at all." She had really hoped Andy didn't hear that but the loud deep laughter coming from the man beside her let her know he heard exactly what her son had said.

Before driving off Rusty watched the blush creep up Sharon's cheeks. Then she gave him an eye-roll and he heard Flynn laughing as they walked away from the car hand in hand.

~The end~

A Mother's Day idea that popped into my head as I was missing my son on this special day.

Happy Mother's day to all and that's for anyone that takes care of others in any capacity, for that is what being a mom truly means.

Including children, adults, and fur-babies. There are all kinds of "moms" in this world.