Hole in One

AN: Thank you to my beautiful BFF, Ellie, for the idea. This takes place sometime is season one, one of Sharon and Rusty's earliest days together.


"This is dumb." Rusty muttered under his breath as he slumped down in his seat.

Sharon ignored him, focusing her attention on the light traffic ahead of her. They'd wrapped up their case earlier, which meant she made it home a lot earlier than usual. Instead of sitting at home and having Rusty disappear to his room, she decided that she wanted to take him out and do something, spend some real time with him.

They lived together, yes, but they didn't spend too much time together. She wanted to get to know the boy, to have fun with him- hopefully let him enjoy life for the first time since she'd met him.

He had been rather silent through dinner, which was usual for him. She'd been quiet too; she asked him a few questions about school, but mostly focused her attention on trying to figure out something for them to do.

They lived in LA- it really shouldn't have been so difficult to come up with something to do. But it was. Thinking of an activity that a fifteen year old boy would want to do with his…adult was incredibly difficult. She thought about a movie, but then decided against it. There wouldn't be a move out that would peak both of their interests' and they wouldn't really be spending time together if all of their attention was focused on the film.

After thinking it over, she finally settled on where she'd taken her own kids many times before- mini golfing. Ricky and Emily had loved it when they were younger and then as they got older, they'd all gotten so good and competitive that they went as often as they had the chance.

Sharon knew he would complain. What teenager (besides her two) would want to go mini golfing with her? She didn't care. She would try to make it fun. And if it didn't work, maybe Rusty would see how much she was trying.

She smiled a little as they pulled into the parking lot of the dinky little place.

"Sharon, this place looks like somewhere you'd find a dead body." He remarked, eyeing the building.

Sharon rolled her eyes a little, but she couldn't really argue with him. You couldn't see the course from the parking lot and the inside of the building was much, much nicer than the outside of the building would suggest.

She got out of the car and led Rusty to the door, pulling it open for him, smiling at the sound of the bell above the door. She followed Rusty inside and then gestured over to the wall where the clubs were lined up from tallest to shortest.

"Go pick one out that will work for you." She said. "Can you get me one of the medium sized ones? I think they're blue."

Rusty nodded a little and walked off, still muttering to himself. She smiled and walked over to the counter. She paid for their games, grabbed a pencil and score sheet, and walked over to where the golf balls were on display; Rusty came up behind her as she picked up the neon pink ball.

Rusty rolled his eyes and handed her one of the clubs. "What are you, five?" He said, reaching past her to grab one of the plain white balls.

Sharon shrugged a little, smiling to herself as she stepped past him through the doors. Rusty followed after her. When they got outside, Rusty looked around. Sharon followed his gaze, taking in the sights of the lighthouses, of the little pond, of the small bridges they'd have to cross.

"The outside of this place is awfully deceiving, don't you think?" She asked.

Rusty nodded a little but then shrugged, not willing to let Sharon see that he was even the slightest bit impressed.

Sharon smiled. "Come on, Rusty. The first hole is this way." She led him over to the first hole; it was the simplest one, just a straight line into the hole.

Sharon sat her purse aside on the bench next to them. She bent down to place her ball on the starting mark before straightening back up. She lined her putter up with the ball before swinging.

When she completely missed the ball, swinging the club way out in front of herself, Rusty couldn't contain his laughter.

Sharon smiled to herself, before putting on a glare and turning toward him. "Not funny."


Rusty crossed his arms, trying to contain his laughter as he watched Sharon take another swing at the ball. It was like her sixth swing already. He didn't think it was possible for her to get any worse, but they were on hole six already and she had somehow managed it.

He couldn't imagine why Sharon would have wanted to bring him here, knowing how awful she was at it. She probably thought he'd be worse. He'd never been mini golfing before, but he was way better than Sharon. He could always do it with two or three strokes.

After she finally finished her turn, he watched her lean down and grab her ball before stepping toward him. He grabbed her purse from the bench and handed it to her. He wrote down her score on the little paper she'd handed him and then passed that along to her as well.

Sharon stood by the end of the hole, watching him from the path that led to the next hole.

He sat his ball down, looking forward at the hole before standing up straight again. He got into position, taking another look at the hole before taking a deep breath. He pulled his arms back and swung.

The ball flew forward, bouncing off the rock placed strategically throughout, through the little tunnel and straight into the hole.

"Oh my god!" He said loudly, his eyes darting up to meet Sharon's. She had a look of equal disbelieve on her face, looking between him and the hole.

Rusty laughed as he rushed forward and grabbed his ball. "Come on, Sharon; let's see how many times it takes you on this next one."

He rushed ahead of her, practically bouncing. When Sharon caught up with him, he took her purse from her, holding it for her while she sat her ball down and took her first swing.


"That was embarrassing." Rusty laughed as he sat down at the small picnic table, licking at his chocolate ice cream.

Sharon smiled a little to herself, taking a seat across from him. She lifted her spoon to her mouth in an attempt to hide the smile. "You were just lucky."

Rusty scoffed. "Oh, come on! Even if I hadn't been, like, amazing at mini golf, you still would've lost."

Sharon shook her head a little, sitting her strawberry frozen yogurt down. "I might have to challenge you to a rematch sometime soon, Rusty."

"Name the time and place, Sharon, I'll be there." He licked at his ice cream, smiling and looking over to watch the traffic as it drove by.

She smiled to herself.

He'd be there.

And maybe that time she wouldn't let him win.


Thoughts?

I don't know if any of you guys have watched it, but due to my love of MM I've recently started watching Battlestar Galactica and I am completely in love.