The day had begun like any other, dragging Rusty out of bed, rushing to get him to school on time, followed by a stop at her favourite café for a jumbo skinny extra hot latte. Little did Sharon know it would get more interesting as the day progressed?
The past 2 days had been spent chasing leads in the O'Conner murder, believed to have been linked to someone within the LAPD. The team had been rotating between leads and surveillance, taking each shift in turn; sooner or later the suspect would meet with the LAPD accomplice and Major Crimes would be there to crack the case. However, so far all they had to go on was a corrupted bullet casing, a crime scene in process and surveillance footage from a local gas station showing the two sighted cars meeting at an adjoining property; only problem being the low grade footage made identifying the vehicles close to impossible.
Eventually a primary suspect had been identified, however to close this case, the LAPD accomplice needed to be apprehended; therefore until this assailant could be identified undercover surveillance would need to tail the suspect.
Provenza and Tao had been lucky enough to score the first shift on undercover duty; all they had to witness was the suspect putting his cat out; the rubbish collector and the postal service delivery. At 2:03pm the suspect left his house to walk down the street and to the corner store for a pint of milk and a packet of smokes. Having been on surveillance since 8am, the novelty of the small space had worn thin on the two men, who were unsure as to how both had ended up paired with each other, and how Lt. Flynn had managed to avoid night duty.
"Could you make anymore mess in my car?" Tao snapped as Provenza opened another packet of chips, once again spilling more crumbs in between his seats.
"Calm down Tao, it's only a few crumbs" …. Provenza grumbled in his usual tone of voice.
"Have you even managed to eat any of those potato chips? Because it seems to me that more have landed anywhere but in your mouth…"
The day had passed quickly, so much paperwork it was hard for Sharon Raydor to believe society had ever become a 'paperless society'. Tonight she would be on surveillance duty, she had decided, prove to the team she was one of them. This dubious, tedious task was not below Captain Sharon Raydor and despite the initial bumpy weeks after Chief Johnsons departure, she was determined to prove opinions wrong. Normalcy had endured the couple of weeks, however as much as they tried to pretend, some members of her team still saw her as too above some tasks, and that was one thing Sharon Raydor would continue to prove wrong.
"Everyone if I can have a moment of your time… as you know Tao and Provenza are currently on undercover, I will be heading out shortly to relive them…"
Sharon had paused to wait for Lt. Flynn who was finishing up a phone call; Sykes had seen this pause as a moment for volunteering,
"Captain if you are after a volunteer, I'd love to accompany you on undercover, I think it would be a good opportunity" …all three men turning to look at her, giving her the 'stop being such a kiss-ass stare'.
Sharon continued with her sentence pretending to not have heard Sykes offer … "Detective Sanchez you are in charge while I am gone, Lt Flynn, thank you for being so kind as volunteer for undercover, grab your things, we are leaving…"
Sykes continued to stare at the Captain unsure of her response, maybe the Captain had not heard her? Or maybe Lt. Flynn had got in first, she hadn't been paying attention.
Sharon had continued back to her office, hearing Sykes faint voice asking Sanchez and Buzz why she hadn't been picked, both men could be heard telling her to get over it.
Grabbing her purse, keys and jacket, she flicked off her office light, she would not be back before tomorrow afternoon.
The ride in the car was rather uneventful, filled with superficial conversation on the weather, the case and of course the pairing of Provenza and Tao and how clean freak Tao would be ready to kill messy Provenza. A few laughs ensured and they were once again sitting in silence, watching an empty front door and side alley, waiting for the suspect to do something…anything.
Lt. Flynn wasn't one to sit in silence, in fact he was kind of looking forward to some alone time with the Captain. The past couple of weeks he had witnessed a new side to Sharon Raydor, one he found fascinating and beautiful, one that every now and again she would show him. He would often stay back late to help her finish her paperwork, they would end up discussing all sorts of things including how Rusty was doing and how she was coping; he would pick up dinner so she would at least eat; or even pick Rusty up from after school activities and bring him back to the office so she could finish her paperwork.
"So Captain, how long are we on stakeout for?"
"Sanchez and Sykes will be here at 5am to cover …" Sharon still focusing on the road ahead.
Sharon had noted the change in Flynn's attitude the past couple of weeks, no longer argumentative and aggressive, but supportive and protective of her. Like the time Jack Johns was being questioned and he lunged over the desk in her direction; Lt. Flynn had forcibly grabbed Jack's shoulders and slammed him down onto the table, refusing to unpin him until he apologized to the Captain. If she cared to admit it, she had set it up that her and Flynn would be working together, their conversations were easy, sometimes flirty but never uncomfortable. Provenza couldn't stand to be alone with her, and she found him to be grumpy; Sanchez was a good detective however, like with Tao she found conversation limited …and when on undercover two people in one small confined space need more to talk about then the weather, the scenery, and the latest sports game she didn't see.
"So it's just me and you for the next 10 hours, this could be fun…" She liked when he used that flirty tone, it kept the mood light.
Putting on her Captain Raydor voice she knew she had to keep this above board, after all this shift last another 9 hours 46 minutes and 13 seconds …oh god.
"May I remind you Lt. Flynn that this is undercover ops, not a sleep over..."
In her head that phrase had sounded so much more authoritative, so very Raydor, but as it left her mouth she realized it sounded more sexual then she had intended, completely suggestive.
"Maybe we should do a sleep over sometime…"
Yes there was that prime example of the smooth Lt. Andy Flynn: flirty and mischievous.
"Maybe you should be paying more attention to the surveillance area and less attention to your fantasy of a sleep over…"
Oh god, why wasn't anything she was saying sounding Captain-like?
"Fantasy Captain? Well if you think that is one of mine, maybe you should share with me one of yours?"
He was treading in dangerous territory, this was highly inappropriate yet part of her was revealing in the attention, the tone, the flirtiness. She had to admit to herself as a woman first she found him to be attractive, and she knew for the glances she would see him stealing he found her attractive too. But as colleagues, and more importantly superior and subordinate nothing could be outwardly stated.
"My fantasyyyyyyy (drawing out the word for effect)…Lt. Flynn…is you…..and me…. Here…. In silence…"
A spark of perhaps excitement appearing in his eyes only to be dashed with cold water, she had to giggle the look on the Lieutenant's face was almost priceless.
"That wasn't funny…." Andy grumbled, attempting to shoot Sharon sad puppy dog eyes.
Flicking on the radio, a tune began to move through the car, one that neither of them expected, and one that would provide the silence with a great feeling of awkwardness.
It was one of those songs you don't know if you are supposed to turn up loud and proud or turn it low and almost secretly listen…
I love myself I want you to love me I don't want anybody else
When I feel down I want you above me
I search myself I want you to find me
I forget myself I want you to remind me
When I think about you I touch myself
Ooh I don't want anybody else Oh no, oh no, oh no
This wasn't exactly soothing the atmosphere between the two of them. Sharon had managed to extinguish Flynn's suggestive conversation only to be left lingering onto every word of the song. She had thought to quickly turn off the radio or turning it right down … but then it could draw attention to her self consciousness, or awkwardness of the situation. She decided it was best to wade it out … after all, it was only a song…
You're the one who makes me come running I close my eyes And see you before me I don't want anybody else
You're the sun who makes me shine
When you're around I'm always laughing
I want to make you mine
Think I would die If you were to ignore me
A fool could see Just how much I adore you
I get down on my knees I do anything for you
When I think about you I touch myself
Ooh I don't want anybody else
Oh no, oh no, oh no
She thought he would be awkward too, the words conjuring imagery and suggestivity with the clearly explicit lyric however he was more then enjoying it. She could feel his eyes looking her up and down, meeting his gaze she became too aware of his stare, eyebrow raised, mischievous school boy grin plastered across his face.
Sharon's face snapped back to forward facing continuing to watch the house in front of them; the music continuing to roll through the car. If he wasn't awkward, she was,
I love myself I want you to love me I don't want anybody else I want you I don't want anybody else I don't anybody else
When i feel down I want you above me
I search myself I want you to find me
I forget myself I want you to remind me
And when I think about you I touch myself
I don't want anybody else
Oh no, oh no, oh no
I don't want anybody else
And when i think about you I touch myself
OO OO OO-OO Ahhhhh
When i think about you I touch myself
I don't want anybody else
When i think about you I touch myself
I touch myself
When i think about you I touch myself
(The Divinyls – I Touch Myself))
As the song ended and a commercial came on the radio Andy flicked the dial off. A cheeky smile still gracing his face, he shifted himself in his seat to face her.
"So Captain, about that sleepover…?"