Author Note: This is a quick one shot following the last few minutes of "Cheaters Never Prosper." I thought it would be interested to explore the comfort and bond between Sharon and Rusty that emerged towards the end of the season. And I am hoping that Sharon will come to this decision next season! Enjoy! Feedback welcome!
Disclaimer: I don't own Major Crimes.
The flash of Sharon's iPhone startled Rusty as she maneuvered around his face, zooming in on his injuries and trying not to, as Rusty called it, "freak out" by maintaing her detective mode. Rusty steeled himself through the photos with an impressive but alarmingly practiced strength, the hurt still unmistakable on his face and his tears kept at bay. Every angle and close up imaginable stored away, she put down her phone and turned to Rusty, only to find that both she and the boy were stuck without any other walls to throw up against their emotions. So she sat down on the sofa beside her foster son and carefully placed her arms around him to hold him closer to her. She needed to hold him after coming home to him this way and he willingly obliged.
They soon lost the battle against tears as the uninjured side of his forehead landed softly on Sharon's shoulder and she lifted a trembling hand to brush away his stubborn hair from his damp eyes. After a short time of silently drawing comfort from one another and drying tears, Sharon felt Rusty shift and looked down to see him sleeping snuggled against her. She smiled warmly to herself and felt drawn back to the years in which her own children had often fallen asleep in her arms. Rusty feels safe here she thought as she took in his swollen face and lanky figure. If anything, tonight's revelations had convinced her to finally admit something to herself. I want him...to adopt him and officially make him mine. This realization did not startle her because she had fallen in love with Rusty soon after he moved in, but she had resisted admitting it to herself because she was afraid she would lose him.
Rusty amazed her everyday with is genuinely caring spirit and intelligence, and she was simply baffled that the people who should have loved and nurtured him could have left such a wonderful child to survive on his own in the dangerous streets of LA. She could not erase Rusty's past but she wanted to protect him and give him what he had always deserved from this moment forward...a parent who loved him and put him first. She wanted to make him breakfast for once and to send him to the best schools she could and to give him the things he needed without expecting something in return. And she wanted to shoot Daniel Dunn in the head over and over again for daring to lay a hand on her child. At this thought she unconsciously placed a fleetingly soft kiss on the uninjured top of her charge's head and shifted herself back against the sofa, trying not to disturb Rusty, but keeping him nestled in her arms. This would be a sleepless night for her. She glanced down at Rusty and felt her eyes water again as her thoughts drifted to her plan for dealing with that bastard. Yes, this would certainly be a sleepless night.