A/N: Jane Doe #38 post-ep (I love that episode!) I know some of you aren't crazy about first person pov, but it's what I do. Hope it's tolerable.

Andy POV

"Hey, Flynn!"

I slowed at the sound of my name, but only briefly because once it registered who was shouting at me, I had no interest whatsoever in a conversation.

"Flynn!" he yelled again.

I stopped and rolled my eyes and then took a deep breath as I turned around to see him trotting to catch up with me.

"For a second there, I thought you were going deaf in your old age," he said with that oh-so-fake chipper attitude.

Makes me want to slug him.

"Need something, Jack?" I asked through gritted teeth.

There may have been a time when I thought he was a cool guy, but that time has long since passed. Now that I have a better idea of how he treated Sharon, I have no use for him at all, and I sure as hell don't feel like talking to him.

While I waited for his response, I shoved my hands in my pockets. I figure that's safer than having them out in the open where they might be tempted to ball up and make contact with his face.

"Yeah, I do," he replied, still sounding friendly and upbeat. "I want you to stay away from my wife."

Since his words and his expression were in complete contradiction, it took me a second to absorb what he was saying.

But only a second, and then I plastered a smile on my face as well and said, "I work for her. That's gonna be kind of hard."

"You know what I'm talking about," he insisted, his smile now something more like a grimace, and I'm not sure if he thinks he's menacing or what, but I just think he's annoying.

"Wait, didn't she serve you with divorce papers a couple of days ago?" I asked with a sarcastic grin. "So is it really accurate to still call her your wife? I mean I guess technically, for a little while longer, but still…"

"I haven't signed any papers yet, and I don't plan to. If she really wanted a divorce, she would've filed years ago. Fact is, she's always happy to see me come back. Always really happy, if you catch my drift."

My hands were pushed so far down in my pockets I was expecting the seams to burst at any moment, but I still controlled my outward reaction.

"Sharon's always been a little feisty," he continued as his smile once again spread across his face. "Sometimes it takes longer than others, but I always talk my way into her bed again."

"Okay, well…good luck with that," I ground out, hating the image his words brought to mind. And I know that's why he said it because Sharon doesn't really sleep with him when he comes back. Does she?

"Hey, I don't need luck. I just don't need you hanging around trying to break up our marriage, you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I got it. Stay away from the captain. I'll do that," I said with a shrug as I turned around. "Until eight o'clock tomorrow when I show up at work. And don't worry, I'll be sure to tell her how you chatted me up about her sex life. She'll love that."

I started walking away from him, heading towards my car.

"Hey, I'm not done talking to you!"

"Yeah, but see, I'm done with you, so…"

I called those words over my shoulder, without slowing down, but next thing I knew, he had jogged up behind me again, putting a big meaty hand on my shoulder.

I turned around to face him again, and he's given up all pretense of this being a friendly discussion. His face has gone dark and the hand that had grasped my shoulder is now pointing a finger in the direction of my chest.

"I mean it, Flynn," he grumbled. "Back off."

"What's your problem with me, Jack?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes at him. My adrenaline started pumping and I could feel the blood rushing to my head. God knows I've been in enough fights to recognize that feeling, but I was doing my best to be mature and make smart choices this time.

"You're sleeping with her, aren't you?"

I wasn't expecting the bluntness. A question about dating, maybe. After all, surely people have seen us out to dinner from time to time. But there hasn't been a whisper of anything more, and I don't like his vulgar attitude about the entire situation, but about Sharon in particular.

"What did you just say to me?" I asked as I took a step closer to him, standing up to my full height so that he had to look up a little to look me in the eyes.

"I said, are you fucking my wife?" he growled, and it was a question and yet it wasn't, and I have never wanted to hit someone so badly.

Instead, I put a smile on my face and retorted, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

The punch caught me by surprise, a quick uppercut to my chin that had me sidestepping just to keep from going down, and then he followed up with a cross to my left eye. I doubled over, spitting blood from when I bit my tongue on that first blow, and a small crowd had gathered to see what was going on, and Jack muttered one last threatening leave her alone before walking away, leaving me on the sidewalk with my eye rapidly swelling closed and blood still coming from my mouth and the group of gawkers just staring at me.

"Dude, are you okay?" a young on-looker finally asked me.

"Yeah," I said gruffly as I straightened myself and swiped at my mouth with my sleeve.

"You sure? You don't look so good."

"I'm great," I bit out as I started moving towards my car.

Truth is, it hurts like a son of a bitch. I can't believe I let him get away with that. If anyone had a beat down coming to him, it's Jack. Bastard. Talking about Sharon like that, saying…what? Saying he's going to talk his way into her bed again?

Over my dead body.

It's not like I want to run over there and tattle on Jack, but I also don't want him showing up at her place and doing whatever it is he does that makes him think he still has a shot with her.

It only took me ten minutes to get to her place. It probably should've taken more like twenty, not to mention the fact that I can only see out of one eye right now, but I made it in one piece, so I'm not going to worry about it.

If he's here, I'm just going to shoot him, I thought as I took the elevator up to the eleventh floor. Twice, I amended.

I tried to pull myself together as I stood outside of her door, but it's hopeless. My once pristine shirt now has blood stains down the front, and I know my face looks a wreck.

I stand for a moment at the door. It's quiet inside, but I saw her car in the garage, so I'm pretty sure she's home.

At least she can't be mad at me this time. I didn't hit anybody. Although I guess I did provoke him a little, with that last comment, but that doesn't really count, does it?

I reached up and knocked on the door. After a brief period of silence, I heard the locks opening at the same time I heard Rusty say, "Oh my God…Sharon!"

He flung the door open and Sharon came rushing over, and I suddenly feel kind of bad for bringing this kind of chaos into her life, but at the same time, I'm relieved that it doesn't appear as if Jack is around.

"Andy, what happened?" she asked with alarm as she pulled me into the condo. Rusty closed and locked the door behind me and then said something about getting an ice pack while Sharon led me over to the couch.

"You should see the other guy," I joked. She paused and raised an eyebrow at me in question, and any thoughts I might have had about keeping the moment light disappeared. "I'm kidding. I didn't throw a single punch, I promise. Want to see my knuckles?" I offered, holding up my hands to show no visible signs of having used them lately.

"I believe you. I don't need you to prove it to me," she said quietly, folding her fingers around mine and lowering my hands. "Sit. Let me look at you."

I won't say I didn't enjoy the attention. Not that I planned to get beat up or anything, but I mean, the feel of her fingertips lightly tracing over my face certainly went a long way towards making the pain go away.

I studied her features while she checked me out. The way her brow furrowed in concern, and how she winced when she felt around my eye socket as if she were feeling the pain herself, and how her breathing accelerated, like she was getting angry just thinking about who did this to me.

"Tell me," she said, her voice almost a whisper, and maybe it sounds inappropriate, but I was having trouble not being turned on. I'm sitting on the couch, and she's leaning over me, close enough that I can smell her perfume or shampoo or whatever it is that always makes me crazy, and the way she's touching me, and then that husky tone of voice…

"Here," Rusty said as he joined us, holding out an ice pack and breaking our little bubble.

Or at least my bubble.

"Jeez," the kid continued. "Where's all the blood from? Did you get a tooth knocked out or something?"

"Bit my tongue," I mumbled, holding back a groan as Sharon set the ice pack against my eye. I wondered idly if maybe Sharon would want to check out my tongue, too, but she didn't ask to see it. Instead, she glanced over at Rusty and maybe gave him a look or something because next thing I know, the kid tells me he has to finish working on a college application essay, and that he hopes I don't feel as bad as I look.

"I'll live, kid," I answered. "Isn't the first time, won't be the last."

"I hear you," he commiserated, and I remember how last year he came home from a visit with his birth father looking pretty much like I look now.

Once he was gone, Sharon picked up my hand and moved it over the ice pack so that I would hold it for myself and then she sat down next to me and fixed me with a look.

It's a funny thing, our relationship.

I have absolutely no idea how to label it.

Not that I care all that much about labels, mind you, but still…sometimes it makes it really hard to know where I stand. And considering the fact that she's so far out of my league it's not even funny, I keep waiting for the moment when she realizes that spending so much time with me is a colossal waste of her time.

And we do spend a lot of time together. Dinners, lunches, sometimes breakfasts…we've got all the meals covered. We've done late-night work sessions at her place, caught a few movies on Sunday afternoons…and that's about it.

Oh, and yeah, we're sleeping together. Jack was right about that.

But there's no way that he knows that, and we've managed to keep this thing a secret for a few months now, so I wasn't going to let the cat out of the bag to him. But I also couldn't let him get away with saying what he said without at least taunting him a little.

Although now I'm wondering if Sharon is going to disagree. Is she going to say that I should've just walked away? I did try that, and he kept pushing. What was I supposed to do?

"I'm waiting," she said, her voice a quiet purr in the otherwise silent room. She shifted a little, pulling her legs underneath her and then to my great pleasure, she began running her fingers through my hair.

"Um…I'm not sure you want to hear this," I began hesitantly.

"Were there police involved?"

"No."

"Witnesses?"

"No. Well, yeah, a few. But not to the conversation, I don't think. Just the…you know," I finished, gesturing with my free hand to the mess that is my face.

"Conversation," she repeated carefully. "With whom? About what?"

I almost think I should've gone home and pretended that none of this ever happened. I could've made up some story for the shiner I'll surely have in the morning, and then she would never know what a dick her husband is. Or, if I'm honest, what an ass I was for pushing the issue with him. I had to try to subtly stake my claim, even though I couldn't admit it to him outright.

I sighed heavily and leaned my head back against the cushion.

"Jack and I had a little chat this evening."

She straightened up immediately at the mention of her husband's name, and the hand that had been stroking my hair went still.

"Jack. He's the one who did this? Andy…"

I can't tell if she's upset at me or him and it's starting to piss me off because I have no idea at the moment where her loyalty lies. I mean, should it be with the father of her children? The man she's been with for thirty years? Or me, the mutt lieutenant who's been banging the boss for three months?

I guess I can't blame her if she takes his side, but she shouldn't because he's wrong, and I'm…I'm…I'm in love with her. That should count for something, even if I haven't told her yet.

I got up from the couch, dropping the ice pack onto the coffee table, and then I started pacing the room.

"Look, he came up to me and told me to leave you alone," I told her, and then I filled her in on the highlights of the conversation.

"So you told him? About us?" she asked, and now her tone sounds like a reprimand. "Is that when he hit you?"

"No," I snapped back. "Don't worry, I didn't spill your dirty little secret, okay?"

"Andy."

I stopped my pacing and took a breath as I turned to look at her, and the wind went out of my sails. I'm here to tell her what an ass Jack is, and yet I'm the one acting like it now.

"I'm on your side here, okay? We're in this together," she said soothingly as she moved over to me and slipped her arms around my waist.

I relaxed against her, putting my arms around her and holding her close. In this together. I like the sound of that.

"He asked me if I'm fucking you," I said, using the same words as Jack even though I normally wouldn't be so crass in front of her. "And I told him wouldn't you like to know. And we were up in each other's faces, and he pulled a punch out of nowhere, and…I feel like an idiot, Sharon. He got me twice."

"And you didn't fight back," she mused.

"I was trying to be adult about it," I replied with a smirk. "I'm not sure adult is really for me, though."

She pulled back a little, still in my arms but so that she could look up at me, and her face was full of understanding, and something else that I can't quite name.

"You thought I'd be mad at you."

"Well, yeah. I mean, he is your husband. And I did kind of poke at him."

"He's my soon-to-be ex husband. And he was poking at you," she said calmly. "He made that comment about getting back into my bed…"

She trailed off while she studied my face, and then she reached up and put her hand on my cheek.

"Andy, you thought that was true?"

"We weren't together last summer," I reasoned. "And I don't know how long he's been back this time, so I wasn't sure if he's been over, or…"

"It's not true, not at all," she interrupted. "Maybe in the first few years, but not after that. And certainly not last summer. And now…now I have you."

She smiled and brought her lips to mine for a lingering kiss, and I won't say it didn't hurt like hell, but every second was worth it.

"Your dirty little secret," I said when she pulled away, only this time I meant the phrase in the best possible way.

"I wouldn't call you that," she hummed, still smiling as she pressed her cheek against my chest.

"Oh? You got some other choice names for me?"

"Hmm…I was thinking more along the lines of the man I love."

TBC...