Sharon Raydor sat at her desk Friday afternoon at 3:45 pm. She had just sent her team out to apprehend a suspect, but she had stayed behind to be available for any sort of new information about the case, if it were to come. Green eyes scanned the file of the suspect she would interview soon. The man had a few minor crimes under his belt; breaking and entering, some substance abuse, two DUIs, but nothing major. However, he was connected to the victim via one of his previous crimes, therefore, he needed to be questioned. Sharon didn't expect much to come from this impending interrogation, but took it seriously nonetheless.
So engrossed she was in the files, that when her office door burst open unceremoniously, Sharon nearly fell out of her chair. Being the cool and collected Captain Sharon Raydor, she turned her jump into an exaggerated straightening of her spine to look as if she were merely sitting up. But, she couldn't ever seem to hide from Rusty Beck.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He had a slight glimmer in his eyes and a twitching to his lips that suggested he wasn't really that sorry.
"You didn't scare me," Sharon defended herself as she casually flipped some locks of her red-brown hair behind her shoulder. Rusty rolled his eyes clearly indicating he didn't believe her, but said nothing to contradict her. Then his face seemed to fall slightly as another thought struck him. The boy slouched in the chair in front of her desk and stared at the floor as if it had offended him in some way. Sharon thought he resembled a storm cloud at that moment.
After a few moments of silence, "Rusty, is there something wrong?" Blonde hair fell into his eyes as he shook his head, no. Sharon studied her ward. He was fidgeting a bit, moving his fingers along the armrests and shifting his feet on the floor. "How was school?"
"Okay I guess," came his glum response. A week ago, Daniel Dunn had signed the release of custody papers so he could be rid of Rusty, or more like Rusty could be free of Daniel. But, Sharon figured Rusty's relieved attitude of that day was a front to hide how hurt he was that another parent had abandoned him.
"Rusty, if you would like to talk about Mr. Dunn..."
"It's not that!" Rusty cut in. Then his eyes widened slightly in trepidation. He had given himself away.
"What is it then?" Sharon gave him a reassuring smile, secretly relieved it wasn't Daniel Dunn that was troubling the young man.
Rusty shrugged non-committing. He raised his eyes to meet hers, but looked away quickly. Finally, he heaved a resigned sigh, cracking under her silent nagging. "There is a dance for our school this weekend, and a girl asked me to go."
"Oh, that's wonderful, Rusty!" Sharon gave him a genuine smile. "When is..."
"I said no." Rusty said with a note of finality in his voice.
"No? Why did you say no?!" Sharon was completely shocked and a little disappointed. She had hoped that Rusty would be able to have a bit more normal teenage life, now that both of his inadequate parents were out of the picture.
"I just didn't want to go."
"That's not true; you and I both know that. What's the problem? Is she not attractive or something?"
"No, no. She looked...looks...pretty." Rusty amended quickly.
"You don't like her attitude?"
"No..."
"You..."
"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DANCE! OKAY!" Rusty exploded. He watched as comprehension dawned in Sharon's eyes. The boy crossed his arms, slouched in the chair, and resumed staring at the floor.
Sharon watched Rusty stew in complete angst mode, obviously reprimanding himself for saying anything. She felt really sorry for him, but couldn't help chuckling a little. Rusty glared at her furiously.
"What?!" He snapped.
Sharon smiled back at him. "Rusty that's no reason to say no to a girl who asked you to a school dance."
"Last time I checked, one goes to a dance to DANCE! I know you come from the Stone Age or something..."
"Watch it, buster." Sharon's tone was firm, but laughter was still brimming in her green eyes. "Do you have this girl's number?" She asked softly. Rusty nodded. "Text her and tell her you'll go."
"But..."
"Do it." Rusty whipped out his phone and sent the text, pressing on the keys with more force than was necessary. Once he had finished, Rusty practically threw his phone back into his bag and resumed staring daggers at Sharon. She smiled serenely back at him.
"Now what? This still doesn't fix my problem." Sharon gave him a small smirk as she flicked her eyes to look out at the squad room. Her crew hadn't come back yet.
"Get up."
"Why?" The wariness in Rusty's voice was clear as he watched a usually reserved Captain Sharon Raydor practically bounce to her feet.
"Just get up and follow me." Sharon grabbed her phone and walked out of her office, her smile widening when she heard Rusty get up and drag his feet behind her. Sharon stopped in the middle of the said room and turned to face Rusty. Placing her phone on Sykes's desk momentarily, Sharon looked at Rusty who was watching her warily. "When you listen to music, do you tap your foot or drum your fingers along with the beat?"
"Yeah, I guess." Rusty's voice had changed from sulky to confused.
"Good." Sharon smirked as she reached over to her phone and pressed a button. Nat King's L-O-V-E started to play out from its tiny speakers. After a few seconds, Sharon began to snap her fingers lightly and sway a little bit. "Do you hear the beat?" Rusty nodded. "Good. Try swaying from one foot to the other to the beat." After sighing, he did so just to appease her. "Great, Rusty. That's good. Now, step a little closer." Before stepping forward, Rusty glanced around him nervously. "No one is here Rusty." Her calm voice seemed to do the trick. As Rusty stepped forward, Sharon took Rusty's left hand in her right while she guided his right hand to just below her left shoulder blade with her left hand. "This is the simple position for a waltz." As she said this, she placed her left hand on his right shoulder. Rusty gulped as his cheeks started to color. Sharon smiled at him encouragingly. "The man leads the woman, so find the beat and start swaying again."
After a few false starts, Rusty had both of them swaying from side to side. Sharon saw Rusty's lips twitching into a small smile unconsciously. Encouraged, she decided to move to the next step.
"Now, because the man leads, he always steps first and his partner should follow. Usually, starting off, you would step forward with your left and I would step back with my right. ...So find the beat again and, when you're ready, take a step forward and then bring your right forward to meet your left. After that, just sway some more." Rusty immediately looked at his feet, as if looking at them would help his coordination. "Don't look at your feet," she chided gently. "It's like riding a bike. If you look at the handles or the front wheel, you'll lose your balance and fall. Trust yourself. Your feet will listen to your brain, I promise." The boy's shoulders tensed slightly at the reprimand, but he looked back into her eyes despite the blood creeping into his cheeks again. Sharon merely smiled at him. Unconsciously, Rusty began to count soundlessly. One...two...three...one... On two, he stepped forward and Sharon moved with him. A triumphant grin graced his features before he went back to swaying and counting. Sharon smiled and stayed silent, watching her ward. She felt him relax a little bit more as his movements became more fluid and exaggerated. Six counts later, Rusty stepped again, and again. Another three counts of swaying, then four more steps forward.
Sharon realized they had swayed and stepped their way across the room. They would have to turn around soon. "Rusty, we are going to run into the wall..."
"Oh," there was disappointment in his voice. "Do you want to stop?"
"No, no." Sharon chuckled as she shook her head and smiled. "You're just going to have to turn us around."
"How?" Blue eyes looked at her inquiringly.
"Well, instead of stepping forward with your left foot, step back and out with your right, turn us halfway around, and step diagonally toward my office again with your left foot. Depending on how fast you want to pivot, you can either do the two steps in two half beats, splitting one beat. Or you can do the two steps in two beats like we've been doing."
"The second one sounds easier."
"It probably would be, since you are a beginner. Alright, when you're ready..."
Rusty waited a few beats before attempting the turn. It was disjointed and jerky but he made it. However, instead of stopping and swaying to the beat again, he continued to step forward. Sharon immediately stepped back as he stepped forward and they continued across the murder room. Because the turn was not so good they were off a beat, but Rusty seemed to know what to do unconsciously. He slowed his own steps down until they matched the beat again and followed. Sharon smiled a winning smile even though Rusty stared at her throat rather than her eyes. He seemed too nervous to do that. Suddenly the music stopped. Rusty looked slightly disappointed as Sharon let go of him. "Well" Rusty scuffed his shoe against the floor nervously. "Thanks for the lesson..."
"Are you kidding? We've only just begun." Sharon turned back to him as she started another song that had a slightly faster beat. Slightly taken aback; rusty placed his hand on Sharon's waist and took her hand again. "Before we start walking again I think we should work on 'the square' or diamond if you prefer to call it that."
"Okay," Rusty sounded nervous again. Sharon enjoyed his nervousness more than his aggressiveness when he faced something challenging. A few weeks ago Rusty would have absolutely refused to touch her, let alone dance with her.
"Instead of stepping just forward and backward, you can step forward and to the side; then to the side and backward. You will make an "L" with your inside foot." Rusty glanced around again before trying to step to his right. Then another. "Good, but try making an "L" by swinging your second foot forward or backward depending on which way you want to go." After finding the beat again, Rusty took a side step to his right and then a forward step. He lost the beat, but found it again…

Captain Raydor's team of elite investigators strutted through the halls of the police department toward the Major Crimes department with their suspect in tow. The man had decided to run merely because Flynn and Provenza had walked toward him in that intimidating way only police officers could pull off. Therefore, Sanchez's shirt and pants were dirty from tackling the guy in an alleyway, and Sykes was disheveled from running after him. The top buttons of Flynn's Armani shirt were torn, and Tao's tie was askew. Provenza looked no different from when he left. He had merely watched the guy run away as the others ran after him.

"I didn't do anything," the suspect complained.

"Hey, shut up." Flynn snapped at the man. "Because of you, Sanchez ruined his pants, and you ripped up my shirt. Even if you didn't do anything, you owe us new clothes."

"Aww, come on, man! I can't even pay my rent!"

"Are you late on your rent," Tao asked, giving Flynn a wink behind the man's back.

"Knock it off, Tao." Provenza spoke up. "We have to do this by the rules, or the wicked witch will melt us."

"Why do you call her...?"

"You'll see." Sanchez gave the man an evil smirk.

Provenza opened the door to the Major Crimes department and continued into the murder room. Suddenly, he pivoted on his heel and pushed Flynn back into Sanchez, who practically fell into Skyes. A dominoes effect took place that had all of them leaning heavily against the wall giving Provenza confused and offended looks as he shushed their complaints. As they fell silent, they heard music coming from around the corner.

'What?' Flynn mouthed at his partner. Provenza grinned as he gestured to peer around the corner. Each of them poked their heads around the corner to see something they never thought they would see.

Captain Sharon Raydor was dancing with Rusty. After watching a few more seconds, they realized she was trying to teach him how to dance. She would give him pointers every few steps and the boy would attempt to correct himself. Her squad members pulled themselves away from the spectacle and looked at each other. 'What now?' they seemed to ask each other. Suddenly, Buzz pulled out his camera and turned it on. They others followed suit; pulling out their phones. As they surreptitiously peered around the corner with their phones recording the scene, their thoughts went like this:

Sykes: "Awww…"

Tao: "To Chief Johnson…"

Flynn: "For later…"

Buzz: "Email to the rest of the police department…"

Sanchez: "Youtube…"

Provenza: "Blackmail…"

A gasp from their esteemed leader had a few of them ducking behind the corner to cover their sniggers. Rusty had just trod on her feet. "Sorry," Rusty sounded genuinely sorry.

"It's okay," Sharon assured him. She hadn't noticed her snooping squad members. Rusty kept looking at his and her feet continuously. "You don't have to…ouch!"

"Sorry…"

Sharon was just about to reassure him yet again, but, "May I?" came a deep voice from behind her. Sharon froze. Rusty nodded at the source of the voice behind her as she unwillingly turned to meet him. Flynn immediately took her hand in his and started swaying. He was smirking at her in that secretive, boyish way. "Don't worry, Rusty. You'll get the hang of it." He had turned his attention to the blonde-haired boy. "There's no guarantee that this girl of yours knows how to dance anyway. Plus, it's most likely that our favorite leader has a perfectionist streak." He gave her a big grin as she scowled at him. "As you get better, you'll be able to do more cool looking moves… like this!" Flynn twirled his Captain around three times, let her lean back and then pulled her toward him in quick succession. As she came toward him, he lifted both their arms and crossed them so her back was pressed against his chest and his arms were around her.

Sharon tried very hard to ignore how close she was to Lt. Flynn, and that was how she noticed the multiple iPhones recording her every move. Ducking her head to hide her eyes behind her hair, she let go of Andy's hands and picked her own phone up off of Skykes' desk. Stopping the music, she turned back to her squad members who were hastily stowing their phones away.

"Everyone, thank you for being so prompt. Please put this gentleman in an interrogation room. Rusty, it's about time you started on your homework." Her co-workers moved to do as she said. "And, everyone," they stopped to look at her, "if any of those videos go anywhere except your own phones…I will know about it." With a glare over the top of her glasses, Captain Sharon Raydor walked back into her office.