DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.
Chapter 2
Sharon and Andy arrived home with Matthew and Moxie. As Matthew ran ahead with Moxie, once they were out of the car, Sharon walked with Andy from the garage to the backyard. Matthew was waiting for them to open the back door. He was very excited because not only did he finish his homework at school, he wanted to change his clothes quickly because Andy had promised to set up the pitching machine tonight. Sharon and Andy held each other's hands as they walked over to the door. "Come on, hurry!" Matthew said to the two of them as they came closer. "What are you in such a hurry for?" Andy said to Matthew as he got his house keys out. "Don't you remember? You said we could play with the pitching machine tonight after we came home" Matthew said, standing there jumping up and down. "Okay, okay!" Andy said as he laughed as Sharon ran her hand up and down Andy's back. He glanced at her, catching the smile that was on her face.
Andy unlocked the back door and Matthew ran inside with Moxie chasing after him. "Oh Matthew! Hang on one second before you go up to change" Sharon called out to him as he made his way to the kitchen but stopped short of the table. Sharon walked in after him and then Andy followed both of them to the kitchen. "We'd like to talk to you about something that happened at school today" Andy said to Matthew. Matthew looked at both of them, they had their serious faces on so Matthew had a seat at the kitchen table. "Okay" he said as he sat down. "So, tell me, what happened at school?" Sharon asked Matthew as she sat down at the table with him. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know" he said to them. "Matthew, what happened on the playground" Sharon tried asking him again. Matthew just looked at her. "Am I in trouble?" Matthew asked. "No, sweetie, you're not in trouble" Sharon said to him.
"Matthew, we just want to understand what happened today, that's all" Andy said to Matthew as he sat down next to him. Matthew looked at both Andy and Sharon with a worried look on his face. "There was an older kid on the playground that was making fun of Jimmy. I didn't like what he was saying to him so I stepped between them and told the older kid to stop talking" Matthew said to them. Sharon nodded. "Okay, so then what happened" Sharon said encouraging Matthew. "I pulled Jimmy with me and I told a teacher what had happened" Matthew said as he was playing with his hands. "Did the older kid stop talking?" Andy asked him. "The teacher went over to him and spoke to him" Matthew said as he sat there. "That's all I know, okay?" he added. Where were Colin and Avery when this happened?" Sharon asked him. "They weren't outside because they have a different recess time" Matthew explained. Sharon nodded and then looked at Andy. "You did a good job, Matthew" Andy said to him as he ruffled his hair again. "Come here Matthew" Sharon said to him and smiled at him. Matthew got up and walked over to where she was sitting. Sharon held her arms out and Matthew gave her a hug. "We are very proud of you for sticking up for your friend against a bully" Sharon said to him. "Okay" Matthew said. He then looked at Sharon. "Can I go change my clothes now?" Matthew asked. "Sure" Sharon said and then Matthew went upstairs to change his clothes.
Andy watched Sharon as she sat at the kitchen table. She was thinking about something and didn't realize Andy had stood up and walked over to her until he placed his hands on her shoulders and started to give her a massage. She jumped when he started but soon relaxed. "Hey, are you sure everything is okay?" he leaned down and whispered into her ear. Sharon leaned back against the chair and closed her eyes. "Things are going to get pretty heated with four candidates for the Assistant Chief's position" Sharon said as she relaxed underneath Andy's hands. "Is that what you discussed with Chief Howard for two hours today?" Andy asked her as he kept massaging her shoulders. He leaned down and started kissing her neck. Sharon enjoyed that a lot as she opened her eyes and smiled. She brought her right hand up to meet his face and held him to her neck. A spot that drove her crazy. Before the both of them could get carried away, they heard Matthew running back down the stairs and she let go of Andy's head.
"I'm ready" Matthew said as he wore his Dodgers jersey and a pair of sweatpants. Sharon smiled at Matthew. "Okay, buddy, let me go change and I'll be right back" Andy said to him as he walked away from them and went upstairs. Giving Sharon a massage made him excited and he needed to cool off. He went in to their bedroom and placed his gun in the safe, then placed his badge on his dresser and proceeded to change his clothes.
Sharon wanted to talk with Matthew about bullying. "Have a seat" she said to him as she pulled a chair out for him. Matthew huffed and dragged his feet but sat down eventually. "Fine" he said to her. "I want to talk to you about bullying, Matthew" Sharon said as she looked at him. Matthew was looking down at the floor but then looked at Sharon. "I just wanted to make sure that you are okay. I know you stood up to that bully, and I am very proud of you for doing that" Sharon said as Matthew looked at her, slouched on his chair. "And you did the right thing by going and telling a teacher what happened" Sharon added. "I know that you and Daddy stand up to bullies all the time because you are the Police so I thought I would do the same when I saw Jimmy getting bullied" Matthew said to her. Sharon smiled at him as she heard Andy coming downstairs.
Andy was wearing his Dodgers jersey and a pair of jeans. "Okay, are you ready?" Andy said as he walked in to the kitchen and looked at Matthew. Matthew looked at Sharon and she nodded. Matthew then jumped off the chair and headed towards the back door. "Are you coming too?" Andy said to Sharon. "I'll join you there in a minute" she said to him and he smiled and winked back at her as he headed to the back yard. Sharon went upstairs to change her clothes into something more comfortable.
Andy, Matthew, and Moxie were all in the back yard when Sharon joined them a couple of minutes later. Andy was putting together the pitching machine and Matthew was chasing Moxie around. Sharon sat down on the porch swing and watched her boys play in the yard. She was very happy with where her career was at this time. She didn't want to get promoted into another job. She was happy being Captain in charge of the Major Crimes Division. But, she knew that Winnie Davis wanted to be Assistant Chief so badly, and she was vindictive in her ways. Their encounter with her in the elevator wasn't the first nor would it be the last. Sharon knew LAPD policy better than anyone at the department because of all of her time spent in IA and FID. Winnie Davis thought she knew the policy because she's tried to trip up Sharon a couple of times before when she was in FID. Sharon immediately shut her down back then, and ever since, she's felt animosity towards Sharon. Matthew hitting the whiffle ball from the pitching machine brought Sharon out of her thoughts as he ran around the make-shift bases in the yard. Andy chased after the ball before Moxie could pick it up. "Yeah!" Sharon said as she clapped for Matthew. Andy smiled as Matthew kept hitting the ball.
Matthew continued to play in the yard with Moxie after they were done playing with the pitching machine. Andy walked over to where Sharon was sitting on the porch swing and joined her. He took her hands in his. "You're hands are cold" Andy said as he held them. Sharon snuggled up to him. It was getting a little cooler as the sun was starting to set. "Hmm, now I have my personal heater with me to warm me up" Sharon said to him, smiling. Sharon then placed her hands inside of Andy's Dodgers jersey as he placed his arms around her and rubbed his chest through his undershirt. "What do you want to do for dinner?" Andy asked her as they watched Matthew play with Moxie. Sharon thought about it. "I could get the grill ready and grill some chicken if you'd like that" Andy suggested as he ran his hand up and down her arm to keep her warm. "Mmm hmm, that would be nice" Sharon said to him as she leaned over and kissed him.
Matthew walked over to where Sharon and Andy were sitting on the porch and placed the whiffle bat down on the ground. That caused Sharon and Andy to break apart from their kiss. "Are you all done playing out here?" Sharon asked him. "Um, I'm getting kind of hungry now" Matthew said to her as he walked over to them. Andy scooted over to make room for Matthew and Matthew sat in between them on the swing. "Well, we were thinking about grilling some chicken and potatoes. Does that sound like something you'd like?" Sharon said to him. Matthew nodded his head. "Can I help you get things ready?" Matthew asked Sharon. "Sure, come on. Let's get you cleaned up first and then you can help me get everything ready for Daddy to put on the grill" Sharon said as she stood up from the swing and held out her hand for Matthew.
Matthew followed Sharon inside and Andy was getting the grill ready. Moxie was enjoying the outdoors, lying on the porch watching Andy move the grill around. Matthew washed his hands and then came back in to the kitchen where Sharon was standing by the kitchen sink. She washed her hands and then they started to prepare the chicken and the potatoes. A few minutes later, Matthew came outside holding a tray with the food that Andy was going to grill. Sharon held the door for him. "Careful, buddy" Andy said as he took the tray from Matthew and sat it down on the side bar of the grill. Andy then opened the grill cover and placed the chicken and the potatoes on the grill. "We'll let that cook for a while" Andy said to Matthew as he closed the cover to the grill. Matthew walked over to where Moxie was lying on the ground and sat down next to him, scratching behind Moxie's ears. Andy watched Matthew as he sat down on the porch swing.
Sharon was inside the kitchen preparing a few extra things when the phone rang in the house. She answered it, seeing that it was Nicole calling them. "Hello?" Sharon said on the phone. "Hi Sharon, how are you" Nicole said to her. "Oh, I'm doing well. We are just preparing some dinner over here" Sharon answered her. "Ok, well, I won't keep you long. I just wanted to know what you knew about the bullying incident at the boys' school today" Nicole asked Sharon. "Oh, well, from what Matthew told me, an older boy at the school was picking on a boy named Jimmy. He's in Matthew's class. Matthew saw what happened and told the older boy to stop. Then he informed the teacher on the playground and I guess that teacher spoke to the older boy" Sharon said to Nicole. "Huh, okay. We just wanted to make sure that Matthew wasn't the one getting bullied because the boys said it was a younger boy but that was all they could tell me" Nicole said to Sharon.
About five minutes later, Sharon came out to join Andy, Matthew, and Moxie outside. Sharon sat down next to Andy on the swing. "Your daughter just called a couple of minutes ago" Sharon said to Andy as he wrapped his arm around her. "She did?" Andy said to her. "She wanted to know what happened at the school playground" Sharon said to him as they watched Matthew play with Moxie again in the back yard. "I told her what Matthew told us. She just wanted to make sure it wasn't Matthew that was getting bullied by the older boy" Sharon explained to Andy. Andy nodded his head and then got up to check on the food.
He came back over to her and pulled her hands to stand up. "You know, we should make reservations at the hotel in Glendale, if we are still thinking about Spring Training" Andy said to Sharon as he pulled her in for a hug. "Should we tell him or let it be a surprise?" Sharon whispered in Andy's ear. Andy groaned as her hands went around to his back and rubbed his back. "We can tell him, but Sharon, you need to stop that or else dinner is going to be severely barbequed" Andy said to her as he reluctantly pulled away from her embrace. Andy then walked over to the grill and flipped the chicken on the grill one more time to thoroughly cook it.
"Hey Matthew! Can you come here?" Sharon called out to him. Matthew came running over to where they were standing. "How would you like to go see the Dodgers in Spring Training?" Andy asked Matthew. "You mean go see them play a game?" Matthew asked. "Uh huh" Andy said to him and Matthew was all excited. "When?" Matthew asked. "Well, next weekend your Mom and I are not on call and you have that following Monday off from school so we were thinking going then" Andy said to him. "Oh my gosh! I can't wait to go!" Matthew said to them, excited. "Can I start packing now?" Matthew asked as Andy tended to the grill. "No sweetie, we will have time to pack in a couple of days" Sharon said to him. "If you want to set some things aside that you want to take with, you can do that" she added.
"Wait a minute, where's Moxie going to be if we are at the game?" Matthew asked. "We are either going to ask Rusty if he could watch Moxie or Moxie will have his own vacation at the Doggie Day care place" Andy answered him. "Let's see if Rusty could watch him, he'll miss his bed if he doesn't stay here" Matthew said as he walked in the house with Moxie. Andy placed all of the food on a clean plate and brought the plate in the house. He placed it on the kitchen table. "Dinner is served" Andy said to Matthew and Sharon.
After dinner was finished, Matthew asked Sharon if he could watch some TV. "Why don't you go upstairs and take a bath first. After you're done, then you can watch TV" Sharon said to him as Andy cleaned up the kitchen. "Why do I need a bath?" Matthew asked. "You played in the yard almost all night, running around, sliding into bases, you need a bath" Sharon explained to Matthew but Matthew didn't want anything to do with a bath and he started to have a tantrum. "Hey hey, we do not do that Matthew" Andy scolded him. "If you keep that up, no Dodgers game" Andy said to him. Matthew stopped throwing his tantrum and looked at Andy. "I'm sorry" Matthew said in his shy voice. "Okay, now let's go upstairs and get you ready for your bath" Sharon said as she walked with Matthew upstairs. Andy just shook his head as he placed the dishes in the dishwasher. He then fed Moxie dinner and went to relax on the couch.
Matthew came running downstairs and headed to the family room where he saw Andy sitting on the couch. "Did you take your bath?" Andy asked as he noticed Matthew was now wearing his pajamas. Matthew nodded. "What are you watching?" Matthew asked him as he sat next to Andy. "Oh, well I was watching sports news but we can change that if you want to watch something" Andy said to him. Just then, Sharon joined them and then all three of them were sitting on the couch, Matthew in the middle. "Can we watch Batman?" Matthew asked. Sharon looked at Andy. "Batman, didn't you see all of the cartoon movies we have?" Andy said as he got up from the couch and went to see which Batman movie Matthew wanted to watch. "Batman versus Joker" Matthew said to Andy and Andy pulled it out of the DVD cover and placed it inside the player. Andy then sat back down on the couch and Matthew started to watch the movie. Andy leaned over to where Sharon was sitting and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Dad, pay attention to what Batman does here" Matthew said to Andy as he watched the TV. Andy chuckled and so did Sharon. All three of them continued to watch the movie.
It was time for bed and the movie was over so Sharon turned the TV off. Matthew got up off the couch and gave Andy a hug. "Good night buddy" Andy said to him. "Good night Dad. I had fun tonight" Matthew said to him. "Oh, I'm glad you did" Andy said to Matthew and then Matthew went upstairs with Sharon. Sharon tucked him into bed. "Have a good night" she said to him as she pulled his covers up. "Good night Mom" Matthew said to Sharon as Moxie settled on Matthew's bed. "Night sweetie" Sharon said to him as she kissed his forehead. She then got up and closed the door behind her.
While Sharon brought Matthew up for bed, Andy was in the den booking a reservation at the Renaissance Hotel in Glendale, Arizona. There was a spa there, so Sharon could relax. There was also a pool so Matthew could go swimming. The hotel wasn't that far from Camelback Ranch where the Dodgers play, so it was very convenient. Andy then locked up downstairs and joined Sharon upstairs in their room.
By the time Andy made it to their room, Sharon was already dressed for bed. Andy closed the door to their room and walked over to where Sharon was sitting on their bed. "I believe you're overdressed" Sharon said to him as he leaned down to give her a kiss. "I can fix that" Andy said to Sharon and then he started to undress. He crawled into bed and joined Sharon. He kissed her lips and her body. Sharon kissed him in return and the two of them made love to each other. "I missed you" Andy whispered to Sharon afterwards, as they both laid together in bed, sheets tangled around them. "I know, I'm sorry I've been distant lately" Sharon said quietly to him. "No need to be sorry" Andy said to her as he held her close to him. "I love you Andy, so much" Sharon said to him as he held her. Andy kissed her head. " I love you too, sweetheart" Andy said to her and they both drifted off to sleep.
TBC