A/N Oops! Yes, you can tell this was an old fic pulled from the vault because it was written before we found out Judge Grove was married. I'm just going to leave it as is, but thanks for the catch.
Chapter 2
"Andy, can I talk to you a sec?"
Andy dragged his attention away from Sharon's office to focus on Rusty. "Sure kid. What's up?"
He wasn't the only one to turn his chair and his attention.
Uncomfortable with all the eyes now on him, Rusty added. "Not here."
Andy followed Rusty to the break room. Rusty looked about as uncomfortable as Andy had ever seen him.
Andy waited for Rusty to start.
"You met my mom – my other mom." Rusty clarified. "So it won't come as a big surprise to you to find out that I've already done the single mom bringing home the creepy boyfriends and the really inappropriate father figures bit ..."
"Yeah." Andy could only imagine. He would listen if Rusty wanted to talk about his experiences, but he knew better than to try to push for details if the kid didn't offer.
Playing with the straps on his knapsack and looking anywhere but at him, Rusty told Andy. "... I just wanted to say that out of all the creepy boyfriend candidates running around, if I had to pick one for Sharon, it would be ..."
Listening to Rusty, feeling quite touched, Andy couldn't help but stand a little taller.
"... Lieutenant Provenza."
Andy blinked. Thinking about it, he realized that for Rusty Provenza made sense in a bizarre sort of way – after all, Sharon was Rusty's mom and Provenza – God save them all – had become something of a father figure to him.
A little stunned, Andy tried to think of what to say to that.
Before he could come up with anything, a nervous Rusty shrugged a shoulder and continued. "But you know, a pretty decent second choice would be ... "
Andy's expression softened.
"... Buzz."
Andy's softened expression turned into an eye roll – until a resigned sounding Rusty kept going. "But I guess, you're not so bad either."
Andy let out a puff of air and shook his head. "Gee thanks, kid."
Andy wasn't too hard on him though. He could tell by the antsy way the kid was acting that this was a hard conversation for him to be having and he was hopefully just trying to use humor to make the situation easier.
Still toying with the strap of his knapsack and looking anywhere but at him, Rusty got serious.
"Look Andy, you and Sharon have been not dating for a while now and I know that you have been moving at the pace of a glacier with her because that is what she's comfortable with, but you are going to need to man up and pick up the pace.
"Being patient with her when she was still married to Jack was one thing, because it was just you, but that ring on her hand must have been like the one in the Lord of the Rings that kept the wearer invisible because as soon as that thing came off ...
"That guy in her office - the one that she used to work with in FID - he already came by the apartment wanting to take her out to dinner claiming he needed to pick her brain about some old case he's reworking. There was Judge Grove and then, and then there was Jack's brother – which is every kind of wrong by the way – and ..."
Rusty had to stop to take a breath before ending. "Look Andy, all I am saying is that you shouldn't wait too long."
Done getting out everything he had to say, Rusty finally looked him in the eye. "Okay?"
A little bowled over, Andy nodded. "Okay."
As Rusty started to turn and leave the break room, Andy stopped him.
"Rusty … Thanks."
Rusty was back to shrugging. "You're good to her and you make her happy. Why wouldn't I want her to be happy? Sharon deserves to be happy."
"That she does." Andy agreed. He put his hand on Rusty's shoulder a second before they walked back out together.
tbc
A/N Would love to hear your thoughts on the story so far.
