Saturday the 15th – 8:31 am – Sharon Raydor's Apartment

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A rhythmic tap-tap-tapping sound slowly eased Sharon out of her half sleep. It was a sound that was familiar to her, and she slowly opened her eyes to look at the house sparrow that pecked at her window. Once the bird noticed she was awake he stopped his tapping and cocked his head, then flew off; a few seconds later, he was back in the same spot, hopping up and down.

She smiled. Like many people, she had her morning routine, and part of that routine involved the little sparrow that was impatiently awaiting his breakfast.

She looked down at the sleeping blonde in her lap, and sighed as she removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes.

This was going to be difficult. It had been quite a few years since she'd had to move a sleeping person without waking them up, and even then it was when her kids had been small. Extracting herself from underneath the Chief without waking the other woman was going to take some strategic planning. Unfortunately, she needed her first cup of coffee before she could work out any tactical thinking, and the kitchen seemed so very far away right now.

She rolled her shoulders and winced at the noise they made. Then she looked down at Brenda again; blonde hair spilled over her lap and over the other woman's face and she carefully brushed a strand away. She was relieved that the Chief remained motionless.

This wasn't the first time she had woken up with Brenda Leigh Johnson asleep in her lap, and for a brief moment, she wondered if it was going to be the last.

The first time it happened, it was after Brenda had taken the brunt of the initial attack, and after they were thrown in that damned warehouse. The blonde had just collapsed from sheer exhaustion - right onto her leg, and when Sharon had come to the next day, she didn't know if the Chief was even still alive; she was so still and peaceful, and even though she felt incredibly guilty about it afterwards, she still had to shake the other woman, just to make sure she was still with her. Sharon never thought she'd be so thankful to hear the Chief insult her. As the week went on, they grew more comfortable with each other - to the point that neither of them could fall asleep without the other close by. Apparently Brenda Leigh had told Mrs Johnson that, and that was the reason Willie Rae had asked her to fetch her daughter in the early hours of the morning. And why Sharon was happy to do so.

The tapping on her window started again, and she shook her head. She was going to have to manoeuvre Brenda from her lap or the bird was going to wake her up anyway.

Very carefully, she lifted up the blonde; just enough for her to slide out from the couch, and just as carefully place her back down. She exhaled heavily and put her hand over her rapidly beating heart as she gave the Chief one last glance then made a bee-line for her purse and took out her phone; clumsily scrolling through her contacts as she made her way into the kitchen to make coffee, and collect the nuts and dried fruit for the bird.

She held the phone between her left ear and shoulder waiting for an answer while she got on with her morning ritual. When she heard the click, she spoke quickly and quietly. "Agent Howard?"

"Captain, how is she?" There was sadness in the man's voice, and she felt for him.

"Asleep, for now."

"I'm sorry Willie Rae called you."

"That's okay" She reassured, while pouring out the bird food into a small dish. "To be honest Agent Howard, I was having trouble sleeping; it was a relief to get out of the house." And out of my own head.

"Regardless, thank you so much, Captain. I can pick her up if you want."

She froze as she pulled out a mug. Did she want that? No. She didn't. "Agent Howard-"

"Fritz." He corrected softly. "I think we can put formalities away, given the situation."

"Fritz." She started, and frowned at the way she said his name. Brenda Leigh and Mrs Johnson made it sound like it was an actual name, rather than the noise that came out of her mouth. "I'll bring her back, but I won't push her to leave. I'm not going to push her to do something she isn't ready to do." She considered whether or not that had come out too harsh, but even if it had, she didn't care.

"No. I think you've both had enough of that. I just didn't want you to feel – I don't know – Obligated."

"I don't." She reassured. "I'll take care of her."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Sharon." She smiled. "Oh, one question - How does she like her coffee?"

"Sweet."

"Why am I not surprised?" She chuckled.

"And if you've got any sugary cereal, she'd be even happier."

"I… You know, I have no idea if I do have any." She said, and opened up her cupboard. "Looks like I'll have to go shopping after she's woken up."

"No, no. I'll go to the store and pick some things up for her, and I'll drop them off at the door. She won't have to see me at all."

The statement got Sharon curious, but not enough to ask the man. "That would be appreciated."

"Thank you again, Sharon."

"Don't mention it."

As soon as she hung up, she walked quietly over to the glass doors, and opened them to put out the food for Brian the bird. At least he had stopped tapping now, and his hopping up and down made a lot less noise. She rested her forearms on the balcony while she cradled her coffee and watched him peck at the nuts. "You've got it so easy." She muttered to him. "You come here knowing full well I can't say no to you, and you take a little bit for yourself and take the rest to your family. You and your bird wife and your little bird children, all eating like royalty, just because some old woman can't resist a cute face." The sparrow paid her no attention as he picked up a hazelnut and flew off towards the tree outside the apartment block. She leaned over slightly to look down at his home. A few seconds later he was back – empty beaked – and pecked at a raisin. "I feel like I'm only a few years away from being the Bird Woman from Mary Poppins." She said as she took a sip of her coffee and straightened herself up. "You'd better not take advantage little Brian, or I'll stop feeding you." He looked up at her cautiously, and she rolled her eyes. "Who am I kidding? No I won't." She said as she walked back into the living room; towards the kitchen.

It felt strange not having to rush for work. It felt strange not having to worry about a deadline.

Yesterday morning she was hung over and restless, and those two feelings combined made the silence in the apartment utterly unbearable. As soon as she'd walked into F.I.D one of her detectives had ran off to tell Chief Pope, and ten minutes later she was basically thrown out of the building, and condescendingly being told she should take some time for herself – to recuperate. Commander Taylor's advice was clichéd to the point of painful. What an idiot. She didn't want to spend time with herself! Herself was depressed and lonely and needed some sort of interaction! What she really wanted was to talk to Brenda, but she figured that the other woman wouldn't want to talk to her.

She was both saddened and comforted by the fact that the Chief felt the same way, and having her only a few feet away – in her eye line - made her relax, a little.

She leaned her hip against the kitchen counter, and took another sip of her coffee as she closed her eyes.

"Sharon!"

She jumped – spilling her coffee over her hand when she heard the scream come from the sofa, and she dumped her mug in the sink before she rushed over to Brenda Leigh. "I'm here." She bent down, shaking her burning hand.

"Where are we?" The Chief asked groggily.

"My apartment."

"So, we're safe?" The blonde asked as she sat up slowly, and looked around the room.

"Yes, we're safe." Sharon placed her dry hand on Brenda's arm, and squeezed it slightly. "Nightmare?"

"Yeah." The Chief nodded. "It ain't as bad as it was last time I slept." She shrugged.

"That's good. Would you like some coffee? I just made some."

The blonde nodded her affirmative, and stretched out like a cat. Sharon smirked to herself as she stood up - The sight of Brenda making herself comfortable in her home made her feel good. She wasn't entirely sure why, but it didn't matter. She needed to feel good. And she never would've thought that Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson would have this effect on her.

But when you spend a week in hell with someone, you're going to come out the other side as completely different people.