DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters. They belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 4

"We found some information regarding the four women. They had a couple of things in common: they were all around the same height 5'9 to 5'10, brown hair, and slightly muscular" Mike said as Sharon and Andy listened. "Anything else?" Sharon asked. "Yes Captain, they were all recent graduates of law school" Mike answered. "Did they go to the same school?" Andy asked further. "Yes. Two of them went to Stanford and the other two went to UC-Berkeley, ma'am" Julio said as he jumped into the conversation.

"What type of law degree did they graduate with?" Sharon asked. "Looks like they were all going into criminal law Captain" Amy answered. "What type of criminal law?" The team paged through some paperwork. "Sex crimes" Provenza answered. Sharon and Andy looked at each other. "Stroh" Andy said. "Take me off speaker" Sharon said as she didn't want anyone else to hear this, especially if Rusty was still in the murder room with Buzz. Provenza did and started to speak with her.

"Lieutenant, I want to see all of these findings that you have" Sharon said. "Email them to me" she continued. "Sure Captain" Provenza said. Andy and Sharon both glanced at each other. Andy continued to write down a couple of things on some paper. "I'll drive up with Julio tomorrow morning and meet you and Flynn at the local police station by 9am" Provenza stated. "We will have to coordinate with the locals on this. If Stroh is here in the area, I want to be vigilant but careful that we don't step on the local law enforcement" Sharon said as she was in full Captain Mode now.

"Understood, Mike and Amy will stay behind to coordinate down here" Provenza said. "Oh, and Captain" he continued. Sharon hummed. "Buzz is staying with Rusty, he's in good hands so don't worry" Provenza added. "Thank you Lieutenant. We will see you tomorrow" Sharon said. "I'll text you the address of the station and our place" Andy added before they hung up.

"He's getting sloppy" Andy said to Sharon. "Why would he choose recent law school graduates? He had to have known them somehow?" Andy continued as Sharon stood up and walked back into the kitchen. Andy followed her. "Something doesn't make sense here" Andy continued as he cleaned up the items left out in the kitchen. Sharon washed the dishes "You're right Andy. Are we missing something else?" Andy shrugged his shoulders and sighed.

Sharon and Andy sat on the couch looking over the email Provenza sent regarding their findings so far. "It looks like all four of them interned at this one law firm in town" Andy started saying as he looked on Sharon's phone reading the email. "Maybe that's how Stroh knew them?" Sharon stated as she shifted back against Andy to get more comfortable. "Stroh had a partner when he worked as an attorney in LA, right?" she questioned. "Yeah, he did" Andy said as he gently rubbed her arms.

Sharon sent an email to Mike asking him to look into Stroh's old partnership in LA, maybe that would lead to something else. "I feel like we are a sitting duck staying here" Andy said as Sharon placed the phone down and turned around in his arms. "He's probably out there right now, planning something, and we don't know about it" he continued.

Sharon laid against his chest on the couch, "do you want to go back to LA then?" she asked. "No, I want to do our jobs Sharon but we don't have the usual backup here like we do down there" Andy said in a worried voice. "I'm going to protect you at all costs, Sharon, with my life if it comes down to that." Sharon shook her head "we've been able to keep our relationship out of our work so far, Andy; we need to keep our objectiveness during this too".

Andy now shook his head, "Stroh made this personal back when he went after Rusty and you through those letters". Sharon looked at him. "Rusty is part of your family, you are a part of me, which makes me personally involved" Andy said. Sharon huffed, "that is exactly what an attorney will say if you jump the gun here."

"The locals have to be the ones who arrest him, we don't have jurisdiction here" Sharon said as she caressed his face. "I don't want to visit my fiancé in jail because he went after Stroh". Andy smirked at her. "Now on the other hand, if Stroh attacks us, we can always claim self-defense" Sharon added.

"It's getting late, why don't we get some rest" he suggested. "I just want to check in with Rusty first" Sharon said as she started to text him. Then she texted both Ricky and Emily just to make sure they were doing okay. Andy went around the house making sure all the doors and windows were closed and locked. If Stroh was out there, he certainly didn't want to make it easy on him to get to Sharon. He would protect her at all costs.

"Everything ok with your kids?" Andy asked as he got ready for bed. "Yes, Rusty is spending the night at Buzz's house, Emily asked about you, and Ricky is up in Yosemite with a bunch of his friends" Sharon said as she sat at the edge of the bed. She drifted in her thoughts again to last night when she and Andy danced and shared a romantic evening. She was worried about him. Worried about the fact that Andy would do whatever it took to protect the ones that he loves. This frightened her further as she didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

Meanwhile back at the LAPD, Julio was still in the murder room with Provenza and Mike. "Sir, I think we should drive up there now. If it really is Stroh, the Captain and the Lieutenant will need us asap" Julio stated as he started to pack. Provenza looked at him from his desk and then started to get up. "You're right Julio" Provenza said, "Mike, you hold down the fort here" he added as he and Julio started walking out the door. "I will text Andy when we get closer that there's a change in plans" Provenza said as they walked out of the elevator and into the parking garage to take a cruiser up north.

That night Sharon wore one of Andy's t-shirts to bed along with a pair of shorts. She was curled up against Andy's side as she laid her left hand onto Andy's bare chest. Andy was awake laying there with her. "Get some rest" he said as he lifted his shirt slightly and began to rub circles on Sharon's lower back. Her ring glistened in the night glow as she looked at it. "You know I love you, right?" Sharon whispered to Andy. "Yes" Andy whispered back to her and pulled her in closer to him.

She reached up and caressed his face as she shifted her body. "I don't want to lose you Andy, I know sometimes you leap before thinking but promise me you will be careful" Sharon said as she kissed him. Andy smiled, "now that I've got you, and you said yes, I'm not going to lose you." He pulled her in deepening the kiss. "After all, you owe me another dance" he said in a whisper to her. "Make love to me Andy" she whispered back to him. Andy pulled his shirt over her head and gladly made love to her in the moonlight.

Lurking in the shadows of the beach was a dark figure who thought he would never see that police captain again. He wondered if she had spotted him on the street early in the day, he didn't want to take his chance when he saw her, so he quickly left the shops. Did she hear about the murders that he did, is that why she was up here? He knew he couldn't take his chances while she was here with that Lieutenant of hers. He had to act quickly, he wondered who should he take out, Rusty or her. Since she was right here, vulnerable and an easy target, he decided it would be her turn next.

TBC