Chief Pope, Deputy Chief Johnson and Lt. Flynn piled into Pope's car and exited the parking garage under the LAPD's offices. Each of them was engaged with their own personal thoughts, not wanting to bring them to the attention of the others. For Pope it was wondering how he'd gone from trying to be supporting of someone he truly admired to messing up their relationship. For Flynn it was a stroll down memory lane, visiting events he'd just as soon forget. But for Brenda it was a mixture of concern, curiosity and more than a little envy. Who was Sharon Raydor really? They had been working side by side for months and she still knew next to nothing about the Captain. Brenda's personal life was an open book for all of them, with her father's cancer, her mother's attempts to make everyone feel at home, her husband popping into the offices regularly, and her past as Pope's lover, it seemed nothing she did was truly private. But what did she really know about the woman who'd been supporting her unquestioningly for months, aside from the fact that her parents were still living and she had kids? Nothing really, she didn't even know how many kids and whether they were boys or girls. To top everything off, as she looked at Will's profile she saw something there she'd never seen before - something definitely never directed her way - and that was genuine compassion without a hint of self-interest. Who was this woman who captured the thoughts of the men around her, who knew her job and did it with complete conviction? Brenda always thought of her as a well dressed robot, she realized, someone who was put on this earth only to be annoying, but not as someone who had a life of her own.
When they arrived at the Raydor-Armstrong home, both men in the car let out a sigh and Brenda turned to look at each one of them wondering what they were thinking. "This outta be fun" she said out loud, and both men shook from their revery.
Inside Sharon waited with her children, Riley continuing to liven the mood and she loved him for it. "Should I grab the basket of beanbags? It's a little far across the room for you to reach easily. Oh, oh I know. The gun in your back seat. Can I get that please? Ugh, ugh? Can you just imagine Poop's face walking in here and you have a gun in your hand. I'd pay money to see that one."
"Riley" Sam, Jamie and Lexi yelled at the same time.
"What?" the teenager asked, looking complete innocent.
"Do you get that this is about Dad? Maybe you were too young to remember but..."
"Listen Sam, I knew Dad. Sure I was a kid when he died but I know one thing for sure, and that's that he would be laughing about this and saying all we have to do is talk it out to find out where the mix-up came from. He wouldn't be mad or take it personally, he'd just shrug it off and know the only thing that mattered was that the people he loved knew he would never hurt Mom in a million years. I get that you want to defend Dad's memory and all, but seriously what's to defend? Shake it off and get with the program. This is Poop being an idiot and talking out of his ass, and how many times have we seen that?"
Sharon stood up and hugged her youngest son. "Riley's right, so let's liven the mood and remember who your Dad really was. I just heard the car pull in so I'm going to let him in and we'll get this sorted out. And no more "Poop" comments, understood?"
"Yes Ma'am" she heard with more than one cheeky grin.
Her smile immediately dropped when she opened the door and found not only Chief Pope but Deputy Chief Johnson and Lt. Flynn at her door as well. "To what do I owe this honour?" Sharon looked over at her kids and back to the door again. "Chief Johnson, Lt. Flynn, I wasn't expecting you."
Sensing neither of her companions knew what to say, Brenda immediately took over "It's nothing to be concerned about Capt'n, not really. Chief Pope here explained what was going on to me personally and I talked to Lt. Flynn to get some information before we came over. We all thought it best that this conversation was heard by more than one Officer so that there wouldn't be any confusion in the future. May we come in?"
"Is this an official visit?" Sharon asked, glaring at Will.
"No Capt'n", Brenda intervened again. "Just a group of concerned, ah... 'friends', having a little chat."
Nodding Sharon looked at the three of them and replied "well in that case, we'll dispense with the titles. My 'friends' call me Sharon and I don't bring my work into my home, and since I'm about to welcome you into my home we're going to keep this on a first name basis, agreed?"
"Most definitely, Sharon" Brenda smiled sweetly, brushing past her. "I'll apologize in advance if I slip and call you Capt'n. You can just correct me. Thank you for welcoming me to your lovely home."
Brenda turned and did a quick survey of Sharon's home. Family pictures on the wall, gaming console by the television, tasteful overstuffed furniture throughout the room, doors leading in various directions, and right in the middle four young adults who could only be related to Sharon by blood. Four children? How did Sharon have the time to have four children and focus on her career? Each of them had Sharon's green eyes, and the hair colour stretched from a deep chestnut on the oldest girl to a redish blond on the youngest boy. They were all tall, attractive people who seemed to share their mother's intense gaze.
"Chi... Brenda, I'd like to introduce you to my children. My daughters Alexis and Jamie, and my sons Samson and Riley. Kids, this is Brenda Lee Johnson, whom you've heard me mention. This is Andy Flynn. He and I go way back and he knew your father years ago. And of course you know Will Pope." Sharon sharpened her gaze ever so slightly at Riley to make sure he behaved.
Brenda stepped forward and shook hands with all of the Armstrong children, then took the seat Lexi offered her. Andy just waved at the lot and moved off to the side while Will put his hand protectively on Sharon's lower back and moved the two of them into the living room.
The tension was thick among the eight occupants of the room and Sharon had had enough.
"Will, I told the kids your preconceptions about me and my past, and since you've come with others I can only assume you've spoken to them as well, so let's cut to the chase. Why do you think I'm in denial about being an abuse victim? What makes you think I was beaten by my husband?"
All eyes turned to him as Will shifted uncomfortably in his seat. This was not how he wanted this day to end. "You have to understand Sharon, there's no shame in being a victim of abuse. We at the LAPD have programs put in place to help the staff cope with any of these issues. Being an Officer is a very hard thing to do sometimes and it's pretty common knowledge that for some people, bringing it home is pretty standard. We have more broken homes in our profession than any other line of work."
Wetting her lips, Sharon looked directly at will. "Well, first of all, statistically that has been proven untrue. Police officers fall in line with the national divorce averages and more than one study has noted that. Secondly, I'm the Officer, not my husband, so based on your argument I would be the abuser, not the victim. Thirdly, I never said there was any shame in acknowledging being an abuse victim. In fact I go to great lengths to support anyone, male or female, who is experiencing that level of violence, and my record shows that.
"The real situation here Will, is that you've blurred the lines of our personal and professional relationships and rather than talking to me about this directly, you've chosen to pass judgement. As Chief of Police, you of all people should know lines of evidence need to be followed and we can never assume anything based on hearsay. You also must know that as a Department Head, I cannot be bringing my personal issues into the job and any suggestion that I am undermines all of my cases, cases I've worked hard to make airtight. You might have the pleasure of dealing with all Officers in the LAPD, but I deal with the less-than-stellar Officers on a regular basis and any one of them would take great pleasure in overturning my decisions.
"Will, I don't talk about my past with you because it's my past. It's over and done with. I have my memories but I certainly don't live in them. I'm not hiding anything."