Okay, here's the final chapter. I decided to put Wes out of his misery. I mean, they all do have to work together, and none of us want Andy to have another heart attack. Hope this conclusion is okay. Thanks for the reviews! They were appreciated. None of these characters are my own. They've been fun to write, though!
By mid-morning the next day, the team was actually wanting a good murder. They were bored. Provenza had done numerous crosswords since he'd spent the previous day with Andy at the hospital. All the normal paperwork was done, so Provenza had told the team to dig up one of the cold cases to go back over.
"Nolan, there are some files over there next to Flynn's desk-get them," Provenza explained, and Wes nodded as he went to retrieve the files. As he did, he noticed a small photo leaned up against the corner of the lieutenant's desk, one with the lieutenant in a tux standing with the captain next to him. It looked like some sort of formal picture, maybe even a wedding, but it also looked to be an older picture. The captain's hair looked different in the picture, longer. Strange, but this team was close, and he also knew there were often events and galas to attend. Plus, he knew that the captain was close to the lieutenant; she had been on a rotation with Lieutenant Provenza to take care of him. Really, it should be a surprise seeing them in a photo together, but he didn't like it.
"Nolan, are you going to bring the box over, or do you need a moment?" Provenza said sarcastically.
"Sorry, lieutenant," he nodded, turning with the box and heading back over to the rest of the team.
Later in the day, Provenza broke the silence; they were all working on the cold case, sorting through things, 'Ahh, looks like the desk monkey is being released," he gave a soft smile. "About time."
All eyes looked up, everyone smiling, "That's good news," Julio smiled. "Glad the lieutenant is doing better."
"We can expect that when Andy returns to work, he'll be back on desk duty again," Tao said. "Now, that might be a long-term thing, just so we all know."
"The desk monkey returns," Provenza sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Desk monkey?" Wes inquired.
Amy turned to him, "Yes, he was injured pretty badly last year. He was thrown from a moving car as he was trying to chase down a suspect. From that, he suffered a concussion, broken ribs, and then he had a secondary issue. He developed a blood clot in his carotid artery, which was pretty serious. After he fell, he had to have surgery for it, and then, he had some physical therapy. It was an ordeal for a long time, and then when he came back to work, he became the lieutenant's resident desk monkey," she enunciated, turning back to Provenza.
"Oh wow!" Wes said, very surprised. "Man, the lieutenant has had a rough road the last couple years then."
"It's really just been even the last year all that has gone on," Buzz explained. "You keep saying you notice we are close-well, we've all been through a lot, some more than others obviously, but still."
Wes nodded, as he looked around, "So, when the lieutenant comes back-"
"He'll be chained to that desk, here as the captain's desk monkey again," Julio grinned. "Sorry, I should really say as the lieutenant's desk monkey," he turned to Provenza.
"Okay, everyone, here's a text from Rusty," Provenza, ignoring Julio, held up his hand for everyone to stop and listen.
"At home now, he's irritated and slightly depressed. Maybe you could swing by after work?" Provenza read from Rusty.
Provenza looked to the room, "Okay everyone, I think we can all handle this. Look, let's not overwhelm him and stay forever, but maybe we can all stop by the condo on the way home. I think we owe it to them."
The team nodded, and they agreed. As they got back to work, Wes grinned, thinking that now the lieutenant was out of the woods, things would start to get back to normal at work, and the captain would be back too. He couldn't wait to see her; he missed her presence in the office, maybe more than he realized.
As Wes pulled up to the lieutenant's building, he looked at the surroundings, nodding. This was a nice place, nice part of town. He was impressed the lieutenant lived here. Looking up at the building, he started to panic, realizing that he didn't know the address. He hoped he had kept up with the team to follow them to the building; it looked like a pretty decent sized building, and he didn't want to try and find the place on his own. Plus, he knew how directories worked and often, they weren't up to date. Normally, the team might drive places together, but since it was the end of the day, they'd all driven their own cars. He caught sight of Julio going into the building and jogged to catch up with him. He found the rest of the team waiting in the lobby.
"Now, don't overwhelm the idiot," Provenza explained. "Just a few minutes. He's irritated, so let him see all of us and get even more irritated at our arrival," Provenza offered a slight grin, "and, then we will leave."
"He'll only be irritated to see you, lieutenant. The rest of us," Julio smiled, "well, he'll be glad to see."
"Let's go," Provenza waved as they all managed to get into the same elevator. Wes noticed they were going to the top floor, 11, and he nodded, a bit impressed. He had to bet the lieutenant had a decent view of the city.
"Hey guys," Rusty offered a small smile as he opened the door to the condo. "Come on in," he gestured. Provenza had sent Rusty a text telling him they were stopping by, so that wasn't a surprise. The team entered, all smiling, looking forward to talking to Andy. Wes caught sight of him seated on a couch. Upon quick glance, the condo was decorated nicely, odd furnishings for the lieutenant, in his opinion, but it was nice. It did have an amazing view as he suspected, with windows overlooking everything.
"Hey everyone," Andy smiled and started to stand, but Provenza waved his hand at him. "Don't get up. Geez, we don't want to be in trouble with your Flynn sitter here," he nodded to Rusty. "Where's the captain?"
"She went out to get all his meds," Rusty jumped in, causing Andy to roll his eyes. "She should be back any minute."
"Rusty, I'm capable of talking, you know," Andy sighed as he rolled his eyes again. The team chuckled as they moved into the living room and got situated. "Thanks for stopping by everyone. Have a seat. Nolan, welcome. I guess you've never been here."
"No, I haven't, lieutenant. Nice view," he offered a nod to the city.
"Yeah, it is. Not so bad being here at all," he nodded.
"What did the doctor say, lieutenant?" Julio asked, as he perched himself on one of the orange chairs. Provenza had flopped on the other end of the couch. Amy was in one of the chairs, and the rest of the team was standing.
Andy sighed, "I'm home for a couple weeks, and if things look okay, I can go back to desk duty," he rolled his eyes. "Guys, I'm going to go nuts here. Please, please send some cases my way."
"I don't think Sharon would like that," Rusty grinned.
Andy glared at Rusty, "Then don't tell her," he said through his teeth, causing the team to laugh.
"Sir, the last time you were home here like this, we did send you all the dvds for that stupid reality show," Julio grinned. "Remember that Buzz?"
"Oh, I remember it. I was the delivery guy on that," he chuckled.
"See, something like that-send me some work-" he started to say, but was cut off by Sharon entering. Wes and the rest of the team looked up to see her. She was a vision.
She was a bit startled; it didn't look like she expected everyone, "Oh, well, this is a surprise," she gave a small smile to everyone. "I guess we don't have a current case?"
"Captain, no, we don't. We worked a cold case most of the day, and then we decided to check on the resident desk monkey again," Provenza explained. Sharon put her stuff down, moving over to the group. Wes couldn't help but grin at the sight of her. She looked really nice in her casual clothing, jeans, a sweater, and ankle black boots. He couldn't believe she was as old enough to be his mother; she certainly had a young vibe to her, a look he really liked.
"Well, I'm glad for once, we've had a quiet few days at work," she shook her head. "We needed that. Andy, do you need anything?" she asked.
"I'm fine, Sharon," he waved to her, and Wes picked up on that. He hadn't heard anyone, but Rusty, call her Sharon. Thinking back, he was sure now that he'd heard the lieutenant call her that during the case too. He'd have to figure that out.
"Can I get any of you anything to drink?" she asked, looking around. She was met with everyone shaking their heads.
Wes glanced around as the team all started talking. It was an odd décor for the lieutenant, and it was then he noticed that same photo he'd seen at work here on the desk by where he was standing, this one framed. The lieutenant again standing with the captain in the tux at s formal event. Maybe they were pretty good friends, which would explain his calling her Sharon here off duty. It would be weird to call rank constantly if you were friends.
"Are you sure I can't offer any drinks?" Wes heard and looked up to see the captain asking again.
He perked up, "No thanks, Captain."
"Oh, just sit down. You know you are in your pacing mode," Provenza waved at her. Wes laughed. The two lieutenants seemed to have her number. She threw a smirk at him, and then she went and sat on the armrest of the couch next to the lieutenant.
Wes almost choked when he saw the lieutenant put his arm around her waist from his seat on the couch, and further, he about lost it when he watched the captain smile at him as she put her arm on his shoulder. Furthermore, no one else seemed out of sorts. This, this he hadn't picked up on at all. Did she like the guy? Apparently so, and he seemed to like her.
"Mom?" he heard and turned his head quickly to see who 'Mom' was and where that was coming from. He widened his eyes in surprise, as he saw Rusty talking to Sharon.
"Listen, Mom, if you two are okay here, I'm going to head out. Do you need anything right now?" Rusty asked.
Sharon and Andy both shook their heads at Rusty, "Rusty, we are fine. Everyone is here. Thank you. Go, see Gus. I know you've been worried about this for days. You are off the hook. We'll be fine."
Rusty turned to Andy, "You sure, too?" he asked.
Andy nodded, "I think we'll manage," he said with a roll of the eyes. The team laughed.
"Bye everyone," he waved.
"Rusty, be safe," Sharon called after him.
"Yes, Mom," he smirked and left.
"Wait," Wes put his hand up, trying to figure this all out. He was totally confused, and it was time to get to the bottom of this, "Wait, so Rusty's your son?" he pointed to Sharon, as Rusty left the condo.
"Yes," she smiled. "He's the youngest."
"Wait, I thought he was yours, lieutenant?" Wes asked, visibly confused.
"Ahh, someone needs his family tree lesson," Provenza shook his head.
"Huh?" Wes asked.
Julio stepped in, "Rusty is the captain's adopted son. We've all known him for what, over five years now?" to which he was met with nods. "It's complicated, but he came to all of us in the Murder Room as a homeless teen, a witness in a murder investigation."
"Okay," Wes said slowly, still trying to figure out the connection.
"I guess I have to claim him," Andy let out a chuckle.
Sharon softly smacked at his arm, "Hush, he loves you, even if he doesn't want to admit it, and I think I can safely say the feeling is mutual."
Wes was still looking at everyone, trying to figure it out, and Julio picked up on his confusion, as Wes asked again, "Yeah, sorry, I thought he was the lieutenant's kid?"
He noticed the lieutenant and captain both smile, as Andy said, "I'll claim Rusty," as Wes noticed he smiled at the captain. "We've come a long way."
Julio, who had been watching Wes' expression said, "Wait, you did know this is their condo, right?" Julio asked him, pointing to Andy and Sharon, still sitting next to each other on the couch.
Wes' face must have given away his shock, and the team started to chuckle. Julio continued, "I will take that as a 'no' you weren't aware," he smiled.
Provenza looked up at Wes horrified, "You didn't know," he gestured to them.
Wes looked to the captain, the beautiful captain, the woman he's been thinking about for awhile now, really since he'd started to work with her. She was smiling, her arm loosely placed on the lieutenant's shoulder, and his eyes met hers, and she smiled back at him, "To be fair, we do try to keep our personal life out of the office. I guess Wes' not knowing shows we are doing a decent job," she smiled down at the lieutenant now, he noted.
Wes tried to regroup and not look completely defeated, "Ahh, no, I didn't" he admitted, running a hand through his head. "Wow, I feel so stupid now," he shook his head. "That case, my head-it was somewhere else, and I just totally missed it. Then, the lieutenant collapsed, uh, wow, I'm sorry, Captain. I thought you were just a good boss, caring and kind. You at the hospital with the kids, I guess," he looked to the group who was nodding in confirmation at the kid comment, "wow, I didn't put it together. So, those were your kids, and man, you must have been a mess. I missed it-man, just thought you were that good of a boss."
"Well, she is a great boss," Andy smirked, looking up at Sharon and then yelling out, "Ouch!" when Sharon lightly smacked at his arm. "She is kind and caring too." The rest of the team chuckled.
Sharon rolled her eyes, looking to Wes again, "I'm sorry. I guess we should have told you. I'm surprised the team didn't," she looked to all of them with questionable glances.
"To be fair, Ma'am, you two-old news now," Julio grinned. "I guess we didn't think about or assumed that you being all concerned about the lieutenant's heart attack was enough of an explanation."
Wes stood there, shell-shocked as he started to look around the condo, "So, this is all your stuff?" he asked, looking to the apparent couple. It was then that he noticed more pictures around the place, most of them with yes, both the lieutenant and the captain, and a few with the kids he assumed.
"Well, mostly Sharon's stuff," he noted the lieutenant nodded. "She's got the eye for decorating, but yeah, this is our place."
"And Rusty lives here with us," Sharon added. "Our other kids are grown," she nodded.
"The other two, right?" Wes asked.
"Umm, actually, there are five kids in total," he shrugged, and seeing Wes' confused look, "Rusty, then we each have a girl and a boy too."
"Every now and then a Raydor or Flynn kid pops into the Murder Room," Julio grinned looking at the couple, and they just shrugged.
"In fact, that's how we ever got any info on these two," Buzz nodded. "The kids tell us everything."
"Oh, can we please not do this again? My heart can't take it," Andy joked.
Wes looked confused again, and Provenza finally spoke up, "I won't even comment right now on your terrible detective skills if you didn't see that," he gestured at the couple. "Let's just say this whole thing-we've had to watch in slow motion, over the years, and well," he gestured at them again, "there you have it."
"Wow, I'm really embarrassed I didn't catch it. I'm sorry to you both," Wes said.
"Wes, it's no problem, but yes, Andy and I are together," he noticed she winked at the lieutenant as she said that.
"For years," Amy jumped in. "Years."
Wes excused himself to the bathroom a short time later to regroup, noting as he walked by what must be their bedroom. He shook his head, as he looked into the bathroom mirror. He felt like he'd been punched in the face. He looked around the bathroom, noting all THEIR stuff. How did he miss all the signs?
Wow, the captain did have someone in her life, a fellow detective nonetheless. Here, he'd spent days thinking about her, planning how to ask her out, and just wanting to get to know everything about her. Turns out someone else had beaten him to it, by years, it sounded. He took a deep breath; it wasn't going to be easy to get over his interest of her, but he had to do it. They still all had to work together.
When he returned to the living room, he saw the team, now his team, smiling and laughing. He saw the lieutenant with his hand on the captain's back, and he saw her looking at him with a look he now could finally identify-love. She loved him, and he was not going to get in the middle of that. He was stupid to think someone like her would even notice him; the lieutenant was one lucky guy.
"I'm going to get going," he told the group. "I've got apartments to look at this evening."
"Yeah, I'm going to head out too," Amy stood. "Glad to see you on the mend, lieutenant," she nodded to him. Several others stood, ready to leave too, and Wes noticed as they were all heading out, only the captain, and the two lieutenants were left.
"Lieutenant, I'm glad you are going to recover," Wes called out to him before he left. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask," he said looking to both the captain and lieutenant. They had both stood and were facing the group. Before he walked out, he noticed the two had their hands intertwined, standing together, and he smiled. It was hard not to want her for himself, but he decided that anyone the captain would like that much had to be a good guy, and he made a note to get to know the lieutenant better when he returned to work.
As Wes left, he couldn't have known that while clueless himself, the three higher ranking officers sat in that condo, discussing him.
"Andy, I think you were right," Sharon covered her face. "I think he was interested in me. Did you see how he was looking at us, as if he was horrified at the idea we were together at the same time horrified at himself?"
Andy looked to Provenza and both guys nodded, "Told you," Andy said. "No guy just brings you flowers or dinner without something in mind. I know," he grinned. "I have a lot of experience pursuing a police captain," he winked to her.
"Captain, there was something about him at work. He almost had Flynn's puppy dog face down. Now, I'm glad that's all out there; hopefully, we'll get back to normal, well as normal as can be when desk monkey here returns. At least it appears to be a short-lived crush," Provenza shrugged.
"I'm just glad I don't have to beat up the guy," Andy nodded to Sharon. She started to chuckle.
"Really?" she asked.
Andy shrugged, "Yes, why is that hard to believe?"
"You'll go beat up a fellow officer of the law, with whom we now work, because you think he's got a crush on me? What, are you trying to stake your claim?" she grinned at him.
"Hey," he held up a hand, "whatever I have to do. You are hot. I believe you tried to convince me I was dead wrong about him, but hey, I told you-guy liked what he saw," he grinned.
"Oh, do I have to hear this? Honestly, Flynn, this wouldn't be going on at all if you hadn't had the heart attack. Anything Nolan was thinking would have been short lived, because despite you two thinking you do such a great job of keeping your private life out of the Murder Room, you don't. It's not as bad as it was, but we all know. Flynn, I'm chalking up the reason to him not knowing is you and the heart attack. So, get back to work ASAP."
Andy smiled at Provenza, "You miss me, admit it. With you, at least I don't have to worry about some crush developing. I will ask that you keep an eye on things and keep my girl safe."
"Your girl?" Sharon said irritated.
"Yes," Andy grinned. "I'll tell Nolan that too if you want to call him back here."
"Well, he was charming," Sharon shrugged as her voice trailed off.
Andy waved her off, "He had his moment; you still came home to me."
Downstairs as Wes walked to his car, he thought back through the past few days, trying to see how he'd missed it. Yup, he had done terrible detective work, but thankfully he hadn't done or said anything inappropriate. Now, the moment was over, and it was time for him to start focusing on the life in front of him. The right woman had to be out there for him somewhere; she just wasn't sitting in the Murder Room.