The next sound she heard was the beeping sound from the heart monitor.

"What?" she sat up suddenly and looked around panicking.

"Mum! Mum, you need to calm down." Ricky came into her vision and passed her glasses.

"Andy? Where's Andy?" She asked fearing the answer.

"The rescuers found him just in time. He had been in surgery for a long time. The doctors were able to safe his leg but they are still worried about the infection. Lieutenant Provenza knows more about it and I saw his daughter Nicole."

"I need to see him." She told him. She needed to be sure that he was alive.

"Mum, you've been unconscious for nearly a day now. Rusty went to pick Emily at the airport. I sent him away because he had been stuck by your side since they brought here. He needed some fresh air."

She nodded glad that her son had everything under control.

"I'm going to call a nurse so they know you're awake and then call Lieutenant Provenza so he can give you an update."

She gave him a small smile. "Thank you, honey."

A few minutes later a doctor showed up. "Mrs. Raydor, it's good to see you awake." She smiled at her. "A lot of people were worried for you. Especially a young blonde man."

"Yeah, Rusty." She still hadn't see the latest addition to her family.

"Well," the doctor checked her chart. "Your vitals look good. You were severely dehydrated when you got here and had nasty cut on your forehead. Our best plastic surgeon stitched that so you won't have a very visible scar."

"When can I get up?" She wanted to get out of that bed and go to see Andy.

"What? You want to leave us already?"

"I need to see Andy. How is he?" She asked her.

"I'm afraid I can give information only to immediate family. I want to keep you in for another two days at least. You have another IV after this one and then we'll see if you can eat and keep your food down. But if you want to visit Lieutenant Flynn, I can have a nurse get you a wheelchair."

"That would be wonderful, thank you."

"Okay. I'll leave you to it and I'll come back in the evening."

As she was waiting for the wheelchair, Emily and Rusty walked in the room.

"Mum!" Her daughter ran towards her bed and put her arms around her. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Sweetheart!" Sharon hugged her daughter tightly. "There was no need for you to come all the way here."

"Mum! You were in a helicopter accident!" Emily sat on the edge of the bed. It was strange to see the big white bandage on her mother's head and the IV coming out of her arm. "I would have been here yesterday, but Ricky said it was better to have more information first. But I just could stay in New York waiting."

"I'm okay, baby." Sharon looked at Rusty who was still standing by the door. "Rusty!" She called him putting an arm up.

Rusty stepped forward and took her hand. "I was so worried. For a moment there…" he didn't want to get emotional.

"I know. For a moment I was scared too. But I'm here. I'm a little bruised. I'm too old to go through that ride." She tried to keep things light. She knew that her kids had been scared. For the first time they had to face the possibility of her mortality.

"Captain Raydor? Your ride is here." A nurse came with a wheelchair.

Ricky and Emily helped her with the hook of the IV and then to her chair.

"Andy is in intensive care on the third floor." Ricky told her as he pushed her chair and they entered the lift. Emily and Rusty right behind them.

Nicole was the first one to see her. "Sharon!" She got up from the waiting chair and greeted her. She bent down and gave her a small hug. "It's good to see you awake. I came to check on you earlier, but you were still resting."

"Thank you, Nicole. How are you holding up?" She laid a hand on the young woman's arm.

"It's unnerving. All this waiting. Dad is still not out of the woods. They told me we went to cardiac arrest during surgery. Doctors tell me to be hopeful, but still…"

Ricky hadn't mentioned about the cardiac arrest. She knew that his body had suffered a great stress, but that didn't sound good.

"I'm sure it will be okay. Your father is a strong man."

"And a stubborn one." Provenza added.

Sharon smiled at him. "Hello Lieutenant."

"It's good to see you, Captain."

"Really?" She acted surprise. A few years back, when she was out in charge of Major Crimes, Lieutenant Provenza didn't want her there. Now he was one of her best collaborators.

"Yeah. To do much work to do in your absence. Plus Julio and Buzz were moping."

She chuckled. "Is everything okay at work?"

"Yeah. Sykes and Tao are working together with the local authorities. It seems that out two murders are connected after all. They will gather all the evidence and we'll have out lab analyze them. But you don't have to worry with that. Taylor has given us some extra men from Robbery Homicide. We will catch this guy and I will leave all the paperwork for when you come back." He told her grinning.

She nodded. "Have you seen Andy?"

"Just from the glass window. They won't let you in without a mask and scrubs. It looks bad seeing him attached to all those machines, but I'm sure that in a couple of days he will be back to being a pain in the ass."

She knew he was trying to reassure the both of them.

"Ricky," she laid a hand on top of her son's. "Could you please take me there?"

"Sure."

He went down a corridor and then stopped in front of the ICU with Andy. He left his mother alone telling her to just send a nurse to get him when she was ready to leave. He knew that something like they had gone through could connect you for life. Also Rusty and Nicole told them about their non-dates. He guessed that there was more between his mother and the tall lieutenant than just friendship.

She put a hand on the glass and the other one covered the sob escaping from her mouth. He looked so frail laying on the sterile white sheets of the hospital bed. A ventilator was pumping air in his lungs and a monitor was keeping notes on his heart rate and blood pressure. His right leg was elevated and she could see that it was heavily bandaged.

"You come back to me, Andrew Flynn." She whispered, tears drops falling from her eyes.

Two days later Sharon was released from the hospital. And even though she had wanted to stay there until Andy woke up, she went home because her kids had insisted. Nicole had been right: the waiting was unnerving. She always considered herself a patient woman, but she needed to see his adorable chocolate brown eyes and to hear his sexy voice again or maybe get lost in his smile. She had convinced Emily to go back to New York. Her daughter couldn't afford to miss too many days at work, her career as a ballerina was on the line. Ricky took a week off from his job, she still couldn't really understand what he did, but he was going to help her to get everything on track again and that's what she needed. To go back to normality. Sharon had two weeks of medical leave. She knew that she also had to be cleared be the department psychologist before she could work full time. But for now she was going to spend most of her time sitting by Andy's bed. The doctors had taken him off the ventilator and he was breathing on his own. But that stubborn man still hadn't woken up.

That morning they had moving him to a regular room, so it made visiting a lot more easier. Her team had solved the case and they usually took turns to come and take her food or to simply give her a break. Ricky was looking after Rusty, even though, like the young teenager said, he didn't need a babysitter. But Ricky called him brotherly boding time.

Sharon was sitting on an armchair. She was reading her favourite book again. Sometimes she would read her favourite parts out loud hoping that the sound of her voice would bring him back to her.

She was caressing his hand when suddenly she felt it squirm. Surprised she put the book down and leaned towards the bed.

"Andy?"

More movement.

"Andy? Open your eyes, honey." She whispered in his ear.

Andy slowly moved his head and then he open one eye.

"Hey!" She gave him a warm smile.

"Hi." He said. His throat dry. She put a glass of water on his lips and he took a small sip. In the meanwhile Sharon pressed the call button.

"Where…"

"Can you remember what happen?" The doctors had been worried for possible brain damage.

"Accident." He said. "Helicopter."

"Yes. We were in a crash and then we running in the forest."

Slowly his last memories were coming back to him. He didn't expect to see her again. He really thought he was going to die out there.

The nurse walked in and saw that he was awake. She sent someone to call the doctor while she checked his vitals.

"Welcome back, Mr. Flynn. How are you feeling?"

"My head is killing me, but maybe my leg is worse." His voice was still hoarse.

"Your attending will soon be here to check you out."

Moments later his doctor walked in followed by a couple of residents. Sharon stayed for all the examination. The verdict was that Andy had to stay in the hospital for at least another week and start as soon as possible physiotherapy for his leg. It was going to be a long recovery, his body has suffered so much stress. Sharon stepped outside for a couple of minutes so she could call Nicole and all the others to let them know the great news.

When they were finally alone again the two could talk about how they had left things in the woods.

"I was really scared. I thought you had died." She confessed. She ran her hand up and down his arm.

"So did I." He lightly chuckled. "I had found peace. I was going to leave this world in a better state of mind."

"Well, I'm glad that it wasn't your time yet."

"Yeah, me too."

"Plus, you still owe me a dinner."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrow playfully.

"Hum, Hum. Don't think for one minute that I forgot about it."

"I would never. You might have to wait a bit. I'm not really fit for dating anytime soon."

"I will be here waiting for you. As long as you need me to." She told him softly and kissed the corner of his mouth.