Chapter 4

Waiting was something Sharon usually considered herself quite good at. When you'd raised children and dealt with uncooperative colleagues and suspects on a regular basis, a good degree of patience was necessary. Sharon had patience. She had it by the bucket-load. And yet, as she sat in this bland, beige room with Andy, waiting for news of Nicole and Dean, she could feel it running out.

The muscles in Andy's arms were tense under her fingertips, bunched, and as time dragged on, without any news, Sharon began to worry about his blood pressure. It had been almost three hours since she had arrived at the hospital, and Nicole had already been in surgery for at least an hour by then.

Every so often, he'd twist sobriety ring around his finger, look at his watch or check his phone. When the door had opened about an hour ago, Andy had sat forward on the edge of his seat, expecting the doctor. When Provenza entered with another round of coffee for everyone, he'd flopped back into the chair, visibly deflated.

Gina wasn't faring much better, wringing her hands in her lap. Periodically, she'd shift position on her chair, unable to settle. Her husband, Martin, was hunched over, his elbows resting on his knees. He kept glancing at the clock, sighing when it had barely moved. Shane was unconsciously tapping a pencil against his leg, occasionally bringing it to his mouth and chew on it for a moment. The gesture reminded Sharon of a younger Andy, who in every review meeting she'd called him to, would have a toothpick hanging out of his mouth. She hadn't spent much time around Shane before, but now that she had the opportunity to watch him, she could see he shared many traits with his father; impatience, hot-headed, sarcastic. She wondered if either of them realised just how similar they were.

Every so often either Shane or his mother would glance over to the corner in which Sharon and Andy were sat, her head on his shoulder, his hand clasped tightly in hers, and scowl. She wasn't welcome here. She knew it and so did Andy; it was why he hadn't called her himself. But she would stick it out. For Andy's sake she would draw on her years of experience in FID and pull up the mask; her impenetrable 'Darth Raydor' exterior. She would ignore all the looks, the muttered barbs and insults, and focus on what was important here and now: Andy and Nicole.

Andy had taken to pacing the room when the door opened signalled the arrival of Nicole's doctor. The eagerness to hear any news had everyone on their feet. Sharon moved to stand by Andy and he grasped her hand tightly for support.

The doctor ran a hand through his short brown hair; he looked worn, his tie askew and the beginnings of five o'clock shadow on his face. "I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting, but I wanted to wait until Nicole was out of surgery and I had something concrete to tell you."

Andy stepped forward. "Is she okay?"

"Nicole suffered some considerable injuries from the crash," he stated gravely. "As well as a broken arm, and a concussion plus several lacerations on her face and arms, there was a lot of internal abdominal damage. We managed to stop the bleeding and repair most of the damage but we had to perform an emergency open splenectomy."

"A splenectomy?" Gina was unfamiliar with this procedure.

"They had to remove her spleen." Everyone turned to look at Sharon, who had spoken automatically without realising. She looked up at Andy and offered a light shrug.

The doctor nodded at Sharon and began to explain to the rest of the family. "The spleen is an organ, about the size of a fist, which is found in the upper left of the abdomen. It forms part of the body's immune system; fighting infections, controlling the level of blood cells and filters out any old of damaged blood cells."

"That sounds pretty important Doc." Andy asked, worried about long-term effects. "Will she be okay without it."

"Essentially, yes. The liver will take over many of the spleens functions. However, she may be more susceptible to infections and any infections she does pick up can be more serious and may require hospital admission."

"She'll probably have to take low-dose antibiotics for the rest of her life," Sharon added. She felt everyone's eyes on her once more and cursed her tiredness for not being able to control her mouth. At Andy's questioning gaze, Sharon explained; "My father had his removed a few years ago. Not under the same circumstances, but he's doing well." She offered Gina what she hoped was a comforting smile. At the end of day, she was a mother who was worried about her child; Sharon could relate to that. "He takes his meds and has to have regular check-ups with his physician but he leads a full and active life."

This relaxed Andy slightly. He'd met Sharon's father last July. The two of them and Rusty had driven north to spend the weekend with her parents at their lodge for the Independence Day weekend. Andy had been slightly apprehensive, given the similar history he shared with Jack, but William and Nancy O'Dwyer had welcomed him with open arms. And, despite his advanced age, and apparent lack of a spleen, Andy could attest to the fact that William was healthy and active. As Nicole was considerably younger, Andy felt confident that she wouldn't be hindered by the procedure.

"We'll keep on her high dose IV antibiotics to minimise the risk of infection while she's here but, your wife is right, Nicole will need to take daily medication for the rest of her life."

Sharon and Andy spoke up at the same time to correct the doctor's assumption. "Oh I'm not…" "She's not…"

"She's his girlfriend," provided Shane, a hint of distaste in his voice.

"Oh my apologies. I just assumed."

Andy waved off his mistake. "That's alright Doc, no harm done. So is Nicole awake? Can we see her?"

"She's still in recovery for the moment. You can see her once she's settled in ICU."

Gina's eyes widened. "ICU?"

"Nicole will be heavily sedated for a few days. She suffered a massive head trauma, so I'd like for the swelling around her brain to lessen a little before we bring her round."

"And Dean?" Martin asked.

"He'll be in ICU too. I'm afraid I can't give you any more information other than that as technically, you aren't his next of kin."

"But his parents are out of the country," objected Gina.

A knock on the door took the doctors attention for a moment. "Yes, I believe so. Which brings us to another, slightly sensitive issue." His gaze wandered to the two young boys still sleeping soundly on the hospital chairs, before opening the door.

A woman with a clipboard entered; a woman who was all too familiar to Sharon.

"Cynthia?"

"Captain Raydor. Lieutenant Flynn."

At the arrival of Rusty's old case worker, Andy was on his feet. "You called DCFS?!"

"I'm afraid it's hospital policy."

Gina looked between the doctor and Cynthia. "What? Why?"

Cynthia stepped forward. "Because, right now, Mrs…" she glanced down at her clipboard, "…Walker, these boys have no-one to take care of them."

"Of course they do," she protested. "They have us."

"I appreciate that, I do. However, Nicole does not have parental rights over her stepsons. Which means that, legally, you don't have the right to custody."

Andy threw his hands up. "This is ridiculous!"

"I know this is upsetting. Really, I do. But I'm afraid that is the law." She looked down at her clipboard. "Do you have a way of getting in touch with their mother?"

"You want to get in touch with their mother? Well, good look with that," was Andy's sarcastic reply. "Their mother left, divorced their father and disappeared. The boys haven't seen her in five years. Hell, Kodey was less than a year old – he wouldn't even know her."

"If we can't find her, then they'll need foster care."

"So what, we're supposed to just hand them over to you so you can dump them with strangers?" asked Shane, sounding an awful lot like his father. "Well, I can tell you right now, that ain't happening lady."

"Come on Cynthia," said Andy, "is there nothing we can do here… it's a pretty unique situation."

"It's not as unique as you'd think Lieutenant. And no, there is nothing we can do. These boys require emergency care."

"They have care," argued Shane.

"Okay, let me ask you this. What's going to happen in the morning? A hospital waiting room is not a suitable place for them to spend their time, neither is ICU which is where I'm informed that both their father and stepmother will be, so I assume you all will be as well. Is that really what's best for them here?"

Shane was not convinced. "It's better than what you're suggesting. My sister loves these boys like they're her own. We love them like they're her own. They should stay with one of us."

While Nicole's family argued with Cynthia, Sharon noticed that the eldest of Nicole's step-son's, Devon, was shifting about in his sleep. She moved to sit with him, stroking his hair lightly to try and sooth him into a deeper sleep. But it was no good, his eyes fluttered opened and he looked around blearily. He was awake and the argument going on less than ten feet away, had piqued his interest.

He sat up rubbing his eyes. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"We're at the hospital," Sharon explained gently. "Your Dad and Nicole were in a little accident and the doctors are making them better."

Devon looked at the other adults in the room. His grandparents and uncle were talking to a doctor and a lady who he didn't know. They hadn't even noticed he was awake. He could see tears in his Grandma Gina's eyes and Grandpa Andy and Uncle Shane looked angry. He wondered why. That thought gave way to others as his sleep addled brain cleared slightly, and within moments, his head was full of worst case scenarios and 'what ifs'. He felt overwhelmed. "Are Daddy and Nicole… Are they going to die?" he asked quietly, his bottom lip trembling.

Sharon gathered him onto her lap as his tears began to fall and cuddled him. "The doctors are taking very good care of them both, okay honey?" Devon nodded, his sobbing catching the attention of the assembled family and Cynthia. Both Gina and Andy stepped forward to offer comfort, but Andy reached him first. He bent down next to Sharon and stroked Devon's hair.

Watching Sharon press a kiss to the top of Devon's head, an idea took root in Cynthia's mind. "Alright, there might be something I can do here. Let me just make a couple of calls."


A/N: At this point I feel I should remind you that, as I'm British, I have very limited knowledge of Californian child custody/guardianship laws so you may have to suspend your disbelief as we move forward with this... Hopefully you'll still enjoy the story.