Behind the Ice Queen

It had been a couple of hours since Rusty and the team had gotten to the hospital after the shooting. Sharon was still in surgery and the doctors had yet to tell anyone how she was doing. Rusty was close to having a meltdown when Elana and James finally arrived.

"Where have you guys been? It's been hours since Sharon was shot. Don't you guys care about your mother?"

James opened his mouth to snap back but Elana cut him off. "The police had trouble getting hold of us. We came as soon as we heard about what happened. Have you heard anything about mom?"

Rusty turned away to start pacing again so Provenza answered Elana. "No. The doctor's took her for surgery and we haven't seen anyone that would know about her."

Elana nodded her head but before she could ask any more questions Sharon's doctor came out of the surgery room with a clipboard in his hands. The entire groups rushed over and surrounded him while asking questions at the time. The doctor held up his hand and everyone quieted down to hear what he had to say.

"I know that all of you want to know how she is but before I can tell anyone anything I have to make sure that you are all family." The doctor then proceeded to name off all the people that he could give information to. When everyone's name appeared on the list as family the major crimes squad gave each other confused looks but Rusty was more interested in Sharon than in the list.

The doctor told everyone that Sharon had been shot in the back and the bullet lodged itself very close to her spine. But through some miracle it failed to do any real damage to her organs so Sharon would recover. She had lost a lot of blood though so it would take a few days for her to be able to go home. As the doctor left most of the major crimes squad stood around trying to figure out what to do next.

Elana turned to Rusty once James left. "Who are you staying with tonight? You're more than welcome to stay at the hotel with me if you like. "

But Rusty shook his head. "I'm staying with Provenza until Sharon gets better. Thanks for the offer though."

Provenza and Rusty were heading towards the door when Elana stopped them again. "That reminds me. I brought some home videos that we made with mom so that I could show you how mom was went I was growing up. Would you like to see them?"

The thought of seeing how Sharon acted around her kids made Rusty smile for the first time in hours. "Yeah. I'd like to see the videos. Why don't you meet us at Provenza's house and we can watch them together? " Rusty turned to the major crimes squad. "Do you guys want to watch them too?" Everyone nodded their heads, curious as to what Sharon used to be like.

Elana agreed to this so after getting Provenza's home address she headed back to her hotel to get the videos. While Rusty and Provenza drove to Provenza's house the rest of the squad followed their car.

Once everyone got to Provenza's house they spread out and made themselves comfortable as they waited for Elana. When a knock on the door signaled that it was time for movies everyone gathered in front of the television while Sykes went to let Elana in. Flynn took the movies while Elana sat down and Tao hooked up the VCR.

The first movie that the team watched was of a musical that Sharon had done when she was sixteen. IT shocked everyone to find out that Raydor had a very pretty voice and she wasn't bad dancer ether. So the rest of the night was spent watching a smiling Raydor turn into the woman that they knew because of the emotional abuse from her husband.

After school the next day Rusty and Provenza stopped by the store before going to see Sharon, who had woken up that morning. Rusty wanted to get Sharon something nice to brighten up her hospital room and finally he decided on a daisy arrangement. Once they paid for the flowers Provenza drove Rusty to the hospital and he rushed up to Sharon's room. When they opened the door Rusty stopped in surprise at all the color that he saw. Apparently he was not the only one to get Raydor something as Rusty could see dozens of flowers and teddy bears lining every available surface. While Rusty stared at the objects on the table Sharon turned her head.

"Rusty?" Sharon whispered, still weak from the shooting. Rusty smiled at her and gestured towards the flowers that he was holding.

"Looks like I'm behind the crowd on gifts today. You already have so many flowers I doubt you'd want more." Sharon smiled at him and shook her head.

"Flowers from you are always my favorite. But how did you know I like daisies? I don't think I've ever mentioned that before."

"I didn't know that you liked daisies. They just seemed like the right flowers for you. By the way, did Elana tell you that she showed everyone some of your home movies last night?"

By the look of surprise on her face Rusty figured that Elana had not mentioned it. "You're a pretty good singer you know." Provenza stated, making Sharon jump. He had been blocked from view by the door so she didn't know that he was there.

"Yeah. I'm a good singer if you like nails on a chalkboard." This made all three of them laugh as Rusty set the flowers down and sat next to Sharon. They spent the next three hours laughing and joking until the nurses kicked Rusty and Provenza out of the room.

As they walked to the car Rusty marveled at the thought that an amazing person like Sharon was the one taking care of him. And it honored him more than anything he had ever experience that she had thought that dying for him was worth getting shot.