Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters below – I am only borrowing them – and will not be financially benefitting from the story in anyway. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author Notes: Many thanks to mellow_mel for her super-speedy beta and to reviewers for keeping me motivated!

You'll Get Yours – Chapter 6

Andy swept into the living room with his gun at the ready; having not yet familiarised himself with Sharon's apartment – the perpetrator would have the advantage.

As he moved past the kitchen, he heard Sharon shout "clear" from down the hall, signifying that the rooms on that side of the apartment were intruder free.

"What's going on?" Rusty hovered nervously by the refrigerator; having just called for take-out he stood clutching the phone to his chest, with a frantic expression on his face.

"It's alright, Rusty," Andy unlocked and slid open the door to the balcony and surveyed the area, "there's been a break in."

"A break in?" Rusty asked worriedly - looking to the coffee table where his new game console still sat. "Who breaks in and leaves a brand new boxed computer on the table?"

"All clear!" Andy shouted, loud enough for Sharon to hear and holstered his gun. "Good question kid. Do me a favour – go see if anything's missing from your room."

As Rusty left the kitchen, the kettle began to whistle and Andy pulled it from the stove and onto an iron stand; his mind a whirl of activity.

Their sweep of her apartment had surfaced nothing; whoever had broken in was long gone – having only left their mark in Sharon's bedroom and en-suite bathroom.

Andy moved to the front door, pulled it open and gave it a once over; there was no sign of forced entry and the apartment was on the 10th floor. There was only one way the intruder got into the building and that was past security.

Andy headed down to the lobby, taking two stairs at a time; a sickening feeling settling in his gut. First the mysterious card and now a break in…he needed to get to the bottom of this – and fast.

xXx

Rusty, en route to his bedroom, came to a halt as he passed Sharon's bedroom. He found her standing at the foot of her bed; she glanced up at him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

"Sharon," he took a tentative step towards her and caught the reflection in the mirror of something written on her bed sheets. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Rusty." She offered him a tight, reassuring smile and walked forwards to prevent him from entering, what was now a crime scene; "your room looks untouched - but could you please do as Lieutenant Flynn asked, and make sure that nothing is missing?"

"Okay…" he stepped back out into the hall, "…erm…Sharon…do you need anything or…?"

"No," she shook her head softly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "No, I'm fine – you just go head and check your room."

As Rusty reluctantly headed towards his room, Sharon turned her back on him; her eyes cataloguing the damage.

Her Egyptian cotton bed sheets were ruined – but everything else appeared to be superficial; there was underwear strewn all over the room, clothes hung out of her drawers and her wardrobe had been ransacked – but she doubted that the intruder had been looking for anything in particular. From what she saw, Sharon's experience told her that when breaking in, the suspect only had two objectives in mind; to frighten and humiliate her.

At the foot of the bed, laid out on a wooden trunk were several condom packets, a bottle of lubricant, a small pink vibrator and something else that did not belong to her.

She felt dazed as she stood, her eyes mapping the room. She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there when she heard Andy entered the room behind her; she glanced over her shoulder to acknowledge his presence.

"No real surprise here; but Ronnie on the security desk didn't see a thing." He hovered next to her, taking in the items thrown haphazardly around the room. "Anything missing?"

"Not that I can see…" Sharon ran her gaze over the room once more, "but that is not mine," she pointed to the personal items that decorated the trunk, whilst avoiding looking at her lieutenant.

She heard him clear this throat, "Sharon, I can understand…"

"I'm not being prudish, Lieutenant," she spun to face him in full Captain Raydor mode; "the other items are mine but that – thing with the straps is not." With that, she turned on her heal and stalked off towards the en-suite, leaving Andy standing in her bedroom alone – a blush colouring his cheeks.

xXx

Sharon stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, the words 'You'll Get Yours Bitch' written in her favourite lipstick across its surface.

'Why is this happening again?' It didn't make sense to her; all lose ends had been tied. Ian Banston was incarcerated in a psychiatric facility and he'd had no visitors for years. 'It doesn't make sense…'

She caught Andy's gaze in the mirror as he once again came up behind her; his expression solemn. "Who the hell would do this, Sharon?"

Sharon opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. If this was the work of a cop that she'd investigated whilst in IA - they had a serious grudge and their behaviour was certainly escalating.

Andy reached for his cell phone; "I'm calling it in."

"Wait!" Sharon spun to face him – the gravity of the situation suddenly hitting her. "Rusty…" her eyes drew wide, "if Child Services hears about this…Andy it could jeopardise my custody…"

Andy looked at her – a frown creasing his brow. It was like he was truly seeing Sharon for the first time - her Captain's mask had slipped, revealing a vulnerability that he didn't know existed; she was willing to break the rules, to keep the boy.

"Sharon," after a few beats, he took a step towards her and placed a hand gently on her shoulder "I understand where you're coming from, I really do…but can you honestly say that Rusty is safe here? That either of you are?"

She felt the heat from Andy's hand burning through the silk of her shirt as she stared into his eyes; his expression was sincere, he brushed his thumb over her shoulder affectionately.

Sharon's breath caught in her throat and she looked down sharply, leaning back against the sink – squirming under his scrutiny. In that moment, she couldn't deal with the raw emotion that she glimpsed behind her lieutenants brown eyes; she couldn't cope with the plethora of feelings that Andy's intense gaze stirred within her.

"The best thing we can do now is find the son-of-a-bitch…Sharon…"Andy dipped his head to recapture her gaze, gently tucking a finger under her chin to lift her eyes to meet his.

"Sharon?" Rusty calling her name from the hall startled them both and they separated.

"I'm coming," Sharon responded - her voice hoarse as she pushed herself off of the sink and moved past Andy to exit the en-suite. "Don't come in here – it's a crime scene."

Andy reached out and grabbed her wrist as she passed him; Sharon looked down at his hand, before raising her head, her expression betraying her uncertainty.

"Captain," Andy said more firmly this time, his approach more professional; "I'm calling it in."

Sharon paused as she swallowed, then slowly and softly she nodded - conceding to her Lieutenant; after all, he was right.

Simultaneously, Andy reached for his phone and released his hold on her wrist.

xXx

The Chinese food arrived at the same time as forensics, and Sharon's apartment was already a hive of police activity.

Rusty and his playstation had been collected by Lieutenant Tao, to spend the night with his son Kevin - and Sharon had been hiding out on the Balcony ever since the uniformed officers had arrived.

Andy paid for the food and placed it on the counter, before showing the crime scene specialist down the hall, where he heard laughter coming from Sharon's bedroom.

"Well well well, Captain Raydor." A dark haired, rotund officer was holding the strap-on dildo up by a buckle; it swung between his fat, glove encased fingers as he waggled his eye brows suggestively.

"Always knew she was a dyke!" Came the response from a younger, slimmer colleague that was standing by Sharon's wardrobe making notes.

"Hey, moron's!" Andy snapped, making them both jump to attention. "That's a decorated Captain of the LAPD you're talking about." He placed one hand on his hip and jabbed a finger from the other hand in their direction, "I hear you speak like that again and I'll have you both up on charges of insubordination; just do your God damned jobs."

He spun around quickly, barely missing the CSI and stalked down the hall.

"Assholes." Andy muttered under his breath as he moved swiftly through the living room, coming to a stop when he reached the door to the balcony.

He placed his hand on the door handle and took a cleansing breath; the last thing Sharon needed was him storming out there all hot-headed – he needed to calm down.

What actually stung Andy most of all about his altercation with the uniformed officers, was that just one year ago, he'd have joined in with their banter – not even giving it a second thought.

The surprised looks on the faces of the officers when he'd defended Captain Raydor said it all - the former head of FID was a fair target; even when she was in trouble, she was not one of their own.

And in the face of Sharon's current plight - that thought troubled Andy, greatly.

After a few beats, Andy stepped out from the air-conditioned apartment and onto the balmy balcony, where Sharon sat on a wicker chair nursing a large glass of white wine.

"Have the 'dyke' jokes started yet?" She greeted Andy coolly, as he came to sit in the chair next to hers.

"No," Andy lied. It pained him even more that she knew what her co-workers said about her behind her back; but of course she knew - she was Captain Raydor. "They're just bagging and tagging."

Sharon sneered and took a sip of her wine; "you're a terrible liar, Andy Flynn." She tilted her head to look at him, "but I appreciate your sensitivity."

He smiled thinly at her; Sharon's eyes looked glazed behind her glasses and Andy noted that a third of the wine had gone from the bottle.

He sighed and looked out across the LA skyline. Lights twinkled rhythmically in the distance; even at night the view from up here was amazing. "Rusty said that you had a card delivered this morning."

Sharon harrumphed and took another sip of wine, settling back against the cushions on the chair and lifting her bare feet to rest on the table in front of her. "Good work, detective."

"Sharon," Andy rested his elbows on his knees and turned his head to look at her, "what the hell is going on?"

She removed her glass and dropped them on the side table, pinching the bridge of her nose "I screwed up."

"What do you mean you screwed up?" Andy frowned, not following. "How did you screw up?"

She looked at him then, her eyes bloodshot from alcohol and exhaustion; "I screwed up twenty years ago and now I'm paying for it. Again."

Andy did the math in his head, twenty years ago was about the time that Sharon joined Internal Affairs. "Twenty years ago? Sharon, I'm not following – what do you mean that you're paying for it again?"

She swung her feet off the table and moved with her wine to rest against the balcony wall, staring out into the night.

Andy was about to get up and join her, when she finally spoke. "Do you remember a Detective called James Banston?"

"Yeah," Although Andy's memories of that time were fogged by his alcohol consumption; he could clearly recollect the detective in question, "dirty cop - worked in Vice…didn't he off himself?"

"Jimmy was my friend." Sharon hung her head and Andy internally chastised himself for opening his big mouth. "We went through the academy together; our families took trips together – spent the holidays together..."

When Sharon grew silent, Andy got to his feet and stood at her side; his proximity encouraged her to continue.

"About a month after I transferred to IA, Vice were investigating a human trafficking ring. I just happened to be with Jimmy at his house, when he took a call and something …just didn't sit right with me."

"Was it something he said?"

Sharon sighed, "…it was more, how he behaved."

"Like he had something to hide?"

She nodded, her gaze still fixed on the horizon. "I asked him about the case, casually in conversation - but he clammed up on me."

"Which made you more suspicious."

"At first I thought it was just because I'd joined IA." Sharon looked fleetingly at Andy, "Jimmy had warned me against it; he told me it was a bad move and that I'd lose friends - but I didn't move into IA to win a popularity contest, you know?" She smiled sardonically and took a sip of her wine, "I never for a minute thought that he'd meant I'd lose him."

"So, what happened then?"

"He started to avoid me, making excuses to leave when we met up as families with the kids and I started to think…you know…I could understand that with me being in IA, he'd want to distance himself from me professionally but…why socially?"

Andy shrugged, "who else was to know you were friends?"

"Right." Sharon nodded her head in agreement. "So, when I got wind that there was going to be an IA investigation into Vice; Jimmy came to mind."

Andy swallowed, "So you shopped him?"

"No." Sharon turned to face Andy, shaking her head softly, her eyes welling with tears. "And that's where I screwed up."

"What happened, Sharon?" He asked softly.

She closed her eyes and exhaled, "I had to be sure. I didn't want to mar his reputation or ruin our friendship….so I went to see him at his house." She opened her eyes and licked her lips nervously. "Marion, Jimmy's wife, was out at art class – as she was every Tuesday. When I got there he didn't want to see me. He was already stressed out; he'd been drinking, he was sweating and he couldn't keep still."

"Sounds like he knew they were on to him."

"He did, and at first he denied any involvement." Sharon looked at her wine glass, "But then he asked me for help."

"You helped the guy?"

Sharon brought her gaze back up to meet Andy's, "He asked me to be his alibi for the previous Tuesday night. And when I refused, he said that he'd just say that he was with me anyway. He'd say that we were having an affair, and that was precisely why I was denying being with him – to protect myself."

"Son-of-a-bitch."

"I couldn't believe it." She smirked, "A good friend that I'd had for so many years, was prepared to bring me down to save his own ass."

"What did you do?"

"Oh, I had no intention of letting that happen."

"So you reported him?"

She nodded, "I led him to believe that he had the upper hand, and as soon as I left – I called it in. They were going to haul him in for questioning the next day."

"What about his allegations?"

She drained the remainder of her glass of wine, "Jackson and I were already separated; Jimmy would have known that if he had spent any time with me over the previous weeks…" Sharon narrowed her eyes, accentuating the fine lines surrounding them. "And I already had my own alibi for that Tuesday night – my mother was staying and had been helping me with the kids after Jackson left."

"So he had nothing over you?"

"Exactly. But he didn't know that…he told Marion that we'd been having an affair when she got home from art class."

"God."

"Marion called me. She was frantic, shouting and screaming down the phone. I could hear Jimmy in the background yelling at her, the kids were crying…Jimmy was pretty drunk when I left him…I was worried so I hung up and placed a call for a squad car to go over and check on them but…"

"What?"

"They were too late." Sharon turned her back on Andy and returned to her seat.

"For what?" Andy leant against the balcony wall and watched as Sharon placed her empty wine glass next to her on the side table.

"There had been a struggle." Sharon picked up her glasses and put them back on her nose, "they'd been fighting and in the process Marion had fallen backwards and caught her head on the bedside cabinet."

"He killed her?" Andy asked, his eyes wide.

"No, but he may as well have." Sharon sniffed, fighting back tears that were threatening to fall, "Marion was in a coma for a few months; when she finally awoke her brain function was minimal. She never recovered – she died in a care home about ten years ago and I never got to tell her the truth."

"Oh my God, Sharon." Andy moved to sit in front of her on the coffee table, "that's terrible. Is that why Jimmy killed himself?"

"Maybe," she wiped at a tear with the back of her hand as it fell down her cheek. "That or the prospect of facing prison."

"But Sharon, I don't understand…how is that case linked to the break in today?"

Sharon sighed heavily and slumped back into the cushions; picking at a loose thread on the cuff of her cow-print shirt. "About 10 years ago, when Marion had passed away – I started to get these…these threatening letters through the mail."

"Like the card that you received this morning?"

She nodded, "they all had the same message – just four words…"

"You'll get yours, bitch," Andy guessed. "What does it mean?"

"The night of Marion's accident, when I'd heard what had happened, I got to Jimmy's house just as he was being escorted across the yard. He yelled 'You'll get your bitch' at me as he was pushed into the back of the squad car. I guess he was sticking to his story about the affair…"

"You say they had kids?"

"They did," Sharon nodded sadly, "Ian and Chloe and they saw everything. Ian was older, about eight when it happened, Chloe was only four." Sharon wiped at another tear, "the last I'd heard was that they'd gone to live with their grandmother in Nevada – but it turns out that she had passed away the following year and they had been placed into the system."

"They grew up in foster care?"

"They were both bounced around from home to home…I found out later, that Chloe had died of a drug overdose in Vegas when she was just fifteen… If I'd have known, Andy…I would have tried to help them – I feel so responsible for what happened…"

"Sharon," Andy didn't think; he just took her hands in his – he was starting to understand why she had been so adamant about keeping Rusty out of the foster system. "You are not responsible for what happened to that family."

Sharon blinked back her tears; she kept her eyes on their joined hands, but made no effort to pull away. When she next spoke, her voice seemed so small; "Ian seemed to think so."

"He wrote the letters?"

"His mother's death…it triggered something in him. First it was the letters, and then he cornered Ricky, my son, outside high school; he told him all these lies about Jimmy and me having an affair…"

Andy ran his thumbs over her knuckles, "did you report him?"

"I did, for whatever reason, they didn't find him fast enough," she rose her gaze to meet Andy's and he absently wondered if the lack of police response had something to do with her job title. "He showed up at my house one night; he said if he couldn't have a family, then neither should I."

"What did you do?"

"I shot him." she said simply - before expanding on her statement, "he threatened my family, so I took him down and arrested him. He's been in Ridgewater Psychiatric ever since."

"He still there?"

"Yes. I checked this morning."

"I don't remember any of this," Andy was at a loss as to why he wouldn't have heard about something so serious happening to a colleague. "When something like that happens to a cop, you normally hear about it…"

"I may be a cop, but I'm an outsider, Andy" she squeezed his fingers. "I know how it works."

"Sharon, you are not an outsider."

She smiled unconvincingly, and slowly pulled her hands from his – rubbing her sweaty palms on her black trousers.

Andy sighed and sat back on the coffee table, regaining professional distance; "You run the card for prints yet?"

"No…I…" she shook her head. "Until tonight I thought it was just some cop with a grudge that had read my file I…"

"Has anyone else touched it?"

"Just Rusty and me…Andy, it might still be completely unrelated. Everything I have told you is in my file and I put an end to a lot of careers …"

Andy frowned. "You may be right…has anyone else got keys for this place?"

"My husband Jack, he has a set," she shrugged, "but he's in Nevada and…Oh my God…" It dawned on Sharon as soon as she'd said it.

"Didn't you say that Ian grew up in Nevada?"

"I'll give Jackson a call." Sharon swiftly got to her feet moved to head back inside.

Andy followed suit, "We'll arrange for your locks to be changed, but you're not staying here tonight."

"Andy I'll be fine," Sharon stopped with her hand on the door handle, turning to face him. "I'm am the police – remember?"

"You've also consumed the best part of a bottle of wine."

"Andy,"

"Sharon look, if you insist on staying here – then I'm staying too. End of story."

She should have been appalled at the suggestion, she should have pulled rank and made him leave – but as Andy stood, arms crossed, looking stubborn as a mule, Sharon realised that for the first time in many years, she had a colleague that cared about her.

She was no longer an outsider; and that point - combined with three quarters of a bottle of wine, weakened her resolve.

TBC

Thanks for reading!