This freaking heat wave crashed my computer and i kinda lost every thing i had already, but i recreated this chapter as bestas i could, but like the previous one, my imagination got away from me and this turned out quite a bit different than i originally intended. I still hope it does all of them justice and you still enjoy it.


Chapter VII - Team

She had expected to get some sort of retribution for the way she had been acting with Andy's daughter, over a week ago.

Monday after their day in the park, she had, among other things, another interesting conversation with her sons regarding her relationship with him. That won't in no way make up for the still outstanding interrogation he and she would have to endure in roughly three weeks, and she knows it.

Emily had, after she'd received the news, rearranged some things and surprised her mother by announcing that she found some room to shift her rehearsals and squeeze in a few days in L.A., too. She's not sure how glad she should still be for that visit, since it's clear her daughter's main motive is to grill Andy about his intentions and, knowing her daughter far too well, further meddle in her personal relationship.

Sharon had already received the question, when they are planning to get married. When, not if. Her response had been we're not and she tried to leave it at that, but Emily tried again every time she got the chance. When she tried to reason that they only had been dating for four weeks, the young woman had laughed, added and a year and now, that Sharon is no longer in denial about her feelings for Andy she had to admit, that she was right. That still didn't mean they had any talk about marriage yet - after all it was not even that long since she had gotten divorced.

People argued that technically she had not been married (in the true sense of the word) for two decades, but she tries not to think of that, because the more she did, the more she realized that they were right about that, too and felt pathetic for holding on to that farce of a marriage for as long as she had. Point was, that she better have a real defense ready when Emily showed up, or a ring on her finger – and though it is incredibly early in their (official) relationship, she would probably say yes if he asked her right now.

There had been plenty of opportunity for Andy to get his payback and while she thinks she doesn't really deserve it, after all she had just gotten even, she also knows, that he wouldn't be the man she has fallen in love with, if he didn't. So, when Rusty announced that he had an assignment due the next day and sheepishly admitted, that he had been a bit distracted and needed a hell of a lot of time still, to finish it up, Andy told her in no uncertain terms, that they were going to join the team for a drink that night. And that's when Sharon just knew, Andy was going to get his revenge.

They had talked about officially telling the team that they were together, and though they have not come up with a precise plan yet, this would be as good an opportunity as any. Sharon would prefer however, to tell them with a sentence or two and limit the displays of affection to a very, very, bare minimum. Then they could get back to being just like they were before, because they had been together for a whole month now and nothing around the office had changed, so she didn't see why it should just because they were official now. Andy had other ideas – shared them profoundly in the last week – most of them involving some kind of touching and kissing and displaying just how much in love he was with her; mainly to annoy a certain partner of his who, despite all the talk about him not wanting to know anything about this relationship, still shared his opinion of the situation whenever he could. She knows, that normally he would only say this to annoy her and respect her wish to keep their professional and personal lives separate from each other. Now, she's not so sure anymore.

She checks her appearance in the mirror one last time, before sliding into her heels and leaving the bedroom. She had thrown on something for Andy's benefit but still appropriate enough to spend an evening in pleasant company with her team. The heels were just the slightest bit shorter than she liked to wear to work but she loves that Andy was taller than her and she fit perfectly into his side when she wore those. Knocking on Rusty's door, she tells him that they are leaving and is met with a barely audible yea, have fun. She smiles despite the fact that she had chewed him out for neglecting his school work earlier. He seems to be making up for the last few weeks rather productively – at least that's what she hopes he's doing in there. But she decided a while ago, that she would try and stop being the overprotective mother that was always on his case about school. As long as he did his work and came to her when he had any problems, she was also going to enjoy the benefits her relationship with Andy provided.

Speaking of Andy, the man is searching the living room for his car keys that had kind of vanished. Sharon walks over to the dresser beside the front door and picked up hers and put them in her purse.

"You know, we can take my car, I won't be – "

"Sharon" he interrupts her with a sigh. They had gone over this before. "I appreciate the gesture, I really do, and you know it. But I told you more than once that you can have a drink around me" The first time she had declined a drink in his presence he had been hurt, until she explained to him that she, in no way, thought he could not handle it and would give in to craving one of his own. She had just been considerate of the fact that he didn't want a drink and so she didn't take one either. They had this conversation every time they went out to dinner since and generally he would win (he would order a glass of her favorite wine, while she glared at him), so he doesn't really know, why she still tried. She had had an alcoholic husband and way too much knowledge of just how bad alcohol can be if you don't drink responsible, he knows she won't ever her really drunk. He didn't see the harm.

"What if I really didn't want anything to drink tonight?" She shoots back at him."Maybe I agreed to come along just for the company" She bats her eyelashes at him, walking over. She pushes up on her tip toes to press a gentle kiss to his lips before she sneaks out off his embrace and retrieves her phone.

"Right, tell you what. Since I am not drinking, why don't we take my car, so you at least have the option" He would get her a glass of wine later and she would accept it, because she hasn't had one for dinner and he knows that she likes to unwind from a long day with a glass.

"Fine" she turns after stashing her phone in her purse "Found your keys yet?" Sharon smirks when he looks at her sheepishly. Without those keys, she would get her way in this for once. Just when he is about to give in and let her have this one, the door to Rusty's room opens and he casually pops his head through the opening.

"I put your keys on the kitchen counter and I do not want to know how they ended up in that armchair in the living room" With that the door shuts again and Sharon's glad he didn't opt to leave his room because he does not need to see her flushing, again. Yea, she thinks, it's probably a very, very good idea he did not ask this.

With all that cleared up, they are on their way to join the team a few minutes later. It had actually been Rusty, who had asked if arriving together, in the same car was really such a good idea, but it had been Sharon's and Andy was not about to complain when she finally felt comfortable enough to show their relationship in public. The drive wasn't long and when he puts the car in park and is about to get up and open her door for her, she stops him with a hand on his arm.

"We will not be making out on front of the people we work with every day, right?!" That had been one of his suggestions and while she enjoyed the thought of making out with him, this was just a little too public for her. She knows, she won't be leaving his side the whole night and if his arm came around her waist at some point or he'd drop a chaste kiss to her lips, she could definitely live with that – anything else and she just might have to kill him.

"Of course not, baby" He doesn't sound convincing so she just resigns herself to the fact, that he hopefully knows that.

When he opens the door for her she smiles up at him and readily accepts the kiss he's dropping onto her upturned lips. She finds herself into his side easily and in that moment she decides, that this is as good a revelation as any. So when he tries to let go of her after they stepped through the door, she pulls his arm tighter around her and laces her fingers through his again. He sends her a surprised look but he's far from complaining.

They arrive to a table full of surprised faces but somehow she doesn't get the feeling that they are surprised for the same reason she thought they'd be. Sharon and Andy take their seat, she's still not letting go of him, and then suddenly conversation between the other members of the team returns to what they had been discussing before they arrived. The two share a look – have they really been that obvious or were they not obvious enough tonight? When the waitress comes and Andy orders a glass of wine for Sharon and his usual drink the others finally seem to recognize their presence.

"So you finally decided to tell people?" Provenza asks. He is the only one at this table who officially knows about them, but by the smirks going about around them, they start to consider how many of them unofficially knew anyway.

"We were actually going for not saying anything" Andy smiles, pulling her even closer when their drinks arrived. He pulls the glass of wine in front of his so she could not easily access it and when she looks at his questioningly he just shrugs his shoulders and, with a quick glance, makes sure all attention is on them.

She forgets that this is exactly what she did not want to happen the moment his lips touch hers. And, much to all of their surprise, it's her who opens her lips in invitation and deepens the kiss. She's breathless and not the least bit embarrassed when they pull up for air, leaning her head against his shoulder and reaching for her drink. Taking a small sip, she tries to suppress the smile that makes its way onto her lips. They may not have fooled all of them with their just friends but at least they got a pretty good reaction out of them with their display of affection right then.

"Honey, you do know, that this is exactly what we just discussed would not happen?" She doesn't even realize that she didn't call him Andy.

"You didn't seem to be complaining, baby" He drops a kiss to her hair when she lets out a groan. She doesn't necessarily hate it when he calls her baby but she rather prefers beautiful or sweetheart or even gorgeous.

She hears the others snicker before Provenza says "You just had to do that, didn't you?! I told you I do not want to see or hear anything about this!" She doesn't even dignify that with a response and it seems like Andy isn't thinking about it either.

"So they actually told you?" Buzz asks. He had been the first one to point out, that this just friends was even greater bullshit than it had been six months ago.

"You do not want to know, how I found out about those two" the Lieutenant says before taking another sip of his beer. That only gets them a series of interested looks.

"No, really, you do not need to know that" She's surprised Andy is the one that doesn't want to tell this story – not that she wants to, either, but he had been so determined to torment his partner, that she thought retelling those stories here, would not be an issue for him. When she sees him looking at her, she knows he's doing it for her.

"He did not walk in on you or anything like that, did he?" Julio is laughing. Surely they had been way more careful since they had tried to hide their relationship from them for so long.

"No, as I understand, that had been Rusty" She does not even blush this time. After having this conversation with all four children more than once, she is not even embarrassed anymore. The laughter around the table actually makes her feel even better and the solid, warm body she is cuddled up to makes her feel loved and like she belongs. She never had imagined this, all of this, when she had taken over Major Crimes. There are a few minutes where she lets them discuss what they'd just heard, enjoying the jokes on her sons behalf more than the once on theirs.

"So, you all knew?" She had figured that out pretty soon after they arrived, but she needs the confirmation. She doesn't know why, but she would feel better, if they had fooled at least one of them. She receives a series of nods and yes.

"Were we really that obvious?" They are all detectives, trained and paid to connect clues, uncover secrets and solve mysteries but seriously, she can't for the life of her figure out where they had been indiscreet in the slightest – at least around one of the team.

"You stopped undressing each other with your eyes, ma'am" Sanchez answers with as much respect as he could put into this particular sentence. He couldn't however hide the smile that breaks out over his face.

"And do you seriously not realize that you smell like her perfume every day?" Sykes adds. She had been the first one to notice that.

Sharon turns her face into his shoulder while the others again, laugh at them. This is going to be a long evening she thinks, and when Andy joins in the laughter, she lightly elbows him in the side. He just places another kiss onto her temple and pulls her even closer. And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the laughter stops and after ordering another round of drinks their conversation shifts to topics they would discuss at every one of their outings. No one is really making a big deal out of this and thinking about it, she doesn't know why she expected they would. It was just like when Ricky showed up – they switched back to normal life because public or not – their relationship didn't really change anything in their dynamic.