Rusty rubbed his eyes twice and the gifts were still under the tree. He counted them a few times; there were five. How many gifts did they have under their tree at home? He couldn't remember.

Sharon came back from her walk with Malin and saw Rusty sitting on the couch in Andy's living room, staring at the gifts that under placed under the tree. She gently put her hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

"Are those our gifts?" Rusty wondered. Sharon let out a soft hum, but he wasn't sure it meant 'yes'. "Are we allowed to open them?"

"Maybe we should wait for Andy to wake up, so he can open them with us." Sharon replied.

"He's not here," Rusty replied. Sharon arched her eyebrows. "He left to a crime scene at 4 a.m. Didn't he tell you?" Sharon looked puzzled, first wondering why she didn't get a call to the crime scene as well, then remembering that she was on sick leave and that she took two of the painkillers that were prescribed for her when she left the hospital. It probably knocked her out.

"Were you awake?" she asked.

"I heard his phone ringing and it woke me up. I thought he told you or at least left a note." Rusty shrugged.

"No, he didn't." Sharon sighed, "Did he say anything else to you?" she inquired. Rusty shook his head. Maybe living with Andy Flynn was something they needed to learn, he thought. He sneaked a gaze at Sharon; she seemed upset, maybe disappointed. She was still in pain from the effects of smoke inhalation and was not supposed to work, but he could see in her eyes that she wanted to be with her squad in the murder room, solving a crime and putting the murderer behind bars.


Andy looked upset when he came back home. He went straight to the shower, ignoring Sharon's questions about the case that was assigned to the squad and claiming that Assistant Chief Taylor asked for her not to be involved in this case while on sick leave. She frowned, but kept quiet. She knew that Andy wouldn't have listened to Taylor's orders if he was not angry with her; bothering him when he was pissed was not going to do her any good and by his expression, she could tell that he would not give her any information. She had a better chance of getting information out of Lieutenant Provenza. The slam of his bedroom door startled her and Rusty looked at her with concern.

"He's probably just upset because of the case," she reasoned.

"But why is he acting like this?" Rusty wondered, "It's not our fault people commit murders."

"I can't speak for Andy," Sharon sighed, "but it can be very upsetting sometimes. I don't know what the crime scene looked like, but it might have had an effect on him."

"Maybe he'd feel better if he knew that we waited for him to open our gifts." Rusty had the eyes of a child and even though Sharon had very little hope that Andy would act civilly towards them until she gets the chance to talk to him about what happened on the previous evening, she smiled and nodded.

Andy came out of his bedroom moments later and although he still seemed feisty, his scowl was gone. Sharon thought it might be a chance to appease him.

"We waited for you to come home, so we can unwrap our gifts together." she said and offered him her best smile, one that was a little hard for her to master.

"I need to go." he replied without even looking at her, "My ex-wife invited me to spend the day with my kids, so you shouldn't wait for me. Open the gifts."

"You look exhausted, Andy." Sharon tried a different approach, "Are you sure that you should be driving?"

"I'm very capable of driving, thank you." he said as he opened the door, "Goodbye," his words remained hanging in the air for a moment after he left.

"That went well," Rusty declared sarcastically. "I didn't even know he had a wife."

"Ex-wife," Sharon corrected him.

"Yeah, whatever." Rusty shrugged. "I don't get his behavior today."

"I don't either, Rusty, but Christmas can be a stressful time for people like Andy who don't get to see their children every day." Sharon said.

"You barely see your kids and you don't act this way." Rusty retorted.

"I guess that Andy and I react differently to our familial situations. I don't know what the state of affairs with his ex-wife and kids is and it's important for us to remember that we are guests here. We don't have the right to pry in his personal life."

"So what do we do now?" Rusty's voice was gloomy.

"Now we open our presents." Sharon tried to give her voice a cheerful tone, the way Andy said she should do when they taught Malin to play fetch. After all, enthusiasm is contagious.