They closed the case late Tuesday afternoon. After paperwork and all, it ended up being almost 7:00 before they could leave. The case had been a sad one, and while they were all detectives prepared to take a life, it still was hard when one had to do it. They all knew if Mike hadn't wanted to shoot, but had to do it. It was part of the job. Andy popped his head in the door with all the team paperwork.

"Hey," he said a bit somber. "I've got all the paperwork from the team. Under the circumstances, Provenza told Mike and everyone else to go home. Hope it's okay he didn't clear it with you," he said from the door.

She nodded as she sighed, "No, that's fine. I should have checked the time and done that myself. I'll take the paperwork. Listen, I'd still like to have dinner if you would? I thought you might want to catch a meeting, and I could even bring dinner to your house? I think we could all use a pick me up."

He smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I was thinking about a meeting. Dinner with you, icing on the cake. Are you sure you don't mind driving all the way to my place this late, Sharon? We can get something somewhere else around here, and I can get a meeting tomorrow."

"No," she shook her head, "I think a drive will do me good too. I also know these cases where young women are killed always hit you hard. I don't think I'll be sleeping anytime soon, so if you are still okay with it, I'd enjoy picking up dinner and eating at your house."

"Great," Andy's smile improved. "Yeah, any death is bad, but something about these young girls gets to me. I guess I see Nicole or any of her friends. I couldn't imagine," he sighed. "Look, I'll get to my meeting right now," he checked his watch and nodded. "Oh, here's the paperwork. Don't stay here and work the whole time," he gave her a glare.

"I won't," she smiled. "Promise. In fact, if you want to walk me out, I'll leave now too. I think I'll go home and change. Then, I'll get the food on the way. That should about time it correctly, shouldn't it?"

Andy dropped the paperwork on her desk and then held the door open for her. She gathered her things and nodded thanks as she walked out next to Andy's desk. Provenza was the only one left, and he looked up, a bit surprised to see that Andy had convinced her to leave.

"Ahh, Captain, I sent everyone home," he told her. "Hope that's not a problem."

"It's fine, Lieutenant. Thank you," she smiled to him. "Go home yourself." Andy moved about his desk, shutting down his computer and grabbing his keys and phone. He looked to Provenza too.

"You going to see Patrice?" Andy asked him. Provenza shrugged.

"I will, but first, I need to get something to eat," Provenza told them.

Sharon gave Andy a strange look and then looked back to Provenza, "Lieutenant, do you not want to eat with Patrice?"

Provenza frowned, "Well, yeah, I like having dinner with her, but she likes healthy food at expensive places. I need a good greasy anything right now. Captain, I really need Rusty to go for burgers with me. That's the food I want right now. I'm guessing you two aren't headed out for burgers," he gestured to the two of them where Sharon stood with her purse in her hands and Andy was clipping his phone to his belt.

"No," she smiled to Provenza, "If Rusty isn't with us, burgers generally aren't on the menu."

"Ready?" Andy asked, looking to Sharon. "I've got time to get to my meeting if we leave now."

"I thought you two were going to dinner?" Provenza eyed them.

Andy rolled his eyes, "Neither of us said otherwise. I simply said I'm going to a meeting now. Sharon's going home to change. We'll get to dinner, eventually."

"Not dating," Provenza grumbled under his breath. Sharon just let out a couple of muffled chuckles and looked to Andy.

"I'm ready. Good night, Lieutenant," she nodded to him as she and Andy walked side by side toward the elevator. Once they were on the elevator, Sharon turned toward Andy, "Any preference on dinner?"

"Nah," he shook his head. "I get my preference on company, so whatever she wants to bring for dinner is fine by me."

The elevator arrived at the parking area, and they walked toward their cars. Andy's car was usually close to Sharon's; she had a reserved spot, and he was usually within three or four cars of hers. Once at Sharon's car, she turned to him and put her arm on his, "Take your time at your meeting."

"I will," he looked to the ground and nodded. He used his free hand to move hair out of her face, "Be careful going home and driving over to my place. You still have that key, I assume?" Andy and Sharon had keys to each of their homes. They'd done that after Stroh had escaped. Andy had told her over and over how worried he was about her safety, and she'd given him a key for the "what if" situation she hoped would never happen. After Rusty's letters from before and Stroh's escape, neither wanted to take a chance of Stroh breaking into her condo. Andy had given her a key to his house for safety, telling her if she ever didn't feel safe, she was welcome to come to his house, day or night, no questions asked. He'd been a friend, and she appreciated that. Neither had used their keys, but tonight, it might come in handy if Andy was running late.

Sharon held up her key ring, "Right here," she nodded to the one with a green tab on the top. "Color coded because green is your favorite color. I had to have a way to distinguish it from all the men's keys I have on my key ring." Andy flashed a surprised look when he glanced to her key ring and saw she had other color-coded keys. Sharon caught his surprised look, rolled her eyes, touched, his hand to catch his gaze, and continued to reassure him. "The blue key goes to Rusty's car, and the red key is for Ricky's apartment-the other men," she teased.

"I can't believe you did that," Andy chuckled at the keys and the fact he'd been caught off guard with the "other men" comment. He dug his keys out of his pants and flashed his keys in front of her. "Notice anything?" and pointed to a key that had a purple marking on it. "I did the same, but no other color coding on my key ring," he winked. "Just wanted to make sure I knew which one was yours."

"Great minds," she flashed a smile. "I'll see you soon," she gestured toward his car. "Go to your meeting."

"Yes, Ma'am," he winked and turned toward his car after she'd gotten in hers.

It ended up being 9:00 before Sharon arrived at Andy's house. He'd arrived shortly before she had, which she knew because he called her to make sure she wasn't held up. He sounded happy, and she hoped his meeting had helped. She wasn't sure she was going to get into a lengthy discussion this evening; it was already late, and both were tired, but she was going to do her best to flirt a little with him tonight. She'd gotten spaghetti from one of Andy's favorite places, along with cannoli for dessert. It was near his house, and she'd called in the order on her way.

Andy was waiting for her because he flung open the door as she was getting out of her car. She heard it and looked up to see him making his way across his lawn.

"Great news," he grinned as he helped Sharon with the food. She looked up at him, surprised.

"What's that?" she smiled.

"Nicole called me as I was on my way home, and her firm can get the team tickets to the Dodger game on the 4th! Sharon, this Saturday, we'll be watching the Dodgers. Game, fireworks-it's going to be great!" he exclaimed.

Sharon's smile widened, "Oh, Andy, that sounds wonderful. Tell me about it," she inquired as they walked toward his house. She looped her arm through his as they walked across the lawn. He nudged her in first and followed behind closing the door.

"Her boss knows I work for the LAPD, and he said they had bought boxed seats for the 4th. Anyway, they wanted to offer them to a first responder type group, and he went to Nicole asking if I'd want them. It's enough for the team, and don't worry," he held up one had and the take-out bag was still in that hand too, "I already asked her, and of course, Rusty can come too. She knows you are still worried about letting him out of your sight. Plus," he shrugged, "it's the Dodgers. Kid has only been to a couple of games, that one with Provenza and me, and then we've taken him now, what, I guess twice, so yeah, the kid has only been to three games. Another game will be good for him. I hope you don't have plans."

"No plans," Sharon said as they put the food on the counter. "Of course, we are on call up through the 2nd, so if we have a case-" she trailed off.

Andy nodded, waving a hand, "I know, I know. We could always catch a case, but Sharon, the Dodgers," he turned, resting his arm on the counter to look at her and talk.

She smiled brightly, "I know that is your dream holiday, to spend it watching the Dodgers."

"Well, yeah," he grinned, "Dodgers, you, the team, great evening for sure."

Sharon shifted so she was leaning against the counter too, just facing toward Andy. She started to run her fingers up his arm in a playful and soothing gesture, "I guess we'll get the chance to wear our matching hats," she said sweetly. "You know Provenza will comment on those." Andy rolled an eye as he continued to smile at Sharon. "You'll have to save me a seat next to you. I like sitting with you at baseball games. We can talk baseball terminology. There shouldn't be any strike-outs that night," she teased, but then started to fumble. "No home runs either," she said in a panic, and she noted Andy looked thoroughly confused. She could tell he wasn't following her flirting at all. "I just mean," she stammered, "we could discuss, ah, the different bases."

Andy gave her a confused look, moving his head back to get a better look at her. "Sharon, are you okay? Of course, I'll sit by you. We always sit next to each other at games. I need you there to make fun of Provenza with me. Plus, he just gets irritated seeing the two of us talking anyway," he grinned. "You know as much about baseball as I do. It would be great to see a home run on the 4th of July," he grinned. Sharon looked away, embarrassed by her poor attempt to flirt, and she patted his arm, where she realized her hand still was on his.

"Let's eat," she suggested. "We can talk about the game specifics more over dinner," she added, trying to get away from her thoughts. Oh, it had gone horribly wrong. She'd gotten flustered again, not meaning to suggest a "home run" in non-baseball terms. She was terrible at this. Thankfully, Andy had missed the reference, obviously stuck on the specifics of the actual game.

"So, what's for dinner tonight?" Andy asked as he started to unpack the food. "I don't have to be detective to guess Italian. Question is what did you decide?"

"Spaghetti," she announced, "salad, and cannoli for dessert. I know we had vegetable lasagna last weekend, so I didn't want to go that route. Plus, their spaghetti portion is huge, so I just got one order and thought we could share it."

"Perfect," Andy nodded in agreement. "I'm hungry, but a mix of spaghetti, salad, and dessert sounds just right."

"By now, I know you can never go wrong with Italian," she teased and flashed a flirty smile at Andy. He was busy separating the food and seemed to miss the comment and the flirting. She scoffed and walked to the kitchen to get each of them a glass of water. As she got their water, she realized he hadn't commented on her outfit, not that it was a problem, but she'd gone in the opposite direction tonight. The other night, she'd worn a dress. Tonight, she had on jeans, a pair of strappy, flat sandals, and a basic t-shirt. It wasn't that she was expecting a compliment, but she'd accessorized her outfit with a long necklace Andy had given her last year for her birthday, and she hoped he'd at least notice that. It was still early in the evening.

She carried the drinks to the table, and Andy held her chair for her to sit. He sat himself next to adjacent to her at the head of the table, and the two began eating.

"If you want on Saturday, I'll pick you and Rusty up for the game," Andy said between bites. "That way, we can ride together, but we also only have to pay for one car to park."

"Sure," Sharon smiled. "If you want to come early, I'll make us all something to eat, something light. Maybe I can make a summer salad before we go."

"I know your game, Sharon," he winked. "You need to eat something really healthy before going to that game so you can justify the Dodger Dog and nachos you'll eat at the game."

Sharon eyed him, "I will not admit to any such thing."

"I know," he winked. "And, that food will just appear in your lap, purchased by a mystery man."

"Oh," Sharon looked up, seeing a chance to flirt. She folded her hands and rested her chin on them, "I hope he's tall and handsome. In my dreams, a tall, handsome man brings me my favorite junk food at the Dodger game."

"Well, in your dreams, I'm sure he can be anything or anyone you want," he flashed a smile back at her. "Unfortunately, in real life, he's just an old detective who wants to make sure you have a nice day."

"Andy," Sharon sighed, shaking her head. The conversation she'd wanted to be light and flirty had taken another wrong turn. She tried to change the conversation. "Please don't let Provenza get me my food," she flashed another smile, hoping to get him laughing. "Yes, he's an old detective, but he's not tall."

Andy put down his fork and started to laugh. She'd at least broken the tension and decided to try a different approach. She touched his arm, "How is your spaghetti?"

He nodded, regaining his composure, "Good, very good." He looked to Sharon, where she'd decided to try looking flirty with her food. She'd seen it on a movie once and thought she could pull it off herself. She started twirling her spaghetti on her fork, noting she'd caught Andy's eye. She moved it to her mouth, and when it was almost there, a big blob of it fell on her t-shirt. Her face was close enough to her plate, that when the rest of it hit the plate, it splashed up, splattering her glasses. Even worse, she thought she'd gotten some in her mouth, and she ended up making a large slurping sound as she sucked in one noodle instead of the five or so she'd imagined.

Andy jumped up, "Sharon, are you okay? Let me get you a rag to wipe that up." Sharon sighed as she put down her fork. That failed miserably, and she took off her glasses to wipe them off. She took the rag from Andy, a little more forcefully than she wanted, not that she was mad at him, but because everything she'd tried had failed.

"Thank you," she said immediately to convey she wasn't mad at him. He sat back down and looked to her with concern.

"I am not sure what happened there," he gestured to her mess.

"I'm not either. I just lost a bite of food and somehow, it went downhill from there. Spaghetti won that round," she joked. Andy chuckled and Sharon finished wiping off her glasses. She looked to her shirt, now a big spot on it. She looked to Andy, and he was watching with concern.

"Sorry about your shirt. I'll be glad to throw it in the wash," he offered, "I've got plenty of t-shirts you can grab from my room if you want."

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Sharon said as she stood. "I don't even need to wash this right now, but I might spray it so the stain doesn't set."

"Help yourself to anything in my room," he offered. "I can get you something."

"No," she said as she was now standing behind him as he was seated at the table. She put her hands on his shoulders, "I'll be fine. I'll grab an old shirt, spray this, and I'll be right back. Stay and eat. There's no reason we both need to eat cold meals." Andy reached up and patted her hand as he turned and gave her a sympathetic glance. Sharon made her way to his room and heard him call out to her.

"Shirts are top drawer of the tall chest," he said. She moved to that, opened the drawer, and she found one of his LAPD shirts. She knew he wouldn't mind her wearing that, so she changed quickly and then moved to his laundry room to spray her shirt. When she returned to the table, she noticed he'd waited and hadn't eaten anything else.

"Andy, you didn't have to wait," she sighed, as she approached the table. He turned to look at her and shrugged.

"If I wanted to eat alone, I wouldn't have asked you to dinner," he smiled warmly to her. "I don't mind. Sorry that is so big on you," he gestured to the shirt.

"Are you kidding?" she threw him an amused look as she sat down. "You're apologizing for letting me borrow a shirt after I made more of a mess on mine than a preschooler does? Andy, don't apologize. I should thank you."

Andy leaned in and smiled, "Well, those shirts don't look good on anybody, at least I thought," he grinned. "Somehow, you make even those ugly issued LADP shirts look good."

Sharon smiled at him as she could feel the color changing in her face. She batted her eyes at him, as she reached over and tugged on one of his suspenders, "Well, if I have to be honest, I thought about putting on a pair of your suspenders to help with the shirt," she said and as she said it, she realizes she sounded like an idiot. Certainly, if Provenza were here, he'd be yelling at her for sounding and acting like a total idiot right now, but she was this far into another flirting attempt, she couldn't turn back now, "but, I knew that suspenders didn't really help with shirts that are too big. They are really meant for pants, to hold up pants, or to look fashionable, as you look with yours. I didn't mean to insinuate that you need to hold up your pants, Andy," she sighed and started to pull back. She realized she had his suspender in her hand and released it, not realizing it was going to snap at Andy.

"Ow! " Andy exclaimed when his suspender snapped and hit him in the chest. He winced in pain and pulled back, spilling his glass of water in the process. Sharon jumped up, apologizing for the suspender snap and sprang into action to mop up the water that hadn't ruined the food, but had started to spill onto the floor.

Andy stood, rubbing his chest where she'd snapped his suspender, and he stopped her frantic movements. "Sharon," he offered a small smile, "It's okay. It's just water. Thank you for helping."

"I'm sorry," she sighed, rubbing her head. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I am a mess."

Andy took the now wet towel and made one more swipe to get the water collected. He walked to his sink and dropped the towel and then walked back to Sharon who was standing in the same spot, clearly frazzled.

"Hey," he put his arm on her elbow and waited until she looked at him. "It's been a long couple of days. Just relax. We're having dinner, what could still be a nice one," he smiled sweetly at her. She nodded and started to move, but he tugged on her arm. "Let me help with this," he grabbed at her shirt, which was hanging almost to her knees. She watched as he twisted up the one side and tied it into a quick knot. "There, much better," he flashed a huge grin at her now. "Very stylish, Captain," he winked.

Sharon looked down where he'd knotted her shirt and let out a small laugh, "You're better at fashion than I am," she teased. "Now, I look like high school Emily did." She moved back to her seat, and Andy moved quickly to hold her chair again. He sat back down and shrugged at her.

"Where do you think I learned that?" he nodded to the knot. "High school Nicole too. She wasn't thrilled with me back then, but she did have to stay with me every other weekend then. I remember the look. It was very much in fashion then, and I think you've now brought back the look."

Sharon chuckled as she resumed eating. The two were quite as they finished their meal.

"I know you are probably too tired to talk tonight," Andy stated as they finally finished eating, "but know I'm always here for you when you are ready. Like I said before, if Stroh isn't on your mind, I know something is."

"Thank you," she put her hand on his. "I appreciate it, and yes, it's getting late. We've had several missteps tonight; I think I need to quit, well, not while I'm ahead," she chuckled, "because that would have meant my going home when I got here, but quit before it gets worse."

Andy shook his head at her as if disagreeing with her assessment of the evening. The two began clearing dinner, and Sharon remembered she had brought dessert.

"Oh, I have cannoli too!" she exclaimed. She got it out, and continued, "They only had one left for the evening, so we'll have to share. Would you like some?" she held it up, offering him the first bite.

Andy turned from the sink and grinned, "Sure. He took it from her hand, missing another attempt of her trying to flirt. She'd hoped he'd just take a bite of it from her, but then she realized if he had it now, she could take a bite of it from his grip. He turned to her, and she got ready to take a bite too.

"Oh, here," he nodded to it to hand it back to her, "my hands are all soapy. I don't want it to slip in the sink. I had a huge bite. The rest is for you."

Sharon slumped back against the counter, just out of Andy's line of sight and chewed on the rest of it. She really needed to get out of here. It had been another night of missed cues. She just needed sleep. The Dodger game was coming up, and she could try again then, or after the game when the team wasn't around.

"Oh, did I tell you Buzz asked me to do his ride-along with him?" Andy asked her as he now wiped off his hands. She snapped out of her daze and looked to him. Oh, he was handsome in his work pants, suspenders, and dress shirt, sleeves now rolled up to his elbows.

"No," she smiled. "That was thoughtful of him. I knew his ride-along was coming up, but when is he doing that?"

"The evening of the 3rd, after work," he held up a hand, "so, no, don't worry, Captain," he winked. "It will not interfere with regular work hours. I'll ride with him that night, and I guess now, I'll come home, grab a few hours of shut eye, and then I'll head your way to get you and Rusty for the game. I hadn't thought about all that until just now, but it will work. Just make sure I don't fall asleep during the game," he chuckled. "You might have to do something to keep me awake at the game," he continued to chuckle.

She saw another opportunity, so she tried flirting again, "Oh, so maybe if I whisper in your ear?" she teased as she moved closer to him and demonstrated by standing on her tip toes to whisper. "I could tell you stories all evening to keep you awake."

Andy missed it again, grinning at her, "Well, as much as I love your stories, you and I both know that when I'm tired, no one talking to me can keep me awake. You'll have to keep an eye on me to make sure I stay awake."

"Right," Sharon nodded as she stepped back. " It's getting late, so I should probably get going."

"Yeah," Andy nodded as he looked to his clock. Sharon followed his gaze and saw his Dodger hat hanging there on the hook by the clock. As she gathered her things to leave, she snagged the hat too. Andy watched her with an amused expression.

"You'll just have to get this back from me on Saturday," she teased, her one last attempt at flirting for the evening. "Well, that and this shirt," she gestured to Andy's shirt she was wearing. "If you want these back, you'll have to come for them."

Andy's expression turned to confusion, "Ahh, okay, but the hat is yours, Sharon. You left it in my car last Dodger game we went too. I've just kept it there so I remember it next game. I kept forgetting to tell you I had your hat."

"Oh," Sharon sighed, trying hard not to roll her eyes. "Thanks for keeping it."

"Sure," he nodded to her as he followed her to the door. "Don't worry about the shirt. Just keep it. I have a ton of them," he waved off. "Besides, if you ever want to feel like high school Emily, just put it on and tie up the side like I did tonight," he grinned.

She smiled and nodded to him, "I might need you to help me with that," she teased. Andy glanced at her and his expression changed again.

"You don't know how to tie that? It's a simple one," he started to say. Sharon put her arm on his.

"Andy, it was just a joke," she said, her eyes sparkling. "We are both too tired to even think. Goodnight, Andy," she said as she leaned up and kissed his cheek. He opened the door for her and kissed her cheek as she walked outside.

"Be careful, Sharon. Call me when you get home," he told her.

"I will," she said. "I'm so tired, I think this shirt will work double duty tonight as my pajamas too," she grinned to Andy. He looked a little surprised at her comment and then repeated.

"Call me when you get home, please. I don't' want to worry about you. Thank you for dinner, Sharon. I had a nice evening," he told her.

"Me too, Andy," she nodded as she stepped into her car. "I can't wait for the fireworks on the 4th!" she exclaimed as she closed her door and pulled out of his driveway. As she drove away, she smacked her head. "Fireworks on the 4th!" she groaned. "That was her parting comment? Even that comment could have multiple meanings, Sharon herself, not exactly sure how that one should be taken. It had just slipped out; it wasn't a comment she'd put any thought into, which was no surprise. Oh, every single thing tonight had resulted in a misstep, and she was sure Andy thought she was completely crazy. At this point, he wasn't far off on that thought.