A/N- I choose to firmly believe that Andrea was at that party, and I just didn't see her. Yeah? And, as I recall, the cake was blue...

Rusty watched Sharon as she leaned against the wall of the living room. Andrea stood next to her, giggling- actually giggling- and waving one hand around. Sharon was clearly imitating something that had happened earlier, that seemed to do with swooning and the movie star guy. Andrea's face was pink and although Rusty couldn't hear the words from across the room, he could hear Sharon's loud howl of laughter.

She never laughed like that normally.

He didn't know why the prospect of a celebration had gotten her so excited, but it had, and she went the full nine yards with it. There was a cake, balloons, party hats, and sparkling apple juice. She must have come home over her lunch hour and set it up, because it hadn't been there in the morning, and it was already up when they'd walked through the door a few hours previously.

He didn't know what she had done regarding his 'friends.' He didn't see people his age there, and though it didn't bother him, he wondered what she'd tried to do.

There were plenty of people, though. Sharon had always seemed to be a private sort of person, and Rusty could count the number of people he'd seen in her home on his fingers. Now there were about a dozen people hanging out in her- What had Lieutenant Provenza called it?- her batcave. And the funny thing was that she seemed to enjoy it. Julio had gotten fingerprints all over her stainless steel fridge while hunting for ice cubes, and Amy and Lieutenant Cooper were surely getting crumbs on the sofa with all the secretive tickling that was totally obvious.

And she didn't care.

Another hour on, people began to trickle out, until it was just Sharon and Rusty and Flynn. Rusty flopped down on the sofa that Amy and her boyfriend hadn't been on and pulled his phone out to give them a moment to themselves.

Sharon said nothing was going on, and Rusty believed her, but she and Flynn had been out to dinner more than a few times. He didn't want to ask, because what she did with her life was her own business. She could have been dating Andrea Hobbs for all he really cared. As long as anything remotely soppy or cute stayed out of his view, he would be fine.

Sharon glanced back at- well, he was her son now, essentially- her son, but he appeared to be absorbed in his phone. She followed Andy to the door and leaned against it as he fumbled his jacket on in the hall.

"That was a hell of a party, Sharon."

"Especially for someone who lives in a cave, hmm?"

Andy grinned and looked down for a moment. "He's never going to get tired of saying that stuff."

Sharon snorted. "I hope not. It's almost sweet. As sweet as 'Wicked Witch' can be."

It was his turn to laugh. "We ought to do this more often. Last time I remember doing a team thing like this is when the Johnsons came out and cooked us all Christmas dinner in the murder room."

She smiled at the memory. "Those were the days." She hummed, lost in thought for a moment. "I can't believe everything that's happened since then."

Brenda Leigh's resignation. The closure of the Stroh case. Rusty. Wade Weller. Jack. She was turning a chapter in her life, she supposed. Her new team. An-

"Sharon?"

"Hmm?" She glanced up, jolted from her thoughts.

"You've got-" he touched his lip. "Blue."

She reached up and he shook his head.

"Over, no- other way, no, too far." He reached out suddenly and swiped her lower lip with his thumb. "There you go." He seemed faintly embarrassed.

She wasn't sure what to say, so she just smiled. "Thank you."

"Sure thing, Captain."

There they were, back on solid ground. "Good night, Lieutenant."

"'Night."

She watched him go for a moment, then stepped back inside.

"Rusty?"

He set the phone down and sat up. "Yeah?" Whatever he had avoided, it had been quiet and lasted barely a minute.

"Did you have a good time?"

He watched her touch her mouth with one finger. She must have been rubbing the icing off. It was funny, so he hadn't told her about it. He grinned. "Yeah. That was. . . nice. I mean, no one's ever-"

She shushed him and sat down. "Be careful what you say, or I might find an excuse for another celebration."

He raised his eyebrows. "Yeah?"

"I'm sure I could find an occasion." She tossed her hair over her shoulder, smiling, and he knew he'd lose the contest if he chose to start it.

"Oh my God, you and finding reasons for everything."

She laughed. "Maybe we'll do something spontaneous, then. A surprise birthday party."

"God, no!"

She laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

He rolled his eyes, but found he wasn't totally opposed to the idea. It was nice to have someone who cared enough to organize something like a graduation party, even if it was small and mostly just work-friends. It was a night with more laughter and happiness and processed sugar than usual, and that was that mattered. Well, maybe not the sugar part, exactly.

It was a well-deserved chance to cut loose and live.

A/N- It kinda went shippy, didn't it? Sorry. Just fyi, in this story especially, I'm trying to keep everything on the straight and narrow. ie: No matter how much I think Sharon and Andrea would be a fabulous pair or Kris should stop by and say hi, I'm probably not going to do it unless it makes sense with canon. Thank you for understanding.

I'm going to be in DC next Monday, so I might see the episode. I won't see the finale (noooooo), because I'll be flying back home literally all day, but I'll catch up before I head back down to school. It feels terrible to say that. Going back to school. Gehh.

Well, safe travels to everyone else who's going elsewhere. Love to all.