Sharon was fed up. After watching videos of her daughter being harassed by men in a night club to watching her son being asked by his biological mother to sell himself for her bail money. She was done. She was tired. She was pissed.
The fact that Riley had been so close to being the girl in that cage, the fact there is an image of the kidnappers and Riley together, the fact that Riley would have been exactly what they were looking for made Sharon sick to her stomach. Not quite as sick as she was about the twins mother.
She paid a visit to Sharon Beck on her way home. As usual when she was extremely angry, her voice was calm as she laid out how exactly Sharon Beck was going to spend the next year to six years of her life. There were times that it frightened her that she could see Riley sometimes in Sharon Beck's facial expressions. They were expression that Sharon hadn't seen in years but they were there.
Andy had dropped Riley off at home with Rusty and to be honest she wasn't sure what she would say to her kids yet. They both had been through a lot, but Sharon was not willing to fight anymore. She had asked Andy to go home after taking Riley to her condo so she could have an evening with her children. The four of them had become a family of sorts, but sometimes none of them are prepared to admit that. Riley and Rusty were still adjusting to the idea of their new family with their new mother.
When she walked through the door of her condo she was fairly surprised to find her living room empty. Typically both kids were there waiting for her if she managed to arrive home before an ungodly hour. Not even Phantom was there waiting for her.
She dropped her purse off on the table and kicked off her heels. Her feet ached as she stretched her toes against the floor and she headed toward the hall. Sure enough, the light in Riley's room was on. Sharon moved to the doorway and leaned against the frame. Both twins sat on Riley's bed in their pajamas with Phantom lazily chewing on a toy Sharon had picked up the other day while shopping.
"Hi," she greeted softly.
Both kids glanced up at her from their game of chess. At a glance Sharon could see Riley was actually putting up a fairly decent fight, then again Rusty probably wasn't in the mood to concentrate too closely.
"Hi," they mumbled together. Riley claimed Rusty's knight while he wasn't looking.
Sharon tossed her head toward the living room. "Why don't we talk on the couch?"
The twins looked at each other. There was a long moment of silent conversation between the two of them that Sharon couldn't help but dislike. They didn't often try to keep Sharon out of their world anymore, now every time they did she took it a little personally. She hated them cutting her out.
After a moment both kids followed Sharon into the living room with Phantom lazily trailing behind them. Rusty chose to sit in the chair sitting Indian style while Riley laid across the couch, placing her head in Sharon's lap. Sharon couldn't help but smirk before gently massaging the girl's scalp.
"It's fair to say we've all had long day…"
Both kids rolled their eyes at the understatement. Riley wasn't even sure how she was still awake after being dragged around on a case that lasted all night and day. Sharon had offered her a couple hours of sleep on her office couch but Riley struggled to sleep anywhere but her own bed. It dealt a lot with her history and it was the only reason Sharon allowed her children to have locks on their bedroom doors.
"But we need to have a conversation." Sharon took a breath before continuing. "After a lot of thinking, I've decided that Riley, you are no longer grounded."
Riley's head popped up to look at her mother more closely, as though to assess where she was going with this. Part of her was sure Sharon was going to dish her out with something much worse than being grounded, like doing sixty hours of community service with the LAPD or attending AA meetings with Andy until she could give Sharon and Andy both a detailed reasoning why underage drinking was bad. But neither or those came.
"But if you ever, ever lie to me again- and do not say what you did was not a lie- you will wish you were only grounded."
With that, Riley sank into the back of the couch and tried not to pout. Rusty smirked at his sulking sister while Sharon turned to him. "And I had a conversation with your mother today."
At that Rusty's expression turned to panic while Riley's was confused. He hadn't told his sister about their mother yet, and he wasn't sure if he was going to. "Sharon-"
"Mom?" Riley asked plainly bewildered. "How did you talk to Mom? I didn't even think we knew where she was." Her glance at her brother had her expression change from puzzled to frustration at the guilty look on her brother face. "What is going on Rusty?"
"I was going to tell you," Rusty began right off making Riley roll her head back onto the couch and let out an angry groan. "I was just trying to look out for you. You know, be a good big brother."
"Rusty!" Riley snapped her head jerking back up. "I hate to break it to you, but being two minutes older does not make you more capable of handling our drug addict mother better than I do."
Rusty rolled his eyes. "You're right, but history does."
"Oh whatever-"
"Okay!" Sharon interrupted before they could really start a knock down drag out in her living room at ten-thirty at night. "Let's take a step back and a deep breath."
Both twins fell back into their seats and Phantom let out a loud sigh that Sharon found herself relating to. She loved them, she was forever grateful for them entering her life, but sometimes she was reminded as to why teenagers were no parent's favorite age.
"Riley," Sharon began, turning her full attention to her blonde haired daughter. "Your mother has been arrested and is currently in county jail. Which is where she contacted your brother from earlier." Her attention then shifted to her son. "And I wish I would have found out from you rather than from other sources."
Rusty shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.
"Now, I want to tell you that I have in fact made a deal with your mother." Both kids were now watching her with their full attention and Sharon was suddenly very worried about their response to the deal she made. Riley's last encounter with her mother left her silent for almost a week while Rusty had done his best to prevent anymore contact between the two of them. However, mothers and children had unique relationships that sometimes no one can understand. "Your mother will be spending the next year in county as long as she remains clean. If she doesn't, she will serve her full sentence in a prison. Six years."
"Oh."
The sound was so soft she wasn't even sure which kid it came from.
"Well, I'm going to go to bed," Riley announced standing up and stretching her arms over her head. "Unless there's something else other than unground me and Mom being in jail."
Sharon blinked at her while Rusty let out a yawn. "Yeah, that sounds like a good."
"That's probably a good idea," Sharon sputtered also getting to her feet to accept Riley's hug. The girl pecked her cheek and Sharon really wished this would have been one of her hugs that Riley needed an extra few seconds in her arms. But that wasn't tonight. Three years and Sharon was still the one who had to let the kids show affection to her and she walked on egg shells to show them affection.
"Goodnight Sharon," Rusty added, allowing her typical kind squeeze on his arm as she watched both her kids disappear into their bedrooms. Suddenly she was standing alone in her living room with just a German shepherd who looked as exhausted as she felt.
"Well, Phantom," Sharon sighed letting herself fall back down onto the couch where the dog quickly joined her. "What are we going to do with them?"
MCMCMC
Sharon heard her front door open at an ungodly hour, but she allowed Phantom to check it out before she got out of bed. It only felt like a moment later when she familiar large hands gently cupped her face before the taste of Andy's lips on hers made her smile.
"Morning breath," Sharon warned as she cracked her eyes open to meet the beauty of his dark brown orbs.
"I can handle it if it means seeing you sleepy and hair a mess." His lips fell on hers again. "The most beautiful woman I ever laid eyes on."
The snort laugh that escaped Sharon's lips made Andy chuckled. Suddenly he felt her arms wrap around him and yank him on top her. He braced himself on his hands and knees on either side of her. One of his hand combed through her chestnut hair as she grinned below him.
"Shar-"
Sharon's knee came up and nailed Andy in the gut as she pushed him off her and scrambled to look up at the door. She barely registered Andy's groan as Riley stood in the doorway with her had covering her eyes.
"Seriously? Close the door! This is weird for everyone." The dramatic sigh that followed made Andy start to chuckle while Sharon's face burned red. She pushed her palm into Andy's chest as she reached for her glasses.
"Whoa! Where are you going?" Andy complained as Sharon sat up.
She shot him a playfully dirty look. "If Riley was at my door, she probably wanted to say something to me. Now I need to go see what that is." Andy was instantly behind her, planting a row of kisses on her neck as she half-heartedly tried to wiggle away from him while also allowing him to allow access to just the right spot. "Andy, the kids are awake."
"Riley is awake, and knows I'm here-"
"And is claiming her mother today! She is mine, not yours today!"
The words were playfully shouted from across the apartment and Sharon chuckled as she put one hand over her mouth and her eyes twinkled at Andy. His hands were still around her middle and he let his head fall into her shoulder. Suddenly Riley's head appeared around the corner of the door, all her hair tied up into a messy bun on top of her head.
"Mine!" Riley grinned as she narrowed her eyes threateningly. "She promised me today and you don't get to distract her."
Sharon looked a little guilty as she covered half her mouth to whisper to Andy. "I kind of forgot with all that happened yesterday…"
Riley's smile faded. "So we-"
"Oh honey, we are still having our day," Sharon assured her, this time successfully escaping Andy's arms to wrap her daughter up in hers instead. He smiled to himself as Sharon playfully tickled her daughter's and Riley's eyes sparkled with happiness as she laughed. Sharon pressed a kiss to the side of Riley's head before releasing her. "However we both need to shower and get ready."
Just as Riley was about to turn around, she spun back toward Andy. "Oh, and I have a present for you." Andy's eyebrows raised as Riley reached into her back pocket before offering him something. Accepting her gift, he watched as she looked down bashfully.
"Dodger tickets?" he asked in awe. "Dodger tickets!" His jaw literally dropped when he saw the seating. "Amazing tickets!"
"Three…" Riley explained shyly. "For you, Provenza, and Rusty. And don't say Rusty doesn't want to go. You always say that no one gets dragged to baseball."
Sharon beamed with pride as Riley spun off to escape into the bathroom that she and her brother shared. Andy was still gaping at the tickets in his hand. "These are extremely expensive tickets, freaking great tickets, but how on earth did Riley get her hands on these?"
The amount of pride radiating off of Sharon was so obvious that it was making Andy very curious. "Our very kind, very special girl saved up money from her birthday and graduation to buy her father figure a belayed father's day gift for you and Rusty. I put in money for the Provenza as a little add in for both of you."
Andy's glee melted into awe. He looked down the hallway to where Riley had disappeared. He could remember Sharon's reaction to her first mother's day present, she had to push him back out into the hallway when he arrive and glowed as she showed off the new bracelet that had all of her children's birthstones in it, including Riley and Rusty. She had joked that she only cried a little when the twins presented their gift but she wore that bracelet just about every day since.
Last father's day was the first time he had received a gift in a very long time. Who would have thought that Riley would take a note from Nicole's book and make her dad's day?
"Don't make a big deal of it," Sharon warned softly. Andy glanced back at her and noticed her smirk. "She wants it to be one of those 'normal kid' things."
Without hesitation, Andy made two quick strides to Sharon and wrapped her in his arms before planting a kiss on her lips in the doorway of her bedroom.
"Sharon-"
The broke apart as Riley let out a dramatic sigh and shook her head also standing in the bathroom doorway. "We get it, you're in love. Stop eating each other's faces when the doors are open."
"Riley Alexandria," Sharon scolded playfully. "If I'm ready before you, I'm ordering what you're getting for breakfast and make sure it's something with tomatoes."
The completely disgusted look on Riley's face made Andy laugh as he stepped back in front of Sharon. "Go on, kiddo. I'm about to kiss your mom again." This time Rusty joined in on the dramatic groan that filled the apartment and Sharon laughed through Andy's kisses.
It was weird to think about, but this was the first time Riley and Sharon had a girl's day with just the two of them. She and Emily had made a point at least every couple of months to have a day where it was just them. Perhaps this was one of the other little things that was really changing since Riley was officially going to be hers, maybe she was feeling the need to make sure she offered a little bit of "just girls" time.
Sharon had originally thought the day would be a never ending shopping trip but she was very wrong. They had gone to a coffee shop for breakfast and she was amazed that after only a couple of shops, Riley asked to head back to the condo. At first Sharon was a little alarmed, but Riley assured her that she just wanted to enjoy her mother/daughter day at home.
They had monopolized the living room, setting fleece blankets on the couch and Phantom taking camp on the floor in front of them. They decided that crepes sounded like the best lunch idea possible, but only if it was served with fresh fruit and tea.
Sharon had the flour out and Riley was gathering eggs. The thousand watt smile on Riley's face told Sharon that there was really no better activity to do together than basically playing in the kitchen.
"I really like cooking with you," Riley told her mother kind of shyly. Her cheeks flushed a little as she shifted the flour into the mix. Sharon waited patiently for Riley to continue. "You used to try and include me in the kitchen when I first got here. Rusty always did the cooking before and I was absolutely awful."
"You were," Sharon chuckled and laughed even harder when Riley looked so offended. "Honey, I replaced the microwave twice."
Riley threw her head back and laughed too. "Okay. Fair. I guess it's safe to say you must have loved us then, otherwise you would have killed me."
At that Sharon smirked. "Oh I think I loved you since Rusty stomped off the first day while you scurried." The girl blushed as she thought back to that day. She could remember holding her scraggily kitty cat, the cat that now sat on a shelf in her room instead of living in the bottom of her backpack in case of a bad moment. "You were so scared…"
The tone in her mother's voice was different this time. It was more melancholy and Riley turned to study her better. "I'm not anymore though. Neither is Rusty and neither are you."
Sharon felt her smile appear without consent. Her daughter was completely correct. In the last few years they all grew and changed and developed into a very unique family. They still had their fights, but at the end of the day it was no question how much they loved each other.
"I like that you're my mom," Riley mused quietly as she tried to go back to the crepe making that seemed to just be going on autopilot. The atmosphere in the room changed even though Sharon tried to pretend she was just casually listening and not on the verge of tears.
"Well," Sharon partly coughed. "I love that you are my daughter and Rusty is my son."
Riley shook her head as her eyes focused on the mixing bowl. "But if you didn't find us you would probably be okay. Rusty and I, well, we probably wouldn't be."
It wasn't something Sharon could think about. She couldn't imagine her life without her twins and she definitely didn't want to imagine what would have happened to them if no one got to them in time. No, there was no way she could allow her mind to wander into that detail. It just wasn't a good idea.
Sharon stopped the work she was no longer really paying attention to. Instead she turned around and sat on the counter. The expression on Riley's face was priceless as flour puffed around them onto the floor. Sitting on the counter was something that Sharon rarely permitted and never permitted it when they were actually using the kitchen.
Those blue eyes only got bigger when Sharon patted the space next to her. Still, Riley joined her, sitting close to her and resting her head on Sharon's shoulder. Putting her arm around her daughter, Sharon rested her head on top of Riley's.
"Do want to know what my favorite day dream is?" Sharon asked closing her eyes as though actively searching for it. "Sometimes, I like to imagine that I had found you all when you were little or that you were always with me. Where you grew up with Ricky and Emily and didn't have to be so scared. Where I could have protected you."
A stray tear slipped down Sharon's cheek and Riley nodded. "Sometimes I like to imagine that too…"
Hearing her daughter say that made more tears roll down Sharon's cheeks. She tried to brush them away as Riley closed her eyes. "Mom?"
A choked up sigh came from Sharon. "Riley?"
"Can I just call you mom from now on? I mean, I know I'm not adopted yet-"
Sharon pulled away for a half second to look her baby girl in the face. "Signing our names to a piece of paper or not doesn't change the fact that you are my daughter. I'm so glad you're my daughter, and I am so happy to be your mom."
By the time Andy, Rusty and Provenza walked in that evening, Riley and Sharon were covered in as much flour as the kitchen as they slept together on the couch with Phantom right below them. Andy kissed both of his girls before pulling gently shaking them awake. Sharon was the first who woke, her hand rubbing at her eyes. She looked at her daughter laying across her torso still completely out.
"Hey sleepyhead," Andy mused and Sharon could hear Provenza's ye gods from the kitchen. "I think you'll hate yourself because of the pain in your back."
Andy carried Riley to bed and was amazed the way the cuddled into him. It was always joked that Riley was the cuddly one, but this was actually one of the first times that he had ever actually seen it. He placed Riley on her bed and smirked at Phantom jumped up next to her to cuddle close.
"She wants to call me Mom," Sharon whispered as she pasted him on the way to bed. She had already kissed Rusty on the side of the head as a goodnight and smiled at Provenza on her way to her bedroom.
Andy smiled at her before putting his lips to hers. "Because that what you are to both those kids."
