Unwritten - Chapter 8
by Kadi
Rated: M
Persuasive and willful though she could be, neither trait was needed. When the attending physician rounded on Sharon at mid-morning, he agreed that the severity of her injuries did not warrant another evening spent in the hospital. She was responding well to medication and tolerating pain. He wrote the orders to send her home. The unfortunate part came with the size of a facility like Cedars Sinai. It was early evening before she was finally processed out of the hospital with all of the paperwork, followup appointments, and prescriptions that she would need for the coming days and weeks.
True to his word, Andy stepped away from the ongoing case to drive her home. They were still working on a suspect list and his presence wasn't necessarily important. When they arrived at the condo, he tossed the crutches she had been given to Rusty. "Won't be needing those." Andy slipped an arm beneath her legs and lifted her easily. His back and knees would be protesting by the time he got her inside, but her weight was slight enough that he held her easily. She might seem larger than life, but physically she was a rather small woman.
"You are going to hurt yourself," Sharon chuckled, even as she wrapped her arms around him to distribute her weight more evenly. The stitches in her side pulled, painfully, and her leg was throbbing. There wasn't really any part of her that didn't currently ache in some way or another, but she'd been given pain medication before leaving the hospital. Ricky had stopped to have her prescriptions filled, and Emily had gone ahead of them to take the rest of her things inside. Rusty stood nearby, face still bruised, stiff and sore in his own right but in one piece and rolling his eyes at them. Given the alternative, she would take a few aches and pains.
"If I did, it would give me an excuse to stay home with you all day." Andy shifted her in his arms and then followed Rusty into the building. He was careful, as he moved through the door leading in from the parking garage, not to bump her injured leg. "I'm imagining the look on Provenza's face, and that alone would be worth it."
She giggled. "Yes, I suppose he would be quite put out with us. Entertaining as it is, I don't think we'd be able to sell it to Taylor." They were already working under a microscope. The Assistant Chief had agreed to allow them to continue for the moment, but would be watching them. Fact was, they were senior members of the unit, and entirely too good at their jobs. That he hadn't even suspected the possibility of a relationship between them prior to it being reported was evidence of their ability to act discreetly. In short, as long as they behaved, so too would he.
Sharon did not trust him for even a moment. If provoked or given opportunity, she knew that he would use that knowledge against them. However Taylor may seem, one could never forget that underneath it all he was an ambitious snake and not above stepping on others to get what he wanted. His allegiances could shift with the wind. Still, the rules needed to be followed, and by doing so they'd given him less ammunition to use against them. With the relationship reported to her superior and the Professional Standards Bureau they were, in some small measure, protected. So long as they remained discreet and professional. It would not be easy. It was, however, worth it.
Andy sniffed as they approached the elevator. "Taylor can kiss my—"
"Andy." Sharon shook her head at him. Her eyes crinkled at the corners and she smiled at him.
"What? Is he here?" He smirked at her. "You know that I could really give a damn." Andy sighed, shook his head. When the elevator opened, they stepped inside. He moved into the back corner with her, while Rusty hit the button for the eleventh floor.
"I know." She swept a hand through his hair. "I also know why, and I understand it. It's just that appearances are—"
"Important." He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know." He exhaled again, his thumb stroked her back. "Don't have to like it."
"No," she placed a kiss against the corner of his mouth. "You don't."
Rusty rolled his eyes at them. "Could he really do anything? It's not like you've done anything wrong. I mean, not like you've been making out in Sharon's office." He stopped, screwed up his face and shuddered. "At least, god I hope not."
Her eyes closed. Sharon sighed. "Rusty." She slanted a look at him and shook her head. "No, we have not. To answer your question, we need to tread carefully. If given motive, Chief Taylor could choose to reassign, fire or forcibly retire one or both of us. Something that neither of us would like to have happen."
"Yeah." Andy drawled, a crooked grin on his face. "But damn.. you know, that desk…"
"Andy!" Sharon smacked his shouldered, albeit lightly. Her cheeks flushed a bright shade of read, her eyes were wide. She shook her head at him. "No."
He looked at her, dark eyes sparkling. "Too late, the idea is planted." He grinned again, waggled his brows at her.
While Rusty groaned, slapped his palm against his forehead, Sharon lowered her face to his shoulder. "Oh god," she murmured.
The elevator came to a stop and the door opened, Andy stepped through with her. He chuckled as he made the turn toward her apartment. "Yeah, but you've got a desk at home too…"
"Okay!" Rusty moved quickly past them. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, holding it. "I'm going to go and lock myself in my room now, just for the record, and try to burn those images out of my head."
"You are incorrigible," Sharon said, through clenched teeth. She smacked his shoulder again and shook her head at him.
"That's what you like about me," He pointed out with a smirk.
"I'm beginning to wonder." She rolled her eyes at him.
"Bed's turned back," Emily announced. "Mom, I laid your favorite sweater on the end of your bed, but I wasn't sure if you wanted to try sweats or shorts, so I put out both."
"Thank you, honey." Sharon smiled at her. "Andy…" She wouldn't ask him to take her to bed, not while he was in his current mood. She didn't think Rusty could take anymore of his sense of humor.
"You got it." He smirked at her, but refrained. Despite popular opinion, he could behave himself. Occasionally.
"Here." Rusty thrust the crutches he was carrying at Emily. "You take them in there for her. I'm… really not going anywhere near a bedroom with those two."
The girl snickered. "Bad were they?" She shook her head. She accepted them. "Okay, go bury your head in something." Emily trailed along behind her mother and Andy. "Mom, he's blushing. I'm so proud of you."
She sighed. "Leave Rusty alone, both of you."
"Where is the fun in that," Andy asked. He winked at her and carried her into the bedroom. He settled her on the edge of the bed and then took the crutches from Emily.
She looked between the two of them and then rolled her eyes. "Right. Because I don't want to see it either." Emily turned on her heel and left the room, pulling the door closed behind her.
With her lips pursed, Sharon tilted her head and stared across the room, at nothing. "I could have been a cat woman," she mused. "A lonely, childless, cat woman." Her gaze shifted to Andy and her brow arched. "Don't you think?"
"Not a chance." He bent, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. "You adore them, even when they're rotten brats."
"Yes," she agreed with a smile. "I really do." Sharon tipped her face up and kissed him back. "How much longer do I have you for?"
"Provenza will call if I'm needed," Andy knelt in front of her, and only winced slightly at the protest his knees gave. He settled his hands on her thighs, stroked gently. For the ride home, she'd worn a pair of loose fitting running pants. "We're going through financials, putting together suspect list. They won't be missing me right now." Andy shrugged, "Day is almost over anyway. What do you need?"
"Hm." She rested her arms on his shoulders, ran her fingers through his short-cropped, silver hair. Sharon gave him an almost wistful smile. "A bath would be wonderful, a shower might be easier." She fluttered her lashes at him and drew her bottom lip between her teeth. Had it only been a day since they crossed that line of intimacy? It felt almost strange asking him to help her, but Emily was too slight to hold her up and the boys were out of the question. Although if she were honest with herself, she would admit that it was the fact she was asking for help at all that felt odd to her.
"I think we can handle that." He stood up, knees creaking. His thumb stroked her cheek. A soft kiss was brushed across her lips. Her hesitation was cute, but unnecessary. "I'm always here," he said quietly.
"I know," she whispered. Just in case she needed him. She cupped his cheek for a moment, and let her hand fall away when he turned. She watched him walk into the bathroom and when the shower turned on, she sighed in relief. She was almost desperate to wash away the last day, along with the antiseptic smell of the hospital that seemed to linger on her skin and in her hair.
When Andy returned he helped her undress, and then lifted her into his arms again to carry her into the bathroom. It took some maneuvering but it wasn't the only broken bone or injury that had ever been experienced by either of them. They wrapped her leg in plastic, securing it just above her knee to keep the brace and cast dry. The shower was, thankfully, large enough for both of them. The glass enclosed structure gave them freedom of movement, although not a lot. It wasn't without some wincing on Sharon's part, and laughter from both of them but they managed it. In the end, Andy stripped down and joined her.
She balanced on her good leg and braced herself with her hand pressed against the wall of the shower. With her head tipped back, she moaned quietly as his hands worked shampoo into her scalp and through her hair. Getting clean again was quite possibly the most wonderful feeling in the world, surpassed only by the gentleness with which he handled her. After rinsing her hair, his hands slid over her body, and there was not an inch of her, save her leg, that was not cleansed of the previous day's events.
The way he touched her was hardly clinical in his approach, but neither was it designed to arouse. He used the removable shower head to rinse the soap from her body, just as he'd done from her hair. Afterward, with the hot spray still raining down on both of them, he curled an arm around her waist and drew her back against him. The other wrapped around her shoulders, so that she was held securely in his embrace.
A sigh passed her lips. Her arms covered his, where he now held her, supporting all of her weight. Her head rested against his shoulder, and the feel of his lips against her neck brought a smile to her own. She felt a tremor run through him, and that was something that she understood all too well.
It was still so very new, this relationship, this love. Yet it had almost been lost, and in the most mundane way possible. They worried, every day, about each other, and the other members of their team. They constantly walked into dangerous situations. How many times had they been shot at? How often had they almost lost their lives in the line of duty? No one had asked her, and she would lie if they did, but it was hard… sending him out there, knowing that might be it, knowing that might be the last time that she saw him alive. It was something she had to live with, to accept, if she was going to be with him. And wasn't this worth fighting for? Wasn't this worth a little fear and doubt, just to have these quiet moments together?
Such a simple thing, to be held. To feel protected, and to feel loved. The words made her heart soar, even if they'd been prompted by the accident. It was something that needed to be said between them, even if just the once given all that happened. What existed between them, however, was more than words. There was always something there, even when they could hardly look at each other. Chemistry, attraction, she didn't know what to call it. What she did know was that the opposite of love was not hate, it was indifference. There was one thing that she and Andy Flynn had never been and that was indifferent toward one another.
Now, in her steam encased shower, water pounding at his back, and his arms around her, she wondered if perhaps this had been inevitable. She was not a romantic. She was a realist. Sharon also wondered if perhaps she was still a little loopy. Whatever it was, she was moved almost to tears by the movement of his lips against her neck, and then her ear. Eyes still closed, she tilted her head toward him.
Love. Affection. They were not emotions measured in words, but rather, by expression. He didn't have to speak it for her to know it.
Sharon lifted her head, turned toward him and found his lips with hers. The kiss was gentle, and it lingered between them for a moment. She felt the curving of his mouth toward a smile. Her eyes opened and she found him looking at her, emotion reflected in his dark eyes. She exhaled quietly. "Will you stay tonight?" She knew that her kids were there, and that it would be a bit crowded, perhaps even awkward, but she wanted him near. They hadn't often had opportunity to spend the night together. She wanted, if the case permitted, to fall asleep and wake up in his arms.
"Even if I have to turn my phone off," he rumbled quietly, and with a smile. He kissed the side of her head, held her tighter. "Okay?" She seemed a bit vulnerable, though he knew she would be reluctant to admit it. He wondered if it was the accident or all this recent trouble with Jack. It was, Andy thought, probably a combination of the two. The confrontation with Jack had opened old wounds, brought up old memories, and the accident had left her rattled enough that it was pushing through her usual level of control.
"Okay." Her lips brushed the curve of his jaw. "Thank you," she murmured.
"Love you," he answered. "Come on, let's get you out of here."
Andy reached back and shut the shower off. He kept an arm around her as he pushed open the door and then maneuvered her so that she could hang on to the frame. He stepped out first, dried quickly and draped a towel around his waist. Then he reached for her, propped her against the vanity, and was much more careful and deliberate as he ran a towel over her body. The wet plastic around her injured leg was discarded. When he'd finished, he wrapped a towel around her body and another around her hair before lifting her into his arms again.
Sharon was carried to her bed and he set her on the edge. Her favorite sweater was a soft, baggy garment in lilac. He helped her into it and a pair of soft gym shorts. While he dressed, pulling his suit back on, she dealt with her hair. She decided to towel dry it, and then allow it to curl. She didn't have the energy to blow-dry or straighten it. She pulled half of it back and secured it in a clip. Then, with a sigh, she pushed herself back on the bed and reclined against the waiting pillows. She hated to admit it, but she was utterly exhausted. Her body had begun to throb again. Sharon closed her eyes and breathed through the onslaught.
Andy left his tie and jacket draped across the chair at her dressing table. "I'll see if Ricky is back with your meds," he told her. He reached out and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. "Sharon?"
"Hm." She nodded. "Yes, that would be good." Sharon opened her eyes, smiled up at him.
There was pain clouding her eyes, and fatigue. Andy stroked her cheek again, thumb tracing the cut, gently, and hardly touching it at all. "I'll only be a minute. Rest." He stepped away from her finally and ran a hand over his damp hair as he moved out of the room and down the hall. Andy found that Ricky had returned, and with more than his mother's medication. He and Emily were in the kitchen organizing something that looked like it might be dinner.
"Roast." Ricky shrugged. "It's her favorite. I thought maybe a little comfort food would be a good idea. Rusty said you're a vegetarian, so I got extra vegetables and some wild rice…" It was a little weird, relying on the younger brother he didn't know to pick out food for the boyfriend that he also didn't know, so that they could make dinner for their mother and maybe help her feel a little better. Actually, the word awkward didn't exactly cover it.
"Sounds good." Andy took the pharmacy bag from the counter. "I think she'll like that. She really likes the baby—"
"Carrots," Ricky finished with a half grin. "Yeah, I know."
"Right." The two men stared at each other for a moment.
"Hm." Emily moved around behind him, arms crossed over her chest. She leaned a hip against the counter, head tilted. "So, what exactly are your intentions toward our mother?"
Andy's brows lifted. He reached into the fridge for a chilled bottle of water and shook his head at her. "Nice try little Sharon, but that is between your mother and I." He winked at her, and grinned before stepping past her to return to the bedroom.
Rusty snorted. He was seated at the bar, working his way through a soda. "You know, she doesn't like meddling."
"Nope." Emily smirked. "It had to be asked."
Ricky laughed. "Gotta give the old guy points though." He finished unloading the groceries and then stepped back. "So… um…" He looked at the other two. "Who is going to cook it?"
"Oh for crying out loud." Emily took his arm and pushed him out of the kitchen. "Go find a video game or something."
"I'll help." Rusty snickered as he slid off his stool and moved into the kitchen.
Emily's eyes narrowed. "Do you actually cook?"
Instead of answering, Rusty reached over and turned the oven on. Then he reached into the cupboard beneath the stove to pull out the deep, roasting pan that Sharon typically used. He arched a brow at her and smirked. "A little."
"Good." Emily took the bag of onions and tossed them at him. "Slice those up and I'll tell you about the time Ricky singed off his eyebrows."
"His eyebrows?" Rusty's eyes widened. "How did he do that?"
Emily flashed a devious grin. "He wanted s'mores…"
"I see you made it back in one piece," Sharon's eyes opened again at the sound of her bedroom door closing behind him.
"It was a near thing." He rattled the bag at her and carried it over. Andy sat on the edge of her bed and opened it for her. Each of the bottles was set on the bedside table. There was an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory and the pain medication. "They're making you dinner. Listen, I'm going to run out for a while." He reached out and swept her hair over her shoulder. "I'm going to swing by my place and grab some stuff, check in at the office. I shouldn't be gone long."
"Okay." She sat up on the bed, accepted the bottle of water from him. "These make me sleep," she indicated the pain pills. "I'll be alright."
"Sure?" When she hummed and offered a nod, he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. "I'll only be an hour, at the most. You won't even know I'm gone."
"I doubt that." Her hand slid up his arm. Her gaze held a wealth of meaning. "Go, I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere. Hello my bed, how much I've missed you," she drawled with a grin.
Andy chuckled quietly. He waited for her to take her medication before standing. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Get some rest, Sharon."
"Aye, aye," she sketched off a playful salute and leaned back again.
He laughed again. "You know, you're kind of cute when you're loopy."
"Shh," she made a face at him and let her eyes close again. "You'll ruin my reputation. Darth Raydor is in absolutely no way cute."
"Sweetheart, your reputation is above reproach, believe me." Andy headed for the door. He paused there and glanced back again. Although she hadn't replied, there was a smile curving her lips. He shook his head and slipped out of the room again. He headed down the hall, his jacket tossed over his arm. "Hey kids, she's probably going to sleep for a while." His gaze swept all three of them, but came to a stop on Rusty, the one that he knew. "I'm going to swing over to my place, check on some things. I'll be back. Hour, tops. Can you keep an eye on her?"
Rusty grinned because the idea of anyone keeping an eye on Sharon was a little bit funny. "Sure, Lieutenant. No problem."
"Good." He started toward the door and stopped. "Oh, and Rusty, at some point, maybe you can just call me Andy."
The boy hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. A small smile played at his lips. "Yeah, I'll work on that one."
After he left, Emily leaned over and nudged him. "Aww, that's so sweet," she teased.
"Shut up." Rusty nudged her back.
Emily continued to snicker. "You know, I think I like not being the youngest anymore. I could get used to this."
Rusty sighed, feigning exasperation. "Great. You know, I know a guy you could talk to. About these delusions of yours. He's pretty cool. I call him Doctor Joe."
"Hm." Her lips pursed. Her eyes narrowed as she considered him. "You know," Emily finally said. "I think I'm going to like you, Rusty Beck."
"I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me," He deadpanned, but his eyes were sparkling.
"Now, now, behave." Ricky called, smirking at the pair of them. "Don't make me come in there."
The two of them glanced at one another. Emily's brow arched. "You know, Richard, the fact that you were born first does not make you special."
"Nope," Rusty continued. "It just makes you… old."
Emily nodded. "Indeed."
"Maybe." He leaned back on the sofa and got comfortable. "But firstborn sets the standards for which the two of you will be measured."
"You have a card for this guy?" Emily asked. "I think Ricky needs him."
"I'll text you his number." Rusty turned back to the onions he was slicing. He had decided that the three of them were not all so dissimilar. They each had parental abandonment issues. His mom, their dad. But they'd all also had something else, to make that better, they'd had Sharon. Rusty was starting to look forward to being adopted. Really look forward to it. The idea of having a family, even if it wasn't just him and Sharon, he was beginning to realize wasn't such a weird, abstract thing. It was kind of nice.
After dinner, while Andy and Ricky cleaned up in the kitchen and Emily stepped out onto the balcony to call her boyfriend back east, Rusty made his way down the hall to check on Sharon. The door was open, and he knocked quietly as he poked his head inside. "Hey."
Sharon had her computer on her lap. She looked up at him and smiled, then glanced toward the hall. "Don't tell?"
"Secret is safe with me," he grinned.
She smiled brightly at him, but closed the laptop and placed it beside her on the bed. "Everything okay?" Rusty seemed pensive. She waved him into the room. Her eyes followed him as he walked over and took a seat on the cushioned bench at the foot of her bed.
"I think I'm supposed to ask you that," he said. Rusty pulled the beige throw blanket that was usually folded across the bench into his lap and picked at it. "I guess I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Oh Rusty." She smiled gently at him. "Honey, I'm okay. It hurts, but physical injuries heal. In a few weeks I will be perfectly fine." She clasped her hands in her lap and tilted her head at him. "It's been quite a couple of weeks though, hasn't it? Your mom, and then Jack, and now this… Things will settle down soon, I think."
"I hope so." He smiled at her. "I don't think either one of us could take much more." They shared a grin and then he looked down again. "So, I also had a question. Did you still want to do the adoption thing? I mean, I wasn't even supposed to know about it. If Jack hadn't said anything, then I never would—"
"Absolutely." Sharon cut him off before he could get too worked up about it. She realized now what he was worried about. The accident had rattled him. It was understandable, she was plenty rattled herself. "Rusty, the only reason I didn't tell you was because I didn't have all the facts. I wasn't sure what the process would be or how simple or difficult Jack was going to make it. It's not a process that I would have started if I didn't genuinely want to do it, if I wasn't committed to seeing it through. I think the question that should be asked is if this is what you want." Sharon studied him closely, but her eyes were warm and her smile gentle. "Rusty, you are always going to have a place with me. This is always going to be your home, I don't need a piece of paper to know what is in my heart. As far as I am concerned you are as much my son as Ricky is. I may not have given birth to you, and I might not have raised you, but you're here now and that's all that matters. The adoption simply provides a legal standing for me to act as your mother…" Sharon paused. "Or for you to act as my son. But only in so much as you want to. If you don't, that is okay too. I'm not going to stop loving you."
He continued to look down, the blanket suddenly the most interesting object in the world. Rusty chewed on the inside of his lip when it threatened to tremble. When he did finally look up at her, his eyes were moist. "I already have a mom," he pointed out.
"I know," she said gently. Not that she would ever classify Sharon Beck as such, but those were thoughts that she kept to herself.
Rusty nodded slowly. "I just…" He stopped for a moment. "I never had a mother before." He gazed at her, twisted the blanket around his fingers. "Until now."
Her jaw clenched. Sharon looked away when her vision grew blurry. She cleared her throat and wet her lips. "Yes," she said thickly. She drug her teeth across her bottom lip and smiled at him, eyes bright.
"I guess I just feel like," Rusty continued, "maybe you're right. Maybe this is something that we should do. I wouldn't mind," he added in a softer voice. "It's okay if we don't, because I get it. I'm not going anywhere either. But I would kind of really like it."
"Okay." Sharon nodded once. "Then we will make it happen. I won't even make you have to sound like a horrible cartoon character," she promised.
"You know, that might not be so bad either." Rusty stood up, placed the blanket back on the bench. "I mean, I hope you don't, but I could stand it."
Sharon laughed. There was the teenager she knew and loved. "I'll talk to Gavin about it. We'll do our best."
"Good." Rusty moved closer to her side of the bed, hovered a moment. "I'm really glad you're okay, Sharon."
She beckoned him down, wrapped him in a tight hug. "The one thing that I am thankful for is that you were not hurt," she murmured. "The rest does not matter Rusty, you being safe is what matters to me."
"I know." He hugged her as tightly as he dared, not wanting to hurt her. "I love you." He really had only said it once, maybe twice before. It wasn't something he admitted often. The people he loved had hurt him in the past, all except for Sharon.
"Hm." She lay her cheek against the side of his head. "I know," she whispered. When he pulled back, she cupped his chin. "I love you, too, Rusty." He pulled away and gave her a watery smile. Then he made quick his exit. Sharon leaned her head back and rested it against the pillows piled behind her. She heard the door across the hall close and knew that he'd gone to his room. The more her boy changed and grew, the more he stayed the same. She closed her eyes and hummed quietly. She fought the moisture threatening to escape and had to smile again. They were very much the same, in so many ways.
Andy found her still laying in the same position sometime later. Her pushed her door closed with a quiet click and toed out of his shoes before crossing the room. He lifted the computer with a smirk and set it on the dresser before he sank onto the bed beside her. "Busted," he mumbled.
"I don't know what you're talking about," She said, without opening her eyes. The corners of her mouth twitched. "I was reading. iBook app, it's a wonderful thing." A hand slid across her belly and she sighed quietly, in approval.
"So if I check, I'm not going to find an open case file?" Andy was careful of her leg as he settled beside her. His lips brushed her cheek and then her ear.
"Nuh uh," she grunted with a smile, but they both knew that she was lying. She lay her arm over his and wriggled further down in the pillows, and closer to him.
"Okay?" When she nodded, he lay his head near hers, lips at her shoulder. He let his eyes drift closed. He decided that if he spent the rest of his life doing nothing else, he would want it to be this.
"Me too," she murmured, and turned her head toward him. She rested her lips against the top of his head.
It surprised him, but then he realized he must have spoken the thought out loud. Andy glanced up at her, but rather than be embarrassed, he simply smiled. They gazed at one another, then he tipped his face up and pressed a light kiss to her mouth. It was gratifying to know that they were on the same page. They were both thinking about a future, and at least they were both imagining that it would include each other.
