"I got it, I got it.." Sharon muttered as she slowly pushed herself up and out of Andy's passenger car seat. Andy stood on the curb, Sharon's weekend bag flung over one shoulder and her purse thrown over the other as he held her crutches out for her. As Sharon took her crutches and got situated on the sidewalk, he closed her car door and rested a hand on her back, helping to guide her along the path to the front door of her building. "I can carry my bags, ya know," Sharon protested as she hobbled along the hallway to her front door. Andy sighed. If her attitude stayed like this, it was going to be a very long day.
"Sharon!" Rusty grinned, opening the front door as they approached it. He leaned over to give his foster mom a hug before she even had the chance to get through the door. "I made your favorite breakfast. I even blended you some of that nasty green juice you drink!" The excitement on his face was just too much for her. She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around him, her heart full. "Oh, Rusty. You didn't have to do that."
"I know, but I wanted your homecoming to be nice. I know how bored and sad you've been at the hospital."
As she made it through the door, Rusty took her crutches and helped her sit down in a chair, grabbing a throw pillow off the couch and propping it up behind her so the chair back wouldn't hurt her. "Rusty, you have outdone yourself. This spread is fabulous." Sharon beamed as she looked at everything he'd made. She was tired and needed to take more pain pills, but she was so glad to be home again.
After Andy tossed Sharon's purse and overnight bag on her bed, he sat down to join them for breakfast. "So, Sharon, you should give some props to Rusty. We sat down last night and worked out a calendar of everywhere he needs to be for the next week. We arranged transportation for nearly everything, barring work, and we got his friend's Mom to agree to be his back up ride. So, stressful thing #1 for you is checked off the list."
Sharon raised her eyebrows and nodded. "Fellas, I am impressed. This is really sweet, all of it."
"We can be sweet sometimes." Andy grinned, patting her hand.
Sharon sighed, knowing it would be weeks before she'd be as mobile as she'd like. After her six weeks on the crutches was up she'd be out of shape-just in time to start really dating Andy. It was still hard to think about all that. She was very attracted to Andy, there was no doubt about that, but somehow being intimate with Andy was a whole new ball park. It'd been so long since she'd dated anyone she wasn't entirely sure she'd know what to do anymore. There was nothing she could do except wait and see if she could even keep his attention that long.
"So, we've got Rusty's transportation figured out. The team knows that I'll be driving you if you get called to any murders, but its not like you can do any of the running you used to do anyway, for a while, so you'll have to let us chase the bad guys for you." Andy grinned at her, then patted her hand on the table.
Sharon nodded begrudgingly, "I know, I know... crutches are NOT going to be helpful on crime scenes. Hopefully the next two weeks off will give me some time to get caught up on paperwork, I guess."
Rusty watched the couple for a moment, wondering if they'd become just that in the last few days. Feeling a little left out, Rusty cleared his throat, "Well...don't worry about anything around here, Sharon. I can do the cooking and Andy and I will handle the cleaning, and you can just do whatever you need to do to feel better, okay?"
Sharon smiled and leaned over to rub his back. "Thank you, Rusty. That is very, very kind. Now, if you two will excuse me, I think its time for me to lay down. I just need to nap off the pain medicine."
Andy jumped up to help her, then walked her back to her room.
-
Later that night Sharon sat on her beck deck wrapped in a burnt orange blanket, staring out at the city below. Los Angeles almost seemed beautiful when she was that high up, detached. "I used to sit for hours and watch the city when my kids were little." Andy looked up, taken by surprise at the sound of her voice. He liked that she was opening up to him, and she looked too cute for her own good cuddled up in her knitted blanket.
"Why? Just to have a moment not covered in kids?"
A smile crept across Sharon's face as she closed her eyes and thought of her children as babies.
"No.. it was the job. You see so many things when you're a rookie that shake you. I always wondered why I was raising my kids here, and if I could give them a quieter life if I left the force."
Sharon opened her eyes, watching Andy, "That feels like another lifetime. Being young-being married. I forgot what it was like to have a house that wasn't silent before Rusty got here."
Andy studied her. Mention of her kids made her seem softer, gentler. It was an unfamiliar thought to associate her with burping babies and attending Christmas pageants, but she'd obviously done it. "I'll bet you were a beautiful mother, Sharon," he said quietly, overwhelmed at his growing feelings for her.
Sharon wrapped herself up in her blanket, laying down further on her lounge chair. "You're very sweet. Once upon a time I was young and un-scary..." she laughed, smacking his arm with her free hand. Andy grinned when Sharon didn't move her hand-she enjoyed feeling his muscles under her fingers. She enjoyed touching him period. They sat like that for a moment, tension thick in the air as neither one of them dared to move for fear of breaking the moment.
Finally Sharon sighed and sat up. "I'm getting sleepy. I guess I should take some more pain medicine and hit the sack. Are you sure you're alright in the living room?" Andy smirked, his thoughts turning to her bed. "Well, there's another room I'd LOVE to be in, but my boss told me I'm not allowed to rush things."
"Very funny. Your boss sounds like a bitch," she laughed, standing carefully and leaning against the edge of her balcony. Andy stood too, not far behind her just in case she lost her balance without her crutches. "My boss? A bitch? Never." Andy grinned mischievously, moving ever closer to her. Sharon rolled her eyes, but didn't move. She looked Andy up and down, then turned to face the city, deciding she wasn't quite ready to go inside yet.
After a few moments of quiet hesitation, Andy moved behind Sharon and wrapped his arms around her, finally touching her like he'd wanted to for months. Sharon moaned audibly as he held her, his head resting against hers as his arms settled around her waist.
"You smell good," he whispered happily, not quite believing he was finally this close to her. "Mm-thank you. You feel good," Sharon muttered blissfully, pressing her body in to his. Andy reached up and played with her hair, moving it away from her neck, and ran a finger along her jawline. Sharon smiled and turned around in his arms. "I think its time I showed my boss just how I'd like to rush things," He said quietly, leaning in closer to her, careful of where he put his hands so he didn't hurt her. Sharon grinned and nodded gently, wrapping her slender arms around his neck, "What did you have in mind, captain?"
"Oh, a few different things..." he growled quietly, wrapping his hands in her thick red hair. He smirked at her and lowered his lips to hers, craving her. Sharon gasped softly and parted her lips further, her tongue dancing over his bottom lip as she kissed him more deeply. "Finally." Sharon thought to herself, and wrapped her arms tighter around his neck.
