DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.
A/N: Here is the next chapter. To all the #Flynngirls the past couple of days, I had a blast and it was a lot of fun. Here's to getting Andy Flynn into third place in the Character Cup!
Chapter 8
"Pizza's in the oven," she heard him say in between giving her small kisses behind her ear. She moved her hand up to meet his arm which caused more water to slosh out of the tub. "Did you give Matthew some medicine?" she turned her head into his kiss and captured his lips. "Yes," he breathlessly said as they pulled apart.
Andy stood up and looked down at his pants which were now soaked but he didn't mind. Sharon saw that she had gotten water on his clothes. "Sorry," she told him. "Don't worry about it sweetheart," he winked at her and walked out of the bathroom towards their closet. He searched the area for an empty shoebox and found one. He decided to change his clothes right there since he was already soaked from the water.
A couple of minutes later, Andy rejoined Sharon in the bathroom. She was still in the tub and glanced over at him as he stepped into the room again. She noticed that he had changed his clothes and that he was also holding one of her shoeboxes. "So, would this one be okay to give Matthew?" he asked her, and she quickly glanced at it, being reminded that he needed one for his project at school. "That's fine," she smiled and reached over to unplug the tub.
"Could you hand me that towel over there?" she asked, and he gladly held it up for her. He offered his hand for her to hold as she stepped out of the tub and she graciously accepted it. He wrapped her in the towel and dried her skin off. "You're gorgeous," he whispered as his hands made his way over the towel several times.
He leaned in and kissed her on her lips. It was a short kiss, but she didn't mind. She smiled at him when he pulled back and ran her hand down his face. "I'll let you get dressed," his voice rasped and stepped away from her, motioning to the dog to join him as he left the bathroom. Moxie stood up from his spot in their bathroom and followed Andy out of the room.
Sharon took a couple of deep breaths as Andy left their bathroom and went downstairs. She looked at herself in the mirror. Not only did she have to deal with a non-cooperating subject today, but then Brenda decided to show up in her Murder Room. "The nerve of her to think that I would just let her take over," she huffed as she got dressed.
And topping off the day, Emily told her that she invited her father to her performance on Friday as well. Sharon shook her head at the thought of seeing Jack again. She finished getting dressed and turned off the light. She headed downstairs and joined her family in the kitchen.
After dinner, Matthew took his homework and moved it into the dinning room so that he could spread out his project. Emily was helping clear the kitchen with her mom while Andy took Moxie out for a walk around the neighborhood.
"Mom, is everything okay? You seem distracted," Emily asked her as she helped load the dishwasher. Sharon looked at her daughter and smiled. "I'm fine sweetie," she told her. "It's just this case, and Matthew got a bloody nose today," she trailed off and Emily placed her hand on her arm. "And I mentioned I invited Dad to my show," she added, and Sharon looked at her.
"I just don't want you to be disappointed when he doesn't show up," Sharon looked at her with sad eyes. "What's with Matthew getting a bloody nose?" Emily changed the topic of discussion. Sharon huffed as she pushed away from the counter and walked over to the island. "I'm not sure," she said as she placed the pizza tray underneath in the cabinet.
"Has he mentioned anything to you about having an ear ache or anything like that?" she asked Emily as they stood there. "No, Mom, he hasn't complained about anything like that to me," Emily informed her, and Sharon smiled seeing that she was concerned about her little brother.
Meanwhile, Andy was walking Moxie down the block when Moxie started barking at a car that was parked on the street. Andy looked over at the car that Moxie didn't seem to like now. Someone was sitting in the driver's seat but that was all that Andy could tell. He shook his head and mumbled, "tinted windows," and kept walking, pulling Moxie away with him.
The neighbors down the block were outside putting up their Christmas decorations. They waved to Andy and Moxie as they walked by and Andy waved back to them. "Hey Chris!" Andy said as Chris walked over to the sidewalk. Chris shook Andy's hand. "How's it going?" Chris asked him. "Things are good," Andy said and pointed to the car on the other side of the street. "Do you know who belongs to that car?" he asked him.
Chris looked over Andy's shoulder and shook his head. "No, but I have seen it in the area before. It might belong to the Henderson's boy across the way," he added. Andy nodded. "Chris, please come help with this," Chris's wife called out from the porch of the house. She looked up and saw him talking with Andy. "Oh, hi Andy," she waved, and Andy waved back. "I better go," Chris said and then returned to decorating his house. Andy and Moxie continued their walk back home.
When Andy and Moxie returned home, the outside timer with their Christmas lights had turned on and the house dazzled in white lights. Both Rusty and Matthew had helped Andy decorate the outside of the house last weekend, per Sharon's instructions, and he thought the house looked festive with the garland and lights combination. It really showed Sharon's sense of occasion.
As they walked through the back door of the house, everything seemed a little quiet for a typical evening at their house. Andy took Moxie off of his leash and watched as the dog trotted towards the kitchen. Andy hung up Moxie's leash in the mud room and proceeded to see why it was so quiet in the house.
He noticed that the kitchen was already tidied up and everything from dinner was put away. He made his way towards the dining room and saw Matthew diligently working on his diorama, cutting construction paper with his scissors. "Hey buddy, do you know where everyone else is?" Andy asked but Matthew shook his head no. "Mom was in here earlier and helped me with a design idea but then she left," he told him.
"Do you like it so far?" Matthew turned the shoe box around to show Andy. He had lined the back of the box with blue construction paper and started putting tiny pieces of green paper along the side. "It looks great, Matthew," Andy smiled as he looked at the shoe box. He ruffled Matthew's hair. "I'm going to go look for your mom," Andy told him and left the room in search for Sharon.
He made his way down the hallway and peeked inside the den but Sharon wasn't there. He took a deep breath and then faintly heard music coming from the family room. When he walked into the family room, he saw Sharon sitting on the couch and he felt like he could breath again. "Hi," he bent down and nuzzled at her neck.
She placed her hand on the side of his face and hummed in response. "Hi," she replied as she turned her head to look up at him. "What are you doing in here?" he asked as he made his way around the couch, holding onto her hand the whole time. He sat down next to her and pulled her into his side, his arm now wrapped around her.
"I thought I would just sit here and look at the Christmas tree," she told him as she leaned her head onto his shoulder. Andy could feel the tension in Sharon's body. He kissed the top of her head. "Want to tell me what's troubling you?" he whispered. "What do you mean?" she didn't turn her head and continued to watch the tree.
Andy shifted so that he could look into Sharon's eyes. "Well, you were more relaxed when you were upstairs in the bathtub. Do I need to suggest that again, maybe with some company?" he suggested, smiling his smile and she smiled back. "Or, I could give you a massage, later tonight if that would help," he added.
"Emily invited Jack to her performance Friday night," Sharon huffed and relaxed back into Andy's arms. "Oh, well, he is her father," Andy said, and with no response from Sharon, he knew that he needed to show he was on her side. "Is he coming to the show?" he asked. "Emily didn't say for sure, just that he wouldn't be sitting by us," she drew circles on his chest over his shirt.
"Where is Emily?" he relaxed under her touch. "She's upstairs, probably going over the steps in her head for the performance," Sharon continued to draw tiny circles. "I'm going to take Matthew tomorrow morning to the doctor for a sick call. His office hours start early in the morning," Sharon said. "Okay, I think that's a good thing to do," Andy adjusted his position on the couch which caused Sharon to now be on top of him.
"So, what else is bothering you besides Jack?" he asked as he ran his hands up and down her back in a soothing motion. Sharon released a small moan as his hands worked their magic. "Your former Chief sticking her nose in our investigation," she mumbled into his shoulder. Andy chuckled. "Yeah, I figured that had something to do with it," he kissed her head again.
"What did she want in your office?" he asked her. Sharon moved her head to the side. "She wanted to speak to Grady, but I told her no, which she didn't like," she told him. "Since she's the Chief of investigations for the DA's office, all she has to do is speak to Andrea and she can do her own investigation," she added. "Did you tell her that?" he asked. "Well, yes but not just how I mentioned it to you," she said and Andy moved his arms.
"Knowing her, I'm sure she wasn't too happy about that," he said. "No, she wasn't," Sharon laid her head down again on Andy's shoulder. "She had the nerve to ask me why I wouldn't cooperate with her," she added, and turned her head into his shoulder to stifle a laugh. Andy just held her as she shifted her head again so that they were both looking at the Christmas tree and the lights around the fireplace.
Sharon thought it was ironic that Brenda would be the one now asking why she wouldn't cooperate when all those years ago, she was the one that would give Sharon a hard time during the audit and everything else. She thought about that as she laid in Andy's arms on the couch.
"Mom," Matthew's voice interrupted her thoughts. Sharon moved her head to look at their son standing next to them. Sharon sat up, breaking contact with Andy. "What is it, sweetie?" she asked him. "My ears hurt again," he told her and she reached to feel his forehead.
"Hmm, you feel a little warm," she said to him and notice Andy stand up and walked towards the kitchen. "I'll get him his medicine," Andy called out to Sharon before she could ask him. She smiled at Matthew and then patted the seat next to her. "Come here," she said and Matthew sat down next to her.
"Daddy's going to get you something and I'm going to take you to the doctor tomorrow morning," she said, moving his hair to one side. Andy returned with the medicine bottle, the small measuring cup, and a glass of water. He handed the medicine to Sharon and she measured it into the cup and handed it to Matthew.
"Here sweetie," she said and watched Matthew take the medicine. Andy handed him the glass of water and he swallowed a couple of sips. She sat there with him for a few minutes as Andy stood next to them. "Why don't you go get ready for bed, and maybe I'll read you a bedtime story," Sharon said. Matthew got off of the couch and Sharon did as well, taking him upstairs.
"I'll lock up down here and meet you up there," Andy told her and walked towards the back door. He heard Moxie get up and follow him to the door. "Do you need to go out?" Andy asked the dog and he wagged his tail. Andy grabbed the leash and placed it on Moxie's collar. "Come on," he said and opened the door.
As they stepped outside into the backyard, Andy noticed that Rusty was just getting home. "Hey," he said and waved to the kid. "Hey," Rusty placed his messenger bag over his shoulder. "Andrea got you working late or something?" Andy asked him. "Ah, yeah, I was at her office. This murder of ADA O'Malley has her running ragged," Rusty told him.
"Are you hungry?" Andy asked as Moxie was walking around, sniffing, and started barking. "No, I ate already. What's he barking at?" Rusty nodded to Moxie and Andy just shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know," he answered as there was nothing in the area for the dog to bark at. After Moxie stopped barking, they heard another dog in the neighborhood barking and Moxie barked at that dog.
"I guess he's having a conversation with one of the neighborhood dogs," Rusty said as he climbed the stairs up to his place. "I guess," Andy muttered. "Good night," Rusty said and closed the door to his apartment over the garage. "Night," Andy looked at Moxie and he was again wagging his tail. "Alright, let's get back inside," he said and they went back into the house.
Andy and Moxie made their way upstairs after locking up the house. Andy peeked inside Matthew's room and saw him laying in bed, with Sharon sitting on the edge, reading him a story. Seeing that sight tugged at his heart. Moxie jumped up on the bed and laid down next to Matthew as Sharon continued to read the story. She glanced up from the book and noticed Andy leaning on the door frame. He smiled at her while she continued reading.
She glanced at Matthew and saw his eyes were closed and he was hugging his teddy bear. She placed the book down on the nightstand and kissed his forehead, noticing that his fever must have gone down. She stood up, said good night to the dog, and walked out of his room into Andy's waiting arms.
He kissed her in the hallway. "You are one amazing mother, person, love of my life," he said between kisses. They broke apart and retreated into their bedroom. Sharon got herself ready for bed and Andy did the same. "Rusty came home not too long ago. Saw him when I took Moxie out," he called out to her in the bathroom, knowing she would want to know when he got home.
Andy changed his t-shirt and put on his pajama pants as he waited patiently for Sharon to be done in the bathroom. When Sharon came out of the bathroom, she was wearing a new, silk, nightgown with spaghetti straps and a short silk robe. Andy took one look at her and his mouth opened but no words came out.
Sharon walked over to him and ran her hands up his chest. "I take it from the lack of words, you like my new attire," she smiled and kissed him. "Yes, I do," he said as they broke their kiss. "When did you purchase this?" he asked as he started to move the robe off of her shoulders. "Last weekend, while you were decorating the house, I may have stopped at my favorite store before I went grocery shopping," she told him and pulled him in for another kiss.
"I believe you promised me a massage tonight," she said as she broke away and sauntered over to their bed. Andy watched her and sighed. "Yes, I did promise you that," he followed her and had her lie down on her stomach. Once she was comfortable with the pillows propped up underneath her head, he began to massage her back with his hands. He instantly felt her relaxing under his touch as he worked the kinks out of her shoulders.
TBC
