Ripple Effect
By Kadi
Rated M
Disclaimer: I play in the sandbox, I don't own it.
Chapter 9
1990
"I hate you." It drew a surprised look from Sharon. Behind her sunshades, Vicki rolled his eyes. "Not like that." She sighed. The two women were seated beneath a large beach umbrella, watching while their husbands entertained the children. Andy was helping Charlie build the perfect sand castle while Emily stood at his shoulder, looking on with rapt attention. On the other side of the oddly shaped structure, Pat was helping Nicole construct princess towers. Vicki waved a hand at the baby that was sprawled across Sharon's chest, sound asleep. The little girl was barely a year old, and beneath her small body, it was obvious that Sharon was pregnant again. "Pat and I have been trying for two years."
"Oh." Sharon understood now. She hadn't realized that Vicki and Pat wanted more children. They seemed to do well enough with Charlie and Nicole, and as far as she and Andy knew, they enjoyed their time alone when the kids were with them. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.
"Me too." Vicki shook her head. "Obviously, I can…" She waved a hand in the direction of her two kids. "Pat adores them both, but he wants a child of his own, too. I'm starting to wonder if it's ever going to happen." Her head tilted and she looked at Sharon again. "Andy can barely look at you cross-eyed and the two of you are announcing another one."
"Hm." Sharon laid her cheek against the top of the baby's head. Samantha was her little redheaded child. She and Andy had chosen only a single name. Sam. Then they had been graced with another girl. "Well, I would trade with you, but you already know what you're getting."
Vicki laughed. "Yes, actually, I do." She shifted on her beach chair and sighed. "You can keep him. I was paroled, the nice judge said I could rejoin civilization." Her eyes crinkled at the corners and she smiled when Emily got bored with the sandcastle and began to twirl about nearby. "I think you've got your hands full anyway."
"You can say that again." Sharon shook her head. Emily had begged and pleaded until she was allowed to join her sister at dance class. Nicole hadn't much cared for it after only a few lessons, but Emily was completely in love. She looked down at the baby when she shifted and sighed. Sharon stroked a hand down her back until she settled again. There was a lot of Andy in her. She had his temperament and eyes. A frown formed between her brows. Sharon's eyes closed for just a minute. There was a pain in her chest, a fear that she was afraid to put name to. "He's drinking again," she said quietly.
Vicki's head snapped around. "What?" She sat up in her lounger.
Her fingers combed gently through the wildly curling red locks atop Samantha's head. Sharon drew a breath and let it out slowly. "The first time was after Sam was born," she admitted. "He crawled into a bottle before I came home." The birth had been difficult, one perfect disaster after another. Sharon had hemorrhaged. They had almost lost her. Vicki and Pat had kept Emily for them, while she was in the hospital. "I was going to get my tubes tied after the dust settled, but…" She shrugged and cast a miserable look at Vicki. "We got busy, time got away from us, and then it just didn't happen."
Vicki frowned. She looked across the sand to where Andy was playing with the children. She hadn't seen him drunk or hungover in all the months since the baby was born. She thought she would recognize the signs. Her teeth ground together. She tried to control her anger and concern, but it was difficult. "He was afraid of losing you," she said, "but you said drinking?" If he was back in the bottle, she needed to protect her kids.
Sharon hummed. "When I told him that I was pregnant again… he was okay for a day or two, but, he went out with his partner to celebrate and I found him sleeping it off on the sofa the next morning. He hasn't done it again since. I know that he's worried, Vicki, but I'm worried about him." It wasn't only the possibility of another bad delivery. It was everything. "He's angry with me. I passed my Lieutenant's exam and the only position available is in Internal Affairs. He doesn't want me working at all this time, least of all in IA, but…" She couldn't afford to take the time off. Her car had died the previous spring and they were forced to replace it. They were finally doing the remodel on the first floor so they could move Charlie and make room in the nursery for the new baby. "He takes everything on himself," She said quietly. "All the worry, all of the guilt. It's his fault that I didn't finish law school, and he's the reason that I almost died, and…" Sharon sighed again.
"He's a macho pig." Vicki told her. "He's supposed to take care of you. He forgets too easily that you're a team. Yeah, I remember." She was able to relax. He wasn't getting wasted every night; he had just slipped a couple of times. It sounded like he was trying to stay above water and had just gotten pulled under once or twice. "I envy you, though, in a way." Her head inclined again. "You know what he sees every day. He doesn't have to hide that from you. He's not trying to bury that on top of everything else. I think that's where we went wrong. I was wrapped up in the kids. He didn't have me to share all the darkness with too." Vicki exhaled quietly. "Sharon, I can't tell you that it's going to be okay. I've been down that road with him. He looks fine," she acknowledged. "He doesn't act like he's looking for the next bottle. I know that you're worried, but the one thing that I know about Andy Flynn is that if he wants a drink, he's going to have one. Nothing that you say is going to stop him. He'll do it to spite you."
"Maybe I just needed to hear you say that." Sharon wasn't sure anymore. "I just don't want to lose him." She rubbed her lips together. "Both times… he didn't make excuses for it, he just said it wouldn't happen again. I don't know." She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I think my head is just all over the place." She was exhausted, more so this time than with either of her previous pregnancies. She was chasing two kids, working longer hours. Her husband was trying to pick up the slack, but he worked long hours too. More times than either of them cared to admit, she and the kids had to get by without him.
"That's expected." Vicki smiled at her. "Keep an eye on him," she advised, "But if he isn't trying to stumble his way up the stairs every night, then don't worry about it." She didn't want to believe that they were headed in that direction again. She focused on where the sandcastle had collapsed. She laughed out loud when Charlie dumped a pail of water on his father before running away. Andy bolted after him, and within just a few steps, he had him hanging upside down from his shoulder.
"I think this belongs to you." Andy had carried the cackling Charlie back to the blanket and umbrella where the ladies had chosen to lounge while the children played. He dropped the snickering boy onto his mother's lap before collapsing onto the blanket beside Sharon's lounger. He swept his hand through his wet hair and leaned over to kiss her shoulder before reaching up to lay a hand against Samantha's back. "She okay?"
"Yeah." Sharon smiled down at him. She wouldn't tell him what she and Vicki had talked about. The two women had their secrets too. It was how they had learned to coexist, to share their children with this man that they had both loved. "She's just tired. It was a big day."
They had taken the kids to the zoo, and afterward decided to have a picnic lunch on the beach while they played and worked off a little excess energy. Vicki and Pat had met them for lunch and to make the exchange, since Charlie and Nicole would be going home with them.
"Not every day you get to feed a giraffe." Andy ran the back of his hand along one of the arms that Sam had draped across her mother's shoulder. "Want me to take her for a little while?"
"No." Sharon smiled gently at him. "We're okay. We're just enjoying the shade." She was feeling a little drowsy herself, a side effect of the heat, the long day, and the tiny human that was growing inside her.
Andy leaned over and pressed a kiss to her mouth. "Ew!" Charlie covered his face. "That is so gross." He twisted in his mother's arms. "Can I go play in the waves?"
"Ankle deep only," Vicki warned him, as he was already climbing off of her. "Help Pat keep an eye on your sisters." She would be watching them too, but Charlie was the oldest, and they were teaching him to look out for his younger siblings.
"Okay!" He sprinted toward the water, but stopped halfway when Emily ran to keep up with him. He held on to her hand as the two ran into the water, only to run out again as the waves splashed over their feet.
While the other two were occupied, Nicole chose to make her way back toward the blanket. She climbed onto her father's back and laid down on him. "Hi."
"Hey kid." Andy arched a brow at her. "What'cha doing?" With four of them, and another one on the way, they didn't usually get a lot of one-on-one parental attention. Leave it to his girl to pick her moments wisely.
"Restin'," she grinned at him.
"Comfortable?" Her arms were draped over his shoulders and her bony little knees were digging in to his back.
"Yep." With a lot of effort, and a few grunts from him, Nicole rolled onto her back and lay with her legs crossed at the ankles and her head resting against the back of his shoulder. "Dad."
"Yeah?" He was still grimacing from the elbow that had dug into his kidney. Beside him, Sharon had her face buried against Sam's neck, and from the way that her shoulders were shaking, she was laughing. Vicki wasn't bothering to be so subtle about it.
"Can we go throw Charlie in the waves?" She posed it so carefully, so casually, that it might have almost been an innocent inquiry.
He heard Sharon snort and Vicki snicker. "What about Emily?" He asked. His chin was propped in his hand while he waited for her response.
"Nah," she told him. "She's still little. Charlie's bigger and boys are gross, so he's fair game."
"I see." Andy toppled a giggling Nicole off his back and stood up. "Well then, come on. As long as you keep saying that boys are gross, I'll give you anything you want."
"Andy!" Sharon shook her head at him. She watched him take his daughter's hand and walk with her to the water's edge, where he proceeded to dunk all of the kids at least once, and then get tackled into the waves himself.
"He's okay," Vicki decided, falling back into their previous conversation. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. I know Andy when he's trying to hide something. He isn't very good at it."
"No," Sharon agreed, "no he isn't." She managed a small, but relieved smile. "Thank you. I wasn't sure how you would react, but I didn't know who else to ask."
"I'm long done with fighting with him," Vicki told her. "I just want Charlie and Nicole to have their dad. Andy and I were no good for each other. We were too young and too much alike. It was a bad combination. You're good for him, and I have Pat now." She shrugged. "I think it all worked out the way that it was supposed to. I have the two kids and you've got…" Vicki arched a brow at her and smirked. "Well, we won't assign any numbers just yet."
Sharon rolled her eyes. "Three. We are stopping at three, completely, totally, and officially. I am done." She stroked Sam's back again. "He had a vasectomy, so, we're sure that this is it."
"I take it back," Vicki decided. "I don't hate you at all." She shifted in her chair and got more comfortable. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "You got the man, the houseful of kids, and two weekends a month, I get the house all to myself. Life is good."
"Well, I am so glad that we could accommodate you," She drawled sarcastically. "Please let me know if there is anything else that we can do for you."
"Oh," Vicki waved a hand at her, "I'm sure that I will."
Much later, after they were all home and bathed, and the day had grown into night, Andy tucked the girls in while Sharon lay in bed studying. He leaned against their open bedroom door, arms crossed over his chest while he watched her. She was wearing one of his t-shirts. Her hair was piled high on her head and her cheeks still glowed from having been scrubbed free of any makeup. A smile tugged at his mouth as he pushed away from the door. Andy walked over and crawled on to the bed beside her. He stretched out on his side and propped his head in his hand.
There was a large, thick binder resting against her knees. Sharon was making notes and highlighting passages. He was more interested in the t-shirt. It was nothing special, just an old blue thing with an LAPD emblem on the front. It was bunched around her hips and stretched across her belly. They had a few months to go, but she was carrying this one differently. The baby was bigger. Sharon tired more easily. He was convinced it was a boy this time, but she wasn't taking any bets, not after two girls.
Andy laid his hand on her stomach. The baby was quiet now but he would be tumbling and kicking later, when Sharon was trying to sleep. "What are you reading?"
"Nothing that you want to know anything about," she replied, and afforded him an amused look before her gaze returned to the binder.
He grunted. Andy flipped up the side of the book and his lip curled. "LAPD Policy and Regulation." His eyes rolled. "Damned rat squad."
"Mmhm." Sharon arched a brow at him. She reached over and combed her fingers through his hair before turning a page. "The girls go down?"
"Oh yeah." He slid closer. He trailed a path of kisses up her arm. "They're both out. Em barely made it through her bath. Sam hasn't moved since you put her in the crib."
"That's good." She went back to her studying. It was a lot of legal jargon and procedural rules. She was thankful that her education, truncated though it had been, had given her the background to understand it all. What she didn't understand, Sharon made note to look up later. All of her law books and the small library that her father had given her were in boxes in the basement. While she continued to read, she could feel his eyes on her. The corners of her mouth twitched. Sharon slanted a look at her husband again. "Yes?"
"Nothing." His hand stroked the length of her bare calf. There were glasses perched on her nose. She didn't need them all the time, just when she studied. Her hair was a mess, the t-shirt was rumpled, and freckles stood out against her cheeks. "You're beautiful," he told her.
"You're blind." Sharon smiled down at him. She leaned down to meet his lips for a kiss. "I'm huge and I'm exhausted, but I adore you anyway."
Andy rolled his eyes at her. "You're the one with the vision problems, baby, not me." He rolled on to his back and got comfortable with an arm curled behind his head. She didn't see herself the way that he did. That was okay. He knew he wouldn't convince her otherwise, and he would show her, if he thought she really felt up to it. The added curves made her hot as hell. It was hard keeping his hands off her.
Sharon hummed. She continued to study for a little while longer, while her husband dozed beside her. Finally she closed the binder and placed it on the table beside the bed. She slanted a look toward him. He was stretched out on his back, ankles crossed, and the sweats he liked to sleep in riding low on his hips. A smile curved her lips as she slid toward him.
She nudged his legs apart with one of hers and draped her leg across his thigh as she lay down beside him. She kissed his neck as her hand slid down his stomach. It moved underneath the waistband of his sweats. Sharon felt him twitch against her palm when her fingers circled him. "Exactly how tired are you?" she mumbled, voice thick.
He thrust against her hand. "You sure you feel like it?" It had been a few weeks. With the kids, and their jobs, and everything else that they had going on, they didn't get a lot of time for just the two of them. Although, considering the fact that they'd managed to make three kids in five years, that would be a pretty hard sell for anyone who didn't know them, but who could blame him? His wife was hot as hell. When she felt like indulging him, he rarely said no.
"Mmhm." Her teeth scraped against her skin. Sharon moved over him. She straddled his legs. Her eyes were gleaming with intent as she met his gaze. She caught the edge of the t-shirt that she was wearing and pulled it over her head. Her brows lifted. She tilted her head at him. "Still beautiful?"
His eyes moved up her form. There were stretch marks from the previous two pregnancies, and new lines had formed as her body stretched to accommodate their next child. She was barely six months; with the girls she had not carried them so prominently at this point. His hands settled against her sides and moved slowly upward. Her breasts were swollen and heavy, the nipples dark, and already beginning to harden in the cool air of the room.
Andy sat up. He curled an arm around her and moved her onto the mattress as he pushed between her legs. He kept his weight on his arms as he bent over her. His eyes had gone dark. There was a fire in his belly, an ache in his groin. "You have no idea," he rumbled thickly. He caught her mouth in a searing kiss. He pushed at his sweats, and with her help, they shucked them down his legs and freed him to her questing hands. She couldn't know what she meant to him, how much he loved her, how badly he wanted her.
He resolved to show her. To keep showing her. Andy never imagined that he would love any one person the way that he loved Sharon. He burned for her when they were apart. It was more than sex, more than just desire. He wanted her beside him. He wanted the sound of her laugh ringing in his ear. He wanted the feel of her soft body resting against his chest as they sat, watching their children play.
He thought that his life was over when Vicki kicked him out. He didn't realize it was just starting. Andy just hoped that Sharon wouldn't wake up one day and realize that he had screwed her life up, that he had derailed all of her plans. She was it for him; this life that they had together was all that he wanted, and whatever he had to do, he would make her happy.
-TBC-
