Gavin's mother had always wanted for him to go to medical school and become a doctor. Gavin, however, had chosen the law for its absence of needles, scalpels and gore. And yet here he was in a clinic next to Sharon who was on her back, her hand firmly clasped around his and her eyes wide. But come hell or high water or a last minute deposition, he would not walk away from her side. Sharon had enough to deal with and going through an experience that involved sticking a needle into her belly to remove amniotic fluid from her womb all alone was definitely not what she needed. He didn't care how necessary and scientific the whole thing was supposed to be, to him it looked frightening. He didn't want to imagine how it felt for Sharon, so he decided to swallow his own uneasiness and distract her.

"Sorry, hon, I have been so busy, you didn't get a chance to tell me about that dinner with your people last week."

What she had told him about over the phone in a brief and neutral description had been Andy Flynn's hurried departure and the e-mail he had sent after, asking for personal days. He hoped that the meal and conversation that had followed had been a little more enjoyable for his friend.

"It was very nice," Sharon said, cautious not to pay attention to what was happening around her abdomen. Her smile was shaky but genuine when he squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Mike asked me all kinds of questions about the baby. And not the tedious ones but the ones you actually like to be asked."

Gavin was puzzled; his experience with any kinds of questions regarding pregnancy was fairly limited. "Like what?"

"Do I know yet whether it is a boy or a girl, am I excited to be a mother again, can I feel it move yet. Those kinds of things."

"Ah," Gavin said, feeling a little more enlightened. "That's nice."

He saw a hint of amusement glimmer in Sharon's eyes which he enjoyed even though it had appeared at his expense. They both knew he was uncomfortable with this and pretty much anything else that had to do with childbirth which only went to show how much Sharon meant to him. He would hold her hand all through labor if necessary, even though he would definitely prefer to pass on that experience, if possible.

"Julio surprised me," she said - probably in an attempt to put him out of his misery. "He kept looking at Mike in horror during our conversation, but then he insisted on walking me to my car. He has been very protective ever since. It is almost comical."

She turned her head a little, her body tensing and so he reached out with his free hand and gently caressed her forehead, blocking her view of her belly at the same time.

"That is his way of showing his support, Sharon. He is a man's man." Gavin smirked.

Her smile was tense and his heart broke for her. She had been uncharacteristically jumpy on the drive over and continued to be cautious and withdrawn. He ran his thumb over her forehead again and she closed her eyes, taking deep measured breaths. He had picked her up at work and she was still wearing her make-up, but he could see how pale she was underneath it.

"Amy thinks the baby is proof of the fact that I have reconciled with Jack," Sharon told him in a quiet voice, eyes still closed. She did sound faintly amused but the fear that was vibrating in her voice was unmistakable.

"She is a precious little snowflake that Detective Sykes," Gavin said dryly, making her chuckle lightly.

Sharon opened her eyes again, her gaze full of emotion. "Thank you for being here, Gavin. Thank you so much."

He leaned down and kissed the spot his thumb had stroked just seconds before.

"Don't be silly, Sharon. That's what friends do."


"I don't think you should be here." Seldom had he seen a look of such darkness and hostility on the young man's face. Rusty was essentially blocking the doorway with his entire body, making it very clear that Andy was anything but welcome in the space he was guarding. Even though he was much older, he was sure that he could take the kid should it come to a struggle, but then Andy was definitely not going to let it come to that. Since he also didn't want to spend his Friday night arguing, he decided to talk him down.

"Why don't you let Sharon decide for herself whether she wants to talk to me? Look, I'm not here to stir up trouble."

Rusty gave an angry snort. "Your mere presence stirs up trouble! She needs to rest and she will not get any rest if you come here and say a bunch of stupid things to her."

Andy exhaled forcefully, careful not to roll his eyes and aggravate the kid any further. Rusty was truly and completely pissed-off and that didn't bode well for Sharon's state of mind. Not that she didn't have the right to be angry at him.

"Rusty, I am not going to say stupid things, I just want to-"

"Talk to her," Rusty interrupted. "I know. I won't let you, though. Understood? Now just leave."

Andy opened his mouth to say something else when the door behind Rusty opened and Sharon stepped out. She was wearing blue and white flannel pajama bottoms, the matching blouse unbuttoned over a tight tank top. Her hair was tousled and she blinked sleepily against the light, her glasses notably absent. Her hand came to her stomach instinctively, covering its roundness that was so obvious in her current outfit. She wasn't wearing a bra and for a moment he couldn't help but admire her impressive cleavage.

"Sharon, go back to bed," Rusty said hectically. "He was just going to leave and you're supposed to be off your feet."

Sharon looked past Rusty at Andy, one hand coming up to pull her pajama top together.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice uneven and tired.

Faced with her calm but vulnerable attitude, he regretted not calling ahead to give her a warning. Maybe Rusty was right and she did need the rest. After all, it was only seven p.m. and she had obviously been asleep. For no particular reason, his gaze swept down her legs and landed on her pink nail polish, the color of bubble gum. It reminded him of children's toys and he fleetingly wondered if she knew already whether she was carrying a boy or a girl.

"I just want to talk to you, Sharon, please." He was not ashamed of begging. After all, he had lost all rights to demand anything from her. It was her decision alone whether she wanted to talk to him and if she didn't, he would have to accept it. Sharon looked uncertain for a moment, then stepped aside to let him into her bedroom.

"Rusty's right. I am not supposed to be on my feet. Come in."

"Sharon...!" Rusty protested, his voice high-pitched and full of disbelief. Even though Andy had seen the teenager in all kinds of aggravation before, he had never witnessed him being this angry on someone else's behalf.

"It's okay, honey," Sharon told her foster son, her smile gentle and affectionate. "We'll just talk for a minute."

She was making it very clear that their conversation would be brief, but Andy didn't care. He was just glad that he would get a chance to tell her what he needed to tell her at all. He followed her into her bedroom with the nice view of the hills through the large bay window on the right side of her bed. He remembered staring out into the velvety darkness at the blinking lights dotting the hill, hoping to clear his head.

Sharon walked back to the bed and lay down, propped up against the headboard. The room looked exactly like last time and the same subtle yet rich scent was hanging in the air. Her scent, he thought, the one he had avoided along with her closeness for the past few months. If she was nervous, she wasn't showing it. Her gaze was expectant and a little defensive. With no chair in sight, Andy sat down on her bedside, causing her to move and subtly shuffle away from him.

"Why are you not supposed to be on your feet? Are you okay?" he opened, unable to hold the question back any longer.

She nodded with no visible sign of acknowledging his concern. "I had an amniocentesis today." She offered no explanation on what the procedure entailed, but then he knew already. Caroline had made sure he knew the various obstacles involved. He imagined the needle going in and cringed involuntarily.

He looked down at his hands, suddenly too nervous to speak. He had been trying to work up the courage to come over for a while now and the evening he had finally succeeded, she had to deal with him as well as with that procedure. He felt almost guilty for coming.

"I-" he swallowed. "I came to apologize, Sharon."

He tried to catch her eyes but she wouldn't look at him, her hands fiddling with the hem of her blanket. She wasn't making it any easier for him and why would she? He couldn't forget the look of hurt in her eyes when he had congratulated her back in the conference room just to walk out without doing what he had promised her to do just minutes earlier.

"I didn't know that Caroline was coming over and I couldn't let her find out like this." His voice was shaking and he felt foolish. What was he hoping to accomplish here? Sharon looked as if she was just indulging him for now, as if she wanted to be anywhere but in this room with him. He realized that she had had no other choice than allow him into her sanctuary, that he was cornering her in the space that she should have been most comfortable in. For a moment he considered leaving and promising to be back when she was better. Then he dismissed the idea, aware that this would mean letting her down yet again. "I told Caroline. She is not happy, of course, but she understands that this-" he gestured towards her belly and regretted it immediately. "-happened before we ever met."

He could tell from the look in Sharon's eyes that calling the baby "this" in the manner that he had had been a mistake and yet he couldn't take it back now. Every word he said seemed to come out wrong. He was here to apologize and yet there was an invisible barrier that was firmly rooted in their night together. He had built that wall himself and now he was unable to tear it down.

"What I'm saying is, I want to take responsibility for that child, Sharon. Whatever you need."

She lifted her gaze to his and her eyes looked positively haunted for a moment. Then the fleeting impression was gone, her face unreadable.

"I'd be happy if you'd be there for the baby," she said, her tone almost convincing, yet he knew her well enough to hear the hollowness in her voice. He suddenly understood that the only reason she was talking to him at all was the fact that she was a good mother. She wanted to give her child the chance to have a father. That was all. He had hurt her too much to trust him right now.

There was a moment of silence and for a minute he was scrambling for something to say, wondering whether she considered the conversation over. After all, he was here to take responsibility for what had happened and to offer his support. Nothing more and nothing less, he reminded himself. He was not the person he had been twenty years ago. He was sober and he was a good man. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

"Why did you just leave?"

How could he have ever expected her to never ask? She had accepted the distance he had put between them, had never spoken to him about it again. He had welcomed it, even though he knew that it was just the product of a defense-mechanism that she had learned to employ through her marriage. Jack had taught her in his own unique way that holding on to someone who didn't want to be there rarely worked, so she had let Andy go.

And yet here she was, asking him that dreaded question, the answer to which would entail so many others. He wanted to tell her the truth but he didn't know how.

"It wasn't right," he said, his answer falling flat of everything she deserved to know. Yet he was caught in the little trap that he had built for himself that night, just before he had picked up the phone to call her. He had ruined the unique nature of their friendship by using her to clear his head and he deeply regretted it.

"It wasn't right" didn't cover it, he thought. After all, it had felt perfectly right when it was happening.

"It wasn't right," she echoed, voice full of disbelief and the tiniest hint of sarcasm. He was pathetic, he thought.

"My father died," he blurted out. It was just one piece of the puzzle. The only one he could give her. Her eyes widened, her hand pressed against her stomach. He didn't think she noticed.

"When?" she asked him, breathless and sympathetic.

"At the wrong time," he said, more cryptically then he would have liked. Panic began to grip him. He had come here to do the right thing and yet he couldn't help but make it worse with everything he said. "Look, Sharon, I am so-"

She held up a hand. Hair mussed from sleep and in her pajamas, yet as authoritarian as she could ever be in a pantsuit.

"Don't say that again."

She was right and yet he felt the need to constantly apologize. She didn't deserve this. Not again and yet he didn't know how to make it better.

He clumsily took her hand and looked her in the eyes. "We're going to have a beautiful baby together."

It sounded corny, but he squeezed her hand in hopes of conveying that he meant it even though he wasn't sure he was.

"I'm tired," Sharon said, looking away from him, her hand limp and unresponsive in his grip. "Do I see you Monday?"

He nodded, both relieved and disappointed.

"I see you Monday. Do you, um, need anything for the weekend?"

His attempt to be helpful and caring didn't go over well. Her gaze was hard and unyielding when she fixed him with it.

"I don't need anything from you, Andy. Not after... everything. Just be a good father if... when the time comes."

He nodded again. "I promise."

He could tell from the look on her face that she didn't believe him. She had heard too many an empty promise in her life.

A/N: A little more Gavin and an Andy who wants to redeem himself... Your reviews make me so happy! Thank you for your patience with the slow burn of this story and don't worry: All will be revealed... soonish. ;-)