When Provenza had called her she'd been contemplating taking a bath and calling it an early night. She threw her clothes back on and put on her pink trench and headed out the door.

Sharon's house was not on the way but she made it a point to swing by. The house was dark and empty like it had been for the last month, the for sale sign was still outside on the lawn, swaying lazily in the southern California night air. Every time she drove past she hoped that it had all been a bad dream.

She wished that the last six months had been a bad dream. The stupid lawsuit and how it had put a strain on her relationship with Sharon. How stupid Brenda had been and how much she regretted saying nasty things to Sharon. She couldn't even remember what she'd been thinking when she broke up with her, except now she knew that she couldn't live without her. Some mornings it actually hurt to get up without Sharon, some mornings Brenda found herself crying.

They'd barely spoken since the morning Sharon stormed out of the kitchen. It was the last time she'd been in the house.

Sharon pulled up to the crime scene and sat in her car for a moment, taking in a few deep breaths. She was starting to think she'd require the services of the department anger management counselor if she had to put up with Major Crimes' bullshit for much longer. She was probably going to punch Provenza or Flynn at some point before the fucking federal case was over. They didn't particularly like that she was there but at least Mike, Julio and David weren't assholes to her all the time.

She got out of the car and walked up to the crime scene tent and took the log from the uniform outside and started looking over the log and picking out which ways they've fallen short of total compliance with regulation. It was the same every time. The first person to show up usually thinks to sign in and after that everyone always forgets. iEspecially/i Brenda Leigh.

Sharon starts filling in the missing information and remembers her mother trying to convince her to go to stenography school instead of joining the academy – and at this point she wonders what the difference really would have been anyway.

"Has anyone notified Deputy Chief Johnson?" Sharon asked, looking up from the sign in log.

No sooner had she said her name did Brenda pop up from behind the car. "Yes, they have, Captain, I'm sorry, were you lookin' for me?"

Sharon smirked, "Chief Johnson, you didn't sign into the log when you arrived."

"I didn't? Lieutenant, when did I arrive?"

"From Atlanta or tonight?" Provenza joked. The two women "Uh, she came with Gabriel.

Sharon shakes her head minutely, "it's okay, Chief, I've got it."

"I'm so sorry, that is the very last time I'll forget to sign in."

"It's okay. I've got it."

Brenda really was trying. She really didn't want to make Sharon's life more difficult; if Sharon associated difficulty in her professional life with Brenda then she wouldn't have a great chance at winning her back anytime in the near future. She wanted to win her back before she went to prison, if the federal lawsuit went sour.

Damnit, she should have proposed to her before prop 8. If she'd married her then she could have conjugal visits in prison.

"I wasn't asking for a lesson in elementary ballistics, Lieutenant. I simply want to know if you are assuming a single shooter." Sharon's voice jarred Brenda out of her thoughts, "Is that what you're doing?" Sharon tried not to pull any punches but she would not put up with being treated like an idiot. Treated like a burden, fine, treated like a bureaucrat, fine, treated like an intentionally vindictive harpy, ifine/i. But being treated like an idiot was crossing a line.

Flynn looked chastised and said, "uh… yeah…"

"Okay." Sharon resumed writing.

"Eight shots were fired at a TSA agent as he was driving home from work two nights ago. That's why we're involved."

"That's why you iwere/i involved." Brenda snapped, not backing down.

"Excuse me, Agent Howard, did you find the casings from the shooting?" Sharon interjected.

"Yes. And what do you mean were involved?"

"Well, I'm the one with the victim!" Brenda huffed.

"And were the casings entered in NIBIN?"

"Yes, captain, and by the way, I don't work for you." Fritz growled.

"You do work for me, Agent Howard, everyone involved in this whole fucking lawsuit works for me. If you want to have your asses handed to you on a platter, that is absolutely fine by me, Agent Howard. So, please, continue to shoot off at the mouth. Please."

"This is not your case, it's mine." Fritz continued with Brenda, pulling Sharon out of her day dream. Oh yes, Sharon would really like to stick it to Agent Howard.

"Since when does the FBI care about high school principals?"

"A TSA agent was fired upon!"

Sharon did so love to see them fight. She had attempted to wash her hands of Brenda Leigh Johnson once and for all. A hopeless pursuit, to be sure, she loved her and she would always love her, but she was doing her best. Brenda had left Fritz's bed twice now to be with Sharon and she knew that that was an impenetrable barrier to them ever having an actually pleasant conversation.

"Driving the same type of car as my victim so unless you think the shooter just really hates German cars, your TSA agent was mistaken for my principal"

"Or your principal was mistaken for my TSA agent."

"Oh, now you're just being silly" Brenda rolled her eyes. Fritz looked ready to pounce again but Fritz poked his head in.

"Chief, Gabriel's ready."

"Thank you, lieutenant."

"I'm not leaving." Fritz said stubbornly.

"Well you can stay here as long as you like but it's still my murder and if you don't go home soon and get some rest you're going to end up with a very bad case of the grumpy uglies." She stared pointedly at Fritz, daring him to argue with her. Her style in an argument was usually to make the other person feel inferior and it appeared to be working as Fritz slumped himself into a corner.

"Look," she continued, "this is the second time someone shot at a silver BMW on that corner, there is someone running around with a semi-automatic weapon, my first responsibility is to take him or her off the street… What is it?" She asked Sharon with some concern at the heavy sigh the brunette heaved in her direction.

"Asking all these questions at every one of your crime scenes for the past two months, I am feeling less like a Captain and more like a Hall Monitor every day. I understand the importance of the federal lawsuit you're facing, but I am not convinced that my constant presence in your Division is necessary." There was a pause during which the two women stared into each other's eyes. Brenda ached to tell Sharon how sorry she was for everything. She wanted to tell her that she knew that everything was her fault and now Sharon was the one suffering for it. She didn't even want to try and tell her how hard she was trying to abide by all the rules that she'd never really bothered to learn, she just wanted Sharon to know that she was sorry. But Sharon didn't want to hear it anymore, she'd made that pretty clear. Before Brenda could respond, Sharon added, "and there is something else. There's something else that I've been meaning to tell you –"

"Chief, the interview's started."

Brenda loved Buzz, she truly did, but in this moment she wanted to throttle him. She made an apologetic face at Sharon and sat down, accepting the headphones she was handed.

Sharon sighed, watching the mouths moving on the monitors, not taking in anything said at this point. She'd been up pretty close to all night and she didn't give a shit in that particular moment what happened to anyone because all she wanted was a shower, a quick nap and a cup of coffee so strong it might just wear all the enamel off her teeth.

She had one more stop in the building to make before she got any of those things.

In other relationships dedication to the job was almost always an issue but it had never been an issue with Brenda and Sharon. They both worked more than they should and they always appreciated the time they had together. Sharon never expected to be put before Brenda's job because she knew Brenda wouldn't be put before her own.

Usually she respected Brenda's ability to focus so single-mindedly on something. Usually she respected Brenda's ability to keep their personal and professional lives separate.

But maybe, just once, Sharon wanted to ask someone else to wait. She took the doorknob in her hand, turning it slowly and slipped, unnoticed, out of the room.

"According to their logs you have major crimes doing everything to the letter." Pope said very matter-of-factly.

"But if I may be frank continuing to audit every investigation Chief Johnson undertakes is an embarrassment to everyone involved. It's an insult to her; demeaning to my rank - not to mention a waste of money."

"Captain we're trying to avoid adding more plaintiffs to this federal lawsuit against us which could end up costing the city and this department, like, 50 million dollars. So believe me, your efforts here are not a waste of money." Pope narrowed his eyes.

"If I may, sir." Taylor stepped in and turned to Sharon, "Captain, you're not just auditing major crimes, you're supposed to be finding the leak in their division. We have to cut off Goldman's source of inside information"

"And since chief Johnson doesn't seem to be taking this very seriously, I'm counting on you to fix that." Pope agreed.

Sharon stared at him for a moment, barely able to keep the contempt from her face. Here she was, face to face with the second man in twenty minutes who was still bitter about having lost Brenda to Sharon.

"I've had a job offer. Director of internal threats and corporate security at the Los Angeles convention center."

"You're quitting?" Pope's eyes widened as he stared at Sharon.

"I'm eligible to collect my Captain's pension and I think it's time for me to work some place where people might be glad to see me." Sharon had to school her features to keep from betraying how hurt she really felt.

"Captain… do not feel that you are unappreciated."

"I walk into a room, it goes silent. I can't say ihello/i to anyone outside the professional standards bureau without provoking a defensive between that and a few things in my personal life I feel that it's time-"

Pope interrupted her. "Captain, you cannot retire right now. No one else is nearly as familiar with this federal case against us. With all due respect to your issues, Major crimes is run by a deputy Chief and three lieutenants, replacing you with a lower ranking officer is… it's not even possible. I have no one else for this job."

She shook her head. "Can't do it anymore, I'm sorry, sir."

"Alright… alright… When the promotions freeze is over I will make you a commander."

"Wow. That's quite an offer, Captain." Taylor was not particularly good at hiding his annoyance at the prospect of Sharon achieving his rank.

"Thank you, chief, but I feel I've had enough." Sharon shook her head, her gaze cast downward at the floor and her hands firmly planted in her deep blazer pockets.

"Will you at least give me a few weeks before you make this decision and before your notice is final, I ask that you treat this issue of a leak like the crisis that it is."

Sharon nodded curtly before turning and leaving the room.

Sharon's phone rang. She picked it up and glanced at the screen, trying to keep her eye on the road as well. She accepted the call and held the phone to her ear, "hi Angel."

"Hey mom, bad time?"

"No, I'm just on my way to serve a warrant."

"You shouldn't be talking on your phone while driving."

"Remember our deal? You don't try to mother me and I won't try to baby you?" Sharon reminded with an air of playfulness.

"You sound like you're in a pretty good mood."

"I've… gotten a few things off my chest." Sharon said, then admitted, "I'm trying to keep my mood up because I'm not looking forward to this search. These people are just absolutely incorrigible. Why they can't understand that what I'm doing is for their own good is beyond me."

Angela laughed, "same reason why we never believed you when you told us broccoli was for our own good."

"Well, lot of good it did me, you still don't eat broccoli." Sharon glanced at her gps, "I'm on the street now, was there something specific you needed?"

"No, just called to see how you were."

"I… I'm fine."

"You don't so sure."

"Is anyone ever really sure?" Sharon asked, putting the car in park and cutting the engine. "I'm just having a rough time at work, but things can't be terrible forever. I love you, Angel."

"Love you too, mom. You can call me whenever."

"Thanks, bye." Sharon ended the call and slipped the Blackberry into her pocket. She strode up the lawn where the gaggle of officers awaited her and the impending warrant being driven there by Flynn.

The group fell silent as Sharon approached and joined the ranks which came as no surprise.

Flynn pulled up and jumped out of his car, trotting to join them, "here's your warrant," he announced, handing the folded paper to Sharon.

"Okay, remember, we're only searching through Coach Carr's house for itrophies/i." Sharon said pointedly.

"Stolen trophies." Provenza rolled his eyes.

"LAPD search warrant!" Gabriel yelled before they forcibly entered the house.

"Please let Buzz document everything before you start tearing up the house!" Sharon called, feeling like she was yelling 'please clean up this mess before your grandmother gets here!' at her kids.

"Okay, now remember, you can hide a gun anywhere you can hide a trophy so if you come across the weapon, it's legal to grab it." Provenza instructed the team that was tearing through the house, as though anyone was really keeping up the pretense of looking for the trophies.

"We're going to go out here and keep looking for what we came here to find."

"Trophies! Trophies, Lieutenant!" Sharon scolded. Was it really, ireally/i so much to ask that they not admit on camera that they're conducting a search for an item not stipulated in their search warrant? REALLY?

"Yes, fully loaded trophies."

"iGentlemen/i," she started in a tone that would have any sensible person wetting themselves from fear, "we are looking for stolen trophies. Finding a igun/i would be incidental."

Sharon was beginning to seriously consider punching Provenza, camera be damned, when Sanchez pointed out the shovel.

Provenza turned to Sharon, "Captain, is it pro-cedure?"

Sharon shrugged, "who am I to say what someone would do with a stolen trophy? But if I were going to look for one in a backyard I'd use a metal detector."

It didn't take long for Tao to collect the metal detectors and for Major Crimes to get to searching the backyard.

"Remember, concentrate on stretches of ground large enough to cover a itrophy/i sized object." Sharon reminded, pacing through the small backyard.

"Here's a patch here at the end of this runner." Provenza motioned.

Sharon wanted to scream. "Which is too small for a trophy. Which is what we're looking for. And if we find something else we'll call it a happy accident."

"So, apropos of nothing really, when can major crimes start planning your retirement party? I want to bring the balloon animals myself." Provenza's voice dripped with disdain and Sharon was once again considering pistol whipping him.

She wanted to yell, "fuck it! Go ahead, say on camera that you're looking for a gun, get the evidence dismissed. I don't even fucking care. Because you know what? If this whole thing goes sour guess which one of us won't be up shit creek. I'll give you a hint. It's not iyou/i. So, go ahead, by all means, get your own fucking search invalidated. Do whatever the fuck you want."

But instead, she, very calmly asked, "who told you I was retiring lieutenant?"

"Well you said it in front of Taylor, didn't you?"

"Hey, good morning." Fritz greeted, letting himself into Brenda's apartment and delivering the coffee and donuts that had become his morning bribe. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, the boy's living in Coach Carr's house had their physical examinations. There was no sign of abuse, physical or otherwise…" Brenda sat down and picked up a donut. "Now Coach Carr's only motive would be to avoid a job transfer and he could retire on early pension."

"Kind of like Raydor, huh?" Fritz grabbed himself a plate and joined her at the table."

"Kind of like Raydor how?" Brenda narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, didn't she tell you? Well apparently, Raydor thinks she should retire. She hates checking up on you all the time. Feels she's not wanted and supposedly has a great job offer." Fritz smirked smugly. "I mean, you broke up with the woman, I think that's a pretty clear message."

"But…" Brenda's bottom lip started to quiver.

"I thought you'd be happy."

"No! Of course I'm not happy." Brenda huffed. "Yes, I broke up with her and it was a terrible, terrible decision."

Fritz set his coffee down and scrutinized Brenda for a moment. "You're still in love with her, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" Brenda snapped.

"Isn't a little masochistic to be still be in love with someone who moved and hasn't given you her new address?"

"I don't know. Isn't a little masochistic to still be in love with someone who left you twice for the same woman?" Brenda asked pointedly.

"What are you trying to say? That I'm still in love with iyou/i?" Fritz's eyes widened.

"You bring me coffee and breakfast every day." Brenda punctuated her point by biting into the donut. "I haven't even turned on my stove because if I want food all I have to do is snap my fingers and you'll bring me take out."

"You've never said anything about it before."

"That's because iI'm/i selfish and iyou're/i masochistic."

"Chief Johnson, I just heard that the three boys from Coach Carr's house are still here…" Sharon walked up to Brenda. She was aware that Chief Pope was still following her, she just couldn't shake him.

"That's correct." Brenda said curtly.

"Technically we're required to release them to their parents…"

"Well, so far we've only been able to find one of the mothers and she says she's too busy to come down here till tomorrow morning. You want me to let these boys go? What if they get lost or hurt or involved in a crime? Goldman can end up recruiting their parents for that federal lawsuit of his…or don't you care about that anymore?"

Those words pierced through Sharon like a knife. God, she cared about nothing more than she cared about Brenda and the godforsaken lawsuit.

"Where are the boys right now, Chief?"

"They're in the break room. I figured we couldn't release 'em we might as well feed 'em."

"Let me see if I can get the boys to help us in locating their relatives." Brenda watched Sharon walk away and huffed, turning back to Pope.

"Why didn't you tell me she was retirin'?"

"Because I'm trying to talk her out of it. If you could say something helpful that would be… nice. Unless you want me to replace her with someone worse."

His choice of adjectives was not lost on Brenda. He treated her like a necessary evil. Her squad just treated her like evil. The woman had the patience of a saint, she really did. Brenda couldn't imagine having Sharon's job and not crying every day. Sharon was stronger, Brenda fully acknowledged that between then Sharon was the stronger one.

Sharon walked up behind Brenda as Brenda watched the coach walk away, "as good as Coach Carr's intentions are, his actions were illegal."

Brenda shrugged "…or you could say that the challenges he faced at work forced him to look for unorthodox solutions. And now for going above and beyond the call of duty, he'll probably lose his job."

"Maybe it's time for him to move on…" Sharon said softly.

"I don't know. He seemed to be doing important work, even if it wasn't fully appreciated by his boss and fellow teachers. There's something about that I find admirable." Brenda searched Sharon's eyes for a reaction. After a long moment, Sharon's eyes glinted with a bit of mischief.

Sharon nodded in agreement, "me too."

Sharon turned onto Coach Carr's street again for the second time that day. There weren't nearly as many cars taking up the on-street parking today but one silver car sat conspicuously in front of her destination.

Sharon shook her head, how Brenda could argue that there wasn't a leak was beyond her. She leaned up against the little silver car to wait for the slithery owner to come out of the house.

When the door opened and Goldman stepped out and Sharon waved. "Sharon Raydor. What an unpleasant surprise." Goldman's sickening smile spread across his face.

"I'm getting really used to seeing your car parked in front of someplace I need to be." She pushed herself off his car, walking past him toward the house.

"I was just warming up Coach Carr for you." He smirked. "I can't decide which of us has the worse gig here, you or me."

"Well, that depends, I guess on what one wants from life." She said cryptically.

"I gather you want a little more than what you have right now. Am I right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Just I hear you're giving up the badge, moving on." He looked smug. He knew that Brenda's greatest asset was Rule-Book-Raydor, with her looking over the blonde's shoulder there'd been no usable cases in months.

"Really?" Sharon tried to keep the self-satisfaction out of her voice.

"I mean, why not? You've earned your pension, retirement doesn't mean an end to work. And you've got a great job offer. What could be better?"

"And where did you hear that?"

"A little birdie told me."

"No, really, Mr. Goldman." She fixed her scrutinizing glare on him, "seriously, from whom did you hear that I had a job offer and that I was retiring?"

"Why?" He squirmed.

"Because I have no intention of retiring. A new job offer was the last thing on my mind. The only thing I'm trying to do is prove that there really is a leak in the LAPD and that you are getting your information quicker than some of the officers. I guess I'll have to get a warrant to find out who the little birdie is."

Goldman wanted to get away from Sharon as quickly as he could, kicking himself for tipping his hand. "A warrant against the lawyer who's suing you. Good luck with that." He scoffed, jumping into his car.

Sharon watched him drive away and smiled to herself. She walked up to the front door of Coach Carr's house and made a mental note of the damage the door incurred during the search and wanted to strangle those overzealous Major Crimes boys.

Carr came to the door and shook his head a little, "I oughtta get a revolving door put on."

"Hello Mr. Carr, I apologize for the intrusion, I know you're a busy man." She held up her badge, "my name is Captain Sharon Raydor and I'm with the professional standards bureau."

"Well, come in then." He led her into the house. There was a tea service on the coffee table, he motioned to it. "Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you."

"You sure? I made a whole pot and probably won't be able to finish it myself."

"Okay, I'll have a cup, thank you." They were silent while he poured the tea and handed it to Sharon. He stared at the floor glumly before Sharon said gently, "if this is a bad time, I can come back."

"Well, it sure is bad timing but I can't say I think there'd be a better I time." He sat back on the couch. "Do you have kids?"

Sharon nodded, "two."

"Then you know how hard it is to trust the world to take care of the people you love."

Sharon set the tea down and pulled out a small stack of papers, "I came by because I wanted to give you these." She pulled a business card loose, "this is the social worker who's assigned to your boys."

He looked it over silently.

"And the rest of these papers are the proper forms to petition for custody." Sharon handed the rest of the papers over to the stunned coach. "I've compiled some of the information myself but you'll have to finish."

"Why did you do all this for me?" He held the papers close, as though they were precious.

"Child services is for kids who don't have anybody who loves them and I don't think that describes your boys." Sharon almost smiled but maintained her professional demeanor. "Thank you for the tea, Mr. Carr, I should probably get going."

He got to his feet as she did. "I really don't know what to say… this is above and beyond…"

"Cops have hearts too, give us a little credit." Sharon cocked a small genial smile and dug her own card out of her pocket, "if you have any questions or complaints concerning your treatment in the Reid investigation feel free to call me and I'll see that any grievances are addressed."

Sharon had changed out of her work clothes into a pair of worn old jeans and a cashmere sweater that Willie Rae had given her the previous Christmas. It had taken a couple of years of training before Willie Rae started giving her and Angela clothing that they wouldn't feel embarrassed to wear in public. Once or twice each Christmas Sharon and Angela would take Willie Rae shopping while Brenda was working and picking up things they liked and complimented each other's tastes. Slowly they stopped getting hand-stitched reindeer sweaters and actually ended up with Cashmere and well-fitting knits – much to Brenda's chagrin because ishe/i still got the reindeer sweaters.

She was contemplating making herself a bowl of pasta and cracking open a bottle of Chardonnay when the phone rang.

"Ms. Raydor, good news."

Sharon had to look at the phone again to know who was calling, "oh, Barbara. Hi."

"I'm showing someone the house tonight!" Barbara's pep practically poured through the phone. Perfect in a realtor, dreaded in any other situation. "I'm showing it to the sweetest lady ever. I talked to her on the phone not ten minutes ago and she was telling me how gorgeous the house was and how much curb appeal and she said that it even looked like it had a breakfast nook with a southern exposure. Can you believe that? No sense of playing it cool on her but really, sweetest lady I've talked to in a while – oh, present company excluded." She giggled.

"You don't have to say that, Barbara, but thank you." Sharon pulled open the drawer looking for her corkscrew.

"I just go all gooey over those southern accents. I spend way too much time watching Paula Deen."

"No! No, no, no!" Sharon slammed the drawer shut and huffed. "What was this woman's name?"

"Ms. Raydor, honey, hold that thought, I'm going through a tunnel and I'm about to lose you."

Sharon ended the call and slipped on her shoes. So much for a quiet evening of well-deserved rest.

Sharon went to turn into the driveway but Barbara's minivan was parked dead center and she had to reverse and park on the street. She jumped out just as Barbara was rushing out to her. "Oh, Ms. Raydor you really shouldn't have come. Potential homebuyers don't like to see the homeowners, it makes it hard to imagine themselves living in the house."

"Barbara, I'm sorry you've wasted your time but this woman is not a potential homebuyer, she's my ex-girlfriend and she's just trying to get my goat."

"Well, dear, not sure if it's my place to say so but it looks like it's working."

Sharon narrowed her eyes at Barbara and was incredibly close to ripping her a new one when Brenda's car pulled up and parked right behind Sharon – very close to her back bumper… which did not escape Sharon's attention.

"Oh, Sharon, didn't expect you to be here."

"You can't buy my house." Sharon folded her arms across her chest.

"Barbara, what's the asking price?"

"It's a million ten, but if you're really serious and want to make an offer within the next twenty-four hours I'm authorized to take it down to a million." Barbara beamed.

"You cannot buy my house!"

"I'll take it and I'll give you a million fifteen."

"Damnit Brenda," Sharon growled. "Can I speak to you inside?"

"Sure, Sharon," Brenda laughed and turned to Barbara, "try saying that ten times fast!"

Once they were inside the house Sharon groaned and rubbed her temples. "All day long at work I have to deal with everybody loving you all the time and always having to be the bad guy. Is it too much to ask that you just shut off that phony southern charm every once in a while?"

Brenda folded her arms across her chest. "Do you feel better? Do you feel better now that you said that?"

"No. And another thing! Since you are so beloved would it kill you to say to your squad every once in a while 'lay off her, guys, she's just doing her damn job'?"

"I don't know because my mama used to say that if I went around damning everything I'd go straight to Hell… so… maybe?"

"Please, iplease/i stop being adorable for a couple of minutes so I can just be pissed at you." Sharon whined, starting to feel defeated and powerless against Brenda's honey-sweet voice.

"Look, I'm sorry that I got you here under false pretenses but I was starting to freak out that someone could buy our house."

"iMy/i house."

"We spent five years living here together. We had five Christmases here with your kids and my parents, we had a lot of great times in this house and it was my home for five years. I don't want to give that up."

"Brenda, we've been over this…" Sharon sighed.

"I know. I messed up. I messed up really badly. I was under a lot of pressure and I was really emotional and I wasn't thinking clearly and it led to one bad decision after another and I know that what I did and said was hurtful to you and I just want the chance to make it up to you."

Sharon wiped at her eyes, she wasn't sure exactly when she started tearing up but there it was. "Brenda, I can't just take you back. I'm… I'm still really fragile. I know it's been two months and I should be over it but…"

"I'm not asking you to take me back right now. I don't want you to make that decision right now." Brenda assured her, "I would just like the opportunity to court you. I'm gonna do it right, I'm gonna to come to your house and pick you up and I'll bring you flowers. I just want you to give me another shot, I want to prove to you that I'm different, I'm leveling off on emotional stability – somewhat. I want to do it over and do it right."

Sharon blinked tears out of her eyes and stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Brenda. "It wasn't all wrong. It wasn't even mostly wrong." She whispered.

Brenda nuzzled her hair. "I just never want to hurt you again." Brenda admitted softly. "I just want to be the person you look forward to coming home to."

Sharon gave her a gentle squeeze. "I have a bottle of Chardonnay on the counter and pasta primavera back at my apartment. Would you like to have dinner with me?"

"Okay, but just so you don't get the wrong idea, I'm not a cheap date and I don't jump right into bed on the first date."

Sharon scoffed with a grin, "since when?"