A/N: Writing every day is a lot of work, but your awesome comments make it wort it :) As always, I'm not James Duff, and I don't own these amazing characters.
Dear guest, thanks for the prompt :) Prompt: Andy is shot while on duty and Sharon finally realizes how important he is to her and confesses her feelings.
(The shooting scenario was a little something KikiJK and I came up with a while ago xD)
They knew the protocol for a situation like this, they'd trained for it a thousand times. There was one shooter, no hostages, he was on the lowest level of the underground parking garage, which meant there was only one way for Sharon and her team to approach, the way that left them completely vulnerable.
"Andy!" Sharon exclaims and throws him his vest. He puts on his and proceeds to help her velcro hers, "Thank you." She nods, "Everyone, we are waiting on Howard and SOB, they should be here any moment. We want everyone safe, that's the number one thing. Try to talk him down first. If he aims his gun at all and you have a shot, take it. Everyone clear?"
"Yes ma'am." They all reply as Fritz Howard and SOB arrive on scene.
"Captain." He nods, handing her her sidearm.
"Chief Howard, are your men ready?"
"As ready as they'll ever be."
It's complete chaos in the parking garage, as would be expected. An SOB officer goes down first, followed by Andy, Fritz, Sharon, and the rest of their respective teams.
"Hey Buddy." Andy says as everyone circles around the shooter, "Hey, what's your name?"
"Ge...Get away!" The shooter exclaims and presses the gun to his temple, "Go away!"
"We don't want to hurt you." Andy tries, letting go of his gun with one hand, trying to calm down the man, "Can you tell me your name?"
"J..Jay." He manages to mumble out, the hand holding the gun shaking uncontrollably, "Jay."
"Alright, Jay." Andy offers a smile, lowering his gun a little bit, "Can you tell me why you're here, why you're doing this?"
"It doesn't matter!" Jay yells, his voice breaking, "It doesn't matter!"
"No, no, no." Andy coos, lowering his gun again and stepping slightly closer, "It does matter. You matter. The people that care about you, they matter."
"They're gone!" He yells, "They're all gone! She took them! She took them away from me and now I'm all alone! No one cares about me!"
His hand shakes one last time before he turns to point the gun at Andy.
"Andy, get down!" Sharon yells as the gun fires, Andy falls to the ground, one of the SOB officers shoots Jay, "Andy, Andy!"
Sharon rushes over and kneels down next to him, checking for blood but there's nothing, "Andy can you hear me?" His eyes flutter slightly but he doesn't say anything, "Andy, dammit." She says strongly through her tears, "You will not leave me, do you hear me? You weren't even shot, you can't leave me, you can't."
"Captain, how is he?" Sykes rushes over and looks at the two of them, "Is he shot?"
"No." She sniffles and wipes her nose, "I think he was hit in the vest. He's not bleeding but when he fell... He... I think he hit his head. He's still breathing, his pulse is weak but it's still... it's still there." She smiles sadly and reaches out, taking his hand and squeezing it, "Stay with me Andy." She whispers, "Please, just stay with me. I need you."
Sharon had always hated hospitals. They reminded her of her grandmother, the visits to the hospice wing she and her mother would take when she was young. Some things never changed, the hallways still smelled like rubbing alcohol and cleaning chemicals, the nurses still walked around with their neutral expressions.
"May I speak to the family of Lieutenant Flynn?" A doctor asks and immediately the entire team stands up.
"His family's not here." Provenza explains, "Well not his real family anyways, we're all he's got at the moment."
"First I would like to speak with a Ms. Sharon Raydor. Is she here?"
"I... I'm here...?" Sharon replies cautiously, stepping towards the doctor, "What's going on?"
"Can you come with me please?"
"Of course." She nods and follows the doctor off down the hallway.
"How is he?" Sharon asks as they come to a stop outside of a hospital room she assumes to be Andy's, "We should really let his daughter see him first I'm sure she'll be here soon, she-"
"Ma'am, you are listed as his emergency contact. By procedure, the emergency contact always comes in first."
"Oh." She replies quietly, both surprised and honored by his gesture, "How is he?"
"It's hard to say. There's no bruising or internal bleeding from the force of the bullet, but he suffered significant head trauma when he fell. He's in a coma, but all his vitals are fine. It's just a matter of when he'll wake up."
"And when will that be?" Sharon asks, diverting her eyes to the tile floor, "When will he wake up?"
"I don't wan't to sound harsh here," the doctor sighs, scratching the back of his neck, "but these types of injuries are uncertain. He could be out for three days, it could be three years. It all depends on how quickly he heals."
"Oh... okay." She replies sadly, "May I see him?"
"Yes, you can."
"Andy." She breathes out relieved, covering her mouth with her hands as the doctor closes the door behind her, "Andy I..." She rushes over and sits down next to him, taking his hand loosely in hers, "I was so worried about you and I still am. Please, just please wake up. I need you here with me."
He doesn't react and she starts to cry, lying her head down next to his leg on the bed, her body heaving lightly. Why did things always have to be so complicated? He was shot on the vest, any other day and they'd call that a victory, but no, Andy had to make things complicated.
She picks her head off of the bed and rubs her eyes before letting out a light chuckle, "Okay Andy, that's enough, you can wake up now. You've scared us all enough." She pats his leg and lets out a sigh, knowing this wasn't going to be easy, but then again nothing with him ever was.
There's a knock on the door and she turns to see Louie standing in the doorway, "How is he?"
"Oh, you know." She sighs, taking his hand again and not caring if the older man saw, "He'll be fine, it's just a matter of when."
"Of course it is." He sighs, walking over to the two of them, "Always taking his damn time."
"Yeah." She forces a smile, "Did someone call Nicole?"
"I, I talked to her." He responds, rubbing his jaw, "She'll be here as soon as she drops off the kids at her mom's house."
"Okay, good." She nods, trying to mask her emotions.
"How are you doing?" He asks, watching her nervously toy with Flynn's hand, his fingers tangling with hers.
"Ah, it could be worse I guess." She shrugs, pausing to look at Andy, "We could be in a morgue right now."
"Thank heavens we're not!" He rolls his eyes, focusing on the ceiling, "Do you need anything before I go?"
"I need him to wake up." She answers quietly, "I need Andy to wake up."
"If I could wake him up I would." He laughs nervously, patting her shoulder as he leaves.
It's been five days since the shooting, and Sharon refuses to leave his side. Nicole has came and left every day, even Taylor and Rios had stopped by to check on him.
"Dammit, wake up!" Sharon exclaims frustrated, "Andy I miss you." She leans forward and places a gentle kiss to his cheek, "Please wake up."
She presses her lips into a sad smile and runs a hand through his hair, something she'd become accustomed to doing these past few days. Sharon sees his eyelids flicker and she can't help but jump "Andy..." She whispers and holds his hand again, "Can you hear me?"
He squeezes her hand gently as his eyes flicker open, "Sharon...?"
"Hey, Andy." She smiles and moves her chair closer, still holding onto his hand, "How are you feeling?"
"Better since you're here." He replies, his voice musty, "What happened?"
"It's a long story, but let me get a doctor to check on you first, okay?" She smiles brightly, quickly pecking his lips before running out of the room, "I love you and I'll be right back!"
"So I was shot?" He asks as a nurse checks his vitals, "But I wasn't actually shot?"
"Correct." The nurse answers before Sharon can say anything, "The bullet was deflected by your vest, but you fell backwards and hit your head. You've been in a coma for the past five days."
"Sharon..." He looks at her sadly, taking her hand with his, "I'm so sorry."
"Don't apologize." She grins, kissing his cheek, "Just let the nurse finish up so you can get some rest."
"I can do that." He smiles, watching her intently as she reaches up and fixes his hair, "Thank you for doing this."
"Thank you for waking up." She smiles happily as the nurse leaves the room, "I'm so glad you woke up. You had me so worried, you had everyone so worried and-"
"You said you loved me." He grins, lightly taking her hand and stroking her thumb, "You said it."
"Did...I did...?" She blushes a bright red and diverts her eyes away from him, "Well, I suppose I did, didn't I? That makes things a little more complicated."
"It can't get any more complicated than it already is." He smiles sadly, "So what did I miss these past few days?"
"Not much." She forces a smile, "Nicole stopped by a few times, Taylor, Rios, Hobbs, Provenza, everyone's been in to see you."
"So I guess that means you haven't left?" He quizzes with a smile, squeezing her hand as best he could.
"Not really." She smiles sheepishly, "Rusty brought me a change of clothes every day and I got food from the cafeteria so I made do. I wanted to be here when you woke up. No matter when that was."
"I don't think I can thank you enough for doing this." He tries to sit up and winces, Sharon wraps an arm behind his back and helps him sit up straighter.
"I told you, it wasn't a problem."
"Because you love me." He teases.
"Yeah." She laughs, leaning in and kissing his lips, "Something like that."