A/N- Hey guys, why so anon? I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. Thanks everyone for the reviews! Most of you seem to think Sharon has at least one sibling. There's two votes for older brother, one for little sister, one for any sister, one for multiple sisters and one for only child. We still have a little time before I get to the part where I'd need that, so feel free to keep telling me what you think. You guys are the best! (:

"Goodbye, so long, farewell, my friends/

We'll see you soon again, my friends."

-Out of the Box, Goodbye Song

Someone's hands ran along the edge of Sharon's desk, and then Meri was in her face, sitting on the edge of her desk. He looked surprisingly chipper for four-thirty on a Friday afternoon.

"Hey," she said with a smile. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing. Just glad it's Friday." His eyes sparked with amusement.

"You're up to something." She let him sit on the desk. They were in the front lobby, which by nature demanded some decorum, but no one else was there.

"Why would you say that?"

She laughed. "It's my last day, and you look just like Ricky when he's planning to make a huge mess out of something."

"Do I ever make messes that I don't clean up?" He held one hand to his chest.

She raised her eyebrows, but was distracted as someone burst in the front doors. Several someones. It was a small woman with wild blonde hair pulled back in an elastic, and three kids with flaming orange hair: Jill Arthur and her kids. Meri leaped off Sharon's desk and hurried to Jill's side. She had a large box in her arms, and he took it and passed it to his oldest son, with some whispered instructions that Sharon couldn't hear. He ruffled his daughter's hair, and the three kids promptly took off down the hall towards the patrol office. Jill and Meri walked back to Sharon's desk, and she looked at them skeptically.

"Now I'm sure you're all up to something," she said, leaning forward, elbows on the desk.

"Why would you think that?" Jill spoke with a moderate British accent. She had emigrated nearly a decade before, but never lost the cadence. "It's good to see you Sharon. I thought I'd come by before you left. Meri's done nothing but complain about his new partner, so far. He's a new lad, you see, and he keeps my Meri on his toes."

Sharon grinned. "Someone has to." She turned serious. "But what was that box?"

"Oh, just some things for Meri," Jill said.

"My spare uniform," Meri said at the same time.

"I'm very convinced of that," Sharon said lightly.

They all looked up as another uniform approached. He was a tall, young man, with one arm in a sling. He looked at Sharon remorsefully. "Sometimes I think every person that sits at this desk must have a sign taped to their back that says 'handle with care.'"

Sharon smiled. "You'll be back before I am, Charlie."

The boy gave her a hand up and waved as she walked away with Jill and Meri.

"So tell me, really, what's going on?"

"Nothing. I just have a good-bye gift for you," Meri said.

"Oh, you shouldn't have. I won't be gone forever." Sharon patted her partner's arm reassuringly. The truth was, she still had the FID job offer in her nightstand drawer. She hadn't told Jack about it because she hadn't been expecting to take it. It was a strange temptation: power, rank, and better pay versus degradation and mistrust. She didn't want to take it if she didn't have to, even with Laurie Hotchkiss' desire to see another woman of higher rank in the LAPD. Nonetheless, Jack had been spending more and more hours at work and bringing home less and less money. He said he'd been having a hard time picking up cases. If she was completely honest with herself, though, they'd soon be using her pay for the bills. She didn't want to think about it. Jack's job would probably pick up again soon enough, and she'd be able to recycle the FID application without another thought.

They rounded the corner to the patrol office, and Sharon blinked in the dimness. The lights were all off.

"Wha-?"

"Surprise!"

Meri flicked on the lights again, and Sharon saw her squadmates standing up from behind their desks. They were all grinning, and Meri's youngest boy was hovering near the box they had brought in earlier. Jill nodded to him, and he excitedly ripped the box open. It held a white sheet cake decorated with plastic toy police cars and the words "We'll Miss You, Rulebook!" written across it, and "No one to keep us in line." beneath it in smaller letters.

"Oh." She looked up at them. "Thank you all." She pursed her lips slightly, feeling tears welling up. "You're too kind."

It was a small, sweet affair. They ate cake and laughed, everyone recounting their favorite stories. Finally, Jill passed Sharon a small-ish box.

"Don't say it's too much, because it isn't. It's from everyone here. Open it."

Sharon took it with a smile, and did as she was bid. She opened the lid slowly and laughed. There was a tiny LAPD t-shirt, a plush German Shepard toy with a little black police K-9 vest on it, and a paperback copy of the LAPD procedure manual.

"We're betting little Miss Raydor grows up to be just like her mum," Jill said with a wide grin.

"Mommy, where are we going?"

Sharon glanced back at Ricky, sitting in his carseat in the back of her sedan. "We're stopping by Dad's work. He wanted us to take his paycheck to the bank." It was a lie; he hadn't said anything of the sort.

She and Jack split the bills, each taking turns to write the checks. It was Sharon's month and when she had gone to pay, she had found that there wasn't enough money in the checking account. She had been shocked. It wasn't as though they had a lot of money to spare, but she had never had to worry about being able to pay her bills.

Jack had told her he would be at court, so she knew he wouldn't pick up his paycheck from his office. She had decided to swing by with Ricky and get it to deposit it.

She parked in the lot next to Jack's office, and got out of the car to unbuckle Ricky. "Come on, baby." He took her hand, and they walked down the sidewalk and pushed the door open.

The secretary looked up in surprise. People rarely came in to the office so late, and she wasn't sure what do make of a woman who was obviously both a cop and pregnant coming in the door with a little boy.

"Can I help you?"

Sharon stepped up to the desk. "I'm here to pick up my husband's paycheck. Jack-"

"Raydor. Are you-?"

"Sharon Raydor. I'm his wife. You'll need my ID," she said, reaching for her purse.

"And who are you?" The woman leaned down to look at Ricky.

He ducked behind Sharon's legs, eyes wide. He had never been one to take quickly to strangers, for which Sharon was grateful.

"This is my son, Ricky," Sharon said, touching his shoulder as she held out her driver's license.

The secretary glanced at it. "Just a moment." She disappeared into a back hallway. She came back a moment later with a white envelope in one hand. "Here you go."

Sharon took it and slipped it into her purse. "Thank you." She didn't look at it until they got to the bank, just before closing. Her breath hitched when she saw the figure on it.

"Mommy?" Ricky tugged at her pant leg. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, baby. I'm fine." She stared at the figure on the check. Two hundred thousand dollars was more than three times what she made in a year. It was far more than enough to pay the bill. More than enough for groceries. "We're doing just fine."

She stopped at the store on the way home. They picked up buckwheat pasta, tomatoes, Italian sausage, and carob chips.

"What are we doing, Mama?"

"We're going to make dinner for Daddy because he's working late today."

She drove home, in better spirits than she had been in for a while. Ricky ran inside in the groceries, and Sharon followed with the gifts from work. She walked to her room and set the box down on the bed. She took her service belt off, and slipped it into the safe, before unbuttoning her uniform and tossing it into the laundry hamper. It felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders, watching it crumple in the basket. It wasn't as though she didn't enjoy her job, but it was nice to know that she wouldn't have to get up on time if she didn't want to. She could watch a movie in the middle of the day or see Andrea more often or pick Ricky up straight from class and not the after-school program.

She crossed to the closet and looked at her clothes, trying to find what she wanted as she fingered the strap of her camisole. She flipped past a few t-shirts and dresses that didn't fit anymore, before settling on a cheap wrap skirt Jack had bought her many years before and a loose-knit grey sweater.

She came back out to find Ricky setting the groceries out on the counter.

"Hey baby, why don't you go pick out a tape to play? We can listen to some music while we make dinner."

"Okay!" He bounded away, and a few minutes later Norwegian Wood began playing. He came back, and found Sharon had set a chair next to the stovetop.

"Can you stir the sauce for me? I'll get the sausage cooking." She had a knife in one hand and neatly cut the meat into thin slices that she tossed into a frying pan on the stove. Ricky stirred the marinara with a wooden spoon and watched his mother wash the cutting board and knife before dicing the tomatoes she had bought.

"Why do you wash that?"

"There can be germs in the meat, and we don't want them on the tomatoes."

"Then why do we eat meat?"

"When I cook it, the heat cleans it, basically." She tilted the cutting board over Ricky's pan and used the knife to scrape the tomatoes in. As an afterthought, she threw in dried basil as well. She checked the clock. It was a quarter of six. Jack would be home soon. She emptied the box of pasta into the large pot of hot water on the back burner, then began cooking the sausage slices. When they were almost done, she turned to Ricky. "Can you get the plates out by yourself? I'll watch the sauce, if you set the table."

He nodded and dragged his chair over to the appropriate cupboard. Sharon watched him out of the corner of her eye as he collected the stoneware and silverware. He carried it to the dining room table and set it neatly.

"Don't forget napkins."

He darted back in and grabbed them, just as the front door opened. Sharon heard Jack setting his things down, and then he came up behind her, carrying Ricky on his back.

"What's all this?"

"I thought it might be nice to make dinner and have it ready when you got home."

"Thank you." He leaned in and kissed her, and Ricky shrieked in disgust, so Sharon turned and kissed his cheek as he squealed. Jack swung him around off his shoulders and tickled him before setting him back on his feet. "Go wash up."

Sharon turned the burners off as Ricky ran to the bathroom to wash. "Did you get some new cases?"

"A couple. Why do you ask?" Jack said quizzically.

"I picked up your paycheck today. I hope you don't mind, but I needed to get the bills paid this weekend." She spooned the sausage into the saucepan.

He was quiet for a moment. "That's fine. I just got good retainers this week," he said slowly.

"Oh, that's good." She carried the pan out to the table, and Jack followed with the pasta. His answer seemed slightly odd, as if he hadn't expected it, but she shook the notion away. He was probably just tired after another long day. "I'm glad everything is picking up again. I was a little worried."

"It's all going to be okay," he replied, kissing the top of her head absentmindedly. Sharon had picked up his paycheck. She knew how much he was paid. He'd have to stay out of the card tables for a little while, until he could find another excuse for poor pay. Or he could stop going. God knew the money could be better spent. He could get the roof re-shingled or something. But sometimes the payout from the cards was better than his paycheck. If he kept playing, he could fix the shingles and get his car fixed. The check engine light had been on for a while. The car was still running, though.

Everything was running just fine.

A/N- Update, someone said 200K seemed like a lot. Yes, it does. Someone made some quip in the show, I think it was Jack himself, about him having gotten a paycheck to that amount, and blown it within three months. I wanted to make sure I got that in before I forgot (; I forget things quite frequently...