Good day one and all,
I am so glad that this story is not necessarily chaptered, with very few cliffhangers, it kinda makes up for my terrible posting record! I do always hope to improve though! Thank you from the very bottom of my heart to all those that stick with this and continue to review, they really do make my days!
Anyhoo, this next post is a bit of a filler chapter, a kind of spring board to the good stuff, (amen to season 2, right) no real plot to this, it was just something that was in my head and nothing else would come out when I started writing this ep. Nevertheless I hope you enjoy!
Season 1 Episode 10: Long Shot
"So we're all agreed that the killers best shot is at Angel's car, let's move it somewhere harder for him to see."
Andy stood back a little as Sharon gave the team their orders, extending her plan to the FBI agents in attendance. As they all began to disperse he cleared his throat and re-rolled the map that had laid across the table.
Sharon looked up at the noise, throughout the briefing he'd remained uncharacteristically quiet, the look in his eye right now told her why.
"Don't." She said, a hint of warning in her tone.
"Don't what?" He asked, rolling his eyes in amusement as she looked around to make sure they weren't being overheard.
"Don't say what I know you're about to say Andy."
"Are you psychic all of a sudden?" Andy teased her gently, smiling at her as the glare deepened and she folded her arms.
"No but I know you Andy Flynn and you're about to go all macho man on me and tell me to stay inside. I am the lead investigator and the head of this squad I am more than capable of taking care of myself in the field." Sharon's voice was low and her tone was a warning, still he smiled and pushed it a little further.
"Wasn't planning on saying anything of the sort Captain." Andy climbed from his stool and followed her across the room, simultaneously picking up a bulletproof vest as she did. "Just do me one favor?"
"What's that?" She asked as she tightened the vest around her frame.
"Stay behind Provenza." Andy didn't look at her as he spoke, he didn't look at her after he'd spoke either. Instead he simply unclipped his weapon and headed for the door.
Sharon paused at his words, her eyes glued to his frame. She could see he wasn't going to look at her and she knew why. There was too mush emotion in his voice, his eyes would say the same. For all her independence and ability in the field she'd missed that feeling, knowing that a man would defend her to the end. She knew Andy couldn't do that right now, couldn't protect her like he wanted to for the risk of revealing their relationship.
It was enough for her to know that he wanted to.
When the shots rang out around the alleyway minutes later it was him that she looked at first. It shocked her for a moment, knowing her focus should have been on the sniper, but instead her eyes had gravitated to him, her heart pounding in her chest, replaced by the briefest of flutters when she registered that he was still standing, unharmed.
Sharon released the breath she'd been holding from the moment the target had shown himself, they were all okay, her eyes scanned the rest of her team, all still standing, all unharmed. It all happened in a split second, her weapon still raised as she took a step forward. Her eyes landed on Andy's and she gasped silently, he was looking right back at her, giving her the briefest of nods that said so much.
This was something they did all the time, taking down a suspect in often dangerous and volatile circumstances, she should be used to it but no, this thing with Andy Flynn threw it all into a spinning tornado.
This was exactly why these fraternization rules were in place, it was impossible to work with the one you loved and react objectively.
She returned his nod as she moved forward, to them it wasn't a nod, instead it said so much, it said,
"It's ok, I'm ok, you're ok, it's all ok."
Sharon sighed heavily, her fingertips curling around the sheet of paper bearing the signature of Daniel Dunn, and half her squad for that matter.
In a lot of ways she felt an overwhelming sense of relief, relief that Daniel Dunn would not be present in Rusty's life ever again and a selfish relief that she could keep the boy in her's for a little longer.
She cared deeply for Rusty, that was no secret anymore, and today, in the conference room, Sharon had bitten back the lump in her throat when her whole team stood beside her, defending Rusty as if he was their own.
In many ways he was now, his presence in the murder room was something of an expectation. If he wasn't there he'd be missed, for good and bad reasons both.
Sharon turned in her desk chair, a small smile began when she saw Rusty talking to Provenza, they were the only two people left in the squad room now, it was getting late and with the case wrapped the others had taken their leave at a decent hour.
She was mildly disappointed to realise that Andy was one of them, it wasn't like him to leave without saying goodbye, but he'd made himself scarce since Daniel Dunn had been escorted from the premises. Sharon had asked him to keep his distance, ,for his own sake as well as her's, his temper was legendary afterall and the menacing look on his face when he'd spoken to Dunn in the conference room, told Sharon she had been right to issue her request.
Still she had to stop herself from dialling his cell number everytime her phone had been in her hand for the last hour.
Taking a deep breath Sharon placed the sheet in her hands, inside the file on her desk, ready to be faxed to DCFS in the morning. As her desk drawer slid shut, the door to her office opened.
"Captain, Rusty and I have decided to go out for pizza and a stop at the comic book store, I'll have him home by ten if that's alright with you?"
Sharon looked from Provenza to Rusty, honestly a little taken aback by the matter of fact statement from the Lieutenant. She had very much expected to just go home and throw together some pasta for dinner. Looks like it would be pasta for one.
"Um, sure. I guess that would be ok. I could use a relaxing evening in anyway, glass of wine, a good book. You two have fun." Sharon smiled slightly, though the look on Provenza's face halted that smile in it's tracks.
He was looking at her with an expression that said 'yeah right, I call bullshit'. "Oh come now Captain, I know you have other places to be tonight."
"I don't know what you're taking about Lieutenant?" Her expression was of genuine confusion as she watched Rusty and Provenza leave.
"Oh, of course you don't Captain, of course you don't." Provenza closed the door behind him, his usual eye roll was the last thing she saw as they both disappeared from sight.
Twenty minutes later, after filing away her paperwork for the day, Sharon stepped off the elevator into the parking deck. She'd barely taken two steps when she saw him. A smile started at the corners of her mouth and she tried her best to supress it.
Andy was leant against his car, his hands in his pockets and his jacket unbuttoned. She couldn't deny he looked devilishly handsome.
"Finally! Was beginning to think I'd have to send out a search party."
"Well if I'd known you were down here I might have finished up quicker." Sharon stopped in front of him, a quick glance around them to ensure their privacy. "Why are you waiting down here anyway?"
"I'm taking my lady to dinner." Andy kept his eyes on her as he opened the passenger side door of his car, his smile growing as Sharon narrowed her eyes.
"What about my car?" She spoke, keeping his gaze.
"What about it?" He shrugged. "Leave it over night, nothing wrong with us, two colleagues, going for dinner after a successful day at the office. I'll of course play the gentleman and see you safely to your door."
"Hmm." Sharon folded her arms. "It's what you do on the other side of that door that destroys your 'colleagues' theory."
Andy's smile grew, his eyesbrows wiggling mischeviously. "Why Captain, please refrain from putting truly naughty thoughts in my head. Dinner first, play later."
Sharon couldn't contain her smile even if she tried, sighing dramatically she raised her hands in surrender. "Alright Lieutenant, you win, dinner."
Andy smiled in victory as he softly closed the door behind her, it wasn't often that a plan of his went well, this one was winning so far.
"So how do you feel?" Andy looked at Sharon over his water glass, she paused her movements, wine glass half way to her lips and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"How do I feel about what?"
"Rusty. The whole Daniel Dunn business."
Sharon sighed quietly, sipping her chardonnay and replacing the glass on the table in front of her. "It's all over and done with now, Rusty never has to see him again."
"I know that." Andy nodded slowly, "that was our end game all along, my question is how do you feel about that?"
"Relieved," She shrugged, looking up to meet his eyes. "a little sad, a little angry, but overall I feel much better, calmer, knowing that Rusty will not come to any harm in his care. I couldn't bear to see him all beat up again like that."
Andy slid his hand across the table to cover her's. They sat side by side in a booth in Andy's favourite Italian restaurant by the beach, their bodies slightly tilted towards each other.
"We'll all make sure that doesn't happen again Sharon. All of us."
Sharon smiled at the look in his eyes, he'd become quite protective of Rusty over the past few months, once he'd gotten over his initial annoyance at the teenager's presence in his girlfriend's home anyway.
She squeezed his hand firmly, leaning over to place a firm kiss on his lips, just as the server arrived with their food.
"Ok enough of that, lets talk about something else." Sharon raised a hand in dismissal of their previous conversation as she picked up her fork.
"What would you like to talk about then?" Andy asked, lifting a fork full of ravioli to his mouth.
"Like Provenza's knowing eye roll, his comments and overall behaviour earlier?"
Andy looked at her, she was deliberatly not looking at him, though he could see the mischief glimmering in her eyes.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He continued to look at her when she turned to meet his eyes, that look on her face that told him BS would not be accepted.
"Alright, but I didn't tell him. He figured it out."
She nodded slowly, knowing he was watching her every move. Andy braced himself for the inevitable onslaught of paranoid rambling. He held his breath, waiting for her reaction.
"Well...had to happen some time right." Sharon shrugged, returning her attention to her food.
"You're not mad?"
"Nope. Just so long as he doesn't go blabbing to Taylor I can live with Provenza knowing about us."
"He won't."
"I know. I've just worked too hard for too long to lose my job over this, I don't want you to lose your job either."
"That's not what I want either Sharon, I've already thought about it, if and when the time comes, I'll retire out."
Sharon stopped eating and looked at him, her expression neutral but her eyes held the shock she felt. "I don't want you to do that."
"Why?"
"I don't want you to sacrifice yourself like that."
"Okay firstly, it's not sacrificing myself. I'm getting too old to be chasing scumbags around town like we do!"
"Tell that to Provenza!" Sharon laughed and he did too.
"And secondly, you're worth it Sharon. But until then I can live with us being in the shadows. There's something really quite nice about acting indifferent with each other at work, knowing I get to come home to you at the end of the day."
Sharon smiled, knowing his words rang true for her aswell. It was surprisingly easy to keep their relationship out of the office, there was always a distraction to keep them occupied and the end of the day always seemed to come around all too quickly.
"It may not come to that you know, it's 2013 after all, a professional-personal relationship may become the norm some time soon."
Sharon shrugged and went back to her pasta, for a long moment Andy just watched her with narrrowed eyes. He could tell the difference very easily, whether Sharon was being genuine or cryptic, and her words definatly held a cryptic edge.
"What do you know?" He asked slowly, noticing a brief falter and the beginnings of a smirk on her face.
"Oh nothing, not technically anyway, but it's a changing world and my time in FID confirmed that on many different levels."
Meh, not my finest work but onwards and upwards, hit that review button nonetheless, pretty please!