Try to Love Again - Chapter 11

by Kadi

Rated T

Disclaimer: It isn't my sandbox. I simply visit it from time to time.

The first day he spent Provenza sitting was not bad, Rusty reflected. The Lieutenant did little more than sleep and watch television. The second day was only slightly more interesting, with the exception of the baseball game that he was forced to watch. Rusty found it endlessly amusing, however, to watch the interaction between the adults as he was dropped off or picked up. No matter what he might have said while under the influence of his pain medication, the Lieutenant remained outwardly disapproving of the relationship between his partner and Captain. He complained, and he groused, but now they simply ignored him.

By the third day, it was becoming apparent that he was feeling better. Rusty had a harder time keeping him amused. He had no interest in chess, the television wasn't holding his attention, and not one single member of the team was willing to provide details on the current case. He was getting restless.

Rusty returned from the kitchen, after having finished cleaning up after lunch to find the Lieutenant shifting unhappily in the recliner. It was the most comfortable place in the house for him to sleep or rest, as it kept his upper body elevated and his incision site wasn't aggravated by the pull of muscles or tissues. He had tried sleeping in Flynn's guest room the first night, but as they'd explained the next morning, that hadn't gone so well. Provenza was now staying in the recliner almost full time, except when he moved to one of the other chairs in an attempt to keep his body moving and loose.

The teenager frowned as he walked back to the sofa where his book and laptop waited for him. "Is there a problem, Lieutenant?"

"I dropped the damned remote." He scowled as he pulled it out and set it on the table beside him. "But there's something else caught in the chair." He grimaced in pain as his body twisted and he reached further down, between the seat and the arm of the chair to get a hold on it. Finally, whatever it was came free. Provenza pulled again and out it came.

Rusty frowned. "What is… oh." His mouth snapped shut and he averted his eyes.

Dangling from his finger was a scrap of red and lace that Provenza was fairly certain did not belong to Flynn. Or perhaps it did. His brows rose as he studied the bra. He blinked a couple of times and then slowly extended it to the table beside him and dropped it. "Huh." He smirked. "Never guessed the old girl had it in her."

"Oh god." Rusty looked everywhere but at that. "Can we just not talk about it? Or how it got there? Or what it was doing in the chair to begin with? And please, no comments on that being why the chair creaks so much…"

"Son of a—" Provenza put the foot of the chair down and rose, just as quickly as his injured body would allow. Which wasn't very fast at all. It hurt like hell to do it, but he got out of the chair and then stared at it, a look of disgust on his face. "You don't think they…"

"I don't want to think about it at all," Rusty groaned.

Provenza nodded. "That makes two of us." He wrapped an arm around his middle and moved over to the arm chair. Suddenly, it was entirely more comfortable. Unfortunately, it put him where he couldn't see the television. "He did this on purpose," the Lieutenant decided.

"Somehow, I doubt that." Rusty reached onto the coffee table for a discarded newspaper. Without looking too closely at the end table, he tossed the paper until it was covering the little surprise that Provenza had found. At least if it was out of sight, Rusty thought he might be able to forget about it. Not that he hadn't seen certain items of clothing before, in all the time that he'd lived with Sharon. They did have to share the laundry room, after all. It was the implication behind it that he found disturbing.

"You don't know Flynn," Provenza groused. His attention shifted to the bookshelf. He wondered if there was anything on it with a crossword puzzle.

"I know Sharon," Rusty pointed out. He looked over and found the Lieutenant reaching toward the bookshelf. "Now what are you doing?" He got up and decided it was probably better if he did the searching this time.

"I'm looking for something to read," he drawled sarcastically.

Rusty sighed. "I don't think Lieutenant Flynn has a lot in the way of actual novels…" He stood beside the bookshelf and reached out, sliding a finger along the spines of the books. There were several True Crime biographies, joined by sports books. There were self help guides, and titles to do with recovery and living with addiction. There were a couple of older novels, and some titles that Rusty recognized, but on the whole, it wasn't the kind of bookshelf he'd like to get lost in.

"What do we have here?" Provenza tugged at a stack of colorfully bound books. He craned his head toward them. There was no writing on the spine or the cover.

"I'm not sure." Rusty pulled one of them out and opened the cover. "Photo albums," He announced, and replaced it.

"Oh ho!" Provenza lit up. He rubbed his hands together gleefully. "The life and times of Lieutenant Andy Flynn. Hand them over!" Perhaps the day wasn't a total loss after all, and there was someway he could get even with his partner. His money was on baby pictures. The embarrassing kind. Oh please, let there be the embarrassing kind, he thought.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Rusty squinted at him. "We shouldn't be snooping. How about this one?" He pulled down a thick, hardbound book and held it out. "The Greatest Generation Speaks. It looks like it's something you'd enjoy."

The Lieutenant's eyes narrowed. "I am not amused." He held out his hand again. "Albums. Now. Come on, Rusty. It isn't snooping if they're out in the open. If he didn't want people looking at them, then they shouldn't be on a very public bookshelf."

"In his very private home," Rusty pointed out. He rolled his eyes and sighed. This wasn't an argument that he was going to win. "Fine, but I'm not part of this when you get busted." He took down the stack of four albums and placed them in the Lieutenant's lap.

"You're in it alright." Provenza pointed at the teenager. "Cop a squat, enjoy the show. This is a once and a lifetime opportunity, Rusty Beck." He opened the first one and began turning the pages. "Wedding pictures." His nose wrinkled in disgust. "Meet Sarah, the ex-wife. Hope the Captain hasn't seen this one!"

Rusty rolled his eyes again, but sat on the ottoman that went with the chair anyway. "You know, I think we already know he was married." Although, he had to admit, the ex-wife was kind of pretty. She was a blond, and looked like she was absolutely nothing like Sharon. Tall, almost willowy, with bright blue eyes. Then they got to the baby pictures, but it was of Flynn's kids.

"Yeah." Provenza closed it. He decided it was boring. He tossed the album to Rusty and opened the next one. "Does he have nothing of himself? You know, before he got married?" All he found in the second album were more pictures of Flynn's kids. His nose wrinkled. Yeah, he'd seen those before. Most of them were copies of what was displayed through the house.

"If he's smart, he's got them hidden," Rusty muttered as the second album was shoved toward him.

"Ah hah! Now we're getting somewhere." They still weren't the pictures he was looking for. But he thought he might find something interesting in this album. It was mostly pictures from parties, special gatherings. There were some of Charlie in a baseball uniform, along with another boy that Provenza didn't recognize. The pictures now were fewer and farther, where the kids were concerned. He figured that was probably about right, about the time that Sarah stopped letting him see the kids so much. "Or not." Provenza scowled. They should have entered the booze days. He would have expected to find at least one embarrassing photo there, but not a one could be found in the album.

"You know," Rusty pointed out. "Maybe you're absolutely right, and these are the albums he doesn't care if anyone looks at. That's why you're not finding anything."

"You're probably right. That's disappointing." Provenza handed him the last two albums and leaned back. "We could check the bedroom…"

Rusty stood up with a sigh. "I am not snooping in Lieutenant Flynn's bedroom for you, and I don't think that you should either. Would you want him snooping in yours?"

"He's not at my house," Provenza pointed out with a smirk. "I'm at his. If he didn't want me snooping, he shouldn't have left me unattended."

"Technically speaking," Rusty lifted the albums to rearrange on the shelf. "You're not exactly unattended."

"Right." The Lieutenant wasn't convinced. He waved a hand at the floor when a photo slipped free. "Dropped one."

Rusty bent over and picked it up. He turned it over in his hand and stared. This one hadn't been secured in the album. It was tucked into the back cover he figured, like it had just been shoved there. He frowned as he studied it. It was well worn, like it had been handled a lot. Whatever they expected to find, this wasn't it. Rusty shook his head. "I think we should stop snooping now."

"What is it?" Provenza reached up and snatched it from him before he could put it back in the photo album. He read the back first. "Emily's sweet sixteen…" A frown drew his brows together. He turned the photo over in his hand. The photo was not only of a laughing sixteen year old. Instead, he was faced with his partner, smiling down at the brunette in his arms. She was leaning back against him, her face tipped toward him as they smiled at one other. She had a drink in one hand, and the other was extended toward his head, to tip back the Dodgers ball cap he was wearing. His partner's hand was splayed across her stomach, holding her in place, while the other was looped around the shoulders of a thin, pretty teenage girl.

The photo was obviously candid, but looked as though they had been planning to pose. Emily Raydor was laughing at her mother, who just happened to be the brunette in his partner's arms. There was something oddly painful about it. Perhaps it was how thin the photo was now, as though it had been removed from its hiding place many times over the years. It explained a lot, he supposed, in how Flynn knew both of the Captain's children, and knew them well. Not just the passing acquaintance he might have expected.

"I think you might be right," Provenza said quietly as he held the photo out for Rusty. "It might be a good idea if we stopped now." With a groan, he pushed himself up from the chair, and was grateful for the hand that the teenager placed at his elbow to help him.

Rusty watched him walk back to the recliner before he tucked the photo back into its hiding spot in the album. He returned to the sofa and sat down with a sigh. "Emily said she didn't think they were together before. She said they were friends. Not like they are now."

"No," Provenza agreed quietly. "I guess it wouldn't be." He leaned back in the recliner and closed his eyes. "Rusty, I think maybe it's just time to leave it."

The teenager watched him for a moment, and then he sighed. "You're not mad right? Because, you know, Emily and Ricky and I talked about it when they were here. None of us have ever seen Sharon happy like she is right now, except for them… and that's when Flynn was around before."

"Rusty." Provenza shook his head. "Just leave it. Whatever they want to do, just let them do it." He was giving up. At least, on trying to make them see the error of their ways. Obviously they'd been down this road before, from what he had seen. In his experience, some things were just best left unexplored, not understood, and generally… left alone was the best policy. He was deciding to file Flynn and the Captain in that category. If they screwed it up, so be it. They'd have to clean up the mess afterward. From now on, he just really didn't want to know. He sighed. "I'm not mad," he said, because he knew the teenager was waiting for that. "I'm…" He shook his head. He didn't want to discuss it. He was disappointed. All those years he'd been partners with Flynn, and never once had he mentioned having been involved with the dragon lady? The wicked witch? They'd made fun of her. They'd talked… well, they'd talked about her. It never came up in conversation. There were things he'd said that he might not have if he had known that his partner had once been involved with the woman, and no matter what her kids thought or said, it seemed seriously involved from what he had seen. "I'm going to take a nap," Provenza said. "Probably best the Captain doesn't know that we talked about it."

"Yeah." Rusty slumped down on the sofa with a sigh. "You're probably right." He glanced at him again and shook his head. He was really starting to wonder about the grownups in his life. They seemed to make everything way more complicated than it had to be. He opened his laptop and decided to let it go for the moment. The Lieutenant was right about one thing, Sharon wouldn't like him discussing it. Best to just not even think about it.

Whatever mood the Lieutenant lapsed into before his nap, it was gone after he woke up again. He was actually pretty chipper by the time Sharon and Andy returned later that evening. The way he grinned as they came into the living room made Rusty a little nervous. He had something planned.

That something, as it turned out, was the little item that he'd found stuck in the side or the recliner earlier. Provenza snatched it up from where it had been hidden beneath the newspaper. He let it dangle from one finger before he tossed it to the Captain. "I think I found something of yours. But, on the bright side, the chair is moving a lot better. That little gem was caught down the side here, on the lever. Pesky thing that lace."

Sharon caught it, and then held it in front of her. Her lips pursed and she turned slowly to Flynn. The look on her face was almost entirely indecipherable. Her brow arched as she looked up at him. Then she slapped it against his chest and folded her arms. "Something you'd like to tell me, Lieutenant?"

Her voice had gone like ice, and Rusty paled. His eyes went wide as he watched them. Lieutenant Flynn's eyes had gone wide. His jaw dropped open. He stared back at her as he fumbled to catch the bra that she had all but slapped him with. "Sharon…" He held his hands up, but when he realized it was hanging from his left, he dropped them quickly. "I can explain."

He sounded almost panicked himself, but Sharon wasn't having any part of it. Instead, she turned away from him. "You can save it. Rusty, get your things, we're leaving."

The teenager stared back at them. He shot a look at Lieutenant Provenza and then began to hurriedly push his belongings into his bag. "Okay…"

The Lieutenant's brows furrowed. That was certainly not the response he had expected. His eyes narrowed while he studied them. She had gone completely stiff, back straight as a rod. Oh hell, he thought. Dragon lady was back. "Now look," he began, immediately coming to his partner's defense. "There's really no telling how long that's been lost down there…"

"I really don't want to hear it." Sharon gestured for Rusty to hurry along. "Rusty, now please."

He grabbed his computer and was in the process of pushing it into his bag as he quickly rounded the sofa and walked toward the foyer. He was wisely keeping his mouth shut, but he risked a glance at Lieutenant Flynn and almost winced. This was not good. It was so, decidedly, not good.

"Sharon, dammit." He tossed his hands up, and the bra went with them. It got caught on the coat rack next to him and nearly pulled it over. For just a moment, Andy was tangled in both coat rack and bra as he fought to right one and free the other.

Sharon's lips pursed. Then she looked down and pressed a hand to her face. Her shoulders began to shake. Rusty took a step forward, worried for just a second that she might be really upset, to the point that she was actually crying. Then he heard her snort. Rusty rolled his eyes. "Seriously!"

Andy managed to get it free and tossed it at her. "Laugh while you can, Lady." But he chuckled along with her.

"At least," she cleared her throat, "we finally found it. It could have been worse."

"You're telling me. Nicole usually curls up there with the boys. Imagine trying to explain that one to a six year old!" Andy shook his head.

"You…" Provenza sputtered at them. He pointed, while his face turned red. "That…." His eyes narrowed. "You are not funny."

"Neither are you," Flynn pointed out. "Ya know, trying to embarrass me is one thing, but leave Sharon out of it, alright?"

"Andy." She took a step forward and ran a hand down his arm. "It's fine. We really should have spent more time looking. It's our own fault. We're very sorry if either of you were embarrassed."

"I'm not." Andy smirked. When Sharon rolled her eyes at him, he grinned crookedly at her.

"You wouldn't be." She smiled indulgently at him and stuffed the little garment in her jacket pocket. "We really do have to go. It's gotten late. How are you feeling, today?" She directed the last at the Lieutenant.

"Like I got shot," Provenza deadpanned. "Then someone ripped out some of my internal organs. How do you think I feel?" He shook his head at her. "What? I'm on vacation? Believe me, I could think of a far more interesting place to go!"

"Yeah," Andy grunted. "So could we." He reached for Sharon and took her hand. "I'll walk you out. You…" He waved a hand at Provenza. "Try not to cause anymore trouble in the next few minutes and maybe I'll feed you."

"Now he thinks I'm a house pet," The lieutenant complained.

Sharon chuckled quietly as they moved to the door. She handed her keys to Rusty so that he could go on ahead. Just inside the door, she turned back to Andy. "Don't be too hard on him. He's not used to being so far removed from everything."

"I'll think about it." Andy slipped an arm around her and drew her against him. "You could stay," he rumbled quietly. "Provenza isn't leaving that recliner, we could order some dinner, put the kid in the guest room. Sharon, it wouldn't be a problem."

"That really is tempting," she lay her hand against his chest. "But I really don't think that I should. Besides, Rusty has been here all day. I'm sure he wouldn't complain, but it wouldn't be fair. I should get him home."

"Yeah." He sighed. "You're probably right." Andy lowered his forehead to hers. "I'll see you in the morning for the guard exchange."

"Hm." She tipped her face up and kissed him, quickly, before stepping away. "You will. Unless something else happens. In which case, I'll just send Rusty over in his car and meet you at work." Which was probably what they should have been doing anyway, but it was an excuse to spend time together. "Good night, Andy."

"Good night." He watched her move through the door and down the walk. Andy didn't close his door until she was inside her car.

Sharon waited until she was in her car before she buried her face in her hands. The reaction was not one that she would have given Provenza the satisfaction of having seen. She as completely mortified. "He found it in the chair!"

In the passenger seat, Rusty slanted a look at her. He grinned. "Yeah." Then he snickered. "You should have seen him trying to get out of it when he realized what it was and who it probably belonged to. I was afraid he was going to bust his stitches or something."

She moaned. "Oh my god."

Rusty fought the urge to giggle outright. Even in the dim lighting from the street lights, he could tell that her face was a bright shade of red. "Sharon, I think it's okay. Just think of it as payback for all the crap he's been giving you lately."

"Oh Rusty…" Sharon shook her head and reached out to start the car. "I really wish that I could, and maybe I will later. Right now…" She was just going to wallow in her embarrassment, and maybe next time, she'd be more careful.

"The look on his face when you two started fighting about it," Rusty pointed out with a grin. "That was genius…"

Inside, the Lieutenant waited until the door closed before he chose to comment on the sickening display. "Oh my god," Provenza groaned. "Could the two of you be anymore sickening?"

Andy rolled his eyes as he walked toward the kitchen. "Oh shut up, or I'll feed you tofu."

"You know," Provenza grumbled after him. "There are rules about how you're supposed to treat people."

"Yeah," Andy yelled back. "It's called elder abuse."

"Or it's called my partner is a pain in the ass," Provenza muttered. He worked himself out of the chair, and that took a few minutes and a considerable amount of pain. Then he shuffled off toward the kitchen. He walked over to the fridge and reached in for a bottle of juice. After he closed it, he slapped something against the front and secured it with a magnet. "You are a complete moron."

Andy was standing at the counter, flipping through a variety of takeout menus. He glanced over and frowned. "Where the hell did you get that?" He walked over and took the photo down. He held it, and for a moment, he was lost in the memory. He could almost feel Sharon's laughing body against him as she admonished him for trying to wear his ball cap for the picture. A smile pulled at his lips. It had been a while since he'd seen this; he couldn't even remember the last time he had it out.

"It fell out of a book. I got bored," He waved off the discussion on exactly where, why, and how it had been found. Provenza had waited until Rusty was distracted and then he had retrieved it without the kid knowing about it. "It doesn't matter," he said, and leaned against the counter for support. "It's really not just a fling, is it?"

Andy chose not to answer, at least not immediately. Instead, he walked back over to the fridge and put the photo back up. He wondered if he had anymore, but didn't think it was likely. It was time to stop hiding them. "No," he said finally. "It's really not. That's what I've been trying to get through your thick head." Andy picked up the takeout menus again. "We're not just screwing around. We're both in this, for however long it lasts, but we'd kind of like it to last for a pretty long time."

Provenza shook his head. He sighed. "You know it's still a bad idea as long as you're working together?"

"Probably," Andy shrugged. "We think we can make it work. It is so far."

"Taylor may try to use it against her," He pointed out, in case they hadn't thought of that.

"He can try." Andy sighed. "As long as we're not stepping over any lines, there isn't a lot he can do. Besides," He rolled his eyes toward his partner. "Don't you think Sharon knows where all of those proverbial bodies are buried? He likes to toss his weight around with her, hell, he does it with everyone. He won't get too far out of line, I think even Taylor knows that if he crosses one, she's got him."

That was fairly sound logic. Provenza was almost surprised he'd thought about it. It certainly hadn't occurred to him, but then he didn't spend a lot of time thinking about what the Captain might, or might not do or be doing. "You know you're going to screw it up at some point? And she's not exactly always the easiest person to get along with."

"Yeah, well neither are you and…" Andy waved a hand at him. "Here you are." He tapped the takeout menus against the counter and sighed. "Look, I'm sure one of us is going to screw something up at some point. It happens. But if every relationship fell apart the first time some idiot pissed off his girlfriend, there would be a hell of a lot more single people in the world."

Provenza scowled at him for a moment, and then he nodded. "Alright." He turned and walked back to the living room to reclaim his place in the recliner. He was going to need a dose of the pain medication after that, but he had been due for it anyway.

Andy looked heavenward and prayed for patience. "Alright what?" He asked, and followed his partner back into the other room.

He rolled his eyes at him. Was his partner really that profoundly stupid? Provenza sighed. "Alright, have your girlfriend shift your damned personnel jacket under me, and we'll do what we can to keep you two morons from screwing up your lives, your jobs, and our whole team."

His brows lifted in surprise, while he leaned against the archway that connected the kitchen and living room. "What about that, you almost sound like you care."

Provenza sighed. "Don't push your luck, and for crying out loud, order something to eat will you? I'm starving."

"Yeah alright." Flynn pushed away from the door and walked back into the kitchen. "I'm working on it. Keep your pants on."

"I'm not the one losing my clothes around here," Provenza snorted.

Andy groaned. They were never going to hear the end of that one. Next time, he figured he'd just leave his partner to fend for himself with the ex-wives. Or, actually sweep the house for lost items of clothing the way he had been asked to do before bringing his partner home. Andy resolved that he wouldn't tell Sharon about that, and just maybe, after Provenza passed out later, he'd get right on that. Just in case there was anything else lurking around to be found.