AN: I hope you all liked how their killer was caught. Now let's see how the aftermath of it all will proceed.

Chapter twelve

Andy walked into the station. Angry as hell, that was the way to describe his mood. He had already been frustrated the evening before. Sharon had been a lot worse, than the picture she'd painted for him. Besides the stab wound, she had a few bruised ribs, and a bad concussion. Bed rest had been the order. Sharon hadn't seemed very willing to oblige that order, at least not until her father had walked into the room. The concerned look on his face, had made her more compliant. Or maybe it had been his stern frown. It surely had made an impression on him.

The man had not liked him. He couldn't really blame him, his daughter, his precious little girl, had been in danger, hurt, partially because of him. Andy had a little girl of his own. He'd hate any guy, who'd put her in danger. So he could understand he hadn't scored any points with Dr. Elliot.

From the hospital, he'd gone to the station. It hadn't improved his mood much, when he'd seen the others celebrate 'their' catch. This hadn't been their accomplishment. Mostly it had been Sharon's. She had been the one discovering the pattern. She had been the one coming up with this plan to catch the guy . She was the one in the hospital, because they hadn't backed her up. He hadn't been in the mood to celebrate. Most likely to punch someone in the face, if he'd stay any longer. So he'd gone home.

Walking upstairs he'd already heard these amazing stories about 'their' bust again. All he could think about was how they had fucked up, being Sharon's back up. He had wanted to visit her, but he didn't want to risk her father's scowl again, or meeting that prick Raydor. He'd call later, see how she was doing.

Hamilton looked cheerful.

"There you are.. What's with the grumpy look? I believed you'd be celebrating."

"Don't feel like it."

Hamilton studied Flynn. This wasn't anything like him.

"We'll get the guy to talk. Sanders and Dixon tried yesterday…"

"They were the first to question him?"

"You weren't around, Flynn."

"No, I was with Sharon at the hospital."

"How is she doing?"

"Bad concussion , bruised ribs and a stab wound to her stomach. All because Sanders and Dixon fucked up."

"What are you talking about?"

"This is Sharon's bust. We should have been the first ones in there with the guy."

"We're a team. This was a team effort."

"In a team people have each other's backs. When I got to the surveillance place, Sanders and Dixon were stuffing themselves with pizza. Neither of them listening in on the wire. They were Sharon's back up. They should have been alert. Instead they refused to listen in, because they didn't like her choice of music. That's why the UNSUB was able to throw her down the basement stairs and stab her. She fought this guy on her own for forty minutes, she could have died, because they fucked up!"

Sharon stared at Andy, witness of his outburst. So that's why no one had come. The wire hadn't been broken. It hadn't been a test. They hadn't waited for her to get some confession out of the guy. They just hadn't listened in. It hadn't been Andy's fault, still he had been the one to apologize. She sighed, ignoring the pain in her ribs, as her lungs pressed at them.

"The first moment there hadn't been any sound coming from her, I would have gone in. That girl's all about procedure, following the rules. I would have known something was wrong. They should have known. They should have listened in, dammit and they surely had no right whatsoever, to have a go at the guy, to have their piece of the pie. So don't talk to me about being a team. They didn't back her up, they didn't back up one of our team."

Andy seemed beyond anger to her. Frustration, anger, maybe even a bit of fear all combined in this rage of him. He called her part of their team. Yesterday he had congratulated her. She never believed, she'd get Andy Flynn's approval. She'd never believed, he'd sign off on her probation, but he had and now he called her part of his team. Maybe they'd both been a bit prejudiced.

"She's in the hospital, Hamilton. She got seriously hurt!"

So much emotion in his voice. Did he really care about her? This was so confusing. She took a few steps forward.

"I'm fine."

Andy turned around, eyes wide with surprise as the last one he'd expected was to hear Sharon.

"What are you doing out of the hospital? The doctor's ordered you bed rest."

He snapped at her, but she could only smile. She got to know Andy Flynn, he was only concerned and had no other way of showing it to her.

"I feel fine, had a great night of sleep. We've got a case to wrap up."

"So they even know you've left?"

"Of course. I checked myself out."

Andy rolled his eyes.

"I feel fine, really. Daddy over exaggerated a bit."

Andy quirked his eyebrow, but backed down as Sharon captured his eyes, staring him down.

"Great, so is our guy still in interrogation? Since my partner feels fine, it's time we have a go."

"He's not talking and I'm afraid he lawyered up. "

Andy shook his head.

"They fucked that up as well."

"We'll get him convicted for assaulting a police officer."

"Assault? More like an attempt to kill and what about the other women?"

"In time, we'll be able to get a confession out of him."

"My wire was taped, right?"

Had nobody bothered to listen to it yet?

"Yeah."

"Then we have a confession. He talked to me about his previous killings."

"We have to be careful, they could say you put words in his mouth…"

"Commander, I know I shouldn't be making suggestions in any way and I didn't. I let him do all the talking. Listen to the tape. I'm sure it'll hold up in court."

She sounded at least very confident. And maybe she could be. She was engaged to a lawyer. She was planning to go to law school herself one day. Maybe she knew enough about to law, to trick this guy into a rightful confession, which would hold up in court.

"Let's listen to that tape."

The rage in Andy only build up, while he'd listened to the tape. They should have backed her up, she'd been in serious danger. In the mean time all she'd been able to think about was nail that guy. She'd been smart, played on his need to be known. There was no way any lawyer could say she'd been leading him on.

"Told you it would hold up."

Sharon smiled and Andy felt like he could kiss her. She was brilliant, smarter than any of those morons outside, celebrating a bust, they hadn't really solved in the first place.

"You did a very good job, Officer Elliot.. Flynn would you excuse us for a moment?"

"Sure."

He smiled at Sharon, squeezing her shoulder, his eyes telling her 'great job, hon' .

Hamilton studied her, she seemed at ease with Andy. He wasn't sure about how much of his conversation with Flynn, she'd heard earlier.

"You really did a good job."

"Thank you, Commander. Was just making the best out of a dire situation. Besides I believed they were waiting for me to get some kind of confession out of him, before they'd come in."

A tight smile formed on her lips. So she had heard.

"I will have a talk with Sanders and Dixon…"

"I never believed it would be easy. I know I'm not liked. They rather see me go."

"Talking about that.. I asked you to think about your decision to ask for a transfer once this case was wrapped up. They'll stand in line for you now."

"I'm not too sure about that. Maybe the Captain's and Commanders will, but surely not the colleagues I need to work with."

"I want to keep you. Flynn's signed off on your probation. You're officially no longer a rookie. You're good at your job. You liked it, right? Working here?"

"Yes.. I like Homicide or I wouldn't have picked it after graduation. I just don't believe there's anyone out there, who'd be thrilled to have me as a partner and to be frank I didn't become a police officer to type up reports. "

"You already have a partner. Flynn and you worked well together. "

Sharon quirked her eyebrow. That wasn't how she would describe their working relationship. At least not in the beginning.

"It might not have been that easy in the beginning, but you got used to one another. I mean he signed off on your probation, I didn't pressure him to do so."

"Detective Flynn likes to work alone. He doesn't want a partner."

"Detective Flynn may have a big mouth, but he doesn't call the shots around here."

"I don't want to be forced down anyone's throat. I don't want to be Detective Flynn's partner, if he doesn't want me to be. .. I'll wrap up the report on this case and then I'll be taking a personal leave, figure out where to go."

Sharon raised from her chair, walking out of the office, not waiting to be dismissed. Hamilton could do one of two things. Tell Flynn to accept her as his partner, which she asked him not to. She would find out one day and he knew her well enough to know, she'd be stubborn enough to quit. Two, he could let her go. She didn't give him much of a choice, did she? He hated to see her go though.

This is not the end yet, I'm surprised myself, I said three more chapters, but there was another one. It was a little while ago when I wrote this.