Building A Family

Chapter 12

Andy was surprised when he pulled into the driveway to find Sharon's car already there. It was Friday and since they didn't have a case she had left early to take Caroline to ballet practice. They shouldn't be home yet especially if they stopped for ice cream afterwards like they usually did. Andy was still pretty impressed that in almost six months between the two of them they had only missed one ballet class and Nicole had happily taken her with her boys. This new addition to their lives required constant balancing but they were finding their way. Andy would never forget the morning that Cynthia came their house to discuss Caroline's future with them. He had felt a lot of emotions in the two years since he and Sharon had been together but he had never felt more proud of his family as he did that morning.

"Rusty, I told you to pick up your school stuff." Caroline your toys should be in the basket. Andy are you…."Andy could hear Sharon fussing from the living room. There was no doubt that his wife was about two minutes from a full-fledged rampage. If he didn't intervene nobody would be safe. He carefully approached her in the living room. "Good Moring" he said with a grin trying that approach first. Knowing full well he had told her a very proper good morning an hour ago. That mood was clearly gone by the glare that she sent him. "This place is a mess I knew we should have cleaned more last night." She said running around putting things in baskets. When she passed by him he took the basket from her and set it down and pulled her to him. "Stop" he told her. "It is going to be fine Cynthia doesn't care if our college age son is studying or if the 3 year old has been playing with toys. In fact I think those are both considered good things. Our home looks fine. It looks like a lot of people with a lot of love live here." He looked at her and could see her face was starting to soften. "I'm just nervous" she whispered. Andy rubbed the back of her head as she laid it on his shoulder. "I know, I am too" he told her. She leaned back and looked at him, "I love you Andrew Flynn." She told him before kissing him. The doorbell rang a second later and Sharon jumped from his arms. "She's early!" she exclaimed. "It's all right" he told her kissing her quickly before going to answer the door.

He was surprised when he opened it to see it wasn't Cynthia but, Emily, Nicole, and Steven standing there. "What are you guys doing here? " He asked. They pushed their way past him into the house. "We figured the social worker should meet Caroline's family." Emily said. "Dean will be here after he drops the boys at school' Nicole added. "Yep and Sharon check your Skype, Ricky should be..." Steven started to say but Sharon's laptop started to chime, "calling". "Guys you didn't have to do this." Sharon started. "No, we didn't have to Mom but we wanted too." Ricky said from the computer.

Needless to say Cynthia was surprised to see the entire family there when she arrived. Nicole made everyone coffee and Andy settled Caroline with a movie in the living room while everyone else gathered in the dining room. "So I gather that you all have decided that you would like to make this a long term arrangement." Cynthia said with a bit of a smile. "Yes, Cynthia, we want to be Caroline's long term foster parents." Sharon said. "While also starting the process to adopt her as soon as we are able" Andy finished taking Sharon's hand in his. Cynthia looked at them, "Are you both sure? What about the things we discussed before how will you balance it all?" she asked them

"That's where we all come in." Rusty spoke up first. "I am live in back up"

"Yes Rusty but eventually you will move out" Cynthia said

"And I live two miles away." Said Emily

"We are less than 15 minutes from here with two children of our own close in age to Caroline" Nicole told her.

"Basically," Ricky spoke up from the laptop, "We are here to tell you that we have our parent's backs. We are a family and we all want Caroline to be part of that family."

Cynthia turned back to Sharon and Andy, "This is some family the two of you have built here. I think Caroline would be lucky to be a part of it" she told them

"No, we are lucky to have her as part of it" Sharon told her

"Well the adoption process is a little more complicated this time around since she's a minor of course but since as far as we can tell she has no other family. In her parents' will she was left to the Grandmother who is also now deceased. In short I don't see any reason why in six months she won't be legally yours forever."

Andy smiled as he remembered that day as he made his way into the kitchen. Sharon was sitting at the table with a mug of tea. "Hey, you guys are home early. What's up?" he asked her before kissing her. "We didn't go to ballet today." Sharon said with a frown in a tone Andy knew meant she wasn't pleased with something. "Why not? Is Caroline feeing all right?" he asked with concern. "Oh, she's not sick. Your daughter is currently serving time for assault and insubordination." She told him flatly.

Andy raised his eyebrows at her and sat down at the table. "Well, insubordination is certainly nothing new in this family." He said with a chuckle.

"Andy, it's not funny. She hit another child on the playground and pushed him down. Then when the teacher reprimanded her she told her, "I don't have to listen to you my mommy is in charge of the police." Sharon told him

Andy could not contain his laughter at the last part. "Andrew you are not helping" she said glaring at him.

He took her hand in his and looked her in the eyes, "Honey, its boundary testing Dr. Joe said to expect more of this as we get closer to the adoption being finalized."

Sharon let out a sigh, "I know, I just can't believe she assaulted someone."

"Sharon she's four. Now I'm hardly an expert but I think that's pretty normal, right?" he asked her.

"Yes, I just think I was better at this twenty years ago." She said.

"Hey, what did Joe tell us? Clear, consistent, loving boundaries, consequences for breaking them praise and rewards when she makes the right choices. I think you did great today. I think we are doing great in general."

Sharon smiled at him and hummed a little, "I know I just hate that she had to miss ballet. She does love it."

Andy looked at his wife and suddenly realized it had been a really long time since they had been out. "Where's Rusty?" he asked. "I think he's in the living room passed out from finals, why?" she asked him

Andy got up and went into the living room, "Hey, Rusty" he called out. "Hey Dad" came the muffled response from the couch. Andy smiled Rusty had made the slow transition to calling he and Sharon Mom and Dad almost all of the time now. "What are you doing tonight?" he asked his son. "Nothing, Eric is working. I might go to his place when he's done but that won't be until midnight." He told him. "Great, you have your sister for the evening I'm taking your mom out." He pulled some money from his wallet and gave it to him, "When she's done serving time you can take her to get some dinner" he laughed.

Andy walked back into the kitchen, "Should we go talk to the suspect?" he asked his wife. She smiled at him feeling better since they talked. They found Caroline playing in her room, "Hey pumpkin" Andy said looking around the pink room decorated with ballerinas. They had redone it for her birthday in February. 'Daddy!" She yelled running to his arms with a hug. "Mommy wouldn't let me got to ballet" she said. "Why not?" Andy asked waiting to hear her story. The girl looked down for a minute, "Because I got in trouble at school" she said. "Caroline, can you please tell us what happened." Sharon asked softly sitting down on her bed as the girl left Andy's arms and crawled into her lap. "Kevin said you aren't my real Mommy and Daddy and one day you would get rid of me." She told them as she started to cry.

Sharon's heart broke "Oh, Baby Girl, we love you and we are never getting rid of you and remember what we talked about before. Families are made a lot of different ways. Our family has been made a lot of ways and you are being made a part of it the same way Rusty was and it will be forever."

They sat with Caroline for a few minutes and talked. Then Andy said, "All right Pumpkin, I'm taking Mommy out on a date tonight and Rusty is going to take you for dinner. Why don't you go find him?"

"Yay!" Caroline said running to find her brother.

"You're taking me on a date?' Sharon asked him in surprise.

"Yes, it's been way to long. So why don't you go change into something that doesn't say sexy police captain."

Sharon rolled her eyes at him and teased him back, "I thought you liked that look."

Andy leaned in and kissed her running his hand up under the hem of her skirt lightly running his fingers on the inside of her thigh, "Oh trust me I do, but tonight I just want my sexy wife." Sharon pushed him away with a laugh "All right, I think I can make that happen."

An hour later Andy felt his heart skip a beat as Sharon came down the stairs. She was wearing a light purple dress she had bought for their honeymoon last summer. It was sleeveless and shorter than anything she would wear to work, and it had a whole in the back so that whenever Andy put a hand on her he could touch her skin. "Will this do Mr. Flynn?" She asked him lightly. Andy looked away from her for a second and over at Rusty and said, "Have your sister in bed and asleep when we get home and I will buy you and Eric tickets to that concert you were talking about the other night." Sharon rolled her eyes. Rusty laughed, "Deal" he said. Andy turned his attention back to Sharon, "Come on Beautiful, you deserve a night out."

Sharon hadn't realized how badly they needed a night out. They ate and talked and laughed. About half way through dinner Andy got a text from Rusty: Met up with Em we took Caroline to dinner. Now Em is taking Caroline to spend the night at her place. I'm going to Eric's. Do I still get the tickets? Sharon raised an eyebrow as a huge smile crossed Andy's face as he responded to the text: front row. "What's going on?" Sharon asked him suspiciously. Andy took her hand and kissed it lightly, "It appears Mrs. Flynn that we have our home to ourselves until tomorrow" Sharon looked at him with surprise, "Really?" "Yes Emily has Caroline. So the question now is do you still want to go listen to music somewhere or do you want to go home?" he asked her with a teasing smile. Sharon leaned in and gave him a lingering kiss before she whispered in his ear, "Andrew Flynn, take me home right now."

They had barley closed the front door when Sharon felt Andy's arms come around her. He pulled her back against him and started to kiss her neck. "You know we've had so few nights to ourselves in this house. We haven't made proper use of some of these room downstairs." He whispered in her ear while he undid the button at the top of her dress and pushed the straps off her shoulders and he continued kissing her neck and shoulders. Sharon let out a hum before saying, "Do you want to move out of the foyer at least?" Andy looked around trying to decide on the closest room. He pulled her into the study while unzipping the rest of her dress. Sharon undid his tie and shirt before moving to his belt. Eventually they found their way to the small sofa. After the initial heat and hurry Andy slowed down. Taking time to kiss and touch every part of her. "Andy, please" she eventually said breathlessly when she couldn't wait any longer. He smiled down at the sight of her wondering if he had any idea just how beautiful she was at that moment. Andy kissed her slowly one more time before eventually giving her the release she was looking for.

The next morning Sharon didn't wake up until Andy brought her breakfast. "Beautiful, it's time to wake up." He said softly. Sharon stretched and Andy smiled at the sight of her still naked from last night. She had gotten up at one point to put something on and he had said, "Don't, nobody is going to disturb us and I want to feel you all night." She smiled over at him knowing exactly what he was thinking, "Do you suppose I could have a shirt while I eat my breakfast?" She asked him. "Yes, but please understand I don't plan on it staying on too long." He teased tossing her one of his t-shirts.

After they ate, they made love again and showered together. After they finished dressing Sharon wrapped her arms around Andy and leaned into him, "Thank you." She said. "For what?" He asked her. "For knowing what I need."

They decided to pick Caroline up from Emily's and take her out for the day. They went to their pier and let her ride all of the kiddie rides. They all three rode the ferris wheel and played the games. They kept trading up prizes until Caroline had the large pink unicorn that she wanted. "I could have bought her one at the store for less." Andy laughed. When they got home Andy started dinner while Sharon got Caroline bathed and changed. They sat at the kitchen table and ate. It was getting close to Caroline's bedtime when she asked if they could have a movie night. So the three of them settled on the couch with one of Caroline's favorite movies. The girl was quickly asleep and Sharon found herself dozing off to. Caroline was laying in her lap and she was laying in Andy's arms. Before she fell asleep completely she looked at Andy and told him "Thank you for knowing what we all needed."

They hadn't been at work long on Monday when Sharon's phone rang. It was Cynthia. Every time she called Sharon's heart alternated between hope and dread. Was it time to finalize things or had a relative been found? "Captain Flynn" Sharon answered. "Hi Captain, I wanted to let you and the Lieutenant know that we are ready to finalize. In fact we can do it next week if you are ready." Sharon felt tears start to form in her eyes. "Yes, of course. When?" Sharon asked. "What about next Monday June 8th?" Cynthia asked. Sharon smiled when she heard the date. It looked like they would be adopting a child for their first anniversary.

Sharon rushed in to the murder room where Andy and Provenza were arguing about the Dodgers. "Andy, what did you have anything planned for anniversary?" Sharon smiled briefly at the confused look on his face because that was something she would not normally bring up at work. "Well, umm.." he started and Sharon noticed that Provenza was taking great pleasure in watching his friend squirm. "Don't worry about it. I just made us plans." She said. "OK, what?" he asked confused. "I thought we could finalize Caroline's adoption." She answered him breaking out in a huge smile as he pulled her into a hug. "Idiots, you are both idiots" Provenza said, "But pretty damn lucky idiots" he finished

A week later, exactly one year after he married them the judge who had finalized Rusty's adoption finalized Caroline's. This time both their work family and the family they had built stood with them. He looked at them and smiled as he said, "Caroline Marie Flynn, welcome to your family."

A/N So did you catch the nod to the season 4 premier date? I just couldn't help myself . The next chapter will most likely be the last. Thank you so much to everyone who has read and commented!