Set soon after the Hindsight arc, in between seasons 4 and 5. :)

My mom... and her boyfriend

When he opened the door to the condo he was greeted by darkness. On closer inspection, he noticed there was a dim light coming from the TV, low voices emanating from it, too. He briefly considered turning the lights on, but when he took two steps towards the living room and when his eyes fell on the couch, just barely making out two apparently sleeping forms there, he thought better of it.

He gently dropped his bag onto the floor and got out of his shoes. He'd rather just go to his bedroom, but the couch wasn't that comfortable for him to sleep on, a young man in his early twenties, it would most certainly not be for the two occupying it now. He should wake them up.

He quietly made his way into the living room. When he saw them, he silently flopped into the chair next to the couch, taking in the sight in front of him.

It was still weird for him, seeing them like this. It's not that he disliked it. Or as if they were constantly, inappropriately, all over each other. He just had no idea how to act around them, especially if they were all lovey dovey. He simply never was one for public displays of affection. But he was less awkward about it now, he thought. He had made a conscious effort to try acting more normal around them. He didn't know if it was because he really was used to, not just the idea of them, but also to being around them and seeing them together, or, if maybe being with Gus now provided him with a better perspective, but he definitely felt more comfortable around them. Most of the time. There were still some things that made him cringe or look away, because, let's face it, that's his mom, and there are some things no kid wants to imagine or see his parent doing. Not that he saw anything disturbing, he shuddered at that thought, but he really hoped it was understandable. At least his mom didn't give him any grief about it, so he figured that at least she understood. And at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.

Right now, though, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of them. But he really should wake them up.

They must have been sitting next to each other before they fell asleep. Andy was actually still sitting, legs stretched out under the coffee table, head resting on the back of the couch. How the man didn't snore at that angle, was beyond him. He didn't know what to call Sharon's position though. How she managed to stay asleep in that position was an even bigger mystery. She had her feet tucked in underneath her, legs bent sideways so that her knees were resting against the side of Andy's thigh. She must have been leaning back with her head against his right shoulder while they were still awake, because she was now awkwardly hunched over and her head rested somewhere against the middle of his chest. Her hair was all over the place, too. But her glasses were still, miraculously, safely perched on her nose. Andy must have had his right arm behind her on the backrest of the couch, because it seemed to have slipped when they fell asleep, and it was now resting on top of Sharon's bent back. He couldn't see her left arm, but he had often seen her slip it behind Andy around his waist, so he assumed it was there now, too. He mentally winced thinking about her poor shoulder for which this could not have been a comfortable position either.

When his eyes landed on their hands, he couldn't help but think that they looked rather adorable. Those two hands were probably the only part of their bodies which would not scream with stiffness once he woke them up. They had their fingers intertwined and the resulting bundle of two hands was safely resting on top of Andy's right thigh, where he assumed it was resting even before they dozed of.

He was loathe to wake them. Not because it felt awkward, it didn't really, but because they seemed so at peace, so content. It's been a couple of weeks since they wrapped up that gang case of theirs or whatever it was, and things were back to normal at work, well, as normal as it ever got for them. They no longer spent almost all of their time at work like they did during that case. They were making up for lost time now. Well, at least it seemed that way to him, because they were spending a lot of time together outside of work again and they hadn't at all during the case. They were spending a lot more time together actually, he suddenly realized. He also realized that that realization did not bother him at all.

He got up to his feet. He really should wake them. He grew stiff just watching them like that. He bent over slightly to wake Sharon first, when Andy stirred.

He groaned, and lifted his head. His eyes were probably on their way to Sharon, but when they first fell on him, he let out a surprised, but whispered, "Rusty?"

Rusty straightened up to look at the Lieutenant. "I was just gonna wake you. That," he waved a hand at them, "doesn't look comfortable." He was whispering the same way Andy was.

Andy closed his eyes and stifled a yawn. "Yeah, it really isn't." He looked down at Sharon, who was still sound asleep. "Sharon?" he called gently.

Rusty took a step back, maybe it was a bit awkward after all, "Er, I'll just," he pointed a finger at the hallway, but before he could finish the sentence, he heard Sharon's sleepy, "Rusty?"

"Morning, Mom," he told her and smiled at his joke.

She lifted herself up and leaned against the back of the couch now, not letting go of Andy's hand or pulling her arm out from behind him. "What time is it?" she asked looking at Andy now.

He just shrugged and gave Rusty a look. He quickly answered, "Almost midnight."

She groaned and rolled her neck making both Rusty and Andy chuckle. "Not comfy," Rusty said, giving Andy an amused smile.

Andy let his head fall back on the back of the couch briefly, and when he lifted it again, he, too rolled his neck.

He dropped a kiss to the side of Sharon's head then and pulled his arm out from behind her back, where it got stuck when she sat up. "Come on," he tugged on the hand he was still holding and started getting to his feet.

Rusty took another step back. "I'm off to bed then." He turned around and made for his room.

"Wait," Sharon suddenly said, more alert now. "I thought you were staying with Gus tonight?" she asked when Rusty turned around. He had almost reached the hallway. She was standing next to Andy now, who was fumbling with the TV remote. They've managed to keep hold of each other's hands and had switched sides.

He sighed. Even half asleep she needed to know everything. "Somebody got sick at work so Gus got stuck with an early shift tomorrow." He was glad his disappointment didn't seep into his voice. Gus was supposed to have the day off tomorrow, but they called him a couple of hours ago to ask if he could fill in, so they had to cancel their plans.

But when Sharon gave him a long look, he thought she probably heard it, or saw it, or whatever else seemed to give him away so that she always knew absolutely everything about him. She made no additional comment though, she only said, "Oh, okay, goodnight then."

"Goodnight," he turned towards his room and heard Andy bidding him goodnight, too. Halfway down the hall he remembered he left his bag next to the front door, so he turned around to fetch it before Sharon could get on his case about leaving stuff lying around again.

Sharon's "Let's go to bed," had him lift his head up just as he started bending down to pick up his bag, and he simply couldn't help but pull a face at the sight that greeted him when his eyes landed on her, or them. Honestly, there was nothing awful about what he saw, but it just wasn't something he was comfortable witnessing. Maybe what made him uncomfortable was that it sometimes felt like he was intruding on certain intimate moments. He knew Sharon would assure him he never was or would be intruding on them, but the feeling was simply there sometimes, he couldn't help it.

Sharon and Andy had moved to stand in front of the end table next to the couch and they had their arms wrapped around each other's waists. He heard Andy mumble, "Okay," and saw him press his lips to his mother's forehead in a rather lingering kiss. She closed her eyes and hummed contentedly.

When they started pulling apart, Rusty quickly bent down so as to not get caught staring and reached for his bag. When he straightened up, Sharon had noticed him and given him a questioning look. They were no longer embraced, but each had an arm around the other. "Forgot my bag," he mumbled and turned to walk down the hallway again, leaving them behind.

Seriously, there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of it. They were a couple. Couples hug, hold hands, kiss and... He shook his head. He didn't need to go there. But it was all perfectly normal, he thought as he entered his room.

Only, that was Sharon, his mother, adoptive mother, sure, but in all the ways that mattered, she was his mom.

And it wasn't like he wasn't happy for her. He really was, she was still the same Sharon, only happier and more relaxed. She smiled a lot more lately and that alone made him happy for her.

But come on, who didn't feel just a little bit awkward about seeing his mom like that, with her, he mentally groaned, boyfriend?

That was perfectly normal, too. "Right?" he worriedly asked his empty room.

Just an attempt at getting into Rusty's head. Does it make any sense?