He couldn't stop glancing down at his gym bag. Provenza had already asked him why he was infatuated with a smelly gym bag, and Andy had deflected that conversation. He knew he needed to focus on his reports; he had plenty of work to do, but that stupid sweatshirt was sticking out of his gym bag. He hadn't even worn it, but it was there, just taunting him.

Andy had last shared that sweatshirt with Sharon after the freak monsoon that had popped up during the baseball game, now three days ago. He should have done something, anything, really. He had messed up, and he just wanted to go back in time and do things differently. Sharon had surprised him, surprised him that she seemed to reciprocate the growing feelings he was having for her. "It's reciprocated," he kept hearing her say in her low, almost sexy voice, certainly not a tone he'd heard her use at work. It had been that fast-she'd said that, kissed him, and she was gone, not a single glance back at him. He knew too because he'd sat there, just staring at her as she walked into her building. He sat there long after too, almost wishing, hoping she would reappear again. She didn't, and he knew now he'd messed up. He hadn't done anything. He'd frozen, not sure whether to call, text, email, or go after her. Instead, he'd done NOTHING. He'd sat there in his car for at least a half hour, thinking over everything, trying to figure out everything, until he realized he was utterly confused and unsure of what to do. Now, it was an embarrassing three days later, and he'd been radio silence with Sharon. In his defense, she'd been the same way. She certainly was a mystery to him, and her actions were leaving him in a state of turmoil.

A paper wad landed on his desk, and he turned and rolled his eyes at Provenza, "What?"

"Done with that report?" Provenza asked, gesturing for it. Andy sighed and stood, the report in hand.

"I finished it 10 minutes ago," he said, walking across the room and dropping it on his desk. "Done with your crossword for today?"

"I might be if I wasn't tracking down reports," Provenza said, clearly irritated. Andy gestured at him and started back to his desk. He paused, as did everyone, when they heard heels clicking in the hallway. He looked to the chief's office, and yes, as he thought she was still working. That could only mean one person with heels sounding like that walking around Major Crimes. He snapped his head up as she walked in, Gavin Baker at her side.

Andy saw her eyes dart around the room, and he could tell they glanced toward his desk. His eyes met hers when she spotted him, obviously out of place, and she locked eyes with him for just a moment before Gavin started speaking and captured her attention. Andy put his hands in his pockets and stood there by Julio's desk.

"Ahh, my favorite crime unit," he said sarcastically. "I just keep seeing all of you."

"Gavin," Andy nodded to him, almost an acknowledgement from the whole team. "Just a guess that you are here to see the chief."

"Right you are, Lieutenant," he smirked. "I've been saying you're a sharp one-your mind and your dress," he smirked his eyes glancing at Andy.

Andy rolled his eyes, "Anytime we have Chief and Stroh in the same conversation, it's no surprise you show up, both of you," he nodded to Gavin and then looked over at Sharon. She had put her hands in her jacket pockets, and she nodded to the team.

"Gentlemen, we will be with Chief Johnson," she stated and let her eyes linger on Andy just a moment. He stood there, looking back at her, and then, the pair walked toward Brenda's office.

"Chief is digging a hole," Julio said under his breath, just loudly enough for the team to hear. Andy nodded as he walked back to his desk, hoping to catch a glance of Sharon in the chief's office. Instead, he caught the chief, up from her desk, shutting her blinds. As Andy sat down, he caught sight of Sharon, seated in the office with Gavin. Work was tense, and right now, it had nothing to do with his developing feelings for a certain captain.

The rest of the day passed without incident, but without any conversation with Sharon either. She and Gavin left the chief's office with the chief, all probably on their way to Pope's office. As the day was winding down, Andy decided to make a cup of coffee for his evening. He had plans to attend a meeting before going home, and the coffee at his meetings was usually awful. He nodded to Provenza as he walked by, his travel mug in hand, and he wasn't surprised to find Provenza following him.

"Coffee for your meeting?" Provenza asked as he followed Andy into the break room. Andy nodded and walked to the machine.

"Tired, and these last couple weeks here with Chief," Andy shook his head. "She's digging a deep hole, Provenza. I'm not sure she's going to get over this fascination with Stroh."

"Well, we can agree on that, and as long as we are on fascinations or really infatuations, what is going on with you?" Provenza said, pulling up a stool to sit across the counter from Andy. "I'm not stupid, Flynn."

"What do you mean?" Andy asked, eyebrows raised as he poured water into the coffee pot. "I'm not following."

"Yesterday, to start, you made some comment about the game from the weekend, the rain," he gestured. "You stopped yourself because you realized you were admitting to being there." Andy gave him a quick glance, and he looked back to the coffee pot. "I'm also good at my job and can't help but see the stares you are giving the captain, Flynn, THE CAPTAIN," he said loudly, his cheeks turning red, "every single time she walks into the room. Spill it."

Andy sighed and put his hands on the counter, "You know, I really despise you sometimes."

"Feeling is mutual, nothing I didn't know or agree with myself regarding you. Continue," Provenza said quickly, gesturing at Andy.

"We kissed," Andy shrugged, dropping his head to look at the floor. "We kissed after the Dodger game. Sorry I didn't go with you; I took her. I like her Provenza."

"Are you out of your mind? It's the captain! She's married, you fool!" Andy exclaimed.

"I'm well aware!" Andy said. "She's also been legally separated a long time. Look, I've learned a lot about her the last months. It's been longer than you think. I first showed up there, almost drunk back before Christmas!"

"Before Christmas! It's July!" Provenza almost yelled and dropped his voice. "Are you sleeping with the captain?"

"No! I told you we've kissed. That's it, and that just happened a couple days ago. We've become friends. Back before Christmas, I went there actually looking for Jack. It was after that case with Gracie. I wanted to drink, and I figured I'd drink with my old pal, Jack. It's something I regret, but at the same time, I really started to get to know Sharon."

"Sharon," Provenza said, throwing up his arms. "You've personalized her!"

"She is a person, a great one, and I was wrong to think Jack was a decent human being. That night, I'm very grateful to her. She kept me from drinking, even was pretty hard on me, but since then, we've talked several times. I even have asked her advice about Nic's wedding. Recently, we started going to different events, outings," he shrugged, "together. It's been good."

"What outings?" Provenza said, eyeing him.

"She offered me tickets to the symphony, really for Nic and me. Nic couldn't go, so Sharon and I went. We went a second time, and then, we just went to the Dodger game. I'm hoping to take her to dinner."

Provenza shook his head, "You're a bigger idiot than I thought. Trying to get on her good side isn't going to help you at work. She's all over our division."

"She's all over Chief because as you and I both just discussed, Chief continues to mess up. She's on thin ice, and we know that. Sharon is a good cop, and she actually wants to help Chief. We haven't even talked about it, but I've stepped back to look at this, and I can see it. Sharon cares, and I care about her."

"She's going to make life miserable for you, for all of us, when you sleep with her and discard her. That's not going to work with this one. She's not some flight attendant or girl we usually pick up from the beach. She works here, and you can't sleep with her and expect things to stay the same."

"That's not the goal!" Andy exclaimed, gesturing with his hands. "I mean, sure," he said with a small smile as his mind wandered, "would I like to sleep with her? Oh, yeah," he nodded. "That thought has crossed my mind, but I respect her too. She's fun to be around, and I just like myself when I'm around her. That's the kind of relationship I want."

"It's worse than I thought," Provenza huffed. "You want a relationship with her? Flynn, even I didn't think that's where this conversation was going."

"Yeah, well, if you had told me that back in December, I wouldn't have either. I admit that I'm lonely, but she is too. It's like we have found we have a lot in common through all this. We like being together. I don't know what the future holds. I mean, I can't even decide what to do since she kissed me."

"She kissed you?" Provenza asked, eyebrows raised. "You weren't even man enough to do that. That almost doesn't surprise me," he chuckled. "She runs the show for everything, even kissing your sorry self."

"Would you stop? We were talking, and it just happened," Andy stated. "I haven't decided what to do with that."

"So, you're just letting this sit? No wonder she was staring you down earlier!" Provenza exclaimed.

"She was staring at me?" Andy smiled, his eyes sparkling.

"It was hard to see, yes," Provenza said, rolling his eyes. "Are you going to tell the chief?"

"What's to tell right now?" Andy shrugged. "We saw how well she did with Daniels and Gabriel. We're not even some couple. No, I'm not going to say anything. There's nothing to say. A kiss is just a kiss."

"I swear this is going to come back and bite you, all of us," Provenza pointed at Andy. "I'm warning you."

"Sure, whatever," Andy shrugged. "I warned you not to sleep with Liz again after that dog of hers ate her ring, but you did anyways, for some time after that. How about we just agree to disagree."

"Don't bring up Liz! That's totally different," Provenza pointed out.

"Why is it different? You were married to her, so it's okay to go back for the quickie now and then? Nope, I'm not buying that. Here, I have a chance at a real adult relationship, and I'm going to ask you just keep your mouth to yourself. I won't share, and I won't ask your opinion. Deal?" Andy looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"Great," he huffed, gesturing at Andy, "you're even offering deals like she does."

Andy continued through his evening, his mind often wandering to thoughts of Sharon. He'd really messed up and didn't know how to proceed. He felt stupid and knew he needed to face the problem head on; he needed to call her. After suffering through a second meeting, because tonight, it did feel like he was suffering through the meeting, he barely said a word to anyone as he made his way to his car. Even that brought back thoughts of her, of Sharon, from when he'd been stabbed. She'd been firm, but kind to him, even if back then he just wanted to argue with her. He'd believed she was out to get him, to make things not what they really were, but it was easy to see now that she was just doing her job, and even more, was being kind. He glanced at his dashboard; it was late, but he resolved to call her when he got home. This wasn't the type of conversation to have as he drove through Los Angeles.

Andy was shocked as he pulled into his driveway to find Sharon parked in front of his house. He almost ran over his bushes because he was staring at her car and not paying attention to his driving. As he got out of his car, she climbed out of hers and walked across his lawn toward him.

"What are you doing here?" Andy asked when he found his voice. He had his suit coat slung over his arm, and he noted she had taken off her suit coat and just had on a blouse and a skirt. He couldn't stop staring at her lips, her hair, imagining running his hands through her hair while he kissed those lips again. He focused on her, though; she'd driven all the way to his house.

"Hot date?" she teased, nodding to his car, almost a hesitant expression on her face. "I've been here a couple hours."

"Really?" he sighed, shaking his head. Sharon started toward the steps, and he followed, almost like this was a normal occurrence. She sat on the steps, stretching out her long legs, and he sat down next to her, their shoulders almost touching.

"I didn't come to your condo to pursue you, you know?" he said turning toward her. "None of this was something I planned, something I'm trying to get out of you."

"I know," she nodded and interlocked her hands over her knees as she readjusted. "I didn't offer the symphony tickets, the first ones," she clarified as her eyes met his, "to lure you on some date."

Andy raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Okay, what about the second ones?"

"What about the baseball game?" she fired back at him, the two now looking at each other. Andy finally broke and started to chuckle as he dropped his head. It was a lovely summer evening, and the temperature was just perfect to sit outside.

"Okay, maybe I was figuring things out," he admitted.

"Maybe I was too, or maybe I wasn't sure I wanted to figure out things," Sharon stated. "I do apologize I was called out for a case that night. I was rather looking forward to the symphony and dinner."

Andy frowned slightly, "Could have fooled me. You kept telling me dinner wasn't necessary."

"I did," she nodded as she admitted it. "Dinner meant real conversation, outside of work talk, family talk, all of it, and I'm not sure I was then ready for that. It meant admitting there was more to our outings than just a set of tickets."

"Okay," Andy nodded. "I need to confess that Provenza wasn't busy for the Dodger game. In fact, he wanted to go to the game with me, but I wanted to take you. I guess it seemed like a simple way to spend time with you, almost like a date without looking like a dinner date. I've been realizing for some time like you, Sharon," he said, his eyes meeting hers as they sat there.

"You're the first man who has made me want to deal with my past," she admitted, stating the words slowly as she glanced at him. Their eyes locked momentarily, and Andy nodded before he spoke again.

"So, tell me," Andy said, changing subjects, as he scraped his foot along his step and looked at it, "Chief is in real trouble, yes?"

Sharon pursed her lips and tilted her head toward him, her long hair hanging down, framing her face, "I drove all the way here, sat in my car for two hours, and you want to talk about work, specifically your chief?"

Andy shrugged, "I could see it in your face, Gavin's face too, that Chief is digging a hole, a big one. Provenza and I are worried."

"As you should be," Sharon said, pursing her lips as she nodded.

"You still think there's a leak?" Andy asked.

"You still at odds with your ex?" Sharon asked, eyeing him.

"Okay, so that's an 'absolutely' to answer both questions," he said, glancing at her. "Look, I'm not sure what we do here."

Sharon, with her hands still wrapped around her knees, looked at Andy again, "What would you like to do? I mean," she sighed, "with me?"

"Oh, well," he flashed a grin, "I mean, I am a guy, after all. I can think of a lot of things I'd like to do with you, to you," he tilted his head back and forth in a joking tone.

Sharon started to laugh, and she reached over and swatted at his arm, "I'm not good at this. I don't have some long dating record. That's why I asked you, the expert," she said with a solid nod.

"Listen," he frowned, "I think a lot of what you've heard about me is just talk, a lot, not all," he admitted. She kept her eyes trained on him while he continued. "I certainly have dated; I've been single now over 20 years. I haven't had a lot of relationships, and while we haven't discussed specifics, I guess what I'm trying to say is that after all this time, I think I'm looking for one, a relationship. I'm kinda over the one-night things, the casual dates, the women-many of whom are younger. One of the things I think I've realized about you that I like is that you, we, for one, have a lot in common. You're set in your career, and you've raised your family. I guess the first thing we discuss is what you want because we may not want the same things, and that's okay."

Sharon nodded as she listened, and when Andy turned his attention to her, she gestured with her hands, "I hope I'm not overstepping here," she paused and shook her head. "I'm not sure that's the right word, but I hope I can explain myself. I'm not sure what I want, what this might be with us. You do something to me," she smiled warmly at him. "I can't explain it, but you make me want to take action. It's been a very long time since I've felt that feeling. I've been okay with my life because it was fine, okay," she added. "I don't like how things are anymore. I want something different. I want to feel alive again," she said with a small shrug. "I suppose that I want to feel like a desirable woman, and I haven't felt that in years. I somehow was okay with letting that feeling go. For so long, I was okay with being just mom or just a police officer; Jack left me, and it took a long time to get my life in order, to pick up myself, but I did. I suppose during that, I lost some of my identity, and I didn't even see it slip away. I was focused on my kids, my career. Something with you," she shook her head, "I've gone out on a few dates, people I knew or a friend of a friend situation. None of those ended well. I guess I could finish the night content still being alone, but something changed recently. I can't even put my finger on it, but it's been very recent. I enjoyed our talks, now as I look back on them, but at the time, I saw them as just helping out a colleague, even maybe a friend. Lately, I've found myself hoping to run into you at work, not dreading every single moment I spend with Major Crimes and hoping that we are maybe interested in seeing each other more."

Andy, looking at her hands, reached for one of them and clasped it in his. He cleared his throat, "I would very much like to see you more. I can't believe I'm saying this," he dropped his head in a low chuckle, "but I'm interested in spending time with you, going place with you, and I hope you aren't looking for just a one-night physical relationship. I'm going to be honest and tell you I've slept with my share of women over the years, but almost none were more than a one-time thing. I feel differently about you."

Sharon shifted and put her free hand on his knee before she spoke again, looking at him, "I'm not necessarily up on current dating protocol, and I am also no expert as you seem to be in that area. I'm going to go out on a limb and admit that sleeping with you is almost terrifying me right now."

"That bad?" Andy pulled back slightly to gauge her.

"No," she said, patting his leg, as she locked eyes on him, "the opposite. I haven't wanted to sleep with anyone for some time, and I am restraining myself right now because I am very attracted to you. That's part of the problem. I feel that if we jump to that, we could ruin anything else. I don't want to be one of your forgotten, one-night women."

"Trust me," Andy said eyeing her, "I wouldn't forget you."

Sharon smiled and moved her hand to mess with his shirt, "I keep asking myself if this is all too insane, if I'm the typical cop going after someone at work. I keep wondering what my office will think, what your office will think, what my kids will think, what-" she stopped talking when his eyes met hers.

"What do you think?" Andy said quietly, almost in a whisper.

"I think I want to live again, I want to be happy. I want to be free," she said, a single nod confirming it.

"Free?" Andy asked, running his thumb over her cheek.

"Gavin has been holding my divorce papers for years now," Sharon admitted, now looking at the ground. "He had Jack served with them yesterday. It's what I want. I finally want to be completely free of Jack," she admitted.

"Wow" Andy said, his eyebrows raised in surprise. "We hadn't even talked. I know I was almost avoiding you, or at least, I was avoiding anything related to talking about that kiss."

"This isn't about you; it's not JUST about you," she specified. "I didn't know how a conversation would end with you, but spending time with you, kissing you," she paused and pursed her lips, "it made me realize that regardless of how things went with us, I wanted to end things with Jack. Starting something with you would be the icing on the cake, but you were at least the bight side I needed to push myself, that feeling that there is more to life than waiting for Jack."

"I can be good with that," Andy nodded. "I can't promise that I'm going to be any good at real dating, any sort of relationship. That's not been my style, and I did a horrible job with my marriage."

"Well," she said, drawing out the word as she tilted her head toward him, "I can say the same. My husband left me, and that definitely leaves one feeling like he or she has failed," she frowned. "I feel abandoned, but I too," she sighed and shook her head. "He left me over 20 years ago, and you would think I've built up my self-confidence, but in regard to dating, I certainly have not."

"I can be that guy," he flashed a smile and winked at her, "pumping you up with self-confidence, making you realize you are an amazing person because you are."

Sharon chuckled, and then, she sighed, "I'm not sure where this might go."

"Me either," Andy shrugged. "We are going to argue."

"We are," Sharon nodded in agreement. "We do at work sometimes, and we just are, are," she paused.

"Passionate people?" Andy added. "I think that's part of it. We're stubborn, but we both feel strongly about things. Bottom line, though, we will argue, and that could cause problems."

"We need to be bigger than that," Sharon nodded. "We need to agree to work on those things, work through them."

"You know," Andy said, his hand now resting higher on her leg as he turned her almost into his side, "Arguing means we have to make up sometime too."

Sharon smiled as she looked down at her feet, "That's true, but it could be a disaster if we aren't even compatible."

"Okay, so the car," he shook his head and frowned, "I admit, not my best work. You kissed me, Sharon, not that it was unwelcome, but it caught me off guard. I can kiss better than that. You have to believe me, have to let me try again."

"Good," Sharon said, her eyes sparkling as she grinned at him, a teasing tone in her voice. She looked up at Andy before she continued, "I hoped you would say that because it's one of the reasons I waited three days to talk to you."