DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise
Chapter 14
Andy was still lying awake in their bed when the sun started to peak from the horizon. Sharon stirred next to him and draped an arm over his chest. They had a good talk during the middle of the night, but Sharon could still tell something else was bothering Andy.
He leaned his head over and kissed her. "Good morning," he mumbled into his kiss. "Morning," she smiled, and he returned his sheepish grin. "It's still early, so why don't you go back to bed, I'm going to take Moxie for a walk," Andy told her as he stood up.
Sharon stretched her arms over her head which in turn, moved the blankets further down on her body. Andy saw that and changed his mind. "On second thought, I always loved looking at you in the morning light," he crawled over to her on the bed and kissed her again.
Forgetting about what had kept him up after Sharon and he talked, he was now focusing on her. They made love again and ended their love-making in the shower.
The water dripped down onto the floor as Andy stood at the mirror with a towel around his waist. He was shaving his face as Sharon came back into the room after gathering her clothes for the day. Andy finished shaving as was about to go to their closet to pick out his suit when Sharon wrapped her arms around him from behind and placed a kiss on his back between his shoulder blades.
"I love you," she told him, and he turned around in her arms. "I love you too," he whispered and kissed her on her lips. They broke apart and he gestured towards the door. "I'm going to let you get dressed in here while I figure out what I'm going to wear today," he smiled.
Sharon nodded, worried about him and the fact that he seemed to be struggling with something again. She figured or at least she had hoped that if it was true with what he had told her early in the morning, he'd be able to battle it, just like he had in the past, and of course with her help.
Andy was just pulling up his suspenders when the bathroom door opened again, and Sharon walked back into their room. She was wearing a purple blazer with a black top and black pants. She glanced over at the clock in the room and noted that it was almost 7 o'clock.
Andy fixed his purple tie, placed his gun in his holster, and dragged his arms through his black suit jacket. "I'm going to wake Matthew up, and take Moxie for a walk, oh and I'll fix you some coffee too," he walked over to her and she adjusted his tie, which made him laugh.
"Okay," she watched him exit their room as she finished getting herself ready. She decided to go back into their closet and pick out the outfits that they were going to wear tonight to Emily's performance. She picked out a nice, black dress for herself and hung it up on the hook inside the door. She turned and looked for a black suit for Andy. She added a grey vest and a black and grey striped tie. She hung that up next to her dress and was satisfied with her choices for both.
Andy had woken Matthew up, telling him to get dressed and ready for school. He motioned for Moxie to go downstairs with him and the dog followed him. Andy stopped in the kitchen and turned the coffee maker on. He then walked to the backdoor and pulled the leash out, grabbing a plastic bag on the way out of the house.
Moxie seemed eager to go on his walk this morning. When they got to the front of the house, Moxie turned right to go down their street. "Okay, we'll go this way," Andy agreed with Moxie and the two started their walk.
Back in the house, Matthew was getting himself ready for school and Sharon peeked her head in his room. "How are you feeling this morning?" she asked as she leaned against the door frame. Matthew shrugged his shoulders.
Sharon shook her head at that answer. What was with her boys this morning, she wondered. "Do your ears hurt?" she asked, trying to prod for information. "No," Matthew muttered and got his shoes on. "I have gym today," he said and gathered his clothes for gym in his duffle bag. "Okay," Sharon replied and the two of them headed downstairs.
True to his word, Andy had made coffee for her before he took the dog out. She smiled at that small gesture and asked Matthew to grab his cereal while she fixed a cup for herself.
Back outside, Moxie was sniffing the grass while Andy stood at the corner of their street. They had made their way around the whole block before Moxie decided to do his business. As Andy stood there waiting for Moxie to be done, he thought about Sharon's present.
He had seen something that he had thought she would like when they were both at the mall shopping for the grandsons two weeks ago. She had slipped into one store, leaving Andy waiting outside for her. He decided to walk across the way to a jewelry store and looked at a necklace that was in a display case.
It was beautiful and exquisite, just like Sharon. He didn't buy it then but was going to go back if he couldn't think of anything else to get her. Moxie tugged at his arm, indicating that he was finished, and they turned down their street.
About two seconds later a big blast happened down the block, which startled both Andy and Moxie. Moxie started barking and Andy looked down the block to see a car engulfed in flames. "Shit," he muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, that blast had waken the rest of the neighborhood. Sharon heard it while she was in their kitchen and Matthew looked up and over at her. Emily came running down the stairs. "What was that?" she yelled and opened the front door.
Andy was running up the sidewalk with Moxie. "Here, take him inside, and call 911!" he gave orders to Emily and handed Moxie's leash to her before turning around and heading down the block.
"Mom!" Emily shouted when she turned around and was startled when she came face to face with her mother. "Stay inside with the dog and your brother, I'm calling it in," she told her calmly and ran out the front door, dialing her phone at the same time.
She ran down the sidewalk after Andy and shouted his name. "Andy!" she was a few feet behind him when he turned around to look at her. "I notified the fire department," she told him as she continued to catch up to him.
By the time they reached the car, other neighbors were already outside and they could hear the sirens getting closer to them. The car was fully engulfed in flames at this point and Andy couldn't see if there was anyone inside or not.
Patrol cars started to arrive at the scene and Andy directed them to what they should do. The fire department arrived seconds later, and the chief jumped out of the truck, asking what had happened, while the rest of them started to put the fire out.
Sharon spoke to Chris and his wife, the neighbors down the street from them, as she watched Andy speak to the Fire Chief. "Did you guys see anything that would be suspicious regarding the car?" she asked.
Both Chris and his wife shook their heads no. "We were just heading outside to go to work when, literally, the car just bursted," Chris stated. "No activity suspicious activity before the blast? Around the car or maybe earlier?" she asked them, and Chris shook his head no again.
"I saw your husband walking the dog when I took out the trash this morning, but I didn't see anyone else," Chris answered her, and Sharon looked from him to Andy. She walked away from the couple and told one of the patrol officers to start interviewing the rest of the neighbors. She then made her way over to Andy.
"I asked the Gebbers if they saw anything, but Chris said he just saw you walking Moxie and that was it," she told him as they both watched the fire being put out. "Did you see anything suspicious Andy, while you were walking the dog?" she asked him and reached for his right hand with her hand.
"Other than this car, no, nothing happened on our walk," Andy said thinking back to a few minutes earlier on the walk. "I didn't see anyone running from this area or nothing else like that," he added.
"Who does the car belong to?" she asked. "I've seen this car around a lot. It looked suspicious to me the other day when I took Moxie for a walk at night. That's when I ran into Chris and asked him about it. He told me that he thought it belonged to one of the Henderson's kids," Andy told her.
Just then, a teenage boy came running out of the house across the street. "Hey! What happened to my car!" he yelled. "Maybe he's the owner?" Andy muttered to Sharon as they made their way over to the other side of the street.
"LAPD is this your car?" Andy asked the kid and he nodded yes. "My car, my parents are going to kill me when they find out," Billy Henderson stated and ran his hands through his hair. "What's your name?" Sharon asked him. "Billy, Billy Henderson," the kid stated.
Sharon noticed that Billy was wearing a green t-shirt and black, baggy jeans. "Billy, how old are you?" Sharon asked. "I'm twenty," he stated as he started to play things much cooler. "You said you guys were LAPD?" he asked, nervously.
Before Sharon or Andy could ask him further questions, the Fire Chief called them both over to the car. Sharon looked at Andy before joining him where the chief was standing.
"I think we may have found the cause of the fire," he pointed to the bottle that one of his men was holding.
"A Molotov cocktail?" Andy asked. "Your guess Lieutenant," the chief stated. Sharon looked at Andy. "You said you didn't see anything suspicious while you walked Moxie," Sharon re-iterated what he had told her before.
"Sharon, the only thing that's been suspicious is this car. I noted the other night and saw it yesterday when I went to pick up Matthew at school," Andy told her.
"We are going to turn this investigation over to the LAPD, Commander," the chief informed Sharon and she nodded in acknowledgment. "From the looks of it, this isn't arson," he added and walked away from them.
Sharon looked across the street and saw Billy Henderson pacing back and forth on the front grass. She then saw a younger boy, like Matthew's age, walk over to him. She noted that the younger brother was wearing the same uniform shirt that Matthew wears.
"I think Billy's younger brother goes to the same school as Matthew," she pointed to the boy and Andy looked over. "Which would explain why you saw this car in the school's parking lot yesterday," she added.
A patrol officer walked over to Sharon and Andy to inform them that a detective from Hollywood Division was on their way over to the scene. "Oh great, we'll be lucky if they can find their way over here," Andy huffed. He didn't have any love/loss for Hollywood Division. Sharon glared at him and he knew not to talk anymore.
"Give them my card, I'd like to be kept updated if they find anything," she told the patrol officer and then grabbed Andy's hand and walked with him back towards their house.
"Andy, I know you don't care for Hollywood Division, but," she started to say but he cut her off. "Yes, I know, keep it to ourselves because you're a commander now and I need to stay in line," he mumbled the last part which Sharon didn't like.
He knew he was in trouble when she stopped walking about a few steps away from their driveway and placed her hands on her hips. "Is that what you think?" she asked standing there. He thought he should apologize and do it quickly. "Sharon, that's not what I meant," he said and then realized that still wasn't an apology.
"Oh", and what did you mean to say?" she asked softly. "I'm sorry," was the only thing Andy said at that moment and Sharon started to walk up their driveway. Andy was right behind her and she was just about to give him a piece of her mind when she noticed all her children standing on the front porch.
"Matthew are you ready for school?" she asked as she entered the house, walking past them. "Yes," he said, wondering why she was in a hurry. Matthew followed his mom into the kitchen as she grabbed her purse and bag, and her keys.
"Make sure you have everything, Dad is taking you to school this morning," she told him, and he stood there wondering what happened. Sharon stopped to look at him for a moment. "Did you take your antibiotic this morning?" she asked and didn't know if he did or not during the chaos.
"Yes," he said, and she saw Andy standing in the hallway now. "Good, remember to have a good day and we have Emily's performance tonight," she said quickly before she walked towards Emily, who was now standing in the kitchen.
"What just happened?" Andy heard Rusty ask. "I screwed up," Andy mumbled and ran after Sharon as she was leaving the house. He brushed past Emily and got to the back door as Sharon was walking through the backyard.
"Sharon!" he yelled, and she hesitated to stop. He came up to her. "Sharon," he said and reached for her hand. She didn't want to look at him but turned her head around and met his eyes. That's when all of last night and this morning flashed through her mind. 'What was she doing?' she thought to herself.
"Andy, I'm sorry for storming out like that," she started to say. "No, I'm the one who's sorry for saying that in the first place," he told her and held onto her hand. "That sounded like I resent your promotion and that couldn't be farther from the truth, Sharon," his voice catching like it did earlier.
"I know you don't," she reassured him by running her free hand along his jaw as she looked into his eyes. "You are my biggest cheerleader," she added, chuckling at that statement and he smiled. He pulled her into his embrace and they stood there for a moment.
"When I heard that blast I thought the worst," she muttered into his shoulder. "Andy, do you really think it was just a Molotov cocktail? Or do you think it's something else, much bigger?" she asked as he held her. "I don't know. Something tells me this isn't the end of it," he simply stated and then brushed his lips against her forehead.
A noise came from behind them and Andy turned around seeing Matthew standing there with his backpack. He turned back around to face Sharon. "It's silly for us to take two cars this morning," he informed her, and she nodded to him.
"I'll drive," she smirked, and he grinned. "Yes ma'am," he kissed her again and ran back inside to grab his things.
She motioned for Matthew to come over to her and he did, carrying his diorama for school along with his backpack. "Is everything okay, Mom?" he asked her, and she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Yes," she answered him and then heard the back door close.
Andy joined the two of them in the garage and Sharon got in the driver's seat with Matthew getting in the back seat and Andy opening the passenger side door. After everyone was ready, Sharon backed out of the driveway and onto the street. She noted that the police were still down at the other end of the street and drove the other way to go to Matthew's school.
TBC