Notes: Thanks for all the great feedback and input from the last chapter - always great to hear from everyone!

Andy groans as he shuffles into the house late in the evening. He hears the tv on low in the living room and kicks his shoes off, putting up his gun before heading into the living room. Sharon was sitting on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table, painting her toe nails with a bright red polish. There was a half empty glass of white wine sitting on the table next to the bottle of polish along with the tv remote.

"Hey," Sharon says, not looking up from her task.

"Hey," Andy says, pressing a kiss to the back of her head as he looks at the color, "Good choice."

"It's the same color I always use," Sharon says as she finishes a toe before looking up at him with a smile, "There's a plate for you in the fridge if you're hungry."

"Food sounds great," Andy says, heading into the kitchen. He heats up the plate of leftovers that was sitting in the fridge, grabbing a fork from the drawer before going to sit next to Sharon. She finishes painting her nails as he eats, dropping her feet back down to the floor. She screws the lid of the bottle back on and sighs as she takes a sip of her wine.

"Finish your case?"

"Yeah," Andy nods, setting the plate on the coffee table before leaning back on the couch and wrapping his arm around Sharon. She pulls away after a moment and turns the tv off before looking at Andy, with an arched eyebrow.

"What?" Andy says as he looks down at her.

"Annulment?" Sharon asks. Andy groans and drops his head back against the couch.

"I know this has to look terrible," Andy says, "I...I had planned to go see the Father before this thing with Jack happened..."

"This thing with Jack...Andy, he's dead!" Sharon exclaims, shifting even more so she can sit back further on the couch and get a better look at Andy.

"I know," Andy sighs, scrubbing his hands over his face as he leans forward, "Look. I knew the process was going to take a long time, and I know this kind of stuff is important to you. I wanted to get a jump start on it so if someday we were...if we'd somehow been able to get married I didn't want to be the one holding us up. I'd set aside the time to go last week."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it's just paperwork! I still have to talk to Vicky, I still have to fill the paperwork out, then there's months and months of waiting...I didn't think that going to see him was the part of that I needed to say something about. Especially considering your current lack of going to church."

"So, you not saying anything is my fault," Sharon says, a dark tone taking over her voice.

"I still don't know why I needed to say anything at all," Andy says, his own voice raising a bit, "If I want to get my marriage to Vicky annulled that's my business."

"Not when you're doing it because of me."

"What if I want her to be able to marry Dan?" Andy says defiantly.

"Dan's Jewish, and you two got married at the courthouse. You're doing it because of me," Sharon says, rolling her eyes, "I just wish you would have said something, anything…about wanting to do this. I know I said yes…"

"Are you saying you didn't mean it?"

"Right now I'm not saying anything because you're interrupting," Sharon flashes her eyes at him, "I know I said yes, and I did mean yes. But…I told you I was basically denied at the front door. There wasn't going to be some magical moment where we could get married, unless I gave up on my faith."

"I still wanted to cover all my bases, just in case," Andy says, "I just didn't expect that Jack would end up six feet under. Besides, now you're free to get hitched, and I'm holding things up."

"Could you at least pretend to care a bit about Jack dying?" Sharon says, starting to get more frustrated with his flippancy about her ex's death than anything.

"Why, you said you didn't?"

"I said I wasn't upset about it, I still care, he was a human being. I spent over a decade of my life with him."

"He stole from you, cheated on you, and abandoned you," Andy points out, "I'm sorry I'm not heartbroken."

"I cheated on him, with you. And three years ago you were in the exact same spot as he was," Sharon reminds Andy, "I'm not a saint, Andy. I don't need a knight in shining armor."

"I'm not trying to be…" Andy sighs and shakes his head, "I just want to be able to marry you."

"Then talk to me," Sharon says, "Getting married is about both of us."

"I know," Andy nods. Sharon sighs and shuffles closer, pressing a kiss to his temple as she wraps an arm around him.

"Why don't you go take a shower? I'll be down in a few minutes," She suggests, giving him a squeeze before letting him go. Andy nods and turns his head to capture her lips in a quick kiss before getting up off the couch and heading down the hall. Sharon cleans up from her evening and finishes her glass of wine before putting it in the dishwasher. She turns off all of the lights and locks the front door, moving down the hall to the bedroom. She takes off her pants and maneuvers her bra off under her shirt, tossing both clothing items into the laundry.

Sharon could hear Andy in the shower as she dug through her bedside table before pulling out a heating pad and plugging it in. She drapes a towel over it before laying down in bed with a sigh, aligning the warmth along the small of her back. A few pages into her book she hears the water turn off and Andy steps into the bedroom, shutting the bathroom light off behind himself. He dries off and pulls on a pair of underwear before climbing into bed next to her.

"Mmm, toasty under here," He says as he settles down against his pillows and pulls the blankets up.

"I can turn it down if it's bothering you," Sharon says as she closes her book, putting it away and turning her bedside light off.

"No it's fine," Andy says as he rolls over on his side, "Your back bothering you?"

"Nothing too terrible," Sharon smiles, "Just that time of the month."

"Mmm," Andy says as he reaches out and slips his hand under her shirt to rub her stomach, yawning. Sharon hums and closes her eyes, letting his fingers massaging against her skin start to pull her into sleep.

"You know I love you right?"

"Of course," Andy says, watching her as her eyes droop closed, "I love you too."

The next morning Andy untangles from Sharon and gets dressed to go pick up Nicole and Charlie, making his way to his ex's house. He pulls into the driveway and parks the car before taking a deep breath as he sits for a moment. He's broken out of his reverie when Nicole starts banging on the driver side window.

"Daddyyyy."

"Hey honey," Andy says as he opens the door. He wraps an arm around her and lifts her up, pressing a kiss to her head. He carries her back into the house, setting her down on her feet before patting the back of her head, "Go get your brother and your bag, I've got to talk to your mom real quick. And then we can go."

"Okay!" Nicole says before running off after Charlie. Andy steps into the kitchen where Vicky was pouring out two cups from a pot of coffee and Dan was sitting at the table reading the paper.

"Morning guys."

"Morning," Vicky says, handing one of the cups to Dan as she takes a sip out of the other one, "Any big plans this weekend?"

"We might go down to the beach," Andy says relaying plans that he and Sharon had talked about, "Do you have a minute?"

"Sure," Vicky nods, setting her coffee down before following Andy out to the porch, "What's up?"

"I wanted to…" Andy rubs the back of his neck as he looks down at the ground, "I want to marry Sharon."

"That's hardly breaking news," Vicky says with a small smile.

"Right, the thing is," Andy continues before looking at Vicky, "if we wanted to get married in the church, technically I'd have to get an annulment. And I talked to a priest. It's a process, and it's not guaranteed that it'd be approved. But I wanted you to know that I was looking into this."

"Oh…" Vicky says, her stance shifting.

"I don't…think our marriage was a sham or anything," Andy says, "I loved the time I had with you, I screwed everything up. And I'm not trying to get off easy…"

"Andy," Vicky interrupts, "I get it."

"You do?"

"Yeah," Vicky nods, "We're both moving on. But that doesn't mean that our relationship is any less important in our lives."

"So you're okay with it?" Andy asks, surprised to be met with little resistance.

"Yes," Vicky nods, "Just let me know if you need anything."

"I mean they'll probably contact you at some point during the process," Andy shrugs with a small chuckle, "I need to read all of the stuff again, it's so much paperwork."

"Yeah they don't take it too lightly."

"Daddy are you ready to gooooo?" Charlie asks as he runs outside and slams into the back of Andy's legs.

"Yeah buddy," Andy says, reaching back to ruffle his son's hair before holding the keys out to him, "Go get in the car. I'll be right there."

"Okay!" Charlie says, taking the keys and running over to the car. Andy sighs as he looks back at Vicky.

"Thank you…for being understanding, for being okay with it…"

"I don't want to be the bitchy ex anymore," Vicky shrugs, "We work better when we don't yell at each other."

"Yeah," Andy nods. He leans over and kisses Vicky's cheek before following Nicole to the car as she runs over. He closes the back door after the both of them climb in, walking around to the driver's side. He takes the two of them home and walks them inside, urging them to be quiet since everyone had been asleep when he had left.

Once they walk inside they find Sharon already standing at the stove making breakfast and the kids playing in the living room. Nicole and Charlie drop their things by the door and rush into the living room to meet their siblings, yelling out a greeting to Sharon. Andy shuts the door before making his way into the kitchen, stepping up behind Sharon and wrapping his arms around her.

"Morning," She murmurs.

"Morning," Andy says, pressing his mouth to her neck and peppering kisses along the exposed skin. Sharon hums and drops her head back against his shoulder as he continues to kiss her skin and his fingers move over her stomach.

"Have Charlie and Nicole eaten yet?"

"No."

"You want to grab me a couple extra eggs?" Sharon asks.

"Sure," Andy says, pulling away before grabbing the container of eggs out of the fridge, cracking and mixing together a couple extra before handing them to her, "Still up for taking the kids to the beach later?"

"Yeah," Sharon nods as she continues on breakfast, "I'll make some sandwiches after breakfast for us to take with."

"You don't have to do that, I can take care of making lunch," Andy offers.

"That would be great," Sharon says, offering a tired smile as she plates breakfast for the kids before calling them in. Andy puts a hand on her waist as she moves by him to grab some juice out of the fridge.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just tired and bleh," Sharon assures him before giving the kids juice and sitting down at the table with them, asking Nicole and Charlie about their week.

[TBC]