I know that Julio's the one that got a promotion, but with the male-centric ending of the show, I gave it to Amy instead.

This chapter is rated "M" for oral sex. I absolutely understand if some of you aren't comfortable with it, so I've clearly marked the beginning and end of the mature content with bold "MCs" to make it easy to skip over. Please just skip it if you don't want to read it. :)

Two weeks later, Sharon went down to HR, retirement paperwork in hand. She'd enrolled in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan soon after taking over Major Crimes in case she wasn't happy with her new position, and she wanted to get the full five years of the benefits without making herself miserable for longer than necessary. This meant that she'd technically "retired" almost five years ago, but still worked for her regular salary. During those five years, she was also accruing retirement payments that she would have access to after five years via either a lump sum or incremented payments. She was supposed to completely terminate her employment after five years, but she knew that as the commanding officer of an elite division she would probably be able to negotiate additional years after that, with just regular salary and cutting off her retirement payments until she actually retired, if she wanted to. After the last few months of unfavorable changes in LAPD politics and Mason giving her hell about every little thing, though, she was ready to just retire according to her DROP enrollment stipulations and wasn't so inclined to try to negotiate for more time. The only drawback to the DROP program was that her pension was based upon her captain's salary, since that was when she technically "retired," but the payout she would get from the deferred retirement payments would make up for a good bit of the difference between that and the pension she would've gotten as a commander. If she'd known she was going to be promoted, she probably wouldn't have enrolled in the DROP program, but she'd given up on that idea years ago. She only would've had to be commander for a year to be eligible for that pension, and the anniversary of her promotion was coming up, but she never could've known five years ago that the timing would be so perfect. Or that she'd even get a promotion. She was still going to be more than well-off enough, retirement-wise, so she didn't fret about it.

After a brief meeting with HR, Sharon went back up to the ninth floor with mixed emotions. Her retirement date was set for the beginning of April, and while she was sad to close this chapter in her life, she was excited about things to come. It helped that she and Andy would be leaving for their delayed honeymoon in Ireland soon after that. Looking back, Ireland probably hadn't been the smartest honeymoon choice for a November wedding, anyway. After living in LA for so long, she was accustomed to mild weather and couldn't stand to be cold. With the warmer temperatures and more vibrant scenery that would come with an April trip and the absence of Stroh and cancer treatment hanging over her head, Ireland in April was much more ideal than it would've been immediately after the wedding. They were also closing on their new house in a couple of weeks, and the excitement from that helped her focus on the anticipation of moving forward rather than feeling sad about the things that were coming to an end.

Andy met Sharon's eyes as she entered the murder room. He knew where she'd been, but she wasn't telling anyone else for a couple more weeks. Amy had been acting strangely lately, and Sharon had a feeling she wasn't the only one with changes in her future. She suspected that Amy was being courted by another department for a promotion, although she hadn't said a word about it. Sharon could always tell when something was going on with her. Amy could tell the most convincing and straight-faced lies to suspects on command, but Sharon could always tell when she was keeping something from her. Amy had never been blatantly dishonest with her, but there had been a couple of times where she withheld information, and while Sharon hadn't known exactly what she was holding back, she knew it was something. True to her prediction, Amy came into her office at the end of the day. "Ma'am? Do you have a minute?"

"Sure." Sharon stopped packing her work bag and sat down, indicating for Amy to do the same.

Amy sat in one of the chairs in front of Sharon's desk and fiddled nervously with the hem of her skirt as she spoke. "There's going to be an opening for a lieutenant in the Criminal Intelligence Division soon, and one of their detectives told Cooper that I was being considered for it. Captain Perez asked to meet with me later this week, and I think that's what it's about. I didn't say anything before because it was just hearsay, and—"

"That's fantastic, Amy. I'm so happy for you." Sharon gave her a warm smile as she walked around her desk to give her a hug. "You'll be a great loss to this division, but you absolutely deserve it."

"Thanks, Commander."

"You're welcome." Sharon gave her a little squeeze before pulling away. "I'm so proud of you, Amy."

The following Saturday morning, Rusty left the condo early to go to USC to take the LSAT. Still in her nightgown, Sharon thrust a banana and a bottle of water in his hands as he was running out the door before stopping him to kiss his cheek. "Good luck. I know you'll do great."

"Thanks, Mom." Rusty gave her a quick hug and left.

Once he was gone, Sharon looked around the kitchen, thinking about starting to pack up the condo. There wasn't much that would actually be going to the new house, and her lease was up in April, which was perfect timing. They could pack up and move a little at a time, and Rusty was still going stay there a good bit after they moved out. Sharon wanted to go ahead and get organized and decide what she was giving away and what she wanted to keep, so she started sorting through kitchen cabinets. Some of the pots, pans, and various dishes were the ones she and Jack had received as wedding gifts, and her first instinct was to send them to Goodwill, but she was filled with nostalgia as she pulled them out of the cabinets. While the marriage had obviously failed, memories of meals with her children as they were growing up came to mind as she looked over the familiar dishes. It felt odd to take them to the new house with a new husband, though, so she hastily wrote "Goodwill" on an empty box and started packing it, stopping to wrap potential breakables in packing paper. Seeing that she'd started packing, Andy went into the kitchen to help her.

A little while later, a song playing from Sharon's phone had Andy pulling her into his arms to dance for the third time that morning. "Andy, we're never going to get packed if you keep this up!" Sharon chided.

"Relax, Sharon, it'll still be there when the song's over."

Stuck on you
I've got this feeling down
Deep in my soul
That I just can't lose
Guess I'm on my way
Needed a friend
And the way I feel now I guess
I'll be with you till the end
Guess I'm on my way
I'm mighty glad you stayed

I'm stuck on you
Been a fool too long I guess
It's time for me to come on home
Guess I'm on my way
So hard to see
That a woman like you could wait
Around for a man like me
Guess I'm on my way
I'm mighty glad you stayed

Oh, I'm leaving on that midnight train tomorrow
And I know just where I'm going
I've packed up my troubles
And I've thrown them all away
Because this time little darling
I'm coming home to stay

Andy tilted Sharon's chin up for a slow kiss before moving along her neck to the sensitive spot behind her ear. "We don't have time for this—hmmmm." Damn that sensitive place behind her ear. Andy teased the insides of her thighs with his fingers, and Sharon was done for. "All right, fine," she muttered, then squealed as Andy lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

Despite Andy's best efforts, and eventually Sharon's, it later became clear that taking advantage of the empty condo in the traditional sense wasn't going to happen. Sharon ran her fingers through Andy's hair and pressed her lips to his temple. "It's okay, honey. We need to get back to packing, anyway."

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"Not so fast." Andy gently spread her legs and rested his head against the inside of her thigh. Sharon knew what was coming, and although the moment had passed and she was no longer in the mood, she wasn't one to pass up an effortless orgasm. Especially now that she was older and they were harder to come by. Her eagerness for it to be over with wasn't helping anything, though, and it was taking longer than usual. The odd mood she'd fallen into was keeping her from reacting like she usually did. It felt nice, but she couldn't quite get to the level of her back arching and having to grip the bed sheets. She considered faking it, but Andy had called her out on it any time she'd found it necessary to do so before, so she decided against it.

Sharon rested her hands on Andy's head and started to pull him away. "Really, Andy, it's obviously not in the cards for either one of us today."

"Nuh-uh. I'm not going oh for two," Andy muttered, his voice muffled against her.

Sharon rolled her eyes, but Andy being forced to get experimental was starting to work for her. She went from annoyed to her toes curling and breathing panting breaths. Andy knew he was getting somewhere when he noticed her grab the sheets out of the corner of his eye, so he got a little more aggressive with his tongue. "Oh, my god," Sharon moaned. She held Andy's head in place and pressed him further against her in case he had the foolish idea of changing routes. Although she tried to keep quiet out of habit, even knowing Rusty wasn't home, she couldn't help the scream she let out when she finally came. She hadn't had an orgasm this intense since she was pregnant with Ricky and aided by pregnancy hormones. Andy looked stunned at first, but a shit-eating grin quickly took over his features, which were now creased in a smug expression. Speechless and breathing like she'd just run a marathon, Sharon disentangled her legs from Andy, moved lower on the bed, and cuddled into him. He kissed her forehead and brushed his fingers through her hair until she begrudgingly got up to go to the bathroom and shower for the day.

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By the time Sharon had taken a shower and was walking into the kitchen, with wet hair and dressed in leggings and a t-shirt, Andy had finished packing the kitchen cabinet she'd started cleaning out and was starting on another one. Still with a smug look on his face. "You're pretty proud of yourself, aren't you?" Sharon couldn't help but comment.

"You're damn right I'm proud of myself. I never thought I'd see the day where you screamed like that."

Sharon rolled her eyes and started putting together ingredients for spaghetti sauce. She didn't usually cook lunch on weekends, but spaghetti was one of Rusty's favorites, and he'd been a nervous wreck about the LSAT all week, so she wanted to indulge him a little bit.

"This smells great, Mom," Rusty said when he came in a couple of hours later. "I'm starving."

Sharon looked up from the noodles she was stirring on the stove. "How did it go?"

Rusty shrugged. "Nothing completely threw me, but I can't really tell."

"I'm sure you did fine." Sharon gently squeezed his shoulder. "This is almost ready."

After lunch, Sharon started going through her desk in the living room while Andy went to her storage unit to get a few boxes. That wasn't going to be an easy process. While she wasn't on a timeline for that at all, it wasn't necessary to keep paying for it once they had a house, so she wanted to go through everything there and not have to worry about it as soon as possible. Its contents had dwindled in the last several years as Emily and Ricky had gotten their own apartments and needed furniture and various other things, but there was still a good bit to sort through. The hardest part was going to be deciding what she wanted to keep and what she wanted to give away. She looked over at Rusty as he went to the kitchen for a glass of water. "Have you looked at any new furniture for your room?" He'd claimed that he wanted to keep his current furniture, but she hoped he'd change his mind. She'd offered to let him get new furniture for his room several times since he'd moved in with her. He'd always declined, but she hoped having a new room in a new house would encourage him to want new furniture. There was nothing wrong with his now, she just wanted him to have some he'd picked out himself.

"My furniture's fine, Mom, I told you I don't care."

"Okay, but let me know if you change your mind. Every other room in the house will have new furniture, one more room's worth won't make much of a difference," Sharon said, not knowing whether he really didn't care or if he didn't want her to pay for it.

Rusty nodded and went back to his room. He looked around as he flopped onto his bed. This room was the first place where he'd felt any kind of stability. His biological mom had been okay until he was ten or eleven, but they still moved a lot, and she had never been great with the keeping a job thing. This was the only place where he'd always known that he would be protected and cared for, and letting go of the familiar items in his room would be too hard. Leaving the condo was going to be hard enough. He knew they needed more room and that the new house would eventually become familiar and comforting for him, but he didn't like change. And this was going to be a big one. This bed was where many of the most nurturing moments with Sharon had happened, from her taking care of him when he was sick to talking through problems with him about school, friends, Gus, his mom, or whatever the current crisis happened to be. Of all the things that had happened in this room, calling her 'Mom' for the first time stuck out. Well, for the first genuine time and not just to avoid explaining their relationship to a guy he liked.

November 2015

Rusty came home from class one Thursday afternoon and went straight to bed. He felt like hell. It was strange not to be greeted by Andy and Patrice, but Nicole was traveling overseas for work the following week and wanted to spend some time with Andy first. She'd invited him to spend the weekend with her family, both to spend some time with him and to give Sharon a break. Next thing Rusty knew, Sharon was gently shaking him awake. "Hi, honey. Dinner's ready."

"'Kay." Rusty struggled to open his eyes as he sat up.

Sharon sat on his bed and gave him an appraising look. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah." He normally would've started complaining about not feeling well the second she woke him up, but it had been a while since the last time he was sick, and he felt too old for that now.

Sharon raised a suspicious eyebrow. "The last time I had to wake you for dinner, you woke up the next morning with a 102 degree fever. You normally would've been in the kitchen an hour ago, bugging me about what's for dinner and when it was going to be ready. While already eating something else and getting crumbs all over the floor."

"Fine, Sharon, you're right. You're always right. I don't feel good."

"I figured as much." Sharon brushed his hair back and rested her hand against his forehead. "Hmm, you feel warm," she murmured as her hand drifted to his cheek. "What's the matter?"

"My throat and head hurt, and my nose is, like, ugh."

"Have you been coughing?" Rusty nodded, and he rolled his eyes as Sharon brandished the thermometer.

"You brought that back here before you even knew I was sick? You are so creepy."

"No, honey. I just know my so—you," Sharon quickly corrected herself.

Late the next night, a jolt to his stomach had Rusty running for the bathroom, and of course Sharon came in not long after he started getting sick, glass of water and cool cloth in hand. She put the glass next to the sink, then patted his back and dabbed his cheeks with the cloth until he was finished. She had taken him to the doctor that afternoon, not wanting him to drive, and he'd tested positive for the godawful strain of the flu that makes you throw up everything you've eaten in the last week on top of the other symptoms of misery.

Sharon wiped his mouth with the cloth and led him back to bed. "I'll bring you some medicine and ginger ale. Need anything else?" Rusty shook his head. Once he was settled, Sharon leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Feel better, sweetheart. Love you. Come get me if you need me."

"Thanks, Mom. Love you." Rusty noticed his slip, but, hell, Sharon had been at home with him more than she'd been at work in the last couple of days, and she'd been bringing him what he needed before he had to ask for it and sat with him and scratched his back when he couldn't sleep. Just like she always did. She'd been his mother long enough. It was past time.