His eyes flew open at the realization that he wasn't lying on his pillow. He heard a chuckle and quickly remembered where he was.
"You snore," she said in a teasing tone and added, "a lot."
Andy, who was lying on his back, shifted his eyes toward her and saw her lying there, head propped up, smiling at him. He folded his hands over his chest and closed his eyes again, "I don't snore."
"Really?" Sharon asked, still teasing. "Who told you that?"
"I just know; that doesn't sound like me. I don't snore. It's never been a problem for me," he told her, playing into her teasing.
She shifted closer to him and leaned to his ear, "I'll record it next time."
"Great, bring the proof, Radyor. I have to have proof," he grumbled. He unfolded his hands and reached for her. It wasn't hard to tempt her, to pull her toward him. Quickly, he rolled her over him, and then, he opened his eyes to find her looking down at him. He nodded to her, "Your hair tickles. It gets in the way." He had his hands at her sides, resting them on her hips.
"My hair tickles?" Sharon said, now trying not to laugh.
"Yeah, it's long. I never have that problem. It's distracting right now," he said, reaching to push it away from his face.
"I suppose I can cut it all off for you," Sharon said in her nonchalant tone. "Pity, I rather liked it."
"Oh, it's sexy," he said, grinning at her now. "Don't you dare touch your hair. I love running my hands through it like this," he said as he put his hand up to her hair. She smiled at him too while he did that, and the two just looked at each other.
"What time is it?" Andy asked, yawning.
"5:12," Sharon said glancing at her clock.
"Why is the light on?" Andy asked, yawning again. "Don't tell me you are afraid of the dark."
"I got up earlier to get water," she explained. "I almost tripped over a large pair of shoes. I turned on the hall light then so I could see."
"Sorry about that," he grumbled. "I guess I left them out. I will be more careful next time."
"Next time?" she teased.
"Oh, was this slumber party a one-time deal?" Andy looked at her. The light allowed them just enough light to see each other.
Sharon hummed and tried to shrug her shoulders, "Maybe, I mean, that wasn't the plan, but the snoring-" she left it hanging there and started to nod.
"I see how it is," Andy said to her. "One bad trait, and you're calling it quits; it's over."
"Ahh," she grinned at him. "You confessed to snoring."
"Confessed?" he said, now louder than he'd been. "No way that was a confession, Raydor."
"You called it a bad trait," she pointed out to him. "In my book, that's a confession. I'm not sure the bad trait of snoring outweighs other things."
"I'll show you," he grinned, leaning up to kiss her. The two started to laugh as they kissed, and quickly, Andy rolled them to their sides where they continued to lazily kiss for the next several minutes.
When they finally broke apart minutes later, Andy raised an eyebrow at Sharon, "Did I redeem myself at all? Reconsider?"
"Possibly," Sharon said, leaning in to kiss him again. She spoke through the slow kiss, "I'm warming up to the idea."
"So, I snore and leave out tripping hazards," he teased. "On the plus side, you told me I was warm when you were cold, and I also make breakfast."
"You make breakfast?" Sharon said, pulling back and studying him. She shook her head, "I haven't heard anything about this."
"It's happening," he told her and continued, "at least, if you have food in your refrigerator."
"There's always tuna," she said, now laughing. Andy started to laugh too. She finally calmed down and nodded to him, "I know I have eggs and probably a decent stock of food. I went grocery shopping the other day."
"Okay," he said kissing her quickly before he rolled away from her, "you go ahead and get ready for work. I'm going to try and earn another sleepover by amazing you with breakfast."
"Hey," she said, reaching for him before he sat up on the side of the bed. He turned to her and groaned.
"You're so beautiful, Sharon. I won't stop thinking about you now. We have to get ready for work, though. I can't be late for Provenza. Guy has let his new status as boss go to his head. If I'm late, he'll make me pay all day."
Sharon tugged on his arm, and he willingly rolled back to her. She ran her hand down his arm, and then, he moved it to push the hair from her face. She sighed, "Promise me that work will be work and home will be home."
He gave her an odd look, not sure what she was saying, "I'm not sure I'm following."
"We've come so far," she explained. "We leave work at work, and we don't bring home to work. Promise me that no matter what, we continue to move forward, to find a balance between home and work."
"Okay," he nodded, searching her face. "Sharon, you're almost trembling," he said, still running his hand through her hair. "Hey, we're okay; we're great. Work is going fine. We're handling it really well. No one suspects anything, and the goons you had to tell, Pope and Taylor, they can't say anything, from what you told me. Sweetheart, it's going to be fine. You're really worried about this, aren't you?"
"It's going so well between us," she admitted.
"It is," he said, leaning in to kiss her again. Her lips pulled at his, and they quickly got caught in the moment again, this time almost as a frantic kiss. He rubbed his thumb over her face and kissed her cheek before he pulled back at her. "Can I tell you a secret?" Andy asked, not waiting for an answer. "The more I'm with you, the more I want to be with you. Last night was the most amazing night I can remember, and you probably think I'm saying some line or that I'm crazy for saying that, maybe even that I'm trying to sweet talk you into bed, but I'm serious. I know we just held each other and stayed together, but it meant me to me than any crazy mess or one-night-stand. I'm so happy with how things are going with you. This was perfect, is perfect. I'm in no hurry because I want you; I just want to be around you, just like this."
"I'm glad you stayed too, and I hope you know that my not wanting to move forward last night has nothing to do with you, with the security of our relationship, none of that. I'm just," she sighed and shook her head, trying to find the right wording. "I have a lot on my mind, on my plate, and I want to be fully in the moment. Last night, I was not."
"Understood and no complaints," he said, smiling at her. "You could have easily sent me home, and I wouldn't have complained either. Staying with you, though, was the best. I just hope my snoring and shoes don't ruin my chances for a callback."
"Andy Flynn," she said quietly, her eyes searching his, "when you first landed on my doorstep all those months ago, I never, ever would have imagined inviting you into my bed. Honestly, I almost didn't invite you into my home back then," she grinned. "Just remember this moment, remember us, as things at work develop."
"I mean, how could I forget it, Sharon?" he grinned at her, nodding to her. "You're kinda hot, and I'm supposed to focus watching you walk around, boss people around, when I've seen you at home now? I'm supposed to focus on those power suits of yours, which in their own way are very, very sexy, when you're wearing this nice little pajama thing here," he gestured to her. She laughed. "I'm supposed to focus on finding dirt bags when you play with your hair and sweep it to the side when lean over to study evidence. Yeah, believe me, I'll definitely be thinking about you, about this moment, at work. The problem will be NOT thinking about all of this. We're good, Sharon."
Sharon reached to squeeze his shoulders, and she leaned in for another lingering kiss. When she finally pulled back, she smiled at him, "Don't forget that, how much I want to convey right now." She continued to lock eyes with him as she rolled over top of him. She looked down at him, and he groaned at her.
"If I could just freeze this picture, this image," he said, moving his hands to gesture it. "I have this sexy woman on top of me, looking down at me with her hair and that pajama thing," he gestured again. Sharon laughed, leaned down, and she kissed him quickly.
"I hope you won't forget it," she said and scurried toward the bathroom. "No matter what, Andy, remember this, remember how we were this morning."
Sharon appeared in the kitchen 20 minutes later. She found Andy at the stove, there wearing a pair of sweatpants with an old LAPD t-shirt. Last night, he'd told her he had several things in his car, including a suit. She smiled seeing him working at her stove and walked up to wrap her arm around his back as she joined him at his side.
"Morning," he said, leaning over to kiss her again. "I won't get tired of doing that."
"Just as I won't get tired of seeing you in my kitchen cooking like that. You've told me you love to cook. This looks great."
"I do," he nodded to her, gesturing with the spatula to the stove. "Okay, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard wasn't that bare," he grinned. "You were well stocked. I found eggs, bread, even some sausage links. I made you a couple," he pointed to the skillet. I wasn't sure how hungry you were or how much sausage you liked. I also put some green peppers and onion in the eggs. I like them that way and hope you do too."
"Okay? It looks amazing. As far as the sausage, right, the vegetarian," she sighed. "I'm still getting used to that with you. I'm sorry. You didn't have to fix sausage for me."
"Don't be sorry," he waved. "I'd probably eat meat too if it wasn't for my health. It doesn't bother me, just as you having a glass of wine doesn't bother me. You and I are going to have a great breakfast. I've got toast ready," he pointed to their plates. "Scrambled eggs coming up now."
"I'll get the coffee and juice," she said, moving around her kitchen. "You are going to be late for work, though. It's already 6:30."
"Nah," he waved. "Provenza told us 9:00 this morning. Until I was standing here cooking, I'd forgotten that. We've had a long few days, a tough couple of weeks. I'm good, and I'm not complaining about getting up early with you. We certainly made good use of our early morning, though," he winked, leaning over to give her a quick kiss. She smiled at him too.
"Well, ahhh, I have an 8:00 meeting again, so I have to go soon," she told him. "Your division will be in by 9:00 then?"
"Yup," he said, plating the food. "Hopefully, it's a slow day. I mean, we all need it, although, if I have to spend all day moving Provenza into that office, I might beg for a case."
"Andy," she paused at the counter and took a deep breath. He turned to her, sensing something in her voice. She bit her lip and looked to the ceiling. "Just," she shook her head again. "Let's eat. I need to get to work. I'm sorry to run on you, but you're welcome to finish getting ready."
"Okay," he said, studying her. "You okay?"
"Just a lot at work still, a mess," she clarified.
"I can get ready quickly and go in with you, I mean, unless, yeah," he nodded as he thought through what he'd said. "It's probably too weird and too soon for us. We shouldn't be seen driving to work together." The two sat down as they were talking. She reached over and squeezed his hand.
"I know you are trying to help, trying to figure out my stress. Thank you. I'll be fine going to work, but I'm serious when I want you to know it's not you. I'm not trying to give us space or anything. I just have a mess at work, and I can't talk about it as much as I want to discuss it with you."
"Okay," he told her. "I trust you. Now, my love, please eat."
Sharon's eyes widened, and tears started to form, even though she was trying to shake them away, "You can't-"
He realized what he'd said and put down his fork, as he took a deep breath. He looked to her and saw the tears. He reached to her face, "Hey, look, I hope you know how much I care. I guess that slipped out, but yeah," he shrugged. "I realize I love you, Sharon. I don't need you to say anything, but I do. It's been there for some time, and I've been sorting through my feelings. I don't care if it seems like we've just had our first date, but you and I know the feelings have been developing. I love you," he said, stroking her face. He used his thumb to wipe a tear.
She shook her head and took a deep breath, "You can't say that to me today. I am going to ruin things."
"Ruin things?" Andy asked, waiting for her to explain. She dropped her head, and his hand nudged at her chin. "Sharon, you aren't going to ruin anything, I mean, unless you're kicking me to the curb," he chuckled. "I'm not rushing you. No need to say anything."
"No, it's not that," she said, trying to steady her breath. She met his gaze and shook her head, "Today of all days-" She took a deep breath and wiped her last tear. She looked at him, and he looked at her. Finally, he spoke again.
"Look, I know you're under a lot of stress. I didn't plan to say that, but the last thing I want it to do is stress you out right now. Just forget I said it," he told her.
"No," she caught his hand as he moved it away. She laced her fingers in his, "Thank you for saying that," Sharon said with a small smile, meeting his gaze. "I believe I feel the same way, and when I say that, I just mean that I'm still being cautious and taking my time. My feelings for you are so strong, Andy, but today, of all days, I just-" she paused. She sighed and finished, "I would like to discuss this more, but I think we need to get through today first, please."
"Anything," he said, kissing her hand. "Look, if that offer to go to Nic's house this weekend is too much, it's fine. I know we discussed that last night, but don't feel you have to go."
"It's just today," she said with a sigh, her eyes meeting his, trying to convey words she could not. "Let's talk after today. I have a lot on my plate."
He nodded and sat back, looking to her again, "You know if I can do anything to help-"
Sharon smiled at him, stood, and she walked to him, putting her hands on his face. She leaned down and kissed him sweetly, "You've done so much. Thank you. Let's enjoy this breakfast so I can get going."
"Deal," he said. Sharon moved back to her seat, and the two started to eat. Andy eyed her after a couple of minutes, "Dinner tonight? We can go out after work, something fast if you want."
She paused and looked at him, "I want to agree, but let's see how the day goes."
"No problem," he said. They continued to eat, and Andy groaned when his phone rang. He stood and walked to the counter where he'd left it.
"Provenza if you are calling me to find out why I'm not at my desk here at," he paused to look at the clock, "6:50 you might remember you told us 9:00."
Sharon finished her plate and stood to clear it. She squeezed his shoulder as she walked by him, and he winked at her. Andy groaned into the phone, and that had Sharon turn at the sink.
"Seriously, we have a case? Why can't Robbery/Homicide take it today? Okay, fine," he said into the phone. "I'll be there shortly."
Sharon's eyebrows rose, "A case, today?"
"Yup, no rest for the weary, as you know," he said to her. "Good thing we both had a good breakfast. Sounds like it's going to be a crazy day, although," he grinned, "crime scene is at some grocery store. Maybe the team can get something to eat when we finish at the crime scene," he chuckled. "Guess it helps when my boss likes to eat more than he likes to do most anything else. Good old Provenza."
Sharon hummed and nodded, "I can't believe you caught a case, today of all days."
Andy shrugged, "Could be worse, right? Hopefully, it's just a regular day solving a murder. It's not like Major Crimes needs any other drama."