A Story of Us
by Kadi
Rated T
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. It's just my favorite sandbox to play in.
Chapter 25 - An interlude
"Wow."
Rusty stared at those around him. They had filled the last few hours with stories that seemed to make up most of what happened from the beginning of his adopted parents crazy marriage until basically six months before he had entered the picture. During that time, Sharon was brought out of surgery and in recovery. She wasn't being allowed visitors yet. Andy tried. They just were not going to allow anyone in to see her. She wasn't out of the woods yet. Far from it. They'd almost lost her a few times during surgery.
Hearing that her heart had stopped, not once, but twice was enough to have them all reeling. She was still on a ventilator and being monitored closely. The next few hours would determine a lot, the doctors told them. Her injuries were severe and the damage significant.
Rusty didn't want to think about it. None of them did. She survived the surgery, but only barely, and they might still lose her. It didn't bear consideration at all.
They'd taken a break from the storytelling while Andy went to check on Joey. Detective Sanchez's mother was watching him while they were all gathered at the hospital. At least Rusty understood better now how they had all become friends. Julio was at their house a lot, and he had to admit, he liked the guy too. He was Uncle Julio as far as Joey was concerned, and the kid didn't really understand that they weren't actually related, but then, he was only three. Although, Rusty was learning, in this family… that didn't really matter.
He waited until Andy returned before he launched into his questions. "So how did she end up being your boss? Isn't that, like, not allowed?" He looked around at the assembled group.
"You would think." Provenza grumbled quietly as he shook his head. He was leaned back in a seat, looking as pale and drawn as the rest of them. Just as worried for all of his grumbling, and now Rusty understood that too. He seemed not to like her, but he was family too. It was like a thing, he thought, a sort of ongoing joke. They pretended to tolerate or dislike one another, but he was starting to realize that maybe it wasn't the case at all.
"I think that might be another long story all on it's own." Buzz shook his head where he sat. Emily was beside him, her hand clasped tightly in his.
"The chief quit." Julio stated. "We needed a boss."
"Maybe not that long," Tao stated with a small grin.
Rusty shook his head at them. They were all still weird, if you asked him. He squinted at his sister and her boyfriend. That cat was out of the bag now, had been since she walked into Buzz's arms the moment that he got to the hospital. He cast a quick glance at Andy, but the man was far from really caring at the moment. He'd only told them that he would let Sharon deal with them. Almost as if he could will her back to them with the sheer might of his own desires.
The teenager wondered if he should come clean with what he knew about it. He'd kept quiet for the last year. The whole Emily and Buzz thing had started the year before, during Christmas when she had been home to see the family while also recovering from a sprained ankle. Nothing serious or career ending, but it had given her extra time to spend at home and she had taken advantage of it. While she was there, those two had connected in a way that, well, Rusty didn't want to really think about. Catching them kissing on the back porch was bad enough.
He was starting to think that porch saw a lot of action.
They were doing the whole long distance thing. Rusty didn't get that, but it seemed to work for them. Or maybe they were just weird. He was comfortable with that idea. All of his adopted siblings were odd in their own way.
"They wanted to prevent another law suit." Andy shrugged in response. He was once again seated beside Rusty. He leaned forward, arms draped against his knees, and stared at the tiled floor in front of him. His son was fussing for his mother when he called Mrs. Sanchez. He wanted her. Andy understood that. He wanted her too. His jaw clenched while his chest knotted painfully.
They were keeping him from her, and the desire to use his gun and badge and force his way in was almost too strong a desire to resist. It was the kids that kept him where he was. Ricky who was pale and shaken, Emily who looked as though she had been crying again not too long ago. Then there was Rusty. The child she had chosen, just as he had chosen Joey. The son of her heart. He was fidgeting and panicked, and Andy was wondering if he was getting ready to pull a runner on them. This wasn't what Rusty had signed up for. They weren't supposed to lose her.
Sharon was slipping away. He could feel it.
He stared at the kid, saw the abject fear in his eyes. Andy sighed raggedly and tried to ignore the raw ache in his throat, or the way that it throbbed when he tried to speak. He wanted his wife. He wanted his love. He wanted his heart. What he had were their kids.
Andy looked across the waiting room and his gaze found Charlie and Nicole. They had come of course. They loved her too. Of course they did. She brought them all together in that no-nonsense, take no prisoners way of hers.
A hand touched his arm and he looked to his left. Beside him Vicki inclined her head and smiled sadly. They still fought, more than they didn't. He didn't suppose that there would ever be a time when he and Vicki got along perfectly. There was too much history. Too much pain. They could agree on the kids, though, most of the time, and she was here for them. Maybe she was even here for him. He didn't know. The wife-in-law, that's what Sharon called her. Or maybe it was Vicki that had coined the term. He didn't know exactly. They both used it.
Andy shook his head and stared at the floor again. "I just never thought that when I taught her how to be a real detective she would end up using it against me…"