At the End of the Day

by Still Lost in Translation

Filling in the gaps after the credits roll. Picking up where 4.17 #FindKaylaWeber left off, after a horrible couple of days Sharon was in need of a little TLC (Update: Chapter 43: The morning after Ch 42 - Sharon battles to get ready for work while dealing with a rejuvenated Andy after his all clear from the Doctor. Takes place six weeks after the end of White Lies Part Three 5x13)

36. Chapter 36

As always I'd like to begin by thanking everyone for reading the last chapter and for welshcwtch, eelise187, froggy62, sundishine2, seaford71, jujuone23, Cris, HeiBeSo, xbleeple, Elaine Huang, Battgirl2, Maddie0894, Mbtstella, Susan Austin, GayleLynn and the two guests for leaving me a review as well as everyone who got in touch with me on Twitter. If you want to find me on there I'm DHPLover.

I apologise in advance because this chapter is long, my longest ever at over 56,000 words because I wanted to include so many characters and conversations and therefore it's probably riddled with typos but I've tried my best to find and fix all I could. This started off as a small chapter and then I don't know what happened. I think it's worth it in the end though, just to get to Provenza's speech and a few nice conversations here and there along the way. For the record Provenza's speech was written long before the event we don't talk about happened and one line in particular sounds positively tragic as a result but I've kept it in as he didn't know what was going to happen twelve months later any more than I did when I wrote it.

Although I'm not yet ready to say goodbye to Russell Taylor in this chapter I am saying goodbye to another character. Hopefully I've managed to give her the fitting 'yampy' send-off that she deserves (and if you don't know what 'yampy' means please google it).

This will be my last chapter until June at the earliest as I'm off on holiday in a couple of weeks where I plan to turn 29 for about the eighth time on a rollercoaster in Orlando. The good news is the dialogue is written for Chapters 37-43 so I'll have a lot of updates over the summer.

This chapter takes place on the Saturday between Dead Zone 5x10 and White Lies Part One 5x11 with the events of White Lies Part One starting the following Friday (based upon them talking about the trial starting on the Monday and Dwight's reference to 'waiting all week' to get Dr Joe on the stand).

I can't remember who suggested I do it after a conversation on Twitter but if you're reading this, thanks for making me add my Mom's sausage story :)

Finally, before this chapter I have previously mentioned what Sharon was doing during Andy's bomb threat in To Protect & To Serve during Chapter 11 but if you want a more in depth look at it PLEASE read Closing the Deal by xbleeple. I'm claiming it was written purely for me but if you haven't read it (and the rest of her stories) stop reading this rubbish immediately and go and read that instead.

As usual I don't own any of these characters etc etc.

Enjoy.

At the End of the Day - Chapter Thirty Six

Andy's front door was wedged open with a doorstop, a John Wayne doorstop to be precise if John Wayne had recently suffered a quite severe stroke and had subsequently taken to wearing bowties as he rode his horse across the prairie while calling everyone he encountered on his journey 'pilgrim.' Sharon hated that doorstop with a passion, almost as much as she hated the ratty old armchair he was so attached to that he'd kept in his bedroom ever since he got his own place after his divorce, with the doorstop frankly offering more nightmare possibilities than the chair (with Andy feeling the exact same way about one particular Christmas angel of Sharon's that her Mother had bought her, him being convinced during the holidays that it's freaky eyes were following him when he got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom). Sharon would never say anything to Andy about it but she was hoping that John Wayne would end up in the U-Haul truck for a life spent in storage rather than in Rusty's trunk to go back to the condo at the end of the day where its droopy and disturbing eyes would follow her around their bedroom until it one day 'accidentally' fell off the balcony in mysterious circumstances while Andy was at an AA meeting. It was currently the only thing that Andy owned that wasn't already packed away in boxes and ready to move with his living room filled from floor to ceiling with all of his worldly possessions. In the corner furthest away from the front door where the television once sat there was a pile of boxes and bags that contained the rest of Andy's clothes and personal items like photographs and odds and ends that were going to move with him into the condo. What remained and had managed to escape going on a trip to Goodwill to find a new home with someone else filled the rest of the room as it waited to be loaded onto the truck.

In truth Sharon and Andy had managed to make quite a significant dent in the items going into long term storage by beginning to slowly load the truck that morning, starting off by dragging his mattress in first (Andy keeping his bed on the off chance that they did still end up buying a house one day and needing it for the third bedroom for when Emily and Ricky came to stay since it was only eight months old anyway and he had hardly slept in it since he bought it, spending most of his nights at the condo instead). Most of the heavier items had been left until they had reinforcements to help but they'd both wanted to make a head start while they waited to be joined by everyone else.

Clad in a pair of jeans and Andy's old Giants t-shirt that his sister had given her during their trip to New York at the start of the summer (the sight of which instantly made Andy's face erupt into the largest of smiles imaginable when she eventually joined him in the kitchen for breakfast that morning), Sharon slowly walked back into the house, completely out of breath from a morning spent lifting and carrying before she sat down on one of the dining chairs with a thud. Picking up a bottle of water from the pack on the table, she opened it and took a long slow swig, leaving her even more out of breath. As her breathing began to calm down Andy walked in, equally out of puff as she had just been and dressed just as casually in a pair of jeans, an LAPD t-shirt and his Dodgers cap. He winked at her as he stepped inside, wiping the sweat from his brow with his forearm before he stooped to pick up the next box to load into the truck.

"Nope" Sharon told him simply with a shake of her head before she waved him towards her. "Come here and take a break please while we wait for everyone to arrive and help" she all but demanded of him as she held the opened bottle of water out for him to take from her. He nodded before he dropped the box back to the ground and crossed the short distance to her, gladly taking the water. As he slowly began to drink from the bottle, throwing his head back slightly, the sweat running down the side of his face and his neck as his arms glistened in the light, Sharon stared at him with her tongue almost lolling out, blatantly ogling him, and watching him intently with a dirty grin on her face.

It had started the night before, that feeling in the pit of her stomach as she packed an overnight bag for the final time before she and Andy drove to his house. They were moving in together, finally, and that thought had a whole gang of butterflies doing summersaults in her stomach from the excitement as well as the anticipation of what was to come. Finally, that word came with a certain amount of relief that they had managed to reach that stage in their relationship after so much time but it also came with a fair amount of regret too as far as Sharon was concerned as she freely admitted that her constant foot dragging with him had caused the long delay in the first place. But Sharon was determined and as far as she was concerned that was all behind them now, they were making that commitment to each other by moving in together and her foot dragging days were long gone with only good times ahead. That wasn't to say that a little nervousness didn't go side by side with the excitement they were feeling. They were both nervous, both more than aware of what a big step they were making and the stresses and complications that lay ahead of them. In truth Andy had virtually lived at the condo for the last few months anyway so they'd had some experience of living together but it was about to be different. It was official, they were about to share everything including the mingling of their finances, something that she openly admitted she had some significant reservations about because of Jack and the years it had taken her to unravel her life from his. But aside from the financial side of it Andy had nowhere else to go now if either of them needed any space or he began to get on her nerves or vice versa, this was it, their life together was starting in earnest and although they both expected and hoped for a little honeymoon period where they looked at each other through rose tinted glasses and didn't immediately notice the little things that the other did that would later drive them mad, they also knew a lot of hard work was to come over the coming months and maybe even years with the added pressures and stresses that moving in with someone created, especially after living alone for so long. But all of that was for later, right now they were both happy and excited and they couldn't wait to get their life together started.

Andy smiled at her as he caught his breath and wiped his face on his forearm again. "But I thought you liked to watch me work while I was all hot and sweaty" he practically growled as he winked at her again. He sipped on the water as she grinned at him, making him flex his bicep in response while he sucked his stomach in and giving her a free ticket to the gun show.

Sharon laughed. "Oh I do" she confirmed as she grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled him closer to her. "Believe me I do" she added, poking his stomach to stop him from sucking it in before taking a fistful of his shirt and pulling him down to enable her to kiss him slowly on the lips. "But I also don't want you to pass out before we're done so let's take a break" she insisted, not wanting Andy to spend the first week in his new home lying flat on his back on the living room floor because he had managed to pull a muscle in his back or rupture a disc, especially when she had plans for him, most of which admittedly required him to lie flat on his back but they were more of the naked variety and she needed him to be fully fit for them since by her own admission she'd already ridden a man a third of his age into the hospital in the past.

"Okay" he nodded in response, feeling the need for a quick break himself before he kissed her again, letting it linger for a moment longer. "I'd better sit down anyway before you start to stuff twenty dollars down my pants." Sharon laughed at him as he moved to sit in the armchair from his bedroom one last time. He rested his head back after a moment as his hands moved back and forth along the sides and he closed his eyes, his mind drifting for a few seconds back to the last time he sat in it with Nicole and Daniel, both of them suffering with chicken pox and not settling to sleep anywhere except in the warmth of their Father's embrace on his lap, snuggling into his freakishly hot body, Sandra waiting until they were better before she finally lost her last bit of patience she had with him and his drinking and threw him out for good. Sharon sat and watched him with a smile, his hands moving up and down the armrests, his mind clearly elsewhere. She got up after a moment and joined him, perching on the armrest and running her arm around his shoulders before she kissed the top of his head a couple of times, aware that his mind was currently stuck in a time that was less than happy.

A short while later Rusty and Gus walked into the house, both of them looking just as hot, sweaty and breathless as Sharon and Andy were regardless of the age difference. "Take a break boys until our reinforcements arrive" Sharon told them as she pointed towards the pack of bottled water on the table. Neither of them needed to be told twice, grabbing a bottle each before flopping down next to each other on the couch.

Silence descended for a moment, all four of them eager to take a short break while it was on offer until Andy looked at his watch a little impatiently with a sigh. When it came down to it Andy was very keen to get the whole move done and dusted as soon as possible because living with Sharon was something that he had wanted for so long, as far back as before Christmas when she sat on his kitchen counter following drinks with Provenza and Patrice, feeling impulsive and suggesting it then only to immediately backpedal when he saw that Sharon was not even remotely close to being ready for that next step with him yet especially since they'd only just told each other how they felt the week before and consummated their relationship (the tinge of disappointment that he felt at the time, not that he expected a different answer from her if he was honest, soon evaporating when she revealed she had spent the entire evening with her panties on her bedroom floor rather than on her body). It was a familiar pattern that they had fallen into as a couple from the night of their first date, Andy racing ahead because of his desperate desire to spend the rest of his life with the woman he was already in love with even before they started dating and Sharon trying to apply the brakes to ensure they didn't ruin what they already had by rushing things before they were ready because she too was already in love with him. With that in mind there was another reason why Andy was so eager to get the move completed as quickly as possible, moving into the condo just a few days after accepting the offer on his house, because deep down he would always worry about the incredibly unlikely possibility that Sharon might change her mind or be talked out of it at the last minute, worried about it no matter how many times he told himself that he was being utterly ridiculous because at the end of the day she loved him and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him as much as he did with her. Sensing his slightly anxious state that had been present on and off in bursts since the moment they opened their eyes that morning, the tension in his shoulders being a dead giveaway, Sharon let her nails drag up and down his back through his t-shirt while she kept pushing her lips to the top of his head, the best nonverbal reassurance she could currently offer him with Rusty and Gus in attendance.

After a few more moments of silence Rusty began to sniff the air, pulling a face of utter disgust when the rather unpleasant odour continued to fill his nostrils. "What's that smell?" he asked, quickly sniffing his shirt with alarm to ensure that it wasn't coming from him. It was only the second time that Rusty had ever been to Andy's house, the first time coming the previous summer when Andy hosted a little party in his back yard just six weeks after they started dating so that Emily and Ricky could get to know him a little better now that he was officially Sharon's boyfriend and likewise so that Nicole could meet them too, so as such the place was very alien to Rusty even though everything about it screamed the man who was essentially now his Step-Father.

"What's what smell?" Andy asked, deep in denial about it since he knew full well what that smell was and what had caused it as it continued to permeate the air regardless of the amount of times he scrubbed the place from top to bottom.

"Yeah. I smell it too" Gus confirmed, bringing one of the couch cushions to his nose in an attempt to locate the source.

"It's nothing" Andy grumbled dismissively.

Sharon laughed, unable to help herself as she pushed her lips to the top of his head again as a form of advanced apology for what she was about to say to him. "I'm sorry Andy but even with the door open I can still smell it too" she confessed. In truth she had been able to smell it every time she stepped foot inside Andy's house from the moment she came home with him the morning after they first slept together so that he could get himself a change of clothes before they went to work, the source of the odour an expired carton of milk that had exploded while he was convalescing at the condo following his accident and subsequent surgery. It only really bothered her when she first walked into the place, always breathing through her mouth when she arrived but she soon got used to it after a few minutes or so or when they started to cook in the kitchen for example while Andy had been completely nose blind to it after his seventh night of putting up with it before he could find the time and the energy to really tackle the problem with gusto.

"Crap. Really?" Andy asked. Sharon nodded with a little grimace on her face to indicate just how bad it could smell when the door wasn't open. In her honest opinion the whole house really needed to be bulldozed and she was still shocked that Andy had managed to sell the place as quickly as he had especially since he'd had most of it boxed up long before anyone had even been to view it. Andy sighed and pulled Sharon into his lap, a little squeal escaping from her lips from the surprise as she landed with her legs over the armrest and Rusty and Gus laughed at them. Andy wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, drawing her flush against his chest as he pressed his lips to her shoulder, like Sharon, completely unable to leave each other alone that morning. "Yeah well it sucks to be the new buyers because as far as I'm concerned the deal is done and it's their pile of crap now."

If Andy was being completely honest it had crossed his mind that until the sale was one hundred percent complete he might need to periodically pop back from time to time and replace the air fresheners that Jason had insisted he secrete all around the house in case the new owners tried to pull out of the deal if the still incredibly strong odour made them sick when they stopped by to measure up the place. However once he had moved into the condo Sharon wasn't going to make him move out again if the sale was to fall through at the last minute (no matter how much he irrationally worried about it in the middle of the night when he couldn't get to sleep) and yet he still found himself feeling stressed about the whole endeavour, wanting to see an end to his former home as his new life with Sharon began, secretly feeling a little more stressed than he was letting on all the previous night as they finally finished up packing and just wanting it to be done already.

"What is it?" Rusty asked, thinking it was reminiscent of being trapped in the elevator at PAB with Lieutenant Provenza first thing in the morning, with his cologne smelling like elephant dung on a hot summer day in his opinion and being wrong on so many levels.

Andy sighed as he pressed his cheek against Sharon's shoulder and turned to look at Rusty. "Remember when I stayed with you guys after my accident?"

"It is pretty hard to forget Lieutenant" Rusty laughed, ignoring the trauma of finding him on the bathroom floor unconscious and bleeding heavily he had actually found spending time with Andy during his shifts of 'Flynn Sitting' highly amusing at times. "Just the sight of you trying to pull your socks on with a pair of salad tongs every morning alone was enough to ensure I never forgot without everything else too." It still amused Rusty the way that Andy would use those tongs (since bending down was high on the list of things he wasn't allowed to do under any circumstances) to pick up Sharon's Ugg boots for her as she arrived home from work like a very well trained puppy and that was forgetting how funny it was when he would often forget that he'd left them hanging from the back pocket of his pants before sitting on them, Rusty hearing Andy use words he hadn't heard since his time living on the streets.

"Yeah well I left out a carton of milk in the sun the day I moved in and by the time I came home again it…well it had exploded" Andy explained.

"And..." Sharon said with a chuckle, prompting him to continue.

Andy rolled his eyes at her as she continued to laugh. "And the smell maybe attracted a rat through the giant whole in the kitchen wall behind my fridge" he added, still embarrassed that Sharon had seen and smelled his house in such a state especially at a time when he was constantly out to impress her as much as possible.

"And..." Sharon prompted again.

Andy sighed. "And it then died behind the fridge." They all laughed at him while he hid his face against Sharon's shoulder, her kissing the top of his head in return. The whole sorry rat saga had come the weekend after they first told each other how they felt, saying 'I love you' for the first time and then shortly afterwards sleeping together for the first time too. At the time Andy didn't want anything to make her think that she had made a mistake in taking such a huge chance in entering into a relationship with him (not that he felt any differently eight months later) and long before he discovered the rat he desperately tried to drop her at work first before he went home to get a change of clothes so she wouldn't discover his secret shame, becoming even more horrified a few days later when he moved the fridge and found the rat too with Sharon in attendance.

"And it's smelled this bad ever since?" Rusty asked. Sharon tried her hardest not to pull a disgusted face as she nodded at him, it not being anywhere near as bad as it was when she first discovered it but she could still smell it, especially in the kitchen and it was one of the many reasons why they always opted to spend time in the condo rather than at the house, the proximity of the condo to work being at the top of the list. "Suddenly your eagerness to move in with us makes a lot more sense Lieutenant."

Andy and Sharon both laughed at his false assumption, fully aware that it was only a joke while Gus made a quiet grunt of displeasure at him, always annoyed when he heard Rusty refer to the man who was essentially now his Step-Father as 'Lieutenant' rather than 'Andy' with him saying it twice in little over a minute. Despite what Gus thought Rusty didn't do it on purpose, it just came rolling from his lips without any real thought going into it like the transition he had made from 'Sharon' to 'Mom,' it happening gradually over time without him thinking too hard about it. Hearing him and knowing why he was irritated with him Rusty elected to completely ignore Gus, not turning to face him and in no mood for an argument on the subject with his boyfriend on a day that was supposed to be all about his Mom and her boyfriend. Deep down there was already more than a little tension between Rusty and Gus at that moment anyway because of Rusty's Mom and the baby, Rusty still dodging her calls ninety percent of the time and with no intention of ever seeing his baby sister in person when she did arrive into the world when in comparison that was all that Gus wanted in life, the chance to be reunited with his sister if only for an hour.

"Sure" Andy nodded at him, his arms tightening around Sharon even more before he kissed her shoulder again. "It has nothing to do with your Mom at all" he said rather dismissively and making them all laugh. "It's all about leaving this smell and my crazy neighbour behind me" he added, them laughing again.

Sharon removed his cap and ran her hand through his hair before taking a hold of it and tugging it back to make him look up at her, finding himself completely at her mercy and not objecting to that fact in the slightest. "Oh really? Is that right?" she asked him. He winked at her with a grin on his face, making her laugh before she kissed him and practically hearing Rusty roll his eyes. "How did Jason manage to disguise it to actually sell the place?" she asked him as she returned his cap to his head.

Andy shrugged. "He lit a bunch of candles I guess, I don't know."

"Well then thank God you weren't here to assist him when he showed the house or it could have burnt to the ground and you'd be trying to sell a vacant lot instead" Sharon joked much to her own amusement, instantly making Rusty laugh with her while Andy looked at the pair of them far from amused.

Gus frowned, a little confused at what he deemed to be a 'family joke' that he was not party to. "Why what did you burn down?" he asked with a little surprise.

"He set his menu on fire during their first date" Rusty replied instantly. Sharon smiled down at Andy as he rolled his eyes with her mind quickly drifting to another incident that involved Andy Flynn and a candle which Rusty thankfully knew nothing about, a teenage Andy actually managing to set his pants on fire when he knocked over a candle the first time he ever had sex, burning his ankles slightly as he opted to finish what he started rather than putting out the fire first.

"What?" Gus laughed, quickly being joined by Rusty and Sharon while Andy continued to look incredibly put out by the whole conversation. "You did? How is that even possible?"

"Those things can be highly flammable" Andy cried defensively and not for the first time.

"Sure, if you're a moron" Rusty cut in quickly.

"A very big moron" Sharon confirmed, laughing before she kissed him on the lips again.

"Is this it now? Living with you two I get to be bullied every day of my life? Is that how it's going to work between us from now on?" Andy asked, making it sound like he was actually upset about the whole situation when being part of a family again was something that he'd wanted for so long, especially that family in particular, he would more than gladly be the butt of everyone's joke until the day he died in order to keep it.

"Oh I should say that's highly likely Andy" Gus confirmed, knowing Rusty and now Sharon and Andy well enough to see that was the dynamic that had settled upon them when they were all together.

"It's not too late to pull out you know" Sharon told him, leaning back a little so that she could more easily see his face. "We can put everything back where it was and you can stay here instead if you'd prefer it boy, if you think that we constantly mistreat you."

"Not on your life Raydor" he told her before pushing his lips to hers. "Not on your life."

Seconds later Nicole burst through the open door with Dean following a little more sedately in her wake, both dressed for a morning of hard work and heavy lifting with one looking far more excited about the day than the other and it wasn't hard to work out which and the reason why. "We're here! Happy moving day Dad!" Nicole cried as she bounced excitedly up and down on the spot, clapping her hands together like a trained seal. Dean looked at her with a very large roll of his eyes since she'd been driving him crazy from the very moment Andy told her he was moving in with Sharon, thinking he was going to have to sedate her the previous evening as her excitement threatened to bubble out of control and his wife causing more issues that their children.

"'Happy moving day?' Is that a thing?" Andy asked as he tightened his hold on the woman in his lap and ensured Sharon remained sitting where she was for a moment.

"It is if I say it is grumpy" Nicole shot back.

"As you can probably tell some of us are more excited than others. They may have also had four or five cups of coffee this morning too" Dean explained, firmly of the opinion that their two boys were more controllable after four bags of sugar than his wife currently was but he could understand it, knowing how much Nicole wanted to see her Dad happy, healthy and settled for what was really the first time in her life.

"Oh you be quiet" Nicole virtually ordered him with an elbow to his stomach. "Now give me a hug Dad." In response Sharon was quick to climb off his lap before holding her hands out for him to take so that she could help pull him to his feet. As soon as he was standing Nicole was in his arms, hugging him tightly as he kissed the side of her head. "I'm so happy for you" she gushed as Sharon smiled at them. Nicole soon released him before moving on to Sharon and hugging her even tighter, almost squeezing the air from her lungs. "Oh Sharon! Thank you so much for this. Thank you for taking him in. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Taking me in?" Andy grumbled. "What am I? An abandoned kitten down a storm drain?" he asked as he shook Dean's hand. "I can take care of myself you know."

"Not from my experience" Nicole shot back, having worried about her Father and how he was coping on his own for a long time as a long line of young blonde women flittered in and out of his life at an alarming speed since she was five years old and her parents filed for divorce. With an all too knowing look in Andy's direction Nicole pulled away from Sharon but kept hold of her hand for a moment longer, more excited by the prospect of Sharon becoming her Step-Mother than Agnes was when Gru married Lucy at the end of Despicable Me 2.

"And for the record Lieutenant a kitten wouldn't shed anywhere near as much as you do in the bathtub" Rusty pointed out much to the amusement of everyone except Andy.

"I mean it Sharon from the bottom of my heart thank you" Nicole said as she turned back to face her, squeezing her hand tightly. "Now I no longer have to worry about him falling in the shower and breaking a hip or dying alone in the kitchen and his body going undiscovered for weeks while a rat chews on his face" she said rather grimly but eliciting more laughter.

"Well this just keeps getting better and better. Despite what your Mother may claim I'm not that old and decrepit you know. There's still plenty of candy left in this piñata" Andy replied with an unfortunately timed thrust of his hips.

Rusty shuddered, still spending a lot of time and effort focusing on trying to believe that Andy was a eunuch and his physical relationship with Sharon had gone no further than hand holding and the occasional hug. "Let's add that to the list of things I never want to hear you say ever again" he said with another shudder that went from the very ends of his hair to the tips of his toes.

"There's really no need to thank me Nicole" Sharon insisted. "I never have been able to turn away a handsome face." Nicole laughed as Andy winked at Sharon, once more running his arm back around her waist. The excitement that they were both feeling about the move and taking that next step with each other meant that they were currently struggling to keep their hands off each other and indeed they hadn't, spending most of the previous evening once the packing was done and also that morning before Rusty and Gus arrived to help taking full advantage of having the house to themselves for the final time.

Nicole turned to her Father, looking at him sternly as she pointed a finger at him. "Now I'm warning you now, if you screw this up Dad I will kill you" she told him in anything but a joke but that didn't stop everyone from laughing at her. "And you should know that is not in any way an empty threat by any stretch of the imagination. Understand?" Andy nodded, all too keenly aware of how much he had to lose if he did do anything stupid this time around, not that he had any intention of doing anything that would risk losing Sharon, he was an idiot but he wasn't completely out of his mind. Nicole smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "I'm only joking although I will kill you" she said once again with complete seriousness before her face erupted into the largest smile Andy thought he'd ever seen on his daughter's face, her eyes sparkling more than they did when she saw he'd turned up to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. "I'm so happy for you both."

With Nicole finally stepping away from Sharon for more than a second Dean moved to give her a quick hug as Rusty stood to get Nicole's attention. "Hey Nicole" he said before he was quickly tugged towards her and into a hug of his own. "You remember Gus right?" he asked when they broke apart, gesturing towards his boyfriend and a hell of a lot more confident when it came to introductions than he was the first time Nicole and Gus had met each other on Christmas Day but they had only been on one solitary date at that point so it was only to be expected.

"I do indeed" Nicole replied with a smile as Gus took to his feet. "I never forget a handsome face."

Dean immediately scoffed. "Really?" he asked.

Nicole turned very slowly to glare at her husband, for a moment making Andy think of his ex-wife, the two having the same exact death glare to the extent where it actually made him swallow dramatically and take a step backwards, showing some sympathy for his son-in-law if he had to contend with that expression when he was in the dog house. "So I couldn't remember your name the first two months we worked together!" she cried as she threw her arms into the air, making it sound like it happened to everyone. "Big deal! I married you didn't I?" she reminded him despite not remembering his name for the first few months they worked together at least, having no idea then that he would turn out to be one of her best friends as she helped him through the loss of his wife before falling in love with each other. Nicole turned to Gus with her arms open. "It's lovely to see you again Gus" she said as they hugged each other.

"You too" he replied as they pulled apart.

Nicole turned around to face away from Gus and to catch Sharon's eye, fanning her face with her hand as her mouth dropped open and she mouthed the words 'Oh my God! He's so handsome!' as she subtly pointed at Gus. Sharon laughed at her while Rusty just scowled, not at all impressed when she did the exact same thing on Christmas Day the first time that Nicole met him. Like on Christmas Day Nicole put her hand up to high five Rusty so that she could congratulate him on snagging himself such a stud muffin but he didn't respond with the exception of folding his arms, Sharon indulging her instead. With the greetings done and dusted Nicole looked around at the piles of Andy's packed belongings, assessing the job that lay before them. "I see you've already started. Are we it or are we getting more help?" she asked them.

"No we've got the guys from work coming over to help us out too" Andy told her with a smile and quickly reassuring them both that with the volume of people coming to help that it wasn't as tall an order as it currently appeared to be. "They shouldn't be long."

"Lieutenant Mike and Buzz are just getting out of the car" Rusty announced as he pointed through the open front door.

"Oh yay! The gang's all here!" Nicole replied, clapping her hands again.

"I thought it was five cups of coffee but it could very well have been five bottles of wine" Dean announced to explain his wife's high levels of excitement, making everyone laugh before he got another inevitable elbow in the stomach which caused him to grunt. Despite the fact that everyone probably thought she was crazy, Nicole was just so happy for her Dad and she didn't care who knew it, hardly sleeping a wink the previous evening like she was five years old and it was her birthday the next day.

"Where are the boys today? I thought you were going to bring them" Sharon asked.

"We were and as much as they desperately wanted to come and help they would only have been a hindrance and under foot all day so they're with Mom and Michael" Nicole explained before she paused a little nervously. In asking her Mom to look after Robin and Justin for the day she had been forced into telling her the reason why, doing it before the boys did it for her. It was usually the sort of thing that she kept to herself when it came to her parents and their rather difficult relationship despite her Mom being genuinely pleased to see her ex-husband settled after all that time for the sake of their children. "Erm...I told her what was happening today before the boys could blab and did it for you and to be fair she is genuinely very pleased for you both" she announced, saying it for Andy's benefit rather than Sharon's.

"Really?" Andy asked, finding it incredibly unlikely despite how much Sandra wanted to see him settled for the sake of Nicole and Daniel.

"Yes. You know how much she wants to see you happy despite everything. She even gave me a card to give to you. I left it in the car for now, I thought it would probably be safer for you both." She paused before she asked "I assume you have something at work that can check it for anthrax or explosives maybe before you open it right?" with everyone laughing in reply even though it was a legitimate concern of hers if she was being brutally honest.

"Please thank her for us will you" Sharon requested.

"Of course," Nicole nodded, "I will but please don't open it until the sniffer dogs have given it the once over first, just to be on the safe side."

"What kind of card exactly?" Andy asked suspiciously as everyone else laughed at Nicole.

She shrugged. "A congratulations on your new home one I guess, why?"

"I wouldn't put it passed her to have bought a sympathy card for Sharon" Andy grumbled.

"She wouldn't do that" Sharon stated, her hand gravitating to his backside as it so often did and giving it a playful slap before she squeezed it as if she was telling him off. There was no denying that Andy and Sandra had a very different relationship to what she had with Jack, for example they had divorced decades ago, Sandra filing almost as soon as she threw Andy out, ripping his wedding ring from his finger and heaving it at his head whereas Sharon had stayed married to Jack for so long for many reasons, not least of which was the tiny slither of hope she kept in the back of her mind in the beginning that one day he might finally get his act together, realise what an idiot he had been, resolve to change and reconcile with her. However the way that their relationships were similar came in the form of how they both wanted to see their ex-husbands happy and stable for the sake of their shared children. Both Sharon and Sandra would always hate their former husbands for the way that they hurt their children in the past (and when it came to Sharon and Jack, she would never trust him again for the way he announced that Andy had a blood clot when he wanted to keep it a secret as long as possible, not only doing it in spite of her boyfriend but also making Emily incredibly distressed for trusting him again for the first time in a long time and then being so badly let down by him when she had opened up to him because of her fear for her Mom and her boyfriend) but they also wanted to see them happy because it was important to their children.

"Wouldn't she?" Andy replied, thinking it was exactly the sort of things that Sandra would do to have a sly little dig at him regardless of being not so secretly pleased for him.

Sharon couldn't help but laugh at him and shake her head as Buzz walked in followed closely behind by Mike and Cathy, all three dressed for a day of heavy lifting and hard work. "Happy moving day!" Cathy shouted as she walked inside, clapping her hands together and seeming just as excited by the whole thing as Nicole was, given that she'd known Andy for well over fifteen years and liking Sharon the moment she first met her despite the stories she'd heard from Mike in the days when Chief Johnson was still in charge.

Nicole immediately grinned and took a quick swipe at Andy's stomach. "See! I told you!" she gloated triumphantly since Cathy had used the exact same greeting that she had and therefore had proved her point. "You know nothing."

"So people keep telling me" Andy sighed. Sharon laughed as she squeezed him, kissing him on the cheek while she was at it. Before anymore welcomes could be exchanged between the gathered group and their newest guests Julio walked through the door with Mark by his side. In complete contrast to the last few encounters that they had with the boy where he looked constantly suspicious of them all and probably wouldn't have spat on any of them if they were on fire, he now looked stony faced, almost timid even and a completely different boy to the one they knew before he was informed of his Mom's death.

"Hey guys, sorry if we're a bit late" Julio said as he waved to the group. Without saying a word Mark immediately gravitated over to Rusty like he was caught in a tractor beam, he being the only other person aside from Julio that he really knew all that well and had felt comfortable with him as they watched cartoons in the Conference Room a few days earlier. Julio watched him, concern written all over his face as he moved towards his Captain and feeling the need to explain what he deemed to be his unacceptable tardiness. "I had a little trouble getting him here Captain" he said in hushed tones to Sharon and Andy. "He didn't want to stay with my Mom and then he didn't want to get into the car in case I left him anywhere" he explained with a sigh, the boy needing so much more reassurance since he was told that his Mom had died, crying when Julio said he was going out that morning because he didn't want to be apart from him and then crying again when Julio tried to get him into the car so that he could go with him. It had taken fifteen minutes as they sat on the curb next to the car for Julio to explain what was going to happen that day, where they were going and who was going to be there and why before Mark calmed down, deciding that he wanted to come and help and then albeit reluctantly climbed into the car with him.

"Well that's perfectly understandable" Andy offered him, all of them more than willing to help Mark in any way they could given the circumstances. They all turned to look at the young man as he sat on the couch between Rusty and Gus, the pair of them talking to him but getting very little in return.

"How is he aside from that?" Sharon asked.

"Okay I guess" Julio shrugged, not entirely sure what was going on inside Mark's head but Dr Joe didn't seem too overly concerned about him and how he was handling the news of his Mom's death which offered him some comfort that he may be able to help him with enough time. "He's changed a lot since we told him about his Mom" he said as he turned to look at Mark again just as Amy and Cooper walked in through the open front door and started to say hello, getting a little distracted wave from Sharon and Andy while their main focus was currently on Julio. "He hasn't called Immigration on me in the last forty eight hours so I guess that's progress" he said and as expected getting laughter in return. "But I don't know. I think it's good for him to be kept busy right now and around a lot of people. I hope you don't mind that I brought him with me."

"Of course not. We appreciate the help" Andy told him.

"And I do too if I'm honest" Julio replied, completely out of his depth with Mark and he knew it.

Sharon put her free hand on Julio's shoulder, sliding it down until she took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze. "We'll all take care of him today," she insisted, "make sure he has enough distractions."

"Thank you Captain" Julio nodded, looking and sounding incredibly grateful.

"Hey Andy, the Lieutenant is here" Gus announced, pointing towards the open door and the last couple to arrive.

"Finally!" Andy cried as he ducked down slightly to peer through the window to see them, catching sight of both Patrice and Provenza climbing out of his car, a surprise to say the least since Provenza had basically demanded that Andy pay for a cab and then drive them both home again so that he could drink heavily all day, a reward for turning up to help when he really didn't want to because it seemed far too much like hard work.

Patrice bounded into the house full of the joys of spring while Provenza dragged his feet behind her, mirroring the entrance from Nicole and Dean just minutes earlier. "Hello, hello, hello lovely people. Happy moving day!" she called loudly, Nicole once again looking at her Father with another smug 'I told you so!' look. Patrice quickly made her way around the crowded room, kissing everyone hello as her husband slowly dragged himself inside, taking his bucket hat from his head and squeezing it between his hands with annoyance once inside.

Before anything else could happen, even a muttered 'Hello' Provenza immediately spotted and registered the very old Giants t-shirt that Sharon was wearing, sensing Andy's influence in her team preference since he knew she was a die-hard Packers fan when in reality she was wearing it because she loved that shirt because it was Andy's and he once loved it so much rather than because of the team name written across it. "The Giants?" he said with exasperation as he pointed towards it. "Really?" Sharon shrugged in response, not bothering to offer him any kind of explanation. "Ye Gods!"

"Hey Provenza I thought you were getting a cab here and I was driving you back home so that you could drink all day" Andy said, not at all complaining that he wouldn't have to drop them home at the end of their little party when he had unpacking to do but wanting to know why his plans had changed, sensing that it was all down to his wife.

"I was but..." Provenza started to say before being cut off.

Patrice wrapped her arms around Andy to hug him as she spoke. "But of course we weren't going to make you drive us home when you have plenty of unpacking and I'm guessing lots of private celebrating to do after we all leave" she said before she released Andy and turned to face her husband. "Were we Louie?"

Provenza smiled at them in response, looking even faker than a pair of breasts on a unicorn. "Absolutely not" he said as he continued to smile almost manically. Sharon and Andy turned to smile at each other, both of them knowing that Sharon's text to Patrice a couple of days earlier as they relaxed in the Break Room was the sole reason that he was there, again both of them knowing that was irritating him more than being asked to help Andy move in the first place. "Even though I'd rather be anywhere else but here right now" he grumbled.

"I thought you had no problem with me stealing your boyfriend away from you Lieutenant" Sharon stated and instantly making everyone laugh including Andy, all them always amused when their heard their Captain refer to Provenza as Andy's boyfriend and vice versa.

Laughing harder than all of them, Cooper finally managed to compose himself enough to ask "Boyfriend? Have I missed out on some juicy gossip recently?"

"If you know what's good for you Cooper, please don't encourage her, I beg of you" came the desperate plea from Provenza, making Sharon laugh and briefly resting her head on Andy's shoulder, their arms still wrapped around each other. "And to answer your question I don't have a problem with this move in the slightest" he confirmed, not wanting anyone to have the wrong idea about his current bout of grumpiness. "What I object to Captain is being forced into helping people move house on a Saturday when I could be doing literally anything else."

"Will you quit complaining, anyone would think I'd asked you for a kidney" Andy said.

"I would have preferred that to this, because this is an imposition" Provenza grumbled again.

"Oh ignore him Andy," Patrice said with a sigh, "he's been in a vile mood all morning."

"Oh I wonder why?" Provenza continued to grumble, still annoyed that firstly he'd been asked to help Andy move and secondly that he'd essentially been manipulated into it by Sharon texting Patrice.

"How is that different to every other day?" Mike asked and getting a ripple of laughter.

Stepping further into the middle of the room Provenza cleared his throat before speaking and addressing the group as a whole. "While everyone is here I want it noted for the record that I didn't ask for any assistance from any of you when Patrice moved in with me" he pointed out.

Rusty instantly took to his feet and waved. "Except for me. I helped" he reminded him.

"Well you volunteered" Provenza corrected him.

"Actually I think you'll find that you volunteered me, there's a difference Lieutenant" Rusty instantly shot back, thinking that despite being paid to do it and handsomely so at that (all of Major Crimes in agreement that it was a minor miracle that Rusty had managed to get the money out of him for his help despite being promised it in advance, expecting that Rusty would need to pry it from his cold dead hands) the Lieutenant had made it clear that he had no real choice in the matter, he was doing it and that was that.

Provenza looked back at him with a glare. "To begin with Mr Beck I was forced to pay you and your little friend an obscene amount of money to get you to cooperate with me so that Patrice wouldn't find out what I was doing and secondly I only volunteered you because I had a hidden agenda" he pointed out, making it clear that in his opinion (and a blatant lie it has to be said) it was more about wanting to ask Rusty a question about his Mother and her 'date' rather than really needing his help in moving the furniture Patrice didn't like into his storage unit. Upon hearing about Provenza's 'hidden agenda' Sharon and Andy looked at each other, both of them a little baffled by it all.

Seeing the confusion on their faces Rusty turned to his Mom and her boyfriend and told them simply "He wanted to know what had happened on your first date since you were both acting a little weird and had been deliberately tight lipped about it all." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than a glare came at him from Provenza.

"Then why didn't you just ask me if you wanted to know so badly?" Andy asked Provenza as he laughed.

"I wasn't that interested" Provenza shrugged.

"That's not how it seemed to me Lieutenant" Rusty replied quickly.

"Well just so you know Provenza, it went really really well" Andy informed him with a grin as his finger moved back and forth between him and Sharon who still had her arm around him, them all laughing at him.

"Oddly enough I had noticed" Provenza confirmed. "Regardless, when Cooper moved in with Sykes they didn't ask for help and neither did Sanchez when he moved back in with his Mother and on the whole when Patrice moved in with me we did it alone and we certainly didn't steal everyone's only free Saturday in close to a month to do it."

Patrice folded her arms across her chest as she focused on her husband, firmly on Andy's side when it came to this subject and not just because she desperately wanted to help him move in with Sharon. "No it was a Sunday and my sister and her family helped me put my furniture into storage before they helped bring everything else to the house and if I hear you complain one more time today about helping your friend and your Partner may I add, move in with the love of his life so help me God Louie, you'll be living in the garage until next Christmas." Provenza muttered under his breath in response as he slumped down into Andy's armchair with more than a little air of resignation about him. "And people wonder why I drink" Patrice quipped to no one in particular and was immediately greeted with a ripple of laughter. With her husband and his latest tantrum temporarily dealt with she turned her attention to the job ahead of them, her eyes scanning the pile of boxes and furniture. "You guys must be utterly exhausted packing all of this so quickly."

In truth there wasn't a great deal left for them to do the previous evening (cleaning out the place for food that had long since been forgotten due to the amount of time Andy had been spending at the condo rather than his house over recent months and long before he had even asked her to move in with him being the biggest job) and their decision to spend the night there was more about spending that one final night completely alone to do what they wanted where they wanted which consisted primarily of lots of noisy sex before the three of them truly became a family. Andy still had a lot of clothes there that needed packing and a few more personal items like photo albums that he was going to take with him but that was really it. So they ordered in from their favourite local Chinese restaurant (a place that was by no means local to the condo and they probably wouldn't use ever again) and ate as they packed what remained. When that was done Sharon insisted on cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom once again because she didn't want the new owners to 'think badly' of them if they left the bathroom floor in any state other than clean enough to eat their dinner from (similarly always ensuring that her bedroom was spotless even if she rolled out suddenly in the middle of the night because she didn't want any potential burglars to think she was untidy and lived like a slob). In their desire to make everything as easy as possible for their volunteers the next day they even went as far as to demolish the bed frame in advance and therefore forcing them to sleep on the mattress on the floor that night like they were still in college. Neither really minded sleeping that close to the ground since they were both tired from a long week at work and that was without the effort it took to finish packing. Added to that they had also partaken in several final naked and extremely noisy final 'hurrahs' to say goodbye to the place. Andy had been joking for several weeks that a fitting goodbye to his former home was having an orgasm in every single room including the garage and the cupboard in the hall and despite not being able to quite do it himself (he wasn't twenty anymore after all although he still gave a very good account of himself and in fact shouted his orgasm on the couch so loudly it was a minor miracle that the family three doors down didn't come over to complain about the noise because it was making their dog howl in the back yard) he was damn sure they weren't going to leave the place without Sharon having at least one in every room, his jaw aching a little that morning as a result.

"Actually I've had most of it done for weeks" Andy told her.

"Weeks?" Provenza repeated, looking around the room and blinking dramatically. "How have you managed to sell the place with it looking like this?" he asked rather bluntly since completely stripped back was not the place's best look by any stretch of the imagination.

"You've seen his furniture. It looks better empty" Nicole replied, grinning at her Father as she did it, relishing the teasing that was heading his way that morning.

"I decided my best option was to go for the blank canvas look" Andy stated.

"Plus he was very eager to move in with the Captain and he didn't want to wait any longer than he had to when he finally did sell this place in case the delay caused her to change her mind about the whole thing" Provenza said quite correctly, getting a ripple of laughter from everyone in reply except Andy who just sighed at him. "What? Am I wrong here?"

"No that's pretty much on the money Lieutenant" Rusty answered quickly, that being his assessment of the situation too.

"See, even Rusty agrees with me and if anyone would know it's him." Provenza sat forward a little and looked around the room, the emptiness of the living room not doing the place any favours at all which made it all the more surprising that he had managed to sell it so quickly in that condition. "Still, selling this place so quickly is..."

"Miraculous?" Sharon answered, shocked about it herself.

"Hey!" Andy protested and making Sharon laugh in reply, her quickly burying her face into his shoulder for a moment, kissing it as if she was apologising.

"I was going to say impressive but it's pretty damn miraculous too Captain" Provenza agreed. "What did you do? Offer to sell your soul to the devil too?"

"No. My realtor got his partner involved" Andy explained. "That 'Gary Doesn't Lie' guy the Chief used."

"Yeah well if you ask me, to sell this place so quickly while looking and smelling like it does, something tells me that Gary does lie, a lot" Provenza nodded. "What did he tell them? There's a pile of buried treasure in the back yard?"

"You'll be buried in the back yard in a moment" Andy shot back grumpily.

"And what the hell is that smell?" Provenza asked, smelling it like everyone else who had walked in there that morning but only he (and Rusty) had the relationship with Andy to be able to ask so bluntly. "It's like something died in here."

"It did, although technically it was in the kitchen, remember?" Sharon said, nudging him in the right direction since she knew Andy wouldn't appreciate her telling a room full of their friends and colleagues that he had such vermin issues in the past.

"Like I could forget" he grumbled again, complaining many times to Andy in the months since about the state his shoes were in when he left, not only with the remnants of the milk explosion on them but also soaking wet after Andy had tried to clean them for him by simply spraying them with his garden hose while they were still on his feet. "I still haven't been able to wear those shoes since. So all of this crap is going into storage?" he asked with a little dismay as he looked around at what remained boxed up.

"Yes but not quite yet" Sharon answered before Andy had chance to, a smile slowly creeping onto Rusty's face to match Sharon's as he guessed what was coming while Provenza looked back at her with a frown. "It's all going to go on a short vacation to your house first" she told him gleefully as Andy laughed and tightened the grip of his arm around her waist, his thumb slipping into her belt loop so that she wouldn't be able to run away from him. "You know to make up for the night your furniture stayed at our condo, completely uninvited may I add."

"What?" Mike laughed, the rest of the division unaware of the unusual route that at least half of Provenza's furniture had taken from his house to his storage space despite Sharon's less than subtle 'How does something from one person's house mysteriously end up at someone else's apartment' in front of Mike, Amy and Buzz in Electronics the following day, Provenza not immediately realising that's what Rusty had done with it overnight much to his horror.

"The storage space that the Lieutenant rented wasn't big enough to hold all of his stuff so I had to bring it back home with me overnight" Rusty explained as Provenza continued to glare at him unimpressed.

"Which meant I had the pleasure of your duck lamps as well as everything else that had been culled from your house for an evening" Sharon smiled, not knowing that those hideous lamps were going to end up in Electronics otherwise they may have taken a quick flight off her balcony that evening.

"You had those duck lamps over night and didn't set fire to them?" Buzz asked as his mouth fell open, the amazement ringing out loud and clear in his voice since he'd fantasied on more than one occasion about running them over with his Prius.

"They're impervious to fire" Andy replied, remembering vividly lying on his couch that night and getting a phone call from his girlfriend of all of five days, both of them quickly getting into the routine of calling each other to say goodnight before they went to bed but on that particular night Sharon called a little earlier because she wanted to tell him the reason why she was having an early night due to the fact that she couldn't currently sit on her couch.

"And good taste" Patrice added as everyone laughed, those duck lamps being the first things to get a pink Post-It Note stuck on them as she started to redecorate what was now their home.

"Okay, so what goes where Sir?" Julio asked as they prepared to get started.

Andy pointed to the pile of boxes and bags in the corner of the room. "That pile needs to go to the condo so let's split them between the cars. The rest needs to go into the truck to go into storage."

"How long for? How long until you move again?" Cooper inquired, asking solely so that he knew when he and Amy may be asked to help them move again in the future rather than being uncharacteristically nosy. "Amy told me you were looking to buy a place together. Something about black..."

Andy groaning loudly as if he was in real pain cut Cooper off mid-sentence, Amy and Sharon putting their heads in their hands as everyone expected yet another rant from Andy about that house. "Oh please don't say anything about black mould," Amy begged Cooper, having already warned him not to mention Badge of Justice in front of Andy on their drive over but had rather regretfully forgotten all about the black mould situation, "or I may be forced to kill you and then Lieutenant Flynn and I assume the Captain will be more than willing to help me do it."

"You assume correctly Detective" Sharon confirmed, her hand primed to sneak down from its position hovering just above his backside to pinch the back of Andy's knees if he so much as thought about complaining again about how their dream house had turned out to be anything but.

"And I'll be helping with the clean-up" Provenza proclaimed.

Andy turned to Provenza with surprise. "Oh so now you want to help."

"Covering up your murder sure," Provenza shrugged, "helping you move? Not so much."

Cooper laughed, understanding that he had just essentially jammed his foot in his mouth without realising it. "Okay, I get it. I'll just add black mould to Badge of Justice on the list of things Amy told me I'm not supposed to talk about around here." Once again Amy and Sharon put their heads in their hands while everyone else laughed, Cooper now not only ramming his foot into his mouth but swallowing it past his kneecap too.

"And yet you've done it anyway" Amy said to him with a look that made it abundantly clear that he needed to keep his mouth closed as much as possible for the rest of the day or he might find her fingernails embedded in his nether regions when they got home and not in a pleasurable way.

"But you are still looking to buy somewhere else though right Sir?" Julio asked and trying to draw the conversation back away from Mike's part time job and black mould for the sake of his Captain's stress levels and blood pressure or before she murdered her boyfriend before he'd even had chance to move in.

Andy looked at Sharon and smiled, not really wanting to admit to them that he no longer cared about finding a house because he was moving into the condo and was therefore currently as content and as happy as he'd ever been in his entire adult life. "Erm...maybe" he shrugged. "There's no rush and..."

Before he could finish Sharon slapped her hand across his mouth to stop him in his prime. "What he's trying to say to you Julio is he has everything he ever wanted right now, we are finally moving in together so he's no longer hounding his realtor twenty four hours a day and looking for houses because he's happy at the condo." She turned her head to look at Andy with a smile as she removed her hand, him catching it before it could return to her side and pressing his lips to her palm. "Right?"

"That's about the gist of it yes" he nodded, everyone laughing at him and how easily and quickly he crumbled and admitted the truth. "I'm not saying that if the perfect place fell into our laps we wouldn't take a look at it and consider it but for now," he said before pausing, turning his head to look at the woman with her arm around him and kissed the side of her head a couple of times, "I am incredibly happy where we are and if this is the last move I ever make in my life that'll be fine by me."

"And it's fine by me too. I don't want to have to help him move yet again" Provenza grumbled once again, helping him move from his couch to his first post-divorce apartment and then into the house being twice too many in his opinion.

Julio moved to the pile of boxes and bags in the corner that was going to the condo, looking at it with surprise, Andy almost taking as little to the condo as Mark had arrived with at PAB although in truth a lot of Andy's stuff was already at the condo. "Is this everything Sir? Is this all you're taking with you?" he smiled.

"Yeah, that's everything" Andy nodded, his confirmation immediately greeted by a ripple of laughter from all the men in the room, all of them thinking the exact same thing and that he was so whipped and under Sharon's thumb that he wasn't allowed to take anything else with him rather than having already turned down the chance on multiple occasions to take some of his furniture and exchange it for some of hers. "What?" he asked, surprised as they all continued to laugh and exchange all too knowing looks.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Julio shrugged as he smiled, suitable relaxed enough in a social situation to make fun of a man who was also his friend in front of his Captain, "just are you whipped much Lieutenant?" he asked. Again all the men laughed at him, every one of them thinking the same thing but not brave enough to ask the question.

"I'm not whipped" Andy protested as Sharon laughed, hiding her face into his shoulder as she squeezed him and thinking that by her own admission he was a little bit whipped by her but only playfully so, it really a consequence of her being his Commanding Officer and him doing everything that she told him to do while at work throughout their current relationship and all the years that came before it.

"And yet this tiny pile of your possessions suggests otherwise" Julio replied.

"Hey Sanchez is it wise to point out how whipped Flynn is in front of your Captain?" Cooper asked despite enjoying the show taking place before him and laughing just as loudly as the rest of them.

"I'm not their Captain today," Sharon insisted, her arm still wrapped around the love of her life and anything but the Commanding Officer in that room regardless of how they all still addressed her as 'Captain,' "I'm just the fool moving in with their friend."

"Gee thanks" Andy grumbled, making Sharon laugh before she kissed his cheek.

"So all of this stuff is going into storage? Really?" Provenza asked, already in the knowledge before he arrived that anything he said that day wouldn't be held against him by his Captain but it was nice to have confirmation anyway. Andy nodded. "Are you balls going there too?" he questioned and getting a laugh from everyone even Sharon as Andy just glared at him and tried not to take the bait. "Will you get to visit them from time to time?"

"Are you done?" Andy asked, far from amused by the whole conversation.

Provenza laughed. "Oh believe me I'm only just getting started."

"Does moving into the condo mean that you're a kept man now Sir?" Julio asked, giving his Captain a little wink to ensure she knew he was only joking.

"He wishes" Sharon laughed.

"All joking aside, what dirt do you have on the Captain that enabled you to blackmail her into this move Andy?" Mike asked and not wanting to miss out on the good natured ribbing that was on offer, once more everyone laughing at Andy's expense. "There has to be a body buried somewhere."

"One?" Provenza scoffed. "More like five."

"Gentlemen, if he told you then I'd have to kill him and then you" Sharon confirmed to yet more laughter, winking at Andy.

With Andy tortured enough for five minutes Mike moved to the top of the kitchen table, moving the pack of bottled water to the floor and out of the way before he prepared to lift it. "Come on Julio, grab the other end of this table and let's get started" he said before Julio moved to help.

"No, nope" Cathy cried before Julio could take more than a couple of steps towards Mike to help, her hands moving to point at everyone in attendance to ensure they didn't move more than an inch. "Nobody moves anything from this house until we've had this conversation with Sharon first" she insisted, moving to her and taking her hand that had just moved from Andy's waist as she waved Patrice over to join her. Not needing to be told twice Patrice joined them and took Sharon's other hand, turning her slightly to face away from Andy so that his presence wouldn't impact on her answer to the questions they were about to ask. "Okay, Sharon, are you really sure about this? Letting Andy Flynn of all people move in with you?" Cathy asked as Sharon began to laugh and Andy's mouth dropped open with horror. "Are you sure?" she asked again and clearly joking just to torment Andy a little but with her back to him it was hard for him to tell.

Everyone laughed, not just at the question being asked but the utterly horrified expression on Andy's face. "What the hell? What are you trying to do to me?" he cried, his voice going as high as anyone but Sharon and Rusty had ever heard it.

Cathy quickly turned to Andy, giving him a stern look that reminded him of the Nuns who had terrorised him for so many years in his youth, forcing him to take an unconscious step back and away from her. "You be quiet" she warned him, pointing a finger in his direction. "We all know what you get out of this deal Andrew Flynn so we have to make sure that Sharon isn't getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop here."

"Ye Gods" Provenza shuddered. "If you're going to be talking about Flynn's fuzzy lollipop then I'm going to sit in the car and take a nap until it's over" he said as he went to stand.

"Louie so help me God if you move so much as another inch you'll be sleeping in the car permanently" Patrice warned him, everyone laughing again as Andy along with Provenza looked incredibly annoyed by the whole situation, Provenza quickly sitting back down again with a thud and a mumble under his breath. "Now Sharon, on behalf of the 'Partners of Detectives from Major Crimes Union' we feel compelled to speak up before you take this next giant step with him" Patrice explained as she thumbed in Andy's direction.

"Are you forgetting that you could also be having this same conversation with me since you know Sharon is also a Detective from Major Crimes?" Andy pointed out.

Patrice turned towards him while not releasing Sharon's hand. "But as Cathy has already said, we all know exactly what you get out of this whole arrangement so it's only right we take care of Sharon before things move beyond the point of no return." Patrice turned back to face Sharon again, giving her another wink to make it abundantly clear to her that they were only teasing Andy, something she already knew without the extra hint. "If it makes you feel any better we had the same conversation with Amy when we found out she was moving in with Chuck."

"What?!" Cooper cried. "When was this?"

"Oh it doesn't really matter now" Amy said dismissively as she suppressed a smile.

"I think it does if they were trying to talk you out of moving in with me" Cooper quite rightly stated, extremely alarmed by what he was hearing for the very first time.

"Calm down" Amy told him with a shake of her head as Cooper seemed to instantly break out into a cold sweat. "They weren't trying to talk me out of it and anyway you're not a member of our division so they were more like..."

"Making sure she knew what she was doing and letting herself in for and it turned out that she did and you moved in anyway so quit complaining" Patrice told him. Cooper looked at them with a pout, far from him impressed as Patrice and Cathy turned back to face Sharon again who couldn't stop herself from laughing, not least because of the really annoyed expression that what still on Andy's face about the whole conversation. "Now Sharon..."

Eager to put Andy out of his misery before he fainted again or worse, Sharon cut her off in her prime. "Ladies I really appreciate your concern for me in this matter but I am more than fine with this whole arrangement even though I greatly look forward to our annual meetings where we get to loudly trash the men in our lives."

"Hey!" Andy protested again, really not liking the turn the conversation had taken despite the little smile and wink Sharon sent in his direction from over her shoulder.

"Actually they're more like monthly meetings with these two" Patrice informed her.

"And there's wine" Cathy confirmed.

Patrice nodded. "Lots and lots and lots of wine."

"Trust us, we need it" Cathy said with a look to the heavens.

"Hey!" Mike cried, suddenly unhappy about what was being said as Andy, Provenza and Cooper were now that it was also aimed in his direction.

Cathy sighed and turned her head to look at her husband. "Michael" she said simply, just the use of his name enough to shut him up and prevent any further protests, a little trick she had picked up from his Mother.

"Shutting up" Mike said simply, not prepared to spend some time in the dog house just to prove that he wasn't as whipped as the other men in healthy relationships in the room.

During the exchange Julio had crossed the room to stand behind the couch where Mark sat silently between Gus and Rusty. He lowered his head to speak to the boy while making sure his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. "See this Mark is why you should never ever get married" he told him before he pointed to the couple sitting either side of him. "These two have got the right idea."

"They could get married if they wanted to" Amy reminded him.

Julio shrugged. "Then they're screwed too" he said sympathetically to yet more laughter, all of this despite the fact that he still wore his wedding ring so many years after Maria's death and with zero intention of ever removing it.

"Anyway, back to our point and I'm pretty sure even Nicole will back us up here, are you really sure about this?" Cathy asked again, Nicole laughing as she stepped towards her Father to put an arm around him due to the fact that he looked like he was about to pass out if the conversation didn't end quickly. "I mean we hear stories about this guy," she went on before thumbing towards Andy again, "that would make your hair curl."

"Are you two trying to give me a heart attack?" Andy cried despite Sharon laughing at them and quite clearly not taking any of it seriously.

"Oh you be quiet" Patrice told him before she turned her attention back to Sharon. "We're being serious here Sharon" she insisted despite the smile on her face. "The stories we have heard about that man and some of the things he's got up to in the past would make even a sailor blush."

"And they're all complete nonsense I assure you" Andy insisted.

Cathy and Patrice smiled at each other before they turned to face him again. "Oh yeah? How can you be so sure?" Cathy asked him.

"Because they can only have come from these two," he replied, pointing at Mike and Provenza, "so it'll be nothing but lies."

Patrice released Sharon's hand and folded her arms across her chest as she took a step towards Andy, looking at him quite intimidatingly and causing him to swallow. "Oh really?" she asked with her smile telling Nicole that she knew something about Andy that he was completely unaware of.

"Really" Andy nodded.

"Then what about Barstow?" Patrice asked.

The name hung in the air for a moment, not everyone aware of what was essentially Andy Flynn Kryptonite and the incident that had happened many years ago in almost a former life in Barstow California, an incident Andy was utterly desperate that Sharon never find out about. Andy's shoulders dropped. "What do you...?" he started to say before his face turned a deep shade of red and he marched over to Provenza, slapping him across the shoulder. "Did you tell Patrice about what happened while we were in Barstow?!"

"What happened in Barstow?" Rusty asked.

"Oh trust us Rusty, you don't want to know" Cathy told him.

Almost immediately all of the colour drained from Andy's face as he processed what he was hearing and what that actually meant. "What?! Cathy knows too?! Oh my God!" he cried, absolutely mortified beyond belief. He quickly buried his head into his hands and waited for the ground to open up and swallow him, sweating more than he had been as he sat down to take a break from the heavy lifting before everyone else arrived.

"If you're about to faint again can you please land on something soft this time" Provenza said unsympathetically. "I don't want to go to the hospital today" he added as Sharon once more laughed at Andy while giving him a kind smile that let him know that she really didn't care about any of it and he had no reason to worry. "Can we move this along a little?"

"I agree and ladies, let me stop you right here." Sharon smiled at Patrice and Cathy, despite only joking and enjoying torturing Andy she appreciated the thought all the same. "Yes I am sure" she said as she made sure she met Andy's still horrified eye. "I promise. I know exactly what I'm doing and I simply couldn't be happier about it."

"Wonderful" Cathy cried as she clapped her hands together before she hugged her and then returned to Mike's side, resting a hand on his shoulder as she leant into him.

"That's all we needed to know" Patrice confirmed as she hugged her, squeezing her tight. "We are so so happy for you, for you both."

"Thank you" Sharon said before she turned to whisper subtly in Patrice's ear. "Is Barstow something I should worry about?" she asked since the more Andy freaked out about her finding out about it the more she became concerned that he was not overreacting and there was indeed a humungous skeleton in his closet.

Patrice laughed. "Not at all" she insisted, not bothering to lower her voice. "I promise." They pulled apart as Sharon nodded and Patrice turned to look at Andy. "You've got a really good guy here, a really good guy. He's not too bad on the eye either" she said as she winked at him and he laughed in reply.

"Hey!" Provenza protested at his wife's compliment towards another man even if that other man was his best friend.

Andy walked over to Sharon and ran his arm back around her as she did likewise. "Don't I know it" Sharon said as she looked up at him smiling, both of them being more affectionate towards each in the five minutes since everyone had arrived than anyone (except obviously Rusty, Provenza and Patrice) had ever seen them before (for obvious reasons given that most of the time they were in their company they were at work and they very much kept everything purely professional as much as humanly possible) and making the likes of Amy and Mike in particular smile at them, so happy for them and both enjoying this very much relaxed side to them as a couple.

"But it's always good to keep him on his toes" Patrice said as she pinched Andy's chin and winked at him again. Despite them standing with their arms wrapped around each other Patrice moved to hug Sharon again, whispering in her ear but knowing that Andy was the only other person who could really hear what she was about to say. "Are you feeling okay after what happened the other day?" she asked quietly, clearly referencing the moment that Sharon had to sit and helplessly watch the monitors as her whole division including the love of her life no less were suddenly engulfed in flames following two members of the Z Brotherhood blowing themselves up to avoid capture. Despite being told repeatedly by Sharon that she was okay when she came to pick her husband up for dinner after the shooting at the hotel Patrice knew that she wasn't, she knew that because she wasn't okay about it and they were very much in the same boat in that regard and as such Patrice saw it as her job to check on Sharon on those occasions to ensure she was okay, speaking to Sharon when she knew Captain Raydor had already been taken care of separately.

"I'm fine" Sharon insisted, Andy kissing the side of her head as confirmation that he was listening to the conversation and had been taking care of her in that regard.

Patrice pulled away but still kept her voice low, unsure if Cathy knew what had happened and how close she had come to losing Mike that afternoon too. "Are you sure? Because I don't mind admitting that I certainly wasn't when my husband came home smelling of smoke and at least three and a half bottles of cologne." The three of them laughed for a moment at the thought. Provenza hadn't said a word to her about what had happened that day but after smelling him and seeing the news on the television it wasn't hard for her to work out and she had eventually forced him into telling her the truth when they climbed into bed that night. Provenza had likewise also been extremely tight lipped about Andy's request for a code word to alleviate Sharon's fears and his hints about how upset she had been about the shooting at the hotel but again it was easy for her to work it out herself. If she felt that upset by it all then surely Sharon did too, even more so after watching it unfold before her very eyes and being able to do nothing about it until the smoke had cleared. Little did they know that Cathy was also aware of what had happened that afternoon and was obviously just as upset about it although she opted to keep it to herself and despite Mike changing clothes before he left PAB she could still smell the smoke and had worked out what had happened that day without too much effort.

"Yes I'm sure" Sharon nodded, the whole incident not keeping her awake at night like the shooting at the hotel had, that first incident hardening her somehow.

"Good" Patrice smiled.

"Okay that's enough, let's get moving or we'll be here all day" Provenza grumbled as he took to his feet and pointed at Rusty and Gus. "You two take this chair outside" he started to say as he pointed at the armchair he had just vacated before whispering to them and patting them on their shoulders. They both looked at each other before rolling their eyes at him and then reluctantly picked up the chair between them and started to carry it outside.

"Come on Mark, grab a chair" Julio said as he picked up a chair that went with the dining table and waited by the door for the boy to do likewise and follow him. With that everyone looked around and started to pick up something they could easily carry to take out to the truck with the exception of Provenza who just pulled his bucket hat onto his head.

"Are you really not keeping any of your furniture?" Nicole asked her Father, recognising the armchair that was already outside from her youth, mainly because of the various stains on it that she had put there herself as a child. She had no issue at all with Andy not taking it with him and instead saw it as evidence of how much her Dad had changed since then and how her relationship with him had vastly improved in recent years. He had clung to that chair for so many years because it held a very small and rather unusual connection to his children and she was glad he didn't need it any longer because he had started to get his family back instead.

"No. We don't need it and besides there's no room for it at the condo" Andy shrugged.

"And the Captain has much better taste in furnishings than he does" Provenza couldn't help but snidely add to the conversation.

Andy scoffed. "What? This coming from the owner of those God awful duck lamps?"

"Those lamps are classics whereas you don't know a window treatment from your ass" Provenza shot back with venom, more likely to allow someone to verbally abuse his sons or his grandchildren than those treasured duck lamps.

"'Window treatment'?" Andy laughed. "Are you forgetting that you once ate an entire bowl of pot pourri thinking it was trail mix?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, less yacking, more packing" Rusty told them as he and Gus walked back inside on their second trip while everyone else was still talking in the living room.

With a grumpy reprimand ringing in their ears everyone picked up the box or the item of furniture that lay in front of them and carried them one by one outside to the truck. As he approached the curb with a box of odds and ends from the kitchen Andy was surprised but at the same time not to see that his armchair had been placed on the sidewalk next to the truck and that Provenza had once again taken up residence in it. He had his bucket hat on his head and his crossword puzzle in his hand, focused more on that than what was going on around him. Andy's mouth dropped open.

"You've got to be kidding me" Andy cried as he came to a stop next to the rest of the group who were likewise staring at Provenza agog even though not one of them really expected anything different from him if they were honest.

Provenza shrugged. "Someone needs to make sure the truck is loaded properly, why not me? Okay Julio and Cooper, you load the truck and everyone else will bring stuff out to you" he ordered them and making it sound like they had little choice in the matter.

Andy shook his head at Provenza as he passed his box to Julio while everyone else started to make a pile by the curb before they headed back inside to get the next item. As Cooper and Julio went back and forth, up and down the ramp as they started to load the truck with box after box and pieces of furniture, Mark waited on the ramp, getting in there way but not wanting to move too far away from Julio. With a job for the boy in mind Andy gestured to him to follow him. "Hey Mark, come with me" Andy called to him. Mark immediately looked to Julio for reassurance, getting a little nod and smile of encouragement in return before he jumped down and started to follow Andy inside the house. After checking over his shoulder to make sure that the boy was following him Andy led him straight into the kitchen. "I have a very important job for you young man. Come here." Mark slowly took a step towards him, his face once again looking nothing but suspicious until Andy picked him up and put him on the counter. "Now you see Sharon's freezer is full and I don't want to waste good food so I need someone to eat as much of this ice cream for me as they can" he said as he produced two cartons of strawberry ice cream from the sink, ice cream that he only kept in the house for Sharon to eat, by now well versed in her sweet tooth that often hit her suddenly post orgasm (usually having nothing close to the sugar addiction that Andy's former Chief did but a couple of large mouthfuls of something sweet once her legs could hold her upright again was a common occurrence and Andy always catered to it). "Do you think you can help me out with that?"

Mark's face suddenly erupted into a smile as he looked at what was on offer to him. "Sure I can" he replied as if the smile on his face wasn't already confirmation enough.

"All the spoons are packed but I have this" Andy said as he handed him a ladle from the sink he had plucked from one of the boxes at the last moment in anticipation of Mark's expected arrival. "Time to get creative kid" Andy encouraged with a pat to his shoulder, not sure how he was going to get the ladle in the carton much less into his mouth but knowing that where there was a will there was a way. Mark laughed as he started to tuck in, eventually easily fitting the ladle into the carton but ended up with a massive mouthful for him to eat very slowly. "Take it into the living room and keep an eye on everyone for me" he instructed as he pulled him down from the counter before they walked back into the living room.

"What for?" Mark asked when he'd managed to swallow his extremely large mouthful and just narrowly avoided the worst brain freeze of all time.

"To make sure they don't steal any of my stuff" Andy joked and making Mark laugh before he tried to fit the ladle into his mouth again. "Especially Sharon. If you see her trying to flush a grey and white shirt down the toilet try and stop her and call me immediately" Andy whispered and with how much she disliked that shirt he was expecting it to mysterious vanish during the move, never to be seen again.

Mark laughed again as he nodded "Okay."

"And you know make sure everyone lifts with their legs" Andy added as Mark sat down on the floor in the corner of the room, both cartons of ice cream on the floor in front of him as he battled to eat as much as possible.

Outside by the truck Sharon handed another heavy box to Julio to load inside as Provenza continued to sit, not at all watching proceedings but while maintaining the premise that he was helping by 'supervising,' his eyes locked on his crossword. "Captain, are you going to the start of Rosen's trial on Monday?" he asked before she had chance to walk back inside.

"Nope! No!" Patrice cried before Sharon could answer as she arrived with the last of the chairs from the table that was a former resident of Andy's kitchen. "No work talk today."

Sharon laughed before she quickly said "Yes I am Lieutenant," by no means thinking of herself as their Captain that day but answering the question regardless since the prospect of attending Dwight Darnell's trial the following week was very much hanging over her like a black cloud, always lurking to put a damper on her exceptionally good mood.

"Sharon! Don't make me tell you again" Patrice cried and sounding every bit like Sharon's Grandmother who would frequently yell something similar at her as a teenager when she caught her even glancing at a member of the opposite sex.

Sharon laughed again as she headed back inside and leaving Patrice to once again tell her husband off for not helping them in her wake. Once inside Sharon hovered by the door, leaning up against it as she watched Andy bend over in front of her to pick up a box. He knew without looking that Sharon was there and staring at his backside. "Stop looking at my ass Raydor" he said as he stood up with his box and turned around to face her, giving her a quick wink.

"I wasn't" she lied with the smile on her face telling a different story.

"Yeah right" Andy laughed as he walked over to her and pressed his lips to hers. "You were ogling."

"As a matter of fact I wasn't. I was thinking that you need to lift with your legs more." She looked at Mark still sitting in the corner eating his ice cream before she moved her lips to Andy's ear. "I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself and pull a muscle. I have very big plans for you later. Big naked celebratory plans" she whispered to him before pulling back slightly with a large grin on her face. For a split second Andy looked almost blind with arousal before he came back to his senses, walked over to the couch and dropped his box before picking up a couch cushion instead, thus ensuring he wasn't going to hurt himself and be unable to indulge in the plans Sharon had for him when they were done. Sharon instantly laughed at him.

Seconds later Nicole walked in and picked up another box, giving her Father that same glare she had given Dean earlier and had clearly inherited from her Mother when she saw him standing there and holding nothing but a couch cushion. "Dad you had better be carrying more than one couch cushion at a time" she warned him before she headed back outside again, not waiting for an answer.

"I guess I'll just have to be careful then" Andy shrugged. He dropped the cushion and picked up the box again, kissing Sharon on the lips as he headed back outside with her following a few paces behind him with the lamps from his bedroom. Once outside and with Amy close enough to hear him on her journey back inside he grinned. "Stop looking at my ass Raydor" he said loud enough to ensure that Amy heard him. She immediately laughed as Sharon stopped dead in her tracks and rolled her eyes at him. "This is no laughing matter Sykes. Outside of work she hardly looks at my face" he insisted as he finished his journey to the truck and handed Cooper his box, laughing happily to himself.

"You know Captain it really is not too late to change your mind" Amy joked.

With the head start that the four of them had made that morning before reinforcements arrived and with everyone's help it didn't take long for the house to start to empty and the truck to fill up quickly despite everyone slowing down and taking longer breaks the more time ticked on. With no one waiting to hand him the next box Julio walked down the ramp from the truck and picked up one that had been left by Provenza's feet. He smiled at it as he stood up, casting a quick glance towards the house to ensure that no one was paying attention to what he was about to do. "Hey Lieutenant" Julio said quietly as he smiled and showed him the top of the box, getting a smile in return when he saw the word 'Suspenders' written across it in magic marker with that box obviously going to the condo.

"You know I think that one can go in my car Julio. In fact I'll even give you a hand" Provenza said as he stood up finally and then moved at speed to his car with Julio following, fumbling for his keys before Patrice caught them.

At this sudden movement Amy looked up from her position on the curb as she took a break with Cooper and they swigged on a bottle of water. "You're not actually helping now?" she asked Provenza, sounding every bit as stunned as she actually felt.

"Well this box is awfully heavy Sykes" Provenza told her rather suspiciously as he and Julio hid behind his car for a moment before they looked up and saw Mike walking out of the house with some water of his own. "Hey Mike, care to give us a hand?"

Mike bounded over to them, a quizzical look on his face and clearly intrigued by what had forced Provenza out of his seat. "What?" he asked before Julio showed him the label on the box in his hands and smiled at him. "Oh. Are you...?"

"Oh I should say so. Keep watch" Provenza told him before Mike turned to make sure that Andy or more worryingly Patrice and Cathy didn't catch them and they ended up in trouble. With Mike keeping watch Julio started to shake the shit out of the box, rolling it over and over in his hands as they all heard the suspenders inside tumble around as if they were in a washing machine. "Here let me" Provenza said as he took the box from Julio and shook it a little himself before he dropped it on the floor. "Oops! Butter fingers. Can you get this for us Mike?"

"With pleasure." Mike glanced over his shoulder to check that the coast was clear before he stooped to pick it up but not before he also shook it violently and rolled it several times.

"Open it up" Provenza instructed so that they could see how much damage they'd managed to inflict on them so far.

Mike carefully opened the box before all three of them peered inside and smiled at the sight of what was at least fifty pairs of Andy's suspenders starting to knot into one giant colourful ball. "Enough?" Mike asked as he looked up at Provenza. "Surely anymore is too cruel."

"Too cruel?" Provenza scoffed, making it sound like the words made a bitter taste in his mouth. "He's making us help him move house. On a Saturday. A Saturday! A free Saturday when I could be sitting in my chair doing nothing but drinking wine and napping with my wife by my side" he reminded them. "Not only that but Flynn is moving in with the one and only Darth Raydor of all people!" he cried loudly and making Julio and Mike laugh as they immediately had flashbacks to about five years earlier when none of them really liked the woman that they now loved dearly, a warm affection that had arrived for all of them long before she started to date their friend but had subsequently only grown as a result since then. "Yes admittedly I now like her a hell of a lot more than I actually like Flynn and I'll undoubtedly be a witness against him in the event of them one day splitting up and getting a divorce but I'm not doing this for me right now, no, I'm doing this for the Louie Provenza of twenty years ago who was sent to Sensitivity Training by Darth Raydor. Twice. In less than a month. Twice!" he cried as he held two fingers in the air to reinforce his point and still really quite pissed about it. "I still don't know what George and I did wrong to this day. I'm doing it for the Louie Provenza of seven years ago who had to put up with Captain Raydor standing behind him with her clipboard every time he turned around, making her little notes and I'm doing this for the Louie Provenza of two and three years ago who had to put up with Flynn mooning over her every single time he spoke to him because he was too afraid to ask her out on a real date. I'm doing it for them even though I will feel more than a little bad for the Captain and the amount of complaining she'll have to listen to from him on the subject as a result. Okay?" he asked, feeling like he'd explained his actions well enough and despite being incredibly happy for his best friend who had fallen in love with a woman he had rather surprisingly come to adore himself (something he wouldn't normally express out loud but with a toast in mind about the two of them for later that day and maybe even a best man's speech one day too it was something he had started to give a lot of thought to), he was doing it for himself at a time when none of them felt that way.

"Okay" Mike nodded.

Provenza turned to Julio, seeking similar confirmation. "Okay?"

"Okay" Julio agreed with a shrug, not really that bothered by an explanation and more than happy just to screw with Andy for his own amusement.

"Exactly so give it here." Provenza took the box again and immediately dropped it, giving it a quick kick to make it roll a few yards away from him and into the road as Andy's suspenders could quite clearly be heard rattling around and tying into an even bigger knot. "That should do for now" he said as he quickly unlocked his car and opened the trunk. "Put it in my car before we're caught." Julio picked up the box and stuffed it in the trunk just as Patrice and Cathy walked out of the house, carrying a rolled up rug between them. Provenza and Mike both immediately froze when they saw them, fake smiles on their faces which only served to prove that they were definitely up to no good and weren't very good at hiding it from their respective spouses.

"What are you two doing?" Patrice asked, looking at them suspiciously.

"Nothing my angel, just loading another box of Flynn's crap into the car to take to the condo" Provenza replied as he slammed the trunk closed so that she wouldn't see what was in there and more importantly what damage had clearly been done to the outside of the box when it was dropped on the floor.

"So you're actually helping now?" Patrice said as she and Cathy handed the rug over to Cooper to load into the truck.

"I've been helping all along" Provenza protested as Patrice picked up another box that was waiting to be loaded into one of the cars to go to the condo and put it in the armchair to prevent him from sitting back down again. "How would Julio and Cooper know where to put everything in the truck if I wasn't directing them?" Before anyone had chance to reply Andy and Sharon walked out of the house with the last of the boxes in their arms, dropping them by the chair, Sharon's hand immediately moving to rub his back for him as he stood up again with a slight grimace. "Flynn's furniture may be next to tragic but it still needs to be loaded correctly" Provenza stated. Andy just frowned at him again rather than letting him know he was irritated as Rusty and Gus laughed at them before they started to load up the cars with stuff going to the condo.

With everyone now outside and before the conversation could descend into bickering once again Julio looked around and noticed that Mark was missing and indeed had been gone for some time while he had been otherwise distracted. "Is Mark inside?" he asked as his eyes continued to dart about the yard as he searched for him.

"He's sitting in the living room," Andy answered quickly before Julio started to panic and called in a Critical Missing, "helping me out by eating what's left of a carton of ice cream so it doesn't end up in the trash." Julio looked sternly at him for a moment and the rather unhealthy option since he'd been very strict with Mark and his diet so far but it quickly turned into an appreciative smile with Mark quite clearly happy and out from under everyone's feet.

Provenza looked at Andy more than a little baffled, knowing that he didn't eat ice cream and hadn't for many years like anything else with any fat or flavour, something that was near the top of his list of the reasons as to why his best friend annoyed the shit out of him. "What are you doing with ice cream?" he asked and making it sound more like Andy had just confessed to keeping several severed heads in his freezer.

"I kept it around for Sharon" Andy shrugged casually, not elaborating any further as to the precise reason why for obvious reasons as the woman in question blushed at the thought, biting on her bottom lip as she briefly stepped behind Andy and pressed her face against his shoulder.

"Thank you Sir" Julio nodded at him as he steered the conversation back to where it was before they got side tracked. "I appreciate it."

"Hey he's doing me a favour" Andy insisted.

"And he's eating it with a ladle" Sharon confirmed with much amusement as she moved next to Andy and ran her arm around his waist again.

Andy shrugged. "What do you want from me? I packed all the spoons." He smiled and winked at Sharon before pressing his lips to hers and he walked back towards his empty house for what he intended to be the final time.

"Is this everything?" Nicole asked with the truck now fully loaded with the exception of the armchair and the rest of Andy's belongings that were scattered on the lawn and waiting to be put into the cars.

"Yes. This is it" Sharon confirmed.

Provenza picked up the box that Patrice had put in the armchair and handed it to Julio before he sat back down again. "Good because I am exhausted" he said, reaching for his crossword puzzle again. On the whole everyone just opted to ignore him as they split what was left and loaded it into the cars until everything was done and everyone once again took a break by sitting on whatever they could find that was comfortable with a bottle of water.

As everyone relaxed for a moment and took a breath before the next stage of the move could take place, Sharon looked towards the house and saw Andy standing in the living room through the window, just gazing around the empty room. "We can't thank you all enough for your help," Sharon told them all as she dragged her eyes away from Andy again, "but can we just have five more minutes guys?"

Provenza looked over his shoulder towards the house and saw that Andy clearly needed a minute before he was ready to leave. "Take your time Captain. I have a seat" he said with a nod, the understanding clear in his voice.

"You do realise Lieutenant that you're going to have to get up eventually so we can put that chair into the truck right?" Buzz asked him.

Provenza shrugged. "You've got an issue with carrying me?"

"Yes. And so will my back" Mike reminded him.

"You're supposed to lift with your legs" Provenza shot back.

"And you're supposed to be helping" Patrice growled.

"I don't lift" came the inevitable reply.

"We'd noticed" Julio grumbled.

Nicole got to her feet and quickly crossed to Sharon, smiling at her warmly. "Take your time Sharon" she told her with none of them minding an extended break to give them a moment alone before driving to the storage unit that Andy had rented.

"Absolutely. We'll wait" Patrice confirmed as she got up from the lawn and then sat on her husband's lap, him grunting more than was wise as a result. "It's a big day. Go and savour it with your handsome man" she told her as she reached over to pat her on the arm.

"Hey you'd better not be talking about Flynn again" Provenza grumbled as he tried to extract his crossword from under his wife's backside without ripping the paper.

Sitting on the curb next to the chair occupied by both Mr and Mrs Provenza, Julio, Cooper, Amy, Mike and Cathy sat in a row, enjoying the cool breeze that hit them as Julio rather subtly nudged Cooper with his shoulder before he gestured in Mike's direction. Cooper nodded at him before he cleared his throat and smiled mischievously. "So Tao, I hear you had some fun undercover the other night. Is that true?" he asked very loudly in what was quite clearly a prearranged set up in order to torture Mike in front of Cathy given that he would quite rightly be desperate to ensure she didn't find out that he had been locked in a hotel room with an extremely young prostitute let alone that she had been slowly stripping him while everyone watched from the next room. Immediately Provenza and Julio laughed as Amy and Mike gave him death glares, the exchange catching Sharon's attention before she could walk into the house and making her stop dead in her tracks to listen.

"What's this?" Cathy asked, the surprise in her tone evident since she had no idea what had happened just a few short days earlier.

"Nothing" Mike insisted, hoping to God that he wasn't looking too nervous.

Not willing to let it go Cathy narrowed her eyes at him, knowing that something was clearly going on that he didn't want her to know about and determined to get to the bottom of it. "You went undercover last week?" she asked again.

"In almost more ways than one" Provenza joked loudly with all the men laughing with the exception of Mike and Buzz who just shook their heads with dismay.

Cathy started to stare intently at Mike in order to make him crumble and confess all to her, a tactic that had always worked to great effect over the course of their marriage thus far (most recently when all of their boys had come home from college to celebrate her birthday and Mike and Kevin had managed to set fire to Cathy's magnolia in the back yard when a bottle rocket they had constructed went awry). "Are you going to tell me what's going on or do I have to guess?" she asked. Mike was silent for a moment until he rather randomly made a noise in the back of his throat like an otter faking an orgasm as he battled to come up with a believable answer that wasn't the truth.

Sharon laughed at Mike's torture as he continued to struggle to come up with a suitable response before she walked into Andy's house for the final time, Mark running the other way with his two empty cartons of ice cream and the ladle licked clean. Sharon ran her hand through his hair with a smile as he ran past her and straight to Julio. When she finally stepped inside she found Andy standing in the middle of the room and staring into space as if he was in a world of his own. She glanced down at the floor by her feet and noticed that the doorstop was missing with no idea where it was, silently praying John Wayne was in the U-Haul rather than one of the cars. She walked up behind him and put her arms around his waist, putting her chin on his shoulder. "Are you okay my boy?" she asked him, pushing her lips to his neck and the small scar that was the only evidence of his surgery to remove his blood clot the previous Thanksgiving.

"Okay? I'm better than okay" he replied as he turned his head to capture her lips. "Trust me I am absolutely ecstatic," he confirmed before he kissed her again, truly sounding like he was on top of the world, "I get to spend the rest of my life living with you." He faced forward again as he put his hands on top of hers on his waist and squeezed them, their fingers linking.

"Are you going to miss this place?" she asked, her lips once again pressing against his neck.

"No."

"No?"

"Nope."

"Not at all?" Sharon asked with surprise, thinking that he'd spent enough years living in that house that he must have at least a few fond memories here and there that he was going to be sad to say a goodbye to as he started the next and what he hoped would be the greatest chapter of his life.

"Not really" Andy shrugged. "It's not like I have many good memories here except for the last couple of years with you. The kids were never here, there are no height marks on the doorframes or tree houses out back or anything. In fact Daniel has never even been here."

"That's not entirely true. He was here on Christmas Day when he dropped off your card" she reminded him, Andy not seeing his son at all over the holidays the previous year much to his disappointment and missing his Christmas card being dropped off because he was staying with Sharon and Rusty at the condo.

"Yeah okay but we both know he only did that because he knew I wasn't here."

"Maybe but fingers crossed this Christmas will be a little different" Sharon said optimistically to which Andy immediately scoffed. "Nicole, Dean and the boys are coming to our place for dinner" she reminded him with that all arranged the previous winter following the fabulous time they had at Nicole and Dean's house on Christmas Day. "Sandra and Michael will be over in the evening too so you never know. He might surprise you."

"Yeah okay" Andy sighed, extremely doubtful that he'd see him at all let alone actually sit down with him over dinner.

Sharon squeezed him even tighter as a result, her lips in almost constant contact with his neck. It broke her heart that Andy had such a poor relationship with his son, living off the small scraps he was begrudgingly offered by him despite his best efforts to make amends for his past behaviour and to be fair the efforts of Nicole and Sandra ever since her wedding to reunite them. Regardless she had made a decision and she was determined to try and do her best for him when the holidays came around again. The problem was though she had only ever laid eyes on Daniel in person twice before. The first time being the first trip to see The Nutcracker with Andy followed by the very speedy visit while he recovered from his surgery in hospital. On both occasions Daniel hardly spoke, only staying at the hospital for about five minutes and leaving the very moment that Sharon arrived, that desperate to leave it was a shock he didn't leap from the window. She knew how much it meant to Andy to be able to spend some time with him like she knew what it meant to Jack when she sometimes had to force Emily and Ricky to spend time with him (for example, despite really not wanting to do it for a variety of reasons, getting Emily to stay with Jack in his apartment over the holidays two years earlier, their recent divorce making her feel even sorrier for him despite her better judgement). Sharon hoped that she might be able to get Daniel to come over to the condo for at least an hour on Christmas Day if for no other reason than as a gift to Andy but how she was going to achieve that she didn't yet know but Nicole and Sandra would have to be involved at some point and despite it still being four months away she realised they'd need to start work on Daniel sooner rather than later but for now that was a thought for another day and more of a long term plan.

"My only good memories here involve you" he said as he turned in her arms before he captured her lips. "Right back to the very first time you came here for dinner" he added, kissing her again as his hands settled in the small of her back. "Do you remember that?"

"Of course I do. It was a wonderful evening" she smiled before kissing him again. "Feel like taking one last stroll around the place for old time's sake before we head off home?" She smiled at him brightly as she stressed the word 'home' as her hands ran up and down his chest. "They'll wait for us" she confirmed as she nodded towards their friends and family waiting outside and all taking a breather and a few minutes to relax.

"Sure" Andy nodded. Sharon dropped her hands down to her side before she held one out for him to take which he quickly did as they walked hand in hand into the kitchen. They took a moment to look around, it obviously looking a lot bigger with the table and chairs missing and the counters completely clear. "We've had some really good times in here."

Sharon turned to him with Darth Raydor putting in a brief appearance. "I hope you don't mean that rat" she said, the smell of it being even stronger in the kitchen than it was in the living room where Rusty had noticed it earlier.

Andy laughed. "No not exactly although you've got to admit it was pretty damn funny."

"Not from where I was standing."

"Do you mean on top of the table?" he laughed as Darth Raydor continued to frown at him, all those months later still finding the way Sharon climbed onto the table the moment he mentioned the word 'rat' with such speed utterly hilarious. "It could have been worse babe, the thing could have hit you in the face when Provenza finally managed to pry it free from the back of the fridge."

"So I should be grateful? Is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes. Absolutely. He could have done it deliberately" he laughed. "Four years earlier and it definitely would have been deliberate. He would have aimed for you" he said in anything but a joke as he laughed again. Eventually she joined in with him, kissing him on the lips as she ran her hands around his waist. "I still can't believe the Queen of the Rat Squad is actually scared of rats."

Sharon pointed at him. "That is still not funny" she told him as she swotted him around the back of his head before she stepped out of his grasp, her arms crossed in front of her. "And don't you get telling anyone about it either" she warned him. "The last thing I need is for a couple of dead rats to make their way into the Murder Room by accident the next time Julio and Buzz go dumpster diving."

"They wouldn't."

"Wouldn't they?"

Andy laughed and nodded, conceding that she was probably right. "Yeah okay. Why don't you like rats anyway? Huh? Because I mean to me, you, my utterly gorgeous girlfriend," he said as he slowly walked towards her and ran his hands back around her waist again, "if I can still call you that now that we're finally moving in together."

"Well what else would you call me?"

"Given our age and that we now live together I was thinking..."

Sharon cut him off with a kiss before he had chance to go any further, knowing exactly what he was thinking with the words 'sex' and 'slave' likely to fall from his lips shortly unless she stopped him. "Let's just leave it as 'your partner' before you talk your way into a lengthy sex ban."

Andy laughed. "Okay, that works for me. But like I was saying, to me you, my utterly gorgeous partner, the love of my life, Captain Sharon Raydor of Major Crimes, Darth Raydor herself, former Queen of the Rat Squad and Demon from FID is absolutely fearless."

She smiled at him. "If only" she replied a little ruthfully, wishing she was as fearless as Andy and Rusty thought she was. She paused for a moment as she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and decided that she was finally going to tell him a small part of the story to explain her fear, sighing before she started. "Something happened while I was on patrol very early on in my career and I'd really rather not discuss it any more for fear of the nightmares coming back, unless of course you'd like me to start hitting you in my sleep again as I fight off an attack from those tiny hairy tailed monsters" she said with a shudder, the memory of being trapped in such a small space coming back to her and seeming just as vivid as it did the day after it happened, lying flat on her back in what was barely a basement beneath a house while rats ran all over her face, unable to climb back out again after her partner had made her squeeze in as they looked for a missing child.

Andy laughed. "Okay. Change of subject?"

"Please." She moved out of his grasp and started to run her fingers along the edge of the counter. Andy watched her for a moment before he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, his chin resting on her shoulder like she had done minutes earlier in the living room.

He kissed her shoulder. "We've had some nice dinners in here" he said before he kissed her shoulder again, using enough force that she could feel it through her thin t-shirt. "Both before and after we started dating."

"We have indeed" she replied as one hand moved to cup his cheek and the other held his arms around her waist.

"And," he said as he released her, turning her quickly on the spot to face him and then backed her into the corner of the counter before lifting her with ease but still causing her to squeal a little as he placed her on top of it, "a very enjoyable evening right here."

She laughed as he moved to kiss her, her arms and legs easily wrapping around him like they did on the night in question. "We most certainly did but before you get any ideas into that pretty little head of yours we have a whole lot of people outside waiting for us so there's absolutely no time for a repeat performance."

Andy laughed. "The thought never crossed my mind!" he lied. "I mean seriously Raydor, get your head out of the gutter!" They both laughed before they kissed a couple of times. "On a completely unrelated note when is Rusty next staying over with Gus?"

Sharon laughed at him again as she shook her head. "Never again if he works out what plans you have for the kitchen counter in his absence. He'd never leave home again" she told him before they both laughed.

"The first time you came here as just 'my friend Sharon' to have dinner you sat right here after we'd eaten and watched as I did the washing up" he said as his hand tapped the counter. "Your legs swinging back and forth as you finished off your wine."

"I offered to help you didn't I?" she reminded him, Andy inviting her over for dinner to say thank you for coming to Nicole's wedding with him, the first friendly dinner of many and the meal that ultimately lead to them falling in love with each other.

"I know you did but I preferred you sitting right here mainly because I could spend the whole time looking at your legs and drooling without you noticing what I was doing" he confessed with a wink.

Sharon laughed, not believing him since it was something she would surely have noticed at the time. "No you didn't."

"Oh yes I did. Since we have this whole complete honest thing going on between us..."

"With the exception of what happened in Barstow?"

"Right and also I assume why a certain population of the country knows you as 'Burning Fire O'Dwyer' but I don't too?" he offered, both of them in favour of complete honesty with the exception of one embarrassing secret they'd rather the other didn't find out about.

"Oh absolutely, you assume correctly" she confirmed.

"Yeah so since we have this whole complete honesty thing going on between us and zero secrets except those two and with this the first day of our brand new adventure together I should be completely honest and say that I had a little crush on you from the moment you dragged me to the dance floor by my tie at Nicole's wedding" he confessed, realising that he was in trouble before he'd even dropped her home again after the wedding reception given that he was fairly certain he had a crush on her, a feeling he hadn't experienced in decades despite the vast number of women he'd been with in that time.

Sharon smiled at him. "Really? You did?"

"Oh I really really did" he nodded, seeing no reason why he should keep that kind of thing to himself any longer since they were only mere hours from actually living together. "Then two weeks later I invited you over for dinner to say thank you for coming with me and basically serving as my bodyguard against everyone who hated me and wanted to stab me," he went on as she laughed, "and you showed up in that stunning pale blue dress that made your legs look like they went on forever." He groaned at the thought as his hands travelled up her denim clad legs as she laughed, it taking him several years to finally discover that he was right and her legs did indeed go on for miles. "I knew right there and then that I was in big big trouble."

"Oh yes? Big trouble because you were checking out your Commanding Officer's legs outside of work?" she asked.

"No, big trouble with Provenza because I knew the moment I told him I had a crush on Darth Raydor he was going to go ballistic" he confessed as they laughed. "And I was right. He did."

Sharon laughed again and nodded. "And now he's sitting in your favourite chair on your lawn by a moving van and supervising everything so that you can live with me."

"Yeah well I think the moment I walked into your office with the intention of asking you to the ballet with me that first time instead of going with him he knew there was no way to stop the inevitable" he shrugged before pressing his lips to hers. "Whether you had the potential to feel the same way about me or not was irrelevant at that point because there was just no stopping me" he added, kissing her again.

Sharon smiled as she stroked his face with her fingertips before her eyes narrowed as she set about testing him considering that he remembered what she was wearing the night she first came over for dinner. "What colour dress was I wearing the day we went to Nicole's wedding?" she asked, knowing that he would remember because it was the sort of thing that he had proven time and time again that he kept locked in the back of his mind about her.

"At work or at the wedding?" he asked, grinning since he knew the answer to both.

"The wedding."

"Purple" came the instant reply.

Sharon nodded. "And at work?"

"Black and with a jacket that was like a beige colour."

Sharon smiled. "Okay. I was just checking." She kissed him again before she released an utterly contented sigh. She would never fathom just how he managed to remember these small things about her, very often feeling like he knew her better than she knew herself and considering he couldn't remember his Social Security or cell phone number half the time, the fact that he remembered everything about her when she couldn't even remember most of it herself made it all the more special.

"It matched my shirt and tie, the purple one at the wedding" he clarified. "Reason number two hundred and fifty as to why Nicole and Sandra thought we were dating."

"What was reason number one? The fact that you lied to them both and told them that we were?" she asked, unable to resist giving him the stink eye because regardless of them still ending up together he had lied about her after all.

"Excuse me, I never lied" Andy protested and not for the first time.

"Oh really? Shall we ask Nicole? She's right outside. I'm sure she has a different angle on it" she said before she laughed as Andy's face dropped.

"No it's okay" he grumbled, knowing that Nicole would only confirm what Sharon already knew to be true. "I doubt she'll remember anyway." Sharon laughed at him as she shook her head before he helped her down from the counter, taking her hand again as they went to walk back into the living room before she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, noticing that his fridge had gone. "What's the matter?"

"What happened to the fridge?" she asked, having previously been told by him that a friend from AA was going to come and take it in a week or so for scrap and therefore surprised to see that it was suddenly gone when it had been there that morning.

Andy shrugged. "It's in the moving truck" he confessed a little shyly. "It was the first thing I did with Rusty and Gus while you were cleaning the bathroom for the five hundredth time in the last twelve hours."

Sharon rolled her eyes at him. "It was three times and if you weren't so easily distracted by the sight of me in the shower you might be able to get your aim a little better" she told him with a glare. "But anyway, you're keeping your fridge now?"

"Sure why not?" he replied, surprised to then see her mouth drop open. "What? I know we won't need it but Rusty might want it one day."

"Andy, it's broken! The back of it gets so hot it actually melted a rat to it."

"And?"

"And?" Sharon laughed. "What do you mean 'and'? And why would Rusty possibly want something in his future kitchen that is not only broken, impossible to stand near in the summer without getting heat stroke because of the temperature that radiates off it and not only smells like barbecued rodent but also still has singed fur stuck on the back of it?" she pointed out. It already barely worked as it was and Sharon thought it was hardly likely the thing would improve with zero usage until Rusty was ready to stand on his own two feet, Andy's insistence on keeping everything bordering on hoarding in her opinion.

Andy shrugged. "To keep food in." Sharon simply rolled her eyes at him and walked into the living room without him with an exasperated groan. "What? No good?" Andy asked as he finally followed her. "So I don't keep it for him? Is that what you're telling me?"

Sharon smiled and turned in the middle of the living room to put her hands on his shoulders. "Andy my darling boy, if you want to keep that broken refrigerator for Rusty, then please by all means keep it for Rusty but when the time comes where you have to explain to him what that smell is and why it burns when you touch it, please be sure to let me be there to listen to his reaction." With the matter settled as far as she was concerned and with Andy being proven once again to be a colossal idiot she took his hand as they again looked around the empty living room. "It seems an obvious thing to say but it looks so much bigger now that it's cleared out."

"And Mrs Williams has managed to chase me around every square inch of it over the last ten years" Andy admitted, his elderly neighbour having been obsessed with him from the very moment he first moved in.

Sharon laughed at him. "She's in her eighties."

"And she's still remarkably spry, not to mention flexible" he said as she smirked at him. "She does semi naked yoga on her lawn like a lot" he said with a shudder, the image imprinted on his retinas and his reaction making Sharon laugh.

"And you've never wanted to join her for a little downward facing dog?"

"Oddly enough no" Andy replied with another shudder.

"And yet you can't take your eyes off me when I do yoga in the living room."

"Well that's different" he grinned. She laughed before she kissed him, his attention quickly moving to the window as he peered outside. "I still haven't heard any screaming yet so she must be visiting her sister for longer than I thought. With any luck I can make a clean getaway and she'll never know."

"You haven't told her you're moving?"

"No." Sharon looked at him amazed, her mouth almost hanging open as a result. "What? Why would I tell her? What better way to ensure that she tries to move into our building as a result?"

Sharon smiled at his use of 'our building' before her mind quickly went back to the matter at hand and the poor little old lady who was in love with him. "But she's in love with you" she reminded him not that she needed to, he had found her on his doorstep in next to nothing enough times to be fully aware how big a crush she had on him.

"Exactly. I'm a one woman man" he insisted and making Sharon laugh again. "And so what if she's in love with me?"

"And so it's only polite to tell the nice and overly affectionate little old lady next door who wants you in the worst possible way that you're moving in with your girlfriend."

"Do you want her to stab you?" Sharon laughed and shook her head at him, unlike Andy not thinking that Mrs Williams could be dangerous when angry despite the frequent filthy looks she received from her when their paths crossed as she arrived at Andy's house. "This is no laughing matter. I'm not kidding here babe. She's very territorial. I offered to change a lightbulb for the lady across the street once after she broke her ankle, there was a sheep head on her porch a week later." Sharon laughed again, assuming he was joking and it was another classic Andy Flynn exaggeration when in fact it was one hundred percent true. "I am not exaggerating here. If she finds out that I'm moving in with you she will kill you. That's why I've not had a sign put in my yard and I'm not having my mail forwarded to the condo, it'll leave too big of a trail and before I know it I'm planning your funeral and Provenza is trying to get her to take a deal" he said as Sharon laughed again. "I'm not kidding, this house is dead to me now."

"I feel kind of sorry for her."

"Because you snagged me instead?" he grinned.

"No because she's quite clearly delusional." Andy's mouth dropped open as he looked at her with great offense, making Sharon laugh before she kissed him. "How often have you had her in here by the way? Is this what you did on long lonely nights while you were a bachelor and there was no sport on the TV?"

"Hardly but it wasn't from the lack of trying on her part."

"So come on, how often?"

"A hell of a lot more than I want to remember" he said with another shudder. "I have a lot of bad memories in this room as a result."

Sharon laughed. "We also have some good ones in here too. I'm going to miss your couch, that's for certain" she said with a grin, enjoying the freedom to fool around on it as recently as the night before after they'd finished the last of the packing.

"We can always swing by the storage place to pay it a visit from time to time" he said with a wink as she laughed. "I've always preferred your couch if I'm honest and unlike the kitchen counter I can still get you to fool around on it." Sharon laughed at him before she kissed him again. "Even though I don't quite see the difference."

"The difference is Rusty has probably fooled around on that couch with Gus too so its fair game as far as I'm concerned" she replied, getting a grimace from him in return. "What?" she laughed. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, not at all but I'm just a little concerned in case they've been slaughtering more farm animals on there" he joked, firmly of the opinion that when he was kept awake a few weeks earlier due to the noise coming from Rusty's room that they weren't actually having sex in there but rather murdering a goat. Sharon laughed as Andy moved to have one last stroll around his bedroom until he noticed Sharon wasn't moving.

"Time for a little confession?" she asked as she chomped on her lip as he turned to face her.

"It depends. Am I going to like it?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure but you definitely won't like Lieutenant Provenza as much afterwards."

Andy frowned, incredibly confused. "If this is your way of telling me you've been fooling around with him on that couch too, just be aware that you're likely to make me pass out again."

Sharon laughed. "No and anyway I thought he was more likely to kiss you a second time than he was me" she said and once again referencing Provenza's last but one wedding night when Andy's best man's speech forced the groom into sharing his bed with him, forgetting where he was when he woke up and kissing Andy on the back of his neck as he squeezed him and much to his continued horror called him a 'sex pot.' Andy rolled his eyes at her as she laughed. "Okay do you remember a little incident here before your accident?" she asked and being deliberately vague to begin with. Andy frowned as he tried to think of anything obvious she was about to confess to, his mind immediately going to how they were fooling around on the couch one night when it looked as if they were finally going to move their relationship forward or at least edge towards third base until he got a phone call to roll out and then subsequently fell from a moving car the next day, effectively slamming on the brakes again. "Around late September time I guess it was I came over here because we had a date night planned but you'd forgotten all about it and instead you had invited Lieutenant Provenza over?" she explained, hoping he would remember the night in question. "So we spent the entire evening watching baseball with you two cuddled up together on the couch?"

"We weren't cuddled up together on the couch" Andy replied instantly.

"That's not what it looked like to me. I was worried I was cramping your style just by being here" she joked and laughing loudly to herself while Andy looked at her very unimpressed.

"Whatever, carry on. No, wait. We were watching the Dodgers play the Padres. 8-4 I think. Now I remember" he said, the memories coming flooding back to him.

"You didn't remember before?"

"Not entirely" he shrugged.

"Then how do you know you weren't cuddled up with Lieutenant Provenza on the couch?" she asked as she laughed.

"Because that has never happened" he insisted.

"Aside from the time you shared a bed with him on his wedding night?" she reminded him yet again as she laughed.

"That was different. To begin with he was the one cuddling me" he clarified, making her laugh again and despite not having seen them with her own eyes it was an image that would amuse her well into old age. "Was that when I fell asleep and I woke up to discover that you'd gone but not before you'd put my hand on his ass?"

"That's the one" she nodded as she laughed.

"Yeah. It's pretty hard to forget no matter how many times I've washed this hand" he said as he held the hand in question in the air before wiping it on his jeans for what had to be the thousandth time since it happened.

Sharon laughed before she began to bite on her lip again, knowing she was about to tell him something that was going to make him groan. "Do you recall that I never took my coat off the entire time I was here?"

Andy thought for a moment. At the time he was too distracted by the baseball and admitted the next day as he made it up to her that not only had he forgotten about their date but had then neglected her when she arrived. "Huh!" he said. "Well now that you come to mention it, you didn't. You said you were cold. I thought you were coming down with something. I offered to make you some soup to make you feel better."

"That's right only I wasn't cold and I wasn't ill."

"Okay."

She sighed as she smiled. "By that point in our relationship I was starting to get a little bit…desperate shall we say" she freely admitted, them only briefly moving to second base a handful of times up until that point and then she'd had to practically force her breasts into his hands. "To be perfectly honest I wanted you desperately and since you weren't picking up on my subtle hints..."

"Okay sweetheart you need to stop referring to your utterly dreadful sex eyes as subtle hints because no one would have realised that's what you were doing" Andy declared, not seeing the time it took for them to finally sleep together as solely his fault although his nervousness about pushing her into something before she was ready and thus losing what they had was a very prominent factor but so were her God awful sex eyes. "No one!"

Sharon frowned. "Maybe if you weren't such a nervous nelly all the time you might have picked up on them or I don't know, tore your eyes away from the Dodgers and your boyfriend for five minutes to look at me properly and realise what was going on?"

"Fair point." He sighed a little regretfully. "I've not always been the most attentive boyfriend when it conflicted with the Dodgers I agree, but I promise I'm working on it."

Sharon laughed with a little bit of guilt before she kissed him a couple of times to show him that she really didn't mind all that much. Despite what Andy thought he was actually a very attentive boyfriend even when the Dodgers were playing with the exception of that evening but she knew regardless of how much he loved them she normally came out on top in a head to head battle (the true extent of Andy's love of baseball becoming all the clearer to her during their ill-fated Christmas drinks at Provenza's house when the incident with the Skybox tickets was revealed to her along with Andy's 'bomb threat' which prompted Sharon to tell him when they got home that on the day in question she had just climbed out of the shower at the time of his hoax following a gym session and had therefore had to spend the entire time the alert was taking place outside in nothing but a towel and with hundreds of officers she had previously investigated ogling her, a story he initially refused to believe because her legs were sure to get his attention but he was up to high levels of mischief at the time). "Andy I know you are," she said before she kissed him again, "but God help me if they ever make it to the World Series again in your lifetime, Patrice and I will be baseball widows" she joked before laughing, not wanting him to think that she was complaining in any way because she wasn't. "Anyway my plan for that afternoon, my dear Andrew, was sex and I was not leaving this place until we'd done it several times at least or rather that's what I hoped and had planned for our afternoon and possibly the entire weekend" she confessed rather casually.

Andy looked at her gormlessly for a moment as he processed what he'd just heard and blinked at her with exaggeration, quickly realising that the baseball and more importantly Provenza had robbed him of a weekend of wall to wall sex several months before they finally got to that stage in their relationship. "What?" he asked finally.

Sharon laughed and shrugged, getting the immediate reaction that she thought she would and one of the reasons why she hadn't told him about her abortive attempt to sleep with him sooner. "I simply couldn't wait any longer for you to make a move on your own without exploding from too much built up sexual frustration so I made the decision that it was the day we were finally going to sleep together for the very first time whether you liked it or not" she grinned.

Andy groaned as he ran his arms around her waist. "Oh God! Please tell me you weren't naked under that coat and that's the reason you never took it off?" he practically drooled.

Sharon laughed. "No not quite. I had poured myself into the tightest dress imaginable. One that left very little to the imagination and one that was guaranteed to make you finally take my hint and put out" she explained of the purple lace Louis Vuitton dress she had bought just for the occasion, so tight that she struggled to breathe and faced a constant battle to keep both her breasts in it at the same time, pushing one in often resulting in the other immediately popping out.

"You're kidding me?"

"Oh if only I was. I came here specifically for sex and lots of it and ended up even more frustrated than ever while I watched you two cuddle on the couch and you hardly looked at me" she told him with a little glare.

"I don't believe this. That was like three months before we did finally sleep together" he said, sounding utterly horrified that he had missed something so blatantly obvious and incredibly tantalising.

"Oh I know! Believe me I know."

"Well if that was your plan when you came over here then why didn't you just tell me that's what was going on so I could get rid of Provenza?" he asked, in a battle between Provenza and baseball and seeing Sharon naked for the first time, he would have stabbed his partner in the eye with a pen to make the latter happen. "I mean one flash of what you had going on under your trench coat and I would have thrown him out of here so fast he would have had whiplash."

Sharon laughed. "I didn't tell you my dear boy because in case you haven't noticed I am a very very private person and if you'd have thrown the Lieutenant out at my behest as soon as I'd arrived and obviously concealing something under my coat then he would have known for sure what was going on and that was never going to happen" she pointed out, mortified as it was that Provenza had most likely figured out what had happened very quickly after Andy strolled into the Murder Room with a black eye which she was forced to admit she had caused in her sleep meaning that they'd finally slept together the night before. "Likewise if I'd taken my coat off it would have sent very clear signals and ensured he never looked me in the eye ever again."

They both laughed, Andy loathed to admit that Provenza was a good enough Detective to work that one out on his own. "Still a hint would have been nice rather than another three months of pent up sexual frustration" he groaned as they laughed again.

"You're talking to me about pent up sexual frustration? Andy I was bordering on exploding into a million pieces I was that frustrated and then you still didn't take my hint and instead you went and got yourself thrown from a moving car and that all had to be put aside for a while as I fretted about killing you while I nursed my boy back to health again."

Andy kissed her, long and slow on the lips as he still felt bad for ever making her worry about him following his accident even though the whole incident had brought them closer together as a result and making them both realise just how strongly they felt for each other while at the same time derailing the progress they were making for some time. "Still a hint would have been nice" he groaned again.

"I had been hinting" she insisted yet again, thinking she had been dropping hints so loud they could probably be heard on the east coast. "You just didn't get any of them." They both laughed, glad that whole saga was now behind them. "In my desperation I started to think I only had two options left to me. I could either oil myself up, squeeze into a mini skirt and throw myself at you or just scream 'Please have sex with me Andy!' at the top of my lungs" she said, both of them laughing again.

"I like to think I'd have noticed both of those" Andy said confidently, thankfully now able to read certain looks, touches and tones from Sharon when she was in the mood and subtly putting a move on him when Rusty was still in the vicinity but on his way to bed.

"Me too. But I guess it really doesn't matter anymore. We got there in the end and that's what's important" she smiled, kissing him long and slow on the lips.

"I whole heartedly agree."

"And now I get to spend the rest of my life with you" she smiled before she kissed him again.

"And make up for all the sex we missed out on" he growled, kissing her on the lips to stop her from laughing at him. "If we're going from that point that's like three months' worth of sex to make up on" he insisted and being very serious about it despite the laughter than was coming back at him. "This is no joking matter Raydor, we're going to need to take some time off work just to break even. We need to send the kid on vacation or something because I'm talking twenty four hours a day for three months at least, nothing but sex."

Sharon couldn't help but laugh at him. "As much as I admire your optimism you'd be dead in under a week" she told him.

"Meh!" he shrugged. "I'm willing to risk it" he added and making them both laugh. "Have I seen that dress since?"

Sharon smiled as she chomped on her lip again, knowing it was the sort of thing that drove him wild. "No you haven't" she shrugged. "Maybe I'll save it for our little end of summer getaway after I've finally caught Chief Taylor in a good enough mood to ask him for the time off."

"Yeah I still don't see that happening in a hurry," Andy replied and thinking that catching Taylor in a good mood was like catching lightening in a bottle, "and since I now really want to see that dress I say we just pick a day and ask him regardless of his mood."

Sharon nodded in agreement. "I'll see if I can find a quiet moment in court this week."

"Great but just keep in mind that I really want to see his face when you ask" he joked, the awkward look on Taylor's face every time they'd been forced into updating him on their relationship status thus far as Sharon's immediate supervisor never failing to amuse them. Sharon laughed and nodded. "Almost as much as I want to see you in that dress" he winked before he kissed her.

They broke apart when they heard the dulcet tones of Provenza shouting "Will you two hurry it along! It's hot out here and they're trying to take my seat away!" from his position in the armchair still sitting on the curb.

"Oh leave them alone Louie!" Patrice chastised him, no one but her husband having any issues in waiting while they took one last stroll around the place. "Take your time!"

"We won't be long" Sharon called out to them before she took Andy's hand and started to lead him towards the bedroom. "Come on, let's say goodbye and then get out of here." They continued into the bedroom, holding hands as they stood by the door and looked around the empty room. After a moment Sharon moved away from him and looked at the wall where the bed had once been. "Huh!"

"What?"

"Nothing I just half expected to see notches on the wall from all of your many conquests over the years" she joked. In response Andy just sighed at her, looking more than a little embarrassed as she laughed, still not happy with the love of his life being aware of his many 'lady friends' in the past as he substituted meaningless sex for alcohol as his addiction of choice that saw him through life without his family. "Oh I'm only kidding" she told him as she walked back to him and kissed him on the lips. "Okay this is the last time I'm going to ask you this," she said as she changed the subject, "are you sure you don't want to bring your chair home with you?"

Andy laughed having already anticipated that Sharon was going to raise the subject with him once again following the good natured ribbing that had taken place in the living room from his male colleagues before they got to work loading the truck. "Positive" he nodded, not about to change his mind.

"I know you think you're more likely to get lucky on the one currently in the bedroom but since it really means that much to you I would much rather..."

He kissed her to silence her, the topic already having been discussed enough in his opinion. "I have the memories of it and I have Nicole back in my life again so I don't need anything else" he insisted once again. "I just need you and the kid and the life we're going to share in our apartment, that's it."

"You say that but even Julio thinks it's..."

"I don't care what Julio thinks about it."

"But I do. You'll just be surrounded by my stuff and my taste and..."

"And that's just the way I want it" he told her once again before their lips came together, not at all concerned that their home didn't really have his stamp on it. "Besides if one day I happen to have another mishap with a candle in the bedroom when I'm trying to put a move on you, I'd rather set fire to yours and replace it with mine anyway so there's that" he shrugged as she laughed and he led her into the bathroom.

"I'm going to miss this bathtub" Sharon said as her mind drifted to how often she had sat in it with him and relaxed at the end of a tough day at work back when they used to split their time a lot more evenly between the condo and his house. Andy grinned at her, his mind thinking of other instances where they had enjoyed that bathtub. She shook her head at him and laughed. "Not in a dirty way" she maintained even though they were good memories too and making him laugh at her. "I'll miss being able to just relax in it with you, you know and just being able to unwind after a long day without any distractions. It's hard to do that at the condo without risking the chance of traumatising Rusty."

Andy laughed. "By now he's more than used to me sitting on the edge of the tub and talking to you in the bath. He'll never know the difference when I sneak in with you."

"Well where's the fun in that?" she joked.

"One of my favourite ever memories was in this very bathroom."

"Oh yes? Do I really want to know about this?"

"Sure because it was with you actually. On Valentine's Day last year." With that Sharon rolled her eyes at him and went to walk back into the bedroom and wanting to forget all about that evening before he caught her by the wrist and pulled her back to him. "Where do you think you're going? I'm being serious here. I treasure that memory." He moved to stand behind her, putting his arms around her waist as he put his chin on her shoulder, ensuring so wasn't going anywhere. "Our first Valentine's Day together."

"First and only so far and trust me when February comes around again I am definitely going to try and make up for it so clear your diary in preparation" she told him emphatically, still beyond mortified that she had ruined the whole evening by essentially painting his bathroom in vomit.

"I'll talk to my boss, make sure I get some time off" he said and making her laugh again. "But seriously I loved that night. Yes I know you didn't because aside from having the ridiculous notion in your head that you'd managed to ruin everything..."

"Which I had."

"Which you hadn't but aside from that I know obviously you were too violently ill to focus on anything other than praying for a quick and painless death," he acknowledged before she nodded and laughed, that being exactly what she was doing at the time, "but I loved that night. I really did. I got to take care of my girl for once and more importantly than that she actually let me do it albeit after quite a lot of persuasion." Sharon laughed again, it often crossing her mind about the length of time she refused to allow him to turn around and look at her that evening, in truth making her feel so much better when she reluctantly allowed him to help and comfort her. "It was very important to me you know because not only did it allow me to return the favour in a teeny tiny way after she so patiently nursed me back to health following my surgery and put up with my constant vile mood swings as a result but also the very act of her allowing me to do it let me know just how much she loved me and trusted me." She turned her head to face him, Andy never having said this to her before. "Because you see my beautiful and utterly fabulous girlfriend has spent an awful long time on her own and looking after herself and never putting her trust or her faith in anyone other than her three amazing children because she'd been so badly let down by men in the past. Naturally after being treated so appallingly for so many years at the hands of her evil ex-husband," he said, stressing the word 'evil' and making her laugh, "she had a lot of walls built up around her heart in order to protect herself and her children and to ensure that she never got hurt like that ever again. Allowing herself to be that level of vulnerable in front of me, allowing me to take care of her like that and being the one person she could always rely on, to always be there for her no matter what, to love her unconditionally for the rest of my life, well, it was one of the greatest nights of my life and it made me love her all the more because of it."

She turned in his arms and sighed, the backs of her fingers stroking his cheek. "Oh how I love you my beautiful boy" she cooed before she kissed him. "Oh how I love you."

"I love you too" he replied before he kissed her back and then suddenly grinned. "But of course it was also pretty memorable because when I was eventually allowed to turn around and look at her she had her head trapped right down there between the toilet bowl and the wall and that was pretty damn funny to see." He laughed to himself as she made a dart towards his knees, pinching them. "Ow!"

"Well you deserve it" she told him as she gave him the stink eye, kissing him anyway. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"To finally start my life again? Yes I am" he confirmed with a kiss. "More than ready."

"Then let's go." They got as far as the bedroom door before Sharon stopped dead in her tracks once again. "But before we do let me just ask you one more time, are you sure there's nothing from here that you want to bring with you?" she asked yet again, the lack of furniture or anything like that coming with Andy to the condo really bothering her, even more than she was revealing to him.

"There's only one thing in this life I really need."

"What's that?"

"You." He kissed her quickly on the lips before he suddenly stooped down and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift with little to no effort.

"Andy!" Sharon cried as she dangled upside down and he carried her into the living room. "If you throw your back out you'll be taking care of yourself" she half-heartedly warned him.

"Yeah okay, whatever" Andy replied, not believing a word. "You can't help but Mother me Raydor. It's built into your DNA."

"Not anymore. The next time you're ill I'll be moving in with Gavin until you're better" she stated and making Andy laugh as he carried her outside.

When they stepped outside they found everyone still relaxing on the lawn or on the ramp into the truck with the exception of Provenza who was still sitting in Andy's armchair with Patrice in his lap. Buzz had also moved, taking a picture of Mark and Julio in front of the van with Julio's phone, a photo that was destined to end up on Julio's desk. The moment the sight of their Captain being carried out of the house upside down caught everyone's attention, Buzz turned around and picked up his video camera from by his feet, switching it on and filming them walking down the path as everyone laughed at the rather unexpected sight. Even though Buzz knew it was likely to annoy Provenza in particular he wanted to film the celebrations that day as they took place in the knowledge that there would be at least one toast in their honour when they arrived at the condo because everyone was just so pleased for them. It was also a chance for him to capture for the both of them a very much more demonstrative side to Sharon in particular, a side of her that Buzz had only seen fleetingly before on a couple of occasions, at Provenza and Patrice's wedding and when Andy was in hospital (always affectionate towards Rusty of course but it was different with Andy and therefore a more unusual occurrence because of work). Just spending five minutes in their company before they got to work loading the truck revealed that this was the most relaxed Buzz had ever seen his Captain. They had come a long way since Buzz and the rest of the division first discovered they were dating, something which was hard to believe in those early days as they became so ridiculously careful around each other at work to the point where he wasn't too sure they were together at all. That was until Sharon took Andy's hand at Mariana's funeral, a move that even surprised Andy at the time since he still saw it as work related service and wasn't expecting such a show of affection towards him, being emboldened by it enough to put his arm around her as they walked back to the car after the service was over. At the time it made Buzz smile and he was now overjoyed just twelve months later to be helping them move in together, something he never expected to happen if he was being honest. Unlike the others in the division he was never particularly bothered by 'Darth Raydor' while Chief Johnson was still in charge (how annoyed he was to be stuck babysitting the rather feral Rusty in those early days aside) and in fact he'd always rather liked her as a person. She was kind and thoughtful and they shared a very similar moral compass and despite it still seeming incredibly weird that she had ended up with Andy Flynn of all people, he wanted to do his best for them by capturing their day like he had done for Provenza on his wedding day (unsure if his Captain would ever marry again given her strong religious beliefs so opting to take the opportunity when it was on offer) and that meant documenting all he could.

"Finally" Provenza grumbled as he saw Andy carrying Sharon towards them, taking to his feet and giving Patrice very little choice but to join him unless she wanted to fall flat on her face on the floor. "It's about time. How long does it take to say goodbye to a house?"

Patrice took a quick swipe at his arm and rolled her eyes. "Oh you be quiet. You've got no romance about you."

"Romance?" Provenza scoffed like it was a dirty word. "Look I can barely stomach Flynn happy let alone all loved up. Flynn happy and loved up is just downright nauseating."

With Provenza finally standing, Cooper subtly edged towards the armchair until he could put his hand on it. "This is our chance. Mike, Julio help me out please. Go, go!" Instantly all three of them dived towards the chair and picked it up between them before carrying it into the truck.

"Hey! I'm not done with that yet!" Provenza protested as he saw his seat vanish.

"Oh yes you are" Mike replied.

"Hold on guys!" Andy called as they climbed back out of the truck, Sharon still slung over his shoulder and unable to wriggle from his grasp without hurting herself. "I've got something else to load onto the van!"

Sharon immediately smacked Andy's backside with both hands. "Andrew Flynn if you even think about trying to put me in the back of that truck you'll be spending the next week sleeping on Nicole's couch" she warned him as they edged closer to the curb.

"Oh I don't think so Sharon" Nicole replied and bursting her bubble. "All I've heard about since Wednesday is this ridiculous 'guy code' nonsense" she told her, both of her Step-Sons talking nonstop about it since Nicole told them she knew Grandpa Andy was moving in with Granny Sharon meaning they no longer had to keep that whole conversation a secret from her. "Those boys are staying very far away from Dad until they stop thinking he's cool and repeating everything he says like it's gospel. He can stay in his storage space."

Andy bent forward and dropped Sharon gently to her feet, kissing her on the lips when she was steady. "As if I would do that to you" he grinned. She gave him her best Darth Raydor glare for a moment, only succeeding in making him laugh at her. "I've got bad news for you babe, Darth Raydor doesn't work on me outside of the office. It was a nice try though." He kissed her again before she made a dart for his knees, everyone laughing at them. Dancing away from her before she could make another attempt, Andy walked to the front door to close and lock it, pausing for a moment to look inside a final time with no intention of going back inside ever again even though the sale was still a long way from being completed.

"Is that everything?" Cooper asked Sharon with one hand on the handle to close the back of the truck.

"That's everything" she confirmed, Cooper nodding before he and Julio put the ramp inside and closed the door.

With the house locked up Andy put his keys into his pocket and turned just in time to see a car slowly driving up the street in their direction, recognising it immediately. It was the car that belonged to the niece of his neighbour Mrs Williams, the one person in the world he desperately wanted to avoid as he attempted to leave with a clean getaway. "Oh crap!" Andy shouted at volume.

"What's the matter?" Sharon asked, sounding concerned in case he'd hurt himself carrying her outside until he pointed towards the car that was edging ever closer to them.

"Ye Gods!" Provenza cried when he realised what was happening, his backside having been assaulted by Mrs Williams on more than one occasion. "I'm warning you now, if she even comes close to pinching my ass I am going to arrest her for assaulting a police officer. Don't think I won't!"

"I don't suppose anyone has a vest in their car?" Andy asked as he walked towards the gathered group, feeling safer surrounded by a lot of people.

"She's not going to stab you" Sharon laughed.

"I meant for you" Andy clarified. The car came to a halt as it was parked in front of the garage, Mrs Williams seeming to climb out almost before it came to a complete stop, anything but frail as her mouth hung open in horror as she quickly realised what was going on. "Anyway Provenza I wouldn't be worrying about your ass right now" Andy said as he turned to face him and Julio, pointing at them and then to Sharon as he gave them a direct order. "Whatever happens, protect Sharon at all costs. I mean it. Protect her like your lives depend on it."

"What?" Julio asked confused.

"What are we missing?" Amy asked, looking just as baffled as the rest of them.

"His neighbour has a little crush on him" Sharon explained.

"A little crush?" Andy cried. "I've found her naked in my house twice in the last six months alone! I haven't been able to eat shrimp since."

"He's just a little worried because he's neglected to tell her that he's sold his house and is moving in with me today that's all" Sharon went on, unlike Andy not really thinking that Mrs Williams would be upset for any reason other than Andy hadn't told her what was happening.

Mrs Williams slowly but surely walked towards them, her usual black cape draped over her shoulders and flapping in the breeze like a miniature Batman and given how small she actually was it was a minor miracle that it didn't make her take off. "Why is she wearing a cape?" Patrice asked.

"To be fair they do go with everything" Cathy joked.

"Look the woman is in love with Flynn, so she's quite clearly crazy" Provenza told them. "A cape is nothing."

"So what does that make me exactly?" Sharon asked with a smile since Mrs Williams was crazy for just having a crush on Andy and she was only an hour or so away from moving in with him officially.

"The craziest of the lot" Provenza replied, making her laugh.

"Is it just me or does she look like the teapot from Beauty and the Beast?" Amy asked.

"It's not just you" Sharon confirmed.

"Okay look alive people. She may look old and frail but she's strong and lightning fast" Andy told them as he waited to do battle. Those who hadn't met her before immediately started to laugh, Andy's description not matching the tiny and rather odd looking creature slowly edging towards them. "I'm not kidding. The last time I had to fight her off she kneed me in the balls and I spent two days with a scrotum the size of a boxing glove."

"TMI Lieutenant! TMI!" Amy cried with a shudder.

"Are you really sure about this move Captain?" Julio asked given what was happening and taking his opportunity since so many other people had jokingly asked her that question over the course of the morning and indeed over the last few days.

"Yes she is" Patrice answered for her.

"Buzz please tell me you're filming this" Provenza said, not taking his eyes off Mrs Williams as she finally approached Andy.

"Yes Sir" Buzz confirmed.

"Gus, whatever happens, don't let her pinch your butt" Rusty told him and getting an utterly baffled expression in return.

Andy set off towards Mrs Williams to cut her off and determined to keep as much distance between her and Sharon as humanly possible. He held his hands up defensively as he slowly approached her. "Mrs Williams I can explain" he said a little nervously.

"What's going on?" Mrs Williams cried furiously.

"Well I was going to tell you but..."

"Are you moving house?"

Andy turned to look at Sharon before facing Mrs Williams again, realising Sharon was right and he should have warned her he was thinking of moving months ago. "Yes. Yes I am. I've sold my house and I'm moving in with Sharon."

"Without telling me?!" Mrs Williams cried loud enough to ensure she was heard all the way in Santa Monica. She moved to walk by him to get at her love rival and possibly claw her eyes out but Andy moved to block her path, forcing her to just point at Sharon instead. "This is all down to you isn't it?" she screamed at Sharon as loud as she could. "You've been planning this all along haven't you? We were perfectly happy before you started to put in an appearance!"

As Andy continued to try and stop Mrs Williams from charging at Sharon and potentially dragging her up and down the street by her hair while screaming obscenities, everyone tried not to laugh at the rather unexpected sight before them as Sharon put her head in her hands, looking absolutely mortified. "You know Captain," Provenza started to say as he battled not to laugh, "if you do change your mind at least he's got someone else to move in with."

"Thank you Lieutenant" was all she could manage in reply.

"You know this is the last thing I expected to see when we drove here this morning" Patrice laughed, having heard about Andy's neighbour and her fondness for groping the backsides of younger men (not that Andy or Provenza were young but they were certainly younger than she was) but had never actually seen her before.

"You're not the only one. How am I in the middle of a love triangle at my age?" Sharon joked and making them all laugh. "That poor woman."

"Yeah, she's clearly delusional" Provenza muttered, getting a smirk from Sharon.

"Ah, my Father ladies and gentleman, catnip to geriatrics across the city" Nicole declared rather proudly.

"Well there's no accounting for taste." Provenza shrugged.

"What's the matter Sir? Jealous?" Julio asked with a smile.

"You...you...harlot!" Mrs Williams screamed at Sharon before she turned and marched back to the car and leading Andy to believe that the worst was over. He was wrong. He was so so wrong. Retrieving a carton of eggs from a grocery bag Mrs Williams marched back towards Sharon before Andy managed to stop her again, slowly edging her backwards and towards her own property. Undeterred by the distance from her target Mrs Williams took out an egg from the box and heaved it towards Sharon, annoyed and upset that her man was being snatched away from her she suddenly had the throwing ability of a woman who should be winning gold medals in the Olympics for the shot put regardless of her age. Sadly (or excellently depending on how you saw the situation) her aim was not very good and the egg landed on Provenza's head, smashing immediately as it started to drip down his bucket hat and onto his shirt. Before anyone had chance to react and laugh another egg came flying Sharon's way with her now standing directly behind her second in command and using him like a human shield, it landing on his shoes and then another one seconds later on his head. Andy sprang into action soon after and managed to wrestle the box off her while everyone laughed at Provenza with Sharon and Patrice doubled over in hysterics as Buzz continued to film it all but not knowing who to focus on. At the sound of her laughter Provenza turned to Sharon to give her a death glare, egg still running down his face.

"Sir, you have a little something…" Julio started to say as he pointed towards the yolk dripping off his nose as if he had somehow managed to not notice it.

"Yes thank you Julio! Funnily enough I had noticed." Provenza yanked his bucket hat off his head and started to wipe the egg off his face with it. "And thank you for doing absolutely nothing to try and protect me from this vicious assault by the way."

"Hey I took three bullets for you and I'd gladly do it again but I draw the line at eggs" Julio said with a shrug as Mark looked up at him in awe.

As he continued to wipe his face Provenza finally noticed that Buzz was still filming him and gave him a filthy look. "Hey you told me to keep filming" Buzz told him, zooming in on the egg as it continued to drip onto his shirt.

"Is it always like this?" Gus asked, often thinking in the past that he had the more unorthodox family out of the two of them but was quickly revaluating it given what was going on.

"Pretty much" Rusty nodded. "Ever since Mom started dating."

At that moment no one really knew which way to look next, either at Provenza as he still dripped with egg and looked on the verge of exploding with rage or at Andy who was trying to stop Mrs Williams from throwing anything else without hurting her. Finally, after getting over the initial shock at what was happening, the driver of the car, her niece climbed out and hurried over to try and assist. "Aunt Nora please if you could…" she started to say before stopping midsentence as Mrs Williams slapped Andy across the face.

"How could you?!" she screamed at him, the sound of her palm coming into contact with his cheek still rattling around.

Andy held his cheek, it throbbing quite a lot considering the size of his assailant. "Ow! How could I what? Move in with the love of my life? I'm sorry Mrs Williams but I don't need to explain myself to you and we've still got a lot of work to do today so I have to go." With that Andy wasn't prepared to indulge her any longer and turned to walk back to the gathered group and leave but suddenly he came to a rather abrupt stop after Mrs Williams dropped to her knees (not that big of a distance given her very slight build but it was still a surprise because of her age) and grabbed hold of his leg. "What the hell?" Andy cried as he looked down to see Mrs Williams lying flat on the ground with her arms wrapped around his leg.

"Please don't go. Don't leave me!" she screamed.

As everyone continued to laugh at what was happening Andy tried to pull his foot away and out of her grasp but to no avail. "Mrs Williams you've got to…" he started to say as he pulled on his leg.

"No!" Mrs Williams screamed. As Andy made one more attempt to pull his leg free he pulled a little too hard and only succeeded in losing his balance and falling to the floor with a thud. Stunned, he lay flat on his back as Mrs Williams tried to crawl up his body to cling to him, looking like a zombie from The Walking Dead who was about to eat his face.

"Should we stop this?" Mike asked no one in particular.

"Give it another couple of minutes first" Provenza replied, currently enjoying himself more than he had done in a long time, despite still dripping with egg.

"Lieutenant" Sharon said simply as she looked at him and urged him to help, not being able to do it herself because she knew it would only make matters worse if she did.

"Fine! Julio and Mike go and help him please or we're going to be here all day" Provenza said like he was giving an order on a roll out.

They nodded before they sprinted the short distance over to Andy and his not so secret admirer, putting a hand underneath her arms and picking her up, Mrs Williams proving to be even lighter than she looked from a distance. Once she was on her feet again her niece took over, putting her arm around her shoulders and led her back to the house so that she could try to get her to calm down. As they moved Mrs Williams turned her head to see Andy still lying on the ground. "Call me! I love you!" she called after him.

"Yeah, let's just get you inside, maybe take half a Valium" her niece said before they finally vanished inside.

The ruckus over, Rusty turned to Sharon. "Mom are you okay?"

"I'm fine Rusty" she nodded, any discomfort she currently felt coming from laughing too hard at what they had all just witnessed even though it was mixed with more than a little embarrassment.

"What about me?" Andy cried from his position lying on the lawn since he was the one who had been physically assaulted and wrestled to the ground.

"And me?" Provenza griped.

Andy climbed up off the ground, brushing himself down before he walked to the group with the slightest limp, most of them still laughing about it as Buzz continued to film. "By the way thanks so much for your help guys."

"You told us to protect the Captain, that's what we were doing" Provenza replied.

"And anyway she's eighty and two foot tall if that" Cooper laughed.

"But as strong as an ox" Andy reiterated.

"I noticed" Provenza grumbled as he waved his hat in Andy's face, it still dripping with raw egg. "Don't worry Flynn I'll be sending you my dry cleaning bill on Monday."

"Oh calm down, that thing could do with a good clean. It practically stands up on its own" Andy said with a roll of his eyes before he turned to Sharon. "Are you okay?"

"The Captain?!" he scoffed. "She's fine! The human shield here took the brunt of it" Provenza complained.

Sharon laughed. "I'm fine. I said you should have warned her."

"If I'd have warned her you wouldn't have seen me for the last month" Andy said in his defence. "Robbie Oderno would be searching for me instead. I'd be locked in her basement, naked and helpless and forced to dance for her for food."

"Now there's an image I didn't need" Provenza shuddered and echoing the thoughts of the majority in attendance. "Can we get out of here please before she comes back with a cleaver" he begged.

"Absolutely" Andy nodded, desperate to get away. Sharon moved towards him, wrapping her arm back around his waist. "Does everyone know where we're going?" Everyone nodded and a string of confirmations headed his way as they got out their car keys. "Then let's go." They all moved to their respective cars as Sharon and Andy jumped into the U-Haul, buckling up right away. Andy put the key in the ignition before he turned to Sharon. "You know I'm starting to think he actually goes to bed in that hat" he joked as she laughed and his smile widened, still too stunned by what had just happened to laugh at it just yet. "You ready?"

She smiled back at him. "Oh absolutely my beautiful boy."

The convoy was led by Andy and drove straight to the storage facility that he had rented which was only a matter of a few blocks away from his house, not making the same mistake that Provenza did and actually renting one about three times bigger than he actually needed to store all of his belongings in. Since it was the last thing into the truck, Andy's armchair was also the first thing unloaded and as a result Provenza followed Julio closely as he carried it.

"Okay Julio put that chair right here" Provenza pointed to a spot by the open door to the unit. Julio rolled his eyes as he put it down, knowing what was about to happen but opted for Provenza to be in trouble with his wife over it rather than him being in trouble with Provenza for ignoring his 'demand.' Provenza sat down immediately, taking his crossword puzzle back out again as Julio headed back towards the truck.

No one was surprised to see Provenza sitting down and not doing anything to help when they approached the unit with the next round of boxes to be stored except Patrice who nearly dropped the lamp she was holding, the quiet word she had in his ear about being more helpful while Sharon and Andy took one last stroll around the house seemingly having little to no effect. "Louie if you think you're going to spend the next half an hour sitting on your ass while the rest of us work you can think again" she told him and this time she wasn't joking with him.

"But I'm not just sitting on my ass, I'm working too" he insisted and actually sounding quite offended. "I'm making sure everything goes in the right place."

"It's a storage unit. As long as it's all fits in there what does it matter?" Andy asked as he and Mike heaved his couch inside.

"It matters because, let's all be honest here, at some point over the coming years probably even months in truth, you are going to do something to screw this up and that'll end with you spending some quality time in the dog house" Provenza stated as if it was a foregone conclusion and it was only a matter of when it happened rather than if it happened.

"And?" Rusty asked.

"And he's not staying with us so we might as well make this place comfortable for him to sleep here when the Captain inevitably throws his ass out." Sharon laughed when she heard the tail end of the conversation, giving Andy a quick kiss on the lips to remind him that it was never going to happen and Provenza could joke all he wanted about it.

It only took around another forty minutes for them to completely empty the truck and load the storage unit despite not having any real help from Provenza once again and with Rusty and Gus leaving a little earlier than everyone else to go and get the food (thinking going to collect the pizzas on their way back to the condo would be a lot quicker than ordering when they got home), taking Mark with them to keep him from being underfoot while more of the heavier lifting took place and just to give him people closer to his own age to talk to away from Julio for an hour or so, thinking both Julio and Mark looked like they could do with an hour away from each other. Both boys had experienced difficult lives themselves and in Rusty's case that had been improved dramatically the moment he was taken in by a member of the LAPD, in other words he was the perfect person to talk to the boy.

In truth Provenza actually helped a lot by sitting where he did and barking out orders to the rest of them, getting them to put larger items like Andy's dining table and chairs in last of all so that they were easily accessible for the holidays because it seemed unlikely to him that their combined number of children and indeed grandchildren would all fit around the table in the condo, thinking that Sharon and Andy had enough on their minds at that moment in time to think about those things and so opted to do it himself on their behalf in an attempt to be helpful. Andy continued to grumble about it and his complete lack of work that involved anything other than the cryptic clue on four down of his crossword puzzle but Sharon appreciated the thought he put into it, knowing that they would both appreciate it even more when the holidays did eventually come around and they didn't have to pry his table out from the back of the unit.

With Provenza getting an earful from Patrice on the way back to the car for not having lifted anything aside from this newspaper all morning, Sharon and Andy returned the U-Haul truck and picked up his car before they all headed back across town on the long drive to what was now their condo, an expression that never failed to bring a smile to both of their faces. They were the last to arrive and park up after the detour to pick up the car but everyone waited for them downstairs, all of them grabbing a box or a bag each containing Andy's belongings (Provenza having a bag of shoes thrust into his hands before he had time to protest and sneak upstairs without one) and enabling them to only have to make one journey.

Sharon and Andy naturally went up in the elevator first to open the door to the condo, with Nicole, Dean and Buzz going with them, Buzz carrying his camera as well as another large box of Andy's shoes while the rest waited for the next elevator to arrive. As Sharon and Andy stepped out on the eleventh floor with the rest following close behind, Sharon brought her finger to her lips to shush them, not offering any other explanation before tiptoeing past Mrs Rose's door, neither wanting to risk waking the beast that lurked within because they were making any noise. They were immediately greeted with confused looks, hoping to get an explanation once they were inside as to why they needed to be so quiet, all three of them thinking that they'd lost their minds but doing as requested anyway.

Just as they reached their door and Andy got his keys out of his pocket, Mrs Rose opened her door with a dramatic flourish, it slamming against the wall and making far more noise than her neighbours had been just walking by. Sharon and Andy both instantly groaned as a result, Sharon coming to rest her forehead on Andy's shoulder with frustration. Taking a step into the hallway Mrs Rose glared at Buzz, the poor unfortunate soul who just happened to be standing closest to her. He looked back at her rather nervously with no idea what was going on but looking every inch the terrified Boy Scout at the mercy of a very angry lion.

"Could you people be any louder if you tried?" Mrs Rose hissed, her tone causing Buzz to take a step further away from her before she attempted to swallow him whole.

Andy grinned at Sharon mischievously as she sighed, knowing what he was thinking and rightly assuming she wasn't going to be able to stop him from doing it. "Andy please don't. I beg you, please?" she practically pleaded quietly but to sadly no avail.

"Oh but I have to sweetheart" Andy replied with a grin. He quickly kissed her on the lips before he took a step towards his new neighbour, having already dealt with one crazy lady that day so he was more than willing and prepared to take on another one to get his ten year in his new home off to a good start. "Sorry Mrs Rose we'll try to keep the noise down."

"I find that hard to believe if you're having some sort of party" Mrs Rose replied with venom as she angrily pointed towards Buzz, Nicole and Dean as if having one extra person in your house would constitute a rave in her opinion.

"Oh we're not having a party Mrs Rose. It's more of an LAPD sponsored orgy" Andy told her with another grin, a strange noise coming from her throat almost immediately as a result that sounded very much like a hamster having a seizure. Nicole, Dean and Buzz looked stunned and frankly baffled as their eyes went back and forth between the two of them. On the other end of the scale Sharon snort laughed despite her best efforts to suppress it as much as possible, making Andy smile and only encouraged him more. "You're more than welcome to join us if you like. You don't need to do or bring anything special, just put your keys in the bowl on the table and get ready for some red hot loving. I'm pretty tired right now to be honest so I'll just watch to start with but Reserve Officer Watson here is sure to meet your approval" Andy added as he pointed at Buzz who could only smile at her rather nervously before she huffed and slammed the door behind her. No sooner had Mrs Rose vanished back inside, presumably to take a fistful of Valium and to lie down in a darkened room for an hour as she recovered after having to deal with 'the perverts next door' once again, (Mrs Rose already under the impression that Sharon was nothing but a perverted sex addict when she came home one day and found a blow up doll leaning up the wall outside her door, the very same doll that Andy spent the majority of Provenza's bachelor party handcuffed to) Andy started to laugh. "Well that went well."

"What was all that about?" Nicole asked, still looking stunned.

"Just my friendly welcome to the building. Being yelled at by crazies is the new fruit basket" Andy shrugged casually, taking it all in his stride and not prepared to let anything ruin his exceedingly good mood.

"What is this? Crazy neighbour day?" Buzz asked.

"Oh Buzz you have no idea" Andy told him before he opened the door and then one by one they all filed inside, following Sharon's lead and quickly piling the bags and boxes behind her desk for the time being with Buzz's camera sitting on her desk until he needed it. "Welcome guys. Make yourselves at home" Andy said, patting Buzz on the back.

Sharon smiled and took his hand, pulling him to face her. "That's funny, I was just about to say the same thing to you" she said since Andy had walked into the apartment as his home for the very first time. They smiled at each other for a moment before she lifted herself up onto her tiptoes and pushed her lips to his a couple of times. Almost immediately everyone else walked into the condo behind them as Andy ran his hand around Sharon's waist, still unable to leave each other alone for any real length of time such was their joy that the move had finally happened and they were now starting their lives together. "Come on in guys. Just put everything behind my desk for now" she instructed with a point in the right direction before they all started to pile the bags and boxes with the rest. The only exception was Julio who still clutched his box, it looking a little battered with the word 'Suspenders' written on the top but hidden from view as he looked down the hall and wondered which room belonged to his Captain and now her Lieutenant.

"Where do you want us to put this stuff Captain?" Julio asked.

"Behind the desk is fine for now" Sharon said once again. Julio didn't move a muscle and instead just smiled at her and she quickly realised that he was offering to help them out by putting all that they'd brought upstairs where they really wanted it to help them out and save them a job later in the day when the party was over. At the heart of it Julio had another motive for wanting to help them both too (aside from having another chance to knot Andy's suspenders a little more as he put the box in their bedroom), he felt like he owed his Captain because of how accepting she had been of his decision to foster as well as Mark's behavioural problems, (the rest of her division taking their cues from her and treating him in much the same way like what had happened when he took Ruben in and essentially lied to them all about looking for his Mother, the division taking their cues from Chief Johnson on that occasion and all of them quickly losing patience with him over it and his apparent inaction), not picking him up when he'd had a brief but much needed catnap in Electronics over the last week or complaining that the Murder Room was not a day care because Mark was at PAB so often. Added to that Andy had taken care of him as they loaded the truck and then Rusty and Gus had taken him with them when they went to get the food. They were all chipping in as much as they could to help him and Mark and he wanted to return the favour as best he could in the only way he could. Sharon smiled back at him and nodded. "Thank you Julio. You can put it on the floor in the corner of the bedroom for now. It's the first door on the right" she said before she pointed him in the right direction to make sure. "Thank you."

"It's really no problem ma'am" Julio confirmed, more than willing to move everything himself if need be. He walked into the bedroom with Provenza following close behind thanks to a little subtle gesture as he pointed at the box and what lurked within. For a split second they were alone in the bedroom but they knew that didn't have long with Amy, Buzz and Mike copying Julio and about to walk in with some of Andy's other boxes at any minute. "Hey Lieutenant" Julio said as he dropped the box to the ground and opened it, pulling out the big knotted ball of suspenders and making it clear that he had continued to flip the box on the way up in the elevator to make sure that there wasn't a single pair loose, making them look like the Christmas lights in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation that would probably end up taking hours to unpick. Provenza laughed before Julio dropped them back into the box and moved it into the corner, quickly standing up straight as their colleagues came in and dropped their boxes next to it before heading back into the living with Julio to get the last them.

Alone for a moment Provenza scanned the room with a very large smile on his face. He would never have thought five years ago that he would be so happily standing in Captain Raydor's bedroom as he helped his best friend move in with her. How time changed most things never failed to amaze him. Everywhere he looked he could see signs of Andy Flynn in that room, him already clearly treating the place as his home and apparently had done for a very long time, his reading glasses on the nightstand, his bathrobe just peeking out from around the bathroom door, one of his ties on the handle to the closet. Just as he was about to leave he noticed a framed piece of yellow legal paper on one of the nightstands. He recognised the paper and the handwriting almost immediately even from that distance so he knew what it probably was, thinking of no other reason why that sort of thing would be framed and treasured in such a way if it wasn't Andy's letter from the hospital. He was more than aware that Sharon was much more used to letters of a vastly different variety from her ex-husband in particular as he left her and their children once again, him hearing her mention to Patrice over dinner a few months earlier that she had not read them beyond the third time it had happened, twice too many she now admitted to herself. However this letter was treasured so it had to be the letter he encouraged Andy to write the night before his surgery. Although he hadn't explicitly confirmed as much to him, Andy had hinted that he'd finally given it to her the day he strolled into the Murder Room with a black eye and a poorly told lie about him walking into a door in the middle of the night. When the truth came out and Sharon was forced to confess that she'd caused the damage with her elbow in her sleep it wasn't hard for Provenza to work out that it meant they'd probably spent the night together for the very first time and naturally assumed the letter had played a large part in it and nudging them in the right direction since they seemed to be struggling to find their way there on their own, Andy confirming Provenza's suspicions only by dropping a nickel in his jar with a smile as he paid for some printing. Provenza had never told Andy but he had read that letter on his way to the car the night that Andy wrote it, lying to him about it because he was awkward enough about it and telling him he knew roughly what it said since Andy had already told him that he loved her before he made him write it down. In truth he read it because he needed to know for himself just how much his best friend loved their Captain (being too nervous to even use the word with Provenza) and how likely it was that she felt the same way about him, needing to know so that he could take care of her as best he could when Andy finally had his surgery. Aware of their privacy (his Captain's in particular) he moved to block it from view as people kept coming in and out to drop off Andy's things, not expecting any of them to nose around in there but opting to do it all the same just in case.

Whilst Sharon was busy getting glasses from the cupboards and putting them on the bar of the kitchen counter, Andy retrieved the beer and white wine from the fridge until he caught sight of the line of people walking in and out of their bedroom. With Patrice and Cathy not too far away as she showed her the view from the balcony (it being the first time that Cathy had ever been there) he lowered his voice and took a step towards Sharon. "Hey did you move that stupid letter from next to the bed since you know everyone we work with is going in and out of their right now?" he asked, uncomfortable at the idea of anyone else reading it other than Sharon and Rusty (and he wasn't too keen on him reading it either even though he'd written a section specifically for him in the event of his death).

Sharon laughed. "Firstly, it's not a stupid letter. It's a constant reminder about how lucky I am to have you in my life," she said softly as she stroked his cheek with the back of her fingers, "for a couple of reasons." She pressed her lips to his in the most tender of kisses before adding "And secondly no one is rooting around in there, they're dropping off boxes and then coming straight back out here."

"So in other words no you haven't?" he frowned.

Sharon nodded. "No I haven't" she confirmed.

Andy quickly hurried off into the bedroom as Sharon laughed and shook her head at him with a little bit of dismay. Once inside he rather surprisingly found Provenza standing in there alone, his hands in his pockets and blocking the nightstand from view but looking highly suspicious nonetheless. They stared at each other for a moment like they had just bumped into each other in a gay bar and both wondering what the other was doing there. "What are you doing?" Andy asked.

"I'm supervising" Provenza replied for at least the tenth time that day.

A second later Julio and Amy walked in behind them, freezing when they found the two of them just staring at each other in silence. "Do you two need to be left alone for a moment?" Amy joked, feeling like they'd interrupted a personal moment like two lovers saying a final farewell at a train station.

"No" Andy and Provenza replied in unison, Julio and Amy laughing at them as a result, thinking that they definitely looked like they were up to no good.

"That's the last of them Lieutenant" Julio stated as he put the final garment bag filled with Andy's suits over the arm of the chair in the corner of the room.

"Thanks Julio" Andy nodded with a smile. They all walked out of the bedroom one by one before Andy closed the door behind him. Much to his surprise Provenza was standing in the hall as if he was waiting for him, getting a rather surprising pat on the shoulder and a gentle nod of his head before they headed back towards the living room. It was the first time he had offered him any sort of congratulations at all about the move, Provenza previously only expressing anything even remotely positive about it in the form of looking around the house of horrors with him before trying his best to scare off the other potential buyers rather than anything more explicit and keeping his thoughts to himself, pleased though he was about it.

In the kitchen Sharon had been busy handing out bottles of beer to those that wanted one until she saw Andy heading her way again, grabbing a glass of cranberry and soda she had made just for him, Andy gasping for a drink as they drove home from the heat and the hard work. She walked over to him and put it in his hand. "For my boy" she said with a smile.

He growled at the sight of it, a noise that immediately brought a blush to her cheeks, her normally hearing that noise under very different circumstances. "Thank you" he replied, kissing her before drinking several large gulps, feeling parched. "Do you want me to open the wine?"

"Please" she nodded. He kissed her again before he walked into the kitchen to do as promised, sipping his drink as he moved.

The front door opened a moment later as Rusty, Gus and Mark walked in, holding a couple of large pizzas each, the boxes in Mark's arms almost bigger than he was. Sharon smiled at them before Rusty handed off his pizzas to Gus as he stepped towards her, Sharon quickly becoming aware that he obviously wanted to speak to her about something. "Hey Mom" he smiled. He looked at her for a moment with a puzzled expression suddenly appearing on his face, seeming almost hesitant for a second and giving Sharon immediate cause for concern. "Erm...," he started to say before pausing and appearing very reluctant to spit the words out, "why does Mrs Rose think that we're having some sort of giant orgy in here today?" he asked, worried by the answer that was about to come his way. Sharon rolled her eyes with a smile and looked towards Andy who was getting out plates and napkins since the food had arrived. Rusty followed her eye-line and quickly understood, nodding. "Ah. Okay. Say no more. Really, say no more" he begged as he shuddered and Sharon laughed. "We've got the pizzas" he said quickly as he changed the subject, pointing towards Gus and Mark as they carried the boxes and laid them out on the table in front of the hungry hordes.

Sharon ran her hand down his arm with thanks. "Thank you Rusty and thank you for taking Mark with you and keeping him company. Julio really appreciates it."

"Yeah it was really no problem. We let him pick his own pizza so he's pretty happy right now." As if he had been listening Mark picked up his large cheese pizza from the table and carried it over to the television, sitting on the floor in front of it with the box between his legs and started to tuck in as if he had never seen food before. Sharon smiled at him before she turned and went to make sure that everyone else had what they needed and were getting something to eat and drink before Rusty stopped her. "Erm Mom, do you think there's any way I could get my car looked at on Monday morning?" he asked.

"Sure but why? What's wrong with it?"

"I don't know exactly" Rusty shrugged. "The check engine light was on like the entire time we were driving home with the pizza. And it just doesn't sound right you know?"

"Okay. Well we can get it looked at, that's no problem."

Andy joined them having heard the end of the conversation. "Or I could just take a look at it for you" he told him, wanting to make himself more useful in Rusty's eyes now that he had moved in. He handed Sharon a glass of white wine before he ran his arm around her waist.

"You?" Rusty said as he looked at Sharon nervously, immediately thinking of the pig's ear Andy had made when he replaced the bathroom floor tile after he smashed it with his head when he fainted, wondering if he would make as bad a job of fixing his car.

"Yes me. Why the tone of surprise?" he asked a little offended. "I'm not completely without man skills you know" he told him. As Rusty frowned at him more than a little dubious about his claim, Sharon tried her hardest to suppress a smile as her mind went to the long list of Andy's many other 'man skills' that she had become very well acquainted with over the last year, hoping that she wasn't blushing too much as her cheeks started to warm up. Provenza approached them from behind as he listened with interest. "I know my way around a car engine thank you very much."

"Mainly from stealing and selling car parts when he was a teenager" Provenza rightly pointed out and making Rusty laugh.

"No it's not wise ass" Andy replied with a roll of his eyes. He was lying, that was exactly how he first became acquainted with various car engines, already stealing hubcaps to sell when he was only ten years old so it wasn't a shock when he started liberating other parts too. "I haven't always had the most reliable of cars so I've had plenty of opportunities to learn how to fix them myself."

"Yeah with spit and pantyhose mainly" Provenza said and not joking in the slightest.

Rusty laughed as he looked at the unimpressed expression on Andy's face. "What?"

"Trust me that's Flynn's answer to every car problem in this world, just spit on it, wrap it in pantyhose and hope for the best" Provenza shrugged, having more experience than he wanted with Andy Flynn and his crappy cars especially when he tried to fix them himself rather than taking them to a professional or just letting them die naturally.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to have a conversation with my family here" Andy protested, not happy at Provenza sticking his nose into what he deemed to be a personal conversation with his new family. Sharon couldn't help but smile up at him again because he was right, they were a family now in every way imaginable, six years ago never dreaming that she would have an extra son and a man who worshiped the ground she walked on and feeling the exact same way about him in that late stage of her life.

"What I can't listen?" Provenza grumbled. "Rusty if you're having car trouble, I'll take a look at it for you. If it was built later than the nineteen sixties Flynn won't know the hood from the gear shift."

"Excuse me?" Andy scoffed, almost swallowing his tongue.

"You heard me, are you going deaf too?" Provenza shot back.

"No I'm just thinking about your complete inability to operate that tricked out Explorer that we drove when we took Buzz out on his first ride along" Andy replied, both he and Buzz of the opinion that a dead dog would have operated that car with more success than Provenza did.

"That was not my fault. Who on earth could possible operate that giant hunk of crap?" Provenza complained, saying the same thing when he couldn't operate anything even remotely electronic or complicated like his cell phone or the control for the electronic murder board at PAB before Andy found their old one from Parker Centre.

"Well there's me for starters and not to mention Buzz and every other patrol officer in the LAPD. It's a wonder you figured out how to buckle your seatbelt without three weeks of instruction and someone to help" Andy fired back as Sharon and Rusty just stared at each other as they laughed a little, always amused when the two of them bickered like an old married couple.

"Regardless with the heaps of crap you've driven over the years my point is that I stand more of a chance of fixing it for the kid than you do" Provenza clarified.

"I've driven hunks of crap? Me?" Andy cried, not believing his ears. "What about your car with the steering wheel lock? Huh? What was that if it wasn't a hunk of crap? Huh? Tell me that" he said, still annoyed that he got into trouble along with Provenza even though it wasn't his crappy car to begin with and none of it was his fault.

"It wasn't the car that was unfit for purpose it was that damn steering wheel lock as well you know" Provenza corrected him and ignoring the point that if he had a car with a decent door lock and alarm then he wouldn't have needed the steering wheel lock in the first place.

"Whatever" Andy mumbled.

"On second thoughts forget it, I don't really need a car to get around Los Angeles anyway" Rusty said with a smile before either gentleman could argue their way into a heart attack.

Before either Andy or Provenza could protest Sharon removed her free hand from around Andy's waist and dropped it to Rusty's shoulder. "Don't worry about it Rusty, we can take it to a garage on Monday" she told him.

"But what about me? I can do it" Andy insisted.

"I'm sure you can my darling but we've only just moved in together so the last thing I want is for you to blow yourself up or run yourself over or burn the building down fixing Rusty's car" she told him with a little playful slap to his chin before she walked away towards the rest of the group who were all getting themselves something to eat. Rusty laughed at the two of them as they just stared at each other before he joined the rest.

With everyone getting something to eat and drink and sitting down where they could, the conversation free flowing as they relaxed and enjoyed the time off together, Sharon walked into the kitchen with her slice and glass of wine to eat it as she leant against the counter, not wanting to use a chair that a guest could use. Nicole spotted her on her own almost immediately and decided to take the opportunity to speak to her without her Dad being present, quickly making her way over to her. "I have to say it again while I have the chance, thank you so much for this Sharon" Nicole said as she took Sharon's hand in hers and squeezed it, never thinking she would ever be able to fully express just how happy she was for them both. "Now I don't have to worry about putting him in a home when he's a little older" she joked.

Sharon laughed. "You wouldn't take him in?"

"Not without murdering him, no" she replied, them both laughing as they looked at Andy at the top of the table as he got himself something to eat before Provenza and Julio snaffled all of the vegetarian options just to screw with him. "So that means I'm even more grateful" she declared. Without warning she pulled Sharon into a hug, almost knocking her wine out of her hand as she revealed once again just how grateful she was for the way that her Dad had changed over the last few years and giving Sharon all of the credit for that turnaround.

"It's my pleasure Nicole, honestly" Sharon told her sincerely as they pulled apart. "But while I have you here, can you clear up a little fact about your Dad for me please?" she said a little quietly since the curiosity was eating away at her but she didn't want Andy to know. Before she could say anymore Andy came to a stop on the other side of the counter with his pizza in his mouth mid bite, looking at them suspiciously after hearing Sharon's question. They both turned to face him. "What do you want?" Sharon asked him.

Andy shrugged. "I heard you talking about me."

"Exactly. We were talking about you and not to you. Off you go" Nicole instructed as she waved him away from them as Sharon's laughed. Looking a little warily at them Andy rather reluctantly walked away towards the balcony door where he could watch them from a safe distance and hopefully lip read what was being said about him. "I'll warn you now, living with him doesn't make him any less annoying if that's what you wanted to know."

Sharon laughed, she and in particular Rusty already more than aware of that fact. "No it's not about that. It's about his middle name." She looked around the room to make sure that Andy was still well out of earshot before continuing. "To say I don't believe what he's trying to sell me is a huge understatement but I have no record of it written down anywhere."

"Did he tell you it was 'Bonzo Tiger' too?" Nicole asked as she couldn't help but laugh.

"What? No" Sharon laughed, quickly beginning to think that Andy had told a different story to everyone he knew about his middle name with no one really knowing the truth other than perhaps his siblings.

"Then what has he told you?"

Sharon laughed again before she spoke, still finding the whole thing utterly absurd and yet she was still inclined to believe him. "That your Grandmother insisted on calling him Andrew Benito Flynn because she had a thing for Mussolini" she told her, them both immediately laughing hysterically. "I know, I know! It's beyond ridiculous."

"Benito? Really? That's a new one. I think he told Daniel something else, 'Winkle Norman' maybe but to me he always said it was 'Bonzo Tiger' which obviously I never believed for a second" Nicole revealed and to a certain extent confirming Sharon's suspicions that Andy continued to be the master of the tall tale just to get a laugh from the people he loved. "Do you want me to call Mom and see if she knows the truth?" Nicole offered.

"Oh no, no, no" Sharon said, dismissing the idea immediately and not wanting anyone to think for even a second that she didn't know him as well as his ex-wife did as well as getting a fair amount of amusement and satisfaction in finding out for herself. "I'll find out on my own in the end one way or another."

"Benito?" Nicole said again as they laughed. "Really?" she shook her head, this by far and away one of the more ridiculous stories that her Dad had ever told, like Sharon never really knowing if they were true or not. Nicole turned to look at Andy, Sharon quickly following her eye line to see him standing by the table and talking to Mike and Cathy, Andy laughing as he spoke to them, smiling and looking happier than Nicole had ever seen him in her life. "Look at him. Look at that smile." She took Sharon's hand again, squeezing it as her eyes lingered on her Father. "I don't think I've ever seen him look this happy in my entire life" she said before she hugged her again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you" she repeated, making Sharon laugh as she hugged her back.

Andy looked away from the Taos for a moment and spotted what was still going on in the kitchen, quickly decided that he needed to go and rescue Sharon before Nicole managed to squeeze her to death. He excused himself and made his way over to the two women in his life, putting a hand on their backs. "Okay. That's enough" he said as they pulled apart. "Let's break this up now before you scare her off altogether." Sharon laughed at him as she ran her arm around his waist.

Nicole looked at Andy square in the eyes before she grabbed his chin. "Don't screw this up" she told him once again before she kissed his cheek and then left them to it, moving to the table to get something to eat.

As Nicole picked up a slice of pizza she along with Amy looked quizzically at Patrice on the other side of the table as she took two slices, placing one on top of the other before taking a bite from both of them at the same time. Patrice saw them looking at her like she was a sandwich short of a picnic and turned to speak to them once she had finished chewing. "The body doesn't know. It only counts the calories of one" Patrice told them as she pointed to her pizza stack. "Or that's what I tell myself anyway" she shrugged as they laughed at her.

With a couple of slices of pizza on her plate Nicole looked up and spotted Rusty standing on his own for a moment at the top of the table and slowly moved towards him as she chewed. "Well Rusty," she said as she dropped her plate to the table before putting her arm around his shoulders and getting a little smile from him in return, "it may not be completely legal just yet but it looks like you're the baby brother I always wanted."

Rusty laughed and nodded, this not the first time he'd been told something similar, hearing it from both Emily and Ricky as the adoption edged closer and they both welcomed him into their family. "Is there some sort of initiation process I have to go through before I can consider myself a little bit Flynn?" he asked.

"I'd tell you Rusty but I'm afraid if I did you might tell Sharon what she has to do and then she'd be scared off and before you know it Dad is living in my basement and I'm plotting his death" she joked and making him laugh again. "I have to say, I am extremely happy to have you as part of my family Rusty, if for no other reason than it's nice to have a little brother who doesn't loathe my Father with every fibre of their being." She laughed at a statement that was anything but a joke in order to make light of it but Rusty knew full well that there was distress behind her good humour, Nicole and Daniel arguing a lot over recent years as she tried in vain to get him to give Andy another chance since he was such a changed person but he wouldn't budge, as stubborn as his Father. "So, you're comfortable with this whole arrangement?" she asked, nodding towards Sharon and Andy as they stood alone in the kitchen where she had left them, their arms around each other and despite the guests in attendance only interested in each other. "Living with a couple and not just any old couple either, a fairly new and incredibly loved up couple?"

Rusty laughed. "To be honest it's not been so bad really just as long as Mom manages to keep her hands to herself in the communal areas."

"Oh I know what that's like, believe me!" Nicole cried with a horrified shudder. "I was about five or six years younger than you are now when my Mom first started dating again after Dad and the divorce. Then six months later she brought home Michael for the very first time." She sighed as Rusty smiled, Nicole's Dad and Step-Dad like chalk and cheese in comparison to each other. "Now compared to Dad and Sharon and all the years of 'Will they? Won't they? We think they are but they say they aren't' they had a very short courtship and he moved in with us after less than five months."

"Wow! Just five months? Really?" Rusty asked with surprise.

Nicole nodded. "I know it seemed too fast at the time to me and Daniel too and well to everyone else who knew her for that matter especially since her marriage to Dad had ended so badly and so spectacularly! And then she was single for a very long time just like Sharon so I did worry about her as I'm sure you've worried about Sharon when suddenly they were dating and they actually knew it." They both laughed again, the saga of the relationship between their parents still highly amusing to them both.

Rusty didn't answer but instead just looked at his Mom as she laughed with her boyfriend, their arms still around each other as they looked at each other adoringly, the way Gus would look at him sometimes and caused those little butterflies to appear out of nowhere in the pit of his stomach as if he was suddenly feeling alive for the very first time in his life. It was true that he had been worried at times when they first got together for many reasons, most of which were nothing to do with Andy personally, he actually rather liked him, his extreme reluctance was all to do with previous boyfriends of his other Mom but it had been clear to him for some time just how much they loved each other so it didn't worry him for long even though it didn't stop him from being a little suspicious of Andy for a long time despite liking him as he saw him as a threat in his life but soon accepting that he was who Sharon wanted to spend the rest of her life with and that was more than fine with him.

"And that's ignoring that Michael is without doubt the single stupidest man I have ever met in my entire life" Nicole stating without any fear of contradiction, them both laughing once again. "Growing up with that man as our Step-Father was...well let's just say it was certainly interesting. By comparison Dad is sheer perfection."

"Sure, some of the time when he's not falling down or thinking that he's funny" Rusty pointed out.

"I'm very sorry to have to tell you this Rusty but he's never going to stop thinking he's funny. Never. That's just something you're going to have to get used to" Nicole told him with quite a lot of sympathy.

"He's not so bad. I've known worse" Rusty said rather quietly. They smiled at each other for a moment, Nicole not wanting to make him talk about the horrors in his past any more than Rusty wanted to tell her about them.

"Well if you ever need any tips on how to handle him I think I've got reacquainted enough with the nuances of Andrew Flynn over the last few years to be able to help you out."

Rusty laughed. "Thanks but I pretty much know how to manipulate him in every situation by now." They laughed again but Nicole's choice of word 'reacquainted' stuck in Rusty's mind as it became clear that perhaps they'd had an even worse relationship than he thought they had before her wedding. "You know I think he's a lot different now compared to when you..."

"Didn't want anything to do with him?" Nicole asked and finishing the sentence for him. "Yes. I know that. I've known that for quite a few years now but seriously Rusty you have absolutely no idea how much he has changed from the man I knew as a kid or even the man I knew five years ago before I got married to Dean for that matter." She smiled as she looked at her Dad across the room again. "I look at him now and it's like he's a completely different and utterly fabulous person to the one I knew back then. But he's even changed since my wedding too. I know your Mom likes to deny it every chance she gets and she's more than a little embarrassed about the whole thing but she has had such a wonderful effect on him, even before they were dating and she's given me my Dad back" Nicole said as she started to sound a little emotional. "If it wasn't for her offering to come to my wedding with him and supporting him so that he could stand to be around my family then I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be helping him move house today. If he'd missed my wedding I'm not sure I would have spoken to him again so not only did Sharon help to make mine and Dean's special day even better for me by making him come but she also gave me my Dad back and that is something I will never ever stop being grateful for." Rusty nodded, understanding how she felt. They both looked at Sharon and Andy again, still on the own and talking to each other, their arms around each other, their faces a few inches apart, smiling. They kiss a couple of times and Nicole and Rusty can't help but smile at them (despite Rusty preferring the no physical contact in the kitchen rule to be enforced at all times). "They look so happy together. Look at Dad. Look at the way he gazes at her." Rusty felt compelled to smile because Nicole was right but he saw it a lot, they were always looking at each other like that, often in silence and he did admit that it was sweet and it was how he first knew they loved each other long before his accident and before the letter. However it still always made him feel like he was intruding and like they'd be a lot happier as a couple if he moved out and left them to it but they always told him that he was being ridiculous if he ever voiced those feelings to them, both of them usually stopping when they saw him to focus on the three of them as a family, neither wanting him to go anywhere until he was ready to take that step. "The only time Dean looks at me like that these days is when I'm holding a rack of ribs in my hands" she joked before they laughed.

"I've always thought they looked at each other like they were an Armani suit and a freshly roasted turkey."

"See we both knew they were dating before that night at the ballet" Nicole said gleefully as they laughed again. "They were just sadly a little slow to work it out for themselves. Well let that be a lesson to them, their kids know them better than they know themselves and they should listen to us a lot more than they do" she insisted. "So tell me Rusty, in the immediate aftermath to the ballet, how often did they not date? Dad wouldn't talk about her at all after the holidays until suddenly six months later he told me completely out of the blue that they were finally dating for real."

"It was at least twice a week in the beginning but as it got closer to becoming official I swear he was here more than I was" Rusty said in anything but an exaggeration.

"Without wishing to traumatise you Rusty, I do hope you have some powerful earplugs to hand tonight" she said as she nodded towards Sharon and Andy and grinned. Rusty screwed his face up almost immediately as if he was about to be sick, Nicole laughing hysterically. "Sorry" she laughed.

Nicole knew what it was like to be Rusty in that situation, her Mother and her then idiotic boyfriend were extremely loved up every moment of the day and night when Michael first moved in with them and even on one occasion walked in on her Mom giving him a blowjob in the middle of the kitchen as he somehow managed to split his focus between being blown and using the pasta machine at the same time. It was a horrifying incident all around with Sandra's shock at suddenly finding her daughter looking at her with such horror as she screamed loud enough to shatter glass while she was still on her knees in front of her boyfriend almost causing her to bite his penis off completely. Nicole wanted to blame herself for coming home early from her friend's house without calling first but there was plenty of blame to go around in the circumstances. The whole situation was not helped later in the day when Michael thought it was a good idea to talk about the birds and the bees with her as they ate dinner (the very pasta he had been making at the time), to let her know that what she had stumbled upon was perfectly natural and suggesting that his urologist had told him that a 'regular ejaculation' was good for his plumbing and overall health. Daniel looked baffled as he tried to eat and had no idea what was going on and why his 'Step-Dad's' semen was being so openly discussed over dinner as both Sandra and Nicole seemed to scream for a good hour after they'd finally got him to shut up about it. Not at all surprisingly it left Nicole feeling slightly traumatised with no fifteen year old girl ever wanting to think about their future Step-Father's undercarriage let alone see it in their Mom's mouth in the middle of the kitchen. As a result of the whole incident and the prominent placement of the pasta maker as it was taking place Nicole was suddenly put off any sort of pasta dishes or Italian food in general and stopped learning anymore about her Italian heritage, something that upset Andy a lot at the time and seeing it as a reaction to him and their extremely fragile relationship rather than discovering the truth at a period in his life when he didn't see her or Daniel a whole lot anyway and it was something she had yet to explain to him and correct.

"It's hard to work out how I could be more traumatised at this point anyway" Rusty told her. "I mean if Mom's hands aren't permanently on his ass then I'm hearing weird things over the phone" he said as he screwed his face up with disgust.

Nicole laughed. "Do I really want to hear this?"

"I didn't. I don't know, I phoned Mom a couple of weeks ago to tell her I was going to stay the night with Gus and she said 'Hold on Rusty, I have to go and poke Andy's sausage'" he explained before he shuddered again and Nicole laughed hysterically. "She claims she was cooking dinner but I don't know" he added as Nicole continued to laugh. "I mean he's like a vegetarian except for fish and his frankly alarming turkey obsession. Are turkey sausages even a thing? Please tell me they are."

Nicole laughed and nodded. "Yes they are and I'm not just saying that to make you feel better. But still, best have an early night anyway."

"Actually I've decided to stay with Gus for the weekend. Give them some space."

"I think that's a very wise decision and plus you get to have a little romantic weekend all of your own with Gus too" she grinned before she laughed, highly amused with how awkward Rusty was when it came to talking about his boyfriend with her. "I know I've said this to you before but it's worth saying once again, that boy is very very handsome Rusty." They looked out to the balcony where Gus was chatting happily with Amy and Cooper, Rusty smiling at him without even realising he was doing it. "Well done you" Nicole told him and sounding very impressed as she put her hand up for him to give her a high five once again, yet to get one from him. He tried to ignore her but Nicole's hand remained in the air until he obliged and they laughed. "So are you both driving there later or what?"

"I was going to but the check engine light kept coming on when we were driving back with the food so we'll probably get an Uber until I can get it looked at on Monday" he shrugged.

"Or Dean and I could just drive you both" Nicole suggested.

"No you don't have to do that..."

"I know I don't have to do that but I want to do that" Nicole insisted.

"But it's so far away and..."

"I don't mind" she said simply and continuing before he had chance to protest once again. "Look Rusty, our parents are living together now and something tells me that if my Dad gets his own way that's not where it'll end either, they'll probably and dare I say hopefully end up getting married one day too. And as I'm sure Dad has said to you himself as you've got closer, we're a family now whether you like it or not and part of being a family is driving your little Step-Brother to his insanely hot boyfriend's house for a dirty weekend" she told him with another grin before she laughed as Gus walked over to them. "Oh hey Gus. We were just talking about you."

He looked at them a little nervously. "Only good things I hope."

"Oh definitely" Nicole confirmed, winking at Rusty. "My little Step-Brother here was just telling me how he's escaping the loved up couple to spend a romantic weekend at your place and I was just offering to give you both a ride since we're basically related now."

"Oh great Nicole. Thanks" Gus smiled.

"See" Nicole said as she poked Rusty in the ribs and he nodded, realising that he was out voted on the matter. "It's really not a problem at all. Actually come to think of it Rusty you should be grateful that Mom and Michael didn't come and help them today. As soon as he got wind that there was something wrong with your car he'd have been in that parking garage quicker than a flash with his head buried underneath the hood" she said as they laughed at the thought. "Then five minutes later we would have smelled smoke and felt the explosion and before you know it the building is being evacuated and Mom isn't speaking to him again" she joked.

"Has he set fire to anything else since Christmas?" Gus asked, his first day spending time with Rusty and his extended family being a rather eventful one with Sandra attacking Andy every chance she got and Michael setting fire to the curtains in the bedroom that Justin and Robin shared as he tried to rewire a train to make it go a little quicker.

"I don't think so or rather he's not done it at my house anyway" Nicole shrugged. "I hang those curtains up every time they come over now in case he does it again, you know to save money and to remind him that things can be highly flammable."

Rusty laughed. "You leave him alone?" he asked with surprise.

"Not intentionally but he does have the habit of just slipping away with the boys when you're not looking" she grumbled. "How's work Gus?"

"Going really well thanks" he replied, that positive 'everything is wonderful' smile spread across his face as Rusty battled hard not to roll his eyes, not trusting this Aidan character as far as he could throw him and he hadn't even met him. "I've already had one promotion this year and with how well I'm doing Aidan, that's my boss, well he says it's only a matter of time before I can move up again. The guy owns like four restaurants."

"That's fabulous Gus. Right Rusty? You must be so proud of him, doing so well" Nicole said to him with a smile and a little nudge of her hips to almost force an answer.

"Yep. Very proud" Rusty nodded with a rather fake smile that was good enough to fool Gus but Nicole had seen that sort of thing before from her parents many times in the past as they both maintained everything was okay when it quite clearly wasn't. It was easy for her to see that there was something else that Rusty wasn't saying but knew better than to push it, especially with Gus standing right there next to them.

"How about yourself?" Gus asked her.

"Yeah things are really good" Nicole nodded. "I'm actually heading out of town for a five day accountancy conference in a couple of weeks." Despite their best intentions neither Rusty nor Gus could react like it was the most exciting thing they'd ever heard in their lives. "It's even more boring than it sounds believe me," Nicole laughed, "but it should make a change or it'll just be a chance to rack up some air miles and watch my co-workers from other branches drunkenly hit on one another" she joked.

"Oh that's great. Where?" Gus asked.

"Vancouver. I'm looking forward to it and so are Dean and the boys probably" she said with a smile and was greeted with laughter. "They get to spend a week not showering and living in their underwear while eating cereal three times a day from their belly buttons" she added in anything but a joke, not expected the three of them to get dressed while she was away if they didn't have to. "The last time I was sent on one of these things Dean and the kids were supposed to fly up and meet me once it was over and we were going to go on a little Thanksgiving getaway for a few days in the mountains." She sighed a little glumly. "But sadly I had to come back after less than forty eight hours because Dad was in the hospital so I fully intend to enjoy everything I missed out on last time" she said with another sigh, dropping everything immediately when her Mom phoned her to relay the news from Sharon that Andy had collapsed, flying home as soon as she could and arriving at the hospital a couple of hours after he had come around from the anaesthesia.

"Andy was in the hospital?" Gus asked with his surprise evident.

"Yeah for surgery to remove his blood clot" Nicole nodded.

Gus looked at them baffled for a moment, not recalling having been told this story the first time he met Nicole on Christmas Day but considering that the whole experience of spending the day with a family for the first time in a long time, even if it wasn't his family, was slightly overwhelming to say the least. "We weren't dating then" Rusty told him. He paused before he continued, knowing that he was about to step into upsetting territory as far as Gus was concerned. "Erm…do you remember when Andy testified at Mariana's trial? He had a huge bruise on the side of his head?"

"Sure. I remember" Gus nodded. "I thought a suspect had hit him or something."

"How close you are" Nicole said as her eyes drifted to her Father again.

"Yeah well he got that when the meds he was on to break down his blood clot made him dizzy and he passed out in the bathroom" Rusty said very nonchalantly and as if it hadn't been one of the most frightening moments of his entire life (especially considering that he learned to drive when he took his Mom to hospital while she was over dosing in the back and had not only been abandoned at a zoo but was only rescued when a serial killer just so happened to cross his path) when he opened the bathroom door and found Andy on the floor unconscious and bleeding heavily. "That's why that tile is weird in there. He smashed it with his head. They like had to operate on him the next day."

"I remember. You told me about it on Christmas Day. How did he get a blood clot in the first place? I don't remember" Gus said as he racked his brain, his eyes drifting towards Andy as he stood with his arm around Sharon in the kitchen, looking as fit as a fiddle.

"He was trying to act like an over the hill James Bond and got his ass thrown from a moving car by a suspect" Nicole explained with a tone of annoyance that her Dad had been so utterly stupid given his advancing years. Gus looked stunned, his eyes going wide. "You don't need to be polite Gus, we all know he's a complete idiot."

"I wasn't going to say a word" Gus lied.

"Dad certainly has excellent timing. Waiting until I was out of the country before he decided to collapse and being in desperate need of surgery."

"Talk about perfect timing I was the one on Flynn sitting duty the day he fainted" Rusty reminded her, his worst fear every time he was left alone with Andy coming true and a lot earlier than he hoped too.

Nicole hugged him a little tighter as she said "And I really must thank you for saving his life once again Rusty."

"To be honest I had no choice" he shrugged. "I would have felt bad letting him bleed to death on the floor." He looked over at Andy and glowered. "But of course there are times when I regret it too like when he's making fun of my hair or trying to be funny" he joked with Nicole laughing at him.

As everyone continued to eat and chat amongst themselves, enjoying a rare chance to see their friends and colleagues in a purely social setting, Andy and Sharon remained on their own in the kitchen talking to each other. After a moment Andy's attention was drawn to Provenza in the living room as he moved from seat to seat in the living room area, shuffling as he sat down each time. With his arm now draped around Sharon's shoulder, he pulled her a little closer to him as he moved his lips to her ear. "What the hell is he doing?" he asked as he nodded towards his partner in crime.

Sharon turned to look at him just as he moved seats once again. "I have no idea" she said with a shake of her head as Provenza moved once more, bouncing up and down on the spot for a moment.

"Hey Provenza!" Andy shouted, his cry loud enough to draw attention from almost everyone else in attendance.

"What?" Provenza replied just as loudly as he jumped up and down in his seat again, feeling the cushions as everyone fell silent so that they could listen to the exchange.

"Is there a game of musical chairs going on that we don't know about?" Andy asked. Instead of answering Provenza glared at him from over his shoulder before he returned to bouncing up and down again from his new position on the right hand side of the couch closest to them. "What are you doing?"

"I'm claiming my spot" came the distracted reply.

"You're what?" Andy asked baffled.

"I'm finding the perfect place for me to sit and watch a game when I come over" he said as he continued to bounce up and down on the cushion as he double checked that it met his approval in terms of comfort. "This is perfect. I can see the TV and I'm close enough to the kitchen that it'll be easy for you to pass me beer quickly."

"Yeah that's not happening, ever" Andy told him.

"You've got that right" Sharon cut in before Provenza could protest. "If you two think I'm going to let you turn this living room into some sort of boys club you've got another thing coming" she told them emphatically and ensuring there was no wriggle room in her tone.

Andy stared at her agog for a moment before he and Provenza exchanged defiant glances and everyone else tried not to laugh at them. "And I get no say in this at all?" Andy asked.

"Absolutely not" Sharon replied as she smiled at him smugly.

Andy quickly removed his arm from around her shoulders and pointed at her. "You're not the boss of me here you know Raydor, that's just at work" Andy reminded her. "Everything is supposed to be a discussion at home."

"You're right and it is and we've discussed it and it's just not going to happen" she told him simply as everyone but Andy laughed before she walked over to the table, getting herself another slice of pizza as she winked at Patrice and Amy and confirming to them that she was only messing with him for her own amusement.

As Provenza continued to laugh he made a noise like a whip cracking just in case Andy had somehow forgotten how whipped he thought he was. "Are you really going allow yourself to be bossed around in your own home like this?" Provenza asked him and revelling in his friend's torment while causing trouble.

Andy looked at Sharon before he shrugged and nodded, fully aware that she was only joking with him or at least that's what he hoped was happening, thinking it would be very unlike her to insist that the condo was now a Provenza free zone. "Without a doubt" he confirmed. Sharon winked at him as she walked back to the counter and put her plate on the end of it, Andy coming up next to her and putting his arm around her before kissing the side of her head to confirm that he knew exactly which side his bread was buttered on. "Thankfully I'm very used to taking orders off Sharon." She smiled at him before she kissed him, her smile quickly turning to a frown as he stole a bite of her pizza crust, Sharon pinching the back of his knees in retaliation. Considering he was always pointing out that she stole his food on a regular basis, Andy Flynn was a pizza crust fiend.

"In other words you're whipped so we'll have to watch the Dodgers at my place instead" Provenza said and translating his words for him.

Patrice smiled at her husband for a moment before she stated "Oh it is absolutely not happening at our house either."

Everyone laughed as Provenza snapped his head around so quickly to look at her that he almost pulled a muscle. "What?" he spat out.

"You heard me Louie. They'll be no boys club at our house either" Patrice insisted before she and Sharon exchanged a quick and triumphant high-five as they smiled at each other while their respective spouses looked at each other in absolute horror.

"Well where are we supposed to watch the Dodgers together?" Andy practically whined, sounding every inch like Ricky when he was grounded.

"You should have thought of that before you sold your house" Sharon told him with a smile as she slapped his cheeks and everyone laughed at them. It only took a couple of seconds of Andy's rather sad face looking back at her for her to crumble, quickly hugging him. "Oh calm down you big moron, I'm only kidding with you. You can have your boyfriend over here any time you like."

"And the same goes for our house too" Patrice confirmed. "Any time you want to play with your little friend you're more than welcome Andy." Once again everyone laughed at them especially the men in the room as Andy and Provenza looked a little put out for a moment although neither would change their lives for all the money in the world.

Provenza glanced towards the table and suddenly noticed that Buzz had been filming the whole exchange. "Do you have to film absolutely everything?" he griped.

"Yes" Buzz confirmed as Provenza frowned at him even more. "Oh come on Lieutenant. It's a momentous day for the Captain and Lieutenant Flynn" he reminded him. "How often do you get to move in with the love of your life?"

"In Provenza's experience, about six times and there's still time for plenty more" Andy said rather unwisely and immediately getting a quick slap across the arm from Sharon as a result before Patrice, Cathy and then Amy marched over to him and did the exact same thing to him. "Ow! What am I? A piñata?" he asked as he rubbed his arm.

Noticing that Sharon's glass was nearly empty Andy started to top it up for her. She smiled at him as he filled it to the brim. "Are you trying to get me drunk?" she asked quietly.

"Always" he confirmed. "You know how much I love Tipsy Sharon" he told her and making her laugh before she kissed him on the lips.

Provenza got up from the couch with his glass of wine in hand before taking up his place at his wife's side as she stood towards the top of the table closest to the kitchen. Since Buzz was already filming he thought he might as well get on with proceedings despite not really feeling all that comfortable delivering a toast on his own. He had spoken to Patrice a couple of times since Andy announced the sale of his house and even consulted Mike the day before at work and had decided that regardless of his reservations about making such a heartfelt speech he still needed to toast his friends on what was a very special day for them, one day hoping that he'd get the chance to do it again when he was hopefully acting as Andy's best man. However since that was by no means a certainty and no one knew what the future held and if they would indeed end up getting married one day at all he wanted to take the opportunity while he could since Andy had done such a wonderful job when he married Patrice but more than that, any best man's speech that he delivered in the future would all be about making Andy squirm as much as humanly possible and he wanted to say something about the both of them on that occasion, two people he loved dearly and who had managed to find each other despite everything.

"I guess it's time to get this show on the road" Provenza said before he cleared his throat to get everyone to look up at him. "Ladies and gentlemen if you would all be so kind as to give me your attention please." They all instantly fell silent as they turned to face him with smiles and a sense of anticipation of what was to come.

"Oh no" Andy cried as he put his head in his hands before everyone laughed at him, all of them noting just how ridiculously nervous he suddenly looked as a result now that Provenza had the floor. In truth neither Sharon or Andy had expected anyone (least of all Provenza who had barely lifted a finger all morning to help them because, as he frequently reminded them, aside from running, jumping and climbing he also didn't lift or carry unless it was a glass of wine or a hotdog) to make a toast in their honour that afternoon. Their little party at the condo was held to simply thank them all for their help and giving up a rare Saturday off work rather than as a celebration of the step they were taking in their relationship (even though Andy and Rusty had both joked about it and Sharon's famous sense of occasion meaning that a good haircut was cause for a catered party in her opinion) so despite Andy's nerves about what Provenza was about to say about them and him in particular as he maybe sought a little revenge for the stories he'd told in his last three speeches as best man, he and Sharon were both a little overwhelmed by the heartfelt gesture.

"I think this occasion calls for a toast if you'd all like to grab yourselves a drink" Provenza declared. Andy put his arm back around Sharon's waist before she kissed his cheek and Cooper started to move about the group and topped up everyone's wine for them. "In truth Flynn is much more at home making these kind of speeches than I am."

"Well being asked to be your best man three times had to come with some hidden benefits other than you spooning me in bed one night" Andy replied to much laughter, everyone now knowing all about that incident on his last but one wedding night much to Provenza's continued annoyance.

"Granted but I'm still going to give it my best shot so if you could all hold your applause until the end I would be very grateful" Provenza said with his arms held aloft as if he was going to receive at least five standing ovations by the time he was done with not a dry eye left in the house.

"He's extremely modest too" Andy cut in to yet more laughter.

"Hey there is to be no heckling during the toast please" Provenza told him.

"Why not?" Andy asked. "You heckled me during my last best man's speech."

"Correcting factual inaccuracies is not the same as heckling Flynn" Provenza replied with an air of finality about it. "Now before I start I'd like for you to all to bear in mind that I've chosen to hold back some more choice things about Flynn over here in case the Captain completely loses her mind one day and I'm asked to deliver a similar speech about these two sometime in the near future after some vows have been exchanged" he said with a warm smile towards his Captain. Sharon instantly hid her face in Andy's shoulder for a moment out of a little embarrassment although she wasn't really sure why she felt that way given that they were living together. Sensing her discomfort Andy laughed and kissed the top of her head. "Plus that sort of speech would be solely about tearing Flynn to shreds to embarrass him as much as possible in front of friends and family and given the reason we're all here today I wanted this one to be more about the both of them as a couple. With that in mind and before I really begin I have to ask just one question." He cleared his throat as he made sure he met Sharon's eye. "Are you really sure about this Captain?" he asked once again as they all laughed with the exception of the very unimpressed Andy, glaring at him instead. "It's okay to say you've changed your mind you know and remember that this guy has some pretty disgusting habits you're going to have to contend with for the rest of his life" he said as he pointed at Andy.

"As long as Andy doesn't make weird noises at night and stuff roadkill on the kitchen counter, he still has a long way to go to beat my roommate in the nightmare stakes" Gus cut in.

"True," Provenza nodded before pointing at Andy again, "but the fact that he has a tendency to abandon his shoes in the most awkward of places which will undoubtedly end up with the Captain breaking her hip one day is reason enough in my opinion for her to call this whole thing off right now." Sharon laughed immediately, the placement of Andy's shoes having already caused her some damage in the past with it being something he was working on along with the way he dumped wet towels on the bathroom floor.

"Will you cut it out!" Andy cried as everyone laughed. "Like I'm not worried enough that she could be talked out of it."

Sharon looked up at him, so much smaller in comparison while in her sneakers than she was while they were at work and she was usually in her heels. "I've told you before and I'll tell you again, that's never going to happen" she announced once again.

"But you also once told me that I was the last person you'd ever go out to dinner with but you changed your mind about that" Andy pointed out.

"Indeed which is an appropriate place for me to start." Provenza stepped forward a little to stand by the bar so that he could address the group as a whole rather than direct his toast solely at Sharon and Andy. "Now I'm not going to lie to you," he smiled, "this is one toast I never expected to be making." Everyone laughed and nodded their agreement, most of them never expecting something like it to happen a couple of years earlier let alone when they had sat and watched Andy shouting at her time and time again when she still worked in FID. Andy turned to Sharon and smiled, winking before he kissed her on the lips. "I'm sure I'm not the only one here who still finds the whole idea of Sharon Raydor and Andrew Flynn dating let alone moving in together just downright weird."

"Really weird" Mike said.

"Really really weird" Buzz added.

"Yeah okay, we get it" Andy said with a roll of his eyes. Everyone laughed at him as he turned to Sharon and kissed her again. "Can't two people realise they totally misjudged each other for over two short decades?" he reasoned, the idea that you could misjudge someone for so long making them all laugh.

"That is very true and indeed they can but it is still beyond me how two people who hated each other for so long and with such a fierce and in some instances violent passion could end up falling in love with each other," Provenza said with a shrug, "but I'm pleased to admit that I've never been so happy about a surprise in my life if for no other reason than I no longer have to be Flynn's medical power of attorney." Everyone laughed before he added "As you all know he does have the tendency to fall down a lot" before they laughed again, Amy even mentioning after he returned to work following his surgery that perhaps they should start to wrap him in bubble wrap to protect him if for no other reason than their Captain's sake and sanity alone. "Now they say that the opposite to love is not hate but indifference and these two," he said as he pointed at the pair of them, "were certainly not indifferent towards each other in the past, it was pure unadulterated hatred so I guess in many ways this whole thing was actually inevitable. There is no denying and I freely admit that I really did do absolutely everything within my power to stop this from happening," he said as his finger moved back and forth between the two of them again, "short of locking Flynn in the trunk of my car before he had chance to ask the Captain to the ballet that first time and spraying him in the face with water like a cat every time he went anywhere near her or I heard the name 'Sharon' fall from his lips and ye Gods," he cried as he put his head in his hands, "the amount of times I heard him say it before they started dating you have no idea." Once more everyone laughed as Andy shook his head and hoped he wasn't turning red, Sharon squeezing him a little tighter for a couple of seconds. "I'm not kidding. On the day I happened to catch sight of divorce papers on the Captain's desk and obviously told Flynn about what I'd seen almost immediately afterwards, posing the theory to him that maybe her sudden decision to get a divorce after all that time had something to do with him, we were heading out to conduct a little surveillance on a pawn shop." He paused. "Now I know it was my own fault for telling him about what I'd seen and my theory as to why they were there in the first place, which turned out to be well off the mark by the way but never mind, after about twenty minutes I started to count. Forty seven times" he cried as they laughed. "Forty seven times Captain." Andy hid his face behind his hand as Sharon smiled at him. "That's how many times he said your name and that was without all the times he said it before I started counting and keeping track. I wanted to kill him, a feeling that didn't ease over the following twelve months until he finally did pluck up the courage and asked you out on a real date. I had no idea it was going to take him so long, if anything I honestly expected some movement to happen seven months earlier when Nicole showed up at work," Provenza said as Andy hid his face again from the embarrassment, "and it became clear to all in sundry that Flynn had been lying to her about everything."

"Wait, wait! Hold on, I didn't lie" Andy insisted.

"Oh yes you did Dad!" Nicole stated almost immediately. "You lied so much it was a shock your pants weren't on fire but in your defence it was pretty clear that you two were actually dating but the only people who knew about it were me, Rusty and the Lieutenant over here and not the two of you."

"That's what was going on!" Buzz cried, the awkwardness that came over the following few days after Nicole's visit suddenly making perfect sense to him.

"I told you" Mike gloated.

"You all knew?" Andy asked slightly horrified.

"Well not exactly no but we all knew something weird was going on after Nicole's visit but unusually for Lieutenant Provenza he was very tight lipped about the whole situation" Amy explained, them all asking each other if they knew why their Captain and Flynn were acting so strangely with each other all of a sudden when it was clear that they enjoyed such a close friendship over the twelve months that had come before it.

"Did you hear that Flynn?" Provenza asked as he brought his hands to his mouth to amplify the sound. "A man who can keep his friend's secret!" he gloated and still sore that he didn't get to propose to Patrice in the way that he wanted and had originally intended.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever" Andy said with a roll of his eyes as he sighed. "Look, did I take Sharon to Nicole's wedding? Yes of course I did. Did Sharon invite herself before I could ask her to come with me? Absolutely. Did I introduce her as 'my friend Sharon' to every one there? Every single time. Did Sharon drag me to the dancefloor by my tie and then run her hands all over me in front of everyone? Without a shadow of a doubt."

"Hey!" Sharon cried before he could go any further, pinching the back of his knee. "Don't get blaming your lies on me" she told him. "Yes I invited myself and yes I made you dance with me rather than allowing you to sulk in the corner but I certainly never ran my hands over you."

"That's not what it looked like to me" Nicole told her and bursting her bubble.

"A-ha!" Andy cried triumphantly as he held his hand in the air to get a high-five from her, Nicole quickly obliging and being unable to not laugh at Sharon's irritation that she had proved Andy right and her wrong for only the second time in their relationship. "Thank you Nicole."

"Well forgive me for being friendly to a colleague in a stressful situation but the rest of it," Sharon cried as she tried to explain the way she continuously moved her hand up and down Andy's back as they danced together while her other hand held him close, "the rest of the 'misunderstanding' was all down to you boy" she stated emphatically with a poke of her finger to his ribs.

"'Boy'?" Provenza asked with disbelief, the first time that he had ever heard Sharon call Andy that aside from when she comforted him as they awaited the ambulance after he collapsed in her office less than half an hour after being released from the hospital. "Ye Gods. When's the last time you had your eyes tested Captain?"

Sharon laughed as Andy glared at Provenza, knowing that he was going to pay for Sharon letting slip that she often called him varieties of 'her boy' at a later date but if he was honest he didn't mind all that much, he was at that moment too happy to care. "Okay, okay, fine" Andy said as he tried to turn the conversation back to embarrassing him about the lies he told his family about Sharon rather than embarrassing him about a term of endearment. "Did I forget to correct Nicole and my ex when they assumed that Sharon and I were dating? Maybe. Was it an outright lie when I told them we were dating three years ago? Possibly. Did Nicole coming to see me at work let the cat out of the bag and let Sharon know I'd been lying for eighteen months? Sure. But did I…"

"I think it's best you be quiet now Andrew" Sharon told him with a little tap to his cheek.

"Okay" he replied, closing his mouth tightly and making everyone laugh.

"Well thank you for that insight into how your mind works Flynn. It was very enlightening" Provenza joked before he returned to giving his speech. "At the time of Nicole's visit and Flynn's lie being exposed I thought it might be the little nudge in the right direction that the pair of them so desperately needed to move forward in their ever burgeoning relationship but I was wrong. The Captain looked more uncomfortable and flustered than I think I have ever seen her in my life, quite a surprise since we all know that Sharon Raydor is virtually unflappable and not to mention that Flynn spent two days looking constantly scared to death" he said in what was perhaps one of the larger understatements of his life, his comment being greeted with more laughter.

"You know I knew something strange was going on when you rather awkwardly said goodbye to each other in Electronics" Buzz chimed in with a smile.

"What was so weird about that?" Andy asked.

"If the Captain said a five minute goodbye to everyone after she'd sent them out into the field she'd never do anything else" Buzz quite rightly pointed out, everyone but Andy nodding and laughing. "And anyway in my Reserve Off..."

"And that's quite enough of that thank you" Provenza said as he cut him off, worrying that he'd start to foam at the mouth if he had to endure yet another one of Buzz's Reserve Officer stories. Buzz pouted at him in response as Mike, Julio and Amy laughed.

"But anyway despite what everyone else thought about it and what I may or may not have said, we weren't dating back then" Andy stated once again and feeling the need to clarify a few things since his less than truthful past was being discussed for about the hundredth time.

"Several times a month" Rusty replied quickly with a very smug smile as Nicole laughed.

"We all completely understand Captain," Provenza told her as he put his hand over his heart, "I mean who would want to admit out loud that they were dating this guy?"

Everyone laughed at Andy's expense as he continued to just roll his eyes at a toast that was quickly turning into something more like a roast. "Gee thanks. I thought you were supposed to be making a toast" he grumbled loudly. "This is sounding more like a pre-planned character assassination."

"But regardless throughout all of it what I've come to learn aside from obviously never telling Flynn if you see something unusual in the Captain's office," he said as everyone laughed again, "is some things are clearly meant to happen and this relationship was most definitely one of those things. Now personally I never bought into this whole 'we're not dating we're just friends' story they were trying to sell to everyone."

"We weren't dating" Andy said yet again.

"So you said but all I'm saying is for two people who weren't dating each other the Captain spent an awful lot of her free time with your neck tie running through her hands and no that isn't a euphemism before you ask" he said with a slight horrified shudder much to everyone's amusement once again. "Ye Gods!" he cried with another shudder. "In the days that led up to Andy finally asking the love of his life out to dinner," Provenza said as he paused before Andy dropped his lips to Sharon's once again, "on a real date may I add, he could hardly sit still. I got tired just looking at him but I knew then, I knew that if the Captain managed to avoid letting her nerves get in the way of her future happiness and she said yes to the moron that they'd be together forever and I knew that based on one evening spent right here on an occasion which was not too dissimilar to today." He looked around at all of his colleagues in the room and gestured towards them. "We gathered together as a division, drinking beer and eating pizza and celebrating very much like today. It was the Fourth of July last year and Nicole's boss had very kindly given us dugout seats for the Dodgers game except we hit a slight snag along the way when Reserve Officer Watson over here," he said as he thumbed towards Buzz in case they didn't know who he was talking about, Buzz frowning once again and irritated that he was still getting the blame when he didn't actually murder the guy himself, "discovered a murder victim on his first ever ride along with me and Flynn. Unable to go to the game because we had to go to the wedding at the centre of the murder instead before we arrested the Father of the bride after the first dance we gathered here as a division to watch the festivities on TV before going up onto the roof to watch the fireworks." He paused as he smiled at Sharon and Andy and gestured towards them, standing just like they were on the night in question. "Just looking at them then like how they are now, their arms around each other and standing away from the rest of the group as we watched the explosion of colour in the sky, well it was clear that they secretly saw each other as anything but friends." Everyone laughed again, no one more than Sharon and Andy as they recalled the events of that evening. "I knew instantly how strongly they both felt for each other even though they were still in a lot of denial about it."

On the night in question they made their way up to the roof in two groups, Provenza and Buzz lagging behind the rest as they got themselves a glass of wine each and discussed what score Buzz was going to get from him for his first night on patrol, before they watched the fireworks explode in the distance. Everyone stood in a line as they looked up to the heavens with the exception of Sharon and Andy. Without noticing what they were doing they stood a few paces behind everyone else, wearing matching Dodgers caps with their arms firmly wrapped around each other's waist as they gazed upwards towards the heavens. In truth the way they were standing didn't look too out of place amongst the rest of the group because Amy stood between Julio and Buzz and had an arm around each of them too, her two work husbands. After a few moments Provenza looked behind him to see if Rusty had finally joined them but he was still nowhere to be seen, too preoccupied with the progress he had just made with Alice's phone. What Provenza saw instead immediately brought a smile to his face. Rather than looking at the fireworks, Sharon and Andy only had eyes for each other as they chatted and laughed quietly with each other, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched but Provenza saw it all. It was in that moment that he finally started to relax about the whole affair, quickly realising that his Captain probably felt the same way about Andy as he did about her and if he could only find his courage to ask her out on a date and likewise if she found the courage to say 'yes' then a broken heart seemed very unlikely, his biggest concern when Andy started to drop her name into the conversation every five minutes.

"But of course let me say once again that things may have been different had Reserve Officer Watson not ruined our plans that night but I digress" Provenza said once again and still determined to blame Buzz despite none of it being his fault.

"It's not like I killed the guy" Buzz said once again.

Completely ignoring Buzz's protests Provenza continued. "To be truthful I teased Flynn a little about it that day, that he was too frightened to ask the Captain out of his own and he had to drag all of us with them which he then went ahead and finally did a week later so in many ways I like to think that I'm responsible for this, giving him the gently nudge he needed so, you're welcome" he said proudly and taking all the credit. "Now I was off work on the day of 'the date' because my beautiful Patrice was moving in with me," he said as he took her hand in his before he brought it to his lips, "but much to my surprise the following week Flynn was uncharacteristically tight lipped about what had happened on their date and how it had gone and just to confuse me further they went back to calling each other 'Captain' and 'Lieutenant' again for a few days. It took another three weeks for me to be filled in and then Flynn didn't tell me. It was Chief Taylor," he said before he paused for the inevitable laughter from those that knew Taylor was the biggest gossip in the LAPD, "who ten minutes after he had been informed by the Captain that she was now dating within her division, was practically writing and releasing a press release." Everyone laughed again with Sharon telling Andy on more than one occasion that she assumed it was Taylor who had told the world what was going on between them because they certainly hadn't during those incredibly nervous few weeks and likewise they also knew Rusty and Provenza wouldn't have been spreading it about either, both of them more than aware of how much Sharon treasured her privacy. "By the end of the day the whole LAPD knew they were dating." Everyone laughed once more with Provenza pausing before he continued, wanting to make sure he correctly expressed what he so desperately wanted to say. "They say that the best things in this life happen slowly but I've never known a relationship go this slowly" he said to another ripple of laughter. "Captain I know I've said this to you privately before now but it's about time I said it to you publicly too, so thank you." Provenza put his hand across his heart again as he spoke directly to her and meaning every single word more than anyone realised, an emotional hitch to his voice suddenly. "Thank you for making Flynn, this gigantic pain in my ass for the last twenty torturous years of my life the happiest I have ever seen him." Patrice squeezed his hand, feeling emotional herself by what he was so eloquently saying while Andy dropped his lips to Sharon's once again as if he was confirming what Provenza had just said about him.

Finally dragging her eyes away from Andy, Sharon smiled at Provenza, clearly more than a little emotional herself. "As I've told you before Lieutenant, the pleasure is all mine I assure you" she told him.

"And on a more personal note Captain I would also like to thank you for not only cutting my journey in half whenever I watch the game with Flynn," he said to yet more laughter given that it had already been up for discussion just minutes earlier, "but also ensuring by moving him in here that I never have to endure that hell hole of a house ever again or have my ass grabbed by his crazy neighbour."

"You're very welcome Lieutenant" Sharon laughed.

"It may have taken you longer than most to get to this stage in your lives but I'm still firmly of the opinion that the journey doesn't matter so much as long as you reach your final destination with plenty of time to spare" Provenza declared.

"Hear, hear!" Mike concurred as he raised his glass into the air.

"Sharon, Andy, I hope...no let me rephrase that." Provenza paused for a moment as he made sure he became very deliberate with his choice of words. "Sharon, Andy I know this is just the start of something wonderful for the two of you and I couldn't be happier for you both" he said as his voice cracked slightly. "So without further ado if you'd all like to raise your glasses and join me in a toast to the most unlikely couple in this entire world." There was yet another ripple of laughter as they raised their glasses into the air and prepared to toast them. "To Sharon and Andy and let us not forget Rusty too in all of this," he said as Rusty looked to his feet for a moment a little awkwardly as Mike patted him on the back, "on the start of your new lives together as a family. To Sharon and Andy and the only family I know that sounds like its own law firm, the Raydor Flynn Becks! Cheers."

"The Raydor Flynn Becks" everyone toasted, raising their glasses even higher before taking a sip in their honour and then applauding Provenza on his toast. Not surprisingly Sharon was very emotional as her friends, colleagues and family toasted them both and their future together, hiding her face in Andy's chest for a moment before he raised her chin and kissed her on the lips, Sharon removing her glasses and wiping her eyes when they broke apart.

"Thank you Lieutenant" Sharon said once she had regained her composure.

"May I ask why Raydor comes first?" Andy questioned and obviously joking.

"Because Flynn she's the Captain and the boss of you in every way imaginable" Provenza said and pretty much being the only one brave enough to express verbally what they were all thinking.

"Yeah okay" Andy conceded, kissing Sharon just above her ear as everyone laughed at him. "But alphabetically..."

"But alphabetically Beck comes first" Rusty said with a smile.

Andy sighed. "I'm screwed either way aren't I?"

Sharon laughed. "I guess it just sucks to be you" she said with a shrug of her shoulders as she smiled up at him, Andy quickly dropping his lips to hers again.

"Well thank you Provenza" Andy said as he reached out to shake his hand. He stalled for a moment and cleared his throat, really not expecting such kind words to head their way that afternoon and as a result didn't have anything prepared himself in reply. "I really wasn't planning on saying anything but while I have the floor and we're making toasts I'll give it my best shot." He paused for a moment as he thought about what he wanted to say. "I need to say a quick thank you to all of you for being so amazing and giving up your Saturday like this to come and help us." He put his free hand across his heart as his other arm remained around Sharon. "I appreciate your help, or rather we both appreciate your help more than any of you will ever really know," he said before he turned his head to look at Sharon. He smiled as he shrugged. "It is no exaggeration to say this is without a shadow of a doubt the happiest I have ever been in my entire life so thank you all once again for helping to make it happen" he said as he looked back up at the room and the smiling faces in attendance. "Under the circumstances I think it's only fair as well for me to say thank you for the little extra rope you've all so graciously afforded us both at work too as we started to work everything out and still continue to work everything out between us. It's been difficult at times achieving that balance but it's no exaggeration to say that we might not have been able to have done it so quickly or so successfully if not for your support and patience so thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Well it's not like we had any choice in the matter" Provenza joked, the room filled with laughter again.

Andy looked at Sharon for a moment with a smile. "No one was more surprised than I was when I discovered the love of my life sitting just over my shoulder every day at work but I guess sometimes people don't always see what's been right in front of them all along" Andy said with a shrug, his thumb moving up and down her hip as his hand continued to hold her to his side. "With that in mind my only real regret over the last few years is not having the brains to turn around sooner" he said with a regretful shrug. "So with that in mind I feel the need to say another thank you, but to Sharon this time, for deciding to give me a chance when I probably didn't deserve one and given that, let's be honest here, she could do a hell of a lot better than me, I mean just look at her." Sharon shook her head at him as everyone laughed and Provenza nodded in agreement, himself thinking that Patrice could do so much better than him too. The whole notion was utterly ridiculous in Sharon's opinion, if anything feeling like he could do better than her, better than someone who was so guarded and had dragged her feet for so long but it was a conversation for them to have in private rather than in front of everyone they loved. "Needless to say that decision, to give me a chance and to settle when she could do so much better," he smiled as they laughed again, "has made me the happiest and the luckiest guy alive. So thank you all for your help today and over the last year or so at work, thank you all for celebrating this new adventure with us today and thank you," he said as he looked down at Sharon again, "for giving me a chance and loving me a lot more than I deserve." With tears now falling freely from her eyes Sharon was incapable of expressing how she felt about him with mere words (saving that for later in the day when she had him alone), instead she moved to wrap her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, hiding her face in the crook of his neck as he held her just as tightly, kissing the side of her head repeatedly, their eyes closed and blocking out the sounds and the people around them for a few moments as they applauded Andy's little speech.

"Never underestimate the power of wearing someone down" Provenza joked loudly after a moment and making everyone laugh, everyone smiling at them as Sharon continued to hug Andy.

Sharon finally pulled away and wiped her eyes on her hand again, laughing at Provenza as she put her arm back around Andy and he did likewise. "Thank you Lieutenant" she said and sounding very emotional.

"We also got you a little something to mark the occasion" Patrice announced as she moved to pick up her rather large purse from the coffee table and brought it over to them. "A little house warming gift even though technically it's already pretty warm around here to begin with" she joked and getting a ripple of laughter since she was right and they already had two of everything as it was since they weren't two kids starting out their lives together for the first time as they moved out and away from their parents.

"With that in mind, personally I thought what better to get three people starting their new lives together than a pair of beautiful antique duck lamps?" Provenza said with a smile.

"Oh my God!" Andy cried as he tried to work out if Patrice could fit them both in her bag and if it was possible to stuff them down the garbage disposal.

"Please be kidding Lieutenant!" Rusty begged.

"Of course I'm not but I was sadly out voted" Provenza grumbled.

"Thank God" Rusty replied with a huge sigh of relief.

Provenza turned to Rusty with a glare. "Let me say this once again, just because you're gay doesn't mean you know anything about interior design young man."

"Judging by those duck lamps I know a lot more than you Lieutenant" Rusty reasoned.

"Yes well even so Lieutenant those lamps have already spent one night here and I really don't think that they enjoyed it all that much" Sharon said.

"Yeah well don't get too excited. If this," Provenza said as he pointed back and forth between the pair of them again as they continued to stand with their arms around each other, "goes any further you'll be getting them as a wedding present one day whether you like it or not" he stated emphatically as Mike suddenly became very pleased he was already married and everyone else made a mental note to not make that sort of commitment with their significant other before Sharon and Andy did and ended up with those lamps instead.

"Let's hope that there isn't a small, isolated fire in Electronics between now and then" Andy muttered quietly, already planning on burning the building to the ground if need be to avoid ending up with them.

"If ever there was a reason not to get married that is it" Buzz stated and only saying what everyone else was thinking.

"You've got to find someone who'll put up with you and your stories first Reserve Officer Watson" Provenza shot back and stressing his name, being more protective over those duck lamps than some people were of their children.

"Louie honey let me take over before this descends into bickering and we'll be here all night when Sharon and Andy have a lot of unpacking to do when we leave. We weren't sure what to get you because it's not like you're a couple of kids starting out from scratch and then of course not only do you have everything but you also have two of everything" Patrice said as Sharon and Andy laughed. "So in the end we decided on this." She pulled a large silver gift box from her rather large purse, a big red bow on it before she handed it to Sharon. "A small memento of what we know is only the beginning for his beautiful family."

"Thank you but you didn't need to get us anything" Sharon insisted as grateful as she was for the very kind gesture and she hadn't even opened the box yet, seeing their help to make the whole move so much easier a big enough gesture.

"Oh yes we did" Patrice said emphatically, not prepared to allow the day to pass by without giving them something to mark the occasion, knowing Sharon like she did by that point she knew what a huge step it was for her in particular to move in together.

Sharon put the box on the counter and pulled the ribbon, slowly untying the bow before she lifted the lid and gasped at the sight she saw before her. Inside the box was a large silver picture frame that had small crystals worked into the edges in delicate swirls, each one catching the light and illuminating her face as a result as she gazed at it. In the centre of the frame was a picture of the three of them, Sharon, Andy and Rusty from the day that Sharon formally adopted him, taken at the party that they had in the condo afterwards to celebrate. All three of them were gathered together and smiling for the camera with their arms around each other, looking like a real family long before they were ever even thinking about becoming one. Sharon lifted it from the box as her fingers gently danced down the glass, Andy peering over her shoulder to look at it. "Oh my goodness" she said as she put her hand on her heart as she started to get a little emotional again, never having seen that particular photo before but recognising the occasion immediately.

"Is this from..." Andy started to say as he pointed at the picture while Rusty edged towards them to see what was in the box.

"The day the adoption became finalised" Provenza nodded. "Buzz took it that afternoon but then he took a lot of photos that day as we celebrated this family." He paused for a moment as he took a step closer towards Sharon. "If I'm perfectly honest with you Captain I knew Flynn was already in love with you at that point and it was just going to be a matter of time before he plucked up the courage to finally ask you out on a real date" he joked, her hand coming to rest on his arm as he spoke to her. "But you already looked like a family even back then. The three of you for the first time, even though you didn't know it then, you still looked like a family." Sharon smiled at him, her eyes filled with tears. "It was the start of this and it seemed like the fitting house warming gift." Although he was unlikely to take all the credit for it, deciding to get them a copy of that photo framed was entirely Provenza's idea. He had remembered that Buzz had taken the photo that day and got him to print them off a copy a few days earlier, Patrice finding them the perfect frame, the close family that Andy had wanted for so long now a reality and for Provenza it all began on that afternoon.

"Thank you" Sharon said as she put the frame back in the box and hugged Provenza, him looking beyond uncomfortable for a fraction of a second as he looked at Andy with a little bit of alarm, the content of his heartfelt toast letting them all know just how much he loved them both and how happy he was for them. "Thank you all so much."

As they pulled apart Provenza moved his hands to her cheeks, cupping her face before he very gently pushed his lips to her forehead, a gesture caught on Buzz's camera and one that was simply unfathomable to most in attendance just a few short years earlier. "It's been our honour and our privilege Captain but may I add just one final thought" Provenza said as he dropped his hands to hers and held them tightly. "You should know that if he becomes too much and you want to get rid of him, we will all be more than willing to help bury the body for you" he gleefully confirmed much to everyone's amusement.

"Thank you very much Lieutenant" Sharon laughed.

"Yeah, gee thanks Provenza" Andy grumbled before he smiled and he held out his hand for him to shake again. One handshake later and Sharon and Andy had their arms around each other again.

"We got you something else too except this is more for all three of you I guess" Julio told them as he pulled the 'Privacy' sign that they had used so frequently in the Murder Room from the chair he had hidden it on earlier. Sharon laughed as Julio handed it off to Mark and he ran over to present it to her, Sharon taking it from him with a smile and showing it to Andy.

"What happened to a good old fashioned tie on a door handle?" Provenza asked.

"Oh God!" Rusty cried with disgust as he quickly put two and two together and came up with the right answer. "Can we change the subject please?" he begged.

"Okay since we're making toasts I have something to add" Cathy announced as she quickly moved to the front door to get her bag and then went into the kitchen to empty it in front of them. Everyone watched in silence for a moment as she dug through it like it held as much as the one Mary Poppins flew around with, Andy glancing at Mike for any sort of sign or explanation as to what was about to happen.

"Look I tried to stop her but she gave me one of those looks and well...let's just say that I reconsidered rather quickly" Mike said.

Provenza laughed as he looked at Andy. "And he has the gall to call us whipped" he joked with a thumb towards Mike.

"Oh you hush" Patrice told him, everyone laughing at him as he was rendered silent and just scowled instead.

"Have you got anything to add?" Sharon asked Andy, pinching his backside to make sure that he knew she was talking to him and expecting an answer.

"Not until I've unpacked and it's a lot harder for you to throw me out" Andy replied as she laughed and her hand moved a little lower, resting on his backside as it so often did.

With everything sorted in her bag the way she wanted it, Cathy looked up and smiled. "Now I was going to do an old Japanese housewarming tradition like my Grandmother used to do when I was growing up. You know like give people rice for fertility, something you guys clearly don't need" she said much to everyone's amusement.

Andy turned to enable him to subtly whisper into Sharon's ear. "She's got that right and she knows nothing about my super sperm." Sharon looked up at him and shook her head, trying very hard and failing not to laugh at him.

"Then there's a coin for wellbeing and a broom to chase evil away" Cathy explained.

"It's a bit late for that. Flynn has already moved in" Provenza pointed out which inevitably resulted in Patrice giving him a quick elbow in his stomach while the rest laughed and he grunted.

"But as I said, I like this one much better." Delving into her bag Cathy put a bottle of red wine, a loaf of bread and a small pot of salt onto the counter in front of her. "Okay..."

Mike held his hands in the air before Cathy had chance to go any further. "Okay before she begins, don't blame me, blame It's A Wonderful Life" he stated.

"Oh hush!" Cathy told him before she cleared her throat and prepared to make the same speech as the Baileys did whenever someone moved into one of their houses in Bailey Park, a film she had seen hundreds of times before just like Sharon (although when the Martinis did move into Bailey Park with their roughly seventeen children, one goat and one dog there was little to no chance they were all going to fit in that house Cathy thought, but at least if a few of the kids did have to share a bedroom with their parents it may have stopped them from having any more). "Okay so I know this technically isn't a new house for both of you but it is for Andy and a start of a new life together so I think this still works." She picked up the bread and said "Bread so that this house may never know hunger" before she handed it to Andy and then picked up the salt. "Salt so that life will always have flavour." She handed it to Sharon before picking up the bottle of wine. "And wine, that joy and prosperity reign forever" she declared, handing it to them too.

"And The Captain is going to need it too to put up with him twenty four seven at work and at home from now on" Provenza joked, getting a glare from Andy and another smack from Patrice as everyone else laughed.

"And that's it" Cathy said with a little shrug before they applauded her.

Sharon put the wine and the salt on the counter and then stepped closer to Cathy, hugging her with thanks. "Thank you so much" she said, always enjoying the company of Cathy Tao but hardly having the chance to spend much time with her over the twelve months plus that she and Andy had been together, something she desperately wanted to change over the coming weeks and months.

"Oh you're welcome. I'm just so pleased for you, for both of you" Cathy said as they broke apart and Andy moved to kiss her on the cheek and then shook Mike's hand.

The mini party continued for another hour or so, until all of the pizza had gone and the ones not driving themselves home had finished off the rest of the wine and the beer. Throughout the rest of the party Buzz moved amongst them with his camera to make Sharon and Andy a little video, all of them in attendance making a toast on camera and telling them how happy they were for them and wishing them all the best for their future together. It was something Buzz was determined to do for them because he had great hopes for that little family because of Rusty. He had seen for himself how Rusty had been somewhat reluctant to accept Andy in his life as his Mom's boyfriend (rolling his eyes at him more during those first few weeks of dating than Chief Pope did every time Chief Johnson started a sentence in his office with 'Lieutenants Flynn and Provenza') and then the proposed move but he had eventually gotten over it. Buzz, like his cousins, knew what it was like to grow up without a parent and yet Rusty had spent so long without one at all therefore it pleased him that now not only did he had Sharon but he also had back up in the form of Andy and although he still found the whole idea of them dating the most surprising thing ever (like everyone else in attendance, Taylor announcing he was about to have a sex change frankly being less surprising) he had seen the way that they smiled at each other at work in a quiet moment when they thought no one was looking and it made him so happy for the both of them.

As the party came to a close, one by one they all left, leaving Sharon and Andy to it because they still had a big job on their hands for the rest of the afternoon, finding a home for the rest of Andy's clothes and shoes and everything else he had brought with him. They said goodbye to everyone in turn as they left, so grateful that their help had made such a large job that much easier and quicker. As they said goodbye to Mike and Cathy and Rusty got everything he needed to take with him for his weekend with Gus, Nicole finished off the wine while she and Dean helped to tidy up the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher so that Sharon and Andy didn't have that to do as well.

As Sharon closed the door behind Mike she turned to see Dean and Nicole heading their way, Dean's car keys in his hand and clearly preparing to leave. "Okay well we're going to go, leave you guys to it" Nicole said as she picked up her purse from the couch and moved towards the door, taking Dean's hand along the way.

"So soon?" Sharon asked with a little disappointment.

"Oh yes. I think it's high time we left you two alone" Nicole told her.

Sharon stepped towards her and hugged her tightly with thanks. "Well thank you Nicole. Thank you both so much for all your help today. We appreciate it so so much."

"You're kidding aren't you?" Nicole laughed as she dropped her purse to the ground and almost squeezed the breath out of the woman she had long since thought as her Step-Mother. "I'm the one that should be saying thank you. Thank you Sharon. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A million times thank you."

Sharon laughed. "For what?"

"For loving my Dad like you do" she said simply. They pulled apart a little as Rusty and Gus emerged from his bedroom, Rusty carrying his rucksack and ready to leave with Nicole and Dean. Andy watched from the door, listening but not wanting to intrude on their private moment. "I don't have many fond memories of childhood as far as my Dad is concerned because in my mind he was always so sad all the time. Then they got divorced and we didn't see him much at all but when we did he seemed even sadder." Nicole looked towards Andy as he remained by the door, smiling at them and giving her a wink. "But now, well I have never seen him this happy in my life and it's all because of you" Nicole said as she hugged her again. "So thank you Sharon. Thank you for loving my Dad, thank you for putting up with his crap and thank you for sharing your life with him."

They pulled apart with both of them more than a little emotional by the occasion. "There's really no need to thank me Nicole. I should be thanking him." They hugged again as Andy stepped over to them and put a hand on their backs. "Oh get in here" Sharon said as she pulled Andy into their hug, him kissing them both on the cheek.

"Rusty?" Nicole said as she waited for him to join them.

"I'm fine watching thanks" Rusty said with a smile, them laughing at him as a result. It was true that Rusty was happy now that Andy had finally moved in and that his extended family were so thrilled by it especially because he too was once alone and joining a family so he fully understood how Andy felt but a group hug was a step too far.

Dean stepped towards the trio and put his hands on Nicole's shoulders, thinking he may need to pry her off them and drag her home if he allowed it to go on much longer. "As you can tell, someone finished off all the wine while we were tidying up the kitchen" he said as he gestured like he was drinking from a bottle and suggesting that Nicole was as drunk as a skunk.

"Oh shut up you" Nicole told him and slapping his stomach. "I'm just so happy for my Dad. Is that such a crime?"

"You're just happy you're not going to have to find me a home to live in when I retire" Andy said as he continued to hold the two women in his life in his arms.

"That's true too" Nicole nodded. "That's Rusty's job now."

"What?" Rusty cried. "I have to live with him and find a retirement home to dump him in too? I didn't sign up for that" he insisted to the sound of much laughter before he took his phone from his pocket and took a photo of them.

The three of them finally pulled apart, Andy keeping his arm around Sharon as Nicole wiped her eyes. "I mean it Sharon thank you so much. Thank you for making him so happy" she said before she sighed and composed herself. She picked her purse up from the ground and pulled it onto her shoulder. "Are you ready to go Rusty? Gus?"

"Rusty?" Sharon said confused. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to spend the weekend with Gus. Give you guys some space to settle in and besides I can do without helping to unpack Andy's unmentionables" he said with them all laughing. In truth there were a few reasons why he wanted to give them some time alone, one of the more important amongst them being that Provenza had told him what he and Julio had done to Andy's suspenders and he knew that he'd be required to help unpick the damage if he didn't get out of there before he discovered what they'd done.

"You don't have to go" Sharon said, not wanting to ever drive him from his home.

"Oh I think I do and Nicole and Dean offered to drive us so we're out of here" Rusty said with a smile as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Are you sure Nicole? I can drive him or even take a look at his car now" Andy said.

"I think you have enough to be getting on with if you're ever going to unpack and get settled in and besides it's what families do, giving your new Step-Brother a ride to his extremely gorgeous boyfriend's place" she said and making both Rusty and Gus blush. Nicole quickly kissed both Sharon and Andy on the cheek. "Bye guys. Good luck finding room for all of his crap."

"Oh I've been taking crap off him for years so I'm used to it" Sharon joked.

Nicole laughed. "I meant..."

"I know" Sharon nodded.

The four of them made their way to the door before Dean opened it, Sharon and Andy following closely behind, their arms still around each other. "Do you really think Sharon is going to give up some of her closet space just because I've moved in?" Andy asked as he ignored the way she was pinching his backside in revenge even as the words were tumbling from his lips. "That's why I'm going to steal Rusty's closet while he's out tonight" he joked with everyone but Rusty laughing.

"Stay out of my room" Rusty said as seriously as he could, pointing his finger at him. "I already have Ricky and Emily's clothes in there" he complained, making it sound like a form of torture just like he did when he told Sharon that his foster parents turned the TV off at nine o'clock before she took him in. "I mean it. Steal even one hanger and you'll find laxatives in your coffee on Monday morning."

"I'll keep an eye on him Rusty" Sharon promised while already plotting to hide some of the shoes she was going to 'donate' to Goodwill in his bedroom until she could sneak them back in while Andy was at an AA meeting. "Have a nice weekend." A smattering of goodbyes took place between the three couples before they left and Andy closed the door, leaving them alone in their home for the first time. "And we're alone!" Sharon cried triumphantly and making Andy laugh, stealing the words right out of his mouth. They instantly wrapped their arms around each other, holding on tightly for a moment as they savoured the silence. Eventually Sharon pulled back, meeting his lips in a very tender kiss before she told him "Welcome home my beautiful boy."

Andy laughed as he pulled her to him again, them swaying slightly as they hugged, Andy resting his cheek on the top of her head. After a few more moments Sharon sighed against his chest. "What's the matter?" Andy asked as he pulled away to look her in the eye.

"Nothing" she shrugged with a smile. "I'm just thinking about how much work we've still got left to do" she told him, it not just a matter of unpacking and hanging up the rest of Andy's clothes and finding room for the shoe store he called a 'small collection,' she was going to have to have a serious clear out first in that closet just to accommodate him, something she'd been putting off for the last few days, picking which shoes of her own to say goodbye to very much like picking which one of her children to give up for adoption.

"And throwing out some of your shoes?" he said with a smile and reading her mind perfectly.

"Yes!" Sharon cried and not afraid to admit that despite loving Andy the most, her vast shoe collection came a very close second. He laughed at her and kissed the tip of her nose. "I hope Nicole hasn't finished off all the wine, I'm going to need it" she said with a sigh. "Well I guess there's no time like the present." She released Andy from her hold and took his hand instead, tugging him towards the bedroom so that they could start work on what was surely to be the biggest job of the day so far but he didn't move, rooted to the spot.

"Let me just make sure she stacked the dishwasher the way you like it, maybe open you a fresh bottle of wine first," he winked and making her laugh, "and I'll be right in."

Sharon nodded and kissed him on the lips before she sighed again and walked into their bedroom, preparing to say goodbye to part of her Armani collection. Andy smiled as he watched her go and then moved straight to the kitchen. It looked spotless, Nicole and Dean cleaning up everything they could for them. The only thing left on the counter was the corkscrew which Andy put away in the cutlery drawer at the third attempt, despite having been a regular visitor in that kitchen over the previous three years as their friendship started and then obviously developed, he still couldn't remember where the cutlery lived. He opened the dishwasher and peered inside, moving a glass and a plate here and there to make sure it was stacked the way Sharon liked it (the love of his life really quite anal when it came to that particular kitchen appliance and how it was organised) before he started it. Spotting half a bottle of red wine sitting by the fridge he grabbed a glass and filled it up to the top, knowing Sharon was going to need it if she was ever going to have a clear out of the closet (and then he still expected her to hold her selected items to her chest as she sobbed on the floor and rocked back and forth for a couple of hours). With the kitchen immaculate he took the wine and walked into their bedroom, smiling as he realised it really was 'their bedroom' now, he was home. Once inside he found Sharon standing in the middle of the room looking at the pile of boxes and bags and then towards the closet, sighing a couple of times like she was trying to put them away with her mind or maybe even via the use of the Force. Andy watched her for a moment, not entirely sure that she knew he was standing behind her. Hearing her sigh for a third time in less than a couple of minutes he put her wine on top of the bureau and walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Have you changed your mind already?" he asked her given that her sighs didn't make it sound like she was particularly happy at that moment in time.

"Never" she stated emphatically as her hand moved to cup his cheek while she really leaned into his embrace. "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"About whether all of this can wait."

"What? Me moving in?" he asked more confused than concerned.

Sharon laughed as she removed his cap, tossing it onto the chair in the corner before her hands moved into his hair, her nails scratching his scalp and making him growl as he kissed her neck. "No. I think that's done and dusted now my boy. I meant unpacking" she clarified.

He kissed her neck again, Sharon almost able to feel him smiling as he started to take her not so subtle hint. "Oh yeah? What did you have in mind instead?" he asked as he continued to kiss her neck, knowing exactly what she had in mind, picking up on her hints a hell of a lot quicker than he did nine months earlier.

"Well since Rusty is out for the weekend..."

"Yeah."

"I think we should leave the cull on my wardrobe and your unpacking for today and take full advantage of having the place to ourselves my very noisy boy" she confirmed as one of his hands slipped under her t-shirt and started to slowly move up her stomach, heading for her breasts.

Andy growled in agreement with her plans as he continued to kiss her neck, forcing a soft moan to escape her lips. All of a sudden he stopped, his hand moving back to her waist again as he pulled away from her neck very abruptly. "Wait. Is this just a delaying tactic because you don't want to clear out your closet and throw anything away?" he asked a little suspiciously but still with good humour in his voice.

"Our closet" she corrected him.

"Right, our closet. Is that it?"

"Nope. This has nothing to do with my shoe collection and is solely about christening the condo as often as we can now that you officially live here and getting it in now before you tire yourself out so much that you can't even raise an eyebrow much less anything else" she said and making him laugh. "Since we're now officially living in sin," she continued and more than a little turned on by a notion that would cause her Grandmother to go ballistic and try to lock her up in a convent regardless of her advancing years, "I think it's only appropriate to start off by doing something very sinful indeed" she grinned before she turned her head to capture his lips. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Not at all" he confirmed. "You have all the best ideas." She quickly turned in his arms, running her hands around his neck as she crashed her lips against his. Then it hit her. An all-consuming and almost crippling bout of nerves, the likes of which she hadn't experienced since the moment she first asked him to spend the night with her, her confidence being replaced with fear in the time it took her to lock the door. She felt her hands start to tremble and sought to cover it up by keeping them constantly on the move. Sadly that didn't work and it only took a moment for Andy to pull away, much to his surprise feeling Sharon's hands tremble as they started to run through his hair. "Are you trembling?" he asked her, not hiding his surprise.

Sharon chomped down on her bottom lip as she looked at him with more than a little embarrassment. "I hoped you wouldn't notice" she told him shyly, a ridiculous notion considering she was at that moment shaking like a leaf.

He reached behind him and took her hands in his, bringing them in front of his chest before he kissed them both as his thumbs stroked her fingers. "What's going on?" he asked.

"You're going to think I'm crazy" she said as she stalled for a moment.

"Now when have I ever thought that?" he joked, still thinking (like Provenza) that she was crazy just for going out on that first date with him let alone letting him move in with her. "What's going on?"

"I'm nervous" she finally admitted.

"Nervous?" Andy repeated.

"Yes."

"Why?" he asked completely baffled.

"I don't know" she shrugged with a nervous laugh. She continued to bite on her bottom lip like a compulsion, not really sure herself why she had been hit with a very sudden bout of nerves at the thought of having sex with Andy especially since she had initiated it and they'd spent the better part of that morning and the night before to be fair doing it in as many rooms as Andy could manage. She shrugged as she battled for an answer when she had none. "I think it's because I now have a boy living with me," she said before they laughed, "for the first time in a very long time" she said with another little nervous laugh. "And the whole thing has made me just a little bit...anxious I guess is the appropriate word."

"Okay" he nodded, them both laughing again, Andy at a loss as to what to do to make her feel better.

"It's just hit me what a big step we've made today" she admitted, thinking her heart was about to beat out of her chest for a variety of reasons. "It's been a very long time since I've lived with someone other than my children."

Andy smiled, stroking her cheek as he finally understood and actually felt the same away although not nearly as bad. "And it's been just as long since I've lived with anyone including my children" he told her, it being a massive step for both of them especially since they'd both spent so many years alone. Andy slowly lowered his head and edged towards her, kissing her so very gently on the lips and trying not to apply any undue pressure to her and making the situation worse. "Sharon I'm feeling just as anxious about all of this as you are but I also love you so I figure it's worth the risk" he said and more than prepared to risk it all to have the chance of spending the rest of his life with her. Sharon nodded at him with a little smile, extremely glad that he felt the same way although his nerves were by no means as all-consuming as hers currently were.

Despite fighting against it she felt herself getting emotional and battled to stop herself from crying. "You think that I can do better than you well I have news for you Andy, I know you can do better than me and despite how nervous and downright terrified I am about moving in together I am so happy to have you in my life that I feel like my chest may explode." Andy smiled at her as he cupped her face and wiped a stray tear from her face with his thumbs before he ever so gently brushed her lips with his again. "But I'm still nervous" she laughed with a little shy and embarrassed shrug of her shoulders.

"Well what can I do to make some of your nerves go away?"

"You could go back to doing what you were doing" she said with a smile before they laughed. "I'm pretty sure that'll clear this bout of nerves right up and if not, it'll be an awful lot of fun while you try."

Andy laughed and nodded. "Yes ma'am" he said before he pulled her flush against his chest and practically devoured her lips. Suddenly he caught sight of his box of suspenders behind her, it clearly showing signs of being dropped from a fair height and several times at that. "What the hell?" he said before he pulled away and walked over to the box, opening the top. His jaw nearly hit the floor when he looked inside, pulling out his suspenders that were tangled in a giant ball. Sharon instantly laughed as she covered her mouth with her hand. "This is all Provenza" he grumbled, sounding outraged and jumping to the conclusion that it was what Provenza was doing when he found him standing alone in the bedroom when they arrived back at the condo. "Look at them. It's like a wrecking ball!"

"Oh dear" she laughed as she waited for Andy to come back to her and pick up where they left off but instead he just stood there looking at them, too preoccupied by the mess in his hands to remember what he was doing before he got distracted. "The way I see it is this, you can either spend the next hour untangling your suspenders or..."

"Hour? More like four."

"Okay" she laughed, conceding his point. "You can either spend the next four hours untangling your suspenders that help keep your pants up or you can come over here and let me get rid of my nerves by taking your pants off." Andy didn't need to think about it for long, dropping the ball back into the box and walking back over to her and into her arms. Sharon laughed as she moved her hands behind his neck again. "You're so predictable" she laughed.