Notes: Thanks for the reviews from the last chapter, we'll cycle back to the case later on in the story. But for now a bit of fluff before the wedding. Let me know what you think!
"Good," Andy smiles.
"I can handle taking the kids to get haircuts," Andy says as he pulls his jeans up with his uninjured hand, before using both hands to zip up and stuffing his arm back into the sling he was wearing almost all day, "Provenza and I are going to grab the suits, we can take them with and take care of it while we're out. You've been running yourself ragged with them lately. Let me help out."
"I don't want you to over exert yourself," Sharon says, "You just started physical therapy this week..."
"I can handle putting the kids in the car and sitting in the hair salon while they get a trim. You're taking care of everything else for the wedding," Andy argues, "I'm not an invalid, Shar."
"I know, I'm not saying you are..."
"So, I'm taking the kids to go get haircuts," Andy says, towering over her with a teasing grin on his face. His shoulder still hurt like a bitch, but he was learning to deal with the pain.
"Okay, fine. I need to finish packing for them anyway," Sharon sighs, her hand flipping in a gesture before she leans up and kisses Andy, "They have an appointment at 3 at Ada's on Sunset, both of the kids have been there before so they won't freak out."
"Can do," Andy smiles and winks. He makes his way out of the bedroom towards the front door as he hears the doorbell ring. He opens the door to his friend as he yells out to the kids, "Em, Ricky, You're coming with me and Provenza!"
"Yes!" Ricky yells as he runs to the door, grabbing his sandals and pulling them on, "Hi Unca P!"
"Again with the uncle stuff," Provenza shakes his head as he looks down at the little boy.
"Das yo name," Ricky says firmly as he stands up yelling for his sister, "Mimi hurry up!"
"What's with all the yelling?" Sharon says as she walks down the hallway, offering a smile to Provenza.
"They must get that from you," Andy says with a smile.
"Hmm...must."
"I doubt you've heard her yell recently enough," Provenza comments, grunting as Andy elbows him. Emily comes down the hall with her shoes already on, her hair swinging in a ponytail.
"I'm coming with you?"
"Mmhm, we have to go pick up suits and then we are taking you and your brother for haircuts."
"Okay!" Emily smiles, darting out the door past Provenza towards his car. Ricky follows her, climbing into the back seat as she leaves the door open. Andy rolls his eyes before leaning down and kissing Sharon.
"We'll be back."
"Be safe," She says with a pointed look at both of them before waving them off. She watches them pull away before closing the door and heading back down to the bedrooms to finish packing. The afternoon easily gets away from her as she packs bags for the kids to stay with her parents whilst also packing for her and Andy to go on vacation.
Ricky and Emily were going to stay with her parents for the week they were gone on their honeymoon. She and Andy had settled on spending a week in Ireland instead of opting for a traditional beach vacation, planning on spending a few days in Dublin and a few days in Cork before returning home to pick up the kids and make their way back to LA. Sharon was skeptical of his ability to make the trip across the ocean, but he was insistent that he would be fine since it was only a little longer than the trip to Hartford from LA.
Sharon carries the suitcases down the hall and puts them by the door. They were leaving early in the morning to head to Connecticut and then getting married on Saturday, leaving for their honeymoon on Sunday morning. Vicky was flying out with Nicole and Charlie so they could be part of the big day before taking them down to New Jersey for her usual vacation to visit her family. It had all come together relatively well, except for the whole Andy getting shot part. She was hoping they could get through the weekend without too much fuss and then embark on a well deserved vacation.
"We're home!" Andy calls out as he opens the door to the house, letting the kids in before following them in himself. Ricky runs into the kitchen to find Sharon, crashing into the back of her legs.
"Mama look!" Ricky says, moving around to her front as she tries not to trip over him, "Cut hairs like Dada."
"You did get your hair cut like Daddy," Sharon smiles and runs her fingers through the shorter locks. She was partial to letting it grow out to be a little longer between cuts, loving the fluffy curls that started to take shape once it got shaggy, "You look very handsome."
"Fank you!" Ricky grins, reaching up to touch his hair again.
"We picked up dinner on the way home," Andy says as he sets a bag onto the kitchen counter, "Figured we wouldn't want to cook tonight."
"Thank you," Sharon replies as she turns around, her attention immediately locking onto Emily instead. When they had left earlier in the afternoon the girl's long curly brown hair had been in a pony tail that hit her in the mid back. Now her curls had been lopped off and her hair was brushing just below her shoulders, "What did you do?!"
"What?" Andy arches his eyebrow at Sharon's distressed tone, talking around the piece of food in his mouth.
"Where did her hair go!?" Sharon exclaims. Andy turns to look at his daughter and tilts his head before looking back at Sharon.
"It's still on top of her head. What's the problem?"
"The problem is that it's almost eleven inches shorter then when she left the house," Sharon says as she turns Emily around running her fingers through the shorter locks, sighing as she looks at the length, "She was just supposed to get the ends trimmed."
"I said I wanted it to look like Nikki's," Emily says as she tries to turn around to look at her mother. Sharon sighs and shakes her head, Nicole had just gotten her hair cut for the summer a couple weeks before, lopping a couple inches off to bring it into a long bob. Emily had been envious of the cut, but Sharon had reminded her of things she wouldn't be able to do with her hair if she made the drastic change.
"Didn't you go back with them?" She asks Andy as she continues to look at her daughters hair, a thickness to her voice. Emily hadn't had a major haircut since she was born and didn't even go in for her first trim until well past the age of 1. She'd even managed to escape any disastrous self haircut inflictions while Emily was a toddler.
"The stylist came out and got them," Andy says, trying to figure out what the issue was with Emily's haircut.
"Don't you like it, Momma?" Emily asks as she tips her head back.
"You look beautiful as always," Sharon says, giving her daughter a more strategic answer before pressing a kiss to her forehead, "Why don't you take your brother and go wash up for dinner?"
"Okay," Emily smiles before grabbing Ricky's hand and pulling him down the hall to the bathroom. Sharon sighs and shakes her head, swiping a hand under her eyes before starting to set the table.
"Shar, I don't get what's wrong," Andy says as he stands next to the counter.
"I haven't cut her hair since she was born," Sharon says, "She's gotten trims here and there. Nothing more than half an inch..."
"I..."
"It was her first haircut basically," Sharon interrupts as she drops down into one of the kitchen chairs, "I used to run my fingers through her hair when she was sick. I remember the first time I could put it into a braid. I do it every morning, wrap it into a bun for her ballet recitals, curl it for her step recitals...and you let them cut it all off!"
"I didn't let them do anything! She did Ricky's cut and then came out and got Emily. She didn't ask me what to do to it," Andy exclaims, going on the defensive as her voice raises from morose to upset, "It's hair, it'll grow back. Emily likes it. Isn't that what matters?"
"I missed it though," Sharon murmurs, her face dropping again, "I've been there for all of their firsts...Sure I might have missed a few tuck ins, and picked them up late from daycare a couple times, but I was there for the firsts..."
"Honey..." Andy says as he sits down in the chair next to her. He should probably be concerned it was taking the kids so long to wash up, but he'd rather clean up a soapy mess then leave for their wedding with Sharon mad at him.
"I don't like missing out on those moments. I didn't get to see her face when they cut off the first chunk, or keep any of it for her baby book."
"Ricky said his first word two weeks before you heard it," Andy tells her, "For some reason he would start babbling away the second you were gone."
"He did?" Sharon says as she looks over at Andy.
"Mmhm," He nods, "And I missed almost all of Emily's firsts...and a decent amount of Ricky's even though I've been around. I'm sorry, I didn't know that she was going to ask the stylist to do that."
"I miss my baby's curls," Sharon whispers as she drops her head to Andy's good shoulder, wrapping her arms around his bicep, "She's getting too old."
"Yeah they have a tendency to do that," Andy says as he presses a kiss to her forehead.
"Sorry, I freaked out."
"It's okay," Andy says. Sharon lets his arm go before getting out of her chair to go check on the kids. She brings them back a few moments later, telling them to take a seat before starting to unpack the food that had been brought home.
Later in the evening after managing to wrangle the two excited kids into bed Sharon makes her way out to the living room where Andy was picking up the little mess they had managed to make. She presses a soft kiss to his cheek before walking over to the tv and squatting down to look through their movies. Andy carries the dishes into the kitchen and washes them by hand before putting them in the dryer. He bags up the trash and takes it out to the can in the garage before coming back in.
"Come sit with me," Sharon calls from the living room. Andy steps in and finds her sitting on the couch with her legs beneath a blanket, hugging a pillow. The remote to the VCR was in her hand and the image on the tv was paused. He rounds the couch and sinks down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
"What are we watching?"
"We are watching Emily," Sharon says as she hits play. Andy watches as the picture on the screen begins to move, the blurry video focusing in on a newborn Emily's face. Sharon knew the cadence of the video like the back of her hand; first day, first smile, rolling over, crawling, first tooth, first words, first steps. All of Emily's firsts and milestones until she was two, "When she was about three I took some videos to a studio and had them cut some clips together so I didn't have to keep a bunch of video tapes. Sometimes I forget that you didn't really start to get to know her until she was already past all this."
A quiet thanks is all that Andy murmurs as he hugs her closer as he begins to watch the video with rapt attention.
[TBC]