Sharon sank into the oversized chair with a glass of wine, relieved that the week was almost over. She had been running herself ragged all week trying to keep things running smoothly. She ran through her nightly check when she remembered that Rusty had a chess match tomorrow night. Damn it she thought to herself. She had been trying hard all week to make it to one of Maddie's practices before they were over, but every night something would come up and she wouldn't get there unit it was over. The car ride home was the longest amount of time they were around each other over the last few days.
Sharon had come to the conclusion that it would be best not to push the subject with Maddie until she had a little more time to come to terms with the situation. Sharon knew that Maddie was only lashing out at her that night in the kitchen because she was hurt and confused.
"Earth to Sharon," Rusty said waving his hands in front of her.
"Sorry I was deep in thought I guess," Sharon said giving him a weak smile.
"Would you be ok with me staying over at Paul's house tomorrow night? I haven't stayed anywhere in a while and it is a Friday night," Rusty said apprehensively.
"That's fine Rusty. You have been such a big help around here lately, you surly could use a break. Can I ask you something? And I need you to be completely honest with me," Sharon said and from the serious look on her face he knew she really meant it. "I know that you have a chess match tomorrow. Um, well I was wondering if you would mind if I missed this match, just this one time. Maddie's team will be running times tomorrow night to see who will be starting in next weekend's meet and I would like to be there."
"Sharon, you do know you don't always have to come to my chess matches. I'm cool with you switching it up every now and then to go to her stuff too." Rusty said, hoping Sharon would realize he really didn't mind.
"Thank you she said," as she got up to give him a hug goodnight.
The next morning when Sharon got to work Provenza scurried in her office right behind her. "Lieutenant, can I help you with something?" Sharon said as she practically pushed her inside her office and shut the door.
"Um, Captain, I just wanted to let you know that Flynn called me this morning and uh um…." Was all Provenza was able to spit out before she quickly interrupted him.
"Is he alright?" She said anxiously.
"Yes, he's fine. He will be in today to turn in his release papers and I was thinking that maybe you would want to take a long lunch to talk about his workload when he comes back." Provenza said worried about what was going to happen when they saw each other today.
"Has his doctor said he is not ready to return to a full work load?" Sharon asked trying to hide her concern.
"No Ma'am. May I speak freely Captain?" Provenza dreading the conversation he was about to start.
"You mean you have not been speaking freely since my transfer to Major Crimes?" She said eyeing him.
"I just thought that you and Andy might need to talk some things over before he came back on Monday," Provenza said knowing Sharon wouldn't give in so easily.
"We have nothing to discuss Lieutenant. If he is released with not restriction then it will be business as usual, just like before he left on medical leave." Sharon said coolly.
"Except we both know it won't be like it was before he left and you know it. Sharon I didn't want be the one to tell you this, but Flynn is going to ask for a transfer once he is back. Not right away, he doesn't want it to seem obvious to everyone," Provenza said trying not to raise his voice.
"Lieutenant, need I remind you that Lieutenant Flynn is a grown man. If he has decided that Major Crimes no longer suits him, then he is free to request a transfer." Sharon said in a sharp tone. "Now if you have nothing else to discuss, would you please bring me the ballistics for the Truman case? I need to review it before we bring in the suspect for questioning."
Mumbling something under his breath Provenza headed for the door. A good thirty minutes later, he returned with the ballistics report she had request. He quickly handed it over and made his way back to his desk. He knew Andy would be there shortly and he didn't want to be caught in the cross fire between the two of them.
Sharon had been so engrossed in the Truman case, trying to figure out what she was missing that would link their suspect to the crime scene when Andy knocked on her door.
"Lieutenant, how are you feeling?" She said in a very calm tone.
"The doctors said I'm fine and fully capable of returning back to work Captain," Andy said trying to act like everything was just fine. "Here is all of the paperwork needed for my return."
"That's wonderful news Lieutenant. I will sign off on this and turn it in this afternoon. Thank you," Sharon said calmly dismissing him.
"Sharon, can we talk for a moment?" Andy said softly.
"I'm not sure right now is the best place for this Andy," Sharon said with an unsteady voice.
The two of them were oblivious to what was going on in the squad room before Sharon husband busted through the door.
"You bitch! Did you think that I was going to agree to alimony once I found out you had that brat and full access to your sister money. Oh no I don't think so." Samuel Raydor said closing the distance between him and Sharon. He came at her in such a hasty manner that she step back quickly trying to keep space between them, but before he could make it into an arm's length of her, Andy jump between them.
"Back up dirt bag," Andy growled, when suddenly Samuel started throwing punches. He hit Andy in the nose a few times before Sanchez had him pinned against the wall.
"I believe you just assaulted a police officer asshole," Andy said wiping the blood from his nose.
Provenza pulled the blinds in Sharon office and shut the door after Sanchez escorted Mr. Raydor out of Sharon's office.
"Andy sit down, we need to stop the bleeding," Sharon said visibly shank by the ordeal.
Andy allowed her to assess the damage to his nose as he asked her if she was ok.
"I'm fine Andy," She said with a shaky voice.
"You could have fooled me," he said quietly and then it hit him, Samuel had said alimony. Alimony meant a divorce. "Sharon when did you file for a divorce?"
"When I filed the papers for Rusty's adoption," She said turning away from him.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He said moving to stand behind her.
"It was meant to be surprise," She said looking out her window.
"Sharon, I'm…I didn't mean to…" Andy couldn't seem to find the right words when Provenza bust into Sharon's office.
"I don't mean to interrupt your little love fest here, but Taylor is on his way down here right now." Provenza huffed.
Sharon looked at her hands trying to figure out what she wanted to say to Andy, but when she turned around he was gone and she saw Taylor charging towards her office.
By the end of the day, Sharon was just exhausted. She checked the time and hastily gathering her things to go pick Maddie up for her practice.
"What are you doing here?" Maddie said arching and eyebrow at Sharon.
"You have practice in twenty minutes don't you?" Sharon replied.
"Yeah, but you're going to miss Rusty's match if you take me to practice." Maddie said.
"I'm not going to Rusty's match tonight. I'm going to watch you." Sharon said peering over at Maddie. "Now let's get going before you're late."
Sharon sat and watching Maddie's entire practice making note of little things that she could go over with Maddie to help increase her speed. Sharon held her breath when Maddie was up to run her time. In order for Maddie to start the at the meet next weekend, she would need to be one of the top three speeds. She let the breath out when the coach told Maddie she moved up to the next round of eliminations. After the last set of eliminations, Maddie ran over to Sharon.
"I made the 2nd fastest time!" Maddie said as Sharon pulled her into a hug. Sharon immediately released Maddie when she felt her tense up.
"Go get changed and we will go out to dinner to celebrate." Sharon said running her hand over her now wet clothes.
"I'm sorry I got you all wet," Maddie said climbing into the car.
"It's perfectly fine," Sharon said smiling at Maddie. "What would you like for dinner? You are the champion tonight, you pick."
"We can have the leftover parmesan chicken from last night," Maddie said looking out the window.
"We are celebrating tonight, no left overs," Sharon said patting Maddie's hand.
"You don't have to be nice to me Aunt Sharon, its ok I get it. Am…Am I allowed to call you Aunt Sharon still?" Maddie said with without looking over at Sharon.
"Maddie, I thought it would be a nice treat to go out to dinner, but we can go home if that is what you really want. I have not been trying to be mean to you this week Maddie. After the other night, I thought it would be best that I gave both of us some space. Tonight was an important night for you and I wanted to be here to share it with you. That is what families do for each other after all. As for what you can call me, that's up to you. If you aren't comfortable calling me Aunt Sharon any longer, you are welcome to call me Sharon." Sharon said trying to watch Maddie out of the corner of her eye as she drove them home.
When they got home, Maddie ran upstairs to show before the chlorine had her to itchy. When she came back down stairs, she looked around the house only to find Sharon fast asleep on the couch. Maddie knew that Sharon was probably really tiered after the long week, so she grabbed Andy's blanket to cover Sharon up. As she tucked Sharon in, she whispered, I'm sorry that I always seem to ruin everything for you Sharon.