This chapter has been reviewed by Sarah.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words and surely the mistakes. These two characters were created by James Duff for The Closer/Major Crimes, I just borrowed them for my story.

It's a fictional story that possibly violates all reasonable concepts of what these two would actually do, but that's the fun of writing a fanfiction.

Coming back to work was the hardest thing for Sharon, not so much for her job itself, but because she would be forced to face Andy. It had been three days since they last spoke at the hospital, and she knew him and how much he was going to be mad about it still now.

She was happily surprised when she walked into the murder room, "Surprise!" Everyone jumped as soon as she entered and startled her.

"Oh my, what is all this?" She couldn't believe her eyes. There was a paper banner hanging from the ceiling with written Welcome Back and colored balloons all over the room.

"We thought about celebrating your return with a little bit of color and joy." Brenda walked to Sharon and hugged her. "Welcome back, Captain!"

"Thank you, Chief. I… I wouldn't have expected it," she smiled.

"Well, Flynn told us you love some sense of occasion and they all wanted to do it. Not me. I don't care," Provenza went closer and shook her hand.

"I wouldn't have doubted you didn't care, Lieutenant!" She smiled at everyone and she noticed Andy standing in a corner far from her. He had done it for her, but he wasn't going to get any close to her.

"Thank you," Sharon approached him silently and whispering.

Andy shrugged. "Nothing big. Just a little welcome back party," he poured himself some water but never met her eyes.

"Andy, I…"

"Welcome back, Captain!" He called her by rank and walked away. He was still angry, and hurt. There was nothing she could do about it. She had broken his heart. The best she could do for herself, was to let it all go behind her and move on; he seemed to have wanted it like this now, he wanted to move on. They were going to be just colleagues and pretend like nothing happened between them.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

"When were you exactly going to tell me about this promotion?" Andy entered Sharon's office slamming the door behind him. He was furious and fuming.

"I didn't have to tell you anything, Lieutenant. I was given a great opportunity for my career and I took it!"

After all their troubles they had had a quiet time. She had been working back into Major Crimes and trying to find the mole, Andy had been integrated again into the division and things had gone back to normal. In a few occasions Andy and Sharon had confronted each other and being verbally strong, they had fought like the old good times, and everything seemed normal again to everyone else.

But at some point everything had been twisted when they found out the mole was Gabriel's girlfriend, and indirectly Gabriel himself who had been sharing information with her in private, and she had then reported them to Peter Goldman. And then Chief Johnson had resigned from her job, after a violent meeting with Phillip Stroh, and a suspension because of it. Their worlds had been twisted, and when Provenza took over the Major Crimes division, Sharon had breathed happily to come back to her old job. Unless of special circumstances, she and Andy wouldn't have been forced to be next to each other anymore.

"Oh you just took it, and you didn't think about discussing it with me first?"

"I am sorry, but you may be confused here. I do not have to discuss anything with you. Not my career, not my personal life." The screams from the office could be heard outside, and every one was being silent so they could listen to every word. Even the new entry, Amy Sykes, was very curious to hear all about it.

"This is my division!" Andy shouted.

Sharon let go of a breath and lowered her voice, "you are wrong. It's mine now! And if you don't like it, ask for a transfer. Have a good day, Lieutenant!" She sat down at her desk and lowered her head pretending to be writing something.

"Oh so that's it? You are the boss and I have to obey or move out?"

"Yes, that's it. Have a good day, Lieutenant!" She was startled as Andy left her office slamming the door again.

This promotion had been a great opportunity for her career, but the fact that she was going to see him again every day, was moving something into her heart again. She had expected him to leave his transfer papers on her desk the day after, but they weren't there. And they weren't there the day after that, and the one following and so on.

It surprised her immensely when they started to develop a friendship again, slowly their trust for each other was growing back. All he had needed to do was shout at her to let it go.

One year later…

Andy was nervous walking down that hallway again. It had been a long time since he had been at Sharon's condo, and now there he was, in a tuxedo walking to her door to go together to his daughter's wedding. When she had suggested him to go there with him as his buffer, he had been happy about it, but now he was regretting it. He breathed in and out a couple of times before to knock.

Sharon opened with a smile and welcomed him in, "I am almost ready. I need to find my earrings and put on my shoes then we can go." She ran away down the hall and entered her bedroom.

It made Andy feel very strange to be there again. All of a sudden the memories overwhelmed him; all their nights spent chatting on that sofa, and the cuddles and laughter as they cooked in the kitchen. How many dinners and breakfasts had he cooked for her on that stove? "Hey, where is my library?" He noticed that the library he had put together for her wasn't there anymore.

Sharon walked out of her room finally ready, "ah yeah! I gave away a few things. Memories and all!" Andy also noticed that her desk had changed, and so had the frames on the wall behind it.

"You remodelled," he looked around to see the different things.

"Well, I have a teenager with me again now," she smiled and made him understood she was ready to go.

Only in that moment, Andy noticed her. "Wow. I…ehm… you look very beautiful!"

Sharon blushed, "thank you. You look very good yourself!" She caressed his pocket handkerchief. It was turquoise blue, probably a choice of the bride, and Sharon moved his jacket just a little bit to notice his matching suspenders. She smiled.

"Well, you know me well. I couldn't go without matching," he smiled at her and for the first time he felt it wasn't a mistake. "Okay friend Sharon, we can go but I need to ask you for a favor." Sharon looked at him puzzled. "They already think I am a loser, if I go with my car, they will-"

Sharon grabbed her car keys, "only if you promise to drive carefully with it!" With the new promotion to an elite division, and a young boy who wanted some independency now, Sharon had given her foster son her old car, and bought herself a new one that was more fitting for the Captain of the LAPD of the Major Crimes division.

"Sharon, this car is begging me to live a little!" When they entered the car Andy couldn't believe she had it since a year and it seemed like just coming out of the store. It was spotless. "It still smells like new!"

"Oh great!" She was satisfied by it.

"No, not great Sharon. Spill some coke, spit in it. Leave some dust to lay on the radio commands. I feel uncomfortable being here, I don't want to risk dirtying it now!"

"So don't, and now drive or we will arrive after the bride!"

The closer they got to the church, the more anxious Andy was getting. She had told him to introduce her as his friend Sharon, but nobody would have believed he was just friends with a woman. The last thing they needed now, was remembering those times they weren't just friends and everything had turned into a risky business.

But he seemed to worry about nothing, because everyone was happy to meet Sharon as his friend and smiled at her without asking any further question. Not until the reception at least, when his ex-wife had asked. "And how did you two met?"

Andy wanted to die in that moment, it was his daughter's wedding and all the attentions had to be on her, not on him and the beautiful woman who came with him. Sharon, on the contrary, felt really comfortable answering, "we worked together for, how long is it now Andy? Twenty years? Yeah, we have been working in the LAPD and more recently I became his boss," the table laughed with her and Andy wanted to dig a deep hole in the ground and hide inside it.

From time to time, Sharon patted her hand against his leg under the table, to tell him to calm down. Everything was going good, every one was enjoying the reception, and his daughter was happy.

During the dances, Andy's ex-wife sat closer to Sharon to chat, while every one else had gone dancing. "What did you do here Sharon?" Her leg had exposed from the dress, and revealed the scar of her wounds.

She quickly covered it. "An old wound at work, crazy people!" They laughed but Andy saw Sharon's smile disappearing quickly. She was getting nervous remembering it.

He stood up and gave her his hand, "may I have the honor of a dance?" When Sharon excused herself and joined him in dancing, Andy turned to his ex-wife and gave her a nasty look. He had never hated her as much as in that moment.

It was weird to put his hands on her tiny waist again, she was skinnier than the last time they had danced, but any less beautiful, if possible even more. "I am sorry about it, I hope she didn't bother you too much!"

"It's okay, Andy. I see it every morning," Sharon put her hands around his neck and they started to slowly swing at the music's rhythm. "I see them all every day, and they remind me I am lucky to be still alive!"

They stayed in silence for a few minutes, and it took them two other songs before they began to talk again. "We have never talked about it. I was sure you needed time to process it and then everything went they way it went and I-"

Andy put a finger on her lips. "Sharon. You were right about it. You were right about breaking up with me and moving on," he smiled. "Anthony seems a nice guy. I hope he doesn't mind you coming and dancing with me now!"

Sharon looked confused and then suddenly she burst into laughter. "Oh my God, you thought..." She kept on laughing, "Anthony is my brother. You really thought that... it's too funny!"

"Well, sorry but he seemed so intimate with you. How could I know he is your brother?" They went silent again but from time to time, Sharon's snort-laughing interrupted the magic of music between them.

"I didn't..." She breathed deeply, "I didn't have anyone after you."

"Neither did I."

From the outside of their own bodies, they looked like two very shy teenagers at their first date, all dressed up like for a school prom, dancing nervously and exchanging a word every few minutes.

After the dances, Sharon was left at the table talking to Nicole and her mother, while Andy stood in a corner, sipping a cup of coffee and watching at the scene. It was evening, and the artificial lights, didn't do much justice to the beautiful skin of both Sharon and his daughter, but he enjoyed looking at them anyway. His little princess and the woman he loved, and the woman he hated the most. He decided to focus his attention only on Sharon, and seeing her laughing and being relaxed, made him happy.

"Congratulations, Andy!" A young man approached to him.

"It wouldn't hurt you if you called me dad for once," he didn't turn but he recognized his son's voice.

"I kept your last name. Be happy about it!" His son had never forgiven him his past. Differently from his sister, who was trying to see all the efforts Andy was doing at being a better man and father. He only saw a drunk man who came back home, night after night, and fought to his mother, until he finally left and he didn't hear from him for months. "She is really gorgeous!"

"We are just friends," Andy corrected him immediately.

"Weird, I don't think I ever danced with a friend like that!" His son left, leaving him to his thoughts. Maybe from the outside it was perceived as something else, something he couldn't see being one of the two in that dance, but it had seem a normal dance to him. Or maybe not.

"How pensive are you today!" Andy hadn't noticed that Sharon had stood up and walked towards him. "Anything on your mind?" She grabbed his arm and put hers under it. The night brought a chill, and her thin dress wasn't enough to cover her skin from it.

"Yeah, I was thinking that it's time to go home. I saw you with high fever once, I don't want to replicate!" He put his arm around her shoulder and they walked to the table. Sharon noticed how easily he transformed a terrible experience into something funny, and she hoped that maybe at this point, they could put all this bad story behind them and have a laugh on it.

On their way home they both were silent. Andy thought Sharon was just tired, but she actually had been very pensive. "Did you ever think how it would have been if we hadn't broken up?" She asked.

Andy didn't answer, and turned to the left. "Andy you are going the wrong way, you had to turn right!"

"I know!" Sharon was puzzled and they drove for a few more miles before he stopped the car. "I am answering your question," he got off the car and ran to her side to open the door and help her out.

Sharon smiled when she saw where they had stopped. "If we hadn't broken up, today we would be celebrating our first date anniversary. It was here. And I don't think I ever said it but I am thankful to your daughter for setting it up."

"I knew it! She did it on purpose!" After all these years the truth had come out. Emily knew perfectly who he was and she had setup a blind date with him for his mother on purpose.

Andy took both Sharon's hands. "I think about you constantly, Sharon. And I am grateful I can see you every day. It doesn't matter how we are together, but every time I turn on my chair you are there and that's fine with me. I will get everything you can give me, and I will be your friend only, if it means I get to be close to you."

Sharon looked around, at those carousels without lights, and the closed ice-cream kiosk. She smiled at Andy and then left his hands. He wouldn't have expected her to do something like this, but she crossed the fences and stood in front of the merry-go-round. Many years ago, she had scolded him for doing the same.

He smiled and joined her on the other side of the fences. "For what is worth, I have never stopped loving you!" She whispered.

Andy looked at the light in her eyes, they were sparlking and she was smiling. He had a look at his watch, "it's midnight!"

"Ohhh," Sharon smiled and leaned on him. "You know what we do here at midnight? We kiss at midnight!" They kissed with passion and intensity, like it had been many years ago, when everything had started and it had brought them right to that point.

But this time they knew perfectly who they were, they were Sharon and Andy. And they were in love.

THE END

Thank you very much for reading, liking, following and waiting for the next chapter. It has been a long run, my first long multi-chapter fanfiction and I was nervous and scared to mess, but you wiped away those fears with your kidness commenting. Thank you very much!