Short, yes, I know, but this will take us up to the very last episode of The Closer and into Sharon taking over Major Crimes. Enjoy!
They managed to make it to the courthouse on time to get married, even with the five-car pile-up on the freeway. Andy had ranted about it after he'd picked up Sharon. She'd tried to argue that she would meet him there, being the bride and all, but he dismissed it, saying that once again, it would be like the house discussion-they'd get married, say good-bye on the courthouse steps, and go to their separate cars. No. Andy wasn't letting that happen. So, even with Sharon's weak argument of it being "tradition" to not see the bride, Andy had waved her off, explaining that he wouldn't see her in her dress; she as going to change at the courthouse. Besides, he'd argued THEIR daughter in New York was probably breaking wedding tradition more than anything.
So, now here they were at the courthouse. Andy was finally getting over the irritation of the traffic, as he waited outside the restroom for Sharon to finish getting ready. It was only a few minutes away from marrying his bride.
"Flynn!" he heard and spun around. Provenza. Andy frowned. Anytime he and Provenza were together, problems happened. Provenza had Liz with him, and Andy prayed there wasn't some other issue with Frank and missing jewels.
"What are you doing here, Provenza?" Andy asked.
"Well, you're getting married, aren't you?" he asked. "A little birdie told me you were doing the dumbest thing ever and getting married. I also heard you needed two witnesses, so here we are, two people here to witness the worst wedding ever."
"Oh, Louie, you know you are happy for them!" Liz swatted at Provenza and turned to Andy. "Andy, Sharon let this guy," she nudged Provenza, "know about the wedding. She said she knew you would like your best friend to be here. I'm just along so he doesn't look so pathetic at a wedding by himself."
Andy's eyes grew, "Sharon told you? I can't believe it. She did that for me?"
"Apparently, she claims to love your sorry self," Provenza grumbled.
"Oh, she loves me," Andy flashed a grin. "I love her too."
"Oh, save it," Provenza pretended to gag.
"Lieutenant, Liz, you made it," they all heard and turned to see Sharon come out of the restroom. She had on a simple, knee-length ivory dress with a delicate lace overlay. She had a small bouquet of lilies for the wedding.
"Sharon, you look beautiful," Liz smiled. "Louie," she nudged Provenza, "you'd better say something kind to her."
Provenza grumbled and turned to Sharon, "Captain, good luck with him," he jerked his hand toward Andy. "Happy to pass him along to you. Can I ask that you please don't try to have any more children? One Flynn-Raydor kid is enough."
Sharon rolled her eyes, as she turned to smile at Andy. He winked at her, nodding at her dress. Before Andy said anything to Sharon, he decided to irritate Provenza, "Hey, Old Man, go see if the judge is ready. I'd like to talk to my bride."
"Fine," he waved at them. "Do you have everything? Rings?" he leaned in closer to Andy, "I certainly hope you didn't go out and buy a new ring. You could both just use your old ones."
"Of course, we bought new rings!" Andy exclaimed. "I'm not wearing a ring from my first marriage and neither is she! You might go and do that, especially when you've married one of your wives twice, but that's not how we are starting married life. See," Andy opened the ring box to show him, "new rings."
"That probably cost you a fortune! You got her a wedding band with diamonds? It's just a ring she wears next to the one WITH diamonds. You already spent a lot on that, so why did you get her more diamonds?"
"She liked it; I like it; she's worth it; it's pretty, and it's none of your business," Andy said, clearly annoyed.
Provenza started to grumble again, but Liz pulled on him, telling Sharon and Andy, "We'll be with the judge. Take your time."
Andy turned and smiled brightly at Sharon. She blushed, knowing he thought she looked beautiful. She just wasn't used to hearing it or seeing his pure happiness on his face. "Sharon, you look beautiful, breathtaking."
"Thank you," she smiled at him, stepping closer to run her hand down his purple tie. "You look very handsome yourself in that black suit. Nice switch on the tie. I didn't realize you were going to do that."
"Yeah," he stilled her hand as he put his hand over hers and squeezed it, winking at her, "well, I know purple is your favorite, so I decided that if you were changing clothes here, I'd change the tie. Surprised you," he winked again.
"You did," she nodded, humming. "I can't wait to be surprised at the house decision either."
"Well," he took a deep breath, "that could end us up in divorce court if you don't like my decision."
"I'll love it, no matter what," she whispered as she leaned in. "Let's go get married."
The wedding took all of 10 minutes, and thankfully, Liz had brought a nice camera with her. She took several pictures for them, all while Provenza stood behind her and grumbled about the expensive camera. Liz promised to get the pictures to Andy and Sharon as soon as she could. Once they were done with pictures, Liz volunteered Provenza to take them all out to lunch, a place she'd reserved near the beach. She had a friend who owned the restaurant, and when they arrived, they were seated on the patio without anyone else around. They enjoyed their lunch, and soon, after Liz made sure Provenza actually paid the bill, the two left, leaving Andy and Sharon to enjoy their afternoon.
"Well, Mrs. Flynn," Andy smiled as he stared into her eyes, "ready to get out of this place?"
"More than ready," she nodded. "I'm anxious to see what you picked."
"I went out on a limb, so just trust me," he smiled. The two left and started toward the house. 10 minutes later, he made a turn taking them away from any road they would need to take to get to either of their homes.
"Andy?" she asked, puzzled.
He shrugged, "Well, I think I've made my choice on our home. It is one of our current houses, but for today, our wedding day, I figured we needed a nice hotel. We've got the rest of our lives in our home, but today, it's about us. So," he gestured as he pulled up to the hotel, "surprise." We've got a night here to ourselves, and then, tomorrow, we can go to the home I've picked. We'll have a day to ourselves to start to get settled, and then we have to get back to work. At some point during the next few days, we have to tell work and our kids about our secret wedding, but for now, let's just enjoy our time. Work, well, work will be the same when we get back. I packed a bag for each of us, which was no easy feat," he grinned. "I hope you enjoy our very short, but very well deserved honeymoon getaway. Soon, when we can catch a break with work and coordinate some time off, I'm going to take you on a proper honeymoon. Until then, I couldn't just take my beautiful bride home and that be it. We've been waiting for this day for a very, very long time."
Sharon smiled as she grabbed hold of Andy's hand. "Thank you. This is a great surprise. I'm looking forward to our time here, and I would like nothing more than to take a well-deserved honeymoon with you in a couple of months. We do need to look at work schedules and put in for some time off. Everyone will be so stunned we got married, they hopefully will just approve our leave without question. First thing when I get back to work, I have a meeting with Pope and Taylor. That's never fun, but I'll think of this," she gestured to the hotel, "all during that meeting. It can't be that bad if I think about this wonderful day."
