It almost felt odd to be back in New York. He'd only been gone a long weekend, but it felt like he'd been gone much longer. It had been a crazy weekend, busy, and full of surprises. Andy couldn't stop thinking about it-all of it. There had been blunders along the way where he'd barely been able to spend time with Sharon to meeting Ricky to even having his disastrous dinner with his kids, Sharon, and Sandra. What a weekend. That didn't even account for the steak buffet with Provenza. It was almost too much; all of that had happened in the course of just a few days, and while he was really missing Sharon, he was also glad to have a moment to catch his breath.

That didn't last long, though, as Ang wanted to get together later in the week for dinner. She started blowing up his phone with text messages when he was on his way home from work on Tuesday evening. He agreed to dinner Thursday, and he almost started laughing when he found her waiting for him outside his office building on campus Thursday when he left work.

"Are you stalking me?" he grinned at her as she stood at a nearby bench. She rolled her eyes at him as he causally walked toward her. She was carrying her briefcase, as having finished at her office too.

"I wouldn't have to do that if you had just told me about your trip on the phone. I'm dying to know how things went! You flew out there to surprise Sharon! That's so romantic. I can't wait for the details. From our conversation, I was only told it was a crazy weekend, something like that. That doesn't tell me anything."

Andy offered her a nonchalant shrug, "I don't know. I flew to L.A., which is somewhere I used to live. I saw people. It was a weekend." Truthfully, it was anything but that simple, but Andy liked messing with his sister. It's what the two did.

Ang reached over and smacked at him with her purse. He tried to jump out of her way. It looked like the two were small kids messing with each other as opposed to grown adults. Andy grinned at her when she rolled her eyes and continued to walk.

"Fine. Be that way. I'll just call Sharon myself," she flashed a smirk at Andy. "I'll tell her you are acting like a child. Typical boy," she shook her head, "in that, you are vague on details."

He groaned and shook his head, "That's right. I forgot you talked to her sometimes. Look, can we just sit down to dinner first?"

Ang looked up at him, now a bit of concern on her face. She studied Andy as they walked, "Did things not go well? Oh," her eyes got wide, "was the chemistry off? Like, did the two of you just not meet expectations in that area?"

Andy's eyes grew wide, as he looked to her. He started to gesture with his hands, "No! I didn't say that at all. Are you seriously asking me about my sex life here? I'm not going to tell you anything, but let's just say a 20-something young man greeted me at Sharon's condo door."

Ang almost stepped back, surprised. She thought a moment, her eyes wide, trying to process it all before she burst out laughing, "Ricky? Ricky was home?"

"Like I said, can we sit first?" Andy rolled his eyes at her.

She just grinned and nodded. Ang let things go until they arrived at the restaurant, ordered, and got a table. Neither had wanted anything fancy or even a formal sit-down place. Instead, Ang had suggested her favorite soup and salad deli near the campus. It was a short walk, and Andy really didn't have a preference on dinner. He ordered a Mediterranean salad while Ang ordered an Asian Chicken Salad and cup of French Onion soup. They waited at the counter while their food was plated. The two took their food and made their way to the back corner of the small deli.

Andy had just put his first bite in his mouth when Ang started again with her questions, "So, you met Ricky, I take it?"

Andy chewed and nodded. He wiped his mouth, looked at her, and then he answered. "Yeah, kid came home for the weekend to surprise Sharon. I was the one surprised. He answered the door. It was good meeting him, but you know," he shrugged, "just a surprise."

Ang chuckled and shook her head as she stirred at her soup, "Oh, I can imagine that surprise. I suppose it was better than you answering the door in not much of anything to Ricky standing there," she winked at him. Andy rolled his eyes.

"Really?" Andy said quite irritated. "Things haven't been like that with Sharon. I told you I'm not going to get into my personal business. I had a good visit, even if it wasn't what I was expecting. It was good, yet frustrating because I didn't get to spend much time with Sharon. We ate with Ricky. We ate with Provenza, or we sat with him," Andy rolled his eyes. "Sharon didn't have work, but she had things going on at church. We ate with the kids and Sandra. That was a total disaster."

At this, Ang shook her head and waved a finger, "Wait a minute-you had a meal with the kids, Sandra, and Sharon? Are you crazy?"

"No! That's just it. I planned to have dinner with Sharon and the kids. I wanted her to meet them, and I thought she would help ease the tension. She did too. We had this great plan. I got to the restaurant first because she was joining me from church. The kids get there, and then, there's Sandra too! She showed up to our dinner. Sharon walks in and sees that. It was awful. I hate how things went that night."

"So, Sharon walked in to see you, the kids, and Sandra? Oh, I'm impressed she stayed. She didn't suspect this was all planned did she, Sandra coming?" Ang asked, trying to get a full understanding of the day.

"No, she knew Sandra invited herself. I made sure of that. Crazy Sandra decided to stay and torment me and Sharon. Sharon dished it right back in her cool, collected tone. It was great," he grinned. "That's one good thing about her work demeanor. She can really turn it on when she needs to do so, and she did it there. She put Sandra in her place and refused to let her bully me. I have tried to be polite in front of the kids, but Sharon just put it out there, that the kids are grown and can make their own decisions. She wasn't exactly rude, but she was just firm with her. Sandra didn't know what hit her," he chuckled. "I appreciate her having my back. Our only alone time was really that evening. We sat and walked on the beach some," he shrugged.

"This weekend of yours sounds like a mess. Did you stay at Sharon's place with Ricky there too?" Ang looked to him.

"No, I got a hotel room," he told her. "I could have moved to Provenza's place, but honestly, things were so crazy, I was barely in the room anyway. It was just a mess of a weekend. I'm glad I went out there to surprise her, but nothing went according to plan."

Sandra gave him a sad smile, "Tell me, though," she met his gaze, "did you at least figure out if you are better as friends? Is there more there? I promise I'm not asking for crude details, Andy. I just want to know what you are thinking about Sharon."

Andy looked at her. He started to answer, and then his mind wandered, back to the beach with Sharon. That had been the nicest part of the weekend because they were finally just together, alone, and together. They'd spent an hour on the beach before the wind kicked up and made it unpleasant to sit outside. After they'd spread out Sharon's blanket, they'd sat down together, where Andy had pulled her to sit curled up next to him.

"Comfortable?" Andy had asked her. Sharon looked to him, her eyes still visible in the light coming from the parking lot lights.

"Very," she sighed. "This is what I've wanted all weekend." Sharon leaned up and kissed him. The two shifted slightly and continued to lazily kiss for the next few minutes. Eventually, they shifted even more as things got heated until they were lying side by side on the blanket, still kissing. It was the perfect romantic evening, aside from dinner with Andy's ex-wife. As the wind started to pick up, Andy rolled the blanket over them to almost wrap them in it as they continued to kiss. They did that until Sharon froze, mid kiss. "Oh, a cramp! I have a cramp in my leg." She tried to move quickly to get up and walk out her leg cramp. It wasn't easy as she was tangled up with Andy, and then the two were wrapped in the blanket almost like a burrito would be wrapped. Once Sharon was free, she jumped up as best as she could and started to hop around. Andy got up too, not as quickly or as easily and tried to figure out what he could do to help Sharon.

"Are you okay?" Andy asked, running his hand over the back of his neck. He was in pain too, from the odd angle the two had just been in under the blanket.

"Ouch, my leg. I hate it when I get a leg cramp. I'm so sorry," she said, now out of breath as she tried to walk out the cramp. She looked to Andy. "Are you okay? Did I kick you or something as I was trying to get up?"

"No, my neck is sore from extracurricular activities," he smirked. "I'll be fine. Your leg okay yet?"

Sharon finally started walking normally in a small circle and nodded to him, "I think so. Now, it's just in that spasm state. I don't know how I got up and out of that position. My leg was really cramping."

"Perhaps I can massage it here before we leave?" Andy offered a grin at her as he made the request.

"I think that would definitely help," she teased as she stopped walking and reached down to rub her leg again. "That really hurt."

Andy walked up to her side, and he reached down too and tried to help massage her leg where it had been cramping. He looked at her, the two in that odd position, and he leaned in and kissed her again. He started to chuckle as they continued to kiss.

"While this is very enjoyable, I think we should sit back down before we hurt ourselves further. You and I seem to have no problem making out in about any position," he grinned. Sharon chuckled and stood. She moved to the blanket and sat down again, patting the spot next to her for Andy to sit. He did and pulled her leg into his lap to work on it. He glanced to her and gestured with his head toward her, "I'm enjoying the view."

Sharon looked around at the now dusk setting. She looked back to him with a confused expression until he nodded again at her. She looked down, and she blushed. Even in the dim light, he could tell she was blushing, and she buttoned the two buttons that were undone on the front of her shirt.

"Darn, that was the best view out here," he chuckled. She swatted at his arm, and he continued to work on her leg. "I'm going to miss you when I fly home."

"Me too," she said quietly. The two were silent for a few minutes while he worked on her leg. She cleared her throat finally. "I've never had feelings quite like this, Andy, not even with Jack. I'm not sure how to describe them right now. I know it's early in this," she gestured between them, "and I don't want to jump ahead of myself, but there's something about you."

He smiled brightly at her, "You have no idea how much I have wanted to hear that. I have thought I'm almost crazy for thinking it. I think I can put my feelings into words."

Sharon touched her hand to his lips, "Don't say it, not yet." Her eyes met his, "I want to be sure. I think we both need to be sure. I don't throw my words and feelings around lightly. Take our time apart to think about it very carefully. On some level, this seems silly to feel this way so quickly. I was married for so long, and I just don't want to confuse what I'm thinking and feeling."

Andy just nodded and wrapped his fingers around her hand at his mouth. He kissed her hand, and the two sat there together, just trying to look at each other in the dark sky. They could now just faintly see the outline of each other and sat there, listening to the waves crash. When the wind started to kick up again, he felt her shudder.

"You need to get home before I take you with me back to my hotel. I know I've kept you from Ricky, and the last thing I want to do is make things awkward by keeping you out so late that it's obvious where you were or what we were doing. You deserve better than that, even if all I want to do is take you back to my hotel and not let you go."

She nodded, but before she could start to get up, Andy pulled the tiny wrapped gift from his jacket pocket. The jacket had been discarded when they'd arrived, and he handed it to her. She looked to him, her eyes dancing in question. He nodded to her to open it.

"It's just something small, silly almost," he clarified as she unwrapped it. He had just had the clerk wrap it in tissue paper, and he'd already put his keychain on his key ring.

"Oh," she chuckled.

"If you think it's stupid or don't want it, you don't have to keep it. I know it's early, but I saw it and just thought that I use my keys so much, especially at work. I know you do too, and this is just one way I will think of you."

"It's perfect," she touched his hand with her soft hand and squeezed it. Her voice was soft, and she continued, "I will have something from you with me all the time. Thank you."

He reached over and pulled her closer. The two kissed a few more moments before Sharon tugged on his arm to stand.

"Did you get that when you bought the kids' gifts?" she asked.

"Yeah, can't believe they didn't even open them there. I had to practically run out of the restaurant with them just to hand them the gifts I found," he sighed.

She tugged on him again and when he turned toward her, she wrapped her arms around him, "You are a very loving father. I know it's been hard. You are doing an amazing job, sticking with it. Many would give up. Don't. I know they will come around eventually. I adore you for trying," she leaned up. He cupped her face, and they kissed again.

"I can't stop kissing you," he mumbled into her hair as they pulled back.

"I don't want to stop," she whispered in his ear.

"Andy!" he snapped his head back to his sister. She was eyeing him, and she rolled her eyes, not doubt at his giddy smile. "Well, I guess by the look on your face and the way you drifted off on me, you and Sharon figured out that you do want to date? It works, you two dating?"

Andy smiled brightly, "It's working. I have no doubt. You really freaked me out with your suggestion we might be better as friends. I had that stuck in my head the whole trip. Even with all my doubts and my stupid nervous behavior, we figured it out. We are crazy about each other. I can't get enough of her. Ang, you are going to think this is too soon, but I think I'm in love with her."

Ang raised her eyebrows at him, but then she smiled. She gestured with her hand, "Does she know that?"

"No, I mean yes, I mean no," he frowned. "We both acknowledged there are feelings there, and she started to say it. We both did, but we agreed to give it time, to really reflect on our feelings. This long-distance thing makes it even harder."

"You're here; she's there. You had this crazy weekend with your kids, her kid, your friends, so what are you going to do about it?" she asked.

Andy thought a moment and shook his head, "I don't know. I mean, I don't know what I can do right now. I know that the next time I see her, I'm going to tell her. I don't know what that will mean for us, for a future since I live here, and she lives there, but I'm going to tell her. I'm tired of trying to put my life together, but not really doing it. I started with moving here, putting my life together, and I need her in it. I'm sure of that."

"Well," she shrugged, "I'm here to listen. I want my brother to be happy. She makes you happy. I can see that; I have seen that. How can I help?"