not my characters just playing with them.

Chapter sixteen

Andy studied both of Sharon's and Jack's body languages, as they stood in front of the judge, both arguing their case. He thought back about how they once were engaged to be married. They were both stubborn, not giving one another the space to negotiate. Neither of them willing to give in. He wondered how blind Raydor had been, when he fell in love with her and ever believed Sharon would once fulfill the role of obedient wife and mother. Or maybe he had believed she would change. That was a common mistake people made. Thinking they could change their husband or wife. He had made the same mistake with Sandra. They could have been spared a lot. If Raydor and Sharon would have ever gotten married, it would not have taken too long for them to be at each other's throats.

Frowning he looked at Raydor's red and puffy face. It looked like it was either most likely to explode or he was in the near vicinity to have a heart attack. Andy had the urge to tell him that he should mind his blood pressure. Unfortunately the less he'd say the better, as this judge didn't like him very much. His muscles flexed though , as Raydor was barking at her.

Sharon stared at Jack, as he got in her face. Pointing his finger at her. His face an angry red, eyes widened.

"You have no ground to ask for a search warrant, Sharon."

"We've established motive."

"My client having an affair with the mother, that's what you call motive? If you want to play the revenge card, then let's look at the victim's father as well. He went to medical school before flunking out and becoming a dentist. Dentists use anesthesia as well."

"Why would he kill the one thing that kept his marriage together?"

"Maybe he wanted it to end, maybe he had an affair as well."

"Not all men are adulterers, Jack."

Her eyes were cold as ice and he nearly exploded, because she just made it very personal.

"If you believe that I will let you railroad Phillip Haskell, just because he's my client, think again, Sharon!"

"I'm not the one playing games here, Jack. This is about a child that has been murdered!"

The judge began to lose his patience with the two arguing in front of his desk.

"If you want a search warrant, you will need a little bit more than a hunch, Miss Elliot."

"This isn't just a hunch." Irritation seeped through her voice.

"And maybe you should look a lot less at your hothead partner as an example, as this attitude does not become you."

Andy could tell the word 'attitude' was on her lips, while she raised both of her eyebrows, her eyes giving the man a death glare. He put his hand on her arm, taking one step closer. Addressing the man before she could. "There's a motive and a lot of circumstantial evidence leading into the direction of a surgeon."

"My client is not the only surgeon working at that hospital."

"But the only one with motive." Sharon couldn't hold back.

"God knows how many men Ireen Jensen slept with."

Sharon shook her head, biting her lip. "Your honor…"

"There's not enough ground for a search warrant, Miss Elliot. I suggest you return once you actually have some evidence to build you suspicions on."

"Thank you, your honor." Jack looked so smug.

"Now if you would be all so kind to leave my office. I've got some important matters to tend to."

Andy could tell by the look in her eyes that Sharon was unwilling to let go off this, but she had to. For now they had lost this round and she would have to accept that. This judge was an old fashioned, blinded by stubbornness, kind of man. She would only get herself into a jail cell for contempt if she would continue like this.

"Come on, let's go."

Her not moving proved him right.

"Officer Elliot."

That had her looking at him. He never called her by her rank.

"Now."

Andy counted on her obeying an order. No matter who they were in private, he was still her superior officer at work and he would keep her from doing the same stupid things he had before. Clearly annoyed she turned around and headed for the door.

Once outside he put his hand on the small of her back. Whispering to her. "Calm down.. We didn't have much of a chance to begin with, as that guy does not like me." Andy rubbed her back a bit. "Come on…"

Raydor stopping to rub it in did not help at all. "I suggest you leave the law to the ones who actually studied it, darling."

Sharon smiled tight. "Enjoy your victory for as long as it lasts, Jack." Sharon turned around towards Andy. Her hand on his jacket. "Let's go home, okay?"

Andy couldn't blame Sharon for being in Raydor's face like this. Pronouncing 'home' so accurate. Rubbing it in that they were over and she had now moved on with him, it wasn't like her, but she must feel kind of frustrated, as Raydor kept pushing her with her back to the wall.

"Home it is…" He intertwined his fingers with hers and walked off.

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Going home he had hoped to get some steam off and calming her taking either a shower or a bath together. Instead they were now in her basement.

"Hon, what exactly are we doing here?"

"I'm looking for something…."

"It would help if I would know exactly what we're looking for and why?"

Sharon stood upright again, looking at him.

"Jack's not the only one who studied law.. So did I in preparation of going to law school myself. My books should still be here, somewhere. I'm going to find a way to get me that search warrant. The law is all about loop holes, it's about time we'll use one for ourselves. "

Andy had warned Raydor for this. Making her angry only made her more determined. He could forget about that hot steamy romance he'd envisioned when she had mentioned going home though.

"Oh, here it is."

He saw her reaching for a big box. "Wait, let me carry that."

"Thanks."

She gave him a grateful smile, although it could have easily been her independence flaring up, at him suggesting such a thing.

Once upstairs she got the different books out of the box and immediately began to flip through the pages, sometimes studying part of the text. Unsure of what to do or what Sharon expected of him, he sat down in the chair, picking up a random book. As soon as he opened it, he knew again why he never liked studying. Over the rim of the book he studied Sharon, who tugged a lock of her hair behind her ear, snuggling into a pillow, putting her legs underneath her on the couch. A focused look on her face, as if she was reading a good book.

Unlike to him it looked like she didn't mind digging through those textbooks. He wondered if she regretted joining the Academy instead of going to law school. Sharon would make a very good lawyer. There was no doubt about that. Ten times better than Raydor would ever be. In her social circle belonged the lawyers, the judges or doctors. Although Andy thought very often about how he didn't belong in there, she always made him feel like he fitted right in.

He could read the words, but they didn't make much sense to him. Andy didn't have the patience to struggle to large parts of text. "So.. you actually understand all this legal mumbo jumbo? "

Smiling she looked up. "Hm-mm.. I passed the admission test, I was already granted at Harvard."

"Never regretted not going to law school?"

"No.. I started out going to the Academy for different reasons than I'm a cop now, but I know I really like it a lot better to put away the criminals, than I would like defending them. I don't believe I could search these books for loop holes to keep a murderer out of prison."

"You believe you can?"

"I can try."

Andy got up, giving her a kiss on the side of her face. "I better make myself useful. How about I make you a pot of strong coffee and cook us dinner."

"That sounds great."

Every now and then he heard a sigh of frustration, while time ticked away. Hours passed while he filled her cups of coffee. Cooked her dinner and eventually served it to her on the couch, each time rewarded by a grateful smile, a small eye contact, before she would bury herself in the books in front of her once more. Andy knew Sharon would pull an all-nighter, if she had to.

Sharon felt Andy's hands on her shoulders, as he wrapped her in a blanket. She covered his hand with hers, rubbing it with her thumb, before she looked up at him. "Honey, why don't you go to bed? I'll be reading these for a while, there's nothing you can do."

"You can continue in the morning, Sharon."

"No, I can't. Time is of the essence here. I don't want to give Haskell the opportunity to cover up his crimes even better, or give Jack the time to come up with a better defense. He knows I won't stop. "

And apparently Raydor was in serious denial about how well she knew textbook law. That could turn out to be his worst mistake, underestimating her.

"Okay, then I better make you another pot of coffee."

Sharon reached for his neck to pull him closer for a kiss.

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Andy stopped Sharon before they went into the judge's office. "Are you absolutely sure? This guy is not going to give us any slack. He wasn't too thrilled about you yesterday and he definitely does not like me. That will tempt him to simply deny us at forehand."

Sharon looked stern at him. "Then I will file a complaint, as he should allow us a search warrant for this."

"You want to file a complaint against a judge?" Andy's eyebrows shot up.

"If he's not doing his job, because he's biased, you bet I will." There was no question about that seeing her expression.

"You're not going to make a lot of friends with moves like that."

Sharon sighed. "I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to solve a child murdering."

Andy could tell by the way she looked at him, that she was very serious. Sharon knocked on the door and stepped in, as they heard judge Adler's rumble. The grump looked up from his desk.

"You two again…"

Andy hadn't made an understatement. The man was a grump, but she really didn't care as she could sell this one.

"I believe I was more than clear, yesterday."

She smiled tight. "Yes, your honor."

"Then what are you doing here? I already told you yesterday that you won't get a search warrant."

"That's a petition for a search warrant for the entire hospital."

"And that way you believe you can get around it." He shook his head.

"Our victim was found in the medical waste container. We need to find out where she was killed, or at least rule out she was killed inside the hospital."

Judge Adler stared at her in silence. She wouldn't break contact with his eyes either. "Smart." She didn't smile at him, just those piercing green eyes, who wouldn't let him go. "You better search that entire hospital or anything you might find incriminating Dr. Haskell, will be thrown out in court."

Sharon nodded, intently watching Judge Adler sighing the search warrant. He held it out for her, but as she reached for it, he kept holding onto it as well.

"You're treading on extremely thin ice, Miss Elliot."

A smile curled her lips. "Guess I will just have to tread lightly."

Andy had trouble to contain his laughter, while the judge face became an annoyed mask. He must be so tempted to deny them access to that hospital, but maybe he realized in time, what Sharon would actually be prepared to do. At this moment he was just very happy that Sharon was on his side.

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Although Commander Hamilton was actually present himself, he allowed Sharon to do most of the coordinating of the search party. It had been because of her wit and intellect that they managed to get that search warrant, to even search this place, to begin with. He stood, leaning his back against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Observing Sharon's leader skills. One day she'd be in command of her own team, it seemed inevitable, as he watched her in action now. Times certainly weren't kind on women now, especially not within the LAPD, but somehow he knew Sharon would defy the odds.

"You need to search every nook and granny of this hospital. Label everything you find. Make pictures. I don't want to find out in court that we can't use crucial evidence, because someone wasn't thorough enough."

They fanned out for their search, giving Hamilton the time to address her. "Nice speech."

Sharon startled a bit, as her Commander approached her. "I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to speak out of order, I…"

"Don't apologize, you did well. "

"I'm one of the lowest ranking officers here.. it wasn't my place."

"You are the officer on this case. You're the reason why we're here. Don't be so modest. This is your investigation, you're doing just fine."

Sharon blushed a bit uneasy, unable to handle compliments. They were interrupted by a group of men, who rapidly approached them.

"This is an outrage."

Hamilton looked at Sharon for an explanation.

"That's part of the hospital board, Sir."

"They look angry."

"They don't like me that much, Sir."

Hamilton chuckled. He could imagine this group of suits being annoyed with this young woman, who would not be intimidated by their authority.

"They're going to like you even less now." Hamilton seemed to be quite amused over it.

"We demand you call back your people and leave the hospital."

"I demand to know who's in command, as I doubt you are Miss Elliot."

She smiled tight, while Hamilton looked not amused, because of the condescending tone in his voice.

"Officer, Elliot, is the one in charge of coordinating this operation."

"And you are?"

"Commander Hamilton, LAPD."

"Our lawyers are on their way… "

Sharon was so done with it. "And they will tell you the exact same thing I'm telling you right now, gentlemen, and that is that we have a search warrant, signed by a judge, which gives us the right to search this entire hospital from top to bottom and that's exactly what we're doing right now."

Hamilton smiled, as Sharon took the words right out of his mouth, looking like a force to reckon with, with her hands on her hips like that. He noticed the glimmer in her eyes. One day she would be in command, she was enjoying this way too much.

"Sharon!"

Hamilton looked the other way into the direction of the angry voice. A man in scrubs approached them. Sharon almost turned in slow motion.

"What is going on here?!"

"Maybe you can talk some sense into your daughter."

So he was her father, Hamilton had seen the man before, but hadn't recognized him in his scrubs. He wondered how Sharon would handle that. From the corner of his eyes he saw Flynn protectively approaching. His eyes shifting from Sharon to her father and back. Sharon only smirked at that last remark.

"Sharon what are you doing?"" Mark's eyes were urgent, as he hissed at her.

"I'm doing my job."

"You need to stop this. You need to stop this witch hunt you're on and you need to stop it right now. Do you hear me?"

Sharon stared him unemotional in his eyes. She would not respond to her father, who was basically speaking to her like she was a ten year old.

"You need to stop harassing, Phil."

Sharon sighed, trying to keep her cool, while no one else was. "We're not harassing anyone. We're searching the entire hospital for evidence. This is normal conduct in a murder case. A judge signed off on my warrant. If Dr. Haskell is innocent he's got nothing to worry about."

"If? If he's innocent? When will you let this go, Sharon?" Mark looked like he didn't know his own daughter anymore.

"When I've found evidence to prove otherwise."

"You don't have any evidence right now."

Her father sounded like Jack now. Sharon's lips turned into a thin line. "Is that why you recommended him to hire a lawyer? Because there's no evidence?"

"No, because I don't recognize my normally so reasonable daughter anymore."

Mark looked into Andy's direction. She knew he blamed him for having some kind of bad influence on her. It was ridiculous and she wished her father wouldn't take his frustration out on him. Andy was insecure enough already, about being the right one for her. This would only feed it.

"Don't look at him, just say what you want to say to me. "

"Alright. I told Phil to hire a lawyer, as I know you can be very stubborn and unreasonable when you are like this."

Sharon raised her eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Sharon…"His voice was more gentle, but the damage had already been done.

She pursed her lips, making a step closer to her father, locking eyes with him. "Recommending Jack to him was not a wise move."

"Sharon I did not…."

"You knew Jack would jump on this case, and you hoped that would help me give up." Sharon shook her head. "I know I'm right." Her words were a mere whisper, but the message behind it was clear. Nothing would make her back off.

"Sharon!"

The second man barking her name today. The first her father, the second, the man, who she once had been engaged to be married with.

"Jack…" She smiled making him even more annoyed than he already was.

"You are destroying your career before it has even started. I swear if you try to use anything you find here today against my client in court, I will…."

" You will what, Jack?!"

Both Jack and her father looked surprised as she got in his face.

"You are burying your own case! Haven't you listened to that judge yesterday? You don't have anything against my client."

"Yet."

"Are you stubborn.''

His face was red, and the space between Sharon and him was less than an inch. Mark put a hand on his arm, trying to calm him. Jack looked like he was willing to physically attack his daughter. They should all just cool off a bit, it had all heated up way too much.

"You can't search his office."

Sharon's eyes blazed fire. "Oh yes I can and I will."

Jack's eyes widened again.

" I have a search warrant for this entire hospital, Jack, which means his office, his operation room, his locker. Everything inside of this building he's ever touched or used, is mine to take and use in court if I have to. And there's nothing you can do about that."

"You can't get a search warrant for my client, so you get a warrant for the entire hospital instead…"

Sharon smiled smug. "You're not the only one around here who understands the law, Jack."

She had been so damn smart. He had accused her for not knowing the law and she had proved him the exact opposite.

"I suggest you find yourself some kind of defense. Your client is going to need it."

"Your soul purpose for this charade is to find incriminating evidence on my client and I'm not going to let you…."

Sharon cut him off. "I don't see how you can stop me."

His eyes turned black from anger. "You'll…"

Sharon would not back away and put her hands on her hips. "You are going to calm down and you're going to get out of my way or I will arrest you for obstructing a murder investigation. Is that clear?"

Their eyes were locked onto each other. Neither gave way. A staring contest, like they were ready to take out the dueling pistols. It was more than clear that Sharon wasn't going to be the one to back off. Jack's face was an angry red, about to explode, doing the wise thing, turning around and storming out. For a couple of seconds, Sharon stared out in front of herself, before she turned her face to look at her father.

She made sure to pronounce every word in a calm fashion. "This… is what happens when you advise your friend to hire, Jack. I'm doing my job and I won't let anyone stop me from doing so. Now, like Jack, you need to accept that."

She diverted her eyes from him, to the suits in the hallway, her anger flaring up again.

"And you need to get it through your narrow minded minds, that we're trying to find the murderer of a child here. An innocent little girl. Getting justice for her should be what's most important and not some precious reputation of a hospital. Now I've already told Mr. Raydor, but I'm going to tell it to you all once more ,just to be clear. We're here to conduct a police investigation and you need to cooperate."

She gave them all a death glare, before she turned around and walked away. Hamilton simply stared at them, ready to back her up if he had to. He didn't care about them threatening with lawyers, especially not in cases like these. He only hoped their suspect had made some mistakes. They'd be able to catch him on.