Thanks for the request, welchwtch! I'm not great with writing jealous Sharon, so I apologize if this isn't what you were looking for :)
Liberties have been taken with characterization (and with Madam Secretary's TV schedule)
Thanks to everyone for reviewing the last chapter, I've been really bad about responding to reviews-sorry about that. If I ever write something you disagree with, I'd appreciate it if you would take two minutes to create an account before commenting-there are several topics I love to talk to other fans about to get their opinion on how something might've taken place. Sometimes we agree, sometimes not, but it's always a fun and friendly conversation. For that reason, it's a little annoying to not be able to reply to reviews that disagree with something. Especially on a topic that I've talked about with other fans and (generally) with people in real life to the point that I had no reason to think I was being "weird" about something, so I'd enjoy an amicable conversation about your point of view.
Thanks for reading!
As was usual for a Monday evening, Andy came home from a meeting to find Sharon and Rusty curled up on the couch and watching Badge of Justice. "What do you guys see in this show? It's awful!"
"Johnny Worth," Sharon and Rusty murmured at the same time.
Andy rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on."
"May McDonald's not hard to look at, either," Sharon commented. "That's one woman I would kiss."
"Huh..." Andy looked at the TV and back to Sharon, an intrigued look coming over his face. "You would absolutely have my blessing. As long as I get to watch. That'd be pretty hot."
"Andy!" Sharon reached up and jabbed him in the side. "Don't make me call you Andrew."
Andy grinned. "Maybe I like it when you call me Andrew."
Rusty looked disgusted. "All right, if your goal was to get the living room to yourselves, you got it. I'm out."
Sharon pawed at Andy with her foot until he sat down and settled her feet in his lap. "Ohhhh, that feels amazing," she hummed, closing her eyes as he kneaded them. "I hate breaking in a new pair of heels. My feet have been killing me all day."
"How you walk in those damn things without breaking your neck is a mystery to me."
"Hmm, a little lower," Sharon directed, ignoring him. "Little bit more—there. A little deeper...That's it. Please don't stop."
"I was kind of hoping I'd hear something like that tonight...I just didn't think your feet would play such a large role."
"I'd kick you if this didn't feel so good...But keep rubbing, and I could be easily persuaded." Sharon looked over at the TV. "After Madam Secretary."
"Don't worry, I know where I stand on Monday nights." Andy looked down at his phone when it started buzzing. Catherine. Again. They'd dated several years ago and had come close to getting engaged. They'd managed to end on friendly terms, but now she was wanting to get back together and wouldn't leave him alone, despite the fact that he'd told her he was in a serious relationship. He didn't realize he'd stopped rubbing Sharon's feet until she impatiently nudged at him to start again "Sorry." Setting his phone aside for the time being, he got back to the task of getting her into bed.
On Tuesday morning, Sharon had an early meeting and was rushing around the kitchen, trying to get out the door. She heard Andy's phone ding with a text message, and she accidentally looked at it out of habit. "Is that Provenza?" Andy called from their bedroom.
"No, it's Catherine." Who the hell was Catherine? Sharon had never heard Andy mention a Catherine before.
Damn it. Andy finished getting dressed and went to the kitchen for his phone, knowing Sharon was going to have some questions.
Sharon eyed him. "You're dressed early."
"Yeah, I might run a couple of errands if I can get out of here in time."
Sharon was a little suspicious, but she had to leave now to be on time for her meeting. Not about another woman, but just that Andy was hiding something in general. "Okay, well I have to go. See you at work." She pecked him on the lips, grabbed her things, and left.
Later that morning, Sharon thought it was odd when Andy, Provenza, and Buzz were all a half-hour late and hadn't texted or called. She was checking her phone again to make sure she hadn't missed anything when Andy finally called. "Hey, uh...We caught a murder."
"Okay, where are you? Are Buzz and Provenza with you? What happened?"
"Yeah, they're here." Andy paused for a moment. "Uh, we found a body in a pool. Looks like homicide."
Sharon was confused. "How is this a major crime?...Wait, you found the body? How did that happen? Where are you?"
Andy sighed. "Well, Provenza and I..."
Sharon rolled her eyes. "Oh, good, because every good story starts with Provenza and I."
"I found a house I thought you might like, so I wanted to show Provenza and see what he thought. I brought Buzz so he could film it for you, and then we found the body."
"Okay, I'll send the others. Text me the address. Tell Morales to let me know when he needs me at the morgue." Well, at least this solved one mystery from that morning.
Later that day, Andy walked by a crowded interview room and nearly panicked when he recognized Catherine. "Provenza!" He hissed. "Who are all of these people?"
"Huh?" Provenza was busy going through the deceased realtor's phone. "Oh. They were all interested in the house, and it's not too much of a stretch to consider them suspects. Since you want it, too, this will keep any of them from acting on it."
"You're responsible for this?! And you don't even think it's necessary?" Andy's face started turning red as his voice got more high-pitched.
"Ye gods, what's the problem?!"
Andy looked toward the interview room and back at Provenza. "Catherine's in there."
"Catherine who?"
"Catherine. You remember. Catherine."
"Was she the one with the cats or the one with the eye twitch? You've gotta be more specific with the who's who of your dating history, Flynn."
Andy shook his head. "No, no, Rachel had the cats. Amanda had the eye twitch. Catherine's the one—"
Provenza's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, the one you almost—"
Andy nodded. "The one I almost. And now she's been texting me for the last few weeks, wanting to get back together."
Provenza chuckled. "I tried to tell you this would all go to hell when you started calling the captain 'Sharon.'"
Andy rolled his eyes. "You're not helping."
"Oh, I wasn't trying to."
"Lieutenants? Is there a problem?" Sharon walked up and looked from one to the other, wondering why they hadn't made a move.
"Ah, no." Andy looked around, trying to conceal his growing panic. Sharon had stopped trying to understand Andy's and Provenza's antics long ago, so she didn't think much of their odd behavior.
"Well, come on, then! I'd rather not be here all night."
Andy's face turned pale. "You're going in there, too?"
"To speak with potential suspects? Yeah, I'd planned on it, if that's all right with you." Sharon impatiently nudged Andy forward.
Andy thought quickly. "It looks like you guys have it covered, so why don't I, um, try to find out more about the ex-husband?" As far as Catherine knew, he was still in robbery-homicide, so if he could manage to stay away from her, he might get out of this alive. Sharon gave him a questioning look, but didn't press him about it.
Andy retreated to his desk. A couple of hours later, he got a warning text from Provenza that they were about to let everyone go, so he went to hide out in the bathroom for a few minutes. When it sounded like the crowd had died down, he waited a couple of minutes before going back to the murder room. Just to find himself face-to-face with Catherine. So much for that plan.
"Andy! I was hoping I'd run into you."
Andy looked over his shoulder toward the interview room door and back at Catherine. Much like the murder victim, she'd had some work done, no question. Both to her face and other areas that he couldn't help but notice. "I told you, I'm in a relationship."
"Oh, please, you're going to have to come up with something better than that. I won't try to pressure you into getting engaged this time. I don't want that anymore. Come on, we were great together."
"We can't do this here—"
"Can't do what here?" Sharon approached them, noticing the sexual tension immediately. The nervous look on Andy's face and his avoidance of the interview room were helping her put the pieces together. "You guys know each other?"
"You could say that." Andy shot Sharon a pleading I'll explain later look, but he couldn't catch her eye. He could tell by her expression that she was already well aware of the answer to her own question. "This is Catherine. We, uh, dated a long time ago. A really long time ago."
"Ah, Catherine." Sharon's demeanor turned from mere amusement to slight suspicion. Of course Andy had old girlfriends that he might run into every now and then, but texting them was a different story. If it was even the same Catherine, but she had a sneaking suspicion that they were one and the same.
Andy smiled nervously. "It was so long ago that there were still cops around older than Provenza the last time we saw each other." He'd forgotten that Sharon had seen where Catherine had texted him that morning, and he didn't blame her for being taken aback.
"I see." Sharon wasn't the jealous type, but this woman and her not-so-subtle attempts at disguising her age and once-smaller breasts unnerved her. The past is in the past had been her mantra regarding Andy's former relationships so far, but seeing it in person was different. "Well, Catherine, it was nice meeting you. Thank you for your help today." There was no question from Sharon's tone that what she really meant was goodbye, and Catherine took the hint, having guessed pretty quickly that Sharon was Andy's "relationship." She gave Andy a look that said this isn't over and left.
Sharon couldn't help but smile to herself when Provenza walked out of the interview room, widened his eyes in panic at the sight of the three of them, and did a 180 and went right back where he had come from. That brought her back to reality, and she pushed Andy and his sack of plastic, fifteen-years-his-junior ex-girlfriend to the back of her mind for the next few hours.
Later that evening, Sharon sat on the balcony with a blanket and a glass of cabernet. She'd never doubted Andy's devotion to her for a second, but knowing that a much-younger ex-girlfriend had been texting him was getting under her skin. He could've at least told her about it. She still didn't know why she was letting it bother her so much. Even if this Catherine low-quality-plastic-surgery-barbie-knockoff were after Andy, she knew the efforts wouldn't be reciprocated. But why was Andy still communicating with her? Looking back, Andy had been acting strangely, especially sometimes after reading a text, for a couple of weeks now. If there was nothing to hide, then why was he acting so weird? Her suspicion heightened when she got a text from him that he was going home after dinner with the AA member he sponsored instead of to the condo. That was pretty common, but in light of recent events, her mind was in overdrive.
Sharon went inside to refill her wine and returned to the balcony. She called her sister, not to talk about Andy, but just to get her mind off of him before it drove her crazy. By the time they hung up, she heard the balcony door sliding open, and she was surprised to see Andy. "I thought you were going home."
"I was, but then I realized what that might have looked like..."
"Hmm." Sharon sipped her wine and looked out over the city. She'd actually been looking forward to relaxing alone and having her bed to herself, as she knew deep down that Andy wouldn't be unfaithful.
Andy stood awkwardly by the door, not sure what to make of her mood. "Do you want me to go home?"
"You're an adult, Andy, I want you to do whatever you want to do."
"I want to be with you. That's all I want. I promise."
"Yeah, you've made that clear." Sharon didn't know why she was in such an ill mood about this, but he was annoying the hell out of her with every word.
Andy wasn't sure what to do now. She seemed to want to be alone, but going home seemed like a dick move at this point, so he settled for going inside and changing into his pajamas. When he came into the living room, Sharon was refilling her wine glass in the kitchen. Instead of placing a soft hand on his shoulder or pecking him on the cheek like she normally would've done when she walked by him, she fixed him with an irritated look. "I'm taking a bath." Sharon placed her wine glass on the edge of the bathtub and sifted through her bath oil collection while her water filled up. Finally settling on a rose scent, she discarded her clothes on the floor and set a towel nearby. After tying up her hair and starting a playlist on her phone, she climbed in and slowly lowered herself into the hot water, hoping it would help her relax. She didn't like how she was acting, but she was aggravated and couldn't help it. Only the Good Die Young usually put her in a good mood, but it wasn't doing anything for her this time. The water was getting cooler by the time she finished her wine, so she climbed out and dried off. She was in a slightly better mood, but not much. It had been a long day, so she said a quick goodnight to Andy and got ready for bed.
Sharon's mind was still racing long after she felt Andy climb in beside her and softly kiss her cheek. As usual, he fell asleep in just a couple of minutes, and she was still running through the day's events in her head. She hadn't thought much of his remarks about the realtor's "enhanced" physique, but after seeing Andy's ex-girlfriend and hearing a couple of remarks about how the realtor was known for getting a little too friendly with potential buyers, she was starting to have doubts.
The next morning, Andy got up early and made breakfast. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but he hadn't exactly handled the Catherine situation very well, either. It was going to be a long day, and he guessed Sharon would be opting for coffee, so he went ahead and got it started and placed her favorite mug on the counter while she was in the shower.
Sharon smelled coffee as soon as she stepped into the hallway from the steamy bathroom. With her silk robe wrapped around herself, she padded down the hall with wet hair and bare feet. She'd been running through the case in her head, and she couldn't help but laugh at remembering Julio's amused-turned-somber "butt...implants, ma'am" comment. But, all that did was remind her of Andy's comments and the doubts she'd started to have the night before.
Andy was standing at the stove, cooking eggs, and damn it if he didn't look so cute in his striped pajamas when she wanted to be angry with him for a minute. "Thanks," she murmured as she filled her mug. She took her coffee back to the bathroom, brushed out her wet hair, and applied her makeup before going to eat breakfast.
"Crap, these are a little runny," Andy muttered as he scooped some eggs onto a plate.
"Oh, those aren't firm enough for you, either?" Sharon retorted.
Andy turned around, and Sharon felt a little guilty when she saw the pained expression on his face. "I've been either ignoring Catherine's texts or trying to get her to stop, and I told you I didn't mean anything—"
"I know."
"Then what's with the cold shoulder?!" Andy demanded.
"Nothing, Andy, just—I just—just give me a minute, okay?" Sharon knew she had nothing to worry about, especially since Catherine's uneven implants obviously hadn't been done by a doctor as skilled as the murder victim's doctor, but this was the first time she'd even thought about doubting Andy so far. She wasn't sure how to handle her feelings about it, but they would have to wait for now.
Sharon hurried through breakfast and quickly got dressed. "I have to stop by Taylor's office on my way in, and that's never a quick process, so I'm going to go ahead and go."
Andy nodded. "I need to go home tonight. I have a guy coming to look at my dishwasher and a couple of things I need to take care of at the house. You can stay over, or you can FaceTime me as many times as you want. That's all I'm doing, I swear."
"I know, Andy." Sharon stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "See you in a little while."
Late that afternoon, they reached a bit of a standstill in the case, so Sharon sent everyone home for the night so they could start fresh the next morning. She was kind of hoping Rusty would be staying at Gus's again so she could have a rare night to herself at the condo, but she wasn't disappointed to find him at home that night, either. She had a feeling that he'd been avoiding her lately, not wanting to talk more about his other mom's baby, and she and Andy had spent a lot of their free time looking at houses, so she hadn't seen much of him. She was tempted to talk to him about calling his mom and his unfavorable attitude toward the baby, but she decided to give him a break tonight. They ordered a pizza for dinner, and they were watching TV when Sharon remembered that she had the video from the house Andy wanted to buy. She could tell before they even played the video that Rusty wasn't thrilled with the idea of a new house, but her preoccupation with her own thoughts kept her from dwelling on that for the time being. As irritated as she was with Andy, his impish grin at the beginning of the video made her heart melt, and she realized that she missed him tonight. He was lucky he was so damn cute.
Rusty seemed to read her mind. "What's with you and Andy? You guys seemed kind of weird today." He didn't necessarily want them to break up, knowing how that would hurt Sharon, but he couldn't help but hope that something had slowed down the "buying a house/moving in together" conversations.
"It's nothing, honey. Just a misunderstanding. We'll work it out."
"Whatever it is, which is worse?" Rusty asked, never missing a chance to throw Sharon's own words back into her face. "Whatever you're arguing about, or being here without him?"
Sharon rolled her eyes when she recognized the advice she'd given him about Gus not so long ago. "We're not arguing, it's fine. We just—can you believe Buzz jumped into the pool like that?" She asked, changing the subject.
Sharon went to bed not much later, but between Rusty's obvious apprehension about a new house and feeling guilty about how she'd been acting toward Andy, she couldn't sleep. She sat up and texted him, hoping he was still awake, and she felt a little better after they'd texted back and forth a few times. After telling each other goodnight, she was able to find sleep a little more easily.
The team wrapped the case on Thursday evening, and Andy hung back in the murder room with Sharon as everyone else hurried to get out. There hadn't been much time to talk, but the distance from him and the distraction of the case had allowed her to let her aggravation simmer and see the situation more clearly. Andy knew her well enough to know that she just needed a little space sometimes, but he had sensed a change in her demeanor toward him and was pretty sure she was ready to talk. "Look, Shar, I blocked Catherine's number, which I should've done weeks ago, but I didn't want her to find out and be hurt. We were serious years ago, but she started texting me out of nowhere just a few weeks ago. I kept telling her I was with someone else and wasn't interested, hoping she'd give up, and I just didn't handle it very well when she didn't. You can read our texts—"
"That's not necessary, honey." Sharon hoisted her purse over her shoulder and laced her fingers through Andy's. "Let's go home." She leaned against him as they walked toward the elevator, and she couldn't help but laugh when she thought of the poor woman's lopsided breasts. "I haven't seen such a botched boob job since the nineties!"
Andy had noticed as well, as it would've been incredibly difficult not to, but he didn't want to respond the wrong way and start the fight all over again. "Really? I, uh, didn't notice."
"You didn't notice?! They were like this!" Sharon pointed one index finger toward the ceiling and her other one toward the floor.
"Yeah, well, I was a little distracted." Andy pressed a kiss to the side of her head, pausing to smell her hair.
A couple of nights later, Sharon closer her book and placed it on her nightstand. Andy looked down as she lay against him and traced her finger down his chest. Her mind had drifted back to the most recent case, and she was suddenly curious about something. "Do you have any fantasies?"
Andy looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Sexual fantasies, I mean. After the last few days, this obsession with perfect appearances just has me curious."
"Oh. Why? You might do it?" Andy asked incredulously.
Sharon shrugged, but gave him a look that clearly said yes.
Nurse and patient," Andy answered, without hesitation.
Sharon looked up at him. "Really? I wouldn't have thought that."
"What would you have thought?"
Sharon shrugged. "I don't know. You strike me as the French maid type."
"Well, it used to be banging the boss, but..." Andy kissed the top of her head. "That fantasy has become a reality. While we're on this, any for you? You can't bring this up and not tell me."
"Pilot and passenger."
The answer was so quick and certain that she had obviously thought about it before, and it was Andy's turn to be surprised. "Talk about unexpected. I thought you would've gone with something like the student and the professor."
Sharon shook her head. "All of my professors were either old as dirt or assholes, sometimes both. That fantasy never did much for me."
"Well, then, valued passenger, allow me to—"
"No, I'm the pilot," Sharon interrupted.
"Oh, right. Of course you are. So, now that we know this about each other..."
Sharon cupped her hand behind Andy's head and pressed her lips to his neck. "Prepare for takeoff."
