While regaining consciousness, Sharon felt a sharp pain coming from her left shoulder that was laying against the cold kitchen floor. She let out a short cry of pain when she tried to move her shoulder. It was dislocated. Everything was spinning around her when she opened her eyes. Jack was nowhere to be found. She was slowly coming to herself and remembered her children. What if he took them? Or worse… hurt them? He was unrecognizable and unpreventable. She had to find a way to reach their room as fast as possible.
Something caught her attention. The birds were singing already. She turned her head to see through the windows. It was dawn! What time could it be? How long had she been laying there alone on the floor? Sharon was carefully trying to stand on her feet, the dizziness being hard to fight. She was doing her best to clear her thoughts and act fast. She had to check on her children. Her legs felt heavy and hurtful. Her sight was blurry and her hands were shaking. She noticed a few blood drops on her pajamas. She slowly brought her right hand to her face. Her nose was bleeding, she realized. She could feel her blood pulsing around her temple. She slowly caressed that area. He hit her, she remembered. Tears were forming in her eyes when she got a short flashback of the events. She let a sob out, overwhelmed.
One foot after the other and holding onto every wall or furniture she came across, she managed to go upstairs although the pain she felt around her shoulder was killing her. She had probably sprained her ankle in the fall because she could barely walk on it. She was breathing irregularly, almost panting with effort.
Finally reaching upstairs, she pushed the kids' door to find two empty beds. She felt herself collapse, drowning in the dark. This was too much.
Brenda had been working late – as usual – and was there after the whole team the next morning – as usual. Everyone was in the murder room having coffee, chatting, catching up with the new elements on the white board. As she walked out of her office, she noticed that they had been waiting for her.
- G'morning everyone!
- Good morning chief! she heard back.
- So… any new elements I'm not aware of yet? Lieutenant Tao?
- Yes sir! After analyzing the full content of the phone and looking deeper into his social media, Mr Cunningam aka Mr Davis has himself called…
- Where's Captain Raydor? blurted out Lieutenant Flynn. Oh I'm sorry for interrupting Mike, I just noticed… usually she's here earlier than everyone…
- Who cares! Surprise holidays? shot Provenza in his best sarcastic tone. He couldn't care less about where the hell she was and intended to enjoy it whether to worry about her. Finally some peace and quiet!
- He's right! It's odd… can anyone give her a quick call to check on her? Lieutenant Flynn maybe? since you pointed it out… Brenda was anything but worried though she had to seem professional at least to motivate the rest of the team since they weren't all that happy about Sharon taking part in their cases for a few weeks.
- Hum.. okay. I'll be in the break room.
Andy knew no one was worried. He tried his best to act normal, relaxed. But he was worried. He didn't know why but he had a bad feeling about this. And it's not like he never cared about Sharon. Nobody knew but back then, he even believed in having found in her the woman of his life, the one and only. That's probably why he'd never felt totally indifferent to what happened to her. She was his soulmate, sort of. Now recalling the past, he felt a pinch in the heart thinking about their first kiss followed by their first night together.
She had come to his place to have dinner with him. Though the meal was a complete fail, they ended up dancing against each other to the sound of Sam Cooke's "Nothing can change this love" song. Now it seemed almost pathetic to have stood there in the middle of his living room and have danced on such romantic music. Nonetheless, it had felt warming and peaceful to spend time wrapped up in her arms, not even air separating them. They were linked to each other, as if it was unbearable to stop feeling each other's skin. They had melted into one and it was magical to have once felt so in love with somebody. That was the night they finally shared a kiss and a night together. He felt titillated just with the memory of their steamy night. It was smooth and natural, as if they belonged to each other. They touched one another slowly, arousal rising until it reached its climaxing point where time stopped for a split second. They were alone on the planet for a few moments, just enjoying each other's presence and body in its full simplicity. While standing alone in the break room many years later, he realized he had never felt this way for anybody else, not even his wife whom he was still married to. Suddenly, nostalgia struck. Despite their lives being different today, it almost felt like these feelings never really left.
- Hey! Any news from the Captain Raydor?
When Buzz took him out of his thoughts, he almost felt guilty for thinking of her this way again. It wasn't fair to his wife after all. And it wasn't his fault that things fell apart in their couple. Sharon had broken up with him over a short coffee break and he had never heard of her anymore until she showed up again much later with a husband and two kids. He had never fully accepted or understood what happened to their beautiful story but he moved on and left the past behind him for his own sanity and sobriety.
- Hey Buzz! No, I'm still dialing… I was trying to find her home phone number. I got it now, I'm calling it and I'll be right with you guys in a minute.
- Okay, sure!
Buzz left and Andy hoped he had swallowed his white lie. He needed to hurry though. He found her contact and called her on her cell first. It was ringing but no one seemed to pick up.
Sharon was laying on the floor of the kids' room, unconscious.
Something was ringing in the house.
Her eyes fluttered lightly. She was slowly regaining consciousness, perceiving that something far away was producing a high-pitched sound. A minute later she was close to opening her eyes and she started realizing that her phone was actually ringing. It could be Jack. She blinked several times to the daylight coming from the kids' window.
Where was her phone? She could barely remember where she had put it the night before. So many things happened overnight. It was difficult to move fast, her shoulder was hurting more and more. She had to hurry, or it would stop ringing. She focused on the sound. It was coming from her bedroom. She could feel that it would stop ringing in a matter of seconds. It rang one last time and she grabbed it just on time to answer.
- Jack?! she managed to mumble hesitantly.
Andy was about to hang up when he heard a noise coming out of his phone.
- Shar… Captain Raydor? Is that you?
- I… I… jus… who's there?
- It's Andy Flynn… are you okay?
- Hum… Andy… I thought… I thought you were… oh God… she was barely whispering; she was so confused.
- Captain, I can't hear you well! Are you alright? You don't seem to…
- Andy… I need… Andy… my children…
- Sharon, what's going on? Where are your children?
- I don't know… Andy… she started half sobbing through her words.
- Where are you? he was finally piecing everything together and understanding that something serious was off.
- Home…
- Okay… what happened?
- Andy… I need… I… she was trying to make herself heard through her tears and her big confusion. I need you…
- Stay right there! I'll be with you in a few minutes!
She dropped the phone, her energy leaving her once again. She sat on the floor, leaning against the side of her bed, her head felt heavy. She couldn't quite understand how things became so bad. She felt her eyelids closing and she couldn't fight the confusion anymore. It was just like she was living somebody else's life without understanding what was happening to her. She was going to stay there and wait for Andy. He would know what to do, he always did.
After knocking for several minutes with no sign of Sharon, Andy broke down the entry door and burst in calling for Sharon. He sounded panicked and he was. He had plenty of time to imagine the worse outcome during his drive over to her place. He needed to see her with his own eyes to make sure she was safe and sound.
He kept calling and went around the different rooms of the ground floor but still no sign of her. Had he been too long to come? He felt like he went through all the red lights and drove way faster than he was allowed even with the siren. He sprinted upstairs, praying for her to be there or he'd go crazy. Reaching the top of the stairs, he was ready to burst into every room when his eye caught a leg laying on the floor. There she was.
- Sharon! Are you okay?
She came to her senses when she heard him so close and slowly raised her head that had been hanging down while she had drifted off to sleep.
- Oh my god! Sharon!
- Andy… you're here! she mumbled under her breath, her hands reaching for him.
- What happened to your face? Your nose is bleeding!
His heart was aching for her. He couldn't bear to see her like that.
- I'm fine, Andy…
- No you're not! Your face is grazed everywhere… and look at your cheek!
He grabbed her by her upper arms when Sharon protested with pain.
- I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?
- It's my shoulder, I think it's dislocated, it hurts like hell…
- We need to get you to the hospital right now!
- I can't! I need to find my children! Andy! You don't understand! her tone alerted him.
- Okay, I need you to tell me what happened Sharon. I can't help you if I don't know why you're all grazed and why your children are not here.
- It's Jack… she hated the idea but she couldn't help herself and let her tears out. He came home all drunk and he accused me of cheating on him. He wouldn't believe me when I told him he was wrong and we had a fight, he made a scene at 3 am. I decided to go back to bed and let him sober up but he caught me in the stairs…
- What do you mean? Did he dare to… his veins were pulsing.
Sharon knew that if she told him the truth, he'd be back into his anger issues. They weren't supposedly in very good terms but she knew he wouldn't accept such thing done to her. That's probably why she loved him so.
- Please… don't get mad… he was probably too drunk to know what he was doing…
- What did he do to you?
- He was… tightening my arm in the stairs and then… before I knew it… he punched me in the temple… I.. I lost my balance and lost consciousness when I was tumbling down the stairs. I woke up this morning on the kitchen floor and the kids were gone… she was sobbing.
- This son of a…
- Andy please! Calm down! We need to stay focused, don't give in to your anger issues… please not now! And it's my fault after all! I should have seen this coming and protected my children from him…
- Sharon! You can't be serious! How can you be the one to blame! How could have guessed things would play out this way…
- I don't know, I just… this was a mistake…
- What are you talking about? Andy was calming down and sliding into a more compassionate and comforting attitude instead of willing to fix Jack for her.
- I never should have married him to begin with… the life of my children has been a mess from day 1… I'm so mad at myself for not seeing who he truly was before it was too late…
Andy had no words for that statement. He could only look deeply into her eyes and see how painful it was for her. He wanted to free her, save her, erase all the pain Jack inflicted on her and her kids but he couldn't forget she left him. Maybe she wouldn't even accept his help. Suddenly, it became awkward to remain silent.
- Listen… you shouldn't be thinking about that now… the sure thing is that he's a jerk and you're not to blame for his behavior. I think we should get you to the hospital now and call the team to start looking for your children.
- No! I don't want the team to know… to see me like this… they hate me anyways… and Jack could do worse if he knows the Police is looking for him…
- Sharon… listen… I know you're scared but you gotta trust me on this. I swear the team will do everything they can to help you and stay as discreet as necessary. And they might not appreciate you all that much, but that's only because they don't know you. However, I do and I appreciate you, I want you to know that.
Andy couldn't help it and said it out loud. Now it was too late to take it back and the situation was even more awkward. He felt like he should have kept his mouth shut because they were both married and he had always convinced himself that he would never forgive her for leaving him.
- Now, come on! Can you walk?
He had to change subject, or he would die of shame and awkwardness. He noticed she carried on with his question because she couldn't answer his affectious words. That's exactly in these situations that she became unreadable for him, putting on her impassible mask. And here they were switching positions… he was the one supposed to be silent and mad at her when actually it felt exactly the opposite.
- My ankle is sprained but I should be able to walk slowly.
She took a more informative tone, her tears and thoughts far behind her now.
- Okay, let me help you up…
He placed gently his arm around her waist, her hand falling on her ribcage. He acted carefully afraid to hurt her, hoping that she would take his help. She leaned into him naturally and they were secretly happy with feeling each other again. He helped her stand up and they walked together until they found the stairs.
- Hum… maybe for the stairs I should… he gestured with his free hand towards her knees, meaning to lift her into his arms.
- Hum… yeah sure… thank you…
He scooped her and carried her in his arms through the stairs and actually didn't release her until they were in front of his car, in the underground parking lot. His arms felt strong and protective. She couldn't be happier to have such a privileged moment in his arms with a good excuse to be there. She had once felt guilty for feeling so attracted to him but not anymore, not after Jack's behavior last night.