He hadn't seen her in almost six weeks now, which, he realized, was a really long time, especially for friends. It was now the third week of April. Spring was definitely in the air for Southern California. Easter had come and gone, and Andy felt things were improving, slowly, but they were improving. Life in his own apartment was good, freeing, even, but it was quiet too. He now had regular visitation with the kids; the supervised visits had finally stopped. He'd proven to both Sandra and the courts he could be a decent parent and had no intention of letting down his kids. His apartment was drab, but it was a home, his home right now. While he had been extremely busy working both of his jobs, he realized that in his few quiet moments at home that he missed his long talks with Sharon, those long talks, often happening in the middle of the night. He'd been missing them, but until he saw her across the room just now, he honestly hadn't realized just how much he had missed talking to his friend.

He was at a mandatory training today, one of the stupid day trainings put on by Human Resources. He hated these things; everyone hated these, but it was all part of the job. He'd signed up for the two-day seminar right now and had thought it would be a good way to even catch his breath. Working almost around the clock was starting to take a toll on him; he was realizing more and more each day that he was getting older. He'd thought these two days would be a good way to relax even, if that was possible, at a stupid working training. Now, as he tried to make eye contact with her across the room, he decided that just maybe, at least for today, these work trainings were a blessing in disguise.

Andy tried to catch her eye again, but he couldn't. Just as he was deciding to stand up and move toward her, the instructor for the morning started the seminar. He sighed, loudly, apparently, because a couple of guys around him started to chuckle. He wasn't irritated by the class starting, even though that's what it sounded like right now, but he'd try to catch Sharon at a break and maybe even sit by her after lunch.

The morning dragged by. He fell asleep briefly, as did many of the guys he was sitting around. People let the others sleep until they would start to snore, and then, the guys would nudge one another. Luckily, the lecture hall was large. Andy glanced at his watch after waking again and nodded when he noticed it was almost time for that morning break. Finally. He looked over, trying to catch Sharons' eye and frowned. Where was she? Her seat was empty. He'd missed her during his little hiatus. He continued to look for her during the break and couldn't find her. As the class regrouped and continued on toward lunch, he continued to glance her way and smiled brightly when he finally saw her drop back into her seat. She looked a little rushed. Something was going on, but she kept her eyes locked on the instructor, so he couldn't make eye contact. He'd wait for lunch.

Lunch finally came, of course, 25 minutes after the "promised" stop time. Andy was starving, but he also really wanted to catch up with Sharon. He wanted to kick himself for not getting in touch sooner. He'd just been so busy getting settled in his new place, seeing the kids, and juggling two jobs. Not today, though, because he wanted to have lunch with her.

"Sharon," he called as he approached her, and he instantly winced at calling her that. Yes, it was okay he called her that, but he didn't want to call her that at work. She deserved the respect she'd earned with her rank. She treated all officers with respect and called them by rank. He wasn't about to give others any idea that they could treat her any differently. They were at work; he needed to abide by that with her rank.

Just as he was about to call out to her again, she turned, and their eyes met. She gave him a small smile and wave, a very small, but sweet wave, if that was a thing. He grinned at her and made his way to her. Instead of trying to move in the mass of people, she waited, and Andy finally met her at her seat.

"Hey," he grinned again. "This is the worst, right?"

"Hmm, I assume you mean this class," Sharon said gesturing with her finger. "I do admit, though, that many cringe when they see me, and yes, many people think I am the worst."

Andy stood there, almost perplexed as he ran through his words in his head, and then, he started to chuckle as he shook his head, "No, I mean, nice to see you; this class is the worst."

"Nice to see you," Sharon grinned as she gathered her things. "It's been a few weeks."

"Yeah, too long," he nodded. "Sorry about that. My fault."

Sharon frowned at him and rolled her eyes, "It's not your fault. Life is life. You've been busy. I've been busy, and I know I've had a lot going on."

"Oh yeah?" Andy asked, raising his eyebrows. "What's going on with you?"

Sharon sighed and briefly glanced to the floor. She frowned again and looked up at Andy, "My dad slipped and broke his hip a couple weeks ago. The kids and I flew to Florida to check on him. It's just been a lot."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Andy's eyes widened. "I had no idea! How is he?"

"He's going to be okay, but thank you," Sharon said with a simple nod and slight sigh. "It's always hard to accept your parents getting older. He's in rehab now, and I expect he will make close to a full recovery, at least as much of one for his age."

"Good, good," Andy nodded, giving her a sympathetic smile. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Oh, I'm okay," Sharon said with a slight wave. "Just trying to recover from that-in all ways, mentally, emotionally, financially. As I also told you before, I have a strained relationship with them."

"Yeah," Andy nodded, glancing around. "Say, I know we don't get a long break for lunch. Care to join me? We could continue this."

"Ahh, okay," Sharon said with a nod. "Thanks. I honestly hadn't thought about lunch yet." Andy gestured for her to walk in front of him, and then, he followed to catch up to walk beside her. She glanced over at him, her lips pursed, "If I tell you something, promise to keep a secret?"

"You keeping streets?" Andy raised an eyebrow. "I think I can do that."

"I snuck out of the conference briefly this morning," Sharon admitted, rolling her eyes.

"Raydor breaking the rules," Andy said with a slightly raised and shocked tone as he clutched his chest. "What has the world come to these days?"

Sharon chuckled and put her hands in her pockets as she explained, "I was getting out of the car here today and realized Emily left her show and tell toy in the car, along with the class snack. It was all packed in the bag together. I knew she would have a meltdown. She missed it last week due to our traveling, and she's had a bit of an adjustment getting back into her routine. Anyway, I knew I had to get it to her at school, so I got situated in the class and ducked out when things got started."

Andy started to laugh and nodded as he did so, "I wondered where you went."

"You noticed?" Sharon looked over to him, her eyes widened in horror.

Andy raised his hand in defense, "Just noticed you across the room, and when I looked back, you were gone. It seemed longer than a restroom break. Your secret is safe," he winked.

"I suppose I can trust you," Sharon said, eyeing him in almost the form of a question.

"Of course," Andy nodded. "Tell me about your dad, about your trip."

The two walked down the street to a corner bagel shop. It wasn't that busy; most of those from their class had gone to two of the more popular places, but they'd gone the other way just to get something to eat quickly. They'd ended up in front of a bagel shop that also sold a lot of soups and salads. The two glanced at each other, and with simple nods, lunch was decided. They talked and laughed through lunch, catching up on things from the last few weeks, Andy telling her about his new place and time with his kids. As they finished lunch and walked back toward their class, Andy gestured to her.

"We should get the kids together soon. Nicole asked about Emily. I think she enjoyed playing with her, even though Emily is younger."

Sharon smiled and continued to look forward, "Emily has been asking about Nicole too. That would be nice. I think the kids would all enjoy it. You know my schedule most weekends. Just let me know when you have your kids."

"I will," Andy nodded, glancing at her. "So, yeah, the kids then?"

Sharon paused a moment and looked over at him before they opened the door, "Sounds good," she nodded. "I'll look forward to it."

"Maybe even like pizza together, I mean, with the kids?" Andy asked.

Sharon opened the door, and Andy grabbed it to hold for her. She looked up at him, "An evening with friends, all around. Sounds enjoyable for all."

"I'll look at the calendar during the afternoon session," Andy said. "Oh, Sharon," he said in a low tone, which had her turn toward him. She looked puzzled, and he leaned down, "You snuck out this morning. I slept through most of it. We should coordinate these training sessions, you know, having you here makes it not so bad."

"Agree," Sharon said quickly and moved inside. Andy wanted to say more, but reality set in. Class was getting ready to start, and it was back to business.