Sharon sat in her office, her mind wandering. She had a lot of work to do, but she'd been working for hours. It had been a long day, a long week. She was struggling, struggling with things in her life right now. All she wanted was simplicity-a simple house, with her kids. She didn't even have something like a dog to make things crazy, she thought about as she chuckled. It had been a whirlwind of a few weeks. Her house was under contract; that was a blessing. She wasn't sure how quickly it would sell, even though her realtor had told her it would go quickly. Sadly, her house hunt had not been going as fast, but she needed to find something soon. She wouldn't be able to stay in her house forever, and while the closing date was almost two months away because the buyer was moving then, she needed a house. She was scheduled to go out again with her realtor again today, in just a couple hours, in fact, before she picked up the kids. This place had promise; she'd looked at the listing a few times, and she was hopeful it might be the right place.

What was the right place? She was trying not to be too picky, but everything she'd seen was either too far away, too expensive, too old, too anything-okay, it did sound like she was being picky, but she just wanted a nice, newer safe place for her kids. She knew this one wouldn't be perfect; she was prepared for that. It was only two bedrooms, but the second bedroom, one that looked like it was supposed to be the master, had a weird layout, one that might work for the kids. It was an L-shape, and that might work perfectly for the kids. Sharon wasn't expecting to find a house that would be hers for the next 50 years. She knew things would change, but she needed something that would work for them as long as it worked. Right now, it was important to sell the house that had been hers with Jack. She needed closure, and thankfully, she was on the road to getting it.

Now wasn't the time to let her mind wander. She had work to do before she met her realtor for a couple hours before getting the kids. She got back to work, but it wasn't much longer, and she looked up when she heard a voice clear at her doorway.

"Oh, hi," she said softly as she looked to find Andy there.

"Sorry," he raised his hand. "I knocked. I guess you didn't hear me."

"You knocked?" Sharon asked.

"I'll leave," he gestured. "I did, and I'm sorry I just stepped inside."

"No, Andy, wait," she called to him. "Sorry," she shook her head when he met her gaze. "I wasn't upset you came into my office; I was upset that I didn't hear you knock. Can we start over?"

"Sure," he grinned, a slight chuckle in his voice. It had been a couple of weeks since she'd seen him, the baseball game, to be exact. They'd made plans to spend some time together that evening, but of course, the game had to go to 12 innings and extend way into the late evening. Since then, she'd spoken to him, but with his odd hours lately and her busy schedule, they just hadn't seen each other.

"What can I do for you?" Sharon asked, crossing her hands on her desk. She gave him a small smile. He stepped inside, leaving the office door open, but he stepped slightly closer to her desk.

"Well," he said with a slight pitch to his voice as he glanced at his watch, "I was going to ask if you'd had lunch. That's until I saw it was 1:30," he frowned. "I suppose now I'll ask if you could use a coffee break?"

"Oh," Sharon said with a slight roll of her eyes, "well, I was going to leave early today. I have another appointment with my realtor. I was just working through lunch since I'm leaving early."

"Sharon," he frowned. "Now, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I think you already work more hours here than most people combined. Also, it's not good to skip meals. So, my offer for food still stands."

Sharon laughed, and she sighed as she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, "I have to admit I've been working here for over three hours straight," she said as she glanced at her watch. "I suppose I could use a cup of coffee."

"Excellent," he nodded. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"Oh, I suppose it's a problem we walk outside," she nodded to the window. "I am the horrible FID person."

"Nah," he waved at her and winked. "You know that I don't care anything about that. I'm one of the only people who knows the real truth," he flashed a grin. "It's good all the guys are scared of you because otherwise you'd have to deal with them hitting on you all the time."

Sharon laughed as she stood and collected her purse. Andy stepped just outside of her office so she could lock up. She nodded to the secretary by the door, "I'm going to step out for a cup of coffee." The secretary nodded, Andy nodded, and then he and Sharon stepped into the hallway.

"So, what's new?" Sharon asked as they waited for the elevator.

Andy nodded his head side to side, "I wanted to talk to you. I mean, I've been wanting to hang out with you anyway, but I had an inquiry."

"Oh?" Sharon asked as they stepped onto the elevator. Andy just gave a nod, indicating he'd speak when they were alone again. She nodded, and the two rode down with the others in silence. Once they were out on the street, Sharon looked around, as if trying to decide where to go.

"What sounds good to eat?" Andy asked. Sharon shook her head and pursed her lips. "Deli a couple blocks down?"

Sharon looked that way and nodded, "That works." As they started to walk, Andy let out his breath.

"So," he started. Sharon glanced up at him, and he gestured again with his hands.

"I had a visit from Connors today. You know him, right?" Andy asked.

Sharon pursed her lips, nodded, and hummed, "Yes, good man. He's over in traffic, right?"

"Right," Andy nodded. "Yeah, he's a good guy. I've dealt with him a few times on cases, as I'm sure you have."

"I have," Sharon nodded.

"Anyway, it wasn't like he came seeking me out, but he was in our office on something else. I happened to catch him in the hall, and he asked me about you."

"Me?" Sharon looked to him, almost horrified. "What did he ask about me?"

"Well," Andy told her as they continued to walk, "I guess he saw me at the game talking to you. He just asked what was going on with us, that he didn't see many ever talk to you, let alone you look happy out in public. It was just an off the wall kind of comment, nothing that was a problem, but I did want to talk to you."

They'd reached the deli, but before Sharon opened the door, she turned to Andy, almost questioning him, "What did you tell him? I hope you told him that it was none of his business."

"I did, I mean," Andy rolled his eyes, "I mean, I told him in a nice way. I said we were friends, that I was one of the few people in the entire LAPD who knew how kind you were, and that you'd been my landlord for a year. That explained a lot of it to him, but it got me thinking."

"Thinking," Sharon shook her head slightly. Andy gave her a shrug. They stood there, next to the door to the deli.

"Your hair looks different," he said changing the topic. "What's different?"

Sharon touched it, shaking her head again slightly. She ran her hand over the ends of it, "It's not different, but I am in desperate need of a haircut. It's really long, longer than I've had it in years. I realized that the other day when I was bent over my desk, and it was getting in the way constantly. It dawned on me that with everything going on, I haven't had it cut since before Christmas. That's not like me. I'm usually on top of things, but it's been a difficult few months."

Andy just nodded. The two were quiet a moment. Sharon looked down at her shoes. Andy leaned toward her as he also reached for the door, "I like it that long. It looks good on you. I guess what I got to thinking is that I wanted to call you more. I wanted to tell him, to tell everyone, that we're seeing each other."

Sharon glanced at him, a slight shake to her head. She bit down on her lip, and he reached for and clasped his hand in hers. She looked at that and at him, "I'm not sure what we are except a complicated mess."

Andy shrugged, "Okay, so? I like spending time with you. Nothing we've done is conventional. I guess we are maybe trying to get our act together now, add some normalcy to this," he gestured between them. "I guess we have put the brakes on and might proceed with caution, at least I hope?"

"I don't know about anything right now, Andy," Sharon sighed and shook her head. "Just a short time ago, I was sitting in my office thinking about what a mess my life is. I'm about to sell my house, have nowhere to go, and that doesn't even start to include things between us."

"Okay," he shrugged. "We can walk away, just forget the other existed. So, if I told you I was going to hit the town tonight, you know, Provenza as my wing-man, to find some date for the evening, someone to take out, you'd be fine with that?"

Sharon looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. She didn't say anything, but she just locked eyes with him. He resisted the urge to smirk, but finally, she opened her mouth to speak, "I see your point, even if the idea of Provenza as your wing-man, anyone's wing-man is laughable."

"Well, then," he winked at her, "let's talk about this over something to eat, shall we?"