A/N: This is a sequel to "Training Wheels". This story will be significantly shorter than "Training Wheels," and I will try to post as often as possible.

blossom-of-snow edited the first four chapters, but life prevented her from editing the rest, so chapters 5 and on will be posted as-is. She's been working with me on "Training Wheels" for the three years it took to write, so I'll take this chance to thank her for her part in both stories.


Los Angeles, April 2025

The address of their crime scene looked familiar, but Sharon didn't recognize it at first glance. Provenza's call woke Andy and her up, and they were still slightly dazed. She realized why she knew the address only when she parked her car in front of the Echo Park duplex. She exchanged a worried look with Andy as they both realized that they knew the victim.

The flickering red and blue lights that she was so used to sent a shiver down her spine, and her breath hitched.

"Andy, what did Provenza say on the phone?"

"Nothing much. He gave me this address and said that we should come quickly." Andy looked equally scandalized by the revelation that neither of them realized why they were called into this particular crime scene.

"I don't want to go in there." Sharon's voice shook. "If there was a murder, then –" She couldn't say it. She didn't want to think about it. She had almost lost her daughter to violent crime a few years ago, and she feared that this time, she wasn't that lucky. Sharon looked down at the tattoo on her inner wrist, a clover made of three interlocking hearts, that Rainie convinced her and Andy to get together on the day Andy adopted Rainie. Would that tattoo now become a memorial for her daughter?

Rainie and Lauren moved into this house only a week ago. Sharon and Andy knew that whatever happened tonight brought an end to the new life the girls were building together. Sharon remembered the light in Rainie's eyes when she told them that she and Lauren had found the house of their dreams. It was within their budget, and it was in a great neighborhood. They would have a big living room, a yard for their dog, a spacious study where they could work on their projects, and a guest room. They were planning to have a housewarming party this weekend. Sharon raised her eyes from her tattoo and looked at the yellow tape that closed off the scene. How could everything turn so dark?

"What does protocol say about turning back and going home?" Andy's voice broke as he spoke.

"I don't remember." Sharon's brain couldn't conjure a single regulation right now. It was spiraling deep into the darkest imaginable thoughts.

Three knocks on her car window startled Sharon and Andy, who were both sinking deeper into despair. Sharon rolled down the window and looked at her Lieutenant, whose expression was unreadable.

"Commander, Flynn," he said, his voice barely steady.

"Don't say it, please," Sharon said, choking on tears.

Provenza looked at Andy and motioned for him to get out of the car.

Andy nodded at his best friend and took Sharon's hand. "Babe, I'm going to talk to Provenza. Do you want to join us?"

Sharon inhaled deeply. "I just need a moment."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling tears streaming down her face. You can do it. You can do it. She repeated the mantra in her head until she was able to compose herself. She looked at Andy and nodded.

She turned off the car and followed Andy and Provenza to the entrance of the house. Provenza stopped a few steps away from the door.

"Sharon, Andy," he said in a gentle tone that Sharon had never heard from him. "Tonight, we were dispatched to this address. There was a break-in, and I am sorry to inform you that your daughter-in-law, Lauren Bauer-Flynn, was stabbed to death. Rainie found her."

"Rainie is okay?" Andy asked.

"Physically, she's unharmed. But we called you here because we need your help getting her out of the scene so we can investigate," Provenza explained.

Even though Sharon was relieved that Rainie was not hurt, learning of Lauren's death was devastating. Lauren had been a part of their family for the last five years, and Sharon thought Rainie and Lauren were a perfect match. There was so much joie de vivre in their relationship that Sharon adored. Lauren was a supportive partner to Rainie, and they completed each other in many different ways. She could only imagine Rainie's distress at this moment.

"Also, you should know that because of your connection to the victim, Chief Mason requested that neither of you take part in this investigation. I will take over for you."

That was fine with Sharon. She trusted Provenza to perform a thorough investigation and find the murderer. The only thing on her mind right now was Rainie.

Andy rested a heavy hand on his wife's shoulder. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Rainie needs us." Sharon sniffled.

They wrapped disposable covers over their shoes and went into the house.

The moment they stepped in, Sharon and Andy could see that it had been broken into. The living room was destroyed, the TV was missing, drawers were left half-open, and shattered glass was everywhere.

"Over here," Provenza instructed. They followed him down the hall and up the staircase to the second floor. Sharon noticed a broken window at the end of the hall, probably how the murderer broke in. Sharon remembered Rainie and Lauren saying that they wanted to bar that window.

Climbing the stairs, Sharon could hear her daughter's muffled cries coming from the bathroom. Her eyes rested on a bloody handprint on the wall outside the bathroom. She took a deep breath before she entered the bathroom. A pool of rapidly drying blood stained the bathroom floor. Rainie was sitting on the floor, cradling Lauren's head in her arms and sobbing. Sharon kneeled next to her daughter, careful not to contaminate the scene further, and looked at Lauren's face; her blond hair was soaked in blood. Her eyes were open and staring blindly towards the ceiling. Sharon's eyes raked over her daughter-in-law's body. Her blue T-shirt was ripped around her chest, where she had been stabbed, and her throat had been slashed.

"I am so sorry, honey," Sharon wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulders.

Rainie's sobs became louder upon hearing Sharon's voice. Sharon tightened her hold on her daughter, knowing that nothing she could say would make her feel better. She remained silent, letting her daughter grieve for her wife for a final few minutes.

When Provenza cleared his throat, she nodded slowly.

"Sweetie, I know this is hard, but we need to leave here and let Provenza and my team investigate–"

"I can't," Rainie sobbed. "I can't leave her."

"Honey, we–"

"We were going to have a baby. We found out about it this morning."

Sharon's heart began to race. She had not known that Rainie and Lauren were actively trying to have a child. She knew that they both wanted to become mothers, but they hadn't told anyone they were undergoing fertility treatments.

"We were so happy, and now they're both gone." Rainie bawled.

"Sweetheart, I am so sorry." Her heart was breaking more and more with every beat. "I know how difficult this is. I really do. But to bring justice to you and Lauren, we need to leave."

"Please don't make me. I don't wanna leave her alone, mom. I can't."

"Okay, how about we just take a few steps back?" Sharon suggested. She got up and offered her hand to Rainie. "Just stand up; we won't leave the room."

Rainie looked at her and then at Lauren. She bent down to kiss her wife's forehead and then gently laid Lauren's head on the floor. She took Sharon's hand and stood up.

Sharon nodded to Provenza, and he motioned to the coroner, who was standing just outside the room, to examine Lauren's body.

Sharon held Rainie close to her. "You don't have to watch this, honey. We can leave."

Rainie shook her head, her eyes nearly as blank as her wife's.

Sharon heard the coroner estimating time and cause of death as he proceeded to bag Lauren's body. She could feel Rainie shivering by her side and suggested again that she leave. This time, Rainie relented. Sharon led her daughter downstairs and out of the house. An ambulance was waiting outside, and Sharon let the paramedics provide Rainie with mental health first aid. As a police officer, Sharon was trained to give mental first aid, but she was battling with her own grief, and it would not be beneficial to her or Rainie if she tried to provide it now.

Andy was still in the house with Provenza, giving them all the information he knew about Lauren and Rainie and the house. A few minutes later, he joined Sharon in the driveway.

"This is a nightmare," Sharon said.

Andy took her hand in his and squeezed it.

"What did Provenza say?"

"It looks like a robbery gone wrong. The murderer broke in through the window, thinking there was no one at home. He went upstairs, ran into Lauren, and stabbed her. Kendell said she was stabbed five times. There are defensive wounds. She fought, so there may be skin cells under her fingernails. There's blood in the kitchen, which possibly came from the murderer. He may have wound himself when he came through the window or during the murder." Andy said.

"Why do we think it's a man?" Sharon asked. Keeping her mind busy with something other than grief was helping her.

"Provenza isn't ruling out the fact that a woman could have done this."

Sharon looked at Rainie, who was still talking to the paramedics. Detective Sykes hovered nearby, no doubt collecting as much information as possible so that she wouldn't have to ask Rainie all the standard questions.

"Lauren was pregnant." Sharon sighed softly.

"Dammit. Things were going so well for them."

"I don't know how we're going to come back from this, Andy," Sharon said. "We've been through so much, but this is the first time we've truly lost someone."

"We will take it one day at a time. It's the only way," Andy said.

Sharon nodded. His AA mantra was true for grief as well. There will be many feelings, tears, and challenging moments in the upcoming weeks, possibly months or years. All of them will have to deal with the trauma and devastation. Rainie needed her parents, her family, to be there for her. Everything was broken now, and they would heal, somehow, as a family.

The drive to Los Feliz was agonizing. Even though the traffic was not as bad around midnight as it was during the day, the drive felt eternal. Sharon kept looking at Rainie through the rearview mirror. Her daughter's eyes were empty, and her expression blank like she'd run out of tears, of emotions. Sharon knew it was normal, but it still hurt to see her daughter so wrecked.

It was close to midnight when they arrived at the condo. Andy went to the kitchen to make some tea and prepare a quick dinner while Sharon led Rainie to the shower. Rainie's clothes and hands were covered with blood, and there were also a few stains on her face. Her makeup was smeared with dark streaks of mascara running down her face.

"Honey, do you need my help?" Sharon asked.

Rainie made a choked sound that sounded like an affirmative answer.

"I'm going to help you undress. Is that okay?"

A faint "Yeah" came out of Rainie's mouth.

Sharon took off Rainie's shoes and socks and then undid the top buttons of her dress. She pulled it over Rainie's head and let Rainie remove her underwear as she filled the bathtub with warm water.

Rainie stepped into the bathtub and folded her knees to her chest.

Sharon removed the elastic from her daughter's hair and began to wash it, hoping that the gentle head massage she was giving her daughter provided some relief, even a small one. After she finished rinsing shampoo and conditioner out of Rainie's copper curls, Sharon grabbed a cloth and wet it in the bathwater.

"Look at me, my love," She said softly and wiped the makeup and bloodstains off her daughter's face. With a clean face, Rainie looked almost normal. However, the wet cloth could not remove the dead expression in her eyes. Sharon noticed that Rainie's lower lip began to tremble. Tears flowed from Rainie's eyes again, and she buried her head between her knees and rocked back and forth.

Sharon wrapped her arms around her daughter's body, stilling her motions as her daughter sobbed.

"There is nothing I can say or do that will make you feel better, even though I want to take away your pain so badly. But I am here for you, and so is Andy. You are not alone."

After Rainie's bath, Sharon and Andy got her to eat a few bites of a sandwich. Sharon offered her to sleep in bed with her, like they used to do when Rainie still lived at home, but Rainie wanted her privacy, so she retired to the guest room.

Even after they all went to bed, Sharon and Andy could hear Rainie's sobs. Although it was painful for them to listen to her crying, they knew it was part of her grieving process and would not cross the boundaries she set for them. Sharon remembered all the difficult times they went through during Rainie's first years with her; all the terrible things her daughter endured at the hands of Gary and other vile men had put her at increased risk for suicide. When Rainie was a teenager and a young adult, Sharon had some control over the situation and could help her navigate the dark waters. Now, Rainie was twenty-seven, not a child, and she was grieving for her wife and baby. Sharon hadn't experienced such a loss in her life, and she could not find the right words to help her daughter put her life together.

On this night, Sharon felt nothing but grief and doubt. For the very first time in her life, Sharon truly felt the scorch of tragic death.

-TBC-