14.
It took Taylor a good 30 seconds to get himself together after hearing what they'd wanted to see him about. He couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what Flynn had that nobody else did. He'd seen quite a few men try to catch Sharon's attention and every single one of them had failed. Some of them had been what he would have considered "her type"... educated, well spoken, classy if you will. Flynn, on the other hand, had managed to piss her off at every opportunity for years, and had built an FID file thicker than a telephone book. His New York twang gave him a slightly 'gangster' sound, and he couldn't see the appeal of that either.
"Well, thank you for advising me of your current status" he told them, looking from one to the other. "There's no rule saying either of you have to transfer, but just give yourselves a little room to manoeuvre" he added. Of all the people in the PAB who he thought would develop a relationship, these two were THE most unlikely pair he could think of. Still quite perplexed, he turned to leave and then turned back, offering "It sure is a happy day", leaving both Sharon and Andy sure that they had never seen Chief Taylor look quite so out of his depth as he did in that moment. Both felt enormous relief knowing this particular task was now out of the way.
"Heads up Mom... I spoke with Dad this morning, and he's heading in your direction." A voicemail from Emily altered Sharon to the likely arrival of her ex-husband and his enormous ego.
"CRAP" she muttered under her breath.
"Excuse me, did she just say crap?" Asked Provenza, horrified.
"Sharon, such language. What's wrong?" Andy asked her.
"Just what I DON'T need to deal with today. That pompous ass and his over-inflated sense of self importance." she answered.
"Jack" Andy mused "is he representing someone who requires a public defender? That son of a bitch better watch himself in this room."
"Andy, if he starts, just ignore him."
"You mean WHEN he starts right?" Jack Raydor had been a thorn in Andy's side for as long as he could remember, but since Sharon's divorce had been finalised, it appeared Jack had ramped up his obnoxious behaviour for his benefit. It suddenly occurred to him that in this instance, it may be worse than usual if either Ricky or Emily had let the proverbial cat out of the bag. Sharon seemed to arrive at the same notion just as he did because she sent him an "Oh Good God" glance signaling her recognition of what may be arriving shortly.
They had meant to tell the team about their relationship after talking to Chief Taylor, but they thought they'd have the grace of a couple of days at least.
As if on cue, Jack strolled into the murder room as though he were walking into a bar full of friends.
All eyes turned toward him, with looks which should have told him they were anything but.
"I'm here to see my client" he expounded, with his chest puffed with self importance.
Provenza extended an arm toward one of the interrogation rooms, signaling to Jack the direction of his new client, and he started to walk in the indicated direction, stopped, spun around and looked back at them all.
"Lovely to see all of you too" he said with just a hint of sarcasm.
"You in particular Sha-ron. Ricky tells me his mother is walking on air."
"Flynn, you've successfully blown away the cobwebs and removed the stick from her ass. Congratulations."
And with that, Jack Raydor turned and entered the interrogation room.
Sharon retreated immediately to her office.
Andy stood shocked for a moment before erupting "I'M GOING TO END THAT SON OF A BITCH. HOW DARE HE?" Provenza eyed him with caution. "Not good for your blood pressure Flynn. Take a break" he said.
The others turned to their various tasks, trying to look busy, while definitely NOT thinking about what Jack Raydor had just announced. They were definitely NOT wondering how true it was. Ok they were, but they were absolutely, positively, definitely not going to ask, especially when Andy was in THIS mood.
