A/N: I apologize in advance for the long author's note.

In the week that passed since I posted chapter 5, I've received several messages from the same person, most of them extremely rude, about writing Andy into the story.

First of all - if you send me rude messages, call me names and disrespect the time I put into writing this and any other fanfiction, your review will be deleted. I have no interest in helping you spread your negativity and no time for it either.

The same person called me a fake feminist, because of the dinner Andy cooked for Sharon and Rainie. FYI there are (and always have been) several approaches to feminism, and the one I support says that being a feminist doesn't mean not hanging out with men or avoiding romantic relationships with them. So if Sharon had a male friend who saw that she was upset and decided to do something nice to help lift her spirit up, there's nothing wrong with it.

They also pointed out that I broke my promise to stay as close as possible to canon by inserting Andy so early. To clarify, it's my right to take artistic liberty with this story. If I wrote everything the same way it happened on the show, it wouldn't be interesting. Also, aside from being a retelling, it is also AU by definition.

However, a romantic relationship between Sharon and Andy will happen at the pace that it happened on the show, but it is very likely that I will fill in the relationship development we didn't get to see, including the friendship part.

So to that person who wrote all those nasty reviews, I hope that the information I provided here about my views and where this story is going will be useful to you in deciding whether or not you want to continue reading this story. If it's not your cup of tea, it's fine by me, but I don't care to hear your opinion about it if you are gonna be disrespectful about it.

And of course, a huge thanks to the rest of you for reading this story and leaving reviews. I hope everyone keeps enjoying it. And I extend my eternal gratitude to the ever-so-lovely blossom—of—snow (aka bloom-and-grow-forever on FFN) for being my beta for this story.

Sharon loaded her plate and empty coffee mug into the dishwasher and threw a glance at her watch. It was almost seven, and Rainie still hasn't emerged from the bathroom. She has been there for close to an hour already, and Sharon was beginning to wonder what she was up to. She walked down the hall and knocked on the bathroom door. A muffled hum was heard from behind the closed door.

"Is everything okay in there?" Sharon asked. The door opened to reveal Rainie standing in front of the mirror and applying a thick layer of foundation on her face.

"I can't make it hide my black eye," she whined and turned towards Sharon so she could see.

"The color of this foundation doesn't match your skin color, that's why," Sharon explained and grabbed a cotton pad. She soaked it with makeup remover and gently swiped it around Rainie's eye and cheek that were still heavily bruised. "Let's see if any of my makeup matches you better." Sharon opened one of the drawers and took out a couple of concealer tubes. She squeezed a little bit of product out onto the back of her hand and began applying it on Rainie's face with a clean makeup brush. Then she took a step back and examined the color. "I think the other one might work a bit better," she said and used another cotton pad to wipe the concealer she applied on Rainie's face. She applied the other concealer and nodded. "It's not perfect, but it hides most of it."

"Thanks, Sharon. It looks so much better now," Rainie said after she examined the result. The girl's lip was still split, but the Sharon couldn't do anything about it.

"Are you good to go?" she asked. Rainie confirmed and went to her room to get her backpack. Sharon had offered her to buy a new one, but Rainie preferred on keeping the old, beaten backpack. She agreed to let Sharon wash it, which was a good compromise for both of them. It didn't surprise Sharon that Rainie had clung to physical items. Her frequent moves were noted in her DCFS file, as she had attended five elementary schools and three middle schools. It appeared that Rainie's mother tended to move around a lot, and Rainie did mention in passing that they were often evicted from the apartments they lived in after her mother forgot to pay the rent, or preferred spending it on drugs. It therefore made sense that the girl's backpack and the old pajama shirt she kept gave her a sense of stability that she had never felt anywhere. It was a security that Daniel Dunn was now threatening, and Sharon promised her that by the end of the day, he would be out of her life. She was expecting the meeting with Daniel Dunn to be emotionally draining for the girl, but she promised Rainie that she was going to be there with her and that it would only take a couple of minutes. She had no intention to expose Rainie to this man for longer than it was necessary to make him sign a termination of his parental rights.

"Sharon?" she felt the girl's hand gently resting on her shoulder. She hummed and looked at Rainie, slightly disoriented and confused. Her thoughts drifted away, and she was still standing in the middle of the bathroom and staring at nothing in particular. "Don't we have to leave?"

"Yes, honey, we do," she replied and offered the girl a smile that she had hoped would be comforting. She walked out of the bathroom, following Rainie down the hall where she grabbed her purse and car keys before they left the condo.

Sharon watched the girl for a long moment when she walked out of the car and into the school. She used to do that when her children were little, just to make sure that they were fine and got into school alright. She saw the kids that greeted each other and formed small groups as they walked down the path that led to the school building. Rainie seemed to be the only student that no one approached. Sharon knew that she was struggling socially at school, and it upset her to see Rainie so lonely. It was especially frustrating for Sharon after the girl had been rejected by several clubs at school under the claim that she did not embody the spirit of the clubs she wished to join. Sharon had offered her to sign up for a sports team or another after-school program at one of the many youth recreation centers where she would be able to meet kids her age, but the girl didn't express any interest in that. She watched her foster daughter as she walked into the school building and then drove away from there, trying very hard to push the lingering worries about Rainie's social status at school out of her mind. She couldn't fix Rainie's social problems sitting in the carpool lane, and she preferred thinking about the day that was ahead of her, and the case that the Major Crimes division was trying to solve.

Sharon poured herself a glass of wine and emptied it faster than she expected. It had been a hectic day; the Major Crimes team was under an FID investigation after stopping a dangerous assassin whose name they still didn't know. She was sure that the team will be cleared, but for the time being, four members of her division had to give away their service weapons and go through interviews with FID and behavioral science. Until then, her division was non-operational. On another front, Daniel Dunn had signed away his parental rights which gave Sharon a great sense of relief. She knew that for Rainie it was a bittersweet experience. Having to face a man who had verbally and physically abused her was difficult even for an adult, and the girl's courage to stand up to the person who had wronged her gave Sharon a lot of pride. But stopping a dangerous murderer from ever killing again and removing a child abuser from her foster daughter's life had also made room in Sharon's mind for other concerns. The thoughts about Rainie's social situation returned to plague her, and she felt like there was something she could do. Part of helping the girl maintain a sense of stability would be helping her create social connections with teenagers her age. Sharon noticed that the girl liked to draw and also seemed to be interested in creative writing. Having raised one child with artistic inclinations, Sharon wanted to help Rainie to not only develop her skills and possibly explore new areas of art, but also meet new friends.

She refilled her wine glass and walked down the hall to the girl's bedroom. The door was half open, and she knocked on the doorframe before she heard Rainie's voice. She pushed the door open and went into the room.

Rainie was sitting on her bed and drawing in her notebook. After the incident with the wall, Sharon had bought her colorful sharpies and gave them to her. While Sharon did not encourage vandalism, she recognized that the wall has been the girl's outlet for otherwise repressed emotions and decided to allow the wall drawings. They have made a deal that Rainie would not draw on other walls in the room, except for this one, and that once it was full of her drawings, Rainie would repaint it if she wished to make room for new art.

"Can I sit?" she asked, and Rainie nodded. Sharon took a seat on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?" She expected that it would take Rainie some time to process the events of the day.

"I don't know," the girl shrugged. "Kinda empty, maybe."

"Empty?" Sharon inquired.

"I always imagined that my father was a hero who sacrificed his life for his country, but he ended up being a douchebag who only cared about himself; he didn't even want me to begin with. He was supposed to be a part of me, and by getting to know who he really is, I feel like that part is lost."

"Just because Daniel is not the person you had hoped he would be doesn't mean that part of you is gone," Sharon felt horrible for bringing Daniel Dunn into this girl's life. He had done nothing but turn the fairytale the girl had in her head into a nightmare and Sharon was angry at him and herself for everything that had transpired.

"Maybe you're right," Rainie said and pushed her notebook towards Sharon so she could see the drawing she was working on. It was a drawing of a man; he had an oblong face, Roman nose, high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes that were reminiscent of Rainie's. She was still working on the haircut, but as far as Sharon could tell, she was drawing a crew-cut. "That's how I always imagined he would look," she explained. Sharon took a long moment to examine all the details. The face Rainie had drawn was strikingly realistic, and Sharon felt as if the imaginary father was staring at her from the page. If that drawing meant anything, it was that Rainie had a natural talent for drawing portraits.

"Much better looking than Daniel," Sharon said. "Who taught you to draw like that?"

"I don't know. There must have been someone, but I can't remember who it was," Rainie admitted. "I still can't understand how the art club refused to accept me. I'm not that bad, right?"

"You probably draw just as well, if not better than any of them," Sharon replied. "I've been thinking. Why don't you start your own club?"

"There's already one art club," Rainie replied.

"That's true, but there's no creative writing club at St. Joseph's and I bet you are not the only kid in that school who can write," Sharon suggested.

"Can I do that? Just start my own club?" By the way Rainie's eyes widened it was clear that she had not considered the idea. Sharon nodded. "How do I do that?"

"Well, first, you have to submit a request for St. Joseph's and wait for them to approve it. Once they do, they'll be able to guide you through the process," Sharon explained.

"What if they don't approve my club? Or if people don't join it?" Rainie said. "People hate me at school after what I said to Sister Clara."

"If any of that happens, we'll figure it out. But why don't you try first?" Sharon encouraged her.

Knowing some of the faculty members, she had been surprised to discover that they all held a grudge against Rainie for the incident with the nun. Rainie had apologized and was punished with a month of detention, but it appeared that the girl's repentance hadn't mattered much. Father Redmond and the faculty had taken any chance they could to latch onto any academic mistake Rainie made in class or her schoolwork. The incident also had an impact on Rainie's social life at school. As the great majority of the other students were Catholic, they regarded her solecism at a nun as disrespect towards their faith and disliked her. As far as Sharon knew, she wasn't being bullied, but from the reports of a teacher she trusted, it appeared that Rainie had spent all her recesses and lunch breaks alone. Sharon had hoped that the St. Joseph's faculty would be able to put aside their trepidation of Rainie and give her a real chance to make friends by establishing her own club. She was sure that once the other students got to know her, they would understand that the incident had been a terrible mistake Rainie deeply regretted. If the faculty did not approve her club, Sharon would consider transferring Rainie to a school that would offer her the option to start again. She had no intention to force Rainie to stay at a school that was shunning her for one slip of the tongue, as horrible as it may have been. However, she wished for the girl to try before the staff reaped Sharon's wrath. If things went well, Rainie would get a chance to prove to the faculty and students that she was a reformed person who wanted to fit in.

Even when she took all of the possible outcomes into account, Sharon was surprised to receive a call from Father Redmond at the end of the following day asking her to come to a meeting with Rainie. He refused to specify what it was about, and since the school forbade students to use their phones on school premises, Sharon could not text or call Rainie to find out. She has left work early and hurried to St. Joseph's, still wondering what trouble Rainie could have gotten into. As she strode down the hall of the school, she spotted Rainie sitting on the heavy wooden bench outside Father Redmond's office, looking dejected.

"Sharon?" the girl seemed surprised to see her.

"What happened?" Sharon asked the confused girl.

"I don't know. Father Redmond just called me to his office. I've been waiting here for half an hour. I didn't do anything wrong," Rainie said. Sharon knocked on the door to Father Redmond's office and opened it when she heard his response.

"Captain," the priest greeted her and asked her and Rainie to come into his office. He offered them a seat, and they took it. "This morning I came in, and this application was waiting for me in my mailbox," he said and handed Sharon a paper. Upon a quick inspection, Sharon realized it was the request Rainie submitted to open her club. "It's not often that I see a student here that shows such great disrespect for our school and the staff and then comes to us with demands."

"Demands?" Sharon arched her eyebrow. She re-examined the request Rainie filled in. There didn't seem to be anything wrong or unusual in it. "This seems like a pretty standard request form to open a new club at the school."

"Rainie can't come here and ask to open a new club after she blatantly disrespected an employee of the school and uttered blasphemies," Father Redmond spoke angrily.

"Father, the incident you are talking about happened three months ago. Rainie has apologized to Sister Clara and to the students who witnessed the incident. She had been a hardworking and well-behaved student since then. She completed a month of detention the school decided to punish her with. Now she wishes to become a productive member of this academic community and engage in a positive activity. I believe that she should be allowed to do so," Sharon argued.

"Captain, the Catholic church appreciates the effort and devotion you've put into helping the needy. However, as we have experienced first-hand of the heresies that this girl spews, we don't believe that she should receive the opportunity to express her views – literary or otherwise – in front of other students at the school," Father Redmond's face became flushed. Seeing the man's anger, Sharon realized she wouldn't be able to outwit him this time.

"Father, I believe some kind of compromise can be reached here," she suggested.

"What do you propose?" At least Father Redmond was willing to listen.

"An agreement between Rainie and the school. Rainie will be allowed to establish her club, and the school will be allowed to monitor the club's activity," Sharon said and looked at Rainie. The girl nodded in agreement.

"It sounds like a fair agreement," he seemed to consider the idea. "The school would require that Rainie submit all of her writings to a teacher in the school before presenting it to the club. The teacher will be able to approve or reject her piece, or demand that it will be revised," he said after a moment's thought.

"Rainie?" Sharon asked, trying to engage the girl in the conversation and see what her stance on Father Redmond's stipulation was.

"May I choose which teacher I submit it to?" Rainie asked.

"While I believe any teacher in this school is capable for this task, I propose that you submit your writings to your English teacher," he replied.

"Yes, Father Redmond," the girl said and Sharon felt joy filling her at the agreement that would allow Rainie get what she wanted.

"I would like to add my own stipulation, if I may," Sharon said. Both Rainie and Father Redmond looked at her. "There will be no repercussions against Rainie for any text before its revision or following its approval." Father Redmond nodded.

"I hope you use the new club wisely, Rainie," he said. "Please head over to the office tomorrow morning to receive the club guideline."

Sharon and Rainie thanked him and left his office. Once they were out in the hall, Rainie wrapped her arms around Sharon.

"Thank you for standing up for me," her voice was thick with emotion. Sharon had not expected the hug but welcomed it.

"You deserve a second chance," she responded warmly. Rainie pulled away and smiled at her.

An hour later, the both of them were sitting on the balcony in Sharon's condo and watching the sunset. The sky was changing colors rapidly, and the sight was breathtaking. For Sharon, it was the perfect way to end a day: good news, a glass of wine and the beautiful view from her balcony. She was relieved that the day ended on a positive note. She had hoped that despite of Rainie's rough start at St. Joseph's, other students would join the club. As much as she enjoyed the girl's company, Rainie needed some friends her age, and she hoped that the club will help her achieve that. She also knew that it would look great on her college application. At this stage the idea of being accepted to college was foreign to Rainie; she didn't think she had a chance and even if she did get in, she was sure she won't be able to afford it. Sharon was far from able to tell the future, but she knew that if Rainie still lived with her in a year and a half, she would be happy to pay for her college education. She wasn't sure how deeply she wished to examine her feelings towards this girl, but her motherly instincts were in overdrive as far as Rainie was concerned. She wanted to protect her, take care of her needs, provide her with everything she's never had before and help her become a happy and kind person.

Sharon emptied her glass down her throat and smiled to herself. It was not yet clear what the future would bring to them and what challenges they might encounter, but at this moment in time, she was thankful for Rainie's presence in her life, and she knew the sentiment was mutual.

-TBC-

As always, I would love to know your thoughts about this chapter. They don't have to be positive, but please remember Sharon wanted us to be kind... So feel free to leave a review or send me a PM (and even if you disagree with something I wrote, I'll be happy to discuss it with you in a civil manner, so I encourage you to leave your reviews as registered members rather than guests). Peace and love to all of you!