A/N: Thank you all for the lovely reviews. I'm always surprised how many people like to explore the relationship between Jack and Sharon. I personally love this relationship and feel like it gives us so much insight into who Sharon is and I wish the show developed it more. This chapter will deal with it, too. Big thanks to the lovely blossom-of-snow for beta reading and also for being generally awesome!

A letter. This was how it always ended. Jack was gone and had only left her a note. For the first time in many years, Sharon was confused about how she should feel about it. After giving Jack three days to find a new place, she had tried to be helpful and involved him in one of her cases, only to discover that Jack was unable to separate their personal life from their professional life. And when things started going south for him, Jack saw her professional triumph as a personal war against him and ran away. She didn't know why finding her living room empty had saddened her so much. She didn't love him, not like she had before. Maybe she was just disappointed once again when she realized that after so many years apart, he hadn't changed.

At least Rainie was not there to witness Sharon's little meltdown. Kris invited Rainie to a dinner and a sleepover. Sharon felt obligated to spare her foster daughter from seeing her so close to tears. She threw the shredded letter into the garbage can and poured herself a glass of white wine, taking it with her to the bathroom as she prepared her bath.

The warmth of the water encompassed her like a comforting embrace as she rested her head against the back of the bathtub and sipped her wine slowly. She closed her eyes as soon as the liquid slid down her throat and savored the release it brought her. It's been a while since she allowed herself to drink, especially since Rainie received the threatening letter, and she realized how much she needed the alcohol to loosen up. Her muscles were still tight, and she knew no alcoholic beverage would be able to take the burdens off her shoulders completely, but it certainly helped in providing her some relief. Maybe that's why Jack adopted his drinking habit. Maybe he had too many worries. She noticed that change in him when Emily was born. What started as an affectionate concern, devolved into criticism of Sharon's performance as a mother.

Jack looked over her shoulder as she took Emily out of the bathtub and wrapped a towel around the little pink creature that was now their first child. Sharon could hear his breath hitch when she adjusted her grip of Emily and noticed the twitch of his upper lip when she carried her out of the bathroom and to the nursery. He followed her and watched her as she dried the baby's skin and grabbed a diaper. Emily was only a few days old, but Jack has been hovering around them, counting every mistake Sharon made and pointing them out as if he had any experience in parenting.

"Is that normal?" he asked and pointed out Emily's umbilical cord.

"Yes, the doctor said it may change colors like that," Sharon replied. "And it could take up to two weeks to fall off."

"Are you sure it's not infected?" he asked.

"It's fine," Sharon said and struggled with the diaper before realized that she accidentally tore it apart while pulling it out of the package. She pulled another one out and struggled to still Emily's movement so she could put it on her.

"The diaper is crooked," Jack noted, and the criticizing tone of his voice did not escape Sharon.

"It's not," she replied.

"She's gonna be uncomfortable," he warned.

"No, she's alright. Look at that yawn. She's ready to go to sleep, aren't you, Emily?" she smiled at the toothless yawn.

"Sleep? Wait a minute, aren't you going to feed her first?" Jack asked, his voice panicky.

"My breasts hurt too much right now to feed her. She doesn't seem hungry right now, so I think we can wait with that," Sharon said.

Jack peered over Sharon's shoulder and looked into Emily's eyes. "Tell mommy you need to eat," he said to the baby.

"Look at her, Jack, she's completely calm. If she wanted to eat, she would not be like this," Sharon sighed. He was getting on her nerves, and after a few sleepless nights, she had no patience for his constant bickering.

She finished dressing Emily and picked her up from the changing table. "Say goodnight to daddy," she smiled at the baby and brought her closer to Jack. He bent down and pressed a soft kiss to Emily's forehead while her little fingers closed around his thumb.

"Good night, my little angel," he said softly as Sharon placed Emily in her crib and turned on the baby monitor. As soon as they left the nursery, Jack turned to her and crossed his arms over his chest. "Sharon, you have to be more responsible than that," his words confused Sharon. What was he talking about and why was he talking to her like she was a child?

"Jack, I…" she started, but he cut her off.

"You can't hold her sloppy like you have when you took her out of the bathtub, and you gotta make sure her diaper is right and that she's fed before putting her to bed."

"I'm doing everything just like it said in the book," she felt tears welling in her eyes. Was she really such a horrible mother? It seemed so easy when other women did it, but here she was, only five days after giving birth and she was already exhausted. Her nipples were wounded by the frequent feedings, the swelling and discomfort between her legs were ever-present, her hormones were still raging which made her randomly burst into tears, and to top it all off, she felt overwhelmed by the weight of the responsibility that came with being a parent. And Jack was all too happy to point out her mistakes, which, like any new mother, she was bound to make.

"A book? Sharon, you know better than this. You can't learn how to be a parent from a book!" Jack called out.

"I'm trying. I'm really trying, Jack," she burst into tears, even though she was trying to hold them back. "It's just so scary. I'm so sorry," she sobbed.

"You can't do anything to screw her up, Sharon. They say parents make all the mistakes on their firstborn, but we have to try really hard and not do that to her. You cannot make mistakes with our little girl, Sharon, do you understand?"

She let out a choked whimper and nodded at him.

Sharon shook her head at the offensive memory. It was ironic, at best, that he chastised her about being a bad mother when he ended up being the one to scar and damage both of their children. Maybe he expected her to be the perfect mother because he knew he never had it in him to become a decent father. And still, this memory was just another reminder of how he had hurt her too, and how he used one of her vulnerable moments to put her down and make her feel like she wasn't good enough. What was even more horrible to her was that it took her so many years to realize that the emotional abuse was present in their marriage even before Jack started drinking. The idea that she was ever weak enough to allow someone to treat her this way terrified her.

"That was in the past," Sharon said to herself and went out of the bathtub. She put on her bathrobe and walked to her bedroom. She wasn't sure if it was the wine or the exhaustion of dealing with Jack, but as soon as she sat on the edge of her bed, her body began feeling heavy, and she let herself sink into the mattress.

She didn't know when she even let her eyes close, but when she opened them again, sunrays filtered through the blinds. She sighed and looked at her bedside clock, to discover that it was already past 8. Rainie should be coming home soon; she realized as she pushed herself off the bed. As she walked down the hall, she almost expected to see Jack sleeping on the couch, but the living room was spotless and bore no evidence that he was ever there.

"Good riddance," she said as she walked to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. She's lived without Jack for so long and has built a whole life that did not involve him. This time, she knew he was not coming back, and for the first time in many years, she didn't give a damn.

-TBC-

As always, I'd love to know what you think about this chapter, so feel free to leave a review or send me a PM.