A/N: I almost didn't post this on time, because I spent last night in the ER with food poisoning and dehydration. I am doing better now, so luckily I can post tonight. This is one of my favorite chapters in this entire fanfic. It's a story that did not exist in the show, but it felt like something I had to write.

I'd like to thank blossom-of-snow for her terrific beta-reading of this story.

The offensive alarm woke Sharon up at 5 AM like it did every morning. Heavily, she dragged herself out of the cocooning warmth of her bed. The smoothness of the hardwood floor against the soles of her feet grounded her. She shuffled towards the bathroom where she splashed some cold water on her face. After that, it was easy for Sharon to go about her routine, and she did it quickly. When she glanced at her watch, the time was 5:45 AM.

She crossed the distance between her room and Rainie's and cracked the door open. The girl would normally be awake by this time, but she was still sound asleep. Sharon looked at her. The auburn hair that she begged Sharon to let her dye blond was spread on the pillow, the coppery waves looking darker in the dim light. Her arms were hugging the pillow, and her legs were curled all the way up to her chest. Asleep and calm, she looked so much younger than seventeen. Seventeen years today. Sharon had a "small thing" planned for the girl's birthday. She wished she could take her shopping, or to a day spa. Instead, they had to avoid crowds and public places until the lunatic letter writer was caught.

Sharon took a seat at the edge of the bed and threw one more glance at the sleeping girl. She couldn't say that Rainie appeared to be sleeping peacefully. She looked like she was trying to shield herself from something horrible, and Sharon could only assume that she was having a very vivid dream.

"Rainie," she said the girl's name softly. "Wake up, sweetie." Rainie stirred and brought her hands to cover her face.

"Is it morning already?" she moaned.

Sharon hummed affirmatively. "Happy birthday, honey," she said warmly.

Rainie shoved her blanket aside, opened her bedside drawer and took a sharpie out. She leaped out of bed, and stood in front of the wall, quickly drawing a tally mark.

"thirty-three days," her voice was still hoarse from sleep.

Sharon's stomach twitched painfully.

"Do I have time for a shower?"

"Yes," Sharon replied, and Rainie gathered some clothes and left the room.

Sharon stood up and looked at the wall where Rainie had drawn thirty-three tally marks. Her eyes filled up with tears as her fingers traced the new mark. After the letters were found, Emma reluctantly agreed to let Rainie stay with Sharon, on the condition that she would not go out and accepts a protection detail until the letter writer is caught. As a result, Rainie could no longer go to school. Instead, she would go to the station and be tutored online by a private teacher Sharon had hired. Buzz often helped her with the homework her teacher assigned, and Sharon had offered to pay him for his help, but he refused. Going to the beach, shopping and even going downstairs for a swim at the pool required that Rainie would be accompanied by her security detail. That meant that the only place Rainie went was the station, where she used her laptop to study.

Sharon tried to keep a schedule for the girl, in hopes that it would help alleviate Rainie's frustration. If she had to judge by the tally marks on the wall, her efforts were futile. Rainie felt like she was in jail with no release date, and Sharon couldn't help but feel like the girl has begun to see her as her warden. She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to the wall. The realization that her foster daughter hasn't seen the outside world for a whole month was overwhelming. She wished there was something she could do about it, but she knew that this situation was necessary if she wanted to keep Rainie with her. Maybe the best option for Rainie was to go into the Witness Protection Program, and be able to attend school, make friends and live her life instead of being locked up in the condo for weeks.

If you love someone, let them go.

With a sigh, Sharon stepped away from the wall. Tomorrow she would begin looking into different options and see what can be done about Rainie's situation, but today, the girl was turning seventeen. Sharon had planned a day that would hopefully help take Rainie's mind off of her gloomy reality. She left the room and crossed the hall to her bedroom. She opened the door to her walk-in closet and stepped inside. There was a big white box wrapped in a huge candy-cotton pink colored ribbon that she has been keeping on one of her shelves for several days. She carried the box to Rainie's bedroom and placed it on her bed before rushing to the kitchen.

Normally, Sharon had coffee and toast while Rainie had cereal and juice. On weekends, they often prepared and ate breakfast together, usually eggs and bacon. However, for Rainie's birthday, Sharon wanted to do something special.

By the time Rainie came out of the shower, Sharon had set the table for her. Rainie came into the living room, following the smell. She was still wearing her bathrobe and had a towel wrapped around her hair.

"What's all this?" she asked, and her eyes widened.

"Just a little something special for your birthday," Sharon replied cheerfully. "Go get dressed, and we'll eat." The girl gave her a quick nod and quickly retreated to the hall.

"What is this?" She heard Rainie calling out from her room a moment later. Sharon put the food on the table and walked down the hall to Rainie's bedroom just in time to watch Rainie unwrap the ribbon. She removed the lid from the box and looked at what she uncovered. "Sharon?" She turned around to look at her foster mother. "Is that… oh, my God, really?"

"Is it the one you wanted?" Sharon asked as Rainie took the dress out of the box and held it in front of her. It was a long sleeved, pale pink A-line dress that Rainie saw in a fashion magazine a couple of weeks earlier. A week later, Sharon noticed the photo from the magazine hanging in Rainie's vision board – a project Sharon suggested to Rainie when she realized the girl would be homeschooled for longer than expected. She thought that if Rainie set goals for things she wanted and made plans for the future, it would help her go through this nerve-racking time.

"I can't believe you bought it for me, Sharon. This is super-expensive!" the girl called out and wrapped her arms around Sharon. "Loretta McGuire is my favorite designer."

"Look in the box again; there might be something else in it too," Sharon hinted.

Rainie turned around and removed the pink tissue paper aside, revealing a small jewelry box. She grabbed it with shaky hands and removed the lid.

"Sharon, this is…" she looked at the delicate gold necklace with the small heart pendant and then turned to Sharon again. "Thank you. I don't know what to say. I've never received a birthday gift as nice as this." She hugged Sharon again and rested her head on her shoulder.

Sharon pressed a soft kiss to the crown of Rainie's head.

"I'm just glad to see you happy," she said as Rainie pulled away and looked at the dress. "Why don't you wear it today?"

"Can I?" Rainie's mouth gaped open.

Sharon gave her a quick nod and left the room, letting the girl know that she will be waiting for her at the breakfast table. Her lips curved upwards in a wide smile as she walked down the hall towards the kitchen. She knew most people weren't fans of receiving clothes as a gift and was concerned that Rainie would think of it as a mundane and not birthday-worthy gift. She did not expect the girl to be as excited as she was. When Rainie emerged from the hallway, Sharon gasped. The dress was a perfect fit, and the color gave the girl a healthy glow that her time indoors had taken away from her.

"You look beautiful, Rainie,"

"I feel like a princess."

Sharon could tell by the tone of her foster daughter's voice that Rainie was close to tears. She motioned towards the breakfast table, and they both sat down.

"I can't believe you went into all this trouble for me," Rainie sighed as she bit into her French toast. Sharon shrugged her shoulders.

She wished Rainie could celebrate this birthday like her classmates, who she hasn't seen since the first day of school, but she hoped that if she made it special for the girl, maybe it would feel normal.

After they finished breakfast, Sharon put away the dishes while Rainie finished getting ready and they left the house. As they settled in the car, Sharon handed Rainie a small carton box. Rainie looked at her, her jaw dropping open once again.

"Wearing a flower crown on your birthday was an O'Dwyer Clan tradition when I was growing up. It symbolizes renewal and growth," Sharon said when Rainie revealed a delicate white and pink flower crown that matched the color of her dress.

"O'Dwyer?"

"That's my maiden name," Sharon explained as she took the flower crown out of the box and put it on Rainie's head. It looked beautiful between the girl's coppery tresses, and she couldn't help but smile in content. Considering how this morning had started for her, it was shaping up to be a pretty good day.

Rainie's security detail joined them as Sharon parked her car at the PAB parking lot. Sharon wished that for one day they could avoid it, but she knew it was necessary for Rainie's safety. Although PAB was swarming with armed officers, potential fraudulent and dangerous visitors could infiltrate the building's security. Anyone could pretend to be a lawyer and manage to sneak into the 9th floor, where they would be able to harm Rainie. Therefore the security detail was necessary, even on the girl's birthday. Sharon had briefed them of her schedule for the day, as she usually did, and she had hoped that despite of Rainie's great disdain and dismissive treatment of them that they would be kind enough to at least wish her a happy birthday, but neither of them did. Either way, Rainie didn't even seem to care much about them. Sharon wasn't pleased with Rainie's animosity towards the people who were meant to protect her from harm, but the longer the girl had to be around them, the more she resented them, and no reason or rhyme helped Sharon convinced her otherwise.

"Surprise!" the members of the squad called out as soon as Sharon and Rainie walked into the murder room. Even though she knew about it in advance, Sharon was also surprised to find the entire room decorated with balloons. She watched her foster daughter as she excitedly thanked the Major Crimes squad. Buzz, who left the murder room a moment earlier, returned and was carrying a birthday cake with candles.

"Oh my God, you guys. This is incredible, thank you!" Rainie's voice shook.

"Make a wish," Lieutenant Flynn said. Sharon was standing behind Rainie and quickly fished her phone out of her pocket and handed it to Lieutenant Tao. She asked him to take a photo as Rainie closed her eyes and blew out the candles. The team cheered loudly, and the smile on the girl's face made Sharon's heart flutter with joy in her chest. It's been a while since she saw Rainie so happy.

"We bought you a little something," Amy handed her a small floral pastel box. The team watched Rainie opening the box and revealing the $50 Amazon gift card. She covered her mouth in shock and then went on to hug each member of the squad.

"Oh my God, thank you all so much. I never expected anything, and…" Lieutenant Flynn handed her a handkerchief, and she took it and buried her face in it for a moment. "You're all really great. Thank you."

After scarfing down the cake, and spending some time chatting, the team had to return to their work and Rainie went to the super cubicle where she spent the morning doing schoolwork.

Sharon came over at lunch and saw Rainie closing her copy Anne Frank's Diary.

"How's it going?" she asked when Rainie put away the book.

"I guess some people have it worse than me," Rainie replied and motioned towards the book.

"Had," Sharon corrected her. "Anne Frank was murdered by the Nazis."

"Spoiler alert!" Rainie called out.

"That's not a spoiler. It's written on the back of the book," Sharon protested.

"Well, I didn't read that part," Rainie groaned.

Sharon shrugged, reminding herself that there were a lot of facts that were common knowledge that Rainie still didn't know but was working hard to learn.

"At least she wasn't alone in her annex. She had her entire family there with her."

Rainie's words made Sharon stifle a sigh. While she could see how reading the diary of another teenage girl who found herself locked up for a long time was something Rainie could relate to, and the similarities did not escape her, she couldn't deny that the differences between Anne and Rainie were huge. If she was honest with herself, despite of Rainie's irregular situation, the girl was being a little overdramatic with that particular comparison. Still, she couldn't help thinking that there must have been some alternative to the around-the-clock protection detail and that Rainie should get a choice in what happens to her.

The need to search for an alternative arrangement plagued her even hours after they had returned home and ate dinner together. Sharon wanted Rainie to have a good life, and she knew that she was capable of providing it to her. But at the same time, she wasn't sure if living with her under restrictive condition was good for Rainie's mental health. Her foster daughter was lonely and blamed herself for her situation which wasn't entirely her fault.

It was time to explore more options and try to find another solution. Rainie would turn eighteen in a year, and only then she would have a choice over her life; if the letters continued that long, Sharon worried that the prolonged isolation would harm the girl's social skills, which were already lacking. It would make it so much harder for her to create healthy friendships and relationships, to get along with her peers and even to find a decent job. Sharon didn't want Rainie to be robbed of her chance to live a normal life. And if she gave the girl up in favor of the Witness Protection Program, she feared that Rainie would feel abandoned. She didn't want to be yet another person who left Rainie. Especially not after all the progress the girl made under her care.

A knock on her bedroom door drew her out of her deep thoughts.

"Hi, sweetie," she said, her voice hoarse and tired as Rainie walked into her bedroom.

"I just wanted to thank you for this day," Rainie took a seat on the bed. "It was the best birthday I've ever had."

"I'm glad you had fun today," Sharon said.

"I'm glad my mom wasn't here, though. I think she would feel like she couldn't contribute because she doesn't have much money." Rainie said. "I know she tried before she met Gary. One year, I think I was five, she even baked a cake. She's really bad at baking, but she worked for hours, and she decorated it with icing. I think she spent a lot of money on making that cake. And it tasted delicious."

"That's nice," Sharon said. By the stories she heard from Rainie, she could tell that Sharon Beck had tried to be a good mother before she met Gary. It appeared that until the age of five, Rainie had an okay life, even if her mother didn't have a lot of money. But once Gary came into their lives, and hooked Sharon Beck with drugs, it seemed like the girl's childhood ended. Sharon was happy that she was able to give Rainie one perfect birthday. It wasn't her first birthday with her, but the previous year, she and Rainie were still trying to get to know each other, and each of them was testing the other's borders. The party they had for Rainie's sixteenth birthday was much more humble.

"One time, I was ten, and Gary came home with a really pretty teddy bear for me. He said it was for my birthday, but I think he was high because my birthday was two weeks earlier. And then he grabbed a knife and cut the teddy bear in the stomach. It was full of drugs. He said that he was going to sell that, but I could keep the teddy bear. I tried to sew it, but it fell apart. I guess they had to take the filling out in order to stuff all the drugs in it."

The story made Sharon want to find Gary and punch him, but instead, she patted the bed and Rainie crawled up and snuggled at her side.

"I'm sorry you didn't have nice birthdays before," she said softly.

"It doesn't matter. This birthday was amazing. I can never thank you enough," the girl yawned. "Can I sleep here tonight?"

"Sure," Sharon said, and Rainie crawled under the sheets.

"Good night, Sharon. You're awesome," she said sleepily before she drifted off to sleep.

Sharon watched her for a long moment. Nobody ever called her awesome before, but she willingly accepted the compliment. She was happy that this day was a successful one for Rainie, and that she managed to give her an unforgettable birthday. She was also happy that her team was willing to join in and help make it a memorable day for Rainie. Even though she's only been in charge of Major Crimes for a year and a half, she felt like she was getting closer to them and earning their trust more and more every day. Maybe with their help, she would be able to make Rainie's life more ordinary. But for now, she needed to rest her body and mind. She shut off the bedside lamp and adjusted her pillow before she lied down, realizing just how much calmer she was about Rainie's safety when the girl was sleeping by her side. As sleep carried her away, one thought lingered: "I love her."

-TBC-

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