A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. It's good to be back and to keep this story going.
I want to thank blossom-of-snow for her excellent help with this story.

There was something comforting about working from home, Sharon thought as she went over documents Lieutenant Tao emailed hair earlier that morning. If possible, she was always preferred to work in her turf with minimal potential for interruptions, while she drank her morning coffee and munched on a trail mix. Most of the real work had to be done at the office, of course, but the change of scenery helped her focus on the case her team was working.

She was re-arranging a few documents on her desk when she heard the key turning in the lock, and the condo door opened. Rainie walked in, carrying her backpack on one shoulder. Sharon noticed that her daughter's makeup was slightly smeared and her shirt looked crumpled. If she didn't know any better, she would think Rainie had been fooling around with someone. However, as far as she knew, Rainie was coming back for work, several hours after she should have returned home.

"Rainie," she said and threw a glance at her watch. It was 6:30 a.m. "Are you just getting back from work? I thought Badge of Justice was finishing around midnight."

Rainie put down her backpack and mumbled something about scouting for locations until 3 a.m.

"You didn't think to call?" Sharon asked.

"I didn't want to wake you up." Rainie shrugged as she walked into the kitchen.

Sharon followed her, assuring Rainie that she never needed to worry about waking her up. "Are you at least having a good time?" Sharon asked.

Rainie opened one of the cupboards and took a glass out. "Yeah!" she called out. "It's, I mean – it's crazy, but the people are nice. And you know, the second AD, Jane, she said that I am the best set PA she's ever met."

Sharon offered Rainie a wide smile. She wasn't used to Rainie boasting about compliments she received from others. She was usually timid when it came to praise.

"She's a great girl – Jane – you'll like her a lot."

Sharon's smile grew wider as she listened to Rainie describe Jane. It was clear that her daughter had developed a crush on this Jane, whoever she was.

"Okay, good," she said when Rainie finally stopped talking. She had to leave for work now if she didn't want to get stuck in traffic. "It's only a few more months, right?" She asked as she walked out of the kitchen. "Rainie, are your college applications ready?"

"Not yet," Rainie replied, and Sharon groaned internally. "Thank you for reminding me. I'll take of it tomorrow… today. When I wake up," the girl replied and began walking down the hall.

Sharon was folding the documents on her desk when Rainie turned around.

"Uh, I was wondering," she said. "What would you think if I waited another year to apply for UCLA? Just because I think there are more opportunities I haven't considered."

"What kind of opportunities?" Sharon quirked an eyebrow.

"Jane said that I have a unique look and that she knows someone who's looking for a model for a few projects, but that would take place during the school year, you know?"

"Modeling?" Sharon looked at Rainie from top to bottom. Sure, the girl was pretty and probably had what it took to become a model, but the idea was so different than what Rainie had in mind for herself, and the modeling world did not seem safe for a girl with Rainie's past. She could be easily manipulated into doing so many things she would later regret, and Sharon didn't want her to go down that route.

"Yeah, you know, for makeup and clothes," Rainie said.

"Well, you are a beautiful girl, and I'm sure Jane is right about your potential, but to me, it always seemed like art is your passion and you have a better chance to get into UCLA this year. I'm not sure this chance will still be available next year, especially if you get distracted by something else."

"You know, Jane thinks modeling is art, too," Rainie replied.

"I'm sure she's right, but you make art of a different kind." Sharon tried to steer Rainie is a different direction.

"I could be diverse."

"You could, but modeling doesn't make for a great college application," Sharon said.

"That's kind of dismissive of you to say," Rainie replied. "Jane said that she did some modeling and it was a great time for her."

It was clear to Sharon that Rainie's crush on Jane was blocking the girl's view of the path she had drawn for herself. "Maybe we can appreciate Jane's perspective without letting it affect your plans," Sharon suggested.

"But what if my plans are all wrong for me?" Rainie wondered.

"From what I have seen, you have made these plans by capitalizing on your biggest strengths. I don't see how that could be wrong for you to pursue your talents."

"That sentence is way too complicated for me to understand when I'm so tired," Rainie groaned and stifled a yawn. "I'm going to bed."

"Okay, we'll talk about this later," Sharon offered her daughter a soft smile. "Good-night, sweetie." Shaking her head at the senseless nature of infatuations, she watched Rainie as she walked down the hall and went into her room.

Some murders seemed to have an obvious solution from the get-go. In those cases, it was easy to close the case and put the murderer away. Toby Cummings and Keisha Perry's stabbing seemed pretty easy to solve, except that some pieces have still not fallen into place. Sharon was sure that by the end of the weekend, the killer would be put away for life and therefore decided it was time to take a brief break and take care of a personal issue.

Lieutenant Tao was going over transcripts of Toby and Keisha's correspondences when Sharon walked up to his desk. As he saw her approaching, the lieutenant gave her a quick update of his progress. Sharon took the transcripts he handed her and circled his desk. She pulled the chair of the empty desk in front of him.

"Mike," she said, using his first name rather than his rank to indicate to him that their conversation was about to focus on matters of a more personal nature. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," he replied.

She sat down in front of him. "Do you know an AD on Badge of Justice named Jane? Rainie was…"

"Jane Berrier," Mike cut her off. "Sure, she's a great person," he declared. "Oh, and you'll be happy to know she really likes Rainie."

"And how much?" A bashful smile formed on Sharon's lips. Secretly prying into her daughter's relationships was one thing, and doing it out in the open was another.

Mike hummed in confusion.

"How much does she really like Rainie?" Sharon wondered, bobbing her head from side to side in an attempt to make her lieutenant apply the meaning to her words on his own.

"Oh." Sharon could see the realization strike Mike.

"Oh," she confirmed.

"Umm, I don't know. Why?" Mike wondered.

"Well, because Rainie is suddenly thinking about postponing college and going into modeling because of something that Jane said," Sharon explained.

"I see," Mike said.

"I mean, I'm sure there's an easy fix to it without interfering in their friendship, if you could help me," she said, noticing the skeptic expression on her lieutenant's face.

Mike leaned forward and asked, "How?"

"Well, maybe you could hint to Jane that Rainie is young and impressionable and that it would be better for her to stick to the plans she's made," Sharon suggested.

"Captain, if I may ask," Mike started, and Sharon gave him a quick nod. "Why not let Rainie try her hand at modeling if it's something she's interested in?"

Sharon recalled in her mind that time, three years earlier when he was adamant about letting his son get his driver's license out of fear that it would distract him from his studies. Maybe he's softened since then if he made such a suggestion.

"With Rainie's past, putting her body on display just seems reckless and irresponsible, and she's too young to realize what this profession entails," Sharon replied.

"I see your point, and I will help you with this issue, of course," Mike said.

"But?" Sharon asked, knowing that Mike Tao hardly spoke so tacitly.

"At some point, you'll need to let Rainie make her own decisions," Mike advised her.

Sharon acknowledged his position with a nod and thanked him before they went back to work.

A yawn escaped Sharon as she unlocked the door to her condo. She had never expected her team to finish working so late on a case which seemed pretty straightforward, to begin with. She had counted on finishing her workday early and coming home to cook dinner for Rainie and her, but now it was too late for her to summon the energy it required. Thankfully, the team ordered pizza, and she gladly ate with them. She texted Rainie to order in whatever she wanted to eat.

Given that it was almost midnight, Sharon had not expected to find Rainie awake, but when she walked into the condo, her daughter was sitting in the living room in front of her laptop.

"You're home awfully late," she said when she noticed Sharon coming through the door.

"Well, thank you for waiting up for me," Sharon smiled. If there was something she loved about having a child still living at home, it was not having to come back to an empty condo.

"Yeah. I'm also – I'm choosing the artwork I want to submit in my portfolio to UCLA," Rainie shrugged.

"Oh," Sharon drew out the sound as she hung her coat and purse. "Well, that was a quick turnaround. What made you change your mind?" She asked as she began making her way towards the kitchen. When she asked Mike for his help with Jane, she never considered that a scenario where Rainie might find out about her little intervention was entirely plausible. Now the idea crossed her mind, and she began feeling her nerve ends tingling under her skin.

"Well, I went out with Jane and some of the other members of the crew to see a movie…"

"Which one?" she interjected, thinking of ways to postpone the guilt if Rainie ended up saying something about her involvement in whatever Jane had said to her.

Rainie said something about the film she went to see with her colleagues and Sharon headed straight for the wineglass cabinet and reached for the first glass she could find.

"But we went to Delancey's afterward, and I'm not sure how the subject came up exactly, but it turned out that Jane believes education for women is a fundamental social issue, and that if a woman has the chance to attend college, then she'd be crazy to give up that chance."

"Did she?" Sharon asked as she filled up her glass with Chardonnay.

"Yeah, and she mentioned something about how a model friend of hers once had a meltdown because she was sick and tired of how everyone's hands were always all over her to fix her hair or clothes. And that no one ever wanted to work with her afterward, even though it was perfectly within her right not to have people touching her without permission."

"That sounds like an unpleasant experience," Sharon commented. She wasn't a fan of scare tactics, but she was glad Rainie became aware of what was a big part of being a model.

"Yeah, and I thought – I don't like the idea of people touching me and not respecting it when I tell them off. And my best trait, besides my art, is being kinda smart, so I should probably – how did you say it – capitalize on my biggest strengths, and learn how to become professional at what I love doing," Rainie said.

Sharon hummed as she put the wine bottle back in the fridge. "You know, I think you're right about this Jane," she said. "She seems very socially aware and insightful."

"I guess seeing how famous people like John Worth are treated made me want to be a little like them, you know?" Rainie looked at Sharon over the backrest of the couch. "It looks like so much fun."

Sharon walked towards the couch, wine glass in hand, and took a seat next to her daughter. "Yeah, I can see why it could look like a glamorous and attractive lifestyle, but there are a lot of downsides to being famous."

"I can see that now," Rainie sighed.

Sharon took a sip of her wine and looked at her daughter, who still seemed to be struggling with the complications of fame. "I think one day you could become famous, but not for your looks or for your ability to stand still while people fix your hair and makeup, but for the stories you tell, for the emotions that you touch, and for the way you inspire people with your art and your writing."

"Do you think I could be that?" Rainie asked.

"That's what I meant by 'capitalizing on your biggest strengths,' Rainie. You have what it takes to influence people, and experimenting with other art forms could improve your technique and polish your skills. That's what it takes to make a great artist."

"How do you know I can do all that?" Rainie wondered.

"Because your art is how I learned to get to know you better. The wall in your room gave me insight into your thoughts and feelings, their depth and intensity. And then I saw your drawings, and how much they evolved. Those comic strips you've been creating recently – they're meaningful and more people should see them. Art school will not only improve your skills but also provide you the platform that you need to present your work and become known in your field."

"I never thought about it this way," Rainie said. "It sounds way better than modeling, to be honest."

"It does," Sharon said and took a sip of her wine.

"So you think I should include one of my comic strips in my portfolio?"

"Most definitely. I think you should include several types of art, to show your development and commitment to creating art," Sharon explained.

"Could you help me choose?" Rainie asked.

"Of course," Sharon replied.

Rainie motioned towards her laptop and Sharon leaned closer to look at the scans of her daughter's artwork. She was happy that Rainie changed her mind about modeling and decided to make the right decision, even if it was Sharon's meddling that influenced that choice. While Sharon kept in mind what Mike had said to her the other day about letting Rainie make her own decisions, she had no regrets about surreptitiously guiding her daughter in the right direction this time. No, not a single one – she thought as she emptied her wineglass.

-TBC-

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