A/N: This chapter wanders into Shandy territory, even though they are definitely still in the friendship stage. The show didn't offer any reasonable progress of their friendship, and it's important to me to create a solid base for them, to show that their feelings didn't appear out of thin air and their relationship had actual substance. And yet, this chapter is also about Rainie. As she is always present in Sharon's mind, especially now that Stroh has escaped. One plot I really enjoyed in the show was the extreme and often unreasonable anxiety that Sharon had after Stroh's escape. Having anxieties myself, it was something I was able to relate to and it was quite easy for me to imagine Sharon as a person who is suffering from anxieties, even though most of the time she's better at dealing with them than the average person. Some of you may have noticed that in the last few chapters I explored Sharon's mental health in the aspect of trauma and now I will also expand that exploration to anxiety and possibly other issues as well. I hope this makes sense and is relatable.

And as always, I'd like to thank the ever-so-lovely blossom-of-snow for being an awesome beta reader. She totally rocks!

The decision to release Rainie's undercover protection detail was one of the toughest maternal decisions Sharon had to make. When Rainie started college, Sharon was satisfied until Rainie noticed one of Cooper's guys following her around. Sharon averted the crisis temporarily, but Rainie figuring out that a security detail secretly followed her for months terrified Sharon. After talking to Lieutenant Cooper and seeing the horrible results of controlling motherhood in the recent case the Major Crimes division solved, Sharon realized that relinquishing control, while difficult, would set her and Rainie free from Philip Stroh.

After months of sleepless nights, Sharon hoped that she would finally get a chance to breathe. She was about to get her life back, too, after putting it on hold for so long. When Andy came into her office after they made an arrest, she realized how long it has been since they'd spent time together. He may have been insufferable in the last few days, taking Julio's return to work immaturely, but Sharon knew that she had been insufferable after countless nights of interrupted, fitful sleep and no one dared to call her out on that, least of all Andy. While he respected her newly laid boundaries, Andy was there in the moments when she needed support or levity. Sharon appreciated his presence, and the space he gave her to deal with her issues on her own.

"I just wanted to say, regarding this whole Julio thing, you know I was looking after your best interest, right?" he asked.

Sharon looked into his eyes, finding warmth and insecurity. She must have made him feel so neglected in recent months.

"Andy, I've been looking after my own best interest for a really long time, especially at work." No matter how helpful he had been recently, Andy needed to know that she wouldn't tolerate anyone overriding her authority at work or undermining her ability to determine her own course. Julio deserved one more chance. He performed the work required to return to work and took the suspension without pay, and she would not let anyone, let alone one of Julio's close friends ruin it for him. "I don't need you for that."

"Okay. Sure. I get it," Andy said.

Sharon returned to work as Andy opened the other office door.

"So, what do you need me for?"

Sharon could tell by his shrug and his forced casual question that she had hurt him. She sighed inwardly, acknowledging to herself that despite the fact Andy needed to be reminded of the boundaries of their professional relationship, she'd been hurting many people recently, speaking before forcing her sleep-deprived brain to think. Be kind. She repeated the words in her head like a mantra. In the past few months, she hadn't been very kind to her team, or to Lieutenant Cooper, or Rainie, and she'd been the least kind to Andy. She knew that he meant well. Turning into a guard dog was his way of trying to control dispiriting situations and providing comfort for his friends during times of uncertainty. She had been pushing him away for months, refusing lunch breaks with him, turning down dinner offers and ignoring his after-hours calls and texts. That he still wanted to be there for her after the way she treated him was not a gesture she took for granted.

"Close the door. Let's talk."

A soft smile crossed his lips before he turned and shut the door.

Sharon watched him as he took a seat in front of her. She had no idea how to even start discussing everything she needed him to do for her, and the ways that she wanted him to support her.

"Andy." She's always liked the sound of his name, and once or twice gave in to the temptation to call him Andrew. Such decadence had always been in a private setting, in jest, but secretly she loved it.

He looked like a puppy, sitting in front of her and waiting for a bone.

"I know that I haven't been easy to deal with recently," she said softly.

Andy opened his mouth to retort, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"I've had a rough time finding my balance ever since Philip Stroh escaped," she said. "With Julio gone… Do you know how many strings I had to pull to keep him on the force and make sure that he'd return to Major Crimes at the end of his suspension?"

"I don't," Andy admitted. Sharon was surprised he hadn't heard about it from Provenza, who also pulled some strings of his own to help his teammate.

"I know you had a good working relationship with Detective Oderno. I think he'd make a great addition to our division, but unfortunately, now that Julio's back, we don't have the spot for him, and he must go back to Missing Persons," Sharon explained. "I hope we'll have a chance to work with him again in the future, but what I need from you at work is to be supportive of Julio. Being suspended is a hard blow to any detective, and if you could be kind and friendly to him, I would greatly appreciate it."

"I'll do my best," Andy huffed. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" His tone was clipped, and Sharon could tell that his patience with her was running thin.

"As I said, I haven't been the easiest person to be around recently," Sharon stated. "I needed to keep my distance for a while, to sort out my thoughts about everything that's been going on."

Andy hummed softly and looked at her attentively, trying to read between the lines.

"Still, that's an inadequate excuse for my treatment of you," she said.

Andy shrugged, and it made Sharon feel insecure about her ability to salvage their personal relationship.

"And I apologize for that, Andy. I'm sorry if I made you think that you were insignificant." Her voice was thick with emotion. "If you can forgive me for that, know that I could really use a friend, especially tonight."

"I can be that." The expression formerly reserved for the toothpick-rolling days Flynn gave way to Andy, still sharp but no longer angry.

Sharon smiled at him, feeling a little lighter than before. "Are you busy tonight?"

"No."

"So maybe we could have dinner together?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything specific you wanna eat?"

"I'm not very picky tonight. I'll leave that up to you." Sharon nodded at her papers without breaking eye contact. "I think we'll be done here in about half an hour, right?"

Andy gave her a quick nod and rose from his seat, once again heading for her door.

"I really missed you, Andy," she said before he could escape.

"I've always been here," he said, and Sharon wasn't sure if he winked at her or if it was just a figment of her imagination.

Andy picked a Greek restaurant they'd been to a few times. It was a lively place, with upbeat Greek music and the carbs options that were offered on the menu were always comforting. Andy ordered a vegetarian moussaka and Sharon ordered spanakopita. After ordering, Sharon listened to Andy talk about his step-grandsons while she arranged the wrapped toothpicks between them on the table.

"So, how have things been going for you?" he asked when he finished telling her about Gray and Fergus.

"I think you already know," Sharon replied.

Andy placed his palm on top of her busy hands. He looked into her eyes, and there was nothing she wanted more than to turn her gaze away, but he held it as his fingers curled around hers.

"I'm scared out of my mind, Andy," she admitted, her voice shaking. "I let Rainie's undercover security detail go tonight."

"I didn't realize that you had an undercover security team watching her," Andy said. "I thought she opted out of protection."

"She did, but I assigned them to her anyway," Sharon admitted, blushing.

"Sharon…" Andy dragged her name on his tongue.

"I know it was wrong, and she almost found out too" Sharon leaned back in the booth, her hands slipping out of Andy's grasp. "But I just wanted her to be safe. Is that really so awful?"

"I'm not saying you shouldn't want her to be safe, but Rainie is not completely helpless even without protection," Andy said.

"Philip Stroh is a highly organized serial killer who successfully escaped custody. Rainie may have had more than average life experience, but she is not invincible."

"Neither are you, Sharon," Andy held his palm up for Sharon to hold. "And neither is Stroh. Sooner or later, he will be found, and when that happens, he'll regret the day he was born."

Andy's promise was oddly comforting, vague and potentially erroneous as it was. Sharon knew that as long as Stroh was free, he would always lurk in the back of her mind, but hoped that she'd be able to forget about him just enough for her to be able to live her life without paralyzing terror.

They spent the evening catching up with everything that happened in each other's lives. As Sharon listened to Andy telling her about everything that he has done over the recent months, the realization struck her that she put her life on hold for months because of Stroh. Being here, out of her cage, felt liberating.

After dinner, Andy dropped Sharon off at home. She looked forward to the day's end. Being out with Andy may have felt refreshing, but she was still emotionally exhausted. She couldn't wait to get into bed and hopefully sleep through the whole night. She was surprised to see Rainie hugging a pillow and dozing off on the couch.

"Sweetie." Sharon bent down and brushed back the hair that covered her daughter's face. "Wake up."

Rainie's eyes fluttered open, and she looked at her mother in confusion.

"You fell asleep on the couch."

Rainie moaned. "I was working on something, and I suddenly felt so tired." She winced as she sat up and rubbed her neck. "Dammit. I think I pulled a muscle."

"This couch is not the greatest place to fall asleep," Sharon said and gently placed her palms on her daughter's shoulders. She massaged the back of Rainie's neck for a few minutes. "Better?"

"Yes, thank you."

"So what were you working on?" Sharon asked, glancing at Rainie's laptop. "Is it something for school?"

"Kind of," Rainie said. "I was trying to think of a subject I could write about in the UCLA newspaper, and Buzz hinted that you had a mystery in the murder room."

"Oh?" Sharon was not surprised Buzz would see something others didn't think of, but that such mystery would be worthy of an article at a college newspaper.

"It took me a while to figure out what he meant, but then I realized that it was staring me right in the face, so to speak," Rainie explained. "I decided to try finding out who Alice Herrera was."

Sharon blinked before she could censor her reaction. "Wow, that's going to be a huge task, Rainie. Are you sure you're up to it?"

"I guess at some point it might hit me at sensitive spots," Rainie said. "But she deserves justice, and I hope I can help her get it."

"Be careful, okay?"

"Sure."

"I'm not kidding, Rainie. I don't want you to put yourself in danger for a story, no matter how important it is," Sharon insisted.

"Don't worry, Sharon. I'll be safe," Rainie said, leaning in to give Sharon a goodnight kiss.

Sharon nodded as Rainie yawned through her 'goodnight'. She wasn't sure how far Rainie would get in finding out who Alice was, but if her conversation with Andy tonight accounted for something, it was that she needed to let her daughter spread her wings. She had to trust that Rainie would know when to back off.

As Sharon watched Rainie walk down the hall towards her room, still rubbing the back of her aching neck, one thought reverberated in her head: this was it. This was the day when Sharon opened her hand and set her daughter free. There were no locks, no shackles, nothing holding Rainie back but herself. Sharon could take comfort in knowing that it was she who brought Rainie to this point and that she will be there for her daughter for whatever she needs.

-TBC-

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