A/N: Today marks three years since the thing that didn't happen was aired, and I felt this chapter would serve as a good reminder that alternative plots do exist and some of them can be better than what we were given. This is not to say that I'm better than the show writers, but to indicate that I feel a good plot for Sharon could be what I am writing, rather than that thing that didn't happen. So for anyone commemorating that thing... this one is dedicated for you because Sharon deserved better, Mary deserved better and we, the dedicated fans of this show also deserved better. So I hope you think of this story as better.
Eternal thanks go to my dear friend and the talented editor of this story, blossom-of-snow.
Over the course of two and a half weeks at Rainie's hospital bedside, time moved at a bizarre pace. Every minute felt like an hour unless Sharon tried to sleep. However, every small improvement felt like monumental progress, even though Rainie hadn't regained consciousness.
At least she wasn't dead.
At least she was holding on, staying, fighting.
By now, Sharon had memorized every freckle on Rainie's face and mapped all the lines on her daughter's palm. To keep her shaking hands steady and busy, she repainted Rainie's nails and applied moisturizer on her daughter's limbs every day. Andy and Sharon took shifts at the hospital, and Ricky and Emily flew home for a weekend to spend time with their sister and comfort their mother.
After a week, Heather decided to return home to Chicago and be with her family. She called every other day to check on Rainie, but her absence relieved Sharon. After the assault, Heather refused to cooperate with the police to identify their assailants. Sharon unsuccessfully attempted to convince her to look at the photos presented to her by Provenza and Tao. Now, without her identification, two of the three attackers were about to go free. It infuriated Sharon that these boys and Heather were able to go back to their lives, while Rainie still hung between life and death.
What surprised Sharon most was the social response to Rainie's injury. An LGBTQ movement marching against homophobia used her image on their placards. The media coverage of Rainie's story intruded on their privacy, and Sharon had to issue a public request to respect the family's privacy. Andy had to rent another post office box for all the fan mail Rainie received from supporters of her comic strip, and Ricky volunteered to monitor the comments on her Facebook page. If anything good could come out of all this, it was the public outrage against such violent crimes. Sharon wished Rainie knew the impact that she had and prayed that she would be able to tell her about it soon.
As Sharon read one particularly touching fan letter to Rainie, she heard someone stepping into the room and turned around. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Sharon Beck standing at the entrance. Sharon's eyes raked over Rainie's biological mother. She looked well, and a bit rounder post-pregnancy. The baby slept in a sling draped across Sharon Beck's chest, and her arm cradled her protectively.
"I probably should have called," Sharon Beck said. "I heard about what happened on the news."
Sharon put the letter down and stood up, vacating the chair for the younger woman.
"How is she?"
"We're counting small victories," Sharon replied. "Her heart rate is strong; her kidneys and bowel functions are good. They took her off the ventilator yesterday. It's not much, but it's progress."
Sharon Beck came closer to Rainie's bed and looked at her unconscious child. "How could anyone do this to her?" Her voice cracked as she studied Rainie's bruised face. The reduced swelling and healing bruises did not make the sight any easier to process.
Sharon wondered how the other woman could forget the not-so-distant past when Gary used to beat her daughter on a regular basis. Still in the interest of compassion, she remained silent. Sharon Beck seemed healthy and sober, and judging by the affectionate looks she sneaked at the baby every few moments, motherhood came easier to her this time around. Judging her would not be effective.
"Is she going to get better?" Sharon Beck asked, tears welling in her eyes.
Sharon couldn't count the times she'd asked herself that. "We don't know. I can tell you she's fighting. She's doing everything she can."
"She's always been a fighter," Sharon Beck said. "Her sister is like this too."
Sharon hummed. She didn't have much to say to this woman.
"I know Rainie was angry at me for choosing to keep Leah, but I wish she knew how much I love her and how proud I am of the person she has become." Sharon Beck sniffled.
"You can tell her that. We don't know if she can hear it, but it's worth the try."
Sharon left the room, allowing Rainie's other mother to speak to her daughter freely. She knew that Rainie didn't want any contact with her biological mother, but given the situation, she didn't have the heart to tell Sharon Beck that she couldn't see her daughter.
Hours after Sharon Beck left the hospital, Sharon was working on her laptop in Rainie's room, trying to finish reviewing Provenza's incident report. Technically, she had taken a leave of absence, but she handled the paperwork for Provenza. She welcomed the distraction that helped her pass the time and help maintain order in her division.
She heard steps behind her and turned around to see Deputy Chief Howard standing at the doorway. Putting her laptop on the hospital tray table, Sharon pushed her chair back and walked towards him.
"Chief Howard," she greeted him.
"Fritz," he insisted. When Sharon nodded, he asked, "How's Rainie?"
Sharon shrugged, hoping to hide her fatigue at giving the same bad news. "We're still in limbo."
"I hope she gets better soon," Fritz said and handed Sharon a box of chocolates. "Brenda sent you this."
Sharon held back a smirk as she recalled Brenda's infamous sweet tooth.
"I know it's a tough time for you, but I wanted to offer you a distraction," Fritz said.
"Work-related?"
"Partially," he replied. "We managed to connect a few deaths related to Philip Stroh. I am assembling a special task team to try to find his next victim before he can get to them."
"You think what happened to Rainie has something to do with him?"
"That's unlikely. From what I understand, the boys who hurt her are street thugs. That's not Stroh's MO," Fritz said. "But with the media coverage, there's no doubt he's heard what happened, and you know how resourceful he is."
Sharon's breath hitched. As if things weren't bad enough, now Stroh was back in the picture.
"You would be a valuable addition to the team, Sharon," Fritz said.
Sharon pursed her lips and threw a glance backward, towards Rainie's bed. She wanted nothing more than to make the world safer for Rainie, but the idea of going back to work and leaving her daughter in this fragile state was insufferable.
"I need to think about this," she said. "Can I get back to you about this in a couple of days?"
Fritz nodded. "I'm going to assign a protection detail to Rainie's room, just in case."
"Thank you, Fritz. I appreciate this," Sharon said.
With the promise that they'll talk soon about the special task team, Fritz left the hospital. Sharon sat down and took her laptop from the tray table, but she could no longer focus on the reports. Instead, she logged into the LAPD database and re-read Philip Stroh's file. Seeing his steely and merciless gaze in his photo again made her shiver.
"Hey, babe." She heard Andy's voice behind her, and before she could close her laptop, he rested his palms on her shoulders from behind. He sounded a dissatisfied hum. "Fritz asked you about the special task team, huh?"
"He dropped by earlier," Sharon said.
"What did you tell him?" Andy asked.
"That I'll let him know in a couple of days. Did he ask you too?"
"I said I have to talk to you about it," Andy replied. He bent down and pressed a kiss to her head. "Are you up for this conversation right now, or should we deal with this later?"
Sharon replied, turning towards him. "Maybe later." She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head under his chin. "I miss you." Since they took shifts at the hospital, they haven't spent the night in the same bed since Rainie's injury.
"You've been here the entire day," he said softly. "I could ask Patrice to stay with her tonight, so we can go home together and get one good night's sleep."
"I don't want to bother anyone," Sharon said.
"You have to learn to rely on others, Sharon. Provenza told me several times that if we need some time away from the hospital, he and Patrice would be happy to help us."
"Okay." Sharon looked into his eyes, searching for reassurance. "We really need this, right?"
"We do. Just one night for us to eat dinner together and cuddle and sleep in a horizontal position. Patrice will call us if anything changes."
Sharon nodded as Andy called the Provenzas. Shortly after the call, both the Lieutenant and Patrice arrived at the hospital to replace Sharon and Andy.
After inhaling a takeout Italian dinner, Sharon and Andy took a long and relaxing shower together. Sharon felt the tension slowly leaving her spine as Andy kneaded the knots in her neck and shoulders.
"Ow!" Sharon hissed as Andy's thumb pressed into a sore spot in her shoulder. Sleeping in a hospital chair for two weeks put more strain on her muscles that she realized.
"Sorry, babe." Andy kissed the sore point.
Sharon turned and wrapped his arms around his neck. "Sing something," she said as she began swaying from side to side in a slow dance.
"If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!" Andy sang, making Sharon giggle.
"That's not what I meant." She swatted his bare chest.
"Okay. Let me try again." Andy pretended to think for a moment. "It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A…"
"Your 80's song preferences are concerning me," Sharon said, barely able to hold back her laughter.
"One last try?" Andy asked with an adorable puppy expression on his face. "You're no good, can't you see, Brother Louie, Louie, Louie…"
"Are you singing to Provenza or to me?" Sharon snickered.
"Okay, then. What would you sing?"
"Ummm, something like…" Sharon pretended to think. "Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you," she sang.
"Are you Rickrolling me?" Andy reached for Sharon's side and began tickling her under her ribs, where she was most sensitive.
"I'm sorry. I had to," Sharon giggled and tried to get away from Andy's tickles by splashing water in his face.
Entwining his fingers with Sharon's, Andy cornered her and covered her mouth with his. "It's good to hear you laugh again," he murmured against her lips.
Sharon smiled and buried her face in his chest. "Let's go to bed," she whispered against his wet skin.
Andy turned off the tap and reached his hand outside of the shower to grab their bathrobes. He watched Sharon towel dry her hair, and stopped her as she reached for her hairbrush. "Let me."
Much to Sharon's surprise, Andy performed her bedtime regimen like it was his own. He must have watched her go through her beauty routine very carefully if he knew what she always did before bed. It didn't surprise her, because she knew Andy was a caring and attentive man. It's what made him a great detective and a great partner.
After he finished applying her face cream, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and leaned forward towards the mirror, taking her with him. "Look at us, babe. We're kinda perfect, don't you think?"
"We are," she replied. She knew that if she had to go through all the recent turbulences in her life on her own, it would have been much harder.
After brushing their teeth, they fell into bed. Finally feeling exhaustion taking over her, Sharon curled up against Andy's body.
"Do you wanna talk about the special task team now?" Andy offered.
"Are you going to join?" she asked.
"Do you want me to?"
"I don't know what I want," Sharon said. "Everything is so confusing right now."
"We both worked on the Stroh murders before. One of us should join," Andy said.
"I want to be there for Rainie, but I also want to stop Stroh from harming more people," she said.
"I can't make this decision for you, babe," Andy said.
They laid in silence for a long moment, until Sharon turned around and looked into Andy's eyes.
"If I joined the team and something happened to me, would you guide Ricky and Emily if they needed to make a medical decision for Rainie?"
"Sharon, don't talk like that—"
"We have to talk like this. Look at Rainie."
With a sigh, Andy ran his fingers through her hair. "Of course I will. We may not be married yet, but we are a family regardless, and we look out for each other."
"We do," Sharon said.
Andy swiped his thumb over a tear rolling down Sharon's face. "It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside, I'm not one of those who can easily hide…" he sang.
Sharon sniffled and rested her head on his chest, feeling the vibrations of Andy's breath as he continued singing.
"So excuse me forgetting, but these things I do, you see, I've forgotten, if they're green or they're blue…"
"Green," Sharon whispered through her tears. Andy's attention to details would never allow him to forget her eye color, even if the song said so.
"Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean, yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen." Andy pressed a kiss to one of Sharon's eyelids and then the other. "I hope you don't mind; I hope you don't mind, that I put down in words, how wonderful life is while you're in the world…"
Going back to work while Rainie still fought for her life was not ideal, but at that moment, with Andy's arms rubbing up and down her back and his voice slowly taking her cares away, she knew that she had found an island of stability amidst the tempest her life has become.
-TBC-