I'm just taking Mary's tweet at face value and have decided to believe that a Shandy engagement will simply be fact in ep 18.

So, at the risk of this becoming completely AU in a few days, I've gone ahead and expanded that final scene a little (or a lot).

It's nothing elaborate, mind you, but I hope you enjoy it. :)

Although the first hint was probably the sight that greeted her upon entering the condo, she realized something was coming only at the mention of Serve. And she suspected what was coming the moment an "Um," started his sentence.

But the full reality of it only truly registered with her when he said that living together could be 'only the beginning'.

Beginnings. She has had a few of those over the past five years, hasn't she? Under any other circumstances, she might have laughed at the idea of another beginning. At her age at that. Not in this circumstance though.

In this circumstance, not exactly knowing what to do with herself, she simply watched him close the sliding door, bracing herself for what was to inevitably come. A wave of nervousness washed over her. It was a feeling she had not experienced in a long while. Least of all around him. But the feeling was undeniably there, for this really was happening, and he had managed to, like so many times before, catch her completely unprepared.

When he dropped to his knee and pulled out a red box, opening it, her mind turned into a swirling mess of thoughts as the dots in her head suddenly started connecting.

The giddy, almost jittery air surrounding him the past few days. His bigger than usual disappointment when they had to cancel dinner. The random grins shot her way at work when she least expected them. And based on what happened a few seconds ago, her youngest son had a hand in all this as well.

Andy was nervous, too, apparently.

Although, maybe it wasn't nervousness.

For either one of them. And she wasn't completely unprepared for this. She had already entertained this idea. At length. He had, too, she knew, even if to each other they mentioned this in passing only. How could they not entertain it, though? They were living together already, so, of course, forever was the endgame for them, or, as Andy put it, another beginning for them. But, like every other time in their relationship thus far, he had reached this conclusion before her. Not because she was any less invested in this, in them, far from it. Of the two, she was simply the more analytical one. And that, unfortunately often meant Andy had to wait for her to, rationally, catch up with him.

However, it would seem that this particular wait was now over.

And, suddenly, she realized she wasn't really nervous. Nor was Andy.

The wait was over and she did not mind it. Not one bit.

Instead, she was starting to feel excited.

A strangled, little sound escaped her. Was it a squeal, a giggle, a hum, a moan, or maybe even a yelp? There was no time to identify it, for at the same time Andy's concerned sounding, "Sharon?" reached her ears, and more importantly, her brain.

She promptly snapped her mouth shut, having no recollection of her jaw even dropping this far down in the first place. Had she perhaps tried saying something? She had no idea. All she knew was that Andy had asked her to marry her and she had missed it. Had he given her an entire speech? She had no idea. Lost in her own private musings, when it counted most to hear him out, she had heard absolutely nothing.

Coming to her senses, she cleared her mind, her focus finally landing solely on the man kneeling in front of her.

"Again," she managed to choke out.

Andy frowned slightly, a flash of puzzlement or hurt crossing his features. Both probably.

"Again?" he croaked.

At the uncharacteristically insecure sound of his voice she let out a soft flustered laugh. "Oh, gosh, Andy," she shook her head, a hand finding its way to cover her mouth. "Please, ask me again," she clarified, reaching out to touch his shoulder, wanting to reassure him, to silently tell him her request was not a bad sign.

Now obviously even more puzzled, Andy's eyes dropped onto the little box still in his left hand. He shifted on his knee a bit and cleared his throat before meeting her gaze and speaking again.

"Sharon Raydor," he took a breath, "will you marry me?" he asked, a hopeful smile playing at the corners of his lips, despite her initial reaction, or lack of it.

This time, however, she paid attention and reacted.

"Yes," she breathed out, her hands flopping against her sides as she gave the heavens a quick, incredulous look. "Yes, Andy," she said, more loudly, looking at him and dropping to her own knees, her hands wrapping around his forearms to squeeze them excitedly.

Once at eye level, a silly, giddy grin spread over his face. "Yeah?" he asked, his mouth staying open once the word was out.

She smiled brightly. "Yeah," she confirmed in imitation of him, then wrapped her hands around his neck to kiss him in further confirmation.

"Gee, Sharon, what was that about?" Andy mumbled, when they pulled apart, for air mostly. "Way to turn a guy into a nervous wreck." He shook his head, grinning again. "Nearly had another heart attack," he added.

And for the first time ever, she actually laughed at one of his stupid heart attack related jokes. A long, soft, carefree laugh.

"Sorry," she said, sobering somewhat. "Oh," she let out on a giddy sigh, looking around. "I just did not see this coming," she said, pecking him on the lips once more. Honestly, she didn't know whether to be worried or impressed by his feat.

He chuckled. "Got one over you, huh?" he said smugly and, as she started laughing again, he reached out for her hand. "So how about we get this sucker on your finger then?" he asked, tilting his head at the ring.

She laughed some more, but finally actually seeing the ring he offered her, sobered again. Simple, elegant. She might as well have picked it out herself, it fit her taste that perfectly.

"Yes," she wiggled her fingers, "by all means, go ahead, please," she urged him on eagerly.

Andy was only too happy to oblige. But once the ring was on her finger and the box was somewhere on the balcony floor forgotten, he made no move to stand up. Instead, he gently cradled her face between his palms.

"I love you so much, Sharon," he told her thickly. On an overwhelmed groan, he added, "You have no idea just how much."

She flashed him another bright smile. "Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea," she said confidently, a hand covering one of his as she leaned into it.

"Yeah?" he asked gruffly, inching his face closer to hers.

"I love you just as much, Andy," she told him, closing the distance, despite his hold, to kiss him again.

When they broke apart, he grunted as he finally started getting to his feet, extending his hand to help her up as well. "I did not plan on kneeling this long, you know," he complained in a low grumble.

"Sorry," she said on a guilty shrug, standing up. She looked at herself and brushed her knees off. "I have to say though, I'm glad I was wearing pants for this," she added, nearly giggling now.

Andy scoffed. "Speak for yourself," he muttered, eyeing her legs purposefully.

She laughed, throwing a raised eyebrow his way. "I was," she quipped.

On a happy chuckle, he tugged on her hand and turned her toward the table.

"Now," he lifted the cloche over her plate with a flourish, "what do you say to dinner?" he asked.

She smirked, eyebrow raised. "At Serve?" she inquired, her heart melting a little once her eyes landed on her favorite dish.

He shrugged, an eyebrow raised as well. "Well, people say it's one of the most romantic places in Los Angeles."

She hummed, quietly taking in the display before her. She absentmindedly swayed her hand that was tangled with his between their sides. They may not have been at the restaurant that really was as romantic as promised, but right now, she couldn't imagine a more romantic place to be in than her very own balcony. Their very own balcony, she corrected herself.

"So?" Andy said, cutting through the fog of her thoughts.

Letting go of his hand, she wrapped her arms around his waist, her cheek nestling in a spot between his shoulder and chest. It did not bother her that her glasses went askew with the movement.

"Fine," she said, the word followed by a blissful hum.

He laughed and squeezed her into his side to drop a kiss into her hair. When she made no attempt to step out of the embrace, he warned, "It's gonna get cold."

"Yeah," she agreed on a long sigh, but stayed put, indulging in a few more moments of their closeness before finally, reluctantly, letting go of him and letting him help her into her chair. She readjusted her glasses in the process, too.

"You know," Sharon started, once Andy was seated, too, his suit jacket now draped over the back of his chair, "I did not expect this."

"The proposal?" Andy asked, then smirked without waiting for confirmation. "That was kind of the point, Sharon."

She pursed her lips and gave him a look. "I mean this," she waved her empty fork around them. "It's so," she paused, her focus on her plate for a moment before she met his expectant look again, "me." She finished the thought on a slightly surprised note.

Around a mouthful of food, he said, amused, "I thought this was all Andy Flynn?"

Despite herself, she laughed at him and his cocky demeanor. "Well, I expected something, uh, less subtle," she said. "Something louder," she added on a shrug as she scooped some food onto her fork.

"Something more obvious?" Andy suggested.

She offered a happy shrug. "Well, subtlety never was one your strong suits, Andy."

"Yeah," he nodded, a bit guiltily. "Well," he dragged the word out as he drew his shoulders together, "I actually had other ideas initially," he admitted.

"Ah," she perked up at that. "Such as?" she prodded.

"Dinner at Serve instead of here," he said instantly, and she gave him a sympathetic look, knowing exactly how that plan fell through. "A trip to Napa," he added, almost as an afterthought.

"A," she paused to swallow, then made another attempt to speak. "A trip?" she asked. When he nodded, she added, "When?"

Andy made a face. "That day two idiots decided to drop a guy out of a helicopter," he muttered, taking his lingering irritation about it out on a piece of his food by forcefully stabbing his fork into it.

She chuckled at him. This explained his impatience in the morgue after the body was retrieved.

"But," he looked at her, "it doesn't matter." He waved a hand at her and added, "Rusty said you wouldn't have liked that anyway, so maybe I should be thanking those idiots."

She frowned slightly. "Why wouldn't I like that?" she asked, puzzled. Taking a vacation sounded rather tempting, now that she thought about it.

Andy rolled his eyes. "You don't like getting whisked away," he said. "And we both know it's true," he added, the look on his face warning her not to try arguing the point.

She gave him a small shrug. "Well, maybe I wouldn't mind getting whisked away by you," she told him, a coy, little smile playing at her lips.

His eyes widened. "Really?"

Her smile widened. "Yes, really."

"Huh," he let out, leaning into the back of his chair, his food temporarily forgotten. "I'll keep that in mind then," he said after a few moments of silence.

She laughed. "Whisk away, Andy."

He laughed a little, too, finally returning to his food. "But, you know," he started on a more serious note, "you're right, if I had it my way, this would have been a much louder affair," he told her.

She hummed as she considered her response. "So you asked Rusty for help?" It wasn't really a question.

He nodded. "I did enlist his help with my first two tries, but I only spilled the beans about the ring when dinner failed."

She tilted her head, smiling. Andy and Rusty had come such a long way. It made her heart swell up even more with contentment. "I'm surprised you had to spill your beans at all," she told him, holding back a chuckle. "You were acting rather strangely these past few days."

"You, my dear, didn't figure it out on your own either," Andy argued, pointing a food-laden fork at her.

"I didn't ask either, now did I?" she countered over a raised eyebrow. If Rusty thought something was off, she was certain he would have asked what was going on. Actually, had it not been for their busy case, by now she would have asked as well.

Andy's begrudging grunt confirmed Rusty had indeed asked. "In all fairness though," he said, his voice taking on a slightly defensive note, "you'd be acting weird, too, if you were sitting on that for days on end," he gestured at her ring with a nod of his head, "with your plans getting spoiled all the time." He raised his voice over the next words, "I swear, it felt like the damn thing weighed a ton!"

A throaty laugh escaped her. "I happen to like this damn thing," she said, feigning offense, her thumb finding the finger her brand new engagement ring was on to turn it around.

Calm again, he flashed her a smile. "Good," he said, taking a sip of his water. "You said yes," he then suddenly added, a trace of both relief and disbelief in the words.

Her face lit up. "I did."

With that they just stared at each other for a moment, basking in this new reality. He was sporting that grin she had seen so many times over the past few days and, knowing the real reason behind it now, she could only love it even more than she already did, and what was more, she couldn't help but return it with a grin of her own.

Breaking the connection at long last, they fell into comfortable silence to focus on simply eating. They had a long day and were both rather hungry.

"This is all Andy Flynn," Sharon said after a few bites.

Andy lifted an eyebrow in question.

She raised an eyebrow of her own. "Only Andy Flynn makes me like surprises."

The words weren't exactly true. She still generally did not like surprises. She was wary of them because, more often that not, they were bad ones. In the past two decades of her life, she could expect good ones only from her children, and even they sometimes, usually unintentionally, threw an opposite one her way. Any other lovely surprises were few and far between. However, with Andy, she was yet to stumble across a bad one. And taking into account what she only just said yes to, she clearly felt confident she never would either. His unfortunate health scares, of course, did not count.

The look Andy gave her,let her know he read into these private musings of hers, but he smiled genuinely and appreciatively anyway. He knew what she was trying to say. "Well, that's good, 'cause I like surprising you," he finally replied.

With that, they focused on eating again.

"I know you're not one for big displays or grand gestures," Andy said after a while, just as she was sipping on her water, "but if you'd let me," he paused and his brow furrowed briefly, "or Rusty for that matter," that realization seemed to have surprised him, "I'd be shouting this from the rooftops."

She grinned and reached out to briefly touch his unoccupied hand. "I know you would," she told him.

He gave her a hopeful look. "So," there was suddenly an air of mischief about him, "if I were to say," he paused for effect, "shout it right now…" He tilted his head to his left, past the railing of the balcony and in the direction of the city that stretched next to them.

"No, no, no," she quickly interjected, laughing even though part of her worried that he just might try doing exactly that.

He faux pouted, gaze dropping to his plate. "Buzzkill," he muttered.

Unexpectedly, a snort left her and she was glad she was not in the middle of chewing or else it would have led to a much too ungraceful sight for a night like this. "Now that you mention Buzz," she said pointedly, trying to collect herself. Once she did, she went on, ignoring the smirk on his face, "Anyone at work know about this?"

"Just Provenza," he said, rolling his eyes.

She suspected there was a story behind his reaction, but the answer did not surprise her otherwise. Deciding that she could pry into that later, in response she only nodded.

"Wished me good luck, actually," Andy added matter-of-factly.

"Mhm," she hummed absentmindedly.

It still amazed her at times how far she and Provenza had come, that she could count him among supportive friends, whether he himself would ever admit it or not. Or how far she and Andy had come, for that matter. He had managed to become an integral part of her life long before they ever started dating, and, although it was still beyond her how exactly it all came to be, she considered it almost as big a miracle as Rusty was. And, although she did so in distinctly different ways, she cherished both of them equally.

She certainly had not expected to see herself here after five years of heading Major Crimes but, now, she wouldn't want to have it any other way. And to think of all the things that threatened this outcome...

"Earth to Sharon," Andy's voice snapped her out of her musings.

"Sorry," she said, blinking a few times once she realized tears have entered her vision.

His hand landed on hers and at the contact she let go of the fork she had been holding to let their fingers lace together. "You okay?" he asked, concerned. "You had a similar look earlier," he added, his eyes flickering to the spot he proposed to her in.

Momentarily, she looked heavenwards, trying to calm the emotions that had welled up these tears in her eyes. "More than okay," she said on a soft smile. "I am," she paused to take a breath, "oh, so, so happy." She shook her head, blinking away a new onslaught of tears. "And so incredibly grateful," she paused again, "for this," she looked around, "for you." Her breath hitched and she had no choice but to trail off.

"Me too," he told her, squeezing her hand, smiling when she met his gaze. "Like I said earlier," he went on, and she couldn't help but blush, guilty for having completely zoned out 'earlier', "so much has happened and so much is still happening and will happen." He was talking about their respective work situations, his health issues, Stroh who, despite the barely existent evidence, was always at the back of their minds. It was as if he had read her earlier thoughts and known where they were taking her. "But I can't imagine facing any of it with anyone else but you. The good and the bad," he shrugged, pulling back his hand to wave it through the air, "it's all either more fun or easier to face with you by my side." Emotion laced his next words. "It's been that way for a while now."

Well, there was no way for her to hold back the tears now. Furiously, she wiped at her cheeks as they escaped, having to even lift her glasses a bit. She recalled her earlier conclusion and, daring to use her voice again, she said, "I wouldn't have it any other way either." On a watery smile, she added, "Haven't wanted it any other way for a while now, too."

She knew he was as touched as she was when he swallowed, and not food, for his plate was by now empty. He still smiled though, and leaned over the table. Meeting him halfway, they kissed, the kiss saying everything they couldn't find words for. And by the time they broke apart and sat back on their chairs, her tears had stopped running and they smiled at each other.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "So are you ready for dessert?" he asked, eyeing her nearly empty plate.

She appreciated his attempt of lifting the heavy mood. "There's dessert?" she asked.

He gave her an incredulous look. "Of course there's dessert."

She clasped her hands together and put them neatly on top of the table. "Well, in that case, yes, I'd love some dessert."

Eager to please, he was on his feet instantly. "Be right back," he said, quickly kissing her again.

But she grabbed his arm before he could walk into the condo. "Wait for me," she told his puzzled look, already scrambling to her feet. She didn't feel like not being near him just yet and apparently he didn't mind it either, for he offered no protest.

But walking toward the kitchen arm in arm, Sharon stopped them halfway there, her eyes sweeping over the living room again. They had undergone a significant change between now and the last time they stood there, even if barely an hour had passed between the two occasions. Their change in status meant they had a lot to discuss now, but those were all matters she knew could wait until after they indulged in this little celebration of them.

She felt his questioning gaze and looked up at him. Her thoughts still lingering on the idea of status, she finally said, "I am no longer your girlfriend."

His entire face lit up. "You're my fiancée now," he said, sounding almost giddy with happiness. On a snicker he added, "Can't wait to tell my doctor!"

She burst out laughing, a high, content sigh escaping her as she turned and let her forehead fall against the side of his chest.

He watched her laughter rumble through her, the stupid grin on his face indication enough of how much he was enjoying the view.

Once calmed down, she looked up and, on instinct, he wrapped his arms around her, capturing the lingering smile on her lips between his. Unsurprisingly, the kiss quickly escalated and both of them slowly got lost in it. But when Sharon's hands curled around his suspenders, Andy came to his senses and pulled back.

"I thought we were on our way to get dessert?" he asked, a little breathless, when she opened her eyes to, judging by the look on her face, protest.

"Well, I was in the middle of it," she mumbled, an entirely too suggestive feel to the words. Her raised eyebrow only further punctuated her point.

He only managed to let out a lame, "Oh," when she pulled him down by his suspenders to pick up where they left off.

So, what do you think?

Btw, if this ends up being completely off target, depending on what happens in the next episode, I just might give this final scene a new spin. We'll see.

Also, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews so far!