A/N: This is just a prologue to give y'all some background information before we dive into this Shandy adventure.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or M/C, but if I did, this is what would happen.

Prologue: Seven Minutes

March 1989

It was a particularly stormy night by Los Angeles standards. Sandra Flynn had left her two children, almost four year old, Nicole, and one year old, Brandon, in the care of a neighbor while she made a quick trip to the supermarket. They needed diapers, eggs, and bread and it didn't look like her husband, Andy, would be home anytime soon. As a Sergeant with the LAPD Robbery Homicide unit, he worked quite a few late nights, this one being no exception. She knew the schedule of a police officer was prone to be erratic, but something within the last year had definitely changed. Andy would come home later and later, if at all, and when he did, the stench of bourbon on him was more often than not overwhelmingly present. They'd fought about it constantly since shortly after Brandon was born. It was always the same argument. Sandra told Andy he drank too much and that he wasn't there enough for his family and he would always respond with the fact that someone had to financially support this family. More often than not lately, it would end with anger on her part and slammed doors on Andy's as he continued to run away from both his family and his drinking problem.

As the stoplight turned green on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, Sandra Flynn began to slowly make her way across the intersection, when all of a sudden, a car came barreling through the intersection from the other direction and sent Sandra's car sliding across the slick intersection until it finally came to a stop as it came into very sharp contact with the pole of the traffic light and everything went black.

Sandra awoke a few minutes later to the sound of sirens and a crew of firefighters jogging towards her car. One of the firefighters, whose name tag she couldn't quite make out, began speaking to her as paramedics assessed her body for what kind of injuries the impact had caused. It didn't take long for Sandra to notice the grim looks on everyone's faces.

"What's your name?" Sandra managed to get out.

"What?" asked the firefighter as he struggled to hear the injured woman over all the noise around them.

"Your name. I can't quite make it out there on your nametag and something tells me we'll be getting to know each other quite well before this is done and over with.

"Connelly. Brian Connelly, ma'am," answered the firefighter as he struggled to figure out what else to say to her.

"Brian, I'm a cop's wife. I need you to be honest with me here, there's no way I'm getting out of here without catastrophic and deadly blood loss, is there?" Sandra asked him.

"No, ma'am. It's pretty bad. As you may have been able to feel, a piece of metal went straight through your torso area right where many of your vital organs are," explained Brian.

"Okay, Brian. I'm wondering if you could delay the extraction a bit until I can speak to my husband in person. His name is Andy Flynn. He's a sergeant with the Robbery Homicide unit of the LAPD. It's vitally important that I speak to him in person before you guys do whatever it is that you do," Sandra told him.

"Hey Granger!" Brian yelled to one of the uniforms on scene.

"Whatcha need?" asked Granger.

"I need you to get in touch with someone at the PAB who can deliver an urgent message to Andy Flynn from the Robbery Homicide Division. Tell him that his wife's been in an accident and that he needs to get down to the intersection where Figueroa meets 11th Street now," Brian told the uniform before Granger ran back to his car to radio headquarters.

Seven minutes later, a police car came rolling up to the scene with lights and sirens blaring. Two men quickly jumped out of the car and headed towards the vehicle, flashing their badges along the way.

A firefighter and a paramedic attempted to hold them back a moment before Andy yelled, "Let me go! That's my wife over there!

"Hold on, Sergeant Flynn," the firefighter told him as he continued to block their path forward.

"Sergeant Flynn. Before you go over there. We need to warn you about a couple things. Your wife's car was t-boned and slid across the slick intersection until the force of the crash was stopped by the light pole over there. Her injuries are quite extensive-" explained the EMT before the other man, who one could only assume was his partner, interrupted him.

"So, what you're saying is that she's pinned, right?" asked the Sergeant's partner.

"Unfortunately, yes-" replied the EMT before he was again interrupted.

"So, if she's pinned, what the hell are you two doing standing over here? Why aren't you over there trying to get her out of there?" the Sergeant's partner asked them.

"Shut up for a minute, Provenza. Let him talk," the Sergeant told his partner.

"Sergeant, the way your wife is pinned to the light pole is by a piece of metal debris that struck through her torso area. Once we extract her…" the firefighter trailed off.

"She'll bleed out," said Andy in a state of disbelief.

"Yes, sir. According to the guy from my crew over there, she asked us to wait to do the extraction until after she had spoken directly to you," answered the firefighter.

"She's conscious?" asked Andy.

"Yes, Sergeant. We just wanted to warn you about the extent of her injuries before you saw her," said the EMT.

Andy began to walk past them towards the scene of the crash, as the EMT, the firefighter, and his partner followed behind him for a moment before hanging back a ways to give the Sergeant some space.

As he got closer, a firefighter that was hunched down towards the ground stood up and addressed him, "Hello, Sergeant. My name is Lieutenant Connelly. There's someone here who would like to speak with you," indicated the officer grimly as he went to step back to give the two a bit of privacy.

Andy grabbed the man's arm to stop him before he asked the Lieutenant, "Does she know?"

"Yes, sir. She could tell it was bad. Told me to have them call you right away," replied the Lieutenant.

"Okay, thanks," Andy told him before he crouched down towards the ground until he could see his wife's face.

"Hey," Andy greeted her.

"Hi," replied Sandra.

"I'm so sorry, Sandra. For everything," Andy told her.

"This here isn't anybody's fault except the asshole that blew through the red light. Now, some of the other things that have happened over the last year. Quite a bit of it was your fault, but never mind that right this second. I need you to do some things for me, okay," Sandra told him.

"Okay," replied Andy.

"First, I need you to get yourself together. Go to rehab, AA, counseling, whatever you need to do to take care of this penchant you seem to have for large amounts of bourbon. It's a problem, Andy, and we both know it. So, you need to do whatever you need to do to get well. If you won't do it for yourself at this point, do it for Nicole and Brandon. I'm not gonna be around anymore to pick up the pieces and your children are gonna need their father. Now, more than ever. I need you to promise me that you're gonna be around to take care of our children after you get help, okay," said Sandra, leaving no room for argument.

"Okay," replied Andy as he looked his wife in the eye.

"Listen, I know we haven't been on the best of terms for a while now. Especially over this last year though. I just want you to know that no matter what's happened the last few years, I love you. Maybe not the way I used to or the way you needed me to, but I love you so much for giving me those two precious babies of ours. They're your responsibility now, Andy. Tell them that mommy will always love them and that she'll always be in their heart and up in the sky. Raise them up to be good humans, Andy," continued Sandra.

"Me too. I promise to do the best I can to raise our kids well and I promise to be always be the best dad I can be to them," Andy told her.

"One more thing. Once you're ready and the kids are a bit older and seem ready and you're confident in your sobriety, I want you to find someone-" began Sandra before she could see Andy beginning to argue.

"I mean it, Andy. When we got married, we were still practically kids ourselves and we thought we knew what love was, but we didn't, and as much as we both love our kids, that isn't enough and we both know that. So, when the time is right, I want you to find a woman who will love you the way you deserve to be loved, Andy. I want you to find someone who you can build a life with and who will love those two babies of ours like they're her own. More than anything else, I just want the three of you to be happy and loved. Can you do that for me?" asked Sandra.

"Yes. I promise. When the time is right," answered Andy.

"Good. Now, this is the part where we say goodbye. I don't want you to have to witness this next part. God knows you've probably seen plenty of scenes like this as a cop. No need to have this sort of image in your head. Take care of our babies and remember everything else I said, okay?" asked Sandra.

"Yeah. Just know that I will always love you and be grateful that you've given me two of the most precious gifts I could've ever asked for," Andy told Sandra.

"Yeah," replied Sandra before Andy stood up and walked back over to the group of men standing a ways behind him.

"She's ready," Andy told Lieutenant Connelly before he began walking back towards the squad car with Provenza following close behind him.

Once they pulled up in front of Andy's house, he gave Provenza his keys and told him to head inside while he went to get the kids from the neighbor's house. A few minutes later, Andy walked in carrying Brandon and holding Nicole's hand until she noticed Provenza standing in the kitchen.

"Uncle P!" exclaimed Nicole as she ran towards him to give him a hug.

"Hey peanut," replied Provenza as he wrapped her in a momentary hug.

"Hey Nic. Why don't you go sit on the couch. Daddy needs to talk to you about something," Andy told his daughter.

"Do you want me to…" Provenza trailed off awkwardly.

"Nah. You can stay. How about you put Brandon to bed though. He's almost asleep now," pointed out Andy.

"Sure thing, Flynn," replied Provenza as he gently took the nearly one year old from Andy's arms and headed down the hallway with the baby.

"Why didn't Mommy come pick us up, Daddy? She told us she'd be right back," inquired Nicole.

Andy looked away from his daughter for a moment to collect himself before he picked up Nicole and sat her in his lap, "Nic, Mommy got a boo boo tonight."

"Is she okay? Can we see her?" asked Nicole.

"I'm afraid not, Nic. Mommy was in a bad accident tonight. You know how you learned about heaven & angels in Sunday school?" asked Nicole.

"Yeah. Is Mommy an angel now?" Nicole asked nervously.

"I'm afraid so, Nic. She's up in heaven with God now," explained Andy.

"So, she's not alone?" asked Nicole curiously.

"No, she's definitely not alone. In fact, she wanted me to tell both you & Brandon that she will always love you and that she'll always be here in your heart and up in the sky watching over you," Andy answered his daughter's question.

"So, she's never coming back?" asked Nicole sadly.

"No, ladybug, she's not. Believe me though, if she'd had a choice, she never would've gone to heaven. She loved you and your brother way too much to ever wanna be away from you two," Andy pointed out.

"Are you sad?" Nicole asked him as she sniffled.

"I'm very sad, ladybug," replied Andy as a few tears fell down his cheeks.

"Me too," replied Nicole as she buried her face into her father's shirt and cried.

"Oh, ladybug. I'd give anything for this not to be happening," said Andy as wrapped his arms around his daughter and held her as she cried.

About fifteen minutes later, Provenza walked back into the living room and saw Andy lying on the couch with Nicole in his arms fast asleep. He looked at his partner sympathetically before he put a hand supportively on his shoulder and said, "I'm gonna go make us some coffee."

While Provenza went into the kitchen to start the coffee, Andy carefully stood up off the couch and carried his daughter down the hall to her room. He pulled back the comforter and laid her down on her bed before tucking her in and pressing a kiss against her forehead.

Andy continued standing in the doorway of his daughter's room for a few more minutes to make sure she was asleep before walking down the hallway and checking in on his sleeping son. Satisfied that they were both sound asleep, he made his way down the hallway and headed towards the kitchen and the beginning of his new reality.