It was the next evening before Andy got back to the hospital, not for lack of trying. He had a meeting with the DA's office about a case that was about to go to trial, and then, he went by work to deal with the paperwork mess on his desk. Sharon was also busy at the hospital, as they ran a few more tests and continued with her physical therapy. They had her up and moving, but all of it was going much slower than she wanted. She had also hoped her doctor would send her home, but that too, was going slower than she wanted.
Andy opened the door, gingerly, this time, and he closed it softly when he saw Sharon was dozing in her bed. She was dressed in some of the clothing he'd brought from home, comfortable things-leggings, a t-shirt, and she had on a long open cardigan over it she had pulled tightly around her. She had also pulled up her favorite blanket, something else he'd brought from home for her. It normally stayed in a basket in the living room until they needed it each evening, but Sharon had been glad to get it in the hospital. He sat down, putting the chicken noodle soup he'd brought her down on the table. Andy glanced at the television and saw she had on some news show, and he tried to quietly relax while she slept. He'd spent many, many hours in this chair hoping she would wake up, uncertain of the future, and now, he sat here, relieved and happy; Sharon was awake, and while there was a lot of uncertainty about a few things, she was alive and would be coming home soon.
Soon was relative, and that was driving Sharon crazy. It was driving both of them crazy, if Andy had to admit it, but he understood the doc wanting to keep Sharon longer. Sure, they all wanted her home-Rusty was definitely ready for Sharon to be home, and Andy wanted to get back to some normalcy, if there was any such thing. Andy had barely moved in when everything had gone haywire, so really, it was time to start their lives together. The doc really wanted Sharon to do more rehab before she went home. Sharon was having trouble with that; she just wanted to be in her own home and her own bed. With Andy and Rusty gone most of the day with work and school, though, it was better for her to be in the hospital still where she could be monitored. Her memories were still clouded by whatever she had dreamed during her coma, and her balance was very unsteady.
Andy was pulled out of his thoughts when Sharon shifted and turned her head to open her eyes. "Hi," she said in a sleepy voice as she turned all the way toward him and pulled her blanket with her. "It's good to see you. I've missed you today."
"Good to see you too," Andy said as he stood to move and sit on the side of the bed. He leaned in and kissed her. She returned the kiss, and they smiled at each other.
"How was your meeting with the DA's office?" Sharon asked. "Ready for court?"
"It was fine," he nodded and shrugged. "Standard," he offered and waved.
"We can talk about the case if you want," she gave another small smile. "I'm almost itching to do anything work related. There are only so many game shows I can take," she chuckled.
"Nah," he waved at her. "I just want to talk to you about anything, about us," he winked. "Work is work, and trust me that you aren't missing anything. I've been doing all of the captain's paperwork since she's out, and that is no fun job," he grinned. "That's rather dull. I don't know how she puts up with that, and on top of that, the meetings," he made a face that caused Sharon to laugh. She hummed and grabbed hold of his hand.
"Well," she nodded slightly and cleared her throat, "I think she has a great team. That gets her through the day, and if you can keep a secret," she lowered her voice and smiled brightly at him, "she has eyes for one of her detectives. That really gets her through the dull paperwork."
He winked at her, "That's your secret. I see," he nodded. "I only have Provenza to look at, and knowing that, you can see why I'm not as excited about my paperwork day."
"The captain thanks you for stepping up for the team. Here you are, injured yourself, and you are going above and beyond. The captain wants you to know your efforts will not go unnoticed," she grinned.
He raised an eyebrow, "Do I get a reward?"
Sharon burst out laughing, "Soon," she patted his hands. "I'll have to think of a way to reward you when I get home."
"How was your day?" Andy asked, glancing at her. "You are looking good. I'm sure they beat you up in physical therapy," he chuckled.
She nodded and sighed, "Yes, getting back to normal is not as easy as I would have wanted. Physical therapy was exhausting. This morning, they were working on my walking, moving around and all, and this afternoon, they worked on my shoulder. I find myself dozing, as you saw, more than I like. I'm a grown woman who should be in my prime with everything, and I'm acting like an 85 year old napping all the time."
"Hey," he patted her hand, "give it time. I know you want to get out of here, but let's just let the doc do her job. I want you home too, but obviously, you need to be able to be on your own and moving around some before you can come home. I'm sorry it's stressful and hard on you. You're doing great, Sharon."
She gave a slight roll of her eyes, and then, she leaned back against her pillows. As she did, she moved over to the side and patted the space there. She eyed him, "Will you sit with me? I really want to have your arms around me."
"Of course," he flashed a smile and stood. He took off his suit jacket, sat down, and he kicked off his shoes before he sat next to her on her bed, pulling her toward him, mindful of her shoulder, and as they got comfortable, she pulled the blanket up over them.
"Hmmm," she hummed as she nestled her head onto his chest. "That is much better, Andy, much better."
"Good, agreed," he sighed."I'll stay here until they kick me out, and that might be awhile. I've made friends with all the nurses," he chuckled and kissed her head. "So, let's sort out some of those thoughts-dreams, really, you had while you were asleep. How does that sound?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure where to start," she said.
"You woke up thinking we were married. Want to tell me about that? I mean, I'd love to know how I proposed, considering I wasn't there," he chuckled again. Sharon smacked at his chest, and he just groaned.
"Okay," she nodded, trying to remember everything. "I'm not sure I remember it all, and I know some of it sounds crazy. I suppose that's what the memory does, though."
"Sharon," he kissed her head again, "I'm not judging you. I'm really interested in your dreams. I have to tell you that it was almost sad to have to tell you we aren't married. I was surprised to hear you thought it, but yeah, sad to tell you it wasn't true."
She nodded, "It just seemed so real."
"How did we get engaged?" Andy asked. "I mean, to be married, we had to get engaged, so tell me about that. Please tell me I didn't have to beg you to say yes or even worse," he chuckled, "you didn't say no at first did you?"
"No, it was all very sweet," she sighed. "I didn't find out until after you asked me that you'd had the ring for weeks and had been chomping at the bit to ask me. Apparently, work had foiled your many attempts. I guess you and Rusty had collaborated on several things, Rusty not knowing what was going on until you were about ready to lose it from what you told me. Rusty helped you plan a weekend getaway, which work ruined. You had wanted to ask me in Napa, which still makes me laugh," she chucked. "You, Andy, wanted to take me to wine country just to make me happy."
"Sounds like a perfect place for an alcoholic," he chuckled. "I mean, I know there's much more to do in Napa and the area, but yeah."
"Exactly," she nodded. "See, I told you parts were odd. Work ruined that surprise, and you told me after that the plan was to take me back to Serve."
"Serve," Andy smiled brightly. "Now, that sounds like a better idea, but you hate public places and all, public displays. It took a long time before you even wanted to hold my hand in public."
"Well," she gave a small shrug, "we weren't even dating back then, Lieutenant, if you recall. It was a step out, a leap of faith and friendship to hold your hand when you were a friend, one of my lieutenants."
"Fair enough," he raised his hand. "However, I do know that you would have loved eating at Serve, but really, I wanted to ask you right there, not like on the beach later?"
She shrugged slightly, "That's how it seemed in my dream. You're right, though, that the middle of a restaurant would not have been my first choice."
"Okay," he nodded, "so, it doesn't sound like it happened there, right?"
"No," she smiled at him and continued, "work was work again. You kept wanting to take me to dinner, but work was an issue. Finally, after the case was solved, you proposed."
"At work?" Andy asked, clearly horrified by the expression on his face.
"No," she laughed and shook her head. "You later told me that you finally clued Rusty in on the urgency, and he and Gus took care of the details. They decorated the condo, and you had food from Serve for us. It looked beautiful with flowers and candles everywhere, dinner on the balcony, and after we got home, you just couldn't stand it anymore. You asked me before we even sat down to dinner."
"Now," he nodded and continued, "that does sound like me, the urgency. I will point out that I've been waiting on you in this relationship for a long time and should get props for that. I haven't pushed you."
"Not until it was time to talk about moving in together," she pointed out.
"Hey!" Andy exclaimed and turned to face her. "I didn't even push you on that. I told you I wanted to move closer to you and was planning to get a place. I put the idea out there for you, but when I could see you were too nervous about it, I made it clear I'd just get my own place."
She frowned slightly, "Somehow, you know me better than I know myself, Andy Flynn." Sharon leaned up and kissed him lightly before she settled into his side. "You know how to just plant the idea, step back enough, and let my mind wrestle with things. You've been doing that for a long time. Thank you for knowing me."
"Thank you for putting up with me," he whispered and kissed her head again. "Tell me," he encouraged, "this engagement, did it make you happy? Were you good with it?"
"Oh, yes," she snuggled into his side again. "Alone with you, it was perfect. We decided to eat first and call the kids much later. I don't know why we thought torturing them was a good idea."
"I can answer that," he grinned. "I mean, I don't want to jump into your dream, but the kids have been all over us every step of the way. I'm guessing that Rusty probably had clued them in on things, and they were all waiting for the call."
Sharon nodded and laughed too, "Yes, that would make sense, that we wanted them to worry a little. What really was odd in my dream, though, was the fact your kids weren't at the wedding."
"When did we get married in your dream?" Andy asked. "I certainly hope it wasn't in the middle of a case like Provenza," he groaned.
"Honestly," she sighed, "it wasn't much better. There is so much to that part of my dream, and I'm wondering if your heart issues made their way into my dream. Did you sit here and talk to me, tell me about your heart attack?"
"Actually, yeah," he sighed, running his hand over the back of his head. "I told you everything. The doc and nurses kept telling me to talk to you. I didn't know if you could hear or understand me, but yeah, I told you everything. I missed you so much, and it was almost therapeutic to talk to you. I told you all about my heart issues, my appointments, all of it."
"That would make sense," she nodded. "Right before our wedding, in the middle of a case, I collapsed in the Murder Room."
"Wait," he pointed out to her, "I collapsed in the Murder Room with my heart attack."
"Ahh," she nodded. "Okay, well, I thought I was just sick from the flu. They told me I had something wrong with my heart," she shook her head. "It wasn't a heart attack, but it was something almost attacking my heart. Sorry, the details are still foggy about that, but I was determined to still do it all when they told me to just slow down and focus on getting better. I pushed forward with the cases we had, and I pushed the wedding. The kids, I mean, my kids because for whatever reason in my dream, yours weren't around, were so worried about me, but we got married at the very end of a case, even with me as sick as I apparently was."
"Wow," Andy raised his eyebrows surprised. "I mean, it does sound like you to want to do it all."
"Right," she nodded, "but not to the point of sacrificing myself for my family. I told you my dream was odd."
"So, who married us?" Andy asked.
"Our priest," Sharon smiled. "That was another odd part, not that I wouldn't love to get married in the church, but Jack agreed to an annulment. Ricky, of all people, worked on that. Rusty and Nicole pushed Sandra to file for annulment too."
"I didn't think of that myself?" Andy asked. "Sandra did that?"
"Again, I told you it was odd," she leaned up and kissed his cheek. "You can see why things are still cloudy for me. It just all seemed so real."
"I can," he nodded. "So, we just got married without my kids? Things are finally going well with my kids. They are back in my life. Nicole and Nate love you. Nicole's wedding is what got us to even really talking outside of work, and honestly, all of her meddling, that's really partly what got us together. She loves you. The whole family loves you. We have the boys we watch all the time. Wait, were the boys there?"
"No," Sharon said, almost in a comical tone. "We had ring bearers, but they weren't the boys. In fact, that was odd too. Ricky walked me down the aisle, which was fine, but I would have thought that Ricky and Rusty would have walked with me together. I also would have expected to have had Emily as my maid of honor. Patrice, yes, I would have wanted her as my matron of honor, and I would have been fine with both of them like that, but Emily was not next to me. Nicole would have been in the wedding too. I know you would have had Nate and Dean," she frowned, trying to remember everything.
"I'm guessing Provenza was my best man?" Andy inquired. Sharon nodded.
"Yes, you had the team at your side. I just thought things were jumbled and didn't make the most sense. The boys would have been ring bearers, not Rusty and Mark," she frowned.
"Wow, Mark?" Andy asked and chuckled. "It's fascinating how some people made your dream and others didn't. I bet Julio told you all about Mark one of the times he was sitting with you here."
"I suppose," Sharon nodded. "Still, you said Nicole was here too, right?"
"She was, but she wasn't here like the others. I mean, she did have the boys to care for, and I didn't want them up here seeing you like you were. They love you so much. It was bad enough they asked Nic and Dean how Grandma Sharon was all the time. Nic said they talked about it at school a lot, as their teachers told her, but they didn't need to be up here."
"Julio would tell me all about Mark," she smiled. "That sounds like him."
"Back to this wedding, with the odd mix of wedding guests," he winked at her, "where did we go on our honeymoon? Let's get to the best part," he grinned.
"We didn't go on a honeymoon," she frowned as she remembered everything. "My health was an issue. We cancelled a trip to Ireland and stayed home. The wedding was just after Thanksgiving, which also was a bit odd."
"No honeymoon," he shook his head. "That doesn't sound like either of us. We've both talked about just getting away, relaxing, and well," he ran his hand down her arm, "enjoying other things outside of work."
"Stop," she started to laugh. "You have no idea how much I want to be anywhere with you alone to just do anything and everything we want."
"I'm just saying, Sharon, that when I marry you, it's going to be perfect-no one sick, no work issues, and we most definitely will go on a honeymoon," he told her.
"When?" Sharon asked, turning toward him. "You plan to marry me?"
"You're the one who though we were already married," he shrugged. "Seems like I shouldn't crush that dream," he winked. "Let's get you healthy, though, first. Plus," he kissed the side of her head and pulled her closer, "sounds like I need to figure out a way to surpass your dreams."
"I am here with you," she pulled herself tighter toward him. "That's what matters because my dreams weren't all good memories."