She was mad. She was sad. She was happy. She was fearful. She was grateful. She was worried. She was relieved. She was pregnant. She was still pregnant, and that was the best feeling in the world right now. It was the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend, now the end of May. The last few weeks had flown by for Sharon between work, her visit with Ricky, and her doctor's appointments. While her pregnancy had been annoying her to no end with all the changes it was doing to her body, today, she was eternally grateful to still be pregnant.
Work had been busy, very busy. Her team had been stretched thin between three different cases. They were used to working multiple cases at the same time, but it wasn't often they had three call outs in a 24-hour time period. She felt like the police department had gone rogue with the issues she'd handled lately, officer involved shootings and all, but eventually, things had been sorted. Thankfully, that mess had not interrupted her trip north to see Ricky. No, the work mess had happened right after she'd returned from her trip, but her trip had gone well. It had been nice to get out of L.A., even for just a couple of days, and Ricky had been so excited to see her. Sharon had timed her trip with the end of Ricky's semester. He was now living up north in an apartment off campus. Her kids both had late November birthdays, so he had just finished his first year in computers. For the summer, though, Ricky was taking classes and working in the computer lab, and she'd hit the sweet spot between school sessions. She loved spending time with her kids, even when they didn't do much of anything, which was the case on her trip. He was really growing up and had mentioned wanting to stay at school for the summer back at Thanksgiving. On this visit, Ricky had taken her to a few of his favorite restaurants, the two had gone to not one, but two movies, and they'd done some walking in a state park he liked. It had been a good visit. Her doctor's appointments had been filling up the rest of her time between work and travel. She'd had her big ultrasound a couple weeks ago, and to her delight, the baby looked good. The baby looked large to her, but good. Everything was measuring well, and to her amazement, nothing was wrong. Her age had been such a concern, but she appeared to be carrying a perfectly healthy baby. She'd been saying prayers each day, hoping for a healthy baby.
All of that had almost been ruined by her stupidity and stubbornness yesterday. She'd had an afternoon doctor's appointment, where to her relief, her blood pressure was still holding. She was now at 23 weeks, and she was starting to relax, starting to believe she could and would carry a baby who would make it. Yes, that sounded morbid, but she'd read way too much on the Internet and in her many baby books about babies being born too early, before they were viable, and that had terrified her. As she crossed of the days, getting closer and closer to 25 weeks, she started to let out slow sighs of relief. Now, she knew that 25 weeks was no magical number or guarantee. She knew that, yes, but everything she'd read had said viability increased dramatically after 25 weeks. Yes, she'd also read about the rare cases of babies surviving before 25 weeks, but she'd held onto that number, knowing if she could get to that point, she was giving him a greater chance of survival. After all Sharon had been through, the surprise and almost denial initially, she was so excited about her baby. She couldn't wait to meet him.
The "him" was another thing. She had asked to be surprised at the birth and still technically didn't know the gender. It was adding to her excitement, dreaming of her baby, and yes, she still believed it was a boy. Her heartburn had returned in full force just at 20 weeks. She had experienced a lot of that with Ricky, but not with Emily. She chalked that up to the baby being a boy. Her heartburn had gotten to be so irritating, she'd asked her doctor about it, and he joked with her about the old wives' tale that her baby would have a full head of hair. She'd just rolled her eyes because that had not been true with Ricky. Neither Emily nor Ricky had been born with hair. She'd had the bald babies and wondered if they would ever grow hair. So, when her doctor joked about that, she just huffed and said that didn't really help her now. What concerned Sharon was that if things were this bad now-the heartburn and weight gain-she didn't even want to think about how things would be as she got into her third trimester.
Today, she was just grateful to still be pregnant because things could have gone so badly. After her doctor's appointment yesterday, she'd run a few errands and then returned home. After getting her armload of groceries upstairs, as in preparation for Emily's upcoming visit, she'd put everything away in the condo and started on some household chores. She'd put in laundry, dusted, and had finished by working in her guest room where she'd noted she needed to get out her guest towels and extra blankets. Emily was a creature of habit. She was always cold, much like her mother, and Sharon kept extra blankets just for her. She stored them on the top shelf of the closet. She'd gotten her step stool to retrieve the blankets, and that's when things had fallen apart. Her doctor had warned her about using ladders, and of course, she knew the risk too, but it hadn't stopped her from getting up on her step stool. She told herself it was just a step stool, but that didn't change the outcome. It didn't help she had high ceilings in her condo, forcing her to climb even higher, and with all her baby weight gain, her balance was thrown off. She fell off the step stool, not a terrible fall, but enough of one to alarm her. It honestly had helped she had the blankets in hand, and as she fell, they fell out of her arms and helped to cushion her fall. Looking back now, she felt so stupid. She could have killed her baby retrieving blankets. It just didn't seem like it was anything that dangerous. She used step stools all the time, or she had. With an extra 25 pounds of baby, most of it now protruding from her stomach, she didn't realize just how off balance she was. Thankfully, she'd not felt any pain or sudden jolt from the fall, but it was enough to scare her. It was maybe only a couple feet she fell, as her foot just didn't hit the step as she backed down the step stool, but she didn't want to risk anything. She had her cell phone in her pocket and called Gavin. He suggested she call an ambulance and said he would meet her at the hospital, but she didn't want that. She wasn't bleeding, wasn't in pain, and she really felt she was fine, but she was scared. Reluctantly, he agreed to come and get her, not that he was irritated by doing so, but he really wanted her to have professionals evaluate her. She explained she didn't want to make a scene and have word eventually get back to the LAPD because she knew as a police captain, calling out the EMS, yes, it somehow would get back to work.
So, Gavin had come to her, telling her over and over how stubborn she was. She didn't move much while she waited. With the blankets there, she decided to just lie back on the floor and get a feel for the baby. She wanted to make sure she didn't start feeling contractions or anything of that nature. She also wanted to see if she felt the baby. It worried her when she didn't feel him moving, and she told Gavin that right away when he arrived. Thankfully, he wasn't in court. That was today, the start of a new trial, but he'd been working hard in his office. He helped her get up, and the two gingerly moved her toward the living room. Content that she wasn't in extreme pain, he then agreed to get her to the hospital without calling for an ambulance, and the two rushed to the ER.
The ER had sent her upstairs to L & D because she was over 20 weeks along, and that scared her too, the thought this could all end right there in Labor and Delivery with a bad outcome. L & D put her on the monitors, called her doctor, and checked her vitals. She started crying when they put the monitor on the baby, and she heard his heartbeat. Gavin almost did too, and Sharon teased him about that later when she was told everything was looking okay. She'd clutched his hand for hours, something, now she realized she needed to apologize to him because she was sure she'd hurt his hand, clutching it so hard. The baby was looking okay, but because of her age and elevated blood pressure again-which she was convinced was due to the scare-the doctor decided to keep her overnight for observation, and that is where she now found herself. It was mid-morning, and she was waiting to be discharged. The little peanut, who wasn't so little anymore by the size of her stomach, was doing just fine. Sharon was exhausted and had barely slept all night, worried she'd start going into labor from her fall. Again, she was just at that hard spot, 23 weeks. She'd read enough to know babies didn't survive easily at 23 weeks. She was sick at the thought of delivering now, and she was restless all night thinking about it. Earlier in the morning, her doctor had told her she could go home today and would be back later to discharge her. She wasn't in a hurry. She was perfectly content to relax and let her baby grow stronger.
She realized she had dozed off when she opened her eyes and felt how dry her mouth was. She started smacking her lips and then noticed she was warm; a blanket was draped on her. She pulled her watch up to check the time, and it was now 2:30. She'd slept for a few hours, sleep she knew she desperately needed after her long night. She started to shift and felt a pain on her side. She let out a groan as she did and turned to take the pressure off her side. She groaned even more when she saw Andy sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. His elbows were resting on his knees, and he had his head bent. She didn't think he'd noticed she was awake.
"Why are you here?" she groaned again, this time in irritation, and closed her eyes, wishing she had her glasses on to focus. They were sitting on a tray table, and she didn't want to move that much to show Andy she was awake. She sighed, and her hands moved to her sides, almost as if she was in protection mode.
She cracked on eye open and saw his stance change when she spoke. His head snapped up, and he looked to her. She closed her eyes again and shifted so she wasn't looking toward him, "Oh, I don't' know," he told her and continued, "I just like to roam the hospital halls on the off chance someone I know is here. I was trying to let you sleep. Give me credit for that much."
"You know what I mean," she grumbled, still refusing to look over at him. "I'm not your concern. Why are you here, and to go along with that," she now realized she did want to stare him down, "how did you even find out I was here?" Sharon shifted and turned, now her full attention on him. She wanted answers and wanted them now.
He continued to rest his elbows on his knees as he sat forward, his eyes meeting hers. He frowned, "I came because I heard you'd fallen- from one of your goons at work, not you, but one of your idiot detectives. Seems my division would rather work with you, even though they don't like that either, but when it comes down to it, you are the preferred option from your division. One of your goons came to our division, wanting to go over the details from that case a couple weeks ago we took over from Robbery/Homicide after one of their guys was involved. Anyway, Chief is the one who asked where you were. Even Chief prefers dealing with you over your clueless detective. He spilled the news, that you'd taken a fall last night and were in the hospital. Since the LAPD is now buzzing about the baby," he nodded to her, "the team, Julio in fact," he clarified, "asked if you and the baby were okay. Your detective said you were staying for observation, so here I am, observing the pregnant lady being observed."
"Swinson," she sighed loudly and shook her head.
"See," Andy gestured his hand without lifting it from his knee and continued, "you even know the moron without me naming him. He's a real idiot. I can't believe you're keeping him in your division."
"I didn't ask you to come," she huffed.
"Well aware," he snapped back at her. "That's precisely why I'm here. I wanted to check on you and make sure you and the peanut are okay."
Her eyes widened, "I told you not to call him that."
He stood and stretched while he locked eyes with her, "Fine, I was concerned about you and the princess."
She narrowed her gaze, "I also told you I think it's a boy."
He shrugged, "And, I, just to irritate you, think it's a girl. There is no reason I think that, but I just want to irritate you because you are so intent on being nasty to me. I-" he was interrupted when the door opened, and both turned toward it.
"Hi there," the nurse smiled as she walked toward Sharon. She gave a nod to Andy, "I see that you are awake. You looked so peaceful sleeping earlier. I'm glad you got some rest. I have your discharge papers here, so you are free to go. I see your husband is ready to take you home."
"He's most definitely not my husband," Sharon frowned and made a face. The nurse even let out a low chuckle at that, while Sharon looked horrified.
"I'm so sorry," the nurse shook her head. "Your friend was here yesterday and clarified he was just a friend, so I assumed," she trailed off and shook her head. "I assume too much working up here."
"It's fine," Andy tried to break the tension and continued, "I'm the father."
Sharon snapped her head at him and gave him a death stare. She wanted to snap at him, but the nurse just proceeded with her information. "Your doctor said you are fine to go home, but as he told you, you cannot go back to work today. He wants you to take it easy tomorrow, and then said, if you are okay and not in pain, you can go back to work on Friday. He said you know to call him if you have any problems and said he will see you in a regular appointment slot on Monday. Now," she looked to Sharon, "any questions for me."
Sharon, who had finally turned from glaring at Andy back to listening to the nurse, shook her head and gave her a small smile. Her hand started to run in circles over her stomach, "No, I don't. Thank you for your help. I do really appreciate it. I'm sorry I'm on edge and snapped at you."
"You had a scare," the nurse patted her hand, and when she did, she grinned at Sharon. "I believe I felt your baby kicking when I patted your hand."
"Yes," Sharon grinned too. "He's active again today. I was worried yesterday when I fell. He seems to be recovering just fine. Oh, I did want to ask about staying here in the room, at least for a few more hours. My friend is an attorney and is in court. He can't get me until later today."
"Sharon, I'll take you home," Andy called out from the corner where he was still standing. She had tuned him out to focus on speaking with the nurse. The nurse looked and Sharon and glanced back to Andy. She gave Sharon a sympathetic smile, "I'm not sure we can keep you in the room that long. I believe they were hoping to turn it over for another patient."
"Sharon, just let me take you back home," Andy pleaded. "I have to go back to work anyway. I'm going to be leaving the hospital, and it is absolutely stupid for you to stay here and wait for Gavin when I'm perfectly capable of dropping you off."
Sharon closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them, she looked to the nurse, "Fine, I'll go home now. Thank you," she said in an almost business-like tone and accepted the paperwork from the nurse. The nurse smiled again and patted her hand, "You get some rest. I don't want to see you back here for another four months or so." The nurse turned to leave, and Sharon watched Andy give her a nod and a smile. He took a step toward Sharon, mainly to let the nurse walk by, and then he crossed his arms, looking at her.
"Don't call him that," she snapped instantly when the door closed.
Andy got a puzzled look, "What? I didn't say peanut."
"Your child, that you are the father," she explained. "You're not."
Andy took a deep breath and closed his eyes while he looked to the ceiling. He looked back at her, "Fine, let me call the nurse back in here to explain. I'll explain I got you pregnant, which would make me the father, but you wanted me to sign away those rights, so technically, I'm not the father now, just a sperm donor. Let me do that," he stated.
"Don't act like you were forced into signing," she pointed her finger at him while her other hand continued to run over her stomach.
"I didn't say I was pressured! You also didn't really suggest much choice or much else. Yeah, I signed because YOU ASKED. It's what you wanted. I told you from the start I would pay and whatever else, that I'd step up to be yet, again, a crappy father," he waved and turned away from her. "Look, I'm not here to argue. You keep picking apart anything I say. I just came to check on you. I was worried."
"Again, that begs the question why did you come?" Sharon shifted again to sit up more in the bed. "As we have discussed for the tenth time or so, you are not the father anymore."
Andy turned back to her, shaking his head, "Why are you so nasty to me? I've done nothing but what you ask. I simply came here out of concern. I don't have to legally be tied to you or the princess to be concerned. I put you in this mess and can want to check on you."
"We are not friends. We have concluded any, any," she paused to find the right word as she was getting irritated again, "business we had together."
"Yeah, well," he slapped his hand to his side as he dropped it from his gesture, "I don't see a line of friends here to check on you. I know Gavin probably brought you. I'm here now, and it sounds like I'm the only friend you've got. Even that is a loose term. If you'd like to go home, I'm offering to take you. Don't worry that I'll try to do anything more. I'm not looking to sleep with you again, so you can relax about that."
"Oh, please," she rolled her eyes.
"Like I said, I didn't come here to fight. You keep pushing it. Now, the nurse has said you can go. Can we please get you home? I know you will rest better there, and it's better for the baby."
"He and I will be just fine," she said crisply as she tried to shift and move. She was stiff from staying in the bed and needed to change back into her clothing. She hadn't wanted to ask Gavin to go back to the condo for her things, especially when it was looking like she would go home today, so she'd just worn a hospital gown and planned to put on her clothing from yesterday. Andy noticed as she grimaced and took the two steps toward her to steady her arm as she stood.
"I don't need you to help me," she told him. He continued to steady her arm.
"I'm just trying to be a decent guy. I'd do this for any friend. Look, let me help you stand up right here. You had a fall, and you're probably stiff, even if you don't want to admit it. And, from what I can see, princess is getting much bigger."
As he talked, Sharon stood, not wanting to admit he'd helped her a great deal as she got up off the awkward hospital bed. When she was standing, he let go of her arm and stepped back, respecting her space. He had helped her. It had been awkward, but she couldn't admit she was thankful for the help. At the mention of the size of the baby, her hands cupped her stomach.
"Why do you do that?" he asked as she looked for her things. She saw her glasses and watch there on the table and started to put them on. "Why do you go into defensive mode when I mention the kid? I've given you my rights. I'm not going to snatch the kid from you. Come on! I'm noting that princess is growing."
"HE," she enunciated, "Is getting big. I'm getting big. I'm so big and getting very uncomfortable. Your large baby contribution to this has me over 25 pounds already I've gained. 25 pounds!" she exclaimed. "That is more than either Emily or Ricky total. I still have around 17 weeks to go. That is insane. I'll barely be able to walk by then, not to mention some of the maternity clothing I've bought doesn't even fit me anymore! You have no idea how humiliating it is to buy maternity clothing, wear it a few times, and now, that doesn't even fit. I want to scream about that, but I can't. I won't because I almost lost him yesterday, and no matter what, I'm so glad he's okay. Whatever weight I continue to gain, I'm going to try my best not to complain, but it is hard. It's REALLY hard when I feel worse and worse each day."
Andy listened to her rant and just nodded when she finished. He didn't anything; he just nodded. She gestured with her hands and looked for her clothing. Andy saw her looking around and spotted the clothing on a chair in the other corner. He moved quickly to grab it for her and returned with it. Her things were all folded. She took the items and silently walked to the bathroom to change. Andy just walked to the window to look out while she got ready. He watched the people below, coming and going. He zoned in on a couple, the guy holding the woman's hand as they walked from the parking lot toward the building, the woman extremely pregnant. He sighed and shook his head. The last few months of his life had been a mess, a disaster, and he didn't feel like he could do anything right.
"Lieutenant," he heard and before he turned he let out his breath again. She was getting on every nerve he had. "Lieutenant Flynn, I'm ready to go home."
Andy turned and gestured toward her, "Don't you think we are a little beyond the formalities of rank and all? Come on, Sharon," he sighed. "You know I expect you to call me Andy."
She pursed her lips, "No, in fact, I think Lieutenant Flynn is just fine. As I said earlier, we concluded any business we had together."
"You are so stuck on that!" he exclaimed. "Fine, call me Andy because that's what friends call each other, not that you have many. If a cop friend gets shot, I visit. If a cop friend is in the hospital for surgery, I visit. If a cop FRIEND," he said to specify her this time, "is in the hospital due to pregnancy complications, I visit. You can at least call me Andy as a friend. Whatever," he waved her off and turned back to the window to cool down. "You want to think of me as Lieutenant Flynn, the guy who knocked you up, fine with me."
"You and my son, what is it with you and that term?" she huffed.
"Fine," he flashed a smirk as he turned back to her. "We went at it like wild animals. Better? You were like a cougar on the prowl. I was the there just to de your donor baby daddy. There, how is that? All of it sounds awful, so again, Andy should be sounding pretty decent."
She scowled at him, "I'm ready to go."
He eyed the door, "Don't you have to go out in a wheelchair or something?"
"Oh, that's not happening," she pointed at him. "I'm perfectly able to walk out of her. I didn't have a baby. I'm fine. I'll get out of here before the nurse even notices. She gave me my paperwork, so I'm getting out of here."
Andy just sighed and shook his head. He watched her gather the last of her things, wanting to offer to help, but he knew it would spark another argument. Besides that, she didn't have a lot to gather. She really just had her paperwork and purse. When she was ready, she turned to him. He gestured to the door, again, choosing not to speak. Sharon glanced toward the nurse's station and when satisfied she could dart out, she moved quickly in the other direction, which really looked a lot like a waddle. Andy grumbled to himself and just followed, not sure why she wanted to live so hard and be so difficult. It wasn't until they were around the corner and safely on the elevator, he spoke again.
"Do you need to pick up anything on the way home? I'm happy to stop if you need food or need to go to the drugstore for anything-whatever, really."
Her hand continued to run in circles on the side of her stomach, "I'm fine. I just want to go home." It was probably a good thing there were others in the elevator. The two lapsed into silence, and when they finally emerged from the building a couple minutes later, Andy turned to her.
"My car is parked way back there, like in the back 40," he chuckled. "It's way out there. Why don't you let me get you here?" She rolled her eyes, and he raised his hands in defense. "I'm not implying you are helpless, but you and I both heard the nurse. Your doc wants you to take it easy. Last thing you need to do is walk all over the place when you had a scare yesterday. Besides that, it's hot for L.A. today, and I know the heat doesn't mix with pregnancy. Give the princess time to chill in there. I'll get the car and be right back. Don't do something stupid and disappear on me." Andy eyed her and started to walk away before she could argue. She wanted to argue it, but in reality, she didn't know what she'd say. He was right, not that she'd admit it. Instead, she dug out her phone and typed out a text to Gavin, so he would know where she was.
"Discharged. I'll be at home. Got a ride from him," she typed. She paused and added more, "The ride was not my idea."
Satisfied with her text, she put her phone away and started to run her hands over her stomach again. She was showing so much now. Everyone at work was staring at her large stomach. She'd worn her best outfit to tell Pope, best in being one that concealed the baby as much as possible. He'd been shocked, and as she had predicted, the rumor mill was going full force by late that afternoon. She'd only told Pope that she was having a baby and getting divorced. He'd eyed her, but there wasn't much he could say. His stunned silence spoke for itself, and she then told him she planned to take her full 12 weeks of maternity leave before returning to work, understanding she was using some of her extended leave time. Most returned after six or eight weeks. She knew that wasn't a wise idea with her age, to come back to work so quickly. She was preparing for complications and hoping she didn't have any. She also didn't want to admit that she wasn't sure she wanted to return to the LAPD. The headache of that, coupled with juggling a newborn wasn't what she wanted this time. She'd started to think about that more and had plans to discuss it with Emily when she visited. Her thoughts were interrupted when Andy pulled up in his car.
Sharon eyed his old car, not that she minded it, but she could hear it before she saw it and noted it sounded like it needed a new muffler. He got out to help her, and she moved to the door by herself.
"Sorry," he said, gesturing to the car like he could read her mind or maybe just saw her irritated expression, "it needs a new muffler. I haven't had time to take it in. Let me get the door. It sticks."
Sharon tried to pull on it, and she found that yes, it did stick. He nodded to her, and she stepped back. He yanked on it, and then she got in the car while he stood there with the door. She looked around, almost expecting to find garbage everywhere, but instead found it clean, but just old. He got in his side and closed the door, turning to her.
"I think you need your money back to buy a new car. I haven't spent a dime. You can have it," she said crisply.
He shook his head, "Nope, I'm fine. I have a car savings account. I'm good. This is a new old car. I replaced my last one that finally died. Look, I mostly drive my work vehicle because I live at work. I don't need much. I'm not interested in having a big car payment, so this is fine for now. Are you embarrassed to be seen in it?"
She scoffed at him and ran her hand on her side. She grimaced when she felt the baby pushing against her side, and she shifted. Andy moved quickly, noting her facial expression.
"Are you in pain? Should we go back inside?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she held up a hand and then instantly dropped it to her side again. The baby was starting to kick harder, and he had shifted too, up into her ribs, and that was driving her crazy. "He's just kicking and shifting. He's way up in my rib cage." As she said that, Andy looked to where her hand was. He could almost see motion with her shirt there and just shook his head.
"Sorry it's painful," he sighed. "I bet princess is hungry. Let's get you something to eat on the way home."
"I don't need food, and it's not a girl!" she exclaimed as Andy pulled away from the hospital. "Why are you stuck on that?"
"Why are you stuck on it being a boy? Maybe I think it's a girl," he shrugged.
"Your opinion doesn't matter," she told him.
"Sure, fine," he shrugged. "If other people at work gave you their opinion, you'd listen. Why am I any different now? I don't understand you," he said as they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. "We were having a good time on the road. I let down my guard that you weren't the nasty captain from work. You asked me to your room. Remember that? It's not like I minded that. I was a willing participant each and every time. That's another thing. This between us," he gestured, "happened multiple times. Fine. We talked in the car each day. We were doing fine. I thought we could be civil and have our arrangement. Then, you find out you are pregnant. I even gave you what you wanted there. You asked me to sign over my rights. I did, and I didn't argue. I didn't fight it. I've done what you want. I've stayed away and tried not to interfere. Today, I came to check on you because I was concerned. That's my kid there, and sure," he threw up his hand, "I realize it's not, but I put her there. It doesn't change that I was concerned about both of you. Friends show concern, and you didn't have a long list of people waiting to get into your room. I'm trying to offer you a ride home when you needed one. I'm not asking for more. I'm not pressuring you about the kid. I'm just trying to be a decent guy. Yet, with all this, you still treat me like crap. Is this your real personality? Are you really this cold? Is this what broke up your marriage? I can't figure it out. You want to raise this kid alone, no strings, whatever. I'm still going to see you at work, and I don't deserve the nasty treatment. I first thought you were ticked off I'd ruined your life, your plans, or whatever. I realize your life is forever changed, but you are happy about the baby now. I didn't just do this to you, no. We created her together. It takes two to tango. You and I both know that. I did this with you and would raise her with you even being the crappy father I am, but you don't want that. I get it. If you had wanted to come after me, I would have stepped up to support princess as you wanted, but I did give you what you want. So, tell me, Sharon," he turned to glare at her, "because Sharon is your name, and after we created a human life, I'm going to call you Sharon. What have I still done to you to deserve the cold shoulder all the time?"
She sat there, looking out the window and away from him. He added to his rant after the silence continued, "That's another thing. You are more concerned about your reputation at work than anyone I know. You'd rather the department gossip about princess belonging to your ex-husband, or almost ex-husband, the dirt bag he is, and you are ashamed to just call it like it is. Whatever. I'm not going to spread the story around. Once again, I'm letting you deal with that, but you walk around like you are untouchable. You deal with crappy officers every day, but you're hiding all these secrets yourself, CAPTAIN," he almost spit out her name. He turned into a deli, and finally, she looked at him.
"I just want to go home," she sighed.
"I'm aware," he nodded. "You can sit right there. I'll be right back. I'm going to grab food. You don't have to worry that I'm going to eat with you. I won't, but I need to eat lunch. I left for an early lunch. Provenza has been covering for me. I'm sure Chief would totally flip if she knew any of this, but I do need to eat before I go back to work. I'm going to get a couple salads and some soup. Eat it, don't eat it-I really don't care anymore. Again, I'm a friend, trying to help a friend, even if you continue to treat me badly. I really don't want to argue with you, but I've had it. I'm trying. I've tried, and you want to pretend like I'm some creep who can't get out of your life fast enough."
Andy opened the door and exited the car before she could answer. Sharon wasn't sure she wanted to answer, and she watched him walk toward the deli. She didn't want to address anything he'd said. She just wanted to go home. Why, oh why, did he have to be the father of her baby? She'd dealt with that, at least. He wasn't the father anymore. As she sat, she watched him inside. She saw him order, and then she saw him take a phone call and walk to the side as he spoke on the phone. She was getting tired again, and ironically, the loud muffler sound was almost lulling her to sleep. She closed her eyes, determined to go home and get some rest.
The next thing Sharon knew, she felt someone tapping her. Her eyes flew open, and she looked over to find Andy gently patting her side, right where she could now also feel the baby. When her eyes met his, he pulled his hand back. "Sorry, I was just trying to wake you up. We're at your building. I called your name three times. You didn't hear me. I wasn't trying to startle you or anything."
She shifted in her seat, her neck now in pain from falling asleep as she had. She'd been sleeping hard, so hard she hadn't heard him return to the car, get in, or drive her home. That was slightly alarming that she'd slept that hard. She looked out the window, and they were sitting in front of her building. She grimaced as she felt the pain go up her neck. She reached for it to rub out the pain.
"I'll be glad to walk you upstairs if you want, but I'm also trying to respect your privacy. If you want to get out here, I'll be on my way. I don't prefer that. I would rather make sure you are settled, but your choice," he told her.
She turned to him, almost glad she'd fallen into such a deep sleep. It had kept the two from talking any further on the ride home, "I'll be fine. Thank you for the ride."
"Food too," he reached behind him and pulled up a large bag of food. "Don't forget the food. There's a salad, chicken noodle soup, a couple muffins, and a bowl of fruit. Look, I am sorry I yelled. I didn't come to the hospital to get into it with you. I know you've been stressed, and I don't want to cause more of that. Just take care of yourself and don't climb anything again. Princess needs to get bigger."
She rolled her eyes, but she took the bag of food. As much as she wanted to snap at him again about the 'princess' comment, she let it go, for now, at least. Instead, she opened the door, grabbed her things, and she tried gracefully to climb out of the car. When she was standing, she turned back to shut the door. The muffler was so loud she was almost glad it wouldn't allow them to get into awkward small talk.
"Thank you for the ride and food. He and I will be fine. I'll see you at work in a few days," she nodded and closed the door. She turned and walked to the building, knowing he was sitting there watching her. She knew that because she could hear the muffler as she walked. She didn't turn back. She wouldn't look back because she had to plan for her future.
It wasn't until she was in her condo and hungry, she opened the bag of food to find inside everything Andy had described, along with a note attached to a stack of cash again, "I know you'll keep the first batch of cash for the princess. Use this money to buy yourself some clothing. I know the weight gain is stressing you out, and this is the least I can do since I'm responsible for the big kid." She read the note, horrified as she stared at the crisp bills, neatly stacked. He'd stopped for cash somewhere, and she'd slept through that?