DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 3

It was now closer to 11 in the morning and Emily would soon be leaving for the theater. She had been up since she heard Matthew turn on the TV downstairs and her alarm went off shortly after that. She had gotten herself ready before going downstairs and finding Matthew in the family room watching cartoons.

"Good morning Matthew," she walked over to him and sat on the couch. He stretched his arms above his head. "Hi," he said to her as he kept on watching the TV. "Did you eat already?" she asked him. "Yes," he nodded and glanced at her. "You do know that Mom and Andy are at work?" she asked and he nodded again. "Mom left me a note on the kitchen table," he mumbled as he watched Batman catch the Joker again on TV.

"Okay, well Rusty is coming over to stay with you when I leave soon," she got up off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. "Do you have homework to do?" she called out to him as she fixed herself something to eat. "No," he replied and kept watching the TV.

Just then the back door opened and Rusty stepped into the house. He walked into the kitchen and saw Emily sitting at the kitchen table. "Hey, good morning," he told her as he placed his messenger bag on the cleared area of the table. "Morning Rusty," she smiled, getting up from the table and placed her bowl in the sink.

"Matthew is in the family room watching some Batman cartoon. He already ate breakfast and I'm assuming he fed Moxie since it's almost after noon," she moved around the kitchen, putting things away. She paused a moment before she asked Rusty another question.

"You didn't by any chance send me flowers to my dressing room at the theater yesterday, did you?" she asked. "Ah, no. Why?" Rusty wondered. "I got some flowers yesterday but I don't know who they are from," she told him. They both stayed in the kitchen for a while before Emily left and Rusty moved to the family room to let Matthew know he was there.

Meanwhile, back at the PAB, Buzz was placing the pictures that they had received from Doctor Morales on the Murder Board. Amy was typing on her computer and Julio was on the phone at his desk. Mike was in Sharon's office along with Provenza and Andy. They were discussing the final report from the fire department.

"So, the fire department says that the "O" ring that I pointed out to you Commander, was faulty, looking like it was deliberately smashed so that natural gas could escape. And, they ruled a tiny explosion happened to start the fire. Whoever did this could know something about stoves, how they work, and even know how to start a fire to make it look like an accident at first," Mike stated and then glanced over at Andy before looking at Sharon again.

"You know, Commander, that we have a fire bug of our own that keeps showing his face every now and then," Provenza added and Andy gave him a glare before he looked down at his feet. "I trust Andy's judgement that Croelick isn't involved in this, so let's move on," Sharon stated and then looked down at some paperwork on her desk.

Provenza looked at Andy and then at Mike before returning his glance to Sharon.

"Did we get anything back from ViCAP yet?" Sharon asked her Lieutenants. "I believe Julio did get a response from them," Mike said as he glanced over his shoulder at Julio, who was now off the phone. "Maybe that will give us a little luck in finding who's behind this vicious act," Sharon said and stood up from her chair and made her way out of her office. Her Lieutenants followed her and they all gathered around the Murder Board to see what Julio had discovered.

"Okay, Ma'am, I was able to get a hold of Special Agent Richards who works in ViCAP and she stated that there was a mention of the same type of killings in New York City and also in Rapid City, South Dakota, but once the locals started the investigation into the killings, the case went cold, and they thought the perpetrator left town," Julio informed them as he placed the information on the board.

"How long ago were the killings in New York City and Rapid City, South Dakota?" Sharon asked. "Well, there's the thing. The killings in New York City were discovered in 1999, and the ones in Rapid City were from 2002," Julio answered Sharon and sat down at his desk again.

"So, we could be dealing with a copycat?" Amy suggested. "Or the same person but that's quite the timeframe for the killings," Mike added. Julio clicked on his email as he noted that there was another message from ViCAP. He read it and then interrupted the discussion.

"Um, Ma'am, Lieutenants, I just got another message from Special Agent Richards and, after doing further research, she discovered that the NYPD caught their guy five years ago, through DNA that was left at the crime scene," Julio explained.

"Okay, that leaves Rapid City, South Dakota in the mix still," Andy pointed to the board and then crossed his arms as he leaned up against a desk. "Detective, can you please contact the Rapid City Police Department and try to find out if they have any information regarding that case, please?" Sharon directed that towards Julio.

"In the meantime, where are we on the financials of the Millers?" she asked and Amy stood up and walked over to the board. "There was nothing out of the ordinary with the Millers financials. They didn't have any debt, their mortgage was paid off, and their credit cards were paid off every month from charges," Amy explained.

"Doctor Morales said that the husband was in the Navy, retired, could it be that maybe this was a personal thing? Perhaps he crossed someone while he was serving and that person got revenge?" Provenza suggested.

"That's plausible Lieutenant, but, how do you explain the other three bodies that were discovered at the house as well?" Sharon asked as she looked at Provenza. Provenza shrugged his shoulders and glanced around the room.

"Did the Millers have any children?" Sharon asked. "No, they did not," Provenza answered as he looked at a report on his desk. "No children, Mr. Miller was an only child, so was Mrs. Miller, and no next of kin," Provenza added as he looked up at Sharon.

Just then, Chief Mason walked into the Murder Room and saw the Major Crimes team hard at work. "Commander, may I see you in your office?" he asked Sharon. Sharon looked around at her team before leading the way with Mason following her into her office. Mason closed the door behind him and Sharon sat down at her desk.

"What can I do for you, Chief?" Sharon asked as she studied his face. "Where are you on this case?" he asked her as he sat down across from her. "Well, we have the cause of the fire, and also the autopsies of the bodies discovered, we are working on a few other leads, why?" she informed him and asked.

"I need your team to pack it up for the day and continue tomorrow on regular time," Mason informed her. "What?!" Sharon exclaimed as she was shocked when she heard that. "There's no overtime in the budget anymore for your team to be here on a Sunday, so I need you to pack it up and start again tomorrow," Mason explained to her.

Andy and Provenza looked towards Sharon's office and wondered what Chief Mason was telling Sharon that would cause a sudden outburst from her.

"Sir, with all do respect, Chief of Police Pope assigned this case to us, now he knew we were not on call this weekend but he gave us this case anyway. I don't understand that now, there's no more overtime in the budget?" Sharon stood her ground.

Chief Mason smiled. "I always admired your tenacity when it came to your team, but my hands are tied on this," he told her and stood up from his chair. "Pack it up and start again tomorrow, that's an order," he simply told her and she looked at him as he left her office.

She shook her head as she stood up and walked back over to her team. Sharon took a deep breath before she addressed them. "Apparently we are having budget problems with overtime and I was ordered by Chief Mason to send you all home, and we will resume this investigation tomorrow," Sharon informed them.

"This is all the Pope's fault! He did this on purpose to ruin our day off and then send us home after we already started the investigation!" Provenza was mad and it showed as he stood up at his desk.

"We are all upset about this but there's nothing I can do right now," Sharon informed him and looked at the Murder Board. "Alright everyone, let's pack it up and come back tomorrow," Provenza stated and threw his arms up.

Sharon returned to her office after a majority of her team left. Provenza waved at Andy. "See you tomorrow," he grumbled and walked out of the office. Andy acknowledged his friend and turned to watch Sharon in her office. She was gathering her things, stuffing her laptop and other paperwork in her bag.

He knew something was off about the whole overtime budget thing. It didn't make sense that Pope would call them all in on a Sunday, when they weren't on call, and then have Mason come during the middle of the day and send everyone home? No, something didn't sit right with Andy on that.

Sharon walked out of her office and looked at Andy, who was on his phone. "Yeah Clint, thanks," Andy said and quickly hung up his phone when he realized Sharon was standing outside her office.

"Clint?" she asked as the two of them walked towards the elevators. "Yeah, well something's not sitting right with this whole overtime budget so I thought I would call him," Andy said as he pushed the button to call the elevator.

Sharon shook her head as she stepped inside. She didn't mind that Andy had all of these contacts throughout the department. It was very helpful sometimes to get information that she even couldn't get but other times, it was too much and felt like Andy was protecting her by pulling a few strings.

"Andy, you know I appreciate everything that you do, but if you keep calling your friend in Operations, it's going to look like you are pulling strings for my benefit, and that will get the attention of Winnie Davis," Sharon told him, almost scolding him in a way.

"Funny you should mention Winnie Davis, because that's who closed the overtime budget for us today," Andy informed her as the elevator doors opened to the parking garage. "No," Sharon slowly said as they walked out to the garage. "Yep, she did," Andy nodded.

Sharon stopped in her tracks and couldn't believe it. Winnie Davis would compromise an investigation because she didn't want Major Crimes to get overtime on a Sunday? Andy stopped as well when he saw Sharon stop in the middle of the parking garage aisle. He quickly grabbed her hand and led her to their car.

"Sharon, I know what you're thinking and as much as I would like to see you take down Winnie Davis for good," Andy started to talk but Sharon stopped him. "You're right," she said and reached for where his tie would normally be, and they started to walk again.

Andy was taken back by how quickly Sharon stated that he was right. He didn't know what he was right about but was glad that they made it to their car without any further delay in the parking garage. He opened the door for her and she slid inside the passenger seat. Closing the door, he made his way around to the driver's side and then started the car. He glanced over at Sharon who seemed deep in thought. He took a deep breath and then pulled out of the spot and headed home.

When they arrived home, Sharon got out of the car, not waiting for Andy and immediately walked towards the back door. Andy watched her and thought that with everything that happened from the early morning call out to the case and being told to go home due to overtime money, he knew she just had to blow off some steam.

He ended up being a few steps behind her as he entered the house. He heard her say something to Rusty who was in the kitchen making a snack for Matthew and saw her make her way up the stairs. Andy stopped and looked at Rusty, who was looking like a dear in the headlights, and he scratched his head.

"Bad day I take it?" Rusty asked as he placed the apple pieces on a plate. "Yeah, you could say that," Andy sighed and he took one piece of the apple and ate it. Rusty was confused as he watched Andy go about the kitchen, non-chalantly.

"Aren't you going to go up after her?" he asked, wondering why Andy was still in front of him in the kitchen and not following Sharon upstairs. "She needs to let off some steam or something like that, don't worry. I'll check on her in a few minutes," he took another piece of apple.

Matthew came into the kitchen to see what was going on. "Daddy, you're home!" he said, happily as he took the plate from Rusty and sat down at the kitchen table. "Yes, we're back home, kiddo," Andy said to him and then took another piece of the apple that was sliced. "Hey!" Matthew said as he ate a piece too.

Matthew looked around the kitchen. "Is Mom home too?" he asked in wonder. "Yes, but she went upstairs," Andy told him.

Meanwhile, Sharon was in their bedroom and couldn't get the images of those bodies out of her head. She decided with everything that had gone down that she was going to take a nice, relaxing bath to ease the tension from her body. She started to fill the bathtub and placed the jasmine scented bubble bath in the water. She then watched the tub fill and started to get herself undressed.

Andy was moving around the kitchen looking for a corkscrew. Finding it in the dishrack in the sink, he picked it up and went to the refrigerator. Pulling out an unopened bottle of wine, he closed the door and placed the wine on the counter.

Rusty saw this and started to protest. "Um, Andy, I don't think drinking is the answer to the bad day you and Mom had at work," Rusty demanded that Andy stop right away. "Don't worry kid, it's not for me, it's for your Mom," Andy nodded as he poured Sharon a glass of her favorite wine.

"Oh, sorry I jumped to that conclusion," Rusty apologized. "Not a problem. Besides, wine was never my drink of choice so don't worry," he winked at Rusty and turned around, stopping before heading towards the stairs.

"Do you think you can still stick around and watch Matthew for a little bit longer?" Andy asked Rusty. "Ah, yeah, sure, no problem," Rusty nodded and went to sit down at the kitchen table. He pulled out his laptop and a book that he was reading.

Andy headed upstairs. He could hear the water running so he knew Sharon was taking a bath. He made his way into their room, careful not to spill the wine as he did. He saw the bathroom door was closed so he knocked on it before opening it slightly.

"I come bearing a gift," he quietly said as he made his way slowly into the bathroom. Sharon was already in the tub, stretched out in the bubbles with her eyes closed. Andy took a deep breath and smelled the jasmine bubble bath, one of his favorites.

He knelt down besides the tub and Sharon opened her eyes, seeing the glass of wine he was holding. She smiled. "I love you," she said as she took the glass of wine from him. Before she could take a sip, she quickly kissed him. "I know," he told her and stood up, watching her in the tub. She took a sip of the wine and smiled. "My favorite," she said and placed it on the side of the tub.

"Do you want some company or do you want to be by yourself?" he shyly asked her as he stood there. She hummed and thought about it. "Well, I do always enjoy your company," she told him and smiled. He had the biggest grin on his face as he got undressed and joined her in the bathtub.

TBC