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 4
It was now Sunday evening, Sharon had relaxed in the tub and Andy had joined her. Andy had made everyone dinner. Rusty had to go out for a study group for one of his classes and had left right after dinner was finished. Sharon retreated to the den and Matthew had asked Andy if he could watch a movie with him.
As Sharon was in the den, sitting at her desk, working on her computer, she could hear blast noises coming from the family room. She shook her head as she heard the TV being turned down. "I hope that's appropriate for him!" she called out to Andy as she continued to work on their budget for next year.
"It's Return of the Jedi!" Andy called out to her as they watched the rescue scene of Han Solo. Andy smiled at Matthew as they both watched the movie. As he sat there, he couldn't help but think to the bodies that were discovered in that house. The child's body that was frozen. They couldn't ID them and he wondered who they were.
Matthew leaned in closer to Andy. "Did you catch the bad guy yet?" he asked him as he made room for Moxie to be on the couch with them. "Ah, no, Matthew. Not yet," he muttered to him as they watched the movie.
As Sharon moved figures around on the screen, something was bothering her about their latest case. The fact that they had three unidentified bodies that were frozen, coupled with the fact that there was no reason that they could find so far, for the murders of the Millers, and that they were sent home early today after being called out on their day off, there were too many variables for her liking.
Her mind went back to her relaxing time in the tub and how Andy tried desperately to get her to forget about everything, just for a moment. She smiled at that memory and went back to the task at hand, trying to cut the budget without affecting her team.
She knew Winnie Davis was a stickler for the overtime budget and money being allocated to different departments and she really wasn't surprised when Andy said that she had something to do with them being cut early this afternoon.
An hour had passed but Sharon wasn't keeping track as she looked over some information relating to their case. Andy walked into the den and stood behind Sharon. He placed his hands on her shoulder, intending to give her a massage, but startled her instead.
"Andy, sorry, I didn't hear you come in," she told him. "I gathered by how high you jumped out of your chair," he teased her and she shook her head. He moved to stand next to her and grabbed her left hand. He played with her ring on her finger and she finally looked up at him.
"The movie is done, I told Matthew to go upstairs and get himself ready for bed," he told her and smiled. She glanced at the clock in the room and noticed it was already 9:30. She rubbed her eyes with her right hand. "Okay," she whispered.
"Looks like someone else should be ready for bed," he smiled and watched her stifle a yawn. "Hmm, yes, perhaps," she shrugged her shoulders and stood up from her desk. She wrapped her arms around his mid-section and he returned her hug.
"What are we going to do with Matthew this week?" Andy asked her as he held her. "Oh my gosh," Sharon said and pulled away to look at him. "I completely forgot about that," she added. "I'm assuming you are also going to cancel your leave that you had coming up this week because of the case, right?" he continued as they both stood there in the den.
Sharon rubbed her head with her hand and moved away from Andy. "Yes, of course. Ricky is supposed to be coming down here on Wednesday this week," she told him. "Well, I hope he's still coming down. He could watch Matthew those days, I mean, we can ask him to watch Matthew," Andy suggested.
"Oh, I'm sure he'll be willing to do that. We just need to figure out tomorrow and Tuesday," Sharon bit her lip as she looked at Andy. Andy smiled at her. "Listen, babe, everything is going to work out, okay?" he told her and kissed her forehead.
"Close up here, I'm going to check on the house and then we will head upstairs together," he gave her a wink and let go of her hand as he walked away. She turned around and glanced over the computer screen one more time before closing it and turning off the light. She waited in the hallway for Andy to come back.
Meanwhile, Emily had arrived home from her ballet performance. Andy saw her pull up in the driveway as he was moving through the kitchen and waited for her at the back door. "Hey Emily, how was your performance tonight?" he asked her as she walked through the door. "Oh, it went well," she smiled and moved into the kitchen.
"Hey Mom," Emily said as Sharon made her way into the kitchen to greet her daughter. "Hi sweetheart," she gave her a hug. She began to tell her about the afternoon performance and how the evening one went. "I am beat," she told her mom as she started heading towards the stairs. "Night Mom, Night Andy," she called to them as she went upstairs.
"Night," Sharon called back to her daughter and turned around to face Andy. "Everything is locked up and looks like everyone is home, safe and sound," Andy smiled and placed his arm around Sharon's shoulder as they walked to the stairs.
Rusty had come home around 9 o'clock and had texted both Andy and Sharon that he was home. Andy was the only one who responded to him as Sharon had been in deep thought over her computer at that time.
As they both got to the top of the stairs, Matthew was already dressed in his pajamas and he was running from the hallway bathroom to his bedroom. Moxie chased him into his room. Sharon and Andy both went into Matthew's room and he was sitting on his bed, with the covers around him.
"I see you are all ready for bed," Sharon told him and he nodded. She sat on the edge of his bed and hugged him tightly but not too tight. Images of the frozen body of the child flashed through her mind as she hugged Matthew. She kissed the side of his head. "I love you," she told him. "Love you too, Mom," he muttered as she let go.
Before she stood up she told him that he was going to go with them to work tomorrow. "Really?" he asked and Sharon nodded. "And I get to hang out with Uncle Louie?" he excitedly said which made Andy laugh. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be happy too," Andy chuckled as Sharon stood up and Andy held onto her hand.
"Good night kiddo," Andy said to him and tousled his hair. Matthew giggled when he did that. "Love you," Andy told him. "Love you too, Dad," he said and laid down on the bed, getting the covers just perfect as Moxie settled on the bed as well.
Andy closed the door to his room behind them as they stepped into the hallway. Sharon looked down the hallway and saw Emily's door was closed. "I'll be right there," she told Andy and he nodded, heading into their room himself as she went down the hallway to say good night to Emily again.
Sharon knocked on Emily's door and heard her say "Come in". She opened it slightly to see Emily laying in bed, with her iPad. "Don't stay up too late binge watching," Sharon smiled and waved to her daughter. "Good night Mom," Emily smiled and Sharon closed her door.
She made her way down the hallway and into their bedroom. Andy was in the bathroom getting himself ready for bed. She went towards the closet and started undressing herself in there, putting on her pajamas and waited for Andy to be finished in the bathroom before she went in there herself to get ready.
Andy opened the bathroom door and saw Sharon was waiting for him. He moved to the side of the doorway and allowed Sharon to walk in. He stood there watching her as she went about her nightly routine. She saw him in the corner of her eye, watching her. "Yes?" she said as she continued getting herself ready.
"Nothing, I just like watching you," he grinned and she smiled, shaking her head. "You know if I wasn't married to you, that would sound a little creepy, almost like stalking," she told him as she brushed her teeth. "Hmm, well good thing you did marry me, otherwise it would look pretty bad if I got in trouble for stalking the Commander," he walked over to her just as she was spitting into the sink. She wiped her mouth before he pulled her into a kiss.
"I love you, so much, Andy," she told him as they lay in bed together. She shifted in his arms and rested her head on his chest, draping a leg over his leg. "I love you too, honey," he whispered to her as he kissed the top of her head. "Hold me close," she whispered to him. "That's my plan," he said and they drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, their alarm woke Andy up early, which made Andy groan as he carefully maneuvered his body as to not disturb Sharon who seemed to still be sleeping. She rolled over and saw Andy getting up off the bed. He looked at her and how inviting she looked and he wanted to just crawl back into bed and lay with her for hours.
"What time is it?" she asked which broke Andy's concentration on her. "5:30, I turned the alarm off," he told her, watching her stand up from their bed and stretched her arms over her head. "You're killing me here," he mentioned as he watched her turn around and face him.
Giving him her soft smile, she made her way towards the bathroom. He sighed as he stood there. He rubbed his hands over his face. He didn't think Sharon knew just how much she turned him on with all of her little mannerisms. He shook his head because he needed to get himself ready for the day, he could fantasize about Sharon later. He walked into their closet and decided on what suit to wear today.
Sharon stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel and quickly made her way to their closet when she bumped into Andy. "Sorry," they both muttered and looked into each other's eyes. Andy could see the goosebumps starting to form on Sharon's arms as she held the towel against her body.
"You're cold," he whispered as he moved to the side to let her in. "We're going to be late if you keep looking at me like that," she teased him as she went to her side of the closet, looking for something to wear.
"Oh, I'm going to make you late, huh?" Andy teased back. She shook her head as he left and headed towards the bathroom. He needed to shave his face after forgoing yesterday morning. He looked at himself in the mirror and applied the shaving cream.
After Andy had gotten himself ready, placing his holster and handcuffs on his belt, he clipped his badge on the front of his belt and made his way to their bathroom, sticking his head inside as Sharon was getting dressed. "I'm going to wake Matthew up," he smiled and gave her a wink.
Sharon stopped what she was doing and smiled at him. "Okay," she told him and continued fixing her hair. She loved being in the bathroom after Andy shaves because it smells like him, especially when he uses the aftershave she bought him. She shook those thoughts out of her head before they distracted her even more.
Andy stepped across the hallway and over to Matthew's bedroom. The door was open and the light was on. He could see Moxie still laying on the bed as he made his way over. He stopped for a moment and saw that Matthew was standing in front of his closet, attempting to tie his tie.
Andy was a little taken back by the fact that Matthew was wearing his nice suit and decided to knock on the wall to not startle the kid. "Morning, let me help you with that," Andy told him, knelt down on his knee, and started to help him with his tie. "There you go," he said after tying it. He looked at Matthew for a brief second.
"Can I ask you why you're wearing your nice suit to go to our work today?" Andy asked him as he stood back up and helped Matthew with his suit jacket. "I wanted to blend in with everyone there," Matthew replied as he pulled on the lapels of his suit jacket.
"Okay," Andy chuckled and moved to his closet. "How bout we also bring a change of clothes just in case, okay?" he suggested and Matthew agreed. As he packed his backpack with the change of clothes and other things he would need while spending the day there, Andy asked him another question.
"Does your mother know you are wearing your nice suit to the office?" he asked and Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't seen her this morning to tell her," he told him, placing the backpack on his shoulder.
"Now I look like you, Dad," he smiled which made Andy smile too. "That you do kid," Andy said and they both walked out of the room.
Just as they stepped into the hallway, Sharon stepped out of their room and saw them both standing in the hallway. She was surprised to see Matthew wearing his nice suit and gave a questioning look at Andy.
"My two handsome boys, look at you," Sharon smiled and walked closer to them. "How come you're wearing your suit today?" she asked Matthew. "Cause I wanted to match everyone else in the office, plus now I look like Dad," he said with a proud smile, which made Sharon smile even more. "Well, you certainly look the part," she told him and they all went downstairs.
TBC