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 14
Ricky opened the door and Matthew followed him inside. They were greeted by Moxie who was wagging his tail. "Do you want to go outside?" Ricky asked the dog and he nudged him further towards the door. "Okay, easy there," Ricky chuckled and Matthew brought in the bag he was carrying from the souvenirs from the Zoo and then joined Ricky and Moxie outside in the backyard.
Matthew looked at Ricky who was laying on the grass, looking up at the sky. "What's wrong?" he asked him as Moxie followed the boy to where Ricky was laying. Moxie sat down and looked at Ricky as well.
"That girl that we met at the zoo this morning. Why didn't she tell me she had a boyfriend right away, instead of talking and talking to me, I think she was flirting with me, and then all of a sudden, she sees him and she's like 'got to go!' and walks off with her niece!" Ricky rambled.
Matthew's eyes widened as he looked at his brother. "I don't know?" he shrugged his shoulders and watched him get up off of the grass. Ricky looked at his watch. "Come on, Mom and Andy are going to be home soon, and you need to change your shirt," Ricky pointed to Matthew's shirt.
For lunch he had a hot dog and had spilled mustard all down his shirt. He tried to clean it up the best he could but, it was a mess. Matthew and Moxie followed Ricky back inside the house.
Meanwhile, at the PAB, Sharon was sitting in her office when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she answered without looking up from her computer. Assistant Chief Mason walked in and stood by the doorway. "I thought I heard something about one of my Commanders getting injured and coming back to work after a hospital visit but I had to make sure for myself," Mason stood there shaking his head.
He moved closer to her desk as she looked up from her computer. "I'm fine, Leo," she mumbled as she continued to work on the reports. "Yeah, I know you're tough, Sharon, and you don't have to prove anything like that, especially to me," he said and looked around the office at everyone else.
"Your team could handle the paper work and after-action reports that need to be filed, why don't you go home, take it easy," he suggested but Sharon shook her head. "I have my meetings tomorrow morning," she informed him. "I know," he nodded.
Sharon seemed to ignore Mason as he was standing there. "Commander," he said sternly. She looked up at him. "Go home," he simply stated and he walked out of her office. She watched him leave her office as she sat there. She didn't want to be handled by her team, let alone her chief, but right then, the pain medication must have started to wear off and a throbbing pain started where the stitches were placed.
She sighed as she started to turn off her computer. 'Perhaps everyone was right,' she thought to herself. Maybe she was pushing herself as she usually did. She didn't push Andy to return to work after all of his injuries sustained throughout the years, nor did she push the rest of her team after numerous injuries sustained on the job. So why did she feel the need to push herself?
"Lieutenant Provenza, I trust you can handle things here if the Commander goes home, correct?" Mason said, loudly enough so he knew Sharon heard him. "Ah, yes, of course, Assistant Chief Mason," Provenza looked at him, skeptical at first.
Andy stood up from his desk and glanced at Sharon through her window. Chief Mason left the office and Provenza stood up from his desk. He glanced at his watch and noted the time. Technically it was almost time for everyone to leave anyway. He glanced over at Sharon's office and saw her starting to pack up her things.
"Flynn, please take the Commander home, the rest of us will finish up what we can in the last half hour here and then we will finish tomorrow morning," Provenza told Andy and the rest of the team. Andy took his suit jacket and started to put in on, grabbing his keys from his desk as Sharon stepped out of her office.
"Lieutenant," Sharon started to say but Provenza stopped her. "Now Commander, don't worry, we got this covered, you just get better, and make Flynn here wait on you hand and foot," Provenza smirked and the last bit caused a smile and a laugh to come from Sharon.
"Ha ha, very funny," Andy snickered as he walked up to join Sharon. "Good night everyone," she said, almost exhausted from the whole ordeal. Andy placed his hand on the small of her back and walked out with her.
By the time Sharon and Andy arrived home, Sharon was ready to get out of the car. "Ricky and Matthew are back home," she stated as Andy pulled the car into the garage. "Hopefully he had a good time at the Zoo," she rubbed her hand on the back of Andy's right hand as it sat on the gear shift.
Andy turned to her as he turned off the car. "Which one?" he chuckled and Sharon laughed as well. He watched her as she sat there, fiddling with the seat belt. He stilled her hand as it was trying to disengage the belt. "I love you," he told her, giving her that look that melted her heart.
"I know that you don't want me to hover over you and such, but can I just ask you one thing before we go inside?" Andy asked, and hopefully he was going to say the right words as Sharon nodded, encouraging him.
"Why was it that Chief Mason can tell you to go home at work because you're injured and the team can handle the paperwork, and you listen to him, but when we left the hospital and I started to head home, you immediately protested, throwing my rank in the mix, demanding that I take you back to the office?" he asked, watching how Sharon reacted to his question and hopefully not ruining his chances at sleeping in the same bed with her tonight.
Andy saw the painful look cross Sharon's face the instant he stopped talking. It wasn't his fault that Sharon had gotten a pain in her arm while she sat there listening to him. "I'm sorry Sharon, here, let's get you inside so you can take some Tylenol like the nurse said," Andy said before Sharon could say anything and stepped out of the car, meeting her on the other side.
He held the door open and she stepped outside the car and handed him her bag and purse. He closed the garage door and walked with Sharon to the back door of the house. "Andy, please remember, I don't want the kids knowing right away that something happened, okay?" she told him and he nodded, not knowing how that was going to happen.
He unlocked the door and stepped inside with Sharon. As they made their way into the kitchen, Sharon saw Ricky sitting at the kitchen table. "Oh, hey Ricky, how was the Zoo today?" she asked as she made her way towards the refrigerator to get a glass of water.
Ricky looked up from his computer. "It was okay, Matthew enjoyed it, did you get the picture I sent you two?" he asked them and glanced to his mom first, then Andy, who was handing Sharon her purse. She took out the small packet of Tylenol that the nurse had given her and she quickly took two pills.
"Yes, I showed your Mom the picture because she was a little preoccupied with our case during the time you had sent it. Where is Matthew by the way?" Andy asked him, looking around the kitchen at Ricky.
"He's in the family room, watching TV with Moxie," Ricky answered and knew something was strange between the two. "Alright, what's going on with you two?" he asked, folding his arms after he closed his laptop computer.
"Why do you think somethings going on?" Sharon asked him as she made her way towards the kitchen table. Ricky looked at his Mom and at Andy. Andy was giving him a skeptical look. "Uh, I don't know," he shrugged his shoulders as he sat there.
Sharon smiled at him and then started to make her way towards the hallway. "I'm going to change my clothes," she informed them and walked away. Ricky waited a few seconds before he turned to Andy and started grilling him.
"Did something happen with the case today?" he asked Andy as he was still leaning up against the island in the kitchen. "Uh, we solved it, got our guy, he won't be hurting anyone again," Andy rambled and Ricky squinted at him. "Why are you rambling?" he asked his step-dad.
"I'm not rambling," Andy chuckled and started to walk away from him. "Something's not right here!" Ricky called out as Andy stepped towards the family room, waving his hand like he was waving off Ricky's inquiry.
Andy walked into the family room and saw Matthew laying across the couch with Moxie at his feet. The TV was on and he was watching some cartoon on the Disney XD channel. He sat down in the chair next to the couch. "Hey Matthew," Andy sighed sitting there.
"Dad, you're home!" Matthew looked over to him and jumped off the couch. "Where's Mom?" he asked as he looked around the room. "She's upstairs changing," Andy answered. "How was your day at the Zoo?" Andy asked as he watched Matthew start to leave the family room.
"I have something to show both you and Mom, hang on!" Matthew told him and ran up the stairs into his room to get the bag from the Zoo.
Sharon was in their bedroom changing her clothes. She easily changed her dress pants into black yoga pants. Changing her shirt was another story. Both of her arms were sore now. She struggled but managed to take off her top and change into a more comfortable sweatshirt.
Andy glanced towards the stairs and wondered if he should have followed Sharon up to their bedroom to help her change. He glanced down at his shirt and that's when he noticed a little bit of blood, Sharon's blood, on it. Why he didn't notice it before, he didn't know. He stood up from the chair and started to walk up the stairs.
As Matthew was coming out of his room, Sharon was moving towards the hallway from their room. "Hey Mom!" Matthew smiled and quickly hid the item behind his back. "Well hello, did you enjoy your trip to the Zoo?" Sharon asked, wondering what he was hiding behind his back. "I did," he smiled and turned to the stairs.
"I want to show you and Dad something together," he started to say and then noticed Andy coming up the stairs. "Oh, well since you are both up here, I'll show you now," Matthew told them. "Um, actually if you could hold off a minute or two, I just need to quickly change my shirt," Andy asked as he made it up to the second floor.
Andy glanced at Sharon and she nodded. "Matthew, why don't we got wait downstairs for Dad, you can tell me all about your Zoo trip and we he comes down, you can show us whatever it is you wanted to," Sharon placed her right arm and hand on Matthew's shoulder to turn him towards the stairs. "Okay," Matthew mumbled and followed Sharon.
As they went down the stairs, Andy went into their bedroom and opened one of the drawers in the dresser, looking for a t-shirt to wear. He decided on a LA Dodgers shirt and also decided to change his pants into a pair of jeans. He went into the bathroom and changed his clothes, noticing Sharon's clothes she had just worn on the bathroom floor.
He picked up her blouse and also noticed a little trickle of blood on it. He took off his dress shirt and placed her shirt and his in the sink and ran the cold water on the blood stains. He then looked at himself in the mirror. That's when he saw a small bruise forming on his left shoulder. "Damn," he mumbled to himself as he pressed gently on his shoulder.
He placed the t-shirt over his head and through some minor pain, was able to get it on. Changing his pants, he made sure both shirts were now soaking in cold water and left the bathroom, turning off the light.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Matthew was sitting back on the couch telling Sharon all about their day at the Zoo. "And then Ricky met this girl there while we were by the Giraffes," he continued but Sharon stopped him. "Oh, a girl?" she asked wondering why Ricky didn't mention it before. "Yeah, but she ended up being there with her niece and another guy, I guess her boyfriend," Matthew explained and Sharon nodded, knowing that's why Ricky didn't say anything. She listened as Matthew continued to talk about the Zoo.
"So that's why I want to show you and Daddy what else I did there, I mean it was sort of suggested by Ricky, as he saw a sign for it when we walked in to the Zoo, at the main gate," Matthew shrugged his shoulders. Sharon smiled at him. "Oh, I'm sure Daddy will be coming down soon," she told him as she heard footsteps on the stairs.
"Alright, did I miss anything?" Andy walked into the family room and sat down next to Sharon. "Matthew was just telling me about the Zoo," Sharon told him, noticing that he was now wearing jeans and a t-shirt, which looked good on him.
Andy kissed the side of Sharon's head and leaned forward so that Matthew could show them what he wanted to earlier. "Okay Matthew, what did you want to show us?" Sharon asked him and Matthew reached behind him and pulled out a picture of him with Santa at the Zoo.
"I saw Santa at the Zoo today!" he said excitedly as he showed the picture to them. "Oh wow!" Sharon said as she looked at the picture. "That's great!" Andy said as he saw the picture as he slipped his right hand onto Sharon's right shoulder as they sat on the couch.
"What did you tell him you wanted for Christmas?" Sharon asked, hoping whatever he said, they had already purchased for him. "I asked him to bring Moxie a new toy, one that he won't shred," Matthew said and they chuckled at that comment because no matter what toy Moxie had, he seemed to tear it apart within a couple of weeks from receiving.
"That's very sweet of you, but what did you ask for yourself?" Sharon asked him again. "I asked him for a digital watch, and a drone, and a remote-controlled race car that can do flips!" Matthew told them. "Oh, hmm," Sharon said and smiled at Matthew. "Well, hopefully Santa and his elves can bring what you asked for," Andy chimed in and Sharon glanced at him.
"Here Matthew, let's put this picture up on the mantle with the stockings," Sharon took the picture and placed it with all of the pictures that were above the fireplace. "Perfect!" Matthew said as he watched Sharon. "Why don't you get cleaned up and ready for dinner," Sharon told him and he went into the bathroom on the first floor to wash his hands.
"A drone?" Sharon quietly stated to Andy. Andy shrugged his shoulders. "If we can't get it in time for Christmas, there's always his birthday a couple days later?" he suggested as he walked over to where she was standing. She was looking at the Christmas Tree and then glanced at all of her angels that were on display.
"How are you feeling?" he asked her and gave a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Better," she closed her eyes as they remained close to one another for a few, quiet minutes.
"I don't think I want Matthew having a drone," she told him, breaking the minutes of silence between the two. Andy moved his head to look into her eyes. "That's fine," he muttered to her and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
She started to speak again as he held her. "To answer your question from earlier about why you think I listened to Mason and not you," she cleared her throat and continued. "I may have realized that you wanted to take care of me again, and maybe, just maybe, my pride at that moment when we were leaving the hospital may have gotten the better of me, and it took me awhile to figure it out," she stated as he looked at her.
Andy didn't say anything except shook his head slightly.
After dinner, Sharon retreated to the family room where Ricky was sitting on one of the chairs, still working on his laptop. "So, what's new? I feel like we haven't had time to sit and talk since you've been home," Sharon eased down on the couch and faced him.
"Well, I'm currently working on a project for a small startup company. They wanted me to go over a few IT strategies for them," Ricky said as he hit the save button and closed his laptop to focus on his mom. "What about you? Andy told me you guys solved your case today, that's good news, right?" Ricky asked.
"Yes, that is good news, and hopefully we won't catch another case so that I can enjoy spending time with you, and Emily, and Rusty, and Matthew," she smiled at him but he had a skeptical look on his face. "Mom, what's going on?" Ricky asked her.
"What do you mean?" she asked, shifting in her place on the couch. "Well, usually when you solve a case, you drink a glass of wine with dinner, tonight you had water," Ricky informed her. "So? I had water because I wanted a glass of water with dinner," she answered and Ricky smirked as he sat there watching her.
"I was happy to hear that you took Matthew to see Santa at the Zoo. I know he was looking forward to talking with him again this year but I didn't know when Andy or I would have been able to take him," Sharon said. "It just surprised me when we saw the sign for him that Matthew still believes in him. I figured we were there so I took him," Ricky shrugged his shoulders.
"I think this is going to be the last year that he believes in Santa. If he asks later on, we'll have that talk as I'm sure kids in his class are half believing and half not believing," Sharon spoke quietly as she didn't want Matthew to hear their conversation.
Matthew was in the kitchen helping Andy put away the dishes from dinner. He enjoyed loading the dishwasher so while Andy rinsed off the plates, he placed the plates inside the dishwasher, loading them just the way Sharon likes.
"You obviously been watching your Mom load the dishwasher," Andy pointed out as he handed Matthew another bowl. Matthew shrugged his shoulders and continued to load this last dish. "Can we watch a movie tonight?" Matthew asked him.
Andy looked at the clock on the wall. He wanted to catch a meeting tonight. "Go ask your Mom, she's in the family room with Ricky," he told him as he placed the dish towel on the handle of the oven and then followed Matthew towards the family room.
"Mom? Can we watch a movie tonight?" Matthew called out as he walked into the family room. Sharon turned around to see Matthew moving towards her followed by Andy. "Oh, well, sure, we can watch a movie," she smiled at Matthew.
"Yes!" Matthew gestured with his hand like he scored the winning shot and went to the TV to see which movie he was going to pick out.
"I'm going to catch a meeting and I'll be back in an hour or so, are you going to be okay?" Andy leaned down and spoke to Sharon. Sharon looked up at him. "Yes, I'll be fine," she assured him and he gave her a kiss.
"How bout this one?" Matthew held up the Peter Pan DVD. "That's not a Christmas movie Matthew," Ricky pointed out and he stood up and searched for another movie. "Ah ha! Here's a Christmas movie," Ricky said and held up the Die-Hard DVD.
"Your brother is not watching that movie," Sharon scolded him and Andy laughed at Ricky's long face he made. Andy grabbed his coat and walked out the back door to drive to the AA meeting.
"Fine," Ricky placed the movie back on the shelf. "Matthew if you want to watch Peter Pan, we will watch Peter Pan," Sharon smiled and Matthew placed the DVD into the player and sat down next to Sharon.
Andy drove to the meeting at the local church and pulled into the parking lot. He sat there for a few minutes and took a deep breath. He got out of the car and walked into the church and headed down the stairs to the basement where the meeting was held.
A couple hours later, Matthew was asleep on the couch, curled up into Sharon's right side. The movie was over and Sharon found herself staring at the Christmas Tree once again. Ricky came up behind her. "Do you want me to take him upstairs?" he asked.
She looked down at Matthew, sleeping, and nodded her head. "Okay, if you don't mind," she told him and he walked around the couch and lifted Matthew up. He started to stir. "Come on Matthew, time for bed," Ricky told him and carried him up the stairs to his room.
"I'll be up in a minute to tuck him in," Sharon called out to Ricky as he climbed the stairs. She got up from the couch and decided to take another Tylenol for her arm. As she was in the kitchen, she saw headlights coming up the driveway and saw Andy's car pull up into the garage.
Minutes later she heard the back door open and Andy step into the kitchen. "How was your meeting?" she asked him. "It was okay," he told her as he moved towards the refrigerator and grabbed a sparkling water bottle, opening it and taking a few gulps.
"Ricky took Matthew upstairs not too long ago and I was going to go up there and tuck him in," she told him. "How's your arm?" he asked her as he moved to the kitchen table and sat down. "It's manageable. I took two more Tylenol," she said and he gave her a small smile.
Andy watched Sharon retreat upstairs as he sat in the kitchen. Sharon walked into Matthew's room and tucked him into bed. "Good night sweetie," she kissed his forehead and closed the door halfway as she left the room.
She decided that she wanted to take a shower before heading to bed so she got everything ready in their bathroom, finding some plastic wrap that she could used to cover her arm with and started to run the water, waiting for it to warm up.
After she was done with her shower, she got ready for bed. As she opened the door from the bathroom to the bedroom, she was hoping Andy would be waiting for her but the room was empty. She went through her nightly routine and climbed into bed, thinking Andy would be up soon. A few minutes later she fell asleep.
A few hours later, she woke up and turned over, reaching her right arm for Andy but he wasn't there. She sat up and looked at the clock on her night stand. "12:30," she sighed and started to get out of bed. She wrapped her silk robe around her body and started for her search of Andy.
She found him downstairs in the family room, asleep on the couch with Moxie laying down next to him on the floor. Moxie lifted his head as Sharon entered the room and he sat up. "Hey Moxie, time for bed," she told the dog and he got up and walked over to the stairs, climbing them one by one.
Sharon sat down on the little space between Andy and the edge of the couch. "Andy," she whispered his name as she caressed his side with her hand. He didn't move but mumbled something incoherent to Sharon. "Andy," she whispered again, moving her hand to his face.
His eyes opened and blinked several times before they focused on her. "What time is it?" he tried to shift but couldn't really move anywhere on the couch. "It's after 12:30 in the morning," she told him. He groaned and she patted his legs to indicate she wanted to sit further on the couch. He obliged and moved them, allowing her to sit back against his body.
"Why are you sleeping on the couch?" she asked him as he was fully awake and holding her hand. He took a deep breath and sighed before he answered. "Because I thought I was in the dog house," he started to tell her but she stopped him by placing her finger on his lips and shook her head slightly.
"I'm not mad at you, and you're not in the dog house, Andy," she told him and lowered her lips to his and kissed him. "Now, please come upstairs because I miss you in our bed, and I want you to hold me," she smiled and he chuckled. "Admit it, you want me for my warmth," he said as he started to sit up and she moved to stand in front of him.
"I will admit it was a little cold up there, but with everything that happened today or yesterday, I just want you to be near me," she confessed, helping him stand up from the couch. "I can do that," he smiled and caressed her face with his left hand. They walked over to the stairs holding each other's hands and then climbed the stairs together.
Andy went to change in the bathroom and came out wearing sleep pants and a t-shirt. Sharon was waiting in bed for him and he gladly slipped behind her in bed, wrapping his right arm around her, making sure her left arm was ok and held her close to his body. "Good night," she whispered to him. "Good night," he said, kissing the side of her face and settling into the pillow.
TBC