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.

A/N: Sorry for the delay in the update to this story. Real life seems to be getting in the way again. Hope you all enjoy this chapter...

Chapter 7

Matthew woke up that morning on his own and sat up in his bed. He was looking around to see if Provenza was still in his room, but he was alone. Moxie wagged his tail as he got up and stretched. "Hi Moxie" Matthew muttered to the dog as he petted him. Moxie licked Matthew's face to try and cheer him up.

Patrice opened Matthew's door to his room and was surprised to see Matthew was already up. "Morning Matthew" Patrice said as she walked into his room. Matthew looked over at her and waved. The kid was having a hard time with what happened yesterday. "Why don't you get dressed and ready for school now, and I'll call your mother to see if, maybe, we could swing by the hospital on the way to your school" Patrice said as Matthew perked his head up.

He jumped off his bed and started to gather his clothes for school. Moxie followed him to the bathroom and he changed his clothes. Provenza walked out of the guest room, all ready for work. "I'm going to stop by the hospital to see how he's doing on the way in to work this morning" he said as he kissed Patrice. "Okay, I was going to call Sharon to see if Matthew could stop and see them on the way to his school" Patrice told Provenza.

They were standing in the hallway when Matthew came out of the bathroom. "I'm ready" Matthew said as he threw his clothes on his bed and stepped out of his room. "Okay Matthew, well you have a good day at school and, um, whatever else it is that you have today" Provenza said as he waved to Matthew and walked down the stairs.

Matthew looked at Patrice who in turn looked back at him and shook her head. "Come on, let's get you some breakfast and then I'll call your mom" Patrice said as her and Matthew headed down the stairs with Moxie following them. Matthew ran in to the kitchen and grabbed his cereal box from the pantry. He then took his milk out of the refrigerator and placed both of them on the kitchen table.

Patrice grabbed a bowl for him from the cabinet and then poured herself a glass of orange juice. She glanced at her watch and decided to call Sharon now as they both should be up. She dialed Sharon's number on her cell phone and waited for Sharon to answer.

Andy had just finished eating his breakfast, if that's what you would call it. "Everything I had for breakfast had no taste to it" he complained to Sharon who was sitting in the chair next to his bed. He reached for her hand and she gladly gave it to him to hold. Sharon's phone then started to ring. She glanced at the screen and saw it was Patrice and she answered.

"Hello?" Sharon said in the phone. "Hi, how are things there?" Patrice asked her. She glanced at Andy who was propped up on the bed watching her. "Oh, things are okay here" Sharon smiled. "Well, I have someone here who's anxious to see both of you this morning" Patrice said as she watched Matthew eat his cereal. "Is he all ready for school?" Sharon asked. "Oh, yes, just needs his lunch but he's ready" Patrice answered her.

Sharon didn't want Matthew to be late to school this morning but she agreed that Patrice could bring Matthew over on the way to his school, just for a quick visit. She hung up from Patrice and glanced over at Andy. "Patrice is bringing Matthew over this morning to see us on his way to school" Sharon said as she continued to hold his left hand. That had brought a smile back on Andy's face. "She's also going to bring you a bag of clothes so you don't have to wear that gown" Sharon said as she squeezed his hand.

The doctor started to make her rounds on the SICU floor and knocked on Andy's room. "Well, hello Lieutenant Flynn. You're looking better than the last time I saw you" the doctor said as she looked through his chart. "How are you feeling?" she asked him as she washed her hands in the sink that was in the room. "Oh, well, I'm feeling better" Andy said to the doctor as she moved closer to his bed. Sharon went to move. "Oh, you're fine right there" the doctor told Sharon but Sharon moved anyway so she wouldn't be in the way of the exam.

"Okay, I'm going to take a quick look at your incisions and make sure that they are looking fine" the doctor said as she put examining gloves on her hands. She then started to unbutton his gown at his left shoulder. She separated the gown and removed the gauze to take a look at the incision at his left shoulder. "Looks like it's healing well" the doctor said as she buttoned his gown. "Does it hurt?" she asked him. "Not if I'm lying like this in bed" Andy replied. "Can you move it for me?" the doctor asked him and Andy tried moving his arm up towards his head. He grimaced as he did this and only had a little range of motion. "Okay, easy, you can put it back down towards your body" the doctor said and helped him move his arm back.

The doctor then moved his gown and removed the gauze to see the incision in his lower abdomen. "This looks good as well" she said as she covered it back up with a fresh gauze and moved his gown back. "I think we can now move you to a more permanent room and get you out of the SICU" she said as she washed her hands again. "I'm going to have you start physical therapy this afternoon, get you moving again. You'll be chasing the bad guys again in no time, Lieutenant" the doctor informed him and Sharon. "Two orderlies will be coming up soon to move you to another room and then I'll check on you before my rounds are done tonight" the doctor said, smiled and then left his room.

Andy moved the back of his bed to a more upright position as he watched Sharon. She was gathering his things when they heard a knock on his door again. Andy looked at the doorway to see Patrice and Matthew both standing there. "Daddy!" Matthew exclaimed as he made his way towards the hospital bed. "You're awake now!" Matthew walked over to the bed and sat on the chair. "Hey buddy. Did you sleep okay?" Andy asked him as Matthew touched his hand.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and went to wake up Patrice and the Lieutenant. Louie walked me back to my room and read me a story, he fell asleep reading it too, but don't tell him I told you that" Matthew said quietly to Andy. "Okay" Andy whispered to him. Matthew sat on the chair while Patrice and Sharon stood outside the room.

"So, how's he doing?" Patrice asked her. Sharon looked at her and then glanced inside the room. "Doctor says he's doing good. They are going to move him to a regular room soon and start him with physical therapy this afternoon" Sharon said as she took a deep breath. Patrice placed her hand on Sharon's arm to comfort her. Sharon looked at her and gave a small smile. "Thank you for taking Matthew home last night and staying there" Sharon said gratefully to Patrice. "You're welcome" Patrice replied as they both looked in the room at Andy and Matthew sitting and talking with one another.

Andy sat upright in bed as Matthew was looking around at all of the different things in the room. "What's that?" Matthew asked as he pointed to the IV pole. "That is medicine to help me recover quicker" Andy replied to him. "Were you wearing your vest when you got shot?" Matthew asked Andy as he shifted in the chair. "Yes, buddy I was" Andy said. "So how did you get shot then?" Matthew inquired. "Well, the vest doesn't cover everywhere, Matthew and sometimes this happens" Andy said to him. Matthew had a sad look on his face. "Did you protect Mommy from the bullets?" Matthew asked. Andy nodded. "I did" Andy said as he tousled Matthew's hair.

"So, you're a hero again then" Matthew stated. "Well" Andy said as he cleared his throat and looked at him. "Daddy?" Matthew said. "Hmm?" Andy said quietly. "You should ask Batman for his armor suit, that way you won't get shot again" Matthew said seriously as he sat there. "Maybe I should, buddy" Andy laughed, which made his stomach muscles tense, which then brought some discomfort to his face. "Are you okay?" Matthew asked him as he glanced at Sharon and Patrice in the hallway and then looked back at Andy. "Yes" Andy said as he grimaced.

"Andy? You okay?" Sharon said as she stepped back in to his room. "Yeah, Matthew made me laugh here that's all" Andy said as he tried to shift in the bed. Sharon walked over to Matthew. "So, did you do all of your homework last night?" she asked Matthew. Matthew nodded as Sharon brushed her hand over his hair. "And your lunch was made this morning?" Sharon asked. "Patrice made it for me. I told her what I wanted in it" Matthew said to Sharon as he glanced at Patrice. "Good, okay then Patrice is going to take you to school now" Sharon said to him.

"NO!" Matthew exclaimed and both Sharon and Andy looked at him. "I don't want to go to school, I want to stay here with Daddy and you" he whined. Sharon didn't want him throwing a tantrum in the middle of the Surgery ICU so she tried to calm him down by placing her hand on his arm. "Matthew!" she sternly said to him. Andy watched the exchange. "I went to school yesterday and Daddy got hurt. I want to stay here so that he doesn't get hurt again" Matthew cried.

Andy glanced at Sharon and her eyes met his. "Matthew, listen to me" Sharon said to him as she scooted him over and sat in the chair with him. "I know you're scared about what happened to Daddy. I was too, very scared. He's going to be okay now, but I need you to go to school so that you can learn all sorts of interesting things, plus you need to talk about your solar system project in class" Sharon said to Matthew as she wiped his tears away. "That's tomorrow" Matthew sniffled.

"Matthew, I promise you that I'm going to be okay here today while you in school" Andy said to him. "Your mom and I need you to be the brave boy we know you are, okay?" Andy stated as he quickly glanced at Sharon and then looked at Matthew again. Matthew sat there looking at Andy. "Batman would want you to go to school today" Andy finally said to him. Since Matthew was so interested in Batman, Andy thought they should use him as maybe a coercing for Matthew. "Promise me you'll be okay?" Matthew sniffled again. "I promise, buddy" Andy said to him. Matthew got up from Sharon's embrace and went to give Andy a hug.

Sharon gave Matthew as hug as well and then Matthew walked out of the room with Patrice. Sharon turned and looked at Andy. She shook her head and took a deep breath. "The kid is scared" Andy said to her as she sat back down on the chair and reached for Andy's left hand. Sharon nodded. "I've been meaning to get him this book I found" Sharon said to him as she went to her phone and showed Andy the book. "It's for children of law enforcement officers called Sheepdogs: Meet Our Nation's Warriors" she said to Andy as he looked at her phone. "Oh yeah?" Andy said to her as he leaned back on the bed and looked at her. She smiled at him as he handed her phone back. "It explains to children why their parents chose to work a different job than parents of their friends and teaches them how to remain strong" Sharon continued to explain the book to Andy.

The two orderlies came into Andy's room as Sharon was explaining the book to Andy. "Okay, Mr. Flynn, we are here to move you up to a regular room" one of them said as the other grabbed the IV bags off of the pole and attached them to the pole on the bed. Sharon stood up and gathered his things and followed them out of the room and into the hallway. Sharon stopped at the nurse's station on the way out. "Thank you so much for everything you did" she said to the nurses there. "Oh, you're very welcome" they said to her. Sharon then caught up with Andy and the orderlies.

All of them stepped in the elevator and they went up to the eight floor where Andy's room was located. They brought him to his new room, which was much bigger than the ICU room. They situated the hospital bed, with Andy in it and showed him the remote for the TV and the call button for the nurse. There was a couch in the room along with a closet that Sharon placed Andy's things inside. There was a private bathroom as well. "There you go Mr. Flynn, all set" one of the orderlies said to Andy and then they left his room.

After Sharon placed his things inside the closet, she moved one of the big chairs over to his bed. As she did this, a nurse entered his room and introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Megan, I'm one of the nurses here" she said to Andy and Sharon. "Can you tell me your name?" Megan asked Andy as she looked at his hospital bracelet. "Andy Flynn" he said to her. She then looked through Andy's chart. "Looks like the doctor ordered you to start physical therapy this afternoon" she said to them. "Yeah, I guess she wants me moving around" Andy said in reply. Megan then checked his IVs and checked his vitals again. "If you want to change out of your gown into some clothes that you brought, that's fine. It might be more comfortable for you" Megan said as she nodded to Sharon. Andy adjusted his position on the bed. "Okay Lieutenant, don't worry, we will take very good care of you" Megan said as she left his room and closed the door behind her.

Andy took a deep breath before moving again. Sharon was right by his side as she placed her arm around him to help him sit up. Sharon helped him stand up and then walked with him over to the bathroom as he held onto the IV pole. Andy stopped halfway as Sharon had her arm around him. "Andy?" she said as he closed his eyes for a second. "Do you need me to get the nurse?" she asked. "No" Andy muttered and they continued to walk towards the bathroom.

"How am I going to wear a shirt with this stupid IV still in my hand" Andy said as Sharon went to get him his bag that Patrice brought. "You're not going to be hooked up to that IV forever, Andy" Sharon said as she looked at him and caressed his back. "Sorry" he muttered to her as she helped him change out of his hospital gown and into a new pair of boxers and sweatpants. His chest was naked now and Sharon was able to see the damage that the two bullets did to Andy. His left shoulder was bruised and colored with purples and reds. The gauze still over the incision. Sharon didn't want to remove that. She leaned over and kissed his shoulder. She then looked down at his abdomen and saw the bruising there as well. She lightly touched it with her fingertips. Andy watched her intensely as she did this. Her eyes then met his and they looked at each other for a minute. "I'm sorry" she said to him, quietly. "Don't be" he said as he leaned in and kissed her. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat" he said as he moved his left hand to caress her face.

TBC