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 8
Provenza was sitting at his desk when the rest of the team started to trickle in to the office. "Lieutenant, have you heard from the Captain on how Lieutenant Flynn is doing?" Buzz asked Provenza as he made his way towards the desks. "I spoke to her last night and she said that he was doing fine" Provenza said to him as he sat back in his chair. "Will the Captain be in today?" Buzz asked. "Probably not, Buzz" Provenza said as he went back to working on his crossword puzzle.
Julio and Amy started to take down the pictures that were left on the Murder Board from their case. One by one they took them down, placed them in an envelope and then placed that in a box, marked with the case number. "Before I forget, I'll need each of you to write a statement regarding the incident yesterday for our case file" Provenza said to everyone. "So what was Travis's motive for killing Randy Grey?" Amy asked them as she looked at his picture and then placed it in the box. "He was wronged by him, taken advantage of, instead of going to the police about it, he decided to take matters into his own hands" Mike said to Amy.
"Uh, sir? Chief Davis is here" Julio said to Provenza as he looked up from his desk and nodded in the direction of where she was standing. "Ah, Chief Davis, what can I do for you?" Provenza asked her. "I had heard that Lieutenant Flynn got shot yesterday when you attempted to arrest your suspect" Chief Davis said to him as she looked around the room. "Um, yes he did" Provenza answered her as he stood up from his chair and walked over to her. "Is he okay?" she asked him. Provenza was taken back by her sincerity. "Yes, but I haven't gotten an update in a while" Provenza said. "Last night, he was awake and eating" he added. "Well, that's good news then" Chief Davis said to him as they walked out to the hallway.
"I take it then your Captain is not going to be in today?" she inquired. "Um, no I don't think so" Provenza said giving her a short answer. "Who shot and killed the suspect?" Chief Davis stated. Provenza gave her a questionable look. "Excuse me?" he said to her. "Which one of your team members shot and killed Travis Martin?" Chief Davis stated. "Chief, will all due respect, and I mean that loosely, FID's investigating that aspect and has all of our statements" Provenza said to her. "You know, you guys are going to have to get used to me being in this area because I will be the Assistant Chief soon" Chief Davis said to Provenza and then walked away. Provenza stood at the entrance to the Murder Room and watched her walk away. He then retreated back into the office.
As Provenza walked back to his desk, shaking his head at the latest exchange between him and Chief Davis, his phone alerted him to a text message. He pulled out his phone and as he sat down, began to read it. It was from Sharon stating that they moved Andy into a regular room and he's starting physical therapy this afternoon to get range of motion back in his shoulder. "That's good news" he said to himself as he typed the message and sent it to her. He thought about telling her his encounter with Chief Davis, but decided against it as she didn't need the frustration on top of everything.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Sharon was sitting next to Andy and the two of them were watching TV. "I just texted your partner that they moved you to a regular room, so that when he comes to visit you, he at least knows where we are" Sharon said to Andy as Andy laid in bed, with his head propped up. He wanted to scratch his right hand as the IV was starting to annoy him again. He glanced up at the IV pole to see how much more liquid was in the IV bag that was hanging. "This IV is itching me, I just want to pull it out" he said as he grimaced, trying his best to ignore that sensation.
Sharon watched him and placed her hand gently on his chest. "I'll go ask the nurse to come in and check that for you" she said to him. "No, I'm fine" Andy grumbled. "You just told me that the IV was itching your hand, now you're fine?" Sharon asked as she continued to watch him. He grumbled some more and Sharon grabbed his left hand. "You're going to be a joy in your physical therapy session this afternoon" Sharon said to him, not thinking of how those words might have sounded. "Wait, what does that mean?" Andy asked her, already annoyed. Sharon shook her head. "Nothing" she replied. "NO, I want to know why you said that. Do you think I like being cooped up in a hospital bed?" Andy retorted back. "Andy, calm down! I didn't say that, nor do I think that" Sharon said, trying to calm him down. Andy looked back at her, this wasn't fair to her to always be the one taking care of him. He knew he was wrong to snap at her and he knew he needed to apologize for doing so, but something kept fueling him on.
"You don't have to stay here with me all day" he muttered out to Sharon. "Don't feel like your obligated" he added as he watched Sharon's expression change on her face. "Listen, you and I made a commitment to each other last year, and no I don't feel "obligated" to stay here with you. I am here with you because I am in love with you, Andrew Flynn and I care about what happens to you. You are my husband, and there's no place I'd rather be than right here with you, got it?" Sharon said to him in a stern voice. He glanced at her and saw there were tears about to form in her eyes. Now he felt bad, as he didn't want to make her cry. That was the last thing on his list that he wanted to happen. "I'm sorry" he said as he looked at her. Sharon took a deep breath and released it as she bit her lower lip.
"I'm stupid" he said to her as he held her hand. She chuckled and shook her head. "You're not stupid, Andy, and if the roles were reversed I think I'd be a little irritated too" Sharon said to him as she leaned in and gave him a kiss. "Now, your IV bag is almost done, so I'm going to step outside to the nurse's station and see if one of them could come in here, just to see if you're done with the IVs" Sharon said as she stood up from the chair. Andy reluctantly let go of her hand and watched her walk out of his room. Andy shook his head and closed his eyes for a second. "Good job, Flynn" he muttered to himself.
Sharon walked out of his room and down the hallway to the nurse's station. "Can I help you?" one of the nurses asked her. "My husband is in room 1202 and he's almost done with his IV and I was wondering if he had any more scheduled for today as he said his line was bothering his hand" Sharon said to the nurse. "Let me check here and see what the Doctor ordered" she said to Sharon as she looked at Andy's chart. "Nope, that should be his last IV. I'll come down there and remove it from his hand" she said as she smiled at Sharon. "Thank you" Sharon said as she turned around and walked back to Andy's room.
She paused a moment before she walked back in to the room. "Good news, the nurse will be coming in shortly to remove your IV" Sharon said shortly to Andy as he watched her come back and sit on the chair again. Andy closed his eyes and sighed. "Sharon?" he said but then was interrupted by the nurse stepping in his room. "Hello, Lieutenant. How are you feeling?" the nurse cheerfully asked him as she washed her hands and then placed gloves on them. "Fine" he muttered through his teeth. "Okay, let's see if we can get this annoying IV out of your hand here" the nurse said as she plugged the line and then took a saline syringe and flushed the IV line going into his hand. That stung a bit and Andy grimaced while Sharon watched him. It tore her apart to see him there in pain, even though sometimes he was as stubborn as a mule.
"Okay, you are all set here" the nurse said as she removed the IV line from his hand and placed a Band-Aid on top of it to stop the bleeding from the needle. "How are your incisions doing?" she asked him as she placed the needle in the bio-hazard container. "They pinch a little but not too bad" Andy replied to the nurse as she checked them out. "They are healing very nicely. You're very lucky" the nurse said to him as she placed new gauze on his incisions. The nurse was getting ready to leave his room when she handed him a menu. "Oh, I almost forgot. Here is our lunch menu. This menu is for our heart patients as it's listed in your chart so everything on the menu should be good for the diet your cardiologist has you on" the nurse said to Andy as he looked over the menu. "Thank you" Sharon said to the nurse as the nurse left the room.
Sharon glanced at Andy who was looking over the menu. He placed the menu down on his bed and turned to look at Sharon. Sharon looked at him, but before he could say something to her, Sharon spoke. "I know" she said, softly to him as she caressed his face. He gave her sad, puppy dog eyes because he knew he had screwed up earlier by snapping at her. He didn't know why she got him, but he was eternally grateful for her being in his life. He tried showing that to her every day and was still amazed that one look from her and a simple "I know" could make everything seem right again, even if he thought he royally screwed up.
"Here, help me choose what to order for lunch" Andy said as he handed the menu to Sharon. She went over all of the choices and asked Andy what he wanted. He told her and then she circled the items and placed the menu back on his side tray. He looked at her again as she sat there. "You must be tired" he said to her. She turned her head and shifted in the chair to get a better look at him. "I'm okay" Sharon said to him. She was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday when she changed at the hospital waiting area. To him, she looked exhausted. 'So much for that relaxing weekend we had in Arizona' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes.
Sharon was tired but she didn't want to leave Andy's side. She figured when they took him for his physical therapy session, which would be an hour long, she would then freshen up and change her clothes, as Patrice also brought her clothes in the bag too. She'd hope that Provenza could take care of running things at the office today. Depending on how Andy did after his physical therapy would determine whether or not Sharon would go into the office tomorrow.
She looked at Andy who had fallen asleep. A nurse stopped by to pick up Andy's menu choices for lunch and then left right away. Sharon had pulled out her phone and decided to check in on her team and see what was happening. She dialed Provenza's number and waited for him to answer his phone.
In the Murder Room, things were not going as planned as Provenza would have hoped for. Wally Parker had shown up at the morgue to claim the body of Randy Grey, so that he could have a proper funeral for him. When he went to the morgue, Doctor Morales couldn't release the body to him because the Major Crimes division hadn't finished the paperwork on the case. Mike was on the phone with Doctor Morales. "Why can't you release the body?" Mike asked him over the phone. "Because of the new protocol that just went into effect yesterday" Doctor Morales stated. "What protocol is that?" Mike asked. "Once a division finishes the paperwork and closes the case, only then can the body be released to the family" Doctor Morales stated. "I never heard of this! Who put this policy in place?" Mike said.
So now Wally Parker stood in the middle of the Murder Room, yelling at Provenza on why he couldn't take Randy's body from the morgue. Provenza tried to calm the guy down along with the help from Julio. They succeeded and Julio was able to get Wally to follow him into the conference room. "Ye gods!" Provenza said as he turned around just as his phone was ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Sharon who was calling him. "Captain, how's Flynn doing?" Provenza said as he answered his phone.
Sharon glanced at Andy before she answered Provenza and saw that he was still sleeping. "He's okay, sleeping right now. I was just checking in on you to see how the team is doing" Sharon said to him. "Oh, well, things are" he started to say but paused for a second. "Lieutenant?" Sharon said. "Things are a little crazy here. Wally Parker is here right now, demanding that we hand over the body of Randy Grey to him. We told him that's the morgue's position to do so, he said he was already there and Doctor Morales said he couldn't release the body until Major Crimes closed the case and all paperwork was finished" Provenza explained to her.
"Wait a minute, what policy is this?" Sharon inquired. "Tao is trying to figure that out right now" Provenza answered as he looked in the direction of Mike's desk. Provenza moved the phone away from him. "Tao, did you find out anything? The Captain is on the phone" Provenza said to Mike. "Yeah, apparently Chief Davis changed this policy two days ago because the morgue was releasing bodies that, I guess, weren't supposed to be released due to the police not completing the cases" Mike said as he shrugged his shoulders. "What!" Provenza said and then realized he blurted that into his phone. "Oh, uh, sorry Captain" he said to Sharon. "Um, well it seems like are illustrious Chief Davis has struck again" he informed Sharon.
Sharon shook her head as she heard what Provenza said over the phone. "I'm sure you can figure it out Lieutenant, for today, and I may be in tomorrow" Sharon said to him as a nurse brought in Andy's lunch just then. She placed it on the tray and left the room. "Right, Captain. Don't worry, we will figure things out here. I might be stopping by after work tonight to see how Flynn's doing, if you can let him know that" Provenza said. "Sure, I will" Sharon said and then hung up her phone.
She glanced over again at Andy who was still sleeping. She looked at the clock and saw that they had about an hour to go before Andy's physical therapy session and she knew that he would need to eat beforehand. She leaned over his bed and kissed his cheek. Andy then opened his eyes and looked at Sharon. "Is it morning already?" he mumbled. "No, sweetie, your lunch is here" Sharon said to him as he started to wake up from his nap.
Sharon moved the tray over to his bed as Andy sat up slowly and readjusted the bed. He opened the top of the container to see his lunch and he was surprised that there was a grilled chicken salad along with other items that Sharon had selected for him. "The salad is mine" Sharon said to him, sweetly as she moved the salad over to where she was sitting. "Okay" he said to her as he opened the other containers. A plain, grilled salmon was sitting on the plate along with steamed broccoli and carrots. A bowl of fresh fruit was also on the tray along with sugar free chocolate pudding in a cup. "I ordered you the chocolate pudding as a surprise" Sharon said to him as she settled down to eat her salad. Andy started to eat his lunch and by the time 1:30 came along, he was being escorted in a wheelchair to his physical therapy.
Sharon walked with them to the area he was being taken. "His session should be about an hour, and afterwards, I'll bring him back to his room" the orderly said to Sharon. "Okay, Andy please have a good session, don't give them any problems" Sharon whispered in Andy's ear as she kissed his cheek. She smiled at him and he half smiled back as he was not looking forward to this session. He remembered the last time he did physical therapy in the hospital, after his blood clot, he wasn't thrilled about it now. Sharon waved to him as the orderly brought him into the room and then Sharon went back upstairs to Andy's room to freshen up.
TBC