DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters. They belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.
Chapter 5
Sharon walked into the Murder Room and noticed everyone was at their desks. She then walked into her office where she proceeded to work on some paperwork from their latest case. Andy knocked on her door. "Hey sweetheart!" he said to her as her came around her desk and gave her a kiss. "Are you ready?" he asked her. She gave him a questioning look and said "What for?". He then said to her "We have a suspect in the interview room". She then left her office with Andy and proceeded down the hall to the interview room. As Sharon walked in to the room, she noticed that she was in the interview room with the Dean now. He was explaining how he had killed Dean Bryant. She looked over at Andy and then back at the Dean. The Dean reached over and picked up the pen from the table as Andy shoved her to the back wall and went after the Dean. Andy and the Dean struggled on the floor and all of a sudden it wasn't the Dean anymore but Philip Stroh on top of Andy struggling with a knife. Stroh raises the knife to Andy and as he does this Sharon screams….
Sharon wakes up and realizes she is in her bedroom. Andy wakes up too. "Sharon, are you alright?" he says to her as he rubs her arms. She has a hard time catching her breath and shakes her head no. Andy is fully awake now and helps Sharon sit up on the bed. He rubs her arms and gently soothes her. She starts to cry and he brings her into a hug as he sits with her. "Shhh, it's okay" he repeats to her over and over again. She's had that dream before, with Stroh in it. "Wanna talk about it?" Andy soothingly says to Sharon.
Sharon's answered is muffled because her head is in Andy's shoulder and he has his arms wrapped tightly around her. Andy knows the answer. He leans back to look at Sharon's face. It is tear-stained and he gently wipes her new tears from her face. "You are okay sweetheart" he whispered to her. She was now looking into his eyes and ran her hands over his chest. She needed to make sure that he was okay, even though it was a dream. "What are you looking for?" Andy asked quietly. "You were about to be stabbed in my dream by Stroh" Sharon said after she took a deep breath. Andy soothed her again. "I'm okay Sharon. We are both okay" he said as he rubbed her arms and looked back into her eyes.
"Tell me about this dream" Andy said to her and he pulled her up into his chest and leaned against the head board of the bed. He was rubbing circles on her back and her arms as she told him her dream. "I'm sorry sweetheart" he said to her when she finished. "How long have you been having that dream?" he asked her. He could always tell when she was hiding a little fact. "Since Monterrey" Sharon said quietly. "It started the night we went to the hotel, I woke up early and didn't want to startle you as you were still sleeping" she said to him. "Why didn't you tell me?" Andy asked her. "I didn't want to worry you" she added.
"Sharon, sweetheart, I wish you would have told me sooner about those dreams" Andy started to tell her. "You know you can tell me anything, right?" he said to her. She nodded and leaned back into his chest. "Do you trust me?" Andy asked her. "Yes, with my life, and my heart" Sharon replied. Andy smiled and continued to rub her arms up and down. "Then we need to share what we are feeling and experiencing, even our nightmares" Andy said. "I told you about the flashback I was having when I walked back to my desk, because I didn't want you to worry, which you did but I understand that" Andy started to say as he shifted to lay her and him further onto the bed. "You don't have to be strong all the time, Sharon. I can share the weight" he said to her as he kissed her. Sharon smiled at him and had settled back into his side.
"I'm worried that I am going to lose you" Sharon started to speak. "I'm worried that one day when I send you out into the field with the team, you are not going to come back" she continued. "We've talked about this Sharon, I'm not going anywhere, and I'm certainly not leaving you. I think I've proven that over the past year with everything" Andy said to her as he nuzzled her ear. "Tell me what I can do to help you overcome this fear you have" he whispered to her. "We're married now, right?" he said as he continued to whisper in her ear. She nodded and smiled. She'd never thought that being married again would make her this happy, but being married to Andy did. He knew her ins and outs, ups and downs. He knew when to push her and when to lay off. She was very grateful for him, for his friendship, and for his love.
"What can I do?" Andy asked her. "Just keep doing what you are doing, Andy, because it seems to be working" Sharon whispered to him. She looked at his deep, brown eyes and could tell that he loved her and that he would do whatever it took to make her safe and feel loved.
The sun came up as Sharon and Andy were still lying in bed together. There were no more signs of the rough morning that Sharon had. She was sleeping peacefully in the arms of Andy. Andy woke up to the sound of something crashing in the kitchen. He glanced at the clock and saw the sun starting to rise. He laid back down. Sharon started to stir. "Your kids are making something in the kitchen" he said to her as he leaned down and gave her a kiss. Sharon just hummed and smiled as he kissed her. She pushed him backwards and climbed on top of him. They started to kiss each other when they heard a knock on their door. "Mom? Andy?" Emily said from outside the door. Sharon bent her head down. "She's busy!" Andy said back. Sharon swatted her hand at his shoulder and then got up. She walked over to the door and opened it just a crack. "Yes, sweetie?" Sharon said to Emily. "Since it's our last day here we thought we would make you breakfast" Emily said to her mother. "We'll be right out" Sharon said to her and then closed the door. She leaned back against it as Andy started to get out of bed.
They all ate breakfast together. Andy and Sharon discussed going to look at some houses today and all three of her kids thought it was a great idea and asked if they could all come with them. "Really?" Sharon asked them. "Of course Mom! Don't you think we would like to see what house you guys pick out and maybe help in that process too?" Emily said to her as she helped put the dishes away in the dishwasher. Sharon looked over to where Andy was sitting, admiring his view of her and just smiled.
Later on that morning, Sharon had made a list of the different houses that she wanted to go look at while Andy got dressed. Sharon had printed out the real estate listings and placed them all in a folder to take with them. Once everyone was ready, they headed out to the first house on the list. Sharon had contacted another realtor and he was meeting them at the first house. This realtor was a friend of Gavin's. After the debacle of the previous house that they went to look at, minus the fact that there was a dead body in the pool, Sharon wanted a realtor she and Andy could trust.
The kids drove separately to the first house. When Sharon asked them why, they just stated so that it could give her and Andy some time to discuss the houses without them interfering. They arrived at the first house on the list. It was located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood. Sharon and Andy got out of the car and walked over to the realtor. "Hi Michael" Sharon said to Gavin's friend as she shook his hand. "This is my husband, Andy Flynn" she said as she introduced Andy to Gavin's friend. The kids joined them at the front of the house. "Let's go in and see this house" Michael said to all of them as they made their way inside.
It was a beautiful home with an open floor plan. 6 bedrooms and 3 baths. "This place has 6 bedrooms?!" Andy asked Sharon as they walked into the living room area. They looked around while the kids were looking upstairs in the bedrooms. As Sharon walked into the kitchen, she immediately could see herself in here cooking dinner or hosting a party. "Oh Andy I love this kitchen!" she said to him as he came up beside her. He looked around the country looking kitchen and liked it as well.
Both of them then went upstairs to see the bedrooms. Sharon loved the master bedroom and so did Andy. They would have their own private balcony for them to sit on and watch the sunsets. They went outside to the backyard and saw a swimming pool, fenced in yard, and a porch. "So, what do you think so far Andy?" Michael asked him. "It looks good" he said as he walked around to the back of the yard where the garage was located. "The garage does need to be fixed up a little bit, but that can be negotiated" Michael said as Sharon walked up to the two of them.
Meanwhile, Emily, Ricky, and Rusty were looking at all of the rooms upstairs and each were claiming rooms for them to stay in. "How much are they asking for this house?" Andy asked Sharon and Sharon pulled out the sheet she had printed out and showed him the price. He cringed looking at it. "Well, if they want that much for it, they are going to have to do something with that garage before we negotiate the price" Andy said to her in a whisper as he didn't want Michael to hear them. He didn't trust realtors after the last one he dealt with. Sharon assured him that Michael was different and was recommended by Gavin.
"Well?" Michael asked them. Sharon and Andy looked at each other. "We want to look at some other houses before we commit, Michael" Sharon said to him as she held Andy's hand. "Not a problem!" He said as they walked back through the house to get to the front. "Rusty! Emily! Ricky!" Sharon yelled up the stairs. All three of them came down. "We are heading to the next house" Sharon said to them as they all left and headed towards their cars. Sharon gave them directions to the next house.
The next three houses that they saw were okay, nothing stood out with them. All of those houses had 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, plus open floor plans. In one house the kitchen was too small for Sharon's liking. There was no grass yard in the house located in the Glassell Park neighborhood. Andy wanted a grass yard for when his step-grandchildren came over to play in. And the house they saw in Lafayette Square didn't have a yard at all. Sharon was starting to get disappointed in the houses that they saw today. Her and Andy both really liked the first one they saw, but the garage needed major improvement.
Andy reached over to her hand as he was driving to the next house they were looking at. "Hey, we will find the house that is perfect for us, okay?" Andy said to her as he glanced at her while they waited for the light to change. Sharon smiled at him. "Michael seemed a little excited about this next house, I don't know anything about it" Sharon said to him. Andy continued to drive till he got to the street to turn on. They were back in the Los Feliz neighborhood and all of the houses gave off a Spanish architecture look as he followed Michael's car to where he parked.
As Andy pulled the car up behind Michael's car, he placed the car in park and looked over at Sharon. Sharon looked at him and then looked out the window. The house that they pulled up across the street had a beautiful front entranceway with landscaped gardens lining the walkway to the house. They both got out of the car and started to walk up the driveway to get to the walkway where Michael was standing with her kids. The driveway was made of brick and was nicely maintained. Sharon held Andy's hand as they made their way towards everybody. "You're going to love this!" Michael said as he opened the front door.
The front door opened to a foyer with a staircase going up to the second floor. The foyer was open and big. As everyone stepped into the house, there was a hallway straight ahead of them and a living room to the left. If you turned to the right, there was a little den/library which would be perfect for Sharon and Andy. Emily and Rusty went towards the back of the house while Ricky went into the den. It had dark oak floors and dark bookshelves built in to the walls. There were also two windows in the den that looked out the side and a sliding glass door that led to one of the many patios/porches of the house. He thought it was perfect for his mother and Andy.
Sharon made her way into the living room which was huge, and had a stone fireplace. She looked around the room, picturing different furniture and things. "Perfect" she said to herself. She turned around to see Andy admiring her and he smiled. "Want to look at the kitchen with me?" he asked her and she nodded. They followed the hallway down to the kitchen and were completely mesmerized by the size of it. There was an island in the middle of the kitchen with stools. Then a huge countertop that ran across the wall where the stove was located. Lots of cabinets lined the area above it. A rack above the island held pots and pans. The refrigerator was located across from the stove. The sink and faucet sat in front of the bay window that looked out into the yard. There was a pantry as well across from the island. In the back of the kitchen there were three doors that led out to a patio.
Yes Sharon could defiantly see her and Andy living here together. They made their way through the kitchen towards the back of the house where the laundry and mud room were located. There was another door that led to the backyard. Andy opened it and they walked out towards the yard. There was a porch surrounding the back of the house which had two short stairs and then that led to the yard. The yard was maintained nicely and lots of places to garden. There was also a pool in the yard. Andy's step-grandkids would just love that, Sharon thought to herself. Andy pictured gatherings in their backyard of family and friends. He also pictured just him and Sharon enjoying a quite evening back here.
There was a 3 car garage that also had a small studio apartment on the top of it. Rusty had somehow made his way through there and had found it on his own. When Andy and Sharon made their way to the top, they were surprised to see Rusty already there. "This is perfect Mom!" Rusty said to her as he looked around the room. There was a small kitchen and a place for a small couch and table. Rusty smiled at both of them and Andy just laughed to himself. "See, he wouldn't be walking in on us" Andy said quietly to Sharon. Sharon placed her hand underneath his jacket and laid it across his back and gently patted him.
Sharon and Andy made their way back into the house. They wanted to see the upstairs now. Michael showed them the master bedroom and master bath. Both were big and had a huge walk-in closet. Sharon got lost in it. Andy enjoyed looking at the master bath and figured that he and Sharon would make great use out of it. They then went to the other bedrooms. Those were perfect for overnight guests.
They made their way back down to the kitchen where Michael had his realtor binder laying on the countertop. "So, what do you think?" Michael asked them. "This is an amazing home" Andy said looking at Sharon. "How much are the current owners asking?" Sharon asked Michael. "Well, it is listed at this price" Michael said as he pointed to the figure. Andy just looked at the figure and he heard Sharon sigh. "But, I know for a fact that the owners are desperate to sell" Michael added. Andy looked at Sharon as she stood at the island. "Give us a second, will you?" Andy said to Michael and her kids. All of them walked to another part of the house to give him and Sharon some time to discuss.
"Sharon? Are you worried about the price of this house?" Andy asked her. "It's a lot of money" Sharon said to him as she touched his hand. "We could afford this, between yours and my salary, and the sale of my house already, plus the sale of your condo, we could do this, if it's what you want" Andy said to her as he looked to see her reaction. "I really do like this house" she said as she looked up at him. "I love the backyard, and the porches it has, plus this kitchen is great!" she added as she bit her bottom lip and smiled. "Everything we have wanted is here" Sharon said to him as Andy pulled her in for a hug. "Everything I've wanted is right here too" Andy said to her as he gave her a kiss. They pulled away and called Michael back into the kitchen.
"Okay, what do we do next?" Sharon said to Michael. Michael pulled out some paperwork and started to fill it out.
TBC
