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Chapter 5 - Plea Bargain

Once he detached himself from Sharon, which was easier said than done, he lapsed into silence. He had followed her up a flight of stairs, keeping his hands to himself and joined her on the elevator. He had stepped to the side, keeping his distance. He didn't want to stand close to her and compromise them if and when the doors opened prematurely. He wouldn't have been able to explain himself.

The elevator bell dinged and the stepped off. He followed her as she rounded the corner, keeping at an arms length, and even that didn't stop him from nearly running into her. She had come to compete standstill just before their usual conference room. He noticed her eyes grow wide, her stance change, and before he knew it she was on a knee with her arms stretched out.

A duo of dark hair and long limbs made their way down the hallway in a blur. The boy reached Sharon first and she caught him in her a hug easily. The girl was swept up to, with just as much enthusiasm. For a second, Andy thought he might have seen a tear or two in Sharon's eyes. Of that he had no doubt. She missed her kids.

It was then that he noticed the other man at the end of the hallway. Tall, filled, a hand in his pocket with his head bent had his eyes on the children. It was a fatherly look. A younger man stood next to him, talking to him. Andy had to give the other man credit, he never looked away from the children. Realizing he was being watched, the man Andy presumed was Jack met his eye. He straightened and nodded, his hand slipping out of his pocket.

Andy had looked away and back down to the scene before him Sharon stood and pushed her children back down the hallway in the direction in which they came. She waved goodbye as they disappeared around the corner. She reached out to him and stopped herself. He gave her a small, understanding smile. He got it. He did.

He wanted to reach out for her too. He wanted to hug her, be happy for her – hell he'd kiss her too if he could. Circumstances and location stood in their way. If it wasn't for the fact that they were standing in the middle of the floor, cameras surrounding them, black and white officers walking up and down the hallways with secretaries here and there he would have. They were there because he was being scapegoated and she had a job to do.

"I got you a lawyer," she said as they stepped into the empty conference room. "He should be up any minute."

Her eyes were on the thin wrist watch as she lowered herself into one of the chairs. Andy had done the same, just on the opposite side, trying to maintain professional distance. Although it didn't stop him from stretching out his leg in hope to catch the fabric of her pants.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

She looked like she got a full night's rest and he knew that wasn't the case. She gave him a smile and it didn't quite reach her eyes. He couldn't tell if it was because she was tired, or if it was because she had her kids for a few minutes, but he wanted it to reach her eyes.

"I'm okay," she said, smoothing her skirt. "A little tired."

The look Andy received made him smile. A little embarrassed that he had been the one to keep her up. But she was an active participant. It filled him with, not necessarily pride, but something akin to it knowing he tired her out the way he did. It helped his ego just a bit.

"We should-"

They were interrupted when a knock on the glass had Sharon turning around. A blonde man was coming into the room, reaching for Sharon to kiss her cheek. It was Gavin Baker, attorney at law, there to represent Andy.

As far as first impressions went, Andy was not a fan of his newly appointed lawyer. He seemed aloof, only focused on Sharon, her love life, her kids, her job, not the reason he was there. Baker commented on her appearance and called her out for being tired. She shrugged him off and said she had a busy night, which forced Andy to bite the inside of his cheek. Damn right she was busy.

Baker also commented on the state of her hair. The fullness of it. How long it was. He made it seem like they hadn't seen each other in some time and the 'big hair' as he put it was new. Andy was just glad that he didn't say it looked like someone had their hands in it because he knew – Andy knew – she would have turned a different color.

It was when he was all good and done paying attention to Sharon that he turned to Andy and let him have it. Baker made Andy recount the activities from the day however long ago now, piece by piece, and wrote notes. He asked Andy about his track record before the incident, asking him about the anger management classes he was forced to attend, or the rehab stint that he was mandated to go to for a week. The line of questioning had Andy narrowing his eyes at Sharon for a moment before answering the attorney's questions.

"The family wants you to resign," Baker said, matter of factly. "You don't want to resign, correct?"

He had gotten used to being able to go do whatever he wanted. He was able to see a baseball game, he was able to be with his kids more; if this is what retired was, he could get used to it. But there would be that feeling in the back of his neck, or his guy, whenever he heard a siren. He got it now. That need to go seek it out, to go help, to do his job. He would miss it. He did miss it.

Resigning would give him an opportunity to be with Sharon, instead of sneaking off for a quickie in the supply closet. Or a secret affair that remained in his home in the event her ex-husband decided to drop the kids off unannounced. He wanted to date her, on a real date, without the risk of being fired for it. If he stayed on he would have to deal with the inter-office shenanigans and it was no one's business but his and hers. There was also the possibility that she didn't want a relationship.

"No," he said, taking a look at Sharon who was seated besides the attorney.

"Perfect," Baker said, clapping his hands. "You will be going in front of a board, which I'm sure Sharon has told you all about."

It was a disciplinary board. A board of higher ranking officers who will have gone over his case, determine whether or not he's fit to remain on the force and make their decision. Judge and jury wrapped up into a nice package. Sharon had sat in on a board once before, he remembered. She wasn't part of it – it was training for when she joined the squad.

"If you are found, guilty, shall we say," Gavin went on. "They'll give you an option. An undetermined amount of time without pay and a quiet firing. Or a resignation."

The quiet resignation would be a slow moving process. He'd be allowed to go into his desk, pack a box, and leave without compromise. A formal announcement or memo would be released at a later date. They were being kind by allowing him to resign. They would back date the request so it looked like it wasn't part of the investigation.

"If you are found not guilty," he said, shuffling papers in front of him. "You will be reinstated after a mandatory evaluation and review."

"Which are all things she has already told me," he said pointing to Sharon. "Tell me something I don't know."

"You will lose your pension if you are let go," Baker said. "Your 401k will be tossed out the window and the un-employment you hope to receive will be used up because you will be paying me."

Andy glared at him. "Is that all?"

"The family's lawyer is Jack Ray-" Gavin began, stopping to silently ask Sharon permission to continue.

She granted it with a nod of the head. It was fine. Andy knew who Jack was.

"Raydor," Gavin continued. "I can contest conflict of interest. Seeing as Mr. Raydor has represented this family before."

"He has?" Sharon quickly questioned.

"The daughter was brought in on drug charges a few years ago," Gavin filled in for her. "They couldn't afford one so Jack was brought in. They liked him so much, they called him in from Las Vegas, to represent them."

Andy cut a look to Sharon who met his eyes. This could be a good thing for them. He saw the wheels behind her eyes working. She was trying to come up with a plausible way this would make him and the department look good. It was the small smile that made him realize she was coming up with nothing.

Yes, the department needed to look good. The new chief wasn't going to have any of this 'conflict of interest'. Neither were the lawyers. Jack could negate the argument, claim he is on retainer, and the charge would get thrown out. Jack was a weasel and knew the system as well as Sharon knew the LAPD. It was a battle of wits.

"The end is coming, Andrew," Gavin said, drawing out the name. "The end is near."

"I hope so," he groaned lightly.

The meeting lasted until lunch time. The next week was going to be meetings with various members of Gavin's firm. It was to see if there was a difference in the story from one person to another. Flynn was going to make sure there wasn't. The facts were the facts and he would never alter them.

Sharon had walked Gavin out and found Andy leaning against the parking structure. She had her sunglasses on her nose, looking at the ground, when she felt his gaze. She looked up and gave him a smile. She brushed her hair out of her face, shook it over her shoulder and rested the hand on her hip.

"You want to get out of here?" He asked.

What he wanted to do was go home, preferably with her, and take a nap. What he was willing to do was take her out to lunch, then home, then bed.

"There's that sandwich place around the corner from your place," she said. "Or we can go to the restaurant at the top of your block."

"Investigating are we?" He asked, grinning.

Flynn pushed off the wall and turned into the structure. He had parked on the fourth floor with no idea where she parked. Her car hadn't been on the street when he left.

"Scouting my choices," she retorted with a smile of her own.

He knew that one reached her eyes.

The restaurant at the top of his street was a family owned Italian place. It was a mother son investment, where friends and family operated it. The owner, son, Nick, was the one who had taken their order and recommended the fettuccini which had a thick Alfredo sauce. He threw in a salad and an order of bread for the table.

Sharon and Andy shared the fettuccini; Andy had made a mess, trying to split the dish on two separate plates. It got her to laugh. It also had her apologizing to Nick when he came around to offer them more drink. The man without a bat of an eye, wiped the table clean.

"That was rich," Sharon said, stepping out of the restaurant.

Andy was already slipping his hand into hers, glad he parked at home and they walked. The night was nice, warmer than the night before, but not hot. He marveled at the linked fingers, Sharon chatting away about the richness of the food; the desert was decadent. It was a rich chocolate cake with a layer of strawberry sauce some how placed in the middle. She wasn't one for sweets, but the plate was nearly empty when they left.

Sharon had been sleeping in the guest room, the one where his kids would have stayed if their mother hadn't come back early. After the night before, Andy found himself staring at her in the mirror when they finally arrived home. She was taking off her earrings, laying them down on the countertop, a practiced motion as if having been done for years. She closed the door with a wink and stepped out minutes layer in one of his t-shirts.

They had fallen asleep after another round of getting acquainted with each other. It was slow and quiet. It wasn't nearly as fast or rough or needy as the night before. Not that he minded. It was nice to have fallen asleep with her in his arms and know that she was going to be there the next morning.

She was and he knew she was because they were both woken up by the shrill sound of her mobile device. Truth be told, he didn't know she had one. It wasn't until she pulled it out in the car, to call Jack, to give him the number, did Andy know about it.

She groaned and rolled over into him, pressing her lips to his bare shoulder. She didn't want to be awake. She wanted to go back to sleep.

"Raydor," she muttered sleepily into the device.

Andy pressed his warm hand to her otherwise bare back. He had rolled onto his side and pressed a kiss between her shoulder blades. If it was work, they could go to hell. He was going to keep her in bed as long as he could. If it was anyone else, they could go to hell too. They were running on little sleep.

"I'll be right there," she said quickly, sitting up and standing up.

It caught Andy's attention and made him sit up in bed. He watched her as she made a beeline for the bathroom, flipping on the light and bringing out the suit from the previous day in her arms. She was flustered. She eyed the clock.

4:15 am.

She cursed as she sat at the edge of the bed and fished for her underwear. The warm hand Andy had on her back minutes ago was back and she snapped her head to look at him. Before and even now he faltered a little bit, but now he pressed his fingers into the muscle, reminding her he was there.

"What happened?"

"I have to get to Children's." she said, standing up.

She left the room and he followed. He slipped into his boxers earlier – he had gotten up to use the bathroom. He followed her into the guest room and watched as she hauled her bag onto the bed, going through it.

Blouse after blouse, skirt after skirt, she pulled out of her bag. It wasn't until she reached what could have only been the bottom, did she pull out a pair of slacks. He would have to take her stuff to the dry cleaners – or her's if she had a preference.

"What's going on?"

She huffed and moved around him, giving him a glance up and down as if to silently berate him for not being dressed. Or at least moving towards becoming dressed. He caught her by the hand and turned her.

Her eyes were wet. Set with determination. It took him by surprise. She was vulnerable. Then his mind played catch up.

"Did you say you had to go to Children's?"

Sharon nodded and curled herself into him and his embrace for a moment.

"The kid's were in a car accident." She muttered into his chest. "Jack is at the Kaiser across the street."

"What happened?"

"I don't know," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I don't know."

It wasn't until the sun was fully up, the streets below them buzzing with the sounds of traffic that the doctors had come out to talk to Sharon.

Her son had a fractured wrist. Her daughter had a concussion from hitting the passenger window. Her ankle was twisted and possibly fractured. What had Sharon inhaling a sharp breath was the news that her son might have internal bleeding. He had caught her with an arm around her waist as she began to collapse.

What she loved more than anything was her children. It killed him to know that Raydor was across the street, being treated, and having his stomach pumped. If he could, he'd have the man arrested for drunk driving, child endangerment, and a slew of other things just to keep him away from Sharon and the kid's. Why he would do something so stupid, Andy did not know. But he was going to get to the bottom of it.

Andy was waiting in the lobby for Sharon, having messaged her from outside. She was coming towards him just as his phone began to ring. She gave him a small smile.

"Answer it," she said, nodding to the phone. "It's Gavin."

Her phone began to ring too. It was the LAPD. It was HQ.

He gave her a weary look.

"I've resigned from the case," she told him. "I'm personally involved. My involvement in the case is biased. Gavin is calling you to tell you your IA representation has changed."

He gave her a dumbstruck look. Distinctively, as if she were the one who had he pulled her close. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. He couldn't be mad at her. Not for this. Not now.

"Yeah," Andy huffed into his phone.

With the warmth pressed up against him as he took the attorney's call, one thing was crystal clear. One thing he refused to admit until now, until this second.

He was in love with her.


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