The plan was for this chapter to be about more than just Sharon and Rusty. However, the length started to get away from me. Therefore, I decided to cut this chapter in half. This is the first half...obviously. The second half will, hopefully, be up next week.

Chapter 4: Susceptibility

Friday Morning

Sharon's luck on Friday did not improve. It started with waking up an hour before her alarm went off to find herself soaked in sweat. After a few seconds of panic during which she reassured herself that that part of her life was thankfully over, she got out of bed to find the cause of this perceived hot flash. Further investigation revealed that some minor electrical work on the building the previous day had resulted in a minor electrical malfunction that required power to the entire building to be cut for several hours while it was repaired.

Without warning.

Deciding a cold shower was better than no shower at all, she stepped under the running water and realized just as the water cascaded over her head that no power meant no hair dryer. Once dressed, she took her makeup and a small mirror out onto the balcony where there was plenty of light. Which is where Rusty found her applying her lipstick.

"Why is it so hot?" he asked, stepping through the open glass doors.

"Because the power is out," she replied, packing up her makeup.

"Oh," Rusty replied sleepily.

"I don't know for how much longer. Hopefully, it'll be back on before everything in the refrigerator goes bad." She would be sending the building owners a bill if that happened even if it wasn't directly their fault. Even if they had no obligation to compensate her for the lost food. She'd send them the damn bill just to make herself feel better. "Would you like to come to the station and study?"

"Is that my only choice?"

"You're welcome to stay here," she replied, walking past him, back into the condo, and down the hall to the bathroom to put her makeup away.

He followed her whining, "What am I supposed to do at the station all day?"

"The same thing you'd be doing here all day: studying and doing school work." She glanced at her hair in the bathroom mirror. In the limited light it didn't look too horrible, but it was still mostly wet, hanging in stringy pieces around her face while the wet ends damped her lavender dress. Hopefully, it would be dry by the time she got to work, and her beige blazer would cover up the water stains on her shoulders until the dress dried.

"Sharon…" Rusty continued whining, leaning up against the bathroom doorframe. "It's not like I have school—"

Rusty cut himself off as he realized what he'd said, and she almost smiled at the wide eyed look he gave her. As though she could forget he was suspended for two days.

"We'll get something for breakfast on the way to the station," she said decisively. "Now, get dressed."

She shooed him off to his room with a wave of her hand, and he went with dragging feet and long suffering sighs.

Late Friday Morning

Sharon massaged her temples and glanced at the closed blinds of her office. Normally, she'd keep them open, but the temptation to check in on her team and the case was too strong.

Almost as strong as the desire to duct tape Rusty's mouth closed.

Sharon had learned an extraordinary amount of patience in her life. Not only through raising two children primarily on her own, but also through her work in Internal Affairs. She knew how to be patient with people who drove her crazy. She also realized that doing so was a thankless job most of the time. However, all that practice didn't mean that upon occasion she didn't find her patience sorely tested.

And her youngest child was doing a marvelous job at testing it, today.

Since he'd woken up this morning, Rusty just couldn't seem to control his tongue. He had complained and whined about everything, from the condo not having power to the injustice at not having a laptop or cellphone to her refusal to let him drive. Of course, she'd made things worse on herself by insisting he study in her office, but she was determined to keep him from finding out anything about this case. She wasn't even doing a very good job at that, because she'd forgotten about the pictures of herself from thirty years ago plastered all over her office door.

She had patiently redirected that conversation.

"Where are you going?" she asked, somehow managing not to sound accusing, as Rusty started walking towards the door.

"Oh my God, Sharon. Can't I go to the bathroom without giving you a detailed itinerary?" Rusty shot accusingly.

Sharon's face showed concern. "Do you have an upset stomach?"

She could tell the question caught him by surprise, but that didn't stop his sharp reply. "No! Seriously, Sharon!"

"I'm only asking because this is the sixth time you've gone in the last hour, and if you're not feeling well, I'd like to know," Sharon answered, genuinely concerned even though she was sure that he was perfectly healthy. Her other children had tried this routine on her from time to time. She'd learned that merely pointing out that she knew what they were doing only backfired, and lead to yelling and tears.

When Rusty blushed slightly Sharon wondered if it was from the shame of being caught or guilt at snapping at her for being concerned.

"I'm fine." Rusty mumbled staring at the floor of her office.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Yes. I'm fine."

"Okay." Sharron nodded, hopefully the fact that he hadn't rolled his eyes at her meant that he was coming around, and soon her nice sweet teenager would return to his normal bratty self. "When you come back, I'd like to see the progress you've made on your schoolwork since this morning."

Rusty rolled his eyes before walking out the door. "Whatever."

Sharon smiled tightly as he left. Normally, she trusted him to be in charge of his own homework. He was certainly old enough to do it unsupervised and without her hovering. The flat out tantrum he'd thrown earlier though when she'd informed him that he would be sitting in her office working on school related things until they went home caused her to be concerned about his ability to manage his time appropriately.

And he had thrown a tantrum. With all the screaming he'd done she wouldn't have been surprised if he'd thrown himself down on the ground and started kicking and hitting the floor. It was not his normal behavior, and she wondered if she should call Doctor Joe and mention the incident to him.

Getting suspended from school was not normal behavior for him either. Ricky had been suspended from school for an extended weekend once. Her darling High Schooler had wanted to test his abilities with computers and during computer class one day he'd gotten so bored that he'd somehow (he had explained how but it went over her head) caused all the computer screens in the classroom to display psychedelic spinning colors for about a minute. No harm was done, and the school had been rather lenient about it, but she'd been shocked and appalled. Not to mention proud. Very proud. What fourteen year old had those skills? She had, of course, given him a list of restrictions for that stunt, not unlike the ones she'd presented Rusty with. The following summer, however, she'd made sure to enroll him in a computer camp where they encouraged the kids to do that sort of thing…in a controlled environment. Not school computer labs.

Rusty, however, hadn't been suspended for anything she could be even distantly proud of. In fact, it scared her a little. She had worked very hard to convince him that he was more than a street hustler. That he could achieve more given the opportunity. And she'd given him the opportunity. Until now, she'd thought he –as much as any teenager could anyway –understood that. That he was taking advantage of those opportunities and changing his life for the better. That he wasn't a criminal, and he understood that. She and he both knew that the activities he engaged in in Griffith Park were not legal, but he'd done what he had to in order to survive. He'd never done drugs. He'd never assaulted or hurt anyone. He'd kept his illicit activities to things that only hurt himself.

The thought broke her heart.

All of his illegal activities had ended the night Stroh attacked him. He'd never wanted to do anything illegal in the first place. He'd taken full advantage of everything Brenda Leigh Johnson offered him. Which was shocking considering the reluctance with which he'd taken the things she'd offered him. Oh, he'd taken the food and clothes, without argument, but the good school and even the bedroom he'd been much more reluctant to take. Then again, she hadn't given those things to him as a bribe, or used some sickly sweet voice on him in a bad attempt to make him feel mommy'ed. Brenda Leigh Johnson may have been CIA trained, but apparently the CIA didn't teach you how to deal with teenagers.

Sharron shook her head slightly to refocus. Reminiscing would not help the current situation.

Before she could think of a way to help her current predicament with Rusty he returned from his sixth restroom break and took his seat at the small table in her office. She stood up, and went to stand beside him.

"Let's see what you've done so far." She was careful to keep her tone un-accusing, and even sounded generally interested in what he was doing. Hopefully, if he thought she was just bored –which wasn't far from the truth since there was a case going on in her murder room that she wasn't allowed to be a part of –he would go along with her question in an attempt to keep both of them entertained.

Rusty shrugged, and picked up his pencil to return to doodling.

Doodling.

She glanced at the papers strewn about the table. They were all doodles, and random words written in different types of handwriting. Sharon inwardly sighed. He was doing this on purpose, of that she was sure, but she had no idea why. She pulled one of the table chairs closer to him and sat down slowly beside. Crossing her arms she stared at him trying to think of what to say.

Rusty squirmed under her gaze. His eyes were quickly shooting towards her every so often before returning to his artwork.

"Rusty," she paused briefly, and blinked a couple of times. She could feel the skin around her eyes shift as she adopted a disappointed expression. "Please, tell me, what's going on."

Given his recent behavior she wasn't surprised as his response.

"NOTHING!" Rusty shouted, and the look of shock that flashed across his face told her that even he was surprised at the outburst. The shock only lasted for a second before being replaced by anger; he was committed to being angry now. He had to follow through with it. "I don't want to do homework all day! And this is completely unfair! You can't tell me what to do!"

"Rusty-"

"No!" he screamed at her, cutting her off. "I'm not going to sit around doing homework all weekend!"

Sharon watched, as he waited for her reaction. She thought carefully and quickly about what reaction that should be. She knew he was lashing out at her about something, but he wasn't ready to talk to her yet. She wasn't going to let him behave like a toddler while standing in the middle of her office until he was ready to tell her either.

"Okay, Rusty," she said calmly, remaining seated. "Let me be very clear, you have three options right, now. You can sit down and talk to me calmly and maturely about what's bothering you." She paused very briefly to see if he'd even consider this option. "You can sit down and work on your schoolwork not your ability to draw geometric shapes." She paused, again to give him a pointed look complete with raised eyebrows. "Or, you can stand in the corner and reflect on why you're so angry lately, and the best course of action for you to take next, under these circumstances."

She looked up at hearing the knock on her door and didn't have the opportunity to invite the person in before the door opened. She smiled casually as Buzz paused inside her door, his eyes lingering on the corner of her office for a moment.

"Is there something I can do for you, Buzz?" she asked in an attempt to refocus him.

"Uhh…yeah, yes," His eyes darted questioningly from her to the corner of the office.

She ignored Buzz's looks. "And what would that be?"

"Chief Taylor is in Electronics and wants to see you." Buzz finally stopped looking at the corner and focused on her.

"I'll be there in a moment, thank you."

"You're welcome," Buzz replied and glanced quickly away from her one more time before stepping out of the office and closing the door behind him.

"Okay, Rusty," she said, turning in her chair to face him. He turned around from his spot in the corner. His cheeks were red with embarrassment. "Why don't you sit down and work on your schoolwork now. We'll talk when I get back."

She was rather surprised when Rusty simply walked to the table and sat down. Apparently, five minutes of standing in a corner like a child did some good after all. She'd been more than a little surprised when Rusty hadn't agreed to work on his schoolwork when presented the option. Instead he'd started yelling about how completely unfair she was being. She'd let him rant for several minutes. Once he'd finished, she'd merely pointed to the empty corner of the room. Rusty then proceeded to enlighten her on all the ways that was unfair, and how she couldn't make him stand in the corner 'like a toddler.' She had silently continued to point at the corner. Eventually, he'd placed himself there, and after five long minutes he seemed ready to do his schoolwork.

It was like he was testing her all over again, and she had no idea why. Nor did she have time to think about it at the moment. Standing from her desk, she walked out of her office and closed the door softly behind her.

Oh, Rusty...

And Sharon for that matter...talk about a bad hair day.

Let me know all your thoughts. I like thoughts. I'll even trade cookies for thoughts.