"I just don't understand where she's going." Rusty stands in the kitchen, making a sauce for the pasta he had boiled.
Flynn holds Kate comfortably against his chest, "Having to deal with Kate and now Eve...It's putting a lot of stress on her."
"Well, can't she get a massage or something instead of going for a drive? It's dark."
He shakes his head, "She'll be fine." He looks over to the stove, "What are you making?"
"Oh, garlic and cheese noodles...fancy garlic and cheese noodles." Rusty smiles to him, "You can eat that, right?"
"Hell yeah." Flynn smirks, "Smells great."
"Good." He slowly dishes it up, "Only takes five minutes." Sliding a plate in front of the other man, he sits opposite him.
Andy shrugs, twirling the angel hair pasta around his fork, bringing it to his mouth, "You should be a chef, kid."
Rusty nods slowly, "It's a hobby."
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to be a forensic scientist. I want to go to the crime scene after you guys and make sure you got everything." He smirks.
"We always get everything." Flynn glances to him.
"I mean samples and...I love science and watching you and Sharon and where you work, I want to do that too. I figure, this is the best of both worlds. Right?"
"Yeah, something like that. Just don't get roped into doing DNA tests for some cut rate television show."
Rusty smirks, "What do you suggest then?"
"I don't suggest anything. It's your future. Your choice."
He nods slowly, "I guess you're right."
"I know I'm right." Flynn smirks, "I usually am."
Eve Raydor stumbles out from the bedroom, donning one of Andy's old t-shirts like her mother does. She holds onto the wall, a hand to her head, "What smells good?"
"What are you doing up?" Andy glances to her.
"I haven't eaten all day." She smiles to him, "Who changed my clothes?"
"You did." He nods, "Rusty folded your stuff after. I ran and packed you a bag."
"I'm not staying here." Eve shakes her head slowly, moving closer, "Who made pasta?"
"I did." Rusty nods, "Want to sit down? I'll get you some."
She smiles to him, "For another little brother, you're adorable, Rusty." She takes a seat on a stool, "I feel like I was hit by a mack truck."
"I guess you would be." He puts some on a plate, sliding it in front of her.
"I told you it was going to be rough. The pain pill isn't entirely out of your system." Andy shakes his head, "I gave you one after the interview. That was...six hours ago."
"Are they elephant tranquilizers?" She props herself up at the bar.
"Yes." Flynn smirks, glancing down to Kate, who was still resting against him, "I should put her down. Crib?"
Rusty nods, "Eve is sleeping in the bed."
Eve glances to him, "You and Kate usually sleep together in bed?"
"Yeah. She sleeps better usually. I don't move when I sleep, so she likes to hold onto my arm."
"That is so cute." She smirks, "Like a Teddy Bear."
"I guess." He makes a face.
Flynn snorts, standing, "I'll be right back." He walks to the room that Kate often shared with her brother, but tonight was sharing with her sister.
"So, Rusty, what do you like to do when you aren't doing school things?" Eve glances to him as she eats her pasta.
"Oh." Rusty looks to her, "Um...I like to cook, I like to play chess, I like to write, I like to listen to music."
"You have the hobbies of an eighty year old woman."
He snorts, nodding, "I guess I do."
"What do you write about?"
"Things that happen to me...I write about my life."
Eve nods slowly, "I hear it's been pretty crappy."
"It has. Sharon saved me from it, I guess."
"Well, I'm glad you're here now. I'm glad you're my brother now. You're where you're supposed to be."
Rusty smiles softly, "Thanks."
"I mean it. Plus, you have great skin and beautiful eyes. Could use a haircut, but whatever." Eve smiles.
"Thanks? I think."
"I'm allowed to do that. I'm your older sister. Older sisters are allowed to pick on little brothers."
"Oh, okay." He chuckles a bit.
Flynn returns to them, "Out like a light, that little one." He smirks, "Everyone good?"
"Perfect." The young man nods.
The night continues on, all parties retreating to their designated sleeping arrangements. Rusty stands in the kitchen, slowly cleaning up from dinner. It was almost relaxing to him, doing housework. As silly as it seemed. Cooking and cleaning up a mess offered a sense of release to him, a reminder of how it was when he was much younger. He feels a buzz from his phone and realizes it's a text from Sharon, asking to pick her up. The worry in him begins to rise. He stops what he's doing and quietly slips his shoes on that were in the hall, as well as a zipper up hoodie. He grabs his keys from the glass bowl and jogs to his car.
Rusty knew exactly where she was, he had brought a date here once to gaze at the stars. It was a beautiful, peaceful drive and he knew she'd be alone there. That's why she went. After traveling up the hill some time, he finally notices her car near a cliff, she was sitting on the hood, a large bottle of wine next to her. Music blares so loud he can hear it over his own. He parks behind her car, getting out and walking over to her. He reaches into the car, turning the music down, "The Supremes...post Diana Ross."
"Climb a ladder up to the roof, Rusty." Sharon makes a movement with her hand, quoting the song. She takes another sip from the bottle, it was nearly empty.
He nods, sighing. Rusty walks around and sits next to her on the hood, "What happened?"
"Nothing...everything...I don't even know anymore." She shakes her head.
"Have something to do with your interrogation today? Flynn was telling me about it. That guy saved her life." He smiles.
"I didn't save her life though. I couldn't protect her the first time around. If I couldn't protect myself, how was I going to protect her."
Rusty furrows his brow slightly, "Protect yourself?"
Sharon swallows hard, "When I was twenty-two, I was in college and I went late night jogging...went almost every night...when I didn't have to study, of course." Her speech slightly slurred as she continues her story, "One night, I was followed and raped. I didn't see his face. I didn't report it...I told a therapist years later. A lot of money and a lot of time with to that therapist and all this...all this brings it up again."
He nods slowly, wrapping an arm around her, "I'm sorry."
"You didn't do it...I was twenty two. I...I tried to tell my husband, but...he was too drunk. He didn't care. Told me I probably had it coming." Sharon shakes her head, laughing bitterly, "I had it coming and I stayed with him. Can you believe it?"
"Not really." He smiles as she rests her head on his shoulder, "Though, I don't imagine you putting up with a lot of things, but you do anyway."
"I'm a good person, right?"
"The best."
"And...I know what's right...I do what's right...right?"
"All the time." Rusty nods, taking off his sweatshirt and wrapping it around her shoulders, "If it weren't for you, I'd still be working the streets. I owe you my life."
"I remember how much it hurt...Physically, yeah, but emotionally...Fucked me up years after. I don't want that for Evey." Sharon shakes her head, "I don't want her to remember it."
"You carry it with you no matter where you go. Some wise old person told me that."
"Am I the wise old person?"
"You are." He smiles to her, "She has to heal. The only way she'll heal is if she confronts it head on. Same with you. When you're ready, you have to tell Flynn, and maybe when she begins to realize the severity of what happened, it may be a good idea to tell Eve."
"I'm afraid to tell him." Sharon looks up at the stars.
"Andy Flynn isn't Charlie Raydor. Flynn is that guy who has been protecting your daughters all day. He's the one who broke your oldest out of the hospital because she was sad. He loves you and anything associated with you. Ya think you'd realize that by now." Rusty rubs her arms, trying to keep her warm.
She takes another sip of the bottle, finishing it, she tosses it off the cliff, "No...he isn't..."
"I'll blow up the air mattress. I don't think it would be a good idea if you tried to sleep next to him with the smell of expensive wine on your breath."
"Me either." She sighs, "Can we stay here a little longer?"'
"As long as you want."
"It's just really beautiful...and I haven't been here in a long time." Sharon leans against him more.
"If you start falling asleep, I'll get you to the car." Rusty holds her. It isn't very long before she falls asleep. He's able to carry her to the car, puts her in the passenger seat, leaving her there for the trip and even when they arrive to the house. He blows up the mattress, putting a sheet over it before jogging back out to the car to carry her inside, ungracefully putting her on the bed. He travels to her bedroom, grabbing one of Flynn's old shirts. Remaining silent, he returns to her, helping her out of her clothes and into the t-shirt. He used to do this for his Sharon Beck, he remembers.
Rusty then goes to the kitchen and grabs a bucket, putting a white kitchen trash bag into it, setting it next to the bed, next to her. He checks the clock, almost four. He sighs, shaking his head before putting his own pajamas on and climbing onto the air mattress next to her. His need to protect her great as he absently wraps an arm around her, almost exactly as he does with Kate when they sleep in the same bed.
Thankfully, it's the weekend.