Sharon Raydor pushes the stroller containing her infant daughter through the shopping mall, "I'm glad you agreed to this."
"I'm surprised I agreed to it, but, I wouldn't miss it. I still don't think it was necessary to buy me all that you did-" Andrea Hobbs walks alongside the woman, smiling to her.
"Well, you are going to go to a tailor and have it all fit perfectly. Those other suits of yours were old and worn. You need something to knock them dead in court. You're a beautiful woman, Andrea. A beautiful woman hiding behind a cheap, ill-fitting suit."
"I...Thank you, Captain." The blond blushes, "I'd do anything to spend time with Kate regardless of the occasion."
"Please, it's Sharon. We aren't at work. I figured I could pick up a Christening gown for her while we were here." Sharon looks to her, "And I wanted to ask you something while we do that."
"Yes?"
"I was curious if you would be interested being Kate's Godmother."
"I...I am very flattered." She smiles, "I would love to."
Sharon smirks, "Fantastic."
"However-"
"Yes?"
"I'm Jewish."
"Ah." Sharon nods slowly, sighing, "Damn."
"I'm sorry." Hobbs sighs, "Was I your last choice?"
"My first choice." She shakes her head slowly, "I don't want to ask my children."
Continuing to walk alongside the pair, "How has Eve been?" Andrea tilts her head to the side, looking to the other woman with her large crystal blue eyes, "My sister is a lot happier, thanks to her bravery. Mentioned wanting to meet for some coffee or dinner."
"Eve is...broken..." Sharon continues walking, leaning down to adjust the blanket that Kate has covered her own face with, "In a lot of pain, put it that way."
"I...I had no idea, I'm sorry. She looked fine last I saw her."
"She has a great poker face." She shakes her head, "It isn't your fault."
"I feel like it is a little bit. He was my brother-in-law."
"And you attempted to secure a restraining order for your stubborn yet affected sister. Sometimes, when one is married to someone else, they will try to look past that person's shortcomings in order to recapture the idea of what they fell in love with in the first place." Sharon gives her a small smile, "I've been there."
Andrea nods, "Still. She didn't deserve what happened."
"No, she didn't." She releases a sigh, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, wanting to change the subject, "Gavin was speaking of the three of us possibly having a dinner night."
"You and Kate?"
"I mean you, Gavin, and myself. Would you be interested?"
Hobbs smirks, "Why are you...You're being really nice to me."
"Am I not normally nice towards you?" Sharon glances to her.
"No, that isn't what I mean. I know Gavin and you are close friends-"
"We've been friends for years-"
"And you suddenly want to invite me along?"
Raydor nods slowly, "You are someone we think could use a girls' night out. His words, not mine. I wouldn't call him a girl." She smirks, "We don't go and drink, we have dinner and sometimes retreat to either Gavin's place or my own and watch some terrible movie. Does that sound like something you would be interested in?"
Hobbs smiles, "I don't have many friends and with my sister around all the time, things are difficult at home-"
"Is that a yes?"
"Absolutely." She nods, laughing at herself, "Is he going to mind?"
"He's the one that suggested I ask you."
"Ah. Well, do you mind?"
"Andrea, I wouldn't have invited you out if I didn't enjoy your company. If it weren't for you, Kate nor I would be here today."
"That's not entirely-"
"I mean it. I consider you a friend." Sharon leans down to adjust the little girl in her stroller when she begins to fuss.
Andrea smiles, nodding absently. "May I carry her?"
"She's starting to get big. Are you sure?"
"Absolutely." Hobbs gently removes the baby from her seat, cuddling her closely.
Sharon smirks, picking up her cell phone when it rings without looking at the caller identification on the screen, "Hello?"
"Shar, it's me." Andy's voice fills the other line cautiously, "Where are you right now?"
"I'm out shopping. What's wrong?"
He sighs, "Rusty just called me, he had a half day and his friend picked him up this morning because they were going to hang out after school was over-" Flynn holds onto the steering wheel, keeping his mobile phone plastered to his ear as he talks. Slightly distracted, but he was getting his point across, "He stopped home because he forgot clothes to change into. Shar, he said his car is gone."
Sharon stops in her tracks, glancing over to Andrea with a nod before she walks away a few feet, "What do you mean gone?"
"I mean, Eve took the car."
Terror begins to rise in the woman, she holds a shaking hand out as she begins to panic, "Where did she go?"
"I have no idea. Do you have any?"
"Absolutely not." Sharon runs a hand through her long hair, "Oh God, Andy. What if...She was so uneasy the other day. I'm really...I can't have what-"
"Wait one second." Andy pulls the phone from his face, looking at the screen, "Well, I'll be damned." He brings the phone back up, "Shar, it's Eve. I'll call you right back." He quickly disconnects from her call, answering the other.
"Why would she call him instead of me?" Sharon asks herself quietly.
"Hello? Eve?" Andy answers.
"Is this Lieutenant Andy Flynn of the LAPD?" The voice was most definitely not that of his near stepdaughter.
"Yeah, who is this and why are you using Eve Raydor's phone?"
"My name is Amanda Kelso, I work with Eve. She's here like...freaking out. Said to call you to come get her." The young woman sighs.
"What happened?" Andy's voice changes ever so slightly to concern as he continues to drive, knowing which direction to head now.
"I don't really know. There was a substitute still scheduled because no one expected her back so soon and she just kind of...showed up."
"I see." He nods, "I'm on my way, Ms. Kelso." He disconnects the call and quickly turns his sirens on as to get to the young woman faster. Turning them off before pulling up in front of the school, he bursts through the door. Andy flashes his badge to a few people as they point him in the proper direction. Walking into the teacher's lounge, he sees the woman he had been talking to on the phone.
"Lieutenant Flynn?" The young, tallish woman turns, tilting her head to the side.
He nods, offering a hand, "Where is she?"
"This way." Amanda Kelso leads the way down a long corridor, "I know her mother is an officer, right?"
"Yes, she's my boss." Andy smirks, "And my girlfriend, but that's how that works..."
"Okay." The young woman raises her eyebrows, "I only just left her to wait for you. I...It's pretty bad, Lieutenant." She goes silent for a moment, "I wanted to prepare you."
He nods a little as the young woman opens the door to the boiler room and motions to the young woman, balled up in a corner. Slowly walking over, he kneels down next to her, "Hey, kid."
Eve Raydor holds her knees to her chest, though it causes her great pain. Her body shakes ever so slightly as she glances to him, "Flynn."
Andy nods, gently wrapping his arms around her, "What happened?"
"They were asking so many questions about the scars and the bruises and...I couldn't take it. I couldn't do it, Andy, I couldn't. It's...it's the only thing I have anymore and I can't even do it." She rambles, her face a mess of tears and smeared makeup.
"Yes, you can. It's just too soon right now, Alright?"
"What if it isn't? What if I can't do this anymore?" Eve swallows, "What if I can't do anything anymore?"
"How about we get you out of here?" Andy tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear, "We'll worry about the other things once you're completely healed. Okay?"
She absently nods, watching him, "What do I do now?"
"I'll take you to my car and I'll go get your things from the classroom." He looks down to her, "Then I'll take you back to the house."
"I stole Rusty's car."
"I know you did. That probably wasn't a good idea. Could have killed yourself."
"I can drive."
"Not with meds in your system." Flynn shakes his head, "It isn't a good idea."
"I didn't take any." Eve swallows, trying to stand.
"It was in your shake. The ones we've been making you in the mornings-"
"You've been drugging me?" She furrows her brow.
"We have to, Eve. You're depressed and in too much pain during the day. You don't ask for them. You don't take them and you need to. You can't punish yourself for something you didn't cause." Andy sighs, "It was the only way to keep you stable."
"I am stable-"
"You stole Rusty's car while your mother went shopping for your sister's Baptism gown. That isn't stable, Eve."
Finally able to rise to her feet, Eve looks to him once more, "I borrowed it. I'm not crazy, Lieutenant Flynn. I just wanted to come back to something I...something concrete. Something I thought was concrete." Her face contorts, threatening to cry again, "And I find out that...it isn't. Nothing is."
Flynn shakes his head, "Let's get you home." He gently leads her out of the boiler room, toward his awaiting police car, doing as he said he would.