Here's chapter 2 as promised folks, and thank you to lieutenantflynn (of course :) *hugs*), Kate, Hidesai, bdevyn, JessJack and SanctuaryGurl22 for reviewing :D
Flynn was still slumped in his chair when Provenza and Willis escorted the distraught family out of the chief's conference room. He watched as the pale-faced husband wrapped his arm around his crying wife's shoulders, gently steering her in Provenza's footsteps as he led them towards the exit, a forlorn looking boy trailing after them with his head bowed.
He almost groaned aloud when Willis didn't go with them, instead stopping just beside his desk and propping her hip against it. He purposely kept his gaze towards the retreating family's backs, silently hoping that if he ignored her for long enough she would disappear. She didn't.
"What now, Andy?" she purred, her tone suggestive. Flynn felt his anger flare; nobody was allowed to say his name like that except Sharon. In fact he was almost certain he didn't like anybody calling him that except her anymore.
Swivelling his chair until he was facing her, he tried not the react when he saw she was curling a lock of her dark hair around a finger, watching him closely with large doe eyes, a small smile curling her lips.
"Listen kid, while we're on duty it's 'Lieutenant' or 'sir', understood?" she nodded briskly, the smile not leaving her face. Flynn sighed and brushed his fingers through his hair, "Catch me up."
Flynn winced as Anna took a deep breath before starting her rambling feedback of the interview, "The little girl's name was Matilda Perkins, more commonly known as Tilly; parents are Iain and Rachael, older brother Samuel is eight. Dad is a security guard for some film studio I've never heard of, they obviously haven't made it big yet," she paused only long enough to take another breath, "Mum is a nurse and volunteers part-time at one of the free clinics, both were at home at the time of the shooting although they say they were both inside and didn't see anything, only heard a shot, Sammy was playing out back so he didn't hear anything either."
Flynn frowned and cocked his head to the side, "They were both inside but they allowed their four year old daughter to play out front, by herself? Why doesn't that fly with me?"
Anna chewed on her lower lip and squinted as if she were thinking really hard for the answer to an impossible riddle, "I don't-"
"It doesn't, that's why. That's not exactly the safest neighbourhood in town, who in their right mind would let a four year old play out front on her own without having someone keep an eye on her?"
Anna shifted and sat fully on the edge of his desk, "Maybe she was out back with her brother." Flynn glanced up at her and waited for her to continue, "Maybe she got out front by herself and nobody knew." She shrugged, "Kids are curious."
Flynn turned to stare at what little view was visible out of the windows across the other side of the murder room, "Hmm, I know I didn't take an eye of my son when he was that age." He mumbled, more to himself than to Anna.
She surreptitiously glanced at his hand, "You're married?" she asked coolly, pretending to be interested in a loose paperclip on his desk.
"Divorced." He replied absently, scratching the back of his head as he thought about the parent's stories. It was possible that she had been playing with her brother and snuck away; after all, little children were always getting into trouble, getting into places they shouldn't and wreaking havoc, it was something he had become intimately familiar with when he had been left alone to look after his son while his ex-wife had gone out with her friends while they were still married.
Still, even if he and Catherine had always had at least one eye on their son, everybody's parenting skills are different. Perhaps the little girl had been with her brother and they had trusted that he would be old enough the keep an eye on her himself. And like Willis had said, children are curious, not to mention sneaky.
"It's definitely worth looking in to." He said, again more to himself.
Anna furrowed her brow and drew her attention away from the paperclip and watched him, "What is?" Flynn looked up at her surprised that she was still perched on the edge of his desk. He contained a smirk, imagining if it had been Provenza's desk she had sat on and he had come back from escorting the family from the building. He definitely wouldn't have wanted to be the newbie then.
"Your theory. It's worth checking out, Sergeant."
He watched as Anna's eyes practically lit up in delight and a wide smile dimpled her cheeks, "Really? You think it's a good idea? I mean, it was just a suggestion, it doesn't mean it's true." she stared at him, wide-eyed and enthusiastic.
Flynn forced a smile before he answered, "Sure, kid. We need to find out how she got out the front in the first place." As he watched Anna nod eagerly, his smile became genuine at the sound of expensive Manolo Blahnik's clipping periodically across the floor. He instantly knew it was her; not only due to the sound of her four inch heels but because he had come to easily recognise the precise, measured gait of her steps during the time they had been together.
He sent a quick smile over his shoulder before he turned back to Anna, who was still smiling at him with a mixture of reverence and excitement. "Hey, kid, why don't you go see if you can find Provenza and tell him to get his lazy ass back up here." He spoke as if it were a suggestion, but he was more than willing to make it an order if it would get her out of his hair for five minutes.
"Sure thing, Andy." She slid lightly off the desk and meticulously smoothed down the material of the back of her trousers as she walked, strategically placing herself in his field of vision and carelessly brushing past Sharon as she went.
Sharon arched an eyebrow and followed the young sergeant's movements with a swivel of her heel. She watched as the sergeant breezed out of the murder room on her seemingly God given task before turning to look at Flynn, her hand on her hip. She moved slowly towards him, predatory, with a dangerous glint in her green eyes and Flynn had to stop himself from gulping and bolting from the room. It was on rare occasions that he found her intimidating anymore, but this was definitely one of those times.
He was slightly surprised when she took the space on the edge of his desk that Willis had just vacated and reached for a pen, loosely holding it by the tips of her fingers as she tapped it against the palm of her other hand. She kept her gaze fixed firmly in the direction Anna had disappeared, not once glancing at Flynn who was looking at her with an expression of pure confusion of his face.
"Hi?" he tried cautiously, hoping that he wasn't about to poke a wounded bear. He breathed a sigh of relief however, when the sound of his voice seemed to pull her out of her trance and she gazed down at him and smiled.
"Hello, Lieutenant." She smirked and dropped the pen back onto his desk, crossing her legs elegantly as she did so.
Flynn furrowed his brow, confused. She had no reason to be in today, being as she had managed to pull some strings and switch a shift or two until she had managed to fix herself a couple of days off that coincided with his. "Sharon? What are you doing here?" he lightly rubbed her knee, breaking their mutual, non-spoken 'not at work' rule, so that she wouldn't be offended by his question. Hopefully.
She shrugged and knitted her fingers together in her lap, "Oh, I just got bored at home so I thought I'd come in and see if I could get some paperwork done while I was here."
Flynn grinned and took her hands, holding them tenderly between his own, "No way. I know it's impossible for you to have any fun while I'm not there," Sharon attempted to glare at him, the effect lessened by the haze of amusement in her eyes, "but there's absolutely no reason for you to ruin your day off."
He could see her gearing up to protest, most likely something along the lines of she had piles of paperwork she needed to get done, or maybe she could be of some help on a case, so he gave her hands a gentle tug until she looked at him. "Go rent a few movies, go home, eat some ice-cream, read one of those trashy novels you seem to love so much, do whatever; just relax." He said firmly, causing the corners of Sharon's lips to twitch upwards ever so slightly.
"Yes Lieutenant." She quipped, swinging her legs childishly over the edge of the desk, allowing her foot to tap his leg with each movement. She tilted her head to the side and smiled sweetly at him, "So, who was the new girl?" she asked silkily.
Flynn suppressed a groan and glanced at her sheepishly for a second before realising that he hadn't actually done anything worthy of his guilt. "That was Sergeant Anna Willis, Central." Sharon nodded slowly and arched an eyebrow slowly, silently telling him to fill her in. "The kid wants some experience with murders before she tries to transfer to another division, so the chief dumped her on me and Provenza." He groused, albeit hesitantly, reminding Sharon of her kids when they were younger and didn't want to do their homework.
Sharon smirked, she could tell from the way he was speaking that he was holding something back, she had heard him use that tone on Chief Johnson a time or two when she had accompanied him back up to Major Crimes after returning from lunch later than they had planned to.
She leaned closer to him and practically purred in his ear, "What else, Lieutenant?" she asked smoothly.
Flynn swallowed thickly. Damn it. He had been hoping she wouldn't catch on, momentarily forgetting it was her job to notice little details that others didn't, to seek confessions on suggestions of guilt taken from just an involuntary twitch of a facial muscle, and she did it well. Sometimes too well. If he didn't know better, he would almost believe that she had been taking interrogation lessons off Brenda Leigh Johnson.
Instead of dodging, like he was inclined towards doing, he decided to bite the bullet, knowing she would only hound him about it later or withhold sex until he gave it up. Neither was an outcome he particularly enthusiastic about. "I, uh, caught her staring…at my ass." He finished in a small voice, moving his gaze from Sharon to the floor and silently praying to whomever listening and/or watching that she wouldn't put his ass in a sling.
Instead she surprised him again by laughing, a rich, throaty laugh that always made him smile. Feeling brave enough to look at her again, he saw her eyes were sparkling with amusement, "Can't say I blame her." she laughed again, trying to stifle her giggles with her hand over her mouth.
"Cute." Flynn retorted, only causing another outbreak of giggles.
"I happen to think it is, actually." She grinned, flirtatiously raising an eyebrow at him.
Flynn theatrically rolled his eyes, a habit he had picked up after spending too much time with her, "I'm glad you think so." He replied semi-sarcastically, "I'm just not sure I like her thinking so."
Sharon smiled deviously, "Aw, Andrew has a fan club." She shrugged nonchalantly when he gave her a look. Merciless teasing was not one of the outcomes for this situation that he had predicted while he had been waiting for Provenza and Willis to finish taking the parent's statements.
"Hey Sharon, lemme ask you somethin', when Sophie and Daniel were little, did you ever let them play outside by themselves without you or Peter watching?" he asked.
Sharon made a snorting noise that she somehow managed to make sound ladylike, "Are you kidding? I didn't like them playing outside by themselves when they were teenagers!" she chuckled again.
"Ohh, you were one of those mothers." Flynn said, dodging when she took a swipe at him with the back of her hand.
"What do you mean 'one of those mothers'?" She stared at him incredulously, "I'm a cop; I've seen enough to know what could happen. I was always worried about getting that phone call or that knock on the door. Besides, I said I didn't like it, not that I didn't let them."
Flynn raised his hands in surrender before capturing one of Sharon's again and loosely tangling their fingers while the other hand went to cup her cheek and pull her down towards him, his intention clear. Before anything else could happen, he heard an outraged sound coming from the entrance to the murder room. He hadn't heard the door open or Provenza enter, but from the annoyed look on his friends face, he had obviously seen enough.
Sharon quickly hopped off Flynn's desk and folded her hands behind her back while Flynn rubbed his hands down his face as the second in command stormed across the room, weaving around the desks until he stood beside them.
"Do you have to do that here?" he hissed in a deadly quiet voice, "If the chief had seen that she would have flipped!" He quieted when he noticed Anna slip into the murder room. Scowling at Sharon, he effectively dismissed her with a simple, "Captain."
Sharon smirked at him and nodded at Andy, "Lieutenants," she replied before striding gracefully across the room, pausing long enough beside Willis to give her a long appraising glare.
Flynn watched as Sharon, for all intents and purposes, sized up the younger officer before disappearing from the room. Anna appeared not to notice, however, as she was once again moving directly over to his area, a light smile stretching her lips and what he was sure was an exaggerated sway to her hips.
Closing his eyes, he swivelled his chair until he was fully facing his desk, and rested his head, suddenly exhausted, against the small mountain of paperwork that had accumulated over the past few days.