A/N: Thanks so much everyone for your feedback! I was overwhelmed at your enthusiastic and kind responses :) I'm very glad you're enjoying the story.
No Such Thing as a Perfect Family (2)
The hairs on Rusty's neck stood as he noticed that horrible Emma woman walking down the hall. His fists clenched. Why was she there on a Sunday? She was followed by two people Rusty didn't know, a freakishly tall man and a thin, mousy-looking woman with a long neck. Both were dressed in mostly-black, austere clothing and they did not look like good news. He instinctively hunched and shrunk in his chair.
His eyes sought out Sharon for an answer, but she was talking to Detectives Sanchez and Sykes and hadn't seen Emma coming yet; Rusty could tell the exact moment when she did notice the other woman, from the way her expression turned bleak. She could say all she wanted to him about behaving, but obviously she hated the DDA from hell, too. At least Rusty hoped she did.
He watched Sharon wave off the detectives and walk up to Emma. She put herself squarely in the other woman's path, cutting off her access to the rest of the area. Not that it would do any good. All Rios had to do was wave some stupid court document and Sharon would have to get out of the way. And then...
He couldn't see Sharon's face anymore because her back was to him now, and she was blocking his view of the DDA too. Not knowing what they were discussing only tightened the knot in his stomach. A few seconds in, he noticed that she shook the tall man's hand briefly. So she knew him? Was he a friend? Why couldn't he see her face, damn it!
Then she said something to Flynn and Provenza and they nodded invitingly (or as invitingly as Provenza was capable of, which was basically a jerk of his head and a grunt) to the two strangers, signalling them to come along. As the four walked past the conference room toward Sharon's office, Rusty turned his head to follow them with a wary stare from behind the glass walls.
"Captain." Rios could barely contain her glare as she greeted the older woman. "I'd heard your team got a call today."
"We did," Sharon confirmed neutrally, having nodded her silent greeting, "but we're nowhere near making an arrest at the moment, so I'm not sure we have anything for you yet, DDA Rios."
If only it had been that easy to get rid of her.
"I'm here about our other business," the other woman said brusquely, and waved her two followers forward. "Let me introduce you to Adam and Rachel Broades," (she narrowed her eyes at the subtle tightening in the Captain's expression), "who, as I mentioned to you yesterday, have offered to take in our material witness given the … circumstances."
Sharon let out a slow breath, trying to keep her anger from showing. This couple worked closely with DCFS, and after her phone marathon with the social workers in charge of Rusty's case just the day before, the last thing she needed was for the Broades to paint her as hostile or uncooperative.
So she smiled pleasantly and shook the man's hand, noticing in the process that his grave facial expression seemed carved in stone. "Lieutenant Flynn, Lieutenant Provenza, would you mind showing Mr. and Mrs. Broades to the c –" she remembered Rusty's presence, and quickly amended, "… er, my office. If you don't mind waiting a few minutes," she politely requested of the couple, "I would love to discuss this further. Thank you."
Her smile held just as long as it took the Broades to walk away and out of earshot, and then she rounded on Rios, ready for battle.
"Bringing them here is overstepping your boundaries, DDA Rios," she stated in a low, warning tone. The admonishment only served to incense the other woman further:
"Seriously? You promised me full cooperation just yesterday," she reproached, "and now all my contacts at DCFS are avoiding me and I can't get any judge to take my calls! How's that for overstepping boundaries!" Her eyes were wide with indignation.
"I said full cooperation as long as our objective is the same: Rusty's best interest," Sharon reminded her. "We have yet to agree on what that is."
"I can tell you what it's not: your call!" Rios sounded exasperated. "The boy is in danger, and without him, Stroh walks!"
"I am a police officer, DDA Rios," Sharon enunciated. "As I have repeatedly made clear, living with me will be much safer for Rusty than relocating with any civilian foster family." She glanced back toward the couple in her office. "I have installed additional security in my home. And –" she narrowed her eyes and held up a finger to forestall the next argument she knew was coming " – I contacted the school authorities, who have agreed to the presence of two officers on campus at all times until the danger to Rusty has passed."
The younger woman rolled her eyes. "You can't assign the LAPD to babysitting duty for the next few months until the trial!"
"If that's what it takes, I can and I will." It had been difficult, with the budget restrictions and the lack of manpower, and Sharon knew she'd be taking some heat for it. But it was worth it. "Rusty will be under police protection at the school, he comes straight here after school in a squad car, and I will be with him the rest of the time. There is no alternative that will offer more protection against the threats made to him."
And she truly believed it. In her frantic attempts to contain the situation following the stunning reveal of the letters, Sharon had forced herself to take the time to wonder if relocating Rusty was not, in fact, the safer option. With his life and personal safety firmly in mind, she had made herself sit down and try to think about it objectively. The futility of the effort had nearly frustrated her to tears. But in the end she could honestly say that she had given the relocation option, if not proper, at least some consideration.
And she'd come to the same conclusion: Rusty was safer with her. She had gone over copies of those dreadful letters until the wee hours of the morning, until her eyes hurt and the words were etched in her memory. The threats were real, and they had escalated over the two months that Rusty had kept them secret. But if the author of the letters ever tried to find him, her address being unlisted would make it harder. And if, despite everyone's efforts, the author ever did find him (she couldn't help a shiver at the thought), Sharon much preferred that it happen in her presence.
That was what it all boiled down to, really. The thought of Rusty being anywhere other than in her care while he was being threatened was just unacceptable. A police safe house with round-the-clock protection may have been more secure, but it wouldn't be safer for Rusty than her apartment, because she was in the apartment, and after reading those letters Sharon felt fairly confident that if anyone so much as looked at the boy the wrong way she would tear them apart with her bare hands.
Those thoughts must have shown on her face, because Emma Rios passed both hands through her hair with an irritated expression."Okay, fine, fine, so he's got adequate protection," she relented. "That doesn't change the fact that him living with you is damaging to the case!" Her eyes were wide with indignation. "I don't care how many cops you get to keep an eye on him, in fact if anything that makes it worse! You're going to get his testimony dismissed!"
"It's your job to prevent that," Sharon retorted equably. "My job is to keep him safe – and DCFS will not require relocating Rusty without reasonable cause for concern about his safety."
"They'll do it with a court order," Rios threatened. She crossed her arms and leaned back slightly. "I don't know how you convinced everyone to avoid me like the plague this weekend, but I hope you realize that come tomorrow that will end. I'm going to walk into the first judge's chambers I can find, in person, and petition for reassigning Rusty's guardianship on grounds that this situation endangers possibly the most high-profile murder case we have right now!"
Sharon lifted her chin. "And I am ready to demand a hearing to determine the best interest of the child."
A hearing would take a few days to schedule, longer if her friends at the DA's office came through. It could last for a few days, too. And every day that Rusty was safe and happy in her custody, Sharon's own case got stronger. Possession, as they said, was nine tenths of the law, and in this case the old adage applied well.
There was a brief silence, during which Rios regarded her with open resentment.
"You think I'm some sort of villain? We're working on the same side here! I'm trying to keep a serial killer off the streets!" She clenched her fists and glared. "You have no idea what's going on in the Stroh case. You have no idea how the defense finds new holes to poke in our case every day. It took Chief Johnson years to finally get Stroh behind bars, and I'm trying to make sure he stays there!"
Sharon crossed her own arms. "You are an intelligent woman –"
"Flattery won't –"
"I'm not flattering you," she murmured coldly, "please don't interrupt me. You are an intelligent woman and a capable attorney," she resumed. "If Phillip Stroh's lawyer is using Rusty's living situation to poke holes in your case, figure out a way around it." She held up a hand to prevent Emma's protest: "I know you're trying to put Stroh on death row where he belongs – but don't for one second expect me to accept that the only way to do that is at the expense of an innocent sixteen-year old boy."
Emma twitched involuntarily at the word 'innocent', a hint of scornful doubt flashing over her face before she could stop it. Sharon withheld comment, but her icy look let the woman know she had seen it:
"It's been four months, DDA Rios. You're not going to win this battle," she warned, "so I would focus on winning the Stroh case – without disrupting Rusty's life any further. I assure you we'll be focusing on finding the author of those letters and keeping your material witness safe."
She hoped she sounded a lot more confident than she felt; unfortunately, DDA Rios had not earned her current position by backing down from fights:
"I am going to win my case," she promised. "And Rusty is going to help me do it. And you're not going to stand in the way of that."
Sharon idly wondered how a five minute conversation could possibly feel so much like a ten-round boxing match.
Provenza read her expression a few moments later as they regrouped right outside her office. "I see that the lovely DDA Rios has worked her magic again." He was keeping his voice intentionally low so as to not carry further than the three of them. "Isn't she just a breath of fresh air?"
Flynn snorted. "Yeah, almost as fresh as what we smell at our crime scenes."
The Captain gave them both a wry look to let them know she wasn't in the mood, and she glanced worriedly to the couple waiting inside the office.
Flynn followed the direction of her gaze, and sighed. "They seem like…nice people."
"I wouldn't let them sit in direct sunshine though." At his partner's warning glare, Provenza conceded: "They're fine. If the kid has to go with them…"
"He doesn't," Raydor said shortly, then putting on a polite smile she opened the door to her office and once again greeted the Broades.
The two lieutenants had nothing left to do but walk back to their desks. Rios was now inspecting the murder board, and even from behind they noticed her cringe visibly at the crime scene photos.
Provenza glanced sideways at Flynn. "Think Morales will let us borrow one of his DBs to keep here?"
"The gorier the better."
The rest of the day had highs and lows, but at least DDA Rios did not return. Still her brief visit had wrought enough damage, especially as the Broades had requested to meet Rusty, and Sharon hadn't been able to think of a polite way to avoid dropping by the conference room for a greeting. The best that could be said about the sullen, monosyllabic affair was that it had been brief. And Rusty did seem marginally reassured when Rios and the couple left without further demands.
Not sufficiently reassured to take Sharon up on her offer of going out together for a late lunch, but at least when she'd ordered pizza at the apartment that evening, he'd been content enough to wolf down almost three quarters of it, and even put on his usual show of not eating on the couch. He hadn't talked to her much after plopping down on the living room floor with a plate and a pile of napkins the size of a dictionary, but Sharon knew to take her wins where she could get them in this case.
"Thank you," she murmured when he got up to take his plate into the kitchen and collected her empty wine glass too. "You can just leave them in the sink, I'll wash everything later." She didn't think it was worth running the dishwasher for so little.
"I can do it."
She set her case notes down on the couch, and watched him in contemplative silence. After about a minute, he couldn't ignore it anymore and snuck a sidelong glance while he scrubbed the last plate. "Sharon…?"
"Yes, honey."
"Did you go to a fancy school like St. Joseph's?"
The out of the blue question surprised her. "Something similar, yes, in my home town."
Rusty turned his eyes back to the plate and grumbled: "Didn't they teach you there that it's not polite to stare?"
Sharon's eyes crinkled at the corners.
It felt like the first time she was able to take a breath in over two days. But even as she allowed her aching shoulders to relax against the back of the couch, apprehension still weighed coldly in her stomach. They'd lasted the weekend, yes. But DDA Rios and her threats loomed over still, and come Monday the woman would undoubtedly start fresh. And above that even was the sinister threat of the dozen letters, which had so insidiously fractured Rusty's illusion of a peaceful, almost-normal life.
And so on the quiet Sunday evening as she and Rusty kept each other silent, thoughtful company, Sharon could not help but wonder wearily what new trouble the next day would bring.
A/N: As we slowly weave in the second part of the prompt ("meeting Sharon's family") here is a question for all of you: do we have any consensus on any information about Sharon's background other than the fact that she has a son named Ricky and a daughter? Do we know the daughter's name, Sharon's maiden name or general family background?
The one thing I remember is that she once meant to spend Christmas with her parents and kids in Park City. That could mean that's where her parents live, but it's also a major tourist destination... so, no idea. Thoughts?
Thank you all for reading! Your responses have been incredibly encouraging.