AN: Last chapter finally. Just last week one of you reminded me that it's been years getting to this point and I never really realized that. So I'm very grateful to have so many faithful readers and I hope to welcome you back for part four. I just don't know yet when that will be could be soon, it could take a while. The one good thing this horrible situation brought me is that I'm able to escape in writing. I don't know what the RL future will hold in store for us. In this time of uncertainty, it is like being in a rollercoaster called life. I'd like to thank those of you who have been so kind and supportive, you know who you are. Thank you for all your favs, follows and amazing reviews, they all warmed my heart.

I know I let you all wait so long for this moment. It was kind of scary to write it and I really really hope it lives up to your expectations.

Thank you glisteningsun for all your hard work as a beta. All mistakes left are mine.

Chapter eighteen

Andy felt her body heat radiating behind him. Her exhilarated breathing pattern was visible in her reflection in the window. As her hand touched his forearm and grabbed hold of it an electric pulse shot through every nerve in his body.

"Look. At. Me." She spit out the words while her hold on his wrist became stronger, forcing him to look at her, to meet with her wounded green eyes. The raw emotions made his intestines knot themselves and weighed down on his stomach. Sharon had given him no other choice. They would have this talk, and they would have it now. He would have to stay strong. Him giving into his needs and his feelings was the last thing she needed.

"Now look me in the eyes and say that again."

His heart sank. How could he tell her like this, that it was better if they wouldn't be together? He couldn't, not when he was seeing all that pain, not when he was seeing exactly how much she loved him. The point of it all was to make her see the importance of why he wanted her to see the truth, to see the real him and not the image tainted by her newly developed romantic feelings for him.

"I destroy people."

She knew it. He could not look her in the eye and tell her that in the end this would better for her. He hadn't even been able to convince himself of that. How in heaven's name did he believe he would be able to convince her then?

"You don't destroy people. That's ridiculous, Andy Flynn."

"I destroyed my children's lives!"

Her eyes widened at his sudden outburst, the significance of his words dawning on her. She could not allow him to think that.

"No, you didn't! You divorced their mother. That happens. Sometimes love just isn't enough anymore. You weren't alone in that marriage, Andy. Sandra is the one keeping your children from you. That isn't your fault, do you hear me?!"

"She knew!"

A confused frown appeared between her eyebrows. The fire in her eyes from just a few seconds ago, was now covered by the hazy look of utter confusion.

"Sandra knew that I was in love with you. That's why she walked out on me. That's the reason why she wanted to divorce me."

Sharon felt as if she had gotten hit in her face. Her meeting with Sandra was playing out like a movie in her mind. The look in the woman's eyes when she had introduced herself. The way she had behaved with such hostility when she had addressed the children. The children. This was her way of getting back at Andy. The realization that Sandra was punishing Andy, because of his love for her caused her to stumble back.

"That's why she's punishing you. That's why she's keeping your children away from you."

Her voice was suddenly soft, hardly more than a whisper, the deep frown between her eyes indicating some form of shock. Was she still speaking to him or to herself?

"Because of me.. because of your love for me."

She paled and for a moment he thought she would pass out . The dazed look in her eyes, as if someone had hit her very hard in her face. She was blaming herself. Guilt was the last thing he wanted her to feel. She couldn't do anything about this.

"No, Sharon."

This time it was Sharon who avoided looking at him, hiding her shock and her pain. There were so many emotions in her now moist eyes. Gently touching her jaw, he made her look back up at him.

"No, not because of you. Not because of you."

He seemed to be hurting for her, his voice trembling slightly. He felt frustrated not knowing how to continue. He was ashamed by what had happened.

"Sandra was hurt, because of something I did."

Letting go of her he turned back around. What could be so bad that he couldn't face her? His shoulders were weighed down by whatever was burdening him.

"Our marriage had already begun to fall apart before I met you. Even before we came to L.A. We got married, because we were madly in love. We were so young then. Too young. My mother told me to wait, to not give into puppy love, that it wouldn't last. And she was right. I would not give in to Sandra's needs. She wouldn't give into mine. Neither of us was ready for compromise."

Sharon knew how important compromises were. That's what had destroyed her relationship with Jack as well. Neither of them had been willing to give in. If she had married him, they would have drifted apart just like Andy and Sandra had.

"Children weren't the answer either. They weren't the glue that could keep us together. When I met you, Sandra was nothing more to me than the mother of my children. In retrospect I believe she had already contacted a divorce lawyer, as it all happened too fast. She left so suddenly and the reason for her being so angry was because I had given her false hope. Probably made her feel used by me as well."

Andy stared at the floor. Ashamed. Why was he ashamed? What could be so bad he could not tell her? Slowly she approached him, tentatively reaching out, her hand briefly hovering over his shoulder blade before she touched him. His muscles tensed at her touch.

"Andy? There isn't anything you can't tell me."

Her voice was so soft and soothing, her thumb slowly moving back and forth over the fabric of his shirt. He had to tell her and come clean.

"Do you remember that day, in the locker room, when I saw your bruises?"

Sharon swallowed. Landry was still too fresh in her memory. He had attacked her, tried to put some fear into her.

"Hm-mm."

She knew her voice would be too unstable to speak. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel guilty for bringing back bad memories.

"When I came home that night I couldn't get you out of my mind. The sight of you… your…"

He had seen her in her underwear that day. She could imagine what that had done to him, already longing for her, fighting his feelings for her for so long.

"Sandra turned and noticed how…"

Sharon bit her lips. He had been aroused thinking about her.

"She believed… I needed to… I thought of you while… I'm so sorry… You must feel so disgusted now."

Sharon sighed deeply and rubbed his back.

"No…"

He whirled around, not believing her, suddenly feeling the need to look into her eyes and see her true feelings, although he'd been so afraid to face them before. But all he saw was acceptance. She was not shocked at all.

"I used you. I thought about you while I had sex with my wife. I hadn't touched her for so long. I used you. "

"You were aroused, because you couldn't fight your feelings for me anymore, because you had seen too much. That's natural…"

He frowned in confusion. How could she be so callous about this?

"Sharon."

"What?"

"I, well…"

"Oh my gosh, you think I'm a prude girl who doesn't know much about men and their urges, don't you?"

He could tell she was suppressing the need to giggle.

"This is serious, Sharon."

"Andy… I can imagine why Sandra was angry, why she behaved the way she did when she met me, but…"

"She must have connected the dots."

"Probably, yes."

Andy stared at her. She was awfully calm. He had expected her to be hurt, at the very least shocked, disgusted. Instead it seemed like she had just simply accepted it as fact.

"Look Andy, I can understand she felt used, why she was so angry. I would have felt the same way. But your marriage was long over. You developed feelings for me, because the love for her was gone, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"Stop punishing yourself, Andy. You've already been punished enough. Both of you were involved in the demise of your marriage. Honestly? I believe it would have ended in one way or the other whether you had met me or not. This was just the spark lightning the fuse."

For a moment he only stared at her, losing himself all over in her eyes, simply feeling at peace. That was what this love did to him.

"Don't feel guilty. It wasn't all your fault. I hate how she is using those innocent children to get back at you. They're the victims in this mess."

A blanket of guilt draped back over his shoulders. She knew he was afraid. It was time he began sharing that burden. Time he talked about his feelings, his fears, instead of repressing them and trying to figure them out all by himself.

Sharon touched his cheek, smiling gently, while she caressed his slightly gruff skin.

"Your children love you. They'll always know how much you love them. They'll see it in your eyes. They'll know you fought hard for the time you spent with them. They'll grow older and they will understand, as long as they see all the effort you put into being the best father you can be."

Andy covered her hand with his, a small smile lingering on his lips. She was so damn special. Always knowing exactly what words to say. He frowned, his gaze intensifying.

"I love you so, so much."

A huge smile appeared on her lips. Her gaze never broke, while she closed the distance between them, guiding his face towards her. One last intense look while she parted her lips. The moment her lips captured his, his eyes closed. He was losing himself in the movement of their lips. The perfect amount of tension in each touch. Each movement lingering, making time stand still.

It was Sharon who broke this kiss, her nose brushing his while she inhaled his scent.

"You should have told me sooner."

"I couldn't."

"You must have been so afraid… when Landry…when I was shot…"

"Because I was drunk…"

"You quit drinking for me…"

"I'll never drink again. When I held you in my arms… The thought that you were hurt because of me..that you could die because of me."

"But I didn't. I didn't die. Stop thinking about what could have happened."

"I began drinking, because I couldn't talk to you about Sandra leaving, about the real reason why she left. I shouldn't have. I should have sought help."

"And you did. That's the only thing that matters. You could have told me though when Jack and I separated."

"No, there were still some things you had to figure out by yourself."

Part of her knew he was right. Separating from Jack hadn't been easy. Dealing with so many unresolved feelings, trying to figure out who she was and what she wanted. Andy had let her figure out her needs before burdening her with the additional pressure of his needs. He had allowed her to find herself. She should be grateful to him for that.

"I needed you to be sure of what you wanted. And I was afraid."

Her eyes were burning a hole in his soul. This scrutinizing gaze that allowed her to look straight into his mind.

"You still are."

Sharon shook her head. What more would she need to say or do to make it clear to him that she loved him and now those feelings had awoken with such strength, they wouldn't easily disappear. If they even ever would.

"I'm afraid I'll hurt you one day."

"Hm-mm. I'm sure you will."

Andy looked shocked.

"Just like I'll probably do something to hurt you."

Sharon smiled, as he shook his head. He was so cute, having this image of her being the most perfect woman walking the Earth.

"You have this tainted image of me, like I'm some sort of Saint with this aura of innocence surrounding me. Let me tell you, Andy Flynn, I most definitely am not. If you believe I could never say or do anything to hurt you, you're in serious denial, honey."

She raised both of her eyebrows giving him this look that made him admit there was some truth to that.

"You believe I never hurt Jack?"

Now it was Andy's turn to raise his eyebrows.

"You believe he must have had it coming."

"Yeah well, he's kinda an ass."

"He can be. Doesn't mean I've never been unreasonable. I have. I yelled at him, argued with him, said the words I knew would hurt him the most. All being justified at that moment, while you're in the heat of the argument. Knowing that some things weren't only said in the heat of the moment, but as a deliberate, calculated move to inflict as much pain on the other as possible. And of course you regret it then, but what's been said, has been said. You can't prevent that from happening when you know your partner too well."

Andy looked horrified. He didn't want to believe her. He wanted to believe that in the perfect relationship you wouldn't do these things.

"Do your parents love each other, Andy?"

"Yeah a lot. Great marriage."

"Do they never argue?"

"Of course they do. Irish and Italian temperament."

"My parents don't have temperaments. They love each other very much, but they also argue. They say things that hurt the other. What matters though is that they'll keep talking and think about how the other feels. As long as we'll keep talking we'll be fine. "

His eyes were drawn to her, focusing as she touched his cheek.

"We will be…"

Andy bend down to wrap his arms tightly around her, pulling her close and almost crushing her against his chest, while he inhaled the scent of her shampoo. Sighing deeply, he knew there was no way he could fight his feelings for her any longer. There was no use in deluding himself that he could.

"Do you know why Sandra and you didn't work out, or Jack and I for that matter? We were unwilling to make compromises. You know Andy, it wasn't all Jack. It was me just as much. I could have compromised if I had really wanted to, but I didn't. And neither did he."

Sharon held on to him more tightly.

"As long as we keep talking, understand each other's feelings we'll be okay, Andy. We didn't fall in love with one another from one moment to the next. We truly know each other, the good and the bad sides. We accept each others' faults."

Andy kissed the side of her head, burying his nose deeper into her hair.

"No matter what you keep saying you remain perfect to me, hon. I don't have a clue to what faults you're talking about."

A huge smile appeared on his face, when he felt her shake with laughter in his arms. He loved to hear her laugh. There was a carefree lightness to it that made him incredibly happy.

"I should tape this, so I could play it back to you during our first argument."

Andy pulled back to look into her eyes, those amazing sparkling emerald green eyes.

"I will never stop loving you."

Andy could tell she was choking up. Unwilling to see her cry, happy tears or not, he initiated a kiss. This time he wasn't holding back, breathing her in, tasting her with each movement his lips made, pulling her as close as he could. His hands were tangled in her hair. He felt her heartbeat until they were magically in sync. All his fears, his doubts were chased away by this love he felt for her, which was more intense than any feeling he had ever had. It was as if he had been searching for the last piece of the puzzle for so long and now had finally found it. He was complete, at ease, peaceful - as if he had died and gone to heaven.

This love would last forever.

En: this ending probably says it all. When I wrote this, I wrote it in a way so it would be a nice ending for all of you readers. A happy end, time to stop posting, because I knew in my mind where this story is heading and I know many of you won't understand that at all. But as I continued to keep writing, and read how much you all like this world I created, I decided that this part won't be the last part to share with you. Simply because your reviews are kind of addictive. I'm not ashamed to admit that. I can give you part four and five and once again give you a happy end.

After those parts the story will get very angsty and will head towards some of the canon storylines. I understand that many of you would might begin to hate the story then. Might have wished I ended it at part five and simply left it there. So I've been struggling. Because this all started out originallly with the idea of weaving in some of the canon storylines and as much as I like sharing this story with you all I don't want to change it, or use it for another story to post out here, because it has been originally intended to be part of this one. I did really a lot of thinking even considered continuing it without the canon parts I had intended to weave in, but then it's simply not Shattered images anymore.

So there is more after part five, a lot more, years more ;). And I would be willing to post that if there are readers amongst you who will have enough faith in me that I can make it all okay again and that our favorite couple needs to face these struggles to eventually end up in a stronger relationship. I would post those parts with a warning so none of you who wants to leave it at part five will acidently read it.

I don't know when part four will be up, because of everything that has been going on but I will share part four and five with you in the ( hopefully immediate) future...I hope you will all still be around then because writing on this little world I've created has been so much more fun since I've been sharing it.

I guess some of you will be disappointed with part three ending with just a kiss and nothing more, I'm sure you know what I mean. I just don't believe Sharon is the kind of person who will immediately take that next step, no matter how in love she is. We will get there in part four, so a bit more patience. What's new there?;)

I hope until soon...