Adrift and Apart

by Kadi
Rated: T

Disclaimer: This is not my sandbox. These are just my favorite toys. I promise to return them when finished.

Chapter 3 - Do You Still Remember Me? (Forgive us our Trespasses)

In the eight months since their break-up, Andy Flynn could count on one hand the number of times he had actually gone in search of Sharon. By his count, the current situation was the third. After their little visit by Goldman earlier in the day, he decided to seek her out, find out just what it was that she knew about their little lawsuit. If he could get her to speak to him about it.

They weren't exactly on close terms anymore. Things seemed to have finally leveled out between them, returned to the status quo. They spoke when they saw each other, about work or inconsequential things, and they still argued as much as they ever did when their divisions butted up against each other. He wouldn't say they were friends, not really, not in the way he thought that friends should react to one another. He couldn't call them acquaintances either, they knew each other far too well for that.

They simply were.

They were two people who knew each other intimately, and he could admit, he still missed her from time to time. After almost a year, it wasn't quite the same ache as it was just after the break-up, but it was there, when he thought about it. He just seemed to think of her a little less these days. Those thoughts usually only followed an encounter in the Murder Room, especially lately, with her following them around with her little clipboard and asking them questions about the Shootin' Newton case. Now, Andy figured he had a good idea why she was questioning it.

Andy found her in the fifth floor break room. She was leaning against the counter, weight on one foot, while she held a case file in one hand and steeped a cup of tea with the other. He cast a quick look around the room as he entered, and found it otherwise unoccupied, Andy pushed the door closed behind him. He walked across the room and pulled the file out of her hand. Andy placed it on the counter, out of reach. "Need you."

Sharon was as surprised by his actions as she was his words. She blinked at him, and then shifted where she stood, straightening. She folded her arms across her chest and tilted her head at him, while her lips pursed. She considered his statement very carefully before finally she responded. "Perhaps I was a little unclear, Lieutenant," Sharon stated at length, "no, wait, we discussed this in December, and given the length of time that has passed since that conversation, I cannot imagine how you could possibly be confused. Unless of course you've suffered a head injury recently that I am unaware of?" Her eyes glittered, with just a hint of amusement, but she was primarily curious at his behavior.

He rolled his eyes at her. Andy's face settled into a bland look. "Very funny," he said dryly. "It's completely professional, I promise."

"Oh god." Sharon rolled her eyes heavenward. She turned and leaned back against the counter with a sigh. "What did you do? No, wait, let me ask that a different way. What did you and your partner do? Or is this strictly a singular inquiry? In which case, perhaps I should be asking you who it is that you have either threatened, insulted, roughed up, or otherwise pissed off?"

Andy's face fell. His lips turned down in a look that wasn't quite a frown but couldn't be called a pout either. He gestured with his hands and finally settled on looking incredulously at her. "Why do you always think I did something? Maybe I just need your advice!"

Sharon laughed out loud, the idea was so preposterous that she almost snorted. "Oh yes, I'm sure that's it." She shook her head at him and reached past him to snatch her file back. Then she lifted her tea cup and carried it with her to a table near the center of the room. Sharon pulled a chair out and sat in it. She crossed her legs and regarded him. "I also happen to know you," she said, and waved a hand at him, "but do go on, Lieutenant. Tell me, what is it that is so important that you've come looking for me… for the first time ever."

He didn't know which was more annoying, her flippant behavior or the superior smile that curved her lips. What was worse, Andy could think of a way to get rid of both, but they weren't doing that anymore. He tore his mind away from thoughts of kissing her senseless and walked over to stand in front of the table. He placed his hands on it and leaned forward. "You know, Captain, sometimes you can be a real pain in my—"

"Yes," she drawled, letting the syllable roll off her tongue at length. Sharon's eyes sparkled as she smiled up at him. "A real pain in your…. what, Lieutenant?"

Andy scowled at her. "Neck," he deadpanned. "You're a real pain in my neck. Come on, Sharon, put the attitude away for a minute, please? I'm kind of serious here. I need to know what is happening." Andy reached into the inside of his jacket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He placed it on the table and slid it toward her. "I know that you know what this is about. What the hell is going on?"

Sharon reached for the paper and unfolded it. She sat back in her seat as she read through it. "It's a subpoena," she said quietly. "I don't…" She trailed off as she read further through it and finally she leaned forward again. "Dammit." Her gaze lifted. "When did you get this?"

"This morning." Andy dropped into the chair beside her. "That asshole, Goldman, posed as a process server and dropped them off. Then he hung around the Murder Room so he could hear how we reacted to them. It's not serious, right? I mean, come on… Terrell Baylor? That little gang punk killed an old man and his grandson and we are being sued?"

"This morning?" Sharon's eyes widened. "Why was I not…" She trailed off and shook her head. "Never mind." She folded the subpoena and pushed it back toward him. "We can't discuss this. All I can tell you is what is in the suit. The Baylors are alleging that by dropping Terrell off, at his home, where members of his gang were gathering, that those named in the suit knowingly placed him in mortal peril."

"This is why you've been hounding us all month," Andy said, "you've been looking into the case to see if we actually did anything wrong. Sharon!" He slapped his hand against the table's surface as he leaned back. "Dammit." Andy shook his head at her. She was investigating him, again, without telling him. It felt like the Rick Zuman case all over again. "So what," he said with a sigh, "should I actually be worried about this, or is it just another bullshit lawsuit?"

Sharon's lips pursed again. She wrapped her hands around her tea cup and rested her arms on the table. "I really cannot discuss the lawsuit with you," she explained to him. "Nor can I tell you what I have, or have not uncovered in my audit of the Newton murders." Sharon rubbed her lips together. "I think… Andy," she looked up at him, and her gaze was grim. "You should take this very seriously. Hypothetically speaking," she said, because she couldn't advise him beyond the most peripheral information, "were I to make a recommendation to the City Attorney's office, it would be to move to have anyone who was not directly involved in dropping Terrell Baylor at his residence removed from the suit."

Andy continued to frown as he watched her. "Okay," he said slowly and nodded. "That would cut out everyone but David, Sanchez and the Chief." His eyes narrowed in thought. His head tilted to one side. "David didn't get subpoenaed. Why do you think that is?"

"Diversionary tactic." Sharon shrugged at him. "I've seen it before. The Baylor's attorney is singling out one person in the division, while you're focused on trying to figure out what he did or did not do, or what he knows or said, then you are not focused on the attorney's tactics. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Yeah." Andy looked down at the table. "But say, for instance, what you said… the thing about getting everyone who wasn't in the car tossed out of the suit, that would mean David, the Chief and Julio were still in the hot seat. How is that okay? You're suggesting that we make them the scapegoats."

"No," she said at length. "I am suggesting that we whittle this lawsuit down to a finite number of defendants and then work to have it thrown out, or to beat it. Detective Sanchez and Sergeant Gabriel would be protected by rank. Anything they did or did not do could be classified as an order from a direct superior. Once we have the lawsuit limited to Chief Johnson, it becomes much easier to defend. That is of course," she shrugged, "just a theory and it bears assuming that the City Attorney follows the recommendation or can even make it happen."

"In my experience," Andy grumbled, "your theories are usually pretty damned good." He tapped his fingers against the tabletop. "Shit."

"Okay, listen." Sharon leaned forward. She reached out and let her fingers brush his arm. "The only thing that I can really tell you to do in this situation is to speak to your Union Rep. Take this seriously, and whatever you do, listen to your Rep's advice. I'll help as much as I can," she said quietly, "but legally, my hands are going to be tied." She sighed softly. "You may even want to think about getting an attorney of your own, someone independent of the department."

"God." Andy rubbed a hand over his face and into his hair. "Sharon, I hate lawyers." He leaned back in his seat again and let his shoulders slump. "This is that bad? Really?"

"It is." She smiled at him. "Although, I suppose hating lawyers would be an occupational hazard. The thing is, you might actually need one."

He snorted at her. "No, sweetheart, I hated them even before I became a cop." Andy scrubbed a hand over his face again. "You couldn't just lie and tell me it was just a bullshit lawsuit?"

"Hm." She leaned forward and rested her chin in her hand. Sharon smiled at him. "Don't worry, Andy. It's just a bullshit lawsuit."

"Too late now." He made a face at her. "You've already ruined it." He leaned forward too and reached out with his hand. His fingers wrapped around her tea cup and he lifted it. Andy took a drink and made another face at her. "I'll never know how you and drink that crap." He put the cup back down in front of her. His chair scraped against the tile as he slid it back before standing.

Her eyes narrowed. Sharon glared up at him. "Well I don't want to drink it now." Her nose wrinkled and she pushed the cup aside with a single finger. "Go away Lieutenant, you're bothering me."

"I'm going." He straightened his jacket. "Not because you told me to, but I've got stuff to do. You know, actual police work." When her eyes narrowed even more, Andy grinned crookedly. It was fun to rile her up. He moved around the table on his way to the door, and as he did, he tugged on a lock of her hair. "You should come by the Murder Room. We miss your sparkling personality."

"Hm." Sharon thought about it for a moment. "I suppose I could swing by." Her brow arched. "Although, I would feel required to inform the others that my presence was by invitation." She fluttered her lashes at him. "I wonder what the others in your division would think of that?"

"You make a very good point." He pointed a finger at her. "Stay the hell away from the Murder Room." When he reached the door, he looked back at her and winked. "Thanks Cap, you know, for the not-so-helpful and completely theoretical advice. If anyone finds out we talked about this, I'll swear to them that you helped me not at all."

He grinned at her in a way that made her want to bare her teeth at him. Instead, Sharon settled on a serene little smile. "Well, it was no problem at all Lieutenant, and thank you… I can always count on you to be a pain in my—" She trailed off as he left the room. As the break room door closed behind him, Sharon sighed. "Ass."

Sharon leaned back in her seat again. She shook her head as she replayed the encounter in her mind. He was possibly the most infuriating man she had ever met. There were times, however, like this one, when she also missed him like crazy. The rest of the time she barely thought about it at all. They'd had months apart, plenty of time for them to get over any hurt feelings and move on with their lives.

She was over him. She was completely sure that she was over him, but there were moments, like the present, when she missed having him in her life. He was infuriating and annoying, but he was also amusing, endearing, and sometimes he was even a little bit charming. Sharon sighed one more time. She would help him as much as she could. He wouldn't be able to know about it, and it was doubtful to her that he would recognize it. She would help all of them, she just hoped that their idiot interim Chief of Police wouldn't tie her hands. If that happened… well, they were all screwed.

In the meantime… She drew the file she was reading back toward her. Sharon reached for her teacup and sighed. She considered making another one, but then she rolled her eyes. She wouldn't give her favorite troublemaker the satisfaction. She lifted it instead, but her lips curved into a smile as she took a sip.

He was a coffee man, she preferred tea. Really, they were completely unsuited for each other.

So then, why was she still thinking about it?

Sharon groaned aloud. She was thinking about it because Andy Flynn was a troublemaker. He got her all riled up and her head spinning, and she was pretty sure that he had done it on purpose.

Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. She was going to get him back for that… and his little dog too, she added as an afterthought, recalling his oh so creative artwork. Sharon smiled. Perhaps she would meander up toward the Murder Room… she needed to find out why she had not been informed about the subpoenas. She also wanted to check on that Detective Gabriel situation. It was probably nothing, but it wouldn't hurt to check into it. While she was at it, well, a little revenge never hurt anyone.

Andy Flynn was going to learn to rue the day. That was something that she was looking forward to. She thought he might even learn to behave himself. On second thought, she realized she was asking for too much, and honestly, she wouldn't enjoy tangling with him nearly as much if he did. No, she would simply continue to enjoy slapping him down whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Now was no exception.

Sharon closed her file and stood. She dumped the contents of her teacup and hummed quietly to herself as she left the break room. Getting the opportunity to make all of Major Crimes and its Chief squirm? Sharon grinned. Instead of revenge, she decided she might just owe Andy one. She just wouldn't tell him that.

Oh yes… this was going to be fun.