Better or Worse
by Kadi
Rated T
Disclaimer: This is not my sandbox. I only visit it.
Sharon was dragging by the time she finally got home. It was much later than she would have liked, well after when the kids would have had breakfast. She sighed quietly, it couldn't be helped. They had at least closed their case, or near enough. That was the reason for her tardiness. The break had come just as she was getting ready to send everyone home to get a little sleep before picking up again later in the morning. Now, they could at least spend the remainder of the day getting caught up on the rest that they'd lost. Tomorrow would bring an entirely new day, and without a doubt, a new case.
She sighed as she put her key in the lock and turned it. The door opened and Sharon stepped into the condo. She had sent everyone home, including Andy. Her kids might know about them now, but she wasn't quite ready to blend those two parts of her life. He understood that, all too well. It was just still so new. She would rather work them into it slowly, at least where Anna was concerned. She didn't want to confuse the child.
It was the youngest member of her family that she was thinking of as she entered her home. Sharon smiled to see her laying in the floor in front of the sofa, humming while she colored. Emily was there as well. The two were on their stomachs, studiously filling in the lines of Anna's Princess Sofia coloring book. Sharon shrugged out of her jacket and dropped her keys by the door. "Well, don't you two look like you're having fun?" She still had her purse over her shoulder, and would be taking it to her room to lock up the gun before she got too comfortable. Sharon walked over and took a seat on the sofa, then quite happily slipped out of her heels. Her feet were beyond aching. She reached down to massage each one, but her gaze and her smile were on the girls.
"Yeah." Emily looked up and smiled. "It's been a while since I could just lay around and soak up the princess fun." She studied her mother closely. "You looked tired, mom."
"Hm." Sharon wasn't sure that tired really covered it. She was running on too little sleep as it was, coupled with the early wake up and the more than twenty-four hours she had gone without any sleep, she was beginning to feel her age. She smiled, however, to see Emily working to bridge the gap with her sister. It was well after ten and nearing eleven in the morning, closer to lunch than breakfast. Sharon leaned forward and rested her elbow on her knee and let her chin fall into her hand. "I suppose you've already had breakfast?"
"Yes." Anna glanced up for the first time. She dropped her crayon and stood up. She moved to stand in front of Sharon and frowned at her. "Where were you?"
She all but stomped her foot. There was a storm brewing in those blue eyes. Sharon almost chuckled, but knew better than to let that slip out. This was one unhappy little girl. "I'm sorry honey." Sharon slipped her purse off and reached for Anna. She drew the little girl forward and onto her lap. "I'm late, I know. I wanted to be here. Unfortunately I had to go and catch a very bad man, so he couldn't hurt anyone again." Sharon tipped Anna's chin up and smiled at her. "I'm here now." She wanted to sleep so badly it hurt. Instead, she curled her arms around the child. "Maybe instead of breakfast, we can do lunch."
Anna pouted at her. "What if you have to leave before lunch?" It was something she was beginning to notice. Sometimes the adults in her life went away when she wanted them to be with her. Not just her momma who was with the angels, or her daddy who had to go away and hadn't come back, but all of them.
"Then I will try to come back for dinner." Sharon remembered all too well how this conversation went. She glanced at Emily and her eyes softened at the memory. Her attention was immediately back on Anna however. "Sometimes, I'll have to be at work, honey. I'm going to miss breakfast, and lunch, and sometimes I'll miss dinner too. I'm going to have to leave in the middle of the night, and I might not be here when you get up in the morning. Here's the thing," she met Anna's gaze. "I will always try to be there when you need me to be, and no matter what, I will make sure that someone is always taking care of you."
Her big blue eyes were swimming in tears. Anna ducked her head. She looked up again through thick, dark lashes. People went away, and they didn't come back. She didn't understand it all. In a voice that was small and halting, she asked the singularly important question on her mind. "Promise?"
She had too much loss at such a young age. Sharon held her close and lay her cheek against the top of her head. "Promise," she murmured softly. It seemed odd now, to feel disconnected to this child with just how quickly she was creeping into her heart. "I know you're worried," she said quietly. "This family might change, sweetheart, but you will always have one. Okay?"
"Okay." Anna tucked her body just as close as she could. "I missed you."
"I know." She stroked her hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm here right now. Do you want to help me make lunch?" Sharon felt Anna nod and smiled. "Good. First I'm going to go and take a shower, and then you and I will have a date in the kitchen."
"Okay," Anna said again. She sat there for a few more moments, but then wiggled down. She picked up her doll and held it under one arm as she sat down to start coloring again.
Sharon drew her purse onto her shoulder again as she stood. "Do you mind keeping an eye on her for a few more minutes?"
"We're good." Emily had the pink crayon back in her hand. She looked up at her mother and smiled. She would have liked to be jealous, but the frightened little voice reminded her of just how much that little girl had lost. She marveled instead, that her mother could do this, could take on this responsibility that wasn't even hers. For her, this little girl she didn't know was family. To her mother… she was just another reminder of her father's many and varied missteps. "We've got a princess to color."
"Thank you, honey." Sharon looked around and tilted her head. "Where are your brothers?"
"Rusty had class," Emily explained. "I told him I'd keep an eye on the little sis today. She wasn't feeling the whole preschool thing this morning, if you get my drift…" Too disappointed and upset that their mother hadn't been there when she got up. "We didn't think it would hurt to keep her home today, it's Friday. Rick is… hiding from you, I think." Her eyes glittered. "He's back in Rusty's room, planted in front of a game of some sort I think. We were being entirely too girly for him."
"Hmm…" Sharon arched a brow. "I agree, it didn't hurt to keep her home today. Thank you for that. Okay." She bent and lifted her heels. "I'll be back in a little while." She wanted to get through the shower and lunch as quickly as possible, before she fell asleep on her feet, or reached that point that she couldn't sleep due to being entirely too tired.
Sharon made her way down the hall and stepped into her bedroom. She stored her gun in the lockbox that went back into the top of her closet and then she took out a comfortable pair of yoga pants and a soft, red sweater. She lay the items on her bed before she left the room again. This time it was to walk down the hall and knock quietly on Rusty's bedroom door. She waited for the summons before she pushed the door open.
She poked her head in the door and scanned the room. She found him at Rusty's desk, his laptop open in front of him. "Richard."
Just the tone of her voice had his head turning quickly. Ricky winced. "It's important that you know they completely exaggerated the entire thing."
Her brow arched. Sharon stepped fully into the room. "Yes, that I gathered." She folded her arms across her chest. "The thing is, Anna is only three, almost four, but still. She doesn't always understand the finer nuances of your sense of humor, and I would like for you to keep that in mind in the future." She smiled at him, to soften the chastisement a bit. "Ricky, honey, I get it. It's all been an adjustment. None of us are used to having a child this small around. You aren't the only one I'll be having this conversation with. I know you were teasing, but just remember to be a little more mindful in the future. Please?"
"Yeah, okay." Ricky leaned back in the chair and smiled, just a bit sheepishly. "We'll try to remember that."
"Good." Sharon tilted her head at him. "Also, calling your sister in to help you do, whatever it is you have planned, after what you witnessed the other morning… not a good move," she said at length. "I am willing to let it go but only because it got her here a few days earlier. If you do not shut down whatever it is that you are plotting, I will rethink that. Are we understood?"
Her eyes narrowed at him and he knew that she meant it. Ricky sighed. "Oh alright. Way to spoil the fun, mom. Seriously."
Sharon laughed to see her grown son pouting. "It is part of the job description." She turned. "I appreciate you coming down to help out, though. Big points for that." At the door, she looked back, a warm smile having replaced the sterner expression. "Did Rusty mention we had plans this weekend?"
"Yeah he did…" Ricky's brows lifted. "That whole Disneyland thing with the boyfriend and his kids." His dark eyes glittered. "Guess it's serious then, huh?" He held up his hands when her smile started to falter. "Okay, sorry. You knew I had to get some mileage out of it."
Because she was so incredibly tired, Sharon decided to let it go. "Yes, the Disneyland thing," she said instead. "Rusty wasn't going to go, but perhaps if you and Emily join him, he might feel more inclined. Then he won't feel obligated to stay with people he doesn't really know all day. I would appreciate it if you would talk it over with your sister and get back to me. It would be my treat."
Ricky understood why she was asking, and why it meant so much to her. The kid really hadn't had a whole lot in the way of normal childhood experiences. "No problem," he nodded. If it would help make up for how he acted when he first heard about the adoption thing, he'd be glad to do it. "In fact, don't worry about it, mom. It'll be my treat. An early Christmas present for the little brother."
There was her sweet, wonderful boy. "Thank you, honey. That would be wonderful." She pushed through the door. "Lunch in a little while, we'll call you."
He frowned. "You should get some sleep, mom. You've been going for over twenty-four hours. Emmy and I can take care of lunch."
"I promised Anna that we would do it. It's okay. I'll sleep soon." She pulled the door closed behind her and sighed. Her shoulders ached, but she didn't let them slump. Sharon returned to her room and started the shower while she slipped out of her clothes. Soon steam was filling the room and fogging up the glass that encased the shower.
Afterward, she felt better. It would be wonderful to crawl into her bed and sleep for a few hours, but she no longer felt as though she were moving through mud. Sharon dried her hair, but allowed it to curl rather than straightening it. After she was dressed, she found her way back out to join the others. By that point, Emily and Anna had moved on to other activities. She could hear the music playing before she even reached the living room. Sharon laughed out loud when she stepped out of the hall.
Loud, happy pop music was rolling out of the speakers and the girls were bouncing around the living room. She couldn't call it dancing, not with how uncoordinated it was. No one would ever know from seeing her that Emily was a professional dancer, and a very good one at that. Sharon pressed the back of her hand against her mouth and giggled again at Anna trying to follow her movements.
She shook her head and skirted around them to the kitchen. Sharon filled the kettle and put it on the stove to heat. While she waited, she continued to watch the girls. All too soon, they spotted her, and Emily reached over to lower the music. "Don't stop on my account."
"Nah." Emily walked over to drop onto a stool at the bar. "I'm whipped. She whooped me. I was beaten by a three year old. I want some of that energy."
"You and me both," Sharon chuckled. She watched Anna continue to twirl and bounce and laughed again. "That should help with nap time." She pulled two mugs down and a box of tea bags. "It doesn't seem like all that long ago that you were twirling around with that much energy."
"Oh yes," Emily grinned. "Only about a week ago." She laughed and leaned forward against the bar, weight on her elbows. Her smile slowly faltered. "So he did it again, huh?" She glanced at Anna and gave her mother a sad smile. "Dad, I mean."
"Hm." Sharon sighed quietly. "I stopped trying to understand your father a long time ago, honey. I can't even begin to guess what he was thinking this time. I like to think it will be better. That he'll either stay gone or he'll be less absent. Experience isn't exactly on his side though, is it?" Her heart ached for all three of them, the children abandoned by Jack Raydor. He came and went, and was out of their lives more than he was in it. She would never stop hoping that he would be a better father.
"No, it kind of isn't." Emily rested her chin in her hand and watched her mother. "Why did you do it? You never really told me that, mom. You've dodged the question every time that I asked. You said you were doing it for Anna, but why?"
"That's a question that I've asked myself a thousand times." Sharon lifted the kettle when it began to whistle. She poured the steaming water into their mugs set it back on the stove. "Sometimes I think that I should have convinced him to give her up for adoption," she spoke quietly so that Anna wouldn't overhear her. "Remove the heartache completely. Somehow it didn't really seem fair." Sharon wrapped the string of the tea bag around her finger and drew it slowly up and down. She watched the liquid slowly turning darker. "It wasn't fair to her or to you and Ricky."
"What about what's fair to you?" Emily did much the same with her tea, but her gaze hardly left her mother. "Ricky and I wouldn't have even known unless you told us. Anna wouldn't have known the difference."
"I know." Sharon shrugged. "The thing is, she's still family. Besides, I didn't want her to one day have to question why her real family didn't want her. That's what it would have boiled down to, Emily. I couldn't be that selfish. She's barely more than a baby. At least with us, while she's with strangers, she's with strangers that are family."
Emily's eyes sparkled. "Even if that means she's with the evil stepmother?"
"Ah ah!" Sharon grinned. "That adoption is final, I am the evil new mother." She lifted her tea in both hands and sipped slowly. "It has a less harmonious ring to it, but it is what it is." She leaned her hip against the counter. "I'm sorry baby, I wish I could make it better or different."
"No." Emily smiled warmly at her. "You are not responsible for dad's mistakes and bad behavior. I think you've done enough. He is the only person responsible for that. Sooner or later he'll have to learn to take responsibility for it all. You can't do it for him."
"Hm." Sharon walked around the bar and wrapped an arm around her daughter. "I am so glad that you're here," she said. "I missed you." She bent, and lay her head against her daughter's.
"Me too." Emily leaned into her and curled an arm around her waist. "Love you."
"More than you know," Sharon replied, while cupping her chin. "Now, we should do something about lunch. Anna," she called out to get the girl's attention. "Let's get started honey." When the little girl joined her, Sharon took her back into the kitchen and sat her on the counter. She found it no surprise at all when Anna announced that she wanted spaghetti for lunch.
Sharon decided to indulge the request. As she pulled out cans of sauce, she smirked. She would save leftovers for Andy. Feeding him the dreaded canned sauce would be a suitable enough punishment for having abandoned her with the boys, she decided. Later, she would get Anna to lay down with her for a nap, and then maybe they'd both feel better about having missed breakfast.
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Sharon held to her plan to not tell Anna about their Disneyland plans until the morning of. When the day arrived and there was nothing to prevent their plans from moving ahead, she was glad that she had. There was simply no comparison to the look on Anna's face when they arrived at the entrance to the park and explained where they were going.
Andy picked them up early and the three of them went to breakfast together. Sharon's older children had other plans. Ricky and Emily had something of a ritual about going to the theme park, and they were sharing it with Rusty. The three adult children would spend the day together. They were doing it as a bonding experience. Sharon couldn't have been prouder of them for that, as well as the fact that they were letting her focus the day on Anna. It was so very sweet of them.
They met Nicole and her family just inside the entrance to the park. As they walked along main street, Sharon explained that her older children might be joining them throughout the day, but would be exploring on their own. For her part, Anna was just too excited by her surroundings to be shy around the new adults. She wanted to see everything at once, and Nicole's boys were much the same. Containing the energy of the three children was going to be the challenge of the day, it seemed. Soon, the three of them were lost in a conversation much too rapid for the adults to really follow, and acting as though they'd always known each other.
By noon, Andy wasn't entirely sure that the kids weren't running completely on adrenaline and not entirely human. Little robots sent from the future, perhaps, to remind him just how old he was getting. He was enjoying the boys, but it was a little odd, playing the role of the doting grandfather while holding the hand of a woman who was there with her daughter - even if she was adopted. He got over that pretty quickly, and chose to just enjoy it. It happened, quite possibly, the first time that Sharon turned her face into his shoulder to laugh while Anna bounced around in absolute childlike rapture.
Glimpses, he realized that was all that he really had of her before, in this role as mother that came so naturally that it was hard to believe that this child was not hers and that until only just a few weeks before she had been holding herself back. The moments he witnessed before, with Rusty or with Ricky were limited, fleeting. Only a glimpse of the woman that resided beneath the mask she wore in front of so many others.
It was a mild day, and she had worn jeans and a thin, sheer knit top of pale green over a matching camisole. It was more than just the way that it set off the color of her eyes, but the way in which the pale colors set off the happy glow and flush of her cheeks. He watched Anna run toward her after having her picture taken with some… character he wasn't familiar with, a princess of some kind. Andy laughed when she launched herself at Sharon and placed a hand against the small of back as she caught Anna, to keep her from being knocked back.
Anna was talking a mile a minute and he could only understand every third word. Andy just shook his head, while quietly smiling at her enthusiasm. He didn't imagine that Sharon understood her any better, but she said Really and Isn't that nice? And then she hummed, all of them canned responses, but her enjoyment was real. She only held Anna for a moment before the little girl was ready to be on her feet again. Then she was pulling Sharon through the crowd again. Andy followed at a more sedate pace. He caught sight of Nicole and Jake, over the heads of a few other people and gestured with his head that he was following the two. They all stayed together, more or less, throughout the day. Even the children had their own interests, and the boys might be interested in ballet, but they were definitely not interested in princesses.
Nicole nodded in return as she watched him stroll along behind Sharon and her daughter at a more sedate pace. Something had changed there, since the last time she spoke to her father about it. It wasn't overt, but there were subtle differences. The way they looked at one another, the arm that settled casually around her waist or the hand that rested against her hip instead of the small of her back. She wasn't the only one who had noticed it. She shared a look with Jake as her father moved off and smirked.
"Guess it's not so up in the air after all," he said with a grin.
"Doesn't look like it." Nicole took Michael's hand while he lifted Tommy onto his shoulders. They shared a look and Nicole laughed. "So I guess now there's no denying… Dad's got a girlfriend."
"Not this time," Jake agreed. "Not that we ever really bought that."
Nicole smirked. "Nope."
When they sat down for lunch later that afternoon Rusty, Emily, and Ricky joined them. They gathered at an outdoor table of one of the park restaurants, and after the introductions were made, Rusty bestowed on Anna the very large Grumpy the Dwarf stuffed toy that he was carrying. It was almost as big as she was. He smirked happily as he set it beside her. "There, now you have your very own," he stated.
It took only a single glance for Sharon and Andy to figure out the significance of the item. A bucket hat had replaced the regular costume piece atop its head. It was pale blue with an embroidering of mouse ears, but it was a bucket hat just the same. Coupled with that, Rusty had placed a name tag sticker on it. Lieutenant Provenza was scrawled neatly in thick, black marker.
"Oh Rusty." Sharon shook her head and laughed quietly.
"What?" He was a mask of complete innocence. "It's perfect!"
"I think I agree." Andy leaned over the table with his phone to get a picture of it, and then another of Anna hugging it tightly. "You're carrying it around all day, kid," he decided. "I'm going to blow this up and put it on the Murder Board Monday," he told Sharon with a grin.
Sharon groaned quietly at the reaction she could see following that. "Just remember, my headache is your headache."
Her very pointed look had the kids snickering, including Nicole, and was enough to give Andy pause. His head inclined while he weighed that consequence. "Nah," he shook his head a moment later. "It's worth it."
A brow arched and she leaned closer to him. Her chin found its way into her hand. "I'm going to remind you that you said that," Sharon said in a low voice.
"You go right ahead sweetheart." He dropped a quick, nearly chaste kiss to her lips before he leaned back and grinned at his phone. "Actually, I'm sending that to Buzz and Tao right now. They'll take care of it..."
Sharon groaned and rolled her eyes at him. "You are horrible."
"Hey," Andy continued to smirk as he sent the text. "Your kid started it. Can I be blamed for appreciating a decent sense of humor."
"Oh..." Her eyes narrowed. "So then, it is my kid's fault that you obtain sick pleasure from tormenting your partner?"
Her voice dipped. It took on the slightly dangerous edge that warned he was getting perilously close to thin ice. Andy glanced up. He looked at her over the edge of his phone. "There is absolutely no way that I can answer this that doesn't get me in trouble, is there?"
Sharon slowly shook her head at him. "No," she said at length. "There really is not, Lieutenant."
Jake Dyer might not know the woman well, but he knew that tone. "Danger," he muttered to his father-in-law, "danger, abandon ship."
"Too late," Andy decided. "I'm trapped. Going down with that ship..."
"Oh!" Even Ricky winced. "You probably could have chosen better wording."
"The hole is getting deeper dad," Nicole laughed. "I'd stop now."
His lips pursed. Andy looked at Sharon, his gaze just as steady. Finally he arched a brow and leaned toward her. He whispered something that the others couldn't hear, and then pressed a kiss against the corner of her mouth.
Sharon looked away, but a smile started to curve her lips. "We'll see.." Was all she said in response.
"I don't want to know," Emily decided.
The entire exchange was lost on Anna, however, who simply cast a curious look at Sharon. "Why are you mad at Andy?"
Sharon's eyes were sparkling as she turned and bestowed a warm smile on the child. "Because he was very naughty," she said, in the softer tone she usually reserved for the child.
"Oh." Anna's eyes got wide. She glanced at him briefly before she continued. "Does he need a timeout?"
"Hm." Sharon leaned down so that her face was closer to Anna's. "You know," she said, liking the idea immensely, "I think he might." The others were laughing, but she kept her gaze and tone serious.
"Then he can think about what he did," Anna stated seriously and nodded. "And how he should improve his behavior the next time."
Sharon's lips trembled with the effort to suppress her smile. "That's exactly right, honey." Her voice trembled with barely contained laughter.
"I promise to do better next time," Andy drawled. "I won't get caught…"
With a snort, Sharon lost the battle with her laughter and started to giggle. "You always get caught. The harder you try, the bigger the mess!" She knew him only too well and had cleaned up some of those messes in the past.
Before her father could reply and make his hole even deeper, Nicole leaned forward in her seat. "What are everyone's plans for the holiday? Sharon, you mentioned last year that you normally spend it in Utah, skiing? Will you be going this year?"
"No." Sharon leaned back in her seat and reached out to run a hand over Anna's hair. The girl was in love with the stuffed toy that Rusty had brought her, even more now that he'd told her what the name tag said. "We'll be staying in the city. It's Anna's first Christmas with us and my family can be pretty raucous. I don't want to overwhelm her." It would also be the child's first Christmas without her mother. Sharon wasn't sure that Anna would be able to make the connection this year, she was still so very young, but in the event that she did… it was better to keep her insulated with those she knew best. "Emily and Ricky will be here until just after, so it will be the five of us. What about you?"
"We're actually driving north this year," She replied. "Jake's parents live just outside of San Francisco, and we're taking the boys up to see them."
"My dad teaches at Berkeley," Jake explained. "Normally they come down so we don't have to travel with the boys, but mom had knee surgery a few weeks ago. This year we're going to them."
"That will be fun," Sharon nodded. "It's beautiful up there during the holidays."
"Mom went to Berkeley," Ricky stated, "she's a big fan of the area."
"Says the Stanford boy," Emily made a face at him. "Traitor."
"They had the better computer science program," Ricky said, defending his choice. He pointed a finger at his sister. "Hey, mom told me to do what made me happy. At least I didn't break her heart by moving to the other side of the continent."
Emily's brow arched. "No," she drawled, sounding very much like her mother. "Instead, you chose the school with the most frat parties, and I did not break her heart, little brother. I followed my dreams, not a beer keg."
Anna frowned. "What's a beer keg?"
"Okay!" Sharon decided it was time to put an end to that conversation. "Now that you're all here, let's get something to eat and figure out what we're doing next."
"We're going to find Cinderella!" Anna bounced in her seat.
"But first," Emily leaned toward her. "You and I have a date with the awesome teacups!"
"Yeah!" Anna cheered loudly.
After lunch, the group disbanded again. Rusty and Ricky had specific attractions that they wanted to see, and Emily would be finding them later. She and Anna had a few plans that she intended to keep. They went in search of the magic teacups, and took the long way around to find them while their lunch settled.
While Emily took Anna and stood in line, Sharon and Andy moved to a bench with a view and sat while they waited. Nicole and Jake had taken their boys to check out Tomorrow Land. Spaceships were always a big winner with little boys, as Sharon recalled. Andy slipped an arm across the back of the bench, and turned his face into Sharon's hair for just a moment as she settled into his side.
"This all makes me feel so old," he said quietly.
She glanced up at him and found his dark eyes twinkling at her. "I know the feeling." Sharon shook her head. "She could be Emily's daughter, so easily."
Andy started to laugh. His hand played with the ends of her hair. "If anyone ever finds out how many times we've heard someone tell us that our granddaughter is so beautiful today, we'll never hear the end of it."
"Best we keep that one to ourselves," she slanted a look at him again and laughed. "Although it might have something to do with the fact that Nicole has taught the boys to call you granddad."
"Yeah." He couldn't feel bad about that. Hell if it made him feel old, but his heart swelled a bit at the same time. "Provenza was a grandfather thirty years ago, so I'll take it." He smirked.
Sharon snorted at the exaggeration. Her hand found his thigh and she gave it a gentle pat. "You keep reminding yourself that." Her head tilted and she smiled up at him. "With Nicole out of town, what are you planning to do for Christmas?" Her brows lifted speculatively. "If we don't end up working, of course."
"Of course." He smiled. That was always a possibility. "I don't know, probably what I normally do when I don't see the kids. Find a football game or something on TV, call my sister. I'll spend the day at home, it'll be okay."
"Hm." She hummed quietly while she thought of that. Sharon looked away for a moment. "You know, you could join us for dinner if you like…" She drew her bottom lip between her teeth before looking up at him again.
He leaned down and brushed a soft kiss across her mouth. "You don't have to do that. Enjoy your holiday with your kids," he rumbled. "I'll be okay, Sharon."
"I know that," she said. "But maybe I want you there too." Sharon turned into him and lay a hand against his chest. "If you really hate the idea, that's okay. I just don't want you to be alone, and I really would like it if you joined us."
He took her hand and drew it to his mouth. "Then I'd love to." Andy leaned down and kissed her again, and mindful of their surroundings, he kept it brief. They settled back a moment later and let their gaze return to the ride across the way, and watched her daughters as they enjoyed the day and the moment.
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"I've got her." Andy drew a sleeping Anna out of her carseat and lifted her into his arms. It was late when they got home, at least for a child her age. It was nearing ten at night when he parked Sharon's car alongside his in the parking garage of her building. Anna was very much awake when they left the park, and chattering both of their ears off. Five minutes later, she was sound asleep in her seat, still hugging the Grumpy stuffy that Rusty had gotten her.
Sharon shook her head as she drew a bag of other goodies out of the car, along with her purse and rounded it to join him. They'd bought other mementos at the park, but Grumpy was by far her favorite. "Let's get her into bed, and then I think I want to find a corner and collapse in it."
Andy chuckled quietly. Anna was absolute dead weight in his arms as they made their way inside and to the elevator. She hardly moved at all, even as Sharon juggled her purse and the child's bag to find her keys and let them into the condo. When they finally made it inside, Andy carried Anna to her room with Sharon behind him. They got her settled, and then retreated to the living room.
The sofa was just too comfortable to resist. Andy dropped onto it and leaned back with a groan. His back was killing him. He let his head fall against the back of the sofa. "I may never move again."
"Hm." Sharon joined him. She peeled out of her shoes and drew her legs beneath her as she sank onto the sofa beside him. "I don't know how they do it," she said. Her older three had decided to go out after leaving the park. From the sound of their plans, she didn't expect to see them again before morning. "Even my hair is aching at this point." It had been worth it though, the day had gone splendidly.
"They're young." Andy reached over blindly and pulled her against him. When her head settled against his shoulder, he reached up and began to gently massage her scalp. "Wake them up early," he said with a grunt.
"I'm thinking about it." She wouldn't, of course, but it did sound good. Sharon draped an arm across his middle and lay her legs across his lap. She snuggled into his side with a quiet hum. "That's good," she said, of the fingers gently rubbing her scalp.
"Yeah." Andy toed out of his shoes and drew her more comfortably against him as he leaned sideways. They'd rest a minute, he thought, and then he'd tuck her into bed before he left for the night. His legs stretched out along the sofa and he sighed gratefully as his body relaxed into the sofa. He tugged one of the throw pillows beneath his head and leaned back again.
"Hm." Sharon tucked her face into his neck and settled comfortably against his chest. "Five minutes," she muttered. "Then we have to move."
"Five minutes," he agreed. With her gentle weight tucked against him, and her body stretched out along his, Andy reached up and resumed the massage of her scalp. Slowly his fingers worked their way down to her neck. "Better make it ten," he decided when she moaned quietly.
"Not a second more," she said.
They were still laying there when Rusty, Emily, and Ricky stumbled home at around two in the morning. "Shh!" Emily shushed the two boys the moment that she spotted the sleeping forms on the sofa. "Keep it down."
They crept quietly through the room to the hall. They decided it was the better part of valor to let them keep sleeping. Rusty pulled the soft throw off the back of one of the arm chairs in the living room and passed it to Emily, who was closest. "She gets cold," he said.
Emily nodded quietly and shook it out. She draped it over the pair and then joined the boys. The three of them left a lamp on in the outer room, but made sure all the locks were secured. Rusty peeked in on Anna, and since the couch was taken, Emily crashed out on the extra camp bed in Rusty's room with the boys. It wouldn't be a hardship, for just the one night.
It was nearing dawn before either of them stirred. Andy stretched and winced as his back protested having lay in the same spot all night. The weight holding him down drew his attention, however, and his face softened at the cause for it. So it seemed their ten minutes and gone overtime. Andy reached up and stroked her back slowly. A blanket he couldn't recall having had also appeared and was draped over them. One of her kids, he figured.
"Sharon," he called her name quietly. She stirred slowly and he turned his face into her hair, lips gentle against the top of her head. "Come on, let's put you in your own bed. It's a hell of a lot more comfortable than your couch."
"Mmhm." Her lashes fluttered, but didn't open. "Comfortable right here," she muttered, and burrowed into his side and the warmth of his body.
"Yeah, I know…" His hand swept her hair back from her face. He was tempted to go right back to sleep, but he'd pay for it later with an even stiffer back. "Come on," Andy sat up slowly, and smiled when she did the same. Her eyes blinked open and she gave him a sleepy smile.
"So much for that ten minutes." Sharon swept her hair back and smiled. She untangled herself from him and glanced at her watch. It was still very early. After a moment's consideration, Sharon held out a hand. They were both tired, and still half asleep. She wouldn't send him home in that state. She drew him with her down the hall, and checked on Anna before joining him in her room.
They changed quietly, and quickly. Andy down to his boxers while Sharon slipped into an old, comfortable t-shirt and a pair of shorts. The bed was far more comfortable than the couch had been; she pulled his arm around her and pressed back against him when he drew her against his chest. Sharon set her alarm and they both resolved that he'd be up and gone before any of her four kids stirred the next morning.
One day soon, Sharon thought, she'd be able to stop sneaking him out the front door. The subterfuge would no longer be necessary, and gladly so. She could get used to falling asleep with him wrapped around her, and it would be nice to not worry about how long, or little, they had to enjoy it.