It's here, I'm here, you're here, Sharon and the gang are here. It's a full house. Let's party!

Hi friendships!

I should be asleep right now – I really should! London is suffering with a round of tube strikes for the next four days, which I know is for a good cause and I completely understand why they're doing it, but it means that in order to make sure I get into work on time I have to leave my house at 6am to get on the bus. And I have a lot of 14 hour days this week and I just... I just... Ok, so I'm totally just feeling sorry for myself. I'm going to sit in the corner and smoke and drink and cry and look at pictures of Mary's legs. Wow, that right there is the definition of desperate!

I have uncontrollable word vomit tonight!

So here is the next chapter. I hope you like it and I apologise for the delay in getting this out. I hope it was worth the wait. The upcoming chapters will be less focused on the character relationships as we really get into the nitty gritty of the case, we'll get back to it before the end though so never fear, the fun dynamics between Sharon, Andy and Provenza will be back soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy witnessing Sharon and Andy having dinner...

A big thank you to everyone that has reviewed and favourited me or this story. And thank you to everyone that has followed me on twitter, tumblr and livejournal. I love making new friends so please do stop by and say hi if you haven't already, I use Lillibet426 on all platforms.

Love to you all! Nighty night

Lillibet x

Lower than the Ground

Flynn had wanted to take her to an Italian place he apparently frequented but she'd heard it was a nice place, intimate and high end. She wasn't in the mood for it. Instead she had asked him to take her to the diner where he and Provenza often had breakfast. He'd frowned at her requested but had merely agreed and said nothing more. She wanted something heavy in her stomach, something all together unhealthy and greasy. She wanted the busyness of the diner, the loud patrons and the heavy smell of coffee. She wanted to submerge herself in this world and forget about the case for a while.

Flynn seemed to be talking for the sake of talking.

"I just don't get it, you know what I mean?" He asked her.

Sharon had no idea what he was talking about and she looked up at him apologetically. His eyes softened with sympathy when he realised she hadn't been listening.

"I'm sorry Andy," she sighed. "I'm not very good company tonight." She tucked her hands under the table and clamped them between her thighs, probably looking very vulnerable. She didn't care.

"That's ok," he smiled at her. "I can keep the conversation going for the two of us." Sharon chuckled.

"I have no doubt about that," she rolled her eyes. "Except I have a feeling you'll only end up getting us into trouble."

"Trouble? Me?" He feigned outrage for a moment and then laughed. "You'd think you'd had to investigate me at some point." He gave her a sly grin and Sharon shook her head. She observed him discreetly as he played with his fork.

"Are you ok? She asked after a moment. Flynn frowned and chuckled a little.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"You seemed a little..." she paused and wondered if she should be bringing this up. Provenza had told her to leave it. But she couldn't help herself, she was curious. "When we were in the elevator-"

"Oh that," he looked down at the fork in his hand, looking to Sharon as if he might be embarrassed.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she said softly. "I just want to know if you're ok."

"I'm fine," he assured her. "It's just... do you really see me... us, me and Provenza, as brothers?"

Sharon giggled, confused at their turn in conversation and Flynn's awkwardness. "No," she said. "But it's how the two of you have been acting lately."

"I admit that I've... we might have been a little overprotective but I just..." He shrugged.

"We're friends, Andy; it's natural to feel protective of your friends." Just then the waitress arrived with their food. She placed a veggie burger and fries in front of Flynn and a plate of fries with melted cheese in front of Sharon.

Sharon dove into her food, not caring what was in the mayonnaise she was dipping her fries into. She watched Flynn out of the corner of her eye, he was quiet. He moved his fries around his plate but he hadn't actually eaten anything yet. She looked up at him properly and waited for him to say whatever it was that was on his mind.

"I wasn't protecting you like a brother," he mumbled, his eyes focused on his food. "Or a friend."

Sharon sighed, not wholly surprised at the current topic. It wasn't the first time it had been hinted at. "I know," she said softly, tilting her head at him.

"Ok," he nodded and lifted his eyes up to her. "Just as long as you know."

"And I presume Provenza knows too," she smirked at him and Flynn rolled his eyes.

"Haven't heard the end of it all day," he said with a shrug.

"He's all phoney grumpiness and no filter," she said, earning a full laugh from Flynn.

"Maybe with you," he said, still laughing. "But with me, he was just plain old Provenza."

"And we wouldn't want him any other way," she smirked as she continued to eat her fries. "Except when I was in FID, a little phoney grumpiness would have been nice," she smirked and shrugged a shoulder. Flynn laughed again before finally digging into his burger.

"Yeah well, maybe if we'd seen a little of you as you are now, we wouldn't have been so bad." He grinned at her and Sharon huffed a little.

"So it's my fault?" She challenged him.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," he said. "But would it have hurt to be a little friendlier?"

"I couldn't do my job if I was friendly," she said to him. He frowned at her. "I wouldn't have been able to do my job properly if I was investigating my friends. I had to keep you all at arms length."

"That why they brought another FID division in to investigate the OIS with Provenza?" He asked.

"Yes, a complication of my transfer is that they can't investigate me or the team objectively," she said. "I trained Lieutenant Elliot and most of the other officers in our FID. I recruited them and when you work in Internal Affairs, being separated from the rest of the force, you become very close to those who understand what you do. Not many ever leave once they're there, not because they can't, but because sometimes the ties are too strong."

"Why did you stay so long?" He asked, pinching some of her mayonnaise without asking. She didn't mind.

"It was convenient," she shrugged. "When my kids were young, the hours suited a working mother. And then as I began to rise through the ranks I figured I might reach Chief someday; plus, I was good at it." She laughed as Flynn nodded in agreement.

"You can say that again," he said. "So why did you accept the transfer?"

Sharon considered him for a moment and she realised that no one in the division had asked her that question. They had, after a brief adjustment period, just accepted the move. "I took it because I wanted to do something more." She paused a moment and Flynn looked up at her. "I never wanted to stay in FID for as long as I did, I loved working the Hall case back in the 70's and I was damn good at it. I wanted to be in Robbery/Homicide but at the time, it wasn't considered a woman's place to work."

Flynn nodded in understanding, he'd seen the boys club in action, and at times he'd even actively taken part. Back then, she would have held it against him but it was a long time ago. Times had changed, the LAPD had changed, and they had changed as people. She didn't hold it against him.

"So you took Major Crimes because it was where you wanted to be?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said, smiling at him. "It happened a little later then I would have liked but, at least I got here in the end."

"We're glad you did," he said to her. "All of us are, even Provenza." Sharon gave him a sceptical look and he chuckled. "I know, I know, but he does like working with you. You didn't push him out. I think he was worried he was going to be forced into retirement. I think he appreciates that you value his opinions and advice, you treat him as an equal, you do all of us."

Sharon didn't know what to say. She felt a lump in her throat and she took a minute. She knew that the team had always worked well together, she had seen it first as an outsiders and then as the head of that team. She had been worried going in that they would desert her, that they would dissolve into a team she no longer recognised. But as the professionals they were, they pushed aside their personal opinions and gave their all on every case that came in. They were patient with her, they were willing to teach her, they stood by her whenever something didn't go quite to plan and they celebrated with her when they did. They were supportive and she felt extremely lucky to be working with each and every one of them. And to hear they felt they same, she was quite overwhelmed. "Thank you Andy," she said after a moment. Flynn was oblivious to her inner thoughts and while she had been ruminating on his words, he had polished off what was left of his burger and fries.

"For what?" He asked, wiping his mouth on a napkin and pinching a few of her fries.

"For..." She didn't really know how to explain it and so she just smiled and shook her head. "Do you want the rest of these?" She pushed the half eaten plate of cheesy fries to him and he eagerly finished them off.

"So much for watching what I'm eating," he smirked at her.

"Every once in awhile isn't so bad," she chuckled. "But I agree, tonight might have been over indulgent."

"Shall I get the bill?" He asked. She nodded.

"I should probably get Rusty a burger," she said as she watched the waitress make her way over to them. "If I'm going to be late home the least I can do is take him a burger for his dinner."

Andy smirked.

-x-

Spending the morning briefing Chief Pope on what the Major Crimes division was working had left Sharon feeling drained. Tallying department budgets, debating overtime pay and holiday entitlement. Debriefing him on all the cases the division had open, handing over reports of those that had been closed. It was odd that during her time in FID, she had enjoyed these monthly debriefings. Now that she was head of Major Crimes, it was another ball game.

She felt exhausted as she traipsed back into the murder room, her arms laden with files from her meeting. Sanchez and Sykes jumped up quickly to take them from her and she thanked them with a smile. She looked over at Provenza who was hidden behind his crossword puzzle, his eyes occasionally flickering to the man standing by the window beyond Flynn's desk. She walked to her Lieutenant's desk and leaned a hip against it. She folded her arms across her chest as she watched Doctor Horton watching the world go by below them.

"He's here to see you," Provenza mumbled, concentrating on his crossword.

"About?" She asked, looking down at him.

"Wouldn't say," Provenza looked up at her.

"It's probably the reports of the autopsies," she shrugged. Provenza nodded slowly in agreement.

"Then let's make sure we do the briefing out here where the whole team can watch... listen to what he has to say," he said, looking over at the doctor. "It might be important."

Sharon tried to hide her smile but she knew Provenza would be able to see it. His attempt at trying to subtle in his protectiveness amused her. She was about to tell him that Doctor Horton would no doubt be briefing the entire team on the reports anyway, when a voice called to her.

"Captain," Doctor Horton was striding toward them, his face keen as if he were trying to impress a teacher he had a crush on. Sharon gave him a slight smile and stepped toward him, her hands clasping behind her back.

"Doctor Horton," she began, noticing a frustrated fall onto his face. It was obvious he was hoping she would call him Owen. She didn't want to encourage him. "Do you have something for us?"

"Yes," he held up a thick file for her to see. "Perhaps we can discuss it in your office?"

Sharon gave him a tight lipped smile, her hand briefly scratching at the back of her head. She ignored Provenza's cough. "Actually, Doctor, I'd prefer to do it here with the rest of the team. I'd only have to repeat what you've said to me anyway," she hooked her fingers in the crook of his elbow and pulled him toward the murder board. "So you'd really be doing me a favour if you briefed everyone at the same time," she patted his arm and when she noticed his hand reaching for hers she quickly withdrew. She skirted around Provenza's desk and stood beside Sanchez's chair. She noticed that Provenza and Tao had rolled their chairs closer into the isle, whether to create a barrier between her and the enthusiastic doctor or not she didn't know. Nevertheless, she was grateful for the space.

"The floors yours," Flynn said smugly, coming to stand on her other side.

Doctor Horton looked as though he were going to throw up and Sharon felt a pang of guilt. But then, in mere seconds, he seemed to change and he slipped into the confident doctor she had met the first day of the excavation.

He began with the unidentified men. Each young man had been strangled. A fracture at the base of the skull and the decompression at the neck signalled that they were killed with a similar belt to the ones that were found with the first two bodies. Doctor Horton and his team had discovered that the matching markings on each of the victim's ankles were from homemade cuffs.

"They were shackled by their ankles?" Sanchez asked in disgust.

"Probably to keep them from escaping," Tao said, leaning forward to get a better look at the photographs Doctor Horton was pinning on the board.

"And that's not all," Horton continued. "One of my assistants has a theory after we discovered some stress fractures on the ankle bones."

"Stress fractures?" Tao stood to look at the magnified photos of the second body. "Someone was pulling on the chains?"

"My assistant thinks the bodies were strung up, like cattle," Horton said, looking over at Sharon. "He believes that would not only account for the fractures but also for why the shackles left markers on the bones."

"They must have been left like that for a while to produce this kind of injury." Tao sat back down in his chair.

"Or they could have been hung upside down repeatedly," Sharon suggested, noticing Doctor Horton's eager expression turn to her. "Could that also produce the same results?" She asked him.

"Yes," he answered.

"But why?" Sykes asked, looking a little sick.

"Perhaps it was part of the game," Sharon answered. "Hanging a victim upside down will render them incapacitated. If their hands were tied behind their backs and the belt around their heads, the men would have no way to fight back."

"Is there any evidence that they were sexually assaulted?" Provenza asked, giving voice to the question they were all thinking.

"Without the flesh it's hard to say," Doctor Horton said, turning back to the board. "But from my experience, this method of torture is usually of a sexual nature."

"Is there any hard evidence that this was done by two people?" Sharon asked.

"Unless they had some kind of machine that would help them lift the men in the air by their ankles they would definitely need two people." Doctor Horton shrugged. "Other than the fact that these kinds of killings are usually done in pairs, there's no other reason to suspect that there was more than one murderer."

Sharon sighed, frustration setting in; she had been sure that both Simon and Dorothy had been involved. Suddenly, she caught onto something Doctor Horton had said. "What did you mean by 'these kinds of killings are usually done in pairs'?"

"Ah," Doctor Horton smiled at her. "These murders were staged so that they were on display."

"As in, someone was watching?" Flynn's voice was strained.

"The killer went to a lot of trouble to subdue the victims, to make them passive. Everything was about showing off, perhaps the killers, if there were two, took it in turns to torture the men. Each session escalating until one of them delivered the final scene. Maybe it was a game," Doctor Horton turned back to the board, looking closely at the photos. He looked almost gleeful and it made Sharon's skin crawl. She glanced toward Provenza and when their eyes locked briefly, she knew he was thinking the same thing. "Maybe the winner's prize was taking the life."

Silence filled the room. Sharon and the rest of the team stared at Doctor Horton's back for a time while he was observing each of the victim's photos carefully.

"What now ma'am?" Sanchez asked, breaking the silence.

"I'd like to hear about the body we thought was Michael," Sharon said loudly, jolting Doctor Horton from his thoughts.

"Ah yes," he said, pulling more photos from the file he had brought with him and pinning them to the board. He then pinned two DNA tests next to them. "The first body we found in the basement is in fact, Michael Hall."

There was a round of relieved sighs from the team. Now that they had final confirmation, they could start working on what had happened to him. With a sinking feeling in her stomach Sharon couldn't help thinking ahead to the notification she would have to give.

"Cause of death matches what we know of the events from Helen Hall's initial report," Doctor Horton continued. "There is severe damage to the skull, which when during the preliminary examination we assumed was one blow. Doctor Morales and I then discovered that it was a series of blows, each one weakening the bone until it caved in."

"Do you know the murder weapon?" Tao asked while taking notes.

"Oh yes," the gleeful look was back in Doctor Horton's eyes. "A flat wall."

"He was repeatedly pushed into a wall," Sharon said with realisation.

"That's a lot of anger," Provenza grumbled.

"Did he die right away?" Sharon asked, not knowing if she wanted to know the answer.

"Judging from the dark stains around the nose and mouth, I'd say no," Doctor Horton pointed to the nasal cavity on one of the images. "This turned out to be dirt; it matched the samples we took from the basement."

"He was buried alive?" Sykes asked in shock.

"Yes." Doctor Horton's words rang loudly through the murder room. Sharon felt her stomach tighten, bile rising at the back of her throat.

"Helen buried her brother while he was still alive..." she hadn't realised she'd even said the words aloud until everyone turned to look at her.

"She's as much to blame for this as the killers are," Doctor Horton said without an ounce of sympathy.

Sharon glared at him but before she could say anything Flynn spoke up. "She was 11 at the time of the murder. The asshole of a father she had made her bury her brother in the basement after beating his head against a wall. Are you suggesting that we arrest Helen Hall too? Lock her up behind bars? She was a kid!"

Sharon could hear the anger building in Flynn's voice and although she knew he was fighting her corner, her argument, she had to stop him before he spiralled out of control. She placed a gentle hand on his back and she felt him relax almost instantly. She caught the look Provenza shot at his partner before he turned back to address Doctor Horton.

"How about you leave the who to us?" Provenza snarled.

"Thank you, Doctor Horton," Sharon said quickly before anyone else could speak. "You've been very helpful to our case." She gave him a tight lipped smile then turned to the rest of the squad. "I want-"

"There's something else," Horton interrupted.

"Yes?" She asked, turning back to him.

"The female victim," he started. "We got X-Rays on the reconstructed skull; they're not a match for the dental records your Lieutenant's brought down."

"They're not a match?" Sharon glanced toward Provenza.

"Whoever is lying down on Doctor Morales's autopsy table downstairs, it's not Agnes Hall."

Dun, dun, dun!

Hope you guys enjoyed. I'd love to know your thoughts and feelings on this so please remember to leave a comment.

One last thing, a shout out to Megan429 who described Provenza as being all 'phoney grumpiness and no filter' in a review which really tickled me – Sharon borrowed it for this chapter. We thank you!

Night all! xx