DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 4

Sharon slowly broke apart from Andy and looked at him. "I'm sorry," she whispered to him and he caressed her face with his hand. "Don't be," he shook his head. "I'm the one who's sorry. I should have realized what you were going through, not being able to go to work, being shut out," he told her and then paused for a moment. "That's exactly how I felt when I was on medical leave and light duty," he continued as he looked into her eyes.

"You didn't shut me out, Andy," she whispered to him. "I tried to give you the space you needed, while trying to take care of you at the same time," he told her. She fiddled with his tie as he stood in front of her. "I'm sorry I was hovering over you, I just want you to get better, honestly," he shuddered and closed his eyes. She shook her head slightly at him. "I know," she whispered.

"Mom? Andy? Dinner's ready," they both heard Emily call out as they stood there in the den. "Maybe we can both come to a compromise after dinner?" she suggested as she reached out for his hand. "Oh, what kind of compromise?" he asked her, giving her his grin in return. "Well, I'll let you take care of me in exchange for you keeping me up to date on the latest case," she stated and reached to open the door.

"Wait, how is that a compromise?" Andy asked her and stopped her hand. "It is because when you were on medical leave, sitting at the condo, you wanted to be included in that case we had. I needed you to watch that TV show, and you were very instrumental in that case, and in return, you allowed me to look after you," she smiled at him. Andy narrowed his eyes as he thought about it for a brief second and huffed. "Fine," he agreed to her deal and then they stepped out into the hallway and headed for the kitchen.

Emily watched as her mother and Andy joined them at them table. Emily thought her mom was in a better mood now, better than when they had left the doctor's office. "This looks wonderful Emily, thank you for making dinner for us," Sharon smiled at her daughter as they all started to eat. "Oh, it's not a problem Mom," Emily answered her and then started to eat her dinner.

Meanwhile, across town, two dark figures stood in a warehouse. "The cops found the body," one of them said. "Relax Billy, everything will be okay. They're not going to trace it back to us, besides, when Rocco took over from D'Angelo, he made sure of it," Frankie told him. "I don't know, I don't like it," Billy stated and Frankie was suddenly in his face, grabbing the lapels of his jacket. "Stop freaking out!" Frankie yelled at him and then walked away towards the office.

"Come on! We need to get ready for the game tonight," Frankie called out to Billy who was still standing in the spot he was minutes ago. Billy followed Frankie into the office and grabbed the tables and chairs and started to set things up.

Back at the Flynn household, dinner was over, and the plates and dishes were cleared from the table. Sharon helped Matthew go over his homework in the dining room while Andy and Emily put everything away in the dishwasher. "Thanks for taking your Mom to the Doctor's office this afternoon, and for letting me know, even though I know your Mom told you not to," Andy told Emily as he rinsed off another dish and handed it to her to place in the dishwasher.

"Yeah, she wasn't too happy with me when I told her as we pulled into the parking lot of the office," Emily told him as she stood there waiting for another dish. "Yeah," Andy chuckled as he thought about that. He handed her another dish and she placed it inside. "Um, is everything okay with the two of you? I don't mean to pry but I know she was upset at you when we left the Doctor's office," Emily asked him.

"Yes, we're fine," he reassured her. Emily looked at her watch and noted the time. "Hey, do you mind if I go out tonight? I'm meeting some of my friends from high school. We've kept in touch over the years and when they found out I was in town, well," Emily told Andy. "Oh, uh sure, that's fine with me," Andy said to her, knowing how much of a help she had been to him with Sharon.

"Great!" Emily said and walked into the dining room. Andy finished placing the plates in the dishwasher and closed it. Moxie was right there watching him. "Do you want to eat now?" Andy asked the dog and he started wagging his tail. "Come on," he told the dog and went into the mud room where the food was kept. Moxie followed him there.

"Mom, I'm going to go out tonight and meet up with Cheryl and Diane from high school," Emily told her mother. "Oh, okay. Have fun and be careful tonight," Sharon smiled. "I will," Emily leaned in and kissed her on her cheek. She then grabbed her things and passed Andy, who was feeding the dog. "Bye Andy," she waved to him. "Bye kiddo, have fun and be safe!" he held up his hand as Emily walked out the door.

Andy made his way to the dining room where Sharon was looking over a report that Matthew had written about a book he read. Matthew was sitting across the table with his head propped up by his elbow as he was working on some extra math problems. "How's it going in here?" Andy looked at Sharon and then at Matthew. "Fine," Matthew mumbled as he erased something on his paper and re-wrote the numbers.

Sharon looked at Andy and he in turned, looked at her and she gave him a slight shake of her head. He got the feeling that tonight going over Matthew's homework wasn't going as well as planned. "I'll be in the den if you need me," he whispered to Sharon and kissed the top of her head before leaving.

Andy sat down at the desk in the den and pulled out his notebook that he wrote some notes down about their recent case. He figured if Sharon wanted to know a little about the case, he could at least prepare a summary of what they had so far for her.

An hour later, he heard Matthew run up the stairs and Moxie following him up there. Andy looked up and saw Sharon walking towards him. She looked exhausted to him as she joined him in the den. "Hi," he said as he pushed his chair out and encouraged her to sit on his lap. She did and wrapped her arms around his neck as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"So, I was just working on writing down some things for you to go over, you know, when you're bored out of your mind," he told her and she laughed. She shifted on his lap and leaned forward to look at the computer screen to see what he was working on.

"The victim is a hockey player?" she continued to read what Andy had written. "Yeah, his coach reported him missing when he didn't show up for morning practice a couple of days ago," Andy told her. "Hmm, but how was his body completely frozen? That's quite the task to pull off, especially in southern California," Sharon said as she turned to look at him.

"In order for a body to be completely frozen and not thaw out in the fall season, they'd have to be in a freezer of some sorts," Sharon stated as she kept reading his notes. "The team was up in Bakersfield the day before Michael disappeared playing a scheduled game," Andy said as he watched Sharon. "So, when did the coach report him missing?" Sharon asked.

Andy looked at his notes he wrote down. "2 days ago," he replied to her. "And the body was discovered early this morning in the backyard pool," Sharon stated. "In the Palisades," Andy added. "So why was his body dumped there?" Sharon asked and stood up from Andy's hold. "We don't know," he shrugged his shoulders.

"I ran the financials on the hockey player but I'll get the results tomorrow when I get in to work," Andy told her as she leaned against one of the book cases in the room. He looked at her, concerned. "Sharon?" he said her name, trying to get her to focus back on him. "I'm sorry Andy, I was wondering if Michael left Bakersfield with the team when the game ended or did he leave with someone else?" Sharon posed the question.

"That's a good question," he said as he stood up from his chair and walked over to Sharon. He caressed her face with his hand. "I think it's time for bed, though," he told her instead. "I know I'm beat and I'm sure you are as well," he took her hand and led her out of the den.

"Did Emily say what time she would be home?" she asked him as they walked up the stairs. "No, but I'm sure it won't be too late," he assured her as they made it to the upstairs hallway. Sharon went inside Matthew's room to see how he was doing. He was reading a book in his bed and Moxie was lying next to him.

"Ready for bed?" she asked Matthew as she sat at the edge of his bed. Matthew nodded and closed the book, handing it to Sharon. She placed it on his nightstand and pulled the covers up over him. "Mom, what if Doctor Joe and I don't have anything to talk about?" he yawned when he asked her. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sure you both will find something to talk about, don't worry about that," she smiled and kissed his cheek.

Andy stood at the door frame and watched them interact. He hoped that Doctor Joe would be able to help Matthew with whatever it was that was troubling him so badly. Andy sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. He needed a break, that's for sure. After everything that had happened, he desperately needed a break. Sharon turned around and smiled at him as he stood there. He smiled back at her and placed his arm around Sharon as they headed into their bedroom.

Sharon paused a moment before she entered the bathroom. Andy watched her and came up to her side. "How are you feeling?" he asked her. "I feel okay," she smiled, reassuring him as he stood there. "I'll be okay in here," she said and he nodded, giving her some independence as he got himself ready for bed.

She looked at herself in the mirror as she undressed. Her arm wasn't bothering her anymore and she was able to pull her shirt over her head without any issues. She took a good look at the area where the stitches were on her left side. There were only 3 of them, and they were healing nicely. She ran her fingers over them and closed her eyes.

Andy put his pajama pants on along with a t-shirt and waited on the edge of the bed for Sharon to come out of the bathroom. He fiddled with his hands as he waited. When Sharon got better, he was going to take them on a get-away somewhere, he thought to himself. He figured if they got away somewhere, then he'd be able to relax, not have to worry, and maybe then he'd be able to get some much needed sleep.

He stood up from their bed and walked over to the bathroom door, slightly knocking on it. "Sharon? Everything okay in there?" he asked through the closed door. "Yes," he heard Sharon's voice say and then he went back to sit down.

Sharon still looked at herself in the mirror. She took a deep breath and put her pajamas on, slipping the silk nightgown over her head and letting it fall onto her body. She opened the door and stepped outside. Andy's eyes fell on her as she walked out. This was the first time since she was shot that she wore that nightgown and his breath caught in his throat.

He knew they couldn't do anything until she was actually cleared by her doctor to return to normal activities, but god was she driving him crazy right now. He pulled on his left earlobe as she walked towards him and smiled. "I thought I would wear this to bed tonight," she whispered to him. He closed his eyes for a second before he opened them again.

"You're driving me crazy," he muttered to her as she stood in front of him. "I'm sorry," she started to apologize and went to grab her robe but Andy stopped her. "No, don't be sorry," he whispered to her as he stood up and kissed her gently on her lips. They broke apart and Sharon got into bed as Andy went into the bathroom.

He thought about taking a cold shower, just to get himself to calm down. If he did that, Sharon would hear the shower running, and he didn't want to make her feel bad about getting him riled up. He decided to splash cold water on his face instead as he stood over the sink. That would have to suffice for now until the morning. He dried his face and stepped out of the bathroom, much calmer than before.

Sharon was laying down on his side of the bed again and Andy moved through the room and got into bed himself. Sharon snuggled into his side and he wrapped his arm around her. He laid there in bed, trying to relax as he held her. He could feel her relaxing and knew she was asleep. The problem now was that he was wide awake.

He laid there with her, trying to relax but everything kept running in his mind and he needed to move. He glanced down at her and her eyes were closed. She looked peaceful to him. How could she be so at peace with him holding her when he was such a mess.

He carefully slipped out of bed so that he didn't disturb Sharon sleeping. He grabbed his phone to see what time it was and if Emily had texted him, but she didn't. He decided to go downstairs, maybe if he drank some tea, it would help him, as it always worked for Sharon.

The house was quiet as he made his way to the kitchen and turned the main light over the table on. He tried not to make too much noise as he went through the cabinets and got the tea kettle out, filling it with water before placing it on the stove. He rummaged through the different types of teas they had in the pantry until he found one that he usually made for Sharon when she couldn't sleep.

The water was ready and before it let out a whistle, Andy turned the stove off and poured the hot water into his mug. He went over to the kitchen table and sat there. He was contemplating going to see a therapist, he needed to do something and keeping everything in was taking a toll on him. He thought that telling Sharon and confessing to her the past couple of days would have helped him, and it did somewhat, but in the back of his mind, it would always be there nagging on him that he didn't protect her.

And now, this whole thing with Matthew and whatever it was that he was going through had weighed Andy even further down than he was. He took a sip from his mug and saw the headlights of a car pull into the driveway. 'That must be Emily', he thought as he sat there.

The back door unlocked and Emily came through the door. She was surprised that Andy was still up and sitting in the kitchen. "Hey," she whispered as she stepped into the kitchen. "Did you have a nice time tonight with your friends?" Andy asked her. She looked over her step-dad as he sat there. "Yes, I did. It was good catching up with them," she told him.

"Where's Mom?" she asked him as she moved through the kitchen. "She's sleeping upstairs," he sighed. "And why aren't you up there with her?" she wondered. " I was, but I couldn't sleep," he shrugged his shoulders as he held the mug on the table. Emily thought about going upstairs but instead, she sat down at the table with Andy.

"You know, Mom's worried about you, not being able to sleep and everything else," Emily told him and he looked across the table at her. "Yeah, well I'm worried about her," he gruffed as he took another sip of tea. "You two are made for each other, you know that?" Emily said as she fiddled with her hands. She never really had sat down and talked to her step-dad, one on one before.

"I'm worried about your mother, that will never change, but now, this whole thing with Matthew acting up, I just, I don't know," he started telling her. "Well, he's 9 and I'm sure you've dealt with 9 year olds before," Emily assumed but Andy shook his head. "Actually, when Nicole and Charlie were 9, I wasn't in their life. Sandra and I were already divorced by then and she wasn't really into sharing custody, especially with a drunk," Andy told her and suddenly Emily understood.

"That kid's been through a lot, and for some reason I feel like I'm somehow failing him too," Andy continued to talk to her. "What? You're not failing him, Andy. Any kid would be grateful to have a dad like you," Emily told him and she saw her mother walking down the hallway, coming towards them.

"Mom, what are you doing up?" she asked her. "I heard voices talking down here and I saw that Andy wasn't in bed so I decided to seek him out," she smiled as she ran her hand over the back of his shoulders. Emily stood up from the table and kissed her mom on her cheek. "I'm going to head to bed now," Emily told them and left the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Sharon asked Andy as she sat next to him. "Just thinking," he told her. "Hmm, you've been thinking a lot lately," she said as she ran her hand over his hand. "Please talk to me," she whispered as she watched him sit there. He looked at her and the walls came crashing down. "I'm still having nightmares and I can't sleep," he confessed as she held his hand. "I know," she simply told him as they sat in the kitchen.

TBC