Hello everyone! I know this should have been fixed AGES ago but I'm a bad dog. I had accidentally had Hostile Witness posted twice and now here it is, here's the REAL Fool's Gold chapter!

Frank's tags jingled as Liz led him down the sidewalk to the grassy area. Sharon had her hands shoved in her pockets as she followed along and Flynn trailed behind her. "So, Flynn," Liz started as Frank started rooting around purposefully. "No special lady in your life these days?"

Flynn didn't want to talk about his lack of attachment. He didn't want to think about how long it had been since his last serious girlfriend. "Me? No. The Captain's engaged though."

Sharon shot Flynn a look. Here she was, always desperately trying to keep her professional and personal life separate and he just had to go and say that.

"Oh, congratulations!" Liz turned to Sharon with a bright smile. "I did see the ring but since it wasn't a diamond I didn't want to say anything and be wrong."

"Thank you." Sharon smiled reservedly.

"She's engaged to Chief Johnson." Flynn added.

"Oh, no kidding?" Liz continued to grin, "that's adorable. How long have you been together?"

"Five years." Flynn interrupted.

"Six years, lieutenant."

"You two were together for a whole year before you came out to your squads?" Flynn demanded.

"Yes, because it wasn't really anybody's business." Sharon fixed him with a look.

Liz continued, undeterred by the brief quarrel. "So, where are you having the ceremony? Here or in Mississippi or Alabama… where's Chief Johnson from again?"

"She's from Georgia. I don't know, we haven't made any plans yet."

"You must have just gotten engaged then."

Sharon shrugged, "it was about five or six months ago."

"And you haven't made any plans yet?" Liz blinked, "what are you girls waiting for?"

"Frank's pooping!" Sharon announced excitedly – certainly more excitedly than she would have under normal circumstances.

"Oh, good boy, Frank!" Liz mewled.

Saved by the shit, Sharon thought. She hooked a finger toward the dog and the shit in question, "go ahead, Lieutenant, it's all yours."

"Gee thanks." He, clearly, did not share Sharon's enthusiasm.

He bent down, "how do I do this?"

"Turn the bag inside out, grab the glove and then turn it rightside out as you pull it off your hand." Liz said. Frank was already sniffing other things, blissfully unaware that his bowel movement was so interesting to the humans.

"Do you have kids, Captain?"

Sharon thought this was over – clearly she'd been wrong. "Uh, yes. I have two."

"Did you have to do IVF or adopt?"

"I… was married. My husband and I had children together."

"And when did you realize you were a lesbian?" Liz asked with a grin.

Sharon bowed her head embarrassedly, "um, I'm not a lesbian, I'm… bisexual."

"Oh, how modern!"

Sharon wanted to crawl into a hole and hide until Liz was gone. Flynn took pity on her, "so Liz, how's Billy doing? Is he going to be ten already?"

Liz excitedly launched into a story about her grandson and Sharon was glad that the focus was off of her. She'd been thinking about the wedding more in the last week than in the previous five months. She hadn't actually thought to ask if Brenda meant for them to have a real wedding or if the act of betrothal was enough. Possibly Brenda intended to wait until gay marriage was legal in California again.

Regardless of what Brenda's intentions were the simple truth remained: Sharon hadn't actually asked her what she wanted. That would need to be rectified.

"Oh hey Chief." Flynn smiled triumphantly. "Guess what! Frank dropped the kids off at the pool."

Sharon stifled an eye roll. Brenda stared at him and shook her head, confused, "what does that mean?

"No sign of Clyde yet but we're so close to Bonnie we can smell it." Flynn said. Brenda continued to stare at him as if he'd sprouted an extra head.

"We've got the glove." Sharon translated, afraid they could be there all day at this rate.

Flynn held up the evidence bag. Brenda grimaced, "Eeew…"

Sharon carefully took the bag from Flynn, holding it with her fingertips. "I'll start working on a print. I've got this feeling it's already in the system."

"Oh, thank you so much, Sharon." Brenda breathed as she walked by, grateful for her girlfriend's infinite patience.

"No problem, Chief." Sharon threw over her shoulder.

"I'll make it up to you."

"Yes, you will…" Sharon answered in a sing-song voice that made Brenda nervous. Sing-song was never a good sign.

In truth, Sharon was thrilled to death at the prospect of getting this case wrapped up. She hated loose ends and this case had already been going on too long. For most of her life Sharon was a dog owner, what she really couldn't stand was cat vomit.

"I can't believe I had to beg Pope to investigate this murder with you." Brenda shook her head.

"It's hard being close to people you work with, it's always hard. You've gotta be patient with people who drive you crazy."

Brenda snorted a laugh, "are you talkin' about Pope or me?"

Sharon batted her eyelashes playfully, "I find that good relationships sometimes depend… on what you're willing to overlook."

They locked eyes and Brenda sighed, "I sure do love you a whole lot."

Sharon put her hand on Brenda's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "I love you too."

Brenda chewed on her lip with a grin. "Are you going straight home?"

"Um, after I finish up a mountain of paperwork I'll be going straight home."

"Oh yeah… me too…"

"I'll see you at home in a couple of hours?"

Brenda nodded, stealing a quick kiss. "See you there."

Sharon stared into the refrigerator with annoyance. She'd forgotten how low on food they were. She closed it and straightened up. She picked up her phone. "Hey Brenda?"

"Sweetie, I'm in line at the Chinese place. Can I call you back?"

"I'll just see you when you get home," she said with a grin. "And don't forget spring rolls."

"Have I ever forgotten your spring rolls?"

"Thank you." Sharon hung up the phone and then went to grab a bottle of wine. Sometimes Sharon and Brenda brought out the worst in each other but more often than not they complimented each nicely.

Brenda carried the Chinese food over the threshold not fifteen minutes later and she found a tall glass of Merlot waiting for her. She kissed Sharon hello and took a sip. Sharon helped Brenda unpack the bag before she broke her chopsticks apart.

"I don't understand dog owners." Brenda said at last.

Sharon had to laugh at that. "I don't understand cat people. I think we just got to the root of any lingering problems in our relationship."

Brenda smiled. "How was the rest of your day?"

Sharon shrugged a little, "it was fine. Yours?"

"Boring but I finished all of my paperwork."

"The paperwork is easier when you follow the rules, isn't it?"

Brenda grumbled good-naturedly and ate a bite of moo shoo pork.

"So…" Sharon started, taking a sip of her wine. "I'm ready to talk about possible wedding ideas… if you want…"

Brenda's face lit up and she set her own glass down. "My first wedding was a church wedding and I don't want to do that again."

"Me neither."

"Good."

"California or Georgia?" Sharon asked. "Or should we split the difference and get married somewhere in the middle?"

"Well… both have advantages." Brenda conceded, "my family lives in Georgia and you still have relatives in Florida – but we live and work here and it would be a lot easier for us to plan the wedding here."

"I can probably get Angela to do all the tedious things." Sharon grinned slyly. "She's been bugging me about wedding stuff for months."

"Perfect. We have a wedding planner we don't have to pay."

"I would say that my main stipulation is an open bar, fully stocked."

"And lots of Merlot." Brenda added.

Sharon held up her glass to toast. "This is why we work so well."

Brenda clinked her glass against Sharon's.