"Another Miss Manners etiquette lesson?" Brenda raised her eyebrows.
"You could do with one or two yourself. You leave your shoes all over the place." Sharon smirked.
"That's bush league, Brenda." Rusty agreed teasingly.
"Well, no one asked you." Brenda stuck her tongue out and poured herself another glass of wine. "I have to finish some paperwork – don't start any movies without me, okay?"
"Even Psycho?"
"Especially Psycho, I love Hitchcock!" Brenda gathered her files in her arms and her wine glass, "if I'm not back in thirty minutes come get me!"
Rusty smiled as Brenda disappeared down the hallway. He gathered up the place mats and put them in the cabinet. Rusty glanced at the red folder and Sharon followed his gaze.
"Have you looked through any of this information about your father?" Sharon asked gently.
"My biological father." Rusty frowned.
"Who comes with biological grandparents, aunt, uncles…"
"An uncle you found off a dna hit of a cocaine user in San Diego."
"Your father shouldn't be held responsible for your brother's behavior." Sharon leaned against the counter
"Fine. Well, let's just talk about my so-called-Dad's conduct then. He never even once tried to track me down. That doesn't sound very fatherly to me." Rusty scowled.
"Rusty, you didn't know about your father. There's a possibility he doesn't know about you either."
"Or maybe he just doesn't care." Rusty said softly.
Sharon didn't really have a good answer to that. It had been her experience that sometimes fathers just don't care enough and sometimes mothers think more about themselves than the wellbeing of their children. He knew her history and she knew she couldn't tell him that that surely wasn't the case.
Her reprieve came, surprisingly, in the form of Louie Provenza calling to tell her that there'd been a murder.
Sharon grabbed her purse. "I've gotta go. Rusty, I know that you are leaning away from meeting your father but I would consider that decision carefully. Now that we know that you have family, you may enjoy meeting with them."
"And living with them to?"
"Rusty, I'm not trying to get rid of you." She smiled. "In fact, if you weren't here Brenda and I would miss you. But I also feel obligated to do - "
"What's best for me. Yeah. I know." Rusty shoved his hands in his pockets.
"I'll probably be late."
"What, so now that I'm officially out of emergency care you're just going out every night? Is that it?"
"To a murder." Sharon said slowly and added, "and do your homework before your Hitchcock marathon – and if I get home and find that you've watched Vertigo without me there will be consequences."
When Sharon opened the door the next morning Brenda was waiting for her. Sharon smiled at her pyjama-clad wife and Brenda wrapped her arms around Sharon's waist, pulling her in for a kiss. Brenda slid her fingers into Sharon's hair and deepened the kiss.
"Mmm," Sharon let her purse slide out of her grasp and let her hands slide down Brenda's curves. "A girl could used to a greeting like this."
"Well, I missed you."
"I missed you too." Sharon let her head lean against Brenda's. It was that moment when she caught a whiff of breakfast, "what is that amazing smell?"
"That's all Rusty."
Sharon walked into the dining room and Rusty was setting out plates. Sharon smiled, "what's all this?"
"I thought you might be hungry when you texted and said you were finally coming home." Rusty dished out half of what was in the pan onto Sharon's plate as she sat down.
"You didn't need to go to all this trouble."
"It's no trouble. I used to make breakfast for my mom all the time."
"Brenda, aren't you eating?" Sharon asked.
Brenda took the last couple gulps of her coffee, "I ate mine before you got home." She set her coffee in the sink. "Rusty, breakfast was delicious. I'm going to finish getting ready for work."
Brenda kissed the top of Sharon's head and she stroked her arm as she retreated.
"Do you want cheese?"
"Please." Sharon nodded and Rusty spooned cheese onto her frittata. Sharon noticed the red folder sitting on the table and Rusty followed her gaze.
"Uh, I looked up my... well, let's just call him my father, I looked him up on the internet."
"What's you find?"
"Well his facebook page was private but his resume was online. He never fought in Bosnia which is where my mom said he died and he never even served in the army either. Pretty much everything she ever said about him was a lie - big surprise huh?" Rusty scoffed a little. "Right now he's working as a mortgage broker which is a bad thing, right?"
"No, not always, a mortgage is how you buy a house." Sharon put her first forkful into her mouth and let her eyes slide closed for a moment, "this is really good."
"Anyway, he's living in Orange County now but he has moved around a lot: San Francisco, Tucson, Las Vegas. What could be be running from?"
Sharon shrugged, "not all who wander are lost. You need to learn more about him before you jump to conclusions."
"Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say. I need to find out more about him. Like, if he's an asshole. If he's ever been to jail. If he does drugs. Do you think he does drugs?"
"I don't know."
"Good job today, Captain." Taylor said – almost as an afterthought – on his way out of the office, leaving Sharon and Sanchez alone.
Sharon watched the boy on the screen fold into his mother's arms. She had done a handful of things right today, surely, but wasn't sure if Detective Sykes would give Sharon an A for this one.
"That poor young man."
"You don't get to pick your parents, Captain."
Sharon smirked into her coffee. "No, you don't."
Sanchez stood up. "I just wanted to say good work with the receipt."
"Thank you, Julio."
"Because before that we had jack." Sanchez said, earning a bemused smile from Sharon. "I'm going to go see Sykes."
"I'll be there shortly." Sharon set down her coffee.
Rusty entered the office, passing Sanchez on his way in. "Is Detective Sykes okay?"
"She will be." Sharon nodded, gathering up her things. "I'm on my way over there now, I'll drop you off at the house on my way."
"That's okay. I could go too if that's alright."
"Okay." Sharon nodded and their eyes both landed on the folder at the same time. "So? What's in the file that Lieutenant Flynn put together about your father?"
"Well, he's never been arrested. There's no history of drugs or anything like that. He just seems like a completely normal guy." Rusty shrugged. "So I really only have one question left."
"Okay. What's up?"
"Do you want me to meet him so, like, like, I could leave here and live with him?" Rusty's eyes were sincere and concerned and Sharon wanted to erase all his doubts.
"Of course not. Unless that's what you wanted to do."
"It's just that I don't even know the guy and... and I made a friend at school..."
Sharon smiled hugely, "did you?"
"Yeah, he's on the chess team."
Sharon beamed with affection, "really?"
"And now that I'm out of emergency care I could join the chess team... and they could use me because they are terrible right now. And I like my history teacher and the laptop they gave me and... I don't know. I thought we were getting along. Aren't we?"
"Yes. We are. Really well." Sharon put her hand over the folder. "Listen, I'm just presenting you with the facts as I promised I would. Meeting your biological father is completely up to you."
"Then I don't want to. He might not even know about me but I definitely don't need to know about him." Rusty shifted from foot to foot. "So if you really mean that and you don't mind me hanging around I think I'm happy where I am. With you and Brenda… I think I'm happy."
"Well then, let's keep it that way." Sharon smiled. "And we'll pick up dinner on the way home from the hospital. What are you in the mood for?"
"I know Brenda's vote would be Chinese but… how about pizza?"
"I think pizza sounds very good."
Rusty adjusted the backpack. "I just… what would it take for you to forgive your biological father?"
"I've already forgiven him but it would take an act of god to get me into the same room with him." Sharon pressed the button for the elevator. "I hope that my own feelings toward my biological father haven't influenced your decision."
"It didn't." Rusty shook his head. "I just… I'm done with uncertainty."
Sharon hesitated for a moment before putting her hand on his shoulder, giving it a comforting rub.
Angela's phone vibrated in her purse and she dug it out and put it to her ear as she walked across the parking lot. "Hello?"
"Hey, this is Max."
"Hi Max." Angela unlocked her car and slid in.
"I got your number from James. I hope that's okay."
"Absolutely." The engine roared to life. "Do you need a ride home?"
"No, no." He chuckled on the other end, "I was actually hoping you were free for dinner tonight. There's this great Indian restaurant I know and I'd love to take you."
Angela smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."