Sharon rounded the corner and saw Brenda getting off the elevator. Flynn tapped Sharon's shoulder with the file he was holding, "I'll catch up with you. Hey Chief."
Brenda gave Flynn a wave as he retreated.
Brenda held out a travel mug to Sharon. "I got myself a coffee, thought I'd bring you one."
"Oh, thanks." She smiled, accepting the proffered drink.
"Are you busy?"
"You know how it is but I always have time for you."
"Captain Raydor, just who I was looking for."
Sharon turned around when she heard her name and was surprised to see Rusty's case worker. "Cynthia."
"Brenda, it's good you're here too. Good news. Sharon Raydor, Brenda Leigh Johnson, this is Daniel Dunn," she gestured to the man behind her. "Rusty's father."
"Rusty was very clear. He did not want to meet his biological father." Sharon snapped once Daniel was safely stashed in the break room.
"The kid's just settling in!" Brenda frowned.
"Foster care is, by definition, temporary. As it is, officially, Rusty has a placement issue to which this man could be the answer."
"At the moment he's more of a question. Like why did he just show up now after 16 years?" Sharon folded her arms across her chest.
"Because you people gave us DNA results last week and told us to go look for him iand/i once we found Mr. Dunn we were legally obligated to notify him of Rusty's existence. In all 50 states we would have to try and reunite him with a parent or the nearest – "
Sharon started shaking her head, causing Cynthia to stop talking and turn around
"Hey… what's up?" Rusty furrowed his brow at the cavalcade of women.
"Nothing… why aren't you in school?" Cynthia questioned.
"Faculty retreat. They let us go right after mass. Gotta love those Catholics, right?"
Sharon laughed uncomfortably.
"Am I in trouble again?" Rusty worried his lip.
"Oh, no. What do you need?"
"A soda?"
"We have a sensitive family thing going on in the break room right now, so…" Sharon cleared her throat, "I'll bring you a soda in a minute."
"Okay." He regarded Sharon with suspicion, his gaze moving to Brenda and then Cynthia. "Uh, bye Cynthia."
"Bye Rusty." They waited until he was out of earshot before Cynthia continued, "Let me give you the headline here: unless he proves unfit, Mr. Dunn has parental rights."
Sharon nodded, rubbing her temple.
"I'll be in touch." Cynthia said before taking her leave.
"I don't have a good feeling about this." Sharon sighed. "I don't feel good about this."
Brenda rubbed Sharon's back. She didn't have much to add. She didn't have the best feeling either but she knew that Sharon and Rusty were already very close and she felt a duty to be 'glass half full' person in this situation.
"I hate him already." Sharon whispered.
Brenda smiled, "yeah, he looks like a douche."
Sharon smiled back, "you always know just what to say."
Brenda held her arms out to her, "I have to get back to work. I'll call you in a little bit."
Sharon gladly accepted the hug and kissed her cheek. "Thanks. And thanks for the coffee."
Sharon smoothed down her skirt and paced in front of the door for a few moments. She was used to volatility. She had to be after being with Brenda for almost eight years but it didn't mean she took any pleasure in knowingly setting someone off.
Finally she threw open the door, "Rusty, dcfs notified your biological father about you." Just pull off the bandaid.
"What?" Rusty slammed his soda can down. "You said it was up to me! that meeting my father was up to me!"
"Hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me tell you what happened here." Sharon held up her hands in an attempt to calm him.
"Wait, wait, wait, so that's why Cynthia was here, did she bring this guy with her? Is-is he in the break room?" Rusty demanded and Sharon straightened up, looking as apologetic as she could manage. "He is, isn't he? he's in the breakroom that is why you guys wouldn't let me in to get my soda because I am the sensitive family problem you have."
"Cynthia thought she was doing you a favor by bringing Mr. Dunn here - "
"No, you stop it, Sharon!" Rusty cried, his voice cracking and tears in his eyes. "She was doing a favor for you! Not doing a favor for me! Great! Now the rules win and you can get rid of me and it's not your fault."
"I am not trying to get rid of you!"
Provenza had enough and he burst into the room. "okay, that's enough, that's enough!" He snapped, "Now. You know that I am not friends with this woman but if she wanted to get rid of you she could have dumped you in a group home months ago."
"It's alright, Lieutenant." Sharon insisted meekly.
Provenza waved her off. He cared about the boy very much but had zero tolerance for back talk or self-pity – from children... "No, it's not alright. So this guy shows up, says he's your father, wants to see you. Well none of us ilike/i it but instead of whining about the situation let's look at our options."
"You talked to him? What'd you think?" Rusty asked, chastised.
"Rusty... I'm going to tell you the truth. Um, I can't say that I liked him. I don't know him and I can't be objective." Despite her best efforts she felt tears welling up in her eyes. The absolute last thing she wanted was to cry in front of Provenza. "H-he made an effort to come and see you and I think, just - think about that."
Sharon turned to walk away. She didn't cry in front of people either.
"Sharon, I'm sorry." Rusty tried.
"I know," she said quickly, beelining for the door.
"Sharon, I'm sorry!"
"I know." She choked on a sob and tried to smile at him. "I know." She walked straight to her office, not looking at anything other than the door knob or thinking about anything past counting the steps it took to get her there.
She pulled open the door and shut it, leaning back against it. Her chest wracked with the effort to hold back her tears. She ran her hands over her face, not caring if she was ruining her make up.
After the case had been wrapped up and Sharon and Rusty had both calmed down a little about the Daniel Dunn-in-break-room situation.
"I think it says something good about Daniel that he waited around for twelve hours." Sharon shrugged, trying to be as optimistic about the situation as possible. "Look, what you do today is still your decision. When the dna comes back - "
"I know. I've been looking it up all day on the internet that whole parental rights thing. If he takes this to court we're screwed, the law is on his side so don't say we have choices, we don't have choices. Either of us."
"We can choose how we react."
Rusty shrugged and scuffed his feet. Rusty's eyes were big and sad and they tugged at her heart strings. "Yeah... but he won't like me, Sharon, he'll find out everything about me and I just - I can't. How could there be any better place for than with you and Brenda?"
Sharon wanted to throw her arms around the boy and hold him forever.
"I mean, you and I were both abandoned as children. Brenda and I were both almost killed by Philip Stroh. You both know what it's like to not be straight. I… don't want to be with people who I have nothing in common with…"
Sharon nodded a little. "Before you make any decisions, why don't you give him a really good look in the eye?"
The door to Major Crimes opened and Brenda let herself in quietly. Rusty pushed off from the wall he was leaning against. "I know I already said that I was sorry before... for saying that you wanted to get rid of me. That was terrible and I don't really think that."
"I know." Sharon nodded, "it's already forgotten."
"You have been nothing but good to me, Sharon, and I know that. I always know that."
"Well, I l - " she paused for a moment. "I really like having you around."
Rusty smiled at her, unspoken words still on the tip of his tongue. "Hi Brenda." He greeted on his way by. She patted his shoulder.
Once the door closed behind him, Brenda gently brushed Sharon's cheek. Sharon looked up at her with wet eyes.
"I know, sweetheart," Brenda put her arm around her and Sharon laid her head on Brenda's shoulder.
The door flew open and the women looked up startled as Rusty ran back in. "I don't want to talk about, please can we just go home?"