A/N: Hope y'all enjoy this latest Shandy installment. It's all about how they came to date. Enjoy.
Begin Again
It had all happened rather innocently.
Sharon wasn't trying to eavesdrop on Andy's conversation with Provenza in the break room.
She'd gone there to make a cup of tea before her appointment with Andrea to discuss their latest case.
What she hadn't counted on was hearing her name brought up in conversation by Andy.
He'd said, "I'm in love with Sharon, but I'm afraid of ruining the friendship."
He'd verbatim actually said that to Provenza.
It had taken all of her willpower not to gasp at that.
Sure, she and Andy did a lot of social things together outside of work, but to come to find out he was in love with her was a total shock.
After hearing that, she quickly rushed back to her office and found Andrea sitting there waiting for her.
She quickly shut the door and closed the blinds.
"Sharon? What's wrong?" asked Andrea at Sharon's odd behavior as she strolled into her office and plopped down in her desk chair.
"We have a problem," Sharon announced.
"We do? I thought the case was airtight," said Andrea.
"Not with the case. I have a personal problem," said Sharon.
"Ooh! Do tell. It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the silver fox you've been hanging out with so much outside of work, would it?" Andrea fished for more information on what they were dealing with.
"Oh god! How did you know?" asked Sharon.
"First of all, he follows you around like a lost puppy," Andrea pointed out.
"He does not," challenged Sharon.
"Actually, he does. You're just too busy giving him heart eyes at every turn to notice," Andrea told her.
"Really? Has anybody else noticed?" asked Sharon.
"Nobody's said anything to me about it. Though they're probably much more apt to talk about stuff like that amongst themselves," said Andrea.
"Oh god!" Sharon freaked out, mortified.
"You still haven't told me what's going on. Did Flynn say something to you?" questioned Andrea.
"Not so much to me as about me," confessed Sharon.
"Ooh! What did he say?" asked Andrea.
"I overheard him say that he was in love with me, but didn't wanna ruin the friendship," said Sharon.
"Jesus Flynn! No wonder you're freaking out sweetie," said Andrea to Sharon, knowing her best friend very well by this point.
"What do I do?" asked Sharon.
"What do you wanna do?" asked Andrea.
"What do you mean?" asked Sharon.
"Exactly what I said: What do you wanna do about this?" Andrea reiterated.
"Nothing. I'm his superior. How would it look if I went after him? I'll tell you, the result wouldn't reflect well on either of us. I would be accused of playing favorites by other departments and possibly even within my own. No, I can't do anything about it. There's no question about that," said Sharon, thinking out loud.
"Tell me, if things were different, would you go after him?" asked Andrea seriously.
"No…I mean yes, but a lot would have to be discussed and figured out before that could ever happen," Sharon pointed out.
"Like what?" asked Andrea, genuinely curious as to where Sharon's head was at with all of this.
"First off, how we would keep our relationship out of the workplace and then report it to Taylor. Then…I don't know. I haven't been in a relationship for over 20 years, Andrea. How do people do these sorts of things now?" asked Sharon, internally freaking out.
"That depends. I'm assuming you're not just wanting to jump into bed with him, right?" asked Andrea.
"No. Definitely not. I wanna take things slower with him, make sure it's a good fit first," said Sharon.
"Well, from what I can tell, it already seems like the two of you go well together socially outside of work. This is just taking the next step. Go out on dates. Have fun with it and him. Go at a pace you both feel comfortable with. That's it really," Andrea told her.
"The fact remains that I can't go after him because I'm his superior," said Sharon, a bit deflated.
"Who's to say you can't drop some hints that you like him too? There's nothing wrong with a little harmless flirting". Besides, you kind of already do a bit of that anyways," Andrea pointed out.
"I do?" asked Sharon quizzically.
"Yeah, honey, you do. The way you play with his tie and always seem to match your outfits together is a dead giveaway. Tell me, is that on purpose?" asked Andrea, genuinely curious.
"No! Absolutely not. It's completely coincidental," said Sharon honestly.
"Well, maybe make more of an effort to match your clothing color palettes. Text him before work and ask him which tie he's wearing today," suggested Andrea.
"Alright. I'm so bad at this whole flirting thing though. What do I do to show him I'm interested without being obvious about it to everyone else?" asked Sharon.
"I don't know. Just be yourself, Sharon. You already touch his arm during casual conversations. Keep doing that. Oh, and use your hands a lot. Touch his shoulder a lot or intentionally sit really close to him during meetings or while reviewing a case with the team, sit on a desk near his and put your gorgeous legs on display. Walk with a little pep in your step and occasionally shimmy your hips naturally as you walk away from him. I've caught him staring at both your legs and your ass before," replied Andrea nonchalantly.
"Really?" asked Sharon, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah. Plenty of times. He loves when you walk away from him. Gives him a chance to stare at your backside," said Andrea.
"What if he just does that with all women?" asked Sharon worriedly.
"Oh, no honey. Maybe he used to do that before, but not now. No. He's only had eyes for you the past couple years. He's been giving off the energy that he's into you for at least a year now. It's kind of amusing how he follows you around like a sick puppy. No, you're definitely the center of his universe and have been for a while now," Andrea reiterated.
"How do I not notice any of this and you do? I consider myself to be a pretty observant person," Sharon told Andrea.
"Oh, sweetie. It's because you're smack dab in the middle of it all. All those outings you've been going on: To the Japanese Museum gala, the movies, and even that Dodgers game he has invited the whole team to. It's all a ruse to get closer to you," said Andrea.
"Well, if he's so into me, then why doesn't he ask me out?" asked Sharon.
"Probably intimidated. Strong, smart women like us usually intimidate them. Flynn's probably scared shitless to ask you out because he's so used to dating beneath himself. He probably thinks you're out of his league. He's not used to dating up instead of down. You just have to let him know how good of a person he is. Stroke his ego a bit, maybe," suggested Andrea.
"Alright. I think I've got enough tools and intel to get started. I'll call you if I need to freak out again or need more advice," Sharon told her.
"What about the case file?" asked Andrea.
"Oh, it's right here. It's an airtight case as far as I'm concerned," Sharon told Andrea as she handed her the case file.
"Good. Now I go back to work. Try not to freak out," said Andrea right before she opened the door and walked out of Sharon's office.
"I'll try. Thanks again," Sharon told Andrea as she left her office.
"Anytime," replied Andrea as she exited the murder room and went back to her office.
—-
Over the next several weeks, Sharon tried everything from sitting close to Andy while the team went over a case, to having a pep in her step as she walked away from him, to touching his arm or shoulder while they were in conversation with one another, to stroking his ego on occasion.
She hoped all of this would encourage him to ask her out, but it had yet to happen.
She really liked him and if things were different, she'd have no problem going after what she wanted.
The thing was, things were different, and she couldn't be the one to ask him out.
He was her subordinate and the optics of her asking him out weren't good.
It would have to be him asking her out and not the other way around.
If only she could get him to get up the courage to ask her out on a date.
Maybe Andrea was right, that Andy was in fact intimidated by the fact that she was a strong & smart woman.
Maybe she had also been right about Andy being daunted by the prospect of dating up instead of down like he had been before.
Sharon really wasn't out of his league though.
In fact, she thought it was a rather even playing field.
If only she could get Andy to see that for himself.
He'd been acting oddly protective of her lately too with this whole Julio business.
Maybe, she'd talk to Andy about that the next time he came into her office.
About 20 minutes later, Andy came striding into her office asking if she had a minute to talk.
She agreed and he closed the door behind him.
She thought this might be when he'd finally ask her out.
Then, he'd started talking about the Julio thing and she knew they were about to butt heads on the subject.
"You know I was just looking after your best interest, right?" he'd asked her.
Sharon responded with, "Andy, I've been looking after my own best interest for a really long time, especially at work. I don't need you for that."
"Okay, sure. I get it," he'd replied and turned to leave.
Just after he opened the door again, he turned around to ask her another question.
"So, what do you need me for?" Andy had asked her.
Sharon was in shock and intensely attracted to the boldness of his question.
She'd finally responded with, "Close the door. Let's talk."
Andy sat down in the chair across from her and tapped his fingers nervously on the armrest, waiting for Sharon to speak first.
When she just looked at him like a deer in the headlights, he finally asked, "So…what did you want us to talk about?
"Well, hypothetically…if there were ever to be an us, there'd have to be some boundaries in place at work," Sharon told him.
"Such as?" asked Andy, genuinely curious.
"Such as….there would be no PDA or favoritism at work. I am to treat you like any other member of this squad. You do something that's out of line, I write you up, just like I would anyone else here. You respect my authority at work and everything else outside of work would hypothetically be a discussion," said Sharon.
"Alright. Anything else?" asked Andy.
"Hypothetically, the first thing we'd do professionally, if there were ever an us,would be to report our hypothetical relationship to Assistant Chief Taylor and fill out the ensuing paperwork required for that. We do everything by the book. That way, nobody can claim we didn't report it and it won't come back to bite us in the ass later," Sharon told him.
"Okay. What else?" asked Andy as he smiled at Sharon's love of the rules.
"Hypothetically, if there were an us, we would do our best not to do what you just did, especially in front of everyone else in the squad and our superiors," said Sharon as she looked down after she'd said that and smiled to herself.
"I understand. Now, can we talk about what it would mean for us on a personal level? Hypothetically, of course." said Andy.
"Like I said, hypothetically everything personally having to do with us and our hypothetical relationship would be a discussion," Sharon reiterated.
"I can live with that," said Andy.
"Good," replied Sharon as she touched his hand that was laying in the middle of her desk & stroked his knuckles.
"So, we're really doing this," said Andy as he smiled at her and patted the hand that was on top of his other one.
"Hypothetically, yes," said Sharon as she smiled at their joined hands for a moment before removing hers from his.
"Great. I'll see you tomorrow, then?" asked Andy as he smiled and stood up to leave her office.
"Yeah. Tomorrow," replied Sharon as she smiled back at Andy.
"So, door open or closed?" asked Andy as he stood in the doorway of Sharon's office.
"Closed, please. I've got some paperwork to finish up before I leave for the night and would prefer no interruptions," said Sharon.
"Alright. Closed it is. Goodnight, Sharon," said Andy.
"Goodnight, Andy," she said back before Andy closed her office door.
After she saw him head for the elevators and he was out of earshot and visual distance, she banged her head against her desk a couple times.
God, Andy could be so dense sometimes. She'd decided to broach the subject of their hypothetical relationship after his overprotectiveness today and he still didn't get that she wanted him to ask her out on a proper date.
As she began finishing up her paperwork, she'd called Andrea to tell her all about it and ask for more advice.
Andrea had told her to keep being persistent. That he'd eventually get it.
God, how Sharon wished she could just ask Andy out herself.
That wasn't the case in this situation though.
Andy'd have to do the asking.
—-
A week later, Sharon and the whole team surprised Buzz with a cake in honor of his first ride-along ever, which would be with Andy & Provenza that night.
After the surprise had settled down, Sharon took Andy aside and messed with the tie of his uniform and then straightened it out and said warningly, "Don't tease Buzz too much tonight…please."
"I wouldn't dream of it," replied Andy as he smiled at the gesture before turning to Buzz and he and Provenza took him on his first ride-along, which sort of turned into a disaster, as it often did when Provenza & Andy got together.
After a few days and when their latest case was closed, Andy walked up to Sharon in the murder room when pretty much everyone had gone home already and said, "Listen, since it's calmed down here…what do you say to dinner tomorrow…at Serve? It's new…its nearby….and people say…well people say it's one of the most romantic places in Los Angeles."
Sharon couldn't believe this was finally happening, but tried to keep her cool in front of Andy.
"Romantic?" asked Sharon.
Andy tried to backpedal a bit, thinking he'd freaked her out and said, "Well, that's how it's described."
"Uhh…umm…ahh…fine," replied Sharon nervously.
Andy smiled at her reply to his question before Sharon asked, "Uhh…where's Hobbs?"
"She's in interview one, I think," Andy told her, a bit confused about Sharon's reaction.
The important thing was that she had said fine to dinner at Serve, which he decided to take as a win.
Meanwhile, as Sharon began walking towards interview one to tell Andrea all about this new development, Andy noticed her smile to herself and she was fidgeting nervously a little bit with her hair as she walked away from him, which in turn made him smile.
Both were getting what they really wanted: Each other.
Now it was time to embark on their new, non-hypothetical relationship.
It was time to begin again for both of them.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading this latest Shandy installment. Feel free to leave a review if you'd like to.