Expose
Chapter 3
"Do you want to read it separately or together?" Andy asked her as they sat on the couch with the folder in front of them.
Sharon smiled at him and laced her fingers through his, "Together, we are in this together."
Andy kissed her softly, "Promise me whatever this says you will remember that."
He pulled the paper out and began to read it to her. Feeling embarrassed again at the way he had treated her. He continued on both of them surprised at the next person that Rusty had interviewed.
Former Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson had this to say about the early days of Raydor and Flynn's relationship. "I was sure that Captain Raydor was going to recommend that Andy be let go. She had so many rules and he had no interest in following any of them. He also had a problem with his temper. In my book he never crossed the line but her book wasn't the same as mine. It was strange though because after he was attacked and she was making her recommendations concerning him something was different about her. I could not put my finger on it but there was a gentleness in her eyes that I hadn't seen before. It was about more than just him following the rules or avoiding a lawsuit. You could tell she actually cared about him. I didn't expect that from her. However, I never thought he would make it working under her command. I guess maybe I underestimated both of them.
"You treated me so much better than I deserved then. God, Sharon when I think about how awful I was to you. I am surprised you are sitting here with me today." Andy said his voice heavy with regret.
"Andy, something happened when I was investigating you. Somehow I was able to see through the temper and the broken rules and I started to see you. I started to see this man with so much passion and heart. I also saw a man who was committed to putting his life back together. I saw someone I really respected and I hoped maybe one day I could earn his respect too."
Sharon felt Andy's lips cover hers and his arms pull her to him. There was the passion she saw him all of those years ago and every bit of it was directed at her right now. Not long ago that passion would have scared her but now she trusted it because she trusted him. She returned his kiss with a passion of her own. She felt his hands travel up her thighs to her side and to the outside of her breast. Her entire body trembled when he took one of her breast in his hand. He started to pull back afraid he was going to fast but Sharon placed her hand over his before moving it around his neck and under the collar of his shirt desperate to touch his skin. When they ended the kiss they were breathless and clinging to each other.
"Sharon, you have had my respect for years. Even when I was too much of an ass to show it. I don't know what I ever did to earn yours but I promise you I never want to lose it."
"You aren't going to Andy, I know who you are inside and that's who I respect."
He wanted so badly to continue with what they had started to feel her against him again. He wanted to make love to her right there on the couch but he knew they had other issues to address first. He settled them back so that she was leaning against him and he wrapped his arms around her as he continued reading.
Lieutenant Provenza has worked with Lieutenant Flynn the longest, "I had expected my partner to be as equally bothered be the woman's new position as I was. I mean she made everything so much more difficult. Without her and all of her rules we could get things done so much easier. But after he went to the morgue with her that first day suddenly it was always, "The Captain this and The Captain that" it was like he was a golden retriever following her around doing whatever she asked. At first I thought he was afraid of her, afraid he was going to lose his job if he didn't play right. But then I realized he had actually bought into her way of doing things. I mean sure it was working well enough but did he have to be so nice to her? I mean this is the man that once drew a picture of her as a the wicked witch on the board, now he was acting like her personal bodyguard around suspects and standing up to Taylor on her behalf. What the hell happened to my partner?
Of course that wasn't the worst of it. Things really got weird after she went with him to his daughter's wedding. I mean why the hell did she offer to do that? Why did he say yes? Why on earth would he want to spend time with her outside of work? Again, my opinion of her at work was changing a little but I didn't want to be hang out with the woman. After that stupid wedding suddenly he never wanted to double date anymore. It was like she had cast some kind of spell on him. In fact I don't think he has been out with anyone since then."
Sharon turned to Andy and raised an eyebrow at him, "We are going to skip the part about your artistic renderings of me and focus on that last part. Have you really not been with anyone else since Nicole's wedding?"
Andy pushed her hair away from her neck and placed soft kisses along it.
Sharon hummed a little before moving away and saying, "Are you avoiding my question Lieutenant?"
Andy continued his path until her reached her lips for one more kiss before answering her.
"Not entirely, I went out a few times after Nicole's wedding but I found myself bored or irritated by the women I would usually go out with. I would be talking with them and remember the way you talked to me at Nicole's wedding. Their laughs were like nails on a chalk board because they didn't sound the way yours did. They didn't smell like you or move the way you do. One day I realized there was only one woman I wanted to be with. I didn't think I had a chance with her but I didn't want to be with anyone else either."
"You always had a chance, she was just too scared to admit it." She said before beginning another passionate kiss.
"Beautiful, we are never going to get through this if you keep kissing me like that." Andy whispered his voice full of desire.
Sharon smiled at him, "All right, keep reading then."
Most people seemed to notice the change is the relationship after the wedding but Lieutenant Mike Tao said long before that he noticed something. "We were working this case that involved a murdered officer from Las Vegas. It was one of those cases that had a lot of odd turns. Andy and I were working late at the office on a Friday and The Captain had already gone home when we had a break. We called the Captain to tell her and it was the first time I realized something about them, they finish each other's sentences. It's odd because they are wired so differently yet they can complete each other's thoughts. At times when they talk to each other it is like there is nobody else in the room. Of course there is also the way they communicate with each other without talking when they think nobody sees them. Whatever is happening between them might be the only thoughts that they don't know of each other's."
Andy put the paper down on the table, and looked at Sharon, "Do you know Sharon, do you know what is happening between us? Do you know how I feel about you?"
Sharon looked at him and placed her hand on his face, "Andy, I've known for a while but I am ready to hear it from you now."
"I love you Sharon. I love you in a way that I didn't know it was possible to love someone. There is nothing in this world more important to me than you. Whatever comes because of this article you come first to me."
"Andy, you have shown me more love than I ever thought possible. You have been there for me like nobody else. You have never asked anything from me other than to be myself. Nobody has ever loved me the way that you do. That kind of love made it completely impossible for me to not fall in love with you."
With the next kiss they were laying on the couch with Andy moving above her. Their need for each other far greater than their need to continue reading. Andy's hands made their way up under her shirt and she undid the buttons on his allowing her to touch him more. His fingers traced her lace on her bra and she felt him move around her back to undo it.
Sharon shifted slightly, "Andy, we have to finish reading first." She told him barely able to get the words out.
Andy buried his face in her hair and slowly pulled her shirt back down allowing himself to slowly trace her breast one more time.
"You said first, which means when we finish there is more of this?"
Sharon couldn't see his face but she knew exactly the look that was on his face. As pulled her face to him for one more kiss.
"Yes, but for now read." She said failing at sounding firm.
Andy shifted so they were now laying together with his arms around her as he continued to read.
"I only thought things got weird after the wedding but then as we got closer to Christmas things got really strange." Lieutenant Provenza had to say, "Flynn had allowed his family to believe that he and The Captain or Sharon as he kept calling her were some kind of a couple. Being ever the idiot that he is he asked her to go with him to the Nutcracker and for some reason she said yes. After that all hope was lost he was gone. I had lost him to the dark side."
Andy heard Sharon chuckle at that part as he continued to read.
"The really strange thing was she seemed to have developed some kind of feelings for him to. Only neither of them would actually say anything to the other. They just kept looking at each other like a couple of love sick teenagers. Going to dinner all of the time and acting like nothing was going on, idiots I tell you idiots."
"Maybe I didn't notice things as fast as Tao or Provenza but when The Captain's husband came into the office while we were investigating Alice's death things were crazy tense." Detective Amy Sykes remembers "The Captain sent The Lieutenant and I out to follow up on a lead. It was strange because usually she sends Julio and I out together but I got the feeling she didn't want him around when Jack was there. Then in the car he kept muttering things about Jack being an asshole. That was when I began to realize something was going on."
"Really, Andy?" Sharon teased.
"Hey, do you want me to read or not?" he answered
It was not only their co-workers who noticed a difference. They each have children who knew something was going on. Flynn's daughter Nicole noticed what she called "The Sharon Effect". "My dad has changed a lot over the years. I know it has to do with his own hard work but I think Sharon is a big part of it too. It's not like he is trying to impress her or anything like that. It's more like she just brings out the best in him. It was obvious to me at the wedding there was something between them. I watched them dancing together completely lost in the music and moment. My dad couldn't take his eyes off of her. I had never seen him like that before. When they tried to tell me after a year that they weren't dating it was laughable. They might be the only ones to realize what was going on."
"I had met Andy several times over the year and had always thought he was a good guy." Raydor's son Ricky remembers, "When I came home last summer things were different though. I immediately noticed that he was flirting with her. At first it bothered me because I didn't want someone hitting on my mom but then I realized she flirted with him too. I was in shock. I had never seen my mom like that before."
Emily Raydor had this to say, "I live the furthest away so I have seen the least of all of the kids but maybe I heard the most. I called mom one Saturday and she told me how she had gone to a wedding with Andy. Then a few weeks later when I called she was just getting home from dinner with him. Then the Nutcracker. Before I knew it Andy's name came up more than once in every conversation we had. This went on for a year before I got home to actually see them together. I decide at that point for two detectives neither of them were very observant if they couldn't see what was between them.
"We have some pretty smart kids." Sharon said
"Maybe smarter than us." Andy laughed kissing her head.
This past Christmas marked a year of their escalating relationship. They were attending the Nutcracker for the second time and events caused them to face the true nature of their relationship. Buzz Watson made these observations,
"I don't know what Lieutenant Flynn's daughter said to The Captain but it caused her to become undone in a way I had never seen before and man was she mad at him. He was trying their usual talk and flirt and she shut him down. I didn't know what he had done but the whole scene was fun to watch. Then within a couple of days that was over and they were back to talking and flirting and looking at each other all of the time."
Now in the second year of their "very good friendship" Raydor and Flynn seem to be the only ones left not ready to acknowledge what is between them. Yes, they are very good friends but they have also fallen in love with each other. Hopefully one day soon they will be ready to acknowledge it.
"I don't know if I should ground him or hug him." Sharon laughed.
"I plan on telling him thank you." Andy said rolling over slightly so that he was leaning back over her.
Sharon laughed again, "Don't encourage him."
Andy began kissing her neck again slowly making his way up to her lips. Before he could get to them she turned slightly.
"Andy, I thought we said we were going to figure out what we were going to do about this." She said
He continued kissing her, "This is what I want to do about this" He said between kisses.
"Did you want to do something different?" He asked her while running his hands back under her shirt.
She breathed in sharply as he reached her breast again.
"No, anything else I want to do can wait until later." She said before capturing his lips with her own and pulling him tightly against her.
TBC