What is Not Understood

By Kadi

Rated T

Disclaimer: This is not my sandbox, but it is my favorite place to play.

A/N: All Season 5 Spoiler Warnings remain in effect.

Chapter 5

Andy was in the kitchen when the knock sounded at the door. He finished slicing through the sandwich that he was making and wiped his hands on a towel before walking through the house to answer the door. He peeked through one of the narrow windows that braced the front door and his brows climbed at the sight of Captain Patrick and his team, along with several patrol officers. Andy drew a breath. His jaw clenched as he opened the door. He pushed it wide but he kept his hand on the edge of the dark, oak door. "Yeah?"

Patrick held up a piece of paper. "We have a warrant, Lieutenant. We're going to need you to step aside." This could go one of two ways, but he was really hoping that the other man made it easier on all of them.

It did not go unnoticed by Andy that Detective Lawrence and at least two of the patrol officers hand their hands on the hilts of their guns, just in case. Andy rolled his eyes at them. He held his hands up and took a step back and to the side. "Come on in."

Captain Patrick nodded. He waved his detectives forward and signaled for SID to join them. A uniformed officer and Detective Lawrence joined him in the foyer with Flynn. "Are you armed?"

"Nope." Andy still had his hands up. "My gun is on the bar," he nodded in the direction of the kitchen. "There's another one in a lockbox upstairs, and Sharon keeps a small .38 in a lockbox in her desk down here." Both were back up weapons and locked away, but he reported them, as was the regulation.

Lawrence nodded to the uniformed officer with him and he stepped forward to grasp Flynn's arm. He turned the Lieutenant around and gave him a quick pat down. When the uniformed officer nodded and gave the clear, he relaxed. "Is there anyone else in the home right now?" They knew that Raydor was still at the PAB.

Andy sighed. Their timing couldn't be worse. "Yeah. Sharon's son lives here. He's up in his room."

"We're going to need you both to step outside while we search the house," Captain Patrick informed him. "You know the drill, Lieutenant. I suggest that we keep this as simple as we can for everyone."

"Simple?" Andy scowled at him. "You just showed up with a warrant and a full SID team to search my house. There's not a damned thing about this that is simple." He slanted a look at Lawrence and his lip curled in disgust. "I always expected better of you." They had gotten along well when they were in Robbery Homicide together. Lawrence was always one of the better ones.

"You know something," Lawrence shot back at him. "A lot of us are thinking the same thing right now." He jerked his head toward the door. "Get him out of here."

Andy yelled for Rusty to come down stairs before he went. He didn't want the kid surprised by cops pounding on his bedroom door. He joined the older man outside, looking confused and upset. "What the hell is going on?"

"Don't worry about it." Andy already had his phone out. "It's just a misunderstanding." While the LAPD was searching his house, Andy placed a call to his lawyer. They had a feeling that this might happen.

It was game time.

While Andy was on the phone with his attorney, Rusty was on the phone with his mother. "Mom. What is going on? There are cops here and they are searching the house." His eyes widened as a group of SID technicians rounded the vehicles in the driveway. "They're searching my car," he said, almost screeching. "Why are they searching my car!"

"Rusty." Sharon tried to summon as much patience as she possessed. She spoke calmly, but her words still carried an edge. "I am going to need you to calm down. The officers are doing their jobs. The warrant that they obtained allows them to search all vehicles on the premises. Your car fits that criteria."

"But why?" He still didn't understand. He ran a hand into his hair. Rusty wondered if this had anything at all to do with the very hushed and strained conversation that his mother and Andy were having when he got home the previous evening. They had both seemed upset but didn't seem to want to tell him about it.

Sharon's sigh was audible through the phone connection. "Rusty, I am afraid that Andy is in a little bit of trouble. I cannot give you all of the details right now, but believe me when I tell you that not everything is what it looks like. We are going to do everything that we can to get to the bottom of this quickly. Until then, I am going to need you to do everything that the officers ask you to do while they are in our home. They may have some questions for you; just answer them truthfully. Understand?"

"Yeah." He looked across the yard. Andy had walked away, but he was well within the purview of the officers that were keeping an eye on him. Rusty frowned at his back. The last time that he heard Sharon sound this strained it was months ago. "Mom, are you okay?"

She was silent for several moments. She had always promised to be honest with him. "I cannot answer that right now," she told him. Sharon really didn't know the answer. "But you can help me out by doing what I asked."

"Okay." Rusty sighed. "Mom, this is really freaking me out."

"Yes," Sharon could agree with that. "I am feeling rather freaked out by it too. Rusty, I have to go. I will talk to you soon."

Rusty hung up his phone and placed it back in his pocket. He continued to watch the officers and techs that were moving around the cars, and the others, that were going in and out of the house. They stood outside, just waiting, for what felt like forever. They were taking things out of the house, but Rusty couldn't tell what, it was all wrapped up in brown paper bags. Rusty didn't think that was good. His gaze moved back and forth between the techs and Andy. The Lieutenant had been on his phone a couple of times.

Just as Rusty was getting ready to walk over and demand an explanation, more of one than Sharon could give him, the detectives that had made him leave the house came out again. They walked over to Andy, along with a uniformed officer. Rusty inched closer, wanting to hear what was happening.

"You know we're going to have to take you back down to the PAB now," Patrick told him. "We'll make sure that the Captain and your lawyer get a full inventory of everything we took."

"There was nothing in there for you to take." Andy scowled at them. "What the hell is this? What is it that you're looking for, huh? Whatever you think happened with your victim, she was sure as hell never in my house!"

"That remains to be seen." Patrick said. He exchanged a look with Lawrence and nodded.

"Lieutenant Flynn," the Detective took out his handcuffs and moved behind the other man. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you…"

It was like he was watching a bad movie. Rusty's jaw dropped open. He stared, horrified, as Flynn was literally put into handcuffs and then guided toward an unmarked squad car. His stomach dropped and rolled alarmingly. His hands swept into his hair. "What the hell!"

Andy looked toward him. His eyes were hooded, his jaw clenched. "Call your mother," he bit out. It was all that he had time to say before he was placed in the back of the car and the door was closed.

Rusty fumbled for his phone. It took two tries but he managed to finally call Sharon. When she answered, he blurted what was happening. "Andy has been arrested."

"Yes," she said sadly, "I know." There was a pause before she continued. "When the officers are finished with the house they are going to allow you to pack a bag. They are going to release your car. I want you to go and stay with Gus."

"But Mom—"

"Rusty," she spoke sharply. "Go and stay with Gus. I will take care of this. As soon as I know what is happening, I will tell you."

"Okay." He swept a hand over his face. "Mom, what did he do?"

She was silent for the space of several heartbeats. When Sharon answered her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. "I don't know Rusty, I just don't know."

He didn't hang up until she reminded him, again, that he was to go and stay with Gus. She wanted him out of the way. Rusty didn't know if that was a great idea, but he understood it. Sharon didn't want to have to worry about him on top of everything else.

It wasn't long before one of the officers was coming over to give Rusty the okay to get his stuff. Walking into the house felt a little odd. There were still officers milling around. Rusty didn't know what he expected. The place wasn't trashed, but it had obviously been searched. Rusty wondered what it was that they were looking for. He didn't have long to linger, though, and didn't want to. He packed a bag and got out of there as quickly as he could. Even though they were cops, it felt, oddly enough, kind of like the house had been violated somehow.

Rusty only hoped that whatever was going on, they were able to figure it out quickly, and that it wasn't as bad as it looked… because at the moment, it looked really bad.

When Sharon had finished speaking to Rusty she placed a call to Andy's attorney to make sure that she was aware that he had been detained. Linda Rothman was still in court, but the message was left with her assistant. The attorney would have to handle things when she was available. In the meantime, she was still trying to make sense of all of the evidence that had been placed before her. It was all pretty damning, as far as visual evidence went, if not in the case of Trina Shiloh's murder, then definitely to her relationship with the man.

Sharon wanted to trust him. Every instinct that she had was telling her that she should trust him. What she could not deny were the facts that were in front of her. To make matters more confusing her mind kept going back to Friday evening. Andy had come home late, smelling of cheap perfume, and he was immediately on the defensive when questioned about it. There was a lot of his story that her team could corroborate. There was a lot more that had gaping holes in it.

She waited until well after normal working hours before she decided to have that conversation with Andy herself. He was in holding, but it was a small room on the fourth floor. As she understood it, he had been processed in, but they could not put him in general population because it would be too dangerous. There were those that he had placed there, and others that would take a great deal of pleasure in getting retaliation against a police officer.

Sharon strode through the Robbery Homicide bullpen with purpose. She could feel the eyes of every detective present on her as she moved through the room. Sharon stepped into the open door of Captain Patrick's office and fixed the man with a hard stare. "Where is he?" There was no preamble, no small talk. They knew exactly whom she was talking about. She had waited this long and the emotions that she had allowed to simmer could be heard in the harsh undercurrents of her tone.

Patrick stared back at her. He saw Detective Lawrence stand up. Patrick looked past her and gestured to the Lieutenant. "Lawrence will take you to him."

She turned on her heel and marched past the other officer. She didn't slow her gait until she had made it out of the bullpen. In the hall, Sharon stopped and waited. She turned a cool look on the Detective. "Lead the way."

He almost winced at the hard, steel tone in her voice. Eric Lawrence walked past her. He took her down the hall and around the corner, the opposite direction from where she had come from. There were two uniformed officers posted on the door. Lawrence nodded to them before he stepped up and opened the door. He held it open for her and stood to the side. "I can give you fifteen minutes," he told her, "after that, we're going to have to lock him down."

"Understood." Sharon stepped into the small room but kept her gaze on the Lieutenant until he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Her jaw clenched when the door clicked shut. She turned slowly. The pale beige walls gave the room a completely emotionless feel. It was as it was meant to be, a holding cell, although instead of bars, there were walls. Sharon swept her tongue over her teeth and rubbed her lips together. At her sides, her hands clenched together. There was a toilet, a cot, and a small table. It was everything that she would expect to find in a jail cell.

Andy was seated on the cot. He was leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees. He looked up at her. They stared at one another and Sharon tried not to feel the twisting in her gut at the sight of him in the pale blue jumpsuit. She clenched her jaw more tightly closed and concentrated on taking a breath, in through her nose. She exhaled slowly and her brows rose. "Do you need anything?"

He shook his head and looked down again. "I'm not really allowed to have a lot," he said, voice rough. Andy stared at the tiled floor between his feet. It wasn't a damned vacation after all.

Her teeth ground together. Sharon stared at the top of his head. She could feel the emotion building in her. It burned, hot and bitter, and more than she could stand. She could taste it, like bile, in the back of her throat. "Look at me," she said, speaking slowly, voice low.

He sighed before he looked up again. Andy gazed up at her. His eyes were dark, but kept carefully blank. "I've been sitting here for three hours," he bit out between clenched teeth. "What is it that you want me to say to you, Sharon?" His eyes flashed suddenly and he let her see the full extent of his anger. "It must have been important. It sure took you a hell of a long time to get down here."

Her eyes widened. Whatever she had expected, this was not it. Sharon's mouth opened but there was no sound immediately forthcoming. It took her a moment to realize that of the two of them he was angry with her for this situation. "Do not," she warned him. Her eyes glittered angrily. Sharon took a step forward. "From where I am standing you are the last person who has any reason to take that tone of voice with anyone, least of all me." She pointed a finger at him. "Not only did you lie to me, but you have cast some serious doubts on quite a few things, the least of which is our personal relationship. So I will ask you again. Do you need anything?"

Andy looked away from her. He shook his head. His shoulders slumped again. "No. I saw Rothman, she's taking care of it," he said more quietly.

Sharon studied him. He kept reaching for his pinky. Twisting that ring was a nervous habit of his, but it wasn't there. His bracelet was gone too. He never took that chain off; he had gotten it from his father. In the pale jumpsuit and white undershirt he seemed small, diminished. Sharon could feel the sting behind her eyes. "Andy."

His name was a whisper that made him wince. He heard the tremor, the hitch in her voice. His jaw clenched. Andy looked up at her. There were tears glistening in her eyes. It made his heart twist. "I didn't," was all that he said.

She watched his gaze drop, but more briefly this time. It had gone to the ring on her left hand that her thumb was twisting on her finger. When he looked up again, there was such hopelessness in his gaze that she had to look away. Sharon folded her arms across her chest. She nodded once. "Okay." That was all that she needed to know. She swallowed back the emotion. She exhaled a shaky breath and looked at him again. "Okay," she said again. "I will… speak to Ms. Rothman," she said, and managed to get some of the tremor out of her tone. "We will go from there."

He wanted to touch her. His hands were itching with the need. Andy stared at her, it was a physical pain to have to keep himself on the cot. He could feel the muscles in his shoulders and arms tense. There were cameras in the room, however. The minute he tried the officers would step in and separate them. Not to mention she had enough on her plate right now without some asshole passing that picture around for the hell of it. "Sharon."

Her name was spoken so low, rasping in the small room. It sent a shiver up her spine. She clasped her arms more tightly around herself. Sharon dug her heels in to keep from going to him. There was so much more going on than she could readily see, but that did not stop her body's physical response to him. It did not stop the ache in her chest or the need that welled within her. It could not stop her from wanting him, or needing him, and it could certainly not stop her from loving him. She averted her gaze when her vision blurred. Sharon stared at the floor. "We will get a copy of the inventory," She managed to say, voice thick and trembling, "and go over the items that were taken from the house. There must be some meaning in them, something that will give us an idea of what it is that Captain Patrick and his division have that they think is evidence. It must be something beyond a photo of…" She stopped. Her eyes closed. She could not get the image of Andy sitting on the hood of his car beside the now dead prostitute out of her mind's eye.

"Sharon." He waited for her to look at him. "I didn't," he said again. There wasn't much else that he could say. They had no expectation of privacy. He just needed her to hold on to that, no matter what else happened. "Get my stuff," he told her instead. "I don't trust these yahoos not to lose everything."

"I will," She promised. "I will see you at the arraignment," she told him. "They will keep you here for as long as possible. We will do what we can to get you released." On bail if nothing else, but Sharon was going for clearing him completely and then nailing the whole of Robbery Homicide to the wall.

"Do what you can." Andy shrugged. He looked around the tiny room and then gave her a sad smile. "Sweetheart, I'm not going anywhere."

It was almost more than she could stand. She managed a small, watery smile in return. "Just try to stay out of trouble," She said. "I will see you soon."

"Yeah." Andy watched her turn. When her hand touched the door, he called her back. "Sharon." She looked at him, but what he wanted to say, he couldn't. Not here. He shook his head instead.

She felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. She could see in his gaze all that he wanted to say. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded. "Me too," she mouthed silently. Before it became even more difficult to leave, Sharon reached up and knocked on the door. It clicked open a second later and she was free of the tiny holding cell. If anything, as her steps carried her away from it, the weight on her chest grew. The farther away she got, the harder it became to breathe.

Detective Lawrence was waiting for her at the end of the hall. He had obviously listened in on the visit. It made Sharon's skin crawl. He held a clear, plastic belongings bag and a clipboard. "You'll have to sign for it, but you can take it."

She glowered at the man. Sharon took the clipboard from him and quickly scrawled her name in the appropriate space. Then she accepted the plastic bag. His clothes were folded within, but on top of it all, and in a smaller bag within the larger one, there was his wallet, his phone, his bracelet, and his sobriety ring. Sharon clasped the bag tightly. She nodded as she turned. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

Sharon turned on her heel before he could speak again and moved down the hallway toward the elevators. She drew quick, shallow breaths as she concentrated on walking. When she rounded the bend in the corridor her gait sped up again. Sharon walked past the elevators and through the door at the end of the hall. It took her into the stairwell.

She wasn't going to make it back to her office. Sharon barely noticed the slamming of the door behind her. She gripped the cool metal of the stair rail with one hand and sank to the steps. She drew her knees up and hugged the plastic encased package to her chest. Then she took quick, ragged breaths. She could not breathe, and she could not think, she could do nothing but feel, and what she felt was a rising tide of pain that was threatening to consume her.

Sharon didn't know how long she sat in the stairwell. It was long enough to push back the full force of her emotional upheaval, to bury it beneath as many layers of armor and professionalism as she could summon. She talked herself through all of the things that needed to be done, through the investigation that was still pending, and the conversations that would need to be had. She concentrated on breathing and let her logical mind take over. When Sharon felt as though she was once again grounded, she rose and left the stairwell.

She took the elevator back to the ninth floor, and once she arrived, she was surprised to find the Murder Room occupied, and not as she had left it. Sharon had specifically waited to go and see Andy until after the others had gone. Sharon stopped just inside the room and looked around. They were each at their desks. Tao and Julio appeared to be going over phone records. Amy was bent over a transcript of some kind, with Cooper seated at the desk behind her, also hard at work. Sharon was also surprised to find that even Lieutenant Provenza appeared to be studying a document of some importance. "I thought that I told all of you to leave and get some rest."

"We did." The Lieutenant looked up. He leaned back in his chair. "We left, and we rested all the way to get dinner. Then we rested while we ate it. Wouldn't you know it?" He spread his hands wide. "We rested all the way back here too." Provenza leaned forward in his chair again and turned his attention back to the financial report in front of him. "By the way, we got you that god-awful salad that you like. It's on your desk." He waved in that general direction. "Go eat it."

"I…" Sharon's mouth quickly snapped closed when she realized that she didn't know what to say. She walked toward her office but stopped. Sharon took a few steps toward center of the room. "Chief Howard was very clear this afternoon that this is not our case," she said carefully.

"We don't have any other cases," Tao pointed out. "None of us clocked in. We are just…" He shrugged and gestured simply, "volunteering our time for a few administrative duties. I heard Robbery Homicide is short-staffed."

Julio raised his hand. When she looked at him, he returned her gaze, his own serious and concerned. "Ma'am, I feel like I'm having a problem."

There was too much mischief behind his gaze for her to fully believe his words. Sharon cleared her throat and took another step forward. "Yes, Detective," her voice still husked a bit with emotion, "what is it?"

"It's this transition, ma'am." Julio leaned forward with his elbows braced against his desk. "The shrinks told us that we should report any issues to our ranking officers. I'm feeling some issues. I think that it could manifest itself in an apparent case of insubordination. I feel like I should find something to concentrate on, Captain." He lifted the pages of phone records that they had pulled. "This seems satisfactory."

Sharon folded her lips together to stop the smile before it could curve her lips upward. She nodded once. "Yes, Detective, that seems as though it is sufficient enough to occupy your mind for a little while. Lieutenant Cooper," She turned to the SIS officer. "What are you doing here?"

He wasted no time in turning in his chair and pointing at Amy. "She made me." When his girlfriend just rolled her eyes toward him in a bland look, Cooper grinned. He stood up. "Look, Captain, with all due respect," he began, sobering, "one person isn't going to solve this case alone. We all know that it's bullshit. What the Lieutenant did or did not do in your personal relationship, that's between the two of you," he told her. "I don't care. What I care about is a good cop getting a bad rep because some lazy SOBs found an easy out. So I came to help out, if that's okay. I'm off duty," he promised her.

Sharon turned where she stood. They were all resolute, and as they said, not a one of them was currently on duty. Technically, they were not breaking any rules. Her attention landed on Lieutenant Provenza last. He shook his head at her. "It's not the boyfriend, it's not the boyfriend," his expression softened just a bit, "it's not the boyfriend. Flynn might be an idiot but he's not a murdering one. Any moron can figure that out. He might have to sit in a cell tonight," Provenza explained, "but he will not be there tomorrow night." He nodded. On that they had his word. No matter what he had to do to make it happen.

"Very well." She was at a loss for anything else to say. "I will leave you to your work. Let me know if you find anything." Sharon turned on her heel and quickly sought the sanctuary of her office. The blinds were already drawn, they had been most of the day. When she was inside with the door closed she pressed her fingers to her lips. Her eyes closed against the sting of fresh tears. They were not doing it for her, and she was not surprised by their actions, but she was still touched by it. Sharon drew a breath and let it out slowly. She walked to her desk, and as the Lieutenant had said, the salad that she preferred from the grill a few blocks over was waiting for her. Sharon didn't feel exactly like eating just yet, but she was grateful to them for it.

She placed Andy's things on her desk and stared at them through the clear plastic. After only a moment she dug into the bag and pulled out his wallet and phone. The former went into her purse. She also placed his bracelet in her purse. The sobriety ring she held on to. She slipped it onto her index finger, the only one that it would fit without sliding off. Then she sat down with Andy's phone and connected it to her laptop. She felt a little guilty at the intrusion, but if there was anything on it, she decided that Robbery Homicide would have already found it. Sharon wanted to find anything that they had missed, however small, that would completely exonerate him.

-TBC-