DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 8

Sharon entered the house through the front door and found Julio with Matthew and Moxie in the kitchen. Matthew was starting on his homework when Sharon walked in. "Matthew, honey, could you go upstairs and play while us adults have a talk?" Sharon said to Matthew. Matthew looked up at her from the kitchen table. "Okay, come on Moxie" Matthew said and then he headed upstairs, passing Andy and the rest of the team who just entered the house. "I'm taking Moxie upstairs to play in my room" Matthew said to Andy as he ran up the stairs. Andy watched Matthew as he closed the front door. "Okay" he said to him and then joined the rest of the team in the kitchen. Andy decided at that moment that it was best for him to stand on the opposite side of where Sharon was standing.

Everyone gathered around the kitchen island. "Okay Captain, we now know that D'Angelo is interested in the both of you" Provenza said as he looked at Sharon and then back at Andy who was standing at the opposite side of the kitchen. "Yes, Lieutenant, but why is he interested?" Sharon asked. "Probably because this knuckle-head over here pissed him off at his office this morning" Provenza said as he pointed towards Andy. "Hey! I didn't do anything wrong. That guy's involved and we all know it!" Andy said as he leaned back against the wall by the kitchen table. Provenza just looked at him, wondering what was up and Andy just glared right back at him. "Alright, enough the both of you" Sharon said to them, seeing enough. "Lieutenant, who was in the car when you approached it?" Sharon said to Andy but Andy didn't hear her as he was still looking at Provenza. Mike, Amy, and Julio all looked at Andy waiting for him to respond. When Andy didn't, Mike cleared his throat which got his attention. "Mikey, D'Angelo's assistant. He was in the car" Andy said without further delay as he looked at Sharon. "Did he say anything to you?" Sharon asked Andy but she could tell he was still mad. "No, the driver did all of the talking, Captain" Mike answered her. "What did he say?" Sharon asked Mike while still looking at Andy. "Said they were trying to get to Silver Lake and got lost along the way" Mike said as he looked at Andy and then back at Sharon. "Humph, like that's believable" Andy said as Mike answered her.

Sharon knew that after her team left, Andy was spoiling for an argument. "Captain, we'll put a patrol car outside in case someone else tries to seek you out" Provenza said to Sharon, breaking her concentration with Andy. "I don't think that's necessary, Lieutenant" Sharon said back to him. "Captain, with all due respect, the mob was following you home from work. Now regardless of whether you want a patrol car or not outside of your house, it is going to be there" Provenza said back to her. Sharon nodded back at Provenza. "Okay, baring anything else that happens tonight, let's regroup tomorrow morning at work" Sharon said to the team and they said their goodbyes and left. Sharon stayed in the kitchen as Andy showed everyone out. Provenza turned around to him. "Don't screw this up, Flynn, over something stupid. She's the best thing that ever happened to you" Provenza said to Andy and then he left. Andy stood there for a second before closing the door and locking it. He took a deep breath and then turned and headed to the kitchen where Sharon was standing.

When Andy entered the kitchen, Sharon was starting to make them dinner. Andy made his way over to her and leaned up against the counter as she was making her preparations. He looked at the counter and saw all of the ingredients laid out for homemade vegetable lasagna. Of course it was one of his favorite recipes. Sharon was just putting a heart healthy twist to it. She felt him come up to her and knew he wanted to say something. "I thought I was supposed to make you dinner tonight?" Andy said to her, hoping that would break the ice. Sharon just hummed and continued with what she was doing. Andy knew then that this was bad and he needed to fix it. "I'm sorry" he said to her as he stood there watching her lay the whole wheat lasagna noodles on the glass baking dish. She stopped for a second and then continued laying the noodles down. She wasn't going to make it easy for him. She cleared her throat. "And what is it your sorry for?" Sharon asked him as she continued to make dinner. Andy placed his hands over hers to stop her from continuing to make dinner and grabbed them. Sharon turned so that she was now looking at him. Andy looked back at Sharon. "I'm sorry for running ahead and confronting the car that was following us" Andy said to her as he looked in to her eyes.

"Do you know why I was mad at you for doing that?" Sharon asked him as she moved closer. Andy nodded his head. "You didn't know who was in that car, Andy. It could have been anybody. It could have been someone who doesn't like the police and then you walk right up to them. They could have blown your head off or done any number of things to you" Sharon said to him as she looked him in his eyes. He looked down at her and saw the tears starting to form as she was speaking to him. "I get it Sharon, I do. But it wasn't just me in the car they followed, it was you, Matthew, and Moxie. I'd do anything to protect the ones I love" he said to her, not wanting to see her cry. "You and I have been through a lot together, this past year alone. I don't want to lose you, Andy" she said to him. He wrapped her up in his arms and held her close to him. "I'm sorry" he whispered to her as he kissed the top of her head. He held her close to him until she started to move out of his embrace. "Come on, dinner is not going to make itself" Sharon said back to him and they both moved. Andy was behind Sharon as they washed their hands together in the kitchen sink. Andy then helped her prepare the lasagna. "Are we okay?" Andy asked her as she placed the dish in the oven. Sharon looked back at Andy as she closed the door to the oven. "Yes" she said smiling at him. He held out his arms again and she moved in to his embrace and they hugged each other.

Matthew and Moxie came downstairs and in to the kitchen. He saw Andy and Sharon hugging each other standing by the oven. "I think Moxie is hungry now. I can feed him" Matthew said to them. Andy let go of Sharon and then made his way to where Moxie's food was located. "I'll help you, Matthew" Andy said to him as he joined Matthew in the mud room where Moxie's food was stored. Matthew poured the dog food into Moxie's dish and Moxie ate all of his food. Matthew then came back to the kitchen, sat down at the table, and started working on his homework.

"So you saved Tommy today?" Matthew asked them as they both joined him at the kitchen table. "Yes, honey, we did" Sharon said to him as she looked at Andy. "So a stranger took him away?" Matthew asked them. "Yes, a stranger took him" Sharon said. "Matthew, have you noticed any strangers or people you don't know hanging around your school?" Andy asked Matthew as he started his homework. Matthew put his pencil down and thought about it. "Well, yesterday we noticed a man standing by the playground, but the teacher, Mrs. Ryan, spoke to him and he went away" Matthew said to them. Andy and Sharon both looked at each other. "Matthew, if you ever see someone who you don't know and they approach you, and want to take you somewhere, you do not go with them, okay?" Sharon said to Matthew. "Okay" Matthew said as he nodded his head. "If that ever does happen or you see someone you don't know, you tell us or your teacher, or Rusty, Nicole, Gus, or one of the police officers, right away. Do you understand?" Andy asked him. "Yes" Matthew said and then he started working on his homework. "I'm going to go take a shower" Sharon said to Andy as she stood up from the table. "Dinner should be ready in a half hour" she said to him as she kissed Andy's forehead and went upstairs. Andy watched Sharon walk away and then helped Matthew with his homework. Moxie had followed Sharon upstairs. "I don't understand this problem" Matthew said to him as he showed him the math problem he was working on.

Meanwhile, Mikey returned back from their car trip and presented all of the information they gathered to D'Angelo. "Here is the picture I took of the Lieutenant and the Captain together leaving the parking garage and here they are at that school picking up a kid" Mikey said to D'Angelo as he showed him the pictures. D'Angelo was sitting behind his desk looking at them. "So, it seems that our Lieutenant is married to the Captain, why didn't that show up on the report you gave me earlier?" D'Angelo said to Mikey. "I, I don't know sir" Mikey said to him. "We followed them to their house, it looks like this is where they live" Mikey said to him as he handed him a piece of paper with an address written down. "You're not going to go after a Captain and a Lieutenant with the LAPD are you?" Mikey asked D'Angelo. "No Mikey, not yet anyways" D'Angelo said and then he leaned back in his chair and looked out his office window at the city.

Sharon was preparing the shower she wanted to take, although earlier when Andy had mentioned taking a bath, she was looking forward to indulging in that. Since being followed by members of the mob, she was a little uneasy and wanted to get back downstairs with Andy and Matthew as quickly as possible. Sharon placed her gun in their safe located in their closet and started to take her clothes off. Moxie was inside the bathroom when she came back and was laying down on the bath rug. "Be a good boy" she told Moxie who looked at her. She stepped into the shower and let the hot water wash her body. When she was done, Moxie followed her into the bedroom. She quickly changed into a sweater cardigan and some leggings and headed back downstairs to join Andy and Matthew. Moxie followed behind her and walked in to the kitchen as well. The lasagna was almost ready and the scent of it filled the air in the kitchen. She smiled at Andy and Matthew as she walked back in to join them. "How are we doing here?" Sharon asked Andy regarding Matthew's homework. "He's almost finished with his math" Andy said back to her as he pulled her down and gave her a kiss. He loved the smell of her shower gel. "Dinner should be ready soon" she said to him as she pulled away from him and gathered the plates for them.

Rusty had joined them for dinner after he got home from college. "So, Rusty, your mother and I want to talk to you about something" Andy said to Rusty as they were eating. Rusty looked up at Andy and then at Sharon. "What is it?" he asked them. "We explained to Matthew the importance of not talking with strangers or going with strangers and that if he ever encounters a stranger, he should tell someone he knows right away" Andy explained to him. "Okay, got it. Did something happen today?" Rusty asked them. "We'll discuss that later, Rusty" Sharon said to him as she didn't want to say what happened in front of Matthew. They continued to eat dinner and then afterwards, Rusty was helping Sharon clear the table while Andy took Matthew upstairs for a bath.

"So, what happened that prompted the stranger danger talk?" Rusty asked Sharon as he brought the plates to the sink. Sharon cleared her throat. "Hmm, we had a critical missing this morning, an eight year old boy, actually from Matthew's class, was kidnapped from a parking lot of a store and through our investigation, we found him, safe, and returned him to his mother" Sharon said to Rusty as she rinsed the dishes and placed them in the dishwasher. "Wow" Rusty said to her. "Is the kid going to be okay?" he asked her. "He should be Rusty, but during the investigation, we have reason to believe that this D'Angelo guy was behind the kidnapping" Sharon said to him. "We caught the person who actually did the kidnapping, but he confessed to everything and wouldn't turn on him" Sharon continued. "Why would someone not do that? I mean, if that gets him a lighter sentence?" Rusty asked her. "Well, when the mob is who you work for, I guess you don't want to cross them" Sharon explained. "Wait a minute, Mom. You're investigating the mob, as in like "The Godfather"?" Rusty said to her. "That's why Andy and I wanted to talk to you. These people are dangerous, Rusty, and there's going to be a patrol car outside on the street for a while" Sharon said to him. "Are they coming after you and Andy?" Rusty asked. Sharon looked back at Rusty and then continued cleaning up the kitchen. "I don't think so, but we were followed this afternoon after we left work to pick up Matthew at school" Sharon said to him. Rusty sat down at the table. "Wow, okay. Um, whatever you need me to do, Mom, just let me know" Rusty said to her. Sharon smiled at him and squeezed his arm as she brought the water jug from the table to the refrigerator.

Andy was preparing the bath for Matthew and Matthew brought in his favorite robot toys that he got for Christmas and his birthday. He plopped them into the bath tub and they made a splash. Andy added the soap to the water and once it was at the level he wanted it, he turned the water off. "Okay Matthew, now besides playing you do have to get cleaned up" Andy said to him as Matthew sat down in the tub. "I know" Matthew said as he started playing with his robot toys. Andy smiled and started to read a magazine. Moxie had come upstairs and joined them in the bathroom. He nudged Andy's hand with his nose until Andy put the magazine down and started to pet him on his head. Moxie then laid down in front of the sink. "Andy?" Matthew said. "Yeah" Andy said as he looked at Moxie and then at Matthew. "What would happen if I got lost?" Matthew asked Andy. Andy looked back at him. "What do you mean?" he asked Matthew. "If I got lost like Tommy did, what would happen?" Matthew asked him. "Well, Sharon and I would find you" Andy said to him. "Like you did before, when my mom died?" Matthew said to him. "Right, like we did before" Andy said to Matthew. "What if you get lost, or Sharon, then what?" Matthew asked him. "If I got lost, Sharon would find me. And if she got lost, then I would find her" Andy said to him as Matthew continued to play in the tub. "Matthew" Andy said and Matthew looked up at him. "I will always find you, no matter what. I promise you" Andy continued and took a deep breath. "Come on, time to get out of the tub" Andy said to Matthew and then released the stopper and the water started to drain.

"Go put on your pajamas and then maybe we can watch a movie downstairs, after you put your homework away" Andy said to Matthew as he wrapped him in a towel and Matthew headed into his room. After Matthew got dressed, Andy and him joined Sharon downstairs. Sharon was in the den looking over some papers when Andy and Matthew came down. Matthew ran in to the kitchen and Andy followed him. Matthew started putting his homework back in his folder. "Did you look at Matthew's homework?" Andy called out to Sharon. "Yes" she said back to him. Matthew placed his folder in his backpack. Matthew then ran over to the den where Sharon was sitting behind her desk. "Andy said I can watch a movie now" Matthew said to Sharon. "Oh he said that?" Sharon said to Matthew as she looked up from her papers at him standing in the doorway. "Yep" Matthew said as he turned around and headed towards the family room, Moxie following him in there. Andy made his way to the family room but stopped in the doorway of the den. "I hear you told Matthew he could watch a movie" Sharon said to him as she looked at him standing in the doorway, a minute after Matthew was just there standing in the same spot. She smiled as she thought to herself. "Yeah, I did tell him that. I hope that's okay with you, after all he does have everything done for the night" Andy said to her as he came closer to her and leaned down, giving her a kiss. "Hmm" Sharon said as Andy broke the kiss.

He looked down to see what she was working on. Her laptop was also turned on but he couldn't see the screen from the angle he was standing at. "What are you working on?" he whispered to her. "I'm trying to figure out how we can get D'Angelo charged in this without relying on Dan Miller's testimony or Jimmy Caputo" Sharon said to him as she leaned back in her chair and rubbed her temple. "Andy! Are you ready?!" Matthew called out from the family room. Andy smiled at Sharon and Sharon smiled back at him. "I'll be right there!" Andy called out to him as he leaned in again to give Sharon a kiss. This time Sharon deepened the kiss and Andy's hand started to caress her neck and make its way down to her shoulders and arms. "I love you" Andy whispered to Sharon. "I love you too" Sharon whispered back to Andy. Andy then headed to the family room and Sharon continued looking over the reports.

After the movie was over, Andy turned off the television and saw Matthew was half asleep on the couch. He placed his hand on his shoulder and woke him. "Matthew? Come on buddy time to go upstairs and go to bed" Andy said to him as Matthew woke up. "What happened to Bolt?" Matthew asked Andy as he got up from the couch rubbing his eyes. "He found Penny and rescued her" Andy said to him as they started to walk to the stairs. Andy saw Sharon still working in the den as they made their way up the stairs. Andy tucked Matthew in to his bed. "Good night buddy" Andy said to him. "Good night" Matthew said to Andy and then he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Andy then made his way back downstairs and walked in to the den where Sharon was still reading. He walked behind her and started to massage her shoulders as she sat facing her laptop computer. Sharon dropped the papers back on to her desk and relaxed as Andy gave her a shoulder massage. Andy leaned down and started kissing her neck. Sharon reached her hand up and caressed his face while he kissed her. "Let's go to bed" he whispered to her as he stood up and helped her out of her chair. She turned around and faced him as she stood up. She then walked him into the corner of the room, till he hit the wall of books and deepened her kiss to him. Andy held her as he kissed her back.

Before they got carried away, Moxie came in to the den and nudged himself between Sharon and Andy. This broke their kiss and Andy looked down at Moxie. "What is it?" Andy said to Moxie who just looked at him. "Let me take him out one last time and I'll meet you upstairs" Andy said to Sharon as he walked away with Moxie. Sharon smiled and closed her laptop and organized all of the papers on her desk into a pile. She then heard Andy close the back door and she headed for their bedroom. Andy took Moxie out in the backyard and waited for him to do his duties. 'Why would the mob be interested in them?' he thought to himself as Moxie was done. Andy wanted to check something in the front of the house so he opened the back gate from the yard and proceeded with Moxie on his leash to the front. He saw the patrol car parked out front and decided to approach them. "Everything okay Lieutenant?" the patrol officer said as he rolled down the window. "Yes, everything is good. I was just making sure that you guys are good out here" Andy said to the officer. "Yes, Lieutenant we are good. Have a good night" the officer said back to Andy. "You too, be safe" Andy said and then headed back inside the house to lock up for the night.

Andy made his way upstairs to join Sharon and Moxie followed him up the stairs. Andy opened Matthew's door and Moxie went inside and fell asleep on his bed. Andy made sure Matthew was still asleep and then he shut the door, leaving the lamp on next to his bed. Andy then made his way across the hall to their bedroom and saw that Sharon was already in bed waiting for him. Andy then went in to their closet and placed his gun in the safe and locked it. He then placed his badge on their dresser. "I'm going to take a quick shower" he said to Sharon who was sitting up on their bed reading a book. She nodded and looked up at him. "Okay" she said to him smiling. Andy looked at her and decided that he was going to take a really quick shower. The kiss they had shared in the den had got him riled up and he needed to release that energy soon. He stood underneath the hot spray and let it work out his sore muscles. He then quickly cleaned himself and jumped out of the shower, drying himself off with a towel. He put his pajama pants on and decided to forgo his t-shirt. He then joined Sharon in their bedroom and she placed her book down on her nightstand. She pulled back the covers, inviting him in and he sat down on the bed and scooted closer to her. He kissed her passionately and started to caress her body, eventually pulling Sharon on top of him. They made love and eventually fell asleep.

TBC