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.

A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks for reading this story. We have reached the end of it. This will be the last chapter but, not to worry. I have already started writing a new story that will pick up a couple of days after the end of this one. Enjoy!

Chapter 18

"Mommy! Mommy!" Matthew cried in the middle of the night which woke up both Sharon and Andy from their sleep. Sharon rushed out of bed and threw her robe around her. Andy got up and followed Sharon towards Matthew's bedroom. Moxie was standing by the bed wondering what was going on. He was wagging his tail when Sharon and Andy walked in the room. "Matthew, sweetie" Sharon said to him as she went to him. Matthew was still sleeping but thrashing his arms everywhere. He knocked over his lamp next to his bed and the bulb broke. "I'll clean it up" Andy said to Sharon and then left to get a broom. Sharon carefully stepped around it and sat on his bed, trying to gently wake him up from whatever nightmare he was currently having. Andy came back and swept all of the glass from the bulb and picked the lamp back up. Sharon was sitting on Matthew's bed softly speaking to him. Matthew's eyes were awake now. "Shhh, it's okay" Sharon said to him as she gently held him. Andy came back with a box of tissues. "Here, to wipe his eyes" Andy said as he handed Sharon the box. She grabbed a tissue and gently wiped the tears from Matthew's eyes. Matthew sniffled and buried his head deeper into Sharon's side as she held him. Andy then placed a new bulb in the lamp and turned it on. He then shut the overhead light off.

Andy sat down on the oversized chair that they had placed in Matthew's room and Moxie came over to him and laid down by his feet. He watched Sharon gently soothe Matthew as she spoke to him. "What happened?" Sharon asked him quietly. "We were walking down a street and someone grabbed me and took me away from you. I was yelling out to you" Matthew said back to Sharon. "It's okay, sweetie" Sharon said to him as Matthew held onto her tighter. She looked over at Andy who was watching them. Andy stood up and walked over to where they were on the bed. "Matthew, let's get you cleaned up and change your pajamas and then we will come back here, okay?" Andy said as he knelt down to look at Matthew. Matthew nodded his head and got up from Sharon. Andy took him to the bathroom and helped him change his pajamas. Sharon went back in to their room and swapped her silky nightgown for a pair of fleece pants and one of Andy's Dodgers shirts. As she was in their room, she glanced at the clock and it was 2:50. She then went back in to Matthew's room and waited for them to come back.

Once Andy got Matthew changed, he brought him back to his room. Sharon was sitting on the bed when Matthew and Andy returned. Andy saw that Sharon changed her clothes. He smiled as they walked towards her. She smiled back. Andy then closed the door behind them. Matthew climbed into the bed and Sharon moved the covers around him. "Will you stay here with me?" Matthew asked Sharon as he laid back on his pillow. "Of course I will" Sharon said to him. She waited for him to get comfortable before Sharon propped herself up on the rest of the pillows and laid back over the covers. "I called you Mommy again" Matthew said in his sleepy voice. Sharon looked down at him. "That's okay, Matthew" Sharon whispered back to him as he drifted back to sleep. Sharon felt herself drifting off. Andy sat back down on the oversized chair and watched them for a while before he too fell asleep. Sharon woke herself up an hour later to see Matthew still asleep. She then looked over at the oversized chair and saw Andy sleeping in that chair, slightly snoring. That brought a smile to her face as she laid back down. She glanced at the clock in Matthew's room. It was 4:15 now and their alarm would be going off at 5:30.

The next time Sharon woke up it was to Andy lightly tugging at her shoulder. "Sweetheart" he whispered to her as she woke up. "Hmm?" she mumbled as she opened her eyes. She focused on his face. "What time is it?" she whispered to him. "It's 5:35. I heard our alarm going off in our room and I woke up to turn it off" Andy said to her. She got up and tried not to disturb Matthew as he was still sleeping. Moxie was now sleeping on the bed. Sharon then walked back to their bedroom with Andy and the two of them got ready for their day ahead.

Andy had gotten dressed first so he went to wake up Matthew which allowed Sharon more time to get herself ready. "Come on buddy, rise and shine" Andy said to Matthew as he gently rubbed his shoulder and he woke up. "It's morning already?" Matthew said still sleeping as he sat up in his bed. "Time to get dressed and ready for school" Andy said as Matthew stood up and grabbed his uniform. He then walked with Matthew to the bathroom and Matthew got himself ready. Andy peaked his head inside their bathroom to see how Sharon was doing. She was putting her makeup on. "Matthew's getting dressed right now" he said as he walked up behind her. "You're shaking?" Andy whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm a little nervous" she said to him as she finished applying her makeup and turned around in his arms to face him. "Why are you nervous?" he asked her. "I just want everything to go right this morning when Cynthia gets her, that's all" Sharon said to him and he pulled her in for a hug. "Everything will be fine, Sharon" he said to her. She then removed herself from his arms and walked over to the closet where she placed her gun on her belt of her pants suit and clipped her badge to the belt as well. She then put on her suit jacket and fixed her hair before joining Andy in the hallway.

Matthew came out of the bathroom all dressed for school and brought his clothes to the hamper in his room. "Good morning, Matthew" Sharon said to him as she stopped at his door. Matthew walked around his room like he was sleep-walking and then met Sharon and Andy in the hallway. "Morning" he said back to her and then they went downstairs. Matthew went in to the kitchen and grabbed a cereal box from the pantry. Andy helped him get a bowl down from the cabinet and Matthew poured his cereal into the bowl. He then brought the bowl over to the table and Sharon poured the milk for him. "I'm sorry I woke you guys up last night" Matthew said to them before he started eating. "Oh, sweetie, don't worry about it" Sharon said to Matthew and then looked over at Andy. He was leaning against the kitchen island eating his bowl of cereal. After everyone was done eating, Matthew got up from the table while Andy took Moxie out in the backyard.

Around 7 o'clock, Cynthia pulled into their driveway and walked up to the front door. Sharon opened the door and let her inside the house. "Hello Cynthia" Sharon said greeting her. "Hello Captain. How's everything this morning?" Cynthia said to her. "Oh, we had a little bit of a rough time last night. He had a nightmare, but this morning things are going well" Sharon said to Cynthia as they made their way towards the kitchen. Andy had just brought Moxie back in and Moxie went up to Cynthia and greeted her. "Hello Lieutenant, hello Moxie" she said to the two of them. "Hi Cynthia" Andy said as he shook her hand. "Matthew's in the family room. I told him he could watch a cartoon" Sharon said to Cynthia. "Not a problem, Captain" Cynthia said as Sharon and her walked towards the family room. Matthew was sitting on the couch watching a Batman cartoon when they entered. "Matthew, Cynthia is here" Sharon said to Matthew. He got up from the couch and greeted Cynthia. "Hi" he said to her. "Hello Matthew. How are you doing?" Cynthia asked him. "I'm okay" he said back to her. "Are you enjoying school?" Cynthia asked him. "Oh yes, I like school a lot!" Matthew said as he smiled. "Well, that's great to hear" Cynthia said back to him and glanced back at Sharon and Andy, who had joined them.

Cynthia then took a look around their house. It was standard procedure during a house check on foster parents. "Well, Captain, Lieutenant, everything checks out great here!" Cynthia said to them. "Um, Matthew, can you follow me in to the kitchen, there's some questions I need to ask you in private" Cynthia said to Matthew. "Okay" Matthew said as he got up from the couch and followed Cynthia. Sharon looked at Andy who was standing in the hallway between the kitchen and the family room. Sharon walked over to him and he opened his arms to hug her. She embraced him and he kissed the top of her head.

"Okay Matthew, I need to ask you a few questions regarding your time here with the Captain and Lieutenant" Cynthia explained to him. Matthew nodded his head. "Alright, first question is how do you like living here?" Cynthia asked him. "I love living here. I have my own room and it's super big! And Sharon and Andy always take care of me" Matthew said to Cynthia. "Ok, good" Cynthia said back to him as she made her notes. "Next question is how do they take care of you?" Cynthia asked. "They drive me to school and pick me up at night. We eat dinner together. Sometimes I have a bad dream and they come in to my room. They protected me at school from a bad guy" Matthew said to Cynthia. Cynthia looked at Matthew. "How did they protect you from a bad guy?" Cynthia asked him. "Andy chased after him and caught him while Sharon came in to the room I was in with the other children and kept us safe there until Andy came back" Matthew said to her. "Okay, well the next question I have is for everyone to hear. Captain, Lieutenant?!" Cynthia called out to them and they walked in to the kitchen.

"Matthew, through our investigation, we did not find anyone related to you. Now, you have been in the foster care system for about 67 days so far. And Sharon and Andy are your foster parents" Cynthia started to explain to Matthew but he interrupted her. "Am I going away?" Matthew asked her and then turned to both Sharon and Andy. "No, sweetie you're not going away" Sharon said to him. Sharon then looked at Cynthia and she nodded back to Sharon. Sharon then glanced up at Andy. "In fact, we would like you to stay with us permanently" Sharon said to Matthew. Matthew looked at Sharon. "What does that mean exactly?" Matthew asked her. "Well, Matthew, Sharon and I would like to adopt you" Andy explained to Matthew. "Really?" Matthew said as his eyes got bigger. "Yes" Sharon said to him. "So I'd be just like Rusty then, you adopted him right?" Matthew asked them. "Yes, he's adopted too" Sharon said. Matthew gave her a hug and then gave Andy a hug. He then walked over to Cynthia and gave her a hug as well.

"Do I have to change my last name?" Matthew asked them. "Only if you want to, buddy" Andy said to him. "I'd like to so that I match you" Matthew said back to Andy. Andy chuckled. "Okay, we can do that" Andy said. "You'll also match Sharon's last name as well" Andy said to him. "Can I call you Mom? I mean, I know I have a Mom already and she's in heaven but I'd like to call you Mom too" Matthew asked Sharon. Sharon had tears in her eyes, she was so happy. "Of course you can" she said to him as she cried. "Can I call you Dad then?" Matthew asked Andy as he walked up to him. "Yes, you can call me Dad, Matthew" Andy said and then smiled as they hugged again. Andy took a deep breath and sighed. He was happy, Sharon was happy, Matthew was ecstatic about the whole thing. Matthew went over to where Moxie was laying down. "Did you hear that Moxie, I'm getting adopted by them!" Matthew said as he hugged Moxie. Matthew then looked back at Andy and Sharon. "Wait, is Moxie getting adopted too?" Matthew said to them. "Yes, buddy. Moxie is getting adopted with you" Andy said to Matthew and Matthew smiled. "Moxie, we're both getting adopted!" Matthew said to Moxie as he hugged him again.

"Captain, I'm going to get set on the paperwork. Like I explained earlier, the legal status will change after 90 days, and then we can go right in to the adoption process, so I'd say you have about 23 days or so before we can start. I will put in the paperwork after that timeframe and then depending on what the courts view on the adoption, we should move fairly quickly" Cynthia said to Sharon as they walked to the front of the house. "Thank you so much, Cynthia" Sharon said to her as she opened the door. "No problem, Captain. Thank you for taking him in as a foster child when he needed someone. I will be in touch with all the paperwork" Cynthia said to her and then she left.

Sharon then rejoined everyone in the kitchen. She took a deep breath as she walked back in the kitchen. She glanced at her watch. "Okay, we need to get moving" she said to them. Matthew grabbed his backpack and his lunch from the refrigerator. Andy grabbed his suit jacket and the car keys. Sharon grabbed her purse, shoulder bag, and Moxie. They all headed out the back door and in to their car. Andy drove them to Matthew's school first. "Have a good day, buddy" Andy said to him as Matthew and Sharon got out of the car. They were a little late dropping him off and Sharon wanted to let them know why. "Bye Dad!" Matthew said and waved to him. Andy smiled at him and waved back. Sharon walked with Matthew to the school and went inside. She walked him over to his classroom and knocked on the classroom door. The teacher opened it and welcomed Matthew inside the room. The teacher then nodded to Sharon and she waved at Matthew before closing the door. Sharon then walked over to the Principal's office and spoke with her why Matthew was late. "His social worker came over this morning for a wellness check and that's why we were running late" Sharon said to the Principal. "No problem, Captain. I hope everything is going well with Matthew" Principal Gottardo asked Sharon. "Oh yes, things are very well. Thank you" Sharon said and then left her office and headed back to the car.

After dropping Moxie off, Sharon and Andy headed in to work. "You know, Provenza is going to bug me all day if I don't tell him something" Andy said to Sharon as he parked their car. "You could tell him, if you wanted to Andy" Sharon said as she got out of the car. "I know, but keeping him out of the loop is so much fun" Andy said laughing to himself as they walked to the elevators. They headed in to the Murder Room. "Oh, Good Morning Captain" Provenza said to Sharon as they walked in. "Good Morning, Lieutenant, sorry we are late but we had a meeting with Cynthia this morning at our house" Sharon said to Provenza. Sharon looked around at everyone who were sitting at their desks working on whatever paperwork they had. "Did we catch another case?" she asked him as she entered her office. "No, no Captain. They are just finishing up loose ends, that's all" Provenza said back to Sharon. "Okay" Sharon said back to him. Provenza then turned around and headed over to Andy's desk. "Well?" Provenza asked him. Andy looked up at his partner. "Well, what?" Andy asked him. "Look Flynn, are you going to spill the beans about what is going on, or not?" Provenza asked him. "Alright, alright" Andy said as he looked around. He glanced over at Sharon and she nodded to him which made him smile. "Follow me" Andy said as he made his way out in to the hallway. Provenza followed him out there.

"Alright, what is it?" Provenza said to him as they stood in the hallway. "We are going to make an announcement later to the whole group but I guess I can tell you first" Andy said to Provenza as he waited to hear what Andy had to say. "We told Matthew this morning that we wanted to adopt him. Cynthia came over for a scheduled visit to the house and she actually informed Sharon yesterday about the possibility of adopting him" Andy said to Provenza as he explained what the big news was. "That's it?" Provenza said to him. "That's the big news that you couldn't tell me about yesterday?" Provenza added. "Yeah" Andy said back to him. "Well, what did the kid say when you asked him this morning?" Provenza asked Andy. "He was very happy about it and wanted to know if he could change his name to Flynn" Andy said, beaming as he spoke to Provenza. "Great, just what the world needs, another Flynn" Provenza said jokingly to Andy. "Hey" Andy said back to him. "Kidding! I'm kidding Flynn" Provenza said as he looked at his partner. "No, in all seriousness, congratulations to both of you. Matthew is a very lucky boy" Provenza said to Andy and then shook his hand. Andy shook his hand back. "Thank you" he said to Provenza.

"How long will the whole process take?" Provenza asked Andy as they walked in to the break room. Provenza poured himself a cup of coffee. "Ah, Cynthia said in 23 days or so, she is going to file the official paperwork for adoption and then depending on the courts, it should go fairly quick" Andy said to Provenza and then they headed back towards the Murder Room. "Okay, well when it does happen, we will have a party here. Can't disappoint the Captain and her sense of occasion and all" Provenza said as he held the door open to the Murder Room for Andy and then followed in behind him. The door closed behind Provenza as he was shaking his head.

The end