You Will Find Me There

Chapter 20

First a little authors note... Hi everyone, I'm so sorry it's taken me three years to finish my stories. Unfortunately, I had a bad case of Covid in 2020 and was in a coma for 27 days and it's been a long recovery. I finally got the writing bug back and have finished You'll Find Me There, and I'm working on A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's been a while since I've posted chapters and have forgotten how, I'm working on learning again. Technology is not my friend.

So, here is the next to the last chapter of You'll Find Me There, chapter 20. Chapter 21 is written and being Betaed by my awesome beta person Melinda aka gingersnapped907.

Disclaimer: These are not my characters; they are fully James Duffs. I just love them so much and love to play with them.

Patrice, a retired nurse, tried to think what could be causing Andy's anxiety and neediness after being strong and supportive in Ireland. "It could be that being here in the states where his nightmare began is causing the problem," she said.

"I suppose that could be true. But I'm here, I'm alive! And yet if he doesn't see me when he wakes up ,the nightmare, the one of my death seems very real again but that's what I can't quite understand. With most people, the power of most nightmares fades with the telling but this one seems to have grown teeth and still has power over him, in spite of the fact that most days we're never apart," Sharon said with not just a little frustration.

Provenza scratched his head and rubbed his neck, almost hesitant to say anything, but Patrice put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed in solidarity. "Sharon, one of the things he mentioned when he told me about his nightmare was that it was unusually linear and ongoing which makes it hard for him to forget it and move on. He mentioned there were hints within it, things that didn't make sense. Like the suspect being in your office with you or you forgetting the birth order of your children, neither would have happened in this reality. Yet it was explained away in the dream, so the discrepancies weren't enough to… offset the realness." He shook his head trying to wrap his mind around the problem. "You know we should be talking to Tao about this or Rusty's, Dr. Joe." He barked a laugh. "They are more hmmm… fluid in their umm understanding of things like this. I'm more black and white. This is reality, deal with it. Mind tricks and dreams that are real not real, which one is which? Out of my bailiwick. You know, I think that it may take a while, but he'll get over it. I know Flynn, he's been through a lot but he loves you and he'll overcome it for you. Once he realizes that this is the real reality and that you are not going anywhere, he'll be... fine," Provenza said as he winked at Sharon.

Sharon pressed her lips together and smirked. She knew Provenza was alluding to what she had told Andy when he asked her out for a romantic dinner at Serve on their first official date three years ago. It meant that Andy had talked things out with his best friend, which was "fine" with her. After all she had shared with Andrea after he had asked her. Their lives had been so different then. She and Andy were just starting to be a couple. Sometimes she missed those days... the romance of it, the simplicity... but then she remembered the difficulties, the anxiety and the worry over how a romance would affect Rusty, her other children or her team at work. Then she was glad they'd gotten past all that and they were married, and very happy. Except, now things were difficult again. She just had to convince Andy which reality was real, so they could finally relax and enjoy their retirement. "Well, I guess you're right, that it just means he needs more time to get used to being home and having me there with him but the memory gaps still plague him. He doesn't remember the flight to Ireland with me or being seen off by Drew, Ricky, and Rusty. He remembers clearly what happened in his nightmare, but not what really happened."

Patrice touched her shoulder trying to comfort her. "Honey, what did the doctor say?"

"The doctor mentioned that what happened to us was a trauma and what he is experiencing is a mild form of PTSD, but even though it's not as severe as what happens to soldiers during a war, it's just as real and isn't going to just go away. Unfortunately, because of Andy's… um sobriety issues he can't prescribe a medication for it. Andy would refuse it in any case, so it has to be dealt with in a more organic way."

"One day at a time," said a familiar voice. Sharon looked up and realized Andy was standing there beside her.

Her cheeks suffused with color as she realized she'd been caught talking about him to their friends. She tensed, waiting for him to get angry or to say something biting or bitter and abusive like Jack would have done, but that didn't happen. She wished she could stop expecting Andy to behave like Jack used to, but it was an experience she'd had for many years and old habits die hard.

Andy smiled down at her and whispered in her ear. "It's okay Sharon, you have every right to confide in our best friends. I'm not mad. In fact, I'm glad you have an outlet for your worries. I just wish you didn't have to have those worries."

"It's okay, Andy, it's just part of life. There's no such thing as a worry free life." She reached up and clasped his hand in hers. Overwhelmed at his sweetness.

"Well, we both have had more than our share haven't we?" Andy asked sardonically.

Sharon looked up at him again and smiled ruefully. She patted him and said, "yes we have, but don't tempt fate darling. We don't need any more trouble than we can handle. Now…" she asked as she looked around the room, "where are those wonderful grandchildren of ours?"

Andy looked around too. "Oh, they were making their rounds and getting ready to take the kids home. There they are. Nicole, don't leave without saying goodbye to Sharon."

Nicole, a lovely brunette with her father's dark eyes and smile, looked up and grinned as she finished putting on her coat. Then pushed the stroller with the seven-month-old twins inside. Dean followed her carrying a sleeping Braden in his arms and holding Ian by the hand. "For heaven sakes Dad, of course we wouldn't. Besides, we wanted to ask you both over to the house on Sunday for dinner."

"We would love to, honey. What time should we be there?"

"What can we bring?" Sharon asked.

Nicole shrugged, "just yourselves and any time after 3. The girls will be awake from their naps by then."

"We'll be there with bells on, honey," Andy said, giving her a kiss on the temple and shaking Dean's hand. Dean had his hands full with the sleeping form of Braden, but Ian was awake and gave them both a hug goodbye. Sharon kissed her finger and touched the babies, and the sleeping Braden as did Andy. They said their goodbyes and then Nicole, Dean, and their little family left. Pretty soon other people started to leave, and it was just the Flynn's and the Provenza's.

Patrice asked what they wanted to drink. The answer for both was cranberry juice and soda. Patrice handed both Sharon and Andy a glass of cranberry juice and soda, then sat down next to Louie with a glass of beer for him and a red wine for herself. "Well, we can't tell you how glad we are that you are home," said Patrice. "We missed you so and this one," she pointed to Louie, "was a mess when he realized what was going over there in Ireland. I had finally convinced him to fly there when we received word Andy had woken up from his coma and you were heading for surgery. So, we decided to stay here and get your place set up for you to come home."

"Which, I was more than happy to do," said Provenza magnanimously.

Patrice laughed a loud barking laugh. "Yeah, he was just very happy to not be flying to Ireland," she said. "I was the one that prepared the condo. Well, Gus and the Major Crimes team and I."

"Thank you, so much Patrice. We really appreciated it."

"Hey! I helped!" Louie said indignantly.

Sharon and Andy smirked a bit, as they both said at once. "Thank you, as well Louie."

"Remind me, what did you do? Louie," Patrice asked innocently.

"Well… I..."

Patrice said, "come on, tell me. What did you do?"

"I... I... I helped pay for the groceries!" Louie said triumphantly.

"We all did, Louie, but you are right you did help," Patrice said, laughing and shaking her head at his audacity.

"By the way, how much do we owe you… for the groceries?" Andy asked.

Patrice shook her head at Andy but surprisingly, it was Louie that answered. "You don't owe us anything Andy. Just the fact that you are home and in one piece is payment enough. Both of you."

Andy and Sharon thought they saw a fleeting sheen of emotion in Louie's eyes. He looked away for a moment looking uncomfortable. Then he coughed and the moment was over. Sharon's own eyes were shining with emotion as was Patrice and Andy's.

"Well, can I interest you in a game of cards?" Louie asked hopefully.

"No, we need to get home, both of us are fried," Andy said.

Louie looked a little disappointed at Andy's refusal. Sharon felt sorry for him. She touched Andy's arm and said, "uh uh huh Andy. "I'm not all that tired. Let's play for a little while. What game would you like to play… Louie?"

Andy looked at Sharon incredulously. She didn't really like cards, because of Jack. "Relax, Andy, as long as we're not betting cards are okay."

"Really? Okay, then."

"How about a game of 500 rummy?" Louie asked.

"Sounds good." Both Andy and Sharon said at once. They enjoyed a game of 500 rummy between the four of them and called it a night several hours later.

Thank goodness their condo wasn't far, they were quite tired from their first night out in a very long time. They walked quietly, holding on to each other from the garage, upstairs to their place. When they got in, they found a note from Rusty saying he was staying with Gus so they had the condo to themselves. Miraculously, all tiredness was gone.

Sharon gave Andy a wicked grin which he returned. They both headed for the bedroom to make up for lost time.

TBC...