This chapter was written by me.

Enjoy!

Sharon tries to turn over in her bed and she feels someone behind her. Her eyes fly open. She doesn't remember right away what happened last night. She moves her hand down to the strong arm that is wrapped around her waist and she feels the silver bracelet that she identifies as Andy Flynn's. Did I have sex with him? She wonders. He begins to move and she quickly closes her eyes back, "Sharon?" He rumbles in a thick sleep laden voice. She contemplates not responding, but she figures she might as well get this awkward exchange over.

"Hi." She whispers as she turns around, careful not to hit his injured arm or side.

"Feel better?" He asks looking into her eyes. She doesn't respond right away. Instead she just looks into his eyes and gets lost for a second.

She snaps out of it and asks, "Did we…"

Andy interrupts her and says, "No, you asked me to hold you, and I guess we just fell asleep."

A weight looked like it had been lifted off her shoulder, when he corrected her wrong assumption.

"Hold me? How much did I have to drink?" She shamefully whispers.

"You had an entire bottle and you wanted more, but I wouldn't let you." He confesses as he stares into her beautiful eyes, that he never in a million years thought he would see up close.

"Oh, gosh! What did I do?" She inquires palming her face.

"You just told me all the horrible things that happened in your marriage and…" He starts but then he stops, afraid to tell her the next part.

"And what?" She inquires.

"Umm, you wanted to have sex, but I couldn't allow you to do that, when you were not conscious of what you were doing." He finally confesses as her eyes blew wide open.

"Oh my God, Andy! I am so sorry!" She exclaims sitting up abruptly, trying to get out of the bed. Her head starts spinning and she looks down towards him. "Did I drink red?"

He nods yes. "Shit!" She exclaims. He chuckles.

"How bad was it?" She inquires.

"Well you ripped my shirt, which is why I don't have one on now." He says slightly laughing.

She glares at him and says, "It's not funny."

"It kind of is, in retrospect." He says, "And then when I finally got you to simmer down, and put you in the bed or so I thought, you took off all of your clothes, including your underwear and came into the living room, where I was laying on the couch."

"No! Please tell me you are joking!" She says as she sinks back down into the bed.

"Nope." He says as he sits up against the headboard.

"So, how did I end up asking you to hold me?" She inquires and then quickly states, "Because I'm pretty sure if I approached you naked it was not for you to hold me."

"I finally got you a shirt to put on and I tucked you into bed, again, and as I walking back out to the living room, you asked me to hold you. It was too hard to resist, because you had just bared your soul to me, no more than two hours. I was afraid to do so because you had tried to seduce me, also. I knew how delicate you were and how bad you wanted to be comforted." He confesses as she slowly looks up at him, as she unburies her face from under the cover.

"I bared my soul to you?" She asks.

"Mm, hmm." He says as she reaches to cover her head again, but he blocks it and she looks back up at him, shocked.

"What did I say?" She inquires unsure if she really wants to know.

He begins to tell her everything she said:

"I just wish he could be more like you!" She stammers out before taking another sip of her wine. "You try so hard to be there for your kids! You worked your ass off to stop drinking!" She ushers out as she takes another gulp of wine. He lies, steals, cheats, and then expects me to be ok with it all. How can he expect me to be ok with him treating me like this? Worst of all walking out on our children repeatedly? Walking out on me is one thing, but your own flesh and blood! What can of man does that, Andy? She asks as she starts pacing around the room.

"Sharon, have a seat." Andy says trying to guide the swaying woman to the couch.

"Answer my question! What kind of man does that?" She demands as he guides her to the couch.

"Not a good one." Andy says as she sits down and he sits beside her.

"I just don't understand what I ever did to him, to make him treat me like this! I did everything he ever asked of me! I even gave up my dream of being a lawyer for him. I had kids early in the marriage for him! I alienated my family for him! I even had an abortion for him! I went against my religion for this man, because I loved him, and he treated me like I was nothing to him! What did I ever do to deserve this?" She shouts as she gets up from the couch and heads to the kitchen.

"Sharon, you didn't do anything wrong. He was just a fool who doesn't realize what he is missing out on!" Andy says trying to console her. He can see the hurt in her eyes, but not one tear has yet to fall. It is almost like she is too angry to cry.

She comes back with the entire wine bottle, she has forgone the glass and is drinking straight from the bottle. "I'm broken, Andy! I never knew love was supposed to hurt like this! You would think after all the shit he has put me and my children through, I would hate him, but I don't. I still love the jackass and it scares the hell out of me! No one has ever used me and made it feel as good as he did! What does that say about me? After all of the abuse and mistreatment, I still love him! What has he done to me! I'm so blinded by him! I don't know how to take the blinders off!" She exclaims before taking a gulp of wine.

"Sharon, nothing is wrong with you. You love him, he is your children's father and I presume your first love, deep down inside you want it to work, and you probably think that in order to gain, you must go through pain and that isn't the case." He says reassuringly as he resists the urge to pull her into a hug and hold on to her until all of her broken pieces are mended. She looks at him as he starts, "I'm no expert on love, but I can sure as hell tell you that it isn't supposed to hurt. It is supposed to make you feel overjoyed and blissful. I'm sure you felt that at one point in your marriage to him, and you still may have lingering notions of it, but what you are displaying right now, is sheer contempt and hurt toward him." He says as he watches her tears begin to fall again.

"It's my fault! The times changed and he didn't! Like an idiot I thought he would change, if I just stayed and attempted to look past all the wrong he has done! I let him do me wrong and now look at me sitting here pouring my heart out, to a man who probably can't stand me!" She exclaims. "Sharon, don't you ever think I can't stand you. Yes, we have had our differences, but that was because we don't completely understand each other. But the last couple of days, I have begun to see a side of you, that really intrigues me and I am really enjoying it." He says afraid that he has said too much, because she doesn't say anything right away. She gives him a slight smile, and reaches for his good hand and squeezes it gently once he surrenders it.

She takes another gulp of the wine, and turns to him and asks, "How do I stop loving him?" He looks at her confused, because he doesn't think there is a clear cut answer. He finally speaks and says, "I don't know exactly, but I think you are on the clear path to doing so. You are recognizing the flaws and understanding what has really occurred."

She looks at him and sits the bottle down on the table. Before either of them can stop themselves, Sharon has started kissing him, passionately. His good hand starts roaming over her body as she deepens the kiss. He pushes her back, as he realizes what they are doing is wrong. "What's the matter?" she asks.

"Sharon, you are drunk." He says trying to catch his breath.

"So!" She says before she kisses him again, and this time he is the one that deepens the kiss. His good hand is roaming through her hair. Their tongues are colliding, as she is straddling him. She starts sucking on his tongue and slowly grinding on him. She can feel his manhood responding to her ministrations and she grabs ahold of his shirt and rips it. He pulls back from the kiss, and says, "OK, Sharon, we have to stop." "But?" She protests. "But nothing, you are intoxicated and you are not in the right frame of mind. Come on let's get you in the bed."

"Okay!" She happily says. "By yourself." He says as he sees her face deflate.

"Oh my God!" She exclaims as she yanks the duvet from his hand and covers her face.

"Sharon, you can't hide under there forever." He says softly.

"Yes, I can! I made a damn fool of myself!" She says still hiding under the duvet.

"You didn't make a fool of yourself. You needed to vent and I was glad to be your sounding board." He says softly, as peeps from under the cover.

"Really?" She hesitantly asks, looking up at him.

"Yes, Sharon, really. If you ever need someone to talk to, you can always count on me." He says as he strokes her hair that isn't hidden by the duvet.

"Andy you don't have to do that for me. I don't won't to be a bother." She says looking into his eyes almost afraid of the emotion that his eyes are welding.

"Sharon, I wouldn't have suggested it, if it was a bother. I want to be your friend, Sharon." He says as he gazes into her sparkling morning jade eyes.

"Why would you want to be my friend?" She whispers, slowly sliding back under the cover.

"Hey, come out from under there." He says as he pulls the duvet back, to reveal her looking intently up at him, with tears forming in her eyes. "I want to be your friend, because I see that there is more to you, than what meets the eye. You aren't the ice-queen that everyone in the LAPD thinks you are. You are a woman, who has endured a lot and you handle it with grace. You are what we Italians like to call the epitome of 'Sprezzatura' meaning you exude grace under pressure. I can tell that is no easy feat, and you do it so well. Who wouldn't want to be friends with a woman who does that and on top of that raised two kids by herself, is smart, driven and gorgeous?" He ushers out never losing eye contact.

She blinks a few times upon hearing that he thinks she is gorgeous. "You are just saying all of that because you want to make me feel better." She finally says breaking eye contact to stare a blank space in the celling.

"Sharon? Sharon, look at me please." Andy says as she slowly turns her attention back to him, "I'm saying those things because they are true, and if they make you feel better than that is an added bonus." She gives him a slight smile and he smiles back.

"I have an idea, how about you get out of this bed and go take a shower, so we can go back to my place so I can get my pain meds and change clothes, so we can go to this great place I know that serves fantastic pancakes. You need something to soak up all that wine." He says as he runs a few fingers through her long hair.

"Ok, I can do that. But I don't want to take up your day." She timidly says. "What day, I'm injured I can't go to work, so why not spend it with a friend, who could use a little company?" He replies as she gets out of the bed taking the duvet with her.

"Andy, you don't have to do that." She says as she disappears in her closet.

"I want to domthis, Sharon, so let me and stop fighting me about it." He says as she walks back out with a CalTech t-shirt and tosses it to him.

"It's my son's. He always leaves stuff here when he visits. I hope it fits." She says as he tries to slide the shirt on, but his injured arm is making it difficult.

She walks over and asks, "Need some help?"

"Sure." He says lifting his arm, so she can glide the shirt down gently. She is unintentionally straddling his thigh and she realizes it when she tries to move backwards some, she has forgotten that she has no underwear on and the shirt she is wearing, barely covers her butt.

"Don't worry, I will close my eyes, so you can walk away." He swiftly says as she starts to blush.

"How kind of you?" She sarcastically says as she motions for him to close them. He closes them and she retreats to the closet and grabs the duvet and some clothes. "You can open them now." She informs him from the closet.

"Do you have any coffee, or do you only drink tea?" He asks as she walks out of the closet.

"I have both, actually. The coffee is in the cabinet above the stove and the mugs are, well you will see them. I have a nice display of them hanging below the cabinet." She says rummaging through her dresser drawer.

"Ok, well I will go keep myself busy, while you shower." He says as he stands up and heads to the bedroom door. "Oh yeah, don't forget to brush those teeth, wine breath is, no Bueno!" He teases as he walks out the door, she throws something at him and laughs.

Andy Flynn as my friend? Who would have thunk it? She wonders as she turns the shower on.

TBC

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