Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or M/C, but if I did, this is what would happen.

A/N: So, I know it's been a long time since I've updated this story, but I'm finally back and wanted to let you know there will be one more chapter after this and then an epilogue chapter before this story is finished. Anyways, here's a new chapter for you guys. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Best Christmas Gift Ever

The next morning, Andy was the first to wake up. He pulled Sharon closer as he leaned over and placed a kiss against the sensitive spot behind her ear. She stirred for a moment before rolling over to look at him.

"Good morning," said Andy.

"Morning. What time is it?" Sharon asked him.

"About 6:30," replied Andy.

"Mmhmm. How long have you been awake?" Sharon asked as she smiled at him sleepily.

"Not too long. I was thinking about getting up and taking a shower, but the bed feels so nice I didn't wanna get up," said Andy.

"It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that I'm laying in your bed right now, would it?" Sharon asked Andy teasingly.

"Oh, it has everything to do with the fact that you're lying in my bed right now. It feels empty when you're not here," Andy told her.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that for the next seven days. I'll be lying next to you every night," replied Sharon.

"Best Christmas gift ever," said Andy as he smiled at Sharon before kissing her.

After a minute, Sharon broke the kiss and hummed before she said, "I have a solution to your problem."

"What problem? I've got the woman I love in my arms and in my bed for the next week. So, the way I see it things couldn't be better at the moment," said Andy.

"Yeah, that is pretty great, but if we have any hope of being productive today, we're going to have to get out of this bed at some point," Sharon told him.

"What did you have in mind?" Andy asked Sharon curiously.

Sharon got up and began walking towards the master bathroom before she turned around in the doorway and said, "Meet me in the shower and you'll find out."

Andy smiled and shook his head for a moment before quickly getting out of bed and following Sharon into the shower.

After they showered and got dressed, Andy left Sharon in the bathroom to do her hair and makeup while he made his way down the hall towards the kitchen to start breakfast. He started a pot of coffee before making his way towards the fridge to grab all the ingredients he would need to make a spinach and tomato frittata.

After Andy whisked the eggs and poured them into the skillet, he dropped some spinach into the egg mixture before cutting up some tomato and adding that to the mixture as well. Just as he was pouring himself a cup of coffee, Emily walked into the kitchen in her pajamas.

"Good morning," Andy said to Emily.

"Morning," replied Emily.

"You want some coffee?" Andy asked Emily.

"Sure," replied Emily as Andy grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and poured some coffee into it before he handed the cup to Emily.

"There's creamer in the fridge and the sugar is in the small canister next to the coffee maker," Andy told her.

"Thanks, Andy," replied Emily before she opened the fridge to grab the creamer and stirred it into her coffee.

"No problem," replied Andy.

"Where's mom?" Emily asked him.

"She's in the bathroom doing her hair and makeup," replied Andy.

"Which means she'll be a while," said Rusty as he and Ricky walked into the kitchen.

"Agreed, little brother," said Ricky as he went to grab some coffee.

"You better not let your mom hear you talking like that," said Andy.

"What? You know it's true," said Rusty.

"It doesn't matter whether it takes her five minutes or over an hour. She looks beautiful either way," Andy told Rusty.

"See, that's how you answer that question. You two could learn a thing or two from Andy," said Emily.

"I don't like to brag, but I do pretty well on my own," said Ricky conceitedly.

"Which is exactly why you're still single," replied Emily.

"That is so not true! I just prefer to be a lone wolf, that's all," said Ricky.

At that moment, Rusty couldn't help but laugh at Ricky's statement.

Ricky looked at Rusty before saying, "Why are you laughing? I don't see you changing your relationship status on Facebook or anything. So, we're in the same boat here, little brother."

At that moment, Andy tried to look anywhere but where the conversation was being held for fear that he might start laughing at just how wrong Ricky was. Emily picked up on this and pretty quickly figured out that their little brother might be keeping a secret from them.

"What's his name?" Emily asked Rusty.

"What? Who?" Rusty asked her.

"The secret boyfriend you've been trying to hide from us," replied Emily.

"I do not have a secret boyfriend. Why would you even think that?" Rusty asked Emily.

"Because when Ricky mentioned you being single, Andy tried to look anywhere but over here. Probably so he wouldn't laugh at how wrong this other brother of mine was," replied Emily.

"Thanks a lot, Andy," said Rusty.

"Hey, I was trying to respect your privacy by not saying anything. What does it matter anyways? These two detectives over here would've figured it out eventually when they met him this afternoon at Nicole and Dean's house," Andy pointed out.

"Wait, he's coming to Christmas Eve dinner?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. His name's Gus and you both better be nice to him," replied Rusty.

"Oh, I'm so grilling this guy today," Ricky said excitedly.

"No, you're not. Otherwise, I'm telling mom. You remember what she almost did last time you threatened to do this," said Rusty.

"Tell mom what?" Sharon asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"They found out about Gus," Andy told her.

"Well, it's not like they weren't going to find out about him today anyway," said Sharon.

"What the heck mom?" asked Rusty.

"Looks like she's not on your side as much as you thought," Ricky told Rusty.

"Yeah, well she won't be on your side either once I tell her what you're planning on doing," said Rusty.

"Would someone like to tell me what's going on?" Sharon asked.

"Ricky's planning another interrogation," Emily told her.

"Richard William Raydor, you will do no such thing," Sharon told him as she cast her best Darth Raydor glare in his direction.

"Okay. Jeez," replied Ricky.

It was around 11am when Sharon, Andy, Ricky, Emily, and Rusty arrived at Nicole and Dean's house. Brandon was already there and everyone exchanged the customary greetings before splitting off into three separate groups. Rusty, Ricky, and Brandon made themselves comfortable in the living room and switched on a movie while Dean and Andy were on babysitting duty playing Legos with Ben and Finn.

Meanwhile, Sharon, Emily, and Nicole were in the kitchen getting stuff ready for the festivities later on that day.

"So, on a scale of 1-10, how excited are the boys about Christmas now that it's almost here?" Sharon asked Nicole.

"At least an 11. Especially this past week," replied Nicole.

"It's so fun when they're that age. They get excited about the simplest things. Especially when it's Christmastime and there's so much activity going on," said Sharon.

"Yeah. It was really fun to watch their eyes light up when we decorated the house and set up the Christmas tree a few weeks ago," replied Nicole.

"I bet. Speaking of those two munchkins, did your dad tell you how I lost it when I watched that video you sent me of them a couple weeks ago?" Sharon asked Nicole.

"No," replied Nicole as she chuckled at Sharon's question.

"What video?" Emily asked them.

"Well, a couple weeks ago, your mom and my dad joined us at the park and the boys, especially Finn, took a liking to Sharon," Nicole began.

"Finn likes police cars and was telling us he wants to be a police officer when he grows up. I opened my big mouth and said something about lighting a candle now and Finn picked up on it and asked what it meant," Sharon continued.

"So, I explained to him what your mom meant by that. Anyways, that night we sent her this video," said Nicole as she set her phone down in front of Emily and hit play on the video.

After the video finished playing, Emily said, "Aww…that's the sweetest thing ever."

"You really cried?" Nicole asked Sharon.

"Like a baby," replied Sharon.

"You'll learn pretty quickly that mom's the most sentimental person to ever walk this earth," Emily told Nicole.

At that, Sharon face broke into a massive smile as she thought back to her conversation in the kitchen with Andy the previous evening. Both Emily and Nicole noticed Sharon smiling and looked at each other in confusion for a moment before one of them decided to break Sharon out of her reverie.

"Sharon?" Nicole asked.

"What?" Sharon asked Nicole as she quickly shifted her focus back to the conversation.

"I think both Emily and I were wondering what that huge smile that was on your face a minute ago was all about," Nicole told Sharon.

"As if we even have to ask at this point. You should've seen the two of them last night after we got back from the airport," Emily said to Nicole.

"Oh! Details!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Let's just say we caught them making out…more than once," replied Emily.

"Tell me again why the two of you are so interested in the details of my relationship with Andy," said Sharon questioningly.

"Because you two lovebirds have the most adorable relationship ever," replied Nicole.

"Agreed. So, mom, what were you smiling about before?" Emily asked Sharon.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Sharon asked her.

"Nope. I am my mother's daughter after all," replied Emily.

"Well, if the two of you must know, I was smiling because Andy and I just had a conversation last night about being a couple of sentimental old fools," replied Sharon.

"Oh! Do tell," replied Nicole.

"Well, a couple weeks ago, when your dad and I went to that Christmas charity banquet, I got really sentimental because he was wearing the tux he wore when he brought me with him to your wedding a few years ago," Sharon told Nicole.

"Aww…" replied Nicole.

See, cutest couple ever," Emily pointed out.

"So, I'm curious. What's dad sentimental about?" Nicole asked Sharon.

"Dress shirts," replied Sharon as her face broke into another huge smile.

"Care to elaborate?" Emily asked.

"Nope," replied Sharon.

A few hours later, as the three women were mixing up the ingredients to make three different kinds of cookie dough, Emily peeked her head out the window and saw a touching scene outside in the backyard. Finn and Ben were playing baseball with Ricky as the pitcher, Brandon playing outfield, and Andy behind Finn helping him swing the plastic bat in his hand.

"Oh my god! You guys have to see this!" exclaimed Emily.

As Nicole strode over to the window and saw the scene outside, she chuckled before she said, "Sharon get over here. You're gonna wanna see this."

As Sharon wiped her hands off on a towel while she looked out the window, she couldn't help but smile at the scene before her as she said, "Aww…look at them. That's so adorable."

"We should take a break and go out there," said Nicole.

"Let's go," replied Emily as the three women headed outside.

Once they walked out onto the patio, they each took a seat at the table Dean and Rusty were sitting at watching the baseball game. Andy looked over from where he was standing in the yard with Finn and smiled when his eyes met Sharon's. He quickly turned his attention back towards helping Finn.

"Okay, Finn. Sharon's watching now. That means we have to hit it past Uncle Brandon so we can impress her, okay," said Andy.

"How do we do that Grandpa?" asked Finn.

"Just follow my lead, buddy. Ready, go," said Andy as he helped Finn hit the ball hard enough for it to go past Brandon.

When it happened, everyone cheered for Finn. Andy picked him up and put him on his shoulders.

After almost everyone congratulated Finn, Sharon walked up to them and said, "That was a great hit, Finn."

"Thanks, but Grandpa helped," replied Finn.

"High five, Finn," Andy told him as he raised his hand so Finn could high five him.

"Oh, he did, did he?" Sharon asked Finn as she gave Andy a knowing look.

"Yeah. He said we had to hit it past Uncle Brandon so we could impress you," Finn told her.

"Well you still did a great job. As for Grandpa, he's okay too," said Sharon as she smiled at Andy.

Just then, Finn leaned down and whispered something in Andy's ear. Andy laughed before he told Finn, "Well, I'm going have to set you down if that's gonna happen."

"Okay," replied Finn before Andy set him down in a chair at the patio table.

Sharon gave Andy a confused look before he walk over to her and wrapped one arm around her waist as he leaned over and kissed the side of her forehead.

"How'd I do Finn?" Andy asked him.

A moment later, Finn gave Andy two thumbs up.

"I'm almost afraid to ask what that's about," said Nicole to her dad.

"He told me to go kiss Sharon. So, I did," Andy explained.

"Yeah, like that took a lot of convincing," said Rusty.

"So true little brother," said Ricky.

"You guys did end up on the kiss cam at Dodger Stadium on your second date, so there's really no arguing that point, dad," Brandon told Andy.

"Second official date at least," said Nicole.

"Because we all know you guys were not dating at least a year before that," added Emily as she made air quotes to emphasize the not dating part.

"Yeah…even before you guys officially started dating you talked about Sharon all the time," said Dean.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll treat my daughter with the same sense of chivalrous respect. Otherwise…" Andy trailed off.

"Would you stop? They're messing with you. Like I've said before, we're at more than a slight disadvantage here. So, it would probably be best to start getting used to it now," Sharon told Andy.

"Yeah, cause let's face it, you guys already act like you're practically married," said Ricky.

"Okay, enough. Who wants to make cookies?" Sharon asked everyone.

"Me!" exclaimed both Ben and Finn.

"Okay. We have to wash our hands first, but after that we can make cookies," Sharon told them as she led Ben and Finn towards the kitchen.

While everyone else piled into the living room to watch a Christmas movie, Sharon, Andy, Ben, and Finn were in the kitchen washing their hands in preparation to make cookies. After their hands were washed and dried. Sharon showed Ben and Finn how to roll the chocolate chip cookie dough into a ball with their hands. As Sharon was demonstrating, Andy came up behind her and plucked the small ball of dough out of her hand before adding a bit more to it and sticking it back in Sharon's hand.

As Andy laced his fingers with Sharon's, he began helping her roll out the larger ball of dough as he told the boys, " And if you wanna make a bigger cookie, all you have to do is add a little more dough to it."

"Don't listen to grandpa about that. He can be a bad influence," Sharon told them as she elbowed Andy and put the extra dough back in the bowl before starting to roll out a smaller cookie.

Andy leaned over and very softly whispered in Sharon's ear, "That's not what you were saying this morning in the shower."

Sharon blushed slightly before she said, "Andy! Stop."

"What did you say to Sharon, grandpa?" Finn asked him.

"Yeah, grandpa. What did you just tell Sharon," said Sharon to Andy as she gave him a pointed look.

"I told her she was beautiful. Girls like that," Andy told them as he winked at Sharon.

"So, does that mean you and Sharon love each other?" asked Ben.

"Yes," replied Andy.

"Very much. Even if he drives me crazy sometimes," added Sharon as she smiled at Andy.

"So, if you love her, why don't you get married like dad and Nic?" Finn asked.

"Well…you see…it's a little more complicated than that," began Andy.

"Yeah. Just because you love someone doesn't mean you should get married, although that is a big part of it. You also need to get to know someone really well before you get married and your Grandpa and I don't even live together. So, we've got a ways to go before that can happen," Sharon explained.

"Well then why don't you and Grandpa just move in together?" Ben asked Sharon.

"Well, just like getting married, moving in together is a big step," began Andy.

"Yes. Both people have to be ready to take that step. A lot of things change when two people move in together. You learn all kinds of things about them and probably some you wish you didn't know," Sharon told them.

"Like what?" Finn asked her.

"Like how smelly their shoes are," said Sharon.

"Hey!" exclaimed Andy.

"I wasn't talking about you. I was just using it as an example," Sharon told Andy.

"Making cookies is hard work," Ben commented.

"I just like to eat them," added Finn.

"I couldn't agree with you more, Finn," said Andy.

"That's fine. I'll have the kids help me finish up while you and Dean watch the boys," Sharon told Andy.

"Okay. I'll send them your way," Andy told Sharon as he smiled at her.

As Ricky, Rusty, Brandon, Nicole, and Emily were helping Sharon roll out cookies, Nicole asked Sharon, "How were the boys?"

"They were fine. They had fun, but they're young, so of course after a while they got distracted and wanted to go play. I figured I'd send your dad along with them to help Dean out. He was probably anxious to get out of the hot seat anyway," replied Sharon.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked her.

"Well, Andy was showing the boys how to make bigger cookies and I told them not to listen to him and that he was being a bad influence and he whispered something in my ear which I will not repeat," said Sharon.

"Thank god," said Rusty.

"Anyways, Finn wanted to know what Andy said, so he made up some line about telling me I was beautiful and then Ben asked if that meant that Andy and I loved each other and we told him very much so. Which led Finn to ask why we weren't married like Nicole and Dean. I could totally tell Andy was having a deer in the headlights moment because he would formulate part of an answer and then I ended up taking over the rest of the explanation. So, towards the end of my answer I mentioned something about us having a long way to go before we even thought about getting married and that we didn't even live together yet. Well, that led to Ben asking why we don't move in together and your dad explained that like marriage, moving in together is a big step and I explained to them that both people have to be ready to take that step," said Sharon.

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry," said Nicole.

"Don't be sorry. It's totally okay. They're young and inquisitive. It was actually kind of amusing to watch your dad caught off guard like that," Sharon told Nicole.

"Yeah, why don't the two of you live together? I mean you and Andy are always together. He's either at the condo or you're at his place," Rusty pointed out.

"Yeah, mom. Why is that? I mean you are staying at his place for a whole week," said Ricky.

"Richard William Raydor, you do not want to interrogate me about this. In fact, I have a bone to pick with you," Sharon told him.

"What did I do? I went easy on Andy before, I'm not gonna grill Rusty's new boyfriend. The way I see it, I've been a model son lately," replied Ricky.

"I'm blaming you for that set of questions Ben and Finn asked earlier," Sharon told him

"What? You can't blame me for that. I didn't tell them to ask those questions," said Ricky.

"Yeah, but you did make that comment about them practically being married. That's probably where they got the idea from," suggested Brandon.

"What? You can't be serious," Ricky told his mother.

"I am. Kids that age pick up on everything," Sharon told him.

"Everything," said Nicole.

"You're not gonna win this battle, Ricky. We women may be outnumbered here, but we're a force to be reckoned with," Emily told him.

"That's so true," replied Nicole.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Andy got up from the couch to answer it as Rusty headed towards the living room.

"Gus. Nice to see you again. Come on in," Andy told him as he opened the door to greet him.

"Nice to see you again too, Lieutenant. Merry Christmas," said Gus as he entered Nicole and Dean's house.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Gus. I think Rusty's in the kitchen," Andy told him as they started to walk in that direction.

"Nope. I'm right here," said Rusty as he walked into the living room.

"Hey. Merry Christmas," said Gus to Rusty.

"Merry Christmas. What's with the flowers?" Rusty asked him.

"Well, one is for the hostess and the other one is for your mother. I wasn't sure what to bring and since I'm still getting settled into my apartment, I wasn't really in a position to make something," Gus explained.

"That's totally okay," Rusty told him understandingly.

"Yeah, Sharon and Nicole will love them. Let's go in the kitchen so you can meet everyone," said Andy.

"I'll warn you, there's kind of a lot of them," said Rusty.

"That's okay. I'm excited to meet the rest of your family," said Gus as they walked towards the kitchen.

After dinner was served that night, Sharon and Andy volunteered to do the dishes. Both Nicole and Dean protested for a moment before Sharon pointed out that they had two little ones to enjoy the season with and they should take advantage of the downtime they had now because tomorrow was sure to be super busy for them. They eventually relented and let Sharon and Andy clean up the mess in the kitchen as they went to sit in the living room with everybody else.

"You guys have a great family here. You can tell it's filled with lots of love and joy, which is what a family should be like. I appreciate being invited to be a part of it tonight," Gus told them as they all sat in the living room.

"Well, it hasn't always been that way…for any of us really…but it is pretty awesome, isn't it?" Ricky asked.

"It is. That's all thanks to Sharon and my dad though. There's a lot of happiness and love between them and that seems to just overflow onto all of us," Nicole told Gus.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, as Sharon was washing the dishes and Andy was drying them, Sharon and Andy both overheard what the kids had just said in the next room. Sharon suddenly set the plate back in the sink and gripped the edge of the countertop as tears began streaming down her face.

Andy, noticing this, set the towel and the dish he was drying down on the counter before he wrapped his arms around Sharon and said as his voice slightly cracked, "We did that. Mostly you though."

Sharon shook her head against Andy's shoulder before she raised her head to look at Andy and said, "No. We did that. Together. Despite the struggles all of our kids have gone through at one point or another, they've all turned out to be amazing people. We may have found each other later in life, but together we've managed to begin healing all of our children's collective pain of the past with love and understanding and a whole lot of happiness."

It was then that Andy leaned down and captured Sharon's lips in a kiss filled with so much meaning that no words were needed.

Once Sharon, Andy, Ricky, Emily, and Rusty got back to Andy's house and everyone settled in for the night, Sharon and Andy got ready for bed.

As Sharon sat next to Andy in bed and leaned her head against his shoulder she said, "Today was amazing."

As Andy leaned over and pulled something out of the drawer of his nightstand, he said "The day's not over yet."

Sharon smiled at Andy as he sat the small wrapped box in front of her. She got up from the bed for a second and grabbed a somewhat large Christmas gift bag before returning to the bed and setting it in front of Andy.

"Well, it's definitely pretty clear who has the bigger sense of occasion in this relationship," Andy joked.

"It's nothing crazy. Just some small, sentimental stuff mostly," Sharon told Andy.

"I'm sure I'll love it," Andy told her.

"Well, open it," Sharon told Andy.

"What happened to ladies first?" Andy asked her.

"To hell with chivalry right now. I want you to open it," said Sharon excitedly.

"Okay," replied Andy as he smiled at her before beginning to pull some of the tissue paper out of the bag. The first thing he pulled out was a glass jar with 2 large pads of Post its and some pens. He looked a bit confused, so Sharon decided to explain.

"Look at the front," Sharon told him.

As he turned the jar around, he saw the jar was labeled Date Night.

Andy smiled at Sharon before he asked, "Date night, huh?"

"Yeah, I thought we could fill the jar with date night ideas together. That's why there are two different colors of Post its," Sharon explained.

"Let me guess. Yours are the purple ones and mine are the blue ones," said Andy.

Yeah. Cause you look amazing in blue," Sharon told him.

"Oh, really?" Andy asked Sharon.

"Yeah. It makes you look really handsome. Total turn on," Sharon told him.

"And it's the color of the Dodgers," said Andy.

"Wow. I'm sitting over here trying to be romantic and sentimental and you're talking about the Dodgers," said Sharon.

"Well, we did have quite the romantic moment at a Dodger game not so long ago." Andy pointed out.

"True…and you do look good in Dodger blue," said Sharon.

Andy laughed before he told Sharon, "I love it and I love having date nights with you. So, we should have fun filling this with ideas."

"Uh huh. Open the next one," Sharon told Andy.

"There's more in here?" Andy asked her.

"Only two more," Sharon told him.

Andy shook his head and smiled at Sharon before he began pulling more tissue paper out of the bag. As he did, it revealed the dark wooden frame of a shadowbox. Andy pulled it out of the bag and looked at the contents inside of it. Inside on a piece of nice scrapbook paper were a few pictures of Sharon and Andy together, a ticket stub from a Dodger's game, a couple of short handwritten notes they'd written each other at one point or another, and at the top read a saying that they often said to each other: There's no other place I'd rather be.

"Thank you so much, Sharon. I love this. I'll definitely be finding a place to hang this tomorrow," said Andy as he wrapped an arm around Sharon and placed a soft kiss against her temple.

"I'm glad you like it. You still have one more in there though. It's in an envelope," said Sharon.

"An envelope, huh? Dodger tickets maybe?" Andy asked her.

"No, but I'll keep that one in mind for your birthday. It's something better," Sharon told him.

As Andy dug through the bag, he found the envelope and pulled it out of the bag. On the outside was his name written in Sharon's familiar handwriting. He peeled open the back of the envelope and pulled a folded piece of paper out of it. As he opened it, he saw it was a letter from Sharon.

He smiled before he asked Sharon, "Will you read it to me?"

"Sure," replied Sharon as she smiled at Andy and took the letter from him.

The letter read:

Dear Andy,

I never thought I'd fall in love again nor was I planning on it. Then, suddenly there was you with your sarcasm and your jokes and your kindness and understanding and somewhere along the way I fell irrevocably in love with you.

There's a saying that says that your soul mate isn't someone who comes into your life peacefully and that was certainly true when I first met you all those years ago when I was still working in FID. We've come a long way since then though. We went to Nicole's wedding together and from that day on, something in my heart turned. At the time, I wasn't sure what that something was.

The same saying I mentioned before also says that your soul mate is someone who makes you question things and changes your reality. You've certainly done both of those to say the least. As we became friends and eventually started "not dating," as our children like to call it, I slowly started to realize what in my heart had turned. For years, I closed myself off and didn't even think the possibility of love, at least romantic love, would ever find me again. You were the one who made me believe that falling in love again was even possible. Between dinners and movie "dates" and Dodger games and charity banquets and meeting for coffee & tea on the Sunday mornings we didn't have a case, I began to fall for my best friend. I choose to believe that was the way it was supposed to happen for us because I don't think it would've happened otherwise and frankly I wouldn't have wanted it to happen any other way. Not only are you the man I'm completely and hopelessly in love with, but at the end of the day you're also my best friend and having that as part of the foundation with which we build our relationship upon gives me a great sense of peace because I never have to question if you're on my side or not because at the end of the day we're both on the same team (no pun intended).

Seriously though, and as the Jason Mraz song "Lucky" says, "I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend."

All my love,

Sharon

Andy just looked at Sharon in awe for a moment before he smiled and asked her, "You know what?"

"What?" Sharon asked him.

Andy moved his face closer to Sharon's until his lips were mere inches away from hers and looked into her eyes as he said, "I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend too."

Andy then proceeded to kiss Sharon in a way that left her breathless. After about a minute or so, Andy pulled away and said, As much as I'd like to continue kissing you, I think you should open your present now."

Sharon smiled excitedly at Andy before she picked up the small box and began unwrapping it. Once it was free of the wrapping paper, she saw that it was a medium sized white box. One that a piece of jewelry might be in.

Before she pulled the top off, she asked excitedly, "Andy, what did you do?"

Andy smiled at Sharon before he said, "You'll see. Just open it."

As Sharon pulled the top of the box off, it revealed a silver engraved necklace. On the front, it said: There's no other place I'd rather be…

"Oh my god Andy! It's beautiful and it has the phrase we always say to each other," said Sharon as she smiled at him and a few tears began to stream down her face.

"Yeah, it does. Wait until you read what's on the back," Andy told Sharon as he smiled at her.

"There's more?" Sharon asked him excitedly.

"Yeah. Turn it over," Andy told her.

As Sharon flipped the engraved pendant over, it revealed more engraving that said: than close to your heart—just you and me.

After Sharon read what the back said, more tears began streaming down her face as she said, "Andy…I love it. Thank you."

"I'm glad you like it. There's something else though," Andy told her.

"What?" Sharon asked him curiously.

Just then, Andy opened the same drawer he'd taken Sharon's present out of and pulled out a necklace that resembled Sharon's except it had a brushed gold finish and the chain was slightly thicker than the skinnier one he'd given to Sharon.

As he held the pendant part of the necklace in his open hand he said, "This one's mine. That way you're close to my heart wherever I go, whether I'm out in the field on a call or we're across town from each other at our respective houses. That way you're always with me even if we're not always in the same place."

"Oh, Andy…how did I get so lucky?" Sharon asked him through her tears.

"Good karma I guess. Not quite sure how I got so lucky though. If today showed me anything, it's that you coming into my life has been the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. Not only do I now have a better relationship with both of my kids that I've had in years, but I also happen to have this amazingly kind, smart, and loving woman in my life too," replied Andy as he slid his arm around Sharon's waist.

"There's no other place I'd rather be. Plus, I happen to have an amazing boyfriend who's thoughtful and funny and not too bad on the eyes either," said Sharon.

"Boyfriend, huh," said Andy questioningly.

"Yeah…we really need to come up with a better word than that. Boyfriend sounds so…" Sharon trailed off.

"Juvenile," said Andy.

"Yeah. Plus, it doesn't even begin to describe what you mean to me," Sharon told him as she reached over and set her hand just above Andy's knee.

Andy smiled at Sharon before he whispered in her ear, "Guess we'll have to come up with some new names then."

"Yeah. What were you thinking?" Sharon asked him.

"Significant other," Andy suggested before he kissed the sensitive spot behind Sharon's ear.

"No. Too cold and impersonal," said Sharon through the chuckle she let out when Andy's lips made contact with her skin.

"Wooer," said Andy as he placed a kiss on Sharon's neck.

"Ooh, I like the meaning of that one, but the word itself is a bit strange," said Sharon.

"I've got it. Casanova," said Andy before he placed a kiss on Sharon's shoulder.

Andy could feel Sharon's body shake with laughter before she leaned down with her lips next to his ear and whispered flirtatiously, "Maybe in bed."

Andy laughed into Sharon's shoulder for a moment before he looked up at her and asked, "Wanna fool around for a while?

"Uh huh." replied Sharon as she nodded her head and smiled at Andy.

It was then that Andy leaned over and turned the lights out before he and Sharon laid down in bed and began lazily making out. It didn't take long before their kissing began to turn passionate. Andy broke the kiss for a moment and said mischievously, "I think we may have forgotten to unwrap a couple presents."

"Well, my sense of occasion is telling me we should open them," replied Sharon as she played with the bottom of Andy's t-shirt.

"And for the second time tonight, I love your sense of occasion," replied Andy before he pulled Sharon on top of him and they once again began kissing passionately.

The presents they received from each other that night were amazing, but it was nothing compared to what they'd given to each other over the last almost six months together. Love was a powerful thing and the love Sharon and Andy shared was the best gift they could've given each other.

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! As always, let me know what you thought of it by leaving me a review. I also wanted to thank all of you for reading and reviewing and for sticking with me through the lack of updating over the past two and a half months! It is greatly appreciated!