He noticed the office was quiet, somber the next morning when he arrived for work. It was also half full; Lieutenant Flynn, obviously wasn't there, but he noticed that neither the captain nor Lieutenant Provenza were there either.
"Morning," they said back to him as he settled in at his desk. "Any update on the lieutenant?"
"He had a lot of tests run, and he's still in the hospital," Mike offered. "Doing okay so far, you know, all things considered."
"Hey guys," Wes heard and looked up to see the blonde-haired guy walking briskly though the office. It appeared he was there often enough, as the rest of the team wasn't bothered he was there at all.
"Rusty, how's everything going?" Julio asked, and Wes turned. He'd learned the kid, whom he had seen yesterday, was named Rusty.
"Okay," he sighed. "I came for all the stuff that was left behind," he nodded toward the desks, and the rest of the team nodded. Wes watched as Rusty walked over and opened Lieutenant Flynn's desk with the key he had suddenly produced and got the lieutenant's wallet out. He then unlocked the captain's office and grabbed something out of her drawer, and as Wes watched, he noticed he'd grabbed the captain's purse. Ahh, yes, she'd ridden in the ambulance too and with things so chaotic, she hadn't gotten her own stuff. Rusty returned to the murder room.
"How's Andy?" Tao asked, looking to Rusty.
"Mad," he rolled his eyes, "You know how he is. He's yelled at everyone, well almost everyone," he grinned. "He wants to go home." Rusty turned toward Wes, their eyes finally meeting. Wes stood.
"Hey, I didn't get a chance to meet you yet-Detective Wes Nolan," he nodded. "I saw you at the hospital yesterday. It was pretty crazy, though."
He nodded, "Rusty-nice to meet you," as he gripped the wallet and purse in one hand. "Oh, hey-" he pointed to Wes, "you're the guy who tried to punch-"
Wes interrupted him, "Yeah, I almost took out the lieutenant the other day," he let out a small laugh. "Sorry about that."
Rusty waved him off, "That didn't cause his heart attack. Yeah, he was complaining about shoulder pain at home the last couple nights, assuming it was from that. He didn't even realize it was due to this heart attack that was coming on. Well, nice to meet you, but I need to get to the hospital."
"Rusty, keep us posted," Julio nodded, and Rusty nodded back to him.
"Anyone heard directly from the captain?" Wes heard the question asked and looked up to see Buzz with a questioning look.
"She sent me a text, obviously telling me I was in charge until she or Provenza came in. She was not sure if she'd be in today or tomorrow. Provenza is due in later this morning. Both are at the hospital," Mike explained.
Wes nodded to himself, thinking what a close team he was now part of, and it made him grin. He was going to do something nice for the captain; she deserved it after looking after one of her own like she had. He decided then and there that all the junk he'd heard about her over the years was wrong. She might appear tough, but that was her being good at her job. Seeing her in action with her team, he decided she must just be that dedicated to taking care of those around her.
By mid-afternoon, Wes had made a plan to stop by with dinner for the captain. He'd heard she had stopped back at the hospital after popping into work to meet with Chief Howard earlier. He knew she had to be hungry with the day she'd had-worried about one of her detectives and still trying to balance work. So, later that evening, he stopped by the hospital to find the captain, lieutenant, and Rusty in the room together.
"Knock, knock," he offered, as he entered tentatively. The trio looked up and with puzzled, but friendly expressions, gave a slight smile to him. "I thought you might be hungry," he offered, holding up bags of food. "I wasn't sure what you might like, so I went with soup and sandwiches. There's plenty; I didn't know who might be here."
"That's very kind of you," Sharon smiled to him. "Thank you very much," she said accepting the bag.
"I'll take some of that soup," Andy perked up. "That sounds divine."
"Andy, you know you can't eat that yet! They told you to stay away from salt right now, and as good as that soup is, there's plenty of salt in it," Sharon scolded him. Wes grinned at that; he'd remembered she was a mom, and she sounded like one talking to him. She was good with her detectives.
Rusty dug into the bag and looked to Wes, "Thanks. That's cool of you to bring this by," he held up the sandwich.
"Rusty," Andy nodded to him, "save one of those for me," he said in a loud whisper like the rest of the room couldn't hear. Rusty laughed, and he noticed the captain sighed.
"Do you need anything else? Captain, work was pretty quiet today," he offered, "but I heard you met with Chief Howard, so you probably knew that."
"Yes, thank you," she gave a slight smile. "I had heard that. I'll be in tomorrow morning and then in and out for awhile. Things are crazy."
"I'm happy to help, please," he offered. "I'll get going unless you need anything else?"
"No, but thank you again for the food. I'll see you tomorrow, detective," she nodded.
As he left the hospital, he started to think of ways to brighten the captain's day tomorrow. She looked tired and stressed, not that she looked bad at all by any means, but he could see it. He could do something to brighten her day-flowers, yes, he'd put flowers in her office. Surely, she'd like that, and it might make her smile. He was taking slow steps, little by little, to do things for her. He'd brought her dinner while she was worried about someone else, and tomorrow, he'd have flowers waiting for her to brighten her day. The sight of her smile would surely brighten his day.