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: Thanks everyone for the wonderful reviews so far! I'm glad everyone is enjoying this story. So just a little note that there are going to be flashbacks throughout this story as we wait with Andy to hear some news on how Sharon is doing. The flashback times are in bold and italics and when we get to the present time, it will say that too as to not confuse anyone reading. Okay, here is Chapter 2...

Chapter 2

77 hours earlier….

Andy rolled over in bed and noticed he was alone. He sat up and looked around the room as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He saw her sitting on the chair that was by their patio window. She had turned the chair to look outside. "Sharon?" he whispered, loud enough for her to hear him. "Hmm?" she turned her head to face him and sighed. "You okay?" he asked her as he sat on the edge of their bed.

"Yes, I just couldn't sleep, that's all," she replied and gave him a smile. Andy stood up from their bed and walked over to join her. He knelt down beside her and held her hand. "Do you want me to make you some tea?" he asked her as she stared out into the night. "No, you don't need to do that," she whispered to him and then cleared her throat. He held her hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

"What's troubling you then?" he asked her as he watched her sit there. "I spoke with Emily last night and she mentioned something to the effect of not getting picked up for the part she had auditioned for," Sharon spoke in a quieter tone. She then turned her head to face Andy. "Oh, well, is the dancing company not giving her the chance or how does that work?" he asked her as he did not know anything regarding how auditions in the ballet went.

Sharon smiled at him and loved the fact that he was interested in what her children were doing. "Well, she's part of the ballet company but in order to stay with them, she has to get her contract renewed every couple of years," Sharon explained to him and Andy listened.

She adjusted how she was sitting in the chair and folded her legs up underneath her so that she could look at Andy better. "She auditioned for the role of head dancer in the upcoming production of Cinderella, but she did not get it," Sharon said disappointingly.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. She must be devastated," Andy sympathized and Sharon nodded. "What is she going to do?" he asked her as he shifted her around and sat down on the chair, which the allowed Sharon to sit on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tightly to him.

"Well, I told her to wait and see what happens, because sometimes something great will come along when you least expect it," Sharon laid her head on his shoulder and relaxed into him. He kissed the top of her head and held her close to him. They stayed there for the rest of the early morning until their alarm went off.

Sharon stretched her body and woke Andy up as she stood up from the chair and him. "Morning" she said to him as she stretched her arms above her head. "Morning," he mumbled as he reached up and pulled her down, making her laugh as he pulled her in for a kiss. She broke their kiss and then walked into their bathroom, leaving him sitting there for a minute. He then followed her into the bathroom and began getting ready for work.

They were out the door and headed to Matthew's school to drop him off. He was already a month into the new school year and he was enjoying it. Fourth grade was proving to be a little bit challenging but he was holding his own. Andy pulled their car up at the school's drop off zone and Matthew jumped out, grabbing his backpack, and then closed the door behind him.

"Bye!" he waved to them as he walked over to where the other students were walking into the school. Sharon and Andy both waved to him as they watched him walk into the school building. "I guess he's adjusting fine to fourth grade now," Andy looked at Sharon who was still watching the school building as if she was waiting for Matthew to come out again. He smiled and grabbed her left hand in his right hand and then drove them to work.

When they arrived in the parking garage, Sharon's phone rang as Andy parked the car. She pulled it out of her purse to see who was calling her. "It's Mason," she muttered as she answered it. Andy shook his head slightly as Sharon spoke to the Assistant Chief over the phone. "Good morning Chief, how can I help you?" Sharon said as she turned to look at Andy and gave him a quizzical look.

"Commander, are you on your way in?" Mason said cutting through the pleasantries. "Ah, we just pulled into the parking garage, sir," Sharon stated and then Andy exited the car as she gathered her things while still on the phone. "Good, stop by my office before you head into yours, please," Mason asked. "Will do, Chief," Sharon said and then hung up her phone as Andy held the door open for her to exit the car.

"What was that about?" Andy asked her as they walked over to the elevators. "I don't know exactly," Sharon shook her head wondering why Mason wanted to see her right away. They both stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button for their floor.

"When we get up, head to the office, maybe we caught a case or something like that, and I will go see what Assistant Chief Mason wants," Sharon stated as the elevator took them up to their floor. Andy nodded and the doors opened. They both stepped out and Andy watched Sharon turn left to go down to Mason's office. He then headed to the Murder Room to see if anything was waiting for them.

Sharon knocked on the door to Mason's office and waited for him to say something. "Come in," she heard and the opened the door. Mason was sitting behind his desk as Sharon walked inside his office. "Ah, Sharon, come and have a seat," Mason stated to her and pointed to the chairs in front of his desk. "Something came across my desk this morning and I want you and your Major Crimes team to look into it," Mason explained to Sharon as he handed her the file in question.

Sharon read the file as she sat there in Mason's office. "How is this a major crime?" she asked him as she paged through the file. "This looks like simple robbery to me," she added as she read some more. "Ah, I knew you were going to say that," Mason stated as he walked around his desk and leaned against it as he faced Sharon.

"There's several persons of interest in this robbery ring. The list keeps going and going on what they have stolen, from simple break-ins at homes to more complex things like vehicles at a dealership," Mason explained to her as she sat there. "How much have they stolen?" she asked him.

"Over five million dollars in items," he stated. "And this is just this one group doing the robberies?" she asked as she paged through the report again. "As far as we know, yes, but there is one guy that might be the ring leader, the problem is that no one can link him in to this crime spree," Mason answered her.

"And you want Major Crimes to do that?" she asked even though she already knew the answer. "Exactly," Mason said as he clapped his hands together and stood up to walk back to his chair. "Okay, my team and I will get on it, sir," Sharon said as she stood up and walked towards the door to exit his office. "Thank you Commander," Mason said to her as she walked outside his office and went about the rest of his day.

Sharon walked down the hallway towards her office and the rest of her team. She thought about the uncertainty that her daughter faced in New York with her ballet company as she made her way to the door where Major Crimes was located. One thing for sure with regards to working for the LAPD, you were always investigating something that was going on, which in turn meant job security. She opened the door and walked inside to join the rest of her team.

Her squad was gathered around Provenza's desk when she entered the office. Andy immediately turned his attention to her and saw her carrying a file folder, which could only mean that they had caught a case. "Ah, Commander, what did Assistant Chief Mason want?" Provenza inquired as he saw Sharon join them. "He would like for Major Crimes to investigate this robbery ring," she said as she handed Provenza the file.

"Here Flynn, read this," Provenza handed him the folder and Andy grabbed it. He started to go over what the case was about but was interrupted by Provenza calling his name again. "Flynn," he heard. "Hey Flynn," he heard again.

Present time...

"Flynn!" he heard and felt someone touch his shoulder. He looked up and saw Provenza standing next to him. He was in the waiting room. Still waiting for an update on Sharon. "Hey," Andy muttered to him as he took a seat.

"I brought you a different shirt from your locker, in case you wanted to maybe change," Provenza told him. "Have you heard anything lately?" Provenza asked as he looked at his friend who seemed distracted at the moment. Andy shook his head no.

"How long has she been in there?" Provenza asked him. Andy took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he looked at his watch. "Half hour maybe?" he answered him and then leaned back in the chair so that his head was against the wall.

"I have Julio picking up Matthew and bringing him here. Rusty was at the DA's office, he'll be here shortly. I told Mike and Amy, along with Buzz, to head over to where you guys were located and find out what was going on there," Provenza informed Andy as they sat there waiting.

"Did you call the other kids?" Provenza asked him. "No, I was going to wait until I heard something from the Doctor before notifying them," Andy answered, stood up, and began to pace.

70 hours earlier...

"So, this robbery ring has stolen items totaling five million dollars?" Andy questioned as he looked over to Provenza and Sharon who were standing in front of the Murder Board. "Yes, there's an itemized list in there of all of the things that were reported stolen and the persons of interest that we need to locate," Sharon stated.

"I want each one of you to take their name, run it in the system, find out everything you can about them, and we are either going to go pick them up and bring them here for questioning, or question them where they are located," Sharon briefed her team and then headed to her office.

"Alright, let's split this up, people!" Provenza gave orders to everyone. Andy looked at the person he was handed, Blake Harper, and returned to his desk. He stared at Croelick's picture in the folder that was sitting at his desk for a couple of seconds before he placed that back inside his desk drawer. It had been over a month since they dealt with Croelick. Now, they had a new case and it was taking priority. He glanced at his watch and sighed. It was going to be a long day.

A couple of hours later, the team met in the RACR room, after compiling all of the research on what they could find. Sharon and Andy were the last to arrive in the room and Andy took a seat at the table while Sharon stood to the side in order to see the screen. "Alright, what do we have?" Sharon asked and Buzz pressed a button to start everything.

"Okay, so the first person of interest in this robbery ring is Daniel Jones. He is in his early thirties and his last known residence is 1600 Vine Street. It's an apartment building right by the Hollywood Walk of Fame," Mike stated as Buzz flipped through the pictures on the screen.

"What does he do for work?" Sharon asked as she turned to Mike. "According to the records, he's a mortgage broker," Mike answered. "Well, he's in the right business for robbing people," Provenza muttered as he sat next to Andy at the table.

"Any arrests that we know of?" Sharon asked. "No, he's clean or never been caught in the commission of a crime," Mike answered her as he sat down at the table. "We can track his whereabouts, ma'am. Find out where he's at and go talk to him," Julio suggested. "Not yet, Detective. Let's see what the rest of the people look like," Sharon answered him as she placed her hands on her hips. "Who's next?" she asked.

"Uh, next up is Chi Chi Gonzalez. He's a former gang member of the 112 and his last known address is 3400 East 51st street. As you can imagine, he has a long rap sheet and spent some time in jail. They claim he's reformed now, on the straight and narrow but I don't buy that, ma'am," Julio stated and Buzz placed the information on the screen. "What does he do for work, Detective?" Sharon asked Julio. "He works at a bank in his neighborhood," Julio answered.

"Okay, Andy, who do you have?" Sharon asked as she turned around and looked at him. "Blake Harper, mid-thirties as well, he likes to gamble, been seen on the poker circuits in the area, but his full time job is working for the city in the water department," Andy informed everyone.

"All of these guys don't reside near each other so it's hard to imagine they are all part of the same ring," he added as Buzz placed where Blake resides up on the screen. "Last known address is in Westmont," Andy stated as he looked at Sharon. "Thank you," Sharon told him as she moved in front of the screen. "Next?" Sharon asked and it seemed to echo in Andy's mind.

Present time...

"Flynn," he heard his partner call his name as he stared out the window in the waiting room. He was still waiting to hear something, anything really on how Sharon was doing. "Matthew's going to be here any minute now, he's not going to want to see your shirt like that, believe me, I know," Provenza tried to convince Andy to change his shirt. Andy turned around and ran his hand through his hair. He walked over to where Provenza was standing and grabbed the shirt that he had brought him. It was a plain white dress shirt.

He walked a few feet to the men's room that was next to the waiting area and changed his shirt. He looked at himself in the mirror; he had forgotten to shave this morning so there was some greyish stubble along his chin, face, and mouth. He had left his suit jacket on his desk and opted to wear his LAPD windbreaker jacket when he and Sharon left to go out into the field. He splashed some cold water on his face and then returned to the waiting room.

Patrice was there now sitting with Provenza and when Andy walked out; she stood up and gave him a hug. "You know she's going to be alright," she told him in their embrace. "Thanks for being here," Andy told her and then walked over to the bag that Provenza had brought with him, and shoved the bloodied shirt into the bag. He then started to pace about the room.

Just then, a nurse had stepped out into the waiting area. "Lieutenant Flynn?" she called out and Andy's head perked up. "Yes," he called out to her. "Hi, I'm Racheal, one of the nurses on your wife's team. Is there a place where we can sit down," Racheal asked him and his eyes went to worry fast. He didn't know what to say and Patrice tapped him on his shoulder. "You can sit over there," Patrice said as she pointed to another area of the waiting room. Andy nodded and the nurse followed him over to the area.

Andy took a seat in the chair and the nurse sat next to him. "The reason why the surgery is taking so long is that the shrapnel in your wife's left side did a little more damage than we originally thought," Racheal started to explain to Andy. "What do you mean more damage?" Andy asked her. "The bullet that penetrated her vest, well the reason why it went through as shrapnel was that it was an armor-piercing bullet," Racheal explained.

Andy was half listening to the nurse and half worrying about Sharon lying there on the operating table. "One of the shrapnel's nicked her spleen. She had some internal bleeding, but the doctor stopped it. That's why it was taking longer than he anticipated," Racheal placed a hand on Andy's arm.

"Okay," he muttered as he was trying to understand what the nurse was telling him. "Is she going to be okay?" he asked her with a worried look on his face. She nodded. "The doctor was in the process of finishing when I came out here to speak to you," she added and then stood up from the chair.

"When they're finished and moved her into recovery, I'll let you know," Racheal added as she left the waiting room. Provenza and Patrice turned to Andy who was still sitting there and they walked over to him.

"What did the nurse say?" Provenza asked him. "Uh, one of the bullets that penetrated her vest shattered into shrapnel and went into her left side. One of them nicked her spleen so she had," he started and then took a breath. "She had some internal bleeding but the doctor was able to stop it," he finished.

"They're finishing up right now so once she gets moved to recovery, they'll let me know," Andy looked at Patrice and she nodded. Just then, two members of FID walked into the waiting room.

"Lieutenant Flynn, we are going to need to get a statement from you and we need both of your weapons since they were fired at the scene," Sergeant Elliot stated. "Yeah, here you go," Andy said as he handed both weapons to him. "And you'll need her vest, it was um, penetrated by a cop killer bullet which turned into shrapnel," Andy added.

Sergeant Elliot took a hold of the Commander's vest and placed it in an evidence bag that was big enough. "She's tough sir, she'll pull through," he told Andy and Andy nodded. "Sir, we can wait for your statement, if you want," Sergeant Elliot informed him. "Thank you," Andy said as he looked at the Sergeant. Sharon always had a soft spot for him and she trusted him completely which made Andy trust him as well.

Provenza's phone then rang and he pulled it out. "It's Tao," he said out loud to Andy and then answered it. "Mike, what is going on down there?" he asked him and waited for Mike's response.

TBC