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.

Chapter 5

Present Time

Andy sat there on the chair next to Sharon's bed. A nurse was in earlier to check on her vitals and to make sure that her stitches were doing okay. He kept staring at Sharon, wondering when he would see her green eyes again.

It was a little after eleven at night when Sharon started to stir in her sleep. Andy moved forward on the chair and touched her hand lightly. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked into his deep, brown eyes. "Hi," she whispered, barely and tried to give him a smile. "Hey," he responded and moved a piece of hair out of her face.

She turned her head to get a better look at him. She was trying to take in his appearance. His hair looked like he had been running his hand through it. His top three buttons on his shirt were unbuttoned and he was missing his tie. "You look like hell," she mumbled to him and he chuckled a little before leaning in and kissing her on her forehead.

"Hmm, what happened?" she asked him as she tried to move but let out a groan instead. "Easy, try not to move so much, you had minor surgery to your left side," he said, hoping his voice would calm and soothe her as he grabbed her hand and held it in his again.

She hummed as he ran his thumb over her hand. "You were shot in your arm," he quietly told her and she nodded. "I remember that, and I remember climbing out a window with you," she was a little groggy still from the medication they gave her.

"Do you remember me helping you into our car?" Andy asked her as he didn't know what she remembered and what she didn't. "I remember you holding my hand, and then bright lights running over my head," she stated as her eyes looked at Andy.

"Why did I need surgery on my side?" her voice rasped. "A bullet fragmented when it went through your vest and embedded into your side. The doctor had to remove each one but there was one fragment that went a little deep and nicked the outer layer of your spleen," Andy explained to her in his soothing voice. Tears started to well up in her eyes. "How did that happen?" she asked him.

"Sweetie you just woke up, I don't want to," Andy started to tell her but she held up her right hand and he stopped talking. "Please, tell me," she pleaded with him and was determined to find out everything that happened. "You're so stubborn," Andy muttered under his breath. "But you love me anyway," she said as he thought she didn't hear him. Andy smiled at her and shook his head.

"The reason why the bullet penetrated your vest was because it was a cop killer bullet, Teflon coated," Andy started and then cleared his throat. "The bullet, for whatever reason, maybe divine intervention, fragmented instead as it went through the Kevlar, instead of going through your body intact," he continued and explained it to her.

"You were actually hit with two different bullets, the one in your arm was a 9 millimeter, consistent with the fact that we saw two different shooters when they ambushed us," Andy stated as he leaned closer to her. She looked at him as he continued to talk to her. She felt she was able to relax better hearing all of this from Andy than from a doctor.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked him after he spoke to her. He chuckled and smiled. "I'm much better knowing that you're still here with me," he whispered to her and he leaned in to kiss her on her lips. She ran her tongue over her lips as they felt dry to her before Andy finally kissed her.

When they broke apart, she saw the look of both relief and fear in Andy's eyes. "I'm okay," she reassured him and he nodded slightly, a little teary-eyed. "Now I know how you felt all those times I was lying there in a hospital bed while you waited to hear how I was," he sighed. She shook her head slightly and tugged on his hand that was holding her left hand.

They sat there and watched each other for a couple of minutes before it dawned on Sharon that she didn't even know if he got injured during the whole incident. She reached for where his tie would have been and caressed her hand down his buttons on his dress shirt. "Did you get injured or hit during all of this?" she winced as she felt a pain in her arm and quickly pulled her hand away from him.

Andy saw the pain flash in her eyes and took a deep breath. "Easy, Sharon," he whispered to her as he tried to help her pain subside. "Let me get the nurse in here and see if they can give you something for the pain," he told her as he started to stand up. She grabbed a hold of his hand and squeezed it. "Answer my question, Lieutenant," her voice rasped. "I wasn't hit or injured," he told her and she let go of his hand.

He walked out of her room and went down to the nurses' station. Rachael, the nurse from earlier, was sitting there going over a chart when Andy walked up. "Lieutenant, how can I help you?" she asked him as she looked up from the paper. "My wife's awake, but she's in some pain," he told her. "Alright, let's go take a look," Rachael stood up and followed Andy to Sharon's room.

They stepped inside her room and Rachael went to wash her hands at the sink. Andy returned to Sharon's left side. "Hi Sharon, I'm Rachael, I'm one of the nurses here," she said as she dried her hands and then placed a pair of exam gloves on them. "Hi," Sharon winced again. "Are you in pain?" Rachael asked her as she looked at the IV's.

"A little," Sharon let out a slow, deep breath. "On a scale here of one to ten, with ten being the worst pain you've ever felt, how would you rate it?" Rachael asked. "Six," Sharon winced. "Okay, let's see. Can you tell me where the pain is?" she turned around and examined Sharon. "My side feels like it's burning and a little twinge in my left arm," Sharon explained as she looked at Andy. Andy watched as the nurse examined her and wanted to do something for Sharon.

"The twinge is probably from the stitches they put in and the burning sensation, believe it or not, is normal," Rachael opened Sharon's gown and took a look at her side. "I'm just going to pull this bandage back and see if there's any oozing coming from your stitches there, okay?" she asked Sharon and Sharon nodded. She reached for Andy's hand and he held onto it.

Rachael then pulled back the bandage as carefully as she could and Andy was able to see her stitches at that point. "You're stitches look fine. They're not oozing which is a good thing," Rachael smiled as she opened a new gauze pad and placed it over the area. "I'm going to use some non-adhesive tape to help soothe the area so that it doesn't pull your skin as much," she explained as she taped the gauze pad.

Sharon kept her eyes on Andy's and watched his facial expressions as Rachael tended to her. Rachael finished up and pulled her gown over so that she wasn't exposed anymore. "I'm just going to get a reading on your vitals, Sharon, and then I'll let the Doctor know and we will administer another pain medication through your IV," she explained as she placed her stethoscope in her ears and then on Sharon's chest. Rachael took her blood pressure and wrote everything down in her chart. "I'll be right back," she told them and stepped out of Sharon's room.

Sharon turned her head to Andy who was still standing next to her holding her hand. "So, was it that bad?" she asked him as she closed her eyes and tried to get more comfortable in the bed. "Was what bad?" he asked as he moved the chair he was sitting in before closer to her bed. "My stitches. I saw your expression on your face when she removed the old gauze pad," she bluntly stated.

"No," he started and then cleared his throat before he continued. "When I saw the stitches, I realized, that things could have been a lot worse and I could have lost you," he quietly told her. That was the first time she heard his voice crack a little in a long time. She saw his eyes water a little as well. "Andy," she whispered and squeezed his hand a little.

The nurse interrupted what Sharon was going to say next as she entered the room again. She placed the new IV on the pole and hooked it up into Sharon's IV line that went into her hand. "Okay, so the Doctor said we can give you another dosage of morphine for your pain you are experiencing, and once I start it, the pain should start to subside," she informed them as she administered the new bag. She made sure that the drip was working properly and watched the medication flow into the tube.

Andy had taken that opportunity to quickly wipe away a tear from his eye, hoping Sharon didn't see that. Sharon was watching the nurse as she tended to her. "Okay, I'll check in on you in a little bit. Would you like some ice chips to chew?" she asked before leaving. "Yes, please," Sharon nodded and then the nurse walked out of the room. She came back a second later with a cup full of ice chips. "Here you go," she said as she placed it on the tray next to her bed and then left the room.

Andy took the cup and the spoon that the nurse had brought with and placed some ice chips on the spoon. He then placed the spoon to Sharon's mouth and she chewed them. "You know, I am capable of doing this myself," she told him and then realized the irony of that statement. "I seem to recall me telling you something similar but you insisted upon helping me," Andy chuckled. "Well, that's because you looked helpless when you came back from your surgery," she added and Andy looked into her eyes.

Andy shook his head. "Not helpless, just grateful that I was still alive to be with you," he whispered and she smiled at him. He brushed some hair strands out of her face. "It's late, why don't you get some sleep," he leaned in and kissed her forehead. Her eyes were closed. The medicine was kicking in again and she felt groggy one more time. "Stay with me," she whispered to him as sleep took over. "I'm not going anywhere," he told her as he watched her fall asleep. He sat back as he held her hand and found himself starting to relax.

34 hours earlier

Andy woke up to Sharon running circles on his bare chest with her finger. "Morning," he muttered as he opened his eyes. He saw Sharon staring down at him. "Morning," she smiled and leaned down to kiss him. Andy pulled her in and held her in his arms. "I can stay like this forever," she told him as she laid there.

Minutes later, their alarm started to go off and Andy groaned as that meant Sharon was going to start getting ready for work. "Couldn't we both call in sick and just stay here for the rest of the day?" he asked her as she started to move.

"As much as I would like to do that, we have a case that's not going to solve itself," she leaned in and kissed him. Andy groaned against her lips as she pulled away. "Fine," he pouted as she headed for the bathroom to get herself ready. He sat on the side of the bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before he stood up and got himself ready for the work day.

They dropped Matthew off at school and headed into work. When they arrived, they were shocked to see everyone already there, sitting at their desks. "Morning Commander," Provenza said to her as they walked inside the office. "Lieutenant," she said as she glanced at her watch. "How long have you guys been here?" she asked as she made her way into her office. She didn't want Provenza to answer her as it was a rhetorical question at best. She placed her things down on her desk and proceeded to join them by the Murder Board.

"Okay, Commander here is what we have so far," Provenza said and then nodded to Julio who then started the morning briefing. "Daniel Jones is scheduled to arrive at LAX this afternoon, but we still don't have anything concrete on him, ma'am," Julio swiveled in his chair. "Except for his picture at the car dealership with Chi Chi," Buzz added as he placed the picture up on the Murder Board.

"Latent came back on several pieces of art work, Martin Lipinski's prints are all over them," Mike explained. "Let's bring him in then," Sharon said. "We can't," Mike quickly said. "Why not?" Sharon asked as she folded her arms in front of her chest. "We don't know exactly where he is, Commander," Provenza chimed in and Sharon sighed and looked at the Murder Board.

"Have patrol pick up Daniel Jones when he arrives at LAX and have them bring him down here to answer some questions we have and let's get a location on Mister Lipinski!," she informed Provenza and he nodded as he picked up his desk phone. Sharon turned around and walked back into her office and closed her door. Andy watched her and then sat down at his desk.

Present time

Andy's phone chirped alerting him to a text message. He sat up from his chair and looked over at Sharon who was sleeping. The pain medication the nurse gave her seemed to be working. He picked up his phone that was on the tray table and glanced at it. The text message was from Nicole. She had picked up Emily at the airport and drove her to their house. He saw the time on his phone and it was close to three in the morning. 'Thank you,' he replied back to Nicole.

There was another text from Ricky saying that he was at their house and wanted to know how his mom was doing. He looked at the timestamp of that message and it was about an hour ago. He quickly sent a text to Ricky telling him that his mom had woken up late last night and he spoke to her in length and that she was currently sleeping after the nurse gave her some pain medication. He then rubbed his hand on his face trying to wake himself up. He hadn't heard from Provenza about the arrest that was made earlier last night.

He texted him and asked what was going on with the case. He stared at his phone for a couple of minutes, hoping that Provenza would answer him and he finally did. 'You're not going to believe this but the Feds want to take this over' was the text Provenza had sent him. 'Why?' he replied and waited.

'Bigger robbery ring than we thought, spans several states' Provenza replied. The group that they had caught was transnational and that fell under the jurisdiction of the FBI. 'How is she?' Provenza sent another quick text. Andy took a deep breath before he responded to him.

'She woke up late last night and we spoke for almost an hour. Nurse gave her pain med and she's sleeping right now' he replied back to his best friend. 'Get some rest. I'll brief you and the Commander later this morning' was the last text Andy received from Provenza. He glanced at Sharon who was still sleeping and leaned forward on his chair to take a hold of her hand.

24 hours earlier

Daniel Jones did show up with patrol officers and after a while, the team wasn't further along as they would have hoped. Andy knocked on Sharon's office door and she told him to come in. It was a little after 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

"What do you want us to do with Daniel?" he asked her as he stood in front of her desk and leaned his hands on the back of the chair. Sharon looked out into the Murder Room. "Any news on where this Lipinski person could be?" she asked him but he shook his head. They couldn't charge Daniel with grand theft auto like they had charge Chi Chi because they didn't find his prints anywhere in the car.

"Do you want us to let him go?" he asked her and she sighed. "We're going to have to, unless," she thought for a minute. Andy stood up and waited for her to finish her thought. "Ask Lieutenant Provenza to join us in here," she asked him and he nodded. He opened her office door and stuck his head out. "Provenza!" he called his partner and Provenza looked up from his desk. "What?" he shrugged his shoulders and Andy motioned for him to come into Sharon's office.

Provenza walked inside and joined them in Sharon's office as Andy closed the door. "Can we hold Daniel on anything concrete?" she asked him as he sat down. "Suspicion might buy us 24 hours at best, he might get a little hostile and if we're lucky, we could throw in an obstruction charge or assaulting an officer," Provenza answered and Sharon slightly shook her head. "Go ahead and do it," she informed them and they left her office.

Holding Daniel Jones would mean that they would just need to concentrate on Martin Lipinski and Blake Harper. Now they just needed to find these two and maybe that would lead them to the leader of this robbery ring they were slowly uncovering.

TBC