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.

Chapter 7

6 hours earlier

It was 9 o'clock in the morning and everyone was sitting at their desks. Sharon walked out of her office and joined everyone at the Murder Board. "Okay, so do we know where Blake Harper or Martin Lipinski are today?" Sharon asked her team as she turned around to face them. "No, we don't Commander, but I think we should do a knock and talk at their last known addresses and see if maybe that's where they are," Provenza said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Do we have any more information regarding the rest of the stolen property?" Sharon asked them. "Yes and no," Mike stated as he sat at his desk. "According to the system, there's still some artwork missing, but a majority of the stolen property has been recovered and is being stored at the LAPD warehouse. Unfortunately, it has not been processed yet," Mike explained and Sharon shook her head. They would get somewhere with this case and then it would come to a halt. She couldn't understand that and now she knew why Chief Mason gave this case to her and her team.

"Do we have a last known address of our two guys?" Sharon asked. "Yes, Blake Harper has two last known addresses according to the report I ran on him," Andy stated as he grabbed the report off of his desk. Provenza hung up his phone. "Uh, Commander, that was the sergeant down at Holding, Daniel Jones was just released," Provneza informed her. "What? How could that happen?" she asked. "Apparently Daniel's lawyer got the suspicion charge dropped," Provenza answered as he threw his hands up over his head and leaned back in his chair.

Present time

Sharon stirred awake and opened her eyes. She was having a wonderful dream about her and Andy on the beach and hated to wake up from that. When she opened her eyes, she remembered she was lying in a hospital bed and all the memories came flooding back. She turned her head and saw Andy sleeping on the chair next to her bed. He was going to have a stiff neck when he woke up. He was still holding her left hand in his and she gently started caressing it.

He opened his eyes and saw her looking back at him. "Morning," he said to her and she smiled. "Morning," she said. "You're going to get a stiff neck," she added as she tried to adjust herself on the bed. "Here, let me help you," Andy told her as he stood up and helped her move her pillows. He adjusted the head of the bed, raising it up just a little for her. He then stretched his arms over his head and ran a hand down his face to wake himself up.

He walked over to the window which faced east and saw the sun starting to rise over the mountains in the distance. He saw the 110 freeway and the Union Bank building downtown. He then turned around and walked back over to Sharon.

"I need to use the bathroom," she told him. "Okay, let me call the nurse for you," he said as he lowered the rail on her bed. He then pressed the nurse's button and a nurse came to her room. "I need to use the bathroom," Sharon told the nurse and she gladly helped her stand up and then walked with her to the bathroom inside her room. The nurse went inside the room with Sharon to make sure she was okay.

Andy waited by her bed until he saw Sharon come out. The nurse then walked with her back to the bed and Sharon sat down. "I think I just want to sit here for a couple of minutes," Sharon huffed. "That's fine, honey. Let me just get your IV pole back over here and plug it back in," the nurse said and once she did that she left the room. Sharon sat on the edge of the bed. "You look sexy in that hospital gown," Andy murmured to her and she laughed. It was nice to hear her laugh again.

Andy moved and she watched him as he sat back down on the chair that was pulled up close to her bed. "Rusty, Emily, and Ricky are going to be stopping by this morning," he told her as she sat there. "I've asked them to bring a change of clothes for me and also some things for you," he added and then saw that she was trying to scoot herself back in the bed. Sharon let out a slight groan as she got in bed but she was happy that her kids were in town.

"Who called them?" she asked him as he stood over her. "Provenza did, well I told him to just notify them what happened but they both insisted on coming in and seeing you," he explained to her.

Just then, there was a knock on her door and an orderly entered her room carrying a hospital tray with her breakfast. "Here you go," they said as they placed the tray down on the side tray of her bed. "Thank you," Sharon said and the person left the room.

"Well, that's a good sign if they're giving you food," he told her as he removed the cover on the tray. Sharon looked over what was sitting in front of her. There was scrambled egg whites, a piece of toast, and some fresh fruit.

"Which means that I can place these back on your finger, my lady," Andy smiled at her as he held her left hand and slipped her wedding ring back on her ring finger. She smiled at him when he did that and then turned her attention to the food sitting in front of her. "I am a little hungry," she said as she started to eat.

One of the nurses stepped in her room and saw that she was eating her food. "Oh good, glad to see you are eating this morning," the nurse said to her. "My name is Marie and I'll be one of your nurses for this morning and afternoon," she added as she washed her hands.

"Do you know if Doctor Fishman has the results of the bone marrow test he took this morning?" Andy asked her as she wrote down Sharon's vitals. "I could ask him, he should be making his morning rounds right now," Marie said to him as she walked over to Sharon's side.

"I'm going to need to look at your incision and see how that's healing but I will come back when you're done eating to do that," she said and Sharon nodded. "After the doctor sees you, we are going to get you up and walking around," she added and then left her room.

Minutes later, Patrice walked into her room. Sharon was still eating her food and Andy was again sitting in the chair next to her bed. "Patrice," Sharon greeted her as she walked in.

"Good morning Sharon, Andy," Patrice said as Andy stood up. "It's good to see you eating already," she added as she placed her things down on the empty chair in the corner of the room. "So, how was your night?" she asked them as she turned around and walked back to Sharon's bed.

"Rough," Andy muttered as he glanced at Patrice. Patrice gave a worried look at both of them. "What happened?" she asked them.

"My blood pressure dropped in the middle of the night and alarms were going off," Sharon started to say but then Andy took over. "They gave her a shot of epinephrine and that helped stabilize her. The doctor ran some blood tests and her platelet count was low. They took her for a CT scan which showed her spleen to be enlarged. The doctor said he thinks it is due to the trauma of the gun shot and shrapnel that was removed, but he wanted to rule out any other bleeding," Andy explained to Patrice.

"He also did a bone marrow test, which we are still waiting for the results," Sharon said as she cleared her throat. "That makes sense, they just want to rule out what else could be the cause of your spleen to be enlarged, that's all," Patrice said as she saw the concerned look on Sharon's face.

She then turned to Andy who was still wearing the same clothes she saw him in last night. "If you want, Andy, I can stay here with Sharon while you go home and change," Patrice offered. "The kids are coming here soon and bringing a change of clothes for me with them and some things for Sharon, but thank you," Andy said.

Sharon looked at Patrice and then over at Andy. "Andy, why don't you go down to the cafeteria and get yourself something to eat," Sharon suggested to him. "I don't want to miss the doctor when he comes," Andy shook his head. Sharon then looked at Patrice and she caught her eye.

"Andy, the doctor is not going to be stopping anytime soon, believe me I know, so why don't you go and get yourself something to eat. You need to keep your health in mind too," Patrice suggested. Andy huffed. "Is this you two gaining up on me now?" Andy asked them. "Just looking out for you as well," Patrice answered.

Andy sighed and reluctantly started to leave Sharon's room. "I won't be long, please finish eating," he said to Sharon and then nodded to Patrice and left the room. He started to walk down the hallway and headed towards the elevator.

He stepped in the empty elevator and pressed the button for the 2nd floor where the cafeteria was located. He leaned against the side of the elevator as it started to move down to the 2nd floor and then stepped out and headed to the cafeteria. He knew he had to get something to eat but he really wasn't hungry, he was too worried about Sharon.

Meanwhile in Sharon's room, Patrice was sitting with her and they were talking. "I'm worried about him," Sharon said to her as she finished her food. "How so?" Patrice wondered as she sat there.

"The doctor mentioned Leukemia, and I know he was ruling that out with the initial results from the blood test but I can't help but think what if I have some sort of disease that is causing this, and they only noticed it now because I was shot?" Sharon confided. "Sharon," Patrice said, almost in a whisper. Sharon looked at her. "I don't know how he would take it," Sharon's voice cracked.

"What did you say when he was in the hospital with his blood clot? You have faith that this will all work out?" Patrice reminded her and Sharon smiled. "Yeah, what was I thinking back then?" Sharon scoffed and shook her head and started to laugh a little. Patrice smiled and held her free hand. "You have to have faith again, Sharon," Patrice said as she squeezed her hand.

Back in the cafeteria, Andy was getting some decaf coffee. He filled his cup and then went to grab a bagel from the container. He then made his way to the cashier where he paid for his items. "It's no charge," the cashier told him. Andy was surprised by this. "Law enforcement, right?" the cashier asked him and he nodded. He wondered how they knew but then realized he had his badge clipped to his belt still. "Thank you," he told them and started to walk back to the elevator.

As he was waiting for the elevator, a priest came and waited with him. "Heading up Father?" Andy asked him as they both stepped into the elevator. The priest chuckled. "Well, eventually I hope so but yes, 4th floor please," the priest said as he stood in the elevator.

"Someone close to you here?" the priest asked Andy as the elevator took them up to the next floors. "My wife," Andy nodded. "I'll say a prayer for her and you," the priest said and then he stepped out on the 4th floor. Andy nodded and then the elevator took him to the 6th floor where Sharon's room was located.

One hour earlier

Sharon and Andy arrived at the last known address of Blake Harper. They pulled up in front of an apartment building and Andy parked the car. They had just come from the other address that was listed in Harper's report but that address proved to be abandoned. Provenza and Julio had gone out when they had left to see if they could find Martin Lipinski. Sharon had told them to be careful when they had left the parking garage together.

Provenza had called them before they arrived at their current destination and told them that they had spoken to Martin at his residence but he wasn't very forthcoming with his answers. Provenza wanted to know if they should arrest him right there and figure things out later. Sharon gave them the go ahead to bring him in for questioning and they did just that. Now, her and Andy needed to speak with Blake and see if they could tie him into the robbery ring.

Sharon looked at the building and then glanced over at Andy who was still sitting in the driver's seat. They had both put their vests on before they went to the last address just as a precaution with everything going on in the world. "What?" Andy said as she looked at him. "Nothing," she said and then glanced at her watch. It was now 2 o'clock in the afternoon. "There's got to be something here, some kind of evidence we can use on this robbery ring, otherwise I don't know if we'll solve this," she said to him.

He glanced at her with a worried look. "Of course we're going to solve this case, Sharon. You are the best at what you do and you have a great team backing you up," Andy told her. "Did Mason say something to you?" he wondered as she did have that meeting with him yesterday after dealing with Jack. Sharon sighed.

"He wants it solved and said that he didn't make me a Commander to not be able to solve this robbery ring," she told him. Andy shook his head. "But, he's still adjusting to being Assistant Chief, so I let that comment go at that time," Sharon said as she could read Andy's mind.

Andy sat there and thought about the case. "Maybe there's other players in on this, besides the one's we know," he suggested to her. "Like who?" she asked as she stepped out of the car and he followed. "I don't know, maybe other people not in LA?" Andy shrugged his shoulders and they walked inside the apartment building. They took the elevator up to the floor where Blake Harper's apartment was supposed to be on and walked down the hallway to his door.

Andy nodded at Sharon before he knocked on the door. He then leaned into the door to see if he could hear any movement coming from the other side. "Someone's coming," he whispered to her and they heard the door unlock. The door opened slightly. "Blake Harper?" Andy asked the man at the door. "Yes, who wants to know?" he said. "LAPD. We'd like to ask you a couple of questions," Andy informed him. "Hang on a second," the man said and closed the door behind him.

Andy glanced at Sharon and she shook her head. Blake Harper was taking an awful long time to come back to the door but then Andy heard multiple footsteps approaching the door again. The door swung open and Andy recognized a gun as Blake brought it up. "Gun!" Andy yelled. There was another guy in the apartment who also had a gun and Andy drew his weapon while Sharon did the same. Shots were fired inside and outside the apartment.

Andy was able to get Sharon towards the exit door and into the stairwell. "Come on!" he yelled at her as he grabbed her and started going up the stairs towards the roof. He heard the door open to the stairwell and shots were fired again towards them. Sharon fired her weapon at the person as they made their way up. They came to another floor and Andy opened the door and started heading down to an open room. "Here, stay here," he told Sharon as he stood by the door to the stairwell, listening for someone coming after them.

Andy opened the door slightly and that's when gunshots were fired at him again. He quickly closed the door and headed to where he left Sharon. They went further into the room and Andy closed the door and barricaded themselves inside. Andy was trying to catch his breath when he looked over at Sharon. She was slumped over slightly against the wall and a desk. "Sharon!" he cried out as he ran over to her.

She was hit in the left arm and was bleeding from it. "I've been shot," she told him as she tried to stop the bleeding herself. "Yeah, I see," Andy said as he looked around for anything to apply pressure to the wound. He then took his tie off and tied it around her arm as tight as he could. That seemed to have stopped the bleeding for now. "Are you hit anywhere else?" he asked her and she shook her head no. "I don't think so," she said as she winced in pain from moving her left arm.

Present time

Andy walked down the hallway back to Sharon's room and as he entered, he saw Marie, the nurse, in the room and she was examining Sharon's incisions on her side and her arm. Patrice was still there and stood out of the way for the nurse to examine Sharon. "Everything is looking good, Sharon," she said as she dressed them both with new gauze and tape. Andy smiled as he saw Sharon being attended to. Sharon smiled back at him and he placed his coffee down on one of the side trays in her room. "The doctor should be here soon," Marie told them and she left the room.

"So did you get something to eat?" Sharon asked him as he held up his bagel and coffee. "The kids texted my phone and said they would be coming here around 9 this morning," Sharon said and pointed to her phone on the table.

"Louie wanted me to tell you that he's still at the office, the FBI is taking over, and he'll be stopping by later this morning with Sergeant Elliot from FID," Patrice told him. "Oh yeah, I forgot about Elliot," Andy mumbled as he ate his bagel.

"He was here last night while you were still in surgery and took custody of both our weapons. I also gave him your vest for their investigation and he said that he would come back for both of our statements," Andy said.

"Oh, well that's nothing big," Sharon stated, knowing that Andy always hated it when FID showed up anywhere. She couldn't blame him. All the run ins she had with him while she was still in charge of FID, she smiled at the memories.

Just then, Doctor Fishman walked into Sharon's room and greeted everyone there. "Well, how are we doing this morning? Hopefully better than earlier?" he said as he washed his hands and then dried them with a paper towel. "I feel better," Sharon told him.

"Good, always good to hear that," he said as he listened to her heart and lungs. "Take a deep breath for me," he told her and she did and winced a little. "Did you have any pain?" he asked her. "Yes," she answered. "From where the incision is or deeper like under your rib cage?" he asked her.

"I'm not sure, both maybe?" Sharon answered him and he nodded. "Well that is possible," he said as he walked around to the other side of the bed. "Your platelets are done, which is good. We'll get another blood sample in about an hour and run that to see where we stand," he explained to her.

"How about the results of the bone marrow you took earlier this morning?" Andy asked him as he stood next to Sharon. "I'm still waiting on that to come back," he said as he looked at his watch. "Doctor Fishman, dial 2807, Doctor Fishman 2807", they heard over the overhead speaker. "I'll be right back," as he excused himself and left her room. Five minutes later, Doctor Fishman returned with Sharon's bone marrow test results in his hand.

TBC