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: I just wanted to thank everyone for the great reviews I have been receiving on this story. It's just awesome. I'm glad everyone is enjoying this story. I thought I would have been done with this story by the time Christmas came around but, we still have a few chapters left on it. I am also going to write a Christmas story with Matthew but that would probably be posted after the holidays. Happy Holidays everyone!
Chapter 11
Emily and Ricky waited outside Matthew's school for him to be released. As they sat in the car, Ricky was behind the wheel while Emily looked out the passenger window. "Do you think Mom is going to be okay? I mean now that we know her spleen is larger than normal?" Ricky asked her as he shrugged his shoulders.
She turned to face him and then glanced out the window as another car pulled up next to them. "She'll be fine. I'll make sure she listens and follows what the doctor tells her," as the school bell rang. The doors opened and a few teachers walked outside as the children were dismissed. Emily opened her door and got out of the car. Ricky did the same and followed her to where there was a gathering crowd.
Matthew stepped outside the doors and saw Emily and Ricky. He immediately ran over to them with his backpack on his back and gave Emily a hug. "Emily!" he wrapped his arm around her and she did the same, enveloping him in a big hug. "Hey Matthew!" she laughed as she was surprised by him. He then did the same to Ricky, giving him a hug.
"Did you get to see mom at the hospital?" he asked them as they walked back to the car. "Yes, and we are going there as soon as we leave your school," Emily told him as she opened the door to the back seat of Ricky's car. "Great!" Matthew climbed in the back seat, placed his backpack on the floor, and put on his seat belt.
They all got in the car and Ricky started to drive. "I got to see her last night, but she was still sleeping," Matthew told them as they made their way through the busy streets of LA. "She's going to come home tomorrow and I'm going to stay with you guys for two weeks or so," Emily turned her head so that she could see Matthew.
"Really? You are staying with us?" Matthew was happy and that made Emily smile. "So how was school today?" she turned back around and was now facing forward as traffic started moving again. Matthew was quiet and Emily looked at Ricky. "Did something happen at school today?" Ricky asked him. "I was just worried about mom," Matthew muttered as he looked out the window.
They finally pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and got out of the car. Matthew grabbed his backpack and held Emily's hand as they all walked inside the main doors of St. Leo's. They turned to the right once they were inside the main area and stood in front of the elevator. Ricky pressed the elevator to go up and they waited.
"Wait a second!" Matthew cried out and started to pull on Emily's hand. Emily went with him a couple of steps before stopping. "What is it? What's wrong?" she wondered as she looked at Matthew. "I want to get mom something before I see her," Matthew pulled on Emily's hand again as she looked over at Ricky who just shrugged his shoulders. Matthew led all three of them towards the gift shop.
Meanwhile, Sharon and Andy, along with the physical therapist returned from another walk. This time, Sharon had walked a little longer than in the morning. "You did much better this afternoon. How are you feeling?" Gabrielle asked her as she helped her sit down in the chair.
"Better," Sharon winced as she sat down and Gabrielle moved her IV pole to the other side of the chair. She then left the room after saying good bye.
Sharon looked at Andy who was standing across from her and then watched him walk over to the other chair and bring it closer to her. "So, they should be here soon," he glanced at his watch. Sharon hummed as she sat there watching him closely. "I hope he was okay at school today," she told him as she grabbed his hand. "I'm sure he was fine," Andy took her hand in his and placed his other hand over hers.
"I don't want to tell Matthew about the finer details of what's going on with me," Sharon said in a low voice as she took a deep breath. "Sharon, he's going to wonder why you are staying home for the next two weeks," Andy softly caressed her hand.
Matthew, Emily, and Ricky stepped off the elevator and headed towards their mother's room. Emily stopped Matthew before they walked further down the hall. "Mom's still healing so don't jump on top of her," she told him and he nodded, holding the teddy bear that was holding a heart saying 'Get Well Soon' in his hands.
Ricky stepped inside the room and gave a slight knock on the door to alert them of their presence. Sharon turned her head and saw Matthew standing with Emily. "Mommy!" Matthew cried out as he quickly walked over to where she was sitting. She reached for him and he gave her a gentle hug. "Oh, I missed you, sweetie," Sharon admitted as she closed her eyes and held him.
"I missed you too!" Matthew told her, in between a few tears. Sharon moved Matthew so that she could wipe the tears from his face. "Oh, sweetie, please don't cry because then you'll make me cry," she told him, wiping the tears from his face as Andy handed her another Kleenex. "I'm sorry Mom. I promise to keep my room clean," he told her as he stood in front of her.
She smiled at him and then looked at the teddy bear. "What's this?" she asked him and pointed to the bear he was holding. "It's for you, Emily helped me buy it," he said as he handed the teddy bear to her. She took it and looked at it. "Well, that was very nice of you to bring me that," she told him.
Matthew gave her a small smile. "I'm glad you're awake," he softly told her. Sharon looked at Andy, who was now standing, and wondered. "Provenza brought him last night to your room, he stayed briefly before I walked him back to where Nicole was waiting," Andy explained.
She then turned to Matthew. "Do you have homework?" she asked him and he nodded. "How was school today?" she asked as he placed his backpack on the floor and then sat on the empty chair next to Sharon. "I was sad," Matthew shrugged his shoulders as he sat there.
Emily looked at Ricky and then she looked at Andy who was watching Sharon and Matthew interact. "Um, Andy, we're going to go home now," Emily said, pulling Andy from his thoughts. "Okay," he turned his attention to the older kids and walked them out of the room. "Don't forget, Matthew has baseball camp tomorrow morning. We'll need one of you to drive him there. Rusty will be bringing him home tonight," Andy told them.
"Why were you sad?" Sharon brushed Matthew's hair with her hand as they sat there. "I thought I would never get to see you again," he confessed to her. "Oh sweetie, come here," Sharon gestured for him to sit on her lap. "I don't want to hurt you," he told her and she shook her head. "You're not, come on," she held out her hands.
Matthew crawled over to her chair and sat on her lap. She placed her arms around him and held him close to her. "I will always be here with you, no matter what happens," she whispered to him. "My teacher spoke to me at recess," he muttered. "Her father was a police officer too," he added as Sharon held him.
Andy came back into the room and saw the sight before him. Sharon was holding Matthew close to her and suddenly all the feelings came flooding back to him. His mind flashed to the apartment building when he tied his tie to stop her bleeding arm. Then it flashed to getting her into the car and driving her to the hospital. Sitting in the recovery room, willing her to wake up again.
Andy didn't realize he was holding his breath as he watched the two of them sitting in the chair. Sharon looked up at him and gave him a smile. He returned the smile as he walked back over to them and sat down on the empty chair. Matthew had his eyes closed as Sharon held him. "Is he okay like that?" Andy asked her as he didn't want her putting unneeded pressure on her body.
"He's fine," she simply said as she sat there. "Did Ricky and Emily leave?" she asked him. "Yeah, they're headed back to the house," Andy scratched his head as he watched Sharon. She looked at him and wondered what was going through his head at the moment. "What?" she whispered.
"I love you so much," Andy told her and then looked at his hands. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you, Sharon," his voice cracked as he said those words to her. "Andy," she said his name and he looked at her.
Before she could say any more, they were interrupted by a knock at her door. "Sorry to interrupt but I need to check a few things," the nurse told them. Andy stood up and picked Matthew up from Sharon's arms. He then placed him on his chair.
The nurse made her way to Sharon and checked the IV as she was still on a low dose pain medication drip along with the regular IV they had administered her from the beginning. "How are you feeling?" the nurse asked as she carefully checked all of the bandages. "I feel better," Sharon admitted.
"I heard the doctor is releasing you tomorrow morning," the nurse made small talk as she tended to Sharon. Sharon just nodded and smiled at her. "Okay my dear, do you want to sit back on the bed yet?" the nurse asked her as she was done checking everything. Sharon thought about it. She was starting to feel uncomfortable sitting in the chair and then nodded to the nurse.
Andy watched as the nurse helped Sharon back onto the bed. He then walked over to her and helped her get settled back in, pulling the blanket over her legs. "I'll leave you two," the nurse walked out of the room. "Thank you," Sharon told her as she left. She glanced at Matthew who was still asleep in the chair.
Andy then took Sharon's hand in his as he stood at her bedside. "We all need you to get better," he started whispering to her. Sharon looked up at him and saw the sadness in his eyes. She squeezed his hand. "Aren't you the one who said we would take this one day at a time?" she asked him, hoping to see his smile.
Andy didn't know what to say which made Sharon more nervous. "Andy please tell me what you're feeling," she asked, not wanting to push him but feeling like she needed him to tell her. He turned around to look at Matthew and saw he was asleep. He then turned back around to look at Sharon. He didn't trust his voice right now and he was overcome with emotion.
He started to cry as he sat down in the empty chair by her bed. She held onto his hand and watched him. "I've tried to be strong for you, for our family. Through all that we've been through, everything that happened to us, this, you getting shot, watching the doctors and nurses working on you twice, I don't know how much more I can take," he finally confessed to her what he was truly feeling.
She swallowed as she listened to him break down. She was right when she told Patrice she was worried about his health in all of this. He was taking this hard and kept it all bottled up until she finally got him to tell her what he was feeling. It took her breath away to watch the man that she loved with every fiber of her being breakdown in front of her.
"Andy," she choked out as she tried to gain her composure. He looked at her through his teary eyes. "I'm sorry," was all that he said to her as she continued to hold his hand. He sat there and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Don't be sorry, please. You have been so strong through everything and I love you, with all of my heart," she squeezed his hand again.
Andy looked at her and gave her a sheepish smile. "If you tell anyone that I broke down here, I'll deny it. I don't want to ruin my reputation," he managed to let out a little laugh at the end. "Oh honey, it won't leave this room," she smiled at him as they continued to hold hands.
Later on that evening, Matthew was doing his homework on Sharon's tray table while she helped him. Andy was in the corner of the room by the windows talking to Provenza over the phone. "Hey, so how did things go this afternoon?" Andy asked his partner as he looked out the window.
"Just paperwork and handing things over to the FBI, nothing major. How's she doing?" Provenza asked as he sat in his living room waiting for Patrice. "She's okay. The doctor wanted to keep her one more night for observation but she'll be released tomorrow morning. And I told her that she needs to listen to the doctor's orders and we will be going straight home," Andy told his friend over the phone as he turned around and watched Sharon interact with Matthew.
She glanced up at him as he stood by the window. She knew he was talking to Provenza as she helped Matthew with one of his math problems. Rusty knocked on her door and stepped inside the room. "Rusty!" she smiled as he came in and placed his bag on the empty chair. "How are you feeling, Mom?" he asked as he stood next to her bed.
"I'm feeling better and I'll be home tomorrow morning," she told him. "That's great news," Rusty smiled as Matthew continued to finish up his math problem worksheet.
"I'll let you go. Thanks," Andy said and hung up his phone. "Rusty, how was everything today?" he asked him as he walked closer to them. "Andrea was on edge today in court at the arraignment hearing," Rusty told them and Sharon glanced at Andy. "Jack was there with his client," Rusty added. "Where's Ricky and Emily?" he asked them.
"They picked up Matthew from school today and dropped him off here, they went back to the house to get things ready for your mom to come home tomorrow morning," Andy told him and he nodded.
Sharon looked over the homework paper that Matthew had finished. "Okay, let's see what you did," she went through the problems. Andy motioned for Rusty to join him out in the hallway and he followed him.
"What's up?" Rusty asked him as Andy stood out in the hallway. "Listen, make sure you look after Matthew tonight, okay?" Andy looked at Rusty with determined eyes making sure he was listening to him. Rusty cocked his head to the side. "Okay, want to tell me what's going on?" he asked not knowing where Andy was going with this request.
"He wouldn't tell us, but I think something happened in school today. He played it off as being sad, but I think it's more than just that," Andy explained. Rusty nodded. "Do you want me to ask him what's going on in a non-intrusive way?" he asked as Andy took a deep breath. "Don't be too forthright with it, but, yeah, see if you can get him to talk to you about it. Your mom and I have been wondering about him for a week now, but he said everything was okay with school," Andy told him and patted Rusty on the shoulder when he agreed.
"Okay, Matthew, everything looks correct! Put this away in your folder now so you don't lose it," Sharon handed the paper back to Matthew. Rusty and Andy walked back into the room as Matthew was packing up his backpack. "Alright Matthew, you're going to go home with Rusty now and tomorrow mom will be home," Andy told him.
"But I thought I could stay here with you tonight?" Matthew asked as he looked at Sharon. "Oh, no sweetie, you need to go home, sleep in your own bed, but I promise you, when you get home from your baseball camp tomorrow, I'll be home to greet you," Sharon told him as he stood by her bed. Matthew had a sad look on his face again.
"I'll keep the teddy bear you got me close to my heart tonight, plus I'm sure Moxie misses you a ton!" Sharon tried to persuade him. "Alright," Matthew said reluctantly with a pouted face. He leaned up close to Sharon and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "I love you Mommy," he whispered to her. "I love you too," she whispered to him.
Matthew then hugged Andy. "Bye Dad," his voice was muffled by Andy's body as he hugged him back. "Be good, and listen to your brothers and sister, alright?" Andy told him and Matthew nodded. "Good night Andy, good night Mom," Rusty said and then walked out with Matthew.
Andy watched Sharon as they left. He moved the chair and sat down next to her again. "So, I just want you to know that when I take you home tomorrow, you are following the doctor's orders to a tee," he rubbed her arm and eventually held her hand again. She chuckled and shook her head. "I'm serious here, Sharon. You are going to get yourself better, and I'm going to help along with our children," he told her.
Sharon knew that he was serious and she knew that in order to relieve the stress in his life, she was going to have to follow the doctor's orders exactly. "I know sweetheart, I know," she told him as he continued to sit there next to her side.
TBC