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 13
At the Flynn house, Emily was sitting on the couch, and Ricky was working on his computer. Emily's phone alerted her to a text message. She picked up her phone and saw that it was from Andy. "Mom and Andy are on their way home now," she told Ricky who looked up at her briefly before he returned to his computer.
After driving Matthew to his baseball camp this morning, Emily and Ricky had come back to the house and made sure that everything looked nice for when their mother came home. The fridge was stocked with the food that the nutritionist had given Andy and there were more blankets on the couch than usual.
Emily walked around the house one last time, making sure everything was good before she threw a kitchen towel at her brother. Ricky looked at her after having the towel hit him in the head. "Hey! What was that for?" he yelled out. "Can you take one minute from your computer and get ready for mom to come home?" she asked him as she stood there.
Ricky looked around the room. "Seems to me like you have everything under control, sis!" he told her as he closed his laptop. "What time are you picking Matthew up? I'm sure once they get home, Andy is going to want to stay with mom," she asked him as she straightened up the family room. "His camp is over at 3," Ricky stated as he placed his laptop back in its bag and helped his sister.
Meanwhile, Andy drove Sharon home. Traffic on a Saturday afternoon was building as they made their way home from the hospital. He quickly glanced over at Sharon as he drove and saw that she had fallen asleep. He took a deep breath and concentrated on driving instead of thinking about that day.
A half hour later, Andy pulled the car into their driveway and parked the car next to Ricky's. He turned the car off and gently squeezed Sharon's hand. "We're home sweetheart," he whispered to her as she opened her eyes. "I'm sorry I fell asleep," she groggily said as she sat there trying to get her bearings back.
"No worries," he smiled at her as she looked at him. She then looked out the window and saw Moxie waiting for them at the sliding glass door in the kitchen. He was wagging his tail. "Someone seems happy that you're home," Andy saw the dog too and saying that made Sharon chuckle a little. "I'm glad to be back home," she undid her seatbelt and waited for Andy to come around and open her door.
"Easy there," he said as she took his hand and stood up from the car. He placed his other arm around her waist and they both walked towards the sliding glass door. Ricky was standing there waiting for them as they came closer to the door. As Ricky opened the door for them, Moxie sat down and waited for the two to enter the house.
Sharon paused for a moment which concerned Andy. "Sharon?" he looked at her. "I'm fine," she continued and entered through the kitchen. Moxie was wagging his tail, happy to see both of them. "Easy Moxie," Andy said to the dog as they walked past him. "Emily set some things up in the family room if you want to sit down there," Ricky told his mother as he gave her a hug.
Andy closed the door behind them and petted Moxie on the head before walking behind Sharon and Ricky as they headed towards the family room. "You know all of you don't have to fuss with me," Sharon told them as she made her way to the family room and saw Emily standing there. "Welcome home mom!" she greeted her.
Sharon walked over to her daughter and gave her a gentle hug. "Oh Emily, Ricky, you guys don't have to wait on me, please," she told them as they helped her sit down on the couch. "The doctor told you to take it easy for two weeks, mom. That's what I'm planning on helping you do while I'm here," Emily smiled as she sat down next to Sharon.
"And I am very grateful that you are here, sweetie, I really am," Sharon brushed Emily's hair out of her eyes as they both sat on the couch. Andy watched Sharon interact with her kids and then glanced down at his watch. It was almost time to leave to pick Matthew up from his baseball camp.
"I'm going to go and pick Matthew up now," Andy cleared his throat but Ricky interrupted him. "Don't worry, I can go do that Andy," he told him. "You sure?" Andy asked, not wanting to overstep. "I got it, really. You haven't been home in three days either, so take a minute and relax," Ricky told him and Andy nodded.
Ricky grabbed his car keys and kissed his mother on her cheek. "I'm going to get the little squirt now, I'll be back," he told her and she smiled at him. "Thank you Ricky," she told him and he returned the smile.
Ricky passed Andy in the kitchen as Andy was bringing in Sharon's bag from the hospital. "We should be back in an hour, and don't worry about dinner tonight. Emily and I are going to take care of it," Ricky said and Andy just nodded to him as he walked out the door.
Andy then placed Sharon's bag on the counter and took out the prescription medication that the doctor had given Sharon along with the doctor's note and other information they received. He then looked out the window as Ricky was pulling his car out of the driveway.
A minute later, Rusty was pulling his car into the driveway when Andy was still in the kitchen. Rusty then came in the back door and placed his books from the library down on the kitchen table. "Hey, how's mom doing?" Rusty asked him. "She's okay. She's in the family room with your sister," Andy told him.
Before Rusty could join them, Andy stopped him for a second. "So did you get a chance to talk with Matthew last night?" he asked him. "We talked on the way home, but it was mostly about mom," Rusty said and knew Andy was disappointed. Andy sighed and shook his head. "There's something bothering him," he muttered. "Well, if there is, he doesn't want to talk about it," Rusty told him and then walked away.
Andy stood there and watched Rusty walk away towards the family room. He was contemplating his next move with Matthew. He had hoped he would open up to Rusty but that wasn't the case. Maybe he would tell Ricky as he drove him back home. He then decided to bring Sharon's bag upstairs while Emily and Rusty occupied her in the family room.
As he went upstairs, he stopped in Matthew's room. Maybe there was a clue in his room that would lead Andy in the direction of what was bothering his youngest son.
"Hi Mom!" Rusty said as he entered the family room and saw Sharon sitting on the couch with Emily. "How was the library?" Sharon asked him as he sat down and joined them. "It's a library, Mom, not really exciting," Rusty stated and Sharon shrugged her shoulders.
Meanwhile, Ricky pulled up to the Glendale Sports Complex. He parked his car and started to walk inside. There was a young woman standing at the front desk. "Can I help you?" she asked as Ricky approached her. "Well, yes you certainly can," Ricky looked at her nametag. "Donna," he finished and gave her a smile.
She smiled back and shuffled some papers around. She then gave him her undivided attention. "So, what can I help you with?" she asked him and gave him another smile. Ricky cleared his throat. "I'm here to pick up my little brother. He was in the camp for 4-6th grade," he said as she looked at one of her sheets. "What's the last name?" she asked him. "Raydor," he said without thinking and she looked for that name.
"I'm sorry, I don't have a last name of Raydor on our camp list," she told him. Ricky shook his head. "I'm sorry, Raydor is my last name. My brother's last name is Flynn," he said and rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking, cursing himself in his head. She looked back up at him and he gave her another smile. "They should be finishing up soon, you could wait here or inside," she pointed to the waiting area.
"Oh, uh, thanks, I'll wait over there," Ricky stumbled with his words and then walked over to where there was a bench and sat down, defeated. He hoped he didn't have to wait for Matthew long.
The doors opened to the facility and a lot of kids came walking out. Ricky stood up and looked for Matthew. Matthew was looking around and saw Ricky. "Hey kiddo, so how was the baseball camp?" Ricky greeted him as he came over to where he was standing. "It was good," Matthew placed his bag down on the ground and put his sweatshirt on over his baseball shirt.
"Ready to go then?" Ricky asked and Matthew nodded. The two of them walked out of the facility as Ricky looked over to Donna who was now helping someone else. He sighed and then walked out of the building with Matthew. "There's a surprise for you waiting at home," Ricky told him as he unlocked the car doors.
Matthew's face instantly lit up and he gasped. "Mom's home?" he hoped as they both got in the car and closed the door. "Yep, but the doctor wants her to take it easy for the next two weeks," Ricky started the car and drove them back home. Matthew couldn't wait to get home and see his mom home from the hospital. He sat there in the back seat and looked out the window.
Back at the house, Andy was in Matthew's room looking around. He saw some papers lying on top of one of his dressers and decided look through them. That's when he found something odd. Matthew had a copy of the last page of his adoption papers in that pile. The paper had both Sharon's and his signature on it but Andy could tell it was a copy. "Why would he have a copy of this?" Andy wondered out loud.
He left Matthew's room and went into their bedroom to put Sharon's bag from the hospital away. He then returned downstairs and checked on Sharon and the rest of them in the family room.
He came around the couch and sat down next to Sharon. She, Emily, and Rusty were talking about something when he walked in and joined them. "Okay Mom, Andy, you guys relax and the rest of us will be making dinner tonight," Emily stood up from the couch and motioned for Rusty to join her in the kitchen.
Sharon watched them retreat to the other room. She then turned to Andy and gave him a smile which quickly faded. "What is it?" she wondered as he sat there holding a piece of paper. "I found this in Matthew's room before when I was upstairs," he said and handed her the paper. She looked it over and then looked at him.
"This is his adoption paper, but why would he have this copy in his room?" Sharon wondered as she looked at Andy. "I don't know, but something's up here," he told her as they sat there on the couch together.
Back in the car, Ricky glanced at the rear view mirror and saw Matthew lost in thought. "Hey, is everything really okay, Matthew?" he asked him, wondering if maybe the kid would tell him what's been bothering him lately. "Promise me you won't say anything to mom or dad?" Matthew hesitated before he said that as he wasn't sure what Ricky would say.
Ricky blew air out of his mouth as he drove them and wondered why Matthew would make him promise this. "Okay," he said and hoped what Matthew was going to say wasn't a big deal. "I failed my math test a couple of weeks ago," Matthew told him. Ricky breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, well, that's okay. Not a big deal. I'm sure Mom and your dad told you that," Ricky told him.
"I didn't tell them," Matthew mumbled. "Why didn't you tell them?" he asked as he turned down the street. "I don't know. They were busy and I forgot to have one of them sign the test so then I forged Dad's signature," Matthew confessed and now had a worried look on his face after the reaction from Ricky. "What?" Ricky was shocked and then started to chuckle a little.
"Please don't tell them!" Matthew pleaded with his older brother. "Hey, hey, don't worry," Ricky pulled into the driveway and parked his car. He then turned around in his seat to face Matthew. "So you got an F on your test, no biggie, forging your dad's signature on that test, not good but it's not the end of the world either," Ricky tried to relate to him.
"I did plenty of that when I was your age in school," he told him. "You forged your mom's or dad's signature?" Matthew asked. "Well, no. I couldn't forge my dad's signature because he wasn't around and our mom's signature is too neat looking," Ricky told Matthew as he watched him. "Yeah, that's why I had a problem copying her signature, but Dad's isn't neat at all, and was a little bit easier," Matthew stated.
"Forging your dad's signature on a test that you failed is normal, every kid does it once. However, forging your dad's signature who happens to be a police detective? I'm not sure that was a good move," Ricky told Matthew like it is and hoped that Matthew would just tell them what he did. "You think he'll find out?" Matthew asked, hanging his head, as they both stepped out of the car.
"Well, he is a detective and pretty good at his job," Ricky said which made Matthew feel more horrible than he already did. "Mom doesn't take too well at people lying," he told him as they walked up to the house. Ricky grimaced at the last thing he said because now Matthew just felt horrible and probably made things worse.
"Hey," he reached out to grab Matthew's shoulder before he opened the back door. "If you tell them what happened, I'm sure you would feel better, and I'm sure they would forgive you," Ricky looked at Matthew and then opened the door to step inside the house.
Sharon and Andy heard Matthew and Ricky come back into the house. Sharon quickly gave the paper back to Andy as he stood up and went into the den to put the paper there. He stepped out when he heard Matthew running down the hallway. "Hey buddy, slow down!" he told Matthew as he put his arm out to stop him.
"Where's mom?" Matthew asked as he looked at Andy. "She's in the family room, and we need to be careful as she's still recovering, got it?" Andy told him and he nodded. They both then headed into the family room and Matthew walked around the couch and sat down next to Sharon.
"Mom!" he said as he scooted up next to her. "Hey sweetie, how was your baseball camp?" she asked him as he sat next to her. "Good. There were former baseball players there," Matthew said as Andy sat across from them in another chair. "Oh really?" Sharon stated and then glanced over at Andy. "Like who?" Andy asked him and Matthew thought of their names again.
"Like J.D. Drew and Adrian Gonzalez," Matthew spouted out a couple of more names as Andy sat there listening to him. "How are you feeling Mom?" Matthew asked Sharon as he sat there. "Oh, sweetie, I feel better now that I'm home with everyone here," Sharon smiled. Matthew kept thinking of what Ricky had told him. He needed to tell his parents but he didn't want them disappointed in him.
Instead, Matthew got up off of the couch when he heard Emily call his name from the kitchen. Sharon watched Matthew leave the room, quicker than anything she'd seen before and then looked at Andy who was across from her. "He left in a hurry?" she shifted on the couch. "Yes he did," Andy looked at where Matthew had disappeared to and then turned to face Sharon.
She knew that look on Andy's face and shook her head. "We'll ask him after dinner," she promised him as he stood up and sat down next to her. They cuddled on the couch and watched the TV. "Are you okay like this?" he asked her as they sat there. His arm was around her waist and she snuggled into his side. "I'm perfect," she simply stated as they sat there and watched some show on TV.
TBC