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: Thank you for your continuing support and reviews of this story. I didn't think we would have reached Chapter 15 when I first started this story but here we are and Happy New Year!
Chapter 15
Andy did not get a good night's sleep in Matthew's bed. He kept tossing and turning throughout the night, so much so, that Moxie stood up on the bed and watched him for a few seconds. Andy woke up and saw the dog staring at him. "What are you looking at?" he grumbled, asking the dog as he shuffled around the bed some more, trying to find a good place.
Moxie then laid down on the bed and fell back asleep as Andy laid there staring up at the ceiling. He decided enough was enough and got out of Matthew's bed. Moxie looked up at him as he made his way with two blankets and some pillows and headed back towards their room. Moxie then jumped off the bed and followed Andy.
Andy walked into their room and saw Sharon, Matthew, and Emily still sleeping soundly on the bed. He rubbed his neck, trying to get the kinks out before tossing the pillows onto the floor. He then placed the blanket down on the floor and laid down on top of it. He placed the other blanket over him and laid back on the pillows. He positioned himself on the floor so that, if Sharon needed to get up, she wouldn't trip on him.
Moxie then found a spot next to Andy on the floor and laid down next to him, letting out a deep sigh in the process. Andy started to chuckle a little at that sound. At least Sharon was getting some rest, after all, she was the one that needed it the most, he thought as he laid on the floor. He closed his eyes, hoping he would be able to fall asleep without any more nightmares of the shooting.
Sharon woke up a couple of hours later and saw that both Matthew and Emily were still in bed with her. She gently nudged Emily and whispered her name. Emily woke up to see her mom looking at her. "Is everything okay?" she sleepily asked as she stretched. "Yes, I just need to use the bathroom," Sharon told her and Emily scooted out of her way.
Sharon sat on the side of the bed. She had a minor dull ache on her side but it wasn't as bad as it was earlier in the evening. She decided that she would forgo taking another pain pill and stood up from the bed. She then made her way around the side and stopped in her tracks at the sight before her. There was Andy sleeping on the floor and Moxie was laying down with him. His right arm and hand was above his head and his left hand was laying across his chest as he slept.
Sharon smiled at the sight and then felt sorry for him because two of their kids were asleep in their bed with her, instead of him. She wondered where he had gone to when he kissed her good night and judging from the blankets and the pillow cases, she figured he went to Matthew's room. She slowly tip-toed around him, careful not to wake him up or bump into him and then made her way to their bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Andy heard a click and opened his eyes to see the light on underneath the bathroom door. He figured Sharon had gone in there and hoped that she was okay. He decided to sit up on the floor and wait for her to come out when she was done.
Sharon finished up in the bathroom and tried to be as quiet as possible. She then opened the bathroom door and saw Andy sitting up staring at her as she came out. She turned the bathroom light off and walked closer to him. "I'm sorry I woke you," she whispered to him. "You didn't, it's okay," he whispered and then stood up to join her in front of the bathroom.
"I'm sorry that the kids took over our bed," she ran her hand through his messy hair and he closed his eyes, reveling in her touch. "It's okay," he whispered as he opened his eyes to look at her. He took a hold of her hand as she lowered it and brought it up to his lips and kissed her hand. She smiled and he smiled back at her.
"I'll ask Emily to move back to the guest room," she started to say but Andy stopped her. "No, don't. I can go back to Matthew's room, I just wanted to check up on you," he told her as he still held onto her hand. "I got a better idea," she led him to the guest room, which was empty, and pulled him down with her on the bed. He slipped in behind her and pulled the covers up to meet them both. She settled down on her right side and Andy held onto her as he laid down. "I like your idea better," he muttered to her. They both let go of a sigh as they closed their eyes and fell back asleep.
Morning came and the sunlight was coming through the blinds in the guest room. Andy stirred awake but something or someone drew his hand back into a tight hold. He opened his eyes to see Sharon's hair in his face and he took a deep breath. "Morning," he grumbled as he moved her hair with his free hand and kissed her neck. "Morning," she turned onto her back and greeted him with her smile.
Andy leaned down and kissed her lips gently. "How are you feeling?" he asked her as he pulled back and sat up from her. "Better," she looked at him as he ran his hand through his hair. He then glanced over at the nightstand in the guest room and looked at the clock. It was 9:30. "It's 9:30?" Andy rubbed the back of his neck. "How did we sleep so late?" Sharon wondered.
They both started to get out of the bed and Andy quickly went over to Sharon's side and helped her stand up. "You know, I am capable of standing on my own, right?" she told him. "I know, but like you told me all those times before, you were there to help me, so now I'm here to help you," he said as they walked into the hallway.
They could hear voices downstairs and figured the kids were already up. Sharon walked into their bedroom and grabbed her robe. Andy helped her put it on and he also grabbed her pain medication. They went downstairs and started to smell the food that was cooking in the kitchen.
"Morning everybody!" Sharon said as they stepped into the kitchen and saw her children gathered around the kitchen table eating breakfast. "Mom, Andy, we made some eggs and turkey bacon, there's toast and fresh fruit if you want some as well," Ricky stated as he stood up and moved his dish to the side. "Mom, have a seat," he gestured for her to sit down on his chair he had just occupied.
Sharon did with Andy's help and then he placed her pill bottle next to the plate that Ricky had given her. Andy went over to the counter and grabbed her anti-biotic medication, bringing that to her as well. "Thank you," she looked up at him. "My pleasure," he winked and continued to move about the kitchen. He took a yogurt out of the fridge and gave it to Sharon to have with her breakfast.
"Sorry we kind of took over your bed last night," Emily stated to Andy as he was waiting for some toast. "Oh, that's not a big deal, Emily. I'm just glad you guys are all here," he told her and then took the toast and placed it on a small plate and handed it to Sharon who now had some eggs and a piece of bacon on her plate.
Andy turned and Emily handed him a cup of coffee. "Here you go, it's decaf," she smiled and he accepted the mug from her. Andy sipped from his coffee mug as he watched Sharon eat and interact with her children at the kitchen table.
After breakfast was over, the older children volunteered to clean up the kitchen. Andy wasn't going to protest that. If they wanted to do it, he was going to let them. He decided to find out where Sharon and their youngest child had gone off to. Andy found Sharon in the family room with Matthew. She was going over some of his homework.
"Here you are," Andy said as he walked over to join them. Sharon smiled. "I was just helping Matthew with his science paper that he just remembered he needed to do," she told him as he sat down next to her. Andy shook his head. He was still mad at the fact that Matthew had forged his signature on a test and didn't tell them. "Is there anything else you've been hiding from us, kiddo?" Andy asked seriously.
Matthew looked up at Andy from the floor as he was writing and he thought long and hard. Every day he has an assignment notebook that he writes down all the things that he needs to do from school. He grabbed that assignment notebook from his backpack, which was next to him, and found last Friday's date. He went through the list of assignments. "No," he quietly answered and handed the notebook to Andy.
Andy paged through the notebook for the past two weeks and made sure that Matthew had done the assignments listed in the notebook. Usually he or Sharon would go through it every night, but things had gotten hectic the past week with their last case and with Sharon getting injured on top of that.
Matthew finished writing his paragraph and handed it to Sharon to read over. She did and as she was reading the paragraph, Matthew decided to ask his father a question. "Did you ever do bad on a test, Daddy?" Matthew asked which caught Andy off guard as he sat on the couch. "Um, there were a couple of times in school that I didn't do so well as I thought I did, but I always told the truth," Andy said and Sharon chuckled.
He glanced over at her as she was still reading what Matthew wrote. "What?" Andy asked her and she just shook her head. "Listen Matthew, your mom and I want you to be the best that you can be, and if you give 100 percent for something but you come up short, that's okay, because we still love you," Andy told him and then Matthew stood up and gave him a hug. "I love you too, Daddy," he said and then Sharon handed him his paper.
Matthew placed his finished paper back into a folder and placed the folder in his backpack, along with his notebook. He then took his backpack and went into the mud room and hung it up on a hook there.
Sharon scooted over to Andy and wrapped her arms around him. Andy wrapped his left arm around her and kept her close to his side. She leaned her head against his left shoulder. "That was a wonderful thing you said to him just now," she murmured as he held her. "Yeah, well, I can't stay mad at the kid," Andy shrugged his shoulders thinking nothing of it. Sharon took a deep breath and released it slowly. "You okay?" he looked down at her but only saw the top of her forehead. "Uh huh," he heard her say.
He rubbed her arm as he held her close to him. "Why don't we go upstairs and get you dressed. I'll help you take a shower and I promise you'll feel better," he suggested and she agreed, moving from his embrace as they both stood up and walked over to the staircase.
Emily came walking down the hallway and saw her mom and her step-dad starting to head back upstairs. Andy turned to her as they made their way up. "I'm going to help your mother get dressed, keep an eye on things down here, will you?" he asked her and she nodded. "Sure Andy," she worried about her mom but knew she was in capable hands. "Oh, and no TV for Matthew," he told her as they walked up the stairs.
Emily nodded and then turned around to see where Matthew had gone. She walked back into the kitchen and saw him sitting at the island talking to Ricky. "They told me no TV for a week," Matthew sounded bummed as he told Ricky what happened after the "talk" with the parents. "Hmm, I bet you that will be lifted in a few days," Ricky sounded sure of himself.
"I don't think so," Emily interrupted them as she stood there, hands on her hips, watching her brothers. "Oh, and how can you be sure about that?" Ricky questioned her as he folded his arms in front of him. Matthew looked at both Emily and Ricky in amazement as the two bantered with each other.
Meanwhile, upstairs in the bathroom, Andy was getting everything ready that Sharon needed for her shower. Towels were laid out on the sink and he made sure that there was something to keep Sharon's stitches dry. Sharon entered the bathroom and saw Andy standing there waiting for her with a roll of saran wrap in his hands.
"What on Earth are you going to do with that?" she questioned him as she placed her change of clothes on the sink next to the towels. "The doctor said to keep your incision dry when you take a shower," he opened the box. "And this will help them both stay dry," he smiled but didn't get the reaction from her like he thought he would.
She walked closer to him and placed her hands on her hips. "Look, this will work, trust me," Andy told her and then she began to undress. Andy placed the box back on the sink and helped her take her clothes off. "Alright, how is this going to work," she thought she would give him a chance even though she was skeptical about it.
"Okay, so I just take some wrap out of the box and cover it nicely over your incisions, being extra careful and gentle as I possibly can," he told her as he wrapped her left arm first and then followed up with her side. He took the wrap and gently moved it across her abdomen, and covered the incision so that besides having the gauze pad over the stitches, the saran wrap was covering it as well.
"Is that too tight?" he asked her as he looked in her eyes and she shook her head no. He gave a small smile and placed the box back on the sink. He then started the shower and made sure the water was warm enough for her. He quickly stripped his clothes off and stepped in the shower first, holding out his hand for her to take and she climbed into the shower with his help.
His back was to the shower spray as he faced Sharon. He then took a sponge and poured a little of her body wash on it before placing the sponge under the water spray. He turned around and gently started to clean her body, starting with her arms and working his way down. Sharon closed her eyes as he did this. "Am I hurting you?" he asked her as he made his way over her body. "No," she assured him as she was enjoying him and the shower.
He then carefully rinsed her off, making sure all of the soap was gone from her body and then turned off the water. He stepped out of the shower first, grabbing a towel and putting it around his waist. He then grabbed another towel and held his hand out for Sharon to step out of the shower. He wrapped the towel around her body, gently drying her off.
Sharon admired him as he did this and thought he looked particular sexy with his wet hair. After she was dry, he helped her get dressed, putting on her underwear and pants first. He gently removed the saran wrap from her abdomen first, and removing the old gauze pad. He took a closer look at her stitches and patted them dry to make sure.
"Can I see?" Sharon asked him, her voice catching as she wanted to see her side in a mirror. He stood up and she walked over to the vanity mirror and was able to see her stitches for the first time. She took a deep breath and then turned around to face Andy. He then placed a new gauze pad on the stitches and secured it with the tape provided by the hospital.
He did the same thing with her left arm and then helped Sharon put her bra and shirt on. She buttoned the shirt on her own and Andy then handed her cardigan sweater to her. "Thank you," she whispered as he stood there watching her. He smiled and then got himself dressed.
Once he was done, he stepped out of the bathroom and noticed Sharon sitting on the oversized chair in their room. "Everything okay?" he asked as he dried his hair with a towel and walked over to where she was sitting. "I need help with my socks," she told him and he kneeled down to help her. He took her foot in his hand and placed one sock on it and repeated it on her other foot while being as gentle as he could.
"Do you want your house slippers or your UGGs my dear?" he asked as he stood up and walked into their closet. "My UGGs please," she answered and then waited for his return. He placed her UGGs on both of her feet and stayed on his knees, admiring her. "I love you," he told her as he stood up and kissed her. "I love you too," she told him when they broke apart.
He was about to tell her about the reoccurring dreams he'd been having since the hospital but they were interrupted by Emily knocking on their door.
TBC