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: MC might have ended last night, but the stories will continue here...
Chapter 18
Sharon woke up that morning to the sound of Andy's alarm going off. She started to untangle herself from his arms but found that to be difficult to do. She didn't want to hurt her side and the way that Andy had his arms wrapped around her, it would be a stretch. "Andy," she whispered to him in his ear and he started to stir himself. He rubbed her arm with his hand. "Hmm, turn the alarm off, want to stay here with you," he said in his sleepy voice.
She smiled at him. "I can't turn the alarm off unless you release your hold on me," she whispered and he held her closer to him, which made her chuckle slightly. "Andy," she shook her head, hoping he would get the picture and release her from his hold. He grunted but still held her to him. "Sweetheart, we need to get up," she coaxed him by slipping her hand underneath his t-shirt and ran her fingers over his stomach.
"You're in dangerous territory there Mrs. Flynn," he mumbled as he opened his eyes and saw her looking at him. "Time to get up," she told him as she gave him a warm smile. She was getting him worked up and he moaned as her fingers moved up his chest. "You keep doing that and we'll be breaking one of the rules the doctor told you to avoid for these next two weeks," he groaned as he started to sit up.
He released her so that she was able to sit up and turn the alarm off. He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head, trying to calm himself down before he stood up from bed. He went over to the other side and met Sharon as she stood up and walked towards the bathroom. "Let me know if you need help," he flashed his grin and she nodded. He then went into their closet and picked out a suit for himself to wear today.
Sharon was in the bathroom in front of the sink, washing her face. As she was wiping her face dry with a towel, she accidently knocked her hairbrush off of the vanity shelf and it clattered onto the floor. Andy heard the noise and he opened the bathroom door. "Sharon?" he called out. "It's fine, I just dropped my hair brush," she said waving him off. He bent over and picked up her brush for her. "I could have gotten it," she huffed.
"Doctor said not to bend over," he simply told her and flashed her his smile. She looked defeated as she stood there so he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a gentle hug. "Better?" he asked as he rubbed her back gently. "Uh huh," she muttered into his chest and they stood there in the bathroom for a couple of minutes before she broke their embrace.
"I'm going to get some clothes for me to wear, what suit are you wearing today?" she asked him as she walked out of the bathroom. He followed her into their closet and stopped short of the door so that she could have her space, if she needed. "The dark grey one," he answered her as he leaned up against the door frame.
She then pulled out a dress shirt for him and a blue tie along with suspenders to match. She handed them to him as he always enjoyed watching her pick out those items for him. She picked out a pair of nice jeans and a blue sweater for her to wear.
She followed Andy back into the bathroom and he started the shower. "You can go first," he graciously stated and she gave him a small smile. He helped her get undressed and then placed the saran wrap over her two wounds, carefully making sure they were covered. "You're gorgeous," he whispered to her and she blushed, shaking her head slightly.
"You are," he said as he helped her step into the shower. She stopped him before he joined her. "I can do this," she said giving him a warm smile. He sighed, shook his head, and reluctantly let her shower by herself. "I'll be right here in case you need me," he told her as he stood next to the shower. "Thank you," she smiled and he closed the shower door.
The spray felt good on her skin as she stood underneath it, eyes closed. It took her a couple of minutes before she started to rub her body wash over her skin. Sharon realized that she couldn't rub her shampoo on her hair and heard a gentle knock on the shower door. The door then opened slightly and Andy peeked through the door slit. "I'll wash your hair for you," he smiled, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.
Sharon was going to become emotional again as he took off his towel and stepped inside the shower with her. "I love you," she said to him as he started to rub her shampoo on her hair, making sure he was super gentle with his rubs. Sharon felt relaxed as she stood there. After he made sure that he shampooed all of her hair, he took the shower head and detached it, holding it over her hair, rinsing all of the shampoo out.
He then turned around and placed the shower head back in its place before leaning over to take her bottle of conditioner in his hand. As he did this, Sharon got dizzy but Andy was able to brace herself against him. "Hey, you okay?" he asked as he held her, forgoing the conditioner bottle that he dropped, hearing it clatter against the shower floor.
"Yes, sorry, I just got dizzy there for a second," she answered him as he held her. He looked at her face, her eyes were closed. "Sharon," he said in his husky voice. She opened her eyes and looked at him. "You're trying to do too much," barely above a whisper he told her. Her face grimaced and she felt a little twinge in her side. He watched her before he turned the shower off.
"What are you doing?" she asked him as he opened the shower door. "Getting you out of the shower," he informed her as he took a step out and then helped her step out onto the floor. He wrapped a towel around her body and quickly placed one around himself before pulling her into his embrace. Her hair was wet as he placed his head against hers.
They stood there like that for a few more minutes before the cooler air started to thin out the steam from the shower and goosebumps appeared on Sharon's arms. "Let's get you warm and into your clothes," he suggested as he pulled away from her and moved the towel around her body, being gentle as he possibly could. He then took a dry towel and wrapped her hair in it before placing it on top of her head.
He helped her get dressed and then dried her hair for her, brushing it through occasionally with her hair brush. "I can get the rest, Andy, you need to get yourself dressed," she told him as she looked at the clock and saw the time. "In a minute, babe, I'm almost finished here," he shook his head as he held the blow dryer against her hair. Truth be told, he had no idea what he was doing with drying Sharon's hair but he watched her a couple of times in the past and saw how she did it, and to him, it didn't look that hard to do.
He saw the frustrated look on Sharon's face as she sat there and he ran his hand through her hair, feeling that a majority of her hair was dry. He turned off the hair dryer and handed Sharon her hair brush. "I think you're pretty good here with your hair being dry, um, I don't know how you fix it up though," his voice was sheepish which made him even more lovable to Sharon. "Thank you, if I need anything else, I'll let you know, but you need to get dressed now," she smiled and he nodded.
Andy then turned around, removed his towel, and got dressed. He put his suit pants on and an undershirt and then walked over to the mirror over the sink. He examined his face and rubbed his hand over his jaw and mouth. He decided he wasn't going to shave this morning and instead, he put his dress shirt on.
"You're not shaving?" Sharon asked him. "No, it will take too long, besides I thought you liked the gruff look," he flashed his charming grin to her and she reached out, rubbing her hand on his jaw. "I do," she whispered and then she grabbed his tie and placed it around his neck. "I got it," he gave her a wink and then tied his tie.
She stood there watching him get himself ready and suddenly she felt like there was something missing. Usually she would tie his tie for him, but she couldn't do that due to the fact that she couldn't raise her left arm high enough. Andy then turned to Sharon and noticed a sad look had fallen over her face. "Hey," he said breaking her concentration. She took a deep breath and looked at him. "Ready?" he asked her and she nodded her head.
They walked out of the bathroom together and Sharon went to sit down on the chair while Andy went into their closet. "What shoes do you want to wear?" he asked her as he was looking over her collection of shoes. "My brown boots," she told him and he stood there scratching his head, looking until he found the pair she was talking about.
He brought them out and knelt down in front of her. He slipped her boots on her feet. "There you are, my Cinderella," he joked and she smiled. He stood up and helped Sharon stand. He looked in her eyes as he held onto her hands for a moment. He didn't say anything but he kissed her forehead and then the two of them walked out in to the hallway.
Matthew was coming out of the bathroom and he was already dressed. "Good morning sweetie," Sharon said to him as he walked by her. "Morning," he yawned as he went back to his room, Moxie following him. She turned to Andy. "I'm going to see if Emily and Ricky are up yet, why don't you go downstairs and get breakfast started," she told him. Andy gave her a look. "I'll be fine going down the stairs by myself," she assured him.
Andy didn't like that she was already trying to be independent this morning. He was reluctant with her taking a shower by herself, and he had every right to be. She became dizzy in there and luckily he was there to catch her. Now, she wanted him to get breakfast ready and she would come down by herself later. "Sharon," he started to protest but she put her hand on his arm. "I'm fine, really," she smiled and then turned to go towards the guest rooms.
He stood there watching her until Matthew came out of his room with Moxie. Andy turned around to see him standing there and Moxie had already gone down the stairs. He knew the dog had to go out, so he gestured for Matthew to head downstairs and he followed him.
Sharon knocked on Emily's door and heard her say "come in,". "Oh good, you're up," Sharon opened the door and slipped inside the room. Emily was sitting up in bed on her phone. "Yeah, I guess I'm still on East Coast time," she shrugged her shoulders as Sharon sat down on the edge of the bed. "I just wanted to let you know that we are going to be leaving here soon to take Matthew to school," Sharon informed her.
"Right Mom, and then you have your meeting with his teacher, and then Andy is bringing you back here and I'm hanging out with you the rest of the day," Emily stated. Sharon smiled at her daughter. "You are going to do plenty of resting and relaxing!" she added as she sat up and placed her hand on her mom's. "Hmm, that sounds almost like an order," Sharon grinned, knowing that Andy had probably pulled Emily to the side since she's been here, and gave her 'orders for mom'.
"Only because we love you and we want you to get better so that you are back to taking 'dirt bags', as Andy puts it, off the streets of LA, Mom," Emily, using air quotes as she told her mom. Sharon shook her head. "My husband has already corrupted my children," Sharon mused and then slowly stood back up. "I'll see you later," she smiled to Emily and then walked out of her room.
She walked to the next room across the hall and knocked on the door. She didn't hear anything so she slowly opened the door and saw Ricky still sound asleep. She didn't want to wake him so she closed the door and walked back to where Emily was in the other guest room. "What time did your brother say he was leaving this morning?" Sharon asked her as she peeked inside the room again.
"He told me he was going to wait for the morning rush to die down before he drove back North," Emily told her as she looked up from her phone. "Okay," Sharon smiled. "I'm sure you will be back before he leaves, Mom," Emily stated and Sharon nodded, then gave her a wave and headed towards the stairs.
Sharon took one step at a time as she made her way down the stairs to the main floor of their house. She could hear Matthew and Andy talking in the kitchen about something as she made her way closer to the room. "Morning Matthew," she interrupted them as she walked into the kitchen and ran her hand along the back of his chair. "Morning," grumbled Matthew as he ate his bowl of oatmeal.
Sharon gave Andy a look and Andy just shook his head which meant he would tell her later. She moved on and sat down at the table across from Matthew. Andy placed her yogurt cup along with some fresh fruit and wheat toast down in front of her. He then brought her pills over to her. "Thank you," she smiled as he went back to the stove and placed some oatmeal in a bowl for himself. Andy then joined them at the kitchen table and they all ate their breakfast.
Before they left to take Matthew to school, Emily came downstairs and sat at the kitchen table as Andy helped make Matthew's lunch with him. "Hey Matthew, come over here please," Emily told Matthew and he walked from the counter to where she was sitting at the table. She then whispered something in his ear and he nodded and then gave her a hug before returning back to the counter and placing what Andy had handed him into his lunch box.
Sharon looked at Emily after, wondering what she had told him. "Ready?" Andy asked Sharon as he put his suit jacket on and grabbed his car keys. Sharon turned to him and smiled. "Yes," she said as she stood up from the table as Matthew went to get his back pack. Andy handed Sharon her purse and she took it from him and then headed towards the back door.
"We should be back in two hours, at the most," Andy told Emily and she waved to all of them. "Bye," she told them and then she went about her morning, making breakfast for herself as they left, Moxie following her around the kitchen.
Matthew ran to the side door of the garage as Andy walked with Sharon. "Do we even know what we're going to tell his teacher when we meet this morning?" he asked as he held her hand. "I'm going to give Matthew the opportunity to say something to her and if he doesn't, then I will tell her," she stated as she placed her head on his shoulder as they walked together.
Andy opened the door and Matthew pressed the button for the garage door to open. He then opened the back door of the car and got inside. Andy looked at Sharon as they approached the car. "Well, at least he's eager to go instead of dreading it like last night and at breakfast," he told her as he opened her door and she stepped inside the car.
Andy then went around to the driver's side and got in himself, starting the car, and backing out of the garage into the driveway. Matthew was quiet the whole ride over to his school, and when Andy pulled into the school's parking lot, that's when Matthew finally spoke.
"I think I'm going to throw up," he rumbled as Andy parked and turned the car off. Andy then turned in his seat to look at their son. "Take a deep breath, you'll be fine," he told him and then glanced at Sharon. Andy got out of the car and went around to open Matthew's door and then Sharon's door. Matthew climbed out and saw a few kids go inside the school. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as Andy helped Sharon out of the car.
Matthew looked at Sharon and then at Andy. He then grabbed Sharon's hand and they walked towards the school together. "Remember when that bad guy was inside the school and you came to rescue us?" Matthew spoke, nervously as they walked. "Yes," Sharon nodded, remembering the incident Matthew spoke about. "Remember when that bully was here?" Matthew stated as they all stepped inside the school and headed over to his classroom.
"Yes," Sharon said, wondering why Matthew was taking a trip down memory lane all of a sudden. They came up to his classroom and Andy reached to open the door. "Wait!" Matthew stated and stopped Andy. "What is it?" Sharon looked at Matthew. "I don't know if I can do this," he confessed as the three of them stood in the hallway. "We'll be right there with you, buddy," Andy told him and patted him on his shoulder.
Andy then opened the door to the classroom and the three of them walked inside the room and were greeted by the teacher.
TBC