A Series of Unfortunate Events
Disclaimer: These are not my characters they are fully James Duffs. I just love them so much and love to play with them.
Chapter 13
Andy and Sharon started looking for a strategic place to sit. As they did, they saw the beautiful young blonde woman in an electric wheelchair, that Grace had pointed out as her daughter sitting at one end of the table drinking coffee and talking to Lily who was sitting beside her.
Lily looked up and waved, and they waved back. Seeing they had Bella with them, Lily got up and walked over to them, wanting to see how they had all fared overnight. "Good morning, Sharon, Andy, and Rusty. Did you have a good night sleep?"
"Considering everything that happened yesterday, we got a few hours," Sharon said. "Hopefully tonight will be better."
"Did the baby wake you up?" Lily asked with concern.
"No, actually she didn't," Rusty said, "she slept from 1 am till 5:00 am, drank a bottle. I changed her and then she fell asleep till 8 am, then after eating, getting her meds, and being changed she slept again swinging in the swing. She woke again when Mom and Andy came out of their room at 10:30. Bella had another bottle and fell asleep again."
"So you had her last night?" Lily asked.
Not sure of Lily's motivations for asking that question, Rusty made sure Lily understood the situation.
"I offered to care for Bella last night so Mom and Andy could rest. I figured I wasn't going to sleep much anyway so I may as well be useful, but Bella stayed asleep for four hours last night and I got a couple of hours of sleep after all."
Lily smiled at him, "You're a nice young man to want to help out like that."
"We're a family and Sharon has been there for me since she became my foster mother, five years ago and then my adopted mom three years after that. Of course, I want to help. Besides, Bella is my baby sister and I signed those papers too. I'm responsible for her as well as they are."
Seeing that Rusty was uncomfortable, Andy asked Lily, "Where should we sit?"
"Why don't you sit with Grace's daughter Izzy B and I? We're over here." She indicated with a sweep of her arm. Andy looked at Sharon and Rusty, they shrugged and nodded their acquiescence. Andy helped get Sharon situated at the table with the stroller beside her, and Rusty went on to the buffet table. He was starving after only having had a half of a hamburger and a handful of fries last night. Andy then came up beside him with a plate and began fixing the plate for Sharon. He put a few pieces of melon a couple of strawberries and a serving spoon of blueberries, two small scoops of scrambled egg, one southwestern and one with bacon crumbles and a small chocolate chip pancake with whipped crème.
He then asked, "could you pick up a glass of orange juice for your mom, Rusty?"
"Sure," and he turned to the beverage area of the buffet.
Andy then picked up a mug and a small carafe of hot water, picked out a foil of her favorite morning tea stuffed it in the mug and took it over to Sharon. He put the plate in front of her, and her eyes got wide. "Andy? Thank you, but I... can't eat all of this."
"Try," he said simply.
Sharon shrugged as she picked up her fork and began to eat. Actually, once she started, she realized how very hungry she actually was. It helped that the food was good. Andy finished preparing her tea, handed her the mug and then kissed her before going to get his own breakfast.
As he was getting settled two seats down from her, Rusty brought Sharon the glass of orange juice. "Thank you, honey. How are you doing?"
He shrugged as she answered, "fine, I didn't realize how hungry I was till I smelled the food."
"Me either," she said as she looked at his plate. He had piled it high with everything she had, but more of it, plus a piece of steak. Sharon smiled a little smile, her boy would be okay. If he could eat like that, the day after his biological mother's death, he would be okay. Of course, for some people that wouldn't necessarily be a barometer of their emotional state, but for Rusty how much he ate was a fair indication of how he was doing. As it was for her.
Andy came and sat between them. He looked at Sharon's plate and was happy to see that she was almost finished eating everything but the blueberries. He didn't say anything, but he watched as she sipped her tea, and knew that she was taking a break but the blueberries would be gone by that time she got up from the table. He then tucked into his own food.
Grace had not been watching too closely, but she knew when her guests were settled at the table and eating. Normally the breakfasts would be served family style with an occasional buffet here and there. She had decided on the buffet for this first breakfast, that the Flynn's were guests for because given the nature of their stay at The Three Palms, she thought they would appreciate the freedom the buffet would afford them. They could mingle or not, depending on how they were feeling. She winced when she saw Lily and her daughter Izzy B speaking to Sharon, while Sharon was waiting for Andy and Rusty to get second helpings. She wondered how that would go. Izzy was still dealing with the five stages of grief, on the road to acceptance of the permanence of her injury. She had a tendency to be gruff at times, if not downright surly. She started to go over to them but was distracted when she noticed one of the Bunson burners had gone out again and went in search of a replacement.
Sharon's vast experience with diplomacy got her through her encounter with Grace's surly daughter. After finishing her tea, Sharon picked up Bella when the infant started to fuss. As she soothed the baby, She heard a gruff voice scoff, "so, this is not what I expected to see from the Wicked Witch of FID. Cuddling a baby? Being taken care of by a man that actually seems to want to be with you. Very domestic. That's not what I expected from you at all."
"Izzy, the Commander…"
After she looked up from the baby in her arms, Sharon shook her head at Lily just slightly to let her know that she could handle things. She had expected this reaction from cops in LA that she had encountered in her past when she was the head of FID. People that she knew hated her, but not from someone so far East of LA. She pressed her lips together and allowed her powers of observation to work for her. She had noticed earlier when Grace had pointed her out that the younger woman was a paraplegic, and she seemed to be in the anger stage. She also seemed to know about her Sharon's days in FID and her nickname of the Wicked Witch. This spelled to her that the younger women had had something to do with the LAPD before her injury. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. Do you know me?" she asked politely.
"Any cop in Los Angeles knows who you are." The younger woman countered.
"So, you were a police officer at one time? In LA? How long ago? What division?"
"First off, I'm Grace and Finnegan Cody's daughter," she said this with emphasis. Indicating Sharon should recognize the name.
Sharon searched her memory and remembered immediately. Finnegan Cody had been one of the few cops that Sharon had investigated for OIS (Officer Involved Shooting) that actually "got" the need for Sharon's investigations. He was always calm and polite, giving her everything she needed to close her investigations quickly. He understood she was only doing her job. He never gave her attitude or snark. She had always wished that all her OIS went as smoothly. "Your father was a fine officer and a good man," Sharon said quietly.
Isabella's eyes raised to her hairline, but her attitude only shifted slightly. "My name is Isabella Rose Cody, I was a cop until a year ago when I was working undercover as a Phys Ed teacher for gang intelligence at a feeder school in gang territory. I was teaching Phys Ed to a ninth-grade class of girls and boys when a car drove by and started shooting. I was trying to get the children to safety when I was hit in the back with one of the bullets."
"That is... unfortunate. I'm very sorry that happened to you, but I'm sure the children whose lives you saved were grateful you were there. As were their parents," Sharon said meaningfully, then she went on. "Since it was only a year ago, that you were an active duty police officer you must be aware that I no longer work in FID. Haven't for the last five years. I'm the head of the Major Crimes unit now, but when I did work in FID my persona of… The Wicked Witch and my own personal favorite Darth Raydor, were carefully cultivated so that I could hold my own with the boy's club that was the LAPD. My persona at home and at work are quite different. At home, I'm a mother and a soon to be a wife again, but I'm also a human being just like you or anybody else. I love, I laugh, I cry. I have interests, desires, needs, and feelings just like you. As far as letting Andy taking care of me, I really don't have much choice. I was in the middle of a bomb explosion and am still recovering from the after effects. I get tired easily and I still have breathing problems at times, muscle and joint pain, in my back and legs, if I stand for too long. Besides we take care of each other. He was ill on two or three occasions since we 'vet been together, and I took care of him. He seems to enjoy returning the favor."
And the baby? Is she your grandchild or... I mean surely she can't be yours… you're too…"
Lily decided to intervene before Izzy said something about Sharon's and Andy age. "Izzy, the Commander, and the Lieutenant have taken in her adopted son Rusty's biological sister because her mother and grandparents were murdered. She didn't have to do that, but she did. In spite of the fact that she's still recovering from a very traumatic experience. Perhaps if you extended yourself beyond your own little bubble of pain, you'd stop being angry and taking it out on everybody around you. Even perfect strangers."
Izzy B's face took on a blush of embarrassment. She'd been angry for so long and had a habit of lashing out at everybody, most especially her family. Up till now, her physical therapist was the only one brave enough to call her on it, but now Lily and this Sharon Raydor could be added to the list of people to put her in her place and call her on her rudeness. She ducked her head. "I'm sorry, I was rude."
Sharon didn't smile, but she did say, "Honey, I have a pretty thick skin for the most part. I've had to develop one because if I hadn't I would have run away with my tail between my legs long ago. I can see that you're angry, about how things turned out for you and I'm very sorry it did. I'm curious, however, are you angry at me in particular, or FID and anyone in any way related to it? Were you investigated by FID?"
"My partner died the day I was shot. He was trying to help me by firing at the car to distract the shooters so I could get the kids in. He killed the driver and his front seat passenger. At that same time, an instant before the car crashed into a front yard fence killing an innocent pedestrian that didn't have time to run for cover, one of the backseat passengers shot at me, paralyzingly me, and then he shot at Eric killing him. FID investigated Eric!" The young woman's voice raised as she spoke. "They seemed to have some idea that he was in some way involved with the gang that was doing the shooting. He died saving my life! Why would they think he was involved with that gang? Or why would they think that of me?"
"Did they clear him or you?" Sharon asked simply.
"Yes, eventually," she said sulkily.
"Well, that's the purpose of the investigation, to begin with, Izzy. The FID is there for the purpose of clearing police officers of wrongdoing, but in order to do that, they have to go at it from a premise of guilty until proven innocent. Otherwise, they would look like they were showing favoritism," Sharon explained.
In spite of herself, Izzy was beginning to realize that the Wicked Witch of FID was no longer wicked and that she admired the woman. She gave her an uncertain smile, and Sharon smiled back, but her smile faded when at that point Bella started to fuss in earnest, she was gassy and uncomfortable. Andy came over with his refilled plate of fruit and more of the southwestern omelet and noticed Bella's agitation and Sharon's concerned look. "Is something wrong? Want me to take her?"
"Sharon shook her head. "Um, if you could give me the drops from the diaper bag, not the ear drops the brown bottle with drops for colic, that would be good." After placing his plate down in front of his place, Andy rummaged through the bag and found the bottle. He read the directions and filled the dropper with the drops. He placed the dropper in the baby's mouth while Sharon held her.
"Hmmmmmehhhhgrrrhhh," Bella swallowed and then started to cry in earnest. It was a weak hoarse cry. Her nose was starting to run and the baby wiped the yellowish mess all over her face and all over the front of Sharon's tank top. Meanwhile, Bella was pulling her legs up close to her chest. As she did that a rather ugly noise came from her bottom.
Sharon rolled her eyes and pushed herself away from the table. "Excuse me, I think that is my cue to vacate the dining room table. Sorry, it's been a long time since I took care of a baby, so I'm a little slow on the uptake. I'll go back to the suite and give her a bath and get her changed, then she and I can take a nap together." She got up, put the crying baby in the stroller and started towards the foyer heading towards the suite. Andy started to follow her. "Andy, go ahead and finish your breakfast. You too, Rusty. I'll be fine." I'm just going back to the suite. I'll see you later." Andy looked uneasily after her. Sharon looked over her shoulder, blew him a kiss and then waved. Giving a little shooing motion back toward the dining room table. "Go eat."
Finally, Andy and Rusty shrugged and went back to sit with Lily, Izzy B, Bonnie, Finn, Jesse, Grace, and Richard who was Grace's fiancé.
Sharon arrived in the suite with Bella. She went into the kitchen and started getting the bath ready. While the water was running she wiped off the mess that Bella had made on her shirt, she then put a towel down and the changing pad from the diaper bag. While the water was running into the baby bathtub, she poured medicated baby bath into the water and created bubbles. Then she took the baby out of the stroller and divested Bella of the nasty diaper and peeled her stinky dirty clothing off. When she was naked she got rid of all of the foul-smelling, yellow mustard colored poop off her bottom with baby wipes and then put Bella into the baby bathtub. She washed her clean, from her head to her toes, making sure all the little creases were clean. While she did this she sang to her, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear how much I love you. Please, don't take my sunshine away."
She then lifted her out and dried her. Noticing the beginnings of diaper rash, Sharon slathered the baby's bottom with A&D ointment, put a diaper on, another onesie, this time a black and white polka dot, and a fuchsia pair of pants with matching black and white dots on the hems of the pants. She put on a clean pair of socks and a pink sweater. She made sure what little hair she had was dry and put a little pink cotton jersey cap with a black and white bow on it and then swaddled the baby in a gauzy blanket. She then lifted the baby to her shoulder and turned to go to the bedroom.
As she did she found herself looking into the face of Gary Lewis. "Look at you all sweet and loving, taking care of my daughter!" His voice got louder and more threating, "one that I didn't even know I had by the way!"
TBC...
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