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 34

Once Nicole and Dean and their little family left, things quieted down a bit. Before long everybody at the Raydor-Flynn house was ready for bed. It had been a long day and Andy knew Sharon was tired. In spite of this, they had gone to bed and made love. He had been surprised she even had the energy, but as he was getting ready for bed, she had come from the bathroom dressed in her pink satin peignoir set and put her arms around him from behind, running her hands over his bulge in his boxers. At first, worried that it was too soon, he had started picturing Provenza in the altogether to stop his arousal, but then, Andy realized that by rejecting her advances he was hurting them as a couple, not to mention her feelings, more than if they were to make love in spite of her fatigue, so he turned around just in time to see her wiping tears away. She looked up at him then looked away. "Sharon, I'm so sorry. You surprised me that's all." He put his arms around her but she wouldn't look at him.

"You don't find me attractive anymore, do you?" Her voice was filled with despair.

Shocked she would say that Andy questioned her, "What? No! I mean yes, I do find you attractive. Incredibly attractive! You have no idea what it took for me to not react to your touches."

She looked back up at him, exasperated. "If you find me so attractive, why didn't you react to me… um… touching… you... there?"

"Because, I thought it might be too soon, at first. You've been through so much! Sharon, So… I… um… I pictured Provenza naked," he said quickly with a sheepish tone. His face red with an embarrassed blush.

Sharon's eyes got big and she snort laughed loudly. "Why on earth would you do that?"

Andy shrugged then admitted, "I told you, my first reaction was that it was too soon. Then I decided that rejecting you was worse for us, than if we just went ahead and did it. Too soon or not."

"Hmmm, well that's romantic," she said with heavy sarcasm, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"Look, I'm really sorry. I want no misunderstandings here. I love you and I want very much to be with you. See, little Andy is standing at attention. Ready, willing and very eager." He made eye contact with her and quirked his eyebrows at her with a playful leer.

"I can see that," Sharon said smiling and palming his erection once again. "Who are you imagining naked this time? Hmmm?"

"You, definitely you." They had fallen into bed then, both frantically trying to get the others clothes off. When that was accomplished she initiated by taking him in her mouth. After only a few moments of her making love to him with her mouth, Andy feared he would come too soon, so he shifted their positions to where he was in the position to reciprocate. He made love to her with his mouth for awhile, before she started bucking in the midst of an orgasm. Then when they finally came together, she begged him not to be gentle. He wasn't. After what seemed a lot longer than usual he could feel her spasm around him. He came right behind her. Then they both fell asleep in each other's arms, till she rolled away from him and then minutes later, woke him up in the throes of a nightmare not so long after they had fallen asleep.

It took him the better part of twenty minutes before he was able to wake her up sufficiently and make her understand that it was a bad dream. Though she had seemed to drift back to sleep after the nightmare, Andy was wide awake. He lay there beside her sleeping form and thought about their lovemaking. It had seemed to him, that even after he convinced her that he did find her attractive and he did want to make love to her their coming together felt like a desperate way of connecting for Sharon. As if she had something on her mind she was trying to forget.

He knew from what he had overheard that afternoon when he had accidentally eavesdropped on part of Sharon's conversation with Emily that she was worried about how she was going to go back to work and be able to care for Livvie and be a wife to him, in her current weakened condition. Andy had wanted badly to go in and tell her she didn't have to worry, but she would not have welcomed the intrusion on her conversation with Emily. He had walked away at that point so he had missed the rest of what Sharon had told her daughter. He knew she would not have liked knowing he had overheard her, so he had decided to stop eavesdropping, even though he wanted badly to continue. Apparently, she was trying to "make it up to him" for what she saw as a deficit in their relationship that she deemed her fault. She had seemed to be doing everything in her power to please him and had succeeded but when it was her turn to be pleasured, it took her longer than usual to fall over the edge. She had finally had orgasmed but it had not been the satisfyingly bone-melting completion that they usually had, at least not for her or so it seemed.

Andy supposed that was to be expected, considering everything they'd been through together and that she alone had been through. Not to mention how tired she was from the day's activities in spite of taking a pretty long nap earlier in the day after being in the pool. It seemed as if there was something seriously bothering her. For one thing, there was the nightmare, which in and of itself wasn't unusual. Sharon had been having nightmares off and on for weeks, since the bomb blasts and everything else that had happened, but this nightmare had been so much worse than the others. Most of the time if she talked in her sleep it was incomprehensible. Once in a while, a random word or two would be understandable, but this time whole sentences stood out. "Watch out Rusty, he's behind you! Rusty shoot him! Like I taught you! Andy don't let him hurt the baby! Protect Olivia!" Then a few minutes later. "Kill me! Don't kill them, please! They're innocent! I beg you!" That had gone on for a while, that and the fact that she'd mistaken him for the assailant in her dream and had become combative. Sharon had almost given him a black eye on at least two occasions. She'd only connected once. The first time, scratching his cheek, but he had managed to duck out of the way the second time.

When he finally had gotten her awake enough to understand that she was having a nightmare and that whatever was happening inside her dream wasn't happening in real life. She had looked at him with such relief and fear at the same time. She'd cried a little when she saw the scratches on his cheek and she had apologized. "It's okay my love I forgift you," Andy said trying to make her laugh by imitating their favorite of Ian's malapropisms. She did bark a laugh but quickly sobered. "That nightmare was pretty bad, I'd say it was the worst one you've had so far. What were you dreaming about? Can you tell me?"

Sharon turned away from him and muttered, "I'll tell you in the morning, Andy. Please! Don't push it. I promise I'll tell you after I've had time to think." She had said and closed her eyes, effectively stopping any more questions.

Andy had a feeling all this had to do with Stroh. He must be closer. He was no dummy and he was a good detective. It didn't take a good detective though, to figure out that the person she was telling Rusty to shoot in her dream, was Stroh. After all, hadn't Fritz mentioned that Stroh was in the states again? But he knew if he asked Sharon for confirmation of that feeling she would clam up even more if she wasn't ready to talk about it. Now as she lay beside him she was very restless. On her back, her side, and now her stomach. Wanting to help her settle, Andy turned towards Sharon in bed and stroked her back under his overlarge t-shirt she liked to wear to sleep in caused it smelled like him. He felt her relax under his ministrations. He covered her up more because she was shivering and she turned toward him and wove her legs between his. He put his arms around her and pulled her even closer. She rested her head on his shoulder and soon her breathing pattern told him she was deeply asleep.

While he listened to her breathing, he thought about the day they'd had with their combined families. Rusty, Ricky, and Sharon's father had picked up macaroni and potato salads already made at the grocery store along with hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken for everybody else. There were veggie burgers for Andy and a couple of cheesecakes for dessert because they knew Sharon loved cheesecake and so did everybody else. They had grilled the meat and had enjoyed a great lunch together.

After their meal and sufficient time had passed, they enjoyed the pool, especially Sharon who could move around easier in the water. She'd walked around in the pool with very little signs of a limp or stiffness. She held Livie in her arms. The baby really loved the warm water, it was a lot like her baths, and she loved taking baths. She squealed, and giggled, and tried to pat the water to splash it. Sharon and Andy had smiled and laughed with her, dipping her in the water up to her waist and passing her back and forth. After a few minutes, the boys had begged her and Andy to play with them too. At that point, Sharon gave Olivia to Emily to hold, and Emily sat far enough away in the pool, from the water play not to get splashed but close enough so Livvie could see Sharon and Andy, and watch them play with the boys. At first, Olivia looked at Emily and she looked like she was going to dissolve into tears but Emily wisely put her in a baby floaty so that she was facing outward and gave her a water toy to play with.

Sharon had then sat on the shelf seat that was just under the water's surface and played with the beach ball with them and then they played water basketball as well. Then they swam back and forth and tried to beat Sharon and Andy swimming. After about forty-five minutes of water play, Sharon had started to wilt, she excused herself and went in to shower and change. He, Andy had been focused on the boys at that point but had been peripherally aware of her leaving and Emily following her mother into the house with Olivia. Then a bit later Nicole had gone in to get a bottle for Charlie.

When she'd come out she'd had two bottles and Olivia who was in clothes, instead of her little bathing suit. Eileen stood up and took Olivia out of Nicole's arms and took one of the bottles, the one marked Olivia. There were names printed on the bottles so they didn't get mixed up because of Olivia's formula sensitivities. "Here let me help you, dear. You have your hands full."

"Thanks, Mrs. O'Dwyer. Here Dean, could you feed Charlie? I need to speak to dad," Nicole said as she handed Dean Charlie's bottle.

"Sure, Honey," Dean said, wondering what was going on.

Andy, hearing his daughter, got out of the pool and walked over to Nicole, who had walked away from the crowd. "What is it, sweetheart?"

Nicole bit her lip pensively. "Look, Dad, could you not mention to Emily that I told you this?"

"Told me, what?" he asked inquisitively.

She looked around before saying, "When I went in to get Charlie's bottle, Emily waved me back to the laundry area. She wanted to give me Olivia, to bring out here. I heard these loud gut-wrenching sobs coming from yours and Sharon's bathroom. Emily said I shouldn't mention it but I felt you should know."

Andy nodded a thank you to her. "Thanks, Nicole, she won't hear it from me. I'll just tell her I came in because I was missing Sharon, which is partly true."

"What do you think is wrong?" Nicole asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure, but I'll go find out." Andy had gone in the house with the full intention of going to find Sharon but when he got to the bathroom he realized Sharon and Emily were having a conversation and decided not to intrude. He listened for a moment, decided he had heard enough to understand the problem and walked away. He knew Sharon would not thank him for listening to her conversation with Emily.

Emily had seen her mother leave the patio and thought she seemed off somehow. Since Olivia was starting to shiver, she decided to take her in and get her changed into dry clothes before the baby caught a cold. She was a few minutes behind her mother going into the house. She didn't see any sign of her at first but surmised that she was already in her shower. Once she divested Olivia from her little one-piece bathing suit and took her own one-piece bathing suit off, Emily took the baby into the shower with her and got rid of the salt water off both of them. She then wrapped her in a big fluffy towel and dried her off, got her dressed in a cute pink flowered one piece with a Peter Pan collar and matching pink and white socks. Afterward, she put the baby in her bouncy chair, so she, Emily could dress herself, in black leggings and a soft grey tunic top. She then picked Olivia in the bouncy chair up and took her into the laundry area and placed it on the top of the dryer. Once she gathered the baby's and her bathing suits and towels, she put them in the washing machine to soak. When everybody else's bathing suits were placed in there would be enough for a load. While she did this, she became aware of a sound that sounded like sobbing coming from, her mother's and Andy's room. Hearing the door to the patio open she looked around the door jam and saw Nicole going towards the kitchen, she gestured to her. Once Nicole was beside her, Emily handed her Livie who was still in her bouncy chair. "Could you take Livvie and give her a bottle or ask Gram to? Mom seems upset and I want to go talk to her."

Nicole's eyebrows shot up at the sound of the gut-wrenching sobs coming from the bathroom. "I'll get dad," she said quietly and started to turn away.

Emily stopped her by placing her hand on her arm. "No, let me talk to her first," she said in a whisper.

Confused Nicole said, "but he would want to know that Sharon's upset."

"Yes, but I'm not sure she'd want him to know. She's a very private person. If she does want him to know she'll let me know and I'll tell him." Nicole looked like she wanted to argue the point, but decided to hold her tongue at least for now. She nodded and took Olivia to the kitchen to prepare her bottle.

Emily went into her mother's and Andy's bathroom. She saw her mother laying sideways on the bench, wracked with gut-wrenching sobs, Emily went in and turned the water off. She used a towel to wipe off the bench so she could sit down and then, once she was seated on the bench she patted her mother's hip to let her know she was there. "Mom, it's me, Emily."

Suddenly aware that she was not alone, Sharon sat up and tried to swallow back her sobs and started rubbing her face to scrub away the tears that had already fallen. "Emily, w… w… what are y… you doing in h… h… here?"

TBC...

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