While You're Making Other Plans
by Glistening Sun and Miss Shannon
15
Sharon was only about five months along in her pregnancy and her stomach was still a gentle curve as opposed to the mound she knew it would become down the road, but she was feeling uncomfortable and immobile. She remembered pulling an all-nighter in a squad car when six months pregnant with Emily and chasing after her toddler when seven months pregnant with Ricky with more ease than she suffered through an uneventful day at work nowadays. Getting old really was a bitch. And doing it pregnant and in heels was even worse. And then there was that small detail of being stalked by a serial killer and having to deal with the most protective baby daddy one could ever (not) wish for.
Andy meant well, she knew that. He waited on her hand and foot and was always there with pillows and kind words about how beautiful she was and Sharon tried to be grateful. She really did, but she had raised two children basically on her own and being pampered for any longer amount of time was threatening to do her head in. Andy loved her, she knew, but she didn't like being treated like fragile china. While Andy probably thought that he was indulging her, it was the other way around.
Now he was standing in front of her desk like a guilty school boy in the headmistress's office and she was almost beginning to feel sorry for him. She mentally squashed the feeling, reminding herself what had transpired earlier that day. In a bid to remind him that she was acting as his boss and not as his girlfriend right now, she folded her arms in front of her chest, effectively shielding her stomach from view and glaring at him over the rims of her glasses.
"Andrew." She rarely called him that, but calling him Andy seemed too familiar and calling him Lieutenant Flynn would have been a little ridiculous given their circumstances, so she used his full name instead. He straightened up imperceptibly. "Your behavior is inacceptable."
"But Sharon, I-" he began, but she wouldn't have it. Sharon held up a hand in warning and added in a steely Darth Raydor voice that she hadn't been sure she was still able to produce with him: "I am not done."
Andy rolled his eyes and raised his hands before he buried them deeply in his pockets, his posture a picture of frustration. In that very moment, he looked exactly the way he had so many times in the past when he had been standing in front of her desk in FID, ready but not exactly happy to be lectured on his latest misgivings. He was annoyed with her and that was almost a relief. She loved him so very much, but she loved him because he was in the incorrigible, sometimes immature hothead Andy Flynn and the mellowed down version of him that made everything about her and her pregnancy was beginning to tire her out a little.
The day had started out well. They had been late and she had treated herself to a cinnamon roll on their way to work. Her cravings being mostly about peaches, she did indulge in pastry now and again. Usually, she would try and eat a healthy diet, both for her child's sake and for not gaining too much weight that she was already thinking about losing again. That had never been a problem before, but now she was so, so much older and it wouldn't be as easy. They had joked about the cinnamon sticking to her upper lip and Andy had kissed it away in the LAPD garage before they had gone up. Only minutes after their arrival, a call had come in and the team had left for a crime scene, leaving her to having tea and catching up on some paperwork. Only an hour later they had returned with a disgruntled employee of the decapitated who had soon gone from that to extremely furious at being suspected of violently murdering his former boss.
Sharon who had conducted the interview, had become increasingly frustrated him with him and that had been a very mutual sentiment. Too dumb to cooperate but too smart to yell or to become physically violent, the guy had played nice for a few moments before beginning to drop first subtle, then blatantly obvious remarks on Sharon's pregnancy. Andy next to her had become more and more tense with every new stab at her age and condition until he had broken her pencil, perspiration on his forehead, eyes blazing. Having been the one to be trying to protect Sharon from the fallout of Julio's anger management issues, it had seemed quite ironic to everyone when he had finally flipped the table on the rude suspect, yelling about propriety and having to be calmed down by Julio.
An ugly fistfight later, FID had made an appearance in the form of Sergeant Elliot, who was luckily still thinking of her as his hero and had gone easy on Andy as per her request. That wasn't how she had taught him to be, but this time she was grateful for his worshipping of her. The suspect had threatened to press charges which he would and probably with Jack as an attorney, because of her rotten luck. He had a black eye while Andy was bleeding from a cut above his left eyebrow that Provenza had tended to with cotton balls soaked in alcohol, making him hiss with the sting.
"I know that those things Mr. James said were hurtful and inappropriate," Sharon told Andy, fixing him with a glare that came surprisingly easily to her, given the fact that this was the man she had slept snuggled against all night. "but it is not your place to take such drastic measures. I was in perfect control of this interview and I had wanted him roughed up, I would have said so."
Andy shook his head and threw his hands up in the air again. "He told you that you were a hundred years old and sixteen months pregnant and that it was ridiculous!"
Now it was Sharon's turn to roll her eyes. "You can't let things get to you like this!" she told him with all the exasperation that she was feeling. "He was a jackass and he was way out of line." His eyes widened slightly at her choice of insult or at the fact that she was using an insult at all. "But I am able to handle it!"
"But, Sharon! Your blood pressure," Andy pleaded.
"How about yours?" Now she was gesturing exasperatedly. They were becoming the odd couple, she noticed randomly, as they seemed to be adopting each other's habits.
"You're pregnant!" he countered, making her lean back in her chair again.
"Oh, I forgot that for a minute," she said sarcastically. "Andy, I love you very much and I know that you are trying to make this as easy on me as you can, but around here I am your boss and I will not have you bring our private life into an interrogation! My blood pressure was fine today. I was annoyed, yes, but I was not in any danger."
His shoulders slumped and he looked at the floor. "I'm sorry, Sharon. I just worry about you."
"I know," she said more softly, endeared by his being so ashamed of his actions. "but you don't have to. I'm fine. Our baby is fine." She got up from her chair and came around the table, putting her hand on his biceps. Damn her hormones, she was getting soft. He looked up and gave his typical Andy Flynn smirk.
"If you go all caveman on me again at work, I will put you on permanent desk duty," she told him as long as her resolve to threaten him was still intact.
"You wouldn't!" he gasped, paling slightly. Oh, she had always known how to get to him.
"I very much would, so don't make me."
They glared at each other for a moment and she narrowed her eyes as she held his gaze. Andy finally let out a puff of air and rolled his eyes.
"Fine. I'm sorry, okay? But I won't stand by idly while some asshole is insulting the mother of my child."
"Caveman," she warned in a growl. "Andy, I am not only the mother of Andy Flynn's child, I am also a police officer and the woman they call Darth Raydor. I don't need to be protected every step of the way. I can fight my own battles whether I am waddling around with a big belly or not!"
She realized that she had put her hands on her hips. Her baby gave a kick, probably roused by her adrenaline. For a moment it looked as if a thunderstorm was brewing on Andy's forehead, his eyebrows drawn together in an angry frown. Then something else crossed his face and before she could recognize it for what it was, he had grabbed her and turned them around so her back was against the desk. She knew that she should have been furious since this was technically a conversation between superior and subordinate, but she had blurred that line herself. His hands roamed her back and he pressed her against the desk as he kissed her rather roughly. Even though it came as a bit of a shock, she was delighted. It had been months since he had last been like this with her.
"God you're hot when you're Darth Raydor," he murmured against her lips. It wasn't quite the reaction she had envisioned, but she knew that she had his respect and that this was not a ploy to get off easily, but honest arousal.
"You're on desk duty for a week," she murmured between hot kisses, humming as he cupped one of her breasts through her silk blouse. "Plus you're doing an anger management course. Just because Elliott left your punishment to me doesn't mean that you'll get off easily." Her breath hitched slightly at this ministrations.
He grunted. "You're evil," he said, drawing back and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "but I guess I deserve it."
She pulled him back towards her by the lapels of his jacket and kissed him again, happy with the way his body was flush with hers. She knew that she would regret it in the morning (at the latest), but she sat down on the desk behind her and wrapped one leg around him, feeling him press against her. This was as far as she would go in the office, but she so enjoyed the exchange, them just being Andy and Sharon for once instead of the expecting middle-aged parents. She loved how he inspired her to be a little irresponsible from time to time. (Or very, when enjoying unprotected sex without making sure that pregnancy was really out of the question beforehand.)
The baby reminded her of its presence with a series of furious kicks that were felt not only by her but by Andy, too, as he was pressed against her. Andy reached down and caressed the side of her belly, but didn't stop kissing her until the door was opened and they could hear someone very distinctly clearing their throat.
They came apart quickly, Sharon's back protesting and both looked at a scandalized Provenza.
"Oh God," he spat, the perfect image of righteous disgust. "Promise me that you'll never punish me when I am out of line, Captain. And you Flynn, never ask me to come in after ten minutes to rescue you again. I might be scarred for life now!" And with that, he walked right out again.
"You asked Lieutenant Provenza to save you from getting a lecture?" Sharon asked sternly, painfully aware of how little authority one could convey with swollen lips and messy hair, the top button of one's blouse undone.
Andy pulled a face and shrugged. "Sure!" he said with utmost conviction. "Woman, you're scary. I expected far worse than the anger management course and the one week desk duty. Did you le me off easily because I'm hot?"
She narrowed her eyes again. "Be careful, Andy, or I'll add a little punishment at home. You might find yourself sleeping on the couch tonight."
"Now who is blurring the line between home and work?" Andy asked smartly and his victorious smirk made her heart jump.
"Could you please oppose me again like this a little more often?" she asked. "It is kind of refreshing."
He looked genuinely puzzled now. "What do you mean?"
She shook her head and gave him a sad smile. "What I mean is that you want to wrap me in cotton and keep everything away from me for fear that it will upset me. I appreciate your concern, Andy, but I am a responsible adult, not a damsel in distress."
Andy ran a hand through his hair. "Damn, I never saw it that way," he admitted. "I thought you women all wanted to be treated like princesses." The comment might have sounded flippant and macho if Andy hadn't looked and sounded so genuinely embarrassed.
"Andy, you know me. I am not that woman."
He looked at her for a moment in silence then narrowed his eyes. "No more foot massages then?"
She hit his chest. "Andy!"
"Where do I draw the line then?" he mused, looking up at the ceiling as he pulled her to him again, his arms comfortably wrapped around her. "Do I have to let you carry heavy stuff?"
"If my purse continues to count as 'heavy stuff', then yes."
He grunted and kissed the top of her head. "Sorry, Sharon," he said earnestly. "I never realized you were feeling overwhelmed."
She looked up at him and caressed his back lovingly. "Honey, it's fine. Just don't beat up suspects again, okay? I don't enjoy throwing my weight around with FID."
"Okay. I could make a joke about your weight if that makes you feel any better."
"Don't you dare." Sharon pushed past him. "Come on now, honey. We have a murder to solve."
He followed after her, brushing her back with his hand before he stepped aside and once again became her lieutenant. Sharon smiled to herself. She wouldn't have it any other way.