Season 4 - Episode 15 - a week after 'The Jumping off Point'

December 2, 2015

He was packing everything up. She was sitting on the couch, fiddling with one of the pillows as he was talking to Rusty back in his room. She'd never felt this way before.

Tonight was his last night here … in Rusty's room. Sharon shook her head, like hell she'd make him stay his last night in there.

She tried to act like it was nothing … him leaving. She'd be staying overnight at his place, anyway … for the next two nights at least. They're not breaking up … they aren't arguing about anything … he's just moving out. No, he's going back home.

He was never supposed to stay … even this long, a month and a few days. They'd be out of their minds to move in together completely right now, right? They've only really been dating for five months. Hadn't even talked about it … not with him. With Emily, sure, Sharon rolled her eyes as Emily called at that exact moment … she went to sit on the balcony … Emily wouldn't stop talking about it. Not with Andy, though, per Sharon's request.

"Mom, you love him." She begged.

"Yes."

"He loves you."

"Yes."

"You've lived together for a month. You loved it. He loved it."

"Yes."

"I know you're sleeping together and don't say otherwise and no, Andy of course did not tell me. I'm just … not uh, stupid. I know you and I know him, and I don't know when, and I don't want to know, but you're sleeping together, so give Rusty back his room, and let Andy move in for good. Win, win, win. Everyone is happy. Me, too, so win, win, win, win! I'm sure Ricky and Nicole would be happy with it, so … win, win, wi–"

"Stop …" Sharon had to wait a moment and take all of that in. "... and, no."

"What about moving into Andy's place? Rusty would be fine with it, Mom, come on…"

"If I find out that you've said something to him …"

"I haven't."

"It's not time, and it's a big change … for Rusty right now, especially, I mean, he's still warming up to the idea of Andy just dating me and coming over … when he's not living here to recuperate, of course … but I just, I think Rusty needs it back the way it was for a bit … you know, and …"

"Mom," Emily interrupted her rambling, "you're rambling. Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

"Emily, it is too soon …" she was interrupted now by the sound of Andy opening the door to the balcony. She stopped talking and smiled to him. He sat next to her and took her hand, settling in and closing his eyes. "We'll talk later, Em. Andy says 'hey'." She held the phone up, Andy yelled, "Hey!"

"Hey!" Emily yelled at Andy. "Bye," she told the both of them. "Ughh," Sharon heard before Emily hung up.

Sharon smiled over to him, hoping he wouldn't ask what all of that was about.

"What was all of that about?"

"Ughh … nothing. All packed up?" She leaned over to kiss him.

"MmmmHmmm."

"Hmmm."

"Hmm?"

She started giggling. "What?"

"You good?"

"MmmmHmmm."

"Hmmm."

"Stop." She leaned over again, kissed him quickly and stood, walking over to the edge of the balcony. After a quiet moment, his eyes closed, nearly falling asleep, and her watching the cars below … it was dark, almost 9. His last night. "Hmmm," she turned and took his hand. "Come with me."

She didn't want to talk. Not now, not about this, here. She led him to the front door, hallway, elevator, smiled when he realized where they were going, and then she brought him to their spot on the roof. She was sure he didn't know it was their spot, but it had a special meaning to her and she really wanted to be there right now, kissing him.

He swayed slowly with her in his arms as they kissed. He loved it up here. No idea why they couldn't just do this on her balcony, or in her bedroom with the bed a foot away, he pulled her closer. He knew exactly why. He'll bring two ball caps one day. He was barely holding his emotions together. The last thing he wanted to do was not stay here forever. He wasn't really sure how she felt about it, though, and wouldn't dare ask. It's too soon …

Oh.

It hit him. She'd just said that to Emily. Shit.

"Sharon?"

"Sharon's busy, no talking," she mumbled against his lips before deepening the kiss. He was lost in her for a while after that, moving them over to the lounge chair to sit, cuddle, make out more … she never allowed anything more than that up here.

After a long while, she leaned back, sitting on his lap now, and breathlessly whispered what instantly terrified her, "I don't want you to leave."

He only stared into her eyes. No way she meant that. No way he'd respond to that.

"Don't leave," she didn't give him the chance to respond, kissing him like he was leaving her for years.

A glorious long while later, he pulled away, but then hugged her immediately to him, her maneuvering now to lie next to him, snuggling into his neck.

"I'm sorry, yes, you have to go back home." She leaned up and met his eyes. "I'm being silly, but I am really going to miss you being here all the time. Even though I know … I'll be at your place, you'll still sneak over like before …"

"And we can definitely share a bed …"

She smiled. "You are sleeping next to me tonight."

"And tomorrow, and the next …"

"Mmmhmm."

"Just, at my house, too, again."

"Mmmhmm."

"You love it there."

"It's too far away."

"Your bathtub is there …"

"Your tub," She smiled, sadly.

"I didn't … look, I couldn't … can't say anything, Sharon, because you know," he waited until her eyes were on his, his fingers ran through her hair, drifted over her cheek, "You know I'm all in. Fuck, you think I wanna leave?! Ask me to move in, I'll do it in a second. Ask me to marry you, the answer is yes, duh, Sharon. Ask me to have a baby with you, I'll tell you that you are insane, but I will die trying … and then I'll for sure die before the kid's 10th birthday because I'll be 97. I'm all in, for whatever you need … and I could cry right now, babe," he kissed her while laughing a bit. "I mean, I've lived alone for quite some time … I didn't hate it. I sure fuckin' will now, though. You've ruined me, woman," he moved them and went down to kiss her neck, growling a bit. "You know I'm going to miss this."

"Mmmhmm, blame it all on me," she smirked and let him have his way with her for a bit, over the clothes. They'd have to delve into all of what the hell he'd just said, but she could save that for later.

She knows he's all in, she knows he's been all in for a while, she just hadn't realized that she was now, completely, all in, too.

Season 2 - Episode 14 - after 'All In'

December 8, 2013

After ordering, she sat back and gave him a look that said 'explain'.

He stared.

"Andy." That's all she had to say.

"Okay, so the past few days, I've been …" he stopped.

"You've been off. You've been distracted. You're seeing a therapist? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's more like a family counselor … should I, did I have to let the department know? It's not therapy, therapy per say …"

"No, no, you didn't have to let the department know, but your friend Sharon would have maybe liked to have, you know, been there to talk with you about it. You're letting Provenza help you?" She smiled.

"It's no big deal … Nicole's step-sons were in counseling …"

"Your grandsons, now," she grinned.

"Yeah, so Nicole started thinking and she felt it important that maybe we have a few sessions and work through some things if we could …"

"You and Sandra?"

"... and Nicole, their husbands sometimes … I dunno, whatever Nicole needs, I want to try to do, you know?"

She nodded and smiled proudly at him, "Yes."

"Sorry I went off on the Dietz family …"

"They deserved it, but you worried me. I mean, really, Andy … you sure everything is okay?"

"Yes, just," he swallowed nervously, "... it's a lot. It's bringing up … a lot of difficult conversations. Also, it's making me think harder about a time and … and even things now, it's making me focus on topics and feelings I have not wanted to think about …"

The waiter arrived with the drinks and appetizer. She watched Andy closely as they started eating in a pretty comfortable silence.

"This is good." He grinned.

She smiled.

Her smile distracted him. She was so beautiful.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," he said quickly, "let's talk about the Nutcracker. How many times have you seen it?"

She laughed. "No way to tell. Thirty, maybe, live …"

"Emily in them all?"

"Most of them."

"When did she start dancing?"

She gave him a look, "About three months before she was born."

He laughed. "Poor Mommy."

"It was fun. I played a lot of different music for her then. She preferred jazz, Duke Ellington if I remember correctly, she was a mover. Ricky though, he's always been 'chill' as they say. They were three years apart, so he was born into the 'Emily show' as we call it. She was a ham, but was a good big sister."

"Still is," he complimented.

"Does she text you too much? Call you, Andy?"

"No, I mean, she'll text every once in a while, it's really no problem, Sharon. She's great, you know … and only really calls/texts when she's worried, which doesn't seem to be that much. Ever since we got in trouble, well, I did … about the letters, we haven't spoken much."

"I could probably still punch you for that."

"The guy knew where you shopped, he knew your schedule, Sharon … the letters were incredibly detailed … he got close to you. I'm not going to regret telling Emily."

"She's worried about Rusty."

"She's worried about you."

"I'm fine."

He gave her a look.

"I'm fine, Andy."

"Has Emily met Rusty yet?"

"No, they talk a lot, I mean, he talks to her more than me, I think."

Andy smiled.

"Anyway, thanks for blurting out to everyone that you're 'sorta' seeing a therapist so that Rusty wouldn't feel as bad. It did help him, seeing all of your support on that. I really, really want him to talk to someone … not just an evaluation, but it'll take some convincing."

"If Rios hates the idea, he'll automatically love it."

"Hmmm…"

"Such a bitch."

"Hey," she warned, shaking her head.

He met her eyes, regretting his words immediately.

"No."

"Sorry."

"She is … a handful … she is stubborn, and obnoxious, but her head is in the right place. Phillip Stroh has to stay in prison. I should have told her about the evaluation, but it slipped my mind. She's not a 'bitch'."

"Sorry." He shook his head and ate. 'Great job, idiot', he kicked himself.

"I'm very proud of Rusty for standing up to her the way he did. I mean, the yelling was a bit too much, but what he said was wonderful. I think he may just be willing to talk to Dr. Joe after the evaluation."

"That would be great for him."

She nodded and waited a moment. "Andy … you asked me to come because you needed my advice, or rather Nicole does … about ballet?"

He took a big bite so as to not have to respond.

Sharon shook her head and grinned.

"You could discuss ballet with Nicole, but no, it's, well, it's not that … I really didn't want to come with Provenza."

"So you lied."

"I withheld my true reasoning, yes, but come on! It's the Nutcracker, and Christmas, and you love all that shit, right?"

She smiled and shook her head yet again, "Charming."

He grinned, "Nicole will probably want to know some things ... talk about what all Emily was involved in, " He wanted her eyes off of him, was turning red a bit and starting to sweat, "Eat, and you're gonna love it."

She grinned back and decided just to let it go. He was obviously still a little 'off'.

Season 5 - Episode 17 - after 'Dead Drop'

March 17, 2017

She watched him as he closed the balcony door. He took a beat before he turned. What is happening? She doesn't know, but she knows, but she doesn't know … but she knew when she saw the condo as she walked in, but she didn't, though … did she? Her heart was racing.

He grinned that grin, looked down, and started going down. For a split second, she wondered if he was falling, but … no, is this? Oh, no, she watched. It is. She was right, thank God, she breathed out. Finally.

"Sharon, I just can't wait anymore … and you said I could ask when I couldn't." He held up the ring, asking slowly, "Will you marry me?"

Time froze for them both, her eyes moving from the ring to his eyes, breathing rate increasing, mouth open.

He grinned up to her, enjoying the fact that she really had no idea this was coming.

She took a deep, slow breath in, reached for the ring, quickly placed it perfectly on her finger and bent down, whispering 'Yes' against his lips, hand on his cheek, then in his hair. She almost got on her knees with him, but he grunted and stood as gracefully and quickly as he could, bringing her fully against him as her arms wrapped around his neck. Her feet left the ground as he spun her once and she pulled back to kiss him then. She giggled into the kiss and squeezed him tight as he let her feet touch the ground again.

"Say it again?" He whispered against her ear after a long hug.

She pulled back, "Ask me again …"

He smiled the biggest smile she'd ever seen. "Will you marry me?" He was transfixed by her now watery eyes.

"Yes," she grinned, leaning in to kiss again. "Yes. I love you. Yes. I can't believe you. Yes. Finally." She tried to back up to look at her ring, but he was having none of it.

He didn't know what to say. He just wanted to kiss her.

There was quite a lot of that, and her staring at the ring that she held up behind him as he wouldn't release her. It was perfect.

"Andy," she mumbled against him as they'd been dancing to no music for quite a while.

"Hmmm?"

Her eyes met his. "Should we eat?"

He smiled and shrugged, "We can do whatever you want, beautiful." He pulled her closer. "I'm set for life."

"Hmmm," she grinned against his lips.

"Let's eat." His smile beamed to her as he walked her over to sit, pulling back her chair for her and then bringing his chair all the way over to be next to hers. There wasn't a lot of space on the table, but like hell he'd sit all the way across from her for this dinner.

Once he sat and reorganized the table, she took his hand, with her right hand, still looking at her left.

He didn't care about food. He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

She didn't start eating either, just watched him.

"Thank you for waiting for me."

"... but I just couldn't anymore."

"I'm glad." She leaned over for a kiss. "Your plan for dinner last night?"

"Yeah, even planned a trip to Napa, but that fell through, too." He kissed down her neck.

"Ooooo," she grinned and finally looked at their plates.

"I can go heat it up," he offered.

"It's fine." She took a bite. "Still warm."

"Oh my god!" he let out after he ate a few bites.

"What?!"

"We have to call the kids!"

Sharon rolled her eyes.