This day was not going well. What day was it again anyway? Wednesday? No, it was Thursday now… Sharon Raydor leaned her head back against the wall of the elevator as she rode up to Major Crimes. Since nobody else was in the elevator with her, she closed her eyes briefly and allowed herself this moment, allowed the elevator to prop her up and give her tired muscles a break. She felt herself starting to drift, floating almost, and then the ding of the elevator's arrival jolted her back into her heavy body. She pushed herself off the wall, tugging on the bottom of her blazer, and exited the elevator.
Sharon's team was severely short-staffed at the moment courtesy of a particularly nasty stomach flu. One of her sergeant's children had brought it home from school and it spread like wildfire through his family and then started making its way through her team. Of course, neither the officers involved nor the reporting deadlines cared that 3 members of her team were currently out of commission. At the moment, Sharon and one lieutenant were the only ones left standing, scrambling to conduct far too many use-of-force investigations simultaneously. Federally-mandated deadlines were federally-mandated deadlines…
Her overtime had been approved, as had the overtime for Lt. Camacho, but that didn't really help matters all that much. They could each only be in one place at a time, and that was making things…difficult-–impossible, really—but she couldn't think about that too much right now. She didn't have the luxury of wallowing. She just had to keep going.
She looked at her watch as she walked down the hall toward Priority Homicide. It was only 10am, but it felt like Sharon had been awake for days…probably because for all intents and purposes she had. The few hours of sleep she had gotten had come in disjointed bursts, 40 minutes here, an hour or two there, and her body was starting to turn against her.
One of the open cases involved Detective Julio Sanchez. Thankfully, it was a fairly clear-cut case this time. She just needed to follow up with the detective regarding a few final details and she would be able to wrap things up. If all went well, she could cross at least one thing off her list yet this morning.
As she rounded the corner and stepped into the murder room, Sharon saw the lights were dimmed and Lt. Tao was in the middle of a presentation. There was no way she could interrupt right now without causing a scene, and she just didn't have the energy to get into a…discussion…with the Chief in her current condition. She was just going to have to wait for an opening. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy, it never was when Priority Homicide was involved…
Sharon hadn't seen the blonde since the crime scene at the coffee shop, and she wasn't quite sure where things stood now. They'd been arguing before Jack had called and interrupted, but then when Sharon resumed their…conversation, the Chief had stepped back and allowed FID to go first without further issue. Maybe their tentative truce was finding some footing after all, but Sharon had no intentions of testing the waters today. If the Chief decided to push back, Sharon knew she would collapse like a house of cards, and she couldn't afford for that to happen in front of everyone. She couldn't have rumors of weakness or fragility floating around the department. It would tarnish her reputation and compromise her ability to conduct her investigations.
Brenda was standing in the murder room leaning against one of the glass walls of her office trying to focus on Lt. Tao's presentation when Andy Flynn made some smartass comment. She turned away, shaking her head and suppressing the smile that was threatening to form at her lieutenant's lack of tact, when she noticed Captain Raydor standing at the far end of the room. Brenda felt herself freeze, a jolt of…something…coursing through her body at the brunette's unexpected appearance. What was she doing here?
She hadn't seen the Captain in weeks, not since the crime scene. Brenda had felt something akin to nervous anticipation when they'd had to call FID about Julio. She had told herself that it was just her way of gearing up for another possible altercation with the brunette. But then Sergeant Staples had arrived instead, and Brenda was surprised to find disappointment where relief should have been.
She'd found herself wondering if something had happened. They always sent Captain Raydor to deal with her division. Was it because of their argument at the last crime scene? Was Sharon upset with her? They'd fought a million times before, that was nothing new, but that had been the first time since their quasi-truce. Maybe Brenda should have tried harder to play nice…But she had played nice. She'd backed down in the end and let Sharon go first. Maybe that wasn't it. Maybe something else had happened with her husband…
Whatever the reason, they'd been stuck with Sergeant Staples this time. And if she thought working with the Captain was…difficult…working with Sergeant Staples was like trying to choke down a dry piece of toast without any liquid to wash it down with. Brenda hated it—she thought Julio did too. And now, 2 days into the investigation, the sergeant was nowhere to be found, Sharon Raydor was standing in her murder room, and things felt…right…again somehow.
Brenda made sure her head was still directed toward Lt. Tao as she watched the other woman out of the corner of her eye. She saw her back up slightly and lean against an empty desk, noticed her checking her wristwatch, trying to use the gesture to cover a yawn. Brenda's eyes darted over to the clock on the wall, it was 10am. Too late to be waiting for the first caffeine of the day to kick in, and too early to be yawning like that—unless she hadn't been sleeping.
The blonde turned toward her now and was filled with an odd mix of excitement and concern. Sharon looked…well, she always looked nice and so put-together in ways Brenda could never manage. She could see the Captain's face was drawn and shadowed and it wasn't from the dim lighting in the room. There was an uncharacteristic hollowness today, and—was she slumping a little on the desk?
As Brenda studied her more intently, she realized she could see Sharon under the carefully-constructed facade. She could see how exhausted she was, how depleted, through the skillfully-applied concealer and the attempt to add color to cheeks and lips where none was to be found.
Brenda looked down at the almost-full coffee in her hand. Buzz and Lt. Tao had been kind enough to at least provide them all with caffeine before the Lieutenant had started in on his incredibly thorough presentation. As he continued to expound at great length on some small detail tangential to his latest findings, Brenda turned and walked slowly past her office and into the conference room. She grabbed a cup from the stack they kept there for guests. She set down her coffee and removed the lid, carefully pouring some of its contents into the other cup before stopping to look at it. Her mind flashed back to the image of the Captain slumped on the desk as she eyed the small amount of dark liquid. It looked sad in the bottom of the cup, almost like it was accusing her of being stingy.
Brenda proceeded to pour half of her coffee into the cup and then a bit more, splashing a little onto the tabletop. She nodded her head once, satisfied. She didn't bother to wipe up the spill, this had already taken longer than she meant it to. Instead, she snapped the lid back on her own cup and spun around, two cups in hand to return to the team. She would come back and wipe up the spill later if she remembered.
When she re-entered the room, Brenda slowly, casually walked over toward Sharon, trying not to draw attention to herself. Luckily, her team was at least trying to stay focused on Tao's presentation for the moment. Brenda could tell Sharon had registered her presence, but the brunette made no move to straighten her posture or to acknowledge Brenda. She remained still, her arms braced against the edge of the desk propping her up.
Without a word, Brenda set the coffee down on the desk next to Sharon. Before she could stop herself, she reached out and placed her hand on the other woman's forearm, giving it a gentle squeeze. Brenda quickly withdrew her hand when she heard the brunette's sharp intake of breath, and she started moving back over to her earlier position, her eyes looking everywhere except at Sharon Raydor. Why did she just do that?
Sharon had watched the Chief depart with mild curiosity—she usually didn't leave in the middle of a presentation—but Sharon was too tired to give it any further thought. She sat back, leaning against the empty desk for support, trying desperately to focus on what Lt. Tao was saying. She must have zoned out because she suddenly felt more than heard movement next to her. Then she felt the light pressure of a delicate hand squeezing her forearm and a jolt of…something…shot through her. She inhaled sharply, her eyes flicking involuntarily to the point of contact, but the hand was already gone.
Sharon stared at her forearm for another minute still feeling the imprint of where the Chief's hand had been. She was suddenly alert, she could feel every inch of her body, every nerve ending, her senses no longer deadened by fatigue—and she hadn't even picked up the coffee yet. That was…unexpected…and Sharon's mind was racing as she struggled to regain focus.
She brought the coffee up to her lips to take a sip. As she inhaled, the sweet scent of chocolate hit her nose, bringing her movement to a halt. She thought it was just some of the stale coffee from the breakroom—pity coffee—but it wasn't. Brenda was sharing her precious chocolate-caffeine concoction with her. Just…because?! Sharon's stomach tightened. She wasn't sure if she was bracing herself for the sweetness to hit her empty stomach or if what she felt was something…else. She shook her head effectively stopping that train of thought for the moment and brought the cup up to her lips to take a much needed sip.
She swallowed the too-sweet liquid and looked up, catching Brenda watching her, concern flashing briefly across her face. Holding her gaze, the blonde raised her own cup in the slightest of "cheers" gestures. Sharon arched her eyebrow, surprised and then nodded her head slightly in thanks, returning the Chief's gesture. She took another sip before breaking eye contact and returning her attention to Lt. Tao.
Grateful the lights were dimmed, Sharon hoped the other woman didn't catch the glint of water in her eyes before she looked away, blinking a few times to clear her vision. Maybe a couple extra minutes of Tao droning on would give the caffeine a chance to kick in and her a chance to compose herself. She really needed some sleep soon, but, for now, the coffee would have to do…