When Sharon walked into the murder room the next day, something seemed…off. It was quiet. Her people were never quiet. She pretty certain that they didn't end up with a new case over night, so all that really needed to happen today was the mountains of paperwork that had been neglected by everyone as of late, but that didn't account for the actual tension looming in the air. "Good morning, everyone. I'll assume that since my phone didn't go off over night, we've got nothing new today?"

It took a minute for someone to respond, but Mike was the one that spoke first. "No, Captain. Nothing new."

"Good. Thank you, Mike." Before heading into her office to start her own day, she stood in the middle of the room and addressed everyone. "I know there's tons of backlogged paperwork for you all, myself included. Let's tackle it as fast as we can and I'll see about getting us all out of here as early as possible. Providing nothing new comes up, of course."

"Sounds good to me, ma'am. But can we please make sure we all do our own work? I'm tired of Lieutenant Provenza passing his paperwork off to me. I stopped believing it was him teaching me stuff a long time ago."

"Yes, Julio, I will make sure the lieutenant does his own work today." The squinty eye glare she shot Provenza got her point across to him. Normally she'd get a little chuckle or snort laugh out of Andy, but there was nothing coming from him. In fact, when she glanced over at him, he looked rather angry. Sharon realized he hadn't even glanced up at her when she walked in. She thought about approaching his desk, but it didn't look like he was up for a conversation in the middle of the murder room. She opted to send him a text the moment she sat down at her desk. "Morning. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't sleep well. Don't worry about it."

"Liar. I've known you long enough to know that's not your "I didn't sleep well" face."

"I said I'm fine."

The way that text read, and the way Andy tossed his phone back on to his desk told Sharon that he was anything but fine. But pushing him here at work, this early in the day, would upset him even more, and it would've made whatever tension there was in the murder room even worse. If he needed to talk, he knew where to find her.

Unfortunately, the tension that everyone picked up on early in the morning carried over well into the afternoon. Provenza and Andy did nothing but throw snide comments and rude barbs at each other over the course of the day, and it had gotten to a point where they got into a massive screaming match that finally drew Sharon out of her office. "Enough!" she shouted with a slam of her office door. "I don't know what's gotten into you two, but knock it off! If you can't be civil to get your job done, I'll have no problem sending both of you home. This ends. Now."

"He started it!" Andy and Provenza shouted at the same time.

"That's it! Mike," she pointed, "take the lieutenant anywhere but here. Andy, my office." Staring Andy directly in his face, she flung open her office door and waved him in. "Now." She was used to their antics, most of the time she was rather amused by them. But their horrible attitudes had made what could've been an easy and early day into something unnecessary, and that just wasn't sitting well with her. "Sit." Was all she said as she closed her door.

"What the hell did I do?! He's been a pain all day! Why am I the one getting sent to principal's office while he gets to take a walk?"

"He got sent with Mike because Mike knows exactly what to say to get him to calm down and you know very well your partner would never listen to anything I have to say when it concerns you. You got sent to the principal's office because she's been dealing with you for a lot longer than anyone and knows exactly how to handle you!"

"Handle?" The glare Andy gave her should've been a warning to just how pissed off he was, but all she did was give it right back to him. If Sharon was trying to piss him off even further, she was succeeding. She was clearly in Darth mode. While he would love nothing more than to argue with her to get his point across, he knew he couldn't. This wasn't an Andy and Sharon conversation. This was a captain addressing her lieutenant and he knew just by the tone in her voice that he needed to rein it in. He also knew that she was right. "While I appreciate, Captain, how you separated us, perhaps there's a better word that you can use? Not really a fan of the word handle."

"My apologies, lieutenant. I will gladly have my thesaurus on hand the next time a situation like this arises. Please excuse my poor choice of wording." She did the one thing that she knew would drive him absolutely mad. She tilted her head and smiled in the most sarcastic way as possible. The way he slumped back in his chair let her know that she had gotten her point across. "Never try to out Darth the Darth, Andy. You know very well you'll never win."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You, Darth. Me, stormtrooper. I get it. But can you put her away now? I'm calm and I promise to behave."

"I will on one condition."

He already didn't like where this was going. "And that would be?"

"You tell me exactly what has you two going at it." He glared at her again. She knew that he was hiding something from her and she was going to try and use this to get it out of him.

"No."

"Andy."

"Sharon."

"Andrew!"

Andy could argue with her, but he knew that she'd eventually get everything out of him. Everything. Her office, let alone the PAB, was not the place to bring any of that up. "Look, Provenza's just mad because I bailed on him last night. Everyone went out to Mulcahey's and I didn't feel like being his date. We argued a bit more before I walked away and that was it. He probably ended up having to pay for his own stuff and now sitting on his wallet is off balance because he actually had to open it. It's really nothing." None of what he told her was a lie. It wasn't the complete truth, but he was hoping that it was enough so that Sharon believed him.

She didn't believe him. Well, no. She did, but she knew there was more to it than that. Plus the look on his face was practically begging her to just drop it. For now, she'd let it go so that everyone could get back to work. "I still don't think that's all of it, but I'll take it for now. Come on, trouble," Sharon said as she stood to grab her purse from the drawer she kept it in. "Let the principal treat you to a snack for being such a good boy. Maybe a juice box and a cookie."

The giggle that she let out when he gave her an eye roll didn't go unnoticed. "Make it a coffee and a rice crispy treat and you've got yourself a deal," Andy said as he opened her office door. When he turned around after closing the door, he ended walking straight into Sharon's back when she stopped short. "Woah, sorry. I didn't see…" but when he looked up, he saw exactly what she had been staring at. "I don't like that," he whispered into the back of her head.

Sharon had stopped short right outside her office door when she noticed that the lieutenant had returned and was now talking with Andrea at his desk. Normally she wouldn't think anything of it since Andrea regularly stopped by when she needed something for a case or to meet up with her for lunch. But when both the lieutenant and Andrea saw Sharon step out of her office, they quickly glanced up at her and turned their backs so that she couldn't get a read on what they were whispering about. "Neither do I. Any idea what that's about?"

"Not a clue. Maybe he's tired of getting turned down by people eighty years younger than him and he's decided to ask her out." The look on Sharon's face was priceless. Even he didn't believe the words that came out of his mouth. "I can't believe I just said that out loud. Can we please get out of here before we see something that neither of us wants to see?"

Sharon quickly turned and grabbed at Andy's arm to drag him away from the murder room. There really were just some things that never needed to be spoken aloud. "Why? Just why would you even go there?" She asked while walking down the hallway. When they arrived at the elevator banks, they found that they didn't have very long to wait, so they quickly stepped on to the elevator wanting to get as far away from the murder room as possible. "That's not an image I want in my head. Ever. I now abhor you for saying it out loud."

"Abhor? Really? Personally, I think it's more like adore, but you keep believing what you want."

"Fine. I take it back and replace it with loathe. I loathe you, Andrew Flynn."

"Didn't realize you carried your thesaurus in your purse. Besides, loathe is also incorrect. I believe the correct word you're looking for is love. You love me and you know it." If there had been an old record player off in the distance, whatever was playing on it would've come to a screeching stop. As the elevator doors opened, Andy wished that they led to a cliff that he could walk straight off of. Yeah, there was no recovering from that. Maybe he'd just stand in the middle of the doors so that they could repeatedly slam against his head, crushing what was left of his remaining brain cells. "Uh, after you, Captain," he motioned to let her off first.

It took Sharon a second to remember how to function. Breathing was the first thing she needed to do. Convincing her legs that they needed to move, anywhere, was a whole other task. Trying not to look like a deer in headlights was the biggest issue of all. "Thank you, lieutenant," she said while stepping off as quickly as possible. She could not get out of the building fast enough and she didn't think there was anything that could make this moment any worse. "Ah, Shar-on, I was just coming to find you." And it just got worse. "Oh, God," she muttered while looking at the sky. "What do you want, Jack?"

"Nice to see you remembered my name. Must be hard after screaming someone else's for so long. Speaking of your trusty lapdog," he nodded towards the other man standing next to his wife. "Andy. She keeping you busy these days? You're looking a little haggard there, buddy. You know, if you need an out, I can help you. I'm a bit of an expert when it comes to escaping from this one."

"Watch it, Jack. Haven't you bothered her enough?" She didn't need a white knight, especially when it came to dealing with Jack. Andy knew that. But his overwhelming need to protect her was starting to take over and he wasn't sure just how long he'd be able to hold back. "Just say what you need to say and get it over with. Some of us have real jobs to get back to."

"Oh, nothing much to say, just came to give her this," Jack said while handing Sharon an envelope. "Don't get too excited. I haven't signed anything. But, uh, you might want to wait to open that. Although, I'd really like to see the look on your face when you see my counter offer."

"Counter offer? Jack, I'm not giving you anything and you know it. Why are you so hellbent on dragging this out? Just sign the papers so we can get this over with. It's time. Please, just let go."

"No can do, honey. You want to get rid of me, give me what I want. If not, I'll see you in court. Enjoy the rest of your day!" And just as quickly as he appeared, Jack Raydor was gone.

"I hate him," was all Sharon could say as she watched Jack saunter away as if he'd never hurt her.

"Except you don't." Andy offered. They were still standing outside of the PAB, but Andy had ushered her off to a side of the building that he knew didn't have much foot traffic so no one could listen in on their conversation. "Okay, you do. Hell, we all hate him for you. But there's always gonna be some part of you that doesn't. That just can't. Actually there's two parts." He smiled at her knowing she was still completely lost at what he was saying. "Emily and Ricky."

"Oh," she grinned. Now she understood. The only things she'd ever be grateful to Jack for were Emily and Ricky. "They are two of the best things that have ever happened to me. I just wish things could've been different for them. I have a lot of regrets when it comes to that man, but having them made everything he ever put me through worth it." Once again, Andy knew exactly what to say to her. She could never understand his ability to always have the right things to say when she couldn't come up with anything for herself. If only everyone got to see and understand this side of him. Then again, she wasn't entirely sure that she was willing to share him with anyone else. That she had finally admitted that to herself scared her.

"You know who said that exact same thing to me once?" She hummed as she shook her head at him waiting to continue. "Sandra," he chuckled as she winced at the sound of his ex-wife's name. "Don't worry, she doesn't hate you…anymore…not that much."

"Ha! Andy, the last time she saw me, she practically willed my head to explode just by glaring at me. She kept moving Johnathan out of the way just so she could glare! Clearly our definitions of "not that much" are vastly different." Now it was her turn to laugh as she realized that she and Andy's ex-wife had something that they agreed on. Sharon would always feel terrible for the way that friendship ended, too. "I do find it rather amusing that she and I actually have something in common. Maybe we can talk about that next time we see each other. I mean, if she doesn't try to run me over in the parking lot…again."

"God Almighty, Sharon! For the last time, she wasn't trying to run you over!"

"You keep telling yourself that. Even Dean questioned it," she said as she began to walk away. "Come on, someone promised me a juice box and a cookie for being a good girl."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you'll get your," but he stopped when he realized what she said. "Hey, wait a second! You said you'd buy me a coffee and a rice crispy treat for being a good boy!"

"Oh gosh, did I? Must've slipped my mind," she smirked as she continued walking.

All Andy could do was stand in awe while looking around for anyone and anything, hoping and praying for guidance on how to truly understand her. When she realized that he wasn't walking beside her, she stopped and turned to see where he was. The smile she gave him was something he'd never get tired of seeing. Sharon turned again to continue walking on ahead of him, reaching the coffee truck way before he did and placed their order. Andy tried catching up so that he could pay, because he never had any intention on letting her pay, but she beat him to it. She just shrugged when he shook his head at her as she handed him his rice crispy treat. As they waited for their coffees to be made, he couldn't help but think about all the time they had lost. He hated that this was all they could be, but he'd take this over not having Sharon in his life at all.