DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters except Matthew and Moxie. The rest belongs to James Duff and the Major Crimes Franchise.

Chapter 9

After the Flynn family returned home, Matthew was sitting at the kitchen table looking at his phone. "Who are you going to tell first that you have a phone?" Sharon asked as she started to make them all dinner. "Um, I was thinking I would text Ricky first or maybe I could send a group text to everyone, or should I call Uncle Louie?" Matthew rambled, looking at his mom. She chuckled as she listened to him rambling. Andy walked into the kitchen as Moxie made his way over to Matthew and sat down next to him. "What's going on?" Andy asked as he looked at Matthew and then glanced over at Sharon.

Sharon placed the chicken that she was preparing in a glass dish and then placed it in the oven. "Your son is just trying to figure out who he tells first that he has a phone now" she said, closing the oven door and walking back to the counter. Andy then looked back at Matthew. "Do you think I can call Uncle Louie?" Matthew asked. "Well, I would text him first because he's not going to answer a number that he doesn't recognize" Andy told him.

Matthew then texted Provenza and about five minutes later, he received a text back from him. 'Who is this?' Matthew read the text message. 'Uh, It's Matthew Flynn' he wrote back and hit the send button. "I don't think Uncle Louie knows this is my number" Matthew said and Andy came around to look at his screen. 'Matthew? When did you get a phone?' the next message said. "Tell him you just got it tonight and you are the first person that I'm contacting, then he will feel honored" Andy told him and Matthew typed away and hit the send button. A few seconds later, he received another text. 'Well, Matthew, I'm honored that you chose me, tell your father to call me in a few minutes' Matthew read and Andy saw it too.

"See what did I tell you" Andy said to Matthew and then walked towards Sharon. "Anything I can help you with?" Andy grinned as Sharon moved around the counter fixing a salad. "Hmm, the chicken is in the oven, and the vegetables are on the stove already, and I'm about done with this salad" she smiled looking up at him. "Hmmm well, I guess there's nothing left for me to do" Andy leaned down and kissed her. "Except, plan our date for Wednesday night" he smiled and she gave him a look. "Oh, so what are you planning?" she grinned. "If I told you, it would ruin the surprise" Andy whispered to her and then moved and walked away.

Sharon watched him walk away from her and head towards the hallway. She then made her way to sit at the kitchen table with Matthew. "So how was your first day of camp?" she asked. "It was fun!" Matthew looked up at his mom. "I'm making a group text for our family" he added as he typed away on his new phone. "Oh, how do you know how to do that?" she asked. Matthew just shrugged his shoulders. A few seconds later she heard her phone give a text alert. Pulling it out of her pocket she saw that Matthew had told everyone his new number.

Meanwhile, Andy called Provenza on his phone, wondering what he wanted. "Flynn, so I see you got Matthew his own phone" Provenza said. "Yes, Sharon and I thought it would be good that the kid has his own phone, you know, in case we need to get a hold of him" Andy responded as he sat down in the den. "Huh, did that have anything to do with Ralph missing?" his friend asked him and Andy just shook his head. "So, what if it did? Honestly, Matthew should have his own phone, he's 11 years old, it's the summer time, and he's going to a 2-week camp this week and next" Andy explained. "I'm sure you didn't want me to call so we could talk about Matthew's new phone" he added.

"No, that's not why I wanted you to call" Provenza stated and Andy waited for his friend to continue. Andy heard him clear his throat before he started talking again. "Andy, I'm concerned about you being in this funk, as you call it" he said and Andy rubbed the back of his neck. "Look, I understand your concern, with what happened at the game and then with Ralph's father Charlie, I'm working through it, and Sharon and I talked about it after we left the office" Andy told him. Provenza was silent on the other end. "I'm not gonna drink if that's your concern as well" Andy added.

"I wasn't concerned about that" Provenza quipped back and Andy sighed into the phone. "Look, I appreciate your concern but I need to get off the phone with you so that I can plan an evening out with Sharon" Andy told him. "Ye Gods! I don't want to hear that" Provenza chuckled at his friend. "I'll see you tomorrow, Flynn" Provenza hung up the phone and Andy placed his phone in his pocket. He made his way into the den and sat down at the desk. He figured if Matthew was occupying Sharon, that would give him some time to plan their date.

He opened the laptop computer that was on the desk, signed into it, and waited for the computer to load. He was tapping his finger on the desk when movement in the hallway caught his eye. He looked over and saw Sharon standing in the doorway. He quickly glanced at the computer and saw that it was done. He turned towards Sharon and smiled. She smiled back at him and wondered what he was up to. She stepped into the room and crossed her arms, leaning up against the desk and faced him. "Can I help you?" he grinned.

"Just wondering what you were doing in here" she said as she quickly glanced at the laptop but it was on the main screen so she couldn't see anything but the background and apps. "I was on the phone with Provenza and after hanging up from him, I decided to just sit here" Andy smiled. "Hmm" Sharon hummed at his response. "Is dinner ready?" he asked her, trying to change the subject. "Um, well" Sharon started and then moved closer to him. "I think it will be ready in 10 minutes or so" she whispered into his ear. Her warm breath tickled his ear and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Moving his chair to the left, Sharon had a seat on his leg. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he held her there.

Meanwhile, Matthew was still sitting at the kitchen table with his new phone, texting his brothers and sisters different messages. While he was texting Emily, the timer of the oven went off. "Mom!" he called out but didn't get a response. "Mom!" he called out again. Sharon heard Matthew call her a second time and she moved her head off Andy's shoulder. "Yes?" she responded. "I think dinner is ready!" he called out from the kitchen. Sharon kissed Andy's cheek as she stood up and he disentangled his arms from her.

Andy glanced at the computer as he stood up to follow her out of the room. He figured he could plan their date after dinner instead. He made his way into the kitchen and started to set the table for them. Sharon pulled out the chicken and vegetables from the oven and placed the glass dish on the table. Matthew was still on his phone texting his siblings until Sharon cleared her throat and he looked up from his phone. "No phones at the dinner table" she told him and he placed the phone down.

Later that night as Matthew was watching TV, Andy was back in the den on the computer, after speaking with his sponsor. Sharon was upstairs taking a bath. "Ok, let's see what we can plan" Andy muttered to himself as he typed away on the keyboard. As he looked through possibilities, there was always Serve that he could take Sharon back to, but he wanted to surprise her with something different. He found a restaurant in Studio City called Firefly, but after looking at the menu, decided against it. He sighed as he took a deep breath.

He wanted something simple and romantic, but all of the places he searched were not the right ones. "This shouldn't be hard to plan" he mumbled as he closed the laptop after logging off and sat back in the chair. He rubbed his right hand over his eyes. He stood up and went over to the family room where he thought Matthew was watching TV. To his surprise, Sharon was there sitting on the couch with Matthew. "I thought you were taking a bath?" Andy leaned down behind her and kissed the back of her neck. "I did, but then I came back down here after your son texted me to watch TV with him" she smiled as he kissed her.

Matthew was sleeping and Sharon had changed the channel from what she was watching with Matthew to some sappy, love movie from what Andy could tell as he quickly glanced at the TV. "What are you watching?" he asked her as he continued to kiss her neck. She gave him easy access as her hair was up in a pony tail from her bath. She hummed as he continued. "It's a love story" she answered. "Hmm, the kind that is predictable as soon as the movie starts?" he said as he made his way around the couch to sit with her. She laughed at his statement and scooted over, careful not to wake Matthew, to make room for him.

"So, have you planned our date yet?" she turned her face to look at him. "Not yet, but I have a few ideas" he said as he glanced down at her lips which were now smiling at him. He leaned in and kissed her softly, eliciting a soft moan from her. After their kiss, she snuggled up to him and they both watched the rest of the movie.

Tuesday morning came quickly for the Flynn household as Sharon's alarm was going off. She reached over Andy and turned the annoyance off. She looked down at his face and he was looking back at her. "How long have you been up?" she whispered, leaning down to kiss him. "Not long" he responded but his eyes told her a different story. She rolled over and stood up from their bed, wrapping her robe around her body and headed towards the bathroom.

He sat up on the bed and ran his right hand over his face. He stretched his left arm over his head and heard his shoulder pop. Surprisingly it didn't hurt when it did that. Andy then stood up and made his way to their closet and figured out which suit he was going to wear. While he was in there, Sharon came out of the bathroom still wearing her robe and she saw that Andy was no longer in bed. She made her way to their closet and saw him there picking out his dark grey suit and pink dress shirt.

"What tie are you going to wear with that?" she asked as she made her way to his side. "Oh, I was thinking of my grey and pink striped tie" he gruffly stated to her as he leaned down and kissed her. "Ok," she whispered after breaking their kiss. She watched him walk towards their bathroom and then turned into the closet to figure out what she was going to wear. She decided on her black pants suit and her pink dress blouse.

As she brought her outfit into their bathroom, Andy looked up from shaving and gave her a wink as he continued. She removed her robe and stepped into the shower, starting the water while standing there. Andy thought about joining her but knew that if he did, they would be delayed heading into work. He glanced at the clock in the room, but before he could decide further, he heard his phone ringing back in their bedroom. He sighed as he wiped his face and walked to get his phone. As he picked his phone up, he saw it was Emily.

He had a concerned look on his face as he answered his phone. "Emily, is everything ok?" he asked. "Um, I'm not sure" she said as she was walking through her place. "What's the matter?" he wondered as he tried to listen to his step-daughter. "Well, I heard a noise outside my place and now the smoke alarms in the condo are going off" she was flustered as she spoke, gathering her purse with her keys and exited her door. "Is there smoke anywhere?" Andy asked as he heard Sharon turn the shower off. "Not that I can tell" he heard Emily say. "Get outside the building, I'll be over in a few minutes" Andy told her. Emily hung up her phone as she made her way down the stairs with the rest of the people that reside in her building.

Andy quickly finished, placing his gun and handcuffs on his belt and putting his suit jacket on. He walked back into the bathroom and saw Sharon wearing a towel, staring at herself in the mirror by the sinks. "Um, Emily just called" Andy started telling her and she turned to look at him. "The smoke alarms in her building are going off, I told her I would be over there in a few minutes, and she is exiting her building as we speak" he assured her. Sharon's worried look continued as he told her what Emily said. "She's fine and told me other people are walking out of the building" he told her. She nodded. "Tell her to come over here when you get there" she told him and he nodded, leaving their room and headed downstairs. He grabbed his keys from the counter and closed the back door behind him.

As he drove over to Emily's place, some things were running through his mind. He saw some fire trucks racing down Franklin Ave in the direction he was going. As he pulled up to the building on Sanborn, he saw smoke coming from the top floor. He pulled off on the street as close as he could get and walked the rest of the way. He saw Emily waiting outside with the rest of the tenants. "Emily!" he called out to her. She turned around and saw her step-father approaching her. She walked over to him. He looked her over. "Are you ok?" he asked and she nodded. "Your mother wants you to come over to the house" he told her as he looked around at the scene.

"Do you think they'll let us go back inside?" Emily asked. Andy looked around and saw many firefighters running in and out. "Uh, probably not right now" he told her. "Ok" Emily said and walked away with Andy. "Um, hang on right here" he told Emily and made his way over to the battalion chief he saw on site. He flashed his badge to the police officer at the scene and the police officer let him through. "Chief" Andy said as he made his way through. "Lieutenant" the chief said as he saw Andy's badge. "Any cause of fire yet?" he asked. The chief shook his head. "No, sorry not yet" the chief stated as he looked at Andy. "My step-daughter lives here so I just wanted to see what happened" Andy explained. "Once our investigators do their preliminary work, I'll contact you" the chief told him and Andy handed him his card.

He then joined back where Emily was waiting for him and he walked her to where her car was parked. "Are you ok?" he asked before she got in her car as he noticed that she was shaking. "Uh, yeh, I guess I'm a little shaken up that's all" she told him. "You ok to drive?" he asked in a concerned father voice. "Yes" Emily chuckled and unlocked her car. "See you back at the house then" Andy told her and then walked over to his car, got in, and followed Emily back home.

Sharon was in the kitchen cutting up some fruit when Andy came back home with Emily. They stepped inside the house and Emily walked in and saw her mother. "Emily" Sharon called out and Emily walked over to her. Sharon gave her a hug and Emily closed her eyes. "Are you ok sweetie?" Sharon whispered to her. Emily nodded in their embrace. "I'm fine Mom" she told her and broke their hug. "So, what happened?" Sharon inquired, bringing the fruit with, as they both sat down at the kitchen table. Andy stood there and leaned up against the island to listen to Emily's story.

"I heard a noise outside and then the smoke alarm started going off in the hallway of the condo. That's when I called Andy and went outside to wait" Emily shrugged her shoulders, taking some cantaloupe pieces and placed them on a dish. "Did you see any flames coming from the building?" Sharon asked the two of them. "There was smoke coming from the top floor when I pulled up" Andy told her. "There wasn't smoke in my hallway and when I went down the stairs with everyone else, there wasn't smoke in the stairwell either" Emily added. "Hmm, maybe the fire was at the top floor?" Sharon wondered. "I don't know" Emily shrugged her shoulders again.

"I spoke to the Battalion Chief at the scene and asked him if they had a cause yet, but he told me that they didn't know, and he also said that once their investigators are done, he would give me a call" Andy told Sharon. "Ok, that sounds fine" she responded. "In the meantime, Emily, you are welcome to stay here" she told her daughter. "I was hoping I could get back in my place soon" Emily wondered as she glanced at her phone. "I told my neighbors to let me know when we can get back in the building" she added as she leaned back, sitting on the kitchen chair.

Sharon looked at her daughter and then turned towards Andy. It was almost 7:30 in the morning. "Is Matthew up yet?" Andy asked Sharon as he started to move around the kitchen. "He was in the bathroom when I came downstairs earlier" she told him. "Well, I'll go check on him, uh, did you want to have breakfast?" he stated before he went upstairs. "Um, we can just have cereal this morning, that's fine" Sharon smiled at him and he nodded. She watched him leave the kitchen and then stood up, making her way to the pantry. Emily followed her.

Meanwhile, Matthew was playing with his toys in his room when Andy walked to the door of his room. "Hey, are you ready for camp today?" Andy asked. Matthew stood up and stretched. "Yep!" he told him. "Alright, well, head downstairs and mom has breakfast for you in the kitchen and also, your sister, Emily, is over". After Andy told that to Matthew, he got excited and grabbed his phone, along with a backpack that he's taken to camp, and ran down the stairs towards the kitchen.

"Hi Emily!" Matthew was surprised Emily was over this early in the morning. "Hey squirt, how's your new phone?" Emily asked him. "Good" Matthew laughed as he sat down at the table and poured himself a bowl of Lucky Charms. "Please have some fruit with that" Sharon pointed to the bowl and Matthew grabbed a couple of pieces. "So, Mom, how come Matthew gets a phone?" Emily asked. "Oh, well, both Andy and I decided that it was a good time to get him one" Sharon explained to her. "And, it's only for family use" she added.

After breakfast, Sharon gathered her things for work and was sitting in the family room with Emily while Andy brought Moxie back in the house. "Ok, is everyone ready to go?" he called out to the rest of the house. Matthew came running down the hallway and grabbed his camp backpack from where he had left it earlier. "I'm ready!" Matthew shouted. "Ok, buddy" Andy chuckled as he waited for Sharon. "Why are you so excited about going to camp today?" Andy asked him. "Oh, because we are going swimming at the rec center!" Matthew answered. "Oh" Andy said and then remembered the last time Matthew was at the rec center during summer camp and took a deep breath.

Sharon walked up behind him and ran her hand over his back. He had a concerned look on his face. "You ok?" she asked him. "Yeah" Andy muttered as he grabbed his keys from the island counter. "Emily is spending the morning here and she'll let us know when she heads back to her condo" Sharon told him as they walked out into the backyard and headed towards the garage. "Matthew's camp is going to the rec center to go swimming today" Andy told her as they walked. "Is that what's got you concerned?" she asked him, as they approached his car. She knew the last time Matthew was there for camp he had said that he saw their friend, Bill Croelick, there.

They hadn't seen him since before Christmas last year but every time Andy hears anything about a fire, he thinks about Croelick. Sharon got to thinking as she sat in the passenger seat of the car, as Andy was pulling out of their garage and onto the driveway. The fire at Emily's condo was now forefront on her mind.

After dropping Matthew off at the day camp, Sharon and Andy made their way to the PAB. As Andy pulled the car into the parking spot, he turned off the car and turned towards Sharon. "You've been awfully quite since we left the house, what's on your mind?" Andy said to her as he caressed her left hand, running his thumb over her wedding ring. Sharon sighed before she answered him. "I'm just thinking about Emily's condo" she told him, which was sort of the truth, except she left out the part where she was worried Croelick had somehow gotten involved in it.

Andy looked at her. "I'm sure she'll be able to get back into her place today, I'm just glad she's ok" he told her. "I was a little worried earlier this morning when she called" he added and Sharon nodded in agreement. She took a deep breath. "Alright, let's see what this day brings us" she smiled at him and he nodded this time, releasing her hand as he stepped out of the car.

TBC