Yeah, yeah, another fluffy babyfic. Do we need another one? Probably not, but this idea has been nagging at the back of my mind for a while, and although I'm pretty sure there are one or two pieces with a similar storyline, another one couldn't hurt, right? At the minute, I'm just trying to get myself back into writing again (I have a few bigger projects in mind, and a few I want to pick up again). I honestly never understood why they bothered making such an issue of Sharon Beck and her pregnancy, only for both Sharon and the baby to never be mentioned again. (Duff, you should have given that screen time to the only Sharon that matters). I'm not totally happy with this chapter, it's been a year since I properly wrote anything, in general, and I feel pretty out of practice. Anyway, reviews are appreciated and loved.

To Build a Home | Chapter 1

Sharon and Andy had just sat down for dinner, on a rare evening when they had finished up at work early enough for Andy to stop by the nearest Whole Foods to pick up the ingredients for his favourite pasta, and for Sharon to make a pit stop at her usually little wine cellar.

"What time is Rusty due back at?" Andy called over his shoulder as he carried the large serving bowl from the kitchen, placing it in the centre of the walnut table while Sharon took her wine from the fridge, carrying it over with two dinner plates. "I have no idea, I know Gus is seeing some friends today so he'll probably come straight home once he's finished with Andrea" Sharon responded, fiddling with the matches in her hand as she took her time catching the flame before leaning down to light the candle, its gentle glow illuminating the dining table.

The phone cried from its cradle in the lounge, gaining the attention of the two occupants of the kitchen.

Andy resisted the temptation to roll his eyes; they never did get a moment of peace or quiet without one thing or another disturbing them. "Sharon, just let it ring" He tried, knowing that this would be the first proper time that she would get to sit down and relax today, and no doubt the call was from a company looking to sell them something or a cold call. If it was important they would ring back. "I'll only be two seconds" Sharon replied, shaking her head as she chuckled to herself before lifting the phone off its cradle. "Hello, Sharon Raydor speaking," She greeted, having not recognised the number when it flashed up on the screen.

"No, he's not in at the minute. Can I take a message?" She asked, her voice floating through to the dining table as Andy poured himself a glass of lemonade while sitting down at the table, taking a moment to rearrange the pink peonies in the crystal vase that he had bought Sharon earlier in the week. He could only hope it wasn't Sharon's sister on the phone, otherwise they would never get around to eating their dinner.

His ears pricked up as he heard Sharon's replying to their mysterious caller. "Yes, I'm his mother - well his adoptive mother, Sharon Beck is his biological mother" She confirmed to the person on the other end of the line, nodding her head as she retrieved her iPhone from the pocket of her cashmere cardigan, already formulating a text message to send to Rusty.

That was definitely not her sister on the phone.

"I see…"

A pregnant pause filled the room, causing Andy's curiosity to reach new heights before he gave in and stood from the table, dropping his napkin down onto his empty plate as he walked into the lounge, watching as Sharon finished her call before returning the phone to its cradle.

Leaning against the wall, Andy folded his arms as he took in the appearance of Sharon's hunched shoulders, as though another burden had been placed on them."What has Sharon Beck done now?" He inquired, already feeling irritated that the woman could still find ways to disrupt things, even if it was just their dinner.

Sharon kept her back to him, pressing her hands down on the dresser as she shook her head, listening as her phone 'dinged', signalling that her text message had been sent to her youngest child. Rusty's birth mother had failed him time and time again, gaining his trust only to exploit it for her own advantage. "That was Child Protection Services," She announced, straightening her back as she glanced down at her phone, hoping Rusty would see her message, "Sharon Beck had her baby two days ago, she signed away her maternal rights and she hasn't been seen since; she just packed up her stuff and left, didn't tell anyone she was going" Sharon explained, folding her arms as she breathed deeply, already feeling her blood beginning to boil.

"Why did they ring here?" Andy asked, placing his hand on Sharon's arm as he guided her back to the dining table, pulling her seat out for her. "Rusty is down as her emergency contact, he must have his mobile off, but they're obviously trying to figure out what to do with the baby. She's spent the last two days in the hospital with only the nurses looking after her while they tried to track down Sharon Beck" Sharon said, recalling the handful of details that the nurse had been able to provide for her over the phone.

Rusty's birth mother was many things, but not even Sharon Raydor had put her down as the type of woman capable of abandoning her newborn baby, in the most selfish of ways.

By the time Rusty appeared through the door, Sharon and Andy were still sitting at the table. Sharon's food sat untouched, her fingernails tapping against the polished tabletop while Andy simply moved his pasta around his plate with his fork.

The tension in the room could be cut with a butter knife.

"I got back as quickly as I could," He announced, unceremoniously dumping his laptop bag and jacket down on the ground beside the dresser as he walked across the condo towards the dining table. "What's the emergency?" He quizzed, pulling his seat out from the table before he sat down on Sharon's right hand side, directly across from the woman's fiancee.

The text message had unsettled him, reminding him of the months he had spent under police protection as a result of Phillip Stroh's threats.

Was it Stroh again? Had there been another letter or a threat?

Had something happened to the team? Was it Provenza?

Was Andy ill again? Had he collapsed?

"It's your mother" Andy declared, sensing Sharon's hesitancy to drop the latest bombshell on Rusty of his mother's delinquency. Sharon Beck had abandoned Rusty in a zoo all those years ago, led him down a path that forced him to sell himself on the street, failed to protect him then failed to show up. He had never believed that she would have been capable of this though; walking away from a helpless, defenseless newborn.

"Is she okay, has something happened to the baby?" Rusty asked, leaning forward in his seat as his speech quickened, his breath catching in his throat. Sharon felt her heart drop as she watched the panic rest upon his face.

"No, Rusty. The baby's okay...but that's the issue" Sharon assured him, reaching across the table to take his hand into hers. Everything was just getting back on track again; his education, his relationship with Gus, his friendship with the team, and their family life together with Andy.

"You had put the landline number down as your contact information, so the hospital rang here," She paused for a moment, knowing that this latest bombshell was about to shake her son's world, "Your mother had the baby two days ago, and she's changed her mind it seems" She concluded, watching as her adoptive son's eyes widened, first in shock before a flash of anger found its way into his blue eyes. "She's what...?" He exclaimed, clearly infuriated as his seat scraped against the floor as he pushed himself away from the table, shaking his head as he began to pace the room in an outburst of the style that Sharon hadn't seen since the early days of their relationship. It reminded her of the

Giving him some space, Sharon remained seated as she recalled the rest of the phone conversation, "She signed away her maternal rights and she hasn't been seen since" She said, glancing out of the corner of her eye as Andy stood from his seat, disappearing into the kitchen to fetch them all something to drink; anything to calm Rusty down. Though Sharon couldn't deny the fact that he had every reason to feel hurt and resentment towards Sharon Beck.

"What about Gary's parents?" Rusty asked, already clutching at straws for some hope of a remedy to the situation. He was ashamed with himself for having let his mother play him like this. How hadn't he seen through her facade? She had abandoned him all those years ago, forced him into an unstable childhood spent moving between one foster home and the next, only to end up on the streets of West Hollywood.

Now, she had abandoned his sister.

He shouldn't have been so surprised.

Sharon shook her head, knowing that the situation was only looking more dire with each passing moment. "From what I could gather from DCFS, they were only prepared to take on the baby as a short term solution, more helping Sharon Beck raise the child as opposed to raising her themselves" She revealed, already disillusioned with the entire situation. Sharon Beck had done what Sharon Beck did best; abandoning her responsibilities while expecting someone else to sort out the damage she left behind.

Rusty was all that little girl had left in the world; a sad truth that broke Sharon's heart.

"God, what am I meant to do?" He buried his head in his hands, wishing that the ground could open up and swallow him whole.

He hadn't asked for this, yet neither had his baby sister.

He had a sister.

No one had been around to protect him; and he knew the hard truth of abandonment.

"She's my sister, I can't let her go into the system!" Rusty protested, all the while aware that he couldn't possibly look after her himself, not if he wanted to go to law school, and not if he wanted to give Gus the freedom to pursue his own ambitions.

He shouldn't - he couldn't - ask Sharon and Andy to take the baby. They had already done more for him than he would ever be able to repay.

No, Sharon Raydor had already been left to deal with enough of Sharon Beck's problems; she didn't need another one to add to the mix.

Yet, why should he have a family while she was left alone in the world with no one to protect her?

As Andy returned to the table, Rusty reached out to take the glass of lemonade that was being offered, while Sharon sat pensively on her seat, her fiance going almost unnoticed to her. "I need to go and call Gus" Rusty announced, gathering his leather shoulder bag off the ground, digging through his pockets for his iPhone as he headed down the hallway to the privacy of his own room.

Standing from the table, Sharon took the chilled bottle of wine with her as she crossed the room towards the sofa, kicking her shoes off as she let her back sink against the plumped pillows, her eyes closing for a moment as she felt the sofa sink beside her as Andy joined her.

She waited until she had poured herself another glass of wine, letting the liquid fill three quarters of the glass before screwing the lid back on, before she finally said what had been on her mind since she had taken the phone call earlier that evening.

"I am still registered for emergency foster care," Sharon declared, speaking more to herself than the man seated on the couch behind her. "I mean," She hesitated, as though trying to gather some dutch courage as she took a sip of her chardonnay, letting the cold liquid brush against the back of her throat before she continued, "It could be a temporary solution." Sharon suggested, feeling as though the silence that had fallen between them was deafening.

"I know you want to help Sharon," Andy started, knowing that there was no 'best' solution in this case, no rulebook to follow, no guidelines to watch out for, "but we can't get attached to something or rather someone who isn't ours" He warned her, remembering how quickly she had become attached to Rusty, knowing it would only happen even quicker with an infant.

He remembered her excitement when Rusty had came home from taking Sharon Beck for her ultrasound, and the way she had taken the scan photo out of her adopted son's hands and listened to him reiterate every minor detail of what the doctor had said during the appointment.

"She's his sister - she's my son's sister," Sharon reminded him, her head snapping around to look at the man beside her, and for a second Andy could have sworn he had seen tears in her eyes.

"We both know what happens to kids that end up in the system" She whispered, placing her head in her hands as she mentally recalled the cases they had investigated that showed just what could happen to kids when they enter the system. Rusty himself was proof of those dangers.

Reaching across the sofa, Andy slipped his arm around her shoulder, "Just...sleep on it Sharon, the baby is fine where she is tonight," He assured her, knowing that there was no need to make such a decision tonight, not with the shock still fresh. He didn't want her to make a snap decision that any of them would end up regretting. Andy suspected that he knew what decision she would make, but he wanted to let her come to that decision by herself; without him, and without Rusty.

"I'll support you in whatever decision you make," He promised, reaching out to take her smaller hand in his own, his thumb brushing against the cold metal of her engagement ring. It was a reminder of just how far they had come, just how much their own lives had already changed. The decision was ultimately Sharon's to make; and he would support her, regardless of what her decision was.

Pressing a kiss against her forehead, he squeezed her hand before watching her walk through the condo towards their bedroom. Putting out the light, he followed her through the darkness of the hallway.

Sharon reached out to take Andy's shirt from the chair nearby, doing up the middle four buttons over her silk nightdress before softly padding out of the room, careful not to stand on any of the floor boards that would creak on her way out.

She had contemplated ringing the woman straight away, but decided that a seven am wake up call on a Saturday morning was probably not the best course of action. Sitting herself down on the sofa, she typed up a quick, direct and to the point, style text message, proofreading it once before hitting the send button. By the time she had returned to the kitchen and boiled the kettle to make herself her customary morning cup of tea, her phone began to vibrate on the marble worktop.

Hovering at the door, Andy crossed his arms as he listened to Sharon on the phone, watching her from behind as she skillfully multitasked between preparing the blueberry pancakes and talking to Cynthia, her iPhone pushed up between her shoulder and her ear as she spoke. "I know, yes, thank you, Cynthia. I can meet you at the hospital at noon then" She suggested, scribbling notes down onto the pad of yellow post-it notes as she nodded her head before finishing the phone call.

"So you've made your decision then?" Andy asked, appearing from the shadows, causing Sharon to jump slightly before turning to face him, her hand over her heart as she glared at him for sneaking up on her. "Good morning to you to, Andy" She greeted him, her expression relaxing as she smiled at him, the corners of her lips turning before she glanced down at her feet. "Yes, yes I have" Sharon confirmed, placing her phone down on the countertop as she took in the appearance of the man in front of her as he crossed the kitchen to stand in front of her.

After all, she had taken Rusty in, cared for and loved him like her own and ended up adopting him. Catholic guilt or not, he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be able to live with the knowledge that she had allowed Rusty's sister to enter into the same foster care system that they had seen so many dozens of children passed between pillar and post. She was her son's baby sister after all.

Andy nodded his head, knowing that there was only ever one conclusion that she would come to, "I never doubted that for a second," He assured her, knowing that there was no need for them to have any more of a conversation than that. Sharon would never willingly be able to allow that child to go into the system, and truth be told, neither could he.

Sure, taking care of a newborn was not exactly what he had been expecting to do at this time in his life, but he also hadn't expected to be engaged to Sharon.

She was his second chance, in more ways than one.

It took me a while to figure out where I wanted to put this in terms of the TV show's timeline. The last time we see Sharon Beck is in episode 8, while Sharon and Andy get engaged at the end of episode 17. For the sake of this piece, Sharon Beck gives birth a few days after Andy proposes to Sharon.