The Edge of a Dream

by Kadi

Rated M

Disclaimer: This is not my sandbox. I only enjoy playing in it.

Chapter 24

1991

Sharon jumped when the stack of papers landed on her desk. She was focused on the open file in front of her and hadn't heard anyone approach, least of all her husband. She looked up when he dropped into the chair beside her desk. Then she glanced around the busy bullpen. She was in the middle of her first solo case. Her training officer was still shadowing her, but she was running point on this one. She had been in Internal Affairs for only a few weeks, just long enough for Sharon to realize that everything that she thought she knew about the LAPD was just scratching the surface.

Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?" She was surprised to see him. Most officers stayed as far away from this section of the third floor of Parker Center as they could. They only came here when it was necessary, and usually when they were forced. Her husband was no exception to that rule. Even with her transfer to Internal Affairs, Andy hadn't changed his practice of staying away from IA, so she had to question what had brought him there this time. "What did you do?"

"Nothing, yet." Andy slumped in the chair. He looked around the bullpen and his lip curled. He recognized several faces. It had the tension that he was already feeling curling more tightly between his shoulder blades. Most of these guys were assholes in his opinion, but he promised his wife that he would try to be objective from now on. He agreed to give it a chance, to at least try and understand that they were doing a job that was necessary, even if he didn't like it. "I just thought I should give you a heads up," he grumbled. "I'm about to go out and find a worthless piece of shit and beat the holy hell out of him. You might have to get me out of jail later, and failing that, you should know that it's okay with me if you use the Visa to get some new sexy panties for all our conjugal visits."

Sharon blinked at him. He wasn't making a lot of sense. The words made sense, but not the meaning. She reached over and laid her hand against the top of his head. Then her fingers combed through his hair. When he scowled at her and batted her hand away, she arched a brow at him. "I was checking for knots. You obviously bumped your head, so I was looking for signs of injury. Should I call EMS? Do you need a doctor? Maybe you should lie down."

"Funny. You're a real comedian, Sergeant Flynn." He folded his arms across his chest and glowered at her. "I'm not joking, and I didn't hit my damned head. I'm serious." Andy nodded at the papers he dropped on her desk. "Sandra's lawyer sent that over. It didn't make any damned sense, so I went and saw her. She's dropping the alimony and changed her mind about selling the house."

"What?" Sharon gaped at him for just a second. His statement was far more surprising than his presence there. They had no indication at all that Sandra was considering changing the divorce arrangement. The last few months had been difficult for them, with Andy's father passing away and his struggle to stay sober following his slip immediately after Michael's death. "Why?" She lifted the papers and began flipping through them. The section that pertained to spousal support was highlighted for Andy's review. There was a note that he should have his lawyer review it, but nothing stood out to her as immediately concerning… except the fact that it was filed. The custody arrangement was remaining the same. Sandra wasn't asking for more child support. She was simply choosing to stop the original order that called for spousal support to be paid until she remarried or Charlie turned eighteen. "What did she say?" Sharon wasn't going to say that she was sorry that they would have one less expense every month, but she was worried about the other woman. This was the sort of thing that she would have expected Sandra to discuss with them first.

"Well, that's why I'm about to go kick the hell out of someone," Andy drawled sarcastically. "She's pregnant." He sat forward in his chair and draped his arms across his knees. He shook his head and looked at his wife. Her face reflected the shock he still felt. "That son of a bitch David knocked her up. She hasn't heard from him since the night we chased him out of there, but he definitely left something behind. She doesn't want to contact him, and I can't blame her. I don't want that asshole around Charlie, and neither does she." Andy sighed. "She's known about it for a while. She's been trying to figure out what she was going to do about it." He was so furious that he couldn't really see straight. Sandra wasn't his concern, not anymore, but she was his son's mother, and she had been his wife. He wasn't in love with her anymore, but he still cared about her. Their marriage was broken because of him, and he still felt bad about that. God only knew that he loved Sharon. He wouldn't give her or their kids back for anything, but there was a part of him that was always going to care about Sandra. Even when she drove him crazy, or made him mad, he just wanted what was best for her… because ultimately that was what was best for Charlie.

"Obviously she's decided to keep it?" Sharon turned her chair so that she was facing him. She leaned closer and touched his arm. Her voice grew quieter; they were struggling to keep their personal life out of work now that she was essentially on the other side, in LAPD terms. It didn't matter that they were all one department; Internal Affairs would always be considered outside the norms of the department. They couldn't let it affect them, though. Their relationship was separate of their careers, or so they were attempting to establish. "Andy, this isn't our decision. We have to respect Sandra's choices."

"Yeah, I get that." He bowed his head for a moment and tried to hold his frustration back. It wasn't Sharon's fault that he was feeling like this. "That bastard used her, and when he got caught, he hit her. Now this? She's already got Charlie and a failed marriage. Now she's going to be raising another kid on her own, with a dad that doesn't need to be anywhere near it, and she's giving up the alimony because she said that I don't need to pay for her mistakes." He looked up at his wife. His eyes were dark and pained. "That's exactly what she said; that we didn't need to pay for her bad choices. She's keeping the house because she knows she can afford it without the alimony, and moving into something smaller isn't an option now."

Part of her could understand that. She couldn't fathom the financial situation, not yet. Sharon knew that Sandra didn't make a lot as a teacher, but she got by. The child support would help. She would need to think about it more, but she couldn't say that she disagreed. Andy was feeling bad for his ex-wife currently, but that was his need to protect. It was something she loved about him, even when it annoyed her. He could be so utterly macho, and he rarely saw it as a bad thing. She gave his arm a squeeze. "Listen, Andy, she isn't wrong. I won't say that I think the alimony was a bad idea, at least while she was getting back on her feet after the divorce, but it has been a few years. Sandra is working again, and her life is her own. The two of you share a child, and that is never going to change. You both have to be on the same page where Charlie is concerned, but you also both have the right to live your separate lives. You are doing that. You have remarried and had another child. We're moving forward with Emily's adoption, and none of that has anything to do with Sandra. Her relationship with David didn't have anything to do with you. I feel badly that it ended the way it did. I would like for Sandra to find happiness in her personal life, the way we have, and I think that is still possible, but this…" She waved a hand at the papers. "This is not a bad thing. Sandra is taking responsibility for her life, the same way that you did after the divorce. You are going to continue to support Charlie, and we will be there for her however we can, but it's her life."

"Yeah, I know that." Andy heaved another sigh. "I'm not saying that I expect us to keep paying her, I just… dammit." He rubbed a hand over his face. "I wanna shake that asshole. Not because I'm jealous or anything," he added, in case his wife thought his frustration was coming from some deeper place. "I know Sandra. I know this isn't how she expected that her life was going to turn out. We had a lot of dreams when we got married." He rolled his eyes. "Okay, she had a lot of dreams, and none of them really panned out. She wanted the house, and the kids, and the damned picket fence."

"Andy." Sharon shook her head at him. A smile spread across her face. "Honey, she has all of that. The marriage may have ended, and her relationship with David might not have worked, but the rest of it did. She has Charlie, and a beautiful home. She has the dog, and there may not be a picket fence, but the two of you chose a house with a yard that is more than suitable for children to play in. While it might not seem like it right now, this baby isn't the worst thing that could happen."

"No. It's not," he agreed. Andy sat back and slumped in the chair again. "I mean, it's kind of a relief, because that's money that we can put in the house fund. I'm not going to argue about that, I just wish there was a way we could help her. One kid is hard enough, but two…" It was going to be a struggle, and not only financially. Sandra would be juggling a lot, and she didn't have a partner, not like he did. He looked at his wife and shrugged. "I can feel bad, right?"

"Of course you can." She sat back and crossed her legs. Sharon folded her hands together in her lap. "I think some of your concern is a little bit on the chauvinist side, but I know that your heart is in the right place. The thing that you have to understand is that Sandra is not incapable. How would you feel if her position and mine was reversed? Would you think that I couldn't raise Emily and Ricky on my own? It would be hard, but it isn't impossible."

"Of course not." He frowned at her, because the idea of leaving her with the two kids bothered him. It would mean that he'd lost them. Or that she had lost him. It was a reality they lived with in this line of work, but they tried to live as if it wasn't. "You were doing just fine with Emily. Hell, you do just fine every day. Even with Charlie in the mix, you've got everything figured out. I just…" He shook his head. "I care about what happens to her. We were married, and it's not like I stopped loving her. I screwed it up." He winced, because he realized what that sounded like. "You know what I mean, at least, I really hope you do."

"I do." The corners of her mouth twitched toward a smile. "It's the same reason that a part of me worries about where Jack is, and if he is okay. He ruined a lot of what I used to feel for him, but I loved him, and he gave me Emily. The opposite of love isn't anger, Andy. It's indifference. That's the one thing that I know that we are never going to feel toward either of our exes."

He stared at the ceiling for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah," he finally agreed. "I know." He didn't like to think about her feeling anything toward Jack, but he understood it. This was one of those things that they just had to accept about each other. "I'm still going to beat the hell out of that son of a bitch," he muttered, and when his wife rolled her eyes at him, he added with a shrug, "if I ever see him again. Not like that's going to happen anytime soon."

"I should hope not," she drawled, a hint of warning in her tone. Sharon shook her head at him again. "I think he's a complete jerk too, but I sincerely believe that we have seen the last of him. At least, so long as Sandra is sure that she doesn't want him in the kids' lives?"

"She's sure." Andy straightened. He rolled his shoulders. Some of the tension was fading. It helped to talk it out with his wife. She understood him, often in ways that he didn't understand himself. "She's not going to tell him, and she doesn't expect to run into him anywhere. She hasn't heard from him, and has no idea if he's even still in town or anything. She's about three and a half months gone already. She wanted to be sure she was keeping it before she told anyone," he explained. "She's not that close to her brother, and her sister doesn't really care. Her parents wanted her to move down to San Diego, and she says she thought about it," he watched Sharon's eyes widen. "Yeah, I had that response too. Sandra isn't going. She isn't going to pull Charlie out of school, and she likes where she's teaching. She doesn't want to take him away from us either, even if it's only a couple of hours."

"You told her that we would help?" Sharon asked. "However we can?" Sandra had been a huge help to them when Ricky was born, and again when his father passed away. Sharing Charlie between their two households was made easier when they communicated beyond just drop-off and pick-up. It made life a lot smoother for all of them, especially the kids.

"Of course. What else was I going to say? Hang on, let me ask my wife first, but I think we can do the decent thing and be there for you?" Andy rolled his eyes. "I'm an ass, and I know sometimes you think that I'm a macho jerk, but I'm not a complete moron. I figure by the time she's due, Ricky will have grown out of a lot of the baby stuff we've got. We can pass a lot of that over. I know she's going to want to do a lot of new stuff, but we've got her covered on some of the gear. We're not going to need it again, right?"

"No, we aren't." Sharon was still planning to get her tubes tied, but it was a more invasive procedure than Andy's vasectomy. That was something that he had done a few weeks before, once they were certain, without any shadow of a doubt, that they were not having any more children. He had simply taken a long weekend, missing only two days of work. Sharon's recovery time would require a week of missed time. It wasn't that they couldn't afford it, but she had just started a new job, and so the timing wasn't spectacular. "That's definitely something that we can talk to Sandra about. She's welcome to anything that Ricky has grown out of. Her brother and sister really don't care?"

She found that so hard to understand. Andy was close to his sisters, and even though he wasn't as close to Caro as he was Isabelle and Ella, he still cared about her. He made a point of checking up on her. Sharon was certain that it was frustrating to the other woman. It was something she understood, because her brothers did the same thing. Alan was helping them with the adoption, at least as much as he could from Chicago. Grant and Paul called often, and there were even tentative plans to get the family together that spring. Her parents wanted all of the children together, with their families. It was something they wanted to begin doing each year. Joseph and Vivy would prefer doing it during the holidays, but that didn't always work out. She and Andy hadn't been able to get away for the last couple of years. They had wanted to go east and visit his family again, but couldn't manage the trip so close to having gone out for his father's burial in early November. This year they were going to try for early spring or summer, depending on school schedules for all of the grandchildren.

"Shelly has always been pretty self-involved," Andy told her, shaking his head at thoughts of his former sister-in-law. He hadn't gotten along with the woman, but at the time, it didn't matter. Sandra didn't always get along with her either. "She married Eric while they were both still in college. His parents are pretty well off. His mom was an actress on some show." He rolled his eyes again. "Sandra's parents were never poor, not by any means, but Shelly has always acted like she's above the rest of the family. Sandra really wasn't surprised when she didn't help out when their mom had the wreck last year. Yeah, she had the new baby, but she hasn't been involved with the family since she started seeing Eric." He would probably never understand how anyone could turn their back on family. Where he came from, it just wasn't done. He and Sandra had moved to California so she could be close to her folks because she missed them, and he felt like it was the right thing to do. "Henry is just an asshole," he said, describing his ex-wife's brother. "He was the youngest, and maybe that's it, maybe they spoiled him. He's only a couple of years younger than you, but he's not exactly what I would call reliable."

"There's still time for him to grow out of it then," Sharon pointed out. "It doesn't matter," she decided. "We can help Sandra however she will allow us, but we will not get involved in her life choices," she cautioned. "Charlie is our focus, and beyond that, Sandra is a friend. We wouldn't want her involved in our life, would we?"

"Alright, I've got it." He made a face at her. "We'll help, but only as much as we're asked or needed. Now that we know, she's going to tell Charlie. She wanted the paperwork on the alimony dissolution done before she told us."

"That's understandable." Sharon was certain she would have made the same choice if she were in Sandra's position. "Then we'll be ready in case he has any questions. Until then, you are going to calm down and behave yourself." She picked up a pen and pointed it at him. "Don't think that I won't throw the book at you if you get picked up for assault or excessive force."

Andy snorted at her. "Oh, I know I'm screwed if that happens." She was going to treat him like any other troublemaking cop, but he knew his wife. She would hold him to a different standard, expect him to be better because of her, and because he had no excuse to claim that he didn't know better. Andy shook his head and took a moment to look around the bullpen again. "Why are they staring at us?"

She smirked at him. "Well, it is unusual to see anyone down here without an appointment or being forced to meet with us. Knowing you, as we all do, I'm sure they're wondering what you've done."

"Nothing." A slow grin spread across his face. His dark eyes gleamed with mischief. "But can we still play good cop, bad cop when we get off work later?" His brows bobbed up and down. "I gotta say, I was kinda worried about all this, but you're kind of hot sitting there in your little rat suit." Her work attire had changed with the transfer. Like the rest of them, the detectives in Internal Affairs did not wear their uniforms unless the occasion specifically required it. These days she left the house in slacks or a skirt, and he had to hand it to her, all those well-tailored blouses that were hanging in their closet now looked very nice when she was wearing them. His gaze dipped, just for a moment, and he enjoyed the hint of cleavage that he could see between the parted folds of her shirt. The blouses were cut to fit her body, and somehow she had taken everyday business attire and made it sexy as hell. Or maybe that was just her, because heaven knew his wife was sexy any day of the week, no matter what she was wearing. In her crisp blouses, dark blazers, and pencil skirts, she had a no-nonsense look that was driving him wild.

"Andy." Sharon sighed at him. She appreciated, on a personal level, the way that he was looking at her. After two kids, and the fact that one of them was only five months old, she would be lying if she said she didn't get a little thrill out of having her husband look at her in exactly the way that he was now. He still desired her, something that she was a little self-conscious about after having Ricky, but she hadn't needed to be. They might not have a lot of time for each other, and their sexual relationship wasn't as spontaneous as it used to be, not when a good deal of their time was spent with three kids, but it was still just as passionate. The only problem was that it was their personal life, and it had no place at work. She knew that she would never be asked to investigate him, it was an ethical conflict of interest that she would never be expected to cross, but she still had to remain objective. They both needed to maintain a professional distance.

"Stop it," Sharon instructed, an edge to her tone. "I'm not going to warn you again. You need to rein that in, unless you'd like to spend the next several weeks in whatever seminar I can drudge up for sexual discrimination." When he snorted at her, Sharon's jaw clenched. "I'm not kidding, Detective. Get yourself under control." She drew a breath and let it out slowly. "Look, Andy, I'm sorry. I should have insisted that we excuse ourselves to talk about Sandra, and that's my fault. The rest…" She shook her head. "We can't do that, especially not here."

He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling above them again and sighed. "Okay, fine. You're right. It's kind of hard, though," he grimaced realizing how that might sound. "Difficult, it's difficult," he amended. "You make it seem so easy, separating everything. Maybe it's good that we don't work in the same division. I'd put my foot in it even worse than I'm doing right now." She was a cop, and a damned good one, but when he looked at her, he saw his wife. He couldn't turn himself off and on the same way that Sharon could. It was something he was still learning how to figure out. He didn't know if he ever would.

"It isn't always easy for me either, Andy." She knew the realities of their job, and what he faced every day. She worried about him. She just couldn't allow her thoughts to linger. "We'll talk more later, I promise. For now, I really need to get back to this," she waved a hand at the open file on her desk. "I'm sure that you should be getting back too."

"Yeah." He pushed himself up with a sigh. He was tempted to lean over and kiss her, but that would definitely get him in trouble, and with more than just his Sergeant-Detective-Internal Affairs wife. "I'll see you tonight. Have fun playing with your rat friends," he added with a grin.

Sharon rolled her eyes at him. "Enjoy the trouble that we will be cleaning up for you later." So far, no one had been called on to deal with his division since her transfer, but Sharon knew it was only a matter of time. That would prove interesting, she was certain. Sharon watched him go and drummed her nails against her desk. Her thoughts turned back to Sandra, and the surprising turn of events there. She had a feeling that life was about to become more interesting. They would never be able to claim that it was boring.

With a sigh, she turned her chair back to its original position and put her attention back on her work. She would never be able to truthfully claim that her mind didn't wander throughout the remainder of her day. She thought of Sandra, and how that news was going to impact Charlie. She also thought of her husband. The way he looked at her was proving to be a distraction, and that was even more reason why she would need to stress professional distance. When her thoughts strayed toward what they may, or may not, be doing later that evening, she concentrated on the fact that she was annoyed with him. It wasn't completely successful, but it got her through the day.

He was who he was, and she couldn't change that. She knew who she married. They would do better. Sharon knew that Andy would try. She could trust him to do that much, and at least their contact at work was limited. She missed seeing him throughout the course of their day, but they had never worked together, not directly. Those moments were few, and that was what had made it special. Now they just had to buckle down and understand that work was work, and the rest belonged at home.

Sharon picked up both kids from daycare on her way home from work. Then she had a few errands to run before finally getting the three of them home. She wasn't at all surprised that Andy beat them home. They traded off picking up the kids most weeks, depending on whether or not he was in the middle of a case. It was Sharon's week to take care of drop-off and pick-up, something that was made easier now that her hours were more stable.

"Okay my darlings, we are home." The SUV came to a stop in front of the house. She parked it alongside Andy's smaller car, the little hatchback that she had been driving when they met. It still ran well, but wasn't practical with three kids, especially when one of them was in a car seat. Emily had only just graduated to a smaller booster seat, and they could manage in the car when it was needed. The larger vehicle just made it easier for them to move around the city as a family. Sharon slid out of the truck and walked around to open the passenger door. She drew her purse and Ricky's diaper bag over her shoulder before stepping back and opening the back passenger door.

Ricky smiled when she leaned over him, revealing perfectly pink gums and a single, hard won tooth. "Hello my little drool monster." She worked open the clasps of his car seat and lifted him out of it. Ricky had grown out of the infant seat, another reason they used the larger vehicle for ferrying the kids around the city. It was a hassle to move his car seat back and forth between the two vehicles, and Sharon didn't see the reason to buy two of them, not when she and Andy could just trade cars each week. Sharon held the baby in her arms and adjusted the two bags before holding out her other arm for Emily. "Come on, darling. Let's go see what dad is up to." She held Emily's hand while her daughter jumped down out of the vehicle. Then she reached across and snagged her backpack. She passed it to her before guiding her toward the house. Emily ran ahead, while Sharon strolled along at a more sedate pace.

"Can we make brownies tonight?" Emily waited for her by the door. She was playing with the strap of her bag while she twisted back and forth, balancing on the ball of one foot. "Or do I have dance?"

"No, dance is tomorrow night." Sharon shifted Ricky in her arms so that he was resting against her hip and reached out to open the door. "I'm not sure we have everything for brownies, but we can check." They had been running low on cocoa the last time they made some, and Sharon couldn't remember if she had bought more or not since then.

"Yay!" Emily ran into the house once the door was open. "Brownies!" Her bag was tossed toward the sofa on her way to the kitchen. It hit the side and bounced off onto the floor, but she paid it no mind.

"Emily." Sharon sighed. She shook her head. She closed the door behind her and moved into the living room with Ricky. She dropped her purse and the diaper bag on a chair and stepped out of her heels. She groaned in relief. The new pumps had been pinching her toes. They were sensible enough for the office, but still needed breaking in. Sharon took a moment to wriggle her toes before she finally turned. Andy's jacket was thrown over the back of the sofa, and she rolled her eyes at the sight. She put Ricky in his playpen before she made a quick circuit of the living room. Emily's bag was picked up and placed on a chair. Then she grabbed Andy's jacket and hung it on the newel post of the stairs. "Emily, did you find dad?" Sharon lifted her purse before leaving the room. Her holstered gun was inside. Sharon took the weapon out of it before hanging the purse on a hook near the door, and then opened the hall closet to put it in the lockbox where she and Andy both stored their weapons. She made sure that it was secure before following her daughter into the kitchen.

Emily was already standing on a stool and gazing into the pantry. Andy was at the counter, shirtsleeves rolled up and tie removed, slicing vegetables for dinner. It was the tall arrangement of flowers, in a lovely crystal vase, that immediately caught her attention. He had placed them on the center island, where he knew that she would see them first thing. Sharon tugged her bottom lip between her teeth as a smile formed. It was a lovely arrangement of white and orange daisies. Anyone else might have bought roses, but Andy knew these were her favorite.

Sharon found the card, tucked in front where she couldn't miss it. Her name was written in a familiar scrawl, telling her that he had not only stopped at the florist on his way home, but he had written it himself. The smile she was attempting to hold back blossomed brightly when she turned it over and read the message he had written.

I'm sorry for being an ass.

I love you,

Andy

She sighed, and made a low, wistful sound. Sharon closed her fingers around the card, careful not to bend it, and walked around the island to join him. He had stopped slicing vegetables at this point, and was watching her. There was a sheepish, lopsided smile on his face. "I love you," she leaned up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth, "even when you're an ass," she added. "Thank you, they're beautiful."

"Not half as beautiful as you." Andy shrugged at her. It wasn't a line. He knew that he was a lucky bastard, not only because she was beautiful, but also because she had taken a chance on a guy like him. She was warm and giving. She put up with his moods, and was helping him through his addiction. She treated Charlie like he was one of her own, and trusted him to do the same with Emily. She had given him Ricky, and they were building a life that he thought he'd missed out on with his past screw-ups. Even after everything that she had been through, she felt like he was worth loving. He was thankful for that, and for her, every single day.

Sharon touched his cheek. She kissed him again, this time allowing her lips to linger against his. "We'll do better next time." He was forgiven, but it wasn't forgotten. When he nodded in response, she knew that he understood.

"Mom." Emily huffed a sigh. Her hands slapped against her legs and she tossed a plaintive look at them. "I can't find the cocoa!"

She rolled her eyes at her husband. "Brownies," she told him. She slipped away from him and joined her daughter at the pantry. "I told you, Emily. I don't know if we have everything." She wrapped an arm around her daughter and looked over her head. She gazed at the shelf the baking ingredients were on. Sure enough, she didn't see any cocoa powder for making the brownies. Sharon's lips pursed. "What if we make cookies instead?" She lifted Emily off the stool and set her on her feet. "I know we have chocolate chips."

Emily leaned against her mother's hip. She tipped her head back with a groan. "I really wanted brownies," she pouted.

"I know, honey." She swept her daughter's dark hair back. "We can do that this weekend. We will go to the store when I pick you up after school on Friday, and the two of us will get everything we need to make lots of brownies. Okay?"

The little girl sighed, but nodded. "Okay." She wrapped her arms around her mother's legs and hugged her. "But we can still make the cookies tonight?"

"Yes." Sharon chuckled. That was Andy's influence, and no one would ever convince her otherwise. There were moments when she could see Jack in her daughter's personality, and other times when Emily was all hers. The rest of the time, though, she was all Andy. "We can still make the cookies tonight. Go wash up and we'll get started."

"Okay!" Emily gave her a squeeze before skipping out of the kitchen.

Sharon shook her head as she moved the stool and closed the pantry door. From the living room, she could hear Emily chattering happily at Ricky, explaining that they were going to have cookies, but not him. Babies could not eat cookies. It was attention that her daughter was searching for, something that they could do together that wouldn't include her baby brother. "I think it's time for another Mom and Emily day," she told Andy.

"Yeah." He was smiling as he swept peppers off a cutting board and into a waiting skillet. They sizzled when they hit the heated olive oil. "I think you're probably right. Why don't we plan on that this weekend? I'm not on call. The two of you can make a day of it on Saturday, and I'll keep Ricky. We'll hang out, just us guys." It wasn't their weekend to have Charlie, and both football and baseball were in the offseason. Andy was sure that he could figure out something to do that he and a drooling, teething five-month-old could enjoy.

"Hm." She thought about it. "I think I like that idea." Sharon smiled. "We can go shopping, maybe get our nails done. Then we'll come back here and make those brownies." She would see what movies were playing that would be age appropriate for Emily, and the two of them could do that too. Now that the idea was planted, Sharon was looking forward to it. "Consider it a date." She would wait until Friday to tell Emily, just in case things changed at work for either of them, but if Andy caught a case, she could get a sitter for Ricky for a few hours.

"That's something else we should do soon," Andy told her. "A date, just you and me. It's been a while." They had only been out without the kids a couple of times since Ricky was born. It was harder getting a sitter with an infant, but not impossible.

"We should," she agreed. Sharon walked over and leaned up to kiss him again. "I'm going to go and change. Think about what you'd like to do. We'll find a night next week." Most of the time they ended up going out as a family, but he was right. It had been a long time since it was only the two of them.

"Actually…" Andy walked over and picked up a card he left lying on the cabinet near the phone. He waved it at her. "We have been invited to an engagement party. It's happening the week after next. Mike finally popped the question. He and Cathy are getting married." He had ridden with Mike Tao on nights back when he was still pulling extra shifts in patrol. The other officer had finally moved on from patrol. He was a tech with their crime scene division. He was quickly becoming their go-to for fingerprint and data analysis, and definitely Andy's favorite down in the lab. "We can swing by the party, but we don't have to stay long. Make a night of it."

Sharon walked over and took the invitation. "Good for him. Yes, we can definitely go." Her lips twisted into a playful smile as she considered his plan for the rest of that evening. "Dinner and dancing?"

"Yeah," he grinned back at her. "If that's what you want to do. Or we can just grab a late movie, whatever, as long as it's you and me."

"We'll talk about it later." She really did need to get changed if she and Emily were going to get those cookies made and in the oven before dinner was finished. Sharon handed the invitation back to him. "Maybe, if you continue to behave yourself, we can also discuss spending some time together tonight, just you and me, after the kids are in bed."

"God woman, I love the way your mind works." He watched her saunter out of the kitchen. He knew the added sway in her step was for his benefit.

Sharon laughed at the low whistle that followed her out of the kitchen. She stopped in the living room to check on Ricky, but the baby was happily drooling on one of his teething toys. She left him where he was, since he seemed perfectly content, and jogged up the stairs. Despite the odd turn that the day had taken, the evening was looking bright. The weekend held more to look forward to, and she was excited for both events that were on her horizon. She would take care of her girl first. Then she would spend time with her love. It felt a little like life was beginning to even out again. Whatever it was, it felt good, and they could all use a little more of that.

-TBC-

A/N: Just in case you were wondering, this Andy went to all his follow-up appointments. If you don't know what that means, I suggest you go read my friend xbleeple's lovely Shandy A/U.