Rusty Beck – Marriage Broker

A/N: I was actually planning on finishing my other stories before starting a new one, but then Mary McDonnell obsession set in and I really needed a Major Crimes story in my life. This is just such a great fandom! A shout-out to everyone who is posting on tumblr. I've been reading through the "Sharon Raydor" tag and I loved it to pieces! Also, I was kind of inspired by Sharon_Raydor's tweets which I also find hilarious.

Summary: Rusty decides to play matchmaker which might or might not lead to chaos and mayhem. (Raydor/Flynn)

1

Rusty Beck was sitting on Sharon Raydor's couch, legal pad propped up on his bent knee, a flowery cushion tucked under his right elbow. His other foot was firmly planted on the ground, an opened calculus textbook balanced on his thigh. He did his very best to look occupied despite the fact that he had finished his homework ten minutes ago. Bowing his head, he turned his face slightly to the side in order to get a better view of his foster mother without making her notice that he was watching her. Sharon was at her desk, her back turned towards the ballet-paintings on the mocca-colored wall. She was reading a report, one hand holding the upper corner of the page, ready to turn it, the other one absent-mindedly playing with her hair. She was wearing a black cashmere cardigan that he suspected was her favorite along with jeans and a light-green sweater. Her glasses had slid down her nose slightly which gave her otherwise perfectly groomed appearance an air of slight disorder.

Rusty had been living with his foster mother for a few months now and had grown to not only appreciate and respect but really like her. He was not yet ready to use words like "love", but deep down he knew that he soon would be. While she was tough as nails in her job and didn't seem to care whether people liked her or not, she was an intuitive, thoughtful and overall impeccable mother. As she had promised, she had never made unnecessary demands on him but was still very strict. She raised her voice and told him off when his behaviour required her to do so and gently comforted him when he needed it. Her way of dealing with him stood in stark contrast to his largely indifferent mother who had set up few and enforced no rules at all on him. Rusty had learned enough from watching Sharon to know that with children, too much leniency usually meant neglect.

However, it wasn't only her strictness and her will for him to succeed in school and life in general that made him appreciate her. It was also the little things. He liked watching her when she stood in the kitchen in the evenings, making him lunch for the next day. She had never asked whether he wanted lunch, had never even really mentioned it. She had just taken out the bread and cheese the night before his first day at school and had made two sandwiches that she had wrapped and placed in a bag along with an apple and a granola bar. The next morning, she had silently handed it to him along with a water bottle. She never expected gratitude and always seemed pleasantly surprised when he displayed some. She also brought home little things from the supermarket that she thought he might like. A jar of a special raspberry jam one day, ripe strawberries the other. She was very strict when it came to healthy eating and she would not be found buying fast food or candy. Sometimes, however, he found his granola bar replaced with a chocolate one. After a few times, it had dawned on him that she treated him to them whenever he was depressed or had got into trouble. It was a subtle way of comforting him and he appreciated it.

Rusty knew that she was spending a lot of money on him. The private Catholic school, the clothes she bought for him and the numerous other things he didn't have but needed. The day an iPhone had been sitting on his bed, he had finally asked her why she was doing it. She had smiled one of her practical yet sympathetic smiles, telling him that she felt more comfortable when able to reach him at all times. Upon powering the phone, he had found that she had taken the time to save the whole Major Crimes squad's numbers in there.

She cared for him and probably more so than anyone had ever cared for him before in his life. She didn't expect gratitude or even loyalty. She just did it stoically and calmly. Only when he had almost had her in tears when he had accused her of wanting to get rid of him, he had realized just how much she cared. There were pictures of her children on her desk. The girl, in her early twenties, looked a lot like her with long auburn hair and a pretty smile. The boy had darker hair and had put an arm around his mother's waist in the picture. All three of them looked happy and comfortable with each other, their bodies touching and their hands in each other. Somehow he didn't think that she was trying to do something over that she had once failed at. She got lots of texts and calls from her children and whenever one reached her, her face lit up with happiness. Sharon was a great mother and somehow she had decided to use her abilities to give him a good life.

It had taken Rusty a while to realize just how lucky he was and how much he liked her. He lowered his face even further, smiling slightly at the fact that her feet were not in expensive heels, but in comfortable slippers today. Once they had begun to relax around each other, he had noticed that she had a wicked sense of humour and sometimes displayed a certain clumsiness that he found adorable. And that was when he had come up with an idea that he was now busy plotting.

Sharon was a beautiful woman. At fifty, she looked at least a few years younger. When they went shopping together, he could see men turning around for her and checking out her slender body and perfect legs. She didn't talk a lot about her husband but when she did, he could hear from her tone of voice that she had stopped loving him a long time ago. Rusty Beck didn't see a fit reason why a woman like Sharon should not have a man in her life. Since she seemed to have everything else, he decided that he had to do something about that. Especially since there was a certain someone he knew to be a little too interested in Sharon's legs. Rusty had spent so much time in the squad's offices that he had a pretty good idea of the relationships throughout the team and it was more than obvious that Lieutenant Andy Flynn liked Sharon. His gazes were always subtle but they lingered a little too long on her calves or sometimes her neckline. Despite the fact that he felt oddly protective of Sharon, Rusty found Flynn's adoring looks both amusing and promising. He wasn't sure whether Sharon had noticed, but Flynn seemed to seek out her company more than the others did. He was always first to volunteer to sit in with an interview or seek out a suspect or witness when she decided to go herself. Also, Rusty had seen him pouring coffee for Sharon and carrying it over to her office more than once. He wasn't the only one who had noticed, though, if Provenza's scandalized expression was anything to go by.

Observant as he was, Rusty had put two and two together. Sharon was single, Flynn was single and he definitely had the hots for her. The only thing that had to be done was make Sharon realize that particular fact and get her to act upon it. Sharon was very guarded and didn't let her emotions show around her team if she could help it but Rusty was now quite adept at reading the subtle signs. She always leaned in a little more closely when talking to Flynn and she often took her glasses off when alone with him. She definitely liked him, too.

Sharon finished reading the report, signed off on it and placed her fountain pen aside, stretching her legs under the table.

"Have you finished your homework?" she inquired.

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied in a fake military voice.

Sharon smiled and got up. "Yes, me, too. Would you like some tea and a movie? I could really use a distraction."

She walked over towards the stove and put the kettle on.

"What movie?" Rusty asked cautiously. "I will not watch another one of those black and white ones with you. And I have also seen enough of Woody Allen for the rest of my life. The guy's a creep."

Sharon clicked her tongue and took a packet of pretty healthy-looking cookies out of the pantry.

"If you want to, you can choose this time."

Rusty grinned. "Really? No more cinematic education?"

Sharon poured hot water into the simple white teapot that went with her oddly shaped teacups and raised her eyebrows at him. "I'll give you a break but next month we're going to the opera. You will wear your suit, I will wear my new dress and you will behave like the good boy you are and sit through it."

Rusty wasn't particularly interested in opera, but he was ready to go with Sharon to humor her. Also, he kind of liked the idea of wearing his suit again and make people think that he was Sharon's upper class son who had never lived on the streets or done unspeakable things for a living. He liked pretending that he was hers and had always been but he would never tell her that.

"I will be on my best behavior, Sharon. But before that happens, you will have to watch 'The Grudge 2' with me. I downloaded it on the iTunes last night and it is supposed to be super-scary."

Sharon carried a tray over to the couch and sat next to him. She brought the cup to her lips and blew the steam away, looking at him over the rim of her glasses.

"Bring it on," she said in the steely voice she used at work or when he had screwed-up badly.

"Are you sure you won't be scared?" he teased.

"Please, honey, I work crime scenes for a living," she said confidently.

An hour later, Sharon squealed with shock when a black-haired little girl crept along a wall and turned her scary-looking face at the woman on the screen. She had wrapped herself in a blanket and was hugging one of her pillows tightly to her chest. Captain Sharon Raydor seemed to be scared of horror movies, after all, Rusty thought with merriment. When the movie was over, Sharon pouted.

"I don't think I will be able to sleep now," she admitted.

"Maybe we can watch a funny youtube video to make you feel better?" Rusty offered, reaching for his laptop, but she waved him aside.

"Oh no, not another one," she said and rose, clearing the table. "I will have to be in early tomorrow morning. I think I'll just go to bed."

Rusty got up, too, and helped her put the dishes into the dishwasher. He felt a little guilty to have scared her but it also gave him an idea.

"Say, Sharon," he said cautiously. "didn't you promise me to do something fun next weekend?"

She looked up from where she was closing the dishwasher and he could see a flash of suspiciousness in her eyes, warning him to sound a little less eager. She always noticed very quickly when something was up. No need to alert her to the fact that he was trying to manipulate her into something. She straightened up and pulled her cardigan more tightly around herself.

"Indeed I have. Do you have a suggestion? The museum maybe? Or some shopping?" A smile was twitching at her lips so he could see that she did not really expect him to suggest any of those things.

"I was actually going to suggest a museum," Rusty told her, earning a surprised jerk of the head.

"Really?" she asked, flipping her long hair back behind her shoulder. "Which one?"

"Don't get too worked up about this. It is not an art gallery. It is kind of a… well, an entertainment museum, really. Can I just surprise you, Sharon? Please?"

Sharon narrowed her eyes then finally shrugged. "I like the fact that you are showing some initiative, Rusty. I have heard of too many kids sitting at home, playing video games all day long on weekends as opposed to taking their old mothers out for something fun to do."

They exchanged a shocked look which suddenly made Sharon unduly interested in a loose threat in her sleeve. "Foster mothers…" she murmured unconvincingly.

Rusty couldn't help but smile at her embarrassment and picked his calculus book up from the couch. "So that's settled, then. Saturday after breakfast, we'll head off."

Sharon flicked off the kitchen lights and followed him into the hallway.

"Yes, sir," she said. "Sleep well."

She hesitated, then touched his shoulder very lightly. "It will be nice. Just the two of us for a change."

He returned her smile and paused, waiting until she closed her bedroom door behind herself before he allowed himself a self-complacent grin. As much as he enjoyed their rare quality time together, it would not just be the two of them. He would make very sure of that. With a new spring in his step, Rusty walked into his own bedroom.