"You sure you're up for this, a walk on the beach here in the winter?" Andy asked as he looked over at Sharon. They had just parked in the small lot, surprisingly clear of snow, at least clear enough to park. They'd been to the bar again, and now, they just didn't want to return to the house. It was mid-afternoon, and with that, the sun was out, if that was really what they wanted to call it. It wasn't dark, but it wasn't exactly sunglass weather either. It was light enough to see everything around them, and they'd decided that even with the weather, a walk might do them some good. It was warmer today, warmer than it had been. The temperature was closer to 20 degrees, and it really surprised them how much the temperature had fluctuated in just the short time they'd been in Alaska. Marge had mentioned something to them about the coastal climate being much different than the interior of Alaska. They could see that from the weather reports on the local news too. While they had snow, apparently they had significantly less snow here than other parts of the state were reporting right now. Still, with it being mid-afternoon with some daylight, the two were here, ready to check out the narrow, rocky coast.

Sharon looked around; a couple of boats were nearby, fisherman trying their luck. She looked over at Andy and gave a half shrug, "We can always come back to the car if it's too cold. It's not windy, so yes, let's take a small walk."

Andy nodded, and the two stepped out of their rental vehicle. Andy had been driving, something he'd asked Sharon if he could do after they'd left the bar for the second-and last time-on this trip. Andy walked around the front of the car where Sharon was standing and putting on her gloves. The two had on boots and several layers of clothing. Besides the fishing boats, no one was in sight; the parking lot was empty. Sharon looked to Andy as he walked closer to her. She extended her hand, a simple gesture, but doing that seemed like so much more than a simple act. Andy was startled to see her extend her hand, but he didn't comment on it. Instead, he put his hand in hers, and he gave her a small smile, one she returned. Sharon moved closer to his side, partly for warmth, but partly because the two had been almost inseparable since they'd stayed together in his room the night before. They turned toward the water and walked slowly.

The packed snow and gravel beneath it crunched on their boots. It wasn't a beach like they had in Southern California; there wasn't a beautiful, sandy beach as far as they could see. Instead, they saw snow and rocks sticking out of the snow, the mountains looming in the distance-a totally different kind of beauty. The water had some ice floating in it, but it was still moving well. The waves were small and barely lapped against the shore. Finally, Sharon cleared her throat.

"Are you content going home at this point?" Sharon asked quietly. She looked to her feet, watching their footprints in the light snow. Andy shifted, letting go of her hand, but only to wrap it around his arm, tucking it to his side, the two drawing on the warmth from each other.

He let out a long sigh and nodded. It was hard to see that; he'd dropped his head, but she glanced over after asking her question and saw the motion. He finally spoke, "I am, and while it sounds crazy, I did find a lot of clarity here ironically in several areas of my life."

Sharon hummed, but otherwise, she didn't speak. She wanted Andy to have this time.

"I'm glad we went back today, and I'm glad he spoke to us. All I can do now is go back home and hope that she might want to reach out, might want to talk. I'm glad he listened and was willing to take my information, at least to pass along to her. Now that I have a name and a location, I can do more. I just can't do more from right here right now. I look around here and try to imagine a life her, try to imagine living here, growing up here. I think about what my own kids have, correction," he sighed and shook his free finger in the air. "I think about what my other two kids have, the life they have known in Los Angeles. I wish I had been stronger back then. I wish I had done the right thing. I can't predict how life would be now, but it might be different. From the sounds of it, she had no one, barely a mother and certainly not a father. I did that to her, and I should have done better."

Sharon nodded, still listening. When Andy stopped talking and the two kept walking, Sharon finally spoke, "We can waste time thinking over the 'what if's' in life all day long. It will consume us, but all we can do is look forward. I catch myself thinking about what my life could have been like if I'd divorced Jack a long time ago. My kids could have had a different life too; I could have had a different life. Who knows-I might have met someone else," she said looking up at Andy.

She stopped talking too, and he spoke soon after that, "You deserve to be happy, Sharon, and as much as you like family and taking care of others, I can't help but think you would have met a wonderful man who would have made you much happier than Jack."

"I think I have," Sharon turned herself toward him, stopping her movement. She looked up, her eyes searching his, "You've been here a long time. I've tried to compartmentalize our relationship. We didn't like each other for a long time. We've worked together, as colleagues," she specified. We were friends. We were," she paused frowning as she tried to find her words, "more, but even then, I tried to kid myself that it wasn't more, it was just the two of us using our friendship. Why it took us all this time, in this place here, where it feels like we are on top of the world," she said with a small grin on her face as she nodded, "why it took all this time to figure out you're the person I want in my life, I don't know." Sharon shrugged and just looked at him, taking both of his hands in hers. The fog was starting to thicken, and the daylight was starting to fade. "I've been wrong about many things, how I have treated you is one of them. I've played games, and I've hid my feelings. I could go over my actions with you, with Jack-with just men in general, over and over. I'm choosing to just look forward. I don't know what the future holds-any of it, but I'd like to walk by your side and figure it out."

Andy closed his eyes and let out his breath, as if he was letting go of a tremendous amount of stress. He eyed her, Sharon, as she stood there looking at him, "I've screwed up a lot of things in my life."

"I have too," she said with a small shrug. "You know what I've realized though is that talking to you, going through things with you is better than being alone. When I have a problem, I want to tell you. Our little arrangement before was so stressful. We were kidding ourselves, maybe you weren't, but I was. I hate fighting with you, arguing with you, and I don't want to do that."

"We may still argue-we WILL still argue," he told her.

"Maybe we can start figuring out how to deal with that, how to work through it," she said, looking at him. "We're both divorced-failed marriages. That means no matter what happened, we had issues with communication. I'd like to work on that, to work on communication in our relationship."

"My family life is a mess," he told her. "I don't know if any of my kids will ever be happy with me. In the future, things here could be sticky. Hopefully, she'll talk to me one day, and from there, we'll have to see."

"I know a thing or two about a crazy home life," she said with a nod and small smile. "I have a Rusty, and at times, I have two more adult children nosing around in my life."

"Fair enough," Andy said with a slight chuckle. "Are we going to be able to work together?"

Sharon's cheeks reddened, and she rolled her eyes slightly, "I think the team is ready to kill us. We haven't exactly been working well together. I honestly can't imagine it being worse. It can only get better, at least in my opinion. I want to work with you. It goes along with that you being by my side idea."

"I like being by your side too" he said, his eyes locked on hers as he nodded. "Just to be clear-I want more than friendship. Don't get me wrong-we have a lot of talking to do to repair our friendship. We have a lot to work through, but I want to do that together, and I want you in my life as more than just the friend by my side."

Sharon bit her lip and nodded, "I thought talking here," she nodded, "that was implied. Andy, I'm not going to run. I'm going to acknowledge we have a relationship and work on it together. Yes, that means talking about you with Rusty, about having you around more, and it means we keep walking forward together."

At that, Andy let go of one of her hands and continued to walk, tugging at her to walk with him. The two walked in silence, and then, he spoke again, "It still makes me sick I didn't step up 20 years ago. Sharon, from the sounds of it, her life is a mess."

"I know," Sharon admitted.

"I mean, she's been divorced and from what he said, rebounded into another marriage. She's barely an adult! Her future could get worse, and she could destroy it more. She's already an alcoholic. I just-" he shook his head. Sharon squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"You can be there for her now. I know the guilt must be overwhelming. You are a different man now. I know that; I see that. I'm a different person. The Andy and Sharon of 21 years ago didn't even like each other. The little I knew of you, I hated that you drank with my husband. It was like I saw you as a replacement for my family. I know you weren't fond of me."

Andy grunted, "The little I heard about you, you sounded like a terror of a wife. It wasn't much different at work. I figured you were someone I just was meant to dislike. I figured you were another nagging wife, and yeah, I didn't like you then."

"And now?" Sharon said in a slightly teasing tone as she looked loving up at Andy. He gave a slight roll of his eyes and turned toward her. He leaned in and kissed her sweetly, pulling back to look into her eyes.

"Now, like everything else, I realize I was a complete idiot," he admitted. Sharon chuckled, and she gripped his hands in hers.

"I've been idiot enough myself," she told him. "We can't make our grown children do things. I think about my parents, about yours," she nodded her head toward him. "My parents wanted me rid of Jack decades ago, just as you've told me yours didn't want you drinking. People tried to warn us, to help, but grown adults have to decide for themselves, just in this situation. True, you can't change anything, but you can try. You can be supportive going forward."

Andy let out a long breath and nodded his head, "I'm try calling her after she gets back here, off that boat."

"I'll support you in whatever you need," Sharon admitted. The two continued to walk, bundled up in the cold weather. The fog was getting heavier, and they were close to the car, even though they could barely make it out in the fog.

"Back home?" Andy asked, looking over at her.

"Back home, we work on our relationship, at work and at home. I'd like it if you were around more," Sharon admitted.

Andy gave her a loving smile, "I'd like that too. Rusty-"

"Will deal with it, and just as I said, you can't make people do anything. There are things he doesn't need to know or see, things we can pick up maybe later when we head back to that bed and breakfast for one more night," Sharon said in a low tone, her eyes scanning his, "but, you and I, we're a team in many areas. We got off track, trying to convince ourselves we could compartmentalize our lives."

"Idiots we were, total idiots," Andy grumbled. Sharon laughed too, leaning up to kiss him.

"I'd say we're finally starting to figure things out," Sharon admitted. "Let's go find something to eat and then turn in early before we leave this place. We've done all we can do, and now, we go home."

Andy nodded in agreement, "You realize that for the first time I don't see everything as a complicated mess, right?"

Sharon laughed, "We did it to ourselves. Let's move forward, no complications and no mess."