Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye

by Kadi

Rated: T

Disclaimer: None of the Major Crimes characters belong to me. It's just a sandbox that I enjoy visiting from time to time. I promise to give all the toys back when I'm done with them.

A/N: Special thanks and appreciation goes out to deenikn8 for the beta. Any errors still found are all mine, and not hers. You were wonderful, thank you dear!

This is #4 in what I have started calling the Luck 'Verse. It follows Family. Many, many thanks to everyone who has commented or read the stories. You're all so great!

"Any plans for break?" Nicole Dyer glanced across the row of three pool-side lounge chairs, of which she was occupying one, to her stepsister. It was March in California and already the temperatures were moving toward the warmer side of the 80s; the sun was shining brightly.

With her face turned toward the sky, vintage Chanel shades covering her eyes, Katherine Raydor smiled. "Oh, you know… just the usual. Wild parties, drunken orgies, all the things we do when mom and dad aren't around to police the joint." Katie slanted a look back at her from the corner of her eye. She had been living in Los Angeles for several months now. Although her dancing career was now over, she was still seeing a physical therapist twice a week. She still had hope that she might dance again, at least in a teaching capacity. In the meantime, she was attending classes at USC and working on a second Bachelor's degree in Business and Economics. She was thinking she might open her own dance studio one day, far into the future, and thought she should have some idea of how to do that. Katie smirked where she sat. The sun felt entirely too good, even on her too fair skin. "We're going to get a couple of kegs, some pot, maybe some E and invite lots of people we don't really know."

"I can hear you." Sharon lifted her head and slipped her shades up so that she could fix her daughter with a pointed glare. "You do recall that I am sitting right here, yes?" Planned months in advance, Sharon and Andy were flying east over the week of spring break to visit his family in New Jersey. His aunt Madeline, his mother's only remaining living sibling, was turning ninety. Both of Andy's parents were long since gone, but he had his mother's sister, and aunts and uncles on his father's side as well. Then there were his siblings, and the cousins. As she understood it they could give her own family a run in size, and then some. Sharon could now say, however, she understood why Andy was the way that he was. It was his mother's side of the family that gave him his Italian heritage. The Flynn's were old, Jersey Irish. It was going to be an interesting week.

"Yes, yes," Katie waved a hand at her without looking up. "You're not going to be here, so it isn't going to matter. That's the whole point. I gave up trying to hide wild, drunken parties from you years ago. I figured it was best if Rusty never learns."

Sharon looked at her stepdaughter, seated on her other side. "Are you hearing this?" She hooked a thumb at her daughter. "Did she really just say that it wouldn't matter whether I'm here or not?"

"I think so." Nicole tipped her shades into her blond hair and glanced at her stepsister, who was completely unrepentant. "Definitely. She doesn't look the least bit concerned either." Her sparkling eyes and half grin were all Flynn.

"I thought not." Sharon arched a brow at her daughter. "Katherine, I was mistaken in operating under the assumption that my grown children could be trusted to remain home, alone, at least for a few days. Do the words house and sitter have any meaning at for you?"

Her lips pursed, her head tilted. "You know, they could. I think it depends entirely upon whom you intend to engage for the interim. Any thoughts?"

Sharon tipped her shades back down and lay back again. "Lieutenant Provenza."

"Right." Katie lifted her head to look across her mother at Nicole. "Homework, shopping, and apartment hunting."

Nicole laughed as she leaned back in her seat. "Sounds like fun." She turned her face back toward the sun. "I thought you were going to wait until Summer to move?"

"We're shopping," Katie said. "Not moving. It will probably take that long to find something big enough for both of us."

Sharon exhaled loudly. "Probably."

Nicole and Katie both lifted their heads again, shared a look. "Months at the very least," the former stated with a grin.

"Mmhm." Katie tilted her head. "Might even take all summer to move." She slanted a look at her mother and grinned. "Once, of course, the neighborhood has been perfectly vetted. Poor mom, all the birdies are leaving the nest." She pressed her lips into a thin line to keep from laughing. "Again."

"With any luck, for good this time." Sharon said drily. Rusty was moving out, although not very far. He and Katie had decided to get something together, closer to the University. It would give him the opportunity to be on his own, so to speak, in the more normal sense, without being completely alone.

"Then she can have sex wherever and whenever she wants in the house and Rusty doesn't have to walk in on it anymore," Katie chirped happily.

"I can understand where that would be a plus," Nicole said haltingly, while trying hard not to laugh.

Sharon drew a breath and let it out slowly. "I can't tell you how very excited I am about that prospect," she deadpanned. "You are a rotten child."

"I'm being maligned for being honest?" Katie sniffed. "Well, how do you like that."

"I think you're being maligned for saying it out loud," Nicole explained. "I'm pretty sure we all know what they're going to be up to about three seconds after the moving van leaves, it doesn't need to be discussed. I'm going on the record with a very blatant yuck."

"That would be why she is the favorite," Sharon explained.

"I still think it's the grandmother thing," Katie said. "As grandpa is always telling us, after a certain age, they begin to fret for babies to spoil. You should get right on that," she told Nicole.

"Oh sure," Nicole laughed. "Let me pencil that right in for you… Right after dance class, rehearsal, recital, PTA, car pool, and play dates. Oh, and little league. Devon wants to play t-ball, and Jake and I agree that the boys should experience different things. So yes, absolutely, we'll put it on the schedule for you."

"Your father is going to be beside himself." Sharon smiled. "It has to be said, if you and Jake are interested in having another child, all of that will work itself out."

"We know." Nicole replied. "We just thought we'd let everything calm down first. It was an interesting year."

"No arguments here," the other two chirped together.

They each leaned back, getting comfortable. The peaceful silence descended once more. Until the patio door opened.

"That looks like trouble." Andy chuckled when the three heads lifted and they scowled, almost in perfect unison, at him. "I take it back. That is trouble." He walked toward them and leaned over to kiss his wife. "Contractor is gone. Your cabinets are in," he drawled, not altogether pleasantly. If there was any one profession he despised, almost above all others, it was contractors. His wife knew this, and yet, she had inflicted project after project upon him. They were done now, he hoped.

Sharon tilted her head to the side. She smiled sweetly up at him. "Thank you, dear." She stretched her legs and then rose gracefully from the pool lounge. Sharon stepped into her sandals and then lifted onto the balls of her feet to press a kiss to his mouth. "I know just how much you enjoyed overseeing that for me. It means a lot, really."

"I bet." He stepped back and waved his arm toward the house, so that she could go in and see the finished product.

"Hm." She sashayed ahead of him toward the house. "Attitude like that, and I won't let you help me break them in."

"Now, let's not be too hasty, Sharon." Andy hurried to catch up, his arm snaked out and caught her waist. He drew her back to him. He turned his face into her neck and they walked into the house together.

Katie waited for the door to close again before lifting her head. "They wonder why we're moving out?"

Nicole laughed. "You might want to text Rusty and warn him. It would be just his luck that he'll get home and head right to the kitchen for a snack."

She thought about it for a moment. "Nah, it's good for him. Builds character."

"You really are a rotten child," Nicole decided.

"Well I am my mother's daughter," she drawled. "Learned from the best."

"I am really starting to believe that," Nicole chuckled.

Inside the house, Andy caught Sharon's arm before she could enter the kitchen and drew her back again. "Before you go in there," He began, "there's something you should know." He turned her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "It may not be exactly what you asked for," he hedged.

Her lips pursed, her head tilted. "Okay," she said at length. Sharon had spoken to the contractor at length, picked out the cabinets herself, and then allowed Andy to oversee the process. It was his reward for bringing an argument they'd had at work home with him, and she was fairly certain that he'd learned his lesson. Sharon folded her arms over her chest while her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, it isn't exactly what I asked for? I left no room for interpretation. I practically drew a diagram, Andy…"

"Well," he shrugged. "You know how contractors are. Give them an inch, they take half the state. Now, before you get upset. It isn't bad," Andy turned her slowly. "I just don't want you going in there with certain expectations." He prompted her slowly forward, and once they'd cleared the kitchen, he leaned against the door frame, hands tucked into his pockets. The smell of sawdust, glue and paint still hung heavily in the air.

"Yes, but I didn't give them room for an inch," she was saying. "I specifically—" She drew to an abrupt stop and let her gaze slowly circle the room. Sharon inhaled sharply. The dark, cherry wood cabinets were in place, along with the lighter, gray and charcoal swirling granite counter tops. It went much better with the rest of the house, and the lighter walls in the kitchen. The old butcher block breakfast table was gone too, replaced by a matching glass-topped cherry wood set. The surprise came with the appliances. Sharon had neither expected, nor planned for that. The kitchen was modernized some years before, but it seemed that her husband had gotten one over on her. The baking trolley they used as a center island was gone as well, replaced now by the real thing, complete with new electric range at one end. The old stove was gone, a refrigerated wine rack had replaced it. A hanging storage rack had even been added above the center island.

"Like I said," Andy drawled. "Might not be exactly what you asked for." If it made her happy, and he was dealing with the contractors anyway, he saw no reason not to go all out. If the lady wanted a new kitchen, he would give her a new kitchen. Although, to be honest, she had only wanted more storage space. Andy watched bewilderment give way to delight. She asked for such simple things in life. She turned his bachelor cave into a home, what were a few hours spent keeping an eye on the scourge of the working class world. Or a few days, actually, since the project had taken that long to complete.

The gleaming stainless of the appliances went beautifully with the rest of the kitchen set. "Really?" She smiled brightly at him. "You know how I feel about surprises, Andy."

"I figured I'd risk it this once," he pushed away from the door and walked toward her. Andy slipped an arm around her waist and drew her to him. "We were probably gonna want to do it in a couple of years anyway, now was as good a time as any, yeah?"

"Yeah." She pulled him down and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Thank you. I love it." Sharon glanced toward the wine rack. Her smile brightened all the more. "Gavin is going to love it too."

"As long as Gavin is happy, nothing else matters," Andy drawled teasingly. "My world is now complete." He dropped another kiss to her mouth, then hoisted his laughing wife into his arms. His shoulder gave a protesting twinge, but it was more or less healed now. It ached more now, than it had before, and hurt like a bitch when it stiffened up, but three months later he was as mended as he was likely to get at his age. He set her on the edge of the new center island, and grinned. "Knew that would be perfect."

She laughed, a low, throaty sound in the remodeled room. "You know, this inability of yours to keep your hands to yourself in communal locations is why the kids are moving out."

"I see your point." His head inclined while he pretended to ponder it. "I should do something about that." Andy dropped his mouth to her collar bone, drawing another laugh.

"Andy." She gave his shoulders a light shove and shook her head at him. "You're incorrigible."

"Doesn't sound like you're complaining to me." His hands dropped to rest loosely at her hips. "You know, I like the little brats—" He laughed when she pinched him. "At some point, the grown children have to move out of the house, Sharon. I get it, I do. Thing is, Katie is doing great, she is well on her way back. Rusty is… he's ready. He can't live with you forever, babe. Besides, it's a few miles, not a few states. I think you'll be okay, and so will they."

"Hm." Her lips pursed. "I have no problem with them moving out, at some point even I get to be selfish. I just see no reason to push them out the door by acting like a couple of sex-crazed teenagers." Sharon drug her teeth across her bottom lip. Her eyes were sparkling. "I just think we should keep in mind that we're not exactly young anymore. Someone is going to end up breaking a hip."

"Uh huh." Andy reached up and rubbed his top lip. "I see." He nodded slowly. "Well, there's only one thing we can do about that." Although he grunted at the effort, and it made his back and knees protest, however mildly, Andy tossed her over his shoulder. He started out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.

"You're insane," she laughed. "Andy, put me down before you throw out your back. I will not approve time off due to injury for acts of lunacy."

"Yeah, who's bringing work home now? We had a very long chat about that, as I recall. If I can't be mad at you here for stuff that you do at the office, then you can't threaten me with office stuff, for things that I do here. See, you didn't think I was listening, it wasn't all about the makeup sex. I was paying attention before that too." He nodded to the figure coming out of the foyer. "Hey kid. Don't mind us. We're headed upstairs. The girls are out back, you're going to want to order out. Oh, might want to turn on a stereo or something."

"Andy." Sharon groaned. "Oh god."

"I love when you rehearse for me, sweetheart." He started up the stairs with her, smirking as he went.

"I cannot believe that I married such a lunatic," she said. "You know, I'm really starting to think you're getting worse in your old age. I thought you were nuts before, but I obviously had no idea—"

Rusty shook his head as they disappeared up the stairs. "They're both insane," he decided. He grabbed a couple of bottled waters from the cooler under the breakfast bar, where they had been keeping such things during the remodel, and walked out to the patio.

His sisters lifted their heads. "From the look on your face," Nicole said, "I'm going to assume that she really liked it."

"I don't want to talk about it." Rusty dropped into the chair previously occupied by Sharon. He passed waters to both before leaning back. "I do think that one of us should go to Medical School. Or get Tony to move in. The whole cop thing on this side of the family is great, but one of them is going to end up getting hurt." He paused. "Although, you've got to admire their tenacity."

"If that's what you want to call it," Katie snorted, then laughed. "Oh god, could you imagine having to explain that to your doctor?"

Nicole snickered. She draped a hand across her stomach as it turned to outright laughter. "No, sir, I don't know how I dislocated that…"

"You are both sick." Rusty shook his head. "Somewhat demented, slightly deranged. Just for the record." The corners of his mouth twitched. "Mildly amusing." The girls continued to laugh and he sighed. "I can't believe I know any of you." They were infectious, though, and he chuckled quietly at their antics.

"Oh, just think Rusty," Katie managed after a moment. "In a few days, they'll be gone for an entire week. Their behavior will be someone else's problem on the other side of the country. We get a reprieve."

"Time off for good behavior," Nicole added. "The inmates are getting a day pass from the asylum."

"I thought we were the inmates," Rusty asked.

"It's subjective," Katie chirped. "We are obviously so much saner than they are."

"Obviously," he nodded.

Nicole was drumming her fingers against the armrest of her lounger. "So, about that party…"

Katie grinned. Rusty groaned. It was going to be a great week.