This has not been beta'd. I apologize in advance for all the grammatical mistakes.

Like it or Not

Sharon attempted to will the elevator to go faster.

It hadn't even been the worse day of her career. Or the worse thing she'd seen done to children. Or even the worse thing she'd seen a child do. But she'd fought with Ricky that morning, and hearing that boy in her interview room blaming himself for his mother's suicide... She needed to get home. Now. Right. Now. Oh, her son had most certainly behaved badly, and she was incredibly disappointed in him, but he was still her son. She still loved him, and she needed to make sure he knew that.

The elevator stopped, but on the wrong floor. She gave a very tight lipped smile to the elderly woman who stepped onto the elevator with her. Then she'd almost screamed when the elevator started going down before going up to her floor first. God, how she hated technology at that moment.

It wasn't like she'd never fought with her children before. She'd argued with Rusty from time to time and Ricky as well for that matter. And the fights she'd had with Emily were legendary. Most mother-daughter fights were though. She remembered some of the ones she'd had with her own mother, and those never ended well. Who knew the day would come when she'd wish for a fight like those she'd had with Emily? Fighting with her daughter was always horrible and more often than not both of them ended up yelling at each other. No one could push her buttons like her daughter could, and Emily would do it without hesitation or remorse. She could be brutal. Which always left Sharon hurt and angry causing her to snap back at Emily. That caused her to feel even worse for not handling things properly, so she'd get even more upset with Emily. Who would become more upset with her. It was a vicious cycle, but a familiar one. One that after years of practice she'd finally understood how to handle it.

But today with Ricky…she'd never fought with Ricky like she'd done today. But he'd never said anything to her like he had this morning either. And even though she knew the words were Jack's and not his own she couldn't help being angry at him for saying those things to her. She and Jack would be having a very serious talk. Soon. She'd have to make sure to leave her weapon at home when that happened. He'd been using her children against her long enough.

Finally, the elevator stopped on her floor and she got off resisting the temptation to run down the hallway. Her keys were already in her hand, and the door was unlocked before she could even think about what she was doing.

The first thing Sharon noticed as stepped inside was the smell. She sniffed a little more trying to distinguish the odor. Odors. It smelled like smoke and chemicals. She closed her eyes, and rubbed her forehead. Placing her purse and keys on the table by the door she rounded the corner to find her boys at the kitchen table both on their laptops. They glanced at her briefly before returning their gazes back to their respective screens.

"What happened?" The words slipped out before she even thought about them. So much for hugs and talking and cuddling. That had probably been nothing more than a fantasy anyway. Both of her boys kept their eyes glued to their laptops, but she could see them squirm in their seats. They were both clearly covering up something.

"Nothing!" Ricky and Rusty said in unison, and she almost smiled. Almost. Especially, when they both realized that they'd answered too quickly. Both of her sons rolled their eyes and closed their laptops. She had to remind herself that the smell of smoke most likely meant they'd tried to kill each other with fire to stop herself from smiling at the sight.

She took a couple steps closer to them crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow while tilting her head slightly. Ricky pointedly stared at the table, but Rusty's eyes kept shifting between her and Ricky. Neither spoke.

Neither did she as she walked past the table and into the kitchen. Taking the garbage can out from underneath the sink she walked back to where the boys could see her and her very displeased but matter-of-fact expression. Looking inside the trashcan showed her exactly what she expected it to: practically an entire roll of paper towels were scrunched up on top reeking of an excessive amount of cleaning liquid.

She picked up one of the paper towels with her thumb and index finger displaying it to her children. "At least you cleaned up your mess. I suppose, I should be grateful for that, at least."

She dropped the paper towel back into the trash, shaking and tilting the garbage around to see what was under the paper towels. A moment later she found one of her small frying pans scorched and warped into an unusual shape with the remains of a hand towel burned to the handle. She lifted the pan out of the garbage carefully.

"What. Happened." Her voice was low and quiet, but the hard edge made both Ricky and Rusty sink down into their chairs. She dropped the pan back into the trash and returned the trashcan to its appropriate place before washing her hands. Both her boys were quiet. This was not how things were supposed to go. She was supposed to come home to find Ricky still upset over the fight earlier, and she was going to hug him and make everything better. Then she'd find Rusty and whether he liked it or not she was going to hug him too, and convince him that everything would be alright. Afterwards, they would have dinner, and then she was going to force them to sit on the couch and watch a movie with her crammed in between them. And maybe hug them some more rather they wanted her to or not.

She had a feeling Rusty would like the hug though. She'd seen how he looked every time she'd hugged Ricky. Especially in the break room when Ricky had said "love you" and she'd replied with "I love you, too." That wasn't something she normally did with Rusty because he wasn't comfortable with it, but the looks he'd given her and Ricky every time they'd hugged…

Sharon sighed, and moved out of the kitchen coming to stand by Rusty first. She motioned for him to stand and with far more confusion than his face normally showed he stood slowly and reluctantly. She immediately wrapped her arms around him, and ignored it when he immediately stiffened at the contact. After a second he relaxed and returned the hug. Sharon smiled a little when she felt him nuzzle into her neck a little bit. The hug didn't last long, but it was still a hug for no other reason than because it was nice to hug. She turned her attention to Ricky next, and she didn't even have to motion for him to stand up, he was up (and towering over her) and his arms wrapped around her without hesitation. She held tight around his shoulders it was the best way she could show him that fight or not she still loved him.

"I'm sorry, mom," he whispered in her ear.

"I know, honey," she replied as she released him, and he sat back down.

Both of them looked much more relaxed now, and she hadn't realized her heart rate had increased until it began to slow.

"Now," she began, using her best 'tell mommy what happened' tone, "tell me why the two of you tried to burn down the entire complex. "

Ricky smirked up at her, "It was all Rusty's fault."

"It was not!" Rusty shouted indigently, "And we agreed to play dumb about it!"

"Change of plans." Ricky countered, "We've moved on to 'every man for himself'."

Sharon cleared to throat to remind them that she was still standing there.

"We were going to make you dinner." Rusty answered, and then glared at Ricky. "But someone filled the pan with oil and left it sitting on the hot stove.

Sharon's eyes widened.

"That was not my fault!" Ricky replied, "You were the one who insisted on showing me that new game on your phone in the middle of making dinner."

"You didn't tell me you were ready to start making it yet!" Rusty half shouted back, scandalized that Ricky was blaming him for this.

Sharon thought it was rather adorable. Judging by the smirk Ricky seemed to be enjoying playing the part of the older sibling for a change. Rusty however seemed near panic and kept glancing up at her as though he expected her to automatically take Ricky's side. She placed a hand on his shoulder hoping that would calm him.

"That's enough." Sharon said, quietly, and then paused. "I suppose this means we'll be having take-out?"

Ricky and Rusty shared a look, seemingly surprised that she was going to let the whole "set a pan of oil on fire" thing go.

"Umm…" Ricky began, "Take out is good with me."

"Chinese?" Rusty suggested.

"I would appreciate it if you ordered me dumplings." Sharon said, removing her hand from Rusty's shoulder. "I'm going to change then we can all sit down and talk about appropriate kitchen safety."

She started walking to her bedroom, and with her back towards them she did smile as she heard both her sons groan dramatically in protest.

Now, she just needed them to sit on the couch together, and watch a movie with her.

OMG! These three!
Tell me your thoughts on the story. Or on the episode. And was I the only one who noticed the looks Rusty gave Sharon and Ricky whenever they hugged? I was a little upset with Sharon for not noticing and acting on that, I admit. Gah! Rusty better get a hug after his mother shows up-again- in Monday's episode.