The Major Crimes unit is called out on a stake-out to get to the bottom of a turf drug war that's left a number of dead bodies across L.A. Captain Sharon Raydor and Lt. Andy Flynn are partnered on a stake outside a small apartment complex where a mid-level dealer is believed to be hiding out. Circumstances plays a hand causing a Shandy moment despite the fact neither Sharon and Andy aren't ready to make the first move.

—

Stake-out

"We got company," Deggs said as he pushed back the dingy beige curtain from the living room window

"They cops?" Janson asked as he continued counting the money spread across the kitchen table in neat stacks of one thousand dollars.

"How the fuck would I know?" Deggs snapped. "Come check it out yourself."

Janson glared at his 'business partner' and finished counting the pile of money in his hands. He got up slowly and sauntered over to where Deggs had been standing. With one finger he pushed the curtain back on the opposite side of window just enough to peek through the dirty window at the dark Lexus parked across the street about a half a block up. He could see two people just sitting there in the early evening light.

"I don't see no Starbucks," Janson said slowly. "IF they was cops, they'd have coffee and shit. So far, I don't see nothing but an old couple. Dude ain't even driving." Deggs nodded.

"Yeah, okay," Deggs murmured. "Why they just sittin' there?"

"Don't know but that's a nice ride. Maybe they're looking to score somethin'."

"Old white dude? Nah," Deggs chuckled. "Maybe her though." Deggs could see a white woman with long auburn hair at the wheel.

"How you figure that?" Janson frowned at Deggs as he headed back to the grimy kitchen and to the money-covered dinette set.

Deggs was still watching the pair seated in the car. The man and woman were talking but staring ahead. "Women buy drugs, too, man. She drove 'em here…I think we better make sure they ain't cops. Where the dog at?"

Janson gestured to the back bedroom with a tip of his head. "whata ya gonna do?"

"I'm gonna get a closer look at them, looking all innocent and shit walking 'my' dog down the road. If anything looks suspicious-like, I'll let you know." Deggs looked around for the leash and snatched it off the closet doorknob on his way down the hall. Within a minute Deggs had a sleepy looking pit bull on leash and was headed out the door.

"Heads up. We've got activity," Captain Sharon Raydor murmured to Lieutenant Andy Flynn seated in the front passenger seat. Andy notified the other detectives on his cell phone.

"Possible suspect exiting the building," Flynn told the rest of the stakeout team. "It. is. not. Janson, repeat, not Janson," Flynn confirmed. Shutting off his cell, he glanced at the captain.

"Think he made us?" Andy asked calmly. Sharon watched the sketchy young man walking across the street pulling an older, slow moving pit-bull wagging its tail.

"We'll know in a minute," Sharon answered unholstering her handgun and holding it down by her knee. Andy turned to face Sharon and had already pulled his firearm as well while watching the man stepping onto the curb about thirty feet away.

"If he turns this way…" Sharon began. Andy relaxed letting out a deep breath. Deggs, the dog walker, had turned away from the car and was headed in the opposite direction.

Sharon slid her handgun back into her hip holster as did Andy to his sidearm holster before he glanced back up to the front window of the second floor apartment. The curtain was still.

"He's waiting on us to do something," Sharon said quietly. Andy glanced over to read her expression.

"We don't know if he's the guy from that apartment window," Andy noted. Sharon nodded. She picked up her cellphone from her lap and placed a call to Provenza via speaker phone taking care to keep it low to the dash and out of view.

"Lieutenant Provenza, one of the possible suspects is headed your way walking a dog, a pit bull, be careful," Sharon cautioned the elderly cop. Provenza appeared to be sacked out around the corner on a city bench. He looked like an old bum or wino sleeping off the day's end.

"I see him," Provenza said as he tapped his ear piece under the scruffy cap. "That's Deggs, he's Janson's right-hand man."

Sharon glanced at Andy who was watching her expression. "Then Janson can't be far away," Andy replied.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Sharon murmured to Provenza. "Be caref…."

Provenza coughed quickly and cut off communication as the dog approached. Sniffing in Provenza's direction it never broke its pace and continued on with Deggs who was now on his own cellphone. Provenza eavesdropped while pretending to be asleep on the bench.

"They was watching me when I came out," Deggs said into his iphone. He continued talking as he strode past Provenza, "Nah, but I'm gonna go around the block and come up behind them, see if I can see in the car."

Provenza waited until he could no longer hear Deggs before he tapped his ear piece. Sharon's phone lit up. She put the call on speaker. "Deggs is circling the block, he's going to approach from the rear in a few minutes," Provenza whispered hoarsely."

Sharon's eyebrow arched. "Thanks, Lt." She hung up and looked at Andy.

"You can't drive off now," Andy said firmly. "If he comes back and we're gone, we can't return or he's gonna get wise. Do we end the stake out or not?"

Sharon looked at Andy with a slight frown, her eyes squinting at him. She was formulating a plan. Her eyes trained on the rear-view mirror waiting for Deggs and his dog to come into view.

"If we leave now we've got no one covering the front entrance for Janson," Sharon said. The neighborhood was a bit rundown and her lexus was not the best choice for undercover work in this area.

Andy lit up. "What if we throw him off somehow?"

Sharon glanced at Andy's face. He looked eager to make it work. "Exactly how do we 'throw him off,'" she asked returning her eyes to the rearview mirror waiting for the suspect to appear.

Flynn surveyed the area, "Look, there's a sale sign on that old house right there. Act like we're waiting for someone, a realtor or something, argue about it."

"It might work," Sharon replied. "Just be ready, he's very likely armed." She pulled her gun and held it between her knees out of sight.

"Especially in this neighborhood," Andy agreed as he slid his window down more than half-way to make sure the suspect could hear them when he passed by. "I'm ready," Andy unsnapped the holster strap and slowly moved the gun out and held it down by his shin next to the door.

"Any sign of him yet?" Andy asked as he watched the street in front of the car.

"Nothing yet," Sharon replied. "But …Sykes is coming." Andy saw Detective Amy Sykes in his side mirror. She was dressed as a jogger in black running leggings and a grey tank top with an iphone in one hand and trailing cord to headphones in her ears. Andy put his window down a little further. Sykes faked a leg cramp and slowed down before coming within a few feet along side the Lexus.

"Deggs is right behind me," Sykes said a bit loudly as she 'walked off' the supposed leg cramp with a slight but convincing limp. Andy repeated her words to Sharon and turned his body toward the Captain.

Sharon noticed the dog first followed by the scruffy suspect still talking on his phone. "There he is. We got about a 10 seconds," She said tensely.

Andy cleared his throat and went to work. His weapon still in hand, Andy kept it close to the door.

"I'm so goddamn tired of this, Sharon!" Andy shouted waving his free hand in the air. "Why do you always do this to me?" Sharon was slightly startled by Andy's hostile tone.

"Don't blame me for this!" Sharon snapped back loudly "It was your idea to flip houses! I can't help it if the damn realtor is always late!" Andy tried to hide his grin. Sharon's green eyes were scanning the sidewalk behind Andy's head. She looked and sounded convincingly irritated. By now, Deggs was within earshot of the car's left side. He had slowed down and was no longer talking into his phone which he now held to his chest, his other hand held onto the dog's leash. Clearly, he was observing them. The dog's white muzzle hung down a little as it walked slowly alongside the suspect.

"His hands are clear," Sharon said quietly and quickly to Andy who nodded.

"How can you seriously expect me to ever sell a piece of shit house like that one?" Andy said loudly and pointing to the house across the street. "You can't flip 'shit' like that, Sharon!

"Stop yelling at me!" Sharon shouted. Deggs had slowed down considerably and just ducked slightly to glance in the car under the ruse of petting his dog and adjusting its choke-chain collar. He was listening intently.

"Where the fuck is he?" Andy said angrily. "Why is that sonuvabitch realtor always late? We've been sitting here like idiots for nearly an hour!"

"If you want a different real estate agent then go find one yourself!" Sharon snapped. "Gawdddd, nothing I do is ever good enough for you, is it!?" Andy made a show of checking his watch with his free left hand and catching sight of Deggs in the side mirror. The man was looking into the car.

"I didn't say that! I'm just tired of waiting for that asshole," Andy added. "C'mere. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you." He quickly leaned across the seat turning Sharon's chin to face him. In a flash he was kissing her on the mouth. Sharon's mouth froze as Andy's warm lips pressed hard against hers for what seemed like several seconds. Suddenly he released her chin and fell back against his seat.

"I won't yell anymore at you, honey," Andy said a bit loudly as Deggs walked past the front of the car pulling the yawning dog..

Sharon couldn't move out of pure shock. Her eyes huge, her mouth slightly open in surprise.

Deggs put his cellphone to his ear, shaking his head a little before he glanced back at the Lexus. The pit bull had picked up the pace and was pulling in front to enter the apartment complex. Both Deggs and the dog vanished back into the building.

"What the hell was that?" Sharon snapped her head in his direction, clearly and most certainly infuriated. Andy knew he was in serious trouble since the Captain nearly never cursed.

Andy shrugged sheepishly, "What? Look, Sharon, I had to make it look real." Sharon's glare could melt icebergs. Her face was flushed, her arms stiff straight still holding the gun between her knees. For a split second she briefly considered punching him but forced herself to grip her handgun instead.

"We were just suppose to be arguing!" Lieutenant!

"We were arguing!" Andy interjected.

"Who the hell kisses somebody in the middle of an argument!" Sharon hissed.

Andy sighed in exasperation and pointed to her right hip, "Sharon, I had to lean over to hide your hip holster!"

Sharon glanced down quickly how the black holster stood out against her beige skirt. Sharon looked up at Andy.

"Oh…" She didn't know what else to say. Clearly he had made a good call after all. Still, she had to say something, to address the gargantuan elephant in the room.

Andy was watching her reactions intently, he could see his excuse was dissolving the anger from her face. He also realized he still had to save his ass for taking advantage of the situation and giving in to his adrenaline-fueled impulse after the excitement of their 'fake fight.'

"Look, I'm sorry if I crossed the line, Sharon, but I had to make us look like a real couple having a real argument" The irony of his words were not lost on either of them.

"Well, we certainly do now," Sharon murmured to herself as Andy returned his gun back into his holster.

"At least we have an excuse to sit here a while longer," Andy added. Sharon glanced at him with a dry sarcastic expression.

"Get out of the car," Sharon said. Andy's jaw dropped.

"I said I was sorry," Andy said quickly.

"No. Andy. Get out of the car and go over to the house with the sale sign," Sharon said. "We are being watched…at the window. Act like you're checking out the property."

"Oh! Okay, yeah," Andy said with sigh, relief flooding his stomach. He opened the car door and made a point of bending over to reach for a file on seat between them. He slammed the door continuing the ruse of the annoyed customer. Sharon put her car window down as he walked around the car toward the ramshackle house with the sagging, mission-style porch.

"Don't try to go inside until the agent arrives," Sharon said out the window. Andy waved her off like an impatient buyer might behave.

Sharon kept an eye on the apartment window while Andy walked around the lot of the house. The 'show' had to look convincing. Andy took note of where the other stakeout vehicles were in relation to the apartment complex. He nodded his head a bit as if to let the other cops know all was cool with him walking around the 'wrong' address.

Sharon made a call via speaker letting the others in the stakeout know what Andy was up to.

Deggs entered the apartment chuckling to himself.

"What?" Janson asked "What's so funny?" He was standing by the sink drinking from a can of beer.

"That dude's pissed off!"

"Who?" Janson asked after belching. He crumpled the thin can in one hand and shot it at the overflowing trash can beside the refrigerator. It fell short.

"That dude in the car out there. He and his old lady were goin' at it and he shut her up real fast."

"Oh yeah," Janson started grinning, he was enjoying the fact he could now relax a little. He'd been pacing the room after Deggs departed with his dog. "What happened?"

Deggs slid the leash off the dog and tossed it to Janson. The dog was wagging happily, panting a bit loudly.

"They're waiting for somebody and he's pissed they didn't show up. He yelling then she's yelling." Deggs smirked. "They could use some product but I wasn't going near that 'domestic' mess," Deggs added with air quotes.

"I'da popped her in the mouth if my woman ever raised her voice to me," Janson replied as he turned and walked back to the window. "They're still there."

"They still fighting?" Deggs asked as he took off his jacket exposing the gun in the waistband over his butt.

"Looks like it. She looks pissed, too." Janson laughed a little at the sight. "Hold up…he just got out of the car."

"Is he coming here?" Deggs asked.

Janson hesitated, "…uhhhhh no, he's….going to that dump next door…she's saying something to him, man he is pissed - i think he gave her the finger!" Janson laughed

"I told you they weren't cops." Deggs said smugly. He didn't feel compelled to mention the two Starbucks cups in the front cup holders.

x x x