Peanut

A note was plastered to the fridge door for Rusty. It read:

Car shuffle - Mom out first at 7 am, annual physical; Andy out 8 am for work; Rusty out? for class ? Last one to bed make sure the cars are arranged accordingly. Thanks! Love, Mom

He had gotten in late Tuesday night from school and being out with friends. He checked his watch - well past midnight. He pulled a tuna sandwich from the fridge and poured himself some juice. After his midnight snack, Rusty grabbed car keys from the rack at the door and duly shuffled cars so that they were in the specified order. He took a shower and went to bed.

Sharon left for her doctor's appointment at 7 a.m. as promised. Andy was fixing some breakfast when Rusty trundled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey!" Andy offered, "want some breakfast?"

Andy produced a glass and filled it with orange juice and put it on the kitchen table.

"Sure, thanks," Rusty replied.

"What's it going to be?"

"Cereal, I think," Rusty rubbed his eyes some more.

"What time did you get in last night?"

"Oh, it was quarter past midnight. I grabbed a sandwich, flipped cars around, took a shower, and crashed. I didn't wake you guys, did I?" Rusty inquired.

"Naw. We were dead to the world by eleven," smiled Andy as he handed Rusty a bowl and box of cereal.

Milk was in a pitcher on the table already. Rusty put the parts of breakfast together with a smile.

"Old people..." he teased.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait until you hit the big 5-0. Mr. Funny Man. I want to hear you talk then," Andy teased back.

Andy joined him at the table. He poured milk over his oatmeal and sprinkled some sugar and cinnamon on top.

"So, we've been here in the new house for a couple of months," he began. "What do you think?"

Rusty produced a big grin, "I'm really liking it...more than I thought I would. You know, I was really attached to the condo, but all this is pretty good."

Andy nodded with a smile, "I'm glad, Rusty. I know it was hard giving up Sharon's condo, having been home for you for, what, five years? But I want you to understand that you are very much part of this big, blended family. You always will be, okay?"

"I know, Andy," nodded Rusty. "I guess I wasn't too sure that I really ever wanted to share Sharon with you or anyone else, for that matter. And I'd heard that you had been quite the ladies' man. The very last thing I wanted was for Sharon to be hurt."

Andy nodded, "I know. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt her, Rusty. I love that woman like I've never loved anyone before. I know we joke about the 'Sharon effect,' but there is just something about her that drew me in - hook, line, and sinker."

"Must be something to that being present thing you told me about," agreed Rusty.

"Something like that," smiled Andy.

"Now that Sharon really feels like my Mom, I wonder about how lost my other mother was and is," Rusty mused.

"Well, Rusty, sobriety can take some time to bring you back to your senses. I was not drinking for several years before I really sobered up and really worked the program. It's a decision to live in the present and not relive the past. Until your other mother figures that out for herself, she will be what we call a 'dry drunk.'"

Rusty looked puzzled and repeated, "Dry drunk?"

Andy nodded and continued, "When a alcoholic drinks, he does really hurtful things to the people around him. His relationships are all screwed up. When stops the booze, the relationships don't all of a sudden magically get fixed. He has to work on mending the places that he tore up and destroyed while he was drinking, a 'wet drunk'." Andy added his hands to the conversation to make the point. "If he just keeps doing what he was doing, but without the booze, he's a 'dry drunk' since he has not started the work of relationship building."

"Oh," Rusty nodded. "You mean like when Jack just showed up a few years ago and tried to get back into Sharon's good graces. He wasn't drinking then, well, not until later - like when his plan didn't work out."

"Yep, just like that," Andy agreed. "And all that drinking took its toll, too. Hell, it got me and I've been without booze for over two decades. The human heart just was not built for all that alcohol and stress."

"Yeah, but Jack died and you didn't," Rusty added.

"Nope, I didn't. And it wasn't because I was eating right all those years," Andy noted, "but I think that my not drinking kept my heart attack from being worse than it was. Sharon's love also helped me through it. And since I didn't want to lose her, so I started eating better, too."

Rusty laughed, "And we're back to the 'Sharon effect' again."

They both laughed. Rusty slurped up the last of the milk in the bowl, rinsed it, and stowed it in the dishwasher. He took Andy's dishes, rinsed them, and put them in with his and what Sharon had deposited earlier.

Andy rode up with Mike Tao on the elevator and arrived Murder Room after swiping their security badges. Provenza was behind them as was Buzz with the coffee orders. Amy and Julio had the board cleared of the last case and the area cleared of old stuff. They were ready for whatever Angelinos could throw their way. The file boxes were ready for archiving.

Half an hour later, the sound of Sharon's flats could barely be made out as she came from the elevators into the Major Crimes spaces. With her head, she motioned to Andy to join her in her office. He passed her a cup of coffee as he entered. She shut the blinds as Andy looked puzzled.

"Andy, Honey," she began, "we have, um, we have a, um..."

He moved closer to her, "What's wrong, Sweetheart?"

She opened and shut her mouth and furrowed her brow, "It's not exactly a problem." She cocked her head to one side, "But it could be a problem."

"Okay, I'm game," Andy offered then stopped short. He moved back and took her in with his detective eyes, "Wait a sec...You changed from earlier this morning. This is not what you had on when you left for the doctor's," his voice rose in worry. "What is it? Whatever it is, we'll get through it together."

"Oh, that we will," Sharon began to let a glimmer of a grin steal across her face. "I'm pregnant. The doctor called it a menopause baby."

Andy stood there, much as he had when she first agreed to their first official date. His face had a dislocated shocked look that turned to outright joy. He swept his wife into his arms and kissed her and nuzzled his nose in her hair.

"Is this why the flats and slacks not heels and skirt? And why you're up and down all night long?"

She nodded, "Dr. Dutton said it would be better if I gave up heels for the time being. And yes, babies press on the bladder even when they are itty bitty."

Putting her back on her feet, Andy touched his wife's belly, "How far along?"

"About as long as we've been married would be my guess. Must have happened up in the Adirondacks. So what 8-9 weeks," she mused. "I have a referral for the OB later this week. At my age, there could be all kinds of problems, so don't get too giddy on me," she tamped down his excitement. "We will not be redecorating a bedroom or baby showers or any of that until much closer to the due date."

Andy rubbed his hands across his face then reached for her face, gently cradling Sharon's chin, "Whatever comes our way, I am here to stay. I love you, Sharon. I will always love you. I'm going to love our little one, too. I'm not about to bail. But I guess now we know why you've been, uh, a little swollen and tender 'there' of late, too."

With a grin, she raised her eyebrows and tilted her head side-to-side in her teasing way, then she grew serious, "I know you aren't going to bail. You are not Jack. And...things could go perfectly. We could have a 'Gerber baby' when he or she is delivered, too," Sharon responded as she wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her head on his chest. She sighed contentedly with the strong rhythm of her lover's heartbeat resounding in her ear.

A loud rapping hit the door. A pause, then Captain Provenza entered, "Commander, we caught a case. Quadruple homicide, a mom and three kids. Flynn, come on. I'll call you from the crime scene if I need you, Commander."

Sharon nodded, reaching into her handbag, she tucked her shield onto her belt along with her service weapon, "Be careful. Is the scene still an active shooter situation? I'll head over to the morgue and let Dr. Morales know what's coming his way."

Provenza offered, "We'll find out when we get there, but I think we've been called out only because of the number of dead bodies. A neighbor found them, according to the initial report. Patrol will have the scene secured by the time we arrive."

A/N: Boy or girl?