It'd been three days since Sharon heard from Andy. She sat at her desk and sipped her coffee, wondering what could possibly have gone wrong. She enjoyed herself so much the weekend before, and she thought he had too. She was a fool to spend the night at his house, obviously. At least, thank god, she hadn't hear from her ex husband again. She had an hour to get it together before she went to the murder room for a meeting with the chief. Hopefully Andy would be out on a call, or at lunch, or maybe, if she was lucky, he'd fallen off the face of the earth all together and she just wouldn't have to deal with him at all. She sighed heavily at her last thought, knowing it wasn't nice-but really? Three days? She knew she was a bit rusty, but she wasn't THAT bad in bed.
-
Andy sat at his desk, head pounding. Maybe that last drink was one drink too many last night. Then again, wasn't there always one too many? He wanted to sleep, he felt like he was going to be sick, and worst of all, he wanted to go back out again. His partner looked over at him and rolled his eyes, a smirk creeping across his face.
"Whats wrong, pal? Stay up too late with that little redhead again?"
Andy shook his head. Sharon. Damn it. He needed to call her. "No, no. Haven't seen her since the weekend."
John raised an eyebrow. Usually it was easy to pass off Andy's drinking as a good time, but he truly looked like hell, and now he was standing beautiful women up for the bottle. "You should probably call her...and have one damn big bouquet sent her way. You haven't talked to her at all since she spent the night, Andy?"
"No, I'm sure she's been busy with her kids.. didn't want to bug her and all that." Andy rested his head against his hand, propping himself up on his desk. "I can't stay awake. I'm going to lunch. You coming?"
-
Sharon smoothed down her black pencil skirt and ran her hands over her matching blazer, making sure her pockets weren't bunched around her hips as she sashayed in to the murder room. She hoped beyond hope Andy wouldn't be there but didn't want to take her chances on not looking good if he was, either. Her hair was pulled back and pinned loosely in a half up do and her make up, as usual, was immaculate. At first glance, you'd never be able to tell she was the mother to two little ones; her appearance just didn't fit the bill sometimes. Andy, having just settled back in at his desk from lunch, immediately caught her out of the corner of his eye. "Damn it.." he muttered to himself, then stood up to greet her.
"Well, hello lieutenant Raydor," he said in a friendly enough tone.
Sharon glanced up at him, her dread over seeing him apparent on her face for the quickest moment. As soon as the look of dismay crossed her face, it was gone, replaced with a tight lipped, all business smile. "Afternoon, lieutenant Flynn. I'm here to see the chief."
Andy couldn't hide his look of disappointment. He'd obviously messed up with her this week. "Ah, of course. I'll uh..let him know you're here, ma'am."
She did like the way he said ma'am. She liked the way he said everything. Despite the fact that he was obviously a slimy bastard who was in to one night stands, he was a handsome slimy bastard. Charming, too. Sharon sighed, frustrated with herself for entertaining any of these thoughts. She gave him a once over and nodded curtly, crossing her arms.
As Sharon approached the chief's office Andy sat back down at his desk and sighed. He might as well kiss her goodbye. No way she was going to give him another chance. "Well..." he muttered, looking over at John, "THAT'S the little redhead I almost dated."
John laughed under his breath and shook his head. "You know, Andy..give up the booze a little bit and remember to call her again and you might still be able to date her."
Andy threw him a sideways glare, "Nah. I blew it." His disappointment in himself was obvious. Was the alcohol really becoming a problem? He just enjoyed going out, what was wrong with that? And yet, there was something obviously wrong with it because he'd let five and a half feet of perfect walk in to his life and right back out of it because he had a date with Jose a Johnny instead.
John cut his thoughts off as he tossed a file on his desk. "She's cute. Even if you don't date her, you should apologize somehow. Asking a woman to spend the night and dumping her on her ass is not n-i-c-e."
"I'm well aware, John," Andy grunted as he reached for the file and opened it. He began to read, but was distracted by the sound of Sharon's velvety voice radiating through the walls from the chief's office. He could hear her laughing, sighing. She sounded good.
"Well-hopefully not another late night, chief. The kids are missing food that doesn't come from a bag...but I promise, one way or another, it'll be on your desk by tomorrow afternoon." Sharon's ease with the chief took Andy off guard. He knew his chief was Sharon's mentor in the force, but her warm tone with him was such a contrast to the one she'd used with Andy it stung a bit.
Sharon walked out of the chief's office and glanced over at Andy, making eye contact with him for a brief moment. There was something sad in her eyes as she she contemplated him. She gave a small shrug and shook her head, as if admitting defeat, before she sauntered out of the murder room with her arms crossed in front of her. It was a short moment, but the gravity of it hit Andy hard. She liked him. She liked him a lot, and she'd shown him that, trusted him, and he disrespected her and hurt before he even really had the chance to know her. He shook his head, angry at himself, then grabbed one of the cordless phones and headed in to the hallway to make a phone call.
-
Sharon pulled her skirt off and threw it across her bed. It had been a long day and she had that damn report to fill out for the chief after the kids were in bed. It was already 6:30 and there was dinner to be had and baths to be given before she could even think about bed time. Sighing heavily, she grabbed a pair of police issued sweats out of her drawer and pulled them up over her slender legs. She pulled her silk top off, discarding it with her skirt on the bed, before pulling a tight fitting t-shirt on. Okay. Dinner time. What the hell was she going to make for dinner? She needed to go shopping, but that took time, which was something she'd been seriously short on lately. At least there was enough in the kitchen to make a couple more healthy meals. That would get them to the weekend.
As she headed in to the kitchen, the doorbell rang, a long and loud chime. She sighed and rushed to the door, really hoping it wasn't any kind of visitor she'd have to entertain. She looked through the peep hole, then opened the door for a young delivery boy, clad in jeans, a t-shirt, and a hat. The only thing that tipped him off as a delivery boy was the catering bag he had flung over his shoulder. "Can I help you?" She asked politely.
"Uh, yes. Are you Sharon Raydor, miss?" The boy's voice was still fairly high pitched. He couldn't be more than twelve or thirteen. What on earth was he doing working?
Sharon nodded her head, quickly losing patience, "Yes, I am. Can I help you?"
The boy blushed furiously and grabbed for the catering bag, handing her a note from the front pocket. "This is a special delivery from a friend. He says don't worry, he doesn't often use me for child labor, and he hopes you enjoy the dinner." Before Sharon could protest, the boy shoved the note and catering bag into her hands and turned around to walk away. If she wasn't so flabbergasted she might have thought to go after him. Instead, she slammed the door and set the bag down on the dining room table, grabbing for her card.
Dear Sharon, x p.s. The kid is my nephew. No one's violating any child labor laws, so stop contemplating who you need to arrest.
I'm an ass. I should have called you three days ago. I know its late, but I wanted to say I enjoyed every moment with you, and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I'm sorry I blew it.
I gathered from your meeting today you'd probably be working tonight. I made dinner for you and the kids-all homemade, and there's even macaroni and cheese so maybe they'll eat it (and of course something green for you).
You looked stunning today. Can't say I'm sorry enough.
Andy
Sharon smiled despite herself. She was still mad at him, most definitely, but this was a nice gesture. She looked over the card one more time, then set it down so she could open the catering bag. Inside there was a bowl of macaroni and cheese, a large chicken and mozzarella salad, some garlic bread, mixed vegetables, and a small chocolate cake. She was shocked. She'd never expected him to remember her favorite kind of salad, much less her kids' favorite food. How could he be so thoughtful and such an ass all at once? She sighed, completely exasperated, then set the table for dinner with her kids.
-
The next day Andy came in to the murder room to find a memo on his desk, clearly marked IA.
Dear Lieutenant Flynn, -S.
While food (especially Italian) is one of many avenues to my heart, not calling me back is not. Dinner was sweet, thank you for it. We need to talk about what happened. I'm still mad at you... Coffee at 4?
Andy folded the memo up and shoved it in to his brief case with a sigh of relief. Maybe he hadn't messed this up completely after all.