"Alliances" - Hobbs/Raydor Fic
Title: Alliances
Pairing: Hobbs/Raydor, Rusty
Rating: R - for reference to canon violence
Word Count: 2, 668 words
Disclaimer: Not my characters or television show.
A/N: Many thanks to redrockcan for her encouragement and to rococoms for her suggestions and encouragement. This fic takes place after season one episode nine, Cheaters Never Prosper.
“Hobbs,” Andrea’s voice was groggy and slightly annoyed as she answered her cell in the middle of the night.
Silence. Andrea checked the caller I.D on her cell and sat up properly in bed when she saw who was calling her. “Sharon? Is everything alright?”
“Hi…” Andrea heard the other woman take a deep, shaky breath. It sounded like she had been crying. “Um, I know it’s really late -“
“I’m coming over,” Andrea said as she stumbled haphazardly out of bed, looking frantically for a pair of jeans to throw on. “Are you okay? Is Rusty okay?” she repeated, panic rising in her chest. She could sense the other woman’s distress;it was unlike Sharon to be so shaken. In all the time that she had known her, she’d never heard such a defeated, helpless tone colour her voice.
“Daniel hit Rusty. He’s home now, he’s safe, but I need-“
“I’m coming over,” Andrea repeated. “I’ll bring his case info, I’ve got a copy of it here at the apartment.”
“Thank you,” Sharon said. “I’m sorry it’s so late, “ she apologized again.
“Don’t be sorry. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Twenty-one minutes later, Sharon opened the door to her apartment to reveal a rumpled looking Andrea Hobbs, clad in jeans and a slightly worn sweater. In one hand she held her brief case, she reached for Sharon with the other.
Sharon wrapped her arms tightly around the younger woman, shaking with the effort to hold in her sobs. Over the top of Sharon’s head, Andrea could see Rusty sitting on the couch, absently plucking the edge of one of Sharon’s throw pillows. His lip was split and puffy, as was the skin around his eye and jaw; she could see the temporary bandages that Sharon had secured his wounds with.
“Thank you,” Sharon whispered softly as she pulled back from their brief embrace. Andrea could see how red and puffy her eyes were, how deep the worry lines around her eyes were and she had to bite the inside of her lip to stop herself from kissing her, from holding her properly. Rusty was certainly not ignorant to their relationship, a comment here and a remark there had proved that much, but now was not the time for that. She would have to comfort her lover later; right now she had to be strong and clear-minded for the both of them.
Andrea moved into the living room, sitting next to Rusty on the couch but allowing him just enough space as well. She could see the angry tension in his stiff posture and clenched jaw.
“Hey Rusty,” she said softly, “do you think you’d be willing to tell me what happened tonight?” Rusty clenched his jaw harder and crossed his arms across the decorative pillow. Sharon sat opposite them on the single chair.
“I called Andrea because she is very familiar with your case, and because I trust her implicitly. I wanted her to advise you of your options and your legal rights should Daniel come back here. And, also because I don’t quite trust myself not to drive over to his home and shoot him right between the eyes,” Sharon ground out the last words with barely concealed rage.
Andrea regarded Rusty carefully. Slowly, his clenched jaw loosened as well as his grip on the pillow. “What details do you need?” he responded after a while.
Andrea opened her brief case to retrieve a pen and notepad. “Just the basic chain of events for now. Take your time,” she said reassuringly. “I need to know what Daniel’s actions were more than yours.”
“Well, I’m sure that you can pretty much guess what his actions were,” he gestured to his face bitterly. “We had an argument about my past profession,” the words were spat out with equal bitterness, “he took me outside and did this. I ran. Grabbed a cab, and came back here.”
“Did you defend yourself at all?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
Andrea nodded her head slowly. “Okay,” she paused, “Rusty, we’re going to need to take some photos of your injuries, if that is alright with you?”
“I took some when Rusty came home,” Sharon said, handing Andrea her cell. Andrea browsed through the photos that Sharon had taken, her heart clenched with horror at the violence that the teen had been confronted with tonight, but also with considerable pride that her lover had remained calm enough to properly document everything. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for Sharon to have remained professional and methodical, even now she could see how tense the older woman was from trying to hold in all of her anger and hurt.
“Well these are definitely proof enough for you to press charges, and to win. I can put him away for child abuse, and let me say that I will be happy to put him away for a long, long time. He’ll have a criminal record of course, which will stay with him for the rest of his life-“
“No,” Rusty said. “No, I don’t want that.”
Andrea was taken aback slightly by his reaction. “Rusty, this man, what he did to you, “ she took a breath, surveying the damage across his face and jaw, “It’s illegal and I am putting him away for it.” She could feel the anger rise in her voice, she was finding it difficult to keep her personal feelings out of this one. Knowing and working with Rusty all these months, she’d grown fond of the young man, she enjoyed his company and enjoyed the few chances she got to spend time with him out of work, and out of her legal obligations to him. She’d discovered that he was very creative, that he loved chess and poetry, he was a talented cook and had a wonderful sense of humor. How anyone could lay a hand on him in anger was beyond her.
“Please,” he implored, “I just want him to go away. I don’t want to testify, I don’t want this dragged out. I mean, you haven’t even brought me in to testify against Stroh yet!” he shouted. “So, what, I’m supposed to let these two investigations go on for the next few years of my life? Spend my afternoons recounting the wonderful memories of these two jerks beating the crap out of me to a bunch of lawyers?”
The silence that followed his outburst was deafening. Andrea looked to Sharon for support, but Sharon was staring intensely at Rusty.
“You don’t have to have him arrested,” Sharon said. “There are other options.” She looked directly at Andrea.
“Sharon, Rusty, this man deserves to be put in a prison cell, anything less than that is simply not justifiable,” she implored.
“And how long will that take?” Sharon asked. “Realistically, how long will it get dragged out for? His fiancée has money, lots of it. She will hire an entire legal team who will jerk both you and Rusty around for the next few years before finally agreeing on a settlement, he will do no time. Andrea, you’re an amazing lawyer. And I have no doubt that you will argue a solid case on Rusty’s behalf, but, at the end of the day, you and I are far too familiar with the flaws of our legal system to pretend that this can be wrapped up in a few days time.”
“Is there no other option?” Rusty asked, defeated. “Or do I get to look forward to this sort of father-son bonding until I’m eighteen?”
“There is another option,” Andrea conceded. “Were he to sign away his parental rights, you would become a ward of the state. He would have no legal claim over you.”
“And how exactly would that be a better option?” he asked.
“You could choose to remain here, with Sharon as your foster parent. Were he to prove to be an unfit parent, DCFS would have no choice but to allow you to keep your current living arrangements.”
Andrea waited patiently as Rusty absorbed his options. She could tell that he loved living with Sharon, it was clear that he wanted to stay here; Sharon had given him the first home he’d ever known.
“What exactly would I have to do, were I to agree to this option?” he asked carefully.
Andrea and Sharon shared a look. “It’s entirely possible that he will come back to speak with me,” Sharon said. “I would assume that he will want me to set up a meeting with the two of you, perhaps even try to talk his way out of what he’s done.”
“That’s your chance to get him to confess,” Andrea said. “If you can record a confession from him, we’ve leverage. We can threaten to arrest him if he doesn’t agree to sign away his parental rights. Sharon, if he does ask for you to arrange a meeting with Rusty, do it -“
“No,” Rusty said, shaking his head. “I don’t want to see that asshole ever again.”
“Rusty, I cannot even begin to imagine what you’ve been through this evening, and if I could go back and erase this whole evening, I would. But, I can’t, I can work with Andrea, and the rest of the Major Crimes division to ensure that he never touches you again,” Sharon said. “I know that I am asking so much of you, but you’re such a strong young man, and I know that seeing him again is going to be terrible, but I promise you that you won’t be alone.” Sharon reached for his hand and squeezed it protectively.
“We can have the team stay with you while you confront him, if that’s alright with you,” Andrea added. “There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, I would suggest that versus a solo confrontation; you can have Andy, Amy, and the others all sign on as witnesses.”
“Okay,” Rusty sighed, “Okay, I’ll do it.”
“I’ll have the appropriate paperwork drawn up and delivered to you tomorrow,” Andrea said to Sharon.
“I’ll speak with Lt. Provenza and have him brief the rest of the team about the plan, if that’s aright Rusty?” Rusty nodded his approval.
“Rusty, if he calls you tomorrow, don’t answer,” Andrea said. “Sharon can’t record a conversation over the phone, and this will work best if we have a recorded admission of guilt.
“Got it,” he said. “If we’re all done here, I’d like to go to bed now,” he stood, “thank you,” he mumbled.
“I put two painkillers next to a glass of water on your night table,” Sharon said, rising to stand next to him, “take them now, they’ll help with the soreness.”
“Yeah,” he said. Sharon pulled him into a protective embrace, much like the one she had enveloped him in yesterday. He felt her trembling slightly and he hugged her back tightly.
“I’m not letting him ever hurt you again,” she promised. Wordlessly, he parted from her and shuffled off to his room. Only when both women heard the door close did Sharon let out a choked sob.
“Come here,” Andrea whispered. Sharon all but collapsed onto the couch and into Andrea’s fierce embrace.
“I shouldn’t have let him go. I didn’t want to, I should have followed my instinct.” Sharon’s sobs fell against Andrea’s shoulder and neck, her tears flowed freely for the first time tonight.
“You couldn’t have known,” Andrea said, her hands rubbed up and down Sharon’s back, “there was no way to guess that his father was an abusive prick.”
“I feel like I let him down, like I abandoned him,” Sharon confessed. “I should have been there to protect him, and I wasn’t.”
“You’re here, you can still protect him. We’re going to get a confession out of Daniel and remove him from Rusty’s life. If it were up to me, I’d arrest and arrange a trial for the son of a bitch right now,” Andrea growled.
“We can’t do that, we have to respect Rusty’s wishes,”
Andrea sighed, “I know. And I will, I will have the copy of the form sent to your office first thing in the morning,” she promised. Andrea kissed the top of Sharon’s head to seal the deal. Sharon turned in her arms to kiss her properly.
“Thank you,” she said against her lips between kisses, “You were the first person I thought to call.”
“I’m glad that you called,” Andrea said. “If that bastard had come here looking for you, and no one knew that he posed a threat to you…” Andrea couldn’t bear to finish her sentence. The thought of anyone going after Sharon was far too painful to consider. Ever since her transfer to Major Crimes, and her introduction back into the field, Andrea had been in a panic each time Sharon answered a call or went to a crime scene.
“I’m fine,” Sharon insisted, sensing the tension in Andrea’s body.
“Sometimes I really wish that you weren’t a cop,” Andrea said, wiping Sharon’s tears. “You have no idea how hard it is to remain cool and unaffected whenever I hear about a case in your district.”
“And you have no idea how hard it was not to shot that bastard who was hired to kill you with a real gun,” Sharon said fiercely. “I had half a mind to go back to my car and grab something else to kill him with.” Andrea’s brush with death last year had shaken them, prompting both women to finally come clean about their feelings for each other. “When I saw you in the hospital, I couldn’t decide whether to kill you myself or kiss you in front of everyone.”
Andrea chuckled, “Well, I am very glad that you didn’t opt for shooting me, I don’t think that I could have handled being shot at twice in one day. Especially not if the second gunman happened to be the beautiful cop I’d been eyeing forever.”
“Well it’s good to know that it only took you getting shot to finally ask me out,” Sharon said, half serious, half teasing. Andrea rolled her eyes, in both embarrassment and resignation.
“In my defense, you were hardly easy to talk to when you were first brought over. I needed those painkillers to loosen my inhibitions, I don’t think that I could have handled your rejection sober,” Andrea said.
Sharon kissed her soundly. “No way I’d have rejected an invitation to dinner from you. I was just a bit focused on the job, on trying to fix the department, perhaps a little too focused.”
“You? Work-obsessed?” Andrea said mockingly.
Sharon glared at her. “You’re one to talk.”
They fell into an easy, comfortable silence. Andrea continued to rub Sharon’s tense shoulders and back, Sharon snuggled deeper into their embrace, feeling her eyelids become heavy; the day’s events were starting to take a toll on her already exhausted body.
“It’s late, you need to get to bed. It’s been a rough night for you as well. Do you want me to stay here?” Andrea asked after a while.
“Yes,” Sharon said. “Please,” she added.
“Okay, let’s get you in bed.” Andrea guided Sharon up from the couch, down the hall, and into the master bedroom. Andrea made
to retrieve Sharon’s sleepwear but was tugged down onto the bed.
“I’m fine in this,” she insisted. “I just want to hold you, and to be held by you,” she said shyly. Andrea complied, surprised and humbled by Sharon’s admission; it wasn’t like her to admit needing anyone or anything.
“I’m here,” Andrea kissed the words into Sharon’s t-shirt clad shoulder.
Sharon drifted off, safe in the knowledge that both her lover and her pseudo-son were safe and under her roof once more. The rest of it, Daniel and the world of legal technicalities that he brought along with him, they would face it all, in the morning.
Pairing: Hobbs/Raydor, Rusty
Rating: R - for reference to canon violence
Word Count: 2, 668 words
Disclaimer: Not my characters or television show.
A/N: Many thanks to redrockcan for her encouragement and to rococoms for her suggestions and encouragement. This fic takes place after season one episode nine, Cheaters Never Prosper.
“Hobbs,” Andrea’s voice was groggy and slightly annoyed as she answered her cell in the middle of the night.
Silence. Andrea checked the caller I.D on her cell and sat up properly in bed when she saw who was calling her. “Sharon? Is everything alright?”
“Hi…” Andrea heard the other woman take a deep, shaky breath. It sounded like she had been crying. “Um, I know it’s really late -“
“I’m coming over,” Andrea said as she stumbled haphazardly out of bed, looking frantically for a pair of jeans to throw on. “Are you okay? Is Rusty okay?” she repeated, panic rising in her chest. She could sense the other woman’s distress;it was unlike Sharon to be so shaken. In all the time that she had known her, she’d never heard such a defeated, helpless tone colour her voice.
“Daniel hit Rusty. He’s home now, he’s safe, but I need-“
“I’m coming over,” Andrea repeated. “I’ll bring his case info, I’ve got a copy of it here at the apartment.”
“Thank you,” Sharon said. “I’m sorry it’s so late, “ she apologized again.
“Don’t be sorry. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Twenty-one minutes later, Sharon opened the door to her apartment to reveal a rumpled looking Andrea Hobbs, clad in jeans and a slightly worn sweater. In one hand she held her brief case, she reached for Sharon with the other.
Sharon wrapped her arms tightly around the younger woman, shaking with the effort to hold in her sobs. Over the top of Sharon’s head, Andrea could see Rusty sitting on the couch, absently plucking the edge of one of Sharon’s throw pillows. His lip was split and puffy, as was the skin around his eye and jaw; she could see the temporary bandages that Sharon had secured his wounds with.
“Thank you,” Sharon whispered softly as she pulled back from their brief embrace. Andrea could see how red and puffy her eyes were, how deep the worry lines around her eyes were and she had to bite the inside of her lip to stop herself from kissing her, from holding her properly. Rusty was certainly not ignorant to their relationship, a comment here and a remark there had proved that much, but now was not the time for that. She would have to comfort her lover later; right now she had to be strong and clear-minded for the both of them.
Andrea moved into the living room, sitting next to Rusty on the couch but allowing him just enough space as well. She could see the angry tension in his stiff posture and clenched jaw.
“Hey Rusty,” she said softly, “do you think you’d be willing to tell me what happened tonight?” Rusty clenched his jaw harder and crossed his arms across the decorative pillow. Sharon sat opposite them on the single chair.
“I called Andrea because she is very familiar with your case, and because I trust her implicitly. I wanted her to advise you of your options and your legal rights should Daniel come back here. And, also because I don’t quite trust myself not to drive over to his home and shoot him right between the eyes,” Sharon ground out the last words with barely concealed rage.
Andrea regarded Rusty carefully. Slowly, his clenched jaw loosened as well as his grip on the pillow. “What details do you need?” he responded after a while.
Andrea opened her brief case to retrieve a pen and notepad. “Just the basic chain of events for now. Take your time,” she said reassuringly. “I need to know what Daniel’s actions were more than yours.”
“Well, I’m sure that you can pretty much guess what his actions were,” he gestured to his face bitterly. “We had an argument about my past profession,” the words were spat out with equal bitterness, “he took me outside and did this. I ran. Grabbed a cab, and came back here.”
“Did you defend yourself at all?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
Andrea nodded her head slowly. “Okay,” she paused, “Rusty, we’re going to need to take some photos of your injuries, if that is alright with you?”
“I took some when Rusty came home,” Sharon said, handing Andrea her cell. Andrea browsed through the photos that Sharon had taken, her heart clenched with horror at the violence that the teen had been confronted with tonight, but also with considerable pride that her lover had remained calm enough to properly document everything. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for Sharon to have remained professional and methodical, even now she could see how tense the older woman was from trying to hold in all of her anger and hurt.
“Well these are definitely proof enough for you to press charges, and to win. I can put him away for child abuse, and let me say that I will be happy to put him away for a long, long time. He’ll have a criminal record of course, which will stay with him for the rest of his life-“
“No,” Rusty said. “No, I don’t want that.”
Andrea was taken aback slightly by his reaction. “Rusty, this man, what he did to you, “ she took a breath, surveying the damage across his face and jaw, “It’s illegal and I am putting him away for it.” She could feel the anger rise in her voice, she was finding it difficult to keep her personal feelings out of this one. Knowing and working with Rusty all these months, she’d grown fond of the young man, she enjoyed his company and enjoyed the few chances she got to spend time with him out of work, and out of her legal obligations to him. She’d discovered that he was very creative, that he loved chess and poetry, he was a talented cook and had a wonderful sense of humor. How anyone could lay a hand on him in anger was beyond her.
“Please,” he implored, “I just want him to go away. I don’t want to testify, I don’t want this dragged out. I mean, you haven’t even brought me in to testify against Stroh yet!” he shouted. “So, what, I’m supposed to let these two investigations go on for the next few years of my life? Spend my afternoons recounting the wonderful memories of these two jerks beating the crap out of me to a bunch of lawyers?”
The silence that followed his outburst was deafening. Andrea looked to Sharon for support, but Sharon was staring intensely at Rusty.
“You don’t have to have him arrested,” Sharon said. “There are other options.” She looked directly at Andrea.
“Sharon, Rusty, this man deserves to be put in a prison cell, anything less than that is simply not justifiable,” she implored.
“And how long will that take?” Sharon asked. “Realistically, how long will it get dragged out for? His fiancée has money, lots of it. She will hire an entire legal team who will jerk both you and Rusty around for the next few years before finally agreeing on a settlement, he will do no time. Andrea, you’re an amazing lawyer. And I have no doubt that you will argue a solid case on Rusty’s behalf, but, at the end of the day, you and I are far too familiar with the flaws of our legal system to pretend that this can be wrapped up in a few days time.”
“Is there no other option?” Rusty asked, defeated. “Or do I get to look forward to this sort of father-son bonding until I’m eighteen?”
“There is another option,” Andrea conceded. “Were he to sign away his parental rights, you would become a ward of the state. He would have no legal claim over you.”
“And how exactly would that be a better option?” he asked.
“You could choose to remain here, with Sharon as your foster parent. Were he to prove to be an unfit parent, DCFS would have no choice but to allow you to keep your current living arrangements.”
Andrea waited patiently as Rusty absorbed his options. She could tell that he loved living with Sharon, it was clear that he wanted to stay here; Sharon had given him the first home he’d ever known.
“What exactly would I have to do, were I to agree to this option?” he asked carefully.
Andrea and Sharon shared a look. “It’s entirely possible that he will come back to speak with me,” Sharon said. “I would assume that he will want me to set up a meeting with the two of you, perhaps even try to talk his way out of what he’s done.”
“That’s your chance to get him to confess,” Andrea said. “If you can record a confession from him, we’ve leverage. We can threaten to arrest him if he doesn’t agree to sign away his parental rights. Sharon, if he does ask for you to arrange a meeting with Rusty, do it -“
“No,” Rusty said, shaking his head. “I don’t want to see that asshole ever again.”
“Rusty, I cannot even begin to imagine what you’ve been through this evening, and if I could go back and erase this whole evening, I would. But, I can’t, I can work with Andrea, and the rest of the Major Crimes division to ensure that he never touches you again,” Sharon said. “I know that I am asking so much of you, but you’re such a strong young man, and I know that seeing him again is going to be terrible, but I promise you that you won’t be alone.” Sharon reached for his hand and squeezed it protectively.
“We can have the team stay with you while you confront him, if that’s alright with you,” Andrea added. “There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, I would suggest that versus a solo confrontation; you can have Andy, Amy, and the others all sign on as witnesses.”
“Okay,” Rusty sighed, “Okay, I’ll do it.”
“I’ll have the appropriate paperwork drawn up and delivered to you tomorrow,” Andrea said to Sharon.
“I’ll speak with Lt. Provenza and have him brief the rest of the team about the plan, if that’s aright Rusty?” Rusty nodded his approval.
“Rusty, if he calls you tomorrow, don’t answer,” Andrea said. “Sharon can’t record a conversation over the phone, and this will work best if we have a recorded admission of guilt.
“Got it,” he said. “If we’re all done here, I’d like to go to bed now,” he stood, “thank you,” he mumbled.
“I put two painkillers next to a glass of water on your night table,” Sharon said, rising to stand next to him, “take them now, they’ll help with the soreness.”
“Yeah,” he said. Sharon pulled him into a protective embrace, much like the one she had enveloped him in yesterday. He felt her trembling slightly and he hugged her back tightly.
“I’m not letting him ever hurt you again,” she promised. Wordlessly, he parted from her and shuffled off to his room. Only when both women heard the door close did Sharon let out a choked sob.
“Come here,” Andrea whispered. Sharon all but collapsed onto the couch and into Andrea’s fierce embrace.
“I shouldn’t have let him go. I didn’t want to, I should have followed my instinct.” Sharon’s sobs fell against Andrea’s shoulder and neck, her tears flowed freely for the first time tonight.
“You couldn’t have known,” Andrea said, her hands rubbed up and down Sharon’s back, “there was no way to guess that his father was an abusive prick.”
“I feel like I let him down, like I abandoned him,” Sharon confessed. “I should have been there to protect him, and I wasn’t.”
“You’re here, you can still protect him. We’re going to get a confession out of Daniel and remove him from Rusty’s life. If it were up to me, I’d arrest and arrange a trial for the son of a bitch right now,” Andrea growled.
“We can’t do that, we have to respect Rusty’s wishes,”
Andrea sighed, “I know. And I will, I will have the copy of the form sent to your office first thing in the morning,” she promised. Andrea kissed the top of Sharon’s head to seal the deal. Sharon turned in her arms to kiss her properly.
“Thank you,” she said against her lips between kisses, “You were the first person I thought to call.”
“I’m glad that you called,” Andrea said. “If that bastard had come here looking for you, and no one knew that he posed a threat to you…” Andrea couldn’t bear to finish her sentence. The thought of anyone going after Sharon was far too painful to consider. Ever since her transfer to Major Crimes, and her introduction back into the field, Andrea had been in a panic each time Sharon answered a call or went to a crime scene.
“I’m fine,” Sharon insisted, sensing the tension in Andrea’s body.
“Sometimes I really wish that you weren’t a cop,” Andrea said, wiping Sharon’s tears. “You have no idea how hard it is to remain cool and unaffected whenever I hear about a case in your district.”
“And you have no idea how hard it was not to shot that bastard who was hired to kill you with a real gun,” Sharon said fiercely. “I had half a mind to go back to my car and grab something else to kill him with.” Andrea’s brush with death last year had shaken them, prompting both women to finally come clean about their feelings for each other. “When I saw you in the hospital, I couldn’t decide whether to kill you myself or kiss you in front of everyone.”
Andrea chuckled, “Well, I am very glad that you didn’t opt for shooting me, I don’t think that I could have handled being shot at twice in one day. Especially not if the second gunman happened to be the beautiful cop I’d been eyeing forever.”
“Well it’s good to know that it only took you getting shot to finally ask me out,” Sharon said, half serious, half teasing. Andrea rolled her eyes, in both embarrassment and resignation.
“In my defense, you were hardly easy to talk to when you were first brought over. I needed those painkillers to loosen my inhibitions, I don’t think that I could have handled your rejection sober,” Andrea said.
Sharon kissed her soundly. “No way I’d have rejected an invitation to dinner from you. I was just a bit focused on the job, on trying to fix the department, perhaps a little too focused.”
“You? Work-obsessed?” Andrea said mockingly.
Sharon glared at her. “You’re one to talk.”
They fell into an easy, comfortable silence. Andrea continued to rub Sharon’s tense shoulders and back, Sharon snuggled deeper into their embrace, feeling her eyelids become heavy; the day’s events were starting to take a toll on her already exhausted body.
“It’s late, you need to get to bed. It’s been a rough night for you as well. Do you want me to stay here?” Andrea asked after a while.
“Yes,” Sharon said. “Please,” she added.
“Okay, let’s get you in bed.” Andrea guided Sharon up from the couch, down the hall, and into the master bedroom. Andrea made
to retrieve Sharon’s sleepwear but was tugged down onto the bed.
“I’m fine in this,” she insisted. “I just want to hold you, and to be held by you,” she said shyly. Andrea complied, surprised and humbled by Sharon’s admission; it wasn’t like her to admit needing anyone or anything.
“I’m here,” Andrea kissed the words into Sharon’s t-shirt clad shoulder.
Sharon drifted off, safe in the knowledge that both her lover and her pseudo-son were safe and under her roof once more. The rest of it, Daniel and the world of legal technicalities that he brought along with him, they would face it all, in the morning.