"Life's a Beach (1/4)" - Hobbs/Raydor Fic (sequel to Catch the Wave)
Title: Life's a Beach (1/4) - sequel to Catch the Wave (it's necessary to read this first!)
Co-author: sharon_ray
Pairing: Hobbs/Raydor, Rusty,
Rating: T
Word Count: 2, 375
Disclaimer: Not our characters or television show
A/N: rococoms is at it again, sending us irresistible prompts! This time she asked for: Follow up fic. Rusty stressed about trial. Sharon stressed about Rusty. Andrea takes Sharon and Rusty to Hawaii or Catalina for vacation. Return of the big floppy hat. She buys Andrea one after she gets burned in the sun. Pool bars. Cabanas. Hikes through rainforest. We hope you like it! As always, thanks to my co-author of awesome.
The hand on Rusty’s shoulder caused him to jerk backwards violently. He yanked his headphones off and looked up to find Andrea standing by his desk, hands held up in surrender.
“Sorry!” she apologized hastily, “I knocked but you didn’t answer. Your music was so loud I could hear it from outside the door. Dinner’s ready,” she informed him.
He shrugged at her. “Uh, okay,” he said with no real enthusiasm.
Andrea frowned at his uncharacteristic response. Friday night dinner was her tradition with Sharon and Rusty. They always either came over to her home in Malibu or she drove over to their condo as a prequel to his Saturday surfing lessons with Andrea’s nephew, Justin. Rusty was usually far more excited than he was this evening; in fact, he often helped to prepare dinner. He and Andrea had made it their own little tradition to cook for Sharon on Friday nights; Rusty liked being able to do little things like that for Sharon, to show his appreciation for her, and Andrea just loved being able to have something to bond with Rusty over. She’d always loved cooking, and having had no children of her own, and nephews that were completely disinterested in meal preparation, it was refreshing to finally have someone she could pass on her recipes to.
“I made your favourite,” she tried instead, “beef lasagna. Extra cheese. Made it fresh this morning so I could bring it over tonight.” She smiled at him, hoping to elicit a more enthusiastic response. Normally they prepared the meal together, but both she and Sharon had anticipated a late evening so she’d gotten up a two hours earlier than normal to prepare the dish so all she had to do at Sharon’s was pop it in the oven.
Instead, he shrugged again, giving her a half-hearted smile. “Thanks Andrea. That’s great,” he mumbled as he shuffled after her to Sharon’s kitchen. Andrea frowned again; something was up, and it drove her crazy that she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
***
Sharon nuzzled the skin of Andrea’s collarbone and neck while she wrapped her legs around Andrea’s hips. Sharon was always freezing, whereas Andrea was always warm; the thermostat in the condo was kept slightly warmer than Andrea would prefer which meant that she often slept in just a tank top and shorts at Sharon’s while Sharon wore a full length nightgown or pajama set. Still, Sharon was often cold when she slept, and having Andrea’s warm body in the bed with her while she slept was becoming more of a necessity in the last few months that they’d been together.
“Sharon, your nose is freezing,” Andrea shivered as Sharon’s button-nose nudged the warmth of Andrea’s neck.
“I’m cold,” Sharon said, exasperated, “warm me up,” she said, her tone out rightly flirtatious.
“Rusty is down the hall, and he’s still awake,” she reminded Sharon amusedly; Sharon huffed in response. They certainly never hid the fact that when they spent the night at each other’s homes, they shared the bed, nor did they hide their affection from Rusty when they were with him. But, there were certain things that they didn’t necessarily want to risk the teen overhearing.
Sharon hitched her leg higher, and pivoted Andrea so that she moved from her position laying on her back, to facing Sharon. In this position, Andrea could wrap her arms around the brunette more fully. “Mmm, that’s better,” Sharon sighed as Andrea ran her hands up and down her back. Sharon nuzzled her nose further into the crook of Andrea’s neck and sighed contentedly.
“Sharon...honey, what’s up with Rusty?” Andrea asked quietly as she fiddled with the waistband of Sharon’s pajama bottoms resting against her back. “He’s seemed so distracted lately. Did something happen at school? Did someone say something to him?” She couldn’t help the protectiveness that coiled deep in her belly, she’d come to care about Rusty’s well being not just as Sharon’s foster son, but as someone she’d started to deeply love and worry about; as a member of her own family.
Sharon pulled away from her slightly to look at her and pulled the covers up further around her body. “It’s this trial,” she said, sighing, “he’s being asked to relive everything that he’s trying so desperately to put behind him. And he won’t talk to me about it,” she said, voice cracking, “and I have to respect his need for privacy, but it breaks my heart Andrea. I thought we’d come so far, and this whole trial is dragging us backwards. On one hand, I want Rusty to testify so we can lock Stroh away for good, on the other hand, I want to do everything I can to stop him from having to testify. I don’t know what to do.” Sharon allowed Andrea to pull her close, she accepted the kisses that her younger partner placed across her furrowed brow.
“I know that you want to respect his need for privacy, but do you think him talking about it will help?” Andrea asked gently as she went back to rubbing Sharon’s back. “Or do you think that it’ll just lead to him never having a break from it? Is that maybe what he needs... a break? Is there some way we can just get his mind off it entirely?”
Sharon sighed deeply. “I don’t know. I wish, I wish he would talk to me. Every time I try and talk to him he gets cold and he closes himself up.”
“I know you want to fix it for him, but you can’t, you can’t change his past,“ she whispered, hugging Sharon close. “Talking about it may just be too painful for him. What you’re doing by giving him a loving home and your unconditional support is going to mean the world and make the difference as to whether or not Rusty makes it through this, Sharon. You’re doing everything you can, and you’re doing everything right. He knows that you’re there for him, and that you’ll still be there for him when he’s ready to talk about it.” She kissed Sharon gently and ran her fingers through her hair, wishing she could make the situation better for her. As much as Sharon wanted to fix things for Rusty, Andrea wanted to fix things for Sharon too; she hated seeing both of them so stressed out.
Sharon hugged Andrea tighter. “Thank you,” she whispered against Andrea’s neck and shoulder.
“Don’t thank me. I love you, I love Rusty, it’s my job to worry about you both and to want to keep you both safe.”
Sharon grinned against Andrea’s skin, she loved how protective Andrea was of her and her kids. Even though her two children were grown and living on their own, Andrea still sent frequent emails and texts to them, just to check in and make sure they were happy and safe. “I love you, too.” Sharon said simply, ghosting her lips along Andrea’s collarbone. Content with Andrea’s responses, Sharon settled into her side and closed her eyes, allowing the exhaustion from the day to overtake her tired body.
***
“Sharon’s here!” Rusty called out as he opened Andrea’s front door to let his foster mother in. “You’re late,” he told her unnecessarily. Andrea had picked him up from chess after school today and taken him home with her, Sharon had warned them both she needed to stay later at the office for a meeting.
“I know,” she said, “I’m sorry, my meeting with Taylor went a lot longer than I had anticipated.”
“It’s okay, Rusty and I have decided no dessert for you,” Andrea said over her shoulder as Sharon and Rusty made their way into her kitchen. “And that’s unfortunate because we made your favourite.” She was hunched over a large pizza tray with the sleeves of her casual at-home blouse rolled up, kneading the raw pizza dough out. Rusty took up his place next to her at the other tray, sprinkling cheese and assorted chopped vegetables out across the dough.
Sharon looped her arms around Andrea’s waist casually. “I’m sorry,” she said again, kissing Andrea’s clothed shoulder. Andrea turned her head to catch Sharon’s lips in a brief kiss. Sharon eyed the apple pie sitting on the counter. “But you wouldn’t deny an old, feeble woman her very favourite dessert, would you?” she said raising her eyebrows and pouting.
Rusty laughed. “That’s the worst line I’ve ever heard, Sharon.”
“Yeah, and it’s not working on me,” Andrea said.
Sharon smacked Andrea playfully and sighed. “You’re both mean. I’m going to change my clothes,” she chided before she stalked out of the kitchen in mock anger. Rusty grinned as he heard her laughing down the hall. This evening almost felt normal, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the trial, despite how hard he tried to stop them from ending up there. Emma had interviewed him again yesterday, had forced him to recount, again, the details of how Stroh had broken into Brenda Leigh Johnson’s kitchen and attacked them both.
He sighed quietly to himself as Stroh took up occupancy in his head once again. He wished he could focus on chess or swimming with his friends or the hiking trip through the hills Sharon and Andrea had promised him and Justin after surfing lessons tomorrow. It seemed no matter what he tried, all roads led back to Stroh and that fateful night in Brenda’s kitchen.
It wasn’t long before Sharon re-appeared, clad in a dark red sweatshirt and black yoga pants, her feet tucked into her UGGs. Andrea laughed as she took in the sight of her girlfriend clad in winter wear in the middle of summer, but Sharon was always freezing at Andrea’s house. Sharon rested her hands on Rusty’s shoulders, content to be as close to him as he would allow. “Anything I can help with, or have I been banned from the kitchen as well?”
Rusty reached around and flung an arm over her shoulder, happy to be in her embrace. Words were hard with Sharon, but her touch was comforting. “No, you’re not banned. You can cut up the peppers if you want any on the pizza,” he muttered, pointing to a pile of sweet red peppers on the other side of the counter.
Andrea watched them both out of the corner of her eye as they chatted and held each other. She adored seeing them this way; she loved the easy domesticity they had all fallen into. Sharon reveled in being a mom, that much was obvious, and she was so good at it; being Rusty’s mom came to Sharon naturally as breathing did. She smiled and kissed Sharon quickly on the cheek as she walked by to begin her job of cutting the rest of the vegetables. Andrea hoped that what she had planned would give them both the break they deserved.
With the pizzas put carefully into the oven, and the three of them sitting at Andrea’s table, drinks in hand, she decided to bring up her big surprise.
“So, I have something exciting I wanted to talk to you both about,” she said. Rusty sat up a little straighter in his chair, Sharon quirked her eyebrow at her. “I was thinking that the three of us need a vacation. And I don’t just mean time off of work and school spent at home; I mean a real vacation. Let’s get out of LA and do something different for a bit.” She held her breath as she took in the reaction from both of her guests. Rusty was grinning excitedly, whereas Sharon was wearing her poker face.
“Really?” he asked. “Oh my god, when, where? Andrea this is so cool!” he exclaimed.
Andrea smiled at him. “I was thinking Hawaii. You can go surfing, and it’s warm enough that Sharon can leave her UGGs at home,” she winked at Sharon, “there’s the beach, delicious food, gorgeous hiking trails...”
“For quite a price,” Sharon interjected. “A trip to Hawaii at this time of year is insanely expensive, and how long did you want to go for Andrea? How are we going to get the time off? What about Rusty’s studies?”
“I have two years worth of personal days that I have just been waiting to cash in, and knowing you Sharon, you probably have even more than I,” she narrowed her eyes at Sharon, “and don’t worry about the cost. I am taking you and Rusty on vacation.”
“Wow, Andrea that’s -”
“Absolutely not, you are not spending that sort of cash-”
Both Rusty and Sharon clamored for the blonde’s attention.
“Enough. Rusty, we will work out a time that is best with your teachers; you are going to have to do some extra work before we go so that you’re not behind when you get back. Sharon, Provenza has already hinted that he wouldn’t mind taking over for a week-”
“You ran this by Provenza before running it by me?” Sharon asked quietly. Andrea pursed her lips.
“I hinted that I was thinking of taking some time off, and he correctly assumed that I meant you as well. He mentioned that if need be, he’d be happy to run the show for you,” she said defensively. This was not how she’d hoped her announcement would go.
Sharon nodded her head and got up to check on the pizza in the oven. She didn’t quite know why she was reacting the way she was, Andrea knew how much she wanted to visit Hawaii, she’d mentioned it to her weeks before. It was incredibly thoughtful of her to want to take them on vacation...but...part of her was reluctant to just simply accept such an offer. “Can we talk about it after dinner Andrea? Thank you... it sounds like it’s going to be great but we can maybe iron out the details later?” She knew it wasn’t the response Andrea wanted, but it was all she could give her right now, she didn’t want to argue in front of Rusty especially not when he was so excited about the whole thing.
Andrea nodded. “Sure thing.” Not at all the reaction she’d been hoping for.
Co-author: sharon_ray
Pairing: Hobbs/Raydor, Rusty,
Rating: T
Word Count: 2, 375
Disclaimer: Not our characters or television show
A/N: rococoms is at it again, sending us irresistible prompts! This time she asked for: Follow up fic. Rusty stressed about trial. Sharon stressed about Rusty. Andrea takes Sharon and Rusty to Hawaii or Catalina for vacation. Return of the big floppy hat. She buys Andrea one after she gets burned in the sun. Pool bars. Cabanas. Hikes through rainforest. We hope you like it! As always, thanks to my co-author of awesome.
The hand on Rusty’s shoulder caused him to jerk backwards violently. He yanked his headphones off and looked up to find Andrea standing by his desk, hands held up in surrender.
“Sorry!” she apologized hastily, “I knocked but you didn’t answer. Your music was so loud I could hear it from outside the door. Dinner’s ready,” she informed him.
He shrugged at her. “Uh, okay,” he said with no real enthusiasm.
Andrea frowned at his uncharacteristic response. Friday night dinner was her tradition with Sharon and Rusty. They always either came over to her home in Malibu or she drove over to their condo as a prequel to his Saturday surfing lessons with Andrea’s nephew, Justin. Rusty was usually far more excited than he was this evening; in fact, he often helped to prepare dinner. He and Andrea had made it their own little tradition to cook for Sharon on Friday nights; Rusty liked being able to do little things like that for Sharon, to show his appreciation for her, and Andrea just loved being able to have something to bond with Rusty over. She’d always loved cooking, and having had no children of her own, and nephews that were completely disinterested in meal preparation, it was refreshing to finally have someone she could pass on her recipes to.
“I made your favourite,” she tried instead, “beef lasagna. Extra cheese. Made it fresh this morning so I could bring it over tonight.” She smiled at him, hoping to elicit a more enthusiastic response. Normally they prepared the meal together, but both she and Sharon had anticipated a late evening so she’d gotten up a two hours earlier than normal to prepare the dish so all she had to do at Sharon’s was pop it in the oven.
Instead, he shrugged again, giving her a half-hearted smile. “Thanks Andrea. That’s great,” he mumbled as he shuffled after her to Sharon’s kitchen. Andrea frowned again; something was up, and it drove her crazy that she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
***
Sharon nuzzled the skin of Andrea’s collarbone and neck while she wrapped her legs around Andrea’s hips. Sharon was always freezing, whereas Andrea was always warm; the thermostat in the condo was kept slightly warmer than Andrea would prefer which meant that she often slept in just a tank top and shorts at Sharon’s while Sharon wore a full length nightgown or pajama set. Still, Sharon was often cold when she slept, and having Andrea’s warm body in the bed with her while she slept was becoming more of a necessity in the last few months that they’d been together.
“Sharon, your nose is freezing,” Andrea shivered as Sharon’s button-nose nudged the warmth of Andrea’s neck.
“I’m cold,” Sharon said, exasperated, “warm me up,” she said, her tone out rightly flirtatious.
“Rusty is down the hall, and he’s still awake,” she reminded Sharon amusedly; Sharon huffed in response. They certainly never hid the fact that when they spent the night at each other’s homes, they shared the bed, nor did they hide their affection from Rusty when they were with him. But, there were certain things that they didn’t necessarily want to risk the teen overhearing.
Sharon hitched her leg higher, and pivoted Andrea so that she moved from her position laying on her back, to facing Sharon. In this position, Andrea could wrap her arms around the brunette more fully. “Mmm, that’s better,” Sharon sighed as Andrea ran her hands up and down her back. Sharon nuzzled her nose further into the crook of Andrea’s neck and sighed contentedly.
“Sharon...honey, what’s up with Rusty?” Andrea asked quietly as she fiddled with the waistband of Sharon’s pajama bottoms resting against her back. “He’s seemed so distracted lately. Did something happen at school? Did someone say something to him?” She couldn’t help the protectiveness that coiled deep in her belly, she’d come to care about Rusty’s well being not just as Sharon’s foster son, but as someone she’d started to deeply love and worry about; as a member of her own family.
Sharon pulled away from her slightly to look at her and pulled the covers up further around her body. “It’s this trial,” she said, sighing, “he’s being asked to relive everything that he’s trying so desperately to put behind him. And he won’t talk to me about it,” she said, voice cracking, “and I have to respect his need for privacy, but it breaks my heart Andrea. I thought we’d come so far, and this whole trial is dragging us backwards. On one hand, I want Rusty to testify so we can lock Stroh away for good, on the other hand, I want to do everything I can to stop him from having to testify. I don’t know what to do.” Sharon allowed Andrea to pull her close, she accepted the kisses that her younger partner placed across her furrowed brow.
“I know that you want to respect his need for privacy, but do you think him talking about it will help?” Andrea asked gently as she went back to rubbing Sharon’s back. “Or do you think that it’ll just lead to him never having a break from it? Is that maybe what he needs... a break? Is there some way we can just get his mind off it entirely?”
Sharon sighed deeply. “I don’t know. I wish, I wish he would talk to me. Every time I try and talk to him he gets cold and he closes himself up.”
“I know you want to fix it for him, but you can’t, you can’t change his past,“ she whispered, hugging Sharon close. “Talking about it may just be too painful for him. What you’re doing by giving him a loving home and your unconditional support is going to mean the world and make the difference as to whether or not Rusty makes it through this, Sharon. You’re doing everything you can, and you’re doing everything right. He knows that you’re there for him, and that you’ll still be there for him when he’s ready to talk about it.” She kissed Sharon gently and ran her fingers through her hair, wishing she could make the situation better for her. As much as Sharon wanted to fix things for Rusty, Andrea wanted to fix things for Sharon too; she hated seeing both of them so stressed out.
Sharon hugged Andrea tighter. “Thank you,” she whispered against Andrea’s neck and shoulder.
“Don’t thank me. I love you, I love Rusty, it’s my job to worry about you both and to want to keep you both safe.”
Sharon grinned against Andrea’s skin, she loved how protective Andrea was of her and her kids. Even though her two children were grown and living on their own, Andrea still sent frequent emails and texts to them, just to check in and make sure they were happy and safe. “I love you, too.” Sharon said simply, ghosting her lips along Andrea’s collarbone. Content with Andrea’s responses, Sharon settled into her side and closed her eyes, allowing the exhaustion from the day to overtake her tired body.
***
“Sharon’s here!” Rusty called out as he opened Andrea’s front door to let his foster mother in. “You’re late,” he told her unnecessarily. Andrea had picked him up from chess after school today and taken him home with her, Sharon had warned them both she needed to stay later at the office for a meeting.
“I know,” she said, “I’m sorry, my meeting with Taylor went a lot longer than I had anticipated.”
“It’s okay, Rusty and I have decided no dessert for you,” Andrea said over her shoulder as Sharon and Rusty made their way into her kitchen. “And that’s unfortunate because we made your favourite.” She was hunched over a large pizza tray with the sleeves of her casual at-home blouse rolled up, kneading the raw pizza dough out. Rusty took up his place next to her at the other tray, sprinkling cheese and assorted chopped vegetables out across the dough.
Sharon looped her arms around Andrea’s waist casually. “I’m sorry,” she said again, kissing Andrea’s clothed shoulder. Andrea turned her head to catch Sharon’s lips in a brief kiss. Sharon eyed the apple pie sitting on the counter. “But you wouldn’t deny an old, feeble woman her very favourite dessert, would you?” she said raising her eyebrows and pouting.
Rusty laughed. “That’s the worst line I’ve ever heard, Sharon.”
“Yeah, and it’s not working on me,” Andrea said.
Sharon smacked Andrea playfully and sighed. “You’re both mean. I’m going to change my clothes,” she chided before she stalked out of the kitchen in mock anger. Rusty grinned as he heard her laughing down the hall. This evening almost felt normal, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the trial, despite how hard he tried to stop them from ending up there. Emma had interviewed him again yesterday, had forced him to recount, again, the details of how Stroh had broken into Brenda Leigh Johnson’s kitchen and attacked them both.
He sighed quietly to himself as Stroh took up occupancy in his head once again. He wished he could focus on chess or swimming with his friends or the hiking trip through the hills Sharon and Andrea had promised him and Justin after surfing lessons tomorrow. It seemed no matter what he tried, all roads led back to Stroh and that fateful night in Brenda’s kitchen.
It wasn’t long before Sharon re-appeared, clad in a dark red sweatshirt and black yoga pants, her feet tucked into her UGGs. Andrea laughed as she took in the sight of her girlfriend clad in winter wear in the middle of summer, but Sharon was always freezing at Andrea’s house. Sharon rested her hands on Rusty’s shoulders, content to be as close to him as he would allow. “Anything I can help with, or have I been banned from the kitchen as well?”
Rusty reached around and flung an arm over her shoulder, happy to be in her embrace. Words were hard with Sharon, but her touch was comforting. “No, you’re not banned. You can cut up the peppers if you want any on the pizza,” he muttered, pointing to a pile of sweet red peppers on the other side of the counter.
Andrea watched them both out of the corner of her eye as they chatted and held each other. She adored seeing them this way; she loved the easy domesticity they had all fallen into. Sharon reveled in being a mom, that much was obvious, and she was so good at it; being Rusty’s mom came to Sharon naturally as breathing did. She smiled and kissed Sharon quickly on the cheek as she walked by to begin her job of cutting the rest of the vegetables. Andrea hoped that what she had planned would give them both the break they deserved.
With the pizzas put carefully into the oven, and the three of them sitting at Andrea’s table, drinks in hand, she decided to bring up her big surprise.
“So, I have something exciting I wanted to talk to you both about,” she said. Rusty sat up a little straighter in his chair, Sharon quirked her eyebrow at her. “I was thinking that the three of us need a vacation. And I don’t just mean time off of work and school spent at home; I mean a real vacation. Let’s get out of LA and do something different for a bit.” She held her breath as she took in the reaction from both of her guests. Rusty was grinning excitedly, whereas Sharon was wearing her poker face.
“Really?” he asked. “Oh my god, when, where? Andrea this is so cool!” he exclaimed.
Andrea smiled at him. “I was thinking Hawaii. You can go surfing, and it’s warm enough that Sharon can leave her UGGs at home,” she winked at Sharon, “there’s the beach, delicious food, gorgeous hiking trails...”
“For quite a price,” Sharon interjected. “A trip to Hawaii at this time of year is insanely expensive, and how long did you want to go for Andrea? How are we going to get the time off? What about Rusty’s studies?”
“I have two years worth of personal days that I have just been waiting to cash in, and knowing you Sharon, you probably have even more than I,” she narrowed her eyes at Sharon, “and don’t worry about the cost. I am taking you and Rusty on vacation.”
“Wow, Andrea that’s -”
“Absolutely not, you are not spending that sort of cash-”
Both Rusty and Sharon clamored for the blonde’s attention.
“Enough. Rusty, we will work out a time that is best with your teachers; you are going to have to do some extra work before we go so that you’re not behind when you get back. Sharon, Provenza has already hinted that he wouldn’t mind taking over for a week-”
“You ran this by Provenza before running it by me?” Sharon asked quietly. Andrea pursed her lips.
“I hinted that I was thinking of taking some time off, and he correctly assumed that I meant you as well. He mentioned that if need be, he’d be happy to run the show for you,” she said defensively. This was not how she’d hoped her announcement would go.
Sharon nodded her head and got up to check on the pizza in the oven. She didn’t quite know why she was reacting the way she was, Andrea knew how much she wanted to visit Hawaii, she’d mentioned it to her weeks before. It was incredibly thoughtful of her to want to take them on vacation...but...part of her was reluctant to just simply accept such an offer. “Can we talk about it after dinner Andrea? Thank you... it sounds like it’s going to be great but we can maybe iron out the details later?” She knew it wasn’t the response Andrea wanted, but it was all she could give her right now, she didn’t want to argue in front of Rusty especially not when he was so excited about the whole thing.
Andrea nodded. “Sure thing.” Not at all the reaction she’d been hoping for.