RF Such Is My Life, pt. 7
Title: Such Is My Life
Pairing: The Closer - Raydor/Flynn
Rating: M for language, sexual situations
Part 7
Captain Sharon Raydor is no longer bothered by the silent treatment she gets from the detectives in Major Crimes. The silent treatment from her son, however, is a different story. Kate and Lily treated her to many hours of moody looks and incoherent mumbles, the hormones of their teenage years driving them all to the brink of insanity at times. But Daniel wasn’t like that, or at least she thought he wasn’t until he didn’t even say goodbye to her when she dropped him off at school. In fact, after giving it a little thought, Sharon realizes Daniel is closing in on the record set by Major Crimes in that if he doesn’t talk to her today, he will have given her a full 24-hour silent treatment.
The detectives’ conversation stops in mid-sentence when she walks past them. They glance around as she settles at her desk, finally moving off to pretend they are working. But Sharon knows they’ll reconvene in the break room or the tech room or some other place where she isn’t until she shows up there. If she were much younger, and they all really were still in elementary school these hide and seek games might be fun. Sharon looks up, catching Louie Provenza’s eyes. She smiles sweetly and he glares back. Nope, she thinks, not even if she were in elementary school.
Her phone buzzes at her from somewhere in her purse. Raydor reaches for it, thinking perhaps Daniel might have remembered his manners. Her shock at the name attached to the text is so profound that Detective Gabriel asks if she’s okay as he passes by her desk.
“I’m fine, thanks,” she nods, quickly covering her phone which is of course the dumbest thing to do in a room full of men trained to notice any sign of subterfuge.
“Okay then,” he says unconvinced.
Raydor looks back at her phone to read the message again. “Had a good time last night with you and Danny. He’s a really good kid.” Searching the room, Raydor spies him near Johnson’s office. Andy Flynn. She feels the smile breaking across her face, but hearing Provenza clear his throat she flicks her eyes back to the stack of files on her desk, silently cursing her momentary slip.
Raydor comes around a corner, stopping short at the sight of half of the Major Crimes detectives in the middle of the hallway.
“Gentleman,” she says. Flynn’s eyes dart from hers to the floor, then to his coffee cup and back to the spot above Provenza’s shoulder. Tao, to her amazement, appears to blush and Provenza just snorts and humfps, moving his shoulder the bare minimum required to let her pass.
“You know it’s true, Flynn,” she hears the older detective growl. “Through and through bitch. Right?”
“Yeah, through and through,” Andy mumbles and Sharon feels her blood pressure rise.
She distracts herself by checking her phone again, hoping her earlier message to Daniel had been returned. And it had. With one word. “Whatever.” Raydor checks her watch, a little past noon. Good time for lunch. She grabs her purse and heads toward the door, firing off a message as she goes.
To: Flynn
We need to talk now. You know where.
Raydor paces in the Baybridge hotel room, too keyed up to sit any longer as she waits for Andy Flynn. When he knocks, she jumps at the door, swinging it open so fast she chastises herself.
“Sorry, couldn’t shake Provenza,” he says stepping inside. “So what was so important?”
She closes the door, then turns to face him with a scowl. “What did you do to my son?”
“Excuse me? Isn’t that what did I do to our son? And the answer is nothing.”
“Try again. He hasn’t spoken to me since the game,” she replies, hands on her hips in a defiant stance. Flynn mirrors her, annoyed that he’s being interrogated for the second time today. He shrugs.
“Two days? What, he’s a teenager. Aren’t they supposed to be moody and stay mad at their parents?”
“If he has a reason, but Daniel’s not like that.” Sharon sighs, removing her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. “I thought you two were getting along fine. What did you talk about when I left?’
Flynn dodges her eyes and, thinking the room has suddenly gone warm, removes his jacket. He tosses it on the bed and loosens his tie. He’d thought dealing with Provenza’s questions this morning had been hard. “He mentioned how you’ve been edgy lately. Wanted to know if I knew about anything at work that was bothering you.”
“Work? What did you say?”
“He did all the talking,” Flynn goes to the mini fridge and grabs a bottle of water. “So you talk about work issues much at home?”
Sharon stares at him, lips pursed. “I will not have you question how I raise my son.”
Flynn holds up his hands, “I wasn’t saying that.”
“You know, I really am getting tired of having to constantly defend myself from you and your, your pals.” She spits out, her composure slipping as Flynn’s cool manner begins to grate on her nerves. “If all of you want to hang then fine, but I’ll be damned if I let you take down the entire force with you. It has been very hard and taken a lot of good men and women countless hours, years even to try to build back the damage done by a few bad cops. You and your friends can think of me what you will, but I won’t let you destroy all we’ve done to restore the LAPD’s reputation.”
“Wait a minute, how did we go from Danny’s bad mood to yours?” Flynn catches his stupidity, trying to make up for it. “I didn’t mean-”
“No, don’t,” Sharon holds up her hand to stop him, “you absolutely did mean that. I heard you this morning, all of you in your little huddle. I can’t help that you see Chief Johnson as, as this flawless never does anything wrong,” eyes burning Sharon’s words are flying faster than her thoughts, “you can act like I don’t know what you all call me, and you can think it has no effect but-”
Cautiously, Flynn sits down his water and walks toward her as she rants. As he nears the look in his eyes halt her words as she isn’t sure if she’s ever seen concern for her coming from him.
“Danny said he hoped you weren’t working with Major Crimes again, said we were a bunch of asses.” Flynn chuckles as Sharon’s eyes go wide. “Guess I know where he gets that from. I’m sorry for earlier, whatever you heard. The guys, well, you come in breathing down our necks and questioning our every move. It ruffles feathers, gets under the skin you know?” She frowns and it’s his turn to sigh.
“Look, I was getting it from Provenza, him wanting to know if I was going soft, if something was up between us.”
“He doesn’t suspect? You haven’t told him about Daniel?”
“Only you, me and the lab tech know anything about that,” Flynn reassures her. Sharon relaxes a little, but still has a hard grip on her glasses and a slight frown. “So the crack this morning?”
“It was either squirm and make him even more suspicious or call you a bitch and have him let it go,” Flynn shrugs. “Which would you have preferred me to do?” She lets out a long sigh, working at the tension in her neck with her free hand. “He started all this anyway, the old dog. He’s worse than a bloodhound when he gets on to something.”
“Do you think he’ll let it go?”
“I don’t know.” Flynn leans against the wall, watching her wince as she kneads a certain spot. “You ok?”
“Muscle’s tight,” she replies, “why did all this have to happen now?”
“Dunno,” he says, moving closer and gesturing toward the bed, “sit down on the corner.”
“What?”
He sits near the end of the bed, pointing to the two feet of space between him and the edge. “Sit with your back to me.” She eyes him wearily. “I won’t bite.” Sharon frowns and Flynn flashes an innocent smile. “Promise.”
“Fine.” Sharon kicks off her heels and starts to sit down.
“Take off your jacket.”
She huffs but does so. “I have my gun handy.”
“Figured,” Flynn quips, rubbing his hands together to warm them before lightly brushing her hair to one side. “Here?” he asks, feeling the knot midway up her neck. Sharon tenses, giving him his answer. “So Danny is holding a grudge against me since I told him I work in Major Crimes?”
“I guess so,” she mutters, trying to relax but feeling her muscles tighten at the feel of Flynn’s fingers against her skin. “But I don’t know why he’s mad at me.”
“Long shot here, but I’d say consorting with the enemy.”
“You’re not my enemy although…”
“We work very hard to make you feel that way?”
“Yea,” she whispers, dipping her head as he kneads an especially sore spot.
“Feeling better?”
“Mmm yea,” she nods and he smiles. He works the area around her shoulder blades, moving toward the center of her back. Flynn hits a ticklish spot, and Sharon squirms, leaning back. The move brings him closer to her so that he catches a good whiff of her perfume. He breathes it in, his senses remembering the smell.
“You still wear the same perfume?” his voice is soft, close to her ear. Sharon hums her reply, dropping her hands from her lap. One lands on Andy’s leg, and instead of jerking it away, she ends up griping his knee when he moves to her lower back and finds a tense muscle there. “You really need to relax.”
“Yea, heard that before,” she says in a breathy gasp. He grins, glancing from her hand on his knee to the expression on her face. He feels his heart beat pick up, knows hers has too from the pulse point in her neck that is jumping faster than before. Flynn wets his lips, concentrates on breathing. But each inhale brings with it the scent of her sweet perfume and of something else.
Flynn touches her hand, a light tap on the back of it. Sharon turns, her lips so close. “Sharon, I-” He doesn’t get a chance to finish his thought, and it doesn’t matter. Her lips are soft against his, hesitant. Remembering her threat from before, Flynn keeps his hands to himself, letting her lead. She twists some, gets a better line to him as she deepens the kiss. He takes the invitation, resting his hands at her waist and pulling her closer to him.
She caresses his cheek, grazes her fingers along the back of his neck, and plays with his hair. He nips at her lips, savoring the taste of her. She opens her eyes, the green overwhelming as she stares into him. When she starts to talk, he covers her mouth, pulling her into a deep kiss.
The ringing phone blasts through the intimacy of the moment like a gunshot. Sharon breaks away and lunges for her purse. Phone in hand, she’s all business by the time Flynn drops his feet to the floor.
“I’ve got to go,” she says, hitting the end button on her phone and stepping into her shoes. “And I suspect you will be getting a call shortly as well.”
“Fine,” he murmurs, standing up and grabbing his jacket. She heads to the mirror, finger combing her hair back into place before heading for the door. She’s halfway down the hall when he catches up to her. “Are we?”
“No, I don’t think,” she hits the elevator button and steps inside when it opens right after. She doesn’t look at him, and Flynn starts to brood. Crossing his arms along his chest, he lets the car descend in silence. He waits for her while she turns in the key, noticing her failure to look at him as she heads past him and out the front doors.
“Hey, what about Danny?” he calls just outside. Sharon stops, takes a breath and turns back. Her face is softer when she meets his gaze. “You know whatever happens-” She nods, walking back to him, and surprises him when she reaches to straighten his tie.
“Somehow this all seems to have gotten very complicated,” she says, a wisp of a smile on her lips. Flynn lays his hand on hers, looking into her sad eyes.
“I’m sorry for being an asshole,” he says and for a moment she can only look back at him in shock. “You ok?”
“Um, thank you,” she finally mutters when she regains her voice. Flynn moves his hand and she drops hers back to her side.
“Can I see you later? You and Danny? Maybe we can go eat or something.”
“Yeah, okay, maybe.”
“Good, just let me know.”
Sharon nods, starting to back away towards her car. “I will.” She watches him smile as he heads to his own car, gets in and drives away. She starts to move when he leaves the parking lot, but continues to keep an eye on Flynn. As he drives away, she notices a car across the street with two very familiar men inside. Sharon feels her blood begin to boil as she races to her car.
Gabriel mutters a curse and sinks lower in the passenger seat. Sanchez, however, adjusts his shades and pretends to check out the view behind him in the mirror. “She made us?” he asks.
“I would say that’s a yes,” Gabriel’s face crinkles as if in pain. “Why did we listen to Provenza?”
“Because Flynn wasn’t acting normal for Flynn. At least he isn’t drinking.”
“He’s going to kill us. You know this right?”
“If she doesn’t kill us first,” Sanchez replies, his eyes fixed on Raydor’s car as she pulls out of the hotel lot and drives away from them.
“Provenza is going to be all over this. Stupid, stupid…”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sanchez gives Gabriel a long look, “I just saw Flynn coming out of a hotel. Alone.”
Gabriel has a second of confusion, but catches up quick. “Alone, yeah, I can’t disagree with you there.”
“Think now’s a good time to grab some lunch.”
“Burger joint on McMarien?”
“Works for me.”