Fic: Buried (Sharon/Flynn - The Closer) T
Title: Buried
Series: Entangled
Word count: 2181
Rating: T
Characters: Sharon/Flynn
Warnings: Mentions of abuse
Disclaimer- I do not own any of the characters. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Continuation of my series this is after Locked, but could be read as a stand alone as well. ~ Sharon and Flynn at a crime scene with a kiss.
Sharon Raydor looked out across the lawn to the people gathering just beyond the police tape; she always compared these voyeurs of crime scenes to vultures peaking over the carcasses of other people’s shattered lives. The outside air was cold and she shivered a little berating herself internally for forgetting her coat at the office in her haste to get to the scene, a woman had shot and killed her police officer husband, it should have been pretty cut and dry; except nothing could ever be that simple.
Sergeant Elliot was standing just behind her on the porch where they were waiting for Major Crimes to report, this was more their case than hers, she wasn’t sure why FID had been called out to this particular scene; maybe a dueling conflict of interest, it was an officer involved incident but it was the officer who had ended up dead. After assessing the situation she called Chief Pope requesting a different unit to be assigned to the case. Truth was she didn’t want to be forced to make a judgment call here, which was why she was letting Elliot take point, this would be his case and any reports needed to be filed would be done by him.
Sharon tired hard to not let her past, a past she thought she had buried somewhere deep inside, interfere with her job but she knew she was failing in doing so tonight, she just couldn’t stomach to be in that house any longer, didn’t want to be hit by the force of her memories. She had failed once before in being impartial during the Ally Moore case, Moore had been able play her like a fined tuned piano, the other woman had suspected something about Sharon’s past and Moore had investigated these assumptions before putting together a sadist plan of action knowing Sharon would react a certain way, knowing that she would assume that the other woman was being abused, it was absolutely necessary for Moore’s plan to work that she behaved just in the way she had been manipulated to do. She had allowed person experiences to cloud her judgment and she was determined to not make the same error again.
Sharon heard car doors being slammed and could make out the figures of Chief Pope and Lieutenants Flynn and Provenza, she wondered idly if Chief Johnson was delayed and the vague hope that she could escape this scene without having to endure the other woman’s presence played dully in the back of her thoughts. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for her as she tracked the three men’s progress across the lawn to the porch steps, feelings of bile were raising to the back of her throat and she kept swallowing it back not wanting to show how affected she was by what was behind her in that house.
“Captain, I understand you believe there was some mistake made in FID being called to this scene, could you perhaps catch me up on why you think that’s the case.” Chief Pope stated looking up to the closed-off woman standing at the top of the steps. “I mean this is an officer involved shooting isn’t it?”
“Yes and no, I guess it would be how you want to justify it, at approximately one o’clock this morning a 9-1-1 call was placed by Mrs. Clarice Sheridan, she recounted to dispatch that she had shot and killed her husband, a Lieutenant Michael Sheridan. FID was called to the scene to verify this account. Mrs. Sheridan unloaded her husband’s service revolver into him while he was asleep in their bed. So yes it is an officer involved incident but I would think it would fall under major crimes jurisdiction since we are dealing with a dead police officer killed by his spouse.” Sharon recounted in a mono-toned voice, “I have interviewed the… I have interviewed Mrs. Sheridan, I have enough to file my report in regards to Lieutenant Sheridan’s involvement, but as far as Mrs. Sheridan’s involvement, that is a different matter seeing as she is a civilian and there may be some underlying circumstances regarding what may have occurred here tonight.”
As she spoke Sharon’s had wrapped her arms around herself it could be mistaking as huddling the warmth closer to her body in the cold night air, but Flynn noticed how she didn’t make eye contact with Pope or anyone else, something didn’t seem right, not with her and not with what she was saying, all he could see was how bad she wanted the hell away from this scene.
“Let me get this straight, the woman in there killed her husband with his own weapon then called it in and confessed to what she did.” Provenza snarked out, “What underlying whatever can there be; it seems it writes itself up.?”
Sharon looked over her shoulder to Elliot and nodded giving him the indication he should be the one to answer. Elliot pulled out his notebook and flipped through the pages superciliously more it seemed to annoy Provenza who had huffed than to actually recount the information he gathered, “Mrs. Sheridan’s physical appearance when we arrived to the scene was of some concern, but she has refused medical so we have recorded the injuries to the best of our abilities; heavy bruising to the right side of the face, finger mark bruising is noticeable on her arms and around her neck, her clothes are torn in multiple places. There is evidence of a struggle in the down stairs family room area, furniture was overturn, broken pictures frames were strewed on the floor and a pair of torn female underwear were all photographed bagged and tagged by the forensics’ team.”
Flynn winced it didn’t sound good, sounded like the mister beat the hell out the wife, maybe did a bit more than that, and she took matters in her own hand and offed the guy when she got the chance. Provenza mumbled under his breath about calling the Chief letting her know this was one of theirs, he placed the call and informed everyone that the rest of the team was on their way about fifteen minutes out. Chief Pope cleared his throat, “Where is Mrs. Sheridan currently?”
Sharon looked straight at Chief Pope then and when she spoke her voice was calm and even but the manner she stood and the words belied the calmness she tired to portray, “Mrs. Sheridan is in the kitchen fixing tea for all of us, she’s trying to be the good hostess her husband always wanted her to be. It seems that she didn’t get many chances to entertain guests seeing as she was always such an embarrassment to her husband” Sharon took a in a deep breath to calm herself, wrapping her arms more firmly around her chest hoping to keep her emotions in check “She has also stated that her husband doesn’t like it when she goes to the doctor’s, which is why she is refusing care now, it seems they ask a lot of questions and she just isn’t smart enough to give the right answers about the numerous times she has fallen down the stairs or walked into the door.”
“Jesus.” Provenza cursed and looked to Flynn who had his eyes glued on Raydor who looked to be staring a hole through Pope but not really focusing on anything “Did she say her husband gave her those injuries, is that the reason she gave for murdering her husband?”
Sharon closed her eyes and willed herself to not shake, “At no time has Mrs. Sheridan indicated that her husband assaulted her, she has stated the injuries we have witnessed on her person were due to her own clumsiness. As for the reason she killed her husband, well, she said she had no other choice, he was just laying there asleep and she knew that she wouldn’t get another chance if she didn’t act now, she said she wanted to save him the agony of having such a worthless wife.”
Chief Pope raised his eyebrows and looked over Captain Raydor’s shoulder to Elliot who had a passively neutral expression as if nothing was out of the ordinary, “I could take you to her if you like, Chief. Fair warning though, the lady is wearing an apron and using an honest to goodness kettle on the stovetop. Place looks like some reject of a fifties sitcom or the Stepford wives the Nicole Kidman version.”
Chief Pope followed the younger man into the house leaving the FID Captain on the porch with Flynn and Provenza. Flynn gave Provenza a nod to let him know to go inside without him. Provenza looked from Raydor who still had her eyes closed to Flynn who was staring at his partner asking him to understand, Provenza rolled his eyes and nodded his head leaving his partner to handle whatever the hell was wrong with the Captain.
“Come on” Flynn said grabbing Raydor’s arm leading her down the stairs of the porch and over to the shadowed side of the house away from the prying eyes of the nosy neighbors and other spectators.
“I don’t like being man-handled” Sharon’s voice was icy as she yanked her arm from his hands. The side of the house was dark and from the corner of her eye she could see people trying to peak over the police tape, one even had a video camera out, it turned her stomach this whole case made her physically ill.
“You looked like you were about to lose it out there and I thought just maybe you needed a moment away from the flashing lights and sirens to collect whatever sense of baring you seem to have lost over whatever the hell you saw in that house.” Flynn watched as tears welled in Sharon’s eyes and he felt all kinds of a bastard, he just always seemed to do or say the wrong thing where she was concerned. “Want to tell me what has got you so messed up, your fellow Elliot covered, but I think Pope knows something is up and it’s only a matter of time before he calls you on it.”
“Have you ever looked in a mirror and not recognize your own reflection, that the eyes staring back couldn’t possible be yours, there is some familiarity but the vision is distorted somehow?” Her voice had a hallowed sound, it was almost like she was talking to herself so he remained silent, he use to feel that way sometimes after a drinking binge but he wasn’t sure how that compared to what she was hinting around. She blinked away her tears and looked at the man in front of her “That’s what it is like looking at that woman in there; I don’t expect you to understand.”
Flynn reached up to cup Sharon’s face with his hands, “You’d be surprised by what I can get.” He watched as she closed her eyes again and leaned her cheek against his hand, his thumb brushing against her face. She was beautiful, he wanted to tell her that, but didn’t, instead be placed his lips softly against hers. He only meant to offer some comfort but as she parted her lips under his and gave a hum of assent, his tongue slipped in and met hers. Sharon’s raised her hands and placed them against Flynn’s chest and he hoped she wouldn’t push him away, as she gripped the fabric of his suit jacket in her hand using it to push closer to his body wanting to drown out anything but the sensation of his lips against hers.
The simple glide of tongues against each other, the soft sounds she made were driving him a bit mad, he deepened the kiss forgetting where he was and who they were. Moments passed as they continued to kiss, her hands moving from his chest to his waist back to his chest not resting in their exploration, the hums in the back of her throat making Flynn forget everything but the craving of wanting more of her as he pushed Sharon back against the brick wall of the house his body covering hers, his hands kneading her breast through the fabric of her shirt, one of his legs jammed between hers only thinking of what it would feel like to finally be able to have her.
The slamming of car doors jarred them both, the sound of a Southern accent trickling alerting them that Chief Johnson had now arrived, Sharon’s face was unguarded for a few moments as they both stood close to the other, he watched as she mentally pulled herself back before she physically withdrew; her harshly whispered words “This is inappropriate.” hurt more than he thought it would. Nothing else was said as she walked away from him, he watched her slow passage across the yard to her car as she got in and closed herself off from the civilian spectators, the scene in the house and from him.