FIC: Bathroom Stall Confessionals (The Closer- Sharon , Brenda) K+
Title: Bathroom Stall Confessionals
Fandom: The Closer
Characters: Brenda, Sharon (mentions Fritz/Brenda and Will/Sharon)
Word Count: 2212
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Closer. No copyright infringement intended.
Summary- Written for the Closer Countdown Day 30- Brenda and Sharon share a moment and come to an understanding.
Brenda Leigh Johnson rushed into the Ladies Room clutching her oversized purse to her. She searched under the bathroom stalls; relieved to find herself alone she let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. Brenda swallowed back the nausea that had been plaguing her, dogging at her heels until she couldn’t ignore it any longer. She placed the purse on the sink and pulled out a small rectangular box. She stared at the box for moments before turning her eyes to look at her reflection. The mirror showed her terrified state, clutching hands, pale white face, and wide red-rimmed eyes; she was a wreck. The sound of the door opening and closing had Brenda pressing the box against her chest.
Sharon Raydor took one look at the blonde woman and suppressed rolling her eyes; she set her briefcase down on the floor near the sinks and went about washing her hands. She tried ignoring the other occupant as she dried her hands and went about fixing her hair in the mirror. In the mirror, Sharon could see the other woman staring at her as she clutched a small cardboard box to her chest. She didn’t understand Chief Johnson or her idiosyncrasies but this was more than some quirk of nature, the blonde chief looked like she was about to jump out of her skin. Sharon sighed, she wanted to just leave the woman to her eccentricities and go on about her day business as usual but she had made a promise to try to be more cordial to the other woman. Cursing Will under her breath, she turned and faced the woman and tried to give a semblance of warmth and smiled.
“You okay there, Chief.”
“Oh course, I am Captain.” Brenda squeaked out, “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
Sharon raised here eyebrows and decided Will owed her when she got a better look at the box the Chief was holding, “Well, you are holding that pregnancy test in your hands like your life depends on it.”
Brenda slammed the test down on the sink, the sound echoing in the room causing both women to jump, “Oh for heaven’s sake.” She leaned against the sink, her elbows on the marble and buried her fingers in her already curly chaotic hair. She hadn’t woken up in time to straighten it and the morning nausea she suffered through didn’t allow time for anything more than a quick run through with a brush.
“Would you like for me to go get your husband for you?”
The muffled “no” wasn’t encouraging, and Sharon debated with herself rather or not to go against what the blonde wanted. Will’s words form last week played in her head, she’s my friend and I would like it if my girlfriend and my friend weren’t at each other throats all the time.
The sound of the door locking had Brenda glancing toward the Captain. She watched as the brunette dropped down and withdrew some blue latex gloves from her briefcase. Before she could question, what on earth, the other woman was doing, the Captain snapped on the gloves and reached for the pregnancy test.
Sharon adjusted the glasses on her face reading the instructions on the back of the box, and tried not to laugh at the younger woman’s flabbergasted expression as she opened the box and held out the little white stick for Brenda to take.
“What?” Brenda took a step back and shook her head no.
Sharon silently counted to ten, “Look…Chief, just go in a stall and take the test. It’s why you came in here. I locked the door, so no one will barge in. It’s just the two of us and believe when I say I am not going to be telling anyone about this.” When Brenda wouldn’t take the stick, Sharon gave a smirk and added, “Or would you prefer I go get your husband?”
Brenda narrowed her hers and pursed her lips together snatching the test from the Captain’s hand and stomped to a stall slamming the stall door shut and snatched the lock closed. She heard Raydor softly chuckle and she resented the fact that, that woman was laughing at her. “I am so glad I can offer you some amusement, Captain.”
Sharon laughed again she couldn’t help it. This had to be the most absurd thing to happen between the two of them. “You have to admit, there is some humor here, Chief.”
Brenda opened the door and held out the test for the Captain to take and she smirked at the look of disgust on Raydor’s face as she took the test in her gloved hand. “Yes, I suppose. How long do we have to wait to know?” As much as she didn’t particularly care for the other woman, Captain Raydor had taken charge of the situation, she was all business-like and calm, which took some of the pressure off Brenda.
“Five minutes.” Sharon placed the test on a paper towel she had laid out on the sink countertop and glanced at her watch. She had ten minutes before she needed to meet Will in his office, they were going to lunch together and she didn’t want to be late.
“That long!” Brenda hurriedly washed her hands and avoided looking at the test. She heard the Captain’s affirmative hum. She looked up in the mirror and watched the other woman in the mirror, Raydor was impeccable, not a hair out of place as her hip rested against the counter top, the woman was seemly unflappable. “This is just throwing my whole day off and I haven’t even told Fritz.”
“You haven’t told your husband?” Why that surprised her, Sharon didn’t know, but it did.
Brenda could see the surprise in the Captain’s face and wondered what the woman was thinking. Was she judging her? Her marriage? What did it say about her not telling Fritz and locking herself in a bathroom in the LAPD Headquarters secretly to take a pregnancy test with a woman who didn’t even like her?
A question was on the tip of Sharon’s tongue but the chime of her cell phone stopped her. She dug the phone out of her briefcase and her eyes widen; it was Will. She looked up at Brenda debating rather to let the call go to voicemail or answer it. Deciding it would look suspicious if she didn’t take the call and besides Will was supposed to have told Brenda about them already.
“Hey… Yeah…I may be a little late…No, no, nothing is the matter…I am just running late…Okay, see you soon…Bye.”
Brenda hated hearing one-sided conversations; her curiosity was getting the better of her. “You have lunch plans with your boyfriend or something?”
“Yes.”
Brenda noted the slight blush of color in the Captain’s cheeks. Guess the woman wasn’t completely unflappable after all and she smirked at the other woman’s discomfort.
“So, Will did tell you…about us?”
What! Brenda’s mouth opened in shock, “My Will! You’re seeing Will, Will Pope?”
“Not your Will, but yes, I am seeing him. He was supposed to tell you about us weeks ago. I wasn’t sure he would and now I know he didn’t”
Brenda heard the hurt in the other woman’s voice and felt sympathy. Will had been trying to tell her something for days she just didn’t give him the opening or chance to talk about anything personal. “I think he’s been trying to say something. He mentioned something about taking me to lunch but I keep cancelling on him.”
Sharon gave the Chief a small smile. “I think his plan was to take you someplace public, he was afraid you might not take the news to well and…”
“And in public I wouldn’t make a scene?” Brenda huffed out a laugh at Sharon’s confirming nod.
Sharon blew out a breath and checked her watch; it was time. She picked up the box in one hand and the test in the other. She went to show Chief Johnson the results but the blonde wouldn’t look.
“Just tell me what it says.”
“You’re not pregnant.”
“Thank God.” Brenda clutched her arms around herself.
Sharon didn’t know what to say, but was amused by the blonde’s reaction. She tossed the test and her gloves in the trashed. As she washed her hands she questioned the other woman, “You and your spouse don’t want children?”
“Fritz does.”
Those two words said a lot. Sharon decided it best that she not comment. She dried her hands and picked up her briefcase, it was time to leave and she needed to meet Will.
“My Mama and Daddy think it’s only a matter of time now, before Fritz and I give then another grandbaby.”
Sharon was paused at the door wanting very much just to turn the lock and leave but the tone of Chief’s Johnson’s voice stopped her. Looking at the other woman let Sharon know that Brenda Leigh was at the end of her tether. “Do you have a reason for not wanting children?”
“Well, the job. You know how that is?”
She did know the job, having a family and being a cop was hard. It was difficult for children and spouses to understand the commitment to protect and serve and the risks each person took when they raised their right hand and took the oath. She’s been lucky in her career, any injuries she may have sustained from duty were minor but she had been to too many fallen officers funerals to not know what could happen to any of them at any time.
“I just wouldn’t be able to give both the job and a baby the same amount of concentration. Fritz thinks…” Brenda stopped unable to continue. She just realized she’d been spilling her guts to Captain Raydor. She was completely embarrassed. “You have kids?”
“Yes.”
It was a simple answer and Brenda expected the other woman to elaborate, most women who had children went on and on about them, showing pictures and boring a person to death about the wonder of their child, but Captain Raydor wasn’t most women.
“My Mama mentioned them at Christmas. Went on about how my friend Sharon had kids and worked. I tried explaining that our jobs in the LAPD were different, that we had different demands on our time. That we were two different women.”
Sharon wasn’t sure what Chief Johnson expected of her, “We discussed children over Christmas. She told me a couple of stories about your youth that you might not want me to know.”
“Let me guess, she told you about the time I got kicked out of the girl scouts for pulling out Sarah Jane Reilly’s hair because she stole my brownie. It always a favorite story of my Mama’s.”
Sharon chuckled, “Actually she told me how you use to stay up late and spy on your older brothers when they came home from their dates. She said you always wanted to know the whys about everything, that you couldn’t just accept things just as they were.”
“You and my Mama talked a lot I see.”
“You told her we were friends.”
“I know, I know.” Brenda grumbled, “I suppose you never lie to your Mama.”
“I try not to.” Sharon confessed, “She can always tell when I am.”
“I told my Mama once that I was paid liar.”
“Well, she certainly didn’t tell me that. I think she worries about you but all mother’s worry about their children. I know my parents don’t always like my job, but they accept that it is part of who I am, just as your parents have accepted it is part of who you are.”
Brenda gave Sharon a weak smile, “Thank-you.”
“I don’t think I have said anything that you didn’t already know.”
“Not about that.” Brenda bit on her bottom lip, “I meant for all this and for not saying anything.”
Sharon smiled in reassurance, “Don’t think anything of it, really.” She glanced down at her watch and grimaced, ten minutes late, she hated being late.
“You should go.” Brenda smirked, “You have lunch plans.”
Sharon nodded and unlocked the door. She would have to tell Will he no longer had to inform Brenda Leigh about their relationship.
“Sharon?”
She was surprised Chief Johnson called her name, “Yes Chief?”
“I just wanted you to know that I don’t think I lied to my Mama about our being friends.”
Sharon’s eyes widen a little, “Okay.”
“Maybe we could have that working lunch sometime.”
Sharon watched as the other woman fidgeted and smiled, “I’d like that Brenda.”
“Well, you best not keep Will waiting.”
Sharon chuckled and shook her head in wonder, she didn’t think Will would believe her if she told him about her latest run-in with the southern chief. She had already decided not to tell Will about Brenda and the pregnancy test, but couldn’t wait to see his face when she told him that she and Brenda had decided to be friends. It was sure to cause him some anxiety as he tried to figure out how that came about but she would never tell. You don’t share your friends’ secrets with anyone, not even with your really hot boyfriend.