amop-series #57
/FRESH PURSUIT/
“I’m not saying we should sneak out - ,“ Andrew Flynn bent his knees ever so lightly and twisted his torso an inch to the side so he was able to inconspicuously deviate toward Sharon Raydor, a whisper at the level of her ear. Her expression faltered for a short second before it was once again composed.
Andy couldn’t help but stare at her in profile, a smile tugging insistently when he quipped, “- but I’m saying we should definitely sneak out.”
Sharon lowered her head and tried to hide the resultant blush across her cheeks. She took a slow and deliberate sip from the champagne glass in her hand, one little pinkie curled adorably in the air.
If they had been completely alone she would no doubt have told him to find an inanimate object to sneak out with, dry tone and an arched eyebrow. In the company of his team however, she appeared almost demure. A fact that only meant she was easier to tease - teasing Sharon Raydor was a glorious hobby in Andy’s estimation.
Provenza stood a couple of meters away by a desk, hands in the air like a flailing octopus, arms going this and that way as he worked his way through one of his much beloved stories. The lively story-telling was avidly followed by Gavin Q Baker the third and Julio Sanchez, both with what could only be ascribed as Cheshire grins. Mike Tao looked on with a more detached façade, the lone eyebrow that twitched every now and then the only display of amusement.
“Hush,” Sharon told him in a blunt voice out of the corner of her mouth, a distinct eye roll to detect before she stared straight ahead with a doggedly demeanor, pretending that he did not exist by feigning interest in Provenza’s tale.
They had both heard it innumerable times by now, the wildly exaggerated gestures only becoming slightly more exuberant as time passed.
“Remind me to shoot myself when I start telling the same stories for the hundredth time,” Andy dryly deadpanned as he shook his head.
“Sure lieutenant, go ahead and shoot yourself,” Sharon countered in a mutually dry voice.
Andy ended up staring at the side of her face, skepticism in his tone, “What story have I told you a hundred times, huh?”
“Oh the list is dreadfully long,” her lips twitched and her eyelashes fluttered but she kept her gaze on the little group listening to Provenza, well-aware that not looking directly at Andy would only heighten the undertone of whatever game they were playing.
“Then it won’t be hard to give an example, will it?” Andy snarked good-naturedly.
“Hmm,” she hummed softly to prolong her answer, “usually you tell the exact same stories as lieutenant Provenza. I sometimes think you two have forgotten who experienced what and when.”
Andy rolled his eyes, “Oh please.”
She finally turned her head with a sly look, “I have no idea how many times I’ve heard you recount that awful story with you flattening a suspect with your car, that old tatty Crown Vic of yours taking the brunt of the bullets the idiot you ran over fired at you.”
“It’s a great story, story-telling wise,” Andy defended himself with crossed arms, “it always gets laughs.”
“It was a horror, F.I.D-wise,” Sharon contradicted him, her eyes once again staring straight ahead but he could easily depict the smile, “and a lot of your antics makes me laugh, lieutenant; that does not necessarily mean I want to hear about them non stop.”
Andy shook his head and then chuckled, “Well, according to you my whole career is a horror, F.I.D-wise.”
Sharon hid another smile, “Just the early years.”
“Yeah, yeah - I was a bit overenthusiastic. Eager rookie if you will.”
“That’s one way of characterizing it, yes.”
“I have a way of characterizing you too,” Andy quipped back.
“Oh really?”
“Yeah - a dozen ways actually, all dependent on my mood and what wicked endeavors you have been up to recently.”
“For the sake of our relationship - and if you ever want to ’get some’ again - I think you should keep those characteristics to yourself, lieutenant Flynn,” Sharon lifted an eyebrow but she couldn’t contain the humor, eyes crinkled as she regarded him with likewise crossed arms.
“Oh,” Andy leaned even closer and whispered in a voice deep, “I love it when you threaten to bust my balls.”
Her eyes rolled in a slow curve and then came back to rest on him with a deliberate look that clearly said she was having a blast with this back and forth - something that would surely have resulted in sex if they had been anywhere but the squad room of major crimes.
Her lips then twitched, “Haven’t you heard? I’m a regular ball buster.”
“It sounds strangely familiar, yes,” Andy faked solemnity, “I think back in the nineties people used to warn me off you with a variation on the theme.”
“Theme?” she drawled and this time her eyebrow crawled higher up into her hairline.
Andy laughed, “Well, something to the effect of ‘that Sergeant Raydor will surely obliterate your balls into debris’ - don’t go near her,” he shrugged, “you know, stuff like that.”
“Ah, the threat of testicular debris,” she grinned, “all on account of sending a couple of misogynistic troublemakers off to a sexual harassment course.”
“Yeah,” Andy agreed, “it’s one way to acquire enemies for sure.
She shrugged, “Or a friend.”
Andy smiled, “Yeah, I strive on adversity and challenge.”
“You are a challenge, yes,” she agreed with a smirk.
Andy smiled back at her, shaking his head with a pretend expression of outrage.
There was a beat of silence, their attention momentarily drawn to Provenza and his story. He had arrived at the point which heralded a less than accurate introduction of the Rat Squad - the expletives and adjectives naturally resulting in Sharon pursing her mouth into a pout of disagreement whereas this very subject had Julio and Gavin sputtering with glee, furtive glances at Sharon that reeked of smugness.
Andy grinned at Sharon’s expression and then leaned in, his tone painted with laughter, “Good thing you are not carrying at the moment, huh.”
“I have a half mind to slug it out with my bare hands,” she delivered back, her eyes narrowing in on Provenza.
“My money’s on you, Captain,” Andy saluted her glibly.
Sharon lowered her head again, this time teeth visible in a satisfied smile before she sipped from her champagne glass.
“So, what do you say, Captain,” Andy prodded with a cheeky smile, “it’s not like you have anything better to do than sneak outside with me. Take a walk on the wild side, huh? Let your hair down - you know, metaphorically, because your hair is certainly down.”
“Shhh,” she whispered back, a smile threatening to break though.
Andy pouted, “I’m bored.”
She turned her head to regard him, the raised eyebrow clearly telling him where he could go place his boredom. “I’m not catering to your excess of boredom,” she told him in a dry voice, “and no it’s not my job to entertain you.”
Andy took a sip from his own glass, the sparkling water fresh with a slice of lime in it. He pretended to look at his Provenza, “Well, what else do you suggest? Do you really wanna stand here for the next hour listening to a story that’s been told to death and will only end with you in a huff about the hypocrisy of the good old days?”
“We are supposed to be celebrating the end of a lawsuit, Andy,” Sharon told him in a firm voice, “not frolicking in the corridors. We are celebrating the fact that the LAPD does not have to implement further budget cuts due to the loss of a law suit - budgets cuts that would most certainly have affected you.”
Andy smiled wide and ignored everything she had said but, “Frolic?” he shook his head, amused at her choice of word. “You really know how to get my blood hot, honey.”
She looked semi annoyed.
Andy continued, “Shit, Sharon. You know how much I love frolicking with you - in corridors nonetheless.”
“Oh shut up.”
“With pleasure but only if I can shut you up simultaneously, you know,” he lifted one eyebrow as he briefly caught her looking his way, “with a kiss or two.”
“You can go kiss yourself,” she retorted.
Andy shook his head, “Yeah, I’m not that flexible that I bend all the way at the waist, if you get my gist.”
The wide-eyed look was a joy to witness, only there for a quick second before she doused it in a glare.
Andy shrugged happily and then kept silent, leaning back against the small table they had covered with refreshment for the occasion, Buzz and Andy having gone on a merry beverage-run after the judge has ruled in their favor at the court house. He watched Sharon trying to not give in to watching him, her attention too dead-set on the little group across from them.
Andy half-heartedly listened to Provenza being bombarded with a third degree from Gavin and Julio who no doubt knew that interrupting his story would annoy the old man. Mike had left the group and was instead having a conversation with Buzz and Fritz, the latter seeming only half invested in the technological aspect. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw chief Pope beckon his chief into the hallway, both of them disappearing from sight out into the corridor. Andy smiled to himself, his attention immediately landing back on Sharon again.
After a prolonged moment of staring at her, Andy leaned in, “You having fun, Captain?”
Sharon sighed dramatically. “Yees, lieutenant,” she answered in a long drawl that only sounded like fake exasperation, “Now stop bothering me.”
“Hmm,” Andy grunted in return not believing her for a second.
“Flynn!”
Andy ignored Provenza’s attempt at getting his attention, solely focused on the barest hint of a smile that appeared in Sharon’s expression the longer he looked at her.
“FLYNN! Hey, back me up here,” Provenza yelled again, his voice jovial, obviously under the delusion that Andy was listening to the story.
Andy gave a half-hearted wave in Gavin and Julio’s direction, “Yeah, yeah, whatever he said.”
Provenza glowered and Sanchez grinned even wider.
Gavin crossed his arms but seemed to be staring at Sharon with a pointed look instead.
The look prompted Sharon to shake her head in the negative, the motion almost imperceptible. She then looked down, the flush deepening across her nose and cheekbones; small blotches blossoming down her neck and on the top of her chest.
Andy leaned in again, a brash voice, “What’s got you in such a lovely shade?”
She jerked her head, a flash of embarrassment to detect in her expression, “What?”
Andy smiled, “Oh, my,” he leaned even closer, managing to gently bump his shoulder against hers, “You are blushing, Captain.”
She blushed even deeper at that comment, “Stop it.”
“Are you having unsavory thoughts?” he teased her.
Her lips pursed and she quickly averted her look.
Andy put his hands in the air, apologetic on the surface, “Sorry, sorry,” he paused and then with a devilish smirk, “I’m definitely having unsavory thoughts.”
He watched her shake her head in resignation but then something changed and she turned her head, a too innocent expression, “What would you even be able to do if we snuck out in the corridor?”
Andy opened his mouth to flippantly tell her a thing or two about what you could get up to in deserted corridors but she quickly interrupted him with a hand in the air, middle finger and index finger pointed at him, “Just keep in mind that there is no such thing as privacy in a police building.”
“There are no cameras in the rest rooms,” Andy gave again.
She hummed, “There are also no cameras in the sewage system that runs through our city and yet you don’t see me dragging you down in the slush to have my merry time.”
Andy smiled, “You can drag me anywhere you want.”
Sharon smiled back at him.
After a beat of silence Andy ventured, “You are completely done with everything related to internal affairs today, aren’t you?”
She nodded, “Yes, Andy - the in-custody death has been explained to the fullest satisfaction,” she paused and then added, “Case closed.”
“And what, you need to type up three binders worth of a report?”
She smiled, “Already done, Mister.”
“So you are completely free for the evening.”
The smile bordering on glee was answer enough.
…
=)
“I’m not saying we should sneak out - ,“ Andrew Flynn bent his knees ever so lightly and twisted his torso an inch to the side so he was able to inconspicuously deviate toward Sharon Raydor, a whisper at the level of her ear. Her expression faltered for a short second before it was once again composed.
Andy couldn’t help but stare at her in profile, a smile tugging insistently when he quipped, “- but I’m saying we should definitely sneak out.”
Sharon lowered her head and tried to hide the resultant blush across her cheeks. She took a slow and deliberate sip from the champagne glass in her hand, one little pinkie curled adorably in the air.
If they had been completely alone she would no doubt have told him to find an inanimate object to sneak out with, dry tone and an arched eyebrow. In the company of his team however, she appeared almost demure. A fact that only meant she was easier to tease - teasing Sharon Raydor was a glorious hobby in Andy’s estimation.
Provenza stood a couple of meters away by a desk, hands in the air like a flailing octopus, arms going this and that way as he worked his way through one of his much beloved stories. The lively story-telling was avidly followed by Gavin Q Baker the third and Julio Sanchez, both with what could only be ascribed as Cheshire grins. Mike Tao looked on with a more detached façade, the lone eyebrow that twitched every now and then the only display of amusement.
“Hush,” Sharon told him in a blunt voice out of the corner of her mouth, a distinct eye roll to detect before she stared straight ahead with a doggedly demeanor, pretending that he did not exist by feigning interest in Provenza’s tale.
They had both heard it innumerable times by now, the wildly exaggerated gestures only becoming slightly more exuberant as time passed.
“Remind me to shoot myself when I start telling the same stories for the hundredth time,” Andy dryly deadpanned as he shook his head.
“Sure lieutenant, go ahead and shoot yourself,” Sharon countered in a mutually dry voice.
Andy ended up staring at the side of her face, skepticism in his tone, “What story have I told you a hundred times, huh?”
“Oh the list is dreadfully long,” her lips twitched and her eyelashes fluttered but she kept her gaze on the little group listening to Provenza, well-aware that not looking directly at Andy would only heighten the undertone of whatever game they were playing.
“Then it won’t be hard to give an example, will it?” Andy snarked good-naturedly.
“Hmm,” she hummed softly to prolong her answer, “usually you tell the exact same stories as lieutenant Provenza. I sometimes think you two have forgotten who experienced what and when.”
Andy rolled his eyes, “Oh please.”
She finally turned her head with a sly look, “I have no idea how many times I’ve heard you recount that awful story with you flattening a suspect with your car, that old tatty Crown Vic of yours taking the brunt of the bullets the idiot you ran over fired at you.”
“It’s a great story, story-telling wise,” Andy defended himself with crossed arms, “it always gets laughs.”
“It was a horror, F.I.D-wise,” Sharon contradicted him, her eyes once again staring straight ahead but he could easily depict the smile, “and a lot of your antics makes me laugh, lieutenant; that does not necessarily mean I want to hear about them non stop.”
Andy shook his head and then chuckled, “Well, according to you my whole career is a horror, F.I.D-wise.”
Sharon hid another smile, “Just the early years.”
“Yeah, yeah - I was a bit overenthusiastic. Eager rookie if you will.”
“That’s one way of characterizing it, yes.”
“I have a way of characterizing you too,” Andy quipped back.
“Oh really?”
“Yeah - a dozen ways actually, all dependent on my mood and what wicked endeavors you have been up to recently.”
“For the sake of our relationship - and if you ever want to ’get some’ again - I think you should keep those characteristics to yourself, lieutenant Flynn,” Sharon lifted an eyebrow but she couldn’t contain the humor, eyes crinkled as she regarded him with likewise crossed arms.
“Oh,” Andy leaned even closer and whispered in a voice deep, “I love it when you threaten to bust my balls.”
Her eyes rolled in a slow curve and then came back to rest on him with a deliberate look that clearly said she was having a blast with this back and forth - something that would surely have resulted in sex if they had been anywhere but the squad room of major crimes.
Her lips then twitched, “Haven’t you heard? I’m a regular ball buster.”
“It sounds strangely familiar, yes,” Andy faked solemnity, “I think back in the nineties people used to warn me off you with a variation on the theme.”
“Theme?” she drawled and this time her eyebrow crawled higher up into her hairline.
Andy laughed, “Well, something to the effect of ‘that Sergeant Raydor will surely obliterate your balls into debris’ - don’t go near her,” he shrugged, “you know, stuff like that.”
“Ah, the threat of testicular debris,” she grinned, “all on account of sending a couple of misogynistic troublemakers off to a sexual harassment course.”
“Yeah,” Andy agreed, “it’s one way to acquire enemies for sure.
She shrugged, “Or a friend.”
Andy smiled, “Yeah, I strive on adversity and challenge.”
“You are a challenge, yes,” she agreed with a smirk.
Andy smiled back at her, shaking his head with a pretend expression of outrage.
There was a beat of silence, their attention momentarily drawn to Provenza and his story. He had arrived at the point which heralded a less than accurate introduction of the Rat Squad - the expletives and adjectives naturally resulting in Sharon pursing her mouth into a pout of disagreement whereas this very subject had Julio and Gavin sputtering with glee, furtive glances at Sharon that reeked of smugness.
Andy grinned at Sharon’s expression and then leaned in, his tone painted with laughter, “Good thing you are not carrying at the moment, huh.”
“I have a half mind to slug it out with my bare hands,” she delivered back, her eyes narrowing in on Provenza.
“My money’s on you, Captain,” Andy saluted her glibly.
Sharon lowered her head again, this time teeth visible in a satisfied smile before she sipped from her champagne glass.
“So, what do you say, Captain,” Andy prodded with a cheeky smile, “it’s not like you have anything better to do than sneak outside with me. Take a walk on the wild side, huh? Let your hair down - you know, metaphorically, because your hair is certainly down.”
“Shhh,” she whispered back, a smile threatening to break though.
Andy pouted, “I’m bored.”
She turned her head to regard him, the raised eyebrow clearly telling him where he could go place his boredom. “I’m not catering to your excess of boredom,” she told him in a dry voice, “and no it’s not my job to entertain you.”
Andy took a sip from his own glass, the sparkling water fresh with a slice of lime in it. He pretended to look at his Provenza, “Well, what else do you suggest? Do you really wanna stand here for the next hour listening to a story that’s been told to death and will only end with you in a huff about the hypocrisy of the good old days?”
“We are supposed to be celebrating the end of a lawsuit, Andy,” Sharon told him in a firm voice, “not frolicking in the corridors. We are celebrating the fact that the LAPD does not have to implement further budget cuts due to the loss of a law suit - budgets cuts that would most certainly have affected you.”
Andy smiled wide and ignored everything she had said but, “Frolic?” he shook his head, amused at her choice of word. “You really know how to get my blood hot, honey.”
She looked semi annoyed.
Andy continued, “Shit, Sharon. You know how much I love frolicking with you - in corridors nonetheless.”
“Oh shut up.”
“With pleasure but only if I can shut you up simultaneously, you know,” he lifted one eyebrow as he briefly caught her looking his way, “with a kiss or two.”
“You can go kiss yourself,” she retorted.
Andy shook his head, “Yeah, I’m not that flexible that I bend all the way at the waist, if you get my gist.”
The wide-eyed look was a joy to witness, only there for a quick second before she doused it in a glare.
Andy shrugged happily and then kept silent, leaning back against the small table they had covered with refreshment for the occasion, Buzz and Andy having gone on a merry beverage-run after the judge has ruled in their favor at the court house. He watched Sharon trying to not give in to watching him, her attention too dead-set on the little group across from them.
Andy half-heartedly listened to Provenza being bombarded with a third degree from Gavin and Julio who no doubt knew that interrupting his story would annoy the old man. Mike had left the group and was instead having a conversation with Buzz and Fritz, the latter seeming only half invested in the technological aspect. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw chief Pope beckon his chief into the hallway, both of them disappearing from sight out into the corridor. Andy smiled to himself, his attention immediately landing back on Sharon again.
After a prolonged moment of staring at her, Andy leaned in, “You having fun, Captain?”
Sharon sighed dramatically. “Yees, lieutenant,” she answered in a long drawl that only sounded like fake exasperation, “Now stop bothering me.”
“Hmm,” Andy grunted in return not believing her for a second.
“Flynn!”
Andy ignored Provenza’s attempt at getting his attention, solely focused on the barest hint of a smile that appeared in Sharon’s expression the longer he looked at her.
“FLYNN! Hey, back me up here,” Provenza yelled again, his voice jovial, obviously under the delusion that Andy was listening to the story.
Andy gave a half-hearted wave in Gavin and Julio’s direction, “Yeah, yeah, whatever he said.”
Provenza glowered and Sanchez grinned even wider.
Gavin crossed his arms but seemed to be staring at Sharon with a pointed look instead.
The look prompted Sharon to shake her head in the negative, the motion almost imperceptible. She then looked down, the flush deepening across her nose and cheekbones; small blotches blossoming down her neck and on the top of her chest.
Andy leaned in again, a brash voice, “What’s got you in such a lovely shade?”
She jerked her head, a flash of embarrassment to detect in her expression, “What?”
Andy smiled, “Oh, my,” he leaned even closer, managing to gently bump his shoulder against hers, “You are blushing, Captain.”
She blushed even deeper at that comment, “Stop it.”
“Are you having unsavory thoughts?” he teased her.
Her lips pursed and she quickly averted her look.
Andy put his hands in the air, apologetic on the surface, “Sorry, sorry,” he paused and then with a devilish smirk, “I’m definitely having unsavory thoughts.”
He watched her shake her head in resignation but then something changed and she turned her head, a too innocent expression, “What would you even be able to do if we snuck out in the corridor?”
Andy opened his mouth to flippantly tell her a thing or two about what you could get up to in deserted corridors but she quickly interrupted him with a hand in the air, middle finger and index finger pointed at him, “Just keep in mind that there is no such thing as privacy in a police building.”
“There are no cameras in the rest rooms,” Andy gave again.
She hummed, “There are also no cameras in the sewage system that runs through our city and yet you don’t see me dragging you down in the slush to have my merry time.”
Andy smiled, “You can drag me anywhere you want.”
Sharon smiled back at him.
After a beat of silence Andy ventured, “You are completely done with everything related to internal affairs today, aren’t you?”
She nodded, “Yes, Andy - the in-custody death has been explained to the fullest satisfaction,” she paused and then added, “Case closed.”
“And what, you need to type up three binders worth of a report?”
She smiled, “Already done, Mister.”
“So you are completely free for the evening.”
The smile bordering on glee was answer enough.
…
=)