Major Buffer
Title: Major Buffer
Author: Nevada10
Rating: PG
Word count: 1445
Note: Sharon/Andy - follows Major Crimes - The Deep End
"Would you like to come in for some coffee?" Captain Sharon Raydor asked the question more out of politeness than any real desire for caffeine or company. It was very late. After 2 am. She was exhausted and her shoes were killing her feet. She also needed more ice for her eye. Being a buffer between Lieutenant Andy Flynn and his ex-wife was a bruising experience. Literally.
"Thanks. I really don't want to go back to my place right now. My sponsor is out of town and boy do I feel the need for alcohol." A dejected Andy followed her inside and immediately sat down on the sofa. "I'm sorry I got you involved. My life is a mess. Of course you knew that, but seeing it is different from just reading about it in my I.A. jacket. By the way I appreciate you not pressing charges against Lynn."
Without acknowledging his statement, Sharon toed off her high heels and limped into the kitchen. She had been listening to a variation of the same from him since they'd left his daughter's wedding. The 45-minute drive back to her condo had been excruciatingly slow.
He continued. "Not that I wouldn't have loved seeing her arrested, but it would have ruined Nicole's honeymoon to know her mother was in jail. Bad enough the reception and then the dinner turned into brawls. I can't believe how many of the guests got involved. What's wrong with people?"
Turning on the already loaded coffee maker, she sighed. Leaning down and bracing herself on the cabinet, she stared at the slowly filling carafe. Nights like this were why she didn't date. Well, that and the fact she was still technically married to Jackson Raydor.
"$30,000 and I didn't even get a meal out of the thing. Do you think the caterers are going to bill me for the food that ended up on the floor? They're probably insured for stuff like that, don't you think? "
She didn't even bother to verbalize a response. He wasn't listening to her anyway.
"It wasn't enough that dumb shit took over my family, helped keep me from my kids all these years, he thought he was going to mess with my date? Idiot!"
"It wasn't a date!" The sound of her voice seemed loud even to her. She dialed it back a notch. "It wasn't a date. I was just there as your friend."
"Well, I didn't appreciate him putting his hands on my friend's ass."
"Hand. It was one hand. And it might have been an accident. But you made your point, Andy. Not a soul at the wedding missed it."
"Go ahead and say it. You think I overreacted, don't you?"
She had been saying it for at least the last two hours. He just hadn't been listening. "You didn't have to react at all. I'm a big girl. I could have handled it without bloodshed."
"Who knew the guy was such a bleeder in addition to being a cheapskate and a letch! One hit, more of a tap really, and his nose erupted like a fountain."
"Andy!"
"I'm just saying, the guy couldn't take a punch."
"I don't want to discuss it any more. Do you want something to eat? Maybe some eggs?"
She waited. A couple of seconds passed before he answered.
"I could eat." There was another pause and he added, "I'm sorry about your dress. That was totally my fault. I'll pay for the dry cleaning."
Sighing at the reminder, she glanced at the large wine stain covering the right side of her emerald silk, sheath dress. Or at least she hoped it was just wine. The stain wasn't coming out either way. The dress was headed to the trash bin, not the dry cleaners. But he was right about one thing, the ruined dress was his fault. When he'd punched Harvey, besides the excess blood, the man's full wine glass had gone flying towards her.
Her head ached. Abandoning the coffee for the moment, she went to refrigerator and took an ice pack out of the freezer compartment. Holding it against the side of her face, she returned to the living room.
"How do you want your eggs?" She noticed that Andy had pulled off his tuxedo jacket and his tie was gone. He'd settled in for the duration. It appeared this evening was never going to end.
Andy winced as he got a good look at her face. "I can make us some French toast if you don't mind me in your kitchen."
"Knock yourself out." She kept her expression neutral, but she intended the pun.
He didn't seem to notice. As he walked past her into the kitchen, he started up again about his ex-wife's predictable reaction to the melee. "Lynn had the nerve to blame me, even though her idiot husband was the one with the wandering hands. He's the one that started it."
Sitting down in a chair, she listened to him open and close cabinet doors. She waited for him to rehash the entire event again. She was sure he would. For some reason he felt an intense desire to keep talking about it, picking it apart one messy scene at a time. She really didn't need to hear the details again. The images were burned in her memory.
"Do you think your glasses can be fixed?"
"No." The designer frames resembled a broken pretzel. She'd put them on after the wine spill and before the second round of fisticuffs at dinner. A mistake. The former Lynn Flynn (God, how had she stood that moniker?) had knocked them off her and they'd been stepped on in the ensuing free-for-all.
"I shouldn't have gone to the wedding. I knew it was a bad idea from the start. I told Provenza, but he just kept pushing me. 'Go, Andy. You'll regret it if you don't, Andy. You only get one shot at these things, Andy.' Yeah, well, where's that leave me now?"
She shifted the ice pack to her forehead. The aspirin that Nicole had given her earlier had worn off. "We've been through all this, Andy. What's done is done. The actual wedding ceremony was beautiful. Focus on that."
Stepping out of the kitchen, dish towel in his hands, he said, "It was, wasn't it. Nicole looked so happy when I walked her down the aisle." His expression darkened as he recalled the moments afterward. "I hardly noticed her creep stepfather until...the nerve of that idiot. I can't believe he put his hands on you. That arrogant son of-"
"Andy. Stop. I don't want to hear any more about it. I was perfectly capable of taking care of the situation discreetly. There was no need for you to throw a punch. You lucky he didn't decide to press charges against you. You know I basically cut a deal with him after Lynn attacked me."
"I'm sorry, okay? But he...The man's an idiot."
It was no use. She was just going to have to wait him out. Or divert his attention.
"Is something burning?"
"I don't think...No. Where's your vanilla?"
"Cabinet next to the stove."
***
The French toast was eaten. The coffee drunk. The kitchen cleaned. Her eye had swollen shut.
Andy was asleep sitting up, his chin resting on his chest.
She briefly considered waking him, sending him home. She didn't do it.
Turning off the lights, she decided not to chance waking him. He might just start apologizing all over again. She had no more patience left. He could finish the night on her couch.
She didn't look forward to tomorrow. Or the day after. He'd remember at some point that he never asked what caused Lynn to hit her. She had no intention of telling him the truth anytime soon.
Andy would have to deal with the fallout from the squad, they both would. Her black eye was going to keep the rumors flying, the questions going for days. She was going to have to figure out what lie to tell people. What lie to tell Andy.
This relationship was going to take time. And it was a relationship. She'd known that the instant she'd told Lynn it was time for her to stop pushing Andy's buttons just to see him blow up. That it was time for Lynn to let the past go. Time for Lynn to stop being a....Well she wasn't proud of her language. And she'd certainly paid a price for it.
Loving Andy Flynn wasn't going to be easy. She was sure of that.
Sharon picked up her discarded shoes and went to bed.
The end.