Fic: Inertia - Part 11 [The Closer]
Title: Inertia - Part 11 [The Closer]
Rating: R
Ship: Brenda/Sharon
Disclaimer: Not mine; never were! No copyright infringement intended. Laura's my own, but she's not a major character. The song mentioned, not mine - but it found its way into my brain about a week ago and hasn't left since. Sorry.
Summary: With Fritz gone, and her relationship with Sharon growing more serious, Brenda begins to wonder about just how close she's willing to get to the other woman.
Previous Chapters ( One) ( Two) ( Three) ( Four) ( Five) ( Six) ( Seven) ( Eight) ( 9[a]) ( 9[b]) ( Ten)
~
Brenda was angry. No, she was more than angry, she was livid. She was personally going to make Sharon Raydor's life a living hell after the stunt the brunette pulled this morning. "Morning Chief," Flynn greeted her as he joined her in waiting for the elevator in the lobby of headquarters.
"Morning, Lt. How are you?"
"Good, good." He took a sip from his coffee, "You?"
"I'm just fine." She responded curtly.
"I know that look. Raydor again?"
"Who else but that woman?" She smiled, hearing the familiar clicking of heels behind them.
"So early?"
"She's just…very good…at what she does." Brenda diplomatically stated, trying not to blush at the double meaning of her words. Sharon was, indeed, very good at what she did. And when they involved pleasant things that benefited her like looking good, or seducing her with just an eyebrow raise, or crawling into bed after sex with freshly baked brownies she was very pleased. Brenda had considered all of these as unexpected perks of being involved with another woman. When they involve torturing her like she had done earlier today, that was another story.
"Morning Chief. Lieutenant." Sharon greeted them, joining them at the elevator.
"Why good morning, Captain. I do hope you had a pleasant morning? Had a hearty breakfast?"
"Yes, Chief, I did. You?"
"Can't complain." Brenda lied through her teeth and stared straight ahead at the elevator doors. "I had a bagel. It was toasted." She could tell Sharon enjoyed seeing her seething. It wasn't funny. It would be if it was reversed, but it certainly wasn't when it was her! She saw Flynn raise his eyebrows in warning to the other woman then return his attention to his cup.
The elevator eventually arrived and they boarded - without thinking Brenda pressed Sharon's floor for her. Sharon reached out and selected another floor. Higher than Brenda's. Everyone knew the hierarchy of the building - the higher up you were above the smog, the more important you were. That's why she was allowed to taunt and tease Sharon (on a strictly professional level of course). The only office Sharon would have any reason for visiting that was higher up than her was Will. She raised her eyebrow in a silent question to her lover but was met with a blank stare. Oh well, back to payback. Suddenly, an idea sparked inside...
"Lt. Flynn, do you know what song I love?" She asked, playing up her Southern accent just to let the other woman know it was for her.
"Uh, no Chief, I don't." He stammered, confused as to where this was going.
"It's that Baby song - do you know it?"
"No, can't say I do." Now he was really confused.
"Oh, I'm sure you do. It's by that cute little Canadian boy, what's his name? Justin Beaver?"
"Don't." Sharon muttered under her breath, setting her jaw.
"Do YOU know it Captain?" Brenda batted her eyelashes towards the older woman, something she knew Sharon hated and loved at the same time.
"Uh…no Chief Johnson, I'm afraid I don't know."
"Oh I'm sure you've both heard of it… it goes -"
"Don't. Even. Think. About. It." Sharon warned.
"No, Captain Raydor, that's not how it goes - it actually just kind of gets stuck in your head and loops and loops and loops for days…until you're just ready to jab a Q-tip in your ear or marry that little boy." She felt bad for the others in the elevator as she began singing. Off-key. "Baby, baby, baby oooooohhhhh."
"Stop." Raydor pleaded.
"Now?" Flynn agreed.
"Baby, baby, baby nnnnooooooo"
"Please?" Sharon asked, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Really Chief? Stop."
"Stop? I can't, I still have the whole rest of the song, it's about how his first love broke his heart for the first time! It's really very sweet."
"Listen, I don't think we've ever agreed on anything before -" Flynn nodded towards the Captain, "And I don't know if we ever will again, so please - just-"
"Oh. Our floor. 'Scuse us Captain. Enjoy your meeting." Brenda stepped off the elevator and walked down the hall. She didn't look back, if she did, she knew Sharon would see the smile spread from ear-to-ear across her face.
| | |
"That wasn't funny." Sharon announced, marching into her bedroom, followed shortly after by Brenda.
"Oh yes, it was!" Brenda argued, "You just need to learn to have fun more!"
"I hate fun." Sharon deadpanned, turning around and wrapping her arms around the smaller woman and placing a light kiss on her lips.
"I can tell. You didn't even laugh when we drew that picture of you - which again, all in fun!" Brenda smiled up devilishly, batting her eyelashes towards the other woman.
"I hate that song. You know it. I loathe it. I revile it. That song is the musical equivalent of…well, of you!" She shot back, stepping away from the other woman.
"Charming, brilliant and captivating?" Brenda asked, flopping down on the bed and reaching across to where she had stashed a bag of pretzel M&Ms.
"Annoying, cloying and obnoxious." Sharon countered, "And it gets stuck in your head -"
"I said I was sorry about that," Brenda sat up, popping some candy in her mouth. "It was my earring and it was just…dangly. Besides - you said you liked them!"
"I do - just not when they get tangled in my hair!"
"Oh…baby, baby, baby…" Brenda sang, bouncing along on the bed.
"Don't. Not again. Not again." Sharon warned, coming up to where Brenda sat on the bed.
"Well, you deserved it - you should've known better than to have taken the last brownie this morning!"
"I made them."
"Well, you should've made more then. I was saving that one for breakfast!" Brenda sweetly explained, as she slipped her hand in the standing woman's pocket and pulled out her cell phone. "You still have me listed as 'Chief'?" Brenda asked, munching on more candy. "These are really good."
"Well," Sharon shrugged, shedding her clothes from the day, "You still have me listed as 'The Witch', don't you?"
"That's because I don't know how to change it!" The blond pouted.
"Do you hear music?" Sharon asked.
"Find my phone."
"What? You find it!" She snapped as she tossed her shirt into the dry cleaning pile.
"No, go on! Find it!" Brenda grinned excitedly. "Trust me, you'll love it!"
"I don't know why I listen to you sometimes…" Sharon muttered to herself as she dug around Brenda's obscenely large bag.
"It's because you think I'm pretty…" The blond teased, pulling her hair out of her ponytail. "You like to kiss me…" She continued as she watched the other woman fish out her phone and listen to the ringer.
It was that damned 'Baby' song again.
"I hate you." Sharon silenced the phone and tossed it to Brenda's side of the bed. She tried not to like that fact, that Brenda had a side of the bed.
"No you don't…" Brenda sang out, wrapping her arms around the other woman's nude waist and pressing herself against her. "You loooove me…" Sharon could feel herself stiffen under the other woman's embrace. She had never said anything about love. She hadn't even dared think about the word when it came to Brenda. She thought the other woman was brilliant, yes; beautiful, yes; fun to be around and yes, maybe she felt something more than the general lust and loathing she pretended to feel. Maybe she liked coming home and finding Brenda already settled in on the couch, with two glasses of wine ready. Maybe she liked looking across at Brenda from the squad room or the elevator and know that they had a secret. Maybe she liked the way Brenda would drop a kiss on her shoulder as she passed by her in the bathroom to reach her toothbrush, or her comb. It was a lot of maybes. That was what their entire relationship was and had been built on…maybes. For all she knew, the blond didn't feel the same. They had never talked about it. They had never talked about anything - the fight in the alley way was the closest they had had to a 'what are we doing here' talk. She didn't want to press it, she didn't want to examine it - she just wanted to enjoy it for as long as it lasted. "I ah… had Tao change my ringer." Brenda explained, stepping away from her to give them space. "I told him I wanted to know who was calling before I picked up and I asked him to give you this one." She elaborated.
"And he didn't ask why?" Sharon asked, shucking her bra and slipping into her oversized NYU t-shirt. She made her way into the bathroom and begun to brush her teeth, leaning on the doorway, watching as Brenda pulled her nightgown out from under her pillow. She thought it was sweet how she was disorganized, messy and frazzled, yet always managed to fold her nightgown up properly and tuck it under her pillow.
"I just told him you loved that song, Flynn backed me up. I don't know why you don't like that song. I think it's cute!"
"You would." Sharon rolled her eyes and returned to the bathroom, rinsing her mouth.
"Why do you always do that?" Brenda asked when she stepped out of the bathroom.
"Do what?" The brunette asked, pulling back the covers on the bed.
"Pretend like you're not the biggest sap in the world." The other woman joined her, rubbing hand lotion on like she had done every night she stayed over. Again, an unexpectedly feminine ritual.
"I am not. Take that back!"
"I will not because it's true. You are the biggest romantic in the world. Speaking of, have you noticed Flynn and Elliot lately?" Brenda reached over and flicked off the light, leaving them in darkness, before she settled in by Sharon, her head on her shoulder, her arm around her waist.
"I did notice them heading out together…" Sharon admitted smiling in the dark. Flynn wasn't her type - but he seemed decent enough, and Anne needed someone sweet and decent.
"You're smiling, aren't you?"
"No." She lied.
"Liar." Brenda squeezed her.
Sharon felt the other woman sigh against her. She knew what that meant. It was another one of Brenda's tactics - she supposed she should be thankful that the blond didn't dig up her glasses… Although the thought of Brenda in her nightgown and glasses was an unexplainably adorable one. "That sigh wouldn't be you wanting me to tell you why I was headed up to Will's office, would it?"
"I just assumed it was to see Will." Brenda stated, playing dumb.
"So you don't want to know?"
"If you wanted to tell me, you'd tell me." The blond asserted.
Sharon started to count in her head. One. Two. Three. Four -
"Why'd you see Will?!"
"I thought -"
"Just spill it Raydor!" Brenda threatened, jabbing her knee into her thigh.
"You know, it's so much easier to tell you things when you have your glasses on." She admitted, her lips curling into a devious grin. If Brenda wanted to do this, she may as well have some fun too.
"Seriously?" Brenda asked, "The glasses?"
"The glasses."
"Oh lord." The blond mumbled as she threw back her covers and ran off to her purse. Sharon wasn't sure, but she could swear she heard her muttering about perversions and kinks - her grin grew. Brenda slipped them on her face and ran back to the bed, pressing her cold legs against Sharon's to warm them up. "There, I'm cold and I look like an idiot. Tell me."
"I think you look sweet in them." She felt nervous suddenly - if this was at work, and she had on a suit and heels, this conversation would've been easier than lying in bed beside the woman, dressed in nothing but a ragged cotton t-shirt. Maybe she coul-
"Spill Sharon."
"I had a meeting with him to go over the current F.I.D. policy -" She took a breath to steady herself and continued. She'd have to go through with it. "There's the new federal mandate that's expected to be issued in a few months and I'd like to make sure we're ready for it. Legal's changed hands - they're no longer under Lo, so I met the new Chief there, Williams."
"Didn't Lo get promoted?"
"Mayor's office - he was great to work with -"
"He let you get away with whatever you wanted." Brenda corrected.
"I only want what F.I.D. is due and entitled to." Sharon stated, turning on her side so she wouldn't have to look at Brenda while she continued. Not to be ignored, the younger woman propped herself up on one arm so she could at least tower over the other. "So Williams and I have plans to meet on Monday an-"
"Monday's your day at F.I.D. - can you really give it up?"
"Well…" The brunette began, "I've been released from shadowing Major Crimes so I'm back with my team full time."
"What?" Brenda asked carefully, straightening her glasses as if that could help her clarify what she had just heard.
"I asked to be released from Major Crimes. Pope agreed. I've learned all I can, and I was going to tell you Mond-"
"Did you tell him about us?"
"No. Should've I have?"
"Of course not." Brenda snapped, lying forcefully back down. A moment passed. "I just don't get why you would do that - I mean, if it's not us, then what was it?"
"Nothing in particular." Sharon said softly in the dark, trying to keep her voice steady. She felt Brenda shift beside her, moving to straddle her, forcing her onto her back so the smaller woman could sit up in her lap. She fought against her initial instinct to squirm - she didn't know how Brenda always seemed…so in control of everything. From the first night she stayed over, she seemed to claim everything as her own domain with a stray hair tie or glasses case or misplaced sweater. Wherever she went, she assumed she would fit in, and so she did. Sharon envied that. Looking up, Brenda's brown eyes seemed black and flat in the darkness - but the way her head was cocked to one side betrayed her concern.
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not…It's nothing in particular. My department is suffering from having an absentee boss who seems like she's angling for a promotion. It's began as a dog and pony show and it's just getting worse."
"Does that make me the dog or the pony then?" Brenda asked, crossing her arms.
"They had me shadowing your team so they can say they tried me out in another department. The truth is, I only have a few more years with the L.A.P.D. and I don't like the thought of starting from scratch in another department. I like where I am, I like what I do, and what I'm responsible for. I think it's ridiculous that they're spending their energies on trotting me around before I'm put out to pasture, while other capable women, younger and with more years to give to the city are being ignored."
"Maybe they're not ready? Maybe they haven't had affairs with the right people? Maybe you really do deserve more opportunity?"
"Maybe I don't care anymore." Sharon sighed.
"Maybe you should." Brenda argued, looking down at her… "What do I even call you?"
"I know what you HAVE called me." Sharon laughed, raising a hand and running it through Brenda's hair.
"I mean it - I don't even know what to call you. You're Sharon, or Raydor, or Captain Raydor but …"
"But what?"
"If I had to introduce you to someone, what would I say?" The blond asked, peering down at her.
"Would you introduce me to anyone?" Sharon asked, playing devil's advocate. She knew Brenda had a small network and that she had met, in a small way, almost everyone important to the younger woman.
"I…I don't know. Do you get upset that we don't talk about…us…at work?"
"No." Sharon admitted. "I don't talk about anything personal, this isn't any different so why bring this up? Does it upset you?"
"No." Brenda agreed, "I think it would make things too difficult. It makes it easy to treat you as my Captain Raydor when we're at work when no one knows that you're my…Sharon at home."
"I'm your Sharon?" She asked, laughing.
"Yes," Brenda bent down until her lips were just hovering the other woman's lips, "You're my Sharon. All. Mine."
And with that, she began to tickle the other woman, watching as she squirmed with laughter under her. She was, after all, all hers.
Rating: R
Ship: Brenda/Sharon
Disclaimer: Not mine; never were! No copyright infringement intended. Laura's my own, but she's not a major character. The song mentioned, not mine - but it found its way into my brain about a week ago and hasn't left since. Sorry.
Summary: With Fritz gone, and her relationship with Sharon growing more serious, Brenda begins to wonder about just how close she's willing to get to the other woman.
Previous Chapters ( One) ( Two) ( Three) ( Four) ( Five) ( Six) ( Seven) ( Eight) ( 9[a]) ( 9[b]) ( Ten)
~
Brenda was angry. No, she was more than angry, she was livid. She was personally going to make Sharon Raydor's life a living hell after the stunt the brunette pulled this morning. "Morning Chief," Flynn greeted her as he joined her in waiting for the elevator in the lobby of headquarters.
"Morning, Lt. How are you?"
"Good, good." He took a sip from his coffee, "You?"
"I'm just fine." She responded curtly.
"I know that look. Raydor again?"
"Who else but that woman?" She smiled, hearing the familiar clicking of heels behind them.
"So early?"
"She's just…very good…at what she does." Brenda diplomatically stated, trying not to blush at the double meaning of her words. Sharon was, indeed, very good at what she did. And when they involved pleasant things that benefited her like looking good, or seducing her with just an eyebrow raise, or crawling into bed after sex with freshly baked brownies she was very pleased. Brenda had considered all of these as unexpected perks of being involved with another woman. When they involve torturing her like she had done earlier today, that was another story.
"Morning Chief. Lieutenant." Sharon greeted them, joining them at the elevator.
"Why good morning, Captain. I do hope you had a pleasant morning? Had a hearty breakfast?"
"Yes, Chief, I did. You?"
"Can't complain." Brenda lied through her teeth and stared straight ahead at the elevator doors. "I had a bagel. It was toasted." She could tell Sharon enjoyed seeing her seething. It wasn't funny. It would be if it was reversed, but it certainly wasn't when it was her! She saw Flynn raise his eyebrows in warning to the other woman then return his attention to his cup.
The elevator eventually arrived and they boarded - without thinking Brenda pressed Sharon's floor for her. Sharon reached out and selected another floor. Higher than Brenda's. Everyone knew the hierarchy of the building - the higher up you were above the smog, the more important you were. That's why she was allowed to taunt and tease Sharon (on a strictly professional level of course). The only office Sharon would have any reason for visiting that was higher up than her was Will. She raised her eyebrow in a silent question to her lover but was met with a blank stare. Oh well, back to payback. Suddenly, an idea sparked inside...
"Lt. Flynn, do you know what song I love?" She asked, playing up her Southern accent just to let the other woman know it was for her.
"Uh, no Chief, I don't." He stammered, confused as to where this was going.
"It's that Baby song - do you know it?"
"No, can't say I do." Now he was really confused.
"Oh, I'm sure you do. It's by that cute little Canadian boy, what's his name? Justin Beaver?"
"Don't." Sharon muttered under her breath, setting her jaw.
"Do YOU know it Captain?" Brenda batted her eyelashes towards the older woman, something she knew Sharon hated and loved at the same time.
"Uh…no Chief Johnson, I'm afraid I don't know."
"Oh I'm sure you've both heard of it… it goes -"
"Don't. Even. Think. About. It." Sharon warned.
"No, Captain Raydor, that's not how it goes - it actually just kind of gets stuck in your head and loops and loops and loops for days…until you're just ready to jab a Q-tip in your ear or marry that little boy." She felt bad for the others in the elevator as she began singing. Off-key. "Baby, baby, baby oooooohhhhh."
"Stop." Raydor pleaded.
"Now?" Flynn agreed.
"Baby, baby, baby nnnnooooooo"
"Please?" Sharon asked, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Really Chief? Stop."
"Stop? I can't, I still have the whole rest of the song, it's about how his first love broke his heart for the first time! It's really very sweet."
"Listen, I don't think we've ever agreed on anything before -" Flynn nodded towards the Captain, "And I don't know if we ever will again, so please - just-"
"Oh. Our floor. 'Scuse us Captain. Enjoy your meeting." Brenda stepped off the elevator and walked down the hall. She didn't look back, if she did, she knew Sharon would see the smile spread from ear-to-ear across her face.
| | |
"That wasn't funny." Sharon announced, marching into her bedroom, followed shortly after by Brenda.
"Oh yes, it was!" Brenda argued, "You just need to learn to have fun more!"
"I hate fun." Sharon deadpanned, turning around and wrapping her arms around the smaller woman and placing a light kiss on her lips.
"I can tell. You didn't even laugh when we drew that picture of you - which again, all in fun!" Brenda smiled up devilishly, batting her eyelashes towards the other woman.
"I hate that song. You know it. I loathe it. I revile it. That song is the musical equivalent of…well, of you!" She shot back, stepping away from the other woman.
"Charming, brilliant and captivating?" Brenda asked, flopping down on the bed and reaching across to where she had stashed a bag of pretzel M&Ms.
"Annoying, cloying and obnoxious." Sharon countered, "And it gets stuck in your head -"
"I said I was sorry about that," Brenda sat up, popping some candy in her mouth. "It was my earring and it was just…dangly. Besides - you said you liked them!"
"I do - just not when they get tangled in my hair!"
"Oh…baby, baby, baby…" Brenda sang, bouncing along on the bed.
"Don't. Not again. Not again." Sharon warned, coming up to where Brenda sat on the bed.
"Well, you deserved it - you should've known better than to have taken the last brownie this morning!"
"I made them."
"Well, you should've made more then. I was saving that one for breakfast!" Brenda sweetly explained, as she slipped her hand in the standing woman's pocket and pulled out her cell phone. "You still have me listed as 'Chief'?" Brenda asked, munching on more candy. "These are really good."
"Well," Sharon shrugged, shedding her clothes from the day, "You still have me listed as 'The Witch', don't you?"
"That's because I don't know how to change it!" The blond pouted.
"Do you hear music?" Sharon asked.
"Find my phone."
"What? You find it!" She snapped as she tossed her shirt into the dry cleaning pile.
"No, go on! Find it!" Brenda grinned excitedly. "Trust me, you'll love it!"
"I don't know why I listen to you sometimes…" Sharon muttered to herself as she dug around Brenda's obscenely large bag.
"It's because you think I'm pretty…" The blond teased, pulling her hair out of her ponytail. "You like to kiss me…" She continued as she watched the other woman fish out her phone and listen to the ringer.
It was that damned 'Baby' song again.
"I hate you." Sharon silenced the phone and tossed it to Brenda's side of the bed. She tried not to like that fact, that Brenda had a side of the bed.
"No you don't…" Brenda sang out, wrapping her arms around the other woman's nude waist and pressing herself against her. "You loooove me…" Sharon could feel herself stiffen under the other woman's embrace. She had never said anything about love. She hadn't even dared think about the word when it came to Brenda. She thought the other woman was brilliant, yes; beautiful, yes; fun to be around and yes, maybe she felt something more than the general lust and loathing she pretended to feel. Maybe she liked coming home and finding Brenda already settled in on the couch, with two glasses of wine ready. Maybe she liked looking across at Brenda from the squad room or the elevator and know that they had a secret. Maybe she liked the way Brenda would drop a kiss on her shoulder as she passed by her in the bathroom to reach her toothbrush, or her comb. It was a lot of maybes. That was what their entire relationship was and had been built on…maybes. For all she knew, the blond didn't feel the same. They had never talked about it. They had never talked about anything - the fight in the alley way was the closest they had had to a 'what are we doing here' talk. She didn't want to press it, she didn't want to examine it - she just wanted to enjoy it for as long as it lasted. "I ah… had Tao change my ringer." Brenda explained, stepping away from her to give them space. "I told him I wanted to know who was calling before I picked up and I asked him to give you this one." She elaborated.
"And he didn't ask why?" Sharon asked, shucking her bra and slipping into her oversized NYU t-shirt. She made her way into the bathroom and begun to brush her teeth, leaning on the doorway, watching as Brenda pulled her nightgown out from under her pillow. She thought it was sweet how she was disorganized, messy and frazzled, yet always managed to fold her nightgown up properly and tuck it under her pillow.
"I just told him you loved that song, Flynn backed me up. I don't know why you don't like that song. I think it's cute!"
"You would." Sharon rolled her eyes and returned to the bathroom, rinsing her mouth.
"Why do you always do that?" Brenda asked when she stepped out of the bathroom.
"Do what?" The brunette asked, pulling back the covers on the bed.
"Pretend like you're not the biggest sap in the world." The other woman joined her, rubbing hand lotion on like she had done every night she stayed over. Again, an unexpectedly feminine ritual.
"I am not. Take that back!"
"I will not because it's true. You are the biggest romantic in the world. Speaking of, have you noticed Flynn and Elliot lately?" Brenda reached over and flicked off the light, leaving them in darkness, before she settled in by Sharon, her head on her shoulder, her arm around her waist.
"I did notice them heading out together…" Sharon admitted smiling in the dark. Flynn wasn't her type - but he seemed decent enough, and Anne needed someone sweet and decent.
"You're smiling, aren't you?"
"No." She lied.
"Liar." Brenda squeezed her.
Sharon felt the other woman sigh against her. She knew what that meant. It was another one of Brenda's tactics - she supposed she should be thankful that the blond didn't dig up her glasses… Although the thought of Brenda in her nightgown and glasses was an unexplainably adorable one. "That sigh wouldn't be you wanting me to tell you why I was headed up to Will's office, would it?"
"I just assumed it was to see Will." Brenda stated, playing dumb.
"So you don't want to know?"
"If you wanted to tell me, you'd tell me." The blond asserted.
Sharon started to count in her head. One. Two. Three. Four -
"Why'd you see Will?!"
"I thought -"
"Just spill it Raydor!" Brenda threatened, jabbing her knee into her thigh.
"You know, it's so much easier to tell you things when you have your glasses on." She admitted, her lips curling into a devious grin. If Brenda wanted to do this, she may as well have some fun too.
"Seriously?" Brenda asked, "The glasses?"
"The glasses."
"Oh lord." The blond mumbled as she threw back her covers and ran off to her purse. Sharon wasn't sure, but she could swear she heard her muttering about perversions and kinks - her grin grew. Brenda slipped them on her face and ran back to the bed, pressing her cold legs against Sharon's to warm them up. "There, I'm cold and I look like an idiot. Tell me."
"I think you look sweet in them." She felt nervous suddenly - if this was at work, and she had on a suit and heels, this conversation would've been easier than lying in bed beside the woman, dressed in nothing but a ragged cotton t-shirt. Maybe she coul-
"Spill Sharon."
"I had a meeting with him to go over the current F.I.D. policy -" She took a breath to steady herself and continued. She'd have to go through with it. "There's the new federal mandate that's expected to be issued in a few months and I'd like to make sure we're ready for it. Legal's changed hands - they're no longer under Lo, so I met the new Chief there, Williams."
"Didn't Lo get promoted?"
"Mayor's office - he was great to work with -"
"He let you get away with whatever you wanted." Brenda corrected.
"I only want what F.I.D. is due and entitled to." Sharon stated, turning on her side so she wouldn't have to look at Brenda while she continued. Not to be ignored, the younger woman propped herself up on one arm so she could at least tower over the other. "So Williams and I have plans to meet on Monday an-"
"Monday's your day at F.I.D. - can you really give it up?"
"Well…" The brunette began, "I've been released from shadowing Major Crimes so I'm back with my team full time."
"What?" Brenda asked carefully, straightening her glasses as if that could help her clarify what she had just heard.
"I asked to be released from Major Crimes. Pope agreed. I've learned all I can, and I was going to tell you Mond-"
"Did you tell him about us?"
"No. Should've I have?"
"Of course not." Brenda snapped, lying forcefully back down. A moment passed. "I just don't get why you would do that - I mean, if it's not us, then what was it?"
"Nothing in particular." Sharon said softly in the dark, trying to keep her voice steady. She felt Brenda shift beside her, moving to straddle her, forcing her onto her back so the smaller woman could sit up in her lap. She fought against her initial instinct to squirm - she didn't know how Brenda always seemed…so in control of everything. From the first night she stayed over, she seemed to claim everything as her own domain with a stray hair tie or glasses case or misplaced sweater. Wherever she went, she assumed she would fit in, and so she did. Sharon envied that. Looking up, Brenda's brown eyes seemed black and flat in the darkness - but the way her head was cocked to one side betrayed her concern.
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not…It's nothing in particular. My department is suffering from having an absentee boss who seems like she's angling for a promotion. It's began as a dog and pony show and it's just getting worse."
"Does that make me the dog or the pony then?" Brenda asked, crossing her arms.
"They had me shadowing your team so they can say they tried me out in another department. The truth is, I only have a few more years with the L.A.P.D. and I don't like the thought of starting from scratch in another department. I like where I am, I like what I do, and what I'm responsible for. I think it's ridiculous that they're spending their energies on trotting me around before I'm put out to pasture, while other capable women, younger and with more years to give to the city are being ignored."
"Maybe they're not ready? Maybe they haven't had affairs with the right people? Maybe you really do deserve more opportunity?"
"Maybe I don't care anymore." Sharon sighed.
"Maybe you should." Brenda argued, looking down at her… "What do I even call you?"
"I know what you HAVE called me." Sharon laughed, raising a hand and running it through Brenda's hair.
"I mean it - I don't even know what to call you. You're Sharon, or Raydor, or Captain Raydor but …"
"But what?"
"If I had to introduce you to someone, what would I say?" The blond asked, peering down at her.
"Would you introduce me to anyone?" Sharon asked, playing devil's advocate. She knew Brenda had a small network and that she had met, in a small way, almost everyone important to the younger woman.
"I…I don't know. Do you get upset that we don't talk about…us…at work?"
"No." Sharon admitted. "I don't talk about anything personal, this isn't any different so why bring this up? Does it upset you?"
"No." Brenda agreed, "I think it would make things too difficult. It makes it easy to treat you as my Captain Raydor when we're at work when no one knows that you're my…Sharon at home."
"I'm your Sharon?" She asked, laughing.
"Yes," Brenda bent down until her lips were just hovering the other woman's lips, "You're my Sharon. All. Mine."
And with that, she began to tickle the other woman, watching as she squirmed with laughter under her. She was, after all, all hers.