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ecofinisher · 4 years

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The Adventures of Super Nathan 3 - Chap 18

Chapter 18

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13531960/18/The-Adventures-of-Super-Nathan-3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23301076/chapters/58146259

https://www.wattpad.com/884038032-the-adventures-of-super-nathan-3-chapter-18

On the next day, Adrien sat on the back of the car together with Kagami as the bodyguard was driving them through the city.

„Jin and Rory texted me saying they would help me out, during this month. So at least I would just do good at the school and with the time I come back what it was before,“

„Won‘t this be a little too much to handle?“ Kagami questioned the boyfriend.

„It takes more of my free time, but I‘ve got no choice“ Adrien answered. „I make sure to set after work an hour first to relax or clean up my head before I go back to learning“

„That‘s going to be a long month“ Kagami stated earning a nod from the blonde.

„As long as my friends and you are with me, it‘s bearable“ Adrien claimed seeing the girlfriend turn pink on her face and lean her head on his shoulder. „About this here I can‘t say the same,“

„Maybe you find there a friend“ Kagami mentioned making Adrien shrug his shoulders.

„Who knows, “ Adrien said and the bodyguard stopped in front of a bus station, where two police agents stood along with a few men and women dressed in their daily outfit, additionally an orange vest over it. „Those must be the others“ Adrien mentioned, then recognized on the back his old school colleague Kim Chien Le. „Hey isn‘t that Kim?“

„Uh yes, it is“ Kagami answered. „At least you got there someone, you know“

„Yes“ Adrien replied picking up his bag, then he gave Kagami a goodbye kiss. „See you tonight“ Adrien left the vehicle to approach the group, then the agent ticked off on his list Adrien‘s name as he spotted him.

„Welcome Mr. Agreste,“ The police officer announced, then looked at his partner. „Only three haven‘t arrived yet. Bring the group into the station, I will see if the remaining convicts appear“

„Sure, ladies and gentlemen, follow me“ The second policeman ordered walking along with the group into the station.

„Hey Kim, I wasn‘t expecting you here, “ Adrien said giving the Vietnamese man his hand to shake.

„Hey Adrien, what a surprise,“ Kim answered. „You were the last person I expected to encounter here“

„It‘s a stupid story. I had with Kagami and an old friend of her dinner and he tried to frame me making me look like I had pulled him under a car“

„What?“

„Also no one saw, what really happened and we both got punished,“

„That‘s mean“ Kim confessed.

„What about you?“

„I drove around 160km on the highway, where it‘s supposed to be 130km/h and got caught by a police officer“ Kim answered. „Including for two months, I‘m not allowed to drive“ „Oh….and how long are you here?“

„I‘ve been here for three weeks. This is my last week“

„Oh I got three weeks“ Adrien recounted. „Are we always going to the train station to clean or also somewhere else?“ „It variates“ The former classmate answered. „Be glad, if you don‘t have to remove the cigarette butts from the railways. That‘s the worst job to do“

„I remember seeing the staff from the train station doing that“ Adrien mentioned. „Yeah I believe that it is annoying“

The group walked across the hall at the railways of the trains, that had departed to the outside of France.

„Hmm if I had come earlier I would have seen Max‘s his mother, “ Kim said looking at Adrien, which nodded.

„So this will be a long morning for us all. You all were assigned in a quartet to remove all the trash and cigarette butts from between the stones at the railways,“ The policeman announced making notes on his sheet. „I will make the groups and if there‘s a problem between some of you, you‘re all old enough to solve it, I will only interrupt if necessary. There‘s no need to escape, cause if you do your punishment will take longer and I believe all of you want this to be over as soon as possible“ The policeman recounted earning a nod from a few of the offenders. „So railway 1-3 will be taken by François Hérbert, Paul Van Dirk, Léonardo Dinozzo and Vasco Cavalo“ The policeman read watching the group walk to the first railway and stood there. „My partner will soon give you the necessary tools for the job…..next group is Florentina Rexha, Karl Kastner, Evangeline Dupont and Lauren Fitzpatrick for railways 4,5 and 6“

„I think those are the rest for the group“ Kim mentioned pointing at three guys coming towards the group and Adrien widened his eyes as he saw Raiden was there too.

„What is he doing here?“ Adrien asked earning a confused look from the old classmate.

„Is that the guy, who tried to frame you?“ Kim asked, then the Japanese man stopped by the two.

„Wow I wasn‘t expecting to see you here, “ Raiden said a little less surprised as Adrien. „And is that your friend Jin?“

„No that‘s Kim“ Adrien corrected. „Kim‘s Vietnamese and Jin is Chinese,“ „Okay I didn‘t really want to know the difference, but thanks,“

„Why would you anyway?“ Adrien asked making Raiden shake his head.

„I know I acted like an idiot the other day, but I can assure you to make it better“

„As if you could“ Adrien crossed his arms.

„The next group is Z…...Tsaynep?“

„It‘s Zeynep“ A tan-skinned girl corrected.

„Zeynep…..Emre?“ The policeman asked earning a nod from the girl. „Leon Carlson, Kevin Hofferson and Pete McCallister,“

„I bet we‘re going to be in the same group“ Kim mentioned seeing only eight of the group, that weren‘t called.

„I wouldn‘t be surprised, “ Raiden and Adrien said at the same time, then the policeman looked at the rest of the group and called out the next four persons.

„Adrien Agreste, Kim Chien Le, Raiden Soto and Fernando Maga…...magalhais?“

„Just say, Fernando. I know, not everyone knows how to pronounce it“ The raven-haired man said walking forward along with Adrien, Kim and Raiden.

„Okay, railway 9 and 10. The last four take 11 and 12“

„Okay after the work you two owe me ten euros, “ Kim said as a joke walking between Adrien and Raiden, which glared at each other

„Don‘t worry you two. When this is all over, you can hate each other so much you want but as long as you two are here you should at least be able to act normal with each other,“ Kim suggested the two, then stopped all by the 9th railway and watched the policemen share the utensils for the job. „Or just ignore each other, while you‘re all cleaning the railway. If it makes you two feel better“

„There you go, four long pliers for you to grab the trash and one bucket per Group. One has the garbage bag for everyone to disposit the full bucket“ The policeman informed earning a nod from the quartet.

„We‘ve got the best sight here to the street“ Fernando mentioned looking at the streets, where a few cars passed by.

„If this was Monaco, I would believe you“ Kim added getting down at the rail followed by Adrien.

I haven‘t been there yet, is it great?“ The blonde asked making the raven-haired man shake his head.

„No, but I‘d like to if I get time one day“ Kim answered. „Mostly to go on the car spotting“

„Ah yes, I‘d love to see a Noserati for real“ Fernando mentioned. „Mostly the Noserati TransTour“

„There are better cars out there, “ Raiden said using the plier to try to pick a cigarette butt from between the rocks.

„You know, what I want to see one day?“ Kim asked seeing the guys shake their head while Adrien was the only one collecting the trash. „A Bullatti Voyage“

„I knew you were one of those Bullatti fanboys“

„I‘m not only a Bullatti fanboy, but I‘m also a GTS fanboy“

„Eh a GTS can‘t even compete with a Noserati“ Fernando stated picking with his plier the trash from the rail along with the raven-haired Asian.

„Lean the car out to a tuning shop in Japan and let it race one time towards a Noserati or a Bullatti and you‘ll be surprised to see the results, “ Raiden said earning a nod from the South European man.

„I know what you mean“

„I don‘t know all the car‘s speeds, but for me another car beats your favorite“ The Japanese man noted earning a nod from Kim.

„I know one too, but people keep forgetting, that it exists“ Adrien pointed out earning an interested look from his former classmate.

„Wow must be a rare one“ Raiden joked sarcastically making Adrien frown at the comment. „The best vehicle is the Küngsëgg,“

„I like the Küngsëgg….“ Adrien said at the same moment as Raiden said his opinion, then both looked at each other surprise. „What?“

„Yes I like the Küngsëgg. What‘s so bad about it?“

„I like it too“ Adrien mentioned. „I was just surprised about it“

„Not only you…..and which Küngsëgg model is your favorite?“

„The Aqua RS“ The former model responded. „Yours“

„Also that one and the Venera ST“

„Cool“ Adrien agreed. „Do you have any racing games or aren‘t you interested in video gaming“ „I‘ve got GTV, Need for Velocity 1-3, Fast and Turbo Kyoto Drift and Extreme Racing 2 and 3, “ Raiden told making Adrien smile a little.

„I‘ve got Kyoto Drift and Extreme Racing 3“ Adrien pointed out. „Both completed“

„Nice, how long did you take?“

„I don‘t know“ Adrien responded. „Also I haven‘t played a lot since I entered university and my little sister was born“

„I haven‘t played a lot, only with a cousin of mine online“

„Okay“

„Hey this is just an idea and if you got time, we could have a few little matches with each other online,“

„I don‘t know if this will work out for me“

„It‘s okay, it‘s just an idea“

„I can have a match with you on Extreme Racing 3. I sometimes have one with my friend Max, we could the four play together in a team mode or against each other“

„I kind of enjoyed playing with Nino capture the flag“ Adrien confessed making Kim smile.

„Yeah, you, me, Max, Nino and Raiden could be a team. With me and Max, our team will turn into legends“

„Really?“ Raiden asked curiously. „How so?

„We‘re in France at the top 100 and if we‘re all good enough and play often we could reach it to the top ten or up“ Kim answered earning a nod from the Japanese man.

„I don‘t know about your skills, but I was the best one from my school friends back in Japan“

„I was better than Nino“ Adrien answered making Kim chuckle. „But I can race in the game without crashing….unless it‘s provoked by the other gamers“

„Then we got our dream team,“ Kim announced. „We just need a perfect name“ „We got time for that“Adrien advised.

„Someone needs to explain to me, why people throw their cigarettes into the railway when there are trash cans all over the place“ Fernando complained earning a nod from the trio.

„I feel bad for the others, that have to do it“ Kim mentioned. „Another time I saw someone throw his cigar into the railway and he stood right next to an astray. I think those kind of people are just jerks“

„Some of those people need free samples of condoms or a large sheet on their back pointing out of their behavior“ Fernando added while picking another cigar up, then she got annoyed as it felt down again. „Come on!“

„What‘s are you talking about the condoms?“ Adrien asked bewildered at Fernando‘s sentence, then Kim placed his arm around Adrien.

„That‘s a dick-poncho you use to put it down there to prevent any of your boys to leave and make a new wonder in your girl‘s body“

„I know, what it is. I just wanted to know, why he said it like that. I didn‘t get it“

„It‘s like stupid people should use that to stop reproducing more stupidity, got it?“

„Oh okay“

„Also this doesn‘t work out, cause mainly stupid people reproduce, because they didn‘t use it and that‘s why I and my future kids exist“ „That sounds weird“

„It‘s not weird I and Chloé are becoming parents because we didn‘t use it“

„Oh“

„Well Chloé has her parents and some of the staff from the hotel like Jean the butler. They will help us out. I mean one baby can‘t do so much work for all“

„With my little sister it was okay, but she usually cried a lot during the night,“ Adrien mentioned earning a nod from Kim. „But hey you‘re a cool guy, your kid will like it to have you as a dad“

„Thanks Adrien,“ Kim said continuing his job along with the rest of the quartet.

#ecofinisher #ecofinisherfanfics #miraculous #adrien agreste #Kagami Tsurugi #kim chien le #adrimi #adrami #adrigami #kagadrien #fanfiction #fanfic #ficupdate #fanficupdate #wattpad #ao3 #archieve of our own #updated

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roslinadama-sinequanon · 6 years

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Christmas in Connecticut-Chapter 20 of 20

In this chapter Andy tries to keep his cool when Maura voices her skepticism of his relationship with Sharon. Peggy jumps to Sharon's defense.

Sharon spends some time with Sylvia who has a sentimental gift to give to her soon to be daughter in law.

This is the last chapter of this installment. Stay tuned as the story continues back in LA with "Saying Good-bye to Yesterday" which will focus on the annulments and some of what happened in Season Five. We will meet Winnie Davis and Sandra and there will be a few fireworks with Jack who is not going to be happy about his kids forcing him to sign the annulment papers. As with this story it will weave in and out of canon.

Story available here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12789981/20/Christmas-in-Connecticut

Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13293105/chapters/34782611

And here are a couple pics to go along with Andy remembering back to going to the Japanese embassy dinner with Sharon. Didn’t they look gorgeous that night.

You can also read the chapter here:

True to her word, as soon as Gina squeezed into her chair next to Sharon she set in to regale her with stories about Andy as a boy. The others were not content to let Gina steal the show and once she got started Maura, Peggy, Nell, and Sylvia were keen to join her, with Andy jumping in every so often to defend himself or offer explanations. The Flynn siblings were loud and boisterous; they competed with each other, interrupted each other and finished each other’s stories while Sharon was content with sitting back and taking it all in, the calm in the middle of their storm.

Most of the stories were amusing, though a few made Sharon catch her breath with the danger young Andy had put himself in and the risks he’d taken. He sure hadn’t changed much. Listening to what he had been like as a boy she found that the traits he had as an adult were simply modified versions of those he’d had as a child. The women in his life gave her a clear image of a young boy full of mischief, quick to laugh and just as quick to flare into a temper, a young boy caught between two worlds, defending the honor of both.

“Back then, there was still some rivalry going on and PC wasn‘t something any of us had even heard of,” Andy explained. “To the Italian kids, I was a mick. To the Irish, I was a dago. It felt like I was always fighting somebody.”

“And don’t forget Dennis,” Peggy waved a fork at him. “You were always protecting him.”

“My cousin.” He responded to Sharon’s questioning look.

“Oh. The one with Downs?” Her friend Summer’s daughter Rhiannon had Downs and when Andy met her Sharon had been surprised at the ease and rapport that he’d had with the young woman. She and Summer had been friends since their kids were in diapers and she‘d seen how often people were uncomfortable around Rhiannon, but not Andy. When she had commented on that, he’d told her about Dennis.

“Yes,” Peggy said. “You know how kids are. They can be brutal to anyone different. They were always picking on Dennis. But when Aunt Loretta moved into the building Andy started walking him to school and Dennis didn‘t have any more trouble. Joe couldn’t be bothered, but Andy took care of him, just like he took care of all of us. As much as I hate to admit it, outside of the house he was a pretty decent brother."

"Outside?" Sharon’s brow arched with interest.

"Mmm..." Peggy took a sip of her wine then settled back in her chair giving her brother a little smirk. "Inside the apartment, he could say whatever he wanted about us, complain about us, tease us, pull our pigtails, and let me tell you, he did all of that. A LOT. He could be a little pest. But let anyone outside the house dare say anything bad about any one of us and they’d have Andy in their face.”

It was amusing to see that Andy was actually blushing. That didn’t happen very often. There wasn‘t much in the world that could surprise or embarrass her fiancé but it all rang true. Andy still had a protective streak a mile wide and she had never doubted his loyalty to her or the team. He might grumble about the squad and he loved to jab at them, especially Provenza, but she knew with every ounce of her being that he would step in front of a bullet for any one of them, especially her.

Andy took another helping of mushroom risotto and grew thoughtful. “That all started with Dad. He used to tell me, they’re your sisters, Andy. In this family, we take care of our own.”

“He used to say the same thing to Joey.” Gina’s eyes rolled derisively. “But he was always too busy with his friends. He never took any responsibility for us.”

“It didn’t take many fights for kids to learn that you didn’t mess with Dennis or the Flynn girls,” Maura added. “Andy was a tough little shi---kid and he taught us how to fight too, said we needed to know how to defend ourselves when he wasn‘t around.”

Sharon bit back a smile. Andy was the only person she knew who could look both sheepish and proud at the same time. “He’s still tough,” she said. Sometimes too tough. Her sexy third in command Lieutenant was always the first one to kick in a door, and, along with Julio, to get in a perps face. He had zero tolerance for those who lied and those who hurt others…dirtbags. However, unlike Julio who still struggled with his temper, Andy had learned to keep his under control for the most part. When she’d first gotten involved auditing the Major Crimes division she had often been the one to set off that temper. Her position in FID, her insistence in following the rules, her ability to keep her composure, and the fact that for a time he thought she was out to get them, all seemed to set Andy off like a powder keg.

In an interesting case of reversal, once they had begun working together the opposite seemed to be the case. Somehow, and she wasn’t quite sure how it happened, she had become the one who could calm him down. When she saw his temper escalating all she had to do was give him a look, softly say his name, or rest a gentle hand on his arm and it was as if all the tension left his body.

“Well, girls shouldn’t be fighting,” Sylvia said firmly.

“Maaaa!” Her daughters were outraged.

“I disagree, Sylvia.” Sharon‘s protest was softer, but no less firm. “All girls and women should know how to protect themselves. I‘ve actually taught some basic women‘s self- defense classes at local high schools and at the battered women‘s shelter where I volunteer.”

“Kick em’ in the balls, takes em’ down every time.”

“Gina!” Sylvia sputtered. “Good Lord.”

“What? I’m just sayin'…”

“She’s not wrong, Ma.” Andy shifted in his seat, wincing at the thought. “A swift kick to the balls will bring any guy to his knees.”

“Andrew, my goodness, do you children not see that we have guests?”

“Oh, don’t mind us. We’ve heard worse, right?” Ricky looked down the table at his siblings and Nicole who all nodded in agreement. “Hazard of being a cop’s kid, you never know what your dinner conversation is going to be about.”

An impish smile curved on Sharon’s lips as she turned to the older woman. “Besides, that goes both ways, Sylvia. We’re not guests, we’re family, right?”

Sylvia sighed but acquiesced with a nod of agreement and Sharon turned back to Gina assuring her, “You were right. Groin attacks are definitely a big part of the course. It’s a very quick way to incapacitate a man.”

Eager to change the subject, Sylvia turned to her daughters. “Girls, would you get the pannacotta please.”

The Flynn girls might be feisty, but they listened to their Mama.

************************

“Groin attacks?” Maura sidled up to Peggy at the refrigerator and began pulling out the ramekins of chilled desserts. “Does she always sound so hoity -toity?”

“She’s a cop, I’m sure she can turn the air blue with the best of them, but she has class. You ought to take a lesson or two. And be quiet you don’t want her to hear you and you sure as hell don’t want Andy to hear you. That will really piss him off.”

“She’s definitely got him whipped.” Maura didn’t drop the subject but did speak more softly in an effort to placate her sister. “Did you see the way he looks at her with those puppy dog eyes? And, oh my God, seriously? She’s got him going to the opera and the symphony. Jesus, he’s got it bad.”

“He’s in love Maur.” Peggy began spooning the juicy combination of strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries over the desserts. “And if you were paying attention you’d see that she looks at him exactly the same way.”

“Hmph.”

“She does. And she’s gone riding on the back of his motorcycle on the Angeles Crest Highway and to a boxing match with him. Do those things sound like something she would have done before she met Andy? When you’re in a relationship sometimes you have to go out of your comfort zone. And it’s not as if they don’t have anything in common. They work together; they both love old movies and sports. I mean she loves the Dodgers, what more could Andy ask for?”

“I’ll give you that. I didn’t see the sports fanatic thing coming. Figure skating, sure, but football?” The very idea of the elegant Sharon Raydor wearing a big foam cheese on her head to root for the Packers was incongruous.

“See, you can’t just judge people by how they look or where they come from. Don’t let Ken’s shitty mid-life crisis make you bitter and hard. Andy’s had a tough go of it, admittedly through some of his own doing, but still. He’s fallen in love with a terrific woman, he’s getting married and he’s happier and more at peace than I’ve ever seen him. Let’s just be happy for him, okay.”

********

With lunch finished the LA contingent, including Emily, but not including Andy and Sharon, had to leave for the airport. After they left, Sharon rose to help clear the feast from the table but Andy handed her a cup of coffee and ushered her away to go relax with his mother. They weren’t leaving for LA until the following morning so they could spend a little more time with his family.

Sipping her coffee Sharon made her way back to the living room, pausing to pick up a framed black and white 8x10 photo. She settled into the couch with it, involuntarily shuddering at the crinkling noise the plastic covering made when she sat. The last time she had seen a plastic cover over a couch had been a few years back when a serial killer had lured Rusty to an empty condo in their building and had come very close to killing him. Were it not for Andy calling and tipping her off to where they might be, she never would have would have made it in time to bash the door in with a fire extinguisher and save him. Her heart began racing at the thought of how close she’d come to losing Rusty so she forced herself to leave the past and focus on the wedding picture in her hands.

The tiny dark- haired bride was wearing a ball gown style wedding dress circa 1950’s, tiny waist and full taffeta skirt, so she assumed it was Sylvia. A thrilled little jolt ran through her at the thought that she would soon be looking for a wedding gown of her own. Definitely not a ball gown style though, possibly an elegant A-line or a sexier fit and flare. Something romantic and stylish, both vintage and modern. Definitely some lace. She loved lace. When she got back to LA, she’d have to pick up a few bridal magazines and have a look at what was in style now. Gavin would be a big help there. His favorite television show was “Say Yes to the Dress.”

At the woman’s side was a tall, very handsome young man with a thick head of a hair and a smile she knew all too well. The same smile as the one on the face of the man who was helping his sisters clear the table. The resemblance was uncanny. Andy had a framed picture of his parents in their bedroom and she had seen family photos at his house, so it wasn’t the first time she’d seen his father but in this wedding shot Patrick Flynn was young and still had the cocky grin that in his son made her heart flutter.

“My Patrick was a handsome man, wasn’t he?” Sylvia sat down in a chair across from Sharon.

“Yes, he certainly was.”

“Well, of course, you’d think so, wouldn’t you? Joey, my older boy, he's Rossi through and through, shorter, darker, pure Sicilian. Actually, he looks a lot like my father and my grandfather. But Andy, all he got from me was the color of his eyes, skin that doesn’t easily burn and a temper that heats up as fast as it cools down. In everything else, he has the look of his father, his height, his build, everything, right down to the twinkle in his eyes and that mischievous little smile. Oh that smile,” her eyes turned wistful as they landed on a laughing Andy in the kitchen. “That smile got them both out of a lot of trouble. I don’t know what it was, or why I fell for it, but all they had to do was give me that grin and I would forget why I was angry with them. The girls told you about Andy fighting, but I‘ll tell you, that boy could tell a tale and charm his way out of detention with just a smile. Even the nuns fell for it and I don‘t think I need to tell you how tough they could be.”

“Mmm…“ Sharon took a sip of her coffee and nodded in agreement. “It is pretty irresistible. “She couldn’t count how many times she’d been irritated with Andy, all he had to do was flash her that boyish grin, and she couldn’t seem to help grinning back, her anger magically dissipating.

“I always had a thing for the Irish boys. Did Andy tell you how Patrick and I met? “

“He said it was at a church dance.”

“Just like the movie.” Sylvia clapped her hands with delight. “Only backward. I was the Italian one, Patrick the Irish. Did you see “Brooklyn”?”

“I did, yes. It was the first movie Andy and I went to together.” They had just finished a case and were talking about what they were going to do on their days off. Andy had expressed interest in seeing the movie because of its connection with his parents and when she said she’d wanted to see it as well, he had suggested that they should go together. It was funny how natural it had seemed, sitting in the darkened theater sharing a bucket of popcorn and a diet soda with love em‘and leave em‘Andy Flynn.

“Well, of course, neither of us was new to the country like the young girl in the movie. I was a third generation American, but Patrick was a fourth, his family came here during the potato famine. I had never even heard about this famine until I married him. Then I read all about it. My God, it’s hard to imagine such suffering.”

Sharon nodded, she‘d done her own research on her family‘s history. “That’s when my father’s family came. They settled in Boston, though.”

“One generation doesn’t seem like much of a difference but it was. My grandfather wasn’t born in this country, he spoke English with a very thick accent and it always seemed like he still had a foot in the Old World. It wasn’t like that with the Flynn’s. Patrick’s family seemed so much more American to me. They had a history here. His great-grandfather fought in the Civil War and helped build the Brooklyn Bridge, his grandfather fought in World War I and Patrick in World War II. We Rossi’s were still the new kids on the block.

“Did your families give you a hard time when you told them you wanted to get married?”

“No, not really. By the time Patrick and I got married in the 50s, things were changing. Before the war, everyone was divided even though we shared the same religion. There was an Irish church, an Italian church, a Polish church and you rarely socialized with anyone outside your parish and your ethnic background. After the war that began to change. The churches started to consolidate and we all started moving into the same neighborhoods instead of staying in our own little enclaves. There were a few snide remarks of course, you know, why wasn‘t an Italian boy good enough for me and things like that. But I think my parents were just happy that I was marrying another Catholic and not a dreaded Protestant.” Sylvia laughed, shaking her head at the way things used to be. Then she leaned forward and reached out as if to touch Sharon’s chest, only stopping herself at the last minute.

“That’s a very pretty necklace.”

Sharon’s fingers moved to her neck gently touching the delicate heart-shaped pendant, two hands cupped around a glittering emerald heart. “It’s a Claddagh. Andy gave it to me when we spent a weekend in Corona Del Mar.” Her eyes grew soft and she flushed slightly at the memory. Andy had bought her the necklace the night they had first made love. After dinner in Laguna Beach, they had been browsing through a Celtic store and had seen the necklace. While she had been purchasing some Innisfree perfume, he had surreptitiously bought the necklace and surprised her with it the following evening while they were gliding around the Newport Beach harbor in a romantic gondola.

“That look on your face tells me it must be pretty special.”

“Yes,” Sharon’s voice grew low, almost dreamy. “Very special.” When he’d put it around her neck he’d told her that when she wore it he wanted it to remind her of how much he loved her and how much the weekend had meant to him. Who knew that under his cynical, wisecracking exterior lay a romantic soul who shared her sense of occasion?

“Speaking of special, there’s something I’d like to share with you.” Sylvia rose and returned a few minutes later holding out a little velvet bag to Sharon. Sharon took the bag and when she opened it, she found a lovely rosary in mother of pearl, with a silver crucifix. “That rosary was brought over from Italy by my great-grandmother. She carried it at her wedding then it was passed down to my grandmother and my mother, to me, and then to each of my daughters. Andy said how important the church is to you and that you are hoping to have a nuptial mass, so I thought… Well, I thought maybe you would want to carry it with you on your wedding day. You’ll need a something borrowed.”

Sharon fingered the beads, her chest tightening with emotions and for a moment, she was unable to speak.

“Don’t worry,” Sylvia continued, mistaking her silence. “Sandra didn’t carry them. I offered but she wasn’t very interested in anything old fashioned like carrying a rosary on your wedding day.”

Sharon smiled at the woman who would soon be her mother in law, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “Sylvia, I would be honored to carry this rosary with me on the day that I marry your son. Old fashioned is not a problem for me. Thank you.” She reached out to squeeze the older woman’s hand.

“No. Thank you. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen my boy so happy. That’s all you.”

****************************

“I still can’t believe you’re getting married.” Peggy handed Andy another stack of plates he promptly set into the soapy water in the sink. “After Sandra, I didn’t think you’d ever take the plunge again.”

“Me either.” Even though they both knew the marriage wasn’t working and he and Sandra had both agreed to the divorce, their split had been bitter and acrimonious with a lot of anger and hurled insults, especially when it came to custody issues. Then when Sandra had begun using Nicole as a weapon against him, it had left him soured on the very idea of marriage. In fact, until he had fallen in love with Sharon he would have told anyone who asked that he would rather be shot in the head than ever get hitched again. Dating and sex was one thing, but taking those vows was something else entirely. “Sharon changed all that.”

“Yeah, we can see that. But I could see something was happening between the two of you way back at Nicole’s wedding.”

“You think? I don’t know. That was the first time we had ever gone anywhere alone outside of work. It wasn’t a date, but…” He trailed off not sure how to explain it.

“But what?”

“But it started to feel like one. And after our first dance, I guess I started wishing it was one. That day did change things between us.” It was strange how it had all happened so organically. He’d always had an eye on Sharon, even when he couldn’t stand her. It was in his DNA. A pretty woman walked by and he had to look. And Sharon was a beauty. A cool, impenetrable, and totally untouchable beauty. It was frustrating. He wanted to despise her yet there was a strange attraction he felt in her presence and the first time he had felt the urge to act on that attraction was well before they were even friends. He was pissed, yelling at her, defending his honor as an officer of the law and she was standing there cool as a cucumber holding his fat employee file filled with exonerated complaints, not even flushing as one might when trying to control their temper. No, she was completely unaffected by his anger and he suddenly got the urge to grab her by the shoulders and kiss her senseless. Kiss her into a reaction. The overpowering pull of attraction and its accompanying surge of lust only served to make him angrier. How was he attracted to Sharon---stick up her ass--- Raydor?

He wasn’t sure when exactly he’d gone from irritation with her and her rules, to admiring her legs when she sat on the edge of a desk and her cleavage when she leaned over one, to really seeing her as a person. It was probably right around the time she’d started asking him for advice on addiction after she’d found Rusty’s drug addict mother and had then asked him to accompany Rusty to pick up that mother up at the bus station. The crushing disappointment when she hadn’t been on the bus had caused Rusty to run off—so quickly Andy hadn’t been able to find him. The kid had lived on the streets long enough to know how to disappear. Telling Sharon he had lost the boy had turned out to be even harder than he’d thought it would be. The fear shining in her eyes and the way she had tried to smile so bravely and assure him she knew it wasn’t his fault, even as the tears welled in her eyes, made him feel like such a heel. He’d hated disappointing her. Then, just when he thought he couldn’t feel any worse, despite how upset she was, she’d squared her shoulders and taken a moment to tell them all that they had done a great job. He‘d just stood there with his heart twisting painfully in his chest as her voice broke and she‘d rushed off before breaking down in front of them. God how he’d hated being responsible for making her cry. Sharon might have a tough shield she surrounded herself with, but inside she was a marshmallow when it came to those she loved. Seeing that vulnerability and how deeply she’d come to care about a boy she had only taken in a few weeks before had raised her much higher in his estimation. Before he knew what was happening he found himself looking forward to hearing her high heels clicking down the hall first thing in the morning and feeling a little stab of pleasure at her “Good morning Lieutenant” as she made her way to her office, coffee in hand.

After Nicole’s wedding when they had really gotten to know one another as people, not just co-workers, it had seemed natural to start hanging out together more outside of work. They would go out for coffee or dinner or to the movies. And when he‘d had Dodger tickets dropped in his lap, instead of inviting Provenza as he normally would have done, he‘d invited Sharon. Just another reason for Provenza to grumble over their burgeoning friendship. Not a month later Sharon had invited him to be her “plus one” to a black tie charity dinner at the Japanese embassy and that was when it had started to feel more like dating than a friendship to him--and that possibly Sharon was feeling the same. It was fun getting all dressed up in his tuxedo for her and she had looked stunning in an elegant floor-length Grecian style gown the color of orange poppies that seductively left one shoulder bare. He was falling for her, he’d felt it, and it worried him. He knew that a relationship with her was hopeless and did try to put some effort into protecting himself. He‘d tried to keep her from working her way into his heart, but every time he told himself they were just friends he would remember how damn good it had felt to hold her in his arms when they danced at the wedding and the comforting intimacy of their shared life stories when they went out for lunches and dinners. He would be reminded of the warmth that spread through him when she laughed or when she rested her hand on his arm while she spoke. She was smart, stunning, vulnerable, and way too classy for a guy like him, but he wanted her dammit. He wanted her so bad, he ached with it and instead of thinking about all the roadblocks to a relationship with her, not the least of which was the fact that she was still legally married, his heart instead beat with all the possibilities of a romance.

“Are you really sure she’s the one for you?” Maura had been listening to the conversation while she covered the leftovers. Her skeptical tone caused Andy to turn to her with a frown and his temper quickly flared.

“What do you mean by that?”

Maura held up a hand. “Don’t go getting all defensive. I just mean that, well, look at her. I’m not blind; I see why you’re attracted to her. She’s beautiful.” In that uppity sort of way, she was used to in her customers at Saks. “But she’s not the kind of beautiful you usually go for. “

“Thank God,” Peggy muttered under her breath.

“Greenwich, Connecticut? Come on. She obviously comes from money and you‘ve never been into high maintenance. Dating your swanky boss is one thing but…”

“Jesus Maura, get the chip off your shoulder,” Peggy interjected with a hard glare before Andy could explode. “Just because you have to deal with those rich bitches giving you a hard time at Saks, doesn’t mean every woman who has money is stuck up or high maintenance. I spent a lot of time with Sharon at Nicole’s wedding and she could not have been kinder and more gracious.

“Peggy’s right.” Andy tried to keep his cool, reminding himself that there was a time that he too had thought that Sharon, with her luxurious Brazilian blowout, Armani suits, and designer high heels was looking down her pretty nose at him. “Look Maur. You think I don’t know she’s out of my league? I do. But not because she comes from money and we don’t. Because she is amazing and she has a heart bigger than anyone I‘ve ever known. I don’t know why she loves me or why she agreed to marry me. I just thank God that she did. Give her a chance, get to know her. You might have more in common than you think.”

“Doubtful,” Maura scoffed.

Andy took a deep breath trying to remain patient; the last thing he wanted Sharon to witness was a knock down drag out Flynn family fight. “I’m serious. Her life hasn’t always been easy. She’s had to struggle just like all of us. And just like you, she had a louse of a husband who walked out on her and left her to raise her children alone, only she didn’t have any financial support from him.” He didn’t think it would be smart to add that unlike Maura, Sharon hadn’t allowed herself to wallow in bitterness and self-pity, because he knew a thing or two about bitterness and self-pity. Maura was more like him or the him that he used to be than he cared to admit.

Maura turned and tried to look at Sharon through new eyes. The younger woman was smiling and completely focused on whatever Sylvia was telling her. She didn’t usually change her opinions on people but maybe, just maybe her judgment of Sharon was clouded by her own unhappiness…and jealousy. Maybe Sharon’s quiet, soft-spoken manner just meant that she was a reserved person, not that she was a snob.

“You shouldn’t judge people so quickly,” Antonella admonished her.

Maura held her hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, I get it.“

“And you,” Antonella turned to her brother. “You should not be so hard on yourself. You are handsome and you can certainly be charming when you want to be. You are also kind and sweet--when you aren’t trying to be Mr. Tough guy, and you walk out your door every day and protect people. That is nothing if not admirable. Why shouldn’t Sharon fall in love with you? So you’ve made some mistakes, everyone does. It‘s how we rectify those mistakes that really matters and you seem to be doing a good job with that. I was so happy to see Nicole today. She’s turned into a lovely young woman. Peggy gave me the quick run down about you and Sharon, how you went from adversaries to, well, I guess where you are now. But I would like to hear it from you. Why do you love her? Why do you want to marry her?” It was telling to Nell that Andy didn‘t even have to pause to think about it.

“It’s true. I used to think Sharon was uptight, brusque, humorless, all business. But the first time I saw her smile, damn…It was like the sun filled the room. Then as I got to know her I could see that the way she distanced herself, the walls she put up, were all part of the job she had at the time. Now I’d say an easier question would be, what don’t I love about her? She’s courageous, strong, and confident. She really cares about the people who work for her and she has this, I don’t know how to explain it, this depth of love for her family that has just always reached out and grabbed me right in the heart. She’s a phenomenal mother and she has great kids. She’s also direct, doesn’t play games and she can give back as good as she gets; I find that all very sexy. And one of the things that I’ve come to admire most about Sharon is what used to drive me crazy about her, no matter what’s going on she’s always cool-headed and in control., always grace under fire.”

“Well, they do say opposites attract.” Gina’s grin belied her sarcasm.

“Let him finish,” Nell said.

Andy smiled at his eldest sister and continued. “I know people say this all the time but Sharon really is one of those people who is every inch as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She’s just a real doll. When she smiles at me I feel like I’m ten feet tall and when I’m with her she’s this kind of safe harbor where I can forget all the ugliness of the world of murderers, rapists, and pedophiles where I spend my days. I’ve never had anyone in my life that has been able to do that for me. Before Sharon, I felt so empty inside.” There was a slight emotional break in his voice and Nell reached out to take his hand, her eyes soft with sympathy. “ I tried to fill that emptiness with booze and when I had to give that up, my job, but nothing ever completely worked…until her. Sharon fills all that emptiness inside me and now I feel like I have a second chance at life.”

His sisters had gone silent and were staring at him with something akin to amazement.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re a freaking poet now?“

“Maura stop it.” Peggy swatted at her with a dishrag. “That was beautiful Andy.” Andy shrugged, slightly embarrassed by how sappy he‘d gotten.

Maura smiled and jabbed him with her elbow. “I’m just giving you crap. I can see why you love her now. It’s not just about how she looks.” When Andy shook his head and turned back to the sink Maura’s smile faded and she reached out to touch the scar on his neck. “Are you still having any issues with that clot and the pinched nerve?”

“A little. The clot is gone, but I’ll still be on blood thinners for a few more months and I still get some numbness in my hand from the nerve issue. Until that goes away, I’m going to be stuck on friggin’ desk duty. “

“Well, better that than the alternative,” Peggy eyeballed him. “It had to be terrifying to think you were having a heart attack.”

“It was. It sure as hell felt like one. The pain in my chest took my breath away and it went down my arm just like you hear about a heart attack. Then my arm went numb. I don’t remember much of what happened. But I do remember Sharon holding one of my hands for dear life.” While the other caressed his face soothingly. “All I could think about at that moment was that I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to leave her.” The memory of the love and terror shining in Sharon’s eyes was still so vivid, as was the feel of her tears dripping on his hand, the hand she continued to clutch in the ambulance while begging him not to leave her. He had so many regrets at that moment. He had waited far too long to ask her out on a real date. He had foolishly allowed his fears to keep him from telling her that he loved her as soon as he’d come to that realization. He was never going to see her roll her eyes at him again, or shake her head with long-suffering patience when he was being a pain in the ass or slap at his arm or chest when she was irritated with him or amused by him. He would never again hear that wonderful laugh or see her bright emerald eyes turn to soft jade when he made love to her. But his biggest regret was that he might never know what it would have been like to call her his wife.

“Aaaandy….”

The four siblings paused in their conversation and Andy turned and grinned widely at the familiar voice. “Hey, Dennis. Sharon, come meet Dennis.”

The man who met Andy in the living room for a hug was barely five feet tall, his hair salt and pepper, his eyeglasses coke bottle thick and he had the nasal tone of someone with Down syndrome. This was the man who was more brother than a cousin, the man whom Andy used to protect from the bullies.

“Is this your girlfriend, Andy?” He eyed Sharon up and down with a frankness that in other men would have earned him a Darth Raydor glare, but which was, she knew, just innocent curiosity.

“Yes, she is. This is Sharon. But she’s more than my girlfriend; Den. Sharon’s going to be my wife.”

“I like that, Andy. Hi Sharon. I’m Dennis.” He held out a hand as he had been taught.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Dennis.” Sharon’s smile was warm and genuine. “Andy’s told me so much about you and what great friends you were growing up.”

Dennis turned to Andy with a smile. “I like her Andy. She’s nice. And she’s really pretty too.”

“Yes, she is, isn‘t she.”

“Can I come to your wedding, Sharon?”

Sharon’s heart melted. “Of course you can. You’re family; we’ll be inviting the whole family. And I know how special you are to Andy.”

“Andy’s my friend.”

“You bet I am.” Andy fist bumped him. At that point, his Aunt Loretta came in followed by Peggy’s husband Luke who had been busy all day at the restaurant.

“I live in my own house now, Andy.”

“You do?” Andy raised a brow at his aunt.

“He does,” Loretta nodded. “It’s a duplex in Queens where he lives with others who have Down’s.”

“That’s great Den. Do you still work at Stop n’ Shop?”

“Yes. I get the carts and bag the groceries and sometimes they let me help put out the vegetables. Are you still a police officer?”

“You bet.”

“Andy’s a hero,” Dennis told Sharon. It touched Sharon deeply to see the affection and hero worship Dennis had for Andy, the man who had protected him throughout his childhood. She reached out and took Andy’s hand, pulling it into her lap.

“Yes, he is.”

“Where do you work, Sharon?”

“I work with Andy.”

“You’re a police officer too?”

“I am.”

“Then you’re a hero too.”

“Nice to know there are some people left in the world who still think so,” Andy muttered under his breath. Sharon gave him a little smirk but nodded in agreement.

“Here they are Sharon. I knew I could find them.” Sylvia entered the living room carrying several photo albums.

“Oh Ma, what are those,” Andy groaned.

Sharon grinned and grabbed one of the albums. “Payback is a you know what. I deserve a little retribution for you pilfering through my awkward stages. “

“Babe you didn’t have any awkward stages.”

Maura rolled her eyes and stuck a finger down her throat as if to make herself vomit. Andy glared at her but Sharon laughed.

“You were right Sylvia,” she said. “He does have the gift of blarney.”

“It’s not blarney,” he protested. “It's a fact. You were beautiful from the day you were born.”

“Well, I still say you’re a tad biased, but I love you for it.” She kissed the back of his hand and then dropped it to flip open to the first page of the album. “But not enough to miss out on finding a picture of Andy Flynn the altar boy that I was promised is one of these albums.”

“Oh God, if Provenza ever got hold of that…”

“Stay on my good side honey and all will be well.”

Sylvia grinned and nudged Andy. “She’s got a sneaky side. I like that.”

*************************

“I don’t think Maura liked me very much.” Sharon lay curled up to Andy’s side, her fingertips tracing imaginary patterns over his broad t-shirt covered chest. As soon as they got to their hotel at JFK airport, they had washed up, brushed their teeth and gone straight to bed. It had been a long day and they had to be up early in the morning.

“Maura doesn’t like anyone, babe.” Andy kissed the top of her head. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I’m serious, Andy.”

“So am I. Look, right now Maura doesn’t like much of anything. I told you her first husband ditched her and left her to raise her two kids alone and now her second husband just left her for a younger woman. She had to sell her house and she hates her job. She’s angry at the world.”

“It’s hard to blame her for that. I wish there was something we could do to help her.”

“Yeah, me too. At least when I was that low I had a job that I loved. I don’t know how I would have gotten through everything if I’d lost my job.”

“Well, let’s be thankful you didn’t.” If he had lost his job during his drinking days, they never would have connected. “It’s too bad Joe’s living in Florida now, I would like to have met him. And I wish I’d gotten to spend more time with Nell. She’s worked in some fascinating places.”

Andy snorted derisively. “If you consider no electricity, no running water, and a hole in the ground for a bathroom as fascinating. I‘d call it hell.”

“Andy!” She gently swatted at his chest.

“What? It’s true.”

She reached into his t-shirt and pulled out the ring he always wore on a chain around his neck. She toyed with it for a few seconds before asking, “There’s more to this ring than just the fact that it was your father’s, isn’t there?”

“How…” He trailed off without finishing the question. Sharon was a detective; there must have been something she had seen when Antonella commented on it. “It is my father’s ring, but he didn’t give it to me, Antonella did. I was pretty messed up after my Dad died.” He trailed off as if unsure how to continue. Sharon hummed with understanding and nuzzled into his chest comfortingly. Losing his father at the young age of 14 to a brain aneurysm had been traumatizing. Andy didn’t talk about it often, but he had told her how it had led him to start following his older brother down a path that could have gotten him into serious trouble.

“My mother wasn’t really there for us. I know she was shocked and grieving and she had to support all of us but I didn’t see it that way then.” Fourteen was such an awkward age. He had tried so hard to be a man and keep his tears contained, but inside he was still a little boy who wanted to sob out his grief and who needed his mother to hold him and comfort him, and promise him that everything was going to be all right even though it felt like the end of the world. Instead, his mother had turned inward and he’d felt lost. Sylvia was not a bad mother, he always knew she loved him, but she was not a nurturer; she was more a pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get on with life kind of mother. A more sensitive person, a mother like Sharon, would have seen through his tough outer shell and helped him deal with his loss. A mother like Sharon would have told him it was okay to cry and comforted him through his sorrow. “If it wasn’t for Nell we probably all would have run wild. Then, not even a full year after my dad died, Nell decided to join the convent. I was really pissed about it--and I was a dick to her. I couldn’t believe she really wanted to be a nun. I accused her of wanting to get away from all of us so badly she was willing to throw her life away to do it.”

“I’m sure she knew you were just lashing out because you were hurt.”

“I don’t know.”

"It's really not surprising that you felt that way. First, your father dies, then your mother emotionally shuts down and then the one person who always gave you that unconditional nurturing love tells you she is leaving. It makes perfect sense that you'd feel lost and abandoned." Sharon's heart ached. Though it was impossible, she wished there was some way she could go back in time and take away the pain that he'd gone through as a boy.

"I told Nell I hated her. God, I wish I could take that back. It was the last thing I said before she left for the convent." He placed a hand over the one Sharon was rubbing over his chest, and then lifted it to touch his necklace. "After she left, when I got back to my bedroom there was an envelope on my pillow. When my father died, my mother gave us all something to remember him. As the oldest, Antonella got his wedding ring. Inside the envelope was his ring on a chain. There was a letter with it. She wrote that whenever I felt alone I should wear that ring around my neck and know that both her and my dad were with me."

Sharon sniffed and he glanced down to see tears swimming in her eyes.

"Hey, are you crying? Don't cry. Like I said before it was a long time ago."

"I can't help it. Sometimes you break my heart. "When she was in his arms like this it was hard to remember a time when he had thought she was cold and hard, because under that Darth Raydor glare there was no one softer or gentler than Sharon was.

"I don't mean to."

"Comes with the territory when you love someone. Have you been wearing it all this time?"

"No. I didn't put it on right away but I did hold onto to it. I kept it in my drawer and the day that I came home from my first AA meeting I put it on and I haven't taken it off since-though it has had a few new chains. I guess I figured I needed all the help that I could get.

"And has it helped?"

"I think it has, yeah. I don't really need it anymore, now that I have you. But, I kind of like having a part of my dad with me."

Sharon reached out to rub the ring between her fingers. "I wish I could have met him. He sounds like he was a good man. Your mother still wears her wedding ring and it's been what, 41 years since he died."

"Mmm...She was only 43 when it happened, he was only 50. A couple of my aunts tried to set her up on dates but she said that in her heart she was still married to my father and that's the way it would always be."

"That's both sad and romantic."

"She really believes that she's going to see him again when she dies and that's why she's not afraid of dying."

"Do you believe that?" Universal Salvation was one of the basic tenets of Christianity and sometimes she wasn't exactly sure where Andy stood in his relationship with God.

"I grew up in the church, you know that. You saw the altar boy pictures. I can't believe my mother gave you one."

Sharon giggled. "You were adorable."

He shrugged. "If you say so."

"I do." She rose on one elbow so she could see his face. "I also know you've had your issues with the church."

Andy grew silent, the conflict within him still there, though far less strong than it had been in the past. Sharon didn't prod or push, he loved that about her. She simply caressed her thumb over his cheek until he was ready to speak.

"After my father died, I was so angry with God for taking him. I just could'nt understand it. There were so many bad guys out there; my dad was a good guy, why did God have to take him? Why?" The pain was still there, even after all these years.

"I don't know. Sometimes we just can't understand why. That's what faith is, believing that there is a reason even if we don't yet understand what it is."

Andy sighed noncommittally. He wished he shared her unwavering faith. Those words were not just a platitude. She too had suffered loss at a young age when her brother died so she understood what he was feeling. "I hadn't even gotten a chance to get through that when Nell told us she was leaving us for God."

"Andy. Oh, honey, she wasn't leaving you for God."

"That's what it felt like. When I went off to college I walked away from all of it, God and the church."

"But you married Sandra in the church." It was the reason he was going to need an annulment too.

"I did. Sandra's family is Hispanic and Catholic so we married in the church but Sandra wasn't all that religious. Other than the big things like, baptisms, first communions, Christmas, Easter, we didn't go to church after we were married. Then I joined AA. Part of that is having a higher power."

"But it doesn't have to be God, right?" She knew a bit about AA from Jack's few short stints and a lot more from Andy.

"No, it doesn't. It can be anything. It's all about accepting that you can't conquer your addiction alone. But when I started thinking about a higher power, I kept coming back to what I knew. Once a Catholic always a Catholic, right? Then, it wasn't very long after that when the church scandal hit and I was so pissed I couldn't bring myself to go back to church."

Sharon nodded, pain tightening in her chest. She had experienced her own crisis of faith when the Catholic Church scandal exploded. It had been a very dark time for her and she'd only been able to navigate her way through it with the help of Father Stan who at that point had only been her priest for a few years. It had drawn them much closer and with his help, and a lot of soul-searching, she had chosen to remain a faithful Catholic, though she would never again be the innocent follower she had once been.

"I didn't really get back into going to church until I moved in with you. But I think that He and I have made peace now."

"How's that?"

"He's gotten me through some really rough times with my addiction and He gave you to me. Maybe even God needs to make amends."

Sharon gave a soft laugh and kissed his bicep. "An interesting theological concept. I'll let you take that up with Father Stan. But I am glad that you made your peace with God, with Antonella, and with Nicole."

"Me too. I like having a clean slate to start my life with you." Though he felt there might be one person left he had yet to make peace with. He had made his amends to Sandra but he wasn't sure they had ever really made peace.

"It's really going to happen for us, isn't it?"

"You bet it is, babe." He kissed the top of her head. "That is if you still want to marry me after hearing about what a troublemaker I was."

Her laughter was smothered into his shoulder. "Well, I've always known you were a troublemaker. I seem to remember our first fight was over your employee file."

"Second fight. The first one was over the evidence you removed from a murder scene we were investigating."

"Ah yes. You won that one. Pope made me return it all to you."

"Only because Brenda went to him to plead her case."

"Hmm…you're right." Brenda Leigh Johnson had gotten her job as deputy chief through a sexual relationship she'd had in the past with their chief of police. Because of that relationship, Brenda was usually able to get her way with him and Chief Pope let her get away with things he would never have accepted with any of his other officers.

"You know, a few years back there was a time we thought Brenda and Pope might have picked up where they had left off. I wanted to know if she was banging the boss and now here I am…"

"Andy Flynn, do NOT continue that statement."

"Uh, I wasn't. I mean, uh, I was just going to say, here I am marrying the boss."

Her eyes narrowed. Andy was a terrible liar. "Sure you were."

"I was. But to give you full disclosure, I like banging her too."

"Andy!" Her attempt at chastising him was ruined when she couldn't contain her giggle.

"What? It's true."

"You really are incorrigible."

"And that doesn't give you second thoughts?"

"Not at all." She watched him playing with the engagement ring on her finger. "It's actually kind of tantalizing. Who knew that underneath it all I actually have a thing for sexy bad boys?"

"Sexy, huh?"

She got back up on her elbow and cupped a hand over his cheek, her voice a throaty purr. "Very, VERY sexy."

The End…

Of this installment anyway. Stay tuned as the story continues back in LA with "Saying Good-bye to Yesterday" which will focus on the annulments and some of what happened in Season Five. We will meet Winnie Davis and Sandra and there will be a few fireworks with Jack who is not going to be happy about his kids forcing him to sign the annulment papers. As with this story it will weave in and out of canon.

#sharon raydor #andy flynn #shandy #Major Crimes #christmas in connecticut #shandy fanfic

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cathystefaniak · 5 years

Text

Coming to terms with my Depression

About a month ago I did this... I don’t know how to call it... wall design(?). This is what my flow of creativity came up with. And without indenting, I realized, that I had drawn things related to my depression.

It‘s kind of hard to post this very private thing online, but I want to talk about it nevertheless. So I‘m going to tell you what all these little pieces mean.

The first Thing I drew, was „Love Yourself“. As you may know, I really like BTS. Not only during my depression, but even way before that I was not able to love and accept myself. I would blame myself for things I couldn‘t control. Every mistake I made, I overthought and I punished myself for them.

To me I wasn‘t enough. Not good enough. Not pretty enough. Not smart enough. Not enough.

During my therapy I learned, that I should love and accept myself. It was hard and I‘m still on my journey on the way to love myself. With a lot of bts‘ songs I was able to express my feelings. Until this day I really like their lyrics( Not only in the love yourself series).

The saying was the only thing I planned on doing. It is a daily reminder for me.

To make it look a little less boring I added pink hearts.

Secondly I drew the chinese characters 承, 轉 and 結. These are the chinese characters from the bts love yourself series. Translated they mean: Her Answer Tear.

At first I‘ve only choosen to put it on the board because it fit the series. But afterwards I realized, that during my depression, this was me. I cried a lot during that time. The (blaming) questions I asked myself were answered by tears.

In the center of the drawing you can see a semicolon and two japanese words. The word 自殺 means suicide and 生活 means life.

As you may know, Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. That’s why I choose this language. Also me and a friend of mine, who I met at the psychiatry, have an insider relating to that topic. Going to japan means suicide and wanting to visit Japan means having suicidal thoughts.

But there‘s a semicolon between these two words. A semicolon is used in a sentence when the author could end the sentence, but instead of completely ending it, the author makes a pause and continues with the sentence.

Metaphorical this means that I could’ve ended my life with suicide(, what I wanted for a very long time), but instead of ending my life, I stayed alive.

After coming in touch with this topic I wrote Jonghyun’s full name in korean and the message „you did well...“. I don‘t want Jonghyun( a K-Pop singer who died by suicide last year) to be forgotten and I really miss him. I hope he does well in heaven. If there is one. In fact, my suicidal thoughts started around the same time as his suicide. His death really hit me deeply.

Since the color of shinee is blue, I drew a blue star representing Jonghyun and added a night sky.

Until this point everything I did was spontaneous. With the weird space in the middle left I didn’t want to stop.

I decided to draw my tattoo onto the wall. My tattoo is a butterfly, whose wings are broken and have the colors of the love yourself series. I didn‘t want to get the bts logo tattooed, but since they taught me such an important lesson in my life I wanted them to be part of it and I came up with a beautiful meaning.

Butterflies stand for revival and resurrection. Metaphorically my tattoo means, that I want to start a new life, in which I can love and accept myself with all my faults and flaws.

Next to the butterfly you can see the date 22.10.2018. This is a very important date to me. While/ before I was in therapy this was the date I wanted to take my own life. I would‘ve jumped from a big house in my city. In April/ May I was at my worst. The only things holding me back from doing it were that I didn’t want to hurt my friends and family and that I wanted to go to the BTS concert on October 17th.

Before deciding to go to a psychiatry I gave myself two possibilities. 1: continuing with my life and not looking for the help I needed and killing myself the weekend after the concert or 2: looking for help and repeating 11th grade.

Obviously I choose no. 2 but still, this day means a lot to me. If I would have choosen the other possibility, I wouldn’t be here right now.

Lastly, I wrote down the lyrics from bts‘ spring day. To me they mean, that no matter how hard anything gets, it always gets better even if you can’t see it at this moment.

Until a few weeks this was the end piece I ended up with. But unfortunately I relapsed into Self-Harm 24 days ago. My therapist recommended to me, that I should count the days being clean and treating myself after a specific period.

So yeah... That‘s it. I myself still am not at the end of my journey and still have really bad days, but it gets better. Some days are better and some are worse, but I’m still learning how to live with this illness.

I doubt that anyone will ever read this. If you have any problems relating to the topic feel free to dm me! The moment you start talking it gets easier.

#depression #thearapy #suicidal thoughts #drawing #living with depression #healing #it gets better #love yourself #bts

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thisdaynews · 5 years

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What I’ve Learned Staking Out Trump’s Washington Hotel

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/what-ive-learned-staking-out-trumps-washington-hotel/

What I’ve Learned Staking Out Trump’s Washington Hotel

The Trump family is reportedly exploring a sale of the Trump Hotel in Washington D.C., partly out of concerns raised by ethics watchdogs and emoluments lawsuits that the president is profiting off of his presidency. The Trumps are right to be (belatedly) worried. I know the Trump Hotel D.C. pretty well, and I feel confident saying there is plenty more where those red flags came from.

My daily look at who is patronizing the president’s D.C. hotel started as research in July 2017 for what became one sentence in a 5,500-word feature forCondé Nast Traveler. A few minutes on Instagram revealed that if you had concerns about the U.S. president doubling as a hotelier, they were well-founded. I found photos of Rep. Duncan Hunter (R–Calif.) crashing a Vapor Technology Association’s conference; a guest posing with former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, captioning her photo, “He’s still calling the shots”; and the president’s attorney Rudy Giuliani enjoying a cigar in a wine-stained tux the night of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s wedding. Lawmakers, lobbying groups and would-be powerbrokers were taking full advantage of the chance to better their lot by throwing a few bucks the president’s way.

Story Continued Below

More than two years later, I haven’t stopped scrolling through photos from the Trump Hotel D.C. For two years, I’ve read through every Instagram, Facebook and Twitter post geo-located to the Trump Hotel D.C. I’ve also made several visits and done some more sleuthing around the internet, then published my findings, first on a Twitter thread and now in a newsletter that comes out five days a week.

The afore-referenced pic of Rudy Giuliani with stains on his shirt at the Trump Hotel DC a few weeks ago. https://t.co/TPNxCqgxMx pic.twitter.com/Kg93lwGI4l

— Zach Everson (@Z_Everson) July 26, 2017

After two years of observation, I’ve learned three big things about how people use the Trump hotel to curry favor with the president, all while he profits.

Social media from the Trump Hotelcan tip us off to major stories months in advance.

Despite being known as the “guy who’s always at the Trump Hotel,” I visit about once a month, usually to meet with other journalists, in response to a tip or because friends from out of town want a justification for grabbing a drink there. Instead, most sightings come from the 80-plus websites and social-media pages I‘ve bookmarked—Twitter feeds and lists and a dozen Google alerts. If you want it to be known that you’re sending money the president’s way, social media is an easy way to do that, after all—and that online advertising makes it fairly easy to find the Trump Hotel’s big spenders. Instagram, LinkedIn and a website of a person’s employer are more helpful for identifying lobbyists than watching them work in situ.

Social media can be especially useful in combination with real-time observation. For instance, take the evening this past March when I spotted Romania’s prime minister, Viorica Dancila, at the hotel.

That spotting got a lot more interesting later. I’d seen Giuliani at the Trump Hotel D.C. earlier that same weekend, but not with the Romanian prime minister. We already knew that Giuliani had reached out to Romania’s president “about continuing damage to the rule of law” in the country, so there was reason to think at the time that the two would know each other. But a Giuliani spokesperson didn’t respond to my inquiry asking if he had met with Dancila.

But later that same week, Giuliani tweeted a photo of himself dining in the hotel’s steakhouse with other members of Trump’s “All Star legal team.” There, seated at an adjacent table, within arm’s reach of the president’s attorney, was Romania’s prime minister. It was just her rear profile, though; if I hadn’t seen her hairstyle and outfit in person that same evening, I would not have recognized her. (Giuliani has since implied in an interview that Romania is connected to his efforts regarding former Vice President Joe Biden and “corruption.”) Later, an Instagram post theWall Street Journaluncovered showed that Lev Parnas, Giuliani’s associate who was recently arrested on campaign finance violations, was there that night, too.

Scoping out social media also allows me to report immediately on what’s happening at the hotel that’s not often available through other channels. Even if he wins a second term, Trump probably will be out of office before all my Freedom of Information Act requests regarding government officials’ visits are answered. Campaigns and committees sometimes don’t report a disbursement at the hotel to the Federal Election Commission until months after the event—and they don’t provide any insight into who attended. For instance, while a tip helped theWashington Postexpose the extent of T-Mobile’s Trump Hotel D.C. patronage in the eight months following its unveiling of controversial plans to merge with Sprint, a Facebook post the day after the announcement gave an immediate glimpse of CEO John Legere’s strategy for winning administration approval: frequent and highly visible trips to the Trump hotel in Washington.

The profits from foreign governments are especially opaque.

All told, officials from at least 29 different foreign countries have stopped by or stayed at the U.S. president’s D.C. hotel since opening, a number I arrived at through my reporting combined with that of other outlets. And the money coming from those guests is a lot harder to track than the money coming from U.S. lawmakers.

Between my and others’ reporting on the peculiar-to-this-administration reporting, we know Trump’s D.C. hotel has already hosted government officials from at least three G7 countries. Ontario Premier Doug Ford lunched there last September at the invitation of Kelly Craft, then U.S. ambassador to Canada and currently the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Not only was Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage’s patronage of the Trump Hotel cited in a 2018 emoluments suit—for diverting business from a Maryland hotel and toward one owned by the president—but he also served as a featured attraction for 800 hotel customers at a Turning Point USA gala this year. In January, Italy’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, Guglielmo Picchi, met at the Trump Hotel with two senior officials in the president’s shadow cabinet: Lewandowski and Giuliani.

And while no Japanese officials have been spotted at the Trump Hotel D.C. (yet), Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might one day have a sand trap on a Trump golf course named after him: The prime minister has visited at least five different Trump properties since their owner’s election.

Nigerian dignitaries are such fans of the place that it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn a Trump Hotel Lagos was in the pipeline. And sometimes they come for reasons related to politics back home more than Trump’s approval. The Trump Hotel D.C. seemed like a swing state last year when—a month before Nigeria’s presidential election—the main opposition candidate, the scandal-plagued former vice president Atiku Abubakar, entered the lobby with an entourage of Nigerian lawmakers and supporters posting videos of his every move. At the same time, and apparently coincidentally, another longshot presidential candidate was also bunking at the U.S. president’s hotel. The U.S. State Department’s willingness to allow Abubakar to even enter the United States was an election issue. He may not have been able to land an audience with Trump, but a town hall he held for Nigerian immigrants in the United States in Trump’s hotel and streamed for voters back home was intended to make him look more legitimate and help his election chances. (It didn’t work—he later lost.)

Whatever a foreign official’s reasons are for visiting the Trump Hotel D.C., the president gets paid—but we don’t really know how much. While the Trump Organization has donated more than $340,000 to the U.S. Treasury, which it says are its profits from foreign governments for 2017 and 2018, the organization won’t disclose the governments themselves or if the figure has been independently audited. But there are two big reasons to be skeptical of that number. The Trump Organization relies on the foreign government official to self-report to the hotel, and all of us rely on the Trump Organization to calculate profit per hotel room correctly.

More than half of Republican senators have visited or spent campaign or committee funds there.

The Nigerians, of course, may have just taken their cues from Trump’s Cabinet: By my count, 25 of the 33 different officials who have served in it have dropped in on Trump Hotel, D.C., often to headline events for their boss’ paying customers. It can only help in a world where a humiliating termination is just a tweet away.

Lawmakers do the same. FEC filings and social media posts combine to show that 28 of the 53 Republicans in the Senate have visited the Trump Hotel D.C. or spent campaign or committee funds there. So have seven of the 17 GOP members on the House Judiciary panel and six of the 17 GOP members on the House Oversight Committee.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R–Calif.) is the top spender at the hotel of any member of Congress, according to FEC filings.Photos of him on social media provide only glimpses of what he’s up to there, like smiling in the lobby with a supporter, speaking in a private room behind a Trump Hotels lectern and posing during his PAC’s Trump inauguration party with a Ukrainian billionaire and parliamentarian (as one does). Altogether, the leader’s campaign, joint-fundraising committees and PAC have spent more than $245,000 at Trump properties since the 2016 election, mostlyon catering and facility rentals. It appears to have paid off: Trump has repeatedly endorsed him for speaker.

Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R–Ohio) campaign has spent more than $22,000 at the hotel. He went a step further than just spending there when he wrote to the General Services Administration, the D.C. hotel’s landlord, criticizing an inspector general’s report that said the agency ignored the Constitution when allowing Trump to keep the lease upon assuming office. So when the president commented, “Thank you Jim!” while retweeting Jordan last month, you had to wonder if it was for more than just the lawmaker’s attack on the impeachment proceedings.

Despite everything I’ve learned, there are personal drawbacks to this kind of reporting—and no, being blocked on Twitter by Eric Trump is not among them. False accusations of doxing by Trump supporters are a common nuisance. (The information I publish is almost always culled from what these hotel guests chose to share publicly, and never includes a home address.)The project also has zapped whatever joy and personal utility I got out of social media. And it does seem a bit hypocritical that, like the president, I too am benefiting from his ownership of the hotel—for example, with this assignment.

Then there’s the matter of the $3,000 or so I’ve spent at the president’s business, mostly media outlets’ money, but some of it my own. It’s easy to justify those expenses, though. Through the customers I’ve spotted at the Trump Hotel D.C.—and a whole bunch of patrons whose identities will never be public—the U.S. president reported $81 million in revenue for 2017 and 2018. Even if the hotel changes hands sometime soon, that’s still a pretty good haul for half a presidential term.

#Foreign #hotel #Politics #Washington

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