#sharon's face when brenda's mother goes to shake her hand

[telemiel]

why does brenda's father emphasize the word "friend" like that when he looks at sharon, i'm wheezing

[roslinadama-sinequanon]

Christmas in Connecticut-Chapter 10

Thought it was appropriate to post this chapter today since it has Andy and Sharon reminiscing about their first Christmas together while Sharon was still in FID--back when all was still right in the TC/MC universe.

Chapter 10 is now available here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13293105/chapters/30531123

and here

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12789981/10/Christmas-in-Connecticut

and here

Christmas in Connecticut Chapter 10

I don't care if the house is packed Or the strings of light are broken I don't care if the gifts are wrapped Or there's nothing here to open Love is not a toy, and no paper will conceal it Love is simply joy that I'm home I don't care if the carpet's stained we've got food upon our table I don't care if it's gonna rain, our little room is warm and stable Love is who we are, and no season can contain it Love would never fall for that Oo Oo Let love lead us, love is Christmas

***

"Are you sure you don't need any help with breakfast?" Sharon wasn't surprised to find her mother already up and puttering around in the kitchen by the time she and Andy had dressed and come down to help with the morning meal. She'd always been an early riser.

"None at all. I made a couple of quiches yesterday and I'm just putting the blueberry bread in to heat up now."

"Well, if you're sure…" Sharon trailed off. "I think Andy and I will go down to the basement and bring up some of the boxes that we sent from California. There are a few gifts we still need to wrap."

"When you get your gifts, bring them over to my sewing room. I have a table set up for wrapping and you'll find all kinds of paper, scissors, tape and tags."

"Great, thanks. We did ship some paper and tags with the gifts, but we'll need everything else." Sharon paused at the top of the stairs that lead down to the basement, her hand reaching out, almost caressing the doorframe.

"Sharon?" Andy rested a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

"Oh! " She'd been so lost in thought he'd startled her. "Yes, I'm fine."

"What are you looking at?" Andy peered over her shoulder to see faded lines marking up the doorway along with names and ages.

"Every year on our birthdays, my dad would bring us over here and make us stand against the wall so he could mark how tall we were. It was always so exciting to see how much we'd grown since the previous year." Sharon was smiling but her voice was wistful and the smile did not reach her eyes.

"Babe, is something wrong? " He rubbed his hand up and down her arm.

"No…It's just... I've had this feeling since yesterday when my mom gave me that box with all those mementoes from my childhood. I think they might be looking at selling the house."

Seeing the pain on her face, Andy hesitated before giving her a pragmatic response as gently as he could. "It is an awfully big house for two people who are getting up there in age. It kind of makes sense they'd want to downsize."

"You're right. I know…it's just…" she shrugged.

"You're sad. Of course you are. It's hard to say good-bye to your home."

"That's what I was thinking last night, until we went to bed."

His brow furrowed with confusion. "How did that change anything?"

"You held me in your arms and it got me thinking. This isn't my home anymore. It hasn't been for quite a while."

"Well, you have been in California for a long time now, and you have the condo…" He paused when she began shaking her head negatively.

"That isn't my home either. This is my home now." She placed her hand over Andy's chest. "When I'm with you, I'm home."

Andy's throat tightened with emotion. There had been a time when he'd thought they might never get to this point. Working his way past Sharon's barriers had required patience he had no idea he was capable of exerting. Every tiny step forward in their relationship had seemed like a giant victory. But all of it, all the worry, all the angst, all the effort had been worth it because behind those barriers was a woman who loved with an emotional depth he'd never experienced before. When Sharon Raydor loved you, it was like being embraced in a warm blanket.

****

"What have you got there?" Nicole asked when she saw her father and Sharon walking down the hall carrying boxes.

"We still have a few gifts we need to wrap so we're bringing them to my mother's sewing room to wrap them after breakfast."

"Are you actually letting my dad help with the wrapping?"

"Oh God, of course not."

"Hey!" Andy gave Sharon an affronted look. "I wrap just fine."

"Uh, sorry honey but don't. You have a lot of talents, but wrapping gifts is not one of them."

"Sharon," Tyler tugged at her jeans. "Will you read "The Little Match Girl" to us tonight?"

Sharon's eyes narrowed. "Did Ricky and Emily tell you to ask me that?"

Just as she'd thought, she heard muffled laughter coming from the doorway.

"What's with this 'Little Match Girl'? Andy asked.

Emily and Ricky came into the room and Emily began to explain. "Mom has this huge book called "The 25 Days of Christmas". There are 25 Christmas stories in it and she would start on December first, reading us a story every night until Christmas Day. Of course, Christmas Eve was always "The Night Before Christmas' and Christmas day was always 'The First Christmas," but we would sometimes mix up the rest of the stories. Mom always tried putting off the "The Little Match Girl" because she could never get through it without crying. We used to feel bad when we were younger, it made us sad too but when we got older- -"

"They made fun of me." Sharon leveled her daughter and son with an accusing look. "They used to make bets as to how far I could get into the story before getting choked up. Ricky would even bring a box of tissues with him."

"So, I'm assuming it's a sad story." Andy tried not to grin, but Sharon crying over Christmas stories was just adorable.

"Very sad. It's about a poor little girl in the mid 1800's who is out on a cold winter night barefoot and in threadbare clothes trying to sell matchsticks. Shivering and hungry she peers into windows and sees moms and dads with their kids opening gifts in front of blazing warm fireplaces and families sitting at dining room tables covered with food while her stomach is growling and, come ON, your heart just breaks for her. She's afraid to go home because she didn't sell any matchsticks and knows her father will beat her so she goes into an alley and in an effort to stay warm she lights all her matchsticks and when they burn out she freezes to death."

"Jesus Christ," Andy groaned. "They have that in a KIDS Christmas book?"

"Exactly," Sharon said. "Of course when she is dying she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person who was ever kind to her. She takes her hand and her grandmother brings her up to heaven where she won't be cold or hungry anymore. That part is beautiful, and it's the part I tried to stress to the kids, but the rest…"

"The rest is that she's dead and she died a miserable death." As usual Andy was blunt and to the point. "Even with the ending it sounds like a pretty depressing story." He gave Sharon a commiserating look. He knew why that story hit her so hard, the same reason he'd felt his chest tightening while she'd given her synopsis. They'd both seen far too many homeless little match girls fleeing abuse and ending up dead on the streets. Far too many Alice Herrera/Marianna Wallace's.

"Hey, who wants to help me bring the boxes of ornaments down so we can start decorating the tree after breakfast?" It was only when everyone began leaving to help William that Andy caught sight of Rusty just outside the door. His face was pale and he seemed lost in thought, probably reliving his own homeless past. When he did finally look up and their gazes met, the sympathy softening Andy's face caused Rusty to respond with the little half grimace/ half smile he generally gave when he was trying not to let people know something bothered him.

After the kids had left with William, and Sharon began pulling gifts out of the box and checking them against a list she had, Andy came up behind her wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Yes?" She turned in his embrace.

"I was just thinking. Do you remember our first Christmas?"

"Which first Christmas? My first Christmas working with Major Crimes or after we'd begun dating, or…"

"No, our real first Christmas. You were still with FID. You were trying to get to your parents and your kids. They were in Park City skiing."

"Oh yes, of course I remember." It was the only Christmas she'd ever spent without her children and it was killing her. "The Salt Lake City airport had closed due to snow and I ended up staying and having Christmas dinner with all of you in Major Crimes at the PAB, along with Brenda and her parents."

"You even helped make the sweet potatoes. You were pretty proud of that."

"I'm surprised Willie Rae actually let me put the marshmallows on."

"I was supposed to be having dinner with Nicole at Sandra and Larry's. It was going to be the first Christmas Day I'd had with my daughter in years and Nic had to work pretty hard to make it happen. I was dreading Sandra and Larry but I was really looking forward to spending Christmas with Nicole."

"I'm sorry things got ruined for you."

Andy ran his thumb gently over her cheekbone. "They weren't ruined. Maybe I thought they were at the time, but they weren't. I got to sit next to a beautiful woman and to find out she wasn't all cold and ice. It was kind of like fate. I was supposed to have Christmas dinner with my ex-wife that night, who knew I was actually having it with my future wife."

Sharon's heart swelled with warmth at the thought. Andy Flynn's wife. Who would have ever predicted during that Christmas dinner all those years ago that six years later she and Andy would be engaged and that she would be bringing him and his daughter to Connecticut to spend Christmas with her parents.

TBC