Chapter Text
Doing things together
Nearly one year after his heart attack, Fritz still felt quite diminished. His stamina was not the same. He couldn't work long days without a break. He couldn't run anymore, or walk long distances. Being up since dawn was really taking a toll on him. He thought about hiding in his office for a minute but refused to do that. Provenza was still up and running, in a manner of speaking. He had to be better than the old man.
So instead of the quietness of his office, he chose the Major Crimes break room. Over there, he found the two older lieutenants and Sanchez. He was greeted by a "Hello sir", "What a pleasure ex-Special Agent Howard" and a more quiet "Hi Chief". He was still surprised to see Andy call him by his rank when the two of them were kind of friends, well at least he thought so.
"What's up?!" he asked as he approached the coffee machine. There was always a distance between him and the Major Crimes crew when he was FBI, and it only intensified since he became a chief. That was a shame because he liked them all, well except Sanchez, he creeped him out. He wouldn't mind being closer friends with the rest of them though, especially Andy and Mike.
"You don't wanna know." Julio laughed before escaping the room. Fritz looked at the two other men, confused.
"I swear to god, Andy, …" started Provenza, becoming all worked up in a few seconds.
"What? What?!" Andy demanded, visibly pissed off by his old-time friend's behavior. The two lieutenants looked at each other, the silent conversation amusing Fritz more than anything. The two calmed down, whatever the problem seemingly resolved before Andy said: "I didn't even say anything. He just asked what's up. Why do you act like that? It's not like I'm gonna tell the whole world I fished a shark this weekend."
"Andy!" the old man yelled, storming out of the room all the while mumbling expletives.
Fritz wasn't sure what the real problem was but, if he had to guess, he imagined Andy kept on talking about his exploits, and the old man got pissed. Oh well… for one, he wouldn't mind hearing about it. It seemed way cool. "You caught a shark?" Fritz started, sipping on his coffee.
Andy perked up right away and approached him with a spring in his step. "Wanna see a picture?!" he asked while shoving his phone into the chief's hand.
"Wow!" Fritz couldn't help but say. The photo was quite impressive. Andy had a gigantic fish in his hands, about as tall as him and by the grimace he made it seemed extremely heavy. "I didn't know you were a fisherman!" said the chief, once again surprised by the other man.
"Oh yeah, I've always fished. When I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of money and my dad sent us fishing with my brother to bring back decent and cheap food." He laughed. "After I divorced and quit drinking, you know I bought my house and my neighbor has a nice little boat in Marina del Rey. We used to go together but now that he's older, I mow his lawn and clean his gutter and, in exchange, he lends me his boat. Win-win."
"That's pretty nice," Fritz said, a bit jealous. It was not the first time he envied the white-haired man. He had such a way to make friends with everyone and anyone. Plus, he always engaged in a lot of interesting activities. Andy was anything but boring.
"Can I see again?" he asked, gesturing to the phone with his chin. The lieutenant nodded, proud of himself and obviously pleased to find someone interested in his extracurricular activities. Fritz looked at the picture again. The hundreds of little teeth of the beast brought a shiver on his back. "Do you usually catch that kind of stuff?" he asked, without looking up from the phone, wondering what kind of pole one needed to bring back such a heavy-looking fish.
"No, first time ever. Most of the time I don't even catch anything. I just enjoy the quietness. Sometimes I catch a few brass, rockfish, or halibut. It took me nearly two hours to tire it down and be able to bring it on the boat. You should have seen Sharon's face…" Laughed the old man. At that moment it clicked in Fritz's head. Andy didn't go on his own, neither did he take a selfie. Someone was with him, his girlfriend was with him.
Saying that he was surprised that someone as classy and upscale as Sharon Raydor went fishing was an understatement! He still had trouble picturing them together, but fishing? It was a whole other level. "She likes fishing?" he wondered, not able to hide his disbelief.
"Well, she loves being at sea and you know, enjoying the outdoors and the sun. I just have to keep the worms in a closed box." He chuckled. "And now I'm forbidden to bring back sharks." He added, still smiling.
He couldn't imagine Brenda going on a small boat like the one he saw in the picture. So imagining being close to any animal living in the sea was just not possible. she'd lose her balance with her damn heels, would complain that her hat would blow away, that it's too hot or too cold, that she's bored… "I can't believe she would like that," Fritz said aloud without realizing it, talking more about his wife than the captain.
"Oh yeah, she does. Sharon is not… there's more to her than what you see. Her dad had a sailboat, she grew up on it. She really is someone calm and outdoorsy. We enjoyed the quietness, together. Look." He flipped a few photos and there she appeared. Sharon Raydor, barefoot, in jeans shorts, a big wind jacket on her, and a cap hiding her face. She was leaning with her back against the ropes of the boat, a book in hand. She didn't seem to notice the picture being taken.
His heart broke a little bit seeing that picture. Oh, how he'd like to be able to share quiet moments like that with his wife, any moments to be honest.