Sharon heard movement in her kitchen, and she sprang to life. Her purse was in the kitchen, the wrong place for it right now. She listened and sighed, almost certain of the source. She padded down the hall with a hint of caution, but the clattering she continued to hear in the kitchen seemed to confirm her suspicions.

"What are you doing here, Jack?" Sharon called out to him, and her voice had him spin around from the refrigerator.

"Sharon," he frowned and gestured to her. "Why are you home? It's the middle of the day. I didn't see your car."

She nodded and pursed her lips as she made her way to the kitchen table and sat down, pulling her cardigan closer as she did.

"I'm home from work today Jack, sick day, and as far as my car, I cleaned out that old, nasty one-car garage. I'm using it," she said, her tone one that affirmed she was proud of herself. Jack grunted and gestured toward the garage.

"How in the world did you manage that? That thing has been packed with old junk. You never take a sick day," he nodded to her, going back over all of her statement. "What's wrong?"

"The better question might be in my asking why you are here?" Sharon eyed him as she would any of the officers she had to interrogate. "So?"

"I came for more of my things," he stated flatly and with an irritated sigh. "You know, my things from my house."

"While I appreciate you trying to come when I am not home, I do not see what banging around in the kitchen has to do with that," she said with an edge to her voice. "You?"

"Well, I came over my lunch hour," he gestured as he explained. Jack rolled his eyes, "Obviously, with that in mind, I'm hungry and decided to make a sandwich. Now, this is still my home too, and regardless of whatever you think we are dealing with here, I can certainly make a sandwich in my own home. Care to argue that?"

Sharon sighed and put her hands on the table as she started to stand. She waved her hand at him, not interested in talking, and she waved again at him.

"Jack, just clean up and get out of here soon. I suppose you aren't planning to see the kids?"

"Are they here?"Jack inquired as he turned his head like he was looking for them.

"Daycare," she stated crisply.

"So, you've not answered me, Sharon," Jack insisted. "The kids are at daycare, and you are home sick? What's the problem?"

Sharon shook her head, "Nothing, Jack, nothing that is your problem. I'm going back to the bedroom."

"Nothing! You never miss work, and I can't imagine a day you'd drive the kids to daycare and come home. Really, nothing?"

"Fine," she said turning back to him from the doorway where she was about to walk down the hall. She tugged on her cardigan again, "If you must know," she pursed her lips and looked directly at him. "I had a miscarriage," she said glancing to him and then away. "Two days ago now, and I just wasn't feeling all that well. I was barely anything," she gestured as her voice dropped. "Just mainly some cramping. My doctor said I should be fine. Anyway, since you asked," she said, now looking at him with a nod as she tugged on her cardigan again.

"You were pregnant?" Jack's eyes widened as he gestured. "You didn't say anything."

"Yes, Jack," she sighed, shaking her head as she looked to him again. She'd been looking at the floor and just glancing up at him. "We had been trying up until," she gestured. She sighed and continued, "As with our marriage, it just ended. I'd barely known myself. I only took a test last week, so around six weeks I suppose with everything that has happened with us. I had some cramping at work, and I called my doctor. Something felt off, and anyway," she glanced to him, her cardigan now pulled tightly at her. "It's over in more ways than one. Now, I'm going back to the bedroom. Whatever you are here to collect, please do so. If you need something out of the bedroom," she waved down the hall, "please get it before I go lie down."

"Are you okay?" Jack asked, now taking a step toward her. She glanced up and was surprised to see that level of concern. She sighed loudly and looked down, shaking her head.

"I'm fine, Jack, fine. It's no concern. It would have been a baby born into a divorce, and well, we already have two kids that will be dealing with it. These things just happen sometimes."

Jack nodded, and Sharon looked to the floor again, kicking her foot around. She glanced up when she heard movement, and suddenly, he was pulling her toward him, wrapping his arms around her. Sharon was surprised at first, but then she relaxed and let him hug her.

"I'm sorry, Shar. Look, I never wanted any of this. I do love you, and I know I get out of hand when I start drinking, I mean, I start messing around with women. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the drunken times, the women, the things I must say to you." He pulled back slightly to look at her. She looked down, and he cupped the side of her face. She looked up, and he gave her a sad smile. "We'd created a new life."

"Had, Jack, had. Early miscarriages like that are common, and now, we are in the middle of a divorce, or whatever we want to call this. We're separating."

He moved his hands to her waist and thumbed them right at her sides, giving her another sad smile. She met his eyes and looked away, nodding toward the back.

"Jack, I think you need to go," she told him. "I can't keep doing this with you. It's always just one more excuse. You're still drinking."

"I'll stop," he told her flatly. "I'll stop, Shar. Look, I know that I seem like I go from one extreme to the other. It's the alcohol. I know it is. We were mending fences, moving on-"

"And, now," she eyed him, "we aren't. You can't just say you will stop drinking, Jack. You have to do something about it. I deal with cops all the time who say the same. It's a long road. It's more than that, Jack. It's the women. I know that I was unfaithful too, but," she shook her head and sighed. She looked back to him, "You continue to do so, and I can't handle that. Now," she stepped back out of his grasp, "I think you should get what you need and go. In fact," she stepped completely out of his grasp, "I'm going to get my bag and go get the kids. I'll leave you here."

Before Jack could say more, Sharon walked to the door, grabbed her purse, and she was out of the house. She hated this, all of this. She hated that her marriage had fallen apart. She hated all that had happened, and she hated that even in a time like this, Jack could be caring. That was the Jack she knew, the one she remembered, but she constantly had to remind herself that this Jack, he was gone. He'd been replaced by someone who drank too much, slept around, and overall, had no intention of actually changing.

As Sharon left the house and drove toward work to get the kids, she sighed, thinking about what a mess Andy Flynn was becoming too. He, like Jack, had no interest in changing. He, too, was charming and could be kind. She'd seen that; she'd fallen for that too. He'd been in trouble again lately, even though she hadn't been the one on his particular case this time. Her office was small, and word got around with their frequent problems. Sharon had been on her day off when he'd shown up to work still hungover. She'd read the report, as they often did in the office with their cases. He'd been sent to further counseling, as per regulation. If he kept it up, he would be lucky to keep his job. The department took steps to help officers when they were struggling with things such as addiction, but even the department had a breaking point. Andy was almost there. Jack was almost there.

Sharon's mind wandered, and she decided to pull off to a nearby park to just sit in silence before getting the kids. It wasn't that she didn't want to get her kids; she did, but she'd had a rough week. Yes, she'd gone from thinking she was pregnant, which was mixed with emotions, to having an early miscarriage, which was also fixed with emotions. She'd barely gotten adjusted to the idea of another baby, a baby as she was going through a divorce, before the baby was gone. Life was hard and cruel. She was trying to process that still, all of it. She'd had a rough year and a half or so if she had to be honest. She'd lost her last parent, had an affair, reconciled-or so she thought-with Jack, caught him cheating and drinking again, and suffered a miscarriage now, and was in this divorce process. It would be a long road, expensive too. She had no doubt that Jack would take her for what he could because as kind as he might have seemed today, she knew he had this vindictive streak, something she was seeing more and more with his increased drinking. No, she needed to move forward with the separation and divorce. She needed to distance herself from Jack, also from Andy Flynn. Both were bad news and were victims to alcohol.

Sharon parked, got out of the car, and she made her way to a bench and sat down. The tears started to flow; her life was a mess. Sure, Jack's life was a mess, but in a much different way. How did things get this out of hand for her? What was she to do now? Sharon sighed as she sat there. Yes, she'd started to clean out that garage. She was going to get her house in order, in more ways than one. She'd talked to Bernie about that when she'd been there visiting. The garage, while a ridiculous task, was the first thing she wanted to tackle and had started working on that right away. It gave her a sense of pride now that she could park her car in it. It was silly, really, something that trivial, but in another sense, it made her feel like she'd accomplished something. Now, she needed to just put one step in front of the other, one day at a time. She could do this. She was strong, independent, and she had a good job. She had a house, two wonderful kids, and whatever Jack tried to throw at her, she could tackle it because she and the kids were worth it. Yes, it was a mess, but she was stronger than this mess. Sharon sat for another 20 minutes before she stood. She would get the kids and get them home. They would have a nice afternoon and evening. Jack would be gone, hopefully, when she returned with the kids. Funny, he really didn't seem to want to spend time with them, not that she would stop him. Jack's flippant behavior told her he was spiraling out of control-from pounding on her door, drunk, in the middle of the night to showing up and even consoling her today, to even back when he'd left her such a horrid note that he'd fight her in a divorce. Yes, he was all over the place, and while she would have to deal with him, she had no interest in that sort of mess.

Life was complicated, and she needed to uncomplicated things best she could.