The Fifth Time.
Another little one-shot that came to me!
The first four times he stays with her, he is one the couch, the fifth time, he is in her bed.
Andrea + Mike.
A slightly out of character one shot, but I hope it's enjoyable, still! Like with most of my work I feel like I have gone over this a hundred times, any mistakes are my own, I hope you can forgive me!
Reviews are loved and appreciated. Enjoy.
Disclaimer – I own nothing.
One.
Mike hadn't planned on staying with Andrea, or even waking her up at some ridiculous hour, but he had done. After an argument with Christine and a few broken glasses, he'd left his apartment with nowhere to go. He thought about waking Tom up, but he knew that he had his kids to take care of. In the end, he'd sat in the jeep and called Andrea. Waking his XO wasn't his first choice, but it seemed to the safest one at three in the morning. She was less likely to shoot him.
"I'm sorry it's not too comfortable, but hopefully you'll get some sleep," Andrea said as she dropped extra pillows down on the couch.
"It's fine, sorry for waking you," Mike said.
"Don't mention it. I mean that in the literal sense…" Andrea looked over at him with a smile.
"The last thing I need is rumours flying around." Mike was too tired to tell if she was joking or not, so decided not to comment.
Instead, he watched her, dressed in only an oversized t-shirt, gather a blanket, and lay it out on the couch.
"Thanks," Mike muttered as he looked at his bed for the night, before looking up at his XO.
There was a moment of silence between the two, Mike felt out of place, like he was intruding, he wanted to ask if there was someone else in the apartment, but didn't feel it was right, instead, he just watched her carefully again, until she began to move back towards her bedroom.
"Night, sir."
"Night…"
Two.
The second time Mike ended up on Andrea's couch was after a night of what could only be described as getting far too drunk. Tom invited them all out, a way of keeping up morale, which in simple terms meant he put his card behind the bar and let everyone drink as much as they could.
Mike didn't feel like going home to deal with Christine, so instead, he took Andrea up on her offer when she said he could crash on her couch again. It had only been a few weeks since he stayed the first time, but he hoped this time round there would be a little more conversation and a little less awkwardness.
"If this is going to keep happening, maybe I should just get you a key?" Andrea laughed, she wasn't that drunk, but she felt happier than she had done in recent weeks.
"Maybe I could just figure things out with my wife?" Mike shot back with a laugh.
Andrea gave him a look before laughing.
"Well, you've never been one to do things the easy way, so I guess I'll keep seeing you at three in the morning." Andrea smiled, walking into her kitchen, and putting the kettle on, she knew she needed some coffee and a glass of water to sober up.
"Thanks, XO." Mike wanted to agree with her, but that didn't seem to fit his personality.
"The bedding is still on the floor from last time, and you know where everything else is. Feel free to get what you need." Andrea poured herself a drink, leaving a cup out for Mike in case he wanted one.
"You're not going to stay and chat with your guest?" Andrea shook her head.
"I'm a very opinionated drunk, apparently." She shrugged lightly.
"You don't need to be drunk to be opinionated, Andrea," Mike said, taking a step closer to her, with the aim of pouring himself a coffee.
"I'll see you in the morning, sir."
"You can call me Mike, you know?"
"I do." Andrea smiled, before she disappeared into her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her.
Three.
The third time, Mike had been invited over Andrea had called him and asked him to go over, to keep her company. He didn't mind, the girls had long gone to bed, and he didn't feel like getting into another argument with Christine over parenting tactics and the death of their son.
Mike arrived close to midnight and was greeted by a red-faced Andrea.
"If I'd have known how emotional you would be I would have brought more wine." Mike joked, looking at the nearly empty bottle.
"Like I said, I'm an opinionated drunk."
"Like I told you, XO, you don't need alcohol to be opinionated." Andrea laughed this time, taking another sip of wine.
"I'm sorry if I pulled you away from your girls," Andrea said with a sad smile. Mike shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee, he never did like wine.
"They're in bed, they had their first official school day today, I think it wore them both out," Mike told her, but he was sure she already knew.
"A part of me hates you, you know. I shouldn't, but I do." Mike could only nod along, he knew if he said anything it would come out wrong, much like with his wife, he was never very good at all the deep conversations.
"You get that second chance and I'm stuck wondering if it's worth it." Andrea rested her head against the back of the couch, not breaking eye contact with him.
Mike remained quiet, it hurt him to hear her say the things she did, but he knew everyone had their own ways of coping, and from the empty bottles of wine on the countertop in the kitchen, and knowing the yearly anniversary of Bill and Lily's deaths were coming up, he knew she was having a hard time.
"I hate you…" She muttered after another moment of silence, this time letting the tears fall as she dropped her wine glass. Mike watched the glass shatter on the floor, before he stood up, moving around the coffee table, and the glass shards to sit beside her.
Going against everything in his personality, he pulled her closer, held her tight and let her cry, knowing that tonight he wouldn't be going home, he'd be staying on the couch because he couldn't leave her.
Four.
The fourth time Mike slept on Andrea's couch he'd practically invited himself. He'd had a difficult day, and he couldn't think of any worse than going home and dealing with Christine and the girls. The girls deserved better than him in a bad mood.
"Maybe I should just get you a key." Andrea grinned when she opened the door to him.
They'd grown closer, closer than they should be with Mike still being married, and Andrea dealing with the death of her husband and child.
"Maybe you should just leave the door unlocked," Mike said as he sat down on the couch, waiting for the coffee he knew Andrea was making him out of habit.
"I would offer you a spare room if I had one." Andrea handed him a cup of coffee, before sitting down next to him. They sat in silence for a while before Andrea spoke up.
"Do you want to talk about what happened with Christine?"
"No." Mike shot back, a little more harshly than intended.
"Sorry, I just don't want to drag you into it." Andrea gave a small smile. Moving her hand to touch Mike's knee to offer him some comfort.
"Well, I am here when you want to talk." They settled back into the comfortable silence they had before, both lost in their own thoughts as they drank coffee, Andrea's hand not leaving Mike's knee, but he didn't seem to mind.
"Well, I'm going to get some sleep…" Andrea said.
Mike nodded watching her stand up, he wondered if he should say anything to her, but went against it.
He watched her walk to the kitchen to put her mug in the sink before she walked back over to him. There was a moment where Andrea was just stood in front of him, and he seemed frozen to the spot, which annoyed him slightly.
Before he could get too annoyed with himself, Andrea leant down to kiss him on the lips. It was short and sweet and left Mike speechless.
"Night, sir."
"Yeah, night."
Five.
The fifth time Mike stayed at Andrea's apartment, he was no longer sleeping on the couch.
In the weeks leading up to him staying at her place, Mike found the two of them getting closer, the pair would find reasons to see each other, sometimes they didn't have reasons, they just appeared in the other's office. Mike found himself saying goodnight to his daughters and then wanting to be with Andrea.
"How are things at home?" Andrea asked, handing Mike a beer. He knew he shouldn't be drinking, it was a Sunday evening, and getting closer to eleven.
"Well, your couch is a lot more comfortable than my own," Mike said, his tone of voice flat as he took a sip of his beer, before placing it on the coffee table.
Mike had gotten used to how close Andrea would sit. She was almost sat on him, but he didn't mind the intrusion into his personal space if anything it gave him some comfort.
"I really will have to get you a key then, won't I?" Andrea laughed.
The pair fell into a silence, Mike was making a mental to-do list in his head, thinking of all the things that needed to be carried out over the next week. The various meetings he needed to attend, and whatever else his secretary informed him he needed to do.
"Maybe, tonight, you don't have to sleep on the couch." Mike laughed, but shook his head, he could tell where this was going, and whilst it sounded appealing, he knew it was against the rules.
"We can't, and you know it."
"I do, I was just hoping you wouldn't mind…" Andrea told him, her cheeks turning a shade of red out of embarrassment.
There was another moment of silence before Andrea put her wine glass down.
"Well, you know where I am, if you change your mind." Andrea smiled, secretly hoping he would. It was no secret there was something there, no one else knew it, but they both did. Andrea knew she wasn't Mike's first choice when it came to somewhere to stay, but he only had to stay the once.
Since the last time, they'd shared more quick kisses, he'd make time to see her, and she would make sure she wasn't busy, just to have a conversation with him.
Not the best start to a long-lasting relationship, but it was a start to something, Andrea thought that tonight would figure out what. If or not he would cross the line, if or not they would go from being close friends to lovers.
Walking through her bedroom door, she left Mike with his thoughts.
Mike wondered for a moment, the what if's. He wondered just what would happen.
"Shit…" He muttered taking a final sip of his beer. He knew exactly what he was going to do, and a part of him hated that, but the other half was certain that despite the rules, despite his wife, or soon to be ex-wife, he was going to have a little bit of happiness that was his own.
Standing up, he followed Andrea's path to her bedroom, closing the door behind him.
"Captain…" Andrea said with a grin.
"XO…" And that was the last time, Mike thought about the rules, or anything other than Andrea.
Thank you so much for reading, slightly out of character for them both, but I hope you don't mind. I was super excited the write this little one-shot, so I would love to know what you thought. Reviews are loved and welcome. Bethany.