I'm bored out of my mind. Having no obligations till mid January means I have waaay too much free time on my hands. So one of my ways of filling it is writing. A friend suggested this ABC thingy, so I'm giving it a shot.

Some updates will just be random scenes fitting nowhere in particular, but I think a lot of them will tie in to some episodes. Either way I'll try to keep them in canon, so none of them will go beyond the events of 5x13. But I think it's safe to expect some silliness and experimentation that just might seem a bit AU.

So here's the A! Do tell me what you think of it? :)

An Acquired Taste

They were in the middle of dessert, indulging in a piece of triple chocolate cake. Chocolate cake wasn't often on the menu of Sharon Raydor, but tonight was a special occasion. It's been exactly one year since they had last been here. Andy had been jumping through hoops working doubly hard to get their latest case out of their way so they could enjoy their evening.

He was so eager that at one point, a very irritated Provenza had taken Andy aside to interrogate him in what he believed was a very hushed voice.

"What the hell is the matter with you today?!" It was not a hushed voice. It was more of a yell actually.

"What's with the yelling?" Andy asked, looking around, as if to see who was there to witness what he knew would be an argument. The rest of the team had been sent out and Sharon was in her office behind closed doors, so it was just the two of them, standing in front of Mike's desk. "And nothing's wrong with me," he shot in answer to the older man's question as he settled his gaze back on him.

"Of course not," Provenza replied in a sarcastic scoff, throwing his hands in the air. "You've been busting our chops over this case!" He pointed a hand at the Captain. "Not even she does that, and she's the boss." And before Andy could even think of a response, he continued more calmly, "So, I ask again," he pointed a finger at Andy, "what the hell is the matter with you?" he almost hissed the question.

Andy threw his hands in the air and shrugged. "Nothing's the matter," he rolled his eyes at his partner and was glad to have managed to not yell back. "I just have plans and don't want them ruined by another bout of overtime!"

If Andy hadn't been this defensive, Provenza might have even let it go. Instead he pressed on, the hand pointing at Andy now falling angrily to his side, "What on earth can be so important that yo-" he cut himself off. "Are you off your meds? Or is it Nicole?" he suddenly asked, narrowing his eyes at Andy. "Because the last time you were this strange-" he cut himself off again and all of a sudden his eyes widened in horror. "It's about the Captain!" he accused pointing his finger at Andy again.

"It's not about Sharon! I mean, it's-" Andy held up his hands in defense, voice going up as he stumbled over his words.

But Provenza wasn't paying attention, instead he took a step toward Andy as if to get into his face despite their obvious height difference, and interrupted him. "What the hell did you do?" This time he really did whisper.

"What?!" Andy was thrown completely and for a split second he looked at his partner in confusion. He shook his head at him and folded his arms across his chest. "I didn't do anything!" he said, annoyance coating his words now. He took a breath and lifted a hand in front of Provenza, "Look, it's our anniversary. You know, Serve?" He gave the older Lieutenant a questioning look.

"So what?" Provenza was still agitated, so it took a moment for it to dawn on him. "Oh, you have plans." The surprise on his face was almost comical.

"Yeah," Andy confirmed, dropping his hands to his sides now.

Provenza looked around, looking for something. He found a folder on the table to his right and pushed it into Andy's chest. "Then get back to work and stop talking about it!"

Andy clumsily clutched the folder before it could fall to the floor when Provenza let go of it. "Okay," he said carefully drawing his brows together in another display of confusion. "Wait," he suddenly yelled at the man still standing in front of him, "you" he pointed a finger at Provenza, "started talking about this!"

Provenza simply shook his head and walked back to his desk. "Oh, just stop being such a pain in my ass," he mumbled, leaving a dumbfounded, and annoyed, Andy behind.

So here they were at Serve, sharing a piece of cake because, in Sharon's opinion, it was big enough for four people, plus, it always seemed just a little bit sweeter to have someone to share it with rather than to eat it all on her own.

They were quiet, and for the first time that evening. Despite the rather intimate atmosphere the secluded spot of their table and the dim light of candles provided, up until then, they were having a rather animated conversation. Slightly raised voices, wild gesticulations and open laughter drew a look or two (or five) from the guests nearby, but it hadn't bothered either of them. Much. Sharon, of course, had offered them an apologetic smile once or twice, but other than that they were thoroughly enjoying their private little bubble of just them. No work, no rules (except maybe basic manners), no Rusty, no Provenza, just them.

"You know," Andy broke the silence while she was in the middle of chewing through another bite of the cake. He waited a moment for her to look at him before continuing. His hand held his fork was in his mouth and he seemed to be thinking about something and looked as if he had just figured it out. "You're somewhat of an acquired taste." He said pulling the fork out and aiming it at Sharon. His tone of voice sounded as if he had just told her something as obvious as the color of the sky.

She swallowed and her eyes widened for a second in surprise before she narrowed them at Andy in an attempt to decide how to take his words. Having not come to a conclusion right away, she raised an eyebrow and inquired in a calm voice that warned him to thread carefully, "An acquired taste?"

But Andy just shrugged, meeting her eyes, and cheerfully replied, "Yeah." He took another bite of the cake, not a care in the world. "I mean five-six years ago..." he trailed off as if the sentence was self explanatory. He was completely oblivious to her reaction.

She took another forkful of cake with deliberate care, drawing it to her mouth with eyes fixed on it, thinking hard about what to say. "Oh," she suddenly let out on a surprised laugh, as she realized what he meant. "I get it," she added, more to herself than him, but Andy heard her anyway.

"What's there to get?" he asked in surprise. "Wait," he dropped his fork on the plate, the hand that held it splaying across the tabletop, and narrowed her eyes at her, "what did you think I meant?"

"Nothing," she said in her usual smooth and leveled voice, but when Andy cocked his head and pierced a look through her, she realized she might have said it just a tad too quickly. Before he could gear up to ask another question though, her free hand landed on top of his in a gentle caress, and she added with a genuine smile on her lips, "As are you, Andy."

Truthfully, she wasn't sure what prompted her rather defensive reaction to his statement. For now she was just glad to have given Andy a chance to further elaborate before any of what she knew would only be treacherous thoughts, could form.

Andy pushed his own suspicions aside and returned her smile. "Yeah, the two of us sitting here like this," he trailed off again, stroking a thumb over the skin between her thumb and forefinger, before pulling his hand out from beneath hers to take hold of his fork again so he could indulge in another bite of the cake. "Never saw that coming," he added after he swallowed.

"Me neither," she replied around a bite of her own. There was a wistful edge to her words, making Andy prompt her with a non-committal "Yeah."

"I don't mind though," she added playfully, another smile playing at her lips as she looked at him.

He barked a laugh, and letting go of his fork again, covered her hand that was still on the table with his, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Oh, trust me, I don't either," he assured her through another surge of happy laughter.

She moved the fork for another bite of cake when instead, she dropped it in surrender on the plate. "You know what?" He quirked an eyebrow at her in response. "I'm full," she confessed on a laugh.

"Yeah, me, too," he said. "Wanna get out of here?" he asked with what she believed was a mischievous raise of an eyebrow even if he was giving her a hopeful look, too, leaning back in his chair and resting his other hand on his belly.

She clasped her hands together, leaning back into her own chair, a broad smile on her face. "Definitely."

They took care of the bill and, once Andy helped her slip into her coat, he grabbed ahold of her hand and together they made their way out of the restaurant.

When they reached the passenger door of his car, he kissed her happy to feel her smile as she kissed him back. When they moved apart, he said, in a low voice, "You know, I'm really glad I got to acquire a taste for you." He didn't really know what had her so surprised back at the restaurant, but he felt he needed to point this out to her.

She smiled in that beautiful way of hers, just barely showing teeth, eyes crinkling behind her glasses. "Me too," she said before placing another lingering kiss on his lips.

"Good," he smiled as they pulled apart. "Now, get in, please," he suddenly ushered her almost impatiently into the car. When he closed the door he nearly ran to his side of the car.

When he got in she gave him an amused look. "What's gotten into you?" The pitch of her voice was slightly higher as her amused surprise seeped into it.

He looked at her, pulling on his seatbelt, and huffed an exasperated question of his own, "Why does everyone think I'm being strange today?"

She just raised both her eyebrows, a smile threatening to explode on her face. "I don't think you're strange," she told him calmly, fighting hard to keep from smiling. "Although," her voice went up, "now that you mention it, I have to ask," she couldn't keep the smile off her face anymore and it spread widely over her features as she folded her arms and turned to slant him a better look, "am I wrong?"

He returned her look with one of his own, a rather unimpressed one at that. "I'm just a guy looking forward to celebrating with his girlfriend." His eyes danced in hidden laughter when she only barely managed not to cringe. Even a year later, she still found the title of girlfriend an awkward one. "How is that strange?" he continued, shrugging his shoulders innocently.

"I wouldn't know," she answered smoothly. When he made no move to get the car going, but instead kept looking at her as if challenging her, she adjusted her seatbelt, without looking away from him. "Do you plan on celebrating in the car," a wide smile appeared on his face, and when she continued without even noticing her innuendo, it turned into a smirk, "or will you finally get a move on?"

At that, he adopted an utterly smug look, and he quirked an eyebrow at her. "Well, I could do both," he said, almost as smoothly as she had spoken earlier.

All within a second a frown of confusion formed on her face which was quickly replaced by a fractional widening of her eyes as realization set in. Rather than gracing him with a retort, she leaned in to kiss the smugness off his face. "Drive, please," she ordered, purposefully ignoring his still smug face as she leaned back into her seat, readjusting the seatbelt, this time looking away from him and in front of her instead.

He leaned over the console, stopping close to her cheek. "You sure?" he asked, a raspy quality to his voice now. He was enjoying this too much.

She turned to look at him. There was a broad happy smile on his face, and she couldn't help but smile as well. He could be such a child sometimes. She put her hands on his cheeks, holding his face in place, barely an inch away from hers. "Yes, I am sure." she sealed her words with another kiss.

"Okay, may I then?" he asked still smiling when she pulled away. He pointedly looked at her arms whose hands were still clutching his face.

She loosened her grip on him, not letting go just yet, and simply said, "Yes," not the least bit bothered about having forgotten to let go of him right away. Only then did she finally started dropping her hands.

Andy, however said, "Okay," and before she could completely pull both herself and her hands away, he quickly leaned in to give her another peck on the lips.

By the time she caught up with his movement, he was already busy starting the car. She just looked at him as he moved the car out of its parking space striking up a conversation as if nothing had happened.

Where were they more than 5 years ago, she wondered later that night.

And now they were here, in bed, contentedly wrapped in each other's arms as they were both drifting off to sleep. An acquired taste indeed, she thought, a smile crossing her face. She tugged on his hands and he gave in to her unvoiced demand and wrapped his arms more securely around her. A last thought crossed her mind before sleep took over; Andy may be an acquired taste, but not having him beside her now, that thought alone she'd never be able to stomach.