Title: When they're back together (a.k.a. the title that gives away the whole damn story.)
Author: Loz
E-Mail: loz06(at)yahoo(dot)com
Rating: T
Category: Neil/Andrea…All Neil/Andrea
Series: Story number eleven (I think I promised three or four after story two!) What follows are titles and story ID numbers:
(1) After he's at her door – 2486705
(2) When the mighty fall – 2506192
(3) While his wife's away – 2525486
(4) While they're away – 2543010
(5) When love's not working – 2543013
(6) Boundaries when broken up - 2562611
(7) What happens on the train – 2579012
(8) When they work together – 2595808
(9) When she wants him back – 2598312
(10) When they're stuck together – 2611364
(11) When they're back together - 2619492
Spoilers: So minor it shouldn't ruffle any feathers.
Archive (if applicable): www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net.
Feedback: The good, the bad and the very ugly it's all appreciated.
Summary: Laughs, didn't you read the title? Anymore is putting the story in the summary section.
Thanks: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your reviews. Recently some of you have admitted to addiction to my writing, v. scary for me! So I thought you should consider reviews of my writing as FA (Fanfictionics Anonymous) feel free to post how much you're addicted to my stuff. Grins cheekily. I was going to post sooner but this story is so pivotal; I had to make you suffer for it, as much as I'd like to feed your habit.
Disclaimers: This is as obvious as the title - I have no ownership.
For a week the station buzzes about what went on during the five hours Andrea and Neil spent locked in. She curses Gabriel's name each time someone looks inquisitively at her, turns to whisper behind their hand or cuts their conversation short when she walks by. The final embarrassment comes as Inspector Gold admonishes the relief for gossiping about the professionalism of two of their colleagues; Andrea had wanted to sink through the floor.
She'd have snapped earlier had it not been for this week she spent inside her head. She'd barely bothered with food this week, her sleep had been lonely and tormented; everywhere there was small things that reminded her of him. Each time she thought of how happy he looked with Philippa, the lower her self-esteem fell, she put on the skirt he bought her each night, crawling onto the sofa trying to consol herself.
Across the back of the car, Leela shoots Andrea a look when she sees Neil standing at the top of the stairs, hands in his pocket.
"Rumours kill careers." Andrea warns Leela who walks with Andrea to the side entrance, a polite 'Guv' passes her lips as Neil stops to talk to Andrea, when Leela disappears he opens his mouth but nothing comes out.
"Okaro raked me over the coals." Andrea's not sure if he's looking for sympathy or making conversation, what was he going to say before he hesitated.
"Inspector Gold did the same to me. Off the record she congratulated me for my investigative skills." Andrea relaxes.
"And I'm supposed to rein you in, pull you back." Neil laughs once ironically. "I should have, I let what I…rule my actions." The conversation cannot be sustained.
"I've been hearing you're being promoted to CID, quite an achievement for probationer." Andrea's heard the rumours as well, the full version involving herself and Neil, the bed and lack of clothing…one of the nastier rumours.
"I heard you bored me to sleep with copper stories all night." Andrea steers them back to kinder grounds, they even manage a smile. "I should go," Andrea sees Leela reappear. "Oh and thanks for letting me compare my report with yours." She steps past Neil but she doesn't miss the look on his face that indicates he has more to say.
In the locker room the next night Andrea sits staring across at the cream coloured wall, various media campaigns adorn the walls but all she can think about is how she doesn't want to go home to an empty flat again. It never bothered her before she met Neil and she knows it's more about the fact she doesn't have him than the fact the flat doesn't contain him.
The swinging door letting Honey through doesn't bother her until the bench shifts underneath her. "Only a man can be responsible for face that sad."
Andrea doesn't disguise anything as she looks at Honey.
"What are you doing Andrea?" Honey sighs looking sympathetically at her friend. "I can see you love this guy, we all can – you're never going to get over him, so go out there and fix whatever it is that's wrong between you two." There's encouragement in Honey's voice but Andrea doesn't want to tell her she doesn't think there's anything she can do to fix her relationship with Neil. "I can see you think he's worth doing anything for."
"Put us out of our misery." She laughs standing up to get changed and Andrea wishes she could laugh.
The annoying tone Andrea can ignore but not the vibration against her hip, Honey looks her way wondering why after six rings Andrea hasn't answered the call.
"Andrea Dunbar." She says trying to sound cheerful having not recognised the phone number. She listens politely to the woman on the other end, feeling herself sink when she identifies the company she's from.
The photos Andrea has been avoiding will now have to be collected, the developers no longer willing to be a library. On top of all the emotional things, the last thing Andrea wants is to have the photos from the disposable camera Neil bought on their weekend away, anywhere in her flat. She considers ignoring the call and leaving them there but just like she can't avoid Neil and her lonely flat, inevitably the photos will have to be collected and soon.
"Hello!" Neil calls putting his keys on the kitchen table, the clock ticks over to six and so far there's no reply. The house is spotless; Meredith the overpriced housekeeper has everything cleaned to within an inch of his sanity. There's no meal on the table or in the oven, the fridge has a dozen items even the best chef couldn't make a meal from. There's nothing inviting about the downstairs, it's dark and cold – the fireplace empty.
The thinks of last month, each night he came home to find his son in front of the TV, video game or on the phone. He could only manage a grunt in reply to his father's hello and there was always a reason why he couldn't explain his day. Within an hour of Neil being home, Colin was gone and Philippa was never quite sure where he was and what he was doing. Tonight's no different except Neil bothers only to look in on his son who's busy saving the world from something. He thinks of the twenty times last month Philippa hadn't been home when he was; he was guilty of the other ten. Last month was not in isolation, this trend had been occurring for years and since he'd known Andrea he itched for a change.
Her flat however small is filled with her warmth, happiness and friendliness. It's welcoming and feels like home. They talk, laugh, cook, clean and share their lives even if the time is brief.
He finds Philippa in the study they were going to share but she took over, it's almost the only image he has of her, surrounded by piles of work. "I didn't hear you."
"I didn't think anyone was home." Neil sits across the desk from her.
"What do you mean?" She laughs once, bemused.
"I mean downstairs looks like a museum for modern home furnishings, this is the first time we've both been home before ten, Colin's still stuck in his room, unable to communicate using more than a grunt, the fridge is bare, there's no connection between us, we might as well be three people who share a house. For five minutes we go on holidays and we're a family, that's it."
"Do you want Colin to go to public education, do you want to move into a one room flat, give up your car and our lifestyle." Philippa has yet to drop her pen.
"What lifestyle?" Neil opens his arms encouraging his wife to give him an answer. "I've made a sandwich for the last week as my night meal, my son goes out and I don't know where, with whom and when he'll be back." He doesn't mention they've had sex four times since he started seeing Andrea and that their public displays of affection are just keeping up appearances. The night they all went to the movies hadn't happened in over a year and even then it was a battle. Neil gets no reply from Philippa who goes casually back to her work.
"That's it, nothing?" Neil can feel anger seeping in.
"I don't have time for a family reunion Neil, I've got…" But he tunes out as his wife lists the things she has to do. He realises where he wants to be and whom he wants to be with.
"Continuing the fine tradition of getting guilty men off," his voice drips with more disdain that he'd originally intended.
"Don't." Philippa warns. "You believe in what you do as believe in what I do." But Neil's heard all he wants to and all he can tolerate; he knows where he wants to be.
"Where are you going?" Philippa asks not looking up but hearing her husband stand.
"Back to work, I might as well. I can get cup of coffee and food from the vending machine, there are showers and enough room in my office where I can sleep. While I'm there I can bury myself in work so I can turn my back on the fact my son will be on the streets in an hour, shooting heroin in his eyeballs." Neil never gives her a chance to reply.
Andrea struggles with groceries, the photos she wants to burn and the keys to the flat in which each room holds a reminder of Neil. She continues to juggle the keys and the grocery bags, feeling the photos slip to the grasp of only two fingers. Her key turns in the lock and Andrea pushes the door feeling the photos slip entirely from her grasp. They float to the floor spreading throughout the small hallway that leads to the kitchen and her living area. She steps between the photos like avoiding cracks in the pavement, putting the rest of the bags in the kitchen.
She bends to pick up the photo furthest away, she remembers the old man that took the photo and her and Neil on a bench in one of the gardens they'd visited. His arms around her, both smiling at the camera, Andrea slides down the wall picking up another, the man had taken it without them realising, Andrea looking past the camera, Neil with utter affection towards her profile. She remembers just how happy they were that weekend and before, she'd give anything to have it back.
Tears flow freely as she picks up the other photos, the ones they took themselves, the ones in which strangers captured the love they had for one another. Andrea had wanted one of their room because she'd never stayed in anything so luxurious. She picks up the last three; they're the ones they took of each other and the one their waiter took in the restaurant. Andrea already knew she was going to put it somewhere in the house, the single of Neil would be buried in her purse, but still it would be there.
When she looks up through tear blurred vision he is there… in her doorway. She can't put the look on his face into one word, there's happiness with the need to tell her something and the same look of affection that's in the photos.
"You're wearing the tie I brought you." The words choke on the emotion that's building and she pushes herself up off the floor.
"That's what you notice when I'm here to tell you I want what you want, I want you back." There's a touch of hesitation in his eyes that soften, but he's still smiling with affection.
It takes a moment for his words to sink in with Andrea but he knows it's all right when she sobs with her tears that flow again. He eagerly steps into her, an arm wrapped around her and another on the back of her head, his face buried in the back of her neck He sighs with thanks and at the comfort of being in her embrace again.
She initiates the kiss, remembering all the places of his mouth; her fingertips tickling the nape of his neck, her other hand gripping him as if he may turn around and leave. He walks them inside feeling the intensity of the kiss increase, knowing in a minute he won't be able to do anything but kiss her; he closes the door with his foot.
Neil feels her hands cupping his face knowing she'll have questions. "How, why?" She breaks their kiss and asks, studying his face.
"Later." He says huskily, brushing her hair back so he may take her face in his own hands.
"I thought you weren't coming back to me, I thought I'd pushed you away." Neil can see her every vulnerability; she's completely open to him.
"It just took me some time, I'm sorry." He smiles reassuringly, he's sure some part of her doesn't think this is real. "I love you."
"I love you too." She presses her lips to his again, her fingers ridding him of his suit jacket that's tossed over the back of the sofa. It isn't long till she needs to feel him again. Her eyes closed, nose-to-nose her fingers trace delicately across his face, listening to him breathe feeling his arms around her.
It is Neil who breathes in as he kisses her again, like she were his oxygen and there's no slowing the intensity this time. Andrea pulls recklessly at his tie, stopping to allow him to pull her shirt over her head. She's just as he remembers, spraying his hands across her smooth and warm skin.
His shirt comes off without trouble, relishing the feeling of her skin next to his.
"Can you stay the night?" Her lips hover near his.
"All night," he says smiling and initiating another kiss. He takes off his shoes without undoing the laces, following her into the bedroom where she removes the rest of her clothes, his hit the floor not far behind.
Under the covers they dance in a meeting of homecoming celebration and the desire and intensity that comes from being apart. Until the sun spills over the horizon they write new memories for her bedroom.
