Thanks again for all your lovely feedback. It's always good to know what people pick up on, and enjoy in the story. As it's the weekend, I've managed to get another chapter ready for release. This one is for every Andy out there who is a little afraid of the insect world, enjoy!
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Chapter Four: Anticipating Needs - "The One Where Spiders Threaten the LAPD"
Cockroaches, eh.
An actual invasion of cockroaches. Andy looked at the salad on his desk with disgust. How was he supposed to eat anything after seeing an army of pests invade his kitchen this morning; completely conquering and making a home on his sourdough toast. Toast which he had literally been dreaming about twenty minutes before waking.
Stupid carb free diet, he thought to himself. Making him go mad with dreams of food he should reasonably be allowed to eat, and was going to eat if it wasn't for those damn bugs.
Eh, he could not eat his salad, even knowing it came from the café downstairs and not his cockroach infested dump. What was he going to do about his house? The fumigation would take most of the day, a day Provenza was conveniently having renovations done, a day when Mike's house was being invaded by a plague of teenagers, and as for Julio… well he was in a mood that did not encourage camaraderie.
It looked like he would be sleeping at work tonight, enjoying the comforts of the fold out bed usually reserved for keen rookies trying to catch naps in between new cases. They weren't built for comfort, or the needs of an older gentleman's back. Just thinking about the crackling noises his spine was going to make after a nights sleep there was making him tentatively touch his lower back in apprehension.
"Going somewhere?" Sharon asked, folder in hand, as she looked at the overnight bag on his desk.
"Oh no where in particular, just reacquainting myself with the comforts offered by LAPD Headquarters while my house is being fumigated."
Sharon scrunched her nose up and leaned in closer.
"It's not rats, is it?" She asked just above a whisper.
Moving in closer himself he replied, "no, but it's not much better ...cockroaches."
She leaned back quickly, scrunching her face more tightly than before. Looking behind her she noticed Provenza wasn't at his desk and quickly remembered he had taken a couple of days off to do some renovations.
Andy was now shuffling about his salad with a high degree of suspicion. Sharon looked around the room wondering why he hadn't asked any of his coworkers whether he could stay the night. But after cataloging tales of their weekend plans she quickly realised how few options Andy had.
"You didn't bring that from home, did you?" she asked pointing at the salad.
"God no. I just don't know if I can eat it, or frankly anything."
She smiled at him, his facial expression resembling an old retriever the kids had looked after when they were young. Unlike the dog, he could look after himself, but she couldn't help but pity him as he sat so despondent, unaware of how needy he was appearing. Perhaps she thought, someone should throw him a bone.
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By the late afternoon the remaining team were slowly making their way out of the door, except for Andy who wasn't sure what to do with himself, and still hadn't made much of an effort to eat anything since this morning.
She could see him slouching over his computer. The idea was to go over some old files and maybe do some admin to make his job easier on Monday, but instead his efforts to look busy just made him look bored, and a little depressed. His gaze was often drawn to his partner's desk and back to his own. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't gauge Sharon standing next to him.
"Come on. Come with me," she said picking up the bag on the floor and putting it in his lap.
"What? Where?" he asked, now noticing she had her jacket on and her handbag over her shoulder.
"Rusty has camped on my couch before, so your sixty-something year old back can have his bed, and rest assured my apartment is cockroach free."
"Ah, um, ah-" he replied.
"You know I can't say the same for this place. I ran into a cockroach in the hallway, and then there was the spider in the bathroom…"
"Spider?" Andy replied grabbing his bag and standing up a little too quickly.
"Yeah it was hanging down from the air vent," she replied curling her fingers to imitate the shape of the creature.
Andy looked at what her hand was doing and then up at the ceiling.
"Oh, I don't think they hang out in the murder room. Come on, let's go then," she said gently pulling on his arm to get him to look at her again.
He wasn't sure if he replied to her or not but he did pick up his bag and walk out of the office. But every now and then he found himself looking back at the ceiling.
"Andy, you're going to trip over if you don't look where you're going,"
The realisation of what he agreed to was just setting in, and it hit him that maybe the spiders he feared shouldn't be his main concern.
He was starting to wonder about the friendship he had with Sharon. Captain Raydor, he corrected his thoughts.
His family viewed the situation as more than it was, and his partner was no better. He continued to make insinuations on the appearance of their outings, rather than the reality of them. His feeble attempts to veer both parties off the status of his relationship was just a temporary measure. What continued to baffle Andy was the ever shifting boundaries between their assumed relationship, and the platonic status they both believed they were maintaining.
She was his friend, a friend he seemed to spend a lot of time with. He just had to tell himself this was one of these close platonic friendships between two people of the opposite sex he had heard about. He was sure he'd had close friendships with women before that were purely platonic. Though he couldn't recall spending as much time with them as he did with Sharon, nor did he recall ever seeking them out as much as he sought her out.
He'd drift to that place where he thought of her as someone… someone more than a thought, or a need, someone whose place in his life was complementary to his own, but to dwell on it was uncomfortable. Unless Sharon indicated otherwise, she was either completely unaware of how their friendship appeared, or didn't think about him as much as he seemed to think of her.
Eh, he breathed out with heavy resignation. This was not the sort of complication he wanted to think about. Not now, while she was being so kind and offering him a roof over his head. No, denial and distraction were a much better option.
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When they got to her place, Sharon updated Rusty on the situation. He had grinned in that way kids do when they assume something, but had said nothing and just handed Andy some bedding from the closet, while he moved some of his belongings to the lounge room.
Sharon was eager to have her own space in the kitchen and pushed them both in front of the TV. Rusty seemed accustomed to this tact and quietly relayed to the lieutenant that it was his mother's way of washing off the day and reconnecting with the captain-less persona of Sharon Raydor. It didn't stop them from both offering their assistance, but she wouldn't have it, and eventually agreed to them offering their services to clean up after dinner.
While Andy did want to help her cook, he was a little relieved she didn't need him. His mind drifted and he was starting to feel uncomfortable in how comfortable he was with her and Rusty. This was not a life he could indulge his hopes in.
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Twenty minutes passed and the smells from a home cooked meal wafted through the lounge room. She looked up hearing the rustle of movement on the couch, and smiled watching them synchronously turn as if the aroma of freshly cooked pasta sauce hit them at the same time, and with the same force.
"I guess your appetite has returned then," Sharon smiled, pointing the spoon in Andy's direction.
"I guess so," he replied.
"It's pasta, I hope that's going to be ok with your diet," she replied as she began scooping it into the bowls.
"Let's just say, the diet is on hiatus."
She smiled at him as she passed them their bowls. Going back to the bench she took her own bowl and shuffled them aside so she could sit in-between them.
"Well this is cosy," Rusty mentioned before getting up and taking his meal to the table.
"I'm going to sit where the civilised people eat dinner,"
Sharon rolled her eyes at her son and began flicking the channels to find something else to watch. It was then that they landed on a documentary showing the life of the spider.
"Eww," they simultaneously uttered, and Sharon quickly changed the channel, leaving it on the news for now.
"Thank you for this, all of it really. You didn't have to do this, and I appreciate it." he said, grateful to finally have some food in his stomach that actually made him feel good.
She smiled at him in that way where she's acknowledging him, but thinking of something else at the same time. She looked back at her bowl but still felt his eyes on her. He tried not to make it obvious but she knew when someone was watching her. It wasn't intense, or uncomfortable. It was just as if he was trying to remember something, and her face was a part of that memory.
"You're my friend Andy. Friends provide pest free food and living arrangements for each other."
He laughed at her, then stopped and just smiled at her.
They stayed there in-smile with each other. She wasn't ready to look away yet, and he wasn't sure if he could. They weren't sure how to break what was happening until the quiet broke itself when Rusty's fork unceremoniously hit the side of the bowl. Andy broke contact first and returned to foraging for tomato pieces in his bowl, while Sharon turned and stared wide-eyed at the television screen in front of her.
Him, her - this, she thought.
She carefully looked to her side to check that he was still there, and as she saw him looking for distraction in the meal she had prepared, she turned back to the TV to seek a distraction of her own.
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To be continued…