"Have you noticed anything weird about Andrea?" Andy asked as he set the table for three. Sharon frowned a little as she nodded, trying to keep from crying. She had been on tenterhooks for two weeks since their tense supper, and ever since then, Andrea had been coming home later and later. Sharon was surprised that she was even coming home at all, truthfully, but it was nice to know that she was there, at least.

"I know that she's trying to give us some space in order to grow closer once more. She doesn't want to make you jealous, or to pull away from me."

"I thought that it might be something like that. I keep setting a place for her at our table, to let her know that she's welcome with us. What else can I do?" He came over to Sharon's side, cupping her cheek and running his thumb along her cheekbone.

"I don't know at this point, and that's what is bothering me. She's pulling away from me, too, and I miss her. Just like I would miss you if you pulled away from me. I just want her back."

He nodded and hugged her close to his chest, stroking her back as they both took a few deep, long, breaths. As the embrace lingered, Sharon heard the welcome sound of the lock turning in the door, and she pulled away from her husband to look up into his face, seeing the wide smile that graced his face, too. "Looks like someone was listening to your prayer," he murmured before kissing her forehead.

"Yes," she whispered as she turned to look towards the door, watching Andrea enter. She looked beautiful, her hair wind tousled, her cheeks red, and the hint of a smile on her lips. "You're home early, Andrea."

"Yes, well, I was looking forward to a hot, home cooked, meal for a change, rather than leftovers." She shrugged out of her coat and hung it next to Sharon's, giving her a tiny smile. "How did your day go? I hope it was just routine, like it has been the last two weeks."

"Everything is still looking good with my new heart. In fact, Doctor Jacobs said that since things are looking so good with me, I will be allowed to return to more physical activities right on schedule." She winked broadly at Andrea, and watched the woman blush a little as she stepped out of her shoes and padded over to the table, taking her usual seat. Andy chuckled in her ear, and she reached back to smack his side gently. "I do hope that you both are prepared for long, vigorous…walks in three weeks."

"That sounds lovely," Andrea choked out before she poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher on the table. "And how was work today, Andy?"

The nonchalant, breezy, sound of her voice belied the tension in her shoulders, and Sharon winked at her husband before coming up behind Andrea and rubbing her arm softly. "Yes, Andy, how was work?" she purred in Andrea's ear, feeling her stiffen even further as she focused her attention on her plate.

"Work was hell. Though it was nice to see Andrea there for a short while. Provenza was closing a deal with a particularly nasty piece of work. And somehow Andrea managed to make twenty five years to life sound like the sweetest deal in the world," he replied as he brushed past both of them, pinching Sharon's rear and pressing a quick kiss to the top of Andrea's head before he pulled the food out of the oven and set it on a trivet.

"You were the ones who did the hard work of bringing the perp in, I just did the legal footwork of making certain he'd never see the light of day again. Because while he took the deal from me, I don't think the federal government will be too quick to cut a deal with him, given the amount of blow he's been trafficking into the country for the last ten years."

"I've never told you, I love this side of you," Sharon said as she took a seat in her chair, reaching out to caress Andrea's arm before pouring her own water. "There's just something so deliciously feral about it, and it lends something to you…" She let her voice trail off deliberately, watching Andy for his reaction to her words, knowing that she was pushing both of them to a breaking point. Her husband cleared his throat lowly, and Sharon wondered if that was his signal for her to pull back. As her eyes trailed down his body, however, she saw that was not the case whatsoever, and a wicked little smile danced across her lips as she settled back in her chair, sipping at her water.

"Did you put something in the water, Andy?" Andrea questioned, and he shook his head as he took a seat, a genial smile on his lips. "Then have I fallen into an alternate reality?"

"No, I think that this is the same universe, since I have my zipper scar still," Sharon replied, dragging her fingers along her chest, watching Andrea following the move. Andy cleared his throat for real this time, and she looked up to see him holding out his hand for her plate. She nodded and gave it to him, watching him fill it before handing it back.

After he had filled Andrea's plate and then his own, Andy reached out both hands for theirs, saying a quick blessing over the food before they began to dig in. "Andrea, I did want to talk to you about something, and we're going to do it in front of Sharon, because she's the one caught in the middle of all this."

Sharon glanced over at the woman, watching the blood drain from her face as she nodded, looking to Sharon for answers she didn't have. Shrugging a little, she once more reached out for Andrea's hand, holding on tightly as they both looked to Andy. "All right, go ahead."

"My wife seems to think that you're pulling away from both of us because you think that you're coming between us, and that you don't want to hurt her. But by avoiding us these last two weeks, you have hurt her, and me. It's taken me a little while to wrap my brain around how this would work, how I could share my wife with someone else and not feel like I'm losing. But these last two weeks, when I've seen her without you, I know that that's what I've been doing for longer than I knew, and I missed who my wife is around you. And I also found myself missing you. You're a force of nature, which I think you know, and I rather like having that force on my side."

Andrea looked between her and Andy, a confused look on her face. "And where are we going with this?"

"It's simple, really. You love Sharon, Sharon loves me. Together, we are a whole, though I never expected those words to come from me. And I think that it's time for you to come home on time, and we can start acting like a real whole." He swallowed and Sharon looked at him, wondering what he was going to say next. "Which is actually why I've talked to Chief Mason and to the DA, and arranged for us to take a long weekend in Tahoe. This way, perhaps, we can bond a little better, Andrea."

She nodded slowly, and Sharon smiled at her husband, so grateful that he had finally gotten to this place. Perhaps things would finally start to go smoothly between them from now on.