Author's note: Hey everyone! Just wanted to say thank you for all the love for this story, and that I hope you will leave a comment if you want to and enjoy this chapter!
Andy has spent quite a lot of her free time in the Sullivan household in the two months that have passed since her very first visit.
She doesn't know exactly why, isn't sure how, but after the taco dinner, which was crowned somewhat of a success, she just continued visiting on her days off. The invitations from Olivia kept coming, growing closer together, asking her for dinner again or telling her about a new recipe she has been making and Andy just ought to try, one that she can't possibly bring by the station the next time she comes over. It didn't involve much persuasion on the part of the sixteen years old, to have Andy park her car in front of their house at least once a week, sometimes even more frequently than that.
He is never there, though. He never joins the two of them in whatever it is they might be doing.
Every time Andy comes by, she searches for him with her eyes, scanning the room for his tall figure, hoping he would smile at her like he did on that Tuesday evening. Hoping she will find Robert standing at the door, welcoming her in, and not the harsh captain Sullivan.
Her heart drops to her stomach every time she sees him, on the occasions he doesn't leave the house well before Andy even has a chance to arrive. He is cold and distant, has nothing left from the spark in the eye and the warmth he radiated that evening, when they fixed their drinks and laughed and smiled at each other like they have no care in the world.
Sullivan just leaves the house, telling his daughter he will be back in a few hours, or locks himself in his bedroom if he has nowhere else to be.
Andy can't possibly understand what she has done wrong, what made him give her such treatment. But it has been two months and she has had enough of his mood swings, has had enough of his silence.
If he wants to act like she is invisible, so be it. Two can play this game.
"Liv, why are we watching this?" Andy asks twenty minutes after the movie started.
"Because you have never seen Twilight, and I think it is a must watch." Olivia replies, dead serious. In response, Andy throws some of the popcorn they are sharing at the direction of the younger girl.
"My dad isn't going to be happy about the mess you are making." Liv warns, talking about the man as if he is not present in the room, then fights back and throws the popcorn in Andy's direction.
He is there with them for a change, but his nose is shoved so deep into a book Andy can't see his face, and he pretends he can't hear anything, even though the both of them know he just chooses to ignore them as long as Andy is around.
She hates the way his presence makes a ball of nerves settle low in her stomach, hates the fact that she is painfully aware he might be looking in her direction. She doesn't need to please him, she doesn't care about him, she is determined to treat him the same way he treats her. He is her captain, she is his lieutenant, and if he decided they can't be friends, due to a reason that is beyond her understanding, so be it.
She has tried to convince herself she doesn't need his friendship, doesn't need his small smiles and his attention. So why does she feel like she has to tuck the piece of hair that keeps falling down on her face behind her ear, every time that electric shock goes through the back of her neck, when she can sense he is staring?
"I feel like I need to apologize for the way he treats you." Liv whispers, barely enough for Andy to hear above Kristen Stewart's voice coming from the big screen positioned against the wall across them.
"You really don't." Andy reassures the girl. "He is an adult, he acts how he sees fit. You don't have to try to explain him."
"I know… It is just… The taco dinner went so well, I thought things were headed in a different direction." Liv shakes her head.
"Yeah, me too." Andy murmurs, before she turns her attention to the very mediocre movie Olivia chose, claiming it is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Along with the physical training Andy has to make sure Olivia passes, the firefighter decides to help the girl acquire some taste.
Her thoughts drift, her mind blank and she can't concentrate on the screen longer than five minutes at a time. Liv seems no less than fascinated, even if she already watched the movie a dozen times. Her words. Andy is drifting in her own world, so it takes her a moment to realize the power went out, the movie went black, and the entire lights in the house went with it, leaving the three of them in complete darkness.
"I will go check on that." Sullivan says, raising from the couch he has been occupying quickly and going to make sure it isn't just a little mishap in the fuse box he can take care of in no time.
The minutes pass by and nothing happens, the screen remains black, the room is still dark, and Andy suspects it is something larger than anything he can handle on his own. She slips her feet into her boots and goes outside, hearing Liv asking "Where are you going?" behind her.
"I will be right back." Andy answers shortly.
She steps out the front door and looks around. The neighborhood is pitch black, the stars shining brightly above her. There is not even a single light as far as she can see.
Great. She is stuck in the Sullivan's house in the middle of a blackout.
"None of the houses around has any electricity." Andy notifies as she walks back into the living room, closing the door behind her with a soft knock.
"It isn't just the houses around, it's half the city." He comes back from wherever he was, slamming his body back into the couch. "I made some phone calls. They don't know what the problem is, and considering the upcoming weather, it can be hours until they get it fixed."
As if someone above has heard them, a rain starts to pour out of nowhere, the sound of the drops slamming down on the roof loud and clear.
One just ought to love the weather in the state of Washington.
"Do they need us at the station?" Andy asks him. He might not have been in a chit chat mood for the past two months, but he has been as professional as ever, and she knows he is going to answer that one. The loss of electricity usually brings with it a handful of car crashes and people getting stuck in elevators, or in many other uncomfortable situations and tight spaces.
"No, they said they are handling it for now, but I will get a call if they need a backup." Robert nods, not giving her a second look. But he can't go back to his book, not when there isn't enough light for them to do as much as to see each other clearly.
Neither of the adults noticed Olivia has disappeared, but as she comes back, her arms are full with candles and flashlights, everything she has managed to come up with and carry to the living room. She drops the pile on the sofa, and hands Andy a box of matches.
"Light them up!" Liv calls. "I have an idea."
Andy filters through the stash, picking up the candles and places them around the living room as safely as she possibly can, as any trained firefighter would do. As she picks up the last candle, Robert reaches for one of the flashlights, and they bump into each other, head first.
His hand brushes against hers accidentally, and there it is again, the electricity, the buzz. She flinches, moves her hand away quickly, on an instinct. She doesn't want to move away. She wants to feel it, wants to feel her skin almost coming alive where he touches her, but her body moves on his own accord.
"I am sorry." Robert apologizes. He doesn't look at her, doesn't make eye contact, but rather fumbles with the flashlight he holds at hand until the thing gives in and lights up. He moves away, searching for an open space to place the little object when she whispers his name.
"Robert."
He turns around to look at her, and even though the light coming from the candles doesn't do much to brighten the room, she can still catch his eyes in hers.
And there are feelings there, ones she cannot name, but they exist, much like the ones she knows he can read in her eyes. It feels like the air is vibrating as they stare one into the other's eyes. Neither of them wants to give in, neither of them is willing to be the one to break the strange connections their gazes make.
"Found it!" Liv calls as she strolls back into the living room, a rectangular shaped box in her hand, completely oblivious to the moment the two adults are sharing. As Olivia dusts the box off, the moment is over, and both of them go back to spacing the flashlights to have as much light as possible in the living room.
"Who is ready for a heated game of Monopoly?" Liv asks, her voice full of excitement as she shakes the box, the pieces inside rattling.
"I am out." Her father calls, drops himself back into the couch and opens his book.
"Oh, I know you can't read in the darkness like that, dad, so stop pretending!" Olivia calls out, revealing him for what he tried to do. She organizes the board quickly on the floor with a skilled hand, even though from the condition of the box, Andy knows this particular game hasn't been in use for a long time now.
"I am in!" Andy calls, sliding her body down and sitting with her back leaning against the sofa. "It isn't like you can play Monopoly on your own anyway. Besides, I have nothing better to do now that we cannot watch Robert Pattinson sparkling in the sunlight." Andy teases.
"Oh, you don't give enough credit to Livia. Trust her to have a game of Monopoly on her own." Robert lets out, his voice flat. The book he has been reading is closed, he isn't trying to pretend anymore, but he is still sunk deep into the couch, avoiding their company.
"Come on, dad!" Liv is trying to persuade, being her relentless self. "Playing Monopoly is no fun with just two people! And you said it yourself, it can take hours for them to fix the electricity. Are you really just gonna sit there and pout for the next who knows many hours?"
"Fine." Her father gives up. "But I need to lean against the sofa, so Herrera has to move a bit. I am not as young as I used to be, sitting on the floor is quite a task for a man my age."
"Yeah, yeah, you are old dad, got that." Liv rolls her eyes. Robert finds a spot right next to Andy, and as he glides down, she can feel his warmth radiating off of him and into her skin. He is sitting close to her, too close, close enough for her to smell him, even when she doesn't inhale on purpose. He has a clean scent she can't really put her finger on, and his closeness does something to her, something she can't deny, but very much wishes it would disappear.
She can't possibly understand him. Her captain. Sullivan. Robert. One moment he is giving her a cold shoulder, and on the other he makes some half believable excuse as to why he has to sit close to her, so close their bodies are almost touching, so close she can feel that electricity once again.
And she is done, and she is tired of trying to understand what he wants. She tries to move away, tries to distance herself from him, the man who has been occupying her thoughts more often than she would like to admit. She wants to move away, but she can't, it seems like she is glued to the floor so close to him. Her body refuses to budge, even though her mind tells it to do just that.
Andy just sighs, and takes the fake money Olivia has been handing her.
It has been a few hours since the power went out, and the house is cold. The heating went off with every other electrical appliance in the house, but for the length of their game Andy was able to manage the house growing chillier, or maybe she was just distracted as she tried to win the game, beating the father and the daughter in the process.
However, their game is over, and Olivia called it a night. She has school in the morning, and by the looks of it, the electricity isn't coming back on anytime soon, so she opted on spending her time catching up on some sleep instead of awkwardly trying to pass the time with her dad and her friend who is fifteen years older than her.
She can't blame the girl, not really, not when the tension between the two adults during the game was so noticeable. She can't blame Olivia for taking the first opportunity she saw to escape, and frankly, given the chance, Andy would have done the same.
Sullivan is nowhere to be found either, and she just stands there, looking around, feeling clueless, and then the cold really hits her. She feels the chill going up her spin, feels the goosebumps raising on her skin all at once. She has nothing to cover herself with, considering she thought she was going to just move as quickly as possible from her cozy car to the heated house.
"Here, I thought you might need it." Andy jumps in surprise as she hears his voice, ripping her away from the train of thoughts. He stands close to her, and she has to lift her head up to look him in the eyes. Both of his hands are reached out, one of them with a blanket, the other with a hoodie Andy guesses is his by the size. "I thought you might be getting pretty cold."
"Thank you, but I think I am going to go now." She wants to leave, wants to go and never look back. She can't stay out here with him, because he confuses her, frustrates her to no end with gestures of kindness like this one. He does something like this, something that shows he really cares, but Andy is sure he will go back to being distant in no time at all.
"Can you stay?" He requests. Andy's inside is bubbling as she hears him voicing the simple question. He wants her around.
"It is still raining heavily, and the electricity is still out. I don't want one of my firefighters to get into an accident if I have any control over it."
And there it is again. He does or says something to shut her out, to remind her of the difference of rank the two of them have. But he is right, she rather not put herself in any unnecessary risks, so she takes the hoodie from his hand, and sends him a small smile that is supposed to convey a message of gratitude.
She stares at his free hands for a moment, and she realizes that her roommate was right. He has large hands, indeed.
Andy feels her face heating up, but prays it doesn't show on her, or at least he won't notice it in the midst of all the darkness.
She is going to kill Maya for putting that idea in her head.
She grabs the blanket when she has the hoodie on, and wraps it around her shoulders, for whatever extra warmth it can provide.
"Let me get the fireplace going. It is old, and I haven't had a chance to examine how well it works, but I did check on it when we moved in, and it seemed decent enough."
"Most of the people I know don't have wood lying around to light up the fireplace, if they even have one."
"Most people haven't lived a few years in Montana. Liv and I learned the hard way to always be prepared for the cold."
Andy feels better already. The hoodie he gave her is thick and warming, and it is so big she is practically drowning in it. There is no doubt the piece of clothing belongs to him. She can't help it, can't help watching Robert as he moves logs around and sets them in the fireplace, her eyes moving with every step he takes. She lets herself imagine, lets her thoughts wander, and the image in her mind changes. She is wearing nothing but his hoodie and a smile, her long legs exposed, provoking him as he fumbles with the fireplace, trying to light it up, his shirt off.
She is going to kill Maya for putting the idea in her head, revive her, and then kill her again.
He has managed to get a small fire going while she was tangled in the mass of her inappropriate thoughts, and by the time she hears him calling her name, there is a warm light spreading across the room, fighting the cold and the darkness.
"Andy, come sit by the fire." He invites. "You will feel better in no time." Robert promises. He takes two of the cushions from the sofa and places them on the floor, so they will be able to sit comfortably.
"Oh, I forgot, you are too old to sit on the floor." Andy teases. She is scared for a moment, not sure how he is going to react, but he cracks a smile at her, one warm and genuine, and suddenly all of the tension in her body disappears like it was never there at all.
She lowers herself to the throw pillow he placed for her as he does just the same, the smile never fading from his lips. He was right, she does feel better, but she is not entirely sure it has anything to do with the warmth of the fireplace on her face and on her icy fingers.
He reaches a hand out, and even though Andy isn't sure why, she doesn't move, doesn't flinch. She is shivering, and it might be anticipation or something else entirely, she can't tell, but with all honesty, she doesn't care. She never felt this way before. It is a reaction of her body she can't possibly explain.
"Can I ask you what does that necklace mean? It is obviously not the first letter of your first or last name." He inquires. His fingers outline the letter E, smoothing his thumb over it, then he releases it all together. Andy is tempted to ask him to continue, to beg him to stay that close to her, but she does nothing of this sort.
"My mom died when I was nine years old." The sentence slips out of her lips easily. It has been over twenty years now, and she is far, far away from the girl she used to be, the girl who was so ashamed for not having a mother, knowing she will get pitiful looks at best, and bullied for being different at worse. She is far from being that girl, but that doesn't mean it is something she just casually brings up in a conversation. But with him... With him it is easy, even if sometimes she feels like he does everything to make it impossibly hard. "Her name was Elena, and this necklace belonged to her. She didn't leave many personal mementos after her, so it is something rare and special for me. My dad gave it to me the day I turned eighteen, saying she would have liked me to own it. I haven't taken it off ever since, I just wear it tucked in my shirt, to avoid questions, much like this one."
"I am sorry." Robert apologizes, and it sounds so sincere coming from his lips.
"You don't have to be. It has been a long while, and it still hurts, but just less, I think. I was so young, it isn't like I remember much of her anyway." Andy shoves the pendant back into her shirt, trying to put the whole subject behind them. "Now that I have answered your questions, can I ask you something in return?" Robert nods, and she continues. "It felt like we made so much progress during the taco dinner, and then I came here and it felt like everything disappeared and we were back at square one. I guess my question is, did I do something wrong? Can't we be friends?"
He doesn't want to hurt her, doesn't want her to take the blame for something that is completely his fault, so he decides to bend the truth, just a little bit. It isn't a lie, but is not the reason he has been keeping her away ever since the night he woke up at four in the morning, sweating and hard for her.
"I guess it is hard for me to open up for people, ever since Claire died. It was always just me and Livia, and Luke, I mean Ripley." Robert corrects himself, so Andy will be able to understand who he is talking about. "But even my friendship with him changed. After Claire passed away, he was always more of an uncle figure to Livia than a friend to me."
"All you have to do is just say something about yourself." Andy advises. "You don't have to pour your guts out the first time you meet somebody, just say something that doesn't have anything to do with work."
"Wait, wasn't this enough?" Robert raises his brow. "And here I thought I was showing my heart on my sleeve for you."
"Very funny. Come on, give it a try. Say the first thing you have in mind." Andy coaxes.
"Promise you won't laugh?"
"I promise." Andy nods, but she already can feel the chuckle building inside her, can't help it, even though she has no idea what he is about to say.
"I…" He starts, then shakes his head. "Forget it, it's ridiculous." He calls out.
"Oh come on!" Andy coaxes. "You are killing me here with the suspense!"
"Fine." He breaths out, obviously not satisfied with the direction the conversation is headed, but only has himself to blame. "It has been a while since I have been with a woman."
It takes Andy a moment to realize what she just heard, but when she understands it completely, her eyes widen, and she gives him a surprised look. "Wait, you haven't had sex since your wife died?" She asks, whisper-shouting, well aware of the girl upstairs, but can't help her surprise.
"I said it has been a while, I haven't said I turned into a monk and joined a convent."
She tries to hold the laughter in, really does, but she can't help it, and in a moment she is in the midst of a fit of giggles she isn't able to control. He pulls the pillow under him and throws it in her direction, hitting Andy straight in the face, which does nothing to help the laughter subside.
"Okay, I am done." She promises. "Thank you for sharing this with me, but if I am honest, this is the kind of information you would rather share with another man. One that you trust and you are close to, otherwise you are not going to hear the end of it."
"You aren't going to let me hear the end of it either." Robert states more than questions.
"Oh, I am going to have so much fun with this new information." There is a silence for a moment, one she fills with the question "Can I ask why?"
He looks down, avoiding eye contact. It seems like he is looking for the pillow he has just used as a weapon against her, so Andy throws it back at him. His fingers start to fumble with it immediately, and it feels like the atmosphere in the room changed all of a sudden, burdening on his shoulders.
"Things have been different ever since Livia has grown older. As you probably can tell, she is very perceptive, she notices everything, big and small. When she was younger, it would have been easier for me to have her sleeping over at a friend's house so I could have the house all to myself. But she is practically an adult now, whether I like it or not, and I have been burying myself in so much work anyway, I don't have much time to date."
"You are full of excuses, have anyone told you that yet?" She asks.
"Watch it, Herrera." He threatens, but there is a smile on his face, and she knows he isn't mad about her observation.
"No, seriously, I can help you!" She calls out, as if she suddenly came up with the most brilliant idea in the whole entire world. "I can wingwoman for you. We can go to Joe's on a Saturday we are off duty, and I will help you find someone you like. I know some of the doctors at Grey Sloan, I can ask around about any cute and single nurses or doctors."
"It isn't really necessary." Robert hesitates, trying to get her to drop the idea with all his might. "I am content with the way things are, I really am. Truly, I don't know why I even brought it up."
"Because you are not happy with the way things are. You need to get back on the horse, and you have found yourself just the right woman to help you do so." He says nothing for a moment, and Andy thinks she might have actually gotten to him. "Please."
It is a bad idea. Going out for drinks with the woman who had starred in more than one of his sexual, sensual dreams is a bad idea, and having her trying to play the matchmaker is even worse. But maybe it isn't that bad, now that he comes to think of it. Maybe he will actually meet someone at that bar, and when he will finally, finally touch another woman, the forbidden fantasies and the cold showers at five in the morning will come to a stop all together.
"Fine, I am in." Robert huffs, not entirely satisfied with the new arrangement of theirs. Andy is about to say something, keep up the conversation, but instead, she lets out a yawn, can't help it.
"I think I should head home." She gets up from the floor. It takes her a few long moments to find her balance, and in that moment, Robert jumps to his feet, and stands in front of her, blocking her path to the front door.
"The storm out there is still going pretty strong. And as you can tell the power is still out." He tries to advocate against the idea.
"As you can tell Robert, I am really, really tired." She gives him a weak smile.
"Why won't you sleep in my bed, then? I don't mind spending the night on the sofa." He suggests.
Oh no. No, no, no, she is not going to go into his bedroom, even when he is not there. Bad, bad things tend to happen whenever she finds herself in bedrooms of attractive men.
"I will sleep on the sofa." Andy comes up with somewhat of a solution. "But just for a bit, just a power nap to help me survive the drive home." She is lying there in a blink of an eye, propping a throw pillow under her head, and using the blanket that she had wrapped around her shoulders to cover her entire body. "Just promise me you will wake me up as soon as the power comes back on."
"I will." Robert makes his way around the living room, adjusting the flashlights and candles that are still going so she will be able to sleep as comfortably as possible. When he looks back at her, she is out like a lightning, her breaths even and slow, her entire body relaxed. He walks toward her, until he stands right where her head is. He lowers himself to his knees, then pushes a piece of her hair back behind her ear.
It is every bit as soft as he imagined it to be, and Robert knows it won't ease the dreams, not even a bit.
The power comes back up not even a half an hour later, but she looks so peaceful, so small, he doesn't have it in him to wake her up.
Not quite yet.