Andi climbed out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her body, and headed for her bedroom. After she dressed she realized she could hear Luca in the living room talking to someone. Heading down the hall, she stopped when she saw Charlotte sitting at the island in the kitchen, drinking a cup of tea.
"Charlotte?" Andi asked, rushing to hug her daughter. "What are you doing here? Oh my God, I was literally getting on a flight to see you!"
Pulling away, Andi noticed a ring of purple around her daughter's left eye, and a large bruise on her shoulder. "Baby. What happened?"
"Nothing," Charlotte mumbled. "But I come with good news! I transferred from UPenn and I start at UCLA next semester."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because. I went to Penn for Devon and clearly that didn't work out."
"Did he do this to you?" Andi ran her fingers through Charlotte's brown hair, and then stroked her cheeked with the back of her finger. Charlotte shook her head, looking down. "Then who?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does. Did you go to the police?"
"Mom," Charlotte sighed. "Let's not, okay? I'm tired from the trip. Why were you coming out to me?"
Andi glanced at Luca, then back to Charlotte. "I have some news about your dad."
"What?"
"Well. I'm not sure if you remember. When Dad was in his accident, they never found his body. They presumed him dead after a few weeks of searching with no luck."
Andi squeezed Charlotte's hand as she explained everything to her daughter. Charlotte listened quietly with little reaction. "So I told him he isn't to reach out to you. That it'll be on your terms, if that's what you want."
"Shouldn't he be in jail for faking his own death?"
"He will be eventually. Or it'll be a heavy fine depending how good his lawyer is. I'm not sure how the life insurance thing will play out. I may have to pay it back since I spent it. This all just happened like two hours ago. I haven't had time to reach out to Todd."
"You're not going to defend him are you?"
"No," Andi promised.
"I don't want to see him."
"Okay."
Charlotte turned to a Luca, giving him a smile. "So tell me about your honeymoon."
Luca gave her a huge smile, clapping his hands together in excitement. "It was so cool!" He started as Andi headed down the hall so she could change. Letting out a deep breath, she was relieve Charlotte handled the news well, but now has to worry about what drove her daughter to come home.
NINE WEEKSLATER
Jim opened up the door to the house, and he and Luca dropped their S.W.A.T. bags on the floor. Andi was sitting cross legged on the couch, a bowl of cereal in hand as she watched a re run of Friends.
"You're home early," Luca said when he saw her. It was only 3:00 PM.
"Yeah," she said, scooping a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. "I just finished signing over all my clients to Todd."
"What? Why?" Luca leaned down and kissed her forehead and then headed for the fridge.
"I'm done," she said. "I signed it all over. My name'll still be on the wall, but I'm not going back."
Luca brought Andi a beer, and handed it to her. "What's going on with you?" He asked. He rested his hand on her thigh, and Andi set the beer down without opening it. "Ever since the thing with Matt, you haven't been yourself. What can I do to help you?"
Andi sniffled, shaking her head, trying to keep tears from coming down. "This morning on the way to work I heard a horrible story. The infant who was suffocated at the daycare by a care giver."
Luca nodded recalling the story from about 4 months ago. "Yeah. It's a sick world out there."
"I'm so lucky," she said, wiping the tears that she failed to prevent from falling. "That Charlotte wasn't ever hurt by a stranger taking care of her."
"Oh baby. It's okay." Luca ran his fingers through Andi's hair and helped her wipe the tears away that were still falling. "She's grown now. She's a big girl."
"I have to stay home. I can't let that happen again."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm sorry," she cried. "It's not me. It's... it's the postpartum anxiety. Except it's not really postpartum. It's... its..." Andi sucked in a breathe of air. "I think it's called antepartum anxiety. It makes my chest feel so..." she sucked in again. "I can't breathe."
Luca watched Andi lean forward, her head between her knees and he rubbed her back. "Is this because of Matt?" Luca asked, his voice soothing and calm. "Did he stir this up? Aren't you seeing a therapist. Do you need me to call her for you?"
"It's not Matt," she promised, inhaling again and then sitting up. "It's the hormones. It's getting me all fucked up."
"Hormones?"
"I'm pregnant."
Luca's eyes widened, taking in the news. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, as he held Andi. "What? How? Aren't you? Aren't you on the pill?"
"Well, apparently it didn't work."
"You're pregnant?"
Andi bit her lip, nodding her head.
Luca jumped up in the air, then bent down and picked her up, twirling her in a circle. "I'm gonna be a dad!" He shouted, still holding her. Andi wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist to make her feel more secure as he held her.
Jim opened his bedroom door and headed back towards the couple. "Wait. Did I hear you right? Andi? You're pregnant?"
"She's pregnant!" Luca cheered, setting her down. He gave her a huge kiss and then ran to Street, hugging him. "My boys defeated the odds! They implanted an egg!"
"Congrats man! Wow! Holy shit! This is amazing!" Street said, pulling from the hug and giving Luca a fist bump.
"Guys wait! Calm down. Let's be serious for a moment," Andi said, fixing the bun on top of her head. Luca spun around to face her. "This is a high risk pregnancy. The risks of carrying a baby to term at my age is very low. Let's just... let's keep this quiet and see what the doctor says." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. "I'm already..." she exhaled again, her eyes still closed. "This can't be good. I'm already experiencing really bad..." she inhaled again, and then squat down low to the floor, running her hands over her face, trying to calm herself.
Luca rushed to her, squatting beside her, and holding her face. "Sshh. I'm here. I'm here. Tell me what to do."
"There's nothing!" She cried, tears pooling from her eyes again. "It won't stop! Whenever I think about the bad things..."
"Okay," Luca whispered. "Let's get you in the tub. Get you nice and relaxed. And I'll make you some tea."
Andi nodded her head, sniffling and took Luca's hand to stand up. He and Jim helped her into their room and into the master bathroom. Luca drew her water and added some lavender scented bubbles.
"Not too hot," she whispered. "You can cook the baby or something."
"Okay. I'll make it lukewarm," he promised. When he finished, he helped her undress, then held her hand as she climbed in. He squatted beside the tub and gave her a kiss. "When is the appointment tomorrow?"
"9:30."
"Okay. I'll go with you and then go into work late." Andi nodded her head, leaning her head back and closed her eyes. "Baby. Do you want this?"
She opened her eyes, turning her head to Luca. His face was filled with a smile but she could see the worry for her in his eyes. "If you want it, yes. But I'm really worried about everything. Especially if it's already taking a mental toll on me this big."
"I'm going to take care of you. Every step of the way. I'll rub your feet and your back. I'll cook you healthy foods, drive you to every appointment. You're not gonna lift a finger okay? I'm gonna make this as simple as I can for you. You just focus on growing our baby. And getting your positive attitude back."
Andi smiled, and sat up. "I love you," she told him. "I'm so lucky to have found you."
"I think I'm the lucky one," he told her, standing up. "I'm going to make you tea. What kind do you want?"
"Can you mix the ginger with the lemon and orange one? My stomach is upset."
"Yeah," Luca nodded. "You want honey?"
"No."
"Okay baby. I'll be right back." Luca slipped out of the bathroom and headed for the kitchen to steam some water in the teapot Andi had brought when she moved in. Jim was in the living room, and he stood to meet Luca in the kitchen.
Luca pulled out his phone and called Hondo. "Hey Luca. What's up?"
"Hey boss. Yeah. Everything is good. Listen. I gotta take Andi to an appointment in the morning. I was wondering if you'd be alright if I came in for a half day?"
"Chris is on vacation, I'll call around and see if anyone wants to cover for you. We will make it work. Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, it should be. Thanks man."
"Alright. You let me know if you need the whole day, okay?"
"Sounds good Boss. Talk to you later." Luca hung up the phone, and grabbed a mug and the tea packets from the pantry.
"How's she doing?" Jim asked, pouring them each a glass of whiskey.
"She'll be fine once she has this appointment, I think. Once the doctor says she's fine."
Jim nodded. "I bet it's a big shock for her. Having a baby and starting over when she has a grown woman for a child."
"Yeah," Luca agreed. "But crazier things have happened."
"How are you feeling about it?"
"Man, I'm ecstatic. I always wanted to be a dad. I was willing to sacrifice that for Andi. But now that it's here on the table, I don't think I could ever be happier."
"Good. I'm glad."
The tea pot started steaming, so Luca turned around to take it off the stove, then made Andi's tea and slipped out of the kitchen to tend to her.