AN: Thank you all for your nice comments! They encouraged me to wrap this chapter up, when I finished my shift. (Apologies in advance for the mistakes, I was so tired.) It can be read as a continuation of the first one or independently. Your choice.
I love Miller, so I'm going to keep using him in this. Also because I'd totally like him bonding with Andy, since Jack doesn't seem to support her marriage and Miller has his own battles going on. I think it could be good for both of them. I'm not pairing them romantically, though, just in case you were wondering.
I hope you like it.
After an exhausting day, their shift was finally coming to an end and they were all in the locker room, gathering their stuff to go home. Except for the conversation she had had with Dean on the ambulance, Andy had spent most of the day quiet and none of her teammates had tried to make her talk, which she thanked. However, they all had been glancing worriedly at her from time to time to check how she was doing, because it was clear that she wasn't alright. A fact that certainly hadn't gone unnoticed by Herrera, who could feel Maya and Vic's eyes locked on her back, at that very moment, while the guys were chatting and messing around with each other on the background, so she closed her locker and said goodbye before she ran out of luck and was forced to talk.
"Bye!" They simply answered her in unison.
Miller announced he was leaving too, and trying not to be too obvious, followed her downstairs. "Hey!" He called, when he reached her at the front door. "Hey" She responded distractedly, whilst she looked for her car keys inside her duffle bag. "You want to grab some breakfast?" "What?" Andy asked, still rummaging among her things, feeling a not so pleasant dèja-vu.
"Do you want to eat something? You missed yesterday breakfast. I can call the nanny or you could come to the houseboat."
She stopped what she was doing and gave him a questioning look. "You don't need to do that." "I know, but I want to. Look, I think you're going through a lot and you could use the break, and I definitely, could use the company too." Andy wrinkled at the statement. "What do you mean? You have a full house…houseboat." She corrected herself.
Dean touched his forehead, uncomfortably, looking over his shoulder to check that nobody was listening. "Not anymore…" "What? What happened?"
After considering for a minute whether to tell her or not, he decided to take advantage of it. He knew she was having a hard time and didn't want her to go home alone. "I wouldn't mind to tell you about it over some breakfast…"
"Fine" Andy answered, raising her hands in surrender. "I can't find my car keys, anyway."
"You and Vic!? I didn't see that coming!" Herrera was shocked. "Noo, there's no me-and-Vic." Miller replied, shaking his head, embarrassed, as Andy glared at him with a mischievous grin. "But you want a you-and-Vic." She claimed. "That's the point, I don't even know! Would I like to go out with her? Yeah. Do I want to potentially harm our friendship in the process? I don't think so..."
"But Dean, you've already harmed your friendship by kicking her out. I don't know. My opinion, talk to her. It might be weird for a while, but it'll pass and, who knows, maybe you'll have a future together." Herrera suggested him, while eating cereals. "Are you sure you don't want some milk with those? Or...a bowl?" Miller asked her, funnily.
"I'm fine, and don't change the subject."
"I have a girlfriend." He stated, moving his hands expressively and putting them back on his thighs to stroke them, nervously. "What? A girlfriend?"
"Sasha!"
Andy stared at him, amusingly. "Dean, you are in love with someone else. She's not your girlfriend."
"Ok, whatever. I've told you everything, so, now your turn." Miller concluded, but regretted it the second he noticed the heartbreaking turn in his friend's expression. "I'm sorry, Andy. You don't need to...I just wanted to change the subject one more time and..."
"I told him I didn't want to see him again... and I haven't. That's pretty much it." She admitted to him, rubbing some tears from her eyes and turning her face away from him.
Perceiving that she needed a second, he awaited for her to regain her composure before speaking again. "Did you mean it?"
"No" And then she broke down, leaving Miller doubting momentarily if it was appropriate or not to get close to her, but eventually did so and hold her, as she cried everything out.
A few hours later, Andy woke up in what used to be Vic's bed to the sound of Pru crying. She didn't know how she had got there, she didn't even remember falling asleep, but it was definitely the best sleep she had got in the last few days. Assuming Dean had carried her there, she got up, a little ashamed.
"Hey. I'm sorry for that. I should go.." She apologized, when she arrived to the deck, where Miller was feeding a sleepy Pru.
"Hey. You don't have to leave. It's ok. Where are you staying, anyway? I mean, since you...you know." He stopped, not sure of how to continue. "I'm at our place...I mean, Robert's place. It's so weird. A few days ago, I couldn't call it our apartment and now that he's gone…", she made a pause to shallow the lump in her throat.
"Have you called him? I don't think he wants this anymore than you do. Anyone can tell that he loves you, so…"
"Straight to voicemail" She replied with a nod.
"Is there someone else you can reach? His parents or siblings..."
"No, he doesn't have anybody." She told him, sadly.
"I'm so sorry, Andy. I wish I could…"
"You know what's funny? I told him I was trying to find out why my father wanted me to be alone... but I wasn't, he was right there in front of me. It must had hurt him to hear me say that, right? He was...he was trying to help me, not very successfully, but he was trying and I...uh… I just yelled at him and...I made an awful comment about his addition, so he lost his patience and answered me back…" She raved, tears threatening to spill from her eyes again.
"I'm sure he knows you didn't mean it, you were grieving…"
"Yeah...but a few days later... I left him in the hospital while he was in surgery to look for information about someone who left my side 20 years ago...he woke up all alone and in pain and I wasn't there…" At that point, she lost it again, which made Miller's heart tore apart for her. "Hold her" He ordered suddenly, offering his child carefully to her.
"What?"
"You'll feel better. Babies have that super power. No matter how hard your day was...you come home and hold them and the pain just vanishes for a while." Herrera chuckled among the tears at that reasoning, but obeyed. "She's a cutie." She said, once she had calmed down, watching Pru set in her arms, still with a sad smile and tear stained cheeks.
"She is... You know, you can stay here if you want."
"Thank you, seriously, for everything, but I'm going home. I know it's stupid but I need to be there, it's like I'm just waiting for him to come through the door..."
"He will, Andy."
