—The Loyalty—

Andy's wide eyes were on Jonas, who was looking at them in shock. He had come home early from his business trip to surprise Lu, determined to once again make their relationship a priority after months of things being strained. He had expected to walk in on her being vast asleep, needing to catch up on some zzzs after a long week of long days at the clinic—as always.

Lu had not noticed he had walked in, her vision being shielded by Andy's thighs, the sound of the doors and footsteps being overshadowed by the sounds Andy had been making. Andy, who was now pulling away for reasons Lu didn't quite understand. She somewhat turned around to check, to make sure Andy was alright, when her eyes fell on Jonas.

Her jaw dropped just as his had, and she stumbled, trying to look for words. They were in a rather compromising position, and she tried to find a way to elegantly disengage without accidentally crushing any of Andy's body parts—she glanced over at Andy, hoping that she had some idea as to what to do. ''J, what are you doing home?'' She asked, sitting back on the bed and pulling the covers over her body. She watched Andy scurry off whilst adjusting her clothes, getting everything back in place on her way down the stairs before leaving via the front door.

Jonas' eyes followed Andy out the door before focusing back on his fiancée. His hands were on his hips, looking at her expectantly, waiting for any kind of explanation. He had told Andy that he was okay with them being together, it was the only way he still got to be with Lu, he knew that. But he had hoped they would be more discrete about it. He certainly didn't expect them to share the bed he and Lu also shared, didn't expect them to take any kind of risk—risk him walking in on them.

''We finished the deal this morning, I thought I'd come home and surprise you,'' Jonas explained, trying to figure out how to deal with this. He had technically given his blessing, but even then he had already known that he had meant it as more of a gesture—it wasn't that he wanted them to be… together. At that time he had already been somewhat iffy about them merely being friends after everything that happened, to know that they had continued their relationship…

Lu couldn't argue that she was surprised. She spent night after night alone in their bed, wishing he—or anyone, especially Andy—was there, and the one night he had decided to come home early was one of the very few nights that she wasn't alone. They had their eyes on each other but were both silent. Lu had decided only a few hours earlier that their relationship was over, but she had trouble actually saying the words.

''In our bed?!'' Jonas asked in absolute disbelief. ''Of all places, why here?'' He asked, knowing that he was focusing on just a minute detail. It had always been at their house, from his understanding, but it had been the guest bedroom, he hadn't even thought about that now being occupied by Marc.

Lu knew why—Lizzy was at Andy's house most of the time, and when they had started sleeping together Marc was still away in Arizona for college. It had been the logical solution. It was also the explanation that she knew Jonas didn't really care about, it was the bigger picture. ''Jonas, I-''

''You sleep with her in our bed, she spends the night here, Marc knows that there's something going on between you two… the whole of Rittenhouse knows that there is something going on between you two,'' Jonas said, ''what is going to happen at our wedding? We have our first dance and then you spend the rest of the night with her?'' He waited for a response but Lu simply looked away silently. ''What has become of our relationship?''

Lu cocked her head slightly, ''you can't blame for all of it. In the past month you've been home for not even a week-''

''I've been busy.''

''We both are. Before, even when you were busy, you still found time for us to spend together. We made time for each other, but now…'' Lu sighed, ''how can we be together when you're never even here? I don't want to marry you if this is how it's going to be.'' She felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. This is what she had been wanting to say for a long time now, what she would've said much sooner if he had been willing to listen.

''Do you even still want to be with me at all?'' Jonas asked, afraid for the answer. He could see the hurt in Lu's eyes and it killed him to know that he had caused it. He remembered the first time he saw her, how he had leaned over to his mother and said that Lu was the woman he was going to marry. He had spent so much time wooing her, making her fall in love with him. She might've caused the first crack in their relationship by being intimate with Andy, but his reaction was what caused the whole thing to break.

He knew he wasn't entirely blameless in this situation, and he was willing to admit that if it meant getting Lu back. Despite everything he still wanted to be with her—everything he had told Andy was true; he wanted to marry her, have children with her, grow old with her. But the longer she waited with responding the more doubt filled his mind, the more dread he felt in his lower belly. He swallowed hard before repeating his question, ''do you still want to be with me?'' He asked, '''cause I'm willing to try anything; I'll be home more often, I'll-''

Lu interrupted him mid-sentence, wrapping the sheet more tightly around herself and wishing she didn't have to see his face during this. ''it's not that I don't want to be with you, per se,'' she told him and a second of relief flashed in his eyes, ''it's that I'm in love with her, and I want to be with her. I think that she and I can make a relationship work, and I want to try.''

She got up off the bed, dragging the sheet with her and she started to look for her clothes, picking her dress up off the floor. Jonas had his arms crossed, not wanting to look at her. She softly gave his arm a squeeze as she walked past him on her way to the en-suite bathroom, ''I'll move my stuff out as soon as I find a new place.''

Andy hadn't heard anything from Lu all of Saturday but decided to let it go, she couldn't imagine what Lu was going through now and the least she could do was give her some space to deal with it all. That didn't mean she wasn't curious though. She had listened to Milo's request, she needed to figure this out on her own, and she hadn't called him.

He was still in Philly, checking out apartments if she remembered correctly. The thought of not getting to see him, not getting to talk to him and hear his voice; it sounded unbearable. To now not have Lu around either… It promised to be a very long weekend.

She was lying in bed, her book resting face-down on her chest as she tried to stay awake. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before after getting home from Lu and Jonas' place, but now she needed to go back into her normal sleeping pattern. Andy didn't realize how close she was to falling asleep until the phone rang and woke her back up.

''Campbell.'' She picked it up after the first ring in the same stern voice she always used, for all she knew it could be her service calling about an emergency, despite her personal life she would never sound anything but professional in case Rittenhouse called.

''Andy?'' Lu's voice came through from the other side of the line, sounding rather flat—as if she was all cried out and didn't have any energy left for emotions. Lu could hear Andy ask about what had happened after she had left the previous night and she took a deep breath. ''I checked into a hotel, called some movers and got all my stuff into storage… still haven't figured out how I'm going to tell Marc that he doesn't have a house to come home to. Been calling around looking for a place all day and am going to check something out tomorrow, can you come with?''

''Yes, of course, whatever you need,'' Andy said. From what Lu had said it sounded like she was doing what she always did, full steam ahead; just keep going and going despite whatever was going on. But the sound of her voice betrayed her true feelings, and Andy wished she could be there with her right now. There was a moment of silence, ''are you okay?''

''I don't really wanna talk about it,'' Lu said after a second. ''Jonas is going to move to Rio like he had planned before our relationship kept him here, he said that he doesn't want to talk to me anymore, I gave him back my engagement ring and left…'' she swallowed hard, ''Andy, tell me everything is going to be okay.'' She had been so sure of her decision before she had talked to Jonas, saying the actual words to him just made everything so final and now she was over-thinking everything leading up to this very moment.

''It's going to be alright,'' Andy said, ''you're Luisa Delgado, you can survive anything. And I'll be there with you, you know that, right?''

Lu nodded before realizing that Andy couldn't see her. She wiped away the small tears that had formed in her eyes. ''Let's just change the subject,'' she said as she slipped between the covers of the hotel bed. She was done with talking about Jonas, they were over and whilst she had been second-guessing all the decisions she had made she knew that choosing Andy over him had been the right one. Lu could hear Andy hum in agreement and a small smile crept up Lu's lips, flipping a switch in her brain and focusing completely on the woman on the other end of the line, ''so, what are you wearing?'' She asked, sliding down the bed a bit and getting more comfortable. If it was up to her they'd find a way to continue where they had left of the previous evening, but with Lizzy home that was impossible; she'd settle for this second best thing though.

Andy laughed, ''are you serious?'' She asked with a giggle, looking down at her nightgown as she waited for a reply. When none came she cleared her throat, ''just a nightgown... you?''

Lu closed her eyes. She knew it probably wasn't what Andy was wearing but she was picturing something made of silk, preferably in the same red shade that Andy had worn the previous night. She ignored Andy's question, ''that red dress you wore last night, you should wear that the next time we go out, I'll have fun taking it off of you.''

Andy could feel a blush creep up her face, ''you will, hmm?''

A wicked smile crossed Lu's face. Things had been cut short the night before and now she just wanted to pick up where they had left off, wanting to take things from 0 to 100 as quickly as possible. ''Yeah, tear it off of you, throw you down onto the bed, push my fingers inside your cunt,'' she could feel her heart beating faster and faster, trying to listen for any sign coming from Andy that showed she wasn't enjoying this as much as Lu was, ''make you beg me to make you cum, drawing it out as long as possible before making you cum over and over again. Make you moan so loud the neighbors will complain.'' Lu could hear Andy trying to breathe normally, trying to hide how much Lu's words were affecting her. ''I'll tie you up; make you lie there helplessly as I do whatever I want with your body.''

Andy swallowed hard, she couldn't help but picture what Lu was describing and it turned her on more than she cared to admit. Her mind was racing, thinking of a way to respond. ''I wish you were here right now,'' she said honestly, ''wish I could kiss you and-''

''Touch yourself,'' Lu said, interrupting her. ''Take off everything you're wearing,'' she could hear rustling and smiled, pleased that Andy was doing exactly as she was being told. ''Now lie down and touch yourself, are you wet for me yet?'' She was playing with the cord with her fingers, listening to all the little sounds coming from the other end of the line.

Andy could feel her juices on her fingers, and moaned slightly as her fingers brushed against her clit, ''always. Just thinking about you makes me this way.'' It was the truth although she hadn't thought she would ever admit to Lu how much her mere presence affected her; it was easier over the phone though. She was imagining Lu touching her, that it were her fingers instead of Andy's own ones.

Lu had her hands down her underwear as well, stroking lazily as she could hear Andy's moans drifting through the phone. ''Close your eyes,'' she instructed, no doubt in her mind that Andy would do exactly as she was told, ''what are you picturing?''

''You, the way you were last night,'' Andy said, thinking back to how Lu had straddled her, the almost loving moment between them before Lu had taken back the reins, ''thinking of you on top of me, taking off your dress, your juices dripping into my mouth…'' Telling Lu this was making the memory all the more vivid. It also brought her back to just how close she had gotten to cumming the night before when Jonas walked in.

Lu smiled to herself. She could hear soft moans coming from Andy and it only turned her on more, biting her lip as she finally touched her clit. In her head she was already planning their next time together, hoping it would be sooner rather than later. Andy wouldn't even be able to walk in a straight line when she was done with her. ''Tell me what you want to do to me, what you want me to do to you.''

Trying to think of a scenario to tell Lu only served to arouse her more, but Andy was feeling the same mental block as the night before. ''I want you to fuck me,'' she said breathlessly. ''Take me however you want me.'' Her head was spinning as a memory from a few weeks earlier came back to her, Milo's words echoing in her head.

''I don't care if we're broken up, if you're sleeping with Lu,'' he thrust up against her as he said the name, eliciting a moan from Andy, ''or if you're lying next to me dreaming about someone else, you are mine. I'll decide whether you can come or not, not Peter, not Nick, and not Lu. Just me.''

Even though she had been so close just moments before, she could feel her orgasm ebbing away before it had even begun. With a groan she gave up. After a few seconds she could hear Lu call her name through the phone and brought it back to her ear—she was tempted to just fake it, not wanting to discourage Lu from doing things like this, but she knew Lu would be able to tell.

''What's wrong?'' Lu asked, taking her hand out of her underwear—it wasn't nearly as much fun doing it by herself. She worried she had pushed Andy too far, it was always fun to see just how far she could push her partner but she always knew she'd risk this. ''I'm sorry,'' she added when Andy didn't answer.

Andy shook her head, ''don't be. This was nice, really, it's just not happening tonight,'' she said. She could hear Lu say something but only mumbled the words ''I'm sorry,'' before she hung up the phone without another word.

''Sorry I'm late,'' Andy said as she closed the door behind her. Lu and the landlord were standing in the living room, turning around when they heard Andy come in. All night she hadn't been able to stop thinking about everything Lu had said, and the memory of Milo telling her what to do. From day 1 they had both been trying to get the upper hand and it was messing with her head.

She walked over to Lu who turned away from her. Andy had half expected her to blow up as soon as they saw each other, it was what she expected from Lu who never shied away from sharing her feelings—especially anger. Getting the cold shoulder was much worse.

Andy watched Lu as they made their way around the apartment, checking out the kitchen and the two bedrooms. Lu for the most part didn't acknowledge her presence. She knew it had been wrong to just hang up without explaining what was going on, but just like Lu was very open about her feelings, Andy wasn't at all.

''I'll give you and your friend a moment, feel free to take a look around, I'll be right back,'' the landlord said, already making his way to the door.

''Girlfriend,'' Lu corrected him quietly, although she didn't seem too happy about it. With her arms crossed she turned back to Andy, waiting for an explanation for the previous evening. Things had been going so well when Andy suddenly hung up, Lu expected more from her and after breaking up with Jonas for Andy she certainly deserved more.

''I'm sorry,'' Andy said.

Lu raised her eyebrows, waiting for an explanation but none came. She leaned back against the counter behind her, ''what happened? Why did you hang up on me?'' She asked.

Andy noticed that Lu sounded calmer than she usually did, sounding more hurt than angry. She didn't know how to communicate what exactly was going on though, knowing that Lu didn't quite seem to understand her and Milo's dynamic. She shook her head, ''I just couldn't…''

''Cum?'' Lu asked. It wasn't as if she hadn't noticed that Andy was having trouble with that two nights prior. Over time she had picked up all kinds of little clues that gave her insight of what was going on inside Andy's head, no matter how closed off she could be. She had been racking her brains trying to figure out what was going on. A slight nod from Andy was all she needed to confirm it, ''what is it? Is it something I did, or…?''

''No,'' Andy walked over to Lu, her hands on Lu's folded arms, ''no, of course not. You're kind, you're sweet, and… so incredibly sexy, you're amazing,'' Lu looked rather unimpressed by Andy's words, as Andy was all too conscious of how close together they were now and how badly she had wanted to be this close to Lu the previous night, ''it's just… you and Milo both like taking control—which is great, I love that—it's just messing with my head to both have you do that.'' Lu looked back at her and Andy suppressed the urge to kiss her, knowing that she owed Lu more than that. ''A few weeks ago I had a dream about you and I, and Milo overheard me saying your name while I was sleeping, and he…'' Andy swallowed hard, not about to tell Lu that he then fucked her until she passed out.

''He got weird about it?'' Lu filled in, her demeanor relaxing just the slightest bit. She had known that there would be some clashing between how she was with Andy and how Milo was with Andy, but she had hoped that his interference would stay out of their sex-life.

''Possessive as always,'' Andy said, ''he said that he would decide when I come, not Nick, not Peter… not you. I tried not to let that stop me but even if my brain didn't care my body still listens to him.''

Lu looked up at Andy, a confused look crossing her face, ''not Peter?'' She asked, wondering what she had missed as an embarrassed look crossed Andy's face.

Andy could feel the dread in her stomach; she had completely forgotten that she had never told Lu about that particular night. She looked away and took a step back without thinking about it, ''I-it doesn't matter,'' she said, stumbling over the words.

''It matters to me, just tell me,'' Lu said, surprised that she was just hearing about this. From what she knew it must at the least have been a few months ago, and considering how open Andy had been about her relationship with Nick it was strange that she hadn't brought this up since it must've been at around the same time.

Andy wiped her hair behind her ears, looking for anything to possibly change the subject to. ''Lu…''

''Andy,'' Lu said, looking intently at her. ''What's going on? Why haven't you told me about this?'' She had so many questions but Andy didn't seem keen on answering any of them. She took a step closer to Andy, ''if we are doing this, if we are going to be in a relationship, I need you to be honest with me. I need you to tell me these kinds of things.''

A small, almost, laugh came from Andy, ''it's just… a lot,'' she said, having trouble even drawing a full breathe.

Lu looked at her confused, not sure what Andy was referring to or where this all was even coming from. ''What are you talking about?''

Andy hesitated. ''Just a few weeks ago Milo asked me to think about what our relationship would even entail, he wanted me to talk to you about it, and now I'm… your girlfriend,'' Andy said, ''it just all happened so fast and-''

''You've gotta be kidding me, Andy,'' Lu said, getting more pissed off with each word out of Andy's mouth. ''Don't make it sound like this all just happened to you. You came to me, you asked me out,'' she ran her hands through her head as if what had happened the past few weeks was just finally sinking in, ''I left Jonas for you…''

''I didn't ask you to do that,'' Andy said defensively.

Lu put up her hand, wanting to stop Andy from saying anything further. ''So what are you saying?'' She asked, she took a deep breath to calm down. ''Do you want to take a step back? Do you wanna break-up, what?''

They were both quiet for a moment, simply looking at each other. Andy felt conflicted; Lu only wanted the truth from her but in this moment that would just hurt their relationship. Still, it was what Lu deserved. ''I just need a moment.''

The words hadn't completely left Andy's mouth before Lu stormed past her and out the door.

Lu swung the hotel room door open, wanting to tell whoever had just knocked—who she had been ignoring for the past five minutes as they completely undeterred continued their disturbance—to just go away. Seeing Andy on the other side of the door she felt conflicted, it was both what she wanted as well as the last thing she wanted.

Andy leaned her head against the doorframe, she had half-expected Lu to blow up at her the moment she opened the door. ''I'm an idiot.'' She was great with patients, as well as the staff working at the hospital, and Milo had assured her many times that she was a good mother even if she didn't always feel it, but when it came to her relationship with Lu she was, indeed, an idiot. ''I'm sorry for what I said,'' she added, Lu gave her a nod, urging her to go on. ''I think that I need to take more responsibility for the part that I play in our relationship.''

Andy remembered a conversation with Lu a long time ago where Lu had accused her of spinning situations in such a way that the responsibility ultimately fell on Lu's shoulders, and she had never felt more that that was true than she did in this moment.

''I thought that I knew myself pretty well,'' she continued, ''and I never thought I would fall in love with another woman, but I stand at Lana's desk and I stare at you through the window and suddenly I'm fifteen years old again, waiting desperately for Archie Steelman to ask me to dance at the junior prom,'' Andy said, glad that it seemed to get a chuckle out of Lu, ''it's downright embarrassing, but I've never been happier.''

Lu could feel tears burning her eyes. No matter how sweet Andy was being now—and she seemed more than genuine—she couldn't forget what Andy had said that morning, and it made her hesitant to show any kind of forgiveness. ''We keep having the same argument though. You say that you don't have feelings for me, that this isn't completely real to you because we happen to both be women...'' Her mind drifted back to their first fight, back when they were just sleeping together when Milo was dating Sandra. ''I need you to stop thinking about the fact that I'm a woman... All that matters is how you feel, gender has nothing to do with that.''

Andy nodded slowly, ''Lu, I am madly and deeply in love with you, and I don't know what that means for my relationship with Milo, I just know that I want to be with you, not despite you being a woman,'' Andy said, taking Lu's hands in her own and glad that her partner was letting her, ''being a woman is one of the things that make you who you are, and you are amazing. I can't say that I have it all figured out, that I know what our relationship would even look like long term, all I can say is that I want our relationship to work, no matter what it looks like.

''I can't promise that I'll be perfect, and that you won't have to call me out on my shit every once in a while,'' Andy said, realizing that she sounded just like Lu, ''all I can promise is that I love you, and that I can't even remember my life without you anymore and I don't want to either.''

Lu took a deep breath, pushing all of the memories from their fight to the back of her head despite her better judgment. ''If you really love me, if you really wanna be with me,'' she said, ''then prove it.''