Sorry this took a little while. And don't worry, I've got some more exciting chapters coming up :P
The Son
Andy was walking down one of the many long hallways in the hospital, replaying the conversation she had had with her mother the previous day. She couldn't blame her mother for what she had said, in all honesty Liz had reacted much better than Andy could have ever expected. Still, she didn't want to talk about it.
Dinner with Milo, Lu, and Lizzy the previous evening had been tense. All three of them knew that Andy's mother had been in town and all three could sense that it hadn't ended all that well. After dinner Milo had gone back to his hotel—they hadn't yet gotten him moved in—Lu had gone back to her own apartment, Lizzy busied herself with homework until Andy tucked her in for bed, and Andy had spent the entire evening trying to distract herself with patient files that needed updating.
With how deep she was in thought life seemed to somewhat move on auto-pilot. Seeing Dr. Bob Jackson—chief of staff—walk down the hallway in the opposing direction all she gave was a nod and a, ''Doctor,'' acknowledgement, not slowing her stride for a single second. It was only after a few feet that she had recognized the tone in his voice as he acknowledged her in much the same way and turned back to him, watched him take his glasses off and pocket them as she waited patiently for whatever he wanted to bring up.
She had always considered the two of them friends since he had ''wined and dined her''—as he had described it to Lu—and had offered her the job as Lu's partner. They had always had friendly conversations, had lunch together from time to time if their schedules lined up, and had spent Christmas together a few years prior. Still, nothing ever got overly personal. He had been the first one she told about her and Les separating but he didn't know the specifics of why, he had been one of the first people to notice the attraction between her and Milo but hadn't been clued in on everything that had gone down over the years.
''Doctor,'' Bob repeated again. His hands were in his pocket and he was watching other staff stroll by whilst Andy was patiently waiting for him to get to his point—which he didn't know how to bring up. ''How have you been?'' He asked, trying a casual approach.
''Fine,'' Andy responded. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him; it was more that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for him to know the specifics of her life. ''You?'' She knew that his life had been somewhat rocky lately. Years ago he had split up from his wife after her MS had progressed to a point where he felt he couldn't live with it anymore, but they had reconciled a few months later. Andy knew that with Susan's most recent setback he probably had issues dealing with that again.
She wasn't particularly interested but even though she didn't want to get too personal she still wanted to maintain the civil relationship they had established.
He didn't bother to answer her question. ''Do we need to talk about what's going on between you and Dr. Delgado? '' He asked. He could see that Andy hesitated before feigning confusion and he decided to butt in to clear up any confusion. ''Susan and I saw you two at Callowhill's café, you seemed… awfully cozy, around each other.''
Andy straightened her back, she was thinking back to the brunch Lu and she had had there not even a week and a half ago, how she had felt so paranoid about someone seeing them… She didn't remember Bob nor Susan being there though. She crossed her arms and looked at the ground for a second, needing to figure out if she was going to be honest or—
''I am just asking you as a friend,'' Bob said, putting his hand on her arm, ''Professionally I have no say in who you can and cannot see considering she isn't your subordinate.'' When she looked back up he immediately realized that he had thought them to be a lot closer than she did.
Andy had long made up her mind that even though she wouldn't shout it from the rooftops, it would be okay for her and Lu's work friends to know about their relationship, and no matter how many falling outs Bob and Lu had had, he was still a part of that group. And he was the only one who didn't know. With a nod she confirmed his suspicions and even though she wasn't sure why he didn't immediately question her relationship status in regards to Milo, she was glad that he didn't. Bob seemed to be the one who got it the quickest despite her prediction of him being the least understanding.
The single nod seemed to be all he needed, and with just another nod to each other they both went on their way.
''We should do this more often,'' Lu said as she pulled a bottle of wine from the cabinet underneath the sink. She searched around the kitchen for a second, looking for a corkscrew, before pouring them both a glass. They had just gotten back from dinner downtown before they had decided to go back to Lu's apartment and spend the remainder of the evening there.
''Valentine's Day only comes around once a year,'' Andy reminded her as she took the glass from Lu, ''But yes, let's.'' Despite still trying—and failing—to find a balance between the time spend with Lu versus the time spend with Milo; she was always down to spend more time with the former. And even more so with Milo now preparing to move in with her. ''I propose a toast,'' she said, raising her glass, ''Let this be the first of many Valentine's Days spend together.''
Okay, technically it was only February 13th, and she was going to spend the 14th with Milo, but only because it was the first date that they both had enough time to move all his stuff from storage into her house. Lu and she had both decided to ignore that fact and pretend it was Valentine's already.
Lu watched Andy take a sip and put one of her arms around Andy's waist, pulling her down onto the couch next to her, ''So what happened with your mom?'' She asked. It hadn't been difficult to notice that Andy had been avoiding that subject and Lu couldn't help but wonder why, especially since Andy had been somewhat distant since Liz had left.
Andy tried to dismiss the question but knew Lu would insist on an answer, ''I told her about us,'' Andy said, immediately deciding that no matter what she wasn't going to go into detail about everything her mother had said. Liz' comments had hurt her too much; she didn't want Lu to experience that same pain.
Lu sank down a bit. She could only assume it hadn't gone well and she was glad that Andy hadn't completely blown off their relationship after the talk with her mother, but she couldn't imagine Liz' disapproval doing their relationship any good. No matter how much Andy had been keeping her mother at an arm lengths distance, Lu knew that her parents were still very important to Andy. ''What'd she say?'' She asked quietly.
''She doesn't exactly approve,'' Andy said. ''She wants to pretend that I never told her anything, like our whole relationship doesn't exist. The only thing she really seemed to care about is that I make sure my father doesn't find out.'' Her voice was getting thick with emotion and she decided to stop talking before her voice gave her away. She had left out the part where her mother usually called her several times a week, but hadn't reached out a single time in the week and a half since their brunch. It hurt too much to think about and she didn't want to end her first Valentine's Day with Lu upset.
Lu could see how difficult this was for Andy and figured it was best not to press for any more details. She took Andy's face in her hands and kissed her softly, ''For what it's worth, I'm proud of you.'' She got up off the couch to refill their glasses, ''I know it couldn't have been easy to tell her, but I'm glad you did.'' When Andy didn't respond she turned back to her; as she was about to question her silence Andy turned her head just the slightest bit and the tears in her eyes glistened in the faint light. ''Ands…?''
Andy shook her head and took a moment to gather herself before getting up off the couch and walked over to Lu, wiping her tears away. ''It's fine, really.'' She wasn't fond of lying to Lu—or to anyone really—but sometimes it felt like a necessary evil. It would be a shame to have their whole night get ruined just because her mother couldn't be accepting of this.
Lu wrapped her arms around Andy. She could tell Andy didn't want to talk about it anymore and decided it was best to drop it for now. This time when she kissed her she didn't immediately pull away afterwards. She could taste the wine on Andy's lips and it got her more intoxicated than wine ever had. After downing another glass she pulled Andy behind her through the beaded curtain which had taken the place of her bedroom door.
As Lu pushed her down on the bed Andy pushed her mother from her thoughts. She put her arms around Lu's waist, pulling her on top of her on the bed. Their lips crashed together and Andy made quick work of ridding Lu of the remainder of her clothes. She could hear Lu giggle as she kissed her neck and softly tickled her sights, feeling the goose bumps forming under her fingers.
In the distance she could hear church bells ringing and looked over at the alarm clock, it was midnight. She moved back to Lu's face, kissing her softly. ''Happy Valentine's Day,'' she said with a smile, ''I love you,'' she added softly after a second as she looked back and forth between Lu's dark brown eyes, feeling like she could get lost in them forever.
Hearing Lu say it back was the last thing she heard before burying her face in the apex of Lu's thighs.
Andy yawned and stretched her whole body as she rolled over. She loved sleeping snuggled up to Lu but her weekday habit of getting up at 5 in the morning made it impossible for her to sleep late during the weekend. Lu was still vast asleep next to her and Andy knew it would still be hours before she would wake up, but she also knew that no matter how hard she tried she would never be able to go back to sleep. The events of the previous evening were replaying in her head as she slipped out from underneath the warm covers.
After a quick cold shower and changing into the clothes she had brought along in an overnight bag she pondered what to do next. She and Lu still hadn't entirely gotten into the habit of sleeping over at each other's place and she didn't feel quite at home in the apartment.
Just as she was writing a note that she'd be back later she heard the door unlock and watched up as Marc tried to quietly make his way in. She watched him tiptoe around, seemingly oblivious to her presence. He stopped dead in his tracks when he finally blinked the sleep in his eyes away and saw her standing in the kitchen, leaning against the counter.
Andy threw a quick look at the clock, almost 5:30 now. ''Where have you been all night?'' She asked, trying not to sound too much like she was mothering him. She didn't mind that he'd been out, if he hadn't been then Lu probably wouldn't have let her stay over, but she was still curious about his whereabouts.
Marc sighed. He was well aware that he didn't owe her an explanation, and he still wasn't exactly fond of her, but over the years he had gotten to know her well enough to know that she was not one to let things go. ''I was over at a friend's house,'' he lied, not feeling like opening up about his new girlfriend to his mother's… whatever she was.
Andy narrowed her eyes at him; her daughters had lied to her enough that she could recognize a poker face from a mile away. She nodded at him, knowing that it was useless to inquire any further. ''Feel like getting some breakfast with me?'' She asked, she knew how important it was to Lu that they get along, and this was a good an opportunity as any to try to get to know him better. ''My treat,'' she added, hoping the make the deal a bit more enticing.
He took a deep breath. ''Look, I'm really not interested in getting to know every single person ma decides to sleep with,'' he said. He could see her start to respond but was quicker, ''We both know this ain't gonna last so let's not pretend. You don't have to get to know me, I don't have to get to know you…''
''What makes you say that?'' Andy asked, wondering why he had such little hope for her and Lu's relationship... When he shook his head she gave him a small smile that was not at all genuine, ''Humor me.'' It came out even more dryly than expected.
''You're dating someone else, no?'' He asked as he grabbed a glass and filled it with water. He continued before she could respond, ''You have two kids who don't like you two being together… Plus, mom is allergic to rich people, so…''
Andy frowned at him, ''She almost married a multi-millionaire.''
''And that didn't last, did it?''
''That had nothing to do with his money,'' Andy said as she grabbed her coat. ''Now, I'm going to get breakfast, you can join me or not, just at least try to let your mother get some sleep.'' She spoke quickly; wanting to get it all out before he could butt in and say that she was the reason Lu and Jonas had broken up.
Marc looked over to his bedroom door, it still had the ''stay out'' sign on it despite his mom having moved house twice since he left for college. Truth was, he wasn't even the least bit sleepy anymore and he could feel his stomach quietly rumbling at the mere mention of breakfast. With a sigh he grabbed his coat and followed Andy out of the apartment. Part of him felt tempted to just wait in the apartment a few minutes so Andy could leave before he snuck out but he couldn't think of anyone else who would want to get breakfast with him at this time of day.
Andy was glad to have him along. The only place she knew to find in this neighborhood was Lu's former and current apartments so it ultimately fell on Marc' shoulders to find them a place to eat that wasn't as rat-infested as the other joints. It wasn't long before they sat down across from each other in a booth that had more stains than she was comfortable with but ultimately turned out to be comfortable nonetheless.
They checked the menu in silence, ordered, and then waited for their orders in silence again.
''Well, this is fun,'' Marc commented under his breath as he fiddled with his napkin. He knew it would be a drag but he had expected Andy to at least try to make conversation.
Andy cleared her throat, ''So, how is college?'' She knew that he was in his senior year but he had been home an awful lot the past couple of months and though she hadn't asked Lu about it she had wondered what was going on with that. Jesse was only in her sophomore year but seemed to never have any time to spend with Andy nor Lizzy.
''Fine,'' Marc responded curtly. ''I have to go back to Arizona in a few weeks, take some finals, hand some papers in… after that I'm done.''
''Do you know what you want to do after?'' Andy asked, happy that he wasn't giving her one word answers like she had somewhat expected him to do. She knew she wasn't his first choice to hang out with but it wasn't going as terribly as expected.
''Move back here, get a job, find an apartment,'' Marc rattled off. It had been plaguing his mind that he should probably figure out what to do with his life as he was so close to entering ''the real world''. The past few months that he had spent back in Philly had been nice, but he knew that he couldn't spend the rest of his life partying, only working part-time making just enough money for the bare essentials. No matter how much he looked up to his mother he more so envied his father who worked regular hours and had a house outside the hood where he lived with his family.
''If I can help with anything let me know,'' she told him as the waitress slipped a plate of pancakes in front of both of them. She was well-connected and desperate to get on his good side, a pretty good combination in this case.
''So what exactly is going on between you and ma?'' He asked as he poured a thick layer of maple syrup on his stack of pancakes. It was starting to slowly sink in that maybe this relationship wasn't just something that would end within a couple of months as he had slowly become accustomed to. Jonas had been the exception but other than that Lu had had quite a few relationships that hadn't lasted. Given the fact that Lu had broken up with Jonas over it had already given him some inkling that maybe their relationship wasn't nothing, but he couldn't see it last.
''We've been going out for about five months,'' Andy said as she started cutting her pancakes. She wasn't sure what to tell him. Despite how much she was trying to be more serious about her relationship with Lu since she had said that she didn't want them to just play it by ear and that she wanted them to be more than just ''something'', Andy hadn't made any concrete plans.
Marc could tell she was struggling. ''But you're with someone else, right?''
Andy nodded, ''Milo and I are getting married in a few months,'' she told him and she could see the surprise on his face. ''Your mom knew about that when we started going out.'' She could imagine he probably wondered about that. When he didn't ask any more questions she sighed, ''I know that our relationship hasn't been easy for you, and I get that,'' she didn't actually know the reason why but figured he wouldn't want to open up to her about it anyway, ''But I want you to know that it never was and never will be my intention to get between you two. Your mother loves you a lot and I know she misses you a great deal,'' she could see this had somewhat grabbed his attention though he tried not to show it, ''Maybe you could try to spend some time with her before you go back to Arizona? And if you need me to stay as far away from both of you for that to happen then that's fine.''
Marc finally looked up, ''I have nothing against you,'' he said. He wasn't exactly fond of her either, the only things he really knew about her seemed to point to her being a major stick-in-the-mud and like the exact opposite of his mom. He could see the wonder in her eyes, ''Jonas is a good guy.''
After a second Andy nodded in agreement, ''He is,'' she concurred. ''Is that the problem? That I'm not Jonas? I mean, sure, I don't have millions for you to inherit but your mother-''
''I don't care about the money,'' he said, pushing his plate away from him. Actually, he cared a little bit, but that wasn't the point. ''He is a good guy. A good guy who loved her and wasn't screwing someone else at the same time. He didn't deserve what you did to him… He didn't deserve to get cheated on.''
She ate the last few pieces of pancake in silence, trying to think of what to say. ''It was never my intention to hurt him,'' she said, ''Or you. I didn't plan to fall in love with your mom but I did. And just because I'm with someone else as well doesn't mean that I love her any less, or that I won't be there for her when she needs me… And even if it did—which it doesn't—it shouldn't keep you from spending time with her.''
She glanced at her watch, it was almost eight now. ''I have to go,'' she said, ''But I'm glad you went with me and that we got to talk.'' He remained silent, ''I hope that we can do this again some time, I really do want to get to know you better.''
She wished she could spend some more time with him now that he wasn't completely pushing her away but she had promised Milo to be at his storage locker bright and early so they could move everything in and then still make something of their Valentine's Day. They made small talk as they made their way over to the counter, ''How about you take some pancakes home to your mom and spend some time with her? I'm sure she'd appreciate that.''
He nodded and hung back waiting for the takeaway order as Andy got ready to leave. He still couldn't imagine their relationship working out but felt a bit better about it now, even just for her trying to get to know him. With a wave he said goodbye, after a second of hesitation adding, ''You're okay, y'know.''