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—The Anger—

Andy followed Lu into her office, watching her as she put down the vase full of pink roses she had just received down on her desk before taking her seat. Andy leaned in to smell them, overly fragrant. She raised her eyebrows at Lu, ''Do I wanna know?''

Lu found it difficult to look at Andy, after how open they had been with each other weeks before it had been radio silence ever since. The last thing she wanted to break that silence with was talking about the guy she had been seeing. ''They're from Julian.''

''Ah. The neighbor-man.'' Andy said, thinking back to what Lu had said about him. She had made it quite clear that she wasn't interested though Andy had been able to see in her eyes that that hadn't been entirely truthful. She had been able to see over the past few weeks that a bit of the spark Lu had had with Jonas when they first started going out had come back, and instinctively she had known. '''I had a good time last night'…'' she read of the card.

''He asked me out again; dinner and a fight.'' Lu still felt like she should explain even though she knew she didn't owe Andy anything. It had almost become a tradition in the few weeks they had been seeing each other. They both liked boxing matches—admittedly he a bit more than she did—and they had been enjoying each other's company.

Andy nodded slowly, ''Dinner and a fight,'' she repeated quietly, ''Sounds like the end of our relationship,'' she joked and was glad when Lu snorted. ''I thought you said you weren't interested in him.''

Lu shrugged dismissively. ''Yeah well he asked and I couldn't think of a reason why not,'' it wasn't entirely untruthful; she hadn't been able to think of a reason not go out with him, but it's not like she had tried particularly hard to think of one. It was nice to be with someone who seemed so interested, who wasn't at the same time trying to figure out their relationship with someone else. She liked being the center of his attention, ''It's not exactly like we've been…'' she wasn't sure how to put it. Hanging out? Talking? They hadn't been doing much of anything at all, not even a quick stolen glance at each other.

''Don't confuse me giving you space with me not being interested in you.'' Andy butted in, feeling the need to defend her actions. She knew she hadn't told Lu that she was giving her space and it could be misconstrued as general disinterest, but she had hoped Lu knew her better than that. ''You know my door is always open,'' she wasn't sure it would ever fully close anyway.

''How am I supposed to know that?'' Lu asked. She had hated the way Andy had basically been ignoring her, it made her crave Julian's attention even more. ''You don't tell me anything; you didn't even come to me for your nine-week echo.'' That had hurt. What she had told Andy had come true; they weren't just not together anymore, they were less to each other than before they had ever gotten together. Even when Andy first started working at the clinic and they were still getting to know each other she could've imagined Andy asking her for medical help, to now not even ask for that…

''I gave you the picture,'' Andy said defensively. It was true. They had gotten a picture of the sonogram and she had given a copy to Lu. It had felt a bit odd considering the distance between them but she had felt it necessary.

''You know that's not what I mean.'' Lu said, trying not to think about the sonogram picture in the top drawer of her desk. She had looked at it more than she wanted to admit, thinking both about the baby as well as why Andy hadn't come to her for it. ''You don't even trust me enough to be your doctor through this pregnancy-''

''It's not that I don't trust you, I just don't want you to be my doctor,'' Andy said, figuring it was obvious. From Lu's face she could tell it wasn't so obvious to her, ''Family shouldn't treat family.''

''We're not family.''

''Maybe not officially but that's how I think of you.'' That's how she had always thought of her, even before they got together. Nick, Peter, Kayla, Lana, even Dr. Jackson… it felt like one big dysfunctional family. And sure, before they had gotten together that hadn't stopped her from having Lu as her doctor but things were different now. ''It'd be like Milo being my doctor.''

Lu failed to see the comparison. ''Except we're not together anymore. And Milo is the baby's father.''

''And you're…'' Andy stopped herself from finishing her sentence, she could see clearly on Lu's face that what she was about to say hadn't even crossed Lu's mind. ''Sorry, I guess I thought wrong,'' she said, but Lu urged her to continue with a single look, ''I've been thinking of you as this baby's second mother, its third parent. You may not be able to see the connection between you and Milo but to me it feels the same.''

Lu slumped down a bit. ''Why didn't you tell me?'' She had known that Andy not coming to her had to do with more than just them breaking up and she had wracked her brain trying to figure out exactly why.

''I told you I wanted you to be involved.''

''You couldn't have been a bit more specific?'' Lu asked, feeling exasperated. This had been one of the culprits that ended their relationship; their—and in Lu's eyes mainly Andy's—inability to communicate.

''It- it doesn't matter,'' Andy said as she took a step back, her eyes on the flowers, ''You've clearly made your choice.''

''What is all this?'' Lu asked as Milo walked past her through the door, already putting down the take-out containers on the coffee table before she had even closed the apartment door.

''Chinese,'' Milo said as if that explained it all. He took off his coat, hanging it over the back of the couch and took a glance around the apartment; he had never actually been there before. When his eyes landed back on Lu he knew he should explain himself a bit more. ''I thought that maybe we should talk.''

''Did Andy put you up to this?'' Lu asked as she relaxed a little. He had completely caught her off guard and she still didn't know what to make of this. She walked over to the kitchen to get both of them a drink as her mind raced to try to figure out if it was a good idea at all to talk with him without Andy around.

''She doesn't know I'm here,'' Milo said. He had made up an excuse about needing to work late—something that was far from uncommon for him—and slipped out before she got the chance to ask too many questions.

''Okay… then why-?''

''I thought that maybe we should work on our friendship,'' he said. They had been friends when he and Andy were broken up and he was with Sandra, something that seemed like a lifetime ago now. ''So that when you and Andy get back together it will be… better.'' Better. Not necessarily good, but better.

''When?'' Lu repeated and she could see he was confused. ''When Andy and I get back together.''

Milo shrugged, it was unspoken but…''It's kind of inevitable, isn't it?''

Lu thought about the man on the other side of the wall, the man she had spent the night with the night before. ''Wouldn't be too sure about that.'' She said quietly but loud enough for Milo to hear.

Milo frowned, ''Do you want to tell me about it?''

Lu found it difficult to believe that he thought her and Andy's reconciliation was so inevitable even after what had gone down. ''Do you even know why we broke up?'' She asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest. It wasn't the main thing she was angry about, but it was still one of them. ''Do you know what she and Nick did?''

''She told me,'' Milo said. He could see that Lu was surprised by this and he could see how angry she still was about it. Andy had somewhat downplayed that part. ''After she told me that you two broke up she told me what had happened.''

''But you're still together?'' Lu asked in disbelief that he would just take it. Yes, it had been more so about her and Andy's relationship than his with her but still. ''She told me that she had discussed it with you beforehand and that you weren't on-board with it.''

''Yeah, well… we are having a baby together after all,'' Milo said, knowing full well that even if that weren't the case he probably wouldn't have broken it off with her, not after they had broken up before. ''I'm punishing her in my own way,'' he said vaguely and he could see this piqued Lu's interest, ''Probably nothing you and she haven't done.''

Lu caught up to Andy and followed her to one of the tables in the cafeteria. ''Milo came by to see me last night,'' she said as she put down her tray and sat down. It took Andy a second longer as she was caught off guard by Lu's words.

''Why?''

''He wants us to be friends, so things won't be as contentious when we get back together,'' Lu said as she started eating. She could see the shock on Andy's face but still felt the need to check, ''Did you ask him to…?''

''No, of course not. I said I was giving you space, I meant it,'' Andy said. It would probably be a bit more effective now after their talk a few days prior where she had let Lu know that was what she was doing, but it was the only thing she had been able to think of that might work. ''All the space you need,'' she said, adding quietly, ''And if that space gets filled with Julian then so be it.''

Lu looked at Andy intently. She seemed genuine though not happy about it at all. ''You're cool with that?''

''I said I wanted you to be happy.'' Andy thought back to what Milo had said when he had come back. She had been supportive of him being with Sandra because that was what seemed to make him happy at the time; she had been supportive even though the thought of them together made it difficult to breathe. She felt the same way towards Lu, if Julian made her happy then she'd be supportive, even despite Lu not seeming a hundred percent happy with him. '' If your being happy happens to be with someone else… well, so be it.''

Lu could see the emotion Andy was trying to suppress spelled out on her face. ''You're not very convincing.''

Andy sighed. She didn't want to get emotional even though not being with Lu was slowly destroying her inside. ''You were supportive of me being with Milo, there's no reason I can't lend you the same courtesy.''

Lu could see that Andy was trying to uphold a professional façade despite what they were talking about. ''Because I loved you,'' she said, saying the words made her feel it even more intensely even now, ''Even when you couldn't admit that you had feelings for me, or admit that you could ever have feelings for me, I loved you like crazy.''

Andy tried to ignore the past tense of the word 'loved'. ''So why would that stop me now? You could support me and him because you loved me, I love you, so-''

Lu bit her lip though she knew she couldn't keep these thoughts inside. ''I just think that maybe my feelings for you were stronger than yours for me,'' Lu said, feeling it to be true. ''Maybe I loved you a bit more than you loved me…''

Andy's eyes shifted back from the food in front of her to Lu, ''Just because I wasn't the perfect girlfriend doesn't mean I loved you any less, and just because I'm not your girlfriend at all now,'' she swallowed back the emotion in her voice, ''That doesn't mean I don't still love you. And-''

''Okay, stop doing that.'' Lu's fingers were rubbing her temples. It was hard to watch Andy try to suppress her feelings on the subject matter after how she had been during their relationship.

Andy frowned, ''What am I doing?''

''You're being… too nice,'' Lu said. She knew it sounded wrong but it was the only way to put it. ''You're being supportive of me being with Julian, you're giving me space, you're telling me that you love me…'' you're telling me you see me as your baby's parent… Lu was trying to get her thoughts straight so that the bumbled up mess inside could be expressed at least somewhat coherently. ''When we were together you treated me…''

''I didn't treat you how you deserve to be treated. I know. I am trying to be better.'' Andy said. Their being broken up had given her plenty of time to reflect on their relationship and was putting things into focus for her, making it easier to see it from Lu's perspective. ''Are you seriously upset that I'm being nice to you?''

''I'm still mad at you,'' Lu blurted out. ''I'm mad for how you treated me, I'm mad that-'' the thought of Nick's cum on her belly was making her queasy and she didn't want to even say it, ''But it's hard to be mad when you're saying and doing all the right things.''

Andy seemed at a loss for words. ''I'm just trying to do what you asked me to.''

''Yeah, well stop it,'' Lu said, blinking away the tears forming in her eyes. ''I'm angry with you and I'm not ready to move past that yet.''

''So you want me to stop… doing what, exactly?'' Andy had meant it when she had said that she would do whatever, but she had never been more confused as to what Lu wanted from her. ''Stop being nice, being…''

''Just don't do anything, don't try to fix it or…'' Lu said, trying to calm herself down. ''Let me be mad at you for a while.'' She sighed and closed her eyes for a second, trying to move past this in her head. When she opened her eyes she could see Andy was upset with her and it pissed her off. ''What?''

''I just feel like I can't do anything right,'' Andy said as she stared at Lu. ''I treat you badly—in your eyes at least—, and you're mad at me. I'm nice to you and you're mad at me. You want me to prove to you that I can be a good girlfriend even though I'm not your girlfriend; you're with someone else…''

Lu hadn't expected this reaction. ''I don't know what to tell you.''

Andy stared Lu deep in the eyes, ''Just tell me this one thing,'' she could tell she had Lu's full attention. Even despite how much they were both hurting they still wanted to both move past this. ''Do you like Julian?'' Andy asked softly. ''Do you want to be with him, do you see a future with him? Or is there still something worth fighting for here?''

Lu blinked away the tears, taking a second to answer. ''I don't know.''

They sat in silence for a few moments, both needing to process what had just happened and neither knowing where to go from here.

''Lu!''

The mention of her name caused Lu to snap out of it and to finally look away from Andy. She knew that voice. She stood up and turned to face him, putting on a smile. ''Julian? What are you doing here?''

''I thought I'd surprise you,'' he said, kissing her cheek before pulling out the chair next to hers. He looked over at Andy, ''Hi, I'm Julian.'' He extended his hand.

This felt like just about the worst moment for the two of them to be meeting, but Lu knew she couldn't ignore this. ''J, this is… my partner, Andy.''