This took stupidly long. I feel like I'm running out of inspiration for this story [am always open to suggestions for storylines of course] [though I am going to finish it no matter what] but this chapter sets up some new storylines so am gonna be building on those for a bit :) And to anyone who read this before 3/8, yes, I did change the chapter title lol. Enjoy!

–The Progress–

The warmth of his hands left a trail as he ran them down her back, his lips sucking on her neck, her hips rocking against his. Her finger nails dug into his shoulder blades, her hips angled in such a way that her clit rubbed against his pubic bone. One of her hands reached out for the headboard, gripping it tight, needing something to ground her, give her some stability as stars took over her vision.

With the few brain cells that were still working Andy truly felt horrible about this. Lu's words echoed in her mind ''what have you go to lose, really?'' and it felt like an excuse to keep doing this… it was such a simple sentiment. Technically she wasn't losing anything besides maybe her dignity if he ever let it slip to anyone that they were doing this.

Lizzy had asked to go to a sleepover which was a near weekly occurrence at this point and Andy had let her go a lot easier than she normally would, not minding a night where no one cared where she was or who she was with.

She had told herself that it was going to be a one night thing but as he had gone down on her that first time – feeling obligated, as he should, that he wasn't the only one who came – she knew that her own fingers would never compare. Fingers, showerhead, vibrator, nothing lived up to a real life man. The only thing that beat a man was a woman, or really just one single woman as far as Andy was concerned.

Every time she slept with Nick there would be a moment where her mind would drift off to Lu, the taste of her lips, the softness of her skin… Nick wasn't the worst alternative but still.

She could feel his large hands cupping her ass, groans leaving his mouth. His sweaty face was buried in her neck and she knew he was close. ''Nick…'' her fingers were gripping his upper arm tightly, she could feel his face move away and shook her head, ''don't you dare stop.'' Her eyebrows were knitted together, her orgasm so close but yet so far away. She could hear him groan loudly and knew that he had came. ''Don't you dare stop,'' she repeated, ''please, please, please…''

It wasn't often that Andy resorted to begging – outside the bedroom that is. And even when she did, it wasn't too difficult to veil it. The first inkling that she would beg that day was when she was walking back to her office after her rounds, Peter walking alongside her, as she turned to him, an idea coming to mind as she said, ''let me know if anything changes.''

He had been able to see that there was something else she wanted to ask him. As she for a second contemplated actually asking him this she had already stepped aside in the door opening of her office, silently inviting him inside. Her heart was beating in her throat. Despite them sometimes sharing meals, despite them having celebrated Christmas together, she had always kept a professional distance from Peter.

They had nothing in common. But she had decided he was the only person she could ask. She had lain awake all night trying to think of a way to make her situation with Nick more comfortable for Lu and only one thing had come to mind.

''I need you to set Dr. Biancavilla up with someone.''

She had regretted the words the moment they had left her mouth. It felt too awkward asking Peter this and if the threesome they had had, had taught her anything, it was that Peter loved to see her squirm. She just hoped that he wouldn't be as difficult now. Aside from that one night, she had never even called him Peter, Riggs just felt more appropriate. To now ask him to set Nick up with someone… he knew their history, he knew more about her personal life than she had ever wanted him to if she was being honest. But, there was no one else she could ask. She just hoped that this was the right approach to take – approaching Peter like a friend when, while they hung out with the same people from work, she had never considered him as such.

She could see the hesitation in his eyes and raised her eyebrows, silently asking him what the problem was. He knew Nick better than nearly anyone and if there was anyone on God's green earth that could figure out how to get Nick to quit his skirt chasing days and settle down with someone, get his mind focused on just one woman – who wasn't Andy – then it would be Peter.

''Find him a girlfriend?''

''Yes. Someone that he could actually consider a relationship with,'' just a one night thing she was sure wouldn't be enough. ''So that he can finally…''

''Move on from you,'' Peter suggested when she trailed off.

''No.'' There was nothing about them that he should move on from. He had made it very clear that he didn't have feelings for her, even if he had blurted out the L word in bed one night. Andy just needed him to have someone to focus on. Someone he could air his grievances to instead of her, someone that would make him stop looking at Peter with googly-eyes. ''I never said that. I just think it would do him good to have someone in his life.''

''Nick only wants what he can't have,'' Peter said. They had been friends for many years now and Peter had gotten to know him pretty well during that time – had been there for the downfall of Nick's relationship with Dana, had shared many conquests with him, had listened to nurses complaining that Nick never called them back – and he wasn't sure that Nick would take kindly to anyone pushing him to be with someone.

''Riggs…'' Andy sighed, ''just please... do you have someone or don't you?''

''I'll find someone.''

Andy didn't wait for Milo to respond to her knocking before she walked into his office – the cardiology department receptionist had assured her that he wasn't in an appointment. The smile he had on his face when he saw it was her made the surprise worth it. ''I brought lunch,'' Andy said, setting the two containers with salads down on the coffee table in his office before walking over to him.

His arm wrapped around her waist, his hand resting on her belly, as she leaned down to give him a kiss. ''What's the occasion?'' He asked as he got up. Their fingers were laced together as she led him to sit down on the couch, pulling him close to her. He buried his face in her hair before planting a kiss on the side of her head, the scent of her shampoo filling his nose.

''Just missed you,'' she said. She had been spending a lot of time with Lu. Now that she was moved in it felt very tempting to spend every night with her, some night it wasn't that big of a deal with Milo working late and not coming home until the early morning, but she missed snuggling up next to him, his comforting smell helping her drift off to sleep.

''It's strange not sleeping next to you,'' he concurred. It felt weird to him; for both him and his wife to be home but to not sleep in the same bed. What he had told her months before was still true: he simply slept better next to her. Her head lying on his chest, their breathing syncing up, her hair tickling his face… there was simply nothing better than that.

She sighed. She had been hoping to avoid this since it felt rather unnatural but it felt necessary. ''I know we said that we would just play it by ear but maybe we do need to figure out some sort of sleep schedule.''

Lu looked up at Andy who was straddling her. she was lying flat on the bed, her arms stretched out above her. She took a deep breath at the sight of the handcuffs Andy was holding, not sure this was a good idea.

It would be their first time with Lu being the submissive one and she had lain awake all night the night before stressing out at the thought of having to give up that amount of control. Yes, it would only be for a limited amount of time and she could end it at any moment with a single word, but still… She had wanted to do this for so long, to see if she could get that ability to switch back and forth between being a top and a bottom back from before the night Kilner had raped her, but now that the moment was finally here…

Andy could see the anxiety in Lu's eyes and wished that she wasn't the one causing it – even despite Lu having asked her to do this she still felt guilty. ''Are you sure you still want to do this?'' She asked, placing a cuff around Lu's wrist, waiting to do the other one.

Opting out was tempting but Lu knew that if she didn't go through with it now she never would. ''Yeah,'' she said. It hadn't come out easily. There was no one she trusted more than Andy so really this was the ideal situation, but it felt like anything but. ''It's just handcuffs,'' she said, it was to reassure Andy but also herself.

It had been a long conversation that had led to them finally doing this. Lu knew that Andy had doubts but hoped she wouldn't let this deter her.

Andy secured the other cuff, every part of her tuned into Lu, noticing the way her breathing seemed more forced now, noticing how she was looking away seemingly to distract herself from the current situation. She laid down next to Lu, her hand tentatively making its way down her front, her fingers lingering every few moments as she watched Lu's face.

''Andy, I swear you're more uncomfortable with this than me, I'm fine.'' Lu finally looked back at her, guise bumps forming on her entire body. She looked down, her eyes following Andy's hand.

Every time Andy moved she got more uncomfortable and increasingly Lu wished that they could go back to how they used to be – that she had never suggested Nick joining them. She had, of course, been wishing that for months now, heck she had started wishing that the moment they had stood waiting in that dark, drafty hallway waiting for him to open the door as realization sunk in for Lu, a wicked grin on Andy's face, clearly unable to predict where it would lead them. Bringing the memories of her rape back to the forefront of her mind was just the moldy cherry on top.

All the months they had spent apart, even more than wanting get back together with Andy, Lu wanted to have Julian's hands on her to not bring back painful memories that she had worked hard to suppress for years even as she attended her support group and convinced everyone that she had dealt with it and had moved on. She had convinced those closest to her, even Andy, of that.

It felt more comfortable to have Andy's hands on her as opposed to Julian's, but they had released the Kraken and it wouldn't listen to Zeus nor Poseidon nor Dr Luisa Delgado herself to hide its ugly face and let her live her life. After years of believing she had processed that night she now thought about her rape nearly daily again.

Andy's hand moved over Lu's breasts, wiping her long hair to the side. She had decided to leave Lu's shirt on – with the hope that being partially covered would make Lu feel a bit more safe – knowing that it wouldn't get in the way anyway. Her fingers softly stroked Lu's jaw and she could see her swallow hard, tears forming in her eyes.

Not with the help of 1,000 dictionaries Lu would be able to put her feelings into words. The mix of feeling threatened, unsafe, general dread, mixed with her deep love for Andy and the knowledge that she was safe, she didn't know what to feel anymore. ''Don't mind that,'' Lu said, referring to her tears, feeling Andy slink away anyway.

''I don't want to hurt you,'' Andy said.

''You're not.''

It took Andy a minute to decide on her next move, grabbing the key from the bedside table and moving to unlock the cuffs.

''That's really not necessary.''

''How about I take them off,'' Andy suggested despite already having done so, ''and you just hold on to the bars.'' She watched Lu grip them tight, her knuckles white. They could use the cuffs some other time, no hurry, they could work up to it. ''How's that?'' Andy asked, Lu nodded.

The button on Lu's pants was quickly undone and Andy slipped her hand inside, her eyes still focused on Lu who had closed her own. It was a risky move but she needed to see what effect it would have on Lu – she slipped her panties to the side, her fingertip brushing against Lu's clit. She could see her jaw tense up.

''Don't.''

''What?''

''Stop it.''

''You want me to stop? Completely?'' Andy asked. They hadn't discussed safe-words which she now regretted; Andy had assumed that if worse came to worst Lu would use the safe-word Andy normally used: red, she wasn't sure if she should take ''stop it'' the same way.

''No. Don't stop. And don't do that.'' Lu said. That one small move, moving her panties to the side… when he had done that, it was the exact moment that she knew Kilner would rape her, and she had hated it with every fiber of her being ever since. It was something that she wanted to work on but that didn't make it any easier going through it now.

''Don't do what, exactly?'' Andy asked, her fingers inadvertently moving Lu's underwear further to the side in the hope that it would ease access and make Lu forget what they were trying to accomplish, make her get caught up in pleasure so that she would relax.

Andy's head hit the pillow hard enough that she could feel the springs from the mattress beneath. Lu's nails were digging in her wrists, Lu's tears falling down onto Andy's face beneath, she was breathing hard. ''I said, don't do that.'' Her teeth were gritted, spitting out each word.

Her eyes were wide, hissing at the pain, trying to move her arms with Lu trying to keep them in place. The anger and fear were evident in Lu's eyes and Andy wished she could take it all away. ''Lu, it's okay, it's just me.'' After a few seconds she could feel Lu relax a bit and ease her grip on Andy's wrists. Her hands moved to Lu's back, pulling her close, feeling Lu bury her face in her chest. ''It's gonna be okay.''

''You going to some fancy shindig or something?'' Lu asked, pouring herself some water before turning back to Andy. It was still hard to face Andy. They hadn't discussed what had happened in bed and they had both kept their distance as they separately tried to process it. Lu felt embarrassed that she had reacted that way after being so insistent that they do it in the first place.

It had been years since her rape and it made her feel weak that she hadn't gotten over it more. She could only hope that Andy didn't see her that way. Logically she knew she wouldn't but Lu was afraid to find out.

Walking into the kitchen and hearing Andy on the phone talking to someone about a party and a dress, it served as a good distraction.

''Hardly,'' Andy said, trying to think of the best way to approach Lu about this, ''there's a high school reunion this weekend, my mom just called me about it – she invited me to come stay the weekend with them and go.''

''Oh… are you gonna go?''

Andy shrugged, ''I only went to that school for my senior year, it's not like I'm particularly close with any of my old classmates.'' She thought about it for a second, ''plus, Milo is out of town and I can't imagine you would want to go stay at my parents for a few days…'' she looked at Lu from the corner of her eyes.

Lu narrowed her eyes at Andy, seeing right through her, ''I'm sure I could survive your mom for a few days at least, plus I'd love to meet the famous Archie,'' she smiled at Andy. She had heard Andy speak about her high school boyfriend Archie many times but still had a hard time picturing him, visualizing him in her mind as the comic book character instead of as an actual person.

''Archie was a different school,'' Andy said, killing Lu's hopes. She had switched schools many times, just a year here and a year there, switching schools, switching friends, sometimes switching countries…

''If you wanna go I'm down,'' Lu said, putting an arm around Andy's waist. She could see that despite her hesitance Andy did want to go. ''And like you said, you should spend time with your father while you still can…'' her voice softened. She remembered what Andy had told her about her father when they were in Puerto Rico – every time Andy saw him he was a little worse.

It wasn't often that Lu was wrong and Andy knew that she was right about this too. ''Okay.''

''I can't believe you used to live here,'' Lu said, looking up at the white brick house.

It was Friday evening, getting pretty late. They had left as early as they had been able to, both busy all day long with patients, the drive to DC fortunately wasn't that bad and traffic had been surprisingly light. It had been a good while since Andy had visited her parents house, even longer since she had stayed the night, and she was nervous about how it would go.

''I can't believe my parents waited until the year I moved out to finally settle down somewhere,'' Andy said. The frequent moves had been a point of contention between her and her parents during her whole childhood, fights all day every day when it came time to once again say goodbye to dear friends.

Andy's relationship with her mother had always been difficult because of those fights, Liz often getting the full load and souring her relationship with her daughter because of it – her visit months earlier hadn't helped at all. They had managed to somewhat restore it back to the way it had been before but Andy couldn't imagine this weekend helping matters.

The front door swung open, revealing Liz on the other side. ''Andy…'' her voice started high, loud, it was almost impressive how much her voice could drop over the course of a two-syllable name.

''Mom,'' Andy greeted her, pushing Lu out in front of her into the hallway as she gave her mom a one-armed hug.

The smile on Liz' face never faltered as she hugged her daughter back, her teeth gritted together, ''what is she doing here?''