[This ended up being far longer than I had intended it to be. A big thank you to dibdab4 for inspiring me]

2.

It took Andrea 12 hours, almost to the minute, to begin an investigation of her own.

First step: Narrow down the suspect pool. Something she'd heard Sharon say at least a thousand times.

"We work with him" could include a wide circle, but Andrea had a feeling it was someone in close quarters with her friend, simply because Sharon spent very minimal amounts of time outside her office unless it was at crime scenes or the morgue, and even those places left limited options.

She made a list of possibilities.

➤ Morales? Absolutely not.

➤ Tao? Happily married.

➤ Flynn? Hmm possibly. History there but an odd choice.

➤ Provenza? Too crusty.

➤ Buzz? Far too young, but not out of the realm of possibility.

➤ Julio? Doubtful.

➤ Mason? Hell no.

➤ Dr Joe? Worthy of further investigation.

Amy flat out denied any knowledge of any interpersonal relationships within the unit. She had so far been able to deduce that while Dr. Joe was not in fact married, he was definitely long-term involved with someone. Amy hinted that Julio had eyes for someone in Andrea's own office, so that ruled him out. The more she thought about Buzz and his awkward interpersonal skills, the less likely he appeared. Andrea resigned herself to the fact that although she had originally thought it unlikely, the only real candidate for this 'suspect' was Andy Flynn. As hard as she tried to imagine the two of them together, she was having serious trouble picturing it. Clearly it was time to talk to someone who would absolutely know if it were true. But knowing and telling Andrea would be two very different things, so she approached Provenza with caution.

It was that time of the afternoon, when everyone was heading in different directions as the day drew to a close. Only a couple of people remained poring over paperwork, and Provenza was one of them. When he saw her approach, his tilted his head to one side and eyed her with suspicion. Exactly what she'd expected.

"Burning the candle at both ends Lieutenant?" She asked.

"I'd burn the candle, the building, and the red tape down if given the chance" he answered. His relationship with paperwork was not a loving one.

Deciding on a bypass strategy, Andrea told him that a friend in the D.A.'s office had shown an interest, and wanted to know if Lieutenant Flynn was seeing anyone currently.

He grunted. "Lieutenant Flynn sees MANY people through the course of a day DDA Hobbs" he answered with a grin. "Oh, you mean personally? You want to know if he has a girlfriend?"

Sighing, Andrea answered "well that was the general idea Lieutenant".

Before she realised what he was doing, Provenza chuckled and raised a finger in the air as he called "Oh Flynn! Flynn! Andy! Where are you hiding?"

"SHIT" her brain screamed at her "How am I going to deal with this?" She had wrongly assumed he'd left for the day.

Andy rounded the corner, straightening his tie. "What do you want? No, I'm not going to finish your report for you." he said to his friend.

"Oh no Andy... nothing at all like that" Provenza gave him a wounded "how could you think such a thing?" look.

"Well what the hell are you yelling about then?" Andy asked and for the first time saw Andrea was in the room.

"Andy, DDA Hobbs wants to know if you have a girlfriend."

Andrea and Andy blushed in unison, and stared at the older man wondering if dementia had finally set in.

"You're an idiot Provenza, and you're not the least bit funny" Andy stuttered at him.

"Noooooo Andy, for real... DDA Hobbs here wants to know if you're seeing anyone currently. Those are HER OWN words".

Andrea decided that if she didn't get this shit under control right away, Andy was going to wind up thinking SHE was interested in him, and there was no way that was going to happen.

"Andy, it's not quite like that" Andrea offered him. "Can we go into the break room for a minute and chat?"

"As long as you're going to tell me this moron is off his meds and talking through his butt as usual, we can do that" he answered.

The two of them headed toward the break room and left the dumbfounded Provenza silently watching them walk away.

"Excuse him Hobbs, he's an idiot" Andy said to her.

"Well, you're probably right Lieutenant, but in this instance he was telling you a twisted version of the truth" Andrea said.

"Andrea, I'm not looking for..." Andy began, but she cut him off before he could embarrass himself and her.

"Ok Flynn... I'm going to drop the pretense, and just ask you flat out" she said.

Andy offered her his very best, and most well practiced, confused look.

"What's the deal with you and the Captain?"

Andy looked like he'd been sucker punched, and before he could recover his composure, Andrea pounced.

"AHA! That's a look of guilt if ever I've seen one, and don't forget who's the expert in that field!" she emphasised.

Realising his only escape route was either through or around Andrea, Andy shrugged his shoulders and said "why? Who wants to know?"

"If I stay calm and keep it casual, I may just be able to duck around her and out without being cornered", he thought to himself.

Andrea narrowed her eyes, but arched her eyebrows, letting him know she meant business.

"Lieutenant Flynn, where were you the evening before last?" she tried.

"If I said I was at home, preparing for this Spanish inquisition, would you believe me Hobbs?" he quipped, with his signature crooked grin attempting to disarm her.

Back in the squad room, Provenza's eyes rose to the sound of the Captain's door opening.

The anticipated heel sounds made their way toward him and stopped abruptly, surveying the all but empty room, clearly looking for something... or someONE.

"Are we the only ones left tonight Lieutenant?" she asked him.

"Uh, no Captain. Andy's here somewhere trying to extract himself from an uncomfortable conversation with Hobbs. I think they went to the break room" he told her, watching closely for her reaction. He knew something was going on. He just knew it, and silently congratulated himself inside his own head, for his sharp detective skills. She looked thrown off balance, he thought. So he was right! Something HAD happened and Andy had kept it to himself. He was glad he hadn't committed to any course of conversation with Hobbs over Andy's dating status. The idiot was clearly out of his mind. And it appeared to Provenza that his Captain had been infected by his lunacy somehow.

"They need their heads read" he thought to himself.

"Did Andrea say what she wanted?" Sharon asked him.

"Something about someone at the D.A.'s office wanting to know if Flynn has a girlfriend" he answered. As he did, he watched the flush rise up her neck, without paying TOO much attention.

The Captain looked sincerely indecisive. She looked like a deer caught in the lights of an oncoming freight train. She looked panic stricken. She turned on one heel, headed back to her office, and closed the door.

Provenza's elbows came up onto his desk and he dropped his head into his hands, as though it were too heavy to hold up, muttering "Idiots".

Andrea's interrogation continued in the break room, and she grew more frustrated by the minute with Andy's ability to evade questions and issues simultaneously.

"Lieutenant Flynn." she said brusquely "I have a piece of forensic evidence I would like to discuss with you, and I need you to be truthful with me when you answer".

"Forensic. Evidence." Andy was beyond confused. "Hobbs what case is this related to? How did we get from where was I two nights ago, to forensic evidence?" he asked her bewildered.

"And if I'm supposed to have done something wrong, which I haven't, shouldn't I.A. be asking these questions?"

Andy thought back to the night before last. He knew exactly where he'd been, and exactly what he'd been doing, but there was no way he was going to tell Hobbs, or anyone else for that matter.

Suddenly it dawned on him. This was no case. It was no I.A. investigation. This was an inquisition designed to extract information Hobbs couldn't get out of Sharon herself. He knew they were close, but had not put two and two together ... until he did. He cursed his own stupidity for not having realised it sooner, and decided he could now play Hobbs' game, because he knew what the game was.

"Forensic evidence you say Hobbs?"

Andrea sensed his shift in mood from panic to amusement. Damnit, he'd figured out what she was trying to find out.

"The evidence in question, I saw with my own eyes, less than a day ago." she started, and then dropped the charade with a giggle.

"Andy, are you seeing Sharon?"

"I see her go into her office. I see her come out again. Is that what you mean Andrea?" he grinned.

"OH MY GOD! It's like talking to Provenza" she shouted in exasperation.

"How did that heel mark, which can only have been made if she had her back to the wall, end up beside Sharon's front door Andy?"

"Oh God" he thought, remembering every second that led up to and beyond that mark on the wall. The puddles of clothing strewn along their path from the door to her bedroom. The rush they had both felt, knowing they shouldn't cross that boundary, but that they were going to anyway. The knowledge that finally, after such a long time ignoring it, they had been totally honest, face to face, about how they felt, and it was bliss. How he never intended to spend another day of his life without her at the centre of it.

Snapping back to reality, he threw Andrea another sideways grin, held his elbow out to her and said "Let's go and ask her shall we?" Before Andrea could even answer, he had her hand in the crook of his arm, and was marching her toward Sharon's office.