A/N: Late night! Agh! I know, I know. However, I got an awesome, anonymous request last night that made me laugh way too hard so I had to fill it. Unfortunately, tonight was also date night and I got pizza and now there's a late post because reasons and whatever.

Also, this adorable new art is courtesy of the awesome Adie over on tumblr (ffnet is a butthole about href so it's smallnova on tumblr)! A billion thanks for that, because it's awesome. Awesome, how many more times am I going to say that word?

Other than the occasional footsteps outside in the hallways, or even Jerry humming something, it was quiet in the Parks offices. For a day when Andy was in that was a surprise, and it was a nice change of atmosphere, but there was always something that brought reality back to them. There was always something to remind Ron why he should have just kept his doors shut at all times.

"Ron!" Andy yelled, clearing the distance between his desk and the door far too quickly for it to close in time.

He came into his office seconds before they finally swung to a close, chest heaving and huffing massive breaths. Clearly he hadn't kept up his exercise regime, because Andy was red in the face from the short sprint. Something else was on his mind because he kept wringing his hands and beginning sentences, pointing to them before putting them back on his hips and walking around.

"Please, come in," Ron grunted. "No, it's no bother. Why don't you have a seat as well?"

With a stiff wave of his hand, he gestured towards a chair. Andy pushed it in front of the desk and sat down, finally gathering enough oxygen to recolor his face correctly before speaking up again.

"Ron," he puffed out, pointing to his hand. "I might have, uhh, displaced… err, no I mistook my, uh-"

"What?" the older man shook his head quickly once, trying to speed up the process.

"I lost my wedding ring," Andy finally explained. "I tried looking around in here everywhere but I have no idea what happened to it."

"Okay," Ron said bluntly.

There were a few moments of silence afterwards. Andy sat there, pointing to his hand like that was supposed to mean something, and Ron kept his position with his hands folded. It seemed as if this was apparently important. Realizing who he was talking to, Andy took a different approach.

"C'mon Ron, this is important I think," he said. "Besides, that thing was kind of expensive. I think, I don't know – I stole it."

"You stole it?" Ron asked.

"Well, technically April stole it."

Again they sat quietly for a second while Andy thought. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, he figured, but something was still scary about telling her that he lost the ring. At best he'd have to steal a new one and at worst he'd have to buy it, both of which were terrifying. There was also the chance that April would get mad at him for being such a clumsy idiot but that happened on a weekly basis so he'd grown a pretty thick skin about that in general.

"Why are you talking to me about this?" Ron asked seriously, moving forward in his chair slightly.

"I dunno, you're the smartest guy I know so I thought you'd be able to help," Andy said, giving him an unsure glance before going back to looking at his hands.

It looked weird without the ring, almost naked. The feeling of the air on the portion of his finger where it usually sat was even stranger. There were only a couple of seconds until Ron groaned.

"Not that I care," he pointed and gave Andy a stern look, "but I'm guessing that just telling her will be an okay move, son. I don't think you'll have a problem."

"Really?" Andy wondered. "Did you ever lose any of your rings?"

"No, but I've also never worn any of them," he explained.

The doors to Ron's office slowly moved open. Andy stood up and smiled, running back out of the room and clearing the threshold just in time, while Ron closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Despite what Ron had said, Andy still had a strong feeling to get his hand caught in something or pour a bunch of mustard in a ring around his finger, but he knew to soldier on or things would just get worse for him.

All he had to do was wait for April to leave a meeting, and then tell her and then everything would be all right. At least that's what he told himself until he started to really think about it. She wouldn't just be mad at him – no, she'd be furious. When a small part of his brain asked why that made any sense, Andy didn't have time to think up a reason because April was already walking back to her desk. She had an agitated expression and walked with her shoulders slumped, clearly beaten from the fifteen minute mandatory meeting, and Andy could feel his heart thundering.

When she sat down he followed her, standing awkwardly in front of her desk until she looked up and around him like there was some sort of trick waiting.

"Yeah?" she asked him shortly.

There was a short span of time where Andy looked over to see Ron looking intently at the two of them. Clearly, he didn't want to be bothered for the rest of the day and was hoping to see this pan out well for him. Andy, however, was still overcome by a strictly baseless, unknown fear.

"Nothing, everything's fine. Don't even ask about it, it's fine," Andy suddenly blurted far too loudly, throwing his hands up. "Nothing's wrong here."

April looked around, confused, while Andy started to walk back to his desk with his arms still up like airplane wings. Ron wasn't thrilled with this change of tactic.

"Andrew," his voice quickly rose.

Turning around, Andy scratched the back of his neck and stared at the floor before he sat on his desk. Finally looking back to April, who had a combination of uncertainty and worry on her face, he took a deep breath.

"I think, I uhh," his throat was strangely dry. "I might have, maybe… or, no I did-"

"Andy, are you okay?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and walking over to him.

"Yeah, but I mean I think I lost my ring and I'm sorry," he quickly got out, biting his knuckle.

He closed his eyes as if expecting some torrent of screaming to begin, but when it didn't he opened one slightly to see April standing in front of him with a smirk on her face. Okay, he could deal with being poked fun at for a little while. That was much easier than an argument.

"You know what this means, don't you?" she said, her smirk changing to a wry smile.

"Um, no?" he asked warily, pulling his head back slightly and wondering what devious plan she had in mind.

Instead of responding with words, she reached into her back pocket and produced a pair of dollar-store sunglasses. The same pair he'd turned in not that long ago.

"It looks like we've got a new case for Bert Macklin," she grinned and opened her palm.

Andy gave the glasses a cautious glance before reaching for them, but April pulled her hand away at the last second. She shook her head and put them on her own face.

"And his new partner, Cathy O'Donahue," she crossed her arms and looked up to meet his eyes. "I managed to get you back on the force after hearing about this… incredibly important case."

"Honey, the glasses are supposed to be my thing…" he whispered.

"Look, just because we've been put on this case together doesn't give you the right to call me honey," she explained, maintaining her posturing stance. "Besides babe, I thought this could be cool. You always get to be the tough one."

"Oh, I get it," Andy nodded, smiling and straightening his back. "Sorry ma'am."

"Yeah, it's a real give and take son," for a second April moved to hold a cigarette that wasn't in her mouth, forgetting which character she was, before correcting herself. "Now, where's the last time you remember seeing this… ring?"

"Um, I think I was at my desk," he turned around and scanned the top of the small table. "And then I lost it."

He sat there staring at his desk, holding his chin and wondering, while April moved over to the other side of the desk. When she passed him her hand brushed over his ass, and Andy smiled at her but she only cocked her head in confusion. He couldn't tell what her actual expression was through the dark shades but he could tell where this specific set of characters was destined to end up.

"Were you anywhere else tonight?" she inquired, sitting down at his desk and opening all of the drawers.

"No, sir," he said quickly, passing over his own mistake when April gave him another wry smile. "I was here all day, except for when I went out for lunch."

"And where was that?" she stood up, crossing her arms again and looking him up and down.

"JJ's," he said, shaking his head like it was the most obvious thing. "Of course, I definitely ate it."

"No," she stopped him from walking out to the bathrooms, "I think we'll just check over at the diner first."

"Good move, partner," he agreed.

They made it to the parking lot and Andy's car, and all the way down he tried to remember where he had sat down and what he ordered. Maybe this was the key to the mystery. April was so good at helping him figure out tough stuff like this, and this new O'Donahue character was… different. He definitely liked where it was going, that was for sure.

When they were about to leave, Andy reached into his pocket to fish out the keys he hit something heavy. Something metallic, and circular, and almost ring-like. He laughed immediately when his hand circled around the thing and it fit perfectly onto his hand.

"Hey babe," he said through the laughter when she gave him another confused look. "Remember how I always take my ring off when I'm eating pancakes because it gets all sticky."

"Because you eat them with your hands, yes," she finished, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Andy, really?"

"Yeah, but… um, I was thinking that maybe we just skip out on the rest of the day," he said, a little quieter this time. "We can, uh, try this one out some more? At home?"

April just gave him another smile, sat in the passenger seat, and Andy followed suit with a dumb grin plastered on his face. The case of the missing wedding ring was complete, and it was time for a little R&R.