A/N: Another post-7x09 fic because, well, of course. Takes place post-7x10.

Requested by robertdoc on tumblr as "Leslie asks Andy about April's anxiety after their heart-to-heart."

Andy's always been bad at keeping secrets. Ever since he was a kid, he could barely keep anything to himself from the ways he'd call out how cool a cow looks on a road trip or billboards they pass, and this is no different. Secrets were no different, and he always got incredibly sweaty, and gross, and fumbled his words constantly. It was a bad habit, but April said he was cute when he sweat a lot (except when he touched her and was very sweaty, then it was gross) so Andy wasn't sure what to believe. Either way, his inability to keep secrets is what started this whole situation.

The first problem was Leslie calling him. Over the phone, Andy was even worse at keeping secrets. After the Johnny Karate finale, Andy suddenly found himself with tons more time and that meant helping Leslie with whatever she needed and April with remaining calm, getting their things packed, and preparing for all sorts of dumb government functions.

"I never knew April would hide something like that from me," Leslie spoke, her voice crackly on the other end. "I dunno, I was just... surprised. What was going on there?"

Andy doesn't answer, biting his cheek. He could already feel the sweat start to bead on his forehead just thinking about lying. He had to remind himself this isn't the thing to share, and it isn't his to talk to about. That's what April said, and he couldn't bear thinking about betraying that. Still, it was a lie saying nothing was wrong. A few more seconds pass before Andy realized Leslie was saying his name repeatedly.

"Oh, yeah, sorry Leslie," he grumbled, scratching his chin. "Um, she was... uh, I dunno. Sad and weird and we'd been talking about it-"

"You too? How did everyone know she was thinking that," Leslie sounded disappointed more than anything. Andy couldn't blame her, either.

"Well, I mean we are married," Andy said, grinning to himself, "so of course we talked about it! I mean, she's-" he stopped himself, taking a deep breath and wiping his face with the back of his sleeve. "Leslie, she was... um, super sad about keeping it away from you."

"So why didn't she just tell me?"

Andy sat on that for a while. He knew the real reason. Oh, he knew it all right and, after years, he still knew it reared its ugly head time and time again like a vestigial, dormant beast in April's mind. He knew it when she cried her eyes out after the Johnny Karate finale, at home where she felt safer doing it, and he knew it years before when she didn't want him to quit music but didn't know how to express it at first and, again when they got home, she wanted to make sure he wasn't mad at her. Yeah, Andy knew why April didn't tell her but, as far as he was concerned, that was a secret.

And, yet, it was something he could keep. He had to, or else what would April say or do? How could she trust him if he can't even do something that small. His mother always told him that if something was important to you, you fight for it and you treat it right.

Or was that Ron? Andy thinks. Maybe Barney...

Still, Andy loved her and, apparently, more than she even knew. Which, to Andy, was ridiculous. Ever since that day he goofed up at the Harvest Festival, he's made sure to tell her every single day and remind her whichever way he has to, but April still pulled back, retreated, and pointed at herself as the problem and that he would see an error in her. April was the most important thing, person, in the world to him, so he'd fight for her and treat her as best he could. Right now, what she would want - what would treat her right - would be to lie to Leslie.

Yeah, he sweat a lot and his voice got scratchy and weird, and he might say something stupid, but it'd be fighting for her. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Andy always told himself this was keeping his vows to protect her from anything and, since she was clearly incapable of facing them herself, he'd fulfill that vow.

"She just didn't want to make you mad, or hate her, Leslie," Andy said after a long silence. It was the best he could think of because, on one hand he was telling some amount of truth without saying anything about April's state, and yet it wasn't totally the truth. "But, y'know, we love her and we want her to be awesome and the best and she just didn't see that. Guess she got wrapped up in her head."

Smooth, Dwyer.

It takes Leslie a moment to respond. "Yeah," and she sighed. "You're probably right."

Andy remarked how right he was, and then Leslie easily slipped into a schpiel about how he should take care of his wife and her emotions but let her be herself and independent and how he did a good job. Again, Leslie knew a lot of stuff. She was probably the smartest lady he knew, and definitely the coolest (next to April, obviously) but, sometimes, she could be unaware of how deep their relationship was and how connected they really were. Maybe she still saw them as kids, and Andy was still kind-of a kid, but time changed them in an amazing way, and things could only get better from here on out.