Since the moment Andy and Mer first met, I really wanted them Andy to be the fourth sister.
So I changed a couple of things, and what starts as a normal girls night out at Jo's, turn to something completely different.
This turned out a bit longer than I expected, so I split it up to two parts.
I hope you enjoy, let me know more and let me know if you want me to continue this story.
"Herrera, don't turn around, but there is a very handsome man sitting at the bar who has been looking at your direction for about.." Amelia takes a quick glance at her watch, trying to estimate just how long this stranger has been sending glances her friend's way. "Half an hour now."
Andy chokes on the sip of wine she was just drinking, trying her best to keep it down and not spit it out like some kind of an over the top cartoon character. "There is no way he is looking at me." The firefighter calls, yet now she feels self aware, like she has to impress the said man who she can't make eye contact with. She smoothes her long, wavy hair, then changes it again to fall on her other shoulder. She sits a bit taller in her chair, and smoothes some invisible wrinkles in her outfit.
"Oh, he is definitely looking at you." Maggie agrees before adding "And if I were you, I would have been walking his direction by now."
"I am not really looking for anything right now… I am not really in a flirting kind of mood." Andy hesitates. She fidgets with the leg of her wine glass, rotating it time and time again between her fingers, but she can't shake the feeling that someone is looking at her now, and for some reason, it feels like tiny electrical shots are being sent to the skin on her arms.
"Andy, I know you are upset you blew your shot at being the station's Captain." Amelia is brutally honest, like always. "But I think it will be good for you. And no one says you have to marry the guy. Just go, enjoy yourself for one night, get back on the horse, and get back to us with all the dirty details tomorrow."
"Or you can marry him if you want to." Meredith interrupts her sister. "I met my husband right here, at Joe's. And he was a one night stand, until before you knew it we wrote our vows on a post-it note." The surgeon shrugs as she downs another shot of tequila.
"Frankly, I am not sure there is a horse to get back on." Andy admits. "I am not really good at the whole 'meeting a guy outside the line of work' thing. And how do you know he is even looking at me and not at one of you guys?"
Maggie glances once again at the direction of the mysterious man, and Andy just wishes she could have gotten a good look at him from where she is seated. After a long moment of silence, the cardiac surgeon calls "Oh, he is looking directly at you, sister. No doubt."
She has grown to love these three odd, out of the ordinary sisters, even though they have a tendency to stick their noses in places they definitely do not belong. She was an only child, and though she had Ryan, who grew up with her and was like her brother, she always wished for a sister. Someone she could talk with about her boy problems, someone to steal clothes and jewelry from, someone to share a pint of ice cream with and watch trashy reality TV like they have no care in the world.
And now she has not one, but three of them.
Meredith asked her out for a drink after Andy managed to get her the meeting she needed so badly. That night she met Amelia and Maggie for the first time, and they made her feel so comfortable, so welcomed into their little family, that she never felt like leaving. She fell perfectly in place.
So even though the three doctors can sometimes be a bit pushy, a bit opinionated, and none of them can keep a secret for the life of her, she has grown to love them as if they were her own sisters in no time at all.
"Hey Herrera" Grey interrupts her train of thoughts. "Can you go to the bar and get us another round?" She points down at the tequila shots on their little table, even though there is a full one standing right in front of Meredith.
"And one soda for me." Amelia adds with a wink.
Andy puffs the air out of her lunges with noise, making sure her dissatisfaction is known to all the women sitting around the table. Then she makes a show out of pulling her chair out and standing up, knowing she caught the nameless man's attention. She reaches for the last tequila shot on the table, downs it in one big, unladylike chug, and slams the glass back on the table.
"Hey!" Meredith protests. "That was mine!"
Andy shrugs, murmurs a quiet "I need all the courage I can master." and goes to face the music.
She knows there is no way on earth she would have managed to avoid at least approaching him. When the group of surgeons think they know best, well, there is no convincing them otherwise.
Andy turns around, and she finally faces the man her friends couldn't stop talking about. He is watching her, after all. And he is every bit as handsome as the sisters described him to be. He is tall, and she can see he is well built beneath the T-shirt he is wearing. His smile flashes two rows of perfect, white teeth, and he gazes at her with a set of deep, stunning brown eyes.
He looks confident, a little smug, even, and by now, it's like her legs are moving toward him on their own accord. It is like she has relinquished control over her own body, and the only thing she can do by now is hope and pray she won't trip and fall over those quite high heels.
When she finally gets to a stop by the bar, and orders another round of drinks for her friends, she turns to face the man who sits quite close to her.
The one thing that Andy Herrera is proud of is never being nervous. She always has her brave face on, her job requires her to. She runs toward danger on a daily basis, while everyone else runs away from it. She doesn't have the privilege to feel scared.
So why can't she stop tapping on the hardwood floor with the heel of her shoe right now?
She stays put standing by the bar, even though the bartender placed her order in front of her a few long minutes ago. Andy knows her friends are curiously watching her. She also knows that no matter what will happen from here on out, this will be the talk of the day tomorrow.
There is something deep inside her telling her they will talk, eventually, but she can't bring herself to be the one to break their loaded silence, and apparently, neither does he.
Finally the only thing that comes out of her mouth is "I don't really know how to do this anymore. It has been a while."
She wants to take back the embarrassing confession the moment it passes her lips. She blushes a little, which does nothing to help her awkward high school girl feeling, before she blurts quickly "Oh my god, I didn't mean it to sound that way, I will just walk away now." She turns around on her heels, ready to leave her order behind and flee like her life depends on it.
However, as she turns around, she feels a soft hand holding on to her wrist oh so lightly, and sees all the women sitting at her table forming the word 'No', signaling her to go back to whatever it is that she was just starting. He is not grabbing her, his fingers barely flatter across her skin, and she can take her hand away easily enough if she wants to. He doesn't force her to stay, it is more of a soundless invitation. One she decides to take.
"Yeah, I didn't really know what to say either. I guess it means it has been a while for the both of us." She smiles as she turns back on her heels, can't help it, and she notices he has a small grin across his face too.
"I guess names are a good place to start." She establishes. "I am Andrea, but the people I like can call me Andy."
"Robert. So does it mean I get to call you Andy?"
She makes a playful act, as if she is seriously deliberating the question, before finally answering. "Not yet. Who says I will like you?"
"If you stick around just a big longer before going back to your friends, I can make you like me well enough."
He flirts now, no doubt, and though he said he had been out of this specific game for a while, he is quite good at it. He makes her feel comfortable, yet curious enough to stick around and see what the thing between them can become.
Damn it, her doctor friends have been right once again.
"OK" She agrees, pulling out the bar stool next to Robert and sitting down.
"Who says this seat is not taken?" He asks playfully, which gets him the best death glare Andy can master in return. Not a good one by all means, considering the fact that the nice, buzzing feeling in her stomach keeps the smile from fading off of her face.
His only reaction is that smug grin once again, and she can't help but notice that he is older than her. Ten years, she thinks, give or take. It does something to her, deep in her core, the thought of going home with an older man. Maybe it is just the thought of going home with this older man.
And when did she decide that she is going to go home with him? Wasn't she approaching just to get Amelia off of her back?
She can't help but wonder if he is married. Sleeping with a married man is a red line she will never cross. She will never let herself be "The other woman", and though being forward and asking him that question is tempting, she stops herself when she notices he doesn't have a ring on his left hand.
She can't explain it, but something inside of her tells her everything will be alright if she trusts him. And her trust is not something she is usually too keen on giving away easily to complete strangers.
"Can I buy you a drink?" He asks, in that low, sexy voice she didn't expect. It does something to her, that voice, and she has to sit with her legs crossed to prevent her knees from spreading just a little.
She nods, and orders a glass of red wine for herself. He asks the bartender for another pint of beer, before inquiring "So what do men talk about when they meet a new woman and want her to like them? Just enough so she will allow them to shorten her first name?"
"I really have no idea." She confesses. "Maybe just tell me something about yourself. Nothing too personal, just something to help me decide if I like you enough to let you call me Andy."
"I like to make smoothies. I consider it a hobby, actually." He says seriously, then takes another sip of his beer.
She can't help but laugh, a true chuckle coming from deep inside her. "OK, I know I said nothing too personal, but you have to give me something more."
He thinks for a minute, then adds. "I speak six different languages. German, Spanish, Italian, French, Farsi, and English."
That confession earns him a awestruck look from her, and a "Wow" she mumbles quietly.
"How… You just impressed me." She admits. "And I think that gives you the right to call me Andy."
"When I was growing up, my grandfather lived with us. He immigrated to the United States from Germany just after the second World War, and never really learned English. So German was the language we spoke at home, and English was the language I spoke everywhere else. And coming from a bilingual home… It just made me want to learn more, know as much as possible, speak to as many people as possible in their own mother tongue."
"So you were that nerdy high school student who sat at home and learned new languages all day long?" Andy inquires with a raised brow.
"No, not really. I was prom king, and as much of a stereotype as it might be, I played basketball at my high school's team. Go Tigers!" Robert cheers playfully with a raise of his fist. "And now you know more about me than most people do. I guess it earned me the right to know a few things about you too. Just to make sure we are even."
"I come from a bilingual home as well, but It never drove me to learn other languages like you did. I was prom queen, two years in a row." She says proudly, like it is some kind of competition and she is clearly winning. "I like to eat sugary, definitely not healthy for me cereal, with my hands, straight out of the box. And I dance salsa. I think that has been one of the greatest passions of my life for a while now. I even won a state championship one year."
She doesn't tell him about her other passion, being a firefighter, running into burning buildings to save lives. Nevertheless, something about what she said starts a spark in his eyes.
"You dance Salsa." He repeats and she nods, not exactly sure where he is heading. "That takes showmanship, athleticism and sex appeal all at the same time."
So he had stopped pretending he doesn't know where this night is going. Good, cause she had decided she will definitely go home with him the moment she heard this very beautiful man can also speak Italian.
"Do you trust me?" He asks and reaches out his hand for her to take.
Before she has a chance to think about it, she blurts out "Yes" and places her hand in his. His palm feels warm in hers, and it has been a while since she had let someone hold her hand, since she had trusted someone enough to just guide her, not knowing where.
He leaves some bills on the counter, a lot more than necessary to cover a glass of wine and two pints of beer, and gets up from his seat. She follows him outside the bar, not before turning her head around in order to look at her friends one last time. They all give her encouraging smiles and mouth the word "Go" without making a sound.