Author's note:
Hey everyone!
Just wanted to drop by and say thank you all so much for coming back, reading and leaving comments.
The first part of this chapter is my take on a scene from episode 3 season 2, and the second part takes place right after this episode ends.
As always, I will really appreciate it if you take the time to leave your thoughts.
Hope you enjoy!
"What the hell are you doing to my house?" Maya asks as she enters the apartment after just finishing her morning run.
"This is our house." Andy corrects her roommate. "And this shelf looked so empty and sad, so I decided to put some stuff on it to make it look more homey. I have books, fire manuals, and I even have a couple pictures of us." Andy flips the frame in her hand so Maya can take a look at the photo. It is a picture of the both of them from a party she can't remember going to, but from the look of things, it seems like they had a great time.
Andy keeps organizing and reorganizing the items she has placed on the shelf, as Maya just stares at her, trying to figure out what the hell her best friend is doing.
"You are fidgeting." Maya determines as she makes her way to the kitchen. "Stop fidgeting and ruining my house. These shelves have been standing empty for a reason. You know, negative space, less is more and all of that." The former Olympic runner says as she refills her water bottle.
"I am fidgeting." Andy admits as she finally put all of the unnecessary things back in the box.
"We don't organize." Maya states, as she pulls a box of Lucky Charms out of the cabinet. "When we need to vent, I go on a run, and you stuff your face with sugary cereal you eat straight out of the box. So take the box, stuff your face and tell me what's on your mind. Just please, do me a favor and stop redecorating my perfectly well decorated apartment."
Maya passes the box to her best friend, and Andy takes it without saying a thing, opening it and reaching straight in with her fingers. It is nice, she thinks, to have someone in the world who knows you, who you can say anything to and not be afraid to get judgment back, who is just there, by your side, at all times.
Maya lets Andy have a few bites before asking "So are we fidgeting about what happened in Sullivan's office after he called you in? Did you guys go at it again? I tried to follow you and listen but his office has surprisingly thick walls."
"No! We haven't had sex ever since I found out he is going to be our captain. And you were trying to eavesdrop on us?" Andy raises her brow questioningly before taking another handful of cereal into her mouth.
"I was curious! He looked really agitated when he walked in the beanery." Maya tries to justify her actions.
"I am surprised you didn't hear anything. He was yelling so loud I thought he was going to wake everyone at the station." Andy crushes into the sofa before she continues. "He said he wanted to bury me in paperwork, he said he wanted to fire me. Then he made a comment about my shorts, but it wasn't a fun one like you did. I swear to God, I thought that if either of us lost even an inch of our self control at that moment, he was going to rip those shorts off of me with his teeth. And he hasn't talked to me ever since. It has been a week. So yeah, I fidget." Andy says before reaching back into the box and filling her mouth once again.
There is a sound of keys crackling in the keyhole, perfectly synchronized with the noise of Andy chowing on the crunchy cereal.
Vic storms into their apartment, her hair a mess of black curls and the look on her face very much sleep deprived.
"You smell of sex." Maya notes. "And why the hell do you have a key to my place?"
"You are no fun." Vic pouts as she is making her way to the kitchen. She opens a cupboard, pulls out a mug, and fills it to the brim with the fresh, hot coffee Andy made while she was still on her organizing attack.
"I was coming to share the news with you, as it is our tradition." Hughes says as she sits on the sofa right next to Andy, who is not very happy about the fact that she has to move over so her friend will have enough room.
"It is only a tradition if we have done this before." Andy points out as she chews on some more cereal. She has probably inhaled half the box by now, and the sugar highs and lows she is going to suffer from for the rest of the day are going to be hard to handle.
Oh, if only she cared enough to stop eating.
"You came to fill me in when Andy had that one night stand with mister tall and handsome stranger a couple of weeks ago."
Both Maya and Andy choke at how oblivious Vic is, being the only one among them who doesn't know the identity of the man Andy spent the night with.
"Yeah about that…" Maya starts, but Andy interrupts her as she throws little bits of cereal at her before she has time to complete the sentence.
"You should really stop throwing food at me every time you don't approve of what I have to say." Maya says as she tries to aim the cereal back at Andy.
"So Vic, how was your night? Who was he?"Andy asks while she is still under attack, trying to stir the conversation away from herself and into a safer zone.
"He is Mr. Station 23. And my night was very good, thank you very much for asking." Vic replies before taking a sip from her coffee.
"I just have to say, I really don't approve of fighter fighters dating each other." Andy remarks jokingly.
"OK that's it, I have to tell her. This is not funny anymore." Maya says.
"Guys, what is going on? Why are you stuffing your face with Lucky Charms?" Vic asks as she points at Andy. "You only eat cereal out of the box when you think no one else is watching, or if something is bothering you so much that you don't mind other people seeing you contaminating everyone's food."
"Fine, tell her, but make sure she puts down her mug first, otherwise our couch will smell like coffee and will be stained for the rest of the year."
Vic puts down her mug slowly and straightens in her seat. "Seriously, can somebody fill me in on what exactly is going on?"
"The man Andy has slept with is Sullivan. And from the way she has been stewing about it for the last two weeks, it is so obvious she wants to do it again." Maya blurts out so quickly Andy is not sure Vic even had the time to digest what she has just heard.
"I am sorry, come again?" Sullivan? Our captain Sullivan?" Vic asks. "Mister best sex of your life is Sullivan?"
Andy thinks Vic couldn't look more shocked even if she was the star of Days of Our Lives or some other kind of stupid soap opera, and her character has just found out her lover is also her half brother or something of this sort.
"I didn't know who he was when I approached. We talked about things that had nothing to do with work, and from some point on we were not doing much talking at all. I left his place before he got dressed, so I didn't see the uniform. I didn't know who he was before Ripley introduced him. And no Maya, it is not going to happen again."
"But you want it to happen again, don't you?" Bishop asks as she snatches the box out of Andy's hands and takes a handful of the sugary goodness straight into her mouth.
"You know what I want? I want to be easy Andy, who doesn't take to heart anything that Sullivan says, and doesn't spend hours freaking out about the things that he does or doesn't do. And I want you to get your lazy asses off the couch and go get ready, otherwise we are going to be late, and I have every intention to stop giving this man more reasons to hate me."
Both Maya and Vic can barely hear the last part of the sentence, as Andy walks down the hall and disappears into the bathroom.
Andy can't sleep.
She has been turning in her bed for who knows how long, but it has been just one of those nights for her. A night where there are so many thoughts rushing through her mind, keeping her awake, even though her body is exhausted, every muscle in her body hurts with fatigue, desperate to get some rest.
What if her instincts are betraying her? What if she is not able to make good calls anymore? She won't be able to live with herself if something will happen to a patient, or to one of her team members, because of poor decision making on her side.
When it becomes clear that she won't be able to sleep until she finds a way to quiet the train of thoughts racing through her head, she gets up and changes into the shorts and top Sullivan mentioned just a week ago she is not allowed to wear around him, ever again.
She won't admit it, not even to herself, but he is a part of the reason she can't get any rest. She overthinks everything he says, over analyzes every look he sends her way. She almost has herself convinced that the thing between them is nothing but an outcome of her own imagination. There is just no way the night they spent together could have been as amazing as she remembers it.
Maybe it is the exhaustion taking over the part in her brain that knows right from wrong, but she has to explore, and she has to do it tonight. No matter the outcome, she will probably feel better knowing.
Because she can't keep walking around with that ache in her stomach, like she had swallowed a giant magnet that keeps pulling her toward him, no matter how hard she tries to resist.
Andy sneaks out like a thief in the night, as if what she is about to do is illegal. She tiptoes all the way across the hall, afraid to wake one of her partners up, afraid to do something that will give her a chance to change her mind. It takes only a few moments to get to the captain's office, but she ends up standing outside for five long minutes, walking back and forth across the closed door over and over again.
He is there, she can see the lights are on behind the open blinds and him sitting behind his desk, looking down, his brow furrowed in concentration. She is not sure he had seen her standing there, but if their weird connection is anything for him like it is for her, she is sure he can sense her presence outside the room.
He just waits for her to take the first step. Waits for her to initiate what they both know is undeniable, unstoppable, like a force of nature no human being can resist.
"Stop fidgeting." Andy whispers, and imagines it comes from Maya. If her best friend was here, she would have definitely been pushing her toward the door by now. Andy takes a deep breath, then knocks quietly.
It starts to feel like she has made another very bad decision, but there is no way she is taking it back now.
"Come in, Herrera." He calls, not lifting his eyes from the paper he was going through. So he knew she was standing there after all. Well, he is still in for one more surprise.
"I was scared today." She starts with a confession. "In the fraction of a second before I managed to take your hand, before you pulled me out of the collapsing apartment, I was truly scared. And I take pride in never being afraid, I earn my living running toward danger, and I can't imagine it being any other way. But it seems like in the past two weeks, I have found myself in a frightening situation three times already. The first time was when I approached you at Joe's bar. The second time was earlier today, when I could feel the floor collapsing into itself and almost taking me down with it. And the third time is right here, right now."
He finally raises his eyes from the work he has been doing. He looks as tired as she feels, but the fire in his eyes ignites again when he sees what she is wearing. She took a chance coming here, wearing the clothes he ordered to keep locked deep in her closet. There are two ways things can go from here on out: exactly as she wants them to, or they can take a very bad turn.
"I thought I was clear when I said I don't want to see you in these shorts again." Sullivan says, raising from his chair and closing the distance between them in three large steps.
Andy doesn't move, waiting to see how he reacts before progressing. So they just stand there for a moment, looking deep into each other's eyes, waiting for the other to break down and do the one thing they both know is inevitable.
This is definitely the hottest staring contest she has ever been a part of.
He lowers his head, and for a minute she thinks he is about to give in and kiss her. But then he places his lips almost directly against her ear, and whispers. "You have no idea what you do to me, Andrea Herrera."
"You didn't ask why I feel scared right now." Andy says, her voice trembeling.
"Oh I know. You are so scared because you are used to having everything you want given to you on a silver platter. Not this time. If you want this as much as I do, you will have to come and take it."
The anger flares up inside her again. He has no idea what he is talking about. He doesn't know her, so how can he just arrogantly assume she has always gotten what she wanted and never had to move a finger for it.
She is determined to prove him wrong.
Andy doesn't allow herself to think, to analyze, to weigh out the consequences, before wrapping her arms around Robert's neck and kissing him like her life depends on it.
He pulls back just a bit, surprised by the fact that she has actually done it, she has taken the first step. It takes no longer than a minute for his shock to change into desire.
His lips meet hers again, and he pushes her back until the back of her legs hit the desk, never breaking the kiss. She has nowhere to go, being trapped by the desk and the beautiful man she is kissing hungrily, so she has no other choice but to sit, knocking a few things down as she does.
Andy wraps her legs around his waist and pulls the shirt he is wearing off of him in one swift move, tossing it unceremoniously somewhere on the floor. Her fingers trail up and down his shoulder blades, exploring his skin, feeling every defined muscle beneath her hands.
God, medical schools can teach the anatomy of the human muscles off of his body, no textbook required.
They keep kissing, yet he doesn't do anything more, waits for her to approve it is fine to progress, or to signal him this is as far as she wishes to go tonight. She pulls her own shirt over her head and drops it slowly, and that does the trick alright. She can see him staring at the black lace bra she is wearing, his eyes dark with lust, his tongue trails his lower lip hungrily.
She feels alive.
Andy holds onto him and orders. "Bed. Now."
He does as she bids, picks her up and carries her into the bedroom as if she weighs nothing at all. He kicks the door close, and as he drops her on the bed and hovers on top of her, she can't think anymore, only feel with everything she has.
She has found a way to quiet her mind, at last.