Author's note: Hey everyone!

A few important notes before you start reading.
First of all, thank you so much, each and every one of you for the support. I don't take the fact that you are reading and reviewing for granted.
I have decided to post this chapter in two parts, just so it will be easier to read. I am posting the two parts today so there is no waiting.
There is a dialog between Andy and Sullivan in the first part of the chapter that is supposed to be in Spanish. I don't speak Spanish, and I thought that using google translate back and forth will kinda ruin my story. So the part that is supposed to be in Spanish is in italics. I hope it makes sense.
And finally, I have decided to switch things up a bit and start doing flashbacks. I will really appreciate you leaving a comment and saying if you like it or if it is confusing for you.
That's it, I hope you enjoy!

The station is buzzing with activity today.

There are police officers and firefighters everywhere, talking, teaching and learning. The officers practice CPR on dummies and the members of A shift in station 19 are teaching them all there is to know in order to keep a victim alive until more help comes.

So in the middle of all the hustle, Andy doesn't notice that something is different about Sullivan today. Sure, Montgomery made a comment about him being more uptight than usual, but he is always cold and distant when it comes to her, during the day anyway, so Andy doesn't think much about it.

She has enough on her plate when Ryan is assigned to work with her. He is so confident he knows what he is doing, and Andy keeps thinking about the awkward turn their friendship has taken. She doesn't share with him much anymore, and how can she talk about the most important thing happening in her life anyway? She can't just go and say she is having this incredible, mind blowing sex with this man who drives her crazy, both for the right and wrong reasons, and not to mention he is also her boss and what they are doing is strictly forbidden.

It has become so much easier to talk with Maya and Vic, or with Meredith, Maggie and Amelia, in the past few months.

She is not really paying attention to the other teams in the station, too concentrated on not picking a fight with Ryan, which turns out to be a way harder task than she anticipated.

So it takes her time to notice Maya and Jack are both busier flirting with one of the officers, competing with each other on who gets her number first. They crack jokes and share personal information, and do little of the teaching they are actually supposed to do.

"I see this is funny to you two." Sullivan says. Maya replies, but she has lowered her tone apologetically, and Andy can't hear what she is saying from where she stands across the barn. She can hear Sullivan though, because by now he already moved to fully yelling at her best friend, and she decides to get closer, because knowing her captain, this is going to go down quickly.

"You are treating this day like a damn field trip. Your victim's life depends on you, and you alone. It is not supposed to be fun, or funny. It is about responsibility, every moment counts. Bishop, you are unprofessional, unfocused, and you are treating this day as if you are using a dating app and you are trying to pick someone up. The whole purpose of this day is teaching, so flirt on your own free time!"

"Oh, like you haven't treated this station like it was Tinder since before you even got here." Maya mumbles under her breath, but both Andy and Sullivan can hear it.

As soon as the words leave Maya's mouth, the three of them realize she has gone too far.

Sullivan pales hearing her, then goes red with rage.

"She knows?" Sullivan asks in Spanish.

"We are teaching the basics on dummies today. It is just an exercise, it doesn't count. Not enough to be singling Bishop out the entire day." Andy raises her voice but keeps talking in English, because for some reason, he doesn't understand that speaking Spanish in front of everyone will make it oh so obvious that this is personal, and make everything so much worse.

Yes, they argue a lot in front of the entire station, she even dares to speak her mind to him while they are on call. But this is different. He seems out of control, like he can't think straight about the ramifications of his words and actions. Something is off today.

"I don't even know why I am surprised. You always jump ahead, never think of the consequences, so of course you will do something that will jeopardize both of our careers. All it takes is one fight between the two of you, one call I make that she won't approve of, and she can be running to the department with our secret in her hands. She has the power to ruin the both of us." He keeps up with the Spanish, completely oblivious to what she was trying to do.

"She won't do it, I know it, I am sure of it. You make it sound like I forced myself on you." Andy tries to keep her tone as leveled as possible. Everyone in the station already figured out something is wrong, that this is something bigger than Andy coming to Maya's defense. The station is silent, and she can feel everyone's eyes staring at them.

"How can you be so sure?" He keeps digging them deeper because he can't keep his feelings under control. This is the exact moment their little bubble pops. She should have seen this coming.

"I am not going to apologize for letting my best friend in on what is going on in my personal life."

"So you won't apologize for risking both of our careers?" Sullivan asks, and by now they are both yelling.

In the middle of the chaos, Maya tries to apologize, but neither of them is hearing her by now, both consumed by pure rage. They are both standing close to each other, and if things have gone down a different road, they would have probably been kissing by now, stumbling across the captain's bunk and peeling items of clothing from each other.

"No, you are endangering our careers, by putting on a show in front of the whole station, the chief and half of the police department."

"Enough!" Ripley yells louder than the both of them. Andy can feel her heart beating loudly in her chest, her ears ringing with the sound of his blaming voice. "I don't know why there is so much bad blood between the two of you, but this is definitely personal, and you should solve it behind closed doors. However, I will not let one of my captains and his lieutenant fight around in front of everyone. This is unprofessional. Get yourselves together, or otherwise I will have to start a disciplinary action against the two of you."

It is a clear, very real threat, yet none of them stand down, they are both just looking at each other with something that can't be other than hate.
.

Suddenly, their staring contest is not as sexy as it used to be, when they were all alone and he was whispering dirty words in her ear. It definitely still has the same amount of heat, just one of a different kind.

He is the first to stand down, walks quickly to his office and slams the door shut so hard it seems like the entire building is shaking.

"All of you, get back to work!" Ripley orders as he follows their captain and disappears into the room.

Andy can do nothing but stand in place, completely shocked. Everyone else is shaking things off, going back to demonstrating Heimlich or bandaging fake wounds. She just glares in the direction of the door, focusing all of the energy she has left on the very simple act of breathing.

In, then out. In, and out again.

"Thank you for standing up for me." Maya approaches her after a few more minutes have passed.

"Well, standing up for you may have cost me everything that I have." That's everything that Andy has in her to say, before turning around and resuming her explanation on how to maintain an open airway.

Two weeks ago

"I have nail marks all over my back." Sullivan sneaks behind Andy's back and whispers into her ear when he is sure no one is looking. "And I have you to thank for."

Andy mockingly covers one ear of the baby girl she is holding, and whispers. "Not in front of the child!"

They smile at each other, and Andy knows they are having one of those rare moments when their bubble spreads outside of the bunk room just a little. It is infrequent, but they have these conversations from time to time, where no one is around, and they can talk to each other freely without getting on each other's nerves.

Almost as if they were friends. Almost as if they actually like each other.

"You are on baby duty." He notes, and she nods at that. This beautiful, healthy baby gir was dropped at the front of the station this morning, with no note or explanation whatsoever. Andy has already called social services earlier, but it seems like they are overflowing with work, like they usually are, so it is going to take a couple more hours before someone will be able to come and pick her up.

"I think of calling her Anne." Andy suggests.

"Why Anne?"

"It might sound weird, but when I first saw her I thought this is probably exactly how Anne Hathaway looked like when she was a baby." Andy changes the position of the baby in her arms just a bit so he can get a better look at her face.

"Don't get too attached, Herrera. It is not up to you to name her." Sullivan warns, but Andy can see in his eyes that he was already taken by Anne as well.

"Well, we can't just keep calling her Baby. This is not 1963, and we are not in Dirty Dancing."

"OK, Anne it is." Sullivan finally pleases. "Can I hold her for a second?" He asks, reaching his arms out in Andy's direction."

"I have never thought of you as the type who likes kids." Andy admits.

"What can I say, babies just tend to adore me." He shrugs, rocking Anne back and forth in his arms.

She looks like she has taken affection to him, and stops fussing the moment he holds her in his arms. She hasn't been this calm since the moment Andy pulled the short straw this morning and was chosen to babysit. The baby cried and whined all day, even though Andy fed her, changed her, and even sang to her when her entire team was out on a call. So even in the few moments of blissful silence Andy got from time to time, she wasn't brave enough to try and move, afraid she would wake the baby up.

It has been hours, and Andy is tired, hungry, and in a desperate need of a shower and a uniform change. She hasn't left the front desk since the beginning of the shift, and yet, she doesn't have it in her to stay mad at this bundle of pink blankets and rosey cheeks.

"Do you ever think of being a mother?" Sullivan asks out of nowhere.

Andy is taken by surprise by his question, isn't sure if she should address it as something that was asked by her captain, or as an inquiry from the man she has been sleeping around with on an almost daily basis for who knows how long now.

She whispers her answer. Everyone else is way out of hearing distance, but still, she can't risk anyone accidentally over hearing what she is about to say. It seems like everything is everyone's business at station 19 these days. "We are using condoms, and I have been on the pill since I was 18 or so. So unless you have some kind of magical sperm that can get past two different types of birth control, you can be at ease, the chances are you won't get me knocked up."

He laughs at her sarcastic remark. "I know we are keeping it safe and protected, and I don't think you are secretly having my baby or anything. I just want to get to know you better, that's all. I apologize if the question has made you uncomfortable in any way."

"It just sounds more of a "Where is this relationship going?" kind of question than something that a captain would ask to get to know his lieutenant."

"Well, you and I both know we are more than a captain and his lieutenant. Never mind, forget I have ever asked." He dismisses, his eyes look down at the baby, too embarrassed to meet her own right now.

"I have big plans for my future." She admits, deciding to answer his question anyway. "You know I wanted to be the captain of this station when the position opened. But I want more. I want to be Chief Andrea Herrera one day. I want to make a difference in the world as a whole, and in the Seattle Fire Department especially. I want to be someone young girls and teenagers can look up to." Her eyes sparkle when she starts to talk about her plans for the rest of her life. "You probably think I am delusional."

"Not at all." He says truthfully. "I admire your ambition."

"You know that being a woman of color in this department is anything but easy, to say at least. There are very few of us to begin with, and even fewer as we climb up the ranking ladder. So I know I am going to face so many difficulties on my way to the top. I am going to fight so many battles, that I wouldn't have to be a part of if I were a white man. I want to put everything I have into my career, and I know having a child won't allow me to do so."

She looks down at the desk, and he doesn't push her to continue, just rocks Anne in his arms back and forth. "People tend to look crookedly at women who say they don't want to have children. Like they are missing their whole purpose of being on this planet or something. Like we're some kind of monsters who hate babies. I am not a monster, and I like children, but I love my career more."

"You are everything but a monster." Sullivan reassures her, and she can see on his face that there are a million other things he wants to say. But they are not there, they are not in the place where they comfort and support each other. "And I definitely believe you have it in you to reach the top, you just have to learn to follow orders before you get there."

"Very funny." She glares at him before asking. "What about you? Do you want to be a father?"

"Oh, this train had already left the station a long time ago, and I was left behind on the platform to watch it go." That's all he says, and it is somewhat unfair. She has opened up her heart to him, and he is just using the oldest cliche in the book about a missed opportunity.

Sullivan hands back Anne to Andy as he mumbles an excuse about having a lot of work to catch up on, then disappears behind the captain's office door.

Andy and Anne both look at each other for a long time. The baby has deep brown eyes, and she seems at ease, even though the person she has obviously liked better out of the two is gone by now.

"This man has an effect on you, yes, yes he has." Andy talks in a baby-like voice, the one new parents usually use to talk to their infant. "He made you calm down. He made you satisfied by just being in between his arms." She observes , and the baby just keeps staring at her. "Well, he has that impact on women. And it is OK to like him now, but you can't keep doing it when you grow older, no you can't. Because men like him will make your body feel so good, but at the same time they will mess with your mind so bad." Is she really talking about her sex life with a baby?

Since she has nothing better to do, Andy spends a few long minutes with Anne nestled between her arms, staring at the closed door of Sullivan's office, before she adds. "I guess that you and I, we are both on the same boat here, little baby girl."