Title: Chloroform at 2AM
Summary: Graham receives a very familiar early morning visitor, with a strange request.
Note: Prompted by afirewiel on tumblr for the Ridiculous Sentence Prompts meme (the first sentence). Also for BossLady, who wondered: "did Andie join in on the teasing or try to play match maker with those two." Set after Still Didn't Send it.

"Why exactly do you need chloroform at 2AM?"

Andie huffed, her hand still outstretched. "Now I've got to explain myself? Just hand it over, Humbert."

Graham rubbed his eyes tiredly and leaned heavily against the doorway. "Andie, chemical substances –"

"Are exactly what I need to deal with this situation." Andie's whole demeanor changed next, from hard and demanding, to big eyes and pouting lip. "Please, Humbert? I really, really need it."

He couldn't help laughing at the pathetic picture she made. "Andie, I swear to … look, I don't keep chloroform just around. In fact, I don't keep chloroform at all."

Andie's eyebrow arched. "I thought all officers had it?"

"Criminals," Graham replied wryly. "You're thinking of criminals."

"Oh," she replied, the word long and drawn out. She rolled her shoulders, her coat coming off with it as she pushed past him. "I guess I'll just take a drink, then."

Graham watched her take over his kitchen table with a sigh. "Andie, you work in a bar that your parents own. Why are you stealing liquor from me?"

She leaned across the table to grab the whiskey from beside the toaster. She twisted off the cap and took a sniff, her body shuddering. "Well, it's not because you keep the good stuff around."

He finally relented, letting the door fall shut. He rubbed his palms over his eyes for a moment, stifling the yawn that threatened. He pulled a mug off the dishrack and handed it to her before taking a seat. "Best my city job can afford."

"Also known as crap," Andie said, slamming back a quick pour. She winced and poured another. "Still gets the job done, I guess."

He made a hum of agreement and crossed his arms over his chest. He watched her silently as she fiddled with the mug.

Andie pulled a hand through her dark hair. "Nothing big, I swear. Just issues with Jess. I just need to knock her out for a bit, tie her to a chair, you know, make her see reason."

"Because that's always seen to be effective," Graham replied dryly. Simmons' ex could be a pain, he knew, and Andie always seemed to get right in the middle of it, if only so Daisy wouldn't. "What's the problem this time?"

She scratched along the underside of her arm, her head shaking in frustration. "Leo couldn't make one of Daisy's games. You know, with the Elliot case ending? Now Jess is taking it as a reason to try and cut his hours."

"Which won't work. You know this, Andie," he said. "Legally, she can't do it."

"But she'll try! And that's just as bad! Daisy will be dragged through all the court crap again, and Leo will be upset, and it's just—just—"

"Not fair," he finished. "I'm not saying it is. Maybe Simmons can convince her not to go through it, though."

She sniffed, her lips turned into a sharp frown. "You know, in another life, she could have been my friend, you know? All the stories Leo's told me, about how she was when they first got together? She was a pretty cool person. I just don't know how you can go from that, to this. This person who manipulates everything and uses their child in these petty fights … it's so damn confusing."

He leaned across the table to give her shoulder a comforting squeeze. "You just need to keep doing what you're doing. Keep supporting him, keeping being good to Daisy, and don't try to chloroform people."

The corner of her mouth tweaked into a smile. "And continue coming to my buddy's apartment at two in the morning?"

"If we could avoid that …," Graham said with a chuckle.

Andie's smile turned more into a Cheshire grin before his eyes. "How else am I going to ask about the drinks you and my other favorite patron shared?"

Graham groaned. "I should have known this was coming."

Andie clapped her hands in delight. "Yes, you should have! It's the perfect distraction, Humbert, and I want to be sure you're doing right by my girl."

"It was just a couple drinks," Graham tried weakly. A flush of warmth hit him, though, as he thought of Emma. Just a couple glances, and he was self-aware enough to admit he was hooked. Now, talking with her … it felt like something else. Something more.

Andie raised her mug to her lips, and he could practically read the gloating in her dark eyes. "So, you would be all right if I tried to set her up with Jake in Robbery, then? He always comes into the bar, he seems like he'd be a good match."

Graham tried to keep his face impassive, even as a sharp pain coiled within him at the thought. "If that's what she wants, I won't stop it from happening."

Andie let the mug clatter to the table, her eyes widening. A couple phrases in Vietnamese were said under her breath before, "oh, hon, you've got it bad, don't you?"

Heat filled his face, and his nose scrunched as he looked away. "What can you tell from one night, anyway? And I didn't even – we're not going out or anything."

She shook her head and leaned back, a smug look crossing her face. "No worries. She's just as smitten."

He hoped his eyes didn't let down how eager he felt at the statement. "Really?" he couldn't help asking.

She laughed. "Oh, sweets, yes. I know miss bounty-hunter, and if she didn't feel anything she would have left you in the dust, much like Pickett. The fact that she not only talked with you, but stayed at your table for three hours?"

He pressed his lips together, shaking his head. "It was just us talking about how we might know each other. And then we just got onto other topics."

Andie nodded, then leaned forward to rest her chin on her hand.

"No, seriously, we might have known each other as kids, when we were in the foster system. But we couldn't pinpoint it. Then we started talking about Maine, and then about our jobs, and then we just got onto other things. You know, like the installation at the Park, and the best pizza between 101st and 89th, then about what music we liked and the last movie we saw and her kid and …."

Andie only grinned from her seat.

He watched her for a moment, letting a cautious smile spread across his face. "So, you're saying this is a good thing?"

She giggled and rose, leaning over to press a kiss to the crown of his head. "I think you need to sleep on this, Clueless Humbert."

"Andie …."

"She's usually there on Fridays!" she called, then the door slammed shut.

Graham let out a low breath, his mind tracing again over the conversation with Emma. The familiarity struck again, along with the comforting heat of something that carved along the deepest recesses of him, stirring his heart in a way he's certain he's never felt.

Hasn't he? The recognition and the pull had him reeling in a way that felt like his stomach was dropping out and his mind was floating, then there was something … a roadblock before it spiraled into realization.

He swallowed thickly, then knocked back the last of Andie's drink. He could think about it later.