Chapter 2
"Hey Robin!" Regina called, a big smile spreading over her face. She and Robin became close friends after Robin's wife, Marian, and Regina's fiance, Daniel were killed 10 months ago. They helped support one another deal with their losses.
"Gina!" Robin smiled and hugged her. "Ready?"
"Yeah." She smiled as he opened the car door for her.
Robin had prepared a weekend away for the two of them on the outskirts of town, and they had decided to leave Friday afternoon to maximize the time they could stay.
They started the black Mercedes and started the route to the countryside. Regina rolled down the window and leaned towards the wind closing her eyes. Robin glanced over at her and smiled.
"Ready for a break?" He asked her.
"Yes. I love New York but there's so many people!" Regina said. Robin laughed. "Sometimes I wish I just lived in Kansas or something!" She finished, sticking her hand out the window.
Robin turned the wheel to follow the winding road as they drove away from the city and entered a mountain path surrounded by tall, green trees.
"Well, now you can spend the week at a lake with the deers and the squirrels and no people for 50 miles!" Robin said lightheartedly. Regina laughed.
"I think I found a synonym for heaven!" She cried as the wind whipped her hair around. Robin laughed and they drove further into the mountain.
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Catherine and Kono walked through Central Park, chatting about the different things happening in their lives and occasionally stopping to admire part of the landscape around them. Suddenly Catherine's phone rang scaring off a flock of ducks.
Checking the caller I.D., Catherine turned to Kono, "Sorry I have to take this, but it shouldn't be too long." Walking a couple feet away she answered the phone, "Hey there sailor."
"Hey there." Steve's voice came across the other line, "Your friend still there?"
"Kono? Yeah she's still here. Do you know when you're coming home?"
"Should be in the next couple of days."
"Okay." Catherine said softly.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Fine… just… I really miss you."
"Same, but hey, it's not that much longer."
"I know."
"Oh, I got a personal call from the Admiral today. Should I be worried?" Steve lightly joked, in an attempt to cheer up his girlfriend.
"Maybe." Catherine let out a slight laugh.
"I should go."
"Okay."
"Love you."
"Love you." Catherine said, ending the call and returning to her friend's side.
"Who was that?" Kono asked.
"Steve."
"Ah, Mr. Super SEAL"
"Shut up. Anyways when does your flight leave, tomorrow."
"Noon."
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"I figured out what to do!" Andrew burst through the doors of the police station. Yes, the one he's 'banned' from. Emma whipped around. She was the only one there at the moment given it was still pretty early in the morning.
"You're gonna call Alyssa and get back together so you can stop moping!"
"No."
"Oh... Go on,"
"I'm going to conduct an experiment!" He declared.
"Oh, Lord help us all..."
"No," Andrew rolled his eyes. "It's not dangerous. I'm going to research the chemistry behind love!" Emma stared at him.
"What?"
"Well, I already researched about it, but everyone pretty much has."
"Yes, because it totally primary school stuff." Andrew rolled his eyes...again.
"You can help me with the experiment!" He said, smiling.
"Experiment including..." Emma said, prompting Andrew to continue.
"Okay well there are three stages of falling in love; Lust, Attraction, and Attachment. I want to see if we can spot the signs of these stages in live subjects." He said laying out papers on Emma's desk.
"Live subjects being..." Emma prompted again, dreading the answer.
"Robin and Cath." Andrew stated. Emma's eyes bugged out of her head.
"What?" She yelped. "Robin and Catherine aren't together!"
"No, that's not what I meant." Andrew sighed. "Robin has a new girlfriend, right? And Cath has that seal...otter guy. You know, the one that's like a fisherman or.. something." Emma deadpanned.
"You mean the Navy SEAL?" She said.
"Yeah! That guy! What was his name? Dave? Kevin? Uh.."
"Steve."
"Yeah! Steve." Emma rolled her eyes at her best friend's antics.
"So what, we're just gonna stalk them on their dates?"
"No! Observe from a proper distance." Andrew corrected.
"What are we exactly looking for?" Emma was still lost.
"Ha! So you are on board! Yes!" Andrew pumped his fist in the air. "But we're looking for how they behave on their dates. Since both couples have been together for a little while, I think they would be past the first stage and in the second. We want to see if these chemicals are present in their bloodstream."
Emma still marveled at how quickly Andrew could switch from being her goofy friend to a completely professional scientist.
"The second stage is.. attraction?" She clarified.
"Yeah, attraction is like the 'love struck' stage." Andrew made quotation marks in the air for emphasis. "In this stage, it's hard for the person to think of anything else besides their lover. They usually lose their appetite or sleep less, and are constantly daydreaming."
"Oh, so I just what? Look to see if I can catch Catherine daydreaming?" Emma asked.
"Well, yes and no. That's not really what's important. A major role of this stage is played by a group of neurotransmitters called monoamines." Emma nodded. Andrew was using words she couldn't understand, he's definitely back to normal.
"There are three, you've probably heard of the first. Dopamine."
"Ah." Emma confirmed.
"It's also something that can be stimulated by cocaine and nicotine which is what makes them so addictive." Andrew finished.
"Yeah, that was in our training." Emma commented.
"But the second is norepinephrine, though, you probably know it as adrenaline." Andrew said. Emma nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I always get rushes of adrenaline on car chases."
"It gets the heart racing and makes people start sweating. That's why people always say their palms are sweating when they're around their crush." Andrew said, elaborating.
"Oh! Yeah that happened when I met my boyfriend -" Emma stopped short glancing at Andrew. He was waiting expectantly. Emma had always refused to tell Andrew her boyfriend's name and refused to introduce the two. Now, Andrew's taken to calling him 'Emma's imaginary boyfriend'.
"Go on..." Andrew prompted.
"No, you go on."
"No, really."
"Please I insist." Andrew sighed, knowing he wouldn't get anymore information out of Emma.
"Fine. The third and last monoamine for the second stage is serotonin. It's a mood stimulator most commonly associated with depression, but it is one of love's most important chemicals. "
"Ok, I think I get. Whats the third stage? It's like attachment or something right?"
"Yes actually. The third stage is attachment. It has two important hormones that are released by the nervous system, Oxytocin and Vasopressin. Attachment is the stage that keeps people together, for a long lasting commitment, Like when they want to start a family. Oxytocin is found in breast milk, it creates strong bonds between mother and child and then between adult partners later in life. Vasopressin on the other hand controls the kidneys, making sure they don't fail."
"You lost me. What do kidneys have to do with the third stage of love?"
"Well lets just say Vasopressin presents itself in times of high intimacy."
"Ok I did not need to know that."
"You asked" Andrew said putting his hands up defensively.
"So we just observe their dates and check for these neurotransmitting things?" Emma asked.
"Uh, kind of? Let's just say that..."
"Cool. I'm in." Emma declared. Andrew smiled. "And that's it right?" She asked.
"Well, there's one more thing I forgot to mention." Andrew said meekly. Emma frowned.
"Andrew..." She warned.
"We need to get blood samples without their knowledge."
"ANDREW!"
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Andrew waited for the crosswalk signal to turn green. He was on his way to meeting Emma and Catherine for lunch. Despite Catherine's displeasure with the cheery chemist she could always go for a nice ham sandwich.
The light turned green and Andrew sauntered up to the restaurant. Catherine and Emma were already seated at a table.
"Ladies." Andrew announced his presence.
"Oh! Andrew!" Emma turned around and shoved a sandwich at him. "Eat this!"
"Why?"
"Since when do you care?"
"True." He took a big bite of the sandwich. Catherine chuckled.
"You know I could've easily poisoned that." She said. Andrew stopped chewing. Emma swatted Catherine.
"Shush, I'm trying to get his opinion." Catherine rolled her eyes.
"Opinion on what?" Andrew asked.
"That this is the best sandwich in the world." Emma said.
"And his opinion matters because..." Catherine asked.
"He's from Italy!" Emma said.
"Really?"
"Yeah that's why I wave my hands around all the time, I'm Italian it's what I do."
"So?! The sandwich?" Emma asked, excitedly. Andrew took another bite and chewed thoughtfully.
"It could use more mustard." He said.
"Be serious Andrew."
"I'm being completely serious. Can I get another ice cube?! Ice cube please!" He held up his glass. Emma slapped him on the arm. "Ow!" He pouted.
"Fine." Emma opened a bottle of mustard and squeezed a big blob onto Andrew's sandwich.
"Oy!"
"You wanted more mustard." Catherine pointed out.
"You people... have no culinary sense!" Andrew says.
"Says the chemist..." Emma said. Catherine nudged her.
"Cooking is Chemistry, Em." Catherine said. Emma's face turned red.
"Dammit." She hung her head. Andrew shifted and stood up from his chair.
"Alright, I'm off," Andrew said dejectedly. "I'm going to get a golden toof."
"Toof?" Emma said.
"Yes, toof!" Andrew went on his way to becoming a pirate.
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The next day Emma drove her yellow bug to Andrew's apartment to work on his experiment. Why she's doing this is beyond her.
"Andrew!" Emma called as she walked into Andrew's apartment. He was currently in his kitchen showing paperwork to someone. This someone was Brian Delgado, Andrew's best friend and physicist. His personality matched Andrew's as they both loved their work, and got very excited about it. For example...
"Dude!" Brian said putting down one of the papers and turning to Andrew.
"Dude!"
"Duuuude!" Brian high fived Andrew.
"Beats that other experiment right?!"
"That thing's dust, man!" They high fived again. Emma stared at them, mentally facepalming. Yup. Definitely Andrew's best friend. They turned to look at the blonde sergeant, noticing her for the first time.
"Emma!" Andrew said. Emma walked up to the table and crossed her arms.
"So, you like the experiment then?" Emma asked Brian.
"Who wouldn't?!" Emma raised an eyebrow.
"And I guess you also have no problem stalking our friends on their dates?" She asked.
"It's not stalking, it's science!" Brian stressed. Emma shook her head and sat down in a chair. "Well, if you don't like it, why are you doing it?"
"I needed somewhere to try out these new glasses." Emma put on a pair of sunglasses with a black frame. "It's too damn foggy these days." Brian shook his head and raised an eyebrow at Andrew, silently saying 'this is who you hang out with?'. Andrew shrugged.
"Cops."