A little Valentine's Day Surrera fluff, since heaven knows the show isn't giving us any. This is my contribution to the Surrera Countdown on Twitter: 9 days and counting.

Captain Andy Herrera stood before the firefighters in front of her. It wasn't her first lineup with her team at 19, but the novelty hadn't worn off. She had worked long and hard to get to this place in her career, and she was proud that there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she had earned this promotion. She had distinguished herself as acting captain at 23 and then played a pivotal role in keeping the team together even when Beckett's actions had made it difficult for them to perform to the high standards that had always characterized the A-shift.

"All right, everyone," Andy called out, her tone firm but her mouth turned up in the slightest of smiles. "It's Valentine's Day, and we all know what that means."

"Yeah," Travis called out sarcastically. "Clueless Casanovas injuring themselves trying to make up for the fact that they forgot about the holiday altogether."

"Or some desperate guy trying to get lucky by cooking a romantic dinner, but since he can barely boil water he ends up starting his kitchen on fire," chimed in Theo, as Vic, standing between Travis and her boyfriend, tried to stifle a laugh.

"Ok, ok," Andy began. She didn't mind a little bit of joking during the lineup, but she also knew they would likely have a busy day ahead of them, and she wanted to get everyone started on chores. She was still relatively new to the role of captain at 19, and the number of "drop-by" visits she had from the higher-ups made it clear that she was still under the microscope.

"Yes, we're likely going to have some cooking fires, burns from candles, champagne cork wounds, and even a few knife wounds from inexperienced home chefs, but as always, we're going to treat everyone with the utmost professionalism…"

Just as Andy was about to finish her thought and send everyone on their way, someone's phone began to ring:

"I need you tonight

'Cause I'm not sleepin'

There's somethin' about you, girl

That makes me sweat."

Andy couldn't help but laugh. "Really guys? Isn't INXS a little on the nose? Valentine's Day or not, couldn't you have picked something a little more original…or at least something from this century?"

As the lyrics to "Need Yout Tonight" began to play a second time, Travis attempted to stifle a laugh, while glancing toward the corner where Andy had dropped her belongings.

"Cap…" he began, making no attempt to hide his amusement at this particular turn of events. "I think that's your phone."

Andy felt the blood rush to her face. While it wasn't exactly a secret that she and Robert were dating, they had decided that they wanted to keep things quiet as they figured out if there was something more to their relationship than friendship, and perhaps a wistfulness for what might have been. Keeping their private life private had been made a little easier by the fact that he had been promoted back to captain, and had taken a position that had him dividing his time between administrative work at SFD headquarters, and instructing at the Fire Academy.

"I'm going to kill him," Andy muttered under her breath, as she hurried across the barn to silence her phone, while the firefighters under her command had a small laugh at her expense.

Robert was the only one who could have changed her ringtone, and knowing his quirky sense of humor, she was sure he timed his phone call when he assumed she would be overseeing the lineup.

The phone silenced, Andy returned to the line of firefighters, some of whom were still chuckling and others were trying desperately to ignore the subtext of the ringtone and focus on the day ahead.

"As I was saying," Andy continued, trying to regain her professional composure. "Do your jobs like you know how to do them. Regardless of our questions about the common sense of the people we'll encounter today, let's not make their bad days any worse. Now, let's get started on chores before we get a call."

The team dispersed to get started on their tasks, but before she joined them, she had a quick message to send. Picking up her phone, she saw that Robert had not left a voice message, but he had sent a quick text: a laughing face emoji, followed by a heart.

She couldn't help but smile. While she missed working with him on a daily basis, having him in a different chain of command made things less complicated between them, and as he had gotten a little older, he had realized that perhaps the daily physical demands of firefighting were not part of his long-term plans. However, maintaining a leadership position outside of the firehouse also allowed him to be a little more relaxed. As captain of 19 or battalion chief, he never would have done something quite so suggestive, particularly when Andy was his subordinate.

Her text response to him was short and sweet: "Revenge is a dish best served cold" followed by a devil emoji.

She wasn't sure how she would pay him back for his little prank, but she was certain she would find something.

A few months later…

For the few weeks after Valentine's Day, Robert had been on alert, checking his phone for tampering, making sure his uniform hadn't been altered in any way, watching for anything that might have been staged to drop on him from above, but as the weeks went by and Andy hadn't found a way to get revenge, he eventually forgot about his prank and Andy's threat of revenge.

Today was his birthday, and while things were still going great between him and Andy, he had hoped that perhaps they would have been further along in their relationship. They had been dating, Andy had been seeing a therapist, and he was still going to meetings and spending time with Richard to support his sobriety. Personally and professionally, they had never been better. However, the one time he had brought up the subject of getting remarried, Andy had quickly shot him down. Now that there was yet another number added to his age, he couldn't help but reflect on their conversation from a few weeks prior.

"Robert, you know I love you, and we're in a good place now," Andy explained. "I just don't want to do anything to mess that up."

"I love you, you love me, and we want to be together," Robert countered. "Why not make it official?"

"Because we made it official once," Andy explained. "And that didn't work out very well. What's the rush?"

"Rush?" Robert asked, trying not to let frustration creep into his voice. "We've been dating for a year, and we were dancing around our feeling for a while before that. I wouldn't exactly call that a rush."

Andy heard the slight exasperation creeping into his voice, and reached out to cover his hand with hers.

"The first time around, we were both looking for something solid to ground us. My dad was dying, and you were just barely sober and hadn't dealt with either the CRP or the ramifications of your drug use. We thought that getting married would hold us together and give us something to get us through the rough times we knew we were going to face. Then the first time we hit a rough patch, it all fell apart."

Andy paused. While nothing she said was false, she knew it wasn't the complete truth.

Taking a breath, she continued: "It didn't just fall apart. I ran. I ran, and I hurt you, and that is something I'm still learning to live with."

Robert looked deeply at his wife. She had worked hard to get herself to a place where she could take responsibility for what had happened, and understand the reasons for her behavior. She also apologized, more than once.

"Andy, I forgave you a long time ago. How about you try to forgive yourself?"

"It's not just that," Andy replied. "Right now, we're building a real foundation. One that will support us regardless of what life throws at us. I'm not saying I don't ever want to get married, just that I need more time.'

Robert knew he had no other choice but to concede. While he may have thought they were ready to take the next step, Andy clearly didn't. While Andy was responsible for the dissolution of their marriage, he knew that he had pressured her into getting married in the first place. Maybe if he had listened when she told him that she didn't want to get married just to check a box on an HR form, they could have skipped all of the heartache they caused one another.

"Ok," Robert agreed. "I can give you that."

As Robert entered his office at the SFD headquarters, he couldn't help but think about where he was in his life. It was his 50th birthday, and while his life hadn't turned out exactly the way he had expected, he was doing good work within the SFD, and he and Andy were finally in a good place. The road he had taken to this point in his life had not been smooth or easy, but he supposed it made him appreciate the positives a little more.

Just as he sat down at this desk, he heard a knock on the door. Glancing up, he saw a man hidden behind a huge bouquet of flowers. "Delivery for Captain Sullivan," the young man called out.

Even without checking for a card, Robert knew immediately who had sent the flowers. Andy had played it cool that morning, suggesting that they celebrate the next day when they were both home, but he suspected she wouldn't let the actual date of his birthday go by without a little fanfare.

Robert signed for the flowers and returned to his desk. He had some reports he needed to submit to the mayor. While not the most exciting work, documenting the successes of Crisis One allowed the mayor to advocate for more funding from the city, and more funding meant more people getting the help they needed, and fewer police and fire resources were going to mental health calls. This was the work that Dean had wanted to do, and he was glad he could honor his legacy in this small way.

About an hour later, Robert was staring intently at the spreadsheet in front of him when he heard another knock on his door.

Glancing up a second time, he saw another figure, this time hidden by the largest bundle of balloons he had ever seen.

"Delivery for Captain Sullivan," he heard for the second time that day.

He repeated his earlier actions, getting up and signing for the delivery, this time placing them in the corner of the room, since putting them on his desk would leave no room for anything else. He glanced around for a card, but like the first delivery, there was none. However, it didn't take a lot of sleuthing to guess who they were from. Andy, he knew, had decided to really help him commemorate his birthday…and anyone who happened to walk by his office would know it.

As the day progressed, the deliveries kept coming, approximately every hour: fruit, cookies, and additional flowers and balloons. By mid-afternoon, his small office was practically overflowing.

Mid-afternoon, he was attempting, somewhat unsuccessfully, to get some work done when, he heard yet another knock on his door. Without looking up, he groaned and said: "What is it now?"

"Captain Sullivan!" he heard a female voice say somewhat sternly.

At the sound of Chief Ross's voice, he quickly pushed his chair away from this desk and stood, beginning to explain.

"About this," he began. "It's my birthday, and while they have no card, I'm guessing this is all Andy's doing."

After looking around Robert's office impassively for a moment, Chief Ross broke into a smile. Their breakup had been amicable, each of them realizing they were allowing sentimentality rather than true love to draw them together, and they found that they were able to work together quite well despite their romantic history together.

"And is there a reason she is quite so enthusiastic about celebrating your birthday?" Ross asked drolly.

Robert sighed. By the fourth delivery, he was pretty sure that this was the "revenge" Andy had warned him about on Valentine's Day. While she was always one to remember birthdays, this level of attention was over the top, and clearly designed to bring him a level of attention that would make him a little uncomfortable, much like his ringtone prank had done to her.

"Well, for Valentine's Day, I changed the ringtone on her phone to something that was probably a little embarrassing for her, and then made sure to call her at just about the worst time possible," Robert admitted a little sheepishly.

"Well, as this is getting a little out of control," Ross noted, "I suggest you apologize profusely and pray she takes pity on you."

"Well, I have to be at 19 a bit later to check on the preparation for the next clinic day. I'll see what I can do," Robert explained, before continuing. "And I'll pack all of this stuff up when I leave for the day."

Ross wasn't actually upset. Andy had advised her of her plan before she put it into place, and Ross had given her approval. She had moved on from their relationship and was able to see that Andy made Robert happy in a way that she was never able to.

'You do that," Ross commented, before heading back to her own office.

A few hours later, Robert was striding into the barn at 19, ready to meet with Dr. DeLuca and Jack about their plans for the clinic the next day. However, despite the fact that the trucks were parked outside, and the clinic was set up, Jack and Carina were nowhere to be found. Making his way to the beanery, he was surprised at how quiet the station was. As he walked down the hallway, he was greeted by shouts of "Happy Birthday" and "Suprise." Andy had clearly organized a small birthday celebration with the A-shift.

After greeting his former teammates, and thanking them for the birthday celebration, he quickly found Andy, and whispered to her: "Ok, you win. Can we please put an end to all of the deliveries? My office hardly has any room for me to work in it anymore."

"Maybe," Andy teased. "But only after you answer this question: Have you learned that starting a prank war with me is a bad idea?"

"Yeah," Robert admitted. "I promise I'll never mess with your phone again."

Knowing she had won, Andy quickly acquiesced. "Ok," she confirmed. "No more deliveries."

Thankfully, the party went along uninterrupted. The team had time to relax and enjoy each other's company, and as the party began to quiet down, Andy knew she had one more thing she needed to do to solidify her "win" against Robert. As Robert chatted with Jack and Carina about the clinic, she walked to the lounge next to the beanery, grabbed her phone, and began a call to Robert.

Within seconds, the sounds of Bruno Mars's voice emerged from his phone, thankfully loud enough to be heard throughout the room:

"'Cause it's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do

Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you"

Startling Robert from his conversation, Robert grabbed his phone from his back pocket and silenced it before it could begin the chorus a second time. As he did, he wasn't surprised to see that the call had originated from Andy's phone.

The room was suddenly silent, with everyone looking between Robert and Andy to determine what, if anything, the ringtone meant. Robert, himself, was wondering the same thing. Glancing at Andy, his eyes asked the question that he hoped he knew the answer to. Was this Andy's way of telling him that she was ready for them to get remarried?

The grin on her face and a slight nod was all the confirmation he needed. His long legs crossed the room quickly and he pulled her into an embrace. With the cheers of the A-shift in the background, he leaned over to kiss her. This time, they both knew, they were ready for the marriage, and they would have the support of their friends behind them.