Today's story is written by ReadsForFun

On a quiet Saturday morning in December, Robert was at home, about to pour his first cup of coffee, when he received an unexpected text from Andy.

"Are you decent?"

Robert glanced down at his ratty t-shirt and sweatpants and pondered how he wanted to reply. When they were married, she had teased him mercilessly about his collection of well-worn t-shirts, some of which, she was convinced, were older than she was. Robert had spent much of his adult life in the uniform, both in the Marines and in the SFD, and he took pride in his appearance when he was at work or out socially. However, when he was at home alone, or with someone who had sworn "to death do us part," he had a collection of old, comfortable t-shirts that appeared on lazy weekend mornings. None of them were quite as old as Andy, but several dated back several decades to his time in the service.

"It depends on what you mean by decent," Robert texted back.

"Alone?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I'm coming up your walkway right now," Andy texted back.

She had been parked outside his house, waiting for confirmation that she would not be interrupting anything by showing up on his doorstep early on a weekend morning. When he had said he was alone, she grabbed a garment bag from the backseat and made her way toward the door.

She didn't bother to knock, knowing that Robert wouldn't keep her waiting. Within seconds, the door swung open, and Robert stood there, one hand on the door frame, and a puzzled look on his face.

"Well, if you had known what you were wearing," Andy said without preamble, as she ducked under his outstretched arm and entered the living area. "I wouldn't have had to ask if you were alone. You don't wear those awful t-shirts around anyone you're trying to impress."

While Andy enjoyed teasing him about the t-shirts, she never minded them when they were married. He was so "buttoned up" so much of the time that when the old t-shirts made their first appearance after they were married, she took it as a sign that he felt truly comfortable around her.

"Well, good morning to you too," Robert quipped.

"Good morning," Andy responded sweetly.

All kidding aside, Andy needed his help this morning, and she needed him to agree quickly if they wanted to arrive at the event on time.

"Coffee?" Robert asked, gesturing toward the kitchen where there was a fresh pot. "I was just about to pour myself a cup."

Robert had taken note of the garment bag in Andy's hands, but as she hadn't given any indication of what it was, or why she had shown up on his doorstep this morning, and knowing his ex-wife as well as he did, he figured he could use some caffeine as he waited for her explanation. While they had a friendly rapport at work, they definitely had not reached the stage of their friendship where they just popped into each others' homes on a Saturday morning.

Ignoring Robert's offer of coffee, Andy decided to get to the reason for her unplanned visit.

"Are you doing anything this morning?"

"Laundry, cleaning up around the house, maybe hitting the grocery store…" Robert began.

"Do you think you could help me out? Ben was going to do it, but Pru came home with the sniffles yesterday. They think it's just a cold, but then one of the kids at her preschool tested positive for COVID. Pru's negative, but Ben thought he should stay home just to be sure…"

"Andy," Robert interrupted. "What do you need?"

He got the feeling that the ask was a pretty big one, otherwise Andy would not be rambling.

"I do some volunteer work for a local agency, and they're having a holiday party. I'm on my way to help, but we really need someone else…"

"Andy," Robert interrupted again, just wanting to get to the reason for her visit. "Why don't you just tell me what you need and give me a chance to say yes or no?"

"Ok," Andy responded, taking a deep breath, unzipping the garment bag slightly, and revealing the contents. "We need someone to dress as Santa for the pictures."

"The costume is in here, along with mine. I'm going to be an elf. I was going to change at Ben's and we were going to drive over together. It's only for a couple of hours, and they really need someone…"

"Ok," Robert agreed quickly as Andy continued her unnecessarily detailed explanation.

"Ok?" Andy asked, not quite sure she had heard him correctly. She figured she would have to do some more persuading.

"Yeah, ok. I can take care of the chores when I get back…" Robert paused for a moment. "And as you said, it's for a good cause. Hand me the costume and I'll change upstairs. You can use the downstairs bathroom."

Within a few minutes, they each emerged fully costumed and ready to go. The "one size fits all" costume was a little short on Robert, but he had accessorized with a pair of black work boots, and with the padded belly, fur-trimmed red coat and hat, and fake white beard, he made a pretty convincing Santa. Andy, for her part, was adorned in a green dress with a red collar, a matching hat, and red and white striped tights.

Andy couldn't help but grin as she saw Robert in his costume. However, just as she began to reach to pull her phone out of her pocket, Robert shot down that idea.

"If I see any pictures of me in this getup floating around the station, I'll never help you with anything again," Robert groused, but the sternness of his tone was offset by the mirth Andy could see in his eyes. She was sure he was as amused by her outfit as she was by his.

They climbed into Andy's car and made the quick trip to the location of the event. As Andy parked the car, Robert glanced at the lettering above the door and pointed out the obvious.

"Andy," Robert began "This is an animal shelter."

"Yes," Andy explained. "I've been volunteering for the Seattle Humane Society."

"So, these pictures you mentioned…I'm going to be taking pictures with dogs?" Robert clarified, finally understanding why Andy was more interested in describing the illness at Pru's school and her plans for changing at Ben's house than the details of the activity.

"Dogs and a few cats, mostly, but the Humane Society also finds homes for smaller critters-guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits…" Andy began, before remembering a story she had heard from one of the other volunteers.

"Oh…one year they helped rehome a ball python and the new family brought it in for pictures."

Sitting there in Andy's car outside the shelter, on a rare Saturday morning when he wasn't working, Robert couldn't help but question the wisdom of agreeing to help Andy. She had clearly intentionally left out some important details, but they were here now, and given that he was already in his costume, he really couldn't back out, a fact he was sure that Andy realized.

"It's one of their biggest fundraisers of the year," Andy explained. "People come in all day to get pictures of their pets and Santa. There are several teams of Santas and helpers, so we'll only be here for two hours."

Robert sighed before opening the car door. "Ok, let's get this over with."

Despite his initial hesitation, the two hours went quickly. Robert and Andy played their parts well, with Robert smiling broadly for the camera regardless of the animal that was placed in his lap. Andy helped out the photographer by keeping the line orderly and did her best to get the animals and their humans looking in the direction of the camera by shaking a variety of pet toys as she stood behind the camera.

After two hours, their shift was done, and Robert and Andy headed over to the refreshment table.

"You owe me, you know that, right?" Robert asked sternly, wagging his finger at her playfully. "Big."

Andy handed him a plate with a chocolate chip cookie and ladled out a cup of hot cocoa from the slow cooker with a sheepish grin. She had intentionally left out some of the details, but she didn't think he was really all that upset with her.

"Yeah," Andy replied as she gestured to some chairs where they could sit to enjoy their treats. "I know. Thanks for being such a good sport…and the next time Beckett assigns you some purposeless manual labor at the station, let me know, and I'll take care of it."

Robert grimaced. Beckett still didn't like him, but thankfully the outright hostility seemed to have dissipated.

"Thanks, Andy, but there's really no need. This turned out to be fun, and it definitely helped out a good cause."

They sat in silence for a moment, eating their cookies and sipping their hot cocoa.

"So," Andy began without preamble. "You were alone this morning. I thought you might have company."

"Nope," he replied succinctly.

It didn't take a mind reader to figure out what Andy was doing. Ever since she told him that she suspected he was dating Ross, he found her watching him a rather closely. He knew he shouldn't have lied to her, but at the time he wanted to give the relationship time to grow before he subjected it to the scrutiny of others, even a friend like Andy. Now, it was clear that she was hoping for some new information.

"And your lady friend?" Andy asked. "Did you follow my suggestion and ask for what you wanted?"

"You do realize that every time you say 'lady friend' you sound like someone's grandma, right?" Robert teased, trying to change the topic.

Andy chuckled for a moment. She knew there was someone in his life, but she didn't know the extent of the relationship, so somehow "lady friend," seemed like the appropriate term. Word choice aside, though, she was still curious.

"Don't change the subject," Andy replied. "Did you talk to her?"

"I did."

If this was their new dynamic, he wasn't sure he was ready for it. A quick casual conversation on the way to a call was one thing, but he sharing the details of his dating life, or hearing the specifics about Andy's, wasn't something he was going to encourage, at least not any time soon.

"And…"? Andy asked, eyebrows raised.

"It's complicated, but I think I want more than she does, and I'm either going to have to be ok with that, or we're going to have to break things off," Robert explained with a shrug, before taking another sip of his hot chocolate and looking toward the open room.

Sitting next to him like this, Andy could tell by his body language that the situation was hurting him.

"You're a good man, Robert Sullivan," she began. "And you deserve someone who's all in."

Andy paused for a second, and Robert turned to look at her.

"You deserve someone who can reciprocate all the love you have to give," Andy continued, before pausing a second time, before plowing ahead with what was on her mind.

"Someone who is 100% committed to your relationship, no matter what life throws at you. If this woman isn't willing to do all of that, then you should let her go, and find someone who will."

As Andy spoke, she realized that perhaps she wasn't only talking about Robert's "lady friend" anymore. Maybe she and Robert never would have made it, but he definitely deserved better than someone who cut and run the first time they ran into real difficulty. But, that wasn't a conversation to be had in the community room at the Seattle Human Society.

Robert gave a small nod, but he too had recognized the subtext in Andy's comments and didn't want their conversation to go in a direction that neither of them was ready for.

"Yeah, you're probably right," he agreed. "So, who are you going to ask to be Santa next year. Me or Ben? I think my performance definitely earned me a chance at the role next year."

"Definitely you," Andy said with a laugh. "For as long as you want it, the job is yours."