Chapter 22 — Andrea and Mike

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"Is this the part where I'm obligated to make jokes about the old ball-and-chain?" Andrea asked, blowing out a puff of cigar smoke.

Normally Andrea had a firm no-smoking policy but, as the best woman during tomorrow's festivities, she had felt the need to do something bachelor-party-esque for Mike. Going anywhere public was out — as the CNO, Mike was far too recognizable to allow either of them to relax. Fortunately, Maddie had been perfectly fine spending the night over at Kara and Danny's house, joking that it was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding anyway. Even better, Tex had come through majorly when sent to obtain cigars. The man not only sourced her a couple of Cubans but also found an excellent bottle of scotch.

At first, Andrea was a little surprised by Tex's casual acceptance of his wife spending the night drinking and smoking with another man. Then Danny, having overheard Andrea mention her confusion to Kara, pointed out that Andrea could have jumped Mike's bones a long time ago. According to Tex, the fact that Andrea never did meant she really just didn't want to. Andrea couldn't help but smile at Tex's logic.

Mike lifted his glass, swirling the amber liquid. "Pretty sure you're supposed to say something more along the lines of wait until the paper is dry on the divorce decree before you jump back in."

Andrea leaned back, head tipped so she could see the stars. She hadn't planned to mention Christine tonight, not wanting to bring up painful memories. But maybe Mike needed to talk about it. "Christine would have been the first person to tell you to do it. She would have said that baby comes first."

"I know." There was a wealth of meaning behind the quiet words. Mike might know — probably did know — that Andrea was right, and it was likely the only reason he signed those papers this morning. The ones that legally declared him a single man. Still, Andrea had known Mike for a long time. She suspected that there was still some small part of him imagining having to explain this all to Christine if, by some miracle, she did appear. Because as much as Mike had moved on in all the ways that seemed to matter, Andrea knew him too well to think that he'd completely give up hope — if he had, signing that divorce decree would have been far easier. Suddenly Mike chuckled. "Christine never did learn to hold her tongue. The number of times I caught her lecturing the guys about owning up to their responsibilities. I can actually hear her saying Oh, so you slipped and your dick just fell into her vagina? That's what happened?"

Andrea chuckled. "Is that why you pushed for the wedding now? Before the baby arrives? Because it was the right thing to do?" She paused. "I'm pretty sure that's what Maddie thinks, in case you were wondering."

"Partially," Mike admitted, taking another puff. "But ... I also figured out pretty quick that it's what I wanted too. I'm a forty-six-year-old man. I'm too old to call Maddie my girlfriend. I sound like Diaz, damn it."

"What a romantic," Andrea snorted. "I'm sure Maddie loved that proposal. Please marry me because I'm too old to call you my girlfriend. Trophy wife is much better."

"Hey!" Mike replied. "Maddie's not that much younger." He glanced at Andrea and she saw a sly smile cross his face. "In fact, seems to me that there's a bigger age gap between you and Nolan than there is between me and Maddie. How does it feel to be a trophy wife, Garnett?"

Andrea released a puff of smoke. "Kenneth knows exactly how lucky he is." Which was true. Tex was well aware that, under other circumstances, Andrea never would have looked at him twice. But the reverse was also true. Before the world went to hell, Tex would never have looked twice at Commander Andrea Garnett. There were times when Andrea wondered how it was possible for Bill and Tex to be so completely different, yet both complement her so perfectly. She took a sip of her drink. "And I know how lucky I am — how lucky we both are."

"Amen," Mike replied, and it took Andrea a moment to realize that Mike misunderstood and thought that she was referring to the two of them. Or maybe he just meant they were all lucky. Her thoughts were blurring slightly, presumably a reflection of the excellent scotch. A few moments later, Mike broke the silence. "You two planning on any more kids?"

With anyone else, Andrea would have immediately shut the conversation down. Mike was perhaps the one person who could understand Andrea's uncertainty. "Tex mentioned it. Said he's game if I'm game. Now that Kat's graduated and is moving out, I think he's feeling a bit of an empty nest. But I'm not sure I want to go down that path again."

Mike let that sit. "There are some benefits to not having to make a decision."

Andrea sat forward, just tipsy enough to ask the question. "Speaking of. After all those lectures you gave on the wonders of vasectomies, inquiring minds want to know..."

But before she could continue down that completely-none-of-her-business-and-totally-inappropriate line of thought, the door to the patio swung open to reveal Wolf Taylor. Seeing the look on Wolf's face, Andrea felt herself sobering. "What's the matter, sailor?"

Wolf's gaze swung from Andrea to Mike and back. "Apologies for the interruption, sir, ma'am. But I had to let you know. We," Wolf gestured towards Jessie, who was standing behind him in the doorway, looking like this was the last place in the world she wanted to be, "just saw Captain Chandler."

Of all the things Andrea was expecting Wolf to say, that was not one of them. "What? Where?"

"On our run to West Virginia." Wolf turned towards Mike, his posture stiffening. "He wanted us to pass along a message to Captain Slattery. He said that he found her, and that he's ready to move to stage 2."

Andrea turned to Mike, abruptly realizing... "You don't seem surprised."

Mike's face tensed, then he sighed. "It was need-to-know."

Andrea was officially the second highest ranking Naval Officer in the country, which meant... Apparently the scotch wasn't completely out of her system. She scowled. "Meaning that you were the only one who needed to know?"

"Well, yes," Mike said finally. "Until now. But if Tom made contact, that means he found Shaw."

Shaw. Andrea had wondered why Mike wasn't overly interested in any of the leads they found regarding the woman's whereabouts. He must have been secretly feeding them to Tom for the last year. "We'll need to loop in Cooper and Green to..." Andrea froze, as the reason for Wolf's frozen features became clear. "Cooper doesn't know, does she?"

Mike's jaw worked. "No."

There was dead silence for a solid minute before Andrea found her voice. "You have to tell her, Mike. I understand why you kept this a secret before but, clearly, the cat is out of the box. Sasha needs to know..."

Andrea stopped as Sasha stepped around the corner of the house. Eyes narrowed, she gazed around the patio. "I need to know what?"