Finding Our New Normal

Hello! Welcome to my first fanfic pertaining to Brooklyn Nine-Nine! Recently watched all the way through, currently on my second watch and almost done again (seriously love the show that much!)! This is a fanfic that plays outside the rules, mixing between the fictional world of the 99th precinct and the real lives of Andy and Melissa existing in a world where they didn't have spouses at the time of filming. Play along with me, enjoy the ride as Peraltiago goes rogue in real life!*

Andy had just laid his head against the couch arm and was in the process of kicking off his shoes when a knock wrapped at his trailer door. "Table read in 20, Samberg."

'Good, long enough to get a nap in,' he thought to himself. "Got it, thanks," he called back out to the crew member. With that, he finished kicking his shoes off, set an alarm for 15 minutes on his phone, laid it against his chest and closed his eyes. Working all the hours on set while simultaneously juggling his band and interviews in California and New York, sleep became a foreign concept, but it was something he always felt was worth it, something he had always wanted growing up, so he slept when he could and pushed through with caffeine and a prayer when he felt like giving up.

*ring, ring, ring…ring, ring ring…ring, ring, ring*

Andy's phone continued to ring out into the silence of his trailer. Another knock at the door hadn't even disturbed him. The unknown guest knocked once more and opened the door, stepping inside to find Andy still fast asleep on the couch. Two steps and they were by his side. Kneeling down, their hand pressed on his shoulder while the other stopped the ringing alarm.

"Andy," they whispered softly, so as not to startle him, "Andy, we gotta get to the table read." They pressed into his shoulder once more, starting to stir him awake.

Andy felt the pressure of a hand on his shoulder, and as he came to and remembered where he was, he jumped into a sitting position, audibly shrieking. "Oh my god, Mel, what the hell dude, you scared me!" He rubbed his hand over his face, trying but failing to push away the sleepy feelings that still enveloped him.

"Sorry!" she stood upright, "I was on my way to the table read and heard your alarm ringing endlessly. I figured you were sleeping," she motioned her hand to the couch, "Didn't want you to be late. Let's go!" She walked backwards towards the door, eyes on him.

He offered her a smile and stood, fixing his hair, "Fine, thanks, appreciate it. Let's go see what they have us doing this week." He stepped over her and reached around her, grabbing the handle of the door and unlatching it from its closed position. Standing this closely to her, he could smell her freshly washed hair and it took everything in him not to just push his face into her hair for a longer, stronger whiff. The way she smelled had an overwhelming effect on him, but just before he lost himself to it, he leaned back and motioned for her to exit first. She awkwardly half curtsied and stepped down the stairs, Andy following behind her.

Both arrived to the building only a few minutes later, but late to the time they should've arrived. Joe and Terry whooped at them, laughing about their untimely arrival and both laughed in response as they took their seats next to one another.

Andy grabbed his water bottle and took a swig, capping it and rubbing his hands along his sweatpants. "Ready for more adventures, partner?" he asked Melissa.

She adjusted in her chair, tucking her hair behind her ears in one fell swoop, "Sure am." She side smiled at him and cleared her throat, ready to continue talking. She was cut off by David as he announced they were going to begin their run through and gave a run down of their next episode titled, 'Johnny and Dora'.

"And that's a wrap," David smiled, folding closed his script.

Andy glanced around the room, his eyes finally landing on Melissa, trying to read her thoughts as her face remained neutral, eyes glued to her own script.

She could feel his stare as she tried to mentally calm the thoughts racing through her mind at a mile a minute. Was this really going to happen? Was she actually to a point where her real life had meshed with her fictional life, where her feelings had also developed along with Amy's towards this dorky, loud, nerdy…handsome, funny, charming….guy? 'Get it together!' she chastised herself as she forced eye contact with Andy and offered a smile.

"Ready for this?" Andy's voice was low as he leaned in closer to her, trying to play it cool even though his stomach was doing a full Olympic trampoline routine.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Melissa pulled out finger guns and shook them at Andy. She quickly put her hands under her legs as she tried to laugh off the humility that rose all the way through her cheeks.

"Come by my trailer later," Andy stood and rolled up his script between his hands, "I want to talk about something!" He nodded and walked off, high fiving Joe as he left.

'Come by my trailer later,' echoed through Melissa's thoughts but before she could get too lost within them, Stephanie walked up and sat down where Andy was just sitting. "Hey," she pushed Melissa's arm to get her attention, "what's wrong with you?"

"Wh…what?" Melissa focused back into the present moment, "Oh, uh…nothing."

"Yeah, ok, not buying it. Try again," Stephanie insisted.

Melissa huffed, "Ok, but not here. Let's go." She stood and grabbed Stephanie's wrist and pulled her out of the room and down the hall, into the women's bathroom. After checking that they were alone, Melissa turned to Stephanie and blurted out, "I'm nervous about kissing Andy because I think I like him…" It came out so quickly, it felt like word vomit.

"Yeah, no duh you like him."

"Excuse me?" Melissa retorted.

"It's been obvious for a while now. That chemistry on screen has to come from somewhere," Stephanie half laughed as she pulled her best friend in for a hug.

Melissa's body folded into hers, "Seriously? You knew before I knew myself?"

"I'm just that good, hey, maybe I'm becoming synonymous with Rosa," she laughed once more.

"Oh my god, Steph, it feels so good to get that off my chest. But…" she pulled herself off her friend, leaning back to look her in the eyes, "He wants me to come by his trailer later…"

"So go," she grabbed her cheeks, "You'll be fine."

Melissa's head tilted sideways as she contemplated what Stephanie said. She nodded in agreement and gave her one more hug before they both left the bathroom and headed to Kraft Services for a snack.

Later that night*

Andy had gone back to his trailer and immediately started cleaning the place up. He spent so much of his time between the trailer and set, things had gotten disheveled, clothes tossed on the ground, garbage beginning to overflow, cords dangling from counters for all his electronics.

Two hours later, the trailer looked and smelled much cleaner and Andy hopped in the shower, washing away his early morning workout and the rest of the tiredness that still lingered after his midday nap. He stood under the water, letting it pound against his shoulders, easing away his current stressors and enveloping him in the steam swirling in the air as the heat was trapped in the small confines of the trailer bathroom. He finally felt relaxed enough and turned the water off, only to be met with an echo of knocks coming from the door of his trailer once again. He lifted his wrist to look at his watch, not realizing how much time had passed since he stepped into the shower. He slid the glass door open and stepped out onto the carpet, grabbing his gray towel from the hook and quickly patting himself down before wrapping it around himself. He opened the bathroom door and walked over to the trailer door, unlatching it and stepping back as he was met face to face with Melissa.

"Oh…hi…am I too early?" Her eyes darted up and down his scantily covered frame before locking eyes with him.

"Uh, nope, I clearly wasn't paying attention to the time. Come on in, I'll go get changed." He grabbed at the towel around his waist, suddenly feeling self-conscious and worried it would somehow just drop off his hips.

Melissa stepped inside and kicked off her Ugg's, walking over to the couch and sitting down. She set her hot chocolate cup down on the table next to her and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her hands on top of them. Her mind was reeling about what she had just seen, her heart thumping faster than usual. 'Breathe…in…out…in…out…'

Andy returned from behind his closed bedroom door, now dressed in a black fitted tee and gray sweatpants, coupled with gray slippers. Melissa thought it was so cute to see him sporting slippers. His hair was messy and still wet from the shower and she had to avert her eyes once more to avoid picturing him…'Nope, don't go there, Gallo,' she stopped train of thought once more.

"So, about the script…" Andy sat down and pulled one knee up on to the couch, resting his elbow on the opposite knee.

"Yeah, about that…" she began, pausing to see where he was going to take this.

And here's to Chapter 1! Let me know what you think and if I should continue with this story! I have truly enjoyed writing this first chapter and would love to go on this journey with you all!*