Andy is that?..." Maya whispered to her friend who was standing next to her "yes" Andy said, her face pale like she just saw a ghost "oh shit" maya said quietly looking between Andy and their new captain who was looking directly at her friend.
'What the hell is he doing here?' Andy thought to herself. So many thoughts were running around in Andy's head but mostly she thought about Maddie.
It never accrued to her he'll be back to Seattle and even more back in her life. What is she gonna tell him? What is she gonna tell Maddie? Should she even tell him? He hurt her so much and she'll never let him do that again and never let him near her daughter cause if he meet her and then leave again her little four year old wouldn't be the same. And Andy will blame herself for it.
"Well as chief Ripley here said, I'm Robert Sullivan. I worked in Montana as a lieutenant and before that here in Seattle at station 88" Robert said now looking back and forth between Andy who looked like she was gonna puke and the rest of the team. "I called Sullivan here cause I saw a need in station 19 and I couldn't think of someone better then him" Ripley interrupted before Robert could say something more.
"Now you know me, let's start with names so I could know you and then you'll be dismissed" Robert said and walked towards the line starting his round in the opposite side from Andy.
"Ben warren"
"Victoria Hughes"
"Lieutenant Jack Gibson"
"Dean Miller"
"Maya bishop"
The team introduced themselves and Robert shook each of their hands. standing in front of Andy she couldn't look up to his eyes so she kept her head down looking at his shoes instead.
She was so distracted she didn't notice it was her turn but after a few seconds she heard Robert coughing and said "lieutenant Andrea Herrera" Andy was still looking down "sir" she added and shook his hand for a short second.
"Nice to meat you lieutenant Herrera" Robert had a small smile on his face saying her name after such a long time. When he said Herrera with that rolling r Andy finally looked up. Their gazes locked immediately and neither of them could look away until Maya hit Andy with her elbow gently trying to get her attention off of the new captain who was also her ex boyfriend and the father of her child.
"You're dismissed" Robert said looking at Andy one last time before turning around and leaving with Ripley to the captain's office.
"What was that about?" Jack asked Andy when the two men were behind a closed door.
"What was what about?" She acted confused even thought she knew ecstasy what he was talking about. "It seemed like you tried to kill him with your look... do you know him or something?" Jack explained himself and the others were waiting for Andy's answer.
"What? No I don't. I just umm..." she needed to find an excuse, quickly. "I wanted the job so bad.. it sucks it's an outsider instead" she lies through her teeth. "Yeah... I get it" Jack replied and Andy knew he bought it. Later every member of the team where somewhere else around the firehouse.
Andy was about to go in the shower when an aid car call came in. 'Great' she thought to herself, Maya was on aid car with ear so they could talk about the Robert situation.
She quickly ran down the stairs only to find Robert sitting in the passenger sit and not her best friend.
Andy, confused got in the driver sit and pulled off the barn. An awkward silent filled the air in the car until Andy opened her mouth "what are you doing here?"
He turned his head to her direction but she still was looking at the road "I switched with bishop" he said simply.
Andy started to get really annoying "no. I mean, what are you doing here? In Seattle." She clarified herself.
"A few weeks ago Lucas- I mean, Ripley called me and said I had an open captain job here in Seattle. And before you ask, no I didn't know it was your station when I agreed" he said looking at the road ahead of them.
'Good to know he isn't here for me, that means he doesn't know about Maddie' Andy thought but of course she won't say it. "And when did you find out?" She took a turn on the way to the address.
He looked at her now, she looked as beautiful as in the day they met. "A few days ago. I'm sorry your father had to retire..." he said.
"You don't have to say it you got captain I'm sure you're not that sorry... and if you knew you're coming to my station, why didn't you call me? Or let me know?" her voice was filled with anger which he didn't understand why.
"First of all I am sorry. Cancer is not a joke. And I don't know why I didn't call but that's no excuse. I'm sorry for that too" he said comely looking back to the road.
She didn't say anything back just nodded. They got to the call address and did their job. They ended up bringing the patient to the hospital and then going back to the station. Andy didn't say anything for the entire drive back and Robert also stayed quiet. He understood it was a shock for her to see him after five years so he didn't push.
A few hours after the call Robert was in his office working on some paperwork and Andy was in the reception desk writing a report on the call they had earlier this day when a little girl came running through the doors.
"mommy!" Maddie called running into her mother's arms. "Hey baby girl! How was your day? Did you have a lot of fun?" Andy asked her daughter.
She totally forgot she told Amy the babysitter to come by this afternoon. If she would have remembered she would cancelled it so Robert won't see her.
"I did but I missed you" Maddie said now sitting on Andy's lap. "Oh I missed you too Mads" Andy said kissing the girls head.
Robert looked at the situation from his office. He couldn't miss the resemblance between the little girl and the woman. But he didn't hear anything of what was happening outside so he didn't know what really happens.
He was about to get up and go introduce himself to the girl and check if she is Andy's daughter. but then he saw Vic coming and picking the girl up from Andy's lap, the girl was definitely partly black and when she saw Vic she looked so happy and hugged her immediately. So he might be imagining the resemblance to Andy.
When Vic went up with Maddie Andy looked to Robert through the glass door to see if he saw something and they made eye contact for just a second until she broke it and went upstairs hoping he was too focused on his work and haven't seen anything.
When Andy got up she saw her daughter sitting on the counter, Maya and Vic making her something to eat and talking with her in the process.
"What are we eating?" Andy asked as she sat on one of the chairs loving the sight of her best friends spending time with the most important thing she have.
"WE are not eating anything. Maya and I are baking Maddie cookies cause she said she can eat them all on her own and we wanted to test it" Vic said and Maddie nodded smiling confirming what vic said.
Andy stood up and walked to the counter and stood in front of Maddie with her hands on the girls little legs. "Oh I know she can but she won't, because it's not healthy right Maddie?"
She looked down to the girl who tried really hard to fake a mad face but she cracked and started laughing loudly.
-
It was a little after 23:00 when Andy left her bunk to go to the beanery to take a glass of water.
Maya and Vic ended up burning half of the cookies and the good half was eaten by mostly Maddie but also some other team members. Maddie spent the night with her grandpa in his house and the plan was that tomorrow morning after shift Andy will pick her up and they'll spend the day together.
After the long day she had Andy couldn't calm her mind enough to sleep. She rolled over from side to side in the bad for almost an hour before deciding she is getting up.
She walked to the beanery wearing a black tank top and a pair of blue pajama shorts. She got there and it was empty, right like she thought.
She was leaning on the counter drinking water when the door opened. And she hoped for it to be anyone else other then the one came in.
"What are you doing here so late?" Robert asked taking a glass of water if his own and leaning next to Andy. "Drinking water. You?" She said with cold voice. "Same. Couldn't sleep, I had this thought that wouldn't leave my head" he wasn't lying, he couldn't stop thinking about Andy and that girl earlier today. He had to know.
"Okay..." Andy said not interested on hearing his thoughts. When he didn't say anything she put her glass in the sink any started walking to the door in attempt to leave but she was stopped when he started talking again.
"So.. you have a daughter?" Robert asked curiously. "What?" Andy said turning around to face him. He didn't say anything even after Maddie left the station so she figured he didn't see them.
"I asked if the little girl who was here today is your daughter." He was now looking directly to her eyes. And she couldn't look away this time.
"Yeah... I mean yes. She is. She's my daughter" she answered and coughed right after nervously. The hopes of him not finding out were all thrown away out of the window.
"She looks just like you" he said now breaking the eye contact. "Oh thank you. I get that a lot" she smiled a little.
"What's her name?" Robert asked. "Maddie, Maddison but no one calls her that" she said.
He smiled a little "just like no one calls you Andrea" he said and the way said her full name like that with that rolling r made her heart race.
She thought that maybe she could shift the conversation to another topic. "So how was you firs-" she started but was cut off by him "how old is she?" He asked the woman in front of him.
He had his suspicions, since the second he saw the girl he thought about that possibility. But it couldn't be right? She would've said something. She would've told him, their breakup wasn't that bad. But he couldn't not notice the girls nose, just like his but tinier cause she was so small. This was probably the only part that the girl didn't get from Andy.
Andy got quite. He wasn't dumb. When she'll tell him the girls age he'll know to do the math on his own. 'But maybe it's a good thing that he'll know?' She thought.
After a minute or two of silence she looked up to him "she turned four almost four months ago" she said and saw his eyes getting wider.
He didn't say anything. He looked to the ground in silent. "Robert I..." Andy didn't know what to say. She felt bad for lying to him for so long but she had her reasons.
"So she is mine?" He asked looking at her. "She's yours." Andy whispered laud enough so he was able to hear her.
A/N
Hey everyone! I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I didn't proofread it so sorry if there're any mistake.
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If you have any suggestions for the next chapters I'd love to hear them, so you can comment that too.