Sweat, intertwined hands... everything blurred. Andy wraps her arms around Robert's body and strokes his back while she sits on him. She enjoys every single second when suddenly everything becomes blurred and she smells smoke. A fire surrounds them and they are trapped. It gets closer, so close that she almost burns to death when she wakes up out of a dream and clutches her head, completely out of breath. "no...no, no no no!" She gets up and goes into the bathroom to wash her face only to look in the mirror. "Great...now you're haunting my dreams too ...." she whispers to herself in disbelief and grabs her towel to dry her face.
"Damn, it's already three past seven!" She runs out of the bathroom, takes off her sleeping clothes and opens her wardrobe to look around for something to wear. She frantically searches through it in just her bra, as if she can't concentrate, and grabs a white sweater and her jeans. Once dressed, she quickly grabs one of her finished waffles on the way out and stuffs it into her mouth. She wants to lock up, but drops her key in her haste, the waffle still in her mouth, she looks to the side when she sees a neighbor watching her. Yup... it really doesn't get any more embarrassing than that.
She decides to pretend he's not there, locks the door and goes to her car. She shoves the remains of the waffle into her mouth and drives off, arriving just in time a little later. Being late is one of the things she hates on her list, but as the new captain of the 19, it's a crime. At least Andy thinks so. When she arrives, she dashes into her office and catches the first glimpses of Sullivan and Travis, who are working out who should be in charge of file sorting. Travis clearly loses and, typically, bangs the table a few times.
Andy has put her stuff away and dashes to the dressing room to change. She watches Sullivan and Travis as she runs out. Followed by Vic who just looks distraught at Travis and Robert. "Did I miss something?" she asks them and they shrug their shoulders innocently. "We still have 15 minutes until roll call," says Travis and looks at the files, shaking his head as he has to spend the next few hours sorting them. "You know how Herrera is...only those who arrive ten minutes early are on time...everything else is already too late for her." He takes a bite of his protein bar and looks silently towards the cabin as he chews.
Lined up in rank and file, the 19 is spick and span so as not to disgrace Herrera. Andy comes in and cleans her uniform once again. Walking through the ranks, she observes everyone, stopping here and there and trying not to let last night show. As she passes Sullivan, she only exchanges a quick glance with him, can't hold it for long, clears her throat and walks straight on. He doesn't miss this, of course, which is why he stares after her in silence. She can literally feel his gaze on her neck and looks back at him again briefly, then at Warren and finally disperses after a brief distribution of the remaining tasks. Herrera goes to the fitness room after changing her clothes. As soon as she has started and has the first weights in her hands, Robert comes in too.
She looks at him briefly, gives him an 'awesome, what are you doing here now' look and carries on, pretending he's not there.
"Good morning to you too?"
he says with a smile and walks to the treadmill, so he is right in front of her. She looks at him carefully and, unintentionally, can hardly concentrate on her training. "How's it going with Chief Ross?" she asks casually and he just keeps running. "Good..." is all he says, but that one word is enough to make her ache.
To sort it all out...first she lets him down after he fights for her, then she has something on her mind when she wanted to talk to him on the bridge in the Barn and didn't get around to saying it and finally they have each other divorce. So it's over. Of course...is it?
Andy's mind is playing roulette. The last thing she needs now is renewed love stress, and especially not when the Chief is involved. She continues to lift her weights introvertedly and doesn't even notice that Ruiz is talking to her. "Hm?" She looks at him and puts down the weights. "what's up?" she asks.
"I have to go home a little early today, is that okay?" he looks at Sullivan. "Well, if it's important, of course, you still have overtime. That's okay," she says and dabs her forehead with a towel. He thanks you and leaves. Sullivan goes to the weights and grabs some too. "Captain? Didn't you want to train?" he asks when he notices how she just stares at him the whole time. She also continues training without saying anything. The silence feels strange. At least for Andy. This feeling is starting to annoy her. She knows it, the same thing she felt when the two of them got closer, the feeling when he looked at her or happened to be too close to her. It's annoying because she can't pursue this feeling any further because he has zero interest. Besides, how crazy would it be to get closer again after being divorced like that?
"jeezz..." she unintentionally slams her weights onto the floor, leaving a confused Sullivan as she leaves the room towards the shower. He watches her go and puts his weights down thoughtfully. Robert is not stupid. He knows what's going on in a person at the slightest change, especially his ex-wife. He already know many of her pages. He follows her and notices that she is already taking a shower. He himself just waits in a towel, ready to take a shower, until she is finished. His thoughts are also racing around, trying to classify Andy's behavior. When she finally comes out, he takes advantage of the situation to test his ex-wife. He knows her inside and out and knows her every behavioral trait.
She sees him, pauses briefly and then walks towards her locker, but Robert is standing provocatively close to her locker. She pauses again and tries to ignore him, but he continues to provoke, leaning an arm right next to her. "Andy do you want to tell me what's wrong with you?" She suddenly looks at him completely innocently, shrugs her shoulders and acts as if she doesn't know what he means.
He smiles, has her exactly where he wants her and plays with her a bit. "I'm sure you know what I mean..." he also says innocently in a sweet voice. "Robert...stop it" She says playfully and smiles at him, the red tinge on her cheeks that shows she loves this game only makes him perk up. "Andy, I know you...if there's something you like to tell me, then say. I'm always there if something happens, I made that clear to you back then after the incident with the sex offender."
She pauses for a moment, looks at him as if she wants to say something, but prefers not to. "It's okay Robert...thanks...but it's nothing" she says, every single word that came out of her mouth was a lie and he knows it. She closes her locker door and just looks at him for help, as if she wants him to just break every rule and run after her. But this time he doesn't make it that easy for her. She should stand by it and he is patient. Plus there's Ross. He also has to sort out his feelings and can't just jump around and switch between being funny. He doesn't want to be such an ass, he never was. When he did, he was always there, for Clair, for Andy. He watches her go and then goes to take a shower.
The first mission of the day is coming up and then it's such an extensive one. A plane has to make an emergency landing and the fire department has been called in because the airport security is not sufficient for such a difficult operation. All of the 19 and the 88 were called. While changing into protective clothing, Andy and Robert stare at each other as if they were exchanging ideas. When they drive off, Robert is behind the wheel and Andy is next to him. He pushes his headset to the side and looks at the street. "Andy, are you here with us?" He asks, genuinely concerned, but she just snorts in amusement and smiles away his question.
"No, I'm disturbed and unable to lead my team...Sullivan of course!" The undertone of the last words sounded admonishing, as if she was telling him not to ask such questions. Robert continues to concentrate quietly on the road and is visibly annoyed. It seems to annoy him that she obviously feels something for him but doesn't want to admit it. You would think his pride would be hurt but he remains patient and there is no time for further communication anyway since they have arrived at the airport. A black cloud covers the sky on site and when Andy arrives, she distributes everyone to tell everyone their tasks. Ross is also on site to help. Andy is skillfully in firefighter mode and does everything she can to contain the fire and save the survivors.
When the situation gets dire and people have trouble getting them out, Andy can't take it anymore. The situation is already tense enough and everyone is whirling around wildly to make things go faster. Herrera goes up to the remaining survivors and ignores the calls from Sullivan and Victoria. The plane is about to collapse and Andy manages to rescue and convince the eight survivors to scoot. Robert is standing directly below and keeps asking Andy to slide, together with the survivors, and when she finally slides, the roof of the plane crashes down with ash over a thousand degrees hot. Sullivan crawls towards her as she slides down, but the air slide collapses as the hot embers fall on her. Everyone runs over including Ross and calls for the two of them. "Captain Herrera! Sullivan!" Ross looks for both and when the air is almost completely gone, after lifting the rubber tarpaulin, you see Sullivan hugging Andy wanting to protect her. "help her please!" he shouts excitedly and the first responders arrive immediately. Ross observes the situation, how he holds Andy, takes care of her and at first she doesn't mind it at all. Why? Andy is his captain, no matter what history either of them has. "Sully...are you okay?" she asks but he ignores her for a moment, making sure Andy gets the oxygen mask on. Only then does he turn around. "Yes, I'm fine, but Andy needs rest, she inhaled a lot of smoke," he says stubbornly as he is and runs to the firetrucks to take off his jacket.
"It'll be okay," she reassures him, but he's visibly tense. Andy finally regains consciousness and sits up with the oxygen mask on her face. "Thank goodness, Andy, that was awesome!" Vic says and Travis and the rest of the 19 stand around to praise her when Ross joins them. "Good job Captain, without you we would be salvaging 8 dead people. Your convincing manner saved their lives!" Ross praises her and the rest applauds. Andy smiles touchedly and looks up at Robert, who is the only one standing to the side and grimacing pretty pissed.
Back at the station everyone was freshening up and doing a rather quiet activity. Almost everyone sleeps in their bunk. The only one awake is Andy, she's watching TV, or at least that's what she was planning on doing until she fell asleep, sitting on the couch, legs long and arms folded. After a while, Sullivan comes by, who just wanted to go to the Beanery to get something to drink, and sees her sitting there and quietly watches the scene for a moment. He decides to go to her to carry Andy to her bed, but he stops next to Herrera, can't help but sit on the floor next to her and enjoy the silence with her alone.
"I was so afraid of losing you today...you keep doing things like that..."
He admits he misses her soft snores when she sleeps and her sleepy face when she's cuddled up to him. These are all things that he only gets from her. With Ross everything is still fresh and different. He never really warms up to her because she always keeps her distance and that drives him crazy sooner or later. He turns a little more towards her and watches her face, her sweet cheeks and her beautiful hair. You could think, the way she sits there with her arms folded, that she is chasing someone in a dream.
"Robert..." she suddenly whispers quietly and he looks at her intently. "So you're dreaming about me, huh?" Flattered, he strokes her hair and decides to pick her up bridal style, hoping not to wake her. She snuggles up to him slightly and he sniffs her hair. How he misses that smell. He carries her to her own bunk in the captain's office and covers her slightly. He suppresses everything else and goes out to let her sleep in peace.