Chapter Text
STATION 19 ANDY & ROBERT’S DATE
A DATE…an actual date: the kind that couples have every day/night of every week of every year, all over the world.
Their circumstances are somewhat different than many, in that Robert Sullivan is Captain of the firehouse both he
and Lieutenant Andrea Herrera are both assigned to, and as department regulations dictate currently their relationship
is verboten (unsanctioned); it's likely that neither will be able to keep their jobs if the nature of their nearly one-year-long
personal relationship is ever discovered. They have been to Tacoma, and Montana (Butte) for the odd long weekend; it is
much too dangerous to risk more than that.
Andy is the one who brings up the possibility of a formal date night; this in itself is unusual as she isn’t known to “do” relation-
ships; even when she dated Jack Gibson for six months some years ago the two of them (she and Jack) weren’t ‘out’ to their
firehouse family. Her on-again-off again bed partner (childhood friend Ryan Tanner), and occasional one-night stands apart from
Tanner weren’t eager to press ‘dating’, and the issue didn’t seem important to her then.
She takes it as a sign of maturity, as well as evidence that this man, her first-line supervisor, is unlike any relationship (formal
or otherwise), that she’s ever had. Eight months in, after a few hiccups, she professed that she loves him, and he responds in kind.
In her thirty-one years she has never felt the way that she does about Robert (or Bobby as his best friend Chief Lucas Ripley calls him);
she stuttered and stammered during her confession of love, depending on the beautiful voice of Mariah Carey to put into words the
way that she feels:
Treated me kind
Sweet destiny
Carried me through desperation
To the one that was waiting for me
It took so long
Still I believed
Somehow the one that I needed
Would find me eventually
I had a vision of love
And it was all that you've given to me
“I’ve done some soul-searching lately, Robert, and I haven’t been true to myself with the way that I’ve conducted
my personal life. I never worried about or envisioned what or who that quote un-quote ‘perfect person’ might be
for me-carousing is what I wanted, and that’s what I did. I see now what my Dad meant when he would get after me
about my lifestyle.
You’ve shown me friendship, support, and all of the possibilities of love-that LOVING YOU, brings. As time went on,
I found myself wanting to impress you, as my captain first, and bit by bit, as a friend, and finally as a partner.
I know that we must be careful, and not draw attention to ourselves; I’m also sure that there is someplace in Seattle that
we can go where we won’t be recognized. I really regret that we didn’t do this from the beginning but I get that the way
the things happened, the SPEED of it, didn’t really allow or that. I really wanna do that now, PLEASE.”
He responds “That is fine with me, the dating, the doing things in a way that ensures that we’ll be successful as a couple.
I confess that much of what caused friction in the early part of our dealing with one another was my hesitance to risk love
again after Claire. Losing her was a blow that took me along tie to get over…but you know: the man who you had the most
problems with-LUKE-is the one who encouraged me to take a chance with you, to be happy again…SHOCKED, eh?”
“Understatement!”, Andy grins. “It seems that I owe him! NOW: where are you taking me?”
“I have someplace in mind; I won’t spoil the surprise, though I guarantee you’ll love it-it’s classy without being over the
top, and the food is excellent.”
"¿Y salsa...hay salsa ?"
"Claro."
“Ummm! I can’t wait…I’m gonna go to bed; see you in the morning Sir?"
He kisses her, deeply, then says “Sleep well, Lieutenant.”
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Translation
Y salsa; hay salsa?-And Salsa music-is there salsa?