No one knew what was going on with Andy the next morning when she cleaned the engine in complete silence.

Vic caught sight of Robert whispering to her but Andy's whispers were the only ones loud enough to make out when she snapped, saying,

"I can't do this right now!" She refused to look at Robert, who walked away defeated, his patience wearing thinner and thinner.

"What was that about?" Vic asked once he'd left the barn.

"Nothing," she mumbled, violently ringing out her rag before picking up her bucket and exiting the room as well, only to be sent back by a siren. The day was busier than usual for Andy, who was on Aid car with Travis, and when the night fell, she felt as though she'd just set her head down when the first if many alarms had her up and on her feet for the rest if the night. As the sun rose above the horizon, Travis drove back, saying nothing when Andy drifted right off to sleep. When they pulled back in, the rest of the station was sitting down for breakfast. Still out of it, collapsed in her seat with less than two hours of sleep total, further exhausted from her lack of sleep the night before her shift. She folded her arms and placed her head in them.

"Andrea," a voice pulled her back from the edge of consciousness. Her police instincts would have had her jumping awake but it'd been long enough that her exhaust was stronger than her instincts. Her father placed a hand on her forehead as she stirred and when he pulled it away, she pushed herself to sit up.

"Hi , dad," she said weakly but in a sweet voice when she saw him. "What are you doing here?"

"Checking up on you." There was a small amount of chatter from the other end of the table but it was in hushed tones.

"Shouldn't it be the other way?" she asked, accepting the orange juice Dean slid in front of her with a small "thanks."

"I feel fine. I had a feeling you weren't."

"Seattle decided to lose it last night. Do you know how many idiots this city has?"

"Andrea, you know what I'm talking about."

"Mom sends her best," she added before standing and making her way to the sink. She stopped in front of it and gulped down the orange juice, pretending it was an acceptable breakfast.

"And Rosie?"

"Is Rosie. It was old friends and lunch. Now, how are you feeling? How much sleep did you get?" She asked, leaning back against the sink, too tired to hold herself up.

"More than you." By the time Andy was about to get off of work, she was so exhausted, she thought she might collapse, but the alarms still blared and before she knew it, she was stumbling out of a building on a nearly empty tank. The heat and exhaust won and it was clear on Andy's face. She headed home long after her shift ended and struggled to get ready for the afternoon ahead.

While Andy had warned Jack she'd planned on having company, when he didn't hear her moving around the apartment that afternoon, he almost forgot by the time the doorbell rang and he let in two unfamiliar faces, and one he did remember.

"Daisy Villa. Annalise's mom," a kind woman introduced herself.

"Annalise?" He asked, looking to the other two people and then back at her.

"Right. She goes by Andy here."

"Yeah, I know her as Andy," Jack replied, unable to hide the confusion on his face. "Please, come on in. Can I get you anything, you know, other than Andy herself?" While everyone declined, they took seats at the counter, studying the space around them. It was a small and simple apartment, with few things that indicated Andy lived there.

Jack made his way down the hall and knocked ok her door before cracking it open.

"Andy?" He asked, finding her passed out on the bed in just a extra large towel, which was loosely wrapped around her like a blanket. He let himself all of the way in and shook her slightly, forgetting to shut the door behind him. Rosie who was still taking a look around the room, found his eyes landing in the room, seeing Annalise barely covered and just beginning to stir. He looked away to preserve his privacy, though he'd be lying if he said he could forget that moment.

"Andy, you have guests," he told her as he shook her quietly, to which she mumbled incoherently. Finally, she came to. "You fell asleep."

"Shit," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes as she became aware of the fact she'd never even put clothes on.

"Well, with good reason."

"I'll be out in five." She replied, forcing herself to sit up so she wouldn't drift off again.

"She fell asleep," Jack informed them once he returned, though they'd heard the interaction. "She was on aid car. They didn't catch a break. Dipped into another shift. But she'll be out in a few," he added, picking up the packages of ingredients for his sandwich. It was odd for them to see she hadn't woken up to any noise the way she used to so easily. It was a reminder of how long it'd been. "So, I know how you're her mother, Jack began but then looked to the two men. "But how exactly do you two know Andy?"

"I trained her as a rookie," Ira explained, assuming he had the minimum of a general idea of what she dod before.

"When she was a cop?"

"Yup, and then she came back to Miami to work under me. Talented, that once," Ira concluded as Jack placed the meat and cheese in the fridge.

"Private pathologist. Vi-Andy brought her cases to me and we'd work together. So, you know her from the station?" He asked before Jack could express his confusion.

"Since her first day."

"So you have rookie stories."

"Not really, actually. Andy knows this world better than any of us." he told them, truthfully, not bothering to play the game of who can know what.

"You two are close," Rosie observed, hearing the way Jack spoke about her.

"Not anymore."

"But you live together, you work together," began Daisy, confused about how this could be possible.

"Well... she's a very secretive person. As I think we've all discovered." Their conversation was interrupted with the click of a door and Annalise emerged pulling and elastic around her still damp hair pulled into a ponytail and a sweater on. She looked exhausted as ever but she forced a smile on her face when she saw everyone at the counter.

"Hi, I'm so sorry."

"No, worries," Rosie told her, standing up to give her a hug. After a short embrace, she greeted her mother and Ira.

"I was going to have made food by now but the city thinks fire codes are a joke as much as my mind thinks remaining conscious is just a suggestion."

"We can get takeout," Rosie suggested.

"I can still cook, you'll just be stuck here a while."

"I'd be honored to he 'stuck,' but you look so tired. I'm a little worried you're gonna cut your finger right off."

"You're probably right." Jack reached into the drawer and handed Daisy a small stack of takeout menu's and after a short discussion, they ordered. Rosie tried to help Annalise set the table but she seemed to be having a hard time finding things.

"She doesn't really live here," Jack stated, receiving an exhausted shove from Annalise.

"So much for Bishops workouts." She shoved him again. This time harder, receiving a laugh from the onlookers.

"So, how are you liking Seattle?" Andy asked when they all sat down at the table.

"Less rainy than I thought it'd be," Ira replied, positively.

"Don't jinx it or the rain will return with vengeance." The meal was far more relaxed than the previous, with no mention of Andy's relationships.

For a while, they discussed cases at the EMPD, and Jack was surprised to see Andy's face light up at the mention of murder. She was far too comfortable with the topic than he thought normal and looked on in horror. The stories were interesting, but he didn't see what Andy had to do with them until Ira said,

"Slade thought you guys got the wrong guy, I had to go back and go over your entire case. I couldn't even get through it before another guy showed up dead and he let me pass it off." As Rosie spoke of the reasons he was sure it'd been the right person, Jack studied Andy, who looked at him guiltily.

"So paroling and crowd control..." he said quietly, questioning just how much she'd left out of her vague description of her time as a cop.

"We'll talk later." Ira, realizing Jack had less of an idea of Andy's past than he thought, dropped the conversation. Jack made a few attempts to tell them of a few of Andy's feats, all of which Andy shut down before he could tell the story.

When the words 'ambulance crash' came into the conversation, Andy interrupted him saying,

"That's really not a night I wanna talk about."

"Why? You were amazing that night."

"Someone died that night."

"You did everything you could. You did more than you could. That medal isn't awarded to just anyone."

"The medal from that article?" Rosie butted in.

"Oh, please don't tell me you read that. Actually, please tell me you did and that she did not put in that I like the color red. I'm afraid to look."

"You said that?" Asked Rosie, grinning.

"I'm a firefighter, I don't do interviews."

"Yeah, you're better at asking the questions," Rosie said, referring to her years as a detective. "Do you miss it?" She looked away for a second to think of a proper answer. After a moment, she shrugged.

"It's hard to miss anything when you're running into a fire, I guess." While most people stayed silent, Jack furrowed his eyebrows and stated,

"That's so unhealthy," to which, he and Andy laughed.

-

A/N- I'm thinking so far ahead about where I want this story to go, I need to sloooow down cause a lot has gotta happen first. Expect some fluffishhhh stuff? I guess... but the plot shall continue to develop. More chapters soon!

Hope everyone is doing well❤️