Partners

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Driving past the motel as she tossed her cellphone into her bag, Andrea glanced over at the parking lot to see the black Yukon that Chad usually drove sitting in one of the spaces. Finally. She didn’t see Rita’s small car anywhere, so figured the other woman had succeeded in begging a ride from Chad – movement around the side of the motel made her glance in the side mirror as she slowed down and pulled into the lot of a nearby convenience store. That must be the bastard himself, Andrea thought as she glared in the mirror at Conrad Detweiler.

Meredith lifted his head off his paws and started to growl as he picked up on her agitation. Everything in her prodded her to get over there and shove her gun in Detweiler’s face, but on the other hand she couldn’t help from thinking about the pains Chad had taken to make sure Detweiler would never be around her. She ground her teeth angrily, unable to decide what to do – it was taken out of her hands when the door to the room he’d gone into opened and Rita stumbled out with a man she’d never seen before. The man hurried over to a beaten up Ford Pinto, and Andrea watched as Rita glanced around the parking lot as whoever it was drove away. Rita straightened as she noticed her, and Andrea gave up her attempt at secrecy to turn around.

Rita’s head swung from Andrea’s car to Chad’s and back again. What the hell is wrong with that woman? Even at a time like this, she’s…coming over here? The other woman walked over quickly, and Andrea placed a restraining hand on Merry’s collar as he noticed their nemesis approaching. “Get in,” she advised Rita. “Merry, go in the back. Go,” she repeated when the pitbull sat down rebelliously and started to whine in complaint about his seat being taken by someone he didn’t like.

“What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to-”

Andrea leaned over the gear shift and slapped the other woman as hard as she could. Rita yelped in surprise and nearly fell out of the Jeep. “This is all your fault,” Andrea snarled. “Everything that’s happened is because of you getting on your high fucking horse, Rita. He was only trying to help you out, and now look where that’s gotten him.”

To her credit, Rita just slumped back against the seat and rubbed her reddening cheek instead of trying to fight back. It really was too bad; Andrea would have loved to thrash her six ways from Sunday. “We weren’t doing anything, that day you caught us at the hospital,” she said sulkily.

“I know that now, you stupid-” Andrea broke off and took a deep breath to try to calm down. “We’re going to get one thing straight; if you ever come near Chad even thinking about messing with that man’s head, I’ll make you wish you’d never been born. Don’t follow us, don’t call the house – look at me the wrong way and I swear you’ll be sorry.” Andrea leaned in close. “He belongs to me, and I protect what’s mine. Got it?”

Rita stared at her in disbelief. “What….? But I thought that the two of you…”

Andrea arched an eyebrow at her challengingly, and Rita fell silent. It was a good thing too, since she’d just remembered that Detweiler was still in the room with Chad – it wouldn’t be smart to be out here brawling in the car and making enough of a fuss that they’d attract his attention when he came out. “You’d better get back over there. If he sees both of us together…” Rita opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by a sudden growl from Meredith when she leaned too close to Andrea. “Just get your ass back over by his car without being seen, and I’ll join you as soon as Detweiler leaves.”

The other woman scrambled out of the Jeep and Andrea backed into a parking spot partially obscured by a few trees so she could watch. Rita got into the black SUV and Andrea waited for a few more minutes before Detweiler emerged, carrying a large flashlight and looking pleased with himself. He drove off and Andrea hurriedly started the engine of her own car, her heart pounding. Why was she getting nervous now? She parked in a spot out of sight from the room and walked up to the door quickly – it was ajar, and Andrea took a deep breath before easing it open to step inside silently.

Chad was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands and despite the fact that she was still so pissed at him for keeping secrets from her, her heart went out to him. He’d always been open with her, becoming so distressed whenever they fought that Andrea wasn’t really sure how he’d managed to keep something like this from her so long. Although she still felt hurt, she was ready to forgive him as soon as she gave him the drubbing of a lifetime.

Quickly walking in the room, she sat down on the bed beside him as he rubbed his hands over his face. “Rough day?” His hands stilled immediately, and she waited until Chad looked over at her. “Hi.”


_ _ _ _ _ _ _


All he could do was stare at her in disbelief. “How did you…what are you…why are you…” She wasn’t supposed to be there! “You’re not supposed to be here,” Chad said weakly.

Andrea just smiled at him. “Are you finished?”

“No,” he finally said. “You’ve got to-” Andrea shut him up by flinging her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his in a fierce, loving kiss. When she drew back, he started to speak once more when she caught him alongside the head with a full-armed slap. “Ouch,” he yelled, falling off the bed in surprise. “Andy, what the…!”

She threw herself atop him and smacked him a few more times before he could think to defend himself. After she clipped the side of his face with another blow that left his ears ringing, Andrea seized the collar of his shirt. “If. You ever. Do. That. Again, I won’t. Go as easy. On. You,” she threatened, punctuating her words with kisses.

After she let him up for air and stopped trying to slap him into next week, Chad leaned back against the wall while Andrea climbed into his lap and snuggled against him. “You weren’t supposed to get your copies yet,” was all he could really say. She wrapped her arms around as much of him as she could reach and squeezed hard, burrowing her face into his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“I know you are,” she mumbled against his shirt. “I’m not sorry for smacking you, though. You deserved it.”

“I did,” Chad agreed, smiling down at her and bringing one hand up to stroke her hair.

After several long minutes, Andrea sighed and wriggled free of his arms to hand him something. “Got this report from Ballistics you might be interested in.”

Chad took it from her and frowned as he flipped through the report. “Where’d this come from?”

She perched on the night table and pulled out a folded piece of paper from her jacket pocket. “Remember that Jane Doe from the murder book you pulled? She was shot once in the head, twice in the chest – execution style, just like Garza. Turns out that the hourglass in this picture” Andrea unfolded it and showed him “went missing from Evidence soon after it was submitted. Someone mailed it to Hopper.”

“You’ve certainly been busy,” Chad said ruefully. “I take it a print was pulled?”

Andrea nodded. “Yup, he handed the package off to Faith as soon as he saw what was in there – she bribed Roknowski with Yankees tickets for a rush job, and get this: the prints belong to a man known as El Giron, the Crying Man. He’s known for killing his family a few years back, but his sister escaped… he’s been in Pelican Bay since then…there’s no way he could have killed her, let alone Garza.”

Chad looked up at her. “He’s been in the SuperMax, yet somehow he’s managed to kill at least two people? How does that work?”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense, that’s for sure… I just talked to Hopper; he’s on his way over there to get some answers.”

“Hopper, a wanted fugitive, is at Pelican Bay? That should thrill Spivak to no end,” Chad said, frowning down at the papers again before looking back at her. He still couldn’t believe she was here. “I still can’t figure out how you got those papers so quickly.”

Andrea smiled at him and stretched out her hands as if to help him up from the floor. “She overslept, and quite understandably started to freak out when she realized what her musclebrained little brother was really up to. Now come on, we’ve still got work to do.” She wriggled her fingers, and the motion made him look at her hands for the first time since she’d gotten there. Chad felt his eyes widen as he saw the engagement ring on her left hand, and looked up at her as she laughed. “Like my ring?”

Chad stood and pulled her into his arms again for a kiss. “Very much, it’s-” he broke off and reached for his gun when the room door opened, sighing when his ex-wife peered inside at them. “Did Billy leave?” he asked, trying to suppress irritation that Rita’s appearance had made Andrea step away from him and reach to gather up the ballistics report.

Rita’s eyes went from Andrea’s face to his, and back again as she nodded. “Yeah, I told him to get out of town so he’ll be safe.” She looked around at the lamp that had been knocked off the nightstand and the rumpled bed covers and started to sniff, but stopped quickly after getting another look at Andrea’s face. Chad glanced down to see her staring at Rita impassively, one hand on her hip; maybe he’d better remind Andrea that he’d meant what he’d written to her. “I’ll be outside.” Rita ducked her head and turned to walk back out to the car, and Chad turned his attention back to Andrea.

“You don’t have to worry about her,” he started.

Andrea stopped him by placing her hand on his arm. “I’m not worried. Just showing her who’s boss, you know?” He had a feeling that Rita wasn’t the only one learning who was boss, either, but after going so long without her Chad couldn’t care less.

He smiled at her fondly and cupped her face in his hands. “I missed you.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Good.”

“You’ll really marry me?”

“I will.”

“Good.”

"Don't get cocky."


_ _ _ _ _ _ _

After meeting up with Faith in a diner – Chad’s partner had nearly started to cry when she’d seen them together – and waiting for Hopper to show up, the four of them tried to puzzle out the rest of the clues. Rather, three of them tried to figure it out while Rita kept looking over her shoulder for Hopper. “We still don’t know who the girl in the picture is; if we could find that out then maybe we can-” Faith broke off as Andrea reached for her cup of coffee. “Your stomach’s feeling better? I heard all about you and the Starbucks last week – Paul was telling tales out of school again.”

Andrea looked at her friend consideringly, then at Chad. She’d little doubt that Maria Santos had been the one to spread those ‘tales’ to her husband and whoever else would listen…how many people knew about it? I’d better take that test so I know for sure. “It was just the flu, that’s all,” she said, glancing over at Chad again. Thankfully, his attention was already back on the papers.

Hopper finally showed as Faith was leaving, and dropped the bomb on them just as he sat down at the table. “Guess who else is on Detweiler’s payroll?” He proceeded to tell them all about El Giron and the Warden of Pelican Bay, and Andrea’s hand slipped into Chad’s as she felt the big man tense in anger and outrage. “I gave Damien a call; he says he might know some way we can ID the Jane Doe in the murder book.”

They agreed to meet at another motel since it wouldn’t be a good idea for any of them to go home, and Andrea watched silently as Rita scrambled out of the booth with Hopper – at least this way, she and Chad could have some time to themselves. Chad looked so upset at the revelation about Pelican Bay that she rubbed a hand up and down his arm comfortingly. “You okay?” she asked softly.

“I just…I never thought it would go so far,” Chad said. “Maybe a guard or two, but the warden? ” He shook his head.

“We’ll put ‘em away, don’t worry,” she replied confidently. Some of that confidence started to slip away when he turned to look at her, and she was reminded of the need to tell him about the test. “Can we go get those rooms now? I need to talk to you about something.”

Though plainly curious, Chad agreed and paid for their coffee as they headed out to their cars. Meredith barked at her as she got in her Jeep, and Andrea scratched behind his ears until he’d settled his head on his paws and was drooling in contentment. She drove behind Chad’s SUV all the way to the motel, and grasped her bag with shaking hands as he came out of the office with the two sets of keys. “I understand if you’re still angry with me,” Chad started hesitantly as soon as he’d shooed Merry inside their room.

“It’s not that, not exactly,” Andrea said nervously, dry-washing her hands.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching out for her.

She retreated from him slightly, needing to keep a clear head so she could explain. “Remember…remember that night I came over, and you were drunk, and then I was drunk too?”

Chad ducked his head. “I’m sorry about that, I-”

“I think I’m pregnant,” Andrea blurted. “I didn’t really think I was until this morning when I talked to Steve, but I’ve been sick and we didn’t use any protection.”

Her fiancé stared at her in shock. “Sick? Is that what Faith was talking…you mean, in the morning?”

“Well, it seems to happen all day long if it’s really me being pregnant,” Andrea said wryly, looking up at him. “I bought a test earlier, but didn’t have time to try it out.”

Chad still looked like she could have knocked him down with a feather. “Well, are you going to? Try it, I mean. To see if you’re…if I…if we…”

Andrea walked over to push Meredith off of her purse so she could reach inside for the small box. “I’ve got it right here.” She wished he’d say something about this instead of just asking her questions in that surprised tone of voice. “You’re not angry, are you?” Andrea asked before she could stop herself. She quickly added, “Because it’s all your fault. You and your sperm made this whole thing happen.” That served to wipe the poleaxed expression from his face, but she wasn’t sure that she liked him throwing back his head and roaring any better. “Stop laughing!”

“S-sorry,” Chad spluttered finally, wiping laugh tears from his eyes. “I’d almost forgotten the things you say sometimes…but I can assure you that myself as well as my sperm will take full responsibility for our actions.”

She let out a relieved breath she hadn’t even known she was holding. “So, you’re not-”

Chad hauled her into his arms for a reassuring embrace, and she melted against him. “I could wish that we would have waited to start a family, but I could never be angry.”

“I’d better go see for sure if there’ll be a little Shelten on the way or not,” Andrea muttered against his neck before wriggling out of his arms reluctantly. Grabbing the box, she went into the bathroom and read the directions at least five times, then ran back out. “I need to drink something; can you get a can of Coke for me or something?”

“Is it safe to have caffeine if you’re pregnant?” Chad asked her. Wiseass.

“Shut up and go get me one,” she ordered. “I can’t pee on command, you know!”

“Wait here,” Chad advised, digging in his pockets for change. He came back with no less than three cans, and watched her drink them with a skeptical look on his face. “Don’t drink so fast - you’ll make yourself sick.” Chad settled back on the bed with Meredith and watched as she finished up the drinks and ran around the room a few times, then ran back into the bathroom to finish the test. When she came out a few minutes later, he arched an eyebrow at her. “Need another one?”

She shook her head and sat on the bed beside him. “Test says we have to wait at least ten minutes. Chad, what do either of us know about having a baby? If my mother were here I could ask her, but…”

Chad urged her into his arms and stroked her hair. “It’ll be fine – kids can’t be that hard to raise. Look at me, for example. I turned out just fine.”

Andrea laughed and curled against him. “If you say so. Let me see your watch.” When the minutes slowly passed, she dragged herself off the bed and walked into the bathroom for the verdict. Maybe this was all for nothing, and she’d caught a stomach virus. That thought made her unaccountably disappointed, and she closed her eyes as she reached for the small plastic tester. Holding her breath, she opened one eye and realized she was holding the thing upside down. Andrea turned it over, and… if there was a blue line, did that mean that she was pregnant, or not? “Chad,” she yelled. “You’d better get in here!”

“What? What’s wrong? Is it blue?” he asked anxiously, poking his head through the door.

“Is it supposed to be blue? What does it mean if it’s blue? I can’t find the instructions,” she wailed.

Chad took one look at the test strip and grabbed her up in an exuberant hug. “It’s blue!”

“Does that mean we’re going to have a baby? Put me down so I can read the box,” Andrea ordered. She was obediently deposited on the floor, and found the box on the side of the bathtub. “Okay, wait, here it is… if the strip turns blue, that means…it means…oh my God! We’re going to have a baby!”

The way Chad kissed her, he certainly didn’t mind they were starting their family early. She hopped into his arms and he carried her out into the room where Meredith was running around barking, having sensed their excitement. Snuggling into Chad’s arms and laughing up at him when he rested a palm over her still-flat stomach, she couldn’t remember ever being happier.

tbc…
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