An Internal Affair

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“So, we went in there but of course they were all gone – stuff everywhere,” Andrea was telling him, a frustrated look on her beautiful face. “I think I’ll have to ask Slim about it, but even with the CI money I’ve been giving him lately, it’s like he conveniently forgets stuff like this.” She picked up a french fry from her plate and jammed it into the puddle of ketchup she’d squeezed out on a napkin. “Told him he needed to get over the fact that he wasn’t paid for Eddie’s last hurrah,” Andy informed him sternly, waving the fry at him.

Chad picked up his water glass, leaning over slightly to peer at the case file she’d placed on the table. “Tell him you’ll bring bait and a hook to catch that koi he’s got in his office… but it looks to me like you need to look around for a new CI, maybe one who doesn’t hang with Yan’s crowd.”

“I don’t know if that would work – he’d probably just turn snitch faster than I can snap my fingers, once he finds out he’s not on the LAPD’s payroll anymore…I’ll figure something out,” Andrea sighed. “How’s yours?” she asked, pointing to his moussaka. “I’ve never had that before, is it good?”

She gave him her “begging eyes”, so Chad slid some on a fork and held it out to her. “Don’t eat it all, I’m hungry.”

Andrea leaned forward so that he could put the fork in her mouth, then sat back after she’d swallowed. “That’s good, why didn’t I get that?”

“Because it didn’t come with fries,” he teased. They ate in companionable silence before he remembered something. “Oh, hey – realtor called this morning. Looks like we can go ahead on the sale of your place, since the buyer for the new property backed out.”

She mumbled something around a mouthful of her gyro. “When did she call?”

“Just after you left; she said it went straight to voicemail when she tried you first.” Chad finished his food, slightly annoyed that he still felt hungry. Ever since he’d finished building up the extra muscle after being released from the hospital, it seemed like he never felt full anymore. “I also got those samples we were talking about, but it’ll be hard to tell what it’s gonna look like until we’re finished painting.” He slid the squares of paper over to her and plucked a fry from her plate, ignoring her look of surprise. “They all look the same to me, but the guy at the paint store swore up and down that they were totally different.”

After paying, he leaned back in his chair and watched Andrea finish up her iced tea, paying more attention than he strictly should to the way her lips curved around the straw. She caught him looking and smiled, nudging his leg with her foot. “Behave yourself, Lieutenant Shelten. If you’re a good boy, maybe I’ll…” but she didn’t get a chance to tell him exactly what she would do, because his radio came on.

Chad was up and out of his chair in seconds, leaning over to kiss her in farewell. “Gotta go, First Team needs backup.” Lipson came tearing out of the café across the street, throwing him the keys as she climbed in the passenger side seat.

“SWAT Unit 18 responding,” Faith said into her radio, waving to Andrea as Chad started the car and steered it into traffic, flipping on the lights. “You’d think they could wait until after lunch hour to hold up liquor stores,” she sighed. “I’d just ordered pie, too.”

Jimmy Hanson was more than a little relieved to hand the situation over to Chad when he got there. “Looks like your standard hold up, sir – that lady over there phoned from outside after she heard shots fired, but we can’t get close enough to suss out the situation. Definitely more than one gunman; Bann guesses at three, possibly four.”

Taking a moment to glance around at the parking lot which held two SWAT cars and none of the regular patrol cars which should have been the first on the scene if this was indeed a standard hold up, Chad sighed and looked over at ‘that lady’, who was peering about excitedly as if she had just come on the scene. “Hanson, cut the crap. Which one of you went in there?”

The smaller man shuffled his feet nervously. “Sir?”

Chad rubbed his eyes. “You’re honestly telling me that the woman over there phoned this in? Lipson, go talk to her and get a statement.”

Faith’s eyes narrowed at Hanson and started off before the First Team officer held out a restraining hand. “Wait… it’s Michaels,” he blurted, naming the officer notorious for his drinking problem. “He said he was just gonna pick up a case or two. You know, for the weekend.” Chad shook his head - it was Tuesday - and turned to his companion.

“Head around back, radio to let me know the situation.” She nodded and headed off quickly, leaving Chad to organize the other team and think of how differently his team was run. Second Team was made up of a bunch of characters, but they worked as a team and could function independently. From what he could see of First Team, they were content to stay put until given orders. “You, you and you,” he pointed, “Split up and try to get a good vantage point on the roof of that building. We need to be able to take these guys out if necessary.” They hurried off and he sighed again. Maybe this was the reason his team was called out twice as much – he’d talk to Ramiro about it later.

Loping back to the car to pull on his flak jacket, Chad slid his gun from the holster on his hip and made his way up the steps of the liquor store slowly. Trying to keep out of sight from the window was easier said than done, but he was finally stationed beside the door and reached to open it carefully. “Hey, stay back!” a man’s voice yelled at him suddenly, and Chad shifted slightly to peer inside – he almost did a double take when he saw that there were no less than five men with guns in the store, and all pointing at each other.

What the hell? He leaned towards the door again to call out to the team member inside. “Michaels, what in God’s name is going on in there?”

“Lieutenant?!?”

“Hey, you move again and I’ll blow your head off,” someone snarled.

Chad sighed as his stomach reminded him that it wanted more lunch, and reached for his radio. “Lipson, report.”

“All clear around back, sir – advise.”

“In on three.” He gave the count and slammed his body through the swinging door just as Faith went in through the back. “Drop ‘em now,” Chad yelled, taking his cue from the clerk and training his gun on the man the clerk was aiming his shotgun at. Michaels had his gun pointed at another man aiming at the clerk, and a short grey haired man was in some sort of face off with the first guy. This whole thing’s giving me a headache, Chad thought irritably. “What the hell’s going on here?”

Michaels shifted from one foot to the other. “Those two were trying to rob the place, and I just happened to-”

“Save it,” Chad advised. “Who’re you?” he asked the older man. “You got a permit for that?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Faith circle around and just as the guy started to respond, Chad eased his riot baton in its thigh sheath. “Damn straight, I do. Battle, retired from the force.”

Chad didn’t have time for the man’s name to sink in, because one of the thugs started to stir and that meant he had to move. Stepping to one side, he pulled out the baton and brought it against the base of the man’s skull with enough force to knock him unconscious. Seconds later, Faith was cuffing the other one and Michaels was left pointing his gun at a row of Southern Comfort and looking ashamed of himself. “Michaels? Get the report started – I’ll see you back at headquarters.” The other team member paled slightly. Maybe he could scare some sense into that idiot’s head – SWAT was no place for someone with a habit he was unwilling to control.

Faith gave him an encouraging smile and went to retrieve some of the others from First Team so that the clerk could give his report of what had happened while the aging deputy rummaged in his wallet for ID. “Damn kids; always thinking they’ll get away with it, you know?” he groused. “Hang on, I know it’s in here…” He finally produced it and Chad looked down at the name: Joseph Allen Battle.

“Battle, huh? Any relation to Detective Battle in Narcotics?” he asked, already knowing the answer. Andy had told him about how testy her father could be, which was why they’d never met – apparently he’d sworn never to meet another of her boyfriends after a run-in with Eddie Reyes.

The man’s chest puffed up slightly with pride. “That’s my daughter; you know my Andrea?”

Chad barely kept himself from smiling. “Yeah, we know each other. I used to work at Metro a few floors up.”

“Don’t know why she stays in Narcotics; too many lowlifes hanging around, but she can take care of herself.” He leaned close. “Couldn’t pick a decent boyfriend if her life depended on it; just between us, huh?” Andrea’s father sighed and looked up at him. “Now if she’d just pick a man like you, all her problems would be solved. She needs a man who can make decisions,” he said firmly.

Chad coughed. “You think I’m her type?” He wondered if her father always told other people about Andrea’s somewhat disastrous love life, or if he was just special.

Joseph Battle winked. “Hey, I’ll put in a good word for you next time I see her and she can eighty-six the latest idiot she’s with. Got some pansy-ass name…Brad or something. Probably one of those yuppie idiots who run around in Dockers and Lacoste shirts.” Hanson came up to get a statement and Chad excused himself politely, waiting until he’d reached the safety of his car before he started laughing.


_ _ _ _ _ _

“So, how’d you day go?” Andrea asked, eyeing Chad appreciatively as her lover came through the door.

He dropped his keys on the table and leaned down to kiss her. “You might not believe it if I told you, so I won’t even start.” Sitting down next to her on the couch, he gathered her against him and she went gladly – she never could pass up an opportunity to cuddle with him while he was still in uniform.

“Well, you won’t believe this,” she said, settling against him comfortably. “My dad called a couple hours ago and wants to meet you. It was really weird.”

Chad started coughing. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, it’s – hey, are you okay?” She started to pull away so she could slap him on the back, but he shook his head and held her in place. “Anyway, I told him we could come by on Saturday, if you don’t mind.”

“No, that’s fine.”

Andrea became increasingly nervous as the week wore on but Chad just seemed really amused by the thought of meeting her father for some reason and seemed obsessed with finding a Lacoste shirt, finally settling for one of his IA suits he now wore only to court hearings and the occasional dinner when they went someplace nice. Chad insisted on bringing a case of beer, which made her shake her head; her dad happened to like that particular brand, but she didn’t think that it would help Chad since her father seemed bound and determined not to like him.

When they pulled up outside her family’s home, she noted with a sinking heart that her brother and all three uncles’ cars were there. “Oh, no.”

“Something wrong?” Chad asked, coming around the front of the car to take her hand.

“What? Oh, of course not.” She wondered what her father would say if they just got back in the car and left…

He smiled down at her, boyishly excited. “Okay, then. Let’s go so I can meet your dad!” Why did he have to be so damned cheerful?

They walked up to the door and knocked; just as the door opened, Chad went to a crouch so he could dust off his trouser leg and her father peered out at them. “Andrea, where is…oh, you brought it after all,” he growled disapprovingly.

Chad rose to his full height slowly, and Andrea was nearly ready to smack him for it when she noticed her father staring up at him, mouth agape. Her lover held out his hand, smiling. “Nice to meet you, sir.”

“You….you…you,” Joe Battle wheezed, pointing. “You got a pair and a half, boy.” Her father shook Chad’s hand, giving him a hearty buffet on the arm.

“Daddy, what’s going on?”

He came over to kiss her on the cheek, then pointed up at Chad again. “If your name’s not Brad, what is it?”

“Chad, sir.”

Andrea’s father squinted up at him a few seconds more. “Well, get on inside, the pair of ya. And for godssakes, sit down somewhere! Can’t be looking up at you all the time, it’s bad for my neck.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And quit it with the ‘sir’, that makes me feel three days older than dirt. Call me Joe.” Her father stared up at Chad again, shaking his head. “Be damned.”

He led the way into the house, and Andrea yanked at Chad’s arm to get him to bend close to her. “What the hell is going on? Why does he like you?” she asked suspiciously.

“I’ve just got that ‘something’, Andy,” Chad preened. She rolled her eyes and resolved to let him fend for himself against her uncles and big brother.

After he’d managed to charm her uncles as well – her brother clearly wasn’t buying any of it and she knew it’d take time for the two men to be at ease with each other – they spent a surprisingly pleasant day discussing their various duties and Chad raised more than a few eyebrows with his vehement support of her career when the conversation inevitably went to how she wasn’t suited to be on the force because she was a woman. He made no attempt to show overt affection for her in front of her family and while she knew he wanted to show her family how much respect he had for her, they’d always been a highly tactile couple and she missed his overtures. It was a relief to have him draw her into his arms immediately when they arrived back at their place. “I missed you,” he sighed, cuddling her close.

“I was right there beside you the whole time,” she reminded him.

Chad buried his nose in her hair. “Yeah, but you hardly touched me.”

“You’re being needy and pathetic again, Shelten.” Andrea pushed him onto the couch and climbed onto his lap, scattering kisses over his face as she loosened his tie. Her lieutenant really did have ‘that something.’

_ _ _ _ _ _


Shouldering yet another box, Chad carried it out the door to the truck they’d rented. Andrea ran past in the other direction, yelling that someone’s phone was ringing and something to the effect of hoping that there wasn’t a hostage crisis because she wanted to be finished by today. Chad shook his head and slid his burden into the truck, nearly colliding with Shauna Ramiro when he turned to go back in the house. “Whoa! What’re you-”
Steve popped out from behind the truck to come up beside his wife, shaking his head. “You should have called us so we could help you,” he scolded. “As it was most of the team were at the beach together anyway so when we heard, we came right over.”

“But, we don’t need help,” he tried to say just as most of the Second Team men and women trotted past him into the house, and then he saw some of First Team coming up. “Dammit, Steve – I didn’t want to bother anyone. You guys have already done a lot for us.” Shauna just smiled up at him and patted his arm before turning on her heel to supervise the loading.

The SWAT OIC shook his head and gave him a shove back to the house. “We take care of our own, especially when there’s free beer involved.”

Chad finally conceded defeat and went to make sure Andrea was labeling the boxes properly. “You call anyone?” he whispered to his girlfriend as he passed her a roll of tape.

“Nope,” she whispered back. “Faith has been kind of nosy about our moving plans though….” Andrea trailed off in surprise when another car pulled up outside and Chad twisted around to see two of her uncles and her brother David get out. “I think someone’s been driving by or something.”

The moving ended up taking a few hours, since they had so many people to help – Meredith was going nuts running around trying to smell everyone at once – and it was with relief akin to awe that they finally saw the last of their helpers disappear out the door to their new home. Chad rolled his shoulders back to stretch and gazed around at the boxes piled around the living room, then dropped an arm around Andrea’s shoulders. “Hard to believe, huh? Our home.” He bent to kiss the top of her head tenderly, rubbing a thumb against the back of her neck.

Andrea nodded, leaning against him and giving him a loving look. “We’ll have to christen it properly.”

Now, how could he have forgotten about that? “You come up with all the best ideas, Crackhead.”

“It’s why you love me.”

He grinned down at her. “No, don’t really think that’s why.”

“Then why do you love me?”

Chad slid his arms around her, resting his cheek on the top of her head. “I love you because you’re you.” And that makes me feel good about being me, he thought. Maybe now that they’d taken this step of buying a home together, they might be ready to take the next step after that. The thought of being married to the tiny woman in his arms was actually a very pleasant one, and would be completely different from his failed marriage to Rita. He didn’t think he’d ever loved anyone the way he loved Andrea; she was the type of woman you could lose yourself in just by looking in her eyes, corny as that sounded. No matter how much time they spent together, it never seemed like enough… just being there right when she opened her eyes in the morning felt like a gift he wasn’t worthy of and he thanked God for creating such a woman for him to love, and to be loved by in return.

“I love me because I’m me, too.”

He smiled against her hair. “Well, I’m glad we can agree on something.”

Andrea wriggled out of his arms, widening her eyes at him as she began to walk backwards. “Oh, we agree on more things than that. We both know quite well that you won’t be able to restrain yourself from a wanton display of virility in the kitchen.”

“We do?” he teased, moving forward after her. It seems as if thoughts of marriage would have to wait until another time.

She nodded seriously. “We do. Your strange need to get naked in semi-public places is legendary.”

“It is?”

“It is.” Andrea shrieked as he lunged at her suddenly, and she turned to run.

As predicted, he caught up with her in the kitchen.

~end~
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A/N: Thank you to all who have stuck with this from the beginning, or even dropped in halfway - it's been a lot of fun writing this couple and don't worry... this may be the end of An Internal Affair 'proper' but it's by no means the end of Chadrea as we know it. I love 'em far too much to leave 'em.

You can find many more Chadrea one-shots and drabbles over at LiveJournal. Go there and search for 'chadshelten' and you will find fic as well as fanvids and fan mixes :) You also might want to re-read chapters 20-23 since I just discovered that they were out of order - it's been fixed now.