Fire

Chapter 17

Last night at the pub with her husband had been enough for Andy to forget about any worries. They had arrived home in the wee hours of the morning, despite knowing they had to get up early the next day, they wanted to make the most of that rare moment without any problems.

Andrea didn't know if she had been woken by the sun that had come through the curtain, which hadn't been closed the night before, or by the tremendous unease she felt.  She got up as fast as she could and ran to the bathroom.

Robert felt the abrupt way that Andy got up from the bed and immediately went to see what was happening to his wife, stopped at the bathroom door trying to open it... it was locked- "Andy? Is that all right?"  -there was no response and the noise he deduced was Andy vomiting continued- "Andrea, open that door soon or I'll do it myself."  -there was a noise inside the bathroom and soon the door was unlocked.  Andy was sitting on top of the toilet with her head between her legs- "What happened?"  -Robert asked kneeling in front of it.

"It was not a big deal..."

"It's not what it looks like."  -he said getting up and turning to leave- "I'll take you to the hospital."

"What? Of course not, Robert. I'm perfectly fine. Don't you see?"  -obviously Andy was a little irritated by all this.  She really didn't see the need for this storm in a teapot Robert was creating.

"No. I don't see it. You've been like this for days. Let's go." -his tone was authoritative but not at all intimidating to Andy.

"Robert, I'm not going. End of subject. It was just a morning sickness. Nothing to make all this fuss about."  -She was frustrated that she had already started her day not so well.

"Fine, but if I see that there's something amiss with you, I'll take you whether I like you or not."

"Alright... changing the subject, it's almost time to head to the station, we need to get ready. After all, my conference in NY is in two days and I'm going to find out who will be my company on this trip."

"Oh, are you going with someone? Better, so I feel less worried about you pretending to be okay."

--

When they arrived at the station, they each went to their office to do their assignments.  Chief Wallace Boden arrived wanting to talk to the captain and chief to give him information about the conference, boarding and alighting location, lodging, and of course, who would be going with Andy.  None other than Captain Matthew from station 51, the one who flirted with Andy when she was in the process of memory loss, would accompany her.  Of course she remembered that during this period he had offered her the captain's position, the slight interest that arose between them, that they went out together... she remembered exactly every detail of what happened during the time she was in his company. and of course Robert too.  His dissatisfaction was clear at knowing that this guy would go with her so far.

Jealousy?  Maybe that wasn't the right word to express how uncomfortable he felt about the situation.

Wallace, Andy, and Matthew spent the next few hours in his office.  Boden needed to make a few things clear about their stay in town.  As soon as everything was said about the trip, the chief and captain of 51  left the station.  Andy spent some time locked in her office reviewing the travel itinerary, or maybe she was just avoiding the conversation she would inevitably have to have with Robert about her traveling companion.  Before talking to her husband, she needed to resolve Jack's situation at the station.  She called the same to her office- "Wanted to talk to me Captain?"  -Gibson was standing at the door.

"Yeah, I do, come in and close the door, please."  -Andy sat in the chair, in front of him was a file that was much larger than normal.

"Has there been a problem?"