Chapter Text
Emily never expected that making a call she had attempted twenty years ago, albeit with another try, would be the start of a very surprising yet not unwelcome new twist to her life. That call had signified reconnecting with Andrea, something Emily would probably always doubt if she was deserving of or not.
But one call turned into one lunch and one lunch into Andy messaging her about random things of her day, first once or twice a week and then throughout the seven days of the week. And eventually they started to hang out more regularly for lunches, coffees, brunchs.
One day their lunch breaks didn’t align for them to meet, so Emily suggested that they could have dinner instead.
Neither of them had proposed dinner before. It was different, less casual than meeting at any other times of the day. Dinner was intentional, it meant they wouldn’t have to stick to the timeboxed time frame that a lunch or a coffee break allowed them between their work schedules or personal obligations, mostly in Emily’s case. Andrea doesn’t even own a plant to keep alive, so she doesn’t have many important “personal obligations” besides the occasional babysitting favour for Lily.
Andrea happily accepted that dinner invitation. In fact, when Emily texted her about it, she felt her stomach do an involuntary somersault.
She broke up with whatshisname, not too long after starting to hang out with Emily. She had realized she wasn’t that much into him (if anything at all). She would rather have plans with Emily than with him, to be texting Emily rather than him, so why should she waste more of her time and energy in a relationship she simply didn’t see a future with?
Not that she saw that with Emily, that would be totally impossible and definitely one-sided, right?
After all, she was bisexual, but Andrea would have sworn Emily was straight. So she forced herself to stop those butterflies in her stomach. Because there was absolutely no reason to think having dinner with Emily meant anything other than just a rescheduling for convenience.
But when she arrived at the restaurant and scanned the place, her gaze settled on Emily waiting at a table, and she fell breathless.
Emily was wearing a deep navy top that fit her silhouette like a second skin, buttoned low enough to reveal her collarbone, and just enough cleavage to make Andy’s throat run dry at the sight.
She had to force both her brain and body to pull themselves together enough to instruct her feet to walk one in front of the other and make it to the table without embarrassing herself.
The waiter approached their table to offer them something to drink until they decided on the food. Andy was eager to order a glass of wine, her not-so-subtle attempt to ease her nerves. When the wine arrived, she almost gulped it all down in one go, earning a questioning look from Emily, but she just said she was thirsty.
“Wine should be tasted properly, Andrea,” Emily scolded her. “If you’re thirsty, water would do the trick for a quarter of the price.”
They read the menus and ordered the food, Andy got a second glass of wine while Emily was still taking small sips from the only one she had ordered. What Andy didn’t consider was that she was drinking two glasses of wine on a stomach that had only eaten a bagel at nine in the morning. Now that first glass she drank was making her head dizzy, and she started to think again about this dinner, how Emily had asked her out to have dinner, and before she could rationalize that thought, her mouth opened.
“You know, I am very happy that you finally asked me out for dinner.”
Emily choked on her wine.
Only Andrea could say something like that as if it couldn’t mean something entirely different. Something that was sending her entire system into general malfunction.
“It was the only option that worked with our schedules, Andrea,” she managed once her brain started working again. “Do you not remember I told you we wouldn't be able to see each other for weeks afterward?”
“Aww, Em,” Andy gushed. “That’s awfully sweet of you. I’ll miss you too.”
Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that, saying something about how that was not what she meant, but their food arrived and interrupted them.
After that, the rest of the night was lighter, and it seemed that getting some carbs in her system made Andy regain her consciousness so that she didn’t slip any more comments that sounded dangerously like flirting.
Back at her house, Emily did not stop thinking about the things Andrea said, and reluctantly accepted they were true. She was gonna miss her, and even though her intention when she proposed dinner wasn’t like Andy suggested, she couldn’t help but wish it had been.
So after the two weeks that their lives were too busy to allow them to hang out, Emily mustered all the courage she could to ask Andrea out.
“Hello, Andy,” she said on the phone.
“Em- Emily! Hey, hi? What happened? Why are you calling?” she questioned. “I mean, not that I don’t like it… I do… I’m just surprised. You usually prefer sending me a text… not that I don’t welcome the change, cause I do… I’m gonna stop now. What’s up?”
Emily rolled her eyes on her side of the phone but a soft smile spread on her lips.
“Andrea, I’m calling cause it seemed to me this was a proper way to ask you what I wanted to,” she explained. “None of the leaving a text message nonsense. Far too impersonal, wouldn’t you agree?”
She could hear Andy chuckling on the other end. One of the things Andy found endearing about Emily was the way she talked. So she just hummed on the phone in agreement, waiting for the question.
“Anyhow, I wanted to check if you’re free tomorrow night as I’d like to take you out for dinner?”
Andy could not believe what she was hearing. Unlike their previous dinner, there was no scheduling conflict behind this invitation.
So could it actually be what she so desperately wanted?
Is really Emily Charlton asking me on a date? A romantic date?
“Uh… I… are you asking this in a ‘it’s merely convenient’ kind of way or in a ‘it’s a date date’ kind of way?”
She wasn’t sure if her question was gonna send Emily running away, but she had to know. She could not just accept dinner thinking it was a date if it wasn’t, she didn’t want to keep feeding her own delusions.
She heard Emily click her tongue.
“Yes, Andrea, as in I’m asking you out on a date. And before you overthink it… not in a friends date.”
“O… okay, cool, just making sure. Eer… Yes, sure, I mean, I’d love to go on a date with you, Em,” Andy said, smiling so hard that Nigel, who was just passing by her office, raised his eyebrow at her, but she just waved him off.
On their first official date, they went to a nice rooftop restaurant with a great view of the city, and Emily had arranged for them to get a table in a more private area.
“Em, this is beautiful,” Andy said to her when they were sitting at the table.
Emily was pleased to hear that and she smiled nodding in agreement.
At dinner, they talked about different things in their lives, Andy showing more interest in Emily’s children after she had to excuse herself for a few minutes to take a call from Frank. He unsurprisingly didn’t know how to handle anything regarding their children.
Emily told her more about her divorce. How Frank had made her feel more self-conscious about her body after her second pregnancy and birth. And how it had almost sent her back into her cheese-cube diet from twenty years ago the only thing stopping her from it being her children, as she didn’t want to pass down her degenerative, harmful habits onto the little humans she was supposed to take care of.
Ultimately, they got a divorce because Emily caught him cheating with a twenty-something-year-old girl in their house, and she immediately got a lawyer to serve him divorce papers. The cheating wasn’t new; she suspected he was seeing someone, but what she would not tolerate was that he’d done it at their house. The place where her children lived. That was crossing a line she wasn’t gonna permit.
Her lawyer had pushed for a settlement that benefited both her and the children. She kept a property in Cobble Hill instead of the marital home. Emily had no interest in staying in the house where Frank had brought another woman.
The custody hadn’t been a problem either. Emily was granted sole physical custody, and Frank had visitation every other weekend. It was a relief that her children would be primarly with her, but she couldn't ignore the punch to the gut it was how Frank hadn't even attempted to ask for joint custody.
At least he was court-ordered to pay a significant amount in child support. So far, she hadn’t had the need to actually use that money, as Emily was more than capable of feeding, clothing, and giving a good education to her children. That money was saved in separate bank accounts for the children’s future, or as a safety net in case Emily was ever unable to provide for them herself.
“I’m sorry, Em,” she said, taking Emily’s hand across the table. “You are perfect and beautiful just how you are. He’s an idiot for not seeing it. And I’m sure your kids are amazing, and any man would have been lucky to be a parent to them and do it with you by their side.”
Emily almost teared up at that. She was amazed at how earnestly Andy could say that, she didn’t even know her children. And she found herself wondering, just for a second, how their life could be if Andy were in it.
You barely had the courage to ask her on a date, stop thinking about a whole fucking life with her! Emily scolded herself for letting her mind fantasize like that.
Emily paid the check when they were ready to leave. She told Andy she’d drive her home as it was too late and she didn’t want her taking a cab, let alone the subway.
When they arrived there, Emily walked with Andy to the door of her apartment.
“Thank you for tonight, I had a really lovely time,” Andy said with a sheepish smile. “I wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again, if you’d like to?”
Emily nodded. “I would like that.”
Andy bit her lip. Emily looked so perfect standing in front of her. Her eyes darted down to her lips, and up to her eyes again. Emily’s eyes were dark, and Andy took a tentative step closer. Emily didn’t stop her or take a step back. So Andy took another, the distance between them minimal.
She leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the cheek, lingering for a few seconds and slowly pulling away. Emily closed her eyes when she felt the lips on her skin.
As Andy pulled away, Emily’s hand came up to grab her arm before she was completely out of her personal space. Their eyes locked, and Emily moved closer. She closed her eyes and leaned until she barely felt her lips grazing Andy’s.
Barely a kiss, like she was still waiting for Andy to move and give her the cheek instead.
But Andy only deepened, firmly pressing her own lips against Emily’s. Then she carefully cupped her face with the arm that wasn’t trapped in Emily’s grip.
Emily released the grip and moved her arms around Andy’s waist, pulling her slightly closer. They pulled away and pressed their foreheads together, but she didn’t open her eyes until Andy gently pulled her chin up to look at her.
When she opened them, she saw her smiling like a teenager who had been kissed for the first time.
Andy moved her hand to brush her hair out of her face, and Emily melted at the touch.
“I wish we had done that twenty years ago,” Andy said.
And Emily just leaned back in with more confidence this time, trying to say in that kiss what she was thinking.
Me too.
The month after that was spent on more dates. Of course, the lunches and coffee grabs on quiet afternoons at work were still part of the routine, but dates were more intentional, to keep exploring their feelings.
One night, Emily didn’t bring her car as they were supposed to have a quick coffee and then go home.
She should have known better because it was so easy to lose track of time when they were together. Andrea told Emily she could take the subway after dropping her home, her apartment being just a few blocks from when they currently were. But Emily refused, inviting her to stay over instead.
She had never been a fan of public transportation, and she sure as hell wouldn’t let her girlf… she wouldn’t let Andy use it when it was later than she considered marginally aceptable. No matter how many compelling arguments Andrea had about having always used the subway ‘literally on the middle of the night, Em.’
Emily told her they could walk to her apartment together, and Andy would spend the night in her guest room.
They got to the apartment ten minutes later. Emily showed Andy around and took some sleeping clothes for her. She was sitting on the couch after having changed into her own pajamas, waiting for her girlfri…
There it was again, that word that her brain insisted on attaching to Andrea.
If she thought about it, it made sense. They went on dates, they kissed, and they even held hands sometimes. But neither had asked the question yet, and she didn’t have the experience to know when was the ‘appropriate’ time to ask.
The men she’d dated either weren’t around long enough to ask her or just assumed and never did. But she wanted Andy to be around, and she didn’t want to just assume they were or not a couple. And she had her kids to think about, too. She hadn’t talked with Andy about introducing them… that sounded like a conversation you’d have with your girlfriend, right?
“Penny for your thoughts?” Andy asked her, flopping on the couch next to her.
Emily smiled at her, and Andy loved how easy it had become for Emily to do that when they were together.
“Actually… I was thinking about us…” Emily said hesitantly. “About what we are…”
It took Andy just a few seconds to understand what Emily was saying. She had also been thinking about it, she wanted to ask Emily to be her girlfriend officially, but every time she chickened out, convincing herself it wasn’t the ‘perfect’ time.
“Well, that’s easy. I want to be your girlfriend and would love it if you wanted to be mine.” Andy said, taking Emily’s hands on her own. “So Emily Charlton, will you be my girlfriend?”
She was speechless, she didn’t think Andy had it so clear what she wanted them to be. But she’s learning that with Andrea Sachs, things were always easier and more uncomplicated than she thought.
“Andrea,” she said, making Andy roll her eyes at Emily insisting on using her goverment name sometimes. “I would love to be your girlfriend, officially.”
Andy closed the gap between them, kissing her.
Then Emily said they should get some sleep as she had to pick up her kids from Frank’s early, and Andy had a work meeting. She nodded and gave her a quick peck before starting to go to the guest room, but Emily grabbed her hand, timidly asking her if she wanted to sleep in her room instead, to which she agreed without hesitation. So they walked hand in hand to the room and laid on the bed.
They fell asleep side by side with their hands in the middle, still holding each other. During the night, they moved in their sleep, gravitating closer, until they ended up wrapped in each other’s arms. Emily had her head resting in the crook of Andy’s neck, and both had their arms wrapped around each other.
It had been years since Emily had shared a bed with someone in a way that wasn't purely sexual or the result of a one-night stand. Years since she'd allowed herself to drift into a dreamless sleep simply because the arms wrapped around her felt safe and comforting... it felt like she was exactly where she belonged.