The Other Side

The beginning

Andrea Herrera was in the station's roof; the lieutenant couldn't believe that the moment was coming. The moment when they would know their chief's decision: who would be the new captain? Maya came to the roof, saying that they had to go downstairs. There was it.

After meeting Travis, in a while, the team was expectantly waiting for the decision to be said. But the fact was, no one wanted to hear the word that came from Ripley's lips. It wasn't Herrera, and it wasn't Gibson. Robert Sullivan, they all knew him, the man that had been the commander of the academy, the man who, no matter what, would always be a teacher for most of them. Or so they though.

Time went by, and the team didn't seem to accept their new boss better. It started to look like the opposite, however, the moment when everything changed was when lieutenant Herrera and Captain Sullivan had their fight, in front of the fire department, and the police. To Chief Ripley and Captain Herrera, that was the turning moment. If only they knew the influence of their decision.

The two men reunited with Sullivan, telling him that, without his team's trust, he would not be able to do his job. Therefor, they had decided to make Andy his right arm, his first counselor at the job. Big decisions, reports, meetings, everything had to be done in her presence.

"That is ridiculous, if you didn't promote her to captain, why are you putting her in such a position? I have to ask my lieutenant if I can make a decision?"

"It isn't like that, but Robert... she has the respect of the team, more than anyone else. If you want the respect of the team, then you need hers first."

That night, Robert Sullivan went home to his girl, Sheila Sullivan, his twelve years old daughter. After doing homework and cooking dinner together, both sat at their sofa, just talking. If the captain was proud of something, it was that girl.

Through a couple of weeks, Sullivan had the prof that his bosses were wrong, working directly with Herrera just set them further apart, and the yelling became more frequent.

"Are you kidding me? Warren has a son! He should be the last on your mind to do a double sift!"

Andrea was fuming in the office, and the yelling could be heard in the beanery.

"He is the less experienced one! It will be good for him."

"Of course, because you really worry about your team."

The sarcasm of that woman's words always seemed to make him crazy. She was so insolent. Ridiculous.

"Lieutenant be very careful of how you talk to your supervisor."

And they kept going; the fights started with a theme, only to end in a whole other story.

It stayed like that for a couple of weeks, fight after fight, never actually getting done. Captain Herrera and Chief Ripley were starting to doubt of themselves, and their decision.

Could they be wrong about that? Was Sullivan so different from the team, from Andy, that it could never work?

Then it happened. Andrea and Robert were in his office finishing a report. Fighting over a report when there was a knock at the door.

"Not a good moment!"

Robert said, only to get a bad look from Andy.

Still, the person opened the door, putting her head inside of the room.

"Not even for you daughter?"

"Shei... Hi princess, walk in!"

Something in Andy changed, she didn't know he had a daughter, and the way his eyes changed, or even his voice. That was completely different from what she was used to see.

She was used to her boss being a stubborn, irrational, rule follower, annoying and calculist person, but the man in front of her was tender, and kind, and showed a love for the girl in front of her, that she had never seen in anyone else.

"I'm so sorry about him, has he been rude?"

Sheila said to Andy who just stayed in her chair, not talking.

"Hum..."

"You can say, you know. He's like the three headed dog in Harry Potter: you just need to know how to calm him down. The trick to contain him a little bit is ice cream."

The girl blinked and Andrea turned to her Captain.

"You have a daughter? And she is beautiful..."

"Sheila, this is lieutenant Herrera. Lieutenant, this my Sheila."

The captain introduced his daughter to the whole team, neither of them reacted the way Andy did, for them it was surprising, of course; but the amusement was smaller.

After everyone had already gone to bed, Andrea and her Captain stayed in his office, in order to finish their reports.

"Herrera, whatever it is on your mind, you can say it."

The man said, calmly, for the first time since...they met.

"You're different with her...How come no one knew you have a daughter?"

He taught for a moment and got back to work.

"Of course, why would you talk about that with your subordinate? God forbite you from showing something personal."

"You know I was married right? Her name was Claire..."

Andy nooded, she had heard stories about how hurt that man got when his wife passed.

"She's my daughter with Claire, our little princess. Me and Claire fought a lot to have her, did you know? We couldn't... it took over a year for her to get pregnant, and then, when our baby girl was 3 years old, Claire left us..."

"She left you?"

"Died, car accident."

"That's why you left Seattle?"

The lieutenant was looking directly in his eyes, and everything seemed to disappear in that moment, with that talk.

"You are pushing it, Herrera."

"Sorry, Sir."

They stopped for a moment, only looking in each other's eyes, not a word coming out. Andy could see the fight in his eyes.

"You can talk to me. I'm not your enemy."

The woman said calmly, in a soft tone that Robert didn't know she had.

"She is the most important part of my life. She looks like she is just twelve, I mean, she is... But she takes care of me as much as I take care of her..."

Andy just stayed silent while that man talked about his daughter, not even moving a muscle to blink, she just couldn't. They stayed like that, in his office, inches apart, talking about their family's, the reports being forgotten. After all, maybe she didn't have to hate him.