It was amazingly easy to settle back into a relationship with Parker and that scared the shit out of Andromeda, because in a day or three, whenever he finished his work for the police department, he would be leaving.

It had been a week since everything had gone down. They'd released her apartment to her two days ago, and the cleaning crew had gotten done with it yesterday. As she walked through the rooms now, she thought she'd be skeeved out or something that a guy had been killed in her bedroom but being a pragmatic woman, she really wasn't. He'd been trying to kill her, so she was glad that he’d died and she hadn’t. And it wasn't like she'd known him. She hadn't even seen the one in her office, so it was easy to put that one out of her mind as well.

The same with the living room hallway, where al Fareq had held Roz hostage. There were no signs of the incident at all, and since Roz was okay, it didn't really feel like a crime scene.

If that made sense. She wasn't even sure anymore.

Roz had gone back to West Virginia. Even though they'd been in a hotel, she'd had to get away from the city, she said. Andromeda could understand. A lot of traumatic things had happened to her here. The surprising thing was, Mac went back with her. They weren't dating or anything— she didn't even think they'd kissed— but they liked each other's company. Mac didn't have anything holding him here anymore, with the trial cancelled. The cops were done interviewing the two of them and no charges would be filed against Zane Mackenzie in the death of the as yet unnamed assailant.

Andromeda understood that Mac could be Roz's security for now, and she didn't want either one of them subjected to the news and hubbub here.

Her own job, no, her professional image, had undergone a huge shift. Andromeda had been known around the office as a workaholic and even a little cold, but after the incident in her apartment and all the raids that had changed. Janie, her assistant, had come into the office one day last week and she'd been literally bouncing with excitement.

"I wanted to catch you up on the gossip," she said, settling into the chair in front of Andromeda's desk and crossing her legs.

"Okay, what is it?"

Andromeda rocked back in her chair and crossed her arms. Janie had done this before and it usually pertained to a man that she'd shut down calling her frigid or a tease.

"You now have street cred," Janie whispered, leaning forward.

"What?"

Janie widened her eyes dramatically. "Your reputation has climbed significantly, especially with the women in the building. Between the Navy SEAL warming your bed and escorting you everywhere, and you taking down a huge terrorist cell in the city, as well as killing a dude in your condo, you should be getting your People's Choice Award literally any minute."

Andromeda laughed because it was so preposterous, shaking her head as she rocked forward in her chair. "I didn't kill anyone..."

Janie waved that off. "Near enough. You helped. I have to thank you because it wasn't always easy in this job but even my reputation has undergone a shift as well. The rest of the office staff is hoping I catch you in a sexy clinch with your man."

Andromeda laughed again and nodded her head. "I'll pass that along to Parker, but you need to know he's not staying."

Janie frowned at her, her blue eyes alarmed. "Wait, what?"

She took a breath. "Parker still has his job in Denver. He's just out here helping right now."

Janie looked like she was going to cry. "But you guys love each other! It's so obvious. Why would he leave?"

Andromeda shrugged, her own throat tightening with tears. "It just never quite works out for us."

That conversation haunted her. Throughout the day she thought about what they could do differently. Parker had told her several times how much he loved working with the group in Denver. After hearing about him talk about them so much she felt like she knew all of the people that worked there. They had given him hope for a future at a time when he desperately needed it.

He would never leave them.

And her job was just ramping up, seriously. Mike had several years before he could retire, but if she kept putting the criminals away like she had been there was a very strong chance she could move up. And she loved her job.

Yes, she could probably get a new job in Colorado if he asked, but Parker hadn't even asked. He hadn't even told her he loved her.

In all fairness, she hadn't told him either. It was like she was pretending that she didn't love him, just to salvage a tiny bit of her heart. They made love at least every night, but they didn't say the words. Everything but.

She glanced into the living room. They'd finished up their room service dinner from the restaurant downstairs, and she'd just called for the waiter to come get their dishes. They were sitting outside on the cart, along with the tip.

Parker had seemed distracted today and she was afraid to ask him why, because she didn't want her fears confirmed. Mozi and Ali al Fareq, as well as those rounded up on the raid, had been transported out of the state. No one was sure where, just that they had orders from way the hell high up that they were supposed to follow. Andromeda didn't care. She'd closed the Christmas Parade case and the Art Fair case, and the families had some degree of closure. Privately, Andromeda hoped that wherever they took the al Fareqs it involved pain.

She grabbed the bottle of wine they'd been working on and carried it into the living room. Parker had the TV on, but he was staring blankly at the screen, not even really seeing anything. It wasn't until she bumped him that he looked at her. "Hey, babe. Sorry. Thinking about things."

"I could tell," she murmured, refilling their glasses. "We're losing time, aren't we?"

He looked up at her, his hard, gunmetal gray eyes softening as they looked at her. "Yeah," he confirmed. "Now that the group has been shipped out my workload has diminished. I have a final interview to translate, then I'll be done."

She nodded, hating to have her fears confirmed.

"And Duncan texted me today wondering when I would be back." He took a heavy breath. "I told him the day after tomorrow."

The bottom fell out of her stomach. Setting her glass down, she cuddled in next to him. His big arms looped around her, holding her tight. "I'm not ready for you to go,” she murmured.

Sighing, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I know, babe. I'm not either. Let's make it a different kind of parting this time, though. No angst or blaming. We both knew this was coming. And we each made the most of it, I think. I love you, Andromeda."

Joy burst inside her heart, almost drowning out the sadness. "I love you, too," she whispered, tears seeping from her eyes. "Dammit Parker, why can't we get this right?"

"I don't know."

His voice had deepened, like he was fighting emotion as well. "And let's think about not completely ending it, okay? I mean, flights to Denver are not that expensive. There's nothing to say we can't have a long distance relationship, you know?"

It wasn't ideal, but he was right. There was no one around here vying for her attention. She nodded slowly. "Not ideal, but better than nothing. We can at least try it for a few months and see how it goes."

In bed that night Parker seemed determined to imprint upon her how perfect they were together. He kissed every square inch of her body, brought her to orgasm several times with his lips and fingers, before finally gliding into her to send her spiraling away again. Andromeda cried at the perfection of the moment. For a long time, they just held each other, waiting for sleep, but it didn't come for a long time.

* * *

Parker hated walking away. It reminded him of last time he left, just not as much yelling. Now there was crying, but it was very different.

The bag he'd brought with him was packed and he was dressed. A car would be arriving within a few minutes to take him to the airport.

Andromeda stood before him looking strong and beautiful, as always. Hair curled over her forehead and she pushed it to the side, then crossed her arms beneath her breasts. There were tears in her golden eyes, and he hated to see them there.

"Andy, this is not a forever goodbye. You know that. I want this to be a temporary parting."

One side of her mouth tipped up in a sad smile as he cupped her face.

"Hey," he said suddenly, flicking his phone on. "I want a picture of us together. As hokey as it is, we're going to do a selfie. We've never done one before."

She sputtered, then laughed as he tried to position his phone down the length of his arm. Curling himself around her, he hit the shutter button several times, but it didn't seem to work. She turned her face into his neck, kissing him there, and wrapped her arms around him. Parker put his phone away and just held her.

The front desk guard rang the condo and they moved apart as Parker answered the phone.

"Your car is here, sir."

"Okay, thank you Hampton."

When he looked at Andy, there was resignation in her eyes. "I'll go down with you."

They held hands on the elevator. She had beautiful hands, Parker decided. Her fingers long and delicate. But strong enough to do anything that needed to be done. He thought about the past two weeks. She'd saved his life a couple of times. Gave him more pleasure than he ever could have imagined. Accepted him and his beat up old body more than he thought any woman ever could.

It made his heart ache to leave her behind.

She kissed him several times, then gave him a bone cracking hug. "Call me when you get there to let me know you made it okay."

"I will," he promised. Holding his forehead to hers, he kissed the tip of her nose. "I love you, Andromeda Pierce."

"I love you too, Parker Quinn."

Parker drew away, then, because her sadness was breaking his heart. With a final wave, he walked through the glass doors to the taxi waiting in the valet loop. When he looked back, she was gone.