"I'm going to Seattle," Rosie's voice pulled Ira away from his computer, where he was half heartedly finishing paperwork for a case. Catching the bad guy was always more fun.

"Change of heart?" He asked, inviting the distraction.

"I'm looking to expand the lab. Maybe to northwest," Rosie explained casually, leaving out the prospect of participating in a cutting edge clinical trial. "I know Daisy wants to see her. I think you do too. I'm looking at some property next week. I'm open to company if you want to come along."

"She doesn't want to be found, Rosie."

"She asked me to make her stay and I froze. I'm the reason she's there. I sent her away from her life."

"You got a plan?"

"No, but I think on my feet." Rosie flashed his overconfident smile, overcompensating for how he really felt about seeing Annalise again. Especially if she didn't know he was coming. She could do anything from slam the door in his face, to drop kicking him, or in the best case scenario, actually being glad to see the familiar face. They hadn't split on bad terms exactly, but their friendship had surely ended that night.

"I'll talk to Daisy," he said, hoping it might help the woman he loved to recover from her daughter abandoning her a second time for an escape, and missing her himself. Daisy didn't hesitate, immediately informing Ira of the secret she'd held for less than a day. Her daughter had drunkenly called her the night before from a payphone in Seattle. She hadn't made out a lot through the tears but she heard the woman say she missed Miami.

"I'm trying so hard to let go. I love it here. But I miss you so much. I miss everyone. And I can't forget. I'm sick over it, ma. I don't know what to do," she recalled her daughters words. Ira was shocked to hear she'd been crying. As long as he'd known Annalise, she never spilled a tear in front of him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked his fiancé, holding her close.

"I didn't want you to think she's unhappy. I want to go to Seattle. I want to see she's okay. I want her to be at our wedding."

"Okay. We'll go." And so a week later, the three of them set out on a plane to travel all of the way across the country. Rosie was going to go to the station ahead of them. That way she wouldn't feel ambushed when her entire past showed up at her work. All of the time he spent thinking of what to do or say when he saw her resulted in a simple plan to invite her to dinner and work his Rosie magic until she relented.

But actually standing outside the station, he was terrified. The battle for his life and the countless times he'd gone into the field with Villa felt like someone else's life. If he couldn't walk into the station, how could he have faced death so many times before? Somehow, he got his feet moving, hoping the whole way to the door she still worked at this station and it was her shift. If not, he'd have to wait another day to face her and he wasn't sure he could handle that.

"Hi, can I help you?" A woman asked with a large smile as she walked in from the barn to the office, sweaty and covered in soot, clearly returning from a call but somehow still full of energy.

"I'm looking for Anna- Andrea Herrera."

"Yeah. Sure, come with me," Vic told him, kindly, confused about who this man was but not thinking too hard about it. She and Andy were friends but they weren't as close as they each were with other members of the fire house.

He studied the barn as she led him around a the firetruck, impressed by just how nice this station was. A familiar sound from years before rang out eyes soon searched for the source of the laughter.

"You get all the glory just because you come out holding a cat," Andy spoke just as his eyes fell on her. She was smiling at a man with dirty blond hair wearing a matching uniform. She was holding her turnout jacket and covered. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, highlights lighter than he'd ever seen in her hair. But still, it was Annalise only twenty feet or so away from him. Even knowing he would likely see her, he wasn't prepared and couldn't process the sight of her fast enough, freezing near the barn doors as Vic smiled at him adding,

"She's right there," before stepping away, leaving Miller, Gibson, and Herrera in the barn, the battalion chief looking on from his spot on the catwalk near the fire pole.

"Everybody loves the man that saves the cat-" the blond man started, holding out his arms as though he were taking in the glory.

"Cause they don't know you!" Another voice but in from across the room, the tone still playful. Annalise shook her head, an amused smile spread wide across her face as she stepped towards the truck, opening it to hang up her turnouts.

"Villa," Rosie spoke before he realized. And a little louder than he planned to. His voice carried through the barn, a small echo carrying it out. Everyone turned to him but no one looked at him the way she did. For a moment, she forgot how to breath, her eyes studying him carefully, trying to prove to herself he was actually there. A warm wave rushed over her. She had no idea why he was in Seattle, never mind her workplace, but she also hadn't realized just how much she missed him until the relief washed over her and all she wanted was to be in his arms.

Rosie still had no idea what she planned to do, but luckily, she didn't leave him in suspense for very long. Forgetting entirely about the people around her, she gently dropped her turnout jacket and rushed towards him, engulfing him in a hug and receiving one back without a moment of hesitation. He shut his eyes and held her tightly feeling the relief too. He didn't care about the soot on his suit or the sweat that dampened her hair and she didn't care that the first time he'd seen her in years, she'd been fighting a fire for hours. He felt her grow limper in his arms and his grip only grew tighter as he allowed himself to be oblivious of their audience a moment longer.

"Rosie," she finally spoke, pulling away just enough to look up at him. "What are you doing here?" Noticing another figure lingering nearby, he looked up to see a tall bald man looking down on them from outside his office, watching intently. Annalise noticed the action and turned to see him too, only for a short moment. She stepped back just slightly from Rosie. He frowned, hoping the action was a boss thing, not a relationship thing. He could tell she was quickly growing uncomfortable.

"I'm looking to expand the lab. I'm checking out Seattle. And well, Hornstock found you. It's good to see you, Villa. You look well."

"Villa?" Jack mouthed to Dean across the barn, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You too," she replied in almost a whisper. "Your heart's still beating."

"Yes, yes it is." He replied with a smile that confirmed he was in good health. Well, for his bodies standards.

"Look, I have to work," she said, feeling everyones eyes on her now. "How long are you in town?"

"Three days. Daisy and Hornstock are here too. They wanna see you."

"Herrera," Roberts voice bellowed through the barn. "Everything all right?"

"Yes... sir." She shut her eyes at the word, "sir." Did she not want Rosie to know she was in a relationship? She passed it off as her usual cover up so her friends wouldn't know. "Just a minute," she called out before saying to Rosie very quickly, "yes. I want to see them. I want to see you." She rushed ahead of him to the lobby, reached around the man that'd just taken his place at the desk, and grabbed a pen and stick note pad. He watched in silence as she scribbled her number and pulled it off. He was surprised she gave it up so easily, considering she'd changed her number and name.

"Call me about a time and a place."

"I'm looking forward to it." He glanced over her once more, admiring how well the new job fit her. She was right at home.

"Me too," she replied, before rushing back to the barn. He glanced around once more, seeing a photo of the group on the wall, Annalise included. Right next to the man that'd made her so uncomfortable only a minute before. He turned and walked out, feeling weight of the sticky note in his hand.

As she reentered in the barn, all eyes turned to her once again.

"Villa?" Jack asked, repeating the name he'd called her. She took the shortest possible glanced up at Robert before picking up her jacket and explaining,

"He calls me that."

"So who was he?"

"An old friend," she answered, vaguely.

"Old boyfriend, you mean," Jack corrected her.

"Nope," she said, surprising him.

"Sleeping buddy."

"Nope."

"Okay, making out in the supply closet buddy," he continued to pester her.

"Believe it or not, members of the opposite sex can hang out with their clothes on and their lips detached," she told him, shutting the door on the truck and exiting the room. Before continuing her chores, she dropped into Robert's office, feeling she owed him some explanation.

"So that's Rosie?" He asked, having thought it was a girl.

"Yeah," she replied, sinking into the seat across from him. "Robert, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. This is new. You don't have to tell me everything." He still had secrets too and felt it wouldn't be fair to expect her to tell him everything when he was yet to do it herself. Still, he was curious, the hug he witnessed not the usual 'nice to see you, old friend' type, but something much bigger. He already knew they'd been close, if he was putting it lightly.

"Yeah. But if someone from your secret past walked through those doors, I would want an explanation. Even if I wouldn't ask for it," she told him. She knew he still had things he hadn't shared with her, but unlike her, there were no gaps in the story of his life. Where as Annalise left out heaps of time, including everything between high school and the fire academy, minus being a cop, which she rarely mentioned. "My birth name is Annalise Villa."

"What?" He asked, straitening his back, no longer willing to force himself to let the interaction go. Old relationships and painful experiences were once thing, but she was lying about her name. "I don't understand. Your father-"

"Is Pruitt Herrera. My mother is Daisy Villa. I was raised with her name."

"You never speak of her."

"No, I don't. Look, I worked with Rosie back in Miami. He was a very good friend. But I left upset and I cut all ties. He and my mother are here."

"I- I don't understand the lies, Andy. Or Annalise?"

"I didn't want him to find me." She could see his hesitation to ask her to explain. "He sent my boyfriend across the country and me with him. I chose Rosie, he let me go. I- I had feeling for him. But we never amounted to anything. So I moved home."

"So... he's a cop?"

"A pathologist. Who liked to jump on my cases. He thought he was a detective," she sai, playfully teasing Rosie. He grew even more intriqued at the word, "detective."

"Look, Robert," she continued. "I love you. But the secrets... there's a lot."

"I'd like to look at your file," he told her. He wanted her permission, despite his authority. He'd never bothered before, knowing plenty about her firefighting career from the talk in the station, bur now he needed to know what came before. If she didn't want him to, he wouldn't. But he didn't know if he could stay with her.

"Of course." She sighed. "The trucks wont clean themselves. I am sorry about the secrets, Robert. I didn't think I was ready to open the past." He headed down the stairs a few minutes later to retrieve her file from Maya. Only moments into flipping through it, he found her secrets displayed on the page. Her resume. Several words jumped out at him.

Police academy. East Miami PD. New York City PD. Detective.

"Detective?" He spoke aloud, ignoring the fact that he was in the hallway.

"Everything all right, sir?" Ben's voice caught his attention.

"Yeah. Fine." He told him, shutting the folder. "Just fine."

-

A/N: I honestly like to think Villa became a firefighter after losing her badge because you know, she's already a badass! I think she'd thrive running into burning buildings and saving life's and stuff. Idk, Anyone else think so?