So…. it's been quite a while, I know.

Like I said, this trial is taking up my entire summer. I've been working the most insane hours… sometimes staying at the office until eleven o'clock and working way too many weekends. And we thought the last day of trial was going to be yesterday, but we're still not even close to done. So, now we have more trial dates in October. Bleh.

Anyway, here's the next chapter!

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"Ugh!" Traci groans as she desperately tries to close her uncooperative locker.

"Whoa, you okay, Trace?" Andy asks as she walks into the locker room to find her best friend repeatedly slamming her locker door shut only to have it bounce right back at her.

"I'm just having a shitty morning and now this thing won't close and it's just… ughhh," she groans again.

"Okay, okay… let me help," Andy says as she swings the locker door open and maneuvers some stuff out of the way. Once everything is cleared away from the door, she is finally able to close it and turns back towards Traci, who is clearly still frustrated. "Is this really just about the locker?" Andy asks, already assuming that it's about much more than that.

"No," Traci admits with a sigh. "Jerry and I were fighting all last night and then we started up again in the morning… he's just driving me crazy!" she exclaims.

"Well, what were you fighting about this time?" She wonders. She's not sure if it's just Traci's hormones or if Jerry is just stressed about this case he's been unable to solve, but the two of them have been fighting a lot lately.

"Pretty much everything," Traci quips as she leans back against the lockers and briefly shuts her eyes. "First, he was hours late coming home, so we fought about that because he's just been working so much lately… and then he was all pissy because I had the day off, but I didn't take his suits to the dry cleaners or throw his clothes in the washing machine or go grocery shopping," she explains. "But I mean, c'mon… I'm growing a human being in here! I'm tired!" She declares with a hand on her stomach. "And then I was having a serious craving for strawberry ice cream and I was gonna go out and grab a cone, but then he starts lecturing me that we have to save money and I should just eat the black raspberry ice cream we had in the freezer," she adds. "And like I said, I'm carrying his child… I should be able to splurge on an ice cream cone without getting a lecture… and black raspberry tastes nothing like strawberry!" she rants. "And then… well… yesterday morning, he was wanting sex and I was just… not feeling it, so I promised him we'd do it this morning," she explains. "And so, when we woke up and I wasn't in the mood… I mean, he was trying to hide it, but he was obviously frustrated because I've kindda been putting it off for like… the last three weeks," she admits.

And well, Andy does her best not to react to that. She and Sam have never even gone more than five or six days without having sex, so she can't even imagine going three weeks without it.

"And you know, we never used to fight," Traci comments. "But now… it feel like it's all we do," she sighs.

"I'm sure you guys will figure it out… you're both pretty stressed," Andy assures her. "You just need to talk about it," she suggests.

"I don't know… it's like, once you get married, everything is different… you've gotta worry about money and splitting the chores and keeping your sex life alive and you've gotta figure out where you're spending the holidays and how to set boundaries with your in-laws and how the hell you're gonna get some alone time without offending your husband… it's just… a lot," she sighs. "And then you add the pressure of our jobs and the pregnancy hormones and the stress of having another kid with the fact that you're so unbelievably exhausted all the time and having sex is the absolute last thing you want to do… it only makes everything more difficult," she reasons. "And don't even get me started about when the baby comes…" she continues.

"Whoa, Trace… you're kind of spiraling here," Andy warns, unsure how to get her best friend back on track. She's never seen Traci like this before and she's kind of at a loss for how to help.

Letting out a sigh, Traci knocks her head back against the lockers and shuts her eyes. "I know," she says, clearly getting emotional. "It's just… sometimes I wish we could go back to the days where we were just dating, you know?" she says as she meets Andy's eyes. "Everything was so much simpler back then… we barely ever fought and all we ever wanted was to just spend time together… I miss that," she adds. "I mean, now… lately, I've been feeling like Jerry is purposefully working late so he can avoid me," she remarks.

"I'm sure that's not true… Jerry loves you… and he's just stressed out about that case he's working on," Andy reminds her.

"I know, I know… I'm probably just being hormonal… it's just… marriage is hard," she whines.

"This is just a phase you guys are going through… it'll get better. You just have to sit him down and talk through all of it," she advises.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Traci says, nodding her head. "I'll talk to him tonight," she promises.

"Okay good… now, we've got parade in like three seconds," Andy says as she glances at her watch.

"Lead the way," Traci sighs before following her best friend out of the locker room.

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Honestly, her conversation with Traci scares her far more than she'd like to admit.

In fact, she basically spends the rest of the day in a funk as her mind just goes in circles, thinking about her best friend's words. She really tries not to dwell on it, but yeah… she's not exactly successful.

Was that a sneak peek into her future with Sam? Will that be them someday? Will there be days or weeks or months where they do nothing but fight?

Is Traci right? Will things change once they get married?

Truthfully, not much scares her more than that.

After seeing the way her parents' marriage crumbled, she's always been terrified of something similar happening to her. And the idea of her marriage falling apart… it makes her absolutely sick to her stomach.

As strong as she believes her relationship with Sam is, sometimes she worries that she's just being naïve. After all, don't most newlyweds feel that their marriages will last forever? And yet… many of them don't.

It's just something that's been on her mind as of late, especially considering Jerry and Traci's constant fighting. She's always felt that those two are a great couple, who truly belong together, but if they are having trouble… well, maybe that means that she and Sam could, too.

Maybe everything will be different after they get married. Or maybe five or ten years down the line, things will change between them. Maybe they won't always love each other the way they do now.

Maybe they'll end up like her parents, or his parents, or Oliver and Zoe, or Jerry and his first wife, or Frank and his first wife, or Frank and his second wife… or any number of other cops whose relationships have fallen apart…

And God, that is the absolute last thing she would ever want.

So yeah, she has some difficulty focusing for the remainder of her shift and beyond.

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"Only a few more months until we get married," Andy muses as she and Sam lie in bed together that night.

Her mind has been spinning ever since she found him waiting for her outside the women's locker room after shift. She's spent the past four hours trying to come up with some way to bring up how she's feeling, but she's just not sure how. She doesn't want to upset him, but… she also needs to get this out.

Really, all she wants is for him to put her mind at ease.

"I know," Sam happily responds with a smile as he starts to play with Andy's engagement ring.

"So uh… how are you feeling about that?" Andy wonders as she turns on her side to face him.

"What do you mean?" He asks, glancing over at her.

"I mean… are you nervous?" She questions.

"About getting married?" He clarifies. "Should I be?" He wonders as he furrows his eyebrows, unsure why she'd be asking such a question.

"I don't know," she shrugs. "I mean… I think it'd be pretty normal if you were," she explains.

"Okay… well, you're making me pretty nervous right now," he admits while sitting up and preparing himself for whatever Andy is about to tell him. He's known her long enough to know that this conversation is not about his nerves. "What is this about?" He asks.

Following his lead, Andy sits up to face him, while nibbling on her bottom lip and debating how to articulate exactly what she's feeling.

"Are you… are you nervous?" He questions, beginning to get a bit anxious. "Are you having second thoughts?" Sam asks. And as soon as the words leave his lips, he's holding his breath, waiting for her response.

"No… not exactly," she replies, uneasily, as she briefly averts her eyes.

"Not exactly?" Sam remarks with a completely horrified expression plastered on his face. "What does that mean?" He asks, getting more anxious with each passing moment.

Letting out another sigh, Andy finally meets his eyes and immediately feels guilty for the fear she sees in them. "Sam, I love you… and all I want is to be with you, okay?" she assures him. "I mean that," she implores.

"But…?" Sam says, knowing that's exactly where this conversation is going.

"But I'm… I'm just… afraid," she admits.

"Afraid of what?" He questions.

"That marriage will change things between us," she explains. "That we'll start fighting all the time and we'll grow to resent each other… we'll stop wanting to spend time together and start spending it apart… you'll start working longer hours just to avoid me… that's what I'm afraid of," she remarks.

"Andy, that's not gonna happen," he promises as he interlocks their fingers and gives her hand a gentle squeeze.

"You don't know that," she challenges. "Marriage changes things," she asserts.

"Why would it change anything?" He questions. "We've been together for five years… we know each other, we love each other… we already live together… why would anything change?" He asks again.

"I don't know… it just does… that's the way it works," she tells him. "You start sharing finances and then you fight about money all the time… you start having kids… and then you fight about how to parent your kid and who changes more diapers or gives more baths, and then you stop having sex... that's what happens when you get married," she continues as she starts to get even more worked up.

"So… what? Now you don't want to have kids?" Sam asks, utterly shocked by the turn this night has taken.

"I… I don't know," she sighs. "Sam, I'm just… I'm scared," she says again.

"Andy, where is all this coming from?" He asks, desperately trying to understand what's happening here. This is all so out of the blue. In the five months since he slipped that ring on her finger, he hasn't had even an inkling that she was having doubts about getting married. And now? Now it's all pouring out at once and it's seriously worrying him.

"I… well… you know, Traci and Jerry have been fighting a lot lately," she mentions.

"Yeah, I know," Sam replies, utterly confused by her response. "What does that have to do with us?" He wonders.

"It… it doesn't," she admits. "It's just… well, Traci and I were talking today and she started going on and on about how everything changes once you get married and… it just really freaked me out," she confesses.

"Andy…" he begins as he runs his hand down her thigh in an effort to comfort her. "That doesn't mean anything," he argues. "I mean, Nash didn't move into Jerry's place until they got married, so of course things would be different for them," Sam reasons. "You can't compare our relationship to theirs… just because they experience something a certain way, it doesn't mean that we will," he tells her.

"I know," she agrees. "But it still scares me," she adds. "It's just that… things between us are so good right now… they're perfect… absolutely perfect… and the last thing I want is for any of that to change," she explains. "I mean, what if, one day, you don't look at me the way you look at me now?" She asks as she tips her chin to meet his eyes.

"I'll always look at you like this," he promises as he frames her face with his hand.

A smile graces her lips at his words, but it's unfortunately short-lived as another thought forces its way into her mind.

"What if you fall out of love with me?" She questions.

"Andy, that's not gonna happen," he assures her.

"It could," she argues.

"It won't," he guarantees.

"How do you know?" She asks.

"Because," he says before letting out a breath and running his fingers down her arm. "We've spent just about every day together for the past five years and yet, I still can't get enough of you," he begins as he tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "I still miss you when I'm not with you and I'd still rather hang out with you over anyone else… you make the worst days manageable and you make the good days that much better," he tells her. "I love you more than anything and that's not going to change," he promises, pausing briefly to meet her eyes. "Look, it's not always going to be perfect between us… sometimes we'll probably drive each other insane," he admits. "We'll have bad days, we might have a rough week or two every now and then… it'll happen… that's just the way it goes sometimes," he explains. "But we love each other enough to work through all of that… don't we?" He asks.

Nodding her head, a smile appears on her lips as she meets Sam's eyes. "Yeah… yeah, we do," she confirms.

"Good," he says with a smile. "So, when we inevitably fight about money, kids, sex, whatever else, we'll figure it out… just like we always do," he assures her.

"You're right," she agrees as she blows out a breath of relief while nodding her head. "I'm sorry I got so worked up," she apologizes. "I think I've been holding this in for a while and then… after that conversation with Traci… it all just exploded, you know?" She says.

"Why didn't you say something before?" He asks, surprised that she would keep something like this from him. And honestly, the idea that he didn't notice… it causes a tightening in his chest.

"I don't know," she sighs. "I mean… I knew I was being ridiculous," she explains.

"Hey, if something is bothering you, I want to know," he reminds her. "You're the one that always says we need to talk this stuff out," he points out.

"I know, I know… I should've told you… if I had, I wouldn't have spent all that time worrying about it," she reasons.

"What else were you worrying about?" He questions.

"Well…" she begins. "Do you ever worry that we're gonna end up like our parents?" She wonders.

"You mean… divorced?" He assumes.

"Yeah," she confirms.

"We're not even married yet and you're worried about getting divorced?" He asks, incredulously.

"Hey, I warned you that I was being crazy," she reminds him.

"Yeah, you did," he says with a nod of his head.

"But… is it really that crazy?" She wonders. "I mean… do you know the divorce rate for cops?" She questions. "Because I do and it's scary as hell," she remarks.

"Hey," he says as he reaches out and pulls her into his lap. "We are not getting divorced," he assures her.

"I know," she says with a nod. "But… don't most people say that before they get married?" She reasons. "And yet… it still happens," she points out. "Quite often, I might add."

"Not to us, though," he decides as his fingers trail down her spine. "It can't," he declares. "I just… I couldn't handle that," he admits.

"Me either," she tells him. "I honestly don't know what I would do if I lost you," she muses.

"Good, so we agree," he remarks. "We're spending the rest of our lives together," he adds.

"Yeah," she smiles. "We agree."

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"Morning," she grins as she opens her eyes to find his staring back at her.

"Morning," he replies before letting her pull him in for a kiss. "Sleep well?" He asks.

"Mhm," she nods as she stretches a bit.

"You feeling better about everything?" He questions, trying not to sound as nervous as he feels. Truthfully, he was up half the night replaying their conversation.

"Much better," she nods, happily, before snuggling closer to him.

"Yeah? You sure?" He asks.

"I'm sure," she confirms as she pulls back to meet his eyes. But, almost immediately, she notices the hint of worry in them and realizes that their talk last night has caused some concern. "Sam, I just got in my head a little, that's all," she promises. "But I love you and… and I'm completely confident in us," she assures him. "I know you are the person I'm supposed to be with and I know that whatever happens, we can get through it," she adds with a smile as she runs her fingers through his hair. "Last night… I guess I just needed some reassurance, you know?" She questions.

"Yeah," he nods as he absent-mindedly plays with her hair.

"I mean… watching my parents' marriage fall apart has always made me a little uneasy about getting married… and then, that conversation with Traci… it definitely freaked me out," she acknowledges. "I just needed you to tell me that we're gonna be okay… and that we won't ever be one of those cliché cop couples… that's why I brought it up," she explains. "I mean… I guess I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still a little bit scared, but… it's the normal amount of scared, I think," she assures him. "Not scared enough to ever reconsider," she adds, quickly.

"No?" He asks.

"No," she says, shaking her head. "I honestly can't imagine not being with you," she tells him.

"Me either," he whispers as he maneuvers her body so she's half on top of him.

Beaming back at him, she leans in for a kiss as his fingers tangle in her hair. Several kisses later, they eventually pull away in favor of some air.

"Just promise me that you'll come talk to me earlier next time, okay?" He asks as he frames her face with his hands. "If you're nervous, if you're having doubts… you need to tell me," he adds.

"I was never having doubts," she says.

"It kind of seemed like you were," he replies, averting his eyes and focusing on running his fingers through her hair.

"Sam, no," she says with a shake of her head. "I promise, there was never even a second where I reconsidered us being together," she assures him. "I know there's absolutely no one else out there that is more perfect for me than you," she guarantees, earning a smile from the man lying underneath her. "It was just the marriage part that was worrying me," she admits. "I really don't want to be one of those couples who resent each other and are constantly bickering and basically never have sex," she explains.

"Neither do I," he assures her.

"So… we'll just make sure that we never become that, right?" She asks.

"Right," he agrees.

"Good," she replies with a smile before leaning in for a quick kiss.

"So… we're good?" He questions.

"We're perfect," she assures him with a grin.

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I know it's not my best, but I hope you guys liked it.

Don't forget to review!