Judgement: Impaired

Boyko's blue eyes were filled with the type of calm Sam had lost his grip on; the unshakeable calm that until three weeks ago had made him one of the best cops in the division. A calm he desperately needed right now.

He'd had partners before. Male, female, rookies, veterans… but none had ever managed to get to him the way she did from the first moment she tackled him to the pavement in an alleyway and eight month's work became worthless in seconds. Andy, with her proud grin refusing to be concealed as she dragged in her first collar, had slid under his skin and made a home among his blood vessels. .

"Like I said, sir, it's my fault." Sam said, for what felt like the hundredth time since some cruel trick of fate decided McNally's Rookie punishment should be partnership with the undercover officer she'd exposed on her first day out of the barn.

"My gun wasn't loaded." Andy's voice cut through the air like a bullet.

For a moment Sam forgot how to breathe. His heart lurched for a second before finding a new rhythm; half again its normal speed.

"Forgot to load my gun this morning."

He sucked in a silent breath and thanked God and all of his lucky stars she was still alive. And that he hadn't known until right now. He'd been so eager to get away from her. So angry at her for Callaghan he wouldn't have thought twice about leaving her completely alone at the house just so he could distance himself from the jealousy that threatened to overwhelm him.

"You're not the first," Boyko said after a long pause.

Sam couldn't stop the smile that crept over his face. There'd been a rookie in his first year at 15 who'd forgotten to load his gun three days in a row, poor Tarjeet Singh had earned the nickname "Target" and a desk job in Surrey.

"It happens." Boyko continued, "That's why you have a partner."

Sam cast a pointed look at Andy's profile. When she darted a quick, apologetic look over her shoulder he smiled, just enough to convey silent forgiveness. Yes she'd screwed up; she was a rookie, it was practically in the job description.

Not that this knowledge did anything to lessen his urge to strangle her.

She could have been killed. She could have stood there with a bulletless gun and watched a scared twenty-two year old kid shoot his own stepfather. He wasn't sure which was worse.

Boyko dismissed them with little more than a flip of his hand. Sam was first out the door, moving quickly, as if he could out walk the sustained thrum of anxiety in his veins.

He made it as far as the water cooler before he had to stop and beckon McNally closer. Nash's anxious face and the ominous click of Boyko's office door behind her overrode his desire to get as much distance as possible from his rookie before he lost his cool.

Andy's face was guarded as she came to stand in front of him. She kept her back stiff and her chin high, strong, stubborn, aloof, protected from the world. He took a deep breath and pushed his recently acquired knowledge of Mrs. McNally (well, probably not McNally if she'd abandoned her alcoholic husband and only daughter fourteen years earlier and never looked back).

"Let me tell you something about partners ok?" he said, holding her gaze, "You back 'em up, no matter what."

"I know that."

"You know that?" He fought back a desire to shake her. "So why'd you let Nash dangle back there? Boyko's going to be very unhappy."

"Yeah, well she-" Andy protested, the guilt in her eyes conflicting with the blame in her tone,

"Yeah, you knew she was leaving right? You must have told her it was ok." His words were tripping over each other as he leaned in. "Look," he took a quick breath and forced himself to slow down before he said or did something he couldn't come back from. "I get it, ok? What you said to that kid. Your mother left you. You felt abandoned. Now you want to stand alone, but in this job, you can't do it alone. You have to have each other's back. You stand behind your partner, always."

She nodded once before pushing past him. Her expressive dark eyes, the reason she would never make it on an undercover op, flashed guilt but no anger.

He let her go. She had a decision to make. And if he knew Andy McNally half as well as he thought he did, she would need a few minutes alone to figure out what to say to Boyko.

a/n: This is pretty much writing itself at this point. There will be at least two more parts to this. Please review :D