"Morning, Mrs. Swarek." Andy felt the mattress dip as Sam sank down beside her. She was planted face down in her pillow but the bright sunlight still managed to seep into her consciousness. He rubbed her back alluringly, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "Coffee?"

"Mmmm," she moaned, turning her head toward Sam and squinting. "What time is it?"

"Doesn't matter. It's honeymoon o'clock, McNally," he informed her lazily.

"It's Swarek," she corrected him, opening one eye reproachfully.

"I can't call you that. I feel like I'm talking to myself."

Yawning, she asked, "Why am I so tired?"

"Lack of sleep would be my best guess." Sam relaxed on his side beside her, propping up his head with his arm.

"Oh yeah. That's why," she said with a satisfied smile. "That was a lot of celebrating for one night, you know."

"Five celebrations, as I recall," he boasted smugly.

"Five? Are you sure?"

"I can't believe you've already forgotten," he said in a heightened tone, feigning offense. "There was the couch. You know, because you couldn't wait until we got to the bedroom to rip off my clothes. The bed—obviously. The island in the kitchenette when you wanted that snack at 2 a.m. That incredibly lumpy chair in the corner," he recalled, wincing as he pointed across the room at the offensive piece of furniture. "The big friggin' bathtub—"

"There was no 'celebration' in the bathtub," she reminded him with a laugh.

"Oops, you're right. My mistake. We need to fix that," he smiled wickedly, walking in to the adjoining bathroom. Andy could see him through the door as he turned on the water and dumped an entire bottle of the hotel's complimentary bubble bath into the tub.

When he came back toward the bed and attempted to pick her up, she threw up her hands and said, "Coffee. Don't I at least get a cup of coffee?"

He pointed to a steaming mug on the nightstand. "Drink fast."

Picking up the mug, she grinned at him over the rim. Her rings reflected off the ceiling as she wiggled her fingers around. "Can you believe we ended up here?"

"It is pretty amazing when you consider the fact that you threw up every road block imaginable to keep me from proposing."

"Sam, that is not true." The sound of her laughter filled the room as she tried not to spill her coffee on the sheets. "It wasn't intentional!" she called after him as he went back to the bathroom to check the water level in the bathtub. He was right, she thought. She hadn't exactly made it easy on him.

"He was definitely hiding something," Andy stated firmly as she and Sam got back in the squad car after interviewing the suspect.

"Yeah," Sam agreed absently. He slid in to the passenger seat and buckled up, staring out the passenger window pensively.

When Andy had been assigned to work with the detectives she'd been excited about the rare prospect of working with Sam, but as the day wore on, her excitement waned. Sam had been out of sorts for several days, his moods ranging from surly and irritable to quiet and introspective. That day as they chased down several witnesses and suspects, his unfocused, occasionally moody behavior continued. The biggest head-scratcher had been when they first got to the cruiser and he willingly climbed in to the passenger seat.

Thinking back, Andy realized she first noticed the change in his mood the prior weekend after she agreed to watch Leo so Traci and Steve could have a weekend away. Sam griped that he'd be sharing her with Leo during the one weekend they'd had off together for more than a month. Although Sam and Leo ended up having a great time together, Andy thought he seemed distracted at times. Then, Monday night Sam had planned to cook her dinner at his house, but she'd had to stay late at work and by the time she finished up and got to his place she'd been so exhausted she immediately fell asleep on the couch and had to be carried to bed.

Andy didn't know what to make of Sam's strange behavior but assumed he'd eventually come around to telling her whatever was going on in his head. In the eight months since they'd gotten back together Andy had become rather adept at knowing when Sam needed space, and he had become much more forthcoming with her than he'd been before their breakup. So she tried to remind herself they were in a good place and that whatever was bothering him would eventually come to the surface.

As they drove back toward the station, Andy chanced an occasional glance in Sam's direction. He had his arm propped up on the windowsill and his head was resting on his hand. Finally, he broke the silence abruptly, "McNally, pull over."

When Andy immediately pulled in to a gas station parking lot, Sam scowled and rested his head against the window. "Not here," he groaned.

"But you said to pull over," she reminded him, attempting to keep a lid on her frustration.

"Okay, okay," he said, scanning the area. "Pull in down there," he told her, gesturing toward a park several blocks down the street.

"Fine," Andy seethed through clenched teeth as she pulled the squad car back out on to the road. "You know, I don't know what's got you so wound up, but you're making it really difficult to be in the same car with you. You're lucky it's just me. Anyone else would have dropped you off at the station hours ago," she informed him haughtily.

"Just pull in at the park. Please," Sam told her, exercising more patience. She even noticed the ghost of a smile on his lips.

"Whatever you say," she informed him tersely as she steered the cruiser in to the parking lot beside the park. She stopped the car and turned to look at him. "Now what?"

"Come with me," he instructed, quickly exiting the car and walking around to her side. He grabbed her hand and pulled her after him down a walkway that led to small pond.

When she held back reluctantly, slowing them down, Sam turned around and smiled at her reassuringly. "Sam, I hope you don't think we're getting busy back here. We're cops and I'm in uniform," she warned him as they approached the pond.

"Relax, McNally—Andy," he said, pulling her toward him and rubbing small circles on her back absently. He scanned the area and seemed pleased that there were only a few people nearby.

Andy raised her eyebrows at his name choice. In general, he usually called her "McNally," but he tended to revert to "Andy" in more personal moments. She didn't know what to make of the sudden change, but his behavior had been so erratic all day that she shrugged it off. It was far from strange when compared to several other odd moments they'd shared that day.

As they approached the pond, Sam slowed down, leading her to a bench near the far side. He motioned for her to sit down and then paced back and forth in front of her several times before sliding on to the bench beside her. Taking her hands in his, Sam looked her in the eyes and without preamble, he breathed out, "Marry me." Then, as an afterthought, he stuck one hand in his pocket pulled out a ring. "I wanted to make you a nice dinner and do this right, but that ship sailed somewhere between building a blanket fort with Leo in your living room and you snoring on my shoulder after shift last night. If I don't do this now, I'm sure you'll come up with some other frustratingly unintentional way of sabotaging my efforts. A, I love you. Marry me."

Andy's surprise melted fast and she came up to speed rather quickly. "Yes. Yes. Yes," she answered excitedly as she pushed him backwards onto the bench, straddling his waist and hovering above him. "This is why you've been acting so weird, isn't it?" .

"I don't know that I'd go so far as to call it 'weird,'" he attempted to correct her.

"I would," she informed him, her lips now a mere inch from his. "At lunch, you stared at that elderly couple in the booth across from us for five minutes. The man came over and asked if they had done anything wrong, Sam."

"Fine. Try proposing to someone unsuccessfully for days and see if it doesn't mess with your mind, McNally."

"But you knew I'd say yes."

"After four days I wasn't sure what I knew anymore," he told her with a laugh. He pulled her the last inch and planted a soft, quick kiss on her lips. Andy decided the occasion called for something more than a quick peck and she threw herself wholeheartedly in to letting Sam know just how enthusiastic she was about marrying him.

"So your concerns about two officers 'getting busy' in the park seem to have faded," Sam observed between kisses.

"I'm making a one-time exception," she muttered, going back in for more.

Chuckling beneath her, he gave her one more firm kiss and began to sit up. "Shift is almost over, so why don't we finish up back at the station and go home for a more private party? You know, something that's not on the most uncomfortable park bench in Toronto . . ."

"Okay," she sighed, standing up and taking his hand to pull him off the bench. "But let's make it quick at the station."

"I'm all for that, McNally. And no babysitting. No working late. No falling asleep on the couch. You're all mine tonight. Got it?"

"Got it." She grinned at him.

As they walked back to the car, Andy couldn't help but remember another time when they'd been in the same park. "Hey, isn't this where we arrested those three prostitutes a few years back?" she wondered aloud.

"Yes, it is that very park," Sam confirmed. "Thanks for reminding me. Maybe I should have just proposed back there at the gas station." He pulled her in closer and wrapped his arm around her waist. "I'm driving, by the way."

"Enough quality time with your coffee," Sam said, scooping her up off the bed and carrying her into the bathroom. "I'm ready for my bubble bath."

"Definitely not something I ever thought I'd hear you say," she remarked with a smirk, slipping into the warm water.

"What do you mean? I can appreciate a good bubble bath with a beautiful woman."

"Nice one. You'll make some woman a really great husband." She smiled up at him as he slid in to the tub behind her.

"So I've been told."

As he wrapped his arms around her and planted wet kisses on her neck, Sam mumbled, "So this afternoon, I was thinking either the beach or the pool."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain red two-piece you saw me packing in my suitcase, would it?" she asked him with a knowing smile on her face.

"Maybe . . . . But first things first. We can't let all these bubbles go to waste."

"No, we can't do that," Andy agreed. She leaned back against Sam's chest, slipping her arms around his neck and turning her head until her lips met his.