Rookie Blue

|| Sam Swarek & Andy McNally ||

Andy gets paired with another TO for a day, but something goes terribly wrong. Andy is caught in a deadly hostage situation and Sam realizes what she really means to him.

...

It was just another one of the days on the job, walking in, gearing up, you have no idea what to expect. Every day brings a new challenge, a new experience. Toronto PD Rookie Andy McNally was just beginning to realize that.

It was 7:00am and Andy sat anxiously awaiting her assignment in the briefing room. She was a little early, which came as a surprise to her, because she already had a reputation for walking in late. She toyed with a string on the seam of her pants as officers started filling the empty seats around her. Out of the corner of her eye, she scanned the group of officers walking in, waiting for one in particular. Sam Swarek. Her training officer. There was something about him, something she couldn't describe, yet he made her feel like no one else could, personally and professionally. A few seconds passed and then she caught a glimpse of him walking in, laughing and joking with a couple other officers. She immediately turned away from the door and started looking at her pants again, trying to conceal her observation. Now it seemed that every officer for this shift had walked in and found a comfortable place in the room to hear their assignments for the day. Boyko then starting pairing officers and assigning them different beats or duties throughout the station. Eventually, he looked to Andy and said,

"Rookie Andy McNally and Senior Officer Chris Laughlin, you two will be working the second beat, but make sure to keep an eye out for anyone who matches this description."

He passed down two sheets of paper across the room, one making its way to each of them. The papers had a picture of a suspect wanted for Armed Robbery, Murder, and Aggravated Assault. He was what they referred to as a "third striker," basically meaning he wasn't going down without a fight. The papers also contained his last known locations, the model of the car that was registered to him, and his license plate number.

Andy was both disappointed and confused about why she hadn't been paired up with Sam. Yet, she didn't want to make a big deal out of anything, especially considering that Sam might not be bothered by it.

Everyone started clearing out but Officer Laughlin was waiting on the other side of the room in order to catch up with Andy. As everyone was leaving, she spotted Sam, who looked back and gave her one of those understanding and reassuring smiles, like everything would be back to normal soon.

Andy breathed a subtle sigh of relief, and then made her way over to Officer Laughlin.

"Hello sir, it's very nice to meet you, I'm-"

"I know who you are," he cut in, "Can we save the introductions for later? We have work to do."

Andy, embarrassed, shut up and began following her "mentor" for the day, wishing more than ever that she could go file paperwork by herself rather than deal with this officer's shining personality for the countless hours that lie ahead.

...

It was about an hour into her shift and Andy sat miserably in the passenger seat of the squad car listening to Officer Laughlin devour his hamburger. She had her forehead pressed to the glass, observing, without interest, everything that was going on in the deserted parking lot in which they were located.

Minutes passed and he'd finally finished his food, and now they were driving around in no particular direction, in silence. Andy began rubbing her temples, trying to think of a better way to deal with the rest of the time she was stuck with him. Peering out the window, they came to a rolling stop at an intersection with a warehouse at one of the corners.

Then, something caught her eye. She squinted her eyes to see that on the back side of the building, there looked to be a beaten up car fitting the exact description of the suspect's. She quickly unraveled the paper which she had previously balled up in her fist, and looked back and forth anxiously. Finally, she came to a conclusion.

She turned to Officer Laughlin, who was licking his fingers from his recent meal, and quickly relayed the information.

"Sir! Look, over there, behind that warehouse. That's the model of the car isn't it? Same color, same year?" He dropped the wrapper of his burger and quickly scanned around his seat for the paper, then he looked over to Andy and shouted, "Give me that!"

He looked at the paper quickly and then drove up through the signal and past the warehouse to observe more closely. Once they'd passed it and confirmed the license plate, he called it in.

"126, Fifteenth and Birch." He radioed.

"126, Go ahead."

"We have a possible match on the wanted suspect's vehicle at this warehouse on the Northeast corner. We're going in to check it out. We'll call for back-up if necessary."

"126, 10-4." Dispatch concluded.

Andy then looked at Officer Laughlin, nervously, and followed his lead without any direction from him whatsoever. He palms were sweating, her nerves were on end, having no idea what to anticipate going into this warehouse.

"Sir-" she started.

"What?" He shot back irritably.

"I've never cleared a warehouse this big before, what would be the best way to do so?"

"McNally, it isn't rocket science, you go in, like a house, clear the perimeter, and always watch your back. I'll take the front, you go around through the back."

Andy was completely nervous now, going in blind, not trusting anyone besides herself. Especially not Laughlin. She knew deep inside that if she were here with Sam, he'd protect her, he'd make sure that she was never in a position of danger unless he could help it. Now, unconsciously, all she wished for was him to be here by her side.

...

Sam was sitting at a desk awkwardly, messing with a pen. He had his head resting on his hand, bored beyond belief. He was assigned to watch over the rookies and teach them how to do paperwork. However, going in, he found out that they had already been taught what to do. Now, he just had to supervise. Although somewhat annoyed, he just sat back and listened to Epstein and Nash go back and forth about the stupidest things.

"Rookies," he muttered under his breath. He couldn't help thinking about Andy, I mean, she was his rookie, after all, and he was somewhat irritated that the shift sergeant didn't pair them up. He was tempted to go ask why, but figured he would just dig himself into a deeper hole. Throughout his boredom, he would check on Andy. As of now, he had his radio turned low, but he would turn it up at times to see what they were getting into. So far, all he'd heard was Laughlin's voice calling in to dispatch that they were on a break, eating. Sam never really liked that guy, although he hadn't gotten to know him very well considering he was undercover, but there was something about him that rubbed him the wrong way. As he thought about all of this, he decided to turn his radio up once again, and then went back to messing with the lone pen on the desk.