Title: A Different Outcome

Summary: A different take on episode 2x10. What if the car hadn't just gone up in flames? What if it had exploded and Andy caught in its way? Oneshot. Sam/Andy!

Rating: T, or PG-13.

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned Rookie Blue…

A/N: I will be using some of the actual transcript for this story. I am not stealing material from ABC, I am just rewriting a piece of it. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy!

It wasn't until Leslie mentioned the smell of a camp fire that Andy saw the smoke rising from beneath the car's hood, escaping through every crack and vent. Her eyes widened in alarm and almost immediately, her lungs were filled with smoke and her eyes began to burn as they watered. She scrambled out of the car, coughing in attempt to clear the smoke that had settled within her. She opened the trunk, scrambling to find something of use. Spotting the jack, she grabbed it and hurried back to the passenger's seat.

"I've got to get you out of here, we can't wait anymore." She told the trapped woman, trying to keep her voice even as to not show the fear that was pulsing through her body. "I'm going to get this underneath you, okay? So we can make enough room so you can pull yourself out of there. Leslie, I'm going to need your help." She glanced at the back seat and saw the books; reaching back she quickly seized them and dropped them to the floor. "Just hold on, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay." Her words did little to comfort either of them.

"I can't breathe." Leslie rasped.

Cursing in her mind, Andy tried to focus on her plan. "Leslie, um, okay, when I say go, you have to pull yourself out, no matter how much it hurts. Okay?" She looked at the woman, who weakly nodded in response.

"Okay."

Andy started to jack up the steering wheel, her eyes falling upon the overwhelming amount of blood that ran down Leslie legs.

The flames were getting bigger, it was getting hotter, and she could hardly breathe through the intense smoke. "Hold on," she ordered, trying to work faster. "Okay go! Go, go, go!" She saw Leslie struggling to move. "Okay, hold on."

Abandoning the jack, Andy slipped her arms underneath Leslie and began to pull her out. Leslie's cried out in pain, nearly deafening her. They both fell out of the car, Leslie in tears and Andy completely out of breath. Scooting back from the vehicle and pulling Leslie with her, Andy said with a smile, "Like I said, no problem."

At that precise moment, the car made an unnatural sound which was immediately followed by a loud explosion.

"Vincent, do your son a favor and show him you know how to do the right thing!" Sam Swarek's strong voice seemed to calm the tense atmosphere.

Oliver Shaw stepped closer to their suspect who had his gun trained on one of his rookies. "Put the gun down and get on your knees, slowly." He ordered. Vincent dropped his arm in defeat and lowered himself to his knees, tossing the gun to the side.

Chris hurried to handcuff the man, who was now in tears and wailing to his son, "Elliot I'm sorry, okay? Buddy, daddy loves you."

Sam turned to the boy in his hands arms and smiled, trying to comfort him. "Wanna go home now?"

Before the boy had a chance to respond, an explosion sliced through the silent air. Everything turned chaotic. The boy began to scream and cry, their suspect began to curse, and Oliver, Chris, and Dov all began shouting into their radios, demanding to know what was going on.

All Sam could think about was the crashed car… and Andy. Oh God, Andy. "Oliver, take him!" Sam ordered, thrusting the child into Oliver's care. He began running back to the road, barely registering Oliver's shouts or Dov running beside him. He had left Andy alone, again. He silently prayed that she was okay, that she had gotten out and far from the vehicle before it exploded. If something happened to her because of a decision he made… he would never forgive himself.

He saw the smoke, then the flames. He could hear sirens blaring in the distance and knew they would get there before he did. They were at least two miles deep into the tall grass, too far to be of any help, but that thought did not slow down his pace, if anything, it increased it. His lungs burned but he hardly registered it. He could the car now; the fire department was in the process of putting out the fire. The second his feet touched the asphalt, he began to shout her name. "Andy!"

Dov ran up beside him. "Oh God…"

The rookie's words were not comforting.

Sam looked around for his partner, but his eyes fell upon the ambulances several yards away. He ran towards them, still calling her name frantically. "Andy! ANDY!"

"Sam! Over there!" He heard Dov shout. Sam followed his gaze and saw her—in the ambulance.

"Shit!" He cursed, running through the swarms of fireman and officers. "Andy!"

Andy McNally was in the back of the ambulance, her body laid propped up on the bed. An oxygen mask covered most of her bloody face. He took a moment to scan her body, the skin on her hands was shredded but beyond that her uniform hid anything else that could be wrong. Her eyes opened and met his; he could tell she was smiling from underneath the mask.

She pulled the mask away and coughed. "I'm fine," her voice sounded raspy, nothing close to its normal sound. "I got Leslie out before the explosion; they told me she'll be fine."

The EMT next to her scowled her, pushing the oxygen back over her face. "You need to leave that on, officer McNally." He ordered, beginning to clean the gash above her left eye.

"I'm so sorry," Sam began, trying to process everything. "I shouldn't have left. I should have stayed here, or at least checked the car. If I had know…"

Andy shook her head and spoke, but it was muffled by the plastic around her mouth. She pulled off the mask again, but before she could speak the EMT pushed it back into place. She rolled her eyes, much to Sam's amusement. Surely she couldn't have been injured too badly if she was still being sassy.

"How is she?" Sam asked the medic, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"The doctors will be able to tell you more than I can," the young man began, still cleaning the bloody mess on her forehead. "But she'll be okay. She'll probably have to spend a few days at the hospital recovering from her smoke inhalation, and they'll want to keep an eye on her concussion and cracked ribs, but a strong woman like her? She'll be good as new in no time."

Andy smiled while Sam groaned internally. Smoke inhalation, a concussion, and cracked ribs did not seem 'okay', especially since they could have been prevented if only he had had her back.

Andy must have read his mind, because she once again pulled off her mask and coughed out, "'s not your fault, Sam."

He didn't believe her words, because they weren't true, but he smiled and gave a slight nod in response.

"Listen, we have to get her to the hospital now," the EMT began, "she'll be at St. Michael's hospital, okay?"

Sam nodded again. "Yeah, okay, thanks man." He looked at Andy. "Take it easy. I'll be by as soon as I can."

She smiled again, but left her mask in place, not wanting to be scolded again.

"Hey," Sam looked at the medic. "Take care of her."

The EMT nodded. "You bet." He closed the doors and the ambulance drove off.

Sam watched it drive away for a full minute, his mind playing out how much worse the situation could have been. Someone called his name, bringing him back to reality. He looked behind him at the scene, the charred car was still smoking and people were still rushing around him.

"Sam!" Dov called out to him again, now a few feet away. "How is she?"

Sam swallowed, still guilt-ridden. "She's going to be okay."

Dov sighed in relief. "Thank God! I was talking to one of the firefighters; he said that she was unconscious when they found her, barely breathing. Apparently she was thrown like a dozen feet."

His words made his stomach churn. What would have happened if the paramedics hadn't arrived when they did? He tried not to think about it.

"Sam!" He heard Oliver shout, jogging up to him, still holding the little boy. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"She will be." He answered simply, his voice conveying his frustration and guilt.

Oliver, sensing his mood, turned to Dov. "Epstein, why don't you take Elliot here and get him checked out? He feels like a popsicle."

"Come here, dude." Dov put his hand on the young boy's shoulder. "Let's go meet a paremedic."

As soon as they left, Oliver looked back at Sam. "Hey, this wasn't your fault."

Sam clenched his jaw, trying to keep his emotions intact.

"Listen to me," Oliver said. "She's okay, she's fine. You didn't do anything wrong."

Sam shook his head. "I left her here." His voice was on the edge of breaking. "I did that. I didn't have her back, again. How is that not doing something wrong, Ollie? That's what partners are for."

"Look at me," Oliver commanded, waiting until the man complied. "You gotta stop doing this to yourself, man. You have to stop beating yourself up over the past. McNally getting shot was not your fault. McNally nearly being strangled in that storage locker was not your fault. That girl is doing her job, and unfortunately her job involves a lot of sticky situations, but you are not to blame for something happening to her. Just because you have feelings for her does not make everything that happens your fault."

Sam sighed in frustration.

"Okay, listen man, go. Go to the hospital, go see your partner. I've got it covered here."

Sam nodded his appreciated. "Thank you." He walked solemnly back to his squad car that somehow had not been impacted by the blast. Turning on the siren, he sped away.

The doctor said she was doing good, she was responding well to the oxygen and to the medicine that was clearing out her lungs from the soot that had settled. He also said that they wanted to keep an eye on her process, so she would be stuck there for another forty-eight hours; just to be safe.

By the time Sam made it to her room, visiting hours were over. It was times like this that he was grateful he had a badge he could pull out to get his way. The room was dark, but the small lamp in the corner of the room provided enough light to see the damage the explosion had caused her. Though her face had been cleaned from blood, there a butterfly bandage on her right cheek, a large purple bruise on her chin, and of course, the nasty gash above her left eye that the EMT had been bandaging up earlier. Not to mention the oxygen line running under her nose—that was just her face. With hospital gown on, he could now see her arms covered in scrapes, bruises, and a few minor burns. His eyes fell upon her hands, wrapped in white bandages with her fingertips poking out from underneath the gauze.

Sam clenched his teeth, anger running through his veins. This should never have happened.

He moved towards the chair next to her bed, and starting getting comfortable. He knew it would probably be a long night.

Andy stirred, awakened by his noise. She opened her eyes. Looking at him she smiled. "Hey stranger." She rasped.

Her eyes were red and puffy, probably irritated by the smoke. He smiled back. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Good." She responded immediately.

He narrowed his eyes and scooted the chair closer. "How are you really feeling?"

She chuckled lightly, then groaned and rubbed her throat. "I've been better." Her voice came out as a whisper. "My head is killing me."

"I bet."

"Did you find the boy?"

Sam nodded, her concern for the child made him smile. "Yeah, we did. He's okay. Probably back with his mom by now."

"That's good."

"So it looks like you'll be taking some time off, huh?" Sam said, forcing his voice to sound light of the situation.

Andy nodded slowly. "Yeah, looks like it. Doc said it would be about three weeks before I could go back to work."

"Three weeks?" Sam exclaimed, wondering if there was something else wrong that he didn't know about.

Andy smiled. "That's how long it takes for cracked ribs to heal apparently. I think I'll be back in two."

He had forgotten about her cracked ribs. "Right…" he said slowly. "I um, I don't think you should push it, McNally. Take the three weeks, just to be safe."

"Maybe." She agreed. "It would give me time to move into my apartment."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Right, because moving furniture around is a good way to heal cracked ribs."

She giggled, but then groaned. "You can't make me laugh, it hurts."

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

The room got quiet for a moment, before Andy posed the question, "Do you ever blink?"

Sam knitted his brows together in confusion. "Excuse me?"

Andy smiled. "You've been staring at me for like two minutes, you haven't blinked."

"Oh," he said, embarrassed he had been staring. "Sorry, I guess I just want to make sure you're actually okay."

"I am." She said with all seriousness.

Sam leaned closer to her. "McNally…"

"Yeah?"

Sam sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left. I guess I just—"

"Stop." Andy ordered. "You do not owe me an apology. You were doing your job, and I was doing mine."

"My job is to have your back." Sam objected. "My job is to protect you."

Andy paused. "I don't blame you, but I know if I was in your place I would blame myself. So, I forgive you, Swarek. Now forget it, okay?"

Their faces were literally inches away at this point. "I can't forget it."

"Why not?"

"Because I care about you too much, McNally. You're possibly the best partner I've ever had."

"Just possibly?" Andy teased.

Sam grinned, his face closing the space between them until there was just about an inch separating them. "Okay, fine. Most definitely."

Sam could swear she was moving towards him, but before he could feel her lips on his the door opened, and they both instantly pulled away.

"HEY!" The rookies of the 15th division shouted in union. Chris, Dov, Tracie, and Gail all piled into the room with balloons and flowers.

"How's it going?" Dov asked, oblivious to anything happening before their arrival.

Andy smiled at her friends. "I'm okay, really. I'll be out of here in a couple days and then back to work in a few weeks."

"That's great!" Chris exclaimed, setting a vase of colorful flowers on the nightstand beside her. "We were all really worried about you."

"Yes, we were." Tracie maneuvered to her side. "Getting blown up is now added to the list of things Andy McNally has survived."

"I didn't get blown up," Andy protested.

"You were thrown across the road from an explosion; I would say you got blown somewhere." Gail quipped with a small smile.

Sam stood from his chair, backing away. "I'll leave you with your friends," he said politely, making his way towards the door. "I'm really glad you're okay."

"Thanks." Andy responded, sounding disappointed in his departure.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded. "See ya."

Sam shut the door behind him and leaned up against the wall of the hallway. He had mixed feelings about what almost happened. On one hand he was disappointed the rookies had showed up, on the other, he probably would have kicked himself later for kissing someone who had nearly died. She wouldn't have been in the right state of mind… he would have felt like he was taking advantage of her.

She sighed, deciding it didn't matter. What is done is done. As he turned to leave, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the caller ID, his heart stopping momentarily. This was it. This as the call—they wanted him to go undercover tonight. He hesitated, torn by the decision he had to make. He didn't want to leave McNally in this condition; he wanted to be there for her. But… she didn't want him in that way. She wanted to be alone, alone with her 5 year plan.

With another sigh, Sam answered the phone, "Hello? Yeah… yeah… I'll be right there."

The end. So, what do you think?