Chapter 10

I am terribly sorry it took me this long to update. I have an important exam this Friday and a paper due next week, but I'll try to post more regularly from now on. Can't make any promises though. Thank you to svugirl25 for checking in and asking me to continue or else who knows how much longer it had been before I updated next.

I know it's been a while, but I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter.

...

'Wait! What?' Traci spat as she looked at her friend in awe. 'You guys are NOT together?'

Andy had dreaded this for a long time and had luckily managed to postpone it for a little while so she could be sure of what to say to her best friend without making it too obvious that she was lying.

'Nope, we decided to wait, since it is against the rules and all. Who knows, it might even be a good thing.'

'So, what? You two are just going to dance around each other for the next few months until you are cut loose?' Traci's face looked even more shocked than moments before.

'Pretty much. He said something about not wanting to risk anything.' She quickly turned her face away as she knew her face would give her away in an instance.

'Swarek? Afraid of the risks?' Traci seemed to be less and less convinced about what she was saying each time she opened her mouth. Time to cover up and save what could be saved.

'Ok, so maybe I got a little scared of the whole rookies and TO no-no thing, he understood and said it was all valid reasons. He thought he probably should have said something like that since he is the TO and all and is supposed to know better…'

'But apparently he doesn't!' Traci nearly spat. Oh yeah, this conversation was going just great.

'It doesn't really matter who said what, OK? I mean, we agreed we would wait till I'm cut loose. That's all there is to know.'

'But what was all that with you two hanging out after you talked? You did talk to him, right?'

'Yeah, of course I talked to him, how else would we have come to this conclusion?'

'I suppose,' Traci said considering it for a moment.

'We will make it through these next two months without being together and then, well, we'll see what happens then. More wine?' Andy held up the bottle and Traci held her glass closer as she filled it.

'Thanks, I still don't really get it. Why…'

'Traci, can we not talk about this for five minutes?'

'Right, yeah, of course. I see you started hanging some paintings?' She sounded slightly surprised, offending Andy in the process.

It had taken her a while to get settled into her new apartment, hanging paintings and pictures on the wall didn't seem like the best way to settle in. It was too permanent. To abrupt perhaps. But now a painting that had been standing on the ground for the past few months was finally hanging on the wall.

'Yeah, I decided it was time to hang something. Make it feel more...homey.'

'Well, I'm proud. You made the decision and now you're going to live with it happily. You know, had you made a different decision, you could have done the same with Swarek...'Andy threw her best friend a pointed look.

'Alright, fine, I'll shut up about it. But know that I don't agree with it.'

'I know,' Andy said before taking another sip. 'So how are things with you and Jerry?'

'Ahrg, don't even get me started on that one. Dex decided that he wants to try and make things work between us again.'

'So what are you going to do?' She knew all about the history between her best friend and her son's father. She also knew her best friend was living happily with Jerry and had been doing so for a while now. There was enough conversation there to keep her friend occupied and not focus on her and Sam for a while.

...

'So what's going on between you and your rookie?' Oliver asked as they were sitting at the Penny having a drink. It was quiet at the bar. Only a handful of people were sitting at the bar and a couple more were scattered over the tables in the room. It seemed odd for the place to be this empty at this time of the day.

'What do you mean?' Sam asked giving Oliver his best ignorant smile.

'Well, you know... You and her... seemed to be heading it of right.' Oliver looked at him with meaningful eyes, but Sam managed to keep his cool and pretend once more like he didn't understand a thing Oliver was saying.

'Oh, come on man, don't do this to me. I know what's going on there!' Oliver said, taking a swig from his beer.

'There's nothing going on,' Sam said. 'I tried, she shut me down. Apparently, I can't get a break,' he added in a low voice. Oliver didn't seem to hear it though. He was about to open his mouth once more when Jerry walked up to them and sat down beside them.

'What's up?' he asked before signalling to the bartender to order a drink.

'Nothing much, according to Sammy here. I however have my own theory.' Oliver smiled broadly. At Jerry's confused look, however, he continued.

'See, Sammy here,' he said patting his friend's back. 'is claiming that there is in fact nothing going on between him and Andy McNally. However, I believe he is trying to deceive us.'

'You know what, brother?' Jerry asked, pointing his glass in Oliver's direction. 'I think you're right.'

Sam shook his head and resigned to downing his glass. Why in the world had they decided to keep this a secret again? It wasn't as if anybody was going to believe them when they saw them at work the next day anyway. If this current conversation was any indication, they could probably smell it before they had even entered the parade room.

'Guys, I'm telling you, she shut me down.' It was as though he was undercover all over again, only now he was trying to lead his friends on instead of a bunch of criminals. 'Can't you guys just give it a rest?'

'No, no we can't. We know there's something going on between the two of you, ok? We've seen it since day one. That the two of you are too stubborn to really act upon it, that's your problem, but when you lose her to someone else, don't come crying out with us,' Oliver said.

'I acted alright,' Sam started to protest, but the two other men didn't seem to hear him. 'Besides, she's hardly in a place to be 'lost to someone else',' he added.

'Oh, but that, my man, is where you are wrong,' Jerry jumped in. Sam looked at him questioningly, yet slightly annoyed. Noticing his friends look, Jerry continued. 'You never know what might be waiting around the corner.' He looked ahead at the entrance where a young man had just entered.

'Oh, come on,' Sam said as he looked at the man. 'Like she'd ever go out with a guy like that.' Though he was certain that things between him and Andy were alright, there was a slight pinch in the pit of his stomach too.

'But you don't know that for sure,' Oliver said. 'You never know what she might do.'

...

The next morning came too early for Andy's liking. There was too much light coming from behind the curtains and her head was pounding. Groggily she made it to the kitchen and made herself coffee. After a few sips she was starting to feel a little better. Upon opening the curtains her eye fell upon the cause of all the troubles: the wine glasses and two empty bottles. Yeah, that surely explained how she felt. She hoped Traci made it home alright, she really should have insisted she'd sleep on the couch. A quick shower and another cup of coffee later she was ready to leave for work, knowing that tonight would have to be a lot calmer than last night.

On her way out she looked at the paintings she hung the day before, smiling brightly. Her smile faded slightly, however, as she realized she had to turn her head to look at the painting right side up.

As she got to the station a while later she saw Sam standing at his truck dark sunglasses on despite the slightly rainy day, holding a coffee cup out for her to take. The familiar shivering went through her as she gratefully took hers.

'Morning,' he said, smiling at her. If she wasn't what Gail would call 'all mushy inside' already, she surely was now.

'Morning.'

They made their way inside in silence and Andy was about to head in to the locker room, Sam pulled her by the hand and pulled her into the room on the opposite side of the hallway.

Soon his lips were on hers and her arms were wrapped around him.

'Sam,' she managed to utter between kisses. 'We shouldn't be doing this, we're at work someone could walk in any moment…'

'Right,' Sam said, kissing her again. 'You're right, we should probably stop doing this.' He kissed her again and all the doubt she had felt moments before was gone. They could simply stay here all day, hide out, and forget about their shift. They could. But her more rational side got in the way and she broke the kiss.

'Later,' she muttered, pushing him away with every inch of strength she had in her.

'Fine,' Sam muttered, kissing her one last time before making his way out of the room. Andy smiled to the now empty room, it was going to be a challenge to remove that smile from her face once she got to work. She checked her watch. Great, now she was late, again. She figured enough time had passed so she opened the door and quickly slipped in to the locker room. She managed to change in to her uniform swiftly. She rushed out of the door and bumped into someone.

'Oh, I'm sorry,' she said without looking at whoever it was she had just bumped into, and only barely catching the, 'Don't worry about it' thrown back at her.

Parade had already started but she managed to slip in the back without too much commotion. Traci did throw her a look, but Andy simply stared ahead to the front where Frank stood, dividing tasks.

...

Sam smiled to himself as he saw Andy rushing in after parade had already started. Maybe she had been right and he shouldn't have pulled her into that room with the intentions he had, but he couldn't help it. His talk with Oliver and Jerry the night before had scared him more than he wanted to let on, because deep down he knew they could easily be right. If not for the reasons they thought they could be then for the fact that they were in two very different places in their lives. Running in to that same man he had seen in the Penny last night on the hallway had not been the best start of shift either, and something told him he would be seeing a lot more of him, considering he seemed to be waiting in front of Frank's office.

'Ok, McNally, you will be going with Swarek to transport a prisoner back to the city for his trial. That's all,' Frank said as he walked out of the room while people started to get up.

It brought him back into the room. He sincerely hoped he had not missed too much of the parade. At least he had the entire day with Andy, to try and figure out all of his feelings.

As he walked out of the room he saw Andy talking animated to Traci. He could only guess what that was about. He just stood there for a moment, looking at her and in that moment he made a promise to himself. No way he was going to screw this up.

...

'Well, that won't be awkward,' Traci said to Andy as they too got up, following the example of the rest of the room.

'It'll be fine,' Andy assured her. 'Just fine.'

'Eheh. Right, sure. Don't think I haven't seen those looks between the two of you just now, or even before for that matter. Just promise me you'll be careful.'

'I will. Besides, it's just a prisoner transportation, right? What could happen?'

'I was talking about you and Swarek,' Traci said before walking past her and out of the room. For a second Andy stood there, thinking about what her friend had just said, but then Sam called out to her.

'McNally, come on. We've got a long road ahead of us.'

Andy sighed.

'Yep, this is going to be just great,' she said to herself as she followed him, a wide grin on her face.

...

So, that's it for now. If you want to, please let me know what you think in a review.