So, since it's almost Christmas and all, the many Christmas songs on the radio kind of inspired me to write this. I know there isn't much Sam/Andy stuff going on in this chapter just yet, but be patient. This is just a slight introduction (Ok, so it might have gotten a little longer than intended) and I had to break it up at one point. Please enjoy reading it and feel free to leave a comment!

Disclaimer: I don't own rookie blue…

Chapter 1: Rough Day

'So, have you decided if you're going to the Christmas party yet?' Traci asked for at least the hundredth time that week. It was beginning to become annoying.

'I'm not exactly in a partying mood, Trace,' I reminded her.

'I know, but a party might be exactly what you need right now,' Traci tried. There was no way she was going to give it up. Ever since she'd found out that there was going to be a Christmas party at the Penny tomorrow night, she had been trying to convince me to go. I wasn't really sure what was holding me back, I mean a night out with my friends was going to be a great night, right? Drinks, jokes, it all couldn't be that bad. But after the day I had had...

'Oh, come on Andy. It'll be fun!' Traci tried again. There really was no way she was going to give up.

'Fine, ok, I'll go to the party,' I said. I had to laugh as Traci's fist shot up in victory.

'Great, I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning, help you find the perfect dress to wear.'

I had been stuffing things in my bag, but I looked up at her comment.

'Ehm, I think I can manage to find something by myself,' I answered taken aback. Traci usually only helped me pick out an outfit if I had a date and the last one had been a long time ago. Tomorrow night was just a normal Christmas party, nothing special.

'I know you can, I just thought I help you since, well you know, it is Christmas and all...' I know I'm a bad liar. Like worst of them all, no one I know is a worse liar than me. But it was obvious Traci was trying to hide something from me and she wasn't doing too good of a job at it. I wanted to ask her about it, but I was too tired and decided to let it drop. I would find it out eventually and if it really was something important, Traci would spill it.

'You ready to go?' I asked, closing my locker shut and picking up my bag.

'Nah, but you go ahead. I'll see you there in a little bit.'

I walked of and out of the locker room. Eyes on the floor I saw nothing and no one in my path, making me all the more surprised when I walked head first into a wall. Only this was wasn't as rock solid a wall, it was quite muscular actually and it was somehow familiar. It even smelled familiar, I thought as I sniffed. Knowing what I would see when I looked up I slowly lifted my head to look in his eyes. There was concern there, mixed with something else.

He had moved his hands up to my shoulders to steady me as I had started to fall back, bouncing off of him.

'Sorry,' I muttered, eyes wandering over the rest of his face, lingering at his lips. Those perfect kissable lips.

'No worries,' he said to me, giving me his perfect smile that made my knees go weak and made me feel all mushy. His hands were still on my shoulders, and though I stood somewhat steadier now, it still felt reassuring.

'You going to the Penny?' he asked looking right into my eyes, I could feel a slight blush starting to make its way up my cheeks.

I nodded, not sure what sound my voice would produce once I opened my mouth, but pretty sure it wouldn't be anything understandable.

'You need a ride?' he offered.

'Yes, thanks,' I muttered. He held out his arm guiding me along. As we walked through the station I could feel his hand on the small of my back, spreading a warmth throughout my body.

We made our way over to his car in silence. It wasn't as if it was something we hadn't done at least a million times before, but somehow the air felt thicker now, as if something was about to happen. He held my door open for me and I got inside. The truck smelled like him and I couldn't help but sniffing deeply to take it all in. Immediately I felt all the worry and stress from the day slip off of me.

'Are you alright?' He asked once he was settled in his seat. I had been waiting for him to start about that one.

'I'm fine,' I said without looking up at him. He remained silent and eventually I gave in and looked at him. There was something about the way he looked at me sometimes that made it impossible to try and hide the truth.

'I was scared,' I admitted as I felt the tears starting to form in my eyes.

It had been early afternoon when Chris and I had been walking around a dodgy part of town. There were plenty of alley ways and a large amount of the drug activity in the city was taking place in that part of town. It was always more dangerous there, but then again bad things like that could happen everywhere, in any part of town.

We had been walking around for a couple of minutes when we suddenly heard screams coming from one of the alleys. We ran down to the sound quickly and found a woman being held at gun point by some guy. I signaled for Chris to go to the other end of the alley in case the guy decided to make a break for it. Taking a deep breath I stepped out, my own gun ready in hand.

'Police,' I shouted slowly making my way over to the guy. 'Put the gun down and put your hands up.' The guy seemed to do what I told him to; he bend down and placed the gun on the ground. But before I could do as much as walk to him to cuff him he was already making a way for it.

'Chris, suspect's coming your way,' I spoke in my radio. I received a copy almost immediately and made my way over to the woman, who seemed terrified. I called into dispatch, requesting for back up and an ambulance. The poor woman must be in shock. I helped her up from the ground where she had fallen down, but before I was able to start making my way out of the alley to get her back to where the cruiser was parked, I heard a click of a gun being taken off safety.

Crap, crap, crap! I though. This could not be happening. This could NOT be happening!

I slowly turned and faced a guy, he could hardly be over sixteen, pointing the gun the other guy had left behind at me and the terrified woman. As if being held at gunpoint once a day wasn't bad enough.

I should have picked up the gun, I shouldn't have left it laying on the ground. Well, it was a little late for that now, I thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

'Suspect in custody,' I heard Chris come in through the radio. It seemed to startle the guy, who already looked rather jumpy. In that state he could be capable of pulling the trigger without warning.

The woman had tears streaming down her face and she was falling back down to the ground, curling up into a ball, rocking back and forth softly.

'Where is he? Where did you take him?' Great. He was trying to find someone who was probably long on his was over to prison.

'Where's who?' I asked carefully taking a step towards him.

'My brother,' he said looking around panicky. 'Where is he?'

'McNally, what's your twenty?' Chris' voice came over the radio again. I was sure that if I as much as moved to reply he would shoot.

'Don't answer that!' the guy called out at me.

I took a breath, calming down and letting my instincts take over. I once heard they were pretty good.

'Look, I don't know where your brother is. But if you keep pointing that gun at me, I'm pretty sure you'll never know either, because any minute now back up will arrive and they will take you down.'

He looked at me considering what I had just said. I was pretty sure I had managed to distract him enough from the fact that he held a gun in his hands, so I moved closer to try and take the gun from him.

And that was mistake number I-don't-even-know-how-many that day.

As soon as he saw me move, he took the gun in both of his hands and pointed it right at my head. If my situation wasn't bad enough already, it just got worse.

'Don't move!' he yelled. I took a deep breath and was about to say something, when I heard footsteps. They were getting closer, moving their way through the alley's.

'Police! Put your hands up!' Traci called as she rounded the corner. The guy was so surprised I managed to walk up to him and take the gun from his hands. Traci came to me and cuffed the guy.

'You're under arrest...' I couldn't hear the rest of what she told him, as I was dropping to my knees, too weak to stand any longer.

I vaguely noticed as Traci took the guy away and how Oliver went over to the woman to help her. I couldn't move, I just sat these until I felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking up I saw Traci's concerned face.

'Are you alright?' She asked. I nodded. I would be fine as soon as I got out of here, had a long shower and found my pride again.

But before any of that happened, I had a ton of paperwork to fill out and forms to sign and people to talk to. It wasn't until the end of shift that I was able to take a few moments to myself to gain back some of the control I had lost during the day.

He pulled me close and held me tight as I sniffed, remembering the day's events. I had acted stupid and it had gotten me in an extremely dangerous situation.

'It's ok, Andy. It's all ok,' Sam said soothingly. It calmed me down and after a moment I was able to look up, however reluctant to move away from his embrace.

'I'm alright,' I said, managing half a smile. He didn't look completely convinced, but he did started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and please let me know what you thought of it.

There'll be more interaction between Andy and Sam in later chapters, this is just the first chapter. It's quite a busy time right now for me, but I'll try to update as soon as I can.

B