A/N: This story is dedicated to Rosemary who'd first theorized with me as to how the Sam/Marlo/Andy maybe-triangle of season 4 would play out. Without her this story would never have been born.

Please note that this story includes the new character of Marlo Cruz, who will be joining Rookie Blue in season 4 as revealed by major media outlets. The rest of the story is pure speculation with some very minor spoilers regarding Marlo. Her place in Sam's life and personal history are strictly my own speculation. It picks up from Andy's return to 15 Division.

-ONCE-

Andy McNally stared straight ahead while the orders for the day were being given. She could feel his eyes staring at the back of her head and she willed herself not to turn around. She refused to give him the satisfaction. Her heart was already a cobbled together mess and last night she'd managed to break the binding on "Good Riddance" from too much use.

But she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she'd made a mistake.

A woman moved into the doorway, her imposing body drawing Frank's attention. He smiled. "Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to help me welcome our newest transfer from ETF, Marlo Cruz," several of the more senior officers' faces looked up and to the door, recognizing the name that Frank had called out. Andy looked toward the door and saw a tan, dark haired woman standing there, her hand at her holster, her hair in a tight braid. She smiled and gave a short wave as she entered the room to scattered applause. A few of the guys in the back wolf whistled their greetings and she narrowed her eyes at them.

"Relax boys, I may have been gone for 6 years but I still know how to kick each of your asses," she gave a bold grin and took a seat next to Oliver who nudged her with his elbow, raising his eyebrows and nodding in approval.

"Good to have you back at 15 Cruz." Frank reminded them that a few had firearms recertification and to check for vehicle assignments on the wall.

Andy quickly gathered her belongings and moved toward the wall. Every morning she tried to be the first out the door so she could avoid running in to Sam in the car park. "Gail, let's go!" she called out when she saw that she was paired with the newly demoted Peck.

"What's yer rush?" Gail retorted, her face hovering over a box of Tim Horton's donuts that sat open next to Frank's podium. "I need my maple sugar fix first"

Andy rolled her eyes. "I'll meet you at the car, then." With a quick turn of her heel she made her way toward the Sallyport, her black bag slung over her shoulder.

Just as Andy was about duck under the opening car port doors a familiar voice called out, "Hey speedy Gonzales!" Andy stood upright, sighing. At this rate, she figured she'd never beat Swarek out the door.

"What?" she said to Gail, her shoulders sagging in annoyance.

Gail licked the icing sugar from her fingers, a half eaten donut clutched in her other hand. "Aren't you the one with the red cell phone case?"

Andy nodded and patted her cargo pant pocket. The empty pouch folded in against her leg. "Damn." She'd left it in the parade room. "Did you grab it for me?"

Gail cocked her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes and brought her chin to her chest. "Do I look like I have any free hands?"

She pursed her lips, gave a heavy sigh and shot Gail a dirty look as she returned into the station.

Andy rounded the corner to the parade room, expecting to find it empty, instead two voices stopped her dead in her tracks. Against her better judgment, she tucked her body to the left of the door frame, out of sight.

"Why didn't you tell me you were transferring here?" Sam's familiar voice sent Andy's heart into a flutter. She cursed at herself for her weakness.

"I wanted it to be a surprise." He was talking to the new transfer, Marlo. Andy swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat.

"Well it was certainly a surprise!" Sam chuckled.

"A good one, at least?"

There was a brief pause. "A great one." Andy's face reddened, her heart rate quickened. She could hear the smile in Sam's voice. She squared her shoulders and gathered up the remnants of her courage. Rule seven: Never let him see you falter.

She burst into the room, the stomp from her boots making a louder sound than she'd intended. She saw Marlo jump slightly, surprised by Andy's presence. Realizing it was just another officer, she smiled. "Hi! I'm Marlo. I don't think we've met before."

Andy's lower jaw shifted slightly, Marlo's words a jumble in her mind as she fought against the growing sting in her eyes. "Yah. I'm Andy. Andy McNally," her name came out pointedly. So much so that Marlo gave a brief questioning glance at Sam. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Just grabbing my cell phone," she said, annoyance clear even to her own ears. Was it possible to hate someone in the first thirty seconds of meeting them? "Don't mind me…"

As she exited the room, her cell phone in pocket, she chanced a second glance through the parade room window. There, just as before when she'd stormed in on them, Sam's one hand was on Marlo's arm, his second on her knee.

-TWICE-

"I just want you to try," Claire McNally said to her daughter. "He's a nice boy. Andrea says he's only going to be in town for a few days."

Andy rested her head onto her hands and looked across the dinner table at her mother. For the last hour she'd been trying to convince her to go on a date with her friend's son. "You need to get back on the horse, Andy."

She groaned at her mother's analogy. Traci had likewise told her to try to date again, encouraging her to, ironically, call the guy from the Mounted Training Unit. "It's perfect," Traci had said with a wink and a smile. "You need to get back on the horse. He knows how to ride…" But Andy could never bring herself to dial the phone.

Rule eight: go on a meaningless date.

"Fine," she agreed at last. "I'll do it."

On the night she met up with Jonathan it had rained so hard that the DVP had flooded. 15 Division had been tasked with traffic detail and Andy had been forced into overtime, leaving her running late. With her hair tied into a messy ponytail and her work boots tucked under a pair of jeans, she met up with her date at the Fox & Fiddle on Bloor having had no time to go home and change. He greeted her with a quick hand shake at the door and led her to their table.

A waitress came shortly after they were seated and looked to Andy for her drink order.

"I'll have a bottle—"

"She'll have a glass of your house wine," her date said, interrupting her.

Andy frowned and raised her eyebrows. "Really? Is that so?"

Jonathan gave a chuckle. "All chicks like wine, right?"

"All chicks?" She looked up at the waitress who gave a sympathetic shrug. "So this is how it's going to go is it?" Andy asked tossing her napkin on to the table.

"What?"

Andy shook her head and stood up. "Listen. This isn't going to work." She pulled her coat from the back of the chair. "It's been… nice to meet you, but I'm just going to go."

Jonathan stood as well. "My mom said you had issues, but I thought she was kidding. She wasn't, was she?"

She squared her jaw and looked at him, willing herself to be calm. Raising her hand in front of her she said, "I'm not doing this with you." With a swift turn, she marched toward the washroom and hoped that by the time she'd returned he'd be gone.

She leaned over the sink and splashed cold water over her face. The night had been a disaster from the start and she regretted not listening to her initial instincts. She shook her head at her reflection.

"You're an idiot," Andy said to the reflection in the mirror.

"You okay, hun?" Startled, Andy turned to find an older, dark haired woman standing next to her. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." She put her purse on the counter and began to rummage inside.

"It's fine. I mean, I'm fine." Andy shook her head willing the thought of Sam out of her head.

The woman pulled out a stick of lipstick and brought it to her lips. "You don't look fine. You sure everything is okay?"

Andy gave a smile. "Yah. Just a bad date that's all."

The woman blotted her lips on a tissue and tossed it into the trash bin. "Been there," she said with a laugh.

Andy narrowed her eyes and looked at the woman again. There was something vaguely familiar about that laugh. "Have we met before?"

The woman smiled. "Nah. I don't think so. I just moved here."

She nodded. "Oh. My mistake."

"It's not a problem." The woman opened the door to a stall. "I hope your dates get better."

Andy chuckled. "Me too."

The woman closed the door to the stall and Andy took a second look at her own reflection, shaking her head. She really needed to get a hold of herself.

Andy pulled her ponytail tight, opened the door to the washroom and rounded the corner, tentatively looking out into the restaurant. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her date had taken the hint and left. A cheer erupted at the bar, drawing Andy's attention. A crowd of patrons were gathered watching the hockey game, so she tucked herself in a corner to catch the last period of the game.

Just as she was about to flag down the bartender to get the bottle of Canadian she'd originally wanted, she caught a glimpse of a familiar face in the shadows of a booth. She instinctively drew in a sharp breath. There, with a pint of beer in his hand was Sam Swarek. Next to him, with a glass of red wine at her lips, was Marlo Cruz.

"Can I buy you a drink?" A voice said at her side. She turned and found a tall blond man looking at her. For a second Andy debated refusing and leaving the bar. Rule two: Take on new opportunities.

"Sure." Andy pushed her shoulders back and stood taller, willing her confidence to take over. "I'll have a bottle of Canadian."

The man smiled and motioned for the bartender as a second cheer erupted, marking another goal.

After the game, the blond asked for her number. As she turned to place her beer bottle on the bar, out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Sam's table. In addition to Sam and Marlo, the dark haired woman from the washroom had joined them. Suddenly Andy realized why she had seemed so familiar: her photo had sat on Sam's bookshelf.

Sarah.

"You'll meet my family when I want to torture you."

Clearly he wanted to torture Marlo, she thought angrily to herself. She looked back up at the blond. Mark? Michael? Something with a M. She couldn't remember.

"Sure. You got a pen?"

-THREE TIMES-

"So. When are you finally going to tell me what happened between you and Swarek?" Traci asked as she pulled her sweater over her head and kicked her locker door closed.

"Never."

"Andy," Traci warned. "I'm your friend. And as your friend I've been super patient. But that patience is running low."

"There's nothing to tell," assured Andy as she pulled her hair into a ponytail.

"Really?" She asked, disbelieving. "So nothing happened while Swarek was with you when you had that grenade? And nothing happened that made him transfer to a detective rotation? And nothing happened when you went undercover with Project Dakota only to be kicked back to 15?"

Andy rolled her eyes. "Okay fine." She grabbed her bag from her locker and tossed it on the bench. "Lots of stuff happened. But it's not worth repeating."

"Andy!" Traci exclaimed. "Don't be like that. I know you think you're trying to help me by keeping me out of the loop. But trust me. I can handle it." She gave a deep sigh and sat on the bench. "It's been over seven months."

Rule five: Get a break up buddy.

"Okay fine," she relented and sat next to Traci. With a heavy sigh, Andy admitted to her friend that when Sam had confessed his feelings in the basement of the Royal York she'd wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around his neck and just cry with relief. But she didn't want to be that girl. Sam had sucker punched her in the parking lot outside of the Penny and she'd never felt so broken than she had in those weeks in between. His declaration and subsequent overtures had brought the raw emotions to the surface and she didn't know how to forgive him or how they could move on. When Luke had offered her an escape she'd taken it without hesitation, it was a chance to be someone else for a while, to forget the hurt and the pain that came with a life that had Sam Swarek in it.

Under Project Dakota, herself and Nick were expected to infiltrate an underage sex trade operation. Teenagers from Asia were being smuggled into the country using fake passports and were being sold to buyers throughout Canada and the United States. One evening, while trying to secure a buy at a local meat packing factory, they were exposed by a sting from 15 Division. Apparently the factory had also doubled as a marijuana grow op. As a result, both officers were sent back to being beat officers.

The day that Andy had returned to the job, she'd been sick to her stomach. She'd been unsure of how she'd deal with Sam and the aftermath of her decision. As luck would have it, Sam had moved on to being a detective and so their interaction was greatly limited to casework and even then she sought out Traci whenever she had questions about a case.

"You remember that day that you went to Leo's school to talk to his class?" She asked. Traci nodded. "I wanted to say something to him. Anything. But when I went to open my mouth, nothing came out. And he just looked at me." She shook her head. "Then he said 'so that's where we're at, huh?' and walked away."

"Oh Andy…"

She looked down at her hands, tears stinging in her eyes. "I wanted to explain why I'd left… but I just couldn't."

Traci ran her hand along her friend's shoulder, comforting her. "These things sometimes take time. Give him some time and give yourself some time. Eventually I think everything will iron itself out."

"Really?" She asked, doubtful.

Traci shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know." Andy nodded slowly, unable to meet her friend's eyes. "But I see the way he watches you when you're not looking. I'd probably bet good money that he still has feelings for you. He's probably just as confused by it all as you are."

Andy reached toward Traci and wrapped her arms around Traci's neck, pulling her into a hug. "Thank you," she said.

What she hadn't told her friend was how many times she'd dialled Sam's number and got his answering machine only to hang up before the beep. Or how how she'd read To Kill a Mockingbird so many times while undercover that the pages had begun to fall out.

"C'mon," Traci patted Andy's leg. "Let's get out of here."

Andy nodded, batting an errant tear from her face with the back of her hand. The two friends headed out of the locker room and down the hall to toward the parking lot. As they walked through the sallyport doors, Traci linked her arm into her friend's. "I think tonight calls for ice cream. We'll stop off at the grocery store and—" Traci was jerked to a stop. "Andy?" She looked to her friend whose eyes seemed to be focused on a spot deep in the darkness, behind the gates of the parking lot. Traci squinted to see what Andy was looking at. At that moment a car drove by, its headlights briefly illuminating the scene before them. Traci drew in a startled breath and looked toward Andy.

"Is that—?" She asked, unsure if she wanted a confirmation as to what she'd seen.

Andy nodded, her head lowering. "Yeah."

"Oh Andy…" She said, apologetically. Traci grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her through the secondary exit, away from a further encounter with the figures in the dark.

As Traci led Andy to her car, she hoped against reason that what they'd just witnessed was not what it had seemed. That they hadn't, in fact, seen Sam Swarek embracing Marlo Cruz in the shadows of the gates.

-AND A FOURTH-

"McNally, you're on traffic detail with Cruz," Frank Best barked from his podium. "The Prime Minister is coming into town and the RCMP wants us at the ready for road closures when the motorcade rolls through."

Andy slid down her seat, shoulders slumping. Somehow, through complete and utter luck, she'd managed to avoid partnering with Marlo. She supposed it was bound to happen at some point, but as far as she was concerned later was better than sooner.

Unfortunately the day consisted mainly of being stationed at an intersection waiting on a call out for a road closure at their corner. A day without action was a day that opened itself up to small talk or silence. Andy was hoping for silence.

"You're avoiding me," Marlo said at last, putting their car into park at the corner of Front and Jarvis. "Usually I have to have done something to get people to avoid me." She bobbed her head. "But I'm almost certain that we've never actually even held a conversation."

"I'm not avoiding you," Andy said flatly, looking away and out her passenger-side window.

Marlo shook her head. "Yah you are. I'm not blind, McNally."

Andy rolled her eyes. "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to just focus on patrolling right now. You know, do our actual jobs?"

She sighed and picked up the radio. "1519 mark us at the corner of Front and Jarvis." Marlo replaced the radio on to its hook. The radio crackled back and the two women sat in silence, listening to the occasional calls from other officers through to dispatch. Eventually their command was given and they moved into action, diverting and stopping traffic as necessary at the bustling intersection.

Once the motorcade had passed, Andy gathered the pylons and placed them into the trunk, closing it with more force than she'd intended. Marlo looked up from her notebook and raised her eyebrows at Andy. Andy rolled her eyes and silently wished that the day would be over already.

As they climbed into the squad car Marlo turned to her from the driver's seat. "Is this about Swarek?"

Andy snorted and rolled her eyes, a reaction she knew didn't help her cause.

Marlo squared her jaw and narrowed her eyes. "The walls have ears, McNally. People talk. I know you and Sam were a thing once."

"Once being the operative word," she snapped.

"You know I've known Sam for a long time," Marlo said as she started the car.

"Good for you." Andy clicked her tongue against her teeth. Marlo was the last person she wanted to talk to about Sam and she certainly didn't want to hear about how they'd come to meet and fall in love.

"I'm just saying that I might know a little more about him than you think I do."

Andy turned in her seat toward Marlo, her face flushed with anger. "I don't care that you're with Swarek now. Never did. And I certainly don't need you telling me what you think you know about my relationship with Swarek. What happened happened. It's over. We're over and frankly I'm done talking about it with you."

"It's over, is it?" Marlo asked, her lips curving at the corners.

"Will you just drive?" Andy pointed to the road before them. "I'd like to get back to the station."

Marlo shifted the car into drive. "For the record," she said looking over her left shoulder to check for on-coming traffic. "I'm not with Sam."

Andy shook her head in disbelief as the car moved onto the road. "Whatever," she said, crossing her arms against her chest.