I'm gonna live in my own little world where this actually happened because I'm not really happy with how the season ended and it'll help me get through the hiatus until S4. Plus, I really LOVED Sam's speech at the end of 3x13 and had to find a way to use it in some story. :) Please leave a review to let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue.

Goodbye

"I love you, Andy."

"Sam, I'm holding a bomb."

He took a step closer to her and wrapped his hands around hers. "So am I."

Andy stared at Sam, wondering why he chose this moment to finally tell her how he felt. It's all she'd wanted him to do for months. But now? Neither of them had time to say another word as a guy from the bomb squad walked in. Sam backed up when Andy asked for space, but he was still within arm's reach.

"You have to leave," he told Sam.

Sam almost laughed. "No."

"I need her focused on me, not anyone else. You're a distraction."

Sam remained planted to where he stood. Andy looked over at him. "Go. He's right. You're a distraction. Please, just wait outside the door. Please," she begged.

He couldn't deny her with the pleading look she had on her face. "Okay, but I'll be right outside the door." He waited for her to nod in understanding before he backed reluctantly out of the room. He heard the guy's voice giving Andy instructions, but couldn't hear the words. Andy's response, telling him she understood, was the last thing Sam heard before the explosion. He was thrown from the wall he was leaning against and the world went black.

Sam woke up gasping for air and his eyes repeatedly blinked, trying to focus on the room he was in. The rapid beating of his heart slowed as his eyes caught his dresser across the room. He patted his hands on what he was lying on and realized he was in his bed. It was only a nightmare. That's all it was, a horrible nightmare. He blamed the alcohol he pounded at The Penny when he realized Andy wasn't coming, and kept reminding himself it was just a nightmare. Andy was safe. She had escaped the bomb. She was alive.

He thought back to their conversation that started in the locker room several hours earlier.

Sam sat on a bench in the women's locker room, watching Andy put her coat on. "Andy, what I said to you..." He trailed off and had trouble finding his voice again. It was hard enough saying it the first time. Those three words just didn't come easily for him.

Andy stared down at him, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she turned back to her locker and decided to give him the out she thought he was looking for. "It's okay, heat of the moment. I get it."

God, that was the last thing it was and he needed her to know that. He hated that it took her holding a bomb for the words to come out, but he had been thinking it for a long time. In fact his love for her was why he pushed her away. He couldn't bear the thought of losing someone else he loved. He'd hoped distancing himself from her would make him love her less, but it didn't.

"No." He stood up, standing right up next to her. "I meant it. It's true. There are 206 bones in the human body. I saw it on Grey's Anatomy." Before he can stop it, the foolish words are out of his mouth and he's immediately falling against the lockers, secretly wishing he was banging his head against them for his stupidity.

Andy slammed her locker shut and grabbed her bag off the bench, brushing past him without another glance. "I'm going home."

He quickly followed her. He couldn't let her leaved pissed off at him. "Hey, come on!"

"You don't get to do this anymore, okay," she said, back turned, heading toward the door.

"McNally!"

He's practically shouting at this point, so she spun around to face him and whispered, hoping he'll get the hint to quiet down. "I don't care if you're serious. I don't care if you're joking. I don't care anymore. So, just leave me alone," she tells him.

She storms out of the locker room, Sam right on her heels. "I'm not gonna leave you alone. I screwed up, okay. Things got tough and I walked away. I thought I was doing the right thing." He hoped those words would make her stop and listen. It wasn't that long ago she thought she was doing the right thing by leaving for three months.

She stopped in the middle of the hallway to turn and face him, keeping her voice low, so the whole station didn't learn exactly how he'd dumped her. "Do you have any idea what you put me through? You broke up with me in a parking lot and for six weeks I tried to contact you. You didn't answer one of my calls."

"Andy - "

"No."

"Andy, I'm - "

"Sam, it's too late. I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore." She shrugged a shoulder as she turned away.

He wasn't going to let her go that easily though. He wasn't letting her walk away without a fight. It might be a little late, but he was going to fight for them. As she started to walk away, Sam jumped in front of her to stop her. "Okay, you know, you don't have to do anything, okay."

He put his hands out, palms facing her, hoping she would stop, but also hoping she'd walk into them, so he could touch her, feel her against his skin again. But she stopped just short of his outstretched arms. "You don't have to do anything. I'm gonna do it all. I'm going to do everything, okay? I'm going to show you every single day until you say yes. I'm gonna make you dinner. I'm gonna take out your garbage. I'm gonna walk your dog." His eyes pleaded with her to understand, to give him another chance.

"I don't have a dog," she replied quietly, looking down at the floor and trying to avoid his intense brown eyes.

"Then let's get a dog, a labradoodle, a mutt from the pound, I don't care. Let's bring him home and call him Boo. Boo Radley. I've always loved that name for a dog," he rambled on. Apparently, Andy's allergy to silence was contagious.

She repeated the dog's name under her breath, trying not to smile as she looked back at the floor and bit her bottom lip.

"Okay, look..." He waited until her eyes met his again. The small smile now gone from her face and replaced with emotion filling her eyes. "Can we just start with a drink? Just a drink?"

Her eyes found the floor again, alternating between a scuffed tile and his shoes. His eyes never moved from her face, looking for any sign, any indication that she was wavering from her hard stance of minutes earlier.

"Please. Andy, just give me a chance."

Her lips curved up briefly as her shoulders moved up and down in a non-committal answer.

"I'll be at The Penny," he said, praying she would meet him there. He stared at her a moment longer before walking toward the men's locker room to grab his things.

She walked down the hallway on a mission to find Traci, so she could get her friend's advice. She thought about everything Sam had just said. It was just a drink. She could do that, right? Yeah, she was mad at him, but after everything they'd been through, she owed him that much, right? She owed it to them both to have a drink. One drink, she promised herself. She'd see what he had to say to explain himself.

He was jolted from his thoughts when his phone started ringing. He looked at the clock on the nightstand that read 3am. Who the hell calls at this hour? He answered anyway, his gruff voice huffing out his name as he answered. "Swarek."

Andy tugged her thin coat tighter as she walked 10 blocks away from the apartment she would call home for the indefinite future. She promised Nick she'd be careful. Promised him after this she wouldn't break protocol. Promised him this one thing would help her stay focused on their job. Somehow he understood and she was grateful for that.

She came across a rusty old payphone and cringed, thinking about how she was going to have to scrub her skin raw to feel clean again after touching the phone. She shook the thoughts away as she picked it up and put in enough change for a quick phone call. She prayed he'd answer despite how late it was. This was her only chance. She dialed his number and waited.

"Swarek."

Andy winced at the tone of his voice. Okay, so he wasn't happy to be woken up in the middle of the night. She hesitated for a moment before responding. "Sam?"

Even if the nightmare hadn't woken him, he'd be wide awake now. "McNally?" He was excited to hear her voice, but forced himself to remember she never joined him at The Penny. He couldn't imagine what she had to tell him at this early hour.

"Sam, I couldn't..." She looked around the empty street, waiting for someone to pop out of the dark shadows. "I couldn't leave without saying goodbye."

"What? Goodbye? What are you talking about?" He quickly forgot how disappointed he was at not seeing her beautiful face pop up beside him at the bar.

"I got on the taskforce," she whispered. "Nick and I had to go under immediately. I didn't even get to tell my dad. I'm not supposed to be calling you."

Sam rubbed a hand across his face, not believing what he was hearing. He didn't even know she wanted to be a part of the taskforce. Then again, he hadn't spoken to her much recently. And Nick, the rookie cop. How'd he get on it? He shook his head. Those things weren't important right now. "I thought...you know..."

"I know. I couldn't let you...I didn't want you to think..." She sighed, angry at herself that she couldn't get the words out and she was on limited time. "I would've shown up."

"Andy, I meant what I said. Everything I said. I…" He swallowed thickly and knew he couldn't screw this up. She was taking a risk calling him and he needed her to know it was worth it. "I love you."

"I...I know." There was a beep in her ear telling her that her time was almost up. She hesitated for another moment before speaking again. "I love you too. I gotta go. Goodbye, Sam."

"Andy." The words had no sooner come out of his mouth than the line went dead and the only sounds in his ear were the loud dial tone and his breathing. She would've come. She still loved him. There was hope. Diminished a bit by the fact she was undercover on a major taskforce and who knew when she'd be back, but there was hope. Sam put his phone back on the nightstand and suddenly couldn't wait to get to work later that day. His priority was going to be finding out anything and everything he could about this taskforce.

Andy walked away from the phone booth, her eyes bouncing all around trying to locate anyone that might be lurking in the shadows. She circled a couple blocks on the long walk back to where she was now living, and confident no one had followed her, she entered the apartment to find Nick sitting on the couch. He looked up as she closed the door. "Everything okay?" he asked.

She nodded, but bit her lip to fight back the tears forming in her eyes.

He gave her a small smile and knew she needed some encouragement. "It will be, you know. It'll be okay."

The End