Chapter 1

Sam left the station in a worse mood than he usually did on nights like this. Andy had worked the night shift and he had worked all day without seeing her. Sam had returned to the streets after they had gotten married. He missed the thrill of not knowing what would happen next. They couldn't be partners anymore, so it wasn't as hard for both of them to be cops.

Tonight he had gotten called into Guns and Gangs. A case he had worked on when he was a detective had reopened and they needed someone to go under, soon. They didn't have time to brief anyone else, and everyone else on the case was recognizable. He was not looking forward to the conversation he had to have when he got home, so he slowly trudged to his truck. He drove home in silence, and sat in the driveway with the truck running for several minutes before sighing and shutting off the ignition.

He walked up the drive and opened the door. The sound of giggling and barking came from the living room. He turned the corner and took a step back as two small masses collided with him.

"Daddy!" they squealed.

"Hey, girls! How was your day?"

"Good, we made necklaces at school today. Dani made a purple one, mine is pink."

"That's great. Why don't you two go get them?"

He set them down and they ran to get them, the sound of small feet padding up the stairs followed. He knew they would be distracted by something when they got to their room, by a game or a conversation, or at least he hoped. He needed to talk to his wife. Andy leaned against the wall, observing the exchange. "Hey," she smiled.

"Andy," he breathed, savoring the last moments of peace, "I need to talk to you about something."

"What?" she asked nervously. Sam didn't know how to begin. "Sam? What is it?"

"Guns and Gangs called me down today," Andy's face fell, she knew where this was going, and they hadn't called him in years, since before the girls were born. "Adrian Defraine was released from prison about a year ago. We never got him for the murders, so he was only in prison for a few years. They need to send someone under, someone who they've never seen before. I was still studying for the D's test while the trial was going on, so I didn't testify. Everyone else with enough information to go is recognizable."

"Sam, you promised you were done, you got their word they wouldn't send you under again. You have two kids now. The girls need you, I need you. I can't do this without you."

"Andy, I can turn them down, but this guy has killed dozens of people, kids, and entire families. He's ruthless, he doesn't care who he has to take down to stay free. And he seems to disappear every time we get ready to go after him. Sending an undercover in may be the only way to catch him, and it has to be now, or he'll disappear again." Tears were forming in her eyes. He pulled her into a hug. After a moment, she pushed away.

"When do you have to leave?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"How long will you be gone?"

"It's really involved. At least two months, maybe longer."

"How are we going to tell the girls?"

"We'll figure it out."

"Alright, I guess if you have to go, you have to."

"Thank you. I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you when I get back."

Andy took a deep breath. This was going to be the hard part; they had to explain to the girls why their father was going to disappear for months without being able to talk to them.

"Girls," Andy called, "can you come back down now?"

The girls came back downstairs, the necklaces all but forgotten by Sam clutched in their small hands.

"Dani, Lily, we have something very important we need to talk to you about, and it's important that you listen very carefully to our words, okay."

They both nodded. "Momma, what's wrong?" Dani asked.

"Nothing is really wrong honey, there's just some bad news we have to tell you," Andy began. The girls didn't question them further, so she continued. "You know how mommy and daddy help people and put the bad guys in jail?" Both girls nodded, but didn't speak, "well, sometimes a police officer has to go away and pretend to be a bad guy for a little while. They can't live with their family, or even talk to them. They have to pretend to be bad all the time." Lily's eyes widened. She was catching on a little faster than Dani, who was a year younger.

"Momma, do you have to go away and pretend to be bad?"

"No, honey, daddy has to for a little while."

Dani looked at Sam with her eyes full of tears, "Daddy's leaving?"

Sam picked her up, and spun her around to sit down on the couch with her in his lap. Andy did the same with Lily. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise, I'll think about you all the time, and miss you like crazy."

Lily looked at Andy in fear, "you said Daddy had to be bad, is daddy going to go to jail for being bad?"

"No sweetie, daddy is only pretending to be a bad guy so he can see what the real bad guy is doing and tell the police so they can put him in jail."

"But daddy, if you know he's bad, why can't you just put him in jail?"

Sam and Andy didn't quite know how to explain the court system to a three and four year old. Andy thought of an incident about two weeks ago. It had upset her and Sam then, but now it may be useful.

"Remember a few weeks ago when Dani ate the cookies left in the bottom of the cookie jar?" They both nodded. "When we found the empty cookie jar we didn't know who had done it because we didn't see which one of you took the cookie. We had to wait for you to tell us who had done it." They nodded. "Well, we're sure the bad guy did some very mean things, but we never saw him, so we can't prove it. So they need daddy to go watch him for a little while. But in order for the bad guy to let daddy see, he has to think they're friends, so daddy has to live near him and pretend to be like him for a while."

"So, daddy is gonna do like we do when we play princess?" Dani asked.

Andy had to smile slightly at the way her daughters' minds worked. They didn't have to worry about him getting made. They didn't have to worry about their daddy not coming home. To them Sam was just playing an extended game of dress up. "Yes, sweetheart, daddy's pretending like you do when we play princesses."

"Oh, are you sure you can't live with us while you're pretending?"

"Honey, if the bad guys find out I'm a police officer, they won't let me see them doing bad stuff, then we will never put them in jail, if they see me coming home, they'll know I'm pretending."

"Oh, okay. I'll miss you a lot, daddy," Dani replied.

"Me, too, daddy. I'll miss you every day until you come home," Lily echoed.

"That makes three of us," Andy sighed. Sam rubbed her back.

"Will you take my necklace with you?" asked Lily, offering it to Sam.

"Mine, too," Dani asked, "so you don't forget about me?"

The sight brought Andy to tears, and made Sam's eyes prick. "Dani, I'll never forget about you, or Lily, ever, no matter what happens, or how long I'm gone."

"Will you take them anyway, pretty please?" Lily pleaded.

"Of course, girls, I'll keep them in my top drawer while I'm living in my pretend house."

"Alright, girls, time for bed," Andy said. "Go get changed and we'll be up in a minute."

"But momma," Lily whined.

"Daddy will be here tomorrow and the next day. Tomorrow night we'll do something fun."

"Movie night?" Dani asked.

"Sure, whatever you want to watch," Sam replied easily.

"I don't know, a good movie, it has to be just right," Lily answered.

"You can sleep on it; tell us in the morning,"

"Okay." The girls ran upstairs to get ready for bed, and pick out the books they wanted to read.

Sam and Andy followed after them. They got the girls ready for bed, then read The Cat in the Hat, and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, their two favorite books. Once they said goodnight, Sam and Andy headed back downstairs and curled up together on the couch.