Post Andy and Luke breakup. I am new - reviews welcome so I can get better!
Disclaimer - I don't own Rookie Blue.
"McNally, you ok back there?" Sam noticed that Andy had been trailing behind him for the past hour. Her skin was pale and she looked tired. Once he had noticed her pace was slowing, he looked back frequently to make sure he could still see her and that they didn't get separated.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good," Andy heard herself lie. She had started out ok, albeit completely hungover from her girls night with Traci, but after a couple of hours searching these woods she now felt downright awful. Her head was pounding and her stomach was doing flip-flops. She had been 90 percent sure she would be on desk duty today and hadn't really thought about the number of tequila shots that entered her body the night before. After weeks of searching for an apartment she had finally found the perfect one. Traci had insisted on a celebratory girls night out. Why did she have so many drinks? She made a mental note to never do that again on a 'school' night.
When she got to parade, Best had announced a new lead on a missing person's case from years back. They needed all available officers to scour the woods where a prisoner had confessed to burying the body. Normally Andy would have been eager to help. But today she just wanted to take some aspirin and crawl back into bed. She would give anything for desk duty right about now.
The officers had been instructed to search the grounds in teams of two. As usual she was paired with Sam who seemed to have endless energy. They had been searching for a couple of hours now and every time she looked ahead the gap between them seemed to be widening. God, is he picking up the pace? Why did he have to be so on top of things?
The past few weeks had gone pretty well. After the breakup with Luke, Andy had slowly but surely gotten back into a good routine. Things with Sam were good. He was very supportive but had not made one move on her. A couple of Sam glances but nothing more. Andy often wondered what was taking him so long. She thought about making the first move herself but just couldn't get up the courage. If it was time and space he was giving her, she was growing more impatient by the minute.
She could feel her stomach turn and was quickly brought back to reality. Her stomach had been in knots for an hour now, and she knew the inevitable was going to happen soon. Please God, please don't let me throw up in front of Sam, please...she was trying to talk herself out of it. She never got sick from alcohol, she made a point not to go too far. She had seen the horrors of it growing up and would never let that happen to her. But last night her and Traci were having so much fun, laughing and telling stories from the week, planning how to decorate her new place...
Andy suddenly felt the ground moving, or was it the sky, and knew she had to get to a bush, a tree, anything that was out of the way. She ran to a nearby tree and made it just in time. As she vomited behind it she could feel the muscles in her back and neck pull and tears stinging in her eyes. She prayed Sam didn't hear her. She would be mortified.
"McNally!" Sam was becoming increasingly annoyed that his partner wasn't keeping up with him. What was with her today, anyway? She was unusually quiet and had barely spoken to him in the car. He thought the past few weeks had gone well. Sam knew Andy was comfortable with him and didn't want to push it. He didn't want to be the rebound guy and knew he was being overly cautious around her. Swarek, you are an idiot for waiting so long, he thought.
He turned around to see her off to the side, hunched over with one hand on a tree and the other on her stomach. He squinted to try to see clearer. Although her face wasn't visible he was pretty certain she was getting sick.
He ran back to her and without thinking put his arm around her waist, covering her hand that was gripping her stomach. "Are you okay? Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?" He grabbed his water bottle and handed it to her. She washed her mouth out and spit. Attractive, she thought. Andy didn't have the energy to answer him. She pressed her forehead into the tree and tried to get her bearings, feeling completely weak and exhausted.
Sam saw how pale she was and could feel her shaking. He had one hand on her stomach and the other on her back to steady her. "Andy, you look like you're going to pass out." He looked back and saw a fallen tree and quickly led her to it, making her sit down. He sat down beside her, unable to hide the concern on his face. She could feel how close he was next to her. They were touching from shoulders to calves and she could feel the warmth of his leg next to hers.
"I was feeling ok earlier but I just got really dizzy and had to...ugh. I'm sorry Sam I wasn't expecting to be doing this today and Traci and I were out drinking last night..." her voice lowered. "This is so embarrassing," she leaned forward and put her head in her hands to try and stop the spinning.
Relief swept over Sam as it registered that she was simply hungover. A slight grin appeared on his face but he was quick to get rid of it.
"Ahhh," he said "that explains it. I was wondering why you weren't your chatty self. I usually can't get a word in."
"Thanks" she muttered. She was not in the mood to be insulted. Her head was pounding and she swore her body temperature had dropped to near freezing.
"Listen, we've all been there McNally. Don't worry about it," he said easily. Seeing how self-conscious she was made her more adorable than before, if that was possible. He gently pushed into her shoulder with his own. "Andy, it's fine, don't be embarrassed. Here, look at me," he said softly. She turned to look at him with those eyes he's seen a million times.
Sam could feel her shaking beside him. He stood, took his jacket off, and put it around her shoulders over her own jacket. When he sat back down he straddled the fallen tree and gently pulled her against him so she could rest her head against his chest. Andy could feel how incredibly warm he was as she sunk into him.
"We've got some time before they'll miss us," he said reassuring her. "Just get warm and try to feel better. No one will be the wiser."
He heard her sigh. "You're so warm," she whispered. She could feel him wrapping his arms tighter around her, trying to get her as warm as possible. One hand reached up to the back of her neck, gently kneading it with small circles. He felt her muscles ease as she completely relaxed into him.
After several minutes of silence he could feel that the shivering had stopped and her full weight was leaning into him. Her breathing was steady and slow and he was pretty sure she had fallen asleep.
Sam couldn't help but grin. He would wake her when he had to, but right now he wasn't going anywhere.