This is another one shot. The time frames is sometime after 3.13
This story is Rated T
I do not own Rookie Blue, but if I did…..
Nick and Andy had been back for a week from the biggest bust in 15s history. The ending had not gone as smooth as they would like, but Nick and Andy had come out of it with minimal injuries and few emotional scars. Andy didn't deny it, the emotional scars were few but they were big ones. They were both happy that the debriefing was done, the first two meetings with department shrink where done and they were both ready to start their three weeks mandatory leave.
Andy sat on the bench in the locker room staring into nothing. Traci had tried to get her attention, tried to tell her to give Sam some time to get over the shock of her being back. But after Sam had yelled at Andy that he needed a team player, he need a girlfriend that loved him, that she had walked out on them again, that he was not going to ever forgive her for what she did, Andy had shut down and was staring into space. Traci needed to get her help to get Andy out of the station and home. Traci headed out of the locker room to see if she could get Noelle to help her and shook her head as she went by Gail yelling at Nick. It was going to be a trend today, everyone yelling at everybody.
Traci sighed and continued to look for Noelle. Nick noticed out of the corner of his eye that Traci looked worried and he could only assume that it was Andy that had caused that face. Nick made a decision right then and there, he was done. "Gail, I realize you're pissed off and you say you will never forgive me. Fine, walk away and leave me alone, I don't need your shit right now. So stop, check yourself and we will revisit this after my three weeks off." With that Nick stormed into the woman's locker room.
Nick bellowed, "Andy"
"ANDY"
Nick rounded the corner and saw her spaced out in front of her locker. "Andy, lets go. We are getting out of here."
Andy looked at him confused, "What?"
Nick stood in front of her, "I can't take Gail and her screaming anymore, I know Sam yelled at you, so lets get out of here now before someone dies tonight."
"Ok."
Andy grabbed her bag and followed Nick out to the parking lot, before Traci and Noelle got back to the locker room; Andy and Nick were gone.
Traci shook her head and saw Gail in the corner of the locker room, "Where did Andy go?"
"She left with Nick, I guess they both had had enough of Sam and I yelling at them. Nick snapped, stormed in here, told Andy lets go and they left."
Noelle sighed, "Where's Sam, I need to have a word with him."
"His office."
Noelle walked up to the D's office with Traci hot on her heals, leaving Gail to sit in the locker room and mulling over her argument with Nick.
Noelle motioned for Frank to come out of his office and join her. Noelle walked into the D's office and walked up to Sam's desk and picked up all the case files on his desk and slammed them back down.
Sam looked up and saw Noelle looking like she was going to kill him, Frank standing behind her looking confused and Traci behind him, looking distraught.
"Are you proud of yourself Sammy?" Noelle spat out.
"What are you talking about?"
"Do not give me this horse shit, how could you yell at her, how could you treat her that way. She loves you, you love her, why did you have to exploded?"
Sam shook his head, "Frank, you going to help me here?"
Noelle glared at Frank, "Nick just took Andy out of here, Traci said she shutdown, you know what that means."
Frank looked at Sam, "Not helping you Sam, if Andy runs again, its on you. I told you to stay away from her until after she came back from time off."
All Sam heard was, she left with Nick, "What do you mean she left with Nick?"
Traci raised an eyebrow, Frank glared at him, Noelle lost her cool, "Let me get this straight, you will scream at her, push her away but as soon as Nick jumps in to help her, you get all she's mine. You disgust me. Figure your shit out soon Sam, I am tired of it, the whole station is tired of it. I will not watch Andy break down because you want to treat her like a yoyo."
Sam stood up, "You don't get to talk to me that way, you are not my mother and you don't get to order me around. I don't care if Andy doesn't like what I told her, I don't care if she went with Nick. I am DONE!" With that Sam packed up his stuff and left.
Traci shook her head and looked to Noelle, then Frank. "Gail was yelling at Nick too. Do you think they are both going to be ok?"
"Only time will tell," Frank said as he walked back into his office with Noelle following him.
Nick pulled up to Andy's apartment, "Andy go up stairs, packed a bag with enough clothes for three weeks, pack warm clothes and I will meet you back here in 45 minutes, ok." Nick reached to Andy's arm and slightly touched her, "Andy, did you hear me."
"Yeah, I will be ready. We both need this."
As promised 45 minutes later, Nick pulled up. Andy waved from her window and headed down. She opened the back door and put her bag in the back, then jumped into the front seat.
"So where are we going?"
"I called a friend of mine I was stationed with while on active duty, he is letting us borrow his cabin for the next three weeks. No one will know we are there; it's a two bedroom, full stocked cabin. Cell phones don't work up there either, just to warn you. I grabbed food and drinks when I went home to get my bag. It will give us time to adjust, decompress and come back with clear heads. Maybe then we can tackle the our failed relationships with out killing them."
Andy smiled, "Sounds like a good plan."
Nick pulled away from her apartment with both of them having a new found sense of calm. Nick noticed the snow was starting to come down lightly, "Andy look, snow."
"I love the snow it makes everything look so peaceful."
It took them an extra hour to get to the cabin because of the weather. As they unloaded the car, they noticed the snow was coming down hard, almost blizzard conditions. Andy put everything away while Nick started a fire. Nick grabbed some blankets and sat on the sofa. Andy soon joined him and they talked into the night.
It has been four days since anyone had heard from Andy and Nick. Their phones were going to voicemail and their apartments were empty. Traci sat in the D's office looking at Sam.
"What Traci, you keep staring at me."
"Gail is beside herself that she can't find Nick, you look so calm. Now do you do it, how do you turn it off and not care about her?"
Sam looked up at Traci, she didn't know that he had pulled out all the stops looking for the two of them. He had even talked to Frank about putting out a bolo on Nick's car but Frank had told him flat out no. He kept coming up empty, he could only hope they were ok. "I haven't turned anything off, I am sure they are fine, they probably went some where and with all the snow we got, they just stayed where they were."
Traci shook her head and went back to her cases.
It had now been two weeks. No one had heard from Nick or Andy. Frank had contacted headquarters to see what or if anything should be done. They were technically not on duty, they hadn't missed any appointments so headquarters said unless it was implied they were not adjusting well back to their normal life, they would have to ride it out the full three weeks before anything could be done. Frank let Sam know that he just had to wait and that hopefully this would be a good time to fix his shit and be ready for Andy.
It was now the end of the three weeks; Gail and Sam were now sitting in Frank's office an hour before parade. Frank was laying down the law; they would follow these rules and behave accordingly. He was not going to have screaming matches or meltdowns in his division. Gail and Sam shook their heads in acknowledgment. Both Gail and Sam had done a lot of thinking and were ready for this, to get Nick and Andy back. He told both of them to sit in his office until five minutes before parade; Frank was not taking any chances.
Frank walked down to the bullpen and sat on the edge of Noelle's desk. "Do you think they are coming back today or are we going to be hunting for them today."
"I don't know, both of them were treated pretty badly before they left. I just don't know."
Frank looked at the clock, "thirty minutes before parade."
Just then, they heard the door open and heard laughing and running. Noelle leaned forward and saw a flash of Nick and Andy running into the locker rooms.
Noelle sighed, "Well I guess that answers that question, I get Andy and you get Nick?"
"Yep, lets do this before my whole division turns into a nuclear meltdown site. "
Frank walked into the men's locker room, "Nick can I have a word with you while your dressing?"
"Sure sir, what can I do for you?"
"Where have you and Andy been?"
"We went to an army buddies cabin, we spent the last three weeks sleeping, eating, talking and dancing. It was good for us. Is there a problem?"
"No, just had a few of us worried is all, "Frank smiles, "So you two are good?"
"Yeah we are good, we can do this and we can tackle this again."
"Good, glad to have you back, let's just keep the meltdowns and drama to a minimum please."
Noelle walked into the women's locker room, "Andy"
"Hey Noelle, how are you doing?"
"I should ask you the same thing, last time I saw you, things were pretty dark and now you are smiling and looking much better."
"Yeah, Nick took me out of the city, we did a lot of eating, talking, board games, catching up on sleep and just plain being bums. I have to say it did us some good."
"Good, glad to hear it. Frank would like to keep the meltdowns and drama to the minimum in the division today. Ok?"
"Sure no problem. I am good, I can do this," and Andy smiled
Noelle shook her head, "are you and Nick a couple?"
"No Noelle, we just good friends, good partners, we have each others back. Gail and Sam are mad and well, Nick and I are in a good place where we can handle their anger, we can fix this."
"Ok, see you at parade."
Frank and Noelle met outside the locker rooms compared stories and went into parade. Gail and Sam watched Nick and Andy walk into parade from Frank's office. Sam let out a deep breath, "well, I guess they are back, looks like they are in one piece and looking a lot better than they did."
Gail huffed, "why does this have to be so difficult."
"Because it is us."
Sam stood up, "Well, lets get in there and see if we can piece our lives back together with the two of them."
With that Gail and Sam headed to parade.