"Sam!"

Andy fumbled for her radio as she felt herself get kicked from behind, only one name coming to mind. She only just managed to press the button and scream again before Nixon wrenched her back, "SAM, save me!"

Andy's voice sliced painfully through the silence in the room where Jo had assembled them all, once again. All but falling off his chair, Sam was frozen for a moment. He'd never quite heard Andy like that before. He'd never heard her that purely terrified. It gave him the chills. He'd just gotten a decent hold on the device when she screamed again, "SAM, save me!"

"Andy!" he screamed back. "Andy, what's wrong?" There was silence on the other end. He looked up to find every rookie in the room looking at him with clear shock and worry; Traci looked about ready to drop. The only one unaffected was Rosati, standing at the front of the room looking bored.

He glared her way when he stood and made for the door. "Hey, Swarek, where are you going?" she demanded to his back.

Pausing, he looked back with a piercing glare, "Are you fucking serious, Jo? Really?" She had the politeness to look at least a little ashamed. "Even if common decency isn't your thing, you should at least remember what taking care of your partner is about." The shame immediately left and she returned his glare. He didn't care. She deserved to get called what she was, even in a roundabout way.

Before she could act on her anger, he'd demanded, "Epstein, keys!"

Dov didn't hesitate before tossing the key ring and following Swarek without being asked or told. He was coming. Sam just glanced back at him, not objecting, as he pulled out his phone, "Callaghan, you heard from McNally?"

Luke sounded confused as to why Sam of all people was asking him that. His usual dislike for the man was clear when he answered, "Yeah, she was working on the case for me. She found Nixon's locker. I just got the search warrant and am heading across town. Why?"

"Fuck!" Sam swore viciously, making officers in the vicinity jump or flinch. Swarek that angry was not a good sign…ever. Best even strode out of his office, but didn't berate the man once he saw the expression on his face. He looked at Dov with surprise, wondering how he was still following the irate Sam.

"Well, where the hell is it?" Sam's stomach was churning, and not with the usual butterflies it was when Andy was involved. It was instinct this time. Something was wrong. Given she'd found a serial killer's trophy hiding place, he got the bad feeling that said serial killer had returned and found Andy there. That would explain the sheer terror.

Luke gave him the address and locker number, again asking why, "What the hell is going on, Swarek?"

Slamming the cruiser door shut behind him, he said simply, "Helping you sent her right to Nixon and I let her go alone." He hung up before Luke could ask more.

Andy couldn't hold back a whimper as Nixon put the duct tape over her eyes. She tried to struggle as she sensed his hands getting closer and closer to her neck until his horrible fingers wrapped around. She kicked and squirmed but he only squeezed tighter, agonizingly cutting off her air supply.

She screamed Sam's name against the duct tape. She doubted it would help but calling for him made her feel just a little less helpless.

Suddenly, her ears were assaulted by the beautiful sound of the door being thrown violently up and Sam's voice a split second later. "GET UP! Hands up and get away from her!"

For a long moment, Nixon's fingers didn't let up. She had never quite heard Sam sound so deadly when he demanded with clearly clenched teeth, "You get up in the next five seconds or I swear I will shoot you in the head."

Perhaps it was the military man in him or he just wasn't stupid, because Nixon realized the sincerity in the order. His grip retracted and Andy felt him stand. "Dov." She could picture Sam nodding toward Nixon and Dov, who was apparently there, striding over and cuffing him as quickly as possible.

She couldn't help but recoil when Sam knelt down in front of her. All the anger was gone when he said gently, "Andy, it's just me." Taking as deep of a breath as she could through her nose, she nodded. "I'm gonna take the tape off, all right." She nodded again. The rip stung as he pulled the tape off but she didn't care as she took long, shallow breaths through her mouth.

She blinked her eyes against the light to see that Sam looked at her with more concern and something resembling fear than when she'd been shot. "Thank you, Sam," she whispered, trying unsuccessfully to calm herself.

She immediately stopped shaking, however, when he took her head in both hands and stared right into her eyes, "Andy, I'm so sorry. I never should've let you go alone."

Grounding herself in that brown-eyed gaze, she breathed, "It's okay, Sam. I'm okay."

"No, it's fucking not," he berated himself, leaning forward suddenly and kissing her forehead as if reassuring himself she was there and alive.

Luke ran up at that moment, frozen in the doorway to the locker. He immediately went white. He'd always known that there was something between Sam and Andy, something he and Andy didn't quite have. Even though she'd left, it still stung horribly to see her being comforted by Swarek of all people. His testosterone flared and had Dov not held out a hand and looked at him rather menacingly, he would've broken the moment.

Pulling his attention away from his personal life and back to his job—something he'd always been good at doing, compartmentalizing—he glared at Nixon. Pulling the search warrant out of his back pocket, he smirked smugly at the man, "I've got you this time, you son of a bitch."

Andy's gaze shifted to Luke at the sound of his voice. If she hadn't known she'd been right in leaving him before, she did now. She had almost been murdered not ten minutes ago and she had no urge or need to go to the man she'd been about to marry. She was perfectly fine where she was.

Sam's gaze followed hers after a second but he took it the wrong way. Sighing inside, he couldn't help but glare at Callaghan. She still wanted him… He suddenly wished she hadn't called for him. Why couldn't she just have had Callaghan come rescue her so they could get back to their happy ending?

His brooding was cut short when she asked quietly, "Sam, can we go?"

He nodded, "Sure, McNally."

He stood and held a hand out to her that she took. Letting go, he turned to walk away. Andy took one step and her knees immediately buckled, the adrenaline wearing off and shock setting in. She was within reaching distance of all three men, who all went to help her, but it was Sam's arm she instinctively clung to.

Annoyance at her and Callaghan immediately vanishing, Sam put an arm around her waist as she clung to his Kevlar vest. Expression softening, he started unhooking her vest, shoving it to Luke unceremoniously before picking her up bridal style. Closing her eyes, suddenly feeling very tired and extremely overwhelmed, Andy rested her head against his shoulder, "Thank you, Sam."

"Let's get you out of here, Andy." Glancing back, he asked, "You good, Dov?"

The other officer nodded, "Yeah, we'll be good until somebody else shows up. Won't we, asshole?" he glared at Nixon.

Smiling a tad bit at Dov being Dov, he walked out of the locker toward the door. Andy's eyes didn't open even when he walked out into the parking lot and was confronted by the small army of backup Callaghan had apparently called for. Shaw, Noelle, every rookie aside from Dov, and even Best were there. They all froze.

Sam ignored them after nodding backward, "Callaghan's in there with his warrant. Epstein has Nixon." Setting her in the passenger seat of their usual cruiser, he turned the key and pulled out of the lot.

Andy took a deep breath, gathering up what little bit of courage she had, and pushed open the door to the men's locker room. Sam was not the only one in there but she ignored all the others and Chris's surprised squeak as he walked out of the shower without a towel. If she didn't do this now, she'd never get up the courage again. Almost dying put things into perspective. Perspective told her she didn't want to live without Sam any longer. She'd been hiding in the women's locker room in a shower with the water running for the last four hours. She was all pruney by that point but, after replaying the last twelve hours over and over, she finally knew what she had to say to Sam.

She came to a stop in front of him at his locker, just about to put his shirt on. His shirtless state made her pause for a moment, distracting her. He was surprised; he'd thought she'd already gone home with Traci. But there she stood, determined but shy at the same time…as soon as she got her eyes northward again.

They just looked at each other for a long moment, not noticing the silence that had descended among Chris, Dov, and Shaw. She finally broke it by saying, "I'm sorry for being bitchy and making you leave..."

Interrupting her, running a hand down the back of his head, he shook his head, "Andy, I shouldn't have left you at all. You didn't make me."

"You were mad," she said simply. "You're always mad when it comes to me and Luke. I was too pissy to figure it out today."

"Still," he insisted, "it shouldn't have mattered. I'm your partner and I should've-"

"Shut up, will you!" she exclaimed in all too familiar exasperation. "I'm trying to explain here!" Sam opened his mouth, a retort immediately on his lips but her raised eyebrow stopped him. Grinning slightly at how their banter was back to normal, he crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.

Taking a deep breath, she began, "I didn't believe Luke because I still want to be with him. I believed him because he's better at his job than being a fiancé. I wanted to solve the case because I wanted to shove it in Jo's slutty face. I spun the story because I didn't want to be that girl who's the victim and too stupid to figure out what everyone else already knew." Sighing, she bit back tears for a moment, "I didn't want to be remembered as his second best."

Taking a step forward and wrapping his arms around her, Sam said confidently, "Andy, nobody thinks that. We just think that Luke's a fucking idiot and Jo's a whore."

Sniffing back tears, she suddenly chuckled against his chest and smiled up at him when the others all agreed with various shouts of "Damn right!" and "Sammy's right!"

"Sam," she began quietly, so only he could hear, "even…even if I was still with Luke, it would've been you I called. Luke's not the one there for me; you are. You're the one I want rescuing me."

Stepping back from her, Sam looked down at the floor, "Andy, I'm not just gonna be the one you run to when things go badly. It's not enough."

"I know," she nodded. "I've known it wasn't gonna work with me and Luke for a while…ever since the power went out. I was just kinda hoping I could pretend long enough that it would stick…I thought it had toward the end there. This is what I get for that, huh? Ironic, because Luke was supposed to be my safe choice. He wouldn't hurt me or leave me. You were scary because, well, let's face it you're a pain in the ass and annoy the hell out of me most days."

Trying to lighten her mood a bit, knowing that all this outpouring of feelings into words wasn't any easier for her than it would be for him, he grinned, "That's why you love me, McNally."

Looking up at him, no joke in her eyes, she nodded, "Yeah, it is." What she'd come there to convey now said, she gave him a small smile before stepping forward and hugging him, "Thanks for saving me, Sam."

She turned to go—ready to find Traci and cry the night away—but found her arm caught in his grasp. She looked back at him in confusion until he smiled at her, dimples showing brilliantly, "Hey Ollie, get rid of the rookies for me so they can gossip like high school girls to everybody?"

Chuckling, Shaw nodded, "Took you long enough, Sammy."

"Hey," he defended himself, "she was engaged!"

"Yeah, yeah," the older man shook his head as he followed the exuberant Diaz and Dov out of the door. "Excuses, excuses."

Sam smiled down at Andy who returned the grin. He pulled her back to him and swiftly pulled her in for the kiss he'd been waiting, aching to give her for months. As her arms wound around his neck, he ventured to guess she had, too.

"You know," he said, running a hand down her face a long make out session later, "as much as I hate them for hurting you, thank god Jo is a bitchy whore." Smiling as soon as Andy's frown arose, he continued, "Otherwise, I would've made an ass of myself trying to break up your wedding."

Poking him playfully in the stomach, Andy pressed a kiss to his neck and whispered, "It wouldn't be the first time you've saved me."

"So, you're staying at your dad's right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, why?"

Smirking, Sam shrugged, "You know, I've got an empty half of a bed if you want it…"