Disclaimer: I do not own Rookie Blue.

Rated: T for safety, as always.

A/N: This is a drabble set after season 2, episode 1: 'Butterflies', from Sam's POV in 3rd person. It's set around his response to Andy's question about the position at Gun and Gangs.

So glad I'm finally getting back into the swing of things!

I hope you enjoy!

Sam Swarek. Set after 'Butterflies'.

It's not supposed to slip out. Especially not the way it does.

You.

Yeah, it's the truth. But as much as he strives to uncover the truth when it comes to justice and the law, he's all too aware of how damaging it can really be. Truth isn't simple; it's convoluted, and painful, and shocking … It tries it's hardest to be enough, but a lot of the time it isn't. Anyone preaching that the truth will set you free obviously doesn't have a lot of life experience; yeah, it's wrong to lie, but he believes that omission is preferable in plenty of scenarios.

He's not about to let this truth leave him vulnerable.

He can feel Oliver's eyes drilling into the back of his head and can see McNally's eyebrows furrowing as her lips part just slightly, beginning to process what he just said. Backtracking is almost always a giveaway, so he goes with the safest route and decides to embellish some more truth with sarcasm and dry wit.

Love working with you McNally. Can't imagine my life without you in it.

He's almost certain that Oliver's not fooled. (Shaw's been on his case since day one, and even Jerry's been giving him some cautiously meaningful glances lately. He brushes them off, naturally, with a crooked grin and an easy lie, because it's what's best.) And he's pretty sure that McNally isn't fooled either; not really. But despite her aptitude for reading people, she's fantastic at seeing what she wants to see in a personal situation – often by making it out to be impersonal.

And hey, that's what he was trying to do anyways, by playing off his remark as a joke. It shouldn't upset him that she's brushing it off. She's in a relationship with Callaghan. He's just her partner. They have each other's back, no matter, because that's what partners do; and at the end of the day, they trust each other more than anyone else. But he's not her boyfriend, and she doesn't want him to be her boyfriend.

That shouldn't bother him, either.

But it does.

The end.

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