Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue

A.N. The ending of Big Nickel was disappointing but we've gotta work with what we have.

My favorite scene, although it was not good for Sam/Andy was when Sam called Luke an idiot! The two of them together in that little interaction I found hysterical. And, it is about time someone called him an idiot!

Hope you enjoy!

Sam had time to think as he slipped silently through the forest. Andy would be a good cop. She was making rookie mistakes, just as every other rookie. In fact, if he was honest with himself, she was the best rookie of the crew.

At one point or another, he had been partnered with each of the rookies and Andy was the easiest to work with. They complemented each other well, which was probably why Boyko, and later on Frank Best, had paired the two together more often then not.

She had cared enough about him to stop him from touching that poison oak earlier. If it were him, after his partner had yelled at him, he would have probably let his partner walk into it as payback.

She was the better talker and she had connected to the prisoner. Therefore, he told her to talk the prisoner out while he doubled around the area to try to take the prisoner from behind.

She was his partner, and, as he had told her about Traci "you back your partner up". So why hadn't he gone to Luke? Why hadn't he told Luke that nothing had happened between him and Andy? He had to tell Luke that nothing happened that night. He would lay it out that Andy shut him down even though he tried.

He would back her up, tell Luke that Mr. Homicide was being an idiot and then let Luke and Andy decide the next step. Besides, if he really cared for Andy, he should let her do what she felt was right and hope that the pieces would fall into place in the end.

He heard her yell for him and sped up, thoughts abruptly cut off with the responsibility to find her. Of course, with his luck, he had gone in the opposite direction. The fear in her voice drove him to run faster than he had ever run.

In a distance, he heard a scuffle. His hearing seemed keener than normal as the adrenaline rushed through him. He heard whimpering and grunting.

Then he came to the scene and saw the prisoner on top of Andy, trying to suffocate her. He ran over and pushed the prisoner off of Andy. He was none to gentle as he brought the prisoner to the ground and kneed him in the back and then the shoulder to keep him down.

He heard Andy panting, trying to catch her breath. Through the corner of his eye, he saw Andy roll over and half stand up. She scrambled around for something and he realized she was searching for her gun. Then she stood up.

Still trying to catch her breath, Andy asked "You okay?"

Sam looked at her. Was she crazy? She had nearly been suffocated and she was asking if he was okay? "Right as rain. How are you doing?"

The prisoner chimed in as if Sam were talking to him. "You're breaking my shoulder."

"You're breaking my heart, buddy."

"C'mon, I want a lawyer."

"Yeah, we'll get right on that." She was still panting a little.

The walk back to the car was slow. He was concerned with her limp and the fact that she still had not caught her breath. He realized that her "you okay" was why she, out of all of the rookies, was the best partner for him. That was his line, always caring for the partner and putting yourself second. It was weird to be the partner but now he was beginning to realize why Oliver got annoyed a lot when they were partnered. When you got hurt and knew your partner wasn't, you didn't need to ask if your partner was okay.

He had two things left to do. He had messed up her relationship with Luke and he had to fix that.

So, after patching her up, he listed Luke's attributes (which also happened to be his pitfalls), telling her Luke was a good guy and then asked if she was good to go. He walked her back to the passenger seat and made sure she was settled before going around to the driver's side and starting home.

They left the prisoner with Jerry and then Andy headed to the locker room. Sam made a quick stop on the way to tell Luke he was being an idiot and Andy was crazy about him. He ended with "she's crazy about you, don't screw it up", showing Luke that he cared about her as a partner and he would back her up.

As he changed into street clothes, he realized that he had just covered his own back. If things didn't work out with Luke and Andy, he couldn't be blamed. In fact, given Luke's track record, things wouldn't work out, and then, hopefully, Andy would come to him for comfort again. If that time came, he would make sure that no one would disrupt them and Andy McNally would finally see that sometimes you had to dig deeper, beneath the exterior of a "bad guy" (like he knew she considered him) could be a good guy who would give up anything and everything for her.

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A.N. Please review