So I got inspired by a couple of fics I read recently about Sam going back undercover and leaving Andy behind...then coming back again...and my mind kind of took off with a story of its own. This is what happens when you're sick with the flu and have nothing to do all day.

Anyways, hope you all enjoy! And pretty please review, your feedback and comments are most welcome and inspire me to continue! xx

Eight months. It had been exactly 306 days since she had become a full-fledged cop. And in those 7,344 hours she had grown up. A lot. Being shot at, stabbed, and frequently involved in high-speed car chases tended to either make you a stronger, tougher, more mature person or render you completely terrified of every and all things.

Being Andy McNally, with the blood of a cop running through her veins, her harrowing experiences shaped her to be the former of the two. Not only had she become a better cop, she liked to think she had become a better person overall. Stronger in her personal decisions. Tougher in compromising situations. More mature in matters of the heart.

Of course, growing more mature came with growing older, and today was a great day to be reflecting on her maturity.

It was her twenty-ninth birthday. Andy looked in the mirror, straightening her uniform slightly. She smiled, pleased with the reflection staring back at her. Sure, she had a couple more frown lines on her forehead than she would like, and her body ached more frequently than it should for someone her age, but she knew those were small prices to pay.

She was no longer a naive rookie who made massive mistakes. Yes, she still screwed up, but the results were hardly the catastrophes they used to be, and she knew, cockiness aside, that she had turned out to be the best cop in the 15th Division for her batch of rookies.

Footsteps broke her reverie and she turned to see her partner walking towards her.

"Morning sunshine," he said, flashing her a smile.

"Jake, how many times have I told you to not come into the women's locker room? What if I had been naked?" she said, trying to put on a stern face but failing.

"Well, I would say that would have been a great start to my day," he teased, handing her the cup of coffee he had in his hand.

"One of these days, Best is going to catch you and then there is going to be hell to pay," she replied, her voice raising to a sing-song tone at the end. She took the cup with a smile.

"I've been partners with you for eight months, so I think I can handle hell with no problem."

"Careful. You might get dis-invited to my surprise party tonight," she said, waggling an eyebrow.

"You weren't supposed to know anything about that," Jake protested, his eyes wide. "Traci's gonna kill me and you if you don't act surprised when the time comes. How did you find out, anyways?"

She gave a short laugh and patted his cheek. "I have my ways, Jake. Always remember that."

They walked in amicable silence to the briefing room, and he guided her through the door with a hand on the small of her back. The intimate motion caught her off guard, and a flood of memories came rushing back...not for the first time. Another man had done that exact motion many times before.

Sam Swarek.

Jake Wells was tall, gangly, and red-haired, with freckles across the bridge of his nose. Sam Swarek was tall, muscular, and dark - hair, eyes, everything.

Jake was talkative, like her, always having a quip or joke to lighten the situation. Sam wasn't much of a talker at all, and had really bad jokes, and treated each situation differently from the last.

The differences were long and many, but it was the similarities between the two men that made her head spin.

Jake called her 'sunshine', as Sam had always done. Jake remembered how she liked her coffee, just like Sam. Jake often guided her through doors or to the squad car with a hand on the small of her back, like he had just done now. Andy couldn't help but compare how Sam's touch left her tingling, whereas Jake's just left her feeling warm. And sometimes she would catch Jake looking at her with an expression that took her breath away because he looked exactly like Sam had used to when he would look at her.

But the most significant similarity was this: Jake always had her back. Sam had always had her back.

They were the only two men in the world who she trusted explicitly. Dov and Chris, they were her best friends, but like her father, they were unpredictable sometimes. But Sam and Jake, they always had her back...no matter what.

"McNally...Officer McNally." The stern voice rang in her ears as Jake elbowed her side.

"Damn it, Andy, Best is talking to you," he hissed in a low tone meant for her ears only. Her head shot up, her mind reeling from the thoughts that were swirling around in it.

"Sir?" she asked, her voice level and calm, trying to look like she had been paying attention through the briefing.

"Thank you for deciding to grace us with your attention finally," Best said, his gaze disapproving, "as I just said, you and Officer Wells are to report to my office as soon as assignments are handed out."

She shot a glance towards Jake, who was doing his best to keep from laughing. She restrained from hitting him in the ribs and instead nodded curtly. "Yes sir." Best nodded back and began talking again. "Nash, you're with Williams; Diaz, you're with..."

So much for being mature and acting like an actual grown-up. The rest of the room cleared out as she and Jake began walking towards Best's office, several steps behind their staff sergeant.

"What did you do this time, Andy?" Jake said with a mock sigh. She shoved him playfully.

"Shut up."

They walked up the stairs and entered through the glass door. Best was already sitting behind his desk, but it was the other person in the room that caught her attention.

The sight of the person standing before her literally took her breath away. She felt like she had been punched in the stomach, and fought off the urge to have Jake pinch her to see if she was actually awake or in some sort of weirdly realistic dream.

And then she met their gaze, and her stomach did little somersaults that she had forgotten about.

It had been 440,640 minutes since she had last seen the eyes that were boring into her now, and most of those minutes hadn't gone by without her thinking of...him.

"Hello McNally," Sam said with a dimpled grin, "miss me?"