"Tracy…a little help please…" Andy said, her voice muffled from the fabric that covered her face. She was haphazardly trying to take off her sweatshirt, with little luck.
"Officer Nash, Detective Barber wants to see you," Sam said as he walked into the women's locker room.
"Okay, tell him I'll be there in two minutes sir," Tracy replied as she tried to help Andy untangle herself from her sweater.
"No, he wants you now, Nash. Better get a move on, he's cranky today," Sam warned. "I can take over from here," he added, stepping towards the entanglement of limbs and clothing that masked the upper half of his rookie. Tracy put up her hands in surrender and hurried out of the room.
"Wait, Tracy, where are you going?" Andy asked in a frantic voice, trying to claw her way out of the twisted heap of clothes.
"Easy, McNally," Sam said as he began to separate her arms and head from the sweater. After several seconds of struggle, he successfully managed to pull the dark green material off of her.
"Thank you, sir," Andy breathed, her face inches away from his. Sam licked his lips unconsciously.
"You alright, McNally?" he asked teasingly, not moving from his current position. "That was a pretty harrowing escape you just had."
Andy smiled and leaned in slightly closer. "You still hanging around the women's locker rooms, sir?" she asked.
Sam smirked. "You never know when there's gonna be a rookie-in-distress." Andy had to laugh at that one. Nothing else was said. They held each others gazes for what seemed like eternity. Two officers walked by the open entrance way, the sound of their conversation abruptly swinging them back to reality. They both straightened up. Sam coughed.
"So, you gonna tell me who this is or is it still none of my business?" Sam asked, gesturing to the picture stuck on the inside of Andy's open locker.
"He's my cousin," she said, her smile slipping as she turned and started putting on her uniform over her white camisole. Her sudden change of mood was lost on Sam.
"Oh yeah? You guys close?" he asked, examining the photo of the good looking man. Andy pulled her hair back in a loose ponytail.
"We used to be."
"What, you guys have a falling out or something?" he asked, looking back at Andy.
"He's dead," she said in a quiet voice, rummaging through her locker, looking for nothing in particular. Sam was at a loss for words.
"I'm sorry," he said finally, putting a hand on her shoulder, quieting her useless movements. She looked up at him, and he could see the sorrow in her eyes. "How did he die?"
"He saw this prostitute being harassed by this guy, so he went over to try and help her. The guy had a gun, and he was drunk, and he just - " Andy made a gesture of a gun firing - "shot him for 'putting his nose where it don't belong'. Wrong place, wrong time," she sniffed twice, wrinkling her nose. Sam had a strange urge to take her in his arms and comfort her, but refrained from doing so.
"How did you deal with it?" he asked. She looked him straight in the eyes, and he could see a glimmer of defiance.
"I became a cop." She left out the part where she had spiraled down into a temporary heap of alcohol abuse before she had become a cop. Her behavior during the prostitution sting operation was suddenly crystal clear to Sam. Her confusion and obvious discomfort and lack of believability as a hooker made sense now.
"Was that why during the prostitution operation you couldn't...you know..." he trailed off.
"What? Do my job right?" she said in a somewhat accusatory voice. She softened when she saw a muscle in Sam's face flinch at her tone. "Partly, yeah. I mean, if he hadn't had such a damn conscience, he might have, you know..." she shrugged, trying to figure out what to say. The hurt in her eyes made him hurt. It was a weird sensation for him, to feel sympathy for a coworker.
Andy tried to blink back tears. She had come too far to show weakness in front of her training officer. He would for sure hold it against her in the future. There wasn't anything she could do though, as a single tear slid down her face. She wiped it away angrily, and blinked her eyes shut to prevent any more tears from falling. Crying is a weakness, her father used to say. He had shown no sympathy or understanding whenever she had fallen down and hurt herself or had gotten in a fight with a past boyfriend. That was why she semi-jumped when she felt something touch her cheek.
She opened her eyes to find Sam standing very, very close to her, his hand cupping her cheek. His thumb gently stroked her skin.
"McNally," he said huskily, with an unreadable expression in his eyes. Andy didn't dare breathe, lest the moment pass. He lowered his face slowly to hers, his eyelashes skimming hers. She closed her eyes, her heart beat faster -
"McNally, have you seen Swarek? I need to find out if..." Dov broke off his sentence as he took in the scene before him. "Um, never mind. I found him," he said awkwardly. Sam and Andy jumped apart. Andy's cheek felt like it was on fire, and Sam's fingers were oddly tingly. Sam turned around to face the bemused rookie.
"Epstein, what the hell are you doing here? This is a women's locker room," Sam said brusquely. Dov opened his mouth to make a snarky comment about him being in the locker room as well, but he bit it back.
"Yes sir, sorry sir. Um, Chief Boyko just wants to see you sir." Dov winced as Sam glowered at him.
"McNally, meet me by the car in five minutes," Sam ordered as he strode out of the room, leaving a very embarrassed Andy and a very curious Dov. He raised an eyebrow and waggled it at her.
"Damn, McNally, you really are rock-and-roll, aren't you?"