Disclaimer: I don't own rookie blue

Andy woke when the baby started crying. She stayed in bed. At night, Sam usually got up and brought Ellie back to her, saying she was overtaxing herself. As Ellie continued to cry, Andy turned over and her heart dropped. Sam's side of the bed was still made. He should have been home over an hour ago she thought despairingly as she climbed out of bed. Every time an officer comes home late it means something bad has happened. She reached the nursery and took her daughter out of the cradle. As she rocked her daughter gently, she thought of where Sam could possibly be. Maybe Ellie felt her worry, for she began to howl louder.

As Andy continued to rock her, she heard the door open and a voice call "Andy?" He must have heard Ellie crying because she heard him running up the stairs. He came into the nursery and smiled to see his girls. He took Ellie from Andy as he said "sorry I'm late. Boyko needed to speak to me." He glanced down at his daughter; her cries had ceased. "You just wanted your daddy to come home, didn't you?" He moved her so he was holding her in one hand and then pulled Andy close and kissed her gently. "I'm sorry sweetheart. Go back to bed, I'll change Ellie and then bring her in for you to feed her."

He watched his wife walk out and then set his daughter on the changing table. He took a few deep breaths, he was about to have a conversation with his wife that he did not want to have.

He finished changing Ellie and brought her into their bedroom. Andy took her and began feeding her. "Go shower and change. When you finish, you owe me an explanation Sam."

"I know." He kissed her. "I'm sorry."

When Sam slid into bed, Andy was burping Ellie. He kissed Andy lightly, taking Ellie from her. "Halfway burping or you're done?"

"Halfway." Ellie burped and Andy took her back to finish feeding her. "You still owe me an explanation."

"I know and I'm sorry. After shift I was about to leave when Boyko told me he wanted to speak to me. I told him that I was heading to the Penny for a quick drink and then was going home, could it wait for tomorrow. He said no and it turned out he was waiting for someone else to come so the two of them could speak to me together."

Andy looked up, startled. "Who was this other person?"

Sam looked at her. "Let me tell the story."

"Sorry."

"The other person finally arrived, and then I realized I should have called you to let you know I would be home late but by then they had already started talking." He took a deep breath. "Andy, sweetheart, I, I tried to argue but they wouldn't take no for an answer."

Andy looked at her husband. "Sam, you're scaring me. Just spit it out."

He sighed. "I'm going undercover."

"WHAT? Sam, Ellie's only a month old."

"I know Andy. That was part of my argument." He moved closer to her and stroked her hair gently. "They told me that they actually wanted me to go undercover two months ago but Boyko said no because of you."

"Sam, I can't do this without you."

He looked at her. "You can, I have faith in you." She finished feeding Ellie and Sam took the baby. Andy leaned into him. He kissed her forehead as he burped their daughter.

After a few minutes, she looked up at him. "How can you go undercover again? Doesn't everyone on the street know you're a cop?"

"It's in a different district. Boyko told me that I'm one of the best undercover cops and your argument that it is a compliment that you arrested me is true. He also said that it was totally not your fault, Shaw should have stayed with you and Barber should not have reacted when he saw me cuffed."

"So they're sending you out again." He nodded. She didn't like it but she understood the logic. "For how long?"

"As long as it takes. Hopefully nowhere near as long as it took me with Anton Hill. I don't want to be away from you for that long."

"When do you start?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Sam, that's too soon."

"They want me to be gone before too many people know about it. That's not the worst part though."

"What's the worst part?"

"They said if I contact you at all I might put you and Ellie in danger."

"How will I know if you are safe? Sam, I can't do this if I don't know you are safe."

He reassured her that he would find a way to let her know he was safe while thinking about how many of the undercover officers ended up getting hurt, sometimes killed, on the job. He would never tell her that, and besides, on his last night with her for who knows how long he wanted it to be full of promise, not gloom. Then he realized that they both needed a minute so he got up to put Ellie back in her cradle.

When Sam returned, he saw Andy lying face down, shaking with silent tears. He crawled in next to her and pulled her close. He held her until she cried herself to sleep; rubbing her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner.

TBC…