Author's Note: This is my first attempt at writing for over 15 years. When I read fan fiction, I hate when people put in a chapter and then don't update for months, or lose their muse and stop writing the story completely. As a reader, you lose the gist and emotion of the story and just get frustrated if it isn't completed. So I'm submitting my whole story in one shot. Any reviews would be appreciated, especially with constructive criticism.
This story is a character sketch of Sam Swarek, how he acts when he is the consumate professional on the job. This is not a McSwarek because I honestly think Sam wouldn't date Andy in real life. On the TV series I am cheering for Sam and Andy. It just didn't work for this story.
And would somebody please tell me how to put breaks between sections of a story! I tried everything... lines, letters, spaces, everything, when I saved the story it would revert back to the way it was before. I ended up putting the character's POV as the break. It makes the story look tacky, so some help would be nice.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue, nor will make any money off of this story... much to my husband's disappointment. I do own Rachel, though.
Just Part of The Job
Rachel's POV:
The woman slowly merged onto the freeway, humming happily to herself. What a glorious day! The snow storm the night before had left the roads extremely treacherous, but the thick blanket of snow that lay on the ground reminded her of the winters in her childhood home back in northern British Columbia. She reached down and shifted gears, careful not to step too hard on the gas and cause the back end of her old 4-Runner to kick loose.
"Moron," she muttered to the 4x4 that went flying by her. "Just because you have a 4x4 doesn't mean that you are safer," she quoted, a grin touching her lips as she repeated her Dad's favorite admonishment while driving in the winter.
She turned on the radio and listened to the radio announcer pleading with people to stay home and off the roads unless there was an emergency. She looked around at the other cars on the road with her and wondered if every one of them had an emergency just like her. She doubted it. She was on a happy emergency, but an emergency nonetheless.
Putting more distance between herself and the car in front of her, she pushed back the sleeve of her winter coat and looked at her watch. At the speed she was traveling, she should make it in forty-five minutes. Another grin touched her face and she happily tucked some long straight dark brown hair behind her ear. Yup, it was a glorious day!
Sam's POV:
This was going to be the worst day ever. Sam reached into his locker to pull out his back up uniform.
"Sammy, you smell good, man," Jerry said, walking up and inhaling deeply.
"Buzz off." He glowered at his friend, daring him to continue. Jerry, of course, ignored him.
"No, I'm serious! Do you ever wonder why nobody thought of making coffee perfume for women? We would be all over them in a second! And you," Jerry took another sniff, "smell like cappuccino."
"Buzz off," Sam growled again, ripping off the shirt that he'd dumped coffee on five minutes before.
"He's right, Sammy, you do smell good," Oliver added, walking by, clapping his hand on his shoulder. "But I'm not about to ask you for drinks. Parade in 2 minutes."
"Yeah, yeah," Sam said, quickly changing shirts and clipping on all his equipment again.
Fifteen minutes later he was heading out with his partner to the squad car. "Best is right," he said, hunching into his winter police jacket, "today is not going to be fun."
"Why can't people just stay home," Andi agreed, shaking her head.
"Wanna make a bet as to how many car accidents we attend today, McNally?" Sam asked, sliding into the driver's seat. When his partner just shook her head and rolled her eyes, he sent her his patented dimple smile and said, "What? You still sore about our last bet."
"You cheated," she accused him, laughing anyways.
"I did not," he answered, faking an injured look. He started the car, sent her a wink, and pulled out of the parking lot.
Rachel's POV:
"...walking in a winter wonderland," she sang quietly, as once again she looked at her watch. The road conditions were getting worse the closer she got to the center of Toronto. She was only ten minutes from her destination now.
Looking ahead, she saw the overpass that signaled she would be turning off the freeway in a few miles. She moved into the right lane so that she would be ready for her exit. As she passed under the overpass, she glanced up at the ramp that was merging onto the freeway, to see if any cars were coming.
What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion, even though it only took a matter of seconds. A semi-trailer traveling down the on ramp onto the freeway careened out of control as it swerved to avoid the mini van that was spinning in front of it. The massive truck and trailer hit the cement barrier separating the on ramp from the freeway and flipped over onto it's side as it shot over the barrier and hurtled onto the freeway. The woman screamed and flung herself sideways across the passenger seat as the trailer crashed down onto her vehicle.
Sam's POV:
"1504, we have a multiple vehicle accident," the dispatcher's voice came over the radio.
Sam listened carefully to the directions, and then nodded to Andi. "All yours." He took a left turn and headed with lights flashing towards the scene of the accident. When Andi put the radio down he shook his head, "What did I tell you? Not two minutes out of the parking lot and already called to our first accident. This is going to be one bad day."
When they arrived on the scene, Sam whistled through his teeth. There was a large semi-trailer twisted and lying on it's side with several cars smashed up around it. "Better call for re-enforcements," he said, opening his door. As his partner did what he told her, Sam stepped from the vehicle and put on his gloves.
A man who was crouching beside the trailer quickly stood up and ran towards him, yelling, "Officer! Officer! Please, you have to help her!" He had a panicked look on his face as he waved his arm towards the trailer.
"Hold on, sir," Sam stated, "Calm down and tell me what's going on."
"There's a car under the trailer! We didn't know it was there until we heard her screaming! Please, you have to help her!"
"Wait a sec, are you telling me that there is a vehicle under the trailer!" Sam said, looking with horror at the twisted trailer. He quickly noticed that the left side of the trailer was raised about two feet off the ground, but he still couldn't believe that there was a vehicle under that twisted mass of metal, let alone that someone had survived the accident. He turned to his partner who was exiting the squad car. "McNally, call for an ambulance," he barked. "There's a woman in a vehicle under the trailer! We're going to need the Jaws of Life on this one for sure." When Andi paused to look at the trailer in disbelief, he barked, "Now, McNally!"
Then he took off running towards the trailer with the man close behind. He crouched down and looked underneath. Sure enough, he spotted the remains of an unrecognizable suv. He quickly surveyed the situation. He could hear the terrified sobs of the woman. "When did this happen?" he quietly asked the man who was crouching next to him.
"About ten minutes ago," the man answered. He rubbed his hand over his face, clearly upset by the situation. "It all happened behind me, but I saw the semi fly over the barrier in my rear-view mirror. I pulled over and ran back to check the other cars, but nobody seemed to be seriously hurt. Then all of a sudden we heard her screams. It was..." he paused and shook his head. "It was horrible to hear her and not be able to help. I tried to talk to her, but she hasn't answered me."
Sam heard the sound of Andi coming up behind him. He stood up and turned to her. "Sir, we have a problem. All the ambulances and emergency response vehicles are tied up with other accidents. I told them we needed one stat, but it's not looking good. Dispatch is working to get one here to us as soon as they can." She paused then added, "They say it will take hours."
Sam pinched the top of his nose and growled, "Did you tell them we have a freakin' trailer on top of a vehicle with someone in it!"
"Yes, but apparently there is a bus in the river, a mini van with a family over turned, a twelve car pile up, and the list goes on!"
"Okay, okay." He paused, looked under the trailer and sighed. He could still hear the woman sobbing. "McNally, I need you to go check the other vehicles involved with the crash. Find out what happened. Have we got backup on the way?" At her nod, he continued, "Good, when they get here, organize traffic control." He turned away, took a step back and studied the trailer.
"Yes, sir." She paused for a second. "Sir, you can't go under there." Sam ignored her. "Do you hear me? I know you. Sir... Sam, you cannot go under there." She grabbed him by the upper arm and he rolled his eyes and turned to her. "This is beyond coloring outside the lines. This is dangerous."
Sam knew that Andi was doing what she was suppose to do, watch his back. Normally he would have appreciated her concern, but right now, it was just annoying. He simply raised his eyebrows, dropped his head to the side and pointed to the other cars. "Don't do it," she pleaded, before she turned and hurried through the snow to the other cars.
The man next to Sam shifted nervously, the snow crunching under his boots. "She's right, you know. It's way too dangerous."
Sam threw the man a look and shrugged his shoulders. "It's just part of the job," he said, as confidently as he could.
He turned back to studying the trailer. From what he could see, the trailer didn't look like it was about to collapse any further. The suv was in the first half of the trailer, so there was some distance between Sam and the crushed vehicle. The truck and the wheels were on the ground and the trailer looked more like it was bent around the suv, not resting on it. He walked around to the other side and tried to see if there was room between the suv and the edge of the trailer. It didn't look good. He sighed and went back to the other side. Time to be a hero, he thought wryly to himself.
Sam ducked under the trailer and crawled towards the wreckage. He knew he was going to hear it from his boss when he returned to the barn tonight, but he wasn't going to sit around waiting for help to arrive. The ground was unpleasantly cold and wet, and he knew his gloves were going to be soaked through in minutes. As he got closer he called out, "Ma'am? Ma'am, can you hear me?"
A panicked thrashing noise, and screams of "Help me! Get me out of here!" had him scampering forward as fast as he could over the metal and glass that was strewn on the road. "Ma'am, I need you to calm down," he called, reaching the suv. Crawling to what would have been the driver side door, he looked in a gap between the twisted metal, hoping to glimpse her. It was too dark, so he reached back and pulled out his flashlight. When he shone it inside, he saw the woman's jeans, and he saw a streak of blood on them. The amount of blood was relatively small, so he wasn't too concerned about her bleeding to death from that particular wound. The woman was still thrashing around but she obviously couldn't move her lower extremities very much as they were pinned in place by the steering wheel, her seat belt, and parts of the motor. Sam continued to call out to the woman as he made his way back towards the rear of the suv. The trailer had come down hard on the back of it, so Sam wasn't sure he would be able to get around to the other side. When he got to the back, he saw a hole just large enough for him to fit through. He pushed himself into the opening until he could see down the other side of the suv. Amazingly, there looked like there was just enough room for him to squeeze along the right side of the vehicle. There was also some light getting through from a crack of daylight where the trailer wasn't resting on the ground, so he could see without the use of his flashlight.
"Ma'am," he called again. "Listen to me, I need your help." The thrashing quieted and all he could here were sobs. "Ma'am, listen. Can you see anything? Can you see the road or anything like that?"
A shaky, tear filled voice answered, "Yes...yes, I see the white line on the road. Oh, please, hurry!"
"I'm coming. I'm going to try and find that hole that you are seeing through." He pulled himself forward and around the edge so that he could wiggle along the right side towards the front of the vehicle. He mentally had a few choice words for the piece of metal that ripped the back of his jacket. Moving on, he scanned the wreckage, hoping to see the hole that the woman was looking through. The woman kept repeating "Please hurry" over and over again.
Finally, he reached the front wheel well where the vehicle's tire was suppose to be. It was long gone, along with the axle, but there was a foot long opening about eight inches high where he was able to get his first glimpse of the distraught woman inside the suv. She was lying chest down on the passenger seat with her head turned towards him, her face was bloody on the left side, and her panicked eyes were filled with tears. "Ah ha! There you are," he said, as cheerfully as he could. Her green eyes blinked for a second in surprise before she took a shuddering breath and gave a shadow of a smile. "That's it," he said, smiling back. "Now, let's see what we have going on here." He took out his flashlight and shone it through the opening and into the vehicle. "My name is Officer Swarek, by the way." She nodded slightly, and took another breath, seeming to calm down with his presence. From what he could see, it was a miracle the woman had survived. All around her, pinning her down was sharp twisted metal, except for one piece of thick pipe that was bent directly on top of her back. "Hey, is this a late '80's 4-Runner?" he asked.
"Yes, um, '88."
"I thought so," he said. "The rollbar saved your life. It took the brunt of the weight. It's bent over you, and probably pinning you down, but it saved your life for sure." He craned his neck to try and see past her shoulder but the twisted metal from the roof was blocking his view.
"Can you get me out?" The woman pleaded, obviously fighting to stay calm.
"Yes, as soon as the emergency response vehicles get here," Sam answered her confidently, "but it's going to take time." At her whimper, he added, "Don't worry. I'm here for you. I won't leave, I promise."
"How long?" she asked.
Sam hesitated, before he answered, "I'm not going to lie to you. It could be a while. There are accidents everywhere today." He smiled encouragingly at her. "But I promise, I won't leave." The woman nodded, albeit miserably. "So, what's your name?"
"Rachel," she answered, "Rachel Johnson."
"Hi, Rachel. Now, can you tell me where you are hurt?" Sam asked, again trying to see beyond her shoulder.
"I think there's something wrong with my left leg, I can't move those toes," she murmured, "and my right arm is pinned but I'm pretty sure it's broken. I can't move my fingers." She closed her eyes and tried to shift her body, but could hardly move more than an inch. "Maybe a rib or two as well, though they might only be bruised." She opened her eyes and attempted a smile, "And I'm guessing lots of cuts and bruises, but I can't really tell. The less I move, the better it is."
"Okay," Sam said, nodding. "Can you move your toes on the other leg?" She grimaced and winced as she tried the movement, but nodded. "That's good."
"This arm isn't pinned," Rachel said, lifting her left hand and waving her fingers at him through the hole. He took his glove off and gently reached through the hole and grasped her hand. She smiled and tightened her hold on his fingers.
"You and I," he said, raising his eyebrows and looking at her intently, "will get through this, okay?"
"Okay," she whispered.
Rachel's POV:
Rachel took another shaky breath as she held onto the policeman's hand. When she had come to, pinned and in pain, she had panicked and screamed, thrashing around as much as the metal allowed. Sheer terror had gripped her when she couldn't move, and she was sure that she was going to die. Now, holding Officer Swarek's hand, she finally felt a small amount of emotional control returning.
"That's it," he smiled, encouragingly. She was a pretty good judge of character, and this dark haired policeman was someone she knew instantly that she could trust. Rachel closed her eyes and simply rested for a moment, then she jumped slightly when his radio crackled to life with a female voice.
"Officer Swarek, the scene has been secured. Five vehicles involved, including the vehicle under the trailer. No serious injuries other than the driver of the truck who was taken to a hospital by a motorist. Epstein and Shaw have arrived and are dealing with traffic control. I'm going to start taking statements now."
He reached with his other hand and pressed the radio on his shoulder. "Good job, McNally."
"Sir, what's your situation?"
He squeezed Rachel's hand reassuringly and then released it, shifting around so that he could more comfortably talk on his radio. "McNally, I have a woman, Rachel Johnson, pinned inside an '88 Toyota 4-Runner. There is approximately 2 -1/2 to 3 feet of space between the trailer and the road. The woman has multiple injuries, possible broken bones. There doesn't appear to be any serious bleeding, but the sooner we get her out of here the better. I need you to work on those emergency vehicles, McNally. I need them here now."
"Yes, Sir!"
"I'm going to need the first aid kit from the squad car. I also want you to check around and see if you can find blankets, pillows, towels, anything that we can use to keep warm. It's pretty cold and damp down here." He looked inside at Rachel again. "Are you warm enough right now?"
"The motor is still warm," she said. "I'm good."
He nodded and turned back to his radio. "Radio me and I'll come get anything you can find."
"Yes, Sir!"
Rachel felt a rush of alarm that she quickly suppressed when she heard him say that he was going to leave her. He would be back, she reasoned, bringing blankets and whatever else he thought they would need. There was no need to panic, she told herself, schooling her racing heart to slow and her breathing to level out.
"Okay," he said, reaching through the hole to take her hand again. "Is there anything that..." he was cut off by his radio again.
"Um, Swarek, buddy... what are you doing?" The voice sounded concerned.
An amused but resigned look crossed the policeman's face as he leaned back again. "Shaw, buddy," he answered, in an overly cheerful voice. "Doing my job, just doing my job."
"I have the same job as you, and yet I'm out here where it's safe, and you are in there. Why is that?"
"Just lucky, pal," Swarek answered. "You're just jealous that I get to sweet talk a pretty girl and you have to direct traffic." He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.
"Be safe, pal," the voice replied sarcastically emphasizing the last word. "Zoe will have my head if you get yourself killed."
"I will," he answered, "Now, go wave your arms around and look important."
"Drinks are on you tonight," the voice announced, and then the radio went silent.
Rachel looked at Officer Swarek with concern. "You shouldn't be here." She gathered her nerve and said, "Please, if it's unsafe you really need to go. I'll be fine." She gave him her most convincing nod and determined look. She was certain it was the same look that her Dad called the bulldog look, but the man just shrugged and shook his head.
"Not a chance." He smiled and she noticed he had two deep dimples on either side of his mouth, making him look quite impish, despite his tough looking exterior.
"No, seriously, Officer. I could never live with myself if something happened to you. Please, I'll be fine. You could leave a phone, or a radio or something. I'd be fine."
"Rachel, you can tell me a thousand times that you'll be fine, but I'm not going to leave you here by yourself," he answered, dropping the smile and looking at her intently. "So, let's forget about that and let me do my job. Okay?"
Rachel felt a rush of tears as she gratefully nodded her head. The thought of being trapped alone was absolutely terrifying and she couldn't conceal her thankfulness that he was going to be with her. She reached her hand through for his and he grinned and rubbed his thumb across the back of it. She looked at their hands for a minute overwhelmed by the mere touch of another human being.
"Is there anyone we should call to let them know what's going on?" he asked. "A husband, parents..."
"No..." All of a sudden Rachel froze in horror. How could she have not remembered! She forgot she was pinned for a moment and tried to move. Waves of pain had her grimacing and gasping.
"Rachel, what is it?" Swarek asked, concerned. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," she gasped, mentally working on controlling the pain. When it had settled, she continued, "I forgot! Please, do you have a cell phone? I need to call my sister." Rachel looked pleadingly at him. "I was suppose to be her labour coach. She's having her first baby and her water broke this morning."
She watched as his expression relaxed and he grinned, pulling out his cell phone. "Sure, what's the number? What should I tell her?"
"No, I need to talk to her. If a policeman calls her, she will flip right out and assume that I'm dead." She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and willed her emotions in check. It took longer than she hoped it would. Her emotions were so close to the surface that she had to work hard to shut them down. When she felt that she was in absolute control, she opened her eyes and saw his brown eyes looking at her with respect. She gave a half smile and told him the number. He handed her the phone and she wiggled her arm until she was able to get it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Sally, it's..."
"Where are you?" came the piercing voice through the phone. From the wince on Swarek's face, Rachel could tell that he could hear both sides of the conversation.
"Listen to me, Sally," Rachel said sternly, schooling her voice to betray no shakiness or tremor. "I've been in a car accident..."
"Are you okay?" came the gasp from the phone.
"Yes, of course," she answered, shooting Swarek a glance when he smothered a laugh. He sent her an apologetic look. "Do you really think I'd be making this call if I wasn't okay?" She took a deep breath and carried on. "Sally, this is going to take a while..."
"Rach! No, you promised! I need you! Shaun isn't here and I can't do this alone! It hurts and I can't do it! I can't! You said you would be here. Please, you have to come."
Rachel squeezed her eyes tightly together and slammed her emotions into a locked room. "Sally, stop. You need to stop and listen to me. You know me. You know I would be there if I could, but I can't. There are lots of accidents and my accident isn't bad enough to get help here, and I can't leave until help comes," she said, trying not to look at Swarek who was once again smothering a smile, obviously amused by her understatement of the facts. "Listen to me," she repeated. "There are lots of nurses there that would probably do a better job than I ever could. Okay? You are stronger than this. You can do it. You have to deliver your baby so that when Shaun comes back, you can show him what you did, all by yourself. Can you do that? Can you be strong enough for Shaun?"
Rachel heard a sob, but as she hoped, her sister grew stronger from the reference to her husband. "Yes, alright. But I really wish you could be here, Rach."
"Me, too," she whispered, allowing a small amount of emotion out. "Now, put that phone down and get down to the business of delivering your baby! When I make it to the hospital, I expect to see my beautiful healthy nephew or niece."
"Love you," her sister said.
"Love you, too." Rachel pulled the phone away from her ear and handed it back to Swarek. The amusement was gone from his face, replaced by a sympathetic smile.
Sam's POV:
Sam closed his phone and tucked it into his pocket. His respect for the woman trapped in front of him multiplied. She had an inner strength that he hadn't seen in a lot of people. He had never seen anyone able to control their emotions so completely in such a volatile situation before. She was taking long shaky breaths again, so he tried to distract her.
"Shaun is her husband?"
"Yes, he is," she answered, sadly. "He's a soldier in Afghanistan. He had to ship out when Sally was 6 months pregnant. She's not exactly the calmest or most emotionally level person to begin with, so needless to say, it's been rough for her."
Sam nodded in understanding. His job, while not quite the same as a soldier, was similar in that something could happen any day. In his line of work, if you had a family, you made darn sure that you told them that you loved them before you left every morning.
Just then his radio crackled to life. "Sir, I've got some blankets, towels, and some other stuff for you."
He touched his radio and said, "Great, I'm on my way out." He turned down the volume of the radio so that it was only an indistinct muffled noise to her ears. Watching for signs of panic in the woman, he reached forward and took her hand again. "I have to go get some things for us. But I'm coming right back. I promise."
Her fingers tightened on his for a second before she gave him a determined smile and said, "It's okay. I'm good. Just... just don't be too long."
He grinned, cocked his head to the side and said, "Look at that. I'm growing on you already." She gave him an amused smile which made him laugh. This woman was amazing. He squeezed her hand before adding, "Seriously, it's a bit of a challenge getting in and out of here, but I'll go as fast as I can."
"Be safe," she said, her face serious.
"Always," he answered, to which she gave a snort of disbelief.
With a smile on his face, he started shimmying his way back out. Wet and full of salt and gravel, he finally crawled out from under the trailer and stood up to face the angry face of his friend Oliver, and the uncertain face of Andi, who was holding a stack of blankets.
"Before you start in on me," he said, raising his hands to his friend to forestall the lecture he was going to receive, "allow me to assure you that I wouldn't have gone in there if I didn't think it was worth the risk."
"The risk," stuttered Shaw, a look of disbelief on his face. "The risk is your life! You don't have an engineering degree to decide what's safe or not! This is not in our job description..."
"What have you got, McNally?" Sam asked, interrupting his friend and holding out his arms for the bundle she carried. He watched his friend throw up his arms and stomp away in the snow, obviously frustrated.
"Uh, two blankets, three towels, a couple of small cushions, a piece of plastic for you to lie on, two thermoses of coffee, a couple of straws, some granola bars, chocolate bars, and the first aid kit," She handed her pile to him. "Are you alright, sir?"
"Me, McNally?" he asked, surprised. "I'm fine. Wet, and starting to get cold, but I'm fine."
She nodded and then asked, "What about the woman?"
He looked back at the trailer for a thoughtful moment before he said to her, "If anybody else were in there... and I mean anyone, myself included... they wouldn't be handling it nearly as well as that woman. She's something else." He shifted the pile to his hip and said, "What about those response vehicles? Any luck?"
Andi shook her head with a frustrated sigh. "I'm still trying. Dispatch is getting annoyed that I'm asking every five minutes, but I'll keep trying."
"Atta girl," he said ducking under the edge of the trailer again.
Getting back was a lot trickier with the bundle he was carrying, but with a bit of effort, he managed to get himself and his load back to the hole where Rachel was waiting.
"Miss me?" he asked, as he looked up through the hole.
"Horribly," the woman replied drolly, but her voice contradicted the slight panic that her face revealed. She gave a shaky smile.
Sam returned her smile before carefully sorting out what he had brought. "I don't know if I can squeeze a blanket over you," he said, frowning as he used his flashlight to see how he could make her more comfortable.
"Uh, no, thank you," Rachel quickly said. She grimaced as she added, "The thought of you trying is painful enough. Don't worry, I have thermal underwear on and a thick winter jacket, I should be warm for quite a while."
"You sure?" Sam asked, concerned for her.
"Trust me, a little cold is nothing compared to the pain."
Sam nodded. He laid a folded towel on the edge of the hole so that they wouldn't cut themselves on the sharp edge. He asked her if she was allergic to Tylenol, before handing her three of the pills from the first aid kit. She swallowed them eagerly, so Sam assumed that the pain was probably fairly intense. Not that Tylenol would do a lot, but they might take the edge off the pain. He took out some gauze from the kit and reaching through the hole, did his best to gently wipe the majority of the blood from her face. He couldn't see the cut, so it had to be somewhere back in her hair. Since the blood was already drying, he surmised that whatever wound had caused the blood was probably fairly small and no longer bleeding. "I can't do much else."
"That helps," she said, shifting uncomfortably.
Sam then laid out the plastic underneath him and laid a blanket over top of that. He settled down, putting a cushion behind his head. "That's a bit better. Are you hungry?" When she shook her head no, he put the food to the side and leaned back, stretching out and trying to get as comfortable as possible.
"So, Rachel," he said, ready to make small talk, reaching into the hole and taking her hand since it seemed to calm her, "I'm an investigator by nature. Something that you told me just isn't adding up."
Rachel's POV:
Rachel frowned slightly, wondering what she could have said that was confusing the police officer. "Sorry, what isn't adding up?"
Swarek chuckled, as he slowly rubbed a circle on the back of her hand with his thumb. "Your thermal underwear. You were going to help your sister give birth, so you put on thermal underwear?"
"Oh, that." Rachel laughed, then instantly regretted it when another spasm of pain shot through her arm and chest.
"Hey, I don't think laughing is a good idea," Swarek said, his hand stilling for a moment as he watched her battle the pain.
"Yeah," she said, when the pain began to slowly dissipate. "The less I move, the better." She took a couple of long slow breaths until the pain was almost gone. "I was working," she said.
"Working?" he asked, for a second confused by her statement.
"The underwear. I was working."
"Oh, right," he said, starting to rub his thumb on her hand again. "What do you do?"
"I give riding lessons to spoiled rich kids who really don't want to learn but their parents insist because it is what every rich parent gives their spoiled kid." She twisted her lips into a sardonic grin. "It's not really as bad as that, but some days it seems that way. I was checking on one of the horses when I got the call this morning. I didn't bother to change."
"No kidding. Every rich kid gets riding lessons?"
"Yup, the more expensive, the better it is. Why? Were you a rich kid who didn't get riding lessons?"
"Nope, no where near." Swarek got a mischievous grin on his face as he reached for his cell phone and dialed a number. When there was an answer on the other end he said, "Hey, Officer Epstein? I've got a question for you."
"Yes, sir," came the quick, eager reply through the phone.
"Epstein, did you ever get riding lessons as a kid?" Rachel suppressed a chuckle.
There was a pause before Epstein replied, "Ah, yes, sir. I did."
Swarek laughed and said, "Thanks, that's all I needed to know. Carry on." He hung up the phone with a snap before tucking it away in his pocket.
"Does that prove my point?" Rachel asked, amused.
"It certainly does." Swarek answered, chuckling. He turned her hand over and rubbed gently on the callouses that were on the palm of her hand. "I guess farm work explains these."
"Yeah, those have been there a while. Anyways, the riding lessons help support my real passion." Rachel paused and shifted her shoulders with a grimace. "I have a therapeutic riding day every week on the farm where disabled and challenged kids can come and learn to ride a horse. It's the most wonderful thing to watch these kids connect with the horses. It makes all the whiny rich kids and their parents worth it." Swarek nodded in understanding. "What about you?" she asked.
"What do I do for work?" he teased, making a show of slowly pointing to the police crest on his jacket.
"No," she groaned, thinking that this man was really unbelievably good at his job, making her want to laugh when she was trapped inside a squished vehicle. "No, why do you do the job you do?"
"Ah," he replied, some emotion that she couldn't quite put her finger on passed over his face. "My sister, actually. She got into a bad situation as a teenager and I was determined from the age of nine that I was going to protect her." He shrugged. "That's still my motivation, I guess."
Rachel was pretty sure she wasn't getting the whole story, and that was fine with her, as she hadn't told him her whole story either. He didn't need to know that she had been one of those rich kids that she had complained about. They were, in essence two strangers flung together. Chances were, they were never going to see each other again, so why burden each other with emotional baggage? On the other hand, since they were never going to see each other again, there really wasn't any harm in opening up a bit. She squirmed a little and was surprised to find that the Tylenol seemed to be working a bit, as the shooting pain she was expecting was only a dull ache.
"Who's Zoe?" she asked. "Your wife, daughter, sister?"
"Zoe?" Swarek asked, clearly confused.
"The guy on your radio said that Zoe would have his head if something happened to you."
"Oh, right!" He said, "Ah, no. She's his wife. He's married to a wonderful woman who loves to take care of everyone. She's great and his kids are pretty good too."
"You spend a lot of time together?" she asked, a feeling of calm settling over her as she watched him.
He shrugged. "It's hard with our jobs, but we try and get together at least once a month. Have a dinner or something. Zoe's constantly harping on me to get married so that she'll have someone to talk to."
"You aren't married?" she asked, surprised.
He picked up on her surprise. "You thought I was married?"
She felt a little embarrassed, as she nodded and said, "You seem like the type that would have a woman and eight kids at home."
"Eight kids!" Swarek burst out laughing. "Yeah, not a chance. I love kids, but I draw the line at that many." He paused before asking, "Have you ever been married?"
"No. No husband," she said, lifting the corner of her mouth in a mocking smile. "I haven't even had a boyfriend in six years, and from the way things are going, I can't see it happening any time soon."
"Why not?"
"Well, I suppose I could blame it on my job isolating me quite a bit. I don't exactly get out much. My sister says that I scare men away by being too strong, too controlling. Maybe. I don't know." She stopped, suddenly very embarrassed. She was a very private person and here she was talking about her love life with a complete stranger. "Sorry, that was probably too much information."
He gave her an empathetic smile. "Don't worry about it. You wouldn't believe the private things people tell me. I think it's the uniform. Makes me all trustworthy or something. Would you like to talk about something else?"
"Sure, what about your love life, you know, even the score," Rachel said, trying to make him laugh.
"I thought we covered that already?" he said, dryly.
"Not really," she answered. "All I know is that you aren't married."
"Seriously? You are pinned inside a flattened vehicle and you want to talk about my love life?" he said, shaking his head.
"We don't have to," she quickly said, feeling a blush touch her cheeks again. "I was just kidding."
"Not much to talk about anyways," he said, shrugging. "I date, but like you, my job is a hindrance to the whole relationship scenario."
"Really," she mumbled, trying to shift again. "I would have thought the whole man-in-uniform thing would help out."
"It can," he acknowledged, with a smile, " But the hours are long, it's shift work, and it can be dangerous. Not to mention, it's sometimes hard to take off the uniform at night. We are suppose to be professional and keep an emotional distance. Hard to do that and maintain a relationship at the same time."
"I hadn't thought of it that way," she said. "What about your partner? Is she married?"
"No," he replied, his voice betraying some evasiveness.
Rachel paused for a moment to study him, as he suddenly became busy adjusting his pillow. There was obviously a story behind his answer. "With a job like yours, it would probably make sense to date another cop," she said, carefully. "You know, have somebody who really understands what you are going through."
"Yeah, well, I'm not going to date McNally," he said firmly
"Is she ugly?" she asked, innocently.
"No," he replied, with a twist to his lips, "she's not ugly." He rubbed his face with his free hand before he quietly said, "My partner is a strong, beautiful woman, who wears her heart on her sleeve and cares for absolutely everyone and everything. Andi ... and I mean this in the kindest way possible because she is an amazing woman... is a user. She doesn't know she's doing it, but she does. She doesn't want to hurt anyone, so she gets trapped into situations where everyone ends up being hurt because of her indecision and inability to say something negative." He smiled. "On the plus side, she has become a really good friend and a great partner. Just not dating material."
"That's too bad," Rachel said, regretting pushing him to talk. She squeezed his hand and sighed as she said, "Well, our love lives suck."
Swarek gave an amused chuckle, his brown eyes crinkling at the corners as he flashed her his dimpled smile again. "So, new conversation topic?
"Please, yes!" she said, with fervor. "Are you a hockey fan? How about those Canucks?"
Swarek looked at her like she'd grown two heads. "Canucks? You've got to be kidding me? Why the Canucks? You have to be a Leaf fan, or it's not even worth talking to you about hockey."
Sam's POV:
Sam looked at his watch and sighed. Three hours had passed. He was very cold and uncomfortable even with the blankets underneath and over top of him. Rachel's hand that he was holding was icy cold, despite his efforts to warm it up, so he knew that the rest of her had to be edging towards hypothermia. He had tried to put blankets on her, but the metal made it impossible, and she had cried out when he'd tried to push one under the rollbar. He'd given up, but insisted that she take sips of coffee every now and then. He had noticed that Rachel wasn't as talkative as she had been, and that she was shifting as much as she could, even though it caused her to gasp. Her face had gone whiter and whiter around the bruising that was starting to show up, and he knew that the pain was starting to get unbearable. He'd given her three more Tylenol and was not going to take the chance of giving her more. He continued rubbing her hand, feeling helpless to do anything else.
"So, we've covered our love lives, which we both agree is not exactly exciting. Hockey, which we discovered you really know nothing about." She gave a small grunt in disagreement. "Our families, who are all nuts but we love them. Basketball, which you really did know nothing about. Cars, which you also knew little about. Horses, which I knew nothing about. Favorite vacations, favorite foods, things we hate, and what we do in our spare time." He looked over at her and grinned. "What should we talk about now?"
Rachel shifted again and whimpered. "Sorry," she gasped, squeezing her eyes together hard.
"Sweetheart," he told her, "you have nothing to apologize for."
"Um, do you mind if I don't talk?" she asked, opening her eyes. He could see tears lacing her eyelashes and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
"Not at all. You hang on."
"Thanks," she murmured, closing her eyes as a solitary tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm sorry about the tears. I just can't seem to stop them. I'm not usually like this."
"You go right ahead, and don't be ashamed," he said with conviction. "You have every right."
She gave a small smile before shifting painfully again. Sam truly wished he was Superman at that moment, then he could stand up and throw the trailer off of her, rip the truck apart and free her from the vehicle that was imprisoning her. Ripping and tearing things actually sounded like a great thing to do at that moment.
He heard his partner calling for him on his radio, so he turned up the volume. "Sir! I finally have news that an emergency vehicle is on route."
Sam never thought there could more beautiful words than the ones he had just heard from his partner. "Copy, McNally. That's great. Things are getting pretty uncomfortable down here."
"ETA is one hour."
Sam bit back an oath and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he had controlled his emotions, he looked over at Rachel. The tears she had been holding back slowly dropped onto the seat below her. He reached out and gently wiped them from her cheek. "They're coming, you hang on to that. Remember, we are going to make it through this together."
Her lower lip trembled slightly as she said, "It's really starting to hurt."
"I know, sweetheart. I can see that. But reach way down deep and find the strength because when those guys get here, we are all going to have to work together to get you out of there." He unscrewed the second thermos of coffee and poured some into a cup. He put a straw in it and held it up to her. "Here, have a drink. Your lips are getting blue and you need something warm inside."
"No, thanks," she mumbled.
"Rachel, don't make me turn all bad cop on you. Drink, you need it." He watched her give in and take a couple of sips of the warm drink. "That's my girl."
He leaned back and touched his radio. "McNally, you need to stress to dispatch how urgent it is. Rachel should have been out of here a long time ago. We are stretching what any human can handle under here."
"I'll try, sir." But there wasn't much hope in her voice.
"No trying! Just do it," he snapped. "And get me a number to call so I can connect with the ambulance on route. Maybe they can talk me through some way of helping her."
"Yes, sir."
Sam dropped his head back and growled with frustration. It was all he could do to not kick the trailer. He banged his head a couple of times against the cold metal of the wheel well. He felt Rachel give his hand a squeeze. He tipped his head to the side and met her look.
"It's okay," she whispered. "Don't worry. We'll make it." She grimaced in pain. "But I need your help."
"What? Name it," he said, feeling helpless.
She gave a small smile. "Just keep holding my hand."
He sighed and returned her smile. "Yeah, that I can do."
"Sir, I have that number for you." Andi's voice came over his radio.
He pulled out his cell phone with his free hand and punched in the numbers that Andi told him. "Got it," he said into his radio before lifting the phone to his ear. As he waited for the medic to pick up the phone, he looked at Rachel who was lying with her eyes closed. He noticed that she was beginning to shiver slightly with cold, and he whispered, "Come on, come on," to the still ringing phone.
The medic answered the phone and Sam quickly told him the situation. The medic told him to keep her awake, talking, and as warm as possible.
"What do you think I've been doing for the past three hours?" he snapped. "I need more. Tell me what to do for the pain and the cold!" He listened to the answer before he practically yelled into the phone, "You know we don't carry prescription pain killers in our first aid kits! And where do you think I would get a heater from? There has to be something else!" The conversation proved to be useless and he hung up the phone more frustrated and angry than before.
"Officer Swarek?"
Sam slowly turned his eyes back to Rachel. He took a second to swallow the anger that was seething inside him. "I'm sorry. I was hoping they could tell me something to do to help you more."
"It's okay," she said, her teeth starting to chatter as she spoke. "It's just that you stopped."
"Stopped what?" he asked, confused.
"You stopped rubbing my hand. It helps me focus on something other than the pain and cold."
He gently ran his thumb across the back of her hand again, drawing the circle that he'd been making for over three hours. He felt the anger slowly melt away. Reaching down, he gently breathed on her hand, trying to warm it up.
Rachel's POV:
Life, right now, was a haze of pain and cold for Rachel. She'd been quite successful at controlling the pain by focusing on his thumb rubbing the back of her hand, until the shivering had started half an hour before. Now, the uncontrollable shivering was causing pain to shot through her constantly. She knew she was moaning and whimpering, but she couldn't help it. If it weren't for Officer Swarek's hand, she knew she would be off floating in a sea of pain. He was anchoring her to reality.
"Please," she moaned, "Could you... talk or something? Helps me." She opened her eyes and looked pleadingly at him.
"Sure," he answered. "I can do that."
She watched his face, but didn't listen to his words as she let the sound of his voice wash over her. His face looked strained, but he held her look and smiled encouragingly at her. She lay there and wondered how much longer she could take this. She needed to be strong, she knew, but didn't have a drop of strength left in her.
"I can't," she cried out, interrupting him. "I can't." She almost screamed as pain ripped through her. "I can't. I'm not... strong enough."
"Look at me," he said, gripping her hand firmly. When she didn't open her eyes, he said in his toughest commanding voice, "Look at me, Rachel."
His command cut through the pain and she opened her eyes to look into his determined face. "We are almost there," he said, firmly. "If you don't have the strength, take it from me. I'll be strong enough for both of us."
"How?" she begged.
"Look at me, focus on me. When the pain comes, you focus on me, okay?"
"It's always there," she said, moaning.
"Then you and I need to start focusing, right? We are going to do some of those exercises that you practiced with your sister." She looked deep into his eyes, concentrated on his thumb rubbing her hand, and slowly gained the strength to slow her breathing down.
"Sweetheart," he said, "you are amazing."
Sam's POV:
"Sir! Emergency response is here!"
Sam closed his eyes for a second before he opened them and looked at Rachel. "Rachel, sweetheart, the people are here who can get you out." She barely nodded her head, tears flowing freely down her face. She gave his hand a feeble squeeze and then closed her eyes. "This is still going to take a while," he warned her. "They have to get the trailer off first, and then they have to figure out how to get you out of here without hurting you more. But we are in the home stretch, okay? Hold on. You can do it." She gave absolutely no response. She had stopped shivering about ten minutes before and he was scared out of his mind as to what that meant.
He turned to his radio and snapped, "McNally! Tell them they have to move. It's critical now."
"Sir, they want you out of there," she answered. "They won't do anything until you are out of there."
Sam quickly looked at Rachel, but she was so far in pain and hypothermia that there was no reaction. "I'm not leaving her until I absolutely have to. Tell them to hook up and do whatever they have to do, but I'm not leaving until the trailer is ready to move." He reached out and wiped some of the tears off her still face. If he hadn't seen the slight rise of her shoulders as she breathed, he would have thought she had died.
A couple of minutes later, he heard a scuffling under the trailer, and an emergency responder poked his head around the back end of the suv, having difficulty keeping his hard hat on. "Officer Swarek?" he asked.
"Who else?" Sam answered, part of him relieved to see the man, part of him madder than a hornet that they'd taken so long to get there. "Are you ready? Are you going to get this thing off of us?"
"Fifteen minutes," the man answered, "but I need you to get out so that I can get a good look at what's going on on this side of the trailer."
Sam had an inner war with himself. If he refused to leave it would take longer, but if he did leave he was breaking his promise to Rachel. He looked at her and realized that she probably wouldn't even notice him gone anymore.
With a sigh he let go of her hand and started to shimmy back along the vehicle. He stopped dead when he heard her moan. Her moaning quickly escalated into screams. He pulled himself back into the wheel well and took her grasping hand. He quickly rubbed her hand and soothingly said, "It's okay, sweetheart, I'm here. I'm here." Her screams settled back into moans and she opened her glazed eyes for a moment before closing them again.
"I'm not moving." Sam said, his voice broking no argument. "Do what you have to do around me, but I'm not moving."
"Yeah, okay," the responder nodded, shimmying up to them. "But don't blame me if it gets a little personal."
Sam wedged himself as far into the vehicle as he could, trying to give the responder room to work, but the man still had to drape himself over top of Sam to see inside. The man gave a low whistle when he looked through the opening at Rachel. "How on earth did she survive that?"
"I don't know, but she is one tough cookie," Sam answered, his hand still drawing circles.
"This is bad," the man muttered, craning his neck to look closer at the twisted metal all around her.
"Ya think?" Sam snapped at him. "Why do you think we've been trying to get you guys here for the past four hours?"
"It's been a bad day," the man replied, ignoring the bite in Sam's voice. He looked around a bit more before he started shimmying back down the truck. "When we're ready," he said, grunting slightly as he wiggled around the corner, "I don't care how much she screams. You are coming out. Got it?"
"Yeah," Sam answered, looking at Rachel's white face. "I got it."
He reached in and pushed a stray strand of hair off her face. "Rachel, you need to hold on. I know it hurts and I know you are struggling to stay with us, but you have to be strong. Listen to my voice and be strong. Okay? You have a niece or nephew to go see. They are going to want to see their Aunt Rachel as soon as they can. You are so strong, just a few more minutes."
He continued to talk to her, trying to keep her focused on him, but she wasn't responding again. He knew he was losing that emotional distance that he was suppose to have, but he couldn't help it. This woman should never have had to go through the past four hours, it was torture both physical and mental. And yet she had stayed positive, fighting for control. His anger was bubbling right below the skin.
"Sir, you have to come out now. They're ready."
Sam acknowledged Andi on his radio, and then squeezed Rachel's hand. "I am so sorry, Rachel, but I have to go now. I'm only going until the trailer is out of the way, then I'll be right back. I promise. Okay? I have to go, but I won't be far. Hold on, sweetheart, hold on."
Then he quickly dropped her hand and hurried as fast as he could along the truck, through the back hole, and out towards the edge of the trailer. He was almost there when he heard her first scream. He hesitated for a moment, looking back, but he was roughly grabbed by two sets of hands and pulled out from under the trailer.
He almost lost it, as he roughly jerked his arms free from Oliver and an Emergency Responder. He glared at them, fighting to control his rage. "I'm out," he growled. They quickly moved him back away from the edge of the trailer and out of range of the screams that were coming from underneath. Two ambulance attendants were standing ready, their medic kits in their hands. "As soon as that thing is out of the way," Sam snapped, pointing his finger at them, "we go in. Understand?"
"We know our job, Officer," one answered, coolly. "Make sure you don't get in our way."
He glared at them for a second before turning to watch the emergency responders give the signal to begin the lift.
Sam watched impatiently as the trailer was slowly and carefully being tipped up to land on it's wheels by a large crane truck. The suv underneath shifted slightly, and everyone held their breaths, fearing that it would get caught in the metal of the trailer and be lifted as well. But after a few seconds, the suv was freed from the metal and settled independently on the road. The trailer was lifted the rest of the way onto it's wheels. A second wrecker that was already hooked up to the back of the trailer carefully towed it out of harms way and off the road.
Sam raced with the two ambulance attendants to the suv. He dropped to his knees by the wheel well and reached for Rachel's hand. She was moaning in agony and her open glazed eyes were frantically darting around. "I'm here, Rachel. I'm here," he said, trying to sound calm and encouraging. "The medics are here too." Her eyes landed on his and held. Sam smiled at her. "That's it. We are almost there. These guys have to check you over okay? But I'm not leaving. I won't leave again." He leaned back to allow one of the medics to reach through the hole to check her pulse. He refused to let go of her hand and kept his eyes on hers.
They quickly got to work installing an IV on her arm to pump painkillers into her, which they told Sam was the only thing they could do for her until she was freed from the wreckage. Sam watched them work, silently grateful for the medicine about to ease some of the pain he could see in her eyes.
"Okay, the IV is working," the closest one to him said. "We're getting out of here so these guys can work."
Sam glanced back at the five emergency responders waiting patiently with the Jaws of Life and several metal cutters. "Hurry up," he said to them, "and don't even think of asking me to move."
"You always this cheery?" one asked sarcastically.
"Shut up and do your job," he growled, turning back to Rachel. "This is it, sweetheart. These yahoos are going to work at cutting you free. We'll have you out of there in no time." His heart surged as her eyes focused slightly and her thumb brushed his hand. "That's it. Just keep looking at me."
For ten minutes Sam held Rachel's hand as pieces of metal were slowly and carefully removed from around her. He kept telling her to hold absolutely still and not move.
The rollbar was the last piece to be removed. The ambulance attendants moved in again and with Sam's help slowly and very carefully extracted her from the remains of the suv. She moaned and cried out when they settled her on a back board. A sudden sound of applause made Sam look up in surprise. There were almost fifty people standing at a distance in a circle around them. Their faces were relieved but solemn. He met the eyes of his partner, and Andi gave him a tearful, proud smile as she clapped her gloved hands. He returned her smile weakly before turning back to Rachel. The anger that he had been holding suddenly disappeared and he sank to his knees on the snowy road and took some deep breaths as relief surged through his body. He held her hand as his eyes ran over her body. His stomach lurched as he saw exactly how painful her ordeal had been.
One of the attendants began verbally cataloging her injuries. "Broken right radius and ulna, broken left femur. Right leg has a laceration about three inches long not very deep on her mid thigh and another one on her calf. " He opened her jacket and gently checked her ribs. "Ribs appear to be intact but there is a large bruise forming over the left side of her rib cage. No obvious signs of internal bleeding." He moved up her body to her neck and head. "She has a small one inch laceration above her left ear, bruising on her left cheek, and her right appears to have been chafed." He leaned over and grabbed the warmed up blankets that his partner handed him. "She's hypothermic and in shock."
Sam lowered his head into his free hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. Her injuries weren't life threatening, but he understood how much pain she must have been in. He continued rubbing the back of her hand, thankful that she was finally out.
A cool breeze touched his face and he shivered, suddenly realizing how cold and wet he was. He hunched his shoulders and tried to stop his teeth from chattering.
"Officer, you can let go now," one of the paramedics said, touching his arm.
"I told you," he said firmly, pulling his arm away, "I'm not leaving."
"I've gave her a sedative with the painkillers," he responded, nodding towards her face. "She won't know you're gone now."
Sam looked with surprise at Rachel and realized that her eyes were closed and her face was relaxed and pain free for the first time. It was only then that he noticed her hand was limp in his.
"Sam, it's time to go."
He looked up into the face of Oliver and hesitated.
"She's in good hands now, you can't do anything else for her. Come on, let's get out of here and let them do their work." Oliver reached down and took Sam's shoulder. "Come on, Sammy," he said, quietly, nodding towards the squad cars.
Sam slowly put Rachel's hand down, placing it carefully under the warm blanket. He reached up and tucked the blanket snugly around her neck. "Take care of her," he said hoarsely to the paramedics before he let Oliver guide him away.
They stopped by the squad car where Andi was waiting with a large blanket. "Take off your jacket, sir," she said, helping him slide it off his shoulders. She wrapped the blanket around him adding, "Look at you, your teeth are chattering and you're shivering."
"Just a bit cold," he acknowledged, hugging the blanket around him as his eyes went back to Rachel lying on the ground.
"You did good, Sammy," Oliver said, crossing his arms. "I hate to admit it, but you did good."
"Ah, Oliver," he said, trying to sound cheeky around the chattering teeth, "you getting soft in your old age?"
"Yeah, that must be it," Oliver answered, a half smile on his face. "Zoe's gonna love this story."
They all became silent as they watched Rachel being lifted into the ambulance. The doors were closed and it sped off, lights flashing and sirens blaring. Sam leaned back against the squad car and wiped his face with the blanket. He felt suddenly very tired.
"Can I take him back to the barn?" Andi asked Oliver, concern on her face. "He's freezing."
"Yeah, we'll wrap things up here for you. If I can find Epstein," Oliver grumbled, looking around.
"Sir, let's get you in the car and I'll crank the heat, okay?" Andi said to Sam, holding his arm and trying to help him into the passenger seat.
"Worse than my mother," Sam muttered to Oliver, but he honestly appreciated her concern and care for him right then. All he wanted to do was stand under a steaming hot shower and stay there until every inch of him was warm again.
They pulled into the Police Station parking lot a few minutes later and Andi turned off the engine. She hesitated a moment before looking at Sam. "What you did today... I couldn't have done it. I just want you to know that. You were..." she paused. "You were heroic today."
Sam opened the door. He was still cold but at least his teeth had stopped chattering. "McNally, it was my job. Don't make it something else." He could almost feel the shower already as he headed for the personnel door.
"I know that, sir," she answered, jumping out and hurrying around to catch up with him. "I just wanted you to know that you're... you're something else sometimes."
"What? Only sometimes?" he said, cocking his head to the side and flashing her his dimples. She rolled her eyes and laughed, as she opened the door for them.
He was half way to the men's locker room when he heard his name called from the walkway where the upper offices were. Sam turned with a wince, knowing he was probably going to be publicly dressed down by his Sergeant.
Best stood leaning on the railing, giving him a stern look. "Impressive work today, Swarek. You did us proud."
Swarek took a deep breath of relief and grinned. "Thanks, Sarge."
"But if I ever hear of you pulling such a stunt again, I'll have your badge. Understand?"
"Uh, yes sir," he answered, giving his boss a sober nod.
"Good, now go warm up. You and McNally can finish your shift at your desks." Best turned and walked back into his office and shut the door.
"Well, that went better than expected," Swarek said, giving Andi a grin. "Now, see ya, I'm off to have the longest shower ever. I'll be out in an hour." He turned and took a few steps before turning back to her. "Try and have all the paperwork done by the time I'm back. You know, it's not right to make a hero do paperwork." He opened his arms wide and gave her a grin.
"Straight to your head," Andi laughed. "Straight to your head."
He winked and turned to hurry to the locker room.
Sam's POV:
Sam took off his winter jacket as he walked down the hall of the hospital, looking at the room numbers as he went by. His partner hadn't batted an eye when he told her this morning that he wanted to go to the hospital to check on Rachel. He'd expected some raised eyebrows, perhaps a concerned or amused comment, but all he got was an "Of course, when's visiting hours?". Times like this showed Andi's true colors, and he appreciated her even more as his partner. When he found the right room number, he glanced at Andi who was following close behind and then knocked. There was an answer and he opened the door and stepped in.
It was a large private room painted blue with a window that allowed the afternoon sun to shine in. Sam's eyes first landed on the rocker recliner that was at the foot of the bed. There was a red haired woman with green eyes wearing a hospital gown and a robe sitting in it, in her arms was a baby bundled up in a white blanket. The woman gave him an appraising look, before a smirk crossed her face and she looked at the bed with raised eyebrows.
"Officer Swarek!"
Sam looked at the bed and tried hard not to wince. The left side of Rachel's face was a dark purple color and the color ran into her eye, giving her a prized fighter look. The right side of her face looked like she'd been dragged across a carpet and gotten rug burn, probably from the passenger seat upholstery, Sam guessed. Her right arm was in a cast from her fingers to just past her elbow, and her entire left leg was also in a cast and propped up on pillows.
"Rachel," Sam said, stepping closer to the bed, smiling as he stopped, "how are you doing?"
"I'm fine," she answered, wincing slightly as she tried to smile. With her left hand she gently rubbed her purple cheek.
He folded his arms and gave her a stern look. "The truth would be nice. I'm fine is not going to cut it."
"I like his style!" the woman in the recliner said, laughing.
Rachel started to grin but winced and rubbed her hand against her cheek again. "Well, smiling kind of hurts, but all in all, I'm..." she paused and darted a look at Sam's face before rolling her eyes. "Alright. They've got me on some really great drugs so I'm quite comfortable as long as I don't try and move around too much. I'm a quick healer, so I'll be up and about in no time. But whatever you do, don't make me laugh. My ribs really can't take that." She looked at Sam with concern. "And what about you? Are you okay?" Sam looked at her with surprise, wondering what she was talking about. "You were under there in the freezing cold for hours with me. You didn't get frostbitten or sick, did you?"
"Nah, not me," Sam answered with a grin. "Nothing an extremely hot shower couldn't take care of." He could hardly believe that Rachel was worried about him, even as she lay in her hospital bed with her casts and hooked up to all sorts of beeping machines.
"That's good," she said, obviously relieved. She looked behind Sam questioningly.
"Sorry, this is my partner, Officer McNally," he said, glancing over his shoulder as Andi stepped forward.
"Hi, Rachel," Andi said, "I'm really glad you are doing okay."
"Thanks," Rachel answered. "You are the one I should be thanking for getting the emergency responders there as soon as they were." She held out her hand towards Andi.
Andi stepped forward and took her hand, but looked uncomfortable. "I'm just sorry we couldn't get them there sooner."
Rachel shook her head. "You did great. Don't worry about it." She looked at Sam and twisted her lips carefully into a smile. "Besides, I had Officer Swarek with me. I was in good hands."
Sam looked at his partner with a cocky smile. "See that, McNally? I told you she was smart."
At that moment there was a slight cough.
"Oh, sorry!" Rachel said, looking at the chair at the foot of her bed. "Officer Swarek, Officer McNally, this is my sister Sally and my new nephew." Rachel's eyes were glowing as she finished the introductions.
"Congratulations," Andi said, smiling.
Sam walked over and leaned down to look at the new baby. "Hey there, little fella. You have a name yet?"
"No," answered Sally, carefully tucking the blanket around the sleeping child. "I'm waiting to talk to my husband first about it."
"May I?" Sam asked, holding out his hands.
"Sure," Sally said, once again a smirk crossing her face as she gave Rachel a look. Sam wasn't exactly sure what that look was for, but he took the offered baby expertly into his arms and held him up. Having been taken from his mother, the little baby wasn't exactly pleased and started to fuss and cry.
"Hey, hey, little guy," Sam said, cradling him in his arms and bouncing gently, "I see you have your Aunt Rachel's strong personality. That's a good thing. Yes, it sure is." He continued talking and gently rocking until the baby settled, gave a loud yawn and closed his eyes. Sam looked up to find three pairs of amused eyes staring at him. "What?" he said, grinning. "I have a niece and nephew."
"A woman and eight kids," Rachel said, raising her eyebrows in amusement.
Sam laughed, "Still not going to happen." He looked down at the content baby before turning to Andi. "Want a turn?"
Andi's face went white and she quickly stammered, "Uh, no thanks." Sam raised his eyebrows. "I don't have a niece or nephew, so I wouldn't feel so comfortable," she admitted, crossing her arms in front of her.
Sam chuckled as he turned back to Sally. "There you go, little guy, back to your Mom." He carefully deposited the baby once more in his mother's arms and tucked a loose end of the blanket around his shoulder.
"So, do you know when you will be released?" Andi asked Rachel.
"The doctors told me a few more days," she answered, rubbing at the rough pony tail she'd put in her hair. "I'd like to think sooner, but we'll just have to see."
"I'm really glad you're alright," Sam said, walking to stand next to her on the left side of the bed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two of his police business cards. "You are going to need one of these cards for your insurance claim. As soon as you are up and about, you are going to be swamped with paperwork and insurance questions. You shouldn't have any troubles, but if you do, get your insurance company to phone me, okay?" He put the two cards on the table beside the bed. He reached down and took her hand, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand. He watched her stare at their hands for a moment before looking up at him with tear-filled eyes. "The second card I want you to put somewhere safe and if you ever need any help on a police matter, big or small, I want you to call me first, okay? If I can't help you, I could at least help point you in the right direction. Understand?"
Rachel nodded. "Thank you. That's very kind of you."
Sam shrugged and put her hand down. "You take care of yourself, okay? Officer McNally and I need to get back to work."
Rachel nodded, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes. "Thank you again, both of you. You have no idea how grateful I am." She looked at Sam with a smile. "You definitely went above and beyond the call of duty."
"I was just doing my job," Sam answered, shrugging into his jacket. He looked once more at Sally and the baby. "Enjoy your new family, Rachel. Take care."
With his hand on Andi's lower back he ushered her out the door with a small wave. As they walked down the hallway, he was sure Andi was going to comment on his giving Rachel a second business card, but strangely she was silent. They stopped at the elevator and waited in silence until the doors opened and they stepped on. As the doors closed, Andi asked with a smirk, "So, what was with that woman and eight kids remark?"
Rachel's POV:
"He's not married, is he? And is he dating that beautiful partner of his?"
"Don't even start," Rachel said, looking at her sister sternly. The officers were barely out the door before her sister had started in on her.
Sally looked at her and laughed. "Oh, come on, Rach. You can't tell me that you spent five hours with that gorgeous man and didn't feel attracted to him?"
"I had a few other things on my mind," Rachel answered, pointedly. "Like the fact that I was trapped inside my truck!"
"I can understand that," Sally conceded. "But what about now? He basically gave you his phone number."
"No, he didn't," Rachel answered, looking at the cards on the table beside her. She idly noticed that his first name was Sam. It suited him. "He gave me a business card in case I had a police matter. He made that very clear. And besides, I wouldn't call him on a date anyways."
"Why not?" asked her sister, obviously frustrated.
Rachel gave her another long suffering look. "Because, Sally, I choose not to. Leave it at that."
Sally leaned her head back against the recliner with a frustrated sigh. "Rachel, you know I love you, but you are the most stubborn person I have ever met. How exactly do you expect to find a man to marry if you won't take a chance? You are thirty four years old! You aren't getting any younger."
Rachel gave her sister a small smile before saying, "Sally, I know you love me, so I'm going to just ignore your last few comments and instead ask you for help."
"Help?" her sister asked, confused by the turn in the conversation.
"Yes, I need help figuring out a way to thank Officer Swarek for what he did, something that he'll appreciate but isn't too over the top. And don't even think about a romantic candlelight dinner," Rachel said, scratching carefully at the cast on her arm.
Sally grinned before asking, "What about a new house or a new truck?" She shifted her newborn to a more comfortable position.
"I already thought of that, but I don't think he'd accept it," Rachel answered. "I was wondering about doing something for the precinct, so that all the officers could enjoy it, but what?"
A slow smile touched Sally's face as she said, "Do you remember my friend Georgia?"
Rachel said, "Ah, yes I do. That's brilliant! What exactly were you thinking?"
Sam's POV:
Three months later, Sam leaned against a desk, his arms crossed talking with Oliver. Everybody was gathered together 20 minutes before parade, a feat that had never been accomplished in all the precinct's history. His eyes wandered the room, looking at the people who were a part of his family.
"You'd think it was Christmas or something," he grinned, looking at the people eagerly talking to each other.
"Well, it sort of is," Oliver replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm more interested in how they sprang the money for this."
"Maybe we will find out," Sam answered, nodding towards Best who walked out of his office and down to stand in front of the police officers.
Best held up his hands for silence and then said, "As you are all aware, we have been having some renovations done to the precinct for the last month. You have all had your input by way of the survey that was passed around. Hopefully it will meet or surpass your expectations." He paused, a grin forming on his lips. "I'm sure many of you have wondered how our precinct was able to swing the money for an interior decorator to come in and redo our lunch room... sorry, Officer's Lounge," he corrected himself, pointing to the sign above the door behind him. "Well, you have one of your own to thank for that." Everyone looked around expectantly, but the room remained quiet. "Let's have a round of applause for Officer Sam Swarek."
Sam snapped his head up in surprise. He looked at Best, who was chuckling to himself as if he was enjoying a really good joke. The rest of the people were looking at him also in surprise, a few of them brought their hands together for a clap or two, but mostly there was silence.
"You holding out on me, Sammy?" Oliver asked, hand on his chin.
"No, not this time," Sam answered. He raised his voice, "Care to explain this one, Sarge, because I'm a bit at a loss."
All eyes turned to Best again, and the Sergeant nodded. "You will remember three months ago that Swarek played the hero and went under a tractor trailer to help Rachel Johnson. She was very appreciative of his efforts, and she asked a friend of hers who happens to be an interior decorator to come into the precinct to redo the lunch room."
Sam's eyebrows hit his hairline as Best talked. He couldn't believe his ears, but a slow grin slowly worked it's way onto his face. This time the room did erupt into cheers and applause. He worked hard to keep the blush from his face as he raised his hands and gave a short bow.
"Considering it was his heroic deed, and I say that loosely, that got us this lunchroom, Swarek please be the first to enter the room," Best said, stepping back and motioning him through the doorway.
"For any of you wanting to thank me," Sam said loudly, pushing off the desk and walking towards the room, "I accept coffee and food of all types." There were several jeers to which he just grinned and winked.
With Oliver right on his heels, Sam poked his head in the door for his first look. No one had any idea what the room was going to be like because the interior decorator had been very secretive and had everything brought in carefully hidden. What he saw made him whistle low through his teeth. He slowly walked into the room.
The room was larger than it had been, the renovations including taking over three storage rooms beside the old room. In the first section was the kitchen. There were stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops, set over oak cabinets. The floor was tile and there was recessed lighting in the ceiling. In the middle of the kitchen was a large oak table that could easily seat 15 people at a time.
The second section of the room was more like a living room, with several dark couches and recliner chairs placed around a large center table. Hanging on the wall was a 58" plasma tv and and an expensive looking stereo system. Set behind the couches was a full sized pool table.
"Lazyboy," Oliver said reverently, stepping past Sam to run his hand over one of the recliners. "I'm in heaven."
Sam walked to the final section of the room which was accessed through a door. In that room were four beds neatly made up with bedside tables, lamps and low lit recessed lighting in the ceiling.
"Sammy," said Noelle, walking up behind him to peer into the room, "I think you finally did something I can totally approve of." She looked back at the other officers milling around the room. "This is amazing."
"Yeah," he answered, shaking his head bemused.
"Hey, Sam, come and take a look at this," Andi called.
He walked over to where Andi and several other officers were crowding around a small plaque on the wall by the tv. Silently they parted and let him through. The plaque read:
To Officer Sam Swarek and all the Police Officers of Division 15,
who go above and beyond the call of duty and shrug it off saying,
"I was just doing my job".
"Huh," Sam said, feeling slightly self-conscious.
"That's a nice touch," Andi said.
"Hey, guys," Epstein interrupted, coming up to them. "Did you check out the cappuccino machine?" He smugly pointed to himself. "That was my idea. Sweet, huh?" He looked at Sam. "Did you know she was loaded?"
"Nope," Sam said, looking around at the room again.
While the other police officers teased Epstein about his cappuccino machine, Sam walked over to the Sergeant. Without a word, Best handed him a piece of paper. Sam glanced at it, clapped his hand on Best's shoulder and walked out to his desk. He picked up his phone and dialed the number written on the paper.
"Hello?"
"A steak dinner would have sufficed," he said, skipping the pleasantries.
"Would you have gone if I'd asked you?" Rachel asked, laughing.
"Ah..., no, probably not," he answered truthfully.
"Then this was the only way I could thank you," she answered reasonably.
"It's a bit excessive, don't you think?" Sam asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Maybe," she conceded, "but I felt I needed to do something. Sally and I came up with the idea." She paused, and with some concern asked, "Is it okay? I mean, do you like it?"
"Rachel," Sam said, his voice amused, "you could not have done anything better. You should see everyone down here. They are walking around like someone handed them a million dollars. In all seriousness, thank you. It's perfect."
He heard Rachel sigh with relief. "Good, I'm glad. We figured that you guys probably needed a place to go to relax during a tough shift."
"Well, you nailed it on the head," Sam said, watching Jerry and Epstein toast each other with coffee cups full of frothy cappuccino. "How are you doing by the way?"
"The casts are off, but I have a long series of physiotherapy appointments ahead of me for my leg," she answered. "The rest has healed up nicely." She paused. "Officer Swarek?"
"Yeah?"
"You kept me sane. I mean it. I couldn't have made it through without you."
"It really was just part of my job," he said, thinking of the plaque. "Everybody else down here does the same thing day after day, putting themselves out there. Which is why your gift is so perfect. It's for all of us." He looked up to hear Best reminding them that parade was in five minutes. "Rachel, I have to go, my shift is starting up in a couple of minutes. But I wanted to phone and thank you."
"That's okay. Thanks for calling."
"You still have my card?"
"Yes, safely filed away in my important papers," she assured him.
"Good. Call if you need anything, no matter how trivial you might think it is, okay?" he said, standing up as Andi came to his desk.
"Thanks, I'll do that."
"Alright. Take care of yourself," he said, and hung up the phone.
"How's she doing?" Andi asked, walking with him towards parade.
"It sounds like she's doing good. Physio on her leg, but otherwise good."
"Glad to hear it," Andi answered. She opened the door and entered the room.
"Today," Sam said to her, taking his usual seat on the side table and noting how relaxed and happy his colleagues were, "is going to be a great day, don't you think?"
Andi looked at him quizzically, "Okay, sure." She stopped, looked around her at the smiling faces and said, "You know what? I think you're right. It is a great day."