A/N: ONE-SHOT: Sam and Andy discover in mid-season four that dating your co-worker isn't as easy as it may seem. This story has been inspired by what little we know that's waiting for us in season four. I believe the word that kept on showing up in Ben's tweets was; complicated.
Does include another brunette, who shall remain nameless in this note, but it's only to showcase how things have changed in the six months that Andy has been away. This little piece picks up after Sam and Andy have decided to give their relationship another shot.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated ;)
Com-pli-ca-tion (n). A condition, event, etc., that is complex or confused. (Synonyms: difficulty, problem, obstacle).
Six weeks after Andy and Nick's return from the taskforce, she finds herself sitting in a beautifully adorned restaurant feeling anything but.
Tonight is supposed to be their beginning, well - their second one if anyone's counting, and according to Gail you only get one break-up.
But where is he then? This had after all been his idea.
Right after she had returned, things had been tense between them to say the least. Sam had transitioned from Police Officer to Detective in the six months that Andy had been under. While he had gotten used to the change, she has just learned the news.
The fact that he now has the final word when she's working on one of his cases has caused more than one disagreement between them. But they are learning how to make room for each other, and Sam being a Detective has actually eradicated some of the problems they'd had last year.
"I can't be a cop and be with you."
So, here she is, Andy McNally, sitting in a renowned restaurant in Toronto – all dressed up. Gail has even helped her pick the dress out. She is fiddling with the hem of the black dress she's wearing when the waiter drops by her table for the third time.
"Will you be dining alone, Miss?" the elderly waiter with grey sideburns asks with a look in his eyes that tells Andy that he feels pity for her.
Biting into her lip, she tries to come up with the nicest reply to that specific question. "I don't know..," Andy opens her clutch purse and pulls out her cell phone. "Let me just try and call him again." She says, as the waiter moves on undoubtedly wanting to move Andy if she's dining alone since the restaurant is bustling with guests.
Scrolling through her contacts, she finds him, and presses the phone icon, as the cell phone dials Sam's number. Clutching the napkin in her free hand, she readies herself to hear his voice, but the voice that greets her isn't Sam's.
Standing in the viewing room watching Sam and Traci grill the suspect, a shrilling ring tone pulls Marlo out of her copper-mode. Seeing the phone light up inside his jacket, she figures she might as well answer it in case it's work-related.
Without any reservations, Marlo reaches inside Sam's jacket, pulling out the phone without even looking at the caller-id.
"Sam Swarek's phone, this is Cruz!" She answers brusquely.
The harsh tone that accompanies her greeting sends Andy reeling. It's no secret that there are no fuzzy feelings between them. Andy has the distinct feeling that Marlo thinks that she's inept at her job, but more than that, that she's the wrong fit for Sam.
So, hearing her answering his phone at eight o'clock in the evening when he's supposed to be at the restaurant with Andy doesn't make her charitable.
Finding her voice, she makes her presence known. "It's Andy," she says. "Where is Sam?"
"He's in interview one – interrogating a suspect," is the answer to her question. "I can tell him that you called though." She offers up.
Andy takes a deep breath, trying to reign in her temper. She has really tried to like Marlo – for Sam's sake, but whenever they're around each other, Andy's stomach is in knots and she has this uncanny need to slap her silly. "I need to talk to him."
"Well, I'm sorry, McNally, but he's pretty busy at the moment," Cruz tells her, turning her back to the two-way mirror.
"He's busy?" Andy spits out – all but tripping over the word.
"Oh!" she exclaims when the door to the viewing room opens, and in walks Sam with a bewildered look on his face. Undoubtedly because Marlo is holding his cell phone to her ear. "Here he is." She tells Andy.
"Don't bother," she snaps at Cruz shutting the connection off just as she hands Sam the cell phone.
"Hey, I'm sorry about dinner..," he starts to apologize, but quickly realizes that Andy has hung up. "Dammit!" Sam curses under his breath shutting off the device with a quick tap of his finger on the off-switch.
"She hung up?" Marlo asks surprised just as Traci joins them in the room.
"Who hung up?" she asks looking between her two colleagues, feeling the obvious tension that is present in the room.
Sam pinches the bridge of his nose before releasing a deep-held breath. "Andy." He states.
Traci immediately realizes what her best friend must've called her partner about. "Oh my God!" she exclaims slapping a hand across her mouth. "Your dinner."
"Yup!" Sam pops the 'p' with his tongue, while Marlo remains silent.
"You had plans?" Cruz guesses running her bottom lip through her teeth.
"Sam!" Traci interrupts Marlo's question. "Go!" she tells him nodding her head in the direction of the door.
"You sure?" he asks glancing through the glass looking in on their suspect in the interrogation room next door.
"Yes, I am." She states matter-of-factly. "I will never hear the end of it if you don't find some way to make this up to her. Go!" she flails her hands at him urging him to go find Andy.
"You sure?" Sam repeats his earlier question shrugging into his jacket and placing his cell phone back into the inner pocket.
"Go!" Traci almost yells at him unable to hide the smile growing on her lips, as she and Marlo watch him disappear out the door.
The balmy night is doing nothing to reprieve the chill that has settled itself in Andy's body.
She can't believe how this night has turned out. Tonight should have been the night where they would start again. She shouldn't be walking home alone right now; he should be here next to Andy, holding her hand on their way back to her condo.
But he isn't here, she reminds herself silently, wrapping her arms around her petite frame.
Lost in her own thoughts, Andy doesn't hear the familiar sound of the truck's engine humming a couple of yards back.
"Need a ride?" is what Sam's warm voice asks from the rolled-down window of the silver truck. But considering what has happened tonight – or rather what has not happened tonight then Andy really isn't in a forgiving mood.
"No, thanks." She replies continuing to walk in the direction of her condo.
"Come on, McNally!" Sam grumbles putting the truck into drive, driving up next to her – still with the window rolled down. "I'm sorry."
Stopping in mid-stride, Andy turns around, arms folded in front of her before replying. "This was your idea, y'know?"
Shutting the engine off, Sam unbuckles his seatbelt before getting out of the truck. "I know..," he admits solemnly. Casting his eyes downwards, it's obviously clear how badly he feels about missing their date tonight.
"What?" she hisses through clenched teeth. "What do you know?" Andy asks wishing she could tune down her anger, but she can't keep the memory of being stood up from crowding her every thought.
Taking a deep breath, Sam figures that the honesty route is the way to go. "I was interviewing a suspect," he starts. "I thought I could have it wrapped up before dinner, but I couldn't. I lost track of time, I'm sorry." He apologizes.
Running her teeth through her lower lip, Andy takes in his appearance. The strained jaw, apologetic eyes and the fact that the confident way she's used to Sam carrying himself is gone.
"I felt like a fool sitting there," she tells him softly before adding an "Alone," for effect. But that isn't even what hurt the most. No, what had hurt the most had been that when she had tried calling him, Marlo had picked up his cell phone. "Why was Cruz there?" Andy finally asks.
Sighing, Sam brings his fingers up to his nose and pinches the bridge before answering her question. "She was the arresting officer."
"That doesn't explain why she answered your phone!" she unwillingly snaps at him.
They have known each other for years; Sam and Marlo. He has sworn up and down to Andy that friendship is all there is to their relationship, and that she doesn't have the slightest interest in him. But Andy has ever since returning from the taskforce found that hard to believe.
It hadn't been long after her and Nick's return to Toronto that Andy had caught the tail end of a conversation where Marlo had asked Sam out for dinner. He had ended up declining the invitation, but in Andy's mind it hadn't just been an invitation for pizza, but for something else too.
Something more.
But according to Sam, then Marlo had just been looking out for him in her own special way. She has apparently always been very protective of him, and in Cruz' eyes Andy had broken Sam's heart when she had left for the taskforce. Which she probably had, yes, but it's a two-way street.
"Andy..," he sighs rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Marlo is just a friend, I've told you that."
"I know, but what are you to her?" she asks. It's not that Andy doesn't trust Sam when he says that he and Marlo are just friends, but she's unsure about Marlo's feelings for him. As far as she knows then Marlo isn't involved with anyone and whenever she's at The Penny it's always on a social outing with their colleagues.
"A friend," he says stressing the word. "My friendship with Marlo isn't different from the friendships you've got with Chris or Dov..,"
"Sam, come on! They're like brothers to me." Andy argues vehemently.
"Or Nick," he adds with an arched eyebrow.
The change in her relationship with Nick – or how much it has deepened because of the taskforce – has thrown a wrench or two in her and Sam's relationship. He is like the brother, Andy has always wanted. She can talk to him about everything - their experiences on the taskforce, her family, work – not to mention her relationship with Sam.
"Nick is just a friend..," Andy stops, realizing at once what it is that Sam has been trying to make her see for the past couple of weeks. Marlo is to Sam, what Nick is to Andy.
"Exactly..," he nods his head, as his lips slowly curl upwards in a tell-tale smirk.
Andy can't keep herself from smiling back when Sam's dimples peak out at her. "Message received." She says.
"Come on," he extends his hand to her nodding his head in the direction of the truck. "Let's go home."
"Okay." She smiles radiantly at him.
Sam wraps an arm around her back, walking to the passenger side of the truck. He opens the door for her, and watches as she hoists herself into the seat.
"You know something?" he asks tucking a strand of hair behind her ear after Andy has made herself comfortable in the seat.
"What?" Andy questions with a raised eyebrow.
"You look good in my truck." He smirks at her making Andy cackle loudly, before shutting the door softly, and walking to the opposite side of the truck to get in.
"You've always had your way with words, Detective," Andy says using her new nickname for Sam.
"I know," he winks at her before starting up the engine and pulling away from the curb en route to Andy's condo.
"What's up?" Oliver asks perching on the edge of the desk that Marlo is sitting at. He has watched her stare into space for the past ten minutes.
"Shaw..?" she asks snapping out of her thoughts. "Oh, nothing..," Marlo attempts to be blasé about whatever's keeping her mind occupied, but Oliver isn't buying it.
"This is me," he says stressing the word. "I'm the guy, who watched you fall flat on your face on our first day at the academy," Oliver smiles.
He knows that since starting at 15 Division Marlo and Andy have had a few run-in's, and her budding friendship with Sam has taken a couple of blows because of it.
"Thanks for reminding me about that," she sarcastically snorts folding her arms in front of her chest defensively.
"Where's Sammy?" Shaw asks watching Nash sitting up in their office at her desk alone.
"Out!" Marlo snaps pushing her chair back, walking to the coffee machine to make herself a steaming cup of coffee.
Oliver remains in place on the edge of the desk for a minute or two before taking a deep breath, and following in her direction.
"You wanna talk about it?" he asks, as the brown liquid is making its way into the Styrofoam cup that Marlo has placed underneath the spout.
"Nope!" she clicks her tongue keeping her eyes trained on the cup.
"Alrighty then!" Oliver whistles. "Then let me talk. It's what I do best anyways," he figures earning himself an eye roll from Cruz. "There she is," he quips pointing his finger at Marlo, who is now holding a cup of coffee in her hands.
"I haven't changed," she suddenly says blowing on the warm liquid.
"But Sam has." Oliver states matter-of-factly when they walk back to the desk and resume their earlier positions.
The Sam Swarek that they had both met in the academy isn't the same person as Detective Sam Swarek. He has changed, but for the better as far as Oliver is concerned. Being around someone as naïve as McNally had originally been four years ago had done him good. She had been able to simultaneously put him in his place, while also accepting his knowledge for what is had been.
"Yes..," Marlo sighs leaning back in the chair and letting her gaze travel to the lamp in the ceiling that would soon need a new bulb judging by the flickering.
"If you don't change, you die," he repeats the exact words that he uttered to Sam almost a year ago.
"Huh..?" she asks looking him dead in the eyes frowning at his choice of words.
"Nothing..," Oliver moves a hand through the air between them as a sign that she should forget he'd said it. "What you need to know is that Sam is in it for the long haul with McNally, nothing will change that." He watches Marlo take in his words before continuing. "But that doesn't mean that there's no room for you in his life too, but putting Andy down at every chance you get will only push Sam further away."
She nods her head slowly letting Shaw's words resonate. Oliver is right. She has been comparing the Sam she met in the academy with the one he is now and that's counterproductive. And as much as it hurts to say or to even think, then McNally is good for him, and it's not that Marlo has this desire to hurt the woman, but she just doesn't want Andy to hurt Sam.
"You're right."
"I am..?" Oliver asks shocked that she has agreed with him so quickly on the matter. If there's one thing Marlo Cruz isn't then it's an easy push-over, but maybe she has changed too?
"Yup!" Marlo nods her head popping the 'p'. "If being friendly with Andy will ensure my friendship with Sam, then it's something I'm willing to try."
"Good." He smiles at her.
Two hours and several cartons of pad thai later; Sam and Andy are sitting on the couch in her living room, a glass of Merlot in each of their hands.
"I'm sorry," he repeats the same sentiment he has said now for about ten or twenty times.
"You don't have to keep saying that, y'know?" Andy looks at him over the rim of her wineglass.
"Well, I am."
"I know..," she nods her head realizing that everything Sam has said tonight is true, and that his new position as a Detective is something that they both need to adjust to.
Word on the street is that both Luke and Steve Peck are returning to 15 Division, so at least that'll better the chances of their second date actually happening.
"What are you thinking about?" Sam asks looking curiously at Andy, who has been staring straight ahead.
"Hmm..?" she tilts her head to look at him realizing that he has caught her in a trance. "Just about Luke and Steve returning, and that it should better the chances of you actually making it to our next date."
Sam's eyebrows go up at that. "So, there'll be a next date, eh, McNally?" he quips biting the inside of his cheek to keep his lips from curling into a smirk.
"Maybe..?" she teases him reaching over to take his now empty wineglass in her other hand before standing up, and walking into the kitchen to get them each a refill.
Watching Andy's hips sway, as she walks, Sam swipes his tongue across his upper lip before getting on his feet himself. She looks sensational in that dress, the way it hugs her frame and leaves her bronzed skin visible in the black halter dress she's wearing.
"How do you feel about it?" he asks having moved to stand behind her at the kitchen island, while Andy is pouring them each a glass of Merlot.
"About what?" she asks confused.
"About Callaghan returning to 15." He elaborates.
"Fine…why do you ask?" Andy turns on her feet handing a glass of wine to Sam, while taking a tentative sip of her own.
"Well..," he sighs. "Last time he was at 15 he convinced you to go on the taskforce." his voice falls silent as what transpired almost a year ago comes to the surface. They have talked about it, but whenever someone brings up the taskforce with him he falls silent.
"Sam..," Andy places her glass of wine on the kitchen island before placing her palms flat on his chest looking him deeply in the eyes. "I needed to go. I needed a change, we needed a change."
He lets one calloused finger trail a path up and down her bare arm feeling the familiar energy encircling them. "That's true." Sam agrees turning slightly to put his glass away.
"Besides..," Andy runs her teeth through her bottom lip, curling her arms around his neck. "We probably wouldn't be here if I hadn't..," she arches a perfectly plucked eyebrow at Sam, as he wraps his arms around her waist.
"At the toilet factory?" he deadpans as only Sam can, earning him a whack on the arm. "Ow!" he howls playfully plunging them both into laughter.
"No. That's not what I meant, Detective," Andy drawls out her new nickname for him, as they wrap their arms around each other again. "I know we've been through a lot, and we'll probably go through a ton more..," she exhales deeply when Sam touches her nose with his.
"But..?" he drags out the syllables of the word intentionally loving how easily he can make the always chatty McNally loose her bearings.
"But..," Andy starts attempting to gain her proverbial footing. "If that's what we had to go through, to be here, together. Then I'm okay with that." She smiles softly at him right before Sam presses his lips against hers in a kiss so tender that it all but takes her breath away.
However the moment is thwarted when Sam's cell phone starts to ring.
"You've got to be kidding me!" he whispers furiously against Andy's soft lips. Pressing his forehead against hers, he exhales an audible sigh realizing that he has to answer it. Nash may need him on the case.
Realizing that Sam is struggling with whether he should answer the call or not, she offers him what little she can with a nod of her head. "Go ahead, its fine."
"Just give me a sec," he tells Andy kissing her softly on the forehead before walking to his jacket and grabbing his cell phone, not even checking to see who it is before answering.
Turns out, it is Nash telling him that the interview went fine, and that their suspect is tucked in for the night in a cell. Looking across the room at Andy, he notices her slumped shoulders that are telling Sam that she thinks its work telling him that he needs to make an appearance. She has after all lived with a Detective before, actually twice. First her dad and then Callaghan.
But he doesn't have to go in, so he wraps up his conversation with Nash with a promise to see her in the morning to go through everything before the arraignment.
"Hey..," he whispers against the side of Andy's face, wrapping his arms around her from behind.
"You have to go in?" she asks hesitantly fearing that their far too short date is going to be sidetracked again.
"Nope, told Nash I had my hands full..," Sam quips feeling Andy's body shake with laughter. "That's better..," he reasons loving the sound of her laughter.
"Well..," Andy says turning around in his arms, curling her arms around his neck before tilting her head upwards. "Can't make a liar outta you, Detective."
"Yeah..?" Sam grins before scooping her up in his arms, and walking towards Andy's bedroom with a giggling McNally in his arms.
"Uh-huh…you sure know how to treat a girl..," she smiles brightly at him as he enters the desired room with Andy in his arms.
"Only for you, McNally," Sam kisses her. "Only for you." He winks at her before pushing the door closed with the sole of his foot.