Broken Smiles

Sam & Andy One-Shot

He had noticed that lately her smiles never reached her eyes. To begin with it took a select few to make her smile, but now that number was slowly dwindling. She would crack a half-hearted smile every once and a while, but it took a lot more effort to make her smile fully. He first noticed it a few weeks ago. She had come into work earlier than usual. Her hair was a mess and she looked exhausted. She had dark circles under her eyes and her beautiful bambi eyes were dull and lifeless.

"McNally? You feelin' okay?" She knew it was only a matter of time before some one started to notice that she wasn't the same, hell even she knew she had changed.

"Just…tired." She was a terrible liar, but this wasn't a lie. She was tired of fighting, tired of making mistakes, tired of being the one he always blames, tired of being his Rookie Of The Year.

"Yeah, you look it." She cracked a genuine smile knowing Sam would make her feel a little better.

After several hours of silence Sam decided he had enough.

"Hey McNally?" When she made a grunting sound he proceeded. "Why don't they play poker in the jungle?"

"Why?" She mumbles half-heartedly.

"Too many Cheetahs." He snorts. She has a soft smile on her face. "Why can't you trust the king of the jungle?"

She shrugs a smile playing on her lips.

"He's always Lion." She lets out a small laugh then a louder one.

"Those were so corny." She states while laughing.

"Yeah, but it made you laugh." He gives her a soft smile.

"Yeah, yeah it did." The rest of the day flowed easily. Both making their usual banter towards each other. By the end of the day she had almost forgotten about her and Luke's fight. Almost. She dreads heading home to him.

She can't help but wonder what it would be like if she was going home to Sam instead of Luke. Despite her physically shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts, she finds herself thinking about it more often than anyone should. Any engaged woman should. It wasn't always like this either. They used to be happy.

She would come home and they would have a nice simple dinner then watch a movie afterwards, while laughing and just enjoying each others company. But that all changed when Luke's ex-fiancé came into the picture. He was more nervous. She always seemed to come up into the conversation. 'Jo did it this way.' 'Jo was amazing at working the case today.' 'Jo this.' 'Jo that.'

When she confronted him about it he became defensive yelling then slamming the door and staying out on the couch. Jo always touched him. Whether it was casually on the arm or their hands brushing against each other and smiling. He paid more and more attention to Jo rather than her. His Fiancé.

"Sam? Can I ask you something?" She says before they split to go to the locker rooms.

"Sure." He leans casually against the wall.

"What do you think of Jo Rosati?" His eyebrows raise in surprise.

"Well, erm, she's nice I guess. Good detective." He wasn't sure what she wanted him to say.

"Do you think she's pretty?" She looks up at him.

"I guess so, I'm mean she's alright. Not my type. But yeah she's pretty." Her eyes flashed with something as she looked down and started heading for the locker room. "She's no you, McNally. If he doesn't see that, he's an idiot."

She stops. One hand placed on the locker room doorway as she looks over she shoulder. "Thank you, Sam. Really."

She gets home before Luke. That was always the case now a days. But today was different. She looked at their home phone and noticed the flashing red light.

"One new message: 12:18pm, July 26, 2015.

'Hey Luke, it's Jo. But you left your walet at my place last night. I'll put it in your desk. I guess I'll see you at work. Bye.'

Last message. No new messages."

She had already suspected, but hearing it made her heart shattered. She had always gone after the bad boys, this time she went after the good guy and yet still ended up with her heart ripped from her chest. She grabbed the blanket that was draped across the back of the couch and snuggled into it. She tried to be strong, but the message kept running through her mind.

Last night. He said we was working case with Jerry last night. He had lied straight to her face then said 'I love you.' That was when she lost it. Her body was wracked with sobs. Warm tears racing down her face, some dripping off her jaw, others seeping into her lips. How could she not of known? They did it right in front of her face. God, she'll be the laughing stock of the whole division.

After throwing herself a pity party, she finally threw on some running clothes and ran. She did what she did best. Ran from her problems. She really was like her mother. She ran 5 miles before collapsing onto a bench. She hadn't even notice the tears running freely down her cheeks so she roughly wiped them away with her sleeve. When she got back to the house. Not home. She glanced at the clocke. 6:54pm. Everyone would be off shift and at the Penny. She quickly got dresses taking one last glance at the house before leaving.

Sam was staring at the bar from his table with Oliver and Jerry. Callaghan and Jo were sitting shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh. Both laughing at what the other had said. Jo would casually lay her hand on his thigh before sliding it up higher. He glared at the back of Luke's head then would switch to Jo's.

"Andy! Hey!" He heard Traci shout.

Sam's head immediately snapped over to her direction taking in her apperance. From afar he could see she applied more make up, her eyes were a bright red along with her nose, her hair was put up into a sloppy bun and at any minute she looked like she might just…break. She made eye contact with Sam and gave a shaky smile then looked over at Jo and Luke.

He then saw saddness replaced with anger. She marched up to Luke.

"Andy!" He shouted and scooted as far away as he could. "I-I thought you were at home?"

"Yeah. I was. Oh, did you get your wallet from Jo's place?" Luke immediately looked guilty.

"Wh-What are you talking about?" By now half of the bar was staring at them. "Andy, where's your ring?" Sam's eyes widened

"You mean her ring? It's in the lockbox, where I found it." Luke looked like a kicked puppy. "You lied to my face for 3 weeks. 3 weeks, Luke."

"Yeah? You lied to me about Sam." Everyone looked over at him he just took a sip of his beer glaring at people.

"That's different." She shrugs feeling embarrassed.

"How? Andy, please enlighten me, on how it's different."

"One, we were only dating a few months. Two, I stopped it before anything happened. And three, we were dating, not engaged." She all but yells. "I'll be out of your house buy Thursday. Have a nice life." She storms off.

Sam gives her a minute before following after her. He finds her leaning against the wall sobbing.

"Andy…" He starts.

"I'm fine." She says.

"I know. Stay at my place." He blurts out.

"Sam…I couldn't bug you like that." He shakes his head.

"This isn't up for disscussion McNally."

She gives him a smile.

A broken smile, that only Sam Swarek can repair.