Sam barged in to the station and by the look on his face, you could tell he was not in a happy place. He sat down at his desk and let his head fall to his hands.
"Hey buddy, what are you doing back?" Oliver asked carefully.
"McNally took the cruiser for a spin and some door knocking, so I figured i do some paperwork." Oliver knew his buddy and quickly figured out that there had been an incident.
"Paperwork huh? What did she do?" Oliver asked.
"Nothing, now if you don't mind I have work to do." Sam said in an almost bark and started on his paperwork.
His thoughts quickly travelled to Andy, he knew that his reaction was over the line, he knew that she was following her gut, but it stung that she took Callaghan`s side after everything. He decided to apologize when she got back.
Meanwhile Andy was snooping in a storage locker named under Zoe Martinelli, she was going to prove to Sam that she was right. The locker was filled with boxes of all sorts, and she started her search. She suddenly found underwear's and pictures of girls that where hold hostage, blindfolded and cuffed. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized what she`d found. She reached for her phone and dialed Luke`s number in a hurry.
"Hallo?" He sounded exhausted.
"Luke.."
"Andy, I need to see you."
"No, you need to get a warrant right now! I`m at a storage locker in Zoe Martinellis name, and found proof. You need to hurry!" She gave him the directions to where she was at.
"Yeah, stay right there, I`ll get it."
Andy hung up the phone and started to look at the evidence again, and she heard a noise behind her. She turned to look who it was, but her body flew forward right into the boxes, and she felt pain in her back. She managed to turn her head and look at the person and her eyes widened at the sight of Ray Nixon. She got to her feet and tried to get away. He grabbed her and slapped her across her face with his back hand, she fell and hit her head on the floor. And with her luck she passed out.
She opened her eyes, and her blurry vision took in her surroundings. Her body hurt and she felt unbearable pain in her head. She was about to lift her hand to her head when she realized that she was stuck. She tried to look over her shoulder and noticed she was cuffed, and when she tried to scream out she couldn't open her mouth, something was covering it.
She felt the tears and panic in her mind, and her eyes noticed the man standing with his back to her, talking to himself. She couldn't focus on his words, the thought in her head was that she was his next victim, she would be the next girl in a photo.
She felt his hands on her throat, squishing her hard, tears fell down her cheeks and she tried her best to scream for her life, but she couldn't.
"Close your eyes!" She met his eyes, he looked angry and repeated.
"Close your eyes, that's and order!" Andy didn't, she was going to face her killer, and she wanted her killer to look her in the eye.
His hands left her throat and she could fill her lungs with air again, her eyes followed him. He grabbed a silver duct tape from a box, figured that was what he used to cover her mouth with, but what was he doing with it now? She started to panic when he knelt in front of her, with a piece of tape reaching for her eyes.
Suddenly it was dark, and she felt hands squishing her throat again.
"Don't move! Don't move you son of a bitch!" The hands let go of her throat at Luke`s voice, and she could finally breathe again. Her relief was short, when she heard the two men fight, and she couldn't see anything.
She felt two hands cupping her face.
"Andy, it`s me, you`re ok." Luke removed the tape carefully and uncuffed my hands and feet, holding me close, while he called it in to the station.
Back at the station Sam worked on his paperwork, well, not really, he thought about Andy and how she managed to make him feel this way. He was sad for her that she got cheated on, and he could kill Callaghan for it, but at the same time he was happy about it. Suddenly, Srg. Best took Jerry, Traci, Oliver and Noelle with him in a hurry. Before he could even get an answer for what's up they were gone. He went over to Diaz who was on desk duty.
"What's up?" He said in an demanding voice.
"Uhm, I..." He didn't know how to answer him.
"Spit it out, Diaz!" Sam had a bad feeling, and needed to get an answer fast.
"Callaghan called in on dispatch that he had Ray Nixon in custody and that an officer was down and..." He got cut off.
"Which officer!" He already knew the answer, but asked anyway..
"Andy...Officer McNally sir." He said quietly and afraid of his reaction.
Sam threw his hands up in the air, and you could see the frustration and anger all over him. He started to pace out to the cruiser, when he got reminded that Andy had the car.
"Fuck!" He went back to into the station and started to pace around.
At the storage locker Andy sat with on the floor hugging her knees, she looked like a scared child. Luke had left her to meet the other officers, and Traci replaced his place, kneeling in front of Andy, trying to get eye contact and let a hand reach up to her chin.
"Andy, honey...it's me, you're okay honey, I'm here." Andy stiffened by her touch, she looked beat and tired, and Traci really just wanted to wrap her arms around her, but she knew that now was not the time.
Luke approached, but got stopped by Traci who stood and pushed him away.
"You don't even bother ok? You stay the hell away from her!" Traci knew what he had done to her best friend and she was NOT going to let him as much as touch her.
"Listen, she's my fiancé, I need to be with her, she's all messed up right now!"
"First of all she's not your fiancé anymore and second of all she's a mess because of you! Now go away!" Traci was pissed and almost about to show Luke how good her right hook was.
Luke started to pull to get himself to Andy, but an arm dragged him away. It was Sgt. Best.
"Detective Callaghan, go back to the barn and start on your statement. I see you in the office when I get back." Luke knew by the tone of his voice that this was not up for discussion. So he headed back for the barn.
"McNally, how are you feeling?" Best approached her carefully with Traci right by her side again.
Andy just sat there, still looking like a scared child.
"Andy, we need to let the paramedics take a look at you, are you okay with that?" Best tried again.
She still didn't answer him, to be honest she didn't even hear anything. She was still feeling his hands on her throat trying to strangle her to death.
"Sir, maybe I can take her back to the station and maybe we can get someone to look at her there?" Traci knew that Andy needed to get out of there, and not so many people around here.
"Sure, take her to an interrogation room and I will get a nurse over to take a look at here." Best lifted Andy's chin up so he could look into her eyes.
"You're going to be ok, Andy. We are all here for you." Frank Best might be hard on his rookies, but deep down he cared for them, and his heart was breaking by looking at her.
Traci and Andy sat in the back of a cruiser while Noelle was in front driving, Traci held Andy's hand all the way back to the station. She had never seen her friend so out of it, and she already knew this was going to be a long afternoon/night.
Back at the station Sam still paced around worrying and at the same time he was angry as hell. Then he saw her, and he felt like someone just punched him in his stomach. He had never seen her so vulnerable, not even the night of the blackout. Traci carefully led her into an interrogation room, still holding her hand, Sam noticed the concerned look on Traci`s face and started walking after the, and he felt an arm on his, stopping him.
"Hey... Do you...uh, think that's a good idea right now?" Oliver said.
"I need to see her….need to apologize." Sam didn't really care about anything else right now, he took a deep breath and walked in the room.
"Nash, can I...ehm, can I have a word in private with her?" He wasn't really looking at Traci, he looked right at Andy who just sat on the table and looked down.
"I`ll be right outside okay, I`m not leaving you." she walked hesitantly towards Sam, laid a hand on his shoulder and continued out the door.
He took a good look at her, she had a small cut over her eyebrow and her mascara was smothered under her eyes, he could tell she had been crying. Her French braid was not intact any longer, loose hair sticking out of the braid. He looked down at her wrists and saw the bruising already starting to show, and she had scratches on them. She just sat there looking at the floor with a lost look on her face.
He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders and she stiffened and backed away a little, her eyes tearing up and her hands shaking.
"Andy, are you ok?" He got interrupted by the door and was surprised at the familiar person walking in. He tried to get to Andy one more time, and she finally reacted.
"Don't...just don't...leave me alone please." He suddenly felt like he had seen this girl before, and he realized he had, many years ago. She had the same look as his sister had after her attack and that scared Sam, and he backed away, walking towards the door. He looked at the other person in the room.
"She`ll be okay, I`ll take care of her" She smiled at him. He didn't smile back, he just walked out of the room feeling empty.
"Nash, you should get back in there." Again he didn't look at her, he just walked towards the mens locker room. Traci felt bad for Sam, she knew how much Andy meant to hi, and all she could do for him and Andy now, was to take care of her.
Traci almost ran in back in to Andy again, and reached for her hand. She didn't really look at the third person in the room, she just looked at her friend.
"Okay, Andy, I`m going to take a look at you okay, if you feel uncomfortable you just let me know ok?" She took her time, to reassure Andy that she was only there to help her, she knew rushing things weren't going to help.
She carefully lifted Andy's chin, so she could clean the cut over her eyebrow, she cleaned away the smothered mascara under her eyes and met her eyes for a second. And she saw all the hurt and pain in her eyes.
"Andy, I need you to take your shirts off so I can see that it's not any serious injuries." Andy still didn't respond, just sat there, and she felt Traci`s hands starting to unbutton her uniform. That was the first moment she really looked at her friend, and she noticed that she looked at her differently, she was so careful. She acted like she was a...victim. That's when she realized she was one...
She didn't say anything, but the tears that ran down her cheeks revealed her emotions. Traci wrapped her arms around her friend and whispered gently in her ear.
"Honey, I`m here for you. I`m going to take you home with me, and I have a bottle of tequila with our names on it, and we are going to talk through this, Okay babe?" Traci finally got eye contact with her and a simple nod from her.
"I really don't think alco…." Traci glared at the other person, and she shrugged her shoulders.
She helped Andy lift her shirts off so they could take a look at her back. Traci blinked tears away when she saw all the bruises blossoming on Andy's back and the nasty bruises on her neck. She helped her get dressed again when they were done.
"Okay, we`re done Andy, you don't have any serious injuries, but you are a little beat up and your body will probably be pretty sore the next couple of days. If it gets too bad take one of these, they will help you through the pain. You will be ok." She handed over a box of pills to Traci and started to pack up her things.
"Thank you." Traci said to her when she was about to leave, and she smiled to her. Traci turned back to her friend, pulling her into a long hug.
"Swarek, my office." Best called out to Sam, who now was seated by his desk.
Sam stepped into his office and saw Callaghan sitting in one of the chairs.
"Take a seat, Sam." Best motioned for the chair in front of him, next to Callaghan, and Sam sat down.
"So, you want to tell me what happened today?" Luke and Best looked at Sam, and he just stared down at his hands that were resting on his thighs.
"Eh, I and Officer McNally were on patrol, and we had a disagreement about the job and I left her to go back to the barn." Sam`s almost cracked when he said it.
"Who the hell leaves their partner out on patrol, Swarek! And I bet it was a personal disagreement!" Luke almost spat out looking at Sam.
"Enough Callaghan!" Best barked out to Luke.
"Thank you, Swarek, you should head home." Best hadn't really seen Sam like this on the job, or personal. He knew he was in a rough place right now and didn't want to push it.
While Sam got up and left the room he saw Traci leading Andy in to the women's locker room. He needed to speak to her, so he walked after them.
"Oh, so you're going to let him of the hook because you two are buddies?"
"The thing is Detective Callaghan, you screwed up big time today! You went behind my back with this case, you risked an officers life so you could solve this on your own!" Best got up to his feet and placed his hands on his desk, looking down at Luke.
"Oh come on, anyone would have done the same thing!"
"No, they would have called it in, and Officer McNally wouldn't have gone through hell today! This is not acceptable at all, I`m going to write this up, Luke. I cannot have this happening in my department." Best said and dismissed him.
Luke almost ran out and into his office.
Inside the locker room Traci and Andy had changes into their street clothes and were almost ready to leave, when Sam walked in, his face filled with concern and hurt.
"Andy, I`m sorry, I shouldn't have left you." He didn't look at her, he was too afraid of what was in her eyes right now.
"I`m just going to wait outside." Traci said and walked out to stand outside.
"Yeah, me too." Andy answered him and started to walk pass him. He stopped her with his hands before he could realize what a mistake that was.
"Don't touch me! Just leave me alone, I don't want you around me!" Andy pushed him so his back crashed into the lockers and ran out, gasping for air.
It took him a second before he could manage to run after her, when he saw her leaving the station with Traci and Callaghan. His head dropped and he turned to walk towards the locker rooms.
"Sam, can I have a word with you?" Best laid a hand on his shoulder and guided him into the locker room, it was empty. Sam sat down at the bench in front of his locker.
"Look buddy, I know you're in hell right now, we both know that you made a mistake, so I`m not giving you the lesson. But, don't blame this on you, this isn't your fault. And we were lucky, she's ok, well at least she will be.» Best said, and patted him on the back and went back to his office.
Sam sighed and started to change into his street clothes, with his keys in his hand he walked out to his truck. He saw her lean on the passenger side.
"Monica... hey." he said, not really knowing why she was still there.
"Want to go for a drink? My treat." She smiled at him, knowing that he really needed one right now.
"Yeah, actually I do, let's go." He didn't smile, he just got in the truck.
At the black penny they sat at a table with Oliver, Noelle and Jerry, all five drinking heavy and strong drinks, hoping that they would forget today ever happened. Suddenly a phone rang, Jerry's phone.
"Yeah, sure, I'll be right there." He hung up the phone and said his goodbyes. They all knew it was Traci calling, like she did every day. Sam was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't come across the thought that Andy was with her.
Right after Noelle left, realizing that alcohol wasn't going to solve anything today. Sam kept drinking and was already pretty drunk. Desperately trying to forget the image of them leaving together, and Andy`s last words to him.
"So... eh, you want to go?" Monica said, getting his attention, and he ralized Oliver was long gone.
"Monica, I don't think...»
"Ssssh, don't worry, I`m just being here for you." She smiled at him, and Sam figured what the hell. Andy was back with Callaghan and he could use the distraction tonight. So they left together.
Back at her place she was doing her best to help him forget, unbuttoning his jeans, she looked up and he pulled away from her, closing his jeans.
"Monica... I can't...It`s not fair to any of us."
"Yeah…." She was a little upset, but she knew Sam`s heart and mind belonged to Andy, whether she liked it or not.
"I`m sorry, I shouldn't have come with you….." He was almost out the door when he felt her hand on his arm, he turned and met her eyes.
"You should tell her, Sam." She gave him a small smile and let go of him. He knew what she meant by that, and he also knew she was right, he should tell Andy about his feelings. Even if she was back with Callaghan. He started to walk home, regretting all the alcohol that made him leave his truck at the penny.
