No one knew much about Marlo Cruz before she came to 15. They knew that she was experienced, and that she had spent time with SWAT. But they didn't know her emotionally. They had probably never experienced the things she did growing up; the things that pushed her to become a cop. They hadn't been in her house when the cops busted the door down, demanding that her father and mother come with them. They hadn't been shipped off to live with their grandmother, like she had. Marlo had had a tough past, and she wasn't sure that anyone would understand what it was like to be her.

Marlo knew that she had messed up. She felt terrible about her actions of the previous day. She knew she fit in at 15 with the cops, but she wanted to fit in with the people. She wanted the easy banter that went back and forth between the "rookies" and she wanted the father figure that Oliver provided to Andy. As much as she hated to admit it, she was jealous of Andy. And to think, that just yesterday Andy was jealous of her. Jealous of her because she was with Sam. Sam. Marlo sighed. She had really screwed that up. Yesterday they were happy as clams, and now everything was in pieces. Sam had broken up with her, and who could blame him? She absolutely deserved it. She never should have tried to investigate that warehouse. She honestly couldn't even remember the train of thought that had led her to jump from the car. She just knew that she would be accepted at 15 if she had come up with something useful. But she never stopped to consider the consequences, and now Andy was lying in a hospital bed and Sam was pissed at her. How could she explain her actions without telling him that she had bipolar disorder? She hated to blame her actions on her disorder. She had told Frank before taking this job that it wouldn't be a problem and that she could handle it. But after what happened yesterday she was reconsidering her role at 15. Maybe she couldn't be trusted on the streets anymore. Maybe she would be a desk cop for the rest of her career. She decided that she would go see Frank as soon as she got in the next morning. But first, she had somewhere else she needed to go.

Marlo was surprised to see Sam when she got to the hospital. She knew that he had stayed by Andy's side through it all, but she thought that he had gone home.

"What are you doing here?" he snarled as she approached.

"I want to talk to Andy. Could we have some privacy please?"

Sam looked over at Andy, who nodded.

"I'll run down to the cafeteria. You want anything?"

"Yeah some jello please."

"Okay, I'll be right back." He leaned down and kissed her, and then headed for the cafeteria.

"Hi Andy."

"Hey Marlo."

"How are you feeling?"

"Not so great. The doctors thought yesterday that I was healing up okay, but this morning they found a tear in my GI tract. It's nothing urgent, but they need to fix it. I'm having surgery tomorrow morning."

"Oh." Marlo didn't know what to say. She could live with herself knowing that Andy was okay, but now she needed surgery. Marlo couldn't feel any worse about the situation.

"Andy, I, uh, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Sure. What is it?"

"Do you remember last week when I told you I had bipolar disorder?"

"Umm yeah I remember."

"Okay, well sometimes it makes me do irrational things, because the reasoning gets messed up in my brain. It's called mania. Usually I treat it with medicine, but yesterday I didn't take it. I'm supposed to take it every morning and I didn't."

"So, what happened yesterday wasn't you? It was your bipolar disorder?"

"Yes. I hate to make excuses for myself, but it's true. It's happened before so I recognized the symptoms. Only, by then it was too late."

"Wait. Why didn't you just take your medicine?"

"I had spent the night at Sam's and I didn't take it with me because I haven't told him yet and I didn't want him to find it. I planned on taking it when I got to work, but I had forgotten that I had taken the last pill the day before. I should have told Frank that I shouldn't be in the field, but with the big bust, I figured he needed everyone."

"Frank knows about your bipolar disorder?"

"Yes. Part of my contract states that I can do this job if I take my medicine. I broke my contract yesterday and you got hurt. I'm going to talk to Frank right after I leave here. I'm going to tell him that I didn't take my medicine, and I'll let him decide what he wants to do with me. I shouldn't be allowed in the field ever again. It might not even matter. I broke my contract, so he could strip me of my badge."

"Marlo, do you want me to talk to him? I can kind of downplay the situation from yesterday so that you don't have to tell him you didn't take your medicine. You're a good cop and I can't imagine anyone being stripped of their badge over something like this."

"No Andy. That's very kind of you, but I'm going to tell the truth. I've gotta go, but I just wanted to come and tell you first. I've gotta go talk to Frank."

Marlo turns to leave the room.

"Marlo?" Andy calls.

"Yes?"

"Will you come by after shift?"

"Sure. I'll see you then."

Andy couldn't fathom why Marlo would want to tell Frank about yesterday when she was willing to keep it a secret. However, after their conversation, she felt closer to Marlo then she ever had. Cruz always had a wall up, and always played the tough girl part. Andy had seen part of that wall come down this morning. Marlo had exposed a vulnerable side to Andy and Andy wondered if this could be the start of a new Marlo.

Sam came back right as Cruz was leaving the room. He glared at her, but Marlo just looked away sad. Sam felt a brief pang of sympathy, but that vanished quickly as he remembered Andy, lying in a hospital bed.

"What did Cruz want?" Sam asked as he handed her the jello.

"She just wanted to apologize," Andy said as she ripped open the jello.

Andy was not about to tell Sam about Marlo's bipolar disorder. That was a conversation he needed to have with her, if he had it at all.

"Oh okay. I've gotta get to work. Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah I'll be fine. Traci brought me some magazines last night."

"Call me if you need anything."

"Alright."

Sam leaned down and kissed Andy before leaving. There was something that she wasn't telling him, and he had to find out what it was. He was willing to bet that the answer lied with Marlo.

When Marlo arrived at 15 she went straight to Frank's office. Sargeant Best looked exhausted. With a new baby at home it was likely that he wasn't getting much sleep. Marlo knocked on his door and he looked startled. When he saw that it was Cruz he invited her in.

"Hello Marlo. Having a better day than yesterday?"

"Frank. I need to talk to you."

"I need to talk to you too, but you can go first."

Cruz recounted everything that had happened yesterday and told him about not taking her pill. Frank looked shocked.

"I thought you had that under control?"

"I did. But I forgot yesterday. I was going to tell you after parade, but you said you needed all hands on deck for the heroin bust, and I thought that I could handle it."

"Marlo, I don't know what to say. I was going to chalk yesterday up as an accident, a lapse in judgment. But, after hearing this, I don't know what to do. You're going to have to give me some time to decide what's best. Why don't you work in booking today."

"Yes sir."

"And Cruz, does anyone else know about your bipolar disorder?"

"Andy knew last week. She found out when we were decontaminated for the anthrax. I told her this morning that I hadn't taken my pill yesterday. I know it doesn't make up for anything, but I just needed her to know."

"Okay, but please do not tell anyone else. I want this situation contained until I figure out what to do."

"Okay sir, understood."

Frank didn't know what to do. He needed Cruz for his new operation. But this wouldn't look good to Elaine. And he needed Elaine's approval for the new operation. Once Elaine found out about this she might reconsider the new undercover mission that Frank wanted Cruz on. He hadn't mentioned anything to Cruz yet because he was still waiting on approval for her partner.

Maybe he should just forget about it. Cruz could transfer to a new division and start over. He knew that there was tension between her and Andy, and now there was tension between her and Sam. But he couldn't send her away. Not yet at least. He needed her family connections to solve some cold cases. No one except Frank knew it, but Marlo had come from a family of criminals. She had been the one good egg out of all of her brothers and sisters. Marlo had mentioned that she wanted her family to stop their bad activity, even if it meant putting them in jail. Marlo hadn't mentioned her family since Frank had hired her, and she didn't know that he was planning on cracking down on her family's criminal activity. She was the person he needed to infiltrate the criminals and scare them out of hiding.