Hello! (Wow, lame summary much? Was I the only who could hear it in that weird, really low, movie trailer voice?.. Just me?)

I would just like to note, Toronto decided to not rearrange it geography in order to fit the image I had in my head. Seriously, I google mapped and I struggled to find a river... But in my mind there is most definitely a river with a bridge over it (Looking at it now, it's very Madeline-esque). So, I'd say that's -1 for Toronto. And no, these streets do not exist in Toronto. Well..maybe somewhere they do, but I stole them from my city.

Ah! I forgot to mention! Pre-Hot & Bothered. I'm thinking... definitely post-Bullet Proof. That plumbing event was pretty milestone so I'll include it. Oh, and warning, there is a swear... Oops.

Disclaimer: Don't own Rookie Blue

The clouds hung threateningly in the air and were being pulled in by the wind. Fall was definitely on its way. The sun's rays were struggling to shine their way through the clouds. I'd say it was a normal day, but in reality it really wasn't. I was on patrol with Sam, and it was strangely dull. And I was starting to learn that Sam didn't handle 'dull' well.

He suddenly pressed on the brakes lightly, half stopping, causing me to rock forward. I looked at him in confusion, but then he picked up speed again. 'Strange...' I thought. We continued driving until Sam once again braked, almost coming to a stop, then continued driving at normal speed. "Sir?" I asked once I fell back against the car seat. Sam said nothing in response. I shook my head, not bothering to understand what his deal was, then turned to look out the window. I rested my elbow by the window and rested my chin on the back of my hand. The street was more or less empty; a few parked cars, a group of teens probably skipping school, an abandoned playground. The car suddenly made a sharp swerve. There was a loud 'thud' as I bashed my forehead against the window and yelped in surprise. I looked forward, wondering what caused us to swerve, to find nothing in the street. In fact, the car had already straightened back out and was easing down the road normally. Once I got over my initial panic of a nearly pedestrian or oncoming car, I finally realized that Sam was laughing uncontrollably.

I gently rubbed my head, now aware of the dull thudding, and turned to him. "Sam! What the hell?"

Sam just kept on laughing maniacally. "You did that on purpose!" I shouted while feigning anger, trying to resist smiling or laughing which I found very difficult to do.

"Is that any way to treat your partner?" I asked, taking a different approach. I overlooked the fact that it was basically a one-way conversation to begin with.

Sam had finally gotten minor control of himself. Enough to reply, "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. But it's all part of the job, McNally."

I scoffed and put on a sarcastic visage. "To be harassed by your partner is part of the job?"

"As your Training Officer, I have two important duties. One is to make sure you don't end up dead on the job. The second is to haze you in any way I can think of."

Andy crossed her arms skeptically. "Those were your exact instructions when you got assigned a rookie?"

"More or less. Maybe not verbatim but basically," he said with a shrug as I shook my head in disbelief. And then he smiled at me. "Besides, what else can I do? I mean, it's not even lunch yet!" Sam said while indicating the clock.

"Just because it's a slow day and you can't find anything else to do, doesn't mean you can just spend your time torturing me."

Sam's eyebrows shot up. "Hey! That's too far," he said defensively. "I was not torturing you. Pissing you off, maybe, but I don't torture people." I shook my head at how seriously he was taking my statement. "Look at it this way, now things should be picking up soon."

I turned to him with a look of bewilderment on my face.

"It's a cop thing. Never say a day is going slow because then something's bound to happen. Soon. Hopefully." I instantly understood why my father was such a suspicious man. I asked him if there were any other curses I should know about. Eventually, we got lost in small talk.

"We've got a report of an abandoned child on Montague Street just off Athol. The woman was walking by and reported seeing the child asleep by the bridge."

Sam reacted quicker than I did and flicked the lights on. "Nice work, McNally," he said genuinely leaving me completely boggled. We drove off to the location that was given to us by dispatch, and after what seemed like mere seconds later, we had arrived. Sam pulled up to the curb where the bridge had just ended. I got out of the car and slammed the door shut while my eyes darted around in search for either the woman or the child. There was a sudden gust of chilling wind. The idea of a child sleeping outside in this weather made me feel absolutely sick.

"There!" Sam yelled and pointed do my 3 o'clock. There was a young woman holding a small girl on the bank of the river. "Ma'am?"

The woman looked up at us and after seeing us broke into a mad dash to the left and away from the little blonde girl. I started after her but was stopped by Sam's arm. Instead, he took off after her while yelling, "I got her; you check the kid!" I spun around towards the girl. The scene before my eyes seemed to unfold in a very stagnant manner. The girl leaned over, reaching for god only know what fell into the water, then she was gone, enveloped in the water.

"Shit!" I yelled. My body instantaneously went into auto-pilot; I ran as fast as I could down what could easily pass as a hill towards the riverbank, I unclipped my radio from my vest then my hands angrily pulled at my utility belt. I tossed it to the side once it came undone. The girl was struggling to keep herself above the surface, and I pushed myself to run faster. With slightly quivering fingers, I then I ripped at my vest. I didn't know what it was like to swim with a bulletproof vest, but I did know even walking with it was more difficult. The rushing water and whipping wind would only make it more difficult. The addition of the vest would probably make it nearly impossible.

"Just keep paddling! Try to keep your head above the water," I screamed at the girl even though I doubted she could hear me. At this point, I running alongside the water, trying to get ahead of her.

The additional 3 pounds from the vest were suddenly gone, tossed to the ground, forgotten. I gained ground ahead of the girl who was still flailing. Not entirely thinking things through, I mindlessly threw myself into the icy cold water. When I broke through the surface to breathe, the wind made my eyelashes stick together in a half frozen state. I swam against the slight current towards the little girl.

"Help me!" she screamed while bobbing in the water, arms still waving around madly.

When she was finally within reach, I stuck my hand out and tried to grab hold of her arms with much difficulty, missing multiple times. Once I did have her arm, I pulled her close. Instantly, she threw herself onto me causing the both of us to go under briefly. I wrapped my right arm around her and used my left to pull us back to the surface.

"Just hold onto me as tight as you can, okay?" I instructed her after coughing out some water. Following a struggling swim to the edge of the river, I pushed her up onto the bank. As I pulled myself up onto dry land after her, I focused on the girl. She was breathing, albeit shivering and coughing up water, but she was alive and breathing which was the most important part.

"Are you okay?"

She coughed a little more and then nodded her head. "I'm so cold," she said in a quivering voice. She wrapped her small arms around her body.

"Okay, it's okay, sweetie. We'll get you somewhere warm." She nodded at me, but avoided my gaze. "What's your name?" I asked gently.

"Abby." Her blue eyes locked with mine. I nodded my head then let it drop with a sigh of exhaustion.

"McNally!" My head snapped up towards Sam who was running towards me and Abby at full speed. "What happened?"

Before he actually reached us I stopped him by yelling, "Go get the blanket from the car." He nodded without a word and bolted back towards the squad car. It was then that I noticed two more cars pulling up. I turned back to Abby. "My name's Andy, I'm a cop. We're going to get you some place nice and warm now, okay?" Abby nodded at me, and I nodded back. I got off my hands and knees and picked her up with a slight stumble; my body was more fatigued than I had originally thought. I started carrying her towards Sam who was returning with the blanket. He held the blanket open then I handed Abby over to him. Abby looked at Sam in a panic. "It's okay, Abby. This is my friend Sam; he's a cop too. He's going to carry you over to our car, then we'll get you some place safe. I promise." Abby whimpered slightly but nodded. With the blanket now wrapped tightly around her, she enclosed Sam's neck in her arms and buried her face in his shoulder.

"You okay?" Sam looked over at me with concern. I rested my arm on my hip and nodded, still struggling to get the normal cadence of my breath restored. "What happened?"

Before I could speak Abby's little voice piped up. "Lucy, my doll, fell into the water, and I thought I could reach her, and then I fell into the water, and it was so cold, but I don't really know how to swim. My mommy said I couldn't take lessons." Sam and I stared at Abby before looking at each other. I took a nice deep breath and continued walking side by side with Sam.

Then a thought occurred. "Did you get the woman?"

"Yeah, but she's not saying anything. She's not just some bystander though. I mean," Sam stopped his voice from escalating more than it already was and eyed the girl. He lowered his voice into a hiss. "You don't report an abandoned child then run off in a panic unless you're involved." I nodded in agreement.

Dov came walking up to us with my vest and belt in his arms. "These are yours I'm guessing," he said in a flat voice. I nodded and held my hands out for them. "It's okay. I got it. You alright?" Dov asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just really cold."

Dov offered to run and get another blanket, but I told him it was pointless. We were close enough for me to just suck it up. But I couldn't suppress a shiver when another gust of wind blew. Once we got to the street, Sam told Dov to take Abby to the ambulance that had just arrive. Dov handed me my belt and vest, gave a strong nod and took Abby in his arms. As they retreated I could hear the beginning of their conversation:

"My name's Abby."

"Nice to meet you Abby. My name is Dov."

"Like the birdie?" Abby asked in excitement.

I took it as a very good sign that she could be so excited after what just happened. My focus on Abby was cut short when I felt Sam put his arm behind my back and lead me towards another squad car. "Your lips are turning blue. You should probably go to the hospital with her," he said with worry in his eyes.

"Sam, I'm fine. I'm just cold. Once we get back to precinct and I warm up I'll be perfectly fine," I said while Sam opened the trunk of the car and pulled out another blanket. He shook his head as he took my vest and belt, set them both on the now closed trunk of the car, and turned back towards me. "No, you're going to the hospital. I'm not letting you go back to 15 without getting an okay from a doctor." He wrapped the blanket around me.

"Sam," I started.

"No, Andy. You're going." He started pushing me towards the ambulance. When we reached the vehicle, he told one of the paramedics that we had both fallen into the water and that we should both get a check up. I sent Sam an irritated glare and stepped into the ambulance. He smiled triumphantly at me.

"Have fun!" He helped the paramedics shut the doors, and then we were off to the hospital.

Ah! I didn't expect it to be this long. This was the best flow I've been in so far. Hurrah!

Funny thing: I had this story in my head for a while and I was at Starbucks with my dad today and we were sitting at a table then a cop came in. And I always feel so bad for them because I stare at them hardcore. All the time. I was like trying to figure out how they secure their vests (ie: velcro or clips), where the cord for the radio goes (ie: to the side of across the back), which is the taser and which is the gun. I literally kept turning to my dad and asked "Is that his baton? Is there where they put the clips? Because in Rookie Blue, they're horizontal not vertical. How heavy would his vest be?"

I guess it's a good thing I'm related to 4 cops/RCMP so he knows this stuff. And the fact he grew up in Detroit didn't hurt according to him. Hahaha!

Also, for any readers who have read chapter 2 of If Tomorrow Came (My other story) I wanted to say thank you. I've read the reviews I've gotten so far and I'm moved. I was really insecure with that chapter and you all have been nothing but absolutely kind! Love you all!

Anyways let me know what you thought.

RxR
MichaellaLoe