AN: Firstly just a warning that this is set after 3x13 so is somewhat spolierish. Also the more I think about it the more I kinda like the final. I know it wasn't the McSwarek happy ending that everyone wanted but I think the decisions made make sense. Although I'm still not thrilled about having to wait 9 months to see how it all plays out.

Anyways enough ramblings. After watching it I ended up thinking about Gail and Sam in the bar and figured that they were both going through similar things and could relate to each other and well that turned into this story. Also this is purely about friendship, not sure if people will like this but figured I'd see anyway.

Also I still don't own rookie blue.

"I don't think he's coming," Gail muttered, just loud enough for Sam to hear. "I think we're drinking alone."

Quickly he chanced a glance in her direction, trying to push his thoughts aside before turning back to the door, he was pretty sure Andy wasn't either.

Letting out a sigh, Sam stopped fiddling with the glass in his hands, allowing it to rest on the bar before running one hand over his face. He had been so sure that she would show, so sure she would give him another chance. But thinking back…that shrug of the shoulder, maybe he had hurt her too much, taken too long to do anything about it.

"Here." Hearing Gail's voice, he looked round to find her pushing a shot in his direction. He guessed there was no harm in having another drink and so mumbled out his thanks as he picked up the glass before twirling it in his fingers and watching the liquid slosh from side to side.

"Never thought I'd be the one getting stood up tonight," Gail mused as Sam looked back to her, watching her down her shot.

"Never thought I'd be drinking with you tonight," he muttered. He had hoped, prayed, wished that it would be Andy here with him. Even with the doubts in his mind he had clung to the hope that Andy would want to hear him out, but he guessed he was wrong about that, just like everything else recently. Letting out a sigh he moved the glass to his lips before hearing Gail yell at him to stop. "What?"

"I didn't think so either and I already drank mine, so I need another…"

"What?"

"I never." She looked at him as if it was the most obvious explanation in the world. "When you say I never, if it's true you drink and if it's not you don't…"

"Yeah I know what it is, I just…didn't realise we were…"

"I just got my job back, I wanna get wasted, any better ideas?" she asked as Sam shrugged. He could grab a bottle of scotch and drink by himself instead of playing a stupid game, but at least if someone was with him they would stop him doing anything rash like calling Andy. Even though she hadn't said anything to him he got the message; she didn't want to talk to him. Not tonight anyway, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to follow through with his plan, just not tonight. "Swarek focus." Also Gail had just gotten her job back and it appeared there was no one else here for her to celebrate with.

"Fine," he conceded as he placed his glass back on the counter before calling the bartender over. "What do you want?"

"Tequila." Sam couldn't help but shake his head at her request.

"Should have guessed, one more please…"

"Actually I think we're gonna need the bottle," Gail interrupted as he turned to face her with a questioning look. "You do understand wasted right? Three shots ain't enough and unless you plan on having them walk over…"

"Yeah, yeah, okay." She had a point after all. "We'll take the bottle."

"Also I should probably mention I don't really have any cash on me…"

"So I'm paying?" he asked, rolling his eyes, of course he was.

"Well I just got my job back, and I have taken a pay cut so…"

"Fine," he relented, grabbing his wallet as the bartender came back over and placed the bottle down in front of them. Quickly Sam fished out a couple of bills and handed them over before grabbing the bottle and refilling Gail's glass. "Congratulations on getting your job back."

"Thank you." She offered him a smile as they clinked their glasses before downing their shots. As soon as their glasses hit the bar Gail had the bottle in her hand so that she could refill them. Clearly her mission to get wasted needed to happen sooner rather than later, not that Sam minded. After today, well drinking seemed like the only option.

"I've never slept with anyone from fifteen." Sam just rolled his eyes as they both drank before grabbing the bottle and refilling the glasses.

"Aren't you supposed to say things you've never done? Hence I've never."

"Yeah well alternate rules…say anything even if you have done it. Drink if true, don't drink if false…I mean I'm trying to get drunk here," Gail told him, looking at him as if he should have already known, before picking up her glass.

"Fine, I never arrested someone."

Again they both drank before she spoke. "That was lame."

"So was yours, you said you wanted to get drunk…"

"Fine, I'll make it more interesting…I've never had sex in the station." Sam found himself taking a deep breath before lifting up the glass and downing its contents. Normally he wasn't open about... well anything but right now he just didn't care.

"I knew it," she laughed as he turned to face her before reaching for the bottle and noticing that she still had a full glass, that certainly surprised him.

"One time, and don't you dare say anything," he warned her, refilling his glass as the memory came back to him. It had been the day from hell, a kid went missing. Both he and Andy had spent hours searching for the boy but in the end it was too late. He had found Andy crying in the locker room and he had tried to comfort her, but when she had looked up at him he knew what she wanted. Somehow his plan of getting her home as soon as possible had failed when she pushed him up against the nearest locker. Thankfully a new shift had just started so the locker room was deserted and Sam couldn't find the strength to stop her. He needed it as much as she did; he just needed to make the numb feeling go away. Shaking his head at the memory Sam realised it was just another time when they had decided not to talk…something which was becoming more and more obvious as the biggest problem with their relationship.

"Swarek." Hearing Gail's voice he turned his focus back to her. "My lips are sealed and it's your go."

"Fine, I've never cheated," he said before watching her carefully, but she didn't move her glass. Well he had that wrong about her then.

"I haven't," she told him forcefully as he continued to stare at her. "Chris thought I had…but nothing ever happened, idiot still dumped me though."

"Sorry," he mumbled, turning back to his glass.

"Yeah well, no more depressing ones, okay?"

"Okay, your go."

"I've never had a threesome." Looking back to her Sam just watched as she downed her shot, feeling his mouth drop open at her revelation. That was certainly not something he had expected and Gail didn't seem the least bit worried about what she had just told him as she took the bottle from his hands before winking at him.

"You're just showing off now," he told her but that didn't stop the small smile on his face or his next question. "Two guys or two girls?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." She smirked as she refilled her glass but he shook his head. He didn't care that much, didn't really want to think about Gail like that.

"So," he started, deciding on his next confession, "I never posed as a prostitute."

"Hey you know that…" But she stopped as he downed his shot. "You?" she laughed as she quickly followed his lead.

"We were all rookies at one point." He couldn't help but chuckle a little at the memory.

"But you? Seriously? Did you have white pants like Chris?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." He smirked as Gail continued to stare at him, a look of pure excitement on her face.

"Please tell me there are pictures."

"Probably." He shrugged as he refilled their glasses, although he would be happy never seeing them again in his life.

"Well I never...I told you this game was fun."

"Could be worse," he agreed, he didn't think he would smile or laugh at all tonight, but here he was, doing both.

"Hmm okay, I've never been arrested."

"That's not really fair since you know what happened your first day," he protested.

"Okay ignoring that." Taking in a deep breath Sam looked down at his glass before drinking the liquid.

"Really? Like not being arrested when you were undercover?"

"Yeah, but a long time ago. Stupid mistake as a kid, never got put on my record or anything so…"

"What happened?" Gail asked but he just shook his head, he didn't want to talk about it. "Okay, although I still can't believe Andy arrested you on the first day. You're supposed to be this experienced, bad ass cop and…"

"Trust me, you weren't the only one who was surprised by that." Andy had literally burst into his life and even though he knew he should have been pissed at her, never have wanted to talk to her again...he had found himself drawn to her.

"You know you lost so much street cred that day, being beaten by a girl…"

"I was not beaten by a girl…"

"Yeah you were. You know you act all tough but really you're…""

"Peck," he warned her as she shrugged.

"Bet I could beat you in an arm wrestle."

"What?"

"Just saying you think you're all tough and whatnot but really…"

"Pass the bottle." He waved his hand at it but Gail shook her head.

"Chicken?"

"Are you always this competitive?"

"Maybe, you gonna be a man?"

"Fine, but then you better give me that bottle back,"

"Okay." She nodded as she hopped off the bar stool. "We need a table to do this." Nodding his head Sam just picked up their glasses before following her over. This was somewhat insane, but after the number of shots they'd drunk and the fact that he had decided against eating it meant that he really didn't care. Taking a seat opposite her Sam placed his elbow on the table as Gail did the same before grabbing hold of her hand.

"Ok on three," Gail said as he nodded. "One…two…three." At that Sam tensed his arm as he felt Gail pushing against his hand. He could see how hard she was trying but he just kept them in the exact same position, clearly he was stronger than her.

"What?" Gail snapped as she looked up to him; obviously annoyed by the small smirk on his face, did she really think she was going to win this?

"Just debating something."

"What?"

"Well I was wondering if I should be a gentleman and let you win or…" But he was cut off by Gail's huff.

"You are not a gentleman."

"Ok then." He smiled before slamming her hand down on the table. "Now pass the Tequila."

"Fine," she moaned, passing him the bottle.

"So where were we," he started as he refilled his glass. "Oh I know. I've never tried to hit on my training officer."

"What? I never tried to hit on you, God you are so not my type. I only asked to go outside because I could see how much watching Andy with homicide was…"

"I know." He shook his head before downing his shot. Yeah he remembered that incident. After they got cut loose when she had asked to get some air but nothing had ever happened and he wasn't even thinking about that when he had mentioned it.

"You?" She asked.

"As I said we were all rookies once and one of my TO's was…" But he stopped seeing Gail's death stare, "What? I'm trying to get drunk too you know."

"Fine…" But she stopped, looking at something behind him. Quickly Sam turned his gaze to find Becca coming to a halt beside him.

"Hey guys."

"Hey," he greeted her; he had already told her that Oliver wasn't going to be here.

"Mind if I sit?"

"Sure, we were just going to play pool," Gail said as she grabbed the bottle and her shot glass before walking off. Sam took a moment, just looking between the two of them before hearing Gail. "I don't have all night Swarek." Quickly he pushed himself off his seat, offering Becca a small smile before hurrying after Gail, clearly he was missing something.

"So we're playing pool now?" he asked as he caught up to her.

"Yeah, rack them up would you."

"What's…"

"Glass," Gail interrupted as he nodded, handing it over to her. "She will hit on anything with a pulse, surprised she hasn't tried it on with you yet."

"It was Oliver tonight actually." He smirked as Gail raised her eyebrows before handing him his glass back and grabbing her own.

"So anyway...I've never told Becca that Nick had STDs so she'd keep her hands off him," Gail spat before downing her shot.

"Okay then," he muttered as he placed his glass back down on the side. "So pool?"

"Please, you know I can tell her the same about you if you want."

"That's ok," he said, shaking his head before setting up the pool table. Whatever he had thought about Gail in the past she had been through a lot lately and if Nick wasn't here to look out for her, well then he would be. It was also pretty evident that she was as miserable about Nick not showing up as he was about Andy, and apparently misery loves company or at least that's what he'd been told.

"Wanna break?" he asked as she nodded, grabbing a cue and moving over to the table.

Forty minutes later and Sam only had two balls left to pot. He had to admit the tequila was making it slightly harder to focus, but clearly not as hard as it was for Gail who hadn't managed to pot anything yet. It probably didn't help that they had carried on playing I never at the same time.

"Peck," Sam called, walking round to her as she attempted to line up her shot.

"What?" she mumbled, keeping her head close to the cue as he rolled his eyes. The alcohol was definitely starting to get to her.

"Try this one," he said grabbing the end of the cue and moving it so it now pointed at the cue ball.

"Was that not…" she started, tilting her head to the side. "My bad."

"Yeah, maybe we should slow…"

"I said I wanted to get wasted," she interrupted him before striking the ball. Sam just watched as it hit the red before the red rolled towards the top pocket, falling in. "Yes!" she yelled throwing her hands in the air. "See I'm fine."

"That was one of mine," he told her as he looked to the bottle of tequila, there was about an eighth left.

"What? Oh shit," she mumbled, stalking back over to the table. "It's your go by the way."

"I know," he told her as he moved over to line up his shot.

"I meant I never…you need to come up with something."

"I've never lost a game of pool," he said, reaching out to grab his drink.

"Now who's showing off?" He just smiled as he downed his shot. It was partly showing off but partly trying to limit how much more she drank, Sam was pretty sure she'd had enough for tonight. Quickly he potted his last ball before moving onto the black.

"Top corner," he said, pointing at it with his cue before lining up and taking his shot.

"Urgh, no fair," Gail moaned as it sailed into the hole. "I suck a pool."

"After half a bottle of Tequila you sure do." He nodded.

"Shut up," she mumbled, grabbing the bottle and refilling his glass. "So I…I um...I've never…never pushed someone away because I was scared of getting hurt." Watching her Sam could see her eyes start to glaze over as they both downed their shots. He was guilty of that to be sure. Just thinking about it hurt, but as he saw Gail reach for the bottle he quickly grabbed it from her.

"I think that's enough for tonight," he told her. If the conversation was about to take this turn then he didn't want to carry on, and he had a feeling that drinking more wasn't going to help either of them. Surprisingly Gail just nodded. "Let's get you home."

"It's fine…"

"Yeah well I'll just call a cab." As soon as he said the words he regretted it, Gail's eyes widening at one particular word as he mentally kicked himself.

"No…Sam no." She shook her head as he saw the terror in her eyes. "I'll walk."

"Okay, yeah I'll walk you okay?" He couldn't let her walk home by herself, not in this state and not after everything that had happened.

Reluctantly she agreed as she pulled on her coat whilst Sam silently berated himself for not being more careful. He should have known that she was still working through some issues, that mentioning anything related to her abduction would bring it all back, force her to relive some truly terrible events. Wishing that he had just kept his mouth shut he kept his eyes on her before watching her move over to the door. This was brilliant; she wouldn't even look at him now.

Clenching his jaw Sam tried to force his brain to think more clearly as his eyes came to rest on the almost empty bottle of tequila. Although part of him was tempted to take it, he realised that right now it really wasn't going to help either of them. So instead he just pulled on his own jacket before hurrying after Gail.

Thankfully it didn't take him long to catch up with her, as soon as he stepped foot outside the Penny he found her leaning back against the brick wall. He felt so incredibly guilty as he saw the tears in her eyes, and her obvious attempts at not crying, wished beyond anything that he could take back what he had said.

"I know it's not my turn but…I never…I don't…I don't want a hug…" she stuttered as Sam watched her duck her head. Letting out a breath, he nodded before stepping forwards and wrapping his arms around her. She needed it, hell after today he wanted…he wanted Andy in his arms but if he was honest with himself even this made him feel slightly better. He had spent the past weeks pushing everyone away, not letting anyone help him or comfort him in any way, but the more he thought about Andy and what had happened, the more he wished he had let someone in.

"Me neither," he whispered as he felt her cling onto him. For a few minutes he just held onto her, he could hear her crying but he really didn't know what to say, he was possibly the worst person to have in any sort of emotional situation. He wasn't good at sharing his feelings or anything about himself. Although after half a bottle of tequila it appeared he was slightly less terrible than normal.

"Okay, okay," Gail said pushing out his grasp. "I'm past emotional now." Sam couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at her as she wiped her eyes.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," she told him before turning to face the road. "Let's go."

Nodding his head Sam just followed after Gail as they started back towards her place. As soon as they hit the street a silence fell between them, it appeared they were both too busy thinking about the person they had wanted to spend the night with to talk to each other. It was only when they were a few minutes away from Gail's that Sam noticed she had her phone out and finally decided to break the silence.

"What you doing?" He couldn't help but ask, especially as she seemed to be smiling.

"Texting Nick, now if this doesn't get him to come over I don't know what will." She sounded far more confident, much more like the Gail he knew.

"Do I even want to know…" But Sam didn't get a chance to finish his question as Gail pushed the phone into his hand.

"As a guy, tell me you wouldn't be round in a flash if a girl sent you that." Reluctantly he started reading before quickly handing the phone back to her, no he really didn't want to know.

"What?" she snapped.

"Really stuff I didn't want to know about you or solider boy." He shook his head before sighing. "But yes, that will work."

"Just what I thought." She smiled as she sent the text before putting the phone back in her pocket, not seeming to care about what she had just let him know about…oh he really didn't want to think about it. "Hey, you know Nick was Andy's breakup buddy," she laughed as Sam furrowed his eyebrows, turning back to look at her, what the hell was a breakup buddy?

"And that is?"

"This thing she got from that stupid self-help book…"

"Self-help book?" Andy had a self-help book? He knew he shouldn't be surprised, he had barely taken notice of her the past few weeks, tried to keep his distance for both their sakes.

"Yeah this stupid thing, like how to ditch that jerk…"

"Jerk…"

"That would be you."

"Yeah I got that." Although he wondered if it had actually worked. There was that one day that she had suddenly started ignoring his orders…

"Anyway, what I was going to say was that you and her. Well she'll come around…even after all that stupid breakup buddy stuff she still misses you, she still wants to be with you. You just gotta do something about it." He had, he really had laid it all out there today but she hadn't given him the chance he'd asked for.

"Yeah." He nodded; he couldn't help but feel it was too little too late.

"Look I don't know if I should be saying this but Nick said she was kinda pissed that you never told her how you felt and so maybe if you'd just…"

"Yeah I know." He understood it all. Understood that if he had just opened up to her, told her the truth rather than running from the problem he wouldn't be in this mess.

"Well until that time, if you need a breakup buddy or a drinking partner, you know where I am," she told him as they walked up to her front door. "I mean cause tonight wasn't terrible and you know, it probably would have been a lot worse if you weren't there."

"Yeah." She had a point.

"And just do something about Andy, save us all the pain of having to watch you two…"

"I…I will." He had already told Andy his plan earlier. He would cook for every day, breakfast, lunch and dinner if it meant she would give him the time of day. He would take out her garbage, clean her house…anything to prove how much he loved her because he really, really did love her.

"Good." She smiled as she unlocked her door. "Oh, but don't send her a text like I sent to Nick…or call her or go round there until your sober. Because you know when I do it, it's cute but when you do it…well that's sexual harassment." Sam couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Thanks for the advice." He nodded as she stepped inside.

"Anytime." She seemed more sincere now.

"I should go," he said as she nodded before turning around.

"Sam." Hearing his name he quickly turned back to face her. "There's always tomorrow to tell her right…or the next day…or…"

"Tomorrow." He nodded. "And every day after that." He didn't care anymore he would tell her every time he saw her how much he loved her and he would keep doing it until she took him back.

"Good." Gail smiled at him. "Night."

"Night." He waved her off before heading back onto the street. He couldn't wait to get to sleep and wake up tomorrow because tomorrow he was going to get her back. Maybe it wouldn't happen straight away, maybe it would take a few days or weeks or even longer but no matter how long it took him he was going to get Andy McNally back.

I was originally thinking of doing it just as a one shot but if people are interested I have a few ideas for some other chapters. So let me know what you think? Would you be interested in more? It would just be about developing a friendship between Gail and Sam as I think they'd be in pretty similar places after they find out that Andy and Nick are gone.