Author's Note: I wrote this after the original airing of 3.10 in August of 2012. I tried (key word) to get into Sam's POV of what was going on in his head. I will laugh at any reviews ripping this apart because it's so short, I'm not a paid fictional writer (or much of a writer to begin with), and I wrote this more for me to deal with my favorite TV couple breaking up, but I really want to share on this site!

He pulled out of the parking lot faster than he meant to, especially with the slick roads all the way home. He nearly hydroplaned as he turned the corner away from The Penny at 35 mph. So, so... He ended it, but not really. He needed space and time, and in his own fucked up way, he figured that it would be easier to let her down. God, let her down... What the fuck is wrong with him? Someday we'll be friends... and she would not let him get that cliche all the way out. Tonight he felt like the day he met her, with her tackling, though this was different, like his chest had this weight sitting on it and his wrists were tied up and Andy McNally was all he could see.

He gets so irritated with her, so much that she doesn't realize how annoying she can get. He guesses he could have been more honest with her, but then shakes his head and forgets it. What is done is done. He thinks it's better this way. Just go to work, do his job, focus on public service. Since when did things get so complicated with personal issues? Then he remembered, the day one doe-eyed rookie knocked him down in an alley. He can't even remember the last time one person affected him this deeply. He knows his parents did, but that's a whole other issue, something he just doesn't even want crossing his mind right now. So he pulls up into his driveway, puts the truck in park, turns the key to off, and sits in the dark with the rain pounding on his truck. He just hangs his head, not knowing what to do. He thinks if Andy could see him like this, she would break. He's hurting. His brother from another mother, Jerry is gone, though he won't admit it. Not yet. He gets angry, focuses on that until he can no more. Usually a UC is just around the corner and he would take that and in a sense forget Sam Swarek's problems and take on a new identity with new sets of problems. But this time, he would consider it, but he doesn't want to break Andy even more than he already has. Damn, that just sunk in for him...already has... Though she did tell him to just leave, so what else does Sam do, but to listen to Andy and the voice inside her head. He never meant to be as harsh as he realized now how his voice got. And watching Andy break down in the parking lot as he drove off, yeah it's starting to hit him.

He guesses you (love) someone like crazy (especially when you don't want to keep your goddamn hands to yourself, but have to obey that rule) and it has to end roughly. It's like a freakin law of nature or something. Look, he knows that he loves her with all his heart, but with his history of broken homes and undercover work, it's just easier to ignore that paining feeling that sits there. He's a man, so it's not like anyone expected him to be in-tune with his feelings anyways.

Maybe one day, he'll change how he sees this situation with her and be able to forgive himself for the shit he put her through the past week. He just needs some time and space from the one person he desperately wants to open his heart to, but can't yet acknowledge any sort of positive feelings. Right now, he just wants to get wasted on a six-pack of Canadian and watch Die Hard as if Jerry Barber were sitting right next to him.