When that scene was going on, I was on the edge of my seat. And when I saw how Andy looked at Sam, I was 100 percent sure she was gonna say no. I was wrong. So I wrote this instead. Hope you enjoy!
Andy and Sam walked into a scene that they never thought they'd encounter. Oliver was the level-headed one of the bunch. He was the one that always thought everything through. And even though he wasn't afraid to bend the rules a bit, he never took stupid risks. But today? That wasn't the case.
Andy didn't know what to think when she saw Oliver threatening the unarmed man. The man who had become a father figure to her, the one she could count on when her own father didn't come through was acting like every other punk on the street. After it was all over, they told themselves that Oliver wouldn't have pulled the trigger. He was angry and caught up in the moment, but Oliver couldn't have killed the man. But Andy and Sam know the truth. Oliver was fully prepared to pull that trigger.
"Is this you, Oliver? This isn't you." Sam tried to reason with his friend.
"It is today." Oliver's gun was pointed at the open space between the eyes of the man with his hands above his head, nearly shaking in fear.
"You'll back me up, right?" Oliver broke eye contact with the unarmed man on the floor for the first time since Andy and Sam arrived. He nodded at Sam. They were brothers, and there was no way Sam was betraying that today, of all days.
"Yeah." Andy looked over at Sam in shock.
"McNally." Sam shot Andy a look when he saw her conflicted expression. Oliver glanced over when she remained silent.
"No." She whispered.
"What was that, McNally?" Sam asked. Andy was intently studying the floor.
"I said, no." She looked up at Oliver with a determined expression on her face. "I'm not going to back you up."
Oliver looked over at her.
"McNally, I need you to back me up on this one."
"Why should I Oliver? Give me one good reason." She said with a spark in her eyes.
"Because that's what cops do. They back each other up, McNally."
"Are you acting like a cop right now Oliver? You are ready to shoot a guy who's unarmed and has nowhere to go. Isn't that what we work against every single day?" Andy glared at Sam when he said her name.
"But you're my friend, McNally, you've ridden with, I've given you 'The Talk', you were by my side when I got shot, We've worked together for the entire time you've been a cop. You're like a daughter to me." Oliver was starting to crumble and was rambling to make up for it.
"I don't even know you right now." Andy spat out.
"He hit my daughter." Oliver ground out between clenched teeth. His focus returned to the man's forehead.
"Go ahead and shoot the guy, If that's what you want. You won't be there when we explain to your wife and daughters just why you'll be spending the rest of your life in jail. You won't be there when your family is handed the papers that tell them the exact details of your dishonorable removal from the police force. You won't be at this guy's funeral, where his family is crying and wondering why he's 6 foot under rather than spending 6 months in jail for hitting a girl. You won't get to see the Christmas's when your daughter's are wondering when daddy will finally come back. But you will get to see Izzy's face when you get put in the backseat of that police car." Andy was on a roll, and Sam had long given up on trying to stop her.
"My father threw away his police career for the drink. You know how that ruined him more than anyone other than me. Are you really gonna do that to yourself? My mother walked out of my life, my father almost did, Luke fucked up his chance to have me… Why should I think you'd be any different? Go ahead and shoot him, Olly. You'll feel better for about 10 seconds, and then you'll wonder what the hell you just did. Go ahead and give up your daughters, and your wife, and your friends for those 10 seconds. Because you'll have the rest of your life to wonder why you made that choice. No one will feel sorry for you, and you'll never be able to go back." By now, Oliver's gun was wavering and his breathing was short and erratic. His eyes were darting back and forth between Andy and Izzy, while Sam was standing in the corner, almost trying to hide from Andy's wrath.
"If you want to be remembered as the cop who had it all and threw it all away, do it. I dare you. I know exactly what your daughters will feel if you walk out of their life, which is what you're about to do. If you want them to go through what I did, then what are you waiting for? What's stopping you, Oliver?" His eyes were glued to Andy.
"I'll tell you what it is… You know this isn't you. You want nothing more than to be there for your daughters and protect them from everything, and the one time you can't protect her, you want revenge. That's not how it's done, Oliver. You can't protect her from everything, and when things go wrong, you just have to be there to support her. We go to work every single day to uphold justice. Not retribution. The courts will take care of him, and you need to take care of your family. Now give me that gun." She held her hand out.
Oliver looked at the gun in his hand and the man on the floor. He stood unmoving, unblinking, until a small voice spoke up from the doorway.
"Please, daddy." Izzy half hid behind the doorway, and Oliver's gaze jumped to her.
"Oliver." Andy walked forward until she was right in front of him. She gently put her hand on the slide of the gun. As she pulled it away from his hands, Oliver crumpled. He sat heavily on the bed in the room and put his head in his hands. Andy handed Sam the gun, and guided the man on the floor into a standing position. Izzy made her way towards her father. As Andy slapped the cuffs on the perp, she glanced over at the scene on the bed. Father and daughter were embraced in each other's arms, both sets of shoulders silently quaking. She guided the suspect out of the room and into the hands of waiting back-up outside the house.
Sam exited the front door to see Andy sitting against the hood of their squad, hands on knees, and head bowed. She looked up as he approached.
"You did good today." Sam said.
"I was scared." She smiled wryly.
"I know. But you did something I wasn't strong enough to do." He glanced back at the house, where Oliver was coming out with his arm wrapped around his daughter.
"I don't know why I did it. All of the classes at the academy teach us to remain calm and reasonable, and agree with them while gently proposing alternatives, and give them hope, and to not be judgmental. Hell, all I was in there was judgmental. He could have killed the guy Sam!" Andy looked towards him, waiting for him to say she was wrong.
"Yes, he could have." She sighed and looked down.
"But he didn't, because of you," She looked back up. "Those negotiations tactics are for people who are hopeless and desperate, and have lost everything or have no one. Oliver doesn't fit in any of those categories. " He smiled a little bit.
"Andy, you are the reason he's coming home to his family, rather than and 8x10 jail cell. You didn't just save the would-be victims life; you saved the lives of Oliver's entire family, not to mention Oliver himself." He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"You're the best god damn cop I've ever worked with, and you're only two years on the job. You have nothing to doubt, okay?"
"Okay," she whispered.
"Let's go home."
They all did that day.