Thanks for all the awesome reviews & follows & the compliments! You guys know how to make my day, & I have the best readers in the whole Fanfiction Fandom!
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*****Trying something new here, a bit of sign language, will be a little bit & easy to follow with the signing in Italics, if its hard to follow let me know, & I'll find another way of signaling it!
Disclaimer; Nope don't own it, if I did it would be on non-stop! I only own the plot to this & all the mistakes!
Chapter 2- Listless
Noelle took a deep breath as she leaned back in her chair, her hands intertwined together as they rested on the table, Andy openly trying to suppress looking in her direction as her eyes found the outer walls of the room rather interesting.
"She's Sammy's new partner, that's all there is to it." Noelle hoped that Andy would see that she meant every word she had just uttered, that was really all there was to it.
"Its none of my business Noelle, he can do what he wants" Andy said looking away before her face betrayed her words as a lie, after she found her gaze glued to Noelle at her words.
"Really? Is that why you look like you just got served the death penalty?". Noelle's tone was harsh as it delivered the words.
They sliced through Andy, not because they were said harshly, but because Noelle was right.
"We're Over, he's ...". Andy couldn't quite find the words to finish the sentence as her mind wondered back to when she was just Sam's partner, before things got complicated.
"Mc ... Andy, look don't start on the wrong foot here, she is Sammy's new partner, that's it. He stands close to her, and they touch when they talk because she's deaf. He's the only one that can understand her when she says a few words, and he's the only one at fifteen that can sign, so they were partnered together".
Noelle watched as a sudden calm washed over Andy as her words left her lips, a small amount of satisfaction flowing through her.
"What?" Andy's face scrunched up a little, a clear sign that she was surprised.
"Sarah, Sammy's sister is deaf, it was kind of a logical paring".
Wow, that was a bit of a shocker.
Andy had never met Sarah, just heard a few stories from Sam who really didn't like to divulge anything on his own.
"I didn't...".
"Didn't know that? No-one does, well a few of us do, but we go way back. Look Andy, life is no different from when you left. Its just less complicated, just work with that?". Noelle had her eyebrows raised, a smile baring her dimple on the left side.
Andy wasn't sure where this Noelle was coming from, but she was even more awesome than the previous, tougher Noelle.
The door to the interrogation room opened, Luke and an unfamiliar face stepping into the room, a video camera clutched in the strangers hand.
"Ready for de-briefing?". Luke had this look on his face, like he was infatuated by the sight of her.
"Yeah, let's just get it over with, I want to go home and sleep for a week". Andy sighed as she looked towards the face of the unknown man, encased under a crop of sandy brown shaggy hair.
She hated cameras in all shapes and sizes and preferred to stand behind one and snap the shot rather than be in front of the lens and in the shot.
But that was a given choice, right now it was a compelled consequence of being UC.
"Okay, McNally, Kovak. Kovak McNally. Lets get started" Luke sputtered out not missing the fact that the detective from Guns and Gangs was eyeing Andy's legs almost as much as he himself was as he attempted to make courteous introductions.
Two hours later Andy had been debriefed and found herself in the familiar surroundings of the locker room, her head stuck in her open locker, the room empty except for her presence, until she heard the door creek open quietly almost as if the intruder thought that any loud noise would startle her.
Turning around, Andy came to face Sam as he hovered just inside the doorway of the room, an action so familiar. Yet this time it seemed far out of place, unnatural.
"Hey". Sam managed to find his voice, something that seemed struck away when she first appeared, as his hand moved around to rub the back of his head.
"Hi". A flash of the bright smile accompanied the single syllable.
"So you're back".
Andy resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his obvious statement, as though he needed to hear the words in confirmation from his own mouth.
"Yeah". Andy was reserved, holding her incessant babbling back, this time without a struggle.
"Hear you did good". Sam didn't wait for more of a response from her, almost like he sensed that she was holding back. His lips curved into a crooked smile, making Andy's eyes meet the floor, embarrassment flooding her cheeks.
Damn him and the effect he still so blatantly had on her.
"Hear you made detective" Andy replied as she lifted her head, before adding a "congratulations Sam" as her smile widened.
Sam heard the pride emanate in her voice through her words, making him wonder if it was always something she had wanted for him. The thought made his mind flow to the possibility that she might understand why he did it.
Why he had decided to take the detectives test and move to that rotation instead of working the streets. Would she understand?
"So …" Andy noticed that Sam had moved close enough that she could smell the scent of the gum he had recently chewed, as it flooded her sense of smell mingling with his scent, one that could only be defined as Sam.
The door to the locker room opened again and Luke sauntered into the room, as his voice flowed freely "Andy, ready to go?"
Andy stepped backwards, away from Sam before turning to close her locker door, and turned to find Luke standing closer to her than Sam had been.
"Yeah" Andy mumbled out as she silently cursed Luke and the universe for interrupting the moment she had been looking forward to for the last six months.
Luke had offered her a ride home knowing that everyone else had left already because shift had ended a while ago, so Andy took him up on the offer, not expecting Sam to actually come anywhere near her.
Not after how they parted ways six months ago.
If she had the slightest inclination that he would, she wouldn't have told Luke yes with an aggravated 'S' on the end knowing she was out of other options.
Sam watched as Andy walked out the room, her steps halting as she came to stand in front of him, turned her head up just a fraction to seek his eyes out with her own, before she dropped her gaze resigned, swallowed the words that lingered on the tip of her tongue, and walked away.
Sam stood in the hallway watching as Andy's hair billowed around in the air as Luke opened the door to the parking lot and Andy stepped out into the windy night air, just as a familiar smell wafted towards him at the sudden shift in air.
Turning around he saw Shay standing with her arms over her chest, a bemused look crossing her face as she leaned around Sam to see what had captured his attention.
'That's her!' Shay signed, her hands moving at an incredible pace.
Sam nodded, figuring there was no use in lying, she'd meet Andy soon anyway, and he was sure she had been politely told the stories of Sam and the Phantom McNally.
'Why'd you let her walk away?'
'Its what she does.' Sam replied hoping it would satisfy the incredibly curious streak the woman had.
'So why don't you chase her?'
Shay had a disapproving look in her eyes as she narrowed them, trying to fathom why he wouldn't chase after something he so obviously wanted.
'Because I let her walk away.'
Sam's hands were slower in signing his reply, as though he was trying to justify the excuse he had just made.
'That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard Sam, the only reason she walks away is because she wants you to chase her, she wants you to fight for her, but you just let her go. She won't do it forever you know.'
Shay let her hands fall to her side, the repeated rapid motions making her need to return the blood flow to them, as she looked back towards the now closed door, her subtle hint about Callaghan not all that subtle.
'We have history, bad history ...'
'You totally suck at making excuses, I've know you all of four months, and even I can see that, so maybe ... I don't know, chase her?'
Sam watched Shay as her mind made its own assumptions, the correct assumptions, while she stood there scowling, unimpressed by his tendency to back off when she had only ever seen him charge full steam ahead.
Sam let his gaze sweep over to the door that Andy and Luke had left through moments ago, before he felt a hand on his shoulder, urging him forward. Shay was urging him to go, maybe she was right, maybe he should.
Andy heard Luke ramble on as he drove, his words fading to a collection of noise and grunts as she paid absolutely no attention to what he was actually saying. She was more than thankful when he finally pulled up outside her condo, her hand reaching for the door handle the second the tire's stopped rolling, before snapping loose her seatbelt as she tugged on her duffle bag that she thankfully kept on her lap.
"Thanks for the ride" she said, flashing a smile before opening the door.
"Andy …" Luke tried to call her back as he watched her close the door and walk into the building, a heavily huffed breath filling the interior of the car as he realized she probably just wanted some sleep.
Andy was surprised to find her condo spotless, six months of dust merely a figment of her imagination.
Resting on the kitchen counter was a rather large pot plant, a plastic needle sticking out the middle, a tiny white envelope stuck between its fork.
Smiling Andy dropped her bag, letting it thud loudly to the floor as she moved to pull the card free of its restraints. Prying open the envelope she saw Gail's scrawl grace the inside of the card 'Thank you' it read.
The plants leaves were warm shades of green, lighter where the new leaves began to sprout out, indicating that it had recently been given water because it was healthy and growing, so Andy assumed Gail had been keeping an eye on the condo and vacating the dust before it became part of the furniture.
The condo smelled Musty, so Andy moved to open a few windows, as a note caught her eye, the white paper stuck to the fridge by a sunflower magnet.
'Feed me Seymour'.
Andy laughed at Traci's wicked sense of humor, the little shop of horrors saying hovering in ink, stuck to the fridge. Andy opened the fridge to find long life milk nestled away on the shelf along with some fresh juice and cheese, bacon, tomato's and an apple. A fresh loaf of bread and eggs on the counter next to the fridge.
A note under the apple caught Andy's attention as she was about to close the fridge door, lifting it out with the apple, as she took a bite through the sweet green skin she read the words.
'Thought you might need feeding after de-briefing, call me tomorrow. Love T'
Today's date was hastily scrawled under that, with a P.s. 'Frozen pizza in the freezer' next to it.
Andy smiled, Traci was just like the mother type to everyone in her life, something Andy cherished.
Taking another bite of her apple, Andy resumed her task of opening windows, and checking mail, finding nothing worth reading, as she restlessly moved through the rooms.
The air around her made her skin tingle as the cool breeze blew in and surrounded her. The noise of a few passing cars and a dog barking in the distance made the silence ebb away as the passing vehicles lights flickered on the other side of the curtains, brightening the dim light of the glow the streetlight outside her window cast over her balcony. The reason she bought this condo was the balcony.
Her need for fresh air and sunshine in a stuffy life was the buying factor.
Andy whirled around the room, focusing from one point to another, her eyes seeing every object before them, but not really taking them in, as her mind swayed and shifted restlessly.
She'd been used to Nick for company in a stuffy one bedroom apartment, on the corner of a main road, her own condo nestled on a side street vast in difference as the sounds of night carried only the darkness as the world washed away into its dreams and nightmares.
Now alone in her own spacious condo, she felt alone and it felt wrong.
Her over-tiredness seemed to flow out of her as she kicked off her heels, releasing her feet from the uncomfortable height they had been strapped into for endless hours. As her feet hit the floor, Andy let out a contented sigh as the cool wooden floor allowed her to feel the ground beneath her feet.
If this was what coming home was like it actually sucked.
Andy found her lip caught between her teeth, as she unconsciously somehow managed to find her phone in her hand, it having been taken out of her bag from when she retrieved it out her locker, the battery way past dead and the software probably outdated after being left off for six months.
Andy found herself putting it on charge, staring at the dark screen and letting out a long slow breath as she waited for it to light up saying it was charging. Which took a while to happen.
Eventually when it did, Andy contemplated a shower before calling someone to fill the missing gap that currently filled her life.
Who would she call?
Nick was probably busy trying to get Gail to forgive him for running away on her again. Traci was probably spending quality time with Leo.
She could always call Sam ... Like that would ever happen after all the times she tried to call him and he left the calls unanswered.
Andy watched as she turned her phone on to find it start up and leave messages of Eighty-One missed calls, followed by sixteen new voice messages.
Wow, someone had been missing her.
Deciding to listen later, Andy put her phone down to charge as she found her feet padding towards the bathroom, the shower now screaming her name.
Just as she reached the bathroom door, Andy made a one-eighty degree turn and headed back towards the front door as someone found the need to pound on it.
Halfway down the hall, the strong decisive first knock resounded as a soft, doubtful knock, as though the person standing on the other side of her door thought that the first one was either too loud and overbearing, or that they were knocking on the door of an empty condo, the tenant having fled again.
Andy peered through the peephole, a soft gasp barely audible to her own ears as the sound of it was lost under the deafening tone of her heart suddenly racing away in her rib cage.
Unlocking the lock and sliding open the dead bolt, she moved her hand to the chain before freeing it too from holding the door locked before she nervously pulled the door open and peeked around the side as she let her lips fumble with a slow smile as she whispered out his name in question.
******Thanks for reading! & who was expecting Marlo?
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Jelly Bean Jenna©
