AN: Thank you for the reviews! I'm so excited you like it =D

Chapter 2: Breaking the Habit

Gail had just pulled out onto Spadina when dispatch called for a car to do crowd control at the site of a fire.

"Is that...?" Gail's face looked a little paler than usual as she turned to glance at Sam.

"Andy's building." He confirmed, his lips pressed into a thin line even as he flipped on the lights and sirens. He grabbed the radio and reported that they were en route. His heart thudded in his chest.

The last he'd heard, the task force had made six arrests last week and the officers involved were expected back any day now. He wasn't sure if his rapid pulse was hope that Andy was there, fear she might be hurt, or worry that she would come back from the task force to a burnt out shell of an apartment.

He barely waited for the cruiser to come to a full stop before leaping out, scanning the chaotic crowd gathered in front of the apartment building in various states of undress. When he saw her he had to pinch his arm to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. But no, she was there, staring at the building, looking a little dazed. A blue sweatshirt dangled from one arm and he wondered why she didn't put it on. She had to be freezing in just blue jeans and a white tank top.

She turned towards the fire fighter standing at her elbow and her eyes locked with his. He saw her mouth his name, and without even thinking he took off at a jog. He needed to be next to her. He needed to reassure himself that she was really here, really okay.

"Andy?" Her name tasted sweetly familiar on his lips, like a favourite delicacy too long denied.

She flushed red and dropped her eyes for a moment.

His heart clenched. Suddenly remembering how they had left things. Somehow over five months the unbearable pain and awkwardness of the last year had faded under the power of his love for her, but here it was, in the tentativeness of her smile and the shiftiness of her gaze. She remembered it all.

It was the hesitancy in her gaze that stopped him just short of pulling her against his chest, though his every instinct was screaming to wrap her in his arms and never let her go. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, his hands on her shoulders before dropping his hands and asking inanely, "are you okay?"

He barely heard her response. He couldn't stop staring at her, cataloging the little changes. there was a new scar on her shoulder, her bangs had grown out, there was an unfamiliar furrow in her brow, and her lower lip was chapped, as if she'd spent most of the last five months worrying at it with her teeth - for all he knew, she had.

He didn't ask her what she wanted. His brain was in crisis management mode. the rescue-Andy instinct overriding common sense or courtesy. Thankfully she didn't seem to mind. When she was securely settled in the cruiser he went in search of Gail.

"How's Andy?" She asked as soon as he was within range.

"Her apartment's gone, but she's not hurt."

Gail nodded. "You're taking her home?"

Sam shrugged. He hadn't really thought that far. The mental image was far from unpleasant though. Andy in his home again. Sleeping in his guest bed. Making use of the things of hers he hadn't been able to bring himself to throw out - her tooth brush, a light grey knit sweater, a pair of yoga pants, the bright red coffee mug he'd bought her without ever telling her it was for her.

"She needs to stay somewhere." Gail said when Sam didn't reply. "May as well be your apartment. Sure as hell isn't going to be mine. Nick is crashing on the pull out until he finds a new place so we're full up."

Sam nodded. "You okay here?"

Gail smiled, "Already called for backup. I'm sure Frank won't mind if you take off half an hour early."

Sam's place was exactly how Andy remembered it. Right down to the vintage Les Paul in the corner, half hidden behind the couch because he hated people making a fuss over how well he played it. Not like Nick who would whip his out at a moment's notice. Not that she objected to being serenaded by a gorgeous man in army fatigues and dog tags. There was something so inexplicably hot about dog tags. She didn't even question why Nick continued wearing them after he left the military. Not when he was strumming away, crooning about his broken heart and staring right through her soul. It had taken all her will power not to fuck him right then and there. Not that she would ever tell Gail or Sam that.

After all, it wasn't like she's gone through with the thought... She flushed a little. it had been a persistent fantasy though. When she wasn't dreaming troubling dreams of Sam telling her he loved her right before the grenade went off in her hands, or of searching through a dark, horribly familiar basement for Sam, hearing gun shots and having him tell her he loved her just before bleeding out in her arms, she was dreaming of Nick, singing and strumming away until she threw the guitar across the room and attacked him with tongue and teeth and agile fingers.

Sam was hovering just behind her. She could feel his warmth and half of her wanted to just lean into it and forget everything, but she wasn't the same girl, and they weren't the same as they had been. There were things to be talked about before anything could happen. Oh how she wished they didn't need to have 'the talk' but she knew if she gave in to her own desires there were only two outcomes. Either he shared her desires and they would end up in bed without ever discussing anything that had gone on before, and in one month, or three, he would leave her again, or he was seeing someone else and he really was only putting her up because her apartment was gone and he had a spare room, and he would push her away and then EVERYTHING between them would be ruined. So 'the talk' it was. She needed a drink.

"Beer?" Sam offered, as if he'd read her mind.

"Yes please." She smiled at him.

Sam led the way to the kitchen and Andy followed a few steps behind, trying not to stare at his ass. She wasn't sure it was possible, but it was even more luscious than she remembered. she licked her lips unconsciously while forcing her mind to go over the list of reasons why pinning him against the wall and suckling on one of his luscious eyebrows was a terrible idea.

He did have such incredibly manly brows. Like a younger, sexier Peter Gallagher. She remembered watching While You Were Sleeping as a kid and wondered how she'd never realized before that Sam was an almost perfect blend of Peter and Jack. Peter's sexy eyebrows, and heart stopping smile; Jack's completely squeezable ass, and loyal personality. And she could not jump him until they'd talked. No matter how wet her panties got listening to his voice, watching his eyebrows... imagining what he looked like beneath the uniform...

"Red or White?" Sam asked holding out two bottles of Rickard's.

Andy blushed. "White." She couldn't believe he still had Rickard's in his fridge. She knew he was more of a Mill Street guy, but she'd always loved a Rickard's White in the summer.

He twisted the top off and handed the bottle to her before taking a seat at the table. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, his dark eyes warm against her skin.

Andy took a swig of beer. Honestly she didn't know what she was. She'd been back for less than a day and already everything was ruined. The McNally touch. "I'm... fine." She said taking the chair across from Sam.

"Your apartment burned down." Sam was giving her a look that clearly said he didn't buy her answer.

Andy shrugged. "I know... I don't know." She drained the rest of the bottle in two swallows. "Can we talk about something else?"

Sam nodded. "Sure."

For a few minutes the kitchen was silent except for the ticking of the second hand on the clock. Andy picked at the label on her empty bottle, peeling it back bit by bit, a nervous habit she can't seem to suppress.

"Another?" Sam asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Andy nodded, wondering what was wrong with them. They'd never had trouble talking before. Well... except the night she'd returned after suspension. That night Sam had been furious at her. When he handed her another beer she deliberately brushed her fingers against his. When his gaze met hers she held it, "I'm sorry I ran off without talking to you... again." She said,

Sam didn't say anything, he just stepped back until he was leaning against the counter, not breaking eye contact, as if he were waiting for her to continue.

"Luke said I had to leave right away, and then they took our phones, and everything was so busy..." She trailed off, feeling useless. She took a gulp of beer for courage and barreled on. If he wasn't going to speak she would just have to apologize until he forgave her or kicked her out to spend the night on the street. "I know I should have called. But I didn't know what to say to you. I love you, but you broke my- "

"Andy." Sam's voice sounded pained.

"- heart. And I know it's been five months and you have no reason to have waited for me, but I waited for you-"

"Andy!" Sam was suddenly right in front of her, his hands on her face, brushing back her hair, cradling her cheek. And then his lips were on hers, stopping any more words from escaping. And all Andy could think was that his timing was perfect, she didn't have any more words to say.

Andy wanted nothing more than to lose herself in Sam's kiss. His lips on hers felt so deliciously familiar, and yet so much better than she remembered. But she'd promised herself they would do things differently this time. The last two times they'd fallen into bed right away and then she'd run away. Clearly that pattern wasn't working.

She pressed one hand gently against his chest and turned her head, "Sam." Her voice came out breathy and lust filled, and not at all convicted. But it did the trick.

Sam pulled back, his hands dropped slowly from her hair, twisting the long strands around his fingers before finally letting go and rising to his feet. "I'm sorry." He said, not meeting her eyes.

Andy reached for his hand, just catching his fingers with hers. "No.. it's not that." She said, desperate to make him understand how badly she wanted him.

He stopped and didn't pull his hand away, but he also didn't say a word.

"We just..." Andy felt like an idiot even as the words left her mouth. "We always do this. And it never works. I think we need to talk before we..." She flushed a little.

Sam grabbed the closest chair and pulled it over so he could sit without releasing her hand. "Okay." He said, giving her an encouraging look.

"I missed you." Andy said simply. She'd expected the words to be hard to say, she'd never been particularly good at sharing her feelings, especially with Sam. He was always so closed off and guarded that she wasn't sure where she stood. Even when he'd told her he loved her, she wasn't sure it was for real, or because he realized he might lose her in the permanent sense.

Sam's lips quirked slightly. "I missed you too."

Andy's heart contracted. "You did?"

"Of course I did." He answered.

Andy smiled. "Are you—?"

Her question was cut off by a loud knock at the door. Sam smiled apologetically in her direction and got to his feet.

Andy watched him go, this time not fighting her eyes' desire to mentally undress him as he went. She took a swig of beer, her left thumb idly picking at the label around the neck. She could hear faint voices at the other end of the hall, but didn't pay any attention. Her mind was too consumed with the question she'd been in the middle of asking. It was an important one, and one she'd been dreading for six months. Had Sam waited for her even though she hadn't told him she was leaving, or that she loved him back?

"Andy," Sam's voice was unusually soft.

Andy looked up and nearly dropped the bottle in her hands.

Standing just behind Sam, her blonde hair gently curling around her chin, setting off her blue eyes perfectly, was Jo Rosati.

AN: dun dun duuuh…