Thanks for the encouragement guys! It's always nice to hear that you've got a good grasp of characters :D

Her Own Rules
Chapter II

The grey clouds filling the sky above her head were doing nothing to improve Andy McNally's mood as she trudged her way towards the 15th Division Station. Each step took considerably more effort to make than the last and Andy could only blame it on the fact that for the first time since "Day 1", she was actually nervous about going to work. She'd take the pressure of re-certification any day over the fear that she was walking into a proverbial lion's den.

Despite the fact that she was pretty sure that things between her and Luke were okay, Andy couldn't get the nagging voice out of her head that was telling her he'd be angry. To make matters worse, the voice apparently had a twin which was hell-bent on reminding her that even with all the progress they'd made yesterday, she and Sam were far from okay as well.

How am I going to work if they're both angry with me, she wondered briefly before giving herself a mental slap. Get it together McNally, she chided, it doesn't matter if they're angry, you've still got a job to do. Plus, you're the one who wanted your space anyways!

And so she continued on, ignoring the darkening sky and nervous thoughts rushing through her head until she had reached the station. Taking one last deep breath, Andy grabbed the door handle and threw it open, just as a loud burst of thunder ripped its way across the sky.

And I suppose that's my omen, she cursed inwardly, making her way through the door and into the unknown. But a quick glance down at her watch cleared her mind of all nervousness as she realized she was running behind schedule. Picking up the pace, she hurried her way towards the women's locker room only to run, quite literally, head-long into Luke Callaghan as he rounded a corner.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" he asked, bending down to grab a few folders he had dropped during their collision.

"Just running late is all," Andy mumbled, staring at her feet.

"How are you doing?" Luke asked cautiously. Glancing up at his face, Andy was relieved to see no anger behind his eyes and she let out the breath she had been unconsciously holding.

"I'm okay," she replied, sighing, "not great...but I imagine I'll get there someday."

"I know how you feel," he said, patting her gently on the shoulder as an awkward silence settled between them. Thankfully it wasn't long before Luke spoke again, "I really wanted to be angry at you Andy, but I can't be. I know what it's like getting used to this job. I wasn't an A-List rookie myself. I know what it's like to feel overwhelmed and need to get away from everything."

"Tha.." Andy only managed a few syllables of her thank you before she was cut off by a flash of black hair and the wave of a hand as Sam Swarek passed by them.

"Morning Callaghan. McNally," and without another word he disappeared around the corner. The greeting had been extremely quick, but it was enough to reinstate the awkward silence.

Once again Luke was the first to speak, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly as he rolled his eyes. "I don't think I'm ever going to like him," he admitted.

Andy couldn't help but laugh to herself over the sudden vision of Luke and Sam playing tag football together that had invaded her mind. Deep down she knew that the two of them would probably never be friends, all because of her. But she was less concerned with them being friends as she was with them not repeating the incident which happened during officer retraining.

"You don't have to be friends with him Luke," she explained. "As long as everything can stay civil, that's really all I care about. I'm not going to try and force you two to become best buds or anything. That wouldn't be fair to anyone."

"Hey, if you will remember," Luke cut in, "he's the one that tried to beat the shit out of me during retraining!" If it wasn't for his barely contained chuckle, Andy might have thought that Luke was upset over his tussle with Sam. "If only I had known why back then, I might have fought back a little harder." With that, a frown returned to his face and Andy knew that he was remembering that she really had cheated on him.

"Yeah, well," Andy began quickly, "I think I've got to take the blame for that one." Pausing a moment she smiled, trying to bring back the easy air that had just been between them, "I'll have to make it up to you someday. Next retraining, when I'm not a rookie anymore, I'll let you win quick enough that you get the scotch." To her satisfaction, his smile returned.

"Looking forward to it," Luke chuckled before glancing down at his watch. "Better get a move on McNally... You're going to be late for parade!"

"Oh great!" exclaimed Andy, taking off towards the locker room.

Okay, not as awkward as you expected, she told herself, but then Luke is a detective. He's good at hiding his real emotions. The thought was enough to break Andy from her momentary happiness over their seemingly easy exchange.

They might be on a road to recovery, but there was a long way to go.

Luckily for Andy, everyone seemed to be a bit behind today and she made it to the parade room with plenty of time to spare. Plopping down in her usual spot next to Traci, Andy took a few moments to survey her friend's appearance. The other rookie looked tired and upset; not usual morning-Traci traits.

"Everything alright Trace?" Andy asked, nudging her friend in the shoulder.

"Men are idiots," was the only reply Traci gave.

"So I take it that you and Jerry are 'off again,'" surmised Andy.

"Until he realizes that I'm not his wife," Traci turned towards her friend, "or his ex-wife...yeah...we are."

"I'm sorry, Trace," consoled Andy, giving her friend a light squeeze. "I'm sure he'll come around."

"Yeah, he will eventually," Traci smiled briefly before settling a more serious expression in place. "But enough about me...has Homicide Luke come around yet?"

Andy suddenly became very interested in a loose string hanging from her right sleeve. She'd hoped that this particular conversation could be avoided as long as possible. But, she reasoned, it's only fair. Traci told me about Jerry and now it's my turn to be honest with her.

"Luke and I broke up last night," she whispered town at the table.

"What?" Traci's outburst cut through the low chatter in the room and Andy swore that she could feel every pair of eyes on her. With enough sense to look embarrassed, Traci ducked her head before speaking again, "What do you mean you broke up?"

"We talked," Andy explained, "and I decided that I need to step back and figure everything out."

"This doesn't have anything to do with Swarek does it?" Traci blurted after a few moments.

"No, Traci," Andy ground out, "this isn't about Sam. It's about me doing things because I really want to, not because they're what I think are going to make my life easiest."

"Can't exactly argue with that logic," Traci admitted. But before she could say anything else, Staff Sergeant Best's voice cut through the room.

"Get ready for a bad day people," he warned, "there's a pretty big storm system moving into the area and we're going to get the worst of it. They're calling for torrential downpours, high winds and some dangerous lightning. Get ready for lots of accidents, possible power outages and even some flash floods."

"Do we know how long the storm is going to last?" asked Officer Shaw from the back of the room.

"Not yet," explained Best before turning to the rookies, "Rookies, today is the day you really need to be on your toes. Listen to your T.O.s and be ready for anything. Peck, you're with Swarek, Nash with Williams and McNally you're with Shaw. Epstein and Diaz, you're on the desk unless needed in the field."

"Yes sir!" exclaimed Chris a little too enthusiastically and low chuckles filled the room while the rookies face turned a dark shade of crimson. Chris was never going to live down his over-eagerness for the job, but Andy found it refreshing. It was nice to see someone who actually wanted to come to work every single day.

"Okay, let's get out there and do our jobs," commanded Best, "serve, protect, and I hope you all can swim."

As everyone exited the parade room to head off to their various assignments, Andy hustled to catch up with Oliver Shaw. She liked being partnered with Shaw−he was a great cop and always had your back. However, Andy still wasn't quite over the last time she'd been partnered with him; he'd gotten shot and she'd killed a man. But that was in the past and Andy assured herself that nothing would go wrong today.

She managed to catch up to her T.O. for the day just as he was engaging in a conversation with her regular T.O. Sam gave her a quick smile before laughing out loud, "speak of the devil, Ollie."

"The devil? What?" Andy stopped moving and tilted her head to the side, trying to figure out what they had been saying, but neither officer in front of her offered up an explanation. Instead they could only grin and laugh.

"Hey brother," Sam continued, clamping a hand down on Oliver's shoulder, "let's try not to get shot today." He paused for a moment listening to the sound of pouring rain outside, "on second thought... Try not to drown!"

Oliver laughed again, glancing over towards Andy, "I'll try... That is, if you tell your rookie to leave her bad luck at the barn."

"What do you think, McNally?" Sam asked, turning towards her, "Think you can do that?"

"Hey, I have no control over where my luck goes," exclaimed Andy, holding up both of her hands. "If either of you know how to sneak out on your bad luck, I'd really appreciate the advice."

"Always asking for advice aren't we McNally?" chuckled Oliver as he turned and began making his way down the hall. "I'm going to grab something to eat," he called over his shoulder, "meet me at the cruiser in ten!"

"Yes sir!" Andy called back, turning towards Sam just as he was about to walk away as well, "Hey Sam?" She waited for him to turn back towards her. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, pal," he replied, following her down the hallway until they were away from the prying ears and eyes of the squad room.

"I just wanted to, uh, thank you for what you said to Luke last night," Andy explained, "it really means a lot to me."

"He told you?" Sam let out a breath through his nose; an action that Andy had come to associate with him being annoyed. "Really, McNally, it was nothing. I just..."

"I told Luke the truth," she interrupted him, "told him what really happened." Shock wasn't an emotion that Andy had ever seen on Sam's face before but at this very moment she imagined that you could tip him over with a leaf.

It took a few moments for him to regain his composure before he spoke again, "Why'd you do that?"

"Well," she began, "as nice as it was to have Luke forgive me, you didn't exactly tell him the truth Sam."

"I was just trying to help, isn't that what friends do?"

"Yeah, it is, but it's time for me to start acting a little less like a girl and a little more like a cop." Andy wasn't sure if her words were making any sense and judging by the look on Sam's face they weren't. So she decided to clarify, "He forgave me based on a lie. Lying to people and pretending parts of my life didn't happen just to keep up some screwed up version of the status quo really doesn't work for me." She paused for a moment then, debating whether or not to continue and finally deciding that it would come out sooner or later, "So I told him the truth and for the time being, Luke and I are over."

"Sorry then I guess," he replied, looking away. Andy knew it was an attempt to hide the cocky smirk which had taken up residence on his face, but in order to avoid any further awkwardness or argument she decided not to comment on it.

"Nothing to be sorry about," she assured him. "I told him I needed some time and he understood. It was a mutual agreement."

"Well, that's something at least," he admitted, finally turning back towards her. She couldn't really tell, but there seemed to be a little less enthusiasm in his voice.

"But Sam," she stated seriously, "you and I really need to talk. About...about what happened."

"I thought we were past that," he sighed, "things were okay yesterday."

"You can't be serious, Sam!" she exclaimed. "When two people can't even get through a conversation without feeling the need to use the words buddy or pal, especially when they've never used them before, things are not okay."

He didn't respond, just nodded his head in understanding. If Andy was truthful with herself she wasn't looking forward to their eventual conversation any more than he was. But it was something that had to be done if she ever hoped to get back to the easy T.O.-Rookie relationship that they'd had before.

"We don't have to talk about it now," she quickly added, stumbling over her words, "Well... I can't talk about it now 'cause Oliver is waiting and well," she paused, trying to stop babbling, "I guess Gail is waiting for you too. But we've got to talk sometime."

Again, he didn't respond−just stood there with that same, fixed expression that he always had when he was processing something in his head.

"Yeah, well," she mumbled, taking a few steps away, "I'll see you around." And with that she turned and quickly made her way out of the station.

Longer one this time. And if I hadn't stopped myself, it would be EVEN LONGER than it is. I tend to lean towards longer chapters, but it's up to you guys... Keep going long or cut them up shorter?