"Where is she? What happened? When?" The questions still came even as Sam was sprinting for the elevator, Oliver keeping pace with him but not able to answer while running. The doors opened as they approached, Sam pushing through the crowd of people coming out, then hammering at the button for the first floor, frustrated at the length of time the doors were taking to slide closed.
Oliver took a second to catch his breath, then shared what little he knew.
"Nobody seems to know much, she was partnered with Epstein today, they answered a call about a missing boy. Epstein said the boys mother gave them addresses where the boys father might be in case he was with his Dad. They were at a warehouse over by the docks, last known work place of the.."
Oliver didn't get a chance to finish because Sam started yelling again
"Just get to the McNally part Oliver! What the hell happened? I need to know right now!"
The lift doors slid open and Sam went to get out but Oliver put an arm out to stop him.
"I don't know how or why Sam, but she was shot. She was on a fire escape, shots were fired and she got hit. Its one shot, through the neck. Epstein was on the ground, he saw her stagger and then she fell. Must have been 2 stories at least." Oliver looked down at the ground of the elevator, unable to look him in the eye as Sam slid down the wall to a crouch, his hands running through his hair while he struggled to hold his composure.
"Is she..?" he asked in a choked voice.
"She's alive Sam, or at least she was the last time I spoke to Nash. She was taken to General. Epstein called for backup, Nick and I were there within minutes, Epstein did all the right things, pressure on the wound, we gave her the best chance we could. The medics were there right after us. They took her and I came straight here. Thats all I know. Come on buddy." he reached out and gave Sam his hand and he pulled himself to his feet. Sam shook his head as if to clear it and they hurried out to the car.
Minutes later they pulled in to the front of the hospital, not bothering with the parking lot. Sam was next to frantic at this point, having rung just about everyone he could think of in 15th on the way over, nobody picking up. Hell, he'd even tried Callahan. Ollie kept on saying 'No news is good news' till he wanted to smack him across the face.
He knew none of this was Oliver's fault but the thought of lashing out at anything felt good right then.
Oliver seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as Sam when he moved on to saying that the law of averages dictated Andy was going to be just fine. They'd lost Jerry not even a year before so fate couldn't give them another loss so soon.
At that point Sam really did lose his temper and shouted at Oliver to just please shut the hell up and drive.
In the silence that followed thoughts of Andy came flooding through his mind. Memories he'd tried to keep locked up in the darkest part of his brain for the last few months. Try as he had not to think of Andy as anything more than a great friend, or just another ex, she'd kept popping into his brain at the strangest moments.
He'd be in the shower when images of her wrapped in a towel popped into his brain, or he'd be at the store and his hand would automatically go to pick up some orange juice alongside his choice of grapefruit. It had taken weeks after she went undercover for that particular habit to stop.
He was ashamed to admit it, being a pretty decent guy after all, but she even kept coming into his brain when he was alone with Marlo. Sex with Marlo was ok, good even. And Sam had been with plenty of women before McNally so he was no slouch in bed himself, but him and Andy? That had been a whole different level.
He'd started to suspect he'd never have sex like that ever again, but the thought that came to mind every time he kissed Marlo wasn't just the sex, but how he felt when his lips touched Andy's.
They had this little thing that was just theirs, he couldn't quite remember how it started, but Andy would rub his nose with hers just before their lips met. It drove him crazy with the intimacy of it. When she rubbed her nose against his like that, he almost felt he was touching her soul.
As he thought about that, other unwanted thoughts came into his brain too, like the way Andy had looked when she saw him kiss Marlo in the break room just after she came back from UC.
He closed his eyes and put his head back against the rest. He breathed deeply, every part of his body willing Andy to still be breathing. He didn't know where he was meant to go from here, right now though, he'd just settle for knowing she was ok, that he still had time to work out what was right.
As soon as Oliver and Sam rushed through the doors they saw the huddle of people in a waiting room just off the main hallway. As soon as Sam opened the door he started to scan the faces of everyone in the room, searching for evidence either good or bad of any news. Frank was quick to put him out of his misery.
"She's still fighting Sam. She's with still with us and we need to take that as a good sign." He reached Sam and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked Sam in the eyes, he wanted to tell him everything, never being one to shy away from facts.
"They're stabilizing her before surgery. Traci is with her for now. She's lost a lot of blood, the bullet moved down from her neck and is deep in her shoulder. There's some broken bones from her fall, but that's all fixable. The real issue is the swelling in her skull from where she hit her head as she landed. She's not regained consciousness since she fell so how much damage is done is impossible to tell. They need to operate as soon as they can to put a drain in to take pressure off her brain. It could go either way Sam."
Something in Sam's brain just exploded and he couldn't control his emotions any longer. He lunged away from Frank and before anyone could stop him he had Epstein up against the wall, both hands pinning the younger Rookie to the wall by his shoulders.
"What the hell were you thinking? Why was your partner 2 stories up on a fire exit with shots being fired and you were still down on the ground?! Did you even have your gun out? If anything happens to Andy I swear I'll..."
Frank and Oliver moved to pull him away but he'd run out of energy to keep fighting. He sank down into a chair, head in his hands.
Epstein tried to fill in the rest of the story. "I don't know what happened. We went into the warehouse. The father was there, he hadn't seen his son. We were asking him where he thought his son might have gone and Andy was looking around. The call came in to stand down as the boy had been found, he was at a playground. I turned round to find Andy, I couldn't see her, I went outside to the car, I saw her chasing a man, I yelled at her to wait, she went up the fire exit..."
"Why the hell didn't you stop her?!" Sam reared out of his chair again, but this time it was Peck who got between Sam and Dov.
"Hey" she yelled at him. "Since when was anyone able to stop McNally from doing exactly what she thought she should do Sam? Even you couldn't stop her and you know it. Andy does what her heart tells her to do. She acts first and deals with the consequences later. Isn't that one of the things you love her for? Don't for a minute go blaming Dov. She could have been partnered with you, me, anyone one of us today and not a single one could have done anything different. So back off."
"Peck's right" Frank added. "From what Epstein's said it was over in seconds and he did everything right. He got her help, he stopped the bleeding as best he could, he bought enough time to get her here and give her a fighting chance."
Sam sank back into the chair and took some deep breaths. They were right. Blaming Dov wasn't going to help. He looked around at everyone gathered there waiting. In the corner of the room he noticed Callahan, who was on the phone. Peck had gone to stand next to Dov, he noticed that Dov's hands were covered in dried blood. Andy's blood. He couldn't look at that for a second longer.
Only then did he spot Marlo, sitting quietly in a chair alone in an opposite corner. She almost looked like an outsider. Thinking about it, he supposed she was. She didn't have the history yet with 15th to feel this worry as emotionally as the rest of them. She had no connection with Andy at all in fact, not really. They'd barely been partnered more than once.
He met her eyes, the guilt at feeling so much over a woman that was not his girlfriend overwhelmed him slightly, if it was possible for him to feel any worse that is.
No words needed to be spoken, but he knew that Marlo was able to see the love and concern he had for Andy written all over his face. His reactions weren't just those of a worried friend, there was no fooling Marlo on that score. Dealing with that situation registered on his mental 'to-do' list, but that was hardly his priority right now.
The room had lapsed into an uneasy silence when the door opened again and Tracy walked in. Sam stood up and everyone looked at Traci, waiting to hear news.