Even though this story is mostly about friendship and camaraderie, I'm still trying to figure out how to get a little more than implied McSwarek love involved, but I haven't quite come up with it yet. Hope you continue to enjoy it…let me know.

Sam headed into the locker room at the end of shift; it had felt like a long day as he spent way too much time wondering what Andy was up to. She hadn't said a word about her time on the phone so he still had no idea what was going on. Now he just wanted to take a shower and head to the Penny for a drink.

When he walked in, Oliver and Jerry were already in the room. It didn't take them long to agree that they would all meet at the bar as soon as they were ready. Jerry left first, though he had a few things to clear up before he could meet the other two over there.

Oliver followed Sam over to the Penny in his own car, and they took up their usual seats. Within an hour, Jerry joined them. They were watching a game on TV and talking about nothing in particular when Shaw brought up their missing member. "Did either of you talk to Noelle?" Oliver wondered. "Is she coming later or what?"

They all shook their heads; they were surprised she wasn't there yet, but truthfully none of them had actually talked directly with her. They tended to just assume she would be there not often bothering to ask.

They looked around the bar then noting that Noelle wasn't the only one missing; it seemed to be a fairly quiet night. That's when they realized that the rookies weren't there either. This was new; it was a Friday night before their day off, normally they would have been tearing the place up till late into the night. It was generally a night everyone enjoyed.

Before they took their Dex-imposed break, Jerry would make sure to send Traci at least one apple martini to garner some of her attention. If he was lucky and Leo was at her mother's, he might get invited to spend the night. Dov would get liberal with his tab and Oliver would take full advantage of his former rookie's generosity. And though Sam always enjoyed seeing Andy, he enjoyed the night before her day off the most; he loved watching her have fun and let loose, and he was hoping that one of these days he'd get the nerve to join her or at the very least offer her a ride home.

"Where's your girlfriend, Jer?" Sam taunted, knowing that Jerry and Traci were trying to reconnect. Though he did have an ulterior motive as well; he was hoping to find out where Andy was at the same time.

"I could ask you the same thing, Sammy." Jerry countered.

Sam glared back; everyone knew that he had it bad for Andy and they could never resist teasing him about it, especially now that she and Luke had called it quits. He still hadn't made his move though and no one could figure out why so they enjoyed pushing his buttons whenever they could.

"Ha ha. Seriously, what's up? Is it girls' night? McNally didn't mention it but she was on her phone a lot today and now they're both AWOL."

"I don't think so; I can call though." Jerry suggested. "…unless you want to call McNally."

"Dial." Sam grumbled.

Traci was already sitting at Andy's table when her phone rang. Chris and Gail had just arrived having brought Dov with them. Noelle was getting the table all set up, while Andy was plating the food she had prepared.

Dov was already bouncing off the walls and they hadn't even started playing yet.

"Shhh." Traci ordered before looking at the call display. "…it's Jerry."

"They're such girls." Noelle commented. "I bet they're all sitting at the Penny and it's driving them crazy wondering where you guys are."

"And you." Dov added.

"Yeah, maybe." She conceded. "But I'm pretty sure it's more about Nash and McNally if Jerry and Sam are involved."

Andy's face went beet red as the rest heartily agreed.

After Traci glared again and everyone quieted down, she answered. "Hey, Jerry."

"Where are you?"

"Wow, not even a hello. I'm fine thanks and you?" She retorted, avoiding the question.

"Hello…I'm fine too. Where are you?"

She smiled a little at the concern she thought she could hear in his voice. "I'm just hanging out at Andy's why?"

"Is it girls' night?" She usually told him ahead of time, but they hadn't talked a lot lately.

She held the phone away and yelled. "Epstein, Diaz…is it girls night?"

"Hell, no!" The two men yelled back in their most manly voices.

"What are you guys doing?" Jerry wondered; he was even more curious now that he knew the guys were there as well. "You're usually at the Penny on Fridays."

Even though they couldn't hear Jerry's side of the conversation, it was obvious that he was fishing for information. "Hey…what happens at Rookie Night stays at Rookie Night." Gail yelled in the background, causing the room to erupt into laughter.

And now he knew that Peck was with them too. "Are all the rooks there?"

"Yeah…Me, Andy, Gail, Chris, Dov, uh…"

Noelle started waving her hands at Traci in an effort to stop her from telling Jerry that she was there; she wasn't sure if she wanted them to know. Sure those guys never invited her to Poker Night, but they might not let her live it down if they found out she was hanging out with the rookies. It wasn't that she didn't want to be there; she did. She just didn't want the grief and once those three got something on you they didn't let it go easily.

"Is someone else with you?" He asked, starting to put the pieces together. "Traci, is Noelle there too?"

Traci motioned to Noelle that Jerry had guessed. "Yes she is."

She looked at Noelle and mouthed 'sorry', but Noelle didn't seem too upset so she just let it go at that.

"Well then it can't be considered Rookie Night." Jerry argued. "So what are you doing and why aren't you here?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." Traci assured before covering the mouthpiece and bidding, "don't start without me."

"I've got to go Jerry." And then she hung up before he had a chance to respond. Start what?

"Well?" Sam asked.

"They're all over at McNally's house, but Traci wouldn't tell me what's going on."

"All of the rookies?" Sam asked.

Jerry nodded.

"I'm calling Noelle to find out why she isn't here." Oliver announced. He and Zoe had had a disagreement last week about his tendency to just assume Zoe was willing to go along with plans he'd made when sometimes she wasn't even aware of them. Although he had denied it at the time, he was beginning to realize that he didn't just tend to do that at home. He was feeling more than a little guilty that they hadn't actually asked Noelle to join them.

"Don't bother, she's there too." Jerry revealed.

"What the hell?" Oliver would have never guessed that she would choose to hang out with the rookies over them.

"Call her." Jerry dared.

Oliver dialed Noelle's number. When it rang at Andy's, she shushed them all again; they were in the middle of an argument about the stakes.

"Williams." She answered.

"Noelle." Oliver addressed her, overly cheerful.

"Get to the point Shaw; I know Barber told you where I was." Here we go.

"I thought you were our friend; since when did you start slumming it with the kiddies?"

"Don't make this an us and them thing." She said, shaking her head.

"I can't help it if they like me best." She bragged. Might as well make the best of it. "Obviously, you and Jerry weren't invited. It's a shame; I think it'll be fun." She goaded.

"What'll be fun?"

She enjoyed stringing the guys along and wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. "Sorry, Shaw. I've been sworn to secrecy."

"Come on, Noelle."

"Can't do it, Ollie. Sorry, gotta go."

He tried giving it one last ditch effort. "Wait; just tell us what you're doing and we'll leave you alone."

"Nothing you should worry that shiny little head of yours about."

The retort died on Oliver's lips as the call ended and he pulled the phone from his ear.

"Well?" Jerry wondered.

"She didn't give me anything either…except for maybe the run around. Something about having fun, her being their favorite TO and too bad she was invited and you and I weren't." He turned to look at his other friend. "Sammy, were you invited?"

Sam would have remembered being invited to Andy's house. And if and when he was, he wasn't hoping for a crowd. "Nope." He answered, shaking his head.

"Call McNally." Oliver insisted. "We know she won't say no to you."

Sam balked at the suggestion. If that was the case and she wouldn't say no, this would absolutely not be the question. Sam had wanted to call her many times, but never quite got up the nerve. Curiosity was killing him though. "Fine." He conceded.

They were just ready to deal when Andy's phone rang.

She looked down at the call display and announced. "It's Swarek."

They all laughed; they couldn't believe the lengths those guys were going to. Andy had just hit the answer key on her phone, but before she could respond Dov yelled out. "Tell him you don't have time for a booty call."

Andy blushed a deep scarlet and stuttered out her greeting. Sam couldn't help but chuckle on the other end; he could only imagine her reaction to Epstein's comment.

"Hey, McNally. How's it going?"

She smiled at the obvious amusement in his voice; she didn't have to see him to know that the dimples were making an appearance. She took a breath to try and slow her racing heart. "Fine."

"Having a good night?"

"Yes."

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" He grumbled, the humor quickly leaving his voice.

"Absolutely not." She smirked finally recovering from the not completely unwelcome thoughts Dov had inadvertently placed in her head.

"Just tell us what's going on." Sam insisted.

"Why does it matter?"

"I don't' know. I mean, we're friends right? Can't a friend want to know what another friend is doing?"

It felt good knowing that he wanted to know where she was and what she was up to, though she was hoping that it was more than 'friendly' concern. "If you must know…" She started.

Traci jumped up from the seat beside her and grabbed the phone. "None of your business, Swarek."

"Let me talk to McNally." He ordered using his TO voice.

Traci wasn't falling for it though; it was much easier to ignore when she wasn't looking him in the eye.

"No…I'm not letting you use your sweet talk on her; she's a sucker for you and we all know it." Traci grinned as the red colored Andy's cheeks again. "Now stop using your powers for evil and go hang out with your own friends."

Sam wasn't giving up. "McNally happens to be one of my friends," he replied, an idea forming in his head. "And I think it's time I paid 'my pal' a visit." She heard him pull away from the phone as he spoke to Jerry and Oliver, "Who's up for a road trip?"

Traci couldn't hear their responses, but she assumed they would just follow Sam's lead.

"Swarek, stay where you are." She commanded. "You can come over and visit 'your friend' some other night. I'm sure you'd both be much happier if she were alone when you chose to stop by." She said, echoing Sam's earlier thoughts.

Andy's mouth dropped open in shock; she couldn't believe Traci would say that not only in front of everyone at the table, but directly to Sam as well. "Traci." She reprimanded.

Gail laughed and Andy turned her glare on the blond. "What? You didn't really think you were fooling anyone did you?"

Sam just grinned as he listened to Andy's friends tease her; he had been pretty sure that she returned his feelings, but it was nice to have it confirmed by someone else. It was also all the more reason to come by. "Tell my 'friend' that I'll see her in a few." He said as he hung up.

"They're on their way over." Traci announced as soon as she set down Andy's phone.

"Seriously?" Chris complained. "They'll think we're idiots practicing like this and they don't need any more ammunition to make fun of us."

"Maybe we should just phone them back and tell them." Traci suggested. "Do you think they'll back off then?"

"Let me try." Noelle offered.

Back at the Penny, the guys had just paid their bills and we're going to head out the door to see what was going on at Andy's house when Oliver's phone rang.

"Shaw." He answered.

"Oliver, has Sammy talked you guys into coming over here?"

He tried to deny the obvious. "What? No."

Noelle wasn't convinced; they had worked together too long and she didn't have to see him to know that he wasn't telling the truth. "Give me a break; I just heard the door close and I can tell you're outside walking."

"I have to get home to Zoe and the kids." He improvised.

"I'm not sure I believe you, but if those other two stooges are still on their way over tell them to give it up. We're just playing poker, OK. You guys have your poker night and now we have ours. You never invite the rookies or me so we decided to have one of our own. That's it…end of story."

Oliver was inclined to believe her. She sounded like she was telling the truth and he knew for a fact that she would be more than happy to be invited to their poker night. "I'll tell them." He offered sincerely.

"I'm waiting." She wasn't hanging up without proof.

Noelle listened as she heard Oliver replay the words she had just spoken. Obviously she couldn't see, but the other two men were still suspicious. Sure Epstein and Diaz had just asked about poker night, but why would Noelle willingly be hanging out with them? To Sam and Jerry, it just didn't make sense; they didn't realize it bothered Noelle to be left out just because she was a woman.

"Are you sure that's it?" Oliver asked at the prompting of his friends.

"That's it." She assured him.

"OK, then."

Just as Noelle was about to hang up she heard a vehicle start. "Those idiots are still coming." She mumbled.

The rookies were all a little disgruntled that the senior officers felt the need to check up on them so it took them all by surprise when Traci began to laugh. It started out as a soft chuckle, but pretty soon she was laughing so loud and so hard that she was almost doubled over.

"What's so funny?" Andy asked, completely baffled.

Traci tried to catch her breath and managed to stutter out between giggles. "They think there's something more going on than just poker."

"Obviously." Gail retorted.

"So then let's not disappoint them."

"What do you mean?" Noelle asked.

"Well since most of us are lowly rookies...and they've implied that we don't have enough money to play with the big boys, what does that leave us to bet with?" She wondered, tilting her head and lifting her eyebrows in question.

The boys were totally lost but the girls' caught on quickly and started nodding along with her. Gail and Andy began to laugh too.

"No way!" Noelle refused.

"What?" Chris asked, still clearly at a loss.

"Who's up for a little strip poker?" Traci suggested with a grin.

Dov's face lit up. "Rock and Roll Nash…Rock and Roll."