That's what this is all about

Sam and Andy struggle with their growing family, their victories and limitations and how much they love each other and how far they've come, and learn a valuable lesson along the way. Post season 6.

Hi guys! Thank you so much for the support! I love writing about Sam and Andy with a family.. It was my favorite prospect in the whole world to see them with a baby... oh well, we do have fanfics for that huh?

If I owned Rookie Blue, Sam and Andy would have had neurotic and stubborn babies by now..

Chapter 3:

"This isn't a matter of how..." Dr. Foreman explained. "It's a matter of when, what we have here as a key for us is the timing..."

"Okay so what do we have to do?" Andy asked, her attention shifting between her baby and the doctor. "Ashley said he was a candiate for surgery."

Elise smiled. "Yes, children as young as Eli have a better chance at improving by having surgery, but first and foremost I would love if we could do an evaluation."

"And that works how?" Sam fiddled with his wedding ring as he battled the anxiousness.

"I understand you do have other children?" Sam nodded. "How willing would you be to be away from them, for, say... two weeks?"

"You mean the evaluation is here?" Andy asked. Sam turned to look at her.

"Yes, and I would like me and my team to do it personally, if you are willing to make that kind of change so suddenly..."

"It would be difficult but I mean, it's summer so...We'd have to talk to the kids about it."

"It's completely understandable, of course but I would recommend it as being the first step we'd have to take in order for Eli to be a candidate for surgery, we can't just put him under such amount of pain if we are not even sure of the outcome."

Pain.

"Of course I understand if you have to consider all the options here," Dr. Foreman smiled at the both of them. "In the meantime I would love it if we could do some tests."

"What kind of tests?" Sam asked taking the baby from Andy as they moved towards the door as Elise continued to explain.

"Just behavioral ones, I would like to see how Eli reacts and interacts with others, specially the both of you." Andy glanced over at Sam as she began rolling her eyes. "You both are very much engaged in his life, am I right? I mean with your job and all?"

"I only work part time now." Andy said defensibly as if she was questioning her ability to care of her children. "But like any working parent we manage..."

"Of course, as a doctor and a mother I totally understand that, I just mean this has to be a full time job on the two of you, mostly like parenting is." Andy smiled at Elise. "Please come this way..."

They came into a large room in which every few steps there was parents with their children and what Andy believed to be an aid for each of them. "This here is our interaction room. We mostly work with parents here and their child to see how well they will do on their own once they are done with our intensive program."

"This place is so cool... Did you see that baby?" Andy glanced over at his son as he clutched to Sam's shirt. He hid his face shyly into Sam's neck. "Come here let's see what we can get our hands on, alright?" She took the baby from Sam as Elise led them deeper into the room as Elise invited them to sit. She called a girl to her side. She smiled brightly at them.

"Sam, Andy this here is Penelope, she's going to be working with us today and see how we do."

"It's really nice to meet you both, I've heard so many good things about you." The young woman sat in front of Andy. "We should start by getting to know each other better, I know things about you but only by reputation, is there something else you'd like to share?" Sam felt his body tense up.

Was he really ready for all of this?

Sam sighed as he watched Andy cuddle Eli close to her chest as she and Penelope played along with him. "Hard isn't it?" A man said beside him.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean it's hard...I've been doing this for three years now and it doesn't get easier. "I'm Peter."

"Sam." He turned around to take the man's hand. Sam smiled. "Seems that you know a lot about this then..."

"Yes, Molly...My daughter is right over there..." Peter pointed out to a few yards to a little red headed girl. "I'm assuming you are new huh?!

"We are." Sam said. "That's Eli and my wife, Andy."

"Cute." Peter smiled. "My wife is back home, we take turns coming everyday."

"Everyday?" Sam inquired.

"Yeah, I know it's going to change a bit once she's older and has to go to school but for now, it does work for us. Hard on my kids though, having all the attention mostly focused on her."

"You seem to be okay with it though." Sam let out. "I mean... they have to understand, right?"

"They do, but it's up to us to make it work, for all of our sake...You have any more kids?"

"I do, two girls and two boys. Eli broke the tie there for us."

"I hear ya. Molly was our little girl though. All boys." Sam noticed Eli had began to fuss in Andy's arms and she begged him for help. Sam smiled at Peter and the man nodded knowingly. "Good luck."

Luck was what he was going to need alright.

"Man, I didn't know I could be this tired..." Andy groaned as soon as her back hit the mattress. She moved to her belly to watch Eli as he slept on his crib. "Someone else is too."

"Maybe I could do something about that" Sam smirked as he kissed her neck.

"Sam..."

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do, with the kids I mean, we can't just move the kids over to Vancouver for 3 weeks and expect them to be on board with it." Andy said. "And we for sure can't leave Oliver hanging..."

"I for one think it'd be a nice excuse for a change of scenery. For us and the kids." Sam said with a kiss to her lips. "Certainty changes the mood on family planned vacations but..."

"But what? That's my point Sam, the kids are not forced into this and I don't want them to have and deal with all of it if they don't have to,"

"Andy..." Sam said. "They are already on it, in the middle. They knew we were coming to see a doctor, and honestly McNally, you can't protect them from everything, even though I know you want to. They need to be a part of this too..."

"Fine." She smiled sadly. "But we can't neglect them Sam, no matter how crazy this gets..."

"Of course."He smiled warmly at her. "We can handle this Andy. Trust me."

"I trust you."

"Good."

"See?" Marlo said with a smile as they entered Sofia's room. "Everything is as you left it." Sofia smiled. Her mother seemed tired. She and Shane had seemed quieter than usual which only meant one thing: She was struggling. It had been almost two months since she had last set foot in her room. She remembered having Sam come late at night to pick her up on a Sunday in which Marlo had not left her bed all day. Shane and Sam had arranged for Sofia to stay with her dad and Andy as things settled but by the looks of it, it wasn't going to be soon.

"I'm gong to go make a call and you get settled, alright?" Shane smiled at her stepdaughter. Shane was a good guy. He was such a balance to Marlo, more than Sam had ever been and having him around had certainly made it easier for Marlo to cope with everything about her disorder.

"Welcome home honey, it's good to have you back." Marlo hugged her child and closed the door behind her."I love you.."

"Love you too Ma, and its good to be home. " Sofia said with a smile.

Sofia sighed, pushing her bag to the side as she looked around her bedroom. It was a good thing she was the eldest because she didn't have to share her room, not that she mined but she enjoyed being on her own.

She loved her sisters and little brother so much. Olivia and Stephanie were 7 and 5 while baby Trevor had just turned two. Things had been normal for them for most of her life, but as she knew, her mother being sick was as unpredictable as the disease itself.

It was so hard though, to be the one to know what really went on with her mother. She got called for dinner, making her way downstairs as she looked at her phone. Her sisters and baby brother were already at the table, she took her usual place between the two younger girls.

Dinner went by without a hitch, her sisters as usual were a pair of bright lights in the midst of it all and they took advantage of the fact that they got to see their sister at home other than just school. "Everything okay Sofia?" Shane asked as he saw her being a little anxious.

"Oh yeah, it's just, Eli's appointment was today and I still haven't heard back from dad, he said he'd let me know how it went," Marlo and Shane looked at each other for a moment.

"I'm sure they just haven't had the chance to sweetie."

"Yeah but... what if..." Sofia didn't want to bring out a word that closely resembled disease, specially in front of her sisters. "I'm just worried, that's all. "

"Well of course, they have been waiting for a spot in the center for months, haven't they? "

"I just hope they can help Eli..." Sofia said staring at her food. They remained quiet for the rest of the meal.

Two hours later as she got ready for bed, There stll No messages from Sam or Andy.

A moment later a pop up appeared.

How is everything Sof? It's dad, mom and Eli are already sleep but I wanted to check on you. Give me a call as soon as you wake up.

Love you kiddo.

It was good to be home. The first sign of life came to Sam and Andy in Boo and Bass's barks. Sam opened the garden's door to let the dogs in. "Anyone home?" Andy called. She spotted a note from her dad saying that he'd taken the kids for ice cream.

"It's good to be home huh?" Sam said as he took the baby from her. His baby boy was beat from the flash trip. He picked up the bags with his free hand and headed upstairs, Andy and the dogs trailing at his feet.

As soon as they made it upstairs and Sam was changing Eli into something more comfortable, the front door opened to reveal that Tommy and the kids were back."do not! "

"Did too!" Sam chuckled as the banter continued on. "Ah man, I was hoping for some peace and quiet. " he said reaching the kitchen.

"Daddy!" AJ threw herself at him with a swing as he held her close. "Daddy did you miss us?"

"Of course I did, but I bet you had so much fun with grandpa, you didn't even know we were gone huh?"

"Daddy, grandpa gave us ice cream for lunch, but we can't tell mommy cause..."

"Did he really?" Andy mused as Tommy tried to explain himself and gave Andy a hug.

"So how did it go? " Tommy asked. Andy and Sam sat down in the living room with the kids and Tommy as they told them about the doctor and the center, still saving the fact that they had a prominent trip to Vancouver . For now at least.

"Dad, I think you should sit down.

so what do you think ? thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts with me, I really apreciate it until next time 😊