Chapter 4: First Step

[A.N. All disclaimers of previous chapters apply. Thank you to everyone, who's reviewing, favouriting, following or even just reading. Sincere apologies to all for this long delay. Now on with the story...]

Andy hit speed dial 3 for probably the 10th time in as many minutes. She had had to pull a double shift on account of Dov being out with flu, and had not seen Sam for over 15 hours. She had not been able to speak to him in over 5 hours, and by her estimations he should have been done with his medical check-up over an hour ago. So, why on earth was he not answering his phone?

It has been three weeks since he had been released from the hospital. After regular observations and round-the-clock care for a week after his surgery, the doctors felt confident releasing him, provided he had someone to help at home. Andy seemed like an obvious choice to be the person assigned his care. However, going home with him to ensure he got the care he needed afterwards, was turning out to be tricky, if not outright impossible.

While Sam did not try to out-and-out cause trouble or misbehave with her, to say he was a bad patient was an understatement. She had always noted his cleanliness, but this obsession to clean his house and organize things while he had been expressly instructed by physicians not to do any heavy lifting, did not make sense; or may be it did. In the decidedly topsy-turvy reality of Sam Swarek, perhaps, getting his house in perfect order while his life was a mess made complete sense. It did not mean, that she did not go bat crazy when he popped his stitches not once but twice in the same efforts, though.

Whoever said that waiting in the hospital for your loved one to regain consciousness post surgery, is the hardest part of the recovery process had never met a recovering-from-a-bullet-wound Sam Swarek. Yes, waiting for Sam to wake up, not knowing whether he would wake up at all, had been hard, incredibly hard. But the last 4 weeks had not been a walk-in-the-park either.

So caught up was she in her musings, that when Sam finally answered "Hey Andy!", she jumped, and then proceeded to tear his head off.

"What! What could you have been so busy with for the past hour that you could not be bothered to answer your phone? Do you have any idea how worried I was? Do you?"

To say, he was surprised would certainly be an understatement. Sam quietly responded "I'm sorry you were worried, McNally. I forgot to charg- "

"You forgot to charge the phone? Really? In all the serious work and double shifts you've been pulling for the last 3 weeks, you forgot to stick the bloody charger to your phone?" Andy practically screeched.

She knew shouting at him because she felt guilty, having had to be back at work, before he had completely recovered, was probably not fair. But, she was fed-up. Worrying for him for the last few hours had been bad enough, and now his distancing technique with the 'McNally'ing did not help cool her down. She knew the affectionate tone he had, in their 'relationship' days occasionally used her last name in, but this was not such an occasion. This was his post-hospital push-Andy-away 'McNally'-ing.

And yet, Sam had not once spoken harshly to her. He had merely refused to listen to her reiteration of the doctor's instructions in caring for himself. She was a hundred percent certain, that he would have refused to let her stay with him, unless he had promised his sister, in a weak moment. 'Aaah!' she figured. 'If he's not going to listen to me, I have to bring in the big guns. But first, clarify how his check up went'.

"Andy"

"Sam" – of course, they had to speak up at the same time.

"McNally, I am sorry. I did not intend to worry you. I am doing alright, well, as alright as my condition would let me be. If all goes as expected, I may be able to start physiotherapy in a week."

"Sam, that's wonderful. I'll call and set up an appointment with the station physiotherapist, then."

"No, McNally, you would not. Even if I am an invalid who apparently cannot change his own bandages, I can still make phone calls. So, I'll do that myself. Plus, the deal was you would only stay till I got back on my feet. And according to my doctor, I would only need a bandage change every couple of days from next week, which I can get done at the hospital. So, you no longer need to put your life on hold. You can get back to it."

"Damn it, Sam! If you're not willing to listen to me, I'm not going to keep repeating myself. You can say what you want. I am not leaving unless you push me out the door. And, even in your lowest moments, you have yet to learn that degree of cruelty."

Andy deliberately disconnected the call. 'Let him stew and reflect and do all his faces by himself. I need a strategising session with Sarah and Oliver.'

She had always known Oliver to have been one of the people staunchly in her corner, or if she was being perfectly candid, in the "McSwarek" corner. But she had been overwhelmed by the degree of warmth and caring Sam's sister had exhibited to her. She could say Sarah had shown even the same interest and dare she say zeal in reviving the McSwarek relationship, as Oliver, when she had met Sarah at the hospital.

Andy could not help but smile at the thought. Yes, she and Sam had made mistakes, bad ones; hurt each other, terribly. Yet, two of the people closest to him, and if Tracy was to be believed, the third from wherever he was, strongly believed that they belonged together. In her most depressing moments, that's what she wanted to hold on to. She knew the course ahead was complicated, to say the least. But with friends and family by her side, by their side, rooting them on, she believed, she could encourage him to take the first step ahead, with her.