Note: I'm pushing these chapters through as quickly as humanly possible, I swear.
Thanks again for all the reviews. I love every single one of them!
I had to pump some of my cop friends for some info for this chapter, so I hope it was worth it :)
At 5 AM Monday morning, Andy's alarm went off. She rolled over and hit the button and opened one sleepy eye. Luke was breathing deeply on the other side of the bed. She'd lazed around all weekend, telling herself that on Monday she'd run again. On this particular morning, Andy could think of more reasons to stay in bed than to go running and so she stayed in bed. She flipped over and pulled the covers over her head, and fell back to sleep.
Later that morning, she was perched on the edge of a desk watching Swarek and Best go at it in the office. They'd been in there nearly ten minutes and parade was supposed to start soon. Neither one of them looked especially happy. She was pouring herself a cup of coffee when the door banged open.
"McNally. Get in here," Best barked. She set the coffee down, half full, and walked briskly to the office.
When she entered, Sam was perched on the window ledge, arms crossed angrily over his chest and Frank was tipped back in his desk chair, looking annoyed.
"McNally, it has come to my attention that you and your partner are having irreconcilable differences. Do I look like a divorce lawyer to you?"
"No sir."
"What is your opinion on this situation?" Her mouth was dry and against her will, her gaze cut to Swarek who was busy avoiding her eyes.
"We're having some communication problems, I guess."
"And what do you think we should do about this?"
She looked at Swarek again, this time with a little ire. "It was suggested that we request time with new partners."
"Well, here's what normally happens in a situation like this. If you don't think this is something that can be worked out, my first move is to change one of your schedules. It means working with a whole new crew of people, having to learn their personalities and techniques. You may not fit in with that shift and I may have to move you again. This whole process takes an unbelievable amount of time. You two have proven to me numerous times that your partnership is beneficial not only to this division but to both of you personally." He put his elbows up on the desk and folded his hands while he looked at them.
"Now, I'm willing to separate you; give you time to cool down and gather some perspective. But if you think for even a second that this time would be better spent acclimating to a new schedule, you'd better tell me now. If at the end of this cooling off period, you find that you are still unable to cooperate, then one of you will be making a permanent move."
Neither of them said a word.
"McNally? Thoughts?"
She kept her eyes forward. "A cooling off period is fine with me."
"Swarek?"
"How long?" he asked.
"You have two weeks."
"I think we need more time," Sam insisted, standing up. Her self-control dissolved and Andy turned, fixing him with a furious stare.
"No," Best argued. "This is a busy division. We don't have time for this kind of distraction. You don't have to like each other. You just need to cool down enough to be capable of working together without screaming at each other. If you don't think you'll be able to fix this in two weeks, I'll start signing paperwork now." He looked between the two of them. Andy and Sam were standing as far apart as humanly possible in the office. He was up against the wall with the windows, and she had unconsciously moved across the room, putting as much space between them as she could. "McNally?"
"Two weeks is fine."
"Swarek?"
"I guess it'll have to be," he smiled unhappily.
"Don't push me. I've had enough of this crap for the morning. By the way? I'm not going to make this enjoyable for either of you. Now get out."
During parade, Best was discussing the day's upcoming work and Andy was sitting silently, trying to keep her mind on the assignments and not on how much she wanted to go home and go back to bed. She started to come back to life when he started giving out assignments. In a matter of minutes, he'd assigned everyone but Chris, Andy and Sam.
"Diaz. This happens to be your lucky day." Chris had a very nervous smile on his face. "I talked to a friend of mine over in Traffic Division and we decided on a very special assignment for you. You'll be working with Parking Enforcement today. Have fun writing tickets." The smile disappeared instantly, and there were hoots and laughter from the senior officers in the back of the room. Andy smirked. "McNally, you're with Diaz." Her head snapped back to the front of the room and Frank gave her a satisfied smile.
"Which brings us to Swarek." Everyone turned in their seat to glance toward the back of the room. "Swarek, you will be in Booking."
The grin dropped off his face and Sam stared at him. "Come on."
Frank shook his head and smiled the same smug smile. "Booking, Swarek. For the rest of the week."
Andy and Chris walked out of parade together and she gave him a curious look. "So, I know what I did, but what did you do?"
"What?" He did his best to look innocent.
"Chris, we're writing parking tickets. What did you do?"
"Hey, somebody has to do it."
"Yeah, they're called meter maids. Now tell me."
He looked around to make sure no one was listening. "I was distracted and I tapped his bumper in the parking lot this morning." Andy raised her eyebrows and nodded, swinging her bag over her shoulder and walking to the door.
"I guess it could be worse then."
They walked out to the parking lot to the car and Chris glanced back at her. "So what did you do?"
"Apparently, I pissed him off after some guy hit his car this morning."
"Very funny."
Sam finished up with work that day and went straight home. He'd processed suspects all day. Taking personal information and making background checks, fingerprinting, confiscation of personal property. And on and on. The monotony was deadening. All day, he ached to get out of the station. He'd been expecting that at some point during the day that a feeling of relief would hit him; that the separation would somehow calm the storm inside him. He'd been expecting something. Anything. Some sort of sign that this was the right decision. But he was just angry. He was mad at Andy, at Frank, at every single person who'd come through Booking today. But mostly he was mad at himself, because as necessary as he thought this situation was, the one thing he did feel was doubt.
He stood in his empty house, looking around distractedly at the darkened rooms. Finally he went into his room to change. He came back out and put on his shoes and headed out the door, setting off at a run for Kate's apartment.
Twenty minutes later, was sitting in her kitchen drinking coffee, watching her stir something on the stovetop.
"I don't really know what you expected," she said to him, after he'd complained about his day. "He can't just rearrange the entire staff without any explanation, just because two of his employees had a falling out. And I don't know what you and Andy fought about, but it seems like things would be a whole lot better if you two would just get over it."
He laughed. "You really just say everything you're thinking, don't you."
She smiled. "It's a lot easier than trying to hold it all in."
"Well, trust me. 'Getting over it' is not as easy as it sounds."
"Why don't you tell me about it," Kate suggested. She sat down across from him and dunked a cookie in her coffee.
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm tired of thinking about it."
"Yeah, well after two weeks of cooling off and having to break in new partners, you'll be begging to work together again. I'm not worried."
"If I'm not stuck in Booking for the next two weeks, you mean." He frowned and took a sip of his coffee.
She took the coffee cup from his hand and stood up. Moving around to his side of the table, she bent down and kissed the top of his head, smoothing his hair after. "Go finish your run. Things might be clearer later."
Andy was restless. All day, people had been in her face complaining about receiving tickets, and arguing with her and she'd had it. She didn't want to talk to anyone, and she didn't want to think about anything. And so when she got home, she kept herself busy. Which is why she was currently in the kitchen, cleaning out the refrigerator. She'd already swamped out Luke's car, done the dishes, cleaned the toilet and scrubbed out the tub. After she was done with the refrigerator, she had plans for her closet.
Luke walked in from the living room where he'd been reading through some files and looked in mild annoyance at the random jars and bottles and containers of leftovers strewn all over the kitchen.
"Andy, it's nine o'clock. What are you doing?" She sat back on her heels and looked at him.
"Something spilled inside here. It was all sticky." He leaned against the counter and looked back at her.
"So why didn't you just wipe up the spill instead of emptying the fridge?"
She shrugged. "It needed to be cleaned. Don't worry. It's no trouble."
"I'm not worried about the trouble. I'm worried about you. What's going on with you?" She shrugged again.
"I'm great."
"You skipped your run this morning." She stuck her head back in and started bleaching out the drawers. "In fact, you haven't been out in three days."
"I haven't felt like it."
"Well, you don't always feel like it, but you always go." Sighing heavily, she sat back again and hesitated before looking at him.
She opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't think of how to explain it the situation without making herself look bad. Luke rolled his eyes and went to the hallway and picked up her shoes. He put them on the floor in front of her.
"Put all this stuff back and go. You'll feel better."
Sam headed for the park. He hadn't run at night since the summer; before Andy started going with him. He was only going to do one quick loop and then head for home. His heart just wasn't in it. It felt like every step he took was a struggle, and he wasn't settling into a comfortable rhythm. He tried to distract himself by scanning the park, watching the shadows. Which is why he didn't see Andy coming until they were almost right on top of each other.
"Unbelievable," he grumbled, running a hand over his face.
Andy jerked to a stop in front of him and pulled her ear buds out.
"What?"
"I said it was unbelievable."
She scowled and moved to run around him. "Believe it," she replied, sharply.
For a second he just watched her go, and then the doubt returned and settled in. Unable to help himself, he called after her. "Andy, we'll get past this."
"Well, we're not past it yet," she shouted over her shoulder and picked up her pace.
The rest of the week was about the same, stressful and full of avoidance on both their parts. After Luke's insistence, Andy took another look at her training schedule and sketched out a basic plan of attack. She resumed her morning runs. Instead of hitting the trail, she did a short run in the other direction, and two days later, she ran to work. She brought a few sets of clean clothing and stocked up on the toiletries she kept in her locker. She showered when she got there, and caught a ride home with Luke at the end of the night. This meant a little more sleep and also that her distance on her long run went up by three quarters of a mile. Her plan was to stay at this level of activity for a few weeks and then bump it up again. As long as she focused on her training, she wouldn't spend too much time worrying about other things.
She was done writing tickets, but spent the remaining days of the first week alternating between the front desk and the impound lot. Since Frank was true to his word, and kept Sam in Booking all week, this meant she and Sam were constantly bumping into each other inside of the station. Their interactions had dwindled to nothing more than the most basic politeness; "excuse me," or "can you please sign this?" In short, it was the typical interaction of two coworkers who barely knew each other. But every day, her anger melted a little and by the end of the week, she was just left with a feeling of emptiness. At the time of their argument, she'd been enraged, in addition to the other emotions swirling inside her; now, she was just sad. She missed her friend.
Best didn't let up on them until the following week when Swarek was placed with Peck, and Andy with Shaw. There had been a liquor store or convenience store robbery every Monday night for the last month. All were in the same 12 block radius and so there were several undercover cars out, each watching one of the remaining untouched stores.
Swarek sat in the driver's seat silently. His eyes were trained on the store front, but he was tired. The hours seemed longer with no action, and he returned home exhausted every day. Although he was glad to be out on the street again, it didn't feel right. Peck stopped trying to make conversation a couple of hours before and was now trying to text without him knowing. At one point, he looked at her point blank while she was in the middle of one and she flushed and put her phone away. They were both dressed in civvies and their vests, and there were the remains of a dinner Swarek barely remembered sitting in a bag on the floor on Peck's side. All night, he'd been having a strange feeling. It was a feeling of apprehension. But it wasn't the same adrenaline-fueled excited apprehension he usually had during the middle of a big case. It felt more like nerves.
He saw two suspicious figures coming out of the alley and reached for the radio. He called in their position again, requesting backup. Then he and Peck exited the vehicle and walked quickly the entrance of the store, hands on the guns at their belts.
Eight blocks away, Andy was sitting with Shaw. They were plowing their way through two pastrami sandwiches and watching the front of a different store.
"I hear you're in training?"
Andy turned to him, her mouth full. "Hmm?"
"For the half marathon." He took a large bite of his sandwich and wiped his face with a napkin.
She chewed and swallowed. "Yeah, it's still like 5 months away, so I'm taking it easy."
"It's impressive. There are a couple of guys in the department that run it every year if you feel like training with someone."
"I'm doing okay by myself right now, but I'll keep it in mind."
They sat there for a few minutes, Andy finishing up her sandwich. She had resisted the impulse since they'd parked the car two hours ago, but found that in the silence, she just couldn't take it anymore.
"You know about our situation? Our argument?" she asked quietly.
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "I don't think we should be talking about it."
"I just wanted to ask…" She paused. "How is he?"
Shaw hesitated and then spoke. "He's okay." Andy took a deep breath.
"Is he happy?" she asked.
Shaw continued to stare out the windshield. "I think he was," he said raising his eyebrows at her. Andy frowned and said nothing.
Before she could say anything else, dispatch came over the radio calling for any available cars to respond to a request for backup. Andy picked up the handset and gave dispatch their call numbers, saying they were on their way. Shaw pulled the car out of the parking space and took off down the road. They were two blocks away from Swarek and Peck when a black sedan ran a red light and plowed straight into the side of their car.
Swarek and Peck had to practically wrestle their collars into booking. They left them in a cell and Swarek was on his way to secure an interrogation room when he noticed the atmosphere in the station. There were less people in the room than he expected, but the ones remaining were caught up in a flurry of activity. As he walked into the room, several people rushed past him, including Callaghan. He was out the door before Sam had a chance to formulate a question. Frank had his coat on and was walking across the room toward the exit when Sam stopped him.
"What the hell is going on here?"
"A car T-boned one of the surveillance vehicles. We've got to get the crime scene unit out and I have to get out there to supervise. A couple of squad cars have responded and there're already a couple of ambulances out there."
"Which car was it?"
Frank paused a second and said, "Shaw and McNally."
"I need to come with you."
"No, Swarek, you need to stay and get your suspects booked and into interrogation." He stepped closer and lowered his voice. "It wasn't high speed. They're both alive and conscious. Don't worry; I'll keep you posted."
"Frank, she's my partner."
"No, she's not. Not today." And he turned around and left Swarek standing there.
Andy sat on the paper-covered examination table as she waited for the doctor. She tried to ignore the clock ticking closer and closer to midnight. Her head hurt, and all she wanted to do was go home. At least she got to put her own clothes back on, even if the collar of her shirt was covered in blood.
She and Shaw had come in the second ambulance. She had a six centimeter laceration that started near the middle of her right eyebrow, and curved down over the side of her face toward her temple. They'd stitched that up as soon as she'd gotten there and then sent her down for scans. While she'd been waiting, a uniformed officer she didn't recognize came and took her statement. She called Luke on his cell and he had been on his way a half hour ago, but so far, she hadn't seen him.
The doctor knocked on the door and entered. "Look who I found."
Luke smiled worriedly as he followed the doctor in. He moved up to Andy and put an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her tight as he kissed the top of her head. "Sorry it took me so long. How's your head?"
"It hurts, but I think I'm okay."
"Actually you are, mostly," said the doctor. "It's a good thing you were in a cop car. These accidents are far more serious without the structural reinforcements." He paged through her chart and then walked up to look at her face. "This laceration and the bruising are very common injuries caused by the deployment of the side airbag. You have a very mild concussion from the force of the impact, but I'm going to let you go home. Your scans look good, no bleeding in the brain. You should start feeling better in a few hours. I'm going to give you an information sheet with symptoms to look for, a prescription for a very light painkiller for the headache and instructions for home care. You need to take a couple of days off work to rest and come back in a week to get those stitches looked at." He held his hands out. "Any questions?"
"I'm wondering about Oliver Shaw?"
The doctor nodded. "He's going to be fine. His injuries were a little more serious, but again, not uncommon considering the circumstances. We'll keep him here a few nights to monitor him, and then he'll be on his way home as well."
She exhaled, relieved. "Can I see him?" The doctor nodded. "I'm going to need some sort of work release form and some other stuff, too."
"You can stop and see the nurse on your way out. She'll take you to him and get you everything you need."
It was after 1:30 by the time Sam got all finished up and had his suspects in a cell. The idea of trying to pass the job off onto someone else had been tempting, but he stuck it out, finally getting signed confessions from both. He left them in the hands of the night shift and walked out to his truck.
Andy looked at the clock. 2:15 AM. She hit the button on the remote, switching the television off and got up and walked around the room, turning off the lights. She had come home, kicked her shoes off and basically fell into that chair, not moving a muscle until now. Luke was asleep, stretched out across the full length of the sofa. He tried to stay up to keep her company, but he'd passed out sometime in the last hour, snoring softly. She went into the kitchen and poured a glass of water from the pitcher. She drank the whole thing at once and then wandered into the bathroom.
Andy leaned over close to the mirror and slowly pulled the bandage off her wound, hissing in pain when it tugged a little at her skin. The black stitches stood out against the angry red flesh. The entire right side of her face was tender from hairline to jawbone. The skin was darkening in a large bruise around her temple and extending downward to her cheek bone. Her head hurt inside and out and she'd taken a pill an hour ago, but it didn't seem to be working. The fact that it was a million degrees in the house wasn't helping, either.
She walked to the front door, intending to just stand in the doorway. But as it swung open, she saw Sam sitting on the top step, holding his phone and his keys in his left hand. He looked over his shoulder at her, and without saying a word, Andy grabbed her hoodie off the coat rack and put it on. She shut the door behind her and went out to sit next to Sam.
They sat there wordless for a minute. Andy curled her now cold toes inside her socks and waited.
When he spoke, it was soft, his voice a little scratchy and hesitant. "I meant to be here earlier, but I had to stay to finish up."
"Yeah, I heard you and Gail did a great job. Congratulations."
He nodded distractedly and continued talking as if he hadn't heard her. "And then I got here, and didn't know if I should knock. I didn't know if you were asleep. So I sat down," he laughed a little to himself, "until I could figure out what to do. And I'm still sitting here."
"How long?"
He looked at his phone. "About a half hour." More silence.
"McNally," he said finally.
"What?"
"Look at me." She turned her head to the right. Sam reached out, taking her chin in his hand and tilting her head towards the light to get a better look at her face. "How does it feel?" He tucked her hair behind her ear to see the full extent of the bruising and the stitches.
"It hurts. Pretty much all over. And I'm exhausted, so that doesn't help." She gave a small, shaky smile and turned her head out of his hand. "But I think it looks a lot worse than it feels. Or at least it will," she laughed nervously.
"What did the doctor say?"
"I have a mild concussion. And the bruising will only get worse, so I have that to look forward to. I'll be the only person at work with a rainbow-colored face. So I guess that's something." She looked at him again, pulling the cuffs of the sweatshirt down over her fingers. "Did you hear about Shaw?"
He shook his head. "All I heard from Frank was that you two were okay. At that point, I don't think he knew much."
She nodded. "Well, the car hit us on his side. His face pretty much looks like mine without the stitches, and he has a broken collarbone. There's a little head trauma from the impact. But I talked to him before I left the hospital. He seemed okay. They told him he'll be out of the station for a few weeks, on a desk for a while after that. He's thrilled, by the way."
"I can imagine. And the person who hit you?"
And shrugged and wrapped her arms around her knees, resting her chin on top. "She wasn't wearing her seatbelt. What I saw at the scene didn't look good. I know she had a pretty bad-looking head injury, and she wasn't conscious when they took her away. I haven't heard much else. Honestly, I don't even know if she's alive."
"When are they expecting you back to work?"
She looked up at him. "The doctor said a couple of days. Best said to take the rest of the week. In fact, he pretty much ordered me to stay home," she said wryly. "But I have to go back in tomorrow to read over my statement and the accident report and then fill out a mountain of paperwork. I'll probably be there most of the day."
They sat there for a few more moments before he spoke again. "I think I should probably get going." He stood up and started to walk away and then thought better of it. He turned around and looked at her sitting there.
"Andy," he began. She turned her head up to look at him and he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I came here because I had to see for myself that you were alright. But nothing has changed. We're still not okay."
She nodded. "I know."
"But we will be."
She smiled faintly. "I know."
Luke stood out on the deck and watched Andy and Swarek talk. He'd woken up with a start when he heard the click of the front door shutting. He'd walked into the hallway and looked out the window and spotted the silver truck parked across the street. And then, hating himself for every jealous step he took, he went out onto the shadowed deck to watch them.
He couldn't hear what they were saying, but their body language was making him uneasy. They sat next to each other, hips close, shoulders nearly touching. As he took her face in his hands, she turned her entire body toward him and there was no hesitation in Andy's movement, no questionable flinch. It was a measure of unmistakable physical trust. And it gave him a sinking feeling in his stomach.