It happened again. She'd zoned out on him. But wherever her thoughts had taken her had also taken at least some of the emotions she was battling. He could feel it. "His" McNally was coming back. Slowly, but surely, she was finding her way back from the darkness that was her fear. They'd take it minute-by-minute if they had to - or round-by-round on the mats he thought with a smile as he killed the engine and they got out the truck.
Sam stopped in front of Frank's door and turned to Andy.
"This is as far as you go."
"What? Sam …"
"No, you are not gonna re-count the details of that … not even for Frank."
"Sam …"
"Not up for debate."
"Is this how it's gonna be?"
"Figured you'd be used to it by now, McNally. Now go."
"Ok, ok."
Sam pushed her in the direction of the gym, "Meet ya on the mats in a few," before knocking on Frank's door.
Sam entered their Staff Sergeant's office hoping their conversation wouldn't go straight to hell before it even began.
"Hey Sam, how'd it go?"
"She's not going back, Frank."
"What? Why?"
"Because I refuse to sit there and watch that woman upset her to the point of tears!"
"Wait, how the hell did you even get in there? Y'know what, I don't need to hear that. Just tell me what happened."
Sam re-counted in detail Andy's session."
"Pills? Alcohol? That was her solution?"
"Impressive, ain't it?"
"Not really. Did you really threaten to report her? For incompetence?"
"Yes."
Frank shook his head.
"Listen, Frank, I'm just keeping you in the loop. If any of this comes back it's on me, not the Division."
"Forget it, Sam. The Division has your back. But I gotta ask, no shrink, now what?"
"Me. McNally. The mats. Now."
Frank laughed. "I'm almost tempted to call everybody back in for that. We could make some money for one of the funds if we charged admission."
"Forget it, Frank," and he turned toward the door.
"Just do the rest of the Division a favor, Sam?"
Sam stopped with his hand on the door, "What's that?"
"Take care of her."
"Count on it," and he walked out heading in the direction of the gym … and Andy.
Opening the door, Sam called, "Ready McNally?" only to have a set of gloves thrown at him.
"Yeah, you're not lookin' forward to this," he muttered under his breath.
"I heard that!"
Sam laughed and pulled the gloves on.
"Let's get this done before Best makes good on his idea to charge admission to watch us."
"Watch us?"
"Yeah."
"Hate to disappoint him, but this isn't re-training," and she leaned up to kiss him.
As much as he wanted to, he kept himself from kissing her back. He was not gonna let her distract him. Yeah, right.
A phone ringing brought them apart.
Recognizing the ring as Andy's, Sam only asked, "Where?" as he took off a glove.
Andy turned her back to him and said, "Right front."
Sam reached into her pocket as she undid her glove and growled as he checked the caller I.D. Andy didn't accept the call until just before her voicemail kicked in, not understanding Sam's reaction - until she heard the voice on the other end.
"Andy, this is Dr. Roemer."
"What can I do for you?"
"We need to discuss this morning's session …"
"What's there to talk about?"
"How about how you left my office?"
"With the intention of never going back," Sam said as Andy had put the call on speaker so he could hear.
"Officer Swarek."
"Wish I could say it was nice to talk to you again, Doc., but I can't."
"The feeling's mutual and I didn't call to speak to you, this is between me and my patient."
"Then you should call one, because Officer McNally isn't your patient."
Sam put his arms around Andy, pulling her back against him. She handed him her phone allowing him to disconnect it. Stepping away from her, Sam put his glove back on and drove his fist into the nearest wall.
Andy took her other glove off, walking up behind him, she put her arms around him.
"Sam, it's not the wall's fault."
"Sorry, hearing her voice I needed to hit something."
"So you hit the wall?"
"Well I wasn't gonna hit you."
"Why not?"
"Because as hard as I hit the wall, that would've hurt and I don't care how hard you hit me, but I am not going to hit you hard enough to hurt."
"Why? Because I'm a girl?"
"Because you're my girl." Sam clarified.
"Lose the gloves, Swarek, let me see that hand. Frank'll kill me if you hurt yourself."
Sam laughed as he turned around and wrapped his arms around her.
Reaching behind her, Andy undid his gloves and Sam allowed her to pull them off. She dropped them on the floor and grabbed his hands.
"Andy, I'm fine."
"Hey, that's my line!"
Sam laughed gently before kissing her.
"So much for gettin' to take you to the mat, McNally."
"It's ok. I'm sure you'll come up with something else."
"Come on, I wanna talk to Frank about that call before we get outta here."
"Sam, no, let's just go home … please?"
Her voice got his attention. "Hey, you ok?"
"Yeah, just gettin' tired."
"Then let's get you home."