As usual you know what I want to say, but I'll say it anyway! Thanks for the awesome reviews!
Thanks to the regulars & Kelly2727!
If you're a newbie, welcome to my world!
Chapter 10- Can't Stay Away
When he was leaving for the barn the next morning, his attention drifted to the red flag up on his mailbox. Without even bothering to wait to do it, he called Jerry and casually walked over to it.
Flipping the flap down, a silver bullet stood upright staring at him in warning. Sam didn't bother looking up and down the street, he knew Joseph was long gone, his warning left behind.
Sam thought he'd have all day on patrol with her to explain, but that idea was thrown out the window when Frank handed out pairings and she was with Oliver and he was riding solo.
Oliver shot him a quizzical look when Frank announced it, Sam merely shrugged, he had no idea why it was suddenly changed.
When they were dismissed Sam tried to catch up with Andy, but failed when she made no attempt to stop and listen.
"What did you do?". Oliver asked when he found Sam standing motionless in the hallway staring after McNally as she burst through the doors and fled outside.
Sam didn't answer, he just turned to Oliver and raised an eyebrow.
"She um... You know you need to talk to her sometime right?".
"We talk all the time". Sam countered.
"Not what I meant. I mean really talk to her. She asked to be partnered with someone else Sammy, so I don't know what happened between the two of you, but this..". Oliver was pointing between Sam and the doors that Andy went through, "Needs to be fixed".
Oliver watched as Sam took in the news that she had asked to be swapped out, and he saw what he'd suspected would be there if he was right, he gave Sam a knowing smile, that seemed to look more like a smirk before walking in the direction Andy had just left in.
At lunch time, Sam found himself parked down the street from Oliver's favorite hotdog stand, waiting for his friend to hopefully be hungry by now.
He watched as Oliver parked the cruiser and they got out, making their way over to order their food.
Sam waited until they had been handed their rolls before approaching and mumbling a whimpered "Got a minute McNally?".
Both Oliver and Andy were surprised to find Sam there, although Oliver had hoped he'd show up.
"I'll just...um...wait in the cruiser". Oliver didn't wait for McNally to acknowledge before he walked away hoping that things would be better when they were done.
"What do you want Sam?". Her tone was still cold, and sounded empty, her mouth moving in what seemed like absent mindedness.
"I need you to understand something okay?".
She rolled her eyes and huffed out a breath, all signs pointing to the fact that she really wasn't in the mood to do this now.
"Sam I get it okay, so you don't...".
"Andy, you don't get it. What I said last night wasn't the whole truth". Sam cut her off, not willing to listen to her find excuses.
His words peeked her curiosity, her eyes snapping to seek his out and searching them.
"What?".
"Look, when I said we've never been partners I wasn't kidding okay, its always been...I don't know different?".
Andy stared at him, her eyes widening.
"What does that even meant? Different?".
"I have no idea".
"Sam, you're not making sense".
"I need you to know that I meant what I said okay? Its always been different, and that if...I would find a way okay?".
Sam saw the recognition flash through her eyes as he spoke.
"Sam?". Her voice shifted to sounding hollow as she asked a silent question for him to say it wasn't what she was thinking.
"I need you to trust me okay? And I need you to stay away from me can you do that?".
Andy cocked her head to the side as if she was weighing his words up.
"Please?". He sounded so pleading with one word, even to his own ears.
"You know what? Screw you Swarek". Andy threw her hotdog into the garbage can just to her left and spun around heading straight for the cruiser.
She had only taken two or three steps when a loud bang filled the air, followed closely by a second, a third and even a fourth.
The gunshots were loud and close by, and before she knew it she was hit by something and then she hit the ground.
Looking up she saw Sam's face hovering above hers, and couldn't quite figure out if Sam hit her first or if she hit the ground first.
Oliver's voice suddenly called shots fired and their location over the radio, an array of responses following from dispatch and units on route.
"You okay?". Sam said as he surveyed their surroundings.
Andy nodded, not trusting her voice to answer.
"Sammy?". Oliver's voice suddenly loomed over them, making Sam stand up before holding his hand out for Andy to take.
"See anything?". Oliver shook his head, he really hadn't, even though he had intently been watching their exchange.
"You sure you're okay?". Andy nodded before looking down at her hand to find red smudges smeared across it.
"Andy?". Sam saw her face drain before following her vision down to her hand to see it marred with crimson.
"Andy, where are you bleeding?". Sam stepped forwards to search every inch of her to no avail, before her voice made itself heard.
"Sam I'm not, you are".
"No I'm...". Sam followed her eyes to the trickle of blood that made its way down his arm, coloring his skin red.
"Sammy?". Oliver stuck his head between Sam and Andy to get a better look.
"McNally take the squad back to the barn". Oliver suddenly ordered while lifting Sam's shirt sleeve up as far as he could.
"What? No".
"McNally I wasn't asking, now go". Andy looked torn between staying and going, looking at Sam for help.
"Go". Sam said without hesitation before she spun around and walked away.
Oliver radioed that an officer was injured and that McNally was coming back in with the cruiser while he was heading over to the hospital, no visuals on where the shots came from were made.
Diaz and Peck pulled up, and Oliver instructed him to canvas for witnesses and Peck to tape off the area and wait for Jerry who would probably arrive in the next ten minutes.
Just as Oliver climbed into the cruiser, his phone rang and he answered already knowing who it was.
"Is he still alive?". Jerry asked as soon as the line was picked up.
"Yup, if they wanted him dead, they would have shot him in the head and not the arm".
"Okay, let me know how he is later?". Jerry said before hanging up.
Three hours later McNally suddenly walked into the waiting room looking like she'd been run over by a truck.
"McNally, slow down he's okay". Oliver said as soon as he saw her.
Sitting down next to him, Andy didn't feel any more relief than she had when she saw he was bleeding.
"He's having the bullet taken out in the ER, then he'll be discharged. He is really okay". Oliver tried to fill his voice with honesty to reassure her that he was really okay.
"In the ER? Don't they go into surgery to remove a bullet?".
"Um... Yup they do".
"Then why aren't they?".
"Oliver!".
Oliver was sure she would have pieced it together by now, she's a clever kid, but it seemed that she was still missing the truth.
"He didn't even feel it did he, he didn't know until I told him did he?".
Oliver shook his head, still slightly in denial of the fact that Sammy still hadn't told her anything.
"How is that even possible?". Andy seemed really shocked at the prospect of hearing the truth.
"McNally look, Sammy has some issues. They go back to when he was a kid. He is kind of really detached... He's put a phsycological block on feeling anything".
"What? So he doesn't feel pain?". Andy's voice was angry, her words filing out as the anger washed away her concern.
"That's part of it... He literally doesn't feel anything. No pain, heat, texture. Emotion".
"What?".
Oliver adding emotion seemed to throw her off guard, her face becoming a warp of emotion.
"McN... Andy, Sam doesn't feel anything he touches, or anything that touches him. Everything feels the same, he describes it like feeling wood. People, objects, material, it's all the same. He doesn't feel emotions, no empathy, no sympathy, no love, nothing. It's just a gaping hole where all those things should be".
Andy's face became paler with each word he said, telling Oliver that she really had no idea.
"He didn't even tell me". She stammered out before looking up at Oliver and whispering a soft thank you and leaving.
Fifteen minutes later, Sam emerged from behind closed doors, waving an evidence bag with the bullet from him arm in it in front of Oliver's face.
His bandaged arm stuck out from his T-shirt's sleeve, the black and white in heavy contrast to eachother.
"You okay?". Oliver questioned as he stood up, Sam nodding in reply.
"You just missed McNally". He added.
"She okay?".
"No Sam, she's not okay. Why didn't you tell her?". Oliver's whole mood shifted to one Sam hadn't seen him ware often.
"I...".
"Yeah, well she knows now".
"You told her?" Sam was seething when Oliver said he had told Andy about his affliction.
"She has the right to know, she's your partner".
"You think I don't know that? I didn't tell her that because I didn't want her to think...".
"Think what Sam? That you're only human and had a rough childhood?".
"That it's why I can't stay away from her!". Sam was yelling, the entire hospital hallway turning to watch the heated exchange.
"What?". Oliver's face was dazed and confused as he stopped walking and stared at Sam.
"Yeah Oliver, I can feel her".
"Seriously? And you can't stay away because?".
"I can feel her, but it's like it's more too?".
"And you've kept this to yourself because?".
"I don't want to scare her into running okay. I don't want her to think that it's the only reason I want to be around her".
Oliver stared at Sam, a smile forming on his lips, before it slid off.
"Have you fallen for her?".
Sam looked away before looking back at Oliver, his silence enough of an answer.
"You know how wrong it is right?".
"She's not my rookie anymore Oliver". Sam handed Oliver the bag before he turned away and resumed his strides towards the doors.
"Sammy, you know how this ends, it's not fair to her. Where are you going?". Oliver called after Sam's retreating form.
"To find her". Sam called back, his strides never wavering.
****Thanks for reading!
*****okay, so let me know what you think in another one of those awesome thoughts you leave by using the little box underneath here - .͡▹
Have an awesome day!
Jelly Bean Jenna©