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Chapter 11- Dragged Away.
The mall was crowded, a barrage of shop go-ers getting early Christmas shopping done.
They had spent the better part of three hours combing stores for the right tinsel, and the perfect decorations. Bailey had even surprised him and gone 'old-school' by choosing a box of hand carved wooden decorations rather that the latest brightly colored creations that lined virtually every stores shelves.
She had also picked out three boxes of string lights and Sam could just imagine himself getting tangled up in them.
He had spent a lot of time watching Andy and how in awe she was as she looked in the store windows that lined the hallways and how she lost herself in watching people. At one point he even caught her miming along to 'A Merry Little Christmas'.
It was as though she was experiencing it all for the first time, and maybe, just maybe she was.
It was different for her now, she was in the mall as a shopper rather than someone that was looking for a place to hang around because there was nowhere else to go.
Sam was about to tell the girls to head to the small restaurant in the corner of the second floor when his phone rang and he was interrupted.
Retrieving the hindering thing from his pocket he found Frank on the other end.
Which was really strange. He never called unless something was wrong.
"Sorry to disturb your Saturday, but I have some bad news" Frank began once Sam connected the call.
Sam felt the color drain from his face as he expected words like Oliver or Jerry didn't make it to follow that last sentence.
"I'm listening" Sam replied dryly in an attempt to edge the conversation on.
"You've been assigned...".
"No!" Sam bit out before Frank got another word out.
"It's an order".
"I don't care okay, not happening. You know the circumstances". Sam tried to keep his voice down but it was kind of hard when he got that angry.
"This is from upstairs Sammy. Lloyd was killed a few hours ago and Peck wants you in on this".
Another cop killed undercover.
"Not a smart move then" Sam challenged the order by seeking reason. Sending a new face in as soon as a UC Cop was killed really was a stupid idea, and it would raise a lot of questions.
"Sam, this is your career. You don't go against an order that Peck has issued for you to be assigned on a UC". And then there was Frank's voice of reason.
"I can't. What am I supposed to do with Bailey?".
"Noelle will take her".
Sam hated asking people for help. He felt like he was already draining every resource he had within his ring of friends.
Sam was about to say something when Andy's hand waved in front of his face trying to get his attention.
'I can...' She mouthed and shrugged.
"I'll call you back" Sam said into his phone before hanging up.
"I can't ask you to do that" Sam responded to Andy offering to watch Bailey. She had no idea what it was about.
"You're not, I'm offering" Andy had a small smile accompanying that statement.
"Not this time, but thanks". Sam was frustrated at the whole situation. Andy with her good heart and honest ways was ready to leave their lives and yet on a whim she was offering to stay because he was stranded without someone to watch over Bailey.
"But...". This time Sam's hand came up to stop her words. "I appreciate the offer, but it's not for a shift or two Andy".
Her brows furrowed. She wasn't on the same page.
"I've been assigned and it could be for a while". Sam cleared up without saying too much.
"You do UC's?" She seemed surprised. And mortified. And she knew a whole lot more than he thought she did.
"My Dad, um... Wow". She was really shocked by his revelation.
Tommy McNally had been a former UC cop but Sam guessed wrong when he thought that Andy didn't know that.
"I used to be. But I can't anymore, not with her". Sam looked between Bailey at a toy store window and Andy who seemed to be living some kind of memory.
Then she smiled.
If Bailey didn't understand what he was doing for her, that didn't mean that the rest of the world or Andy didn't either.
"I can still?". Andy stopped talking and just poofed away on her heels like she thought she was interfering.
After that Andy dragged them out to Sam's truck and he drove them home in silence. Andy would occasionally look his way but he dared not return it.
Instead he concentrated on the road and ignored the seven calls he got during the drive home.
As soon as they were in the door, Bailey attacked the Christmas tree and shopping bags with equal fever.
Within minutes Andy was roped in and Sam hung back to watch the two of them tackle the task of decorating the tree.
Sam headed for the kitchen and grabbed himself a beer, half the bottle emptied in three sips.
He'd never been much of a drinker, but right now anything with alcohol would help settle the uneasiness he felt creeping into him.
Andy and Bailey had quieted down, so Sam assumed that Andy had ushered her upstairs for a bath.
"I meant it" Andy's voice suddenly sounded through his thoughts, her presence filling the kitchen doorway as she looked wearily between him and the beer bottle.
Since she'd been here, it was the only time he had touched alcohol. It was probably a sad reminder to her of where she came from and how she got there.
"Besides, I owe you" she added and focused back on his face.
"You don't owe me anything". Sam really didn't want her to feel obliged to stay or obligated to pay him back.
"You've done so much for me, so if you need me to stay, I'll stay". And again she was like Houdini, gone as soon as he blinked.
Sam gave her offer some consideration, but not much. It wasn't about forcing her to stay when she clearly didn't want to, it was about abandoning Bailey too.
Although that was inevitable anyway, if he stuck to the plan.
Dinner was awkward and so was hot chocolate and the movie afterwards. Silence blossomed between the adults while Bailey grew tired and nodded off.
Sam took her to bed and returned to find Andy watching the rest of the movie that she faked being engrossed by.
"Isn't it like, seriously dangerous?" Andy suddenly blurted out when he reentered the lounge. Her mind had clearly been obsessed with thoughts on that subject.
"It can be" Sam wasn't about to lie to her. Not when she had been so honest with him.
"But, you miss it" she added looking up at him as he came to stand next to the couch.
"Nope". Sam sat down and tried to kill the conversation.
Andy let out a giggle. "How did you ever survive UC if you can't lie?".
"I can lie". Sam challenged and smiled a little at her aloofness.
She really was so solemn in some departments and yet so naive in others.
"No, you can't".
"I hate pistachio ice-cream". Sam said.
"No you don't" Andy giggled out again.
Sam raised an eyebrow daring her to prove otherwise.
"There's choc-chip and pistachio in your freezer. I don't think Bailey likes the pistachio".
She wasn't completely clueless was she?
"So, what's the assignment?" Andy turned solemn again and looked away like she really didn't want to know the answer to that question.
"Don't know, I turned it down remember".
"Why?".
"Because that's who I used to be".
That kind of made her look back at him, but it only lasted a split second.
"Look Sam, I'll stay if you need to go. You've done a lot for me and I know it's not always easy to raise a child alone. All you need to do is tell me what to do".
Andy whispered the sentence out and then stood up, but she still hovered. She was expecting an answer.
"I'll think about it. Thank you". Sam said and she left the room.
Sam's mind whirled away as he thought over his options and Andy's offer. Somehow his gut felt like he was meant to do this.
His phone rang again, a sign that he wasn't going to be left alone until he said yes.
"Frank".
"Sam, she wants an answer" Frank sounded tired on the other end of the phone.
"First, I need to know the job and the cover" Sam couldn't believe that he just said that. He was opening himself up to wanting to do this by saying that.
"It's low key. You'll be driving a truck to transport the goods and getting intel, that's about it. You're just a hand off the street looking for a job and you don't care what it is".
It sounded low level, and low key so it didn't sound all that bad...
"When?".
"Um, five hours from now is check in".
"What?" Sam couldn't believe that he was hearing that. Five hours wasn't enough time to do anything.
"Okay" Sam said with a tense breath.
"How long will I be under?"
"Word has it there's a shipment coming in within ten days, once that's done you're home free".
Well that wasn't so bad. That he could do.
"Okay, send someone to pick me up".
Sam hung up and mounted the stairs in search of Andy who he found coming out of the bathroom freshly showered.
"Got a minute?" He asked lingering in the hallway feeling uncomfortable.
"Sure" she managed with a lopsided grin.
"I um, I'm taking it if it's okay with you?". He was asking her permission to do it because without her here he couldn't.
"Yeah sure. Do you know how long you'll be gone?". She sounded a little sad at the prospect of him leaving.
"A week or so. Can you drive?"
Andy frowned and shook her head. She had never learned to drive because she had never had the need to. And there had never been anyone to teach her too.
"I'll book a cab for you for Bailey for school" Sam said and then back stepped a little when Andy nodded.
"Okay" Andy mumbled. The moment was gaining awkwardness as seconds ticked by.
"I need to sort some stuff out, will you come down...?" He left it hanging. She had wet hair that smelled like jasmine so she should probably enjoy the fact that she could dry it. Before she got sick again.
Andy nodded again and Sam left her to get done.
When he went back downstairs he put the kettle on and then sent Oliver and Jerry both a text telling them that he was going away and leaving their numbers and his phone with Andy in case she needed anything.
After filling cups with coffee he searched for his wallet and pulled the few notes in cash he had out and shoved them into his back pocket. He retrieved his ATM card and then placed it on the counter top and scribbled his password on the paper under Oliver and Jerry's numbers.
His and Bailey's medical insurance card followed next and so did his ID just in case something happened. Personal items stayed behind anyway, but these ones had to be left with Andy in case she needed something.
He called a cab company and booked a cab for everyday at the same time for both ways to and from Bailey's school. He also told them that Andy would call if she needed a cab for another time in between those. He arranged for his credit card to be used so he wasn't worried that he didn't have cash on him to leave for the cab fare.
Next he wrote a short note to Bailey's school saying that he was away on business and Andy was Bailey's... Emergency contact and that she'd be fetching her everyday too.
Sam heard Andy's footsteps draw closer as she came down and he suddenly felt like he was making a mistake by leaving.
When she was close enough Sam slid the papers and cards across the counter top and then set her coffee cup down next to it.
"If you need anything call these numbers. Draw cash from any ATM or just swipe it for whatever you need".
Andy picked her cup up and nodded over the rim at him.
"I won't be in contact and I'll be unreachable". She nodded again.
"What am I supposed to tell Bailey?".
"I'll say goodbye" Sam said his tone shifting to something unfamiliar.
Suddenly he knew he was making a mistake by doing this. It felt so wrong.
Sam took a sip of his coffee and then set his cup down. He needed to say goodbye now or he was going to back out and not do it at all.
He sidestepped Andy and bounded up the stairs before stopping outside his bedroom door.
Pushing it open he found Bailey curled up and fast asleep.
"You okay Uncle Sam?" Bailey asked after he sat down next to her heavily.
"Yeah, I just need to talk to you for a minute".
Bailey was barely awake, but he could see that she was trying to focus on him in the dark.
"I need to go away for walk for a few days"
That right there gave her such a look of panic. She felt like he was going to go away and never come back, just like Sarah.
"It's just work, I'll be back soon". He was making a bad attempt at reassuring her that he would come home, her face telling him that she really didn't believe him.
"But you need to promise me something okay?" Sam added trying a different approach.
Bailey barely nodded, she wasn't so sure about answering his request.
"You need to look after Andy okay?" That blindsided them both. He didn't mean for that to come out the way it sounded, but he was working with what he had right now.
"You need to make sure she eats right, and gets plenty of sleep. Check that she drinks her vitamins after breakfast and that she doesn't drink too much coffee".
Bailey's features changed and Sam could tell that she really liked Andy and she was feeling so proud of herself right now because to her she was being given a really important task.
"Can we bake cookies?"
Sam let out a chuckle. That was one thing he never saw coming. "Sure you can, but save me some okay?".
Bailey smiled and nodded before lifting the covers off of herself and crawling closer to Sam. "I'll eat just one, you can have all the others if you promise to come back".
Bailey was wise when it came to his job, she knew the dangers and she knew that if he was going away for work it wasn't a good thing or a walk in the park.
"I promise, I'll be home soon" Sam held his arms open and Bailey climbed into his lap.
"Before Christmas?" Bailey asked wrapping her arms around him.
"Way before Christmas okay".
"I love you Uncle Sam" she whispered into his neck and Sam felt himself suddenly feeling just a little teary. It was the simple things; like those words from his niece that turned his insides to mush.
"I love you too" Sam whispered back. It kind of felt strange to say because he wasn't big on words. But those words she needed to hear, she needed to know even it too, if she was only eight.
Sam tucked Bailey back into bed and then turned the bedside lamp on and rummaged around in his closet for a bag and a few odds and ends as well as clothes.
He could feel her still watching him but he carried on with the mundane duty of pacing.
By the time his bag was packed Bailey had fallen asleep, the crease in her brow returning as they furrowed and the sadness returned to grace her small face.
Sam kissed her goodbye even though she wouldn't know it and then grabbed his bag and left his bedroom.
Andy was hovering in the kitchen, she looked like she was fidgeting uneasily.
"Still time to back out" Sam said clutching the handle of his bag with a stern grip. He really needed to say those words to her because if she needed a way out of doing this; this was her last chance to change her mind.
"I'll be okay, and I'll look after her Sam" Andy said giving him a look that questioned her own ability to do just that.
"If you need anything call Oliver or Jerry..." Sam was playing for time and it showed.
"We'll be fine" Andy said and this time there was a small smile reinforcing her words.
"I know" Sam returned her smile and then took marginal strides towards the door where his hand paused for a second before he turned the handle.
"See you round McNally"
With that Sam flashed one last dimpled grin her way and let himself out of his own house.
****thanks for reading, hope you'll leave a thought & let me know who's still here & who has the Christ$as spirit?
Have an awesome day!
Jelly Bean Jenna©
