Lindsay didn't know who was more surprised by Sam's announcement: her or Andy McNally. Okay so Anton Hill was a big fish in a big pond, so it made sense Sam Swarek would know him; but Martin Drake was essentially a 'nobody' – one of Anton Hill's henchmen. Not even his right-hand man. Just a small-time crook who got off on being associated with power and money...

Mostly power.

Lindsay roused from her unpleasant trip down memory lane by Andy McNally's anxious voice. "Sam, where are you going?"

"I'm gonna nail that son of a bitch," Sam ground out haltingly never slowing his stride.

"Get serious for a minute, you don't even know he's involved," Andy turned to Lindsay to ask. "Was Anton Hill one of your dad's drinking buddy?"

"What? No. My father's not exactly high on the food chain even after fifteen years in Hill's employ so you can only imagine the way it was nine years ago..."

"See?" Andy turned to Sam only to see him disappear out the door. "Bloody idiot," she swore under her breath before she ran after him. "Sam, stop!" Of course, he didn't – which she hadn't really expected him to. "Alright go ahead. Go back to Toronto and try to pin this on Hill with no corroborating evidence; I mean after all, you like seeing that son of a bitch walk free."

Oh boy! That was the absolute worst thing to say McNally...

She watched Sam turn back and stalk angrily towards her but she stood her ground and refused to let him see how intimidated she felt... even when he stood right in her face.

"The only reason Hill walked free in the first place is because you burned me, rook."

"And the only reason he's still free is because you valued Emily's life more than you hated him," Andy added with a bravado she was light-years from feeling.

Sam's eyes glittered like diamond. "What do you want from me McNally? You want me to let him walk, is that it?"

"Damn it Sam, he's got nothing to do with any of this! Lindsay's father did this to her: not Anton Hill, not Charles Manson... her father. If you need to go after somebody so bad, go after him and leave Hill alone."

"I can flip him Andy, I know I can. I get to Drake and I can get him to lead me to Hill."

"Oh yeah? How; by threatening him with bodily harm or no, better yet, by promising him a lighter sentence?"

"Who cares," Sam shouted angrily, "as long as it lands us Hill?"

"I don't know for sure but I'd venture Lindsay Drake might care," Andy snapped back angrily. "I can't imagine how I'd feel if the man who brutally raped me got a slap on the wrist and walked free after repeatedly abusing me – all so some gung-ho cop could finally catch his white whale."

Sam staggered back under her verbal attack as if she'd actually physically struck him. "Oh God, what the hell am I doing?" Sam whispered in a voice laced with pain and self-loathing.

"You don't think straight when Hill is involved, that's why you've got me to have your back, Sam. You'll get him someday, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow; but you'll get him on charges that'll actually stick."

She was right of course and Sam knew it; but right now, he was holding on to his anger with all his might, afraid of what would happen without that emotional buffer.

"Sam, look at me."

Sam tried to put as much contempt in his stare as he could muster but the gentle empathy in Andy's brown eyes made quick work of it and to his utter shame, he felt his eyes tear up. Swallowing a vicious curse, he turned his back to her and hoped she didn't notice.

"Do you have any idea how proud I am of you right now Sam Swarek?" Andy asked so softly he wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly. "I can't even begin to imagine how hard it was for you to sit in that room, seeing Sarah in every one of those girls looking back at you..."

Andy was pretty certain Sam wasn't even aware of the small choking sound that ripped from his throat at the mention of his sister, and the pain radiating from him tore at her tender heart. She reached a tentative hand and placed it on the bunched muscles of his forearm.

"For a minute there, I saw the man who walked into the locker room to make sure I was okay after my first kill, except you were even gentler than you had been that night which I never would have thought possible," Andy continued, moving slightly closer.

Sam tried to swallow past the lump in his throat without much success. He had to find a way to shut her up because she was killing him with her kindness.

"You're always there for me when I'm at my most vulnerable, even when you're mad at me and have every reason to be... Let me return the favour tonight, Sam."

"Are you offering me a pity fuck McNally?" Sam flinched mentally at the insult.

"That's not going to work, you know. You can try to be as crass as you want, don't think for a minute I don't know you're hurting Sam. I heard Lindsay's story but I was watching you... I saw how every word found its mark, right down to the fact she'd been thirteen when..."

"Shut up, Andy," he'd meant to be insulting, but it came out as a broken plea.

Andy trailed her hand down his forearm and covered his fingers with hers. "You don't always have to be strong Sam," she whispered softly. "I won't think any less of you if you let go of your armour. You won't be less than a man in my eyes..."

With a small animal cry, Sam turned around and crushed her in his arms, his big body wracked with repressed sobs he absolutely refused to let loose.

"I'm here Sammy, it's going to be okay," Andy crooned softly, her eyes filling with tears. Without conscious thought, her hand traveled up his back in a soothing caress and came to rest on the back of his neck.

Sam shivered at the contact and tightened his hold on Andy, bringing her body flush with his. It felt so good to hold her, to be held by her. "I need you," he whispered brokenly before his lips swooped down and claimed hers.