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"I…" Sam began to say that he could explain, but as he stared at the woman in front of him, one he respected and cared for, he decided she deserved better than that. "I should have been honest with you."

Marlo's eyes softened, and she shook her head defeatedly. "You should have been honest with yourself, Sam." She glanced beside her, taking in Andy's sleeping form, and sighed. "I've been stupid. You were never really over her." There was mild accusation in her tone, but mostly there was sadness.

"I'm sorry." He didn't deny it, any of it, and although Marlo was expecting it, the pain came anyway.

"Me too." She planted a kiss on his forehead, like the one she watched him place on Andy's moments before. She closed her eyes, squeezing them against the tears prickling beneath them, and lingered for a moment, her lips on his temple. Then she stood, abruptly, and when Sam looked up she was gone. He let out a sigh, relief washing through him. He hadn't meant to lead Marlo on, but he could feel a lightness in him, as though admitting his feelings to her could finally allow him to see what he really wanted. Andy. And now she was here, in front of him, slightly worse for the wear, but alive and on the mend. He was pulled from his thoughts as the hand he had pulled into his own flexed, and then tightened around his.

"Andy?" His voice was soft, and the stress he had been carrying for days seemed to have dissipated along with his relationship with Marlo. He watched as Andy's eyes fluttered briefly and then drifted open. She squinted at the harsh fluorescent light, and a scowl flitted across her face. Sam frowned.

"I hate hospitals." Her voice was low and gravelly. Sam couldn't help the grin that stretched across his face, threatening to split his face in two. Not only was she awake, but she was feeling like herself, if the obvious impatience thick in her voice was any indication. It comforted Sam endlessly, and he knew by the look on Andy's face that his mood came as a surprise to her. He realized after being exposed to the worst brooding version of himself every time she saw him, she would be expecting more of the same. The uncertainty in her face seemed to melt away as she watched him watch her. Her eyes fixated on his. He had missed those eyes, so full of warmth and compassion. He certainly hadn't seen much of them lately as a consequence of how much time she had spent unconscious in recent days.

"Andy…" He cleared his throat. She had just woken up, he didn't need to jump into the heavy stuff right away. It could wait. "How are you feeling?" She seemed to be taking mental stock of herself, wiggling her fingers, then glancing down at her abdomen.

"I can feel my stomach." She winced as she tried to sit up. "I guess that's a good thing." Sam smiled.

"That's a very good thing, McNally." She rolled her eyes at him.

"That's easy for you to say. I don't know what they did, but-" She shifted uncomfortably in the bed. "I'm kind of missing the numbness right now." The smile on Sam's face fell slightly. He was sure, once this was over, that he would have seen enough of Andy in pain for a lifetime. His hand shot out to cup her face.

"Hey, are you alright?" She nodded tiredly, and Sam backed off. He was sure of his feelings for her, he had more clarity surrounding that than he ever had, but he still didn't know what her situation with Collins was. If they were involved… well, Sam would have to accept it. He had made a lot of mistakes leading them to exactly where they were now. If Andy had moved on, he had to take responsibility for his part in it. But that didn't mean he wouldn't fight for her. He had once told her that he wouldn't give up on her, that he would keep trying, that he would do everything to convince her to give him another chance. He hadn't kept that promise then, but he would this time around. "You want me to see if they can get you on the good painkillers?" She smiled but shook her head.

"I just… I want to sleep." She opened her eyes, which had drifted closed again, and gave Sam a desperate look. "I mean I don't want to sleep, I want to do anything but sleep. I've been sleeping for days but…" She trailed off, the weariness in her voice triggering a pang in Sam's chest. He suspected her exhaustion ran deeper than what she was physically feeling.

"You want to sleep." He finished her sentence, and Andy shot him a weak, but grateful smile. "Andy, you've been through a lot. You've had a big few days." She rolled her eyes at his words.

"Yeah," She murmured, "You could say that." Her eyelids began to droop, and Sam could tell he was losing her.

"Sleep, McNally. I'm not going anywhere." Andy glanced up, confusion evident on her face. Sam realized she had picked up on the deeper meaning behind his words, but she didn't question him on it.

"Sam?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you." Sam stared at her. Her eyes were shut, and he suddenly found himself wishing they were open so he could see what she was thinking.

"For what?" He hadn't meant to ask, had meant to let her fall asleep, but the guilt weighing heavily on his shoulders pushed the words from his mouth.

"For saving me. You're always saving me." Her voice was dreamy, almost incoherent as she mumbled, but he caught every word. He let out a sharp breath. He hated thinking about what happened. Had he really saved her if she would never have been in danger if not for him? What if he hadn't gotten there in time? The image of that creep with his hands all over Andy, ripping her clothes from her body, caused every muscle in his body to tense with anger. He should have never let her leave the Penny with Collins, they were both wasted. He had failed her, again. And she thought he'd saved her. He clutched her hand even more tightly in his own. His voice was a whisper, even though he knew she couldn't hear him.

"You're wrong McNally. You save me everyday."

Oliver rounded the corner of the hallway, stepping quietly into Andy's room. He stared at her as he walked toward the bed, the look of utter peace on her face so at odds with the bruises covering every inch of exposed skin. The sadness that washed over him as he took it all in was the kind reserved only for family. He knew the feeling well, and he knew what it meant.

McNally was special. She was special to him, she was special to many of the coppers and whiteshirts that hung around the division, and she was special, it was obvious, to Sam. It wasn't hard to see why the young men who worked with her, one after the other, fell in love with her.

Actually, he mused, that would have been altogether too neat a situation for someone like her. Rather, they had fallen as messily as dominoes, Sam or Luke first, depending on who you asked, then Collins. He had wondered about Diaz and Epstein for a while, but they had had their own pretty rookies to fawn over. Oliver too, though in an entirely different way.

Somewhere along the way he had come to appreciate her unique view on the world, and on people. He had grown fond of all his rookies, but maybe because of her relationship with Sam, Oliver had grown to love McNally like family.

And now she was lying in front of him, bruised but not broken, and his best friend was sleeping in an uncomfortable looking chair at her bedside. He didn't know exactly what had happened, but Oliver could feel that something had shifted between Sam and Andy, and he was glad. He had seen from the first time Sam had brought her coffee that they were meant for each other. He had been dropping some not-so-subtle hints ever since they had broken up the first time. Jerry's death had been hard on everyone, but it had scared the hell out of Oliver that Sam had decided to face it alone. He had never been so worried about his friend as had been then, especially knowing McNally was exactly what Sam needed to pull him out of the dark place he had gone to.

But that was in the past. And it looked, hopefully, like the two might be on their way back to each other. Oliver certainly hoped so. Life was short enough, adding the dangers of their occupation to that only shaved precious time off those years. It seemed a damn shame to waste what time they had, fumbling around denying that what they were looking for was each other.

He smiled. Just as he turned to go, he heard a shuffling noise behind him.

"Oliver?" Her voice was raspy, even more so than usual, but he had missed that voice making wiseass comments in his cruiser. He turned.

"Hey sweetheart. How's the gut?" He patted his own and raised an eyebrow. Andy's bruised face feigned offense.

"My gut? Are you sure you're not thinking of yourself, officer belly?" Her smile stretched all the way across her face. Oliver tried to ignore the wince of pain that followed it.

"Hey! I got called that one time by some smartass kid. It didn't stick. Besides, I've been working out since then." The chuckle that came from her seemed to startle Sam awake. He shot upright, then blinked blearily at Oliver.

"That's right, you and Celery have been doing the, uh, cardio together?" The teasing expression on Andy's face didn't help the blush that burned across Oliver's cheeks. He cleared his throat.

"Hmm. Yeah. Hey, look who's finally awake! Morning Sammy!" Oliver swivelled to face Sam, effectively ending his conversation with Andy. He could practically feel the smirk on her face, aimed in his direction. He was about to prompt Sam into conversation, but he realized Sam's eyes were trained intensely on Andy's face. Andy must have followed his gaze, because he looked back at her to see she too was staring a little concernedly at Sam.

"Sam?" Her voice was almost afraid. She had been so glad to wake up earlier to find him lacking the distant broodiness he had taken with her the past few months, and now he was staring at her as if she had appeared out of nowhere. "Sam?" She prompted again, this time a little louder. He blinked, then shook his head.

"Oh. Sorry." He grunted and sat back in his chair, offering no explanation. Andy and Oliver looked at each other, then back at him, waiting. He finally sighed and rubbed at his face with his hand. He mumbled something that neither of them heard.

"What was that, Sammy?" Oliver asked, intrigued as to why his friend was acting this way.

"I just said 'It's been a long time since I woke up to you laughing.'" Sam muttered, glancing at Andy, then glaring at Oliver. Andy's mouth fell open and she quickly closed it, her head falling forward so that she was staring at her hands. Oliver just chuckled.

"I think I'll let you kids talk." He grinned and patted Sam on the back, then left the room whistling. Sam rolled his eyes. He had known for a long time his friends views regarding his relationship with Andy, but he never ceased to be amazed at the lack of subtlety Oliver employed. He slowly turned back to face Andy, and was a little surprised to see her staring back at him.

"How are you feeling?" He found himself reverting back to a safer topic, and wondering whether Andy would let him steer the conversation away from what he had already said. She continued to stare.

"I'm fine. I wish everyone would stop asking me that." She didn't sound annoyed, just weary. Sam knew the feeling. He wished he could promise he would stop asking, but he doubted that he could help himself. Not that she ever told him when something was bothering her anyway. He smirked at her, and watched her hand twitch forward before she fisted it and held it stiffly at her side. He wondered about that, but said nothing.

Andy watched Sam as he smiled at her, barely resisting the urge to reach out and poke the deep dimples he displayed. She had missed having them aimed in her direction. From his earlier comment it sounded like maybe he missed her too. She had known, with immense clarity, from the moment she woke up, that she still loved him, and that he was what she wanted. There had been things, so many obstacles in their relationship, that she had begun to wonder if it was worth it. There were details of their story that even Sam didn't know, and she didn't know if she was ready to tell him. She had known all along that she could never be with him without telling him how deeply he had hurt her, but her secrets, if told, would hurt both of them. Now that she knew she wanted to be with him, she was ready to let him in. Her only concern was that he seemed to have moved on, he was happy with Marlo. She didn't want to take that away from him, she kept telling herself not to be selfish. He cleared his throat.

"So, how's Collins?" Sam winced internally as the words left his mouth. Now that they were out there, he realized he needed to know, one way or another, what her situation with Collins was. If he were to put his feelings on the line, and she was unavailable, it would just make things uncomfortable for both of them.

"He's… fine." Andy answered slowly, drawing out her syllables like she was thinking intensely about her words. "He was in earlier."

"Yeah, I know." Sam waited, wondering if he was going to have to ask for more information or if she would volunteer it.

"Oh. Right." She remembered Sam had been in visiting her when Nick had dropped by, and that he had left swiftly. She sighed. He had obviously gotten the wrong idea about the two of them. The voice in her head questioned whether it was really the wrong idea when Sam had known about Nick's feelings before she had. It occurred to her that Sam might not have made quite as rapid an exit as he appeared to, and she found herself wondering exactly how much he had heard. One look at his face told her he had heard at least something he didn't like. "How's Marlo?" She couldn't help the words as they tumbled from her lips, she regretted bringing Marlo into things, when she had been enjoying having Sam around again. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about how happy he was with his new girlfriend.

"She's good. Actually, we, uh, we broke up." He was looking directly at Andy as she spoke, and she shivered under his intense gaze. She had a feeling this was a shifting point for them. She either fought for Sam, and put herself out there, or she would lose the option of being with him. They had already had so many chances to be together, and they had ruined them. She doubted they would get another.

"So." She said, pausing to collect the courage to start a conversation that she knew might not go the way she wanted.

"So." Sam replied, obviously grappling with his emotions as well. Andy realized they were both holding onto that last shred of self preservation. Don't put yourself out there, it said, you are opening yourself up to a world of pain. She laughed internally at that sentiment. Wasn't she in pain now? Hadn't she been, for months? What did she have to lose anymore? Certainly not her dignity. She took a deep breath, and opened her mouth.

"I guess we need to talk."