They went in early the next morning. Sam helped her outta the truck before grabbing their bags. Andy surprised him when she didn't reach for it, he threw both bags over his shoulder as they headed for the door. At the lockers he handed hers over and was surprised when she leaned up and kissed his cheek.
"Do you wanna change before or after we talk to Frank?"
Sam looked down at her. "We don't have t'do this today ..."
"Yeah, we do. Jerry and Oliver know, Boyd knows ... it's time everyone knows ..."
Sam leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, "Does that mean you're ready to move in?"
Andy's only response was a smile.
"Let's go talk to Frank ..."
They threw their bags in their respective locker rooms and headed up the stairs.
Sam knocked on Frank's open door. "Got a minute, boss?"
Frank looked up. "Sure Sammy, come on in."
Sam let Andy in ahead of him.
"Everything ok?" Frank asked looking between his officers.
When Andy started fidgeting Sam reached over and took her hand in his.
Frank saw the gesture and smiled. "Andy, relax, he's not your T.O. anymore, there's no reason you guys can't see each other."
"Thank you, sir, but what does that mean for ..."
"You're afraid you'll lose your partner ..." Frank said gently.
"Yes, sir."
"I tried to tell her it wouldn't happen but she needs to hear it from you," Sam answered Frank's unspoken question when he looked at him.
Frank looked at Andy and smiled. "He's right. You two together is something very special. Both personally and professionally. Do you want to make an announcement during Parade or just let people figure it out?"
Andy looked at Sam who shrugged, this was totally her call. Andy smiled as she said, "I don't think an announcement is necessary. If they're smart, they'll figure it out."
Sam couldn't help but chuckle.
Frank smiled and agreed not to say anything, assuring Andy that nothing was changing.
Sam stood up and shook Frank's hand. "Thanks, Frank."
Frank shook his old friend's hand. "You guys make my job easier, I'm happy to."
Andy smiled as she stood up. "Thank you, sir."
"None needed, McNally, I knew this day was comin'."
Andy blushed lightly.
They left Frank's office headed for their lockers. Nobody was around when they got there so Andy leaned up, kissed his cheek and whispered, "Wait for me?"
Sam's response was to smile and brush hair from her face.
They entered Parade together to cheers for a job well done. Nothin' outta the ordinary resulted in the shocking assignment of Swarek and McNally riding the desk. Frank was quick to settle everyone down before he dismissed Parade and everybody filed out. They met up at the coffee station.
"If he wanted to torture me why didn't he just partner me with Epstein today?" Sam grumbled under his breath.
Andy laughed softly. "It's not that bad, at least we're still together."
Andy fixed his coffee and handed it to him. With his hand at her back, Sam made his way to the desk.
Turned out, being on the desk meant they didn't get called in to go over their statements.
Sam signed his statement and handed the pen to Andy who took it with the comment, "It's no wonder you make me do the paperwork, you want people to be able to read it."
"As your T.O, because you're a rookie, I'm gonna let that slide, McNally."
Andy laughed as she signed her statement.
Sam was in the locker room changing when Oliver came in. "Comin' to the Penny, brother?"
"Depends if she needs a ride."
Sam walked out in time to hear the rookies begging Andy to go to the Penny to celebrate the Landry takedown. She was trying to get out of it, not knowing if Sam would want to go.
"C'mon McNally, lemme give you a ride to the Penny."
Andy smiled. "Thank you."
Sam reached for her bag and she handed it over as she looked at her friends and said, "See you guys there."
Sam helped her into the truck before throwing their bags in the back. They were holding hands before they were outta the lot.
Sam held the door for her. She smiled as he put his hand on her back and leaned down to whisper that he would take care of their tab. Andy nodded before making her way to the rookie table.
Chris had her beer poured when she sat down.
His scotch was waiting when Sam made it to the bar.
Sam motioned for Liam to take a round of shots to the rookies.
Andy looked at Liam, he pointed to Sam. Andy jumped off her seat and headed for the bar. He was talking to Jerry and Oliver when she stepped up behind him. Sam knew she was behind him, he could feel her. He couldn't help the smile. Andy tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around enough to wrap an arm around her. Andy giggled as she kissed him on the cheek. "Hi."
Sam smiled, dimples on full display. "Hi."
"Just wanted to come and say thank you."
"You're welcome."
"McNally! Get over here!"
They turned at the sound of Traci's voice and laughed at the looks on her friends faces.
"Guess I better get back before the natives get restless."
Sam laughed. "You sure you wanna do that alone?"
Andy laughed as she squeezed his thigh. "Yeah. Have fun with the guys," she leaned in closer and whispered against his ear, "I love you."
Sam turned so no one could hear or read his lips as he whispered back, "I love you."
Andy went back to the table and as she sat down she heard, "Rock 'n Roll, McNally!"
She looked at Dov, he shrugged. "What? You're happy aren't you?"
Andy smiled. "Yeah, I am."
Traci jumped up."Hey Barber! Who won the 'McSwarek Hookup' pool?"
Sam hung his head while Andy turned fifty shades of red.
"Traci! Not cool!" Andy hissed.
Jerry took in the reaction of the couple in question before grinning at HIS girlfriend and responding, "Winner will be announced tomorrow during Parade!"
"Barber ..." Sam growled.
Jerry looked at Sam and as innocently as he could asked, "What?"
"What the hell have you done?" Sam growled even though they'd known about the pool for weeks.
"Now Sammy, don't get all bent outta shape, we," he waved his hand between himself and Oliver, "put a pool together only because everybody in the Division was asking the question. This was our way of keeping track."
"You're an ass, Barber."
"You've pointed out my finer points for years, buddy," Jerry replied with a grin.
Sam shook his head.
Over at the rookie table, Andy was just as happy with her best friend. Thanks to Traci, the entire bar now knew that she and Sam were together.
Traci didn't get why Andy was unhappy. They weren't breaking any rules.
"What's wrong?" she whispered.
"What's wrong?!" Andy hissed. "You took it upon yourself to out my relationship when you won't own up to your own!" Andy didn't give her a chance to respond before she jumped off her stool and headed for the door with a mumbled goodnight to the others.
Sam wasn't really paying attention to what was happening at the rookie table when suddenly Oliver clapped him on the shoulder and told him to go make sure his girl was ok. He looked over at the rookie table to find Andy's seat empty. He didn't bother finishing his drink, just threw some money on the bar and headed for the door.
Sam found her sitting on the tailgate of the truck. Andy looked up when she felt him. "Did that really just happen?"
Sam chuckled lightly as he sat next to her.
"Gotta admit, I never expected Nash to be the one to blow our relationship outta the water ... You ok?"
"Yeah, just really disappointed in Traci."
Sam turned to look at her. "What's goin' on in that pretty head of yours, McNally?"
Andy just shook her head and looked at her feet.
Sam tipped her chin so she was looking at him. "Andy, talk to me ..."
"Sam, I'm ..."
"Do not say you're fine. You only say that when you're not."
Andy's lips twitched into a small smile.
"What d'ya say we go home?" Sam asked as he jumped off the tailgate. Andy responded by jumping off.
It wasn't that either one of them objected to people finding out it was how they found out that bothered both Sam and Andy. God knows if Sam - or anyone else - had done something like that to him ... Jerry would not have been happy! And Nash, she could be scary when she wanted to be so it was a good bet she'd hand you your ass. So neither Sam nor Andy understood why they would do it to someone else ... especially their best friends.
They got home and Andy immediately headed for the stairs. She was upstairs changing when she thought she heard Sam's voice. Then she heard Jerry say, "We know she's here, brother. We've already been to her apartment, she's not there."
Then she heard Traci. "Please, Sam ..."
Andy couldn't believe they had the nerve to come looking for her. They were the last people she wanted to see or talk to after what just happened. She grabbed her jeans and pulling her phone outta her pocket, sent Sam a text.
His phone beeped with a text from their bedroom. He wasn't surprised by her message. It simply read: NO!
He pocketed his phone and turned back to their uninvited guests.
"You really think I'm gonna let you upset her more than you already have? Barber, you know me better than that. You wanna talk to her, you wanna apologize to her, you can both do it tomorrow ..." Sam opened the door.
Jerry knew it was pointless to argue with Sam so he put his arm around Traci's waist and steered her towards the door. He looked at Sam, who only said, "Save it, Barber," before closing the door.
As soon as he closed the door he went to the bottom of the stairs and shouted up, "They're gone."
When Andy didn't come back down or say anything, Sam turned out the lights and went upstairs.
He was surprised to find her sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed, pen and paper in hand. She didn't even look up, just kept writing. He was about to knock lightly on the doorframe so he wouldn't startle her when she said, "It's ok, I know you're here."
Sam smiled. They had this uncanny ability to feel each other's presence.
He walked in and sitting on the edge of the bed, leaned over and kissed her. "What's goin' on in here?"
Andy smiled.
Sam grabbed her pad of paper and looked at her confused. She had the page divided in half, on one side she had written HAVE on the other WANT/NEED. He flipped the page and found she had divided the next page in half as well. On it, she had written SAM's and MINE.
"What's this?"
Andy shrugged.
Reading did nothing to ease his confusion. She had basically divided their life into his and hers. "Uh, McNally, we're not married yet, you can't do a division of property."
"Look again," she said softly.
Sam flipped to the page with their names. The top line under his name she had written house; under her name apartment, from then on the lists basically mirrored each other so he flipped back to the page where she had written WANT/NEED and HAVE. The dimples appeared when he read the first thing she had written as a want: Sam.
"Baby, if you're not splittin' us up, you wanna tell me what these are?" he had an idea, but he needed her to say it.
Andy tugged Sam fully onto the bed. When he stretched out on the bed, she curled up against him. Taking the pad, she flipped to the page with their names.
"See these?" She felt him nod. "It tells us with the exception of where our things are, we have two of everything ... if we're gonna live together we only need one ..."
Sam swallowed his smile as he said, "What about the other page?"
Andy smiled. "I don't know. I just started it when you came up."
"What's your plan for that page?"
"Figuring out what I want and what I already have here, I guess." He took the pen and under his name wrote Sam needs Andy. Andy smiled when she saw what he wrote.
Sam flipped back to their names, and asked, "And this?"
He felt Andy shrug. "Get rid of my stuff, I guess."
"Why don't we get rid of everything that's mine and yours? If it's gonna be ours why don't we make ours from the start?"
"You wanna go furniture shopping?"
"Furniture, house ... whatever you want."
"Babe, I'm pretty sure you made this our house 6 months ago ..."
Sam couldn't hold back the dimples. "So our next day off, we go shoppin'?"
Andy rolled over, leaned up and kissed him. "We'll pack my apartment this weekend, then go shoppin' on our day off."