One thing about Jerry being a detective, Sam didn't have to face him in the locker room the next morning. The same couldn't be said for Andy and Traci. Andy got ready for Parade without so much as looking at her best friend.
Sam was waiting when she walked out. He pushed off the wall and reached for her hand.
She gratefully held onto his hand the entire walk to the Parade Room. She stopped at the door when she saw Jerry and Traci. He tugged on her hand and she shook her head. Sam walked back to her and whispered, "You don't have to sit with Traci, you can stay at the back with me."
"After what they did last night, I can't," she whispered back.
Sam led her to the back, sat on the desk leaving room for Oliver, and pulled Andy to stand between his legs. Parade had yet to start so he wrapped his arms around her waist as she leaned back against him.
When Oliver came in he made his way to the back and smiled as he said, "Mornin' brother; McNally."
Andy was grateful Oliver wasn't making a big deal out of her standing with Sam during Parade.
Frank came in and Sam immediately let her go. Andy was grateful that Jerry stayed near the front instead of coming to the back. Frank had just handed out assignments and announced the pairings for that shift when he handed things over to Det. Barber. Jerry brought everybody up to speed on a couple of outstanding cases before reminding everyone of what had been dubbed the 'McSwarek Hookup' pool which earned him not only a patent Swarek glare but a growl as well ... from both Sam and Andy before asking Traci to help him in announcing the 'winners'.
This earned both dirty looks from their respective best friends and their partner.
"That's right ladies and gentlemen, we can finally announce that McSwarek is no longer a speculation or probability, but they are a fact! Neither is saying who made the first move or when it was made," Traci eagerly announced, while Jerry finished, "So unfortunately the pool is null and void ..."
The Parade Room erupted in cheers when Traci said they were together, only to go dead silent upon hearing Jerry.
Oliver looked at the people next to him, then at the couple at the front of the room. He did not envy the couple at the front having to deal with the one next to him.
Frank dismissed Parade and everybody filed out. Sam grabbed her hand and they headed for the door. Jerry stepped over to the door. When Sam tried to step around him, Jerry put his hand on Sam's chest.
"Barber, get your hand off me!" Sam growled.
Andy shrugged the hand Traci put on her shoulder, off.
"Andy?"
Andy didn't even acknowledge that she heard her name.
"Outta the way, Barber."
When Jerry moved aside, Sam put his hand on the small of her back and allowed Andy out ahead of him. They walked to the coffee station side by side. Oliver was waiting when they got there. His question was simple, "You ok, brother?"
Sam waved him off. "Don't worry about it."
"You know me better than that, brother," he looked between Sam and Andy, "Are you two ok?"
Andy smiled at Oliver as she squeezed Sam's hand, trying to get him to relax. Neither one could afford to let their anger and disappointment towards Jerry and Traci affect their shift.
Sam fixed their coffees, handed Andy hers and said, "Let's go." He clapped Oliver on the shoulder and said, "Be careful, brother," as Jerry and Traci came towards them.
Jerry stopped next to Oliver. "Well at least he's talkin' to you!"
Oliver shrugged. "That's because I'm smart enough to mind my own business."
When Jerry gave him a What did I do?! look Oliver shook his head and said, "What d'you think? He told you last night there would be hell to pay if you went through with it. Not my fault you were too broke to pay attention ..."
Jerry had the decency to look ashamed. "Any suggestions?"
"You've known him as long as I have. Give her the shift to get him to calm down."
"Yeah, because she's so happy with us," Traci offered.
"Whose fault is that?" was Oliver's only response as he grabbed his coffee and yelled for Epstein.
Oliver looked back at them and said, "You had it comin' ... as the sayin' goes, you wanna dance be prepared to pay the band. In this case, brother, your dance is gonna be very expensive."
Noelle cleared her throat. "You plannin' on doin' your job today, Nash? Or stayin' here with your boy toy?"
Traci was quick to follow Noelle out the door.
Jerry hated that Sam was pissed at him. He tried to smooth it out with a text. Sam handed Andy his phone when the text came through. "If it's from Barber, delete it."
No sooner did Andy delete the text from Jerry than her phone beeped with a text from Traci. Like Sam, she deleted it without even opening it.
Jerry called Traci on lunch to see if she'd spoken to Andy. She told him she had sent a text but hadn't got a response. He told her the same. There was no denying it, they were in the doghouse deep. Their only hope was that they'd be at the Penny.
They went about their shift as if that morning hadn't happened. Other than the texts from Jerry and Traci their focus was having each other's back.
They pulled in at the end of shift right behind Oliver and Dov. Jerry was at the Sally Port door to meet them. "Penny?"
With his hand on her back, Sam ushered Andy right past him.
At the lockers, Sam kissed her temple. "Penny is your call."
Andy sighed. She wanted to go but she didn't. "If you wanna go have one with Oliver ..."
"I am not goin' without you!"
Andy laughed softly as she kissed his cheek. "I meant we can go if you want. I'll stay at the bar if my T.O doesn't mind ..."
Sam smiled as he whispered, "As much as I don't like you showering without me, go shower and we'll go get a drink."
Andy gave him a teasing grin. "You could always join me ..."
Sam laughed as he gave her a gentle shove towards the door.
20 minutes later Andy walked out of the locker room to find a freshly showered Sam leaning against the wall. For the first time in their relationship they walked out of the barn holding hands.
Sam held the door of the Penny for her as they walked in. Sam thought she might reach for his hand once inside, she didn't, she wrapped her arm around his waist instead. Andy looked over at the rookie table and waved to her friends, shaking her head when they pointed to an empty seat.
They walked over to the bar and Sam motioned for her to have a seat next to Oliver. Andy sat down and Sam wrapped his arms around her.
Liam smiled as he walked over. "One tab or 2, guys?"
Sam laughed. "From here on it's just one, man."
Liam smiled. "Usual?"
Sam and Andy both nod.
A few minutes later Liam set another shot of scotch and beer in front of Andy. Sam quirked an eyebrow. Liam answered the unspoken question by pointing to Jerry. Oliver saw Sam's scowl and said, "Shame to waste a good drink when it's on somebody else's dime, brother."
Sam looked at Andy, she shrugged. They each put their respective drinks in front of Oliver and Sam said, "There, now they're not wasted." He reached for his wallet and threw a $10 on the bar and told Liam to keep whatever the change was as Andy got up. "Did you wanna go say hi to the rookies?" Sam whispered in her ear. She looked up at him and smiled. They made their way to the rookies who automatically made room for them. "Not stayin' guys, just came to say hi."
A chorus of "hi"s made Sam smile.
"Why don't you go keep Oliver company for a minute while I use the washroom?" Andy offered as they left the rookies.
Oliver glanced sideways when Sam sat next to him. "Thought you were headin' out, brother?"
Sam chuckled. "We were, we are, she just went to the ladies room, first."
"Get used to it, brother," Oliver said under his breath, Sam just smiled, he was already used to it.
While Sam was waiting, Jerry made his way over. " Ollie. Sammy."
"Barber." Ouch.
"You got a minute, buddy?" Jerry asked in hopes that Sam wouldn't walk out.
"Tryin' to dig yourself deeper?"
"Tryin' to dig myself out."
"Just curious, Jer, was outing our relationship to the entire Division your way of apologizing for being an absolute ass last night?"
"Come on, Sammy ..."
"Come to think of it, I have yet to hear you apologize for any of it! For the pool ... for embarrassing her last night ... for showing up uninvited last night ... for this morning ..."
Jerry shifted on the barstool. "Is that what it'll take for us to go back the way things are supposed to be? Me apologizing to your rookie?"
"Don't bother if you don't mean it, Detective." Andy said from behind him.
Jerry closed his eyes and swallowed a groan. This was not going according to plan, ok, so there was no plan ... maybe he shoulda had a plan ...
Sam turned around at the sound of her voice. "Couldn't've said it better." He turned to Jerry, " Talk is cheap, Barber."
Jerry turned to Sam. "I am sorry, Sammy. Man, in all the years I've known you, I don't think I've ever seen you this happy. Hell, I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever meet the woman special enough to capture your heart."
"Helluva way to show it ... and trying to wrap an apology up in a justification for the actions negates the apology."
Jerry sighed. "Not gonna make this easy are you?"
"Nope."
Jerry turned back to Andy, hoping she wouldn't be as hard headed.
"McNally ... Andy ... I ... we ... both Traci and I ..."
"Spit it out, Jerry, I'd like to go home tonight."
"It wasn't our intention to embarrass you, we're happy for you, for both of you. We want you to be happy."
"Newsflash Jerry, I was happy, we were happy ... we didn't need you to tell the rest of the world about us for that ..."
Jerry looked at Sam, who took what Andy said one step farther. "You made our relationship about you, when it has nothin' t'do with you ..."
"Sammy ..."
"It wasn't your call or Nash's ... until you both own that you overstepped ..."
"There's nothin' left to say." Andy said quietly.
Traci came up behind Andy. "In case he's fumbled his way through it, we are sorry. We shouldn't've pushed it last night by trying to find you. I shouldn't've done what I did, I'm just so happy you finally get to be with a guy that truly makes you happy. From what Jerry's told me, Sam, you can't blame me for being excited you found your someone special ... or that it's my best friend."
There were tears in Andy's eyes hearing Traci's impassioned apology.
"Making my girlfriend cry does not score points, Nash," Sam said with a smile.
He looked at Andy. "Think we should forgive 'em and let 'em outta the doghouse?" Andy nodded. Sam held out a hand to Jerry who eagerly took it and pulled Sam into a hug. "Barber ..." Jerry laughed as he let him go and reached for Andy as Traci and Sam shook hands.
Oliver had been sitting there quietly muttered, "Nash just saved your ass, buddy."
Everybody laughed. Sam wrapped an arm around Andy's waist and asked if she was ready to go. She nodded and they said their goodnights.
Andy got a change of address form Friday before Parade. Saturday they packed up her apartment. Her rent was paid til the end of the month.
She teased Sam about having a couple weeks to change his mind.
Sam grabbed her around the waist and kissed the back of her neck as he growled, "Not gonna happen, woman!" making her laugh.
When they closed the door Andy said goodbye, she'd never be back. She left the keys with the building superintendent. There was no point in Andy unpacking until after they'd been shopping so Sam just unloaded the boxes in the garage. Andy took pictures of every room and put them in an album she labeled Sam's Home. They used the leftover empty boxes to start packing up the house. By their day off, if it wasn't used on a daily basis it was packed. The house was a shell, barely looking lived in.
It took more than one day off so they used a couple of personal days.
They arranged for everything to be picked up before the new furniture was delivered.
It wasn't quite 2 weeks after she turned in the keys to her apartment that she went from room to room with the camera again. Sam labeled the album Our Home.