"We need medics up on the balcony, Officer down, I repeat Officer down" Officer Jacobs speaks into his radio after he cuffed the hooded man.
Five minutes later Sam gets loaded into an Ambulance. "Just patch me up and let me go. It's not that bad" He protests to the EMT.
"Detective Swarek, you and I define 'Not that bad' very differently. You have a knife stuck in your right leg. That will need stitches, if nothing further has been damaged. You will go the hospital, no matter what. So will you shut up, or do I have to sedate you?" The EMT replies in a stern voice, which makes Sam shut up quickly.
"Fine" he reluctantly agrees.
"You Cops are all the same" Sam hears the EMT mutter as he steps closer to the doors to close them, but Traci pops up before he could do so.
"Hey Sam, you all right?" She asks looking worried at him.
"Yes I am FINE" Sam shoots a pointed look at the EMT and Traci rolls her eyes.
"I will wrap up here and come to the hospital" Andy's best friend tells him and then closes the Ambulance doors.
Once at the hospital, Sam is wheeled to get X-Rays done.
"Detective Swarek, nice to see you again." Doctor Harry Windfield is one of the Emergency Doctors at the hospital and Sam had met him a couple of days ago, as they came in with a suspect.
"Doctor Windfield" Sam nods at the doctor.
"Okay, so the X-Rays show that the knife has just penetrated the muscle. Luckily the knife hasn't got a long blade, or it would have been much worse. We will just take it out and sew you up. After that, the stitches will come out in a week, no sport or suspect chasing for two weeks." The doctor smiles at him, writes something down on the chart and puts on some gloves.
45 minutes later the doors of the ER fly open and a brunette, who is holding a baby car seat, comes storming in after her a stressed looking Luke Callaghan. "Sam Swarek, where is he?" She asks the nurse angrily and flashes her batch.
The nurse just points to him and as Andy lays eyes on Sam, her whole appearance changes. The anger and stress that grazed her face just a second ago, is now replaced by relief and a smile.
"You know I really do not appreciate Luke turning up on our door step, telling me that you were injured and were taken to the hospital, AGAIN" Andy says as she approaches his bed side.
"It's nothing bad. They shouldn't have called you" Sam gives Luke a pointed look.
"I had nothing to do with it. Traci called her and then called me to pick her up." The other detective raises his hands in surrender. Sam just nods at him and Luke leaves.
"Hey, how is my baby boy?" Sam asks with a small smile, glancing at his son, who is sleeping in the car seat.
"He is fine. Also he didn't appreciate that I just packed him in the seat." Andy replies. "How are you? Really?"
"I am okay. They sewed me up and I am just waiting for the antibiotics and my discharge papers." Sam tells her and then continues ruefully "I am sorry I worried you and that I ruined our night."
"Don't worry we can go out another time" She smiles at him and kisses him lightly. On the inside Sam is sad. He wanted to ask her today. He had prepared for this for over two weeks and now Sam had to find another day.
As they were leaving the hospital, an idea forms in his head. "Hey Andy?"
"Mh?" she makes that sound as she is putting Robby into the car, while Sam is getting situated in the front, with his crutches.
"Since we cannot go out, do you mind if we invite our friends and have a BBQ?" Sam crosses his fingers and toes, as he waits for her answer.
"No, don't mind at all. Might as well make the most of our baby free evening" Andy jumps into the driver's seat and starts the Truck.
They had asked Tommy and Amy to look after Robby for the night, so they could enjoy an evening by themselves.
"Okay, I am going to text everybody" Sam smiles at her and barely contains a grin. He doesn't want her to get suspicious.
He unlocks his phone and writes a new message:
Change of plans, meet at our place 1900 4 BBQ
He selects all their friends and presses send.
A few hours later all their friends are gathered in the back yard and they even convinced Tommy and Amy to stay for a little while too. The party is in full swing as Sam gets up to make a toast, the ring box safely tucked into his pocket.
"Could you listen to me for a minute?" He shouts over the music and all their friends turn towards him, someone turns down the music, so that Sam wouldn't need to shout.
"So I actually planned this to go a little differently, but I think this will be just as good. I mean when did we ever do something that turned out just the way we wanted it to?" Sam starts and receives a few laughter. Andy just stares at him questionly, wondering where he is going with this.
"So I met this girl a few years back. She knocked me pretty good on my ass. With this girl, well woman, I have been through so much and yet here we are, still going strong." Sam swallows hard to keep his emotions in check and continues.
"Andy, you gave me everything I never thought I wanted. You got through to me and you know me like no one else. You gave me our beautiful son. That day you made me a pretty happy guy, but there is one other thing that would make me even happier"
"Yeah, what is that?" She asks cheekily.
"Andrea 'Andy" McNally" Sam looks her in the eyes and takes out the ring box. "Unfortunately I cannot go down on one knee, but would you still do me the honor of becoming my wife?" And there it is, the big question he had been dying to ask for so long.
Sam holds his breath and watches her silently. No one utters a word. Tears are streaming down Andy's face and she is trying to say something, but in the end all she dos is nod, which is good enough for Sam.
He takes her hand, puts the ring on the ring finger and draws her in for a kiss. As badly as that day had started, it turned out pretty good at the end.
Flashback end
"Sam? Sam?" Andy whispers, which brings him back to the present. He notices that the church is silent and the priest looks at him expectantly.
"Yes?" he asks confused.
"Your vows" Andy replies and Sam lets out a chuckle.
He mouthes 'I am sorry' and clears his throat. They had written their own vows and as it seems while he thought about how he proposed, they all ready made it to the vow part.
"Andy… There is nothing more I can give you, because you all ready have my heart. But I promise to cherish and love you till death tears us apart. I promise to take care of you in sickness and in health. And I promise that I will not stop calling you 'McNally'.
You busted me on your first day on the job and I am awesome, which of course means you are awesome.
So I, Samuel Swarek, take you, Andrea McNally, to my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward" He pushes the ring on Andy's finger and winks at her.
Tears are now streaming down Andy's face, but she spots the biggest smile he has ever seen on her face, so he knows she is happy.
She wipes a couple of tears away and clears her throat.
"Samuel…" Sam cringes at his given name which makes Andy and a few others laugh.
"Sam…" Andy starts again "All the things that we have been through have made us stronger, maybe even wiser. Nothing matters more in the world to me than you and our little man. Thank you for making me see sense and never giving up on me.
Thank you for running away from me on my first day on the job. As our motto still was 'fake it till you make it' " This causes Traci to chuckle behind her.
"I don't need to fake it anymore and I don't need to run anymore. I am finally home. And I promise from this day forward to love and cherish you with all your grumpiness, because you Sam are my story. So I, Andrea McNally, take you, Samuel Swarek, to my lawfully wedded husband, to have and hold from this day forward" Andy finishes, takes the ring from Oliver and tries to push him on Sam's finger.
After a few tries, a bit of spit and lots of laughter from the wedding crowd the Priest finally says "By the power invested in me by the State, I pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride."
Sam doesn't need to be told twice, as he draws Andy in and kisses her with all he has got.
"I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Sam Swarek." All their friends cheer as Sam and Andy enter the hall they rented for the wedding reception.
"Have I told you how beautiful you look?" Sam murmurs into Andy's ear and she shivers.
"Just about a few hundred times, but keep them coming Swarek." She grins up at him as he draws her in for another kiss.
"Well Mrs. Swarek, your wish is my command" Andy's face lights up as he uses her new last name.
"I like when you say that" She tells him as they finally sit down at their table.
"I like saying it." Sam assurs her and then they finally can dig into their food. Both of them weren't able to eat anything, out of nervousness and excitement. But now, their stomachs made themselves known and demanded attention.
After the ceremony Andy had fed Robby, who was now sleeping peacefully in their suite with a baby sitter.
Oliver and Traci, as well as Tommy and Sarah made their speeches. Andy and Sam had decided that they would not invite Claire McNally. Andy didn't want her there.
A few months after Andy had found out she was pregnant, she had tried to reach out to Claire again. It had even gone that far, that they had Lunch together a few times, but Claire did not approve of Sam and didn't try to mend fences. So Andy had told her mother that Sam was there to stay and if she couldn't deal with it, she should stay away. Which Claire McNally did.
Sam stood up and looked at Andy, before he faced their family and friends.
"First of all I want to thank you all of coming, for all the help we have been getting with our son and the wedding as well as thank you for all the support you guys showed us.
Most of you stuck by us and told us to get our heads out of the sand and see what is most important. And sadly it took me getting shot and Oliver getting kidnapped, for us to realize that we were doing a crappy job communicating and that we belonged together. Finally after so many years we got it right. So thank you all." Sam clears his throat and Oliver mutters loudly "Idiots", which makes a few people snicker.
"On another note I'd like to remember a dear friend of ours, who sadly cannot be here today, but is hopefully watching us from above. Jerry ,brother, we love you and we'd wish that you'd still be among us. We miss you greatly and we will dance the Macarena in your honor." A few glance upwards and a quite murmur goes through the crowd "to Jerry".
"Now… I promise this will be the last of my speech" Sam smirks and faces Andy. "The day you agreed to try again, I could not have been happier. Now that I am finally able to call you my wife made me the happiest man alive. Despite everything what we have been through, thank you for standing by my side.
This Bambi here, has knocked the breath out of me, literally, a few times. But I am more than grateful that you always have my back and that you didn't give up on me. I love you Andy, with all my heart. Now that I have got you, I will never let you go."
Andy nearly jumps out of her seat and kiss's Sam with she has got. "You are never going to get rite of me Sam Swarek!" She says loudly and a few people whistle.
The party goes on until way after midnight. The Macarena is danced more than a few times and no one even thinks about going to sleep.
At four am just their closest friends are left behind, sitting around one table, exhausted but happy. And as Sam looks around the table, he cannot believe that he used to choose to keep these people at arm's length, never letting them close.
As annoying they can be, these days he couldn't imagine a life without them anymore. They are one hell of a family and nothing mattered more than that.
Author's note:
Well peeps, this is the end of this story. I will post a sort of sequel to this story, which will not focus on Sam and Andy. They will be in it, especially since there will be similarities.
The 'sequel' will focus on our beloved Donavan Boyd. I love that character and wish the writers would bring him back into the show.
A big fat Thank you to:
Kate1701, 1Shootingstar78, MP31, bacio4hope, Dorkandmindy, Abi22, BekaRoo, linda p and edge15684 for all you reviews, and of course thank you to all of you who favorited and followed this story!
A big thanks to RBfan4ever who gave me great advice from the get go.
Also a big thanks to my friends hartofswarek and Alexia for answering all my questions.
Stay tuned :)