Chapter Thirty-Seven

Andy pried open a sleepy, bleary eye and unleashed a fierce glare in the direction of the obnoxious buzzer signalling that there was someone who wanted her to answer her front door – her bedroom door was still firmly shut, but she was hoping the force of her displeasure would burn a hole all the way through to wood and destroy the ringer attached to the wall beside her front door. It was the first morning she had been able to sleep in for over a week – after 8 days straight of early shifts she would quite happily commit murder for a return to her oblivious sleep filled morning existence. She felt Sam shift behind her, tighten the grip his fingers had on her hip to pull her back against him and wrap his arm around her waist, heard his raspy sleepy voice mumble "Ignore it – they'll go away..." into a pillow.

She waited it out for five more minutes of an insistent buzz...buzz...buzzzzzzzzzzzz pattern before burying her head in her pillow with a grown. She twisted around to face him, a pout very much evident on her expression as well as a frown, and nudged at his thigh with her toes. "They're not going away...make them go away..."

Sam's eyes stayed firmly shut, and she nudged him slightly harder – pushing a palm against his shoulder and trying to work him closer to the edge of the bed. "Sam..."

"Your front door McNally..."

"...But I'm all warm and cosy..."

"You'll be less warm and cosy when you don't have me here to heat those ice-blocks you call feet...get them off me..."

"You know what they say about cold feet..."

"Oh yeah...? What's that...?" Andy peered up at him from under her eyelashes, his eyes were still closed but there was a small smile twitching into place.

"Warm heart..."

"I think you'll find sweetheart that it's cold hands – warm heart..."

"I have those too..." Andy shuffled back up her bed slightly and reached one of her hands out behind her, resting it against the radiator attached to the wall next to her cabinet.

Buzz...buzzz...buzzzzzzz

"Please Sam...I asked nicely...please...You can make them disappear with one glare..."

"Nope..."

Andy studied him closely for a few seconds, sizing up the likelihood of being able to convince him out of bed to answer the door without playing dirty...decided that it was the slimmest chance she had experienced for a while, and pulled her hand off the cold radiator and planted it on his stomach. She couldn't stop her all out grin from breaking free when he jumped out of his skin – eyes flying open before narrowing dangerously with a mischievous glint at her. "Playing dirty are we McNally...?"

She knew what was coming, but couldn't move out of his range fast enough and she squealed good and proper when he rolled over so that she was pinned underneath him – unleashing a tickling force of fingers up her sides and over her ribs that left her gasping for breath by the time she had convinced him to show some mercy. She wouldn't let him move away though, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in closer – angling her face up for a kiss, one request Sam had no problem obliging.

Buzz...buzz...buzzz...buzz...buzzzzzzz

Sam dropped his head and buried his face in the crook of her neck with a groan. "They're not going away are they?"

"Doesn't look like it...and I'm stuck under you now...so you have to answer the door..."

Sam pulled back and peered at her with a quirked eyebrow, her cheeky smile, flushed cheeks and bright eyes made his heart stutter slightly. "Is that so...?"

She bit down on her bottom lip in a feeble attempt at keeping her cheek splitting grin under control and offered an impish nod of her head in confirmation. He shook his head in mock disbelief at her, but made to push himself up and clamber out from under the duvet anyway – he had just made it to the side of the bed and pulled on his jeans when she wrapped her arm around him from behind and placed a warm, inviting kiss in the middle of his shoulders - a non-too subtle stage whisper of "Get rid of them...and come back to bed..." aimed at his ear before she nudged him off the bed and onto his feet.

The buzzer rang three more times before he found and pulled on his sweater, and reached the front door – pulling it open to reveal one person he really wasn't expecting. His practiced scowl turned into a wide-eyed look of surprise...and the insulting greeting he had prepared didn't quite make it past the tip of his tongue.

"SURPRISE!"

"What are you doing here...?"

"Wow...it's nice to see you too..."

"Sarah...you know that's...what are you doing here...?"

"Checking up on my baby bro...You wouldn't come out to us...so..." She reached onto her tiptoes and tried to see past his shoulder. "Is Andy home...?"

"Yeah...well it's been a bit...Yes, she's home." Sam took a couple of steps backwards, pulling the door open wider and waved her inside. "Where are Paul and the kids...?"

"He's taking them for breakfast, then a movie and to that monster fun pool place...thought it would give us a chance to catch up, and then maybe we could all go out to dinner later before we head back...?" Sarah followed him over to the kitchen and watched him put on some coffee, a small smile emerging at how comfortable he seemed in Andy's kitchen and she made herself comfortable – grabbing a seat on a bar stool at her breakfast bar. "I bought breakfast..."

She unveiled a Bean Coffee box with a flourish, pulling open the lid and waving the baked goodies under Sam's nose – earning a small genuine smile for her efforts.

"I thought that place would have closed down by now..."

"Hell No! It's practically an institution...a rite of passage! Rose isn't there anymore ...but I have been promised she passed her killer banana bread recipe onto her daughter..."

Sam plucked a portion of the aforementioned banana bread out of the box of offerings, eyeing it dubiously for a few seconds before taking a bite from the corner and chewing thoughtfully. Sarah raised an eyebrow in silent question, and he nodded in affirmation. "Still damn good Sar..."

Sam's attention was called away from her momentarily when the coffee machine beeped, and he busied himself with making three – passing Sarah hers, leaving his own the counter next to the box of baked goodies and padded back over to Andy's bedroom with hers and a promise that he would be right back.

He found her in exactly the same position that he had left her in, except now she had shuffled about slightly so that he could see her eyes peeking at him over the edge of the covers. "Did you get rid of them...?"

Sam held up the coffee mug to her line of vision in an attempt to soften the blow. "Not exactly..."

He shuffled closer, placing the mug on the bedside table and sitting down on the edge – pulling one of her feet onto his lap, curling his fingers around her toes and running his thumb along the arch. He tugged the duvet down so he could see the rest of her face, her despondent pout pulling his own lips into a small smirk. "It's Sarah."

"What?!" she squeaked at him in response to that revelation, and the wide-eyed panicked expression that emerged on her face almost pulled a bark of laughter from him, but he forced it back – aiming an questioning eyebrow at her instead. "Why didn't you say anything?!"

"I just did..."

He watched her clamber out from under the duvet and flit around the room with a bemused expression, peeling her clothes from yesterday off the floor and throwing them in her washing hamper – before emptying half the contents of her chest of drawers looking for something that she deemed acceptable to present herself in. She froze to the spot halfway across her bedroom floor when she noticed him watching her, scowling at him and narrowing her eyes. "Well don't just sit there gawking...go and keep her company, I need to grab a shower and get dressed! It's ok for you – you just fall out of bed looking good!"

Sam gave himself a few indulgent moments of running his eyes over her – from the tips of her toes, over his crumpled thigh skimming t-shirt and up to the crazy hair that looked like it was trying to free itself from her scalp and grinned wide and large back at her. "You look fine to me..."

"Urrgghhh...you're..." She rolled her eyes at him when she couldn't think of a scathing enough retort and stalked through to her bathroom, looking over her shoulder and poking her tongue out at him before she shut the door behind her.

Andy emerged from her bedroom forty minutes later feeling slightly more prepared and presentable, hair blow-dried but down and wavy – a couple of lashings of mascara, one coat of lip balm and her favourite blue skinny jeans with a black tank top and grey chunky knit cardigan wrapped around her – a bright warm smile aimed at Sarah, but she was still slightly taken about from the warm hug she received from her when she met the two of them at her breakfast bar.

Sam pried her coffee mug from Andy's fingers as soon as Sarah had relinquished her grip, and busied himself making them a fresh batch as Sarah pulled her down onto the bar stool next to her and pushed the breakfast box of treats in her direction. "Sorry about the surprise ambush...but this one..." She waved a bony finger in Sam's direction just in case Andy was unaware of whom she was referring to, "...called and said he wasn't coming out...so I had to come in."

"You didn't have to do anything." Sam eyed his sister pointedly as he delivered two mugs of fresh coffee to the counter, and pulled another slice of banana bread out of the box in the middle and proceeded to take a large chomping bite out of it, as he made himself comfortable on a stool on the opposite side of the bar.

"Do you even chew your food?" Sarah quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at her brother after he finished off what was left of his slice with two more bites.

"You think that's bad...you should see this one with pancakes...it's like she inhales the plate." Sam nodded his head slightly in Andy's direction, reaching across the counter top for her free hand and tangling his fingers in with hers, earning a small shy smile.

Andy unwrapped her other hand from around her coffee mug and hooked a finger into the corner of the box, pulling it towards her and peering inside – wrinkling her nose in concentration, and eventually opted for a pain au raisin – plucking it from its home tucked into the side of the tasty treat display, and nibbling at the corner. She eventually migrated towards a more human sized bite, and issued a sigh of satisfaction before turning her wide eyes back to Sarah. "That is soooo good...where is this place?"

Andy's eyes dropped back to the box after Sarah's bright dimpled smile registered, flipping the lid to study the printed information that could be found there and then glanced back up at Sarah with a mild look of confusion – it may have been the best pain au raisin she had ever tasted, but they didn't exactly come from the best neighbourhood.

"Good right? Me and Sam used to hang out there on a Sunday afternoon – the best sugar snacks for study cramming. It was owned by this amazing woman...Rose O'Dowd...I swear Sam used to live off her banana bread – she used to pack him off home with enough of it to last a month." She leaned towards Andy and cupped her hand around her mouth, stage whispered "I think he was her favourite..." which earned her an eye roll from her brother.

"I fixed things for her...got paid in treats." Was the clarification Andy got when she peered over at him curiously, a small smile tweaking at her lips.

Sarah pulled her own slice of banana bread out of the treat box and took a bite, before continuing with her explanation. "She was an amazing woman...tough and unbelievably sweet at the same time. She used to let us hang out there for hours...kept the small cafe section open way later than is would otherwise have been and we used to hole ourselves up in one of the booths at the back. She's gone now – but I wanted to go back, made Paul drive into town that way so I could see if it was still there. Her daughter runs it now – but it's still almost exactly the same..." She glanced over at Sam with a sympathetic look, "Buggles is gone..."

Andy peered back and forth between the two of them curiously, "Buggles...?"

The answer came from Sam, a smirk edging its way onto his face as he elaborated for her. "She had a stuffed cat...Sarah seems to think I had an affinity for the freakish thing..."

"You spent a lot of time staring at it..."

"It freaked me out...its little dead beady eyes used to follow you around the room, threatening to pounce – seriously who keeps things like that...?!"

Sarah pulled herself to her feet, and glanced back at Andy – offering her a "It's what started his whole phobia thing off..."

"I do not..."

"Yes you do."

"I don't like them...it's not a phobia – it's a preference."

"Keep telling yourself that...I hear hypnotherapy helps...Can I use your bathroom? It was a really long drive this morning..."

Andy jumped up onto the balls of her own feet – head nodding enthusiastically. "Yes, yeah of course...it's just through there..." Waving her hand in the general direction as a signal. She waited until Sarah was out of sight before turning back to Sam with a wicked grin. "Cat's huh?"

"Shut up."

She bounced around to him, wriggling herself in between him and her counter and perching against his thigh – wrapping an arm around his shoulders and grazing a brief kiss against his cheek. "Don't worry...I'm much more of dog person."

Sarah sidled up to Sam on the bench, and made a point of keeping her attention trained on Paul, Andy and the kids careening around the court in front of them – playground taunts being thrown back and forth, and loud laughter reverberating off the trees. After a couple of side long glances at her brother she nudged his thigh with her knee – reaching into her bag, and pulling his attention away from the apparent funness occurring in front of them...her fingers closing around the little black box, but the brief hint of anguish in his expression as he turned to look at her stopped her from offering it to him at that second. It was gone in a moment, the smile that he chased it away with would have had anyone else doubting what they saw – but she knew her brother too well. He had been quieter than normal with all of them, and it wasn't until now that she had got him to herself enough to ask about it. "You ok?"

He smiled wider at her, and she had an overwhelming urge to hug him. "Yep, good. You?"

"Sam..."

"Sarah – I'm fine."

"Are you worried about the trials...?"

"Sarah..."

"They have enough evidence to lock them up right...? The guys that were in that warehouse, the one that shot you..."

Sam looked away from her and back to the game that was still in full swing in front of them. "I'm not worried about them..."

"You nearly wound up dead because of them...don't tell me..."

"Sarah that's...It has nothing to do with that ok..."

"Then talk to me...what's going on in that head of yours?"

She didn't get an answer from him, just a small shake of his head and she let it go for a minute – interrupted by the herd of pounding feet that were her two children charging towards them for drinks supplies.

A breathless "Did you give Uncle Sammy the ring...?" was forced from Louise's mouth in between gulps of water, as she peered back and forth between her mom and her uncle. Sarah shook her head in reply, and watched Jake pull her unashamedly away and back over to the court to commence battle. With one look at the curious expression aimed at her from her brother when she looked back at him, she reached into her bag again and presented him with the little black jewellery box her fingers had wrapped around a few moments earlier.

"It's Nana's...She left it to me when she died, and I packed it in with my things in my backpack the day we...you know. I think she'd like you to have it...or Andy to have it, if you want to give it to her...make it official. You can't ask a girl to marry you and not give her a ring Sam..."

He stared at her – wide-eyed stared for a few seconds, before shaking his head slightly – a denial tripping on his tongue. "Sarah – I can't...that's...you..."

"I want you to have it...Andy to have it. She would too...I know she would." Sarah took the box out of the palm of her hand, and pushed it into his – pulling herself to her feet and giving his shoulder a small squeeze of reassurance. "...And I know you have Andy, and friends – really good friends here...but if you want to talk about whatever is bothering you – you can talk to me...anytime ok?"

"I know."

"I know you know...but you don't do it...Sam – you don't..."

"Will you please let it go – I'm fine."

"Sure you are..."

Sam raised a challenging eyebrow at her scepticism – but she didn't push it any further, knew she wouldn't get anywhere by trying to force it out of him so turned on her heel and walked with a determined purpose towards Andy with the intention of giving her a much needed break from her raucous family, nudging her back in Sam's direction. Unfortunately her children had other ideas, and within five minutes had pulled on Andy and Sam hard enough to get them back on the court and into the game.

Andy faltered slightly when she came out of the bathroom stall at the restaurant and found Sarah waiting for her by the sink – eyeing her cautiously through the mirror while appearing to be trying to fix something with her already perfect hair – and she smiled a little too brightly at her, sending Andy's defensive alarms into overdrive – but she tried to smile back. She saw her attempted effort reflected back at her, and knew that it didn't really cut it. She walked over to stand next to her, reaching out to wash her hands and meeting Sarah's eyes in the mirror above the basin. "Hey..."

"Hey...I'm sorry about just turning up today – It's just...I know my brother, and if I'd called and told him we were coming he would have said not to...I just wanted to see that he's ok." Sarah gave up the pretence of fixing her hair and turned around to face her, studying her reaction.

"It's ok...It's been nice seeing you...I tried to convince him to come...visit, but he..." Andy's words tailed off as she reached for some paper towels to dry her hands. She knew exactly why Sam hadn't agreed to go – just as well as why she had wanted him to, but she didn't want to get into that conversation with Sarah.

"I know...he can be a stubborn pain in the ass sometimes..." Sarah reached out and wrapped her hand around Andy's arm after she threw away the paper towels and pulled her in for a tight brief hug – flashing a brief hard smile at her as she pulled away. "I know he acts like some unbreakable, un-penetrable, tough guy half the time, but...he's not. Not even close...he's just extremely good at compartmentalising and burying things deep enough that sometimes you have to dig really hard to find them. Promise me you'll dig? Even when he makes it really difficult – because that's when you know you're getting close – I'm not close enough anymore for him to let me do that...and something's up. I can tell...promise me you'll take care of him."

Andy couldn't find her voice, blinking fiercely and willing herself not to cry in front of Sarah she tried to force a shaky watery smile into place and offered an agitated nod of her head in agreement – but Sarah's perceptive gene's were kicked into high gear – had been since she arrived in the city this morning, and she picked up in the change of her demeanour almost instantly. "Andy...?"

She forced out a croaky "I promise..." before attempting to walk around her, and back to everyone else who were more than likely tucking into their burgers by this point – but Sarah reached out a hand and held on to her. "They're going to be wondering where we are..."

"Andy, what's going on?"

"Nothing...I...We should head back."

"I'm not buying it – tell me what's going on..."

"What did Sam tell you...?" Andy's whole body tensed, Sarah felt the shift under her fingertips and loosed her grip on her arm slightly – hoping that it would ease the tension.

"Nothing, as per usual...I'm worried about the two of you...you've been through a lot...I just..."

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?" A bewildered expression followed her response to Andy's question, Sarah's brow creasing in confusion.

"Get over it...when you were attacked...how did you...how did you get over it?"

"I didn't...haven't...you don't get over something like that, you just learn to..." The distress appearing in Andy's features, the obvious battle she was having with her emotions clued her in extremely quickly to what was going on...what had happened...why she asked. "Andy..."

"It's ok...I'm sorry – I shouldn't have asked, we need to go..." This time Sarah let her leave, letting go of her arm and watched her push her way out of the door and back into the diner. She knew as soon as she followed her back to the table, and saw the look Sam was levelling at her in her peripheral vision that he had figured something was up – they were both a lot more agitated than when they left, and Andy was refusing to look at either of them – instead busying herself making conversation with Louise and Jake – helping Jake to arrange his fries into smiley faces on his plate.

He put an "everything ok...?" out there, which was greeted with a clipped "fine," from Andy and he raised a questioning eyebrow at his sister – trying to play down his concern and she shook her head in response, hoping he would let it go.

By the time Sarah, Paul and the kids were ready to leave the awkwardness between them all had more or less disappeared, Andy relaxing slowly once she realised that Sarah wasn't going to force the topic. It was because of that she wasn't expecting the death grip of a hug she got from her when they left – a whisper in her ear of "It will get easier...eventually it will stop being something that you're always thinking about...trust me...you don't get over it, but it will get easier. If you ever want to talk...call me...I mean it." She didn't wait for a response, just unwrapped her grip and wrapped her brother in a hug that was just as fierce – before leaving them both in the parking lot and clambering into the car, looking back and waving with a soft smile as Paul pulled away.

A/N...As always...I hope you enjoy. I've got another instalment winging it's way here soon – it will be the start of the trials...but until then, please let me know what you think by using the little review box.