Another story comes to an end. This is the last chapter of Two Years. Hope you've all enjoyed it! Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and alerts – I love seeing the response to my stories. :) Leave a review and let me know what you think of this latest chapter. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rookie Blue.

Chapter 4

Six months later

Andy and Traci re-entered her condo with more boxes. "You look happy," Traci commented as they placed the boxes among the growing pile.

"I am Trace, like really truly crazy happy," she replied, a huge grinning spreading across her face.

"It's a big step, moving in together," Traci said.

"I know and it just feels right."

"You deserve to be happy," Traci said, hugging her friend.

They were about to head back out to Sam's truck when they heard curses coming from the spare bedroom. They headed down the hallway and stood in the doorway to the room. "Everything okay in here boys?" Andy asked, looking at parts of Sam's bed and tools scattered around the room.

"Yeah, Jerry just dropped the headboard on my foot," Sam replied, feigning annoyance.

"You're the one who said to put it down," Jerry said.

"I didn't mean on my foot!"

Andy and Traci burst out laughing and left their men to bicker with each other as they put together the bed. As they made their way back out to Sam's truck at the curb, Andy couldn't help but be excited. She and Sam were moving in together. She had always been a planner, but a year ago she couldn't have even imagined this would be her future. They were moving forward with their lives, lives they were sharing together. The first month after he'd come back had been tough. There were so many reminders that he'd been gone and it caused some arguments. But they had agreed to talk things out, to not let issues fester. It was hard, but it worked.

Andy thought back to the day they discussed moving in together.

After months of dealing with the "your place or mine?" question almost nightly, and tiptoeing around the subject for a week, Andy finally knew they had to talk about the living arrangements, but there never seemed to be the right moment to bring it up.

Andy walked into the living room to see Sam opening his mail. She watched him toss what looked like some type of agreement on the coffee table. "What's that?" she asked.

"A new lease. Mine ends at the end of next month, so the landlord sent a new one over," he replied, continuing to look through the rest of his mail.

"Oh." Andy plopped down on the couch next to Sam.

She decided to blurt out what she was thinking. "Wanna-move-in-with-me?"

She spoke so quickly, Sam wasn't sure he heard right. "What was that?"

Maybe this was a mistake. She should have kept her mouth shut. But it was out there, whether Sam clearly heard her or not. "I said, do you want to move in with me?" She looked at him hopefully, but bit her bottom lip in nervousness.

Sam's lips slowly curved into a smile. "You wanna cohabitate with me McNally?"

"Well, uh, not if you don't want to. I mean it was, um, just an idea, you know with your lease being up and all," she said, shifting her eyes around the room so she didn't have to look at him. She felt embarrassed. Why did she say anything? It was a stupid idea, she thought.

"Andy…" Sam grabbed her hand so he could tug her closer. As she fell into him, Andy placed a hand on his chest to steady herself. "I would love to live with you."

For the first time since the conversation started, Andy smiled. "Really?"

"Really."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard while he ran a hand gently up and down her back.

"How'd I get so lucky to have you in my life?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, but when you find out, let me know," she said smirking.

Sam rolled his eyes, but nudged her nose with his affectionately. "You know how much I love you, right?"

"I do, because you tell me all the time," she replied before placing a chaste kiss on his lips. "I love you too."

Back in her condo, Andy was re-organizing the pile of boxes when a knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts. She pulled open the door to find the pizza guy with their dinner. "Here you go," she said, giving him the money and taking the pizza. "Thanks."

She closed the door and yelled down the hall. "Pizza's here!"

Sam and Jerry joined the girls at the kitchen table and grabbed slices of pizza. "Thanks McNally," Jerry said between bites.

"Thank you guys for helping us move," she replied, looking at him and Traci.

"Happy to help," Traci said.

"So, you ready to go back to the academy tomorrow Sammy?" Jerry asked.

"I'm older and smarter than I was the last time I walked through the halls of that place," Sam responded.

Andy snorted. "Older maybe. Smarter I'd question."

"Hey, you weren't even there," Sam said, nudging her shoulder with his.

"I'd have to agree with McNally," Jerry teased.

"You know, I could just pack my stuff back up and…" he deadpanned, looking at Andy.

"I'm kidding," she said, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Those soon-to-be-officers will learn a lot from you." She kissed him quickly on the cheek.

"What is it you'll be doing?" Traci asked.

"It's a once a month seminar on undercover training. Guns and Gangs thought it was the least I could do if I wasn't willing to commit to them full-time," he explained.

Andy looked over at him and smiled. Ever since he came back, Guns and Gangs tried to get him to transfer or commit to another deep cover assignment. He kept brushing them off or ignoring their calls, so Andy finally made him talk about it.

"Sam, if you keep ignoring Detective Clark, he's just going to keep calling," Andy said as she sat next to him on his couch.

"He's just going to try to convince me to go under again," he replied.

"And?"

"I don't want to. I was gone long enough and I'm happy here. I'm happy with you," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Andy laid her head on his shoulder. "I heard him offer you Boyd's old job." She hadn't been eavesdropping, but she walked by an open office door while on shift the day before and heard the offer. She knew Sam would tell her about it when he was ready, but she was dying to know what he thought.

"A desk job and lots of watching a wire. No thanks. I like it just where I am."

"Are you sure? I, um, don't want to, you know, stop you," she said, worrying her bottom lip.

"You're not." He turned to face her and cupped her cheek in his hand. "Maybe down the line it'll seem fun again, but now I want to be right here." He leaned down to kiss her. "And, Clark might not just be calling about going under or the job offer."

Andy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What would he be calling about?"

"When I tried to say no to his offer, he asked me to teach a course at the academy about undercover work," he replied.

"Sam, that's awesome!"

"Well, I am awesome."

Andy rolled her eyes. "You can teach these young officers so much. You should do it."

"Teaching, it's not really my thing."

"You're a great teacher. Look at all I've learned from you. You've helped make me the cop I am," she said.

"Your skills are the reason you're a good cop. Not me," he responded honestly. He may have brought out her confidence, showed her what her best qualities as a cop were, but her copper skills were all hers.

"But you taught me to trust my gut, follow my instincts and be a good partner," she said. "Just talk to him."

"Fine." Sam pulled out his phone to call Detective Clark.

After a little negotiating, Sam agreed to teach a seminar once a month about the finer points of undercover work.

"Look at it this way, there will be a lot of fresh paint to boss around," Andy teased, remembering what her father, and then Oliver, called the rookies.

Two weeks later at parade, Andy stood talking with Chris, as their rookies stood off to the side waiting to head out on patrol for the day.

"McNally. Observation room one, now," he ordered as he walked by them.

"Fitzgerald, finish any paperwork you have from yesterday. I'll come get you when I'm ready to leave," Andy told her rookie for the day before following Sam.

The moment she opened the door to the observation room, a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. Startled, she stumbled and fell into Sam's arms. "Hey," he said, grinning as he backed her up against the wall.

"Sam! We could – stop that," she hissed as he placed kisses along her jaw. "We could get caught."

"Mmmhmm," he murmured against her neck. This was their thing. He'd pull her into a quiet room. She'd half-heartedly protest, and he'd keep kissing her till she gave in. In 3, 2, 1…

Andy framed his face in her hands and guided his lips to hers. Sam smiled against her lips. "Shut up," she mumbled playfully against his lips. She deepened the kiss as she ran her hands through his hair. His arms circled her waist and he pulled her closer before sliding his fingers under her vest.

After a few minutes, they broke apart and Sam rested his forehead on Andy's. "I'm pretty sure Frank is getting back at me for taking all his money at poker last week. Giving us both rookies two days in a row," he grumbled.

"They have to learn from someone," she said, her hands resting on his shoulders and fidgeting with his collar.

"I'd rather be partnered with my girlfriend," he replied, pulling her even closer.

Andy placed a chaste kiss on his Sam's lips. "Don't you know, absence makes the heart grow fonder?" she smirked.

"Funny," he deadpanned and returned the kiss. "Be safe out there."

"You too."

"Our rookies are bound to get into trouble if we leave them alone much longer," Sam said, slowly releasing Andy from his grasp.

"True. And someone's bound to come looking for us."

They left the observation room and walked back to where their rookies waited, brushing hands lightly before parting.

"Ready to go Fitzgerald?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm ready."

Andy rolled her eyes. She'd never get used to these rookies calling her ma'am.

A few days later, Andy heard a knock at her door and opened it to find Traci, Jerry and Leo. Before the door was fully open, Leo came running into the condo. "Aunt Andy!" he screamed as he barreled into her, wrapping his little arms around her legs.

"Hey buddy," she said, ruffling his hair as his face was pressed against her thigh. "We're gonna have lots of fun, aren't we?" His response was an animated nod of his head.

"Thank you so much for doing this. You don't know what it means to us," Traci said, dropping two bags on Andy's living room floor.

"We're happy to help. And you know I love Leo," she replied. Jerry had surprised Traci with a romantic getaway and Traci's mom was out of town, so Andy offered to watch Leo.

Traci crouched down to Leo's level. "Listen little man, you're going to be good for Andy and Sam right? Do everything they say?"

"Yes," he replied.

Traci hugged and kissed her son before standing up and leaning in so only Andy could hear. "It'll be good practice for little Swarek's running around," she teased.

Andy's eyes went wide and a blush quickly covered her cheeks. "Trace!" she hissed. "We just moved in together. Kids are not in the plan right now."

Traci smirked and slowly backed away toward the door. "Soon enough. Like I said, it's good practice."

"Good practice for what?" Sam asked as he walked into the room. "Hey Jerry. Nash."

"Nothing," Andy replied quickly. "Aren't you guys leaving?" she asked, glaring at Traci.

Sam noticed the blush that remained on Andy's face and made a mental note to find out what she needed practice with later. He was pretty sure it was a story he wanted to hear.

Traci and Jerry said their goodbyes, and Andy closed the door behind them before turning toward Leo. "So, little man, what do you want to do today?"

"Basketball! You promised we could play," Leo responded, jumping up and down.

"Okay, buddy. We can do that." Andy looked over at Sam. "You ready?"

"Yeah, let's go," he said, grabbing his keys off the table near the door.

Andy got a basketball out of her closet and the three of them headed outside. They decided to walk the three blocks to a local park that had a huge playground and basketball courts. For a Saturday, the park was fairly empty and there was no one else using the basketball courts.

Leo looked up at the basketball hoop and got a sad look on his face. "It's so high. I'll never get up there," he pouted.

Andy was about to respond, but Sam beat her too it as he crouched down in front of Leo. "See that ball there," he said, pointing to the one Andy held in her hand. "It's magic."

Leo's eyes were wide open. "Magic? How?"

Sam took the ball from Andy, who was smiling down at them. "You have to bounce it first. Here try it," he said, handing the ball over.

Leo bounced it twice and looked at Sam. "Like this?"

"Yup. Now, hold on to it really tight." Sam stood up and got behind Leo. "The ball makes you fly," he continued, lifting him high in the air toward the basket. "Now throw it."

Andy watched as Sam held the boy securely by his waist and Leo's little hands threw the ball into the basket. "Score!" she screamed, clapping.

Sam put Leo down and he began jumping up and down. "Again! Again!" Sam and Leo continued playing with the "magic" ball as Andy stood back and retrieved it every time Leo got a basket. She loved seeing this side of Sam and couldn't help but smile. They eventually played a short two-on-one game with Andy and Leo going against Sam, but Leo quickly got bored and Andy was pretty sure every one of Sam's attempts to block the ball was really just an excuse to get frisky with her.

She slapped his hand away for the last time and held the ball under her arm. "Leo, do you want to play in the playground?" she asked.

"Yeah!"

They left the basketball courts and walked over to the massive newly constructed playground. As Leo began running towards it, Andy yelled out to him. "Leo! We'll be right over here watching you." She and Sam sat on one of the many benches that surrounded the playground.

Sam threw his arm around Andy's shoulders and stared at her as she watched Leo run around and make new friends. "You were good with him, coming up with the magic ball," Andy said, not taking her eyes off of the boy.

"Eh, it was nothing. Couldn't let him be bummed after he was so excited to play basketball with you," he replied.

Andy leaned back and into Sam. "Thanks for letting me spring this on you. You know, taking care of Leo today."

"They're both our friends, Andy. I'm happy to help," he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Hey, what was Nash talking about earlier about something being good practice?"

He watched her face become flush as she glanced back at him. "Oh nothing, just Trace being Trace."

"Uh huh." Sam wasn't convinced.

Andy found an escape when she watched Leo make his way over to the swings. "I'm gonna go push Leo on the swings." She got up and walked over to Leo.

He followed her with his eyes, ponytail bouncing as she pushed Leo high on the swings. A huge grin was on Leo's face and Sam could hear screams of delight across the playground. When Leo tired of the swings, Sam watched from the sidelines as Andy ran around the playground following Leo. He had her climbing up a small rock wall, sliding down the slide and even hanging off the monkey bars with him.

Leo decided he wanted to climb the small plastic structure that Andy assumed was meant to be a castle. She might be short, but there was no way she was fitting in that cramped space. "You go ahead," she told Leo. "I'm gonna sit on the swings right here." She backed up and sat down on the swing, remembering all the times her dad took her to the playground as a kid. She was lost in thought and didn't notice Sam approach her from behind. She jumped when he grabbed the metal chains of the swing.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

"Hey," she said, looking up at him. "Thinking about when my dad would take me to the park when I was little."

"I can just imagine a little McNally running around causing trouble," he teased, as he pulled her swing back and gave a little push.

"Well, you know if I ever saw you on the playground little McNally would've had to tackle little Swarek," she quipped.

Sam chucked as he gave her another push. "You do have a thing for tackling me," he smiled. Andy tilted her head back so she could see Sam and he stopped the swing when it floated back toward him. He leaned down, kissing her upside down. Andy smiled into his lips.

"We should get going. It's getting late," she said when they parted. Sam nodded and called out to Leo.

When they got back to the condo, Leo watched cartoons while Andy and Sam made dinner. After eating, Andy gave Leo a bath and got him in his pajamas. "Can we play a game?" Leo asked.

"Sure, but I'm not sure what games I have around here," she said.

"S'ok, I brought Chutes and Ladders with me!" He ran over to the duffel bag that held some toys in it and pulled out the box containing the game.

"Let's get it set up on the coffee table, okay?"

For the next two hours they played a couple games before Andy noticed Leo's drooping eyes. She looked at Sam and nodded toward Leo. "Hey buddy, how about we get you to bed?" she asked. They could tell Leo wanted to fight them but he was too tired to argue. Andy stood up and he grabbed her hand and followed her to the guest bedroom. Andy sat with him on the bed reading a story as Sam leaned against the doorframe watching them. He imagined her reading to their son or daughter someday and the thought made him smile.

Halfway through the story, Leo was fast asleep. Andy quietly slid off the bed, placing his book on the night table and shutting off the lamp. A small nightlight illuminated the room in a soft glow and Andy glanced back at Leo as she joined Sam at the door. Sam shut the door as they walked into the hallway.

"He's a good kid," Sam said as they headed to the living room to clean up.

"He always has been. I remember the first time Traci told me about him while we were in the academy. She was so scared people would judge her. But if anything, I thought they'd only realize how great she was for raising such a good kid," Andy said as she put Leo's game away.

Sam brought some dirty dishes into the kitchen and Andy was silent until he returned. "I guess in a way, we bonded over people judging us. She was judged by strangers and high school classmates for having a baby so young. And I was judged before people even met me because of my last name," she said, referring to the not-so-great legacy her father left her with when he retired.

Sam walked over and circled his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him. "Not everyone judges you because of how Tommy's career ended," he said, his breath tickling her ear.

"I know. But I always feel like I have something to prove. Like I need to show that not all McNally's are screw-ups" she said, leaning her head back on his shoulder.

Sam kissed her temple. There was no arguing with her. He knew Andy would always try to make up for the mistakes of her father. When Andy yawned, Sam smiled and placed another kiss on her head. "Go to bed. I'll finish cleaning up and join you in a few minutes."

Andy closed her eyes and nodded. She was tired from running around with Leo all day. "Okay, don't be long," she said, turning around in his arms. She placed a kiss on his lips before pulling away and walking down the hallway.

Andy was lying on her side in bed facing Sam's empty side of the bed when he walked in. He trailed his fingers lightly over her arm before walking over to his dresser and pulling out pajamas.

"It's still early. I shouldn't be this tired, practically passed out on the bed," she whined.

"Leo's a handful. A good kid, but he's got lots of energy," he replied.

"Yeah."

"I guess it's good practice though," he said.

Andy quickly flipped onto her back and stared at Sam.

"What?" he asked, seeing her shocked expression as he made his way over to his side of the bed.

"It's just, um, Traci said that exact thing today," she replied.

"That's the good practice she was talking about?"

Andy nodded as Sam sat down on the bed. He didn't seem nearly as nervous as Andy was with this conversation. She didn't have the best role models as parents and while she knew how to be "Aunt Andy," being a mom was totally different. And then of course was the fact that this was her and Sam talking about children. Her. Sam. Kids. She took a deep breath to prevent herself from hyperventilating at the thought.

"Do you ever, I mean, have you ever thought, you know, about kids?" she finally managed to get out.

"Sure. I love kids," he said as he laid on his side, propping himself on his elbow so he could look at her. He was going to say more, but at the moment he was more entertained by the expressions flashing across her face. Staring up at the ceiling, Andy's eyes flew wide open briefly before she furrowed her eyebrows like she was deep in thought. A moment later she was nervously biting her bottom lip, but he could also see the beginnings of a smile trying to surface.

She rolled onto her side to look at him. "Do you want kids?" she asked softly.

"Someday. You?"

"Not sure if I'm mother material, but yeah, I guess."

"Andy, you're great with Leo, with Oliver's kids. You'll be a great mom someday," Sam said, his knuckles brushing across her cheek before he cupped it with his palm. He leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"And it would be fun, someday, to see what our kids might look like," he said, knowing he was stepping into possibly dangerous territory.

Andy giggled at the thought and her lips curved into a smile. "Me too," she said sheepishly.

Sam leaned in toward Andy, nuzzling her nose with his briefly before placing light kisses on her nose, forehead and lips. "You know, watching Leo is one kind of practice," he said between kisses. "But I can think of something else we could practice." He pulled back so she could see him waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Andy slapped his chest playfully, but quickly pulled him closer and brought her lips to his.

Kids. Sam. Her. It wasn't so scary anymore. Maybe the universe's plan for her wasn't so bad after all.

The End