A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews and alerts, you spoil me rotten. I know it has been forever since I updated. Illness had taken over my home but I am happy to report that we are now germ free.
I Think You Might Be Superman
Chapter 2-I'm good with tools
Sam woke up early, again. It was becoming a pattern recently. He would end up in bed early and then awake staring at the ceiling in the wee hours. He glanced over at his alarm clock. 5:15am. He knew that Jerry was always grateful for his help but pretty sure that if he showed up on his day off at 6am, he wouldn't be that pleased. He ate breakfast, and read the paper from cover to cover while he consumed the greater part of a pot of coffee. He quickly showered and got dressed in old jeans, a thermal and one of his trademark black t-shirts. He gathered up a variety of tools not really knowing the entirety of the job he had gotten himself into. He loaded everything in the bed of his truck and made the fifteen minute ride to Jerry's.
He knocked on the door and was surprised to be greeted, not by Jerry, but by a 7 year old boy.
"Hey buddy, is Jerry here?"
Jerry opened the door wider. "Leo, your mom and I have told you a million times, you can't open the door to a stranger."
"Sorry Jerry." He said timidly. "Please don't tell my mom. I won't do it again. I promise." A look of panic on his face.
"Alright kiddo, relax. Say hi to my friend Sam."
"Hi Sam, I'm Leo."
"Hey Leo. Nice to meet you." Sam reached out to shake the boy's hand.
"Hey Sam, come on in, I just put a pot of coffee on." Jerry told him.
"I'm okay right now. I think I might have met my caffeine quota for the day already." He chuckled.
The threesome made their way to the kitchen. Sam took a seat at the table. Leo brought a box of cereal to the table while Jerry grabbed a bowl and spoon from the cabinets. Leo sat down on the end staring at Sam intently until Jerry came over to pour milk in his bowl.
"So, how ya holding up? We really didn't get a chance to talk about it last night." Jerry asked.
"Jer, please. I try not to give Shaw too much ammunition to torment me about." He smirked.
"I know but….I don't just mean with….her. You've been through a lot."
Sam looked over at Leo's inquisitive eyes before responding.
"I'm good…...I'm fine. My body aches but I'll heal. The fact that we got Brennan will help ease the pain."
"What's funny Sam is that when I interviewed him, I got the impression that he actually liked you."
"Great." He deadpanned.
"Did you get in a fight?" the boy suddenly broke his silence.
"Sort of. " Sam didn't want Leo to picture his mom fighting with criminals.
"My mom says that if I need to fight, I should fight with my words and not my hands."
Sam smiled, "Your mom is a really smart lady."
"You know my mom?" he asked wide eyed.
"Yeah sure. We work together."
"Oh, you're a police too?"
"Yes I am." Sam looked up at Jerry who was indicating that he was gonna get work clothes on.
"I want to be a police when I get bigger too." Leo boasted.
"Good for you. Do you want to catch bad guys?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want to protect people?"
"Yeah. But mostly I just want to be a superhero."
"A superhero?" Sam was confused.
"Yeah. My Aunt, she is a police too and her partner is a superhero." Leo's eyes were bulging out of his head.
"Who is your aunt?"
"My Aunt Andy. Do you know her?"
"Oh sure. I know Andy." He grinned. "But I didn't know that her partner was a superhero."
"Yep. He is. She told me."
"Really? What did she say?" his curiosity was killing him.
"Aunt Andy has been staying at our house for a while. She used to live in a different house with Luke but I think he probably got in trouble with his parents and now Aunt Andy doesn't want to live there anymore."
"Oh….. Why do you think his parents are upset?" Sam was confused.
"Cause I heard her tell mommy that he is a liar and I'm pretty sure he cheated on a test." Priceless
Sam cleared his throat so he wouldn't laugh.
"I see. So Andy has been staying with you?" so anxious to hear about anything regarding Andy.
"Yep. It has been awesome. She plays games with me and she makes the best macaroni and cheese and when I go to bed, sometimes she tells me a story….. about her superhero." He was whispering now.
Sam leaned in to hear him. "Sam I can tell you but I'm not allowed to tell Jerry or Mom or her partner could lose his powers."
"Don't worry buddy, I can keep a secret but only if you tell me some of the stories."
Suddenly Jerry walked in dressed in worn jeans and a t-shirt, a far cry from his Italian suits and shiny loafers. "Ready guys?"
Sam and Leo looked at each other. "Ready."
Jerry dragged Sam room to room explaining as they went, exactly what he wanted to do in each room. Sam made notes on a pad, took measurements and made a list of materials that they would need. The threesome made their way to Sam's truck and headed for the home improvement store.
"So, how did you end up with Leo and doesn't he have school?" Sam queried.
Today and tomorrow are staff development days so no school for the kids. Traci is on the day shift, so I offered to watch him. Figured I would give Traci's mom a break.
"Look at you, Mr. Domesticated."
"I can't help myself. I love her man, whatever I can do for her, I want to do it."
"I think it's great. I haven't seen you this happy in a really long time." Sam noticed.
"Thanks brother, I am."
Before they knew it, they were pulling in the parking lot of the home improvement warehouse. Sam grabbed a rolling cart and headed for lumber. Leo and Jerry headed to the paint department. Once Sam had everything he needed, he went to find the rest of his "crew". He came upon Jerry and Leo debating over which color green to paint Leo's new bedroom. Leo wanted bright jungle green, Jerry was looking at more subdued colors. Sam rolled his eyes at Jerry before turning to the paint samples to look for himself. Sam was in his own world or so Jerry would have guessed by the smile on Sam's face looking at paint chips.
"Sam!" he felt a shove of his shoulder and looked up.
"Yeah?"
"What are those, pink?" He scrunched his face at Sam in confusion. "Did you get everything you need?"
"Yep." He smiled. "All set."
Since Leo wanted to help, they decided to make his new room the first project. The room had been used mostly for storage. They spent a good hour relocating the contents to the garage. Sam set up his tools and started cutting the molding, meanwhile Jerry and Leo taped around the windows and heaters. Sam effortlessly put up the moldings and spackled a few spots on the walls. While the walls were drying they put together two small shelf units that Sam would anchor to the wall. After everything was sanded and wiped down, they started to paint. Leo seemed to have more paint on himself than he had put on the walls but the men didn't seem to care. Once the rear wall was dry, Sam located the studs so he could attach the shelves. Leo had watched him curiously as he knocked on the walls and moved his hands up and down. He marked the walls accordingly. The digital stud finder in Sam's hand went unnoticed by his young helper.
"How do you know where to hammer?" Leo asked curiously.
"He uses x-ray vision." Mocked Jerry
"Cool." Said Leo
With Jerry's help Sam hung the shelves. Even though Jerry had conceded to Leo on the color, he had to say, it didn't look half bad. In the next few days, they would bring over Leo's things and then Traci could decorate the room as she pleased.
Leo was pooped after his room redo and after cleaning up and changing clothes, relocated to Jerry's sofa to watch some much needed cartoons. Sam went to work on the stair rail and its missing slats. Jerry knew that Traci was extremely safety conscious with her son and realized that it was a hazard for a young kid. Sam cut the pieces and started replacing them along the stairs. Leo came over and sat on the bottom stair to watch.
"So Leo, tell me about Aunt Andy's partner."
"The superhero?" he whispered
"Yes." Sam smiled
"Well, he can read minds. He always knows what she's thinking. He knows what everyone is thinking. And he always knows when there's danger, he has saved her like a jillion times."
"Really?"
"Yep. One time they had to pick up a prisoner and he got away. They had to track him down in the woods or they would get in trouble. The guy tricked Andy and attacked her and all of a sudden her partner came out of nowhere and saved her. I'm pretty sure that he has special senses, like Spiderman."
"No kidding?" Sam laughed
Sam recalled to mind that eventful day to Sudbury. He had been horrified to learn that he would have to take Andy with him for the prisoner transport. He and Andy weren't even on speaking terms. Things had been so awkward between them after the night of the blackout. Quite frankly, Sam had no idea what they would even talk about for ten hours in the car. Andy had tried so hard to make things friendly between them. He had tried his hardest to keep things steered away from anything personal but he had to give her credit she was persistent, trying to make it mostly personal. Trying to be his friend. It was at lunch where she finally threw in the towel. She had given up on him, and his cold shoulder treatment and despite his frustration toward her and Callaghan, he just couldn't have that. He polished off some of his fourth grade jokes and there it was, that smile. The smile that sucked him in that first shift and he realized right then, he could never stay mad at her.
The ride back had gained some normalcy and then she had let the prisoner get away. He had been furious, not as much about the prisoner escaping but more that she put herself in danger. Fortunately, they caught up with Swan and a complete disaster had been avoided. More importantly Andy was okay and they had established their friendship again. He wasn't sure why he shared Sarah's story with Andy that night. He never talked about it….. with anybody. His brain was telling him that it was probably because of the guilt he felt after he screamed at her but something in his gut told him that it was more. His walls seemed to come down around Andy. Cement walls that never came down around anyone.
"Aunt Andy said that she got hurt that day and her partner fixed her all up. He always knows how to make her feel better. One day, she was feeling really angry and he even let her beat him up."
"Pardon?"
"She was really mad and she was a little crankyish and her partner let her hit him. They had boxing gloves on, but it didn't matter because he is the strongest person on the planet so nothing can hurt him."
Sam smiled as he flashed back to the night of the quarantine. He had wanted so badly for Andy to let out her frustrations about Luke and the breakup. He remembered her trying to blow him off at first at his idea. It didn't take much teasing to have her lace up her gloves and take some shots at him. A little while later he got to see that beautiful smile again, the one that had been missing ever since her breakup. She had been grateful to get her frustrations out of her system and had told him the same. He remembered what he said to her as she left the gym that night. "Partners McNally, we always have each other's back, whatever it takes." She had hugged him and thanked him and had genuinely smiled as she left to go home that night. He couldn't stop smiling that night either.
"He sounds like an amazing guy." Sam laughed mostly at himself.
"That's exactly what Aunt Andy says about him."
"Ya know what Leo; I think my partner has superpowers too. She can find trouble from a mile away and she tries to help everyone she meets."
"What's her name?" Leo asked excitedly
"Oh, I can't tell you her real name, she wouldn't want anyone to know."
"Oh right." He whispered. "Her secret identity."
Leo went back to his cartoons and Sam back to his work. He was trying to digest the information from Leo. He was glad to hear that Andy thought so much of him, considering she wasn't a big sharer of her feelings with him. Somehow they would have to change that when they got to be together again. Sigh. Whenever that was.
Jerry took out sandwich fixings for lunch and the three of them sat at the table to eat. Jerry filled Sam in on the goings on at the Division. Jerry mentioned that after work Traci was picking Andy up to go shopping for stuff for her new place before coming over to pick up Leo. Sam took the hint that he couldn't be there at that time. They had gotten themselves in enough trouble; Jerry didn't want to set them up for any more.
After lunch Sam fixed and then reinstalled the dishwasher, correctly. He was constantly fixing the projects that Jerry had started. He couldn't help but laugh at his friend. Next on his list was to install a new faucet in the hall bath. The extent of Jerry's assistance with that project was shutting the water off. He removed his t-shirt as working in the small confined space underneath the sink was making him warm. He laid the shirt over the edge of the tub. A half hour later, the faucet was installed and the water was turned back on. Sam packed up his tools and stacked everything in the garage for the next day. As much as he would kill to have even a glimpse of Andy, he didn't want to jeopardize anything. He went upstairs to Leo's room to see if everything was dry. He pulled the extra paint chips out of his back pocket and placed them on the shelf unit. A quick word to Leo and he would be gone for the day.
Leo was packing up his backpack of toys in anticipation of his mother's arrival. Sam waited for Jerry to go looking for Leo's shoes.
"Hey buddy, can you do me a favor?" he asked as he crouched down to the boy's level.
"Sure Sam."
"When Aunt Andy comes with your mom to pick you up, can you show her the shelves that we built?"
"Can I tell her that I helped you build them?"
"Absolutely. I couldn't have done it without you."
"Sam, will I see you tomorrow?"
"Yep. I'll be here."
"Good. I had fun today. Can I work with you again?"
"Only if you promise to tell me another superhero story."
"It's a deal."
After exhausting the home décor store, Traci and Andy made their way over to Jerry's house. Traci was thrilled about the repairs and renovations and loved Leo's room. Jerry explained what other projects they were hoping to tackle. Andy felt a strange calmness just knowing that Sam had been in the house today. She wished she could have seen him, even for a second, but they had promised each other. Sigh 17 more days.
Leo ran up to Andy. "Andy, you have to come with me and see what I did today. Well, me and Jerry and Sam actually." He smiled and Andy hoped that her return smile didn't show the sadness she suddenly felt knowing that Leo got to see Sam today and she couldn't .
"One sec buddy, let me just use the bathroom."
She stood in front of the vanity washing her hands and staring back at the blank look on the face in the mirror. She was amazed at how Sam had affected her. For two years they danced around their feelings and after two nights together she couldn't bear to be without him. What the hell was wrong with her? Two and a half more weeks and they could go back to normal. Well not normal but together and that was fine with her. She took a deep breath and started to walk out when she saw a black shirt hanging over the tub. She hesitated for a second before picking it up. She certainly didn't want to smell Jerry's clothes but as soon as she saw it she knew it was Sam's. She bunched it up and brought it to her face and there it was that musky, fabric softener mix that was so inherently Sam. She took a sniff and stuffed it in her coat pocket. She smiled as she bit her bottom lip. There's no way he's getting that back.
Leo was waiting patiently for her when she came out. They made their way down the hall to his doorway.
"Wow, Leo, I love your new room."
"And Andy, look at these shelves, I built these with Sam today. He let me help him and even let me use his tools."
"Wow, they came out great. Good job." She ran her hand over the shelf and noticed 2 paint chips on the top shelf. She picked them up, confused because neither looked like the color in the room. Then she saw the names, Pistachio Green and Pink Grapefruit. She grinned and at the same time felt tears welling up in her eyes. God she missed him.
No contact Best had said. No letters, no phone calls, no email. Leave it to Sam to find a way to circumvent the system. He really didn't have any rules.
