Author's Note: As always, thank you for the kind and encouraging feedback. It really does mean so much to a writer (and I use that term loosely in reference to myself) when you take the time to let us know what you think! I'm glad you guys are sticking with this story, even though circumstances on the show have changed. Speaking of... the finale last night. Some seriously cute moments but I swear, would it kill the writers to give us a McSwarek hug? The man you've been sleeping with, the man you probably love, is walking out of a house after being tortured by a psychopath and we get blank stares? Ugh. Other than that though, fantastic episode. I can't wait for ABC to load the commentary (it's supposed to be Missy, Ben and David Wellington so it should be good!). Maybe it will provide insight into what Andy and Sam were thinking during his "rescue".

Disclaimer: I do not own Rookie Blue. If I did there would be some freaking HUGS! God.

The next day, Andy smiled softly to herself as she stood in front of her locker, buttoning her uniform shirt.

"Someone looks happy," Traci noted, coming up beside Andy and opening her own locker. She grinned knowingly. "I take it Sam wasn't too upset about the party?"

Andy's cheeks tinted with a blush. "No, he didn't seem too upset at all," she said, suddenly needing to search through her locker, anything to get away from Traci's prying eyes.

Pulling her shirt over her head, Traci persisted. "And I'm sure he wasn't at all distracted by… other things?"

Andy grinned and looked over at her friend. "He may have been a little distracted." When Traci raised an eyebrow Andy laughed and admitted, "Okay, maybe he was a lot distracted."

Traci's face lit up with a big smile. "Really?"

Andy just bit her lip and nodded, unable to keep the grin off of her face and not really wanting to deny it.

"Andy McNally," Traci exclaimed, hitting Andy lightly on the arm with her shirt. "I'm happy for you. So are you guys together now or what?"

"Yeah, I think so. I mean, we haven't really talked about it or made it official or anything but," Andy shrugged and then nodded, "I think so."

"I'm sure you didn't get much talking in," Traci teased, sitting down on the bench to pull her boots on. "So are you still going to move into your apartment?"

"Yeah," Andy answered, her forehead wrinkling. "Why wouldn't I?"

Traci just shrugged. "Seems like you guys have gotten settled into a pretty good routine, that's all. Does Sam know you're still planning on moving out?"

"I never really moved in," Andy insisted, "He knows it was only temporary, just until my apartment was ready."

"Yeah," Traci acknowledged carefully, "But that was before."

Andy was about to respond when Gail poked her head around the lockers. "You guys better hurry. You're going to be late for parade."

"We're coming," Traci said, finishing up the knot in her shoelaces. "Just talk to him," she told Andy, standing up and walking towards the door. "Make sure you're on the same page, that's all I'm saying."

Andy followed her friend to parade, deep in thought. She and Sam hadn't discussed whether or not she was still going to move into her apartment, she had just assumed she still was. It was way too early in the relationship to even consider moving in together.

Of course they had pretty much been living together for the last three weeks and things were going well.

As Andy entered the parade room she shook her head, clearing her mind. There was plenty of time to think about living arrangements later. She and Traci slid into the only two empty seats left in the room just as Best was beginning his daily report.

Andy tried to focus on what he was saying, but she could feel Sam's eyes on the back of her neck. She tried to nonchalantly look back to where she knew he was seated. She found him, right where she knew he would be next to Oliver, and smiled at him.

His eyes locked with hers, he ran his tongue over his top teeth suggestively and then winked at her. Shivers ran up her spine and she felt her face flush with heat, much to his delight. He grinned at her before discreetly tipping his head forward, directing her attention back to Best.

Best turned parade over to Jerry, who detailed the case he had been working on to the officers. There had been a string of home invasions in the downtown lake area and it looked like the work of a highly organized group of burglars. Andy did her best to concentrate but when Best dismissed them she realized she hadn't heard a thing Jerry had said.

Sam left the room before her, talking something over with Oliver, and Andy had gotten caught in a discussion with Chris and Dov about the best way to cook an omelet.

"You have to add the cheese after the egg is already cooking," Chris said.

"No way," Dov argued passionately as they walked out of the room. "You have to stir in the cheese first, that way it melts throughout the whole thing. Andy?"

Andy pursed her lips, considering the question. "Cheese first," she said after a moment, agreeing with Dov. "Other ingredients later."

"Hah!" Dov declared triumphantly as he and Chris turned away from Andy to go to their squad car. "I told you."

Andy shook her head and laughed quietly, watching them walk down the hallway. She glanced into the squad room, looking for Sam. Unsurprisingly, she found him standing in front of the coffee station. He appeared to be stirring creamer into a cup of coffee but his eyes were glazed over and she could tell his attention was elsewhere. There was a small smirk playing on his lips and she had a pretty good idea what he was thinking about.

"I think that coffee is as stirred as it's gonna get," Andy said, sidling up next to him with a grin on her face.

Sam blinked over at her, pulled out of his thoughts. "Hmm? Oh," he quickly threw the stirrer away and then handed her the coffee, "Here you go."

"Thank you," she said, accepting the coffee gratefully and wrapping both hands around the warm cup. She took a sip and then raised an eyebrow. "You seem a little distracted."

Sam's eyes twinkled as he looked at her. He opened his mouth to say something, probably inappropriate, but thought better of it. Instead, his lips twitching with a smirk, he replied, "I was just thinking."

"About Jerry's case?" She asked innocently, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Oh yeah," Sam nodding, knowing full well she knew he wasn't really thinking about the case. "It's, uh, been on my mind all morning." He looked at her pointedly. "I really haven't been able to think about anything else."

"Me either," Andy told him, taking a step closer to him. "Except," she said, lowering her voice so only he could hear her. "I'm a little fuzzy about some of the details."

Sam grinned at her and then glanced around, making sure no one was paying attention to them, before putting a hand on the small of her back. "We can't have that."

Andy dragged her bottom lip through her teeth. "Do you think you have time to go over them with me? The details, I mean?"

A dark, smoldering gaze replaced the warm, loving eyes that usually looked down at her. He swallowed hard. "I'm sure we could probably find somewhere to discuss them," Sam said, pulling her body a fraction of an inch closer to his, just enough to brush against her.

"Good," Andy murmured, holding her coffee in one hand and resting the other on his chest, flicking her finger over his name badge. "Because I want to be very, very clear about the details."

Sam suppressed a groan and, using the hand that rested on her back to guide her, led her swiftly out of the squad room and down the hallway. Her coffee was abandoned on someone's desk and she kept a straight face when they passed a group of officers but then giggled delightedly as he checked interview one. Finding the viewing room empty, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her inside, locking the door behind them.

In no time at all he had pushed her back against the wall, kissing her long and hard. His fingers made quick work of the buttons down the front of her shirt and he hastily pushed it aside before slipping his hand in and squeezing her roughly.

Blood pulsated through her ears as she moaned and yielded willingly to him, thoroughly embracing and enjoying the more aggressive side of Sam. "So you've been thinking, huh?" She asked huskily when he tore his lips away from hers, kissing down her neck.

"Mmmhmm," was his only reply as he scraped his teeth across her collarbone before latching on to the sensitive skin at the base of her neck and biting down gently, a stark contrast to the hold he currently had on her breast.

She closed her eyes and allowed her head to roll back against the wall. Her hands went to his belt, quickly undoing it but not bothering to pull it off, and she fisted the material of his shirt, pulling him towards her. "About what?"

"You," he told her, lifting her by the waist and leaving her no choice but to wrap her legs around him. He turned them around and settled her on the table in the middle of the room, his hands running up her thighs as he kissed her again.

"Me?" She asked, tugging his shirt loose from his pants. She smiled wickedly at him. "What about me?"

"Andy?" He said distractedly, preoccupied with slipping his hand through the folds of her shirt and reaching around her body to flick the clasp of her bra open.

She slid her hands up under his shirt, tweaking his nipples. "Yes?"

"Stop talking," he directed, running his hands beneath the material of her bra.

"Okay," she agreed breathlessly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and tightened her legs, pulling her body flush against his. She held his face in her hands and brought her lips to his again, slowing the frenzied pace that he had set but doing nothing to calm the intensity.

He kissed her deeply, his arms encircling her body and drawing her impossibly closer. He wedged a hand between them and sought out her belt, unbuckling it before moving his fingers to the button of her pants. He groaned with frustration when he couldn't get it undone, and Andy quickly nudged his hands away to help, afraid he might actually rip something.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Andy shoved him off of her, cursing under her breath.

"Ignore it," Sam said gruffly, grasping her hips again. "They'll go away."

"We can't ignore it," Andy hissed, pushing him away and scrambling off the table while frantically trying to refasten her bra.

Sam took a deep breath and then calmly tucked his shirt in and buckled his belt.

"Sam!" Andy exclaimed, annoyed, her shirt still open as she tried to reach around to her back, "Help me!"

There was another knock on the door. More like pounding this time. "Sam, I saw you go in there, open the door," Jerry's familiar voice called out from the other side of the door.

Sam reached over to fasten Andy's bra and then moved her to the wall beside the door.

He unlocked the door and opened it, making sure Andy was hidden behind it as she furiously tried to straighten her disheveled clothing. "Jerry," he greeted smoothly, finding the detective standing in front of him, looking irritated but also slightly amused.

"Sam," Jerry replied mildly. "Is McNally in there with you?"

Sam nodded sharply. "We were just going over the details of your case," he said, unable to keep his lips from twitching with a telling and unapologetic grin.

"Sure you were," Jerry agreed sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "When McNally gets her clothes back on I need you two to come to the D's office and help me with something."

Andy came out from behind the door and moved to stand next to Sam, smiling sheepishly. "I'm right here. Clothed and everything. "

Jerry gave her a once over and then smirked. "Your buttons are messed up," he said, pointing at her shirt. He looked between the two of them and instructed before leaving, "My office. Hurry."

Sam let the door to the interview room close and then turned to Andy, grinning widely. Her face was flaming red with embarrassment and she dropped her head into her hands, groaning. "Oh my god, I can't believe that just happened."

Sam just chuckled and reached for her shirt, his nimble fingers undoing the buttons and then redoing them in the correct order. "It's just Jerry," Sam told her, pulling her hands away from her face and circling them around his waist. "He doesn't care."

"It's not Jerry," she protested, her eyes wide. "We got carried away. I can't believe we almost had sex, here," she gestured around the room, "At work."

Sam grinned wolfishly down at her, his dimples fully on display.

"What?" She asked, looking at him suspiciously.

Sam widened his stance, pulling her closer to him. "Nothing," he said, clearly pleased with something.

She narrowed her eyes. "No, okay. No," she admitted, knowing was he was getting at. "I never had sex with Luke at work."

Sam shrugged, "I wasn't gonna ask." He bent his head down to whisper in her ear, "But that is good to know."

She sighed but leaned into him. "This cannot happen again," she asserted, directed more towards herself than him.

"Fine," he replied easily. He paused for half a beat and then continued, "There's always the locker room, and the squad car and we could probably get a holding cell to ourselves but you'd probably have to let me cuff you…"

She slapped his chest lightly, laughing. "No, I'm being serious Sam."

"So am I. You've cuffed me, it's only fair. I'll be gentle," Sam said, grinning down at her. "Maybe."

Andy rolled her eyes, "Keep dreaming."

"Oh I will," he promised, smiling. "Seriously though," he said, tugging on her ponytail, "You okay?"

"A little rattled," she admitted, "A little embarrassed. But I'm good."

He kissed her forehead. "You ready to go?"

She nodded and stepped away from him, running her hands over her clothes. "Do I look okay?"

"You look great," he assured her, opening the door.

Later that night, after Sam had shown her exactly what he had been thinking about earlier that day, he laid on top of her, breathing heavily.

"Wow," Andy sighed, lazily running her fingers across his still heaving back. He made a move to get up but she clamped her legs around him, holding him to her. "No, just stay here for a minute."

"Okay," he murmured, pressing a soft kiss against a mark on her shoulder.

They stayed like that, kissing each other tenderly and whispering in hushed tones, until finally Andy pushed against Sam. "You're getting heavy."

Sam chuckled and rolled to his side, pulling her along with him.

"So I talked to Traci today," Andy told him, running her fingers through the hair the covered his chest.

He pushed her bangs out of her eyes before replying, "Oh, yeah?"

She nodded. "I told her about us."

"Okay," Sam said, curling his hand around her waist. "And?"

"She was happy for us," Andy said. "I think she's been rooting for us for a while."

"Rooting for us?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

Andy nodded, tracing his tattoo with feather-light strokes. "She knows about what happened the night of the blackout."

"Oh," Sam said simply, not really knowing where Andy was going.

"Did you ever tell anyone?" She asked quietly, looking up at him from beneath her long eyelashes.

Sam shook his head. "No," he replied hoarsely. "No one."

Andy smiled softly, not surprised that he had kept it to himself. She framed his face with her hands and leaned in to brush a gentle kiss against his lips.

"Traci was never really supportive of Luke," Andy told him. "She tried to be, but I could tell she was forcing it."

"I knew I liked her," Sam joked, kissing her again. He smiled as he pulled back, but something in her dark eyes made him stop. She looked… fearful, almost. Like she wanted to say something but didn't know how. "What's wrong?"

Andy took a deep breath. "There's something I need to talk to you about," she said, folding one arm beneath her head and trailing the other across his shoulder.

"What is it?" Sam asked. Andy could hear the nervousness creeping into his tone.

She hesitated for a moment but then told him, "I'm supposed to move into my apartment in a couple of days."

She felt Sam immediately stiffen under her fingers, his muscles tense.

"Okay," he replied neutrally.

Andy studied him, trying to read him. "What do you think about that?"

"Is that still your plan?" Sam asked evenly, his voice carrying no emotion. Andy knew it was a sign that he was upset, that he was trying to control his reaction.

She nodded slowly.

The muscle in Sam's jaw twitched and his eyes narrowed slightly before he rolled away from her and pushed himself off of the bed, heading to the bathroom.

Andy sighed and sat up, reaching for his discarded t-shirt at the end of the bed. She could feel an argument coming on and there was no way she was going to have it in the nude.

"You knew I was only staying here temporarily," she called out to him through the partially closed door.

He didn't reply. She heard the toilet flush and the water run and then Sam appeared in the bathroom doorway again, bracing his arms on either side of the frame. The light from the bathroom was the only light on in the room, illuminating Sam from behind but casting shadows across his face. Andy couldn't make out his expression enough to read it.

She flipped the lamp next to the bed on, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the brightness. He didn't move from where he was, still braced in the doorway of the bathroom, in a pair of boxers he had obviously just pulled on. His jaw was tight and she watched him work it from side to side.

"It was only supposed to be three weeks," she reminded him quietly.

Sam ran a hand down his throat before scratching his jawline. "And you don't think anything's changed in those three weeks?"

"Of course things have changed," Andy told him with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"So?" Sam drew the word out, shaking his head with the question.

"I can't stay here," she said. "I can't move in with you right now."

"Why not?" He challenged.

Andy rolled her eyes at how difficult he was being. "Because we've been together for what? A week? Less than that?" The thought of moving in with someone that quickly was absurd, no matter who it was. "Do you even want me to stay here?"

"Of course I do," Sam said. "I wouldn't have asked you in the first place if I didn't want you here."

"But you knew it was only for a few weeks when you asked," Andy argued. "Not permanently."

Sam shrugged, "Who cares how long it was supposed to be for?"

"You're ready to just jump into that? Living together?" She asked, her brow drawing together in disbelief. "Already?"

"It's worked out pretty well so far," Sam claimed. "I don't see why that needs to change."

Andy sighed and looked down at her hands. "Sam…"

"What Andy?" He asked sharply. "What?"

She glared at him, suddenly angry. "You were the one that said we could move at whatever pace we were both comfortable with," she said, throwing his words back at him.

Sam chewed on his bottom lip, studying her. "What are you afraid of?"

"It's a big commitment Sam," she said. "I don't think it's unreasonable for me to be a little hesitant about it."

"You're going to be here anyway," Sam rationalized. "Why bother having an apartment on the side? It's unnecessary."

"It's not unnecessary," Andy claimed. "What if something happens?"

Sam flicked off the bathroom light and then moved into the room to stand at the foot of the bed, folding his arms in front of his chest. His stare was disconcerting and she felt herself backing up until she was against the headboard. "Like what?" he asked.

Andy's eyes widened. "Sam, please," she pleaded with him.

"What do you think is going to happen, Andy?" Sam persisted, his voice rising.

"I don't know!" Andy exclaimed. "Okay, I don't know what's going to happen or what could happen I just know it's a huge commitment."

"You moved in with Callaghan," Sam said.

"After dating him for several months!" Andy retorted.

"You were going to marry him." Sam shot back. "That's a pretty big commitment."

Andy sat up to her knees, pointing at him accusingly. "You were the one that told me I was too young to get married."

Sam snorted a humorless laugh. "Of course I said that Andy!" he yelled, throwing his hands out. "I didn't want you to marry the guy!"

"So why couldn't you just have told me that?"

"Would you have listened it I had?"

"Maybe not," she admitted honestly, her voice still raised. "But you could have at least tried."

"What good would it have done?" Sam asked, accusingly. "If Callaghan hadn't cheated on you with Jo, you'd still probably be with him right now!"

The accusation hung between them like a heavy weight.

Andy felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She sat back on her heels, letting out a deep breath. "Is that what this is about?"

"Well it's true," Sam maintained callously. "Isn't it?"

"How am I supposed to know that?"

"Well you certainly weren't doing anything to change it!" Sam said. "In fact, didn't I hear that wedding planning had been sped up?"

Andy took a sharp intake of air. "Who told you that?"

"Jerry did," Sam spat out. "Luke's freaking best man. Thanks for telling me by the way, really appreciated that one."

"Oh," Andy said defensively, "Because you wanted to go to the wedding?"

"Hell no," Sam replied. "But I would have, if you'd asked."

"I didn't even ask Chris or Dov to be there!" Andy yelled back. "Or my dad! But it's not like it matters now, I'm not even with him anymore!"

"Because he cheated on you."

Andy glared at him. "That's not fair."

"Well, the truth hurts sometimes Andy," Sam said.

"God, you can be such a bastard sometimes," she said, shaking her head. "Don't put this on me! It's not like you ever gave me a reason to leave him."

Sam set his jaw. "I thought he was the one you wanted."

"I wanted you, you stubborn jackass!" Andy shrieked, "After the blackout I wanted you but you were the one that pushed me away!"

"I've been there for you this whole time Andy!"

"Yeah, as my friend," Andy said. "As my partner. I never knew it was anything more than that."

"You are lying," he replied coolly. "You knew."

"What did I know?" Andy asked, prodding him.

Sam raised an eyebrow and ground his teeth together, remaining silent.

"Yeah," Andy said, nodding sadly. "That's what I thought. You want me to live here, with you, and you still can't even tell me how you really feel, I have to watch it on a video."

They regarded each other for a moment, unspoken words and hurt and accusations hanging between them, filling the air with tension.

"I'm not Luke, Andy," Sam said quietly after a minute. "I'm not going to cheat on you."

Despite her anger, Andy replied softly. "I know that."

"Do you?" Sam asked, bending his knees so he was in her eye line.

She just nodded.

"Okay," he said, climbing onto the bed next to her, the mattress dipping under his weight. "Here's what I want. I want you to be here, with me. I want you to be here when I go to sleep and when I wake up and I'd like for you to be here all of the hours in between."

Andy looked up at him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Sam, I just…"

He interrupted her, pressing a kiss against her forehead. "Let's just go to sleep, okay?" He suggested softly, yawning. "We can finish this in the morning."

"Do you want me to go upstairs?" She asked, watching as he slipped beneath the covers.

He shook his head. "No," he said, patting the space beside him. "Stay here. Please."

"Okay," she whispered, sliding in next to him, careful not to touch him, somehow feeling like she didn't have the right even though not twenty minutes earlier he had been touching her in the most intimate ways possible.

She turned over to her side and reached to turn the light out, bathing them in darkness.

"Andy?"

She looked over her shoulder. "Yeah?" She whispered.

She felt his strong arm circle her waist and drag her across the bed, cradling her against him.

He nuzzled his face into her hair, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Is this okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she whispered. Despite the harsh words exchanged between them and the anger still simmering at the surface, there was security in his arms. "Yeah, it's good."

Eventually she felt his breathing even out, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm against her back. He may have fallen asleep, but she was wide-awake, unable to turn her mind off. She kept running their argument through her head, debating with herself her reasons for not wanting to move in with him and wondering if what he said was true, if she would still be with Luke had he not cheated on her. After being with Sam, even just the few short days they had been together, she couldn't fathom why she had ever chosen Luke over him.

His cellphone rang, waking him up, but she pretended to be asleep as she heard him talk quietly into it. She assumed it was Boyd, no one else would call in the middle of the night.

She pretended to be asleep when she felt him get out of bed and heard him pull on his clothes and then she continued pretending to be asleep when she felt his warm hand on her hip and his lips pressing against her temple.

She didn't want to talk to him, not then. Not yet.

It wasn't until she heard the front door close that she flipped to her back and folded her hands over her chest, settling in for what she knew would be a long night ahead.

When her own phone went off several hours later, she wasn't initially concerned, thinking that Sam probably needed her help again. She held the phone in front of her, checking the caller ID before answering, and her pulse quickened when she saw that it was an unknown number.

"Hello?" She answered anxiously.

"McNally," the voice on the other end of the line said. "This is Donovan Boyd."

She sat straight up in bed. "Where's Sam?"

"I'm here with him at Memorial Hospital," Boyd said. "You, uh, you need to get down here."

"Is he okay?" Andy asked, throwing the covers off of her and searching the floor for clothing. He didn't reply right away so she asked again, impatiently, "Boyd! Is he okay? What happened?"

She heard him clear his throat. "He's been shot."