A/N: I am so sorry it took me longer than usual to get a chapter up. School got the better of me. Here is Chapter 4. Not as long as I would like but it felt like the best place to stop.

Chapter 4

Shane walked into the venue the following afternoon looking every bit as haggard as he felt. He slept for crap after Andie left last night. He laid in bed wide awake, unable to get thoughts of Marissa off of his mind. Doubts plagued his mind. Was he doing the right thing? Was it too soon? Was he doing justice to her memory by moving on? He knew the answer to that. He and Marissa had talked about it, in the event that something happened to one of them. He knew she would want him to be happy. He wanted to be happy but also he didn't know if he was ready to take any serious steps. He had barely gotten an hour's sleep before Declan was up for the day.

Now here he was in Atlanta, after a long flight and dealing with a cranky toddler. He carried a sleeping Declan through the halls, looking for the office his father would have taken up residence in. Upon entering the office after a knock, he was met with by the faces of not only his father but also his sister Stephanie and her husband Paul. It was Paul who spoke first, "Damn, Shane-O... rough night?"

Shane nodded, carefully lying Declan down on a sofa in the room, taking a seat next to him. "Yeah. No sleep. On top of that a shitty flight with a kid in the terrible two's. You do the math."

Stephanie frowned in concern. "Did your night not go as well as you thought it would?"

"Steph, I don't want to talk about it right now. Please." Shane implored.

Stephanie had no idea what had gone on but she nodded, letting it go for now. She would get to the bottom of this when they were in private.

Vince had been on the phone when Shane had walked in the room. He ended his call with a 'just do it, dammit!' turning and seeing that both Shane and Declan were in the room. "You're here. Good..." He looked closer at his son, seeing the obvious signs of fatigue. "You alright, Shane?"

"Yeah, Dad. Just tired. No sweat." He waved off Vince's concern and Vince let it drop for the time being. They had a show to deal with right now. If Shane knew his Dad, the interrogation would come later. He groaned inwardly at the thought. He didn't really want to have to explain himself to Vince or anyone else.

Before Shane's train of thought could continue, Stephanie passed out scripts to all in the room. "Okay, let's go over this before show time."

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After the show Stephanie caught up with Shane as they left the venue. "Hey, Shane! Wait up!"

Inwardly Shane groaned but slowed his pace to allow his sister to catch up. Once she was walking next to him Shane asked, "What can I do for you?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes, placing a hand on Shane's forearm to get him to stop and look at her. She was really worried about him as was their father. Stephanie was elected to talk to Shane since they were pretty close. "Shane... talk to me. What's going on? I haven't seen you looking so worn out since..." Her words stopped; she didn't have to finish them for Shane to know what she was referring to.

"Steph, I'm alright. The dinner went great. I had a tough time because she saw a picture of Ris and I above the fireplace. I had to explain..." His voice trailed off and Stephanie could see that her brother was trying not to let his emotions get the better of him.

Wordlessly, Stephane pulled her brother into an embrace. She felt his left arm wrap around her slender waist, as he was holding Declan with the right, and heard a shaky sigh come from his lips. She rubbed his back gently and asked "Are you having second thoughts?"

Shane closed his eyes, sighing again. He was always amazed at how well Stephanie knew him and could cut right to the heart of the matter. He knew it would be pointless to speak anything but the truth. "Yes... and no. Stephanie, Andie is so great. She's funny, smart, tough as nails. Not to mention beautiful and has a kind heart." Shane paused, smiling softly. "I know that Ris would want me to move forward and a part of me does, too. I just don't know if I'm ready."

Stephanie pulled back so she could meet her brother's eyes. "Shane, it sounds like you are ready. Maybe what you aren't ready to do is admit that to yourself. There's nothing wrong with taking your time... just don't take so much time that she slips through your fingers, okay?" Stephanie smiled encouragingly.

Shane nodded, giving his sister a peck on the cheek. "Thanks, sis."

"Anytime."

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A week later, Andie was sitting in her apartment feeling perplexed. She had thought that things had gone well with Shane when they had dinner but she had yet to hear from him. The two calls she made to him went without response. He hadn't been on a run since then, either. For the life of her, Andie couldn't figure out what she had done wrong. Was this his way of telling her that he was no longer interested? If so, it was a shitty way to handle things, she thought.

Andie stood up from her couch, a feeling of frustration building. She needed to go blow off some steam. Rather than going to the gym Andie opted to take a run in the park instead. Now she knew that most people stayed away from the park at night but she's a cop. She knew she could handle herself. With that decided, she quickly changed into her exercise attire and headed to the park.

After stretching Andie began jogging at first, her pace picking up a little bit as her muscles warmed up. Her thoughts drifted back to the situation with Shane as she continued through the park. She wondered if he hadn't been as interested as she thought he had been. Perhaps she misread the entire situation. That thought irked her because she prided herself on being able to read people. It was part of her job and she knew she was damn good at it. She couldn't figure out for the life of her what she could have done or said that would have repelled him.

Andie's thoughts were interruped when she heard a scream further down the path. She broke into a sprint to get there faster. As she approached she observed a man attacking a woman. He had her pinned to the ground by straddling her and was beating the crap out of her. Without a second thought, Andie ran and tackled the man from on top of the woman. While she struggled with the perp, the woman got up and took off, disappearing. Andie couldn't concern herself with that right now as she now fought with the man responsible for the attack. As strong as Andie was, she couldn't get the upper hand and soon found herself being pummeled, taking three solid punches before her head snapped back and hit the pavement hard. She vaguely felt the air being driven out of her by a kick before her world went black.

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The following morning, after some serious soul searching, Shane picked up his phone to call Andie. She had attempted to contact him over the past week and he hadn't answered or returned her calls. He knew he hadn't been fair to her and he hoped he could apologize and make it up to her somehow. He at least wanted to talk with her, to explain why he had done what he did. He pulled the phone away from his ear when he heard a male voice answer the phone, checking to make sure he called the right number. After the person said hello, Shane asked, "Hello? Is Andie there?"

"Andie can't talk right now." The male voice was clipped. Shane wondered if this was Andie's partner, whom she had talked about quite a bit when they had dinner last week.

"Who is this?"

Shane realized he hadn't responded when the question came. "Oh sorry. This is Shane... a friend of Andie's. When will she be available?"

The man on the other end sighed heavily and his voice had a worried edge to it. "I don't know..."

Shane frowned and he felt anxiety starting to rise in him. His question was cautious. "What do you mean you don't know? Who is this?"

"This is Andie's partner. Dominic. She uh... Andie was... look, she's hurt. She's in the hospital."

Shane felt his whole body tense. It took a moment before he could find his voice again. When he did, he only wanted to know one thing. "Is she going to be okay?"

Dom sighed again. From what the doctor said he felt that Andie would be fine. If that was the case though, why hadn't she woke up yet? "I... the doctor said she should be fine. She took a pretty nasty blow to the head. We're hoping she'll wake up within the next few hours."

Shane nodded, sighing softly. He was relieved to hear that. "Thank God. Look... can you keep me posted? I would really appreciate it."

"You got it, man." After a pause, Dom spoke again. "Listen Shane. I don't know what's been going on with you two but Andie has been really upset this past week. Whatever it is, make it right, okay?"

Shane bit his lip. He knew that he had been a jerk to her and he vowed to make it up to her. "I will."

With that the call ended. Shane put his phone down and ran a hand through his hair. He blew out another breath and set up a prayer for Andie's recovery.