A/N Hello, beauts! I'm sorry about the slow updates, I was away at a family reunion. Can I just say that I am absolutely devastated about 3x09. I just…urgh. I need to write something about it when I think I can manage all the emotions/nuances in that episode. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

He heard the shot before he saw it, watched his partner fall to the ground. He's not sure exactly how he got over to her, how he managed to follow procedure, follow priority of life, hell, do his job while she laid on the pavement with her brown doe eyes wide and terrified. She was fine. It was just the vest. She'd be left with a nasty bruise and some nightmares but she would be fine. His heart was getting too old for this crap, man.

And God, when he held her face in his palms, saw past her false bravado; he saw what he was sure was mirrored in his own eyes. Pain and fear. He could have just held her, her warm skin a reminder that she was indeed alive. Then that kid showed up. And if looks could kill, Jerry would have been investigating a crime of passion.

She's alive, she's fine, he reminded himself as he lay in bed. His hand reached towards the phone on his bedside table. It's not that late, he reasoned. What the hell, if she can do it, so can I.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Sam."

He heard her clear her throat and the bed creak lightly as she sat up.

"Hey," her voice was quiet and tinged with exhaustion, "you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. Did I wake you?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"No, no," she lied, "I was just reading in bed."

"You know, you suck at lying over the phone almost as badly as you suck at lying in person," she heard him say, "I thought you would still be awake, but I'll let you go back to sleep.

Andy sighed sleepily, knowing that if it had been anyone else on the line, she would've been…well, less than cordial. She was exhausted, black and blue and sore all over, and yet the words just slipped out, "No, stay."

Sam was quiet for a few seconds, although a grin spread over his face. He knew he should let her sleep. But he had done the right thing too long; the only thing it did was resign him to watching Andy's fairytale romance with Luke from the driver's seat of the squad car. At least that train-wreck was over.

"I thought I could tell some more of the story tonight."

"Hmm," she mumbled nonsensically, more of a sound of satisfaction than anything else. "Okay, but you don't get to be mad at me if I don't remember anything tomorrow morning," she warned.

"Fine, fine. So where were we? Okay, so Sandy has this really awesome partner/training officer, whose name was…Graham. Graham and Sandy met when Sandy chased him down and tried to kiss him in an alley."

Andy rolled her eyes, "I'm not sure I want to hear this anymore."

"What, McNally? Sandy and Graham worked until 65 then retired from policing on a mediocre pension. The end. Wouldn't have pegged you for a romantic," he shot back sarcastically.

Andy bit her lip, apologizing hastily.

"So Sandy was a bit of a danger magnet. Musta smashed a mirror as a kid or something. She also had a fiancée who we'll call…Puke."

"Sam."

"Fine. Duke." The name was uttered with disgust. "Unfortunately for Sandy, her fiancée was a total jackass and cheated on her with some other detective named Jodie."

"What a jerk. How did Graham feel about that?"

There was a heavy pause.

"Not great. At first, Sandy was all weird, but after letting Sandy win a boxing match between the two of them, she got back to normal."

"Well, that's good. I'm sure Sandy really appreciated it. But I know if I were her, I wouldn't waste another thought on that lying ass. Thank God she had such a good partner though, huh?"

"He's there when it matters."

Again the air went silent, until Sam pushed through and continued.

"One day at work," he hesitated, not wanting to bring up bad memories and spur her nightmares, but decided to keep talking, "Sandy got shot. She was okay, but Graham was pretty worried and just wanted to make sure that she wasn't just being brave. He wanted to tell Sandy that he was here if she needed anything."

"Sandy knows," she mumbled quietly, stopping his train of thought.

"See, Graham was always a little protective of Sandy. And Graham was always worried that his partner was going to get herself killed (he said that last word with enough melodrama to let her know he was being only half serious) on his watch. He thought they made a good team. He knew he could be mean and sarcastic, just as she was talkative and overeager. He was cynical, she was optimistic; he was experienced, she was a rookie. They balanced each other out," Sam said quietly, words just spilling out.

"Andy?" he asked, with no response. He called her name again but to no avail – she must've fallen asleep, and he had no idea how much she had heard before passing out.

"God, Andy. I was so scared today. I don't know what I would've done if something had happened to you," he whispered urgently, shamelessly open. He could afford honesty when she wasn't awake to hear it. He was a coward. Hiding behind Graham and Sandy because he was afraid there would be no Sam and Andy. He was done with that. No, this story was about to get much more interesting. And by the end, she was going to know exactly how he felt about her.

A/N I know it's short, but the pace of the story will increase now that I've kind of, mostly, sort of, maybe figured out where I want to go with this. Thanks for reading! :)