Chapter 2

I don't own rookie blue

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'Morning,' Andy said cheerfully as Traci walked into the kitchen the next morning, looking worried. 'Is everything alright?' she asked. She hadn't seen her since her phone call with Jerry, but now it seemed as if she had misjudged the nature of the call.

'It's just stuff, Dex is being difficult again. Why are you so cheerful all of a sudden?'

'It's a new day, a new change. He's going to be back today and I'm going to tell him and we're going to be alright,' Andy smiled.

'Andy, I…' Traci started, but she was cut off.

'No Trace, I don't want to hear it. It's going to be fine, I just know it.' Andy got up and started walking out of the kitchen. 'I'll be ready to go in fifteen.'

Andy quickly got ready and gathered her things. As she walked back in to the kitchen a little later, she noticed how Traci quickly put her phone away in her pocket.

'Ready?' she asked, putting her bag over her shoulder.

'Yeah,' Traci said, turning to her son, who was eating his breakfast. 'Now, Leo, be nice to your grandmother, alright? No more of that running around, pretending to not hear her!'

'Alright, mommy,' Leo said between bites.

'Well, I tried,' Traci said as they got into her car a little later. 'Apparently, it's just a phase, but sometimes…'

'You're doing a great job, Traci. He's turning out wonderful,' Andy said as they drove off.

'Thanks,' Traci said, smiling at her best friend. 'So, have you figured out what you're going to say to him?' There was something off about the way she said that, Andy thought, but she didn't pay attention to it, now completely focussed on what was about to happen.

'Nope, not a clue. I'm probably just going to blur it out, like I usually do when I speak the truth to him.'

'What are you going to do when he isn't there, like yesterday?' Traci asked carefully.

'Freak out, probably! But it's not going to happen. He's going to be there!' Andy still hadn't lost her confidence in Sam's being at the station by the time they pulled into the parking lot. They got into the locker rooms and quickly changed, making it to parade in plenty of time. Every time someone entered, Andy looked up, expecting to see Sam, but each time she was disappointed.

Parade started, but it seemed to go right past her. Where in the world was he? He rarely was late, let alone this late.

As names were being called out to tell them what their assignments for the day were, Andy was slightly shocked to not hear Sam's name being called out for the second day in a row. An nervous feeling was beginning to form in the pit of her stomach. Had what had happened, or rather what not had happened, really been so awful to him, that he was avoiding her, that he really was being transferred to another division? That he had taken some time up before going undercover, if he was even going undercover?

Luckily, she wasn't the only one who had noticed his absence again.

'Where's Sammy gone? I haven't seen him since the little kid two days ago!' Oliver called out from the back of the parade room.

'Officer Swarek, right. He will be otherwise engaged for the upcoming weeks,' Best said, seemingly looking at a spot at the wall behind Andy.

'Otherwise engaged? What does that even mean?' Andy asked Traci in a hushed voice. For a moment Traci seemed to be in doubt.

'Andy, there is something I've got to tell you…' she started, eyes serious.

'Right, everybody, that's it. You're dismissed.' Best walked out of the room, quickly followed by everybody else.

'What is it?' Andy whispered as people started to move around them.

'Nash, are you coming?' a voice asked.

Traci got up. 'I'll tell you everything later. I'm sorry, I have to go.'

An eerie feeling started to come over Andy as she got up herself and started towards the D's office. It was as if there was suddenly a hole inside of her. Something was missing.

'Right, Andy, keep it together,' she muttered to herself as she entered the office.

'McNally, good to see you,' Jerry said as he noticed her standing slightly forlorn in the entrance. 'If you would start with those boxes. We're trying to find evidence that this guy is guilty of murdering his ex girlfriend. Those are emails he sent. There are supposed to be some death threats in them, and I need you to find them.'

'Ok,' Andy said. She took the boxes and got to work. It was nice to be doing this for the day. It made her focus and her mind didn't have as much time to wander as it was sure to do when she was driving around the city. She got caught up in the emails, trying to find anything that could possibly link the guy to the murder threats.

Nearing the end of her shift, Andy found herself alone in the office. Jerry had left, hunting down a lead and the other detectives she hadn't seen in hours. For just a second she put down the files she was now working on and leaned back into her chair. She had to let it in, for just a second, just so she could think about him for a second. Normally he'd always be there to cheer her up when she was feeling down. Not this time. This time she didn't know where he was. She could only hope that the "engaged" Best had spoken about wasn't anywhere near the matrimonial kind. But how could it be? He wasn't the type of guy who would nearly kiss one girl, only to get together with another girl right afterwards. The pull existing between the two of them was something real, something that couldn't be broken as time passed by. It was something that would never fade away, it could only get stronger.

'Where are you?' she spoke to the air. 'Where are you?'

'Andy?'

Startled she looked up. The hope that she felt for that split second was dashed into the ground the second she saw Luke standing in the doorway.

'Andy, are you alright?'

'Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine,' Andy said, quickly turning her eyes away from him again.

'You don't look fine. If this is because of the things I said last night… If they upset you in some way… I only wanted you to know that I still care, and that I miss you.' He cleared his throat. 'I'm sorry.'

'Luke, like I said last night, I moved on. I don't want to go back to what we had.' She got up and tried to walk past him. He stopped her in the doorway. She looked up to his eyes. They were filled with sorrow. She slowly shook her head and walked past him.

She entered the locker room and noticed how people stopped their conversations the moment they spotted her. Shrugging at it, she found Traci, already showered and waiting for her. Quietly she filled her in on Luke, last night's conversation as well as the one she had with him just now, if that could even pass as a conversation.

'The worst is that he only makes me realise that who I really want to be with, is somewhere… well, wherever the hell it is he's at the moment.' Andy sighed deeply. 'Well, I'm getting a shower.'

After a quick shower, during which she went over all the places she could think of where Sam might be at that very moment, Andy found herself alone in the locker room with Traci. She looked as if she had something important to say but like she didn't quite know just how to bring it.

'Where the hell is he, Traci?' Andy asked when Traci didn't speak. Though it had just been a guess that this might be the thing Traci had wanted to talk to her about this morning, she started talking.

'Jerry spoke to Boyd the other day. The undercover operation Sam was set to work on, well it was moved up. He went undercover two nights ago.'

Andy fell as if a tanker had stormed over her. He was gone, she didn't know when, let alone if, she would ever see him again. Sam was gone.

He hadn't even told her, he probably hadn't told anyone. But after everything that had happened that day, she would have suspected that he would have at least wanted to call her. He knew she would be worried, right? And yeah, he may not know exactly how worried and distracted she would be, but he could have told her! Did he really think that the almost kiss meant nothing to her? But what if it didn't mean anything to him?

She sat down on the bench, as Traci talked to her, trying to tell her everything would be fine, that he knew what he was doing. Andy's mind was somewhere else, thinking back to all the times she missed signs, signs she probably shouldn't have missed in the first place, if she hadn't been so distracted and if her mind hadn't been so clouded. There was no way he did not feel the same way about her as she felt about him. The times that they had almost kissed, the times that they had actually kissed, all the times he stood in front of her, just to get her out of harm's way. The things he said, only a few weeks ago, about that the people that cared about her were going to know. His reaction, she should have known then.

This explained everything. Because he cared. He thought hope was gone for them, so he agreed to go in earlier. If only she had realised things sooner, they would be together by now. Him going undercover didn't mean he was trying to forget about her. It was his job.

A strange sort of rest came over Andy. It was causes that were out of their hands, that were the cause of his leaving her. He had to leave, it was his job. No wonder he was 'otherwise engaged' as Best had said that morning. He couldn't contact anybody, he wasn't allowed to, she slowly started to realise.

'He didn't leave me,' Andy sighed in relief, causing Traci to look at her in wonder.

'All this time part of me thought he had left because of the kiss. I thought he gave up, just when I finally gave in. He didn't leave me.' Andy started laughing softly.

'Andy, you do know you won't be able to see him till the operation is over, don't you? It is dangerous out there, he might not come back unscratched.'

'Trace, part of me had given up all hope on a happy ending. I still have a chance with him. And of course I'm worried. My stomach hurts of worry. But I also know him. And I know he'll be fine. He'll be fine as long as he knows we still have a chance.'

The next few days went by in slow motion, or at least that's how it seemed to Andy. Day after day she drove around the city, usually with Oliver. Everybody was up to speed on where Sam was now, and she had a feeling Oliver knew what was really going on, making sure she never had to do anything which required too much focus. They only had to reply to minor incidents, so Best probably knew more than he was letting on as well. Andy didn't care. All she cared and thought about all day, was Sam. She knew that he would be fine, but she wouldn't be completely assured of that until the moment he would be sitting next to her in the cruiser, flashing his dashing smile.

It had been a slow day that day for them. She and Oliver drove to town, ready to respond to anything that would be thrown their way. They had come across two fighting neighbours, who were furious at each other because the one wanted to plant a tree that would take up the other's view. Everything had settled down quickly, but over the radio they heard several similar strange calls. It was one of those days, Andy thought as they drove to the outskirts of town, the so called 'bad' neighbourhood. Lots of criminal activity was supposed to go on here, but so far all seemed quiet.

Andy looked around, peering in alleyways, for no particular reason. Oliver noticed the way she acted.

'Andy, you're not going to find him by simply looking out the window. And no, we will not stop the car so you can go look around on foot. He has to do his job and he will be back when it's finished,' he added as he saw the look on her face.

'I know he has to be somewhere in this neighbourhood… maybe he even went back to his old place from when he was undercover.'

'No, Andy. That was a different case, a different neighbourhood. It would be too risky for him to go back there. He probably is somewhere on the outskirts of town. It is risky enough for him to be around here, he can't have you go looking for him.'

'Why not? I could come back here tonight, no uniform. What would be the harm of running into him here?'

'Andy, last time Sammy was undercover, you were the one that arrested him. Don't think anyone has forgotten that. If you go looking for him and Boyd finds out… oh boy…'

'But I need to talk to him. I can't wait however long it might take him to bring this group down.'

'Andy, don't worry. Sam knows what he's doing and I know, just like most people down at the station, that no matter how long he's going to be gone, he won't stop caring about you.' Oliver looked at her, making sure the message came across.

Andy suddenly felt as if she had been blind for so long. Everybody knew that they had feelings for each other? Everybody but them? She turned towards the road ahead of them, to stunned to speak. She never truly knew the meaning of the phrase 'love is blind' until that very moment. She saw how they pulled up in front of a crossroad. As they waited for traffic to pass, Andy suddenly noticed two men coming their way. They stopped for a moment at the far end of the road before crossing it. There was something about one of the two men, something in the way he walked. Also, he was wearing way too much hair gel, that was for sure. He was walking with his face turned away from their car, so she couldn't place him. The two men started pushing each other slightly, nothing to be worried about, from where Andy could tell. Right as they walked past the cruiser, the hair gel less man gave the other man a push. He seemed to stumble, before softly falling against the front of the car.

'What the…,' Oliver said, but he stopped himself as the man steadied himself and turned to face them. He put up his hands in an apologetic manner, showing he didn't mean to bump into them.

But all of that went right past Andy, as she looked into his face. Expecting to see someone, anyone really, she instead looked into a face, slightly smiling causing dimples to show. She knew that face. It was the face she had seen so often, thought about constantly for the past few days, dreamt about every single night for as long as she could remember.

'Sam,' she breathed.

So, that's all for chapter two. Sorry to end it like this, but I will try to get the next chapter up soon!

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! It would mean a lot to me if you would take the time to review, I'd love to know what you thought about this chapter!

B