A/N: Hola! I can't believe this is almost over! :*( When I started this, I thought I would have a lot more time with this story, but I don't want to drag it on forever and ever. Don't worry, though—after this story's done, I'll be back with a new one (hopefully very soon!).

Oh, and this time, the restaurant's mine. :) La Palette from a few chapters back is not, though, and everything I used I took from their website.

Without further ado…

Disclaimer: I do not own Rookie Blue.

Chapter 10: The First Day

His eyes twinkling as he took in her rigid form, Sam reached over and snatched Andy's hand out of her lap and into his own. They were sitting in Best's office, waiting for him to arrive so they could have their mandatory meeting before they left for their duties for the day, and Sam was getting a little bored.

He couldn't help grinning at the way she swung around in her chair completely, her eyes flashing. "Sam!"

He grinned cheekily at her. "What?"

Andy snatched her hand back onto her own lap. "Best is coming!" she hissed.

Sam scoffed. "No he's not. Not even close. Did you see him flirting with Noelle? Please. He won't be here for at least 10 minutes."

She sent him a warning look. "I highly doubt that Best is in a very forgiving mood, especially since you showed up to parade nearly ten minutes late. You know, he decided to start parade instead of have our meeting because you were so late?"

He grinned at her knowingly, his eyes twinkling. He leaned over and threaded his fingers through hers as he stole a quick kiss from her lips. "Oh, please. Best's too in love with Noelle and that baby of his to even notice how late I was."

Andy snorted and rolled her eyes, but didn't bother to pull her hand away this time.

"So, are you still up for that date with me tonight?" he asked, glancing at her hopefully. He wasn't sure he had ever put so much into planning a date, and he really hoped she hadn't changed her mind.

She turned to him with a frown on her face. "What date?"

"You know… In one of the letters… I asked you. You said you'd go. The surprise date… ?" he floundered, his heart falling. She didn't even remember.

Just when he was about to tell her to forget it, that it didn't matter, her lips widened into a mischievous grin at him. "Gotcha!"

Sam groaned, and Andy giggled in pleasure. She leaned across his lap, invading his space, kissing him slowly. She liked this newfound freedom to kiss Sam whenever she wanted. After the whole bullpen saw her rather overt reunion with Sam earlier that day, she wasn't sure anything would faze them. Well, within reason, of course.

When she pulled away, Sam was grinning up at her, and he reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair out of her face.

"Ah-hem!"

Andy shot away from Sam at the sound of Best's barked greeting, dropping Sam's hand like it was the plague. "Sorry, sir," she mumbled meekly.

She wanted to groan when she saw the smug grin lingering on Sam's lips. She could just kill him sometimes.

Best sat behind his desk and crossed his arms over his chest, staring them both down. "You were late to parade today, Officer Swarek."

Sam swallowed hard, the very appearance of contrition. "Yes, sir."

Andy hid her smirk. Sam never acted so polite unless he really wanted something.

"You're never late to parade, Officer Swarek."

"Yes, sir."

"Would you mind telling me why you were late today?"

"I, ah—" He risked a glance toward Andy. She was glaring at him as if she was daring him to actually tell Best what had happened less than an hour ago. True, nothing had happened—well, not really, as far as Best was concerned, anyway—but he was fairly certain Andy thought that if Best knew, he would keep them apart for even longer. He turned back to their boss. "I was just running late is all," he said, shrugging sheepishly.

Best quirked an eyebrow at them. "You know I don't buy that for a second, right?"

Andy and Sam glanced at each other guiltily. "Yes, sir," they agreed together.

Best actually chuckled and leaned forward in his chair, propping his elbows on the edge of his desk. "If I let you two back, can I expect that some work will actually get done around here?"

They both nodded vehemently. "Yes, sir."

Best smirked and rolled his eyes. "Okay. Here's the deal. I'm allowing you both to come back on a probationary basis," he said, emphasizing the words when both Sam and Andy grinned and threatened to celebrate, right there. "For the next two weeks, you will be working with other officers in the Fifteenth Division. Provided everything goes well, I'll consider resuming your partnership at that point. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," they both chorused, and Andy was nearly dancing in her seat.

"Don't let me catch you kissing or holding hands or any of that mushy stuff, either," he warned.

Andy blushed at the comment, and Sam said "yes, sir" for the both of them.

"Dismissed," he said. "You got your assignments at parade."

Sam guided Andy out of the room with a hand at the small of her back and closed the door behind them. Andy sighed with relief, and Sam smirked over at her. "You weren't worried, were you?" he teased.

She scowled at him and slapped his chest with the back of her hand. "Don't talk like that. I need this job."

Sam rolled his eyes and grinned at her. "C'mon. I'll walk you to the front desk."

When they reached the desk, she sank into her seat and sighed dramatically. "Ugh, this is going to be sooo boring."

Dov glanced over at them. "Aw, c'mon, now. I'm awesome company."

Andy turned to look at her desk mate and grinned affectionately, and Sam snorted. "I'll see you later, Andy."

She pouted a little for effect. "Bye! Text me if you have time!"

Sam grinned. He could actually text her whenever he wanted now. Maybe going on patrol with someone else wouldn't be that bad, after all. "'Kay. Bye, babe," he called over his shoulder, sauntering away to Gail, waiting for him at her desk.

Andy blushed at his words, and Dov grinned over at her. "Oooooh," he teased. "Somebody's got a man again…"

She rolled her eyes and punched his arm. "Shut up."

Less than an hour later, Andy's phone vibrated in her pocket. Since Dov was dealing with an older woman reporting a crime and no one else needed her attention at the moment, she retrieved her phone and opened the text message. She immediately grinned at Sam's desperate words.

Rescue me!

She snorted as she typed her response.

What could you possibly need rescuing from already?

A second later, her phone vibrated again. Peck! Just because I can be grumpy doesn't mean I'm an ogre. I don't know who she thinks I am…

Andy actually burst out laughing then, and Dov sent her a sharp look to silence her. Properly chastened, she quickly typed back, What's she doing?

I don't know, Sam replied a few moments later. She's complaining about how nobody is good at being a criminal these days or some crap. Why would I care about that?

She grinned as she typed her reply. You know, I don't talk about crap.

His next comment dripped with sarcasm. Oh, of course. Never, McNally.

She rolled her eyes and shoved her phone back in her pocket when Oliver's wife came in. "Hey, Zoe," she greeted cheerfully.

Zoe smiled in return. "Hey, Andy. Is Oliver in?"

Andy glanced out to where the unused cruisers were parked to make sure he hadn't returned in the past few minutes. "No, sorry. He and Chris left on patrol almost an hour ago."

She sighed and leaned against the counter. "Oh. Okay. Can you give this to him if you see him? He came down with a cold almost two weeks ago, and he still hasn't shaken it. I swear, he's going to kill himself one day because he forgot his medicine…"

Andy grinned as she took the prescription bottle. "Sure, I'll give it to him."

The rest of the morning was filled with similar small errands and banter with Sam. She'd started to settle into the monotony of the day's shift, listening to Dov's conspiracy theories on American terrorists crossing into Canada or some such rubbish when the front doors flew open and Sam waltzed in, a grumbling Gail shuffling behind him. She grinned when she saw the take-out bag in his hand. Emilia's. Her stomach growled at the thought of it.

Sam chuckled as he stopped in front of the front desk. Andy's eyes were wide with her pleasure, almost comically so. "Somebody's hungry."

She groaned and reached out for the bag. "Mexican sounds so good right now."

He laughed and held up a burrito wrapped tightly in tinfoil. "One chicken fresco fiesta burrito," he said, holding it just out of her reach. After she snatched at it unsuccessfully a few times, he lowered it into her reach. "And… home-made nachos and cheese."

Her eyes widened with disbelief. "Nachos, too?" Whenever they'd stopped at Emilia's before, Sam had always insisted that they never had time for nachos, and Emilia's were Andy's favorites.

He grinned and rolled his eyes, but handed her the take-out tray with the chips and melted cheese. "You have room for me back there?"

She unfolded a chair resting against the wall and scooted over to give him room. "Of course."

Gail groaned from across the room. "You mean you're going to eat here, too?"

Andy and Sam both grinned up at her, and Sam said, "Go finish up the paperwork from the arrest earlier or something. You were the one that said you didn't want to eat."

As Gail stomped off, Andy, Sam, and Dov overheard her grumbling that she'd never said she didn't want to eat… just that she didn't want to eat Mexican food…

Andy smirked and kissed Sam quickly in greeting, hoping Best wouldn't notice. "Thanks for lunch."

He grinned at her tenderly, that grin a man gives only to the woman he loves. "No problem, babe." He glanced over at Gail's desk. "You're better company than Peck anyway."

Andy giggled and threaded her fingers with his as she popped a nacho into her mouth. "So tell me about all those theories she came up with."

Sam groaned as he took a large bite of his burrito. "Are you sure you want to know? Because some of them are really dumb…"

A/N: A little bit of fluffy filler before the last chapter. I hadn't really planned to include this part, but some of you said you wanted to see an angry Best, so I figured why not. :) Not that my Best is extraordinarily angry... :)

Hopefully the final chapter will be out sometime this week! Please leave a review on your way out! :)