You know, I'm not really sure what Jerry's opinion of Andy is. He has defended her to Boyd in the past but almost reluctantly. When he told Luke who 'the breach' was, I'm not sure what his overwhelming emotion was. Who was he trying to protect? Andy or Luke or Sam? We haven't seen a whole lot of interaction between Jerry and Andy. I'd be interested to hear what you think Jerry's opinion of the situation is. Hopefully this is plausible.

Trial by Jerry

As soon as they made it out into the hallway, Sam pulled out his phone but not before he shoved at Dov's shoulder. "I told you to wait at your desk..."

"I know but the Sarge came over," Dov defended.

Sam furrowed his brow. "What did you tell him?" He asked distractedly, more concerned with punching the keys on his phone.

"I didn't have to tell him anything," Dov responded. "He pretty much guessed."

Flashback

"Epstein, you're back," Frank noted coming up behind the rookie.

"Yes, sir," Dov confirmed, "just entering in all the paperwork from this morning."

Frank looked around the bullpen. "Where's your partner?"

Dov wasn't sure what to say; he didn't want to get on the bad side of Swarek especially now that they'd sort of bonded. "He's uh…"

Frank glowered. "Go drag Swarek's ass out of booking and make sure he helps you get that done; Barber's waiting for you."

"Detective Barber, Sir?"

Frank nodded. "Yeah, you two will be helping him this afternoon with a…"

"Yes, Sir." Dov sprung up from his seat and was halfway to the hall before Frank even told him what they were helping him with.

End Flashback

Sam tucked his phone away, satisfied with the response. "What are you so excited for anyway?"

"We get to help Detective Barber," Dov answered as if it were obvious.

Sam shook his head. "We won't be checking out meth houses, Epstein. We're in the doghouse, remember? We're either watching traffic cam footage or reviewing files."

"Oh." Dov was disappointed; he hadn't thought of it that way.

"Yeah… oh." Sam was not looking forward to helping Jerry at all. The Sarge probably told him to get them to do as much of his dirty work as possible. He could only hope that Jerry would take it easy on him; except Sam had taken most of Jerry's money in poker a few nights ago, so it was possible he'd be looking for a little payback. And what better way than to make Sam sift through camera footage or worse, old witness statements. He knew how much Sam hated that.

"How much paperwork we got left?" Sam wondered. "Can you drag it out a little?"

"Sorry, last one," Dov answered sheepishly.

"Well, meet me in Jerry's office as soon as you're done then."

"Uh…"

"What?" Sam asked exasperatedly.

Dov pulled his shoulders up, bracing for the worst. "Sarge said that you should…"

Sam glared at Dov and then snatched the report out of his hand. "At least make yourself useful and get me a cup of coffee." Sam had forgotten his coffee back in booking and if he was in for an afternoon of Epstein and paperwork he was going to need it.

Happy to oblige, Dov wandered over to the machine to get them both some.

Sam had just started punching things into the computer when the Sarge walked by heading back up to his office.

"Swarek, how are those reports coming along?" He inquired smugly.

Sam forced a smile. "Last one, Boss."

"Good, Barber's got a new case and he needs an extra hand or two. I told him you and Epstein would be happy to help him."

By the tone of the Sarge's voice Sam could tell that it wasn't going to be fun, but he wasn't going to give up the pretense. "Whatever you say, Boss."

Frank clapped Sam on the shoulder and chuckled lightly. He had to give Sam credit; he figured after even one day with Epstein he'd be cracking. "That's what I like to hear."

Sam rolled his eyes and quickly saved the report to the computer while Dov continued chatting with another officer. "Epstein! Let's go!"

Dov jumped a little and stumbled over a goodbye as he quickly made his way back to Sam. He passed him his coffee and they headed up to the detectives' offices.

Sam knocked once before walking right in. "Jer," he addressed warily.

"Good, there you guys are," Jerry offered by way of greeting. "I just got started here, but we've got witness statements to go through and camera footage that we need to take a look at. We might have to pull some old files too because this MO reminds me of another case from a couple of months back."

Sam glanced over at Dov with an 'I told you so' all over his face.

"Don't give me that Sammy. You're the one that can't keep it in his pants. You were under freaking cover," he ranted.

Epstein started to snicker, but held back the retort when both men glared at him.

"I'm surprised…" Jerry shook his head. "I'm trying to do you a favor here. Frank was going to put you on desk or detail you to Financial Crimes. You should be thankful you got me instead. I'll take it easy on you, but you and McNally… man, you gotta reel it in a little if you ever want to get back to the good stuff."

Sam shook his head. "Don't worry about McNally and me; we know what we're doing."

Jerry scoffed. "I'm pretty sure you knew what you were doing then too. You knew how stupid that was but you did it anyway. I know you like to bend the rules buddy, but you have to admit, this time you went too far. You're lucky one of you didn't get transferred out or worse."

"We did the time Jerry; it's all good. We learned our lesson."

"Did you?"

Dov just stood off to the side watching as the stare down began, but when a door slammed next to them, all three looked over to see Luke shoving papers around his desk. And he was none too pleased.

"What do you suppose that's all about?" Jerry wondered aloud.

"McNally madness," Dov supplied knowingly.

"He's not the only one," Jerry muttered nodding his head towards Sam who had just pulled out his phone and started exchanging texts with someone.

A few minutes later, Sam looked up with a slight smirk on his face. "You said you needed some old files pulled."

Jerry looked at him skeptically; Swarek was actually offering to go to the file room. That could only mean one thing. "Not quite what I meant when I said reel it in buddy."

"Not sure what you mean," Sam stated with mock innocence. "I'm just here to help. You got a list?"

Jerry frowned but there was only so much he could do. Dov took a few steps forward ready to follow after Sam.

Sam turned his head in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"We're a team remember," Dov explained happily. "I was going to help you…"

"Good idea," Jerry agreed picking the list up off his desk and holding it out to Dov.

Sam snatched the list from his hand and glared at the detective. "I think I can handle this one on my own." He turned his stare on Dov. "You! Stay here."

"I hope you do know what you're doing, Sammy, because I'm not so sure," Jerry cautioned. "You have never taken your eye off the prize, never. Now look at you; sneaking around undercover, pushing your luck meeting up in the file room."

Dov's eyes widened as realization dawned on him. He shook his head; he should have seen that one coming.

"You do realize that you may never work undercover again," Jerry continued.

Sam tilted his head to the side passing Jerry a look of disbelief.

"You might not," Jerry warned.

"Maybe not for Guns and Gangs," Sam conceded. "But that's not the kind of UC I want anyway. Frank will throw some short stints my way, in and out, home every night. I don't want to disappear for months at a time anymore."

Jerry shook his head as his voice rose up an octave. "See that's what I'm talking about. It's all you've ever wanted since you got out of the academy, that first stint and you were hooked. You live for that stuff."

Sam shrugged. "Found something better."

Jerry was still shaking his head. "You're changing… she's changing you."

"Get him something to do," Sam ordered gesturing towards a startled Dov who had been standing by silently taking it all in. Sam looked over at Jerry. "I got this," he assured.

And with that he left.

About twenty minutes later, Dov and Jerry both looked up from files when they heard Sam enter. His eyes were alight but his hands were empty.

Dov snickered, but Jerry wasn't impressed; Sam obviously hadn't listened to a single thing he had said. "You forget something?" Jerry wondered sarcastically.

Sam stepped back out and grabbed a stack of files that he had purposely set on the table outside. "Nope," he answered dropping them unceremoniously on Jerry's desk before flashing him a grin.

"You're not fooling anyone, Sammy. I'm not stupid."

Sam's smile faded; this was getting old fast. "Maybe you just know all the tricks," he taunted. "I hate to break it to you but you and Nash weren't exactly stealth yourselves."

"It's true," Dov agreed. "We all had it figured out at the academy and we weren't even cops yet."

Jerry scowled at the rookie for taking Sam's side. "Fine, we've pushed it a little," he admitted turning to Sam. "But that's nothing compared to..."

Sam huffed out a breath. "It was still something you could have gotten suspended over, and it was for a woman. Was she leading you astray?"

Jerry dropped his chin and gave his friend a warning look. "Sam."

Sam shook his head. "No. Don't tell me it's different because it's not. And you wanna talk changing. You never wanted kids, ever. Now look at you. You actually sold Stella; you loved Stella."

"Yeah, well I lo… fine… priorities change, but we didn't get caught. We aren't under a microscope right now. One wrong move and you could be gone Sammy." Jerry paused to take a deep breath. "Don't get me wrong; I like seeing you happy." He chuckled to himself. "It's a little weird, but it's nice for a change. It's just… I'm your friend Sammy and I have to wonder if she's good for you."

Sam scoffed. "Did you forget that she's your girlfriend's best friend?"

"Doesn't mean she's what's best for you."

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "Is this the part where you tell me I can do better?"

Dov almost stood at that; Andy was one of his best friends and it didn't get any better than her.

Jerry held out his hand to stop Dov. "No, it's the part where I tell you, you better make sure you know what you want; you get to a certain point and there's no going back."

I don't wanna go back and neither does she, Sam thought. He knew what he was doing and he knew how he felt; if Jerry didn't get it, tough. He picked up the first file. "What am I looking for?"

The three men had been reviewing files for the better part of an hour, but Jerry was having trouble concentrating. He knew he had pissed Sam off and he worried that he'd pushed too hard. He started to think about Traci and how he felt when they first got together. How he couldn't get enough of her, how he wanted to see her all the time, be with her whenever he could. Sure Sam and Andy were careless, but he and Traci had been too. And now look where they were. Who's to say Sam and Andy wouldn't get there too? It was time for an olive branch.

"I got interrogations tomorrow," Jerry stated eyes glued to his file.

Sam glanced over at him.

"Could probably use a hand with some of them," Jerry continued still looking down.

"Aren't you worried that I'll get distracted," Sam goaded obviously still upset.

"Only by my brilliance," Jerry quipped back.

Sam raised an eyebrow and looked over at him.

"Well, that and I heard she and Ollie would be out on traffic detail all day so I figure we're safe."

Sam chuckled and then tipped his chin up in defiance. "Fifty bucks says my witness cracks before yours does," he challenged, easily accepting his friend's peace offering.

"Did I say she'd be out all day? I meant all morning and the witnesses are coming in the afternoon," Jerry taunted.

"I'll still kick your ass," Sam boasted. "I'm not that bad."

This time Jerry raised an eyebrow at him and they both turned to Dov for the tie breaker. "You really are," Dov confirmed with a nod.

Jerry started to laugh as Sam glared at the rookie and pointed forcefully to the file in his hand. Without another word, Dov dropped his head back down to get to work.

Sam had just started back in on his own file when the silence was broken by Jerry's quiet musing. "Maybe McNally likes to watch."

Thanks to Sairs J.

Only a few days now...