"Are you positive yet?"
Sam glanced up at his wife. Ever since she had shown him the pregnancy test, he couldn't seem to stop checking it. Grinning widely, he said, "Sweetheart, I'm sorry, it's just, I feel like I could be dreaming."
"I could punch you, see if you wake up?", Andy offered.
"What happened to pinching?"
"Eh, not really my style. Unless you need me to go soft on you," Andy seductively raised an eyebrow.
Sam shook his head. "I'm just so happy, I don't know what to do."
"I may have some ideas," Andy nibbled her lower lip.
In the morning, over breakfast, Sam asked, "So, how are we going to handle this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, like, are we gonna keep it under wraps for a while? Tell some people? Tell everyone."
"I don't see why we'd have to keep it between us. Sam, this is a good thing, we should share it with our friends. Heck, they're basically part of our family."
"Speaking of which…"
"Right, we should probably call Dad."
Sam shrugged, "Just a thought."
"And while we're at it, Sarah?"
Sam hesitated.
"Sam, you promised me you would try to extend that branch, patch things up."
Sam looked at Andy about to say something, but held it back.
"I don't pretend to know what your relationship is like. But, we both know that deep down you two do care for each other. Sam, this life is too short. And in our line-of-work, tomorrow is no guarantee. Plus, a baby is a perfect conversation starter."
"Andy…," Sam paused, sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We'll call her tonight after shift, okay?"
Andy smiled, "Perfect, Sam. That is so good to hear."
"What about Marlo? I mean with Mia, she should probably know."
"Of course, we'll call her tonight, too."
"Is that everyone?", Sam asked. "All of this preparation is giving me a headache."
Andy laughed lightly. "Yeah, I think you can relax. Everyone else we'll see at work today."
"Well then, let's call Dad," Sam reached for the phone and passed it to Andy.
They agreed that they need to tell Traci and Oliver first, best friend privileges and all. So, they wrangled up Nash and brought her to Oliver's office before shift. Both were confused about the manner of the meeting but were soon thrilled with the good news and hugs were exchanged all around. Sam and Andy figured that since they wanted everyone to know anyway, it would be easiest to get it all done at once. They decided to let Oliver handle the reveal during parade.
So, there Sam and Andy sat together in the back of the room, like usual, when Sam showed up to parade. The briefing was wrapping up and the platoon was sensing that and beginning to get antsy.
"On that note, serve, protect, and uh, oh, wait one more thing." Half of the group was already yout of their seats. "Heh, I almost forgot. Whoops," Oliver grinned. "Um, this is news I got this morning, before Parade. It may be of interest to you. 15's very own, Sergeant McNally and Detective Swarek are going to have a little…McSwarek, I guess."
All heads turned to the happy couple who were smiling back. After everyone congratulated them and went on their way, except for Traci who remained with them, Oliver walked up. "How'd I do?"
"That was perfectly you, Brother," Sam said.
"Really, even the 'McSwarek' part."
"C'mon," Andy said, that was part of your plan, right?"
"Sure, yeah, of course it was. I completely thought that out. Every couple has a celebrity name nowadays, right?"
"It's fine," Sam assured him. "As long as it connects me to her, I couldn't care less what the name is."
"On a different note, where's Gail?"
"Oh, right. That I actually did forget about," Oliver said. "She told me yesterday that she needed to take a couple personal days. Those are starting today. I was going to grab you this morning, but your announcement put that on my back burner."
"Oh, well, I'll just have to call and tell her personally. Any idea what's going on. It's not like her to take days off."
"She didn't say anything specific. Only that'd she be back soon. Beyond that I have no clue."
They all looked at each other. Traci shrugged, "That doesn't sound like her." Traci wouldn't meet their eyes.
"Do you know something?", Andy asked. She knew her friend well enough to know her tells.
"What? No. This is the first I've heard of this." Just then her phone buzzed. She pulled it out. "It's ward, I need to get upstairs." She turned on her heels and hurried out the door.
"Saved by the bell," Andy remarked.
"Yeah, that was weird. Well, anyway. Be safe out there."
Later that morning, Sam was at his desk, following up on some lab reports, when his cell phone rang. He didn't recognize the number and let it ring through to voicemail. It rang again, almost immediately. This time, Sam ran the number and saw it came back to Milburn Penitentiary. That piqued his interest. This time they left a voicemail and didn't call back. Sam finished up his call with the lab and picked up his phone, going to listen to the voicemail. Before he could however, his phone rang again.
"You're in demand today," Dov said from across their desks, not looking away from his computer.
"It's my sister."
That grabbed Dov's attention. He knew, as everyone did since Sam got shot, how fractured their relationship was. He looked over at his partner as Sam listened intently then got up and hustled away.
Sam walked to the end of the D's office, and out the door and down the stairs to the back door and out to the parking lot. He was climbing into his truck when he said into his phone, "Okay, I'm leaving now. I'll be out there as soon as I can, I'll probably beat you there. I'll update you."
He took off out of the lot and called Epstein.
"Epstein," Dov answered.
"It's Swarek, Listen. I'm taking off for the day. Stay out of trouble. If anybody needs anything I'll be on my cell."
"Yeah, sure. Everything all right?"
"Uh, no. I don't know," Sam clicked off. Next, he called Andy. She didn't answer, and he got pushed off to her voicemail. "Hey McNally. Dad, my dad, just collapsed when he was in the yard. I don't have all the details, but they took him straight to the local hospital, skipped the infirmary. They think he had a heart attack. That's all I know right now. I talked to Sarah and she's really upset about it so I'm going to meet her there. I'll keep you posted. Love you."
Sam hung up and gathered his thoughts. These last 15 or so hours have sure been crazy. He couldn't have been more thrilled than to learn that he was going to have a family with McNally. And now here he was going to a far-off hospital to be there for a man he didn't really care for and to support a sister who he only connected with in rare occasions. Weird how life works sometimes.
Andy was taking a couple minutes to talk to Gail on the phone when Sam tried calling her. "Hold on Gail, I'm getting another call." Andy pulled her phone away from her ear to see who it was. Sam. She considered taking it but figured she would be done with Gail soon and she'd call him back then. If it was really important, he'd call again and then she'd take it. She passed the call to voicemail and re-connected to Gail. "It's just Sam, I'll call him back. Anyway, I just wanted to check in and make sure everything was all right."
"Trust me, things are very good right now. If you really want to know, I'll tell you a little something. Just keep it on the D.L."
"The D.L.?"
"Down-low? You know, like don't talk about it?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know what it means. I just didn't know you used phrases like that."
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Andy."
She couldn't argue with that. "Point taken."
"Anyway, I'm buying my own place and I have to do some finalizing stuff. NO big deal, really. That's why I only needed a couple days, max."
"So, you're striking out on your own, huh?"
"Well, I have some big things coming up for me, and this was something I needed to do."
"Big things? This sounds intriguing."
"It is. But you'll have to wait and see."
"Oh, well, can't blame me for trying. Anyway, I better let you go. You have things to do and I should check to see what Sam wanted.
"Yeah, I'm just about to meet with the realtor."
"Good luck, Gail. Can't wait for the housewarming party." Andy hung up and checked her voicemail. She read through the transcript her phone produced of Sam's message. Then she called him back.