A/N: Hey, everyone! I'm trying to make up for the fact that I haven't been able to update much for the past week, because seriously, updating and reading reviews are like my crack. So, I guess this one is kind of a filler chapter, case-solving wise, but I hope you guys like it. Read, review, and enjoy as always!

Nick had never had such an easy, comfortable time with a woman. He and Andy ended up at the Penny together the next night, sitting beside each other at the bar. Despite the good time he had with her, he was still hurting from Gail's betrayal. He was sullenly nursing a beer while Andy sipped at a gin and tonic.

"How did you guys meet? You and Gail?" His head snapped up at her words. How had she not already heard the story?

"Um, well, it was a Vegas wedding," he said simply. "I think that pretty much explains it. We weren't really married, because we're Canadian and the priest was a drug dealer on the run from the law. But before we realized that, we got to know each other better, and we fell in love. Then I had to go to Afghanistan, and, well, you know the rest."

"Where did you actually meet, though?" She noticed a flicker of pain in his eyes and immediately kicked herself. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to."

"No, no," he rushed to explain. "I just always think about how stupid I am when I think about the night we met."

"Why?" Her curious eyes looked him over.

"The moment I saw her in the bar, I knew she was going to break my heart. I knew it. And I still ended up engaged to her. And she cheated. And she did it. She broke my heart. And if I hadn't been so stupid, I could have stopped it."

"You know it's not your fault, right?" He snorted, wishing it were true. But there was nothing she could say to make him think that he couldn't have done something about it. "Remember when you said Sam was an idiot for letting me go? Gail is an idiot for letting you go. And she actually had control over it."

He smiled, taking in the sight of her. She looked beautiful, even when she was moping. Her glossy brown hair hung loose around her face, swirling down around her lightly tanned shoulders. She wore little makeup, but her face was so naturally gorgeous that she didn't need to. Her eyelashes were long and dark, her nose small and pointed at the end, and her lips full and delicate-looking. He was in deep. Almost as deep as he had been with Gail.

And the thought of Gail made him take a long drink from his beer. Damn, he thought he'd gotten past drinking to get over women when he'd left college.

"Stop torturing yourself," she said, smiling when he looked over.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm torturing myself? What about you? You've been mooning over Sam, despite the fact that you couldn't have done anything about it, and torturing yourself about it. I'm not saying he's not an asshole, because he is, but you have got to stop telling yourself that it's your fault he's with Marlo now. It's not. And he doesn't deserve you if you have to change yourself for him to want you back."

She sat there, staring at him, her hand resting idly on the glass on the bar. "You really think that about me?"

"I would hate for you to really know what I think about you." He took another sip of beer, but chocked on it when he saw the offended expression on her face. "Oh, God, Andy no! I didn't mean in a bad way. Trust me, I only have nice thoughts about you."

"Nice?" She didn't look very pleased by that either.

"Complimentary?" He laughed a little when she raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm sorry, Andy, I don't know what the hell you want me to say. I have no bad thoughts about you in my head. It's just that some of the things I think about you are… a little embarrassing."

"Embarrassing how?" She looked genuinely confused. How could she still not know about how he felt? Hadn't he been more than obvious? Or maybe it was just in his head because of how he felt. Maybe he just assumed she knew because he thought about her all the time.

"How did you and Sam meet?" She eyed him. Answering a question with a question. She wasn't sure if she should push the issue or let him change the subject. Figuring she should give him some time after his breakup with Gail, she decided to answer his question.

"I arrested him while he was on an undercover op, my first day as a cop." She shook her head. "Same day I met Luke, actually. And the same day my life started going downhill. Until…"

"Until what?" Their eyes met for a few moments before she glanced away. There was too much emotion in his gaze, too much… something she couldn't place. But she was scared of it. She wasn't sure if she could trust her heart anymore. Or anyone else's for that matter.

"Um, nothing," she said, looking down at her drink. "Anyway, he got pissed at me for my rookie mistake, and then ended up becoming my training officer. Which was definitely a road I shouldn't have gone down, but I did, and this is where I ended up. So much for taking a risk."

"Do you wanna take another?" He asked, meeting her shocked gaze again.

"Are you serious right now?" She asked in utter disbelief. "Did you not hear a single thing I just said?"

"No, I heard it." He smiled a little at her expression. "This is a different kind of risk. It's a safe risk."

"A safe risk?"

"Yes," he chuckled, a low throaty rumble that bubbled out of his chest. "Go with me to Frank and Noelle's wedding. It's next weekend."

He could hear her breath catch in her throat, see the blank expression on her face, and it made him somewhat… satisfied. She wasn't repulsed, which was the last thing he wanted. If they went to the wedding together and nothing happened, then he wouldn't try to make things go faster than they should. But if they had fun, maybe h'd let himself give her a kiss goodnight.

"Yes." She said it so quietly he wasn't sure he heard it.

"Yes?" She smiled at him.

"Yes, Nick, I'll go with you." He could hardly believe his own ears. He was about to have the best week of his life.

Andy had not been prepared for the sight of Nick in a suit. The crisp gray wool and slick black satin of his shirt complemented his tan skin perfectly. He left the top button undone and combed back his hair. It left him looking strikingly handsome. He had always been good looking, but she didn't think she'd ever seen him look so… hot.

Nick had similar thoughts about her. He had always known her to be beautiful, but tonight she looked gorgeous. Her body was wrapped in a red dress that reminded him of a Grecian goddess. Her hair was curled in large waves that hung down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were lined, abnormal for her but he guessed fitting for a wedding, and they looked dewier than usual. He could barely breathe when he looked at her, much less tell her what he thought of her dress. Her heels brought her only a few inches below his height, matching them up nearly perfectly. It put her mouth in range of his.

But those thoughts had no place in his head now if he planned on making it through the night. "You look… amazing." He figured he should say something before they left her apartment for the night.

"Um, thanks," she said, dragging her eyes up to his. "You're not so bad yourself." She smiled, trying to lighten the tension coursing between them,

He grinned. "You ready?"

"I'm a little nervous, but yeah, I'm ready." They smiled at each other before he held out his elbow.

"Why are you nervous?" She took his elbow and they began down the hallway out of the building. "You have no reason to be nervous. If anyone should be nervous, it's me. I mean, Gail is scary to begin with, but I'm showing up at a wedding with someone else when she really wanted to go with me. I fear for my life."

She could hear the humor in his voice, but she knew he was partially right. "I guess. Do you know who she is going with?"

"I have no clue." He shrugged and pushed open the door to the parking lot. "She won't really talk to me anymore." She shot him a look. "Okay, not that I don't understand why. But I have more of a right to be pissed off than she does. It's not like I want to talk to her, but I do eventually want to be friends again."

"Do you think you'll be able to get there?" Such an easy question to answer if you were an optimist or a pessimist. But for him, being neither, it was much more difficult.

"At this point, I don't. But hey, I thought we'd end up married with four kids and a dog named Scooter, so apparently I'm not a psychic as I thought." Okay, there was a note of bitterness in his voice. More like a whole song, but she couldn't exactly blame him. She was still bitter towards Sam and it had been almost a year. She knew the night was going to be rocky, but she could never have predicted just how rocky it would be.

"And now, for the first time ever, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Best!" The DJ announced, waving his hands as Frank and Noelle appeared on the dance floor. Her smile spread hugely across her face as he took her in his arms and they began dancing to Steven Tyler crooning he didn't want to miss a thing.

Andy rocked back against the column behind her and smiled at the couple. When she had been a rookie and they had both been training officers, she would have never thought of them getting married. But now, she couldn't see it any other way. They truly belonged together. She looked up when Nick came over, holding out a plastic cup filled with red liquid. She scrunched up her nose and looked up at him after glancing down at the glass. "What is it?"

"Spiked punch," he smiled. "They don't have alcohol because of the baby and the dangers it poses to the depleted force when people start driving home, but someone had the courtesy to bring a flask so we could spike our own punches. After asking Noelle, of course."

"Was this someone Dov?" She asked. "Because if it was, he definitely didn't ask Noelle."

"No," Nick laughed. "It was Chris."

"Oh." She swished her drink around. "Then he probably did ask her." She took a sip. "So, how was sitting through the ceremony with Gail?"

He smirked. "How was sitting through the ceremony with Sam? And Luke."

She glared at him playfully. "Okay fine, you win." She watched him as he took a sip of his drink. "Seriously, though, how are you? You don't need to go home, right?"

He smiled over at her. "Nope. And I definitely am not leaving you this early. The night is still young." She smiled back at him, truly enjoying the time she was spending with him.

Across the reception hall, Gail held her cup so hard it would have shattered had it been glass. She shouldn't have been so upset by this. She knew Nick had feelings for Andy. It was part of the reason she'd done what she'd done. But she didn't think he would move on so quickly. Maybe his feelings for her were stronger than Gail had suspected.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Chris's deep voice sounded beside her. She turned to him, surprised. Their relationship hadn't been as friendly as it had been before they'd gone out since they broke up, and now he apparently wanted to talk.

"Right now, I'm wondering why you care," she said cooly.

"But that's not what you're upset about." It wasn't a question. She had always made it a plan to be cold to everyone she had a relationship with, so no one got close, no one knew too much about her, no one could hurt her. Apparently she'd done worse of a job at it than she thought she had. Chris, the man she'd once loved, knew too much about her. And he already had hurt her.

"No, it's not what I'm upset about. But I want to know before I tell you what I am upset about." She stared at him, her new bangs shading her eyelashes and making her look more mysterious than ever. Yet another defense tactic.

"I still care about you, Gail," he said, holding his own punch cup. "I never stopped."

"You're the only person who's ever gotten this close to me," she said. "You know more about me than anyone else does."

"I'm in the same boat," he said quietly, still not looking at her. "I let you in places no one else has ever been."

They lapsed into silence for a moment, watching people flood back onto the dance floor after the first dance. "Why do you think we didn't work?"

He looked over at her, gauging her emotions. She really was bothered by it. It wasn't what she'd been worrying about when he'd walked over, but it was truly bothering her now. "I couldn't trust you. But it wasn't your fault. I let you in so close, I had to put up other defenses to keep myself from getting hurt. Not letting myself trust you was one of them."

"Why do you think we do this? Keep people out and put up defenses?" She asked, still watching the people on the dance floor.

"Human nature." Chris shrugged. "It's a survival instinct to protect your heart." He glanced over at her again before deciding to go into the breach. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I forgot."

"You… forgot?" He asked hesitantly.

Gail looked over at him, a wealth of pain in her eyes. "Yes, I forgot. I forgot to protect myself against Nick. I let him in and then I couldn't make myself believe he did the same with me and I lost him. I forgot to keep him at a distance, so I lost him."

Chris hauled her up against his side, rubbing her arm to comfort her. "Sometimes you have to let people in and risk getting hurt to find out if they're worth it. He wasn't. Don't get me wrong, he has every right to be pissed at you, and yes, even dump you, but the fact that everything that happened between the two of you happened at all means he wasn't worth it."

"So that just makes me an idiot then." She said, shuddering slightly against his chest.

"No, Gail, you're not an idiot." He smiled down at her. "You took a chance that didn't work out. But hey." He tilted her chin up so she was looking up at him. "There'll be other chances. I promise." He flicked a finger down her cheek, then released her and walked back into the throng of people around the buffet table. She stared after him, a crease between her eyebrows. She looked around the room, trying to sort out her feelings, and her eyes landed on Dov. And she realized Chris was right. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

"Frank." Luke tapped the other man on the shoulder, smiling when the newlywed turned around.

"Luke! So glad you came," he said, smiling hugely.

"Congrats, Frank." Luke smiled back. "You are one lucky guy." He hugged the other man, but looked a bit troubled when they let each other go.

"What's going on, Luke?" Frank knew the detective well enough to know something was bothering him.

"You still taking bets on when Swarek and McNally will get back together?" He nodded over at Andy and Nick smiling at each other in the corner.

"Yeah," Frank said warily.

"I've got never," he said cooly, handing the money to Frank.

"Uh, actually, we can't do never, then no one would see any money back. We put a five year cap on it. If nothing happens in five years, everyone gets their money back."

"Fine, five years." He still pushed the money at Frank. Then he turned quickly and walked away. A moment later, Noelle walked up and rested her head on his shoulder, looking confused as she took in his shocked expression and the money in his hands. "Frank? What's going on?"

"Luke just bet on when Andy and Sam will get back together." Noelle's expression immediately changed to match his.

"Oh, you're right that is weird."

"This is nice," Andy said, as she rested her head on Nick's shoulder on the dance floor. They swayed to the music, only one couple among many dancing the last dance of the wedding. She looked around, spotting Sam and Marlo dancing together. They were pressed close, just like she and Nick, but there was something in their embrace that she knew was lacking from hers and Nick's. Her eyes began to burn with tears she didn't know she wanted to cry and she turned her head into Nick's chest, away from the sight that was a nail in her coffin.

Sam lifted his eyes from Marlo's head and scanned the dance floor. He saw Frank and Noelle dancing, gazing at each other with so much love in their eyes. He smiled a little, knowing the real deal when he saw it. They would last forever. He moved on, spotting Dov dancing with that new rookie, Chloe. Crazy little chick, but if anyone could handle her, it was Dov. The guy was the nicest, most tolerant man Sam had ever met. He smirked, knowing that Epstein had his work cut out for him.

He saw Gail and Chris standing on the side of the floor, talking and drinking. A woman walked over to join them, probably Chris's girlfriend. Gail smiled at her, not showing any emotion as usual. But he would be willing to bet she was jealous, if not of Chris's relationship with Denise, of the relationship in general.

Finally, his eyes settled on Nick and Andy, dancing on the floor. She had her head against his chest, suggesting she was completely comfortable with him. A stab of pain ran through him. They had never danced together like that. But she would dance like that with another man. He needed to stop holding Marlo against her.

"Nash, letter for you," Chloe said the next morning, dropping a plain white envelope on Traci's desk.

"Oooh, I wonder what it is," she said, wiggling her eyebrows at Andy, who sat right next to her.

"Don't hold your breath, it's probably a bill." Andy laughed along with her.

"Yeah, yeah." Traci rolled her eyes and tore it open, only to drop it on the desk, horrified.

"What?" The smile immediately dropped from Andy's face and she hopped off the desk to stand behind her best friend. In her hands, was a letter that read:

"Traci Nash, back off. Or, if you're reading this, you know what will happen."

"Okay, okay, Trace, calm down," Andy said, trying to be rational. If the letter had been delivered to the station, they would be able to track down the sender better. And Traci was detective. She would be able to protect herself. Not that the entire force wouldn't help her, but she shouldn't need the help.

"No, no, Andy, you… you don't get it."

Andy was worried. Not much rattled Traci, and it had to be big to get her this scared. "What's wrong, Trace?"

"That's Jerry's handwriting." Their gazes met, and Andy understood Traci's panic.