A/N: Hey, everyone! Sorry it's been awhile. I've been crazy busy. Turns out, applying to college is not as easy as you'd think. Anyway, here's the next chapter. It is, again, kind of a filler chapter, but I like it, and it does advance the plot. I did kind of change the paintball scene, I know, but it's quicker this way and it keeps the plot moving better. Also, in response to a comment, I'm so sorry I didn't realize there were no breaks between the scenes. I write it in word with breaks and I guess they don't show up when I copy paste it into here. There are x's there for this chapter, but I'll keep experimenting to figure out what works best. As always, read, review, and enjoy!

"Hey, Dov," Chloe sidled up next to Dov and slid her hands around his shoulders. He grabbed the hands and turned around to see her smiling seductively up at him. He shook his head at her.

"Chloe," he said warningly as he pulled her with him into an empty room. He glanced around to figure out where exactly they were, and he noticed the one way glass. They were in an observation room looking into interrogation. They'd be safe there. He turned back to look down at her. She leaned up at the same time and managed to catch his mouth in a kiss. He closed his eyes, sinking into it for a moment. He lost himself in the softness of her lips, the sweetness of her breath, and the silkiness of her hair.

But this couldn't happen. They couldn't do this. He was her training officer, for God's sake. He remembered what happened between Andy and Sam, and, as much as he really did want to be with Chloe, he didn't want it to happen this way. No good came from there. He opened his eyes and pulled away.

She smiled up at him. "Mmmmmm, good morning to you, too."

"We need to talk about this," Dov said, holding her shoulders to keep her away from him. "We can't do this."

She looked up and him and giggled. "We already did. Or don't you remember? Last night. We christened the reception bathroom just like Noelle and Frank christened their wedding bed."

He pushed her away as she tried to kiss him again. He cringed as an image appeared in his mind. "Okay, ew. I don't want to think about that. We can't… be together, Chloe. It's against the rules."

"That didn't stop Andy and Sam. Or, so I heard." She smiled up at him. "Why should it stop us?"

Dov shook his head at her. "Because, I saw what happened. I'm not going to have our relationship go that way."

She pulled back. "What way do you want our relationship to go, then?"

Dov blew out a deep breath. "I don't… I don't think I want to do this at all. Right now, I think I just want to take this risk right now. I do want to be with you, and under any other circumstances, I would have been so into that. Even a few years from now, if you weren't a rookie and I wasn't a training officer, this would be okay. But right now, it's just… not."

She stared into his eyes, attempting to judge his true emotions. She'd never known Dov to do anything but follow his heart completely, so she didn't really think he was lying, but she could never be too careful when it came to her heart. Then again, she hadn't really known Dov for that long. After a few moments, she nodded. "Okay."

"What… that's it?" His eyebrows drew down in confusion. He'd been expecting to be chewed out for not being willing to give their relationship a chance. But all she said was 'okay'. It made no sense. She was not the type of person to just accept this docilely. She did nothing docilely.

"I can't make you do something you don't want to do," she shook her head. "Don't think I'm not pissed off at you, because I sure as hell am. And I'm hurt that you don't want to give us a shot. But I can't force you to do it." She shrugged. "You're a coward, Dov Epstein."

She turned on her heel and walked out of the room. He stared after her. A coward. He could handle it if that was the worst she thought of him. He was insulted, yes, but she didn't think he goofed off. She didn't think he wasn't a hard worker. She didn't think he was immature. He could handle that.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Nick watched as Andy suited up. He never got tired of the easy grace with which she did everything. She was so tough on the job, but in reality, she was kind of like a big marshmallow. He wanted to be on the receiving end of her compassion. The last time they had really talked, she had been pissed off at him for shooting her with a gun that he knew wasn't loaded.

He knew she didn't entirely trust him, and he almost couldn't stand it. He had to figure out a way to work out her trust issues with him if he wanted them to ever be anything more than friends. He watched her pull her hair into a ponytail and stared at her, amazed. She was the most intriguing person he'd ever met.

"You ready, Collins?" Traci smiled as he snapped his head in her direction.

"Uh huh," Nick said. Traci nodded and smiled knowingly at him as she exited the locker room. He stared after her, confused at her expression. What was that for?

"She could be dead." Gail shoved Andy lightly with her foot. Andy opened her eyes and looked up at the surly blonde.

"Okay, all we have to do," she said as she stood up and wiped the dust off of the black vest and pants she was wearing. "Is get the spotted camel and then this thing is ours, right?"

"That is a giraffe," Gail said sassily.

"It's a camel," Dov and Andy shot back, looking out between the empty barrels blocking them from the open. The three of them were crouched behind the barrels, surveying the spotted camel mounted on a pole in the middle of an open space. An idea sparked in Andy's mind. She turned to face Dov and Gail.

"Wait, they think I'm down, right?" Dov and Gail nodded hesitantly. "So, you guys take the left wing as a distraction, and leave the rest to me."

They nodded and shifted over two steps to peer out around the side of the barrels. Andy nodded at them once and they crept out into the open.

Nick slid behind the large rectangular box on the opposite side of the open space. "McNally's down."

Traci and Chris eyed him curiously. "You sure?"

"Oh, yeah, I saw it." He nodded. "There's only two of them left. I'm doing a head sweep. You two pay attention to my orders and do exactly as I tell you."

"You sure this is a good plan?" Nick looked down at Traci with a cocky smile in place on his face.

"I was in the army, remember? I was trained for this." She gave him a doubtful smile, but didn't fight him further on the issue. He turned back to perusing the open space. His eyes widened as he spotted two heads moving out from behind the stack of barrels. "Two heads. Nash, you take the taller, Dias, you take the shorter. Make sure they do not get away. If they get to that spotted camel, this is all over." Traci and Chris nodded and edged out on opposite sides of the box they'd been hiding behind.

Nick lifted his head up over the top and began to plot his way to the large animal mounted on the pole. He ducked down a little and began to creep out the side of the box after Traci. He had made it around to the front of the box when he felt a sudden impact against his side. The ache was sharp and deep. He turned around, confused, to see Andy's smiling face. By then, Traci and Chris were across the open area, trying to outwit Dov and Gail. They wouldn't notice that he was down.

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head at Andy's smile of glee as she made her way to the pole and tugged down the stuffed animal. Traci and Chris did notice that, and they groaned, while Dov and Gail cheered along with Andy. She looked down at Nick where he sat, holding his side. Harmless as they might be, paintballs hurt. "See, Nick? I fight for that I want, and I win." She smirked at him, turning around and walking out of the paintball arena with Dov and Gail.

"You think she's talking about paintball?" Nick asked, eyebrows raised.

"I think she's talking about Sam Swarek," Traci replied, eyebrows raised. It made Nick want to growl. Like a goddamn idiot.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

"You guys look like you had fun," Sam met Andy outside 15 Division, smirking with a cup of coffee in his hands.

Andy smirks in return. "I have a gift."

"Yeah? And what would that be?" He stood in front of her, arms crossed, still smirking. He was always smirking.

"Guess," she said, smiling easily up at him. She would never have classified herself as sassy before that moment, but holding this over his head made her feel oddly powerful.

He opened his mouth to reply, but it wasn't his words that came out. "You missed parade." Oliver walked between them, making their heads turn and look over after him.

Andy raised her eyebrows. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Sam nodded.

He turned to face her. "You're with Price today."

Andy nodded in recognition. "Sweet." She bowed sideways slightly as she walked past him and into the station. He watched her walk away pensively.

"You're awfully quiet today," Andy noted, glancing over at Chloe. Normally the rookie chattered away, regardless of whether or not anyone was actually listening to her. Andy preferred to tune her out, but today she didn't even have to. The girl was silent.

She shrugged unconvincingly. "Just tired."

Andy narrowed her eyes. "You know we're cops, right? We're trained to know when people are lying."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, whatever. He didn't want me, and that's why I'm upset."

"Who didn't want you?" Andy knew exactly what that felt like, and this might be her opportunity to bitch to someone who understood. "Why didn't they?"

"It was…" she glanced over at Andy. "Okay, promise you won't laugh."

"I won't laugh." Andy stared at her in confusion. Why would she laugh at someone who hadn't wanted her?

"It was Dov," she confessed. "And he didn't want me because he said it was too complicated right now. You know, him being a T.O. and everything."

Andy did snicker. At Chloe's glare, she held up her hand. "No, no, I'm not laughing at you. Well, I kind of am, but not because you wanted to be with Dov. Because you're upset that a guy who doesn't care enough about you to do whatever it takes to keep you didn't want to be with you, too."

Chloe watched her pensively. She raised her eyebrows and turned to look out the window. "That's not such bad advice, McNally. Maybe you should take it."

Yeah, Andy thought. Yeah, maybe she should.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Dov thanked God that he'd been paired with Gail for the day. He wanted to know how she was doing since she and Nick broke up. He knew it hadn't been easy on her. He also knew Chris had been talking to her. And the feelings he felt for Chloe didn't even compare to the feelings he had for Gail. He had been half in love with her since before she and Chris broke up. It hadn't stopped, no matter how many times she tried to shut him down.

He wasn't sure what that meant about said feelings, but he knew, now that they were both single and, as far as he could tell emotionally available, he was not letting her go. And speak of the devil.

She glared at him as she walked out of the building. "Let's go." Why did her hostility seem to make his feelings even deeper?

Dov glanced across the car at Gail. Her hands were clenched on the steering wheel, but that wasn't exactly odd. She practically made a living out of being tense. Her eyes were fixed on the road and her jaw was so tight, she could have bitten through nails. She didn't usually have a clenched jaw when she was tense. But she did when she was angry. Clearly something is wrong.

"Gail." At her name, she looked over at Dov. Amazing, beautiful, caring Dov. Okay, so maybe she sounded more like she was describing her pet dog, but she was serious. She had been planning for a few days to tell him how she felt the next time they worked together. That was one of the things she had never understood about the way 15 Division handled partnerships. Rookies and T.O.s were always paired together, but after that, some partnerships were constant and others weren't. It seemed to her Andy always had a steady partner. Then again, maybe that was why she feel for all of them. At least she was rarely paired with Dov.

"Yeah, Dov, what is it?" She asked, trying to act normal. If she started acting weird, he'd think something was up, and that could totally ruin her plan.

"I have a girl question to ask you." Her heart began to speed up. Maybe he was going to ask her about- "I wanted to know what the female perspective on relationships in the Division is." Her heart was lightening speed. He was asking what she thought about a cop dating another cop. She was the only one he could be talking about. Aside from Andy. But Andy already had a bunch of choices. He wouldn't put himself in that position. And Traci. But she was still getting over Jerry's death. Yeah, Gail was the only option.

"Oh, yeah?" Here it came. He would finally declare his feelings for her and they could drive off into the sunset together, to hell with the rest of the shift.

"Yeah. See, there's this thing with-" You. That's what was coming next. You. "-Chloe. And I just wanted to know- are you okay?"

Her grip had gone white-knuckled on the wheel. "What? Oh, yeah, I'm totally fine. Don't worry about me. What were you saying about Chloe?" The bitch.

Dov glanced at her carefully. He wasn't sure what to make of her perky tone, but he knew it couldn't be good.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

"Dias, hurry it up," Oliver yelled as he watched Chris walk at a leisurely pace out of the station. Or he perceived it as a leisurely pace. He wasn't entirely sure. Chris could have been speed walking and it would have been too slow for Oliver that morning. Everything was pissing him off.

"Sorry, sir," Chris said as he dropped his bag into the backseat of the car and then folded himself into the passenger seat.

"Don't call me sir, I'm not your T.O. anymore." Why was Dias making him so mad? Dias was the one rookie who didn't usually get on his nerves. Andy frayed his wits. When she was in trouble, he sometimes couldn't handle it. He had taken it upon himself to be like a second father to her. She needed the extra support sometimes, when she couldn't go to her dad with things. When Sam got to her.

Epstein just plain annoyed him when he was just being himself. He rarely liked to call him by his first name, unless he was being very serious about something and dropped the glib banter he usually used. Peck was cold and bossy, and even though he knew she had her reasons, she was far to young to be that cynical. Traci was usually fine, but she took unnecessary risks sometimes. She had been in a relationship with Jerry, even when she knew it could have been dangerous. And she left her partner to take her kid home. Unnecessary risks.

He didn't know when he had started referring to had started referring to family as unnecessary risks, but apparently that's what that morning had boiled down to. He just hoped he'd be able to make it through the shift without sinking a bullet into some innocent person for putting the wrong amount of cream in his coffee.

"Please don't hurt me when I ask this," Chris said, sitting in the passenger seat of car 15-04. "But why are you in such a bad mood?"

"What makes you think I'm in a bad mood?" Chris looked away at Oliver's harsh tone and they sat in silence for a few minutes. "My wife wants a divorce."

Chris turned to look at Oliver. "When?"

"You mean when does she want me gone, or when did she tell me she wants me gone?" The younger man looked away again. Oliver sighed. "She told me this morning, and she wants the divorce finalized as soon as possible."

"Do you want to get divorced?"

"Does it really sound like I want to get divorced?" Chris raised his eyebrows at Oliver, who sighed again. "Look, I'm sorry. I just… I really don't want to get divorced, and I can't seem to figure what the hell to do about it besides stall the divorce papers."

"So stall the divorce papers until you figure it out," Chris said reasonably.

"How can you be so level-headed about this?"

"Because it's not happening to me?" Chris asked. "If we were talking about being a father or exes, that would be a completely different story."

"Problems with Denise?" Oliver asked, glad the spotlight could be moved to Chris's side of the car. As much as he wanted to do something about his situation, not thinking about it seemed like the best strategy at that moment. He might even take Chris up on his advice. Not that he'd tell the rookie that, but he just might.

"Yeah, I have problems with Denise," Chris exclaimed. "Problems with Denise make up the majority of my life. And the rest of my life is work."

"What's the problem?"

"She wants to go back to Timmons," he said.

"Oh." Oliver wasn't sure what to say. He'd never been good at the emotional stuff. "She want to take the kid?"

"Yeah," Chris answered self-deprecatingly. "She wants to take the kid."

"Listen up, Dias," Oliver said. Chris's tone had made up his mind about what to say to the younger man. "Your kid means a lot to you, right?" Chris and Oliver nodded at the same time. "Right. So, take it from me, when your wife kicks you out and you can't see your kids, it is the worst feeling in the world. And I've been shot. So you do what you need to do to go or stay, whichever you want, but you do not give up on that kid. If she asks for sole custody, you fight it with everything you've got. That kid might hate having divorced parents, but that kid would despise having a dad who gave up on him. You got it?"

Chris nodded silently and Oliver turned back to the road.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

"Good shift, McNally?" Sam met Andy as she was walking out of the station. It had been a fairly uneventful day. She and Chloe had arrested a guy for a moving violation and a young woman for public indecency. Who streaked in a public park?

"Yeah, wasn't bad." She shrugged. She stopped in front of him. She had been hoping she wouldn't have to see him again. She didn't think she could take much more of him rubbing Marlo in her face. Then again, she'd made up her mind to stop being bothered by it. And she'd made up her mind to stop fighting for him. He was going to be an ass, he didn't deserve her.

Or so she kept telling herself. But then she thought of the look on his face when he'd asked her to stay with him, or the way he acted with Sarah's kids, the intensity in his eyes the first time they'd made love. Why couldn't she stop calling it making love, even when she decided any chance of them having a relationship was gone? She was hopelessly devoted, but he didn't need to know that. Fake it until you make it, right? So, why did her feelings for him have her so conflicted? She couldn't decide what to do about it.

And then there was Nick. She had really, really strong feelings for Nick, too. What the hell was wrong with her? Someone was going to get hurt in this scenario, and she wasn't sure entirely who.

"You know, McNally, you never told me what your gift was." He watched her with a smirk and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You never guessed."

"Give it up, McNally."

She sighed and made up her mind. She looked up into his eyes, those deep, dark, intense eyes that had tempted her on so many levels so many times. "I know when to give up." He tilted his head and his eyebrows drew down. "That's my gift."

She pushed past him and he turned around to watch her walk away. There was no way she'd been talking about paintball.