A/N: Hello, again, everyone! I'm glad it hasn't been so long between updates this time. I always hate to keep you guys waiting. I do have a few things before getting to the chapter, which I think will make many of you happy and many of you unhappy. This is the chapter everyone has been waiting for. But don't worry, there's plenty more story to come. But before that, I just have a few responses to comments. First of all, whoever the Guest is that told me I should be the real writer for the show, I love you. That's the best praise I've ever gotten, and thank you so much for saying that. And second, I love hearing what you all have to say, whether your opinions are good or bad, but I would much appreciate it if any negative opinions could be sent to me in a private message. I definitely want to hear your opinion and criticism, but if you don't wish to present it in a constructive way, I'd be happy to hear about it in a private message. Thanks! And now, read, review, and enjoy! You guys are the best!

"We need to get to the bottom of this note," Frank said the next morning at parade. "I know we've let that go for a few days, but it's time to get back to work. I want to know if that note is connected to the death of Detective Barber or the double homicide case. If not, we have three open cases for the detectives, and some of you are going to have to be taken off of patrol duties to help out the detectives. So the sooner we figure this out, the better for all of us. Understood?"

15 Division stared back out at him, nodding mutely. "Alright, then. Protect, serve, and sort this mess out." The officers assembled in front of him nodded and dissipated, checking the board for their assignments and leaving from there.

Andy hung behind when the rest of the officers left for their duties and stood in the room while Frank took a sip of his coffee. He looked up at her a few moments later when she hadn't moved and raised his eyebrows. "McNally?"

"Uh, sir, we already had the note verified," she said. "A handwriting expert and a computer both compared the note to a sample of Jerry's- sorry, Detective Barber's handwriting that we had on file."

"And?" Frank asked. She could tell he was impatient, and she couldn't blame him.

"They weren't a match." She shook her head. "It was a very good copy, but the writing was not the same."

"It had to be seriously similar if it fooled Nash," Frank said, eyebrows raised in surprise. "It had to be a pro that forged it."

Andy nodded her agreement. "I was about to go tell Nash and the detectives about it. Is there any more information you'd like me to pass on?"

"Yes. Tell them they're getting Dias and Epstein to help them out. Even though we have no direct evidence that note is connected to either of the two cases, there's no way in hell that's a coincidence." Andy nodded and walked out of the room.

Nick met her in the hallway when she left the room. He grinned at her. "I have something to tell you."

"Apparently it's making you giddy and up," she said, looking him over and taking in the bounce in his step. That was new.

"Yeah, it is." His grin grew wider, if that were at all possible. "So-"

"Don't think I don't want to hear this, because I really do," she said, holding a hand to his chest to halt him from going further. "But I really need to go talk to the detectives about the case."

"We get a break?" His grin faded and curiosity and concern replaced it.

"Uh, yeah, we got the results on the note Traci got," Andy said, pulling the door open. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Um, yeah, sure," Nick said lamely as the door closed in his face.

"You got news for us, McNally?" Luke asked as Andy made her way into the room the detectives were in.

"Yeah, the note was verified by both a computer and a handwriting expert." Traci's mouth dropped open, and Andy rushed to add, "It's not real. It's a really, really good fake, and Frank wants you guys to investigate it as if it's connected to one of the open cases."

"One of the open cases?" Sam asked in confusion.

"I think Staff Sergeant Best is under the impression the investigation of Detective Barber's death is still open." Andy raised her eyebrows and gave them a tight smile.

"But we caught the killer," Traci said. Andy could tell she was still trying to process the information that the note hadn't been real, but she was trying to work past it to gain the new information being thrown at her. "Marco Jones confessed. His prints were on the brake line of the car that was cut. Why would he not be the killer?"

"I'm not sure, but I know that Frank Best is one hell of a good cop." Andy shrugged. "If he thinks it's not closed, it's not closed."

Andy almost smiled at the picture of Luke, Sam, and Traci sitting with the same expression of confusion and perplexity on their faces. But she had work to do. She was riding with Nick, as usual, and they were already a little late for staring their rounds.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Traci looked over at Sam and Luke once the door had closed and Andy was gone. "Why does Frank think that Marco Jones falsely confessed?"

Luke and Sam exchanged glances. "You're the only one of us who was a detective then," Luke pointed out. "If any of us has the answer to that question, it's you."

She rolled her eyes, breathing out harshly. "Okay, so I'll admit, the confession was rushed, and the details were sketchy. Jones was a mechanic, and his weren't the only fingerprints on the severed brake line. But the confession and the fingerprints were enough to put him in jail. And it was enough to make me think I could finally put my feelings for Jerry to bed. I think I might have gotten too caught up in trying to make myself feel better and just accepted the way the case closed."

"Anyone else think it's time to reopen the murder of Detective Barber?" Sam asked. Luke raised his hand instantly and Traci raised her much more slowly. Sam nodded. "I'll go get the files."

Sam exited the room and Traci buried her head in her hands. "Why now?"

Luke looked over at her, confused. "Excuse me?"

"Why now?" She repeated, lifting her head and looking straight into Luke's eyes. He glanced around nervously. He had never been good at comforting women. He had only been romantic with Andy when he'd felt guilty about sleeping with Jo.

"Nash, what are you talking about?"

"I have a date tonight," she dropped her head back in frustration and confusion. "With Dex."

He didn't know Traci that well, but he knew Dex was her ex, and Leo's father. "Are you… sure that's a good idea?"

"Well, I mean, why wouldn't it be?" She glanced over at him. "We worked out our issues, they're in the past. I think he's really matured since the last time we were together."

Luke raised his eyebrows. "I just… getting back together with exes is rarely a good idea. And I should know." Traci remembered the circumstances of his and Andy's breakup. She didn't trust him, by any means, but there may have been a grain of salt to his advice. "I just want you to be sure, Traci."

She watched him carefully. He'd called her Traci. He was talking to her as a friend, not as a coworker or Andy's ex. It was persuasive. "Yeah, I'll think about it."

Sam chose that moment to re-enter the room, arms loaded down with files. "Let's do this shit."

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

"What do you say we go back to the station and question the guy we got at the break in?" Nick shot a smile across the car at Andy as she glanced out the window. She was letting him drive for the day. "We can see if he knows anything about Detective Barber's murder. If we think the cases are connected, he might have something to do with it. Or at least know something about it."

"We have to patrol for the day," she smiled. "Next time we're on booking, though, maybe we can."

Nick nods slowly, clenching his jaw. "Right."

Andy glanced over at him, confused. "What's wrong?"

He shakes his head, his jaw still tight. "Nothing." Andy watched him carefully, but remained silent. There was something wrong with him, and she was going to figure out what it was.

"Oooh, hey, what was it you wanted to tell me this morning?" She tried to lighten the mood and figured that was a lighthearted change of topic.

"Oh, it was nothing." She rolled her eyes.

"Bullshit." She smiled as he glanced over at her in shock. "C'mon, Nick, I wanna know!"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Gail gave me my jacket back."

She glanced around. "I think I missed something."

"It's the last thing I had leftover at her house." He smiled at her as she watched him, confused.

She nodded her understanding. "And that means she's finally ready to let the relationship go." That thought made her heart flutter. She had been waiting for some sign from Gail that she was done with Nick. Maybe then she'd be able to decide what to do about her confusing feelings for him. But knowing that now only made her more confused.

He nodded, getting excited again. "It means she's ready to let the relationship go. And I can move on." He glanced over at her as he spoke, both hoping and not hoping she'd understand his point. If she did, she might respond in kind. Then again, it might scare her off. Maybe it would be better to just ambush her. Either way, he was going to tell her sometime soon. When he wasn't stuck in a car with her for another eight hours.

It was finally the end of shift. Nick entered the station, hoping he could set up a time to talk to Bob Smith the next morning. He found Traci pacing in the hallway and tapped her arm to get her attention. She turned to him, looking preoccupied and worried. "Anything wrong, Trace?"

"No, no." She gave him a false smile and he decided not to press the issue. "What's going on, Nick?"

"I was wondering if there would be time tomorrow before parade for me to talk to Bob Smith," he said, hoping she would know.

"I don't think that's going to be possible." She shook her head this morning. "He made bail this morning, and his trial isn't for another three months. He might have run, for all we know." She glanced over her shoulder, then turned back towards him. "Hey, Nick, I gotta go, but I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"

He glared after her as she walked off down the hallway, and stalked out of the station to his truck. He was pissed off. And he had a right to be.

"Hey, Collins." He heard Andy's voice from over his shoulder and tensed up more. As much as he was pissed off, he was more hurt than anything else. She had time for everything in the world more than him. She wanted to spend time with anyone else more than him.

"Hey, Andy," he replied without turning around. He hadn't originally been planning on it, but maybe this was the perfect time for him to tell her how he felt. And tell her off at the same time.

"Nick, will you please tell me what is wrong?" She sounded confused and exasperated.

In a split second decision, he whirled around to face her. "You want to know what's wrong? You're what's wrong." He knew the words were harsh, but his anger was urging him on. "You know, today we could have gone back to the station, questioned Bob Smith, and found a connection between him and Jerry's murder. Or at least, between him and the double homicide. But no, we were on patrol, and the good Andy McNally can't go back to the station when she's on patrol to question a suspect. And now he made bail, and he's gone. Traci's not sure he's even gonna come back. So we missed our chance, all because you decided you couldn't stray from protocol long enough to possibly help us catch a killer. Maybe even a serial killer." She watched him, confused and upset. But she remained silent. "And it's not just that. This morning, when I wanted to tell you about Gail, all you could do was go on with you job. Like that was the most important thing in the world to you. And you know why I wanted to tell you about it? Because I like you, Andy. I like you, and you like being a cop."

Andy's heart ached. She'd heard those words before, and that hadn't ended well. Involuntarily, her mind flashed back to Sam's face after she was reinstated.

"All you care about is being a good cop, and all I care about is you." His face was resolute, immobile, and cold. He'd said his piece, and he shut down. He was trying to shut down those feelings, but she wasn't about to let that happen. Now that she knew they were there for sure, she wasn't letting them hide anymore.

And here she was, roughly a year and a half later, hearing the same words from a different man she had those same feelings for. And she was not about to let her relationship with Nick end before it started just because she couldn't get over following the rules.

"Nick," she said softly. He glanced up at her out of the corner of his eye, warily taking her in. She knew her words wouldn't be enough to convince him that she felt the same way, but she had to do something. "I like you, too. I really like you, too."

He stood slowly, facing her with his arms crossed over his chest. "Is that right?"

"Yeah." And she decided to take action. If words weren't going to be enough, and they weren't, she wasn't going to let him walk away without understanding how she felt. After that, if he wanted to walk away still, he could. It would hurt her like hell, but she couldn't make him keep her if he didn't want to. She stepped into him, grabbing hold of his shoulders and feeling his strong forearms against her collarbone. She leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips firmly against his. Not forcefully, but steadily. She wasn't going to back down until he made her. She moved her mouth over his, trying to convey how much he really did matter to her.

After a moment or two, when Andy had almost lost her nerve and pulled away, he kissed her back. Her eyes drifted shut in pleasure and she softened her hands on his shoulders, sweeping them up to his neck. He moved his hands to hold her waist, his thumbs rubbing softly on her stomach. He swept his tongue along the seam of her lips and coaxed her to open her mouth to him. His tongue rushed in, and she found herself pressed against the door of his truck in the empty parking lot of 15 Division, the setting sun casting a romantic haze on the walled-in space.

She sighed as she felt his hands move around to her back and pull her closer than she had been before. She was caught up in the happiness, the joy of finally having this man's mouth on hers for no reason other than that she wanted to. They had never shared a kiss this deep, this special, when they had been undercover. And it felt good. Andy could have happily let herself kiss him, right here in the middle of the parking lot, where all her coworkers could see, for the rest of the night. But she felt him beginning to pull away. He held her bottom lip lightly between his teeth and licked his tongue over it, then he pressed a soft kiss to her upper one.

They stood together, still pressed against each other, breathing hard. Their foreheads rested against each other, each looking into the hoer's eyes carefully. "Well," she said after a moment. "That was… more than I expected."

"What did you expect?" He lifted his head and slid his arms out from around her. She immediately bemoaned the loss of his body heat and the security of his solid muscles as he stepped back a few paces.

"Honestly? I expected a kind, gentle shove away, and a platonic offer for a ride home," she said.

His eyebrows raised. "Believe me, Andy, the feelings I have for you are anything but platonic." He smiled his charming grin at her, and she shook her head at him. "But, seriously, Andy, I was telling the truth. I like you. And I don't like you just for your kissing, though if I can never kiss you again, I will be disappointed."

She smiled at him, too. "I feel the same. About liking you and about the kissing. So, why don't we… try?"

He took another step back. "I don't know about that. I'm gonna have to think about it and get back to you." He turned around and took two steps, leaving Andy heartbroken behind him. He spun around quickly again to face her. "Alright, I thought about it, and I'm in."

He smiled easily at her and she laughed incredulously. "Really? You're in? Really?"

"Yeah, really," he stepped back up to her and placed a soft kiss on her mouth. "And I'm in it for the long haul." He took her hands and smiled down into her face. "Now. How about that completely not platonic ride home?"

She shook her head, laughing, and playfully elbowed him in the ribs, making her way out from in between his body and the truck. She walked away backward, watching him as she went. "See you tomorrow, Collins."

"Tomorrow, McNally." He sent her that charming smile of his and she couldn't help but grin back as she stepped backwards into her car. She turned around to look at what had tripped her up and broke into laughter when she saw she had unwittingly walked into her own car. She could hear Nick's laughter following her as she sat down in the car. It had been a good night. Even though they had lost Bob Smith. Her life was finally looking up.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

"Hey, Luke." Traci stood in the doorway, watching him as he sorted papers on the desk. He was transferring back to 15 Division for good, not just for a case. He was moving everything back into his desk when she'd called his name. He looked up to see her standing in the door.

"Hi, Traci. What's going on?"

She smiled at him slightly. "I took your advice. I'm not going to dinner with Dex. Turns out he hasn't matured as much as I thought he had. I caught him playing video games with his two friends when I called to tell him I wasn't going tonight." He nodded at her news, but remained silent. "I just wanted to say thank you." They looked at each other in silence for another moment, before she nodded slightly and walked out the door.

"Traci!" He called after her. She turned around and poked her head around the corner of the doorjamb. "I want you to know I'm taking the note seriously. Until we prove this incorrect, I'm treating it as a death threat against a police officer. And if anything else develops in the case, I will do everything in my power to protect you and Leo. I just wanted you to know that."

Traci studied his face for a moment, then smiled. "Thanks, Luke. I'm glad I saw this side of you. I hated thinking you were an ass every time I looked at you, because you never been anything but decent to me. But you hurt my best friend, and for that you must play." She smiled at him again. "Don't think this changes anything, Callaghan. I'm still a tough bitch who can take care of herself and hates you on her friend's behalf. You got it?"

He returned her smile and nodded. "Yeah, I got it. See you tomorrow, Nash."

She nodded and smiled. "See you, Callaghan."