"You leg's good to go, you want to try putting some weight on it?"

"Yeah," Andy used both hands to slide herself forward along the hood of the car.

He held both hands out to steady her. Taking her right in his left for a moment, releasing it the second she was steady.

"I'm really sorry for freaking out on yah."

She looked away for a moment. "Mhmm," when she met his eyes again her gaze was warm, forgiving.

Sam took a deep breath, she and Luke were on the outs, this might be his only shot. "Look, whatever happened between us…"

Her expression became guarded and Sam's heart lurched. He couldn't do this to her, to himself. He examined his fingers, still tinged red from her blood. She had been hurt too many times. They both had. If Callaghan pulled his head out of his ass, the pair of them could be blissfully happy together.

"You know Luke's a good guy. Reliable. Solid."

"He is." Andy nodded.

"Yeah, and a hell of a detective. Doesn't impose, doesn't judge, just looks at the facts."

Andy's eyes narrowed in confusion.

Sam continued. "Which is probably what he's doing right now. Just give him some time?"

She seemed to weigh his words for a moment before nodding, "Yeah."

"Good to go?"

"Yeah," She looked down at her leg, a wry twist to her lips, "As long as you drive."

He offered her is hand for support and helped her into the vehicle. The rest of the drive passed in silence. They were both too tired to keep up meaningless chatter. Sam glanced over at Andy as they entered the city, her eyes were closed and by all appearances she was fast asleep. He shook her shoulder gently. "Andy, wake up."

She opened one eye and then the other and looked around blearily as if she couldn't quite figure out why the world was speeding past.

"We're ten minutes out, then you can get some real sleep."

She blushed. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged off her apology, "Don't worry about it. It's been a hell of a day."

"No thanks to me." She muttered.

Sam flinched. He'd been too hard on her when the prisoner had escaped. But the thought that she could have been killed combined with the panic over losing a prisoner in transport had made it impossible to remain calm. "It wasn't entirely your fault." He said at last, "I shouldn't have left you alone in the car with him."

"And I should know better than to open the door when the prisoner's feet are facing me."

"You're a Rookie, you're supposed to make mistakes."

She snorted. "Right."

"Did I tell you the joke about the roof?"

"What?" Andy looked at him like he was crazy.

"Never mind, it's over your head."

"Crazy." She managed between giggles.

Sam smiled, pleased with himself for lightening the mood as he pulled the cruiser into the barn.

Jerry was waiting for them. In a matter of minutes they'd handed off Ray Donald Swan and he and Andy were alone in the garage. Andy sighed loudly, she looked like she could fall asleep right there. Same smiled, "See you around pal."

"See you around buddy." She replied, before turning and limping towards the women's locker rooms.

Sam headed in the opposite direction; there was just one thing he had to do.

Luke Callaghan was alone in the Detective's office, filling out paperwork, when Sam popped his head through the door. He looked up, annoyance clear on his face. "Have a good trip?"

"You know what? You're an idiot." Sam fought a wave of anger he hadn't expected. Everything he'd said to Andy was true, Luke was a good guy. And Sam had every intention of sticking to his resolve to stay away from Andy, for both of their sake. But Luke's coldness towards Andy made Sam's blood boil.

"Excuse me." Luke glared at him.

Sam checked quickly behind him to make sure no one was around to hear what he was about to say. "Nothing happened with McNally that night. I tried, she shot me down. She's crazy about you, don't screw it up." He didn't wait to hear anything Luke might have said.

If the detective was half as clever as he thought he was, he would forgive Andy and move forward with their relationship with questioning the one night she'd shared with Sam too closely. And Sam would try something new: friendship with a woman. It was going to be interesting.

"Look, whatever happened between us…You know Luke's a good guy. Reliable. Solid."

Sam had given her an out, and she was damned if she didn't hold on to it for dear life. Luke was a solid guy. She needed solid. Sam was a good guy too, despite any protestations to the contrary, but he was volatile.

Luke was the right guy. Even if she didn't feel it to the bottoms of her feet when they kissed, he was good, solid and interested. What more could a girl want?

Talking for one thing.

Though he appeared to have forgiven her, they hadn't talked at all. It was weird. They'd never fought, he'd just left and now apparently he was back. She didn't like confrontation, never had, but this utter lack of discussion was unnatural.

These thoughts gave Andy little comfort as she tossed and turned in a vain attempt to find comfort in Luke's bed. She lay on her back and listened to the gentle huff of Luke's breath and tried to think of nothing.