"Jo and I, we were partners for three years." Luke didn't elaborate, but his direct gaze invited her to ask anything she wanted.
She narrowed her eyes. "How long 'd you live together?"
"Two and a half."
Andy felt like she'd been sucker punched. He hadn't hidden it from her, not really. They'd never had the ex-talk and today hadn't exactly given them much time to talk, and yet she couldn't shake the feelings of jealousy and betrayal. How had he not told her that he'd lived with someone else, someone he'd only known for six months at the time. The same amount of time he'd known her when he'd asked her to move in with him. She wondered if Jo had been a rookie when they'd partnered or if the identical timing was just an unfortunately coincidence.
"Any regrets?"
"Not one." He held her gaze, patiently waiting for her to absorb the information.
She searched his gaze for a moment. Finding no secrets she shut down the jealous voices in her head and made her decision. Luke was a good guy. He would never hurt her like that. She had questions, but tonight was not the night to get into it. "Good," she said at last, pulling him into a kiss.
It wasn't a great kiss. It didn't have to be. It was a reminder, to him and to herself, that they were the couple. Solid, and happy and in it for the long haul. No gorgeous ex-partner was going to come between them.
Judging by the smile he gave her when they broke apart, he got the message.
She entered the Penny ahead of him and headed straight for her fellow rookies. Luke stayed with her, an arm wrapped around her waist, but when she lifted her shirt up to show off the still throbbing bruise on her abdomen, he seemed to take the hint and headed off to the bar.
"Anything broken?" Chris asked, his dark eyes worried.
She shook her head. "It looks worse than it is." It was a half truth, but from the way everyone at the table seemed to sag a little with relief, she knew it was the right thing to say. the truth was she would dearly love to be lying down in her old apartment, alone, with an ice pack on her abdomen and a fistful of painkillers doing their thing in her bloodstream.
The pain had grown steadily worse all day. For a while, when she thought Miranda was in trouble and when she'd been chasing Kate's killer, adrenaline had taken over and her body had been too busy to hurt. But once the case was solved and there was nothing left for her to do, it had returned with vengeance. She'd almost let Luke take her to the hospital after shift, but she was afraid that once she admitted she felt pain, he would talk to Staff Sergeant Best and she would spend the next three weeks stuck behind a desk.
"You had us worried there, McNally." Dov said, pushing out a chair for her to sit in.
She grinned, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."
o o o
Sam took a long sip of whiskey, letting the warm burn of the alcohol wash some of the tension from his body. He could hear Andy behind him, showing off her war wound, talking tough though he was sure she was in agony. Gun shots, even to the vest, were not something you just shook off.
Unless of course you were as stubborn as Andy McNally, who seemed so determined not to take any special treatment, even though she had to be feeling that bruise with every breath she took.
He supposed they should be grateful today for her complete bull-headed refusal to go to the hospital or at least home to ice the bruise. They would have solved it one way or another, eventually, but she'd probably saved two lives. Not that she would focus on that. If he knew McNally half as well as he thought he did, she would obsess about the death that she could never have prevented, and never even think about the two lives she'd personally saved that day.
Detective Jo Rosati pulled out the stool next to him. Sam held out a hand, "Pleasure working with you Detective." He meant it. The detective was sharp and direct, qualities Sam appreciated in a homicide detective.
She smiled, "Oh, thanks. You too." She signalled the bar tender, "Looks like we might get a chance to do it again."
"Oh yeah?"
"Always tricky switching teams mid season, but, ah, duty calls."
"You're gonna stay at fifteen, huh?"
"Well, you guys had an opening, I applied for the transfer" She stammered slightly over the sentence and Sam wondered what was really bringing her to fifteen.
"Oh."
"What about you? I heard you were headed over the guns and gangs."
"Ah, yeah." Sam shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "Haven't decided yet."
Guns and gangs. That had been the goal driving Sam's career for nearly a decade. Then today, when Boyd practically begged him to take it, he had hesitated. Because of her. He couldn't resist turning to look at her.
Andy McNally. The woman he could not get out of his head, no matter how many times she turned him down or how much whiskey he drank. He didn't know if he had the strength to walk away. Accepting the offer would mean saying goodbye to Andy, probably for good. Guns and Gangs meant undercover, maybe for months at a time. How could say yes and just walk away?
Today hadn't helped. How could he walk away from her after today?
Then again, maybe he should take today as a sign telling him he had to walk away. He couldn't believe how close he'd come to kissing her. Right there in the middle of a crime scene. All he'd been able to think about was how many ways he could have lost her. Never once did he remember she wasn't his in the first place.
"What's holding you back?"
"You."
He still couldn't believe he'd said it out loud. At least McNally had shrugged it off as Sam being Sam with her cheap crack about his hair gel. Though part of him wished she hadn't been so eager to ignore it.
He turned back to Roseti, "Cheers."
They clinked glasses and lapsed into silence. Sam could feel her eyes on his profile, but when he snuck a glance at her, she was staring past him, at something or someone else further down the bar with a look he knew all too well. He shook his head and took another gulp of whiskey.
o o o
"I'm gonna grab another drink," Andy said.
"I'll get it," Chris offered, but she waved him off.
She spotted Sam's familiar dark head at the bar and stood next to him, signalling to the bartender that she wanted one more.
"You did good today." Sam said, not bothering with hello.
"Really?"
He nodded, "You followed the case all the way through. Probably saved that girl's life."
"Kate-"
"Not Kate," he interrupted. "The roommate... uh, Miranda."
She tilted her head to one side. Somehow in all of this she'd never even thought of Miranda.
"How're the ribs?"
"Fine." She said, "Barely feel it."
"Right," Sam's voice was heavy with doubt. "Two Advil and an ice pack. Gets the swelling down pretty well."
"Thanks, but I'm fine. Really."
"I know," he said, raising his hands in surrender, "you're superwoman, McNally. But humour me, will you?"
The protest that had been building in Andy's throat fizzled. She laughed, for about three seconds. A knife of pain show through her abdomen and she sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth.
Sam reached for her out of instinct, his hand resting on her arm. "Andy?"
She forced a smile. "Laughing hurts."
He smiled back, "I told you, a couple Advil and a few hours with an ice pack. You'll be back to normal in no time." He paused, dark eyes scanning her face, "No one will think less of you if you take a day off, you know."
She shook her head. "I'm fine."
"Yeah." He drained his whiskey glass in one swallow. "You will be."
"That's exactly what Oliver said."
"He's a smart man."
She nodded. The bartender brought Andy her drink and she turned to return to her table, but paused for a moment. "You really going to go to Guns and Gangs?"
"Uh," that was one question Sam hadn't been expecting. "I haven't decided yet."
"It's what you wanted, isn't it?"
Sam searched her face for a hidden meaning, but came up empty. It was an innocent question and eight months ago he would have answered with a definite yes. But things had changed. He didn't know what he wanted anymore. "Yeah," he answered, "it used to be."
She studied him for a second, brow furrowed. The same look she'd given him earlier today, outside Supernova when he'd told her she was the reason he was hesitating. This time he let the silence hang between them.
"Andy!" Traci called from the table behind them, breaking the moment.
"See you tomorrow?" Andy phrased it as a question.
He nodded. "See you tomorrow."
A/N: Season 2!
Huge thank you to everyone who read and reviewed this fic through season one. I hope you'll stick with me through season two. It looks like it's going to be a fantastic season.
Please review!