As always thank you for the Awesomeness shared in your thoughts!

Here's more... Enjoy! & welcome to my world!

Chapter 15- Bowl Me Over.

Andy's eyes flew open, an equally dark pair watching her when her gaze focused.

Sam was sitting on the end of the bed watching her sleep.

"Hi" he managed without even making any kind of attempt to look away when he got caught staring.

Andy nodded and stretched out, she hadn't meant to doze off again but sleep was the best medicine right now.

"You hungry?" Sam sounded a little far away asking her that, like he didn't really want to be here.

"What's that?" Sam leaned closer when she sat up, his eyes focusing on her forehead.

"What?" Andy's hand moved at the same time Sam's did, and they collided a hairs breath away from the skin of her forehead.

"That scar, it wasn't there before?". Sam sounded like he was about to snap. His tone was tense and he was probably expecting an answer close to something like 'I ran into trouble.

"I fell". Andy's fingertip traced along the small scar. It was barely even visible, but trust Sam to notice it. Her answer gained a raised eyebrow in response, but she knew that he believed her.

Well sort of anyway.

"Oliver told me you died, and I fell down Frank's stairs" Andy mumbled before sliding her legs off the end of the bed and letting her feet find the floor.

Sam looked really remorseful in the few seconds she dared to look sideways to see his expression.

He was caught off guard by her answer, and showed a flash of emotion before covering it up.

"He okay?" Sam added after drawing a winding breath.

"He's fine. He's a good guy Sam. He misses you". Andy looked away, Sam's hand moving up to run over his face.

She could tell he missed home, and his life too.

"Where's Gail?" Andy stood up but only heard silence, like the house was empty.

"She went to get some supplies".

Andy's attention snapped to meet his, her assumption that they were all supposed to stay here and lay low for a while had obviously been wrong.

"Callaghan picked her up. She went to get an extra vest and a spare gun and a few magazines because you arrived packing light". Sam cleared the 'supplies' up, leaving Andy looking a little flustered.

"It's no big deal" Sam added when he noticed her mind running away at a mile a minute. She was probably feeling like she was a little extra work right now.

"Let's go feed you" Sam walked out the door, a light shake of the head following his words.

Sam hovered over the stove while watching Andy take her surroundings in.

There were no clear indications that she had any idea of where they really were, his mother had never been one to keep all those childhood photographs, or trinkets from their youth.

He could see that she knew that the home was lived in, it didn't take that much of a genius to figure out.

Andy ventured closer, but still kept a safe distance. "Can I... Can I see the list?".

There was just something about it that kept nagging at her. The most puzzling piece was that her dads name was the first on it.

Sam stopped his hands from moving around and watched her carefully. He could see the cogs working away.

"Why?".

"Why? Because whatever that list is, I need to know". Andy folded her arms across her chest in defiance, Sam was really stoking the flames of the fire that made her remember how they got here in the first place.

Sam shrugged and relented, his hand holding out the folded page a second later. "It won't change anything". He said coldly when her hand reached out and her fingers closed over the edge.

Sam watched with a raised eyebrow as Andy unfolded the paper, her eyes squinting as she took the rows in.

"It's not a hit list Sam" she breathed out. Her face looked up, but somehow Sam felt like he was watching her fold and crumble again although there seemed to be some underlying relief mingled in there too.

"It was all for nothing". Andy held the page out towards him without any more of an explanation.

"And you know that because...?". Sam asked reaching out.

"My Dad wrote it Sam".

"What?".

For once, she bowled him out and he was completely in the dark.

"It's cops that aren't on the take. They're not corrupt".

"Really?". Sam didn't sound convinced.

"Sam, this is my dads handwriting. These names, they're cops that have proven they're the good guys". Andy's arms swayed out, her actions meant to reinforce her words.

"You don't know that". Sam countered again. He wasn't that easily persuaded.

"Read it Sam. You know some of these names. Yours is here too... You walked away, for no reason, when there wasn't a need..."

Andy felt really uncomfortable saying that. It felt like she was telling Sam that he had failed. But the words had slipped out by accident because that's what she was thinking and feeling right now.

"It wasn't for nothing" Sam whispered before shoving a scrunched up paper into his pocket and abandoning the rest of their conversation.

Andy made herself coffee, switched the stove off and went back upstairs.

Sam found the kitchen deserted after collecting himself and taking a walk around the house.

He debated following Andy upstairs but gave up on that thought when he remembered the flash of hurt that crossed her face when she realized that he didn't trust her in the moment.

It wasn't because he had a reason not to trust her, he was merely looking at the facts and that swayed his decision in the opposite direction of where Andy wanted it to go.

Hearing footsteps Sam looked up to find Peck arriving home and walking across the deck until she disappeared behind the door seconds before it opened.

"Honey, I'm home" she called in a tone that made Sam wonder what he'd ever done to deserve the sarcasm.

She dropped the duffle bag she was carrying as soon as she pushed the door closed, it's heavy weight echoing through the room when it hit the floor.

"So, did you kiss and make up while I was shopping?".

He just gave her a look that would convey a stern string of sentences without saying a single syllable.

"Okkaayy" Peck mumbled and peered around the viewable rooms looking for Andy.

"So, where are we?" Sam changed the subject and forced the conversation to move over to their current lives.

"Nico Ramos is still MIA, and Sophia managed to make a run for it". Peck said sounding a little worse for wear.

"Where'd she go?"

"If we knew that, she wouldn't be gone".

Sam let out a light growl, Peck's face breaking out into a slight grin. "I leave you guys alone for two hours, and she's already under your skin".

Sam just ignored the last comment and focused his attention on the bag she brought in with her.

"She says it's not a hit list". Sam said while he tugged on the zipper and revealed the stash packed in the bag.

"She did?". Peck was hovering.

It was really annoying.

"Why would she say that?" She too, didn't sound all that convinced.

Sam stood up and shrugged before taking a step towards the stairs and then stopping.

Maybe he should just clear the air and get it over with. If Ramos was still unaccounted for, they could be here for a while.

He let out a heavy sigh, bounded up the stairs and stopped just outside his old bedroom door.

Maybe this wasn't such a great idea...

"Got a minute?" He whispered into the room, Andy looking out the window.

She turned her face to him and nodded, just a fraction before he stepped over the threshold and entered her personal space.

Well, technically she was in his, but the semantics were irrelevant.

"So, I grew up in this house..." Sam stepped a little closer, just close enough to hear her suck in a ragged breath.

"This is my room" he added, her eyes widening even more.

His hands found their way into his pockets, a slip of his edge fading away as he bared a fraction of his past with her.

"Who lives here now?" Andy asked after gaining some composure.

"My mother". Sam tried smirking with that answer, but it didn't happen when he saw Andy trying to cover up a small amount of hurt.

"She's visiting Sarah".

"Oh" Andy turned away and looked back out the window. She still so totally couldn't keep her emotions off her face, even though it was still a little swollen and bore bruises.

"I did what I did because besides them, Fifteen is my family, my home". That earned him a swift gaze from Andy before she looked away again.

"You don't need to explain it to me Sam, it's your life, your choice. We were over then anyway...". Andy looked down, Sam having no idea what held her attention now.

"I do, because you need to hear it" Sam said, his tone perhaps a little harsh and rougher than the moment required.

"I did it because yes, we thought the list was a hit list, and yes we're all on there. But this..." Sam pulled a hand from his pocket and waved it between them.

"This is what scared me. If you didn't come home..." Sam cut his words off and cleared his throat.

"It would have been better if I didn't come home Sam" Andy's tone was cold, really cold.

"No? And you believe that?".

"What did coming home do for me Sam?" Andy ran a hand over her hair, a flash of her feisty side coming to light. "I came home and you were 'dead'. You 'moved on'. I lost myself just for a second dealing with that before I saw how much everyone around me was hurting. I thought I was going crazy, because I saw you like five times. And the whole time you could have spared everyone that heartache, Oliver, Sarah, Frank and Noelle. Even Traci is different because you're not there anymore". Andy's words were whispered, her voice cracking where she held mentioning herself back. He really had no idea how many lives his own touched.

"Look, I don't expect you to get it okay. But I did this because it was a chance to run away, to let you go. I did it because I had a chance to make a difference and stop the drugs before they got to the kids that would probably OD and die, leaving the rest of their families behind wondering what they could do differently, how they could have changed it...".

Towards the end, Sam's voice grew thick with emotion, so thick that he couldn't even carry on talking.

For some reason it seemed to turn that invisible light dangling over her head on. She'd finally figured it out, figured out what drove him to do his job so well.

"Who Sam? Who did you loose?".

And then she asked.

Asked him the one question that would tell her everything about his determination.

"My twin sister". Sam looked away, okay maybe he looked more down when answering.

"What?".

Even with that one word, Sam knew he'd shaken her up.

Badly.

"I had a twin sister, and she... She ...".

When Sam looked up, Andy was standing in front of him, some of her fire replaced by sorrow. That was the thing about her, anything sad, she just took personally.

"Sam I," she looked really uncomfortable.

"It's okay".

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't know".

He would bet his last penny that she silently added 'because you never told me' to the end of that sentence.

"It was a long time ago".

Andy remained silent, she wanted to press him for more, but she was scared that if she did he would clam up.

"I knew, I could feel her hopelessness and her pain, and I didn't do anything" Sam pinched his eyes closed and ran his hands over his face.

When it came to her it was different to Jerry. He lost Jerry because he was too late, with her... Well she was stolen away.

It had been a really long time since this had been the topic of conversation.

When Sam took his hands away from his face and opened his eyes, Andy was still standing there. She looked like she was ready to cry. And then ask a million questions.

"We were just kids".

"How old?". Sam barely heard her ask that, if he hadn't seen her lips move he would have concluded that he imagined it happening.

"Sixteen".

Andy looked away, even though she had more understanding, it was still hard for her to hear what had turned him into the person he was today.

"I could have done something, told someone. Spent more time with her. I could feel that something was wrong, and even before they came to tell us that she OD'd, I knew. It was like I felt her life slip away". Like that didn't sound crazy.

"Sam, I'm so sorry". Andy took a small step towards him and then stopped. He could only guess that she wanted to wrap him up in a hug and hold on until the moment became a cliche.

"Loosing Jerry felt surreal. It brought it all back, and I'm sorry I didn't know how to handle it".

"You could have told me Sam".

"And saying 'hey I'm scared I'm gonna lose you too' would have changed anything?".

His words made Andy take a step back. It was her way of telling him that she wasn't ready for this, ready for all of the truth just yet.

"Cassandra Swarek is the reason I worked UC's and Guns and Gangs. It's part of the reason I took this op. Everything else was just backing that up". Sam took a step back and put more space between them.

He felt crowded and claustrophobic for the first time in his life. This was him shutting down and slamming his own defenses up.

Andy was biting into her lip, a clear sign that there were words hovering on her tongue.

Sam arched an eyebrow at her, his way of silently saying ; say it- if she could still read him like she used to.

"You're a good guy Sam". Andy managed that with a smile. "But if you ever, ever do that again, I will hunt you down and bring you back to life before I kill you myself". This time, her smile was replaced with a serious face. She meant every word she just said.

"Am I," Sam regretted that as soon as it was out. How could he even ask her if he was forgiven?

"No you're not forgiven. And I'm sorry but, what you put me through, isn't something I'm ever going to forgive or forget as much as I...".

Andy's eyes stretched wider. She nearly said something but caught herself in the nick of time.

"A..."

"Guys, we've got company" Peck interrupted just as Sam was about to ask Andy what she wanted to say.

Great, now that they were actually getting to what they should have done ages ago, life just had to throw them a curve ball.

****Thanks for reading!

More of Sam's story will come out later on, but who saw that coming?

Have an awesome day!

Jelly Bean Jenna©