A/N: Thank you so much everyone who reviewed the last chapter. You guys are seriously awesome!

This is a weird , awkward, transitiony chapter. But after this there are 3-4 chapters left in my outline so I promise things will start moving more quickly in the next chapter.

Chapter 17: Keys to the Kingdom

Paperwork was the only part of the job Dov didn't love so he usually left it as long as possible before completing it, which was why he was here, in the evidence room, copying evidence catalogue numbers into his notes as fast as he could and hoping he wouldn't be late for parade. One of these days he would follow through on the years old resolution to keep better notes in the first place.

The door to the evidence room banged shut and before Dov could step out from between the shelves or clear his throat to announce his presence Nick's voice cut through the air, sounding angrier than Dov had ever heard him.

"Seriously? You want to do this now?"

"Yes, Nick, we're doing this now." Gail's voice answered him. "I would have loved to not have this conversation at work, but since you haven't been home in two nights…"

Dov banged his head softly on the shelf in front of him. He did not want to hear this. But he couldn't bring himself to make his presence known either. So he focused his eyes on anything but trying to see through the boxes of evidence to witness the fight and tried not to listen.

"Home?' Nick laughed, "Right, because your apartment has been so homey lately."

"Oh I'm sorry, Nick. Has it hurt your delicate feelings that I'm taking a little time to get over the fact you left for five months without saying a fucking word to me?"

"I couldn't—"

"Don't even try to give me that tired bullshit excuse." Gail interrupted. "You could have texted. Hell, you could have written 'see you in April' on a post it note, that would have been better than just evaporating into thin air."

"Is that what you were going to do when you left for your European tour?"

Dov could almost feel the force of Gail's heavy sigh. Even though he was pointedly not looking at the bickering couple, Dov knew Gail had crossed her arms over her chest and was probably staring fixedly at the floor as if it held the answers to everything. "You mean the trip I talked to you about every day for a week? Yeah, Nick, I was going to just disappear leaving you with no fucking idea what happened to me."

There was a long pause and for a moment Dov thought they might have left, but then Nick's voice broke the silence, sounding exhausted and defeated.

"What do you want, Gail?"

Dov couldn't even pretend to himself that he wasn't listening now. He barely dared to breathe as he waited for Gail to respond.

"We're going to be late," Gail muttered.

"So we'll be late. You wanted to have this out, so spill. What do you want from me?"

"Fine. You know what I want from you Nick? Nothing. I want nothing from you."

"Gail…"

"No. You can crash on my couch until you find a place, but this… whatever this is, it's over."

By the time Dov dares to look out from between the shelves he is late for parade, but he barely noticed. There was a sort of buzzing in his brain drowning out the world around him. He should never have heard that fight, but it wasn't guilt that kept him so preoccupied. It was a sense of almost relief. For the first time in what felt like forever he and Gail Peck were single at the same time.

Although, doing anything on the very day it happened was probably a terrible idea. Still, Dov couldn't quite suppress a smile.

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.

.

The apartment was about half the size of her condo and Andy felt almost deflated with disappointment when she really looked at it for the first time. She didn't know how she ended up here. How did she become the girl who asked her frenemies for help securing a short term apartment?

"Where do you want your stuff?" Sam's voice cut straight through Andy's moment of self-pity.

Yes, this place sucked, but losing her condo wasn't the only thing that has happened lately and Andy was fully willing to admit that she would go through it all again if it meant she and Sam could always be in this good place. She still couldn't believe he thought about kids. Even in her most idyllic daydreams she hadn't ever imagined Sam picturing them as parents. She was pretty much willing to settle for sharing an apartment, and maybe one day a ficus.

"Andy?"

She realized she had been staring at Sam, probably with a goofy grin on her face. "Sorry, you can just toss the suitcase in the bedroom. I'll deal with it later."

Sam shrugged and did as she instructed. The Ikea furniture hadn't arrived yet so the apartment was empty except the cheap TV stand, reading lamp and dining set the previous tenant had left behind. Andy had happily adopted the abandoned furniture. She wasn't rolling in money, especially with her insurance carrier refusing to process her claim until after the fire was cleared by the investigators. Free stuff was free stuff. Even if the TV stand looked like it would barely support the 22 inch flat screen Sam was lending her from his kitchen.

"Shouldn't you be at the station already?" Andy asked, looking at her watch.

Sam swore, kissed her softly and all too briefly, and practically ran from her apartment. Andy's laughter followed him as far as the emergency staircase. Sam's own smile lasted until he stepped through the doors of fifteen division and almost ran into a scowling Jo Rosati.

"When exactly were you going to tell me McNally approached the management company? Or was that a secret you and your little girlfriend were going to try and keep to yourselves because you fancy a few conjugal visits?"

Sam gaped at her. Once again the urge to strike her was strong. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and stalked past her, barely supressing the need to slam the door of her office in her face. Once again he found himself wondering what on earth Frank was thinking bringing in Rosati. Most of fifteen division had been discreet enough not to talk about why Callaghan and McNally's engagement had come to a sudden end, but Sam always assumed that was polite awkwardness rather than ignorance.

"Seriously, Swarek, what the hell were you thinking?" Rosati continued, following him into the office and shutting the door behind them. "If Frank found out he would have no choice but to suspend her pending an investigation."

"So she's not allowed to contact her own building's management company now?" Sam knew it was a flimsy response, but he needed to say something, anything really, that might convince Jo that Andy hadn't been investigating her own case.

Jo rolled her eyes. "Not when she's asking for years of back reports on fire safety and inspections." She nudged a thick yellow folder on her desk. "So, did you two find anything that will save me from going through this monstrosity for the next four hours?"

"I need coffee," Sam said, buying himself a little time. He ducked out of the office, feeling Jo's amused eyes on his back.

He pulled out his phone as soon as he was out of her line of sight and hit speed dial 1. Andy picked up on the second ring. Almost before she had said hello he blurted out, "What did you find in the building files?"

"Hello to you too," she grumbled slightly. He heard the telltale shuffle of papers being moved around for a moment. "The company increased its fire safety checks from one per year to three two years ago after a fire in another building."

"Another fire?" Sam felt a stir of excitement. It wasn't much, but if someone else had set Andy's fire, which he firmly believed, it wasn't much of a stretch to think that same person might have set previous fires. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

Andy sighed. "I wanted to look into it more. I was going to hit the library today and see if I could pull up any newspaper reports, see if there were any details."

Sam sighed. "Andy, you gotta let us do this. Anything you find could be inadmissible in court, you know that."

He could practically hear her grinding her teeth in an effort to stay calm.

"I know it's hard to sit on the sidelines," he said in his most comforting voice. "Hopefully you won't have to do it much longer."

"Thanks."

"I gotta get back to it."

"Okay. See you tonight?"

Sam smiled. "I'll pick up dinner."

"Not Chinese."

"Pizza it is."

"Have a good shift. I love you."

The casual declaration sent a dart of happiness through Sam's chest so strong he almost couldn't speak for a moment. "I love you too," he said softly and then disconnected the call before he was tempted to do or say anything stupid and spoil the moment.

"Good coffee?" Jo asked, pointedly looking at his empty hands before shooting him a knowing grin.

Sam ignored her. "There was another fire, two years ago. After that they stepped up the fire inspections – tripled them." He said settling into the chair across from her.

Jo's eyebrows raised in interest. "Arson?"

Sam shrugged. "The insurance paid out, but it's still possible."

"Sure," Jo said, though she didn't really believe it. Insurance companies had earned their notoriety. She knew they would never have paid out unless they were convinced the fire was accidental, which meant that even if an arsonist had set the fire, the chance of them being able to find that out two years later was pretty slim. Still, even the slimmest lead was better than what they had had before.

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Gail wasn't at the Penny when Dov walked in almost an hour after shift. He seriously needed to get caught up on his paperwork. He wasn't really surprised, but he was disappointed. Gail had two sad modes: tequila and solitude; Dov had really been hoping for the first, but he thought he could be okay with the latter since he could see Nick's familiar, broad shouldered frame seated at the bar, listing slightly to the right from one too many beer.

Reminding himself silently that he shouldn't know that Gail and Nick were having problems, let alone that they had broken up, Dov walked over to the bar and settled onto the stool to Nick's left.

"Tough shift?" He asked casually, inclining his head towards the nearly empty pitcher and three-quarter full pint glass sitting in front of Nick.

Nick's voice was too loud and a little slurred. "When did Gail become such a bitch?"

Dov bit back the urge to defend Gail and recapture how he'd felt about her when she first came to fifteen. "You think she's a bitch now, you should have seen her at the Academy." He forced a laugh he didn't feel. Sometimes he still felt like the too eager kid he had been back then, but Gail had grown so much in the last four years it was hard to believe she was the stuck up blonde know-it-all from their class at the Academy or the stone cold bitch of their Rookie year. Sure, she still lacked some pretty basic social skills. If pressed, Dov would probably agree that 'feral' was a good epithet. But where she lacked basic niceties she made up in heart and passion and fierce loyalty. Plus, most of her bitchiness was more funny than hurtful.

"So you're saying it's my fault."

The bartender stopped in front of them and Dov wondered how long he'd spaced out thinking about Gail. He ordered a pint and then half turned on his stool so he could look at Nick and asked. "What's your fault?"

Nick gave him an incredulous look. "The Gail I knew before I left was sweet and fun loving, three months after I deployed you're telling me she was super-bitch. So pretty much, it's all my fault."

"That's a little narcissistic don't you think?"

The bartender placed a glass in front of him and cleared Nick's now empty pitcher before moving off down the bar.

"It's deductive reasoning."

Dov rolled his eyes. "You didn't break Gail."

Nick snorted his disbelief.

"No," Dov suddenly felt like just pushing Nick off his stool. How dare he take credit for who Gail was. "You listen to me. Did you pull a total dick move dumping Gail and running off to the army: yeah. But Gail is one of the strongest, most amazing people I have ever known, and that has very little if anything to do with you."

Nick tilted his head and gave Dov a long, penetrating look. "She got you too, eh?" He chuckled. "Good luck, Dov. Trust me, you need it with her."

Dov drained half his pint in a single swallow. His mind was racing in tiny little circles trying to figure out if he was hallucinating or whether Nick had just pretty much told him to go for it with Gail and whether acting on the other man's drunken ramblings would be the stupidest thing he had ever done or the best. "Aren't you two…?"

Nick shook his head. "It's been over since before I left for the task force, it just took us some time to admit it."

"I'm sorry." Dov was surprised how genuine the sentiment was. He really was sorry, for Nick at least. From what he knew of their history he thought Gail was probably better off without Nick.

Nick shrugged. "Don't be. We were never right, it was just easier to be with each other than deal with…" He paused, seeming to lose his train of thought for a moment, "… being alone or going after what we really want."

Dov followed Nick's gaze to the couple who had just walked and felt his eyebrows climb into his hairline. "And what is it you really want?" He asked, not really expecting or needing an answer. He recognized the almost pained expression in Nick's eyes as he watched Andy laugh at something Sam Swarek said, her eyes fixed on his face as if she and Sam were the only two in the world.

Nick didn't say anything. Instead, he drained the rest of his glass, pulled out a twenty and got to his feet. "Have a good night." The words were directed to Dov, but he hadn't yet looked away from Andy and Sam.

"You too." Dov watched Nick until he exited the Penny and then ordered another pint. This day was too surreal to process without the aid of alcohol. Preferably lots of alcohol. Maybe if he drank enough he could find the courage to tell Gail how he felt.

An hour and nearly a hundred dollars in alcohol later Dov slid into the back seat of a taxi.

"Where to?" The driver asked when Dov didn't immediately volunteer a destination.

The thought of returning to his empty apartment flitted across Dov's mind, but he had somewhere better to be. He was in love with Gail Peck, and when you knew you wanted to spend the rest of your life with someone you wanted the rest of your life to start as soon as possible or something like that. He gave an address to the driver and settled back against the worn gray seat with a smile. He was going to sweep her off her feet.