Two stories in one weekend; it's like an early Christmas present. :) Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites, please keep them coming. I love knowing what people think of my stories. Hope you enjoy this story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rookie Blue.

Making changes

Prompt: Andy knows Ed Lane (from the tv show Flashpoint) and sees him as a mentor.

Featuring: Andy, Ed and a little bit of Sam

(I tried to write this fic so it would make sense to everyone, even if you haven't watched Flashpoint. It just adds to it, if you're familiar with who Ed is.)

P.S. This takes place post 3x13 and Andy was never asked to be part of the taskforce.

It had been three weeks since Andy showed up at The Penny to accept Sam's invitation for a drink. After several hours of conversation and a few drinks, they agreed to try again. Today, they were on different shifts, but Sam managed to catch Andy in the locker room before she headed to Parade.

"Hey," he said.

She stopped buttoning her uniform shirt so she could lean toward him as he approached for a quick kiss. "Hi. How was your shift?"

"Eh, you know, same old stupid criminals," he said, leaning against the locker next to hers. "Frank had an interesting proposition for me though." She looked over at him, urging him to continue as she finished getting dressed. "With Jerry gone and Callaghan focused on his taskforce, Frank's looking to fill a detective position."

Andy was proud that their boss would approach Sam for this promotion, but looked at him cautiously as she didn't know how he'd feel. "And? Are you going to take it?"

"Don't know," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Becoming a detective was never really my thing, but Frank assured me I could be hands on and on the streets as much as possible. It does have some positives." He knew it would make things easier on their relationship if he wasn't in uniform anymore.

She closed her locker and leaned against it as she grabbed for Sam's arm, her fingers sliding down until they circled his wrist. "You don't have to do it for us," she said softly. "I mean, we'll be okay either way."

"It could make things easier for us."

"It could."

"We can talk later. Frank gave me a week to decide. I just, I wanted you to hear about the offer from me," he said.

Andy smiled knowing he didn't want her to hear the big news through the station's grapevine. A few months ago, she's not sure he would've had the same thought. She grabbed his jaw gently in her hand and turned his face so she could place a messy kiss on his cheek. "Gotta go or I'll be late for Parade. Love you."

Halfway through her shift, Andy was thinking back to her conversation with Sam. Even if he took the detective position, there was no guarantee it would help with the problem of their personal life affecting their work or of work affecting their relationship. And she didn't want Sam doing all the changing in their relationship. She stared out the window of the cruiser, wondering if there were any options available to her, and suddenly had a great idea.

The next free moment she had, Andy called someone she's always been able to trust to give her solid advice, especially when it came to her career, and they agreed to meet for lunch the next day.

A grin took over her face when she walked into the diner and saw him. "Uncle Eddie!" He got out of the booth he was sitting in as she walked over and gave her a big hug. He wasn't her uncle by blood, but she'd known him all her life. Ed Lane and Tommy McNally were best of friends in the academy and became uniform cops together at 15 Division before Tommy took the detective's exam and Ed began SRU training. When Claire left Tommy and Andy, Ed spent a lot more time with them, helping his friend out whenever he could. Andy had always looked up to him and, in addition to her dad, he was one of the reasons she became a cop.

"It's been a while kiddo. I'm glad you called," Ed said as they sat down. She rolled her eyes at his nickname for her; she'd forever be his 'kiddo,' no matter how old she was.

"I'm sorry. Life's been busy. How's little Izzy? She was nearly walking last time I saw her," she said, before taking a sip of water the waitress had already placed on the table.

"She passed the walking stage and went right to running," he laughed. "I saw your dad last week. He seems to be doing well." Ed knew very well the troubles Tommy had with alcohol over the years, but was glad to see Andy was able to finally convince him to get sober.

"He is," she said, nodding. "He's sticking to the program this time. He's happier than I've seen him in years. And Sophie and Clark, how are they?"

"Doing great. Clark's about to head off to college, which of course has Sophie freaking out," Ed replied.

"Only Sophie?" she smirked. If she knew her uncle, he was going to have a hard time adjusting to Clark being away at school.

"I plead the fifth," he said, hands raised in surrender. He was saved from further teasing when their waitress came to take their order.

When the waitress walked away, Andy decided it was time to let her uncle know why she wanted to meet him. "Uncle Eddie..." She played with the condensation on her glass of water before looking up at him. "I need some advice."

"Shoot, kiddo."

"I told you about the guy I've been seeing, right?" The last time she'd seen Ed and his family had been a few weeks after her suspension. Sophie had seen a glow radiating off of Andy and dragged info about her relationship with Sam out of her.

"The cop, right? Sam Swarek?" Give it to her uncle to not forget a name, even though they'd never met.

Andy nodded and briefly explained the tough time they had navigating their relationship with their job, and the fallout after Jerry died. Ed sat across from her silently listening to everything she had to say.

"We've talked about what we can do at work to make things easier personally, but never come to any simple answers," she told her uncle. "Sam's thinking about going out for detective and that would give us some distance at work, but I was thinking about a change of scenery for myself."

"You know you can't make this decision about your career based solely on the personal stuff," he cautioned.

"I know, and I wouldn't be. I mean, I know I don't want to always be a uniformed cop patrolling the streets. I'd just be making a move a little sooner than I might have planned," she explained. Unlike anyone else who had walked into her life, for Sam, she was willing to change her plans and make new plans with him.

"What type of transfer are you thinking about?" he asked. When he saw her bite her bottom lip and looked at him with a sheepish grin, he knew the answer. "You want to join SRU?"

She nodded. "If you think..."

"You'd be great at it, kiddo. There's a lot of training involved though. You wouldn't step right into the field," he said.

Andy nodded. She knew there'd be additional training for any of the options she'd considered. "I know."

"Your dad know about this? I always thought he'd convince you to become a detective," Ed said, letting out a chuckle.

"Not yet; it's kind of a recent development. He'd love for me to become a detective, but when I joined the academy I told him that might not be in the cards for me, that I might not follow in his footsteps," she replied.

"Well, I think you'd be a great candidate for SRU. Your ability to negotiate with suspects in tough situations can be a real asset to a team. And I know a couple teams have a few open spots they're trying to fill," Ed told her. His mind was already working out who to call to help put her at the top of the candidate list, and decided first he'd get some recommendations for Andy from Team One. That would almost make her a shoo-in to get one of the open positions.

They paused their conversation when the waitress brought their food.

"Hey, if you're really serious, then come shadow me for a day. See what we do firsthand. The team would love to see you again, kiddo," Ed said before biting into his burger.

"Thanks Uncle Eddie. I might take you up on that."

She felt better about things. She still didn't know what she was going to do, but now she felt like she had options. Before she did anything, she was going to talk to Sam. He came to her about becoming a detective and she wasn't going to hide the fact she was considering transferring to SRU. Then, they could make these decisions together.