Andy

I felt good about today. It felt like an accomplishment. I managed to work with Sam without making a fool out of myself. I was originally planning on getting Traci to come check out the suspect's apartment with me but of course the way my luck goes it ended up being Sam. We had some awkward moments but we were back to our regular footing where we worked well together as partners. It actually felt normal driving around in the squad car with Sam at my side. We may never go back to being what we were but I think we can move forward at least professionally. We may become somewhat friendly co-workers. I don't see it being too difficult to be around Sam and his new girlfriend at work.

That thought of being able to deal with Sam and his new girlfriend totally went out of my mind when I walked out to the parking lot after shift and saw them embracing. Well didn't they look cozy? I never got a hug out of Sam, especially when I needed it. Gad, maybe I can't face seeing them together, not just yet. The kiss was already too much and now this.

I quickly headed the other way before either of them could catch sight of me. As I headed back inside I bumped into Chris.

"Oops sorry didn't see you there. Heading to the Penny?"

"Nah I'm heading home. Denise has been with Christian all day and I figured I should head home to give her a break."

"Gosh Chris, I can't believe you're a dad! Got any pictures of the little guy?"

I can see that me asking about pictures was the right thing to do. He excitedly pulled out his phone and starting showing off some adorable pictures. I carefully scrutinized them to see if he resembled Chris. I felt guilty about it but I don't fully trust Denise. I mean she waited pretty long to tell him about this adorable little boy, she all of sudden waltz back into his life and tells him he's a dad.

"Have you made any decisions about what you want to do yet?"

"I'm still pretty undecided. I want Christian to grow up feeling safe and in a small town where every one knows each other. But I love working here and the people here. It's tough being a dad. You have to make the tough decisions and put your kid first."

"I don't really want you to leave. You're doing great here. There are tons of people who are raised up in the city like me who turn out just fine."

"I don't know Andy. It's all so confusing right now and Denise isn't making any of it easier. She hasn't found a job here yet and I think she gets frustrated sitting at home bored all day."

"I want to tell you forget about Denise but she's plays a factor in all this since she's the mother of your child. It's a hard decision to make and no one else can make it for you. I'm not in your shoes and can't tell you what to do. But I say follow your heart and do what you think is right. If you need any kind of help let me know, even just someone to talk things through."

He reached over and hugged me practically lifting me off my feet.

"Thanks so much Andy. I really do appreciate it. Thanks for not questioning my actions or making me doubt my intentions. I'm really glad I have a friend like you, I've missed you the past few months."

He offered to drop me off at the Penny on his way home and I decided to take him up on his offer. Talking to him helped relieve some of the tension. He asked about Sam and I gave him the best answer I could which was I trying my best to move on and just focus on work and my friends. Chris is a great guy and I hope Denise doesn't screw him over.

Walking in through the doors of the Penny, I took a deep breath and went in search of my friends. I saw a packed table with Gail, Nick, Traci, Dov, Chloe and Oliver. Gail and Nick appeared to be having some quiet argument while the rest were laughing at some story Oliver was telling. I grabbed a chair from a nearby table and plopped down next to Traci. I said my hellos with a bright smile.

"Officer McNally, nice of you to finally make an appearance. Thought Ms. Super-secret-undercover was too busy to hang out with us mere mortals. Now remain silent while I finish up my story."

"Sorry Officer Shaw didn't realize it was story time. Please continue."

"And now all I have to say is The End."

"haha thought I was interrupting your story, it seems you were finished."

"Well I needed to get my final line in didn't I?"

"With your stories the part where you say The End is usually the best part."

We all had a good laugh and it felt good to be here. I got Nick to drop me home since Gail had brought her own car. There was definitely trouble in paradise.

"Hey it looked like you and Gail spent most of the night deep in discussion or more like deep in disagreement. What's up?"

"God I don't understand that girl. I thought were fine and that things were back to normal but she keeps picking fights with me. Andy I don't know what to think, it likes two steps forward and one step back with her. Something isn't right but I can't figure out what it is."

"Have you tried talking to her about it? I mean point blank asking her what's wrong."

"Nah I figure I'll discover what it is eventually. I mean I just got back and I just wanna enjoy spending time with her. I'm not ready to deal with drama right now. I've missed her. I just want things to be normal and not complicated."

Gah are all men so stupid? The guy knows something isn't right but instead of talking to his girlfriend about it he decides to just ignore it. I decide to just drop it and decide it's between him and Gail. They have a complicated relationship that I can't even begin to try and comprehend. Sometimes a friend knows to back off and let the person decide for themselves.

I crawl into bed after my shower and my thoughts come back to Sam once again. I make myself a promise. I'm gonna try my best to be civil around Sam and Cruz. They're both in superior positions to me and its best not to antagonize that professional standing. I'll act cool and collected, like it doesn't bother me.

Tomorrow is another day, another opportunity to make a difference.

I wake up with a strong resolution to enjoy my day and be the best police officer I can possibly be. I have a great life, I love my job and I have some great friends. What more can a girl ask for.

I grab hold of my resolution to treat Cruz with professional curtsey when I discover I'm riding with her for the day. Once again fate has chosen to be cruel. I knew I'd have to eventually ride with her but couldn't a few weeks have passed before it had to happen.

Of course she insists of driving, her and Sam are perfect for each other.

Our first job of the day is to find a suspect in a home invasion case. I've already written up a few places to look for him and turn to tell Cruz when she says that we're going to go look at some locations starting with the girlfriends house, where the suspect may possibly be hiding out, the same locations I had on my list. She doesn't even ask if I have any suggestions and I of course feel compelled to argue against her actions even though I had the same idea as her. Looks like there goes my resolution out the window.

We spent the ride arguing over this until we reach the first location on her list (which happens to be first on my list as well). It's the suspect's girlfriend's place and of course the idiot is hiding out there. Cruz has a smirk on her face as we load the guy into the car. I wanna shout at her I had to same idea all along but now I can't since I childishly decided to argue instead of telling her "great plan, it's what I was going to suggest we do as well." But no I didn't do that so know she thinks she's smarter than me.

After we book the guy, we head back out to patrol the streets. We stopped for lunch at a drive-thru and ate at the park nearby. This limited our interaction with each other.

As soon as we finished lunch, we got a call about a robbery in progress. It's at the National Trust Bank. There's report of an armed, masked man robbing the bank.

"Let's go McNally. We gotta be sharp about this."

She had me seething. Did she think I was some stupid rookie? I had rant in my head about officers who thought they were superior.

"Here's what we'll do. National trust is a small bank and dispatcher says there is only one robber inside. I'll take the back entrance and you'll take the front. Keep the suspect distracted while I sneak in through the back."

We pull up in the front and without thinking I charge in. The customers and employees are all lying face down while the suspect is standing there with a gun pointed at one of the tellers and I tell the suspect to drop his weapon and put his hands up.

He turns around to look at me and then suddenly grabs the terrified teller. Oh shit.

"I want you to back up and head back out the door. I'll let her go once I've gotten the money and into my car, you won't try and stop me understood?"

The suspect sounded really nervous and I can tell he was trembling. His eyes kept darting behind me towards the big windows.

I see Cruz from the corner of my eye sneaking up behind the suspect and she gets close enough to hold the gun to his head.

"Drop the weapon before I blow your head off."

The suspect realizes he's got no choice but to do as she asked. He drops his gun and brings his hands behind his head. Cruz cuffs him and pushes him towards me.

"McNally place the suspect in the car and call for backup."

What Cruz and I hadn't noticed and what hadn't been reported was the gunshot victim lying on the floor. It appears the man who had been shot was the security guard. The suspect we had in custody was just a kid, he looked so young.

Oliver and Nick had arrived at the scene as well to help with crowd control, there were a lot of people gathered around the bank to watch and gawk. I saw a couple of news crews arriving as well.

Soon the detectives arrive to ask the witnesses questions. Of course one of the detectives had to be Sam.

There was a twist, according to witnesses the suspect we had in custody was not the one who shot the security guard. There had been another guy with the suspect but he had gotten a phone call and stepped outside to answer it. He must've seen Cruz and I pull up and taken off. The question now was who was he and where did he go.

The witnesses said both suspects came in nervous and twitchy. The guy who shot the security guard was sweating profusely and his hands kept shaking. He shot the security guard for no reason but looked like he didn't want to. They both seemed nervous about the phone call they had received. Witnesses got the impression the other suspect was an older guy.

This all made me think there was something not right about this whole situation. The suspects almost seemed like they didn't want to be robbing the bank and shooting the security guard seemed so random and unnecessary.

When Sam pulled Cruz and me aside to give our statements, I expressed my doubt.

Cruz just gave me an incredulous look.

"McNally there's nothing to doubt here. Two suspects came in deciding to rob the bank. One of them went a little gung-ho and shot the security guard. Of course they were nervous, they were robbing a bank. Maybe one of them got a call from his wife or mother asking where he was. I'd be nervous if my mother called me while I was robbing a bank", Cruz said to me.

I looked at Sam and said "Sam you know something isn't right here. I think there's more to the story than meets the eye."

"McNally I'm sure what we have here is a typical bank robbery. Things got a little out of hand and one the suspects was a little trigger happy. Maybe he's never handled a gun before and didn't expect it to go off so easily. Let's not jump to conclusions, get the suspect we have in custody back to the division and question him. Maybe he'll lead us to his partner. I don't want to make any judgments calls without having all the evidence in order"

I couldn't believe that Cruz and Sam weren't taking me seriously. When did Sam wait to have all the evidence, he's the first one to listen to and go with his gut. My gut was telling me something was wrong. I headed over to talk to Traci and see if she agreed with me. It seemed Sam was going to side with his precious Cruz.

But of course no one else was too sure of my theory that there was more this robbery and that it seemed like these guys didn't want to rob the bank. I even tried convincing Nick of it but he wasn't convinced either. So I decided to wait till after the suspect in custody was questioned.

That ended up being a dead end since once we got him into the interrogation room he sat silently not answering any of the questions. It was so frustrating.

The wallet he was carrying said his name was David Newton, 20 and lived in a near-by residential area. I dug into his background and found out he lives his parents and 5 year sister. He's a college student majoring in Engineering and appears to come from a good home. He's never been in trouble before and from what I heard from his college advisor the kid is really smart and doing great in school. His parents both have good jobs and they're what you would call a regular middle class family. Nothing stands out that screams bank robber.

I got approval to go check out the residence and Sam ended up coming with me. I was still annoyed that Sam didn't take me seriously so I stayed silent the whole ride. Once we pulled up in front of the residence Sam turned to me and said, "McNally listen, I do not doubt you. Marlo has more experience and her assessment is that this is a straight forward robbery gone wrong. I have to kind of agree with her on that but I trust your instincts. I'm not a 100% sold on your idea that they didn't want to commit this robbery but I'm willing to explore that possibility. You're a good cop with decent instincts. I'll admit it doesn't hurt to look at this case from all perspectives especially since the suspect isn't talking. He just looks plain scared."

"Thanks Sam, that's all I'm asking for."

What Sam just said to me is a relief. It was all I needed, that he was willing to believe in me. We both got out of the squad car and headed up to the front door. I rang the doorbell while Sam tried peeking through the windows. There was no answer so Sam decided to head around one side while I went around the other. I peeked in the windows as we went along and saw no movement. As I was turning the corner towards the back yard I heard Sam calling my name. He was waiting at the back door with his gun drawn.

"There's blood on the kitchen floor. Call it in and then we'll have to go in. As I called it in, Sam kicked down the back door. We walked in to see blood smeared along the floor like someone had been dragged. Thankfully it wasn't too large of an amount of blood. There was a chair with ropes around it like someone had been tied up recently. We quickly checked the rest of the house and found it empty.

Soon the place was sealed as a crime scene and we headed back to the division to once again question David.

Sam, Cruz, Traci and I stood with Frank in the viewing room going over our strategy. I figured Cruz and Sam would go back in to question him when Sam surprised me by saying, "Boss I think McNally should question him. She has some theories about this case and I think she should talk to him. I have a feeling what she suspects will get him to open up."

I don't know who was more surprised Frank, Traci, Cruz or me. We all looked at Sam with our mouths hanging open and a surprised look on our faces. Sam just smirked at all of us and opened the door to the viewing room and pushed me out gently.

I stood outside the interrogation room and just took a deep breath. What Sam just did was so surprising but touching as well. He may have doubted me at first and is still not completely on board with my theory but he believed in my instincts and in me. I feel an overwhelming sense of pride, happiness and thankfulness. Sam truly thought I was capable of doing this and I'm going to go in there and prove him right. Take that Cruz! I'm the best partner he ever had!

I sit down in front of David and just look at him. He's a scared kid who is trying his best to hold himself together.

"David, my name is Andy. For now don't saying anything. I just want you to listen. Ever since we arrested you earlier I've had my doubts about the scenario at the bank. You don't have a criminal record and from what I've managed to dig up you're a good kid. You're a college student majoring in Engineering. You're doing really well, a straight A student. We went by your house today and discovered blood on the kitchen floor like someone has been dragged out. Here's what I think. I don't think you wanted to do this robbery, I think you were forced into it. And I think it has something to do with your family. They threatened your family and I think your accomplice was your dad. He fits the description given by the witnesses. How am I doing so far?"

I could tell I hit the right mark because his face was so expressive and he started crying uncontrollably.

"They're gonna kill my mom and Kayla."

"Who is going to kill them David? I need you to help me and we'll do everything to help you get your family back."

He wiped his face with his sleeves and took a few gulping breaths.

"Last night I had class all day and I got home pretty late. But the lights were all out at the house and that never happens. My parents always leave the front light on for me when they know I'm coming home late. So at first I thought power failure but when I opened the door, everything was eerily quiet. I tried the light switch and realized it work. So I started to get worried. I quickly went up the stairs to my parent's room and found it empty and then I checked Kayla's room, it was empty too. I checked my phone and I hadn't gotten any calls from them. So my first thought was maybe a car accident and they were at hospital unable to call me. I went back down to the kitchen to check if there were any messages on the house answering machine and that's when I saw my dad tied up in a chair and blood on the floor. He'd been beaten pretty badly. I quickly untied my dad and started to call the police when my dad stopped me. Three guys had broken into the house, tied dad up and took Kayla and mom. They would return them if my dad robbed the National Trust bank and killed Rob Willows the security guard. They said if we involved the cops, they would kill Kayla first and then mom. Dad was so scared but he knew the layout of National Trust since he designed the building."

I told David to stop when I heard a knock on the door. Sam came in with a glass of water and a box of tissues. He set them on the table and gave my shoulder a squeeze as he left. I handed the water to David.

"Everything is going to be ok David. We'll do everything to find your sister and mom. Go on with your story."

"The three guys left us the masks and guns along with a picture of the security guard. There was also a paper with details on what shift the security guard would be working and how many employees would be there. We were so nervous, my dad thought about calling the cops but then we got a phone call this morning saying they were watching our every move and if we called the cops they would kill Kayla. They left a box with a swatch of Kayla's hair this morning outside the front door. He was going to do the whole thing alone but I couldn't let him. So we drove to National Trust this morning and dad managed to get it done but after he shot the security guard he got a call from one of the kidnappers. He stepped outside to take it and guess he didn't come back in when he saw you guys. He said if I was caught to find someone I could trust and tell them everything. You looked like someone I can trust. Please help me, I'm really scared. Now I don't know where my dad is either."

I reached out and squeezed his hands. This poor kid had been through hell and I'm glad I went with my gut. I signaled to those in the viewing room and soon Sam and Traci came back in to ask questions. I stayed with David the whole time. The poor kid had a death grip on my hands.

Sam gave me nod of approval as he left the room. I left David in the interrogation room telling him I'll back with something to eat. We needed to find his family ASAP.

As I walked out of the room, I found Sam, Frank, Traci and Cruz waiting for me.

"Good job McNally." Frank stated.

Traci apologized for not taking my theory seriously and Cruz even gave me look of respect.

"Kid I'm sorry, I think I miss judged you. Good job!"

We sent someone to get David food while the rest of us formulated a plan to finding David's family. We needed to see what the crime scene guys found.

I feel good. Today turned out better than I expected. Cruz and I may not be best friends but she proved that she is willing to accept when she's wrong and Sam proved he believed in me even when he had doubts. I kicked ass today! I proved myself as a cop today. I may not be happy about seeing Sam and Cruz together but that doesn't mean I'll let it show.