ABC.
Words: 726 Couple: Andy McNally and Sam Swarek.
TV Show: Rookie Blue.
Disclaimer: All characters you recognize do not belong to me.
AU. Future-Fic.

…

Prompt: Guns & Gangs.

When the file originally landed on his desk he ignored it, his phone having begun ringing and her name appearing on the screen, distracting him from the file and all other work to talk to his five-month pregnant wife about confirming the date and time of the next appointment with the doctor and whether or not they could babysit Leo that weekend.

(The file ended up disappearing. For a day or two he thought that maybe Traci Nash had gotten it mixed up with her own paperwork that she was due to shred or hand in, but he didn't stress over it.)

When Frank Best confronted him about the proposition that was being made by Guns & Gangs in the file almost two weeks later, he realized that he'd forgotten all about the file and its possible contents. He stuttered and frowned, trying to remember where he'd left it before the Staff Sergeant told him that they weren't going to place an expiry date on the promotion and left the D's office with a small smile.

(Oliver Shaw had given him a questioning look as he had entered the D's office, seeing his best friend sitting at his desk, shock written over his features. But at the mention of Andrea Swarek promising to buy his beers for the night if he got Sam out of work on time for Dov Epstein's birthday celebration, the Training Officer forgot all about it.)

When he found the file the next day, Sam Swarek took one look at it before hazardly throwing it in amongst the paperwork he had to take home for the night, and made his way outside to meet his wife. Telling himself that he wouldn't dwell on it for too long, and discuss it with her later.

(He'd taken one look at the file that night, after going through a dinner with her mother, and decided that then wasn't the best time. And placed it in his bedside table for sake-keeping.)

When she found the file while looking for her house keys, almost a month later, she let her hormones get the best of her. Andrea Swarek couldn't tell you why she was crying. Because he hadn't told her? Because he hadn't accepted the job offer yet? She'd simply said her piece and let the argument move onto other things.

(Other things being what she was going to do after the baby, if he'd take time off, whether he understood that she wasn't giving up her career to stay home, what would they do if something happened to them; eventually it fizzled out and they sat on the couch trying their best to not say anything that would spark another argument, and the file eventually ended up amongst other files that ended up back at the station to sit on his desk waiting to be signed off or passed onto other detectives.)

When Detective Eloise Francis walked into 15 Division, two days before Andrea Swarek's due date, she had made a bee-line towards the D's office with a fresh copy of the paperwork in her hands, along with the details for a new undercover operation that Guns & Gangs was running, he handed her the original file and apologized for not getting back to her sooner.

"You haven't filled it out," she had stated, scanning its contents with a frown.
"I'm not accepting the position, but I've made a recommendation in there for a detective out at 27, he's a good UC and he knows how to run a task force."
"Detective Swarek, I'm going to be blunt with you," the Guns & Gangs detective told him, "This promotion could make your career, you could be a white-shirt in less than five years if you took this."
"I don't want to be a white-shirt, and I don't need to make my career Detective Francis. But it is five-o'clock, and I'm due to be at home, so is there anything else you'd like to discuss while you've got me? I only have ten minutes left."

She'd shaken her head, and walked out of his office and headed towards Frank Best without saying another word.

(And when his wife went into labor later that night, the feeling of her squeezing his hand until it bruised was all that he needed to remind himself he'd made the right decision.)

…

If I'm completely honest. I swear this was actually the first chapter written. And I've re-read it like a hundred times since then trying to find something I don't like about it and I can't. So I guess I've finally found something that I've written that I've liked enough to never, ever, ever, ever touch again c:

Also. As of this chapter, I only have one more to write. - Z. c:

Thank you!

All mistakes are mine.

Review?

Next Prompt: Home.
Go home to where Sam Swarek promised that he would do absolutely everything to prove to her that he loved her. Even if it took forever.