The girls woke up before their parents' alarm the next morning, so Sam and Andy were up earlier than normal as well.
"Mommy, can we stay home from school with daddy today?" Lily asked.
"Honey, I would say yes if we didn't have to go to work, but we do, and there's no reason to stay home if daddy isn't going to be here. We'll see him again tonight. Alright, kiddo?" she answered.
"Okay, can we have breakfast for dinner, and then watch The Tigger Movie?"
"if that's what you and you sister want to do it's fine with us."
After Sam and Andy dropped the girls off at school, they headed towards the station.
"See you after work," Andy said as they went their separate ways at the women's locker room door.
"See you then. I love you," he answered.
"Love you, too."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Andy walked in the locker room, changed and then just sat on the bench near her locker. Traci found her like that ten minutes later.
"Andy?"
"Hey, Trace."
"You okay?"
"I'm fine." Andy knew Traci would see right through this, but had to make an attempt anyway.
"Andy," she warned, "you and I both know that's not true. What's going on? Don't make me get Sam."
"He's leaving, undercover. For at least two months. And, if that's not bad enough, Boyd's running it."
"Oh, gosh! How are you? Have you told the girls?"
"Yeah, all they know is their daddy is going to catch bad guys. They don't know that he could disappear for up to a year, that he could not come home at all. And I don't know how to parent the girls without him for that long."
"Andy, you can't think he's not coming home, you're only going to stress yourself out. You're going to be fine with the girls, you have Jerry and I, not to mention the entire 15th division, and your dad. When exactly…?"
"Tomorrow night. It's really last minute," she answered.
"Nash, McNally," Marlo had walked in. She and Andy weren't on the best terms, but they still were able to get along when the job called for them to work together. "Parade is about to start."
"Thanks, Cruz," Traci answered, and her and Andy left to join their colleagues.
The day went quickly; Andy rode with Oliver, who had been informed about what was happening by Sam.
"Swarek," Oliver said. She didn't respond. So he tried again, and again, neither time caught her attention.
"McNally," Andy looked up, she'd been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard him the first several time he called her, "he will come back, there's no way he would let anyone stop him from getting back to you."
"I know he'll do everything he can, but some things are out of his control. Boyd almost got him killed once, it could happen again."
"Boyd isn't going to do anything dangerous, he's done some horrible things, but if he pushes anything that's not protocol, he'll be off the case and fired before he can even start to try and justify it. He's being monitored; nothing is going to slip through the cracks this time."
"I know that, but I have the girls to worry about."
"I realize everyone is telling you this, but you're not alone, the division has your back. We're all going to help."
"Thanks, Ollie."
"My pleasure, McNally."
The rest of the day passed quickly. It was relatively quiet, and no rookies around to jinx that.
No one knew Sam was leaving except for Andy, Traci, Oliver, and Sam himself. They preferred it that way though, the fewer people who felt obliged to wish him luck the less of his time he wasted, and the more time he got with Andy and his children.
The girls had fallen asleep on their parents in the middle of the third movie. It was decided that they could stay up late tonight and miss school to see Sam off the next day.