Andy stood in the parking lot and watched him drive away. She was immediately sorry for not forcing him to stop the car, for not jumping into the car with him...anything… anything was better than standing and watching him leave.

She turned on her heel and marched back into the division to look for Oliver. She found him talking with Jerry by the break room door.

"Oliver…Oliver," she called out to him as she crossed the room to his side. "What the hell just happened with Sam?"

"He had an altercation with one of the agents from the OPP."

"One of them hit him?" She asked shocked.

"Yeah. After Sam hit him first."

"What happened?"

"I'm not really sure McNally," Oliver turned to Jerry who was working on his computer. "Can you shed some light on this Jerry?"

"Not really. We're handing the case over to the OPP. It's their operation now to run how they see fit."

"After all the work you've put in?" Andy said.

"That's how it works McNally." Jerry stood up and grabbed a file from his desk.

"So what happened with Sam?"

"He disagreed with how they are handling it."

"Jerry-" Oliver started to argue but Jerry held his hands up and started to walk away.

"I dunno what to tell you Oliver! It's over. It's theirs now. They aren't pressing charges against Sam, he'll probably be back at work in a couple of days." Jerry walked away and Andy stood and stared after him.

"Suspended?"

"He punched an OPP Agent McNally…that's actually a sackable offence!"

"Jesus…"

"But they aren't pressing charges. They are taking the case and will be gone in a day or so and Sam will be back." Oliver put a reassuring arm on her shoulder and guided her out towards the parking lot. "Who knows, maybe the time off will do him some good."

Andy made a non-committal grunt. At the patrol car he pushed her towards the passenger seat and he climbed into the drivers. He glanced over at her as he pulled out into the street, but she was staring out the window with a worried look on her face.

Sam woke up on the couch with a heavy woollen blanket thrown over him. It took him a minute to take in his surroundings and remember where he was then it all came flooding back. He sat up and rubbed his face then winced at the pain from his cheek. He pressed it again to test the area and was rewarded with sharp tingling pain. He could hear Sarah in the kitchen and smell bacon cooking so he allowed himself to be led by his nose and found her standing over the cooker. She was still in her PJs and had a hand towel slung over her shoulder. The radio was playing an upbeat song and she was singing along, swaying her hips to the beat.

"Morning." He said with a smile.

She turned and winked at him. "Take a seat, it's just about ready." Sam looked over his shoulder at the table she had set. It was laden down with chopped fresh fruit and several condiments and when she walked over she put a plate of bacon and pancakes in the centre of the table.

"Wow! This is some spread!" he said as he sat down.

"Well, it's not every day my baby brother comes to visit." Sam smiled and took a helping of bacon onto his plate. "Sorry for leaving you on the couch last night, but you have gotten so big, I'm not able to carry you up to bed any more."

Sam laughed. He rubbed the back of his neck that was aching from the angle he slept on it. "Don't worry about it. I slept fine."

"I noticed. You were out like a corpse." The mood turned a little sombre and Sarah reached out to take his hand. "Sammy…you can't keep going on like this."

"I know…"

"You do?"

"Yeah. Yeah I do." He squeezed her hand and she squeeze back. "I've been seeing someone."

"A therapist?"

Sam laughed and closed his eyes as he thought of Andy lying naked on top of him and smiling down at him. "No, not a therapist. A woman."

"Oh was this the woman you were making breakfast for when I called?" Sarah bit into her bacon and leaned towards him to keep him locked in this conversation.

"Yeah, that was her."

"Oh! Tell me everything!" Sam busied himself with his breakfast for a moment and let her stew in her curiosity. She watched him until she couldn't take it anymore then slapped his arm. "Sam!"

"Okay, okay!" he put down his fork and sipped his OJ. "Her name is Andy. Andy McNally. She's a copper too."

"Of course, she would be!"

"What?"

"Go on, tell me more!"

"She was my rookie…"

"Sammy! You dirty dog!"

"It wasn't even like that."

"Sure."

"She drives me crazy," he admitted with a laugh. "She's stubborn and opinionated…"

"She sounds perfect for you."

Sam laughed with her and shook his head. "She is pretty amazing." He sat back in his chair and smiled at the random memories of her that floated to the front of his mind.

"I'm happy for you Sam." She watched him bask in his thoughts for a moment then saw him roll back to the current room and focus on his breakfast again. "So…do you want to tell me what happened to your face?"

Sam covered the side of his face with a hand and looked away. Sarah touched his arm and waited for him to turn back.

"This case…its being handed over to the OPP. When I met with them to talk about the handover, it kinda got out of hand."

"Oh Sam…"

"I just can't believe that they are willing to let more people get hurt…They know who is doing it, they can stop it but they are letting it continue to get to the centre of the syndicate."

Sarah saw the anger bubbling up in his eyes and how his hand clutched the fork.

"Sam, I know it's hard but you need to walk away."

"I can't Sarah!" he said and he pushed away from the table and stood. "I can't just go on with my day with this goin on."

"Sam this is going on every day. You can't stop them all…you can't protect them all!"

"But I can stop these! I can protect these!" He went into the living room to grab his coat. Sarah followed him and watched as he slipped on his coat and patted his pockets for his keys.

"Sam…do you have to leave?"

"Yeah, I do." He located his keys held them in his hand. "Look Sarah…thank you." He crossed the room and gathered her into a tight hug. She held him tight and was reluctant to let him go. But eventually he pulled away. She held onto his hands and walked with him to the door.

"Be safe Sam…" she called after him and watched as he climbed into his car and drove away.

Andy signed out of her shift and changed as quick as she could in the locker room. She tried his phone again but it went straight to his voicemail. As soon as she made it out onto the street she hailed a passing cab and called out his address. She knocked on his door and called out his name but she knew she wasn't getting a reply when she couldn't find his truck parked on the street. She tried his phone again then hailed another cab hoping to find her at her place. When she came up empty handed she let herself in and dialled Oliver's number.

"Hey Oliver, its Andy."

"What can I do for you McNally?"

"I'm trying…to get hold…"

"Of Officer Swarek?"

"Eh, yeah….have you heard from him?"

"Not since he left the division last night."

"Ok, well thanks."

Andy hung up and tossed the phone onto the couch. She looked at her watch, it was just passed 7am and she was wrecked from a long shift. She decided against the shower and went straight to her room. She undressed as quick as she could and climbed into bed. But sleep didn't come.

The curtains let in too much light. Her bed seemed too big and empty without Sam and her mind was reeling of where he might be. By Lunch time she was still awake and tired of tossing and turning. She tossed the duvet back and climbed out then went into the shower. She spent longer than she meant under the running water and her fingers had wrinkled and shrivelled up by the time she got out. She wrapped herself up in a towel and went back to her bedroom. Without thinking about it she reached for her phone and dialled his number but it was still going straight to voicemail. Frustrated she fell back onto her bed and closed her eyes.

"God dammit Sam...where are you!" she said aloud to the empty room. Then as if her wish had conjured him, the door buzzer rang through the silence like an explosion.

Andy raced to the intercom at her door and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Andy, it's me."

"Come in." she buzzed the main door open and opened the door to her apartment. It only took him a few seconds to race up the stairs and make it to her door, where she was still waiting.

"Hey…" he said as he stepped in and pushed the door closed behind him. She was still wrapped in only a towel; her hair was wet and twisted to hang over one of her shoulders. Her eyes immediately went to his cheek where the bruise was turning blue and yellow.

"Oh Sam…" she didn't have a chance to take a step forward as he closed the distance himself. He gathered her into his arms and buried his face between her neck and shoulder and squeezed her tight. They hugged for a while without speaking and she just held on.

"I'm sorry for leaving like that." He said and he released her enough to be able to look at her face. "I just needed to get away."

"Sam you can't keep running from me like that."

"I know…" He looked away from her eyes but forced himself to look back. "I went to see Sarah."

"Really?"

Sam smiled at her surprise. "Yeah I didn't mean to drive there; I just kinda ended up there. I was pretty surprised myself. I stayed the night."

"I tried to call you."

"My phone was in my car and its gone dead. It's still dead."

"I heard about what happened with the OPP." Andy rested her head on his chest.

Sam sighed and his grip on her loosened. His hands went down her arms and he took her hands and interlocked their fingers.

"I know, I shouldn't have reacted that way. I just saw red..."

"What happened?"

"This case…it just got under my skin. And then to have that Agent say that they know what's been going on…they've known for a while." Sam let go of her hands and started to pace in front of her. "They never put out a bulletin or a BOLO…all of this could have been prevented."

"Sam…" she tried to stop him from pacing but he just walked around her.

"Those six girls could have been saved."

"You don't know that Sam."

"I know it. They know it. And I'm not going to let it continue."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take a look at their files and…"

He stopped pacing and ran his hands through his hair. He had his back to her and she was afraid of what he was thinking.

"Sam?"

"Look, I'm going to go." He turned to face her and held her head in his hands. "I wanted to come by and apologise for the way I left. Make sure you're ok and just…say hi." He kissed her gently. Her instincts were to pull him closer, to kiss him deeper but something was holding her back.

"Sam what are you going to do?"

He looked at her for a moment as if decided whether to talk to her or not but seemed to decide against it. He kissed her again then stepped away. With a crooked smile he walked out the door.