This is a sort of side-story/headcanon to go along with 5.09 because Sam and Andy had some pretty great moments. Spoilers for season 5 through Moving Day. Enjoy!

It was an ordinary Tuesday morning, and Sam was tying up some loose ends on a few of his latest cases. The work wasn't particularly involved, so he found his mind wandering.

Things had been going great with Andy since their encounter with his father. Truth be told, he had seriously expected her to run away from the exposure of his terrible, terrible secret. But she didn't. She had rose up and showed him just how incredible she was. Oh, she was incredible. He was loving finding out all the little things about her, and she never failed to amaze him.

Traci glanced up from her own work and saw Sam blankly staring through the computer screen. "Something on your mind?" she asked, putting down her pen.

He shook himself out of his daze and plastered on a carefree grin. "Nope, everything's okie dokie," he replied. She could tell that while he was much, much happier since he and Andy got together, something was definitely up.

As he resumed his work, she measuredly closed the folder on her desk and lay her pen on top. She watched below as Andy rushed through the barn to Dov's side and joined him at a computer screen. They had some reports for last shift that Oliver wanted this morning, and it seemed the two had yet to complete them. Andy's eyes flickered up to the detectives' office and lingered on Sam for a few seconds before she noticed Traci's gaze and waved. Typical. Best friend Traci had been replaced by boyfriend Sam Swarek, but Andy still made the effort to acknowledge her every now and then.

When Andy's focus returned to the computer before her (thanks to Dov's fingers snapping in front of her face), Traci measuredly rose from her seat. "I'm going to go get some more coffee. You want some?" she asked coolly. Sam blinked up at her, briefly processed the request, and stood up with his own coffee mug.

The pair of detectives walked the short distance to the break room in silence. Traci started filling her own travel mug when Sam leaned against the counter beside her. "Hey, uh, Nash?" She glanced at him idly. "Can you help me with something?"

She set the coffee pot on the counter. "Depends on what it is," she responded, noting his suddenly uneasy surveillance of the kitchen.

"It's about Andy." His tone was suddenly softer, and Traci wasn't entirely sure she had heard him right. She turned toward him as he began pouring his own coffee. "I, uh, I'm not sure who else to ask for help here."

"For a detective who hates banter, you sure are beating around the bush." She took a sip of the coffee before deciding it needed some sugar.

He glanced behind them at Andy's back. "I want to ask her to marry me." Traci's eyes widened in shock. The two had been together for quite some time and seemed unbelievably happy, but she didn't think Swarek was the marrying kind. "You didn't expect me to say that, did you?" he asked with a chuckle.

She shook her head. "Can't say that I did, no." She blinked a couple times to regain her composure. "What can I do?"

He beamed, taking this as her blessing and her willingness to help. "I'm going to need help with the ring, the how, everything. I'm not even sure where to begin here."

"Begin where?" Andy's bright voice interrupted the conversation, and the pair turned to see her entering the break room with two coffee cups. "Big detective-y stuff?" she asked, bumping her hip against Sam's as she went about filling up on caffeine.

"Yeah, Twenty-Seven asked us for a fresh look at one of their cases. It's a mess," he lied smoothly, pressing a kiss against her head. "How's the report coming?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's a mess," she echoed. She leaned up on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you after shift." With that, she whirled out of the room and back to Dov.

Sam glanced over at Traci, who had silently watched the exchanged and sipped her coffee. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about this here," he admitted.

She smiled and nodded. "We should get back to that case from Twenty Seven. Sounds like they really need our help."

Over the following weeks, Sam and Traci spent hours coming up with the perfect plan. She even convinced him to join Pinterest to help expedite the process (or to overwhelm Sam at all the different kinds of rings, rules to follow during the proposal, and the elaborateness of the "perfect rustic wedding," whatever that meant.) He would send her pictures of rings he was considering and she would give feedback.

Finally, they had what they felt was a solid plan in place. It wasn't overly flashy: he planned to simply ask Andy over a nice dinner. The ring was absolutely gorgeous. The moment he saw it, he knew it was perfect for her, and Traci wholeheartedly agreed. He would get reservations to a nice restaurant two months from now, to ensure that a) he got the reservations in the first place and b) to ensure Sam's commitment to the idea. Reason b was obviously Traci's idea, but she convinced him that the colors of the fall leaves would be a much prettier setting than the current summer green.

All they had to do now was wait, which he was willing to do.

At first.

One morning, he was in the process of pouring Andy her morning coffee as she was changing into uniform. He had just finished its preparations when she slid into the kitchen, a wide smile on her face.

"Good morning, detective," she said with a flirty tone as she took the cup from him.

He smiled in return. "'morning, officer." He pressed a quick kiss on her lips before turning to pour his own cup.

Andy hopped up and sat on the counter. "So, do I get a sneak peek of what's in store for me today? Another day of patrol with Gail, as she makes fun of me but is secretly impressed by skills?" He chuckled and shook his head. "No clue? And here, I thought dating a detective would come with benefits."

He turned to her, mock-hurt. "Are you saying that dating me isn't a benefit on its own?" he asked incredulously.

"Well…" she hummed with a giggle. "Your substantial DVR space is always a plus. And the influence you have at the pizzeria."

Oliver stuck his head in the door of the break room. "Love birds, parade's in ten. And McNally, get off the counter," he commanded before marching off to bark at some more officers. Sam walked around the counter's "peninsula" (as he had heard it described) to watch Oliver through the window. Andy hopped down and followed him to the other side.

She grabbed his belt loops and pulled him toward her. "So, what's the plan for tonight? Pizza and beer?" she asked, her mouth close enough to breathe the words against his.

"Do you want to go out for dinner?" he blurted. He started to feel bad for disregarding the date Traci had given him, but then realized that it didn't matter. He loved this girl. What difference could a few weeks make?

She tilted her head as she looked at him, a smile playing across her lips, and she took a step back. "Are you thinking a diner or something?"

He laughed. "No, nothing like that. I'm making a reservation."

"At, like, a real restaurant?" she asked, still laughing. To be fair, it was pretty unusual and probably hilarious to someone who didn't know.

"At a real restaurant, like couples do," he replied. She laughed harder at that. That is, until they both looked up to see Gail standing nearby with a video camera strapped to her chest.

"You guys are so boring," Gail said and walked away. Sam drank more of his coffee to hide his amusement (and anxiety. He had just put himself into the situation of having to propose to his girlfriend in the next fourteen hours. It wasn't exactly the most calming feeling in the world.)

Andy turned back to Sam, lightly blushing. "We should get to parade," she suggested. He smiled and told her to go on ahead so she could get a seat. She needed to make it up to Oliver for their fight about Duncan, and being early to parade was a pretty good way to do it.

She kissed him a quick goodbye. As she left, he slid his phone out of his pocket and messaged Traci, "Just moved the dinner up to tonight. Help."

The reply came nearly immediately, just as he was leaving the kitchen. "It'll go great. It's Andy. She loves you." He smiled a small smile and proceeded to parade. He stood in the back and exchanged a knowing smile with Traci as the room watched the footage Gail had gotten.

Traci was right. It was him and Andy. Nothing else could be better.

However, the day wore on and he had no luck with making reservations on such short notice. He was beginning to panic, honestly. The clock read close to eleven PM when he finally returned to his desk after the human trafficking ring was busted. He was defeated by the task of reserving a table at a restaurant.

And asking the love of your life to be with you forever. He shook that thought away and leaned back in the chair. He wasn't about to get cold feet and risk losing her. Again.

Andy soon appeared with an excited (albeit, exhausted) smile as she casually sat down on his desk. (What is with her and sitting on things that are not chairs?) "Hey," she said softly. "You must be so tired."

He managed to muster up enough energy to convincingly reply, "Not too bad. Why, are you?"

"No, I'm good," she said with a signature McNally smile. "Dinner reservations. Yes."

As amused as he was with her little fist-bump that punctuated that sentence, he felt awful. He had made her a promise and here he was with it broken in his hands. "How do you feel about Trinidadian doubles?" he asked seriously, already knowing where this was going.

She made a face, clearly not knowing what that was. "What?"

He sighed, feeling lower than scum. "I tried to make dinner reservations, but I just, uh… didn't have any luck." He shifted in his chair. He wanted them to be normal together. He had said that three years ago, but it was still so true. Perhaps more true now than it was then. Normal couples went out to eat at fancy restaurants every once in a while. And yet, he couldn't even do that.

Her expression was hard to read. "So we don't have any." It was a statement, not a question. She was upset. He knew she would hide it, but she was upset with his lack of ability to be a normal boyfriend.

He tried a desperate play to hopefully lighten the mood of sadness and despair that now occupied the desk. (Or his head. It was probably just in his head.) "We can get a pizza and some beer on the way home," he said, referring to their conversation from that morning.

Her smile lit up and he was instantly relieved. God, he loved that smile. "Okay. Yes, yes. That is actually my kind of night." God, he loved her.

"You're my kind of girl," he replied as he stood up to press a kiss to her lips. The lips he loved so much. He would never get over how much he loved her and every little thing about her. She was just so incredible to him.

She smiled that gorgeous smile and stood up. "I'll meet you at the truck in ten. Keys?" He handed them over and she quickly bent down to kiss his cheek.

He started quickly put away the papers and turned off his computer. Then he sat back down in his chair and opened the bottom drawer. There lay a small, black, velvet box that he retrieved and played with absent-mindedly. On impulse, he slid the box into his pocket and left to meet Andy. Maybe this night could still be saved.

With girlfriend, pizza, and beer collected, the couple drove home in a comfortable silence. (Silence being a relative term here. Andy's stomach growled the whole way.) She had practically moved into his place by now, because it was closer to work and food than her apartment was. (The truth was that she preferred to stay here because it smelled like Sam and her place constantly smelled like burnt popcorn, for some reason.)

"I'm going to run upstairs and put some pajamas on," she said, bouncing up the stairs. He found two plates and some napkins, plated a few slices of the pizza and followed her with the pizza and beer. They could just have dinner in bed. While the idea of ants repulsed him, the idea of snuggling up beside her sounded more than perfect right about now.

She was still in the bathroom when he walked in the room and left one plate of pizza and a beer on the nightstand. He quickly changed into some sweatpants, being sure to store the ring in the oh-so-secret hiding place of his sock drawer. He'd find a better place for it later, but right now, he plopped unceremoniously into bed as Andy emerged from the bathroom.

She eyed the pizza in his hands and the plate on the nightstand in disbelief but decided against questioning it and lounged beside him. She turned the TV on and flipped to a random channel that was a few minutes away from airing The Bachelorette.

"Is this good? I can change it to something else," she asked, but he shook his head. She put the remote on the nightstand. He finished his pizza, placed his place at the foot of the bed, and stretched out. He picked a pepperoni off her pizza (which she audibly protested) and playfully ate it. "We're eating dinner in bed. Talk about a new chapter," she noted.

He turned to her, already in full teasing mode. "McNally, I'm lying here, waiting for The Bachelorette to come on. If that ain't a new chapter, I don't know what the heck is."

She dissolved into giggles. "I said we could watch something else," she reminded him. He eyed the remote on her nightstand and playfully rolled on top of her to reach it.

When he ended up "just out of reach," he complained, "It's too far away. The remote control, I can't get it." He settled back into his spot and returned to watching commercials.

She laughed. "Maybe that's because you actually want to watch it." He brushed his fingers along her arm, soaking in the soft, warm feel of her skin.

"Maybe," he agreed, too content with where he was and who he was with to play macho.

She leaned over and kissed his head. He pulled her closer and rested his head on her shoulder. A gentle smile took over his features.

He was happy. He was so happy. He was having a hard time believing that anyone could possibly be this happy. He had long since decided that all the pain and heartache he went through to get to Andy was absolutely worth it, without a doubt in his mind. He wouldn't have changed anything. Okay, maybe a few things he would change, such as breaking up with her in a parking lot, her leaving for six months, his dating Marlo, her dating Nick. But then he realized that all of that was necessary for them to grow into who they are now. They would have never learned how to be together if it weren't for all that.

He has never regretted his past. It brought him to her.

With her soft snores beside him, he set aside their plates and covered her up. He watched The Bachelorette until he, too, fell asleep, still curled up against her.

So, so happy.