Sorry it took so long to get the second chapter done. This is my first multi chapter fic. :)

I don't have an claim to Rookie Blue or any of the awesome characters.

It had been three days since Andy had really seen Sam more then passing in the halls. She had been paired up with Dov, Shaw and Williams but somewhat suspiciously not with Sam. She couldn't remember any time since he'd been her TO that they had spent this much time apart. Usually they were matched with different partners for no more than a day before being paired back up. She wondered if he was avoiding her and if he even had the power to make that happen.

She saw Sam turn a corner and rushed to catch up to him.

"Swarek, can we talk?"

He turned and looked at her without answering for a few seconds. Andy hadn't realized she had been holding her breath waiting for his answer.

He nodded his head and held the door to the locker room open to let her pass in front of him.

She turned before she was half way into the room and Sam walked right into her.

He stepped back quickly but reached out to take hold of her arms to keep her from falling backwards.

Andy looked up into his eyes searching for a clue to his mood.

Once she was steady he released her as if he'd been burned and put more space between then than was necessary.

Andy spoke fast before she lost her nerve, "Are you avoiding me?"

Sam crossed his arms. "Why would you think that?"

"We haven't been partnered for three days."

"So you are counting are you?" he said with condescension. "Despite what you might think McNally, I don't have that kind of influence here."

"Okay, well, you haven't spoken to me since..." she trailed off unable to bring up the incident that she couldn't get out of her mind.

Sam shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked directly into her eyes. "You mean since the day you told me you loved me and then went home with Callaghan. Since then you mean?"

"It's complicated," she started to explain and then couldn't figure out how to continue. She looked everywhere in the room but at Sam's face. "He is in Vancouver, dealing with his mother's funeral. It isn't like I can call him up and break up with him on the phone. Is that really what you want me to do?"

"No, I guess not McNally, but there isn't much we have to say until he gets back then is there."

He turned to leave but she placed her hand on his elbow to stop him.

"I'm sorry."

He turned back to her. "About saying it?"

She looked at him and with her hand still on his arm she responded honestly, "No, no I'm not. I'm just sorry about the timing."

Sam reached out and caressed her cheek and then let his hand fall to his side. "So am I."

He left her standing in the middle of the locker room. She had known for a long time that Luke had been the safe choice and that Sam was the wrong choice. Yet whenever she was around Sam, she had to admit to herself that that was when she felt the most safe. Maybe she had been wrong about Sam and maybe not. Maybe the right choice was the one her heart made.

Luke wasn't due to return for at least a week so until then, there wasn't much she could do.

xxx

Andy slipped into parade and sat in the back of the room just in time to hear that she and Swarek were to ride out to the abandoned Gable house and check out a call. Some kids had jumped the wall and were stuck inside the house.

Best explained that it could be a crank call so until they knew for sure, they were the only ones being sent to investigate since everyone else was needed at the parade route downtown.

Andy felt uncomfortable and awkward sitting next to Sam in the car. She had thought that she would clear the air after she spoke to him but all she had done was make it foggier.

Sam glanced her way before starting the car and heading out of town. "We good?"

Andy nodded but wasn't sure she was convincing either one of them.

They drew their guns and finding the gates on the side unlocked made their way across the overgrown grounds to the huge mansion that stood alone at the top of the hill.

The Psycho house came to mind and Andy tripped over a fallen branch. "How long has this place been abandoned?"

"As long as I can remember. This was always the location of all the ghost stories when I was growing up."

"This place is haunted?" Andy said in a voice much higher than normal.

"You afraid of ghosts McNally?"

"No," she said without much conviction.

"Don't worry. I'm here to protect you."

She laughed and told herself she felt better even though deep down she knew very well that Sam and his gun were no match for ghosts.

The front door was unlocked and Sam announced their presence as they entered.

"Police. Any ghosts or humans here?"

Again Andy laughed as she followed close behind him.

They made their way upstairs, stopping to listen for the screams of trapped teenagers while making their way up to the panic room on the third floor where Shaw had suggested they check.

Through the dark master bedroom they found the large door they were looking for. Sam stepped inside first with Andy following close behind. The room was empty.

Sam lowered his gun and grabbed his radio to call in the false alarm when the door swung closed and shut them in and the radio fell to the floor.

Andy screamed and bumped into Sam who wrapped his arms around her to steady her.

"Sam?" She buried her head in his chest and held onto him.

"It's not ghosts, Andy. I'm sure it's just a prank."

"Did you ever prank the cops, Sam?" Andy asked skeptically.

Sam stepped away from her but reached out to take her hand in his as he used his flashlight to find his radio.

Andy bent down to pick it up and called in their predicament. "I don't think they will be able to hear us from here, aren't the walls sound proof and stuff?" she asked.

"Probably," Sam agreed. "But they know we came out here so as soon as the parade is over and we aren't back I am sure someone will come looking for us."

"Well, how long will that be?"

"I don't know Andy."

"What if we run out of oxygen before then?"

Sam turned to her and using the flashlight to light the ceiling so she could see his face assured her that they were going to be fine.

He squeezed her hand in reassurance and turned to survey the space.

He found candles, matches, some blankets and food in a cabinet. "This place is pretty well stocked and it isn't that old," he said as he inspected an unopened box of crackers. "Kids must come here to hang out."

"I don't like the dark, Sam." Andy said in a small voice.

"It's okay Andy, I'm right here. I am going to let go of your hand so I can light these candles okay?"

She wrapped her hands around his arm and watched him over his shoulder as he lay one of the blankets on the floor and light the candles.

He sat and pulled her down next to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked without a trace of mocking in his voice.

"You must think I'm pathetic." She waited for him to laugh at her and when he didn't she continued, "I locked myself in our basement when I was four for hours and I couldn't find the lights and it was terrible." Years later it still brought chills to her skin to think about it.

"I don't think you are pathetic, Andy. Come here." He pulled her close to him and wrapped a blanket around them.

"So besides the dark, what other childhood traumas do you have hidden away in there?"

"Are you mocking me Officer Swarek, because-"

"Andy. I'm not. I promise. I'm just trying to get you to forget where we are."

"Oh."

Once Andy got to talking, she couldn't stop. She talked about her childhood, her mom leaving and wanting to be a cop.

When she had finally relaxed enough to not be clinging to Sam, she stood and looked through the food. She chose crackers, pâté, a small jar of caviar as well as a can of fruit salad with a pull tab top.

"This isn't exactly what I would expect to find in a teenage hang out," she said as she sat back down and showed him the items.

Sam laughed.

"What?"

"This is the same brand that Oliver got scamming into buying a whole case of because it was such a great deal. He thought everyone would be impressed when he served it at his Christmas party but the stuff was truly awful. I bet he still has most of the case somewhere in his house"

"You don't strike me as a caviar guy." Andy said with a smile.

"I'm not really but I'll eat it if I'm stuck in a panic room and starving. And what about you? Are you a caviar gal, Andy?"

"Not really, but I'll try anything once."

"Anything?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well maybe not anything," she said. "But my dad did always accuse me of being too adventuresome for my own good."

"Except for things in the dark huh?" he said with a laugh.

"Hey! I was four! Tell me you wouldn't have been afraid of a big scary dark basement when you were four!"

Sam just laughed and took the cracker with red fish eggs piled on it that Andy handed to him.

"What about you? What were you afraid of when you were young?" she asked as she took a bite of her cracker.

"Oh you know, the stuff that every kid is afraid of; monsters under the bed, getting laughed at by the other kids."

"Ew, this is gross!" she said as she chocked on the caviar.

"I told you so," he said as he laughed at the face she was making.

She took a big gulp of water from the bottle they had found to get rid of the taste in her mouth but she couched on the bubbles and sloshed water all down her chin.

Sam laughed again and used the edge of the blanket to wipe her neck dry.

In an attempt to draw attention away from her clumsiness she resumed their conversation as if nothing has happened. "So what made you want to be a cop?"

Sam smiled at her and then thought about it as if he had never been asked the question before. "I wanted to be as different from my dad as I could be and becoming a cop was about as opposite as I could go."

Andy took his hand in hers to let him know he didn't need to tell her any more but he continued. He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles absently as he told her about his childhood, about taking care of his sister and about how they hid from his father in dark closets. "Dark spaces were our safe places," he explained.

Andy leaned her head on his shoulder and listened to him talk, using more words than he had ever used before.

She started crying thinking about the things he had had to endure at a young age.

He turned to her and wiped her cheek dry. "Don't cry for me, Andy. I'm not the same person I was then."

"But, it's not fair," she said through her tears.

The candle flickered and the light reflected in his eyes. His hand was still on her face and she leaned into his touch inhaling his scent as she was drawn to him. She reached up to touch his jaw unable to keep her hands from touching his skin.

She felt his breathe on her lips and even though she knew it was wrong and that she should pull away, she wasn't able to deny the desire she felt coursing through her. Touching him was as necessary as breathing and she couldn't have pulled away from him if the room had been on fire.

Their lips touched and gently they kissed. There was no rushed anticipation this time, no long denied need, just tenderness and comfort without words. Her fingers threaded through his hair as he held her cheeks in his large steady hands. She moaned and leaned into him feeling completely safe and cherished.

Slowly they pulled apart and she put her head under his chin and wrapping her arms around him hugged him tightly.

She knew that kissing one man and technically dating another was not the woman she wanted to be. Being held in his arms surrounded by his warmth and strength made it hard to really feel that it was wrong because her heart soared and sang.

They didn't speak. There was no need for words.

She knew that once the door to their sanctuary opened they would need to put distance between them, not just physically but also emotionally. The magnetic attraction between them was impossible to ignore so until she was completely free she knew that she needed to keep her distance.

He heard the sounds from the outer room before she did and gently pushed her away from his side and stood. He reached out a hand to pull her to her feet and then stepped away from her. She tried not to feel rejected by the action even though she knew why he was putting space between them. The sparks that ricocheted between them were going to be very hard to hide from everyone else.

Shaw stood in the door examining the room. "Well, well, you guys done having a picnic on company time? Ready to get back to work now?"

Sam clapped Oliver on the shoulder, leaned in to whisper in his ear and then walked out after looking over his shoulder longingly at Andy.

"Hey Shaw, next time, why don't you make sure the girl doesn't have a boyfriend okay?"