So this is my first attempt at a RB fic. I had a few ideas floating around in my head and finally managed to get some of them down. It's a Sam and Andy story set after Luke and Andy breakup (I'm thinking a month or two after 2x08) so pretty much just forget any events after 2x08.

Disclaimer: I don't own RB or any of its characters.

Edit 27/04/2014: Since I've started posting again, I've gone back and done up some of the earlier chapters (just tried to improve the grammar and flow of the story). The plot is still exactly the same but if anyone is rereading this and notices any differences, this will be why.

Chapter 1: Andy - Tuesday Morning

Go Slow. Be careful. Don't panic.

Andy repeated the words for what must have been the fifth time as she pushed down on the handle and inched the door open. It wasn't easy, opening a door to a room filled with people who weren't supposed to see her, but then she had been trained for it. Trained to observe, to think on her feet, to deal with unexpected circumstances, which was exactly what she was doing right now.

She had located her target, planned her route and begun the execution of it. So really all she could do now, aside from actually finishing her plan, was pray that the room's current discussion would mask any noise she might make. It could be something small, the click of the door, the tap of her boots, but it only took one mistake for her to alert the whole room to her presence. And that, well that would not end well for her.

Trying to ignore the pessimistic thoughts, the thoughts that would undoubtedly be her downfall, Andy shifted her attention to the problem at hand. Entering the room. It was actually easier than she predicted, three steps and she was safely on the other side, unfortunately there was still the matter of closing the door.

Andy was sure she held her breath as she inched the door back into place before sweeping her eyes around the room, though no one so much as glanced in her direction. Apparently her stealth skills were getting better, although it wasn't over just yet. Quickly she took another sweep of the room and relocated her target; it wasn't far but there were still a number of things that could go wrong. However, she had planned it, she knew what to do, and so after taking a deep breath, she started her journey.

Thirty seconds later, Andy was standing next to her intended target. She wasn't completely sure how it had happened but by some miracle she'd made it without anyone in the room noticing her. She knew she shouldn't get ahead of herself, that she needed to stay focused, but as she turned around to face the room she couldn't help but feel a small sense of achievement. The hardest part was over and now all she had to do was sit and wait.

As she pushed her hands out, feeling for the wall, Andy couldn't help but congratulate herself on a job well done. She didn't completely doubt her abilities but due to recent events she had been expecting failure. Still, the success was a nice surprise.

With those thoughts in mind, she felt a small smile playing on her lips as she lowered herself down onto the ledge. Maybe things were finally looking up. Maybe-

"Cutting it a little close aren't we?"

In an instance Andy felt the small sense of pride vanish. Of course Sam would be the one to notice her lateness, but then it wasn't like she'd had many other options since the only free seat that didn't involve walking past everyone happened to be next to him.

"I had stuff to do." She shrugged him off as she looked to the front of the room, hoping that he wouldn't push the subject.

She was moving in two days and had only told a few people. Well, Traci and Dov to be precise. She had decided to keep it quiet because she knew the more people she told, the more times she would receive the look of sympathy, the 'I'm sorry' and the dreaded question asking what had happened between her and Luke. And that was a topic she still had no interest in talking about. If anyone did mention it, she kept to the story of 'things were moving too fast', although she tended to omit the fact that the things were Jo's legs opening for Luke. Still, that wasn't important anymore, she was over it and no one else needed to know…or at least she was going to keep telling herself that.

Unfortunately it didn't seem to matter how much she tried to hide it, her closest friends had figured out the truth or had at least figured out there was more to the story. She had told Traci outright one night. She needed her friend to know the truth, she needed someone to vent to and she needed somewhere to stay, which Traci happily provided on all counts. And thankfully after one night of staying up far too late and explaining, or possibly more angrily recounting the events that had led to Andy taking up Traci's sofa bed, Traci had let the subject drop. Well, mostly. There were a couple of days when the subject resurfaced, days when Luke tried to explain how sorry he was or days when Andy couldn't help but picture him and Jo together. Those were the days when Andy knew she had one of the best friends in the world. Traci would cheer her up with terrible movies and wine and ridiculous stories, and things…well they just wouldn't seem so bad.

Obviously there were a few others, aside from Traci, who knew the truth from Andy's mouth. Her dad was one, and while she had glossed over a few of the more in depth details that she had shared with Traci about Luke trying to cover it up, he knew more than enough. In fact, the only other person she had shared some of the extra details with was Dov. She had gotten drunk at the Penny and blurted out the truth to him, but he didn't seem as surprised as she had expected. She was also fairly certain that Dov had told Chris that night because the next day he was acting insanely nice to her, which was weird even for Chris.

And then, of course, there was Sam. He had figured it out almost instantly but she had never talked to him about it properly, not since he'd stormed off and left her to go to the storage locker alone. She had hit him at his request after the quarantine, which had certainly helped, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to tell him any more than he already knew. She didn't want him to know how stupid she had been, believing Luke when he'd attempted his cover up. Really she just wanted everyone to forget about it, to move on with their lives, but she never got what she wanted because she was sure the whole station knew most of the truth by now. Even though no one said anything, the pity looks she kept receiving from Oliver, Noelle, Jerry and even Gail suggested they knew.

"Really?" Sam's voice snapped Andy out of her thoughts. "More important than this?" He raised an eyebrow at her before smirking.

She knew the face all too well; he was going to annoy her with this all day. Still, in her defence she had been doing something important. Due to moving in two days and not having a car, she required some form of transportation to get all of her belongings from Traci and her dad's to her new place, so this morning she had gone to see how much it would cost to hire a van.

"Yes, I-"

"You weren't arresting more cops were you?" She just rolled her eyes. It had been over a year; surely he could let that go.

"Anything you'd like to share, Swarek?" Andy couldn't help but duck her head as all eyes in the room turned towards her and Sam.

"No." Reluctantly Andy looked back up to see Sam with a smug grin on his face. "All good, Sir."

After a few seconds, Andy chanced a glance at Sargent Best who just shook his head before returning to the morning briefing. So that was just…brilliant. She was really trying not to draw any attention to herself since she was late. For all she knew Best was lining up some horrible punishment for her now. And if that wasn't bad enough, people would also be talking about her and Sam when she was desperately trying to keep out of the office gossip given her starring role over the last few months.

Letting out a huff to show her annoyance, Andy turned back to Sam. He was so full of himself, so confident, so sure that everything was going to be okay, but it wasn't. Luke had cheated on her and she was desperately trying to get her life back together but Sam seemed more interested in getting her into trouble, which was something she really did not need right now.

Of course he didn't appear to be bothered by the situation at all, though clearly he had noticed her none so subtle opinion on the matter given the innocent face he put on when he turned to look her. "What?"

"Nothing," she mumbled, folding her arms across her chest. It was just one of those days, when everything went from bad to worse, and she hated it. Moving was supposed to be easy, a fresh start, but of course nothing in her life could ever be that simple.

"Cheer up." She heard Sam's voice before feeling his shoulder against her own. "If you're lucky, you'll get to ride with me."

"Yeah...lucky," she said as she narrowed her eyes at him, yet he just continued to smile at her.

If she was being honest, she was actually hoping for desk duty. Mostly because she could use the time to figure out a new moving plan but also partly because she just didn't feel like dealing with Sam's sarcasm. Really she just wanted some space today, space from…well everyone.

"Right, Peck go with Williams, Diaz and Nash you're on desk, Shaw you'll be partnered with Epstein, and Swarek you take McNally." Best handed out the assignments as Andy found herself looking back to him. "Serve, protect, and don't make me regret my decisions."

Andy was sure her mouth dropped open as Best cast a glance in her and Sam's direction. Maybe she was being paranoid but she was sure that look meant something, not that she had any idea what it was. They were partnered together most of the time so why would Best be regretting his decision now? Did he know something? Had someone said something? But there was nothing going on so why-

Suddenly a hand flew past her eyes followed by, "Earth to McNally."

"What?" She snapped her head round to find the owner of the hand.

"Feel like moving anytime today?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows at her before flashing her a grin.

"Uh yeah, yeah I'm going." She scrambled to get up, heading straight to the door.

"Coffee, cruiser, ten minutes," Sam yelled behind her as she dashed through the door, not even bothering to look back.

It wasn't even nine am and the day already seemed terrible. Letting out a sigh, she headed straight towards the coffee machine. She just needed to get through this shift and then she could make plan C. Plan A and B had failed but there was hope for plan C. Third time lucky, that's what they said.

"Andy?" Hearing her name, she turned back to find Traci catching up to her.

"Hey, Trace." She offered her friend a quick smile before letting her face show its true emotions. She was stressed.

"Whoa, what's up with you?"

"Moving. That's what's up," she said as she started back off towards the break room, she only had ten minutes so they would have to walk and talk.

"What happened to it's just moving?" Traci asked, clearly amused by her earlier declaration.

"Well it was just moving but then your car broke."

"What happened to the van plan?"

"Do you know how much those things cost? Also I don't think I trust myself to drive something that big. You know, I'll probably hit something and then there's the loading and unloading and-" She let out a huff as she grabbed a cup, set it down and pushed a button on the machine. "I thought this was supposed to be easy, fresh start and all that, but you know what? Moving sucks when you have to do it on your own."

"I can ask to switch again," Traci offered as Andy grabbed a second cup and pushed another button.

She appreciated the offer, she really did, she just didn't think it would change anything. Traci had already tried to get the day off but Best said it wasn't possible, that there were already too many people off that day. It sucked but she would manage, and Traci had offered to lend Andy her car so she was all sorted. Sure it would take a few trips, or more likely ten, but it was still doable. That was until yesterday when Traci's car had given out. Andy still wasn't completely sure what was wrong with it, all she had heard the mechanic say was that he needed to get some parts to fix it which meant there was no car for the next few days, including moving day. That was plan A. So this morning she had moved onto plan B, renting a van, but they cost more than she expected, not to mention she had no experience driving something that big.

"No it's fine, I'll figure it out. Do you know if Chris is off?" Andy asked as she grabbed two lids and put them on the cups. Plan C would work, at the very least Chris had a car she could beg to use. Who was she kidding? It was Chris, he was Mr nice guy, she would just have to ask and he would say yes.

"Not sure. You know there's always someone else you could ask," Traci told her as she grabbed her own cup and pressed a button on the machine.

Andy just stared at her friend for a moment, trying to work who she meant. It wasn't like she could ask her dad, he already had enough on his plate and if she asked to borrow the car, he would insist on helping which would just end in another heated discussion about Luke, something she wasn't exactly keen on. Besides her dad, the only other people she could borrow cars from were Traci, which was no longer an option, and Chris who she'd just said she was going to ask.

"Don't look at me like that. You know perfectly well who I mean." But Andy didn't and so she continued to stare at Traci. "Dark, handsome, drives a truck, makes you-"

"Oh no," Andy interrupted her, picking up the cups and walking over to the door.

"What? You know he'd help if you asked."

Of course he would, Sam had already offered when she'd been picking out places but she didn't want to ask for his help, not this time.

"Yeah, and I would never hear the end of it." It was a terrible excuse and she knew it wasn't the real reason, but if she told Traci the truth she would receive the look. The one that said she was being stupid and irrational…which maybe from an outside perspective she was, but she had her reasons. "Plus, this is me making a fresh start."

"And who better to-"

"Don't even bother finishing that," Andy told her as she continued walking towards the parking lot.

"Fine! Keep denying how much you want to jump him." Immediately Andy turned back to Traci who couldn't keep the amused look off her face.

"I do not want to jump him," she hissed through her teeth. Not that the thought hadn't crossed her mind once or twice recently, but she really wasn't ready for anything like that yet.

"Your mouth says one thing, your eyes say another." Traci smirked while Andy just glared at her. "Look, at the very least he has a truck which is kinda perfect for moving things. Oh, and he'd do just about anything you asked, so what have you got to lose?"

Just her ability to do anything without Sam's help.

"I gotta go." Andy shook her head before almost running to the parking lot. Even though Traci was right, she didn't want to go running to Sam for help. This was about her gaining independence, becoming Andy McNally again and doing it on her own. Her relationship with Sam was complicated, and while she hadn't thought too much about what she wanted, she knew she didn't want to rely on him for every little thing. Not that this was little of course, but it was just something she needed to do by herself. When she was settled, then she could figure out what to do about Sam Swarek.

Trying to clear her mind, Andy opened to the door to the parking lot and headed over to Oliver and Sam. She wasn't sure what they were talking about but Oliver seemed to be laughing at something, which meant neither of them noticed her until she was a few meters away.

"Ah, about time, McNally. Was starting to think you got lost." Sam grinned, gaining himself a glare in return; she really wasn't in the mood.

"Here." Was all she said as she handed him his coffee, causing his smile to widen before he glanced back to Oliver.

"See what I mean, brother. Just gotta have a little faith." Sam patted his friend on the back before heading towards the driver's seat.

"You ass," Oliver muttered, heading towards his own cruiser.

"See you at The Penny," Sam said as he climbed into the car while Andy just watched the exchange between the two of them. She got the feeling they were talking about her but she wasn't sure why Oliver was calling Sam an ass.

"What?" she asked as she watched Oliver open the door.

"He knows you too well," Oliver mumbled as he climbed into his car while Andy continued to stare at him.

"What?" she asked again, but this time no one was there to hear her.

Letting out a sigh, she walked round to the passenger's seat and climbed in. Today was certainly going to be a long day.