A/N: Wrote this a long time ago.

Andy's eyes tore away from her history textbook as she heard a light tapping on her window. Assuming it was a branch for the first few seconds, she ground her teeth together and buried her face in the book again, trying to find her place, but eventually she had to resolve the issue. She pushed her seat back forcefully and began stomping toward the window till she realized it wasn't a branch.

It was much better than a branch. A branch can't bring her a double double and Tim Bits. But Sam could.

She smiled in relief and gratitude when he shot her a smug dimpled grin and waited patiently for her to finish crossing her bedroom and open the window.

"Hi." She said quietly extending her hands expectantly, willing him to hand over the goods. He complied, mostly because he needed his own hands to pull himself in through the window.

"Hey. Thought you might still be up." He noticed her textbook still wide open in the middle of a chapter and shook his head without comment, figuring he didn't need to remind her that test was still a week away. "Your dad home?"

"Nope, he's still out."

He figured as much, she usually tried to wait up, in case he needed a safe way home.

"What about yours?"

"Already passed out." He said bitterly, trying to offer her a lopsided smile. She just popped a Tim Bit into her mouth and looked to the floor, offering Sam the time to sober his expression. Which he was grateful for. "Thrilling lives we lead."

Andy took her coffee from the cardboard carrier and raised it to her lips to stop herself from asking about his mom, and Sarah. She took a sip to stop herself from asking about the darkening spot on Sam's chin.

He'd lie to her anyway, probably. Tell her it was grease he couldn't get off from when he was working on cars at the shop, or that he'd bumped it climbing the tree to her room.

So she didn't ask.

"So, I heard some things today..." He started, watching as Andy took the box and her book and make her way to her bed.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What 'things'?" She mimicked, mockingly, drawing her eyebrows together seriously.

Sam sighed, having hoped it wouldn't be one of these nights. One of these nights where he's got to work to get anything out of her. A little snack, a little honestly about his shitty night and maybe she'd be willing to share.

But he was wrong sometimes when it came to her. Didn't matter that they'd known each other since they were newly potty trained... he had a lot left to learn.

"Things like Luke and that new girl, getting a little too friendly during the assembly." He said, carefully, sliding off of her desk and following suite, taking a seat on her bed as she crossed her legs and leaned back into her pillows.

She eyed him suspiciously, letting him know she knew he was holding back.

He reached into the flimsy box and grabbed one of the few chocolate glazed bits and took a bite.

Andy groaned and laid her head back completely on her pillows, giving up eye contact and resigning back into her sadness and annoyance that she'd been dwelling in before he showed up.

"That's a G rated way to say dry humping under the bleachers." She huffed, trying to fight off the emotions that the picture those words painted would evoke.

Her boyfriend, her tall, hot, blonde, senior, all varsity boyfriend cheated on her. And everyone knew about it thanks to one janitor who was nearby for the whole floor show.

"Andy-"

"You were right. Okay? You were right about him. Gold star. Good for you." She spat, turning her sadness around quickly.

Sam wasn't taken aback or offended. He was just glad to see her something other than sad. He hated seeing her said. Ever since he accidentally killed her pet hamster when she was seven, he hasn't been able to stand seeing tears in her eyes.

"'Just be careful McNally,' you said 'Locker room talk and all that. I dunno if any of it's true, but you're better than locker room talk.'"

She remembered it clear as day, giving her this look like he was trying to convey some things he would never find the words to say. Something along the lines of not settling for anything less than the respect she deserved, or teenage pregnancy is no joke, kid. Knowing Sam it was probably a bit of both.

"And what's so great about her anyway? She's not even nice, or... Well I guess she's pretty. And she's blonde. Guys loooove blondes right? Monica's blonde."

Sam felt his throat tighten at the passing reference to Monica. He knew Andy wasn't her biggest fan, but bless her heart she'd really tried, for his sake. He thought about telling her that Monica was a recent ex. Very recent. A few days recent, but this wasn't about that, this was about her.

"I don't think he cheated on you because of the colour of your hair, Andy."

For good measure he took a lock of it between his fingers, testing to see if it was as soft and glossy as it looked.

Sam watched as her face went from a small sincere smirk playing on one corner of her mouth to another sad expression passing over her eyes, then causing her lip to quiver slightly.

"Then why did he do it?"

He moved himself back further onto the bed, closer to where she was lying on her back, and tentatively brushed his finger along the length of her hand, letting her know he was there.

When she wrapped her fingers around his hand, he pulled, and she sat back up, and immediately fell into his side, seeking the comfort he was offering. He leaned against the wall her bed was along side of and pulled her with him. He placed one hand on her head, pressing a kiss to her forehead as she silently let tears fall, free from his gaze.

"I have no idea. Andy, you didn't deserve that."

They sat up like that for a long time, letting the coffee get cold and the Tim Bits get stale, fallen to the floor and forgotten for the time being. Eventually, she fell asleep, and he moved them back to where she'd been before, head resting comfortably against the pillows.

He rolled her out of his arms, afraid of what might happen if they woke up that way, how that might play out. But he wasn't just going to leave her there by herself. So when he had her adjusted comfortably next to him, blanket up to her chin, he kicked off his shows and slipped off his jacket and grabbed a separate blanket from her closet. He laid on top of the comforter with the smaller blanket sprawled out over him, and tucked one hand behind his head while the other rested on his stomach.

And for some reason he thought back to the first day of kindergarten where they'd met.

He got held back a year, which he made up later. Some bullshit about how he'd been acting out. It was the first time Jay had been out of prison since he'd been born and it wasn't the white picket fence fantasy he'd been imagining.

So there he was, five years old and angry as all hell on the first day of school, and across the room a small and wire-y girl came into the class. Red wool sweater and black leggings on, already fidgeting with the black head band in her hair. A Thomas the Tank Engine lunch box in her clutches and the widest smile he'd ever seen on a kid.

Not two seconds after she claimed a cubby and put her things down in it, did some little snot nosed jerk come ripping down the hall, making off with her shiny new lunch box.

Andy while he thought she might burst into tears like the other babies in his class, she got mad. And she chased him. He'd never seen someone so small fly like she did.

The kid was headed right by Sam as he looked back over his shoulder to discover the girl right on his tail. So Sam did what any upstanding classmate would do. He stuck his foot out in front of him.

He crashed into the ground and Andy jumped onto his back. It was only seconds later that the teacher was all caught up and prying Andy off of him, tiny fists flying. They both got time outs and a phone call home too.

But he never forgot what they'd decided then and there. They were a team. They would have each other's backs.

"You and me, Sammy. We're partners now." She'd whispered loud enough for Sam to hear on his own mat across from her at nap time.

Andy felt herself awaken to Sam's repressed chuckle, feeling his arm move against her back while she was curled away from him. She wasn't annoyed for long when she realized that he got her properly to bed and everything else that happened earlier that evening. And that he hadn't left.

She was going to let her eyelids fall shut again until she felt his hand moving up and down her arm lightly, trying not to rouse her, but... she didn't know what he was trying to do. He let out a sigh of sorts and she knew instinctively that was being handled with kid gloves. He was thinking of her "as a girl" as she liked to put it. Tom boy that she'd been growing up, she never wanted Sam going easy on her, or treating her differently than the boys in their class.

But there were times when he would, and she'd let him.

Like when Jason Duffy passed Lisa notes in class instead of her, and she spent recess up in a tree snapping twigs. He didn't tease her or make her climb down and play with him. He climbed up to her and broke off some branches for her to snap in half.

"What are you thinking about?" She heard him ask.

She'd never been good at deceiving him.

"Grade three. And how much I hated Lisa Chen."

"Aaahh. Right. The infamous first 'other woman'." Sam laughed openly, not really worried about the kid gloves now that she was awake.

"Yeah. I can't believe how competitive I was. I remember, he finally told me he had a crush on Lisa, and I just... hated her. For no good reason."

Sam nodded contemplatively, head falling to the side to look at her.

"Guess it was easier than being sad."

"Yeah."

"Andy?"

"What?"

"If you think it'll help, we can go climb a tree and just, not come down."

Andy smiled and looked to her left, looking Sam dead in the eye. She saw concern and loyalty and honesty... and her smile fell.

How she wish they could be eight years old again, and climb and climb and never come down, not even for the class bell. But things had long since changed.

Things had long since changed between them too. She was no longer a tom boy, and he was a lot less angry.

She was no longer making up for the mistakes she kept making after her mom left and Sam had started telling the truth to cops.

She wasn't trying to be the "perfect girlfriend" or prove to people that she was good enough to be seen on the arm of the hockey team captain's arm. Sam wasn't trying to kid himself by dating the polar opposites of Andy.

She would love to climb up a tree with Sam and talk and dream for hours.

But before she could answer him, her cell phone started ringing on her bed side table and Sam's bruise caught the light of the street lamp filtering in through her window.

And they weren't kids anymore. Hadn't been for a long time.