After a long and exhausting day in a squad car with Gail, Andy was ready to peel off her uniform and crawl into her bed with a gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

As soon as she walked into the locker room she realized she wasn't going to see her bed or her ice cream for quite some time.

Gail was primping in front of the mirror painting on her famous red lipstick and Traci was choosing between silver and red heals to complete her short black dress outfit.

She held one of each shoe out to Andy as she walked in. "Which one?"

Without thinking too much about it she answered, "Silver," and tried her best to smile.

Andy had completely forgotten that tonight was the annual Christmas party at the Fifteenth and even though she had had an outfit picked out for weeks, it was currently hanging in her closet in her apartment. She knew that if she left now to get it, she wouldn't come back once she saw her bed beckoning to her so she decided to make an appearance and then leave as soon as she got a chance.

She added a little makeup and let her hair down which fell in natural waves around her shoulders from being up all day and decided she didn't look all that bad despite the fact that she was dressed in blue jeans, a white tank and white hoody.

She stepped into the crowded room and before she knew it Dov was putting a beer in her hand and telling her to drink. She took a sip and tapped her bottle to his before he disappeared into the sea of black, red and green attire.

As Andy turned she spotted Sam across the room talking with Jerry and Traci. She hadn't seen him much in the past few weeks and she realized she missed him. Since he was no longer her training officer, their paths rarely crossed and she'd heard talk of him returning to undercover work. He was casually leaning against the wall, sipping a beer and looking extremely sexy in a tight black and black jeans. When he caught her watching him, he tilted his bottle in her direction and gave her a half smile that melted her heart right there.

Chris and Gail came up to Andy from behind and she was forced to look away from Sam. As they were telling her of their skiing adventures she was trying her best to appear interested.

Andy spotted the clock on the wall and figured she had stayed a reasonable amount of time and could leave without appearing rude. She turned and ran right into Sam. He put his hands out to steady her and probably himself as well.

"Whoa McNally," he said with a smile. "Where you heading off to in such a hurry?"

"Uh, no where," she replied lamely.

"Hey look, you guys are under the mistletoe!" She heard Dov announce to the whole room. Andy looked up and sure enough she and Sam were right under a small sprig of mistletoe. She looked at him and chuckled awkwardly. His hands were still resting on her arms and everyone else in the room disappeared as she fell into his dark eyes.

She couldn't remember the last time she and Sam had had a conversation that didn't revolve around a case. Traci was the only one who knew she had moved out of Luke's place over a month ago and since Sam and Luke weren't exactly friends, she was pretty sure he didn't know that she was currently single and living on her own. She knew that she had feelings for him but had chosen not to run to him as soon as she and Luke had broken up. She wanted to wait and let things evolve naturally if they were going to but instead they had drifted further apart.

So here she was face to face with the man she wanted nothing more than to kiss even in a room full of people and she couldn't find the nerve to move. He appeared to be waiting for her to react first. She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips gently and innocently to his and then fled.

She stood in the locker room feeling like a fool. She wasn't sure if it was because she hadn't kissed him senseless or because she had feelings for someone who obviously didn't feel anything for her.

She heard the door swing open and hoped whoever it was would just ignore her. One touch of his hand on her elbow told her she was going to have to face him again.

"Hey," he said as he tugged on her arm and turned her around. "What's up?"

She shook her head.

"McNally, I can tell something is wrong, tell me."

"Nothing." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's been a long week and I just want to go home."

"I miss you, Andy."

His words almost brought tears to her eyes.

"Did you miss me?"

She wanted to deny it but she couldn't. "Yes."

"That kiss was completely pathetic, you know that right?"

She couldn't help but laugh as his eyes twinkled with mischief and his dimples turned her insides to mush.

He held a small piece of mistletoe over his head and said, "Why don't you come here and kiss me properly?"

He let the leaves fall to the floor and pulled her close with one hand on her cheek and another on her lower back. His mouth explored hers tentatively at first and then as she relaxed into him, his lips parted and demanded her surrender. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly.

"I've missed you so much Sam," she whispered into his ear as he pressed wet open mouthed kisses along her jaw and down her throat.

"I broke up with Luke," she added.

"I know." He managed in between kisses.

She put her hands on either side of his face and pulled back just far enough so she could see his eyes. "You know? How do you know?"

"It's been just over a month," he said as he bent his head to resume kissing her.

She held his head firmly in front of her as she asked, "You've known this whole time?" She wasn't sure if she should be happy that he had kept his distance or mad. "Why didn't you say anything?" she demanded.

"I was waiting for you to get over him. I wanted you to make up your own mind what you wanted."

She realized that she was happier in his arms than she had been in quite some time and she wasn't going to waste another minute being angry at what he had or hadn't done.

"Well, that, Sam Swarek was just dumb."

"Then why don't I show you just how sorry I am," he said as he grinned. He bent down to pick up the fateful mistletoe and taking her hand he lead her to his truck, opened the passenger door for her and handed her the sprig of leaves.

She realized when they turned onto her street that she hadn't given him directions to her new apartment.

"Wait! How do you know where I'm living?"

Sam winked, "Epstein isn't very good at keeping secrets."