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Here's the second part, so hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2.

Sam spent five days in hospital after that one, his physical progress unbelievable. He was in a hurry to get out of there and the only way that he would be discharged, was if he was well enough to go home. He hated hospitals and hardly ever got sick, if he did it was with a slight cold mostly.

Now, he had faked not feeling the pain, and he pushed through the physical test that Sarah and his doctor had stated as a necessity to pass if he wanted to leave.

Now finally back at home, Sam took a moment to sit down and take stock of his life.

He did not like what he saw, he hated the last few images that kept running through his mind before he woke up in the hospital.

The memories were splotchy and vague but he had a fair amount of them to go on in order to gather what had happened.

Turning a curve, his mind thought of Marlo when she had stopped by after she heard that he was awake. She had come to say goodbye, and say sorry for a lot of things. One of those things had been standing between him and Andy when she so blatantly saw that things were not as over between them as what Sam and Andy had been trying to believe they were.

She had been suspended pending an investigation, but she told Callaghan everything she knew without shifting blame onto Sam or Andy. She took voluntary retirement and handed her badge in on Callaghan's word that he wouldn't go after Sam or Andy's badges. Unofficially, she had told him the truth as she saw it, officially it had been put forward that she had a minor nervous breakdown that led to her actions being un-forthcoming and her conduct unbecoming as a police officer. Leaving was a better option than getting fired, because Callaghan had confirmed that it looked grim, it looked like she would, without a doubt, be fired.

It was hard to see Marlo blame herself, but Sam got it, he really did. He'd been blaming himself for everything that had gone wrong between him and Andy, when in fact they both played a role in their relationship hitting the ground before it had exploded. But Marlo was sick, and it was unfair to blame her action on her, because she didn't have any control over them although she should have asked for help.

Andy. Just her name was enough to bring the guilt bubbling back to the surface.

He hadn't seen her since she left the morning after she stayed. She hadn't called, or sent flowers. She was just gone. Absent. Missing.

But that didn't mean anything. It just meant that she was taking some time.

A knock on Sam's door made him think of Oliver. He'd been off too, and had probably come back here after dropping Sam off at home after he was discharged from the hospital.

When Sam opened the door, he found the last person he ever expected to see standing on the other side.

"Got a minute?". Collins looked conflicted asking him that question.

Sam nodded and stepped aside but Collins made no move to come in. The cab behind him obviously still had the meter running.

"Thank you, you know for doing what you did" Collins started, it wasn't the best place to start, but he had to start somewhere right? He and Andy had; had a long talk, and even though he really felt for her, she just didn't feel the same. She thought she had, but she really didn't. And that's why he was here. Nothing would change the way she felt, so maybe if he helped change circumstances, the situation would change and be better for her. Or at least, that's what he was hoping for.

"I get why you did it, but you need to tell her". That kind of took Sam by surprise.

"Tell her?" Sam echoed not really sure that he was reading Collins right.

"Tell her everything. How you feel, why you did that. She's hurting, and it's never going to go away. Think about what you asked her to do, and the person she became in order to do that. Think about what you asking her looked like to her".

Sam's eyes glazed over as a flood of emotion swept through him. Who would have guessed that Collins would be the one standing on his doorstep, the one person that understood him and saw through him? He had thought about what it looked like to Andy when he asked her to make that entry into Marlo's notebook, it looked like he loved Marlo enough to protect her, and that he was willing to risk Andy losing her badge, but that wasn't the reason he asked Andy to do it. He was just trying to help Marlo out, as a friend, he asked Andy for another reason entirely.

Sam shook his head, he and Collins were more alike than he would ever have guessed. Who would have even known that he and Collins were on the same page? He had only done what he did when he called out to Ford partly, for Andy, and partly for Collins. Collins was a good guy, he was a cop, he didn't deserve to die just yet. But mostly Sam had reacted on instinct, he didn't like good people getting shot.

"Be honest with her, she needs to hear it, but from you. She needs to know why you asked her to do what you did, and she needs to know what you meant at the barn when you found Oliver's squad car. You're tearing her apart, and the only things she's guilty of, is the fact that she never stopped loving you".

Sam looked away, hearing that come out of Collins' mouth hit a nerve. When Sam looked back at Collins he held his hand out for Sam to shake, his way of telling Sam that he was a good guy.

Collins left after that, Sam getting the feeling that he wouldn't be around for a while.

Sam made it into the lounge before wondering what he was doing. In less then ten minutes he was pulling up outside Andy's condo hoping to find her here rather than on shift.

They needed to talk, now. He was done waiting.

Sam knocked and her door opened, her face furrowing a little when she took the sight of him in. She didn't know that he was out of the hospital, but she was the reason that he was. He needed to get out of there if he had any hope of putting them back together.

Andy wordlessly stepped aside and let Sam in, his nerves lighting up as he walked into her sanctuary knowing that things were about to either get really complicated or really messy.

Andy nodded towards the kitchen and Sam went to sit down before changing his mind and following her. Having her cornered wasn't ideal, but she would be forced to listen to him, and she couldn't run.

"I like complicated and messy. That's just me, it's always been us, and it's only ever been that way with you" Sam said to earn a doe-eyed dear look from Andy.

"I screwed up, and I'm sorry" he added when she paid attention to him.

But she didn't say anything, she didn't know where he was going with this, well not yet, anyway.

"At the barn when I said I can't be here anymore, with you, I didn't mean it like it sounded. I saw you and Collins...". Yup he so could not bring himself to finish that sentence. "I couldn't do that again".

Sam hoped that she understood what he meant. He couldn't watch her be happy with someone else, not even when it was the only thing he ever wanted for her. Not when he wanted it for her more than he wanted anything for himself. He thought he could, he thought he'd be strong enough to do it, but when he actually saw it, it started taring him apart.

Andy didn't say anything, she just set down two cups after taking them out of the cupboard and putting the kettle on.

"I know I asked a lot when I asked you to make the entry into Marlo's notebook, but I only asked you because you're the person I trust more than anyone else, ever". That seemed to draw a reaction from Andy, her hand knocking over the first coffee cup as she fumbled with the container that held the coffee.

"Andy, say something" Sam asked when she failed to respond even though his declaration had caught her off guard.

Andy put the coffee container down and turned to face him before uttering a syllable.

"What do you want Sam? Why are you even here? You said sorry, and you walked away again after letting me into your head for two seconds Sam. The two seconds that it took for you to say sorry for screwing up, and telling me that you were planning on leaving again...".

"I remember what you said in the ambulance Andy, all of it". Sam used the only ammunition he had right now and his words stole her breath away. "Do you still feel that way? Do you still feel the same?". Probably not the smartest thing he'd ever said, but he couldn't lay everything on the table, or open up if he had nothing to go on.

"Would it make a difference?".

"Yeah, because I have no idea what I'm doing anymore. I have no idea why you've even put up with me for this long, and I have no idea what the next step is". Sam ran a hand over his face and closed his eyes just for a second before opening them and giving Andy a look that he knew would unnerve her.

Sam saw her edge around indecisiveness as she looked for answers she didn't have. Or didn't want to give him.

"Look, I'm sorry Andy. I'm sorry for all of it, for everything. I've tried to deny what's always been there, but I can't do that anymore, I can't pretend that I don't love you anymore, I can't pretend that I don't miss you anymore. And I can't be here and not be with you because I meant what I said about wanting everything with you, wanting the more that you make me think about. I want to stop running".

Sam didn't venture any closer, he didn't want Andy to feel cornered and forced to say something. The night she stayed at the hospital was enough of a reminder that she would do the right thing even if it meant that she'd hurt herself in the long run.

"And when you feel the need to run, I want you to run to me".

Sam added the last line in a desperate attempt to clutch at straws because that's the point of desperation he was reaching.

Andy still had her walls slammed up and it didn't look like he was going to make them crumble anytime soon.

"Why all of this if you always felt that way?" Andy said barely letting the words be audible.

"Because I was scared. Because I... I didn't know how to handle the things you made me feel. Because you know me better than anyone else, and I was scared that you wouldn't feel the same when you found out about my past".

Sam had recently realized that no-one really knew him, not the way he wanted her to know him. It was the reason he sat down with Marlo and told her a bit about his past. He didn't want to wake up one day and nobody knew anything about him, but it was really Andy that he wanted to know everything there was to know, it was just easier to tell Marlo.

"Sam, your juvenile record was from twenty years ago, it made you the person you are today, you changed, you didn't stay that rebellious kid" Andy answered without thinking.

Sam's face told her that he hadn't expected her to answer that.

"Yeah Sam, I know okay. And it never changed what I thought or felt about you".

Sam looked around her kitchen, she'd known all along and it had never influenced her behavior towards him.

"That's only part of it Andy, there's more. Lots more and it's not as pretty as a juvenile record".

"Sam I guessed okay, but the rest of it, I don't know because you never told me. You knew all along about my dad, and my past, but you hardly ever told me anything about yours". Andy's tone rolled with slight fierceness, it told Sam that he finally just might have a shot at this, at getting her back.

"Because I'm ashamed. I left that all in the past because I won't ever become like them. I won't ever do the things they did".

Andy let out a frustrated sigh. Sam needed to stop trying to protect her. He needed to stop shielding her.

"Sam, you need to stop trying to protect me okay. You can't always keep me safe, you can't always protect me on the job, and you have to stop trying to protect me, from you. Look at you... You got shot because you saw Ford pull his gun on Nick, and you tried to stop me from getting hurt by saving Nick and nearly killing yourself, and because your soul is too god to stand by and let good people get hurt. Do you have any idea how that felt? How I felt when I thought you were going to die trying to protect ME Sam?"

Andy's voice lost it's edge as her sentence drew to an end. She was trying so hard to hold on to her strength that she was making her scarred soul visible without even knowing it. For the first few hours after Sam got shot, that was how she felt, how things looked. But after a while Traci had sought her out and sat down next to her before saying the most important thing she'd ever hear 'Look I know you're hurting, but it's not your fault. Sam's a good guy, that's why he did that. He would have done it for anyone standing in front of Ford. But I think part of that reason was for you, so always remember that. Just promise me that one day, when Sam comes to see you, you'll remember what I said'. After that Traci sat next to her holding her hand, Gail on the other side of her, the two closest friends she'd ever have being her support when she needed it most.

And now, that conversation was remembered, but fiercely because when she had blamed herself, Andy had hated herself too.

"Because I want you to be happy more than anything I want for myself" Sam repeated his words from the barn minutes before he got shot, Andy letting out a huff in response to him repeating himself.

"I know that Sam, I just don't get why. Not when you've just told me that you think about a future with me, and that you feel something...". Andy's voice cracked at the end before it just finally gave up.

"Because I changed my mind. Because I was willing to walk away and let you have what made you happy until I got shot. Then I could only think about leaving you behind, and I don't... I can't...". Sam couldn't finish his own sentence, Andy's face finding understanding in his inability to say what he was trying so hard to.

Sam took a deep, controlled breath and closed his eyes for just a second as he leaned further into the door frame of Andy's kitchen.

"I've thought about life with you, and no matter what happens, I'm never going to stop wanting you, wanting that. I'm never going to stop needing you, and I don't want it to stop".

When Sam opened his eyes, Andy was standing close. Really close. Close enough for him to feel the heat of her face radiating against his own.

Andy's hand wrapped around his and she lifted it up, Sam unable to look away from her eyes as they danced with a shimmer in the light.

Crap, it looked like he was going to make her cry again.

"All you've ever had to do was tell me that you needed me Sam".

Andy's hand was warm wrapped around his, the familiar tingle spreading up his arm as she held on.

"I need you. Always have, always will" Sam said finally able to admit it out loud. Finally able to tell her that, and finally able to set himself free.

She was the centre of his universe and he'd nearly been stupid enough to let her go. Again, and again.

"I'll be here, for as long as you need me Sam, and I know you will be for as long as I need you too". Andy's breath was warm as it flurried out across his face, her words making his lips react on their own as they tugged up at the corners.

Sam's hand moved up to hold on to her face, his heart fluttering at the contact.

He knew that if he didn't move, or she didn't, he was about to do something that he really didn't think either of them were ready for. He knew that it would be done guilt-free, because he knew that Marlo had come to see her, she had said that she needed to thank Andy for being a friend, and that she had to explain a few things so Sam knew without a doubt that Andy understood that the Marlo situation was now non-existant. Collins had been to see him so that had been tied up too, the people that they had pulled closer were no longer an issue, no longer a concern, now it was just them.

But Sam didn't have time to pull away, Andy kissed him first, her hands sprayed out over his cheeks as she pulled him closer. She did what he had always done to her, she bumped her nose against his before letting her lips seek his out, probably an action meant to give him time to pull away, but it was the first time she'd done that so there was no way that he was going to stop her.

Leaving him breathless Andy pulled back, but just enough to let him drop his forehead against hers.

Sam felt his lips curve up into a lazy smile, the kind that hadn't been worn by him in nearly a year.

"Remember in the ambulance, you said you had this moment?" Sam asked her, still letting their foreheads rest against each other.

Andy smiled so he knew that she was a little surprised that he remembered that given the circumstances.

"This is mine, this is that moment for me. So was the one when you stayed at the hospital, and so was the first morning I woke up next to you".

Andy blushed and tried to subdue her giggle but it didn't work that well and it broke free anyway.

"If I'm your story, will you be my happy ending?" Sam said when Andy stepped away and put a small amount of empty space between them. Her blush faded and her giggle died on her lips. Sam had succeeded in turning the moment really serious and Andy knew him well enough to know that.

"Sam, I..." Andy scrunched her nose up and her brows fell into a deep frown, a really deep frown.

"That's where this is going to go, and this time there will be no running, no going back, no anything but the everything at the end of the road".

"You asking or saying?" Andy said really sweetly. It was so like Sam to take control of any given situation, but this time he was voicing promises that included them both. He wasn't making her promises, it was more like he was planning. Something he had never really done with her before.

"I'm just saying..."

"I haven't said yes yet" Andy said calling up their conversation from the night she left for Dakota.

"But you will?" Sam phrased it as a question, a small amount of doubt creeping up into his voice.

"Maybe. You shouldn't be drinking anyway..." Andy's eyes dropped to where she guessed Sam's gunshot wounds were hidden under his shirt.

"But I need dinner". Sam countered, if she wanted to play, then he would play along.

Eyeing Sam up and down Andy did notice that he was a little paler than normal, and he had lost a small about of weight, just enough for her to notice.

"So what do you say? Willing to give it a shot? Me, us a shot?".

Sam was trying to get a read on her, but he couldn't. She had too many things crossing her face at the same time to read.

"If you promise..." Andy took a second to collect herself. "If you promise me two things Sam".

This time he could see that Andy was incredibly nervous and edgy, it was as though she thought that maybe he wouldn't be able to make those two promises; or keep them.

"One; you have to promise me not to get shot again- ever. I won't forgive you if you do".

Sam nodded as soon as Andy was done talking, there was no hesitation from him whatsoever. It was hard and probably a little insane to make that kind of promise, but he was promising to be careful, promising not to take any more reckless chances.

"And two... You have to promise me that you'll stay. No walking away, no hiding, no leaving...". She had no idea if Sam would still want to leave and go wherever it was that he had planned on going- under, to another division.

Sam smiled. He could do that. "Okay, I promise".

Andy jabbed her finger into his arm, she didn't find his smile amusing right now.

"If you promise...". Sam cut it off while thinking of an easy way to say what he wanted to. "If you promise to make me listen when I won't, and that when I ask you for more, you'll say yes".

This time Andy's lips revealed a smile of their own. How could she say no to that?

"I promise" Andy said looking a little embarrassed.

"Is that a yes?". Sam teased as he pushed off the door frame and stood up straight. His side was crying in revolt but it had been worth every ache to have this conversation.

"You need to sit down" Andy said leading Sam to the lounge and looking towards the couch where he promptly followed her instructions and sat down.

Andy left and came back a few minutes later with two cups of coffee and handed Sam his before sitting down next to him.

They sat in silence for a while, both of them lost in happy thoughts in their own mind.

"So, I can stay?" Sam said looking really hopeful.

"You can stay" Andy said sitting a little closer.

"This is nice" Sam mumbled when Andy put her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"This is a new moment" Andy replied before silence followed again.

Neither of them needed to say more. Andy had said most of what she wanted to say between the ambulance and the hospital, Sam had said what he needed to today.

"Why aren't you on shift?" Sam mumbled as he waited for an answer. He could pretty much guess what her answer was going to be. He'd done a rough calculation after finding out that he'd been unconscious in hospital for two days before waking up and that would put Andy on day rotation today, but she was home... Even though he hoped he'd find her here, he knew that she should have been on shift. And even though he knew that, he came here first anyway.

"I um, got suspended again". Andy flinched when answering. "You?".

Sam knew that there would be repercussions to his actions for asking her to help Marlo, he just didn't think that Frank would suspend her with both him and Oliver off and Collins heading for another undercover.

"Um, me too, but I'm on medical leave because I got shot before I got suspended". Sam couldn't resist raising his eyebrows in a teasing way when he gave his answer.

"Hmph. But I only got suspended for two weeks this time".

"Really? I...". Sam's comeback was cut off by a knock on Andy's door, something neither of them had been expecting.

Andy took one look at Sam's face and then sighed, closed her eyes and let her head fall against the back of the couch.

"Let me guess, no contact right?".

Sam nodded, stood up and then sat back down.

"Screw it" he said throwing Andy a really cheeky smile. He'd let work come between them enough, and apparently, he was done doing that.

Andy got up and walked over to her door before giving Sam one last look over her shoulder.

When he nodded she opened the door.

"Hi, is Uncle Sammy here?" A young girl asked. It took Andy a while to recognize her before stepping aside and letting her in.

Izzy Shaw looked very different wearing a dress, and without the blue hair.

"Izzy?" Sam questioned when he saw her come in.

Izzy gave him a soft hug, she was very cautious of his still sore injuries.

"So, Dad saw your truck and made me pull over, he asked me to bring you this" Izzy held up a set of keys and jiggled them in front of Sam who let out a low chuckle.

"He said if you get caught, you're on your own. And this conversation never happened".

Just like that Izzy was gone, leaving Andy dazed and confused as she watched Sam eye the keys.

"What's that for?" Andy asked when she stopped in front of Sam and looked at the keys resting in his hand.

"They're keys to Oliver's mid-life crisis" Sam chuckled out remembering the conversation that he and Oliver had at Oliver's new cabin.

"His what?".

"Nevermind".

"What?" Andy said stepping back when she noticed the look on Sam's face.

"You know that we just got a chance to change the past right?" Sam stated and confused Andy even more.

"Suspension, no contact?".

It took a while before it made sense to Andy, but when it did her smile lit the room up.

"You're here for half an hour, and you're already breaking the rules?".

"Only if we get caught".

Andy was about to shake her head and say no, when Sam held his hand up and stopped her before she could say no.

"This is me choosing you. This is me not giving a damn about the consequences, or the repercussions. This is me taking a chance on something I want more than my badge, and if that's what it'll cost, I'll take you anyday".

Sam let his words cool down before he realized that what he said was so selfish it wasn't even funny. But that was just the way it sounded, it wasn't the way he meant it. He didn't mean that Andy should risk her career for him, or choose him over her badge, he just wanted her to know that he was ready to do that, just to have her.

"You want me more than your badge?" Andy sounded like she was choking the words out in disbelief.

"Yup".

Andy didn't even respond to that, she just stood there looking at him.

"Like I said, I made so many mistakes, but this" he held Oliver's cabin keys up towards Andy, "This is me fixing the first one I ever made".

"First one?" Andy wasn't sure what he thought his first mistake was, but she was going to find out.

"Our first suspension- it might have looked like I let you walk away, but that was the first time I walked away". Sam cleared his throat after being that honest, it still wasn't his thing.

"So, McNally, what do you say? Ready to start over?" Sam wiggled the keys. Time was wasting and he was no closer to knowing if they were staying here, or taking a vacation.

Vacation.

The word made him smile, broadly. They'd never done that the first time around.

"Where?".

"Oliver's cabin".

"Oliver has a cabin?".

"Yup".

Andy feigned serious thought and Sam could tell. She was all ready for this, ready to start over, and fix their mistakes, but she still had something on her mind and if he waited long enough, it would come out.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

"You sure about this? I mean it's not like we have to do this? I want to, but I don't want you to make decisions based on past mistakes Sam".

"Really? That's what you're going with?". Sam arched an eyebrow her way before stepping way inside her personal space and waiting.

"Sam, that's unfair" Andy giggled out as she wrapped her arms around his neck and just hugged him for no reason other than she could.

Sam gave her another minute to think about it, to make her decision while he counted the seconds down in his head. She just had this inability to stay quiet for longer than a minute.

"I get why you left, the next morning" Sam suddenly said into her hair when a stray thought came to mind. The night she stayed at the hospital, he'd told her what he wanted, and where he wanted things to go without giving any consideration to her and Collins who where probably still 'together', so she left with the hopes of sorting that out before putting herself in a position that she never wanted to be in.

"Yeah?". Andy didn't move, she was enjoying the moment too much.

"Yup, it was the right thing".

"You know I walked away the first time we had suspension too right? I could have stayed..."

"Don't do that, let it go Andy. Oliver's doing us a favor here, so let's take it? A week in the middle of nowhere..."

"What?". Andy moved away when she guessed that Sam was piecing the obvious together. This time she didn't care about the no contact rule, she'd been at the hospital when he woke up, that was two days after he was shot so she was on suspension then for a day already.

"You stayed this time" Sam gave her a huge grin, he'd figured it out.

"With some help, Nick got the nurses to sneak me in and declare your room as out of bounds to other visitors so I wouldn't get caught". Andy's cheeks flamed red when she knew that she'd been caught, and that she had said her yes even before Sam knew it.

"Okay, so go get a bag packed, times waiting". Sam let her go and sat down when she went into her bedroom.

This time he knew that the waiting would be worth it.

"Hey, McNally" Sam called out, Andy replying with a loud "yeah?" While she packed.

"Remind me later to tell you the story about our weekend at the cabin?". Sam let out a chuckle at the memory. Oliver catching him out with his then McNally situation, the generator, Diaz and Epstein letting them get the beers while the got the generator running.

It would make an amusing story indeed.

Sam's face lit up when Andy came out of her bedroom carrying a duffle bag and wearing shoes. She'd been barefoot when he arrived, and now she was ready to go.

He was imagining what stories they'd have to share when they came back from their week at the cabin.

And what a story their tale would make one day, Sam picturing Andy telling their kids about this moment.

"Ready?" Andy asked pulling Sam from his personal thoughts.

Standing up, Sam said the only thing left to say, "You have no idea".

And he really and truly meant it. She had no idea how ready he was for this.

The End.

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