Jack sat at his desk finishing a report that he needed to turn in by five
or he wasn't going to be allowed to exit the building. He scribbled away,
frequently checking his notes, making sure everything was correct. From the
casual observer, it would appear that he was being quite productive, when
in fact he wasn't getting very far at all.
His thoughts were scattered in a million different places, but the least of all on the report of a missing 67-year old woman in front of him. The team did find her, raped and left lifeless behind a dumpster three blocks from her apartment. Sam and Vivian were the ones that found her, half clothed and badly bruised. Jack sighed because it only added another reason for Sam to be so completely against men.
Try as he may to focus, his thoughts wandered back and fourth, between his daughters' open house this evening, what would be happening there, and the meeting he'd just had with his team. He ceased writing and lay his pen down gently, his hand immediately removed his glasses. His other hand went up to his temple, applying pressure to his quickly increasing headache. Jack sighed again as he recalled the meeting, frowning at his most recent decision or assignment.
Meeting earlier that day.
Two o'clock rolled around for their afternoon meeting and Sam remained at her desk turning in her swivel chair to face the table. Danny sat next to Jack and Vivian while Martin, who'd just arrived with information on their lead suspect, leaned against another desk. All of them brainstormed as to what they should do about their suspect, Bryan Jacobs.
The team made Jacobs their number one suspect after they noticed a pattern of disappearances related to him in some way or another, one of which related to their missing person. Interestingly enough, all the women were tall, slender, fair complexion and had brown hair. The only problem was that the team didn't know what he did to the women, and if he was really the man they were looking for, they needed to catch him in the act. Danny proposed that they should lure him into a trap to find out exactly what would happen to the women and see where he took them.
After concocting a plan, all their eyes wandered over to Samantha, sitting in her chair and chewing her pen, deep in thought. After getting a vibe of the overall consensus of the group, Samantha volunteered to be the "Live Bait" and as she almost perfectly fit the description, sans the brown hair, the team agreed that she would be sent in.
Jack was slightly hesitant about sending any of his agents in to an unusually dangerous situation. It was hard enough when Vivian did the Underground Railroad thing, and he wasn't nearly as close with her as he was with Sam. The thousand consequences kept running through his brain as to what could happen and what should be done to prevent anything from happening to Sam. As he sat at the table staring at his files while the rest of the team dispersed, he felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked up to meet an intense gaze, unwavering and guarded. It was as though she could see what he was thinking without him being able to know what she was thinking. Sam's dark piercing eyes finally broke contact, going directly to the ground, almost trying to seek cover before being found out. Without saying a word, he rose from his chair and headed towards his office, aware that her eyes were trained on his back the entire time.
Once in his office, he slowly pulled his chair out, unbuttoned his bottom button, and sat down for a fun-filled hour-and-a-half of reports and scut work. Danny came in forty-five minutes later to get his assignment, and returned to Martin's desk to relay Jack's instructions. One such instruction was to never let Sam out of their sight.
Around four, Sam hesitantly opened the large glass door into Jack's office and stood at a safe, ten feet away from his desk, patiently waiting for his thoughts to come back to reality. Jack stared down at his file, realizing he had not touched it for twenty minutes. His glasses lay on his desk next to his pen, his nerves grating from his persisting headache. Finally composed, he looked up at the woman who extracted so much energy from him; she who left him constantly confused and uncertain.
"Do you have the information on the bar and all the escape routes?" asked Jack in a tired, monotone voice. "Yes, I am about to head out now. I just wanted to see if you were all right," she said the latter more carefully, slowly cocking her head to the right. I'm signing divorce papers tonight. Do I look fine to you?
"Yes, perfectly fine, just a headache," feeling the need to get the subject back on track, Jack quickly stated, "Martin and Danny will be at the bar to observe you." "You're not going to come see me in action?" she replied, slightly taken back by him not attending the mission. She betrayed no emotion, no slight annoyance at his obvious need to push her away. He kept her far away, but just in his grasp. Just to have a shred of control over her or either he couldn't fully relinquish the feelings that refused to go away.
"It's open house night at school. Non-negotiable." Sam averted her eyes to the ground, another wave of emotions rushing over her. She remained silent, her mind churning over the thoughts and guilt that came when he mentioned his family. She recovered quickly when she felt his eyes on her, returning the penetrable gaze she had previously directed at him. To prevent the awkward situation from getting worse, she chose to respond in her usual light-hearted, sarcastic remark.
"This is understandable, I mean who could pass up an exciting evening conversing with teachers and pretentious parents, over a night with a killer?" "Not only the parents, but the children that go along with them, and their beautiful artwork. You should see what the kids draw nowadays. One boy had a picture hanging up that was of his mom and dad, his older sister and younger brother, his mom's new husband and his half-sister, his dad's boyfriend, and the baby-sitter," he recalled slowly, smiling at the end.
"And you thought you had it bad," Sam responded smiling. Jack's smile quickly retracted and Sam realized her mistake. Feeling it was her time to exit, Sam quickly uttered, "I'm going to go now." Jack nodded and watched her retreating form and quickly said, "Sam?" she paused in the doorway and looked back, "Be careful. and please be good," he added with a smirk. She returned the smile and said, "sure Jack." Her smile quickly disappeared as soon as she turned around and headed towards her desk, not looking forward to her evening.
Two days prior:
The coffee was too hot. Too hot to drink and look graceful while doing so. Sam quickly swallowed the mouthful she had, flinching as it scorched her tongue and seared her throat. Why she didn't check it first, she didn't know. Maybe because she was preoccupied. Definitely. She was definitely preoccupied, and her thoughts went romping about in her brain as though elephants were playing basketball. Each moment ticked by, adding one more ounce of nerve racking, gut wrenching guilt to her already burdened mind.
Sam walked to the tiled table and sat down in the small coffee shop, watching people come in and out, wondering what horrible things they had done in their lives. As she thought back to the past few months, she tried to desperately seek some balance. It had been almost five months since that one night. The one night that changed everything between her and Jack. Admittedly so, they had done their best to return to normal, tried to because it would be too awkward and too unrealistic not to do so in such a high-pressure situation.
It was in fact easier to return to normal on the surface than to even attempt to further explore her feelings. To do so would kill her on the inside, because even though he was separated with his wife, she knew he still loved his wife and children. Jack wasn't in love with Sam, perhaps he lusted after her, but Sam was too easily deceived when it came to men. She didn't want her heart to be trampled upon and she knew enough not to play with that of a married man's.
The worst part was hearing about his family and the pangs of regret every time he brought them up, even when it wasn't remotely related to their situation or a case. As it seemed though, everything was related at work. She had never believed herself one to enter into an adulterous situation, let alone hurt someone else out of passion and lust. But who does? Who plans to have an affair with their boss? She certainly never did.
She did know that she wanted the pain to go away and the heaviness upon her heart to dissipate. She would not even consider addressing her feelings for him because she knew under no circumstances could they be returned. Sam knew the feelings existed and she sometimes let them show, but she was a fort, an iron fort. She had constructed forty-foot walls of steel and iron around herself and as long as Jack didn't come up with a forty-one foot ladder, she would be perfectly fine.
Constantly feeling the need to be in control, never letting her emotions get the best of her, Sam insisted on maintaining a strong sense of independence and objectiveness. She never tried to let her personal beliefs or feelings get in the way of a case, but inevitably they would infiltrate her solid defenses and shine through. And she hated herself for it. Sometimes she was too passionate about a case, or hated how much some of the situations resembled her own life, and she couldn't keep quiet. She almost refused to, as if it were her duty to be the voice of reason or doubt or whatever voice that was needed to make the mission work. To direct their focus or bring up questions, just to get the other side of things.
She frowned again as she took another sip of her coffee. Sitting back in her chair, see scanned outside to see if she could spot Vivian and Danny. She was waiting to meet with them, and as it was, her break was nearing an end. They were all trading off searching for a 67- year old woman. She hoped she wouldn't be the one to find her. She hated the possibilities of what could happen to a person in this city.
Morning after Jack signed his divorce papers and Sam's adventure.
Jack walked into the office, tired from the lack of sleep, yet anxious with anticipation. It was early, too early. He'd received a message on his voice mail from Vivian saying that they got the guy and that for the most part, Samantha came out unscathed. Vivian didn't elaborate in her message, but he knew there would be more to the story. He was surprised Sam hadn't left him a message saying what had happened; he knew she was fond of telling him of what he missed out on when he had other commitments.
Jack was almost two hours early to work. He headed straight towards the coffeepot to get it going, but paused when it was already on, almost done with the first round. He quickly looked around the office, scanning the desks to see who else was insane enough to be at work at such an outrageous time. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the familiar blond head, barely peaking over her desk's barrier. Feeling somewhat unnerved, he quickly, quietly turned around and headed towards his office. Edging in and closing the door quickly, he paused when he saw an envelope lying in the center of his desk.
The manila envelope had interoffice mail across the front of it. He looked out of his windows, checking to see if Sam was still working, then sat on the edge of his desk, opening the manila folder. It was an injury report that needed to be filed and also an administrative leave for one Samantha Spade.
His thoughts were scattered in a million different places, but the least of all on the report of a missing 67-year old woman in front of him. The team did find her, raped and left lifeless behind a dumpster three blocks from her apartment. Sam and Vivian were the ones that found her, half clothed and badly bruised. Jack sighed because it only added another reason for Sam to be so completely against men.
Try as he may to focus, his thoughts wandered back and fourth, between his daughters' open house this evening, what would be happening there, and the meeting he'd just had with his team. He ceased writing and lay his pen down gently, his hand immediately removed his glasses. His other hand went up to his temple, applying pressure to his quickly increasing headache. Jack sighed again as he recalled the meeting, frowning at his most recent decision or assignment.
Meeting earlier that day.
Two o'clock rolled around for their afternoon meeting and Sam remained at her desk turning in her swivel chair to face the table. Danny sat next to Jack and Vivian while Martin, who'd just arrived with information on their lead suspect, leaned against another desk. All of them brainstormed as to what they should do about their suspect, Bryan Jacobs.
The team made Jacobs their number one suspect after they noticed a pattern of disappearances related to him in some way or another, one of which related to their missing person. Interestingly enough, all the women were tall, slender, fair complexion and had brown hair. The only problem was that the team didn't know what he did to the women, and if he was really the man they were looking for, they needed to catch him in the act. Danny proposed that they should lure him into a trap to find out exactly what would happen to the women and see where he took them.
After concocting a plan, all their eyes wandered over to Samantha, sitting in her chair and chewing her pen, deep in thought. After getting a vibe of the overall consensus of the group, Samantha volunteered to be the "Live Bait" and as she almost perfectly fit the description, sans the brown hair, the team agreed that she would be sent in.
Jack was slightly hesitant about sending any of his agents in to an unusually dangerous situation. It was hard enough when Vivian did the Underground Railroad thing, and he wasn't nearly as close with her as he was with Sam. The thousand consequences kept running through his brain as to what could happen and what should be done to prevent anything from happening to Sam. As he sat at the table staring at his files while the rest of the team dispersed, he felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked up to meet an intense gaze, unwavering and guarded. It was as though she could see what he was thinking without him being able to know what she was thinking. Sam's dark piercing eyes finally broke contact, going directly to the ground, almost trying to seek cover before being found out. Without saying a word, he rose from his chair and headed towards his office, aware that her eyes were trained on his back the entire time.
Once in his office, he slowly pulled his chair out, unbuttoned his bottom button, and sat down for a fun-filled hour-and-a-half of reports and scut work. Danny came in forty-five minutes later to get his assignment, and returned to Martin's desk to relay Jack's instructions. One such instruction was to never let Sam out of their sight.
Around four, Sam hesitantly opened the large glass door into Jack's office and stood at a safe, ten feet away from his desk, patiently waiting for his thoughts to come back to reality. Jack stared down at his file, realizing he had not touched it for twenty minutes. His glasses lay on his desk next to his pen, his nerves grating from his persisting headache. Finally composed, he looked up at the woman who extracted so much energy from him; she who left him constantly confused and uncertain.
"Do you have the information on the bar and all the escape routes?" asked Jack in a tired, monotone voice. "Yes, I am about to head out now. I just wanted to see if you were all right," she said the latter more carefully, slowly cocking her head to the right. I'm signing divorce papers tonight. Do I look fine to you?
"Yes, perfectly fine, just a headache," feeling the need to get the subject back on track, Jack quickly stated, "Martin and Danny will be at the bar to observe you." "You're not going to come see me in action?" she replied, slightly taken back by him not attending the mission. She betrayed no emotion, no slight annoyance at his obvious need to push her away. He kept her far away, but just in his grasp. Just to have a shred of control over her or either he couldn't fully relinquish the feelings that refused to go away.
"It's open house night at school. Non-negotiable." Sam averted her eyes to the ground, another wave of emotions rushing over her. She remained silent, her mind churning over the thoughts and guilt that came when he mentioned his family. She recovered quickly when she felt his eyes on her, returning the penetrable gaze she had previously directed at him. To prevent the awkward situation from getting worse, she chose to respond in her usual light-hearted, sarcastic remark.
"This is understandable, I mean who could pass up an exciting evening conversing with teachers and pretentious parents, over a night with a killer?" "Not only the parents, but the children that go along with them, and their beautiful artwork. You should see what the kids draw nowadays. One boy had a picture hanging up that was of his mom and dad, his older sister and younger brother, his mom's new husband and his half-sister, his dad's boyfriend, and the baby-sitter," he recalled slowly, smiling at the end.
"And you thought you had it bad," Sam responded smiling. Jack's smile quickly retracted and Sam realized her mistake. Feeling it was her time to exit, Sam quickly uttered, "I'm going to go now." Jack nodded and watched her retreating form and quickly said, "Sam?" she paused in the doorway and looked back, "Be careful. and please be good," he added with a smirk. She returned the smile and said, "sure Jack." Her smile quickly disappeared as soon as she turned around and headed towards her desk, not looking forward to her evening.
Two days prior:
The coffee was too hot. Too hot to drink and look graceful while doing so. Sam quickly swallowed the mouthful she had, flinching as it scorched her tongue and seared her throat. Why she didn't check it first, she didn't know. Maybe because she was preoccupied. Definitely. She was definitely preoccupied, and her thoughts went romping about in her brain as though elephants were playing basketball. Each moment ticked by, adding one more ounce of nerve racking, gut wrenching guilt to her already burdened mind.
Sam walked to the tiled table and sat down in the small coffee shop, watching people come in and out, wondering what horrible things they had done in their lives. As she thought back to the past few months, she tried to desperately seek some balance. It had been almost five months since that one night. The one night that changed everything between her and Jack. Admittedly so, they had done their best to return to normal, tried to because it would be too awkward and too unrealistic not to do so in such a high-pressure situation.
It was in fact easier to return to normal on the surface than to even attempt to further explore her feelings. To do so would kill her on the inside, because even though he was separated with his wife, she knew he still loved his wife and children. Jack wasn't in love with Sam, perhaps he lusted after her, but Sam was too easily deceived when it came to men. She didn't want her heart to be trampled upon and she knew enough not to play with that of a married man's.
The worst part was hearing about his family and the pangs of regret every time he brought them up, even when it wasn't remotely related to their situation or a case. As it seemed though, everything was related at work. She had never believed herself one to enter into an adulterous situation, let alone hurt someone else out of passion and lust. But who does? Who plans to have an affair with their boss? She certainly never did.
She did know that she wanted the pain to go away and the heaviness upon her heart to dissipate. She would not even consider addressing her feelings for him because she knew under no circumstances could they be returned. Sam knew the feelings existed and she sometimes let them show, but she was a fort, an iron fort. She had constructed forty-foot walls of steel and iron around herself and as long as Jack didn't come up with a forty-one foot ladder, she would be perfectly fine.
Constantly feeling the need to be in control, never letting her emotions get the best of her, Sam insisted on maintaining a strong sense of independence and objectiveness. She never tried to let her personal beliefs or feelings get in the way of a case, but inevitably they would infiltrate her solid defenses and shine through. And she hated herself for it. Sometimes she was too passionate about a case, or hated how much some of the situations resembled her own life, and she couldn't keep quiet. She almost refused to, as if it were her duty to be the voice of reason or doubt or whatever voice that was needed to make the mission work. To direct their focus or bring up questions, just to get the other side of things.
She frowned again as she took another sip of her coffee. Sitting back in her chair, see scanned outside to see if she could spot Vivian and Danny. She was waiting to meet with them, and as it was, her break was nearing an end. They were all trading off searching for a 67- year old woman. She hoped she wouldn't be the one to find her. She hated the possibilities of what could happen to a person in this city.
Morning after Jack signed his divorce papers and Sam's adventure.
Jack walked into the office, tired from the lack of sleep, yet anxious with anticipation. It was early, too early. He'd received a message on his voice mail from Vivian saying that they got the guy and that for the most part, Samantha came out unscathed. Vivian didn't elaborate in her message, but he knew there would be more to the story. He was surprised Sam hadn't left him a message saying what had happened; he knew she was fond of telling him of what he missed out on when he had other commitments.
Jack was almost two hours early to work. He headed straight towards the coffeepot to get it going, but paused when it was already on, almost done with the first round. He quickly looked around the office, scanning the desks to see who else was insane enough to be at work at such an outrageous time. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the familiar blond head, barely peaking over her desk's barrier. Feeling somewhat unnerved, he quickly, quietly turned around and headed towards his office. Edging in and closing the door quickly, he paused when he saw an envelope lying in the center of his desk.
The manila envelope had interoffice mail across the front of it. He looked out of his windows, checking to see if Sam was still working, then sat on the edge of his desk, opening the manila folder. It was an injury report that needed to be filed and also an administrative leave for one Samantha Spade.