Title:- The Song Remains The Same
Rating:- PG-13...until further notice.
Pairing:- M/S
Disclaimer:- I own nothing and nobody related to WaT. I'd be a bit ashamed to right now actually.
The familiar click of the alarm clock mechanism heralded the beginning of yet another Monday morning as the changing of the large, blinking red figures ushered in another cold winters day.
'I'm walking on sunshine, woooah! I'm walking on sunshine, woooah
and don't it feel good!! Hey, alright now and don't it feel good!!'
Samantha groaned irritably at the unbearably upbeat melody currently invading her dreams, trying to burrow further under the covers to hide from the unwelcome disruption as well as the icy chill that possessed her bedroom.
Clearly the DJ in question had for some reason seen fit to terrorize his audience with ironically whimsical and buoyant pop songs. They would undoubtedly be a perfect contrast to the mood of most poor people forced to awaken to their grating, nausea inducing melodies.
Without even opening her eyes she could already picture the white frosted dusting of ice that would be etched over her window and there would undoubtedly be at least a foot of fresh white snow littering the street outside just waiting to be waded through and slid across.
Thoughts of blissfully hot, seemingly long ago New York summer days brought a brief and mournful smile to her face until the pleasant interlude was rudely interrupted by yet another warning from the radio station DJ of the current weather conditions.
'A reminder to listeners that the National Weather Service has issued an advisory storm warning for New York City with up to 14 inches of snow expected to fall on the city in the next 12 hours. A spokesman for the Port Authority has advised travellers to contact their airlines to check for flight disruptions with La Guardia, JFK and Newark all announcing cancellations.'
"Ughh," Samantha reached out impulsively and hit the button on the top of her alarm clock in evident disgust, trying to psych herself up to remove herself from the warm cocoon of her bed covers and great the chilly morning with the obligatory shock of bare feet on cold floor boards.
There wasn't one redeeming feature Sam could find in the blustery, wintry day outside. Their current case was proving more than a challenge to all their powers of investigation; witnesses were amazingly unhelpful and delighted in taking the 5th amendment to the extreme, Mob affiliations seemed to be surfacing at every possible juncture, Van Doren and her team of bureau lawyers were breathing down their necks and Jack was walking around like the proverbial bear with a sore head.
Shuffling awkwardly to the bathroom she let out an anguished yell as she stubbed her toe firmly into the foot of her large wooden bed and a stream of suitable expletives left her lips.
No, all in all Sam held no high hopes of it being even close to becoming a good day, all signs currently predicted otherwise.
A few hours later she somehow found herself striding down the hallways of the FBI building, a wad of files hugged to her chest as she listened to Danny talk incessantly about his latest conquest who seemed to be an ER nurse called Jill. At least this week anyway.
"So I'm thinking...maybe ice-skating in central park...nice candle lit dinner...and then..." he waggled his eyebrows suggestively and cleared his throat, chuckling at Sam's withering stare.
"You can stop there, thanks!" she held up her hand defensively and turned to walk into the break room, finding herself smiling somewhat aimlessly as Martin looked up and caught her gaze, "I think I can fill in the rest of the details."
Danny shrugged and then suddenly elbowed her teasingly, "Aww, what's up hot-stuff? Your love life flagging lately huh?" he cajoled.
Sam cleared her throat uncomfortably and placed the files down onto the counter top as she busied herself with preparing a mug of coffee, glancing casually at Martin as she bit back a small smile, "My love life is just fine," she smiled crookedly at Danny and cocked her head, "thanks for your concern."
"Well, as the resident 'Love Doctor' if you will.." Danny began, smirking as Martin sighed in exaggerated impatience and stepped past him towards his desk.
"Save it Taylor," Martin groaned, shaking his head in exasperation as he felt sure further details of Danny's nocturnal exploits would somehow find their way into conversation.
Danny cast a cursory glance over his two colleagues and sat back in his chair, hands knotted firmly behind his head, "You two are just jealous of my natural prowess...wouldn't kill you two to you know...actually go on a date sometime," he said incredulously. It sometimes amazed him how two such attractive people could be so obviously and unhappily single.
Danny paused abruptly as he saw their expressions and cleared his throat, trying desperately to back pedal as he thought about the ill-fated relationship the two had previously shared some months before.
"I didn't mean with each other. I...I just meant dates. Like...dating in general...with other people."
Martin sighed, exchanging amused smiles with Sam who appeared to be visibly shuddering as she sat at her desk and stared at her computer screen, rubbing her hands together in a feeble attempt to warm up. For some unfathomable reason the offices seemed colder than usual today and her body felt heavy and sluggish and a little disorientated.
Samantha glanced at the photograph of their missing person, blinking rapidly as she realised she could only remember the woman's first name, "Victoria..." she paused, rubbing her head as she tried to remember the name she knew she must already know, "Victoria..."
"Viv just called," Martin stated, placing the phone back on it's cradle and standing up to retrieve a file from Sam's desk, "She's stuck in a traffic. Sounds like it was a pretty bad accident up there."
"Yet more news to make Papa Bear happy," Danny sighed, casting a cautious glance at Jack's office as their boss appeared to be caught up in an apparently intense phone conversation .
Martin bent to pick up the pile of papers from Sam's desk, sifting through them until he came to the document he needed and then promptly returned the pile to their previous home. He watched Sam rub her eyelids wearily and placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze as she looked up to shoot him a brief smile of acknowledgement.
"You ok?" he lowered his voice and watched Jack stalk across the office toward Danny's desk, trying not to let their boss overhear their conversation.
"Yeah," Sam nodded, a little mystified as to the cause for her discomfort. She couldn't really pinpoint how she felt, just felt strange. Things, people, places, conversation – even the lighting in the office – it all seemed wrong somehow.
"You sure?" Martin cocked an eyebrow, his hand still lingering on her shoulder.
"I'm fine," she nodded, smiling to allay his fears and briefly placing her hand over his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Hey Marty," Danny called over, standing up and hastily grabbing a deep red scarf from the back of his chair, "you wanna go see a man about a dog?"
"You mean a man about a dog? or a homicidal mob boss about his mistress?" Martin smirked.
Danny shrugged and threw the scarf around his neck with a grin, "Eh...semantics!
Martin sighed wearily and walked over to his desk, watched closely by Samantha as he and Danny stalked off hurriedly toward the elevators.
Samantha returned to her previous task, or at least she thought she had, but what seemed to be mere minutes later Jack once again stepped out of his office, the darkened rooms lit now by desk lamps as the early afternoon sky clouded over.
Sam stared in surprise at the darkened room, feeling more than a little disorientated by the apparent time lapse. Yet the look on her boss's face drew her instantly from her thoughts as he perched precariously on the corner of her desk and stared down at his hands. Jack Malone was seldom lost for words, it was never a good sign to find him rendered speechless.
"Something wrong Jack?" she stared up hesitantly into his brown eyes, immediately her heart began pounding in her chest as she easily read the expression on his face.
Jack licked his thin lips nervously and released a shaky breath, "There was an accident..."
Sam swallowed hard, hearing her heartbeat echoing loudly in her eardrums, "Jack?" she wanted to almost shake him, angered by his lethargic delivery of the news, "What happened? Are they ok?"
"Sam..." Jack appeared to be selecting his words carefully, his large hand landing comfortingly on her shoulder, "Martin is uhm...He's..."
Sam pulled away from him suddenly, refusing to let him end that sentence. Her hand gripped the edge of her desk as she stared wide eyed at the wooden surface trying desperately to process what he was trying to tell her.
A loud crash suddenly made her jump in surprise, a sound she presumed came from the street below.
As the clatter reverberated in her ears her head whipped around to the source of the noise and in that second everything around her faded to black.
Samantha opened her eyes and blinked rapidly, surprised to find herself staring at her bedroom wall as she sat up suddenly and ran her fingers through her long blonde hair.
Her chest practically ached with the intensity of her heartbeat and she found herself momentarily paralysed in a combination of fear and confusion as she tried to regulate her breathing and clear her muddied thoughts.
She quickly scanned the night stand, staring fearfully at the digital display yet at the same time willing it to change. The seconds ticked by slowly until the display began to flash angrily and the radio suddenly greeted the new morning with the guitar riff of an old 1980's power ballad.
No irritating pop song, no storm warning.
When she actually thought about it many other details of her dream made no sense to her; they had no new case, Jack had been in an uncharacteristically good mood for the past few weeks, Danny was dating a social worker called Amy and as for her and Martin, they were purely on what she considered to be friendly terms. They had been getting closer lately, something of which Samantha was immensely grateful for, yet the apparent air of intimacy that had existed between them in her dream was sadly a thing of the past.
Sam laughed self-consciously, laying back down against the pillows as she rubbed her face wearily and chided her irrational fears.
"Just a dream," she said out loud, shaking her head as she narrowed her eyes and thought about the absurdity of her subconscious.
The rain continued to pound against the window pane outside and Samantha found its usually irritating presence somewhat comforting as opposed to the snow she had been fearful of finding as she had awoken.
Stepping out of bed, she turned off the radio and headed toward the shower, determined not to give another moment's thought to her nightmare.
It was only a dream.