TITLE: Red Skies Book II of III
AUTHOR: Jennifoofighter
RATING: R
KEYWORDS: MS, D/OC, J/OC, VM, and friendship all around.
SPOILERS/TIMELINE: This is a sequel to my previous fic, 'Til the Sky Turned Blue
ARCHIVE: Work in progress
DISCLAIMER: Hank and Co. own everything Without a Trace. No copyright infringement is intended. Heaven knows if I had any control of the show I wouldn't have to write at all.
SUMMARY: Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight.
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"Having a child is like having your heart walk around outside of your body." Unknown
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Chapter 1
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"Do you have any blank requisition forms?" Martin asked from where he sat across from Sam at the dining room table.
"I think so," she replied as she sifted through her files and paperwork, locating the form and handing it over to him. "Here you go."
"Thanks," he took the form and started filling it in when the telephone rang. He stood up, saying, "I'll get it," before disappearing into the kitchen.
Sam picked up her cup of coffee and took a drink as she read through her summation of her last case. She put the cup back down when she heard Grace screaming as she tore down the hallway.
"Mom! Mom!" Grace shouted as she stormed into the dining area, her pigtails flying, and lunged at Sam. "Nate and Eli won't leave me alone!"
Sam put down the file she was holding and gently rubbed her daughter's back. "What are they doing?"
Grace climbed onto the chair next to her and said, "They keep walking by my door and looking at me." Her little face was hot and flustered. "It's driving me crazy."
Sam stifled a laugh and pulled her daughter close to her. "You just have to be patient with them. They're only three and they just think you are really interesting." Grace snuggled up to her and she said, "Why don't you just stay in here with me?"
"Okay," the little girl replied tiredly as she rested her little head against Sam.
Danny and Emma had to take Mike and Diego into the hospital to run more tests. It seemed that if one half of identical twins was diagnosed the odds were twenty percent higher that the sibling would have the illness as well. Everyone was praying that Mike was going to be in the clear because if the treatments did not work for Diego then they would need a bone marrow donor and he would be the best match. So in the meantime, Sam and Martin offered to watch Eli whenever possible. While Nate loved having Eli over, Grace found that being outnumbered in her own home to be a huge inconvenience.
Martin walked in from the kitchen, the cordless phone pressed up against his ear. "Hey Sam, Parker wants to throw an anniversary party for mom and dad on the 27th, do you think you can take time off?"
"I'll have to double check with Jack but I'm pretty sure it should be fine," she replied as she gently ran Grace's pigtails through her fingers.
"Count us in," Martin replied into the phone. "Is there anything you need for us to do?"
Grace climbed off the chair and walked up to Martin saying, "I want to talk to Aunt Parker."
"Hang on, Gracie wants to say hi," he said into the receiver before handing the phone to his daughter.
"Hi," she said into the cell phone. She was quiet for a beat before saying, "I'm fine but Nate keeps bugging me. Brothers are such a pain."
Martin walked over and sat down in the chair vacated by Grace as they watched their daughter chat with her favorite auntie. He placed his forearms on the table and asked, "So what was she shouting about earlier?"
"The boys were pestering her," she replied with a smile as she signed off on her summation. She looked up as Grace was listening intently to whatever Parker was saying so she flipped open her file again and with a devilish grin added, "But don't worry, I'm sure Parker can share stories with Grace about how bothersome little brothers can be."
He leaned in close and asked, "Are you referring to me?"
She released a soft laugh and said, "If the shoe fits…"
He laughed before leaning over and kissing the side of her neck. She smiled, liking that in the last few weeks she and Martin were getting along more and arguing less. While neither one voiced it, she was pretty sure that her sessions with Lisa Harris were playing a huge part of it.
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"So that's why I am here," Sam explained to Lisa as she sat on the leather sofa, straightening out imaginary wrinkles on her pants. She had just finished telling Lisa what she had told Danny a week ago.
"I see," Lisa replied in her clinical undetached therapists tone. "So you mentioned that you felt connected to Brenda's feelings of missing an independent life but you could not imagine doing what she did either. Why do you think that is?"
"Are you asking me why I don't think I could leave my family?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because I'm pretty sure that is the healthiest response."
"No, it's good that you love your family but what I am wondering about is just how strongly you felt about it," Lisa replied as she rested an elbow on the arm chair, resting her chin on her closed hand. "Why does what she did make you so sad?"
Sam shifted in her seat uncomfortably and turned her gaze to her hands. "I can't help but think about her kids, on how they must be feeling right now. I guess because I have been in their shoes," She took a deep breath and softly said, "My dad left when I was little."
Lisa nodded slowly and asked, "How old were you?"
"Six," she replied.
"I see," Lisa said as she jotted it down in her notepad. "And how old is your daughter now?"
She folded her arms, suddenly feeling very defensive. "She's five."
"So your daughter is around the same age you were when your dad left. And you said that you and Martin have been having problems lately – do you think there is any connection?" she asked. "I mean, you're a mother now and you were saying that the kids take a lot of work, they can be exhausting..."
"I'm not worried that Martin is going to leave me and the kids if that's where you are headed. He isn't anything like my father," Sam scoffed. ."If anything he is my anti-father complex."
Lisa gave her a humorless smile and said, "That's good but I don't think it's Martin that you fear will leave. I think you're afraid that you will."
"That's ridiculous," she replied, keeping her arms folded tightly to her. "I just don't think that what I have been feeling can be attributed to something as simple as my dad leaving when I was a kid. It was over thirty years ago."
"It isn't simple. Having a parent abandon you is one of the most complicated things that can happen to a person. It helps shape your identity," Lisa said, her tone calm and reassuring. "It can leave you with a lot of distrust issues, fear of abandonment…"
"Then shouldn't I be the opposite? Cling even harder to my kids?"
"Sometimes that is how it works, that's true," Lisa replied. "But sometimes it can manifest itself in other ways, sneaking up on you when you least expect it."
"Well, I'm not…I can't be like him," she quietly answered. She wanted to tell Lisa that she was wrong; that she was nothing like her father. She couldn't be – she hated him. But words wouldn't come, they were lodged in her throat by the huge lump aching and throbbing inside of her. So as tears welled in her eyes she lowered her head and began to cry softly. She wiped her cheeks and took a deep breath, trying to get her bearings. "This is so stupid. I thought I was done with him."
"Sam, I know you love your family but I really think we should consider that maybe your fears are connected to him," Lisa said quietly. "Maybe it's time to start talking about your father…"
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After that session she felt like a huge weight she didn't know she had been carrying was lifted from her. She left Lisa's office and walked straight up to see Martin. She sat with him on his office sofa and told him all about her session. Despite herself she started crying again and Martin pulled her close, just holding her while she wept. Mourning a father she wasn't even sure was alive or dead.
After that, much like Danny said, Martin was much happier that she was just talking to him at all that soon he was much less tense around her and in turn, she was much less tense around him. It was starting to feel like how it was their first few years of marriage.
"Daddy did what?" Grace asked, her big blue eyes going wide with surprise. Sam saw Martin look over at her, a flicker of fear across his face that his older sister was telling his daughter tall tales of his mischievous youth. Grace, still talking on the phone said, "He broke your Easy-Bake oven? That's awful."
Sam laughed and looked at her husband asking, "You broke your sisters Easy-Bake oven? How did you do that?"
"I didn't mean to," he replied with a chagrined grin. "I accidentally dropped it from the tree."
She released a soft chuckle as she asked, "Why were you taking it up in a tree?"
"I wanted to put it in my tree house," he said with a voice tinged with remorse. She laughed and he gave her an annoyed look. "Hey, it let you bake those tiny little delicious cakes and cookies with just a light bulb."
"But why did you have to take it?"
"Because Parker was mean and she wouldn't make the cakes for me whenever I wanted some and she wouldn't let me play with it either. And there was no way in hell I could ask my parents to buy me one. Really, I had no choice but to steal it. I just didn't think the damn thing would be so hard to carry up a rope ladder…" he said regretfully. "To make matters worse, as punishment my parents said she could take one of my toys. I'll never forget her smug face as she rode up and down the street on my Big Wheel." He got a wistful look on his face and his voice cracked with emotion as he said, "I really loved that Big Wheel. It had a blue seat, bright red frame, and these awesome handle bars with plastic red, white and blue tassels…It still hurts to think about it."
Sam laughed and pulled him to her, kissing him on the cheek. "You are too much."
He laughed.
"Okay, bye," Grace said as she handed the telephone back to Martin. As soon as he took it she broke into a sprint towards the hallway.
"Slow down, where are you in a hurry to get to?" Sam shouted.
"I have to go hide my toys!" Grace yelled over her shoulder before disappearing down the hall. "Aunt Parker said you have to be careful when you have little brothers!"
Martin had a scowl on his face as he picked up the phone and in the most brotherly tone said, "Parker, you are such a tattletale!"