A/N: Alternate ending for Bait, probably been done before but I'm bored.
Disclaimer: Hank and others own it, not me.
Oh yeah, I borrowed a line from the return of the king LOTR movie, love it so much. Can you guess which?
Samantha crept quietly past the crates, her gun pointed in front of her, looking out for any sign of the two men. As she turned the corner past some of the crates one of them hiding behind there reached out and grabbed her wrists- slamming her against the crates and wrenching the gun from her hand.
As she lay dazed on the ground, the kidnapper raised the gun- her gun- and took aim. Samantha, unable to move felt a strange sense of calm come over her, she closed her eyes allowing a single tear to slide down her cheek.
She didn't even register the sound of the gun as he fired.
Meanwhile Vivian and Jack had subdued the other kidnapper, they had heard the gunshot but hadn't taken notice of it, assuming they were firing at the other kidnapper. A second later they heard another shot, which again they didn't pay particular attention to. What they heard next grabbed their attention. "No!" A scream of complete gut wrenching despair that made everyone nearby look around in confusion, the sorrow in the yell making everyone's heart skip a beat.
Startled they froze for a moment, turning to each other questioningly before leaving the kidnapper in the police custody and running to where they heard the scream from.
Danny skidded round a corner, he too running towards the scream.
Vivian, Jack and Danny arrived at the same time, none of them able to believe what they saw in front of them. The other kidnapper was lying dead on the ground, but what they really focused on was Samantha, lying still on the ground, her eyes closed- surrounded by her blood. Martin was crouched by her tears pouring down his face, as he gently smoothed her hair down.
Danny felt his legs give way beneath as he collapsed on to the ground. His eyes fixed on the body of his best friend- his family. He felt Vivian kneeling down next to him pulling him into a hug, but he couldn't respond.
Shakily Jack radioed for an ambulance- even though he knew it was too late, before going over and helping Martin up. Martin looked at Jack, his eyes empty, unable to comprehend what had happened. He looked over at Danny- his eyes spilling over again seeing Danny's desolate expression.
Jack looked down at Samantha, with her eyes closed she looked so peaceful. The small teardrop still lingered on her cold cheek, and he fought back the urge to wipe it away. Forcing his attention back to Martin, he reached out to grab his shoulders, making Martin direct his attention back to Jack.
"Martin, what happened?" he asked.
"I errr, I heard a gunshot...and I came round the corner and saw her lying there." He choked at this point, having to take a deep breath to continue, avoiding looking at Samantha's body. "He turned and pointed his gun at me, so I fired."
Jack closed his eyes, tears starting to form. He looked over at Danny and Vivian. Vivian felt him looking, and caught his gaze her eyes filled with sorrow.
Carefully Danny stood up, his legs betraying him as he stumbled, moving over to Sam. His hands shaking, his heart breaking he knelt down beside her. Ignoring the blood. Vivian got up too and went to stand with Jack and Martin, all watching Danny- knowing how much Sam was to him.
"Don't go where I can't follow." he whispered, feeling it to be his job to gently brush the tear away, his own tears falling on her face.
Martin still in shock couldn't move his eyes from Samantha. His heart ached for Danny, for all their loss. Samantha was gone. He hadn't told her, but he had wanted to ask her out again, for real this time. He had wanted to start a relationship with her. Sam had been the one person he had imagined being with, and starting a family, growing old together. And he had never told her. After their conversation about old feelings fading and new ones growing- he thought he had felt something from her. Now it could never happen. He only hoped that Samantha had known how he felt before...it had happened.
Thinking, looking at the stricken faces on his colleagues faces he felt a pang of guilt. God, how he wished he had gotten there sooner. He sighed, attracting Vivian's attention.
Vivian glanced over at him quickly, her soft brown eyes welling up again. She vaguely heard the ambulance crew in the backgroud, but found herself unable to tear her gaze away from Samantha. As morbid as that may sound. She idly wondered why it had to be Sam. (Not that she would have wanted it to be anyone else either.) Why her though? She had so much left in her, so much to do. She looked at the others. How were they going to manage to get through this? Sam meant so much to all of them. She was Danny's best friend, his sister. They had always had a special bond, straight from day one.
And Martin, she had seen how Martin had looked at her- more that just a simple crush- and recently she had noticed the looks being returned but nothing more than that however. But there may have been. One day.
Jack, who knew what he still felt for Samantha. But even she couldn't deny that they had a connection.
And herself, Samantha had always promoted maternal feelings, (much like Danny), that had evolved into a strong friendship. She thought it was party because she knew that Sam's childhood hadn't been easy, but mainly because Samantha Spade had, had this vunerability and innocence hidden within her, in spite of what she had seen on the job. She still had hope, and faith in humanity- sometimes such strong faith that it was so amazing to see. Occasionally she would let her tough facade slip momentarily, and you would see this lost little girl who just wanted to feel like she belonged.
The ambulance crew arrrived, lifting Samantha up on to the stretcher, covering her with a sheet, removing her pale peaceful face from their eyes. Forever.
Danny stood, his eyes following the stretcher and he realised how much he wanted a drink. But he wouldn't. He knew Samantha wouldn't have wanted him to. He clasped Martin's shoulder. "Let's get out of here." he said, not wanting to stand by the pool of his best friends blood any longer.
He glanced up into the sky as they all walked to the cars, and thought to himself that there was another name that he had to add to the stars.
A few hours later, after talking to the police, Van Doren and calling Samantha's family. They all found themselves at the office, seated at the conference table, each trying to aviod looking at her desk.
None of them had wanted to go to their homes straight away, they had all felt the need to be with each other, to be with people that had known Samantha at the moment. Their area of the office was pretty much empty and for that they were grateful. It meant no forced small talk, or condolences from people who didn't know the real Samantha.
Martin sighed. God, is just being at the office was this hard- what was the funeral going to be like?
After several conversations with Samantha's mom and sister, they had agreed for the funeral to be held in New York.
Everyone had been given a white rose and a yellow orchid, as they had been Samantha's favorite flowers.
Samantha's mom and sister stood near the missing person team, and you could see the regret in Sam's mom's eyes that she hadn't had a better relationship with her daughter. They both stood, clinging to each other, silent tears pouring down their faces. As they would find out later, Sam's dad had left years ago, and Samantha and her mom hadn't had a proper conversation almost a year, just after Sam had been shot. Her mom had insisted that the work was too dangerous, and she had wanted to to quit.
Martin stood there, staring at the priest and the coffin that held Samantha, feeling like his heart as breaking. Next to him, Danny was gazing at his flowers his eyes empty and lost.
"Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust." Then it was their turn to go up and say their final goodbye.
Jack walked over, placing his flowers on top of the coffin. Staying for a silent for a moment, he kissed his fingertips, then leaning down to touch the coffin. "Be at peace." he whispered.
Vivian came next, her tears dripping onto the flowers which she too placed on the coffin. "Bye Sam." she choked. "Thank you for everything, we'll miss you."
Danny made his way over, gazing sadly down at the wooden box that held Samantha. "God Sam. Why did you have to go?" he whispered. "I'm going to miss you so much. But I'm going to look up at the stars, and you'll be there- watching won't you?" He placed his flowers down. (They had been his idea, he had known she had loved them). "I love you." He made it to Vivian and Jack before sobs completely overcame him.
Then it was Martin's turn. He too walked over, placing his flowers next to Dannys. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you." A few tears fell onto the polished brown wood. "I wanted you to know that I love you. I hope you knew that. I'll always love you." He paused for a moment. "Goodbye." he whispered.
He walked over to the others, looking over his shoulder to see Sam's mom and sister approaching the coffin.
I love you Samantha. He thought to himself, vowing to never ever forget her.