A/N: Spoilers for Season 7 as this is set after "Heartbeats" but before "Hard Landing". Thank you once more to Diane and Justine, who never seem to get fed up of me.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show, unfortunately.

Rating: K+

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Homecoming

By

Littleguinea

As he looked around Sam's apartment, he couldn't help wondering why his life was never straight forward. He wasn't one for wallowing in self-pity, but just recently it seemed to him that was exactly what he'd found himself doing more and more.

Sam's accident had been the final straw. The feeling of total helplessness that had enveloped him made him truly realize how much he cared for her. Yet when he first saw her in hospital, he was so relieved that he had felt numb and unable to let his emotions out… how much he regretted that now.

What must she have thought, and yet she seemed more concerned about Brian than her own injuries. Was that a sense of guilt on her part, for having been the one behind the steering wheel, or was it something more?

Jack shook his head, as if trying to chase away the irrational thoughts that were running through his head.

Right, where did she keep her make up and toiletries? Clothes, underwear and shoes he'd managed, no problem. Bathroom - that was a good place to start.

Sam had given him a list of things she needed. She'd been told she would be discharged from hospital that day, and Jack had arranged for Viv to take charge of things back at the unit so that he could make sure everything was just right for Sam coming home. Hanna had been only too happy to agree to spend the night at a friend's house, something which had also toyed with Jack's insecure mind.

After a while, he found the items on her list and put them all in a bag. He had a few other things to do yet before he was ready to go to the hospital and pick her up.

*****

He got back to her apartment at around 2.30 p.m. laden with bags and flowers. Finn and his nanny were waiting there for Jack when he walked through the door.

Jack had decided that it might be nice to take Finn with him to the hospital when he picked Sam up. He'd never forget the look on Sam's face when she first saw Finn after the accident.

After putting down the bags, he walked over to Finn.

"Hiya, shorty," Jack said, and took him from his nanny's arms. "Are you ready to go pick your mom up from the hospital?"

Finn just gave Jack a quizzical look before blowing a raspberry in his face.

"Great, thanks for that kiddo," Jack spluttered, before handing him back over to the nanny.

"I just have to unpack a few things before we'll be ready to go. Do you mind just hanging around a bit longer to look after the little guy?" he asked the nanny.

And after she confirmed that she could spare him another 30 minutes, he quickly set about the task in hand.

Jack wanted everything to be perfect for Sam's homecoming, so he'd bought a few things for her, just to make things a little easier. He finally emerged from the kitchen and gathered together the bags he needed to take.

Finn was ready to go, so he scooped him up before letting the nanny out of the apartment, then they made their way down to Jack's car.

****

The journey to the hospital didn't take too long and soon Jack was striding up the corridor, Sam's bag in one hand and Finn nestled snugly in his other arm.

She was sleeping quietly in a chair when they got to her room.

Jack walked silently in and put the bag down on the bed before gently stroking Sam's cheek. She raised her head very slowly and opened her eyes.

"Hey," she said weakly. "My two favorite boys have come to take me home." A smile was slowly creeping across her face.

Sam raised her arms to take Finn and she gave him a huge hug before passing him back to Jack.

"I think I have everything from your list," Jack explained. "So… I'll take Finn to see Brian if you like, while you get ready."

"Really?" asked Sam. "You don't mind?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders and headed out the door with Finn.

Virtually every day, Jack surprised her more and more with his acceptance of the situation they found themselves in.

Why wasn't he angry, why the hell hadn't he stopped her from taking Brian to the airport? Just thinking of it made her angry, not at Jack, but at the drunk driver and at the fact that she hadn't just told Brian to get a cab like Jack had suggested.

She was starting to get a headache, so she quickly took her things out of the bag and began to get ready to leave.

In some ways she was glad that Jack had taken Finn to see Brian because it would mean that she wouldn't have to. Even though she held no romantic feelings for him, she had been a little surprised at how emotional she'd been when she'd first seen him after the accident.

She'd felt a little guilty, even though the smash hadn't been her fault. She'd also realized that Finn might have lost his father and she really didn't want that. She wanted Brian to be a part of Finn's life, even though it might cause a few difficulties along the way.

Jack and Finn returned after about twenty minutes.

"Brian's fine - just a bit tired, so I told him you were getting discharged today," said Jack. "Want to go see him before you leave?"

"No," said Sam, quite firmly. "I just want to get home with you two."

"Okay, let's get your things together and get out of here," he said.

Jack put Finn down gently on the bed while he packed Sam's bag. He then took hold of her hands and slowly helped her to stand. She groaned as she straightened herself up.

Jack let go of her hands and Sam stumbled slightly; she threw her arms forward and grabbed Jack around the shoulders. She buried her face in his neck and Jack could hear her softly sobbing.

He quickly wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.

"Hey, it's okay, you're fine and you're on your way home," Jack said, trying to console her.

"I'm sorry, Jack, this is all my fault," Sam sobbed. "I've caused you all this trouble and it's the last thing I wanted. I do love you so much."

Although the words coming from her lips should have been enough to reassure him, he still couldn't help but feel uneasy about the way things were panning out.

He placed his hand under her chin and gently raised her head until he could look straight into her eyes.

"This is not your fault, none of it, and don't let me hear you say that again…okay?" he said, a little too firmly, thinking that the ones to blame were the drunk driver and Brian for asking her to take him to the airport in the first place.

Sam stared at him, her eyes heavy with guilt and tiredness.

"Oh, Jack, I've missed you and Finn so much," she whispered weakly.

"I know, me too… Now come on, let's get you safely home," he replied.

****

After the tiring car ride, Sam was happy just to sit down on the first chair that she came to when they entered her apartment.

She looked around and could see that Jack had gone to some trouble to make the place as warm and welcoming as possible. There were flowers on the table and she could smell a mouth-watering aroma wafting from the kitchen. He'd obviously prepared something before he'd left to pick her up.

Jack's culinary skills weren't his strongest, so she kind of hoped that he'd got a little help with that along the way.

"Right, Finn is ready for something to eat, how about you Sam?" asked Jack. "Viv brought a casserole over earlier. She thought you could do with something wholesome to eat after that hospital food."

With some relief, Sam said she'd try to eat a little.

Jack served up the casserole and mashed some vegetables together for Finn.

It was so nice watching Jack feed Finn. Slowly over the months, he'd come to help out more with the day-to-day things that Finn needed. Of course, Jack wasn't there all the time, which made it all the more remarkable how well they had bonded.

After they'd eaten, Sam wanted to sit quietly and maybe have a little nap if she could manage it. The problem was that since the crash, she kept having flashbacks and so she had tried to avoid going to sleep if she possibly could. Not that she had admitted any of this to Jack, because she knew he'd have been even angrier with the drunk driver and then she didn't know what he might do.

Jack settled her on the sofa and got a blanket from the bedroom to make sure she stayed warm and comfortable before taking Finn through to the nursery to get him ready for his bath.

Sam must have dozed off because the next thing she knew, there was Jack holding a very sleepy Finn in his arms.

"Someone wants to say goodnight," said Jack, leaning forwards so Sam could give Finn a kiss.

Jack then took Finn to his room and tucked him in his crib for the night.

When he returned to the sofa, Sam looked as if she was just drifting off to sleep. He sat down beside her carefully, so as not to disturb her.

"Hey," she said sleepily, snuggling into Jack's arm.

"You okay, Sam? You look pale," said Jack, and he pulled her a little closer to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine… it's just, it's hard getting any sleep at the moment," she said hesitantly.

"You're safe and you're home and I'm not going anywhere… unless you want me to." Jack tried to sound reassuring, but inside the voice of insecurity kept nagging at him and he knew that he shouldn't be starting this conversation, not now, but for some reason he couldn't help himself.

"For a while there, I thought I was going to lose you, Sam… and now I…I just think that maybe I'm losing you in a different way," he said quietly.

"What… what did you say… Jack?" Sam asked sleepily. She wasn't coherent enough to take in his words.

"I think you'd be more comfortable in bed," Jack sighed. "Come on, let's get you up."

He could see that Sam was almost asleep, she was that tired, so he stood and took her in his arms, before carrying her through to the bedroom.

He delicately laid her on the bed and carefully undressed her. He almost felt like crying when he saw her bruised and battered body. She certainly had been lucky not to have suffered more serious injuries, but he knew by looking at her discolored skin that she must be in an awful lot of pain.

She made little attempt to help him, so he carried on until she was in her nightshirt, then he laid her head on the pillow and covered her with the sheets. He placed a delicate kiss on her lips before switching off the light and pulling the bedroom door shut behind him.

It didn't take him long to tidy up the dinner plates, and he was just about to sit down and do the crossword that he'd kept from the newspaper earlier that day when he heard Sam cry out.

"Jack, Jack, it's…it's dark, are you…" Sam's voice trailed off before he got into the room.

She was still asleep and he knew she must have been dreaming.

He lay down and putting his arms around her, he cradled and rocked her gently to soothe away the fears.

"I'm here, Sam," he said, a tear slowly trickling down his cheek. He stroked her hair before closing his eyes and gently he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Always here."

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