Summary: Martin and Sam meet at the FBI Chrismas party and start a relationship.

Disclaimer: don't own it, bummer.

A/N: I hate writing summaries so sorry for the suckiness of the above summary. :) I know I'm not even close to being finished with California Dreamin' but I am going to finish it I swear :) finals are next week so I'll have plenty of time to work on both of these, hopefully. Constructive criticism is always appreciated so if you have any ideas or thoughts for this feel free to comment. Let me know what you think of this and if no one likes it I won't worry about continuing with it. Anyway, reviews are very much appreciated too so please reply. On with it!

-1-

Red and green covered the office. Agents bustled around in Santa hats and reindeer antlers. It was almost too much holiday cheer for Samantha. To be quite honest she thought it was much more than necessary.

Samantha had never been much into holidays. A single mother raising two young daughters couldn't exactly make Christmas everything a 6 year old has dreamed of. Christmases in the Spade household were little more than a 3 foot tall plastic tree in the corner with hand-me-downs wrapped in newspaper nestled underneath it.

She avoided all things festive when possible, but with the entire office dressed for the season and decorating trees around the bullpen, it was hard to do.

"Three more hours until we get the party started." Danny announced jumping down from the chair he stood on. He had been decorating their tree with ornaments, lights, and even tinsel for the past hour. It looked like something straight out of a magazine.

"You better knock on wood. If a case comes in we'll all miss it." Vivian chuckled from her desk.

Sam typed furiously on her keyboard, finishing up weeks of unfinished reports. Danny walked around the conference table and propped himself on the edge of Elena's desk. "Finished." She stated turning her chair to face him. "Have you even started on your reports?"

"As a matter of fact I haven't." He laughed. "But at the rate Sam is going she'll be able to finish mine and hers before the party tonight."

"Yeah right, Danny. As soon as I'm done with this, I'm out of here." She said not bothering to look up.

"You're not staying for the Christmas party?" Viv asked from her desk.

"I'm not exactly in the holiday spirit and I don't know half the people who work here anyway." Sam answered shortly.

"You're gonna be missing out hot stuff. I hear the Deputy Director is coming in a Santa suit."

"As much as I hate to miss that, I think I'll pass."

"C'mon Sam. At least make an appearance so everyone can see that beautiful face of yours." He joked.

"Fine. If you let me finish these reports in peace and quiet, I'll stay for a little while."

"You got it."

Samantha fixed her attention back to her reports, intent on finishing them before the end of the day. In her 6 years with the MPU she hadn't once gone to the company Chrismas party. Or any of the other company functions for that matter.

--

She finished up her reports just as agents began filtering onto their floor for the holiday festivities. She printed out the reports and shut her computer off. Danny, Elena, and Vivian were already mingling with agents from other units and Jack had taken refuge in his office a few hours ago. Samantha couldn't really blame him. She didn't want to be there anymore than he did.

Small groups of agents had formed all over the bullpen chatting and laughing with one another while Christmas carols played softly in the background. She sat on the edge of her desk, cup of punch in hand, and silently observed those around her.

"Samantha Spade." Someone said from behind her. She turned around to find the source of the voice. Her breath caught in her throat at the man before her. He was absolutely the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. Tall, dark, and handsome with the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

Finally she forced herself to say something instead of staring like an idiot. "That's what it says." She pointed to the nameplate atop her desk. "Martin Fitzgerald." She read the name on his ID aloud.

"The one and only." He smiled and she felt herself smiling as well.

"Any relation to the Deputy Director?"

He let out a stifled groan at the mention of Victor Fitzgerald. "Unfortunately. That would be my father." He paused. "But try not to hold that against me."

She laughed at his obvious distaste for his father's reputation. "I'll try."

"I'll hold you to it." He sat on her desk beside her. "So what's a beautiful woman like you doing sitting over here all by yourself?" He asked knocking his shoulder against hers.

She blushed hearing him call her beautiful. "I'm not much for small-talk with complete strangers." She laughed.

He clutched his hand over his heart feigning hurt at her admission. "Maybe you should stay over here. I wouldn't want you to harm anymore innocent bystander's feelings."

"See, I'm doing everyone a favor sitting by myself."

He looked sideways at her, a small smile playing on his face. "Not everyone. I happen to like your company."

"Likewise." She added turning her attention to the party. She felt a strong attraction to this man even though she'd just met him and it was a bit unnerving for her. She never had been one for actual relationships. She liked things nice and complicated and she could tell that Martin was not that type of guy.

Apparently, he could sense her pulling away from him because he shifted slightly further away, giving her more space. "So, you work Missing Persons?" He asked. A nice, neutral question. He was leaving the conversation up to her. She could continue their light banter or end it with a short, simple 'yes'.

"Six years. It feels like I've been doing it forever. Sometimes I even dream I'm looking for someone."

"How do you like it? It seems like it would be frustrating after awhile to always be looking for someone." His eyes were locked directly on hers. It wasn't very often that men were interested in anything more than her body. She could tell that he was different than most men though. He was interested in her, all of her.

"It can be." She paused glancing outside, snow falling steadily. "But when I think about the ones we find and return home safely, it makes it all worth it."

He followed her gaze out the window, his brow creased in thought. "I wish we had some of those happy endings."

She turned her attention back to him. "Where do you work?"

"Violent Crimes." He grinned seeing a grimace cross her face. "The name is pretty self-explanatory."

"That's true."

"I worked White Collar for a few years but that was near torture."

"It's that bad?"

"Obviously you don't have experience in the world of White Collar Crime like I do." He scoffed playfully. "You aren't missing anything. The only good thing about it is the hours. I was out of the office everyday by 5 o'clock."

"Really?" She asked, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Yep. You can't exactly hunt down corporate corruption when they call it a day at five." He explained.

"I wish people only went missing between 8 and 5. That would make my job a lot easier."

"You should make a public service announcement. Ask the kind citizens of our fair city to go missing during business hours if they absolutely must go missing."

She let out a throaty laugh just thinking of making that announcement. He smiled widely at her and laughter erupted from him as well.

"You wanna get out of here?" He asked after a comfortable silence passed between them.

"I thought you'd never ask." She smiled grabbing her purse and coat and followed him to the elevator.