Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the tv show "Without a Trace." Trust me, if I did everyone would know because it would be all about Samantha and Martin and they would NOT have broken up.

A/N: This plotline takes place before "Boogieman" and will not deal with the issue of Vivian's illness. It is also a S/M fic so if you're J/S it's probably not your cup of tea but there will be no Jack bashing. I like Jack most of the time and he will be portrayed in a good light in this story so, no worries.

Chapter One: Blast from the Past

Samantha Spade laughed as she and Martin Fitzgerald entered her apartment after their date Tuesday night. They had gone to a highly recommended Italian restaurant and then walked back to her apartment, simply enjoying the cool night air and the cricket song. As usual, she had a nice time. She loved being with Martin outside of work because she could really let her hair down and be herself. Usually they would joke around and just enjoy the times when they didn't have to be serious and secretive around each other.

Tonight had been different though. Although she had laughed and joked, Martin had been a little more subdued than usual. He did not protest angrily when she started making fun of his X-Files obsession and did not even crack a smile when she made fun of the way Danny had fallen all over himself when the knockout from the floor below had given him her number. He had said very little the entire night and when he was not talking dully he was often staring into his food or looking extremely grave.

She did not dare to ask what was wrong for on the few occasions she had, they usually ended up fighting for weeks. No, she had learned just to pretend everything was fine until this phase passed. The two of them had become quite talented at pretending like everything was fine over the last few months.

Now that they were in the living room of her miniscule apartment, things seemed to tense up a bit. She didn't know if it would be tactful to try and get him "in the mood" when he had only been in a lousy mood the entire evening. She decided that perhaps it would help his bad mood and began dropping soft kisses on his jaw while slowly unbuttoning his shirt.

He closed his eyes and heaved a great sigh and before grabbing her hands and taking a step away from her. She looked deeply into his blue eyes and saw the conflict. Her body tensed up and she gulped hard. She knew what was coming; had seen that look far too many times. Fear was beginning to take a hold of her as she began shaking her head. She parted her lips to say something, but he was too quick.

"Sam, I don't think we should do this," he said quietly. His voice was not angry or spiteful, but filled with a sadness she had never heard before. Her lip began to tremble and he dropped his eyes from her face to the floor. "It's just…not going to work anymore." He dropped her hands and let his fall silently to his side. She was so taken aback that she didn't notice his defeated stance or the way that his voice spilled over with regret.

She stepped away from him, completely in shock. She couldn't feel anything, her body was completely numb. She had had no idea that this was coming. Everything was fine. They were happy. She was happy! Millions of questions raced around each other in her mind.

"Why? Why not?" Her voice was trembling and she had to grasp firmly onto the recliner to keep her legs from giving way. She had thought that Martin was happy with her. How could she have known this was next for them?

"There's just…too much conflict and frankly, I don't see the point in pursuing this relationship if we're not going anywhere." He sighed again and raised his eyes to meet hers. "I want more Sam, and you're just too caught up in your own problems. I can't get close enough to you for anything real to happen and I'm tired of trying." Instantly he realized what he said and tried to correct his mistake. "Not that it's all your fault…" but she cut him off.

"I'm too caught up in my problems? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Martin was shaking his head and trying to interject his thoughts but she just cut him off. "Maybe I just want to take it slow. Not everyone wants to throw away their life. I'm not ready to move to the suburbs, pop out a few kids and then wait to die and you're calling that my problem?

"And what do you mean there's 'no point in pursuing it'? What the hell has the last year been for?" she yelled, throwing her hands up and glowering at him. "Has this just been some little game for you? You got bored and thought it would be fun to screw me?" He shook his head as if he knew that she would react like this.

"I don't want to fight with you, Sam…"

"It's Samantha!"

"I never wanted it to end like this," Martin persisted as though she had not just interrupted him. "I love you, Samantha, but it's not worth it anymore."

His words shocked her. All of a sudden every angry word left her head so that only those four words echoed around in her ears, "I love you, Samantha…" She couldn't believe he had said it but before she could think of a good reply, he had picked up his coat, opened the door and was heading down the hall to the elevator.

She was left, speechlessly sitting on the arm of her chair watching his retreating back as her front door slowly closed. She would sit that way for an hour, staring at the same spot on the wall and replaying the entire night over and over again looking for any clue that could have triggered his sudden change of outlook about them. Around midnight she stood up from her spot on the chair and walked, as if in a dream, to her bedroom. She didn't feel real. That morning she had been Martin's girlfriend and now she was simply Samantha Spade: single…alone.

It wasn't until she turned off the lights and crawled into her bed that she began to cry. The tears flowed freely as she realized that Martin would never again stare at her across the office while Danny watched with a huge smirk on his face. He wouldn't play footsie with her under the table while Jack was debriefing them on their latest case. Now instead of getting a feeling of glee when Jack paired her with Martin she would have a sense of foreboding. Her whole life was about to be turned upside down once again as it always did whenever you date and break up with someone from work.

She stared around at all of the reminders of Martin that were left in her bedroom. A pair of his cross-trainers lay untied and muddy in a corner. She remembered him running into her bedroom, soaking wet and dripping in mud as he threw the shoes into the corner and dived into bed with her. He had gone out running the previous Saturday after a horrible cold front had ripped through the city the night before.

Then there were all of his toiletries strewn across her bathroom counter: his razor and shaving cream, the pink and purple toothbrush she had bought for him teetering dangerously on the edge of the sink and his hairbrush which he had stubbornly insisted on bringing over after a scintillating argument about why sharing a hairbrush was not hygienic.

But probably the worst of all and the one that kept her crying the longest was the photo strip she had been using as a bookmark. She and Martin had been watching a movie and when she pointed out that all great couples had jumped into photo booths and made ridiculous faces at the camera Martin had dragged her down to the nearest mall and pulled her into a booth. They did the traditional three crazy poses and then the final one was serious. She remembered how he had ranted for an hour about how they were sure to be together for a long time because they now had a photo strip.

She didn't fall asleep until 3:30 AM and her alarm went off at 6. She took a hot and steamy shower and added liberal amounts of make up to try and cover up her red, puffy eyes but nothing worked. She finally settled on a pair of huge and very dark sunglasses and set off to get a cab to work, coffee in one hand and newspaper in the other.

She walked up the steps to the building and she couldn't hear anything of the crowd bustling around her. All she heard was the pounding of her own heart and the echoing sound of her heels as she made her way across the lobby and to the elevator. In no time at all she would be walking into the Missing Persons office pretending like everything was fine and sitting 10 feet away from the man that had broken her heart only 12 hours earlier.

Vivian sat in Jack's office and waved at the blonde as she went through the glass doors and headed to her desk. Danny was talking on the phone and she tried not to look at Martin but couldn't resist. Sure enough, he was eyeing her with great concern. The only satisfaction she received was that he looked as though he too had had a rough night.

She wished that he would stop looking at her. She was doing all that she could to avoid his gaze, the least he could do would be to pretend that she wasn't there. She knew he would ask if she was okay and be truly worried about her. It was the first time since meeting him that she was truly annoyed by the fact that Martin was a gentleman.

Samantha dropped her bag under her desk and sat in her chair, deliberately turning her back to Martin.

"Sam, is there a reason you're wearing shades inside?" came the voice of Danny Taylor. He sounded amused but she desperately wanted to slug him in the stomach as she took her glasses off and had to endure the even more concerned look from Martin and the look of shock on Danny's face. "Have you…have you been crying?" He looked torn between standing up and hugging her, pretending like he didn't notice and laughing.

"No, of course not. I just…" she chanced a look at Martin and then quickly looked away. She did not want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she had been bawling all night although she also knew that satisfaction is the last emotion he would experience at that news. He did "love" her after all. "My allergies are acting up."

Now she wanted to hit herself. Martin and Danny both knew very well that she was not allergic to anything. She had boasted about it all month when the other four were sneezing because of the pollen and she felt perfectly fine. Danny apparently remembered this incident too because his gaze quickly changed from concern to scrutiny and disbelief.

"Allergies huh?" She nodded her head but didn't elaborate. At that moment Jack and Vivian walked into the bullpen and Samantha had never been more thankful for their timing. Jack demanded the attention of his four coworkers which thankfully forced Martin to tear his eyes from Samantha and focus them on Jack.

"No cases have come in yet but I don't expect it to stay that way. Christmas is coming up and we all know that means shoplifting, jealousy and extra foul-play." He looked around pointedly at each of them, his eyes lingering only a moment longer on Samantha's bloodshot eyes. "Just because there isn't an open case to work doesn't make today a free-for-all," his eyes shifted between Danny and Martin in an amused fashion. "There's a ton of paperwork that still needs to be filed from last week's case so get to work."

Danny started defending his actions from the last time they had a free day to Vivian as she laughed light-heartedly. Martin didn't join in but returned his gaze to Samantha who in turn did a 180 in her chair and dug into an inbox full of report papers.

Noon came and went and Samantha flat out turned down an invite to go out for lunch with the other four claiming that she had extra paperwork to attend too since she had been forced to shoot the suspect.

At 12:45 she heard the elevator, indicating that someone got off on their floor. Anticipating the rest of her team she looked up but instead saw only one person.

She was beautiful, tall and thin with vibrantly red hair in ringlet curls. She was wearing designer clothes and clutched the latest style handbag in her left hand. Tears were rolling down from her chocolate brown eyes and her dark complexion was flawless. She was looking around as though expecting to see someone as she stood at the entrance of their floor.

Samantha pushed back in her chair and stood up, smoothing her clothes as she headed over to where the woman was standing.

"May I help you?" The woman's head snapped in Samantha's direction and tears began falling at a more rapid pace.

"Yes, I'm looking for someone in fact, do you think you could help me find him?" her voice was trembling as she spoke and Samantha didn't fail to notice how her eyes darted around the room anxiously.

"I'm from the Missing Persons Unit, I'm sure there's something I can do." Sam gestured towards her desk and the two women began walking back to the bullpen. "Who are you looking for?"

"Martin Fitzgerald, he works here. Do you know where I can find him?"

Sam's insides went cold at his name and she stopped dead in her tracks. She shook her head and answered but noticed how her voice was unintentionally colder.

"Martin is out at lunch but he should be back at any moment. You're welcome to wait at his desk." Sam motioned to his chair and then headed back to her own desk. She tried desperately to focus on her reports but her eyes kept finding their own way to where the woman sat. Her mind raced, wondering how this woman knew Martin and why she all of a sudden needed him so badly.

"Maybe he helped her out in a case once and she just needs to talk to him about it…" but just as she became satisfied with that conclusion the elevator sounded again and Martin, followed by Danny, Vivian, and Jack stepped out of it. Martin's eyes fell immediately on the red head and recognition spread across his face.

"Shelley?" he muttered as he walked quickly toward her.

"Oh…Marty!" she squealed as she dropped her expensive handbag on the floor, stood up and began sprinting across the room. As soon as she reached Martin she threw her arms around his neck and he reciprocated the embrace. She was crying uncontrollably into his neck and he was making quiet "sh" noises in her ear while delicately stroking her hair.

"There goes that theory," Samantha thought bitterly.

A/N: Well, I hope that you enjoyed it. Shelley is going to play a huge role in the story. I'm off to fun camp for a week so there won't be an update within the week but hopefully one by next Monday. I'll write in my spare moments so leave me a review so that when I'm tired and broken down I'll be inspired to upload the next chapter.

Oh, and P.S. this whole story is dedicated to Muzzy-Olorea because she pretty much guilted me into writing this so if you like it you should thank her. It's all for you my friend!