Author: Lori 51

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Characters and songs do not belong to me.

Category: Without a Trace, J/S

Drama/Romance

Timeline: Five years after the series finale

Summary: Five years after their relationship came to an end, Jack and Sam remain friends and colleagues and nothing more. Both of them are alone. When Samantha is critically injured on a case while Jack is away, the team comes to see Jack as their last hope to penetrate the fog of her broken mind. Can he bring her back? Will nothing change, once she regains consciousness, or will everything?

Prologue: Chaos

Blood.

Gunshots.

Shouting.

Sirens.

Lights.

Blood.

Shouting.

So much blood.

They were too late, was Martin's first thought. She looked dead. There was too much blood. He had a quick flash to the last time they'd found her like this, though she'd looked good last time compared to this. Jack had picked her up so carefully then. But Jack wasn't here now.

Danny reached her first, heart in his throat, almost shocked when he found a pulse, faint and thready but there nonetheless. "Hurry!" he shouted.

The paramedics were working feverishly, not having to be told that any minute now and they wouldn't be needing the light bar, because the trip to her destination didn't need to be made in any kind of hurry. It would be too late for her.

Martin clenched his fists at his sides to keep him from launching himself at the guy that had survived the standoff; his compatriots hadn't been as lucky and were awaiting their body bags. If Jack were here, he wouldn't have to restrain himself. Hell, Jack would have beat the asshole into next week already. Part of him thought they this wouldn't be happening at all if Jack were here. But that didn't matter. Because he wasn't, and it was.

He made the mistake of looking up just as the EMT shook his head. No pulse.

Damn it! He surged forward just as Danny caught him and pulled him back, holding him back and barely holding him together. "Don't," he said quietly. "Just let them work."

He shook his head and jerked away, too raw right now to let himself be comforted by anything. This case had been disastrous from the beginning; they'd been a step behind the entire way. It was an epic fail, was all he could think. His head was too muddled to let anything else through right now, and when he caught his breath and found his lungs working more steadily again, he looked at Vivian. "We need to call Jack."

Vivian rolled her eyes. Her signature composure was particularly galling right now, Martin thought, gritting his teeth to keep from snapping at her. Even the usually calming tone of her voice made him want to smash something. "Jack is out of pocket right now, you know that. I'm not dragging him in from his first vacation in forever when there's nothing he can even do here. She'll receive the best care without him threatening every doctor and nurse in the county." She refrained from saying that it wasn't even his place anymore, because, though true, she knew he would dispute it and the boys would probably do it for him in his absence. Together or not, there would be no one else for him but Samantha. She thought anyone who knew the two of them would have to concede that point by now.

It was probably for the best that he wasn't in town for this, Vivian thought. It would kill him to see someone else at her side in his place. She sighed heavily. "Maybe we should call Brian."

Danny snorted. "Good luck finding him." That startled a look out of her that almost made him smile, and would have under any other circumstances. "What kind of investigator are you, that you didn't know that? It's been years, Viv, since he left town." In the dead of night, with all of Samantha's savings. He was still irritated that she'd refused to press charges, but she had gotten the bastard to relinquish all parental rights, and she'd told him that was worth an infinite amount of money to her. Priceless.

And he knew she hadn't wanted anyone to know. As far as she was concerned, she'd made her bed, and now she had to live with the consequences. She'd never forgiven herself for that lapse in judgment, he knew, and probably never would. She didn't date anymore, had given up on having a life outside of work and Finn, and was as stubborn and miserable as he knew for a fact that Jack was. Danny shook his head now, watching the paramedics work on her, the urgency of their actions not lost on him. "Martin's right. He should know."

Of course, they were all going to hear it as soon as they called him; it was why none of them wanted to be the one to do it. Even though they were technically just co-workers now, and had been for years, he was still overprotective of her, and was always on her about taking unnecessary risks. He wondered suddenly if Jack knew she was single, and had been for years now. That she loved him still, and always would. He doubted it. Danny knew that she hated herself for hurting him, and would never believe that she deserved another chance to be as happy as she'd been, with Jack Malone, for such a brief time.

Her heart restarted, her breathing was still labored when they loaded her into the back of the ambulance. Danny nudged Martin, who seemed almost in shock himself as he stood there, frustrated, with no way to help. "Go with her. I'll call Elena and have her pick up Finn from the daycare." It was summer vacation, and Finn spent his days at the same daycare where their children spent theirs.

Martin looked at Vivian, relieved when she nodded. "Go on, stay with her. We'll be by later."

He hopped up to sit beside Samantha, and Danny shook his head. It was as if she had taken over in the risk-taking department in Jack's temporary absence, and he had no idea what he was going to tell her son.

TBC...