Martin/Sam and Sam/OC
A/N: Hope you all enjoy, please let me know what you think. Thanks to those who have already shown support!
Chapter One
The apartment building lay dark and silent before him as he approached from the retreating cab, suitcase in one hand, bag slung over his other shoulder. He was happy to be home there was no denying it.
The excitement had begun the second he'd hit the airport in Los Angeles. It would only be six hours until he was on the ground in New York, home again after a trip that had been far too long, busy and emotionally draining for his liking.
Not much had changed, he hadn't expected it to. He had only been gone three weeks but it felt like the longest of lifetimes. He unlocked the door as quietly as he could, slipping inside the familiar shadows, allowing their warmth to penetrate his weary body.
He didn't have the energy to lug his suitcase down the hallway so it was left dejectedly sitting by the front door as he strode purposefully towards the bedroom eager to see the woman curled up in his bed.
He crept stealthily down the hallway avoiding wooden floor boards he knew from past experience had a tendency to creak waking everyone in the a five mile radius.
His plan had been carefully executed to be a complete surprise. She wasn't expecting him home until late tomorrow but the second he was done fulfilling his professional obligations he wanted to be home. He needed to be home. He couldn't stand the distance between the two of them. They'd become far too dependant to be apart for so long.
She slept soundly curled up on the far side of his bed her back to him. His bag was long forgotten, dropped into the darkness, his jacket and shoes following suit, a path leading him towards the bed, closer to her.
Burrowing under the covers, still almost fully clothed his arms automatically reached for the warmth and softness of her body, sliding without hesitation across her skin rousing her from her restless sleep.
She was momentarily startled. Who was this man in bed with her? She mentally checked, yes she was at Martin's and no she hadn't done anything stupid, that she could remember. That touch, that caress, the familiarity of the breathing behind her, against her neck was all too familiar though. They could only belong to him.
"Hey," he whispered low against her ear feeling her relax back against the hardness of his body his arms automatically tightening around her.
A feminine hand reached up gripping the back of his head, fingers combing soothingly through the hair at the nape of his neck.
A kiss against her bare shoulder and she was whispering his name, "Martin. I thought you weren't going to be home till tomorrow?" she murmured grogginess crowding her voice.
"Couldn't wait any longer," he muttered, "Needed you."
He continued to hold her tightly, his grip unrelenting, a fear that if he let go, if he couldn't feel her any longer he would wake up and this would all be a dream. A dream designed to taunt him as he awoke in his lonely hotel room, in a distant city.
"I've missed you," she reassured him turning in his arms so she could see the shadows cast across his features. He managed to look so achingly beautiful in the manliest of ways. He stole her heart every single time she laid eyes on him. Her heart jumped as his eyes sought hers, words not needing to be uttered as hearts screamed instead, telling of three long weeks of loneliness and longing on both sides of the country.
He captured her lips in a desperate kiss once, twice, three times before he pulled back to stare at her again. There was something in his eyes she noted, and a familiar tenseness in his body that told her everything was not perfect in his world.
"You ok?" she asked gently, drawing him out in a way she had perfected right off the bat.
"I'm just tired," he told her, "And unbelievably happy to see you," he tried, kissing her once again to prove himself.
She nodded biting down on her lower lip, her slender fingers reaching up to outline his features, "Uh huh," came her disbelieving reply as a path was traced across his cheek bone.
He knew she wasn't fooled. He was never good at lying to her. She knew him far too well it semmed. She'd seen everything that was written inside of him and sometimes she was far better at deciphering the tangled web of emotion he was consumed with than he could ever be able to himself.
"It's nothing," he tried again.
"It's never just nothing," she told him her eyes probing deep into his soul, dragging out his secrets while he remained powerless to stop her.
She propped herself up on one elbow and watched him turn his gaze away from her instead focusing on the ceiling that didn't have such unimaginable powers over him.
He wasn't offering anything she realized with a frustration she was well accustomed to. "We don't have to talk about it now," she whispered hearing a relieved sigh escape from somewhere inside of him, "But you will tell me right? Whatever it is that's got you so wound up?"
He turned his head back to look at her, darkness mixed with a hint of love shining prominently in her eyes, "I promise, I will tell you. I just….I'm not ready yet."
She offered him a smile. The kind that always lit up his world no matter how dark it was out. He went weak at the knees every time it made an appearance in his life. "Can I do anything?" she queried.
"How about a massage?" he bargained knowing that her hands against his skin was all he really wanted to feel right now.
"Ok, don't move," she told him pressing a finger to his lips before dashing into the bathroom opposite.
She returned moments later with a bottle of lotion that smelled uniquely of vanilla and oatmeal. It was so essentially her, he loved that bottle, found himself quite unintentionally scouring the bathroom cupboards looking for it when they had been apart for too long.
"T-shirt off," she commanded her hands already stripping him of the offending item of clothing. He rolled over sinking heavily into the mattress as she moved to straddle his hips rubbing the oil methodically into her hands.
She began gently, kneading the muscles in each of his shoulders before moving further south. This had become something of a ritual between the two of them. A release from the pressures of the job that at times it seemed constantly had them down. A communication that didn't necessarily have to involve words and yet spoke loudly of the connection between them.
Sometimes there was talking. Nothing was off limits in those moments of utter relaxation. There was work and friends, finances and current events. His favorites were the dreams they shared. He recalled a particularly vivid trip to the Caribbean she had plotted out for them one night when a case had got her down and he had been willingly to do anything to simply make her smile. She had spoken of it all, everything she had imagined, down to the smell of the ocean and the taste of the breeze as his hands had proceeded to magically relax her body.
Tonight she worked in silence, letting him choose conversation when and if he wanted it. She loosened each muscle one by one, pressing kisses against his smooth warm skin when the mood struck her. There were groans of pleasure that were emitted from him every now and again, enough to let her know, what she was doing was having some kind of beneficial effect on his mind and body.
"You're amazing," he murmured into his pillow, a muffled expression she was able to make out when she strained to hear.
"Are you going to talk to me now?" she asked again hoping this little interlude had un-lodged some sort of desire to let his secrets out.
He sighed, a heavy sigh that spoke volumes about the seriousness of the situation. "The little girl was dead," he whispered as she struggled to hear him.
Leaning closer to him as her hands continued their dance across his slick skin she spoke, "We're talking about the case right? The one in LA?"
He didn't speak, just nodded in confirmation, "We spent three weeks looking for her and she was dead the whole time."
Sam paused, her hands stilling against his skin drinking in his confession. "You know you couldn't have done anything more for her," she sighed her lips close enough to caress his skin, brushing against his shoulder blade.
"There's always more," she heard him whisper in a broken voice that filled her heart to the brim with pain. "I could have worked longer hours, asked different questions," an edge of hysteria crept into his voice.
"There's only so much any of us can do," she murmured sliding off him and perching on her knees beside his body.
"You know, I was looking at her, and I kept thinking, what if this was my daughter? If I had been on the other side would I have really felt like enough had been done to save her?" he turned on his side to look at her, unshed tears she was not used to seeing sparkling in his eyes.
"You can't think like that," Sam told him a hand reaching out to trace a delicate path across his cheek, "We do all we can, we're not God. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. You tried Martin; you sacrificed three weeks of your life for that little girl."
Sam watched as the unshed tears sunk back into oblivion and a half-smile appeared in his weary eyes, "When did you become so wise?" he joked pulling her down to lay beside him.
"What do you mean?" she jested, "I've always been wise!"
With their bodies pressed close together she felt rather than heard the laugh that emitted from deep inside him.
"Meanwhile," she continued, pulling back to look up at his face. "I've been going crazy all alone here!"
"Oh yeah?"
She nodded, "For some reason, being all alone isn't as fun as it used to be."
"Hmmmm," Martin sighed his eyes slipping shut, feeling a unique sense of Zen fill him knowing he was finally home again. "My fault, I'm sorry," he muttered sleep slowly seizing his mind as Sam snuggled closer and limbs entangled never to be torn apart until the sun dared shine through the window.
Sam placed a kiss against his temple, hoping that after a goodnight's sleep, and in the light of day his regrets over the case would fade away as they so often did. "Damn right it's your fault," she breathed against his ear. "I'll deal with you tomorrow, right now you need sleep."
And he did until the sun drove him to wake late the next morning.
To be continued...