Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Without a Trace except my DVDs and my (over-active) imagination.
Okay this is a sort of post-ep one-shot for 3:2 Thou Shalt Not so SPOILERS! Its J/S of course.
R&R please I love to know what you think! Enjoy.
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Second Chances
"Malone." Jack answered, picking up the phone.
"Jack?" Came Sam's voice in surprise.
"Sam, hi." He replied.
"Hi, what – err what are you doing?" She sounded confused.
"Ahh... you know it's... it's kind of a long story. I'll umm... I'll tell you about it later." A pause, then: "Sam?"
"Yeah I'm here... is everything okay?"
"Yeah everything's fine. I'm assuming you're calling for Vivian?" Sam pulled herself together and relayed the case information to Jack.
"Okay, talk to you later?" She asked.
"Err, yeah, bye."
"Bye." Sam hung up, still in shock; Jack was here, in New York. But he was supposed to be in Chicago with his wife and daughters. I wonder what has happened, she thought to herself.
That evening...
Jack watched, feeling guilty and slightly selfish as Vivian walked away from him. Sighing, he turned to stare through the glass into his old office, the walls, shelves and desk now adorned with Viv's things. He felt so bad for doing this to her, but if he even wanted a chance of seeing his girls again, he didn't have a choice.
The sound of the elevator made Jack turn around. Samantha was walking slowly down the corridor towards him. Her clothes were splattered with Maureen Grady's blood; the deep crimson contrasting starkly with the white of her shirt. She looked up when she was level with the office and saw Jack standing there.
"Hey." She sounded tired.
"Hey." Jack replied, lifting his gaze from her blood-stained front to meet her eyes. "What're you doing back here?"
"I left my keys." Sam explained, gesturing towards the Bullpen.
"Oh, right." They stood there in silence, lost in each other until Jack spoke again. "Do you wanna get a drink?" He asked.
"Oh, um, well I kind of need to take a shower." Samantha pointed out, wiping her stained palms on her jeans.
"Right, course, sorry." Jack looked down at his feet for a moment before continuing. "It's just, I thought, maybe we could talk... you know, about... everything..." He trailed off, looking up at her uncertainly.
Sam was taken aback for a second, but she quickly nodded.
"That would be... good." She smiled at him. Jack smiled back, relieved.
"Okay so, shall I come over in an hour?" He asked, glad that she had accepted his preposition.
"Or you could just come back with me now..." Sam suggested, a slightly mischievous smile pulling at her lips.
"Or I could just come back with you now." Jack agreed, returning the gesture.
Jack waited for Sam to fetch her things from her desk, then they headed downstairs and out to her car.
Ten minutes later, thanks to green lights, they were in Samantha's apartment.
"I'm just gonna take a shower." Sam called from her bedroom. "You could make some coffee if you want."
Jack smiled at her not-so-subtle hint.
"Sure." He answered, already getting started. The fact that he didn't even need to reacquaint himself with the layout of the kitchen or the contents of the cupboards made Jack smile happily as he busied himself with the coffee machine. From the other room he could now hear the sound of the shower. This felt right. Being here again felt so right.
Sam emerged from her bedroom, feeling clean and refreshed after her shower. She put her bloody clothes straight into the wash and turned the machine on, and then went to find Jack.
He was sitting on the couch reading a magazine and sipping coffee when Sam appeared in the living room. She was wearing a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a vest, and her hair was loose and damp. Samantha gratefully received the mug Jack was holding out to her as she took a seat beside him.
"Thanks."
"Better?" He asked, putting the magazine back on the coffee table.
"Mmm, yeah." She responded, cradling her drink between her hands. Jack watched her for a bit, then spoke.
"Sam, I'm staying here – in New York." Jack told her. "Maria... we're getting a divorce." Sam looked up at him.
"Oh." She wasn't sure how to react. How he wanted her to react. "I'm sorry." She went on.
"I'm not." Jack said quickly. "It was never going to work, I tried again to make it but... it was over a long time ago. This is the right thing, for the kids, and for us."
"I don't really know what you want me to say Jack." Sam spoke honestly.
"You don't have to say anything. I just, wanted to tell you... why I came back."
"What about work?" She asked, putting her coffee on the table.
"Olchecque wants me back in charge." Jack informed her, his voice laced with guilt.
"What about Viv?" Sam went on.
"Things will just go back to how they were before." He explained, searching her face for a reaction.
"Right." Sam stated. Then she fell silent, focussing on her hands rather than on Jack.
"Sam..." Jack reached out and touched her arm, his fingers tracing her soft skin, still slightly damp from the shower. Sam shivered at the contact. Slowly she turned her head and met Jack's gaze. He moved closer, his hand sliding gently up over her shoulder. Jack's fingers massaged the back of her neck. Sam felt herself lean forward and kiss him on the lips, his arms slipping around her back.
After a moment Sam pulled away.
"I can't do this." She said, moving away from Jack and standing up.
"Sam what's wrong?" Jack questioned. "We don't have to do this now, if you don't want to." He got up and stood in front of her.
"I want to." Sam assured him. "So much..."
"So what's the problem?" Jack asked, rubbing her arm affectionately.
"I... I... I slept with Martin." She admitted eventually. Sam folded her arms across her chest and dropped her gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry Jack. It was only once and I... I don't know why it happened, I just... It was a stupid idea and, I'm sorry."
Jack was taken aback.
"You... and Martin...?" Sam nodded, not looking at him.
"It didn't mean anything." She went on quietly. "At least not to me."
"What about to him?"
"I... I don't know." Sam confessed.
"So you don't want to - "
"No." Sam interrupted him. "It was a mistake Jack. A stupid mistake. I'd drunk a little bit too much and wasn't thinking clearly and I was feeling..." Her voice trailed off.
"Feeling what Sam?" Jack prompted her.
"Sad, and lonely cos you were going to Chicago, and I was gonna be stuck here, missing you like crazy but knowing I had no right to." Sam swallowed, trying to keep it together.
"Oh Sam. I'm so sorry. I had no idea you felt that way." Jack wrapped an arm around her back, his other hand stroking her cheek lightly. "And you have every right to feel like that." He went on. "I missed you too, so much. I know I shouldn't have but I did, even though I never actually left the city."
Samantha smiled.
"So if you're staying," She said, looking up at him again. "What does that mean?"
"What, for us?"
"I didn't know there was an 'us'."
"With you and me Sam, there's always been an 'us'." Jack brushed a strand of hair from her temple, then bent his head and pressed his lips to hers. Sam returned the kiss immediately; her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. They broke apart. "Does that answer your question?" Jack quipped, smiling at her. Sam kissed him again in response, pulling him in the direction of her bedroom...
The next day at the office, Sam was sat at the central table in the Bullpen writing a report when Martin came over.
"Hey." He said, smiling at her and perching on the edge of the desk beside her.
"Hi Martin." Samantha responded, smiling briefly at him before continuing on with her work.
"So I was thinking, seeing as we don't have a case today, when we leave later do you wanna get a drink?" Martin asked, leaning in to talk fairly discretely into Sam's ear. Jack chose this point to appear out in the corridor. He glanced in and, spotting the two of them, he stopped to watch his agents' somewhat intimate interaction.
"Umm, look Martin, I'm sorry but... I can't." Sam explained, standing up from her seat and folding her arms as she spoke.
"Well if tonight's not good for you then just let me know when -"
"Martin." Sam cut across him quickly, deciding to just come out and say it. "I... the other night was... a mistake. I'd had too much to drink and I was thinking about Jack and him leaving and... I wasn't myself. What we did... it was wrong, I'm sorry... I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression."
Samantha felt so guilty; Martin was such a sweet guy and he had really liked her, she felt so bad for hurting him as she had. The look on his face made her hate herself even more.
"Right." He stated dejectedly. "Of course. So I was just, what, the practise run for you until Jack was available again? I was just filling the gap until he came back, huh? Is that it?" Martin stared at her, his voice growing louder. Again, Jack's excellent sense of timing prompted him to enter the bullpen just as his name entered the conversation – or rather argument.
"No! That wasn't it at all. I'm sorry Martin, I really am. Do you think I knew Jack's wife was going to leave him? That he was going to stay here after all? Cos I didn't, I truly thought he was going to leave and that... that I'd never see him again. It was wrong of me to use you like that, and I'm sorry, but I never meant to hurt you Martin, I really didn't. I thought... maybe there was something between us, but I shouldn't have led you to believe it when I wasn't... wasn't over Jack..." Sam trailed off. She turned around when she realised someone else was there.
"Jack." Sam's cheeks flushed at the expression on his face; he had heard everything. She looked from the man who had taken her heart, to the man whose heart she had just broken. "I'm sorry Martin." She said quietly, reaching out a hand and touching his arm lightly. Martin brushed her off. He turned on his heel and left the office without even looking at her.
Sam turned to Jack.
"He hates me." She said sadly. "He's never going to forgive me; leading him on and then dropping him as soon as you come back. I'd hate myself for that if I didn't already."
"Sam." Jack soothed, rubbing her arm lovingly. "Don't be so hard on yourself. He'll get over it." Samantha looked doubtful. "Come on, let me take you home." Her mood improving rapidly, Sam smiled as she nodded in response.
As they walked down the corridor, Jack touched her back gently.
"Did you really mean what you said?" He asked quietly.
"What?"
"About not being over me?" Sam blushed again, looking decidedly forward rather than at him. "Cos I felt the same about you." Jack went on. Samantha turned to look at him quickly.
"You did?" Jack could see the pain and heartache in her eyes. He nodded.
"I never stopped thinking about you Sam." His voice was quiet, his hand still secure on her back as they reached the elevator. "About how much I hurt you."
Sam could hear the sadness and guilt in his tone; she reached out and touched his arm to reassure him.
"You did what you had to... I never blamed you Jack."
"Well you should've." He told her, punching the button a couple of times.
"Looks like you did enough of that yourself." She said. "You were doing what was right for your family Jack, I understood that... I didn't want to be the reason for taking your girls' father away from them. I couldn't have lived with myself if I had."
The doors opened and the two of them entered the empty elevator. Sam pressed the button for the lobby.
"It wasn't your fault Sam." Jack stated. She reached up and touched his shoulder.
"And it wasn't yours either." She assured him. He nodded reluctantly.
Sam dropped her hand as the doors opened again and a couple of other agents joined them. Jack's fingers brushed briefly against hers as they stood close together. Their eyes met for a moment; the connection between them still very real, even after all this time apart. A hint of a smile graced her features, before she dropped her gaze to the floor, aware that they were not alone... yet.
Stopping at two more floors on their journey down to the lobby, the other occupants of the elevator soon departed, leaving Jack and Samantha alone again. Unable to resist despite the riskiness of the situation, Sam slid her hands round his neck and pulled Jack's mouth onto hers, kissing him passionately. He pressed her back to the cold steel of the elevator wall, his arms holding her body against his.
Jack felt that familiar feeling rising inside his chest once more. Oh how he had longed for that feeling, all those months, seeing her almost every day, but unable to touch her, hold her, kiss her. Her smile and the glint in her eye was enough to make his heart race. He had missed her more than he realised, and now that they had a second chance, he wasn't going to waste a single second of it.