Sam had been married once, as a young man. But she had died, and he had resolved not to subject himself to that kind of heartache again.
That was why nothing had ever happened with Cath –though he did love her, and the feeling was mutual from her as well. But she was his boss, and they were professionals, and professionals didn't let their feelings run away with them or wear their hearts on their sleeves.
He had thought he could protect himself –and in some way, protect her –from the same sort of grief he had experienced when his late wife had died. After all, they were in quite dangerous lines of work, and it was no stretch of the imagination that something might happen to one of them someday… it was just best to let sleeping dogs lie.
Somehow, he had never imagined applying the same principle to the rest of his team.
Seeing Noah lie in a pool of his own blood had given him a severe wake up call –one that losing anybody else in the world couldn't have accomplished. He loved that boy like his own son, and he had never told him. He had never told him just how much he cared for and respected him.
And then a miracle came in the form of Caro Pierce, helping that boy hold on long enough to get to the hospital. He had gotten the boy back. He hadn't lost him, after all.
Some people said you couldn't teach an old dog new tricks, but Sam Gerard would beg to differ. He learned something the day that Noah opened his eyes: you didn't waste time when you were with people that you loved.
So when he called in to report and ask after Noah's 'mystery woman,' he ended the phone call by asking Cath out on a date.
