Chapter Two – Wake up
Half an hour later after the doctor had checked on Sam the team arrived and Martin told them that Sam was no longer in coma but right now in a deep sleep. So they all took a seat in Sam's new room outside the ICU where she was brought before and waited for Sam to finally wake up. Jack had occupied Martin's place who sat next to Danny on her other side. Another hour passed and Sam was still sleeping. Jack was worried because of that fact. He asked the doctor what took Sam so long to finally wake up the next time he checked on her. He got the answer that the coma was a kind of refuge for the mind from the injuries and psychic trauma the person had experienced. It wasn't a kind of regeneration so body and mind still needed their rest. That was the reason why Sam still slept. So they waited patiently for another hour when finally Sam started to wake up. She moved her head to her left side. Moaning softly her eyes fluttered open only to be closed again. The light had caused her pain but she had recognized a man sitting next to her. She softly murmured his name and a moment later felt his warm hands taking her hand. Jack leaned closer and kissed her cheek, she smiled and opened her eyes to look into his. "I heard you, Jack, thank you for staying with me.", she whispered. "Shhh, you need your rest. I'm glad you woke up, we all are relieved. Take your rest and get well soon.", he answered. Sam nodded once and drifted off to sleep. Jack smiled and got up. Knowing that she would be fine he left the room to go home to his wife and girls. After Jack Vivian got up and kissed Sam on the forehead good-bye. Relieved that Sam only needed more rest and seemed to be ok she went home to spend some time with her son. So Danny and Martin remained at Sam's bed. Danny asked Martin whether he would join him on a drink to celebrate that Sam was out of coma. Martin thought about it for a moment but then refused. He wanted to stay a few hours longer by her side and then go home to get some sleep. So Danny left the room alone after kissing Sam goodnight on the cheek.
Like the nights before Martin was alone with Sam. He watched over her like a bodyguard. He wouldn't let anyone hurt Sam and would caress her hand and cheek when she had a nightmare. Mostly the touch of his hand and his murmured words like: "I'm staying with you, I won't leave your side." were all she needed to calm down and sleep peacefully again. She never woke up during the nightmares but obviously relaxed under the touch of his hands. As dawn came he left her to go home, take a shower, perhaps a few hours of sleep and then return to the bureau to do his job. But in the evening he would be at Sam's side again.
That's how he spent the nights of the next two weeks. Jack, Vivian and Danny would go visit Sam in the afternoon during the visiting hours, he would accompany them but remain silent. In the evening after Sam went to sleep he would return and watch her.
The nurses knew him and didn't try to refuse him to see their patient. They talked about Martin in their room. They would like to have a man like him by their side to watch over their sleep and help them to overcome terrible nightmares. They wondered whether Sam knew what this man did for her and whether she knew about his feelings for her which were obvious to them.
During these weeks Sam recovered so that she noticed more and more things in her environment because she didn't sleep the whole day. She noticed that Martin didn't talk much during the visiting hours and wondered why. She also noticed that some of the nurses talked but fell silent when they entered her room or Martin showed up. Then they would look at him dreamingly or would whisper something with a short glance towards her. After three days of intensive observation she asked Martin whether he had noticed something but he didn't know what she meant. So she explained it but he remained silent. Suddenly Danny returned into the room because he had left his car keys on Sam's nightstand. He was surprised by seeing Martin still in there. He forced Martin to leave with him because he insisted that Sam still needed her rest. So she hadn't got an answer.
One hour later one of the nurses who had the night watch brought Sam her dinner. Because of being in hospital for three weeks Sam got to know some of the nurses better and talked to them like to friends. So she asked this nurse what it was with Martin and why they always stopped talking when entering her room or when Martin came by and why the hell they shot glances towards her. The nurse answered surprised whether she knew or noticed anything. Sam replied that she didn't know what the nurse meant and what she should have noticed except the strange behaviour of the nurses. So she told Sam that every night when she slept Martin would come back and would stay with her till dawn came. That left Sam a little shocked and for a few moments speechless. "Why would Martin do such a thing? Is it only a joke by the nurses or is it real?", she asked herself but couldn't find an answer. Thinking about it she decided to stay awake this night to find out whether Martin really came back. She hadn't noticed that the nurse had left. After eating her dinner she lay down and pretended to sleep.
Somewhere between an hour and two hours sleep took her over so that she didn't noticed when Martin entered her room and sat down in a chair to the left of her head. At 3:30 am she woke up because of an unknown sound. She slowly opened her eyes and looked to her left. There in a chair she saw Martin. So the nurses were right he came back to watch over her sleep every night. Sam didn't know what to do, how to react. Had he noticed that she didn't sleep no longer?
The sound that woke Sam up was a thunder because outside it was storm. Martin had watched Sam's still form abruptly illuminated by a lightning outside. She looked so beautiful, vulnerable and fragile. The light only supported that image. He promised himself that he would try to protect her from more pain because in his eyes she had suffered enough. But he knew that he couldn't protect her from what Jack would tell her soon. He would tell her that he was going back to his wife or more correctly was back with his wife for almost four weeks now. Martin knew that he couldn't protect Sam from that pain she certainly would feel after that confession. He wished he could do it but knew it would only work for a few weeks and then the inflicted pain could be stronger because Jack would be her support to go through the rehabilitation and back to work by then. She would need somebody to talk to, to lean onto and he knew that Jack wasn't the person she needed then. He also knew that he would try to be there for her, to support her ... when she let him. But right now his task at hand was to help her sleep without more nightmares. Because of his thinking he hadn't noticed that Sam was no longer asleep and that she returned to sleep after an hour of secretly watching him.
The next morning Sam woke up early. Expecting to see Martin in the chair at her side she turned her head but found no Martin. She asked herself whether the sight of him at this night could have been a dream because the nurses told her that Martin would come but there was no sign that he did so. Perhaps it was all her imagination. She left it there and tried to focus on her upcoming physical therapy. She was determined to get well and return as fast as possible to work. She knew that it would be a painful and long way but in the end all would be well and like before the incident, so she hoped. She looked forward to her therapy because it was annoying to lie in a bed the whole day with nothing to do. She was happy that her team mates visited her in the afternoon and would talk to her about new cases and what has happened during the day for a few hours. She missed her apartment and wanted to go home as soon as possible, too.
In the afternoon after lunch and a visit by the doctor the team arrived at her room. They talked like the days before but Jack was quieter than normal. Martin suspected that today Jack would tell Sam that their affair was over and that he was back with his wife. As they left the room after three hours Jack stayed behind and as Vivian asked whether she could drive Jack home he replied that he needed to discuss something with Sam alone. That was the moment when Martin knew for sure to what Jack was up to. So he left but stayed near the room in case Sam needed someone to hold her after Jack finally went home.
Half an hour later Jack really left the room without noticing Martin in the waiting area. He went straight to the elevators and entered one of them. As he was out of sight Martin slowly walked up to Sam's room and looked inside. Sam stared out the window not realizing that Martin watched her. She seemed to be lost but she wasn't crying so Martin concluded that he didn't need to hold her and that she needed time for herself. He decided that he would return at night as usually to watch over her sleep. So he turned and left the hospital.
After the conversation with Jack which was rather a monologue she had to listen to she was sad, confused and angry about herself because she had known that he was married, loved his kids and would eventually give his marriage another try but she still went into that relationship with her boss. Somewhere deep inside her she knew that he would go back to his wife and that she would be left alone ... again. She looked outside the window and wondered why she had this affair pushing the knowledge that she would be hurt in the end aside. She didn't allowed herself to cry because it was partly her fault that she was in this situation now. Sam also asked herself what she was going to do now that she was on her own again and with the rehabilitation ahead. That are the general directions her thoughts went. Finally she gave up thinking and concentrated on her dinner and her physical therapy in the morning.
This night Sam had nightmares again but these seemed somehow different to Martin who was at her side again. She often cried in her sleep and pleaded someone not to leave her, not to leave her alone. She whispered something weird of being alone, in the dark and cold. Martin tried to calm her down like in the nights before but it was much more difficult this time. So he climbed on her bed and lay down next to her holding her tightly and whispering into her ear: "Sam, I'm here, I won't leave you. I'm staying with you. Please calm down, I'm not going anywhere. Please believe me. You will never be alone because I will always be there for you. I love you." Sam reacted to him. She pressed her body against his, stopped crying and slowly her breathing returned to deep breaths after the last sobs died down. Martin carefully wiped her tears away with his fingertips and held her until he fell asleep with her in his arms like he always wanted to hold her.
As dawn came one of the nurses of the night watch checked on Sam and normally Martin would rise from his chair and go home but the nurse was surprised by seeing him in bed with Sam. She smiled and decided not to wake him now but she hurried back into the nurses room to get the other to see the cute couple lying asleep in bed. So one minute later the whole available nurse staff of this unit was at the threshold to Sam's room to have a look at the two sleeping people inside. They all smiled and whispered how cute the couple was and whether someone had a camera to take a photo. One of them rushed back into the nurses room and came back with one so she took a photo. Seconds later a doctor came around the corner and wondered why all nurses stood in front of one room. He asked the nearest one what they looked at and whether they had nothing to do. The nurse was startled and replied that he should take a look himself. She took two other nurses by their arms and pulled them towards their room. They seemed angry at first but as they noticed the doctor they too took two other nurses by their arms and pulled them apart. So most of them disappeared into their own room or other patient's rooms. The two last remaining nurses stepped aside to let the doctor have a look into the room but as he started to go inside one of them took him by the arm and pulled him away from the door with the explanation that he would make the couple feel embarrassed in front of each other and them. She would wake Martin in a few moments and with no one around because so he could leave at his usual time without having to explain to Sam why they were in the same bed and so close to each other. Then the doctor could check on Sam at his usual time. The doctor agreed and the nurse went into Sam's room to realize her plan. She softly shook Martin's shoulder and he opened his eyes in response. He blushed slightly as he realized that he was lying in Sam's bed. The nurse winked at him and whispered that she wouldn't tell anyone about it, especially not Sam. Martin sighed relieved and put his shoes on, grabbed his jacket and left the room after kissing Sam on the cheek and mouthing a thank you to the nurse.
