A/N: I hadn't intended continuing with this story but it just sort of happened, so here we have Chapter 2! Just warning people now that Jack isn't going to come out of this in a very good light as far as his wife and family are concerned, but hey, we knew he'd had an affair and it didn't stop us from liking him… right? Thanks as always to Diane not only for her beta work but also for the ideas she has given me while writing this story.

Chapter 2

Jack's eyes followed Sam as she made her way into the bullpen. She threw her bag down onto the desk and proceeded to take off her jacket.

Danny and Viv said good morning, but quickly put their heads back down after they heard her mumbled reply. They knew from past experience that it was best to keep out of her way until her first caffeine fix.

The Carpenters... since when had she been into The Carpenters? mused Jack, still watching her every move.

He knew she'd been in a strange mood the previous morning. But he couldn't really understand it because now that he was finally finding the time to spend with her at weekends, he thought she would be happy.

In doing so, he felt even more like a complete shit, since Maria was spending her weekends looking after her mother. He had offered his support to his wife but she'd declined, quite forcefully, said he'd just be in the way, and seemed more than happy to go alone with the girls.

Jack never thought he'd cheat on his wife-he wasn't the type, or at least he didn't think he was. He loved his daughters and he used to love Maria. They'd been really happy together once; their two beautiful girls were a testament to that.

For a while now, though, his marriage had been stale, they had drifted apart for several reasons, and it had been easy to fall into a relationship with Sam. Her smile lit up the room and she had such a bubbly personality, he found himself almost instantly attracted to her.

Somehow, though, Jack sensed that Sam was going through a sort of crisis of confidence over their affair. He hated using the word affair. What he had with Sam was more than that.

Perhaps he really didn't know that much about her, though. He certainly wasn't aware of her tastes in music… "The Carpenters", he mouthed to himself and shook his head.

A knock on his office door jolted him out of his daydream.

"Morning, Jack," said Viv as she walked towards his desk.

"Hi, Viv. Got anything new for me on the Spencer case?" asked Jack, as he shuffled the papers around on his desk in order to locate the case file.

"Er, no, sorry, but I do have a message for you from Training Branch."

"Really?" inquired Jack, a little taken aback. He didn't recall having requested any courses for the team lately.

"There's a criminal profiling course that Van Doren has requested you attend," said Viv.

"Great… nice of her to tell me about it," groaned Jack. "Exactly which day does she think I can spare to go and learn what I already know?"

"Ohhh… I'm afraid it's worse than that Jack… she has you down for a residential course the weekend after next. It's a new one they are testing at the moment – Criminal Profiling, An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis. " Viv couldn't help but smile as she imparted the unwelcome news.

Jack's head fell into his hands, "Fantastic, now she's using me as a guinea pig. Well, thanks for letting me know… I think!"

"No problem and I'll get everyone together so we can go over the Spencer case, okay, Jack?"

"What, er – yeah okay, I'll be out in few minutes. I need to call Van Doren," was Jack's distracted reply.

Chuckling to herself, Viv turned and left his office.

That was all he needed. Sam would be in an even greater funk when she found out that he wouldn't be able to stay over, or even see her that weekend.

Wonder if Van Doren would authorise another member of the team to come along? - was the sudden, ludicrous idea that filled Jack's head.

Sam definitely needed to attend a profiling course, she'd already had all the compulsory training, but a bit more wouldn't do any harm… would it?

He shook his head - no that would be too obvious; he was just going to have to find some way of making it up to her. He was pretty sure he'd think of something suitable.

XXXXX

The rest of the week passed uneventfully. There were no further developments in their current missing person's case and Jack was going to have to decide whether the time was right to wind down their investigations.

"Hey," said Sam as she stumbled across him in the break room.

"Hey, to you too," he replied, flashing her one of his special smiles.

"What are you going to say to Van Doren about the case, ask her for some extra time?" inquired Sam.

"Huh, no, I don't think so. We've been reaching dead ends for a few weeks now, and I can't see anything changing," sighed Jack. "Besides, I think the Spencers have resigned themselves to the fact that we aren't going to find Josh alive. They know we can't go on forever… however much we might want to."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Jack could see Sam playing awkwardly with the rim of her coffee cup. Oh, how he wished that he could just reach out and take her hand. But even if he was certain that there was no one around, he couldn't take the chance of bringing their relationship into work. That's why their weekends together were so special.

Suddenly he remembered his profiling course and let out a deep sigh.

"You okay?" asked Sam.

"I guess so," Jack whispered. "Actually… there's something I've been putting off telling you."

Sam looked up so that he had her full attention.

"Van Doren has signed me up for some damn residential course weekend after next. It means I won't be able to come over on the Saturday night," he said in an extremely hushed voice.

The silence was deafening, and as Jack looked up from his soda, he could see Sam staring at him intently. Obviously, this wasn't good, but she hadn't screamed at him, so it was better than the reaction he was expecting.

Finally, Sam spoke, "Maybe it's for the best, Jack. I've been doing a lot of thinking since Sunday and… and I'm not so sure that I can carry on with this, it's just too hard…" Sam's voice trailed off as she reached for her coffee cup and stood up.

Looking around, Jack grabbed Sam's wrist. "Hard, this is hard for you. I really can't work you out sometimes, Sam."

She wrenched her wrist from his grasp, "I didn't force you to commit adultery, Jack," she hissed at him as she walked swiftly away.

Jack crushed his soda bottle and threw it into the trashcan. He knew she was upset, but he had no idea that she was thinking of ending it. When they were together, it was like nothing could come between them. At least that's how he felt and he thought those were Sam's feelings too.

Maybe it was a lot more than just her taste in music that he had no idea about.

XXXXX

It seemed like Sam had spent the majority of the previous day doing everything she could to avoid him. She hadn't even called him later on that evening, like she usually did while he was still in the office.

Jack was on call that weekend along with Sam, but he prayed that they wouldn't get called into the office. He didn't think he could stand the strained atmosphere any longer.

Maria had taken the girls to do some clothes shopping and Jack had made his excuses. The thought of spending his Saturday morning standing in a cramped and stuffy shop, full of pre-pubescent girls all cooing over the latest designer top, was enough to make him offer to clean up their apartment.

Cleaning, however, wasn't one of Jack Malone's many talents, so he flicked the duster around where he could. Actually moving objects would have been way too thorough, so he just wiped round things - that would do. When he was finished, he planned to settle down with a well-earned cup of coffee and a crossword.

He reached their CD collection and started flicking through. Actually, most were Maria's. She was proud of her organisational skills, so, of course, everything was alphabetically filed.

His finger stopped as it came to the "C's". The Carpenters… he didn't even know that Maria had any of their music.

He eased the disc out of the case and placed it in the player.

Of course, he knew who The Carpenters were and after listening to a few tracks, he was actually impressed by how beautifully Karen Carpenter could sing.

"Rainy Days and Mondays" started playing. After it finished he sat down on the edge of the sofa. Well, if that was the song that had stuck in Sam's head, she really must have been depressed, and he could understand now how she'd been feeling.

Losing her would be way too painful. She meant so much to him, probably more than she knew. There had to be a way of making her see that there could be a future for them.

Jack slid down onto the sofa and closed his eyes, while he listened to the rest of the CD playing through. One particular song stuck in his mind as he eventually carried on with his housework.

Hanna and Kate were buzzing with excitement when they returned and treated Jack to an impromptu fashion parade.

Jack enjoyed a pleasant weekend with his family; even Maria managed to be civil to him. She was slightly amused when she saw her Carpenters CD still nestling in the player and quizzed him as to his sudden liking for the group.

He made a mental note that he'd have to be a little more careful in the future not to do anything that was too out of character for him, just in case Maria started to suspect something was wrong.

There hadn't been any call into work, which was a relief, and Jack hadn't been surprised that there had been no contact from Sam. He was the one who usually called her at weekends, when the opportunity arose. This weekend, however, he felt it was best to give her some space. There would be plenty of time to talk tomorrow… he hoped.

~ tbc ~