Thanks for the welcome back, folks! It was really appreciated. I was in such a hurry to get the first chapter up and posted that I forgot about the forward. This time, I'm remembering...so thank you to Diane, whose eagle eyes have patiently gone through every version but the final one to find errors. It means there are fewer mistakes than you'd find normally...and that those you do find are all mine!

What the writers have done to these characters has made it very difficult for me to write them. What possible future could there be for J/S after all that's been done? This story, I guess, is my answer. Thanks for reading.

No Fairy Tale, This
By: Mariel

Chapter 2:
Where They Were
Part I

Three months ago

Their morning cups of coffee just poured and their behinds barely settled into their seats at the bullpen table, everyone turned as Jack walked briskly into the area and went straight to the white board.

"This," he said as he posted an eight-by-ten picture of a young, blond woman, "is Tammy Star. Lives at 2435 Chester Street in the Bronx. She was reported missing by an Anthony Sparks. Mr. Sparks claims to be her boyfriend, but unfortunately doesn't appear to know much about her. He thinks she's about eighteen years old. He thinks she comes from Texas originally. And, in spite of his great affection for her, he appears," Jack said, "to have no objection to her turning tricks to help make ends meet, because he says he thinks she may have been prostituting herself to help pay the rent." Resuming his description, he continued, "She's been gone five days, and he's worried a john may have abducted or harmed her." There was an element of impatience in the way Jack spoke, and the others noticed, but did not comment. He'd been unusually testy the past couple of weeks, and everyone was pretty sure it was over something personal. They had learned, however, not to comment or question.

"Five days, and he's just reporting her missing now?" Danny asked. "He doesn't sound very concerned to me."

Samantha looked at the calendar on the wall, then at him. "It's almost the end of the month," she observed.

Martin frowned, then his face cleared as understanding dawned. "Rent will be due," he muttered. "What a prince. Needs to know what to do about the apartment."

Vivian looked at Jack curiously. "This doesn't sound like something we usually get involved in. If she's young and has been hooking to make ends meet, she may have simply decided to go back home."

Jack nodded. "Perhaps, but the police are having trouble tracking down where 'home' is, and they say it appears most of her things are still in the apartment." He paused for the briefest second, then continued, "And to be honest, I'm more interested in the fact Anthony Sparks has called in a missing persons report similar to this before. The story then was almost identical to the one he's telling now."

Danny's eyes widened, and he moved forward slightly - an indication, Jack knew, that his interest was finally piqued. The dark-haired agent shook his head. "He's either phenomenally unlucky in love or he's really stupid."

Still in a foul mood over his latest argument with Anne, Jack felt himself slowly being drawn out of it by the case. Welcoming the distraction, he moved closer to the table and replied, "I'm leaning towards really stupid, but maybe not, since he's still out on the street. I checked, and nothing ever linked him to the disappearance of the other girlfriend. He had an airtight alibi, and nothing could shake it."

"Then why am I getting the feeling they're dead, and not missing?" Elena asked in a clipped, skeptical tone.

Sitting back in her chair, Samantha watched the people gathered around the table interact. She looked at Jack in particular, noting the dark circles under his eyes and the tenseness in his posture. Something was up with him, and had been for a while now. She frowned, sure that life with Anne was meeting with difficulties. Resolutely turning her thoughts from problems that were none of her business, she addressed the case, commenting, "If they were murdered, this isn't our case. We don't investigate suspected murders."

Jack's face gave nothing away as he responded. "The women are missing, and we've been asked to find them," he said flatly. "NYPD believes they're probably dead, but is having no luck with Sparks as a suspect. With no body, it won't be long before they're going to have to stop using resources on this case and move on to something else. The hope is that we find something by going at things from a different angle. For the record, we aren't interested in Anthony Sparks, we're interested in Tammy Star. If we're lucky, it'll be like Vivian said, and Tammy smartened up and headed for home. Maybe the same went for the other woman, too - he does seem to like them on the young side. If that's not the case, however, maybe we'll uncover something NYPD didn't." Picking up a few files he'd brought with him, he continued, "We've still got the Everson case to work on, so I'm dividing things up. Samantha, I want you to take a look into finding out who the heck Tammy Starr is and where she came from. Once you've laid the groundwork and have a profile of some sort, come and see me. The rest of you I want to continue following up on what you were working on yesterday. I'll be in my office if anyone needs me." The work delegated, Jack nodded and returned to his office.

The others looked at one another silently, then rose wordlessly to go about their work. This wasn't the first time Jack had removed himself from direct involvement in a case, but it was something he was doing more and more frequently. Each of them wondered what the reason was, and each had their own theory as to why. No one, however was about to ask in order to find out for sure.

-xxx-

Six weeks ago

"This is Anthony Sparks, age 35, of 2987 Welland Avenue, near 4th. Last seen by his 'friend', Angel Smith, three days ago. He dropped by her place of employment - which is, apparently, on the corner of 3rd and 45th Street - and 'borrowed' some money from her. He said he'd see her that evening, and hasn't been heard from since."

When he'd finished speaking, Jack turned from the white board, where he'd just put up an eight-by-ten picture of a dark-haired Caucasian man with penetrating grey eyes and heavy eyebrows.

Martin frowned. "Anthony Sparks," he said, obviously running the name through his memory. Turning to Samantha, he said, "He's the one with two missing girlfriends, right?"

Jack spoke before Samantha could reply.

"That's right; and now he's missing, too." Looking at Samantha, he said, "It looks like it's time to meet his not-so-nice and incredibly elusive friends once again, and see if we can find out where he went."

Samantha shook her head. "Don't expect much. I've already spoken to a few of them about Tammy Star; they're very tight-lipped about just about everything."

"Perhaps we haven't used the right approach," Danny said cryptically.

Jack sent Danny a glance, then said, "We'll do the usual. Something's obviously up. Samantha discovered he's involved in about every petty crime out there - blackmail, money laundering, gambling fraud, pimping...he's a real charmer."

Elena sighed and rolled her eyes. "There are so many."

Samantha smiled grimly. "And on this case, you'll meet even more, trust me." Turning to Jack, she said, "You want me to go have another talk with some of his friends?"

Jack nodded. There were times he didn't care for her ability to know his thoughts, but today he was too focussed to notice. "Yes, please. Take Elena with you. Martin, there's a business partner, a Steven Hutkins, I'd like you to find, and then take a look at his family, and neighbours at both present and past addresses. Danny, I want you to take a look at his credit cards and telephone use, then help Martin with the residence thing." Turning to Vivian, he said, "I'm going to ask you to take over the lead on the McKinley case. There's still new information coming in, and I'm developing a theory. Come back to my office and I'll give you the latest."

Elena paused. "Perhaps we should ask legal if there's been-"

Breaking into her suggestion, Jack said abruptly, "Ask them whatever you need to. Nolan Dunkirk's the name to ask for. He'll get you the information you need."

Her eyebrows rose at the unfamiliar name. "Nolan Dunkirk?"

Jack nodded. "Yes. Anne has transferred out of the New York office."

Everyone around the table stiffened and kept their eyes trained on whatever they had been looking at when he'd spoken. No one moved or said anything for what seemed like a very long time. When it became obvious Jack was not going to add anything to his bombshell, Elena nodded, then in a careful tone said, "Okaaay... Thanks. I'll do that and then we'll head out to talk to his friends."

Not looking at any of them, Jack picked up his papers, turned, and left.

Once Jack was out of earshot, Danny shook his head and looked at Elena. "What the hell?" he asked.

"Whatever happened to the grapevine?" Elena asked. "Shouldn't we have known about that?"

Samantha, who knew about Anne's pregnancy but didn't know what to say about the news she had gone, said nothing. That the two hadn't been getting along perfectly was well known, but for Anne to have packed up and left? Whatever had happened between her and Jack had happened big.

Vivian turned questioning eyes to meet Samantha's, but she, too, remained silent.

Having little patience with Jack's love life or speculation thereon - but not surprised the man had frakked it up again - Martin said curtly, "Let's get to work."

XXX

Four Weeks Ago

It was late, and they were tired and almost ready to go home. Outside Jack's office, the cleaners had done their run through and left the floor in muted darkness, the occasional desk light left on here and there for illumination.

"I don't think he's missing; I think he's just lying low for a while. He was in a pile of trouble," Samantha said. Standing in front of Jack's desk and talking about her progress on the Anthony Sparks case, she twisted her hair into a loose ponytail. When she was finished both her comment and putting her hair up, she found him gazing at her intently, a look in his eyes she couldn't interpret.

Realising he'd been caught staring, Jack grunted and quickly looked away. There were things he wanted to tell her; things she deserved to know - or at least things he felt she deserved to know, though he couldn't have explained why. Still, the words were difficult to voice, and he had thus far avoided speaking them. Sometimes, he thought, it was better to just let things lie...

"Hard not to be," he finally said, "with the stuff he was in. How'd he think he could get away with skimming off everyone? There are people you just don't mess with, and he was involved with at least a dozen of them. What was he thinking?"

Samantha shook her head tiredly. "Who knows? But he's stayed alive this long. And lived well, too. I can't believe he'd let his 'girlfriends' live in the dives they did while he owned a nice three bedroom with a view of the river in Jersey."

Jack shrugged."They weren't girlfriends; they were just women he used and pimped out. You already knew he was a slime ball. Which is why I think it's time we handed this back to NYPD. I'm not feeling comfortable with us taking it any further. This isn't a simple missing persons - it's gone far beyond that. He's involved with some pretty powerful, nasty people."

Samantha's eyebrows rose. "That's usually what keeps you interested."

It was true, but Samantha had taken the bit in her teeth with this case, and it was making him increasingly uncomfortable. She identified with young females in trouble, and this case had involved two of them. In exploring their disappearances, they'd learned a lot about the man involved in both their lives, and it was obvious Samantha didn't like him. When he had gone missing, she'd insisted she take on the case. Reluctantly, he'd agreed. The feelings of unease wouldn't go away, though. The criminal element wasn't predictable, and this case had gone from one unpredictable event to another. Considering what she'd told him only two nights ago, he thought more precaution was necessary. She had not only herself to look after, but an unborn baby, as well. He-

"Jack?"

Samantha's voice interrupted his thoughts. Looking at her, he shrugged and tried to keep his inner worry from her. "I just think it's time we hung it up. It's been two weeks, and we've got nothing. I don't mind doing NYPD favours, because I know they'll be returned, but..." he allowed his voice to trail off as his eyes drifted away from hers and sought refuge in the papers on his desk.

Knowing exactly what Jack Malone was doing, Samantha regarded him steadily, daring him to push this too far. She'd only just told him about her pregnancy, was still in her first trimester, and already he was trying to wrap her in cotton wool. "Give me another day or two, Jack," she insisted. She lifted her hand and put the tips of her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. "I'm this far from tracking down his silent partner. I know he exists - or I'm pretty sure, anyway. No one wants to talk, but someone will eventually."

Jack had no doubt but what someone would, but he was also pretty sure it wouldn't help anything. Still, he understood her unspoken warning, and nodded. She'd scream bloody murder if she thought he was giving her special treatment when she didn't need it. "Okay. Forty-eight hours, then, that's it." Rising, he said, "We should get out of here. I need to pick up something to eat before going home." Looking sideways at her, he casually asked, "You hungry? We could grab something at Carmen's."

When Samantha turned towards him, a frown creased her brow and her expression revealed both surprise at the suggestion and an uncertainty over how to respond. Both reactions were understandable. After Maria had left, things hadn't been great between them, and nothing had been right between them since the Anne debacle. The discord was subtle; there was no outright warfare, no quiet digs or untoward comments, but there was still something not right, still a discord that made him regret the absence of what they'd had. He understood Samantha's distaste for the way he'd treated her. He had no real explanation for it, other than fear and temporary madness - but he longed to get back onto a decent footing. The fact he wanted more than that was buried deeply in his psyche, and he avoided acknowledgment of it at all costs. There'd been too many mistakes, too many missed opportunities to do the right thing...And now, with the baby and his not knowing what the hell was going on there, he knew he needed to bury his feelings and move on. If there'd been one thing his failed relationship with Anne had taught him, it was that sometimes moving on is the best thing you can do.

When silence stretched out between them to unbearable limits, he shuffled his feet and said, "Look, I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry. It's just that-"

Forcing herself to be reasonable, she broke into his words. "No, that's all right. I was just thinking about how much I have to do at home," she lied. More than anything, she wanted to go with him, but he'd hurt her badly, and she'd reacted foolishly, which had led to hurting another person. She didn't want to put herself even remotely in the position of going through anything like that again. He was capable of dealing out far more hurt than she could bear to handle. After fighting so hard to reach the equilibrium she now felt, she had to remain wary about any attempts to alter it.

And, she admitted to herself, she was embarrassed. Embarrassed that she was pregnant with no real excuse other than stupidity. Pregnant and without a responsible man in the picture to help with the responsibility. Pregnant and scared. Pregnant and-

She clamped down on her errant thoughts firmly.

"I think I'd better go straight home," she finally said. "I'm not that hungry, and there are things I have to do."

Jack nodded, guessing she was likely meeting someone. He'd heard the joking comments from Danny and Martin about a guy she was seeing. Samantha remained close-mouthed about the whole thing, but he wondered if, since she was being so private about it, maybe this time around it was serious. The father of her baby.

The thought scared him more than he wanted to admit.

Turning, she walked to the door and opened it. Looking across the room at him, she hesitated. "Thanks for the invite, though," she said in a quiet tone. "It would have been nice." She smiled and then, in a manner he was more accustomed to, added, "Stupid, but nice. See you tomorrow Jack."

With that, she was gone.

Though he could never have explained why, Jack held the 'Stupid, but nice," to his heart all the way home.

End
Chapter 2