Chapter 4

Jake waited for Sam as she cleaned out her desk at the Chronicle. Sam had cried when she had given her notice to Johnny. Jake thought it looked like Johnny was about to cry also.

Jake gave Johnny credit. He didn't try and talk Sam out of leaving. He had taken one look at his favorite reporter's face and simply nodded.

Now, Johnny sidled up to Jake and Jake looked at the other man expectantly.

"I wasn't sure when she called me from Hawaii, but you're good for her," Johnny murmured. "I could see the difference immediately. She was in a bad way for a long time."

Jake nodded. Everything he had heard had told him how bad she actually was. First Kit, then Sam and now Johnny had all said the same thing.

"She had given up, basically," Johnny went on. "I tried to keep her going with stories and assignments but I'm not sure how long I could have done it. She faded away a little more each day."

"She won't anymore," Jake promised quietly.

"I can see that," Johnny said. "I was afraid she would take her own life at one point."

Jake shuddered knowing that Sam had tried a couple of times.

Johnny stuck out his hand to Jake. Jake didn't hesitate in shaking the other man's hand. "She's a great reporter, but she needed more than that."

"She has it," Jake responded.

"Yes, she finally does," Johnny nodded, glancing towards Sam.

She had finished putting everything in a box, slinging her pink My Little Pony backpack over her shoulder. Jake grinned at the backpack as he stepped forward to take the box.

"Here, let me," he told her.

"Thanks," Sam smiled at him.

"You're sure you want to do this Forster?" Johnny asked, though he was smiling at her.

"Yes," Sam nodded.

"I'll mail you your Pulitzer," Johnny said.

"If I win," Sam laughed.

"Something tells me you will," Johnny responded. "I have a good feeling about this." He looked at Jake standing nearby, Sam's box in his hands. "A good feeling about all of this."

"Bye Johnny," Sam gave her editor a hug.

Jake watched as the other man hugged his wife, but he didn't feel threatened by it. He trusted Sam completely.

Jake caught himself. He had quickly gone from not trusting her, thinking she had betrayed him, to trusting her so thoroughly again. He loved her with his soul. The soul that Dawn had helped heal and for that he would always be grateful.

"Goodbye Sam," Johnny returned her hug. "You know you'll always have a job with me if you need it."

"I know," Sam smiled. "I appreciate all you've done for me."

"Can it, Forster," Johnny told her with a smile. "You put me on the map with your stories."

"Then you owe me," Sam swatted his arm.

Johnny met Jake's eyes. The two men nodded at each other. Johnny was asking Jake to take care of Sam and Jake was letting the other man know he would. Jake was thanking Johnny for keeping Sam alive while they had been apart.

Sam waved as she and Jake left the office to wait by the elevators.

"Are you sad?" Jake had to ask.

Sam shook her head, smiling up at him. She tucked her arm through his as he held her box.

"No, I want to be with you," Sam told him. "I'm your wife. This place was here when I needed…" Sam's voice broke.

Jake shifted the box to one hand and put his other arm around the woman who was his wife.

"That part is over," Jake murmured, kissing the top of her head.

"When I needed to run, it was here," Sam managed to get out.

"You don't need to run anymore," Jake said.

Sam shook her head. No, her running was over. Now she was married to the man she loved. The man she had loved since she was four years old.

"I love you," they both said at the same time, smiling softly at the other.