Disclaimer: I don't own anything... boo hoo
A/N: this is a freakishly long chapter in my opinion so that should be good for yall. Hope you like it.. I'm pretty sure you will :) this chapter is dedicated to all my faithful reviewers.. you guys rock.
Chapter 9:
Despite their best efforts, the team had been unable to locate the MP's, so they remained in California during the holiday season. None of the agents pretended to be happy about the prospect of spending their Christmas indoors pushing paper; however, the generous bonuses they all received for their hard work helped make the situation slightly more favorable.
Many of the assorted agents were seated around a conference table in sections depending on what region they hailed from. Russell was from Chicago and had promptly labeled the groups accordingly. Texas agents were known collectively as the President's kinfolk, Chicago agents were referred to as Chi-towners, New York was the Big Apple section, and D.C. included the members of the nonstate. Needless to say, Russell was the clown of the group.
After a while of going over the information that had been collected, they began discussing what they were missing out on at their respective homes.
Jay, the epitome of a Southern gentleman, was from Dallas. His brother had been stationed in Iraq for several months and was coming home Christmas day.
Rebecca was an Asian-American woman who had a fiance in Chicago she was desperate to spend the holidays with.
As each person rattled off details of who and what they missed, Samantha realized that she didn't have anything she missed in New York. She didn't miss her family, they rarely spoke. She didn't have a significant other at the moment who missed her. Had she been in New York, she would've volunteered to be on call over the holidays. She didn't have anything better to do. In that moment, she realized how truly alone she was.
"What about the rest of you Yank's?" Jay asked, his voice thick with a Southern drawl. The table of agents turned towards 'the Big Apple' section.
"What about us?" Danny countered.
"What would ya'll be doing if you weren't stuck on the West Coast?" Travis, also from Dallas, replied.
"Well" Danny began, "I'd probably be at my brother's house watching It's a Wonderful Life over and over again. I don't know why, but my nephew loves that movie. After he fell asleep, I'd put the cookies and milk out for Santa and be on my merry way." He finished.
Nadia, Sydney, and Vaughn had joined the group somewhere in the middle of everyone's stories.
"It sounds like you're really close with him." Rebecca commented.
"I am. I love that kid like he was my own." He admitted. "Anyway, how about you Marty?"
"My family usually goes upstate to this cabin we have. And when I say family, I mean the whole family: aunts, uncles, cousins. At midnight on Christmas Eve, we all pile into the den and my dad reads The Night Before Christmas. After that, everyone opens one of their presents. That's about it really. Nothing too exciting."
"That sounds like a lot of fun." Natalie a blue-eyed blonde from D.C. added with a flirty tone that Sam couldn't help but notice. "I wish my family had a tradition like that." She grinned at Martin.
"Excuse me." Samantha said, standing from her seat and making a quick exit. Natalie had really struck a nerve in her. She stood in a dimly lit hallway, away from the center of activity. A few minutes later she heard footsteps approaching, but she kept her gaze on her shoes, hoping the person would leave her be.
"I wondered where you disappeared to." She lifted her head slowly to find Martin leaning a shoulder against the wall, facing her. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." Sam answered.
"C'mon, Sam, we both know that's not true." He replied.
"If you came out here to fight with me, Martin, I'll go ahead and tell you I'm not in the mood." She snapped.
"I'm not trying to pick a fight. I just want to know what's going on in that head of yours." He smiled, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, seemingly unfazed by her remark.
"I don't know." She paused, looking anywhere but his eyes. She could lie better if he wasn't staring at her. Sometimes when he looked at her, she thought he could really see her, see past the walls she had so carefully constructed. "I'm just ready to go home."
He cupped her face gently, forcing her to look at him. "Is it Natalie?" He questioned.
"Yes," she confessed, "I know it's stupid but she just... rubs me the wrong way."
"Why?" Martin asked, rubbing his thumb over her cheek, keeping his eyes locked hers.
"Because she's flirting with you." Sam answered. "You must think I'm crazy." She blushed, finally pulling her eyes away from his. "It's not like we're even dating or anything so I have no idea why I'm getting so wound up about it. You're a single guy, free to date who you want."
Martin stood quietly, continuing to run his fingers along her cheek and jaw.
"Sam, look at me." He responded after a few moments of silence. Reluctantly, she turned to face him. "Technically, I may be a single man, but there is only one woman I want to be with." He added with more sincerity than she could believe.
"Really?" She asked timidly, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
"Yes, really. Why would you even ask such a question?" He smiled. "This is going to sound very high school but I'm going to ask you anyway." She nodded, willing him to go on. "Samantha Spade, would you like to be my girlfriend?"
Back inside the conference room
"Where do you think they went?" Sydney asked after Samantha and Martin had been gone for several minutes.
"Flirting corner definitely." Vaughn grinned, reaching for her hand underneath the table.
"I don't know. She looked pretty upset." Jay answered. "Most likely a lover's spat."
"Yeah, did you see the way he ran out after her?" Russell responded. "There's definitely something more than a work relationship there."
"No way." Natalie spat. "They are so wrong for each other." She rolled her eyes.
"You're just jealous because you like ole boy and he ain't givin' you the time of day." Jay joked.
"I agree, Cowboy. She's green with envy as we speak." Rebecca quipped.
"Danny," Travis called "You work with them. What do you think?"
"I think with those two there are millions of possibilities."
"What does that mean?" Travis asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Are they together or not? Because if not, I would definitely ask Samantha out."
"They aren't together per se, but I don't think you'd have a chance with her." Danny responded.
"Why not?" He countered.
"Because obviously she has a thing for Martin." Rebecca answered as if she had known them all along.
"How do you know? You've been around them all of what, 5 minutes?"
"Women know these things." Rebecca commented. "If looks could kill, Natalie would've been dead the minute she looked Martin's way. Samantha was fuming."
"Well, I don't know what they are at this moment, but I think they would have beautiful children." Russell joked.
"I think they'd make a good couple. They obviously have feelings for each other." Nadia chimed in.
"Yeah, I hardly ever see one without the other." Sydney said. "They remind me of Vaughn and I before we started dating."
"Can we change the subject now." Natalie groaned. "I don't care to talk about this anymore."
"You would if it was you instead of Samantha." Rebecca said under her breath.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Natalie gaped.
"It means that you're just mad you ain't the office hottie anymore." Jay explained with a grin.
"I'm going to lunch." Natalie jumped up from her seat, nearly running from the room.
The entire room errupted into laughter. "That was fun." Jay said between laughs.
"It was definitely entertaining." Danny chuckled.
Hallway
"You're right." Samantha replied. "That did sound very high school." Martin felt his heart jump as laughter escaped her lips.
"In all fairness, I did warn you." He chuckled.
"Yes you did." The laughter died down before Martin took a step closer to her, running a hand over the back of his neck.
"You still haven't answered my question." He said softly.
"Which one would that be?" She asked, feigning ignorance.
"Will you be the mother of my children?" He responded, the smile growing across his face.
"Martin!" She slapped his shoulder playfully.
"Violence is not the answer, Sam." He said grabbing her hand. A comfortable silence overtook them as they stood in the hallway, fingers entertwined.
Samantha dropped his hand and snaked her hands behind his neck, running her fingers through the soft hairs at the nape of his neck. She couldn't be positive but she thought she felt him shiver slightly under her touch, causing her to smile widely and her heart to flutter. He gently placed his hands on her hips, absentmindedly tracing his thumbs in soft circles across her abdomen.
"I would love to be your girlfriend." She admitted watching his dimples emerge as a smile spread across his face.
"Really?" He asked, pulling her closer to him.
"Yes, really. Why would you ask such a question?" She mocked.
"To make sure I'm not imagining things." He laughed.
"No such luck." She joked.
He leaned down slowly, kissing her lips softly before pulling away. "I've wanted to do that for so long."
"Kiss me in the middle of the CIA rotunda?" She asked sarcastically.
"Kiss you period." He replied.
"Good answer." She smiled capturing his lips with her own.
"I thought you'd like that." He mumbled between kisses.
"Not you two, too!" Weiss' voice said, pulling them from their embrace.
They jumped back from one another, blushing furiously. "Sorry we didn't know anyone was there." Martin choked out.
"I didn't mean to snoop, but I was looking for Syd and Vaughn and this is their usual hangout." He replied. "By the way, Rico Suave was looking for you." He said over his shoulder as he walked back into the rotunda.
"Rico Suave?" Samantha questioned after he left.
"I think he's referring to Danny." Martin laughed. "Enough about him. Where were we?" He ran a hand through her hair before resting it on her lower back.
"I think we better hold off on that until we leave. I don't want to be the subject of the office's gossip today." She said, her hands moving up and down his arms.
"Ok." He replied, slumping his shoulders and poking his bottom lip out.
"Don't even try it, mister." She poked him in the chest. "We should get back in there before they think we've gone missing as well."
"Yeah, I guess so."
She started to walk away when Martin grabbed her wrist pulling her back to him.
"Martin!" Sam yelped, instantly silenced by his lips on hers. They pulled back gasping for air several moments later with grins covering both their faces. "What was that for?" She giggled.
"I knew I wouldn't get to do that again for a while, so I figured I better get something to hold me over for the next couple hours." He smiled, tracing her swollen lips.
They headed back to the conference room, his hand on her lower back. As they walked back into the room everyone got quiet, studying their every move.
"So, what have you guys been up to?" Danny smirked.
"Nothing." They answered simultaneously, grinning at each other.
"Yeah, right." Jay added. "We'll figure it out sooner or later."
"I don't know why you're giving us the third degree. We were just talking." Martin said sitting beside Samantha.
"Well, it must've been intense because you smudged your lipstick, Marty." Russell commented with a smile. Martin dropped his head in embarrassment as a blush spread across Samantha's face. It was then she remembered she hadn't worn lipstick today, only a light coat of lip gloss. Russell was trying to push their buttons. She looked at him with a smile.
"No, his lips have a natural pink color." She replied calmly, subtly patting Martin's leg under the table, attempting to calm him down.
Russell continued to smirk, knowing he'd lost this round.
"I'm hungry." Sam continued. "Anyone want anything to eat?"
For the first time that day, she felt happy. And it was all because of Martin Fitzgerald.
