The thunder crackled as lightning lit up the sky and the bedroom. Samantha slid deeper under the covers as Jack rolled over and placed his arm around her. The thunder hadn't even really awakened him, just stirred him awake enough for him to roll over. Samantha snickered under her breath. She was a light sleeper so the first crack of thunder thirty minutes ago had awakened her and she hadn't gone back to sleep. Jack, on the other hand, seemed to be able to sleep through anything. She swore that a bomb could have gone off in his closet and he wouldn't know anything about it until the next morning when he went to get dressed. Jack mumbled something incoherent in his sleep before snorting and rolling onto his stomach. Samantha raised her eyebrows in amusement before leaning back into the pillows.
She hadn't really expected Jack to ask her to stay with him tonight. She knew at the time he was hurting and trying to seek out comfort in anyway possible and it seemed that she was the only person he really confided in. Even after all the talking they had done tonight, though, he still hadn't really explained to her why this case had affected him so much. All he had really told her was that it was because Tommy was so young, but she was sure it was more than that. Cases that involved children always affected him as well as the rest of the team, but this was the first time she had ever seen him look so vulnerable over a case. He was tired, worried, and seemed to be second-guessing a lot lately, which caused her to worry about him a lot. He really wasn't himself.
Jack produced another deep snort before coughing, sputtering and sitting up. Samantha looked at him, vaguely surprised and startled by his random fit. He glanced at her sleepily before rubbing at his eyes.
"What time is it?" he whispered with a yawn.
"About 5:30." He nodded and lay back down, rolling over so that his back was facing her. She sighed and lay down next to him, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"Jack?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you okay?" He rolled over to face her and saw the concern in her eyes. He nodded and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face.
"Yeah," he was trying to reassure her but it wasn't really working. She nodded and watched as he rolled over again. The room grew silent again and she had assumed he had gone back to sleep, when he spoke.
"Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm not okay." Another crack of thunder and Jack had turned to face her once again.
"What's wrong?" she asked as she ran her fingers gently through his hair. She watched as he closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.
"Sam, I knew him." He paused. "I knew Tommy." He cleared his throat to try and get rid of the lump that was forming before taking a breath to compose himself. "He was my neighbor's kid at my old apartment. It was kind of funny on mornings when I would get up late, the poor kid would need to go to the bus stop, so he would follow me all the way down the hallway and outside until I got to my car, talking his head off." A small smile crossed his features as he recalled the memory.
"I'm so sorry Jack," she said as she wrapped her arms around him.
"It wasn't your fault,"
"I still feel bad for you." She placed a kiss on his forehead and continued to hold him in her embrace.
After an hour of holding onto each other, they had still made no attempt to move, at least until Zeus came in and jumped onto Jack's bed, panting hysterically in Jack's face and then running for the front door of Jack's apartment.
"He needs to go ou," Jack stated, as if it wasn't obvious enough.
"Take him for a walk, I'll still be here when you get back."
"You want to go?" She shrugged and nodded.
"Sure why not."
Once they were both dressed, Jack grabbed Zeus' leash and hooked it to his collar before opening the door and starting out into the fairly warm morning. After taking a deep breath of air, Samantha smiled and slipped her arm around Jack's waist. He smiled back and returned the favor by wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to him. At this point she wasn't really worried if anyone saw them or not. Zeus was walking back and forth in front of Jack, trying his best to wrap the leash around his legs, which he had fallen for once, literally, and wasn't planning on it happening again.
"Zeus, stop," Jack scolded. Zeus looked up at Jack and barked. Samantha half expected Jack to tell the dog not to talk back, but to her surprise he didn't. Jack glanced over at Samantha and smiled. After he had continued to gaze at her a few seconds, a curious look passed her features.
"What?" she inquired playfully.
"Nothing." He turned his attention back to Zeus with a smirk plastered on his face. He realized that her gaze had never left his, so he took a breath before speaking.
"I was just wondering if you would give me the chance to show you how much I really care about you," he asked as he continued to look straight ahead.
"Really?" she was slightly amused at his sudden honesty.
"Yes. I want to help you. I want to help you raise this child. I want to be there for you in any way I can."
"You're serious, aren't you?" She was shocked that he would openly confess how he felt, right on the streets of New York, but one look into those eyes of his told her just how serious he was.
"Yeah." She glanced into his eyes and could see the depths of his soul and realized that in that moment, there was nothing she could say or do to change his mind.
