Authors Note: I'll try not to make this too long, I promise. Firstly, the 'thank you's' to Sally Jetson for the beta and the encouragement and to Ninz for her wonderful comments! Wub you both!

Next, an apology/ explanation - some of you may have noticed that Sins of the Fathers was 'updated' - it wasn't! I corrected a mistake in chapter 2 that has been bugging me for ages and hit the wrong button, so instead of replacing the chapter content it replaced the chapter...sorry!

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who has left reviews, they really do make a difference and I appreciate you taking the time to post them. To those of you reading but not reviewing, I hope you continue to enjoy the story and thank you for taking the time to read it.

Tempers Fray

'Van Doren wants you off the case.'

The silence that followed was oppressive. Danny stared at Jack who in turn seemed to be focused on a point slightly to the right of Danny's left ear. He waited for Jack to tell him more but after a few moments he realised that nothing else was forthcoming.

'Why does she want me off the case, she doesn't know about Sam and I……..or does she?'

Jack shifted uncomfortably as he avoided Danny's eyes.

'Jack, does she know?'

He made no attempt to keep the anger from his voice. Jack glanced up and met his eyes,

'She knows…..I told her'

'Why?'

Jack hesitated again, then,

'Because I was angry and I didn't stop to think before I opened my mouth…..I'm sorry.'

'Well, if I'm off the case why are you taking me with you and Martin to see the dealership?'

'I persuaded her to let you stay on but you have to stay with one of the team at all times – no going off on your own.'

'I hope you don't expect me to say thank you?'

Jack flinched at the brutal tone in Danny's voice and spoke quickly.

'Look, I'm sorry about earlier….I didn't think you had anything to do with Sam going missing…..but I was worried about her and…………….well you're a bit of a player……………….'

His explanation came to a halt as he took in the fury on Danny's face.

'You have no idea what I am outside this office and you certainly don't know anything about my relationship with Sam……'

The anger, that Danny had fought so hard to control ever since he had found out about Sam, exploded.

'The last time I cheated on a woman I was at Law School and drunk, which is a fuck sight more than you can say you bastard………..don't you dare tell me that you're concerned about Sam and that's why you're doing this – you're jealous…..you hated seeing her with Martin and you hate that she's seeing me. Well, get used to it because this isn't going away………………'

He stopped, sucking in a deep breath as he tried to get himself back under control again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The car came to a halt and Sam offered up a silent prayer of thanks. Ordinarily she was a good traveller but being under a rug that smelt of mould plus the smell of food that was coming from somewhere in the car was making her feel very queasy. She heard voices, but they spoke too quietly for her to hear what they were saying, and then the opening and closing of at least two doors.

The crunching sounds of people approaching the back of the car told her they were off road somewhere, and then the rear door opened. Sam tensed as a wave of nausea flooded her…...

'I'm going to be sick.'

A muttered curse and then two pairs of hands grabbed her, pulled her out of the back of the SUV and held her as she bent over. She was vaguely aware that someone was holding her hair back as she threw up the remains of her breakfast. Once she had stopped throwing up she was more able to take in what was going on around her……..they were definitely out of the city…………and at least one of her captors was a woman.

'I'm going to sit you down….there's a tree stump……here……be careful.'

A woman's voice, no older than Sam and sounding nervous………….Sam let herself be lowered so she was sitting on the tree stump. She drew in lungful's of clean, fresh air, all the while listening to what was going on around her. She listened to the sound of footsteps walking away, pausing and then walking back to her.

'Here, have a drink of water'

A different voice this time, also female, but she sounded older and calmer than the other woman. She felt the rim of a bottle held to her lips. She tipped her head back and drank slowly, enjoying the feel of the cool water running down her dry throat.

The woman didn't try to take the water away from her, letting Sam drink until she'd had enough. The water and the fresh air was helping quieten her stomach and she decided that now was as good a time as any to try and find out why this was happening.

'I don't understand why you've taken me.'

She tried to keep her voice steady. She wasn't expecting an answer but she knew she had to try and get some sort of dialogue started with them.

'Hmm…..I'm a bit unsure on that one too.'

The second woman spoke again. Her tone was dry and Sam sensed the comment wasn't addressed to her. She felt vindicated a moment later when the first woman spoke again

'I'm sorry….I panicked…….I was just so scared that….that…..'

She sounded close to tears as she continued

'…….I'm sorry Samantha, I really am but we won't hurt you we just have to get far enough away before we let you go……'

'Mommy I'm hungry.'

Sam tensed at the sound of the child's voice. She was finding that her other senses were compensating for being blindfolded. From the sound of the voice she guessed that the child was very young, no more than six years old, and female. The woman, who was speaking to Sam, immediately broke off and Sam sensed her moving away in the direction of the child's voice.

'OK honey lets have a look in the cooler and you can see what you'd like to eat.'

Sam was silent for a moment before addressing the second woman again.

'You know my name. I take it you've looked through my bag?' and if so why aren't you worried about the fact that I'm a fed?

She felt the woman sit down next to her on the tree stump

'Yeah, quite interesting…….see you carry a gun.'

She sounded suspicious. Sam's mind raced…they had found her gun but they hadn't said anything about her being a federal agent. She remembered the sound of things dropping out of her bag as she was pushed into the car. She decided to take a chance that her badge was amongst those items.

'Yeah….I, er….I was stalked by an ex boyfriend. A friend of mine got me the gun and taught me how to use it.'

'Really……you carry a Glock 22; you know that the FBI carry those.'

The suspicion in her voice was more evident now and Sam registered that she must know something about guns to know the make and that it was the gun carried by the FBI. She answered cautiously.

'Well the friend who got me the gun and taught me to shoot it is an FBI Agent. He reckoned that if I was going to carry a gun it might as well be one that would do some damage if I ever had to use it.'

Sam held her breath waiting for a response.

'Hmm…….have you ever had to use it?'

The woman's voice was less suspicious now.

'No, thank god. I waved it in the ex boyfriend's face once and he nearly pee'd in his pants.'

The woman laughed then sighed.

'Look I'm sorry that you've ended up in this mess. We won't hurt you but I can't let you go yet, we need to get a lot further away first.'

Sam took another deep breath.

'What exactly is this mess?'

She knew, as soon as she asked that she had made a mistake. The woman tensed next to her and then stood up as she spoke again, her voice cold and suspicious once again.

'You know, you seem way too calm to me. You're asking questions, you carry a gun……. and why did you open the car door? What are you, a cop?'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Danny sat in the back of the car as Martin drove them to the dealership, still surprised that Jack hadn't stopped him from coming. After he had thrown that last accusation at Jack he had been sure he was about to get sent home, instead, although Jack's face had darkened, he had said nothing, just walked out of the tech room and headed to the parking lot. Danny had followed him and climbed into the car without Jack saying a word or even looking at him.

'Here we are.'

Martin sounded relieved, presumably because he could get out of the car and away from the oppressive atmosphere that hung between Jack and Danny.

Jack spoke to Martin without looking at Danny.

'The two of you wait here while I go and speak to the manager. While you're waiting, speak to Viv and Elena and see what they've managed to come up with so far.'

He left the car and headed into the office without a backward glance.

Martin turned to look at Danny.

'OK, what the hell happened after I left the two of you in the tech room?'

Danny slumped down in the seat and scowled.

'Van Doren wants me off the case because she knows about Sam and I….she knows because Jack told her.'

Martin whistled through his teeth.

'OK, that's gotta piss you off, but see it from his point of view, he'd have his ass handed to him if she had found out later that he had known and not said anything to her.'

Danny shook his head.

'He admitted he told her because he was pissed off….because he thinks I'm a player and not good enough for Sam.'

Martin nodded thoughtfully and Danny felt the anger inside him erupt yet again.

'And let me guess, you think the same don't you?'

The anger that swept across Martin's face shocked him, but no where near as much as Martin getting out of the car, wrenching open the door, pulling him out of the car and slamming him up against it's side.

'You're not the only one that's worried about Sam…….we might not be together any more but I still love her as a friend and I'm worried sick about her….and however much of an asshole Jack's being, he cares and he's scared shitless like the rest of us, so for the love of god, stop with the self pity.'

Blind rage consumed Danny as he pushed Martin away and threw a punch…..a punch that Martin obviously expected because Danny's fist sliced through empty space. Martin didn't wait for Danny to correct his aim; instead he flung himself on him again.

'Are you trying to get yourself thrown off this investigation?'

He hissed the words, his face contorted in rage, as Danny struggled to free his hands…….

The ringing of a cell phone made them both pause. Martin stepped back, breathing hard, still looking angry, as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He didn't take his eyes off Danny.

'Fitzgerald……..hey Viv…………that's great. As soon as Jack has the names from the dealership I'll get them through to you for cross-matching…….no, nothing's wrong…..bye.'

As he put his phone back into his pocket the anger drained from his face and he ran his hands through his hair as he stared at Danny.

'Look man, I'm sorry, I know this is tough, I've been there, but we're all feeling it, we all want her back.'

For a moment Danny stood, his fists still clenched, wanting nothing more than to punch something or someone, but the worry he could see on Martin's face along with his words slowly seeped into his consciousness and he forced himself to relax his hands.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

'I'm sorry……..I just……'

Martin closed the gap between them.

'I know….let's just focus on finding her…..you can worry about how to deal with Jack once she's back.'

Danny nodded as he forced himself to think like an FBI Agent and not like a love sick teenager.

'What did Viv have?'

His voice sounded unnatural to his ears and he saw Martin send him a sharp, concerned look before he answered.

'The Bank has come back to us with a list of names. We just need the list of potential owners and then we can cross reference the two and see if we have a hit.'

Danny nodded but before he could answer his cell phone started to ring. He fished it out of his pocket, glancing quickly at the number showing on the caller id – it wasn't one he recognised. He hit the call answer button

'Taylor'

'Hello, is this Mr Taylor?'

Danny froze, staring dumbstruck at Martin as he realised who was calling him…….……