Title: Gone

Chapter: 1

Author: Evidence

Rating: PG-13

Author's Notes: Special thank you to Sweatergirl for betaing this- she had her work cut out for her!  This takes place after the events of FO have unfolded.  A shout out to the Maple Street gang who makes message boards fun! :D

The walls had been all the same- colorless, a blah white shade that equaled her empty emotions.  She had stared at them for weeks until the doctor had said she could be released.  Now she lay in her own bed staring at the pale green walls in her small bedroom.  Her white lace sheets surrounded her in warmth but she didn't feel warm, she felt cold.  Her mind drifted to memories of sharing the sheets with a certain FBI agent. 

He had visited her during her stay at the hospital several times.  It was when he came two days ago that she realized something was different.  The color was absent from his face and he kept rambling about a case they were working on.

"Jack, what's the matter?" she had asked.

He had dropped his head done so that his eyes were on the bed sheets.  "I need to tell you something.  After the bookstore I decided to go back home.  I'm with Marie right now."

"Oh," she had responded feeling a pain course through her body, worse than a bullet breaking through flesh.

"Barry made me realize where I belong…with my family."

She had only nodded.

"It was over between us anyways but…I wanted to be honest with you."

"Um, yeah."  She had wanted him to leave at that moment because tears were filling her eyes.  She didn't want him to see her cry.

"We are going on a vacation together to Yellowstone National Park so when you get back to work Vivian will be in charge."

"How long is this vacation?"  Her mouth was dry.

"A few weeks, we really need to… reconnect."  His hand had shook as he raised it to wipe a hair from her forehead.  "I'll see you when I get back."

"Ah, huh."

The pale green walls of her bedroom did nothing to lighten Samantha's mood.  Her relationship with Jack was suppose to be just like every guy she dated- no pressure, no future.  She had never expected to fall in love.  She knew that it was love and not just about sex.  When he looked at her, she felt happy.  When he took an interest in what she said, her day was made.  To be without seeing him for a day was torture.  He was in her thoughts constantly whether at the supermarket as she picked up a lobster or at her mailbox as she grabbed magazines she would never read.  He overtook her, which had been scary at first, but now she was ready to make that commitment.  Getting shot had given her an epiphany and she knew now that she wanted Jack in her life- permanently.  He had chosen the same occasion to go back to the wife, whom he had nothing in common with.

Sam had once promised herself she would never let a man hurt her, but Jack Malone had done just that.

**

She felt old as she walked down the hall, a cane in one hand.  She limped along, still feeling the tenderness in the leg that took the bullet.  Her heart was beating fast; she had been away from work so long.  Vivian was the first to see her.

"Samantha!  Welcome back."  She gently hugged her pulling back to look at her good.  "Oh, Sam…you're still upset."

Vivian had visited Sam after Jack left that day.  For the first time in her life, Sam opened up fully to another person and revealed how she felt about Jack to Vivian.  Vivian had tried to encourage her to hang in, but Sam was lost in the tide of fear of not being with him ever again.

"Sam, look at you!"  Danny smiled brightly approaching the women.

"Hey, Danny, have you been keeping the office running smoothly?"

"I've been trying," he said with a laugh.

"Sam, I'm glad you're back,"  Martin said, appearing from behind her.

"I'm glad I'm back too."

"I'm afraid you can't be in the field yet but I do have some photographs that I want you to take a look at.  Danny, Martin go interview Joe Gallese again, I think he's lying to us," Vivian instructed.

"We're on it," Danny nodded his head and took off with Martin.

**

Sam scanned the photographs but found nothing revealing.  She was bored.  Her whole life had changed: Jack was no longer in it, she couldn't work in the field for a while, her leg would never be the same. 

She sighed, wiping away tears.  Her cell phone buzzed alerting her to a phone call.

"Hello."

"Sam?"  The line was full of static but she immediately recognized the voice.

"Jack!"

"I need your help." His next words were lost as the static took over.

"Jack, I can't hear you."

"There's…problem…gun…blood…"

Her mind began racing.  What the hell was going on?

"Yellowstone…Sam…please…"

"Jack, I'm losing you." 

"Help me…" with that the line went dead.

"Jack?  Jack!"  She yelled into the phone.  There was no response.  Something was wrong, horribly wrong.

To be continued…