Window, Part 3

Author's Note: So much love to everyone at Maple Street..you guys rock hardcore. This is set about three months after the previous chapter.

My heart raced, and blood pounded so hard in my ears that I almost couldn't hear him over the deafening noise in my head.

"I don't know about this, Sam." Tense, worried and full of static due to poor reception, the mere timbre of his voice still managed to soothe my panicked nerves.

"I hate sending you in there alone."

"Jack, don't you dare give up on me now." I was almost hysterical with the dire intensity of the situation.

Nine year old Andrea Solari had been missing for twenty-three hours. Less than ten minutes ago, I'd received an anonymous phone call at the unit, directing me to an abandoned warehouse located only eight blocks away. Technically, I wasn't alone, as there were two terrified uniformed officers behind me, but entering this black hole of a place, I felt that way, save for Jack's voice in my ear. I clung to the cell phone like a lifeline.

"She doesn't have much time." I was whispering and I wasn't sure why.

"I know, I know." Jack was thinking out loud. "The rest of the uniforms won't be there for at least five minutes, Viv and I are twenty minutes away and Danny is a half hour in the other direction. Damn it, I don't think we can wait for the rest of the uniforms."

"Neither do I," I agreed, quietly pushing the back entrance open and slipping inside. It was only seven o'clock at night, but the interior was so dark I couldn't see two feet in front of me. Pulling out a flashlight meant letting go of my gun, because there was no way I was letting go of my phone.

I backed against the wall, slightly calmed by the sound of Jack's breathing in my ear. The uniforms stayed directly behind me as I cautiously shined the light around.

"We're in a kind of hallway, Jack," I informed him as we slowly made our way forward.

"Did the caller give any information as to where she might be?"
"Nothing, just an address. Oh, and 'hurry'. That's about it."

"Okay. Be my eyes, Sam. Tell me everything, and watch your back." He sounded so far away, but even over the distance there was a low, soothing quality to his voice; I didn't hear it so much as feel it.

"We're coming to the end of the hallway. It smells kind of musty. Really old, I guess. It's so dark..okay, we're in a small room now. It's full of old crates and boxes. Storage, probably. There's a partially open door on the other side..oh shit, Jack. That looks like smoke.."

Still clutching the phone, I raced across the room, stopping just in front of the door.

It was open wide enough to slip through, and I did, even as I heard Jack's cries of "Be careful" resonating in my ear.

A quick once over told me that the room I had entered was huge, and rapidly filling up with heavy gray smoke. I located the source of the smoke in the far corner of the room; a small but steadily growing fire climbing up a mountain of crates identical to those I had seen in the small room.

"Oh God, there's a fire, Jack. I don't see her anywhere.." I was frantically scanning the warehouse, as my eyes began to tear from the fierce smoke.

Then I saw her, partially blockaded from view by more wooden crates. To my horror, I saw that the crates had been arranged in a kind of crude circle around the bound young girl, and the flames were making their way around the formation.

"Oh, hell."
I sprinted across the room, ignoring everything I'd ever learned about fire safety and smoke inhalation.

In the back of my mind, I heard one of the uniforms scream for the fire department, and I realized I was still clutching my own phone.

By now, the brilliance of the fire had rendered my flashlight useless and I dropped it, squinting against the harsh smoke.

Gasping for air, I finally reached the horrifying circle of crates, most of which were already up in flames.

Dropping to my knees, I found a small section of boxes that hadn't caught fire yet, and, pushing them aside, managed to reach in and close my arms around the limp body of Andrea Solari.

Her ankles and wrists were tied, a piece of tape covered her mouth and she was unconscious; because of the smoke or her kidnapper, I didn't know.

Lucky for me, she was a slender girl, and easy enough to carry. Half crawling, half walking, I held the girl to my chest and made my way out of the smoke filled room. I was blind, unable to see anything through the fierce cloud of gray, but I somehow managed to stumble to the opposite side of the warehouse, and hand the still unconscious Andrea Solari to the uniformed officers.

The night air was cool, and it felt wonderful on my overheated skin. I sat on an overturned wooden crate outside of the warehouse, half watching the firefighters who had arrived on the scene, and half watching the paramedics attend to Andrea Solari.

"Sam!"

I lifted my head wearily as his voice carried over the chaos, and smiled a greeting as he made his way toward me, Vivian not far behind.

His hand dropped warmly to my back, and he crouched down so we were eye to eye.

"Are you okay?" There was so much concern in his voice; I hastened to reassure him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." A small grin. "A little dirty, though." My voice was scratchy, and I began to wonder how much smoke I really had inhaled.

"Looks like you got to play the hero, Samantha." Vivian's tone was teasing but her smile was genuine, and I returned it.

"We better go talk to forensics and the other officers," Jack spoke to Vivian as he removed his hand from my back. "Don't move, Sam; you should probably get checked out by the paramedics."

I nodded, having no intention of moving.

As Jack and Vivian departed, a tiny girl who looked to be about five years old approached me. Her eyes were large and dark, and her voice was very solemn when she spoke.

"Thanks for saving my sister."

I wasn't sure how to respond, so, blinking back the tears forming behind my eyes, I settled on "You're welcome".

"My name's Isabella Solari." She had crawled up next to me on my crate, and I noticed that her feet barely brushed the ground.

"Samantha Spade," I responded.

"That's pretty." She was silent for a moment, before she nudged me and pointed to Jack. "He's cute," she whispered, and I couldn't help but grin down at her.

"That's Jack. He is kinda cute, isn't he?" Suddenly I wasn't feeling so tired anymore. Leaning down to the girl's level, I spoke in her ear. "Why don't you go give him a hug? I bet he'd like that."

Isabella's eyes lit up before sobering immediately.

"He'd like it more if you did," she informed me matter-of-factly.

"Why do you say that?" I was surprised by the girl's quiet precociousness.

"Because he likes you," she stated, as if this was an obvious fact. She brightened again. "I'll say that it's from you."

Before I could respond, Isabella had scampered off across the lot and tossed her arms around Jack's legs.

The look on Jack's face was priceless; a mixture of surprise, slight embarrassment and a kind of shy joy. He bent down to Isabella as she whispered something in his ear, kissed his cheek and skipped away.

He stood, a perplexed look crossing his features, and I could see the dull blush from my slightly less than comfortable seat on the wooden crate.

Our eyes met across the overgrown lot and his lips curved into the playful half smile that had become so familiar, but still managed to cause a jump in my stomach as I returned it.

I was soon accosted by the remaining paramedics, who poked and prodded at me until I was very close to becoming dangerously violent.

"You should really stay at the hospital overnight, Agent Spade," one of them commented.

No. No way. I detest hospitals.

"I'm fine, really," I had begun to protest when Jack appeared by my side.

"Giving the nice men hell, Sam?" He sounded rather amused and quirked a grin in my direction.

"She should be kept at the hospital overnight," the other paramedic informed Jack, much to my annoyance.

"I don't think that's necessary," I reiterated.

"Sure it is," Jack answered, and he was rewarded with the fiercest glare I could muster. "C'mon, Sam. It's just one night. You'll feel better."
I rolled my eyes, but even as I did so I knew the battle was lost. One look into those dark eyes and all my resolve disappeared.

"Fine. But I'm not riding in a damn ambulance."

"I'll take you," Jack offered, his tone leaving no room for argument from the paramedics or myself.

We bid goodbye to Vivian and Danny, who had just arrived on the scene moments before, and slid into Jack's vehicle.

The ride was short and uneventful, and mostly spent tossing around scenarios regarding the anonymous caller. We finally decided he had most likely been an accomplice plagued by guilt.

I was settled into a room in a relatively brief amount of time, and having Jack in the room with me was strange, but, his presence was, as always, a comfort, and I was grateful to him for being there. After the nurses had left, he took the seat next to my bed.

"Thanks for staying," I turned my head to the side, smiling warmly at him.

"Thanks for the hug," he countered, and I could feel the flush on my cheeks and neck.

"Anytime," and I meant it.

We fell into silence, and I could see the lines of stress etched across Jack's face.

"Hey." I waited until his eyes met mine before continuing, "You okay?"

He smiled with his mouth, but there was such a deep sadness in his eyes, and I held his gaze patiently as he slowly shook his head.

"I missed Hanna's game tonight," he spoke in barely a whisper.

I wasn't sure what to say.

"Final Four, huh?" I asked sympathetically. That squeezed a brief grin from him.

"Nah. Just a regular school game, but I told her I'd try to be there." A broken smile. "I don't promise anymore. Too many I can't keep."

My heart ached for the obviously pained man sitting next to me.

"The thing is," he continued, staring at a vacant spot on the blank white wall, "there was no other choice. Andrea Solari had to be my focus tonight, and it was worth it. Her life, it was worth it." He shook his head. "Hanna and Kate can't understand that, not yet." A beat. "Marie doesn't understand it, either."

"It's hard to understand unless you're a part of it," I commented quietly. "It's hard to understand how a stranger's life has to be worth putting our own on hiatus." I looked straight into his eyes. "Promise me something, Jack? Promise me you'll go home, ask Hanna all about her game, and you won't feel guilty for helping to save another little girl's life." I was pleading with him, because I was desperate to erase the pained shadows drawn across his face.

"I wasn't much help anyway," he muttered, but his tone was much lighter than before. "That was pretty amazing, Sam."

"You helped more than you know," I assured him, because it was his voice that had kept my nerves at bay long enough to pull Andrea Solari from the inflamed crates.

He stood, smiling gently before he bent down, brushing his lips softly against the top of my head.

"Good night, sweetheart."
The name slipped off his lips and thudded in my chest, making speech a near impossibility.

"Night, Jack," I managed to choke out as he gave me a final smile and disappeared out of my room.

A heavy silence resonated in his wake. I settled back into the pillow, trying to control my churning emotions.

It was like floating on your back in the ocean, and enjoying the easy, comfortable lilt of the waves that haven't quite broken, and then being blindsided by a knockout wave that grabs you, pulls you under and tosses you around until you're completely disoriented and breathless..except this felt so good.

Sometimes the knockout was worth it.

TBC..