Absolution
By Midnight Caller
Disclaimer, et all in chapter one. Thanks for the feedback! :)
**
Chapter 6
Sam entered the interview room first, immediately catching Tommy's eye, but then he sighed heavily when Jack walked in and shut the door behind him.
"Look, man, I got rights. You touch me again and—"
"Shut up, Tommy," Jack interrupted, sitting across from him.
Tommy again eyed Sam, looking her up and down. She raised an eyebrow, but stayed quiet.
"Hey—" Jack called, catching Tommy's eye. "Maybe you could remember for five minutes that your pregnant girlfriend has been missing since yesterday."
Tommy rolled his eyes, "Of course I remember."
"Then tell us what else you know," Sam said, leaning onto the table.
"I don't know anything else—"
"Let's start with why would Andrea need 800 dollars..." Jack said, raising his eyebrows. "Was it for the abortion?"
Tommy shrugged. "I guess so."
Sam frowned. "Who told her it was going to cost that much?"
"Her doctor," Tommy drawled.
"Which one?"
Tommy looked at her. "Lady, I don't know her doctor's name."
Jack leaned forward, "Well, what'd he look like?"
"Dude, I don't know, I never met the guy."
"You never went with her?" Jack asked.
Tommy almost laughed. "Yeah, right."
Jack narrowed his eyes, his nostrils flaring. "Listen to me, you son of a bitch – there's a very scared young woman out there right now who's pregnant with your child."
That didn't seem to impress Tommy, who merely replied, "I told you – she's getting rid of it."
Jack stood quickly, his chair scraping against the floor as he pushed it back. Tommy watched as he walked around the table and then leaned next to him, inhaling deeply.
"I'm going to see to it that you rot in jail for the rest of your life," Jack started, his voice low. "First I'm going to start with that giant bag of pot we found at your house... then I'm going to get you on distribution of narcotics with that nice score you had earlier..."
With each word, Tommy grew more and more agitated, his breathing increasing as he clenched his fists on the table.
Jack leaned even closer. "And then I'll make sure you have lots of company in your cell block---"
Tommy suddenly lunged at Jack, one hand connecting with his cheek while the other reached for the gun on his waist. They both fell to the floor, and the breath left Jack's body in a rush, his hands desperately trying to keep his assailant away from his weapon.
Samantha ran over just as Tommy had loosened the firearm from Jack's holster, his shaking hands trying to get a grip. But just as his fingers wrapped around the handle, Sam caught him from behind, her arms wrapping around his neck in a headlock. Tommy dropped the gun and flailed around, trying to shake her loose, but she wouldn't let go.
She continued to hold him as two agents ran into the room, one of whom immediately cuffed Tommy's thrashing hands together. The other agent helped lift him up, and roughly sat him in the chair again, this time chaining his hands to the table.
Tommy continued to struggle, ratting his cuffs, spit flying from his mouth as he shouted curses in Jack's direction.
Jack stood and stared at Tommy, his eyes full of fear and rage and that terrible hollowness Sam couldn't stand to see. The door slammed as he left the room.
Sam finally rose from the floor, following Jack out into the hall. She felt a dreadful sense of familiarity as she chased after him down the corridor again, calling after him.
She caught up with him at the elevator, as he pushed the button angrily, rubbing his cheek with his hand.
Reaching for him, she stepped forward. "Are you okay?"
He stepped back, pushing away her hand, and her eyes immediately filled with hurt.
"Jack—"
"I'm fine," he assured her, rather gruffly, and then punched the button again, cursing the absence of the elevator.
She just stood there, speechless, as he glanced around and then finally headed for the stairwell door a few feet away. The door slammed shut before she realized he had gone through it, and it snapped her back to reality as she suddenly took off after him.
She was 10 steps away when he looked up and saw her, but he continued to make his way down the stairs.
"Hey!" she called angrily.
He finally slowed his pace to a stop, sighing heavily as he leaned against the railing.
Having caught up, she stared him down. "That's twice, Jack," she pointed out, but he wasn't sure if she meant the number of times she'd saved his life that day, or the number of times he had run away from her.
"You'd better get someone else to work this case with you," she finally blurted out, turning to walk away. "Although I'm not so sure Vivian will put up with this..."
He quickly grabbed her arm and met her eyes. "I don't want Vivian."
There was a moment where she decided to break free and walk away, but something in his eyes made her stay. The emptiness had been replaced, at least for the moment, with a look she hadn't seen in a while, the look he used to give her so long ago...
Sighing, her posture loosened, and she gazed down at the hand on her arm before bringing her eyes back up to his. "Then let me help you," she pleaded, stepping toward him.
He bit his lip, his eyes shifting from her to the floor and then back to her. "I don't need—"
She gave him a quick look of exasperation. "Can I at least look at where he hit you? He got you pretty good." Her defenses seemed to be back up, but he couldn't be sure.
He sighed, frustrated, but she had him trapped against the railing at this point, and he had a sense he wasn't going anywhere.
"Just let me look at you, for God's sake," she said, moving closer.
He tried to back away, but couldn't go very far. She got another inch closer.
"Come on, just let me see..."
One more inch.
He shied away again and she sighed, "Jesus, Jack, don't be such a baby."
Just as he tried to protest, he felt her hand on his cheek, and the words got caught in his throat, escaping as a kind of quiet, strangled moan.
Her fingers were warm on his skin as she lightly ran them over his developing bruise and the slight abrasion that had been stinging for the past five minutes.
"Looks like a small cut," she told him quietly, her breath hot against his cheeks. "You should get some ice, maybe..."
She was still touching his skin, and they both knew at this point she wasn't examining any injury. He met her eyes, so close, and quickly fought back the strong urge to kiss her that had suddenly swelled within him.
His eyes fluttered shut as her fingers slid across his cheek once more, and he suddenly put his hand over hers, opening his eyes. "...Don't..." he whispered, barely audible.
She didn't move. "Why?" she asked, just as softly.
His eyes closed again, briefly. "I... can't..." His hand tightened around hers, gently bringing it away from his cheek.
Blinking away the tears, she swallowed and looked away. As she pulled back her hand from his, her fingers suddenly brushed the cold metal on his hand, and she almost jumped at the contact.
"Okay," she finally said, backing away.
He tried to explain with his eyes, but she merely turned and walked down the steps to the nearest exit door. It slammed with a terrifying bang as he stood alone in the stairwell, regret starting to replace the hollowness in his eyes.
**
tbc…