Disclaimer, see Chapter 1


The rhythmical beeping noises were joined by others, harder to identify, more muffled sounds. Occasionally, an odd sharp tone, as if metal hit metal, pierced the cacophony of sounds. Samantha was tired of trying to make sense of it all. Her head hurt - or at least she thought it was her head. Thinking hurt and the noises changed far too quickly and too randomly to give any clue as to what was going on. She just wanted to sleep; she wanted the noise to go away. Why wouldn't they let her sleep? Who was making the noise? Too many questions! Samantha was frustrated. Just as she was about to give up trying to bring order to her chaotic world, the sound of what was clearly a human voice became audible. Like when one was far away, she heard that it was a voice, but she couldn't understand a word. She pushed herself to work through the headache and to focus on the words alone. "...Do you ..." Someone was talking to her. It was a question, but there was no way she could answer; she was too tired. They would have to come back later - much later.

~~~

"You want the short version or the long version?" a voice, probably Vivian's, asked from the direction of the door. Jack didn't recall her having knocked. He did recall that she called and told him that they found the boy. The rest of the last two hours had passed in a haze. He had tried to sit down and work on overdue reports, but concentration had eluded him. He had forgotten his point in mid-sentence; his thoughts had returned to Samantha and the question whether she was the Jane Doe in the report. He was torn. The FBI Agent Jack Malone wouldn't allow him to neglect his current case or other professional matters over some personal might-or-might-not-be case, while Jack, the person, couldn't think straight that morning before he found out what had happened to Samantha. He realized that Vivian was probably waiting for an answer.

„Um, yeah," he replied absent-mindedly.

„Short version it is. Apparently, the boy overheard a fight of his parents. It was loud enough for the neighbours to hear. It was from them that we heard about it. Finally, the wife admitted that they were talking about getting a divorce. Said she didn't think it was relevant. Same story as always. They always think the kids don't know what's going on..."

Somewhere around that point, Jack lost her. Should he call the local police station later and ask for more information about the Jane Doe case? It wouldn't be a problem. He had the authority. Well, not officially, since it wasn't part of a federal investigation, but local law enforcement very rarely asked for detailed paperwork, especially not in a case like this. And Van Doran would never find out - in theory anyways. But if she ever did find out, he was going to be in trouble for running his own investigation on Bureau time while neglecting the case of a missing minor.

„Jack, what is going on? You're hardly paying attention to the case. Is something wrong at home?" Vivian asked, standing in the doorframe and giving Jack one of her patented stern looks.

„No, everything is fine at home." Jack sighed while turning towards her. „It's Samantha. She never showed up at the training in Quantico. I got a call from the agent in charge yesterday asking about her. I've checked with both the airline and the rental company. Everything checks out so far." Jack answered, surprised at how objective he had managed to remain. But although he might have been able to fool Vivian to some extent, he couldn't deceive himself. He was getting more worried by the second.

Vivian paused and looked at him, before she asked the next question. „Have you run the usual checks yet? Morgues, hospitals, credit cards?"

„Nothing on the morgues, one possible match with hospitals." He handed her the sheet with the circled entry. „I haven't had the chance the run her credit cards yet." That wasn't entirely true. He simply hadn't thought of it. Maybe it was because it would feel like a massive intrusion into Samantha's private life. Or maybe he had just been too distracted by the case and by his nervosity.

„Since we're done with the other case, we can check this out." Vivian pointed to the sheet that Jack had handed her. „But if it turns out a dead end, you're filing a missing person's report," Vivian said in a tone that left nothing open to questions. Jack nodded, just glad that Vivian hadn't brought up any of his more questionable actions.

~~

When she came to next, she felt much better. The pain and the noises were gone. Still she felt weird. It was completely dark, and she felt like she was floating. It reminded her of what had happened before she had found herself in that strange dream with Martin and her together. The familiarity of it diminished her fear a great deal. After all, in her current situation she didn't have much to lose. Like before, slowly she started to be able to make out her surroundings. This time they were familiar to her. She was standing in her own bedroom. Had everything just been a dream? But then, she should be waking up in bed, not standing between the bed and the window. Besides, it was hard, if not impossible to just ignore what she had experienced previously. She turned her attention to the room. The décor was slightly different from the way she remembered it. She looked out the window. It looked like early evening. A look at her alarm clock, which was still placed on her nightstand, confirmed it—5.19 p.m. Curious as to what she was going to find, she moved further. This time, she wasn't as shocked when she was able to move through the wall unobstructed. It was amazing how fast one got used to the strangest things. If someone had told her this yesterday, she would never have believed it. In her living room/kitchen, she found herself unpacking groceries. It still jolted her to see herself from outside of her body. This was simply not a sight she was supposed to see. Knowing that she didn't have to fear being detected, she approached. Although her alter ego had aged, time had been better to her. She had stayed in shape in this dream, or version of reality or whatever she should call it. Not that any of it mattered, as she had no power of action here. Her alter ego finished putting her groceries into the fridge and put away the bags. That done, she disappeared into the bedroom. Samantha didn't bother to follow her, but took the opportunity to look around. Somehow, it felt more comfortable doing that while her alter ego wasn't around. The chains of rational thinking that governed that normal world were harder to shake than she had thought. The bookshelf had grown a bit. Several travel guides about Italy. Had she been to Italy? She had toyed with the idea, yes. But actually doing it? She continued to scan the shelves. There were several new photographs as well. Herself on a beach with one hell of sunburn. Italy maybe? More pictures that looked like they were taken on vacation. She was alone in all of them. She let out a sigh. Still, this alter ego seemed happier, even though she was still single by the looks of it. Or not! Her alter ego reappeared from the bedroom, dressed in a black, short dress with a lot of cleavage. The dress had to be new. That dress she would remember. Just as she mentally went through the contents of her wardrobe, she noticed a faint headache building up. Her alter ego disappeared into the bathroom. It looked like she was going out. Where did that leave her? Follow her alter ego to some club? She had hoped that the dating game would come to an end in a few years. It was tiring and time consuming. Still, her alter ego seemed to be really looking forward to eating. She had been grinning like a maniac earlier. When she emerged from the bathroom, with her hair done, she looked more nervous than happy. First date? But she made no move to leave the house; instead, she started to get busy in the kitchen. Samantha watched her get out two fancy glasses, a bottle of champagne and a bottle of orange juice. Apparently her date was coming home. That wasn't her usual style. She was even more surprised when she heard a key turn in the lock.

tbc