Mrs. Rhett Butler: I know this episode...jeez, John looked like hell at the end. Poor boy.. lol... but you are right, the interaction between Sam and John was so sweet. Sam cared a lot :)
So, okay... here's the next part... i hope you like it!

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Chapter 7

Nothing happened and Sam opened her eyes to look at the clock, "59 minutes? What… what happened?"

"I… I don't know. Sam, I'm sure it should have been the red one…it must have been a trap…" John whispered and put the knife on the table.

"Okay, we're not dead… not now! Maybe it's the green one like you said before?" she said, looking at him.

"What if not? Look, I'll never gonna touch this again, that's for sure!" John replied with a shaky voice and looked at her. "You have to believe me. I…I really thought it was the red one… I'm so sorry!"

"I know that, but you don't have to be sorry for anything. You wanted to save us…" Sam said, looking at him.

"Yeah and what's now? Just one hour left… I shouldn't have touched it in the first place." he said, averting Sam's gaze.

"Hey…" she whispered and took his hand, "…look at me."

But he pulled his hand away and turned around to walk away from her. He couldn't look at her, not now. And not after he screwed up. He leant against the wall and sank to the ground.

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Bailey and George landed at the airport of Memphis . They walked through the terminal as Bailey dialled John's number. All he heard was a disconnected sound on the other side of the line. "Where are you?" he said to himself and shoved his cell phone back into his pockets.

"I don't have a good feeling…" George stated.

"Me too. George, give me the address of a Robert Blake. Sam called me in the morning for a search warrant. Maybe they are still there…" Bailey ordered as both of them climbed into a taxi.

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Sam came up to John and sank to the ground to his left. She took his hand and leant her head against his arm. Both stayed silent for a few minutes until Sam started to talk.

"Do you remember the first day we met?" she asked, whispering.

John turned his head to look at her, "Sure…" he said with a small smile.

"And what did you think when I came into your office?"

"Sam…"

"Come on… tell me…" she repeated, her eyes locked with his.

"I've always liked blonde women you know?" John said, offering her a small grin, "But when you came into my office I thought… wow… from now on I love my work more than before!" he looked at her, a smile playing across his features. "And you?"

"What?"

"What did you think?" he said while he held her hand in his.

"A tall, dark and handsome guy with the bluest eyes I've ever seen."

"So you liked me right from the start, did you?" a grin covered his face.

"Even if we had our problems at the beginning, I knew we would be good friends in the future."

"And you were right…" he sighed and tilted his head back on the wall.

"Mhm… there's something you do to us women…"

"Who? Me?" John asked, laughing.

"Yes… you did it with me… and Chloe. Do you remember when you came to us for dinner and you brought this delicious ice cream for dessert?" she looked at him, "From this day on you had her on your side."

"Just her?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"You know what I mean, John." she said, sighing.

"She's a beautiful little girl. I always wanted a daughter like her. And now I'll never know if I would be a good dad or not." he whispered, sadly.

"You'd be the best dad a child could dream of." she told him softly.

"I don't know…" Thoughts about his own childhood came into his mind. He remembered how his dad treated him. He always said to himself that he wouldn't be like him. He'd be a better dad.

"I can't believe I'll never gonna see my baby again…" she whispered, tears threatening to run down her cheeks, "…you know… there's so much I wanted to tell her…" she turned her head and looked at John, "…tell her how beautiful she is and… and how much I love her… and now? I'll never gonna see her again. God John, tell me this is just a nightmare… please…" she hold her hands on her face and began to cry.

It nearly broke John's heart to see her like this. She and Chloe went through so much already. That was not fair.

He pulled her close and caught her into a tight hug, "Sssh…"

He didn't know what to say. What words of comfort were there in this kind of situations? Everything he could say wouldn't change the fact that they were going to die soon. That this bastard left them in the basement with a bomb that could possibly blow up the whole district.

He cradled her in his arms for a few minutes until she calmed down. With her head on his chest, she clang to him with all her strength and let out a shaky sigh.

John tilted her head up, so that she looked at him. With his thumb he brushed the remained tears from her face but new ones find their way down her cheeks.

She looked into his deep blue eyes and placed a hand on his handsome face, "Thank you…" she whispered.

"For what?" he asked, confusing.

"For everything. For being there for me whenever I needed you, for comforting me, for making me laugh and for being so wonderful to Chloe."

"Hey, you're welcome…" he answered, swallowing hard.

"And John?" she moved closer to him, their lips nearly touching.

"Yeah?"

"I love you…" her voice just above a whisper. She placed a hand on the back of his neck and met his lips in a gentle kiss.

This was not what he had expected even if he dreamt about it since the first day they met.

After a while he pulled apart and looked into her eyes, "Sam…I…"

"Yeah?" she focused her gaze on him, unsure what he was going to say.

"I… I love you too…" John leant her back until she was laying on the floor and began to kiss her again. She clang her hands around his neck to hold him to her. She never wanted to let him go, ever. This one kiss should last forever

Suddenly the door opened and Bailey stood on the top of the stairs, raising his eyebrows as he saw them on the floor. He cleared his throat to get some attention but it was in vain.

"And I thought you were in trouble here…" Bailey started as he came down the stairs.

John pulled apart and turned around to see his boss with a stern expression on his face.

"Thank god Bailey… believe me, we are!" John stood up and helped Sam on her feet, too.

"Then what the hell do you think you're doing down here? I called you a thousand times but you didn't answer…" he looked at Sam, "…and now I know why!"

"No no… it's not what it looks like." Sam tried to explain.

"It's always 'not what it looks like' right?" Bailey stated with his hands on his hips.

"Blake locked us here and if that's not bad enough…" John turned around and pointed to the bomb, "…he left a very nice gift here, too."

"What is that? A bomb?" Bailey asked and saw the time running down from 20 minutes. He took his cell phone and dialled a number, "We have a bomb here… sent the special unit task force down… NOW!" he ordered and ended the call. "

"I was never happier to see you Bailey…" Sam said, relieved.

He looked from Sam to John and noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt, "Let's get out of here, but John… please put on your shirt. I don't want any rumours."

"My shirt? Oh my god, Coop… we need an ambulance. He's wounded." John said abruptly.

"He's wounded and you…" Bailey paused and looked at them, "…I will send the medics down to him… and now let's get out of here."

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Bailey, George, Sam and John walked out of the hospital after they visited Coop. The doctors said that the wound on his left arm wasn't serious but he also had a concussion when he pumped his head on the table. So they insisted that Coop should stay at the hospital, at least over night. As soon as Coop was brought to the hospital, Bailey announced a search for Robert Blake. He was on the run, but every police station, every costumes officer and all the airports around Memphis were informed and would give an immediate report when he'd try to leave the country.

On the way to their rental car nobody spoke. Bailey was still angry about what happened and damned himself that he wasn't there with them. Even if he knew that possibly wouldn't have changed anything. But he couldn't get out of his head that he nearly lost two of his best agents and friends. So he wasn't sure if he was mad at Sam and John, Blake or even himself.

Without talking that much they drove back to the hotel. Bailey decided to stay one more day to have an eye on the current investigations of this case.

After a shower and a changing of clothes they met in John's room to discuss what happened hours before. Bailey was the first who knocked on John's door.

"Wait a second…" John shouted and slipped into a black shirt. Then he put his bag back into the closet and opened the door, "Bailey, come in!" he said and watched as Bailey walked to the big round table in front of the window. He sighed as he noticed Bailey's stern look. He was sure that he was mad. He trusted him and charged him with this case and all he did was screwing up.

"Bailey, look…" he started but was interrupted by a voice coming from behind.

"Am I late?" Sam asked, closing the connecting door behind her.

Bailey shot a surprised glance at her, raising an eyebrow in curiosity where she was coming from, "No" he answered shortly.

"Oh, okay!" she answered, nodding. Wearing a pair of jeans and a black shirt, she made her way to the sofa and sank onto it. Unconsciously she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at John, nervously.

"Since we're all here, I want to talk to you." Bailey spoke up and walked to the sofa across Sam. With a sigh he sat down and clasped his hands together, "Tell me what happened today." He looked at Sam first but she didn't say anything. So his eyes wandered over to John, "So?"

"What do you want to hear?" John asked, narrowing his eyebrows.

"Everything…" Bailey insisted, focusing his eyes on his younger agent.

After rubbing his face in frustration, John answered "I'll give you the report in a few days, okay. There you can read everything."

"Dammit John… it was a simply question. Because what happened today… and I mean everything… shouldn't have happened at all. Not us, not the FBI. We can not afford to gain a bad reputation." Bailey prompted angrily.

"So what do you wanna hear?" John asked.

"What went wrong with Blake in the basement… for example?"

John looked at him, frowning with his hands on his hips. His mouth fumbled for words, "I… oh god Bailey. Am I right that you think it's my fault that Coop is at the hospital and that Blake locked us there?"

"You were in charge John. You had the responsibility for everyone on this case and you know that. So I ask you again, how was it possible that Coop is at the hospital and Blake on the run?" Bailey repeated once again, waiting for an answer.

John forced a laugh, "I really thought you have a little bit humanity. If you don't remember… we almost died today. Do you have the slightest idea how it feels when you know that you're going to die and you can do nothing? Just sit there and wait for your death? When you know that everything's over and that you're going to lose everything important in your life…" he stopped a moment and looked at Sam, "…and I'm not talking about me, because I have no family who gives a shit if I'm dead or not. No, I'm talking about Sam. Have you ask her how she felt down there, knowing to lose everything she fought so hard for? No, you haven't… because all you can think of is to blame someone… no, not someone… me if course… it's always my fault. You're looking for the guilty part? Well, let's say John Grant… that's so easy!"

"John…" Sam said with teary eyes.

"You know that's not true…" Bailey declared simply.

"Oh really? Did you hear yourself talking minutes ago?"

Bailey breathed out heavily, "Look, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me. I nearly lost my best agents… and friends today and…" he looked at Sam, "Sam?"

"Yeah?" she answered, looking down.

"When we're back in Atlanta I want you to talk to Mr. Gardner, our psychologist. He'll help you to…"

"No…" she interrupted him.

"Sam, just because you're a psychologist yourself doesn't mean you can talk to another one." Bailey told her calmly.

"I don't want to talk to him, okay? I'm fine!" she stammered, playing with her fingers.

"Okay, then talk to someone else. And I'm here for you too. For both of you. You know that, do you?" Bailey inquired.

"We know that" John murmured.

"Okay…" he got up and walked to the door, but turned around again. "One last thing!"

"What?" John asked, frowning.

"I know that's none of my business, I told you the same in the morning when I called. But whatever you two have…" he looked from John to Sam, "…I don't want it to affect your work."

"Bailey…"

"Did you get that?"

"Yeah…" John answered with a sigh.

"Fine. Good night!" and with this words Bailey closed the door behind him.

"Unbelievable…" John whispered, leaning against the door.

"You should have told him the truth…" Sam pointed out.

"About what?" he replied.

"Well… about what really happened for example… and that Coop was responsible!"

"I don't know. Was he?" John questioned, narrowing his eyes.

"Of course… and I'll mention that in my report." she stated and got up, walking to the door.

John walked towards her and stepped in her way, "Where are you going?"

"In my room… I'd like to take a shower…" she looked away and continued, "…besides, it was a hard day and… and I'm really exhausted."

"You're right…" he gave her a small smile, "…see you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, good night…" she looked at him and opened the connecting door to her room.

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So, that's it ... and what I have in my mind there's just going to be one last chapter to finish this. I'll post it in the next few days! :)
Please R&R!