Chapter 7 – Vivian's Advice
Wednesday Day, May 26, 2004

Samantha approached Vivian at her desk and asked her to step into the lounge to talk more privately. Vivian had seen Samantha come out of Jack's office and assumed that Jack had told her about staying.

Samantha thought she'd focus on Vivian for just a bit before jumping into her issues. She began, "I'm sorry about the position Viv, you'd have been a great team leader, I'd have liked to work for you. Do you know which job you're going to take?"

Vivian looked flattered, "Thank you for that, it's nice to hear. No, I don't know what I'm going to do. The promotion would be good for my career and my pocketbook, but I'm happy here. Jack said I have some time to think about it."

"I just can't believe what Maria did to him, trying to make him out to be the bad guy in this," Samantha voiced her opinion. "I mean, sure, he's not the world's greatest dad and husband, but he provides and he cares, he really cares about his kids."

Vivian jumped to Jack's defense too, "Yeah, it's this job, it is definitely not family friendly. And I should know."

Samantha was running out of conversation, but didn't know how to approach her question. It shouldn't be that difficult, Martin had made it so easy to talk to him and this should be the same; Vivian was just a friend and she was just going to ask a friend some advice. "So, Jack made a point of telling me about his divorce before the whole group knew."

"Yes, so …" Vivian mused, "He told me too."

"Well," Samantha continued, "well, do you think he had any special reason for wanting me to know, like, he wanted to talk to you about your promotion. Or do you think that he thought I'd react, oh, I don't know, differently than everyone else?"

Vivian sighed and thought, "This again, I thought that we'd gotten past this inappropriate relationship. Better nip it in the bud before Samantha makes of fool of herself again," Vivian decided. "Samantha, yes, Jack probably thought that you'd react differently than everyone else, and lo and behold you have. You're reading too much into this. Telling you individually does not mean that he wants to renew any relationship with you. That was two years ago, haven't you moved on?"

Samantha was stung and immediately had to bite her tongue not to lash out at Vivian. She knew that Vivian disapproved of the relationship, but to be so blunt. Wait, wait, she told herself, this is how you felt when Martin was talking the other night (oh, that seemed like so long ago). Maybe Vivian is right, maybe I'm reading too much into this, Jack was only concerned about how I'd react. He doesn't want to get back together, that's absurd.

"OK, Viv, you're probably right, but I've got to make sure that Jack and I are on the same wavelength, how should I do that?"

Vivian was surprised to hear Samantha agreeing with her, but took advantage of it to heap advice on her. "You need to talk to him, no beating around the bush. Go into his office now and set up a time when you can talk, away from the office. You don't need busybodies starting rumors about the two of you."

Samantha opened her mouth to speak, but Vivian cut her off, "Go, now." And with that Vivian propelled Samantha out of the lounge and toward Jack's office.

Jack was no longer on the phone and Samantha, under Vivian's watchful eye, knocked on the open door to announce her presence. "Hey Jack, we didn't get to finish our discussion and I wondered if …"

He cut her off, "Yeah, well, I can't do it now, but how about tonight, dinner, it could be fun, like old times." Samantha thought he seemed a bit nervous.

Samantha just wanted to get out of the office so without thinking she agreed to the offer and went to her desk, the first time all day.

As she sat she mulled Jack's words 'like old times.' Does that mean like old friends or like old lovers? But, remember what Vivian said, she forced herself to focus on the woman's words, 'he does not want a relationship.' In fact she repeated them to herself and realized she had been saying them out loud when Martin spoke from behind her.

"Hey crazy lady, can I join this conversation?" He tried to sound lighthearted, but was concerned about the sentence that Samantha was repeating. He immediately thought that Samantha was trying to convince herself that Martin didn't want a relationship with her.

Samantha jumped and tried to gauge how much he had heard. She didn't want to burden him again with her problems so she focused on the food in his hands. He had bitten into a donut, no doubt from the lounge. "See didn't I promise you breakfast?" She tried to laugh, but it was forced. "Well, busy, busy, busy, got to get to work." She needed him to leave or she knew that she'd spill about Jack's news.

"How about lunch, we could hit that bistro down the street," Martin offered as he walked toward his desk.

"Oh, I don't know, I think I'm eating with Vivian today, but maybe another time, Martin," Samantha replied. Samantha didn't know what she was saying, she didn't have any plans for lunch and she could see the hurt look in Martin's face. However, she had resolved to figure this out without him and needed to stick to that plan.

Martin, confused, finally left Samantha alone. She was acting strangely and he knew that he must have pushed her too hard last night, he should have gotten up and gone home, taken baby steps to get close to her. But no, he had to take one giant step into her life and he had miscalculated. Nothing new to him when dealing with women.

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Near the end of the day, Jack finally called everyone together. As they sat around the conference table Samantha couldn't look at Jack or Martin so she stared at the table, noticing the flaws in its surface. Jack began, "There have been some developments in my personal life and I'm not moving to Chicago after all. Therefore, I'll be sticking around as head of this unit." Danny and Martin both looked stunned at the news and Martin immediately glanced at Samantha.

She could feel Martin's stare and could almost see the wheels start to crank in his head, wondering how she felt about this announcement. Jack continued and discussed Vivian's situation, praising her for her talents and her understanding. Then Martin interjected trying to find a tactful way to ask his question, but his mind was not on tact. "So you're getting a divorce?" he blurted.

With this, Samantha turned to Martin and saw a man who had realized that life was not fair. Despite his caring and concern, life was still not going his way, the girl was slipping from his grasp and he didn't understand why.

Realizing the inappropriateness of his comment Martin tried to amend it by offering condolences, but it was an awkward apology. To break up the meeting, Martin rose from his seat and patted Jack on the shoulder and said without resolve, "It's good to have you back."

Although it was the end of the day, Martin lingered by his desk waiting for Samantha to come out of the conference room. He wanted to find out how she was, how she was dealing with the news. But Samantha emerged with Jack by her side, they passed her desk so she could gather her things and without even a good night they left, together. Martin was stunned and hurt. He felt so foolish. Last night he had listened to Samantha pour out what he thought were her feelings and then as soon as Jack was available she was at his side as if two years had never passed.

Martin grabbed his coat and headed for the nearest bar.

TBC