Martin stared at the vending machine, "Cheetos or Doritos, which would she like more?" He had been at the hospital for hours while Samantha's test had been run. So far no internal injuries other than some bruised and very sore ribs. He had convinced Danny and Vivian to go home, that he would take the first shift watching her, but he had no intention of calling in a replacement.
He decided on a Milky Way, chocolate always makes things better, right? So he got two. He headed back to Samantha's room and heard voices talking within. He assumed the doctor had some more news, so he waited outside the door to give them some privacy.
The male voice was very familiar and Martin soon realized that Jack was talking to Samantha. As much as he tried not to eavesdrop, his curiosity got the better of him.
Jack was speaking, "I wish I could have been here earlier, but they kept me tied up at the station. The locals did us good and misplaced some paperwork so booking will take extra long. Those guys will be in jail all weekend, their arraignment will be set for Monday. How are you feeling?"
Samantha replied, "Sore, very sore, but that's great news, thanks for letting me know."
"Yeah, oh and I, I wanted to take you home tonight and I wasn't going to let you tell me no, but," Jack hesitated, "but, you see, Hannah has this recital and I really need to be there, especially if I'm going to try to get joint custody. So I …"
Samantha interrupted, "It's OK Jack, you need to be with your kids now, I can get myself home."
"Well, I really don't think that's best but,…"
Martin took the opportunity to walk into the room with the candy, "Oh, hey Jack, didn't know that you had stopped by."
"Yes, I wanted to come see how Sam was doing. Hey could you take Sam home tonight, I don't think she should try to overdo it just yet."
"Sure, no problem," Martin agreed. Pleased with himself for making Jack ask a favor of him.
"Excuse me, I'm right here, don't talk about me like I'm not here," Samantha intoned. "I can take myself home, thank you very much, both of you, but I can manage."
"OK, Sam, you're right," Jack said as he turned to leave and winked at Martin to let him know that she was not to leave on her own. Martin nodded in agreement. "I'll see you soon, I'll try to stop by," Jack bid his farewell.
Martin soon left too, Samantha still had a couple of hours remaining before they would discharge her and he wanted to get some errands done. He stopped by her apartment, having swiped her key from the hospital. He grabbed some clothes for her to wear and dropped off the groceries he had purchased for dinner and the movies he had rented, in case she couldn't sleep. He returned to the hospital at 5:00 pm just as Samantha was signing discharge papers and arguing with a nurse about using a wheelchair to leave the hospital. He poked his head in the door and held out the fresh clothes. Samantha stared at him, "Where did you get those?"
"I confess, I stole your key," he admitted. "I didn't think that you'd want to put those jogging clothes on again, ever. Now put these on and I'll wheel you to the curb."
"Oh, I'll put these on, but I'm not leaving in that wheelchair," she retorted.
Martin gestured for the nurse to leave, indicating that he'd get her to use the chair. Samantha changed clothes in the bathroom, not wanting Martin to see more than he already had while wearing the skimpy gown. She came out feeling fresher, but still resolved to leave of her own accord.
Martin and Samantha sparred for a few rounds about the wheelchair, but finally Martin won by reasoning with her, "You're not going to get to leave without being in this chair and the sooner you get in it the sooner you will get home." Samantha sat, but was out of the chair as soon as it cleared the hospital doors.
Martin drove Samantha to her apartment. He let himself in and went directly to the kitchen to make dinner. Samantha went to rest on the couch, she called to Martin, "Don't bother, I don't have any food anyway."
To that Martin replied, "I brought my own, I knew you didn't have anything, remember by your own admission you're not a domestic goddess. Why don't you pop in one of those movies while I finish up in here."
"You rented movies too, I guess you're the domestic goddess here," Samantha laughed. The emotion felt good even though the action caused her pain. She eased herself down until she was lying on the couch and quickly fell asleep due to the pain killers.
She awoke to Martin's voice and a wonderful aroma from the kitchen. He brought her plate to her and made her eat, it tasted superb. She realized that she was starving, she hadn't eaten real food since yesterday. She stuffed another bite in her mouth and felt Martin staring at her. He reached out to her hand to prevent her from taking another bite. He looked into her eyes and began, "Samantha, I need to clarify something. I was worried this morning, not about you but for you. I never, for one second, thought that you couldn't handle yourself on the op, I just didn't want you to have to do that. There is always the possibility of something going wrong with any operation and if, for some reason, they had, they had raped you, I don't know how a person is supposed to recover from that. Bottom line, I would have worried about any of my teammates going into any undercover situation, but yes, I guess, I worried more for you in this op."
Samantha was touched, she realized that Martin truly was not questioning her ability. She had misinterpreted his worrying about the operation as worrying about her. "Thank you Martin for saying that and I'm glad that you were proud of me for facing those guys."
They finished up dinner in relative silence, neither knowing what to say. Martin cleaned up and came back to the living room. Samantha said, "Martin, no buts this time, you need to go home, I am fine here. I'm going to watch a movie, which I'll probably fall asleep to since my belly is so full, and then I'll go to bed. I promise, nothing but rest."
Martin protested, but Samantha won the fight, he rose to leave, "Call me if you need anything, you can get me on my cell, I'll have it at arms reach." He walked to the counter and picked up her phone, he programmed his number into it and put it near Samantha. "You call me, for anything, even if you're just feeling lazy and want some water, I'll come get it for you."
Samantha laughed, "OK, OK, thanks for everything Martin."
He finally left her apartment, but he had no intentions of leaving her building tonight. He knew that once she was alone she would remember this morning and he wanted to be there for her quickly. He retreated to the lobby to a dark corner where he was hidden from view.
TBC
