Chapter 32 – Damage Control
Tuesday June 22, 2004

After a few more relaxing days on the beach, Martin and Samantha both prepared to go back to the cold, grayness of New York. Martin had purposefully avoided mentioning the deposition for the rest of the vacation, he knew that she would get inundated with preparation for it as soon as she landed in New York. He wanted her to enjoy her last moments of 'freedom.' But that didn't mean that he hadn't been thinking about it, or more specifically thinking about how she could get out of it. Finally, on this last day of vacation during dinner he raised the subject.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Martin began.

"Sorry for what?" Samantha asked and as an afterthought added, "Marty."

He smiled, he couldn't recall when he'd started calling her 'Sam', but was pretty sure that she knew the first time he'd said it and how many times he'd said it since. He was smiling because, other than referring to him as 'Marty' once in a while, she hadn't corrected him. But he pulled himself back to the moment and answered, "I'm sorry that I haven't figured out a way to get you out of the deposition."

"Martin, it's not your duty to solve all of my problems. As the adage goes, I made my bed, now I have to lie in it." Samantha had thought a lot about the deposition too and had accepted the fact that she was going to answer all of the lawyers' questions openly and honestly. She knew that she'd face some ramifications at work, but it was out of her hands and stressing about it wouldn't help her.

But Martin hadn't finished, "Okay, so I didn't solve your problem, but I think that we can do some damage control." Martin saw the puzzled look on Samantha's face and continued, "We might not be able to get you out of testifying at the deposition, but if Jack settles the divorce without ever going to court and either calling you as a witness or using the transcript of the deposition then the transcript never becomes a public record. No one else would ever know about the details of your relationship or about your week of indiscretion with Jack. What do you think?"

Samantha pondered the idea, "I think you're brilliant, except that I already shot myself in the foot by screaming at Jack in his office for everyone to hear. I don't recall the moment very well, since I've been trying to block it out, but I'm pretty sure that I yelled about our past and present relationships."

Without skipping a beat, Martin spoke, "No problem. Anyone who brings it up is spouting hearsay and, anyway, I don't think that anyone will bring it up. We'll deal with that when and if it happens." Samantha nodded in agreement. Martin came to the tricky part of his idea, "So now, you have to use Jack's guilt against him. For this to work, he has to settle the divorce. You are going to have to use his feelings about you to get him to settle, but at the same time you have to keep your relationship strictly professional."

Again, Samantha nodded, "I guess that means I'm going to have to talk to him, huh." She managed a feeble laugh at her own joke as her mind drifted to an imagined conversation with Jack. She got tense just thinking about the confrontation.


During the plane ride Samantha played out several possible scenarios in her head trying to forecast the conversation between her and Jack. When she dozed off part way through the trip she even dreamt about the conversation. In the dream, she didn't have to talk to Jack because he was happily married and living in Chicago where he couldn't cause Samantha any problems at all, but unfortunately she woke up. She reflected on the dream and knew that she didn't want Jack to move away, she figured that she would forgive him, eventually. She realized that she didn't have a whole lot of people in her life and she didn't really want to lose one now.

Martin noticed that Samantha was especially quiet during the plane ride and he decided to let her be alone with her thoughts. He felt secure that she would come to him when she was ready.


At the office Wednesday morning, Samantha steeled her nerves and after receiving a slight nod from Martin she approached Jack's office door. She knocked on the closed door, unable to see into the office because the blinds were drawn. She heard a grunt from inside and took it as an invitation to enter. She hadn't seen Jack come in that morning and she didn't know if he even knew that she was back at work, but she knew that she had to get this confrontation over with so she opened the door and walked into the lion's den.

He looked up from his desk and seemed surprised to see her. He too had played this conversation out in his head and was never satisfied with how the words sounded. "Samantha," he managed to greet her, his voice breaking from nervousness. "Please, close the door and have a seat."

Samantha was glad that Jack was uneasy, but wished that she were a bit more calm herself. "No, I think that I'll leave the door open. Don't want to give the office any fodder for the water cooler." She managed a small smile, relieved that one hurdle had been cleared. She took a seat across from Jack and tried to figure out where she was going to begin.

When Samantha refused to close the door, Jack's heart deflated. He knew that Samantha was going to draw a clear and very decisive line between him and her. He had been trying to convince himself that this would be the reality for a week, but a small part of him had held out hope that Samantha's feelings for him would allow her to forgive him.

Samantha saw the frown evident upon Jack's face and wondered what he was thinking about, but plunged into her speech before she figured it out. "Jack, I know that I was out of control last week, I'm not saying that it wasn't warranted, but it was unprofessional. I let my emotions control my actions instead of thinking the situation through."

Jack watched as she methodically stated each word, each carefully planned and practiced in the hopes of preventing another outburst. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you as soon as I found out. I'm sorry that," he lowered his voice, "we got involved again with this looming in front of us."

Samantha interrupted him, "'Sorry' is not enough now and it's not going to get you off the hook. 'Sorry' is just a word and I can't even trust you enough to know if you mean it." She wanted this to be quick and to the point, no sense in prolonging both of their agony. She was gathering the momentum to tell him to settle the divorce without going to court when Jack's words caused her to stop.

"Samantha, I know about your father. I've read your personnel file and know what you had to go through ..."

Samantha was appalled at Jack's arrogance and without thinking she spoke, "Know what I had to go through? How could you, how could you know what it was like for me? Did the file reveal that my father has not spoken to me since that day? That I miss him every morning when I wake up? That I wish that I could relive that day and refuse to testify? What do you know Jack, what do you know?" Without realizing it she had stood up and was leaning across the desk toward Jack, her voice had become a menacing volume.

Just then both Jack and Samantha jerked their heads up and toward the door, "Samantha, I need to talk to you, it's urgent." Martin had come to the rescue. He had been sitting at his desk alert to any possible problems coming from within the office mere feet from him. Although he couldn't make out what was being said he had noticed the volume of Samantha's voice raise and jumped from his desk to prevent another outburst that had helped Samantha get her first vacation of the month. As he spoke he entered the office and grabbed Samantha's arm, propelling her toward the door. He didn't let go until they were at the elevators. Thankfully one was open, as if waiting for them, and he entered with her and silently rode to the parking garage.

Once they were out in the open, without the attentive ears of co-workers, Samantha let out a loud and long groan. "The nerve of that man, thinking that he knows, that he knows what I've gone through. Where does he get off?"

Samantha heard the rational words from Martin, "Let it go, Samantha. You have to let it go. You can't let him affect you like that." He had steered her onto the sidewalk hoping that the fresh air would help calm her and clear her head. It seemed to do the trick. He stopped at a deli by the office and ducked inside. They talked over the situation during an early lunch, a very early lunch. He encouraged her to go back to the office and try again, stick to the plan—quick and to the point—, and get him to agree. She nodded, but Martin could see the hesitation on her face. "Hey, I'll be right there for you and I'll make sure you don't get too out of control. Just think of how good you'll feel when it's done." Martin smiled at her and he hoped that he looked upbeat.

Back at the office, Samantha again approached Jack's door. It was already open, but Jack had his back to her. She knocked softly and he turned around, a look of frustration showed plainly on his face. "Jack, um, I needed to calm down. Can we start over?"

Jack was discouraged by Samantha's outburst earlier and even more so by Martin's interruption. He could tell that Martin and Samantha had grown closer over the past week, that Martin had provided the support she needed—a role that Jack wished he had fulfilled. "Yeah, sure, let's start over. I didn't mean to imply that I understood ..."

She interrupted, "Jack, we're starting over, okay?" She sat down across from his desk and motioned for him to do the same. "I'm sorry that I let my emotions take over, again. The subpoena brought memories to the surface that I've had buried for so long. I'd forgotten how much it affected me."

"I wish that I had made the connection sooner Samantha. I wish that you could have clued me into it, you never let me in, but I see that you've finally let someone else in." Jack couldn't resist taking a stab at her, especially after how much she had put him on the defensive. However, he immediately felt guilty, knowing that he was the one in the wrong and added, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I ..."

Samantha had been taken back when Jack verbally attacked her, although she knew that he was right. She'd never told him about her past even though she had loved him and tried to share her life with him. But when she saw that he felt bad for the statement she immediately continued with her script, "I've heard that word a lot today and like I said before, the word just isn't enough anymore."

Jack looked bewildered, "I don't know what else to do, I don't know what else I can say to show you how sorry I feel and how stupid I know that I was."

Hearing Jack ask for a suggestion, Samantha jumped in with one, "Well, I don't see how I can get out of testifying at the deposition, but I don't want it to ever, ever become a public record. It could kill my career and all that I've worked for, it would kill you career as well. The only solution depends solely on you, you have to settle your divorce out of court. I don't care what you have to promise Maria, but you cannot let this get any more out of hand that it already is." She let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. She was done, she had said it, but now came the hard part, she had to convince him to agree with her proposal.

Jack stared at her for a minute, pondering her statement. He knew that she was right, it was both of their careers on the line and he knew that he had dragged Samantha into the situation. He was the married one, he was the one who kept information from her to rekindle their relationship, it should be him who is the one to pay for his actions. He only hoped that it wouldn't cost him his kids. He raised his head and stared at Samantha in the eyes, "Okay. I'll do it, I'll do whatever it takes."

Samantha did a double-take, she didn't quite believe what she was hearing, had Jack just agreed without any sort of persuading at all? She didn't know what else to say and got up to go back to her desk. She paused at the door to his office and turned around. She saw that he was still sitting, staring at her now vacant chair, perhaps imagining a way to settle his divorce or perhaps imagining a happier life, one with Samantha. Softly she spoke, "Thank you." Then she left the office and slumped into her chair at her desk. She could feel Martin's eyes on her, but she didn't want to talk, didn't want to talk to anybody. She hoped that things would get better, that she would forgive Jack, that she would continue her new found friendship with Martin. She knew that it would take time, but she was a very impatient person.

TBC


A/N: This chapter was for Spikey. I wasn't inspired to do a confrontation between Samantha and Jack, but due to her insistence in multiple reviews, I felt that I should write this as a thank you to her faithful reading. I hope that I did it justice. And I want to thank everyone else for continuing to review—only two more chapters to go.