Interim 3
By: Mariel

Samantha sat on the floor, back resting comfortably on the front of her sofa, her legs stretched out in front of her. Notebooks, papers, and files littered the coffee table and any floor space within arms distance. Moving restlessly, she uncrossed her ankles and looked across the room.

"I'm not finding anything," she complained. "There's nothing here to indicate she'd have any reason to leave."

Sitting at the desk placed against one of the long living room walls in her apartment, Jack took off his reading glasses and pinched the top of his nose. Looking at the reports he'd been reviewing, he said, "Her husband seems to think she did."

"Yeah," she grunted. Her scepticsm of anything the spouse might have to say was obvious. "But the more I think about it, the more I think he had more reasons for wanting her gone than she had for wanting to go."

Wincing as he bent a kink out of his neck, Jack admitted, "I'm having trouble shaking the feeling things weren't as picture-perfect as he lets on."

Gracefully rising to her feet, Samantha stepped over the files on the floor and walked over to stand behind him. Without speaking, she began to gently massage his neck. She liked these moments together, liked the closeness and the almost-but-not-quite normalcy they lent to their relationship. More and more frequently, when they had to work late, they'd taken to leaving the office and bringing their work to her apartment. She'd make coffee and bring it out to him, always pausing a moment in the doorway to savour the picture of Jack sitting at her desk, the halo of its light highlighting the silver strands of hair growing at his temples. She liked seeing him sitting there, liked the way he looked at home. Liked knowing the strength of his hands and being able to remember their touch on her skin.

After settling down with their coffee, they'd work, breaking the easy silence between them occasionally with comments. Usually, by unspoken accord, they finished shortly before he was due to go home. Sometimes, they finished earlier and made love. Sometimes, they did not. In either case, the time together was something warm and comfortable, and something they looked forward to after a long day.

He groaned as the pressure of her fingers sought out and wrangled with a particularly obstinate knot.

"Feel good?" she asked.

He could feel the warm smile in her voice. "Mmmmm...Always," he said in a deep tone.

"It's nearly time for you to go." She took comfort in the knowledge that only a few hours separated them.

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm on story duty tonight. The girls were going to a birthday movie party. I told them that since they'd be up late, I'd make sure I'd be home in time to tuck them in."

She smiled, liking the mental picture his words elicited. He would be a good father - a father with humour and caring and gentleness. There was no doubt he loved being one. His time with Hannah and Kate was sacrosanct, and so she and Jack saw one another on those nights he would be too late to tuck them in or when he tucked them in and then returned to work. It was something she never felt resentful of. Envious, perhaps, because of what she had never had as a young girl, but never resentful.

"Then you'd better start clearing this up. Do you want me to take it in for you tomorrow morning?"

He shook his head. As her fingers gently slid away from his shoulders, he began to gather things together. "I may get a chance after the girls go to bed to take another look at some of the friends' statements."

She moved back to her coffee table and began straightening up her own work area.

"Maria let me know this morning that she's definitely going out of town tomorrow night. She's taking the girls, so that they can see their aunt."

Samantha stilled as her heart began to thump. A smile rose up within her. He'd left this information for last, knowing it was good news to be savoured. He didn't need to say more and she didn't need to question. Tomorrow night they would be together. And if the case allowed it, they would perhaps have dinner somewhere. See a movie, or rent one to watch here. There would be no worry about getting home at a certain time.

"See you tomorrow," she told him at the door. They kissed gently, then he turned and left.

Smiling, Samantha cleared up their coffee mugs and prepared for bed.

End

Interim 3