7.30am

"So did you get through?" asked Danny when Vivian returned. She handed him his coffee, he smiled thankfully.

"I got the number from Van Doren, and she told me something about Samantha's family, and why she doesn't talk about them. I also got through to her mother and she is on her way. Probably with her new husband."

The others looked at her with expectant faces.

"Well Sam's father he was killed in a hostage situation, he got shot by one of the gang. But umm he was an alcoholic and used to beat Sam and her mother." she said looking at the shocked looks on the guys faces.

"God, what's happened recently must have brought back some bad

memories." said Danny.

Vivian nodded. "Sam and her mother are still in contact. They don't

talk much, but she knew who I was. She's on her way here."

"I can't believe we never knew." said Danny.

"It's not really something you would want to talk about though, and you wouldn't really want everyone to know." said Vivian.

"That's probably why she tried to run away." said Jack.

The others looked at him sharply.

"Remember that case about the high school teacher who was running away with a student?" said Jack. "She told me then, she said her mom found her in the next town."

"She's managed to stay so strong." said Martin.

"That's Sam for you." said Danny.

The others smiled thinking about their co-worker.

"Hey the doctors back." said Danny.

They held their breath. Each one nervously waiting the doctor's news.

"Agent Spade is stable."

Martin let out a sigh of relief.

"She's still unconscious, but we are certain that she will wake up and make a full recovery."

"That's good." said Danny.

The doctor smiled, "Yes it is. But remember even though she will

recover physically, we don't know how long it will take for her to

recover mentally. As I said she's still unconscious, but if you want to see her it should be fine."

"Thank you." said Vivian smiling gratefully.

"Well I'll leave you to it." said the doctor walking away.

"I'm gonna go see her again." said Danny. "Martin, you coming?"

"Sure." said Martin.

They both walked into Samantha's room, and still felt like they were

seeing her for the first time noticing something new each time, the

dark bruises standing out in stark contrast to her pale skin.

"God, she looks terrible." said Danny.

"You heard what the doctor said. She'll be fine."

"I just miss her. I keep expect her to just wake up, like she was

asleep and just you know, start a normal conversation."

"Yeah I feel the same. Things will get back to normal eventually. Umm did you have any idea about her father?" asked Martin.

"I had my suspicions, but she never said anything. It was just the way she acted about certain things." answered Danny.

"Poor Sam." said Martin. "And for it to force her to try and run

away....I don't even want to think about it."

"Uhhh I need to get some fresh air. I'm gonna take a walk." said

Martin.

"Sure. I'll come too." said Danny.

They walked back to the others. "We're gonna get some fresh air." said Danny.

"I'm gonna go see her, then I really have to get back to the office.

Van Doren wants the case details." said Jack.

"Hey Sam." said Jack, walking over to the chair by her bed. "This

shouldn't have happened. If only I had done more about Mrs. Atkins. I'm so sorry." He bent down and kissed her forehead, then walked out the door.

Vivian met him in the hall. "You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah. You going to see her?"

Vivian nodded, "Just trying to work up the courage."

"Its not as bad as it looks." said Jack. "See you at the office."

Vivian walked into Samantha's room Jack's words making sense. Samantha looked terrible. Now she understood why they had all looked so shaken when they came out of her room. It's not as bad as it looks she repeated in her head. She sat in the chair reaching out for Sam's hand but decided against it, not wanting to disturb any of the drips that were keeping her alive. Not knowing what to say she sat there for a few minutes lost in her own thoughts.

She sighed deeply and got up to go to the office.

In the hospital reception she ran into Danny and Martin.

"Hey you guys staying?" she asked.

"Yep." said Danny and Martin nodded.

"Will you keep an eye out for Sam's mom. They should be in a couple of hours."

"Sure." said Martin.

"I'll tell Jack. Will you call when they get here? And if anything else

happens" she asked.

"Of course." said Martin.

"Bye."

8.00am

Danny and Martin had taken back their familiar places in the chairs in Samantha's room. They had been sitting in silence until Martin's

whispered sentence broke through.

"It's all my fault." he said.

"How?" asked Danny.

"I should have made sure she got in safely. It would only have taken 2 extra minutes, and she would be fine!"

"Yes perhaps, but she would have hated it if you had to make sure she was home. She's too independent. She probably would have punched you and you would be the one in hospital for a broken nose."

Martin smiled, "But..."

"But nothing. You know I'm right. She hates being pitied." said Danny firmly.

"There's no use arguing with you is there." Martin said.

"Damn straight."

"She looks so peaceful doesn't she?" said Danny at Martin's incredulous look he added, "Well if you ignore all the tubes, bruises and stuff she does."

Martin looked at Samantha. "I suppose. I wish she would wake up."

"So do I." said Danny.

They sat exchanging the occasional sentence, listening to the

surrounding sounds.

9.15am

"Agent Taylor?" said the nurse walking into Samantha's room.

"That's me." said Danny.

"There's a phone call for you. You can take it at the nurse station."

she said.

"Thanks." said Danny.

"Hello." said Danny picking up the phone.

"Hey Danny." said Vivian. "Any changes?"

"No none sorry. How's everything there?" asked Danny.

"Well seems like everyone here knows about Samantha and they keep asking how she is. Jack is still talking to Van Doren. Any sign of Sam's mother?"

"No nothing yet. They should be here soon, its around a 2 hour flight."

"Ok. Jack and I will come down when they get to the hospital. How's Martin holding up?" asked Vivian.

"He's putting on a brave face. Don't know if he fully believes what the doctor said though. He's pretty shaken up by all this."

"We all were. It's hard to believe that something like this could

happen. Especially to one of your own, you know?" said Vivian.

"Yeah. I know." answered Danny. "Well I'll keep you posted."

"Ok. Bye." said Vivian.

"That was Vivian." said Danny to Martin back in Samantha's hospital

room. "Just checking up. She says she expects Sam's mom to be here soon."

"Ok. Anything else?" asked Martin.

"Not really. Jack's still talking to Van Doren. That's about it."

Danny looked over at Sam. "Anything changed?"

Martin shook his head sadly. "She hasn't moved at all. Nothing."

"God. How long will she be like this?" asked Danny angrily.

Martin shrugged. "We just have to pray that it will be soon." he said.

9.45am

"Hey Viv, its Danny."

"Hey. Anything new?" replied Vivian.

"No sorry. Just thought I'd check back with you. Anything happening?"

"Umm Jack came back from his meeting. It seemed to go ok. He's just been a bit preoccupied..."

Danny tuned Vivian out as he noticed a couple come through the door, one who could be an older version of Samantha.

"Uhh Viv i gotta go. Think I just saw Sam's mom."

"Ok I'll be right over."

"Ok." said Danny and hung up the phone.

"Excuse me, are you Mrs Harris?"

"Yes." she answered.

"I'm Danny Taylor, I work with Samantha."

"Hi, how is she? Oh sorry this is my husband John."

"Nice to meet you. I'll take you to Samantha's room."

Martin met them outside Sam's room.

"Hey Martin, this is Mr and Mrs. Harris. Sam's parents."

"Please it's Nicole."

"Yeah and call me John."

"Nice to meet you. I just spoke to the doctor and he will be along in a minute to tell you about Sam's condition. But I thought it would be best if we told you about what happened first." said Martin.

"Umm when was the last time you spoke to Samantha?" asked Danny.

"A few months I guess. Not very recently." said Nicole Harris.

"Ok. Well about 2 months ago there was a hostage situation in a

bookstore downtown. Samantha was one of the hostages." said Danny.

"Oh God," said Nicole. "That must have been horrible for her. You did hear about her father?"

Danny nodded and continued. "Well the guy got upset and another one of the hostages jumped him. His gun went off and accidentally shot Samantha in the leg. We only just found out that there was some ligament damage, which is healing very slowly."

Nicole grasped her husbands hand tightly.

"Recently there was a case of a bus hijacking. The two hijackers were about to kill someone but Samantha shot and killed them. One of the hijackers girlfriend and his brother kidnapped Samantha as revenge for Ned's death. She was missing for about 13 hours until we found her. I'm afraid to say that they had been very brutal. Which is why Sam is in here. That's the basic story, sorry to rush through it. It's just the easiest way." said Danny.

"So how is she?" asked Nicole shakily still holding her husbands hand as if it was all that was keeping her standing.

"The doctor will tell you, hang on here he is." said Martin.

"Hi, well I presume you want to know how she is? Well there are

multiple cuts and bruises most are healing well. Some of the cuts

required stitching, but they are doing fine. She has several broken

ribs, however they caused some complication, such as internal bleeding which lead to her falling into a coma. She is stable now, earlier it was touch and go for a while. But we expect her to wake up soon. I don't know if they told you, but she was raped by the man who kidnapped her."

"Oh God." said Nicole in shock. John looked at the doctor. "Is she ok

now? Will she be ok?" he asked.

"Physically she will make a complete recovery eventually, but mentally. Its hard to say."

"Thank you doctor." said Nicole. "Can we see her now?"

"Of course. Straight in there."

Danny and Martin waited outside as Nicole and John went in, not wanting to intrude.