"Hey, we're back!" called Danny as he and Jack walked back into the office.

"You get everything sorted out?" asked Vivian,

"Yeah they're going to talk to the lawyers to get everything sorted."

said Jack.

"Any news about Sam?" asked Danny.

"Yeah. The doctor called and he said that there was no extra damage caused. I went to see her and she said she got up to stretch her legs.

The doctor didn't really believe that though." said Martin.

"Do you?" asked Jack.

Martin nodded. "she should be able to go home in about 4 days.

Providing there aren't any more setbacks." he said.

"That's good." said Danny.

"How is she?" asked Jack curiously.

"She's uhhh ok, she's as good as can be expected." said Martin "She hates it in there."

"I'm not surprised." said Danny. "I mean she even hates being stuck in the office for too long."

"That's our Sam." said Vivian smiling.

4 days later. 9.00am

For the past 4 days Samantha had been greatly improving physically, most of the stitches on smaller cuts had been taken out. She had been taken by the physiotherapist to walk short distances, and to repair any muscle damage in her leg.

She still had nightmares and would often wake up screaming and then be unable to get back to sleep. She still felt nervous around guys but she was learning to deal.

The door shot open revealing Martin and Danny with huge grins on their faces. "So you ready to go home?" asked Martin.

"Vivian and Jack are going to meet us at your apartment." said Danny.

"I'll just grab your stuff."

"Here." said Martin holding Samantha's crutches to her. "You ready?"

"Do I have to use the the crutches?" said Samantha.

"Yes. You heard what the doctor said the other day." he replied.

Rolling her eyes Samantha took the crutches and stood up shakily, still not used to not being able to use her leg properly.

"Ok lets go." said Danny leading the way out the door followed by Samantha and then Martin. Martin put a steadying hand on Samantha's shoulder, then recoiled, hurt as she flinched away.

9.30am

"Hey welcome home!" said Vivian, as Samantha, Danny and Martin walked in.

"Like it?" said Jack gesturing to the apartment which they had

decorated with streamers and a large poster saying 'Welcome home.'

"It's great guys, thank you." said Samantha.

"So you glad to get home?" asked Vivian.

"Definitely, that hospital was driving me mad." she answered.

"You want us to hang around a bit or leave you to settle in?" asked

Danny.

Samantha sighed, knowing that if she didn't do this now she would never do it. "You all should stay, I owe you a lot of explanations."

"You don't have to do this now." said Jack gently.

"Yes I do, I can't keep putting it off. Let's go sit down." she said, limping over to the lounge area, the others arranged themselves on the sofa or chairs. Samantha also took one of the chairs, sitting facing them but nearer to Vivian than the others.

"Well I don't know what my mom told you, so I'll start from the

beginning. From what I can remember when I was very young my father wasn't around much. I had a sister, but she died when I was about 5 so I don't really remember her, but apparently we were very close. That's partly what made my father so angry all the time. She was his favourite.

She just got ill one winter, with pneumonia, they realised too late

what it was. We never really talk about her, it was just to painful. My mom never mentioned her after, she didn't like thinking about it. Everything seemed pretty normal, or as normal as it could be. I first found out about my father being violent when I was 11, I couldn't sleep one night so I got up to get some water. I heard my mom and father arguing so I went to see what was happening. The door was open slightly so I looked in and they were standing in the middle of the room, then my mom said something and he hit her. I was in shock, I didn't know what to do so I just ran back to bed and hid under the covers. The next day was the first time he was violent towards me." Samantha took a deep breath before continuing, looking down not wanting to look at their faces and see the pitying looks she knew would be there.

"Umm I made the mistake of asking him what had happened between him and my mom and why he hit her. He got really mad and started shaking me, yelling at me that if I ever told anyone...and then he just pushed me to the floor and stormed out. From then on it just got worse, he'd start taking out his anger on me and I couldn't tell my mom, I knew she would blame herself. She found out when I was 14, and was quite shocked when I told her it had been happening since I was 11."

Samantha shut her eyes, trying to keep the tears from rising.

"It was late one night she had been out with friends, and he was angry because she was out. So he got angry at me because I was the one there, he starting hitting me asking me where she was, and I didn't know but he didn't believe me. She walked in and found me on the floor, and him standing over me, and that's when she found out."

She took another deep breath, struggling to carry on. Danny and Martin exchanged worried glances. Then Danny got up, and returned with a glass of water which he handed to Samantha. She smiled gratefully, through the tears.

"Uhh well I just learnt to hide it at school, or blame it on me being

clumsy." she laughed bitterly "I must have fallen down the stairs at

least 50 times. It wasn't always really bad, but there were a few times when I had to go to hospital, my mom would make up some story. He started drinking when I was about 12, and that made it so much worse. He got angry so easily. My mom told you about when I ran away didn't she?"

Vivian nodded.

"Well I was about 5 minutes late after my curfew, I was on a date with this guy called Alex, and he was drunk when I got home and he just started yelling, saying things, calling me pretty much everything in the book. Then when my mom intervened, he completely lost it. He went mad and just attacked me. So I decided I couldn't take it anymore and ran away. My mom convinced me to come back, and he never knew I tried to run. I hate to think what he would have done if he had known."

Samantha was shaking now. "Samantha? Are you alright?" asked Vivian. "Let me get you a sweater or something" she disappeared into Samantha's room, and came back carrying a sweatshirt. "Here put this on." Samantha pulled the sweatshirt over her head, immediately grateful for the extra warmth.

"I umm kept pleading with my mom to do something, but

I think she was too scared of what would have happened. She kept believing that it would get better. She was out a lot, she didn't want to have to see him. Usually leaving me there, except for when I would escape to a friends house. I had just turned 18 when he died. After that everything changed even more. My mom would hardly ever be home, we never really talked. I think I reminded her of him and bad times. I started working really hard at school wanting to get into a uni as far away as possible. I started spending more and more time with Alex or anywhere, just had to get away from her and the house. My mom and I were like strangers living together. Anyway, Alex and I decided to get married." Martin looked at her in shock.

"I thought it would help me be free from everything and be able to get a new start. But we soon realised it would work so we got a divorce and ended it when I was 19. I got pregnant and I found out just after the divorce. I went to talk to him about it, and we decided to keep it and he said he would support me completely. We'd managed to keep a good relationship and we were still good friends. Ummm we were driving back from just going out for lunch..."

She paused, tears slipping down her cheeks. "We were on a small road, usually quiet but this other car got into the wrong lane, I think the driver was drunk, and we swerved out the way and ended up crashing into a lamp post. Alex died instantly, and I was in a coma and I lost the baby."

"God, I'm sorry." said Vivian reaching out for Samantha's hand.

Samantha continued as if Vivian hadn't spoken wanting to finish.

"Then I decided more than before that I had to get away so I got into uni, and applied for a job in the police in Chicago where I went to uni and then worked my way to the FBI. I tried to forget about my past, and move on, but the scars don't fade." she finished in a whisper.

The others sat, shocked, trying to take in what they had just heard.

They were all sorry for Samantha and what she had already been through in her relatively short life.

Vivian got up and pulled Samantha into a hug. Samantha started sobbing, letting out all her feelings that had built up, that she had never let out. She did feel relieved for getting all her story out.

Vivian, hugged her, her own eyes filling with tears as she heard all

the pain and sorrow in Samantha's sobs.

Vivian turned her head to look at Danny, Martin and Jack. Danny was sitting his head in his hands, Martin looked utterly devastated at what Samantha had gone through, and Jack just looked completely shocked.

Martin stood up, and walked to Sam, hesitantly putting his hand on her shoulder not wanting a repeat performance of earlier. Samantha turned her tearstained to look at him. He leant down and looked into her eyes, before also pulling her to a hug. She tensed up, before letting herself relax in his arms. "I'm so sorry." he whispered to her.

"Umm guys, I think we should leave Sam to get some rest." said Jack.

"Yeah that's a good idea." said Vivian.

"Ok Sam, lets get you to bed." said Martin. "Can you stand?"

Samantha nodded, and stood shakily. Danny handed her the crutches, she took them, and limped towards her room followed by Martin.

"Martin and I will make sure she's alright. Why don't you go on ahead to the office?" Danny suggested to Jack and Vivian.

"Ok, we'll do that." said Jack.

Vivian looked concerned. "Be careful ok? She's still fragile." she

said.

Danny nodded looking upset.

"See you later." said Jack.

"Bye." said Danny, before following Samantha and Martin.

"Hey, Sam is there anything you need?" he called.

"Can you get some water please?" she called back.

"Sure, hang on."

Danny walked back into the kitchen to get a glass of water. Before he had filled it Martin walked back in, he sighed.

"How is she?" asked Danny.

"She's pretty exhausted. God all the stuff she told us. Poor Sam."

answered Martin.

"I know, I had no idea, it must have been so hard for her." said Danny.

"I'll just take the water to her. Then we should get going."

"Ok." said Martin.

Danny walked down the hall carrying the water to Samantha. He tapped lightly on the door. "Sam? Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

Danny pushed open the door, and found Samantha sitting propped up in

the bed. "Here you go." he said handing the water to her.

"Thanks." she said.

"You alright?" he asked.

Samantha smiled softly. "I will be." she said.

"You just relax here. We'll come back later. You can watch some great daytime TV." said Danny.

"Yeah. Well you should get to work." said Samantha.

"Bye Sam." said Danny. "I'll get Martin."

"Thanks."

Danny smiled and walked out to get Martin.

"Hey Samantha." said Martin.

"Hey." she replied.

"So...umm you don't mind if Danny and I leave? We can stay if you

want?" said Martin.

"I'll be fine." said Samantha. "Plus I can always ring."

"Alright, yeah do call if you need anything."

"I will, bye." said Sam with a smile.

"Bye." Samantha sighed. She was relieved that she had told everyone, but she felt vulnerable in a way. Everyone now knew her deepest and darkest secrets. They would never look at her in the same way again. Things were so much simpler when no one else knew. She turned over trying to get comfortable to try and sleep.