My One Thing That's Real

"I should go." Jack said reluctantly, turning his head so he could look at Sam. Sam didn't say anything, she just stayed snuggled up in his arms. Jack made no move to go, intellectually he knew he should, his heart ruled otherwise. "I don't want to go you know. I would much rather stay here with you." Sam closed her eyes hearing his words, she knew he meant them, and that they came from the very bottom of his heart, but it still didn't make it any easier.

"I know." Sam turned and gently kissed him. "Go. We don't want Marie to suspect anything." Jack nodded and kissed her back gently on the forehead. he then climbed out of bed and got ready to leave.

Even as he was driving home Jack was thinking about the next time he'd see Sam, it would just be a few hours, but already he was missing her. It had only been a couple of months that they'd been seeing each other not as colleagues, but it felt to him like a lifetime. So much had changed in that short amount of time. His life before had been bleak, miserable, dark and dreary. Now all he had to do was to think of, or be with Sam, she made his life seem so happy and perfect. She truly was his soulmate.

Pretty much as soon as Jack was gone Sam started to miss him, unconsciously already starting a count down to when she'd next see him. She didn't know what it was about him that made him so . . . she couldn't even say what it was, it was just Jack Malone. What she did know was that he affected her like no other man in her life had ever done. She was completely and unequivocally in love with him. It didn't matter that he was married, well maybe a little, but not enough at the moment to bother her. He truly was her soulmate.

Once at work though it was a different story, nobody could know about their relationship. Not only would it wreck Jack's marriage it could also get them suspended, it was professional misconduct at it's worst and in the FBI that only meant one thing. So they had to treat each other like the colleagues they used to be and not the lovers they were now. Neither of them found it particularly hard, it was all down really to compartmentalization, secret keeping, both of them though they'd never admit it were good at keeping secrets and it wasn't just because their job demanded it of them. That day a case came in of a missing eight year old boy, it hadn't looked promising to begin with, he'd been missing for over a week. His mother had dropped him off at scout camp and on his way to register he'd disappeared, the scout leader had assumed he'd decided not to come so thought nothing of it, it was only when his mother came to pick him up that alarm bells started to sound. Despite that Sam as always held out a degree of hope. At first it seemed promising which only fuelled the hope that Sam held out, so when the boy was found dead in a shallow grave, it hit her harder than usual. Jack and only Jack noticed this because Sam was very skilled at hiding her feelings.

"Are you ok?" Jack asked, shutting the door to his office.

"Yeah." Sam replied, not meeting Jack's gaze.

"Oh yeah, you don't look ok." Jack pointed out, moving round to behind his desk to sort out the paperwork into piles, critical, when you've got the time and wouldn't bother.

"I thought . . I guess . . I don't know." Jack met her eyes, looking beyond them and seeing the pain she'd given herself, by caring too much and too deeply. He wished right then that he could stay with her tonight, he knew she needed the company. He also knew he couldn't do that, Marie knew he'd finished the case and would want to know why he hadn't come home, they couldn't have that, it was too dangerous.

"Do you know what I love about you?" Jack suddenly asked, Sam looked up at him startled and then instinctively round to see who else could hear. "I love the fact that you do care, what some people would call too much. I care what some people call too much, everytime we lose one it . . it takes that little bit away, until you can't care anymore. When I met you I couldn't care for anybody anymore. You changed that by showing me that all was not lost, you became my anchor to reality. My one thing that's real. So to sum up that long winded explanation, I know it hurts to care, but don't ever stop caring. I love you." Sam blinked realising that there were tears in her eyes, silently Jack moved across to her and put his arms around her, letting her cry on his shoulder. Sam being who she was soon regained control of herself, reluctantly Jack released her from his embrace.

"See you tomorrow yeah." Sam sniffed when she half out of the door. Jack nodded.

"Tomorrow."

Authors Note: I hope this lives up to expectations.