What If…

…Samantha hadn't survived 'Fallout'? (Danny's POV)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or anything else so leave me alone :P

A/N: This is an alternative ending to Fallout Pt 2, but please correct me if you need to, as the last time I saw the season 1 finale was A LONG time ago and I was no where near as addicted to the show at the time. This one was probably hardest for me to write, I can't really think of how WaT would be without Samantha so it was strange!

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I knew that it was going to be strange, obviously, losing someone on the team, especially Sam, what with all the love for her we (especially Jack and Martin) shared, but I never expected it to be like this. It's not so much sorrow that's hanging around here though, more anger and guilt. It's hard to explain what it feels like… To me it's like losing a best friend or a sister, but to the others I think it must be different. Viv's acting like Samantha was a cross between a daughter and a best friend, and well nobody's sure what's going through Martin and Jack's minds. Well one thing is for sure; both of them blame themselves.

It wasn't either of their faults; they both did all they could! We all did. And it wasn't Sam's fault either; she did what she's trained to do. I don't think anyone actually blames him though, except me. I do!

I always wondered if I believed in fate… you know, destiny. Until now, the answer may have been yes. I'm not saying all the people who die (and believe me you hear about a lot of them working where I do) deserve to die when they did, but I do think that somewhere someone has an idea of when everyone's going to die, but then people ruin that destiny by murdering people. If it isn't your time to go, it doesn't mean you definitely won't die. We all have a destiny, and until it's fulfilled, we don't die… unless someone 'helps' us.

Like I said, that's what I used to believe, but now I'm not so sure. I guess I haven't actually explained what happened to Sam, other than what everyone already knows. She was taken into hospital; everyone was under the impression that she was going to be fine, even the doctors. I thought it was only right that I go talk to her; I didn't want her to be alone. So, that's what I did. That's what best friends do, right? She was fine when I went in there, a few machines attached to her, but otherwise fine. We talked… I could tell she was feeling much better having someone to talk to… but then they insisted on taking her to surgery, there was something they wanted to take a better look at.

Obviously, work went on, you can't just stop everything when someone gets hurt, however much you want it to, and we had paperwork to do, which was why I was surprised when Jack didn't tell me off for being late. I guess he just realised what I was doing. We were going to know if anything happened, the hospital was going to phone and then one of us was going down there the minute she came out of surgery, most likely Jack.

When the phone call came, there was silence as Jack picked up the phone and listened to the doctor. There were a lot of eyes focused on his expression at this point, which was as dim as usual. Until he turned and we saw tears, we thought everything was fine. Apparently not. Sam had crashed on the operating table, possibly due to some internal bleeding they'd missed or something. They were unable to get her back.

I think the funeral was the worst. We'd actually expected her family to have had it back home, so we didn't think any of us would end up going unless we went all the way over, but we were wrong. They came over to New York, saying that this was her home, and to be honest I agree. Lots of people ended up coming, it seems Samantha was a well loved person, not that I am surprised.

So, back to whether or not I believe in destiny… the answer is no. I don't believe that because I think if any one person should have deserved to be saved, it was Sam. She worked hard for what she believed was important, and there are many people alive who wouldn't have been if not for her, who would love to thank her for that, and have indeed done so. Her death has opened my eyes to how we fake everything nowadays, how we pick the easy option and how we should be more thankful to those who are important to us. I don't think I ever told Sam just how much she meant to me, as a friend… but more… as family.