96 South Grove Street, Valley Stream, Long Island

16 hours missing

Jack and Sam walked up the dirty, dingy, narrow staircase to apartment four. Jack knocked on the door, the woman the waiter described opened the door on a chain.

"Yes" the woman said cautiously, Sam held her badge up to the gap.

"FBI. Are you Brooke Oakes" Brooke nodded, evidently confused about what this was about. "May we come in" Brooke nodded and closed the door briefly to take the chain off before opening the door and letting the two FBI agents in.

"What's this about" Brooke asked, sitting down uneasily on her couch.

"Alec Parker. He's gone missing" Jack stated, watching for her reaction. For a moment Brooke's face lit up in recognition and Jack thought horror, before the expression turned to puzzled.

"Who's Alec Parker" Brooke inquired innocently, trying to sound completely disinterested in order to act like she actually didn't know.

"You know very well who Alec Parker is. You had lunch with him just two days ago at The Bistro restaurant" Sam said deliberately, Brooke closed her eyes momentarily and accepting defeat she sighed.

"Yes I did. What's happened to him, you said he'd gone missing" Free of the need now to pretend she didn't know him, Brooke now looked and sounded extremely concerned and anxious.

"He went missing sometime last night, the last recorded sighting of him was when he left home at eleven" Jack reported enjoying the easy comradeship that he and Sam fell into when they started questioning suspects, they instinctively took up the roles of good cop or bad cop, seeming to know which the other was playing and choosing which role for maximum effect.

"I take it you saw him after that" Sam continued, fixing a piercing stare on Brooke. Brooke nodded, eyes starting to tear up.

"Yes, he was fine when he left here at three."

"I know this is very personal but you need to tell us the exact nature of your relationship with Alec Parker, and exactly what happened last night" Jack smiled reassuringly sitting down in the chair across from Brooke in order to look less threatening, for the moment he was the good cop.

"Well Alec and I . . we've been seeing each other for about six months. At first it started off as a bit of fun, a no-strings attached relationship, it soon got more serious. Alec was really unhappy with his wife, the only thing that was stopping him leaving was the fact that he wouldn't get custody of Alice. However, that changed last night, his wife had found out about us, they'd had a massive row and she'd kicked him out."

Flashback Apartment

There is an insistent knocking at the door, Brooke Oakes walked down the corridor to the door sleepily, wearing her dressing gown.

"Who is it" Brooke called, grumpily.

"It's me" Alec replied, his reply muffled by the door. Frowning Brooke opened the door letting Alec in.

"Alec it's midnight, what's going on" Brooke asked, pulling on Alec's arm, trying to stop him pacing.

"She knows" Alec told her, stopping pacing to look her in the eye. Brooke's eyes widened in shock and horror.

"Oh my god, what are we going to do" Brooke thought out loud, sinking down into the sofa as if all the energy had just been sapped out of her. Alec seeing this stopped his frantic moving to sit down next to her.

"I know what I'd like to do" Alec stared seriously at Brooke who after a moment met his intense gaze, she started to blush before saying in a slightly husky voice.

"I don't think that would help any." Alec laughed.

"I didn't mean that. I meant like you me, together. No more hiding, no more secrets. I love you Brooke and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Suddenly Brooke frowned, the thought had just come to her that he'd probably said exactly the same thing to his wife once. As her mother had once said, once a cheat always a cheat.

"How do I know you mean it" Brooke asked, her eyes turned to stone as she looked at Alec. Alec just looked at her momentarily confused, until he too came to the same thought that she just had.

"Oh shit you don't think . ." Alec tailed off unable to explain that what he felt for her was very different from anything he'd ever felt for Elaine. However, he must have communicated it somehow because Brooke reached out and touched him on the arm, letting him know with her touch that she understood and that it was alright.

End Flashback Apartment

"The two of you didn't part on bad terms" Jack checked, Brooke shook her head, smiling slightly as she remembered.

"No, he left to go back home to get his things. We . ."

"At three in the morning! Why so early" Sam interrupted in keeping with the bad cop role, Brooke looked confused for a moment, having been interrupted she was now having to mentally re-orientate herself with the conversation.

"He didn't want to see his wife. You see she takes sleeping tablets, a bomb could go off and she wouldn't know so Alec getting some clothes would be no problem." Jack frowned and mentally filed that fact away for future use. Taking sleeping tablets when you know you're going to be the only adult in the house was irresponsible and unsafe.

"I see. What about Alice, his daughter" Sam pressed, Brooke sighed.

"That was the one sticking point, Alec was worried that he wouldn't get custody and what would happen to Alice if he didn't. He was the one who looked after her, his wife didn't do a thing, she probably wouldn't even have noticed if she wasn't there anymore." Jack and Sam exchanged a glance, both wondering if that was just one of the usual bitter remarks that mistresses and wives have for each other, or whether it had some truth in it.

FBI Headquarters

17 hours missing

As soon as they arrived back at the FBI offices Jack headed off to his meeting with Van Doren. Sam went up to the unit enter the new information on the whiteboard. She'd already reported in to Vivian, who had immediately headed out to Brentwood to talk to Mrs Parker again. Martin was there at his desk, typing up what he'd found out from Alec Parker's colleagues, which was precisely not a lot.

"Hi" Sam greeted him, Martin smiled back making Sam feel uncomfortable. She knew then that they had to talk about what had happened. "Martin" Sam began moving her chair from her desk to Martin's and sitting down.

"Mmm" Martin replied, concentrating on what he was doing. He hadn't yet realised that this was serious.

"Martin." Sam reached over and pulled his hand away from the mouse, Martin turned to look at her puzzled. "We need to talk." Martin's eye's widened slightly,

"Here." Martin pointed downwards, Sam nodded. "Ok" Martin agreed, looking around to see if anyone was close enough to hear, he tried to do it casually but didn't succeed. Sam bit her lip, unsure now about where to begin.

"About last night I . . it was . . what I'm trying to say is. . ."

"It's ok" Martin interrupted"I understand." Sam looked at him, trying to discern if he meant what he said. Unlike with Jack, where she always knew what he truly felt, she couldn't tell what Martin was feeling. Whether that was because he hid his emotions better, or the fact that she didn't know him like she did Jack, she didn't know.

"Friends" Sam offered, knowing that they'd need some basis to work off, they still needed to work together after all. Martin nodded and smiled.

"Friends."

A/N: Was this an ok way to deal with the Sam/Martin situation? I mean it was an important factor so I couldn't ignore it, is it plausible though?