Chapter Three: Sober

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the F.B.I, I just dream about them but the plot is mine, my own, my preciousssssssssssss.

A/N:- Okay this is the 'explanation' chapter where everything is explained ….. or should be. Thanks for all the reviews guys. They make me happy and excited. Just like the signed photo I got from Mr Howard Shore through the post yesterday. /Fangirly mood. Oh and those following my dilemma where I still haven't seen an episode of WaT, well, I bought Season One with the money I don't have …… the rest of this fanfic was written pre-watching but hopefully any future stories will make more sense to both you and me!

Dedicated to:

Briana, SuperKelli15, Raspberry Muffin (LOL at super hero Marty!), Klutz101, Taintedpromises, TerribleFish (Enemies? Noooooo.), Alli, EquestrianBabe, Spooky Bibi, NightMage, Daisyduke947, Tracy, Liz, Drama-freak-csim

Samantha tossed from side to side fitfully. "Martin." she muttered. "Noooo." she felt herself being pushed into the van and the camera on her, all the time the men mocking her. "Not Martin. Don't -" she moaned as they made the tape. She could feel their hands on her thigh, on her chest, on her neck and then she was falling ……………

"Sam, Sam, wake up."

"She's lucky - only a broken arm and some bruising to her back. Of course she'll be in shock."

"Sam, Sam, wake up."

Samantha opened her eyes tiredly. Everything was glaringly white for a minute before everything came into focus. She was in bed, in hospital. One arm was in plaster cast and the other arm was connected to a drip. Round her bed were three worried faces.

"Hey, how are you feeling? You're lucky that that lady and her husband saw you lying there." Jack said, holding himself back from asking the 'what happened' question.

Samantha blinked and stared at him for a moment, then at Vivian and then at Danny who was smiling at her encouragingly. Then she remembered. "Martin, where's Martin?" she asked hurriedly.

"Hey! Aren't we good enough for you?" smiled Danny.

Samantha seemed not to hear him. "Martin, Martin, where is he? Where is he?" she said, panicking and trying to sit up. Vivian and Jack looked worried.

"Two weeks ago you barely noticed his existence outside of work and now you-" Danny started.

Jack gave him a look.

"Jack, Jack, where's Martin?" Sam demanded, her voice agitated. Vivian held her hand and tried to get her to lie back down.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be coming soon. We called his cell phone and left a message." Jack said.

This was exactly what Sam didn't want to hear. She got even more agitated, and Vivian actually had to physically restrain her from getting up or doing harm to herself. "Oh My God you haven't found him, haven't found him." she moaned. "Please … you need to go and help him. Now. MARTIN."

The three agents looked at each other alarmed.

Jack leant forward. "Samantha. I want you to tell me everything." he stated.

Martin clenched his teeth under the masking tape. He was in a truck being taken to some other location. So it hadn't worked but hopefully Sam had got away unharmed.

A face came up leering at him. "So, you tried to play the hero eh? Well, I got news for you. Agent Spade is probably lying crumpled up on the floor dead right now and you …. you are about to pay for your little heroics."

Martin's eyes widened. What did he mean about Sam? Was he just trying to scare him or had they done something to her? He barely had time to think about it before he got kneed in the stomach and a fist came speeding towards his face.

Samantha had tried to keep calm and tell the others the basics of what had happened. When she had finished she could tell how scared the other three were.

"The idiot." Jack swore. "What was he thinking! How did he possibly think he could play the hero and pull it off? Dammit." he said, standing up, angry.

"Well, I'm guessing he just acted on his reaction and didn't stop to think." said Danny. He could only begin to imagine what Martin must have felt; must be feeling.

"It's my fault, all my fault, and now Martin's going to-" Samantha said, bursting into tears. She was all over the place and had no control of her emotions.

"Stupid, utterly stupid." Jack continued, his thoughts still with Martin.

Vivian looked at how upset Samantha was. "Jack, don't you think we should focus our attention on how we're going to get him back safely. You can rampage later."

Jack took a deep breath as the nurse came in to check on Samantha. "We need her to come to the F.B.I office with us." Jack stated to the nurse. "Now."

The Nurse looked at him incredulously. "Sir, she's still in shock, she's just fallen from a second storey house, it's the middle of the night and you're telling me you expect her to leave?"

"It's important. Someone's life is in danger and she's the only one that can help us." Jack said. "Look, her arm's in plaster cast already and we'll make sure she's sitting down and rests and doesn't do anything physical. Please. It's a question of life or death." Jack pleaded.

Samantha gently lowered herself into a comfortable chair in an interrogation room in the Missing Persons Unit. Her back had hurt so much when she had stood up that she had to take some pretty strong painkillers and it took all her effort to stay focussed and concentrate. Vivian, Jack and Danny sat down at the table, all armed with paper and a pen. They had a large pot of coffee in front of them. It was 3am in the morning and they had a long long day ahead.

"Sam, I need you to run through the whole thing again from the beginning. Tell us everything." Jack said.

Samantha nodded. She knew the process well. Reliving it was another thing. "It started a week ago. I was sitting in Galigo's Café over the road, alone, when a man approached me. He said his name was Richard Fadler and he sat down opposite me. Normally I would have ignored him or left but I don't know …. that day I was upset from the Kaler's case and I didn't really want to be alone. Anyway, we got talking and he said that he worked for IBM, I told him I worked in the F.B.I building."

"You told him you were an Agent?"

Sam scrunched her face up. She wouldn't come out with that information to anyone. "No, I said that I worked in reception, taking the calls. Anyway, he said he had had a hellish day at work and he didn't get on well with his colleagues. I said that I was lucky and worked well with my team."

"Did he seem interested in your work?"

"Yeah …. but not overly. It was just something to talk about." Sam sighed, rubbing her head.

"What else did you say?"

"He asked me whether I liked working in a predominantly male environment and I said it didn't bother me. Then we talked about other things like the weather and films …..At closing time, he gave me his number and asked me out to dinner. He seemed like a nice guy, very genuine so I agreed and then we went our separate ways."

"So you never told him anything about Martin or mentioned his name?" Vivian asked.

"No. I tried to get off the topic of work as soon as possible."

Vivian nodded. "Now tell us about today." Jack said.

"Well, I walked out of the building with Martin." Sam started.

"Did you notice anything unusual?" Danny interrupted.

"No, but then I was talking to Martin and not looking around."

"What were you talking about with Martin?" Jack asked.

"I don't see how that's relevant." Samantha replied. Jack raised his eyebrows. Samantha sighed. "We talked about work and then he asked me out for a drink and I told him that I couldn't because I was meeting someone."

"Did he seem disappointed by that?"

Sam frowned and looked at Jack oddly. "I guess." she shrugged.

"Okay, what next?"

"I made my way to the 'Jade Dragon' Chinese restaurant in Marley's Street. I was early so I walked around a bit. As I walked past this alley, someone grabbed me from behind and the next thing I knew I was being bundled into the back of a van."

"Marley's Street? There must have been a lot of people around?" Danny said.

"It was the north end, most offices hadn't finished for the day yet. There were a few people around who must have seen and just ignored it."

"So they'll be eyewitnesses?"

"I guess but I'm here to confirm the story. It happened just like I told you." Samantha said getting a bit ratty. She was tired and upset.

"I know you Sam, you hardly ever let your guard down, why then? Why at that moment? If you'd been fully awake then you would have seen them before they got you." Jack stated.

"I know. It's just I was preoccupied thinking of something and I guess I just drifted off into my thoughts for a minute." she said.

Jack looked at her for a moment as if debating whether to ask her what she was thinking about but seeing how close to the edge she was already, he decided to press on. "So, you're in the back of the van?"

"Yeah. There were three balaclavered men. One was driving. One was holding me down and the other had a camcorder." she stated.

"That's when they made that tape that the other Agents found in Martin's apartment?" Danny checked.

"Yeah."

"I looked over the tape." Vivian said. "I knew how it lured even an experienced Agent like Martin in. They had calculated the timing perfectly so Martin wouldn't have any time to do any research and to check whether it was a small gang or a terrorist organisation he was up against. Of course if it had been a large gang then they might have had the means and cells to monitor all of us and trace the phones. If he'd known it was just a small gang seeking vengeance against the F.B.I then he knew it would be safe to call us."

Jack nodded, turning this over in his mind. "Okay Sam, so they took you to this deserted house?"

"Yeah, they tied me up to a chair and the two henchmen kept watch – Not that I could have done anything anyway."

"The two henchmen, you know their names?"

"Rob and Henry. And 'Richard Fadler' the guy behind this …… his real name is Charles." Samantha told them.

"So you're stuck in this chair for a few hours before Martin arrives …."

"They ….." Samantha hesitated. "They touched me and stuff." she said quietly. "But Charles wouldn't let them do anything more because he didn't want the ropes loosened."

Vivian took her hand and rubbed in gently. Tears started running down Sam's face as she thought of Martin. "Charles went down to wait for Martin, Rob went off to piss somewhere ….. that was when Martin arrived. He'd climbed up the outside of the house and shot a tranquilliser dart at Henry through a broken window. Then he climbed in and cut the ropes and tape off me …." Samantha tried to contain herself but she couldn't and broke down into a flood of tears. "He-He helped me out of the window and told me to climb down the rope ………. the men had come back then."

The other three agents didn't say anything for a moment and all that could be heard was Samantha crying. Vivian handed her tissue after tissue.

"Wow. That must have taken some guts." Danny said quietly.

Jack nodded. "Very brave." he agreed. "Pity he couldn't pull it off."

Vivian looked up. "Maybe he hadn't meant to pull it off." she said. Jack and Danny looked at her. "I mean, maybe he knew that given the time restraint, it was highly unlikely that both of them would have time to climb down the rope and get away without being noticed. Maybe he knew that and still went for it so, even if he was captured, Sam would be safe."

Her words hung in the air. Samantha started crying harder.

"Okay, so you're climbing down ….?" Jack said. He knew he was pushing Sam a bit, she was already so worked up.

"And -and I heard Charles say 'Cut the rope' but it happened so fast. Next thing I knew I was falling." Sam spluttered. "I'm sorry …. that's all I can tell you." she said.

Jack nodded and leant back in his chair, giving Sam a chance to recover before they continued.

Danny fiddled with his pen nervously. "God I hope he's alright." he muttered.

Samantha took some deep breaths and tried to stop her tears. She told herself over and over that crying never helped anything.

"Okay, Sam, I just got a few more questions and then we'll go check down these leads." Jack said. Sam nodded. "I know that, given that we're all friends here, this might be a bit awkward but I need you to be straight with us. Are you and Martin seeing each other?"

Sam looked slightly shocked at the question. "No." she replied.

"Do you have any feelings for him?" Jack asked, looking at her closely.

Samantha looked uncomfortable. "No." she hesitated. "I don't think so …. I don't know. Maybe. I'm just so confused right now. I just want him back." she said crying.

"Yeah, I understand." Jack soothed. "We all want him back. And Martin, does he want to be more than just work colleagues?"

There was silence. Samantha didn't know what to say. She didn't know herself anymore. "I – I don't know….. He's always been concerned …….. I don't think he meant anything by that – he just wanted to be friends y'know. I guess he wasn't happy accepting the fact that I'm just not a very friendly person." Sam said laughing sadly. "And now …. now I've got him into this …… God I'm so stupid." she moaned, putting her head in her hands.

"Hey, hey you're not stupid." Vivian said, hugging her colleague.

Jack needed to press on, time was running out. "And today when he asked you out for drinks … what did you make of that? Was he asking you out?"

Samantha was silent for a minute. "I guess I wanted him to be." she said quietly. "He's just been so good to me recently. I just feel at easy with him ………" she trailed off.

"Martin does have feelings for Sam." Danny stated after awhile. "That's why getting her out of there meant so much to him and he acted rashly."

"He told you?"

"I guessed. I caught him staring at Sam a few times and he used to ask me-" He saw Sam blushing and laughed. "Well, what he asked isn't important but I confronted him and he admitted it."

Jack nodded. "Okay, thanks. Whatever he felt or feels for Sam … I don't know how Charles could have known about this ….. maybe he had a list of all our names and just picked one randomly. Vivian I want you to run a lead on all the Charles' that have been connected with any cases in the past few months. I've got a sneaking feeling that this is a revenge attack for putting away someone's brother or something. Danny, I want a list of all deserted houses and other such buildings in the whole of New York. Anywhere where Martin could possibly be being held."

The two Agents got to it, leaving Jack alone with Sam.

He looked at her for a moment. Her eyes were red with crying and whenever she shifted in her chair, her face crinkled up with pain.

"Sam, I want you to put any personal feelings you have for Martin away and I want you to consider this from an Agent's perspective." Jack stated. Sam looked at him unsurely. "Is it possible that Martin could be involved with all this? I mean, maybe he knew you were having dinner with Charles … maybe he was being paid to climb in the window at exactly the right moment, maybe a ransom demand is going to come in and he's going to get a healthy slice of it ……"

Samantha stared at him, more angry than upset. "I don't believe you've just suggested that." she said stonily.

"You've got to look at this objectively …. He's relatively new, seems to have had a perfect life, but who knows what he's been doing after hours, he could have become dirty …. maybe he wasn't doing it for the money …. maybe he was doing it for something else ……….jumping in there like a hero to save you … that's gotta make him look real good in your eyes hasn't it?" Jack said.

Samantha's eyes narrowed and she stood up. She wobbled, and held onto the table for balance, ignoring the burning pain. "You're sick Jack. Martin's clean and you know it. You know that he would never pull something like this. You know he had NOTHING to do with this." she inhaled deeply. "YOU need to put aside your personal feelings. I don't know what caused you to say that but if you've got a problem with what Martin and I do or don't feel for each other then be man enough and come right out and say it." Jack was silent. "Martin's out there being held hostage and it's partly my fault. Then you come up with all this shit wanting to turn me against him. How do you think that makes me feel Jack? You have no right, NO RIGHT to go around throwing those accusations when you know they're not true." she shouted, tears of anger running down her face. She sat back down, catching her breath.

"I'm sorry." Jack said. "I mean it's a possibility but I knew that it wasn't true before I said it. I just wanted you to be clear about this in your head too, if there was any doubt there and you never confronted it then it could affect your relationship – professional and otherwise – with him forever." Jack said sincerely. Sam looked calmer. "You have to believe me when I say I didn't mean what I suggested. Martin's a great guy Sam, and we're going to find him, okay?" he said taking Sam's hand in his and rubbing it a bit. Sam nodded, upset. "I want you to stay in here and rest. I'm going to go and see what we've got."

A/N:- I hope the whole 'Martin might be involved' thing came out all right. When I wrote it, I thought that Jack was being really harsh and I hope it came across that he was just playing it up to get rid of any doubts that Sam might have had - not that he actually meant what he was implying. Okay, two more chapters left and already written ………Off to watch the DVDs now.