A/N: Sorry to keep you all waiting, been real busy with work and stuff.

Hope you like!

Pausing outside the closed door for a moment, he took a deep breath preparing himself, then he pushed the door open and cautiously went in.

Samantha was lying still on the hospital bed, an oxygen mask on to help her breathe, and IV drip in her arm and various other things, hooking her up to various other machines. Her shoulder had a large dressing on it, there was a large cast over her left knee, and her face was covered in bruises of different colours. Danny cringed not even wanting to think about how much pain she must have been in.

"Hey sweetie." he whispered going nearer to her. She looked so pale and fragile...she had a childlike innocence something almost vulnerable about her, not something he was used to seeing. He had known her for over 6 years now, and a vulnerable Samantha Spade wasn't something he often saw. He sat down in a chair next to her bed, and looked at her sadly.

"You gotta wake up Sam. If you don't who's going to laugh at my jokes, that no one else seems to get. Please Sam, I don't know what I'd do without you." Suddenly sobs that had been building up for days overcame him and he sat there, his head in his hands sobbing. He waited for a few minutes until he composed himself. He stood, promised Sam that he would come back and went back to the others.

The others glanced up when he came back in, all noticing his redder eyes and tear stained face but chose not to comment on it.

"How does she look?" asked Martin softly.

Danny sighed, "Not good guys. I mean they've even got her an oxygen mask and everything. She's just lying there completely still."

Jack stood up, "I should head back to the office and inform Van Doren." he said regretfully.

"I'm staying, so I'll call if there are any changes." said Danny.

Martin and Viv exchanged glances. "Martin why don't you stay for a while, I've got to get a few things at the office then I'll come back." said Vivian.

"Okay." replied Martin, hoping Danny wouldn't mind the company.

He said goodbye to Jack and Viv, then glanced over at Danny who seemed to be in his own little world. Out of all of them Danny had been most distressed by Sam's kidnapping, Martin thought it was partly because he blamed himself and the fact that he had known Sam for so long.

"God, you should have seen her." Danny whispered after a pause. "She looks...broken. I just can't see how she'll be alright."

Martin sighed, he wanted to say that she'd be fine, that she'd wake up, recover and everything would get back to normal. But he couldn't, because he didn't know if it was true. He didn't know if Samantha would wake up, he wanted her to..he just didn't know. He could lie in hope of making Danny feel better, but Danny would never believe him anyway.

He paused choosing his words carefully, "We just have to have hope that she will wake up. And when she does, we'll have to do all we can do to help her get through this. We just have to be there for her, let her know that she's not alone."

Danny smiled sadly. "Yeah." he said. "You know, it's only a little over a week until Christmas."

It was the 14th of December Christmas lights were up everywhere, everyone getting ready for the holidays.

"Sam loves how it looks this time of year." Danny added. "You know, with all the lights especially when it snows. It's funny, she doesn't actually like Christmas that much- but she loves the way it looks."

Martin smiled, "We'll all have to go and see the big tree in Times Square."

Danny nodded.

"Ummm, will her family want to know she's in hospital?" asked Martin after a pause.

Danny looked at him, a flash of anger in his eyes. "I doubt it. I called her mom after she got shot...she couldn't even be bothered to come and see her. Don't think she even called to see if she was alright."

Martin winced. "That's harsh. What happened between them?" he asked puzzled.

Danny sighed, "Sam doesn't really like talking about her past."

"Please Danny, I'm her friend too."

Danny looked at Martin and saw the sincerity in his face, and the genuine care for his friend.

"Well you know Sam and I have known each other for years now."

Martin nodded.

"Well I didn't have the greatest childhood either, and I guess some how that made me connect with Sam. We just found it so easy to talk to each other, one day we basically swapped life stories and then vowed to not let our past get to us and try and move on." Danny paused. "We don't really talk about it, it's something we'd rather put past us. That's why Sam doesn't talk about her family. Okay, her dad left her, her mom and her sister when she was little. She was 6 I think. Her sister is just over a year older. Her mom and dad didn't want any more children, Sam said she was an accident. She said her mom never really took much interest in her- her sister was the favorite, but they kind of grew apart once they hit their teens. She admitted she wasn't the nicest teenager to have around, she just didn't like having to live in her sisters shadow. She tried to run away when she was about 16, but her mom found her. Sam never told me what she said, but she made her come home. After that she decided she was going to work in law enforcement, so she got her grades up graduated and eventually went to Quantico. Her mom didn't agree with her going towards this career...so she pretty much said if she did this...then she was basically out of the family."

Martin looked at Danny shocked. "How could someone say that to their own kid?"

Danny shrugged. "Well that's the overall story...I can't tell you all the details, Sam may one day."

"So you're the only one who knows about that?" asked Martin.

Danny nodded. "Yup."

Martin sighed. "God, poor Sam." Martin couldn't believe what he had heard, he had known that she didn't have it easy growing up but that...he felt so sorry for her.

They sat in silence for about an hour, neither really in the mood to talk. Just waiting anxiously, praying for some news soon. They occasionally saw doctors walking past them, and would look at them apprehensively in case they had some news, but they all just walked past.

Vivian came back and joined them just after the hour, explaining that Jack was still in a meeting with Van Doren, telling her what had happened and arranging leave for Samantha. She also added that Jack wanted their reports as soon as possible.

Martin sighed. "I'll head over to the office to do mine now, call me if there's anything."

Vivian nodded. "Of course."

"See you guys." He patted Danny's shoulder before walking down the corridor.

Danny looked at Vivian imploringly, "Do you think Jack will mind if I hand mine in tomorrow? I want to be here in case she wakes up or anything."

Vivian smiled, she had known that Danny would want to stay there. "He won't mind."

Danny smiled gratefully.

"Have you heard anything else?"

Danny shook his head, "They haven't even said we can go back in there, I don't think they want people disturbing all the medical equipment. I should be in there with her, do you think I should find the doctor and ask?" he asked starting to get up.

Vivian put a gentle hand on his arm, "They will tell us Danny, I think it would be better just to wait."

Danny sighed leaning his head back against the wall, letting his eyes fall shut. It had been a long and restless few days.

He was woken some time later by Vivian nudging him, he opened his eyes and saw Sam's doctor standing in front of them. He was immediately wide awake.

"What's happened?" he asked.

The doctor smiled. "She's slightly more stable than she was earlier, her blood pressure is almost back to normal. However, she's still unconscious."

"Is that a good sign, her blood pressure lowering?" asked Vivian.

She nodded, "Yes it is, as I said it's not quite the usual...but it's better than it was."

Danny sighed in relief. "Can we sit with her now?"

The doctor nodded, "Just be careful, she's not out of the woods yet. Don't hesitate to call us if you feel like you should."

"Thanks." said Vivian, and followed Danny down the hallway.