Disclaimer-I do not own any of the characters or the show, but that would be really cool if I did. Of course…then the whole thing would be Martin and Sam…

A/N-Okay, I bought Season One of Without a Trace and now I love all of the characters. Danny is so funny, Martin is funny and cute, Sam is so strong, Viv is just awesome all around, and Jack really knows what he's doing. I'm disappointed with the lack of S/M in "Lonestar" but I'm glad that everyone knows now. I can't wait to see "Uncle Danny" perfecting his "hook shot" with Sam and Martin's kids!

Chapter Four: A Turn of Events

Ring, ring. Ring, ring.

Samantha sat up abruptly in bed and reached blindly for her phone. She blinked her eyes a few times until the caller ID came into focus. Instead of the screen reading "Jack" or "Vivian" as she expected, it was an unknown number. She furrowed her brow, wondering who would be calling her at four in the morning.

Then something clicked. The hospital.

"Hello," she said in a raspy voice. She knew that the caller on the other end of the line could tell that she had just woken up, but she didn't particularly care.

"Ms. Spade, this is Dr. Kincaid from the New York City ER," said a smooth but tired voice.

"Yes, is something the matter?" Samantha asked anxiously. She felt herself holding in a breath and could have sworn her heart stopped beating for a few seconds.

"No, not at all. I just wanted to call and let you know that Mr. Fitzgerald is conscious now and seems to be doing very well."

Samantha sighed with huge relief and had to exercise magnificent self-control to keep from breaking down and crying again. She paused for a minute to get control of her shaking voice.

"Could I…could I talk to him please?" she asked quietly.

Well, Mr. Fitzgerald is asleep right now but you're welcome to come down to the hospital and see him in person," Dr. Kincaid said and Samantha could practically hear his smile on the other end.

"I'll be right down. And…thank you," she said before hanging up. She immediately jumped out of bed and got dressed, not even bothering to shower. She ran outside and immediately regretted not grabbing a coat. It was freezing and the light drizzle and fierce wind was not helping. She hailed a cab and jumped in quickly giving the address of the hospital.

She was twitching anxiously all the way to the hospital and didn't yawn once despite the fact that she had only fallen asleep two hours earlier, the worry had kept her from being able to sleep soundly. It wasn't until they pulled up to the entrance that she was able to be completely still. She chose to ignore the squirming number her stomach was pulling on her.

She walked into the hospital and the longer she walked in the abandoned hallway, the faster she walked until she was in a full out run. The hall seemed unending but she credited that to her anxiousness to finally see Martin with his eyes open.

She burst into the ER waiting room where Dr. Kincaid was already waiting for her. He led her to Martin's room without a word. He was sitting up in his bed opening and closing his left fist with a wince on his face. She was speechless for a moment but soon enough Martin noticed the blonde standing in his doorway. His face went blank and he opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

She smiled as silent tears streamed down her face and felt her heart flutter. She dropped her purse onto the ground and ran to his bedto throwher arms around him.

"Ouch, ouch, Sam, my shoulder," Martin said shifting uncomfortably underneath her.

"I'm sorry," Samantha said, abandoning all attempts to fight back her tears. She reached up her hand and began stroking his face. "You have…no idea how happy I am to see you awake. I was so afraid…"

He shook his head and she began kissing him. First on his cheeks and forehead and then on his lips. They grew more and more passionate until finally Martin did his best to pull away (he had a hard time considering he head was pushed against the wall).

"Sam, why are you here?" he asked, afrosty bitein his tone. She tried to hide the hurt that she knew was apparent in her eyes.

"What do you mean? I've barely left your side since it happened. I told the receptionist to call me if anything happened between when I left and when I planned on coming back this morning." She tried to continue running her hands through his hair but he lifted his right hand up and brushed hers away.

"Really, is that so?" His tone was that of one interrogating a suspect he knew was lying. "Why would you waste your time here? I know you don't really care about me."

"Martin, that's not true!" Samantha shouted, not comprehending at all why Martin was speaking so irrationally.

"Oh really. All this time I've been asking myself why you're with me, but maybe the question I should really be asking is why am I with you? You clearlyaren't what I really want and you're not worth my time!" Martin was screaming by this point but Samantha didn't care. The tears had quickly turned from happiness to pain and confusion. Martin was looking at her with disgust in his eyes, something she had only seen whenever he turned his gaze upon a pedophile or a sex offender.

She turned around to leave and found that in the spot she had expected to be filled by Dr. Kincaid was now Jack Malone. She gasped and faltered which Jack took as a sign to speak freely.

"The hospital called me too. So now I know…about the two of you. How long?" Jack said. His eyes held a different emotion than Martin's; rather than disgust there was rage. "HOW LONG, SAMANTHA?" he bellowed.

"Eight months," she whispered. Her eyes had been downcast but when she said this she lifted her head and made defiant eye contact with Jack.

"I should have known. The second you realized I would be leaving you would need to find a replacement. I should have known you'd pick Martin, you…damn it Sam, how could you do this to me?" He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. "Who's next? Danny? Are you going to move on to him now that you've been rejected by us both?"

She was horrified. This was her worst nightmare, it couldn't be coming true. Her tears had become an uncontrollable sob and her body was shaking violently. She looked back and forth between Martin and Jack, not wanting to believe her ears.

"Sam…" Martin was calling her name now. She tore her eyes away from the ground and looked over at him. "Samantha," he was saying. She couldn't bring herself to say anything. The disgust in his eyes was beginning to make her feel dirty and she didn't feel worthy of speaking to him. "SAM!" His voice was getting louder and she was beginning to shake more and more violently.

She opened her eyes and saw Danny's face hovering in front of her. He was shaking her gently in an attempt to wake her up. She was covered in cold sweat and leaning back in a chair in the corner of Martin's hospital room.

"Samantha, are you okay?" Danny asked with concern written all over his face.

She sat up warily and looked over at Martin who was lying, still unconscious, in his stark white bed. Her eyes were still shifting but her mind was starting to register the fact that it had only been a dream. It was the first time since Martin's accident that she had been happy to discover that he was still in a coma.

"Hey," Danny said. Her frightened and wandering eyes finally found their way to Danny's face. "You alright?" he asked patting her arm, "You're pale."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she said standing up. Her knees were still a little weak but she wasn't about to show it. She caught her breath and knew that Danny was watching her as she paced back and forth in a small line, but was thankful that he didn't say anything.

"What time is it?" she asked, breaking the stuffy silence.

"9:30," he said, standing up as well and moving to her side. This stopped her pacing but it didn't slow her racing heart.

"In the morning?" she asked, voice dripping with a mixture of disbelief and awe. She had already stayed in this room the entire day after the shooting and couldn't believe that she was so pathetic that she wouldn't even leave the hospital for a day and a half.

"Yeah." Danny's gaze drifted from Martin to Samantha in one swift movement. He didn't reveal his thoughts to her but she knew that the wheels in his mind were turning slowly and quickly putting two and two together. "Listen, why don't you go home. I'll stay here and watch Marty sleep…" at this he smirked knowingly, a face that made Samantha want to laugh and hit him at the same time. "…and you can take a shower. You're really starting to smell." He smiled at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Thanks. Maybe I'll take a shower and then go into the office. Jack will kill me if I miss any more work. Call me if…if anything changes," she said carefully.

And with one grateful look at Danny who was sitting down in the chair Samantha had just been sleeping in, she walked out to the front of the building, hailed a cab and headed home.

"Hey there, Marty," Danny said as soon as he was sure that Samantha was out of earshot. "Looks like you've got yourself one faithful co-worker." He knew he sounded ridiculous talking to an unconscious man, but he felt the need to say what he knew was on everyone's mind.

"Samantha must really be devoted to the team to skip out on a day at work and two nights to sit here and watch you breathe." He was flipping through the pages of a four month old magazine, skimming the pictures and skipping the articles. "If I didn't know any better I'd say she was falling for you. I mean, I know that you two are 'something'," he said with air quotes, "but I figured you were just sleeping together. I had no idea that she was in love with you."

Danny dropped the magazine and stared over at Martin who couldn't hear a thing and wasn't even aware of the fact that there was human life in the room with him.

"Yup, that's what I said, in love with you. She may not know it yet, but I do. You better love her too, because I swear, if you hurt her there will be hell to pay. But what am I worried about? You're Martin, there's a better chance of Samantha running off and marrying Jack than you ditching her. Still, just be careful."

Danny stopped his ridiculous antics now and proceeded to open the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition and sat innocently, looking up every once in a while to make sure all was normal.


True to her word, Samantha only stopped by the apartment to shower and change clothes before running off to work. Upon entering she was hassled with hundreds of questions about how Martin was doing and when he would be back to work. She tried answering some but eventually gave up and slipped out of the mob and into the bullpen where only two people were bombarding her with questions about the wellbeing of their fellow agent.

"He's going to be fine, but he's still unconscious. Danny's with him now and he promised to call in case something happens," she said to Jack and Vivian with calm professionalism. She was very pleased to find out that she had maintained the ability to act like everything was fine whenever her mind was screaming. She was afraid she may have left that in the ambulance with the EMTs.

"That's good," Vivian said throwing Sam a reassuring smile. Samantha gave a half-hearted smile back before heading over to her desk. It was very unnatural but there had been no incoming cases since the shooting. She sat down in her chair and swiveled so that she was staring straight at the computer screen.

She had individual pictures of each of the members of the team posted on the board behind her computer, but she had strategically placed Martin's photo in a place that she made sure she could look at while pretending to stare at the computer screen. She knew it was very junior high, but couldn't help it. Jack's picture had been there the previous two years and it wasn't until after her undercover case that she allowed Martin's picture to replace it.

It was very boring in the office while there were no cases to solve and no victims to find. Jack and Vivian were in his office talking about Hannah, Kate, and Reggie. Normally Samantha would be chatting with Danny and Martin or doing some paperwork that she so often put off until the very last minute.

"I am so exhausted," Sam thought as she rested her head on the desk. "I'll just rest my eyes for a minute."

She wasn't sure how long she was asleep, but it was all too soon when she awoke to the gentle shakingfrom Jack. She jumped back, her heart racing when she opened her eyes and saw Jack's face a mere inches from hers.

"It seems as if you don't get quite the same pleasureout ofwaking up to me as you used to," he said with a significant smile. When she didn't reply he cleared his throat and then continued. "Look, nothing is going to come in, so why don't you just go home and get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."

Sam nodded gratefully, afraid of offending him with her breath, which she found odd because she never even thought about what Martin might think if she had bad breath or food in her teeth. In fact, the times he told her she was the most beautiful was whenever she was in sweats, hadn't brushed her hair yet and was void of all makeup.

She shut off her computer, grabbed her bag and then stood up to head out of the door. She waved goodbye to Jack and Vivian and then turned and headed down the hallway. She had to fight to remain awake in the cab and her legs felt fifty pounds heavier as she trudged up the stairs at an unbelievably slow pace. She dug around in her purse for what seemed like hours in search of the keys she could never find as she leaned up against the door frame, her eyes half-closed. When she finally found it, she triumphantly shoved it into the lock and turned the door knob with thoughts only of the warmth and comfort of her bed.

She dropped her bag beside the couch and put her keys in a bowl on the counter at the bar. She looked around at the semi-messy apartment. Martin's shoes still lay underneath the coffee table where they had been a week ago. She would not allow him to put his muddy feet on top of her furniture so he always kicked them off andnudged them untidily under the table before propping his feet leisurely on top. She remembered that specific night. They were watching the New York and Milwaukee game that Martin had had spectacular tickets to on Sam's small 32 inch television. He hadn't made a big deal about it. In fact the only thing he said was that even if she didn't want to go to the game with him, he still wanted to watch it with her, Spike Lee or not. He had the biggest bowl she owned full of popcorn in his lap. She had been in the kitchen, cleaning up their Chinese take out when the game began.

"Sam, get in here the game is starting!" Martin yelled at her from the couch. She smiled and then ran into the living room and jumped onto the cushion and right into him. This caused the popcorn bowl to topple over onto the ground spilling popcorn all over the sofa, the floor, and of course Martin.

At first he just looked between her and the popcorn, mouth hanging wide open. She didn't say anything for a few seconds but then couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" Martin said with mock tones of seriousness. Samantha didn't reply but only proceeded to laugh harder. "Well, what do you think now?" he asked grabbing a handful of the popcorn in his lap and throwing it at her.

She squealed and reached for her own handful but Martin was quicker. Before she knew it, they were having an all out popcorn fight, buttered kernels flying everywhere. They were both laughing. He shoved some into her mouth and she just smiled at him, mouth full of popcorn.

"Aw, you're so cute!" he said pinching her full cheek. She nodded her head and then threw herself on top of him and began kissing him, mouth still full of popcorn. It didn't last very long because they were both still having fits of uncontrollable laughter.

"Delicious," he said.

They spent the entire first half of the game cleaning up and popping new bags of popcorn and as she lay in his arms that night, she couldn't help but think that their rendition of attending the basketball game was one hundred times better than any floor seats could have been.

She kicked off her shoes andthrew them into her bedroom, an action she knew she would regret the next time she wanted to wear them. She shrugged off her coat and hung it up in the coat closet in between Martin's running sweatshirt and his nice jacket.

"I just can't escape him, can I?" she thought with a small smile as she took off her dress suit and slipped into her pajamas. She didn't want to go into the bathroom to wash off her make up because she knew that she would see his toothbrush, razor, and pile of clothes in the corner.

"It's a good thing Jack, Danny and Vivian don't make a habit of dropping by. There's enough of Martin's stuff here for them to conclude that we're married, and have been for years."

She thought back to the times she spent with Jack. They always stayed at her place because obviously they couldn't be together at his house. Very rarely would he stay the whole night, simply because he didn't want his wife to become suspicious. When he would, he would bring an overnight bag filled with one suit for the next day, a bag holding a toothbrush, a hairbrush, a razor, and some cologne. On those few occasions, he made sure that the next morning hehadn't left anything behind. They would comb her apartment three times each to make sure that nothing he owned was left at her place. She hated doing that. It always made her feel cheap; not that Jack sleeping with her and then leaving before midnight didn't, but this made her feel worse.

She and Martin had only been together for three weeks before his things were noticeably present. She loved coming home and seeing his possessions everywhere. But what she loved even more was going over to his apartment and seeing her things everywhere. Some of her chick flick movies were intermingled with all of Martin's favorite action movies. Her favorite sodas were stocked in the refrigerator, right next to his sub sandwiches. She had a few pairs of shoes along with pajamas, suits, and dresses placed neatly in his closet. Her toothbrush was on the sink and her feminine products were strategically hidden in the medicine cabinet. Her shampoo was in the shower, along with her bright pink razor and Peaches 'n Cream shaving gel. Martin had even let her bring over pictures of the two of them togetherto redecorate one of his bookcases. He told her that was it though, she wasn't allowed to mess with his "bachelor pad" until they moved in together.

She crawled into bed, and was thankfully too tired to miss Martin's presence at her side too much. She took a huge breath and let it go as she welcomed the much needed sleep on her body. She smiled into her pillow and felt herself quickly and easily fall into sleep.

Just before she could go completely to sleep, she heard her phone ringing in the living room.

She grunted as she kicked off her covers and ran into the living room.

"You have got to be kidding me," she said as she fumbled around in her purse in search of the vibrating phone. As her hand closed around it she thought to herself that it was definitely time to get a new purse.

"Hello," she said quickly flipping it open without looking at who was calling.

"Sam?" Danny's voice asked on the other end. She swore her heart stopped. Suddenly she was wide awake as she remembered that Danny said he would call if anything changed. It took her a moment to snap out of her reverie and find her voice but she quickly answered,

"Yeah, yeah it's me." Her voice sounded calm, something she attributed to the lack of all energy her body was experiencing at that moment.

"He's awake."

A/N-How do you like that? Hopefully it moved a little faster than my previous chapter. I hope everyone liked it. I hadn't planned on putting any memories in there. I kind of liked showing that Martin and Sam could actually have a playful side of their relationship. It was kind of cheesy and probably out of character for Sam, but you never know, Martin might bring out a side of Sam when their not at the office that she never lets show.

I really liked comparing her relationship with Jack (no proof that he and Sam were together) with her relationship with Martin (not wanting to hide) through the things they leave at each other's apartments. I thought that it really showed a side of Samantha that we don't really see. The side that actually wants to be in a functional relationship as well as showing some of the harder things she went through when sleeping with a married man.

Anyway, thanks for all of the reviews last chapter. They were awesome! I really love long reviews (although, I really love ANY review wink) so don't hesitate to say anything. Tell me what you love, what you hate, who your favorite character is…whatever, I don't really care! Thanks for reading!