Sam sat at his desk typing furiously on his laptop while Kate sat in one of the other chairs absently flipping through the paper. She just wanted this over with. She absolutely hated that this had to be put in front of the press. Now they'd never have any peace. She had a feeling that the attention wouldn't bother him as much as it did her, since he'd dealt with situations like this before.
She, on the other hand, was another story.
She liked quiet. She liked being able to be by herself. Sometimes, having those 2 things would be the only way that she could calm down after a bad day. She was also an intensely private person, but that was something that she'd been forced to become, and now it felt like it was becoming a problem. She wanted to tell him everything about her; the abuse, teasing, and neglect that she'd gone through, especially the rape. She'd begun having the feeling that she was being pursued, even though she hadn't been confronted or received any strange calls or items, and she was terrified that it might actually happen now that there was a picture out and CJ was going to read their statement at the briefing Monday morning. Sam's heavy sigh and the squeak of his chair brought her back to the present.
"I think I've got it," he said triumphantly as he pulled off his glasses and dropped them on the desk. "You want me to read it?"
"That's OK, Sam. I trust you," she replied with a slight smile
Hearing the sound of defeat in her voice, he looked over at her and his face fell slightly as he noticed the exhaustion on her face. "Are you feeling all right, sweetie?"
"I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all," she said, yawning as she finished.
"I'm going to give this to Toby and then we're going back to my place so you can get some rest." Her expression and tone of voice told him that there were other things that bothered her about this. He stood and began to walk towards the door. "I'll be back in a sec."
He got the statement from the printer and walked into Toby's office.
"Here you go, Toby," he said as he dropped the statement on his desk, "we're going home now."
Toby looked down at the statement and then back up at Sam.
"I don't think so."
Sam blinked at him. "Excuse me?"
"You're not leaving just yet. I have to go over this and have you correct all of the problems that I will inevitably find in it."
He closed his eyes for a second before speaking.
"Toby, we're going back to my place now. If there are problems, send me an email. I have my laptop and I can send you the corrections, but we are going home and you are not seeing me again until Monday morning. President's orders. See you later."
Sam turned and walked out of Toby's office as soon as he'd finished. He found Kate folding up the paper as he came back into his office.
"Come on, precious. We're going home," he said as he packed up his laptop & got his jacket. She quietly pulled on her coat & got her bag. He went over to her and took her hand in his. He leaned in and said quietly, "It's just you and me for the rest of the weekend. No more distractions. Let's get you home so you can rest. You look so sleepy." He released her hand and brought it up to caress her cheek with his thumb, noticing how she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. As much as he loved the fact that she reveled in his touch, it hurt to know that she was so starved for affection.
A light kiss on her forehead brought her back. "Time to go home, sweetheart," he said.
She looked up at him with sad eyes, and this time he knew why. He promised himself that he wouldn't leave her side as she slept; she was so perilously fragile at this point, especially after the few kisses they'd shared. He could tell that she feared being brushed aside once again and knew that he'd have to do everything in his power to prove otherwise. He reached down to take her hand again, squeezing it firmly as he did so, and led her out of the wing to the lot so they could go home and she could finally get some proper rest.