Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with "Without a Trace". I make no money from this!

A/N: Sorry about the extremely delayed posting (after being so efficient last week) – real life had to get in the way this weekend before my friends started thinking I'd dropped off the face of the earth! Thank you for some lovely feedback; it still makes my day!

On we go – an interlude of sorts...

Chapter Eight

Outside Greenways HQ, Brooklyn. 2.40pm

"Do you wanna grab some lunch?"

The comment was innocuous enough, but Samantha was definitely caught off guard.

At first almost idly, Jack pondered the sharp feeling in his stomach as he watched the emotions play out on her face. Not their presence, so much, as the simple comprehension, they were somehow beyond him. For the first time that day he could sense a distraction about her, a wall. She wasn't quite with him. A notion struck him. Away from the job, and the shared instinct that may well have drawn them together in the first place, this was what was left. This was the true consequence of his actions, his legacy. A sudden realisation dawned. For all the sensations that this woman could arouse within him, there was one which he valued most, which he had always valued most. The one thing his defunct marriage had long since failed to provide. The one thing even now she gave unquestioningly to him. The one which, at least emotionally, he had made little attempt to return. Comfort. Momentarily stunned by the profound sense of loss this epiphany of sorts incurred, he felt himself recoil. Skipping over any number of clichés that befitted the moment, he settled for the fleeting of thought that there truly is nothing like regret.

"We can get something to take back to the office," he heard himself offer.

Maybe it was the ease with which this lazy proposition left his lips. Or, maybe it was the familiarity it brought with it. Sam smiled, but it seemed more like a trained reflex than a true reflection of feeling. There was no doubt that feeling was indeed there, but she had yet to ascertain just quite what it was or what it meant. In fact, not deciphering said feelings had become almost a full time job of late. It was easier, she considered with an inkling of irony, when he was married. As much as she had at times fantasized, mostly when left alone in her bed at three a.m., about what could be if they could just be together, the insurmountable road block that had been Jack's family was a comfortable boundary. It was safe. It wasn't that she had intended to get her heart broken or her barriers torn down. At the time, she just hadn't imagined that was still possible. She hadn't been lying when she had told him how hard it was pretending that nothing had happened between them. The melancholy she'd felt as she suggested 'maybe in another life' had surprised even her. But in many ways, it encompassed their relationship – an intense series of defining moments which they both knew could lead no further. It truly was what they both needed at the time. But then the rules had changed on her. First there was Chicago, then the divorce, then the custody loss. It was as if someone was moving the boundaries, and for the first time since she'd met Jack Malone, she no longer knew where she stood. Then, of course, there was that other boundary all of her own making.

"Yeah, I could use some food," she nodded. "I think there's a diner on the next block that…"

Jack's smile was hesitant but he wilfully held her gaze. "I remember."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

3.02pm

"If Steve Mitchell's on the level and Branton's not still playing with us, I hate to say it, but this case seems to be going nowhere. I hope Danny's got something good for us." Jack paused. Leaning his elbow against the window he turned in his seat to look over at the figure next to him. "Sam?... Samantha?" No response. "Sam, is… um… everything okay?"

Samantha looked up, startled. "What?" Jack's face held a look of concern. "Sorry… Just thinking, I guess?"

A hint of amusement appeared in his eyes. "I've just never seen a pastrami sandwich hold anyone's attention for quite that long."

Sam smiled, shaking herself out of her trance, and looked back down. In her lap was a half-opened sandwich. "Sorry, I really zoned out there for a minute."

"Or ten. Considering you were the one who insisted we ate these in the car before we drove back." He indicated to the crumbs scattered over the passenger side of the vehicle that his own lunch now consisted of. "Is there a problem with the food or with the company!"

When his partner's answer was slow in the making he chuckled faintly. "Okay, now there's a question I didn't want an honest answer to."

Realising the implications of her silence, she looked up again, hoping that he'd read the guilt on her face as an indication of her faux-pas and nothing more. "God. Sorry, Jack. It's not you."

She watched him silently. Was that disappointment that seemed to register at her words?

"Oh… um. I know that I, er… If there's anything I… If there's anything you want to talk about…"

Now there's a question you don't want an honest answer to, she thought briefly.

Although his remark was unfinished, the sentiment was conveyed. The smile that it invoked was this time rueful but undoubtedly genuine.

He returned the expression. "Sorry, I guess there are still some rules to this I'm a little hazy on."

The corner of Samantha's mouth curled up as her shoulder's relaxed. "There are rules to this!"

Although unaware of any tension, Jack felt his own body relax. "I used to think so."

"What changed?"

Sam's response was more of a challenge than she intended and she quickly softened it, tilting her head toward him almost inquisitively. She had expected Jack to mutter gruffly and close up, as she probably would have done had this comment been directed at her. But instead he seemed to be giving his answer an unnerving amount of consideration. When he spoke, his voice was verging on gentle.

"I'm not sure yet." He seemed to be appraising her closely. "But something has."

If he was expecting a response to this comment, it didn't show. His face became impassive as Samantha smoothly put the car in drive and pulled back out into the traffic.

TBC