A/N: It's been too long again, I know. My only excuse is school being a bitch (sorry for that, but it's really been horrible these last few weeks). Well, here it finally is, Chapter 20. I said it would be an epilogue, but while writing it I realized it was far too long for an epilogue. But still, it's the last chapter. If anyone wants to have a sequel, tell me, and I'll try to work on it, though I don't have much time to write. (I wrote this chapter while I was sitting on a balcony in a hotel in Turkey where I spent a two week holiday, so you see, I don't have time to write at home.)
So, that's it, my final A/N. I hope you all had fun reading and thanks again to all my wonderful readers and reviewers, you are the best. This is for you.
Dedicated to: higherbeingfriendsfan, missusmesser (I know, I take too long in updating, sorry), outrageous band geek (thanks again for all of your reviews, you made me laugh every single time), lapmal, thebondgirl and awesomepossum (Oh, believe me, if I had any influence on the writers at all they'd already have three kids ;) )
Special thanks to: Debz and Kate (my wonderful beta-readers/editors)
Chapter 20
Two weeks had passed since the arrival of his parents and Martin was finally to be released out of hospital. Things with his father had gone surprisingly well. The week following their 'argument', his father had visited evry single day, even if it only were a couple of minutes after work.
Victor had, this time not to Martin's surprise, but against his will, taken a leading roll in the investigation of the ambush. Martin had tried to talk him out of it, because he didn't want to get any special treatment just because he was the son of the Deputy Director, but his father hadn't listened to him. Following another argument just mere hours after the first one, Martin had finally given in, seeing there was no chance he could keep his father out of the investigation.
So, because of his work in the office (he had taken residence in one of the offices at the MPU), Victor didn't have much spare time to spend with his son, but still he tried to be there every day.
Martin had requested to stay informed of any progress in the investigation or any news concerning Dornvald and his fellow, but as his father refused to give him any information and Danny didn't know much, as he was kept out of the investigation himself, Samantha was his only source in the office.
She visited him every day after and before work, and at first had also not wanted to tell him what was going on, saying he wasn't in the shape to worry about an investigation. But after Martin had used some of his irresistable charme and flirting skills she had willingly told him everything he wanted to know.
This way, only two days after he had been brought to hospital, he received the news of Dornvald being killed by Jack in a shooting at Port Authority. Martin was relieved to hear that Dornvald was finally gone and couldn't do any more harm to anyone, but deep inside, he had a strange feeling of disappointment for not being able to see him pay for what he had done to Adisa, Paige and himself. When he told Sam about it she assured him not to feel bad because of it and that she had felt that way herself. She said it was normal after what Dornvald had done to him.
He felt better afterwards and was thankful for Sam being there for him so much and being a great help in the progress of getting better and getting his old strength back. The firts few nights in hospital had been really tough for him, for every time he lay in bed and closed his eyes to try and get some rest, pictures of the ambush started clouding his mind, making it impossible.
Because of this, he was thankful for Sam spending the first day with him and even staying overnight in the chair next to his bed, even though he insisted on her going home, not wanting to admit he needed her. After he knew Dornvald was gone, he finally calmed down a bit. The dark thoughts stopped intruding his mind all the time and he finally got some well-needed rest at night.
But as Samantha had started work again, he knew she couldn't spend all of her time at the hospital because she needed to go home sooner or later to grab a shower and get some sleep herself. He finally convinced her to sleep at home when he was transferred to another station on his third day. It was the day after Samantha had told him the news of Dornvald's death, and he actually slept through the whole night without remembering any of his nightmares when he woke up the next day.
That day, like Samantha and Danny had told him on their first visit, Jack dropped by for the first time, as he was now finally allowed on the station. They didn't talk much at first, neither knowing what to say, but after five minutes of uncomfortable silence Martin finally asked Jack what exactly had happened at Port Authority. That started the conversation and they talked for nearly two hours, Martin telling Jack about his feelings upon hearing the news of Dornvald being killed and Jack informing him of everything that had happened in the office the last few days.
It was nearly ten p.m. that night when the nurse finally threw him out, telling him he could visit again the next day. Jack hadn't come by yet, but he had called Martin, telling him that he was sorry, but that work was taking too much time and that he didn't know when would be the next time he visited.
But Martin had enought visitors anyways, with Sam spending all of her time that wasn't occupied with work at the hospital, his mother fussing over him and even telling the nurses what to do and a bored Danny, who had been send home from work by Jack after complaining the whole day about not being able to do anything useful when he was stuck in the office (he wasn't allowed back in the field yet because of his arm) hitting on every nurse in the hospital.
Even Viv had visited several times after she was allowed to get up. Most of the time she visited in the morning when her husband was at work and Reggie at school (at least she hoped he was, like she told Martin once) and she was bored herself and wanted some company. They used to talk about everything except work, both of them agreeing it was too depressing to talk about this topic when no one had any news to tell the other.
After one week in the hospital, Martins parents left for D.C. again, his father being needed at work. His mother asked him a hundred times if he really wanted her to go, that she could stay in New York longer if he needed her and that she couldn't just leave him alone when he was in a condition like that. After Martin had assured her again and again that he would be okay, Sam had promised to take care of him and Danny had told her he would keep Martin entertained 24/7 she finally left, though reluctantly, still not wanting to leave her 'baby' alone (Martin had to to endure the teasing of both Danny and Sam the whole following week).
The second week in hospital Martin had finally gotten some action, as he was finally allowed ot walk, even if it only was in his hospital and with a cane to support his still weak right side.
Today was the big day. He was finally to go home and Sam was going to pick him up from the hospital at three o'clock. He was barely able to sit or lie on his bed for five minutes. The pretty blonde nurse (Danny's favourite) who dropped by his room every few minutes joked she had never seen a patient that eager to get away from her like him. Martin had forgotten his excitement for a minutes and joked back that, if he wasn't already taken, of course he would want to stay longer, but he promised to make sure Danny would (have to) come by soon.
But as soon as she had left, Martin remembered that he was about to go home and checked his watch. 6 minutes to go, only one less than the last time he checked. He started pacing the room again. Actually, he didn't know why he was that eager to get out of hospital. Of course, the two weeks had been really hard for him to take. Being stuck in a room all day was extremely boring when, as a FBI agent, he was used to go out into the field most of the time.
But he had a feeling that wasn't the only reason he couldn't wait for Sam to finally pick him up. He suspected she had some kind of surpsise planned for him, as she had acted strange the last time she visited, though he was absolutely clueless as to what she could have planned. Nevertheless, he was extremely excited.
A knock on the door pulled him out of his reverie and he glanced at his watch to see it was one minute to three. The door opened, and a huge smile spread out over his face when he saw Sam, she was smiling herself.
"Hey," She said and stepped into the room. "You ready?"
"Of course I'm ready," Martin replied, "I thought you'd never come."
Sam smiled even wider and crossed the room until she was standing directly in front of him. She looked up into his eyes, a smug smile plastered on her face. "Mmh, aren't we a bit eager to go home?"
Martin moved closer so their noses were nearly touching and their lips were only inches apart. "You could say that. But I think evryone would be at the prospect of going home with you, don't you think?"
"You tell me," Sam whispered, her lips hovering above his.
"I definitely think so." With that, Martin closed the distance between them. The kiss was soft and slow at first, but Martin quickly deepened it as he puled Sam closer, his hands resting low on her waist, and she slung her arms around his neck in reply.
Sam broke away several moments later with a smile on her face and breathing heavily. "Let's get out of here."
"Let me just grab my bag and we're out of here," Martin replied.
"No, no, no." Sam grabbed Martin's arm just as he was about to turn towards his bed where his black duffel bag, with the clothes Sam had grabbed from his apartment two weeks ago, lay.
"What?" Martin asked and throwing Sam a questioning glance.
"You didn't really think I would let you walk outside, carrying that bag?" Sam replied, her eyebrows raised.
Something in the way she pronounced the word 'walk' made Martin look at her suspiciously. "What exactly do you mean by 'not let me walk outside'?"
Right then, the door opened and revealed the blonde nurse Martin had talked to earlier, pushing a wheelchair in front of her. Martin looked from the wheelchair to the face of the nurse, then turned towards Sam and shook his head slowly. "Oh no," He said with a quick look towards the wheelchair.
"Oh yes," Sam replied.
"Sam, there's no way I will-"
"Oh, yeah, you will," Sam replied determinedly, "Martin, you're not goin to get out of this hospital except in this wheelchair. I know I won't be able to keep you from walking round your apartment the following weeks, but we're in the 7th floor of this hospital and the elevators are down the hall. So while you're still using that cane, you're – not – going to – walk."
The way she pronounced the rest of her sentence made Martin shut up for the moment and accept his fate, as he didn't see a way around it anyway. Instead, he slowly turned away from the bed and walked past Sam, purposely not using his cane for support and throwing her a glance that said 'See, I can walk on my own!', but she just shook her head in reply.
Finally giving up, Martin let himself fall into the wheelchair heavily and watched as Sam picked up his duffel bag from the bed. With a small smile, she stepped in front of him and placed the bag in his lap. "Now you're allowed to carry it outside."
"Thanks," Martin replied.
Sam chuckled slightly, then turned his wheelchair around and pushed him out of the room. They said goodbye to every nurse and a few doctors on their way outside, having gotten to know them during the last two weeks as Martin had spent all of his and Sam most of her time at the hospital.
When they finally got outside, Sam helped Martin get into the car and placed his duffel bag in the trunk. She brought the wheelchair back to the entrance of the hospital and finally got into the car herself. "So," Martin started, "you gonna take me to your apartment or mine?" They had agreed it would be easier if they lived together the first few weeks after Martin was released from hospital. This way, she could take care of his laundry and grocery along with the things she had to do for herself anyway, as he wasn't allowed to do anything himself yet. Additionally, she could make sure he took his medication every day and went to physiotherapy regularly.
"I decided we'd go to yours. This way you have all of your clothes and I don't need to get them from your apartment every time. My bags are already at your place, I packed everything I will need for at least two weeks. That okay with you?" She threw a short sideway glance at him, not taking her eyes off the road for long as she maneuvered them through the early afternoon traffic of New York City.
"I'm absolutely okay with it," Martin replied and placed his hand over hers, which was lying on the armrest between them, and squeezed it softly.
Sam smiled at him, then, as if remembering something, she said, "Oh, we need to make a short stop on the way. I wanted to grab some files from the office I need to get done for tomorrow. I thought maybe you'd like to drop by the office for a couple minutes, say hello to everyone?" Her voice held a question, though she knew he'd jump at the prospect of finally getting back in the office.
"Are you serious?" Martin asked, staring at her wide-eyed. "You're not letting me walk out of the hospital on my own but you'll let me go into the office on the 18th floor?"
"Hey, don't make me think about it, maybe I'm going to take back my suggestion," Sam threatened, though her tone was playful, and Martin knew she was just joking. He lifted their still enterwined hands ands dropped a kiss into the palm of her hand.
"Thank you," He whispered.
They arrived at the office about twenty minutes later. But once they were inside the building, it took them nearly just as long to get to the 18th floor, as Martin was being greeted by nearly everyone they met, even some people, as Martin told Sam once they were inside the elevator, he had never seen before.
When the elevator doors finally opened and Martin stepped outside, he felt like a litlle boy in a candy shop, barely able to contain his excitement about finally being back (at least for a short visit).
They walked down the hallway towards the bullpen side by side, Sam's hand sliding into his and squeezing it in a comforting gesture. When they finally reached the glass doors and stepped inside, Martin wasat first surprised by the huge crowd which had clattered in the usually quiet bullpen until someone pronounced "He's here!"
The noise in the room rose quickly, as everyone moved towards the doors where Martin and Sam where still standing to shake his hand, tell him it was good to see him back or ask him when he would finally be able to return to work. He kept telling people the same things, that he was also happy to be in the office again, but that he didn't know when he would be allowed back to work.
After he had shaken nearly 200 hands, he was finally able to escape and slowly made his way towards their small conference table where he had seen Sam sit earlier, talking to another agent. Quietly approaching her from behind, he placed his hand on her shoulder, making her jump.
"So, did you get your files?" He asked with a small smile as she turned to look at him.
"God, Martin, you wanna give me a heart attack? You know, I won't be able to take care of you if you do."
Martin chuckled and dropped a short kiss on her head when he noticed a huge cake on the table in front of her with the words 'Welcome back' written on top of it.
"What, there's a huge chocolate cake waiting for me and no one tells me about it? I've been here for nearly half an hour!" Martin exclaimed with mock shock.
"And of yourse that's the first thing you think about as soon as you're back: food." The teasing voice made Martin and Sam look up to see a grinning Danny standing across the table.
"Hey man, I thought you weren't allowed back to work yet?" Martin greeted him.
"I'm not, tomorrow's my first day, but the boss said I was allowed to your little 'Welcome back' party."
"That's right, but if you're going to hang around here any longer I might think about your return to work again," Jack replied as he and Viv stepped next to Danny. He shook Martin's hand and said, "It's good to see you back. And I mean all of you." He turned to look at Danny and Viv.
"Yeah, right, cause that's not only your 'Welcome back' cake, it's mine as well," Viv said with a warning look towards Martin.
They all started laughing at the same time, until Martin finally joked, "I'm in such a good mood today, I might eventually leave some of the cake for you. We'll see. But it's definitely good to be back."
Danny and Viv nodded in agreement, and Sam took Martin's hand which was still resting on her shoulder and replied, "And it's even better to be back together again." With that, she stood up and turned around, facing Martin. Not caring that all eyes were on her, she leaned in and kissed him.
The End