Love and Marriage
Chapter Three

The next day, Sam rushed around as she tried to get herself ready for work and Claire ready for school. "Ok, so now you're dressed. Where's your shoe?" She asked, following Claire into the kitchen.

"I dunno." Claire shrugged.

Sam sighed, deciding not to get stressed out about a missing shoe. Even early on, she had learned to pick her battles carefully when it came to her daughter. She picked Claire up and sat her at the table before placing a bowl of cereal in front of her daughter. "Do you want peanut butter or peanut butter and jelly today?"

"Peanut butter!" Claire smiled.

"Peanut butter it is then." Sam smiled back, getting to work on Claire's lunch.

Martin walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, putting on his jacket as he approached the table and gave his daughter a kiss on the head. "How's my little princess today?"

"Good daddy." Claire replied, smiling brightly at her father. "You missed a good story last night."

"Oh I did?" He felt bad that he had come home so late last night but he was lucky that Claire didn't seem to hate him for that, unlike the way her mother did. "Well then you'll have to tell me all about it in the car on the way to school." He always took her to school in the morning. That way, they had at least a little time together everyday. He turned to see Sam busy making Claire's lunch. She wasn't paying any attention to him, and was most likely not realizing that he was watching her.

Sam put an apple in Claire's pink lunch box and zipped it up. "Here you go. One special lunch for one special girl." She placed it next to Claire.

Claire giggled before going back to eating her cereal.

"Have a good day sweetie." Sam said, placing a kiss on Claire's head. "Goodbye." She then headed to the stairs to go get dressed for work.

"Bye mommy!" Claire yelled up the stairs.

Martin wasn't sure if the goodbye was just to Claire or if Sam was including him. He sighed and looked at the clock. They still had a few more minutes before they had to leave in order to get Claire to school on time. "Claire, I'm going to go talk to mommy for a moment. Stay down here and finish your cereal. Ok?"

"Ok daddy." Claire replied, putting a big spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

Martin slowly walked up the stairs, suddenly unsure of what to say when he found Sam. Entering the bedroom he found that she had already changed into her work clothes and was fixing her hair. Today she had decided to wear it up in a ponytail.

She turned around to see Martin standing there. "If you're wondering where Claire's other shoe is, I have no idea. But you might want to check her closet."

"That's not why I came up here, but thanks for the tip." He nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed and continuing to watch her.

"Then why are you here?" She asked quietly. She had never imagined that there would come a day when she was this nervous to be in the same room as him. But here they were, and she was nervous.

"I…well, we haven't had a decent conversation in awhile. Yesterday, all I got was a 'hey' from you when I got home."

She picked up the hairspray and began spraying her hair lightly. "Now's not exactly the best time to have a decent conversation."

A smile formed on his face. "Aren't we having one right now?"

She put the hairspray down, not seeing the humor in his comment. "No, we aren't."

"Ok." The smile left his face. "Then can we talk tonight?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess. Are you going to be late tonight?"

"I don't think so." He shook his head.

"Ok." She nodded. "You better get going or Claire's going to be late."

"Sure. Bye." He left the bedroom thinking that their encounter went better than he thought it would.

"Bye." She whispered after he had left. Great, now she was going to have to walk around all day wondering why he wanted to talk to her.

Sam stepped out of the elevator on the 18th floor of the FBI building and headed to her desk. She had been transferred to the White Collar Crimes division shortly after marrying Martin because of the FBI's policy against married couples working on the same team. The only options for her were the White Collar Crimes division or a job in Kansas. Realizing that the morning commute from New York to Kansas would be impossible, she had to accept the transfer.

This new team that she was assigned to was nice, but not like Danny, Vivian and Jack. They were like family to her, and now she hardly ever got to see them. Even though only a few floors separated them, their schedules rarely ever coincided. They were always out doing fieldwork when she got a break.

She got to her desk and looked around to see who else was there. Peter, Cindy, Marsha and Greg, the boss, were all scattered around the floor. But everyone was there. Peter, Cindy and Marsha were all gathered in the break room drinking coffee and laughing about something. Not feeling sociable at the moment, she went back to her desk and sat down. On the corner was a wedding picture of with Martin. He was dressed in an elegant black tux, his arm wrapped around her waist and a huge goofy smile on his face. She was in a gorgeous floor-length gown that clung to every curve of her body and she had the same kind of goofy smile on her face as Martin. What happened to them? They were happy once, right? That wasn't just an illusion. That couldn't have been just an illusion.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. Now was not the right time or place to think about this. She had a mountain of paperwork to get caught up with. Daydreaming about happier times was not going to help the paperwork get done any faster.

Danny walked into the bullpen and saw Martin sitting at the table going over some paperwork. He sat down and took a sip of his coffee. "So what's up with you?"

Martin didn't even bother to look up from him work. "What do you mean?"

"You've been acting really weird the past few days." Danny explained. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Martin replied quickly.

Even without his handy FBI training, Danny would have been able to see that Martin was lying. "You know you can tell me, right?" He could see that something was really bothering his friend and wanted to help. But in order to help, he needed to know what was going on.

"It's personal Danny." Martin replied.

Danny was silent for a few moments before speaking again, but this time he lowered his voice so that it was almost a whisper. "Are you and Sam getting a divorce?"

Martin's head shot up and he gave Danny a glare. "No. Why? What have you heard?"

Danny threw his hands up like he as a suspect being caught robbing a bank. "Nothing man. I was just wondering." He was aware that the two of them were having some problems, but he sincerely hoped that they were able to work everything out. If not for themselves, then for his goddaughter. She didn't deserve to have divorced parents.

"We're not getting divorced." Martin told his friend. "We're getting therapy."

"Therapy? You mean like couples therapy?"

"Yeah." Martin nodded. "We're getting therapy so that hopefully we won't get divorced."

"I didn't realize that your problems were that serious." Danny was surprised. He knew that his best friends weren't happy, but he had no idea that they had been thinking about divorce. When he had asked about it, he was only joking.

"That's because we've been trying to deny that there's a problem. But we can't live like this forever." Martin suddenly felt the need to confess some things, and since Danny was there, he would share them with his friend. "Yesterday, the only word that she said to me was 'hey' and that was when I got home."

"That's the only time you two talked?" Danny asked.

"Yeah." Martin continued. "I can trust you not to say anything, right?"

"Of course." Danny nodded. "I'll keep whatever you say a secret."

"Good because I was about to tell you that I'm not sure Sam and I are going to make it. We're falling apart, and I don't know how to put us back together. I'm really afraid that we've turned into Humpty Dumpty. And you know what happened to him. All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again."

"Uh Marty, you need to stop inserting nursery rhymes into everyday conversations." Danny pointed out.

"Probably." He grinned. "But you do understand what I'm saying, right?"

"Yeah, of course. I just didn't realize that you guys were in such big trouble." He was sad for his friends now. Maybe there was something he could do to help. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Not that I know of." Martin shook his head. "But thanks. I feel better now."

"Well if you need to talk again, I'll be here." Danny patted Martin on the back before going back to work.