Love and Marriage

Chapter Fifty-Three

Sam walked over to Martin's desk, seeing that he was talking to Danny. "Hey guys." She gave them both a small smile.

"Hey." Martin smiled back.

Danny just closed the space between him and Sam, giving her a tight hug. "I'm gonna miss you."

She was surprised by the hug, but quickly returned it. Since he was talking about how he was going to miss her, she guessed that Martin had already filled him in on what was happening. "Well I'm not leaving for a few days, but thanks."

"A few days?" Martin questioned, the shock evident on his face.

"Yeah." She pulled out of Danny's hug and looked over at Martin. "They want me in Houston by Friday."

"This Friday?" Danny questioned.

"Yep." She nodded.

"But that's so sudden!" Danny exclaimed.

"Tell me about it." Sam agreed.

Danny looked back and forth between Martin and Sam. Seeing that they wanted to have a few minutes alone to talk, he decided to excuse himself from the conversation. "Well I should get back to work." He turned to Sam. "I will see you before you leave, right?"

"Of course." She smiled. "You didn't think I'd skip town without saying goodbye, did you?" He gave her a look, making her roll her eyes at him. "Ok, so the thought did cross my mind. But I wouldn't actually do that."

"You better not." He warned playfully as he walked away from them.

Once he left, Martin and Sam were left staring at each other and waiting for the other one to talk first. Finally, Martin couldn't take the awkward silence any longer. "Don't get me wrong, I love seeing you, but what are you doing here?"

"I was thinking about you and thought I'd come over and say hello." She confessed.

"Well, hello." He smiled.

"Hello." She smiled back as they shared a small laugh.

"So Friday…"

"Yeah." She said looking to the side and seeing a small group of people huddled together. They were pointing and whispering, leading Sam to the conclusion that they were talking about that rumor again. "Can we go out to the balcony and discuss this?"

He looked over at the small group of people and understood why she wanted to go outside. "Sure." He led her out to the balcony, keeping one hand on the small of her back as they walked together.

"Have you heard about what Bethany's done now?" She asked once they were outside.

"Oh, the rumor?" He asked. "Yeah. I know all about it. Danny filled me in. I can't believe she did that."

"I can." Sam disagreed. "She's the type of person who will stop at nothing to get what she wants…and she wants you. She thinks she can get you by doing whatever she can to wreck our marriage."

"She can try whatever she wants. It will be a waste of her time because I don't want her." He walked over to her and grabbed a hold of her hands.

She would tell him to go tell Bethany that he didn't want her, but wasn't sure she felt comfortable having him in the same room as that pariah.

"I don't want to waste time talking about Bethany because she doesn't matter." He said after a few seconds of silence. "What does matter is the fact that you're leaving so soon. I didn't expect them to want you to start right now. I thought we'd have a couple of weeks."

"So did I." She admitted. "But tomorrow's my last day here. They gave me a few days off so that I could pack and get ready to leave. They also gave me a bunch of houses to look at. They're going to take care of everything."

"Wow." He was impressed by the amount of help the FBI was giving to her. "Seems like they're trying to make this move as easy for you as possible."

"Yeah, looks like it." She bit her lip out of sheer nervousness. "I thought…well, I found a house that I really liked…and I was thinking that maybe you would want to look through them and see what you think about them. You know, since you'll be coming there to live too. Right?"

"Absolutely." He assured her. "I plan on coming down there just as soon as you think we're ready for that. All you have to do is call and I'll come."

She smiled, examining him closely. "You know, you're being really great about this considering that you were so against the idea of moving to Houston."

"Well to be honest, I don't want you to leave and I don't really want to move." He admitted, rubbing his thumbs over her hands. "I want nothing more than for you to stay here with me. But I think I've finally realized that you need to go. You need to do this for yourself. You need to take this job and we need to do something to salvage this marriage. If moving to Houston is what it will take to get us back to the way we used to be around each other, then sign me up right now."

Impulsively, she leaned in and placed a few soft kisses on his lips. Her hands broke out of his grasp and went to his face, holding it tightly in place. She could feel one of his arms wrap around her waist and the other one gingerly rubbing her back. She wasn't sure exactly why she was kissing him. Maybe it was the fact that she wanted to show him that she really did appreciate the fact that he was willing to make a sacrifice and move to Houston. Maybe it was the fact that, although she knew that taking a break would help them, she didn't want to let him go because deep down she was afraid that he would slip away if she left.

After what seemed like ages she pulled away, keeping her grip on his face and keeping her face only inches away from his. "Thank you." She whispered.

"For what?" He asked. He wanted to know exactly what he had done to deserve that kind of thank you because that was an amazing kiss.

"For being who you are," she smiled, "and also for being so understanding about everything. I know that this separation isn't going to be easy and I know that this must seem like a really crazy idea, but I don't think you'll ever be able to understand just how much I appreciate the fact that you're willing to try this out."

"I love you Sam. I'd do anything for you."

"I love you too." She kissed him one more time before letting go and starting to move away. "I have to get back to work now and make it seem like I still care about my job. But I feel like I should warn you that we're going to have to tell Claire what's happening soon."

"Yeah." He nodded. She was right. When they thought it would be a few weeks before they moved to Houston, it didn't seem like a big deal to delay telling Claire. But now they realized that they needed to tell Claire what was happening now so that she could have some time to accept it before the moving actually occurred. "How about tonight?"

"Ok." She agreed. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." He watched her leave and released a heavy sigh. She was going to be leaving on Friday with two important things: his daughter and his heart.