Love and Marriage

Chapter Sixty

Sam packed the last bag into the trunk of the car, slamming it shut and standing there for a moment to collect her thoughts. The past three days had flown by quickly because of the packing and other preparations for the move. The bureau had paid for a U-Haul moving van to come by yesterday to collect the big pieces of furniture they were taking, such as Claire's bed and chest of drawers. In addition to the furniture, the moving van also took most of their clothes, Claire's toys, and other stuff. Since it left yesterday it would definitely be there by tomorrow morning. The movers used her car to drive the moving van so once they arrived in Houston later today, she would have to rent a car for a day.

She sighed and looked up at the house that Martin and she had picked out while they were engaged. They had looked at dozens of houses, but as soon as they saw this one they fell in love with it and knew that this is where they should live. Now she was leaving this place and Martin behind. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind, knowing that in order to get through today without falling apart she had to stay busy and not think about the fact that she was leaving Martin.

She plastered a small smile onto her face and went to go see what Martin and Claire were doing. After looking at her watch she noticed that they were running out of time. If they wanted to catch their flight to Houston they would have to leave soon.

Martin entered the living room and saw Claire sitting on the couch, watching television. Jack had given him the day off to say goodbye to him family properly, and for that he was eternally grateful. He was going to take Sam and Claire to the airport to make sure that they got there in time to make their flight.

He sat down next to her and she immediately crawled over and flung her arms around him. She'd been doing that a lot since they told her about the move to Houston. "You get to fly on a big plane today. Isn't that exciting?"

"I guess." She wasn't very excited about that and wished that her family could stay here together instead of splitting up.

"Trust me, it's exciting." He smiled, hoping to boost her enthusiasm. This day was going to hard enough for Sam. The least he could do is try to get Claire to be a little happier. "It's gonna be your first airplane ride. You'll love it. I'm sure your mommy will give you the window seat and then you'll be able to see the clouds up close."

She shrugged. Seeing clouds up close did sound kinda fun. "I guess that's cool."

"It is." He told her, placing a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm going to miss you princess."

"I'll miss you too daddy." She replied, squeezing him tighter.

"But it won't be too bad." He tried to console her. "I'll call twice a day and I'm sure it won't be too long until I can make it down there to see you."

"Promise?" She asked, pulling away from him to see if he would promise her that.

"I promise." He smiled. "Remember to be a good girl for your mother and also remember that other little job I gave you."

She smiled at the thought of her assignment to make her mommy smile and laugh. "I'll remember. I can do it!"

"It's a very important job but I'm sure you can do it." He assured her. "That's why I chose you for it."

"I won't let you down daddy." She smiled proudly, throwing her arms around his neck.

"You couldn't even if you tried." He whispered.

Sam entered the living room and saw Martin and Claire hugging. She didn't know whether or not to interrupt this father-daughter moment and was going to leave to give them a few more minutes when Martin waved for her to stay. "We should get going soon." She announced.

Claire pulled away from her father and looked over at her mother. "Do we have to?" She asked for the millionth time.

"Yeah we do." Sam replied for the millionth time.

"Ok." Claire sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

Martin looked at Sam and then at Claire. "Claire, why don't you go take one more look around the house and see if you've missed anything that you want to take with you right now? I'd hate for you to get to Houston and find out that you've left something here."

"Ok." She glanced briefly at the living room before going off to explore the other parts of the house.

Sam realized that he sent Claire off to let them have a few minutes alone and was grateful for that. For the past few days they had been almost in denial about the fact that this moment would eventually come and they would have to say goodbye to each other. But how were they supposed to do that?

He stood up and walked over to where she was standing, brushing a piece of hair away from her face. "So what time does your flight leave?"

"11." She replied.

He looked at his watch. "So we have a few more minutes before we need to leave."

"Yeah." She nodded.

"You did get the flight that doesn't have any layovers right?" He asked, not knowing why he was asking that. He knew the answer. The only reasoning he could find for his questions about the flight was the fact that he didn't want to talk about what was going on here. He didn't want to acknowledge that she would be leaving soon and that they would have to say goodbye.

"That's right." She answered, knowing that she had already told him this information before. He seemed like he was still in denial about having to say goodbye and she couldn't blame him. She couldn't find a way to say it either. But they had to find a way. "Martin…I…" She trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"Sam…" He started, losing all of his courage to say what he was thinking and feeling.

She reached up and started caressing his cheek. Leaving him was breaking her heart and she wondered again if she was doing the right thing. She reasoned that she was doing the right thing by giving them some time to gain perspective and work out their individual problems. Even though this was going to be hard, they needed to do this. "This is harder than I thought it would be."

"I know." He knew what she was talking about. He had envisioned this scene being hard, but not nearly this hard. All he wanted to do was beg her to stay and not go to Houston, but he knew that this was the path that she had to follow. This was the path she had chosen and he had to try and support that.

"I've been trying to think of what I should say to you right now, trying to come up with something poignant and heartfelt but I come up blank every time." She admitted. "So I'm just going to say what I'm thinking right now. I love you Martin. I love you so much and it's killing me that I have to leave you right now. But this is what we need. I believe it with all of my heart. One month, two months, three months down the road, we'll be together again and we'll be stronger."

"You really believe that, don't you?" He asked, looking directly into her eyes. He wanted desperately to believe that. After all, he was counting on it being true.

"I do." She nodded. "We're going to be ok. I have to believe that."

"I want nothing more than to ask you to stay." He chuckled at his earlier thought. "I even thought about locking you up in the attic to make you miss your flight and not letting you out until you promised you wouldn't leave. But I can't do that to you. You want this job and I can't deny you that. I'd want it too if I was in your position. And as much as I hate the fact that we're taking a break, I can't deny you that either. I just want you to remember two things."

"What would those two things be?" She asked, his statement peeking her curiosity.

"The first is that I love you. I've loved you since the first time I walked into the bullpen and saw you, and I'll continue to love you until the day I die." He gave her a small smile. "And the second thing I want you to remember is that if you need me, all you have to do is call me and I'll fly down there on the first available flight."

"I know you would." She wrapped her arm around his neck and brought his lips down to meet with hers. She felt his arms wrap around her waist and let him pull her closer to him. They continued kissing until they noticed that Claire had come back into the living room. Then they pulled apart.

"Did you leave anything behind?" Sam asked her daughter.

"No." Claire shook her head. "I have everything."

"Then I guess we should get going." Martin said, ushering them out the door.