Love and Marriage
Chapter Sixty-Four
Monday soon came and Sam had to admit that she was nervous as she entered the Missing Person's division, especially since it looked like the whole team was already in the office waiting for her. She had studied the folder Van Doren had given her about the team so she knew minimal background on them and knew what they looked like. She approached her new boss's office and knocked on the open door with a smile plastered on her face. "Hello sir. My name is Samantha…"
"Ah, you must be Samantha Spade." The man smiled, holding out his hand for her to shake. "My name is Grant Thompson."
Sam reached out and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you."
"I trust that you received the background information about the team." He stated.
"Yes." Sam nodded. "I did and I must say that I'm impressed. Your team has managed to become one of the best in the country."
"We try to always do our best." He grinned. "But you must be used to working on a great team considering that you were a part of the Missing Person's Unit in New York City. That division has a sterling reputation also."
It was her turn to grin this time. "We try to always do our best."
He chuckled. "Good. You have a sense of humor. You'll fit in nicely around here."
"That's the plan." Sam mumbled.
"Why don't we go introduce you to the rest of the team?" He suggested, walking around the side of his desk to where she was standing. He motioned for her to follow him as he stepped out of his office towards the bullpen. As soon as he stepped into the bullpen all of the other members of the team stopped what they were doing and looked in his direction. "We don't have a case yet." He told the other members of the team. "But I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the new member of the team."
He turned to his side and saw Samantha standing there. "This is Samantha Spade. She is coming to us from New York City and she will be taking over Ryan's duties." He pointed to the man on the left of them. "This is Joshua Williams." Then he pointed to the woman standing next to him. "That is Olivia Peterson." He pointed to the man sitting at his desk. "And that is Trevor Scott."
Sam realized from the introduction that Grant had given her to the rest of the team that he probably didn't know that she was also given background information on her new team members. Perhaps that was a going-away present from Van Doren. She decided to play along and pretend that she didn't know about these people.
Grant continued on with his short speech. "Alright people. Let's make sure that Samantha feels right at home and that her transition is as smooth as possible. Ok?"
"Ok." The team replied in unison.
"I'll be in my office if you need anything." Grant told Samantha, giving her one last smile before leaving her standing in front of the team.
"So, Samantha," Trevor got up from his desk and walked over to her, "do you have a preference? Should we call you Samantha, Sam, Sammy?"
There was only one person in the world who could get away with calling her Sammy, and that person was hundreds of miles away. Although she had become more relaxed about who could call her Sam, she didn't feel like she knew these people well enough yet to let them call her that. So she decided to stick with Samantha. "You can call me Samantha."
"Ok." Trevor smiled. "It's nice to meet you Samantha."
"You too Trevor." Sam smiled back.
Olivia came over and joined them. She also held out her hand for Samantha to shake. "It's nice to finally have another woman on the team. It's not easy being surrounded by these guys all the time."
"Hey!" Joshua objected, coming over to the group. "We're not that bad!"
"No," Olivia shook her head. "You're not always bad. You have moments of niceness buried in between moments of being men."
Sam and Olivia shared a laugh over that comment and watched Trevor and Joshua walk away, shaking their heads and mumble something incoherent.
Olivia leaned in closer to her and lowered her voice. "All joking aside, these guys are pretty great. Just don't let them know that."
They laughed again and Sam realized that she was going to fit in nicely with these people.
"We have a little tradition around here." Olivia told her. "All of us get to take you out to lunch separately during your first week here. That way we get to expose you to some of the good places to eat here and then we also get a chance to get to know each other better on an individual basis."
"That's a very nice idea." She liked that and she also liked that they were being so friendly and warm to her already.
"I won lunch with you today, Trevor gets lunch with you tomorrow and Joshua gets lunch with you on Wednesday." Olivia explained, adding, "if that's ok with you."
"That's fine." Sam nodded, looking around the bullpen. "So which desk is mine?"
"This one." Olivia replied, pointing to the desk next to Trevor's. She then helped Sam get settled in at her new desk before giving her a brief tour of the office.
In New York, Martin was busy working on a report that Jack wanted done by lunchtime. He was trying to concentrate but found it difficult. He would drift off, thinking about Claire and Sam. He missed them terribly. Although Jack had told him that it would eventually get better and he'd get used to this ache in his heart, he wasn't so sure he wanted to get used to it.
"Hey Martin!" Danny called out for the fourth time. He was trying to get Martin's attention. So far Martin seemed to be in his own little world, staring off into space. He knew what his friend was thinking about. "Martin!"
Martin finally realized that Danny was calling him and turned to face his friend. "Yeah? What?"
"How's the report coming along?" Danny asked.
"The report?" Martin asked, remembering that he was supposed to be working on it. "Oh, uh, well…"
"Relax. I didn't come here to make sure it's done or anything." Danny explained. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. But judging by the way you were zoning out, I'm guessing not too well."
"I just miss them." Martin shrugged it off like it was nothing, rearranging papers on his desk and avoiding Danny's stare.
"Have you told her that?" Danny asked.
"No." He shook his head.
"Why not?" He was curious about why Martin wasn't sharing his feelings with Sam. It would definitely help both of them if he did.
"I just haven't." Martin snapped. "Can we please not talk about this right now?"
"Ok." Danny finally relented. "Well what do you want for lunch? It's my turn to bring it in."
"I'm not really hungry." Martin shook his head.
"Since when?" Danny chuckled. "C'mon Martin, you gotta eat."
"I'm not hungry Danny." He repeated, this time more forcefully.
"Fine." Danny sighed. He got up and started to walk away from Martin's desk but stopped and turned back around. "I'll get you a sandwich anyway, just in case."
Martin appreciated that but didn't think his appetite would be coming back. He turned back to the report he was supposed to be working on and tried extra-hard to concentrate on it.