Love and Marriage

Chapter Seventy-Four

"Claire will be so happy to see you." Sam told him when they entered the elevator. "For the past few days she's been asking me practically non-stop how many hours were left until you were coming."

"I bet that got old fast." Martin laughed.

She chuckled. "Truthfully? Yeah, it did." The elevator stopped on the day care center's floor and she got out first, leading the way. Scanning the day care center, she found Claire sitting at a table with Nikolas, working with Play-Doh. She had her back to them so Sam was certain that they would be able to surprise their daughter.

Motioning for Martin to follow her, she made her way to where her daughter was stationed. "Claire."

Claire turned around when she heard her mommy's voice and was surprised to see her daddy standing there too. "Daddy!" She exclaimed with a huge smile, immediately grabbing onto his leg.

Martin reached down and picked Claire up into his arms, hugging her tightly. "Hey there princess. How are you?"

"Good." She replied, making sure that she kept her arms wrapped around her daddy's neck.

Sam smiled at the scene in front of her. She knew that Claire had really missed her father and that Martin had really missed his daughter. It was nice to see them together again.

"You're early!" Claire pointed out.

"I know." Martin smiled back at her. "I just couldn't wait to see you and your mother. I missed both of you."

"We missed you too!" Claire exclaimed.

He placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "We're going to spend the afternoon together and explore this town while mommy works. Would you like that?"

"Yes!" Claire nodded enthusiastically.

"I hope you two have a great time." Sam smiled, placing a kiss on Claire's cheek. She made eye contact with Martin before planting a quick kiss on his lips.

"Do you know when you'll be done tonight?" Martin asked, trying to gauge how much time he had with Claire until they came back here to get Sam.

"I should be done by six." She replied. "I'll see you both later."

"Bye mommy." Claire replied.

"Bye Sam." Martin said as he watched Sam leave. Once she was out of his sight, he turned to look at Claire. "So what do you want to do?"

"Can we go to the park?" Claire asked.

"Sure." Martin replied. "Do you know where it is?"

"Yep." Claire replied. "I'll show you where it is."

"Great." He placed another kiss on her forehead before putting her back on the ground. He then held her hand. "Let's go to the park."

Sam walked back into the bullpen and headed straight for her desk, hoping to get some work done. As soon as she sat down though, Olivia appeared at her side.

"You know, even though you've talked about your husband quite a bit, you failed to mention one thing." Olivia smirked.

"Oh really?" Sam asked, turning in her chair. "What would that one thing be?"

"How gorgeous he is!" Olivia replied with a laugh. "I mean I love my husband and think he's great, but I have to say that Robert isn't nearly as good looking as Martin. He looks good enough to be a model or an actor. How'd you get that lucky?"

"I don't know." Sam laughed. "I guess I'm still asking myself that."

"So where is he?" Olivia asked. "I thought that you might have taken the rest of the day off to spend it with him and Claire."

"I thought about it. I was tempted." Sam admitted. "But I thought that he should be able to spend some alone time with Claire. Let them bond again and catch up. Martin and I can talk later."

"Why did he come here so early?" Olivia asked. "Wasn't he supposed to fly in tomorrow?"

"He was, but he got the day off and wanted to surprise us." Sam explained.

"Judging by the look on your face when you saw him, I'd say he succeeded." Olivia noted.

"It was quite a shock." Sam stated. "But I'm glad he's here. I don't think I fully realized just how much I missed him until now. I know that sounds funny, but being around him again is…almost addictive, but in a good way. That's the best way I can describe it because I just don't want to let him go again."

"Are you saying that you want to end your break?" Olivia asked, surprised by this. All she had been hearing from Samantha was how important this break was to her and how it was necessary for them to save their marriage. Now though, it seemed like Samantha was rethinking that.

"I don't know if I'm rethinking this break because of the baby or because I miss him so much. Maybe it's even a combination of both." Sam shook her head. "Right now, all I know is that I'm happy that Martin is here and it's going to be really hard saying goodbye to him again."

"My advice is to not think about that until it happens. Just have a good time while he's here and enjoy the time you have together."

"I'll try to follow that advice." Sam smiled.

"I'll let you get back to work now," Olivia told her, "but just know that I want to hear details about what happens this weekend on Monday morning."

Sam laughed, knowing that Olivia would be hunting her down on Monday morning to find out what happened. "Ok." Once Olivia was back at her own desk Sam went back to work, trying to concentrate on the paper in front of her. But all her mind could focus on was Martin. How good it was to have him here, how nervous she was about telling him about the baby, and how hard it was going to be when they had to say goodbye again.

Her reasons were clear to her when she suggested taking a break. At the time she knew that it was what they needed. But now, she wasn't so sure. She knew that if she told Martin that she wanted the break to be over with, he'd quit his job and move down here within twenty-four hours.

A part of her wanted that to happen. So what was stopping her? The same thing that stops her from doing a lot of things that she wants to do. Fear.

It didn't take long for Martin and Claire to reach the park because it was very close to Sam's building. So soon Martin was pushing Claire in a swing and Claire was telling him about everything that had happened to her that day.

"And then Nikolas and I played with Play-Doh. We made snowmen out of it." Claire explained.

"Wow." He was really enjoying this time with Claire and stopped her swing. He kneeled down in front of her so that they were roughly at the same level. "I wanted to thank you for the drawings that you sent me earlier this week."

"Did you like them?" Claire asked, hoping that he did.

"I loved them!" He smiled. "You're such a good artist. I put them up on the refrigerator and all over the house."

"I've been a good girl daddy, and I've made mommy laugh a lot—just like you wanted me to." Claire smiled proudly.

"I appreciate that sweetie." He kissed her forehead. He then stood up and started pushing her in the swing again.