Chapter Eleven: I Hope You Find A Way Back To Me
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, Without A Trace or the FBI. I do however own my imagination, my Muse, my insanity, my fangirliness and my dreams.
A/N:- I'm sorry. I'm ashamed at my sheer lack of updating these past few months but I thought I couldn't possible let 2005 end without giving you another chapter. I'm thinking two or three more chapters after this? I don't know. The plan was to have Robert's wedding covered in one chapter until I realised that would be an insanely long chapter so I decided to cut it into two.
I realise review responses aren't allowed in chapters anymore so I just want to thank everyone who's reviewed, especially SusanWATfan, ArielJLP and futurecop who have been chasing me up about this for …..erm … several months.
Martin paused outside Samantha's apartment, his hand raised to ring the bell. The past week had seen him back at work as normal, defying the Memos from Washington and so far no one had physically called for his removal. Whereas things between Samantha and him had been so unbearably tense, Jack now said that things seemed to be too relaxed as Samantha seemed to be unceasingly in a fit of giggles in the office due to something Martin had said or from remembering memories from the past. Martin felt his heart warm at the thought of Samantha and her glowing smile. God how much had he missed that. Now here he was ready to spend the weekend with her in Washington for Robert's wedding and he was doubly nervous, worrying about screwing things up as best man and anxious not to screw things up with Samantha.
Before he had time to ring the doorbell, the door opened.
"Thought I heard you lingering out here." She said with a smile. "Ready to go?"
He nodded and led the way downstairs to hail a cab.
"You know, it's going to be weird seeing everyone again." Samantha mused as they sat in the car driving to the airport. "I mean I haven't seen Robert in ten years and then all of a sudden I'm going to his wedding."
"Well, I don't think he's changed that much since you last saw him." Martin said. "He still cracks jokes all the time and enjoys teasing me about you."
Samantha's smile faltered, the excitement being replaced with anxiousness. She hadn't thought about that. Robert obviously knew everything that had happened between her and Martin since they had started working together in New York but everyone else from school would see them arrive together and assume that they were dating again ……… "Do they know about-"
Martin glanced at her. "Robert does but I don't think he's narrated it all to everyone else." He said. There was a pause. "Look, we don't have to worry about what they think about us do we? As long as we are comfortable with things between us ……. We are comfortable right?" he asked, searching her eyes for the reassurance he needed.
"Of course." She said firmly, nodding. "Things are good."
"Good because I was hoping you could help me with the best man speech on the plane." Martin said off-handedly.
Samantha looked at him in shock. "You mean you haven't finished it yet!"
Martin shrugged. "One might almost say I haven't started it yet." He said with a grin as the cab pulled up at the airport.
……………………………
Martin flattened the crumpled bit of paper out on the aeroplane table and glanced over his speech. He was, in all honesty, quite proud of it. It was witty and funny – but not overly so – and most importantly it was certainly written from the heart.
"Watcha reckon?" he asked looking over at Samantha only to see her head resting on the window, her eyes closed.
At his words, Samantha jerked herself awake. She had hardly realised she'd drifted off there. "Oh, erm, sorry." She said, running a hand through her hair. "Lack of sleep." She yawned.
"You've been stressing about seeing everyone again haven't you?" Martin said perceptively.
Samantha gave a weak smile. Didn't miss a thing that guy. "You know what school was like for me and even though you kinda changed all that, I haven't seen anyone since the Prom and …."
Martin looked at her and hid a smile. He loved how even after years of working at the Bureau as a tough Agent, deep down she felt just as vulnerable as she had ten years ago. "Shhh." He hushed her, putting his bandaged arm around her shoulders and pulling her towards him until her head rested on her shoulder. "Everything's going to go really smoothly, trust me, I'm the best man remember?" He rubbed her arm reassuringly. "Besides when did you start to worry about what everyone else thought anyway!" he asked, placing a kiss softly on the top of her head.
"I don't know." Samantha said sleepily. "But I definitely preferred it when I didn't give a damn." She said, closing her eyes.
Martin smiled to himself and stuffed the speech back into his pocket. For the first time in a long while they actually felt comfortable in each other's presence.
…………………………………………..
"Don't tell me I'm going to be the only girl at this get together tonight." Samantha said, sitting down on Martin's hotel bed, watching him circle the room twice looking for his keys. She held them out to him.
"Okay then, I won't." he grinned.
She groaned. "Say it isn't so."
"No. You remember Sarah and Hannah and Ally and her gang?" Martin said, pulling on his jacket and stuffing his cell phone in his jacket. Samantha nodded. She remembered them all too well. "They're going to be there."
"And what is it? A group of us sitting around and having a quiet drink for a couple of hours?" Samantha questioned.
"Sure. Think you can manage that?" he asked, turning to face her with a smile.
"Only if the best man's buying the drinks." She said, forcing herself to get up from the bed and head out of the door. It was going to be a long night.
Martin led her to an expensive bar near to the hotel which she didn't know. Not that she used to go to expensive bars when she had lived in Washington.
"Ready to walk into the lion's den?" Martin asked, looking down at her as he stood by the door.
"As ready as I'm ever going to be." Samantha mumbled.
Martin opened the door and looked around, spotting a large table with a crowd of people gathered around but before he could get there, Robert spotted him and came striding over, a big grin on his face.
"Martin, my man!" he said greeting his best friend.
Samantha tried her best to make herself invisible but she was having no luck.
"Samantha!" Robert said, grinning, pulling her into a bear hug. "Ten years later and you're still as knock-them-dead gorgeous as ever, isn't she Martin?" Robert said, winking at his friend.
"Yes, she is." Martin said, smiling at the fact Samantha was actually blushing.
"MARTIN!"
"Oh God." Martin muttered as Ally and Sarah rushed over having spotted him.
"Now play nice." Robert laughed.
Samantha struggled to keep a neutral face as Ally flung herself on Martin, dressed, as usual in the minimal amount of fabric which could actually be classified as clothing. "God I've missed you so much!" she said.
Martin forced a smile and tried to peel the blonde-haired, big breasted remake of a Barbie doll from his shirt. He couldn't believe that Robert still kept in touch with these people. Sure Robert had grown up but it seemed like the rest of them hadn't.
Ally glanced at Samantha. "What's she doing here?" she said in a loud whisper to Hannah.
Samantha sighed and rolled her eyes.
Robert put his arm around her and led her over to the table. "Samantha is here as my guest." He stated. "And can you remember that it's not high school anymore. Some of us are even mature enough to be getting married tomorrow." He smiled.
Martin laughed as he stood at the bar, ordering a round of drinks for the group. "Last time I spoke to Kirsten, I'm sure she stated that she wasn't marrying you for your maturity."
"I'm offended." Robert said, putting his hand on his heart in a mock dramatic way. "Zach, Tom, you remember Samantha right?"
"How could we forget?" Zach said coldly as everyone sat down at the table.
"Zach." Robert said warningly.
Zach's face broke into a smile. "Only kidding! Come here you!" he said, bundling her in arms.
Martin grinned. At least the guys were being welcoming towards Samantha. He had told Robert everything that had happened over the past few months and had warned Tom and Zach to be nice. Of course, he wasn't delusional enough to expect Ally and her gang to be just as friendly.
"So tomorrow, big day. How do you feel about it?" Zach asked, slapping Robert on the back.
Robert leant back in his chair. "You know, I actually feel inexplicably calm about it all."
"And all the alcohol you've already consumed as nothing to do with that?" Martin said, sipping his drink.
"No of course not. You ever know the feeling when you're with someone and it just feels so right … so special?" Robert mused.
"Mate, if we knew what that felt like, we would be the ones getting married!" Tom laughed.
"Yeah right, like that's ever going to happen." Zach scoffed. "The single life's just too good isn't it Fitzy?"
Ally glanced at Martin and Samantha. "You two not dating again?" she said curiously, a small smile playing on her lips.
Samantha groaned inside. They'd managed two minutes before the topic of 'them' or how there was no 'them' was brought up. Martin glanced at her. "We work together now." He stated.
Samantha was pleased to say that Ally looked suitably surprised. "You work for the FBI too?" Sarah said, looking at her, eyebrows raised.
"Yup, certainly do." Samantha said, leaning back in her chair, quietly confident.
"Wow." Zach said, impressed.
Robert laughed. "You guys better behave otherwise these two will start whipping out their handcuffs."
Ally leant across the table and ran her hand up Martin's bandaged arm. "So, you hurt your arm in the line of duty then?" she said, giving him a sickening sympathetic look.
Samantha looked away sharply which Martin noticed. "I don't want to talk about it." He said.
"Oh, but you must have been doing something oh so brave to get this badly hurt." Ally said, leaning further into him and batting her eyes at him.
"I don't want to go into it okay?" Martin said, sighing.
"Well, if Martin doesn't want to tell you, then I will." Robert said, joining in as everyone leaned in.
"Rob." Martin said warningly. Damn alcohol for making people lose control of their tongues.
Robert ignored him and launched into his tale. Martin turned round to look at Samantha. The night had only just begun.
…………………………………………….
Two hours later and they seemed to finally be at the end of Memory Lane and Samantha was beginning to hope that the night would be drawing to a close when she realised how wrong she was. The door of the bar opened and about thirty of Robert's not-so-close friends came to join the party. The talking ended, the music started up and the drink really began to flow. Tired of having people come up to her with fixed smiles on their faces pretending that they knew who she was, she retreated to the most deserted table she could find and watched the party unfold in front of her. As best man, Martin was busy doing the rounds, often with either Ally or Sarah or one of their other friends attached to his arm, but as soon as he had a spare moment he came over to check that she was alright and not feeling too suicidal.
"I'm fine, really. You should go back. You're Robert's friend and you need to keep an eye on him." Samantha said with a laugh.
"You sure? You don't look like you're having much fun." Martin said frowning at her realising how awkward it must be to be in a room full of people that you either didn't know or who used to bully you as a teenager.
"I'm doing okay. I'm just going to go out on the balcony to get some air." Samantha smiled reassuringly, pointing towards the open French windows.
She walked out into the warm night air. The balcony was deserted apart from a couple heavily making out, who, after she glanced at them, looked suitably ashamed and retreated back into the bar.
Just as she was starting to relax and imagine herself somewhere else apart from at Robert's pre-wedding drinks party, Zach came out and spotting her, walked unsteadily over.
"Hey, Sam!" he slurred.
Samantha watched him guardedly. He stank of alcohol and could barely walk standing straight never mind in a straight line. He came and stood next to her, looking at her whilst leaning on the railings to keep his balance.
"So, you and Fitzy aren't back together?" he said.
"It's complicated. We've both been through a lot these past few months." Samantha explained, turning away from him, looking down onto the streets of Washington below.
"He doesn't deserve you anyway. Never thought he did. Don't know why you got together with someone like him anyway." Zach muttered, running a hand through his slick hair.
Samantha frowned at him. Yep, definitely drunk. Zach was one of the ones who found it the hardest when his best friend started going out with her. His father was a high flying politician who thought himself to be better than everyone else – an outlook on life which he had passed onto his son.
"You could do much better. You should have dated me in high school." Zach said, fixing his eyes on her.
"You don't know what you're saying Zach. You're talking nonsense." Samantha said, laughing lightly.
"Still, what about now? You're single, right? How about you and I try to work something out? My father could certainly get you a good job here in DC and-" Zach stumbled.
"I think you should go back inside and sit down." Samantha suggested.
"What's stopping you? You know, you did a good job running out on Martin that day at the Prom. He wouldn't have treated you right." Zach continued, moving closer.
Samantha took a step back. Wry amusement at Zach's intoxicated state was replaced with irritation. "Shut up. If you really think that about Martin then you're obviously not as good a friend of his as he thinks."
Zach seemed oblivious that she had even spoken, instead focussed on getting the one thing he wanted. In one quick movement he pressed himself against her, pinning her to the railings and forcing his lips onto hers.
Samantha tried to push him off of her but he wouldn't budge and she was caught between him and the bars. She was a trained FBI Agent and could easily have pulled some moves which would leave him severely incapacitated but she knew what commotion that would cause and she didn't want to ruin this night for either Robert or Martin. "Get off of me Zach." She said sternly, moving her head left and right to avoid his kisses whilst trying to wriggle out of his grasp. "You're drunk and you have no idea what you're doing."
Zach, unable to get at her lips started working down her neck onto her collarbone.
"That's enough!" Samantha said, raising her voice. She was this close to just kneeing him in the groin and one more minute she would have done just that.
Martin talked jovially to Alistair and his wife for ten minutes before excusing himself. Thankfully he seemed to have lost his posse of girls that had been trailing him all night and he looked around, hoping to catch some time with Samantha. She was nowhere to be seen though and he headed towards the French windows, guessing that she was still hiding outside.
"Oooh, I wouldn't go out there." Ally smirked. "You'll interrupt them."
"Who?" Martin asked.
"Samantha and Zach." Ally replied, a mischievous grin crossing her face.
Martin stood stock still, his mind racing. Jealousy, confusion, surprise. No, Samantha wasn't that drunk and she certainly wouldn't do this to him after everything. He looked through the glass and saw Samantha trying to fight Zach off of her.
"You idiot Ally." Martin said to her, glaring.
He ran outside. "Zach. Get off of her." He shouted. Zach didn't move though and didn't even acknowledge his presence. Martin grabbed his shoulders and physically peeled him from her.
Zach swung round angrily. "Don't you dare touch me." He shouted, trying to get closer to Martin to hit him but fell to the ground before he could do so. "You bastard. You come back here all FBI Agenty with your arm in bandages just to get all the attention. Nothing's changed eh? You still want to be everyone's favourite guy. Fabulous Fitzgerald who gets everything he wants."
Martin stared at him as Zach struggled to his feet, suddenly aware of how quiet it had gone inside the bar. "You're drunk Zach. Go back to your hotel and sleep it off." Martin said firmly.
Zach came closer and drunkenly swung a punch at him. Martin put up his left arm to defend himself, not realising the amount of force behind the hit. "You don't deserve her Fitzgerald. She doesn't want you anymore. You just can't take that. You, you you .."
Tom appeared at the door whilst Martin held Zach away from him at arm's length. "Tom, take him back to hotel will you?" Martin sighed tiredly. Tom nodded and pulled Zach away with great difficulty as he was still trying to get to Martin.
Once they'd gone, Martin turned to Samantha. "Stands to reason that no matter what I did, the night couldn't pass without incident."
"Hey, it's not your fault."
"You okay?" Martin said, looking at her, concerned.
"Yeah of course, I'm fine. I mean, you know me, I could have just hit him and wrestled him to the ground but I was going for discretion. In the end…"
"He started shouting so all hope for it to go unnoticed didn't do any good." Martin finished with a smile.
"Guess it didn't." Samantha replied.
They stood there looking at each for a moment until Martin put his arm around her, resting it on the small of her back, guiding her back inside. "Think you can survive another half an hour before I can get away and walk you back to the hotel?" he asked her.
Samantha felt herself warm at his touch. "Maybe, but I think it's about high time someone bought me another drink." She smiled.
A/N:- Happy New Year everyone! Let's hope that 2006 brings us lots of MS fluff!