A Fool To Think

Chapter Twenty-One

Sam ran her hand along Martin's bare chest as he slept, making sure that her fingertips barely grazed his skin.

He groaned, keeping his eyes closed. "You're trying to torture me again, aren't you?"

"Me? Torture you?" She asked, feigning innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sam, you haven't let me get a good night's sleep in two weeks." He pointed out. "You keep waking me up in the middle of the night, teasing me until it gets to the point that I can't go back to sleep even I tried."

It was true. She couldn't deny it without lying. Ever since they got back together he hadn't gotten much sleep. She'd either nibble on his ear or do something else to get him excited and then they'd go back for round two of their lovemaking.

He wasn't necessarily complaining. He loved the fact that Sam was his again and that they were given this second chance to be together. But he was starting to feel the effects of getting minimal sleep and Jack had already caught him sleeping at work once. He wasn't sure what would happen if Jack caught him again.

"Well fine." She pretended to be hurt and scooted away from him on the bed. She wrapped the covers around her body tightly and made sure she was as far away from him as possible without falling off the bed. "I'll just leave you alone then."

His eyes opened and he scooted over to where she was, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him so that they were in a spooning position. He then started kissing her neck.

"I thought you wanted to sleep." She reminded him.

He sighed, burying his head in her hair and inhaling the scent of her shampoo the same way a junkie goes after his next fix. "Ah, sleep is overrated anyway."

Martin's eyes jerked open and he looked around at his surroundings. It was dark and he was in his bed but he wasn't alone. Looking over, he saw Caroline sleeping peacefully.

His dream shook him up inside and he slid out of bed carefully to make sure that he didn't wake Caroline up. He made his way into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Standing in front of the mirror, he took a good look at himself.

He was having a lot of dreams about Sam lately. Sometimes they would be sexual, like the one he just had. Other times they would be just simple dreams about sitting down to a big Sunday breakfast with her, talking about what was in the newspaper and helping her with the crossword puzzle.

After splashing his face with some cold water, he picked the towel off of the nearby towel rack and started drying off his face. He didn't mean to keep dreaming about Sam and wondered why he couldn't just let her go.

After all, he had Caroline now. She wasn't Sam, but she was smart, attractive, caring, and fun to be with. Shouldn't that be enough for him? Why couldn't it be enough for him?

The answer though, as much as he hated to admit it, was that he still loved Sam. That's why he kept dreaming about her and that's why even though he had fun with Caroline, he knew that their relationship would never turn into anything serious.

He doubted that he would ever be able to love her and that made him feel slightly guilty about continuing to date her. He had voiced his concerns to her over dinner last night, without mentioning that he was still in love with Sam, and had been surprised to learn that it didn't matter to her that he didn't think he could love her.

She had told him that she wasn't sure she'd fall in love with him either and was content just to spend time with him and have some fun together. While that had alleviated the guilt he felt for a short time, the guilt was creeping back into his soul and he knew that he'd soon have to break things off with her.

The next two weeks seemed to go by slowly for Sam as she waited for Martin to forgive her. She knew it would take time, and she was willing to wait as long as it took for him to feel comfortable around her again.

As it was now though, he seemed extremely uncomfortable around her. She wasn't sure what the cause of that discomfort was. She hadn't purposely done anything to make him upset. Was he still acting weird because he thought she was dating Danny? 'Cause that was a ridiculous assumption.

She was friends with Danny, and after spending more time with him the past two weeks, she started to see him as more of a surrogate older brother than anything else.

He seemed to understand her in a way that no one since Martin had done. He listened to her rants about anything that mad her mad or unhappy, and then always made horrible jokes to lighten up the mood.

"Hey there." Danny greeted her when he came into the bullpen that morning.

"Hey." She smiled, returning her attention back to her work.

"Wanna come out to dinner with Martin and I tonight?" He asked, leaning against her desk.

"You sure that's such a good idea?" She questioned.

"Yeah. Why not?"

"Have you seen the way he's acting around me lately?" She looked around to make sure that Martin wasn't around yet before continuing. "He is uncomfortable around me."

"Well the only cure for that is repeated exposure." Danny grinned.

She laughed and shook her head. "I don't think so. Count me out. The last thing I want to do is cause Martin to be in a strange mood. Have fun at dinner without me."

"But I can't do that." Danny objected. "You're coming with us and you're going to have a good time."

She wanted to protest his order, but knew that it wouldn't do her any good. She might as well save her breath and just agree. "Fine. I'll go with you and Martin to dinner."

"Great." Danny slapped his hands together enthusiastically. The first part of his brilliant plan was working perfectly.

"But I want you to know that I'm not going of my own volition." She warned.

"Dually noted." Danny laughed.

Later that day they got a new case and Sam was sent out with Martin to go take a look around the missing person's apartment. They spent a good hour looking around but didn't find anything that could help them. "So what do you think about this case?" Martin asked her as they walked down the stairs and headed out to the car.

"I don't know." Sam shook her head. "It seems like she has just vanished." All of a sudden she got the feeling that she was being watched. She glanced around nervously, letting her gaze settle on a familiar face. Sitting on a bench across the street was her stepfather.

"Ah shit." She whispered. She knew it would only be a matter of time until he made his presence known. Ever since Danny told her that he had been granted parole, she knew that he would come looking for her. How he found her she wasn't sure but knew that his appearance in her life would cause nothing but trouble.

He looked directly at her, making eye contact and winking while a strange smile formed on his face.

Martin heard Sam cuss and turned to look at her. "What's wrong? Did you step in something?"

"No." She replied, not taking her eyes off of her stepfather.

"Forget something up there?" He asked, gesturing to the apartment building.

"No." She shook her head, looking over at him.

"Then what?" Martin asked curiously. "You don't usually just call out random cuss words. Something must have triggered it."

She turned to point out her stepfather to Martin, but by the time she turned around Tom was gone. She searched around nearby but couldn't find him. It was like he vanished into thin air. Or maybe he wasn't really there at all. Maybe her eyes were just playing tricks on her.

Yeah, that's it. She saw someone that just looked like Tom and assumed that it was him. But it wasn't. There's nothing to worry about and everything's fine. Maybe if she keeps telling herself that she'll eventually believe it.

"Um, you know, it's nothing." She shrugged. "I just thought that I saw someone from high school that I didn't like. But it turns out I was wrong. I was just seeing things."

He wasn't sure whether or not to believe her. She seemed rather shaken up and rattled. But if she didn't want to talk to him about it, he wasn't going to force the issue. "Well let's get back to the office and tell Jack what we've found."

"Sure." Sam nodded, following him to the car. She still couldn't shake the feeling like she was being watched.