A Fool To Think

Chapter Twenty-Four

"If you'll excuse me, I'll be right back." Sam told him a few minutes later. They had managed to eat most of the dessert already but there was still a little left. "Ladies room again."

"Ok. But I can't guarantee that this," he pointed to the chocolate silk pie, "will be here when you get back."

She laughed. "I guess I'll have to take my chances." Unlike when she went to the ladies room earlier, she actually did really have to use the restroom. This wasn't just an excuse to get away from Martin for a few moments.

Although that was a good added benefit. Her mind was swimming with everything that had happened between them tonight. She was still surprised that they had agreed to be friends again. She really wasn't sure that would ever happen. But she was apparently wrong.

She was also surprised that Martin would apologize to her. In her mind he didn't really have anything to apologize for. She was after all the one that hurt him. Apologizing for something like that was just something that Martin did. It was endearing.

This evening had turned out better than she had imagined it would. As much as she hated to admit it, she would probably have to thank Danny for setting her up with Martin tonight. It was a nice thing to do.

On her way back to their table, she wore a smile. She felt happy for the first time in a long time. Sure, she didn't have Martin back, but she'd get him back as a friend. That would have to be enough.

She was so involved in her own thoughts that she didn't watch where she was going and ended up bumping into someone. "Oh I'm so sorry…" Her voice trailed off once she saw who it was.

"Better watch out where you are walking, Sammy." Tom smirked.

"What are you doing here?" She managed to ask, trying to portray a façade of courage and not let him see that she was actually terrified of him.

"I believe I made you a little promise." He replied, leaning in closer and whispering into her ear. "And I always come through on my promises." Without another word, he walked off, turning around a few moments later and giving her a flirtatious wave.

She stood there watching him leave, unsure of what to do. She knew that her stepfather would come looking for her and try to make good on his earlier promise but she honestly didn't think that he would be able to track her down this easily.

She could no longer try to convince herself that it wasn't Tom that she saw on the street earlier. This little encounter with him proved that impossible. Tom was back and he was definitely determined to revisit old times.

Realizing that she had been away from the table for a long time, she hurried up and joined Martin, clasping her hands together on the table.

"Are you ok?" He asked, taking in her appearance. She looked pale and was slightly shaking.

"Fine." She shrugged, not really wanting to bother Martin with her problems. They had just agreed to be friends again less than an hour ago. She wasn't about to start dumping her problems on him right now.

"I don't really believe you." He told her nicely. "You're shaking."

"Am not." She denied, knowing that he was wrong. Seeing her hands shaking on the table, she placed them in her lap.

"What happened?" He was concerned about her. He knew that she had to be really upset to start shaking. As far as he knew, there were only a few things in this world that would make her that upset.

One of them was in jail, one of them was confined to a bed and dialysis machine, and the other thing that made her shake was the sight of snakes. He doubted that any of those things were here tonight so he was clueless about what to say in order to calm her down.

"Nothing." She denied, looking at the plate sitting between them. "You didn't finish the dessert."

"I was saving the last bite for you." He admitted, not wanting to let her change the subject.

"That's nice of you." She smiled, picking up her fork and devouring the last bite of the chocolate confection. "Thank you."

"No problem." He smiled. "Now will you tell me what's going on?"

She sighed, contemplating whether or not to tell him everything. Chances were great that he wouldn't let this go until he knew the whole story anyway. Maybe getting it out in the open would be a good idea.

"I just ran into someone I knew a long time ago." She admitted.

"And I take it this person wasn't a friend." He inferred.

"No." She laughed darkly. "He wasn't a friend."

"Who was it?" Martin asked.

"It's not really all that important." She shrugged.

"It must be if you're this upset by it." He pointed out. "Look, we just said that we'd try to be friends again. Why not let me have a chance to be a friend to you? Why not trust me with what's going on?"

"Because it's not like there's anything you could do about this." She argued. "It's my problem and I have to figure out how to deal with it."

He sighed, frustrated that she kept refusing to let him help. "I bet you'll tell Danny about it though, right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, confused by his question.

"You seem pretty close to him and I bet you'll tell him your problem, won't you?" He couldn't help but be jealous of the close friendship that she has with Danny. Danny seemed to be the person that Sam ran to when she had a problem. It used to be Martin that Sam would run to when she had a problem. He missed those days.

"He doesn't know the whole story about this." She told him. While Danny did know that Tom was out on parole, she hadn't told him about how she thought she saw him on the street earlier today or her most-recent run in with him.

"But he knows more than I do, right?" Martin questioned.

"Well…yeah." She nodded. His behavior was confusing her. One minute he's trying to be supportive and then the next he's being extremely jealous over her friendship with Danny. "I guess so."

"Why won't you trust me like you trust Danny?" Martin asked. "Why can't you just tell me what's going on?"

"Because it's not your problem anymore!" She exclaimed. "I don't want to bother you with this."

"Bother me!" He exclaimed. "Please bother me!"

Without warning she burst into a fit of laughter, which warranted a glare from him. "I'm sorry. It's just I've never had someone plead for me to bother them."

He had to admit that the way he said it might have sounded weird and chuckled before turning serious again. "I was serious when I said that I want to be friends again and being friends means that you can feel free to bother me with whatever you need."

She thought about his statement for a moment before realizing that he was probably right. "Ok. You want to be bothered? I'll bother you. The person I ran into on the way back from the ladies room was Tom, my stepfather."

He was shocked by her admission, but then her behavior made sense. Of course she would be that shaken up if she saw him. But how? How was that possible? Wasn't he supposed to be in jail? "Are you sure it was really him?"

"I'm sure." She nodded.

"But how?" Martin questioned. "Isn't he supposed to be in jail right now?"

"He got out on parole recently." Sam explained. "When Danny was helping me investigate Alex, I ended up telling him about Tom. He checked into it and found out that Tom had been released from prison for good behavior."

"I hate the justice system sometimes." Martin muttered. "How can they let a monster like him out?"

"I don't know." She shook her head.

"So he's here in New York?" Martin questioned, suddenly feeling very concerned for her safety.

"Yeah." She nodded. "He tracked me down."

"Isn't he violating parole to be out here?"

"Probably." She replied. She hadn't thought about that, but knew that Tom probably didn't care about breaking parole.

"Is this the first time that you've seen him?" Martin asked, wondering how long she has known that Tom was in New York.

"No." She shook her head. "I thought I might have seen him earlier today when we went to that apartment."

"Oh right." He remembered when they left that she had seemed distracted by something. It must have been because she thought she had seen Tom. "Has he made contact with you?"

"He just made some comment about how he always comes through on his promises and then left." She explained.

"Promises?" Martin questioned. He was trying to think of what Tom could have meant by that and then remembered the story that Sam had told him many years ago about her last conversation with Tom and how he had promised to come back for her once he got out of prison. "Sam, this is really serious."

"No it isn't." She denied it adamantly.

"Yes it is." He argued. "What if he comes after you?"

"I'm a federal agent Martin." She reminded him. "I can take care of myself."

"But…"

"Just let's please drop this?" She asked, not really wanting to waste more time thinking about Tom.

"Fine." Martin sighed. She may not want to admit it but Tom was a threat to her safety and he'd find a way to make sure that Tom never got another chance to hurt her. He'd find a way to protect her, even if she didn't think she needed protecting.