Chapter Two - The Danger in Green
It was two thirty in the morning when Samantha arrived back at her apartment.
The case of the missing eight year old had turned out to be a triangle inside a triangle. The team had discovered just what 'Emotionally draining' meant when they began to uncover the truth of the child's disappearance. The mother, a so called ex-addict had managed to drop her son off at school, yes, but at the wrong school, and in the wrong neighbourhood.
From that point on, a heavy compression had slowly pressed down on their hearts, and when they finally found the body, ripped and torn, they all died a little.
Collapsing her exhausted body on the couch, she sighed heavily and stared at the ceiling in the darkened room.
'Emotionally drained' doesn't even begin to describe what I'm feeling.
After ten minutes of attempted understanding, she resolved to the fact that the world sucked even more then it did yesterday and that it wouldn't be so bad to have another downpour.
I'll grab the ark, you get the animals.
Throwing her legs over the edge of the couch, she eased herself into a sitting position, and rested her chin in the palms of her hands.
Do I still believe in faith and God? Did I ever?
She contemplated these new thoughts for, perhaps twenty seconds before her stomach gave an irritated growl of hunger.
Yes sir. Or ma'm?
It's two- She checked her watch, two-forty-five in the morning. That rules out any good take-out, except maybe pizza. She picked up the phone that was laying on her coffee table and dialled.
Better get something with nutritional benefit.
She snorted at that last thought.
Biting down on a slice with everything on it, she hoped she wouldn't regret her choice in dinner later on.
Managing only two slices, she threw the rest in the fridge for another day, and promised herself something better tomorrow. Or today, which ever way you put it.
Samantha then took a quick shower before climbing into bed at three-thirty-five. Her head felt heavy, and her eyes felt grainy and sore. Grabbing her most plush and over-stuffed pillow, she curled into a foetal position and held it tightly against her body. Her heart felt like a bubble just waiting to burst, and for the first time in a long, long time, she let herself succumb to her lonely tears.
Gut-wrenching sobs racked at her and the pain in her soul changed from a burning fire to a dull ache.
After awhile she slowly grew quiet, her eyes dried, and she her subconscious allowed her a few of hours of dreamless sleep.
Oh that pizza was such a bad, bad, bad idea. Samantha thought sombrely as she pulled the covers off her quickly and jumped out of bed.
Rushing towards the bathroom blindly, she fumbled for the light switch along the wall and turned it on. Sudden artificial light burned at her eyes, and her stomach gave another flip.
An hour later, and still kneeling on the ground in front of her toilet, she felt another violent lurch, followed closely by the emptying of the contents still left in her stomach.
It's 'Morning sickness' not 'In-the-middle-of-the-night sickness!' Pick one or the other and stick with it!.
A damp sweat covered Samantha's body as she rested on the floor of her bathroom. It seemed her nausea had finally passed.
Thank God.
Brushing her teeth, she glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She was pale and looked, we'll, she looked like crap. She rinsed her mouth with water and made her way back to bed.
Mistaking the distance between the door and a side table, her toe walked right into a sharp corner of a leg and she swore loudly.
Your very first swear word.
Hmmm better cut back on that. That and Sushi, alcohol, smoking (not that she did anyway, but a girls gotta have options, right?), and good times...
Flopping back on her bed, she didn't even bother with the covers, and was asleep seconds later.
A mere two hours later, Special Agent Samantha Spade of the F.B.I Missing Persons Unit, struggled to keep her head above the bowl of her toilet. The same nausea that had gripped her earlier was now again at large, and she had barely the energy to hate all men and his evil, life killing sperm. Or life producing sperm.
Oh, but she'll find the time later, she told herself.
Her vomiting soon turned into dry retching, and she sheltered her head in her arms, which were laying across the seat of the toilet.
I will never eat ever, ever again.
I need to tell Martin. Oh, God, how I need to tell him. Soon.
Soon, like today.
Running thirty-six minutes late (she couldn't help but check her watch every four seconds), Samantha hurried along the hallway of the offices. She spotted Jack and the team already seated around the table in the bull-pen, and she quietly made her way over and as discreetly as possible and slipped down into her chair.
She looked at Jack, who nods in acknowledgement of her attendance. He sends her a look that says "Later", which means she's in trouble.
Thanks a lot Martin. Oh. Where did that come from?
She felt a rush of guilt take over her emotions, and reminded herself that she was also to blame. Maybe the only one to blame.
As Danny sneaks a sideways glance at Samantha, Vivian and Martin do the same. In their minds, they share the same thought: Samantha looks so incredibly pale and...fragile.
"Okay, we'll need to secure Hobart and Ivory Street. Start by looking for anything that may indicate a violent struggle or trauma." Jack said.
Vivian and Martin nodded.
"Samantha, Danny, go talk to the missi- ah, Jackie's mother over on Cross Ave."
Samantha and Danny looked at each other and stood. Reaching behind him, Danny took his jacket wrapped around the chair back and slipped it on.
"Lets go, Blondie."
Samantha gave him a small smile and lead the way to the elevators.
"Are you planning to speak any time soon, or do I have to continue with the one sided conversation I've been having for the last hour?" Danny asked Samantha.
Since leaving Jackie's mothers house, he had noticed how Samantha said no-more than two syllable words and was repeatedly looking out the window at nothing in particular.
"What?" She replied, confused and distracted.
"Look, Sam-"
"Don't look at me like that!" She said, a angered expression on her features.
"What? Like what Sam?"
"Danny!"
Danny had looked at Samantha for no-more than three seconds before he saw what had made her yell out in fear. Looking beyond her side window, he caught a quick glimpse of a dark green Range Rover speeding its was towards them.
In the middle of a busy intersection, Danny had little warning of what was soon to become a horrible nightmare.
Distracted for those precious seconds, Danny didn't have the time to get them out of the dangerous situation.
At exactly nine-sixteen a.m, on a cold November day, that same green Range Rover smashed into the passengers side of the black S.U.V, causing it to spin on the thin sheet of ice covering the surface of the road, and finally stopping when hitting a close-by lamp-post.
In the instant that the Range Rover hit them, the air bags that were designed to be ejected on impact made only one release. The one on the passengers side failed.
Spinning, spinning, spinning. Samantha held out her arms in front of her to stop herself from moving around. When she felt the bone in her left arm crack she knew it was because of those actions.
Having no time to feel the pain, she watched in slow-motion as the S.U.V made continuous rotations, and then stopping when it hit a lamp-post. Her head made a quick jerk forward from the abrupt stop and hit hard against the dash.
She feel unconscious.
A whirl of mess and motion was all Danny was able to comprehend in the few seconds before all came to a stop. His air bag had release and his head was resting protected against it when they hit that lamp-post.
Silence.
His ears began to ring with the sudden loss of screeching tyres and the crunching of metal.
People. Screaming. A woman, yelling for someone to dial 9-1-1.
His neck was stiff but unbroken. He was still breathing, if not erratically.
Alive.
Samantha? SAMANTHA!
He turned his head to look at her.
Oh god, no, no, not Sam, please, no god, please, not her, no, no...
Her head had rolled onto her right side, but he could still see her face.
Blood. So much blood. Scratched and cut up. Blood. So much blood.
Her airbag? WHERES HER AIRBAG?
"No" His voice sounded hoarse, "Sam, please, god, no. no, Socorro!"
He was yelling now, to everyone, anyone who could hear him, "Socorro! Ayúdeme, por favour!"
Still looking at Samantha, he scanned his eyes down her body to check other injuries. Her neck had been ripped open from the strain of the seatbelt, and there was already red and blue bruising from the chest up.
Down, down, down past her shoulders. Her arms. Broken? Legs?
He felt people wrenching their doors open.
"Por favor, llame al medico!" He screamed.
A guy, baseball cap, rosy cheeks, panic all over his face,
"Sir? Sir I don't understand you! Are you hurt? Broken bones? Sir, can you talk?" He talked in a rush.
"Sam" Danny whispered, looking at his friend, "Dead?"
"Sir, I'm sorry I don't understand you, I'm sorry" Rosy cheeks looked over his shoulder and yelled out, "Spanish, anyone speak Spanish?"
Sirens. Not far. Close now. Here now. Ripping the doors off. Medics. Talking, talking, talking.
Checking Samantha. Un-buckling Samantha. People gathering. Crowd, watching.
"Sir? Where do you hurt?" A medic speaking. Kneeling by Danny, fingers on his neck.
"Faint but consistent pulse." He says to someone. Danny doesn't know who.
Sam, on a stretcher. Oxygen tube down her throat. She's strapped in tight. Not moving.
Tube in her throat! Help her breathe! She's still alive!
"Sir, where do you hurt? If you can speak, please tell us" Medic says more urgently, more insisting.
"No sé, No sé!" Danny says rapidly, frustration and confusion misting his mind.
"Sam?" He asks again.
"Your friend will be fine, don't worry about her. She'll be fine." The medic says reassuringly, finally getting it.
"Sam." He says again, making himself believe she's alright.
His eyes are drooping, blackness is dragging him down.
"cansado... asustado." He says before his eyes close shut.
TBCOkay and thats Chapter Two! I hope you liked it! I hadnt actually planned for them to be in an accident, but thats how it turned out, lol. So, I said I would clarify some things in this chap, but that darn Range Rover changed everything. I likehow this chapter has opened alot of opportunities up though. Next chap wont be too far away, so stick with me folks!