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"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves." William Shakespeare

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Chapter 2

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Sam was reading through the file on their missing person while trying to ignore Danny's blatant flirting with the flight attendant.

"Yeah, I'm going to be in Chicago for a few days, maybe you could show me the sights, the best places to eat?" Danny uttered trying to sound cool and offering up a bright smile.

Sam chuckled to herself at what an obvious flirt he could be but she guessed that was part of his charm because the woman jotted down her phone number on one of the small cocktail napkins before excusing herself to prepare for landing.

Danny turned to Sam and grinned like the cat that swallowed the canary, "Sorry, Sam, looks like you'll be flying solo tonight for dinner."

Sam rolled her eyes as he laughed out loud at his own pun. She looked at him and said flatly, "How ever will I manage?"

Danny threw her an annoyed look and she laughed lightly. She loved their playful teasing but the truth was she was well accustomed to eating her meals alone. Her last attempted reconciliation with Eric Kellar long behind her she was embracing the fact that she just might be destined to always be single. Her propensity for seeking out men who were either emotionally, physically, or matrimonially unavailable was pretty much sealing her fate.

The hard part was that since she had been shot she felt an increasing urge to have someone significant in her life. But she also knew that although Jack risked his life to save hers, he wasn't the one. After the shooting, when all was said and done, it seemed the second chance Jack wanted wasn't with her but with his wife, Maria. So after a bit of therapy and a lot of inner struggle she finally decided to close that chapter of her life. Once she was able to move on she made some other important decisions about how she would handle the delicate matter of her heart: from this point on she would no longer date men who were married, emotionally stunted and, most importantly, in law enforcement. No cops, agents, or anyone else she would have to work with; civilians only from this point on.

"So, are you ever going to let me look at that file?" Danny asked as he peered over her shoulder.

Sam snapped the manila folder shut, looked directly at Danny and replied, "I asked you several times if you wanted to review it with me but you seemed more interested in flying the friendly skies over there."

"Okay, okay. Can I please have the file now so I don't look like a total schmuck when we meet with….." She could see Danny's mental wheels spinning as he tried to remember the name of the Special Agent in Charge of the missing persons unit in Chicago.

"Louisa Roth." She supplied, wanting to spare him from having an aneurysm due to the mental strain.

"Thanks, so can I?"

"Here." She laughed and handed it to him. He opened it up and started reading through the notes while she adjusted her seatbelt. Jack gave them a brief overview of the case before telling them they had an hour to get packed and catch their flight to Chicago.

"So our missing person is Carmela Cicchini, a dancer who disappeared five years ago. No leads were found so it was placed in the inactive files. Their MP is Erica Mosconi, a housewife who vanished on her way home from her in-laws. What's the connection?"

"DNA. When Carmela disappeared, a body matching her description was found in the river so they ran a DNA check. It wasn't her but the results were kept on file. There were signs of foul play when Erica went missing, including some drops of blood on the door of her car. When they ran it, it was matched to Carmela."

Danny closed the folder as the pilot announced the plane was preparing to land. "So, what are we thinking? Carmela ran off to Chicago, got a new identity and is now pulling the disappearing act again?"

With a tilt of her head she replied, "That's what we are going to find out."

She looked out her window in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the city below but it was completely obscured by layers upon layers of clouds. She hadn't been to Chicago since she was twenty years old. Sam felt her nerves pulse at the thought that her home town of Kenosha was a short drive from the windy city. She wondered what her mom and sister were up to right at this moment. They were probably at work or maybe on their lunch break. They would have no idea that she was so close; she could do her job and get back to New York and they wouldn't even know it.

The problem was: she sort of wanted them to know.

"The captain has put on the fasten seatbelt signs to prepare for landing…." Danny's flight attendant friend announced over the intercom.

Danny put his seat back in its upright position and ignoring the fact that it was his date who was speaking, he asked, "So, do we get a rental car or is someone meeting us at the airport?"

Pulled from her reverie she turned to look at Danny as she shifted her mental gears to get back into special agent mode. "We're getting picked up. We are supposed to meet him in baggage claim." She could hear the sound of the plane preparing for descent and added, "His name is Martin Fitzgerald."