Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, form, or fashion own Without a Trace. If I did the show would be over because Sam and Martin would already be married.

A/N: Okay, I jump around a bit during this because it was easier to clump Danny's stuff together and Victor's stuff together instead of having to switch off between two different ideas. Anyway, I also left out a lot of the case work because that's pretty straightforward and a lot of it is in the previous two chapters. Safe is next, get excited!

Muzzy-Olorea-I heart your reviews, keep sending the scary eccentric ones my way! Um, I'm going to try to stick with 1st POV, I just messed up on the first one. Do you like reading 1st or 3rd better? And I will update my other story as soon as I'm caught up with the show and not three episodes behind anymore.

POV: Jack Malone

Spoilers: Showdown

Chapter Three: Had to Be Strong

That was one of the hardest phone calls I'd ever had to endure, followed by one of the hardest phone calls I'd ever had to make.

"Hello, Special Agent Malone," said someone on Danny's phone, a voice I didn't recognize.

"Yes," I said, irritated that Danny was playing some practical joke on me so late at night after the fiasco that was the assassination of General Gamba that afternoon.

"Um…hang on…Special Agent Taylor wants me to tell you that there's been an ambush. He's fine but Martin's been hit twice." I couldn't believe my ears. This couldn't be happening, not to a team that was already out one agent; not while I was at the hospital with Vivian.

This person gave me the address for where they were and I immediately headed out of the hospital and headed to the site. Then I had to call Sam.

"Spade," she said, so casually that I could tell she was winding down from the day already.

"Sam, something's happened, I need you down here now." She put up no argument but listened intently as I told her the address.

I knew that I had to hide my horror at driving up and seeing one of my agents bleeding and unconscious on the ground and another one completely in shock. I had to hide my concern for Danny's state of mind and I had to hide from Samantha how bad things really were with Martin. I had to be strong for the team or else no one else would be.

I knew that my main priority, as much as I may dislike it, was to track down and capture Dornvald. That was in my job description. I also knew that one of my implied responsibilities was taking care of the agents below me. That's why I tricked Danny into getting his head checked out (which is how I knew he needed it because he went along with it). That's why I didn't tell Sam how bad Martin really was. I needed her help and I know that sitting at home wondering how he's doing would only tear her apart.

I can't pretend that I wasn't affected by it though. Once no one was watching I was filled with anger. How dare he think he can attack one of my agents and get away with it?

I guess that's why it was so much easier for me to step on the other shooter's wound, it was almost like payback…or karma. You shoot my field agent, I step on the part of you that got slammed into a van with a car.

I was never worried about finding Dornvald. I have found many a missing persons in my time and a guy like Dornvald could not stay hidden forever. I was more worried about finding him before he hurts someone else.

I confronted Nuru on a hunch, having no idea why in the world a man would risk capital murder with absolutely no motivation or reward. Of course he lied deliberately to my face but did not hide the guilt in his eyes. Not that it really mattered, I wouldn't have believed him even if he had done a better acting job.

When Danny came back, I was a little worried. But he said that the doctor cleared him and although he was probably inclined to be jumping back into the case too soon, the help was nice. Then he pulled out his gun a little bit too anxiously as we approached Lila Green's door. That should have sent the red flag up. I can blame my "forgetting" to keep Danny in the office on the shock of finding a murdered hooker on the floor, but truthfully I needed Danny out there with me and I thought he could handle it.

Needless to say I was wrong. Danny shooting at a blind target with an innocent bystander potentially in the line of fire was just reckless. And though he may think I was being too hard on him by sending him back to the office until I called him back out, it was necessary.

As if I wasn't having a hard enough time with two agents in the hospital and one mentally unstable, Victor Fitzgerald had to show up. If he had come as a concerned father just wanting to oversee the progress of the case, I would be okay. But no, he came as a pissed off Director who also happened to be a concerned father. And to make things even worse, he brought homeland security with him.

Hadn't I been working at the Bureau long enough to be given the benefit of the doubt when I say that I am going to find someone? Apparently not when Director Fitzgerald's son is involved. And who really cares how we get Dornvald even if it means sending an American citizen to her death, the end justifies the means right? Wrong. Not in my book. Not this time.

Then he blamed me for Martin's injury. I know that Victor doesn't like me but there has never been any reason for him to believe that I would intentionally put his son and one of my best agents into a life-threatening situation.

I was beginning to fear that Dornvald might slip through our fingers thanks to Danny's brilliant blunder and the actions of our misguided Director when Sam had a stroke of brilliance. He was targeting the loved ones of those he wished to see things his way.

It was difficult, finding Dornvald and Nuru's son in the full bus station and I couldn't believe it when I looked up and there they were, one looking fearful and the other with a gun hidden in his jacket.

I wanted to sprint up that staircase but in order to keep Dornvald oblivious to my position I had to compromise with a very brisk walk. When I got to the next floor they were nowhere to be seen. Obviously they hadn't left the building, there were only so many places to escape to.

The roof.

I was so relieved to see them on that roof top even though the second Dornvald heard me he turned around began shooting, using Nuru as a very vulnerable hostage. I ducked behind that car and stalled as I formulated a plan.

Lucky for me, Dornvald was so focused on his near getaway that he didn't expect me to come around from behind.

I watched him lying there, wounded from my shot as the policemen and Danny filed through the door, each with their guns drawn. Dornvald didn't seem to notice them. He was focused on me as I pleaded with him to drop the gun, to save his own life. Then he asked the inevitable question.

"Would you do it?" Would I drop the gun and take a traitor's life sentence over a triumphant and hero's death? No, I wouldn't. He saw it in my eyes before I answered, and knowing that I would be ending this man's life in a few seconds I felt it was my duty to answer him truthfully.

After my answer, I saw the resolve in his pain stricken gaze. I knew he would try and I knew what I had to do. I pleaded one more time and then pulled the trigger. Danny gave me a comforting smile but nothing could shake that feeling.

"Was it a good shoot?" Of course not, ending anybody's life, good or bad guy is never a "good" experience and Victor should know that.

And then he took me by surprise. He apologized for his rash actions. And although in the grand scheme of things a small apology doesn't mean much, any apology or admittance that he had been wrong from Victor Fitzgerald is huge.

I watched as a father left the office, headed to see his son. It was the first time I'd really seen the human side of Victor, and it was nice to see.

I knew he would run into Samantha there. She did not specify where she was headed as she bolted from my office a half hour earlier but it didn't take a rocket scientist to tell. Who knows what Victor would encounter upon seeing her. Perhaps a wrecked and broken woman, perhaps a grieving friend, I'm not really sure. Only time will tell and I'll make sure not to be the last to know this time around.

I headed back to my office to finish up some paperwork, something neither Danny nor Samantha had considered important. I finished an hour later and headed to the hospital myself to find Victor and his wife sitting in Martin's room. He was awake and very groggy but I saw the joy on Victor's face.

I left around eight that night, a mixture of emotions coursing through my body. Elation at seeing my agent all right and finishing a case. Distraught at the fact that I had killed someone only hours before. Horrified at the thought of Martin's parents almost losing their child.

And as I walked out to my car and sat down, instead of starting my car and heading back to my lonely apartment, I pulled out my cell phone and called Hanna and Kate in Chicago.

A/N-I hope you liked it. I really think that sometimes I am too hard on Jack because of the whole S/M/J thing last season. He really isn't that bad so I tried to portray him in a good light.

If you haven't figured out by now, I am most definitely an M/S shipper. I hate the thought of Sam and Jack together. Gross. So, a lot of things are going to be very biased towards a reconciliation between those two in this fic but I will try to restrict my very random embellishments from being too fictional. For example, if it is very obvious that on the show Sam and Martin are not back together (although I pray that they will be) I will not have them making out in the break room in a chapter.

Well, this has been a long enough author's note. I have one more thing to say and then you can stop reading this…review! Hooray!