Chapter 5

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Sam opened her eyes feeling warm and sleepy. She looked around and realized that she wasn't at home in her own bed but on a sofa; Martin's sofa. Slowly the memory of coming over to Martin's late last night entered her mind and the last thing she remembered was watching Rear Window as they discussed voyeurism. She must have fallen asleep. There was a pillow under her head and she was covered by a warm, soft blanket. Martin's handy work no doubt. She pulled off the blanket and sat up to stretch. Her arms were high above her head causing her shirt to ride up and expose her belly when she heard, "Ooo…nice."

She lowered her arms and looked over to see Martin leaning against the wall smiling at her. He was wearing loose fitting cargo shorts and a grey t-shirt; his hair was spikey and flat on one side and he looked absolutely adorable. She gave him a small smile and greeted, "Good morning."

"Morning," He replied; watching her with an amused expression. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for letting me crash on your couch."

"Hey, mi casa es su casa." Martin gave her a small grin as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes. "Coffee?"

"Yes." She replied firmly.

Martin nodded and headed to the kitchen. She stood up, trailing him from behind as she finger combed out her ponytail. He was moving busily around the kitchen so she asked, "Need any help?"

"Nah, I got it. Oh, you can get the creamer out of the fridge." He added casually as he poured the coffee grounds into the coffee maker.

Sam walked over to the refrigerator and couldn't help but feel a sense of contentment at how domestic the scene felt. It was like when the early days of their relationship, when they would sleep at each others place and have breakfast the next morning. The only difference being the lack of mind blowing sex the night before. She quickly reminded herself not to go there – they were taking it slow. But, damn, it was taking all her will power to not ravage Martin when he was so close and things were going so well between them.

She looked over to where he was standing looking through his cupboards and wondered if he was having the same self-restraint issues. By his casual ease she doubted it. Of course, Martin had always managed to look comfortable in his own skin; it was a trait she envied in him. As she was studying him she couldn't help but have her gaze drift down to his rear end. Damn.

Martin turned to look at her and said, "The coffee should be done in a few minutes. Are you hungry?"

"Huh? Um, yeah, that'd be great." She stammered out.

"What would you like? I have cereal, bagels, or I can make waffles." Sam grinned and Martin immediately knew what she wanted. "Okay, waffles it is."

As he started gathering the ingredients and putting them in a bowl Sam looked over at the refrigerator. She always knew family was important to Martin and he always kept photos of his nieces and cousins on his fridge; she noticed that there were a few new additions since the last time she was here. She walked over to study them more closely. There was a photo of Martin on the Muireann with his nieces; they were all behind the helm and he was letting the girls steer. Then a photo of Martin talking with his Dad; their hair looked windswept, causing Sam to surmise that it was taken while they were sailing. The last photo was of the entire Fitzgerald family, including the two sons-in-law, standing on the deck of the sailboat.

"Since you're blocking the fridge can you grab me a couple of eggs?" Sam turned to find Martin leaning against the counter watching her with a smile.

"Sure, sorry." She opened the door and grabbed two eggs from the tray and handed them to him. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Martin took the eggs and went back to mixing the batter as he commented. "Those were taken a few days before I left."

She closed the door and replied, "It looks like it was a fun day."

"It was."

Sam sat back down but her eyes kept drifting back to the photos. The only things on the refrigerator at her place were take-out menus. "You're really lucky to get along so well with your family."

Martin poured the batter into the hot waffle iron and turned around to face her. "Yeah, most days we get along but we have our fair share of issues just like any one else."

"Doesn't seem like it, I mean, you're mom alone is great."

Martin gave a soft laugh, "The Katherine you know is very different from the mother I grew up with. Don't get me wrong, I love her but she's much better than she used to be. When I was growing up she could be smothering and very difficult to please." Martin paused, "Parker thinks it's the grandchildren that softened them up. As for me, I know moving across the country helped."

Martin trimmed off the excess batter spilling over as he continued, "And my sisters and I had our ups and downs like all siblings. It took years for us to move past that 'stop touching me – I'm not touching you' phase." He moved to retrieve plates from the cupboard. "Of course, if you ask them they would swear I was the evil doer but in my defense, if Parker didn't want her diary read she shouldn't have left it in the top shelf of her closet, tucked between blankets and in a locked box where just anyone could find it."

He turned to face Sam and gave her a wink. She emitted a soft laugh. "Oh man, you were that brother."

"Guilty as charged; but it was a two way street. They used to cause me just as much grief."

They smiled at one another and Sam softly said, "I don't know, still seems like you guys get along pretty well all things considered."

"Well, we're family." He replied, meeting her eyes. "In the end, family is all you have."

They held each others gaze until the ding of the waffle maker sounded announcing breakfast was ready.