Title: Scenes from a Courtship
Disclaimer: Not mine, I'm just playing.
Summary: A series of scenes from Sam and Martin's relationship. In the same universe as "A Long Weekend."
Rating: If you are old enough to use the internet you are old enough to read this.
Chapter 5
A special thanks to Claire and "she who wishes not to be named" for beta reading.
Who Are You and What Have You Done with Victor Fitzgerald?
"Samantha, you really need to go and get checked out. I swear you were out for a couple seconds when you went down and you are developing a real shiner," said Danny to Sam as they got off the elevator. "I'll get Jack and Martin to tag team you into getting checked." Danny was both looking concerned and smirking at the same time as only Danny Taylor could do.
"Danny, I'm fine. I was not out, I was stunned, and I will get an ice pack for my eye and finish my work. Besides, you know how much I hate hospitals. It's not like I'm going to go to sleep or be by myself."
Unseen to Danny and Sam, Victor Fitzgerald came from behind then and said "Agent Spade, Agent Taylor it looks like things have already gotten a little rough today."
"Yes, Sir," replied Danny. "Agent Spade helped NYPD subdue an escaping perp. In the scuffle she got a black eye and hit her head."
"I hadn't heard we had any cases we were working with NYPD. I'm always glad to see proactive cooperation with local law enforcement," said Victor.
Sam stood rooted to the spot hoping that Danny would just drop it before the Deputy Director and her boyfriend's father heard this embarrassing story. She wasn't sure which felt worse being embarrassed professional or socially.
"Well, Sir," said Danny smirking. "It wasn't really an active case. Agent Spade and I were coming from a lecture at John Jay when we encountered NYPD in pursuit of a suspect. Since we were closer, we helped apprehend him. Agent Spade subdued him and I was cuffing him when he got one arm loose enough to elbow Agent Spade in the eye, which caused her to loose her balance since she was standing on a banana peel someone had dropped on the sidewalk"
"Thank you, Agent Taylor," said Victor smiling. "I'd like to have a few words with Agent Spade. Could you locate my son and Agent Malone and have them meet us in the conference room?"
"Certainly, Sir," replied Danny.
As Danny walked off, Victor looked Sam over and said "Good job, even if it feels undignified to you." He gestured for Sam to follow him to the conference room. "Agent Spade, may I call you Samantha since this is somewhat personal?"
"Of course," Sam replied somewhat puzzled.
"I know that you and Martin are having dinner with my wife and me tonight. My wife has trouble getting her mind around the fact that you are trained to bring down and subdue men larger than you are. It would make Martin's and my life much easier and dinner much more pleasant, if we could say that a doctor had looked at you, Samantha. It could greatly limit the amount of fussing Helen will do. Otherwise, Martin and I will get a very long lecture on not taking care of you. Which, while I understand you don't need it, is something that we could never convince my wife of," stated Victor.
At the same time, Danny tracked down Martin and Jack. He filled them in briefly about Sam's incident and Victor was waiting in the conference room with Sam.
"Martin, what do you think your father wants?" asked Jack looking slightly confused and somewhat wary.
"I have no idea," said Martin looking equally confused and even more wary.
Martin and Jack entered the conference room just in time to hear Victor say, "Samantha why don't you go find a fresh ice pack and get cleaned up a bit." Sam left through the door on the other side of them room."
"Agent Malone, Martin, I think Samantha should be checked out at the hospital. Agent Taylor says she was out for a minute. She disagrees. Agent Malone, I'm not sure which one of them is correct, but Samantha and Martin are supposed to join my wife for dinner tonight. Martin and I will never hear the end of it, if Samantha shows up with a big black eye, having hit her head on the sidewalk, and my wife finds out Samantha has not seen a doctor," stated Victor. "With your permission, I would like to order her to get checked out and Martin to accompany her."
"Certainly," replied Jack. "Sam is stubborn about hospitals and she should have it looked at. I'll leave you two to deal with it. We have no hot cases at the moment so feel free to order her home to rest if the doctors don't think she needs someone to keep an eye on her."
"Thanks Jack," says Martin as Jack walks out of the room.
Victor starts in "Martin, I know you would like me to stay out of your work life, but this seemed like a matter of self-preservation for both of us."
"Dad, you are right, besides its good leverage with Sam," replied Martin to his father smiling at him. One thing that united the Fitzgerald men was avoiding a flustered and upset Helen whenever possible.
Sam came back cleaned-up, with a fresh ice pack. Victor ordered Sam and Martin off to the hospital. He added the proviso that unless the doctors wanted her watched she was to go home for the rest of the day. If she needed to be watched she could come lay down on one of the office couches.
"Martin who was that and what did he do with the scary Victor Fitzgerald who hated Jack?" asked Sam still slightly confused by the encounter.
"I'm not sure," replied Martin. "I think my mom has been working on him. Besides, as much as we disagree, he does want me to be happy and you make me happy. Also, while my mother has no problem with women as agents, she's from a different time. Dad and I would catch hell for not taking care of you. Think of it as keeping the peace." He smiled at Sam and flashed his dimples to help out his request.
"Fine, but I hate hospitals!' whined Sam. "I am glad your father doesn't completely hate me though."
"Sam, no one who knows you could ever hate you," replied Martin looking at Sam adoringly.
Luckily, the emergency room was quiet during the middle of the day. Sam was checked over quickly and declared to be just fine. She was warned not to try to use any make-up to cover her black eye for the next 72 hours to avoid infection. By the time they were done at the hospital, Sam was getting a raging headache so Martin took her home and headed back to the office.
Back at the office, Martin approached Danny asking, "So what really happened today? I suspect I might have gotten the toned down version from Sam."
Danny relayed the story, smirking about the banana part, and asked "How is Sam and what is with your father?"
"Sam is fine, although she has a bad headache and was ordered by the Deputy Director to spend the rest of the day at home. There are only a few people that Deputy Director Fitzgerald fears tangling with and one of those is Helen Fitzgerald. Sam and I were supposed to have dinner with them tonight. My mother understands stuff like this is part of the job, and she'd string anyone up by their toes who said a woman shouldn't have this job, but at the same time she'd be ready to string Dad and me up for not taking proper care of a lady," explained Martin.
"I think I understand," mused Danny.
"I'd better go clue Jack in about Sam," said Martin.
Martin walked in to Jack's office saying somewhat contritely, "Sam is fine and she is at home sleeping off a bad headache. I know we promised to keep our personal life out of the office and I'm sorry my father interfered."
"Martin, don't worry. Sam should have been checked out and I suspect this meant less arguing. She'd have argued with me, but not with Deputy Director Fitzgerald. Besides sometimes mothers should just be appeased," stated Jack smiling. "Feel free to play the boyfriend card to get her to do stuff I'm going to order her to do anyway. We'd have had a problem if you had been pissed at Danny about this happening in a way you wouldn't have been if it was Viv or Elena. We'll have a problem if you have arguments about the proper placement of the tooth paste cap in the office." Jack was enjoying watching the young agent squirm during his speech. Jack was happy for Sam and Martin, but still enjoyed teasing Martin just a bit and keeping him guessing about the extent to of Jack's approval.
"Thanks Jack," said Martin.
"No problem. If nothing new comes up be sure and leave early enough so that you can pick Sam up and not make her face your mother with a black eye by herself. Less chance for your mother to get all worked up," said Jack.
"You're the boss," said Martin smiling.
About an hour or so later, Martin's phone rang. It was his mother telling him that his father's schedule has changed. They rescheduled dinner for Saturday night.