The sound of the alarm pierced Martin's consciousness; he heard Maggie groan and felt her reach out trying to hit the snooze button. Two failed attempts and then peace as her third attempt was successful.

She was lying on her side facing away from him; he slipped his arm around her waist and moved his body so that they were pressed together, his mouth traced a line of kisses down her neck and along her shoulder blade while he allowed his hand to gently caress her hip and then continue down over her thigh. She moaned softly and he felt her push her hips back eliciting a response that had her chuckling.

He moved his mouth so that it hovered next to her ear; 'What time do you have to be at court?'

'8am', she turned over to face him and kissed him passionately, sliding her leg up and then hooking it around his waist. Martin moved quickly, pinning her beneath him on the bed as he returned her kiss…..

'Damn', the alarm sounded again and they both collapsed in giggles. Martin reached over and turned it off.

She smiled apologetically at him; 'I need to have a shower otherwise I'll be late and I promised Danny I'd buy him breakfast,' she slid from the bed and walked toward the bathroom; as she reached the door she turned and smiled at him, 'join me if you like…….'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'You've got a message'

'Huh?' Maggie was checking the contents of her case at the same time as sliding her feet into her shoes and slipping her coat on.

Martin indicated toward the phone; 'Someone's rung and left a message; must have been when we were in the shower,' he grinned at her, 'do you want me to play it?'

'Mmmm, go on then' she was closing her case whilst still trying to get her coat on

'Maggie, it's Robert, I'm sorry, I couldn't talk last night,' Martin saw the shock on Maggie's face; Robert sounded desperate and close to tears, 'I need to see you, there's no-one else I can trust…..Maggie please call me back on my cell…….I really need your help'

She stared blankly at Martin, 'That's how he sounded when he rang two nights ago.'

'He can't have called more than 40 minutes ago, call him back,' he saw her glance at her watch, 'don't worry I'll run you to the courthouse and we can call Danny and let him know you're running late'

She dialled his number, 'It's going to message service,' she paused while the message played then, 'Robert its Maggie, I'm sorry I missed your call, call me back on my cell as soon as you can.'

Martin hugged her briefly, 'Come on, I'll get you to the courthouse'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'How did it go?'

Danny swung around at the sound of Jack's voice; he shrugged his shoulders, 'Maggie was right, they tried to make it seem that I intimidated Donnelly and that I've a history of beating up on suspects'

'Did they do much damage?' Martin perched on the edge of Danny's desk

Danny grinned and shook his head, 'Your girlfriend is one smart lawyer, Child's tried to get me rattled and when I didn't bite he asked about complaints I'd had against me. You could tell he was expecting Maggie to object, when she didn't Judge Goodwin jumped in and reminded her that the defence has no right to expect to introduce this type of evidence but she just stood there and said that she has no problem with the line of questioning because she knew that the jury was too intelligent to fall for such a cheap tactic.'

Danny leaned back in his chair; 'Child's got me to tell him about a couple of complaints of intimidation I had lodged against me, you know, making out that I have a habit of beating confessions out of suspects. Maggie stood up and got me to explain them again only of course she went on to ask me to explain their outcomes and how they were dismissed as being without foundation.' he was laughing now,

'Then she produced figures to show how many arrests I have made or been involved in over the same time period but the best bit was when she produced the Bureau's Code of Conduct and some official statistics of how many complaints were upheld last year. She showed that the Bureau takes this sort of thing seriously and left the Jury in no doubt that if I had beaten up on a suspect that I would have been canned. Child's tried objecting but of course because he had opened the door he didn't have a leg to stand on,' Danny was clearly enjoying the memory, 'Goodwin was having trouble not laughing he was enjoying it so much.'

Jack grinned, 'I'd have paid good money to see Child's face, I bet it was the last thing he expected.'

'He looked pretty pissed and to make things worse I was their final witness; they're doing closing arguments now and it looks as if the judge will send the jury out at the end of today'

'Was Maggie OK?'

Danny looked surprised, 'She was on fire,' he looked curiously at Martin, 'why'd you ask?'

'Ah, nothing, just a phone call she got before we left this morning kind of upset her,' he saw Jack and Danny look at each other and then back at him, he explained further 'her ex fiancée seems to be in some sort of trouble and has called her a couple of times wanting her to help him. She got another call this morning and it rattled her a bit'

Danny looked at his watch; 'Well it didn't show in court, but I reckon they will be breaking for lunch at around 1pm so you could give her a call then'

'You might not have time', Viv and Sam were approaching rapidly, 'we've just had a call to say a woman has been abducted in Westchester…………..'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At 8:30am the following morning Martin and Danny sat in the waiting area of Mount Sinai Hospital where Louise Davidson was being checked over, both wanting to make sure she was OK before leaving her in the care of her family and returning to the office;

FLASHBACK

Louise Davidson, mother of three and the wife of Gavin Davidson, a wealthy Wall Street Broker, had been kidnapped returning home from her morning workout at her country club gym. A ransom demand for $5 million had arrived shortly after with instructions that the money be wired by 9am the following morning to an account in Grand Caymen.

Jack had spent his time at the Davidson's home dealing with Gavin Davidson. Davidson, clearly used to getting his own way, was furious that the FBI were involved claiming that he believed that this increased his wife's chances of being killed, however Jack suspected that his rage had more to do with having something to hide, a view seemingly confirmed when the background checks carried out by Martin and Danny threw up a long term mistress in an east side apartment plus evidence that Davidson had been moving money off shore.

Viv and Sam had concentrated on Louise but from their investigations it became apparent that she was content in her life was an excellent mother and corporate wife and seemingly had no enemies.

As the time for the ransom payment approached Jack had become increasingly convinced that Davidson was behind the whole thing as a means of getting the last of his money away from his wife; Viv and Sam had run checks on Davidson's mistress, Teresa Montague and these had shown an ex-boyfriend with a record which included assault and attempted kidnapping.

Teresa was interviewed at length and her apartment was searched. A diary was found that set out the whole plan she and Davidson had hatched; faced with this evidence she gave up Davidson plus her ex-boyfriend who had been hired to kidnap Louise. Upon raiding the address she gave, Danny, Viv and Martin found Louise alive and unharmed; Jack and Sam had the pleasure of arresting Gavin Davidson.

END OF FLASHBACK

'God, I hope we don't get another case today' Danny was slouched down in the chair, long legs stretched out in front of him, his chin resting on his chest.

'Hmm', Martin took another sip of his coffee, eyed it in distaste before standing up and emptying it into the bin next to the coffee machine, 'that was disgusting'

Danny grinned, he could drink his coffee any way it came, but Martin struggled to drink the muck that vending machines invariably served, 'You should be used to it by now, it's no worse than the stuff that comes out of the machine on our floor'

Martin shrugged and Danny saw him pull his phone from his pocket then look up again at the notice on the wall before putting the phone back in his pocket, frustration etched on his face;

'All cellular phones must remain switched off on his floor'

'I'll wait and speak to the Doctor, you go and phone Maggie and I'll meet you at the car'

Martin hesitated for a moment then, seeing the bemused look on Danny's face, pulled a wry face and headed for the exit.

When Danny had finished speaking to the Doctor and made sure that Louise had someone with her he headed to where they had parked the car; he could see Martin standing next to it, the phone to his ear looking worried. He ended the call as Danny approached;

'You OK, did you speak to her?'

'No, I can't reach her; I've tried her at home, on the cell and at her office, nothing'

Danny could see the worry in Martin's eyes and couldn't blame him; 'What about messages, has she left a message for you?'

'The last message I got was at 6pm yesterday when she was leaving the courthouse. She said that closing went well and that she was headed home and would call me before she went to bed but she hasn't called'

Danny didn't bother to ask if this was unusual; he knew Martin well enough by now to know that he didn't overreact to things like this; if he was worried, he had a reason to be………….

Martin continued, 'What if she went to meet Robert and something happened?'

'Do you know his number; can you call him and see if he knows anything?'

Martin started to open his mouth to reply when his cell rang; he grabbed it quickly 'Fitzgerald'

He listened for a minute, his face darkening; 'No, I haven't heard from her either', he listened again, 'yes, I'll do that and I'll call you as soon as I've checked'

He looked up at Danny; 'That was her office, she hasn't shown up at court and no-one has heard from her, I said I'd swing by the apartment and check it out'

Danny stared at him for a moment and knew both of them were thinking the worst; he pulled himself together; 'Come on, we'll ring Jack on the way and let him know what we are doing, you keep calling her cell in case she's just been stuck on the subway without a signal'

The rush hour traffic was easing but the journey was still slow and Danny could feel Martin's frustration building; Danny had managed to reach Viv to let her know what was going on and she had promised to try and track down Robert to see if he knew anything. Eventually they reached the apartment and headed up to the 6th floor; Danny noticed that Martin had a key, a fact that would have been worth a few sarky comments if the circumstances hadn't been as they were.

The door to the apartment was closed and all was quiet, in fact everything was very normal except for the blood stain on the door handle……………….Danny saw Martin's face and grabbed his arm; 'It could be nothing, you know, a paper cut or something as she left this morning, there's no blood trail' he saw Martin take a deep breath and nod, then insert the key into the door and turn it slowly.

The door opened and Danny went in first…………'shit'; Martin followed quickly and could see the signs of a struggle; Danny entered the living room and the shock stopped him for a heartbeat then the training kicked in; 'one down'………………………….

All Martin could see was Maggie lying on the floor, curled up as if she was trying to protect herself and blood everywhere, on the floor, on the wall and on her, he knelt by her side and checked for a pulse……………….

Danny had gone past Maggie, checking the kitchen, the bedroom and the bathroom; 'Clear', he returned at a run; 'Is she alive?' Martin didn't respond, instead he just stared at him blankly. Danny knelt down and checked for a pulse and felt relief flood him as he found one; he sat back and pulled out his cell, 'This is Special Agent Taylor with the FBI, I need an ambulance and the police……………………..'