A.N.: Thanks for all your reviews – you guys are awesome! Here are two more chapters for you.

Chapter 39:

„What's is it that you are trying to hide from me?"

She had actually believed he would come up with that question way earlier and she had hoped she wouldn't be the one to tell him. She had no wish to be around him when he would finally get to know about Elizabeth's disappearance. But she really didn't know how to start.

She thought about lying to him for a moment, but she knew she couldn't do that. He deserved to know the truth – as hard and painful as it was. She owed him that much, especially when taking into consideration who had most probably taken Elizabeth. She took an audible, deep breath and gave him a look of sympathy.

„Elizabeth..."

„What about her?"

She had really hoped he would have understood what she was trying to tell him in first place – she didn't want to go any more deeper into the matter. As it had been Jack's decision in first place not to tell Danny, this really shouldn't be her job. She shouldn't be forced to inform him. But he had asked her and now she had started, she couldn't pull away from this any more.

„She disappeared."

He didn't say a single thing, but he didn't need to. His facial expression – the emotions showing on it, told her more than words ever could have, more than she actually wanted to know. She had just informed him about something he hadn't had even the slightest idea about and he had been completely unprepared.

She could see realization dawn in his eyes. He knew exactly what had happened to her, who had been responsible for her disappearance and he knew even better what she most definitely had been forced to suffer from as soon as she had been in the wrath of her kidnappers. He knew she was dead and he knew she could be lucky about the day, she had finally been allowed to pass away.

It seemed to her like he felt sick – all the color being drained from his face and – although she couldn't even imagine what he and also Elizabeth had gone through – she could understand it. It must be a horrible sensation. He had finally managed to escape his attackers' wrath and now it came back on him full force.

And she wasn't even sure he had actually managed to break free from them. Physically he had, of course. He was here, he had returned to his normal life, but that didn't mean much of anything. It was his state of mind that was the decisive part of this whole matter. And she was almost sure that – in his mind – they were still there, he still hadn't escaped them.

"Wha... What...happened?"

It had taken him a lot of strength to even ask the question and she clearly knew that he already was aware of what had happened, he knew who had made Elizabeth disappear. He simply didn't want to admit it, didn't wanna say it out loud, didn't want it to be true. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he still had some hope. But she couldn't keep it up for him.

"We believe she has been kidnapped..."

"By them..."

She didn't need to answer to that question, that response of his. He had more been talking to himself than to anyone else, allowing realization to sink in and try to understand what consequences were emerging from it, what that meant for Elizabeth – for her life and her chances of survival.

He looked to her like he was in desperate need of sitting down. The physical reaction to the information he had asked her to give him seemed to much to take for his already traumatized mind. She felt for him, although she wouldn't tell him that. He would most definitely misunderstand it as pity and she didn't wanna aggravate his desperate feelings any more.

He managed to find his voice again, almost surprising her, for she had been pretty sure he didn't wanna know anything else about it – had already heard enough. But maybe he needed to hear this, needed to hear the truth from her – a truth that had be kept from him. Just that she wasn't sure, telling him how long it had actually be held back from him wouldn't help the situation much. Unfortunately he would leave her no choice.

"How long...?"

"It's almost two months now."

He rather didn't believe what she was saying or he simply wasn't able to react – complete disbelief showing on his face. She was aware of the fact that this response meant something completely different to him, than it meant to her. He knew what had happened to Beth since she had been kidnapped, he had experienced it himself – he knew what these men were capable of.

Sam herself really didn't wanna know. She never wanted to be confronted with whatever he still knew about his experience. She knew she wouldn't be able to cope with that. She already had troubles to act normal around him, but knowing this, knowing what suffering he had gone through – she would be unable to ever treat him like she had done before ever again.

He finally managed to put some words together – words he had been searching for, while he was struggling with his memory, struggling to keep his emotions at bay to not have her see them. However it hadn't worked out that well. But he wasn't to blame for that – actually it was the one normal and healthy reaction she had seen from him in days. He was giving in to that emotions.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

She wouldn't lie to him, but neither would she take the blame for it. This hadn't been her decision and therefore it wasn't her task to defend the choice been made. She was aware that doing this - without having Jack know about it - wasn't fair. But from that point of view, it hadn't been fair to lie to Danny in first place.

There had been a certain responsibility to take care of their co-worker's state of mind and take it into consideration when making this choice. Up to this morning she never had considered it the wrong choice, she simply hadn't felt comfortable with it.

But now – seeing Danny's reaction and realizing that so far he had been able to cope with it without the expected breakdown Dr. Riber had presumed – she started to think about it again and she answered his question honestly.

"It was Jack's decision."