"You know it and Jack knows it too."

Sam Prescott dropped the bags in his hand on plush beige carpet of Danielle Melnick's bedroom and extited the room; making a bee line for the liquor cart in the living room. Melnick's words were still echoing in his ear when she joined him a few minutes later.

"The last train to Islip left a half an hour ago," she said as she took one of the two brandy snifters from his hand."So unless you plan to swim home, you can run, but you can't hide Sam."

"I wasn't plannin' on doin' either," he said wearily."I was just tryin' to avoid havin' a confrontation not an hour after pickin' you up from the airport. I have been lookin' forward to your homecomin' all week, darlin'. Let's not spoil it by fightin' about my ex-wife."

"We're not fighting about your ex-wife," Melnick said pensively."We're fighting about you."

"Sweetheart, why can't you see it doesn't matter," Prescott said with exasperation."The judge replaced me with Abbie Carmichael as lead prosecutor. Besides the way things are going, Canada may be granted extradition before this thing gets to trial anyway, so..."

"So does that mean you knew you'd never take it to trial from the start? We're you just screwing with Jack one more time or were you grand standing for Brooke," Melnick asked bluntly.

"Danielle how can you even..."

"Because I'm not stupid," she shot back ignoring the hurt in his eyes.

The day trip she'd taken to Vermont to supervise a deposition for a pending case, had turned into a weeklong disaster. While she was dealing with the fall out, she had kept track of Malinowski's kidnapping and subsequent release, via the media.

The night she left town she saw her lover big as life on the evening news, announce his intention to not only see that the case fell under federal jurisdiction, but to take on the role of lead prosecutor.

If she hadn't already given him her word, Melnick would have had her assistant offer her services to the accused pro bono, just to make her position unmistakably clear to her to sam Prescott. Although she knew going into the relationship Prescott still had strong feelings for his former wife Melnick had hoped, in time, those feelings would fade. It was that hope that had kept her in the game in spite of the strain dating Sam Prescott put on her friendships with both the DA and her fellow defense attorney's. The latter shocked and appalled Melick that was not only dating, but obviously in love with, a 'Fed'.

When she learned Prescott had used just about every favor the man had owed to him to get the case ...i.e. to get his hands on any and all records pertaining to the case... Melnick wasn't sure how much more she could tolerate.

"No one in this room thinks you're stupid," Prescott said, taking the glass from her hand. "You're not only one of the most intelligent people I've ever met; you're a beautiful and compassionate woman. You're not only the woman I want sharin' my bed, you're the woman I want sharin' my life."

Before she could respond, Prescott took her in his arms and kissed her in a way she'd kissed with a mixture of tenderness and urgent passion made Melnick's head spin, as she brought her arms tightly around his neck. By the time Prescott brought her back up and released her, she had to remind herself of the reason they were still standing in her living room and not her bedroom.

"That was a nice distraction, but why'd you do it Sam," she asked as she tried to catch her breath while moving to the sofa."Why wasn't it enough for you to just know she'd been found alive and was safe?"

Prescott sighed and took a long swallow of his brandy. He took a seat at the opposite end of the sofa and thoughtfully chewed on his lower lips several seconds before he leaned back and tried to respond.

"To be honest, I'm not sure why. When I heard she'd been found alive, I was relieved. But my first thought wasn't to charge down to the hospital and declare my undying love," he began with a wink."Nah. I made a few calls, just to see if the captors had been...well... captured. I left you a voice mail and went on about my day. It wasn't until I went to Clancy's to grab a quick lunch that I even thought about going after that case."

Melnick looked at him curiously as she slipped her heels off and moved slightly closer to the center of the sofa.

"What happened at Clancy's?"

"The bartender had CNN on. I saw a clip of them taking Mal out of McCoy's building..."

"McCoy's…they were holding Brooke in Jack's apartment building," Melnick said as she thought of the guilt fest her friend must be going through.

"Yep, "Prescott said as he continued, "looks like she's been right under his nose the whole time. Anyway, seeing her bloody and broken…damn it Danielle … when the commentator remarked on the possibility the case would be heard in Canada, it hit me. Those animals treated her worse than you would a dog and they wouldn't even be facing the death penalty. That's when I decided to step in. I knew if the case were heard in federal court I could easily seek the death penalty when the time came."

"Sam, you know how I feel about the death penalty."

"I know how you feel about my ex wife, as well," he said closing the distance between them and placing an arm around her shoulders."While I won't say I agree with you on either subject, I will say I respect your feelin's. But these are two issues we will just have to agree to disagree on. Those men would have used her up before they eventually killed her, Danielle. I want to see them pay, just as much as if they'd taken you or Lindsay or even Abbie Carmichael. I'd feel this way if l any woman I care about went through what Mal went through."

Melnick sighed and leaned against his chest as she looked up into his eyes.

"You must think I'm not only a fool, but a petty one, at that."

"Danielle Melnick is nobody's fool," he responded as he hugged her tightly."As for petty,never. I know my relationship with Mal is more than you bargained for. Most women would have given me some sort of ultimatum about it long before now."

Prescott quickly placed a finger on Melnick already parted lips, knowing immediately what was coming.

"And, for the record, that in no way was meant to imply you are 'most women'"

Melnick shook her head in disbelief.

"I'll give Brooke this: She taught you well while you two were together."

"Listen, honey. I know it takes more than a kiss and some sweet talk to convince Danielle Melnick to let anything go," he as he stood and offered her his hand."But it's late and we're both tired so either throw me out or tell which bed you want me to sleep in."

Melnick's hesitated for a moment. Her pride told her a man she couldn't have completely, was a man she didn't need. Her heart told her, what she did have was too valuable to give up without a fight.

Melnick ignored his hand and began removing the sofa cushions.

Prescott nodded, resigned to sleep on the hide a bed and reached forward to move the coffee table to one side.

"Why are you just standing there," she asked as opened the bed.

"Why am I…what should I be doin'?"

Melnick pointed first to the empty brandy snifters, then to the fireplace.

"You promised me an evening by fire light before I left town," she said as she sat on the edge of the bed."Tired or not, a promise is still a promise."

"That it is," he said, realizing how narrowly he'd dodged the bullet this time.

As he moved towards the fireplace he wondered how soon and how close the next shot would be.