Chapter Three: Midnight dawn.

Sam rolled over and looked at the clock on his bedside table, 00:20. He sighed and returned to the centre of his bed and to Addison's warmth. He felt her inhale peacefully as he nuzzled into her and reached over her body to find her hand. He loved it when he caught her in that idyllic world between sleeping and waking, when the boundaries were blurred and she was both peaceful and attentive, it was then that he stole glimpses of their future, glimpses of peace and openness, glimpses of a time when they no longer had to sneak around and hide their feelings for each other.

"Hey," he said softly as he found her hand underneath the covers and wrapped his fingers around hers.

"Hey" Addison replied sleepily accepting his hand in hers.

"It's past midnight" Sam whispered into her bare shoulder, as if whispering had the ability to soften the statement and the events that followed it.

Addison inhaled deeply as she woke up and took in Sam's words. The soft sigh that emanated from her mouth told Sam she was comfortable.

"Stay" Sam suggested, understanding her inhalation without the need for an explanation, an inhalation that explained exactly how he was feeling too.

"I can't" Addison said as she rolled over to face him "Amelia will be home."

Sam opened his mouth to protest, he wanted her to stay in his bed, wanted to wake up with her, wanted to eat breakfast with her, wanted to be with her, but he knew why she had to go, he understood. He knew that if Amelia knew about them that it would make it difficult for Addison, he didn't want it to be awkward for her, plus, they had agreed that they both owed it to Naomi to tell her before anyone else.

Addison slid out of bed and grabbed her clothes from the floor where they lay after being hastily dispatched a few hours before. She pulled on her trousers and ran her fingers through her hair.

"See you in the morning" she smiled as she crawled back onto the bed to kiss him goodbye.

Sam welcomed the kiss and allowed his hand to explore the skin under her top, he missed the feel of her skin almost instantly as she pulled away from the kiss and headed for the door.

This time it was Addison's turn to take a midnight stroll across the chilly garden and back to her own house. After slowly opening the sliding doors she crept upstairs and, taking particular care passing Amelia's bedroom, made her way into her bedroom. As she kicked off her shoes and approached her own cold bed she saw her phone light up on the nightstand. She smiled, there was only one person who would text her at this time of night.

Will you come back before work?

She smiled as she read the message, as if he had to ask. The last few weeks had been hard, what with Dell's death and Maya's accident she felt more defeated than ever. The Addison of a month ago wouldn't be where she was, she wouldn't be coping, she wouldn't be facing the pain, but she was, it hurt but she was and it was because of him, it was because of his strength and his belief in her and more than anything it was because of the way he loved her.

Get some sleep x

She quickly replied before slipping under the cold bed covers and setting an alarm for 6.00am.

"I hope I didn't wake you last night" Amelia said cheerily as she entered Addison's kitchen and headed for the coffee pot.

"No," Addison replied, relieved that she'd, once again, managed to return home undetected. "I didn't hear anything last night, I was so tired."

There was a silence as Addison wondered if Amelia did in fact know about her midnight antics and was testing her, Sam always said she worried too much, that Amelia had no reason to suspect anything was going on.

"You're up early" Addison stated in order to kill the silence and prevent Amelia from filling the void with a probing question.

"Early morning yoga" Amelia replied with a smile.

"Yoga" Addison repeated as she only half attempted to smother a smile.

Amelia looked at her friend over the rim of her coffee cup, Addison knew her so well, she couldn't get away with anything under her gaze but still, she enjoyed the banter.

"Healthy and beneficial" Amelia smiled as she thought of the real reason she was heading over to the gym, the six foot, brown eyed reason.

Addison took the opportunity to capitalise on the diversion she'd managed to created and grabbed her bag and some files from the table before and placing her cup in the sink.

"Where are you off to so early?" Amelia asked, she was eager to let Addison in on her real reason for going to the gym, she wanted to discuss the hot new prospect she'd unearthed with the one woman she knew would understand her pursuit.

"Oh, I just need to go over some files with Sam before heading to the surgery, he made a referral to me" Addison felt the words tumble from her mouth, did they sound too rehearsed? Would Amelia see past her excuse and rumble her?

"Oh" Amelia moaned only half seriously as she headed towards the staircase in anticipation of the long hot shower she was about to take "can we talk 'yoga' later?" she smiled cheekily.

Addison laughed at the way her friend's face lit up as she spoke " 'yoga' later" she replied as she watched Amelia bound off up the stairs.

As Addison let herself into Sam's house her nose told her that he was in the kitchen making coffee.

"Morning" she smiled as she entered the kitchen taking him by surprise.

"Morning" he replied as he crossed the kitchen to greet her. He planted a light kiss on her lips and wrapped his arms around her waist. "you came back" he said quietly as he ran his hand up and down her back. He felt his body stir as her scent filled his air, she always smelt amazing, he loved it when her smell lingered, sometimes he would inhale deeply when he was alone in an attempt to recapture the perfume she inevitably left on his suit jacket each day, but for now he didn't need to search for remnants of her because she was right there in his hands.

"Of course I did" she replied softly as his hands moved lower.

"You look very…" Sam searched for the word to fit what was standing before him.

"Very what?" she teased with a raised eyebrow and a smile as she watched him taking her in.

"Very…" he let his hands explore the length of her body and the figure hugging back dress she was wearing "perfect" he replied as he pulled her into him. "You're not making it easy for me" he smiled as he lost his resolve and kissed her.

He knew he needed to make the most of the time they had together, soon they would have to leave the security of his house and step out into the world and uphold the act they'd been putting on for the past month. They had decided to stay away from each other at work, snatched moments weren't what he wanted, wasn't what they were, they weren't an office romance, a roll in the hay, they were serious, they were happy. Still, it was difficult seeing her at work every day and not being able to talk to her the way he wanted to, not being able to visit her in her office and tell her that, despite her proximity, he missed her.