As the morning progressed the atmosphere grew more and more uncomfortable, as none of the team members seemed willing to speak to each other and Martin was forced to work in silence.

Vivian seemed lost in her own world; Jack hadn't left his office yet, and Danny sat at his desk, brooding silently, his eyes fixed on his computer screen. Martin could see him from the corner of his eyes; he had taken of his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt as he caught up on his paperwork.

Sam threw Martin occasional glances, but she didn't want to raise suspicion and so she wasn't talking to him either. Martin sighed. She was behaving very strangely and he didn't know what to do. They had talked about it a dozen times, but no conversation and especially no arguments had made any difference so far.

Reminding himself that he had work to do, Martin turned his attention back to yet another report he had to write.

At one p.m. precisely Danny closed the file that was lying beside his keyboard, shut down his computer and stood up. He rolled down his sleeves and put his suit jacket on, ready to leave. As he walked past Martin's desk, he noticed Martin look at him and obviously felt as if he should explain.

"I'm going to lunch", he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

The word lunch made Martin's stomach grumble and quickly, before Danny could leave, he asked: "Mind if I join you?"

Danny stopped and turned around to look at Martin. He smiled sarcastically: "I you want to."

Martin didn't answer, just shut down his computer and quickly got up to follow Danny, who seemed to have no intention of waiting for him.

Twenty minutes later they were sitting in the coffee shop across the street as Martin watched Danny attack his lunch hungrily. No words were exchanged as they ate, but Martin was confused because he had never seen Danny wolf his food down like that.

When he had finished Danny leaned back and for the first time that day he looked almost relaxed. He almost smiled at Martin when he finally looked up and met his friend's eyes. "Man that was good. Didn't realise how hungry I was."

Martin smiled back. "Never underestimate what a good meal can do to lighten your mood."

For a moment there was no reaction from Danny, but then he laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like you."

Martin felt relieved. Maybe, with Danny's mood getting better, the afternoon wouldn't be as bad as the morning. And maybe now his friend was ready to talk about what had caused the bad mood he'd been in all morning.

"What's been going on?"

"Huh?"

"This morning – what's been going on with you?"

Danny's expression changed and got darker again, and Martin started to regret having asked.

"None of your business", Danny finally said, and Martin had to swallow hard to keep himself from snapping at him.

"I thought we were friends", he finally managed to say, in a neutral tone, although he felt disappointed and offended by Danny's words.

Danny remained silent for a long while and Martin watched him, looking for signs of uneasiness or guilt for his harsh words – but there were none. Finally Danny leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and looked Martin straight in the eyes.

"Look", he said, his voice sounding softer now. "It's not that I don't trust you, or anything. I just don't want to talk about it. Not now at least, okay?" He paused and Martin nodded. "Besides, it's not like you tell me about what's going on with you, either", Danny added.

"What do you mean?" Martin asked, his stomach churning.

Danny stared at him with a blank expression. "I think you know exactly what I mean. Now let's get going, we have to be back at work soon." He stood up and pulled on his coat. Still thinking about what he could have meant by his words and how much he really knew, Martin followed him.

………………

If Martin had thought the afternoon was going to be better than the morning he quickly came to realise that he had been mistaken. Nothing had changed except that Danny was a little more talkative, occasionally turning around at his desk to complain about being bored to anybody who was willing to listen.

Time passed by slowly and Martin began to wonder if the day was ever going to end. Finally he made his mind up to leave early – he had worked enough overtime to be able to leave early as long as his work was done.

Around half past three Martin was about to finish his last report, when at the next desk Danny's cell phone started to ring. Danny picked it up from beside his computer screen, took one look at the display and got up to walk away before he answered the phone making sure nobody was listening.

Martin watched him leave, shook his head and finished his last sentence. He read the text he had written again, twice, before he finally printed it out and shut the computer down for the day.

He found some paper and reached for a pencil to write a note. 'Leaving for today. Be at yours at around eight." He stood up and gathered his things together. On the way out he walked past Sam and dropped the note onto her desk, after making sure that nobody saw what he was doing.

He looked back once and caught Sam smiling at him before he walked down the corridor towards the elevator.

Without really wanting to he took a quick look around, subconsciously looking for Danny, but he was no where to be found. Martin sighed and got into the elevator.

When he arrived home he sat down on his couch, suddenly feeling tired. Deciding that the there was enough time for a nap before he went to Sam's he lay down and quickly fell asleep.

……………

Sam opened the door wearing a beautiful dress that had Martin gasping with surprise when he saw her. It was one of those breath taking dresses that covered just enough to start a man's fantasies.

Sam smiled at the surprise on his face. "I take it you like it?"

Now that he had gotten over his surprise Martin grinned. "I most certainly do. But tell me, do we have something to celebrate? Is there anything I've forgotton?"

Sam shook her head as she reached for his hands and guided him into her living-room. Martin was even more surprised when he saw that she had opened a bottle of wine that now sat on the coffee table, waiting for them. Sam wasn't a big drinker, especially not during the week when they had to work the next day.

Her smile widened when she saw that he approved of what he saw.

"Seriously Sam, what's up? Do you have something to confess or something?"

"No, it's nothing like that. I just thought that we've had a rough time together lately – too many arguments in my opinion. So we really needed a nice evening for a change. I thought you'd like it."

"I do", Martin hurried to say. "I love the idea."

Sam beamed and leaned in to kiss him. When the kiss ended she motioned towards the sofa and said: "Okay, then… take a seat. Would you like a glass of wine?"

Martin couldn't help grinning. "Sure."

Sam saw his amused face and stopped, looking at him sceptically. "What is it?"

"Nothing", Martin said and laughed.

"Martin."

"Okay, okay… it's just that… this seems so unlike you, Sam. I mean… I just have never known this side of you."

"Well, there are few more sides to me that you don't know yet", Sam answered, as she poured them both a glass of wine.

"Really?" Martin said. "Can't wait to get to know them…"