Chapter Three

A few hours before Martin and Sara had left the building, there was another person in this story that is involved in Sara's former life.

In the same apartment building, there was a woman named Katie Carter. At the same time when Martin and Sara were sleeping, Katie was dreaming. In her dream was about Sara.

--

It was March 7, 2003. It was six pm on a usually warm March day in San Diego, California. At this time, Katie was having dinner with a friend from college, a man with the last name, Foster.

Katie and Jim Foster was having a dinner of grilled chicken, sweet potatoes, and bright green beans. Plus Katie's homemade apple pie for dessert which Jim loved since he met Katie eight years ago. Katie and Jim met each other on the first day of college at Georgetown University in Washington DC. They dated for three years but a month into the year of 2000, they broke it off. They broke it off because of one evil woman. There was a little mix up and without any notice, Katie saw Jim and the other woman at a motel bathroom, in the nude. Katie was so mad at this cheating because she had been cheated with the woman she hates and thinks that her college sweetheart well almost sweetheart since they started dating at her sophomore year is a cheater. She is so pissed off that Jim came to her to tell her that she is seeing right is what she thought it is but she was so upset that from the heat she warmed for the cold winter winds, she slapped Jim so hard that there are some pinkness on his cheek than usual. Jim didn't get to explain what had happen before Katie came because Katie just left the room right after the slapping. They hadn't talk to each other since.

Well, the not talking to each other didn't lasted. A few months after Katie came to Las Vegas to start her career as a FBI agent at the fall of '02, she saw Jim. It was early evening. Katie just got back from working on a really hard case and was very hungry since she didn't eat a thing since her team started the investigation. To calm down her stomach, Katie went to a restaurant on the Strip of Vegas with a friend who was a fellow FBI agent of hers.

When they finally got a table after twenty minutes when she and her friend arrived and ordered their meals, Katie nearly choked on her iced tea when she saw her ex sitting at a table twenty feet away. Her friend saw what Katie is seeing and asked her is that the man Katie talked to her about. The Marine. Katie nodded yes to her. Her friend looked at Jim for a few minutes before she turned around to face Katie again. With a smile, she said to Katie, "Katie. You better talk to him. He seems so innocent." Katie looked over her friend's shoulder to see what is so innocent about him. When she saw him, the talking about Jim being innocent is true. From where she is at, Jim looked so innocent, listening patiently to his friend like he did to Katie a couple years ago when she talked about whatever. A minute later, Jim saw Katie and her friend staring at him and with his Texan accent, he yelled to the girls nicely, "Hey. Katie."

Katie heard him yelling her name and wants to go to another table far away from Jim and leave a note for the waiter so he can bring the meals to their new table. When Katie was about to grab a napkin to write the note on, her friend took it away from her. With a confused face, Kate asked her friend why she did that. With a serious look on her face, her friend told her to forget what had happened two years ago. The whore is not here and Jim wanted to talk to you. To make understand, she pointed at Jim and said to Katie, "Look!" Katie turned to where her friend was pointing and saw Jim's big dark brown eyes which really had said, "Come, Katie. I had forgiven you." He is also making the saddest puppy eyes she had ever seen. Katie was so took away from those sad eyes and agreed to her friend. She will go to Jim and talk to him. "That the spirit." said her friend when Katie said that. Katie said to her playfully to stop saying that and begin to get out of her seat and walked over to Jim. Her friend did the same thing and walked with her just in case.

--

When Katie got to Jim's table, Jim had a friend with him. During that dinner, Jim and Katie talked about things that had happened to them since they had broken up while their friends was flirting with each other by flirting and doing one very naughty thing. During the conversation, Katie told Jim that she is now working as a FBI agent here in Vegas and now living with a old friend of her from Dallas until she find a place of her own. In return, Jim told Katie that he is living in a military base in San Diego as US. Marine Staff Sergeant and had a place of his own.

At the end of their conversation, Katie asked Jim if he is single. With a smile on his face, Jim said to her that he had broken up with the woman he had cheated on Katie with and so that made him single. Katie told Jim that she is also single and gave Jim her number and address so they can be in touch more. Jim accepted it and gave Katie his information which Katie also accepted. Right after that, Jim Foster and Katie Carter had become friends again.

On March 7, 2003, on this very day, Jim and Katie remained good friends and later on, there is something that will change their friendship and it is nothing that you the reader is thinking of:

--

Halfway through the dinner, Jim asked Katie if the dinner he made had impressed her. With a smile that everybody she knows loves, she said to him that the dinner had impressed her and will eat it all if she could. Jim smiled when she did that and when she is done, he took the empty plate away from her to put it in the sink and a few minutes later, Jim came back with a plate of a piece of Katie's home baked apple pie in each hand. When he put one on her plate mat, Katie said to Jim that he made a really good arrive with the dessert and again, really impressed. Jim said thank you to her and sat down on his chair to eat the dessert.

After they are done eating it, Jim got up and walked to Katie who was sitting across from him. When he got to the back of Katie's chair, he pulled it back. After she got out, with a bow, Jim asked Katie if she want to dance with him. Katie accepted it and said to Jim when he took her hand to the dance floor also known as the living room floor, "You are such a gentleman. Your mom might have raised you very well." Jim blushed when she said that and Katie giggled to herself when she saw the blushing cheeks. Jim stopped blushing a minute later and leaded Katie out to the dance floor.

When they got to the dance floor, Jim grabbed his remote and turned on the stereo. A few seconds later, their song when they are dating each other from years ago came on. Katie gasped when U2's "Bad" came on. When she was done gasping, she whispered to Jim, "our song. You remembered it." When Bono's voice came, Jim put his arms around her waist and with his eyes staring at Katie's blue eyes, Jim said to her, "I remembered everything about us for many years now. I will never forget that." Katie smiled when Jim said that and put her arms around Jim's shoulders and started dancing on the living room floor.

--

Halfway through the song, they did something romantic. They are starting to kiss. The kiss is really good like before but they are friends when they did the recent one not lovers. When the song had ended three minutes later, still on each other's body, they heard a ringing from the door.

--

Jim got off of Katie and asked Katie, "what was that?" Being smart, Katie said to him, "I think that the door bell is ringing." When they listened to the ringing, Jim turned to Katie, "I think that you are right, Katie." After founding out that she was right, Katie walked over to Jim to put her hand on his shoulder. When she put it on his hard shoulder, Katie said to him, "You better checked it out." Jim agreed with her and walked over to the door to check it out.

--

When Katie was still standing in the living room, she heard Jim's voice. His tone sounded very serious and he is telling to come over to him to see something which had changed their lives.

--

When Katie got to the doorway a minute later, Jim was right there, staring at her. Katie saw the face and asked Jim what she is looking at. In response, Jim said to her to look over his shoulder and she will see something. When Katie did what Jim told her to do, she saw a little human.

The child in front of them was sitting on a baby carrier in a cute little pink outfit, crying very loudly. Jim and Katie figured out from the pink outfit that this little human is a little baby girl. After seeing the baby, Katie saw Jim, picking the baby out of the carrier and calming her down by saying, "It is okay." over and over until she stopped crying. When the baby had stopped crying, Katie saw something next to the empty baby carrier. "What is it?" said Katie when she saw the envelope. Katie picked up the envelope and carefully looked at it to see if anything bad was on it. After it was cleared, Katie ripped the top of the envelope and pulled out a piece of white paper. When she was done looking through it, Katie turned to Jim and with the letter in her right hand, she said to Jim, "Jim. You better read this." and handed it to Jim.

Jim grabbed the letter from Katie's hand after he handed the baby to Katie so he can read it. After reading it for a minute or two, Jim looked at Katie and the baby and said to her while looking the baby, "That baby you are holding is my daughter."

--

Katie stared at Jim like he is crazy. To see the proof, she handed the baby back to Jim to get the letter so she can look at the letter again. The letter which had said:

Dearest Jim,

I am so sorry about this at the last minute. I wished that I can tell you this months ago when the person you are seeing right now but I never get the chance for it. Again, this is at the last minute and I am not here to tell it myself so here it is:

This child who is here with you is your daughter. She was born a few hours ago at San Diego Memorial Hospital on this very day, March 7, 2003. You should take her there right away to have to be checking out. Sorry that she had no name. You should named her since I am not going to be here since I am you know what. Tell the doctor who got the child out of my uterus that you came here because of me. DON'T look for me at All. Have a good life with her.

Alanna

After reading the letter, Katie turned to Jim who was playing with his daughter and said to him madly, "Alanna. I thought that you broke up with her." When Jim heard Katie's angry voice, with the baby in his arms, he walked over to his friend and said to her, "Katie. I forgot to tell you something." "What is it?" asked a still angry Katie who is crossing her arms right now. When he saw the crossed arms, Jim said to her about last summer which might be the time when his daughter was conceived.

After Jim told her that, Katie asked to him sweetly but still crossing her arms, "is that true?" Jim nodded yes to her. After Jim had nodded, Katie uncrossed her arms and walked over to Jim and the baby.

With a serious tone in her Texan accent, Katie told Jim that they better bring the baby to the hospital right away just like Alanna told him to do. Jim agreed with that, and put the baby back in the carrier. While he was putting the baby in, Jim told Katie to get his car keys. Katie did what Jim told her to do and went back to the house. After she got the keys and handed them to Jim, they and the baby got into the car and the father drove them to San Diego Memorial Hospital to have his daughter checking out.

When they got to the hospital twenty minutes later, Jim and Katie brought the baby to Alanna's doctor and a minute later, the baby had been taken away from them to do some tests on her.

--

While Jim's daughter was being tested, Jim and Katie were in the waiting room, thinking about the baby. For about a half hour, they are picking out names for the child. After arguing for ten minutes, Katie got an idea. She got out of her chair and in front of Jim who got a little scared when Katie did that, she told him about it. "Jim. I got an idea." said Katie who is smiling right now. "What is it?" asked Jim. "How about Sara Elizabeth?" When Jim heard that name, he asked Katie why she had chosen that name. With a smile on her face, Katie told him that she always liked that name ever since she was a teenager. After hearing the reason for it, Jim agreed with her that is a good name and decided to use that name for the baby. Katie hugged Jim for choosing that name and Jim felt his cheeks turning pink.

After all of that hugging, a nurse walked over to them and asked them to turn around. The two did what the nurse told them to do and see the little girl in the nurse's arms. The baby was staring at the both of them. "Awww!" thought Jim and Katie when they saw that. After seeing the baby, they turned their heads toward the nurse and asked her if everything okay with the baby. The nurse told them that the baby is in good shape which is very odd for a mother who is a big drinker. After hearing that, Jim said to the nurse that his baby is an angel to him. The nurse told to him that is very sweet. After telling him that, the nurse asked Jim if he got a name for the baby yet. Jim said to the nurse that he already got a name for his daughter so they had the baby certified. "What is it?" asked the nurse. Looking at his daughter, Jim said to the nurse, "My daughter's name is Sara Elizabeth Foster."

--

After hearing the name, Katie smiled at the new father and his newborn daughter he is carrying and from this, she knew that she did a good thing, getting Jim back to her life. When it had turned black.

Katie had woken up. She opened her eyes and looked around to see where she is that. When she looked around, she realized that she is in her bedroom by seeing her alarm clock and the ivory bed sheets. After seeing all of those things, Katie laid down on her bed and starting to think.

Lying on her back, Katie was wondering how she got that dream. She hadn't thought of Jim and Sara since Jim died exactly two years ago.

--

It was on a raining, cold, winter day in Arlington National Cemetery. Katie had just arrived alone at the cemetery about a half hour before the funeral had started. Katie was there for the death of her good friend, Jim Foster.

Katie had founded out from a phone call made by Jim's mother, Laura Foster. When Katie first answered the phone, she heard Laura crying very loudly. From the loud crying, she thought it was Sara who was crying since she knew that Sara was staying with her grandma when Jim was in Iraq but it was really Laura who was crying since when Sara had a Texan accent? Sara didn't lived in Texas for a little while. After Laura had cried for a little while and finally calmed down, Katie asked Laura what is wrong. With a sad voice, she told Katie that her youngest son had been killed in Iraq the day before. When Katie heard that, she started to cry because her best friend had died. Thanks God that she had cried at her apartment building instead at work because it will be too freaking embarrassing.

After receiving the information about his funeral a day later, with permission from Jack, Katie packed her things into a small suitcase filled her car with gas, and hopped it to drive herself to DC for the funeral.

When the funeral had started, Katie looked around and saw all the people who had knew Jim very well. His family, friends, Marine buddies, and of course little Sara are all mourning, missing Jim. When the funeral had ended a half hour later, the Marines carried the American Flag covered coffin away to it grave and one of the Marines had given Laura a folded American flag and a medal. After that Marine had left, Katie went over to her and said to her with tears down her cheeks, "that was a very beautiful funeral. I am going to miss Jim very much." After hearing that, Laura put her arms around Katie's body and said back, "me too."

After crying for about five minutes, Katie let go of Laura and said to her, "I better go. I had to go back to New York tomorrow." Laura heard that and asked Katie why is she leaving right now. Katie turned around and said to Jim's mother, "I had dinner plans with my uncle tonight." Her uncle, Jethro Gibbs who is a NCIS agent. Well not really her uncle, much more like a good friend of her dad. After Katie told her that, Laura had said to her, "Have a good one. I will call you soon. Bye." Katie said "bye" back and walked toward her car to get out of there.

When Katie got to her car, she saw somebody taking Sara away. She looked closely to see who is taking her, but it was someone that she doesn't know. After that somebody put the little light brown haired, dark browned eyes, two years old girl, Katie got out of her car and ran toward Jim's older brother, Tom to ask him about it.

When she got to Tom, Katie asked him who is taking Sara away? After hearing the question, with the same eyes as Jim's, Tom told her that the person she just saw was a social worker. "From where?" asked Katie, putting her FBI skills on Tom. Tom shrugged his shoulders and answered her question by saying that he don't know, somewhere from the Northeast. "Where? Philly, New York, Boston." asked Katie, wanting Tom to confess. Tom told her again that he don't know and to calm her down but really had made her mad, Tom told her that Sara is going into the system of fostering children. Katie was shocked when she heard this. To learn more about this, Katie asked Tom again why Sara isn't with them, her family. At the end, Tom told Katie very seriously, "problems." "Of what?" thought Katie when she heard that. Katie wanted to ask that question but at the time she want to ask it, Tom had already left. With the unasked question, Katie went back into her car, drove away and never thought of that question since when until now.

--

After thinking about it, Katie turned around to her alarm clock to see what time is it. The clock had said fifteen minutes after four in the morning. After seeing that, Katie decided to sleep some more but she didn't sleep that much. She was wide awake. After turning around for an hour and a half, Katie decided to get up and start the day. So she did that.

After getting up, she walked to the bathroom and turn on the light. When the light had been turned on, Katie took off her sleeping clothes and now naked, she got into the shower and turn on the knob to the water to come down.

While she shampooing her hair and soaping up her body with body wash, Katie was thinking about Sara. Where Sara is at right now. Some foster home in Philadelphia, New York, or Boston. All alone. During the thinking of that sweet little child, Katie looked down at her body and saw goose bumps all over her skin. "Holy the s word. How long I had been in the shower?" thought Katie when she turned off the water, grabbed her towel, turned off the switch, and went to her bedroom to change into her work clothes.

When she got to to her bedroom, she looked at the clock to see what time it is. In front of her, the clock had said six thirty which took Katie forty five minutes to take a shower. After seeing it, Katie walked to her closet to get her work clothes and to put them on.

After she put on her work clothes and put her light brown hair into a ponytail, Katie walked to her kitchen to start cooking her scrambled eggs. When the eggs are done, with a plate of it and a mug of coffee, Katie walked to her kitchen table and ate her breakfast there.

When she was finished with it fifteen minutes later, Katie looked at her watch to see what time it is now. The face of her silver metal watch had said fifteen minutes after seven and Katie had to there at the office at eight before Jack comes. After looking at the time, Katie put the plate and mug into the sink and walked to the living room to get ready to go.

A few minutes later, Katie put on her coat and grabbed her purse to get her keys which are inside. When she had founded her keys, Katie walked over to the door, and beginning to open the knob to get to the hallway. After she got out of her apartment, Katie locked the door so no one could get in and began to walked toward the elevator which leads to the main floor which had the doors to New York City.

After getting in the elevator, the elevator took Katie to the main floor. When the bell had rings, the heavy doors of the apartment's transportation had opened. When Katie got out of there, she saw something.

That something she saw was her colleague, neighbor, and friend, Martin Fitzgerald. He was walking with a little child who was holding Martin's hand. At first, Katie was wondering when Martin had a child. What did he do? Adopt a child and didn't tell her since they are good friends. Katie suddenly had founded out who child's hand Martin is holding. When the little girl turned around, Katie saw the child she hadn't seen since Jim's funeral. Katie just saw Sara Elizabeth Foster and she is with Martin now.

After Martin and Sara got out of the building, Katie thought that she was dreaming but it wasn't a dream. She wasn't sleepwalking at the time. Sara is really here with Martin, the guy she had a crush on for over two years now. Katie got to ask Martin about it but she will wait until later because Martin had just left but she can ask him at work. Katie also hopes that Jack can give them desk work today so she can ask him during it. Screw that the rest of team will hate it but Katie got to ask. She got to ask him if the child he was holding was really Sara. This is a very important event in Katie Carter's life right now.

To do it, Katie walked out of the building and got into her car and drove to the building so she can start the questioning to the 'suspect', Martin Fitzgerald.