A/N: Thank you as always to Mariel for her excellent betaing, and to Amy for knowing the difference between CSI and CSU, as it's good to know what is correct. Any mistakes are my own due to my usual tweaking.

And thank you to all who reviewed the previous chapter. Always a welcome, learning experience.

Chapter Two

Xx—

Giving up trying to be busy at the office after Vivian's revelation, Samantha arrived home to find Finn at Brian's feet, smearing cheese and tomato pizza over himself while Brian noisily attempted to battle the forces of darkness at level 22 on the Play Station. He hadn't heard her come in so she watched –in horror- a few moments.

"It's 7 o'clock," she announced loudly over the racket. "Finn should be in his bath or bed."

Brian paused the game and sat upright on the sofa. "Oh hey…Ah, he wanted to see you before he went to bed."

Coming over, she picked Finn up. "I didn't realize he was becoming that articulate," she muttered, looking at the grubby state of him. Glancing at the TV, the toy cluttered living room and then back at Brian, Samantha was not happy. "I guess you want to carry on doing that?"

"I'm sure you'd like to spend some quality time with Finn," he pointed out rhetorically, giving her a winning smile.

Samantha grunted in agreement as she swapped Finn on her hips, trying to avoid the mess on his shirt, face and hands. "Is there any more for dinner?" she asked, nudging the box full of pizza detritus on the floor with her foot.

"That's pretty much what's left. I could open a can of soup for you…" he offered, starting to get up.

"No, don't worry about it; go back to your game."

"Great!" and he settled back down, resuming it.

Samantha took Finn to the bathroom and began to peel off his mucky clothes. "As usual, a man who can't read a woman's mind," she pointed out, putting the plug in the bath and turning on the water. Finn just stood watching her and giggled as she threw his clothes in the corner of the bathroom. "Don't you turn out like that," she warned him with mock seriousness before booping him on the nose, much to his delight.

She paused, suddenly realizing how much she sincerely meant that.

Xx—

Jack glanced over at Samantha who had just joined him at the wharf. "Hey… I didn't think I needed to wait for the CSU to tell me which the direction the car was going into the Hudson, or how straight it was. We're not expecting a body, but hopefully some sort of evidence."

"Sounds okay." Looking about, she waved hello at Danny who was talking with some police officers by the warehouse, and smiled as he waved back. She turned attention towards the ground at her feet. "Maybe they could tell you how fast?" she suggested about the missing car's tire marks. "It might help the divers."

"It's not rocket science -just velocity, trajectory, a bit of physics," Jack said wryly, then gestured at a diver in the water. "Try further back! Keep looking!" He turned back to Samantha, rolling his eyes. "I mean seriously, how dark is it down there anyway?"

"Darker than we think," Samantha said absently, waiting to change the subject.

"They let you out early from court?"

"For today, and it looks like an all-week thing."

"Damn…" His attention was back on the water. "Come on guys, try looking on the riverbed for a change!"

"Then come and help us, wise ass!" one of the divers shouted, laughing.

Jack shook his head, amused. "Don't make me come over there!" he yelled back.

Bored with the boys' club, Samantha stepped closer to Jack. "Hey, was that Jessie Prince I saw you with yesterday?"

"Yep, that was her," he said in a calm tone, keeping an eye on the river.

"How is she?" It was as neutral as Samantha could make it.

"She's fine -very fine actually," Jack said, a smile playing just at the corner of his lips as an image of Jessie underneath him from their second night together, appeared in his mind. She'd hung around for a couple of hours afterwards which had been very nice, but had then disappeared again. Maybe it was her way.

Samantha couldn't see the smile, but it didn't stop her from saying what was on her mind. "She's no good," she said tersely, although she made sure she was looking away from him.

He turned towards her. "Excuse me?"

Glancing at him, Samantha was not wanting to repeat herself. "You heard me."

"And what do you mean by that?" he asked, his voice quiet, but the affront he felt at her words was evident as he crossed his arms.

"She's bad news, Jack. There's always something happening to her."

"That NYPD mud should never have stuck to her and besides, I'm not finding anything bad with her." He instantly regretted the remark, as it may have been too much information.

It was.

With a blinding flash of clarity, she knew what he meant and felt something plummet to the pit of her stomach. "Oh, don't tell me you've already slept with her…"

His jaw set, he was silent as he turned back to the water, an admission to her that he had.

Samantha couldn't believe it, and now knew she had gone too far with him. "Jack-"

Jack's voice was very composed. "I'm sorry, but it hasn't got anything to do with you, not anymore."

Samantha needed to salvage something, anything. "I worry about you."

"As a friend, fine, but that's where it has to end." As he looked back at her, she felt her heart sink at his indifferent expression. "You know that –it's what we…" he paused, "what you decided," he said softly but firmly, terminating the subject before he walked away from her.

Xx—

All Elena wanted to do was talk about babies; she was only two months along and whenever she was with Samantha, she always managed to steer the conversation around to them.

As they all sat down on the sofa after dinner that night, Danny glanced at his wife fondly. "Oh, come on, Elena. Leave poor Samantha alone."

"But Sophia's grown so much and Samantha's more in tune with what baby stuff is going on these days. Also I may have to borrow Maricella from you from time to time."

"I'm sure we can work something out between us." That reminded her; she had to catch up with Maricella herself. She was like a ghost around the apartment, and Samantha always seemed to miss her.

"Well, as for baby stuff and knowledge, I think we're pretty much sorted out," Danny pointed out. "It's not like this is Elena's first."

"Hah! Men, eh?" Elena said, looking over at Samantha. "Aside from stating the obvious, they always think they know more about babies than we do."

"You got that right," agreed Samantha, trying to keep things light. It was a bit difficult as she knew she wasn't really into socializing at all; Jack's rebuke earlier in the day still stung –mostly because she knew she deserved it- but the dinner plans for this evening had been made much earlier and couldn't be changed.

"There you go," Brian threw in, "who's to say we men don't?" he taunted.

Elena flicked a hand in the air dramatically. "I'm ignoring you Brian, and Danny, my wonderful husband, will ignore you too."

Danny leaned over to her. "Hey, I forgot to say, happy four month anniversary."

Elena gasped. "You're right! Oh, come here," and she pulled him over to give him a kiss on the lips.

"The time's passed quickly," Brian observed, slipping his arm around Samantha's shoulders.

Danny grinned. "Seems like only yesterday, and I would marry Elena every day if I could -it's a wonderful thing."

"Well, that's great -congratulations you two," Brian said, his hand gently squeezing Samantha's shoulder as he spoke. "It's nice, isn't it" he stated, looking at her.

There was no mistaking that meaning.

Marriage.

Samantha suddenly felt… hollow.

No, that must have been a joke. He couldn't possibly be serious.

Resisting the urge to pull away, she smiled to cover her uneasiness and focused on Danny and Elena. "Yes, it's lovely."

Later, checking in on Finn in the dim bedroom, she shook her head to clear it before leaning over her son, gently pushing the hair off his forehead.

Here she was –with a wonderful child, a great job, a nice apartment, and in a relationship with a good looking guy.

Any other woman would think it was an ideal situation, and Samantha was trying very hard not to be self-absorbed.

But…

It wasn't only the sex thing.

It wasn't.

Brian just wasn't doing it for her.

She now knew for certain that he never would, never could.

Sometimes you have to face the glaring fact that you'd got it all totally wrong.

Xx—

TBC