A/N: Here's a longer chapter, as things have to finish where they finish. My thanks to Mariel for getting the betaing done, she really knows her stuff, however... I couldn't resist messing around after she returned it, so anything incorrect is my fault, as always.

Chapter Three

Xx—

Finn wanted to see the ducks, so ducks he would see. Samantha had the stroller all ready for their Sunday walk in the park and was filling up a back pack full of needful things for their wander.

Lately on Saturdays Samantha looked after Finn by herself. Three weeks back Brian had had his hours changed at work, which meant he had to go in for a few hours on the weekend, but during the week he got to start later and come home earlier. Brian had explained that the museum was trying out new things and threw some convoluted workplace time and management terms at her. Samantha thought it was an odd set-up, but it seemed to have worked so far and if there were a weekend case for her, Brian would organize things with Maricella. But the best part was that Samantha now had some quality time with Finn, Brian-free.

"How's this -better?" asked Brian coming out of Finn's room, holding up the small boy to show how he was dressed for their outing.

Finn looked fine, but Samantha stared at the red baseball cap on Brian's head. "Ah, that's Finn's cap," she pointed out.

The cap Jack gave him.

Shortly after Finn was born.

She may have been tired and rung-out at the time but she clearly had that visit burned into her brain.

The time you weren't there, Brian.

But Jack was.

He found me, came to the hospital and bought Finn that cap.

Where were you during all those months, father of the year?

Brian shrugged as he strapped Finn into the stroller. "That's okay, it won't fit him for awhile, and if I've wrecked it before it does, I can get a new one. He won't notice."

Samantha looked away from him as she pulled up a zip on the back pack.

She could let it go and say he was right, that it was okay as it was just a silly cap or…

"No," she said, going over to snatch it off Brian's head. "This was a gift for Finn. It's not yours to wear just because it's too big for him. I don't care if he doesn't get to wear it for ten years –it's his."

"Don't get all huffy. I needed something-"

"I'm sure you can use some of your many hair products to help with that, or one of your own damned caps… This one is off limits, got it?" she emphasized, waving it practically under his nose.

He put his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, all right, I get it."

Taking the hat with her to Finn's room, she propped it high on the bookcase, so she knew where it was and looking at it, she let her anger dissipate somewhat.

The cap was precious to her and, she hoped, it would also be one day to Finn.

Xx-

Grabbing a quick cup of coffee in the break room before going to the courthouse, Samantha found herself cornered by Elena, who'd made a special trip up from her floor to find her.

"So what's going on with you?" Elena began. "You were a bit off the other night."

"Sorry, was I?" Samantha fudged. "I'm fine, everything's fine."

At this, Elena narrowed her eyes, cat-like, clearly not believing a word. "I don't think so… What's up?"

Refusing to look at her friend directly, Samantha insisted,"Nothing… I have to go."

But Elena held her ground. "I know it's not Finn and not work, so I think I can guess… It's Brian, isn't it," she stated, cutting to the chase scarily fast.

Staring in shock, Samantha found she couldn't shift from Elena's gaze -and then she crumbled like a badly made sandcastle. "Yes, yes …okay, it's Brian."

"You want to talk? You should talk to someone." Elena's tone had softened and she reached out to touch Samantha's upper arm reassuringly.

"I do, but…"

The dark haired agent took a slightly different tact. "What's he done -or hasn't done?"

Samantha bent her head to speak more softly, the words tumbling out. "It's because of a whole lot of little things. But basically we're friends who share a child – I thought things would get better; I really thought I was doing the right thing for Finn …"

"But ultimately not for yourself," Elena, the survivor, said.

"I just have no connection with him. Wisconsin and Finn -that's it… It's difficult. I thought my feelings would change more." She certainly wasn't going to mention her now dull sex life.

"Have you sat down and talked with him?"

"No, I know I should but… I just want him to go." There, admitted out loud. "I don't want us to be sorted out –we've had four months of living together and that's it. I do know he's thinking about marriage and there's just no way…" She'd already had one marriage crash and burn in a short time and wasn't prepared to go there again.

"He can still be in Finn's life-"

"Yes. I just want him less in mine."

"Believe me, he will always be around in some way or another, so get used to that," Elena said knowingly. She wasn't finished, however, and continued in a careful tone, "Does this have anything to do with Jack and Jessie?"

"What? No... no!" Samantha was dumbfounded as, like it or not, she felt the question hit a nerve. "It's good that he's found someone," she said, trying not to choke on her own words. "And anyway, he's probably still in a bad mood with me," she added, thinking about the day on the wharf. She hadn't seen him so far this morning; perhaps he had cooled down over the weekend.

"At least he's one man you've always found easy to talk to."

Most of the time, thought Samantha, wondering if there was something she could do there. It was easier to talk to Jack than to Brian about how she felt, that was for sure. She looked at her watch. "Look, I have to go, thanks for listening…"

"Wait a minute… Would you be in this situation if you and Brian hadn't been in that accident?"

Samantha didn't have to think. "No," she said emphatically. And Jack would still be more involved. "I know I have to think what is best for my son."

"Ah, notice how you said 'my' son, not 'our' son," Elena emphasized. "And like I said, you have to remember to think about yourself this time, trust me on that…"

"I will."

"Well then, I can't tell you what to do or that I know your own mind, but whatever you decide, you know Danny and I are there for you."

"I really appreciate that… But we keep it just between the two of us for now?"

Nodding, Elena smiled warmly. "Sure, just the two of us."

In return, Samantha sincerely smiled her thanks and then left -partly so as not to be late but also to escape further questioning. She was grateful to have been able to share her feelings and relieved that Elena hadn't been overly judgmental.

Yes, Elena had made some good points.

Xx-

Jack found her where she said she'd be at lunchtime.

"I'm surprised you want to meet here," he said, sitting beside Samantha on the bench outside the courthouse; 'their' bench, although Jack wasn't going to be sentimental and admit it to himself.

Samantha, however, had chosen the spot for that very reason. Walking towards the courthouse, she'd had more time to mull over what Elena had said and had phoned him. "I thought it might be better than the office, and I'm due back in court soon," she explained, finishing off an egg salad sandwich. "You want one?" she offered. "I've had enough."

"No, thanks. I'll grab something soon," he said, taking a sip from his bottle of water, glancing sideways at her.

She was inspecting the crust on her sandwich. Waiting for him to start, he guessed.

"How's it going?" he asked, warily going for small talk.

"Oh you know, Finn has his moments and Brian's been-"

"I meant about the court case." His words were pointed, but not unkind - he simply didn't want to hear anything new about wonderful fucking Brian.

"Oh, right," she fumbled, embarrassed. "Looks like we'll definitely get a conviction in the end, hopefully later today."

"That's good, we need that creep away." He watched the lunchtime crowds. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Like I need an excuse?" she said nonchalantly.

Knowing Jessie's case had wound up, Jack wondered what she was doing for lunch as he half-listened to Samantha. She wouldn't be around, but it didn't stop him looking about. "I expect we do, these days," he said vaguely, taking another swig of water.

These days.

Samantha hated the sound of that. No -months.

She focused on her shoes. "Look, I'm sorry about… the thing at the wharf."

He shrugged casually. "It's okay."

"I was a bit… you know…"

"Out of line?"

"Yes."

"Yes Sam, you definitely were." No one but Samantha would have gotten off so easily.

"Well, I'm sorry-"

"I don't know why you'd be like that," he said, cutting her off. "You're happy with Brian and I'm… I'm with Jessie." He knew he'd like to be. It would be nicer if she actually stayed the entire night without there being some excuse to leave. Most men would be happy to be left alone afterwards, but he wasn't. He wondered if he might be getting old in that respect. Last evening he'd even crazily, impulsively offered her a key to his apartment so she could come and go as she pleased, knowing that she had moved back in with her mother after Quantico, but she had just smiled and said, "Later, we'll see". At least she hadn't said no, and he'd known he'd stupidly rushed it.

Samantha had to bite her tongue. "You seem pretty sure." About Jessie -and way off with Brian.

He wasn't going to admit he wasn't one hundred percent sure, although he knew he was enjoying this thing he and Jessie had. "It's looking pretty good right now." Which was true -after a fashion.

"It hasn't been very long." How can he be so certain? It's hardly been any time, surely.

"Sometimes it doesn't need to be," Jack fibbed. He wanted her to think he was moving forward, like she so very obviously had. "I'm due back. Thanks for the catch-up and we'll see you back in the office soon." With that, he got up and left.

Watching him make his way across the square, she knew she'd screwed it up yet again.

Maybe she should just give up whatever she was trying to prove.

Xx—

His talk with Samantha already forgotten, Jack decided to phone Jessie on his way back to the Bureau. She answered after one ring and he felt his heart leap at the sound of her voice.

"We didn't get to see each other much over the weekend," he said after the usual pleasantries. "Not as much as I'd have liked."

"You can blame my supervisor for that, and as you know –crime never sleeps."

"Are you on call this weekend?"

It sounded as though she was at her desk. "Hang on, I'll check the roster… Yes, this weekend's free; the one following isn't."

"I'm free too, so I was wondering if you'd want to get away," he asked smoothly, already guessing she'd say no as he braced himself for a let-down, hoping she wasn't holding the key-thing against him.

"Hey, I like your thinking, Malone," she said enthusiastically. "Where?"

He felt a grin of relief spread across his face. "I thought we'd jump in the car and see where we'd end up."

"I also like it when a man engages in random acts of romance."

"I hoped you would."

"Can we find some seedy motel and take turns looking at the ceiling?"

Knowing what she meant he laughed, waiting for the streetlights to change so he could cross. "Which we could do in my bedroom, come to think of it," he suggested. "We could just stay in all weekend."

"As much I like your ceiling I love your idea more. It would be nice to get away, just the two of us."

Well, as it should be. "You have me for the whole weekend."

"I can't wait."

"And neither can I…" The lights changed finally. "Can you come over tonight?"

"It'll be late, but yes."

He was on a roll so he thought he'd continue. "And it would be nice to wake up with you there for a change."

Jessie laughed gently. "I know -I'm chronic, however I know I can at least manage that. Do you cook a good breakfast?"

"I make a great breakfast."

"Looking forward to that, too… Hmm, and Tuesday's totally out but I can see you all evening on Wednesday, how does that sound?" she asked.

"Sounds great." Jack replied, liking where this was all heading.

Liking it very much indeed.

Xx—

The court case had finished and Samantha was pleased to find herself back in the office on Tuesday morning. The creep had been put away and there had been no further problems with Jack after her remarks. A good way to start the week as she settled with the others at the bull pen table.

At the end of their morning catch-up, Jack gave each of them a cold case to check on.

Rising to his feet, he decided to add something else, "By the way, this weekend I'm not on call but I'll be out of town."

"Getting away with Jessie?" Vivian probed, a twinkle in her eye.

Jack just raised his eyebrows in an affirmative reply, with an enigmatic smile playing on his lips as he left.

Danny looked at Martin across the table, a sly grin on his face. Martin nodded his head in a mixture of surprise and impressiveness. Vivian got up and went to her desk, in turn shaking her head at Jack's news and laughing to herself.

In the past, they all would have looked at Samantha for her reaction, but now there was no need.

Xx-

Looking up, Samantha tried hard not to scowl at the sight that greeted her on Wednesday afternoon.

Having Anne around the office, sticking her nose into cases –which she'd never done before, except for the short period when she'd been with Jack- had been bad enough. As for Maria, that had been excruciating whenever it had happened and Samantha was definitely culpable in that regard.

On the other hand, she had to admit she knew Jack had never been truly comfortable whenever Brian dropped by. Still wasn't in fact, although she felt he tried to conceal it, and usually managed to busy –or hide- himself somewhere in the office.

But here Samantha was, staring at the woman currently having sex with Jack -or probably in a relationship with him, she wasn't sure which was worse- walking towards the bull pen. She hoped this wasn't going to become a habit.

Jessie Prince.

Ugh.

More slender than Samantha, and certainly getting more appreciative glances from the various men on the floor.

Like I used to, Samantha thought nostalgically, before I became a mom.

"Hey, can I sit here while I wait for Jack?" Jessie asked, pulling out a chair from the table.

The question was innocent enough and Samantha tried hard not to stare with loathing.

"Sure," she said, as if she had any choice. She watched as Jessie seated herself and hooked one long, jean-clad leg over the other. Samantha could hazard a guess what those legs were capable of in bed with Jack.

Just please don't talk to me-

"It's been a while," Jessie remarked, pulling out her cell phone.

Damn…

"A few years. Is everything okay with you?" Samantha asked, under the pretext of playing nice.

Of course everything would be, you're sleeping with Jack Malone -life must be fucking incredible. I know that for a fact.

Jessie smiled as she played with her phone. "Oh yes, we're fine."

We? You call it 'we'?

Wanting to grind her teeth, Samantha could only just stop herself from throwing her pen at the other woman by biting the end of it. She wondered if Jessie knew about her and Jack's history and was doing this to bait her

Jessie looked up from her texting, a smile on her lips. "I hear you're a mother now, congratulations."

Samantha found herself horribly astonished. "Uh, yes! Yes, thank you."

"That's lovely, kids are wonderful."

Damn, I thought you'd hate them.

"Do you get along with Jack's daughters?" Samantha asked, unable to stop herself.

"I haven't met them, but I know he phones them from time to time."

"Nice of him."

"Yeah, it's sweet that he likes to stay in touch."

Since when were you such an expert?

For crying out loud…

"Yes, it is." Samantha put her head down to stop further forced interaction and got back to her file.

Xx—

Returning from an interview, Jack was informed by an intern that Jessie was waiting for him in the bull pen. Going over, he saw that Samantha was also seated there. His male instinct told him that this was probably not a good thing, although he reasoned to himself that it shouldn't really be a problem between the two women.

Technically not a problem, that was.

And he must stop using that term.

"Jessie, I wasn't expecting you…" he said carefully, placing a hand on Jessie's shoulder, purposefully not glancing at Samantha whom he knew would be watching from a seat away.

Grabbing her handbag, Jessie got up. "I just wanted to tell you I'll have to cancel tonight, and I'm busy the next couple of nights –I'm sorry."

He gently took Jessie's arm and propelled her away from the table. "Okay, that's all right, I understand" he said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice; so much for the meal he planned to cook her, the special ingredients he'd already bought, the wine he'd carefully chosen.

Still, there was the weekend to look forward to.

However Samantha had just caught that hint of frustration in Jack's tone. She watched them leaving.

Interesting…

Xx—

After he'd seen Jessie to the elevator, Jack consoled himself with coffee and a packaged muffin from the break room vending machine. He sat at the table and decided to leaf through an abandoned newspaper to take his mind off the irritation he felt.

Again.

Jessie was so ephemeral, hard to figure out, uncomplicated and yet these were the things that both fascinated and captivated him. She made him realize how much he'd been mooching around since Hanna left, and she was the proverbial breath of fresh air in his life. He just wished she could devote more time to him, whatever the hell she would get up to in her evenings when he didn't see her. However, even if he was just a distraction for her, then so be it.

It was better than nothing.

And he'd found he didn't like nothing.

He wasn't alone in the break room for long as Danny came in to fill up his coffee mug. They made small talk about a case and then Danny sat down at the table, smiling smugly as he flicked through the sports section.

"Okay, you can have the comics now," Jack said, pushing the section over. "It might match your expression."

"We haven't had our little talk."

Blankly shaking his head, Jack wondered what Danny's game was. "About…"

Moving the newspaper aside, Danny leaned forward. "Our talk about how the hell did you get something as fine as Jessie Prince? I mean seriously, half the floor is talking about you two, the other half wants to be you." He was impressed with his boss; the man had impeccable taste –Samantha and now Jessie, although they weren't as excellent as his own Elena, naturally. He'd mentally let Jack have a free pass with Anne, as everyone can make mistakes.

Thoughts flitted through Jack's mind –horror, pride, vague amusement, but he kept his face straight. "You know I don't like to talk about my private life."

"And of course you've never brought it to work and subjected us to any of it in the past..." Danny said, sarcasm dripping intentionally to make a point. "Come on, Jack, spill -it's me here. You've got the male interns tripping over themselves just to know what it is you've got and the female interns are looking at you in a new light. Everyone else is just amazed." Danny sat back. "It's got me beat, this Jack Malone secret of yours, I've never figured it out. And Martin…" he leaned forward again, grinning, "Martin nearly choked on his turkey sub when he first found out."

Jack allowed himself a smug smile. "Well, it's not hard to run rings around Martin..." he said, getting up with his coffee. "What can I say? You either have it or you don't-"

"And you're so having it from Jessie Prince," Danny dangerously filled in.

Jack would only smile enigmatically as he departed; there would be no more locker room talk from him.

As he walked back to his office Jack had to confess he certainly felt pretty good about himself right there and then. He hadn't noticed any type of envy or adulation but then he hadn't known there was any to be seen. It was certainly putting a bounce in his step.

He just hoped it wasn't ultimately all misplaced.

Xx—

TBC