Chapter 5

Aidan stirred the next morning, groaning at a constant clicking sound, he couldn't place it for the life of him, didn't know what it could be, he took a moment to breathe in and become aware of his surroundings without actually opening his eyes. Samantha. He could smell her, then it hit him, they both fell asleep on the couch, together, he could smell her essence on the couch. Smiling he kept his eyes closed and rolled over on to his side and felt… something, the couch was dipped, someone was sitting next to him and he knew that it had to be her. Reaching out, hoping to feel some part of her creamy soft skin (after all he can just excuse it to being asleep) and reached for her, he felt skin, warm and….. hairy?

"Dude, what the hell!"

Aidan slammed his eyes open at the voice to find…. Spinelli…. "Ahhhh…. What the hell are you doing here? And where are your pants?" Aidan questioned as he jumped back against the arm rest of the couch with his knees drawn tightly to his chest, furthest away from Spinelli as possible.

Looking down at his bare legs, Spinelli shrugged. "The Jackal was most clumsy this morning and spilt orange soda, the Jackal's drink of choice, all over himself, and now they are being dried. But thankfully none was on Fair Samantha's carpet."

"Sorry…" Aidan felt the need to apologize for copping a feel of the young kid. "I thought you were…" He stopped himself from continuing with that thought.

"You thought I was who? Fair Samantha perhaps?" Spinelli tilted his head and eyed the other PI, he knew that his master had his suspicions about the guy but Spinelli just shrugged it off as possessiveness that some other man was taking up his Fair Samantha's time, but maybe Stone Cold was right.

Shit! "Uh… No… no, for a second there I forget where I was." He watched hoping the kid would accept his slip up, only when Spinelli nodded and resumed his typing did Aidan finally released a sigh of relief. The last thing he needed was for the computer geek to go and tell his boss.
"Um… where is Samantha?" He sat up looking around, straightened out his disheveled clothes and then looked over the boy's shoulder to see what he was doing. "And what are you doing here so early anyways?"

"Early? Dude its past 10!" He said all without turning away from his screen and missed the surprised look on Aidan's face.

"10?" Aidan was surprised, he was usually an early riser, never had he slept passed 8am, it was something that was engraved in him from his days in the force. Maybe he was just so tired, maybe he was just comfortable being here, or maybe it was just her. He could admit to himself finally that something was happening, he just wasn't sure what it was.

"The Fair Samantha called the Jackal over early in dire need of a massive hard drive make over, dude the mother board was almost fried with all the knowledge and surveillance from the Psycho Doctor's dwelling, the processor gigs and RAM increases need to be done for optimum usage…"

"What?" Aidan knew all about computers, sure he wasn't able to hack into, let's say the Pentagon, but he knew a thing or two, but what he didn't understand, was the geek's language.

Switching out of Jackal mode, Spinelli tried to turn the computer talk down a notch. "The camera's that were installed yesterday, froze the laptop, so I'm updating the processor and the memory."

"Ok." Aidan nodded then stood up. "I'm going to the office…" He closed his own laptop and stored it away in his shoulder bag, looking back up to the kid, he studied him for a moment. Aidan could admit that the hacker was good, really good, the best for the job in order to catch Lisa. "Come on, get your pants on, your coming with me." Grabbing their things Aidan walked out with Spinelli right behind him, he couldn't feel a little disappointed that Samantha woke up and left without telling him.


"Hmmm…" Sam said as she snuggled up against Jason with his arm around her on the couch in the penthouse. "We're all alone and it's soooo quiet."

"I know." Jason agreed as he kissed her forehead and buried his face in her hair, deeply inhaling her scent, vanilla and flowers, all Sam. If he could freeze time, he would do it gladly to be here with her for the rest of time, alone, together, happy. "Thank you for coming over early and bringing me coffee."

Sam lifted her face up and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, she had missed him so much that she wasn't able to sleep last night. She woke up at four in the morning with her head on Aidan's shoulder, confused as to how both of them fell asleep on her couch. She had gently pulled away from Aidan, not wanting to wake him up, and grabbed her phone off the coffee table. 5 Missed Calls. What the Hell? She was shocked, how did she miss five calls, four of them being from Jason. He must have been so worried. Making sure her ringer was on, not sure how it was turned off in the first place, she went into her room and fell asleep on her own bed. She woke up again at 7am, took a shower, got dressed and grabbed some coffee on her way to Jason's. She called Spinelli to come over early to fix the glich on the computer. Now, here she was, her favorite spot, cuddled up against the man she loved. "I'm sorry about not picking up the phone last night, or calling you back…" She started to explain as she adjusted herself on the couch so that she was facing him, but they still held hands, always needed to touch, that connection. "I have no idea what happened, I mean, I remember checking my phone around 7pm while we were on the stakeout but there weren't any missed calls or messages, so I put it down, I must have turned off the ringer cuz it hadn't rung for the rest of the night. And I was going to call you but I guess I just got sidetracked. I'm really sorry."

Seeing the pout, Jason couldn't help but lean over and kiss her fully, taking in her lower lip and stroking it gently with his own. God, he couldn't get enough of her. "It's ok, I didn't get back until late last night." Seeing the question in her eyes, he chose to answer right away as he shook his head. "Dead end." He said referring to their lead. "I went to the hotel where the guy was registered at but he checked out before I got there. Spinelli had called me with some more information but they were all dead ends."

"Ok, so whoever it was, was able to access the Balkan's son safety deposit box. But wouldn't the bank have something saying that the box belonged to a dead man, shouldn't they have that information."

"Not if Alexander's body wasn't claimed. They don't know where it is, there was no funeral for it, nothing to indicate that he was actually dead."

"I don't understand this Jason. Why would the Balkan go after Brenda if they didn't think that she killed him."

"That's just it, I think that she did kill him, but someone was there to help her ditch the body."

"Who?"

"I don't know. But I've been trying to get her to finally open up to me and trust me to tell the truth. Something more is going on that I don't know about." He looked down at the woman he loved and trusted and pulled her closer to him. "Enough about Brenda. Tell me what happened yesterday. How did your stakeout go?" He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear about her being cooped up in a car with that prick, but he did want to know what happened.

Sam giggled thinking about it. "It was boring, you know I hate stakeouts, and I think I really annoyed Aidan…" She giggled again when she saw Jason smile knowing that he didn't like Aidan. "But… as soon as Lisa left, we broke into her apartment, it took me thirty seconds…"

"Thirty seconds?"

"Yeah, I know, I'm slipping, maybe I should practice more often. Anyways, we set up all the cameras around her place then went back to mine to watch what was happening at the hospital. Oh! Just a warning, do NOT go into the 4th floor supply closet, you don't want to know what kind of bodily fluids are coating the walls in there."

"Ew, Sam!"

"Sorry…" She giggled again at his disgust. She guessed he forgot about all the times they had done it while they were actual patients in the hospital. As if reading her thoughts, she laughed at Jason's words. "The times in the beds don't count, those sheets were washed afterwards." She smiled as she felt him pull her face up for another kiss. "Hmmm…" She hummed in contentment.

"What time did he leave?"

Oh crap! That was the problem, she pulled back and wrung her hands. "Well, um… don't get mad…"

"Oh Sam, that never sounds good…"

"Look its fine, no big deal even, it's just that we were really busy that day and we were exhausted and watching all that boring stuff all night long…. We uh… we fell asleep… kind of like you do when we watch Gone with the Wind…" Seeing his face contort, she continued hastily. "On the couch, on the opposite sides, I swear it wasn't a big deal, I woke up at 4 in the morning and went into my own room and I left this morning early and didn't tell him, I just wanted to hurry up and get to you, I swear Jason it was nothing, innocent really…. Are you mad?" She bit her lip and waited for him to blow.

Jason couldn't help but smile, she didn't have to tell him anything, she could've lied, but instead she told the truth no matter how he might take it. And he loved her all the more for it. He KNEW that he had nothing to worry about, he was that confident in what they had, in their love for each other. But that didn't mean that the bastard got to spend the night there. "I'm not mad Sam." He leaned over and kissed her. "Thank you… for telling me." He kissed her again. "I'm not happy that he stayed there, but I'm glad that you told me." Another kiss, then another, and when he couldn't take all these sweet kisses, he snaked his hand behind her head and pulled her more forcefully against him, kissing her long and hard. He stroked his tongue against her mouth, demanding for her to open for him, when she did, their tongues stroked and danced together, tasting her, devouring her, making everything much hotter and more demanding. He ran his hand up the inside of her shirt, excitement filled him to feel the weight of her lush breasts against his hand, pulling the offending material higher…

"Jason!" Brenda stormed into the penthouse with Carly right behind her. A bucket of ice cold water was splashed on top of them, both pulled away groaning at the loss and pissed off at the interruption. "Will you please tell Carly to leave me alone. She has been nothing but a pain in my side since I got here…"

"Pfft, pain, that's nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you, you anorexic Botox addicted bitch! I'll show you pain!" Jason jumped up from the couch and grabbed Carly before she lunged at Brenda, all while Sam was sitting down eagerly waiting for the catfight to begin. She just wished she had a bowl of popcorn with lots of butter.

"STOP! ENOUGH!" He shouted as he pulled her away. "Now tell me what you guys are arguing about so you can leave me alone and I can get back to Sam." He didn't have to look at her to know that she was smiling, he could feel her warmth and her strength refueling his own.

"Jax is turning the entire penthouse suite at the Metro Court into a home, for her!" She yelled out and pointed an accusing finger at Brenda.

"And for the hundredth time, I DON'T WANT IT! How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not leaving here, Jason is protecting me…."

"Carly, she's right, and as soon as I find the Balkan, she'll go back to Rome."

"On the first flight!" Brenda shouted out.

Sam was on cloud nine, she was so happy that Jason thought of her, so happy that he made his feelings known, so happy that she was over the top cheerful in her greeting when her cell phone rang. "Hello!" She smiled brightly. "Aidan! Hey…" She put her hand over her other ear to drown out the fight that was still going on in order to hear him better on the phone. He was telling her that Lisa was called into work and she was heading up to the hospital right now. "Robin's working too, right? Ok, meet me at the office." She hung up and stood, making her way passed the trio, not wanting to get tangled up in their mess. She stopped when she heard her name.

"Sam!" Jason called as he saw her making her way towards the door. His heart clenched, hoping that she wasn't hurt in some way. He passed the two woman (using the term loosely) and made his way to her, picking up her hand in his. Seeing the smile on her face was enough from him to breathe a sigh in relief. "I'm really sorry, you don't have to go, just give me a minute and I'll clear this up so that we could be together, or how about…"

She reached up and silenced him with a kiss, effectively cutting off his rambling. "It's ok, actually I have to get to the office. Lisa was called into work while Robin is there and I need to watch the cameras. Maybe we'll catch her doing something stupid."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

She smiled as his question, loving that he was trying to reassure her that she was his first priority. She would love it if he joined her, but she knew he couldn't. He needed to help solve the BitchFest 2010 that was currently playing in his penthouse and then he needed to concentrate on finding the Balkan. "No, thank you though…" She kissed him again for his thoughtfulness then pulled back. "How about… Since neither of us are going to the fundraiser party tomorrow, we could spend the night together, alone."

"Sounds perfect." He nodded in agreement. "I'll send Brenda over to Sonny's, and we can have the place to ourselves."

"Doesn't she have to be there? Isn't it her party?"

"No, she's not going, it's too dangerous. So, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yup, have fun." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Love you, and call me if you need anything."

"I will and I love you too." With a huge grin on her face, she left to go to her office, hoping on catching a psycho.


They had spent a couple of hours, each in their comfortable chairs, twirling and watching the monitors, Chinese takeout boxes lined the desk. Spinelli had left as soon as Sam got there, telling her about her NASA geared up laptop. She didn't really care, as long as it did what she wanted.

Sam was in mid twirl when she suddenly stopped and planted her feet on the floor. "Aidan, look!" She pointed to the screen showing Lisa dropping sheets into the laundry chute with a pair of gloves on.

"What the hell?" Aidan abruptly wheeled his chair closer to the desk. "What is she doing?"

"Unless she changed professions that we didn't know about, to me it looks like she's getting rid of something." She looks over at Aidan, knowing what steps they were about to take.

"I think we need to go to the hospital."

"And find Robin." She agreed. They both grabbed their jackets and left for the hospital.

Fifteen minutes later, both Aidan and Sam were walking up to the nurse's desk on the 6th floor, where they found Robin updating a patient's chart. She looked up and smiled, she was thankful that she had them watching out for her. "Hey guys…" Her smile fell at seeing their tight grim faces. "What's wrong?" She immediately went on high alert, her daughter was the first thing that went through her mind.

"Can you take a quick break right now?" Aidan asked but saw the worry set into her eyes. "It's nothing serious, we just need you to take us down to the laundry."

She sighed, grateful that nothing was seriously wrong, but now she was confused. "Sure. Why?" She asked as she handed the chart off to one of the nurses and walked around the station heading towards the elevators.

"We'll explain on the way." Just as the elevator doors closed to take them down to the basement, Sam looked up at the doctor. "We saw something that didn't look right. On camera, we saw Lisa dropping some sheets in the laundry chute."

"And we want you to get us in there to check it out." Aidan finished for her.

A few minutes later, they were elbow deep in dirty sheets. The laundry room was huge, four large bins were placed under each chute that piped to the basement from around the hospital. Each person put on hospital gloves and took a bin, stuffing their hands inside, looking for something that would lead them back to Lisa.

"In coming!" Aidan called out and stepped out of the way just in time for a load to fall into his bin, adding to his pile.

"We're not in the forces, and these aren't bombs." Robin managed out a smile in their current situation, grateful for her cousin being here for her.

"Sorry, can't help it, it's in my blood."

Sam smiled at their exchange, happy that at least they found their situation laughable, but when her fingers skimmed something plastic and hard, she had a feeling that this situation just turned into anything but. Wrapping her hands around what felt like a bottle, she pulled it out. "I found something!" She called out to get their attention and held up… a prescription pill container with Robin's name on it. "It's got your name on it."

Looking at it, Robin was in total disbelief and a little sick. "These are my HIV meds." She quietly whispered as she took them from Sam. "They were in my locker… How….?"

"Did you take your meds this morning? Do you remember putting them in there?" Sam asked.

"Yes, I have to take them every morning, I always have them with me, in my purse, in my locker…"

"I bet that if you check your locker right now, those…" Aidan said pointing to the pills in her hands. "Will be missing or you'll find some type of fakes. This is so fucked up!" He tore his gloves off and ran his hands through his hair, completely frustrated with the situation.

"She's messing with my health now, not just my marriage. If I don't take these everyday…. " She didn't want to think about what would happen, she could get sick and she could die. She looked up when something dawned on her. "But that's it, right? It's over, we caught her…"

Sam felt awful and downright pissed. This bitch had gone too far this time, how could another human being possibly do this, to leave a poor baby girl, Emma, without a mother? She would be happy to take Lisa down, but she was sad to say that she couldn't, not yet, not for this. "I'm sorry Robin… this won't be enough to convict her."

"What do you mean? You caught her on camera… you saw her…"

Aidan spoke up. "We saw her throw some laundry down a chute, that's all."

"And I'm sure that if you dusted that bottle and your locker for fingerprints, you aren't going to find any. She was wearing gloves, she's smart Robin and if you try to convict her, she could just say that she was helping out the other staff. You'll only succeed in making her look like a helpful doctor, while you look like a vindictive one. I'm sorry."

"But there has to be something we could do, I can't just ignore this." Robin whispered brokenly as the tears fell from her eyes. At seeing her crying, Aidan walked up and engulfed her in his arms.

"I promise you, nothing will happen to you, or your family." He whispered to her, kissing the top of her head. He looked up at Samantha, she was a strong woman but he could see that this affected her as well. He would like nothing more than to take her in his arms, but he couldn't do that to his cousin. She needed his comfort right now.

"Look…" Sam took a deep breath and began, hoping to ease her mind. "We're watching her, ok?, she's not going to get away with any of this. We caught her this time, and now she's going to get desperate seeing that her plan didn't work. What you need to do is just ignore her, tell Patrick what happened and tell him to watch out for her and ignore her as well. Just love each other, in public as much as possible, hold hands, hug, kiss, everything that married couples do. Sneak off in supply closets if you have to, just not the 4th floor, it's pretty nasty…" She smiled, happy that she was able to make Robin laugh. "We'll catch her, and when she's gone, you'll have your family again. Ok?" Sam was glad to see her nod her head and accept her situation, no matter how shitty it was.

"Thank you, both of you, thank you for helping me." Robin said as she picked up both their hands and squeezed thankful for having them in her life. Wiping the tears from her face, she squared her shoulders and walked out, heading back to her life, her husband and her daughter.

"I'm going to kill that BITCH!" Sam jumped at hearing Aidan scream as he repeatedly kicked the laundry bin. She wasn't surprised though, his family was in danger, and she would've done the same. Needing to control him, she grabbed a hold of his hands. "Aidan! Aidan, stop! You need to stop! This isn't helping anybody…" Seeing him calm down, she whispered to him, hoping to get through his blinding rage. "Listen, you need to control yourself, I know you're pissed and scared, but we need to focus. Together, we'll take that bitch down." She was glad that she got through to him, but what happened next was not expected. He hugged her.

"Thank you Samantha, thank you…" With his arms wrapped around her waist, Aidan lowered himself and placed his head on her leather covered shoulders. This is what he had imagined for them when he woke up this morning on her couch, him and Samantha, together, and now he finally got his wish. Now, he just had to figure out how to keep her there.