A/N: Well folks, only one or two chapters left after this one. You know what to do.

)O(

Light invaded his eyes, forcing them open. The curtains were drawn over the windows, turning natural light to a blue haze. It reminded Jayden of his sick love affair with sweet Lady Triptocaine. Not that it was the first time he'd woken up craving the drug. It certainly wouldn't be the last.

Truth be told, he didn't relish the idea of dragging his aching body out of bed. That would only mean another day of being useless, another day in which his analytical skills slowly became less sharp. Jayden never thought would actually miss murder. The constant craving for tripto merely reminded him of just how far he had fallen. It was proof that even after quitting the FBI and letting go of ARI, he still wasn't in control, because it was. His old life mocked him.

Jayden promised himself that he'd stop those bitter thoughts once he drank his equally bitter coffee, and with that promise, opened his eyes again.

The ceiling was painted brown. Luckily, most of the awful paint had peeled away. Memories started to come back to him upon seeing it, of the warm body that he suddenly realized was no longer beside him. That's because she was sitting in a chair, wearing nothing but her panties and his shirt. Madison was holding her cellphone in one hand and a pen in the other, which she was absently tapping against the desk.

"Oh my god..." she was saying. "Sam, I'm so sorry..." She caught his eye. "Yeah, of course I will. Just give me twenty minutes or so. I'll meet you there."

Madison hung up the phone a moment later. After that, they just looked at each other for a while, not saying anything. She sat there in his shirt, her brown hair limp and tangled. It was increasingly awkward, partly because she seemed unable to meet his eyes after that first time a mere moment ago.

Neither of them really knew what was supposed to happen next, having never had a serious relationship before. They'd both been faithfully committed to their jobs until recently, so much so that bringing a romantic partner into the mix would be terribly unfair to everyone involved.

But now that barrier, which had once been a large part of who they were, was gone.

"Is that my shirt?" Jayden finally asked.

"Oh, yeah." she replied. "Sorry, I had to put something on quickly; someone was at the door."

"Who was it?"

"Room service."

"Ah."

Madison stood up and began searching for her clothes. She found them, removed his shirt and tossed it aside. Jayden tried - and obviously failed - not to look at her as she stood there half-naked. But she dressed quickly, avoiding his eyes as well.

"Check out is at eleven." she said. "I'm leaving for a while. Sam and Kathy are going through a bit of a rough patch right now in addition to the whole medical scare."

"Are they gonna split up?"

"God, I don't know." Madison sighed. "You never know with Kathy. That woman is a psycho. But he loves her, more than she could ever love him. That's what's so sad about all this."

Soon she was gone, and he was left to wonder if they had made a terrible mistake.

)o(

"Are you sure it wasn't just the medication they had her on?"

"No." Sam shook his head. "That was all Kathy. I'm sure of it. In fact, she was more lucid than I've seen her in months. That's what doesn't make sense."

"I'm sorry, Sam." Madison said quietly, not knowing what else to say.

"Don't be." he replied dismissively. "She's right, though. We can't keep pretending this is working. She said we both deserve better."

Madison nodded. He really did. Kathy was a rather unpleasant person as well as a rather crazy one. Sam knew how unstable she was, but he'd vowed to stay with her 'til death do us part. So much for that. What had love ever done for her anyway? Besides put her in life threatening situations, of course. They were all better off without it.

"I slept with Norman." Madison blurted out before she could stop herself.

"Who?" Sam looked puzzled.

"The FBI agent guy?" She bit her lip sheepishly, preparing for the lecture of the century.

"You slept with the drug addict?"

"Former drug addict." Madison pointed out. "And former FBI agent."

"So what is this guy, then? It seems like he used to be a lot of things. Why did you sleep with him?"

"I don't know." she admitted, looking down at the table. "I think...it might have been a mistake. We could barely look at each other this morning. It was so awkward, Sam."

"It's always awkward after you fuck someone."

Madison wasn't completely sure that was an established fact. College, for example, had been a time for casual sex and experimentation. No awkwardness, no strings attached. So why did this have to be any different? Perhaps because they were grown ups now who should know how to carry on an adult relationship, but didn't.

"I'm serious."

"So am I." Sam scowled. "Look, the two of you aren't idiots, you just don't know where to go from here. That's pretty normal. You'll figure it out."

But they were idiots. Not just regular idiots, but fucking idiots. The worst kind imaginable.

"Thanks..."

"No, thank you." he smiled. "I needed a distraction. Your problems are a lot more fun to talk about than mine."

Later that afternoon, she returned to her apartment only to find that she was alone. There was a note from Jayden saying that he would be back soon. He was avoiding her and not being very subtle about it either.

Madison sat down in front of her laptop, staring at the unfinished document that continued to mock her. Publishers had been on her ass for weeks to complete the book while the story was still shiny and new. Ethan refused to talk about the whole ordeal, partly for Shaun's sake, so hers was the only eye witness account. The only one who was there in the middle of it all. The only one left who really knew Scott Shelby's motives.

And so, she placed her fingers on the keys, and started to write.