Secrets Shared

Rebecca quickly found a seat on the train, balancing the awkward package on her lap and absently stroking its lid as she watched Joanna slam her trunk closed before getting into her car. Becca's heart ached for her friend. There must be something she could do to make Jo see that her and MacGyver were destined to be together, but what? Worse, she had promised Joanna she would keep her secret and Becca never betrayed a friend.

The return trip to Chicago seemed to take twice as long, and by the time the train screeched to a stop beside the platform, Becca was exhausted. She hailed a cab, a luxury she rarely afforded herself, but she did not feel like dealing with riding The El, especially at this time of night and with arms full of luggage. The first thing she did upon arriving at her apartment was call her friend and arrange to have Cip brought home first thing tomorrow morning. She was placing the receiver back into the cradle when she noticed the light on her answering machine blinking indicating she had a message. Her heart leapt. Could it be? No one else ever called. It was with an odd mixture of relief and disappointment that Becca listened to the grainy recording of Connie Thornton's voice inviting her to a party that Friday in honor of Pete finally getting his cast removed. During the time that she had known them, the couple had become like surrogate parents to her. But how could she go and have a good time when she knew Sam would certainly be there as well, and maybe not alone.

The following morning Becca slipped into her cubicle, but not before feeling Sam Malloy's eyes on her.

"Where have you been?!" he demanded sharply.

His unexpected outburst startled her and she visibly jumped. "None of your business!" she shot back.

"C'mon Becca, don't be like that." He gentled his tone.

Rebecca turned to face him, putting a hand on her hip. "I'm surprised you even noticed I was gone, what with all your dates and everything!" she spat.

"Of course I noticed," he said. "I was worried sick!"

"You could've called if you were so concerned," Becca retorted, venom in her usually sweet voice.

"I know," he replied, running a hand through his hair as she had so often seen his father do when he was upset or frustrated. "But after I thought about it I figured you probably just wanted some time alone."

Rebecca straightened her spine and composed herself before responding. "If you must know, I went to Milwaukee to work on a story I was assigned. I needed Joanna to help out with some research."

"What about my dad?" Sam asked.

"What about him?" Becca queried in return, all wide-eyed innocence.

"Was he there?"

"No, but Jo let me stay in his apartment," she replied flippantly.

Sam's gaze found the floor and his annoyance with Rebecca quickly morphed into concern for his dad. "I haven't heard from him since he left for Los Angeles and he's not answering my calls. It's not like him to stay away this long, especially now that he has Challengers."

"I'm sure he's fine," Becca assured him. "He probably just needed a vacation."

She stood with her arms crossed in front of her, chewing her lip, and hoping against hope that Sam didn't question her further about MacGyver's absence.

"Are you going to Pete's party on Friday?" she asked, eager to change the subject.

"Yeah, sure. Aren't you?"

Becca shrugged. "Maybe. If I don't have other plans."

"You know they consider you family. They'll miss you if you don't show. We can drive over together."

"You mean you're not bringing a date?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "No. I'm not bringing a date. Be ready by six."

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Wednesday morning Rebecca arrived at work before anyone else...or so she thought. A pineapple Slurpee, still cold, sat in the middle of her desk. Her lips formed a small smile of their own accord. A peace offering from Sam who was nowhere to be found. This proved to become a pattern over the next couple days. Not only did Sam woo her with her favorite beverage, but she would often look up from her work to find him staring at her. Sometimes he would quickly turn away, but other times he allowed his gaze to linger. She found herself doing the same and wondered if the old adage was true. Perhaps absence really did make the heart grow fonder.

Friday afternoon, Rebecca left work early to get ready for Pete's party. She put on a pair of her best jeans and her softest oversized sweater. Her hands shook as she attempted to apply a meager amount of rarely used make-up. Her stomach dipped when Sam rang her doorbell promptly at six o'clock. They drove over to the Thornton's in relative, albeit comfortable, silence. A weak electrical charge seemed to stretch between them, but neither dared broach the subject of their fractured relationship. It had been about a month since the pair had argued about Sam's supposed dinner-date with a colleague and Becca's lack of experience with the opposite sex yet neither seemed inclined to bring the subject out in the open.

Once the foursome had consumed Connie's scrumptious homemade dinner, the matriarch shooed Sam and a still-limping Pete out of the kitchen while she and Becca cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher.

"So, when are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Sam?" Connie asked as casually as if she was commenting on the weather.

"What do you mean?" Rebecca replied innocently.

Connie sighed and leveled a look that would put Becca's mom to shame. "For the last several weeks, whenever Sam comes over he's always alone, and rather broody I might add. And whenever Pete or I ask about you he always gives a vague response. I can only assume you two had a lover's quarrel. I'm here to listen if you want to talk about it."

But Becca didn't want to talk about it. At least that's what she told herself. Being around Sam these past few days had been sweet torture. Her yearning for him continued to grow, but nothing could ever come of it. He would always find her lacking. A stray tear trickled down her cheek. Connie, astute as ever, whipped out a tissue and handed it to her.

"Talk," the older woman commanded. And Rebecca talked. She talked about the argument she and Sam had had. She talked about the phone calls to MacGyver and Joanna. She talked about Santa Barbara.

"Have you told Sam about this?" Connie asked gently.

Becca shook her head.

"Don't you think he deserves to know?"

"That's the same thing Joanna said, but it shouldn't matter," Becca mumbled.

"You're right. In a perfect world it shouldn't matter," Connie remarked. "But this is an imperfect world with imperfect people. Talk to him, Becca."

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"She's drivin' me nuts, Pete! She still won't talk to me and I don't know what to do about it!"

Pete chuckled as he repositioned himself in his recliner. "Ah, young love!"

"It's not funny," Sam grumbled.

"I'm sorry," Pete said. "But don't you think this is something you should be discussing with your father?"

"I'm trying, but he won't answer my calls anymore! All he said is that I should apologize even if I didn't do anything wrong!"

"That's sound advice. Perhaps Mac is finally starting to understand women after all," Pete mused.

"I should never have gone out to dinner with Susan," Sam moaned.

"Ah, so she has a name."

"It was no big deal!" Sam exclaimed, utterly frustrated with this whole chain of events. "We had both worked late and were hungry. I don't need Becca's permission to have a meal with a friend!"

"Is that what this is really all about?" Pete inquired.

"No," Sam ground out, hanging his head so his dark bangs fell in his face. "We started fighting and some things got said that probably shouldn't have."

Pete's eyebrows rose but he remained silent.

"Fine," Sam sighed. "I said some things to Becca I shouldn't have."

"Did you try and apologize?"

"Not really," Sam reluctantly admitted.

"You might wanna give it a shot," Pete suggested.

Before Sam could reply, Connie breezed into the room carrying a gaily decorated chocolate cake as Becca followed behind with plates and plastic forks.

"Is everyone ready for dessert?" Pete's wife asked cheerfully and was greeted with eager nods. Suddenly, she paused in the middle of cutting the cake and frowned. "Oh no! I forgot to get ice cream!"

Pete sent a sightless eye-roll in her direction. "I've been doing nothing but sitting in this chair for the past six weeks. The doctor said I gained ten pounds! We don't need ice cream!"

"Nonsense, Peter! We can't have cake without ice cream! Perhaps Sam and Becca wouldn't mind running to the store and picking some up."

"Connie…" her husband warned.

"I don't mind. I'll go," Sam replied. "Becca, you wanna ride along?"

The poor girl looked like a deer caught in headlights. He belatedly regretted putting her on the spot like that.

"Sure," she agreed with a half-hearted shrug.

A few minutes later Sam pulled into the grocery store parking lot. He turned off the ignition but instead of opening the door he turned to Becca.

"You know Connie set this up, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Becca replied. "I like her a lot but sometimes she's not very subtle. You know you didn't have to bring me along if you didn't want to."

"I wanted to. You didn't have to come."

"I wanted to," Becca said shyly.

Sam's heart flopped in his chest. It was now or never. "I'm really sorry for the things I said to you. I don't blame you for getting upset with me. It's just that I felt like things were happening pretty fast and I guess it scared me a little. Now I know how my dad must've felt about relationships when he was my age."

"Have you been dating other women?" Becca asked, eyes downcast.

"I went out to dinner with a couple, but I didn't enjoy it," Sam confessed. "What about you?"

"I got assigned to do a story on computer dating. I ended up meeting a guy." Rebecca finally looked up and caught his eye. "I didn't enjoy it either. He wasn't you."

Sam felt immensely relieved, but one thing still niggled at him. "I was wrong to accuse you of not knowing your feelings for me."

"Yeah, you were," Becca agreed, surprising him with her candor. "I need to tell you about someone I met when I moved to Santa Barbara. His name was Carlton…"

By the time Rebecca finished her story, Sam's heart hurt for her. In his fear and frustration he had erroneously assumed that Becca had been unscathed by love's wrath. Knowing differently only made him admire her more. She was the most giving, genuine, gentle person he had ever met. She was also intelligent, stubborn, courageous, and always willing to stand up for what she believed in. And she had taken a chance by opening her heart to him. He was indeed humbled.

"Becca," he began, his voice raspy with emotion, "I'm so sorry I ever questioned your feelings for me and even more sorry that I felt the need to run from them. Do you think you can forgive me?"

"I might be persuaded to," she drawled, and Sam mentally added 'sassy' to the list of things he loved about her. He slowly leaned over the center console and was delighted when he she met him half-way. In the semi-darkness of the parking lot they shared the sweetest kiss he had ever known.

"Well it took you long enough!" Pete complained when Becca and Sam returned with the ice cream. "What'd you do? Make it yourself?"

The couple glanced at Connie who sent them a knowing smile before turning on her husband. "Peter!"

"I'm sorry," he sighed, absently massaging his healing leg. "Guess my first physical therapy session took more outta me than I thought. Let's cut that cake!"

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The rest of the evening passed quickly and before she knew it Sam was escorting Becca to her apartment door.

"Would you like to come in?" she asked shyly, not quite sure what she wanted his answer to be. Sam's apology and the kiss they had shared in his car had really muddled her brain.

"I would," he replied with a sincerity she hadn't heard before.

As soon as Becca opened the door, Cip came bounding down the hall to greet them, welcoming Sam with a wiggling behind and slobbery doggy kisses.

"Hey buddy! I've missed ya!" Sam told the dog as he bent to ruffle the mutt's ears.

Cip wasn't the only one who had missed Sam. Becca had missed him immensely though she didn't allow herself to realize that until tonight.

"Can I get you something to drink?" she called from the kitchen as he made himself comfortable on her couch.

"Naw, I'm good," he replied, glancing around the eclectically decorated apartment.

Becca returned to the living room intending to sit in the overstuffed chair facing the picture window, but as she walked by Sam's hand snaked out and caught her wrist, gently tugging her down beside him.

"There's a Star Trek marathon on the retro channel this weekend," he informed her.

She sighed. "I know, but I don't have cable."

"I do," Sam said matter-of-factly. "I thought we could watch it together. Ya know, make a day of it."

Rebecca's heart flopped and she was sure she was blushing. "Th...that sounds nice."

"We can order pizza," he offered. "With pineapple."

He flashed her a devastatingly sexy grin and she was helpless to refuse. "Count me in," she replied softly, hoping she didn't sound as breathless as she felt. From a distance she heard Sam's voice penetrate the fog that had enveloped her brain.

"What's that?"

She followed his gaze to the large white box sitting on the coffee table.

"Um, just something I need to return," she muttered.

Sam leaned forward and studied the receipt taped to the top. Becca cringed. What a lousy time for his investigative instincts to kick in.

"You bought something at a bridal boutique?" he asked, turning toward her, eyebrows raised.

"No!" she answered instinctively before realizing her error. "I mean...yes. Something for a friend," she blurted out.

"Which friend?" Sam's eyes narrowed and he was now in full interview mode.

"Ummm…" Rebecca fidgeted as she tried to come up with something to say without giving away Joanna's secret. Lying didn't come easily to her. "If I tell you, you have got to promise not to breathe a word of this to anyone. Understand?"

"Fine. I won't say anything," Sam conceded.

Rebecca took a long, deep breath before speaking. "It's Joanna's wedding dress. She asked me to return it for her."

"Why? Did she decide she doesn't like it?"

Good grief! Why were men so dense?!

"Something like that," Becca shrugged. Sam's eyes bore into her until she couldn't stand it anymore. "Oh, all right! She changed her mind about marrying your dad!" she exclaimed.

"What?!" Sam bellowed as he rocketed off the couch. "You can't be serious!" He jammed both hands through his hair and began pacing.

Rebecca sat quietly, hands cradled in her lap, picking at her cuticles.

"You are serious," Sam said as he deflated back onto the cushions. "How did this happen? They're crazy about each other! My dad didn't do something stupid, did he?"

Rebecca shook her head.

"Then tell me, Becca! What happened?!"

She felt unbidden tears welling in her eyes. "I can't! I've said too much already!"

"Then tell me the rest!"

Becca took a few moments to compose herself. "Okay. But you have to keep your original promise not to tell anyone. Especially Jo and MacGyver."

"I don't think I can do that. This is my family we're talkin' about."

Rebecca stared at him long and hard until he relented. "Fine, I won't say a word."

Once she had Sam's promise she proceeded to tell him everything Joanna had told her and, quite frankly, it felt good to share the burden she'd been carrying.

"Wow. How does my dad feel about all this?"

"I don't know. Jo hasn't heard from him since he left. Apparently no one has."

"But he's comin' back, right? I mean, they're meant for each other! He has to convince her to marry him!"

All Becca could do was stare at the floor. She had no answers.

"There must be something I can do," Sam muttered.

"No!" She grabbed his arm and pleaded with her eyes. "I promised Jo I wouldn't tell and you promised me you wouldn't tell and if you do something they'll know we told!" she sobbed.

Sam turned and gathered Becca close. "Alright. I won't say anything," he sighed, kissing the top of her head. "I just hope my dad doesn't screw this up."

"If it's any consolation, I can guarantee you that Joanna still loves him," Becca mumbled against his chest.

"And I know my dad still loves her. We just have to hope they know that."