Claiming What's His (35 page)

             
It was this moment that she hated as part of her job – being the victim. 

             
She understood what it felt like for other people to be on this end of any situation, being the center of attention and getting the look from others like they felt sorry and pitied the person. 

             
She didn’t need any of that, whether they felt that way about her or not. 

             
She needed to get away, go home, and sleep it away.

             
They remained like this for several minutes and she wasn’t sure if they were every going to move or say anything.

             
They didn’t.

             
So she moved.

             
Sam slowly sat up, twisting her leg so they fell to the side of the bed. 

             
The room spun and tilted as dizziness struck her.  She brought her hand to her head as she subconsciously felt her upper body wobble.

             
It was then that she felt Alex move, sliding one arm under her knees and one arm around her back and lifted her in his arms, carrying her out of the room.

             
“I can walk,” she croaked as her head weakly fell to his shoulders.

             
He didn’t say a word, nor did he put her down.

             
Her arms fell lifeless, one behind his back, one in her lap.  She had never felt so helpless before.  It was worse than the time Brown strangled her.  Even then, she fought until she couldn’t anymore. 

             
Here she was, moments ago, tied (and helpless) and was unable to use her hands, something she highly relied on in her everyday life like most people did.  And the one time she needed it, she couldn’t call upon it.

             
Alex moved through the clusters of cops, ignoring the chatters amongst them, and headed straight to the waiting SUV. 

             
He shifted her in his arms and she pressed her forehead in his neck.  Her eyes drooped as she struggled to keep them open.

             
Behind him she heard her dad’s voice. 

             
But before she could lift her head and tell him she was okay, her eyes shut and she fell asleep.

              The sound of a motorcycle engine roaring down the street woke anything and everything that was still asleep, including Sam. 

             
Sam opened her eyes and saw the pillow empty.  She glanced up and looked out the window and saw that it was still dark, but out the window in the distance, the sun was just peaking over the horizon.

             
She lifted her head, got up on her left elbow and glanced around the room, trying to find anything out of place or listen to any other noise coming from a distance.

             
Nothing.

             
She sat up, threw the covers off, placing her legs on the side of the bed and went to her feet.

             
Her head throbbed and her body crumpled over with her head pressed into the bed.  One of her hands flew to her head as she squeezed her eyes shut.

             
This must’ve been the effects of the chloroform because when she went to bed last night, a headache developed and it seemed that it didn’t get any better. 

             
Then she heard the door open.

             
“Sam, what’s wrong?”  She heard Alex ask as she felt his hands on her arm and elbow.

“Headache,” was all she managed to get out before unexpected nausea hit her.  She ran into the bathroom, nearly tripping over a pillow as she fell to her knees, her head falling into the toilet where she emptied her stomach, her arms resting on the toilet seat supporting her. 

Alex knelt behind her, holding her hair and rubbing her back.

Once she finished with her contents, she continued to dry heave for a few more minutes where she closed her eyes and rested her head against her arm, sucking in deep breaths.

Sam heard the toilet flush and she still hadn’t move.

Alex stood behind her, firmly gripping her arms to stand her up.  Her head instantly fell back to his shoulders, and her knees nearly gave out if he hadn’t held her.

“Let’s rinse your mouth and get back into bed.  You’re not going anywhere today,” he ordered.  “Here, take some Tylenol.  Maybe it’ll help.”

She did as she was
told once again, not saying a word. 

Not that she could at the moment.

Sam had never felt so weak in her life.  It felt as if all the power she had in her had been stripped away from her, leaving her to fend for herself.

*******

By mid-morning, Sam felt a whole lot better.  That Tylenol surely worked wonders for her.  It felt as if she never had the headache to begin with.

She had laid down for about an hour until the weak feeling left her.  She wasn’t sure what had happened (since it had never happened before) but a trip to the good ‘ole doctor might be a good idea… after the Conrad case was closed.

She wasn’t feeling completely better, but it was better.

Sam had no idea where that weak and nauseous feeling came from.  Perhaps it was a combination of stress and the
food she ate.  Whatever it was, it was out of her system at the moment and she was good… for now.

She threw the covers off, went to the
bathroom and got ready for work. 

When she left the bedroom, she was dressed and ready to head to the office.  She stopped dead when she got to the mouth of the hallway, seeing Alex in his shorts and tee shirt with papers scattered everywhere.

He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.  “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Work,” she replied as she walked into the kitchen, not giving him another glance.

“No, you’re not.  You’re staying home.”

She reached for a mug and poured her coffee.  “Alex, I have
work to do.  I can’t keep missing work if I want to get paid.  And why aren’t you at work?”

“Sam, you were sick this morning.  And you were kidnapped.  I’m not going to leave you at home by yourself.  I have my work here so I stayed home and worked here.  And now, you’re going to do the same so sit.”

This moment should’ve warmed her heart that he was staying home to care for her.  She never had that before.

However, she wasn’t feeling warm, at least not in her heart.

She was feeling slightly angry (in her eyes).

So she didn’t sit and she glared at him. 

Sit?
  Was she a dog now?

He was so not her boss (technically he was but only professionally).

She loudly slammed her mug down and her hands flew to her hips.  “Excuse me, but you
cannot
tell me what to do!”

Alex stood up, walked to her, and stopped, placing his hands on his hips and dipping his head down to her.

“Oh yeah I can.  And since you seem to be up for a fight, why don’t we start by you explaining
why
you were trying to leave here yesterday?”

Shit.

Sam had forgotten about that.  She really didn’t want to bring it up nor did she want to explain herself.  She just knew that last night, at that moment, at the time, she had to get out of there.

She lost her glared, her eyes sliding to the side as she tried to think of something.  But nothing came to mind.

“Uh…” Maybe if she continued to fake the morning sickness thing again…

“Sam.”

Damn. 

What could she tell him?  She knew he would never take
uhs as an answer.  She needed to think of something and something quick before he glared her to death.

“Sam,” he repeated.

“Well, I had thought of something last night and wanted to go into the office to check it out.  But since you turned the alarm on and I couldn’t leave, I didn’t want to bother you.” 

Damn, that wasn’t bad.  It wasn’t the best excuse, but it worked for her. 

She would believe it. 

The real question was – did he?

He blinked.  “What was it?”

Her eyes moved to his.  “What?”

“What was so important you had to check on?”

Her eyes went to the side.  “A few things,” she mumbled.

“We’re working the case.  Anything on it, you can tell me.”

“It isn’t about the Conrad case.  I have other cases going on simultaneously and I wanted to check on a few of my other clients’ stuff.  And you know those are confidential.” 

Sam didn’t know how she thought of it that fast but at the moment, she was glad that she had other clients to back up her story, even if she really didn’t have anything to do for them.

Her eyes slowly moved to his.

Alex stared at her for a long while.  His eyes never left hers, making her nervous. 

She shifted slightly.  She broke his glare and went to pour herself a cup of coffee.  She figured he could stand there and stare all he wanted while she got in her morning fix.

He finally moved, standing on the end of it U countertop, and said, “Fine.  But next time if you need to leave in the middle of the night, you wake me up and I’ll take you.”

Phew!

Sam took a mental sigh of relief. 

He believed her and she could finally get past this and never mention it again.

“Oh, you don’t have to take me.  Just leave the alarm unarmed and I’ll go by myself.”

“I’ll take you, Sam,” he insisted firmly.

“No, really, I –”

He dipped his head down so that they were nose-to-nose and he growled, “I said I’ll take you.”

Sam rolled her eyes as she sighed and nodded.

Jeez, didn’t anyone trust anyone these days?

*******

             
The evidence was there.

             
Sam was getting close to solving it all.  She just needed to piece them together.  She needed to be around her office.  Her thought process seemed to be better if she was there.

             
Not long after going nose-to-nose with Alex, he walked into the room, got dressed and informed her that he was going to the office for a few hours due to some situation in the war room.

             
It was then that she perked up and asked to go along using her puppy-dog eyes.

             
He said no.

             
She huffed and said yes then pouted.

             
He still said no.

             
This was when she cut to the chase and begged, and when that didn’t work, she shed tears.

             
Sam heard the groan and felt a warm body close around her.  His lips moved to her ears and he whispered, “You’re lucky I love you, otherwise I wouldn’t put up with this shit.”

             
That was six hours ago.

             
It was now and still no Alex, although he was somewhere on the fourth floor (or at least she thought so). 

             
He was in the war room with the guys and none of them emerged.  He even got the guys to watch over her every hour even though they were a floor or three
above
her. 

             
And with this, she took the opportunity to get to know each one.

             
Dean, she already knew from observing him at the various town events, that he secretly had a thing for Char.  Her suspicions were confirmed when he nearly asked non-stop questions about her and her son.  He tried to make it casual, but it was clear as day that he was scoping for information.  Maybe he didn’t realize that he was doing it.  Guys could sometimes be so oblivious.

             
Then Sam found out that Sean had been married for two years.  He didn’t share much, but when he did, there was something hidden beneath his eyes that told her he wasn’t happy.  The façade that he showed was a front as part of his job.  She wanted to ask him if he was okay, but knowing the typical male species, his answer would’ve been “yeah” or “babe.”

             
When Matt walked in, she thought he was an underwear model that had walked into the wrong agency.  He was tall with lean, muscles and proportionate hips (almost like a swimmer’s body but his hips weren’t that narrow).  His hair was tousled to the side and he had that pouty bottom lip like the runway guys have after they get to the end and pose, pouting their lips before walking back.  He had a girlfriend and they had only begun dating.  She was back in New York and they thought they’d give the long distance relationship a try.

             
Jason was one who Sam hadn’t met yet, until now.  And boy was he hot too.  Best part about this was that he was single.  Single
and
looking.  When Sam asked what type of girl was he looking for, he told her he liked a girl who was sweet and smart, kind of like the girl next door.  Looks didn’t matter to him, as long as they clicked.  She never would’ve guess that about him.  He could have easily had any girl he wanted, but he didn’t like just any girl.  So her new personal task was to see if she had any single friends.

             
Corey was her absolute favorite member of the team.  He was funny and loud and gay.  He and his partner Gabriel had been together for five years and, according to him, still going strong, though he had the feeling that the long distance thing might be a little difficult at first since they had never been apart before.  But he said that Gabriel was willing to come down in a few months and see if Comfort was worth the potential move.

             
Rogue was the only person she hadn’t met yet.  But from what the others had told her, he was someone not to mess with, ever.  That was enough for Sam to steer clear.

*******

              It was getting late. 

             
Alex left over an hour ago to rundown some suspects for their case with Dean and Sean. 

             
When she offered to go with him, he declined and ordered her to stay, again.

             
It was now approaching midnight and Sam was exhausted.  She wanted to go home and snuggle in bed and dream about hot guys, nicely hot, muscled men modeling underwear for a photo shoot.

             
She figured she could walk-run home and be there before anyone would find out, and ratted her out to Alex. 

             
When Jason went to back room, Sam gave him the slip and figured she would text Alex once she got home.

             
The moon hung brightly in the sky as she walked down the sidewalk, heading towards the condo.  She glanced around and noticed that she was the only person walking in the dark.  There were cars on the road every now and then, but no pedestrians.

             
It was too oddly quiet.

             
Sam reached into her bag and grabbed a hold of her gun and kept it there.  She continued walking, keeping her eyes peeled on the streets looking for any movements that gave her a reason to use her weapon.