Chapter Four: It's So Overwhelming

Disclaimer: My Muse, my imagination and my dreams are all mine (but can be rented for a high fee). I'm sure if I owned the cast and characters we would have an enormous amount of fun (but I don't. I'm just borrowing them).

'Thrown Down' – Fleetwood Mac

A/N:- I am not responsible for the length of this chapter – I didn't realise it was this long until I went to re-read it so I apologise if it's over waffly.

It had been a couple of weeks since her OPR meeting and she had only been back out in the field for a few days when Whitney Ridder went missing so she was rather surprised to hear Jack was willing to send her to the other side of the country. She had pretended to be reluctant to go but deep down a part of her had been secretly thrilled at getting to spend a couple of days alone with Martin.

It was something of a paradox how one drunken mistake had led to so much more for them. He had really been there for her these past couple of weeks, always listening to her when she just needed to vent and generally just being supportive. So far though, they hadn't had enough time to even think about spending time together outside of work and even if they did, Samantha didn't think she would have found the courage to ask him out for drinks again.

"Okay, our flight's at 11:45 so that should give us enough time to get our stuff together and drive to the airport." Martin said, putting down the phone and heading over to her desk.

She stood up and gathered her things together, looking around to say goodbye to the others before noticing they were all out in the field, tracking down leads.

"I'll drive." Martin said, picking up a set of keys for a bureau car from the desk on the way.

"You drove last time." Samantha shot.

"Who's counting?" Martin grinned as they walked across the parking lot to their car.

"Come on, give me the keys." She said, tugging them out of his hand. "Do I need to remind you again that I've been stuck in an office for several months on end and that getting to drive is quite possibly the most exciting thing in my life at the moment?"

"When is that line going to get too old for you to use?" Martin grumbled, climbing into the passenger seat.

"Maybe it'll be like Danny and his chat-up lines and it'll never grow old." Samantha laughed, starting the car.

"How does it feel Jack trusting you enough to let you out of his sight?" Martin asked as Samantha navigated the busy New York streets.

"Actually I don't think it's a question of trust, I think it's a question of Jack wanting me out of his hair." Samantha replied.

"You shouldn't be so pessimistic all of the time."

"You're sounding rather like someone I don't like very much." She sighed.

"Poor Dr Harris hasn't won you over yet?"

Samantha shook her head. "She's so ….. intrusive – it's not natural." She said, glancing out of her window to check the lights.

"It's turning red." Martin warned her.

Samantha put her foot down on the pedal hard, throwing Martin back against his seat. Traffic coming from the other direction had already started moving and Samantha had to make a quick swerve to avoid being hit.

Once they had slowed down to a normal speed, Martin looked at her in amazement. "I know you haven't been driving on the roads a lot recently but there's this little thing we like to call traffic lights and red tends to mean 'stop' not 'let's speed up and drive like a maniac and narrowly miss getting hit'.'"

"What? We made it didn't we?" Samantha smirked.

"Just." Martin muttered, tightening his seat belt.

Two minutes later Samantha pulled up outside her apartment block and pulled her keys out. "Do you want to come up?"

"I don't know, last time you said that it involved me taking my clothes off." Martin quipped, opening the car door and heading onto the sidewalk.

Samantha faced him, running her eyes up and down his body with a seductive half-smile on her smile. "You can take them off this time as well if you want." She said, leaning forward and whispering in his ear flirtatiously. "But as for me, I'll be finding clean clothes to stuff in a bag." She added in a normal voice, leading the way up to her apartment.

He knew she was doing what they had been doing for the past few weeks and just playing with him but Martin couldn't help but feel incredibly hot under her gaze. And this wasn't the first time. It didn't take a lot anymore – all she had to do was brush past him, smile at him flirtatiously or even when he looked at her for more than thirty seconds at a time… These next couple of days was going to push him to his limit. "Well, don't forget to pack a swimsuit as well. Weather says it's going to be hot."

"In southern California – never!" Samantha said sarcastically.

"Okay, cut the sarcasm smartass." Martin said, his hands resting on her hips, pushing her out of the elevator once they had reached her floor.

Samantha bit her tongue from saying anything else but she really loved feeling his hands on her again even if it was through two layers of cloth and his intention purely friendly.

"Make yourself at home." She said, waving her hand to the living room whilst she headed into her bedroom to fetch some clothes and her passport.

Martin looked around. He hadn't spent a lot of time in this room last time he was here but it was exactly how he had imagined it – it looked a lot like his living room, like it didn't get lived in much. There were a couple of old newspapers on the coffee table and a large plant that looked like it had outgrown its pot on the shelf and that was about it – no photos, no ornaments, none of her FBI certificates framed on the walls. He sat down on the sofa and had barely reached for the TV remote when Samantha appeared in the doorway.

"I'm done." She said. "Your apartment now."

Martin reached down to carry her overnight bag for her.

"It's not heavy, I can carry it." She said but Martin ignored her and simply walked to the front door. Samantha smiled at his gentlemanly behaviour and locked up.

Martin's apartment was the other side of town from hers and by the time they got there, the streets were so busy, they couldn't find anywhere to park so in the end Samantha just had to drive around whilst Martin ran up to grab his stuff. She had to admit that she was more than a bit disappointed that she didn't get to see the inside of his apartment but making sure they caught their flight was their overriding priority unfortunately.

Samantha was sipping her orange juice and flicking through her in-flight magazine when Martin laid out a folder in front of her.

"Meet Lucas Vohland." Martin announced.

Samantha stared at the photo of the forty year-old criminal in front of her and scrunched up her face in disgust. "Nice."

"Yeah that's what his cellmate said." Martin chuckled. "Okay to get you up to speed, there's not a lot this guy doesn't do ….. robbery, counterfeiting, fraud - a regular con artist. Started at the age of sixteen and hasn't stopped since."

"When did he get let out of prison?" Samantha asked.

"Erm, let me check." Martin said, leaning across to flick through the file.

Samantha felt his breath on her face as his eyes skimmed over the pages and the smell of his cologne reminded her of the morning not too long ago when she woke up in his arms. Tingly – that's what best described how she felt when he was this close to her and she found herself staring at him.

"You didn't shave this morning." She observed.

"Yeah, I had a late night last night." Martin said, rubbing his hand across his chin distractedly.

Samantha felt the familiar pang of jealousy and bit down on her lip, dropping her gaze.

Martin seemed to notice something was up because he looked up from the file and across at her. "What?"

"Nothing." Samantha said instantly, drawing the folder towards her and pretending to read it.

Martin leaned against the arm rest and observed her for a minute. Was she jealous? "What? You can say it."

Samantha looked across at him, sucking in her breath slowly. "Who's the lucky girl?" She asked, trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably.

"Lindsay."

"Oh."

Martin looked at her, a smile spreading over his face. God she was jealous. He let the look of disappointment linger over her face for a moment before deciding to put her out of her misery. "She's my cousin. It was her birthday so we went out for dinner."

"Oh. That's nice." Samantha said with a shrug. Dammit. Why couldn't she be a good actress!

"He got let out two months ago." Martin said, referring back to the case and letting Samantha off the spot for a minute.

"Well, that's certainly plenty of time to plan another scam with Whitney." Samantha mused, sitting back in her seat.

"Certainly is." Martin said, shoving the papers into the file and putting it back in his bag before deciding he couldn't resist the teasing any longer. "You know, I didn't see you as being the jealous type."

"I'm not."

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I think green's your colour." Martin chuckled.

"I was not jealous." Samantha huffed, hating that she was so readable.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Martin said, lowering his voice and leaning into her. "I would be jealous of you having dinner with your cousin too."

"Oh go away." Samantha exclaimed with a laugh, punching him in the arm and pushing him back over to the window.

Martin grinned and opened his book just as the captain announced it was time to land.

….

"I can't believe people live like this." Samantha muttered looking at the lush villas with expensive cars parked out front as she and Martin walked through the village made from money on the way to the Vohland residence. "Don't they get bored with paradise?"

Martin shrugged, cleaning his sunglasses on his shirt before putting them on. "I don't know, I could get used to it."

Samantha glanced at him. "Don't tell me: Daddy dearest has a place here."

"I may have spent a couple of summers here." Martin said offhandedly.

Samantha laughed and shook her head in disbelief.

As they approached Vohland's house, Martin spotted someone doing laps in the pool and signalled to Samantha.

"Nice to see you're enjoying the fruits of your labour, Vohland."

"Excuse me?"

"You remember me? Seattle, '99, counterfeit pc chips?"

"Sorry, I'm terrible with faces."

"Are you any better with names like Dennis Ricci or Timothy Deleia? You were both." Martin shot, slightly cockily.

This didn't go unnoticed by Vohland and he glanced at Samantha. "Is this your girlfriend?"

Martin couldn't help but give a small smile and left the question for Samantha to answer.

"I'm his partner." She said looking in disgust at Vohland.

"You're a lot better-looking than his last one."

"We're looking for Whitney Ridder. She went missing two days ago in New York right after you called her."

"I never heard of her. Probably dialled the wrong number."

"Take a look." Martin ordered, holding out a photo of Whitney Ridder for him to look at.

"Whitney, huh?" Lucas Vohland said, sitting down on his sun lounger. " I knew her as Cat Fontaine out here. Met her at the club last winter - the Conquista." " Nice top spin lob." He added with a smirk at Samantha.

"So, why'd you call her that night?" Samantha asked. God this man was slimy in the extreme.

"I'm leaving for New York in a couple of weeks. I was looking

for a hotel recommendation."

"So you wouldn't know anything about the investment scam she was running in the city?"

"Cat? You got to be kidding. No, not at all. As per my parole conditions, I have removed myself from any and all areas of illicit influence. I've got a legitimate business here."

Martin obviously didn't believe him. "Some things never change. We're going to stick around for a few days, check out your story. I wouldn't go anywhere."

"Why leave paradise?"

"I don't believe a word he's saying." Samantha said as they walked away.

"Good, you shouldn't." Martin sighed. "I think we should start asking around whether anyone knew this 'Cat Fontaine'."

Two hours later and they had found out some interesting new information from some of Whitney's investors.

"It doesn't seem like you kill somebody for ripping you off on a

painting." Martin observed as they walked back to their golf cart.

"Certainly not those people. They'd probably just refill your iced

tea." Samantha sighed. "You know, it sounds more to me like Whitney knew she was going to get caught, and she ran." She said voicing Martin's thoughts as well and seeing him sit down in the driver's seat she quickly said "I'm driving." just as her phone started ringing.

"No, I've seen you drive." Martin grumbled.

"I'm driving." Samantha insisted, looking at her Caller ID.

Martin moved across, knowing that Samantha would end up getting her way anyway. "Oh, where's the airbag?" He grumbled with a smile.

Samantha gave him a look before answering her phone. "Hello? Oh, yeah, look, I'm really sorry about that. I kind of got busy. Yeah, Thursday at seven sounds great. Okay, I'll see you then." Samantha finished with a sickly smile, snapping her cell phone shut.

"Hot date?" Martin smirked, debating whether it would be too much to mimic jealousy.

"Yeah, with my federally funded therapist." Samantha replied, annunciating the 'f's in distaste.

"How's that going?"

Samantha glared at him from behind her sunglasses and ignored his question. "Here's what I'm thinking: This-this partner-slash-boyfriend I'm thinking it's got to be Vohland."

"Well, it explains why he lied to us about their call."

"Yeah. I say we pay him a second visit."

It was evening by the time they had given up on tracking down Vohland anywhere in Palm Springs – he had evidently long gone. Martin had said it was too late to drive out and insisted that they rent a villa here for the night at the Bureau's expense and Samantha hadn't been the least inclined to argue. She lay stretched out on her bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the whirl of the air conditioning, trying to summon the energy to reach for the remote control so she could check the headlines but failing miserably. On the other hand sleep was looking good.

Martin finished his phone call to Jack and slipping his phone back into his pocket, he leant against the railings and looked down below. He certainly hadn't been lying to his boss – Samantha DID need driving lessons and the sunshine certainly did treat her well. Apart from the call to her therapist, she had really lightened up since they had arrived, like the problems of the city couldn't touch her out here and as they ate dinner together, she had even managed to go as far as staying away from the topic of work.

He walked back inside and knocked lightly on her door.

"Come on, let's go for a swim." He said, as he walked in.

"It's dark." Samantha grumbled, rubbing her eyes with her hands.

"And it's still stifling hot outside." Martin told her. "You can't spend your only night in Palm Springs inside without checking out the pool."

"Watch me." She answered, crossing her arms over her chest and refusing to move.

"Fine. Well, if you need me, you know where I'll be." Martin said, deciding that he wasn't going to force her to go down with him since he predicted it would only be a matter of time before she followed him down anyway.

Turned out he was right. He had barely dived into the empty pool when she came out wrapped in a bathrobe and a book in one hand.

Samantha chose a sun lounger under the large spotlights lighting up the pool area and curled up with her book, keeping her robe fastened tightly around her. She hadn't always been this self conscious before – and a two-piece swimsuit was definitely more clothes than she had been wearing the night they slept together, but ever since she had the two inch scar on her thigh courtesy of the shooting, she had been careful to keep it covered whenever she could – almost like she didn't want to reveal her one weak point to anyone.

Spotting her, Martin swam over to the side and pulled himself up, perching on the edge. "Didn't take you long to realise I was right." He grinned.

Samantha glanced up from her book before realising that was a big mistake: he was wet, half naked and right in front of her. Blue eyes, gorgeous smile, toned body, dripping wet. "I thought you could use the company." She said calmly, trying to look straight through him. Then he stood up and started walking over and she had to look directly in the opposite direction. "Don't even think about it." She said sternly, reading his intentions. "I came out to relax, read my book and stay dry." He was standing right above her now, water droplets falling from his face onto her arm.

"Is that why you're wearing your swimsuit underneath that robe?" Martin asked, crouching down next to her so he was level with her face.

"No. That's just because I was afraid something like this would happen." She said giving him a look before dropping her book and sitting up.

Martin didn't even give her a chance to run before he deftly scooped her up in one fluid movement and they tumbled headlong into the pool.

"You, you, you-" Samantha spluttered as she surfaced. Then she pulled off her bathrobe which was starting to stick to her and threw it onto the side before starting to splash Martin with water.

Martin couldn't remember the last time he had this much fun. He tried to send waves of water Samantha's way but she had appeared to get the better of him for a minute by turning over on her back and kicking the water hard. He reached out and managed to grab hold of one of her feet and he pulled her towards him.

Samantha gave up kicking when she felt him grasp her leg and let herself be moved towards him. As she wiped the water out of her eyes, she felt Martin release her foot and his hands rest lightly on her hips to steady her.

"See, that was fun." Martin smiled as he automatically reached out and smoothed the wet hair out of her face. It was only when she raised her eyes to look at him hesitantly that he realised what he was doing and slowly moved his hand down her face onto her shoulder. Having her so close to him now made him forget himself. Right now, in this moment, they weren't two FBI Agents who worked together, she was just his friend and he was the guy who desperately wanted to be something more.

Samantha could safely say that she wasn't drunk this time. Sure she had probably swallowed a lot of Chlorine in the past half an hour but she wasn't aware that loss of judgement was a side effect of that. It was just being around him, especially now, made it very easy for her to forget herself. Although the water was cold, she could feel the heat radiating off him and she automatically shifted closer. His eyes were searching her face unsurely, trying to read what she was thinking. She rested a hand lightly on his chest before closing the remaining gap between them and, closing her eyes, she kissed him.

Their first kiss was soft and gentle like they were two strangers still tentatively exploring each other, but the second one was more urgent and passionate. Samantha's arms snaked around his neck and her hands moved through his wet hair whilst Martin's hands dropped from her shoulders under the water, grazing her bare skin.

Martin didn't know how long they stood there kissing and touching in the water but he knew it was like a dream come true. The first night they spent together was glazed in a drunken haze and didn't count on account of the fact they had no control of their actions. This time though, they both knew what they were doing – it had been a conscious decision even if he wasn't as fully in control as he told himself he was.

Samantha didn't want this moment to end. Here, in the water with Martin, acting like they were two loved-up teenagers made her feel happy. Really happy. And that scared her. The last time she had thought she had been this happy was when she was with Jack and the week after, things had fallen apart when he had told her he didn't want to be the cheating-husband anymore. Then months of heartache and awkward tension in the office had followed and it had been a year until things had returned to relative normality for them but even then, she still felt the familiar pang of hurt when she saw him with Maria. Martin wasn't married but they worked together and these past few weeks she hadn't just begun to like him as something more than a co-worker, she had fallen for him in a bigger way than she had done with Jack. Suddenly, she wasn't thinking about how good a kisser he was or how much fun they could have together, all she could think about the car wreck she would undoubtedly be if/when they broke up ….. and she didn't think she could risk that again.

She stepped back. "I'm sorry."

Martin chuckled. "Sorry for what?" He said, reaching out to pull her closer to him again.

Samantha reached out a hand to stop him and moved further away. "No." she said forcefully. Martin dropped his hand and looked at her, confusion running across his face. "I'm sorry. I can't do this." She moved towards the stairs, unable to bear looking at his face and seeing the hurt and disappointment there. "God I am so screwed up." She muttered to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose as she hurried up the stairs.

"Sam!" Martin called after her but she ignored him and grabbed her bathrobe before hurrying back indoors.

After a long hot shower, Samantha lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling again. She could hear him still outside doing laps in the pool and then when he finally climbed out and came back in, she could hear him slamming doors as he made his way to his room.

One night as he and Danny had driven back from a crime scene, he had once claimed that he could read women better than his friend could, but now he was having severe doubts about that. This time yesterday, he had been so sure that Samantha liked him almost as much as he liked her and when she had initiated the kiss last night in the pool, he had believed for a full twenty minutes that it was going to be the start of something good for them. And then all of a sudden she had turned and pushed him away again. He didn't understand it. He was pretty much certain that there wasn't anyone else in her life and he had also been pretty sure that she really liked him. Martin stopped looking out of the plane window and instead started re-reading the case notes for the twentieth time.

"I'm sorry." Samantha said quietly, looking over at him.

She had been saying that at regular intervals all morning as they sat in the airport waiting for their flight back but he had just blanked her. She wanted to explain to him why she had hurt him, why she was so insecure about them … "Martin, I need to-"

He turned to her sharply then, a fierce look of desperation in his eyes. "You don't need to do anything." He said vehemently before looking back at the file and plugging his iPod in.

Samantha stared down at her hands. She knew she had hurt him and for the first time in her life she realised maybe that was worse than taking the risk of getting hurt herself.

A/N:- Wow, I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope you understand that this needed to happen between Martin and Samantha for the rest of the story to work out so please don't hate me too much.