Author's Notes: Okay, I'm admitting this up front. This story is pretty short, pretty dang depressing, and a main character does die somewhere along the line. If you're squeamish about those type things back out now. It is however, SJR with a happy ending, at least I'm pretty sure that's what you'd call it. This is what I get for staying up late, slightly depressed listening to music that I knew wouldn't help any. Anyway, give it a chance, like I said, it's really short. Then be sure to drop me a line back, even if just to ask how I could do such a thing. :-)

Disclaimer: Additional disclaimer follows at end, I don't want to give part of it away, even though it's not crucial - you'll have to wait to find out what the music is. :-) All characters belong to Cynthia Saunders, Sander/Moses Productions and NBC (anyone else??) They're not mine, I'm just playing with someone else's toys. I promise to return them. They're fiction, they bounce back rather nicely (just ask Mulder after reading at the MTA. *g*)

Sam sat in her office at home going over some paperwork that she had brought home over the weekend. She could hear her daughters watching a movie in the living room, when suddenly a piece of the music caught her attention. Tears gathered in her eyes as she heard the haunting melody. For some reason she couldn't place the importance behind the tune, yet she felt connected to it. It beckoned her thoughts to times long past when life held far fewer questions that it held now.

If it were possible, she would have taken hold of the tune and ridden it back to the time it brought to mind. She couldn't fathom why such a sweet refrain brought tears to her eyes, when once it had represented happiness. In such a seemingly short time it seemed as if doors once reopened had closed irrevocably. She longed to close her eyes and reawaken living those days and years ago.

Shaking her head sadly, she knew it was impossible to ever fulfil such a desire. No matter how much she might like. She had never been a quitter. When she had lost Tom, her world had shuddered under her feet. Still, she moved on. Eventually, life began to feel as full as it once had. In the interim, there had been Jack.

****

For years, much against her will, Jack determined how she existed. But never how she lived, not exactly. She had moved on with Chloe. They had made a home, and in time Sam came out of the self-imposed isolation she had initially sought. After returning to the FBI, even with Jack's continued threat, her life had seemed to blossom.

It was in this time, shortly after joining the VCTF, that she had met, and initially disliked, John Grant. In a very short time he had become a part of her world that she couldn't imagine parting with. They were best friends, each seeking out the other when times were tough. Eventually, all of the hard work, long hours, and constant threats paid off. They caught Jack.

Sam faced Jack's trial, never without John at her side. It had been difficult for her to face the man that had brought her so much unhappiness. In the end, the struggle had been worth it, for once the good guys had won. In the time after Jack's incarceration, life had gone on for the members of the VCTF.

Within a year of Jack's arrest, John and Sam had given in to the feelings that both had known were there for some time. Without the constant threats on their lives, they finally felt free to explore the emerging relationship between them. A year after their first real 'date', Bailey walked Sam down the aisle to meet a very nervous John. The setting was completed with Chloe, Grace and Angel as Sam's escorts; and Nathan and George standing with John.

It seemed as if nothing could go wrong. Somehow the newlywed couple managed to continue working together without causing undue stress to the marriage. If nothing else, they seemed to grow closer. Late in the summer over a year later, Sam gave birth to a healthy baby girl. They named her Alexandria Grant, affectionately nicknamed Alex, after John's mother.

Everything was going right, with no clouds in sight on the horizon. Until Jack got loose. He had been awaiting execution on Virginia's death row when he pulled the slip. He had had only one goal in mind. In his twisted mind he believed that if he wasn't to have 'his' Samantha then no one was. Certainly not John Grant whom Jack had always viewed as nothing more than a nuisance, unworthy of Samantha.

No one would ever know how Jack had known where to go after John. The team had been working a crime scene, not unlike many before it. Everyone had flinched when a gunshot rang out, and agents quickly searched the area. Unfortunately for Jack, Bailey had found him first. When he had refused to surrender, he wasn't given a second option. Afterward, no one questioned the action taken by the superior agent.

For Sam the world seemed to slow and stop. It was as if she were reliving the day she had been presented with Tom's body in their home. Rushing to John's side, she pulled his still form against her, resting his head in her lap. Mindless of the blood covering both of them, she ran her fingers through his hair. Through her tears and sobs, her muffled words begged John not to die, not to leave her.

John had never heard her pleas. Sam stood somber in the Emergency Room waiting area after the doctor had come to inform her of John's passing. Her tears having dried, she refused the comforting embraces of her co-workers. Her mind was already trying to decide how she was going to tell Chloe and Alex. A secret fear already forming that Alex might grow up never knowing the father that loved his darling daughter; and how Chloe might react, losing another father.

Days came and went. The funeral was held, and many marveled at the stoic sight of Sam, ever strong for her children. Only those who knew her best realized the personal hell that was battering away inside her heart. Still, she went on. No matter how much she might like to return to the all-to-brief time the four of them had known as a family, she knew how important it was to continue and live. To not grant Jack this final victory.

****

As she walked into the living room to check on Chloe and Alex, she again heard the music that had caused her momentary anguish at the memory of John's loss. The girls had pulled out an old movie that they had owned since before Alex was born. It had always been a favorite of both the girls, and they used to watch it together as a family.

The movie was ending and the two main characters were sailing off into the sunset, dancing on the deck of a boat through the canals of Paris. Over the closing credits played a love theme, highlighted with clips of the couple's tumultuous romance. Sometimes, John would joke to Sam that they were similar to Anya and Dimitri in the film. Two halves of a whole, coming together amidst all odds, to sail off into the sunset. Then, after they had put the girls to bed, they would secretly dance, 'Anastasia' playing faintly in the background.

They had had such a short time together, but it had truly been a wonderful journey. Nothing Jack did or could have done, could have ever changed that fact. Even separated such as they were, the love they had shared continued.

Staring at the screen, Sam wondered at how she could have forgotten the melody of the music that held so many warm memories of them as both a couple and a family. Wiping away an errant tear, she walked over to where Chloe and Alex were sitting.

Holding out her hands, one to each, she asked, "May I have this dance?" She couldn't help but smile at the giggles and laughter that filled the room.

Together the three of them swirled and twirled around the living room. Eventually, they collapsed onto the couch exhausted, but happy. Somewhere, near yet far away, John watched the impromptu party. A loving smile warming his tear filled blue eyes.

fin

"Anastasia"
c 1997 20 th Century Fox

"Anastasia" Music From The Motion Picture
c 1997 Atlantic Recording Corporation

Score by David Newman
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens