The iron hard sky slowly became faint with the gray light of dawn. Finch was having no luck tracing Sam's phone. John was losing patience. It had been hours and they'd been stuck in there with absolutely no leads. He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair, and tried coming up with another way he could find her. All he could think of was locating one of Elias' men, or Elias himself even. But he would have to know where to find one of them first.

He loathed the feeling of sheer helplessness that was over him. The feeling only fueled his anger at the situation and at himself.

Sam repeated the song over and over until she had stopped suddenly, and said goodbye. It had been a while since they last heard her. He was beginning to fear the worst.

John's phone rang. He answered it out of habit, but no response came from the other end of the line.

"Hello?"

He heard nothing but open air on the other end.

"Finch!" he hissed, snapping his fingers. "Trace this."

Finch did so. They got a location not far off from the original one. It was an abandoned building by the waterfront.

"Let's go."

"It may be a trap, Mr. Reese," Finch said, grabbing his coat.

"Then I'll spring it."

John gathered his artillery and ran out the door, Finch following behind.

In the early morning light, John leaped out of the car, armed with an automatic rifle, and two spare pistols stored about his person. He left Finch in the car and went towards the buildings along the river front.

The first warehouse was simply a space that held nothing except a few abandoned crates and tools.

John moved on to the next building, walking quickly. His ears pricked for any sound besides his own footsteps, and his eyes constantly scanning the area around him. Not a soul was in sight, and he continued through the building, checking every room, opening every door.

He reached the end of the building and was outside in the winter air once more. John looked to his left and saw a small storage space that looked like it had been added onto the building years after its construction. The only entrance was a heavy door. It was locked.

John considered kicking it in, but rejected the idea. The door looked heavy enough that he could hurt himself if he tried. He aimed the shot gun and put a couple rounds through the lock.

It swung open, and he stepped in.

Boxes and crates were stacked up against the wall, but John set his weapon down and stepped over to the old bed frame that sat next to the stacks.

Sam's breathing was shallow and her eyes were closed. John felt for a pulse in her throat. She was frozen! She was so cold that his fingertips burned when he touched her. She still had a pulse, but it was very slow.

"Oh, Sam," he said slowly.

She was ghostly pale, her lips, fingers and toes were purple. Her hair had fallen down, and was like a dark pool underneath her head. With that, and the evening gown she still wore, Sam looked more like a tragic princess from a forgotten fairy tale, waiting to be woken.

John removed his coat and forced her to sit up. He wrapped it snugly around her and started on the handcuffs. Her ankle was swollen and bruised around freezing metal. John picked the lock easily, and carefully removed it.

Sam let out a low groan, her voice cracking with the effort. John slung his weapon over his shoulder and scooped her up in his arms.

"No," she moaned at him. "No, John." She pushed at his shoulder as though she didn't want him to take her.

"Finch, I've got her. Turn the heat up in the car."

John ignored her weak struggling and held her close. He turned to leave, but stopped when something caught his eye. Sam's gun and her phone sat on one of the crates next to the wall. John let Sam's legs down for a moment as he put the items in his pocket. Putting her limp arms up around his neck, he picked her up again and carried her out of the shed.

Her face was like ice next to his, but he held her against him as firmly as possible as if his body heat could somehow be transferred to her and she'd be out of danger.

"Come on, Sam," he whispered to her. "You'll be okay. Do you hear me?"

He hurried through the abandoned building until his path was blocked by a single gunman. A handgun was pointed at John's head. The man twitched it, indicating his demand for John to put Sam down.

John set Sam on her feet and lowered her gently to the floor. There was no time for this. He was just one man. Let him get close.

John stepped forward, leaving Sam behind him.

"That's close enough!" The man shouted. He was alone, and he appeared to be more than aware of it.

Now that he was closer, John saw how young the man was, if he could even be called a man. He scowled. This was just a pawn. Elias put this guy here because somebody had to be here. He was meant for John to take down.

"Look, we both know what's going to happen here. Just let me get her out," he said calmly.

The gunman considered John's words, but shook his head and pointed the weapon at Sam instead. It was a mistake he would never repeat. John had the gun and the man on the floor inside a heartbeat. He emptied the magazine and tossed the weapon aside as he went back for Sam.

She fought feebly against him again as he picked her up.

"It's okay, Sam. You're going to be all right," John whispered to her. Her forehead rested against his neck as he carried her out to the car.

Finch got out and opened the back door for them, helping John ease her inside.

"What happened to her?" Finch got back in the driver's seat as John arranged Sam comfortably with him on the seat.

"She's frozen," he said.

She sat next to him, her legs draped over his lap. John wrapped his coat around her, covering her up as much as he could, and held her tightly to him, rubbing her back to get the blood flowing again.

"Turn the heat up," John said.

Finch put it at full blast as he put the car in drive.

"Sam?" John said.

He rubbed his hands down her arms, over her shoulders and back. She didn't respond to his voice, and her eyes were half closed. John brushed her hair away and let her rest against him as he continued trying to get her blood going.

"Come on, Sam," he said, his arms growing tired.

A phone rang inside the car. Finch looked around and glanced to the back seat. John held Sam against him as he search in his pockets. It was Sam's phone that was ringing. He answered it.

"Samantha?"

John's eyes narrowed, he and Finch exchanged a look in the rearview mirror.

"John?" Sam's voice sounded like sand paper.

John put the phone to her ear. She mumbled something at it, and listened. Whatever they wanted to tell her only took a second. Sam turned slowly away from the phone and buried her face in John's shoulder.

John put it back up to his ear. The line was dead.

Death wasn't too bad, actually. It happened just the way she and Scottie had discussed. She'd fallen asleep, and now she was very warm and comfortable - completely at peace.

Sam sighed out of relief and content, wondering what was supposed to happen next. She gradually opened her eyes and saw sunlight reflecting off of a white ceiling.

A low rumbling sound interrupted her small moment of tranquility. Sam recognized it as the heat turning on in her apartment. Confused, she lifted her head and realized she was covered in layers of blankets, lying on the couch in her apartment.

But it felt like such a tight fit for some reason. That was when she felt the strong arm wrapped around her middle, another was in the crook of her neck. Sam turned cautiously and physically started at seeing John asleep with her on the couch. His head was propped up on a pillow, and she now felt their legs tangled together underneath the blankets.

The shock was so overwhelming that Sam pushed against him and fell off of the couch, onto the floor.

"Gah!" she said as she landed in a soft pile of bedding. She was on her back, staring at the ceiling again.

John's fingers came over the couch cushion followed by his head of messy hair. He smiled lazily down at her. "Good morning – well," he checked his watch, "afternoon. Are you all right?"

Sam's body was a large knot of sore and tired muscles. Her right ankle throbbed with pain. "I feel like I've been run over by several fourteen-wheelers. You know, with the trailers attached and everything."

He reached down and touched her throat, checking her pulse. "Close to normal," he said. "And you've got some color back." He lightly brushed her cheek as he pulled his hand away.

"I thought I was dead."

"You came close."

Sam reached up and grabbed onto his sleeve. "You're wearing a t-shirt." One puzzle was now solved.

In the mush that was her brain, Sam worked through the events of the past twelve hours. She remembered flashes, sounds, but not everything as a whole.

"You came for me," she said, trying to remember.

"I promised I would find you, remember?"

"No," Sam whined, putting her hands to her face as she tried to make sense of the images in her head. "John, that was so stupid! You could've been killed."

John rolled his eyes. "I would hardly say that, Sam. The place was deserted… mostly."

"But that's what Elias said. That's why –" Sam squeezed her eyes shut and she sat up.

"Was I – did I sing?" she asked, sitting next to him on the couch.

John wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. "You were trying to stay awake."

"So you heard everything?"

"Yeah," John scratched the back of his head and stretched. "There was something wrong with the connection. We could hear you, but you couldn't hear us."

Slightly mortified, Sam tried again. "So you heard everything, all the things Elias said and I said and – "

"Finch did, yeah," John said, looking at her curiously.

Sam let out a small breath of relief. The conversation she had with Elias was coming back to her piece by piece.

"I remember sitting in the car," Sam said. "I heard your voice, and Harold."

"Do you remember the phone?" John asked.

"What?"

"Your phone rang, and they asked for you when you were waking up. Do you remember what they said?"

Sam worked on the memory and it came back to her. She felt the phone on her face, and John's heartbeat next to her ear. It was Elias' voice on the phone. He only said one thing to her: "Unlike John, I always call in my debts, Samantha."

"No, I can't remember," she lied.

John stood up. "You still need to rest. Are you hungry?"

"You're staying with me?"

"I'm taking the day off, yes."

Sam got up and stood next to him. She wrapped her arms around his middle and held him tightly. "Thank you, John." Standing on tip toe, she kissed him on the cheek.

"You're welcome."

Sam squeezed her eyes shut against the world, trying to keep John with her in this moment. Elias had let them go. She had somehow gotten through to him, but at what cost?

That didn't matter, because now, in this moment she was safe. She was with John. And he would always find her.

End of Part One

I do apologize for the cliff hangers. Not all of those were planned, I swear. But, I kind of view it as sort of the small drop before a commercial break while watching an episode. :P

Thank you all for reading and for posting your reviews! You are very kind and generous. I so enjoy reading your reactions to the story.

Part Two will be coming soon! Probably by the weekend.