Author's Notes: Despite the fact that I have stories I need to be working on, I couldn't resist writing this Halloween one-shot. The idea popped in my head and wouldn't leave me alone. So since the holiday is closing in, I decided to go ahead and write it before Halloween passed. I'm sure lots of people will have their own version of a Halloween story in the next couple of days but I had to add my own. This story takes place after the finale when Sadie would be about 22 months old. I've included a few things from some of my previous stories; I'm sure you will see them as you read. I hope you enjoy. Happy Halloween!
Disclaimer: The show Flashpoint and its characters were created by Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern and belong to them and the networks who air the episodes. Since the show has ended, our only way of getting new Flashpoint is through fan fiction. This story is my attempt to help fill the void, and the only profit I make is the warm fuzzy feeling reviews give me. Anything that does not come directly from the show is my own creation and should not be used without my permission.
Trick-or-Treat
Halloween had been one of those holidays that Sam Braddock had looked forward to all year long. As a little boy, it was all about dressing up and going door to door to see which house would be handing out the best candy. Living on a base, his parents hadn't had to worry as much about his safety; therefore by the time he was eight years old, he was running around the different base houses with his friends without adult supervision.
Once he reached his teen years, it was less about trick-or-treating and more about the usual teenage hi-jinks, things like egging cars and toilet papering trees. By this age, living on a base made his actions a little more dangerous in that if he'd gotten caught, he would face the repercussions from the base military police and then the wrath of his father. However, the thrill of danger had only added to the fun in his mind. Of course, the costume was still all important. He was no longer content with a simple store bought costume that was made of cheap plastic and prone to being torn up before the night was over. No, he would spend months thinking about what he wanted to wear and what he needed to top the previous year's costume, and then he'd set out to make it happen. His personal favorite was the year he dressed up as a shark head who was in the process of eating a surfer.
After graduation, Sam had known his days of teenage pranks were over. He was too old to be running around a neighborhood throwing eggs or rolls of toilet paper. Not to mention that being in college meant that he didn't have the reign over the base like he used to have. Fortunately he'd discovered that Halloween in college usually meant parties. He was still able to have fun with dressing up but now it was with beer and chips rather than eggs and TP. As the first Halloween of his college career approached, he'd been the one, along with his roommate Paul, who had planned the big campus party. It had been a huge hit. Then the next year, everything changed.
The party had seemed like any other. That was, until some of his so-called buddies had had a little too much to drink and decided to pull a prank on Sam and his friend Paul. A prank that had left the two young men stranded in the middle of nowhere in their costumes and without their wallets. Having to walk back in costumes not exactly made for the weather would have been bad enough but the night had only gotten worse. A police cruiser had stopped them, and since they had no ID on them, the officers had taken them in and placed them in a holding cell until they could get someone to vouch for them. It had taken most of the rest of the night for them to actually get in touch with someone. Several rough and rowdy men had also been picked up and placed in the same holding cell. It had made for a very unpleasant night for both of them, but especially Paul whose costume had made him an easier target for ridicule.
That had been the last Halloween that Sam had enjoyed getting dressed up to celebrate. It wasn't just the embarrassment that had stuck with him. It was the fact that his friends had ruined what had always been a fun night for him. In the years that had followed, many people had tried to get him to come to costume parties or some other Halloween event. While he might go, he usually didn't bother to dress up or at least no more than was absolutely necessary. Not even Jules, once they were dating, could convince him and he liked to think he would do almost anything for her. He'd been convinced that his love for the holiday had forever died.
Then Sadie was born.
The previous year she'd only been ten months old when Halloween had rolled around. Even though she was too young to trick-or-treat, he and Jules had still decided to dress her up in the cute dragon costume Natalie had sent her. They'd taken her to Team One's annual Halloween party where she'd slept through most of the festivities. There had been something about seeing his daughter- his pride and joy, his reason for believing there was such a thing as perfection- dressed in costume that had started to reawaken something in him that he'd thought had been lost forever that night of the college party. Something that told him that he wanted Sadie to have the same carefree love of the holiday he'd grown up with. Perhaps she wasn't growing up on a base where she could run about unsupervised but, as her father, didn't he owe it to her to give her all the best experiences?
So this year, as soon as it was time to turn the calendar from September to October, he'd started making plans. Jules hadn't questioned his sudden enthusiasm for the holiday he'd pretty much scoffed at in all the time she'd known him. Instead, she'd sat back and watched in amusement as he'd turned their front lawn into a veritable creep show, complete with headstones, cobwebs, orange lights and creepy sound effects whenever someone approached. In fact, if anything, he'd put more thought and effort into his display than Jules did for her Christmas one each year. And considering Jules went all out at Christmas, that was saying a lot.
He'd tried to explain, even though Jules hadn't asked for or needed an explanation, that even if Sadie was still too young to remember this holiday, he wanted to start things off right for her. Jules had simply wrapped her arms around his neck and given him a long, slow kiss. Then she'd bundled Sadie up and taken her outside and taken plenty of photographic memories of the spectacle.
The second thing he'd done was order what he thought was the perfect costume for Sadie. While he was at it, he'd also ordered coordinating costumes for Jules and himself. Jules had tried to get him to tell him what he'd chosen, but he'd told her he wanted it to be a surprise. Jules, of course, had tried every negotiation tactic she knew to get the information out of him but he'd refused to give in. Even when the costumes had arrived a week ago, he'd whisked them away before Jules could so much as get a peek. Not even her Christmas presents had ever been more securely hidden.
Day after day, Sam had been marking off the dates on the calendar. As the red X's started to outnumber the days left in the month, Sam's excitement had grown. He couldn't quite explain why this Halloween had become so important to him, but now that the day had finally arrived, he was glad he was scheduled off shift. He didn't think he would be able to concentrate on the job if he had been on. It was bad enough that Team One was on duty but Jules had assured him that she would be home in plenty of time for them to get Sadie dressed.
Now, as it was only a few hours before the sun would set on this Halloween, Sam could only think of one thing that would make the holiday more perfect than it already was. A detail he'd been trying to make a reality for weeks now without success. He only had a few hours left to make it happen. He wasn't going to give up but he also wasn't going to let it ruin the experience for him if he wasn't successful.
Sam was sitting on the couch in the living room, trying to think of how to best get what he wanted. The television was on some channel that showed more animated shows than non-animated ones but neither he nor Sadie was really watching. His daughter was sitting on the floor playing with her toys. She had plenty to choose from. The living room was littered with toys both big and small. Anyone who entered the house had no doubt that a small child lived there from the moment they entered the house. Sam and Jules wouldn't have it any other way. They had talked about setting up a play room where all of Sadie's toys would be kept but they had decided they didn't want to limit Sadie to just one room of the house. If visitors didn't like the evidence of a small child being visible, then they certainly didn't have to visit.
Sam loved watching Sadie play. He never tired of it because she was always discovering something new and she seemed to be changing every single day. Currently, her still baby-fine light brown hair was sticking out in all directions. It didn't matter how many times he or Jules brushed it so it looked neat, the minute she would start playing on or under her Little Tikes slide that took up space near the picture window in the living room, the static electricity she would generate would have it standing on end. For some reason before her nap earlier, she'd taken her blocks and hidden them beneath the slide. When she'd returned to play after her nap, she'd crawled beneath the opening and retrieved each block one-by-one to make a pile in the middle of the floor.
Currently she was putting the different shaped blocks into their respective openings in the bucket they came in. She did really well with the triangular and square shaped blocks but still had trouble with the round blocks. She could easily put them in the round holes but she seemed determined to also fit them in the square opening. Sam loved watching her trying to get the block to do what she wanted. She didn't get upset or throw a tantrum when it wouldn't work. Instead, she'd cock her small head to one side, scrunch up her face in intense concentration, and keep on trying. Sometimes her little tongue would just barely protrude from her lips as she concentrated but there had been a few times he'd seen her bite her lower lip.
She was so much like her mother that sometimes it took Sam's breath away. He'd seen pictures of Jules as a baby; he'd even put one side by side with one of Sadie at the same age. With the exception of the color of Sadie's eyes, they were almost identical. He was glad that she had at least one feature of his but he was even more glad that she was the spitting image of her mother. Even her growing personality seemed to be just like Jules.
Jules disagreed. She claimed a lot of Sadie's personality came straight from Sam, especially her determination. She would point out the number of times Sam had doggedly stuck with something with the certainty that he could make it work. Given what he hoped to accomplish in the next couple of hours, he had to admit that maybe Sadie took after both of them.
He left his spot on the couch and moved to sit next to Sadie. With one hand he cupped the back of her head. Part of it was that he wanted to try to smooth down her flyaway hair but he also just loved having the contact with her. Some of the best parts of his day were the ones where he was able to just cuddle her close to him. Those times were becoming less and less frequent as she got older and wanted to be more independent - another trait he associated with Jules.
Sadie looked up at him and grinned. She held up one of her blocks for him to see. "Boo."
Sam chuckled even though he knew she wasn't trying to scare him and that it had nothing to do with the day. "No Sadie, this block is green. You know like the grass."
Her petite nose wrinkled up. "Boo."
Definitely her mother's daughter, Sam reasserted mentally. He didn't want to use the word stubborn, not when it came to his wife or his daughter, preferring to call them both doggedly determined. Currently blue was Sadie's favorite color. He wasn't sure if she really liked the color or if she just really liked her pronunciation of the word but she tried to make everything blue. He picked up one of her blue blocks. "This one is blue. The one you have is green. You can say green."
She shook her head. Sam sighed. Her vocabulary was growing daily but her willingness to always say the words she knew depended on her mood. It was one of the reasons he hadn't been successful with his current mission and wasn't sure he would be. He sighed again. "Sadie, do you know what today is?"
She didn't answer him but he didn't expect her to. She was only twenty-two months old and not capable of holding full conversations just yet. It didn't stop him from having his side of the conversation though. Everything he'd read said that language acquisition for babies came mostly from hearing the adults in their life talking. He wanted her to have every opportunity to learn as much as possible as soon as possible.
"Tonight is Halloween. When Mommy gets home we're all going to get dressed up in our costumes; I can't wait for Mommy to see the costumes I picked out. Then we're going to take you around the neighborhood to trick-or-treat. Now they already think you are cute as a button because you are; you've got your Mommy to thank for that. When they see you all dressed up, they are going to think you are absolutely adorable. But do you know what will really make them melt? If when we knock on the door, you actually say 'trick-or-treat.' You can do that, right? It's not that hard. Say it for Daddy. 'Trick-or-treat.'"
The words didn't come out of her mouth like he'd hoped they would. Instead she leaned over and kissed him, patting his cheek in the process. Sam laughed. No doubt about it, his little girl knew exactly how to wrap him around her little finger. He also knew the grin on her sweet little face. She could turn anything into a game. If he made a big deal out of trying to get her to say those three little words, she'd never say them. He had to make her want to repeat the phrase.
"You like candy don't you? That's how you get candy at Halloween. When we go up to the houses and ring the doorbell, you say those magic words and you'll get lots and lots of candy."
Though Jules had lifted her "no sweets rule" with Sadie's first birthday, she still didn't allow the almost two year old unlimited access to candy. Still, the toddler was able to have candy often enough to not only know the word well but to eagerly anticipate and enjoy it when she did get it. Her soft blue eyes lit up at Sam's pronouncement. "Chockit?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, probably chocolate."
Realizing he'd gotten her attention and her interest, Sam got up from the floor and went to the bowl of candy Jules had already put near the door in anticipation of any early trick-or-treaters. He plucked out one of the treat-sized bags of M&Ms and returned to Sadie. He opened the bag and poured a few of the small treats into his hand so that his daughter could see them. "Would you like some chocolate candies?"
Sadie nodded, reaching for them. No doubt, M&Ms were her favorite, probably because they were one of the few candies that Jules would allow her to have. Before she could take the candy out of his hand, Sam moved it out of her reach. "What are the magic words, Sadie?"
She narrowed her eyes. The color might have been his but the look was all Jules. Her lower lip started to poke out in a pout but then she grinned. "Peas. Tank to."
Sam's heart melted. How could he deny her the treat when she said that? He held his hand back down so that she could take the three M&Ms he'd shaken out into his hand. Her face lit up as she took the first one and popped it in her mouth before he could change his mind. When she reached for the next one, she held it up for him to see. "Boo, Da-ee"
Sam nodded. This time she had her color right. "Yeah, Scrappy, that one is blue."
It too disappeared into her mouth and she reached for the final candy. Instead of eating this one she pushed it toward Sam's mouth, making him eat it. Sam pulled her over into his lap, cuddling her close. From the moment Jules had told him she thought she might be pregnant, Sam had felt like the luckiest man in the whole world. Not only did he have Jules, a woman he loved more than he'd ever thought possible, but she was giving him the greatest gift ever. That feeling had only grown as did Jules's stomach as it swelled with the life she was carrying. It wouldn't have mattered if their child had been a boy or a girl, but he had to admit that he loved being the father of a little girl. There was just something so precious about her adorable little face looking at him with such love and devotion. He wanted Sadie to be Daddy's little girl and so far she hadn't disappointed.
He leaned her back so that he could easily reach her stomach where he blew raspberries onto her belly. Sadie half laughed and half squealed as she tried to squirm away. Finally Sam set her up on her feet and kissed the tip of her nose. "I'm proud of you for using her magic words, Sadie. You are getting to be Daddy's big girl. That's why I know you are ready to do this trick-or-treating tonight. So how about it, you think you can add 'trick-or-treat' to your magic words? Just for tonight?"
He held up the rest of the bag of M&Ms. "Please, Scrappy. It's simple; just say 'trick-or-treat please.' Can you do that for Daddy? I'll give you the rest of the bag." It might border on bribery but at the moment, neither he nor his victim seem to mind. And what Jules didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
"Ick-eat peas."
Close enough that he would call it a success. He happily gave over the rest of the small bag of M&Ms. Sadie plopped down on the floor and happily started to munch away on her treat. Knowing he couldn't count on a one time success to be repeated, Sam was prepared to spend the last couple of hours before Jules came home from work practicing Sadie's new words until she would do it without prompting. So as soon as she finished her M&Ms, he grabbed a second bag from the bowl.
Three treat-sized bags later, he wasn't sure she had it perfect but he knew he couldn't risk giving her any more chocolate. Jules would kill him if she found out how much he'd already allowed her to eat but the danger was worth it if it meant Sadie would say the phrase at each house. He glanced at his watch. Jules would be home in half an hour. They would eat, change and by then it should be just turning dusk and they could hit the neighborhood. He grinned at Sadie. "Tick-tock says Mommy should be home soon. You want to help Daddy get supper ready?"
Sadie nodded and toddled off behind him as he went into the kitchen. Sadie loved to "cook" even though they really didn't let her do anything to help. Instead, Sam pulled a couple of pans out of the cabinet for her and handed her a large wooden spoon. She happily sat on the kitchen floor and pretended to help him prepare supper as he did all the work. He was glad she was content where she was because he didn't have to worry about her getting close to the stove as he browned ground beef in a skillet.
Once the beef was cooked and drained, he rolled out the canned biscuits into flat rounds. He'd seen the commercial for unsloppy joes and decided it was the best way to be able to introduce one of his favorite yet messy meals to his daughter without having a major cleanup to do afterward. He spooned the meat into the middle of the rounds, topped it generously with cheese and folded the dough over to create a pocket. Once he had them in the oven, he had about ten minutes before Jules should be home. Time enough to put together a quick salad to add a little something healthy to the meal. Getting out the ingredients, he handed Sadie a baby carrot to munch on. He figured it would help remove any evidence of the chocolate she'd eaten earlier and if she was less than her usual hungry, he could blame the carrot instead of the M&Ms he'd let her have.
He heard the key turning in the lock on the kitchen door and looked that way with a smile on his face. It was perhaps one of his favorite sounds of the day. Whether he was the one putting his key in the lock at the end of a day at work or if it was Jules, the sound of a key turning in the lock meant the family was home. Work was a necessity for both of them, not just because of the need of income to pay bills but because they would both go stir crazy in a matter of weeks without the job, but there was no denying that their hearts both belong right here at home with their daughter.
Sadie squealed from her spot on the floor. She knew the sound as well. By the time Jules had the door open, Sadie was on her feet and running as fast as her short chubby legs would take her toward her mother. Immediately, Jules knelt down with her arms opened wide so that she could scoop Sadie up and hug her tightly. It was a daily ritual for whichever parent had to work that day. Sadie would run to greet the arriving parent as if she hadn't seen them in years rather than just hours. If it so happened that they both had to work and managed to get off shift at the same time, it was almost comical watching Sadie decide which parent to enthusiastically greet first when they arrived at the Wordsworth house to pick her up. There was no doubting that Sadie loved both her parents and there was no doubting that both parents felt the same way.
"Hey Sweetheart. I missed you today. Were you a good girl?" Jules asked as she peppered kisses on Sadie's cheek. The toddler nodded enthusiastically, her answer every time she was asked the question.
Sam leaned against the counter as he wiped his hands on a dish towel. Normally he would be right behind Sadie to greet Jules when she came in. Today, he took a moment just to watch her. He was immediately concerned. Her words might be light and affectionate but the emotion didn't make it to her eyes. The clues added up to suggest the day hadn't gone well. Her hair was still slightly damp as if she hadn't bothered to fully dry it after getting her shower at work. He could just make out a smudge of mud on her jaw line that had been missed in said shower. What bothered him the most was the almost awkward way she was holding Sadie as if she was trying to hide some sort of pain.
He moved toward her and hugged her tightly. His embrace was tight enough to be reassuring to them both but not so hard that it would hurt her if she was hurt. He was pretty sure there was no if about it. Kissing her cheek, he looked at her carefully. "How bad?"
They'd been together long enough that they didn't have to ask detailed questions for the other to know what was being asked. How bad was the call? How badly are you hurt? How badly do I need to open a can of whoop ass on someone? How badly am I going to want to sweep you up in my arms and lock you away from the world for just a few hours?
She smiled wanly. The whole way home she'd wondered just how long it would take Sam to notice something was wrong. As she'd predicted to herself, not long at all. "Nothing a good soak in the tub followed by an evening with my two most favorite people in the world won't cure. Did you see it on any of the special news reports?"
Sam shook his head. If must have been pretty bad if the news was interrupting normal programming to report the call. "We've had it on the Sadie channel all day."
Jules grinned and this time it almost made it to her warm brown eyes. "Even while she was napping? What, were they running an original Power Rangers episode or something? I know you've always had a thing for the original pink ranger."
Sam kissed her again. "Who needs her when I've got you? Actually if you really want to know, I spent the time while Sadie was napping adding a few last minute decorations outside. I want our house to be the one everyone talks about."
Jules snorted. "I think they already are."
Sam ignored her comment. "So what did I miss by not seeing the news report?"
Jules sighed, glancing at Sadie. Neither one of them really liked discussing calls in front of the little girl. She might not be old enough to really understand but they didn't want to take any chances, or maybe it was that they didn't want to risk her sweet innocence. "Man who had already lost his job and his house received divorce papers today. He couldn't face losing his wife and kids as well, at least not unless it was on his terms. We were called in when he showed up at his kids' school."
And he knew that was all she would say as long as Sadie was in the room with them. As much as he wanted to know the rest of the story, as much as Jules probably needed to tell the story, he could wait until later to know what had happened. He was pretty sure she needed the closeness with Sadie right then more than either of them needed to hear about the call. He kissed her again.
"We still have a few minutes before supper is ready. I just have a few things left to finish up so you and Sadie just go into the living room and relax. I'll call you when everything is on the table."
Jules wasn't about to argue with the suggestion. "Don't get so wrapped up talking to Ed that you let dinner burn. I'm starving. Come on Sadie, you can tell me all about your day."
Sam shook his head as his wife and daughter left the room. He never could fool Jules. She knew him too well. In turn, he knew her as well. He knew her well enough to know that she wasn't upset that he was, in fact, planning on calling Ed as soon as little ears had left the room. He knew that she knew he didn't think she was avoiding telling him everything for any reason other than not wanting to say something in front of Sadie. This way she got her cuddle time with Sadie and he got the full story. He reached for his cell phone.
By the time he was taking the unsloppy joes out of the oven, his hands were shaking and he wasn't sure he wanted to eat. Ed had been happy to fill him in on the call. After receiving his divorce papers, the subject had dressed in a grim reaper costume, hidden a shotgun beneath the robe, and driven to his wife's job. He'd shot her at point blank range and then continued on to his children's school intending to do the same to both of them probably just before taking his own life. SRU had arrived at the school but not in time to prevent him from taking the lives of his daughter and at least three others at the school. They'd caught up with him as he made his way toward his son's classroom. Jules had led the negotiation and tried to get the subject to stand down. Instead, he'd run from the school taking his son and another student hostage. Team One had followed.
The school jutted against an overgrown wood so the chase hadn't been easy. At one point the student not related to the subject had managed to get free. Leah had been charged with taking him back to the school as the rest of the team had continued on. They had cornered the subject and his son at the edge of a deep ravine. It had become clear that the subject wasn't going to be talked down when he'd shoved his son off the edge. Jules had made a dive to save the kid. She'd been successful but not without rolling about halfway down the ravine herself. Fortunately the area was muddy from the recent rains so neither she nor the son had been seriously injured. Ed had made the Scorpio call and Spike had taken the shot.
Sam put the food on the table and gathered his shaky nerves. It could have been so much worse but it was bad enough. The what ifs were thundering in his mind like a symphony. He knew Jules was fine even if she was a little sore. He'd seen her with both eyes and had even held her in his arms. She might be a little bruised but she was okay. The little boy was okay even if he did now have to live with the knowledge that he'd lost both parents and a sister in one day. He couldn't help but think that for this little boy he'd never met, Halloween would now forever be associated with his loss. It wasn't fair. Halloween should be a time of playful innocence not death.
He made his way out to the living room where Jules was sitting on the couch. Sadie was sitting next to her babbling in that sweet way she had that consisted half of real words and half of a language all of her own making. Jules appeared to be listening carefully but Sam could tell she was barely keeping her eyes open. He leaned down and kissed her. "I love you."
She smiled at him. "I love you too. And I'm okay, really. I'm sure Ed told you that."
"He did and I'm really glad that you are. Still, I know it was a hard day. If you want to skip out on the trick-or…"
Jules shook her head. "Don't finish that thought. I appreciate the offer because I know how much you've been looking forward to us doing this as a family. Maybe I've been teasing you about it, but after today I think I need it as much as you seem to. I meant what I said earlier, what I need is a long soak in the tub and an evening with the two of you. And not necessarily in that order even. Seriously, Sam, what I need more than anything tonight is exactly what you have planned. I can't say I'm disappointed that the team party is tomorrow instead of tonight but taking our daughter around the neighborhood trick-or-treating and then coming home and watching her Daddy go through her bad and pick out his favorite candy seems pretty perfect."
Sam nodded, knowing better than to argue with her. "Then that's what we're going to do. I have a surprise for you tonight."
"Besides the great secret costume reveal?" Jules asked amused. His boyish enthusiasm was contagious.
"Besides that. Actually Sadie has the surprise. Ready to eat?"
"Definitely. No time for lunch today. Between training drills and the hot call there just wasn't time." She didn't protest when Sam lifted Sadie out of her lap to carry her to the kitchen. She rose gingerly. Bruises were the worst of the injuries she'd sustained but a few were deep and painful. Walking around the neighborhood might hurt but in the long run it would be good for her to work out the stiffness that had started to set in during the brief time she'd been sitting.
Sam fastened Sadie into her booster seat at the table. He'd already cut up one of the unsloppy joes for her. He realized that probably defeated the purpose of preparing them the way he did but he wanted to make sure it cooled thoroughly so she didn't burn her little mouth. He handed her a fork. "Here you go, Scrappy. Eat up."
Sadie shook her head. "No, Da-ee. Chockit. MnMnIms."
Jules raised an eyebrow. She'd never heard Sadie request chocolate for supper before. There had to be a reason she was starting now. "Has somebody been sampling the treats for tonight? I know how many bags were in the bowl when I left this morning so I can always count them to see." When the tips of Sam's ears turned red, she shook her head. "Let me guess, that's my other surprise?"
"Not the whole surprise but it helped to create it. It's Halloween, Babe; one day of indulgence won't hurt her."
"No, but it might hurt you." Jules warned but her tone suggested she wasn't really upset. She took a bite of her pocketed sloppy joe. "Although, as good as supper tastes, I might forgive you anyway. These are really good. Sadie, no chocolate for supper. Try what Daddy fixed. You want to be able to get dressed up in a little bit to go trick-or-treating, don't you?"
Sadie nodded and picked up a bite of the mixture with her fingers instead of her fork. She apparently decided it was worth eating because she didn't protest any more. The two adults also continued eating. After polishing off one unsloppy joe, Jules picked up another but instead of eating it, she moved it around the plate instead. Finally she looked up at Sam. "You know I'm proud of you and happy that you made Team Leader for Team Three, right?"
Sam nodded. Her comment seemed a little random and he wondered where she was going with it. "Yeah, you've always been my biggest supporter. Why?"
Jules sighed. "It's just there are some days, like today, that I really miss you being on Team One."
Sam grinned. It was nice knowing that even though they were married, she still missed seeing him at work. "There are some days I miss being on Team One. Why today in particular though?"
"When I reached out to grab the kid I forgot for a split second that you weren't there. Ed and Spike were too far away to do anything and Leah was escorting the kid who got away back to the school. Danny and Matt were backing me. I guess I expected them to have my back the way the rest of the team - the way you - always did. I know I always make a big deal that I'm just as capable as everyone else and I know I am. I guess I've gotten used to not knowing my limits because I've had you and the others to support me unconditionally."
Sam reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze. "You were SuperJules long before I came along and you are still SuperJules now that I'm on Team Three. If anything you're even more super because you make being a cop, being my wife, and being Sadie's mom look so easy. I love you and I'll always have your back even if I'm not there to physically grab hold of you if you start to fall."
A warmth she hadn't felt since the call had come in washed over her at his words. She stood up and walked around the table so that she could hug him. Then she kissed his cheek. "And just like that, you caught me. I love you too. As much as I love being a cop, I love being your wife and Sadie's mom even more. Now what do you say we finish up supper, get the kitchen cleaned up so we can check out those costumes you picked out for us?"
"Sounds like a plan to me."
It didn't take them long to take care of the first two parts of that. Carrying Sadie in his arms, Sam led the way up the stairs to the master bedroom. Placing the toddler on the bed next to Jules, Sam promised to be right back. He retrieved the large box that contained the costumes from his hiding place and returned to the bedroom. He set the box on the bed. He looked even more boyish than usual.
"So I had an idea what sort of costume I wanted for Sadie but I wasn't sure I could find it. Then I started to look online and I couldn't believe it when I found it." He opened the box and pulled out a small brown costume. Jules's grin matched his when she realized what it was.
"Sam, it's perfect. What do you think, Sades? Now you really can be Scrappy."
Sam had nicknamed Sadie Scrappy before she'd ever been born. The name had had little to do with the cartoon character from Scooby Doo but with her ability to survive overwhelming odds. Even still, the costume was perfect for her.
"I'm glad you like it. I picked our costumes to match hers."
Jules's eyes widened. "Oh no, Sam, I'm not wearing a purple mini-dress and a red wig. We might not have gotten snow yet but it's still too cold for that kind of skimpy outfit. Not to mention, I'm afraid the purple of my bruises would clash with the purple of the dress. As much as I would love to be Daphne to your Fred, it's not happening. Sorry."
Sam chuckled. "I did consider getting us Fred and Daphne costumes but I really didn't like what I saw online. Then I thought about it more and decided Scrappy didn't need Fred and Daphne taking her trick-or-treating. I wanted something a little more fitting."
When he pulled out matching adult size Scooby Doo costumes, Jules laughed. For some reason, wearing a dog suit didn't bother her as much as the idea of a purple mini-dress. "Sam, I love it."
Sam blushed slightly. "Really? You don't mind?"
"Not at all. I love that you put all this thought into it. You are definitely SuperDad."
Sam reached into the box again and pulled out three blue and green collars that looked exactly like the signature collars both Scrappy and Scooby wore. "I did something else; I wanted to personalize it a little. Mine and Sadie's both have an SB on the collar and yours has JB."
Jules took hers and stood. She hugged and kissed him again. "Definitely SuperDad. Not only will we be the best dressed trick-or-treaters tonight but we'll have the best costumes tomorrow."
Sam grinned broadened. "I think BatSpike will disagree but I think you're right. Was Sarge sure he didn't want to borrow Sadie's dragon costume for Chance?"
Greg and Marina's son Chance was only a month younger than Sadie had been last Halloween. Greg was relishing his second chance at fatherhood. He was determined to make the best of getting to do with this baby what he hadn't been able to do with Dean. Jules nodded. "Yeah, apparently he's a little too pudgy to fit in it. Sarge appreciated the offer but I think he and Marina enjoyed costume shopping for him almost as much as you did for us. We'll have to wait 'til tomorrow night to see what they chose."
She pulled Sadie close. "What do you think, Sades, ready to get dressed so we can go trick-or-treating?"
"Ick eat peas." Sadie held her hand out opening and closing her fist expectantly.
Jules raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you've been doing all day? Bribing our daughter with M&Ms to get her to say trick-or-treat? This is going to backfire you know."
"Never doubt SuperDad. It's going to be great. I've been trying to get her to say it without success for weeks now but suddenly today she's saying it. It only took a few M&Ms to make it happen."
Jules didn't want to burst his bubble. He was so excited about the night she didn't want to spoil it for him. She was pretty sure, however, that as soon as Sadie didn't get immediate gratification, her willingness to say the requested phrase was going to wane. "Okay, Okay, I could never doubt SuperDad. I guess we should get changed. We wouldn't want someone to get grumpy before we hit even half the neighborhood because it's close to bedtime."
Sam winked at her. "I'll love you even if you are grumpy."
They dressed. Once they were ready, Jules took pictures of Sam and Sadie together before handing the camera over to Sam so he could take pictures of her with Sadie. Then they set the timer on the camera so that all three could be in the picture. Just before they were about to walk out of the house, the phone rang. It was Spike calling to check on Jules. As Jules assured him that she was fine, Sam looked at his watch impatiently. Their window of opportunity to get in the whole neighborhood before Sadie's bedtime was dwindling.
"Come on, tick tock. Time's running out." He grumbled.
Jules rolled her eyes and pointed to Sadie and then her ear as if to say watch what little ears could hear. Sadie could at times be an excellent parrot which was one of the reasons why she was so insistent that they not use curse words around her. The last thing Jules wanted was for Sadie to pick an inopportune time to repeat something she heard one of her parents say. "Spike, I've got to go. Sadie's got a candy bag that needs to be filled before bedtime. I'll talk to you later."
Once she was off the phone, they left the house. Knowing it probably wouldn't last for the whole neighborhood, Sam and Jules let Sadie start off walking to the first house, each holding tightly to one of her hands. When they came to the door of their next door neighbor's house, Sam rang the doorbell as Jules handed Sadie her candy bag. It took a moment for the homeowner, an elderly woman of about seventy, to answer.
Her face lit up when she saw Sadie. "Well, what do you we have here?"
"Tick Tock!" Sadie said, sounding as exasperated as Sam had earlier. Sam's jaw dropped and the look Jules flashed him clearly said "I told you so." The woman, however, just chuckled.
"Aren't you a sweetheart! What? No candy in that bag yet? We'll just have to fix that, won't we? All of you just look so cute I'm going to have to put extra candy in for everyone." She reached in her candy bowl and dropped about six fun sized Snickers bars into Sadie's bag. "Happy Halloween. Have fun and watch out for all the ghosts and goblins."
"Tank to." Sadie responded, sounded a lot less exasperated and a whole lot more awed to realize she'd hit a jackpot.
Another child was coming up the walk so Sam and Jules thanked the woman as well and turned to go. Sam scooped Sadie up in his arms as they started down the walk. "Scrappy, it's trick-or-treat not tick tock. Okay? We practiced this, remember?"
"Chockit Da-ee. Peas. Tank to." Sadie was already reaching for her bag.
Jules shook her head. "Not yet, Sades. We've got to wait until later to have a piece of chocolate." She wasn't worried about something being wrong with the candy they received while trick-or-treating; they knew their neighbors well enough to trust them. She knew though if they let her have anything now, she'd want something after each house and she'd be on a sugar high in no time.
The next door was answered by a guy wearing a Smurf costume. Sam was going to question the costume choice but considering he was wearing a dog costume himself decided not to cast stones. Sadie grinned and pointed at the man. "Boo!"
The man laughed and tried to look frightened. "Aren't you the scary puppy?" He glanced at Sam. "The things we do for our kids, huh? My wife insisted we all dress alike this year. I feel like a fool but it keeps me out of the doghouse. Guess you know all about that, huh?" He dropped a couple of bags of Skittles in Sadie's bag. "Have fun."
They continued on down the street. Though Sadie was always quick with her please and thank you's, she wouldn't say trick-or-treat no matter how much Sam pleaded with her between houses. As he had predicted to her earlier though, everyone thought she was just precious even without her saying it. About ten houses into their journey, Jules relented and let Sadie have a small Tootsie Roll she got from one of the neighbors so she wouldn't get too cranky. Another five houses in, Sadie was quite happy to let Sam carry her from door to door. After an hour of trick-or-treating, they could tell she was getting tired, but Sam suggested they hit one more street. The evening felt just too right to end just yet.
By the time they made it back to the house, Sadie was asleep in his arms. He and Jules carried her up to her bedroom. Sam laid her down on her Little Mermaid toddler bed that went with the ocean theme of the nursery and started to undress her from her costume. Having anticipated that Sadie would be tired when she came home, Jules had dressed her in her pajamas under the costume already. Sadie's eyes drifted open slightly as Sam got her ready for bed.
"Ick eat, Da-ee."
Sam kissed her nose. "Now you say it. No more ick eat tonight, Scrappy. Maybe you'll say it for everyone tomorrow night at the party. How about that?"
Sadie nodded as she yawned deeply. Already her eyes were drifting shut again. Sam kissed her and whispered that he loved her to her before moving out of the way to let Jules say her goodnights. Leaving just the nightlight on, the two adults left the nursery and headed to their own bedroom. Before slipping out of her own costume, Jules wrapped her arms around Sam's waist. "Are you disappointed that she didn't say it for any of the houses?"
Sam shook his head. "No, it would have been nice but maybe it's better that this year only you and I got to hear it. There's always next year. Maybe she won't remember tonight but it still felt special, didn't it? Or did I just get so wrapped up in things that I made too big a deal of it?"
Jules kissed him. "You might be surprised what she remembers. Besides, we have plenty of pictures to show her growing up. I love that you went all out for her even if she is too young to really get it. I don't think anything you do for our daughter is a too much of a big deal. Tonight was perfect. It's still early enough; why don't you go downstairs and give out candy to the rest of the trick-or-treaters while I get that bath I was talking about earlier. Then I'll join you downstairs. I bet we can find a scary movie on the TV or something."
Sam kissed her warmly. Actually the idea of joining her for the bath sounded like a better idea but he didn't want to take the chance that ringing doorbell would wake Sadie. "Sounds great but there's one thing I have to do first."
Jules looked up at him questioningly. "What's that?"
"The costume is a package deal. If I don't have you and Sadie beside me in yours I'm not wearing this thing to answer the door. I don't want to look like Papa Smurf did handing out candy."
Jules laughed. "Chicken. But I can't say I blame you. Just make sure you are handing out the candy, not eating it. Sadie will never forgive you if you eat all her candy up tonight."
Sam poked his lip out like Sadie did when she pouted. "Just a few pieces?"
Jules rolled her eyes as she started to remove her costume. "Behave and I'll fix us some popcorn to go with the movie."
"Do I have to behave during the movie?" Sam wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Not if we turn out the lights so we aren't interrupted by trick-or-treaters." Jules promised.
Sam grinned. "I love the way you think."
Jules leaned over and kissed him. "I love you."
- FP -
Author's Note: I hope it isn't too cheesy but I couldn't resist doing a Halloween story. The idea of Sam trying to teach Sadie to say trick-or-treat wouldn't leave me alone. I also couldn't resist the Power Rangers line. I hope you enjoyed it. Please forgive mistakes that might have been missed as I proofread. I'm finishing this story at four am so I can get it posted before having to leave for the hospital. My dad is having surgery and this is the last opportunity to get it posted before Halloween. Updates on my others stories might be a little slow as I take care of my dad as he recovers from hip replacement surgery. I'll update as I can. Thanks for sticking with me. As Sadie says, "Tank to."