A different twist to the end of season three's episode Terror. So major spoilers for that episode ^^

This is a pretty quick two shot. I'll upload the ending when I finish editing it. Also, for those reading "Hit and Run" the next chapter will be up tomorrow or the next day, whenever I hear back from my beta ^^

Warnings: Spoilers for Terror, violence, sensitive war things

This is un-beta magic so all the mistakes you might fine are mine.

Part One

Sam had just burned through the last bar, removing the obstruction that blocked his entrance through the door. This was a high stress situation and Sam was going in blind and without backup. Sure Jules was on the inside, but it wasn't the same this time. She didn't have a weapon – this time Jules was relying on him to save her life.

Quickly shedding his SRU jacket Sam replaced his vest over the black undershirt and radioed to the Boss that he was ready. If Sam was going to convince the Subject that he was military he couldn't go in wearing a bunch of clothing that identified him as the Police.

Taking in a deep, calming breath Sam pushed any and all distracting thoughts aside and entered the building.

The device in his ear crackled suddenly with his boss's voice. "Sam the hostages are turning on him, get in there now!" The situation was escalating and there was no time to think of a solid way to enter 'safely.'

Heart rate spiking Sam made his way swiftly and stealthily through the kitchen and towards the area where the Subject and Jules were located.

Somewhere out of Sam's view the Subject was yelling at his hostages. "Back against the wall or I'll shoot you all one by one!" His voice clearly agitated to the edge of his breaking point.

Sam knew that there was a chance the Subject would open fire on him as soon as he entered the room, but as long as it gave Jules enough time to disarm the Subject it would be worth it. Sam would do anything to keep his team safe.

Floating from the other room Sam could hear the teammate in questions voice. Jules was trying to calm down the angry mob – from what Sam could hear around her Jules wasn't getting through to the other hostages. "Drop your weapon, drop your weapons, drop – "

The sound of shattering glass signaled to Sam that her efforts had indeed been in vain.

Taking a deep breath Sam calmed himself down despite the situation he was about to walk into. He had to appear calm, like a soldier. His concern couldn't be for Jules or the other hostages – his focus had to be on the Subject. It wasn't hard to fall back to the military state of mind. Sam had been a soldier all his life, not just for the two trips to the desert.

Confidently Sam strolled into the room with the stealth step that had been drilled into him – gun up and ready. "Everybody do what the man says! Drop your weapons and go back to where you were." Sam's eyes looked over the hostages, hoping they did as he said as he trained his gun on them. Thankfully his appearance had startled them into moving back and setting their various projectiles down.

Without pausing to show relief Sam turned to the Subject, who was now pointing a gun at Sam's chest. At least the vest would stop the bullet if the gun went off – and considering how badly the man's hand was shaking it was a definite possibility.

Looking the Subject straight in the eyes Sam smiled reassuringly. "Its alright buddy you can stand down, I've got this area of operations contained."

When some of the hostages hesitated Sam turned his gun back onto them, not willing to open fire on a bunch of civilians but needing them out of the way. "Go back to where you were, all of you. Do it now!" Once again Sam couldn't show his relief when they listened, but that didn't mean it wasn't there inside of him.

The gun was still shaking as it remained in point blank range leveled at his chest, but Sam wasn't thinking too hard about it.

"Who are you?" The unbalanced man demanded, trusting the gun slightly forward towards his new target. Behind the gun and the man Jules' looked relieved to see Sam's entrance and ready to play any part needed to solve this situation. Steve needed immediate attention, but Sam wasn't trying to think about that either. Right now his only objective was to talk down the man endangering the lives of everyone in the restaurant.

Straightening slightly the soldier answered the man's question. "Master corporal Sam Braddock." In a swift, confident motion Sam's hand reached up and pulled out dog tags. "Special forces, I'm here to help."

A spark of hope lit in the Subject's eyes. "You knew this place was a front for terrorists?"

The earpiece crackled with the Sergeant's voice again: "Sam don't lie to him, he's sensitive to deception."

With a slight nod Sam did as told. "I know what it's like to be afraid, I served two tours in Afghanistan. I know what it's like to walk down the street and wonder where they're going to strike again." Before the SRU, hell even after he joined Team One Sam had watched the rooftops for snipers as he walked the sidewalks. It was hard for a soldier to return to a world not a war zone – Sam had been no exception.

But at the moment Sam was talking about his feelings back in the war zone. The constant level of alertness was enough to drive a man crazy. Everyone was considered a threat in war – hesitating got a lot of good men killed.

Without giving away her position Sam watched as Jules started to move into position directly behind the gunman.

"You feel helpless like you're never going to be safe. That's what they want, all of us to live in a state of fear." The feelings of terrorists were engraved in the soldier's heart – however Sam had never held a grudge against innocent people. Even in the desert there were innocents that needed his protection. No one had the right to judge an entire race for the radical actions of some. By reducing themselves to radicalism of the ones they were trying to stop they became the ones they hated.

The Subject seemed to agree, but for all the wrong reasons. "Yeah, that's why we have to fight back, you know about the operation – "

Jules went for the gun, grabbing for it but it goes off. Sam winces, feeling the bullet lodge itself in his thigh just above his knee before he moved forward to subdue the Subject, tossing him on the ground. Without thinking much about the pain Sam pushed his bad leg into the man's back to pin him down as he reached his free hand back for his cuffs.

"Settle down!" Sam yelled, but it did little to calm the psychotically paranoid man bucking under him. The motion sent ripples of pain through Sam but the soldier within him swallowed the weakness down.

"What are you doing? You – you lied to me! You lied to me!"

Sam nearly lost his hold a few times before he finally got his cuffs and secured them onto the man's wrists. "I didn't lie." What he said had been the truth – Sam did live in fear. War did that to anyone exposed long enough. "Subject in custody." Sam reported to Parker back in the van.

"Good work guys, good work." Parker praised from the van, sounding just as tired as Sam was now that the adrenaline of the situation was winding down.

Slowly Jules' approached Sam and the still struggling subject on the floor careful not to spook the man into throwing Sam off with his wild bucking.

"Thank you," Jules told Sam sincerely, moving closer with her gun still trained on the Subject.

With a slight nod Sam winced and glanced over at Steve still bleeding on the floor. "We need an EMS team in here, Boss." He called over the speaker, only then did he glance down at his thigh, already slick with red oozing red. Grunting Sam pushed up from the Subject and started to drag the still struggling man to his feet.

With the EMS team came two uniforms and for that Sam was grateful for the added back up – just incase the man in his custody managed to wiggle free. Limping along with the man Sam pushes him out towards the front door of the restaurant ignoring everything else until he's standing with his Boss outside.

The man in Sam's handcuffs fidgets and remains non-responsive as his mind is clearly not all there at the moment. Finally Sam shifts his weight and without taking his eyes off the Subject addresses his Boss calmly. "I don't think we're going to get anything out of him."

"Alright," Greg agrees with a frustrated sigh, he hasn't noticed Sam's bloody pant leg yet – not that he had much of a reason to look. "Take him to the hospital, pump him full of whatever drug necessary so we can talk to him when the time comes." The uniform nodded and Sam lead the Subject to the near by car and helped lower him inside.

Once his objective was finished Sam shut the door and leaned against the car for much needed support. "Boss." He called over his shoulder, turning around just as the Sergeant looked over at him.

For a minute things seemed to slow down as Greg's eyes moved from Sam's face to his leg. Time went back to normal when the Sergeant started talking again. "God, Sam why did you say you were hit?" Parker demanded, coming out of the initial shock with surprising swiftness – rushing to Sam's side in order to help him walk. "We need a medic over here!"

Sam shrugged, grateful for the assistance as he limped towards a bench. "Never seemed like a good time." Sam winced and sat down. "It isn't that bad, bullet was small and got lodged in the fleshy area – just hurts like hell."

Sam's Boss turned his glare up from the wound to show his displeasure with the blasé reaction to the injury. The hard look switched to a wince of sympathy once the older man's kind eyes took in the pain lines around Sam's. "I'll decide how bad it is once the EMS looks you over."

"Boss, what's going on?" Ed called over the line, hearing bits and pieces of the conversation as they worked their end.

"Sam's been hit in the leg, paramedics are about to check him over – he'll be fine." Greg was saying, patting Sam on the shoulder before moving to get out of the way of the medics as they did their job.

"Oh my God, Sam!" Jules had caught sight of the commotion as soon as the ambulance with Steve pulled away.

Glancing up from the paramedic's working on his leg Sam saw Jules hovering over shoulders trying to get a better look at his injury. "Aw, Jules, I'm fine – it's not even that bad. Go get suited up, the teams going to need you." He was trying to deflect the concern somehow and bringing up a sense of duty had always worked in the military. However, the SRU was not the military.

"When did you get hit?" Jules asked suddenly, disregarding what Sam had suggested with practiced ease. She gasped as the realization hit her. "Oh my God, I shot you. The gun, when it discharged! I didn't even think to ask if you were alright!" Her eyes quickly shifted from surprise to horrified guilt, which hurt Sam more then a bullet ever could.

Sam shook his head with a longsuffering sigh. "Jules, it was an accident, okay? I don't blame you, I just got in the way a bit." The General always told him to take the blame on himself – if you get injured in combat you have only yourself to blame. It worked the same way if someone in the same unit ended up injured – there is always a way to protect those around you, if someone gets hurt you could have prevented it through better actions.

Sam saw Jules' facial expression switch from guilt to a look mixed of shock and anger with a flip of a switch. "You were not in the way! You were talking the gunman down!" She shook her head, eyes filling once more with concern and regret. "If I had just waited a little longer – "

"Jules, I'm telling you it's fine. I'm fine, the hostages are fine, Steve will be fine, everything is fine – okay?" Sam's eyes were begging her to drop it. "What's done is done, no big deal. I don't blame you – please don't blame yourself." Sam lived his life blaming himself for so many things – he wouldn't wish that kind of guilt on his worse enemy, let alone Jules.

"Hey," The Sergeant rejoined the small group around the bench, eyeing Sam critically as he spoke. "Ed has something big, we need to move out now." Looking away from his wounded officer Greg's eyes fell on Jules. "Are you coming?"

"Yes." Jules nodded without hesitation.

"Then go suit up and join Spike in the van." Greg informed her.

With another short nod Jules turned to walk away, but not before glancing on last time at Sam before hurrying towards the van.

Greg's expression took a look of sympathy again. "How are you doing, Sam?"

Sam realized his boss was feeling bad for the obvious need to leave him behind. "I'm good, Boss. This isn't the first time I've been injured like this, I'll be okay in no time. You go keep the peace and stay safe." Sam wanted to make things easier for his team – it was hard when anyone got hurt on a call.

Nodding with understanding Greg sighed. "I'll go to the hospital as soon as we're done and check in on you."

"I know you will." Sam nodded with a small smile. And once his Boss had left Sam was alone.

In all honesty this alternative ending probably sounded better in my head, but I hope you guys are enjoying it.

Oh, and I have a BS (that's bull shit) in medical care…so don't believe everything I've written, but enjoy the ride all the same. ^^

Reviews and Reviewers are loved!