Beers and Burritos
Disclaimer: I don't even have burrito and beers, only water.
AN: "Jules, it was just a burrito." Yeah, right Sam, who are you trying to kid.
"So tell me," Sam started as he slipped into the spot beside Jules on the back of her jeep. "Did you accept my burrito invitation because of what happened on the call?"
Jules took a moment to take a sip of her lukewarm beer before answering. "I agreed to go because someone told me dinner was a very important meal," she glanced at him. "Funny, because I always thought breakfast was the very important meal of the day."
"That's what Matt always said," Sam bit into his own burrito, feeling a dull twinge in his chest as he always did whenever he talked about his deceased friend.
"Seems like he was the smart one," Jules quipped and he couldn't help his laugh - a sad, bitter laugh it was. It sounded like something that Matt would have said. Sam was a competitive person, but he would've been the first to admit that Matt was better than him - a better cop, a better soldier, and more than that Matt was just a great person all around. It's not difficult to admit when it was the truth.
His heart throbbed a little more when he remembered he was the one responsible for Matt's death. My name is Sam Braddock and I killed my best friend. It was a friendly fire accident. I was cleared to fire, but still, he's dead 'cos of me. "When we were out in the field he'd start talking about how he missed my mom's hot pancakes. Babbling about fried eggs, bacons, and melted cheese while we're eating crunchy cereal and dried fruits. We had to physically shut him up. When we're at the base, you could bet you'd see him in front of the queue line at the Mess Hall."
"And obviously came dinner time it was you who was first in line?" Jules teased softly, effortlessly easing herself into the conversation.
"When I wasn't craving for some Whooper, maybe," Sam shrugged, his smile sheepish. "Eating good food made us less homesick."
Sam was glad, relived more than anything, that she didn't bombard him with questions about his past in Afghanistan. They just met barely two weeks ago, but there's something about the beautiful sniper chick that made him feel comfortable around her. Sitting there on the back of her jeep, the feeling was unlike sitting in his mom's warm kitchen when he was eight, him doing homework while his baby sisters were busy with their crayons. In the oven Nat's favorite hazelnut cookies were baking, filling the room with positively delicious smell. After Natalie was bored with her crayons -the girl had short attention span at the age of 3, and still did now that she's 25- she would throw paper missiles at him. The kitchen was their safe place, not even his father could take that away from them.
He inched closer to Jules and got a whiff of her sweet smelling shampoo. Was it strawberry? Cranberry?
"It must have been nice to see a familiar face in a foreign country," Jules put down her beer and picked up her half-eaten chipotle chicken burrito. "When I moved to Toronto I didn't really know anybody here. Growing up as a farm girl, I didn't exactly wake up to tall skyscrapers, so there's that too."
His active imagination immediately came up with some images of young Julianna Callaghan in plaid shirts, pigtails and boots. As if she could read his mind, she swatted his arm. "Finish that thought and don't blame me if you end up with bruises."
Sam barked a laugh. Since they were getting along so well now, he opted not to tempt her. He'd save it for future 'just'-a-burrito occasions. "Matt and I, we went way back. He told me to suck it up when my girlfriend dumped me in high school. Bought our first beers using a fake ID - Benjamin Young. Good ol' Ben," he shook his head, chuckling at how much they owed 'Ben'. "When I made my first arrest, we celebrated over burritos and beers, just like this. When he made his, we got so drunk we were late for shift the next day."
"I'm not going to get drunk with you tonight though," Jules pointed out, grinning nonetheless. She nudged his shoulder with hers. "Something tells me that you're going to fit into the team just fine."
"Yeah, right. I'm sure Ed's going to agree with you on that one." He rested his head on the back of the seat. At this point he wasn't even upset that Ed didn't trust him enough to be on his team. He was just tired.
Jules sighed and popped the last of her burrito into her mouth, wiping her mouth with a paper napkin. "Don't take it personally, Ed was just upset about Jackson. Just, you know, prove him wrong. I know you will. That's surely going to piss him off."
He smirked, looking down at her. She was slouching against the backseat, her neck tilted up in an angle that must be uncomfortable. She didn't look bothered though. Her cheeks and the tip of her nose were pink from the evening breeze and his fingers were itching to move the bangs out of her eyes. "Is that a challenge?"
Brown eyes glinting mischievously flicked up to meet his. "As long as you didn't tell him I was the one who planted the idea," Jules adorably bit back a yawn and sat up straighter. "Time to head back, we have morning shift tomorrow."
His face fell. He didn't want to go back to his lonely, cold half-furnished apartment just yet. Didn't want to leave his newly found safe place. Jules got up to her feet and he reluctantly followed suit. "Don't think I didn't know you're dodging the original question, Callaghan." Sam remarked as he crumpled the paper wraps, napkins and empty beer cans and shoved them into a plastic bag (he had quickly learned that Jules' car was very well equipped).
"Nice profiling, Braddock, maybe it would be useful the next time you have to talk down a subject," Jules retorted. His panic must have been obvious on his face because she laughed. Once again, the desire to reach over and brush her hair off her face was nearly overwhelming he had to clench his hands tighter. Obviously she had him figured out that he'd rather perch high on the top of the building with a Remy than try to deescalate a subject from red to green on the ground.
"Is that a yes?"
Jules shrugged casually. "Maybe..." Sam cocked an eyebrow. "It's a no?"
He rolled his eyes and walked around to the passenger seat after throwing the plastic bag into a nearby trash bin. Jules waited until he had his seatbelt on before running the engine. Sam shot her a lopsided grin, "We should do breakfast next time. Breakfast is a very important meal."
I love the little Jam scenes when they're not JAM yet. Couldn't help but use this opportunity to explain my take on the Matt/Ben thing in Behind the Blue Line. Hope you enjoy, reviews are loved xx