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AN: setting: season 4, Raf is on the team, Jules and Sam are secretly dating again.
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Her breath was coming in short gasps. She had a grip on the gun, but it was unsteady. She looked around the room. Everyone was here. Looks like this is it. Now they would all know what they had said or done had affected her life. And then, they would pay.
"I understand you're angry." Greg said with urgency. He was behind Ed's shield to the left side. Ed was on the right and had his weapon pointed at the subject.
"You do? How? You don't understand anything you stupid pig. Don't you see? Every person in this room has said or done something to hurt me. Every single one." She pointed the gun at each of the four hostages and pointed it at the floor.
"Greg. That gun comes up again." Ed said as a warning.
"I know Eddie." Greg turned away from the young woman in front of him. "Sierra One?"
"In position. I have the solution." Jules said steadily as she looked through the scope of her remi. She could see the subject was pacing back and forth, tears falling from her eyes.
Spike looked up from his position on his knees, his hands tied behind his back. He bowed his head and whispered to the woman next to him. "Remain calm. Do as she says."
The young brunette strode over to Spike and slapped him hard across the face, her blue eyes flashing. "I can still hear you! And you don't get to play the hero this time." She looked at him menacingly.
Spike looked up into her blue eyes. "But I don't know you." He said pleadingly, blood dripping from his lip. "I haven't done anything to you."
"Spike." Sam said from next to him, kneeling in the same position. When Spike looked at him he shook his head slightly.
"Oh, do you have something to say blondie?" She turned to Sam angrily.
Sam shook his head and looked at the floor. Anytime one of them said something to her it aggravated her more.
"None of you care about me! You're only worried about yourselves!" The young woman started pacing again.
"I care. I don't want you or anyone else hurt here today, so I need you to keep the gun down ok?" Greg stepped to the edge of the shield.
"No. No it's not ok! Every person in this room needs to pay for what they've done!" Raf translated calmly.
##### Downtown Toronto office building three weeks earlier #####
Paige bopped along happily to the music playing from her iPod. She swung her free leg back and forth as she typed on the computer. She had her other leg tucked under her in the comfy office chair. An alternative song came on with a hard beat and she bobbed her head to the beat. She moved through the slides in her presentation, adding graphics and typing in the information she needed. She'd been working on it since yesterday and was excited to present it to her boss.
She watched the clock nervously as she put the finishing touches on the presentation. She looked up anxiously when she saw the clock hit 1pm. She knew her boss Carolyn would be looking for her to join their 1:30 meeting soon.
A young blonde walked up to the brunette's desk and tapped her knuckles on the corner of the wooden desk, the required greeting to get the brunette's attention. Blue eyes flicks to hers. "How's it going?" She signed.
"Hey D," Paige signed one handed as she added the last of the text with her other hand. "Good. Almost..done!" She looked at the clock and turned to Diana. "Just made it." She smiled.
Diana looked at her watch and nodded. 1:15, yup close, she thought. "Are you nervous? This is pretty important." She gave her friend a questioning glance.
"Nah. Easy peasy. She's going to love it. Then, I'll be your boss." Paige smiled and raised her brows twice.
"Yeah well don't let it go to your head!" Diana gave her a gentle shove. "Uh oh, here she comes." She saw Carolyn approaching with a frustrated look on her face. She and Paige always joked that they didn't know if it was frustrated or constipated.
"Ready ladies?" Carolyn looked at them with anticipation.
Paige looked up at her boss' nervous tone. She looked at Diana as she emailed the presentation to herself. "Why is she nervous? It's my career on the line." She asked.
Diana shrugged and didn't answer. She knew Carolyn, hell the whole office,had learned ASL so they could communicate with Paige. She didn't want Carolyn to think they were talking about her behind her back after what she did for Paige. It had made her very happy that the company had paid to have trainings in ASL over several weekends.
There are only 12 people in the office, but it was a nice gesture so that Paige didn't have to have an interpreter with her all the time. Full time interpreters are very expensive and with Paige trying to pay off her ongoing medical bills it would be next to impossible for her to afford it. The lawsuit still wasn't settled yet either.
They walked towards the conference room and Paige looked down at her shaking hands. She wiped them on her black pants and shook them out so they would stop trembling.
Diana saw the nerves and grabbed one of Paige's hands. She pointed a finger up so that Paige would look at her. "You're going to do great. Relax."
Paige nodded and took a breath in and let it out. Everyone in the office knew ASL enough to understand her, but this was for a big client. If she pulled this off, it would mean a promotion and more money, something she and her family really needed.
She walked into the room smiling. She looked at Diana, standing next to the projector screen, ready to interpret for her. When Diana gave her a reassuring smile, she nodded and smiled bigger. "Hello everyone, my name is Paige Wassler and I am about to show you how, if you let us, Schneider and Schneider can make you very rich."
##### SRU HQ, 1300 hrs #####
Spike frowned and looked at the letter Winnie had just handed him. He walked towards the locker room, but he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He stopped suddenly in the middle of the hall. "What? You're crazy." Spike said aloud. He crumpled the letter hard.
Sam and Jules looked at each other and frowned. They had both seen Spike's face when he saw the letter Winnie had handed him when he came out from the lockers dressed for the day.
"Spike? What's up?" Sam jogged forward and put a hand on Spike's shoulder.
Spike looked at him, unsure if he should say anything. "It's, uh, um. Nothing. Don't worry about it." He looked away. He did not want this wound to keep being opened, but apparently it wasn't possible.
Sam looked at Spike expectantly. "It's something."
Spike looked up and saw the concern in Sam's eyes.
Jules could see something was bothering Spike and while she wanted to try to help, she realized he may not want to share with her. Maybe that's why he was hesitant. She backed up and headed back towards the briefing room where the rest of Team One was gathered for their pre-shift briefing.
Sam flicked her a look and looked back at Spike. "Is it your mom?"
Spike looked down at the letter. "No." He shook his head. "I talked to her earlier this morning. She's very happy in Italy. I'm thinking I may take a trip this summer to see her."
"Nice." Sam smiled although he knew Spike was trying to change the subject. Doesn't work on profilers, he thought. "So?" He raised his eyebrows and looked down at the crumpled paper in Spike's hands.
Greg looked at Jules as she walked into the briefing room. He could tell she was worried about something. He saw Spike's face when he had opened and started reading the letter. "Everything ok?" He asked as she sat down across from Raf.
Jules looked back towards the door. "Don't know." She looked at Greg and saw his and Ed's expectant looks. She shrugged as if to say, you'll have to ask them.
Spike sighed. "Her sister keeps trying to contact me, to see me." He put emphasis on the first word.
Sam nodded in understanding. It was almost two years ago, but it still seemed like yesterday. That damned brick building in the woods, the crazy woman that abducted Spike and did horrible things to him, that Her. "Why?"
"I don't know." Spike held up the letter and shook it. "To talk about it, or feel better about her sister being killed because she was bat shit crazy, I don't know." Spike started pacing the width of the hallway.
Winnie heard Spike raise his voice and wondered what was going on. She kept her eyes on her screen and stole glances down the hallway.
"It's ok Spike." Sam said in a low voice. He put a hand on Spike's shoulder to stop him from pacing. "Have you told them no? That you didn't want to?"
Spike looked at him and gritted his teeth. "All 26 times."
"She's contacted you 26 times?" Sam asked incredulously. "Why haven't you said anything?"
Spike gave Sam an angry look. "I just want it to be over and she won't let it be. She keeps telling me that her daughter wants to meet me. Why can't they just let it go?" Spike shook his head.
"Maybe it's time to get a restraining order." Sam said. He hated to suggest it, but the woman and her daughter wouldn't leave Spike alone.
Spike shook his head. "I don't know."
"Then maybe you meet her and the daughter here. I can be there if you want. We can call Wordy, you know he'd gladly come." Sam put a hand out, palm up.
"Hey. What's going on?" Greg asked as he walked towards them. They heard Spike raised voice and he had put a hand up to keep Ed, Jules and Raf from getting up.
Sam looked at Spike for permission. When he nodded slightly, Sam said, "Her sister has contacted Spike 26 times in the last two years. She and her daughter want to meet with him."
"Her?" As soon as he said it he closed his eyes in remembrance. Damn, he thought. He opened his eyes and looked at Spike with concern. "Twenty six?"
Spike nodded and put his hands on his hips. Why? Why did they want to keep the wound open? He didn't understand.