Just an awkward idea I thought of last night.

Too long to be a drabble, to short to be a story… So it is now a dratory…hehehe…

Set any time after Between Heartbeats. The child she mentions is referring to Petar.

Please enjoy.

Her job was to allow them to talk.

To let out the frustration of their job.

Only he wasn't talking.

Not to Ed, not to Jules or Greg; and certainly not to her either.

Dr. Luria quickened her pace as she saw the object of her visit to SRU headquarters walk in the front doors, heading right for the stairs. It was something that always struck her as strange, how Sam always took the staircase. Even on a call where an elevator was accessible the blonde would always opt for them instead. "Sam."

The sniper paused on the second step, waiting as the doctor caught up with him. "Hey."

She smiled at the greeting before taking in the dark circles under his eyes and the tired lines on his face. His shoulders were stiff and straight, showing a kind of defiance against the tiredness that most likely running through his body. It was something he had undoubtedly picked up in the military. "Can I talk to you for a few minutes?"

Had Luria been anybody else, had she not seen it flash across Ed's face so many times before, the dreading wince behind Sam's blue eyes might have been lost on her.

The two made their way up the stairs, small talk exchanging between them, but as she came to the cat walk that overlooked the courtyard below Luria turned her conversation to a more serious topic. Things like how Jules was doing, when they expected her back, how the team was fairing without her and how he liked Donna, Jules replacement.

Then something she said took the blonde completely by surprise.

"I know somewhere down deep inside of you, you may feel guilty about shooting Petar, it's never easy to shoot someone… especially one so young." she sighed. "Even if he was responsible for a lot of bad things, it doesn't stop people from still feeling the pressure of taking the life of, well, in some aspects, taking the life of a child."

Hard blue eyes whipped around to glare at her and Luria found herself flinching backwards as Sam turned to face her.

"He's not the first kid I've shot down," He muttered, the words low, but as Ed and Wordy rounded the corner of the hallway the two men froze at the coldness in his voice. Sam's grip on the railing he had been leaning against tightened to the point where his knuckles turned white. His eyes searched Luria's face, looking past the shock to the confusion underneath. "To protect your unit, your team, your friends or civilians… you take out people you never would have thought you could kill. And if that means shooting the fourteen year old boy running towards you, who also happens to have four pounds of explosive wired on him, you don't question it. You shoot him."

Luria let her eyes fall away from the blonde whose tone had turned to ice.

"If you're here to talk to me about whether or not I feel guilty about shooting the bastard who shot Jules, and threatened Ed, save your breath; I'd shoot him again given half the chance."

Ed watched as the young sniper moved away towards the locker room before exchanging glances with the man beside him. Clapping Wordy on the shoulder the bald man followed Sam into the changing room. It was empty as he entered but he stayed out of Sam's line of vision. He watched the blonde open his locker, throwing his bag into it angrily before sighing and stepping back, a bit more calmly to sit on the bench in front of his locker

The team leader was about to speak but paused when he heard Sam muttering to himself.

"He's not the first kid I've killed…All I can do is hope he will be the last."

So… he does actually feel guilty about shooting Petar… or maybe not?