The events in this story take place after the first episode, Scorpio. It is told from Sam's point of view. If you want to know Jules' POV, go read an excellent story by ccferrari entitled "The Beginning" which you can find on ffnet here: www. fanfiction s/ 9020249 /1/The-Beginning
Disclaimer: I write for my pleasure and your enjoyment. The characters are not mine; they were created by the producers of Flashpoint and apparently a half dozen other entities affiliated with the production of the TV series. They belong to those people. I just take them out and play with them occasionally. The situations and descriptions in this story belong solely to me using characters borrowed from Flashpoint.
Sam sat on the double bed in an ugly beige nondescript hotel room staring at a photo of himself with his best friend Matt. Both men were dressed in desert fatigues and looked happy, arms around each other. Sam was the blond guy and Matt was the one with dark hair. They were about the same size. They'd met their first day in boot camp and became best buddies. At times like this-starting over in a new job in a new city-he missed his best friend. He wished he could share his first day in Toronto with his best bud.
His day had started very early, but his flight had been smooth, the weather sunny. He had arrived schedule and met the town car which should have taken him directly to Police Headquarters. Instead, he'd acted hastily and asked the driver to drop him off in the center of town when he heard the breaking news story on the radio about a police stand-off in the First York Plaza. He had arrived in time to witness the final moments when it had become necessary for a police sniper to take out the aggravated man holding a gun on a female hostage.
He should be trying to sleep, he thought to himself. The day had been a long one that had involved a flight from the Army base halfway across the country where he had been honourably discharged from JTF2. He had said good-bye to his parents and boarded a plane at the crack of dawn. A day that had him crossing a police barrier to speak to members of a SWAT team who did not even know he would soon be joining them. He studied the photo some more, gently rubbing his fingers across the paper. He looked up from the photo, his face relaxing as he recalled his meeting with the female sniper as she stowed her weapons in the back of the large black police SUV.
She had been outfitted in bullet proof vest and helmet with a huge backpack that looked like it would tip her over any minute. As she emerged from the skyscraper that had been her sniper perch for the hostage situation that had taken place in the plaza below, he had seen another officer, similarly attired, being escorted away from the scene.
The woman was petite, quite a few inches shorter than he. She had long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Even as he'd spoken with her, she continued with her loading of the police SUV. He'd tried to introduce himself thinking that she would know who he was. Apparently she didn't as she only offered a curt "Good for you" comment and turned back to her tasks in the back of the SUV. He smiled as he recalled the dumb-ass comment he'd made about lady snipers being sexy. Oh yeah, real smart there, Sam, but it was nothing compared to his next actions when he'd said he has a Colt and then had reached into his jacket pocket to remove a photo, only she'd thought he was bringing out his gun. It had taken her only nano-seconds to pull her gun and train it on him. Instantly her team mates had joined her in holding their guns on him. Only the arrival of the unit's Commander had saved him from the very real threat of a police bullet. He was escorted from the scene by the Commander after a verbal reprimand about where he should have reported to work. Obviously, a critical incident scene had not been where the Commander wanted to see him.
Back at Headquarters, Commander Holleran had mildly rebuked him for not reporting in first and for disturbing a scene. Later he had escorted the young blond to a retirement party being held in honour of an SRU veteran's retirement. The sign strung up behind the older man read Senile, Retired and Useless. It felt to Sam as though the useless part rather described him at the moment as he sat all alone in the hotel room. It was dreary and matched his mood. He hoped he wouldn't need the hotel room for long. Tomorrow he would learn more about his new job. He'd received mixed messages from the Team members as to whether or not he would be a welcome addition th teir unit.
The Commander had brought him to the table where the members of Team One were relaxing and enjoying the party. He was introduced all around, and one of the men was given the information that he'd been promoted to Sergeant and would be leaving the Team, creating a vacancy which Sam was to fill. Then Sam pulled up a chair in a space beside the sexy sniper and made another dumb comment about her name. "So, Jules, is that short for Julia?" She responded curtly, "No." Then she looked straight at him and questioned, " So elite counter terrorist ops guy leaves it all behind for the glamour of urban policing. What's up with that?"
Before he could answer her question, another team member had asked another question about al Qaeda and the conversation had taken off from there. After that point, she had ignored him. That hurt. He wasn't used to women ignoring him.
Placing the photo on the nightstand beside him, his thoughts lingered on the brunette. Even in full gear, she'd attracted his attention. After seeing her in civilian clothes at the retirement party, he couldn't get her out of his mind. She was intriguing and baffling. She was pretty and petite, much shorter than one would imagine an SRU officer to be. She obviously was not happy he'd be joining the team. He didn't understand why that would matter. The team was losing one guy and getting another. He was sure it happened all the time, so what was up with her? The last thing he'd expected to find today was a woman who intrigued the heck out of him at first sight, and at second sight. The more she acted coolly toward him, the more captivated he became by her. It wasn't often that he ran across a female sniper, and this one was particularly sexy. He hoped he would be able to break through her frosty attitude.
He looked forward to meeting her again in the morning and getting to know her. His mind relaxed at the thought of tangling with the sexy sniper chick again. He felt much better about this new job than he had the day before when his father had told him he'd arranged a job for him. The thought of his father arranging something for him didn't sit too well, but what could he do? There was no going back to the Army at this point. He was happy to be returning to Toronto and police work. He chafed at the idea that his father felt like he had to step him and help him.
Eventually he relaxed enough to fall asleep where visions of a beautiful brunette with golden brown eyes filled his dreams, not camouflage, dry sand and gunfire.