A man walked into the SRU, wearing full fatigues. Team One was just coming back from a hot call where a young man had taken a gun to his school going after a few boys who had tormented him since a young age. Today, the boys had gone too far by forcing Billy – the subject – to admit, falsely, that he was gay on a live feed. In the end, the hot call had been successful and there weren't any fatal casualties, but a rogue cop, a father of a boy who had been threatened, that he had presumed had been killed shot Billy in the stomach. But he was going to be okay.
They walked in through the doors and were met by two military men, one they recognized,
"Corporal Brown…" Greg asked, "Is everything alright?"
The corporal looked down at his feet, sorrow written all over his face.
"Braddock." He looked up at Sam.
"Yes sir?" Sam asked, confusion shown in his eyes.
"We need to talk, it's…urgent."
The team watched as Sam's eyes searched the corporal's face before meeting his eyes, something seemed to pass between the two, and Sam paled.
"Uhm, yeah…yes sir." He was obviously flustered, which sent red flags up throughout the team.
"Do you all have a room we can talk in?"
"Uhm, we can check with Kylie, see if the briefing room's open…" Jules said skeptically.
The team watched as Sam followed Corporal Brown into the room, "I want eyes in…" Sarge said to Kylie, and she nodded,
"Should we do that, Boss?" Ed asked,
"Something's off, and I think we need to know what it is." Sarge replied.
The team gathered around Kylie's computer, they didn't have audio, but they didn't need it to know something was wrong.
Sam and Corporal Brown didn't sit, they just stood there for a moment, and Corporal Brown looked to his feet and spoke, his posture showed he was remorseful.
They watched Sam's face carefully, and saw his eyes widen and he took a few steps back, and practically fell into a chair. He ran his hands over his face and, looked like he was going to be sick. Corporal stepped forward, and put a hand on his shoulder, and they saw him mouth,
"I'm sorry."
Sam shook his head, and covered his pain, going stone faced, the same way many military vets, tended to, Jules's heart gave a small lurch as she watched him force it all back. The corporal nodded, and clapped Sam on the shoulder, before opening the briefing room doors.
The team backed away from the computers, and cleared the feed.
"Is everything alright, Corporal?" Ed asked, walking forward, the team at his heels.
Corporal Brown gave him a look, "You were watching, I know, he's your teammate."
Ed nodded, "What happened, we didn't have ears." Wordy asked.
Corporal Brown sighed, "I can't release that information to you, I'm sorry. You'll have to have him tell you."
Jules nodded and looked towards the briefing room, "We'll get it out of him."
They watched as the corporal and his partner left the building,
"How should we go about this, Boss?" Spike asked quietly, "Should just you go in first?"
"No, I think we all need to be there for him right now, something big has happened and he needs to know we are all here for him, we all know though that he's going to say-"
"I'm good." Ed finished, shaking his head.
"Right." Sarge said, and that was the last thing they said as they walked into the briefing room. Sam was sitting in one of the chairs, his elbows on the table, running his hands over his face. When he heard the team come in he looked up and swiped his face of any emotion, but he couldn't hide his pale complexion and agonized eyes.
"Sam what is it?" Jules asked gently, looking into his tormented eyes.
"Nothing, I'm g-"
"Do not tell us you're good." Ed said. "We know something's up."
Sam nodded, putting the pieces together,
Sarge put a hand on Sam's shoulder, "Sam..."
Sam looked up and met the eyes of each of his team members.
"We're here Sam, whatever this is, you're not in it alone." Wordy said.
Sam seemed shock to actually have people that cared about him, Sam seemed to have a war within himself, then he spat out emotionlessly,
"My father is dead." The team was frozen, as Sam finished, "He died in the field."
Sarge gave Sam's shoulder a light squeeze, "I can't say I understand, Sam, but I know how much it hurts to lose someone you're close to, especially a father-"
Sam wiped a tear that had escaped his eye, and cut off Sarge, "He was never a father to me, we were never close. I was simply a disgrace to him. He died looking down on me."
The team was completely caught off guard as Sam stood, and walked out of the briefing room, and into the locker room,
"I've got it." Jules said quietly, tears were in her eyes, nearly unnoticeable. Ed put a hand on her shoulder,
"Jules…" He warned gently.
"I know. Trust me on this. I can get through to him." She looked down, realizing that she was saying what she would if she were talking about a subject, Sam was much more than that. Much more,
"He needs us right now, and I think he'll let me in, we can't just…let it go."
They knew she was right, Ed knew she was right, he nodded, and let her go.
She walked into the locker room, Sam was leaning against his locker ,
"I had a feeling it would be you that came in." He said quietly, his voice laced with distress, but he hid it well,
"Jules, I'm good, or I will be. We weren't . It doesn't matter."
She stepped closer to him, so she stood right in front of him,
"I am so close to slapping you right now." She said sternly. He stared at her.
"Do not brush this off Sam," He looked away and she slapped his chest, forcing him to look back at her,
"This. Matters. How you feel matters. This team… We're your family whether you like it or not."
"She's right you know." Ed said, walking in the rest of the team in tow, they must have been listening. He stared at each and every one of them once more, and slipped to the ground, and tears slipped out of his eyes,
"He's dead, I can't believe he's gone. I disappointed him, I disappointed him." He chanted to himself, tears running down his cheeks now, as he broke right in front of them.
Jules knelt in front of him again, only this time she did slap him, right across his cheek. It wasn't hard enough to bruise, but it did get his attention.
"Sam. Are you happy here? Are you happy here, working with Team One, with the SRU?"
He swallowed and nodded, remorsefully, his cheek turning red.
"Your father might have wanted you in the military, but somewhere in his heart, he was happy that you were happy, and that's all that matters. Look at the bright side too. You're happy. And you have us." She gestured to the team,
"I've never had people care about me like this, before…it's…weird."
Sarge chuckled, "Get used to it, buddy, this is how this team works."
"No man left behind." Wordy said, and Spike nodded.
"By the way," Spike added, "You might wanna put some ice on your face."
Sam couldn't help the rueful smile that crept to his face. "Probably."
***