Rant


Disclaimer: Sam Braddock is a property of mine!! Tee hee :)

:: I spent two days watching Flashpoint marathon and watching You Think You Know Someone inspired this one-shot. I've said this before and I'll say it again: I miss Flashpoint, I really do, and I miss seeing some Sam x Jules actions. Well, if they're not going to give it to me, I'm going to write them myself.

--

After saying goodbye to Leah, Jules walked out of the locker room, taking a few moments to stare at the new sign they had put up. Although she had been sharing the room with Leah for a while now, knowing that it wasn't hers anymore still felt a bit weird. Stop it, Jules, she scolded herself before she got caught in some bittersweet memories she shouldn't be having right now. Sighing, she slung her bag over her shoulder and walked away.

Some of the guys were going to the bar later on tonight. It was an attempt to relax, unwind and chalk today off as one of those crazy things the cool pants couldn't escape. They surely could use a nice, cold bottle of beer. One or probably ten bottles of them.

Not really in a celebration mood, she had politely declined. 'I have a migraine. Don't think it would be wise for me to even get a bit tipsy today', had been her excuse. It wasn't a total lie. She did have a mild headache, and she wasn't really in the mood to get a bit tipsy. She aimed to go all the way-- three sheets to the wind. It was number one on her must-to-do list this evening.

When she walked up the stairs, she couldn't say that she was all that surprised to find him. Sam was leaning against the wall, one hand holding his duffel bag while the other tapping his jeans clad leg impatiently. A wave of deja-vu coursed through her. Once upon a time, it was –she- who had been waiting for –him-, standing on the exact same spot he was standing right now. Sam had had a pretty sucky fifth day, courtesy of their dearest team leader, and she had finally taken up his offer to grab some snack that she had previously politely turned down. It had amazed her how a simple act could seem to lighten him up considerably.

"Hey," Sam stood up a bit straighter when she came into view. His hair was still damp from shower and he smelled faintly of cologne.

"What are you doing here?" Jules asked pointedly. If his intention was like hers had been, he really could save it to himself.

"It's been a long day. Burritos and a couple can of beers sound very tempting," Sam chose his words with care. "Interested?"

"Sam…," He had caught her off guard once again. It had taken him less than one week to ask her 'out' and now, after they hadn't been friends in the loosest term of the word for a few months, he was suddenly here.

"Come on, dinner's an important meal of the day," Sam was grinning. Either because he was in a good mood, which she doubted, or because he knew he was unmistakably reenacting one particular scene that had happened before.

"I've always thought that breakfast is the most important meal of the day," She teased lightly.

"Normally, but according to 1001 Sam Braddock's Guides of Life we're allowed to make some exceptions," Sam answered with a waggle of his eyebrows and he looked so silly that she couldn't help the faintest smile from forming on her face.

"Aren't you going with the guys?"

"We've done enough male bonding to last a decade. Missing one evening is probably healthy for me," Sam returned as swiftly as he normally sniped.

"Oh yeah, Mr. Lane is going to love to hear that," Jules jibed and as the humor began to wear thin, her smile slowly faltered. "I don't know Sam, I appreciate your offer, but maybe some other time? I could use some me-time tonight,"

"Come on, Jules, for old time's sake?" Sam prompted, taking one step closer. His deep blue eyes bored into her eyes, creating an almost hypnotic effect. "What'd you say?"

Her teeth automatically began to worry her lips as she gave the invitation a consideration. Old time's sake… the time when everything had been alright between them. When they would've sneaked back together to her house and watched some TV show reruns while eating Chinese take-out. When he would've helped her priming her drywall. When she hadn't broken his heart and stomped over it like some heartless bitch. Is that what you mean, Sam?

Having not eaten anything all afternoon, her stomach cheered at the idea of dinner. "For old time's sake," Jules finally agreed.

"Lead the way,"

--

It was then when they were sitting in the back of her jeep that Jules was hit by another nostalgic moment. They used to spend countless evenings just simply sitting there on her small jeep, talking and bantering about anything or discussing about the day's mission. It felt like that had happened in another dimension a thousand years ago. It was kind of sad to know that one way or another, they had drifted apart.

"Today was quite a day, huh?" Sam began to speak while struggling to keep his burrito from dripping sauce onto his shirt.

Cocking an eyebrow, Jules looked at him for a moment before releasing a hearty laugh.

"Did I say something funny?"

Still smiling, Jules took a sip of her warm beer, satisfied. "I thought you would probably ask me about the weather or even how my folks were doing, but nope, still the same Sam I remembered. Straight to the point,"

"Yeah, stalling isn't exactly my thing,"

"I guess I was a bit out of line back there," Jules said, deciding to follow his lead instead of beating around the bush. Her hand pushed her hair behind her ear as a trademark nervous habit.

"Not that you regretted it, though," Sam pointed out, the corner of his lips stretching into a teasing grin. "You didn't,"

She flashed him a tight smile. "I meant what I said,"

"You and Sarge are close. He's like a second father to you. I think we could understand where you were coming from,"

After losing contact with her father for almost six years, Sarge was the closest person in her life she had as a father figure. And she had been very close to lose him today. "Sarge is a complete opposite of my father. They're like water and fire, heaven and earth, north and south… I could never get along with him. My dad, I mean. I guess you can understand now why I overreacted a bit," When Sam fixed her a look, she half-heartedly amended. "Okay, I –did- overreact. Happy?"

Her blond teammember smirked that patented smug smile she didn't realized she had missed. While Colonel Braddock wouldn't be winning the Best Father of the Year title anytime soon, Sam still saw him every once in a while. Or once every four months. It was a tender topic nobody, even her, had ever fully approached, but she knew that in spite of the frosted father & son relationship, Sam held so much respect for his old man.

"It's just… it was quite a scare this morning when Sarge suddenly disappeared. Then we were able to locate him and it was good, but bam! It was so-, I'm just-, who did he think he was?" Jules took an intake breath, finding once she'd started she was unable to stop. Her cheeks flushed crimson not only because of the evening breeze but also from the anger that had been building all day. "Okay, so he's the boss, that didn't mean he could do –anything- he wanted. Going around on his own, thinking he was some kind of a bulletproof and invincible superhero? He could have got himself killed, Sam. Gosh, what the hell he was thinking?"

Sam gently extricated the can of beer from her trembling hand before she spilled it all over herself. "Take a deep breath, Jules,"

"Shut up, Braddock," She snapped, blinking back hot tears of anger that threatening to spill. Didn't Sarge know that Haley wasn't the only one that needed him? He had been a rock to everybody, to her. She didn't even want to remember how there had been a short moment of envy, knowing what he had been willing to risk to protect that girl… Shame on you, Julianna!

"You've known him longer than I do," Sam's husky voice intruded on her train of thoughts. "I'm sure you know what kind of man he is. It's not a matter of who needs his help, it's just who he is,"

Hearing his words, her mouth opened and closed without uttering anything. Their gazes met and Sam gave her hand an assuring squeeze; one that told her that he understood and that he wasn't there to judge. Before she so indelicately dumped him, he had gotten better in reading her. She hadn't been comfortable with it then as she'd viewed it as a violation of her privacy, and she wasn't about to start now. Still, his understanding and companionship were… relieving.

"I didn't want to lose another teammate," Jules looked down and took a bite of her burrito, embarrassed for having left her guards down, her face clouding at another mention of another not-so-happy-memory. That day was still fresh in mind. It still felt so unreal and sometimes she'd wake up in the morning and think everything had been nothing but a nightmare. "After what happened with Lew, I didn't know what I would have done if today didn't work out the way it did,"

His hand once again sought hers, giving it a slight pull to make her look at him in the eye. "Jules, you know as well as I do the consequences of our job. We save people, even though it means putting our lives on the line. We just have to try our hardest to get the bad guys and go home in one piece. Today ended up well. Could've easily been worse. Maybe it wasn't how Kevin had planned out, Haley is going to have some nightmares and Sarge will have to deal with nasty headaches for a while, but we all got to go home today,"

"And once again SRU saved the day," Jules concluded in a whisper.

"You betcha," Sam raised his can of beer and clinked it with Jules'. "Compared to some people, we're blessed with having a really thrilling, interesting, adrenaline pumping job-,"

"That could get us killed without asking permission," Jules smoothly chimed in, not entirely joking.

"What's life without some risks?" Sam wasn't ready to stop being Mr. Optimistic soon and that's probably what she needed tonight.

"Touché,"

Jules leaned her head against the headrest, staring at the sky as the first star began to twinkle. "Thanks, Sam. I think I did need someone to talk to tonight," She confessed. It did feel better now; not completely alright, but better. Perhaps she would save the Coronas in her fridge for another day and make herself a nice hot chocolate instead. "And I kinda missed this. You know, you, me, talking. -Really- talking and not some 'morning, Jules', 'later Jules', 'up to you Jules'… that kind of stuff,"

"I kinda missed this too," Sam crumpled his wrapper and stuffed them inside the 7-Eleven plastic bag before mimicking her position. Coldplay blasted from the radio a song about someone climbing a ladder up the sun and it took all of her might not to scoot closer to Sam and rest her head on his shoulder, letting his presence lull her to sleep just like she had done many times before.

Jules realized that she had been hard on him lately. When the landmine exploded and killed Lew in a blink of an eye, Sam had walked away. He'd left the scene, missed debrief and gone MIA until the next morning. She had been so disappointed and honestly hadn't made many efforts to hide it from him. Not until recently had she realized that it had been his way of mourning. Sam hadn't been around Lew as long as the others had but their friendship had been real. She hadn't been fair to him.

"We haven't really been partnered for a while," Jules said after a lingering comfortable silence. "I'd stay in the truck with Spike and you'd be Team Bravo with Leah. At least she let you drive this time. You must like that a lot, huh?"

Unable to control his action, Sam burst out laughing, clearly amused at the sudden turn of event. "Constable Callaghan, you're not jealous, aren't you?"

Jules rolled her eyes and poked his chest. "Remind me, who dumped who again?"

He grimaced and clutched his chest as though in pain. "Ouch. That was not nice, Jules, not nice,"

"You asked for it," Jules retorted back, mentally beating herself up for bringing up a topic that should have been left alone. Sam was one of a very few people who could actually make her stick her foot in her mouth.

Sam's laughter had reduced to intermittent chuckles but it didn't look like he was going to let it slip. It wasn't everyday that he was able to outfox his ex-girlfriend. "It was actually pretty cool. I never complained, didn't I? It gave me time to ogle my sexy sniper chick,"

Jules' eyes were narrowed to menacing slits. "Don't push it, Sam,"

Sam shrugged before emptying his beer in one last big gulp. "Just saying," He opened up a new one and handed it to Jules before serving himself. When he spoke again, he didn't look at her and his words were deeply laced with old guilt and regret. "But it was nice. That way I knew where you were. I liked knowing that you're okay,"

She was ready to protest that she wasn't a damsel in distress that acquired attention 24/7, then stopped herself short. Sam had punished himself big time after the incident with Petar, which hadn't even been his fault. Her face relaxed visibly. "Getting shot once in a lifetime is enough, you know. Won't happen again,"

"From your mouth to God's ear," Sam nodded before sipping his beer.

Jules sighed. For a day that had started out rough, it was turning to a pretty happy ending.

--

:)