AN: This takes place during the first season, probably somewhere in the middle. There isn't a specific spot like in Sugar and Spice. Sam is still new to the team and trying to find his place. The team hasn't been very welcoming so far so he is struggling to make them see he is an asset, not an outsider. I do not own Flashpoint or any of it's characters, but do own my OC.

##### Downtown Toronto, Monday 0800 #####

He had to move fast. If he knew Braddock, and he does, he and his new team will be here any second. He grabbed his cane, and hobbled towards the rear exit of the flower shop. He'd done what he came to do. Instigate a situation that would require the SRU to handle it. He needed to see Braddock in action.

It'd been pretty easy. The shop owner was already pissed at his assistant. It was easy to see from the murderous looks he kept shooting the young man who was probably his son, they looked alike.

When he'd asked the kid to help him, he had made sure to be belligerent when the kid told him the prices of the flowers he was looking at. The owner had immediately come around the counter and tried to appease him.

Then the old man lit into the kid telling him that he was not respecting the customer and the customer was always right. A whisper of encouragement pushed the kid into turning into a full blown argument. He moved his gloved hand, grabbed some pruning shears and put them within reach of the kid.

When the father started admonishing the kid about choices he'd made in his life, the kid grabbed the shears and pointed them at the father's neck. That was his cue to back away and leave through the rear exit. First, he called 911 and used a voice synthesizer to change his voice to female.

He walked painfully to the back door and exited. He looked above him and walked to the front of the store. There are a couple good perches for Braddock to use. Most likely directly across the street. That'll give him the best view inside. He stepped back on the sidewalk and almost to the street. The next building down had a small structure on it. That'd be his best spot to watch the action.

Walking as fast as he could he crossed the street and walked to the building with the structure. He watched the SUVs come flying down the street, then ducked into the alley between the two buildings. He'd seen Braddock in the passenger seat and noted the way he whitened when Sam saw him. He loved that Braddock looked confused but knew this would only give him a short time to watch before he had to disappear.

Jules saw Sam stiffen in his seat and gave him a weird look. "What?" She asked, trying to follow his gaze.

Sam swallowed hard. No way. It couldn't be, could it? He looked out his side window and the familiar face had disappeared. He tried to find the face in the people on the street but it was gone.

"You see a ghost?" Jules asked incredulously. Man he's jumpy, she thought. She scrutinized his face trying to read him. It wasn't possible right now. He keeps things hidden, very well. Maybe too well. Teams and secrets, not a good combo. When he didn't answer she said, "Braddock. You awake?"

"Yeah. Sorry." He looked at her.

"Heads up here people." Ed barked. They all knew that was a response to Jules' comment and was aimed mostly at Sam. Ed was pretty hard on the rookie, hoping to whip him into shape.

Sam looked out the window. Why was Ed always so quick to jump on him? He had been in his head for a minute, but it was really less than that. Gotta cut that out, he thought. I can't let them think I don't have my head in the game.

When they stopped, they all piled out of the SUVs and headed to the back to grab their weapons. Spike parked the command truck and climbed in the back while Lew joined the others at the back of the SUVs.

"Spike, see if you can tap into any cameras and get us some eyes. Jules, you're my second. Ed?" Greg stood next to the door of his SUV where Jules joined him. Jules and Spike each answered with "copy that".

Ed stood at the back of the SUV he and Wordy had ridden in with Greg. He quickly assessed the area and saw that the building across the street would be the best sniper perch. "Sam. Looks like that building," he pointed to it, "is the best Sierra vantage point. You're Sierra One."

Sam nodded and said, "copy." Yep, that looks good, Sam thought. That or the one next to it. He kept that opinion to himself and headed to the building.

Ed saw Sam's eyes flick to the other building and became angry. Is he second guessing me? I'm the team lead, it's my call. "You got a better idea?" Ed called to him before he got far. Wordy and Lew had joined him behind his SUV.

Sam looked at Ed, his face blank. Now what? "No Sir." He said flatly.

Ed nodded and watched Sam run across the street. He looked at the other building. Nah, not as good as the first one, he thought. "Wordy, get the schematic for this place so we can find our entry options. Lew, work with the PD and talk to witnesses. Try to find the woman that called it in, she may have some insight into the situation."

They both answered with "copy" and moved to comply.

The man had made it to the top of the building and had already set up his own perch. He was inside the small structure on the top of the building. It was fairly rickety and some of the boards on the walls had been pulled off or fallen of. It was perfect as it gave him a hole to look through to the building next to him where he saw Braddock appear and set up his sniper rifle. And another hole in the front for him to see the street below and into the flower shop.

He had his parabolic mic out and heard the bald guy bark at Braddock. He also saw that Braddock took it without saying anything. Always such a good soldier, he thought. He saw the look on Braddock's face when he walked away though.

Even with the mask he knew the soldier wore so well, he could see that Braddock was sad and lonely. Guess this wasn't so good of an idea yet huh buddy? They aren't asking your opinion, just giving it to you. He looked at the other building and pointed the mic there, he heard Braddock say:

"I have the solution. The subject has a knife to the hostages throat, threat level red."

"Copy Sam."

"Boss, I have the schematic. Sending to your PDAs." Wordy said as he sent it. He remained with Ed knowing he'd be needed for entry.

"Thanks Wordy." Greg nodded.

"The owner of the shop is Wan and Windy Sing. He runs it with the help of his son, Lo Sing. We also got lucky and there's a CCTV camera across the street. I have video up." Spike said as he typed.

"Nice work Spike. Jules and I are on our way in. I'll need the number to the shop. We need to establish contact."

"Copy." Spike pulled up the info and waited for them to come in. He ran a background check on the family and had that info waiting when the Sarge and Jules entered the truck.

"Lew, any luck with witnesses?" Greg asked taking a seat in the chair next to Spike. Jules took the other chair next to Greg.

Lew was standing with a few people by the plastic police tape. "None of the people here said they called it in, but a neighbor says the father and son have been arguing a lot lately about the son going to college. Seems the dad would rather he get a job. The son wants to go to college first."

"Family obligations. Good work Lew. Anything else? Do they know if they own any guns?" Greg nodded.

Lew asked and then relayed the information. "The neighbor says no. She says they were a very nice, quiet family until recently. Sounds like the mother took a bad spill down the stairs from their apartment above the store to the store. She hasn't been able to work in the factory with the neighbor until her broken hip heals. She may lose her job if she can't go back soon." Lew felt a pang of sympathy for them. It was a tough situation.

"Ok thanks. Sounds like they have some major stressors here. We'll have to find out how it got escalated today."

"I looked back in their record," Spike read the info off the computer screen, "they immigrated here from China about three years ago. Mrs. Sing started working in the factory shortly after. They had some money saved before they came here and Mr. Sing used it to start the flower shop.

They do ok, but the economy hasn't completely recovered yet so it's been pretty slow. Plus internet sales are killing a lot of small shops. The past couple months they haven't been able to pay all of their rent. They own the landlord $2000 in back rent.

He's filed in court to have them evicted from the building totally." Spike shook his head. How could the landlord do that? He understood the need for rent, but sometimes people just needed a break.

"Eddie, make a plan for entry if we have to, but we're going to try to talk this one out." Greg picked up the phone and started talking to the son.

On top of the building, Sam watched the son talking animatedly to the Sarge. He was pacing back and forth and waving the knife in the air, but not at his dad. He relayed this information to Greg.

Greg stepped out of the truck and walked towards the big window at the front of the shop still talking to the son. Things were going well.

On top of the second building, he took out his binoculars and kept the parabolic trained on Braddock. If he listened closely he could hear what the Sarge was saying. Sounds like he knows what he's talking about, he thought. He leaned forward with the binoculars at his eyes, not realizing the sun glinted off the lenses.

Sam caught the flash out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to look at the building next to his. He squinted and tried to look inside the structure but it was too far. He turned his scope to the building.

"Fuck." He pulled back, dropped the binoculars and laid down inside the building. The hole was about three feet from the bottom of the structure so it was plenty of cover for him especially if he lay flat like he was.

Was that movement inside the building? Who would be watching and why would they be hiding in there? Someone yelling his name made him turn the rifle back to the flower shop. Christ. He'd only turned away for a minute, maybe less.

"Braddock! Status! We lost our video feed! Do you still have eyes on the subject?" Ed was yelling and looking up at the building. Dammit! Was he sleeping up there?

"No harm." Sam said automatically. He looked through his scope. "The knife is down, but the father looks like he's going to make a move. He's behind the counter, hands not visible."

Ed motioned for Wordy and Lew to follow him to the building built directly next to the flower shop. It was the closest to the window where they could make explosive entry. They made their way there and readied their equipment as Greg worked to get the kid to put down the knife. Ed could see into the shop, but did not have a good view of the father behind the counter.

"Sam?"

"Still no view- father has a gun! Go!" Sam yelled as the father pulled the gun from under the counter.

Suddenly the window shattered, causing the son to drop the knife. It scared the father so much that he fired a shot without realizing he did it and dropped the gun. Everyone ducked but it was too late.

Wordy lay on the floor motionless as Lew cuffed the kid and Ed cuffed the father. Greg and Jules had quickly followed behind them and were bent over Wordy trying to access his injuries.

"Status?" Ed asked, almost too afraid to know.

Wordy opened his eyes and gasped. "Oooooh."

"Wordy. Where are you hit?" Jules was trying to undo his vest and find where he was hit.

"In the vest. I'm ok. Just give me a sec." Wordy felt around his vest and found the bullet in his upper chest. He put his head back and tried to breathe. Damn those hurt, he thought.

"Stay still. We'll have EMS check you out." Greg sighed in relief. Holy shit that could've been worse.

Spike let his breath go when he heard Wordy respond. He walked out of the van and waited for them to come out.

Sam watched through his scope until he saw Wordy open his eyes. Relieved that he was ok, Sam packed up his rifle. He looked at the building on the next rooftop and shook his head.

Maybe I'm starting to see things, he thought. Although seeing that face and then the glint from the building seemed too coincidental. He shook his head and made his way to the street. Pretty sure Ed's going to ream me for that thirty second lapse, he thought angrily. Screwed up again. Why do I keep doing that?

"I'll walk out, just help me up." Wordy put his hand out. Greg grabbed it and gently helped Wordy to his feet.

When Wordy took a ragged breath from the exertion, Greg looked at him. "You sure?"

Wordy nodded and they made their way out to the ambulance.

Ed and Lew had already taken the subjects out and put them in police cars. They walked to Spike and gave him reassuring smiles. "Guess we know who's buying tonight." Spike smiled back.

"Yup." Lew put a hand on his shoulder and tapped it.

"Damn." Wordy said before he took out his earpiece and climbed in the back of the ambulance.

Ed smiled at him as he sat on the bench next to the gurney. I don't know what happened to Sam, he thought angrily, but I'm going to find out. That'll wait for now. Wordy first.

Once Wordy was cleared, he would be sore but nothing was broken, they headed back to debrief.

Sam climbed into the back of the SUV with Wordy, Lew and Jules. He was silent on the way back except when he told Wordy he was glad he was ok. It was the truth. Wordy seemed like a nice guy.

Ed and Greg rode together while Spike took the truck back.

Jules looked back at the rookie. Was he brooding, she wondered. She knew Ed wouldn't be happy about his apparent lapse in coverage. What was he thinking? What was he doing? She tried to read him again but there was nothing there. This should be an interesting debrief. She shared a look with Lew. Buckle up, they both thought.