"Sam!" Sam turned to see who called him and was surprised to see Red, Shift and Rocky standing next to Winnie's desk.
Sam walked up and smiled apologetically to the SRU dispatcher before turning to the three men, "What are you guys doing here?"
Red broke into a huge smile, "Well, I may have done a little computer magic and put us 'on loan' to the SRU for a day." Red's smile grew impossibly large as he put finger quotes around the words 'on loan'.
Sam was torn between laughing at his friends antics and groaning in exasperation, "Red, seriously?" Sam turned to the other two men, pointing an accusing finger, "And you two, you should know better than to encourage him."
Shift threw an arm over Sam's shoulder, "Come on man, it's just a day, and we did tell Ratchet about it." Sam raised his eyebrow questioningly and waited for him to continue, "Ok so maybe he was drunk when we told him…last night. And it means nothing that he is currently recovering from the hangover from hell."
Sam shook his head silently, doing his best to hold back laughter, "Tell you what, if Sarge and Ed have no problems with it, I see no reason why you can't do a ride along. I'll be back to let you know." Sam turned and left, but not before shooting Winnie a look that said 'can you believe these guys'. He caught her amused smirk as he walked towards the locker room where he had left Greg and Ed moments before.
"Hey Sarge, Ed, you got a minute?" Sam called out as he entered the room.
Greg's head looked out from around a group of lockers, "Yeah what's up Sam?"
Sam waited for a grunt of affirmation from Ed before he started, "Red and Shift showed up with one of the other guys. Red somehow got them all loaned to us for the day." Sam shrugged at Greg's raised eyebrow, "I know, but seeing as officially they are SRU for a day, is it ok if they ride along on patrol?"
Greg turned to Ed and Sam watched as the two had a silent conversation before Greg finally turned back to Sam, "It's fine with us, but they do not get involved in negotiations and they only get guns if absolutely necessary." Sam nodded saying a quick thank you before ducking out of the room.
Sam walked back up to his friends, "They said it's alright but you guys can't interfere with any negotiations and no guns unless Ed thinks the situation demands it."
Red was immediately all smiles, "Awesome, we get to see Rambo in action!" Sam laughed and showed them to the locker room, where they could grab some basic gear in case they needed it. Sam watched as Red and Shift explored everything from the collection of bullet proof vests to the sniper rifles on the far rack.
Sam watched them for a moment, amused, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Rocky. Rocky smiled, "You doing alright kid?" Sam smiled and nodded softly before feeling himself drawn into a crushing hug. "Sorry about dropping in on you like this. I finally got back and I guess those guys wanted to surprise you. I haven't seen you since you three where discharged from the hospital, although you did call more than enough."
Sam slipped out of the hug and looked at the older man, "Well I couldn't just stop contact with you." Rocky smiled knowing Sam thought of him as a brother just as he thought of Sam the same way. Sam placed a hand on his back and steered him toward the gear, "Come on, and let's get you guys suited up so we can get out on patrol." Sam helped them find some basic body armor and led them to the conference room. Sam motioned for them to take a seat while he stood in the back against the wall so as to have a good view of the room.
Jules shot him a questioning look when she entered and saw their guests, two of whom she recognized as Sam's friends. Sam returned her look with one that said 'I'll explain later'. The rest of Team One slowly trickled into the meeting room, Spike and Wordy shooting confused glances at Sam and their guests.
When everyone was finally there, Greg addressed the group, "I know you guys have noticed our guests, they are going to be participating in a ride along of sorts. They may get involved if a call gets particularly bad but otherwise they won't interfere. I think we all know Andrew and Christopher." Greg pointed to Red and Shift.
Rocky straightened up, "And I'm Rocky, nice to meet everyone."
Greg allowed a moment for everyone to introduce themselves before assigning cars, "Spike and Jules, you will be chauffeuring Christopher. Wordy and I will have the lovely Mr. Andrew, and Ed, Rocky will be riding with you and Sam. Now let's get out there and keep the peace." Everyone split up to their respective cars with only minor grumblings from Spike and Red for ending up in separate cars, although Jules was pretty happy she wasn't stuck with the both of them.
Soon, they were out patrolling and waiting for a hot call to come in.
It didn't take long for Spike and Red to figure out that while they weren't in the same car, they could communicate over the radio, much to the chagrin of everyone else on the line.
Eventually, Sam, Ed and Rocky turned the volume down on their headsets and began their own conversation, which was mainly hockey related.
After almost an hour of uneventful patrolling, Winnie's voice came over the coms, "Team One, hot call. We have an active shooter in a residential area. Reports of gunshots and one caller identified herself as a hostage before the line went dead, possible multiple hostage situation." Ed turned on the sirens, "Time to keep the peace."
x.X. Flashpoint .X.x
A/N- so here is the start of my newest story, its set a few months after Long Road Ahead. Reminder: Andrew is Red and Christopher is Shift, don't let the names confuse you; Greg is the only one that really calls them that though. I'm just glad I get to write Rocky again. Enjoy!