I don't know where this idea came from, but I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot line. The wonderful characters and concept of Flashpoint do not belong to me.
The team trudged into headquarters wearily. It had been a tough call, a tough day and a tough week. Their latest assignment had consisted of talking down a man who thought there was no good left in the world and decided to take himself, his wife and three small children into the afterlife so they could be better off. In the end, Wordy had taken the man down with a less lethal option. The whole situation had caused the team to end up working three extra hours of overtime. They were beyond ready to go home.
Ed was more exhausted than normal. Izzy hadn't been feeling well lately and both he and Sophie had been up with her for the last few nights. So he had been up almost all night, plus his now twelve hour shift. He was ready to head home. He was extremely glad that Greg had suggested debriefing in the morning. He didn't have the energy to talk or even change clothes at headquarters. He opted to stay in his uniform and just change at home. He sat down in the briefing room to wait for Wordy to change. He was grateful they had carpooled today. He didn't trust himself to drive home. He folded his arms on the table and rested his head on them. He sure wished Wordy would hurry.
Spike was the first one that was ready to go. He had to wait for Jules. He was giving her a ride home because she had lent her Jeep to Natalie who needed it to get around to various job interviews. Since Jules was helping Natalie, Spike was more than happy to help Jules. If Natalie got a job here, she wouldn't have to leave. As he stepped out of the locker room he spied Ed in the briefing room. He went into chat with the man until Wordy or Jules emerged. As he got closer, he realized that Ed was sound asleep and snoring loudly. Spike stifled a laugh. After hearing a noise, he looked up and saw Jules coming out of her locker room. He quickly motioned for her to be quiet and come over.
Jules looked around confusedly. "What's the matter Spike?" she whispered as she approached.
Spike grinned "Our fearless leader is snoring like a bear and sleeping like a baby. I bet he'd sleep through anything!" Spike whispered back suggestively wiggling his eyebrows.
"Uh, no thanks Spike. I don't know what you're thinking, but don't. You will regret it I'm sure."
"What's a little obstacle course compared to the fun this could be?" Spike murmured quietly. He quickly reached in his bag and pulled out a black Sharpie.
"Um… Spike, what are you doing?" Jules muttered exasperatedly.
"Just making his plain bald head a little more appealing." He said nonchalantly, as he grinned wickedly.
Spike tested Ed's reflexes by placing a single black dot on the top of his head. To his surprise and happiness, Ed didn't even flinch. Slowly Spike drew lines emanating from the middle of his bald head to the outer edges of his skull. After a few seconds, Ed looked like he had a head full of black stringy hair. Spike could hardly contain his laughter. Slyly he looked up at Jules who looked beyond mortified. He reached out and offered her the marker.
"Your turn my lady!" Spike chided.
"What? Are you crazy?" She retorted.
But Spike persisted and Jules caved. She poked Ed a couple of times to see if he'd wake up. 'Man, he must be awfully tired.' She thought. She took the marker and slowly added zigzagged, bushy eyebrows to Ed's new look. Then before she could stop herself, she added a handle bar mustache too. Before she could do anymore damage, she threw the marker back to Spike.
"There! Happy now?" She questioned.
"Almost…" he said with a grin. He quickly grabbed his phone and snapped a picture. "Now, let's get the hell out of here before he wakes up or anybody sees us!"
Jules and Spike took off like wild maniacs running down the halls, slamming the hall doors behind them.
As they climbed into Spike's truck, Jules turned to him. "You know he'll find out it was us. There's video surveillance. Plus process of elimination. The rest of the team is there, and we aren't. Hmmm…. No, we don't look guilty at all." She said sarcastically.
The slamming doors roused Ed from his slumber. It took him a moment to realize where he was. He rubbed his face in frustration. Where was Wordy? Sighing he got up and headed toward the locker rooms.
Just before he could push the door open, Sam, Greg and Wordy all exited the locker room. All three men stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the man before them. Ed looked like a picture from a book kids would draw silly faces on. The kind where you drew warts and blacked out teeth.
"Hey guys! Took you long enough. I was beginning to think you fell asleep standing up!" Ed joked. But then he noticed their shocked expressions. "What? What's wrong?"
"Oh! Um… nothing!" Greg recovered first. "What were you doing?" he asked confoundedly.
"Just waiting for Wordy so we could leave. You guys took so long, I fell asleep!"
"Clearly." Sam chortled.
"What's that supposed to mean Braddock?" Ed snarled.
"Nothing man…uh…I…um…I just know that you were tired, so falling asleep seems reasonable?" Sam fumbled.
"Um Ed? Let's go. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be an exhausting day as well." Wordy smiled as he patted Ed on the back and all four men headed out to their vehicles.
As Wordy had predicted, the next day was miserable. Not due to tough calls or overtime. No bombs, or suicide attempts. No shots fired, or officers down. No it was miserable because the whole team was running the obstacle course, with the exception of Greg who claimed he was the boss and had paperwork to do, and Ed who was running the drills. They had run the course numerous times, with and without full gear. They had done it as teams of two, and alone. They had done it relay style. And currently, as Ed had mandated, they were doing it backwards, from end to start.
"Boss this isn't fair! Wordy and I didn't do anything!" Sam complained as he and Wordy stopped for a breather.
"Nothing? Nothing you say? You neglected to tell me I had been reduced to a cartoon. You let me go home like that to a wife you who laughed her ass off at me for almost an hour before she fell asleep with tears in her eyes. Laughter that continued this morning all through breakfast, from both of my kids and my wife. Clark somehow got a picture of it when I wasn't looking and sent it to all his friends."
Wordy and Sam swallowed their smiles kept going.
"As for you two," He smirked at Jules and Spike as they trudged by, "obviously you don't have enough to keep yourselves out of mischief. So I've taken the liberty of telling the other teams that you will do restock and inventory checks for the next month." Ed smirked as he adjusted his never-before used SRU cap that now covered his still bedazzled head and brows. He had scrubbed his upper lip raw, but had gotten the mustache off. His eyebrows and head were another matter. While some of it had come off, it had turned a faded gray color.
"Yeah… Spike, somehow I don't think it was worth it!" Jules growled as she ran next to him on the tire field. "Don't you think… that if all the video cameras on the SRU floor miraculously stopped working for the ten minutes Ed's head was decorated, he'd figure out it was you?... Seriously, you're supposed to be smart!" she huffed as she ran ahead of him.
Spike caught up to her. "Think I should tell him I sent the picture to Clark?" Spike grinned at Jules as they climbed over the wall.
