A mother/daughter conversation between Jules and Sadie when Sadie is seventeen years old, so this story is set approximately seventeen years after the end of the series.

Disclaimer: I write for my pleasure and your enjoyment. The characters are not mine; they were created by the producers of Flashpoint and apparently a half dozen other entities affiliated with the production of the TV series. They belong to those people. I just take them out and play with them occasionally. The situations and descriptions in this story belong solely to me using characters borrowed from Flashpoint.


"Mom, I can do the math. I know you were pregnant with me when you and Dad got married." Sadie entered the kitchen where Jules was washing up after dinner.

Jules immediately stopped what she was doing and turned toward her seventeen year old daughter, who stood a couple of inches taller than she. Sadie shared her mother's rich brown hair but had her father's blue eyes. "That's right. We've always been honest about the dates."

Sadie had a contemplative worried expression on her face, her blue eyes troubled. "So I'm the reason you married?"

Jules dried her hands and then guided her daughter over to sit down beside her on the couch in the family room. "No, you are not the reason we got married, but I do admit that your impending arrival determined WHEN we got married, but not that we had to get married." Jules stared directly into her daughter's eyes while holding her hands. "We always knew we'd get married someday. We enjoyed working together on the same SRU Team too much. If we had gotten married sooner, we would have been placed on separate teams. That would have meant no more working together, no more watching each other's backs, very little free time together."

Sadie was a teenager who usually spoke her mind, so her next comments didn't surprise her mother at all. "But you had sex before you got married. And you preach to me about not doing that," Sadie challenged her mother.

"Sadie, there's a big difference between 17 and 37. A whole lifetime, longer than you've been alive. I think you are smart enough to see the difference." Jules continued her steady eye contact with her daughter.

"Yeah, I guess so," Sadie agreed reluctantly. "But I don't want to wait until I'm 30-something!"

Jules laughed. "No one is asking you to. We just ask that you wait a few more years. Get some more life experience before you do something you can never take back. Although waiting until you are 30-something would probably make your father very happy."

Sadie locked her eyes on her mom's and both laughed in agreement.

"I have question for you," Jules looked at her daughter, "Do you think your Dad and I love each other?"

Sadie nodded, "Very much. I've never doubted that."

"Good. It's that love that created you and your brother as well as kept us together all these years. We have always loved each other. Marriage was always our destination. You, my child, were always a fiercely wanted baby. Sometimes surprises are the most wonderful thing in the world. When we learned you were on the way, no other ideas ever crossed our minds. Don't ever forget that. You should have seen the way your father worried about us when we had to go out on hot calls. You know how much he still worries about all of us."

Sadie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sometimes it's too much."

"I've spent 20 years trying to rein in his protective streak. It isn't happening. Just go with it," Jules advised her daughter.

"Thanks, Mom," Sadie said. "So how do you know for sure when you find 'the one'?"

"The best reason I've heard about choosing who to marry is that you don't marry the person you think you can live with; you marry the person you can't live without. That's your Dad and me. Once we figured out we couldn't live without each other, we worked to make everything work out so we could live together."

"I can't live without your mother, Sadie," Sam spoke up from behind them.

A startled Sadie twisted around to face her father, "How long have you been there?" She demanded.

"Oh, I think I heard most of the conversation," Sam replied with a loving smile on his face. "Your mom is correct: the only reason we had to get married was because we loved each other so much." He walked around the sofa, grabbed Sadie's hands and gently pulled her up. "Something tells me you probably still have homework to do, so how about you get going and let me have this spot here next to your Mum?"

"Oh, Dad, not the mushy stuff again," Sadie griped in good humour.

"Yes, the mushy stuff," Sam agreed. "Oh, and thirty-something sounds about right to me!"

"Dream on, Dad, but I promise it won't happen tomorrow either," Sadie shouted as she raced up the stairs toward her room.

"I guess that's a good thing," Sam commented as he wrapped his arm around Jules shoulders. She leaned into him and responded, "That's as good as it gets."

Sam leaned in to kiss her and said, "No, this is as good as it gets."