AN: Keen-eyed readers will notice that this chapter was originally much shorter (only containing the hospital hallway bit near the end), but I couldn't resist adding more stuff from one of my favorite episodes of the entire series, fleshing this one out like I then started doing with subsequent chapters. I mean, who could complain about more JAM, right? I hope you enjoy.
Sam Braddock settled into his padded swivel living room chair and swung his feet up onto the matching footstool. He had a magazine in his hand but didn't open it. Instead he just leaned his head back and tried to relax. He could already tell that it wasn't going to happen, though. The annual SRU team requalification process was never fun-he knew that from having done it a couple times already. But this...it had felt like he was a suspect in a police investigation, being sweated to force a confession. And he had confessed. Not as much as he could have, but more than he probably should've for his professional well-being. Sam didn't think he'd earned any points with Toth for his honesty during the interview.
"Would you have continued the relationship secretly if you could?" Toth asked.
"Yes." His answer had been simple and direct. Yes, he would have kept dating Jules, giving the rules the proverbial finger, if she'd wanted the same thing.
"There's a reason that's against SRU policy. It puts your teammates at risk," Toth pointed out. Sam has never bought that argument, and still doesn't. He'd never once put Jules' life ahead of anyone else's on the team-and is convinced that he never would. Hell, Ed Lane is alive and about to welcome his second child into the world precisely because Sam put his life ahead of Jules'. If he'd given Jules the priority, Sam would have been in the ambulance with her going to the hospital, not in overwatch with his Remi, taking the Scorpio shot that killed Petar Tomasic and kept him from shooting Ed in revenge for his father's death.
"But it makes no difference, because it's over. We're colleagues now, and that's it."He doesn't like it, but they have been just friends for the past two years. Both of them free to date others; though while Jules had done so, Sam himself hadn't. No one else could possibly mean more to him than she had-than she still does-or even come close to equaling her.
And there it was: the big reason he couldn't relax. Jules. When he'd emerged from the briefing room after his psychological interview session, it had been to find her standing a little way down the hallway that led to the locker rooms.
"How'd it go?" he'd asked her. Not that he really needed to-the tightness around her mouth and eyes more than amply betrayed her stressed state.
"Not good."
"Me neither."
"He gave me a hard time because of you." Jules swung around to stand beside him, both of them leaning against the hallway handrail.
"Yeah."
"They have us under a microscope, just in case we treat each other any different."
"What's it going to take?" Sam pushed off the wall, turned, and paced a step or two in frustration. "A chaperone?"
"That's the thing, Sam," Jules spoke softly. "It's not going to go away."
His pulse had gone into overdrive with her words, and made him very thankful that he was no longer connected to Toth's polygraph machine-no way on earth could he have kept his reaction from being recorded this time, Special Forces training or no Special Forces training. Jules-whether she meant to or not-had given him hope that things between them might not be as permanently over as it had seemed. Oh, they'd managed to get back to a normal working relationship, and even an easy and close friendship, but it had never really been enough, not for him. He'd never stopped missing her being in his personal life, never stopped playing the 'what if' game of whether they might never have broken up if he'd followed her suggestion to transfer to a different team. It had taken every ounce of his strength to hold up the impassive soldier mask and pretend he didn't want to strangle her new paramedic boyfriend Steve. Sam didn't kid himself that he hadn't given thanks when the couple had ended things after Steve had been shot by the EDP (Emotionally Disturbed Person) who'd taken hostages in a coffee shop he'd believed was run by terrorists-in fact, a tiny mean and selfish part of Sam had thought that Steve had deserved to be shot for rushing recklessly into the scene and pulling Jules in along with him.
A knock on the door had him calling out "Just a second," as he got up and headed to open it. Natalie had run out for some groceries a little while ago and was due back anytime now; Sam didn't think he'd locked the door when she left but maybe he had. Or maybe she'd gotten more stuff than planned and didn't have a hand free to open the door with. He pulled the door open and his lungs deflated in a rush of air. It was Jules, not Natalie, who had just knocked. She took a step forward, almost hesitantly, wordlessly asking if she could come in. With equal silence, Sam moved backward to open the door up wider and let her inside his apartment. Jules clearly went home before coming here-she definitely hadn't been wearing that dark blue dress and white sweater when they'd left SRU after being dismissed by Commander Holleran an hour ago.
She stopped in his kitchen area and swung around to face him, one hand on the island, as he shut the door and slowly paced toward her.
"You were right," he said.
"About what?" she wasn't usually this cagey, but then again, neither was he. They were both treating this like Spike did with a bomb call, every move careful and deliberate.
"It's not going to go away." Now she knows how he feels, just like he's known her feelings since she'd said those same words earlier today. "So..."
"So," and her voice is barely a whispered breath.
They're now standing close enough to touch, and he does just that, leaning down to claim her lips with his own. The first kiss is tentative, two old lovers testing the waters, seeing where they stand. But just like the first time they'd kissed outside the Royal York hotel, passion flares up now with white-hot intensity. It was as if the past couple years of them being "just friends" and merely teammates had never been. The moment was as powerful as that when the melting ice that had been frozen on top of a river finally reaches that critical point and snaps, freeing the raging torrent underneath to rush and flow uncontrolled toward its destination. Their kisses become firmer, deeper. Sam pulls Jules close for a moment, before sliding his hands to frame her waist and boost her up to sit on the kitchen island. Her legs automatically lift to wrap around his hips, locking him into the vee of her legs. He completely forgets that his sister could be walking in the door at any second; all he can focus on is the fact that the woman he loves is here once again, as hot for him as he is for her. Jules' white sweater slips down her arms, and Sam's hand begins to skim up the soft skin of her thigh, pushing the hem of her dress upward, eager to touch her where he most wants to. Jules' hands are equally busy, tracing over his pecs and shoulders, running through his hair, keeping his head pressed up against her—not that he has any plans to move. Mouths plunder lips, and track over lips, jawlines, and necks as if seeking the only source of life-giving sustenance. Neither of them hears the door open, but Natalie's loudly gasped, "Oh!" definitely does get their attention. Jules jerks away from him as if she's been burned, sliding off the island and tugging her sweater back on.
"Okay. I'm going to go." Jules jumps to the obvious-albeit wrong-assumption of why a pretty girl is just walking right into Sam's apartment.
And she's running past Natalie out the apartment door before he can try to stop her, ignoring his call of her name. Sam takes a step after her, but has to stop when his phone beeps with an incoming text message. Picking it up, he reads "Report to SRU. 10-33." Sam grabs his keys and strides past his sister, tossing "I've got to go" over his shoulder.
Jules has really booked it, and is out of reach in the descending elevator before Sam can get there. He forgoes waiting for the elevator to return to his floor, and descends the flights of stairs rapidly. The blood pumping to his feet pounding down the steps does help to alleviate the problem of the erection that making out with Jules for even those few brief seconds has produced. Now, if only he can somehow negate the problem Natalie just created by interrupting them...that probably won't be so easy, he grimaces.
By unspoken mutual consent, what just happened in Sam's apartment is locked away by each of them when they meet again at SRU to learn that their Team Leader is the officer down. Not for the first time today, Sam curses Dr. Toth in his head. If not for that sadist, Ed wouldn't have been on that road to get shot-he'd have already been at the hospital with Sophie, because he would have left SRU the second she'd called to tell him she was in labor. He wouldn't have stuck around for those extra hours doing the requalifications that Commander Holleran said could only be done today due to Dr. Toth's schedule. Ed would have put his family first this time and not stayed with his team out of guilt that the requalification wouldn't count if the entire team didn't participate and that they wouldn't be cleared for duty until the whole process was completed.
"Any word from the Boss?" Sam asks Wordy as he approaches Winnie's desk, having just emerged from the locker room after changing into his uniform for the second time today. Spike looks up from obsessively examining the bandage on his hand. Sam resolutely doesn't react when he hears Jules' footsteps approaching from behind him.
"Not yet," Wordy shakes his head. "Said for us to wait here until we have more information. Team Three's out now, talking to the responding unis and trying to ID and track down the shooter."
Sam inserts his earpiece in time to hear Sarge asking for a health update on Ed from a doctor. Seven bullets, most of them to the chest and torso. Painful, but not as bad as it could have been.
They exchange pained expressions at the doctor's report that the bullets that hit Ed's arm might have caused permanent nerve damage. Ed's a sniper. Nerve damage could well be a career-killer for him.
The team bores holes in the back of Toth's head with their eyes when he knocks Greg for promising to get Ed an update on his laboring wife.
"Wait," they hear Ed say. "I thought I saw something. There was someone else in the back seat. A woman. Military uniform."
"Military uniform?" repeats Greg. "Team-"
"On it, Boss," Jules reports. "Possible hostage."
Sam is already tapping on the phone buttons to dial Downsview—officially named Canadian Forces Base Toronto, though many locals have continued to use the old name out of nostalgia-the closest military facility to where Ed had been shot and the obvious first option for them to check.
"This is Constable Sam Braddock of SRU. I need to speak with the on-duty security officer immediately," he issues the command to the private who answers the phone, his military past reasserting itself effortlessly, and getting the desired result almost immediately.
"This is Corporal Williams."
Sam repeats his introduction and asks if there has been an incident on the base. "Boss, there's a shooting at Downsview. Two soldiers hit, one female-she's missing. We're on our way." Sam's already moving toward the parking garage, gesturing for the rest of the team to follow. They hadn't explicitly talked about it while waiting for word and don't need to now. With Ed out of commission, Sam will run tactical. No one has to think about the decision, they just know it's best. Sam may still not be very skilled at negotiating, but he's always been damned good at tactics. On par with Ed himself in everything save years of experience-and even there Sam's ten years in the military make up a good bit of that difference.
At the base, the team seamlessly begins dividing up tasks. Wordy and Spike head off to check the security cameras and gate entry records, while Jules and Sam follow a soldier to the scene of the shooting, where the remaining victim is being treated.
"Jules, can we talk?" he asks the question after muting his mic. Toth had told Greg to keep his comm channel open, but hadn't expressly given the rest of the team the same directive, and Sam takes full advantage.
She mutes her own mic and responds, "I'm sorry, Sam. I didn't think to ask if you were seeing someone."
"Jules, it's just Natalie."
"She seems very nice." Sam wants to clutch his hair in frustration, much like how Sarge always rubs his own head when he's frustrated. She doesn't understand.
"My sister Natalie. She showed up last night. Going to be staying with me for a while. Personal reasons."
"Maybe that's for the best."
"What does that mean?" but they've arrived at the crime scene and his query doesn't get answered as Jules reactivates her comm unit and begins asking the wounded soldier questions.
The day is like a game of cat-and-mouse. Team Three tracks down the license plate from the shooter's car, to discover that it appears to have been stolen. By the time Sarge joins them at the base, Team One has figured out that the wounded soldier had to be aware that the now-stolen locker was being used to smuggle drugs and a base medic has told them where the subject might have taken her to get her injury treated. When they find Corporal Meg Kieffler, she reluctantly provides the name of the subject—Colin Potter—who happens to be her husband. Donna's drug squad connections identify Neil Cavell as the mastermind drug smuggler as well as giving the teams the probable location for tonight's meeting between the shooter and the drug lord.
"He shows up without the drugs," Team Three's Team Leader adds, "That's not going to go well."
"He's already shot three people today trying to keep this appointment," notes Wordy.
"Maybe he thinks the only way out now is to kill the bad guys first," Sam adds. Which isn't really a bad strategy, just not one that is likely to work in real life the way it does in the movies.
"Our priority is to keep them apart," Jules interjects. "Colin's under the influence, emotionally impulsive, and he's up against guys who can aim."
"The drugs may not have ever been in the locker to begin with," Sam comments over the team's radio link after he and Wordy have left Dr. Qadir's house to head for the office tower.
"Go on, Sam," Greg encourages. Of them all, only Sam has military experience, much less any firsthand knowledge of Afghanistan, where the shooter had served as a war correspondent.
"Like Spike said back at the base: if you want to smuggle something into the country then using a dead soldier's locker to bypass border control and civilian customs inspections is a perfect way to do it. If the drug traffickers could set up that kind of smuggling pipeline and get people on the inside both in Afghanistan and here...there's no way they'd just let it be a one-time deal to clear a debt."
Jules picks up on his line of thinking. "Just like how they got Colin hooked on the drugs to begin with-a favor for a favor."
"Yeah," agrees Sam. "Maybe they sent him a picture showing the drugs in the locker's cutouts to 'prove' the shipment was coming, or maybe they just told him...either way, I don't think the drugs were ever really sent. I'd say it was just a ploy to set up this exact situation. Colin rushes in, meets with them all panicked about the drugs going missing, swearing that something must have happened in transit, begging for another chance to clear his debt-"
"So they tell him, 'Okay, we'll send a new shipment to replace this one, and one more to cover our inconvenience," Wordy proffers an all-too-likely scenario.
"Maybe both would arrive without incident, or maybe one or both would have the same problem," Spike continues the team brainstorm. "And it just snowballs from there until there's no way for Colin-or Meg, either-to get out. They're trapped. An endless cycle of modern-day slavery."
At their destination, Teams One and Three easily divide up responsibilities. Donna points out the target executive lounge, and Spike promises "I've got it covered," when Sam notes that they'll need to know where the subject is within the room.
"Black wall," reports Spike after locating the subject using a long-arm body heat sensor from his location on the building floor beneath the lounge.
Waiting outside the room with Jules and Sarge, Sam acknowledges the information with the team's standard, "Copy that." To the teammates standing next to him, he directs, "Let's take down the door." Aiming his MP5 at the door, Sam shoots out both hinges, then steps aside to allow Sarge room to kick the door down and toss in a flashbang, with Jules flinging in a second one. All three of them enter the room, seeking out their subject through the clouds of smoke.
"Spike! He went through a door that wasn't on the map!" Sam calls out.
"I'm on it," the other man promises, dropping his equipment and gripping the MP5 hooked to his tactical vest as he starts to run. Wordy likewise abandons his hallway sentry post and moves to find a perch where he can hopefully get eyes on their subject. It works-within just a minute or two, Colin Potter is trapped on the curved staircase between Spike on the level below, and Greg, Sam, and Jules on the stairs above him.
"I've got vantage and concealment," Wordy reports.
"Wordy, lay low. Spike, you're Sierra," directs Sam.
The agitated man paces around on the stairs, mumbling, and ignoring the sergeant's attempts to start a dialogue.
"Body language...looks like he's going to jump," Wordy passes along what he sees from his elevated position.
"I know what happened today," Greg keeps trying to connect with Colin. "I know you were trying to do what you thought you had to do." Though primarily directed at Colin, the words are really for his team, too. So many things today would never have happened if Greg had just had faith in himself and not brought Toth in to hammer his people. They don't need the words, though. Like they'd told Donna earlier in the day, they know Sarge was just doing what he thought was right."
"Boss, he's past negotiation." It's not an easy thing for Jules to say, but Colin pointing his gun at Greg and Sam, not wanting to talk, plus his unbalanced mental and emotional state...none of it bodes well. She's the Boss' secondary in negotiations for a good reason, so if she doesn't think talk can possibly work...
"He shot a cop and a soldier," Spike observes, not moving from his ready stance with his MP5 pointing steadily up at the subject. "I don't think he's seeing the happy ending here."
"Boss, if we want to stop a suicide, the only way is a double-drop," Sam offers his tactical opinion.
"Staging area looks good," Wordy reports, looking upward toward a higher level of the building, where a landing is situated directly above where the subject stands.
"We'd have him on the ground before he knew what hit him," says Jules.
"A double drop, ten floors up?" The sergeant is clearly dubious of the proposed tactical solution.
"Boss, I'm not seeing another option," Sam presses his case. And it's a powerful one. So many years of life-and-death military experience is held by this younger man, so if Sam doesn't see a better alternative, it's something Greg has to take seriously. Still...
"So I gotta risk my team to save the guy who shot my TL seven times?"
"It's your call, Boss," Jules' voice is calm and soothing. Yes, it is his call. But he's long had the practice of listening to his subordinates when they have more experience in something than he does.
"Okay, Sam. Let's do it." And with the green light to proceed, Sam and Jules both back up few steps, and when they're out of the subject's sightline turn and run upward to the gear left behind when the subject had bolted.
Testing his zipline and making sure that Jules is doing the same thing, Sam quietly instructs the Boss, "You've got to keep him still."
"I'm going to try to keep his focus on me," Greg assures.
"Just give us the word," Jules says.
Greg wonders if he's ever felt so much pressure as he does right now. He's already had one of his people shot today, and if this goes badly that number could jump to three.
The team does not hear the exchange between Dr. Toth and Commander Holleran about the probable risks to this plan, but they do hear Dr. Toth strongly stating, "Sergeant Parker, I can't let you do this. Your team was a breath away from being disbanded. You're risking their lives to prove something to me."
It's only knowing that the life of the subject hangs in the balance that keeps the listening officers from reacting to Toth's bald statement. Only a few hours after the requalification process had ended, and the decision had already been made to break up the team?
"Are you kidding me?" Greg scoffs. "This is the job. This is what we do. Team One, anyone wants to stand down, you can. Spike?"
"Present and on-board," the tech expert's tone is solid and resolved.
"Wordy?"
"Not going anywhere," he promises.
"Jules?"
She's calm and confident. "I'm good."
"Sam?"
"Nowhere else I'd rather be." Sam speaks the words to the Boss, but has his blue eyes locked onto Jules' brown ones as he says them.
"There's your answer, Dr. Toth."
"Copy that, Sergeant Parker."
Sam and Jules stand on a platform right next to the railing, ziplines securely anchored, left hands anchored around each other's forearms. Gazes are locked, breaths come slow and steady.
"Three, two one. Go, go, go!" Wordy hisses, after he's guided his teammates into the right position, and they both jump up and over the railing. It's an exhilarating tandem freefall, punctuated by a shower of glass fragments when the subject raises his gun and fires a pair of shots directly upward. Thankfully, though, his drug-affected aim only hits a skylight panel and not either of the descending SRU officers. With the subject in custody, and Donna's team having captured the drug lord, the team heads to the hospital to check on Ed and his family; Greg has a stop at SRU to make first, though he wishes he didn't have to. At the same time, however, he wants-needs-to know what the day's outcome is.
Wordy, Spike, Sam, and Jules wait in the hospital hallway for news, none of them able to stay put in the waiting room. Jules paces back and forth restlessly; Sam wishes he could do likewise, but forces himself to stay leaned against the wall instead. Finally, they see a wheelchair turn the corner, pushed by Clark Lane, with Ed sitting in the chair holding a pink-wrapped bundle. They're instantly moving closer to look at the new family member, relieved that she's arrived safely and that Ed seems to also be okay, considering the ripped-off shirt sleeve and blood-stained bandages around his forearm. They're so focused on the baby that they almost don't notice when their sergeant arrives.
It is quick and subtle, and would have been so easy to miss. In fact, no one else does notice. Greg wouldn't have caught it, either, except that he is facing just the right way, looking at just the right angle and at the exact moment it happens. For a mere instant, Sam's fingers reach out and briefly squeeze Jules'. Just for a moment, and then she steps forward for a closer view of newborn Isabelle Lane, who is now cradled in her older brother Clark's arms as their father is finally wheeled away for treatment. Nothing else about Jules' or Sam's body language or facial expressions betrays what Greg thinks he just saw.
Can they really be so reckless? Only hours after those brutal interviews with Dr. Toth? Interviews during which both of them had been questioned harshly by the psychologist on their decision to have an illicit workplace relationship, as well as how and why it had ended. Less than an hour ago, Toth warned Parker explicitly that any resumption of a personal relationship between Sam and Jules-in violation of the team's newly announced probation-will result in immediate disciplinary action and reassignment-for both of them as well as for Greg himself. Can they possibly even consider risking their careers again for a bit of romance? Especially given the hell Toth just put both of them through, rehashing the first time they'd made that choice? Greg doesn't think so-hopes fervently against it. He knows how important the team is to Jules-it's why she broke things off when he and Eddie had discovered the affair just prior to her return to the team after recovering from being shot. The team has always been her family, more so than the actual blood relatives back in Medicine Hat who Jules hasn't seen in years.
And he knows the team has been crucial for Sam, too. Everything he saw and did as an army sniper-much more than the team is surely aware of even with what details Sam has shared during hot calls and debriefs-has weighed heavily on the soul of a man who is more sensitive than his military persona lets on. There were times when Greg has been sure that being part of the SRU is the only thing that has kept Sam Braddock from ending up as yet another returned soldier who did something to become the subject of a hot call-either that or yet another statistic of a veteran who couldn't cope with coming home and ended up seeking and finding a permanent solution to their pain. Just like Darren Kovacs did two years ago. Sam nearly quit SRU because of that call-just like he'd left Special Forces after accidentally killing his best friend. Being part of this team, Greg is convinced, has been Sam's salvation.
So with all those factors, will either Jules or Sam really risk losing the jobs that are such crucial elements to their lives? Greg doesn't think so. They got a pass the first time, because Jules had been out on medical leave when he and Ed had gotten clued in. When she had ended the relationship just before coming back to the team, neither of the team's leaders had seen a reason to officially report the rule violation to Commander Holleran. Dr. Toth had only known about it because Greg had mentioned it in his private notes, notes that had been used to hammer both parties today. A repeat rule violation, while both Sam and Jules are on the team together...no, forgiveness won't come so easily a second time. Maybe-just maybe-his eyes have played tricks on him, Greg tries to convince himself. After all, he's been awake for even longer than usual, sat through all of the brutal sessions his team endured with Toth, and then after all of that has dealt with the stresses of his closest friend and colleague Ed being shot, the hot call, the tough decision to go with Sam's tactical plan for taking down the subject against Toth's judgment of the maneuver's risks, and finally finding out the psychiatrist's recommendation about the team's future. His mind could well be making him see things that aren't really there. So it is possible that he hasn't in fact seen anything more than an incidental contact between two people in a confined space. Possible, but likely?
Greg turns his attention back to his old friend's newborn daughter. He doesn't know for sure, and has more than enough on his plate right now without going out looking for potential problems. Ed may well have delayed treatment of his wounds for longer than was wise, just to be with Sophie during her labor, and Greg can only hope and pray that the doctor's dire warning about the possibility of permanent nerve damage in Ed's arm won't be proven true. But even in a best-case scenario, Ed will be out for months recovering. How will the team function without their tactical leader…?
"Probably time to take her back to Mom," Wordy suggests, after the team has fussed over the baby for a good while.
"You guys want to say hi?" Clark asks.
"Is your mom up to a visit?"
Clark shrugs, which makes little Izzy squirm in his arms as she's jostled.
The team ends up escorting Clark and Izzy to Sophie's room, where she waves them inside as soon as she sees them.
"What happened?" bursts out of her lips in a rush. "How did Eddie get shot?"
After an exchange of glances with the rest of his team, Greg gives Sophie a very abbreviated synopsis of the day's events, finishing up with, "Eddie just got taken off to surgery. They're looking after him and I'm sure they'll give you an update just as soon as it's done. We'll miss Ed while he's out, but please make sure he knows that we'll try to manage without him." The sergeant looks to one side. "Sam, you did great filling in as TL today. Think you're up to taking on the role for a while longer?"
Sam blinks. "Wow. Thanks. Yeah, Boss." Then, "You sure?"
"Yeah, I am. You did good today, Sam. Everyone is going home safe tonight. I'm sure Eddie will say the same when we let him know what happened today."
"Samtastic!" Spike crows. "Sam is the man!"
The new temporary TL for Team One rolls his eyes and shakes his head at the techie's enthusiasm, but all the same there's a small grin now fixed to Sam's face.
After saying goodbye, the team heads outside, eager to get back to SRU, shower, change, and head home after an incredibly long and hellish day. But first, there's something they all need to know.
"So, what happened with Toth?"
"We'll talk about that back in debrief," Greg delays answering. "I know it's late, and we're all tired, physically, mentally, and emotionally. But we're going to be off duty tomorrow, so let's get this done tonight rather than having it hang over us to do later."
Since everyone is impatient to be able to leave, debrief is much shorter and less contentious than has often been the case. It helps that no one really has any issues with what anyone else did or didn't do. They're all relieved when they get a call from Sophie that Ed came through surgery just fine and that the doctor is optimistic about a full recovery.
Finally, Jules asks, "Boss, what did Toth say? The Commander?"
"Team One is cleared for duty." The smiles that start to appear dim when Greg adds, "Conditionally."
Wordy frowns. "Conditionally? What does that mean?"
"We're on probation. The brass and Dr. Toth are going to be watching us closely. Every call will be examined in detail."
They all understand: they're under a microscope. Those examinations will probably be just as brutal as the psychological assessments Toth did of each one of them that morning. Each decision, each choice, each mistake...it'll all be reviewed as intensely as the most hard-assed SIU investigator would ever think of doing. Anything less than perfection...
"Look," Greg speaks solemnly. "Each one of you is a phenomenal officer. Team One has been the best for a long time for a very good reason. I know that won't change. We'll get through this. Just do your jobs like you always do, and it'll be fine. Now, go home. Rest. All of you."
He signals Jules with his eyes to stay behind, and verbally asks the same of Sam. Once the three are alone, the sergeant addresses his subordinates. "Toth will be looking at both of you in particular."
"Why?" Jules asks.
"Your past history-"
"What!" Sam bites out. "Do they not trust us to do our jobs? Two damned years of being on the same team with no problems at all—nothing—doesn't that count for something?"
There really isn't anything Greg can say. Sam has a valid point. He and Jules have been completely professional since their breakup, and they shouldn't be placed under excessive scrutiny for such an old closed issue. None of his team should be put under the magnifying glass the way they will be for as long as the probation lasts. Ed's certainly not the only cop to have marital difficulties, and Wordy's not the only one to be tired and stressed from the burden of being his family's provider. None of it means they can't do their jobs, either. But none of that is going to count for anything with the military psychologist. Greg is sure that he'll look at all of them critically, but most likely Jules and Sam above all, especially with his confident pronouncement that the pair still hold feelings for each other that Toth clearly believes go beyond those of teammates, and which he just as obviously is convinced will lead them into trouble sooner or later.
"I know that all of you will do your jobs as excellently as always," Greg finally says. "I'm just sorry that this team has to bear the burden of my misguided decision to bring in the outside evaluator."
"You were just doing what you thought was best, Boss. We know that."
The smile Greg offers to his honorary daughter is more of a grimace. "You give me too much credit, Julianna. And now everyone will be under close observation for it. And Sam, what you said earlier, about your work performance speaking for itself…I agree that it should, but unfortunately I don't think it will with Dr. Toth. I know it's unnecessary, but he did make a point of saying that if the two of you ever cross the line again, it will mean disciplinary measures and reassignment for both of you, and for me. He's being absurd, I know, but I did have to inform you both. Now," he brushes the whole topic away. "You've both had tough days. Go home and relax. I'll see you the day after tomorrow, alright?"
It is in a comfortable yet charged silence that Sam and Jules ride in the elevator up to the floor for his apartment. As per their old habit when they'd been secretly dating a couple years ago, they first drove to a parking garage where Jules parked her jeep before climbing into Sam's car for the rest of the trip. The sexual frisson between them has been low-key all through the afternoon and evening, but they've both known it was there. Now, alone, they'll see whether they can and will pick things up where they left them that morning, or not. Neither one has spoken since leaving SRU. They've both been using the time to think things through. While not a total surprise, considering how Toth had hammered each of them that morning, the stark pronouncement of the consequences of another breakage of departmental rules was sobering to the couple. They'll be risking both of their jobs—and the boss's too—if they rekindle things and get caught again. Can they afford the professional danger of doing this? Can they live with the personal consequences of not choosing this course?
Sam opens his front door and pokes his head inside cautiously. "Nat? You there?"
When there is no answer, he pushes the door open all the way to enter, with Jules following close behind him. The apartment is completely quiet, and empty. Jules notices a bottle of wine and piece of paper sitting on the glass coffee table and goes to investigate.
Sammy, I'm sorry I barged in this morning. Sorry. Gosh, so sorry! I'm a terrible sister. Sorry if I gave her a wrong idea. Brain bleach, I promise. I'll make myself scarce tonight. We can talk tomorrow and work out a signal or something. Sorry. Way to go! xo Nat
"I guess we scared her away," Jules hands the note to Sam to read.
He doesn't reply; his only action is lifting his hands up to clasp around her biceps. "Are you sure about this?' It's a loaded question, and Sam's tone and somber facial expression say so. The very fact that Jules came to his apartment this morning-that she's here again now-can only mean that she wants to rekindle their relationship as much as Sam does. But is she really okay with them sneaking around again now, when she wasn't okay with it two years ago? It will kill him to let her walk away again tonight, but better now than later on if the secrecy gets to be too much to bear.
"There is nowhere else I'd rather be," Jules looks up at him, heart in her eyes, willing him to see and believe everything that she feels. Her choice of words-precisely what he'd said to her only hours earlier just before they did the double-drop-is deliberate. She knew exactly what Sam was promising her-even as he had answered the Boss' question on his commitment to the tactical plan-and she now responds in kind. All in.
In an echo of that morning, Sam's head dips down to claim a gentle kiss, and another. Then, with a soft smile that he's only ever given to her, Sam wraps his hand around hers and leads her into his bedroom, closing the door behind them and shutting the rest of the world out. They stand beside Sam's bed for unknown minutes, savoring each other's warmth as they embrace; Jules being soothed by the rhythmic beating of Sam's heart next to her ear, Sam breathing in the delicate yet rich fragrance that was always and only his Julianna. While the morning's encounter had been uncontrolled and explosive, now it is soft and slow. The teasing removal of each piece of clothing is relished, every rediscovered taste and touch heals the fissures in both their hearts and souls. Samuel Braddock and Julianna Callaghan are exactly where they want to be, and while the future may be unknown, they'll face it together.
AN: I do have some ideas perking for some more original Flashpoint works, but this adaptive story may be a good way to get back into the creative writing mindset after 14 months of a total writing and inspiration drought. My apologies to the fans of my Twilight stories that this isn't an update for any of them. I'm trying to work on my stories in that fandom, which haven't been updated in a year to year-and-a-half, I promise.
Each chapter of this story will be named/numbered based on the relevant show episode, and with the airing order on my US DVDs (which isn't necessarily the same as the TV airing/Canadian numbering).