Disclaimer: I own nothing, damn it all. The song mentioned is Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis. No, I don't own them either :(

A/N: I plan on making this a series. I have no idea how much longer it's going to be, though. Slight language. R & R.


She knows it's too late as she's walking on by...

The lyrics taunted Jules; they assaulted her conscience while she drove home after a long day at work. The seemingly innocent song had an uncanny link to her love life – or lack thereof. It had been months since she'd ended things with Sam – she'd ended things – and she still couldn't move on. Not that Sam seemed to have the same problem.

She cursed under her breath as the song launched into its final chorus.

But don't look back in anger

Don't look back in anger

I heard you say

At least not today...

Pulling into her driveway, Jules killed the engine, closed her eyes, and pressed the back of her head to the headrest.

However, sitting there twiddling her thumbs wasn't going to do anything. She needed to decide something, and soon. If she was going to make her move on Sam, it'd have to be soon. Before everything they'd had was a distant, hazy memory.

Losing Lou had opened her eyes. It had opened her eyes to how short life really was, and she was determined to spend the rest of her life in happiness. She was well on her way, but she lacked one key thing.

She was still in love.

In love with Sam, to be precise. While she was, she couldn't be happy. God knows she had tried.

Pull yourself together, Jules, she told herself sternly as she got out of her jeep. It was time to get some much needed sleep. She would think more about the issue in the morning.

In no time at all, she was out like a light. But all her dreams were of him.


She arrived at work 10 minutes early the next day, a coffee in one hand and a bagel in the other. Nodding a quick greeting to her Sarge, she made her way to the women's locker room.

Leah hadn't arrived yet. Jules took advantage of the emptiness to ponder her current situation some more. Over her breakfast smoothie, she had ultimately decided that she would take the plunge. It was progress, but she had no idea how she was going to start this.

After not-so-careful consideration, Jules decided that she might as well start by repairing the holes in their friendship. That was definitely a starting point.

Moderately pleased with her one-on-one time with her brain, Jules quickly changed into her work clothes and made her way down to the briefing room.

On her way, she passed a very tired-looking Sam. In an attempt to strike up conversation, she greeted him, "Hey Sam. Looks like you need to drink more coffee in the morning."

She was hoping for a friendly response, or maybe even a joke like old times.

"Nah. Late night," he responded coolly before stalking off.

Jules stared after him, her eyes like saucers. Damned men. This was going to take longer than she'd thought.

She was interrupted from her mental slew of curses by a passing Wordy, "Jules? You coming?"

Realizing she was still rooted to the spot, Jules tore her eyes away from where Sam had been and smiled at Wordy.

"Of course."

"Team one, gear up. Hot call," Winnie's voice rang through the station.

She chuckled before jumping into action.


Jules sighed as she settled herself around the briefing room table. It had been a long day. A distraught father had held a classroom hostage when he found out his son was being viciously bullied all year. Luckily, the Sarge had managed to talk the man down and the bullies were apprehended for assault. Jules had been very thankful – she had been Sierra 1 and she had not wanted to take that shot. It had been close, too close for comfort.

"Good work today, team," said Greg happily, clapping his hands together.

Small smiles and nods were exchanged around the table. Jules tried to catch Sam's eye, but to no avail. He seemed to be deliberately avoiding her. It was high time for a talk, she decided ruefully.

"Well, it's late enough already, so we'll debrief tomorrow. Get out of here and get some sleep."

Jules decided to talk to Sam tonight. Scurrying to her locker room, Jules changed as fast as she could, nearly crashing into Leah on her way out.

"Oh, sorry-"

"No problem," Leah grinned, "big plans for tonight?"

Mumbling something incoherent, Jules fled the room, leaving a confused Leah in her wake.

She was just in time to catch up to a departing Sam.

"Hey, Sam."

"Jules," he responded. His voice was warmer than before, but it was still disconcertingly frosty.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go for a drink, or coffee or something."

"Uh..." Sam glanced around nervously.

"Look, I just need to talk to you."

"Alright then. I can't do tonight, so does tomorrow work for you?"

"Sure. See you," she waved as he left. Well, it could have been worse, right?

Jules drove home, pondering what she was going to say all the way.


The next day passed without major incident. True to his words, the team debriefed first thing in the morning and spent the rest of the morning alternately training or working out. After changing into her street clothes at the end of the day, Jules murmured a quick farewell to the rest of the team before meeting Sam by her car.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked.

"Well, you said you needed to talk, so how about we just go back to my place and grab a beer."

Jules nodded her agreement. "Sure."

So far so good, she thought to herself. The car ride was quiet; each was lost in their thoughts.

A few peaceful minutes later, they had arrived at Sam's place. Still in silence, they made their way to his kitchen, where Sam grabbed two beers and passed one to Jules.

"Thanks."

"So, what's up? You said you needed to talk."

""Well," started Jules carefully, "ever since we broke up, things haven't been –"

"Since you dumped me, I think you mean," snapped Sam icily.

"Sam -"

"Since we're going to talk, Jules, you might as well get the facts straight."

Jules stared, her mouth slightly open. This was going downhill – fast. She was going to have to do some quick thinking to resolve this.

"I don't want to talk if you're going to be like this." Whoops, that could have been better.

"Oh, so you want to talk, but only on your terms. Well here's a thought for your tiny brain to process: I don't give a –"

"You're not being fair," she whispered sadly.

"You're not being fair," he mimicked cruelly.

It was too much. Before she could control herself, she was on her feet and shouting. "What the hell is your problem, anyways?! I just wanted to –"

"Talk, yeah! You know what? You don't care about me, you don't care about the team, you only care about yourself!" he seethed, eyes blazing.

His harsh words struck Jules like daggers. In a voice so calm it shocked even her, Jules spat in icy fury, "So that's how it is. You know what? I was going to apologize, ask to start over. As friends. Now? I don't think so."

She swept past Sam, who seemed to have just realized what he had said. The anger was gone from his eyes, replaced by sorrow.

"Jules, I'm sorry –"

But he was cut off by the front door slamming. Jules stormed to her car and drove off, fighting the tears that threatened to spill over at any second.


What's up with Sam? All will be explained :)

Now how about hitting that shiny button? -waggles eyebrows-

TBC...