The Ski Trip
Summary: Sam plans a five day ski trip with Spike and and cousin Scott. Just three guys out for some fun on the slopes away from all the pressures of work and family. Who would ever guess that the antics of Sam and Spike after a raid on a compound and chasing after a subject would cause so much trouble on their ski trip? And planning wise they could not have picked a worse time to go to the Blue Mountains.
Setting: This story is set between Baby Steps – 51st Division and The Swim in the Beauty of Life AU. It is Sam, Spike and Scott centric. But it contains Team One and other OC characters needed to round out the story.
A/N: Special thank you to venetiaj she is my Samtastic unofficial beta reader. I truly appreciate all her help. All my readers get better stories when I run things by her. She has great ideas and helps me keep continuity and the characters in character.
This story started as 'S' for Alpha Injuries but just like 'R' it took on a life of its own and grew into a full fledged story. I would like to acknowledge the following Samtastic readers for their 'S' suggestions that were used in this story so far:
fallingfreely-flyingblind, Guest, musicaldolphingirl2011, nicolelylewis, pmbb, Purpwithapen, Roxanne, The Fridge loves food, thisisfromawhileago, venetiaj, VictoriaAnnxx and Vispail
Just in case you are wondering I am not abandoning Alphabet Injuries, just need to come up with a new 'S' story. I still have tons of great suggestions for it.
Disclaimers:
I do not own Flashpoint or any of the characters from that series.
I do own my original characters (OC).
The Slip & Ed's and Sam's Dynamic
SRU HQ – Men's Locker Room
Racing Spike to the last open shower Sam was laughing because he had edged out in front of Spike. He was almost there when he slipped on the wet floor. Sam went sliding and whacked his shin on the corner of the wall. "Shit" exploded from his mouth as he wrapped his hands around his shin.
Spike had been laughing as they raced for the shower. The locker room was full with teams one, three and four. They had all just completed a raid on a compound that was holding people against their will and bilking insurance for the cost of drug rehab.
It had been raining heavily then snow began to fall as they wrapped up the call. Then one of the subjects broke free of the patrol officer and ran. He and Sam had taken off after him. They caught up to the man and took him down. It took both of them to contain the subject on the ground as he had continued to wildly wrestle to get free.
All of the teams were cold, soaking wet and seeking a warm shower before heading home or returning to duty. But he and Sam were also covered in mud after taking the guy down. The reason they were the last to the showers was that they were outside spraying the caked on mud off of their boots.
When they finally made it to the locker room they saw only one shower was left open. They joked with one another as they had quickly stripped to their boxers. Each claiming they would get to the shower first.
His laughing stopped as he watched Sam slide across the floor and slam his shin into the corner. He knelt down next to Sam and said with real concern for his friend "Let me look."
Sam was clenching his jaw and putting pressure on his shin.
Spike pried Sam's hands away and sucked a breath in "Damn Sam. Wait here I'll grab a towel." He was up and to the towel shelf and back in seconds.
Sam hissed as Spike put pressure on his shin. The white towel was quickly turning red.
Greg headed out of one of the showers toweling off his head when he nearly tripped over Spike and Sam. Seeing the white towel rapidly turning blood red he crouched down "What happened?"
Spike and Sam shared a look; neither wanted to be called out for horsing around in the locker room like kids. Spike answered "Sam slipped on the way to the shower and hit the corner of the wall."
Greg looked at both of them knowing there was more to it based on Spike's body language and tone. But he let it drop. "I'll go get the first aid kit" Greg said as a response.
Sam was about to say something to Spike when Ed, Wordy and Lou all exited the showers. They stopped seeing Sam and Spike on the floor. Ed asked "What happened?"
"I slipped" Sam said in a dead tone. This was getting embarrassing.
Spike added "Sarge went to get the first aid kit."
Wordy squatted down "Think you can stand. Let's get you off this cold, wet floor and over to the bench."
Sam nodded and with Ed and Wordy's assistance Sam stood. The towel came away as he stood and the blood flowed freely down his leg.
Lou spoke to Ed and Wordy "Make a cradle with your hands and carry him so Spike can hold the towel or we'll be cleaning up a trail of blood."
Ed and Wordy did so and lifted Sam. Spike wrapped the towel around Sam's shin again as the four made their way to the bench. Lou grabbed two more towels. He cleaned up the blood with one and the large wet spot that was left when all the men had trudged into the locker room after the call. He didn't want anyone else to slip.
Greg returned with the first aid kit and found that Sam was moved to a bench. He sat on the bench and had Spike uncover the wound. He shook his head "Sam this is gonna need more than a simple bandage buddy."
Sam looked at it and saw the deep gash. He said "Just need to shower and wrap it up. It'll be okay."
Ed snorted "Your leg could be hanging on by a gossamer thread and you would say it will be alright. I agree you need to shower since you look more brunette than blonde right about now. We'll help you there but then I'm driving you to the urgent care. No debate."
Lou said "Looks like this might put a kibosh on your skiing trip Sam."
Spike's face fell. He'd not thought of that. He, Sam and Sam's cousin Scott were all going skiing. He and Sam would use this three day weekend plus two days' vacation to make a nice five day skiing trip. They had been planning it for months and were all set to leave tomorrow morning and hit the slopes by the afternoon.
Sam looked at Spike's crestfallen face and said "No not at all. Like I said it'll be alright. They will likely only wrap it anyways." Sam thought that is all he would let them do. Stitches were out of the question. Not happening at all.
Spike brightened up "You sure you will be okay?"
"Yeah, had worse and hiked for days. This is nothing" Sam deflected.
Wordy went and got a plastic chair and put it in one of the showers. Greg had taped on a bandage just so Sam would not drip blood as he made his way to the shower with Ed's help. Spike grabbed two towels for Sam and put them on the bench just outside the shower.
After he showered Sam felt warmer than he had for several hours. He dried his hair, upper body and legs with one towel. Then he stood on one leg as he wrapped the other around his waist. He limped out of the shower putting a little weight on his injured leg.
Damn it hurt. It would suck skiing with it like this. But he didn't want to disappoint Spike and Scott. Scott had arranged time off just so they could go skiing together. It had been a while since he had spent any time with Scott so he would suck it up and pretend it didn't hurt like hell right now.
Urgent Care
Ed sat relaxed in the little chair in the treatment room with Sam. Normally he would have waited outside in the waiting room. But Sam was trying to downplay his injury. Ed was not about to let Sam get away with talking the doctor out of proper treatment.
He had to pull the TL card but it was necessary. He could tell Sam was still pissed at him. It was a small price to pay and he would bear the weight of Sam's glares and silent treatment. Ed knew this was for Sam's own good.
To break the silence Ed asked in his TL voice "So how did you slip?"
Sam knew he was acting like a petulant child but he was so pissed at Ed for ordering him to the urgent care. Not only ordering him here but insisting he came into the treatment room. He felt he was being treated like and errant child so he guessed his childish reaction fit.
Ed's question knocked around his head and finally Sam's good humor started to creep back in. Here he was behaving like a child, thinking he was being treated like a child all because he had acted like an over grown kid racing with Spike.
A small grin started to play on his lips. Sam came clean with Ed "I was racing Spike for the last shower. Was winning too until I hit the water on the floor."
Ed laughed out loud "Christ Samo, you two will never grow up."
Sam laughed "I might but Spike won't."
Grinning Ed said with authority "Well you can start by doing whatever the doc suggests with that leg. I don't want you missing work because you are stubborn. You have five days for it to heal up and rest."
"Depends on what he wants to do" Sam answered defensively his humor fading again at Ed's authoritative tone.
Ed raised one eyebrow his ire rising "If it is stitches it is happening."
Sam assumed his cocky mantle and in a challenging tone said "You think?"
"I know" Ed responded sternly.
"You're wrong" Sam voiced firmly.
"Am not" Ed retorted his voice going harder to make his point.
"Are too" Sam countered his tone getting edgier.
"Am not" Ed said strictly.
"Are too" Sam bit back.
The doctor had been standing just outside the room reading the chart when he heard the argument begin. Geez they sounded like kids fighting. He listened as they repeated back and forth 'are too' and 'am not' several more times. Suppressing the smile on his face the doctor entered the room.
As he entered the bickering stopped immediately and he saw two men looking at each other with a mix of humor and fortitude. It looked to him like this was an often occurrence. A dance both knew well.
The smile he had been trying to hide came out in full as Dr. McCloud said "I'm Dr. McCloud. So we have a gash to look at."
Sam nodded and pulled up his pants leg "Nothing too bad. Don't think it needs stitches. Just tape it up and I'm outta …."
Ed interrupted and said forcefully "Samo the doctor will be the judge of that."
Sam shot daggers at Ed.
Ed just glared back at Sam with his TL command face and crossed his arms over his chest.
Dr. McCloud lifted the bandage that was covering the gash. He examined it closely and saw that it was well cleaned and the edges of the cut were even. As far as stitches were concerned it was close and could go either way. The bruising on his shin was spectacular and worried him. He asked "When did this happen and how did you cut your leg?"
Sam answered "About an hour ago. I slipped in water and hit my leg on the corner."
"Looks like a hard hit" Dr. McCloud thought out loud.
Ed supplied "It was. He was running when he slipped and slid into the corner full force."
With that additional information the doctor lightly prodded the area. "This amount of bruising has me concerned. You may have fractured your tibia. Are you able to bear weight on the leg?" Dr. McCloud asked.
"Yeah. Hurts a bit but the bruising is normal for me. Nothing unusual. Doesn't feel broken to me" Sam answered downplaying how much it hurt but being honest about the rest.
Dr. McCloud looked at Sam skeptically "Bruising like this is not normal. You may not be able to tell if it is fractured or not. It might be a hairline fracture."
Sam saw the skeptical look on the doctor so said "Ed tell him it's normal for me."
The doctor looked to the other man.
Ed was surprised Sam would ask him to corroborate his claim. The tension ebbed away and Ed grinned "Yeah its normal. Always looks way worse than it is. Samo is one colorful guy. All the pretty colors of the rainbow. Scared the crap out of me the first time I saw him bruised up after combat training."
Glad that Ed backed him up and seeing him grin the tension started to ease from Sam. He rolled his eyes at the rainbows comment then grinned "Yeah and it cost you your course record didn't it."
"You know I'm gonna get that record back. Just you wait" Ed retorted.
Sam countered with humor "You can try old man."
"Old man, old man? Just you wait Braddock. Tuesday we'll see who is old, kid" Ed fake blustered.
Dr. McCloud chuckled these two were quite a pair. First it sounded like they would come to blows and now they were teasing each other. He said "Okay I believe the bruising is normal but to be on the safe side I'm gonna take an x-ray. As far as the gash goes it is fifty-fifty. The edges are clean and should mend together well. If I close it with surgical tape the scar will likely be wider than if I stitch it closed."
Sam jumped on that and said "Surgical tape. Width of the scar doesn't matter to me. And it won't be broken I'm sure of it." Then he shot a look to Ed that read 'ha I was right'.
Ed rolled his eyes "X-rays will tell if it is broken Samo." But inside he knew that Sam had been trained by Jim and would probably know if it was fractured.
Thirty minutes later Sam was pulling his pant leg down after it had be taped together and bandaged by the physician's assistant. He laid back with his arms behind his head. He turned his head to see Ed and said "Now I don't have to disappoint Spike and Scott."
Ed reminded him "That's to be determined yet. Depends on what the doctor says about the x-rays."
Dr. McCloud entered the room. He smiled "I'm happy to report that I see no sign of recent fracture. I did see signs of a healed fracture though."
Sam said "Yeah that happened several years ago. It's how I knew it wasn't broken. I wouldn't have been able to bear too much weight if it were."
McCloud's eyebrows rose "How did you break it?"
Sitting up Sam responded "Sorry I can't say. Am I free to go now?"
Ed looked at Sam and thought however it happened must be classified. Then the comment from Sam earlier popped in his head 'Yeah, had worse and hiked for days. This is nothing'. Ed knew better than to ask. Whatever happened had to be horrible knowing things that happened in Sam's JTF2 days.
Dr. McCloud said "Almost." He handed Sam a piece of paper "That's a script for antibiotic. Twice a day for ten days. Keep the wound clean and dry. Come back in if you see excessive redness or swelling or if the discharge is foul smelling or pus."
Ed asked "Any restrictions for work?"
The doctor said "None other than he should take it easy on that leg for a few days. Ice it and elevate it and take OTC pain medication if needed."
"Skiing?" Ed asked.
Sam said "I'm going Ed. Spike and Scott are counting on me."
Dr. McCloud could see the two winding up for round three so intervened looked at Sam he said "Just take it easy and rest between runs. Listen to your body and don't overdo. Check the wound several times to ensure it is staying dry. Change the bandage if it gets wet."
Sam grinned "Thanks doc."
Ed said "You better do as the doctor says or come Thursday you will have to deal with me Samo. And I can guarantee you, you will not like what I have in store for you. Truck might be in your future for a good long time. Just sayin."
"Copy that" Sam said and hopped down on one leg.
Dr. McCloud watched as the two men headed out and he chuckled to himself. What an interesting dynamic those two had. It was clear the older one cared about the younger one. He deduced that the younger one probably pushed the limits often causing the older one to worry. He headed for his next patient.
