Author's note: Hi guys thanks for reading! Just wanted to apologizes I do not have a lot of free time to write because of school but I promise I will try to update when I can.

I would like to put it out there that i do not have a beta reader so the only person that looked this over is me, so sorry if there are mistakes . Also I have a disability when it come writing so my grammar is not the best, I apologize. Review are loved and greatly appreciated.

I own nothing but the idea for the story.

The funeral is massive, a sea of camouflage, full of current and ex-Military officers. Honestly it doesn't surprise her Jason was just that type of person, caring, friendly, easy to get along with, even she's upset that he is gone and she's only met him twice. It's strange seeing Sam in his old JTF-2 uniform, she always knew he was a solider, always pictured him as one, but now he actually looks like one. It's strange. Just before he leaves to go help carry Jason's casket he gives her hand a squeeze, it is his way of letting her know just how much he appreciates her being there, and just how much he loves her.

"I heard that their anniversary is in a week, poor girl, I can't even imagine what Sarah must be going though. It just goes to show you that you never know when you can lose someone."

Jules over hears the comment of the older woman sitting behind her and it makes her shift uncomfortably. It's stupid she knows but without Sam there she can't help but feel empty. Jules isn't good with death, never was, never will be. She's always been afraid to need someone because needing someone can only lead to heart break when the world takes them from you. At least that's what she used to think, but to be fair she had a right. Her mom died at 16 and she could barely cope, she lost the one person in the world that meant the most to her. Jules pulled herself together with the help of her best friend, Abby. Abby was the first person she let in since her mom died and she lost her just 2 short years later at the age 18. It's why Jules has her walls up; it's why she has always had them up. But meaning to or not Sam broke though those walls, he worked his way right into her heart and made himself right at home. And now Jules needs him and that thought alone is enough to scare the shit out of her. Just the thought of losing him send shivers down her spine. That's why whenever she hears a comment like that she always subconsciously reaches out for a physical connection with Sam; sometimes she grabs his hand, other times is putting her head on his shoulder, occasionally she touches his arm, but whatever she decides his touch always grounds her. Let's her know he still alive, that he is going anywhere anytime soon, and that she won't have to face that kind of heart ache all over again.

She looks up to see Sam Jess and a bunch of the other JTF-2 guys come in with the casket and help lower it into the ground. She hears the gun shot solute go off and the preacher speaking but what hurts the most is hearing Sarah cry. Sarah is a strong girl and she held it together until they started to lower him into the ground. As soon as the preacher stops talking Jess walks right up to Sarah and hugs her tells her to sit before her legs give out. Jess glance up and her eyes lock with Jules for a split second, but that split second is all it takes and Jules nods her head. She understands. Why Jules can see though Sam and understand where his thoughts are going after a short conversation, Jess can read him like the back of her hand and know what he is thinking by simply looking at him. And after seeing Sam up close Jess and her have come to the same conclusion, Sam is fine; he just should not be left alone right now.

She heads off to go find him but she doesn't have to go far for he is walking straight towards her. When they reach each other he reaches out his hand to grab hers. He opens his mouth like he going to speak but closes it again. He does it several times for he isn't sure what to say, Thank you for being here? Sorry I'm not ready to talk cause just can't process my emotions right now? I love you?

"I…"

"I Know" she says pulling him close into a hug.

After the funeral they all head over to Jason's Parents place for a get together sort of thing, its strange but apparently it's a JTF-2 tradition. According to Sam most of these people haven't seen each other in years and most like won't see one and other for quite some time. A long time ago JFT-2 and a bunch of other units made a pack that if they died they wanted something good to come out of it, so they decided to use their funeral as a way to give each other the chance to catch up and hang out. And believe it or not the idea is becoming more and more popular. Apparently it what they will all do when Sam dies too, but God she does not want to think about that right now.

Sam and her make their way around the house talking to various people, she meets plenty of new people, and in some cases she can finally put a name to a face. She feels like if she says 'hi nice to meet you.' one more time, she is going to puke. Eventually she and Sam work their way over to Jason's father and she asks if there is anything she can do to help. Cleaning up? Doing dishes? Laundry?

"Not much dear but thank you for offering, I just have to clean up over there…" he says gesturing to the table a few feet away as he makes an effort to stand up.

"Relax" Jules says easing the man back into his chair "stay in your seat; I can handle that Mr. Moore."

"Dear that sweet but really not necessar -"

"I insist" she says cutting him off. He weakly smiles up at her as she turns and leaves.

"She's a good one Braddock." Mr. Moore comments as he watches her make her way through the crowed to clean up the dirty table.

"I know sir." he replies and the older man looks away from Jules to look at him.

"I mean it, she's keepers don't let her get away."

"She won't, not if I have a say." the old man nods and Sam moves across the room to Jules who is cleaning up the table. He walks up from behind and wraps his arms around her waist, causing her to stop bending over to clean and straighten up right into his embrace; he smiles and plants a kiss on her cheek.

"Not that I'm complaining but why the sudden embrace?" She leans back into him and closes her eyes.

"I was told not to let you get away, and this seems like a fairly good way to do that."

"Mhhmmm. True." She agrees leaning back into him "But you do realize that all I'd have to do to get out of this embrace right now is elbow you and I'd have you pinned in less than 2 seconds." He laughs into her hair and shakes his head.

"That's my girl." He whispers and she smiles. They both turned to the left and see two high ranking officers end their conversation and Sam sighs.

"I should probably go stop by and say hello to General Hastings before he is bombarded by someone else." he states a little annoyed at himself for ruining the moment as he pulls away from their embrace.

"Yeah, that would be the right thing to do." she concludes.

"Join me?" he holds out his hand for hers.

"In a minute" she promises "I'm just going to finish cleaning up here." she say gesturing to the mess in front of her. "Then I'm going call Jess real quick to make sure there isn't anything Sarah needs."

"Of course." he leans in and gives her a quick kiss before heading over towards Hastings.

"Samuel," the general smiles as he approaches "I was being to think I'd never get the chance to say hello to you, how are you?"

"I'm good Sir."

She walks into the house gently closing the door behind her. She spots Sam from across the room with Jules and she smiles, it's nice not having to worry about Sam all the time because she knows Jules will watch out for him but at the same time it's weird surrendering control over to Jules. It's not that she doesn't trust Jules, cause honestly she does, it's just taking care of Sam and making sure he's okay has been her job for the longest time and honestly she feels weird not being the main person to do it, it's almost like she forgetting to do something. She knows the feeling really has nothing to do with Jules and Sam but more herself and Matt. Jules taking care of Sam is proof that a lot has changed in the past 5 years. And she also knows that it's Matt that is a sign that she need to move on. But she can't, she accepted Matt's death a long time ago, but actually moving on from him? Well that's another story, she has tried once or twice before but it just wasn't the same, he was her one and done and to find love like that again…. Well she doesn't think it possible. And honestly she doesn't wants to.

"Jess, are you okay?" Chris words along with his gentile touch on her arm is enough to shake her from her thoughts as she turns her head back to face him.

"Huh? What-…Oh yeah sorry, I just spaced for a minute." She laughs shaking her head. Chris gives her a fake smile not buying it for a minute. He might not know her and be able to read her as well as Sam but Chris still works with her day in and day out on JTF2 and he can tell the difference between when she is zoning out and thinking about something. Looking for answer he turns his attention to where she was staring a second ago and spots Sam with his arms around Jules over by the food table.

"Ahhhh, Sam I see," he says putting the pieces together. "Feeling replaced?" he jokes and she snorts

"As if! I was just-" Jess starts but Chris puts his hand up to stop her

"You don't have to explain," he cuts her off "I know you guys are not like that, I know it's just your weird over protective ' he no longer my partner but I still think of him as my partner so I need to make sure he is ok' protective mode kicking in." Jess shakes her head smiling.

"You know, it's kind of sad how you know that." She replies amused and he shoots her a look.

"No what sad is that when psych evaluations came around and we had to word associations, when the doc said 'Partners' everyone on the team –except the rookies – answered with 'Sam and Jess'." She laughs.

"Touché"

"So what was on your mind?" he asks referring to when he caught her zoned out. She stares up at him, her eyes are full of thousand emotions, and he realizes she's put on the MW face aka the Matt Waterfelid face and he tenses. It doesn't happen often but occasionally she zones out and an event or action will make her think of Matt. It's not that she avoids talking about Matt, it's just the opposite, she talk about him all the time, but when she zone out like that normally her thoughts are much deeper than a typical conversation should hold. The guys finally realized what was going on after the first 4 times and agreed that it was better if they didn't question or call her out on it, makes it easier for her. If she wants to talk, she'll talk.

"Sorry I didn't realiz-" he's quick to apologize but she cuts him off.

"Don't worry about it" she waves him off, but he's still looks terrified that he did something wrong so she decides to elaborate. "Chris seriously it's all good, I was just thinking about how much things have changed since Sam meet Jules, how much he's changed, I mean seriously I know you guys all compare it to how Matt changed when we got together but honestly I don't remember Matt falling for me that hard." Chris snorts practically spitting out his drink.

"You're kidding right?" he is grinning ear to ear his face clearly amused. "You think Sam isn't just bad as Matt?" he laughs shaking his head, and she just glares at him. "Yeah, Okay. I'm not going to comment because A I don't feel like having you kick my ass and B if I started this argument we'd be here all night because theirs is no way I am wrong on this one."

"Whatever you say Mr. Know it all." she says in a mocking voice as a smile creeps its way across her face as they both break out laughing.

"Damn straight." he replies in between laughs, after they settled down Chris turns to his left and brings his drink up to his mouth but before he take a sip he makes a subtle gesture to the rookie on the other side of the room, he hasn't been with them long and the teams not convinced yet that he's going to last.

"So how long before he disappears?" she shoots him a glare that says 'leave the boy alone' but he doesn't falter. "Come on Jess, best guess." And she rolls her eyes.

"Are you ever going to grow up?" her tone is serious but the smile is making its way across her face is anything but and he raises his eye brow at her.

"Please, me grow up? Gezzzz Jess it's like you don't know me at all. I'm hurt really." she laughs and turns her head to where she last saw Jules only to not find her.

"My apologies Peter Pan" she Jokes "Hey did you see where Jules went?"

He scans the room but comes up empty.

"No sorry, what afraid she's run for the hills?" he jokes and she smiles.

"Yeah something like that….I'll be back I'm going to go see if I can find her" he nods.

"Tell her I said Hi." it sounds so sincere that she can't help but smile.

"I will" and with that she turns and scans the room and see's Sam talking to General Hastings. Well it's not Jules, but is a good place to start.

"So," the general states as he smiles at Sam "Still with the same girl I see, looks like you are finally settling down, I didn't think I'd see the day."

"Yeah." he can't help but smile when he talks about Jules. "She amazing, one hell of a shot two."

"So I've herd. You know, Jess speaks very highly of her."

"I'm glad." The general smiles, because he has seen what it's like when one of Sam girls and Jess don't get along, and it's not pretty. "Have you seen Jess at all?"

"Yes I was talking to her earlier but she left to go drop Sarah off at the hotel with her sister. Though I believe I saw her come in couple minutes ago." the general replies and Sam nods. There a pause in the conversation as they both debate what to say next. The general clears his throat and decides to approach the elephant in the room

"Are you ok Sam?" He may no longer be army but Sam will always be one of his own. It doesn't matter that Sam left 5 years ago and he got promoted to general, he will always feel like a sergeant when it comes to Sam and JTF-2. The feeling is mutual because he always going to be a sergeant to Sam and it probably because as Sargent Hastings felt the need to make sure his men were ok, used to play therapist, he would sit and talk with them about anything that was bothering them, Sam included which is probably why he feels so compelled to answer honestly.

"Yeah, It just doesn't seam real….I just can't believe Jason's gone…. I mean who would have thought of all the people to get caught in a freak accident…it feels like it's some sort of sick TV show…" Sam trails off not really sure what he is saying.

"Well that depends on if you believe that Jason's death was accidental." the general counters and Sam turns to him shocked. San drops his voice so there is no chance of people over hearing them.

"You think Jason's death was intentional?" it comes out as more of a statement than a question and the general stares at him, his way of confirming Sam's thoughts. "Then why didn't you inform the rest of JTF2?" he questions and the general sighs.

"Look I don't know anything for sure, Mister's won't confirm or deny anything and I don't want to miss lead JTF2." He says dropping his voice. "Look All I know is that a couple of months ago Jason came to me with questions, load of them pertaining to old cases, now officially I don't know anything more than that but I saw Jason in and out General Mister's office a lot lately and considering JTF2 only complete one operation for him while overseas, I'd say he was in there a lot. And as far as Mister's not telling JTF2 what happened, well I'd say Mister's isn't talking because he doesn't want Jess involved."

"Jess? What has she has to do with anything?" he asks confused.

"Everything," when Sam doesn't comment the general elaborates. "The cases Jason was asking about, all of them were Matt's" Sam nods, he understand the generals train of thoughts now. He thinks it ridiculous that they would hide it from her, but he understands. Jess was Matt's fiancée and Jason was a close friend and getting her involved with a case that has 2 major sore spots for her could spell trouble. But at the same time Jess in incredibly strong, stronger than anyone he has ever met before and if anyone could remain professional at time like this it's Jess. Hell she did it before when Matt died and the investigators wanted to play 20 questions, they tried everything and anything on her, they try to get her to admit it was his fault and when that failed they try to get her to say that Matt was shady that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time because he was a dirty solider working for the enemy, they tried to get her to admit anything that would allow the blame to not be on the military. But Jess was strong answered every question no matter how ridiculous, defend him, Matt, JTF2, everyone. She just kept repeating that it was no one's fault and that it was just a freak accident. She probably would have stayed all night and answered any and every one of their questions but after 3 hours Sarge and the rest of the team stepped in told them she told them everything she knew and got her the hell out of that room.

"Does Jess know?" it's an honest question, Jess isn't stupid and she is extreme good at reading people and she always seems to know when something is up.

"No, not that I'm aware of, and most likely Mister is going to want to keep it that way, but I could be wrong." Sam nods.

"If there is anything I can do to help-" Sam starts

"I'll drop General Mister's a hint" Hasting cut him off with a smile. "Speaking of Jess…"

Sam looks up just in time to see Jess make her way from next to Chris to across the room towards them.

"Hey sorry am I interrupting?" she asks scrunching her face in the adorable 'please don't kill me I'm cute' sort of way. And the two flash her a quick smile.

"No, not at all." Sam says smiling at her. "How's Sarah?" Jess's face drops slightly.

"She's ok, she back at the hotel with her sister. I'm going to go check on her again as soon as this is over."

"Jules and I will go with you." Jess looks like she about to protest but she stops herself, Sam isn't offering to be polite, he's offering because he won't feel better until he has checkup on Sarah himself.

"Yeah ok, I'll find you 2 before I leave." she concludes and the general lets out a dry laugh.

"You know you 2 have come a long way since I first met you two, when I first paired you up as partners I though Jess was going to bash your head in and hate your guts, I never would have though you too would be this close and accomplished so much."

"What," she says playfully "In the beginning you couldn't picture us as the best tag team JTF2 has seen in years with the fastest clearing and rescue time to date? Not to mention the countless long range missions complete without a hitch? Gezzz how could you?" She jokes bring up there track record that he loves to rub in their faces whenever there together, tells them if it wasn't for him that it wouldn't be the case. (Honestly she could care less about the statistics all she cares about is getting the job done while keeping her and her team safe.)

"But yeah, as far as hating Sam I can't really blame you there, After all he was one cocky, son of a bitch when I met him." she teases playfully jabbing him in the ribs. And Sam laughs and blocks her hands left and right as she tries to jab him again and again.

"Oh yeah, coming from little miss 'I'm not going to date a single guy here', how that work out for you?" he jokes get all up in her face. And she laughs

"Shut up."

Sam smiles because he just won, he will always win with that argument because it's true. She was adamant about not dating anyone from the trails, she was focus on her career and the last thing she need was the guys talking about how good she was in bed, she wanted to be taken seriously. He laughs because he can still remember Matt calling dibs on Jess the second they first laid eyes on her. (To be honest Matt having dibs was probably the only reason he didn't try and pick her up himself and thank god for that.) He can still remember Dave warning Matt to not try, that she was a spit ball of fire not to be messed with, that she was serious about not seeing anyone. For some reason Matt listened and respect that unlike most guys and didn't try to pick her up and the two became tight friends. Then somewhere down the line the lines burred and they became something, and 4 years later Matt put a ring on her left finger.

"Will you two ever grow up?" the general teases.

The both glare at him and he laughs light heartedly. His face become serious when he notices a fellow colleague enters the room. He sighs while he would love to stay and chat with Jess and Sam, that's not how it works.

"Yes, well not to be rude but General Mongomerson has just arrived, so I must be going, Take care." They both nod and say their respective goodbyes for they understand the military politics Hasting has to play now that he general and just like that he's off leaving Jess and Sam alone.

"Hey where is your girlfriend? I've been looking for her." Jess questions the second there alone as she looks around the room for Jules.

"Gezz Jess can you at least say hi to me and pretend to care about my well-being before you deem me unimportant and ask for my girlfriend?" he jokes.

"You know what you're totally right, I'm sorry Sam" she says with surgery sweetness in her voice. "Hi Sam, how your day going? Oh, Sam darling" she says bating her eyes at him as she place her hand on his shoulder "I couldn't help but notice Jules was not with you, would you happen to know her location?" she's grinning and her face is full of amusement as he narrows his eyes.

"Smart ass." he says as a smile works its way across his lips "You think you're funny."

"No, I know I'm funny." she says smiling he laughs and shakes his head.

"She said she was going clear the table over there then call you to see if Sarah need anything, but obviously she hasn't called you yet so if I had to take a guess I'd she probably got rope into conversation with someone from JTF2 when she went to throw that stuff away."

"Well than, we should go find her." she turns to leave but he grabs her arm halting her movements.

"Yeah we should but in a sec, I've haven't been able to talk to you all night, how are you holding up?" he concern is sincere but it is just the exact conversation she wanted to avoid. Jess closes her eyes and sighs.

"Sam." her tone is mixed between complaining and warning.

"No Jess I don't care, I'll have this conversation in front of Jules if that what it comes to." she tugs her arm forward about to protest but Sam keeps his grip and continues looking her in the eyes. "I promised him."

And she sighs because she can't argue there, Matt made Sam promise to look out for her if something were to happen, it wasn't a hard promise to make,he'd do it naturally but it's the one promise that he hasn't broken in all this time and he be damned if he starts now.

"I'm ok." she states and he relaxes his grip "I was pretty shaken up earlier; I didn't expect Jason to die while we were home, but I'm ok now really." He stares her down for another 10 seconds before he decides she is telling the truth and lets her arm go.

"Go find Jules?" he asks.

"You read my mind."

"Thank you" Sam says it as she taking off her earrings and Jules glances up through the mirror to look at him.

"For what?"

"For being here," she places the earring in the jewelry case and turns to walk toward him as he continues staring at her with such love rooted in his spot next to the bed. "For being perfect…for being you."

His voice cracks at the end as she grabs his face with her hands as he rests his forehead on hers. She knows how hard all of this is on him and she is glad to be here for him.

"There's no place I'd rather be." She says and he leans down to capture her lips. After a minute he pulls back.

"You sure about that?" a grin runs across his face "Cause I thought there for a while you were going to leave with Jess and I was going to have the whole bed to myself, which wouldn't make for a very fun night." She lightly slaps his chest.

"Yeah well that's your fault; you don't let me see her enough." He snorts.

"Yeah cause it's my fault her job takes her 50,000 miles away and keeps her away from home for 9 months out of the year"

"Yes. Yes it is." she jokes but then turns serious "I'm glad you're at home with me…. I don't what I do if you weren't home for 9 months out of the year…..I'm just glad I don't ever have to find out" He brings his arms up and wrap them around her.

"Yeah, I'm glad those days are behind me too, I don't think I could handle being away from you for nine months" he whispers in her ear and she leans up to kiss him. As the kiss become more heated he guides her back to the bed to show her just how much he dose love her.

End notes: I Know not a lot of Jules and Sam in this chapter, please be patient with me! Please review I'd love to know your thoughts.