Wordy frowned, grabbed Sam's vest and shook him. "Sam?" He looked up at the concerned faces of the team. "Where's the medic?!"

Three seconds later the medic appeared and they started to remove Sam's gear. Ed secured Sam's weapons and Wordy took care of his vest and the rest of his gear. When the medic cut the leg of Sam's pants and revealed his left knee they all groaned. He had wrapped his knee, but it was so swollen that it was bursting out of the wrap in several places. It was even worse when they removed the wrap and everyone could see how black and blue his knee was.

"What the hell?" Wordy looked at Greg and Ed as they stood back and let the medics work.

Ed's blue eyes were dark with anger. "How could he not tell us?" It was obvious that this had been brewing before he and Mrs. Frost's tumble, he already had it wrapped.

"He kept saying he was fine, damn him." Wordy said in disgust. He saw that the medics had Sam on the gurney and followed them out. The rest of the team followed.

"We'll debrief later." Greg said to them as they walked out. He made sure the unis were cleaning up the scene and got in the SUV next to Ed. He turned his receiver off and nodded to Ed. "He already had it wrapped."

"It must've happened during the training, but why wouldn't he say anything? We asked him. Yesterday, today, we even told him he could take the day off if he needed it." Ed shook his head in anger.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out." Greg said angrily.

They arrived at the hospital to find Wordy pacing in the waiting room.

"Did he wake up at all?" Jules asked concern in her eyes.

Wordy shook his head, hands on his hips. "They gave him pain meds, but he wouldn't wake up."

An hour later, the doctor came out and addressed the group. He had dealt with them all before for their various injuries so he knew it was ok to share information about his patient with them. "Sam is resting comfortably right now. We have him on pain meds to manage his pain, which was pretty excruciating, even with what the medics gave him on the way in.

We did an x-ray and MRI. There wasn't anything broken, but unfortunately it looks like he's torn a ligament. The good news is that doesn't require surgery right away. Most patients are able to heal without it. He'll need to stay off of it completely for the next few days, ice it, wear a compression sleeve and keep it elevated. He can go back to work on Monday, but he'll need to wear a brace and no running, light duty only. We'll get him discharged soon. One of you can come sit with him while we get his papers in order."

"Thanks doc." Greg smiled at him and shook his hand.

"That's good right?" Spike asked.

"As long as he takes it easy, yeah." Lew put a hand on Spike's shoulder.

"Oh that'll be easy." Jules said sarcastically.

"Look, he needs to be somewhere that he doesn't have to worry about stairs. I have a spare room downstairs so I'll take him to my house for the next four days. The girls will love having Uncle Sam around." Wordy offered. He had already called Shel and they had agreed. Plus, he knew that this had happened during training and he was pretty sure it was when legs had connected with Sam's as he fell. It was his fault.

Jules put a hand on Wordy's back and nodded. She could see he was feeling guilty.

Wordy looked at each of them and saw them nod in agreeance. He nodded and walked into the ER. He walked into Sam's room and sat down angrily. "Why Sam? Why did you hide it?"

Sam opened his eyes groggily when Wordy entered and watched him sit hard in the chair. "I'm sorry. I thought I could handle it." Sam looked away, unable to see Wordy's angry face.

"When?" Wordy asked.

"Training."

"When you swept my legs. I knew I hit you but I didn't think it was that hard." Wordy frowned. When Sam shrugged he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize, but that doesn't excuse you keeping us in the dark and lying to us."

"I didn't lie, exactly." Sam looked at Wordy and saw his skeptical look. "I told you I was sore. That was true. I just left out the part about my knee being really sore."

"Yeah well you could've really hurt yourself and then where would you be?" Wordy said irritably, although he was starting to understand Sam's need to be superman all the time. He was a protector of others, never of himself.

"Still here in the ER getting yelled at." Sam smirked.

"Yeah," Wordy scoffed, "this is nothing. Wait until Ed and the Boss get a hold of you."

Wordy was right. When he wheeled Sam into the ER waiting area, he was met with relieved, but angry teammates.

"Don't you ever lie to me again Samuel Braddock." Ed seethed.

"I'm sorry, but I never denied being sore, I just said I thought I'd be fine." Sam said. The pain meds were starting to wear off and he was thinking more clearly.

"You put this team at risk Sam and that is not ok. We have to be able to count on each other and your behavior put that at risk." Greg added. "How do we know we can trust you? How do we know when you aren't lying?"

Sam frowned. Whoa, he didn't think this would be this serious. "Wait a minute. I put the team before myself here. I was there for all of you today. I was Sierra, I took on Mrs. Frost, I chased that guy to the back of the bank. And now you don't know if you can trust me?"

Ed nodded while Sam was talking. He had to diffuse the situation. This was starting to get out of hand. "He's right. He was here for us." He looked at Wordy, Lew, Jules, Spike and Greg, each nodded in agreement. "We just need to know that you're going to tell us when you're injured Sam. You can't keep that from us. Especially me. I'm the team lead, I need to know so I can put people where they need to be. For you, that's going to be the truck for the next couple weeks until you have another MRI."

Sam nodded. "I know." He conceded. "I'm sorry."

There was a strained silence as they all processed their thoughts on the situation.

"We accept." Jules smiled, breaking the silence. "Macho man."

"Macho macho man! I want to be, a macho man!" Spike sung and everyone laughed.

Wordy wheeled Sam to the SUV and helped Sam inside while Lew pulled from the other side so Sam's legs were on the seat and he was sitting sideways.

The next four days for Sam were relaxing, but frustrating. Even though he was insistent they don't, Wordy and Shelly waited on him hand and foot. They moved him back and forth between the couch and spare bedroom with ease. They even brought in a shower chair so he could take a much needed shower without having to stand.

The girls were really cute and even got in on waiting on him. When Lilly got home from kindergarten at noon, she went right to Sam in the living room and asked if he needed anything. She even convinced Sam to play tea party with her a couple times. Then Allie and Holly would get home and they would run into the living room to see how Uncle Sam was and to tell him about their day. One night Shelly and Wordy found Sam and the girls asleep, cuddled together with Lily on his chest, Holly on one side and Allie on the other. It was so cute that Shelly got her camera and took a picture.

On day four, Sam woke up and realized that his knee wasn't hurting as much this morning. That had to be a good sign, he thought. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and planted his feet firmly on the floor. He pushed himself up with a grunt and stood on his own for the first time in four days. He picked up his left leg and planted it in front of him. He tested it slowly, putting a little weight on it at a time until he had his full weight on it.

He moved his right leg forward and felt a little twinge in his left knee but nothing too bad. He looked up and saw Wordy watching him from the door. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was leaning against the door jamb. He took three more steps towards Wordy and smiled. It felt pretty good. He slept with the compression sleeve on and it seemed to be helping. He kept his right foot planted and swung his left while he pivoted. He put his left foot forward and stepped, pain shot through his leg in both directions. "Damn." Sam breathed and put his weight back on his right leg.

Wordy stepped forward and put an arm around Sam before he could fall. "That's a start." He smiled as he helped Sam to the bathroom. When they came back out, Wordy looked at Sam and then back at the floor as they walked slowly to the bed. "Listen, you're still not very mobile so Shel and I discussed it and we think you should stay with us for a while longer. You're going to need rides into work. It'll be easier and it'll make us feel better knowing you aren't going to try to go up and down the stairs at your apartment."

At first, Sam was shaking his head. He loved being with Wordy, Shel and the girls, but he wanted to be in his own place. He considered Wordy's explanation as to why he should stay. He would need rides and he would need help for a while longer. He hated to admit it, but it was probably a good idea. He knew he could argue Wordy out of it, but Shelly was another story. "Ok, but only for a few more days. Just until I'm able to walk more normally."

"Ok." Wordy agreed.

"Good!" Shelly smiled from the doorway, holding a cup of coffee and an iced cap for Sam.

"Yay!" Three little girls cheered from behind their mom.

Sam laughed. "Come here silly girls." He looked around Shelly's legs at the three, messy haired, beautiful little girls. They ran screaming to him and tackled him onto the bed.

"Careful of Uncle Sam's leg." Wordy laughed as the three girls wrapped themselves around Sam and fell to the bed in a heap.

Sam laughed and looked at Allie on his left, mischief in his eyes. "Better watch out.."

All three girls stiffened, looked at Sam and then each other.

"You have awakened, the SAM MONSTER!" Sam contorted his face and snarled. His hands turned to claws and he wriggled back and forth as the girls screamed and backed away from him. He sat up and turned crazy eyes on each of them. "Which one of you awakened the Sam Monster?"

"I did!" Lilly laughed and got on her knees, ready to scramble from the bed. She knew what was coming. The Sam Monster was the most infamous tickle monster there was.

"No I did!" Holly laughed and got on her knees.

Sam looked at Allie and laughed when she shook her head and said, "I didn't." He lunged for Allie and tickled her belly while she erupted in giggles. He saw her shirt go up and her bare belly. He went in for the ultimate tickle, he blew raspberries all over her stomach.

"Aaaah! Uncle Sam!" Allie giggled and laughed until Sam looked at her.

"You said the magic words and defeated the Sam Monster." Sam looked at her with amazement. He turned to Holly and raised a brow, "or has she?" He turned to them and started tickling them until they were squealing with laughter. After they finally collapsed in a tickled out pile, Ssam's hair was sticking up in all directions.

Shelly took a picture just as Sam looked up at them with a dazed and contented look on his face. They both laughed. "Ok girls." Shelly called. "The tickle session has ended. How about some pancakes for breakfast?"

All three girls jumped up and yelled happily as they left the room.

"You need any help?" Wordy asked when Sam sat up.

Sam looked at Wordy with admiration. "You're so lucky. Those girls and Shelly," he gave Wordy a smile.

"I know, believe me." Wordy looked to the left and watched his wife and children walk to the kitchen. He looked back at Sam. "You'll have this some day, if that's what you want."

"It is." Sam nodded. He just had to convince the girl of his dreams to date him first.

"Just gotta find Mrs. Right first." Wordy smiled.

"Yeah." Sam raised his brows. He stood and slowly made his way to the bathroom to shower. He grabbed his shaving kit on the way.

"You good?" Wordy asked.

Sam nodded. He was. He was glad that Wordy had offered to let him stay longer. He knew it would be good for him to spend more time with this family he was growing to love.

Four days later, Sam was back in his apartment. He was waking even better now and the MRI showed that the tear was healing well. He had to wear the brace for another week, but he should be back to full strength by then. Ed had even let him be Sierra One yesterday, but that was only after they knew he could take the elevator up and down to his perch.

The team had been very conscious of Sam's movements and made sure he was ok. It had actually started to annoy Sam, but he took it in stride. He knew that meant they cared and that was a very good thing. The best part was several days later when he walked into the SRU and found everyone gathered around Wordy who was showing them pictures. "New pictures of the girls?" Sam hitched his chin at Wordy.

Wordy smiled and looked down at the pictures. "Sort of." He turned the first picture over and showed Sam sleeping peacefully with the girls on and around him.

"Aww." Jules, Lew and Spike sighed.

Sam gave them a lopsided grin and took the picture from Wordy. He smiled bigger as he looked at the sweet scene.

"And this one." Wordy held up the one of Sam and the three girls in a pile of smiles, legs and arms. Sam was looking at the camera with a hilarious look on his face and his hair was sticking up all over the place.

"That's a good look for you." Jules laughed.

Sam laughed as he took the picture from Wordy. "The fearsome foursome." He looked at Jules with amusement then ran both hands through his hair rapidly and in all directions making it stand up everywhere which made her and everyone laugh. "But now I can't wear the helmet. It'll mess up my 'do." He complained.

"It may improve it." Spike laughed as they started walking towards the locker rooms. Sam stopped and turned back to the desk.

Spike and Lew stopped and watched Sam get tape from Winnie and then catch up with them. They walked into the locker room and Sam went straight for his locker, unlocked and opened it and taped the two pictures to his locker door. He smiled as he pulled his shirt over his head and changed into his workout gear. He walked into the workout room with his hair still sticking up everywhere. He didn't care, it was one of the great moments of his life and he was going to cherish it.

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AN: So that concludes my first one shot that actually turned into a three shot. LOL. Hope you enjoyed it and keep the fic requests coming! I love it! Thanks again for reading and reviewing! It makes my day!

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