I'm glad you guys liked my last upload and I apologize for any physical and/or emotional damage caused by the thought of Sam dying. My bad, but y'all should know by now that Sam is my dude and I would never actually kill him. Remember that! (:

This is a tag of sorts to my previous story While You Were Gone, so if you've read that one, this is the story of how Sam (and Team One) found out that Sam was going back overseas AND it's somewhat inspired by kenyancougar's story Recall.

Enjoy!

*italics are thoughts*


The One with the Recall

Sam was the first member of Team One to arrive for their pre-shift workout, as has been his MO for the recent weeks. He always liked to come in an hour or so before the others and workout a little on his own, a workout before the workout.

Sam was in great shape, there was no denying that, so the other members of Team One were confused as to why he always did the double workout. Ed and Greg had both assured him that it wasn't necessary, thinking it might have something to do with his soldier background, but Sam shrugged it off. All his life he was taught that he needed to be the best. He needed to be ready, both physically and mentally, for whatever could come his way. He had to be ready to protect and defend his team and his country. It was one of the few things his father had forcefully instilled in him that Sam was continually thankful for.

...

Sam had only been in the gym for maybe 5 minutes when Ben, the night dispatcher, came to the door and got his attention. "Hey Sam?"

At the uneasiness heard in Ben's voice, Sam put the dumbbells he was using down and looked at Ben. "What's up, Ben?"

"Um, General Braddock is here to see you. He says it's crucial that he speaks to you and that he's not leaving until he does."

Several emotions coursed through Sam at that moment, but the main one was annoyance. Why is he here?! What's so important that he had to come to the SRU to tell me?

"Thanks Ben. Is the briefing room empty?" Sam asked, putting his dumbbells back on the rack. At Ben's nod Sam smiled, hoping to comfort the uncomfortable looking dispatcher. Sam felt bad for the guy. Sam's relationship with his father, or that there lack of, and the turmoil that usually followed an encounter between the two was common knowledge in the SRU and, rare as it was, no one particularly liked it when the General showed up.

"Great. Tell the General I'll meet him in there shortly. Thanks Ben."

Ben nodded and left the gym to go and relay the message to the waiting General.

Shortly after Ben led the General to the briefing room, Sam arrived and closed the doors behind him-separating the rest of the SRU from the explosion that was bound to happen with the two Braddock men in the same room.

...

Fifteen minutes later, Ben and the members of Team Two were the (not so) lucky ones to witness the aftermath of Sam's meeting with the General. The briefing room doors opened with such force it's a miracle they didn't break. A visibly angry Sam stormed out of the room and headed straight towards the locker room and the gun cage, not bothering to look at anyone else. The General left just as sternly as Sam did, though he had a smug smile on his face.

No one knew where Sam had gone off too, and they weren't sure that going to look for him was a good decision, but the distinct sound of targets at the gun range being shot by a high-powered rifle could be heard in the distance and they knew that Sam was taking his anger and frustration out on the targets.

They didn't know what went down during Sam's meeting with his father, but from what they heard from the shooting range, the members of Team Two knew that whatever went down wasn't good.

...

By the time the rest of Team One made it to the Barn, Sam had still not returned from the shooting range. They saw that his locker had been opened, so they knew he was in the building somewhere, but when they made it to the gym Sam was nowhere to be found.

Ed made his way over to the weight bench and put his water bottle and towel down. "Anyone seen Sam yet?"

Wordy, Spike and Jules all shook their heads as they headed to their different workout stations. Greg was the last member to join the team in the gym. He noticed his missing team member as well, but having heard Ed's question and the response from the others, he decided not to ask as well. Checking his watch, he decided to give Sam five minutes to show up for work out before other measures would be taken.

...

There was less than two minutes left for Sam to show up for work out and he was still nowhere to be seen. Greg was about to send Spike and Jules out to find Sam when Team Four's Sergeant Troy walked past the gym in his civilian clothes ready to go home. Noticing that Team One was in the gym—and their youngest and blondest member was not—Troy stopped.

"Hey guys," he called as he entered the gym. "Sam's not back yet?"

Greg, Ed, Wordy, Spike and Jules all stopped their workouts to turn and look at Troy.

Greg climbed off the exercise bike he was using. "You've seen Sam today?"

"Yeah," Troy said. "He showed up early, like he always does."

"Well, where'd he go?" Ed asked, crossing his arms. "He couldn't have left; his stuff is still in his locker."

Troy sighed, already anticipating the reaction Team One would have to what he was about to tell them. "Just a few minutes after he arrived this morning, General Braddock showed up. He said it was critical that he speak to Sam and that he wasn't leaving until he did. Sam agreed to talk to him and they went into the briefing room. Fifteen minutes later, Sam stormed out of the room and the General left with a smug smile on his face. Sam went straight to the shooting range and, as far as I know, he's been there ever since."

"Do you know what their conversation was about?" Wordy asked, concerned at his teammate's reaction.

"No, but you guys know more about Sam's relationship with his dad than I do. You guys know, better than anyone, that things never end well when they get together."

"Thanks Troy," Greg called over his shoulder.

He, Ed, Wordy, Spike and Jules all rushed out of the gym and headed towards the shooting range, hoping to find Sam there.

They were in luck; Sam was still there, but the visible tension in his body let them all know that Sam's emotions were still not under control.

The members of Team One watched their sniper for a moment as each of his rapid-fire shots hit their mark.

When Sam ran out of ammo and had to reload, Ed stepped forward. "I think the target's done for Samo, no need to keep shooting it," Ed joked, hoping to lighten the mood.

Sam said nothing; he didn't even acknowledge Ed or the rest of the team's presence. Sam reloaded his gun and continued massacring his target with bullets.

Sharing a concerned look with the rest of the team, Jules stepped forward. Carefully approaching Sam, Jules waited until he stopped to reload again before she put a hand on his arm.

At Jules' touch, Sam stopped reloading his gun. He didn't look at her or anyone else, and the tension in his body was still clearly visible, but he had at least stopped the shooting.

"Sam? What's going on?" Jules asked once she was sure Sam was at least somewhat listening to her. "Troy said your father was here...?"

Everyone heard Sam scoff at the mention of his father. Placing his gun on the shelf in front of him and crossing his arms tight across his chest, Sam turned to face his team. They were shocked into silence at the overwhelming mix of emotions they say in Sam's eyes: anger, hatred, sorrow and perhaps the most alarming, fear.

"Sam?" Ed asked, practically demanding his rookie continue speaking and tell them what happened.

Knowing his team and, specifically his team leader, Sam knew they wouldn't let up until he told the what happened."Not now. Not here."

"Sam," Wordy added in this time.

"Look. I WILL tell you, all of you, but not here." Sam said as he ran his hands down his face. "Meet me in the briefing room in about 5 minutes; I need to get Commander Holleran."

Sam walked out of the shooting range leaving a dumbstruck and concerned Team One behind him.

Shaking off the stupor this whole situation with Sam had left them in, Greg, Ed, Wordy, Spike and Jules all left the shooting range and headed for the briefing room. As they walked, each one was lost in their thoughts, trying to figure out what possibly could've happened between Sam and his dad to make him act like this; they didn't know what it was, but they knew it couldn't have been good.

Entering the briefing room, Sam and Commander Holleran had not yet arrived.

Settling in around the conference table, the members of Team One were so distracted thinking about the upcoming meeting that they were completely oblivious to Sam and Commander Holleran entering the room.

The only thing that snapped them out of it was the sound of the briefing room door closing. Seeing that both Sam and Commander Holleran had finally joined them, everyone turned in their chairs to face Sam, waiting for him to begin.

The room was silent for a few minutes. It was obvious to everyone that Sam was trying his absolute hardest to reign in his emotions and he was fighting to stay in control and it made their hearts hurt.

After a while, when he had gotten ahold of his emotions, Sam took a deep breath and looked out at the group of people that had become his family. "As you all know by now, the General stopped by early this morning, requesting to talk to me and refusing to leave until his request was met," Sam started, hoping to get everything out while he had the courage to do so and his emotions were under control. "I agreed to see him, if only to make him leave. I figured that he wanted to talk about what he ALWAYS wants to talk about—me leaving SRU and going back to the military where I can, quote, 'go back to making a difference'".

Sam's last comment brought on several scoffs and eye rolls from not only the members of Team One, but Commander Holleran as well. Holleran knew first-hand how stubborn General Braddock could be.

"This time was different though—way different." Sam continued, taking another deep breath. This was the hard part. "Apparently there is a special clause in JTF2 contracts—a recall clause—that states any member of Special Forces, past or present, active duty or not, can be called back to full active duty if their specific skill set is needed for a mission of absolute importance for up to five years past their discharge date…"

As Sam continued to speak, recognition dawned across the faces of Team One and Commander Holleran and their hearts dropped into their stomachs.

"My old unit and another unit within the JTF2 have been working a specific, highly classified mission for the past two months, trying to take down a big-name target. As always, they got the job done and the mission was declared a success—almost."

"What does 'almost' mean?" Spike asked from his seat.

"Not everyone that went on the mission came back." Sam answered, making eye contact with Spike before looking away. "There were a few that were taken prisoner by a radical insurgent group that's been causing problems for months now. The rescue and retrieval of these men has been classified as top priority. The General, along with the higher-ups in JTF2, is assembling a unit filled with the 'best of the best' to do the rescue."

"Were the men taken from your old unit?" Wordy asked sympathetically.

"No, thankfully." Sam said, a hint of relief in his voice. "But there are still soldiers being held prisoner that need to be rescued. The General wants it done sooner rather than later."

"And he came to talk to you because…" Ed asked, dreading the answer he suspected Sam was about to give.

The dark shroud that covered Sam when they found him in the shooting range returned full force and covered him again. "Because apparently," Sam almost spat out, "the other 50+ snipers currently still in active duty aren't good enough to go on the mission, which is wrong and insulting because I helped train most of them and I know how good they are. The General always gets what he wants and he somehow managed to convince the CCA that it was absolutely necessary and crucial to the mission that the recall clause in my contract be activated."

Sam seemed to almost deflate as he continued talking. Sinking down in the chair at the head of the table, he delivered the news every member of Team One feared he would. "I'm going back to Kandahar."

No one knew what to say; they were all various mixtures of shocked, upset, angry, confused, so many emotions.

For several minutes, the briefing room was silent.

Suddenly, Ed rose from his chair quickly and slammed his hands down on the table. "Dammit Sam, he can't do this to you!"

"Yes he can," Sam said quietly. "The CCA ruled in his favor."

"I get that rescuing POWs is a big deal, but why do you have to go back?" Spike asked, confused as to why his friend had to go back to that hell hole. "You said yourself that there are plenty of other snipers in Special Forces that you trained yourself, so I know they're good..."

Sam smiled slightly at Spike's compliment, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Thanks Spike, but it's more than that. The soldiers that were taken were from one of JTF2's recon units. That unit's sole purpose is to go on covert assignments and gather much needed information not only on our enemies, but other JTF2 units as well...unofficially of course."

"So these guys know things that other units don't?" Greg asked, trying to understand the whole situation.

"Right, and that little bit of information was all the General had to pitch to the CCA to get what he wanted; me back in the military."

"There isn't anything you can do?" Jules asked, hoping for a miracle. She had been quiet throughout the entire conversation, trying to wrap her head around the thought of the man she loved having to go back into a warzone.

Sam shook his head. "No. I have my orders and I ship out in three days."

"They're not giving you any time to train with your unit?!" Wordy asked, shocked.

"Any training we need will be done once we touch down in the desert. To my knowledge, the other members in the unit are all being plucked from active units for the sake of this mission. I'm the only one they're bringing back."

"Does that not sound suspicious to you?!" Ed asked, raging at what the General was putting his own son through.

"Of course it does! The General's been waiting for an opportunity like this to get me back in the Army since I left! I wouldn't be surprised if he ordered those soldiers to be taken prisoner just to have something that warrants me being recalled; the guy's an ass, that's not new information!" Sam raged before collapsing back in his chair and rubbing his hands over his face. Quieter than before, he continued speaking. "I can't believe this is happening."

The hearts of Team One and Commander Holleran broke at the sight of Sam looking so broken. No one knew what they could say to make this easier because honestly, they were having trouble coming to terms with and accepting it as well.

Commander Holleran was the first person to break the newfound silence and approach Sam. He put a comforting hand on his shoulder and waited to speak until Sam looked at him. "Do what you need to do and WHEN you come back, your spot on Team One will be waiting for you."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome. Take care of yourself over there Sam."

Sam nodded and Commander Holleran left the room, leaving the members of Team One alone in the briefing room.

As much as they wanted to stay in the comfort of the briefing room and have time to process the gigantic bomb dropped on them by Sam and General Braddock, duty called. Their shift had not started yet and although Holleran had offered to have another team take their shift, Sam wanted to work and do the job he loved for as long as he could before he had to leave again. He wanted to spend as much time with his team, his family, as he could.

...

Three days later, all of Team One stood on the tarmac with Sam, watching as the military transport plane that would take him away prepped for takeoff.

The past few days had been a blur for Sam. Between work, packing, and making sure things at home would be taken care of while he was gone, he was exhausted and just wanted this nightmare to end.

A uniformed soldier over by the plane waved Sam forward, telling him it was time to go. Sam nodded back at him and turned to face his team and sighed. He hated goodbyes. "I have to-"

Before Sam could even finish what he was saying, Jules surged forward and hugged him fiercely. Sam hugged her back just as tightly; he could feel her tears staining his shirt.

"You better come back." Jules said quietly. Then, even quieter, she added, "I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you so you NEED to come back."

Sam closed his eyes and laid his head down on hers for a moment before opening his eyes and looking at her. "I promise."

Jules let him go and moved back, letting the other members of Team One in for a hug. They all said things similar to Jules, equally as heartfelt just not as romantic.

Ed was the last person to hug Sam. When he pulled away, he looked Sam in the eyes and spoke in a voice that booked no arguments. "You were wrong you know."

At Sam's confused look, Ed continued. "A few days ago, when you said the General always gets what he wants? You were wrong, because if that was the truth, you wouldn't be in the SRU and you wouldn't be working towards and helping make a difference. You will ALWAYS be the one thing the General got wrong and I am SO thankful for that."

Sam smiled, thankful for this particular, special relationship that had formed throughout the years. "Thanks Ed. That means more than you know."

Ed smiled. "You're welcome. Now, go get the job done in Samtastic fashion and when you get back, there will be a new course record for you to beat."

Sam laughed. "I look forward to breaking it."

Before anyone could say anything else, a voice shouted from the back of the plane. "Braddock! Let's go!"

Sam sighed. He gave one final goodbye before turning and walking towards the plane.

...

The members of Team One watched as their teammate and friend boarded the plane. As it took off, they were all left holding on to the promise that Sam had made them—the promise that he would come back.

Leaving the airstrip, Jules couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

She was right.


*CCA- Commander of the Canadian Army (I don't know if it's a real thing or not. I saw it in another story on here and decided to go with it.)*

The End!

Read While You Were Gone if you want to know what happens to Sam!

Sorry these updates are taking so long to get up! Working early mornings has me pretty busy (and exhausted, let's be real) but I'm trying my hardest to get these up for you guys as soon as I can!

I hope you enjoyed!