Disclaimer: I don't own flashpoint

Chapter 3

It took a couple minutes for Sam to bring himself to turn on the tv, it was unnerving to think everyone was talking about him. Honestly he didn't really understand why. Shouldn't they be talk about his uncle, the president, or his dad, the chairman of the joint chiefs, or for gods sake at the very least they should be talking about his dead family members. Sure his family had died and he was related to some influential people, but besides from that he was just an SRU officer; well, he used to be an SRU officer…

Turning on the tv, he flipped to one of the news channels, and there it was CNN breaking news. There was a picture of his family, it was from a camping trip, how did they even get that? In the picture he looked to be four or five on top of his uncle's shoulders laughing. His sisters were there too, Natalie couldn't be more than two or three, and his other sister was only a baby in his mother's arms. At the sight of his family, all staring at him, smiling, he felt tears start to stream down his face, "What are you doing?" Sam jumped and looked over to the doorway. His aunt was standing there hands on hips. "Sam Nathaniel Braddock, turn that off right now," Sam felt like a little boy again as he switched off the tv, and looked back at his aunt feeling guilty.

"I just wanted—"

The glare his aunt gave him shut him up immediately, "you don't need to be watching that, in fact, you should not be watching that," his aunt was still giving him her scary glare.

"Auntie—"

"Don't auntie me," she huffed, "this is Kelly O'Neal," shit that was humiliating, there he was crying like a baby, having his aunt yell at him, while a pretty girl was watching.

Sam quickly wiped his eyes, "uhhh… hi, I'm Sam."

"Yeah, I know," said the pretty women. God she was gorgeous, she had long blonde hair, blue eyes, and had dimples. Wow.

"Sorry, right. Guess I'm gonna have to get used to that," Sam whispered the last part, not particularly happy about the idea. "So…umm…what's up?" he still didn't understand why this girl was here.

"Sam, I want that remote," his aunt declared, using her no nonsense tone.

"What? Why?"

"You know why."

"Auntie, I can still use the tv without a remote," Sam couldn't help himself, he just had to open his big mouth.

His Aunt just glared at him, and he found himself sidling over and handing her the remote. He thought about crossing his arms, but god he already felt like a child. "So…"

"You and Kelly are going on a tour of The White House, I thought Tom told you."

"He said something about it…"

"Well then, why aren't you ready?"

"I…sorry, I was just calling a few friends—"

"Well then we'll wait. There are clothes in the dressers and one of the staff just went out to get you some more. You'll need a suit for… well, for the funeral."

"Okay, I'll just go get ready." Sam found jeans, a sweater, and some underwear in the dresser, turning his back on the two women and he walked into the bathroom, making sure to lock the door. His aunt had a habit of forgetting the meaning of privacy. Whenever he tried to explain it to her, she just looked at him like he was crazy and told him she used to change his diapers; that was always an image.

When he finished washing up, he pulled on the fresh clothes, grateful for clothes that didn't stink of sweat, and unlocked the door. Sure enough both women were waiting for him right outside. "Okay, ready when you are," he said to Kelly, trying to ignore his aunt, who he knew was inspecting his clothes. Sam always dressed for comfort, which always seemed to irritate his aunt.

"Sweetie don't you have anything else to wear?"

Sam sighed, "nope, sorry."

"Okay, well the new clothes are on their way, so I suppose…"

Sam gave his aunt a peck on the cheek, and looked to Kelly to lead the way.

"Well… Sam what do you want to see first?"

They circled the White House for an hour, and the only good part about the experience was that he only had one secret service agent trailing him the whole time, he never realized just how large the White House really was. "Well, that just about it," Kelly said finally, "unless there's anything else you'd like to see."

"Uhh, no I'm good, but can we get something to eat. I'm dying, don't tell my aunt though, she wouldn't want me to spoil my dinner."

"Well we could go to the mess…"

"Okay lead the way," Sam said with a smile. It turned out going to the mess was a bad idea, a bad bad bad idea.

When they first got there everything was okay. The got a few stares from the White House staffers, but otherwise, it was nice. He got some coffee and a cookie. They were sitting there for a couple minutes when the first White House reporter spotted him, and from there it was total chaos. The reporters went from one to twenty in the blink of an eye and all of a sudden he were surrounded by people all asking him questions. Sam thought he was going to throw up.

"Sam how are you feeling?"

"Sam why are you here?"

"Sam are you worried for you're safety?"

"Sam how close were you to you're sister?"

The questions came raining down on him, and suddenly he was feeling extremely overwhelmed.

"Kelly, I need to get out of here." Apparently Sam's secret service agent was one step ahead of him.

"Back off people, now. Don't make me ask you again." The secret service agent grabbed Sam's wrist and all but dragged him out of the mess hall.

"I knew that was going to be a bad idea. Shit," the agent sighed, "Agent Samuels to command. We had an incident in the mess, bringing Houdini back to residence now…copy."

"Really I'm fine, you don't need to make a big deal of it." In other words, Sam didn't want his uncle to find out and have him locked in his room.

"Kid you're as white as a sheet, and honestly what happened in there isn't acceptable."

"Yeah, but, I'm fine. No harm no foul."

The agent huffed and then smiled, "worried about you're uncle?"

"Uhh, yeah. This morning I…I could go anywhere and do anything now…now I'm stuck here, being treated like some porcelain doll. I mean I've been to war, I'm a cop; this is ridicules. I mean… I get it, I understand this is for my own good, but… god, now I can't even get some coffee without…"

"I get it, kid, but I still have to tell you're uncle," the agent said the last part with a smile.

"You're gonna rat me out. Dude, no one likes a tattle tale," Sam said jokingly.

"Yeah well, you know how it is, for the right price people will do anything."

"So if I gave you some hush money…I don't have much, but name you're price."

"Sorry no can do," the agent laughed.

"Okay, fine, you're loyal, I can respect that, but at the very least, let's leave my aunt out of this."

The agent laughed again, "what are you kidding me and get on the first lady's bad side. God, that's one scary thought. I mean getting the president angry is one thing, but getting the first lady mad, well, let's just say, that's suicidal."

"Yeah, I know. Been there done that," Sam said, only half joking. He really had felt the full wrath of the first lady, and his backside would never forget it.

True to his work, the freaking secret service agent ratted Sam out as soon as they got to the residence, and then made a run for it.

"Sam what were you thinking?"

"I…I was thinking I really wanted some coffee. I don't know, I—I don't know how to live like this. It was…I mean people have found out about my dad and Uncle Tom before, but it was never like that. I mean they…I don't understand why people are so interested in me all of a sudden. I haven't done anything," Sam was lost for words, he couldn't explain how he had felt when the reporters had swarmed him. He felt like a celebrity, who didn't know what he was famous for.

"Sam I know how you feel. Before I met you're uncle I worked as a secretary and now I'm the first lady. I'm famous because I'm married to a powerful man. Sometimes I hate it, but Sam if I could start all over I'd do everything the same. The reporters, the paparazzi, not being able to go out in public, it's all worth it. To me Tom is worth it, and…if I hadn't met Tom I would have never had Michael."

Sam tried to keep from letting his sadness show at the mention of his cousin, "Auntie, I…I don't want this. I don't want to not be able to go out in public. I want things to go back to the way they were this morning. I want my sister back, I want my mom back, and I want my cousin back. I want to go to work. I wish…" Sam was sobbing now, and his aunt was rocking him back and forth, like she used to when he was a little boy.

"Sammy, it's going to get better. This won't last forever. We're going to find the people that did this and then were going to get on with our lives. Do you understand?" Sam nodded. He just wished he could help. He felt so helpless, stuck here with everyone worried about protecting him; he didn't want to be protected, he wanted to protect others. He wished he could have been there to protect his family when they needed him.

"Okay, Sammy look at me," Sam wiped his eyes and looked at her. "We're done with this. We're done wishing, we're done feeling sorry for ourselves. We're going to get past this. We're going to be strong and work together to put this all behind us, okay?"

"Okay," Sam whispered his voice hoarse from all the crying. "Y-you're right."

"So tomorrow we're going to get up and we'll be one step closer to normal okay?"

"Okay," Sam nodded. "So what do you think the changes are Uncle Tommy won't be too upset about the whole reporter debacle."

"Honestly, I'm sure his going to be furious. You know he hates when reporters, go after his family. You remember how angry he and your dad were when they published…published Michael report card?"

"Yeah, I never did understand why. It was all A's anyway."

"I think it had more to do with the fact that they violated his families privacy."

"I guess I've been pretty lucky until now. Nobody really knew who I was."

"Sammy, I know you hate this…"

"It's just…why are they even talking about me?"

"Honestly… Sam you're a good-looking young man, who just lost three members of his family, and who is related to two of the most powerful people in the country."

Sam sighed, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"What…what are the chances I'll be allowed to go back to working at SRU?"

"Sam…"

"Just…I—I just want to know?"

"Sam I think you need to ask Tom about that?"

"Ask Tom about what?" came a voice from behind them.

Sam looked down, at his feet.

"Sam?"

"I—I just want to know. If, I mean when, this is over…what are the chances I can go back to working for the SRU." His uncle frowned, down at Sam.

"Sam, I just got a call telling me you were all but mauled by a pack of reporters, and you want to know if you'll be able to go back to work."

Sam looked down at his feet, yup, so that was like a zero percent chance then?

"Sam…" his uncle sighed, "I can't…I don't want you work there anymore. I've talked with you're father and we've decided that it would be better if you come work for us."

Sam stared as his uncle open mouthed. He couldn't be serious, working in D.C. was the last thing he wanted. "I…I can't go back?" Sam asked.

"Sam…after what's happened, how could you even ask that? You'll stay here for as long as it takes for us to contain the threat and then well discuss work, okay?"

Sam just nodded. He was starting to realize that he official no longer had control of his life. Suddenly feeling suffocated he thought about making one of his famous excursions, thought about going somewhere where he was all alone. He wanted to go somewhere were he didn't feel so overwhelmed. "I…I think I'll go to bed now," Sam finally spoke.

"What about dinner?"

"I—I'm not hungry."

"Well alright…of your sure…" Sam nodded, he was sure, he needed some time to rest and think over the hell that was his day. Tomorrow would be a better day, though, he thought.

Well tomorrow came, and when Sam wake up he seriously thought about just going back to sleep and never getting out of bed. He wasn't sure why he should bother, half his family was dead, he was stuck in the white house without a tv, his aunt had taken his away, while he had been out with Kelly, and he had just been told that he could no longer do what he loved. He was no longer allowed to work protecting others.

Eventually he realized, he had to get up, he wouldn't waste his life. He managed to force himself up. Found his drawers and closet filled with Aunt Amanda approved clothes and took a long hot shower.

After getting dressed, he made his way down to the resident's kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fridge. Now what? Sam didn't know what to do with himself. Then he spotted the kitchen television. He knew his aunt would be angry, but he needed to know what was going on outside of The White House. He was also curious what people were saying about him. He decided to take the risk of his aunt catching him.

He found a remote next to the television and turned it on to CNN. Yup, they were still talking about his family, "Two month in to his first term in office and the president now has to deal with the death of his son, sister, and niece, and the chairman of the joint chiefs General Braddock. This is the second time he's lost a child," Sam gulped in a breath of air, his family drama was being talked about on the news.

"Yes the whole situation is awful and now it sounds like they're worried about Sam," they were talking about him, this was just weird.

"Yes, The White House refused to comment, but according to our sources at the SRU, where Sam Braddock works as a police officer, his father all but carried him out of their headquarters yesterday."

"And he's in The White House now?"

"Yes, we've got confirmation," Sam didn't want to hear anymore and turned the television off.

"You're aunt will be upset if she catches you watching that," Sam smiled.

"Yeah, I know. She already took away my television privileges."

"Yes, she told me about that. Sammy I know we've been…a little overprotective since you got here," Sam raised an eyebrow. "Okay, very overprotective, but Sam…you have to see it from our prospective. This family has lost too much already, and god Sam if anything happened to you… You're father can't burry another child, I can't burry another…"

"Uncle Tommy," Sam didn't really know what to say, "I understand—"

"Sammy I don't think you do. Loosing Michael, Natalie, our children..." the president took a deep shaky breath, "I can't take anymore. Sam…I have to go…the funerals are in a couple hours so go get ready."

So he would at least be allowed to go to the funerals that was something at least…