Jules groggily opens her eyes at the sound of faint ringing and buzzing, annoyed at her alarm clock. She mumbles unintelligibly and shifts in her bed, wrapping the duvet tighter around her body.
She usually wakes up with or before the alarm, but last night her and Oliver lost track of time in their underground training area and hit the hay at about 5 in the morning. Luckily for her, the team has the night shift today.
Unfortunately, the ringing is incessant, causing Jules to reluctantly get up and turn it off.
"Jules?"
Jules eyes the cell phone with confusion and realizes it isn't an alarm, but, according to the screen ID, a call from Sam. Her heart misses a beat and she chastises herself for that before pressing the phone to her ear. "Sam?"
On the other end of the line, Sam smiles, his heart flipping at the sound of her sleepy voice. "Morning, Jules. Hey, the team is meeting for lunch at Templeton's in an hour. Can you come?"
"Lunch?" Before she can call it back, the words leave her mouth and her eyes widen when she catches sight of her alarm clock - 11 AM.
I slept through my 7 AM alarm? Impossible.
Sam chuckles. "Yeah Sleepyhead, lunch."
Jules rolls her eyes. "I'm actually spending the day with my brother."
"Why don't you bring him then? Ya know the guys have been wanting to meet him."
She thinks about it and decides to agree, since she remembers Oliver mentioning he would like to meet the men she spends so much time with because of work. Although not exactly for friendship purposes but more out of his protective brotherliness.
"Okay we'll see you all in about an hour."
"K. Bye Jules."
"Bye Sam."
Jules hangs up, surprised to find herself smiling and feeling in a light mood. Crazy what merely hearing his voice can do.
Shaking those thoughts out of her head, she gets up and heads straight for the bathroom. Once she's showered, dressed, and ready to face the day, Jules heads out in search of her brother.
Spotting him on the living room couch watching TV, Jules calls out his name, knowing better than to startle him.
Oliver looks up and smiles warmly. "Morning, Sis. Sleep well?"
She comes sit beside him on the couch and raises an eyebrow. "But it's not really morning is it? Why did you turn off my alarm?"
Oliver switches his attention back to the news report on the television screen. "You were sleeping soundly," he chances a glance her way,"no nightmares. Plus it's not like we went to sleep at a reasonable time last night "
Jules nods carefully, hearing what he didn't say. "You have nightmares?"
Oliver completely ignores the question, and not so subtly changes the subject. "We have to be on extra high alert these next few days. The Russians have been too quiet lately."
Jules nods, feeling guilty for not being there early in the morning to wake him from the terrors. "Yeah okay. You've talked to Anatoly?"
Oliver growls slightly, tightening his grip on the remote control. "He's clamped up. I think he knows something's up but even I can't get it out of him."
Jules places a hand on his shoulder. "We'll figure it out. We can beat everything and anything the Russians throw our way." She waits a beat then asks the question she's dreading to know the answer to. "Think Waller's involved?"
Oliver sighs in frustration. "I don't know. Maybe."
Jules feels ice cold fear grip her but she ignores it. They both descend into an ominous silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
Finally Jules speaks up. "My team's meeting up for lunch in about," she glances at her watch, "35 minutes." She flashes him a cautious smile. "And they want to meet you."
Oliver studies her face. It's obvious these men mean a lot to her. But his reasons for meeting them are out of caution - he needs to know who his sister works with on a daily basis. "Let's not keep them waiting then."
She hugs him. "Thanks Ollie."
FPFPFPFPFPFPFPFP
Sam, Spike, Lew, Wordy, Ed, and Greg are all sitting at a booth at Templeton's laughing and talking as they wait for the last member of their team to arrive. At the moment they are sharing Team One stories with their rookie, Sam.
"...and then the woman runs out crying because Ed threatened to arrest her cat!" Wordy laughs as he finishes the story he's telling.
The guys all laugh with him at Ed's expense.
"Hey, that cat attacked me! It was assault on a police officer!" Ed defends himself.
"I remember you literally wanted to cuff Mr. Nemo and the woman threatened to sue you." Spike adds between laughs.
"So what happened in the end? Who won?" Sam smirks in amusement.
Greg grins at Ed. "Cat won. We had to let the subject go."
The table erupts in laughter once again.
"Alright, alright enough." Ed orders half heartedly and narrows his eyes playfully at Wordy. "Or do you want me to tell him about the time you decided to take Jules up on her offer to rappel?"
Wordy's eyes widen comically. "No!"
The laughter dies down as the guys all look at Ed expectantly, throwing Sam knowing smiles.
"This is a good one." Spike mock whispers to Sam, who snickers.
Ed sits back in his chair and smiles. "As we all know, Jules, our very own rappelling expert, went through a phase where she insisted we all needed to learn how to rappel expertly because our lives may one day depend on it-"
"Hasn't happened yet." Lew interrupts with a grin.
"Anyway Mr. Young, we all wisely declined but Wordy, well Wordy didn't. So during drills one day, Jules and Wordy went to the top of the drill house all geared up." Ed pauses and leans forward, smiling. "So we're all watching from the bottom and BOOM, Wordy comes flying down, twisting in mid air and landing upside down." He pauses to laugh. "Turns out Jules just pushed him down as soon as he was latched in without warning claiming he had to be prepared for the unexpected!"
The guys all burst out laughing, including Wordy.
The laughter finally dies down, the guys holding their stomachs, when Spike speaks up.
"Speaking of Jules, where is she?"
Sam furrows his brow. "She said she'd be here with her brother."
This morning the team had met up at HQ to work out, wanting to fulfill their required off duty workout hours together. They were all surprised when Jules didn't show up and texted her a couple times. When she didn't answer, they realized she would be with her brother so they didn't call. After workout, however, the guys were planning to get lunch and call Jules to join them, so when Sam offered to call her they let him.
Spike clears his throat and looks at the guys uncertainly. "With her brother?"
Greg notices his behavior and eyes him carefully. "Yeah. Is something wrong?"
Spike sucks in a breath as the guys all turn their attention to him. "It's just that a few days ago, Jules brought me an encrypted laptop she said was her brother's." He shifts uncomfortably, debating whether he should voice his concerns to the team. Deciding it's for Jules's own good, he recalls the incident. "The laptop was basically a large catalog of high powered assault rifles, machine guns, the works. I asked her why her brother had something like that and she just said her brother likes guns." He shrugs. "I've been racking my brain as to why he'd have something like that and I don't like the possibilities."
The guys are stunned into silence, not knowing what to say. Ed breaks the silence first, his concern and confusion transforming into anger.
"Damn, if her brother's involved in something, she should've told us!" He glares at Spike. "Why didn't you tell us this earlier?"
"Eddie." Greg begins calmly, shooting his team leader a look. "It's not Spike's fault or Jules's. And we don't even know for sure if that's the case."
"A catalogue of high power assault weapons isn't normal, Greg." Ed states through clenched teeth.
"Eddie's right, Boss. We should look into it." Wordy suggests, concern lacing his voice. If Jules's brother is involved in something dangerous and illegal that could therefore hurt Jules, shouldn't they do something to put a stop to it?
"But it's her personal life. Plus wouldn't she trust us enough to tell us if that's going on?" Lew points out.
"Would she?" Ed growls, referring to Jules's closed off character and the lack of knowledge on her personal life.
"Eddie let it go. I'll talk to Jules myself." Greg frowns, feeling protective for the young woman but simultaneously understanding where Ed is coming from.
Sam sucks in a breath, watching the tension thicken. It's obvious this team fiercely takes care of their own but they don't really know how to deal with someone as complicated as Jules and it frustrates them.
Suddenly, Greg rises from his seat and smiles, waving someone over. The guys turn in that direction and spot Jules accompanied by a tall, well built man with sandy blond hair.
"Hey guys!" Jules greets, taking the vacant seat beside Spike as her brother pulls up a chair beside her. She motions to the man. "This is my brother Oliver."
Oliver plasters on the fake smile he reserves for use in public, the smile he would plaster on for the paparazzi back in Starling City a lifetime ago. He reaches deep down for his overconfident, carefree, playboy persona and is surprised to find it. "You all must be Team One."
Greg takes the lead and shakes his hand. "That's right. I'm Sgt. Greg Parker."
Each member shakes Oliver's hand and states their name, albeit a bit coldly and cautiously. At Ed's turn, however, Oliver sees more hostility and therefore inevitably shakes the other man's hand with more force than necessary.
"So, Oliver, what do you do for a living?" Spike asks with a hint of suspicion.
Oliver and Jules share a quick subtle look, the actions of her teammates not having gone unnoticed. They haven't even met Oliver until now and they are already acting in a negative fashion towards him. And seemingly for no reason.
Oliver clears his throat and smiles easily. "I fix up cars." He shrugs. "I own the shop so it's not that bad."
"Not at all." Jules grins, fighting the urge to glance at Sam, who has been stealing glances at her since she arrived. "Means he can fix my motorcycle at a moment's notice."
Oliver doesn't point out that Jules actually fixes her own motorcycle, but instead flashes her a smile. Nevertheless, they're both thankful no one asks why neither of them use cars since they work with them on a daily basis. That would just bring up terrible memories they both swore never to reveal to anyone.
An awkward silence ensues, everyone seeming to study Oliver as he in turn does the same. Oliver however focuses more on the blond man who has not so subtly been looking at his sister. He feels his blood burn at the idea of a man looking at his sister that way.
"Hi. I'm Nancy. May I take your orders?" A waitress smiles, breaking into the thick silence. Everyone places their orders and thank Nancy. She leaves with an assurance that their food will be arriving soon.
A phone begins to ring and Ed excuses himself. "Sorry, I gotta take this." He abandons the table and steps out of the restaurant.
Spike then turns to Jules. "We missed you at workout this morning."
Jules shrugs a shoulder and gives a simple answer. "Slept in." She then changes the subject. "So did you fix Babycakes?"
"Babycakes?" Oliver lifts an eyebrow, pretending to be enthralled in the conversation while covertly scanning his surroundings. Too many people are entering the restaurant and his senses are running into overdrive, especially since the enemy after them has no face. Yet.
Spike grins widely at that, showing off his dimples. "It's my robot. I've been having some trouble with her rotator cuffs lately."
"Maybe cause you use her to much." Lew quips. "Even when we don't have a bomb call."
"Yeah. Like when we were patrolling and you used her to block a runner." Wordy laughs, remembering the incident that happened the previous week.
Sam smirks. "Poor guy tripped over the robot and Sarge had no idea what was happening."
"All I heard was a metallic clang, laughing and a subject down." Greg laughs. "For all I knew you all could've simply thrown something at the poor guy."
Spike smiles proudly. "Not my fault Babycakes is so awesome. She's my partner in crime."
"Hey! I thought I was your partner in crime!" Lew pretends hurt, smiling nonetheless.
Jules rolls her eyes good naturedly at their banter. "It's a robot guys. Get over it." Before Spike can say something to counter her jab, she feels a small metaphorical light bulb flick on in her head. "Hey Spike, maybe Oliver can give you a hand with Babycakes."
"He can?" Spike asks.
Oliver also looks at his sister with a question mark on his face. He can fix anything, but so can she. Why didn't she offer?
And then it hits him. Jules wants him to be friends with these guys. He contemplates turning it down but realizes it's an opportunity to learn more about these people. He turns to shoot Spike a smirk. "It's like fixing a car - it's all mechanics."
Spike thinks about the offer. He knows with a little probing he can fix his robot himself. But this might be his only opportunity to uncover the mystery about that man. So with a grin he accepts. "Cool. Can you drop by the SRU tomorrow morning? Shift starts at 6 and we have a bust at 10, so I need the robot by then."
"Sounds perfect." Oliver nods, expertly hiding his discomfort at the amount of people in the restaurant. He can feel the weight of some women's eyes on him and he fears recognition.
Jules senses his discomfort, since she herself is beginning to feel slightly agitated.
Over the last 5 years, they've both had trouble adjusting to company other than themselves and fitting into society in general. Trust to them doesn't come easily and having too many people around that they can't trust makes them feel as if they need to be on the defensive.
"Sorry guys but that was Holleran." Ed appears back at the table and retakes his seat. "Seems the task force is having their first meeting tomorrow at 7."
"Guess they're eager to catch those guys." Wordy muses.
"I'm glad." Greg shares. "Those two need to be put in their place and leave justice to the law enforcement."
Spike rolls his eyes. His counter opinion concerning the vigilantes causes friction with the team's seniors but he refuses to back down. He's heard of and followed their acts via the media and although he disagrees with their tactics, he can honestly say they're effective and that their intentions are good.
Oliver, however, clenches his fists under the table in response to the conversation. Unlike Jules, his temper always gets the best of him and anger always lingers on the edges of his actions.
Jules places a comforting hand on his fist and takes the initiative by rising from her seat. She makes a show of checking her phone and frowning. "Sorry guys but we gotta go."
"A boyfriend?" Lew teases with a smile.
Jules takes the suggestion to her advantage and, knowing that it'll also alienate Sam, answers. "Yup. So gotta go."
Sam's eyes flash with a bit of jealousy and hurt but he clamps it down, forcing a smile. Jules notices and is glad her comment had the intended effect.
"But aren't you going to wait for your food?" Greg asks.
"We'll take it to go." Jules answers.
"It was nice meeting you all." Oliver remarks coldly, obviously not meaning his words. He does however narrow his eyes at Sam who meets his glare head on with defiant eyes.
The team nods curtly in response, wondering why the room seemed to have dropped in temperature just now.
Jules smiles awkwardly and heads out of the restaurant, closely followed by Oliver, completely forgetting the food.
Once they find themselves in the mostly deserted parking lot, Jules leans against her motorcycle and speaks up. "They're usually not like that. I honestly don't know what's up with them."
Oliver roughly clasps on his helmet and turns his icy stare on her. "This was an unnecessary risk. We shouldn't have come."
She sighs. "I really wanted you to like them."
He runs a hand through his hair, his anger still boiling. "Why Jules? Why now? It's been a year and all of a sudden you want to play friends."
She bites her lip and expertly hides the hurt he just inflicted with his words. "Because it's taken me this long to realize that they care. "
Oliver clenches his fists. "And I don't?"
She huffs angrily. "Yes Oliver you do. But so do they. They're my friends and I happen to like them."
He exhales and scratches the back of his neck. "I understand that. I do and I'm okay with it - even if they seem to hate my guts." He then clenches his jaw. "What I don't understand is why one of your so called friends wants to get in your pants."
Jules tenses. "What are you talking about?"
He laughs humorlessly. "I saw the way he looks at you." He clenches his fists and narrows his eyes at her. "And I saw how hard you were trying to avoid looking at him."
Jules narrows her eyes and answers calmly and coldly. "None of that is true. We're just friends."
Oliver stares straight into her brown eyes. "Who are you trying to convince? Me or you?"
Jules turns on her heel and clasps on her helmet, immediately climbing her motorcycle. She glances at her watch. 2 PM. Shift today starts at 6 and runs until midnight. And then tomorrow they start at 6 in the morning. "I'll be home around 1 tonight. Bye Oliver. Good luck with Smoak."
She leaves without another word, burning rubber in the process. Oliver just stands there, struggling to keep his anger under control. He climbs his motorcycle and heads home - time to go get ready for tonight anyways.
And maybe hit something before then.
A/N: If my Flashpoint people don't understand some Arrow references or something about a character, please ask. And if my Arrow people don't understand something about the Flashpoint dynamic, please ask too. I'd be more than happy to answer your questions.
