OK. High school football season is officially over and regular life can now commence.

For those of you who know anything about high school football in Texas, you know that IT'S A BIG DEAL.

Now I have more time to write! *hopefully*

Enjoy!

Chapter Ten: Team Picnic

After almost a week in the hospital, Sam was finally released. Two weeks later, he had still not been cleared to return to the SRU, even on light duty. He was going stir-crazy. Yes, he absolutely loved getting to spend ample amounts of time with Maddie, but he loved the work he did with the SRU and he was anxious to get back to keeping the peace.

Since their talk in the hospital, the members of Team One had been making an extra effort to get to know Sam. Every day he was in the hospital, at some point, every single member of Team One had stopped by to visit with and check up on him. Spike had continued to take Maddie to and pick her up from daycare every day, providing a sense of normalcy for Maddie that Sam greatly appreciated. Once Sam was released from the hospital, Maddie spent the majority of the day at home with him except for when he had an appointment or therapy. Wordy had extended an offer to have Maddie (and Sam) over to his house to play with his girls, but Sam had kindly put that plan on hold until he was healthier and could properly introduce Maddie to the Wordsworth family.

Today was that day. Sam was feeling good, really good. He was no longer feeling lightheaded and weak from blood loss and his skin had regained its normal tone again. In fact, the only reminder of his near-death experience was the fresh, still pink scar on his neck. It was also the day of the team picnic.

This would be the first Team One team picnic Sam would be going to. It was also the first, and only one, he had been invited to since joining Team One but he tried not to dwell on that. The team realized their mistakes and were making amends. Sam had decided, while lying in his hospital bed, to give them the benefit of the doubt. So far, he wasn't regretting it.

Sam got up off the couch and walked quietly into Maddie's room to see if she had woken up from her nap yet. They would have to leave pretty soon to make it to the picnic in time and if Maddie wasn't awake, that'd cause a whole bunch of problems. Despite Maddie being one of the happiest, sweetest toddler ever, she did NOT do well with being woken up from a nap by someone; she could turn into quite the little monster. Thankfully, Maddie was wide awake and playing with one of her stuffed animals in her bed.

Sam smiled, walked over to her, picked her up and hugged her. "Hey munchkin. Did you sleep good?"

Maddie nodded causing her tousled blonde curls to bounce around.

Sam smiled. "You ready to get changed so we can go see Uncle Spike and the rest of daddy's team?"

Maddie nodded again, excitement making her curls bounce around even more.

Sam smiled and chuckled. Man, I love this kid.

Sam got Maddie changed and packed her backpack for the day. He then got himself ready and took his medications. With that done, he grabbed Maddie and headed out the door.

...

Pulling into the parking lot of the park Team One was using for the picnic, Sam was a mixture of excited and nervous. This would be the first time Maddie spent a considerate amount of time with every member of Team One, not just Spike, and their families. Wordy and Shelley's daughters would be there, Clark and Izzy would be there and so would Dean. Maddie would be meeting A LOT of new people all at once and, although she was one of the friendliest, most extraverted children Sam had ever met, he was worried she'd be overwhelmed.

However, Sam was also excited to not only have Maddie meet and get to know Team One better, but Sam himself was excited to get to know his teammates better.

Looking through the windshield, Sam saw that he and Maddie were apparently the last two to show up. He had hoped that they would beat most of the team there so Maddie didn't have to meet everyone all at once but sometimes things just don't go as planned.

Sam cut the engine and got out of the car. After unbuckling Maddie from her car seat, Sam sat her down on the ground and handed her her backpack. Locking the car, Sam grabbed Maddie's hand and they took off towards the others.

...

Spike was talking to Lou when he noticed Sam and Maddie walking towards the group. He smiled and started heading towards them, Lou following behind.

Sam saw them approaching and, as soon as he and Maddie were out of the parking lot and close to the team, he let go of Maddie's hand and let her run to Spike.

Spike bent down and immediately caught Maddie in his arms, hugging her tightly and lifting her into his arms. Lou smiled at the sight of his best friend with Sam's daughter. The others at the picnic heard the commotion of Maddie running to Spike and turned to see what was happening. They too smiled at the sight.

Spike moved Maddie onto his hip and continued walking forward to meet up with Sam. While Spike and Sam chatted, the other members of Team One, and their families, gathered around. This wasn't the first time they had seen Sam since he got shot or since he was released from the hospital but this was the first time in weeks he looked normal; he looked like the Sam they were used to seeing.

"Sam, good to see you," Greg said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, Sarge. Dr. Ramirez is pleased with how I'm healing. Now I'm just waiting for him to clear me for duty." Sam answered.

"I'm glad to hear that."

While Sam and Greg were talking, Spike put a squirming Maddie down on the ground. She immediately went back to Sam., wrapping her arms around one of his legs and successfully stealing the attention of everyone there. Sam looked down at her, smiled and placed a hand on the top of her head.

Sam reintroduced Maddie to his teammates, although she had already met them each in the hospital and individually over the past few weeks. Introducing the family members of his teammates was a different story. There were a lot of them and Maddie started to look very overwhelmed with all the new names and faces.

Those overwhelmed feelings seemed to vanish once Wordy's daughter Allie and Ed's daughter Izzy both came forward and asked Maddie to play. Maddie looked up at Sam for permission and he immediately granted it. Izzy and Allie each took one of Maddie's hands and led her away. The other Wordsworth girls followed behind them and Clark and Dean headed in the same direction, a football in hand.

Sam and the rest of the adults walked over to the tables under the park's pavilion. Ed and Greg were in charge of cooking the burgers, so they went back to the grill while everyone else took a seat at the tables. Sam, Wordy and the moms all had the children in their sight line.

As Sam sat down he noticed that one of the tables held an assortment of makeshift games. He looked at Spike and gestured towards the table. "What's all that?"

"Games!" Spike exclaimed with an excited shout. "You can't have a picnic without games!"

Jules, Lou and Wordy took this relaxed, kid-free time to get to know their teammate. Sophie and Shelley asked questions as well, wanting to learn more about the newest member of Team One, though most of their questions focused on the Maddie aspect of Sam's life. Ed and Greg were within earshot of the tables, so they made comments or asked questions when appropriate.

On the way to the picnic, Sam had prepared himself for a multitude of questions but he was pleasantly surprised that, though there were a lot of questions asked, they were asked in a way that was not overwhelming or annoying.

Sam felt calm, peaceful. He didn't know what to expect from this picnic, but he was glad he ended up coming. He thought about his time on Team One—from his first shift on his first day to where he was now. If you had told him that he'd be having fun and enjoying himself at a team picnic during his first few months with the SRU, he would've laughed in your face. It's amazing how much can change in just a few months…

Sam was snapped out of his thoughts by Ed's exclamation of "what the hell?!"

Sam followed his look and saw the kids walking towards them. Wordy's daughters and Izzy all looked uneasy, but what stood out most was the sight of Clark holding Maddie on his hip and Dean walking next to them holding a wad of paper towels against Maddie's forehead.

"What the—?" Spike asked as the kids finally made it to the pavilion area.

"What the hell happened?" Ed asked as he put down his grilling tools and came to stand in front of his son.

"Ed, language." Sophie chastised. She'd normally be more upset about Ed cussing in front of the kids, especially the little ones, but she herself wanted to know what happened.

Sam stood up from his seat at the table and came to stand between Spike and Ed. He looked at Clark. "Clark? What happened?"

"I don't know. Dean and I were throwing the football around and the girls were playing on the playground. Everyone was fine. Suddenly, Izzy's freaking out and running up to me telling me that Maddie fell and was bleeding."

Sam reached forward and took Maddie from Clark's arms. He walked over to the tables and sat Maddie down on the edge. Spike, who had taken the wad of paper towels from Dean, gently moved them away from Maddie's forehead. Everyone winced at the ½ gash just over Maddie's eyebrow.

"Dad, we were 5 feet away from them." Clark said, looking at his father.

"We never saw her fall and we DEFINITELY never heard her scream or cry. I swear." Dean added, almost pleadingly, looking at Greg.

Ed and Greg shared a look before looking back at their sons. "We believe you."

Clark and Dean each took a sigh of relief. They weren't happy about what happened to Maddie, obviously, but they were happy they were not going to be blamed for it happening.

Sophie and Jules left Shelley and the guys to deal with the kids and turned their attention to Sam, Spike and Lou at the tables with Maddie.

Jules began wetting some paper towels for Sam to clean Maddie's face off while Sophie dug around in their stuff for the first aid kit. Finding it, she brought it over to Sam and was thanked with a grateful smile.

Back with the kids, Wordy bent down in front of his kids. "Girls, do you know what happened to Maddie?"

"What Izzy told Clark was the truth, daddy." Lily said, looking at her dad. "We were running around in the rocks on the playground and Maddie slipped. It was right by one of the slides so I think she could've hit the stairs but she got right back up and started running around and laughing again...no tears or anything."

"I don't think she even knew she was bleeding until we got to her and Izzy was freaking out…" Clark added.

Wordy stood back up and looked over to the tables, making eye contact with Sam.

Sam nodded, acknowledging that he heard what Lily and Clark said. He put another temporary butterfly bandage on Maddie's cut. "Maddie, what happened to your head?"

"I got a booboo." She said calmly.

Sam and those around her bit back their smiles. "I see that. How did it happen?"

"I was runnin' and I falled on da gwound."

"Did you hit your head on anything?"

"Ya, da tairs by da slide."

Sam nodded once. "Does your head hurt?"

"Nope!" Maddie announced with a smile.

Sam smiled and pushed some of her crazy curls out of her face. "Good. I'm glad."

Sam stood up from his position at the table in front of Maddie and closed the first aid kit.

"What now?" Spike asked, looking at Sam.

Sam sighed. "I don't know. Aside from the cut, she looks fine and I don't think she has a concussion, so that's good. Her cut's clean, and it doesn't look that deep, so i don't know if she needs stitches but I'm probably going to take her to Urgent Care to get her checked out, just to be safe."

Everyone nodded, understanding Sam's concern.

"Daddy, can I go pway now?" Maddie asked, interrupting any further discussion between the adults.

"Not right now munchkin. You can play later; we're gonna go to the doctor first."

Maddie looked to be considering what Sam said for a moment before a small frown graced her features. "No tank you."

Everyone busted out laughing. That was such a typical Braddock response, there was no denying Maddie's parentage.

"Oh my God, Sam, she is so your kid!" Jules exclaimed through her laughter.

"You're going to have your hands full with her in the future," Lou stated.

"Don't I know it," Sam said with a smile.

Sam reached forward and lifted Maddie off the table and onto his hip. "Sorry kiddo, but you're going to the doctor."

Spike handed Maddie's backpack to Sam and Sam thanked him. "We'll see you guys in a little while."

"Let us know how she is?" Sophie requested, now holding Izzy on her hip.

"Of course," Sam agreed.

With that, the Braddock duo headed to Urgent Care.

...

One and a half hours and 4 stitches later, Sam and Maddie were back at the park and enjoying the last of the team picnic.

The picnic hadn't gone quite as expected, but everything worked out in the end. Maddie would be perfectly fine and the members of Team One had a stronger bond. There was still progress to be made with everyone's relationships, but the groundwork had been laid and all they needed now was just time.

*I know that Ed's daughter Izzy wasn't a part of the show when Sam joined Team One, but for the sake of this story, I'm making her a few years older than Maddie.*

I'm not overly fond of how this chapter ended, but I couldn't think of anything better so I just left it. I hope you guys enjoy it regardless.

I'm going to TRY to get a special Christmas-themed post for SAMTASTIC up within the next few days but I haven't even started yet so that might not happen.

If you don't see an update from me before then...
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

If you have any prompts for this story or SAMTASTIC, be sure to let me know. (: