Jim's Gift & Six Degrees of Separation?

Blaze's Home – Saturday, December 26th – 8:00 am

Blaze sat at the island sipping coffee as he watched Patch holding Brianna. It made him smile. Patch, no Jim, was happier than he had ever seen him. Being a medic in Special Forces had taken a toll on the man.

It was one thing to go onto a battlefield and care for unknown soldiers. Able to distance one's self from the pain and suffering of those in your care. But quite another thing to be the one everyone turned to when your brothers were screaming in pain and bleeding out.

Jim had been through hell. The investigation had revealed that their unit was always assigned the riskiest and most physically demanding missions in the years that Blondie was with them. Plouffe was a purely evil man with no redeeming qualities to subject Blondie and the rest of them to that.

While he was in the midst of it, Blaze had known things were different than previous times in the field. But he had blinders on and thought that the terrorist activity had just heightened and it was the General pulling the strings. In retrospect, it was clear, and with the missions his unit was on since that time, that Plouffe had handpicked the missions they were sent on.

Well most of them anyways. There were some that clearly needed the unique skills of his men. As pissed as he had been at the time, the General was right to send them on that mission to rescue Dom Savoy's girls. No one but Blondie could have pulled that off. Jim had his work cut out for him on that mission.

Blaze smiled again as he came back to his original thought, Jim was happy and that made him happy. Jim had a wonderful woman and a sweet little girl now. Boy had that been a whirlwind courtship. But when it was right it was right and he was glad that Jim seized the day and moved forward.

His eyes turned to Lizzy and her son Ryan. Speaking of being happy, he was too. Although his courtship was on a very different timeline than Jim's. He was not about to rush it. He wanted to make sure Lizzy truly knew what she wanted.

Lizzy was a sucker for a man in uniform. That is how she had met and married her first husband David Wilder. Lizzy had truly been in love with David and he was not sure she was ready to move on. Blaze was not so sure she could handle another relationship with a man who could be taken from her again. The death of David had shaken her to the core. So, he was taking it really slow.

But slow was good. He had a lot of transition in his life too. Daphy and Ben to name two wonderful additions.

He had many long conversations with Daphy. In one such conversation, she shared that Matt had been afraid that he would not approve of their relationship. Blaze put that notion to bed rather quickly. He fully approved of it. Blaze only wished Daphy and Matt could have been together longer and raised Ben together.

His eyes moved to Ben who was learning how to make paper airplanes from Ryan and a small pang of pain seized his heart. Ben had been short changed. He never got a chance to meet his father.

But he and Blondie and the rest of the guys were doing their best to bring Matt to life for Ben. They had a few pictures to share. Blondie had the most and had made copies of all he had and put them in an album just for Ben. But he wished Matt had had a chance to be in Ben's life and to know he even existed. That was the hardest part of the whole thing for him.

Winds sat down next to Blaze and saw the wistful look on his best friend's face. He asked "What you thinking about?"

Blaze pulled out of his own head and looked at Winds as he answered "Just how different things are this year. Jim's in seventh heaven with his daughter. I have Daphy back and we all have Ben. Life's good."

"Yeah, life's good. Speaking of good, when is Blondie supposed to be here?" Winds asked.

Jim wandered over carrying a sleeping Brianna and grinned "Yeah when's he supposed to be here?"

Blaze looked at his watch and answered "About an hour. Daphy told him to be here around nine."

"Good. I told Dr. Fraser I'd give him a bit of a look see today" Jim responded.

Mason leaned on the counter and asked "Why?"

Jim sighed "You know Sam."

They all nodded.

But then Jim expounded "Seems he's had a rough few weeks leading up to Christmas. I need to make sure he is still on the mend and following the docs orders. Dr. Fraser knew that Sam had eight days off when he saw him on the twenty-fourth. He prescribed him some pain meds and sent him on his way telling him to rest on his vacation."

Mason asked "How rough and why the pain meds?"

Jim grinned "Well let's see. First, he was frozen to a pear tree. Literally frozen to it as he held his sniper position on a hot call in the freezing rain. Jules had to climb up and take a tire iron to knock the ice off to free him."

"Christ. He didn't get sick from that? I mean his lungs and all?" Winds asked with concern.

Shaking his head, Jim answered "No. Sam's gotten wise. Helped him locate the cold weather gear used by Special Forces. He wears it under his uniform. But you didn't hear that from me. Sam doesn't like to advertise what he perceives as weakness."

Blaze nodded "Kid's getting a bit smarter. But it is not a weakness to protect himself."

Jim grimaced as he added "Next day he took a 9mm in the vest. It was at close range and he was damned lucky not to crack a rib. But it bruised badly. Idiot doesn't always do what he should and engaged in hand to hand training the next day. He got distracted and taken down hard. Sam had dinner with me and Heather that night. I gave him some stronger pain meds because during the call that day, he had to run after a subject. He was not taking the meds the doctor had given him."

Shifting Brianna in his arms, Jim continued "The next day, Sam, Ed, Wordy and Spike were four floors up and had to catch four men in a net. That strained his chest muscles more. But then the beams collapsed and he bore the full weight of Ed and Wordy as they fell. Sam pulled Ed up and stressed them even more."

"Sam called me that night asking what maximum dose of the pain meds was that he could take. I went over to check on him, he wouldn't have called unless he was in lots of pain. Told him to take a few days off and not to stress his muscles. But fool that he is, he wouldn't do that, didn't want Ed or Wordy to know that holding them up and hauling Ed up had hurt him. So, I told him to take it easy and no upper body work out."

Mason commented "Blondie didn't want them to feel guilt over it."

They all nodded. They knew how he thought.

Winds said "Wow, that is a rough few days."

Jim sighed and said "Doesn't end there. He should have been on light duty. But we all know how he feels about that too. The next day he had a hostage call and Spike tackled Sam when he thought Sam was going to be shot. Wasn't the best thing for his chest. But at least he went home and to bed early that night."

Blaze snorted "Wonder who got him to do that."

Jim grinned "Jules. She has a way with him. She's a good ally in getting Sam to take care of himself. He'll do for her what he won't do for others. She never makes a big deal of it.

Mason smiled "I like that sprite. Wish it had worked out for Blondie and her. But at least they are good friends now."

"Okay, where was I?" Jim said then continued "Yeah, so the next day Sam had to take a life. Not physically taxing but we all know the toll that takes on Sam emotionally."

Blaze looked at Jim and shared "I knew about that one. Blondie called me in the morning, it triggered a nightmare for him. Oh, and he was hurt that day too. He went for drinks at the Goose with the team and ran into some behemoth of a man that ended up falling on top of him."

Jim nodded "Dr. Fraser didn't know about the nightmare, but yeah I was gonna include that. It explains why Jules told Dr. Fraser the team let Sam sleep for the first few hours of shift the next day. Most of what I know is coming from Jules. She gave Dr. Fraser a full run down on Sam's condition when she talked to the doctor on the twenty-fourth."

"The twenty-fourth?" Winds asked.

Putting up a hand, Jim said "Wait, I'm not there yet. The next day Sam got a cold dunking in a frigid pool at their Christmas party when Jules' drunken date tried to push her in. The day after that, Sam helped at an accident and hurt his chest again when a pry bar hit him full force as he was trying to pry open a van door to get to some injured girls."

"Shortly after that, Sam and Wordy took heavy fire when they went to arrest the driver that caused the accident and ended up uncovering a gunrunning operation. Sam had to pull Wordy to safety when Wordy took one in the vest."

"They ended up getting soaked in bath in fresh milk too. Sam was kicked hard in the back and whacked his head on the ground when they had to surrender to the gang. Luckily, there were no signs of concussion but Sam got a good-sized goose egg and exposure to the cold in soaking wet clothes again."

Mason chuckled "That kind of shit only happens to Blondie. What happened next, from the look on your face, it wasn't good."

Jim shook his head "No it wasn't. Sam was told to take the next day off."

Winds asked "He ignored the doctor and went to work anyways?"

Sighing Jim said "No he followed orders. Took the day off. Trouble found him anyways."

"Sam went with Wordy and his daughters to see the Nutcracker and some nutcase wired bombs to the ballerina's tiaras. Sam ended up getting the shit beat out of him by the nutcase, who was a former boxer, as he held onto the deadman switch keeping the bombs from detonating."

"The team had to duct tape his hands to the detonator and leave him lying on the floor for nearly two hours while Spike defused all nine bombs. Sam took several hard hits to the kidneys. The nutcase knew where to hit and the doctor was sure his kidneys were bruised. His torso surely was."

"Dr. Fraser was straight up with Sam and told him no physical engagements. The doc finally put him on light duty for the remainder of his shifts before his vacation. Fraser gave Sam some pretty heavy pain meds to knock him out that night and heavier ones for the day that didn't."

Blaze shook his head "Damn. I bet Blondie didn't like that one bit."

Jim replied "Nope he didn't. But he followed doctor's orders. The team watched out for him and made sure he was in a light duty position when they went hunting ten leopards at the zoo the next day. Damn good thing the meds didn't interfere with Sam. He ended up saving Ed when a leopard was about to leap on Ed. The team tagged all ten with tranquilizers and saved zoo lights too."

Laughing Jim said "It was all over the news. But I actually found out about that one when I was called to SRU HQ to check out three officers exposed to cannabis on a call. Seems Sam was locked in room 420 protecting Lieutenant Governor Blunt from rioters. Sam was higher than a kite. It was so funny, like Sam on morphine but mellow. Spike and Jules were the other two officers. It was funny watching those two fight over cookies."

Mason grinned "I bet Blondie wasn't feeling a lick of pain."

Jim grinned "Yeah, none at all. Ed took Sam home to watch him that night. The next day was the only one where Sam got a bit of reprieve, except for being out in the cold weather for an extended period of time. Sam did good that day and helped the sons of a military pilot find a new home. All twelve of the boys were taken in by Blackwatch Military Academy for Boys so that they could all remain together."

"But the next day, the twenty-fourth, Sam had no choice but to climb up to a roof to be spotter for his team on a warrant call. It was as light duty as they could make for him given the warrant they had to serve. It would have been fine and dandy. But the damned roof collapsed under him. Sam had to hang on and then drop fifteen feet to the ground."

"Shit. How bad was he hurt?" Blaze asked.

Jim rubbed the back of his neck and answered "Worse than Dr. Fraser let on to Sam."

"What the hell does that mean?" Blaze barked rather loudly drawing the attention of Heather, Lizzy, Daphy, Ben and Ryan.

Heather rushed over and said "Shhh. You will wake Brianna."

Blaze looked contrite, "Sorry."

"Here, let me take her now Jim, while you tell the guys what shenanigans you have been up too. For the record, I'm not in agreement with what you did" Heather stated as she took Brianna from Jim and headed back to the family room area where Daphne and Lizzy were sitting.

Eyeing Jim, Blaze asked "Okay, spill it. What did you do?"

Jim looked at each of them and confessed "I was there, at the hospital, when Jules brought Sam in to get the minor cut on his hand looked at. Jules, Dr. Fraser and I sorta talked. I wanted Sam to have a good Christmas and vacation. I knew I would be here today and that Zach was flying him up on the twenty-fourth and Sam would spend yesterday at his parents' home. Not much opportunity for him to get into trouble and lots of cousins to be watching out for him."

Mason snorted "This is Blondie you are talking about."

Winds said "True, but go on Jim."

Jim sighed, "I didn't want Sam worrying about his condition and to just relax. When Sam held onto the roof, he cut his hand and he strained his chest muscles again. But I asked Dr. Fraser to tell him he was healing fine. Sam had this nasty looking bruise on the side of his head too. Another one."

"When I asked Jules about that, she said he had gotten it earlier. It was not a result of the roof collapsing. Apparently, Sam did not show up on time for work and she and Spike went to his place looking for him when he did not answer his phone. Jules found Sam asleep in his closet and his room was mess."

"Nightmare" Blaze stated.

Jim nodded and added "Yeah, a pretty bad one from what Jules described of his room."

Blaze nodded "I think I know which one it was. If I'm right, it one that stems from his second Christmas. When Blondie was with Chains' unit observing that village."

Winds asked "The one where Blondie was with Sergeant Marley's unit?"

"Yeah that one. When the unit went back, they found him in a closet. It looked to them as if he had tried to hide knowing he could not make it out. Chains said by the amount of blood in the trail they followed to the closet and the fact that Blondie's face was caked with blood, Chains thought Blondie was dead. It was a damned good thing that most of the insurgents had already been killed as they all initially fought their way out of the village" Blaze shared.

Then Blaze added "Chains was pissed off that their rookie had set his explosives wrong and they went off prematurely. He said it was shitshow of explosions, gunfire and screaming. When Chains made it back to their observation post and Blondie wasn't there he laid into his rookie. Then Chains took the unit back down to find Blondie, going against Plouffe's orders to bug out."

"Chains was not about to leave a man under his command and, sanctioned or not, he ordered his men to go back for Blondie. Chains took heat from Plouffe when he called for a med evac for Blondie. Threatened to charge him for not following orders. Nothing ever came of those threats though. Chains is also the one who called me to let me know Blondie was in the hospital."

Mason nodded and said "Marley is a good man. It's sad that most his unit got wiped out in that corn field. I remember Shy had a hard time with that one. He took command of Marley's unit when Marley and his second in command were both on leave to get married."

Winds nodded "Yeah, that mission was hard on Blondie too. How the hell the two of them survived that massacre … with only their k-bars for days."

Blaze's eyes closed as he recalled the nightmares he and Matt helped Blondie through after both missions. He sighed and opened his eyes and asked "So, you, Dr. Fraser and Jules colluded and didn't tell Blondie he had reinjured his muscles. Is that what you are saying?"

The truth was written in Jim's expression as he answered "Yeah, basically. Dr. Fraser was certain with the week off that Sam had coming that he would be set to rights by the time he headed back to work. He prescribed Sam heavy duty pain meds so he wouldn't feel the pain and told him to take them for the next four days and to get some rest. Then the doc told Sam that if he followed his instructions that by the time Sam was off vacation, he would sign off for him to go back to full active duty."

Blaze grinned "So you gave him a little Christmas present."

Jim shrugged "Sort of. I just didn't want Sam worrying about things. I wanted him to just enjoy his time off. I'll be checking him over today just to make sure he is following the doctor's orders."

Mason patted Jim's back and smiled "Good man Jim." Then he checked his watch and said "Blondie should be here soon."

Winds rubbed his hands together briskly as he grinned "I cannot wait to surprise him."

The others all nodded.

Sam's Truck Enroute to Blaze's Home – Saturday, December 26th – 9:00 am

Sam drove carefully in the fresh snow. He had his pain meds in his jacket pocket and would take them after he got to Blaze's home. He was achy from overdoing yesterday but it was so worth it and he would not have it any other way. But he should not take the meds and drive so he held off.

He had arranged with Daphy to come over about nine today. That would give him most the day to spend with Ben. Sam was really looking forward to that.

Even though he was sore, more sore than he thought he should be since Dr. Fraser said he was healing just fine. Sam had snagged several of the snowball launchers as he headed out this morning. He thought that Ben and he could have some fun with them. Sam brought six of them because Daphy might want to join them and perhaps there were some boys in the neighborhood that might like to join to make it more fun for Ben.

Especially since he was feeling more sore than he expected and doubted he would last as long as he would like. Ben had boundless energy and was likely to want to play for hours. If he could round up a few boys, he could supervise and plan the missions, then deploy the troops to execute them and therefore still have fun. Sam thought about that a moment and laughed, he could tell his dad he had become a General, General Snowball.

His mind shifted as he drove and listened to the second CD that Matt had created. It was full of his favorite songs with just a few weird ones thrown in to make him smile. But the absolute best part of this CD was that it was not just songs. Matt's voice was interspersed every few songs doing a running commentary on the songs like he would do some times. It made Sam happy to hear Matt's voice talking like normal. It made him feel like he did when he and Matt were in the regular Army and took day trips on their days off.

Matt had truly planned ahead and was helping him enjoy driving the truck. It almost felt like Matt was sitting beside him. Sam wondered what was on the other three CDs. He hoped it was more of Matt talking to him.

As he came to a stop at the red light the song concluded and Matt's voice rang clear in the cab.

"So, Sammy, I was thinking, if you become a police officer, you know give up the family business of the military. The General will be pissed at you but who cares. This is your life Sammy. Anyway, if you do become a cop, I know you will be a good one."

"But don't fall into the trap so many police officers do. Don't get jaded. Remember that people are generally nice. It's just your job will expose you to the worst of the worst on a daily basis. I need you to remember why you wanted to be a cop. To serve and to protect. The vast majority of people are good. It only takes a few bad apples to wreak havoc."

Matt laughed "Remember that time we were sent to CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat for our emergency medical and evacuation procedures fresher training. That was about a year before we joined Special Forces. We had a good time once you were feeling better."

"Do you remember that cute little brunette RCMP officer that pulled me over for going well over the speed limit because we were running late? Thanks to you I might add. If you hadn't eaten at that roadside stand we wouldn't have had to stop for you to puke so often. No, I guess you wouldn't remember her, you were green to the gills. We never did find out what gave you food poisoning but then again you ate so much crap at the stand. I swear you have a hollow leg sometimes. You know, I thought I might have to practice my emergency medical skills on you that day."

"Anyhow, so I'll tell you. She pulls me over. I stop because I'm a good citizen" Matt snorted.

"When she approached, I pointed to you as you had your face buried in the plastic bag and puking yet again. I told her that I'm rushing you to the base hospital. You must've looked really bad, or it was just your natural charm with the ladies where they would do anything for you. But the RCMP officer gave you one look and didn't even ask to see my license. She gave us an escort all the way to the base at top speed."

"You know I wish had gotten her name and number. I could only see the first few letters of her name, Cal. Boy was she was cute though. Her brown eyes were compassionate and she had her hair in a ponytail. She looked like a keeper if you know what I mean. Hmmm, now that I think of it, she was more your type than mine. Petite, brunette and a nice smile."

"Anyway, this ties in to what I was thinking about you becoming a cop. You need to find the beauty of your life to help you deal with all the garbage you will see being a cop. Find someone that you can share your life with and help you see all the good in the world. Someone you can slow down with and draw strength from."

"I know she is out there. You just have to be patient and find her. Maybe you already have and if so, I told you so. In honor of that compassionate, petite, brown-eyed RCMP officer I've added the next song."

Sam grinned as Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison played and he moved his foot from the brake to the gas pedal.

Then a weird thought entered his head. Petite, brunette with brown eyes and a ponytail. Sam knew Jules grew up in Medicine Hat. Could it have been her? Cal … Sam wondered where Jules was located when she was in the RCMP.

Nah, it couldn't be. That would be just too weird.

But then again weird shit happened to him all the time. He would have to ask Jules where she was located back then. It would be kinda cool if Matt had actually met Jules.

Ten minutes later, Sam pulled up outside Blaze's home. He sat as the last song finished. The Sam fished out his pills and took out two. He popped them in and then swallowed them taking a drink from his silver travel mug. It simply contained water today and not 'moms water'.

He smiled remembering waking up on the sofa this morning to the smell of coffee. Mom had put him to sleep last night. He was glad she had not woken him up to move to bed. Perhaps, that was why he was more sore today. The sofa was not the most comfortable place to sleep.

But breakfast had been nice. Omelets, left-over ham and coffee. He enjoyed having morning coffee with Dad, Mom and Natalie. He and his dad even used their alien mugs. It had been a good start to his day.

Sam looked up at the house and saw the curtain fall back. He put the travel mug back in the console and grabbed his bag of presents. Daphy was probably gonna kill him for the present he selected for Ben. Leah had helped him find it and he added his own touch.

As he closed the door to his truck, a thought struck him. Yeah, that might just be doable but he would have to listen to all the CDs first and make sure that content was suitable. He would have to work with Spike to make it happen.

Making a CD of Matt's voice would be a great birthday gift for Ben. Matt might not be here but now he had a way for Ben to actually hear his father's voice. It would be something that Ben could treasure and feel a bit more connected to the man that gave him life.

Walking to the door, Sam looked back at the truck. Damn, he should have waited to take his meds. Now he would not be able to take Ben for a ride in the truck.

Blaze's Home – Saturday, December 26th – 9:10 am

Daphy called out "Hide. Sam's here."

Ben squealed with glee.

Blaze squatted down and asked "You remember what you are supposed to do?"

Ben nodded and said "I can't jump on him because he has owies and I'm supposed to bring him into the tree and make him sit in that chair." Ben pointed to the one facing the tree then added "So that you and everyone can sneak up behind him and surprise him."

Tousling Ben's jet black hair, Blaze stood and said "You got it kiddo."

.

AN: Asking the readers ... Should the RCMP Officer be Jules? Let me know. Sam will talk with Jules later and ask. So depending on what you tell me it will or will not be her. It won't count as a real Sam/Jules meeting because they had no interaction, Sam was busy puking and never looked at the officer. Perhaps he got sick off of corndogs for a little tie into AI-F.