Disclaimer: The show Flashpoint and its characters were created by Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern and belong to them and the networks who air the episodes. Since the show has ended, our only way of getting new Flashpoint is through fan fiction. This story is my attempt to help fill the void, and the only profit I make is the warm fuzzy feeling reviews give me. Anything that does not come directly from the show is my own creation and should not be used without my permission.

My World Torn Apart

Chapter 10

"I should have thought about it right away. I can't believe I didn't. It makes perfect sense." Sam was rambling, one word almost tripping over the next as they spilled out of his mouth. His hand was gripping Ed's arm tightly, begging the man to listen to him.

"Think of what, Sam? Where do you think they are?" Ed didn't protest that Sam was back from his break too soon. He knew that it wouldn't do any good and was frankly surprised he'd stayed away as long as he had.

"Jules and Sarge know the physics of bomb explosions. Maybe not as well as Spike but who does? Anyway, they knew they couldn't go out the front door - that would have been certain death. They had no way of knowing if the same danger awaited them out the back door. So if they couldn't leave the building and they knew the bomb was about to detonate what would they do? They'd get as far away as they could and to where they would think was the safest place to get. Where would that be? They would have gotten to the lowest level close to an outside wall. I bet they went to the basement. That's got to be where they are. It's also why we haven't heard them yet. We just haven't gotten close enough. We need to clear the entrance and then we can get to them. There's even a chance they weren't hurt."

Ed nodded. He didn't think it was going to be as easy or as cut and dried as Sam seemed to think it was going to be. Still, it was a better plan and a more hopeful idea than anything they'd been doing so far. He looked at Spike who had paused in his work at Sam's arrival. "Spike, you studied the plans for the building. Is there even a basement in this building?"

"Yeah, but I don't think they would have gone there."

Sam shook his head. He didn't need someone shooting down another one of his ideas. Especially not when it was one that gave him the maximum chance of getting his wife and daughter back unharmed. He ran his hands through his short blonde hair. "Why the hell not?"

"Don't you think I would have put us searching in that vicinity from the beginning if I'd thought it was a possibility? I studied the building plans, the inspection reports, everything. I don't know why but according to the last few health inspector's reports, the basement is kept locked at all times. There's no way of knowing if they even had access to a key to get there or that they had time to look for one." Spike was apologetic in his answer. He hated to crush yet another one of Sam's hopes.

Winnie touched his arm. "While I was on duty, I pulled employment records for this particular Tim Horton's so we could try to narrow down who might be inside from an employee standpoint. I made contact with all but five employees. Ben was going to keep trying because we don't believe all five would have been working. One of the ones missing was the main manager, Aaron Saddler, who would have the key. There's a possibility that Saddler was our subject's target and that Saddler's presence in the coffee shop is what precipitated the attack. He could have gotten them inside in time."

Sam found he could breathe a little easier. "So it's possible? Even if it's a long shot, it's better than what we have now."

"Spike," Ed's tone was neutral and even. "Where would the stairwell to the basement be?"

The destruction was so great that getting a bearing as to where anything should have been wasn't easy but Spike looked around and grimly pointed to what seemed like the heaviest collection of rubble. Sam's heart dropped once again. It would take them all night to clear that mess away to even reach them.

"Shit, looks like the entire kitchen collapsed in one big heap right there." Leah muttered softly. She'd been a firefighter before joining SRU so this wasn't her first rec- she quickly corrected her thinking- rescue search. Plus, she'd gone through similar rubble caused by the earthquake in Haiti when she went down to help her family. This was hauntingly familiar territory, made worse by knowing what was at stake. "We can't get heavy equipment in here to help move it for fear of collapsing the probably weakened flooring. If Sarge, Jules, and the others are trapped down there, we don't want to bring everything down on top of them."

"So we'll have to move it all by hand?" Ed asked, deferring to her experience and knowledge.

She nodded. "Yeah, we can probably use hand tools to help break up the biggest pieces but essentially, we're going to have to do it all manually."

"I'll go talk to Captain Lawrence; tell him what we're thinking and get him to shift his men over here. Ben, you read me?"

"Copy that."

"We're going to need more manpower. I know you've done all you can do with getting mutual aid from the surrounding areas but we need more. Can you put out a page to the other SRU teams and ask for volunteers to pitch in?"

"On it."

Ed fixed Sam in a steady gaze. "Sam, I promise you, if it takes all night and the blood, sweat, and tears of everyone I can get involved, we're going to find them."

- FP - FP - FP -

Greg glanced at his watch. Almost two in the morning. At his best guess, they'd been trapped in the safe room for over fifteen hours. He couldn't be one hundred percent positive because the truth was looking at his watch hadn't seemed like a priority while he and Jules had been facing down a gunman with a bomb. He knew he'd met Jules around nine in the morning and that they'd visited for about an hour before the hostage situation had started. Add probably another hour to ninety minutes to that and his guess was probably close.

Everyone else was asleep. Sadie had been the first to give in to exhaustion, hours earlier. She was sprawled on her back on the blanket she'd spent most of her day playing on. Her left thumb was in her mouth as she occasionally sucked on it even in her sleep. Her right hand was wrapped around her mother's thumb connecting mother and daughter even in sleep. Jules's head was as close to Sadie's body as she'd been able to crane it before she too had fallen asleep, though her surrender into sleep had taken longer.

It was a beautiful scene and even with circumstances being what they were, Greg hadn't been able to resist taking out his phone and snapping a picture. He wanted to be hopeful that they were going to be rescued and that he'd be able to share the picture with Sam later. Wanted to be hopeful but as time went on, it was getting harder to hold on to that hope although he wouldn't admit it out loud to anyone. He just hoped that if they weren't found in time, that Sam would find it on his phone when their bodies were recovered and could take at least a little comfort knowing that, even in the direst conditions, Jules and Sadie had found a little peace in the chaos.

He was glad they were sleeping. Jules wouldn't admit it for anything but he knew she was hurting. How could she not be? Even if she'd managed to avoid broken bones from both the fall and the rubble piling on top of her, there was no way she'd avoided being banged up in the process. He hoped the sleep was giving her a respite from the pain as well as the emotional overload he knew was overwhelming her. The woman and child in his care deserved the rest.

However, he was even happier that the two men they were trapped with, men whose actions, intentional or not, had left them in this situation, had also succumbed to sleep. Their constant bickering had grated on his nerves to the extent that even though he considered himself a peacekeeper, he'd been ready to let them tear each other to shreds just so he wouldn't have to listen to them.

They were all on edge; he knew that and wanted to make allowances, but his own frayed nerves weren't allowing him much sympathy. He knew come morning, if they hadn't been rescued, it was only going to be worse. He needed the time while they were asleep to recharge his own temper to be ready for that. His own body screamed at him that he should rest while he could but he felt like someone should stay awake in case there was some sign that help was coming. But maybe if he just closed his eyes for a few seconds…

"NO! SADIE! PLEASE NO!"

His head jerked up at Jules's panicked cry. Her eyes were still closed as she seemed to be caught up in a nightmare. Her body, however, was in motion. She was struggling to get free, hindered by everything on top of her. The pile shifted, causing a baseball size chunk to fall from its position about two feet up and hit her in the shoulder blade. Though it had to have hit with bruising force, Jules still didn't awaken.

Greg moved as quickly as his bad leg would allow him and he threw himself over Jules's head and Sadie's body, shielding them in the event the rest of the column of debris fell. Although he knew that if it did fall not even his body would protect them. Beneath him, Jules whimpered but stopped struggling. A few seconds after she stopped moving, so did the rubble and Greg felt safe to move again. He looked down at his friend; her eyes were open but she was breathing hard, trying to calm herself down. He gently cupped her cheek, hoping to aid her in the attempt. He was glad that the incident hadn't seemed to have fazed either Sadie or the other men.

"Okay?" Jules nodded as an answer to his question. Greg continued. "Doozy of a bad dream, I take it. Want to talk about it?" This time the answer was a firm shake of her head. Greg wasn't that surprised. He'd done enough of her psych evals over the years to know that she didn't discuss what was bothering her willingly. Besides she didn't have to tell him what her nightmare was about for him to have an idea. They were currently living the damn thing. "Sadie's fine, you know. She's been a sleeping angel this whole time. Your nightmare didn't even wake her."

Jules nodded again. Her eyes were burning and she knew it was for the want of tears she couldn't form. An early sign of dehydration she wouldn't do anything about no matter how thirsty she might get. "How long will she stay that way though? I'm her mother and I'm supposed to protect her no matter the cost."

Greg sighed, he knew what she was thinking and he hated it. He glanced back at Aaron Saddler's sleeping figure, silently cursing the man for putting the new mother in such a horrible position. When Saddler had reached into the diaper bag and pulled out a bottle of water as nonchalantly as if he were reaching into his own refrigerator, Greg had thought Jules was going to bring down the whole stack of rubble on top of her in her attempt to get to him. It was Greg who had succeeded where she couldn't. For the first time in about a year, he'd moved almost like there was nothing wrong with his leg, shoving Saddler across the room and up against the wall. Doug had watched but hadn't move to intercede or to even blink.

"The lady asked you a question. What are you doing?"

"I'm thirsty. What's the big deal?"

"That water is for the baby's formula." Greg hadn't felt the need to do bodily harm to another human being in a long time but he could easily do so now.

"She's got plenty; it's not like I'm taking the last she has. There's several bottles in there."

"We don't know how long we're going to be trapped down here. We're adults, we can understand why we're thirsty or hungry but she's just a baby; if we're down here for days and she runs low, she's not going to understand why her mommy isn't feeding her."

"So the rest of us are supposed to suffer on the off chance we're down here for days and the baby might need it? Besides, it's not like it's going to do her any good to have several days worth of water if we're all passed out from dehydration to fix her a bottle."

It was obvious no one was buying his argument no matter how logical he considered it. He shook his head. "You're seriously telling me you're going to hoard water on a possibility when we're all thirsty right now? Talk about selfish."

"Selfish?" Jules practically growled; Greg's earlier plea for her not to get riled up forgotten. "You would know all about selfish wouldn't you? Seems like you were only thinking of yourself when you didn't check on the occupants of the car before you drove off to protect yourself. And this room was the ultimate in selfishness. A chance to save your skin and to hell with anyone else's safety. Maybe I'm selfish too because I can't risk my daughter's safety because you've gone a few hours without quenching your thirst."

Saddler shoved Greg back and returned to the diaper bag. He pulled out the water bottles including the half empty one Greg had used to fix Sadie's bottle earlier. "Five bottles and five of us. That's one bottle each that could mean live or death. Seems only fair that it's divided equally. I'm sure I would have been expected to share my supplies if they were down here. You want to vilify me for my actions but yours are much worse. I didn't know or maybe I just didn't think about the consequences of my actions nine months ago or when I didn't tell anyone about this room. But you? You know exactly what you are sentencing the rest of us to by refusing to share what you've got plenty of."

Doug stepped forward and picked up one of the other unopened bottles. "I think he makes an excellent point. We should each get a bottle and when it's gone, it's gone. What do you say, Mom?"

"She's going to stay that way for as long as it takes for them to dig us out. Which I bet won't be much longer. You've got to keep believing that, Jules." Greg felt like a hypocrite for insisting she believe what he was having trouble hoping for but he couldn't stand to see her so dejected. "And as for questioning your parenting skills? Sadie couldn't ask for a better mother, Jules, and you know it. Look at her, she's perfectly fine. Maybe a little dirtier than you'd like but she's uninjured and from the way she's peacefully sleeping right now, I don't think any of this has even traumatized her. That's not going to change. You've got to trust that."

"Did I do the right thing?" Jules asked now, her voice sounding small and raspy.

Greg sighed. He'd known she was going to second guess herself, that she would have no matter what she'd done. "What do you think? Saddler put you in a no win situation. You'd be questioning whether you did the right thing regardless of what you did. And regardless of what you chose, none of us could fault you for it. But if it makes you feel better, I think you did a very brave thing; I'm just sorry that Saddler wasn't man enough to appreciate it."

"Brave…right." Jules turned her head away from Greg and bit her lip. "Explain that one to me again. I could have said screw you, my baby is more important than anyone else. I could have said they could have that water over my dead body."

"But you didn't." Greg continued. "You agreed knowing you weren't sentencing Sadie to what was left of that one bottle. She'd have your bottle because you would give her anything she needed. I hope you knew I would as well. At worse you were cutting her supply down to two and a half bottles that would translate to about five to ten more feedings. I think you also knew that Doug wouldn't take it either, no matter what he was saying."

She looked back at him. "I had to trust that as a father, Doug would do what was right. I couldn't guarantee it but I was pretty sure. There was just something in his eyes that said I could trust him. I think part of me thought Saddler would step up and do the right thing as well."

Greg glanced back to where Saddler was sleeping. "I don't know that he even knows what the right thing is anymore." Not only had Saddler not given his water back for Sadie, he'd consumed half the bottle in one long swallow. Before he'd fallen asleep, he'd finished off the bottle. "But at least this way, there's not much else he can say. He got what he wanted and it's gone now. He has no say in what happens to the rest."

Her eyes narrowed. "Fair or not, I wouldn't put it past him to just try to take it if given the chance."

"He's not going to get the chance." Greg assured her gravely.

She nodded. Sadie twisted on the blanket but didn't awaken. Her little fingers tightened around Jules's thumb. Smiling at her daughter, Jules closed her hand around Sadie's much smaller one. "I know Sam's busting his ass trying to find us. I believe that with all my heart. I don't have any doubts that he's doing everything within his power to bring us home safely."

"But you and I both know it's not always that easy." Greg finished, almost reading her mind. She nodded.

"Yeah, if it were, Sadie and I would already be home right now. Sadie would be sleeping in her crib and Sam would be fussing over every single bruise he could find on my body. Between you and me, this is one time I wouldn't fight him."

- FP - FP - FP -

Moving the rubble was taking longer than Sam wanted. Now that he was convinced where Jules and Sadie were, he wanted to put his arms around them and hold them close, immediately. Instead everything was being done with agonizing slowness and precision.

He knew why it had to be that way. He'd listened as Lawrence and some other captain from one of the surrounding areas who had showed up to help explained the importance of caution. The scene wasn't stable and if there was a collapse, then that could delay them reaching the basement even longer. He hadn't looked at his watch in a while but he knew it was well past midnight. He knew that mostly because his former teammates had been taking turns trying to convince him to take another break and kept using the "it's after midnight" as one of their biggest rationales.

While he couldn't deny he was past exhausted, the idea that they could soon reach his family had given him a second wind. Hell, it might even be his fourth or fifth wind by that time. He knelt down to lift a larger chunk of brick. He knew he should probably leave that one for the firefighter manning the jackhammer but he didn't want to wait. Every moment wasted waiting for someone else was a moment longer away from Jules and Sadie.

The muscles across his back tightened and he gritted his teeth as he tried to lift the piece. As he pushed up with his leg muscles, he realized that he'd probably bitten off more than he could chew with this piece but refused to give up. He lost his grip though just before he was fully standing , barely getting his feet out of the way in time to avoid getting them crushed. He cursed.

"Need a hand?"

For a moment Sam just blinked at the newcomer. All night long both familiar faces and new ones had approached him. This was the first time he'd seen Wordy though. He wasn't surprised. Ben's call for extra hands hadn't gone out to just SRU teams but across the department and had brought out help in droves. Practically anyone who'd worked a call with either Sarge or Jules that was able to had shown up to pitch in. Finally registering the question Wordy had asked, he nodded.

Between the two of them, it was much easier to lift the piece away. They carried it in tandem to the dumpster that had been brought in to collect the removed debris. It seemed almost empty at the moment, like all the work down in the preceding hours had been nothing but Sam knew this was at least the second or third such dumpster. Once relieved of their burden, Wordy wiped his gloved hands on his pants and reached behind him to pull a bottle of water from his back pocket. He handed it to Sam. "Here, you look like you need this more than I do. I'd have been here sooner but I just got off shift."

Sam accepted it and unscrewed the top. He tilted his head back so he could pour the clear liquid down his throat without his lips touching the mouth of the bottle. When it was half gone, he stopped pouring and handed the bottle back to Wordy so he could finish the rest. "Thanks. I suppose you're going to tell me I need a break too."

Wordy took a quick swallow, recapped the bottle and returned it to his back pocket. "Would it do any good?"

Sam shook his head. "Not until they're safe."

Wordy shrugged. "That's what I thought and that's why I'm not saying anything."

"You're the first then. Why aren't you going to jump my case like everyone else?" Sam knelt back down and picked up the next piece. This one was lighter and he could get it by himself.

Wordy grabbed his own chunk and once again they were heading to the dumpster. "I get it Sam. You're doing what you've got to do for the ones you love. If it were Shell or one of the girls in there, I'd be the same way. Nothing or no one would be able to drag me away. Forcing you away from here would be like withholding a life preserver from a drowning man."

Sam flashed him a smile that was all gratitude without any true happiness. "You're the first person who seems to understand. It's not that I don't know I'm tired or hungry or that my head is pounding because of this damn wound on my head. Those things just don't seem to matter as long as Jules and Sadie are in trouble. I'll have time to rest and eat when they're safe."

Wordy nodded, making a mental note to grab a packet of Tylenol from the first aid kit when he went back for more water. "A year ago you wouldn't have understood either. You're a husband and a father now; kind of changes your priorities. Family is more important than just your individual needs and wants."

"Ed's married with kids but he's one of the main ones trying to convince me to take a break." Sam commented as they took another load to the dumpster. For the first time maybe all night, he felt like he had a real ally. It wasn't that he was complaining, really; he knew the others were on his side and were doing their very best to help find Jules and Sadie. He just knew their focus was also between wanting to save them but protect him as well. It wasn't that Wordy wanted something bad to happen to him but that he really understood that Sam couldn't care about his own needs so long as his girls were in danger.

"Yeah, he is. And if Sophie or Clark or Izzy were trapped down there, wild horses wouldn't pull Ed away. But he's also a team leader and as the boss, he has to look out for his people too. And before you remind me that you're a team leader now with your own team, I know. But I don't care how many teams you lead, you'll always be Team One and therefore under his responsibility. Just like being at Guns and Gangs haven't severed my ties and just like Sarge is still Boss even though he's retired. It's the way it goes."

The two continued to work in silence for about another hour before Wordy took a moment to go retrieve more water. He also grabbed the pain reliever from the first aid kit before returning to Sam. He offered him both the water and the pain killer. "I'm not suggesting Muhammad go to the mountain but that doesn't mean a little of the mountain can't come to Muhammad."

Sam swallowed the two tablets almost gratefully before finishing the bottle. Wiping his mouth he nodded toward the rubble pile that seemed to be slowly getting smaller and smaller. "I feel like we're close. We're on the right track here. We're going to find them - soon, maybe even before the sun is up."

"Sam!" Spike came running up grabbing Sam's arm as he approached. He was breathing hard. "We did it. We cleared a little of the stairwell to the basement. The clearing isn't big enough to get equipment down there but it is big enough that one or two people can get through. I told them you had to be one of the ones who goes. Come on."

Wordy slapped Sam's back. "I guess you're right. Go on, hug that baby and wife of yours."

Sam followed after Spike, his heart pounding in his chest. Spike wasn't exaggerating, the hole they had cleared was small. It would be a tight fit for him and anyone else besides maybe Jules to squeeze through but it would at least let him get to the basement and check on those that were trapped. Perhaps even get some first aid started if it were needed until the rest of the opening was cleared enough to get a basket down to rescue his family.

He squeezed into the space that had been created. The stairwell itself wasn't as bad, although he still had to gingerly make his way around large chunks of debris. He reached the door to the basement and found that it was locked. For a moment, doubts that he'd been right filled his mind but his heart said it didn't matter. His wife and daughter were close; he just had to get to them.

Spike joined him at the barrier and called back up for a ram. With the tool firmly in hand, he was quickly able to gain access. They stepped through the threshold, with their flashlights lighting the way.

"Jules! Sarge! Where are you?"

There was no answer. Sam shone his flashlight around. The basement appeared untouched by the destruction above their heads. He waited for the light to find what he desperately was looking for or for Jules or Sarge or someone to answer his call. Neither happened.

"Sam, I'm sorry. They aren't down here."

"NO!" The wail that left his mouth was louder than the one that had consumed him after the explosion. The pain was even greater. Once more Sam sank to his knees, letting the flashlight drop beside him. His fists pounded the concrete floor and his head came to rest on his fists. They were supposed to be here. It had felt so right and even now knowing they weren't, he couldn't stop feeling like they were close. Like when Jules had been trapped in the lab and even though he was close enough to see her and hear her, the glass and walls kept him from being able to touch her or rescue her.

"Sam?" Spike's hand was on his shoulder, much like Ed's had been in the immediate aftermath of the explosion but once again Sam ignored it.

How had he been so wrong? He'd just known that this would be where they would find them. He'd felt it as keenly as he'd known from that first moment years earlier that Jules was the only woman he could ever love. His instincts had been so right about that one; how could they have been so wrong this time? Had his unwavering belief that his wife and daughter were still alive been wrong too?

"Come on Jules. Don't do this to me, Baby. I don't want to do this life without you or without Sadie. I need you both more than I've ever needed anyone."

He sat back looking around for signs of anything he might have missed, anything that might give him a clue about his family. There was nothing. Behind him he could hear Spike moving around setting up something but he ignored his friend and former teammate. Nothing mattered but the pain of just one more disappointment. His eyes fell on a shelf holding a bunch of cans and he picked one up and flung it at a wall in frustration. It bounced off and landed on the floor with a clunk.

Spike winced at the sound. He'd gotten the portable Life Detector and was listening for any sounds that might be too faint for the ears to pick up, something that might help them find their friends. The vibrations set off by the can hitting the wall hurt his ears through the headphones. When Sam picked up another can and flung it at another wall, Spike was just about to ask him to stop when his heart skipped a beat. The sound was different this time, too different. Something was off but he couldn't quite figure it out.

"Sam, do that again but at a different wall."

Sam didn't understand but throwing something helped ease his frustration at least marginally so he did as requested. Spike listened carefully and then told him to do the same thing at the fourth wall. He removed the headphones.

"We need a drill down here immediately. There's something behind that wall and I'm hoping it's our trapped people."