Waking Thoughts, He's Just Colorful, Unintended Confession, Waiting & No Rush
Hotel – Sam and Jules Room
Jules smiled as the soft music played on her phone alarm. She reached out and shut it off. After lightly rubbing her eyes she opened them to see the first rays of sunshine spilling in through the window. Jules snuggled closer to Sam.
They had slept so soundly that neither of them had moved during the night. It was a testament to how exhausted each of them was. It was also a testament of how much comfort and security they felt sleeping in each other's arms.
She could tell that Sam was still sleeping given the slow regular breaths. She was content to lie here for now. Jules knew if she shifted or got out of bed it would wake Sam. After the days he had had recently a little extra sleep would be good for him.
Jules let her mind wander as she watched the rays of sunshine splay into the room. The prismatic effect of the glass spread colors of the rainbow around. Today was a good day. Part of their trouble was safely locked up. Bruce would not be harming Sam today.
That thought made her smile. Then the rainbow colors reminded her of Sam's jaw and eye. They were surely going to look awful today. The day after, Sam's bruises always looked worse.
Thinking of Sam's bruises took her mind to her brothers. It was good to do the intervention with her brothers. She was also glad that her father was there to hear about Sam.
Finley had pulled her aside and had asked a little more about the scholarships. He wanted to know how Sam came to create them. Finley had looked sad when she told him that part of the funding had come from the life insurance policies for Matt and Ripsaw.
Keagan had pulled Sam aside and apologized as the group broke up after dinner. She wasn't sure what all Keagan said but she distinctly heard Keagan say, if there is ever anything I can do to make amends please let me know. Sam had responded, nothing to make amends for, I have a little sister too.
She smiled again. Reconciling with her brothers felt good. It had been so long, so very long. She felt the same love for and from them as she had when she was little. It felt good. She was glad she had read their letters. She was glad that Sam suggested they visit.
Sam. Oh she was so blessed to have Sam in her life. As her eyes watched the kaleidoscope of colors her mind slipped to her mother. Her mom would have loved Sam too. She would have seen that Sam supported her and held her heart. Her mom would have seen Sam for the man that he is without needing an intervention.
A soft pang of loss flittered through her heart. She still missed her mom even after twenty two years. If her mother had lived Jules wondered how things might be different. Would her father have turned his back on her? Would her mother have supported her choice and helped her father accept it?
Sam's eyes lazily opened. He listened a moment to Jules who was still tucked securely in his arms. A slow smile spread across his face when he realized they had not moved an inch in sleep.
In a soft sleepy voice Sam said "Morning Beautiful, penny for your thoughts."
Jules smiled. She was so lost in her thoughts she had not noticed the change in Sam's breathing to alert her to him waking. She turned in his arms to face him. The smile still on her face she answered "Morning Handsome. I was thinking lots of things."
Sam kissed the tip of her nose "What's the last thing you were thinking?"
Jules returned his kiss but on the lips then replied "Just wondering if things with my father would have been different if my mother had lived."
Lightly caressing Jules' face Sam said "Not something you will ever truly know. What are you thinking in relation to your father? Do you want to stay a few days after the competition and talk to him? No pressure but if you do we could talk to the Boss and Ed today and let them know."
Jules sighed "I'm still so conflicted. He hurt me badly. But I've been watching him. At the party I watched him when photos of me as a cop and in SRU were shown. I may have read it wrong but I could have sworn I saw pride on his face. It doesn't fit."
She cuddled closer and laid her head so she could hear Sam's heartbeat then continued "He is so good with the kids too. I heard him talking to Cyndi at dinner. He is signing her up at the gun range to take shooting lessons. I even heard him say to Cyndi that she could be anything she set her mind too. That he would be in her corner all the way."
Her tone sad and conflicted, Jules breathed out "How do I deal with that Sam? That is not the man who argued with me for years and tried to change my mind. That is not the man who turned his back on me in the airport."
Sam kissed the top of Jules head and hugged her closer. He simply said "People can change Jules. Maybe he see what he did was wrong and is trying to make amends."
Jules pulled back and looked into Sam's eyes "Do you really believe people can change that much?"
His eyes were soft and his voice sincere when Sam answered "Yeah I do. I have six prime examples."
Her expression was one of confusion "Six examples?"
Sam nodded "Yeah six. I wasn't so well liked when I joined the team if you remember. So yeah, six. You, the Boss, Ed, Spike, Wordy and Lou eventually saw your behavior and decided to change. You all decided to accept me for who I was and forgive how I joined the team."
Jules cringed. She had treated Sam so badly those first few months. They all had.
She had been so ashamed when she had learned that Sam had been hurt when he went into the ice cream parlor and had the vat of milkshake dumped on him. That he had actually sustained a concussion and all they had done was laugh at him. It made her sick to recall she had made Sam the butt of many bad jokes that day.
On top of that, a few days later she had attacked Sam in the locker room after Lou had been shot by Sam. Ed had been merciless yelling at Sam before SIU took Sam for the interview. None of them had even bothered to check on Sam.
Lou had tried to tell them it was his fault for moving. He tried to get them to see that Sam had no other option or Greg, Wordy, Lou and the hostages would have been blown up by the suicidal man. But they did not listen. They were too wrapped up in their own opinions of Sam's actions that day.
None of them knew Sam had been cut by the knife as he saved the woman on the previous call that day. Jules' fingers lightly traced the scar. It had taken twenty three stitches to close. Again they had only laughed at him because he was covered in mud and Ed had yelled at him for not holding his position and waiting for Ed to arrive. If Sam had followed Ed's instruction the woman would have been dead.
Jules closed here eyes as she recalled that they all behaved abominably and never checked to see if Sam was okay after those calls. If they had bothered to check they might have discovered that Sam was suffering from a trauma-triggered migraine during and after the call where he had to take the lethal shot that grazed Lou. If they had they would have seen Sam was injured.
But they hadn't. All they were focused on was that Sam disobeyed Ed's direct order again and Lou was hurt in the process. None of them knew that with the concussion and TTM Sam had lost several months of his memory. They did not know that Sam was in significant pain and completely confused as to where he was and who was yelling at him when Ed laid into him before SIU took him.
If that wasn't bad enough, when Sam got back from SIU, Spike had slammed Sam into the lockers. Sam hit his head again. Spike was shouting at Sam saying vile things.
Then she had joined in and punched Sam hard in the stomach and swept his feet out from under him. Sam had crashed to the ground and struck his head yet again. She had then straddled Sam and punched his chest repeatedly as she yelled at him before Lou and Wordy finally pulled her off.
Sam had lain unconscious on the locker room floor after her assault.
That was a prime example of how she was a hot head like Keagan. Those were actions she wished she could take back. She wished she had behaved better and been more accepting of Sam when he first joined the team. Her actions then were reprehensible.
Sam kissed Jules forehead "Don't go there Jules. It is in the past. It no longer matters. I never blamed any of you. You all changed towards me and I found a place to belong and a family."
That was true. They had changed. Sam had forgiven all of them. Spike and Sam were best friends now. Sam had helped Spike so much after Lou died. Sam had forgiven her. With that forgiveness, she and Sam had built something wonderful.
Jules blew out a long breath as several things whipped through her mind. People change. Making amends. Atoning for horrible actions. Looking for redemption. Acceptance. Forgiveness.
She sat up then stood and walked to the window. Sam got out of bed and followed. He came up behind Jules and wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close.
Sam smiled and said "You make my life great Jules. Every day with you proves to me that there is beauty in the world."
Jules turned in his arms again and looked up at Sam "You make my life great too. You are right, people can change. Let's talk to the Boss and Ed and see if we can swing another couple of days off. After the competition I will talk to my father. I will give him an opportunity to tell me what he felt at the time and why he did what he did to me that day. I cannot promise it will change how I feel but I will listen to him."
Sam kissed Jules tenderly then pulled back "Jules you are so beautiful, inside and out. Thank you for being who you are."
Jules lightly caressed Sam's bruised jaw "You teach me so many things by just being who you are. You showed me that forgiveness is possible. Thank you for being you too." Jules reached up on tippy toes and kissed Sam tenderly.
Then she pulled back and said "We should get ready now if we want to get some breakfast before the competition."
Sam released her and said "Today should be fun. No more Nealy to worry about."
Jules' eyebrows raised and her eyes widened as she nodded in agreement "Copy that."
Exhibition & Stampede Grounds – Final Event
Commander Maddox looked out at the assembled teams and felt a sense of relief. This competition was almost over. They just had the final event to get through and then the celebration dinner and awards ceremony. He was relieved because Nealy had been caught and had not succeeded in killing Sam or Jules.
He addressed the teams "Good morning to all of you. This competition has surely been the most unique one any of you have ever attended."
There were chuckles throughout the crowd.
Maddox continued "If you have not already heard the news, I am happy to report that the local police apprehended Nealy last evening. So we should have an uneventful final competition. Well, at least uneventful in that respect. After compiling yesterday's scores I can tell you the competition for first place is stiff. Three of the five teams are in a neck in neck race for that position."
"Today's competition will be a full team event as you well know. Each scenario will be different but equal. That is so those teams that follow do not have an unfair advantage. We will randomly draw the order of teams and then randomly select a scenario" Maddox explained.
He took a moment and said "Anything you might encounter in the real world may be in the scenario. We will be using up to five building in each scenario. If the Sergeants will join me at the judges table we will conduct the drawings. Please double check your gear and if you have not already done so, please check you clips to ensure they contain only blanks. We want no mishaps."
Greg looked to Ed "I assume all has been checked."
Ed nodded "Checked, double checked and triple checked."
"Good. I'll meet you at the team table when I know when we are up" Greg said.
Greg headed for the judges table while the rest of the team headed for the Toronto table which was right next to the Winnipeg table.
When they sat down Luca asked Ed with concern "Braddock okay to compete? He looks like shit and his eye is somewhat swollen."
Ed looked at Sam. His face was as vividly bruised as ever and he looked like hell. Ed chuckled "Yeah he is okay. He's just colorful."
Luca nodded and chuckled "If you say so. I want your team at full strength. Otherwise when Winnipeg takes the win you will be trying to say it is because you were down a man."
Ed just chuckled. He had come to like Luca. Luca was a good man and just as competitive as he was. Ed retorted "When Toronto wins we will be saying we won even when our team was not at one hundred percent."
Hospital
Bruce woke but kept his eyes closed because his head was pounding. He felt shaky and his shoulder ached. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked around.
He was disoriented. What the hell? How did he get here?
Bruce started to lift his hand to press it to his pounding head. He only was able to move it a little bit. He looked down. What?
His eyes checked his other hand and his ankles too. Cuffed! To a hospital bed. How? When?
Shit!
Bruce's mind was trying to piece together what happened when Captain Black entered his room. He stared at the Captain. Bruce could see the disdain written all over the Captain's face.
Captain Black looked at the hungover piece of scum. In his mind there were few things worse than dirty cops. A drunken, dirty cop to be exact. He queried "Did you really think you would get away with it?"
"Away with what?" Bruce sneered.
Black shook his head "Don't play dumb Nealy. Trying to murder your great grandfather, trying to kill Constable Braddock by shooting him and when that didn't work by trying to run him over."
Nealy shrugged "Who knew the wimp would be so hard to kill. He screwed with my life one too many times. His uncle and cousin too."
The Captain looked at Nealy and said "Sounds a bit like a confession to me. You will be transported to the courthouse this morning to be arraigned on charges. You will not be getting bail. We get first crack at you but I have to tell you the military wants a crack at you too. Seems there is a little matter of an attempted rape where your DNA matches. General Braddock was emphatic that you will be tried on those charges too."
Bruce stared at Captain Black. God damned. Another Braddock screwing with his life. Rage burned in his stomach.
Captain Black then stated "By the way, we also have evidence that you raped Jules Callaghan when she was sixteen."
Nealy yelled "What evidence? She burned her clothes. I know I watched her do it. I watched her house that night waiting for them to call the police. They never did and she snuck out and burned her clothes. There is no evidence" Bruce spat out angrily. Then he realized what he had just said and clamped his mouth shut.
Captain Black smirked "Well that should help too. But the evidence I'm referring to is your friend Reuben. He is singing like a jaybird trying to make deals by ratting out all the despicable things you did. Most are beyond the statute of limitations. But rape has no statute of limitations."
Bruce's mind was spinning. He needed to escape. He remembered now that he left his backpack with his supplies and knife in his hidey hole when he went for beer last night.
He just needed to get away and he could still do what he planned. Today was the event in the building he had planned to get to Jules and kill her and Braddock. He would make Braddock watch first.
Captain Black said "Officers will be here to take you to the court house soon. Enjoy you last little bit of freedom. You will be going away for a very long time."
Then Black turned his back on the man he should have never hired in the first place. It was an action he regretted with his whole heart. He was just glad his men had caught Nealy before he could actually kill Sam Braddock.
Rooftop Across from the Hospital
Turker Veli sighted the room in the hospital across the road. This would be easy pickings. He could really use the ten thousand. He was in deep with a loan shark and the ten thousand would clear his debt and provide a little to tide him over until the next job could be found.
Jobs were usually easy to come by in his circle. A hit man for hire was usually lucrative. He could have retired by now but he had a thing for the horses. He liked to bet. Often it didn't go his way. But one day he would hit it big and all his worries would be over.
But right now he needed this job. Reuben's job to take out Bruce Nealy came at just the right time. This would be so easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel. Nealy would never know what hit him.
Damn. He should have taken the shot. The nurse just closed the blinds. Turker decided to wait. He was sure to have another opportunity soon.
Exhibition & Stampede Grounds – Final Event
Greg pulled up a chair and sat down. He smiled "We go last. The scenarios will take about thirty minutes each. So we have two hours to wait. So just relax and hang out."
Jules leaned over to Greg and said "Sarge, I wanted to talk to you. I think I'm ready to listen to what my father has to say. No guarantees that we will reconcile but I can at least listen to him. Sam and I would like to stay back a few days if we can extend our leave."
Greg smiled and pulled Jules into a hug "I'm so glad you have decided to listen. Whatever you decide to do after that will be okay. We can tap the reserve officers to cover for you and Sam. You both have enough vacation time on the books."
Jules smiled "Thanks. I appreciate that."
Sam leaned over and said "You want to go find your brothers and make arrangements for the next few days?"
Jules shrugged "In a bit. There is no rush, we have all day. I'll do it after we win the competition."
Sam grinned at her confident statement of the team winning. He only nodded and leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee enjoying just listening to the guys talk. This team was great. It would be fun to take home a win.
She sat back and looked at the men around her. Jules felt so lucky to have such strong and caring men on Team One. They had given her something that was missing in her life when her family deserted her. Each and every one of them would always be loved.
AN: Slow chapter but next one will be chocked full of action.