A.N. Look! A timely-ish update! Thank you everyone for sticking with me! Enjoy this next chapter!

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"How'd you know to be here, Greg?" Wordy asked quizzically. "The last time I tried calling you it kept going straight to voicemail."

Greg nodded. "I was out of town at a cabin with no service in the middle of nowhere, trying to clear my head after what happened yesterday, which is why I couldn't answer. So imagine my surprise when I was taking a lovely walk in the woods, and all of a sudden my phone started ringing. But I ignored it because I didn't know the number, until it rang a second time, which is when I decided that if I'm someplace I have no right to have service but do, and if someone is going to the trouble of calling me twice, that it was a sign I needed to answer. So I did. And that's when I learned that one of my team members had just been admitted to the hospital."

Ed frowned, wondering why the hospital had called him, then remembered. "You're one of Sam's emergency contacts."

"I'm one of Sam's emergency contacts," Greg confirmed. "But the hospital couldn't tell me what had happened—they didn't know—all they said was he was in bad shape, headed into surgery, and I should get here. So I high tailed it back here and walk in to find my team despondent and confused, and this young woman tearing into them for what sound like justifiable reasons. And now I find myself confused as to what is going on and how we got to the point where Sam is lying back there in an operating room somewhere fighting for his life," he explained, voice level and quiet, but with a hint of underlying anger, directed at both himself and the rest of the team.

The four members of Team One who had been present throughout the day, all looked at each other, waiting for someone else to begin.

"Well," Wordy finally started, "what do you know already? That there was a shooting downtown…?"

"How about you act as if I know nothing and start from the beginning."

"Well, I got a call from dispatch this morning around eleven saying there'd been a shooting downtown and they were calling in all hands-on deck. They hadn't been able to get a hold of you or Ed, which is when I tried calling you," he nodded towards Greg, "and then I did manage to get in touch with Ed, and we rode into the scene together."

"I was at HQ when the call came in," Jules added. "I'd left some things there by mistake yesterday, so I headed directly to the square."

"Troy was running the scene," Wordy picked up, "and had us start by interviewing witnesses, which is when I noticed Alex and David," he nodded towards Libby's mother, "talking with Jules and it took me a moment to place them, because I knew I recognized them, but once I did, we learned not only were they back in town, but that Sam was with them and there was a high probability that both Sam and Libby were trapped in the square."

Wordy paused, and all their eyes turned to Libby and Alex, but Libby kept her eyes fixed on the blank wall, purposefully ignoring them again.

Wordy cleared his throat. "Uh, anyway, we don't know why they were there and we weren't even sure they were indeed in the square, but Ed took off just then, back towards the square and seemed to know…" Wordy trailed off and turned to Ed with a frown. "I never did ask you how you knew?"

Ed cleared his throat. "Uh, there, there was a video, some tourists were blogging when it started, and it wasn't the best quality but I'd just watched it, and nothing struck me about the video until Alex and David said Sam and Libby were there. That's when I realized I'd seen them in the video. It was right when the shooting started, I saw two blond heads go to the ground, one knocking the other over."

Everyone stared at him in shock.

"There's a video?" a quiet voice came from the other end of the room as Libby chose then to speak up.

"Yeah."

"There's a video of Sam getting shot," she continued, voice carefully blank.

Ed blinked. He hadn't seen that in the video.

She must have seen his surprised look because she explained, "When the first shot went off, I knew what was happening, but didn't at the same time… you know? But Sam knew, and he didn't stand there stupidly, he acted. He pushed me out of the way. I don't know how he knew there was a bullet coming for me, maybe he didn't, but he pushed me out of the way and got shot instead."

"Libby—" Ed tried, not sure exactly what he was going to say, what words of comfort he could offer, but it didn't matter because she'd turned away again, this time not in anger at the team, but out of an unwillingness to be absolved of her perceived guilt that Sam had been hit protecting her.

The conversation moved on as the team filled in what little they knew, struggling without input from Libby, until finally Greg let out a loud breath. "God, how did we get to this point," he wondered, rubbing his face as if exhausted.

"With all due respect, I know exactly how we got to this point," Spike replied quietly, causing Greg to pick his head up since he hadn't really been expecting a response. "Not the whole shooter in the square thing, that was just Sam being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the wrong place at the right time, I don't know, but this," he gestured at all of Team One, "this weirdness between us, us doubting Sam and not having his back, it started the minute Sam walked through the door yesterday morning and you two," Spike pointed accusing fingers, "had it out for him. I've already asked Ed and he wouldn't give me a straight answer, maybe you will, Boss. What happened? What did Sam do to make you go after him?"

"Spike…" Greg hedged, clearly unwilling to go down the road this conversation was headed.

"Boss…" Spike countered, refusing to back down.

"It's been a hell of a few weeks. We've had quite a few rough hot calls, the weather has been unrelenting, and yesterday morning, I think we just let all of that get to us and unfortunately Sam was the one who suffered."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry Boss, but that just doesn't make sense. Yeah, these past two weeks have been hell, and I wouldn't blame you two for getting frustrated and lashing out, but why Sam? Why not me, or Jules? Or the team as a collective?"

"Spike, it's really not our place—" Greg started, and Ed could tell he wasn't going to tell the whole truth. And Spike needed the truth.

"Because Sam's leaving," he murmured quietly.

Silence fell as everyone stared at him in shock, trying to process the bomb that had just dropped.

"What?" came Jules' confused reply.

"Because he's done working with us, he's leaving and he didn't even bother to tell us," Ed explained, keeping his voice steady in order to prevent the hurt he still felt from seeping into it.

"If he didn't tell you, how do you know?" Jules demanded.

Ed stared at Greg, wanting him to take responsibility for this as well.

"Because," Greg responded, nodding at Ed and acknowledging his part, "we heard some of the captains talking about it, about how Sam's done working with us and how much the SRU was going to lose when Sam leaves and goes back to the military."

A chorus of surprise emanated from Jules, Wordy and Spike's mouths at this latest news.

"He's going back to the military?" Wordy echoed.

"There's no way he's leaving to return to the military," Jules denied.

"Sam's done working with us?" Spike asked in confusion.

"That's what the captains said," Greg replied.

Spike frowned. "Okay, say that he said that—and who knows if he actually did—so what? I mean, we all get frustrated with each other sometimes, maybe say some things, especially after hard calls! But "done working with us" is so ambiguous, maybe he's even just decided it's time for something else and it has nothing to do with us! How does that justify treating him the way you did? Without asking him anything about it?"

"In hindsight it doesn't," Greg acknowledged, regret painted across his face, "But my yesterday morning self thought that it did, because we'd just overheard it and were in shock. And honestly, I was hurt. It would be one thing if he just wanted to leave—I can respect that, we all move on at some point—but it was something else for him to not even bother to tell us, and to talk to the captains without coming to me first. You all know how important our team dynamic is; our lives often depend upon our solid trust in one another, and I didn't know what to make of the fact that Sam didn't trust me enough to approach me about this." Greg pursed his lips, and glanced at Ed before continuing. "But what pushed me—and Ed—over the edge was the fact that he didn't even bother to show up on time, which meant he was letting his plans to leave affect his commitment to the job. I can't be questioning one of my team member's commitment in the middle of a hostage situation," Greg tried to explain.

"He was on time! He wasn't even late!" Spike exclaimed in disbelief, looking between the two of them.

"No, but he practically was," Greg tried once more.

And Spike exploded. "So we're operating off of 'practically' now?! Oh jeez, this subject is practically threatening a hostage, let's go ahead and blow their brains out. Oh look, that subject is practically drawing a gun even though it's still in their pocket, let's shoot them, too. Since when have we operated off of 'practically?!'"

"Since it didn't matter to Sam to be there and he was 'practically' late!" Ed yelled, unable to keep his voice from rising in response to Spike's heated rebuke. "I'm not proud of it, Spike! I'm not! Hindsight is twenty-twenty, we could have handled it better!" He let out a breath, trying to lower the volume of his voice. "We could have handled it better," he repeated, "but the fact of the matter is that yesterday morning, Greg and I heard that Sam was done working with us and had decided it wasn't worth telling us, his friends and teammates that he was even thinking about leaving, let alone actually going through with it. And I'll be honest, that stung! That hurt! So was I looking for an excuse to lash out at him? Yes! Did his 'lateness' give me that excuse? Yes! Because at the time it felt like we needed to let him know it was unacceptable to not care and act like he was already gone!"

A snort emanated from the corner where Libby was sitting, which interrupted their argument and drew all attention to her. She finally met each of their gazes once more.

"You all are unbelievable," she growled. "Sam isn't 'done working' with you all. Wanna know how I know? Because every single damn time I was able to call Sam these past three years, including as recently as a month ago, he would always talk about each and every one of you with glowing praise. About how happy he is to be working with you. He's never had a better boss than you, Greg, one who actually listens to what he has to say and values his contributions. He respects the hell out of your tactical knowledge and leadership Ed, and feels that he's constantly learning from you. He's amazed you can still have such an open and giving heart after all you've seen, Wordy, and that your presence calms most any situation. He's awed by your shooting ability, Jules, and how well you adapt to whatever situation you're in. And he's never met anyone like you Spike, a wizard with bombs, technology, and friendship. So no, I don't believe for a second that before yesterday he was even contemplating leaving because he was 'done working with' you.

And if you think he was late because he no longer felt committed to his work, to you his teammates, let me ask you this. Where was his lack of commitment when he suffered through all of your brutal treatment yesterday morning and kept working? Where was his lack of commitment when he bit his tongue and followed your orders to set up a Sierra on a call that wouldn't normally merit one? Where was his lack of commitment when he jumped off of a freaking building in order to save your lives? You tell me, you show me the evidence and I will take back every nasty word I've said to you all today."

No one said a thing. How could they? In the face of Libby's challenge, they could not come up with one single rebuttal, because they knew she was right.

"But you can't, because it's not true. Even if Sam is leaving—and it sounds like you don't know that for a fact—Sam didn't lack commitment. You all just lacked the decency to give him the respect he deserves—the respect he's earned—and ask him a simple question." And she got up and stormed away.

They sat mulling over what she'd said, letting the truth of it sink into their bones. Ed zoned out, going over every moment yesterday. And he didn't like what he saw. As he conducted his self-examination, he heard Jules ask, "Do you really think he's leaving?" and Spike reply seriously, "Well if he wasn't considering it before, I wouldn't blame him for thinking about it now."

As Ed continued to ponder the conversation, something Libby had said suddenly jumped out at him and he snapped his eyes up to the rest of the group. "Hang on a minute, did she say that Sam jumped off of a building?"

Spike looked up in surprise. "Yeah, I thought you knew. He about gave me a heart attack when I saw him do it."

Ed frowned. "When did he do that?"

"During the hot call, remember he lost his visual? Like Libby pointed out? Well, apparently the only way he thought he could get that visual back was by jumping from the building he was on, to the building one over. Cleared an entire alley in order to do it. I kept meaning to ask him how the hell he managed it, not to mention why he thought it was an acceptable risk and if he was okay, because damn it looked like it hurt, but, well, I haven't had the chance. The real question is how do you all not know about it?"

"If he did it while Grayes was holding you, our backs were turned," Jules pointed out.

"And it's not like we let Sam get a word in edgewise in the briefing," Ed admitted quietly. "So it didn't come up."

Spike shook his head, unable to suppress a smile of amusement, despite the seriousness of the situation. "You all live under rocks," he stated with certainty, pulling out his phone and beginning to search through it. "Even if it didn't come up in briefing, if any of you bothered to pay attention to social media or the good old news, you would have found out about it."

He handed Jules his phone, and Wordy, Ed and Greg all crowded around.

It was a short video clip, no doubt filmed by an interested bystander who was standing behind the police line. The video started out showing the front of the store as Spike was forced to exit in front of Grayes, and the audio was suddenly filled with swearing as whoever was recording the video realized what was happening. Shortly thereafter, however, the person turned their camera to the building behind them, the one that Ed immediately identified as the building Sam had set up a Sierra perch on (or rather, had been ordered to set up a Sierra perch on). The person recording explained breathlessly that they'd seen that there was a sniper on that building and wondered if they would take a shot at the gunman, before dismay could be heard in that person's voice as they could no longer see the sniper. And then, all of their hearts stopped as they saw a figure, who they knew was Sam, soar from the building, across the alley, and land on the fire escape of the other building. They all winced at the impact; as Spike had said, it looked brutal. The recording became shaky and useless after that, as the person doing the video was too excited by what they'd seen, but Ed knew how the rest of the call went.

"Damn, that kid is a reckless idiot," Ed murmured, but there was no bite to his words. Not anymore. Only fond amazement colored his words.

Spike nodded. "Yup, but a reckless idiot who saved both of our lives, and is now being hailed as a hero. Which, I, of course, already knew Sam was one, but now the whole city is trying to figure out who this officer is. In the meantime, they've dubbed his move the 'Soaring Save.' Cheesy, I know. Sam's gonna hate it," Spike stated in glee, easily communicating that he fully planned to rub it in Sam's face and take great pleasure in it, forgetting for a brief moment that Sam was still, at that very moment, fighting to survive.

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A.N.2. I know, I know, I still haven't told you all about how Sam is. We're getting there, I promise, the Team just has some things to work through first :)