Edit in Chapter 1. Greg is now 8 weeks pregnant (2 months), instead of the original one month. This story has the team interacting to reflect earlier seasons, despite being set in 2012. Sam and Jules are not married, and Wordy does not have Parkinson's Disease. Again, thank you for reading. Enjoy

Earlier: January 12, 2012

"Ra..Rachael, just calm down 'an put the gun down"

Pleaded a frightened man backed into the corner of the couple's shared, rather upscale, Toronto condo. He was eight months pregnant, despite what tradition would dictate, they were wed two months prior. However, there was just one small hitch. His phone was open to a text from another woman, the unborn child's actual mother. Steve Keller had always thought of himself as quick-thinking in high intensity situations. Except now, no amount of artfulness was going to fix this.

"You bastard! You lying, cheating bastard!"

She shouted. Firing off a round from the revolver, it nearly missing his arm and striking the small vase beside him. Shattering it into a million pieces, the commotion and gun fire caught the attention of their elderly neighbor from their shared wall. Immediately he alerted the authorities.

"Hello, 9-1-1?! This' Don Church on Danforth Avenue, Crescent Rise Condominium. Domestic dispute. Shots fired! I repeat, shots fired!"

They heard the shrill, intermediate blare of the alarm. Before a woman's voice of the PA announced:

"Team One, domestic call. Suit up! Live shooter!"

"You ready for this, Callaghan?"

The team's youngest member, sniper and former JTF2 military Corporal, Sam Braddock smiled that pretty boy smile. Any girl would swoon over, and the envy of some of the men as well. Julianna Jules Callaghan. Team One's only female sniper in the SRU. Initially regarded as mild mannered to anyone first meeting her, it was soon apparent she could take the heat just as well as the men. Her nose crinkled slightly in soft laughter as she slung on her bullet proof vest.

"As always"

Meanwhile, remaining SRU responders, demolitions and tactical tech, Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti (second youngest) and CQB expert and benign weapons specialist, Kevin James Wordy Wordsworth, share in a playful bit of banter.

"So, you use marinara to clean out the barrels of the rifles here?"

Wordy cracks with a grin, Scarlatti scoffs lightheartedly. Not a day went by that Spike wasn't being ribbed with an Italian joke. Probably because he always felt the need to throw in random factoids about his heritage to anyone that would listen. He checks to make sure his earpiece mic is in working order.

"You kiddin'? Granny Scarlatti would turn that gun on me 'an shoot mah meatballs off"

So was not to startle the shooter. The team arrived with the lights and sirens on the black armored truck shut off as they eased up the curb. Greg makes quick glances to make sure civilians were at a safe enough distance before proceeding. Giving orders to Spike and Wordy to stay nearby the truck and keep an eye on any activity inside the condominium. He then signals to Sam, Jules and Ed to be at the ready. As a very last resort, would they turn to lethal force.

Parker stares up at the closed off windows of their unit. An almost perturbed look in his eyes as he reaches for his megaphone.

"Rachael Keller?..this' Greg Parker with the Strategic Response Unit. How are you?"

The crazed woman's eyes nearly bulge from her skull as she brandishes the gun closer to Steve.

"Did you call the cops, you son of a bitch?!"

Steve wraps his arms protectively over his abdomen. Fearing for he and his baby's lives.

"I didn't..I swear!"

Wordy, with eyes fixated on the computer screen inside the truck. Logged the incident, speaking through the slender auto-transcriber mic in front of him.

"1:35 PM. Sargent Greg Parker begins negotiation"

The woman then carefully, but swiftly, goes towards the window to open the blinds. Ed perched on the rooftop of a building across the way due North. A perfect vantage point inside the condominium.

"Say when, Boss"

He radios down to Parker through his earpiece. Greg waved him off, there was something about this particular case that ran deeper than any of them could imagine. Jules adjusts the strap, carrying the weight of the rifle on her back. "Want me to talk with her?"

She somewhat quietly inquired. Greg fastidiously shakes his head. This was one of those rare moments he wanted no one from his team approaching the suspect. Backup and emergency crew were on standby. Radio chatter and static droning in the background. Just as Greg was about to return his in-vain negotiation. They finally had what could only be described as a breakthrough. She opened the window.

"Rachael, I just wanna talk. Tell me what's goin' on?"

Her crazed eyes glanced back quickly to Keller still frozen in a corner of their living room, then back out the window.

"You wouldn't understand (her voice starting to break).."

"Try me"

Parker supplied with the slightest semblance of a lopsided smile. Ed and Sam keeping their fingers on the triggers. She was now within their cross-hairs.

"Think you know someone..get married..only to find out the child they're carrying...IS ANOTHER WOMAN'S!"

That frozen feeling in Greg's heart returned. This was now on somewhat of a personal level. As big of a scumbag as the guy was for leading this woman to believe the child was hers up until this point, he almost sympathized with what he was going through. How utterly frightened he must have been. They now had two lives hanging in the balance. But the delicate limbo of deciding if it meant to end hers to save them.