AN: Sorry this took so long to post. I didn't think it would, but I've been pretty busy and tired recently, plus couldn't seem to stop revising and tweaking this one (but I'm done with it now, promise). I hope you like this even with the delay.
Just as a reminder, if you reviewed the original chapter 3 (the posting about taking down chapters to keep the show episodes in order), then to review this one, you'll need to do it as a guest review (you can use your username) and I'll reply as a PM, or just send me a PM as your review.
Sergeant Greg Parker walks into SRU shortly before 5 AM, hoping that the day would go well, quickly changes from street clothes to workout attire, and heads for the gym. After weeks of being shorthanded after Wordy's departure to Guns & Gangs, the team finally selected his replacement. Rafik Rosseau will be joining the team today and none too soon. Greg's team was stressed out and had been for quite some time. The better part of two years of some of the toughest hot calls Greg could ever remember, his colossal misjudgment in seeking an outside psychologist for an objective view of the team for their last annual requalifications, Dr. Toth's brutal interrogations of each officer, Ed's shooting and resultant five month recuperation, Wordy's diagnosis of early-onset Parkinson's disease and Greg's poor judgment in not cluing Ed in about it, resulting in Ed's massive overreaction which had prompted Wordy's exit from the team prematurely, and the subsequent strain on the entire team from weeks of running calls shorthanded due to being a man down. All of it was putting immense pressure on everyone. He hopes that Raf is up to coming and stepping up fast so that everyone can get a bit of a break.
"Ready for today?" Sam is asking Jules as Greg enters the workout area.
"I'm here, aren't I" she retorts.
"I can see that," Sam smirks while doing catch-and-release with a dumbbell weight. "Doesn't answer my question, though."
He gets a dirty look from Jules. "Let me guess, Braddock: you were the kid who always had the smart-aleck answer to offer, right?"
Sam's grin gets even bigger. "Hey, if you got it, flaunt it. So, you gonna answer the question, or not, Jules?"
"It's a trick question. Like in the game of tag. Ready or not, today is here."
"Yes, it is, boys and girl. Today is here and it will be a good one," Greg greets his team cheerfully.
"Boss, did you forget what day it is?" Spike wonders incredulously.
Greg looks at the date feature on his watch, and curses himself for jinxing the team with his wish for a good day. It is Valentine's Day today, and that is always a nightmare. Valentine's Day and breaking in their new rookie? Team One is cursed for sure and certain. Why hadn't he picked up on this earlier and tried to schedule Raf's start on the team for another day, any other day? Valentine's Day has always been one of the busiest and hardest days because for most people it is either the happiest day of the year for them or the worst. And that never tends to bode well for the SRU teams patrolling the city.
To top things off, Raf is late for workout. Alright, so technically he wasn't officially late-the pre-shift workout isn't an SRU mandate, though it has always been a general team expectation. Now that he thinks about it, Greg doesn't recall it having been communicated to Raf, though, so they'll let this one slide. The rest of the team is present, however, and going through their sets and reps on the various pieces of gym equipment with friendly competition and slightly pointed teasing about the plans-or lack of them—that everyone has for after shift. Raf arrives at SRU just before seven, right as the team finishes workout. They've only just entered their respective locker rooms when Winnie comes on the intercom to report a hot call. It sends them all into overdrive to get dressed, geared up, and moving. The insanely busy day has clearly begun.
"Subject's a jumper. Male, late fifties, Sherbourne Bridge."
"Is the area contained?" Ed asks.
"Negative. Cars on the overpass are stopped."
"Check your PDA," the team leader tells Raf. "Spike's gonna send us schematics."
"What do we know about the subject?" Greg gets the team into business mode. Winnie feeds them information on the possible jumper while they rush to the scene. Jules takes lead on negotiating, with Ed and Raf backing her up, while the rest of the team tries to bring the scene under control and gather any information that might tie into this subject.
"May I ask you what you're thinking?" Jules continues trying to connect with the man. "What brought you here today?"
Greg winces when Raf takes a comment the subject makes to him about his son as an invitation to jump into Jules' negotiation. This is a rookie mistake on Raf's part and one that Greg will have to address after the call to ensure that it doesn't happen again. That is going to have to wait, though. Spike dashes for the nearest SRU vehicle when the hot call claxon began to sound again.
"Spike, get Team Four on it," Greg directs. His thought that this was going to be a bad day is confirmed when Spike reports that all the other on-duty SRU teams are currently busy, and Team One will have to split up to handle this new hostage situation. Greg decides that he and Ed will take Raf and head to this call, leaving Spike and Sam to back up Jules here. Raf's continued interference in the negotiation is likely to provoke this man into jumping, and if Jules loses this man, she'll either blame herself or Raf, and neither will be a good outcome. Besides, this trio has an incredibly strong connection and can easily handle working without one of the team's leaders present. "Jules, you good?"
"I need something to work with here." Anyone who didn't know her as well as Greg does would taste the frustration in her words, but she sounds and appears perfectly in control.
"Looks like we've got his car," Sam reports. "Old-model sedan registered to Cary McCarty. I"ll see what else I can dig up."
As Ed turns over control of Jules' tether to Spike, and he and Raf turn to follow Greg to one of the SUVs to start their trip to this new hot call, Greg continued to listen to Jules over the comm system. Potential suicides are never easy, but Jules is as cool as a cucumber, stepping up to give Cary a reality check about the outcome of jumping, while Sam gets background details from one of Cary's neighbors.
"Hey, Jules, the friend says he's a straight arrow, no drugs or alcohol. Wait. I've got a suicide note here. It's to his kids, Aemon and Angela. Apologizing. Says he can't take another year alone."
"Is he close to his family?" Spike queries.
"I'm on it." Sam
"Why are you doing this today? Can you tell me why you're here today?" Jules asks Cary.
"I can't take it anymore," Cary replies.
Sam has more information. "Jules, Mr. Holland said that his wife passed three years ago today. That's not all. Today's the day they got married." Well, no wonder Cary was suicidal. To have lost his wife on their wedding anniversary must have been a hard blow.
Pulling up outside the gentleman's club where a woman is holding a man hostage, Greg finally switches radio channels away from the one Jules and the rest of the team are on. He hates leaving her without his support, but he has a responsibility to focus on this situation and the life of the man at risk here. Jules is a good negotiator, his skilled secondary for a while now, and he knows Cary is in good hands with her, and with Spike and Sam, too.
When he listens to the call recording later, he'll be so proud of her for opening up to Cary about her youthful best friend, how she'd committed suicide after her mom's death, and asking Cary how his own kids would handle losing their dad on the anniversary of their mom's death. Greg will feel like bursting with pride when Jules got Cary to come down from the railing. He has often seen her succeeding him as a lead negotiator, profiler, and team sergeant down the road.
He'll think and feel those things later, but for now, all Greg can focus on is how this day is going from bad to worse as yet another hot call gets announced by Winnie. Thankfully, he also hears that the first call has just ended, which means that they can handle this latest call, while Ed stays behind at the club with Raf. Greg has a feeling that Ed will be joining him in reading Raf the rookie-mistake riot act, given that he just jumped the gun here, too, and inserted himself into the hostage situation. This has really been a bad day to break in a new guy. Has the team made a mistake in selecting Raf to replace Wordy on the team? He'd seemed like a good choice at the time, but now...? Greg is starting to have a few doubts. But just at the very moment this doubt rears its head, Raf starts showing signs that his mistakes of this morning might just be new-job jitters. He really impresses Greg with what he says to the woman, Freya, who is holding her daughter Asta's boss/lover hostage, shaing how he'd been in a similar place as Asta once, and how his father had attacked the man who'd molested Raf as a teen, and that the elder Mr. Rousseau—whose picture Spike had commented on when Raf had posted it on his locker door a few hours ago-is still in prison for that retaliation. Greg isn't sure that he could have shared something so personally painful to connect with a subject, but he deeply admires Raf for doing so. He is also grateful that the peaceful end to this hostage situation means Ed and Raf will now be able to join the rest of the team at Paradigm Software to deal with the gunman in their offices. Gunmen in company offices are never a good thing, especially not when it's a former employee like in this case. The spree shooting call at the museum had been months ago, but it still haunts Greg's dreams, and likely those of the rest of the team, too. He'll have to keep a sharp eye on Raf the rest of today for both of these reasons.
Inspector Stainton is on the scene at Paradigm when the team arrives, with office blueprints, evacuation status, and the concern about possible hostages.
"What are you hearing?" Sam asks, stepping up into the tactical role since Ed is still on his way to the call. "Is it spree behavior or a targeted operation?" More and more, Greg is impressed with how Sam has matured as an officer in the years since he joined the team. The way he rose to the occasion and assumed the temporary role of Team Leader while Ed was out on medical leave had been quite impressive, and no one in SRU had had any problems or issues with how Sam had handled anything. Just like with Jules, Greg can envision Sam taking on the Team Leader role permanently one day, whether for Team One after Ed retires, or by moving over to another team. He'll hate to see either eventuality happen, honestly, but he knows that Sam is proving to be ready for the increased responsibilities. The last thing that Greg wants is to stand in the way of a colleague's advancement just because of his own selfish desire for things not to change.
Stainton's report that the gunman had walked past two people who'd then escaped from the office confirmed what Greg hears in an aborted 911 call from a Paradigm employee hiding in the offices. He hopes that Josh has merely been wounded, but the silence after that gunshot doesn't bode well and the sergeant is painfully aware that the man could well be dead now.
"I'm not liking all these glass walls," Sam notes, tracing a gloved finger over the blueprints spread on the police cruiser's hood. "If the gunman can see us he has the chance to respond."
"Shoot to stop?" Jules asks.
"He's active, ready to shoot…he might have more than one target," Greg announces. Just then, Winnie patches in another 911 call from inside the Paradigm office. The team manages to get some location information about this hostage, Rose, and the shooter, Oliver, before the call cuts off.
"Try calling her back?" asks Spike.
"No, that'll draw attention to her," denies Jules.
"Maybe it's on vibrate," Spike suggests.
"We can't risk it," Greg decides. "She hung up or was cut off for a reason."
With Ed and Raf now at the scene, a tactical plan is quickly developed and implemented. On the way up, the head of Paradigm calls 911 and Greg begins talking with her. It doesn't ease his feelings about this active shooter situation to learn that the shooter, Oliver, had been fired by Marina Levin for inappropriate workplace behavior, and for essentially stalking her. If Oliver was delusional enough to believe that Marina loved him, without any objective evidence of that, then the realistic odds of this call ending with Oliver still alive aren't very good. The most they may be able to hope for will be to keep the two women alive.
"On me," Greg commands, summoning the rest of the team to follow him into the offices.
"Spike, less lethal. Sam, lethal if he threatens Rose," Ed assigns the tactical roles and the team begins stealthing their way closer to the shooter and his hostage. Hostages, rather, after Marina leaves her hiding place to protect Rose. Greg can somewhat understand why: she's just learned Josh was killed and doesn't want to see another of her employees die. But Greg has seen too many situations of this type and knows Marina is in danger even if Oliver claims to love her.
Raf show his skills again when he suggests a way to get Rose out of the line of fire. But as expected, the call doesn't end well, not after Oliver presents Marina with a poem he'd written, a diamond ring, and a marriage proposal. Greg feels terrible that Marina's face, hair, and dress are covered with Oliver's blood when Ed has no choice but to shoot him. Spike pushes the gun away from Oliver's dead hand and Jules slides the poem and ring into evidence bags. When their work is done and the scene handed off to unis, the team—minus Ed, who has gone with SIU per protocol—heads back to the station to debrief.
"Before we get started, I want to tell all of you how proud I am of how you handled things today. Valentine's Day is never easy—we all know that—but this one was especially hard. We did everything we could to keep the peace and get everyone we encountered today home safely. Obviously, that isn't always possible—again, something we all know. Raf, we're going to go through each call, talk through why we did or didn't do certain things, possible alternatives…you'll see."
"Shouldn't we wait for Ed?"
"SIU could take a while," Jules shakes her head. "He'll get here when he can."
At the end of the extensive debrief of the day, Spike reads off the transcript, "3:45 pm, lethal force deployed by Constable Ed Lane. Subject neutralized."
"Neutralized," Raf repeats the word, seeming a bit unsure about it.
"How'd the inquisition go?" Jules asks Ed, who's just walked into the briefing room.
"Not much to talk about," he replies. It was his life or hers."
"Got any questions? Anything to ask?" Greg's question to the team at large doesn't get a response from anyone. "I'm here if you need me." And with that, everyone pushes back from the table and head for the door.
He and Ed call for Raf to stay behind as the others head for the locker rooms to change. It's to his credit that the rookie doesn't wait to be dressed down but rather immediately acknowledges his errors that day, and promises that he's learned his lesson. Both of the team's leaders are pleased by the attitude displayed, but agree with each other's silent vow to keep an eye on things all the same. They made many mistakes in handling Sam when he was the rookie and they've worked hard not to repeat those errors since then.
"Hey, we're all going to go to the Goose for a beer. You guys want to join us when you're done?" Spike sticks his head back into the briefing room and addresses his question to Greg, Ed, and Raf.
"We're done," Greg says.
"Not for me, Spike," Ed turns down the invitation. "Place I got to be."
"Valentine's stuff?" teases Greg with a small smile.
"Tradition. What can I say?"
"Say hi to Sophie for me." Greg watches Ed leave. He's glad to see his friend heading home to his wife and kids, rather than joining the team for drinks. Ed has been doing better about having a work/family balance in his life since he and Sophie negotiated his return to the team, but it will be only too easy for Ed to slip back into old habits, and Greg doesn't want to see that happen.
"You want to go?" Jules specifically directs the question to Raf; she knows Greg won't likely go as a recovered alcoholic.
"Someplace I got to be, too," Raf shakes his head apologetically.
"Someone special?" Jules glances at Sam as she makes the inquiry.
"You guys want to join me?" Raf doesn't answer the question, but rather extends his own invitation.
"Okay." Shrugs from Sam and Spike raise no objections, so Jules makes the decision for all of them. They all go to the Goose for drinks regularly, so doing something else could be a nice change of pace.
When Raf reveals their destination to be a fairly nice music club where he and his band will be performing, the others decide they need better things to wear than the street clothes they'd donned that morning. Spike heads to his parents' place to change, and Sam drops off his car at his apartment to catch a ride with Jules—with the excuse that parking is sure to be limited. He doesn't even need to go up to his unit to change since he has a drawer in one of Jules' bedroom dressers and a few hangers in her closet. He thinks briefly of inviting Natalie along, but he spends enough time with his sister as it is, and she's probably out doing something anyway, so he doesn't bother.
At the club, Spike, Sam, and Jules settle into a curved bench along one wall of the club. A blonde woman in pink approaches them, offering a familiar and friendly greeting.
"Hey guys!"
"Natalie!" Spike greets her enthusiastically. A faint blush cues Jules and Sam in that Natalie's presence here tonight is Spike's doing. Sam isn't sure what to think. He doesn't know about his sister's romantic life-and doesn't want to-but he knows that Spike doesn't really date. He isn't altogether-or maybe that's at all-comfortable thinking that his teammate might be interested in his sister and vice versa. But for tonight, it might end up being a good thing. If Spike is focused on or distracted by Natalie beside him, then he probably won't be paying much attention to Sam and Jules. And that might let them risk just a bit of a Valentine's Day date feeling.
Jules plays with her necklace idly. She and Sam look at each other and exchange small smiles. They're sitting a bit too close together for mere friends-but it can be explained away by the holiday crowd and music fans who are packed inside the club. Times like this, when they can be out in public, and together, are rare. Neither one minds time alone at Sam's apartment or Jules's house, but there are definitely times when each has wished to be able to just go out on real dates and not worry that someone they know might see them and figure things out.
"This might be a good thing," Jules muses, watching and listening to the flirtation between Spike and Natalie. Spike deserves to have someone to focus his attention on, and take his mind off his terminally ill father and the family pressures he's under to quit SRU. She isn't sure that Natalie is "the one" for Spike—is pretty sure that isn't the case, in fact—but Spike needs…something. And if Natalie has Spike on her radar, then maybe she won't be spending quite so much time at Sam's apartment. She's nice enough, but a bit too impulsive and flighty for Jules to be able to really relate to. The chiding she'd given to Sam this morning about how he views Natalie is just as true for Jules herself. They both have the ability to dig down and focus single-mindedly on a goal, where Natalie seems more like a butterfly, flitting from one flower to the next with no plan at all. And besides the personality differences, having Sam's sister around did tend to kill the mood—which was why they spent more time at Jules' place than at Sam's anymore. Her smile doesn't change, but with her eyes she lets Sam know that their Valentine's Day evening is only just beginning.
After finishing his first song of the night, Raf takes a moment to drink from his water bottle and glances over at the curved couch along the club's back wall that his new teammates had claimed on arrival. There's a fourth person sitting with them, who hadn't been there before. She's unfamiliar to Raf, but her blonde hair and something about her face and smile make him think of Sam, and Raf looks over to make a comparison. Yeah, there does seem to be a resemblance. Are they related? Probably. But if Sam doesn't want to talk about his family, Raf won't push him to-he's got plenty of secrets of his own to be able to respect the ones that others might want to keep. He scans the crowd while singing the next song in the set, tracking back over his teammates again before continuing on around the room. He offered a performer's smile to the women in the room, crooning out another romantic ballad. Out of the corner of his eye, Raf caught Sam's face dropping the calm mask it had worn all day, allowing a small and quick smile to manifest. But Sam isn't gazing at his presumptive sister or at any of the single women who dotted the club. No, Sam seems to be looking straight at Jules. And she is looking right back at Sam. It's only long practice that keeps Raf from losing his place in the song. He can't have seen anything. Could he? No, Raf decided. It was just a commiserating glance being exchanged between two single people out in a public place on the most romantic night of the year. That is all it was-all it could possibly be.
Greg is finishing up the paperwork from all of the hot calls the team handled that day a good while after the rest of his team has departed. Unlike the others, he has no reason to rush home tonight, or any night, and he doesn't mind staying behind to take care of this part of his responsibilities. He knows that the group going out tonight would have welcomed him, but one of Toth's comments sticks in his brain: "You need to be their sergeant, not their friend." But to be honest, even though he doesn't entirely agree with the psychologist, it's best that he didn't come along this time. He's been a bit distracted since the team left tonight, though he can't quite pin down why.
"Focus, Greg," he tells himself. Returning his attention to the transcript in front of him, he again reads Oliver's words saying he understood why Marina had had to let him go: "Boss-Employee relationships. Not so good." Marina had tried to nip the problem in the bud by firing Oliver when it was clear he wouldn't—couldn't—see things clearly or maintain proper boundaries—and it hadn't been enough. He'd never gotten the message, and a man was dead tonight because of it—two men, counting Oliver himself. All of a sudden, Greg wondered what might have happened if either Sam or Jules had looked him and Eddie right in the eyes and said, "Hell, no" when told end things or leave the team. Oliver had clearly crossed lines in the things he'd done—the notes, flowers, gifts left at his boss's home. But, had Sam and Jules done the same thing? Other than the blue paint on Sam's ear and his reluctance to go with SIU after killing the sniper who'd shot Jules and had nearly killed Ed as well, had the relationship impacted his job performance at all? Or Jules'? No, he can't think of even a single time when either had performed at less than their best effort. But the rules were the rules, and they'd made their decision.
But was it right? Why is it that dating relationships seem to have so much more weight than marriages do? No one has asked Wordy, or Ed, or anyone else on any SRU team if they could do their jobs and be married at the same time. Well, except for Toth hammering Ed about Sophie taking Clark and going to stay with her mom during the late stage of the difficult pregnancy with Izzy. He shakes his head. Sam and Jules have been broken up for a long time now, and more than amply proven that they've been able to successfully make the shift back to just being teammates and friends. Why is he going off on such strange and pointless tangents? What is he trying to avoid thinking about by doing this?
He looks up at the sound of a knock, surprised to Marina Levin standing in the doorway, Winnie behind her. Greg can't imagine why she would come here at this hour after what she's endured today. He's more than a bit bemused that she's come simply to thank him for having saved her life. He and the team were just doing their jobs. And it's a very odd feeling when she hugs him tightly—hugs him for the second time today, actually. And maybe that was part of what had had him so edgy: the way Marina had thrown her arms around him, clinging to him like he was her lifeline, saying "It was you, it was you," when she recognized Greg's voice. He'd hugged her back, because she'd needed it.
Greg has only rarely dated in the years since his wife left him and took their son away with her. 'Married to the job' had been one of his ex-wife's accusations and it is as true now as it was then. He's beaten the dependence on alcohol that had cost him his family-and then been his crutch during those tough early months alone—thanks to Ed kicking his butt, but the rest of it is pretty much the same ten years later. So it's never really bothered him that he's not had all that many first dates over the years, or that most of those fizzled out before too long. Like he'd told Ed one time, after ending things with that single mom—after screwing things up with his first family, he didn't feel he deserved to have another chance.
"How are you?" Marina asks him. He doesn't know. There's the polite answer he'd give his team, the more honest one his therapist might get, and the truth...?
"You have time for a cup of coffee?" He's not sure why he extends the invitation, but he does, and somewhat to his surprise, she accepts.
"Everything is ready to be filed," he tells Winnie as they walk past her desk.
"I'll take care of it, Boss. Have a good night."
"Thanks, Winnie. You, too." And for once, he walks out of SRU and doesn't go home to think about his mistakes or the 'could-have-beens'. For tonight, it's enough that this woman thinks he did a good job. For tonight, he can let everything else go.