AN: Okay, this chapter finally makes its return in the proper place as chapter 4 of this story. Not too much in the way of differences from the original version, but I did tweak it just a little bit (okay, maybe more than just a bit: at the last-minute I added a bit of JAM), but I hope you'll like it. My thanks to everyone for being patient with me after I posted this only to take it down and add a couple of chapters in between chapter 1 and this one. Hope you enjoy getting this one back so quickly-a little apology from me for taking so long about getting this tangle worked out. Reviews are ever so gratefully received and are food to any writer's soul.

So here's more of what Sarge saw...and a bit of what he didn't.

Greg just had a feeling that this day wasn't going to go well. He especially felt that way when the team got the call-out from Winnie about a suspicious bag being found at Fairbanks Tower. Suspicious bags and packages often turned out to be bombs. Bombs required a bomb expert to analyze and disarm them. Team One had one of the best bomb guys on the entire Metropolitan Police force, but Spike might not be at the top of his game today. He'd come straight from the hospital, where his terminally ill father had been admitted the night before due to breathing difficulties. Spike ought to still be with him, but the techie had insisted on coming into work and treating the day just like any other.

"Dad should be getting discharged later today," Spike had announced when he'd arrived at SRU. "I'm good to go." All Greg could do was hope that was true, especially now that they'd gotten this bomb call. Raf wasn't anywhere near experienced enough to handle something like this solo, so Spike had to take Babycakes down to the basement where the security guard had seen the bag. Almost on the spur of the moment, Ed sent Sam down, too. Their former soldier been there and done that over in Afghanistan and had seen a wide range of IEDs and other explosives, which might give him useful insights, as well as keeping the area clear of any distractions and making sure any people in the basement evacuated quickly.

Topside, the evacuation was still mostly chaos—employees streaming out of the building with little idea what was really going on. But fortunately the uniformed police officers were starting to bring order and shepherding everyone away from the tower. Greg's attention is—as usual—split between the team, the scene, and the profile he needs to build on the—statistically likely—man who's done this. But his attention is all on his team the moment Sam says,"Spike! Found your bomb. You must have walked right past it." Only for Raf to then reply that he and Spike are looking at the bomb—and it's clearly not the same one Sam sees. Two bombs?

Panic flares again in the plaza when loud rumbling echoes in the air and plumes of cloudy spoke erupt from the underground air vents

"What's going on?" demands Greg.

"We've got two separate explosions. Jules and I are going down now," Ed reports. "Spike, Raf, talk to me."

Greg echoes him, "Sam, Spike, Raf: talk to me! Sam! Sam, buddy, talk to me, please. Spike, Raf, talk to me. You guys okay? Spike? Raf?" He might—probably, hopefully—still have his calm and professional mask on, but inside, Greg was filled with panic. "Did I just get half my team killed?" he wondered. Would his mistakes never stop? Doubting and second-guessing himself, bringing Dr. Toth in to do the team's annual psych evaluations because he didn't trust his own objectivity, giving the psychologist information in his own private notes that was used to hammer down the members of the team, keeping Wordy's Parkinson's diagnosis a secret from everyone, including Ed? What am I doing?

Finally, "Boss, it's Spike. Raf and I are okay. The device detonated. There's significant damage. Hallway's caved in."

Sheer relief that the two men are alright. Now Greg just needs the same assurance from the other. "Sam? Sam, talk to me. Raf, go find our guy!"

"Yeah," Raf responds.

Ed calls out again, voice echoing in the stairwell he and Jules are still descending. "Sam, you copy?"

"Sam! Come on! Speak to me, Sam!" Jules' tone is concerned, holding what seems like just a little more emotion than might be expected of mere teammates. Though he doesn't speak at that moment, Greg echoes the words, and some of the emotion. Spike and Raf would have been down there regardless, as the team's bomb expert and his backup, but Sam was only there because Ed had told him to be, and Greg hadn't countermanded the tactical leader's decision. If anything has happened to Sam—to any of them—it will be Greg's fault. He already blames himself for Lou's death-for giving him the okay to start on defusing the bomb Rafer Wilcox had planted at the university while Spike was enroute from the first bombsite. He couldn't let it happen again.

"Raf, you find Sam? Talk to me, buddy!"

"On it, Boss," Raf reports, "but there's a lot of debris. A lot of smoke. Sam? Sam? Sam! Oh, man! Sam's down!"

"Is he breathing?" Greg holds his breath waiting for the answer, as if not inhaling air himself will give that much more of it to Sam. He doesn't know how close Sam was to this second bomb when it went off, was he pinned by debris, hit by flying shrapnel?

"Boss, I found Sam. He's unconscious, but his pulse is good."

Okay, good. One worry somewhat abated. It's not good that Sam is still unconscious. But unconscious means alive and alive is good right now. Greg knows he needs to refocus onto the priorities, however little he might like it at the moment.

"Raf, what kind of injuries do we have down there?"

"Mostly superficial. One serious. Sam's still unconscious but he's breathing fine." Raf continues on to report on the number of trapped employees and give more detailed information on the injuries sustained.

"Help is on the way. Just stand by," the sergeant assures his officers.

Jules runs up. "I've organized the unis. We're evacuating the building, top down. Should be clear soon."

"Good job, Jules."

As he surveys the crowded plaza, Greg listens with only part of his attention as Spike tries to figure out what the bomber's purpose was. Greg can agree that it doesn't make much sense for the bomber to want to close off access to the basement level but yet to not cause much damage. But they can figure out the why's, wherefore's and reasons thereof after everyone is safely out of there. Sheer terror flashes when Greg hears Spike give his report on a new bomb. "This makes the other two look like firecrackers!" They've got to get everyone out, and fast. There are three trapped officers, the security guard, and a half-dozen civilians, and perhaps only five minutes left before this bomb blows, too.

"Jules, let's clear the plaza!" shouts Greg, knowing he's got to get as many people to safety as possible. He can't do anything right now for those trapped underground, but these people up here can and must be saved.

"Come on, let's go!" Jules whirls around and starts gesturing and calling for people to move farther away. In their earpieces, both can hear Spike explaining to Raf his plan to try and delay the triggering of this bomb's detonator.

Then, blessedly, a low groan is audible.

"Sir, are you okay?" an unfamiliar and slightly-accented voice is heard, faintly.

"Yeah. Any casualties?" this voice is also soft, but recognizably Sam's.

"One. A lady is hurt."

"Sarge. Jules." Their names come more clearly over the comm system than the previous short conversation had—most likely Sam's comm unit had been knocked away from his face and had now been replaced in its proper place, the sergeant decides. Greg's concern is somewhat assuaged when Sam calls out to him, the responsible subordinate letting giving his boss a status report. But the speaking of the second name reignites a concern that Greg had first considered-and then mostly buried-more than six months ago. Why had Sam singled Jules out particularly when announcing his return to consciousness, and yet not done the same for Spike, Raf, or Ed?

"Sam, welcome back," Greg deliberately pushes his questions away. The priority has to be rescue, not getting answers to questions that the team's sergeant may not really want to ask.

"I'm gonna go check on him," announces Raf, before anyone can order him to do so. Greg likes it. Raf is still settling in with the team, and them with him, so it's nice to see him stepping up and using initiative. They've tried hard to avoid the problems that accompanied Sam's arrival on the team, but it's still a work in progress. Maybe they were just luckier with Sam than they could have realized. Leah, Donna, and now Raf have all been skilled and talented officers, but none of them have ever gelled with the team anywhere near as well as Sam ended up doing.

"You gave us a hell of a scare there, buddy," Greg tries to lighten the mood with a bit of humor. "You okay?"

"I'm sore, but all my pieces are in one place," Sam replies.

"Braddock, you're supposed to leave the bombs to the demolition guys," Chiding words from Jules, delivered with almost the right amount of off-handed humor. Almost.

"I'd love to," he retorts.

"Raf, how's he look?" asks Greg. He's learned through experience that it's usually more helpful to get a third party assessment of Sam's condition when he's hurt instead of relying on him to deliver a fully honest report. That bit of Sam's tough-soldier persona is still very much in evidence in his personality.

"He's got a head wound, boss," Raf delivers his judgment of Sam' status.

"I'm good." It was one of Sam's standard answers to any question from anyone about his health or well-being. Standard, and often misleading. His high tolerance for pain and injury meant that what was "fine" to Sam would see practically anyone else in a hospital.

Knowing that there's only one serious injury, to a woman, and the fact that Ed thinks he's found an alternate way to reach the trapped people, should make Greg feel better. But it doesn't. The extra time Spike bought them by chilling the bomb's chemical timer with the liquid nitrogen is ticking away—not that they even know exactly how much time was gained—and they still have to break through the wall, and lower and raise the winch to bring people out one at a time. "Are we going to have enough time? Greg just doesn't know. Priority of Life means that all the civilians have to be extracted first, before anyone on the team can come up—even the injured Sam, or Spike, who has just gotten a call from his mother that his father will die of complications from a blood clot before tomorrow morning.

Over the radio, Greg can hear Jules talking to a paramedic—it sounds like Steve, who is an old high school classmate of Jules' and was briefly her boyfriend after she'd broken up with Sam, though the relationship has been over for months now. But Jules is a consummate professional even as she shoots down Steve's intent to go down to help treat the injured, offering up a safer way that he can help them instead.

With almost herculean effort, Greg finally does push his concern for his team to the sidelines. He is the team's chief profiler for a reason, and he has a job to do just like everyone else does. After reporting that the building is now clear, Jules joins Greg in the truck to start trying to figure the bomber out. Fairbanks Tower is a huge building and there are just too many potential targets.

Greg slams his fist on the desk in frustration when the man who'd called the hotline saying he was the bomber turned out to be a kook who just wanted attention.

"Hey, Sarge."

"Yeah, Jules?"

"Lewellen Corporation takes up the bottom seven floors of this building. They're an aerospace company making weapons guidance systems. Sounds like a target someone might want to use bombs against, don't you think?"

"Could be. See if you can get in touch with the CEO—find out if he can think of anyone who might want to target his company."

"Copy that."

Greg is so very proud of his team this day. Topside, Ed works to reach the trapped people, while Jules gets a possible subject name from the Lewellen CEO and goes to his house to investigate. Down below, the rest of the team continues to help the civilians and then, after Winnie sends them a picture of the subject, to keep the man, Alexei Koninsky—the very security guard who'd called in the gym bag report—from possibly detonating his device before everyone has been rescued. No matter how worried each of them surely is at the danger faced by the others, everyone does their jobs to the highest degree, just like always.

"Raf, coming down to you," Ed announces. The last civilian has been extracted, so now it's time to get the team out.

"No, man, Sam's hurt. He's next."

"Seniority. I stay. Get out," Sam shoots down the idea and makes Raf hook up to the tether.

"Sam, you're next," decrees Ed once Raf has made it up.

Yet again, Sam seems determined to put others ahead of himself. "Spike, go see your dad. He's not going to give it up." Clearly meaning the bomber and the infrared disarming code.

"No," denies Spike. "There's still time. Sam, you're next."

"Go, Sam!" Ed snaps.

"Sam, don't be an idiot," Jules scolds while driving back to the scene. "You're injured. Priority of Life. Get out of there."

Greg is a bit surprised—though he probably really shouldn't be—when Sam stops arguing the point and wasting time that they honestly don't have. He breathes a little easier when he sees Sam's blond head crest the top of the air vent. After Ed unhooks him and starts lowering the tether back down for Spike, Sam starts for the barricade where the rest of the team is waiting. He's surely moving as quickly as he can, considering the bomb down below, but it's a much slower pace than he typically runs at, probably because of the slight limp that Greg's keen gaze detects.

"You okay?" he asks.

Sam looks at him with some confusion, so Greg points to his leg.

"It's nothing. I just got thrown around a bit when the bomb blew. No holes or slices," and Sam turns back and forth to show an intact—if dirty—uniform. The body movement does give Greg a good look at the head wound which Raf had mentioned earlier. It didn't seem to still be bleeding, so hopefully it was only a minor abrasion-though with head wounds one never knows. given how profusely even slight injuries tend to bleed. Sam will still need to get it checked out and cleaned before leaving the scene, even if he didn't end up needing a trip to the hospital. But Greg lets the health issue lay for the moment—no way will Sam agree to seek medical treatment while Spike is still below ground with that bomb and its maker.

Jules exits her SUV and heads to join Greg, Raf, and Sam behind the barricades and police cruisers. She gives Sam a critical once-over but doesn't say anything, not wanting to disrupt Spike's continued efforts to negotiate with Alexei Koninsky-efforts that are blessedly successful. Soon after, with the bomb deactivated, Koninsky in custody, and Spike on his way to the hospital and his dying father, Greg turns his attention back to his banged up officers.

"Sam, Raf, paramedics, now," Greg orders, pointing his guys toward the waiting bank of ambulances. With a sigh, Sam heads off as directed, with Raf following suit. Sam might try and avoid getting checked out when no one knew he was injured, but with it known today, policy dictated he had to be medically cleared to return to duty.

While Sam gets his abrasions cleaned and bandaged, Greg arranges the transfer of their prisoner into regular police custody for processing and confinement while Jules coordinates with other unis on a schedule to let each company's employees back into their offices to retrieve their belongings. Raf is quickly cleared by a paramedic and Ed drives him back to the station to get his stuff and head home where his family can keep an eye on him.

"So is Rania going to be okay?" Sam asks while the paramedic, Steve, checks his eyes with a penlight.

"Yeah. You got her out in time. Good job with that IV and those tourniquets."

"Army field training," Sam dismisses the praise. "Everyone in the unit knew how to do basic treatment stuff. We couldn't always count on having a medic close by, so we all learned how to handle the minor things."

Her work done, Jules walks over to the ambulance to see how Sam is doing.

"You got to get him checked out in Emerg," Steve says. "Could be a concussion."

"Jules, I'm fine," Sam obviously isn't a fan of the paramedic's suggestion.

"Come on, I'll take you," she dismisses Sam's objections, turning him in the direction of the team's SUVs. Steve stands up and watches the pair leave the scene, as Greg jogs over to join him.

"Steve," Greg greets him.

"Hey."

"Thanks for the help today."

"Hell of a day," Steve sighs.

"Yeah," Greg can't argue the point. A hell of a day, for sure. But everyone has walked away alive, and relatively uninjured, and that's so much better than how things easily could have gone.

"You guys did a great job today," Steve offers the compliment to the team commander, before his attention drifts away. Greg turns to follow Steve's gaze, and the two watch Sam and Jules continue to walk toward one of the SUVs. Jules' arm stretches across Sam's back, offering support he clearly doesn't need physically, but to which he is raising no objection. The way her form cants toward his, their bodies so close together as they walk that there isn't much if any gap between them. Heads incline ever-so-slightly toward each other as they seem to converse. The look on Steve's face as he watches grabs Greg: it's the look of a man who doesn't like what he sees, but who won't say or do anything about it. Steve gives Greg a resigned glance before starting to clean up the ambulance from Sam's treatment. It's clear to the team's sergeant that the paramedic still isn't over Jules-but that Steve won't push for a reunion. Whatever Steve may feel for Jules, it seems that at most, he was a rebound-or perhaps just the attempt of one-for her.

Arriving at the hospital to check on his guys, Greg is informed that both are done being treated in the Emergency Room. Raf has already been picked up by his mom, and Sam is ready to be discharged.

"What's the verdict?" the sergeant asks, standing in the doorway of the treatment room. Sam and Jules both look toward the door, distracted from picking up Sam's gear.

"A mild concussion and some bruises," Jules answers before Sam has a chance to deflect.

"I'm fine," Sam insists.

"You will be. You're cleared to go home. Over-the-counter pain meds if needed. Standard concussion monitoring protocol," retorts the petite female. To Greg, she adds, "I've got it covered."

"Jules-"

"I'm the one who's available. Spike has to be with his family right now. You need to check on Spike; get him checked out by a doctor if possible. Ed's family needs him, and Raf's got his mom looking after him. I'll keep Sam in line this time." Jules rattles everything off in an efficient manner. There's nothing Greg can put his finger on—everything she's just said is completely true—yet there's just something…

"Okay. The team's off duty for a few days with three injuries today, plus Spike's father, so you make sure to get some rest, Sam." The blond sniper definitely looks like he needs some solid sleep. He's moving more stiffly now than he was back at Fairbanks Tower, meaning his bruised muscles have clearly started stiffening up.

"Copy that," Sam doesn't even try to argue—a sure sign that he's hurting more than he wants to let on.

"Come on," Jules says, picking up the last pieces of Sam's gear and using it to gesture toward the hallway. "We'll swing back by SRU to drop off your gear and pick up our go bags. Stop for food on the way to my place. Then we'll see if you last past the opening credits of a movie before you conk out."

Sam's face takes on an expression of 'oh boy, what am I getting into here?', but he wisely doesn't argue with Jules, instead silently lowering himself into the wheelchair that the orderly holds steady for him. Once settled, Sam is pushed out of the room, with Jules following just behind. Greg watches them until they round a corner in the hallway, and realizes why Steve's expression back at the scene had seemed so familiar: it was the same look Sam's face had carried-on the rare occasions when he let his impassive soldier mask slip to show any kind of emotion-after Jules had broken up with him, a look not seen for a while now. Sam hadn't evidenced expressions of wistful regret for some time, now that Greg reflected on it. He'd thought it just meant Sam was finally moving on, but… Sam has never mentioned a new girlfriend; then again he's never been one to speak much about his personal life, no matter how Spike and Lou used to tease him about being a ladies' man. That niggling thought resurfaces in Greg's mind. Could Sam be keeping quiet, for Jules? She hasn't mentioned seeing anyone since Steve. And while she's never shared too many private details, either, the team has usually had an idea of whether or not she was dating and if so what the guy's name was. Yet, there's been nothing said in months. Could it be…? Past and present collide and merge into a picture that Greg doesn't like at all. He doesn't want to even think the thoughts, lest he make his fears into reality. But the more he actually considers the idea, the more evidence—silence, words, glances, expressions, gestures…it all seems to be coalescing into the right picture for all those puzzle pieces.

What are they thinking? Greg pounds a fist against his thigh as he stands in the hospital corridor. He knows—he just knows—what it all has to mean. What he doesn't know is what he's going to do about it. He suspects—he's sure—but can any of it be proven? Could it be argued that he's merely projecting the past onto the present? Reading into this what he's afraid he'll see? Sighing heavily, he pushes this latest conundrum aside, just like he's done with too many things already today, then turns and heads for the elevator and the intensive care floor. Spike and his mom will need all the support they can get tonight.

Jules drives the Jeep straight to her house from the hospital, not even bothering to ask Sam his preference of a destination. She needs to get Sam home where she can focus on him without worrying who might be watching. It had been so hard to dial down her instinctive reactions to only what would be acceptable and expected from a teammate. "You'd better call Nat and let her know we're okay and going to my place tonight."

"Yeah." He's barely pulled out his phone to do that when he's drawn to look at Jules in surprise after "Oh, shoot—" emerges from her mouth in a clipped tone.

"What?"

"Do you think he noticed?"

"Who? And what?"

"The boss. When I said that I was the only one who could look after you. I completely forgot about Nat." Sam had forgotten about his roommate sister, too. Natalie is not the nurturing type-hospitals freak her out even more than they bother him-and she's just not someone he's going to seek out for help or comfort no matter what. Jules, on the other hand, can comfort him anytime. He'd add "anywhere" to that, but can't if they want to keep their secret.

"I don't think Sarge noticed—he'd have said something if he did."

After a hearty dinner of soup and sandwiches-which Sam insisted on eating at the kitchen table and not in bed- "It'll be easier and less mess," he'd said-he does accept Jules' help to climb the stairs and get ready for bed. She crawls under the covers and snuggles up next to her man like she always loves to do, using him as her pillow and draping her arm across his stomach. The sound of his heart beating under her ear soothes Jules immensely.

"I could have lost you today," she whispers into the dark silence.

"But I'm okay."

"You're going to be so colorfully bruised tomorrow-and even more sore than I know you are right now."

"But I'm okay."

It takes a moment for the familiar words to place themselves in her memories. Then she lifts up and uses her sniper eyesight and aim to accurately plant a kiss on his lips. Better that than the poke or punch she'd wanted to deliver when she realized Sam had quoted back to her the words she'd said to him after saving Tasha from falling off the mall's media tower long before they'd started dating the first time.

"You, soldier, are playing with fire!" she tells him.

"Don't you mean I'm playing with a hot curling iron?" Sam quips, proving that he's on the same mental wavelength that she is. Jules forgets that her boyfriend is an injured man and pounces. Sam certainly doesn't act like he's in pain as he locks his arms around her, making sure she can't go anywhere.

The passion that has always existed between them flares up yet again, spurred even higher by the knowledge they both have that this day could only too easily have ended very differently from how it has. Each shoves those dark thoughts deep down, choosing to focus on stripping off sleepwear they'd only just donned and affirming the fact that Sam is alive and is Jules' now and forever, just as she is alive and is Sam's now and always.