A/N: I'm so glad people have still stuck with this story with me. It makes me happy that others are enjoying it too. I still don't own Flashpoint, nor do I own the rights to the song "Dead Man Walking" by WAR*HALL (but its a damn good song, so I recommend checking it out)
Two black SUV's pulled up to a halt in front of the single-story brick front home. The lawn was well manicured, a swing on the wrap-around front porch, it matched every house on the block. Two men exited the SUV's, both wearing black and gray tactical uniforms, but only one man decked out in full tactical gear. They stopped on the sidewalk in front of the home, taking a moment for a deep breath, preparing themselves for the task they have to do.
A knock on the door brought forth a woman to answer the door, she was in her late sixties, gray hair, and a warm smile. "Hello gentlemen, how can I help you?"
"Ma'am, my name is Commander Norm Holleran with the police Strategic Response Unit, this is Sergeant Ed Lane. Is there a place where we can talk?"
Lukas' mother covered her mouth and tears prickled her eyes and she stepped aside to let the two SRU officers enter the house. "I just put Kira, my granddaughter, down for her nap. Please, tell me Lukas is okay. I can't lose him too."
Ed cleared his throat, "Ma'am, I-" but was quickly cut off by the kind woman in front of him.
"Please, call me Edna."
Ed tried again, his voice filled with emotion. "Edna, I am so sorry to have to tell you this, but Lukas was involved in an incident and was sadly shot and killed. His-"
"NO! You're lying. My son has to be okay. He has to!" Edna broke down in sobs.
Ed patiently waited to tell her the next bit of news. When the cries had subsided some, he continued. "His wife Ellie was also killed in this incident."
This brought on a whole new round of cries. Edna's entire body wracked with each cry. Commander Holleran spoke next. "Ms. Edna, is there anyone we can call to come and be with you during this difficult time?"
"Lukas has a brother and a sister. I will call them momentarily. What about Ellie's family? Have they been informed? They live out in Medicine Hat."
Ed spoke up. "Yes Ma'am, we have officers from the RCMP and Medicine Hat police going to inform them now. We will leave our patrol officers here with you until one of your children arrives." Pulling out a business card and handing it to the woebegone woman. "This is my contact information. Call me at any time if you need anything. Lukas served and protected well, now we have your back."
As both men stood, Holleran reached out his hand to Edna. "We are so very sorry for your loss. And again, please let us know if you need anything at all." With that, the two men left the house.
Sam didn't know how long he sat on the floor crying, but at this point, he had no tears left. This was an absolute nightmare. Jules is in critical condition, his baby is also in critical condition, and he can't. live without either of them.
Sam heard footsteps coming from behind him, then a kind voice calling out. "Sir? Sir are you okay? Sir, please talk to me."
Sam finally looked up. When his eyes focused on the face of the person in front of him and he realized he knew exactly who she is.
"Trudy? Trudy Vargas?"
"Yes? How do you know my name?"
"My name is Sam Braddock, I'm with the police Strategic Response Unit. I, uh, well, I was one of the officers that responded to the call here a few years back when you had gotten shot."
Trudy stared in disbelief. She realized she never got to thank the officers for everything they did that day. She gave him a quick hug before asking the next question. "Mr. Braddock, is there anything I can help you with?"
Sam sighed. "I'm honestly not sure. My wife is in surgery right now, you probably remember her, Jules Callaghan, and my daughter was just rushed up to the NICU. I don't know where to go. And please, call me Sam."
"Okay Sam, first lets get you out of the gown and everything. Then I will take you to the NICU waiting room. I will let the doctors who are working on Jules that you will be there instead of the standard waiting room."
With that, Sam finished taking off the gown and booties and then followed Trudy to the elevators and up to the fifth floor, with Trudy recounting about Jules being one of her favorite patients.
Once there, Sam thanked Trudy who just smiled in return. "Jules is a fighter, and if your daughter is anything like her, she will be a fighter too." And with that, Trudy was gone.
Sam pulled out his phone and called Greg. "Hey Sarge, I'm on the fifth floor in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit waiting room." After a short pause, Sam ended the call. "Sounds good, I'll fill you in when you guys get up here."
Once Sam hung up, he blew out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Sam then got up and began pacing back and forth like a caged animal. Waiting for some sort of news on his wife or daughter.
As Spike and Greg stood to head to the NICU waiting room, the door was flung open. The rest of Team One entered with a teary-eyed Ed in the lead.
"Where is Sam? Any update on Jules?"
"Eddie, take a breath." In his negotiator voice, Greg tried to calm Ed down. "Jules is up in surgery now. We don't know anything further on her."
"Okay Greg, where is Sam?"
"Sam is up on the fifth floor in the NICU waiting room. They had to deliver the baby. We were just about to head up there to see if Sam has any news."
As the original members of Team One started to get into a conversation, Leah noticed that Colt was hanging around off to the side, rather uncomfortable. "Hey Colt, lets go grab some coffee from the Timmy's downstairs in the food court."
As Ed turned around, Colt piped up. "I know, I know. Ed wants a double-double. Sergeant Parker, what would you like?"
After Greg gave his coffee order, Leah and Colt headed out, promising to meet them on the fifth floor.
"Colt seems like the perfect fit for Team One. Are you thinking about offering him a permanent spot?" Greg knew what was going through Ed's mind, as well as the rest of the team. They lost an officer on their team today, which makes for them being another man short. Something to take their mind off of what they had gone through.
When the group reached the elevators, the doors opened revealing Leah and Colt holding coffee trays. Greg, Ed, and Spike stepped into the car and rode in silence to the fifth floor.
A doctor came through the doors just as Team One had entered the waiting room.
"Family of Baby Girl Braddock?"
Sam stepped forward, the rest of the group hanging back, trying to appear that they weren't eaves dropping on the conversation.
"Mr. Braddock, I'm Doctor Henderson. We have your baby stabilized. She is currently on a ventilator. She is going to be in the NICU for a few weeks minimum. She needs to gain two-and-a-half pounds, pass a car seat test, and a few other requirements before she can be discharged."
After taking a breath, the doctor continued. "She will go through ups and downs, she will have set backs. But we're going to do everything we can to get her healthy and strong. Do you have any questions for me?"
Trying to digest all the information he was shotgun blasted with as well as trying to keep his composure. "Uh, no sir. At least not at this time."
"Okay, no worries. We will be happy to answer any questions you have that may come up. Would you like to go see your daughter?"
Turning back to the team, Sam asked the question with his eyes, with Greg finally answering. "Go ahead Sam, we will wait here in case they come out with news about Jules."
With that, Sam tuned and followed the doctor to see his daughter.
As Sam was about to enter the room, a nurse stopped him and instructed him on how to wash his hands thoroughly, and had him put on a gown before entering the room.
The room was dark, the only light coming from a UV blue light shining into the incubator, as well as some lights lining the cabinets. The soft whooshing of the ventilator was heard as the machine breathed for the baby.
Sam turned to the nurse, finally a question had popped into his brain. "Why is she on a ventilator?"
The kind nurse smiled. "Unfortunately we don't know what caused your daughter to go into cardiac arrest after she was delivered, but we have her on the ventilator right now to help keep her breathing."
Puzzled, Sam rubbed his chin. "Aren't their lungs fully developed at this stage?"
"Someone has done their homework. Yes, her lungs are developed, but like I said, we aren't sure what caused her to have some trouble, but we are taking care of her now. You may go closer to see her if you want."
Sam stepped up to the incubator, shocked at the size of his daughter. As the nurse continued to check all the monitoring equipment and to ensure appropriate medications and fluids were being given, she answered the question that was rattling in Sam's head. "Your daughter weighs three-and-a-half pounds and is seventeen inches long. She is right on target for growth."
With that, the nurse stepped out to allow Sam to have a private moment with his child.
Inspector Stainton, Frank McAndrews, and SIU Agent Blair Kowalski sat at the large table in the conference room. The air was thick with the tension and anger. Nobody knows how long they sat in silence, but Kowalski was the first to break it.
"Braddock shot, AND KILLED a fellow officer. He needs to be tried for this. It is completely unacceptable. Plus, he also let 4 people get killed before he fired fatal shots."
Stainton had enough. "I am well aware of that Kowalski. I was there. Do you think he feels good about that? Do you think he wanted to take that shot?"
Whatever stick had found itself lodged so far up Kowalski's ass, Frank felt bad for it. He did want to add his foot to the growing list of things that was up Kowalski's ass after he insinuated that Sam hesitated upon taking his shots.
"So Inspector are you trying to say that Braddock hesitated? Because if so, he-"
Frank could no longer keep quite. "Kowalski! How about you remove your head AND the stick you've got up your ass, and try to look at things from Sam's perspective. I've been his lawyer for five years and he has never once hesitated to shoot, even though he doesn't like to take a life. Alpha team is the best of the best, so shut the hell up!"
Stainton could not hold back his laugh. Was it inappropriate? Probably. Was Frank off the mark about his comment about Kowalski having his head and a stick up his ass? Nope, not in the slightest. Brought back from his musings, Stainton noticed Kowalski had pinned his fiery glare on himself.
"All due respect sir, it appears that Frank is too biased to do his god damned job. He clearly doesn't take this seriously. With Braddock having killed another friendly in a sniper incident, we've got enough we can at the very least have him dismissed and his military service changed to a bad conduct discharge."
Frank suddenly stood up, slammed his hands down on the table and through a low growl spoke to Kowalski. "I have no idea what game you are playing at, but Constable Braddock did his job, and he did it admirably. If you try to pursue any recourse on Braddock, we will deal with this in court."
Once the door was closed after Frank walked out, Stainton turned to Kowalski. "Effective immediately you are on unpaid administrative leave. There will be a full review into your conduct during your time of service. Now, get out of here before I do something stupid."
With that, Stainton left a stunned Kowalski sitting in the conference room.
Sergeant Donovan grabbed his copy of Lukas' personnel file. He had gotten the call from Commander Holleran not long ago. Setting the file down on his desk, he flopped down into his chair. Reaching down, he opened the locked bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a letter he had kept hidden since Lukas took down the leader of the La Pas gang.
'Sergeant Donovan, I'm a dead man walking. Hells at my door. I know I did the right thing, but I've got a bad feeling in my gut. I think I need a transfer. I need to get away before the retaliation hits. If the come near my family, I promise, I will take every soul I can into the night, and kill til I die.'
Letting the tears flow freely, Donovan added the letter to the file and closed it. Turns out Lukas lived up to his letter. Donovan let out audible sobs. He didn't care who heard it. His heart was breaking for the young officer who he couldn't protect. His heart was breaking for the young girl who will grow up without her mother or father. How did this world get to be so messed up?
Sam walked back out to the waiting room to give the guys an update and show them the pictures he managed to take of his daughter. Once Sam entered they all stood, pelting him with questions.
As Sam was about to answer, the doors opened again. In walks a doctor wearing green scrubs and a matching scrub cap.
With no tone to give anything away, he called out. "Family of Juliana Callaghan?"