Author's Note: What the heck is up with the Flashpoint writers not putting any Sam/Jules into the Season 3 episodes? I'm getting really mad =(

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"I dreamed I was missing
you were so scared
But no one else listened
cuz no one else cared

After my dreaming
I woke with this fear
What am I leaving
when I am done here

So if you're asking me, I want you to know…"

The car was quiet aside from the music pouring forth from the stereo. Jules seemed absorbed in the music, so Sam let her be and remained silent. He leaned his head back on the headrest, watching the weaving movements of the traffic. The cloudy grey sky seemed to cushion the world in a cool blanket, granting the scene in front of him a poetic feel. Almost romantic. Sam smiled to himself.

"When my time comes
forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some
reason to be missed…"

"Why are we listening to depressing music?" Sam asked laconically, reaching out to change the station. He was startled by a quick slap to his wrist – Jules's eyes were back on the road by the time he looked up in surprise.

"I'm listening to it," she said shortly. Sam shrugged and desisted.

"Please don't resent me
and when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memories
Leave out all the rest
Leave out all the rest…"

Jules pulled up to the curb in front of her house and shifted into park. She remained sitting in place, one hand on her engine key, until the last note of the song faded away. Then she stilled the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt. Sam did the same.

"Hey – Jules – do you mind if I take the car for some errands? Shouldn't take too long," he said, opening his door and sliding out. Jules, already halfway up the walk to her front steps, stopped and turned around.

"Not a problem," she said, tossing her keys to Sam, who caught them. Then she hesitated and added in a too-casual voice, "Mind if I come along?"

"Sure… yeah, of course you can come," Sam said uncertainly. "It's just errands, nothing interesting."

"I don't mind," Jules said lightly, returning to the car and seating herself in the passenger seat.

Sam remained standing where he was for a moment, eyebrows creased, until Jules leaned over and lightly tapped the horn to rouse him. He climbed into the driver's seat and looked over at Jules, trying to read the reason behind her unusual request. She looked perfectly fine, though – and if there were lines of anxiety behind her calm, he wouldn't admit it to himself.

So she wants to come to the post office. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe she just wants to spend time with me.

"Everything okay?" he asked her, despite himself.

"Yeah, of course, everything's fine – why?" Her eyes were wide in innocent surprise.

"No reason."

Everything's fine.

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It was fun having Jules along, actually. As the two of them perused the aisle of "For Her" birthday cards in the Hallmark store, Sam would inevitably gravitate towards the flowery and formal "Happy Birthday, Mom" cards, while Jules tended to favor the "You're a Hot Mama!" cards. Sam didn't exactly appreciate the idea of sending one of those to his mother, but they made him laugh nonetheless, and the card that he finally settled on was less demure than his usual choice.

Their next stop, the post office, was decidedly less interesting and more crowded than the Hallmark store had been, but Sam and Jules enjoyed themselves nonetheless. Jules found a clear spot on the counter for Sam to fill out the birthday card, and encouraged him to be a bit more prolific than his annual "Love, Sam" addition to the pre-printed birthday message. She even added two lines of her own – one wishing her future mother-in-law many more years of happiness, and one expressing the hope that she would be able to meet her soon. The two months since her engagement to Mrs. Braddock's son had not contained the time off necessary for the lengthy trip to visit Sam's parents, although the couple had driven up to Jules's family for a weekend to "meet the folks" and celebrate their engagement.

Their last stop was a convenience store for a box of blister Band-Aids – Sam had developed a large blister on his left hand which was painfully aggravated by the weapons he constantly handled. He located his quarry quickly enough, then turned to Jules – "Do you want anything?" She glanced around the shelf for a moment before picking out a box of neon-colored band-aids.

"Cuts and scrapes are such a part of this job," she said with a smile, "Might as well keep it interesting."

"What, no Barbie Band-Aids?" Sam joked as he paid for their selections.

"Well, I was going to get those, but you know…" Jules glanced around the store and lowered her voice , "I didn't think you'd want the rest of the guys to see you wearing them."

Sam laughed aloud as he took the proffered bag from the cashier and left the store, his arm around Jules.

He was still chuckling to himself when he got into the car, checked that Jules's seatbelt was fastened, and pulled out into the heavy traffic that filled the streets.

"Get a load of all these cars," Sam remarked. "Do you ever wonder where they're all going?"

"Probably the same place that we are," Jules replied comfortably.

"I sure hope not," Sam quipped. "Your house would be in shambles, and we'd run out of toilet paper way too quickly."

It was Jules's turn to laugh, and Sam, listening to her laughter, found himself grinning as well. He reached out and clasped one of Jules's hands in his, giving it a tender squeeze.

I'm so freakin' lucky to have her, he thought for the thousand-and-first time. So lucky.

"Don't ever leave me, Jules," he murmured, barely realizing that he was enunciating his thoughts.

She removed her hand from within his, which was a strange response. He glanced over at her. She looked strained.

"Hey," Sam said reassuringly, searching her face in between glances at the road. "I'm just sayin'."

She gave a brief smile, but the lines of anxiety were more visible now. Sam worried.

Is there something going on here that I don't know about? He thought uneasily. This whole stress thing is about Lew, isn't it? There's not – it's not like – Oh, stop being an idiot! You're acting like a –

"Jerk!" Sam yelled as he slammed on his brakes. His only response from the car that had suddenly cut in front of him was the display of a certain finger.

"Damn it, what an idiot," Sam fumed, braking further to distance himself from the offending driver. "What the hell is his problem? I could've hit him – I should've hit him. Serve him right… what a jerk!" He glanced over at Jules, then did a double-take and stopped the car completely, mindless of their position in the middle of the road.

"Jules, are you all right?!" he exclaimed in concern. Her face was white. So were her knuckles where her hands gripped the dashboard in front of her.

Jules gave a tiny affirmative nod, but Sam wasn't appeased. Shifting into park, he unbuckled his seatbelt and turned towards Jules, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes.

"Jules – sweetheart – are you all right?"

She nodded more vigorously this time, relaxing her grip on the dashboard and knotting her fingers together instead.

"What happened?" Sam asked anxiously. He had no idea what to make of the paralyzing terror that seemed to have gripped Jules.

"Nothing," she whispered. "No, I was just – I just got – scared. When the car braked like that."

Sam was at a complete loss. "That guy who cut in front of us was a complete jerk," he said. "He just appeared out of nowhere, I didn't really have a choice, I would've hit him… but Jules," he said, suddenly figuring out the apparent cause of her fear, "Even if we hit him, we would've been fine. We weren't going very fast, and your car is much sturdier than that idiot's."

Jules nodded in agreement. She looked almost back to normal now, and Sam was starting to think that his impression of her reaction had been exaggerated. Maybe he was the one who had over-reacted here. He turned back into his seat and shifted back into drive, looking ruefully at the streams of honking cars that were now passing him.

"I'm doing laundry when we get home," Jules announced.

Sam looked up at her. She was leaning back in her seat, looking completely at ease.

"I'll wash the stuff in the bathroom hamper first, then I'll do a load of linens… is there anything you want me to wash?"

Sam struggled to formulate a response as he turned on to Jules's street. Had he only imagined that Jules had been frozen in shock a moment ago?

"Well? Anything you need washed?"

"I'll see when we go inside," Sam responded, pulling up to Jules's curb.

"Need me to wash your skivvies?" Jules asked teasingly, glancing at Sam's nether-regions.

The corners of his mouth twitched in response, but he couldn't bring himself to smile. What was this, a Jekyll-Hyde situation here? Just a – a sad-happy thing? A scared-happy thing? An extra scared, extra sad/super cheerful, super affectionate thing?

Jules had disappeared into the bedroom by the time Sam came inside. She emerged a minute later holding a heaping laundry basket against her hip.

"Sure about that underwear?" she murmured suggestively as she passed him. A flowery wisp remained in the air after she had passed – 'Eau de Jules', Sam suddenly remembered. The rest of that afternoon's conversation floated back into his mind, and he felt himself relaxing as he quietly walked into the laundry room behind the kitchen.

"I've changed my mind," he murmured into Jules's ear as his arms snaked around her waist.

"I'm pretty sure that everything I'm wearing is dirty."

Jules's expression lifted into a flirtatious smile. "I think I can help you there," she said with mock seriousness, turning around in his grasp and reaching for the buttons of his shirt. "Oh dear, this does need to be washed…"

Sam bent his head down and kissed her softly beneath her ear. She pulled open his shirt and laid her head against Sam's chest, relaxing against him and inhaling deeply.

"Eau de Sam," she whispered, gazing up at him.

In the back of Sam's mind, a reel was playing – a reel of Jules waiting in the parking lot, of those anxious lines that never seemed to leave her face, of Jules's terrified reaction in the car – but the film was playing way, way in the back of his mind, and as he held Jules in his arms, he discovered that if he really tried, he could pretend that it wasn't there at all.

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AN: Just a word of caution - if you look at the title of this chapter, you'll know what's coming in the next one...