AN: Once again, thank you all for your lovely reviews! I enjoyed writing the last chapter even if I was a bit unsure about how things were going to go when I began writing it. I thought about chucking Spike's asking Winnie out right in the middle of there, but then I figured I don't really need to rush things and it didn't fit with the chapter. Don't worry—that part will be coming soon!

I had a really hard time writing this chapter—almost didn't even post it—but it'd been hanging on my mind and I figured I might as well include it. I would love reviews! Tell me what you think. :) It's probably a bit much if we're trying to think of someone's "real life", but I thought I'd just spice things up.

I tried my best to get across how stressful and sad the situation was-my dog died yesterday, so all I had to do was think of that and I was in the right mood. :(

Don't own Flashpoint. If I did, it would still be airing and have shown what actually happened with Spike and Winnie! But I guess that's what I'm here for. :)

Chapter Three

My duplex is off of Lace and Queen, about twenty minutes away from the station if I bike; ten minutes if I take the bus. It's one of the worst neighborhoods in the city—back when I worked at 911, this was one of the areas we got the most frequent calls from. I hear gunshots almost every night, and sometimes people screaming. I only call about the screaming—by the time cops get to the neighborhood it's usually too late to locate the gunshots. I used to be a light sleeper, but now that I live in a neighborhood full of gunshots and screaming and sirens, I could probably sleep through a hurricane. I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

The sun is almost blinding this morning when I bike to work. My knees are finally all scabbed over, my head wound is barely noticeable, and Leah actually agreed to let me get to work without her help this morning. I can't believe it's already July, but the blinding sun is definitely summery.

It's a normal day on the job—my water bottle is full of peach tea, there are reports to file, transcripts to go over, the team's working out way too early in the morning. I get to The Barn at six and wave at Jules on my way to the locker room. It's a Thursday—today the team is focusing on strength training and hand-to-hand combat before they'll go to the obstacle course.

I'm just about to corral my curls into a ponytail when there's a knock on the locker room door. "Hey, Winnie, you in there?"

I rush over to open the door and give my fellow dispatcher, Steve, a smile. "Hey, Steve, yeah, I'm almost done—give me just a minute."

He shakes his head. "Team One just got a call for a hostage situation at Lace and Queen. Isn't that your street?" He shrugs. "Don't worry, I'm not a stalker—I just remembered that one time me and Lauren came by to borrow your GPS."

I shake my head, pray it's not anyone I know, and gesture for him to lead the way to the desk. "Thanks for letting me know, Steve; I'll take it from here."

I take my seat and put on the headset, nodding my thanks to Steve as he wishes me well, says he hopes everything's okay and it's not anyone I know.

I almost have a heart attack when I see that the address is my address—it's Christina who's in trouble. I try to take deep breaths, try to calm down, try not to assume the worst. They're okay, of course they're okay, no one would hurt those little boys... I allow myself one moment of panic, and then clench my teeth until it hurts. I can't fall apart now—if there was ever a call where I needed to be strong and helpful to the team, to those in danger, it's now.

Steve's given Team One directions to the house already, and I can hear Jules discussing with Sarge about how they'll approach the house. I can't bring myself to speak—I don't want to admit to myself that Christina could be in danger. Also, all that time I spent trying to keep where I live secret…yeah, it's about to go up in smoke.

"Okay, we're here," Sarge says to himself as the team arrives on scene. "Winnie, you have any info about the house's occupants?"

I swallow, pull up the file on my main screen, and fight to keep my voice steady. "Hostage's name is Christian Meleesee. Single mom, two sons, Mason and Ezra, works as a nurse at St. Gregory's."

"Okay, Winnie, anything else?"

I pause, take another moment to pull myself together. "Her apartment was broken into two nights ago. The only thing missing was her ex-husband's golf clubs. She and her boys were in the house the whole time, but they hid under the bed in the spare room and didn't see who the trespasser was."

Sarge sounds surprised. "All that in her file?"

I have to tell him. "No, Boss, she's…she's my next door neighbor." No response. "She woke me up in the middle of the night after the break-in and I called the cops." I close my eyes as I remember the fear in the boys' eyes; how Mason told me over and over about the men who "banged stuff around downstairs", how Ezra just sat in my lap still and quiet, how Christina was panicky and talked about how she needed to get a gun to protect her kids. I didn't sleep that night.

There's another long pause, and I can just see the team all looking at each other, wondering how on earth I've survived in that neighborhood because I'm not really the type of person who'd be able to defend themselves. "Not the greatest neighborhood, Winnie," Ed remarks.

I shrug to myself. "Yeah, I know, Ed, but rent's cheap."

"I hear ya. Are you and Christina close?"

I bite my lip until the pain's enough to keep me from crying. "We went to high school together. We hang out sometimes; I watch her boys for her some nights while she's working."

"Okay, Winnie, I need you to call in someone to take over your position, and you need to join us down here; maybe you can help us with profiling the suspect."

I can't do that, I'll fall apart, the last think they need is me on the scene, hysterical. "Will do, Boss; just give me half an hour."

"Hey, Win," Leah interrupts, "take my car. The keys are in my locker."

"Thanks, Leah."

I rush to call Sydney, my backup for the day, thankful he lives close-by and won't take long. I keep myself busy while I wait for him, filing last-minute reports, cleaning up all my stuff, changing into a soft blouse that Christina gave to me last Christmas. As soon as Sydney arrives I'm running to Leah's car, trying to get to my house as soon as possible. I've never driven so fast in my life. I'm there in five minutes.

The road is blocked off by a half dozen police cars, but I guess Sarge warned them that I'd be coming because once I give my name, they let me through. I park a couple houses down, not wanting the car to be in the way, and walk towards the command truck. Do I go in the command truck? Is that even the right vehicle? I don't see anyone I know, and I'm having to bite my lips again when my house comes into view, surrounded by ambulances and police cars and flashing lights. Please, God, let them be okay.

"Winnie!"

I turn to see Sam jogging towards me. "Sam, thank goodness. I didn't know where to go."

He gently takes my arm and starts leading me toward the command truck. "Boss is in the truck, told me to bring you in as soon as you got here." He gestures to the general area. "Not the greatest neighborhood, Win. Break-ins, thefts, homicide…"

I nod. "I know. I've been looking for a better place, but everything's just too expensive right now."

"Yeah, I get it." He presses a button on his headset. "Sarge, Winnie's coming in."

I've never been inside the command truck, just seen the exterior. It contains about as much technology as you can fit into such a small space—computers, extra screens to pull up security footage and the like, and a bunch of steel cabinets attached to the truck walls. Who knows what's in those.

"There she is," Sarge says kindly as I come in, Sam heading off to coordinate with Ed. Spike gives me a smile from where he's sitting at one of the computers. "How're you doing, Win?"

I give them both a shaky smile. One of my good friends and possibly her children are being held hostage. It's not a great day. "I'm okay, Boss."

Spike glances over and gives me a grin. "That was the shortest half hour I've ever seen."

The man is sweet, I'll give him that, using humor to try to get me to calm down. It works. I give him a little laugh and shrug as some of the pressure releases. "I had some extra incentive." I look back at Sarge and gesture to the screens. "What can I do?"

"I want you and Spike to go over anything he thinks could be useful to getting those people out safely. I'm going to go talk to the rest of the team to figure out where we're going to go from here."

Which basically means, 'We're going to plan to get them out safely, but that might not happen. We don't want you to know that.'

"Sounds good," I reply, unable to hold back the tremble in my voice.

Spike manages to distract me again by pulling up the other rolling chair next to him and pointing to it. "Take a seat, ma'am," he orders in his best Western accent. It's an utter fail, but it gets me laughing anyway. I give Sarge another smile as he leaves.

"I'm sorry about all this, Win," Spike says, turning from the screens to face me. "Try not to worry—we're going to do everything we can to get Christina out safely."

I nod and purse my lips together to keep from crying. "Do you know if Mason and Ezra are inside?"

"They are," Spike says softly, and I can't help but close my eyes, digging my nails into my palms to try to focus on the pain.

"They're just babies," I say at last, opening my eyes to see his face filled with concern. "They must be so scared."

Winnie, this is not the time to be a wimp. Pull yourself together—that family needs you.

I shake my head and clap my hands together in an attempt to literally slap myself out of it. "I'm sorry. This is not what you need right now—you need me to be focused and informative. So, what do you have so far?"

He gives me a look like he knows I'm falling apart, but thinks it's probably not best to mention it right now. "We were able to make contact with the suspect," he begins slowly, turning back to the screens and pulling up a photo, "but we only got his name before he hung up. He told us he'd call again in a little while, when he's ready. Charlie Kepple. You know him?"

I shudder as I take in the face. "He's Christina's ex-husband. I only met him once, about two months ago. Really creepy guy, kind of a perv." Spike raises his eyebrow, but doesn't comment. "He lost custody of the boys," I continue, "but the one time I met him he'd come by without warning Christina. I was over visiting at her place while the boys were at her mom's house. He got really angry when she said they weren't there, starting yelling and making threats. She got a restraining order against him the following week."

Spike makes some notes in his binder. "You have any idea why he could be doing this?"

I shake my head. "I have no idea. After that day I looked him up in records to check his criminal record. He spent a long stretch in prison after he shot a man during a drug deal. After he got out he met Christina and they got married—he told her he was done with dealing drugs, but it was actually going on strong the whole time they were married. When Christina found out she took the boys and left him. Since then he's been tracked by Guns and Gangs for some kidnappings and heists, along with more drugs, but charges never stuck."

Spike nods and presses a button on his headset. "Sydney, see what else you can find out about Charlie Kepple. Any recent drug activity, breaches of his restraining order." He glances at me. "I'm going to put the team on speaker so you can hear what's going on; feel free to jump in if you can think of anything that might help." He presses a few buttons on the console. "Boss, Winnie's on speaker."

"Winnie!" Sarge greets in his usual easy, calming voice. "Can you think of anyone who has anything against Christina, besides her ex-husband?"

I wrack my brain to try to think of anyone, but Charlie's the only one I can think of. "No, Boss, I can't think of anyone else. Christina's great—she gets along with everyone."

Things are quiet for awhile now. The team is trying to figure out the best way to get eyes inside the house. After about ten minutes Sydney calls back; says that he did some digging and found out Charlie came by Mason's school three days ago to try and see his son. "He went into a rage after being told he couldn't see Mason, and he drove to Christina's house to try to talk to her. She wouldn't open the door—just called the cops—and they had to forcibly remove him from the property."

Spike glances at me. "Did Christina tell you about that?"

I shake my head. Three days ago… "She doesn't like to talk about Charlie, says she can take care of him herself. I worked the last three days, so I haven't seen her for awhile."

The team begins to move then. Sam's going to try to go to the back of the house and get a camera under the door or through a window. Ed's going to go with him and cover him. They're at the back door, just about to start, when Spike suddenly says, "Boss, he's calling."

"Put him on speaker, Spike. I'll talk to him." There's a pause, and then, "Hello, is this Charlie?"

"At the base of each door I have rigged an explosive," a deep voice says. I shudder to hear that voice. "If your team tries anything, they will be killed."

"Ed, Sam, back down," Sarge says softly. "Charlie, can you tell me if Christina is okay? Are Mason and Ezra okay?"

"Of course they're okay!" Charlie yells, making me start. "You think I would hurt my sons?"

"I'm not suggesting that, Charlie," Sarge replies calmly, unfazed by the man's outburst. "Do Mason and Ezra have any toys to play with, or books to read? You don't want them to start getting restless and maybe try to go out of the room."

There's a long pause. "He has his coloring books."

"Okay," Sarge continues, not pushing further to find out which boy the man's speaking of. "Charlie, I'm just wondering why you would keep your sons in that house against their will—can you explain that to me?"

"Winnie…Camden," Charlie says slowly.

I sink back into my chair and grip the armrests as the air's suddenly sucked out of the truck. This is about me? How can this be about me? I don't even know the man.

"Winnie Camden is your primary dispatcher, Greg," Charlie continues in a scary voice. I can hear a tremor, like he's shaky from coming down off a high. "She is also my ex-wife's next door neighbor. She is also the reason I can't see my children anymore."

Spike gives me a look like, Do you know what he means? But I have no idea.

"How's that, Charlie?" Sarge asks.

"Winnie Camden is the one who convinced my whore of a wife to get a restraining order against me. She is the reason I can't see my sons anymore."

That much is true. After I met Charlie and saw how dangerous he was, I talked with Christina long and hard about how she needed to protect herself and her boys primarily. I gave her some time to think about it, and the following week she agreed to come with me to the police station to file.

"I don't see what Winnie has to do with this, Charlie," Sarge continues softly.

"She has everything to do with this!" Charlie bursts out. "Everything!" I cringe as I hear one of the boys crying in the background, and there's a long pause. "I want you to deliver Winnie Camden to me in ten minutes, or I will kill Christina." The line clicks.

Calm down, Winnie, take some deep breaths, it'll be okay. You'll go into that house, Sarge will talk Charlie down, and you'll all come out safely. Maybe you can even take Christina and the boys out to dinner—they'll like that after such a stressful day…

"Winnie, you okay?" Spike asks softly, breaking into my frantic train of thought. He looks really concerned; I almost feel guilty for making him this worried.

I just stare at him for a moment before I realize what he said. "I'm fine." I glance around as I come out of my daze. "Guess you'd better get me a mic."

"Hold on, Win," Sarge cautions. "Team One, let's meet at the command truck and talk about what we're going to do here."

The team is gathered outside of the truck in two minutes; they include me in their circle as they deliberate over how to handle the situation.

"Okay," Sarge begins, "Ed, Sam, did you see any evidence of that bomb he was talking about? We need to find out if he's bluffing."

Sam shakes his head. "It could be hidden inside the door, but we couldn't see anything from the exterior. Guy like this doesn't seem like he'd have access to explosives."

"We can't take that chance," Sarge observes. "Is there any way we can get a camera inside a window? At this point we don't even know what room they're in…I don't like us not having eyes in there."

"They're in the living room," I blurt out, suddenly having actually remembered a valuable bit of information. See, there is a reason they brought you here. "Charlie said the boys had their coloring books—Mason's coloring books are always in the living room, on the bookshelf."

"Okay, good," Ed commends, "that's good. The living room has two windows facing the north fence, and the only access is through the front door or the back door through the kitchen."

"Not much in the way of entry," Leah muses. "What're you thinking, Ed?"

There's silence for a moment as everyone tries to think of a plan of action. Suddenly Ed holds up one finger in the air, his moment of clarity. "Winnie, is there any way that your house is connected to Christina's? Any primary adjoining walls or anything we could get through?"

I nod. "The house wasn't always a duplex. The stairs are subdivided, and there's also a new wall separating our kitchens. The wall separating my bedroom and Christina's upstairs is original, though."

"Okay," Ed says with a nod, "here's my idea. It's crazy, but here it is…"

Sarge makes the call after eight minutes have passed. Charlie doesn't sound happy.

"I've already told you what I want, Greg; now just bring me Winnie Camden!" He sounds stressed, panicked, and I can hear one of the boys crying in the background.

"We will, Charlie, we will. We just need you to give us five minutes, Winnie's almost here." There's no way he could know I'm here already, so we're trying to stall for time while Ed puts his plan into action.

He's right—it is crazy. At first everyone was pretty much against the idea, but eventually we realized it was the only course of action we would come up with on such short notice.

It only took two minutes for Spike to examine the front and back doors and determine that the bomb threat is a lie. There's no way Charlie could have either the material or the knowledge to build an explosive, and there's absolutely no evidence of one that can be seen or detected through x-ray. He and Jules are sneaking upstairs into my bedroom right now to place a charge that will demolish the wall separating my bedroom and Christina's, while I'm being suited up with a vest and earpiece. I'm going to go to the front door accompanied by Sam and a shield; while Charlie's at the front door Spike is going to detonate the explosive, providing a distraction while Ed and Leah come through the back door and get Christina and the boys out safely. If all goes well Leah will get the hostages out of the house while Ed comes from behind, Sam from the front, and Spike and Jules from above to surround Charlie before he can recover from the shock. Sam's planning on shoving me out of the way, but I'm hoping I can just jump into Christina's rose bush without actually being pushed.

Sarge keeps Charlie on the phone for another two minutes until he gets word that everyone's ready. "Alright, Charlie, Winnie's here now; she's going to come to the front door, okay?"

"Okay," Charlie agrees, his voice giving evidence to the assumption that he's high, stressed, and not really thinking clearly.

"Winnie's going in," Sarge reports softly into his earpiece. It's strange having an earpiece instead of a headset—I'm not used to all the voices actually being in my head.

We walk slowly up the front walkway. The plan is that, as soon as Charlie opens the door, Spike will detonate the charge and hopefully everything will go smoothly.

Sarge is still on the phone with Charlie, and he lets him know when we get to the front door. The door opens slowly, revealing the man responsible for all of this. He's sweaty, breathing heavily, and obviously in need of some form of drug.

"Eagle Two, go," Sam says softly, and there's an explosion on the second floor. I hear the boys screaming.

Turns out Sam actually does shove me into the bushes. I'm so caught up in the moment I completely forget that I actually need to get out of the way because this man's dangerous and I'm a civilian. So, yeah, me and the thorns get pretty cozy.

I stay huddled down for a long moment because there's a lot of yelling inside the house, the sounds of glass breaking, and I'm not used to actually experiencing any of this—I just listen to it over my headset. It's totally different in real life.

I finally get up when I see Leah running by, guiding the boys and Christina to the truck. I run after them.

"Miss Winnie!" Mason yells, and flings his arms around my neck. He's crying, Christina's crying, and Ezra doesn't look like he knows what's going on. Somehow my arms are long enough to stretch around the whole little family, and Leah and I take them to the ambulance to be looked over.

I don't talk to the team after Christina and her boys are rescued. I don't want to leave them alone, and the team is busy cleaning up this mess that Charlie made. He comes out kicking and screaming and is quickly taken away in a cruiser, hopefully to stay in jail for a long, long time.

"We're going to go stay in a hotel for the night," Christina tells me quietly as the paramedics look over Mason and Ezra. "I want them to forget about this as soon as possible. We can go swimming and have room service…" Her voice trails off as tears cloud her eyes. "I'm so sorry you had to get dragged into this, Winnie."

"Oh, shut up," I say softly as I wrap my arms around her again. "Blame your crazy husband. You know how much I love being a part of your family."

Christina has to go to the police station to give a statement, so I take the boys back to The Barn to watch them while she's busy. Sarge lets Spike stay with me and the boys while the rest of the team takes care of their gear. We play a bunch of games, like hide-and-seek, tag, and "count how many thorns attacked Winnie". After Christina comes back and takes the boys home, the team goes to debrief. Sarge asks me to stay until they're done.

I never wanted the team to see where I live. It's not that I'm ashamed of it exactly—it's all I can afford right now and I actually kind of like the interior. But they'd baby me if they found out, always insisting on giving me a ride home, keeping me late at work so I'd have to stay over with Leah. I have a feeling they're doing more than debriefing in there—they're trying to figure out how they can subtly "mother" me.

Their normal debriefs don't seem to ever take this long. I chat with Sydney, get in a run, and desperately try to keep myself from numbering the ceiling tiles out of boredom. Doesn't really work; I'm on two hundred thirty-seven when Spike comes out and find me mumbling to myself and staring at the roof.

"Did you find the writing on the wall?" he asks drily, coming over to me with a grin.

I blush. And, seriously, Winnie, you are so far above that. "I was bored. And someone has to make sure nobody's been stealing the ceiling panels."

He snorts and rolls his eyes. "Boss wants to see you."

I expected to just find Sarge in the briefing room, but actually the whole team is still here, and Spike sits next to me after we come in.

"So," Ed begins slowly, "Winnie, you did a great job today. You gave us a lot of valuable information that helped us get the Meleesee family out safely."

"Plus," Spike adds with a shrug, "you let us pretty much demolish your house. Hats off to Winnie."

Sam laughs. "It's not everyone who'll let us blow up a bomb in their bedroom."

There's a long silence, during which Leah's smirking at me and the rest of the team is all looking at each other like something else is going on. Finally Sarge turns to me.

"Winnie, you know we're just concerned about you—"

"Why are you living in that part of town all by yourself?" Jules exclaims.

"And biking!" Ed joins in. "Do you know the rape rate there?"

"It's too dangerous, Winnie," Sam interjects.

Spike's grinning at me, watching me react to this whole comedy act at my expense.

"Guys!" Leah yells, standing up authoritatively and waiting until everyone shuts up and looks at her.

"Guys," Leah repeats softly, "calm down. Winnie's going to be staying with me for a few days," she gives me a look that tells me not to argue, "and we're going to figure something out."

Everyone's quiet for a moment, and I try to appear as if I was informed of this plan before this very moment. Spike's still grinning, and I can tell he sees right through me.

"Well, okay then," Sarge agrees. He glances at me. "Win, let us know if you need help cleaning up your house; I'm sure we'd all be open to helping you out there."

"Especially since it was our fault," Spike remarks sarcastically.

"Well, your fault," Sam replies.

Spike rolls his eyes, and Sarge tells us all to have a good night. I'm on my way to the locker room to get my backpack when I hear someone calling me.

"Hey," Spike says as I turn around and he jogs up to me. He looks really uncomfortable and doesn't say anything for a moment. "Let me know if this is out of line…" He pauses again as if waiting for me to stop him. I just nod for him to continue.

"I just…I was wondering why you were living in that part of town." He shrugs awkwardly. "I mean, if that's all you can afford you should be gunning for a raise."

Well. That is kind of out of line. But it's just Spike, I guess.

I clear my throat awkwardly. "Yeah, um, my mom has cancer, and when my dad left she lost her insurance, so I'm helping my sister and her husband pay for the hospital bills."

He obviously wasn't expecting that, and I can't help but grin at his expression. "I'll see you later, Spike."

"Let me know if you need help at your house," he calls after me.

"Will do."