Thump-thump….thump-thump…thump-thump…creeeak…

Jules opened her eyes when she heard something besides the beat of Sam's heart and saw Greg poking his head in the door. She grinned sleepily as she lifted her head from its resting place against Sam's chest. "Hey, Sarge. Come on in," she said as she gave Sam a little nudge. It took a couple of not-so-gentle nudges to get him moving.

"Oh, hey, Boss," he said thickly.

"Hey," Greg said, stepping more fully into the room. "Just dropping in to check on things."

"Well, thanks for coming by," Jules said. "I really wanted to talk to you."

Recognizing his cue without any overt signs from Jules, Sam woke up a little more and slid his arm from under her body in order to get up. "I'm going to see what I can find for breakfast," he said, stretching his back. Jules had been adamant that she wanted to tell Greg on her own sooner rather than later.

"Something light," Jules requested. "I'm not that hungry."

Sam nodded, and then walked past Greg to leave the room.

Greg sighed heavily, and then smiled thinly at Jules. "Here we are again."

"Here we are again," she echoed. "Sit, I really did want to talk to you about something. It's kind of important and I want to get it out before I lose my nerve."

Greg looked at her dubiously. "You? I didn't think that was possible," he mocked her even as he grimly thought to himself that he was finally going to learn what it was that contributed to Sam's mood the previous day.

Jules stuck her tongue in her cheek as she narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you trying to say I never shut up?"

"Who, me? Nah…" He shook his head as he sat down in the rather uncomfortable metal chair beside the bed. "What's going on, Jules?" he asked, suddenly serious. Only he could switch topics so abruptly and make it seem like as smooth a transition as he did.

"Sam…asked me to marry him," Jules said, resolving that it was best to just get it out there without beating around the bush. She watched emotions ranging from joy to concern flit across his face before a grave mask fell into place. When he looked down at her hands, she made no effort to hide the ring.

"You said yes." It was a statement, not a question, but she nodded her affirmation anyway. "Jules…" He wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to be happy for them, but…

"You don't have to say it, I know. That's why I'm not coming back this time."

"No." Greg's refusal was both instantaneous and adamant. "Jules, this team is not this team if you're not on it."

"Well would you rather Sam left?" Jules challenged him with a weak laugh.

"I don't want either of you to leave. It wasn't easy to swing that, you know," he added pointedly.

"I know, and you have no idea how much I—we—appreciate everything you've done for us…but can you honestly say the commander wouldn't have a cow?" When Greg didn't immediately respond, Jules pressed, "Do you want for us not to get married and both stay on the team?"

"If I had it my way, you guys could do whatever you want. I trust you both not to let it interfere with your work."

"And I love you for that, but you know it has to be one or the other. The commander…the chief…"

"It's my team."

"And they're your bosses. You make allowances for us and it's your job and you're the one the team can't go on without."

"You're wrong."

"You're stubborn. Don't you know how hard this is for me? Giving up my family?"

"What? Jules, now you're talking crazy. You're not talking about giving us up; you're talking about leaving a job."

"But if I leave SRU, I'm not…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on right there. You listen to me and you listen good, ya hear? I don't care what you do or whether or not I agree with your decisions. You are family. Hell, you're like the daughter I never had. That's forever. You hear me?" She nodded meekly, an odd sight for Greg, and he hugged her gently. "You're gonna have some time off. Think about what you're doing before you hand in your papers, okay? Would you do that, please?"

"Okay, Sarge."

"I mean it."

"Okay."

Sam cleared his throat. "Banana and OJ okay?"

Jules smiled at him. "Perfect."

Greg stood and walked over to stand in front of the other man. "I ought to be pissed at you…but congratulations anyway, man." He gave him a brief hug. "See you soon, Jules." He left.

"How was it?" Sam asked cautiously.

Jules wrinkled her nose. "He's in denial. Good morning, by the way."

Sam's eyes twinkled when he returned her belated greeting and handed over her breakfast.

"So, I was thinking I'd ask Wordy if there are any openings in Guns and Gangs," she remarked as she pulled back the peel of her banana so she could take a bite.

"Really?" Sam asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Why so shocked? You didn't expect me to sit around the house doing nothing all day, did you?"

Sam shrugged. "No, I guess not."

"Well you guess right. And you know what else?"

"No, what?"

"We're getting married." Her eyes shown with gleeful excitement.

"Yeah, we are," he responded with a slight laugh, happy to see her so happy about it.

"And I don't have to plan a thing!"

Sam frowned. "How do you figure that?"

"Natalie's going to plan everything."

"No."

"So we can just relax and all we have to say is…"

"No."

"I do. What? What is it?"

"My sister is not planning our wedding!"

"Well, Sam, she might as well, I mean, if she dos this kind of thing for strangers, she might as well for us. I don't see why you should have to stress about making reservations and all that jazz," she added pointedly, letting him know in a roundabout way that she sure as hell wasn't.

"You lost me. What's this about her doing stuff for strangers?"

"Uh…her job?" Seeing the blankness on his face, Jules groaned. "She didn't tell you yet. Act surprised. And proud." She knew the latter would mean more to his sister than the former.

"Natalie has a job? Wow. And hey, I am proud."

"Yeah, okay, you can cut back on the surprised part a little," Jules quipped.