Her red Jeep wrangler flew into the parking lot at a high rate of speed. It skidded into a parking space and stopped. An angry Jules Callaghan jumped out, grabbed her stuff, and sprinted towards the entrance of SRU headquarters.
"Stupid Spike! This all his damn fault. Now I'm late. Greg is going to kill me. Ed will have me running routines on the obstacle course all day, in full gear!" Jules muttered to herself as she approached the stairs.
She ran up them as fast as she could. She stopped at the top to go over her plan of action. Absentmindedly, she ran her hand over her wrinkled and disheveled clothes. She looked like crap. Her stealthy plan was to skirt past Kira at the dispatch desk, and sneak into the locker room without being seen. So far her plan was working. Thankfully the dispatch desk was empty. She quietly went by and was almost at the locker room when a voice rang out stopping her in her tracks.
"No matter how well you impersonate a mouse Callaghan, you're still over an hour late for work!" said the stern voice of the team leader. Sam, Lew and Wordy chuckled at this statement.
Jules turned towards her team and blushed, silent cursing the teammate that put her in this tardy position.
"I'm thinking someone needs a refresher on the obstacle course this morning to remember what time workout begins. Unless…you have a plausible excuse." He grinned.
"Sorry guys…uh…flat tire." Jules stumbled.
Immediately, two faces looked at her with concern. Sam hid his concern quickly but still watched her. Greg on the other hand voiced his concern.
"Everything okay Jules?" he asked.
"Uh…yeah, just had some trouble with it but everything is fine now." She said in a rush and attempted to go into the locker room, when she was once again she was stopped with a question.
"And you couldn't call us to let us know. Here we are thinking you're hurt or lying helpless somewhere." Lew asked with a voice full of mirth and tease.
Jules made a face, stuck out her tongue at him and then replied, "Hello Capitan Obvious! I figured that one out on my own. But I lost my phone somewhere this morning. Now if you don't mind I'd like to change and get ready for the day."
Jules ran into the locker room as the team roared with laughter at her expense. She was going to KILL Spike. She grimaced a little as she pulled her shirt off to replace it with the SRU uniform. She still had a bruise from where she had crashed into the tower when she and Tasha had fallen yesterday. The pain was mostly gone by the time she and the team had arrived at The Goose last night, but it was very purple and still a little stiff. She quickly finished getting ready and hastily ran out the door.
Meanwhile, in the briefing room Sam, Wordy, Lew, Ed and Greg had just taken their seats. Suddenly they heard rapid thuds coming down the hall. As they turned to inspect the source of the noise, a dark haired blur ran by yelling…
"Sorry Sarge! I know … I'm late. I had… a flat tire!" Spike huffed out as he ran into the locker room to change.
The five men looked where their teammate had just run, and then over to Jules' locker room, and finally back at each other. For a moment they just stared at each other. Finally Lew broke the silence.
"Well, what are the odds? Two flat tires in one day. I'm not riding with either of them today. They're obviously bad luck."
Wordy stayed silent, but looked like his mind was busy pondering the new information.
"I don't believe in coincidences." Ed said. "Maybe there weren't two flat tires. And maybe Jules was late because she was with Spike."
At this admission, Sam choked on the water bottle he was currently drinking. What? Immediately he knew what Ed was insinuating. The rest of the team looked at him as Wordy thudded him on the back.
"I…uh…um…I don't think Jules would do that. Sh-She knows the rules." He managed to choke out.
"Yeah," Wordy laughed "She's shot Sam down enough times. He should know."
The rest of the team roared in laughter, with the exception of Greg. Sam smirked and flipped off Wordy. Greg didn't appear mad, but not happy either. He looked lost in his own thoughts about the current situation.
"Well they did leave The Goose together last night…" Lew put in. "And that might explain why she didn't have time to find clean clothes."
"Yeah, but that was to share a cab ride home. They both live on the other side of town and didn't want me to have to go way out of my way to drop them off." Wordy said in their defense.
"I don't know…neither of them were sober when they left. Not completely drunk, but definitely buzzed. Maybe they went home and uh… tired themselves out?" Ed grinned. "Who knew Jules had a thing for geeky bomb techs?"
The rest of the team laughed at the joke, but Sam did not think it was funny. How could she choose Spike over him? Maybe that line about not dating coworkers was just an excuse?
Suddenly footsteps were heard. All eyes turned towards the door as Jules entered. She immediately blushed at the attention.
"What?" she asked expectantly.
Greg broke the silence. "Jules, I need to speak with you and Spike after briefing. Alone." The rest of the team grinned. Jules frowned and walked toward the table, trying to figure out why.
"So Jules…." Ed drawled out. "How was your night? Explosive?" Chuckles were heard from her teammates with that question.
"Huh?" Jules asked, clearly confused. "I was with you guys for most of it. After that all I did was go home, and go straight to bed." She finished as she sat down next to Sam at the table.
"Straight to bed huh? All alone?" Ed teased.
Jules looked at him but before she could answer, someone else made a comment.
"Hmmm…so this flat tire you had to take care of?" Lew said as Ed grinned. "Is that a code word for a certain bomb tech we all know and love? I mean he is kind of skinny and flat."
Sam looked ready to shoot something, while Greg and Wordy's heads shot up at the blunt question.
Jules looked at him dumbfounded for a second before it clicked.
"What?" She jumped up. "No! We…uh…Spike…I…uh…" Jules tried to choke out. Her face quickly turned the distinct color of a cherry.
Ed, Lew and Wordy laughed at her embarrassment. Even Greg and Sam smiled.
Before she could continue, Spike appeared in the doorway. He glanced around trying to make sense of the scene before him. Jules was standing at the table, clearly upset and mumbling something. The rest of the team was laughing like fools at her.
"What's so funny?" He asked as he started towards the table.
Six heads immediately turned in his direction.
"Oh hey Jules, you forgot your phone this morning." He said has he handed it back to her.
This made the rest of the team laugh louder, and they even let out a few whistles.
If possible Jules blushed even more. "Spike you are a dead man!" She whispered at him threateningly.
"So, Spike…a flat tire huh?" Ed teased with a knowing grin, as Lew and even Wordy chuckled.
"What? Jules told you?" Spike immediately turned to Jules with a frown. "I thought we agreed to keep this quiet. Nobody was supposed to know!"
Five sets of eyebrows shot straight up, and then turned to look at Jules.
"Spike I didn't. I swear. It's not what you think!" She told him.
"Wow! Who knew the Geeky Bomb Tech had it in him?" Lew called out. "I'm kind of hurt you didn't tell me. We're supposed to be bros man." he said with a smile.
Spike looked at him, "It was supposed to be between me and Jules. I didn't want anyone to know. But that is clearly out the window now."
Cat calls were heard all around the table. Suddenly a voice boomed over the noise.
"Alright guys that's enough, I will handle this situation later. This isn't the time or the place to discuss our personal…lives. It's time to—" Greg was cut off.
"No!" Jules yelled and looked at Spike. "You fix this right now, or so help me you won't live to see your mother's next home cooked meal! They," She gestured to the rest of the team. "think we were late because we were together this morning."
"Well duh, we were. You already told them that!" Spike forced out.
"No! As in we went home together last night…." She said hoping he would catch her drift. She was too mortified to say what the rest of her team thought.
"Well we did. They all know we left together. What's the big deal?" Spike now looked confused.
Team one was looking back and forth between Spike and Jules. Lew and Ed were nodding, as if to say 'Ah ha! I knew it!' Jules looked ready to murder Spike there on the spot. If looks could kill, he'd already be laid out flat. Sam jumped up ready to step in if necessary.
"Listen to me Michelangelo Scarlatti!" She yelled with venom in her voice.
Whistles and catcalls of 'oooh the full name' were heard from the peanut gallery, otherwise known as team one. "They think we were late because we went home together, and woke up together!"
The light bulb suddenly went off in Spike's brain. "They think…you and me… that we...?" he spluttered. Involuntarily his chest puffed with pride, which was quickly deflated when he looked Jules murderous glare.
"Oh alright, alright!" he said as he turned to his team defeated. His face turned bright red and he began.
"I got a flat tire on the way to work. And um…well I… I've never had to… you know? So I called Jules because she lives the closest and I knew she would be discreet. So she came and helped me out. And she might have had to change the tire for me."
Immediately there were quiet snickers around the table. Even Greg had to swallow a smile. Spike looked around uncomfortably.
"That's an awful long time to change one tire…"Ed said disbelievingly.
Before Spike could reply Jules piped up. "It's not when Spike had no jack, no tools, and no key for the spare that was under his truck." She looked at him with disdain. "Seriously, who is that unprepared? I had to use the jack and tools from my Jeep because I am ALWAYS prepared. But then I had to crawl under his truck to pick the damn lock that was holding the spare tire in place. Which shouldn't have taken that long except the cops showed up."
"Are you serious?" Wordy asked. The rest of the team looked up in surprise.
"Yes! Someone called the cops because we looked 'very suspicious'." Jules said as she made air quotes with her fingers. "So the Uni pulls up, gun drawn and all I can hear is Spike yelling 'Don't shoot! Don't shoot!' Apparently he thought we were stealing parts of the truck!"
The entire group laughed at this comment. Lew had tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. Spike was clearly embarrassed by this.
"And you're under the truck this entire time?" Wordy enquired.
"Yea, I pulled myself out fairly quickly though. Spike had to flash the Uni his badge. And then he laughed for a good 5 minutes because it was a puny little girl under the truck while the SRU officer was sitting and watching." Jules finished.
"Don't leave the rest of the story out Jules." Spike spoke up with a grin. "Tell them the rest of the story."
"There's more?" Sam asked Jules expectantly who once again looked embarrassed.
"Oh yeah there's more. We all know Jules does not like being called puny, or short, or anything. So she had to set this man straight." Spike answered.
"Oh no! Should I be expecting a call from Holleran?" Greg inquired.
Jules shot him a look. "No, I merely implied what I could do with that gun he was holding, if he were to make that comment again. And then I flashed him my badge as well. I think he got the hint because he left pretty quickly after that. Then I finished with the tire. I left Spike there and came to work as fast as I could."
With the exception of Spike, the rest of team one looked at her before they burst out laughing.
"So Spike, we know Jules knows her way around cars. Should I call you next time I need someone to sew my clothes?" Ed hollered as everyone sat back down and turned to Greg for today's briefing.
Spike turned bright red all the way to the tips of his ears. He turned to Jules as he sat next to her.
"Couldn't you have just let them think we slept together, just once?" He whispered pleading to her.
She responded by grabbing his inner thigh under the table and pinching as hard as she could.
"Suggest that again and I will dismantle Baby Cakes piece by piece and donate the parts to the recycling plant." She smirked and turned back to Greg.
At least Spike was no longer red, it was pale white.