Sam looked back down at his gear and sighed. He walked over to Spike, Leah and Callie.
Spike looked at him and saw the seriousness in his eyes. He looked at Leah and hitched his head towards the SUVs. She nodded and followed him.
"You ok?" Sam asked.
She looked down and nodded. She didn't know what to say to him.
Sam sat next to her with his knees on the bumper and his elbows on his knees.
"I'm sorry. I should've told you about Candace." She started to cry.
He put a hand on her back. "Yes, but I understand. You were scared. If I were in the same position I would've been scared too."
She looked at him and sniffed. "You would?"
"Yeah." He scoffed. "Were we just in the same room?" He furrowed his brows. "That chick was scary."
Callie laughed. "No kidding."
"But," his face reverted to serious, "if you're in trouble you need to tell someone. We're the police, we can help you."
"I didn't know if I could count on you." Callie shrugged and looked at him. She looked at the warehouse. "Then you all came running in and saved me from Candace." She looked back at him. "Is that the kind of stuff you do all the time?"
He nodded. "Every day."
"You're like, superheroes or something."
"Or something." He smiled at the admiration in her eyes.
"Is Jules going to be ok?" Her eyes filled with concern.
Sam looked at the medic, "is she ok?" When the medic said yes he stood and pulled her to standing. He put his arm around her as they walked to the SUVs. "Let's go see."
They piled into the SUVs with Leah grabbing a ride home with Team Two.
Sam and Callie walked into Jules' room while Greg, Ed and Spike waited in the hall.
Callie gasped at the sight of Jules in the bed, tubes and IVs coming out of her, her leg in a cast from her toes to her knee. Fresh tears fell from her eyes as Sam steered her to the chair next to the bed.
Jules had her eyes closed, but opened them when she heard someone sit in the chair. "Hey...you." She choked out and then started coughing. She sat up a little and laid back on the pillows with a pained expression. Sam frowned and started to move forward but she stopped him with a look.
Callie's eyes filled and spilled over. "I'm so sorry Jules. I didn't mean for you to get hurt."
Jules took her hand and squeezed. She grabbed the paper and pen that was in her lap and started writing. "Not your fault. Candace and Mitzy."
"I know, but I should've said something." Callie looked back at Sam who put a hand on her shoulder. She turned back when Jules tapped the paper.
"Not your fault." She tapped. "I am here for you. You can tell me anything." She underlined 'anything' twice. When Callie nodded, she wrote, "so if you're in trouble we will do whatever we can to help."
Callie shook her head vehemently. "I, why? Why me? You don't even know me."
"I know." Jules turned the paper. "I see so much of myself in you."
"You do?"
Jules nodded. "I was so lost. After my mum died I wished I could be with her."
Callie let a sob escape and covered her mouth. Sam pulled a chair next to her and put a hand on her back.
"But a woman named Officer Farrell helped me. She became my friend and I knew if I ever needed her, she was there." Jules tipped her head and caught Callie's eye. "Just like me. Any time, any day. Call me. I may be at work, but I will be there as soon as I can."
"That goes for me and the rest of the team too." Sam looked at her with sincerity. "You've got all of us."
Callie sniffed and looked at each of them. Wow. Really? Anything? That seemed impossible to her. She thought of Keith and her heart broke into a million pieces. She started to cry again.
Sam looked at Jules. She gave him a 'wait' look.
"My brother Keith," she took a breath. "He, he died last year. He didn't deserve to die. It should've been me." She looked at Jules. "It should've been me!"
Jules took her hand and squeezed.
"Don't say that." Sam rubbed her back.
"It's true. He was only eight! Why did he have to get leukemia? Why couldn't they cure it?"
"Those are the questions we all want answered." Sam shrugged. "No one knows. I wish I could tell you."
"I miss him so much." She put her head down on Jules' bed and cried like she'd never cried before. The grief taking her over.
Jules put a hand on Callie's head and stroked her hair, tears falling from her eyes. She looked to the ceiling. Help me Mom, she thought. She looked back and saw that Sam was looking at her with concern. She pointed to the tissues on the rolling tray. He stood and handed her a couple and put them next to Callie's head.
"I know it feels awful, but it does get better." Sam returned to rubbing her back. "I thought the world was going to end when my friend Matt died, but my friends got me through it."
"Did- did you forget him?" She sat up and wiped her face with the tissue.
"Never." Sam shook his head. "You just make a special place for them in your heart and that's where they stay. Talking about them and remembering the good times keeps them there."
Callie sniffed. "Good. I don't want to forget him." She took some tissues and blew her nose. She looked at the glass door and saw the others standing around. She looked at Jules and said, "well, it looks like you have some other visitors."
"You ok?" Jules wrote. Callie nodded. Jules nodded to Sam and he went and let the others in.
Callie stood and backed away. Spike saw this and put a hand on her shoulder. "Where you going? You're part of the team now." He smiled.
Callie smiled.
They sat and talked, Jules wrote, for awhile until Jules eyes started getting heavy.
"That's our cue." Greg stood from the chair and said quietly to everyone. He motioned for them to follow him. They said their goodnights and Spike offered to take Callie home.
Callie wasn't so sure she wanted to be alone tonight. Would Spike let her stay with him? She bit her lip.
"Hey." Spike saw her hesitation. "I have a spare room if you want to hang."
"Yeah." She shook her head, relieved. "I just need to get some stuff from home."
Spike nodded, took out his phone, called and got permission from Maggie for Callie to stay with him for the night. "All set." He told Callie.
"Ok. We'll see you soon." Sam hugged her and stepped back so she could stand by the bed.
"Definitely." She nodded. She stepped forward and took Jules' hand. "Night Jules. I'll come back tomorrow after school. Rest up." She looked at Sam and Spike. "We have a Uno rematch to play."
Spike shook his head. "At least I get to start with negative points."
Callie laughed, turned back to Jules and kissed her cheek. She stood and followed Spike out. She turned back and looked at Sam. "You should get some rest too."
He smiled at her. "I will."
She nodded and left the room. Thirty minutes later she was at Spike's apartment getting changed into her pajamas. She pulled on her sweats and t-shirt and walked out into the living room.
Spike was sitting on the couch watching TV. He looked up when she came out and patted the seat on the couch.
She obliged and sat on the opposite side from him. So, now what? She thought. She didn't want to go to sleep, memories of the last couple weeks were running around in her head. She looked at the clock above the TV. It's only 8:30. Her stomach grumbled loudly.
Spike looked at her and chuckled. "Let me see what I have." He got up and went to the fridge in the kitchen across from the livingroom. He loved the openness of his apartment. The counter with cabinets was all that separated the kitchen from the living room.
He stood there looking into the half empty fridge. He'd meant to get groceries today, but the situation with Candace and Mitzy had taken precedence. He had leftover Chinese, cheese and milk. He turned and looked in the cupboard. "I have Cheerios or Corn Flakes." He looked to the couch, but couldn't see her.
"Or we can order from somewhere." He grabbed his stack of takeout menus and brought them to the couch.
Callie laughed when he handed them to her. "Um, you're Italian right?"
He looked at her eyes narrowed. "Yeah."
"Aren't you naturally supposed to be a good cook?"
Spike laughed. "That's what my mom says too. Unfortunately that skipped me. I can bake a little though. My mom taught me before she moved back to Italy after my dad died a couple years ago."
"I'm sorry." Callie looked at the menus. She hadn't meant to bring up a painful subject.
"It's ok." Spike smiled. "It was hard, but it's better now."
I guess everyone knows what it feels like to lose, she thought. Candace hadn't always been a bully. Before she started hanging with Mitzy, she and Callie had been friends in graded school.
When Candace started developing early, she was teased a lot. Her weight had ballooned which got her picked on even more. When the beautiful and skinny Mitzy had befriended her, they started taking karate together and they stood up to the bullies together.
Callie had taken a back seat to Mitzy. She had tried to stand up to the bullies, but had gotten beaten up herself. Candace saw her as weak because she couldn't defend herself and had brushed her off. Once they saw that they could dominate people, they became the bullies. She'd lost a good friend.
"So what do you feel like?" Spike looked at her expectantly.
She broke out of her reverie and looked at the menus. "Timmy's."
"Oh we are going to be great friends." Spike gave her a toothy smile. He found out what she wanted and ordered.
An hour and a half later they were both zoned out in front of the TV. Spike looked at the clock and looked at Callie. "Time for bed."
"Ugggh." Callie groaned. She didn't want to have to face school tomorrow. She knew she had at least two tests to make up, plus whatever else she'd missed the last two days.
"Come on." Spike stood and motioned for her to follow. "I have to get up really early for workout, but I'll come back and bring you to school. What time do you have to be there?"
"7:45."
"Perfect. There's an alarm clock in there so set it to whatever you need." He motioned to the spare room, walked to the bathroom between the two rooms and showed her how to run the shower and where the towels were. "Just make sure you don't get your stitches wet. It may be tricky washing your hair." He looked at the gauze covering her cuts.
"Ok. Thanks." She nodded.
"Anything else? Have whatever you want or can find for breakfast ok?" He looked at her. She looked nervous. "You be ok sleeping here?"
She looked at the twin bed mattress he'd put in his spare room. "Yeah." She shrugged. She went in and shut the door. She heard him close his door and she went to the bed and climbed under the covers. She tossed and turned for a little while before she finally drifted off to sleep.
Before long, she was dreaming. Every time Candace or Mitzy did something or said something nasty to her floated back to her. She tossed and turned at the memories. She saw herself swinging from the hook. Back and forth, back and forth, the floor so far away it looked like miles. Suddenly she was falling, the concrete getting closer and closer. She screamed, putting her arms out to protect her.