A/N: Forgot to say this last time, but thanks for the warm reception!

I own neither Flashpoint nor the characters of Flashpoint. If I did, there would be a new episode every night of the year with no hiatuses or fears of cancellation...

As it turned out, Jules didn't need much time at all to come to a decision. When Sam returned with a couple of burgers, Jules informed him, "You're free to go. I'm going on vacation. Gonna smell the…whatever people smell when they're taking it easy because it sure as hell ain't roses."

"Where are you headed?"

"Frankfurt, I guess. It's one of Toronto's sister cities, you know," Jules informed him.

"What a coincidence…" he began nonchalantly.

Jules narrowed her eyes. "You know, Braddock, you're really starting to tick me off."

"Really? Only just starting? I think I'd really hate to see you in a bad mood."

"I know how you can avoid that completely. Go away. Problem solved," Jules offered with a brief, insincere smile.

"Then I'd miss the presence of your sparkling personality." The smile he flashed her was real.

Jules stared at him, and then shook her head. "You are really just… that unhappy with your life, aren't you?"

Sam's grin evaporated. "How do you figure? I mean, you're wrong, but how do you figure?"

"Well why else would you be so damn interested in creeping your way into mine?"

"I am not creeping my way into your life, I'm…"

"Keeping an eye on me for Sarge and the guys. Yeah, I caught that part, but I'm not buying it. You don't know them, you don't know me…"

He shrugged. "I keep my promises."

"Nobody's that altruistic. You're getting something out of this. What is it? Hoping to get in my pants? It's not happening. I'm engaged," she reminded him.

"If you think this is me trying to seduce you, then your fiancé's technique must need some work."

Jules felt her face flush. "Then what do you want?"

"Nothing."

"Then whatever benefit you're getting is psychological, which is a shame because I'm not interested in playing the damsel-in-distress in your knight-in-shining-armor scenario. Go get your kicks somewhere else."

"Jules."

"Braddock."

"Will you at least try to be logical about this? Say I leave you alone, like you want me to. Alone and abroad. And not yet at the point where I can dare you to prove you can literally kick my ass. And, frankly, more than a little attractive. How long would it take for you to disappear compared to how long it would take for anyone to even wonder if something might have happened to you?"

Her gaze narrowed, but she didn't let a caustic remark roll off her tongue so he was hopeful that she was thinking about relenting. "Okay," she said finally, "but I have rules."

"Okay…" he said cautiously.

"First and foremost, you aren't the boss of me. In fact, if anybody's in charge, it's me. This is my vacation, you're just hijacking it to hide out from reality." She held up a hand when he opened his mouth to protest. "Yeah, sure, you're just living it up in the dustbowl. Next rule… I'm not buying you as much as a cup of coffee and I'd prefer it if you kept your money to yourself, too. It's just better if we keep the line in the sand nice and clear. And to that end, no staring at my boobs or my ass or…you know, it'd probably be best if you just my shoulders the cut-off point…"

"Whoa…getting a little mandate-happy aren't we? Let me sum it all up for you…I just do what I originally intended, keep an eye on you, until you go home. See how much more direct and to-the-point that was?"

She speared him with a look that asked 'Do you really want to survive this trip?'

"I suppose another one of your little caveats was gonna be that you're always right, huh?"

"You catch on fast, Braddock. No wonder you made it to the JTF2."

He scoffed. "Rest up, Jules."

"You rest up, Braddock," Jules warned.

A few days later, Jules decided she was ready to get a move on and leave the hospital. She felt restless and needed to get active before her muscles atrophied.

Sam laughed at her when she voiced her concern. "I don't think a week in bed would do you irreparable damage."

"Well, Dr. Braddock, I don't remember coming to you for a consult," she responded, gingerly lifting her bag.

"Want me to get that for you?" Sam offered.

"Nope, I got it."

Shrugging, he fell into step behind her after she brushed past him. "If you say so."

"I do say so."

"And what you say goes."

"Yeah, what I say goes," she agreed, not trying to hide her amusement since he couldn't see her smile.

He could hear it in her voice, though, and smiled in response to it. "You'll be pleased to hear that the train ride will only last a couple hours."

"I am," she confirmed as they made their way outside to the waiting taxi.

He took her bag without asking because he knew she wouldn't hand it over if he asked, then opened the door for her and went to put their stuff in the trunk. She rolled her eyes and slid into the taxi. There was no point fighting over something as petty as who put bags in the trunk, even if she could have done it herself. She did protest to him grabbing both of their bags at the train station, though. "I'm not an invalid!"

"Didn't say you were," Sam denied as he walked up to the window to request two tickets for the next train to Frankfurt.

"We're paying for those separately," Jules emphasized, as much for Sam as the cashier.

Once the transaction was completed, they both sat down to wait for their departure. "So…" Sam said, for the sake of breaking the silence between them.

"So," Jules said simply. "Ever been here before?" she asked after a beat.

"I was stationed here at one point before I joined the JTF2," he affirmed.

"Did you like it better?"

Sam shrugged. "Easier to get ahold of things you wanted here than it is in Afghanistan."

"That isn't much of a criterion. What about the job?"

Another shrug. "It was more drills here than actual warfare. There I'm getting something done."

"Still doesn't answer my question."

"I'm a sniper. My primary function is to shoot people. It's kind of hard to say I like it. It's just my job."

"Oh. I get that." When he gave her a dubious glance, she explained, "I'm trained as a sniper. I mean, everyone in the SRU cross-trains, but it's usually me or Ed looking through the crosshairs, waiting for the command."

The doubt on his face turned into incredulity. "You ever get the command?"

"My team is pretty damn good, so it's rare that it even gets to that point…but yeah. Once."

He could tell from her tone that it hadn't been a pleasant experience.

"After a while you steel yourself against it," Sam said dully.

Jules shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Maybe people tell themselves that to get through the day, because, as ugly a job as it is, somebody has to do it for everybody else, but I don't think we, as human beings, are designed that way. And then something happens and they can't keep it up anymore."

"It's different in war."

"Maybe…but I thought we were talking about me here?" She didn't say it meanly in case he had something he wanted to get off his chest. Despite her outwardly borderline-hostile attitude toward him, she was curious about him as well.

He made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat and she left him to his thoughts, as he suddenly seemed rather pensive.

On the train, Sam watched Jules as she peered out the window. He was finding that he liked her more and more as time went on. Beneath that snarky, superhuman façade of hers was an endless well of compassion that he envied. He supposed it wasn't so much her possession of compassion he envied as much as her freedom to express it. Working with civilians, you asked questions first, maybe shot later and only as a last resort. Out in the field you shot and moved on. Questions didn't factor into it so much.

Jules felt his eyes on her but didn't call him out on it. Maybe he needed this vacation even more than she did. More than he was capable of admitting to himself. She felt like she was getting a better handle on him as far as why he was so frustratingly adamant about being her bodyguard of sorts. It was probably the only way his subconscious could justify an excursion out of the desert for a little while. If she were in his shoes, she wouldn't be in a hurry to get back, either.

Sam watched as Jules fell asleep. He thought she was pushing herself, but she had already made it more than clear that that particular opinion would be more unwelcome than any other he might have offered. But that was okay. She couldn't always prevent her from doing small things to ensure her comfort...like keeping her warm while she slept. He got up and went in search of a blanket, and refrained from also seeking out the car with food in it in favor of find a place to sit and eat with Jules after they reached their destination. He unfolding the blanket and gently covered her from the shoulders down, tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. The fiancé of this little warrior was a lucky man. It hadn't even taken him a week to see why she meant so much to her team.

He blinked, made the conscious decision to stop staring at her, and opened up a magazine.

A/N: Stay tuned, folks! Next time our budding friends have some fun exploring the city.