A/N YES! I know Greg is OOC, I just wanted to put this in there.
I was watching a Flashpoint episode on TV, in which Greg said: 'A team consists of 7 member, I have to choose Ed.'. Well, Greg, Ed, Sam, Spike, Jules (who was on sick-leave) and Zoë makes 6. So since it turned out to be 7, say Hi to Wordy everybody.
Previously:
"It's in my sweatpants-pocket. Just get it, and un-cuff me." She said in an I-don't-think-this-is-so-funny-anymore-tone.
"I think that would be sexual harassment? Don't you Ed?" Sam smiled at her.
"I think Greg's got an extra set of keys." It was Ed, "He should be around here somewhere."
"Are you serious?" She definitely didn't think this was so funny anymore. "Is this a hazing? Are you hazing me?"
"Just wait till you're part of our team. Now, if you ever want to get out of those cuffs."
She rolled her eyes at them and walked away, her hands cuffed behind her back.
She walked into the lobby, Winnie was sitting behind the front desk. She looked up when she heard someone walking towards her.
"Winnie, do you have a set of handcuff keys?" Winnie raised her eyebrows.
"No, I don't.. why do you" she didn't get to finish her sentence as Zoë turned around. "Ah, Sam?"
"And Ed, thanks anyway. I'll go see if Greg's got one." She smiled at Winnie and walked away to find Greg.
"I think he's in the locker-room!" Winnie shouted after he.
Zoë wasn't able to knock very loudly having her hands on her back. So when she didn't get any answer she figured Greg didn't hear her. She pushed the door open a little. "Sergeant Parker?" Nothing. "Greg?"
"Come in." Zoë entered the men's locker-room. She came around to where Greg was, only to see him without his shirt on.
Greg grabbed a SRU-shirt from the bench. "So, something wrong with your physical with Ed and Sam?" He was about to put his shirt on when he noticed her arms were on her back. "What do you have behind your back?" He put his shirt back down. The cop inside of him was coming alive, fearing she had a gun or a grenade or something.
"My hands."
"No, really. What do you have behind your back?" Zoë turned around. He noticed she was cuffed.
"Can you un-cuff me? Ed and Sam refuse." He laughed at her.
"I'm afraid you're wearing my cuffs, Ed wanted to borrow them. So I'm guessing he has the key."
"Crap, damn hazing." Then she thought of it. She had a key in her pocket. If only she'd remembered when she was with Winnie, it would've prevented her from being in this very embarrassing situation. "Oh, wait. I've got keys in my front left pocket. Sam and Ed didn't want to grab them. Saying it would be sexual harassment." Greg laughed again and walked closer towards her. Zoë just wished he had a shirt on because for a minute the very inappropriate 'He could sexually harass me anytime' popped in her mind.. He reached into her pocket and grabbed the keys. He then walked behind her.
"We've all been hazed at least once, Zoë" He said and took off her handcuffs.
"Thanks" She said after he un-cuffed her. "Doesn't mean that I like it."
"Well, I didn't say you had to like it." He handed her the key as well and walked back towards the bench. "So besides the obvious, everything go okay?" He grabbed his shirt and turned back towards Zoë
"Uuh, yeah. Completed my physical. So shooting is next, right?" She was still slightly distracted, with him being bare-chested and everything.
"Yes, looking forward to seeing you in action." He put his shirt back on.
"You're going to watch?" Zoë was surprised, she figured Ed would be the only one there.
"That a problem?" He grabbed his SRU-button-up shirt.
"No, of course not." Zoë turned around about to walk away. "Better go back to Ed, see you around then."
…
She had returned the cuffs to Ed. Sam kept teasing her about it, but she didn't mind so much. She figured brothers would tease their sisters pretty much the same way. So she thought Sam liked her. She had a feeling Ed hadn't warmed up to her just yet. Maybe he never would, or he just waited until he knew she was going to stay. Either way, she had to try harder for him to like her. They were on their way to the gun range when he spoke to her.
"You can choose your own gun. First test will be in a controlled environment."
"Meaning, I will be standing behind a desk shooting paper targets that are standing still?" She looked over to him.
"Yeah, second test will be more difficult. But we will discuss that if you pass the first." He emphasized the word 'if', to which Zoë snorted.
They entered the shooting range and Zoë noticed that everyone was there. Sam, Wordy and Spike were talking together. By the looks of it, they were discussing Spike's date the previous night. Greg was a few feet away, talking to a girl she didn't recognize. But seeing as the girl was wearing the same bracelet everybody else was Zoë concluded that she must be Julianna 'Jules' Callaghan. Greg turned around when he heard the door.
"Zoë, this is Jules. Jules, this is Zoë. Zoë is trying to qualify for our team."
"Nice to meet you, how are you doing so far?" Jules shook the hand Zoë had extended.
"Same, maybe you should ask Ed. He has a clipboard, on which he writes. A lot.." She smiled at Ed.
"He tends to does that yes. But I think writing is a good sign. He did it with me, and I'm here."
"To re-qualify." Ed added.
"Greg told me you were on sick-leave. I think he said that you got shot?"
"Yeah, I was. In my shoulder. Today my shooting, tomorrow my physical."
"If we are done socializing, I would like to get this over with before we get a call." Ed said matter-of-factly.
They both got to pick their guns, Zoë choose a Sig Sauer while Jules went for the Glock. Zoë didn't think she would have any problems with this. She was an expert marksman after all. She had to take out a lot of men in Iraq, and they didn't stand still waiting for her to shoot. They both had to fire 10 shots, none of them could miss the target. And the points had to add up to at least 90.
"Let's see how you both did." Ed said after they had finished. He pushed the button that made Jules' target move their way. He added the points, she scored a 98. "Good job Jules, looks like you're back."
"Thanks Ed"
Greg pushed the button that made Zoë's target come their way. He added her points "99, almost perfect."
"Come on Ed, the black line counts. That makes it a 100." It was Jules.
"It's more than half over the line, makes it a 99 Jules."
"Won't happen again, sir." Zoë smiled playfully.
"Sir, huh?"
"Yeah, my shooting instructor was always very strict about being called sir. I once failed a test because I got a 99, apparently if I shoot someone's eye out he can shoot me. How he will be able to do that is beyond me, I would be lying on the ground crying. But anyway, you reminded me off him, hence 'Sir'."
"He failed you because of one shot?" It was Wordy.
"Oh yeah, he's a real bastard."
"So, you are comparing me to your instructor. Who is a bastard, does that make me a bastard?"
"No, Ed. You're not a bastard, if anything you seem like a really nice guy. Responsible and, uuh friendly." Zoë rambled slightly.
"He's messing with you." Sam spoke up. "But the real test is next."
Jules didn't need to do that test again, she had done it that morning. Zoë was equipped with a shot- and hand-gun. She had to wear a SRU-uniform, complete with helmet, goggles, bullet-proof vest and a backpack containing climbing gear. She had a minute to clear a warehouse-like-area.
"Ok Zoë, we'll be standing in the control-room behind bullet-proof glass. As soon as you enter via the fire-door the clock will start. You'll have all kinds of audio- and visual-effects. Only shoot the bad guys, are you ready?" Ed waited for her to nod and then joined the rest in the control-room.
"50 says she shoots 2 granny's" Sam dared.
"200 says she pulls it off. No good-guys shot." Everyone looked at Greg, he never participated in this kind of wager. "I've got faith. What? You can't take the heat?"
"That's a bet." It was Ed, she did great in the controlled situation. But he knew she still had some PTSD, eventhough she said it didn't affect her job.
They were cut off by Zoë entering the 'warehouse'. "I'm not gonna make it easy for her Greg, I want my money." Ed said before turning on an alarm. Zoë looked around for a second to see where she had to go, every meter she walked another alarm would go off. There was a car alarm, a burglary alarm and a car honking constantly. Then the visual-effects started, there were lights flickering, headlights from a car and police sirens. Cartons with guys on it popped up everywhere, from behind walls, containers, doors and windows etc. Halfway through the course, her shotgun ran out of bullets and she had to switch to her handgun. Sometimes the cartons were holding guns, sometimes everyday things like a bottle or a (cell)phone. She pushed the big red button at the end of the warehouse after she finished. This stopped the time, turned off all the effects and turned the regular lights back on. She holstered her gun and walked towards the control-room.
"Tell me, how many times have you actually had a situation like this?" They all laughed.
"None, but we prepare for the worst." Wordy replied.
"What I thought, so how'd I do?" She looked towards Ed, who was once again holding a clipboard.
"Good. You shot every bad-guy with three bullets between his eyes, have 8 seconds left and most importantly you didn't shoot any granny's"
"I feel a but coming up." Zoë quipped.
"However," Zoë nodded, there it was. "You shot them between their eyes."
"That's bad because?"
"They die. We prefer to cuff them and put them in prison."
"Okay, but if they are wearing a bullet-proof vest under their clothing they shoot back and we die."
"She has a good point there Ed." Spike said.
"It doesn't matter anyway, but next time shoot them in their chest. Unless you get a 'scorpio'"
"But I'm only allowed to use lethal force if I get a scorpio so…" Zoë let her sentence trail off.
"Anyway you passed. So you're done with me, Greg can take you now."
Zoë went back to the gear-room. She put all of it back in their place. She was so concentrated on doing it right that she didn't hear anyone enter.
"Ed's just jealous we got ourselves another great shot."
"I think Ed used the word Good, not great." Zoë turned around to face Greg.
"I think he just misses Lou, we all do." He sounded so sad when he brought Lou up. Zoë stepped closer towards him, trying to give him some kind of comfort..
"I'm not trying to replace him Greg. But if you ever want to talk about it, call me. I know what it's like." She put a hand on his shoulder and walked past him. "See you tomorrow?" He nodded.
"I'll be here at six, just a couple more tests left and you're a member." She smiled and walked away.
A/N Does Zoë smile a lot, I feel like a make her smile A LOT! A btw, the whole warehouse-training-course-thing I borrowed most of it from bones 7x03 where sweets goes through it.
