And we continue the story…I think what I'm going to do is highlight Cassidy's first day on the job, and then fast forward about a month…otherwise this could go on forever! By the way, I don't own Flashpoint. Or Converse shoes. I also don't own Jelly Belly's. They're not in the story, but I am eating them as I type. So just so we're clear. Dang, that was random…oh well!

I've rated this T for caution, since I want to keep it clean but don't need to get blasted for any content that's too mature for younger readers.

I give out virtual Jelly Belly's to reviewers! J

"You might want to suit up." Spike told Cassidy, as they stepped out of the SRU vehicle.

She grinned. "Not that much of a rookie, Scarlatti. I know that we should suit up!"

He couldn't help but stare at her. Gone was the resentful girl that had been in SRU yesterday. It was like she'd had a sudden personality transplant overnight. It definitely didn't help his professionalism. But Spike wasn't dumb. He knew when to keep his mouth shut, and he figured her sudden change of demeanor was one of the occasions just to shut up.

"So after we suit up, what's next?" she asked.

Spike smiled as she fought with the buckles on her vest, and reached in to help her snap them into place. He ignored the sudden heat he felt at actually making contact with her. He was a professional, and he didn't want a girlfriend. Girlfriends were a lot of work, and he needed to focus on working his way up as an SRU officer. And he definitely couldn't date a teammate. He couldn't help but wonder, though, what she would look like on a date. He wasn't sure if she'd be the kind of girl to wear a dress. If there was a dress involved, it would be a casual one. And while heels would boost her height, he just couldn't picture her in them. Converse shoes maybe, but not heels.

"Spike!"

He jerked his weird thoughts away and packed them in the basement of his brain. "Yeah?"

"You didn't answer my question! You just zoned out on me, or something. What do we do after suit up?"

Spike fought to regain his composure. "Greg gives us a run through of where he wants us to go. Once he does that, we go do a check through of the building until we isolate suspect and hostage. Sierras-" he pointed to Sam and Eddie. "Tend to be those guys. They'll move into position so that we have a clear shot at the suspect. Greg'll try and talk him down."

"So what do we do?"

"We'll be there in case anything goes South."

She eyed him with her big green eyes. "What goes South? I mean, he either surrenders and gets out, or doesn't and get shot, right? Hostage gets top priority?"

Spike rolled his eyes. "You've got a lot to learn, rookie. Yeah, hostage gets top priority. BUT, we always try and get everybody out alive. Lethal is the last resort. You try to avoid it at all costs."

"Um, ok?"

Spike laughed at how flustered she looked. "Don't worry, it's something called on the job experience. You only get it be actually trying to do these things."

"So what does Lewis do?"

"He'll be Greg's go-for. And run checks and stuff. Everything Jules did before she got extremely pregnant."

A loud bang startled both of the officers out of their conversation.

"Shots fired!" yelled Eddie, over the radio. "Everyone good?"

"We're fine here," said Spike. "Hey Boss, who's our hostage? And our suspect? We're going to go south entrance on this thing."

He nodded to Cassidy, and the two of them took off towards the large apartment building.

"Suspect is one Jake Reese," said Greg. "He's a convicted drug dealer out on parole. Our hostage is seven year-old Jamie Fletcher. She was playing with her friend in the hall of the apartment when the guy came up and grabbed her. No one knows why yet, but we'll keep talking to witnesses."

"Creep never should've been out of the tank in the first place," muttered Cassidy.

Spike checked to make sure they had clear entrance, and carefully opened the door. "We're clear to move, Brooks. You want me to go first?"

She rolled her eyes, and for a moment looked like a teenager being told she couldn't have the car keys. "No, thanks. I'm used to this kind of thing."

Spike shook his head. "No, you're not rookie. Trust me, you're not. But if you want to carefully go up, being on high alert, I'm good with that."

She smiled slightly. "Fine, I'll be careful. Any report on what the shot was about, Greg?"

"Nothing yet," came the reply. "We're trying to get a hold of Reese right now, but he's not answering."

"Bastard," she muttered.

Spike carefully checked his blind spots, making sure that he and Cassidy were clear from any possible surprise shots. He nodded to her, and they carefully moved towards the stair well.

"Stop!" hissed Spike, yanking Cassidy back towards the hall way. Spike's blood turned cold as he saw Reese stumble up the stairs, gun in hand. He carried with him a little girl, whom Spike assumed was Jamie. Reese hadn't seen them yet.

'And we'll keep it that way' thought Spike.

"Suspect in site, hostage in hand. No injuries visible on Jamie," he heard Cassidy whisper.

"Is he in any shape to talk?" asked Greg.

"Doubt it," she whispered. Spike glanced over in admiration at her quick evaluation. She caught on quick. "The guy's upset about something. What are we supposed to do now?"

"Spike," said Greg. "You probably have a pretty good grasp on things here. What happens if you make your presence known?"

Spike shook his head as he tried to think this through. "I'd be worried about the gun on the little girl. There's no phone ringing, Boss. I don't think you're gonna get a hold of him."

"HEY!" A loud yell startled Spike and Cassidy. Spike spun around and saw a furious Jake Reese standing in front of them, gun at Jamie's head. "There's no fricken' cops supposed to be around. Do you want me to shoot her? Cuz you ain't gettin' her ever again!"

By the way he slurred his words and his awful grammar, Spike immediately realized that the man was drunk.

"No," he said. "We don't want that. We aren't going to take Jamie. We just want to talk, that's all."

"Well maybe I don't want talk to…to talk or whatever it is. I'm dead, she's dead, and soon you be dead."

"Guy's drunk as a bird on three year old berries," muttered Cassidy. "Listen, Jake, we don't want anyone to die."

"Good girl," whispered Spike. "Talk him down, now. Don't be threatening, we want him to think that we're on his side."

"You-s ain't gonna take me back to prison. You get outta here, you cops."

"We'd like to do that," replied Spike. "But we need to take Jamie with us to see her parents. They're really worried about her, Jake."

"They ain't her parents. You-s don't call them bastards her parents. They ain't deserve her! You just give me want I what and no one gets hurt!"

"Huh?" whispered Cassidy.

"What he wants," replied Spike. "We need to give him what he wants."

"So what's he want?"

"No idea, yet. He has to tell us that. Boss, any idea why this is happening?"

"We got a hold of his ex-girlfriend. I guess Jake got her pregnant, and she wasn't ready to raise the baby. She went off, had the baby, and sent her to social services. Little girl was adopted out shortly after that."

"How many years ago?" asked Spike.

"Seven. Jake is Jamie's father. Apparently he found out shortly after he got out of prison on good behavior that he had a daughter. That would have been about two weeks ago."

"So this is a planned kidnapping," whispered Cassidy. "He wants his daughter back." Jake was pacing in front of them, Jamie still in his arms. Neither of the officers wanted to speak loudly for fear of setting the man off.

"Look, I-s just want to get out of here…you-s just let me go now, ok?" Jake staggered towards them.

"She has your eyes, Jake," said Cassidy suddenly. Spike eyed her, wondering where she was taking this.

"I know-s she does. She's a little daddy's girl."

"You love her a lot, don't you?"

Jake's dark brown eyes suddenly looked sad. "I always wanted a little girl. She so pretty, just like her Mommy was…But then Jess didn't like that she was comin', wanted to get rid of it."

"And now you want Jamie."

"She's my little princess, yup, a princess."

"Jake, look at your daughter."

Jake hiccupped and looked at Jamie's tear streaked face. "Why you cryin', princess?"

"Jake," Cassidy spoke forcefully, now forcing his eyes back to her. "I get it. You want the family that was snatched from you. I know you love Jamie. She is beautiful."

"I jus wanna take her home now," he said. He hiccupped again.

"I know you do, Jake. But listen," her voice took on such a soft tone that it surprised Spike. "Jamie's got a home. Jamie's got someone looking after her. But if you take her away, what'll happen when you go back to jail?"

"I ain't never going back to that hell-hole!" yelled Jake.

"Subject escalating, back it off Brooks," said Greg.

"Sierra One with a solution," said Eddie.

"Copy that," whispered Cassidy. "Just let me try this."

She turned back to Jake. "Jake, I know how it feels."

"You dunno this feeling! You can't know it!"

"You love Jamie, and you want to be with her more than everything. But Jake, sometimes we have to let go. We can't always be there for the people we love."

Jake, to Spike's surprise, began to cry. He glanced over at Cassidy, who seemed to know that she was hitting a nerve with them.

"Jake," said Spike, feeling that he needed to back Cassidy up. "If you just put down the gun, we can all walk away from this. Nobody needs to get hurt here."

"No, no one needs to get hurt," said Cassidy. "But people are already hurting, right Jake? You're heart is breaking right now, isn't it?"

"Shut up!" he yelled.

"Careful, Cassidy," she heard Greg say over the radio. "You might want to back off a bit. We can't have him escalating and hurting Jamie. He's drunk and doesn't know what he's doing. Just take it easy on him."

"Jake, it's ok. It's gonna hurt. Letting go always does. And it won't go away. When you love someone that much, it doesn't just stop hurting. But you have to trust that Jamie's going to be ok, that she has a family who loves her."

"I don't wanna miss it, though. She's gonna up grow, and never know her Daddy!"

"So miss the moments. Mourn for it, but Jake, look at Jamie. She doesn't know you, Jake. She's afraid. I know it hurts, but just let Jamie go. Trust that she's going to be able to go without you. Do what's best for her, right now."

Spike watched in amazement as Jake sank to his knees, sobbing. He cradled Jamie in his arms, and stroked her hair for a moment. Then, he released Jamie.

Immediately, Wordy and Lewis burst in from behind him, pinning him to the ground. Spike let out an exhale of relief as Eddie came by and scooped up Jamie, probably to deliver her to her parents. He glanced over at Cassidy, and to his surprise, saw a tear trickle down her cheek.

"You ok?" asked Spike, concerned about the show of emotion by the rookie. He momentarily wondered what it would be like to brush that tear off her cheek, but kept that thought to himself.

"His heart is breaking, right now," she whispered. "But he let her go."

"I thought he was a bastard," he said with a flicker of amusement.

"No," she sighed. "He's a hurting man. That's all he is, is just hurting."

Spike gently put his arm around her, even though he knew it wasn't professional of him, and led her out of the building.