Jules's Worry, Cheshire Spike, Another Log on the Fire, My Fault, Garlic Infusion & Sam Needs More Help

Jules's Home

Jules was sanding the drywall seam in her living room as the TV played in the background. It was early in the morning, about six am, but she was unable to sleep in today for some reason. So she decided to get a jump on her living room project. She was working on the section that she had knocked down after breaking it off with Sam.

She had put her sledgehammer to good use that day. Jules smiled when she thought how far she and Sam had come since that horrible time. Now they were best friends. They had found a way to keep each other and the team in their lives.

Sometimes she really wished for more. But that just wasn't going to happen. She had worked too hard to get where she was and they were friends now. Best friends. They watched out for one another at work and hung out with the team. Their bantering had almost returned to what it was before. They even hung out together with just Spike and Lou sometimes.

Jules thought that eventually they might be able to hang out together alone; platonically of course. But they hadn't tried that yet. She was afraid she still saw something in Sam's eyes and she didn't want to hurt him again.

She had basically stabbed him in the heart when she broke it off. It had hurt her too but she knew it hurt him more. Jules had made a vow to herself to never knowingly hurt him again. So keeping some distance between them was necessary.

Taking a break from sanding she went to her table and picked up her water bottle. She drank a good quarter of it when her eye caught the weather report.

She sat on the table as the newscaster said "It's being called the snowstorm of the century. The Blue Mountains have received twenty-four inches of snow since yesterday afternoon. It is a huge front and over the next four days the total snow fall is expected to be between forty-nine inches and sixty inches, that's a whopping five feet of snow folks."

"All travel to the area had been suspended as the roads are impassable. Once the storm passes it will likely take a week or more before the plows can clear the roads. The Department of Transportation is reporting that some of the more remote ones may be closed for the season. If you have loved ones in the area you may not be able to reach them due to many phone and power lines being blown down in the area with the gale force winds. Time for those in that area to hunker down and enjoy a good book, you are not going anywhere soon."

Jules switched off the TV when it moved on to Toronto weather. She hoped the guys were okay. From her many talks with Scott while Sam was in a coma she knew Scott was an avid camper and would know what to do in this situation. She knew Spike packed extra food in case of bad weather and Sam had his Special Force training for extreme cold. Spike knew there was no phone at the cabin so had put a booster on his mobile phone to increase his cell range. Jules wondered if it worked.

She got up and went into the kitchen and got her phone off the charger and dialed Spike. It rang once and then went to voice mail. Darn, guess it wasn't enough of a booster or they were simply too far out of range. Jules decided to leave a voice mail for them just in case they did get some service in the next few days.

At the beep she said "Hope you guys are doing ok. Saw the weather forecast and you guys sure picked a bad time to go skiing. They are calling that blizzard the snowstorm of the century. I'll let Ed and the Boss know that you might be snowed in just in case they don't see the news. Stay safe and warm. Call when you can to let us know you are alright."

Jules hung up and a little something gnawed at her. She chalked it up to being worried that they had enough food to last them until the snow plow made it to their remote location. That's when her worry crystalized. What if the cabin was located on one of the roads that would not be plowed?

Then she smiled. Well that is certainly one way for Spike and Sam to get more time off. Snowed in on a road that wasn't plowed was a fantastic excuse. Jules decided not to worry. If that were the case then Sam and Scott would figure a way out for all of them.

But that didn't mean Ed would go easy on them when they did get back. She envisioned all the extra laps they would have to run. She could just hear Ed now "Gotta work off all that flab from sitting around stuffing your faces with smores for a week."

Jules picked up her sander and started on the drywall seams again. If all went well she would have the wall ready for texturing by tomorrow.

Remote Mountain Cabin – Kitchen

All the guys slept in late. It was near nine am when Sam hobbled out to the kitchen. The smell of bacon had wafted into the bedroom and woken him up. He lowered himself in the chair and smiled "Smells great Scott."

Scott turned from frying bacon and said "Morning Sam. Bacon and eggs sunny side up will be ready in just a moment. Want some coffee?"

"You have to ask?" Sam chuckled.

Spike wandered in looking a bit tired "I'll get it for him. Outside temperature dropped again. Down to ten degrees Fahrenheit and it's still snowing although not quite as heavy as last night. But the wind has picked up speed."

Getting a mug for Sam out of the cabinet he poured a cup of coffee for Sam and refreshed his cup. Handing it to Sam Spike asked "How you feeling this morning?"

Spike was excited to see if Sam would answer honestly when he asked with Scott in the room. It would be a novelty for him. He would enjoy it for as long as possible because he knew for a fact if Scott was not here Sam would try to deflect or downplay things.

Taking a drink of coffee first Sam glanced at Scott then turned to Spike "Been better. Leg still hurts quite a bit. We probably need to check it again after breakfast. Shoulder is a little tender, hurts to move my arm too much. My headache is still here but not quite as bad. It feels more like a unit marching around in it rather than the entire Army."

Spike grinned broadly.

Sam looked at him oddly "Why are you smiling Spike?"

Scott served up breakfast for them all then sat down. He wanted to know too. There was nothing in what Sam said to grin about.

Spike simply said with humor and a big smile "Did that hurt too much?"

"Did what hurt too much?" Sam asked confused then took a bite of bacon.

Scott felt irritation grow. What was Spike doing? Sam was hurting and Spike was grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Telling me the truth straight out. Did it hurt? If not I'd like you to tell me the truth even if Scott isn't here" Spike stated.

Sam rolled his eyes and lightly chuckled "Yeah it hurt. It hurt a lot. Don't get used to it Spike. I was suckered into that oath when I was five."

Scott laughed, his irritation gone. "Damn good thing too. What would you have told Spike if I weren't here?"

"I'm okay" Sam said with a smile.

Spike shook his head "Never gonna change are you Sam?"

"Nope. Too ingrained. So what do we want to do today?" Sam inquired changing the topic of conversation. Yep too ingrained.

Scott said "You are sitting on the couch with your leg propped up unless you are napping in your bed or using the bathroom."

Spike yawned but suggested "We could play poker for real money."

"How about rummy. We could play to see who gets to five thousand points first" Sam suggested. His head hurt too much to concentrate on poker.

They agreed. After breakfast Spike and Scott cleaned up and moved the table to the main room like the night before. Scott had been serious and sent Sam packing to the couch when he tried to help with dishes.

Remote Mountain Cabin – Main Room

After checking Sam's leg and cleaning it again the guys spent the rest of the morning playing rummy. They had a light lunch of sandwiches and all three laid down for a nap. All were still exhausted from yesterday's trek in the storm. Spike was extra tired from keeping the fire going last night.

Sam had fallen asleep on the couch while Scott and Spike had headed for their beds. He awoke from his nap and saw the fire was low and needed another log on it. He rose from the couch slowly. He was stiff and sore and his head was pounding furiously again.

He put as much weight as he dared on his leg and hobbled ungainly to the wood pile. Sam selected a large log and bent to pick it up. He had just barely started to lift the log when he was startled by Scott's voice.

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing?" Scott bellowed just outside his bedroom as he saw Sam picking up a large log.

Sam hadn't heard Scott coming out of his room. The monkey symphony going on his head must have interfered with his normal hearing. Sam was so startle he dropped the log. It knocked into his shin.

A high pitched scream burst from his mouth and he fell to the ground. Sam curled up and pulled his leg close wrapping his hands around it and rolled back and forth on the ground as pain shot up and down his leg. On his third roll to the left he struck his head on the hearth.

Scott flew to the hearth yelling "Oh Christ Sam I'm sorry. God I didn't mean to startle you. I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry." Scott pulled him close and held him firmly after Sam's head hit the hearth preventing him from doing so again.

Spike raced out of the bedroom "What the hell happened?"

The pain was subsiding as Sam started to uncurl and pull away from Scott. He lay on the ground breathing hard trying to recompose himself. Christ did he just scream like a little girl? Did that really come from his mouth? Sounded like Spike with spiders to him.

He looked blearily at the ceiling as he got his breathing under control. Sam turned his eyes to see Scott. Concern, regret and self-loathing were etched solidly on Scott's face. Sam said "My fault."

Scott exploded "NOT YOUR FAULT. MY FAULT! Not everything that goes wrong is your fault Sam. When are you going to accept that? God I'm so sorry! You normally hear me. I thought you would know I was there."

Spike sat back on his heels and blew out the breath he had been holding as he had watched Sam withering on the ground. Trying to get Braddocks to accept something was not their fault was like trying to fit the Titanic in a bathtub. He decided to interrupt the back and forth blame game before it got started in earnest.

Starting to pull up Sam's pant leg Spike said "Let's see if there is any damage."

Sam shifted to a seated position with Scott's help. Then Scott undid the bandage. The wound was still seeping yellowish pus mixed with a small amount of blood. It looked and felt like it had that morning; still infected, inflamed, hot and tight. But the duct tape was still holding it together.

"We need to clean it again" Sam said dreading the pain that came with cleaning it but knowing infection was worse.

Scott read Sam's face and got up, went to the kitchen, slammed a few cabinets and came back with a glass with two shots of scotch "Drink this."

Sam took the glass. Normally he did not touch the hard stuff except for one night a year. This would be an exception to that. He downed half of it. Spike and Scott went to go prep the things needed to clean it again. Sam lay back down on the floor and waited. This sucked. The warmth of the scotch started to spread. He knew it wouldn't stop the pain but it would take a slight edge off.

Ten minutes later he heard them coming and he sat up. Downing the second shot Sam quipped trying to ease the tension for Spike and Scott "At least we are not wasting the scotch for cleaning the wound."

Spike grabbed the pillow off the couch and tossed it to Sam. His face was grim as he instructed "Lay down. We'll be as quick as possible."

Putting the pillow behind his head and laying back down Sam stoically stated "Thorough as possible is the name of today's dance. I can handle the pain. Infection is the enemy."

They took longer to clean it this time. Scott applied several warm compresses to try and draw out the infection. He took off the duct tape to inspect the wound more closely to see if he could find if any foreign object was causing it to continue to fester. He found nothing. Finally he put new tape on and dressed the wound with the antibiotic ointment and bandage.

Sam caught Scott's worried glance to Spike and the under the breath comment about almost out of antibiotic ointment. Clearly Scott did not want to worry him by stating it out loud. So Sam played dumb like he hadn't heard.

All through the painful cleaning Sam remained quiet with his fists and jaw clenched. His neck and shoulders ached from holding himself so rigid. When they were done Sam flexed his fingers several times as he forced his body to relax. He was wiped out.

Sam said "I'm gonna take a little nap if you don't mind."

Scott reached out to help him up and Sam shook his head "No. I'm not moving for a bit. Napping here is just fine."

Spike grabbed the blanket from the couch and covered Sam. "Need anything else?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for cleaning it again" Sam said with a small grin trying to ease their worry.

Spike grinned back "Anytime. Need anything just holler. I'm gonna go start the sauce for Ma's spaghetti. Gotta chop up the onions, tomatoes and garlic." He headed off to the kitchen.

Sam looked at Scott who had just placed two logs on the fire. He was absently poking at the logs in the fire. Sam could tell Scott was upset. He sighed and said "Scott talk to me."

Scott turned slowly. Sam saw his eyes were a watery.

"Not your fault Scott. I'm okay. Really" Sam said softly.

Scott sat down near Sam and drew his knees close and wrapped his arms around them. He laid the side of his head on his knees and looked at Sam. "I'm sorry. Yes it is my fault. I rolled the SUV. I made you drop the log."

Sam sighed again "Did you put the water on the ground in the SRU locker room?"

Scott looked at him perplexed and answered "No."

"Did you make me behave like a kid and race Spike to the showers or slam my leg into the corner?" Sam asked.

"No" came Scott's soft response.

"So it was you that forced me to ski yesterday. You made the stag run out onto the road. It was you that left my backpack unzipped. And I've got to say I'm impressed with your god like qualities that you could make it snow like this and to compel me to get up off the couch to put a log on the fire" Sam said in a stern matter of fact tone.

Scott stared at Sam.

When no response came from Scott, Sam reached out and patted Scott's arm. He spoke gently "Yeah, you did none of that. So it isn't your fault. Mostly it is mine. Some of it is just shit that happens. Lighten up. The storm should blow out by tomorrow and we can get my antibiotics and even get to the general store to get the SUV towed. I'm gonna be okay."

Scott nodded, gripped Sam's hand and said emotionally "You better be. We just got you back Sam. I'm not ready to lose you again."

"I'm gonna rest now Scott. I'm wiped out" Sam said closing his eyes.

"Okay. Sleep as long as you want. I'll wake you for dinner. I'll just go help Spike chopping up the garlic and stuff" Scott said as he stood up.

Sam's eyes flew open "Garlic."

Puzzled Scott said "What about garlic?"

Sam said loudly "Spike did you bring olive oil?" His head ached at the loudness of his voice. He was glad that Spike came into the room so he didn't have to yell again.

Spike came into the room to answer. "What kind of Italian would I be if I didn't bring olive oil?" Spike smirked. Then he asked "Why?"

Sam grinned "Is it fresh garlic?"

"What other kind is there?" Spike exclaimed.

"Good. I need you to do something. Garlic is a natural antibiotic. We need to make garlic infused olive oil. Put one crushed clove of garlic into two tablespoons of olive oil. Let it sit in the oil for thirty minutes. Strain the garlic out and we will have a topical antibiotic that can be applied hourly. Oh and this is gross but bring me several cloves to eat straight. It helps internally too" Sam explained.

Spike stared at Sam and finally said "I'm Italian how did I not know this?"

Scott grinned "Special Forces training?"

Sam shook his head "Nah, Patch training. Jim read everything he could on natural antibiotics after I had a bad bout with some. He taught all of us several natural remedies. Besides the garlic I remember something about honey being good too."

Spike said "Didn't bring any honey. Brought two heads of garlic though. Be right back with some cloves for you." Spike went to the kitchen and peeled four for Sam.

Taking them and a glass of water back Spike said "You're gonna smell like an Italian now."

Popping one of the cloves in his mouth and chewing Sam grimaced. He liked garlic in food but a whole clove was a bit much. He downed half the glass of water. He chewed and swallowed the second and finished the water. Scott went to get another glass for Sam as Spike went to start the infused oil. Returning Scott handed over the water as Sam finished the third clove and watched as Sam quickly washed it down.

Scott chuckled "Looks like it tastes as good as that Scarlet Fever medicine."

Sam rapidly chewed and swallowed the fourth and last one. He finished off the second glass of water then said "About the same."

Taking the glass as Sam laid back down Scott teased "At least you won't have to worry about vampires."

Sam chuckled lightly "No but I hear Sasquatch likes garlic."

"No Sasquatch here. That would be the Abominable Snowman. But he would go after Spike instead. He is Italian, his whole body is infused with garlic" Scott joked.

Spike had come in and overheard them joking "Hey, that means that Abominable Snowman just has good taste then."

They all laughed but Sam winced in pain as his head started pounding again.

Spike asked "Do you know of any natural pain killers we could whip up for you?"

"Only willow bark. But I don't remember if there are any willow's around here" Sam answered then yawned. He was completely wiped out now. He closed his eyes as his body demanded respite. He had done what he could to help himself. Now he just needed the weather to cooperate.

Thinking of yesterday on the slopes and the slutty snow-bunnies Spike quipped "Willow sure did bark. Bet she would bite too."

Scott laughed.

They both looked at Sam when he did not laugh. He was out for the count. Scott covered Sam with a second blanket then he and Spike headed to the kitchen letting Sam rest.

Sam slept the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening. During that time Scott waxed his skis while Spike strained the garlic infused oil and finished preparing the sauce for the spaghetti tonight leaving it to simmer on the stove. The two of them read a little while and then played a simple game of war. Neither one felt much like concentrating on a real card game.

Both would often glance over at Sam with a concerned expression. Every hour they applied the garlic oil and each time they did so Sam did not stir at all. Sam felt warm to the touch but they were not sure if that was because he was sleeping right next to the hearth. His face was red but so were theirs from yesterday's hike in the wind.

Spike constantly checked the outside temperature. He disliked that it kept dropping. The storm had not abated. The snow continued to fall and blow as the wind howled.

Looking out the window Scott estimated there was nearly four feet of snow on the ground. Both we extremely happy the wood pile indoors was huge. Apparently who ever built the cabin understood the need to have a large amount of dry wood for the fireplace.

Remote Mountain Cabin – Kitchen

Sam sat at the table. Scott had woken him up a little bit ago and said dinner was ready then helped him to the chair. He was still exhausted and could not believe he slept the entire afternoon away. He was listening to Scott telling them about Jerrell and Anna. He smiled hearing Scott's excited voice.

A long ago thought came into his mind; a day in the hospital when Matt had come to his room after he had been rescued from the terrorist. He had decided that if he could not commit suicide he would end his father's line of the Braddock tree. Oh how wrong he had been that his father wanted him dead and did not care about him.

While he recuperated at his parent's home from the gunshot to his chest that messed up his lungs he and his dad had talked for hours about his time in Kandahar. Sam was so surprised to learn his dad stayed every night in the room next to his watching him through the glass. And that his dad had arranged it so the unit could be there to help him recover.

His dad was selfless and allowed everyone else to take credit for the things he arranged for his comfort and care. His father was truly a great man. Sam was hopeful that one day they could truly put all of the past behind them and have a true father/son relationship like his cousin's had with their fathers. And one day it would be nice to see how the General behaved as a grandfather.

Listening to Scott talk about his kids Sam hoped one day he would actually have kids himself. Sam didn't care if he had a boy or a girl. But he hoped that he would be a good Dad. There were things he would do very different from the way his dad did but there were things he would do the same too.

A small pang hit his heart. The only way he would ever have kids now would be if by some miracle Jules wanted him back. No other woman would do. Sam had given his heart to her and Jules held it in her hands whether or not she knew it.

Sam was pulled out of his musing as Spike asked "Something wrong with the spaghetti?"

Looking up Sam answered "No it's great as usual. Sorry, just not very hungry tonight." Then trying to deflect a bit he tried to joke but the humor didn't quite make it into his tone "Didn't work up much of an appetite sleeping the day away."

Spike only nodded. Neither Spike nor Scott laughed or even chuckled. They could see Sam was not feeling well. He did look flushed now. Scott who was sitting next to Sam could now tell the heat he felt earlier was not just because Sam was near the fire. He could feel the heat radiating off of Sam from where he sat.

Sam managed to take three more bites and then declared he was full. More than three quarters of his serving was left on the plate and he hadn't touched Ma's fresh bread.

Spike helped Sam to the couch. He could tell he was taking more of Sam's weight than the previous time.

Once Sam was on the couch Spike put the blanket around him then went to help Scott with the dishes. When they finished and came into the main room they saw Sam was sleeping again. They woke him and then helped him to his bed. Sam was asleep again before they even left the room.

As they left the room Scott whispered "I hope the storm abates by the morning. Sam needs more help than what we can give him here."

Spike put his arm around Scott and firmly stated "From your mouth to God's ears." Then he blew out a weary breath and said his own silent prayer.