AN: Thank you all for your encouragement and review for this story already. I hope you continue to love reading it as much as I love writing it. Thank you for the favorites, follows, and reviews. They are much appreciated!

Sam opened his eyes and looked at Greg before turning his gaze to meet Ed's. He maintained eye contact with his TL.

"His name is Mark Simmons. He's out for revenge against me for something that I did a few months ago." Sam answered honestly.

"Who is Mark Simmons?" Ed asked pointedly.

"Mark Simmons is..." Sam swallowed the emotions that were just below the surface. "He is Matt's brother."

Chapter 2 - Shocking Realizations

The room descended into silence after Sam's statement. Everyone on the Team had heard the discussion between Sam and Ed earlier that day and the news had affected each one of them differently. The same happened just after Sam finished speaking.

Sam closed his eyes after he answered Sarge's question. It was his fault they were all here today, and with what he knew about Mark they weren't going to like what was going to happen. He focused his thoughts inward to prepare for what he knew was going to come. He wouldn't be able to say why but his thoughts drifted to their night at the Goose the day before Matt's father's funeral. He allowed himself to escape to the happy memory.

Lou's jaw dropped. Matt's brother? The same Matt that Sam killed in Afghanistan? The same Matt that was Sam's best friend? This is not good. Not good at all! As he looked at their newest teammate Lou couldn't help but wonder how the death of his best friend had affected Sam. He knew that if something happened to Spike he would be at a total loss. If it was by his hand..he honestly wasn't sure he would be able to keep from ending his own life. How did Sam keep on going knowing he had killed his best friend?

Wordy simply stared at Sam. It looked like their rookie had just completely shut down after that statement. Wordy wasn't sure why but he had this gut feeling that things were about to get bad, very, very bad. He closed his eyes and thought of Shelley and his girls. Were they missing him already? Did they even notice that Daddy didn't come home for dinner? His heart hurt at how worried his wife would be when he didn't come home.

To say that Spike was shocked would be an understatement. This guy, who had been forced upon them, had not only killed his best friend but now he might be the reason Team One was killed too. This wasn't right! If Sam did something to piss someone off then they should take it out on him. Not on a Team that doesn't even want him. He looked over to Lou and their eyes met. If Lou died it would kill Spike slowly from the inside out. Lou was like a brother to him. If Lou was on a different Team and was killed by friendly fire, by a teammate, then yes, Spike would want to make them suffer too. But he wouldn't take it out on the whole Team. That's just wrong.

Jules was glaring daggers at the rookie. First he had the gall to approach them at the end of a Hot Call gone lethal. Then he talked about a gun while reaching in his pocket. Can you say stupid? And now he's the reason the whole Team had been abducted. All because he screwed up in the Army and a friend died. Now that friend's brother is out for revenge and pulled the whole Team into his little game. If they ever got out of here she would scorpio Braddock's ass on principle alone!

Ed was seething. He couldn't believe that of all the luck they had not only been saddled with a rookie who only wanted to shoot people, but with one who had killed a friend. Now that friend's brother was holding them all hostage in search of revenge. Ed had seen how the room was set up. He had friends in the Army. He knew what just about everything in the room could be used for. He would be willing to bet that Sam wouldn't be the only one getting hurt in here and if he was right Sam was going to be a dead mad. The rookie was the reason they were in this situation. After the day that they had it was probably a good thing Ed was restrained, otherwise he couldn't promise he wouldn't break Sam's neck himself.

Greg felt for his rookie. Sam clearly had quite a troubling time in the Army. To be the one to kill your own best friend had to be eating Sam up inside. If his choked words to Ed after their hot call earlier today were any indication then Sam was still carrying around quite a bit of guilt over the incident. Greg had worked with enough people, negotiated enough hot calls, heard enough stories to know that it was a miracle Sam was still alive. Many a soldier who had been involved in a friendly fire incident didn't handle it well. A good portion of those men and women committed suicide. It was so very common with those who had served. As he looked at the newest member of their Team Greg suddenly wondered. Had Sam ever tried to take his own life? If Sam was still reeling over the loss of Matt, like his tone of voice earlier indicated, then how would this affect him? Would they still have a rookie when this was all over? And if so, would Sam be able to move on instead of taking his own life?

Sam looked up several minutes later when the door opened. The first thing he saw was the glare from Ed that was still directed at him. Man his TL was pissed at him. Rightfully so.

Team One turned towards the door as it opened. The only one unable to see what was happening was Sam due to the way he was shackled on the floor. He heard the unmistakable sound of two distinct sets of footprints though.

Mark entered the room with one of his accomplices. He wanted to remind everyone of why they were here. There would be no forgetting. He smiled as he saw Sam lying on the steel plate. He couldn't wait to put some of the features built below that plate to good use. All in good time though, all in good time. He mentally shook himself. He had purposefully had Sam shackled with his head towards the door. It would take away even more control from the man. Sam's arms and legs were shackled in the center of the top and bottom of the plate for now. There was enough slack in the chains that Sam could bring his knees up to about waist height and his elbows down to shoulder height. Mark didn't want Sam to be able to curl up to avoid his beatings that were coming.

"I thought since you were all here you might be interested to know a little bit about my brother. I'm sure Braddock here hasn't told you anything about him so we'll spend some time over the next couple of days talking about him" Mark stated as his comrade moved to place an easel and picture where the entire Team, including Sam could see it.

Sam refused to look at the picture that was just placed in the room. He knew if he did he would see Matt looking back at him and in this moment that was something he couldn't handle.

"This picture..." Mark pointed to the large picture he had just had put in the room. "...This picture was taken the night we escorted my dad to Toronto for the last time. He was killed in action and we had just brought him to Toronto for his autopsy before burial. Matt had felt suffocated in our suite at the York so had asked his best friend Sam here to take him out. The went out to a local bar and for a few hours Matt was able to get away from the world. He actually had fun that night. Said he danced with a beautiful brunette, enjoyed some beers with his best friend, and was able to be happy for a short period of time during what was the worst time of our lives to date. Despite everything that was going on he had been happy that night." Mark walked over to where Sam lay bound on the ground. "If only he was here today to enjoy another night like that! You know Sam, this was one of his favorite pictures of the two of you. I hope when you look at it you remember what a great man, a great brother, Matt was. I hope it eats you up so much inside that you give up on life. Only, I won't make it easy for you."

Mark stepped away and nodded to his comrade.

The other man stepped forward and began to kick Sam in the arms, legs, chest, and stomach. He didn't kick hard enough to break any ribs or anything. It wasn't time for that yet. Mark just wanted him to feel some physical pain to go with the emotional pain that was sure to follow. After several blows to the man he turned and left the room. The lock slid into place with a resounding click in the silent room.

Sam stared straight ahead. Pain was radiation through his chest, arms, and leg from where goon one had kicked him. It wasn't so painful that he thought something had been broken. It was more like a pain that was dulling to an ache. For that he was thankful. He refused to look at the picture, as everyone else seemed to be doing. He knew which picture it was. Where it was taken. Who was in it. He almost laughed as he wondered how long it would take Team One to figure it out. The picture would be the one of he and Matt at the Goose when he had met Jules. Sam and Matt were standing side by side, arms around each other's shoulders and beers in hand. Smiles were plastered on both of their faces.

"I've seen this picture before." Wordy almost whispered as he stared at the picture.

"I was just thinking the same thing." Greg commented as he too looked at the picture closely.

Jules just stared. No way. There was no way she was really seeing this. That night had been so long ago that she had forgotten about it.

"Eddie, does that look familiar to you?" Wordy asked his long time friend and TL.

Ed's mouth was hanging open. Yeah, he remembered. The Team had talked about that night for a long time afterwards.

"Yeah Wordy. I remember." Ed finally answered softly.

"Remember what? When did you see this picture? Is it in Sam's locker or something?" Spike asked as he looked at the three men across the room from him curiously.

Sam closed his eyes and swallowed hard as his emotions threatened to spill over. He would never have mentioned that night to the Team. Not after the way that had treated him from the moment they saw each other outside Town Hall. That night, though, was one of his favorite memories of him and Matt.

"What aren't you guys telling us?" Lou asked, he wasn't missing what was going on on the other side of the room either.

"We met Matt. We were there that night at the Goose. Ed took that picture." Wordy stated, still not fully believing it. "Which means that we met Sam that night too." He whispered.

Wordy looked at Ed and Greg. How could they have forgotten? That night they had met a man who was more concerned with his best friend who had just lost his father than he was about looking like an idiot by approaching random strangers. Team One had even picked up the tab of the two soldiers that night. How could they have completely forgotten about meeting Sam and Matt?

"Jules, you look like you're seeing a ghost." Spike stated as he looked worriedly at his teammate.

"That's because I am." Jules whispered as she looked at Sam's back. She couldn't believe that she didn't remember meeting Matt, dancing with him, chatting with him and Sam.

Granted, that had been several years ago. But she still should have remembered that night. She remembered everything else about that day. Why had she not recognized Sam at some point during their shifts together?

"Sam, did you remember meeting us that night?" Greg asked as he looked to his rookie.

Sam had been listening to the discussion swirling around him and had chosen so far to stay out of it. He knew they would ask questions, but he wasn't going to offer the information unless specifically asked.

"I remember." Sam answered simply.

He took a deep breath and slowly rolled onto his back. He knew this was going to be a long discussion and he wanted to be able to see the reaction of all of his Team mates. Besides, he was tired of only seeing Ed's glares directed his way.

"Matt needed to get away that night so I took him to the Goose, gave him some beers, and issued a challenge to take his eyes off things." Sam answered.

"What kind of challenge?" Spike asked curiously. He would come back to the fact that Ed, Sarge, and Wordy had met Matt before later.

"While we were nursing our third beer for the night a group of Academy Graduates came in to celebrate their graduation. There were a few women in the group and I told Matt that his mission was to get the brunette to talk to him." Sam looked at Jules. "He accepted the challenge and spent the rest of the night chatting with her and dancing."

"Okay, but how did you meet Team One?" Lou asked. He knew he and Spike hadn't been a part of the Team yet but he still wanted to know.

"We sat at the table next to Matt and Sam." Greg answered. "Sam heard us talking about being on the bridge that day when the convoy passed carrying a soldier that had been KIA. Someone made the comment that they wished we could do more for the family. The next thing we know this blonde guy comes up to our table, tells us he's the best friend of the soldier that had been escorted home. He told us that he had seen us up on the bridge and that our presence was appreciated. Then he told us that if we wanted to do more we could keep our comments about the bridge to ourselves, and buy the guy a beer."

"We never told the guys but we picked up their tab that night." Wordy commented as he watched Sam. The rookie was now staring at a spot on the roof. "It felt like the least we could do."

"I was the brunette to dance with Matt." Jules admitted softly as she continued to look at the picture. "He kept trying to grab my ass, but we had fun. I got him to laugh a lot. I never knew why he was there, he only told me that he just needed a night out. I sensed a great deal of sadness in him that night though."

"He talked about you for the next month." Sam stated softly. "Said you were the prettiest girl he had ever danced with."

The room became silent for several long moments. Finally, after debating with himself for a long minute, Lou finally spoke up.

"If you remembered that night then why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Yeah Sam. If you knew you had met Ed, Wordy, Jules, and the Boss then why didn't you tell us?" Spike asked.

"Because thinking of Matt still hurts too much." Sam admitted. He closed his eyes to keep the threatening tears from spilling over.

The Team was stunned. Not just because some of them had met Matt and Sam before, but because their rookie just admitted to being human. Sam had put off an all soldier front. Made it seem like nothing could bother him. In fact, the first sign that Sam wasn't a superhuman was this morning when he allowed a bit of emotion creep into his discussion with Ed.

As Greg observed his rookie he realized that he had seriously failed their new Teammate. He had not once sat down with him and tried to get to know him. Unfortunately it seemed like now he wouldn't get the chance. He may have just been too late to connect with the ex-soldier. He hoped he was wrong.

AN: Thanks again for coming back for more. I'd love for you to leave me a review!