Sam's First Thanksgiving with Team One

Summary: Team One is looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family. Well almost all of Team One is. Will the team recognize that one of them is all alone?

Setting: In the series it would be shortly after Sam joined but not tied to any particular episode. In my AU it is slotted before The Corn Maze during the time the team is unaware how badly they are treating Sam.

Beware: Team One is quite insensitive to Sam.

AN: Another one shot that would not leave me alone until I wrote it down. It will be one chapter only. Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the Second Monday of October. I'm playing loose with timeline here. I know it doesn't really fit with Belonging but just go with it (call it a blooper like the series did with the Matt/Ben name of Sam's friend). Mostly it happened because I live in a desert and we really have two seasons nice and hell but there is never changing leaves or snow on the ground so I tend to forget that Toronto actually has four seasons.

Reviews do make my day. It's like a nice pat on the back or a smile letting me know that you enjoy and appreciate my efforts.

I do not own Flashpoint or any of the characters from that series. I do own my original characters (OC).

Sam's First Thanksgiving with Team One

Day Before Thanksgiving – SRU HQ – Briefing Room

"Team One. Hot Call. Shots fired at Arrba's Foods" Kira's voice called over the loudspeaker.

All of Team One scrambles out of the briefing room to gear up. Greg stopped for a moment at Kira's desk for more detail "Any details?"

Kira answered "Report of two women fighting and at least one hand gun involved. One shot fired. That's all I have right now. Address 313 Jarvis St"

Arrba's Foods

The team arrived on scene and Greg connected with the patrol unit officers to get the current details. Ed and Wordy were assessing the area. Spike and Lou headed inside the truck to get blueprints and determine if there were CCTV cameras they could link into to get a view into Arrba's Foods. Sam and Jules were gearing up at the back of an SUV.

Sam scanned the area and quickly determined there was no Sierra location. The business was on the first floor of a multistory building. There was an awning across the entire window that hung down half way. And what wasn't covered by the awning was covered by multiple ads hanging in the windows. Directly across the street was a green belt common area. No perch at all for a Sierra location.

Spike called out "Ed blueprints sent to your PDA."

Ed responded "Copy that. Thanks Spike. Fast as always."

Sam looked over to Ed and Wordy who were now reviewing the blueprints and discussing a tactical plan. He could walk over and tell Ed there was no Sierra location but why bother. It's not like he would even listen to him. He shut him down every single time he suggested a perch. Sam decided to just wait quietly until he was told what to do. He clipped his MP5 to his cord and then closed the back of the SUV making sure it was locked.

Jules watched the rookie. Why did he just close the SUV? Why wasn't he preparing his Remi in case Ed made him Sierra one. She was a little miffed that Ed always assigned Sam to that position now. It used to be her position if Ed did not take it himself. There was rarely a Jules day anymore. More often than not she now was relegated to witness interviews and negotiations.

Not that she minded those positions. In fact she really liked working more with the Boss. She was finding she had a natural talent for the negotiations. Especially with young girls, she was able to connect with them. But it still bugged her. Sam should be preparing the Remi just in case. Ed was gonna rightly ream him for this lapse. Now he was just standing there doing nothing. God didn't he have any initiative; he just waited to be told what to do.

Greg called out "Okay here's the situation. It seems Mrs. Bayberry and Mrs. Paulson were fighting over the last twenty-four pound turkey. They both won a coupon for a free turkey from Arrba's annual Thanksgiving raffle. It is good for one turkey. All the other turkeys are twelve pounds or less. Each claimed to have gotten the turkey first. But Mrs. Paulson currently has possession of it."

"The assistant manager on duty refused to resolve it by allowing one of them to get two turkeys. That's when Mrs. Bayberry pulled the gun. She shot up in the air and demanded that she be given the twenty-six pound turkey because she had over twenty people coming for Thanksgiving and needs a large turkey."

Ed, Wordy and Jules were looking at each other with incredulous looks. What made people go nuts? Sometimes it was the stupidest things.

Jules said "Boss how about I try to locate the manager. Maybe he would authorize two twelve pound turkeys."

"Good thinking Jules" Greg responded.

Ed looked at Wordy and Sam. He noted Sam did not have his Remi. He wasn't prepared if he needed to send him to a Sierra position. He looked around the area and noted that in fact there was no usable Sierra position. So he shrugged it off and said "Wordy and I will take the front and cover Greg. Sam I want you to go around back and secure the door."

Sam started to trot in the direction when over his headset he heard Ed say "Sam, you are not to go in unless I give you the signal. This is not a turkey shoot. We're gonna try and resolve this with talking."

There were chuckles from some of the team. Sam bristled. At every turn, Ed gave him shit for his soldier ways. Didn't he see he was trying to change? That he wanted something different, he was so tired of killing. He wanted to protect without having to take a life. He had not suggested a single tactical method in the past four weeks.

Spike called out "Got eyes in. Not a clear view of the subjects. But we have one subject pointing the gun at a woman holding the big turkey."

Lou reported "Hey Boss. I located some information on Mrs. Paulson. Seems she has five children under the age of seven. Her husband was killed six months ago in a freak accident. A BBQ grill fell from a fourth floor patio. He was struck by it as it crashed to the ground as he walked by on his way to work. She was a homemaker until then and has since had to find work. She had a job for two weeks but was laid off when the company shut down. She hasn't been able to find work since. They had no life insurance. She is about to be evicted from her apartment."

Greg asked "Anything on Mrs. Bayberry?"

"Coming up in a second Boss" Lou answered.

Sam was in position at the back door. Ed, Wordy and Greg were in position in the front when Jules informed them "Mr. Vickers, the manager and owner of the store, authorized two twelve pound turkeys. He's not too pleased with his assistant manager right now."

"Got info on Mrs. Bayberry. She is the wife of David Bayberry who is the CEO of Bayberry Incorporated. Sheesh, the man is loaded. Why is she fighting over a turkey?" Lou said unable to keep all the disgust out of his tone.

With this information Greg, Ed and Wordy entered the market and made their way down the aisle behind shields. Once they reached the women Greg began to talk with Mrs. Bayberry. After forty minutes of talking Mrs. Bayberry surrendered. She apologized and broke down crying.

Sam was on his way back to the front where the SUVs were located when he heard a scream. He turned and saw a man grab a purse from a young mother holding a little boy about one years old in her arms. Sam took off running after the thief.

Behind Arrba's Foods & Mutual Street

Sam called out "In pursuit of a thief, heading down the alley toward Mutual Street. Subject wearing blue jeans and red long-sleeve t-shirt. Long black hair. Looks to be in his late teens. Victim in the alley, young woman in jeans and white cable sweater with a small boy. Subject stole her purse. Heading north on Mutual toward Gerrad St."

Quickly gaining on the subject Sam observed a group of kids just up ahead waiting for the light to change to cross the road. He had no idea if the subject was armed but he could not allow him near those children. He put on a burst of speed then launched himself and tackled the subject. As he landed his shoulder slammed hard into the ground. Sam ignored the pain as he flipped the subject on his stomach and cuffed him.

Sam was pulling the guy up to his feet as Ed and Wordy came running up. Ed grabbed Sam's shoulder and spun him around as Wordy took the subject. Ed yelled "Braddock what the hell? What do you think you are doing? You don't go off running off willy nilly without backup. We have protocols. Learn them."

Ed unknowingly squeezed his shoulder that had slammed into the ground. Ed was too angry with him to see him wince. Sam quickly lowered his stoic mask and welded it in place so he did not show the pain and rage he felt. Mask firmly in place, all Sam did was stare at Ed while he got unjustly dressed down for his actions.

It took a lot of effort to maintain his stoic look when Sam wanted to rage back at Ed but he was the team leader. Sam gave respect to the position and the chain of command, regardless of his personal feelings of the man in the position. Respect the position had been ingrained in him from a very early age.

So Sam held his tongue even though the wanted to rage back. His internal monologue however was not so quiet. In his head Sam was yelling. Why the hell are you yelling at me? I caught the guy. What should I do, let him rob that woman? I didn't run off willy nilly and I told you exactly where I was at. I had back up – you.

Even as all that ran though his head Sam simply and emotionless said "Yes Sir. Won't happen again Sir."

A patrol unit arrived a short time later and Wordy handed off the subject to the officer. As they were heading back to the SUVs the young woman tearfully thanked Sam. She told him that in her purse was the last of her money until she got paid again in a week and she had to go buy formula for her baby boy. That he would have been hungry without it.

Sam gave her a small nod and said no thanks were necessary. He was just glad he was there to help and he was just doing his job. He wasn't sure if Ed or Wordy overheard the woman's words because they hadn't stopped when the woman approached.

He jogged to catch up with them. The jogging jarred his shoulder and he put one hand up to rub his shoulder all the way back to the trucks. Neither Wordy nor Ed asked him about it. So apparently they didn't even notice.

That was fine by him; he was used to dealing with injuries on his own. Nearly every time he had been with another unit he was on his own. Patch would usually chew his ass out when he returned to his base unit. But there was really nothing he could do about it.

Patch's chewing outs were out concern for him though. Over the years with the unit Patch had taught Sam the basic for self-assessment. So Sam did a self-assessment as they walked.

Luckily it was not dislocated. He hated dislocated shoulders, especially putting them back into the socket. He determined nothing was likely broken, just badly bruised. Would hurt for a few days but nothing he couldn't handle.

SRU HQ – Briefing Room

Debriefing about the call was relatively tame. Nothing too much of note; all had gone as well as could be expected. Everyone went home, safe. Well except for Mrs. Bayberry she went safely to lockup.

Kira came in to give them an update and they found out that courtesy of Mr. Vickers, Mrs. Paulson was offered a job of a cashier at the store. He also provided her with all the necessary foods to have a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with her children. Mr. Bayberry had shown up on scene and was extremely distraught at what his wife had done. He offered to pay Mrs. Paulson's back rent and for the next six months so she would not be evicted.

Lou shared last minute information he had learned about Mrs. Bayberry. Apparently she was recently diagnosed bi-polar and they were still in the process of figuring out the right dosage to control her mania episodes. Greg commented that could have been useful in dealing with the woman. That they should all make sure to glean that information early on to be prepared. Jules made a snarky comment to Sam about not being prepared when he failed to get the Remi out.

Sam looked to Ed to put Jules in her place about there being no Sierra perch. But he was stunned when Ed laughed at her snarky comment then laid into him for running off after the thief. He went off on him for not waiting for backup before he went after the guy. He shouted at him for not following protocols and putting the team at risk. Ed slammed the protocols guide down on the table in front of him and told him he damn well better read it and follow it or he'd be off the team.

Sitting stiffly at attention Sam remained quiet during the entire rant. Sam didn't bother to stand up for his actions. He didn't try to tell Ed he had lots of experience going after people with no backup. For months that was the norm when he was in the 51st Division. He didn't point out that he knew the team was close by too, that in fact he did have backup.

He didn't bother to tell them a baby would not go hungry because he acted. They would either not listen or turn it on him some way. So he just sat there.

However, sitting in that position was killing his shoulder he had slammed into the ground. But he refused to show his pain. Ed would likely lay into him about that too. Sarge would probably be pissed about having to do an injury report.

When Ed had finally finished thrashing him verbally Sam said again "Yes Sir. Won't happen again Sir."

Greg then announced that because there was only thirty minutes left of their shift all calls would be going to other teams so they could wrap up their paperwork. That way they could head home on time for the Thanksgiving break. The team was lucky enough to have Thanksgiving Day and the following day fall on their normal rotation days off.

The team began joking around and discussing their plans for Thanksgiving Day tomorrow. That is all the team except Sam. Sam sat quietly filling out his paperwork and observing the team.

As he worked he listened to the Sarge and Ed discussing all the things that Sophie was planning on making. Jules joked with Ed about all the pies Sophie would make to suit all their tastes. Ed was a solid apple pie guy. Clark loved cherry pie. Sarge's favorite was pumpkin pie. Sophie adored pecan pie. Sarge told Ed he would bring his famous carrots and onion casserole and thanked Ed for inviting him. That he was looking forward to spending the day with Ed's family.

Jules was heading over to the Wordsworth home. She and Wordy talked about what time she should arrive. Wordy told her that the girls had been so excited that Aunty Jules was coming to Thanksgiving dinner. Lilly had made Jules her own special place mat at school when they were making them for their families.

Spike and Lou were planning on double Thanksgiving. The Scarlatti's planned on eating at one pm. Spike was animated as he described his mother's fresh baked rolls and had Lou salivating for them. The Young's were planning to eat at five pm because they had to wait for one of Lou's sister's flight to arrive from Regina. They decided that they were going to do a blind taste testing with Lou's family to see whether Mrs. Scarlatti or Mrs. Young made the best pumpkin pie.

As they all discussed and made these plans Sam sat and listened. No one bothered to ask what his plans were. Greg looked at the clock and it was five minutes to shift over and he told everyone to go. Everyone headed out still excitedly discussing things. Sam held back he did not want to change with the guys. His shoulder would be showing the bruising by now.

Greg saw Sam at the table "Time to go."

"Just need to finish this up. I'll leave as soon as I'm done" Sam responded. It was a deflection. He was actually done, all except for his signature. But Sarge did not need to know that. Greg nodded and headed to the locker room.

Sam signed the report and stacked it with the others on Kira's desk. He headed for the stairwell and ran up the stairs two at a time. He made it to the roof quickly. He walked to his favorite spot; his place of refuge.

The crisp October wind felt good on his face. It was quiet here. No bombs, no automatic weapons fire, no masks needed looking out at the clouds. It was nice. He waited until he was sure the team was all gone before he headed down to the locker room to change and head home.

Thanksgiving Day – Sam's Apartment

Sam lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. Last night was good. Last night he only woke three times from a nightmare about Matt. He rolled on his side forgetting that shoulder hurt like hell. He hissed in pain and rolled to the other side.

His eyes landed on the nightstand. His eyes locked onto the pearl gripped colt. It was always there. Some days he was so very tempted to pick it up again. To feel the cold barrel against his temple or on his chest directed at his heart.

But he had listened to Matt. He had promised Matt to try to live and to try and find someplace to belong. He was trying but it was so hard. Some days he just wanted to stop trying. Yesterday had been one of those days.

When he got home last night it was so hard not to pick up the gun. He allowed his fingers to brush over the pearl grip. But he stopped himself from picking it up.

Sam knew he was forced on the team and they did not want him. That was not new to him. Not new at all. But at least in the Army he knew he fit. He knew how to operate.

Here he knew he did not fit. They operated differently. He was trying but he was too much soldier to fit with SRU. For so many years it was orders, point, shoot, and run. It was so many years of wondering if his next step would be his last; so many blown up by IEDs. He had been surrounded by death, death and more death. It was always shoot first or die. Death was so familiar. But it never got any easier.

Sam grabbed his picture of him and Matt off the nightstand and rolled onto his back again. Speaking to the green eyed man in the photo Sam said "Today is Thanksgiving Matt. I miss you brother. You and the guys were the only ones who ever gave a rats ass if I lived or died. But now you are all gone. I lost you all the day I killed you. Blaze, Winds, Patch, Mason, and all the others cannot forgive me. Not that I don't agree with them. I cannot forgive myself."

He sat up and put the picture back down and he made the bed. As he headed into the kitchen he resumed his one-sided conversation with Matt "Let's see what's on tap for Thanksgiving day shall we Matt." Sam opened the fridge. One beer and two slices of three-day old pizza is all it contained. "Probably too early to drink huh Mattie." He shut the fridge and headed into his empty family room.

Sam sat down in the middle of the empty room. "I thought about getting some furniture Matt. But I don't know how long I'm gonna be here. The team lead really hates me. He rides my ass for every small infraction. I'm tired of trying to make him see my side. He never does. None of them do. I don't belong here."

Flopping onto his back he stared at the ceiling "You know Matt, I must still be naïve. I thought it would be different here. You know their motto, Connect, Respect and Protect. I like that. I wish they would try to follow that motto with me. I'm to blame though. That was really stupid of me to go to their call that day. It was even more stupid to call Jules a sexy sniper chick, although she is. And it was a colossal error in judgement to pull out that picture of my colt. By rights I should have been dead. They all drew on me."

"Hell maybe I was trying to get myself killed. You know, suicide by cop. It wouldn't be the first time one of us military guys did that. Too hard to pull the trigger yourself; point a gun at a cop. Why else would I be so damned cocky and pull such a dumbass stunt. Ahh hell Matt. I miss you. Where the hell is the beauty of life Mattie?" Looking around his sterile, empty apartment he said "It sure as hell isn't here."

Sam rose from the floor and headed to the bathroom to shower. He really wanted to go for a run to clear his head but his shoulder hurt too much. Once he was showered, shaved and dressed he headed to the kitchen again. He pulled out one piece of the pizza and leaned against the counter as he ate.

"Hey Mattie, Happy Thanksgiving. Cold pizza's a hell of a lot better than we had last year. You remember? We were lying in wait for nearly a week. All of us were nearly out of supplies. We finally got our targets and high-tailed it outta there. We still had two days hike to the extraction point. But that night we all combined our rations to make a Thanksgiving feast of sorts. I guess it was a hell of a lot more than some people have."

Sam got his single glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water from the tap. He downed it all, washed it and put it away. Unable to run he decided to go for a walk at least. He grabbed his wallet and jacket and headed out.

Thanksgiving Day – Park

Sam found himself walking through the park. As he walked he noticed family, after happy family. He saw couples young and old holding onto one another. The little kids ran around playing with not a care in the world. As it should be he thought.

He sat on a bench alone and looked up at the cloudy sky. In the vast park Sam began to feel alone and lonely. He didn't dare speak out loud to Matt in public but he spoke to him silently nonetheless. "Matt why am I always alone? Am I such a bad person that no one cares or gives a damn about me? I know I've killed so many, it was my job. Those that I killed were out to hurt innocent people. I know I have a lot of blood on my hands. Am I meant to always be alone?"

Sam lay down on the bench. He stared up at the sky. He liked making shapes out of the clouds. He and Sara used to do that at the park together. "I miss you Sara. I'm sorry I failed you. It's my fault you died. I should have protected you. Hey Sara, see that one it looks like rabbit. Happy Thanksgiving Sara."

He drifted off to a light sleep having not slept well last night. Hell he never slept well. A few hours tops before a nightmare of him killing Matt woke him. He survived by taking short cat naps. Sam was awoken by light rain drops splashing on his face. He panicked before he realized that it was rain and not torture. That he was in a park and not there. He sat up and calmed his erratic heart and evened out his breathing, deliberately slowing the intake and exhale and holding it in between.

Sam stood and started for the park exit. Now that it was raining he should head home. When he came to one of the park exits he looked up. Across the street was the Mayfield Soup Kitchen. Sam felt a nudge on his back moving him in the direction of the soup kitchen. He glanced over his shoulder and no one was there. He knew no one was there before he looked but something compelled him too.

Thanksgiving Day – Mayfield Soup Kitchen

He entered the soup kitchen and looked around. There was an assortment of people. It wasn't just winos. There were lots of families. He headed to the serving line and asked the first person serving "Who is in charge?"

The young woman did not bother to look up as she asked "Why?"

Sam answered "I'd like to volunteer today."

The young woman looked up and saw an exquisitely handsome blonde man with caring blue eyes. She smiled. He graced her with one of the most magnificent smiles she had ever seen. It WOWed her. She said "Ms. Bennett is in charge. You can find her in the back. We could use all the help we can get today. We serve so many more on Thanksgiving. We like to make it special for those that come to us for help today."

Sam thanked her and headed to the back. Ms. Bennett was ecstatic for the extra hands. Sam was put to work immediately. He spent the entire day working not even taking a break. He talked to all the volunteers and many of those who came for a meal.

At ten pm when the last dishes were washed and dried Sam sat on one of the chairs and rubbed his sore shoulder. He had mostly ignored it all day but now it ached to a point he was considering pain meds.

Ms. Bennett saw the kind young man that had so tirelessly helped out today. She didn't recall him taking a break and she saw he was rubbing his shoulder. She pulled up a chair and sat next to him. "Sam does your shoulder hurt?"

"It's nothing. Just a bit sore" Sam replied.

"Did you injure it here?" Ms. Bennett asked.

Sam shook his head "Nah at work. It's nothing really."

Just then a young woman came up to them. She had come in late to get a meal and had just finished eating "I knew it was you. Thank you so much. You have no idea how thankful I am that you were there to help me yesterday."

Sam looked to his left and saw who it was and smiled as he was still absently rubbing his shoulder. She saw his action and asked "Does it hurt a lot? I saw how hard you hit the ground."

Ms. Bennett recognized the young woman. She was a teenaged mother kicked out of her parent's home and trying to make a life for her and her little boy. She always made sure her little boy had what he needed before she did. Sometimes when money was very tight she would come for meals here. Ms. Bennett was glad she had come today. She asked "What did Sam do yesterday Brandi?"

Brandi explained how he had caught the man that stole her purse. That because of him Dillion did not go without his formula. That he hurt his shoulder stopping the guy. Her face became flushed and a bit angry when she said "Why was your boss so mean to you? Why did he yell at you? I mean you are police. As far as I saw you were doing your job. And quite successfully I might add."

Sam deflected and did not answer her question. He asked about her son and she was happy to discuss her pride and joy as he slept in her arms. After a bit more discussion and several more thankyous from Brandi she headed home.

Standing and stretching Sam said "I should be heading home too."

Ms. Bennett asked "Did you eat today?"

Sam gave her a broad grin "Yes. I had a great meal at home before I came. Leftovers are waiting for me." Technically he wasn't lying. The slice of pizza was pretty great considering what he ate last year for Thanksgiving. And he did have one more slice, so again technically leftovers.

"Thank you for all your help today. If you don't mind me asking what is your full name. I'd really like to put you on our list of volunteers to send notifications to when we have special events and need extra hands" Ms. Bennett stated.

"Sam Braddock" Sam supplied then also gave her his email address and told he would be happy to help if he could.

Ms. Bennett watched him go and wondered why such a nice young man as that was all alone on Thanksgiving. Didn't he have family or friends to spend it with? Didn't he have someone that cared? She looked at the slip of paper with his name. Sam Braddock, nice name. She tucked it in her pocket.

As Sam walked out the door and headed home he looked up at the sky "Thanks for the push Matt. You always knew how to show me the beauty of life. I might not be long at SRU. They don't want me and I don't belong there. But I promised you to keep looking Matt. For you I'll keep looking for a place to belong. But thanks for today. Thanks for making it a Happy Thanksgiving Matt."

Wednesday After Thanksgiving - SRU HQ – Briefing Room

The team has just finished debriefing. It was a domestic case involving parent abduction. It ended well with no one hurt when Jules was able to talk the woman into releasing her children. Sam was glad that he did not do anything that warranted Ed's ire. He was enjoying just relaxing his arm. His shoulder was aching from the position he had to hold with the shield for nearly two hours covering Jules as she negotiated.

Kira came in the briefing room all smiles "Sam you must have an admirer. These were just delivered for you." She set a large box of cookies with a card on top in front of him.

Spike was in a spunky mood and grabbed the card before Sam could reach it. "Spike hand it back" Sam stated.

"Oooo Samtastic must've made someone swoon." Spike opened the card "Let's find out who shall we."

"Spike give it back" Sam demanded as he reached with his sore arm to try and grab the card. He hissed in pain. Ed heard but misinterpreted the sound as anger at Spike.

"Calm down Braddock. No need to go getting all pissed off. Who is it from?" Ed said as Spike skipped around to the other side of the table away from Sam.

Jules got in on the teasing and said "Read it out loud Spike. Let's see what dimwitted bimbo it is from."

Sam felt the kick from those words. When had he ever spoken about any woman? Why would she assume he would go out with dimwitted bimbos? Hell if she knew even the first thing about him she would know he was respectful of women and would never call them dimwitted bimbos to begin with.

Wordy and Greg remained quiet but did not put a stop to it.

Sam was doing all he could not to lose his temper. "Fine read it" he said in a hard tone that implied Spike should not read it.

Spike opened the card and started using a girly voice "Dear Sam. This is just a small token for all you have done. The last two days you spent here with me was fabulous. I wish there were more men like you." Spike stopped for dramatic flair.

Lou said "Wow Sam you sure know how to reel them in; two whole days. You must have some stamina."

Spike continuing to read using the same girly voice "Your help meant so much to so many. Brandi came in today and asked about your shoulder if it still hurts."

Spike's voice returned to his normal one "She hopes your boss doesn't yell at you anymore and wanted me to thank you again for catching the guy that stole her purse. She said little Dillion loves the toy car you got him. She never has money left over after food and rent to get him a toy."

"Mike says thanks for the jacket he slept much better last night not being cold. Jeff and Max told me they are going to go home and give school another chance. They like the idea of becoming police officers."

"Although we would miss you here, we all hope by next year you have some friends or family to spend Thanksgiving with. No one should be all alone on Thanksgiving. I'm glad that you stumbled upon us and we were here for you too."

"Thanks again for all your help. See you on Christmas Eve. Sincerely, Caroline Bennett, Director Mayfield Soup Kitchen."

All eyes turned to Sam. There was an awkward heaviness in the room as the team realized they never asked Sam what his plans were for Thanksgiving. He was new in town. He had no family here. Not a single one of them had bothered to ask him to join them.

The hiss had new meaning for Ed. How the hell did he miss that Sam was hurt? How the hell was he going to crawl out of the hole he dug for himself?

Sam smiled. It was hollow and empty and there was no spark to his blue eyes. He opened the box of cookies "Had a great Thanksgiving. Help yourselves. Gladys makes a pretty good chocolate chip cookie. Not my favorite though." He picked one up and took a big bite as he sat down at the table like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Greg and Ed didn't know it yet but in two days the death of a civilian and the event afterwards would be the catalyst for them to recognize their failures as leaders of Team One and that they seriously hurt a member of their team.

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A/N: So, I hope you enjoyed something short and not so sweet. Let me know what you thought.

For those who would like to know this is the tie into Belonging. The call referenced in the last line is discussed in chapter 2 of Belonging as Greg is reminiscing.

If this is the first story of mine you have read and liked my style check out my profile page for details on my other FP stories if interested.