AN: Here you go :) Another chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 2 – Intrigued

SRU SUVs

The day had been long and Sam was getting tired. The team had gone from one hot call to another non-stop today. Hopefully, once they finished packing up their gear from this one they would get to go home. Their shift ended in thirty minutes. However, he refused to voice his desire knowing that would just jinx them.

"So, Sam, Mick Rawson?" Jules glanced at Sam.

"What about him?" Sam simply kept packing the gear into the back of the truck as he talked.

"You seem to be really good friends with him. You meet him while you were in JTF2?"

"Maybe." Sam almost smirked.

"Come on Samtastic. Tell us how you know a man from England."

"Wales." Sam corrected, remembering the first time he called Mic an Englishman.

"Same difference…right?" Spike was grinning from ear to ear from where he stood next to Leah in front of the command truck.

"Not at all," Leah answered for Sam.

"Team One, Hot Call!" Winnie's voice came over the radios in the SUV's. "Potential suicide."

"Location?"

"Highway 401 and Keele St." Winnie supplied as she continued to type away. "Reports are of a distraught young man on the bridge."

"Thank you, Winnie, we are on our way."

Sam closed his eyes for a moment and drew in a deep breath. The 401 was dubbed the Highway of Heros. All the fallen soldiers traveled that route upon return home before being sent to their final resting place. Why someone would choose to end their life on a highway dedicated to those who gave their lives Sam would never understand.

"Winnie, we need the highway shut down. Divert around that bridge." Ed ordered as he drove as fast as possible through traffic.

"Already on it."

Greg was already in the process of transitioning from the last call to this one. He needed a clear head if he was going to talk down a potential suicide.

"Winnie, do we have an ID on the jumper yet?"

"Not yet Boss."

As three SRU SUV's screeched to a halt just off the bridge Team One piled out and orders were issued.

"Ed, Sam, get these people back in their cars and clear the bridge."

"Maybe we can get an ID off this guy from his vehicle," Sam suggested even as he turned to usher people back into their cars.

"Good thinking Sam. Keep me posted." Greg smiled, their rookie was making progress. "Leah, Spike, witness statements. Jules, you're my second. Wordy, cover us. Let's go see if we can't keep this man from jumping."

Moments later Greg, Jules, and Wordy approached the man sitting on the rail of the bridge.

"Sir, my name's Greg Parker with the Police Strategic Response Unit. I was hoping you could tell me what brought you out here today." Greg kept his tone gentle and his words kind.

"I have an abandoned car. Checking it out now." Sam reported as he opened the unlocked car. As he peered inside his breath caught and his heart sank. "Spike."

"Yeah, Sam?" Spike turned to where Sam was searching the abandoned car.

"I found his car. I have an Army uniform, might be our subject."

"Do you have a name?" Spike ran for the command truck.

"Corporal Leon Sommers," Sam answered as he continued to look through the console in the car.

Moments later Spike had his answer. "Jules, sending a picture to your PDA."

Jules looked at the screen and sighed. "Boss, it's him."

"Thanks." Greg turned his attention back to the young man who hadn't said a word since they had arrived. "Leon Sommers, can you tell me why you're standing on this bridge today?"

The soldier whipped his head around to the officer standing to his left. "How do you know my name?"

"My team found your abandoned car."

"Oh." The simple response before his attention went back to the highway.

"Leon, can you tell me why you came out here today? Are you planning on jumping?"

"Boss, I have his service file. He appears to be the perfect example of a soldier. No bad conduct reported, stellar performance reviews, he's even due for a promotion in the next couple of months." Spike reported as he filtered through the man's files.

"So what would bring a soldier with a perfect record out to a bridge to end his life?" Jules wandered quietly.

"A lot can drive a man to suicide that would never end up in his file," Sam answered simply.

"Leon, come on buddy, talk to me." Greg pleaded. He really didn't want to watch this young soldier end his life today.

"It's supposed to be safe," Leon whispered barely loud enough for Greg to hear.

"What does that mean?" Ed's brows furrowed as he looked to Sam.

Sam just shrugged his shoulders as he closed the door to the soldier's car.

"He just keeps repeating 'it's supposed to be safe'." Jules looked around trying to figure out what he meant.

"Maybe someone's after him," Wordy suggested.

"Leon, is someone after you?" Greg asked cautiously. That might drive a man to suicide if the circumstances were just right.

Greg was met with silence.

"Spike, does he have any family? Anyone we can call for some insight?" Greg needed insight into this soldier's mind.

"His parent's live in Ottowa."

"I'll call them." Jules stepped back out of earshot of the man on the rail to call his family.

"He also has one older brother. Deceased."

"What happened?" Ed turned from directing the uniformed officers to keep the crowd back. He glanced down at the 401 to make sure traffic was still being diverted.

"Working on it."

"Boss, I talked to his parents. They never realized he was suicidal. They are on their way from Royal York where they are staying this week. They did share that his brother, Andrew, was one of the fatalities in the tanker explosion last month." Jules shared. "He was moving from Ottowa to Toronto for a new job. Leon had just returned from a tour in Afghanistan and was helping. He was following in a second vehicle and saw it happen."

"So he gets back from Afghanistan, only to watch as his brother is killed in front of him. Thanks, Jules." Greg sighed softly.

"Boss, that explosion. In the mind of a soldier, that would look a lot like an IED…"

"I hear you, Sam."

"Let me talk to him." Sam took a few steps towards where his team stood on the bridge.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Ed still remembered the few times they tried working on Sam's negotiation skills and being called a jackass.

"Come on, I know where he's coming from. Just let me try. Please!" All of Team One could hear the desperate pleading in Sam's tone.

"Alright, Sam. Talk to him. I'll be right here, my hand on your shoulder." Greg finally gave in. He figured that if anyone could get through to Leon it would be Sam.

Sam took a deep breath as he approached the Boss. Greg offered him a small reassuring smile before squeezing his shoulder once. That alone told Sam that Sarge had faith in him and supported him.

"Corporal Sommers, my name is Sam Braddock."

Leon's eyes met Sam's blue ones. Only the second time he had looked away from the road below since Team One had arrived.

"Braddock? You serve? "

"Yeah," Sam answered simply. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"

"I can't do it anymore. Home is supposed to be safe. I mean, isn't that why we're over in the sands fighting? To keep our home safe?"

Sam had Leon's full attention in a matter of seconds whereas Greg had yet to get the man to look at him, even after half an hour.

"Yeah, it is. We go over there to protect our homes, our families, our friends, those that can't protect themselves."

"Then why is it that I don't feel safe? Am I the only one that feels this way? That there are people waiting to kill me around every corner? We spend every moment over there, waking or sleeping, on high alert. All our senses primed and ready should we be attacked. We learn to watch rooftops, alleys, every car that passes us on the street knowing that any one of those places could hold someone that wants to kill us. We never truly sleep all night for fear of an attack, our weapons always within easy reach.

"When we come home we aren't supposed to have to worry about that. We leave behind the suicide bombers, the nightly attacks, the constant sound of gunfire, the snipers and insurgents on every block. We're supposed to be safe, to feel safe!"

"I hear ya. It's not that easy though, is it? You come home thinking that you can transition seamlessly into life here again but it just doesn't work that way. You jump every time you hear your mom in the kitchen and she bumps or drops a pot, thinking its gunfire. Every time you go for a run you find yourself scanning alleys for suicide bombers or rooftops for the muzzle of a sniper waiting to shoot you. Traffic makes you nervous because you never know which car next to you is the next suicide bomber. A walk in the park, something that should relieve stress, only makes you stress more. You find yourself worrying about landmines or tripwires on the paths." Sam drew in a deep breath. "I hear ya!"

"You think…" Leon looked up for a moment and drew in a deep breath as tears threatened. "What's worse is just when you think you're getting back to normal, finally making that transition, something happens to transport you right back there."

Sam knew Leon was talking about his brother's death. Wracking his brain he tried to find the best way to move forward.

"You're doing good, Sam. You've made a connection." Sarge praised from his place just behind Sam.

It was like a lightbulb went off in Sam's head. He unconsciously reached for the wristband that Leah had given the Team after Lew's death. Drawing in a deep breath he knew what he had to do.

"When I left the Army…" Sam swallowed down the lump that was forming in his throat. "… it was because I had seen one too many friends die. My specialty was long-range marksmanship, a sniper. I had to watch over and over as friends got hurt or died because I wasn't fast enough, or good enough. That kind of toll weighs on a man."

Sam took a step forward, never breaking eye contact with Leon. "When my best friend died I couldn't take it anymore. I left the army and came home. I thought I'd be safe here. But your experiences over there never leave you. For months I couldn't even go for a run without taking my weapon with me, scanning the streets and rooftops every second I was out. Some habits are hard to break.

"Just about the time I felt like I had finally made it, I had made the transition, something happened. One day at work a teammate, a friend, stepped on a landmine."

"No!" Leon's eyes went wide.

"Yeah. It was a CR-38. The man that planted it glued the hole shut so it couldn't be re-pinned." Sam tuned out the harsh breathing that was coming from Spike over the headset. He needed to keep his focus on Leon.

"A thirty-eight?"

"Yeah. We had no options, not any that wouldn't kill the rest of the Team anyway. He didn't make it."

There was a long moment of silence.

"I could do nothing but watch." Sam drew in a shaky breath. "I watched as a teammate, a friend, a brother, was blown up right in front of me."

"My brother died right in front of me." Leon looked stated as he wiped a tear from his cheek. "I was helping him move from Ottowa to Toronto for his new job. We had both of our cars packed to the brim with all his crap. But we never made it to our destination."

Sam waited. He knew that Leon would simply need to let out all his emotions.

"Coming down the highway I was several cars behind him, got held back at the toll. There was a tanker just in front of him a bit." Leon drew in a shuddering breath. "I can still see it like it just happened. One second everything was fine, the next the tanker went up in a ball of flames. Andrew never even had time to hit the breaks. The flames engulfed his truck instantly and caused it to explode."

"Coming back, you never think you will see something like that again. Sure, we're used to seeing cars explode from IED's, we're used to dealing with landmines, snipers, and constant gunfire. But those things don't belong here."

"It's like nowhere is safe." Leon turned his gaze back to the highway below.

"You need to give him hope, Sam. He needs to know that that explosion was a once in a lifetime accident. He needs to find a reason to keep living, a light at the end of his very dark tunnel." Greg encouraged.

"When my best friend died over there I lost sight of why I joined in the first place." Sam shared as he took another step forward. "I lost sight of the fact that I just wanted to make a difference. That I wanted to protect people, save them from the evil in this world. I had to find another way, a different purpose in life than just taking out targets from over a mile away.

"When I came to the SRU I was lost. So very, very lost. But you know what, I found my purpose in life again." Two more steps forwards. Sam could almost reach out and touch Leon where he sat on the ledge. "I learned that I could still make a difference. I could still protect the innocent from the evil in this world. That I could do all that and not just from behind a scope a mile away.

"Yeah, there are days when this jobs sucks. Days when things happen that rock me to my core. Days like when Lewis Young gave his life to protect the innocent people of this city. Those days are hard, knowing that things like landmines don't belong here. But then there are the good days.

"The days where we keep a madman from killing little kids in a park. The days where we are able to talk a man bent on revenge out of shooting his son's killer. An act that would take him away from the family that so desperately needs him. The days when I sit up in a sniper perch, protecting my team, from a tripped out druggie who is waving a gun around like it's a piece of candy." Sam's voice softened as he took the last two steps towards Leon. "The days when we talk to a young soldier who is going through the worst time of his life and show him that there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

"I don't know what to do…" Leon dissolved into a flood of tears.

Sam reached out and pulled the young man off the ledge and wrapped his arms tightly around him.

"You remember. You remember the good times. Andrew's laughter, his smile, the way his eyes lit up when he was happy. I didn't know your brother, but I can guarantee you this. He wouldn't want you to end your life. He would want you to live. You find something you can do to honor his memory, to make a difference."

"Good work Sam." Greg couldn't help the small smile. Their rookie had done it, Sam had talked a suicidal soldier down from the ledge.

"Sam, Leon's parents are here," Jules stated into the comms from where she stood next to Leon's parents.

"Leon, your parents are here. They're really worried about you." Sam took a small step back, keeping his hands on the other man's shoulders.

"They're going to be so disappointed in me." Leon looked down in shame.

"No. Not disappointed in you. Disappointed in themselves."

"Why?" Looking up Leon made eye contact with Sam yet again.

"Because I can guarantee you they are lost in their own pain. So lost that they didn't see how badly you were hurting. They couldn't see that the way Andrew died reminded you of all the ways you've lost brothers. They couldn't know that Andrew's death would make you question your life's calling." Sam turned Leon to see his parents.

"They know now. They know that you're hurting and that they need to be there more for you. But you…" Sam turned to look at Leon and pointed directly at him. "You can't keep this in anymore. You have to talk to them, share with them, confide in them. If you don't then they won't know how to help you, Leon."

Leon nodded once as he stared at his parents.

"I know how hard it is, losing someone as close to you as you were to Andrew. If you ever want to talk, give me a call." Sam pulled out a business card and wrote his cell number on the back. "Transitioning is not easy in the best of circumstances. I want to be there for you if you'll let me."

"Thank you." The emotions Leon was feeling were overtaking him once again, making it impossible to give more than that short answer.

"Come on, let's get you back to your family."

Team One watched as Sam guided Leon towards his waiting parents and the emotional reunion that ensued. Sam had done extremely well and each was beyond glad that Sam had been able to talk the young, distraught soldier off the ledge.

"Winnie, tell the Uni's that they can release traffic on the highway," Greg instructed before walking to Sam. "Great job Sam. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Sarge." Sam drew in a deep, cleansing breath.

"Okay, Team. Let's pack up and head back." Ed instructed.

Team One was just starting to climb in the trucks when Leon approached Sam with his parents close behind.

"You've saved my life twice now." Leon smiled softly. "A couple years ago my Unit was cut off and under attack. We thought we were done for when all of a sudden a .50 cal started mowing down the enemy as a JTF2 Unit showed up.

"I was with an injured buddy, out of ammo, and hostiles were coming right at me, guns raised and ready to fire when they suddenly started dropping. You saved my life. I never got to meet you personally but later I asked the name of the sniper. Your Unit had moved out of the area before I ever got a chance to find you and thank you. I recognized your name today."

Sam simply stared at the man for a long minute. "I remember that mission. You were escorting an HVT back to base when you were ambushed."

"That's right. You and your boys were right there for us when we needed you." Leon reached out to shake Sam's hand. "Thank you for saving my life, then and today."

"I'm just glad I could be there when you needed someone." Sam simply answered. "Take care of yourself. Call me if you need to talk."

"I will."

With that, Sam climbed in the passenger seat of the SRU SUV, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. Jules drove in silence back to the barn.

SRU Headquarters

"Constable Braddock, you did good work today. I know negotiation isn't your strong suit but you did well today. Great work."

"Thanks, Sarge." Sam could feel a blush creeping up. He really just wanted to get out of here. Mick was waiting at his apartment and right now all he wanted to do was grab a beer, kick back, and relax with an old friend.

"So, Sam, Mick Rawson?" Spike asked with a mischievous smirk.

"What about him, Spike?" Sam asked tiredly.

"How do you know him?"

Clearly, Spike wasn't going to let up.

"We served together." Will he let it go at that? Sam wondered, even though he already knew the answer.

"Was he Special Forces? What kind of work did you do together?" Spike was intrigued about Mick, and how Sam knew him.

"If I told you, we'd have to kill you," Sam smirked before getting up and walking out.

Making quick work of changing Sam was soon out the door to go home. Spike's curiosity was greater now than ever before and he vowed to get his answers soon! Sam, on the other hand, was determined to give as little info as possible.

Sam's Apartment

Mick turned off the television after the news report. It had been interesting watching Sam work. A news crew managed to get a good vantage point just downwind of where the man was sitting on the bridge so sound carried and they had gotten every word spoken between the two on camera. The news report shared the tragic story of the accident that caused the brother's death, as well as reminding Toronto of the circumstances surrounding the death of Constable Lewis Young.

As he listened to Sam talk to Leon Mick's own heart ached. It had been hard losing Beth. But he realized that he had someone who understood completely what he was going through. Mick was more thankful now than ever that he decided to take his leave and spend it visiting Sam.

Somewhere in Toronto

He couldn't believe his luck. Two of his targets were in the same city, one staying with the other at his apartment. His luck was looking up. As he packed up his gear he began planning his next move. They would soon pay for what they did.

AN: Hmmmm, Do I need to bury my bunker even deeper? I can't wait to see what you think about this chapter :D