A/N: Here it is: the concluding chapter. Mainly wrapping things up; Sam/Jules if you read between the lines.

SCARBOROUGH BLUFFS – Team One Tactical Truck

Sergeant Greg Parker stood just outside his mobile command post, watching as the SRU constables marched the arrested members of Heusos de Tigres off to waiting squad cars.

He saw Nate Hanson leading the disgraced Dale Draper by himself. Greg felt a mix of loathing and disgust at the sight of the traitor. Draper's forced cooperation tonight did little to redeem him in Gerg's eyes. Still, the Team One sergeant was grateful that they'd been able to get the victory here tonight, and avert further disaster.

"Watch your head," Sergeant Hanson said to Dale, as he directed him into a seating position in one of the cars.

"Hey," Dale said in a tired voice that spoke to his mental and emotional state of mind, "I just gotta know: where is Donna Sabine?"

Wouldn't you like to know! Nate thought. "That's none of your business, Draper," he replied curtly, then added: "she's safe. And that's all you need to know."

Safe, huh? Dale thought. For now. But I bet she has no idea how close she came to buying it tonight... Well, when I get out, there won't be any safe place left for her, and that's a promise.

Nate Hanson gave the other man one last scornful glance, then slammed the door shut with more force than was necessary, but felt good to do so, nevertheless.

ST. PATRICK'S MEMORIAL HOSPITAL - General Ward.

Donna Sabine approached the admittance desk with Colin Larson in tow. The nurse on duty looked up suddenly. "Can I help you?" she asked them.

"Yes, we're looking for Julianna Callaghan's room - 'Angela'," Donna said, reading the name tag pinned to the nurse's scrubs. "We're colleagues."

Nurse Angela looked at her watch."Visiting hours are just about over, and the patients need their rest," she said ruefully.

Donna was about to reach for her badge and I.D., when Angela amended her reply. "Well, okay...but you have five minutes; no more. She's in room 119."

"Thanks," Donna said with a grateful smile, and she and constable Larson continued down the hall to Jules' room.

They paused at 119, and Donna knocked twice. "Jules?" she called out softly.

"Come in," came a muffled and tired-sounding reply.

"You go ahead," constable Larson encouraged Donna, "I'll wait outside."

Donna opened the door, and meekly entered the room. She wasn't sure Jules would appreciate a visit, especially from her. But it was something she felt she had to do.

Jules was lying in bed, nose neatly bandaged. One side of her face sported an awful, purple-coloured bruise, plainly visible even in the dimmed lights of the room.

Oh, God, Donna thought guiltily. She sure took a beating, all in my stead. I hope she'll be able to forgive me.

"Hi, Jules," she said tentatively.

"Oh, Donna, it's you," Jules said in recognition. "I thought it was another nurse coming to check my blood pressure, or my temperature or my pulse or God knows what else!" She'd also been half expecting to see some of her team members, and idly wondered what could be delaying them.

Donna's mouth quirked as she swallowed a chuckle. "No, it's just me... Um, I heard you hate plants, so I've brought you something I hope you'll enjoy a little more..."

Jules propped herself up a little higher, and watched as Donna rummaged through the shoulder bag she'd brought with her. She withdrew a brown paper bag with a familiar logo printed on it, and a large, insulated coffee urn.

"I can't smell it, but is that what I think it is?" Jules asked hopefully.

"Coffee from Timmie's," Donna declared, unscrewing the urn and pouring some of the steaming liquid into the cap, "and an onion bagel with herb and garlic cream cheese. I heard it's your favourite."

"Oh, thank you," Jules said rapturously, eagerly accepting the drink and bagel. "I've been so hungry! But you know, I've had enough hospital food to last me a lifetime. I just couldn't stand the sight of it tonight, and the cafeteria's already closed."

Donna nodded knowingly. "Hospital coffee tastes like sewage, and hospital food, well... the jury's out on that one. I just couldn't imagine having to eat it every day for as long as you had to."

Jules was unable to reply as she hungrily bit into the bagel, filling her mouth with the savoury goodness it offered. In a few short minutes she'd made quick work of it, and had nearly polished off the contents of the coffee urn.

"Wow," she sighed contentedly, after she'd finished the last morsel. "Even with my sense of smell as messed up as it is, a bagel has never tasted so good! Thanks, Donna. That really hit the spot."

"Consider it a peace offering, or an apology, if you prefer," Donna said seriously.

She stopped momentarily, unsure where she should go with this. If there was one thing she feared more than getting killed on the job, it was that her actions might get one of her fellow officers killed. That type of failure was something she prayed she'd never experience, and she'd come dangerously close to it today.

"Jules, I'm sorry. All of this – everything that happened to you today – was my fault. I... I don't know what else to say... but if it hadn't been for my actions, you wouldn't be here."

"Donna," Jules started, taken aback by the other woman's distress.

"It's true," Donna continued, "Elena Moreno was looking for me. I'm the one she wanted to kill."

"I know," Jules said. "But, Donna, think about it: if they'd found you first, she would have killed you. When Elena first thought I was the one who killed Oscar, I could see it in her eyes that she wanted me dead. She only let me live after discovering it wasn't me because she knew she could use me as a pawn."

Donna hung her head and stood motionless by the foot of Jules' bed, trying to hold in the emotions she'd been trying to keep bottled up.

"Don't you see?" Jules said, realising Donna was unconvinced, "I'm glad I'm the one they grabbed, because it means we're both alive now. If it was you, we'd still be looking for your body. So you can stop beating yourself up over it, really. As you can see, it takes a lot more than a broken nose and a cracked skull to get rid of me. A lot more!"

In spite of herself, Donna broke into a grin. "You're amazing, you know that?" she said with admiration.

"I hear you're not so bad, yourself," Jules said kindly. "I mean, Ed just raves about you, so maybe I still ought to watch my back around here! Never know when some ex-Vice constable with mad skills is gonna show up to take my place again while I'm laid up in a hospital bed."

Both women shared a good laugh over this, which constable Larson managed to hear through the door.

Noting that she'd overstayed the five minutes she'd promised the admittance nurse, and knowing that Jules really needed rest, Donna took her leave. She closed the door quietly behind her while Jules settled into bed, stomach full, and friendship secured.

SRU HEADQUARTERS – Debrief Room

Five members of Team One and five members of Team Three sat together around the conference table in an unprecedented joint debriefing.

Both Sergeants Greg Parker and Nate Hanson shared the duty of leading, as they re-iterated the day's two major incidents.

At the conclusion, Nate Hanson stood and looked around the room. "I just wanted to thank all of you from Team One for agreeing to be a part of our op," he said sincerely.

"You couldn't have kept us away," Greg replied heartily, "we wanted to nail them just as badly as you did."

Indeed, when the decision was made to entrap Dale Draper, both teams were each short two members. Team One was without Jules Callaghan due to her hospitalization, and Sam Braddock was detained due to his SIU review. Nate Hanson felt that having constable Sabine suit up would have been an unnecessary risk, and Colin Larson elected to sit out in order to be her watchdog.

"It was a job well done, everybody," Nate praised the officers, "thanks again."

Greg shook hands with the other team sergeant and said, "We should do that again sometime!"

With that, the men began to file out of the room.

Ed Lane and Greg Parker remained for a few minutes. It seemed to be a habit of the Team One sergeant and the team leader to have their own informal debrief when everything 'official' was out of the way.

Greg leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and let go a long, satisfied sigh. Ed grinned at the sight, and then grew serious.

"Sarge..." he started, "I know I was pulling for Donna to remain with us, but knowing what we know now about Elena Moreno's vendetta, if she'd stayed with us, she'd probably be dead right now."

Greg opened his eyes and arched his eyebrows. He sat forward and rested his chin on his interlocked fingers. "That's a tough call, Eddie," he replied after a pause, "but there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong. That rat, Draper, could have been a whole lot more specific in what he passed on to Elena from the start. The gang members only acted on his vague notion that a female SRU constable had killed Cardoza. They couldn't have known that we have two on different teams. In a way, I guess we were really lucky that Elena was bent on taking revenge on all of us, because she took a lot of risks to accomplish what she wanted to."

"Yeah, 'lucky'," Ed repeated grimly. "It's like Wordy said this afternoon: when's it going to end? How many times are we going to have to fight off scum looking for payback?"

"As many times as we have to, my friend," Greg answered. "These are the risks that come with the job. Every time we suit up, we're putting our lives on the line in order to save lives. Today, it just so happened that we saved the life of one of our own."

"And what about tomorrow?" Ed asked.

"Tomorrow, we do it all over again," Greg answered decisively.

Ed nodded. "You're right... See you tomorrow, then, Greg, where we get to do this all over again."

"You bet, Eddie," Greg said, "keeping the peace."

ST. PATRICK'S MEMORIAL HOSPITAL -Room 119

It was almost midnight when Sam Braddock stole into Room 119, his meeting with SIU finally complete. He could hear even, but stuffy breaths coming from the petite bundle lying asleep in the hospital bed.

He came nearer, with the silence of a soft breeze. In the gentle glow of a night light, he could make out Jules' features, however disfigured by her earlier ordeal. He frowned at the sight of her bandaged nose and bruised cheek.

Her lips were slightly parted, and Sam saw her chest rise and fall rhythmically as she inhaled and exhaled. It was a sound he found especially comforting, even now, when he knew she was completely out of danger. He'd spent so many hours here, in this hospital; so many clandestine visits so as not to alert the others on the team that they were secret lovers... he remembered how he felt he'd go mad with grief and uncertainty after Jules had been shot. He remembered, too, his joy when he knew she would pull through.

I wish you'd given us a chance, Jules, Sam thought sadly. We almost lost you again today, and I don't think I would have been able to handle it if we hadn't reached you in time.

Sam looked at her face again, and felt tempted to bend down and kiss her. Instead, he reached over and placed his hand over one of hers, and let it linger there for a few moments.

As he pulled away, she shifted slightly in her sleep. His heart leaped a little, stirring deep emotions within him.

"Goodnight, Jules," he whispered, and started to tip-toe away.

"Don't go," a wan, half-asleep voice called out to him.

Sam turned. Her eyes were still closed.

Sleep-talking, he thought. He moved to leave the room again.

"Sam?" her voice was a little clearer this time.

"Jules," Sam replied, keeping his own tone low, looking at her over his shoulder. As best as he could make out, she was still talking in her sleep.

"Stay."

"You want me to stay?" Sam asked.

"Mm-hmm," Jules mumbled, nodding her head.

"Okay," Sam murmured, and sat down in a chair next to her bed, and remained there the rest of the night, keeping his team mate company.

END