Disclaimer: I still don't own much of anything, much less any part of Flashpoint. I do have a cat named Spike, though. :P

Author's Note: I decided I still wanted Wordy in this one, so this is set between 'The Better Man' and 'A Day in the Life.' I'm not too happy with the way this one came out, but my muse seems to have deserted me for now, so I'll have to make do. Not much action, but a little more speculation as to what makes Spike tick and a bit of confrontation of sorts between him and Sam. Let me know what you think. Thanks, Psy

Brother and sister stood in surprised silence as the door closed behind their mutual friend. Natalie was the first to recover after a minute or so. She turned and leveled an angry glare at Sam.

"Thanks, Sam!"

"What?" he shrugged his shoulders. "Look, I'm sorry, Nat! I forgot to grab…"

"What, condoms?" finished Natalie, her lips curling snidely. Sam responded with a look of 'what the hell?'

"You couldn't just go to a drug store and buy some more?" She shook her head. "It's not like you and Jules won't use them up anyway, probably sooner rather than later," she snapped.

Now her brother shook his head. "What is your problem?" demanded Sam. It took all he had not to yell the question at her.

"You scared him off, Sam!"

"How did I scare him off? You heard me tell him he could stay!" he argued. "Besides, Spike is not afraid of me!"

Natalie sighed, crossed her arms over her chest and looked pityingly at her brother. "I wouldn't be too sure of that, bro."

"Whatever," muttered Sam as he reached for the doorknob. "Jules is waiting for me. I'll see you tomorrow," he said as he, too, exited the apartment. He punched the down arrow button at the elevator a bit harder than he meant to and shook his head. He was a little surprised not to see Spike waiting for the elevator as it usually took forever to get there.

'Why the hell would Spike be afraid of me?' he wondered to himself as he waited. When the elevator doors opened, he stepped in and punched the button for the ground floor, mulling over the question as he slowly descended.

Spike sat in his car, his head down. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' he thought to himself. He let out a low groan as he started banging his head on the steering wheel. He wasn't sure if he was mad at himself for a) leaving so abruptly, b) letting the fact that Sam was Natalie's brother get to him so much, or c) allowing his emotions to take over so quickly, both in moving so fast with Natalie in the first place and in stopping him just as fast. Despite his upbringing, Spike wasn't exactly a prude. He'd had his share of one-night stands, though he rarely went looking for them. They usually came about due to stressors mostly beyond his control. Like a particularly tough day at work when he just knew his father would start in on him about his job as soon as he walked in the door. Moreover, he usually went into those situations with his eyes wide open and his heart guarded closely. He'd had no such intentions with Natalie. He really did want to take his time and get to know her. Maybe it would work out, maybe it wouldn't, but he didn't want to jinx it by moving too fast.

Besides, he would never knowingly do anything to jeopardize his friendship with Sam. All of his teammates had stepped up after Lou died, making sure Spike knew they were there for him whenever he needed them. Lou had been his best friend, and while no one could ever take his place, Sam had gone out of his way to see that Spike didn't withdraw completely, even going so far as to show up at Spike's house unannounced once and insist they go out clubbing. Spike knew his buddy already had a girlfriend, even if he didn't know who it was, so it was obvious that Sam was only doing it for his benefit. As much as he had groused and complained about it, Spike had been grateful for the distraction. His father wasn't speaking to him at that point and the thought of sitting in that tension-filled house had been more than he could bear. The fact that he'd met a good-looking woman who ended up taking him home for a night of mind blowing carnal pleasure hadn't exactly hurt his ego either.

Still, the few solitary nights spent with women he didn't even know did nothing to assuage his guilt and pain. Not just the guilt he still felt about Lou's death. Intellectually, he knew there was nothing he could've done to prevent it, yet he still felt responsible. But, it wasn't just about Lou. Unless he was drunk, whenever he slept with a woman, or as it happened tonight, if he even made out with one, his thoughts invariably would turn to his high school crush, Bridget. While they'd never dated in high school – he had been way too shy to talk to her then – they had run into each other in Jamaica. Spike and Lou had been vacationing together when Bridget had seen them on the beach and had come over to talk to Spike. The two of them had ended up spending the next three days together. When he thought of the time they'd spent reconnecting he still was struck by just how right and perfect it had felt to be with her. But, now those thoughts would inevitably lead to thoughts of that first day back at work after Jamaica and in his mind's eye he would see Lou standing there on that landmine. And even now the sheer helplessness Spike had felt as he realized the one sure way to render the mine harmless had been sabotaged was like a knife in his chest. He had promised Bridget he would call her sometime, but he never could bring himself to dial her number. His memories of her were now inextricably intertwined with those of the worst moment of his life. It seemed no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't move on, he couldn't get past it.

Of course, none of that had anything to do with Natalie, he reminded himself as he jabbed the key into the ignition and started the engine. He shook his head and thought, 'Maybe I need therapy!' With a quick look over his shoulder, he carefully edged the car out into the street and slowly made his way home.

The next day, Spike trudged slowly into the SRU locker room. He was still nervous about what Sam would have to say about what he'd walked in on last night. To his relief, the blond sniper was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Kevin 'Wordy' Wordsworth was the only one there. Spike nodded to the team's resident hand-to-hand combat expert and exchanged pleasantries as he changed into his workout clothes. It had only been about a week since Wordy had told the team that he had Parkinson's and Spike was still having a hard time wrapping his head around it. He just couldn't believe one of the toughest guys he'd ever known was going to be taken down by a neurological disease.

Spike was already on the stationary bike with his earphones on and his iPod playing when Sam showed up followed a few minutes later by Jules Callaghan. Spike was oblivious to the scrutiny team sergeant, Greg Parker, directed at the two officers, though he did hear Wordy say something about them being late. Not wanting to deal with Sam right then, Spike chose to ignore it and went on peddling without so much as a glance in his direction.

Two hours later they were all in the locker rooms changing into uniform. Spike again studiously avoided looking at Sam and only vaguely listened to the banter of his teammates. He could almost feel Sam's eyes boring through the back of his head and he swallowed reflexively, wondering again just what was wrong with him. It wasn't as if he'd done anything wrong. Then again, he could only assume Sam was protective of his sister. It was only natural, after all.

Sam tried to get Spike's attention. He really didn't want to discuss things in front of their teammates, but it seemed to him that Spike was doing everything he could to avoid him. When the bomb tech refused to look at him or even acknowledge him, Sam decided to wait for everyone else to leave the locker room. Then he'd be able to talk to Spike one on one. Hedging his bets, he still changed quickly in case his friend tried to duck out first. As it turned out he had read Spike right and was quick to follow the Italian-Canadian into the hallway before the others had finished changing.

"Spike!" he called out. He was taken aback when his friend stopped and hung his head, but didn't turn around to face him.

"What, Sam?" asked Spike in a low monotone. He steeled himself for the dressing down he just knew was coming.

Sam walked around to face his friend, shocked to see the anxious look in Spike's eyes; the brown doe-eyes that flitted first left, then right and then down at his feet, but never managed to look him in the eyes. Sam's mouth dropped in disbelief.

"Nat was right!" he exclaimed softly. "You're afraid of me."

He shook his head. "Why?" he asked. "What do you think I'm gonna do?"

His teammate didn't answer, but simply shook his head. His eyes met Sam's for a split second before breaking contact again.

"Spike?"

Closing his eyes, the bomb tech finally responded. "I'm not afraid of you, Sam. It's just…" he said, his voice trailing off into silence as he shook his head again, unable to express what he was thinking. What was he going to say? 'I know you don't want me dating your sister?' 'I know you'll kick my ass if I hurt her?' He shrugged.

Sam waited a couple of minutes. When Spike didn't continue, he tried again.

"Okay, you're not afraid of…" he trailed off as Ed arrived with a hearty greeting for the two of them.

"Spike! Samtastic! Are we ready for another fun-filled day in the SRU?" he smiled at his two subordinates.

"You bet!" Sam replied without taking his eyes off his friend.

"Always!" Spike managed to throw a cheeky grin Ed's way, grateful to avoid the pointed look on Sam's face even for a brief second. Ed sensed the tension between the two officers and gave them each a close look before deciding to let it go for now. With a wave, he entered the locker room just as Wordy and the sarge exited.

"Briefing room, five minutes!" warned Parker. He nodded to the two younger men standing in the hallway.

"Copy that, Boss," they replied in unison. The two did their best to appear nonchalant, but they didn't fool anyone. Wordy and the boss exchanged a quick glance, eyebrows raised in puzzlement. Instead of pressing, though, they continued on toward the briefing room without comment.

As soon as the hallway cleared, Sam tried again. "Okay, so you're not afraid of me. So what's the problem?" he asked. "You didn't have to leave last night; I told you that."

Spike shrugged and shook his head. "I told you guys, I forgot that I had something I had to do. That's all," he insisted.

Sam nodded. "Anyone ever tell you you're a lousy liar, Spike?" His question met with silence again and he was forced to try a different tack.

"You know, Natalie thinks I scared you off and frankly, the way you're acting this morning, avoiding me, not looking at me, I'm thinking maybe she was right."

Spike shook his head miserably. "Look, Sam," said, "I'm sorry. It's not you. It's not your sister. It's me, okay? I'm the one who's screwed up!"

"Spike, buddy, you didn't screw up," Sam tried to reassure his friend, though for the life of him he couldn't figure out what the problem was.

"As for me, I don't really have a problem with you dating my sister." This was only partially true, though. While he truly wanted to see both his sister and his friend happy, Sam knew that if Spike and Nat started dating, the chances of his and Jule's relationship coming to light increased exponentially. Sam had no idea how to avoid it. Still, he couldn't exactly forbid the two of them from seeing each other.

"You're both adults. You can do whatever you want. Just go careful, okay, buddy?" he said.

Spike took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm not going to lie to you, Sam," he said before looking his friend in the eye and holding his gaze for the first time that day. "I like your sister, not that I really know her. And you've gotta know that I'd never knowingly hurt her."

That brought a smile and chuckle from Sam. "What, you think I'm worried about you hurting her?" he asked, slapping the other man on the shoulder. "Trust me; I'm more worried about what she could do to you!"

Before he could continue, Wordy appeared at the top of the short flight of stairs leading to the main area and the briefing room.

"Sam! Spike!" he hollered. "You guys coming or what?"

The two younger men looked up at him sheepishly and started moving in his direction. As they started up the stairs, Sam looked at his friend. "So, we good?" he asked.

Spike turned to look at him and nodded. "Yeah, buddy," he said with a slight smile. "We're good."

Thanks for reading and by all means, please review and let me know what you think! - Psy