A/N: Apologies for the multiple cliffhangers throughout the story, we simply felt like there were the right moments to leave you all hanging! :)
Apologies also for the delays lately. We wanted to thank you all for your support, for reading our madness and reviewing it. Your comments are what pushed us further.
So this is the final chapter, the denouement and the answers. Have fun!
"NO!" Eddie span around staring at the building as it crumbled slightly from the blast. "SPIKE! STATUS!"
As soon as the blast was heard, Jules sprang to her feet, brushing off the medic and completely ignoring the pain in her shoulder. Sam was just as quick and he was already running over to Ed's side, Jules close behind. She brought a hand over her mouth, her heart pounded heavily as they waited for an answer.
Time slowed down and for a moment there was no response, then they saw movement near the exit of the building as Spike pulled a dazed Greg with him. "GUYS! Some help here!" Spike called out between coughs.
Eddie ran forward with Sam in tow and they soon reached both of their teammates. Taking over, they each took one of Greg's arms and put it around their shoulder to carry him to safety.
The medic rushed towards Greg while his partner brought over a gurney and an oxygen tank. "Get him on."
Spike stood silently rooted, then slowly he bent over his hands on his knees as he tried to calm himself, his eyes locked on Greg.
Jules' eyes followed Greg until he was laying down on the gurney. She then looked back toward Spike and moved over to him. She simply put a comforting hand on his back and gave it a soft pat.
Spike looked up and he gave her a look. "I lost my equipment," he said in one last attempt to break the tension.
It got a soft laugh out of Jules' mouth as the stress she had been experiencing dropped at once. They were all safe and sound. "We'll buy you more toys," she said with a smile. "You did great," she said after a moment, all serious again. "Lou would be proud."
Spike forced a smile on his lips and gave her a nod. The mention of Lou's name bringing a small tear to his eye which he wiped away before straightening up.
After a few mouthfuls of air on the oxygen mask, Greg coughed and pushed the medic off him. "Let me sit up," he grunted. The medics backed off slightly and Greg pushed himself up - meeting Spike's eyes he gave him a simple nod and a look of reassurance.
Eddie nailed Greg with a look. "Greg," he said shaking his head. "You okay buddy?" he asked.
Greg nodded. "Thanks to Spike."
Ed walked in the briefing room after dropping his bag in his locker. He didn't bother to change into his uniform, they had a debrief to go through before their actual shift started and he didn't plan on going hard on the team today, they'd been through hell and back in the past few and he wanted to cut them some slack. Besides, they were down two members for the day at least, he'd probably do some shooting drills with the others.
He sat down at the table, the files from the Hot Calls in the past three days laying unopened in front of him. He didn't have to strength to start on his own, he'd rather wait for them all to be there.
"Hey," Sam strolled in wearing his trousers and SRU shirt - he was glad to finally sit down in HQ rather than rush about. "We got too many," he muttered in regards to the files on the table as he sat down.
"You tell me," Ed responded.
Wordy and Spike strolled in and took their places. "Gentlemen," Ed greeted with a nod. Seeing them with smiles on their faces was refreshing. They'd had rough calls and a rough atmosphere among the team lately.
Leah walked in shortly after and greeted them all with a smile. "Morning," she said, sitting down.
There was a chorus of 'heys' and 'mornings' back. For a moment, they all sat in their respective seats, silent and thoughtful. However, the atmosphere wasn't tense as it had been in the past few times they had been in there. They were all relaxed and refreshed.
Suddenly footsteps approached and Greg appeared, wearing his usual uniform. He smiled when he saw the team. "Hey guys," he said in a simple greeting as he took his place at the head of the table.
Ed looked back as Greg entered the room and flashed him a smile.
Leah rose a brow. "Boss?" she asked upon seeing him in his uniform.
"Yeah yeah, I know," Greg shook his head. "I'll be staying in here all day working on paperwork, don't worry," he said, offering a slight smile.
He'd been cleared to work but the doctors had warned him to take it easy for a few days, and surprisingly he was going to obey - he had to. It turned out that the gun shot directed at him had only grazed his arm and aside from the sting it caused, he was good as new.
"You can't keep him out of here," Spike said, grinning at Greg.
"Never can," Wordy agreed.
Ed nodded at them both and let out a soft laugh. "You got that right," he added as he looked back at Greg. "How you feeling?" he asked.
"Pretty good, considering." He looked over at Spike who sat back, giving him a nod.
"What happened in there?" Wordy asked curiously. At the question, all eyes fell on Greg.
"He pulled me off the landmine," Greg replied simply - his eyes remained on Spike.
"And it still went off?" Ed asked with a raised brow.
"Part of it," Spike said simply. "I diffused it but there was a mechanism..." he cut off knowing they wouldn't understand if he went on with his technical terms. "I deactivated the pressure plates but there was a mechanism built in ready to blow in such a case. We had 30 seconds… Pulled the boss off it, we hit the ground running. Made it to the top of the stairs before the backdraft hit us and sent us flying."
Ed took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "The man had thought this through," he said through gritted teeth. He knew this was all over now but he couldn't help but feel angry whenever he thought about how close they'd come to losing some of their own. Including himself.
"Hey guys," Jules voice interrupted them as she peeked around the corner at first then slowly walked in, revealing her in plain clothes, her hair falling on her shoulders and her right arm wrapped up in a sling.
"Hey!" Sam quickly stood offering her his own seat as he was nearest the door. "Here, have my seat," he said before moving to another, giving her a smile.
Normally, Jules would have told Sam off and declined his offer but with all that happened the previous day, she simply smiled back at him and took his spot. "Thanks," she said as she sat down.
"Hey Jules," Greg greeted, a warm smile on his lips as he was glad to see her.
She looked at them all in turn but her eyes stopped on Greg and she smiled at him warmly, glad to see he was alright.
Clearing his throat Greg looked down at the pile of files in front of him - truth be told he knew there was nothing he wanted more than to forget everything but they had to debrief. "I read up on what happened after me and Jules got taken by Logan," he started, glancing at Eddie knowingly. "And..." A beat. "I'm proud of you guys. For holding it together. You worked as a team and that was important."
Ed nodded. They had held it together. Mostly. There were a few times when he was about to lose it completely but he knew he couldn't let this get personal.
"He had us running around town though, I don't get that," Sam interjected.
"Logan," Greg started, "likes to be in control. He likes to make people run around and show people he's serious. He thinks people treat him like dirt - it's his way of getting back at them. By sending you around town he's exerting his control."
"Explains the room with the traffic cameras…" Jules said in half a grunt. She took a breath and a thought crossed her mind. "Hey what about his two goons?" she asked, finally remembering them.
"Lennox and Charles Hoyle. Brothers," Ed started.
"Team two caught them at the scene of the blown up SUV," Leah added, shooting Ed a look.
"Blown up?" Greg looked to Eddie. This was something he hadn't read in the transcript but by the sound of it, this would be in Team two's transcript seeing as they had attended.
Eddie grunted at that thought. "Seems they managed to get a bomb into my SUV," he explained for Greg and Jules' sakes.
"We left the SUVs a while when we were dealing with Oliver," Sam offered glancing at Spike for confirmation but the demolition expert shook his head.
"Not long enough. CSU still have the SUV, they're investigating it," Spike added as an afterthought.
"So Logan's the one who orchestrated the whole Oliver thing?" Jules asked, confirming her suspicions.
Ed let out a snarl. "Laurence Ashley, the sniper who…" he trailed off, motioning to Jules' shoulder. "Decided he wanted to cut himself a deal so he finally talked whilst Team three had him in custody. Logan had files and clipping on all the cases we worked ever since his application was turned down. He dug one of them and decided to use it to his advantage." He marked a pause and took a breath. "They played Oliver who just got out of a mental hospital into thinking Greg was the one keeping Jodie from him, hence why he asked for Greg in particular. Logan had followed the news about the warehouse and then the school shooting. He had a few pictures of you and Greg arguing," he continued for Jules' sake. She looked down slightly at that. "Logan knew we were stretched thin but he also knew Greg wouldn't let his team down, especially not when someone asked for him directly. He knew it was the perfect time to hit, when we were weak." Again, he paused, letting the words sink in. "So he called Oliver, told him to meet at The Bay claiming he had information on Jodie and once the man was there, called him again to tell him it was all the SRU's fault."
Wordy jumped in. "Turns out he's the one who killed Jodie in the first place," he added.
Jules took a deep breath. "What about Logan?"
"Logan?" Greg looked to her. "He applied to SRU twice." A moment and Greg sighed. "When he was declined the second time he tried to blow up HQ."
"I had to disarm the bomb," Spike remembered it all too well. "He got arrested and sent to jail."
"Clearly not for long enough," Sam muttered.
"He went through a whole lot to prove his point," Jules thought out loud.
Ed nodded slowly. "I think it wasn't just to prove a point. I think he had a grudge against the both of you."
"I mean it's obvious why but..." A beat "When he applied, why did you decline him the first time?" Wordy asked.
Greg looked to Jules - she knew the answer to that.
Jules shared Greg's look and answered for him. "Wrong set of values, would rather shoot than talk. He's cocky, thinks he above everyone else, above the law," she started, voicing Greg's thoughts. "Looks like we proved him wrong," she added.
Ed looked over to all of them, his eyes stopping on Wordy. "Thanks to my buddy here for remembering hearing that voice from old application tapes Greg watches in his free time," he said, patting Wordy's shoulder. Wordy simply shook his head chuckling.
Greg shot Eddie a look raising a brow, then it occurred to him what they were talking about and he narrowed his eyes.
Jules let out a laugh. "Boss, you need a girlfriend," she teased.
"Hey!" he pulled a face at her knowing she was only teasing.
Sam and Spike leaned forward when Ed took something from under the pile of files on the desk. "What did you find Ed?" Sam asked.
A smirk appeared in the corner of Ed's mouth. "Guys, don't blame him, I can see how he finds it so entertaining." He held up a case in his hands and showed it to them.
"HEY!" Greg tried to lean forward to swipe the tape away. Ed lifted his arm to put it out of Greg's reach.
Spike grinned. "Come on boss! We gotta see it!"
Greg rolled his eyes while Sam and Wordy chuckled on their side of the table.
Leah's eyes widened. "That's the boss' application?" she asked and Ed nodded in response.
"I didn't even know tapes existed back then," Jules teased once more.
Greg just narrowed his eyes at Jules. "I'll have you know they did," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Ed… that better be from the SRU," he said in his normal voice a small smirk playing on his lips.
"Unfortunately it is, I couldn't access your Detective application," Ed said with a grin, knowing this one went way before the SRU.
Greg smirked sitting back, relieved. "Good. Then I don't care," he said smugly as he crossed his arms. He knew there was no application video for Homicide - in fact SRU had application videos for the very reason proven by what had just happened with Logan.
Ed snorted at Greg. "I give you 2 minutes before you start being self-conscious," he said as he stood and went to put the tape in the VTR.
"Lets see it!" Spike said, sitting back excitedly, Sam and Wordy did the same.
Greg fixed them with a look. He shook his head before moving his chair so he was out of the way and could look up at the screen.
The screen came to life after a moment and Greg's younger face appeared on it.
"Boss, you look pretty good there," Spike piped up.
Greg nailed him with a look - back then he'd just come out of alcoholism and was just recovering.
"We don't have to watch it," Wordy piped up, suddenly feeling like they were intruding.
Greg caught Wordy's look. "It's alright," he offered a knowing smile. "I do watch it occasionally, to remind myself of why I do what I do." Greg shrugged.
"That or to see yourself with hair?" Ed joked.
The team erupted in laughter while Greg shot him a look. Ed smiled back at him innocently and then his eyes moved to each and every one of them, glad to see they were alright, glad that the dynamics were back to what they'd always been. This wasn't just a team, it was family. And they still needed each other.
A/N: Again, thank you all for your continuous support and your wonderful reviews. I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did writing it.
If you like what we do and want to join in the fun, we have just recently started a FP roleplay site! Feel free to check it out and join, most canons are still available! (link on our profile).
Thanks for reading, and keep the peace!