Twelve Days of Christmas – SRU Style

Summary: Twelve days leading up to Sam's Second Christmas with Team One, starts on Dec 12th and goes to Dec 23rd (SSCWTO starts Dec 24th). Each chapter is a single day. Mostly feel good stories with a little whump. Inspired by the song 12 Days of Christmas. There will be humor, hot calls, a little JAM, a sense of family and caring and some wacky things that happen to our favorite SRU Team.

Setting: Sam's Second Christmas with SRU, takes place after Lou died (sad) so Leah is on the team. Sam and Jules are best friends and have a special connection.

I do not own Flashpoint or any of the characters from that series.

I do own my original characters and all original story elements.

Partridge in a Pear Tree

SRU HQ – Briefing Room – Saturday, December 12th – 7:00 am

Sam sauntered into the briefing room with a grin on his face and a baggie in his hands. He took his place at the briefing table and waited for the rest of the team to assemble. The SRU common areas were festooned with colorful lights and there was even a tree tucked into one corner near the dispatch desk.

The festive look of SRU HQ made him happy. Last year it was decorated much the same, but Sam was in a much different mindset that year. He had still mostly been in a dark place last year, even though the team had begun reaching out to him.

Christmas with Wordy's family had been wonderful. It made him smile to think about waking up to find little Allie in his room. Her twenty questions and talk of cookies had warmed his heart when he needed it most. It helped him remember the innocence and joy of this time of year.

Sam had bought a little tree for his apartment this year. On it were only three ornaments. Holly's snowflake. Lilly's tree. Allie's star. The popsicle ornaments meant more to him than any store-bought ones ever would.

Wordy strode in with a smile on his face and said as he sat down "Shel and the girls are expecting you next Saturday to help them bake some cookies."

Sam grinned, "I'll be there but don't they normally do that on the day before Christmas?"

"Yeah they do. But since Saturday is our only half day off before Christmas and the girls wanted you to join them, Shel moved it" Wordy stated.

Feeling extremely touched that they would do that for him, Sam simply said "That was nice of Shel."

Wordy grinned then noticed the baggie and asked "What you got there?"

Sam slid the bag over to Wordy, "My mom sent me a ton of cookies. I think she went overboard now that she has an address to actually send me something for Christmas. Those are all the snickerdoodles. A little angel told me last year that you like the ones with cinammammon sugar."

Wordy laughed "Cinammammon? I think you meant cinnamon."

Shaking his head Sam shared, "Not according to Allie. She said she thought you snuck one after Lilly said the cookies were for Santa. She saw the cinammammon sugar on your mouth."

Opening the bag of cookies Wordy withdrew one and took a bite "Mmmmm. Good. Do I have to share with the team?"

Sam shrugged, "Up to you. But you know Spike … you don't share and he will be planning all kinds of ways to steal them."

Spike bounded into the briefing room singing the first part of the song that started playing in the gym as officers from other teams were working out "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree."

He stopped seeing the cookies and his eyes widened. Spike's voice changed to a good imitation of Sesame Street's Cookie Monster as he said "Cookies. Me want cookies."

Wordy grinned and pulled one out and held it out to Spike, "You're lucky it is Christmas time and I'm feeling charitable. Otherwise you'd be outta luck Spike."

Spike took the cookie and bit into it "Mmmmm, tell Shel her cookies are the best."

"Hey, I thought you said my cookies were the best" Jules stated as she came to a stop next to Spike. She gave him the evil eye.

Spike gulped, "Um, um. You make the best double chunk chocolate chip cookies. Shel's makes the best snickerdoodles."

Wordy shook his head, "Not that I disagree but these are not Shel's cookies. Sam's mom made them."

Turning to Sam, Spike exclaimed "And you gave them all to Wordy? Aw, I thought we were buds."

Sam just grinned, "Yours are coming tomorrow. I didn't have enough room in my bag this morning to bring them all without crumbling them."

Ed sauntered in and caught the tail end of the conversation and he said "When are you going to get a vehicle Samo? It's too cold for you to be riding your bike now."

Sam shook his head and said "I like riding my bike. I don't need a car."

Greg entered and looked around, they were just shy Leah. He looked at Sam and said "If you start to catch a cold, you let me know and I'll take you to and from work Sam. No getting bronchitis like last year."

What Greg left off but thought was especially with your scarred lungs. If Sam caught a cold now like he had last year, his lungs might not be able to recover after the damage done to them by Merrill's bullet.

Sam nodded. What none of them knew and he was not about to tell them was that he wore special cold weather undershirts. He had found out the company that supplied the Special Forces with their cold weather gear and ordered two dozen of them in black. He was not about to get a chest cold. He worked too damned hard to get back to SRU.

Leah entered with a smile and said "Sorry I'm late. My mom just called to see if I was still going to be able to make it down for Christmas. I told her I'm booked on the red-eye flight on Christmas eve."

Spike quipped, "Don't you mean the red-nosed flight."

Everyone looked at Spike with various confused expressions.

Spike got expressive, "Don't you get it. Red nose, Christmas Eve … come on. One of you gotta get it."

Everyone remained quiet. They got it but it was fun to tease Spike.

Exasperated Spike said "Rudolph … you know it is Christmas Eve and she is in the air flying like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer."

Leah patted Spike's arm as she smiled, "Yeah I get it."

Winnie called out "Team One hot call. Armed entry at 1212 North Pear Drive. The homeowner entered the distress code and the monitoring company is listening in. Patching through on channel two."

The team headed out to gear up as Greg instructed Winnie "Get me details on the homeowners."

"Copy" Winnie responded.

1212 North Pear Drive – Saturday, December 12th – 8:00 am

The team had been listening to the monitor on the way to the home. The armed entry turned out to be some thieves that had been hitting the neighborhoods in this area over the last few weeks. They would go in and steal any presents and make a hasty exit. In all previous thefts, no one was at home.

But apparently, Mrs. Partridge had returned home unexpectedly, she was not feeling well and left work early. The team heard her hacking and coughing through the intercom. They also heard the thieves trying to decide what to do. They had never encountered someone home.

Two of them wanted to kill Mrs. Partridge because she saw them and could identify them. Three others were skittish and didn't want to add murder to their list of crimes. The five argued the entire time it took the team to arrive.

Arriving in silent mode, since the subjects did not know they were being listened to, the team assembled near the SUVs as they scanned the area.

The home was in the Pear Groves neighborhood. An upscale area that used to be an actual pear grove. The house was large and boasted huge glass windows.

Ed and Sam had reviewed the blueprints that Spike had located for them. Based on information from the monitoring company that Jules talked to, they determined that Mrs. Partridge was in the upstairs family area.

Greg looked at the team and then to Ed and said "We gotta try and talk them out."

Ed nodded but said "Sam go find a Sierra position with a view to the second-floor area just in case."

"Copy" Sam responded and then headed to SUV to get his Remi.

He slung it over his shoulder and then looked around before trotting off to the back of the house where the large window to the family area was located. The houses were so spread out here that he would not be able to use a roof of one for a Sierra position. The homes were also semi secluded being surrounded by twenty-foot-tall pear trees.

Making it to the back of the house, Sam stopped and looked around for a Sierra position. There were no buildings back here that would be suitable. He chuckled a bit as he headed for the trees that were a fair distance from the house. Time to go for a climb.

Spike said "Give me a moment to get logged into the security system and you will have eyes to go with our ears."

Greg nodded and said "Jules you're my second. Two of the subjects are female so they may respond better to you."

Jules nodded "Once Spike gets visuals, I'll run facial recognition and see if we can get some information on the subjects."

Spike and Jules headed for the command truck.

Ed stated "Leah and Wordy, cover the back exit. I'll cover the front and if we go in Spike or Jules will assist me."

"Copy" everyone stated and headed off.

Greg rubbed his hands together and looked up at the sky. Today was a cold one and it was predicted to rain or sleet. He hoped they could resolve this call quickly. He headed into the command truck as Ed headed to the front of the house with a shield.

Sam climbed up one of the pear trees. These trees were not the best for climbing. Their trunks were thick enough but the branches were spindly by the time he got up about twelve feet. That was as high as he could safely go and have the branches hold his weight.

There was also a plethora of thin branches that filled out the tree. It would be a pretty tree in summer when it was full of leaves, but the bare branches now just made it stark looking. Bare branches were both a good and bad thing. Good for visibility for him with no leaves in the way. But also bad for the same reason. It afforded him no cover should the subjects notice him and take a shot at him.

He found two sturdy branches and locked his security line in on one. Sam placed his feet on two separate branches to distribute his weight. Then he slung his rifle off his shoulder and looked through his scope into the upstairs family room.

Sam called out "Sierra One in position. I have good visibility of the full room. One older woman is in the corner on the black wall sitting in a chair. She is coughing a lot so I'm fairly certain that is Mrs. Partridge. Four of the subjects are near the green wall and look to be arguing."

Greg asked "Do you see the fifth subject?"

Sam moved the scope to scan the large room again "Just entering the room. A woman. She is carrying a cup and heading towards Mrs. Partridge. She just gave the cup to her. The woman pulled out a bag too."

He adjusted the scope and then said "Cough drops. The subject gave Mrs. Partridge some cough drops."

Greg said "Good. That's good to know Sam. I can probably use that to connect."

Sam settled in to wait. He glanced up at the sky and hoped the rain held off. He had no desire to get soaking wet today.

Spike and Jules had been working on getting information on the subjects. Spike had tapped into the security system motion detector cameras that took images every ten seconds. They got images of all five and then started running facial recognition.

Jules turned to Greg when they got a hit "Danny Partridge? Boss that is Mrs. Partridge's son."

"Tell me about him. Why is he in the system?" Greg asked.

Jules scanned the details and said "Drugs. He was arrested six months ago carrying cocaine and charged with intent to sell as well as possession. He was given probation as a first offender when he gave up his dealer in a plea agreement and then sent to a drug rehabilitation program."

Ed said "Looks like the program did not work. Must have thought his parent's house would be an easy mark to get goods to sell to supply his habit."

Spike got a hit on another two and quickly looked them up. He turned and said "Boss, Katie Byrd and Harrison Perdrix were sent to the rehabilitation center at the same time as Danny."

Greg instructed "Send Sam the photos with names. Sam tune back into channel two and see if you can determine which two were arguing to kill Mrs. Partridge."

Leah commented to Wordy, "I hope it is not Danny. Man, that would just be terrible."

"Copy" Sam said and then reached in to his vest pocket for his phone.

Sam looked at the photos and names then put his phone back. Then he switched to channel two. Sam looked through the scope and listened to the argument that was still raging. It took a moment before he could see each properly and the conversation told him what he wanted to know.

He switched back to channel one and reported "Harrison Perdix appears to be the one in charge and he and another male subject are the ones wanting to shoot Mrs. Partridge. Danny and one of the female subjects are arguing against it. Katie is the one that brought the drink and cough drops."

Then Sam said "Boss it looks like things are heating up a bit. Danny and Harrison are getting physical, pushing one another."

"Copy Sam" Greg stated.

Ed informed Greg, "Boss I'm gonna position Wordy, Leah and me at the door inside since all the subjects are contained in one room right now. Sam how's it look in there?"

"The pushing stopped but Harrison is pacing and looks volatile. He keeps pointing at Mrs. Partridge. Katie has positioned herself in front of Mrs. Partridge. Danny is slowly backing up towards Katie and the other female subject. They are creating a protective wall in front of Mrs. Partridge."

Greg said "Okay Ed, go in but hold. I want to see if we can get a little more information before I call."

"Copy" Ed said. Then he he said "Wordy, Leah, in quiet and slow. I'll meet you at the bottom of the stairs and we go up together."

Wordy responded for him and Leah, "Copy."

Ed, Leah and Wordy moved into the house.

Jules called the rehab center. She got shuffled around to a few people before talking to the director of the center. The director started to give her some details on Harrison, Danny and Katie after she explained the situation.

Sam's voice came across the headset. They all heard the shiver in it as Sam reported, "Aw man, Harrison just pulled a gun out of his pants. It is down right now but ..."

Greg looked to Spike and said "Place the call."

Spike placed the call to the home number but it just rang and no one answered. They waited five minutes then Spike tried again. He tried twice more at five minute intervals but it only rang.

"Boss, I have an idea. The monitor system that we are hearing them on is two-way. I can patch your phone into it and you can talk to them that way" Spike said as he looked at Greg.

"Do it" Greg stated handing his phone to Spike.

Spike's fingers flew and in a moment said "Done. Just hit unmute when you are ready to talk to them."

Greg nodded taking the phone and stated "Ed, I'm coming to you with Spike." He noted that Jules was still on the phone with the rehabilitation program. She would feed him any pertinent info she found.

Jules hung up just as Greg was about to leave the truck "Boss."

Greg stopped and turned, "What did you find out?"

"The director said that Harrison was kicked out two weeks ago for violating policy. He brought drugs onto the premises after a visit home. Danny and Katie were caught doing drugs with Harrison but were not kicked out because they did not bring the drugs in. She also said that both Katie and Danny are on a two-day release to visit family for the holidays. Both were doing well in the program until Harrison brought the drugs in" Jules shared.

Greg nodded and asked "When were Katie and Danny released for the visit?"

"Yesterday afternoon" Jules answered.

"Then it is unlikely that Danny and Katie took part in the other thefts" Greg surmised.

Jules nodded in agreement, "Sounds like Harrison and the two unidentified subjects are responsible for those robberies. Perhaps Harrison knew where Danny lived and thought it might be an easy score or wanted to talk him into joining them."

Greg stepped out of the command truck with Spike. While they were in the truck for the last forty minutes the weather had changed significantly. There was a heavy freezing rain blowing in with some force. Spike and Greg raced to the house and entered the downstairs.

"Ed, we are coming up" Greg stated.

"Copy" Ed replied quietly.

Greg pressed unmute on his phone and stated "This is Greg Parker with the Strategic Response Unit. We have been trying to call the house but no one is picking up. We would like to resolve this so everyone goes home safely today."

Harrison looked around the room. Where the hell was that coming from?

Danny blurted out "My mom is in here. Harrison and Hugh want to kill her. You need to get in here. He has a gun."

Greg said "Danny we need to slow this down. We will not be barging in, let's just take this slow. Harrison, can you tell me what you need to end this peacefully? I'd like to help."

Harrison yelled at Danny, "How the hell is he talking to us?"

Danny answered "The security system. I activated it when you threatened my mom. You should have left like I told you to. I don't want to be around you. I'm done with drugs. So is Katie."

The team all thought good for you Danny. Turning your life around. There was hope for him.

Greg tried to engage Harrison again, "Harrison, just put the gun down and then no one needs to get hurt. Let's end this peacefully."

Harrison waved the gun towards Danny.

He was freezing cold but Sam did not need that to distract the team. So, Sam called out trying to keep the chattering sound from his voice "Gun up, pointed towards Danny but he is waving it around."

Hugh looked at Harrison "Whoa man, don't shoot Danny. Dude this is not worth it now. We just wanted some quick cash so we could get high. This just got real with the SRU here."

Katie looked out the window "Harrison, put the gun down or the sniper is gonna kill you."

Harrison whipped his head in the direction that Katie was looking. "Where? Where is the sniper?"

She pointed "There, in the pear tree. Do you see the sniper in the pear tree?"

"Boss they see me" Sam stated in a shivery voice.

He clenched his jaw to stop his teeth from chattering as he shivered. Sam so wanted this to end quickly. He was freezing his ass off in this pear tree. He had been bitterly cold ever since the freezing rain and wind started and the temperature dropped. But Sam held his position even as icicles formed on the branches, his rifle and his body as the sleeting rain froze when it made contact in what Sam suspected was now subzero temperatures.

Harrison saw the icicle laden sniper in the pear tree. He started to lower the gun. Harrison was not about to mess with a police sniper who would climb a tree in the rain and subzero weather. That officer had to be friggin crazy to be outside in that weather.

As he set the gun on the table Harrison said "I put the gun down. Tell the sniper not to shoot me. I put the gun down."

Sam called out in a shivering voice "Gun on the table. Harrison backing up."

Ed, Wordy, Spike, Greg and Leah rushed into the room. They took the three true subjects into custody and cuffed them.

Mrs. Partridge was hugging Danny and telling him how proud she was of him and how brave he was. Danny was telling his mom that he was sorry that Harrison showed up and that he wanted no part of drugs anymore.

Katie sat in a chair and simply watched the sniper in the tree. She turned to the dark-haired officer that had cuffed Leslie and said "So when does the sniper get to climb down? It's gotta be freezing up in that tree."

Spike turned and looked out the window. Sam looked like a popsicle. He called out "Sam you okay?"

Sam was trying to get unstuck from the tree. The freezing rain had stuck him solidly to the tree. He was so cold that his hands and legs were stiff. After trying to move for the past few minutes, Sam realized he was not getting down by himself.

Resigned to that fact, Sam's voice shook with cold "I co.. uld use a li … ttle hel …p here. I'm fr … ozen to the da … mned pear … tree."

From the truck, Jules called out "On my way Sam."

She grabbed rappelling gear and hustled out into the freezing rain.

Greg looked to Ed and said "Go. Spike you too."

Ed and Spike raced out of the house. Wordy, Leah and Greg took custody of the subjects and herded them downstairs to the await pickup by the uniformed officers.

Jules reached the tree just before Ed and Spike. She looked up and saw just how frozen Sam was to the tree. She began to gear up as she said "We'll have you down in a moment Sam."

Sam grumbled in a shivery voice "They ne…ver covered this ….in the Ad …vanced Marks…manship in Sub…zero Tem… per… atures class."

Ed chuckled "No I guess not. Not often a sniper gets frozen to a tree."

Jules headed up into the tree. When she got up there she tried to get Sam unstuck. She was shivering in very short order and called down in the shivery voice "No go. I need an ice pick or something to chisel away some of this."

Spike was sprinting back to the SUV to find something. Glad to be moving in the freezing weather. He rummaged around the SUV and then grabbed the tire iron after not finding anything else suitable.

By the time Spike got back, there were icicles forming on both Ed and Jules. Ed took the tire iron and climbed up just enough to hand it to Jules. He could go no further because this tree could not bear their combined weight.

Sam looked at Jules as she pulled back the iron preparing to whack the tree branch to dislodge the ice that was trapping him to the tree. His voice shook with cold "Don't mi … ss."

Jules responded with Sam's tired and true response "I never miss."

She hit the pear tree hard, sending shards of ice to the ground. Spike and Ed covered their heads just in time as the icicles crashed down to the ground under the tree.

Several more whacks and Jules had broken the ice's hold on Sam. Sam was so frigid and stiff that Jules had to help him down. When they got to where Ed was, Ed took over and helped him the rest of the way down the tree.

When they finally made it to the ground, Wordy, Leah and Greg had joined Spike under the tree.

Wordy threw a blanket over Sam's shoulders and said "Let's get you someplace warm."

Sam shivered out "Co … py … th … at."

Spike and Wordy assisted Sam to the SUV that Wordy had started before heading to the tree. He left it running with the heat on full blast to warm the interior. They got Sam in and closed the door.

Sam held out his frozen hands to the vent as he shivered.

Greg got into the driver's seat and said "You should get checked out by EMS?"

Sam shook his head "Ju…st a bit c…old. Wa…rming up … now."

At Greg's assessing look Sam said "Re…ally B… boss, I'm g… good."

Greg nodded but said "I'm giving you a ride home tonight and will pick you up tomorrow morning. No debate."

Sam nodded but then focused on getting as close to the warm air as possible.

The rest of the team got in the other vehicles and the team headed to the barn.

SRU HQ – Briefing Room – Saturday, December 12th – 7:00 pm

Sam took another sip of his hot coffee as he thought about today while he waited for Sarge to finish changing and take him home. This morning it had taken a long, warm shower and nearly a half hour before his body quit the occasional little shivers. He had joined the team in the briefing room after his shower and changing into a dry uniform.

He found that Spike and Jules had stopped at Timmy's on the way back and got hot coffee for all of them. Sam happily sipped his coffee enjoying the warming sensation during debrief. Overall, debrief went smooth and quick.

Greg had shared that it was the vision of frozen Sam in the pear tree that had Harrison giving up. Harrison was scared that a sniper willing to be out in that weather would likely shoot him just so he could come in from the cold. The team had a good laugh over that.

He also shared that Harrison, Hugh and Leslie had confessed to all the robberies and they only did that to finance their drug habits. Hugh told the authorities that Harrison said that he knew two others that would help them. They picked up Katie from her house then headed to Danny's home. But then Danny's mom came home and things went sideways when Harrison realized that she overheard them telling Danny and Katie how they could score big by helping them rob houses and bragging about the houses they had already robbed.

Greg then reported that after their visit home, that Danny and Katie were headed back to rehab to finish their program.

After debrief it was lunch and Sam was told to stay put. Ed, Wordy and Leah went to grab lunch for all of them. They had a nice lunch just shooting the breeze together as a team. Sam smiled thinking about that. It was so different from last year.

The rest of the day was spent at the barn doing inventory and a little training. They did not have any additional hot calls today. It was a rare quiet day, probably due to the weather. It was just too damned cold to go out and commit crimes, Sam thought.

Sam looked up at Jules as she entered the room and smiled. "You heading out?" Sam asked.

Jules nodded and said "Yeah, just wanted to make sure you were still feeling okay. No ill effects from your time in the tree."

Sam gave her a lop-sided grin, "No. I'm good."

She gave Sam an appraising look. Was he telling the truth? Jules came to the conclusion he was actually being truthful so she said "Alright then. I'll see you tomorrow."

Jules was about to leave when Wordy, Leah, Ed and Greg headed towards the briefing room. So Jules waited a moment to say goodbye to them too.

Knowing the Boss was ready to go, Sam stood up. He hated to be an imposition on the Boss. He tried a few times during the day to get the Boss to change his mind about giving him a ride tonight and tomorrow morning but Sam could not get him to budge. Even when he said he would just call a cab.

Sam joined the group outside the briefing room as Spike came bounding up with a bright smile on his face.

Spike said "Wait you gotta here my newest song."

Everyone waited while Spike cleared his throat. He grinned at Sam and said "I've only got the first verse done but I'm working on the rest of it."

Sam said "By the look of you Spike, I'm not so sure I'm gonna like this new song."

"Sure you will buddy, just hold on." Spike then fiddled with his phone and strains of an instrumental version of the Twelve Days of Christmas started playing.

Spike belted out in a surprisingly nice singing voice "On the first day of Christmas, Team One gave to me a frozen sniper in a pear tree."

Sam groaned.

Spike grinned.

The rest of Team One laughed.

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AN: Hope you enjoyed the first installment. Gift me with a quick review and let me know what you thought of it. Reviews make my day.