Okay, so a lot has transpired since last I posted, both in the show and in life. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post. I had a hard time keeping myself motivated as I'm mostly an episode driven writer. Then we finally get the show back, and with a bang. The premiere was awesome and I know I haven't really done the episode justice, but hey I have my faults. Hope you enjoy my take on things and let's get this story back up and rolling

But before we do I just want to mention I know in the episode Blue on Blue (one of my favorite eppy's of course) Greg mentions the 10-33 call and Sam says it's an "officer in need of assistance" code. In this story I call a 10-33 what the actual Toronto Police Force calls it, 911 Activation-emergency, code. I've done the same with Winnie's position as well. I know that in the show it was mentioned that Kira was a police officer, but the dispatcher's employed by the Toronto Police Force are actually civilians. In both cases I've decided to go with real life instead of cannon, so yes, I know I've made a "boo boo," but it's on purpose.

As always, thanks to Christy for the beta and as always, any and all mistakes are mine, not hers.

Michealangelo Scarlatti sat quietly taking in his surrounds, a habit derived from over fifteen years as a police constable. He knew for instance that a group of young men seated at a table just to his left were betting on the outcome of a game between the Blue Jays and Yankees being played in town at the Skydome. A group of fifty-something year old woman behind him to his right were in deep conversation catching up on what their children were up to these days and updating each other on their professions, while a group of men standing just to the left of the bar where having a lightly heated discussion, of what he didn't know as he couldn't hear their conversation at all, but there body language suggested these men had known each other for years. Spike was sitting at a round table with Tyrone Camden, Winnie's brother, and a couple of her male cousins. The group was reminiscing about some of their teenage antics, stories Spike enjoyed listening to especially any that had involved Winnie.

He sat nursing his second beer of the evening and noticed Sophie Lane and her assistant placing finger type foods on a table decorated with expensive flower arrangements as well as glowing candles. Winnie and her siblings had hired Ed's wife to cater their parents' anniversary party. Sophie had provided an incredible sit down meal earlier in the evening, and was now offering a light late night snack for seventy family and friends gathered to celebrate the Camden's thirtieth.

The evening had turned out to be more comfortable than Spike had envisioned. He'd imagined spending an evening sitting and mostly observing a group of people he mostly didn't know, but the guests gathered to celebrate had been a warm, engaging, and curious crowd. He'd found he'd spent most of the evening chatting and getting to know Winnie's family better and essentially, through them, getting to know a little more about Winnie. This was the first moments all evening that he'd really had to partake in one of his favorite past times, people watching.

He'd especially enjoyed the slow dances he'd shared with Winnie during the course of the evening. She had been and continued to mingle with the guests playing the perfect hostess to the party, so those few moments when he was able to hold her close to him leading her around the dance floor and having a quiet, intimate conversation were golden.

Tyrone and the other men seated at Spike's table began talking about Tyrone's pending fatherhood which was fast approaching. Ty, as Winnie referred to him, was expressing his excitement and yet fear at the thought of not only becoming a father, but also at the thought of his wife's actual labour. As it turned out, all the other men were also childless so none had any relevant advice or wisdom to share.

Spike turned to Tyrone, "Hey, don't worry 'bout it so much. You'll both be fine."

Tyrone gave Spike a smirk as he replied, "And you know this because you've withheld the fact that you're an OBGYN on your days off?"

Spike chuckled, "No, but I helped a woman deliver once."

"No kidding!"

"Holy!"

"Get Out!"

And "really?" had been the others' simultaneous responses.

"Yeah, trust me you'll be fine." Spike answered.

Tyrone's eyes met Spike's, "and this woman…" was all he managed.

"A 911 call," Spike shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh." Tyrone nodded his head up and down in acknowledgement.

"So those sorts of things really do happen, it's not just made up stuff for the movies?" Alex, a Camden cousin asked.

"Really happens." Spike replied as he caught a glimpse of Winnie walking by his table. His eyes followed her as she made her way over to Sophie Lane, who continued to arrange the food table. She looked stunning. She had on a dark wine coloured form fitting dress that had nearly been his undoing when she'd picked him up for the evening. It was sleeveless, had a V-neck cut, showing a whole lot of cleavage and the wonderful swells of her breasts. Just looking at her in the halls dark candle lit room did a myriad of things to him physically. His blood immediately rushed to his lower region, his fingers and the palms of his hands itched to reach out to touch her, and his flaring nostrils were just a few of his reactions. He heard himself groan lowly (quietly) when his eyes slowly grazed down her body finally landing on her feet. He never thought of himself as a shoe fetish kind of guy, but then he'd never seen Winnie Camden in stiletto's often either. The thoughts and images her shoes invoked could only be described as lustful.

*FP*

Hours later in his hotel room bed, he lay on his back lightly caressing Winnie's naked form as she lay pressed up against him slowly tracing the scar on his chest, a reminder of a long ago experiment gone wrong. He could have easily fallen asleep in that moment if Winnie hadn't risen to a sitting position and removed the shoes he'd asked her to keep on while they'd been undressing for the evening. His request had been met with a sly smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

As she lay back down, taking up the position she'd been in previously she spoke, "So, Ty tells me you've delivered a baby."

"Well, I may have exaggerated a bit."

"You lied?"

"No, just left out some of the details. He needed reassuring."

"What details?"

"I didn't actually deliver the baby, my partner did."

Winnie lifted herself up on an elbow and smiled at him, "Did you pass out?"

He returned her smile, "No, I played coach while Oliver played doctor."

"So this was before the SRU?" Winnie asked remembering a call a few years previously that had involved Spike's partner and mentor on the regular force.

He nodded his head, "Way before, it was during my second year on the force."

"What brought you guys to a delivery?"

"A 10-33 call," he said knowing she would know the code for a 911 activated-emergency call.

"You had no idea what the nature of the call was?"

"No, just that a young child had placed the call. He didn't say anything other than his mommy needed help."

"Wow."

"So we get to the house and there's no response to our knocks other than we could see these two small children on the other side of the door looking at us. Both the front and back doors were locked."

"You could see them!"

"Yep, no matter how much McCoy encouraged them, they wouldn't unlock the door for us."

He continued after a few moments reflection, "So, we broke the glass and let ourselves in. That's when we could hear a woman's scream. We both immediately pulled our weapons, which scared the kids to death."

"I can only imagine how old were they?"

"I don't know? Four and six maybe?"

"The poor things."

"Yeah, so Ollie shouts out and starts to clear the rooms following the woman's screams."

"What did you do?"

"Stayed with the kids, asked them if there was anyone else in the house besides them and their mother."

"There wasn't?"

"Nope, not that they told me so. They were terrified and I had the feeling they'd been told not to talk to strangers and I was a stranger."

"But you're an officer!"

"Yeah well, I don't think their parent's told them it was okay to speak to someone in uniform."

"Oh."

"So while I'm trying to reassure these two frightened kids McCoy finally calls down to me to call an ambulance and to come upstairs to help him, that the woman was in labour. So I radioed dispatch for paramedics and climbed the stairs.

"And…"

"And the baby wasn't waiting for any paramedics, so while McCoy helped actually deliver the baby, I was left to coach the mother."

Winnie giggled, "How'd that go?"

"I don't know, however I think the mother was reassuring me more than I was reassuring her."

She laughed again, "How old were you?"

"Twenty-one, I thought for sure she'd broken my hand."

"Oh, Spike," Winnie snorted her laughter. "So, what happened, where was her husband?"

"She had another boy, her husband was out of town on business and we delivered her two other children to her mother while the paramedics took her and the baby to the hospital."

They lay in bed chatting about her parent's party and the various people Spike had been introduced to during the course of the evening before they made love again and finally drifted off to sleep.

*FP*

Winnie arrived at the Lane household a few Saturdays later just before four o'clock in the afternoon. Today, Spike, the guys from Team one, his brother-in-law, and friend Jeff were moving Spike's belongings out of storage and into his newly purchased condo. Three weeks earlier he'd moved into a hotel as the closing date on his mother's house had arrived and he'd yet to close on his own purchase.

While the men did the heavy duty stuff, the women gathered at the Lane's for a gathering Sophie insisted on hosting on Spike's behave as his condo would prove too small to host the gathering of twenty-six people including various off-springs of the adults.

"Hey, Winnie." Shelley Wordsworth greeted her at the front door.

"Hi, Shelley, this is Spike's sister, Maria and his friend Cindy. " Winnie gave way of introductions of Spike's sister and his friend Jeff's wife.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Shelley smiled warmly, "and who do we have here?" she bent down to the four children standing beside their various mother's.

Again Winnie introduced Spike's niece and nephew and his friend's two children.

"Come in, the kids are in the family room, I'm sure they'll be happy to have more company. Shelley led the children into the Lane's family room off of the kitchen and introduced the new arrivals. Meanwhile, Winnie led the two other women into the Lane's kitchen where her friends were gathered around the center island gabbing and drinking wine. Introductions were quickly made and drinks poured for the newest guests.

"Jules, I'm surprised to see you, I figured you'd be helping with the move."

Jules rolled her eyes at Winnie, "I was banned; apparently I'd be invading some sort of guy bonding time." She raised her hands and bent her pointer and middle fingers up and down a few times in air quotations as she spoke the last few words of her sentence.

Winnie smiled, she'd gotten the same hog wash from Spike. She raised her glass in the air, "to girl talk," she said as Shelley returned to the room. Before taking a drink of their beverages the women rose their glasses in the air and clinked them in celebration.

They chatted about the latest movies they'd seen or books they'd read, it turned out 50 Shades of Grey had been a popular choice, talk continue about child rearing issues and some just asked questions of each other, hoping to learn more about those they didn't know, or only knew in passing.

Just as all the various conversations quieted, Jules, who was standing beside Sophie asked, "How's Ed?" She hadn't meant for her question to be overheard but couldn't take it back now.

Sophie looked at Jules and didn't respond for a long time. Finally she shook her head, "Not good. He's trying to act like nothing's wrong, but he's struggling with his emotions." She explained. For the women who were partnered with the Team one members, no explanation was needed. They all knew Jules was referring to the after effects of May Dalton, a teenage girl Ed had shot and killed a week earlier.

Marina spoke next, "Ed's not the only one, Greg's in pain as well."

"What happened?" Shelley asked, recognizing the looks on some of the women's faces. She'd been married to an SRU Constable far too long not to recognize the sadness in the other's eyes.

Jules huffed, "We had a call turn on us."

"Oh." Shelley replied and the room remained silent for a while. No one knew what to do, or say, until Marina looked at Jules and asked, "How are you?"

Jules shook her head slightly, not saying anything while her eyes pooled with unshed tears.

"Do you want or need to talk about?" Sophie asked.

"I don't really know what to say, it got away from us and an eighteen year old girl is dead because of it." She wiped at her eyes.

Winnie noticed Maria's hand rise to cover her mouth, she turned to Spike's sister and placed a hand on top of the hand still resting on the island. When Maria turned to look at her Winnie could see the questions in the other woman's eyes.

"How are you, Winnie?" Shelley asked.

"I wasn't on duty," she answered.

"Oh, than how's Spike?"

"Stunned, he feels responsible; he says he told Greg that she had it together. He's second guessing his instincts."

"Oh, God," Jules spoke quietly in response to Winnie. "We're all responsible, we made the call as a team and we all tried to get her to lower her weapon. We're all struggling with the blame, we all feel like we made mistakes."

"There was an investigation." Shelley stated more than questioned as she knew the protocols.

"Of course, deadly force was used, Ed was cleared, the team's been cleared, but that doesn't change the outcome. Doesn't change the fact that Raf quit." The lone female member of the team answered.

"He quit?" Shelley asked with shock.

"Yeah, we'll be getting his replacement in the next few days."

Silence filled the air as each of the women thought about the conversation that had just taken place. "Well how 'bout we start working on dinner, I'm sure the boys will be hungry when they show up." Their hostess finally spoke, deciding a change of topic was needed with the hopes the atmosphere could hopefully be brought back to the present, which was a happy one, as Michaelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti had joined the world of home ownership.

While helping to unwrap the various salads and other cold dishes and placing them on the island, Winnie's thoughts however didn't return to the present; as her mind began to replay the events of the evening they had all just been discussing, however the replay was from her perspective and very private in nature.

*FP*

It was just after ten o'clock when Winnie heard a soft knock on her apartment door. Walking out of her bedroom, down a short hallway, and through her living room she reached the door just as a second round of knocks pounded.

She flipped a light switch for the outside light, unlocked her door and pulled it open, surprised to see Spike standing under the soft glow of the light above his head. She noticed right away that he looked terrible, stressed.

"Hey, can I come in?" He asked in a muted voice.

"Spike, of course, what are you doing here?" she returned while stepping aside and allowing him to enter.

He shook his head, "I don't want to be alone tonight." Again he spoke very softly. That's when Winnie finally realized he was still in his full tactical gear. The revelation alone should have made her understand something was bothering him, as he very, very rarely left work without changing out of his uniform.

"You okay?"

Spike inhaled a huge breath, she watched his shoulders rise and fall, but didn't respond. She felt herself begin to panic. What could have happened?

"Spike?" She placed a hand on his arm. He turned to her and before she could even react he'd wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her neck. She reacted by placing her arms around him and ran her hands up and down his back. His embrace was strong and tight but she didn't complain as she could feel his pain. She remained silent and tried to absorb as much of his hurt as she could. They stayed that way for a good five minutes before he finally let her go.

He straightened himself to his full height, "Did I wake you?"

"No, I was just lying down reading." She knew he asked because she was wearing a pair of pyjamas.

"Good."

"You wanna take your boots off?" She asked.

"Yeah."

She watched as he took his tactical boots off and neatly placed them out of the way. "You hungry, want something to eat or drink?"

"No."

"Okay," she had no idea what to do. It was obvious he was bothered about something. "You wanna talk?"

When he remained silent she said, "Okay, well I'm thirsty, why don't you sit." She left him standing by the door trying to figure out what he wanted while she retreated to her kitchen to get a bottle of water. Did he want to talk or not? Have sex? Go out for a bit? She had no clue.

When she returned to her living room she found him with his bottom on the top back portion of her sofa with his feet stretched out in front of him and his feet crossed at the ankles, his hands in his lap. He was looking straight ahead, deep in thought. She stood in front of him slightly off to the side taking in the sight of him. He was so appealing to her she sometimes couldn't believe how lucky she was. He was smart, funny, compassionate, and sexy as hell, especially in his full tactical gear. At the moment though, he was hurting. She placed a hand on his arm again and repeated, "Are you okay?"

He turned to her, his eyes finally seeming to focus on her, "Come here." He took her hand in his, uncrossed his feet, spread his legs, and pulled her between them, holding her once again. She let her bottle of water drop onto the cushions behind them and wrapped her arms around his neck liking the feel of how perfectly their bodies fit against one another. She could feel the tension in his body, something had definitely happened during his shift.

"Let's go to my room." She pulled her upper body away from his looking into his eyes.

"We can go to my hotel room."

"No, it's okay."

"Are you sure? Is Stephanie home?" he asked while being led into Winnie's bedroom.

"Yes she's home and yes I'm sure. I think you need some rest." She said as they entered her room. She looked around realizing Spike had never been in her room before. Thankfully it was neat and tidy, she'd learned soon after beginning to see him that Spike liked neat and tidy. Her room was on the smaller side, allowing for a double bed only if she wanted to keep her two side tables. She was sure her bedding was rather frilly and girly for Spike's liking but she was also pretty sure he wouldn't care as he didn't have to deal with it on a nightly basis.

He pulled her into his embrace once again, "I need to be with you, Winnie, and I need to feel connected, need to feel human."

"I know." She replied taking in the feel of his hands running through her hair. Truthfully, she didn't really know what he needed, but she did know he was hurting and needed comforting, and she was more than willing to comfort him in whatever form he needed. He'd only returned to work three weeks prior and everything had being going smoothly. She reached up taking the zipper of his vest between her fingers and pulled it down, helping him shrug out of the garment when it separated in the center. He placed his hands on either side of her face and pulled her in for a tender kiss. When they broke apart she began unbuttoning his shirt until she reached his waist, then pulled the remaining shirt out of his pants and undid those buttons as well. Once again, he shrugged out of the clothing.

At this point he bent slightly and reached down to his right leg, that's when she noticed for the first time that he had his side arm. She took a gulp, staring at the gun. He released the holster from his belt and undid the clasps around his leg and gently placed the holster and gun onto the cushioned wicker chair to their right. She knew he'd straightened and was now looking at her but she couldn't take her eyes off of his sidearm.

"Hey." He placed his hands on either side of her face again and gently turned her to face him.

She gave him a smile she didn't quite feel and while her face remained in his hands and kept straight she couldn't help but turn her eyes towards the weapon once again.

"Winnie, it's okay. The safety is on."

"You didn't leave it at work?" She felt silly asking the question since it was obvious he hadn't.

"No."

"Are you supposed to?"

"It's a personal choice, I normally do, but didn't tonight."

"Doesn't it belong to the department?"

"No, not my sidearm, it's mine."

"Oh," she replied and finally let her eyes travel back to his.

"Like I said, the safety's on. It's okay, nothing to worry about." She closed her eyes briefly when his thumbs caressed her cheeks.

"Okay." She answered softly letting the feel of his thumbs distract her from the fact that there was a loaded weapon in her bedroom.

"I believe you were undressing me," he smirked at her when she finally opened her eyes.

"Yeah, I was," she smiled pulling his t-shirt out of his pants and continuing to pull it up and over his head. He helped her by removing it the rest of the way and let it drop to the floor. She dropped her hands to his waist and undid his belt buckle, his pants snap, and then lowered the zipper. When she pulled his pants down, she took his briefs with them, leaving him standing before her completely in the buff.

She drank in the sight of him and felt a jolt of electricity run through her body. When her eyes landed on his member she instinctively licked her lips which brought a groan from him.

"You, bella, are overdressed," he said as he began to unbutton her pyjama top.

"Definitely," she returned her gaze to his face. Her stomach flipped at the lust she saw. When he finally had the buttons undone, his hands came up to her shoulders and pulled the top away from her and pulled it down her arms letting it drop to the floor.

Her breath hitched when he lowered his head and took her right nipple into his mouth, while his right hand settled on her left breast caressing it. She let her head roll back taking in the delicious sensations coursing through her body. She placed her hands on his head and began to run her fingers through his short hair. Of all the guys she'd ever dated, Spike's hair was worn the shortest and was the softest to the touch.

After pinching, rolling, pulling, and tweaking her nipple between his fingers Spike's hand began to travel south, leaving goose bumps in its wake, she moaned in anticipation of its final destination. She ached for his touch and he didn't let her down when his hand slid underneath her waistband and found her aching, swollen womanhood. He had also must have been aching to touch her because when he did, he groaned his appreciation.

He quickly inserted a couple of fingers into her while his thumb found the center of her sexual nerve endings and applied pressure while rubbing in small circles. With his mouth still pleasuring her nipple it didn't take long for his actions to bring her to the orgasm her body was screaming for.

When she regained her faculties Spike straightened and placed his lips on hers. His free hand came behind her head while his right hand continued to massage her naughty bits. She reached down and wrapped her hand around his length and began a slow steady pump. She felt his body stiffen as he moaned into her mouth. God how she loved these private intimate moments with him, the next thing she knew his hand wrapped around hers and he took it away and weaved their fingers together wrapping it around her back as he held her close.

"Let me make love to you, Winnie." He spoke gently against her mouth.

How could she possibly deny such a request? "Okay," she said while helping him remove the rest of her clothing before lying down onto her bed and opening herself to him.

He made love to her softly and slowly, as if she was a delicate porcelain doll. The results of which were magical. The slow pace had drawn out both of their pleasures and they found their release almost simultaneously.

After they had cleaned up and changed her sheets, they lay in each other's arms and he told her about their call involving May Dalton and her subsequent death. How he'd felt responsible. He felt his actions of allowing her to listen to her parent's conversation while they were in the elevator had been the turning point. It had set into motion a chain of events. He was struggling with his guilt; he felt he should have sensed her state of mind. He told her how he'd told Greg she was pretty together and how wrong he'd been. He explained the teams discussion back at headquarters, how Jules felt guilty because she had been standing right beside May before the girl had bolted, how Greg felt guilty because he'd allowed the young woman to come up to the roof to begin with.

He continued to describe the team's debriefing and told her Greg mentioned that the girl should never have been on the roof, that that had been his call. Spike told her how he couldn't let Greg take that kind of blame and turned it around. Clarifying that she had made the choice; that when she asked to go up to the roof, that she knew she had a loaded weapon on her and might very well use it.

The kicker had been when Raf told them how proud he was to be a member of the SRU but he couldn't do it anymore, essentially telling them that he couldn't handle it anymore. Of course Spike told her how they'd all tried to talk him down from his decision but how he knew the minute Raf had mentioned they should have just let her pull the trigger and kill her father, how he knew Raf wouldn't and shouldn't stay with the team. He'd lost sight of the priority and that wasn't good. Not for anyone involved, not their victims, the subjects, the public, or the team.

After letting him tell the story, Winnie just held him in her arms and listened to his slow even breathing as he finally fell asleep.

The following morning Winnie extracted herself from bed, threw on her pyjamas and went to put on a pot of coffee. She was surprised at first when she found Stephanie in the room and making herself a coffee. But then she remembered it was Sunday so Stephanie wasn't working.

"Morning," her roommate greeted her.

"Hey."

Stephanie set about pouring Winnie a cup of black coffee, "Does Spike want one?"

Winnie was pretty sure she was blushing as she could feel her face getting warm. She hoped her complexion was hiding her discomfort, "Oh you didn't hear…"

"No, I saw the boots by the door, figured they belonged to him. So what, you guys getting tired of his hotel room?" Stephanie teased.

"Funny, no I didn't expect to see him last night. They worked the evening shift. It wasn't a good one."

"Oh," Winnie's roommate let her teasing drop. "Is he okay?"

"I think so. He'll just need a couple of days to process it." At least she hoped that's all he needed.

The roommates were seated at their small kitchen table catching up with each other when Spike entered the room forty-five minutes later. He was back in his uniform, his side arm secured once again to his thigh. He carried his Kevlar vest in his hand. "Morning," he greeted them.

"Morning," Winnie replied while rising to her feet.

"Uh…good morning," Stephanie finally managed.

Winnie looked down at her roommate when she heard the hesitation in Stephanie's voice. Yep, the woman was a bit shell shocked, starring at Spike, or more accurately, his gun. She totally sympathized with her. She turned her attention back to Spike, "You wanna' coffee, breakfast?"

"Um...no, I'm gonna go home and shower, should probably have done that before coming here. Sorry."

"It's okay."

"I want to check on Raf and Greg before heading back to work."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you there." She replied while walking him to the front door. She watched as he put on his boots and laced them up before tying them.

When he stood he took her in his arms, "Thanks for listening."

"You don't need to thank me. Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't have if I'd just gone back to my hotel room."

Winnie gave him a small smile, "You sure you're okay?"

He nodded his head, "Yeah, think I'm still in a bit of shock."

"That's understandable."

He tightened the grip and kissed her. She could feel he was returning to his old self already, "Call me if you need anything."

"Kay." He continued to hold her and just stared into her eyes which quickly turned warm and his face took on the gentlest set, "I love you, Winnie." He said softly to her.

Her heart skipped a beat before it started to race. She thought for a moment that she'd heard incorrectly, but no, he had definitely said the words she'd been longing to hear and yet had been holding back herself for months now.

He bent down and gave her a sizzling kiss that made her toes curl. "I'll see you at work." He said when he came up for air and didn't give her a chance to respond before he was out the door.