Lights & Sirens.

By Jeanine Hoffman.

Acknowledgments.

First, another big thank you to Roxanne and L-Book for believing in my characters, my story, and me. Judy, for your efforts to make this into the best story possible for all concerned.

Shari, your covers are always great but you went the extra mile for this one and I won't forget it!

Two special beta readers, Vic and Athena-thank you for the encouragement. JD, you kept me going on this one-thank you.

Also to my former brethren-the firefighters, EMT's, paramedics, and dispatchers who made up so much of my life for a long stretch of time. Thank you and stay safe!

The kids and volunteers at PRYSM. You gave me a similar sense of aiding my community and friendship when I was missing my EMS days the most. I'm grateful beyond measure that you allow me to share in a part of your lives.

Dedication.

Parker-you have changed my life in ways that you will never fully understand. You make me feel things I've never felt and made me understand some of my former patients just a little bit better. Thanks for being in our lives-but yes, you are still too young to read my writing! I love you!

Sue-the one real reason that I am still here. You have enabled me to find new depths to my soul and helped me continue to stretch my wings and let me fly. A love beyond measure and time. Thrice committed, my love.

Lights & Sirens.

CHAPTER 1.

RUNNING LIGHTS AND sirens, there's nothing like it on earth. The closest thing I can think of is when you wake up Christmas morning, run down the stairs, and find exactly the present you were hoping for under the tree. Not socks and underwear, but that one cool as s.h.i.t present that means you will be the center of your peer group for at least a week. That's the feeling I get every time I hear those tones drop off my pager or in the house, the station house that is for you non-emergency folks. I get to jump in my rig, flip those switches, and fly out to help someone in dire need. Truthfully, as often as not, we simply show up to give some frequent flyer a ride to the ER for what amounts to a regular doctor's visit, at the expense of the average Joe taxpayer.

By the way, I'm Chloe, but you can call me Donny, like most everyone else does. My last name is Donovan, and people just shortened it to Donny a long time ago. I'm an EMT-P by trade, what civilians would call an Emergency Medical Technician Paramedic level, or just a paramedic or even shorter, medic. You know, like Johnny and Roy on Emergency! That first look we all got at what it was like in a firehouse and trying to save people's lives. I think my parents knew, even back then, that I'd do something like this one day. There are pictures of me with my face pressed up against our front picture window, watching the ambulances and fire trucks going by when I was a little kid. From an early age, my favorite colors were black and blue, the colors of a bruise.

We were on another call, about the twelfth of the day in a sixteen-hour day, with five of those hours still left to go. It had been a busy shift, but we had a couple of sign-offs so it was a little better than it could have been. I don't mind sign-offs though, it's the first minutes at a scene that intoxicate me. We jump out of the rig, lights still flashing, sirens muted, pulling on our gloves, and grabbing our gear, going in to a scene where our very first duty is to take control.

A basic fact is that people panic. Hey, it's human nature when a loved one is injured or sick. We come in and take over, make the a.s.sessments, fix the problems as best we can, before scooping, and loading for a run to the ER. People defer to our uniforms, our crackling radios, and our use of medical jargon. They are in awe of what they don't understand, and that awe allows us the time to figure out what's going on and how best to fix it so that everyone can live another day, us included.

For all the drama of it, there is a simplistic beauty in what we do for a living. We fight the ultimate battle between life and death every day on behalf of those in our care. We either win, or we don't. They'll live, or they won't. We don't always get the call in time to do much, but we make every effort to try, at least to comfort the living left behind.

This time, we pulled up on the scene of a bigger wreck than average. Three cars were involved, one crushed between two others. The fire department was already on the scene, as well as another ambulance crew. We were the second crew on this one, which meant we don't have as much paperwork since we didn't run medical command. I hopped out and grabbed my turnout coat from the spot behind my seat, tugged on my helmet, and gloved up. I grabbed the trauma bag and headed towards the pile of crushed cars while my partner followed with the backboard and litter.

Oh yeah, my partner, forgot to tell you about him. I was with Tony, a probie finishing his supervised ride time with me. He's an okay guy, just young and fresh. He's only twenty-four with one of those almost military haircuts with sandy blond hair, light blue eyes. Tony is also a body builder. He doesn't just lift weights, he does the heavy weights, the special diets, and the muscle shows all oiled up and stuff. He's a decent sort, but he's still young, as I said, so his other interests seem to run to fast cars and fast women. His current pa.s.sion is an old Mustang convertible he's restoring. He calls it fun. I call it a lot of work and money to pour into an old car. Whatever, it's his thing.

I ran into the Captain on my way to the wreck. "Hey, Cap, what's the scoop?"

"Got a good one for ya, Donny. Take that middle car. We're about to peel the roof to extricate the vic. I got a guy in there holding C-spine, and we got the collar on already too. Had his seatbelt on, the collision was a good twenty miles per hour per side, and he just got sandwiched in a double T-bone."

"Gotcha, Cap, we're on it. Who's the other crew?"

"Spike's got the rest, one sign-off and one for transport, once we get her out of her car." I hefted my bag again and jerked my head towards the wreck for Tony to follow me.

What a mess people make when they don't pay attention. From the looks of things, our patient tried to beat the light and got crunched between two cars going straight through from the other sides at the four-way intersection. h.e.l.l, we got lucky! Only three out of four directions were involved. We nodded at the fire crews, and waited while they pulled the roof off the small car, like the lid off a can of soup. Hmm, soup would be good right about now, oh well, maybe after the call we can score some dinner.

Finally, they got the roof off and we looked in the car for the first time. The male patient was still gripping his cell phone like a vise, and looking none the worse for wear, if you ignored the air bag burns. Lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d had one of those newer cars with airbags tucked in every d.a.m.n spot possible, and it looked like they all fired this time. Shouldn't be too bad, but you just never know, so I always do a full exam, even if it's a fast one. I climbed on the trunk and lowered myself in the back seat along side the firefighter who had stayed with the patient while the roof was peeled.

"Hey, can you hear me? What's your name, buddy?"

The patient opened his eyes and looked up at me. "Mike, Mike Bonds."

"Okay, Mike, I need you to talk instead of shaking your head. Are you feeling any pain or tingling anywhere? Remember to tell me, don't try to shake your head."

"No, I'm okay, just shaken up."

"Well, I tell ya what, I'm going to help these guys get you out of here and onto a long board then onto our bed. We'll take you in to the ER just to be sure, and you can arrange for a ride and stuff from there. Okay?"

He mumbled a yes, probably still too stunned to speak.

"Okay, I need that board in here. I'll take C-Spine as we roll him out. Got it?"

Everyone nodded or grunted at me, so I figured we were good to go. This is something we do all the time and unless there are trainees, probies, or strangers involved, we don't need to talk much to get our job done.

"Ready, one, two, three, roll. One, two, three, slide. Good job, let's get him strapped and into the rig, guys."

We rolled him out and onto the board, slid him up into position, moving his body as one unit. Tony and the Rescue crew strapped and loaded the patient while I double-checked his car for any signs of trauma or personal items he might want with him. Finding nothing, I headed back to the rig.

Tony was already getting a set of vitals, so I started a more comprehensive examination.

"Mike, I'm going to poke and prod a bit, just let me know if anything hurts or feels weird."

Tony finished, gave me his numbers, and climbed in the front to drive us to the closest ER.

"I have good news, Mike, everything looks good. I'm going to put my heart monitor on you, but only as a precaution and part of our protocol. Still feeling okay?" I started peeling paper off the sticky backs of our monitor pads and applying them. White over right, smoke over fire. The white lead over the right side of the chest, the black opposite side of the chest, and the red lead, lower down on the left. A neat little trick I learned years ago, but I still think of it as I apply the leads.

"I'm fine. Was anyone else hurt? Do you know what happened?" Mike asked.

"Sorry, I really don't know much. I know one person felt fine and refused treatment."

He was quiet the rest of the ride, answering questions that I asked, but otherwise silent. That gave me plenty of time to do paperwork and call ahead to let the ER know that we were coming in with a victim of a motor vehicle accident. We pulled onto the ramp of the ER about ten minutes after we left the scene, just as Mike was starting to absorb what had happened.

"This the MVA, Donny? Bed three." Maria, one of the regular nurses greeted me and gave me a room a.s.signment as she pa.s.sed by us. We transferred Mike to a bed in a cubicle. While I waited for Maria to come over, Tony took the litter to clean and remake it.

"Hey, Donny, sorry for the wait. What do you have for me?"

"This is Mike, Double T-bone MVA, belted, multiple airbag deployment, nothing remarkable on exam, vitals stable, no past medical history. No complaints, just stunned so far." Maria signed my paperwork, I gave her a copy, and headed out to the ramp.

When I walked back outside, Tony already had the litter cleaned, remade, and loaded. The back of the rig looked all put back together. Sometimes, it's nice having a rookie around, they are so eager to get things done. I looked over to the other rig waiting on the ramp and saw that it was Spike, just done with the other patient from the scene. I walked over and b.u.mped into her with my shoulder to say h.e.l.lo. Her partner was Pauline Connor, aka Pauli. Spike was, and is, one of the best medics in the whole county. She got the nickname because she has the most amazing gift for starting IVs. Give her the most spidery, tiny, collapsing vein and not only will she get the line in every time, but she could launch that catheter from across the rig and have it land in position.

"What's up, Spike?" She was also our senior medic, a supervisor with more experience than any of the other medics in our company. Spike is on the smaller side, a mere five-five with slightly s.h.a.ggy brown hair and intense blue eyes. She had an amazing smile, which she flashed at me.

"Nothing, Donny. Nice job on that extrication. I'm guessing Mr. "I'm in love with my cell phone" is doing well?"

I laughed and nodded. "Nothing wrong with him but stupidity. Yours okay?"

She shrugged and a look of frustration crossed her face. "I guess so, just a shame that such a nice young woman is hurt cause some jacka.s.s couldn't put down a phone long enough to drive someplace."

I just nodded in commiseration while our partners came up to us. "I guess we oughta get back in service. What time are you guys off?"

Spike shrugged. "Supposedly, the same time as you. The third crew is swing today."

Swing crew was kept on the streets, theoretically to give the other crews time to turn over the rigs to fresh crews and head home. I say theoretically, because it's a known thing through EMS that no matter how slow or busy the day has been if you have plans after shift, there will be a last minute call.

"Cool, if we meet up at the station, ya wanna grab a beer or something?"

I try to hang out with Spike when I can. I keep hoping her medic skills will rub off through a.s.sociation or something. She nodded and tapped my shoulder in a friendly way, and then we grinned and split off to our rigs with our partners. Pauli gave a little wave in our direction as Tony pulled out around their rig.

"Man, Donny, that Pauli is hot! Do ya think she'd go out with me?"

Tony still hadn't learned that unless you thought it could be serious, you didn't date at the station house. Sure, people had coupled up that way. Our captain met his wife at a smokehouse cla.s.s he was teaching. She was a recent transfer to our district, and they kept running into each other. Eventually, he asked her out and things went from there, so we know it can work out. It's still not encouraged, but it is understood that you keep playtime away from work, if you catch my meaning.

"Tony, I keep telling you, if you want something real, then fine. Otherwise let it go, dude. Hit on another of those bar chicks you specialize in." I gave him a grin to soften the words, but the rookie had to learn sometime.

"She probably plays for your team anyway," he grumbled.

The truth is, I had no idea what team Pauli played for, as I hadn't ever heard of her dating. She was only two years out of her probie time, probation or rookie year, and seemed to be shaping up as both a medic and firefighter. When she ran fire, she either ran rescue and still functioned in a medical capacity, or she was on the engine and ran hose lines. We're in a system where the ambulances run out of the firehouses, and we're all trained on at least basic level fire skills. Some areas have a separate fire and ambulance system, it just depends upon the area you live in, I guess.

Whatever, I really didn't care about who dated whom at the house as long as they didn't bring drama to our family. I get enough drama in the d.y.k.e world, and I sure as h.e.l.l don't need more. Oh yeah, in case you hadn't figured it out, I'm a lesbian, so if that's a shock, you haven't heard that about forty percent of all EMS and firefighters are gay. I guess we're just drawn to helping people.

Thankfully, we made it back into our area and to the local diner to grab some chow. It's a cool little place that caters to a small group of locals. You almost never see a strange face in there unless it's someone new to the police or EMS.

However, we're talking food now! Food is, at the most basic level, required for nourishing our bodies. However, I think that good food and good company can enhance the effects of nutrition. In other words, I prefer good food to shoveling down a fast food burger.

Thankfully, this diner has a great cook, good prices, which they discount for cops and EMS workers on duty, and they keep our food warm, box it in a hurry, or even give us new food if we get called out during a meal. They know who we are and that we'll come back so they never worry about us rushing out. The owners know that they won't get stiffed for the bill.

They also make excellent soup. That was just the thing for a busy day with a chill in the air. I could already smell it as we walked in, heavenly potato soup with scallions, bacon and cheddar cheese.

Of course, another rule of EMS, tones drop just when you are hungriest and about to solve that hunger with a meal. As we walked in the door, the tones sounded from our radios. I really wanted that soup, but I turned up the portable radio to listen to the dispatch. Thankfully, they were calling the third crew to a call and not us, so we grabbed seats at the counter and gave our orders. While we waited, we nodded at a few people and talked about mundane stuff around the station. Tony started talking about his beloved Mustang, so I kind of glazed over. I nodded occasionally and he never seemed to notice that I really didn't care. He figured since I was a d.y.k.e that I should love cars as much as he did, but the truth was, I don't care one bit as long as it can get me from point A to point B in one piece. I have a basic pick up truck that I bought a few years ago to replace my Rav-4. It works, I can haul garden stuff, and I'm happy.

My cell buzzed in its holster, so I grabbed it while spinning on my stool to face away from Tony. It was a back line from dispatch. I wondered what was going on until I remembered that Caitlin was working this shift. Caity is Pauli's older sister and a dispatcher with a lot of time in service. I've actually known her a lot longer than I've known Pauli. First, she was just a voice on the radio or phone if I had to call into dispatch for information.

We met one time on a call when she was an innocent pa.s.serby and saw a wreck and stopped to offer aid. I knew her instantly by her voice. Later, I called in to dispatch to get our times and she answered the phone. We started talking about the patients from the wreck and the next thing I knew ten minutes had pa.s.sed. Ten minutes doesn't seem like a lot to civilians, but to me that's a huge chunk of time to have to myself during a busy shift. We've gotten pretty close over the years, hanging out and doing things together.

I answered my phone with a greeting for my favorite dispatcher, and was surprised when Caity didn't respond right away. I knew something was wrong, so I tried again.

"Caity, are you there? What's going on?" I heard a m.u.f.fled cough and then a sniffle before her voice came on the line.

"Sorry, Donny, I'm gonna bail on you tonight. I feel like c.r.a.p. I think I have a head cold coming on."

"That's okay, Caity, just drink a lot of OJ, and get some sleep. Did you want me to bring anything over for you? Soup, tea, me?" I said it with a grin, but I knew I meant it. I would certainly have taken care of her while she wasn't feeling well, but there were certainly times, well most of the time lately, that I wouldn't mind us getting a lot closer.

She laughed. "That's the best offer I've had in a week. Didn't you plan on us hanging out with some of the crews though? I don't want to keep you from your plans. Besides, you take care of sick people all day."

I put a stop to that nonsense right away. "Caity, I see them all the time. We practically all live together here anyway. I'd rather see you. Besides, it's different taking care of someone you know instead of some random stranger. Let me come over, I have homemade chicken soup in my freezer that is yours for the asking."

I knew I was sort of wheedling my way in, but it was worth it to me. We have been getting a lot closer the past year, but I still don't know if that is closer as friends, or closer like we might end up as lovers. She agreed to my bribe of soup, so I promised to swing by my house and then go over to her place when I got off shift. Her shift ended an hour before mine, so it gave her time to get home as well.

Hanging up, I swiveled around and found my soup and my partner waiting for me. Oops, I guess he overheard at least part of that conversation. A major rule in life: Never let the probie know much about you until you figure out what kind of medic they will evolve into eventually. I already figured Tony would be a good medic, but now I'd never hear the end of it if he suspected I was after Pauli's sister.

Of course, he asked about the call. "So, who was that on the phone? Hot date cancel on you?"

"Wise a.s.s! That was Caitlyn. She can't join us tonight because she's sick. I'm bringing her some soup and juice later." I don't know if he bought it, but he shut up so we could eat in peace.

I pulled into Caity's driveway and parked behind her beat up Ford Explorer. She lived in a nice little single ranch style house on the edge of suburbia with a small, but nicely kept front yard. She had left the garage door open, so I let myself into the house.

"Caity, where are you, woman?" I admit it, I was bellowing and the size of the house didn't warrant it, but I was having fun. I heard a m.u.f.fled response from her bedroom and for just a minute, I thought of going in on the pretext that I thought she could be hurt. I decided discretion is indeed the better part of valor and went into the kitchen to heat up the soup. As I was banging around, digging out a pot to boil noodles, Caity walked out looking freshly showered and adorable in navy blue sweats. I know, sweats aren't exactly erotica material to most, but I love a woman who is able to look comfortable in her own skin. Sweatpants mean the wearer is either happy with themselves or just doesn't give a rip. Her short dark brown hair was in slight disarray and her hazel eyes were tired and slightly bloodshot. Her cute nose was red from too much tissue abuse. It was time to take matters into my own hands!

"All right, go get comfy on the couch. I put a box of those tissues with lotion on the table for you, and a wastebasket near the table. I'll finish heating the soup and get you some juice." She shook her head, smiled and did as she was told.

"I don't think I have any juice," she said.

"That's okay, Caity. I didn't think you would so I brought my own. Orange Mango in fact, quite tasty and chock full of vitamins to help you get better quickly."

"You're too sweet, Donny. I don't understand why some cute woman hasn't laid claim to you yet."

Little did she know, a woman had laid claim to me, and I was honoring that claim by taking care of her when she was sick. Yeah, I know, I'm a romantic sap at times, but beneath the chest of every tough girl, beats the heart of a marshmallow. I brought out the soup and juice then went back to the kitchen to grab my own. When I got back, I saw her sitting up and looking at me with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Did I ever tell you that I require egg noodles in my chicken soup?" she asked.

"Um, you might have mentioned it at some point, I guess. I like it that way too so I brought a bag with me." I started to blush because while I wanted her to realize that I was into her, I didn't want her to get it if she didn't feel the same way. Subtle, yeah, that's what I wanted.

Okay, I'll admit it. I am a major chicken s.h.i.t! I didn't want to come out and tell her I'm interested because if she isn't I might mess up a great friendship. Plus, can you imagine the c.r.a.p around the station if Pauli finds out and doesn't like that I hit on her sister? I was just playing it safe, yeah, I'll keep telling myself that story.

Caity ate her soup, looking over at me occasionally, but then she would just go back to her soup. For my part, I was fine with that. It meant fewer questions in my head about how to answer her. When we finished I gathered up the dishes and loaded them in her dishwasher, then got more juice for us and went back in to her.