I recently got addicted to this show, I'd seen it before when I was younger but now that I'm older and in Nursing School, I really enjoy it. So I figured I was going to attempt a story!

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

When the alarm goes off at 2 in the morning, you don't have time to think or wake yourself up…and that's how this shift started. The obnoxious tones from the loudspeaker screamed out our call and I automatically threw my legs over the edge of the bed into my boots, stood, and pulled up my bunker pants by the suspenders, snapping them over my shoulders. I joined the group of my coworkers as they headed to the bay. We all grabbed our equipment and I slid into my familiar passenger side of the rescue truck while Roy took the driver's seat.

The voice of the dispatcher told us there was a traffic accident at the intersection of East 213th and Martin and we were off.

When we arrived on scene, that familiar sick feeling hit my stomach but I pushed it down and slipped out of the truck, grabbing the drug box. Roy grabbed the biophone and we ran to the two cars.

The first thing I noticed was the little girl in the backseat and made a B-line for her. I called out to Roy to check the parents while Captain Stanley checked out the other car's driver.

"Johnny," Roy called to me as I pulled out the pry bar to gain access to the crying girl in the backseat, "The dad's bleeding pretty heavy the mom is conscious but confused."

"Chet!" I yelled over my shoulder. Chet was at my side almost instantly. "Get on the biophone. Tell them we have four victims, Roy will give you the info."

Chet nodded and went to do so.

I sighed with relief when the door gave and I pulled it open. The little girl immediately backed away to the other side of the car.

"Hey now," I said soothingly, smiling as genuinely as I could and trying to convince her I was to be trusted. "Little girl, I'm here to get you out of this car and help your parents, ok? My name is Johnny, I'm a fireman, and you can trust me."

She stared at me blankly for a few seconds and then her face screwed into a grimace and she started crying, but she practically threw herself into my arms. I lifted her from the car and set her carefully on the runners of the squad track and knelt in front of her.

"Can you tell me your name?" I asked, my eyes scanning her for any sign of injury.

"Tracy," she said in a tiny voice.

"Well, Tracy I need to know if you feel any pain anywhere," I asked, placing my hands on her arms to steady her as she swayed slightly. "Do you feel dizzy?"

She nodded.

"Pain or dizzy?"

"Both," she replied, a tear slid down her left cheek and I wiped it away.

"Can you show me where you hurt?"

Her small finger pointed at her forehead and then to her right ear. I noticed a bruise starting on her forehead.

"Ok, Tracy, I'm gonna shine this light in your eyes real quick, ok?"

She nodded and I checked her pupil responses while I palpated her radial pulse. Her pupils were responsive and had good response time and her pulse, other than being a little fast from fright, was normal and strong. I placed a hand on her chest to feel her breathing as I examined the bump on her forehead, everything looked alright and her breathing was within normal range.

But when I turned her head to check her ear where she had indicated, I felt a little bile rise in my throat. There WAS no ear there and it was bleeding heavily. I hadn't noticed in the dark and I kicked myself for my lack of observance.

"Chet! Get me something to stop this bleeding!" I hollered, not letting the panic I felt show in my voice. I turned back to Tracy. "Tracy, my friend Chet's gonna take care of you for a second, alright? I have to get something from your parent's car."

I whispered to Chet the situation and he nodded, immediately kneeling to press some gauze to Tracy's wound. I began the slightly nauseating search for the disembodied ear. Soon enough, I found it and bit my tongue slightly to keep from being sick. I wrapped it carefully in gauze and ran to the biophone.

"Rampart, this is squad 51, how do you read?"

"Loud and clear, 51 go ahead." Dr. Brackett's voice

"Rampart, we have a female victim, approximately eight years old. She's got healthy vitals but, uh…she's lost an ear."

"Say that again, 51?"

"Rampart, her right ear was cut clean off during the accident; it's been off probably ten to fifteen minutes, how do you suggest we proceed?"

"51, try to find the ear…"

"Already got it, Rampart."

"Alright, 51. Try to put it on ice and stop the bleeding. Transport as soon as you can and we may be able to reattach it in time."

"10-4, Rampart."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The sound of the accident woke me suddenly at about 2 in the morning and I groggily made my way out of my house. A crowd of half dressed, red-eyed, partially awake people had already gathered on the sidewalk and was staring at the smashed cars in front of them. I heard the sound of sirens approaching and ran down the street a ways to wave them down. A red rescue truck and a fire engine with the numbers 51 on them roared around the corner and skidded to a stop a little ways from the wreck.

Several men jumped from the engine and immediately pulled out a hose to put out the small flames under one of the car's hood. But my eyes followed the two men who jumped out of the squad truck and ran directly to the wrecked cars. One jerked open the driver's door and immediately pressed his finger's to the driver's neck and announced him alive, one started prying open the back door and I vaguely wondered why. Everything was happening so fast and I felt my stomach lurch when the Captain announced the other driver dead over the radio on the ground. But the wife of the first driver was awake and mumbling as the first paramedic pulled her from the car and laid her in my yard. I approached carefully, trying not to get in the way.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked the blonde paramedic.

"Actually, she's gonna be ok," he replied, "Could you sit with her while I go check on the husband?"

I nodded and knelt next to the woman.

"My daughter," she moaned, looking around wildly, "Is my daughter ok?"

"I'll find out, ok? Lay still." I replied quickly and stood back up and looked around the chaos. Over by the squad truck I spotted the other paramedic kneeling in front of a small girl who was perched on the runner. She was crying but the paramedic was calming her down.

I watched the paramedic carefully examine the small child and I smiled at his carefulness and his confident and friendly smile as he encouraged the girl. His hands were very gentle as he felt her arms and legs for breaks and whatnot. But something changed in his face when he turned her head to the side and he suddenly jumped up and switched placed with another fireman and ran back to the car. He came out of the car with something in a piece of cloth and he picked up the phone in the box on the ground. Probably contacting the hospital, I assumed.

Then he stood up and looked wildly around, his gaze stopped on me and before I could think, he was running up to me.

"Ma'am do you live here?" he asked, his voice not showing a single sign of the fear n his face.

"Yeah, yeah, I do." I managed to get out.

"I need ice," he said, walking right past me toward my house. I followed him quickly, but I didn't do anything to stop him. I opened the front door for him and led him to the kitchen. He set the piece of cloth on my table and opened my icebox and started pushing ice into a bowl. Curiosity caused me to walk to the table and I lifted the flap of the cloth piece.

"Oh no, don't…!" he paramedic's warning was just a little too late; I had already seen what was in there. For some reason, my vision blurred and I blacked out.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Oh boy. I stood there for a second looking at the woman who had just passed out in front of me.

"Hold on, lady," I sighed as I grabbed the ear off the table and placed it among the ice cubes. I ran outside and explained the situation to Chet, he took the bowl from me and gave it to the ambulance driver who had just arrived to take the girl. I patted Tracy on the shoulder and assured her that Chet was taking her to where the doctors would fix her right up.

"Roy," I called as I ran by, "I have a girl that fainted in this house, do you need me out here?"

"No, the wife's just a little shook and the husband's stable, just waiting for the ambulance to get here for him." Roy replied. I nodded and took the drug box from him.

She was still on the floor, out cold when I got back to her so I dropped into position over her to see what I could do for her.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The first thing I noticed when I came to was the feeling of something tight on my arm and my eyes shot open. I lashed out without a thought at the person kneeling by me. But I felt firm hands close on both of my wrists and the person next to me straddled me as he held my wrists down next to me.

"Hey, hey!" he said sternly, but not unkindly, "Calm down, ok? You passed out; I'm just helping you out, alright?"

Then it all came back to me: the wreck, the firemen, the little girl, the…ear on my table. I felt nauseated and the faint feeling came back. I felt a slight sting on my cheek as the paramedic smacked it a few times to gain my focus and prevent another blackout.

"Stay with me now," he said, taking the blood pressure cuff off my arm. That's what felt so tight. "Listen, can you tell me your name, age and where you live?"

I thought for a second, my mind was a little fuzzy.

"Uh…Jenna…Jenna Connolly. I'm twenty five years old. I live at 1248 Martin St., Los Angeles, California."

"Alright, good. Well, Jenna, you hit your head on the floor when you passed out and I need to know if you can remember anything from the last half hour and can you tell me what you did yesterday?"

"I heard the wreck. I watched you guys help those people out. You had that little girl's ear and I didn't realize it until I saw it and fainted. Uh…yesterday I worked the morning shift at the Vet's Office. I'm a pre-vet student. Last night I watched Adam 12 and then went to bed. Nothing special really happened."

"It's a good show," the paramedic said with a smile as he felt my pulse. "Your vitals are all in normal range and you don't seem confused or disoriented. I think you're going to be fine."

Then I looked at him, REALLY looked at him, for the first time. He was…cute. He looked down at me with warm brown eyes and the smile he was giving me made them crinkle at the corners. He had a long face with high, prominent cheekbones and a heavy brow. His hair was dark, almost black until the light hit it and I saw natural chestnut highlights to it, and his skin had a tannish color.

I glanced down to where his hand was still holding my wrist. His arms and hands were golden tan compared to my pink skin tone. His long fingers were firm, but gentle as they held my wrist.

"Are you part Indian?" I ventured to ask. Then I felt a little stupid for my boldness.

He looked at me funny for a second, but then he smiled again.

"Yeah, I'm half Seminole," he replied, "Is it really that obvious?"

"It's all in the bone structure," I said, "Your nose, cheeks, forehead…that's pretty cool. What's the other half?"

"My mom is German. Yeah, I don't know how that happened either."

I laughed and started to sit up. He placed a hand on my back and helped me up.

"You feeling alright?" he asked, back in "business" mode. "Feel steady enough to stand up?"

"I think so," I replied. I took a breath and started to stand, the paramedic stood and took my hand to pull me to my feet. For his skinny build he was deceptively strong.

"How's that feel?" he asked, gripping my upper arm to steady me.

Well…in all honesty it felt great. I found myself soaking up the feeling of his enclosed hand on my arm and I wished he would use the other one too. But I shook off the feeling, I couldn't think that way about a guy whose name I didn't even know!

"I feel just fine," I assured him.

"Good, very good." The paramedic let go of my arm and I sighed at the sudden lack of physical contact. Oh well, it was great while it lasted. "My name's John Gage, by the way."

Had he read my mind?

"Nice to meet you, John Gage," I said with a smile, "I saw how you took care of that little girl…that was impressive how easily you calmed her down. You have a talent, I think; you can make people feel at ease pretty easily."

I think I saw him blush a little and he smiled a crooked grin as he looked at the floor.

"Naw, just doing my job," he stated. "And I wish all the people I run into on this job were as pleasant and…pretty as you."

Oh wow. He was kind of bold.

"Thanks for your help," I said as he picked up the tacklebox of medicine from the kitchen floor and put his BP cuff and stethoscope on his belt in the hip pack. While he did that, I grabbed a piece of paper and scribble my number down on it. I slipped in the pocket of the heavy fire jacket he had dropped on my floor.

"Not a problem," he said with a toothy smile, "I was glad to help. Maybe I'll see you again sometime?"

His expression was hopeful and I smiled at him.

"That's very possible, John Gage."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

There's the beginning Let me know what you think.