Amanda

"No fucking way" Amanda laughed, throwing a fry at Bradley in the passenger seat.

"I'm serious" he caught the fry, eating it with glee, "Robert Redford was in the Godfather series!"

"No, he wasn't." She rolled her eyes, stretching in her seat momentarily, her foot pressing harder on the accelerator as she did.

"Yes, he was, he played Tom, the lawyer" Bradley shoved more fries in his mouth, and then made a goofy face with them.

"You're a dork," Amanda pulled fry from his mouth and ate it, "and an idiot. That wasn't Robert Redford."

"Coming from the chick that's never seen the movies," he mumbled around the mass of mushy fries in his mouth.

"I said I didn't watch part 3, not the whole series."

"Prove it" he swallowed the mass loudly and obnoxiously.

"Quiz me," Amanda smiled, taking a sharp turn onto the highway, horns sounding after her.

"Who betrayed Michael?"

"Lots of people, I'm going to need specifics."

"Okay," he paused while rubbing his chin in his usual dramatic fashion. "Who betrayed Michael to Hyman Roth?"

Amanda scoffed, "Fredo, his own brother."

"Okay so who was the FBI's witness in his trial?"

"Frank Pentangeli."

"What happened when he testified?"

"He perjured himself to the court, said he made up the whole thing."

"Why?"

"Michael brought his brother all the way from Italy."

"And why would that matter?"

"Some Italian code that basically says keep your mouth shut or die. Since he didn't stay quiet, he had to die."

"So, who killed him?"

"He did it himself as a way to make up for his mistakes and spare his family from shame."

"Okay, what about-" Bradley was saying when they suddenly heard a loud explosion. Amanda immediately stopped the car, the brakes screeching loudly as the tires scraped across the pavement. Her hands gripped the wheel tightly, her breaths coming fast as she investigated Bradley's confused, terrified expression. He wasn't looking at her, his eyes strayed past her.

"You okay-" she was asking when another loud explosion sounded through the air. Her hands came up to her ears, her body clenching in reaction to the sound. When the sound continued she looked to where it was coming from. A huge, bright blaze filled up the sky and the sharp, piercing sound hit her eardrums once more. Her hands pressed themselves tighter over her ears, but nothing could dull the sound the explosion left behind.

"Holy shit," Bradley sat straight up in his seat, his terrified eyes wide with shock.

"Please tell me that's not-" Amanda was saying when loud popping sounds followed sounded off into the silence.

"Someone blew up the warehouse," Bradley said in flat, shocked tone, "and you said tonight was going be dull."

"Fuck," Amanda responded, grabbing the walkie for the stereo.

"Calling all responders, 79 from EMS speaking, the warehouse on the edge of town is on fire, possibly from an explosion, we need to get fire there immediately, and another EMS unit, stat."

She placed the walkie back in its holder as she slammed her foot on the accelerator. A voice responded from the speaker box, "Fire has been dispatched, 82 are you near the area?"

"82 in route," Amanda heard Justin's voice through the speaker, a fellow paramedic that Amanda knew well. "Does anyone know what caused the explosion?"

Amanda didn't bother responding this time, her focus was on getting to the warehouse as quickly as possible while trying to tune out the onslaught of sounds coming from the warehouse. Bradley grabbed the walkie, "Negative Ghost Rider. We just saw it happen when we were driving down 5th avenue."

"Okay, we're 5 minutes out," Justin responded one last time, and then nothing as there was a sharp click, and the sound cut off.

As Amanda raced towards the warehouse, Bradley reached to the back and Amanda could hear him pulling things off the shelves, making a mess in his rush. He finished his search in seconds, holding his neon yellow warning shirt in shaking hands. "You want yours?" he asked as he pulled it over his head and buttoned it in place.

"Don't waste your time with that, get the vests."

"Where are they," he asked, swiftly pulling off the awful neon.

"In the bench compartment," Amanda responded curtly, jostling them around with the plethora of bumps she was racing through. Bradley reached back, stretching his body as far it could go so he didn't have to leave his seat. Once he had them he threw one to Amanda, who narrowly missed the turn towards the warehouse when she tried to catch it. It lay forgotten on the ground as she raced down the dirt road, and Bradley took deep breaths to calm down his breathing, preparing for what was to come.

They pulled up as close to the warehouse as safely possible. The sight before them was terrifying, the popping sounds louder and more dangerous due to their proximity. The wooden structure was completely engulfed in flames. Amanda opened the driver's side door but didn't get all the way out, the heat immediately stunning her as it contacted her exposed skin. She stood on her seat and used the door to steady her as she looked at the bright orange flames in an odd amazement.

"What are you doing?! Get back inside!" Bradley was yelling from the safety of his seat, grabbing the back of her pants in a firm grip and tugging roughly. She went with him in the nick of time. The truck was hit with a round of bullets. The driver's side window was shattered, and a searing pain suddenly appeared on her right side near her rib cage. The pair ducked their heads out of the way as the onslaught continued. Amanda, ignoring the pain, used her body to cover Bradley's head. She put the car in reverse and backed away from the scene in a blind panic.

Bradley screamed as the car continued its backward pursuit, and Amanda was on the verge of joining him. She didn't stop until she heard sirens vastly approaching, and instantly slammed her foot on the break. Her reaction threw their bodies hard against the bottom of the dashboard. Amanda felt another sharp pain in her left shoulder just as Bradley's screams kicked up an octave before stopping altogether. The sudden stop knocked him unconscious, and Amanda immediately started tending to him, pushing the pain out of her mind.

The sound of the sirens grew astronomically, and just as Amanda braved a look up she saw the fire truck rushing past them, quickly followed by another fire truck, multiple vehicles from the Sheriff's department, and the only other EMS unit on duty tonight. She distantly saw Justin through his windshield before returning her attention to Bradley, who showed no signs of movement.

"Brad," she said in a worried tone. The tightness in her chest made it hard to breathe. Her fingers felt around his head. The tightness eased when she didn't feel any wetness, just dry hair follicles. She had just found a bump starting to form near his right temple when the passenger door opened. It was Grady, Justin's partner.

His normally wild, curly brown hair was tied back in a bun, showing off his handsome face to full effect. His dark eyes were scared when he saw Bradley on Amanda's lap. She distinctly heard her month-long door open when Grady started talking.

"What happened," his voice was steady, but his tone failed to hide his fear as he climbed in to survey Bradley.

"He was knocked out when we were pulling back from the scene."

"You and your crazy driving," Amanda heard Justin mumble as he placed a gentle hand on her left shoulder. She winced as she turned to look into his hazel eyes. He noticed her grimace as he gently guided her out of the truck. He placed his hands on her head and started feeling around for any bumps.

"How close were you when your truck was shot?"

Amanda gestured to the tree. "We stopped a few feet before the tree. There was no way we were close enough for this to happen." Her voice shook as she responded to Justin's question.

His hands moved to survey her arms, his fingers kneading their way through her muscles as he kept a close eye on her face.

"Is anything hurting?" He asked as his hands moved down to her rib cage, and though Amanda expected it, the pain from his gentle contact still made her wince. Her body instinctively pulled away, and his calm demeanor started to break. Just as he moved forward to investigate Amanda's wound, Grady's voice came from the truck.

"Justin!"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Bradley's fine! We're coming around." He suddenly appeared with a very groggy Bradley around the front of the truck, and Amanda sighed in relief and then winced from the pain in her side. Bradley stayed at the engine, glaring at Amanda as Grady came forward with a flashlight.

"We need to check you out. I saw blood in your seat, and not the once a month womanly kind." Grady stared pointedly at Amanda. She rolled her eyes at his comment but otherwise gave no response.

"Let me see," Justin asked, not waiting for an answer when Grady shined the light on her torso.

At first, he merely looked at the entryway to assess the damage, and then he started to unbutton her shirt when the bloodstain continued to grow.

"You were shot" Justin confirmed as he got a closer look at her wound once the navy-blue color of her uniform was out of the way.

"Yeah," Amanda conceded, knowing it was useless to lie at this point. "It happened right before we pulled away."

"We need to get you, both of you, to the hospital right away."

"We can't, there's no one else on duty tonight, and we have to stay here for the firefighters. What happens if one of them goes down and we're not here to help them?"

"You need to get this checked out." Grady's worried tone touched Amanda, but it wasn't enough to sway her.

"It looks like a through and through" Justin murmured, lifting the white tank top carefully as he continued his inspection. "Grady look inside and see if you can find a stray bullet. Start on Bradley's side."

"On it" he quickly ran out of sight.

"Brad, you doing okay," Justin asked his tone all business.

"You're a horrible driver" Bradley complained, still glaring at Amanda. Her response was flipping the bird, and he responded in kind.

"Stop fucking around" Justin ordered as his tone grew annoyed, "grab the peroxide and bandages from my bag."

Bradley took his time but did as ordered by Justin. He was not amused by Bradley's attitude in the slightest. He took the supplies and started disinfecting Amanda's wound. His hazel eyes were calculating, yet firm. His handsome, sun-kissed face crinkled in concerned. His plump lips pursed in concentration. His calloused hands soaked the fabric of the gauze pad, briefly looking up at Amanda and said, "Sorry" before pressing it firmly against the wound.

Her hands fisted, expletives spewing from her mouth as her entire body tensed in pain from the peroxide. Justin looked apologetic but refused to stop all the same. He kept the pad in place as he started unwrapping the gauze and bandages. Bradley stepped in, grabbed the gauze, and started wrapping Amanda as Justin started picking up the wrappings from the ground.

"How's the head?"

"Hurts," his response was clipped, "how's the wound?"

"Burns" she responded in an equally clipped. From the corner of her eye, Bradley smirked as he finished wrapping her torso.

Justin suddenly stood, looking concerned.

"I'm okay, Justin." Amanda placed her right hand reassuringly on his shoulder, and it seemed to appease him to a point. Her left shoulder was starting to hurt, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. If Justin knew she had more than a gunshot wound, he'd force her to go to the hospital now. No questions asked. Thankfully, he didn't notice her deception and relaxed a degree.

"Once they call it, you're going to the hospital to get checked out. That's an order."

"Aye aye, captain" she saluted, and she earned a glare in return.

"It's sergeant to you, and if you're going to salute me then do it right."

"Yes sir" she corrected herself and winked at him. He rolled his eyes but smirked all the same.

"Grady, have you found anything yet?" Justin shouted.

"Just this," something flew out of the truck and Justin caught it with ease. When he held up the object his appeased mood quickly changed to one of anger. It was Amanda's bulletproof vest; the one Bradley tried to give her on their way to the warehouse. She grimaced at the sight of it, gingerly grabbing it from Justin's firm grasp.

"Thanks" she responded, and with Bradley's hurried help, she got it on and buckled in without further disturbing her gunshot wound. Sadly, it proved to be difficult to hide the pain in her shoulder, and Justin caught it this time.

He surprised her by merely glaring at her, then shaking his head in frustration. It went on like that for a few minutes until Grady called out," I found it!" They headed towards the open door where Grady was crawling out, pinching the bullet in his gloved hand.

"It just missed the handle on Bradley's door."

"Good, now throw it out," Justin ordered, and Grady followed his order.

"Let's head over, the less we have to report the better." With that, the four of them headed over to the nearest fire truck.

On their way, Justin leaned down and said, "Don't lie to me again."

"No promises, sir" she responded without thinking about it. She grimaced when he placed a hand on her good shoulder.

"Never change" he whispered in her ear, "and I'm taking you to St. Thomas and having Tara look at you when we're done."

"Dude-" Amanda tried to argue, but his hand subtly tightened as they kept walking.

"You want to break the rules, and hide this? Then we're doing it my way. If not, I'm reporting you to HR and we'll let them decide what to do with their favorite rule breaker."

"You know they're not who I'm talking about."

"Don't care. We're doing this my way, or we can go to the hospital now, full reports and details. It's your choice, Amanda."

"You play a dirty game, Jury" Amanda grated, using the nickname he earned during his stint in the military.

"Only where friends are concerned, Hershey."

Amanda rolled her eyes. Out of all the nicknames these assholes could have given her, Hershey was the one they picked. If she hadn't been eating that stupid Hershey bar for lunch while everyone else was binge eating takeout she wouldn't be having this problem. She only had a couple dollars to spare and inventory to do. The vending machine was quick and easy and gave her time to do her job. Now due to its convenience, she was forever saddled with the stupid nickname. Justin thought it was hilarious since he was the one who gave her the nickname.

Once they made it to the scene, Amanda noticed something shiny out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look where the light came from, and as the red and blue lights continued its pattern she came to a sudden realization and cursed.

"Brad, give me a light." She asked, straying away from the group and walking towards a thicket of trees.

She heard a faint clicking sound, "Here you go" Bradley said, holding a lighter next to her face.

She slapped him across the chest, and he flinched back, yelping from the contact.

"What was that for?!"

"Flashlight, you idiot," she growled, continuing her pursuit.

A bright light suddenly shined in front of them, and Justin handed her his flashlight with a grim look.

"Thanks" she mumbled, shining it on the ground.

As expected, the light revealed tire tracks, tracks far away from the emergency responder vehicles, along with something else a bit more sinister. Amidst the tracks, she saw one of the multiple shell casings, the shiny object that the red and blue glinted off, and very distinctive footprints in the shape of cowboy boots.

"Amanda?" Grady asked tentatively from behind her. Bradley didn't say anything, but she saw him squirm in her silence.

"Who did it?" Justin asked. His voice was flat and blunt.

She turned off the flashlight, glaring into the darkness as she back away from the tracks, and back towards the first responders. As she did, she looked deep into Justin's eyes.

"The Mayans," she murmured, pushing past the guys and headings towards the warehouse and the men who risked their lives to control it and defeat it.