Chapter One

The sun was just starting to set below the Los Angeles skyline. It was a strange time to be on your way for breakfast but that's what happened when you were on nightshifts. Emilie was still rather tired, having only been awake an hour or so, but the promise of hot coffee at her favourite diner perked her up a little. What didn't perk her up was the thought of the midnight rush in the Accident & Emergency department, where she worked as a nurse. Especially in Los Angeles, never a quiet moment there that's for sure.

Making her way down the busy streets, Emilie noted the large amount of police sirens that she could hear. 'In this town? Just another day', she thought to herself. Dismissing the idea of anything peculiar, the nurse continued walking, taking a shortcut through an alleyway that brought her behind a jewellery store. As the jewellers came into better view she realised that the police sirens she had heard were coming from here. There were dozens of police cars dotted about with people running and screaming. Gunshots could be heard as men in suits began to flee from the store, being fired upon by armed police officers. 'Shit', she thought. 'I've just walked right into the middle of a fucking robbery.'
Quickly she began to turn away from the building, favouring the long way round to the diner. As she turned she caught the glimpse of two men out of the corner of her eye, she turned to view them fully. 'Fuck'. The older of the men was trying to drag his younger friend into a car. The younger had clearly been shot, blood had stained the entire front of his outfit and he was screaming in pain. Standing there for what seemed like forever Emilie battled with her inner-self.

'They're robbers, don't you dare go near them!'
'But he's hurt, he might die'
'And that's what he gets for robbing a fucking jewellery store!'
'Shut up! He could have a good reason. Maybe he needs the money, I can't at least not try and help.'

Less than thirty seconds went by until Emilie's conscience won and she was rushing over to the two men. 'I am so gonna get myself killed' she scalded herself. But she couldn't help it. The fact that she had seen the two men struggling, seen the shot man screaming, she just couldn't help herself. By the time she had gotten to the two men the oldest had managed to pull his injured friend into the backseat of the car. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw the girl running towards him. He scrambled for his gun, his hands shaking as he held it up, finger on the trigger and ready to shoot.
"Stay back! The fuck you want? Stay back!" he yelled towards Emilie, shaking the gun towards her with each word. Slowing down Emilie came to a stop, holding her hands up so the man could see she wasn't armed.
"Look I'm just a nurse." she started, speaking quietly as if to a child, "I saw your friend is hurt, I just want to help" she inched closer ever so slightly. The man was clearly frightened for his friend, but he was holding the gun at her face and a man in this kind of state with a gun was dangerous. He eyed her suspiciously, the gun drooping ever so slightly.
As he thought over her words shouting could be heard from around the corner, as well as sirens. The police were going to find them soon if they didn't hurry. The man in front of Emilie clearly noticed the approaching police, his increasing agitation caused him to raise the gun again, staring fiercely at the girl in front of him. His eyes darted frantically between his friend and Emilie. He knew he needed help and he sure as hell wasn't taking him to the hospital.
"Fine, get in the back with him," he said, strained through gritted teeth, "but so much as raise your voice and I'll put a bullet in your head before you can blink, do you understand me?!" Emilie shook at his words and at his hands shaking her, but quickly regained her composure and rushed into the back seat of the car to the wounded man.

Inside the speeding car, the scene was familiar to Emilie. The shot man was writhing and thrashing around in agony. Crying to his friend that he was going to die. It was hard to console him, he could barely process what had happened to him let alone the presence of the girl next to him.
"I'm dying" Oh god I'm dying!" he screamed to his friend. Contorting his torso in all angles. It was hard to keep her jacket over his gun shot wound.
"C'mon, keep still, I'm gonna help you but you need to try and calm down." she said, softly but sternly. His eyes met hers for a moment. He was absolutely terrified. He nodded slightly, gritting his teeth as he stifled the urge to scream. She was pressing hard on his wound, but it had to be done until she could lay him somewhere safe and examine him properly. Her attempts to persuade the mans friend to take him to a hospital had all been dismissed. They were criminals and if one went down that could mean they would all go down.
"See," she said in a kinder tone, "You're gonna be alright, I'll fix you up, I promise." Smiling at him, she pushed his head slightly back with her free hand to get him to relax and rest. Though in a speeding car there wasn't going to be much resting.
"You hear that buddy boy?" shouted the other man from the front seat. "You're gonna be okay." he waited for a moment for a response, "You hear me? You're gonna be okay." he said louder, emphasising the 'okay'. "I'm taking you to the rendezvous point and Joe's gonna get you a doctor."
"I'm hurt real fucking bad White, I'm not gonna make it." Emilie sighed in frustration, he got him started again. He shifted his weight in the back seat, his breathing increasing, becoming more and more agitated.
"You listen to me," White said, grabbing his friends hand, "You don't know shit, this girl is a nurse and she says you're gonna be fine. Are you a doctor? No, you're gonna be okay. Say it! You're gonna be ok-a-ay!" All the man could do in response was writhe in the back seat, panicking for his life."Say the goddamned words!" yelled White, his voice breaking slightly. "You're gonna be ok-a-ay! SAY IT!"
"O- okay, White" was all he could say. He slumped his head against the back seat, squeezing his eyes shut tight. His breathing was still erratic, concerning Emilie.
"Listen to me," she whispered softly to the wounded man. He opened his eyes slowly to look at her. "Calm down, control your breathing. You'll feel a lot better if you do." He just started back at her, his breathing didn't improve. Exasperated she grasped his hand tightly, he was slightly taken aback but held onto her hand tightly, afraid to let go. "What's your name?" he quivered slightly before giving his answer,
"Orange" he croaked. White, Orange, the hell kind of names were these?
"Well Orange, I wasn't lying to try and make you feel better earlier, I am going to help you. Do you understand?" nodding, he let his head rest back onto the seat of the car. His breathing had started to return to normal causing Emilie to sigh in relief.

The remainder of the journey was quiet apart from Orange's muffled whimpers every now and again. White kept stealing glances at them both through the rear view mirror, eyeing her up with a hard stare, watching her like a hawk. He was still wary of her, it was becoming more apparent now that the situation had calmed down. Emilie dropped her eyes away from the mirror, looking down at Orange. He looked like he was sleeping, but he wasn't. Now that she could get a proper look at him she could see that he was actually rather handsome, and probably not much older than her 20 year old self. How could a nice looking guy like this get caught up in a situation like this?
Every so often he would look up at Emilie, grasping her hand tighter to make sure she was still there. With her with him, he felt safe. He didn't want her to leave, but knowing what she had gotten herself into, he wished she had never found them.