I wrote this while trying to overcome some writer's block and I think it helped! It's just a single chapter story unless I can think of something to add and then it might have a second chapter but that will be all.

Bullet-proof

She moved out of the way and allowed the paramedics to carry the stretcher carrying the black body-bag out the front of the once abandoned warehouse building and down the steps. She steadied herself by leaning against the wall seemingly unaware of the searing pain in her arm.

"Jesus Lil, your bleeding, you've gotta see a medic," said a concerned Vera. She looked down at her arm, the white sleeve of her blouse now stained in blood, a slow trickle of it running down her arm and slowly dripping off her middle fingertip. Vera took her good arm and lead her down the stairs and out to the ambulance. She opened her mouth to protest, to claim she was fine but no words came out.

"Hey, we need a medic over here," yelled Vera noticeably more worried about her health that she was. He sat her in the back of the ambulance before returning to the building where a second stretcher was now being taken from.

Her arm was being looked over by a young brunette medic, with deeply tanned skin and sharp green eyes. "I'm going to need to cut through your shirt to get a better look at this ok?" she said.

Lily simply nodded, words still failing her. she tried to think but her mind felt fuzzy. She couldn't focus on anything. "You were lucky," she was brought back by the medic's voice, " the bullet only grazed you. You'll need a couple of stitches. I can do them here now or we can go back to the hospital."

"Just do it here," she said finally finding her voice.

"Okay, but this is going to hurt." The medic cleaned away the blood with a damp cloth before using an alcohol swab to protect from infection. Ten minutes, seven stitches and one bandage later Lily was ready to go back in. Not emotionally, but physically. And that would have to do for now.

Her feet felt as heavy as lead as she navigated her way back inside the building. She could really feel the pain in her arm now. She could have taken painkillers but her mind was fuzzy enough already without added chemicals.

"You alright?" asked Stillman. He knew it was a stupid question, he knew that none of them were alright and none of them would be alright for quite a while. But he felt compelled to ask it nonetheless.

"Yeah," she mumbled. They both knew she was lying. But he didn't question her statement. If he knew anything about Lily it was that she was a fighter and that she would get through this in her own way.

How had this happened? It shouldn't have. Weren't bullet-proof vests supposed to be just that; bullet-proof? She looked down and noticed that she was still wearing her own vest. Even though it was black she could see it had been stained with blood and she knew it wasn't only her own.

She didn't know why she was still here. They were homicide. They were investigators. And they already knew what had happened. Maybe they hadn't comprehended it mentally yet, but that would come in time.

Regardless their would been two autopsies carried out over the next few days. There would also be an investigation by forensics. Everyone making sure that there had been no foul play. But Lily didn't quite understand this,. Of course there had been foul play. Otherwise how would two people end up dead?

She took one last look around the room, swallowing hard when her eyes hit the pool of blood on the floor. Tears filled her eyes and she went back outside and sat down. She took deep breaths and attempted to stop herself from shaking. The medic who had fixed up her arm had said something about shock but Lily hadn't really been paying attention, her mind had been elsewhere.

It was all her fault that he was dead, she thought to herself. All her fault. Her mind flashed back, re-living the events and she didn't fight it. They'd gone into the building. Her, Scotty, Vera, Jeffries and some other uniform cops that she didn't know personally but who had been assisting with this bust. They had gone in the front with some of the others making sure no one made it out the back or the fire escape. She had called it clear, she hadn't seem him. But he had seen her, something she didn't realise until it was too late. He had stood and raised his gun right at her. Scotty had seen it. Somewhere between here and the man firing Scotty has managed to knock her out of his firing range and returned the shot.

Next thing she knew she was kneeling beside him holding his hand and screaming for the ambulance teams stationed outside. According to the others he had only lived for about 30 seconds after the bullet had hit him. To her it felt like 30 minutes. She had held him while he had died. She had seen lots of people die before but she had never actually held someone while they were dying. She had felt the life being drained from his body. She knew some of the people she had put away claimed to live for this sort of thing, lived for the joy of killing, watching the life drain from their eyes. It was beyond her how anyone could enjoy it.

Scotty had been a good shot though and had killed the other man instantly. Lily was glad she was dead because otherwise she might have been tempted to kill him herself. Cop killers didn't exactly go done well with any member of law enforcement and he would have surely got the death penalty, which in Philadelphia was the lethal injection. She couldn't believe it, he really was dead. They bullet that had scraped her arm had pierced his vest and killed him.

None of the team would know why she would take this so personally. They would all assume that it was because they had been partners and close friends for a while. But she knew better. They had been seeing each other for just over a month and it had been one of the happiest months of her life. Remembering it made her smile. She didn't think that she would ever forget his last words. He had whispered it so only she could hear them as she had held him. Four little words that should have been happy and filled with joy. Under those circumstances however happy and joyful weren't going to happen. He had never said them to her before. How could four little word's mean so much? They did though and as she thought about it more she knew that she would never forget them and that she didn't want to. Four simple wonderful little words. 'Lily I love you.'