Hey guys! So, I know a lot of you were really looking forward to me continuing a lot of my Bones centered fanfics. And I'm really, really sorry that I haven't been updating them. Truth be told, I've had a rather busy year after I graduated and things just got…Well, hectic. As things do, I suppose. I drifted away from certain things and gravitated towards others.

And as many of you know, when you stay away from a work for a while, sometimes it's harder to jump back into it. And I've recently come to the conclusion that, if I'm going to start anything, I should start it right, fresh, where I have a solid idea in my mind and I can continue it without any sort of trudging. I've started to have a little more time on my hands and other ideas to accompany me.

So with that, I'd like to introduce you to my new idea. I know it's not what a lot of you are used to. I'm hoping I've improved my writing style a bit. Hopefully you will enjoy some of my new stuff and, if not, that's okay too.

Thanks a lot for everything, guys! Here's my newest idea.

There was a rule in EMS. Well, there were a lot of them, but here's one that almost every medic will know. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and it will go wrong in the worst possible way. The medic will arrive at that moment, and you can hope that maybe they can reverse it.

However, today didn't seem to be one of those days. Regina Mills was sitting in her office, connected only by hallway to the little sitting room where most of her staff were playing a rather idiotic game, Call of Duty. While everything in her body wanted to yell at them to shut that off and go do something productive, at the moment she didn't have a standing case. The day had been absolutely dead, paperwork was done, the rigs had been cleaned, duties were done. There was, quite literally, nothing she could harp on them about.

She could hear the sound of Aurora shouting, though she couldn't tell if it was victorious or if it was a should of failure, and that was almost enough to make her get up and shut off the damned TV herself. Belle could be heard scolding them, though lord knew what for, and it was only in this mess that the sound of their tones came through the radio, loud and blaring.

"Page for Station 59, St. August responders, St. August Fire." Already, Belle and Kathryn were grabbing their things, pen and paper in hand to write down the address, making their way to the map. "Structural fire on 1633 State Street. 1-6-3-3 State Street. Caller stated flames seemed to be spreading quickly."

Regina, already halfway out the door to check on the address, instantly froze at the numbers. Belle was looking for the location, but Regina shook her head.

"I'm going." Almost instantly, Kathryn poked her head up.

"What?"

"I said, I'm going. It's at Henry's school. I'm going." There wasn't a real urgency, simply a statement of fact and authority, and even though most of the station was currently carrying water and ice into the rig, a few paused for a brief moment to look at Mills in what could have been pity.

"I'll follow in the Medic vehicle, then," Aurora offered, giving a small smile. "You'll need more than a few hands."

The fact that there was a possibility of an MCI crossed her mind, and as she hopped into the passenger side with Kathryn buckling in besides her, she went onto her phone and sent a mass message to the majority of those not on call, before she grabbed a computer, logged in, and laid her head back.

"Turn left here," she instructed to Kathryn, knowing the navigation by heart. Despite the fact that Kathryn knew it, she didn't say a word. She's picked up Henry more than a couple dozen of times, when Regina was stuck at the station later than usual. Phillip used to joke that he was like the station mascot, asking question after question and using their old Xbox to form a bond with most of the medics.

"State Street is on your right. Turn there."

And then, there was the school. Regina had to remind herself that she couldn't just hop out, run to the scene and take a head count, but it didn't change the fact that when Kathryn parked away from the scene she wanted to tear her hair out. Of course they had to. The fire trucks had to have first access. But that didn't mean she felt good about it.

At the very least, it seemed as though teachers seemed to have taking them out and away under control.

And the sirens rang, and the red trucks pulled in. In the back of her mind, she could remember bringing little Henry to see the trucks when he was only four, when she could place him on her shoulders and he would look on in awe at the vehicles. When she had to explain that, no, she hadn't driven one of these in years, but a long time ago she had, and he would clap his hands and hug her tight.

Now her little boy was twelve, her little boy wasn't so little anymore, and who the hell knew where he was.

"Regina. It's okay. He'll be fine. They practice these things all the time, now. They know what to do."

"And you know, as well as I, that people tend to forget what they know when they panic." She was staring at the flames, already burning her eyes, before she had to look away.

"Henry's a smart boy."

"Yeah. I know."

There was a moment of pause where the two of them continued to look on, and even though she could feel Kathryn look over at her more than once or twice, she decided not to look back. Aurora had parked the medic vehicle across from them, and when she stepped out made her way to the rig before knocking on a window.

"So, we're supposed to be using Blue as our station to communicate with the Chief, but keep the radio traffic down to a minimum. We can set up a recoup area over in that school garage, they think it'll be far enough away. Phillip and Belle are coming down with another rig on standby, we got a couple people coming in to cover our area."

Regina nodded curtly and jotted those things down before tapping her foot. Her attention was brought, almost immediately, to the sound of a clearly female voice over the radio. The display, "Red", told her that it was an active firefighter, and while her ears rang when the information hit her, she tried to focus.

"So, uh, there's some kids in here. I'm gonna try and take 'um out. One of 'ums down. Advise EMS." There was a crackling. "I'm gonna need an extra set of hands here, Killian."

Perhaps it was good, to be able to work, to be able to get out and start preparing things. To start hooking up O2 and getting saline ready. Still, Regina was faltering ever so slightly, and when Aurora noticed, spiked the bag for her.

"Come on, Director. Just another call, right?"

She didn't want to respond to that.

Emma had been sleeping when she'd received the call. Working part time as a firefighter didn't exactly pay the bills, so at night she would work at the bar and in the morning she would make her way to the station, crash in one of the beds and finish any paperwork later. She hadn't exactly gotten a lot of calls in the small town. So it typically worked pretty well.

When the tones went out this time, she'd jerked up and reached right automatically, the response she would have given in New York when she'd been working there. The change, the fact that most of her equipment was to her left now, threw her off guard for only a minute before she hopped up and started to get ready.

Killian was already in the drivers spot, waiting for the rest of the crew to get in.

"What's up? I didn't hear most of the page."

"Pretty big structure fire up in the school district. I imagine we'll be there all day."

"It's…What, Tuesday? Think we'll get lucky and all the kids played hooky?"

Killian snorted. "In your dreams, love."

There was a sort of double chance when you played with fire and kids. On the one hand, every firefighter that she knew wanted a structure fire. It was the sort of the thing that they dreamed about as kids. Something that would take forever, a real danger, a real adrenaline rush. At the same time, the fact that there were kids there always made her just a bit more cautious.

"Light it up," she said, before grabbing the radio and calling them in route, sirens blazing moments later. Driving through traffic was a sort of forte of Killian's, though small town traffic wasn't really anything compared to what she'd seen in New York. The smoke was rather obvious, they didn't really need to map it out, and Killian seemed to know just where to go anyways. When they pulled in, she gave a quick update to dispatch before starting to suit up.

"Alright, so. Chiefs gonna check in with the teachers out here, see if they notice anyone missing, try to bring some calm into this mess. And as soon as the other pumper gets here, we'll be good to go in."

She nodded, pulling on her oxygen tank and getting her mask ready, helping Killian do the same as the rest of their crew got ready. She grabbed a rope, threw it to Killian and started to tie each other together. The rule-Never lose contact of your partner. You get lost easy in a fire.

"Ready, love?" he asked, before starting to seal the mask.

"Ready."

And they were in.

Fire is a sort of mysterious beast, and there's the reason that so many people are drawn to it. It's brutal, it's mean, but at least it's honest. It devours everything, indiscriminately. With them in the building, Emma remembers this. And she doesn't feel scared.

The two of them stay connected as they go through the halls, checking every room for anyone. And it's only when she reaches the last door in that hallway that she sees a body through the wreckage. She has the hose, already pumping, and aims it away from the body as she approaches, trying to keep the flames at bay.

It's a group of kids. Fuck. At least some of them are trying to get out. She gestures, pulling on the rope to let them know to grab onto it. One, the first body she saw, isn't moving.

"So, uh, there's some kids in here. I'm gonna try and take 'um out. One of 'ums down. Advise EMS." There was a crackling. "I'm gonna need an extra set of hands here, Killian."

Killians in there in a moment, and taking a head count.

"Lead the way out. I'll grab the kid."

"You sure you got him?"

"I'll tell you if I don't."

The kids coughed as Killians started to lead them, and Emma bent down to pick up the kid. Small. Lanky. Easy to carry, at least.

"Ready to go."

Killian led the way, his head ducked down as he plunged through the smokened halls, and by the time they got out, the kids coughed and whined.

"I'll take them over to the ambulance okay?" Emma stated, already taking off the rope and leading them, the little boy resting heavily on her shoulder. She didn't want to look at him. She didn't want to see his face, not yet.

"Okay, you guys? These are Medics. They're gonna take care of you, okay?"

"What 'bout Henry?"

She assumed that was the kid in her arms, and she gestured to the other ambulance. "I'm going to bring him over there, okay? He'll be taken care of."

She still didn't want to look at him, so instead she walked quickly to the other vehicle and stared ahead. When the met the eyes of one of the medics, she almost stopped dead, because she could have sworn she saw tears.