AN: Another week, another chapter. Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was amazing! I do not own the song Viper's listening to BTW. IT belongs to Jay Sean ^_^

Chapter 10

Viper whacked the punching bag furiously. It was early Monday morning and she would be back at work in a few hours. She hadn't slept much, but she was completely wired. She had called the insurance company. They were giving her ten days to get as much information to them as possible. She was planning to call Luke and get him to send her a notarized letter saying that she was with him at the time that the fire happened, as well as get the police and fire reports from those who had taken care of her house. If that wasn't enough information, she didn't know what else would be.

She hadn't been sleeping well at all since she moved what was left of her life into Glenn's house, so she had finally been able to give Street Medicine some of her attention. She had to admit, it wasn't bad. Having studied the English language for four years in college, she spotted some grammatical errors and the occasional misspelling, but other than that, she found herself getting entangled in the plot. The hero was a likeable enough character, and his story was being told very nicely. She looked forward to reading more and actually found some comfort in the story while Glenn slept. Another thing that had been comforting her during the nights was the punching bag she was currently having no mercy on.

Glenn was woken up, not by the sounds of Viper using his punching bag, but from the subconscious realization that Viper had not come to bed all night. He rose from his bed groggily and stumbled out into the living room. Viper had her back to him as she threw her punches left and right. He sighed as he realized Viper wouldn't hear him since she had her iPod on.

He took a deep breath as he prepared to block a punch when he tapped on her shoulder. She swung at him with her right, he blocked with his left. She realized that he was there and she blinked in surprise and pulled her earbuds out as she lowered her hands.

"Sorry," She mumbled.

"What are you doing up?" Glenn asked. "Did you sleep at all?"

"I think I caught an hour on the couch, mom," Viper rolled her eyes as she began to wind her earbuds up slowly.

"What are you listening to?" Glenn asked.

Vipe held out the earbuds, "Listen for yourself, though you should let me turn the volume down first…"

Glenn let her turn down the volume and then held the earbuds up to his ears

"….Down like she's suppose to be
She gets down all over me
Down like her temperature
Cause' to me she's zero degrees
She's cold, over freeze
I got that girl from over seas
Now she's my Miss America
Now can I be her soldier, please…."

He nodded as he released the earbuds, "Jay Sean and Lil Wayne, not bad. Definitely could be worse."

"Who knew you know hip hop?" Viper smirked. "By the way, you better hurry up with Street Medicine, I want to read more."

Glenn grinned, "You finished it?"

"What you gave me," Viper nodded. "Your young hero has seen some pretty cool things, I must say."

Glenn pulled Viper into a hug, "Thank you. Ready to save San Francisco again?"

Viper smirked, "Do I really have a choice?"

"You know as well as I do that you would go crazy if Basra told you to take of this week," Glenn said.

"He already tried," Viper admitted. She laughed when Glenn gave her a look, "He called me last night and said that if I need to take more time off I should. I told him to just make sure he has a partner for me."

"That's right," Glenn nodded. "You need a new partner."

"Sadly," Viper sighed. "I can't wait to get my hands on that damn police report. If what Davidson told me is really on that report, I'm sending them after Amanda to at least question her."

Glenn could feel the anger ripple through Viper's body as she moved away from him. He was worried about her, once again. But as long as he had his eye on her, he knew she wouldn't be doing anything that crazy.

"It's going to be another one of those days," Viper said as she undid the right boxing glove with her teeth. "I can feel it."

"Hey, hottie."

Viper laughed, rolling her eyes at Tyler, "What'd you switch teams, Tyler?"

Tyler hugged Viper as she walked into the ambulance garage, "Very funny. You look amazing. Please tell me you're holding up okay."

Viper nodded as she hugged him back. She looked around the ambulance garage and sighed, "I wouldn't be Viper if I didn't force myself to hold up okay. I've got a lot of work a head of me, but I think I'll be okay."

"You'll slow down though if you need it, right?"

Viper gave Tyler a look, "You serious? Do I ever slow down? I thought you knew me better than that, Tyler. It's not like I'm dying. My house burned down, I'm alive and well."

"But still," Tyler said. "Even you get stressed out."

"And if you tell anyone that, I will personally thump you over the head," Viper warned him as she walked off towards the locker room.

"Adams! In my office!"

Viper groaned. So much for changing into her uniform and actually starting the shift on time. She tightened her grip on her bag and walked into Basra's office. She felt as if she were getting too familiar. It hadn't changed at all in the month she had been gone.

"Sit," Basra said, motioning to the chair in front of his desk.

"This is becoming too familiar, Captain," Viper sighed.

"I am very please, and surprised to see you back at work, Viper," Basra said.

"You gave me a month, I took a month," Viper said. "But I'm more than ready to get back out there."

"And you're sure that's what you want to be doing today?"

"Captain, I need a distraction," Viper said. "I'll go crazy if I have to sit around Glenn's apartment all day trying to figure things out. There's not much I can do until I get all the information I need anyway."

"Speaking of," Basra said, holding up a folder. "Copies of the official fire and police reports. But Davidson mentioned something to me that I wanted to ask you about first. You believe Amanda Wilson had something to do with the fire?"

"I do," Viper nodded. "If you look at those reports, one of my neighbors said that they witnessed a redheaded woman who drives a mint green compact sedan knock on my door, look around a bit, and then she disappeared. Not long after that, the fire started. Amanda Wilson is a redhead, and she drives a mint green Volkswagen Beetle. She could easily find out where I live, and she knew that I wasn't going to be home. What would you assume, Captain?"

Basra nodded, "I probably wouldn't think differently. I'll mention it to the chief of police and he'll bring her in for questioning."

He handed Viper the reports and she scanned them as she spoke, "Who are you partnering me with, by the way?"

"Hayley Dominguez," Basra responded.

Viper thought a minute, "Brunette, grey eyes, on the short side, but works quickly?"

"That's her," Basra said. "And she's not a probie, is that good enough for you?"

Viper smirked, "Don't have any available male EMTs left?" Viper inquired innocently.

"Get out," Basra said. "And welcome back, Viper."

Viper rose from the seat laughing, "Thank you, Captain."

Viper got to her locker and began changing into her uniform. She felt some strange comfort as she fastened her boots and secured her badge. It was a never-ending cycle with her. No matter how much she went through, she could always count on the comfort that her work brought her. But when someone dared to mess with that comfort, she felt more threatened than if someone had messed with her socially. She was a professional and she took extreme pride in her badge. It told the world she was ready and willing to help in an emergency.

She walked out of the locker room and into the ambulance garage. There was a pre-shift baseball game going on and Glenn was up to bat against Boone, Viper caught Glenn's eye and winked. She walked over to the ambulance behind Glenn and sat on the hood, crossing her legs and giving Boone a rather seductive look.

"Man, that is not fair," Boone shook his head.

"What are you talking about?" Glenn asked innocently.

"Your girlfriend is one of the finest paramedics in the S.F.F.D., she shouldn't be allowed around here while we play," Boone said.

Viper smirked, "Boone, you act like you don't know that I can hit better than ninety percent of these guys. Especially against your underhand throw."

Tyler and Glenn both started laughing and Boone smirked right back, "That sounds like a challenge, Miss Viper."

Viper shook her head, "You don't want a piece of me, Boone. I'll only embarrass you."

"Don't tell me that a month off has made you a coward, Viper," Boone challenged.

"Bite me, Boone," Viper said. "I'm not falling for it. Now can you please pitch so the game can continue? I look forward to watching these games."

Boone rolled his eyes and went back to pitching, though Viper had screwed with his concentration. Glenn slammed the ball easily, sending it soaring. For a moment, Viper didn't register that the vibrating she felt had nothing to do with the game going on.

"Earthquake!" Tyler called. Viper slid off of the hood of the rig as the shaking got more persistent, more vicious. Glenn was suddenly next to her, his blue eyes anxious.

"Get into the rig," He said. "Until it's over."

Viper nodded and climbed into the passenger side of the rig while Glenn hopped into the driver's side. The entire garage shook violently for several more moments before stopping.

"You okay?" Glenn asked.

"Of course," Viper nodded. "It'll take more than that to scare me. You good too?"

Glenn nodded and they both got out of the rig. Basra was already walking out of his office, looking around the garage as he walked.

"Everyone alright?" Basra asked.

There was a low murmur of answers, all in the affirmative. The shake might have been rough, but the ambulance garage was strong, and the ambulances were built to withstand a lot. Viper ran her fingers through her hair as she and Glenn leaned against the front of the rig, waiting for orders.

"It's too soon after the shake to know the damage," Basra said. "But the calls are going to start coming in very soon. I want all of you to be stationed separately. Nancy and Glenn, I want you to take the Diamond Heights area. Tyler and Boone, the lucky two you, get Castro. Viper and Hayley, I want you down in Hunter's Point…."

"Hunter's Point?" Viper's brow contracted. "That's a new one."

"You've worked Hunter's Point before," Glenn said. "What's so weird about that?"

Viper smiled ruefully as she looked at him, "You haven't been here long enough to know this, I guess, but usually after the earthquakes, I've always been assigned to Diamond Heights because it's my area. This is the first time in almost two decades that I haven't been assigned there after an earthquake."

"That is weird," Glenn agreed.

"But I can probably tell you why he did it," Viper sighed as she lowered her voice. She knew the truth, more than she wanted to admit it. Why let her be distracted by being so close to her burned down house? Keep her somewhere that she'll be on her toes. Hunter's Point was perfect. Lots of weird things went down in Hunter's Point.

"Let's get to work!" Basra called, breaking through Viper's thoughts. Viper stood up straight and began to walk away from Glenn.

"Hey," Glenn called, walking after her. She turned to him, a questioning look on his face. He caught up to her and cupped her cheek, "You be careful, alright? I know you're smart and tough as nails, but Hunter's Point is still Hunter's Point."

"Worried about me?" Viper smirked.

"Always," Glenn admitted.

"I'll be careful," Viper promised him. "I just got back from taking a month off, I'm not going to go looking for a reason to miss more work."

She turned to walk away from him, but before she could, he caught her arm, "Glenn, what?" She sighed.

"Just one more thing," Glenn smirked at the annoyance in Viper's tone. He reached out and ran his thumb along her cheekbone, enjoying the flush that started to burn her face.

"Yes?" Viper asked.

He kissed her quickly on the lips, "I love you."

And with that, he walked away from Viper, leaving her with her face burning and several paramedics and EMTs chuckling. Viper shot each of them a death look and stormed off in search of one-two-five and her new partner.

Viper decided, rather quickly, that she was going to like working with Hayley. Hayley Dominguez was a small, yet fiery Latina EMT who knew her job well. She was kind and very bright, Viper had to admit as they talked while she drove out towards Hunter's Point.

"Are you feeling okay, by the way?" Hayley asked. "You look like you're coming down with something."

"I'm fine," Viper said as she parked the rig outside a Starbucks. "I just haven't been sleeping well the last few nights. I'm going to get a coffee, do you want anything?"

"Can you get me a green tea and a honey stick?"

Viper nodded and hopped out of the rig. She really was tired now that she was up and about. She was going to have to find something to knock her out for a good eight hours, either that or she knew she would be very likely to just pass out on the couch and have Glenn worry about her even more. Either way, she was already looking forward to the end of the shift.

"Can I help you?" The kind barista behind the counter asked.

"Yeah, can I get a regular green tea and the largest black coffee you can give me?" Viper pulled her wallet out of her pocket as the barista wrote her order on the cups.

"Long day ahead of you?" the barista asked, eyeing Viper's uniform.

"Oh yeah," Viper nodded. "Was everything okay in here after the shake?"

The young woman nodded, her blond hair coming loose under her hat, "Shut us down for a few moments, but other than that, we're all good."

"Good to hear it," Viper smiled.

"Your total is--"

Crash!

Viper twisted as a man went flying through the windows, sending glass flying every where. The man flew over some tables before colliding with a wall and falling to the floor. Automatically, Viper was moving towards him, her instincts leading her.

"Stupid son of a bitch!"

Viper turned and found herself staring down the barrel of a gun by a teenager. His eyes were wild, his hand shaking. Viper could instantly tell that he was high and possibly drunk. The situation was not looking too good….

"Touch him, and you're dead," the teenager warned. Viper put him at about sixteen, maybe seventeen, someone she could easily take down had she not had the risk of a bullet shredding her brain if she moved.

"Hang on a second here," Viper said, silently praying that Hayley would have heard the crashing and would come to check it out. "What the hell did this guy do to you?"

"Let's just say he owes me something," the teenager snarled at her.

"He could die if I don't take a look at him," Viper said, as the man was still unconscious and didn't sound as if he were breathing too well.

"Like I'm going to let a cop check out someone so they could pull their gun on me."

Viper blinked. The kid thought she was a cop? Interesting. The kid was even higher than she had originally thought. She looked over the kid's shoulder and saw Hayley. She gave her head the slightest of shakes and motioned with her hand for Hayley to take it slow.

"Okay, first thing, I'm a paramedic," Viper said, her sapphire eyes snapping back to the teenager. "And there's something you should know about paramedics."

"What's that?" The teenager's patience seemed to be wearing thin the longer Viper goaded him to talk.

Viper smirked, "They never work without partners."

"Hey!" Hayley called out.

The teenager whirled and Viper launched at him, twisting the gun out of his hand with both of hers and knocking his jaw with her chin. The teenager fell to the floor and Viper popped the cartridge out of the gun.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" Viper inquired as she pinned the teen's chest to the floor.

"Stupid medic bitch," The boy snarled.

"Now I know you can fit a Miss somewhere into that sentence," Viper growled back as she motioned for Hayley to start checking out the guy who had flown through the window. She heard the police sirens in the distance. "It's really not smart to threaten a paramedic who also has a black belt in martial arts…."

She heard the boy hissing and spitting under his breath, but she didn't release her grip, "Hayley, talk to me. What's the status of our friend who went flying through the window?"

"He's not looking too good, Vipe," Hayley responded. "His heart rate's all over the place and his pupils are dilated but reactive to light…."

"Anything broken?" Viper asked as her good police friend Lieutenant Ben Truehart walked through the doors.

"Checking now," Hayley responded.

"Why am I not surprised to see you here?" Truehart asked as he looked around. "Do you have to draw trouble to you like a magnet?"

"Apparently," Viper rolled her eyes. "Can't even get a coffee without getting a patient and a gun pulled on me."

"What's this one done?" Truehart asked as he had a uniform cuff the teenager.

"Assault and possession of what is most likely an unregistered gun," Viper said. "By the looks of it he is also either drunk, high, or both."

"By the looks of it?" Truehart's eyebrows rose.

"Viper!"

"He is not my patient," Viper said, turning to walk to Hayley. "You can test him yourself." She looked on the monitor. The readings truly were all over the place. "Damn it…." She reached for her radio, "Control, this is Medic one-two-five, requesting Medevac to City Hospital from the Starbucks on Gerard and fifth in Hunter's Point. Patient was tossed through a window and is unconscious, possible overdose, along with several lacerations…."

"Medic one-two-five, you were not called to a patient in distress."

Viper rolled her eyes, "That is true. They found me. I witnessed the incident. My partner and I might not be able to get this patient to the hospital in time…."

"Acknowledged. Angel Rescue Two is on their way."

"Medic one-two-five to Angel Rescue Two," Viper said as the monitors started flat lining. "Shit, starting CPR…."

"Angel Rescue Two to one-two-five," Marisa responded after a moment. "We're almost there, Viper."

"I need you guys here now," Viper said. "This guy's crashing. He's full of god knows what drugs and was tossed through a window…"

"What did you give him?" Rabbit inquired

Viper blinked, "What?"

"What did you push?" Rabbit asked. "Viper, don't tell me that you didn't give him anything…."

"Fuck," Viper felt her heart skip a beat. She had completely forgotten about starting an IV. What the hell kind of paramedic forgot to give their patient even some saline?

"Viper."

"I don't think giving him would help," Viper said. "He's a dealer, Rabbit. God only know he's probably overdosing himself."

"Did you just say he's a dealer?" Truehart asked.

"At least give him an Epi, for god's sake, Viper…."

"Yeah," Viper said as she began to charge the defibrillator.

"Then I'm going to need to fly with Rabbit when he gets here," Truehart said. "He's my problem now too. How could you forget to mention something like that?"

"Clear," Viper said to Hayley when the machine beeped at her. When she saw Hayley's hands, she pressed the shock button. The man convulsed and Viper injected a shot of Epi into his arm, completely unsure if it would even be enough to save him at that point. "Will you get off my back, Truehart? This is my first job in a month since the chief ordered me on a leave. I'm trying hard enough to save this dealer's life without even knowing what he's on."

"Angel Rescue Two on scene."

Viper looked up as Rabbit walked in. She had time to shock the man once more as he knelt down beside her.

"A month off is not an excuse, Viper," Rabbit growled, nudging her out of the way.

"Screw you, Rabbit," Viper hissed, watching as the heart monitor started beeping again. "Just because you can go off for a year and remember every single damn thing doesn't mean all of us are that gifted. I just stabilized him, didn't I?"

"After almost losing him."

"Almost doesn't count," Viper snarled as she helped pick the backboard up. "Get him to City, and Truehart's gotta go with you."

"That's not an issue," Rabbit said. "Let's just hope this guy makes it."

The four of them, Rabbit, Viper, Hayley, and Truehart, slid the guy into the helicopter and Viper helped secure him. She got ready to close the door, but Rabbit stopped her.

"Look, I'm sorry," He said. "But you're one of the S.F.F.D.'s best paramedics. You can't afford to make mistakes."

"Oh, but everyone else, including yourself, can?" Viper snapped, her anger sizzling over. "Fuck off, Rabbit."

Viper slammed the door and walked away from the helicopter without looking back. She sighed as she got back to the rig, feeling her anger still pulsing through her body, and thinking that the entire mess had started all because she had wanted a cup of coffee.

Viper walked into Glenn's apartment that night to see him sitting on the living room couch, his laptop in front of him and Chinese on the counter. He stood up when he saw her and walked over to her, putting his laptop on the coffee table. He thought she looked like she had been through hell all day.

"Come here," He said when she began to just walk away from him without even talking. He saw her heave a sigh and she turned to him, walking back to him and wrapping her arms around him when she reached him, "What's wrong?"

"Don't tell me you didn't hear what happened this morning," Viper said. She knew he had heard, even if he didn't admit it right away. She knew he would have heard because Nancy heard and had told her to not let Rabbit get to her. But that was always much easier said than done. She felt comforted as Glenn wrapped his arms around her as well, but she was still upset.

"I did hear," Glenn admitted. "But are you really going to let Rabbit piss you off this badly? It's your first day back, and your house just burned down, you have a lot on your mind."

"It's not the fact that he said it that's pissing me off," Viper said. "It's what he said that's doing it, because he's right. I've been a paramedic since I got out of high school, and today I didn't remember to start an IV, and I didn't even remember to give my crashing patient an Epi. That's one of the first things a paramedic should always do when their patient's heart stops, and I couldn't remember it."

"Viper, stop," Glenn said firmly. "You are an amazing paramedic, and you know it."

"Then why do I feel like such an amateur all of a sudden?" Viper asked. "Even you knew on your first day that one of the first things that should have done was start an IV. God, I feel so stupid."

"We all have off days," Glenn said. "But you know damn well that you are anything but an amateur, Viper."

He felt bad for her. She normally didn't take things so badly, but he guessed that everything that was going on was just adding up. However, he had something that he hoped would help her bounce back, at least a little bit.

"Why don't you go shower, then we can eat and bitch about how it sucks to be treated like crap," Glenn said.

"That actually sounds amazing," Viper smiled as she looked up at him. She stood on her toes and kissed him passionately. She loved how Glenn's grip on her tightened around her waist as the kiss deepened. When they separated, she found herself strangely winded and lightheaded. She really loved how she felt around Glenn. She was happy she had him to fall back on after a rough day.

"You really shouldn't do that," Glenn said in a low voice, his blue eyes sparkling.

Viper smirked and winked at him, "You can make me pay for it later if you truly like. But for now, I gotta shower."

Viper gave him one more quick kiss and went to gather some comfortable clothes to change into after the shower. Her wardrobe consisted of a single suitcase that had gone with her around Europe and was minimal, but at the moment, she didn't feel like running out to start replacing everything. Her bank account wouldn't be able to handle a lot either, at least not at once. She was being extra cautious with her money, at least until she got everything worked out with her insurance. As she pawed through her suitcase looking for her favorite sweatpants, she found a small box nestled on top of the desired sweatpants. Cocking her head to the side she picked up the box. It was velvet, but too big for a ring. That didn't confuse Viper any less though. She opened the box and felt her breath catch in her chest. Nestled in the box was the most beautiful white gold necklace she had ever seen. Dangling from the chain was a small heart shaped diamond.

"Oh, my god," Viper whispered, running her fingers through her hair.

"Surprise," Glenn said in her ear, making her jump. She turned to him, tears coming to her eyes. She didn't say anything, she just kissed him passionately. He chuckled as he pulled away, "Can I take that as a thank you?"

"Glenn, why in the world…?" Viper's voice was several octaves higher than it should have been. "I don't even want to think of how much you spent on this…. Thank you so much, it's really beautiful…."

"You're welcome," Glenn said. "Let me put it on you."

Viper handed him the box and turned around, lifting her hair up as she did. He put the necklace on her, the pendant falling to her collarbone, and then he kissed the base of her neck. She laughed as she turned around, her eyes sparkling.

"It looks beautiful," Glenn said, putting his hands on either of Viper's shoulders. She looked at herself in the mirror as they stood together. She felt like she looked like a shadow of her formal self. She didn't feel beautiful, she didn't feel strong, she didn't feel happy. It was strange for her to think that only three days earlier she had been truly happy.

The next morning, Viper didn't even hear Glenn's alarm go off. Before falling asleep, Glenn had given her an alcoholic drink that had knocked her out before she even realized it. She had been put into such a deep sleep, she had dreams that seemed so real, but with them, came the nightmares that terrified her. She had been having such vivid nightmares and hadn't been able to open her eyes.

"Mmph," Viper groaned as she felt Glenn kiss her nose. She finally forced her eyes open and pulled the down blanket over her head. She was a little disoriented, and not very happy to have been woken up in general. She relaxed a little bit when she heard Glenn laughing at her.

"What are you laughing at?" Viper inquired, peeking over the top of the covers. A strange warmth spread through her when she caught his sparkling blue eyes.

"Sleep well?" Glenn asked smugly.

Viper groaned and stretched luxuriously as she yawned, "Glenn, I should have you arrested. What the hell did you put in that drink?"

Glenn smirked, "A little of this, a little of that…."

"I tasted the Irish and the Indian in it," Viper mumbled sleepily. "But…."

"The point is that you slept," Glenn said. "Even you can't go three days on three hours of sleep, Vipe. No matter how much coffee you pump through that body of yours."

"I can actually argue that point," Viper said, finally sitting up. "God, I don't want to go to work today. I have such a bad feeling…."

Glenn gave her a look, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know," Viper admitted. "I just feel like there's this sword hanging over my head…. Probably because of those nightmares I had and couldn't wake up from thanks to that drink of yours…."

"Nightmares?" Glenn's brow furrowed. He'd never heard Viper talk about nightmares before.

Viper shook her head and groaned, "Never mind. It's not important anyway. C'mon, we've got a job to do today, may as well get it done."

Glenn surmised that if Viper had her way, he probably never would hear her talk about her nightmares. But that wasn't going to stop him from trying to get it out of her. He watched her as she began digging through the suitcase full of clothes, the white gold necklace dangling as she leaned over the mass of clothes.

"Aren't you getting up?" Viper asked, turning to him slightly. Glenn could see that something was off with her and decided that it might actually not be in his best interest to push her into talking.

Glenn nodded, "Yeah, I'm getting up. But Vipe?"

"Hmm?" Viper hummed.

Glenn stood up and walked over to her. She stood up straight, her blue eyes glimmering slightly.

"I love you," Glenn said as he pulled her close and kissed her passionately. Viper's arms went around his neck as she felt her breath leave her lungs. She put her head down on Glenn's chest as they separated, feeling tears slide down her cheeks. Her face burned and she didn't want Glenn to see her crying.

"I love you too."

TBC!