Chapter 10

Emily's POV

"Thank you! I really appreciate the help," I said placing the last box on the table. I had finalized my lease on an apartment a few weeks ago and my parents were helping me move the last of my things in.

"It's no problem honey! Now how about we go get some food. All this lifting has made me a little hungry," my dad said wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"Cheesesteaks?" my mom suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, my treat though," I insisted.

"Just this once," my dad countered.

We went to the local restaurant down the street that apparently sold the best cheesesteaks in all of Philly. Trust me, I didn't believe it until I ate one. I was glad that I got to spend these last couple of days with my dad before he got deployed again. It was weird that everything was changing so quickly. I moved into a new apartment, I start my job tomorrow, Paige got released from prison, and my dad was being deployed back to Afghanistan. I snagged a job as a resident at Penn General.

"Thanks for the dinner, honey," my mom, said giving me a hug.

"Thanks for helping me lift all those boxes today," I replied.

"I'll meet you in the car honey," my dad said turning to my mother, "I just gotta move one more thing upstairs."

I followed my dad upstairs confused about what he was saying. I unlocked the door and he made a beeline for one bigger boxes.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

"Well I packed a little something for you, and I wanted to give it to you personally," he said opening the box and looking through it. He pulled out a bag and a small box.

"I found this under your bed while we were packing and I thought you might want it," he said handing over the box. "And this, well I know how much you liked to wear this when you were little." He pulled his old army jacket out of the bag and handed it to me.

"Dad, this is…thank you," I said pulling him into a tight hug.

"Be safe okay?"

"Shouldn't I be the one telling you that?" I laughed wiping the tears from my eyes.

"It's a parent's duty to watch after their child. I promise me you'll take care of your mother when I'm gone."

"I will! Promise you'll call whenever you can?"

"I promise. I'll see you at Christmas honey," he said pulling me into one last hug.

"Be safe," I whispered before letting go of him.

"You too."

I waited for my parents to leave before I started to unpack some of my things. My dad and I got my bedroom set up and most of the living room. I unpacked most of my clothes that night and the dished before retiring to my room. Tomorrow was going to be a long long day.

Paige's POV

I finished my morning run with a couple minutes to spare and had enough time to grab a quick cup of coffee from the cart. I moved into my new apartment in Philly a week after I got release. Since then I've being trying to get back into a normal routine. I started work last week and it's been an amazing experience. Rick has been so supportive and is honestly the best boss one could ever had.

"Morning Paige! How was your run?" the doorman, Frank, asked me.

"Great! Here this is for you," I said handing him the hot cup of coffee.

"Aw Paige, you didn't have to do this," he said trying to refusing the cup.

"Come on Frank. You're standing out of in the cold, it's the least I can do. Besides I get my morning dose of caffeine by running. So how are you?"

"Good, warmer thanks to this," he said taking a sip of coffee. "Now get inside where it's warm."

"I'll see you later Frank," I laughed heading into the building.

I quickly showered and changed into my uniform before heading back downstairs.

"You know you might be one of the most efficient people I've met. It's been like 20 minutes and I haven't even finished my coffee."

"I gotta job to get to," I laughed heading out of the building.

It wasn't too far of a walk, maybe 15-20 minutes. My dad had planned it out perfectly, except for the weather. It was perfectly sunny during my run, but now it was down pouring.

"Paige, I think you should invest in a rain jacket or maybe an umbrella," Rick laughed as I bolted into the station.

"Yeah, I think I'll have to," I laughed wiping the water off of me.

"So busy day?" I asked.

"I hope not, but you know rain equal accidents," Rick said offering my a towel.

"Practice makes perfect."

"Alright well, suit up and get ready for the radio to start buzzing."

I grabbed a radio and clipped it on my shirt before grabbing a dry jacket. I usually spent most of my time riding with Rick, but today I was with the other EMT, Jae.

"So, you new here?" Jae asked as we sat at a table eating lunch.

"Sort of. I worked here while I was in high school and then well…"

"Don't worry Paige, I heard all about it. I'm sorry that it happened to you. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"There's not much to tell. The news basically says everything."

"Technically yes, but they don't know what happened to you, what you went through."

"Now that's going to take some time…" I said quietly.

"I know we just met, but if you need someone to talk to," Jae responded placing her hand on mine.

"Thanks. So have you been working here long?"

"A year and some."

"Good, then you can drive," I said tossing her the keys.

"Wait what?"

"Shotgun!" I shouted, running towards the passenger side door before she even had a chance to move.

"Not fair McCullers," she puffed as she got into the driver's side. "Where are we off too?"

"No where. I didn't want to drive," I smiled.

Jae playfully punched me in the arm before crossing them and pretending to ignore me. We didn't have to wait too long before we got a call on the radio. I quickly switched on the lights and sirens as Jae pulled out of the station. Jae was a speed racer, but somehow managed to stay in control of the vehicle.

"Turn right the next road," I motioned as I glanced at the GPS.

We turned onto a small road. We pulled up the house. There was a car in the garage, so someone must have been home.

"What was the emergency again?" Jae asked staring at the house.

"Life Alert."

I quickly got out of the car and headed for the front door. I knocked a few times, but there was no answer. I steadied myself in middle of the doorframe before kicking the door. It opened in a swift movement.

"Have you ever considered being a police officer?" Jae asked as she wheeled the gurney in.

"It's crossed my mind a few times."

"Hello, Mrs. Richardson?" Jae shouted. There was no response.

"Check the upstairs, I'll check downstairs," I said heading towards the living room.

I looked out the windows at the yard, but there was nothing. I quickly made my way into the kitchen, living room, and bedroom. The last place I checked was the bathroom.

"JAE!" I shouted opening the bathroom door.

Mrs. Richardson was unconscious on the bathroom floor. There was a nasty bruise and cut that had developed on her right temple. I glanced around the bathroom and it looked she had slipped on a small puddle of water.

We quickly got her onto the gurney and into the ambulance. The closet hospital in the area was Penn General. With Jae driving it only took us fifteen minutes to get the hospital. I tended to Mrs. Richardson in the back, bandaging her head and and making sure her vitals were stable.

"What have we got?" one of the doctors asked opening the back of the ambulance.

"Genie Richardson, age 78, slipped in the bathroom and hit her head, vitals of are stable, but the right pupil is dilated."

"Someone page Fields," the doctor shouted as they wheeled Mrs. Richardson inside.

"Wait. Fields? As in Emily Fields?" I asked to one of the residents standing waiting for the next ambulance to approach.

"Uh…yeah," she said giving me a curious look. "Do you know her?"

"Yeah, we went to high school together. I didn't know she was working here."

"It's her first week, but we've heard great things about her."

"I'm sure she's an amazing doctor. Do you want me to tell her you stopped by?"

"Oh, no, that's okay. I'm sure she'll be quite busy today. I'll catch up with her some other time. Thank you."

Emily's POV

I heard my pager beep multiple times as I finished up a patient's chart. My day had been pretty steady. I was surprised because usually when it rains there is an increase of patients in the hospital.

I made my way downstairs to the ER. I found the rest of the doctors in one of the rooms.

"What have we got?"

"Genie Richardson, age 78, paramedics say that she slipped and hit her head on the sink. Her right pupil is still dilated. She regained consciousness a few minutes ago."

"Can you tell me you name?" I asked her while shinning a light into her eye. Responsive.

"Genie Richardson."

"How old are you Mrs. Richardson?"

"78."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"I…I was reaching for a bottle in the cabinet and then all of the sudden I was on the ground and my head was throbbing."

"You fell and hit your head on the sink. You've got a small cut and some bruising on temple. I'm going to have theses nurse stitch you up and then take you to get a CT to make sure everything is okay."

"Thank you."

"Take it easy," I said giving her a warm smile. "Let me know the results of the CT." I said to the assisting nurse.

I made my way back to the main floor and finished my rounds. It was around five when I got the results back from Mrs. Richardson's CT.

"Shit," I whispered under my breath.

"What?" I heard someone asked from behind.

"Hi, I thought I was alone," I said turning around to see one the interns behind me.

"Sorry…I didn't mean to—"

"No it's okay."

"So what was the 'shit' about?"

"See there…" I said pointing to a spot on the scan.

"She's bleeding into her brain…" the intern whispered.

"Page OR, and get Mrs. Richardson's prepped for surgery."

Paige's POV

"Paige!" I heard someone call out my name.

"Rick, hey, what's up?"

"Okay I know that your shift ended, but my daughter just came down with a fever and my wife is out of town, can you do me this one favor."

"I got it Rick, don't worry," I said giving me a warm smile as I head back towards the station.

"Thank you! I owe you," he said giving me a warm hug before running to he car.

"Alright what did you do?" Jae asked as I came back into the station.

"Rick doesn't trust you to be alone."

"Ha…ha…ha…" she mocked. "You hungry?"

"Starved."

"Here," she said throwing me a couple of take out menus. "Pick one and I'll order."

We eventually decided on Chinese. It was a relatively calm night. We went to the scene of a car accident on the main highway, only a few broken bones. The rest of the night we spent at the station finishing our Chinese food and talking. It turned out that Jae and I were to be paired together for well…indefinitely.

"So Paige…I already know a ton about you from the news, but tell me about the real you."

"The real me?"

"Well I figure since we'll be working together for what looks like a long time, I should know who I'm working with. Strengths, weaknesses, hobbies, favorite drink, Kit Kat or Milky Way, you know. They don't tell you that stuff on the news."

"Well then I guess you ask I answer and we'll switch off," I said putting down my Chinese food.

"Birthday?"

"May 18th. You?"

"April 23rd. Favorite food?"

"Buffalo and Ranch Pizza."

"Ew…really? That exists?"

"Don't knock it till ya try it."

"I'd rather not," Jae said making this weird face. "'Favorite movie?"

"Well I haven't caught up on my movies yet, but I'm a huge fan of Casablanca."

"Ah, you're a classic type of girl. Didn't picture that at first, but I can roll with that."

"Are you a Disney movies type of girl?"

"No," Jae answered quickly. "Maybe…fine….yes. How you know?"

"Lucky guess, but you might want to cover up that mini poster of Ariel hanging in you locker." Jae playfully slapped me on the arm; I guess I deserved that one.

"Got any prison tats?"

"Three, one of my shoulder, side and wrist."

"Nice! Well I'll have to keep my eyes open for them."

"Why'd you become a paramedic?"

"Getting in to the deep stuff are we…well my brother had epilepsy. My parents didn't know exactly how to handle it at first for we took many trips in an ambulance to the ER and I guess that was where it all started. Ever since I have been fascinated in medicine, but I never really wanted to become a doctor, so here I am. Why'd you want to become a paramedic?"

"I never really thought I would be into the whole medicine thing, but my girlfriend back in high school was just so into it. I guess I wanted to have something that we could both talk about, so I started looking into it and I guess I fell in love with it. By my senior year I was working here with Rick, and then the trial came and whatnot, but somehow this all stuck with me."

"Wow, what was that like?"

"What was what like?"

"The trial and prison. Sorry I'm pushing it. You don't have to answer that."

"No, it's okay. I'm going to have to talk to someone about it at some point. I never thought that it would happen to me. I mean you see it all the time on TV, but you never thought that it would happen to you. One minute I'm coming home from a swimming meet and then the next thing I have cuffs around my wrists. The prison time itself went by faster than I would have thought, but going through everything that I did. It left scars. I knew that I was innocent, in my mind I kept replaying everything, and nothing in the trial was connecting to what really happened. All I remember feeling at the time was betrayal and hopelessness. Everyone that had once known me now saw me, still sees me, in a different light. I guess it just talks times for everything to heal."

"Well you're out ad everything has been expunged, all we have to do it repair the damage on the inside."

"We?'

"You don't think that I going to let you go through this on your own."

"Well…"

"The answer's 'no' by the way. I'm not going to let you hide who you really are or who you've become because people still think that you committed a crime. You didn't, I know that, you know that, your family knows that, you've got a support system around you waiting at your beck and call. Don't be afraid to use it."