No one had actually blamed her for what had happened. But that wasn't the point. Just because she hadn't broken her Hippocratic oath or any other law, didn't mean that she was free from guilt.

She had, after all, done everything by 'the book' as they say. Simple triage call, hemorrhage trumping over just about everything else, save for cardiac arrest, and neither of the two men had been in immediate danger of that. So, Edrisa had paid first and foremost attention to guy with the compound fracture, bleeding all over the place.

All she did for the other man, the driver, was order a full blood panel and an ECG, just to rule out a possible stress-related acute myocardial infarction. Unfortunately, those had been sorely inadequate to reveal the real cause for the driver's chest pain: a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurism. By the time Edrisa realized her mistake, it was already too late for the man. He had died on route for the cardio-thoracic OR that would have saved his life.

His name had been James Fisher, father of two and loving husband. He could have been a convicted serial killer, it still wouldn't have changed the weight that Edrisa carried inside her heart from that moment on.

That night she had learned two very important life lessons: that 'by the book' wasn't always a good thing and that she was no good at helping the living.

….

Hadn't JT arrived to pull Bright from where he'd fallen on top of her, Edrisa was sure that she wouldn't have been able to move on her own. For a slender guy, the profiler felt like a wall of bricks.

"Shit! That doesn' look good," the otherwise stern and composed detective let out, carefully placing the smaller man on the floor before using both hands to stop the bleeding.

As soon as Edrisa managed to compose herself enough to sit up, she was forced to agree with his assessment. Shit described the situation pretty accurately.

The bullet had hit just below Malcolm' sternum and from the high pressure jet of blood that would occasionally escape between JT's fingers as he struggled to cover the leak, Edrisa was certain that an artery had been hit. In that exact location, there were plenty of arteries to chose from, but only one stood in the direct path of that bullet's trajectory. If she was right, Bright was already as good as dead.

That bullet should have hit her. The simple concept should have been immediate to grasp, but Edrisa was pretty sure that she was in shock, so her failure to see the obvious was mostly excusable if not expected.

Had not Bright stepped in front of her to, once more, protect her when the guns started going off, she would have been the one on the floor.

Only she wouldn't be seriously wounded, she would be seriously dead. Taking in account the difference in their heights, and given the bullet's trajectory, it would have hit her dead center in the chest, probably straight in the heart, instantly killing her.

Her heart, apparently having reached the realization of how close it had come to be torn in to pieces, decided to explode inside Edrisa's chest, beating wildly against her ribs, distracting her lungs from doing their job. Sweat broke out all over her skin even as the lights seemed to dim down.

"The ambulance will be here in two minutes," Dani's words sounded small and fragile, even as she bit her lower lip from keeping it from trembling.

She was standing behind JT, her boots pressing against Malcolm's right knee. Beyond her lay the body of the gunman, unmoving, twin holes venting his upper chest. One of them seemed to have hit him straight in the heart. There was nothing to be done for him.

"We can't let the EMTs come down here, not when there's a bomb about to go off," JT reminded, his military background apparently granting him a much necessary leveled head in the heated situation. "What's the ETA on that bomb squad?"

The younger detective didn't had to answer that. Her eyes told them that it would not be there in time. "I don't think we can move him," she voiced instead.

It was easy to see that JT's pressure on the wound was doing next to nothing to stop the bleeding, but every time his fingers slipped, the spray became much worse. Bright would bleed out before they even hit the stairs. Of course, he would be just as dead if they stayed there much longer. Dani's eyes flickered back to the clock on the wall. "We have four minutes," she related. "Edrisa, you should- Edrisa?"

The medical examiner could feel warm hands around her shoulders, gently shaking her. "Edrisa, are you okay? Are you hurt? Did the bullet hit you as well?"

The smaller woman took a shaky breath before pulling away from Dani's hold. "No... I-I mean, I d-don't think s-s-so," she stuttered. Truth was, her whole body was numb, so there might have been a gapping hole in the middle of her chest and she wouldn't be able to feel a thing. She didn't think there was one though, because someone she cared about had gotten hurt making sure of that.

The biggest tragedy of the night was supposed to have been the fact that her date had been an absolute dull man with had no interest in science -fiction or otherwise- and that she had forgotten her house keys at work. How had she ended up standing over a bleeding Bright and a bomb about to blow on their faces?

"You need to snap out of it and get the hell out of here," JT informed her very calmly, like it was the most logical thing to do. "We'll handle this." He never mentioned that he and Dani would be right behind her; it didn't cross anyone's mind to leave Malcolm behind and save themselves. They just couldn't bring themselves to do the sensible thing and carry him out of there. Not just yet. Not when that would be as good as killing him themselves.

"Maybe we can use one of the examining tables," Dani suggested. "They have wheels."

Edrisa forced herself to breathe slower, deep breaths that pushed against the muscles in her chest, allowing some of the tension to bleed out. Bleed out... god! Bright was bleeding out! They had to do something about it! She needed to do something! "No... we need to find the bomb," she found herself saying, not really recognizing from where the strength in her words was coming from.

"There's no time," Dani pointed out. Her phone was hanging from her limp hand, the world at the reach of her fingertips and yet helpless to save her fallen partner. "We don't even know where the bomb is."

"He knew," JT let out, grim faced. He looked down at the unconscious man, maybe hoping that he would miraculously wake up and tell them what they need to know. "We were down here on a hunch, because at least two of victims had been to the same clinic this month," the detective mumbled words spilling out from his lips even as his eyes focused on his bloody hands. "Apparently, the prick over there had something against diabetics," he growled, sending a disgusted nod towards the dead gunman. "One came in here this afternoon, a Bill Davis, thirty four, suicide. Bright thought that there might be a connection."

"I know where he is!" Edrisa let out, stress turning into maniac energy as she finally could do something. "And I know what we're looking for!"

The twin looks of mixed puzzlement and clear questioning of her sanity were something that Edrisa was used to seeing directed at Bright. It came with an odd sense of pride and satisfaction to see it now directed at her.