Chapter 3

When they arrived at George Washington University hospital Bobby helped her unload the ambulance bed, watched as the doctors started treating the young woman and then fled to the bathroom, loosing his entire dinner. He had no idea why he reacted so strongly to this particular case.

It might have something to do with the fact that the young woman got into seizures in the middle of the ride and threw up again. It scared him more then any amount of blood he ever saw. Not being able to control your body…it reminded him of his own problems in controlling his urge to gamble. It was a whole different story but still, in his mind, it was all the same.

When he reached the Ambulance, he was surprised to see it locked. Megan was probably still inside. He sat down on the sidewalk, leaning into the brick wall and inhaling deeply. His mouth tasted horribly and his stomach was still tender. When he heard footsteps, he lifted his head to see Megan kneeling in front of him, holding two cups of hot tea.

"Keep your head up and breath deeply, it helps." She offered him one of the carton cups.

He was so stunned he couldn't bring himself to speak. Reaching out, he grabbed the cup and nodded his head. She sat beside him, drinking the hot liquid and hugging herself against the cold night. Bobby eyed her with curious eyes and she smiled at him.

"What?"

He cleared his throat. "I'm surprised." He said.

"Surprised that your cold-hearted partner offered you a cup of herbal tea?"

He chocked on his tea, coughing violently. She grinned and patted his back several times until he calmed down. Lowering his head, he smiled sheepishly. "You heard?"

She shrugged, a soft smile on her lips. "I didn't mean to. I wanted to grab a glass of water, so I started opening the door when I heard you were talking about me. I wasn't thirsty anymore."

"I'm…sorry."

She snorted. "No, you're not. I know I wasn't exactly friendly last night and I admit that I'm a bit apprehensive about meeting new people, but I couldn't be that bad."

"No, you weren't bad at all." Bobby hurried to reply. He then hesitated, trying to voice the things that bothered him. "You see, I've seen bodies before and blood and everything and even though I can handle it I still don't like it very much." He looked at her before taking another sip from his cup; her brown eyes looked straight into his. "But last night, you seemed so unaffected, like you didn't care less."

She nodded her head. "What did you expect me to do? It's my job Bobby. I can't take care of them all; I wouldn't last one hour if I let everything get to me."

"I got that, it took me a while, but I get it now."

"Surely there's more. You don't seem like the type of guy that goes around calling people cold hearted and tonight you seemed mad at me."

"Remember the old lady with the broken hip?"

"Mrs. Reynolds? Sure I remember."

"When her son wanted to drive with us you said it was against regulations, although I know you can get up to five people inside the ambulance. When he kept pressuring, you snapped at him and yelled." He paused for a moment. "I actually considered shaking you back to your senses."

She was quiet, her eyes locked with his and he waited for her to defend herself. Instead, she sighed. "It's my fault; I should have explained my actions. You see James and I evacuated Mrs. Reynolds a month ago, she had a broken arm, so I was quite familiar with her, she's a nice lady we got along fine cause I know some words in Yiddish and Mrs. Reynolds doesn't talk English very well. When you went with her son to search for her social security files she talked to me. Her English is bad but when she pointed at her broken hip and then told me her son's name I picked it up. Do you understand?"

Bobby stared at her, his eyes wide open. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that her son pushed her down the stairs. That's why I wouldn't let him drive with us. I wanted to get to the hospital and get someone from social service to talk to her. And they did, they have someone who speaks German and Yiddish and all that and he found out that her wonderful caring son wants her out if her own house. I'm sure you noticed it's a pretty big place."

Bobby just stared at her. "I had no idea."

"And of course, you jumped to the obvious conclusion."

"I'm obviously not a good judge of character." He mumbled.

"I'm not an easy character." She laughed, trying to ease his discomfort and change the subject. "James says I have a double personality."

"Really? I heard all women suffered from that problem."

"Don't push it, Bobby; I might just think you're an annoying Aussie."

He shrugged his shoulders, grinning widely. "I hear it all the time."

The sat down comfortably, enjoying the friendly silence that enveloped them. Megan's cell phone ringed and she looked at it, rolling her eyes. "Say, you're a man, right?" Bobby snorted. "Aussie and all but still, enlighten me, why can't you guys figure it out on your own that we don't want to talk to you?"

"What are you talking about?"

She showed her phone, she silenced the ringing but the person that dialed her was trying again. He raised his eyebrow. "You got a friend that called 'Do not answer'"?

"My ex boyfriend, Brian Ford. He showed up in town about a week ago and called me out of the blue. When I figured it was him I kind of avoided talking to him." She flushed a little and Bobby smiled as he leaned closer.

"Exactly how did you manage it?"

"I faked bad reception."

He laughed. "Couldn't you think of anything better?"

"Please, what would you do?" She asked, her lips forming a pout that made it impossible for him to refuse anything she might have asked.

Momentarily distracted, he smiled. "I don't know."

"You see?" Her cell phone ringed again but this time she picked it up. "Hey. No, we're free, I wasn't feeling very well, and I had to drink something. Can we take another call?" She looked at him and he nodded, smiling at her. "Sure, give us a second and we'll contact trough the radio."

They rose from the ground and entered the ambulance. "No rest for the wicked." Megan smiled and Bobby chuckled and reached out for the radio. "Washington 47." He said and they received their next call. As they were driving he chanced a look at her, she looked the same way she looked the night before. Her brown eyes focused on the road as she played with the siren, her auburn hair wrapped in some complicated knot only women could form but she was different now and Bobby felt better.

"Why are you looking at me?"

She raised her eyebrow as she glanced at him and he grinned to himself. "Say, Sheila, are you ever gonna let me drive in this thing?"

"Your cute Australian accent won't get you anywhere near this wheel."

"Hello." Her voice sounded like she was wide awake and the thought shook him as he checked his watch. It was after three, why was she awake at this time of the night.

"Sue, its Jack, what are you doing up so late?"

He heard her chuckling. "Funny you should ask me that kind of a question. I was asleep, but you woke me up."

She was lying. He heard her voice when she just woke up and it was nothing like the alert voice that he heard now. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have called you so late. I just wanted to check up on you."

"I'm alright." There was a small pause. "Jack, is everything alright?"

He hesitated. How could he possibly explain the feeling of anxiety that settled in the pit of his stomach? Everything was alright and now that heard her voice things were even better. They had a slow night and he even caught a sight of his best friend having a friendly conversation with his partner on a cup of black coffee. And still, the feeling won't go away. I need to hold you in my arms. I need to see that you're alright.

"Jack?" Her voice penetrated his thoughts and he cleared his throat.

"I'm alright, Sue. I just wanted to check up on you. I'll see you tomorrow, have a good night."

"Good night, Jack."

He's been watching her for a while now, following every movement, counting every breathe she took. He knew they were her last; it won't be long before she'll pay for everything she did. She left him, to never return. His eyes narrowed at the sight of her and her new partner, it was a new and disturbing development.

He missed his chance to take them together. He was surprised that they stayed partners for so long and knew her partner was also responsible for ruining everything…he took her away from him.

He smiled. Sometimes he enjoyed watching them working. They were always efficient and caring and helpful…they always meddled in affairs that they shouldn't. Once and for all, they will pay.

He turned on his radio and listened carefully…they were heading back for the station; he smiled at the sound of her voice. Not tonight, he decided. He needed to do some checking up first. He looked at the piece of paper he wrote the names on after he listened to the conversation. He smiled; Bobby Manning and Jack Hudson.