Standoff.

I opened the back doors and felt the rush of warm night air on my face. The fresh breeze was welcomed as it swept through the ambulance, diluting the smell of sweat, blood and tension. There were far too many bodies huddled around the curls that were now tinted a deep red. I swung the doors shut and clasped my shaking hands together doing all I could to make them work as I wanted them to. My temper and the images that were slowly embedding themselves into my memory fueled the fire and my hands continued to shake.

My feet took over and did whatever they pleased. They carried me back and forth across the road alternating my view from an empty road and a single helicopter to controlled chaos highlighted by flashing reds, blues and whites. The scrape-thud of my heavy boots and the ragged breaths acted as the metronome calculating each step.

I turned anticipating the same empty road but found a new figure, it's dark silhouette outlined by the lights from the helicopter behind it. My feet stopped, my breathing stopped and my eyes narrowed, trying to determine the outline that lay just past the last firetruck. The realization of what it was hit me in the stomach like an angry fist. The little red light blinked off and on off and on, taunting me causing the vomit rising in my throat and anger to mix dangerously. I turned towards my ambulance which was still sealed shut despite the overflow of EMT's, firefighters and flight nurses.

With a heavy sigh, I turned my boots towards the blinking light.

"Hi there. I'm Bernice with the fire department and I have a favor to ask of you. They will be taking the patient past you in a few minutes and I would hope that you could discontinue taping while they wheel her past."

"No can do. I am a reporter and I have every right to be here and take whatever pictures I feel necessary."

"Actually, you do not have a right to be here as this is an emergency scene and you have no right to take pictures of my patients, especially when they are underage. Despite that fact, it is just a courtesy I am asking of you. So, if you could, please turn off your camera while they wheel the patient past. No one needs to see that, espeically her family."

"I already told you, I can do whatever I want and you can't stop me. It's not like I am taping her face. Besides, the lawyers wont allow me to show it anyway."

The click of the doors opening raised the hair on the back of my neck. It took everything I had to keep my voice calm and cool.

"I'm afraid you do not have a choice. I am asking nicely, please stop filming. Especially since you just stated yourself you will not be able to use the foorage anyway. There are plenty of trucks and personnel. You are more than welcome to film that, just not my patient."

My mind was racing. This could end very badly for me, especially if this conversation was actually being recorded. That thought reinforced my cool demeanor. The image of a mother seeing her daughter on tv in this state sent hot waves of goosebumps up my spine.

The voices of my crew grew closer and my stomach knotted tighter.

I didn't think, I just reacted.

My gloved hand rose and stopped three inches from the lens. Somehow it remained there, steady and unwavering.

When the mass of blue passed, I slowly lowered my hand.

"I'm sorry it came to that but the next time you insist on filming my patients, I will have you excorted from the scene by the sheriff."

And with that, I spun on my heel with my chin high. Even my boots changed their tune. Instead of the scrape-thud, they retorted with an authoratative singular clump. The tears bruned the back of my eyes with the knowledge that the name on my coat would surely remove any speculation as to who the other voice was on that tape. I didn't care. I would rather lose my ass to a reporter than allow a mother to see her daughter that way.

I quietly slipped into the ambulance. My head hit my hands and my shoulders shook. I cried for her. I cried for me. I cried for her mother.

A firm hand on my shoulder raised my tear-stained cheeks. Above me stood Arrogant Paramedic.

"You did great Bernice. And I will back you 100%. Welcome to being a captain."

With a wink and a smile, he turned and disappeared out the door into the strobes and chaos.