In A Heartbeat

Chapter One

Sam McKenna parked across the street from the station house where she'd been an

Officer of the San Diego police department for eight years. Running her fingers through

her short black hair before pulling on her cap she waved to several fellow officers as she

made her way across the street. She entered the station house, greeting the desk sergeant

before heading to roll call. Today would bring the new Field Training Officer

assignments for the next twelve weeks. Sam was a FTO and the latest batch of rookies

would be reporting today. Sitting quietly in the back of the room as the day's

assignments were handed out; she scanned the room for the two new rookies. They

weren't hard to spot. Where the veteran officers were all relaxed, joking and enjoying

their breakfast as the briefing continued, the rookies both sat stiffly, almost at attention.

From where she was sitting she could only see them from behind. The first rookie

appeared around Sam's height of six feet. His brown hair was cut in the military style

favored by male officers. The second rookie was a woman; though she appeared to be

short from what Sam could tell, she was well muscled. Her long blond hair was done up

in a tight French braid. Sam's attention went back to the officer giving the morning

briefing.

"We have two new rookies with us today, Brad Davidson and Kellie Matthews. Stand up

you two."

The two new rookies stood to face their fellow officers. Greetings and catcalls echoed in

the room. "Okay, everyone else is dismissed except the FTO's," the sergeant told the assembled officers.

Sam walked to the front of the room. She met the beautiful green eyes of the new female

rookie. Please let her be assigned to me, please let her be assigned to me, Sam chanted to herself.

"Officers McKenna and Howard are the Field Training Officers you will be working

with for the next twelve weeks," he explained to the rookies. "Matthews you'll be assigned to Officer Howard. Davidson you'll be assigned to Officer McKenna."

Sam grimaced internally. She glanced over at Howard and scowled at his triumphant

smirk. His eyes ran over the body of the beautiful blond. She looked over at the rookie

assigned to her. Her scowl got deeper as she watched his eyes rake her body before

finally making it to her face. Her blue eyes turned silvery and expressionless when they

met his deep brown ones. The new rookie gulped and quickly averted his gaze from the

gorgeous officer.

"Let's go Davidson." Sam turned and stalked out of the room without another word, never looking back to see if the rookie was following. It's going to be a long 12 weeks, she groused to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam had been working with her rookie partner for six weeks. It had gone pretty much as

she'd expected. The guy started out cocky and arrogant, thinking he was the greatest cop

who ever walked the earth. He'd learned some hard lessons in the last few weeks and

was finally starting to settle down.

"Hey Officer McKenna." Davidson called interrupting her thoughts.

'I told you McKenna was fine." She reminded him.

He grinned at her.

Damn it, not again. Sam groaned. She knew what was coming.

"How about we stop for drinks tonight after work?" He invited. The lust in his eyes clearly showed what he was really interested in.

She'd already politely turned down several other invitations. The kid just didn't seem to

be getting the hint and Sam was getting tired of it. She was surprised that some of the

other officers hadn't clued him in, there were several at the station house who had a real

problem with her being a lesbian. She didn't flaunt her sexuality but it wasn't a secret

either. Attitudes were changing but it was slow going. Her record spoke for itself and she

was held in high regard by most of her fellow officers.

Sam sighed hoping to end this now. "As I've told you before, thanks but no thanks.

You're not my type," she added.

"Oh come on." Davidson smirked. "Give me a chance, you'll be pleasantly surprised."

He bragged.

Now Sam had really had enough. She was tempted to reach over and wipe the arrogant

smirk off his face. "Davidson believe me you don't have anything I'm the least bit

interested in," she allowed her eyes to sweep dismissively across his lap. "I don't date guys...capisce'? Sam smirked when his mouth dropped open in surprise and he began to

stutter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patrolling their zone, they pulled a car over for a routine traffic stop. The woman had run a red light. Sam let the rookie take the lead. He approached the car and asked for the

woman's information. She immediately started screaming at him, cursing him for

stopping her and making her late for work. Sam ran the woman's license plate as

Davidson stood next to the woman's car trying to calm her down. She got out of the

patrol car and approached Davidson motioning for him to come to the rear of the car.

"The woman has an outstanding warrant. You need to get her out of the car, search her, read her her rights and we'll take her in." She instructed the rookie.

Davidson approached the car and told the woman to get out of the vehicle. Sam stood

back and watched. The woman was short and slightly built; she continued to rant at

Davidson as he escorted her to the front of the car. Sam could tell Davidson didn't think

the woman was a threat due to her size. He confirmed that assumption moments later

when she heard him address the woman.

"Now just calm down little lady. I'm going to search you then we'll take you down to the station for processing. There's a warrant outstanding against you." He told her in a

condescending tone of voice.

Sam tried hard to keep the smirk off her face. The rookie was about to learn a valuable

lesson. Everyone's a potential threat no matter how harmless they seem.

"Face the car, put your hands on the hood and..." Davidson never got any further. The woman spun out of his grasp and kicked him in the crotch. She screamed at him not to

touch her. His face contorted and he slowly dropped to his knees gasping for breath. Sam

quickly stepped in and subdued the woman, cuffing her and putting her in the back of the

squad car. When she came back to the front of the vehicle, Davidson had regained his

feet. He looked sheepishly at the ground obviously embarrassed at being downed by a

woman half his size.

"Everyone's a threat Davidson, no matter how harmless they look. Don't forget it. It'll save your life some day."

"Thanks. That was a stupid move on my part."

Maybe he does have some promise, Sam thought to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam stepped into O'Grady's for a drink after work. She met up with several other female

cops from local precincts. She sat relaxing at a table regaling her fellow officers with the story of her rookie being taken down by a woman half his size. Christi joined the group

at the table. Sam nodded politely then went back to her story. Christi was a dispatcher

that Sam had dated a few months ago. They'd had fun together and enjoyed some intense

sex but when Christi began to press for more Sam stopped calling. Sam had made it clear

from the start that she was only interested in a casual friendship and was not girlfriend

material.

Christi sighed when Sam turned back to her story. She'd hoped if she gave Sam some

space they might get back together. Sam had been the most incredible lover she'd ever

had. She truly cared for her and wanted a relationship with her beyond occasional

recreational sex. She'd known Sam's reputation when they met but had always hoped she

would be the one to win Sam's heart. Christi was drawn out of her thoughts when

laughter erupted around the table. Unable to resist she made her way over to Sam.

"Hey Sam, how goes it?" She asked as she slid into the seat next to her.

"Hi Christi. You know same old, same old." Sam said with a polite smile.

Christi leaned over to whisper in Sam's ear. "What do you say we blow this joint and go back to my place?" She ran her hand up the inside of Sam's thigh.

Sam stopped her hand from going any higher. She really did like Christi; she just

couldn't give her what she wanted. As tempted as she was, she knew if she went home

with her now she'd expect more than just casual sex. Sam sighed, wondering if she was

even capable of love. She enjoyed being with Christi but after a few dates had felt

trapped when the woman pushed for more.

"I'm sorry, no." she told her as gently as she could.

Christi pulled way but not before Sam saw the tears in her eyes. She quickly left the bar.

Sam watched her leave and sighed. I tried to tell her I wasn't girlfriend material.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam sat in the passenger side of the patrol car. She'd told the rookie he could drive for

the day. It'd been pretty quiet so far, one domestic disturbance and several traffic stops.

The radio suddenly squawked to life. Sam picked up the mike, "Dispatch, this is 107, go ahead."

"107, we have a 10-32 at Mercy Hospital's ER. 10-30 Respond 10-39." Advised the

dispatcher.

Sam glanced over at Davidson; he looked scared and excited at the same time.

"10-4 Dispatch 107 is 10-17." Sam responded. "You heard the lady. Hit the lights and siren and let's move it!" Sam told the rookie.

"So they have someone in the ER with a gun?" Davidson questioned excitedly as they raced to the hospital.

"Yes. And once we check out the situation, you're going to call for back up."

The patrol car slid to a stop outside the ER ambulance bay. Sam and Davidson entered

the ER cautiously. The desk clerk called out as soon as he saw them. "Over here, he's

holding Dr. Connolly in the trauma room."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Sam questioned the clerk.

"The guy just barged into the trauma room where Dr. Connolly was and started

screaming. He pulled a gun and forced everyone out of the room except the doctor. I

think he's her ex-boyfriend." The frightened clerk told Sam.

Sam looked down the hall and could see several people gathered outside the closed door

to one of the trauma rooms. "Do you know his name?"

"Only his first name, Keith."

"Is there any other way into that room?" She asked the clerk.

"Yes, there's a trauma room next door with a connecting door."

Sam heard a strident voice coming from down the hall. She knew they didn't have much

time. These types of situations went bad fast. She turned to Davidson, "I'm going to

check this out and clear those people away from the room. You control the crowd and

don't do anything 'til I come back."

She quickly made her way down the hall. "Alright people, you trying to get killed?

Move away from the door and clear this hall." She glanced into the trauma room. A

small slender redhead dressed in scrubs and a lab coat was standing against one wall, a

tall husky man stood next to a gurney in the middle of the room. He was pointing a gun

directly at the frightened doctor. Sam could see he was sweating profusely and the gun

was shaking in his hand. He continued to rant at the woman opposite him. Sam hurried

back down the hall to Davidson.

"He's not going to last much longer, I've got to get in there." Sam had seen these situations before and they usually ended up with a dead hostage and gunman. "We don't

have time to wait for back-up. I want you to go into the trauma room next door and

cover me. You should be able to see in the door. Don't come in 'til I tell you."

"But..." Davidson started to protest.

"Just do it!" Sam demanded.

She hurried back down to the trauma room door. As quietly as she could Sam stepped

into the room. The doctor became aware of her first then the gunman.

"Get out of here, I'll kill her!" He screamed.

Sam never moved. She glanced quickly at the terrified doctor trying to see if she was

injured. She locked eyes with the woman for just a second, trying to let her know

everything was going to be ok. She turned her attention back to the gunman.

"You don't want to do that Keith. Whatever the problem is we can work it out. Put the

gun down." She said calmly trying to defuse the situation.

He seemed momentarily stunned she knew his name, but quickly started to rant again.

"It's all her fault." He gestured wildly with the gun toward the trembling doctor. "She made me a laughingstock and now she's going to pay for it."

Time seemed to slow as Sam saw his finger tighten on the trigger. She felt her heart

thump in her chest and knew in that split second between one heartbeat and the next that

she'd never stop him even if she fired on him. She didn't know what made her do it but

she launched herself between the doctor and the gunman. She saw the flash of the

weapon's discharge. The shot slammed into the shoulder of her bulletproof vest and

knocked her back into the doctor. In slow motion she saw the connecting door slam open

and Davidson run in with his gun drawn. The gunman managed to fire again before

spinning to face Davidson with his gun raised. Davidson shot him in the chest at almost

point blank range. The gunman's second shot had gone low catching Sam in the groin

below her bulletproof vest. The pain was excruciating as her body hit the ground hard.

Everything after that was a blur. She faintly heard Davidson calling frantically over the

radio. "Officer down, Officer down!"

She felt herself being lifted up and cradled in strong slender arms and pressure being

applied to her wound. Her eyes struggled to focus on the face above her. She gazed into

the most amazing violet colored eyes she had ever seen. It was the doctor who'd been

threatened by the gunman. Even in the incredible pain she was in she felt safe in her

arms. The doctor reached down brushing Sam's hair back from her face and then softly

stroked her cheek as she stared into the officer's vivid blue eyes.

"Don't worry, you're going to be alright. I'll take good care of you."

Sam was totally unaware of the other people rushing into the room. All she saw was the

beautiful woman above her promising everything was going to be ok. She could feel

herself becoming weaker and everything was getting dim. The last thing she saw was the

coppery haired doctor with the soft violet eyes leaning over her before everything went

black.

"Get her on the gurney NOW!" the doctor yelled. "We're losing her."