It was a cold February morning and the A shift was scheduled to do a 48 hour shift.

Throughout six homes in L.A county alarms were going off; some sooner than others.

Johnny Gage was first up at 5.30 AM. It was still dark outside and the wind was howling through the trees bordering his property. He saw tree boughs bowing down to the ground in the wind and rain and debris scattered over his drive and lawn. Oh well, another job to add to my list of chores on my day off thought Johnny as he padded away from the window and made his way to the bathroom.

After emptying his bladder he threw on old jeans and a sweatshirt and made his way downstairs to do his chores. Johnny mis-stepped on the last two steps and quickly saved himself from falling by grabbing the bannister. Doesn’t pay to get dressed when going down the stairs Gageyboy he thought to himself.

Flicking on the kettle, for when he returned from tending to the animals, Johnny left the warmth of the house for the coldness outside. He ventured into the stable to tend to his two horses and Sotkazi; a homeless waif of a cat Johnny had rescued from an abandoned warehouse fire. His neighbour, Dennis would tend to the animals until he returned from  work. Johnny in return did some heavy odd jobs for him in return like chopping and stacking the wood for the winter fires.

Twenty minutes later found one wet and cold Gage returning from the corral with one cat hot on his heels screeching for food. Having set out Sotkazi’s food and water on the porch, Johnny then saw to his own breakfast. Coffee and toast in that order. Lastly Johnny went throughout the house pulling all the curtains open letting in weak daylight still tinged with the last vestiges of night.

He then made his way upstairs to have a quick shower and got dressed. Grabbing his car keys before venturing once again into the rain and wind carrying his uniforms and duffel bag, Johnny set off to work. With all going well he was on target to getting to work without getting latrine duty. Chuckling to himself he was hoping that honor would go to Chet. One could only hope.

*******************

Next up was Cap. He kissed his wife good morning and gently slipped out of bed. The rain was lashing against the windows and Hank gave an involuntary shudder as he crossed the room. It was going to be a busy day if this weather didn’t let up.

Hank wasn’t too sure why Californians didn’t drive slower and for the weather conditions when it was like this. Their last shift had been a busy one as this bad weather spell had been going strong for the last four days. He also did his ablutions and made a fresh pot of coffee. No doubt when Mary got up she would welcome a brew before tending to the kids.

Poking his head into the kids bedrooms he saw both his daughters sleeping soundly with duvets tucked up to their chins. He gave them a soft kiss each before heading back to have breakfast and then head off to the station.

************************

Mike and Roy both awoke when their respective alarms went off. Mike lived a bit further out than Roy and being a no nonsense sort of guy he was quickly washed and dressed. He pulled up his bed and without much ado was heading to work. He would get a coffee and Danish at Gino’s Diner for breakfast while he drove in.

********************

Roy groaned, removed his arms from Joanne’s waist, rolled over and turned his alarm clock off. Joanne murmured a sleepy good morning and rolled over to give Roy a morning kiss. After returning the kiss with a bit more passion and duration, it was with great reluctance that Roy got up.

Joanne laughed and looking at the state Roy was in told him he shouldn’t have started something he couldn’t finish or he should’ve set his alarm for earlier.

 “I could always be late. Blame it on the weather and relieve Chet or Johnny from Latrine duty. It would be well worth it” said Roy while wiggling his eyebrows and climbing back on the bed.

“Why, Mr DeSoto what a devilish idea” replied Joanne with a bright smile.

********************

Marco awoke two minutes before his alarm was due to go off. He got up and noticed how cold the floor was and the cool air against his skin brought up instant goosebumps. Running to check on the thermostat he found that it had stopped working sometime through the night.

He went and turned off the pilot light switch and left a couple of windows open to be on the safe side. He would have to get it seen to. He was in the shower and dressed within ten minutes. He sat down to his mamma’s recipe of chili and eggs. He took his coffee with him and drank it while driving into work.

 He would get his cousin, Ricardo to fix his thermostat. It was handy having a large family. Just about every trade and profession was covered by immediate and extended family. On his fireman’s salary it was a great saving getting mates rates.

********************

Lastly was Chet. There had been a power cut through the night in his district when a tree had come down on power lines. He slept unawares through what would have been his wake up call at 6.20 AM.

Rolling over he snuggled further into his bed. His snores reverberated around his room. A little while later his internal alarm finally clicked on and he stirred briefly thinking he still had more time to sleep since his alarm hadn’t gone off.

His digital clock was flashing 1200. It took all of five seconds for it to compute in Chest’ brain that: one - there had been a power cut; two - he didn’t know what the real time was and three - may he not be late for work.

His heart sunk when he saw it was 6.40AM. Forgoing breakfast and having the quickest shower man had ever experienced Chet changed into his uniform to save even more time and ran out the door.

By the time he had reached his car he was drenched and would have to change again at the station unless he could dry it out with the car heater. It was not going well so far. He was hoping that his pigeon had slept in and was running later than he was. A brief smile lit across his face as he thought of Gage getting latrine duty.

*********************

Cap was the first to arrive, followed by Mike, and then Johnny and Marco arrived simultaneously. The guys were sitting in the kitchen with the outgoing C Shift crew. With two minutes before roll call Chet barged into the station looking like something the cat dragged in.

Puffing a quick good morning he made his way to the locker room to get himself in order. He was dismayed to find Gage already there. Oh well, you can’t have everything he thought. Prepared to do latrine duty he made his way to line up. Doing a quick head count and finding one man down Chets’ day just got brighter. Roy would be doing the bathroom today. Life was on the up and up.

“Gage, have you heard from Roy?” Cap asked.

“No, Cap. But I ….” Gage was interrupted by one much harried sandy haired partner running through the apparatus bay. “Sorry Cap. I had a flat tire and it delayed me somewhat.” replied Roy; his ears going bright red as he spoke.

Standing next to Roy, Gage did a double take. Roy’s ears only did that when he was lying. Luckily for Roy, Cap didn’t notice Roy’s ears. “Right. Well, the main thing is, is that you’re here”. Turning to Mitch, Cap thanked him and released him from covering for Roy.

Johnny informed Roy that he had already done the morning checks and made a list of the supplies they would need from Rampart. Within fifteen minutes the men one by one went in various directions to do their assigned tasks. Johnny was stripping the beds in the dorm room when he saw an opportunity to go find out what really made Roy late this morning.

Entering the bathroom, Johnny saw Roy just about to clean the mirror when Roy turned around at his friends’ reflection announced his arrival. “Want to tell me why you were really late this morning, pal? Cos I know it wasn’t a flat tire.”

Roy went lobster red and just smiled. ”Sometimes Junior, a happily married man is just late,” and with that he wiggled his eyebrows and turned back to his work whistling an off key tune.

Johnny read the signs and calling Roy a sly dog, laughed and went back to stripping beds.

***************

The klaxons sounded and sent the squad on their first call at 0830 hrs to a woman down. At 1250hrs the men were making their way back to the station.

 If all went well they would get there this time. They had had four calls so far. They had treated a woman who had slipped on some wet foliage on her path and hurt her ankle and her pride.

Next came a man who had had a seizure while driving and drove his car into his garage. Luckily the only thing hurt was the garage door. The man came to while in the ambulance.

Their third call involved a 5lb 3oz baby girl that wanted to come into the world two weeks early. She had very healthy lungs. No matter how many times Roy and Johnny helped a child make their way into the world they would never get tired of the miracle of birth.

Their fourth call had been an elderly woman who had thought she could fix a leak in her roof and fell off. Margaret was a spritely 81 year old and just a wisp of a woman. With all the rain that had been pouring down the last few days, Margaret thought she could fix the leak pouring water into her guest bedroom. She slipped on the wet shingles and landed in a heap on her waterlogged lawn. That in itself saved her from instant death she was sure. She weakly called out for help but it wasn’t for at least an hour or so until she was spotted by a neighbour peering out the front window.

The neighbour was there holding Margaret’s hand and holding an umbrella over her while the thick duvet she had placed over her was steadily getting soaked. Margaret was talking and coherent when they first got there. She was complaining of pain in her back and right hip and a headache.

“I was such a fool dear” she said patting Johnny’s hand. “I thought I could do it on my own. I was doing well too until I slipped on a loose shingle. Who would’ve thought it? I had my boots on too for better traction. I used to climb in my younger days. I hung up my boots at the age of sixty five, I was getting too old to be doing it according to my friends. It wasn’t the done thing to be rock climbing at that age so they said. Shame really, I did so enjoy it. You know I scaled El Capitan when I was sixty four. Highlight of my climbing career, no pun intended of course.” Margaret said with a hint of a smile in her eyes. “Promise me you’ll keep doing the things you enjoy regardless of what people say”

Margaret fixed Johnny with a direct stare. Her watery blue eyes glistened with tears as another spasm of pain rocked her body.  Vital signs were taken and reported. Orders were given and completed. Margaret’s broken body was put into traction on the back board and before she was lifted into the ambulance she requested one last look at her house and little garden . The plants were dormant but showed promise for the coming spring and summer. “Do you think  the new owners will like hyacinths and pansies. They will be coming up in a few months.”

“I’m sure they will Margaret, who doesn’t?” Johnny replied.

“Make sure you live a good and happy life young man, I did. My only regret was that my beloved Bertie left me too soon” with that Margaret Collins closed her eyes and never regained consciousness. She was on blood thinners and the bang to her head was causing a bleed to slowly compress her brain stem. By the time the ambulance was reversing into the bay , Johnny was performing CPR and Steven was bagging the patient.

Straddling the gurney all the way into treatment room 3, Johnny continued to compress her lifeless heart. The monitor showed asystole when he was asked to stop. There was nothing to shock. There was nothing left to do. The life had gone from Margaret Collins, age 81, mountaineer extraordinaire. Johnny liked to believe that she was with her beloved Bertie who left her a widow 22 years earlier.  

******************

It was two very quiet men that pulled the squad into the apparatus bay. They were just about to get out when the klaxons rang out multiple tones sending stations, engines and squads to an MVA on the freeway with multiple injuries. The squad led the way with the engine following. They were the second station to arrive at the scene with Station 45 running the rescue.

 Mike pulled up north of the accident and Marco and Chet ran an inch and a half to douse out fires and wash the oil and gasoline away. Johnny and Roy grabbed their gear and started assessing the injured. Roy took the first car and Johnny proceeded onto the second.

Roy was assessing a man in his twenties groaning while holding his head. Blood was running down his face from a laceration over his left eyebrow. He was groggy but awake and breathing easily.

Johnny had a mother and child in his car. The mother was unconscious and her daughter had gone through the windscreen. The little girl was lying on the crumpled hood and hard up against the car in front which was attached to the car via mangled metal and a hissing radiator.

The little girl was dead. The mother had a very faint and thready pulse. Her breathing was laboured with blood bubbling out from her mouth with every exhale. The steering wheel was jammed right into her chest. Then while Johnny was calling out for help she stopped breathing.

 Johnny tried to ventilate but there was too much resistance and he could feel air escaping from her side where her broken ribs had come through her skin. Johnny had to leave her as her injuries were incompatible to life. He placed a blanket over the mother and daughter and then moved to the next car.

He slipped in oil leaking from the smashed automobiles and went down hard on his right knee. He brushed the broken glass off from his trousers and wished he had his turnout pants on. He felt a slight pain but his adrenaline was running high and he was more focused on the victims and gave it no more thought.

Roy was moving to another car having triaged his first victim as stable and safe to wait. They made their way through to another two vehicles crushed into each other. This time it was a van and a convertible.

The driver of the convertible was deeply unconscious with a severe head injury. She wasn’t responding to painful stimuli. Roy encouraged Johnny to check on the van occupants. He would call him back if he needed him. Cap came up and assisted Roy with the lady while Johnny climbed on the overturned van and found two occupants. They were both hippies and sporting long hair and beaded necklaces.

The drivers tie dye clothes bore a lot of blood belonging to his friend. The driver was clutching his abdomen and complaining of pain in his chest. His safety belt was pushed tight against him from where his seat had shunted forward.

His friend, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was hard up against him and unconscious. Johnny was leaning in talking to the driver ascertaining his injuries while feeling for a pulse on the passenger. It was there, strong and steady against his fingers.

The heavy smell of marijuana permeated the interior of the van. The passenger groaned at the touch and slowly came to, stated “Man, what a trip” before losing consciousness again.

Johnny was putting a C collar on the unconscious passenger and working with Bellingham whom had made his way down to Johnny. Together they put the man on a back board and with the help of Marco and Chet extricated the passenger out through the door.

Chet went back and released the safety belt on the driver which instantly relieved the pain in his chest and abdomen. Mike used the Jaws of Life to pull the steering wheel away from the patient as the seat was jammed and at an awkward angle so the guys couldn’t release it to its original position. The driver, who was still slightly stoned, jumped up and climbed out of the passenger door before anyone could do a fuller assessment on him in situ.

Roy was talking to Dr Early on the station 51 biophone and was inserting an IV into the unconscious women who was now out and on a backboard with O2 and a C collar on.

Johnny was doing a secondary survey on his patient and calling out his findings to Bellingham who was talking to Dr Brackett on station 45’s biophone. The driver was hovering over his friend and getting in the way.

Marco led the driver over to the side of the road where he could still see what was happening but was out of harm’s way. He called over a free paramedic from Station 11 to assess the man, Marco then left to get back in to help with the rescue.

The weather had deteriorated considerably since they had arrived and now lightning and thunder were added into the mix. Roy was putting a splint on the woman’s left leg. Her ankle looked pretty busted up. Her left arm was already splinted and the ragged tear to her head was covered. A blanket was draped over her and water was pooling in the little dents and valleys across her body.

Johnny was faring no better with his patient. He had a rigid abdomen and an apparently broken left arm. Blood was pouring out of his nose. Fortunately no blood was in his ears. Having inserted an IV and D5W TKO and O2 the patient was splinted and bundled into the ambulance with full spinal precautions. The patient didn’t rouse again until he was in Rampart and Dr Brackett was looking into his eyes with a penlight.

Johnny was still shivering and dripping water onto the floor while standing at the base station. He was holding a cup of over brewed coffee and calling out stock to Dixie that needed to be replaced. His stomach was growling as he hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, even then it was only two pieces of toast and a coffee. What he wouldn’t give for a donut with the coffee right now.

Roy was even hungrier as he hadn’t eaten at all. Both of them looked like drowned rats.

Johnny’s long bangs were hanging wetly over his face with the occasional water drop falling off the ends onto the desk. He kept brushing them aside so that he could see but their sodden weight made them fall back again each time.

Roy suggested he could cut them for Johnny and pulled out his scissors. The dirty look that Johnny was giving Roy would have achieved the desired effect if his hair didn’t choose that moment to fall in his eyes again.  

Hoping to get warm and fed, not necessarily in that order the boys wished Dixie a fond farewell. Grabbing their supplies they made their way back out to the squad. Hopefully this time they would get out of the squad and be able to get a bite to eat. It wasn’t until Johnny was climbing into the squad that his knee gave him a painful reminder that he had fallen on it earlier.

 Johnny decided that instead of going back into Rampart which was busy seeing to the MVA victims that he would much rather get into a nice hot shower, dry clothes and fill up his tummy instead. It probably just needs a band aid on it or something. Running his hand over his knee he didn’t feel anything untoward.

 Roy saw Johnny rubbing his knee and enquired if everything was alright. Johnny shot Roy a look and with his hand splayed over his chest swore that he was fine, just cold and hungry and wanting to get back to the barn before they got called out again. Just then another bolt of lightning lit the darkened winter sky. A few seconds later thunder rolled across the sky.

“The storm must be right over us. I bet we’ll get called out again for sure!”

“Oh, Roy, did you have to say that man! Now, ya’ve jinxed us. You know that don’t you. Great, just great! I bet we don’t even make it back to the barn before we get toned out”. With that Johnny turned in his seat and folded his arms across his chest. He gave another shiver and a sneeze, ignored Roy completely and looked resolutely ahead at the rain pelting the windshield. 

Roy picked up the mic and called them available and on the way back to Station 51. It was a quiet drive back. The only noise was the grumbling of their stomachs and the swishing of the window wipers sweeping across the windshield.

Since it was getting onto 4PM Roy went to ask Johnny if he wanted to stop at a burger joint for a quick bite but the lure of eating Mikes’ chicken and the grim look on Johnny’s face stopped the question before it could leave his lips. Hopefully with food and warmth Johnny would be back to his sunny disposition. That plus no runs for a while.

As the squad pulled into the apparatus bay both men sat there listening to the engine tick as it cooled down. Neither one was willing to get out in case they got another run. With a sigh Johnny stated it was stupid to waste time on what might never happen and got out of the squad. Roy followed.

The smell of Stokers chicken was wafting into the bay. Roy made a beeline for the kitchen. Johnny told Roy he would be there soon as he was going to have a quick shower. He was also going to check his knee which had started to throb the more he got warmed up.

Grabbing a change of uniform he made his way into the shower and turning on the water, stripped while it heated up. He saw a deep cut across his kneecap and a few other smaller cuts where the broken glass had cut him. Oil from busted car engines at the accident scene was smeared across the wound. He only smeared it more when he tried to remove it with his thumb. His uniform pants had a slight tear in the knee. It didn’t look to bad. He could put a simple dressing on it and hopefully he would be okay.

******************

In the kitchen Roy was sitting down having something to eat at long last. His hunger being met he made his way to the sink and washed his dishes. Next he wandered into the locker room to get changed.

Johnny was drying off and putting on his new uniform. He quickly scrunched up the dressing wrappers when he heard the door open. He didn’t want this minor cut to become a big thing with whoever was walking through the door. He especially didn’t want them to tell Roy after he had lied to him in the squad.

Mike was going to his locker to retrieve a book. Johnny was just tucking in his shirt when the klaxons sounded and the squad was called out for an unknown rescue. “I don’t believe it” Johnny yelled as he slammed his locker door closed and threw his towel with a bit too much force into the hamper. “Only enough time to do one or the other. Boy, I hope you ate well as God knows when we’ll be back, Roy.”

Running to the squad they took the address from Hank and turning on their siren proceeded to leave the station to go to 1226 Palladium Drive for unknown rescue.

On arrival six minutes later they were met by a very agitated man. He grabbed Johnny’s arm and literally dragged him into the house.

“You have to help her, man. She’s stuck. I’ve tried everything I know but I can’t free her.”

 The man led them into the laundry where a women in her twenties had her arm caught in the wringer of the wringer agitator washing machine. Her armpit was jammed right up against the rollers. Her hair had also got caught and had wrapped itself around the rollers several times.

“Hi, my name’s Connie and I’m real sorry to bother you but we can’t get my arm out and the release is faulty and well, it’s really starting to hurt see, and Bobby here decided to try you guys. We’ve tried oil and butter but nothings worked. Please don’t cut my hair if you can help it. We’re getting married next month and I don’t want short hair for my wedding,” Connie said in one breath.

“Well, Miss. We’ll um, do our best on all counts. We’ll just unplug the machine here and see what we can do” Roy replied. Several minutes later with the wringer taken apart, Connie was free from the man eating rollers and her hair was removed without the use of scissors.

It was one very grateful Connie and Bobby waving goodbye to the paramedics after she had signed a waiver. “My arms fine, gentlemen, honestly. I will go to my Dr if I have any problems with it. But it’s not even sore. My scalp hurts more where the hair got pulled. Thank you again for everything.”

Having reloaded everything back into the compartments, the men made their way back into the squad. Roy saw the stiffness that Johnny was trying to hide. He was favoring his right leg. He decided to wait and see if Johnny would tell him what happened. He knew if he approached it now when Johnny was hungry he would get his head bitten off. Johnny needed food more than anybody he knew. His metabolism ran high and he burnt off food quicker than he could replace it sometimes. Today seemed to be one of those times. He was looking forward to getting back to the station. He would have a shower and change and Johnny could finally grab a bite to eat.

Roy got his shower and change of uniform and was starting to feel human again. Upon walking into the kitchen he could hear the raised voices of Chet and Johnny. Johnny was in full rant mode. Chet was looking slightly abashed.

“Geeze, Johnny. I told you, I thought you had stopped and got a bite to eat earlier. How was I to know that you haven’t eaten all day? So I helped myself to the last pieces of Mikes chicken. If it means that much to you I will make you a sandwich. You don’t have to be such a grouch about it.” Chet started to make his way over to the cupboard.

“You’re a real pig Chet. Don’t put yourself out. I wouldn’t trust anything you made me right now. Knowing you, you’d lace it with salt or laxatives. I’ll make my own sandwich. Get out of my way”. With that Johnny pushed Chet aside using his body for leverage.

Chet made his way over to the couch. Marco was sitting there having heard the conversation. “Mi Amigo, you know Johnny needs to eat, man. You should have waited until they got back. Then you could’ve asked. Then you wonder why he doesn’t trust you when you spike his food. When will you learn, Chet?” Marco got up and walked away, disappointed in his friend. Mike looked at Chet and just shook his head. He joined Marco over at the table.

Johnny went to make himself a sandwich when the klaxons went off. ”NO! NO! NO! I don’t believe it. This can’t be happening!” Johnny yelled to no one in particular. The station was called out to a structure fire in an industrial park.

Cap directed the men to the hoses. The smoke was thick and furious. Hard to believe that the storm was not putting out the fire but had caused it instead when lightning hit power cables going into the building.

The foreman came running over and approached the Cap. “There are two men trapped inside at the back of the building. They were unloading freight off from the truck. I haven’t seen them. Please you have to find them. My son’s one of them. Please find them.” The foreman started to cry, fearful for his son and the other man.

Cap called Johnny and Roy off the line and with full SCBA gear they entered the hot building. The smoke was so thick they could barely see two feet in front of them. Their lifeline stretched out behind them the further they proceeded into the building.

Linesmen from station 102 were inside doing their best to squelch the flames. Johnny was feeling hot and started to sweat under all the gear. Roy was fairing no better. An explosion to their right threw both men to the ground. Flying debris cascaded around them. Some collected on their SCBA but when they stood up again it fell to the floor.

They did a quick check to make sure they weren’t smouldering or on fire. Having confirmed that they were both ok, they went back to their search. Roy contacted Cap and informed him that they were both alright and were going to the back of the building.

Johnny had landed heavily on his knees when hitting the floor. His right knee felt wet but it was hard to decide if it was water from the puddles on the floor from the fire hoses, sweat or blood. He felt though that it was blood. He would definitely need same pain relief when he got back to the station. 

Making their way to the back they saw the truck parked just inside the building right up by the loading dock. Pellets holding large boxes littered the exit blocking their escape route.

Feet were seen sticking out from behind some of the boxes. Running to the man they found him unconscious and coughing. He was lying free from the boxes.

Beside him was a younger man. Several boxes lay scattered around him and he still had some lying on his lower legs. It looked like his colleague had been trying to rescue him before he was overcome by smoke.

They quickly cleared the boxes off the young man and doing a primary survey detected no broken bones. Another louder more disruptive explosion rocked the building knocking Roy and Johnny to the floor.

 Johnny and Roy had no choice but to pick the men up and using the firemen’s lift started to leave the building. Johnny was feeling lightheaded and nauseated. He thought he was going to throw up. Now was not the time. Blinking furiously as Johnny’s vision wavered; he followed Roy out of the building.

They just managed to get clear when another big explosion sent them flying through the air. Johnny being closer to the blast took a longer and higher flight path than Roy.

 All four men landed unceremoniously on the asphalt. Roy was shaking his head and climbing to all fours. He removed his helmet and air mask. Sucking in great gulps of cool air and feeling the rain on his face. It felt so good after the heat inside the building. The paramedics from Station 102 rushed over.

They split up and started to assess the two civilians. Roy crawled over to Johnny. He still felt shaky but waved the other paramedics off. Johnny was still out. He had a linear cut across his forehead where his helmet had dug into him when he landed before its strap broke and came flying off. He was hot and dry to the touch. Roy hadn’t done too much more before he called out for help. Johnny possibly had heat stroke and needed to be cooled down straight away. “I need help over here” Roy called out.

Brice and Bellingham came over from 45. “What do you have, De Soto?” queried Brice.

 Roy brought them up to speed with what he knew so far. He needed help to strip Johnny and cool him down as well as assess him for further injuries. After carefully removing  Johnny’s turnout gear and uniform, vitals where obtained. Johnny’s pupils were equal and reactive. That was a good sign. Brice contacted Rampart. Johnny meanwhile was just starting to moan. Orders where given to start an IV, commence D5W TKO and to cool patient ASAP. 4 litres of oxygen was also ordered. Spinal precautions were to be maintained and monitor his vitals every ten minutes. To update if any changes and get Johnny to Rampart ASAP.

Bellingham grabbed the reel line off Big Red and started to hose Johnny down with a very fine spray. The water had a rousing effect on Johnny and he opened his eyes with a start. He promptly rolled on his side and threw up with some difficulty as the C collar was on. “Well, I guess that answers any question of spinal injury” stated Bellingham.

 Brice informed Rampart that the victim was now awake and had rolled independently to his side before full spinal precautions could be instituted. Pt was throwing up. He was also severely dehydrated and getting an IV into him was proving difficult.

Rampart advised to keep trying with the IV and to get the patient in as soon as able. In the background sirens could be heard as the ambulances approached to take the two other men in as well as Roy and Johnny.

 Cap had made it clear that Roy was to go in and be checked out. Johnny was starting to complain about being half naked, wet and a guinea pig for Dracula when one look from Cap shut him up.

Brice tried again to get a line in and then Johnny promptly rolled over and threw up on Brice’s shoes. Payback thought Gage before he passed out again.

The next time Gage opened his eyes it was in the back of the ambulance. He was feeling decidedly unwell. His head hurt, his knee hurt. He was nauseous and try as he might he couldn’t keep track of everything going on around him. He felt hot and out of it. Not how he liked to be feeling at any time.

He felt the nausea building up again and tried to warn Brice but as soon as he opened his mouth a stream of bile stained fluid emitted out and ran down the side of his face and under the C collar.

Brice rolled him to his side and started to suction. This made Johnny gag even more and set off another bout of vomiting. It was a vicious cycle. Tears were coming out of his eyes and pooling down his face. The upper eye tears crossed over the bridge of his nose and Johnny found the sensation slightly irritating and went to wipe the irritation away. Brice let out a curse as Johnny pulled out the IV that had taken Brice five attempts to get in.   

“Damn you Gage, can’t you just sit back and behave yourself for once” Brice exclaimed before obtaining another set of vitals and contacting Rampart with an update.

Johnny swatted the light away that was bearing into his eyes setting off his headache to new heights. “Don’t. Get away will ya”, he moaned as he came to again.

 “Johnny open your eyes for me. C’mon Johnny I know you’re awake. Let’s see those eyes of yours” asked Dr Brackett.

 “Go away, Leave me alone. I’ve got a headache. Stop buggin' me, will ya”. Johnny once again lost the contents of his stomach which was just more bile.

He was quickly rolled onto his side and suctioned again. “I don’t like this; I don’t like this at all. Lets’ get a skull series and I want his right knee x rayed too, it’s a bit swollen. I also want a head CT. Mike had finished doing a cut down and inserted an IV in his left foot and collected several tubes of blood.

 Johnny was very dehydrated with a low blood sugar. A stat bag of D5W was started with a bag of 10 % glucose piggybacking in. Ice packs and a cooling blanket adorned his body in an attempt to get his temp down.

Roy had made his way in after Dr Early had checked him out and given him a clean bill of health. “How’s he doing, Doc?” Roy asked as he sidled up to the gurney.

 “Well, there are a few things concerning me. I think the heat stroke is compounding his condition. Once that resolves we might have a better idea what’s going on. I’m waiting for the blood results and we are gonna get x-rays and a head CT. We’ll then see what we’ve got. He appears to have a concussion, we just need to stabilise him first before we know how bad it is. It looks like he’ll be staying with us for the next few days.”

 Radiology entered the room wielding their ungainly machine in front of them. Everyone left the room while Johnny kept his eyes solidly closed while the x rays were taken.

Roy made himself comfortable in the Doctors lounge and sipped a hot cup of coffee.

Dr Brackett was filling Roy in on the patients they had brought in earlier. All were expected to make a complete recovery. It heartened Roy to know that his lady with the severe head lac had regained consciousness briefly and was expected to pull through. Given the three deaths they had seen that day he needed some good news. Now all he needed was to know that Johnny was gonna be OK. So far it hadn’t been a good shift.

Dr Brackett was reviewing Johnny’s x rays while Johnny was in CT. “Well so far so good. I don’t see any evidence of a skull fracture. We’ll know more after the CT. His temp is coming down and his blood sugar has picked up. His bloods showed he was dehydrated but the IV fluids are rectifying that. His right knee has some glass fragments in it and will need a washout which I can do under local. A short course of antibiotics should help that heal cleanly. His forehead will need to be sutured. All up I would say that Johnny is doing OK. It could’ve been a lot worse. He has a slight concussion as well as heat exhaustion and dehydration.”

An hour later Johnny returned from CT. He was wide awake and complaining loudly of being hungry. His stomach was grumbling in agreement.

To say that Brackett was surprised at the rapid turnaround in Johnny’s condition would be an understatement. The CT showed no brain injury. Dr Brackett administered local into Johnny’s knee and started to clean it out and removed several small shards of glass. He then closed the knee with seven stitches and the forehead with twenty one.

Dixie brought in a tray with a sandwich and glasses of milk and orange juice. Johnny wolfed it down in no time.

Johnny was pleading his case for discharge and to go back to duty. It would seem that all his symptoms had resolved as his heat stroke, hunger and dehydration were corrected. He had a slight headache but that was all. By roping Roy in to monitor him he got Brackett to agree to his discharge and was passed fit to return to work.

Dr Brackett gave Johnny precise instructions about not being a hero and to let Roy take the lead if any rescues were to arise between now and shifts end.

Johnny went to jump off the table while promising to follow the Doctors orders as prescribed when he stopped in his tracks as he realised he was in a backless hospital gown with a needle in his foot. His uniform was scrunched up back in the squad at the fire scene.

Dixie saw his dilemma and went to get Johnny a pair of scrubs to don for his journey back to the station. Roy picked up Johnny’s antibiotics from the pharmacy to help speed up their release from the hospital. Brackett removed the IV in Johnny’s foot and put a small bandage over it.  

Johnny was sitting in the Doctors lounge. Tapping his fingers on the table in an erratic staccato of noise and jiggling his knee. “Okay Junior, when the squad gets here maybe we can get back to the barn and have dinner and if the big fireman in the sky is nice to us we won’t get called out again.”

Roy then placed two coffees on the table and took a seat opposite Johnny. “God Roy, I could eat a horse and chase the rider. I’m still hungry. That sandwich barely touched the sides.”

“Geeze Gage, you’re always hungry. Do you have worms or something” Chet said as he was walked into the Doctors lounge to take the two paramedics back to the barn.

“Yeah, well whose fault is that? Someone ate my lunch”. Johnny gave Chet a pointed look.

 Johnny was absently picking at the band aid over the IV site that Brice had finally managed to get in before he pulled it out. He noticed it was bleeding after he had managed to take the dressing off. Placing his thumb over the small puncture site he tried to stem the light bleeding. “I haven’t had much to eat the whole day Chet, so just leave me alone. I don’t need you making my headache worse.” There was silence for the rest of the trip back to the station.

Chet made his way into the dorm to get his gear ready for the night.

Roy and Johnny went into the kitchen and while Roy sat down, Johnny went to investigate what was on the stove. Grabbing two plates he started to dish up Marcos’ Chili for dinner.

Chet came in shortly after and dished up some for himself before taking his seat at the table. Cap walked in and enquired how both paramedics were and had they been checked out and deemed fit for work.  Johnny grunted “yes“ while stuffing more chili into his already full mouth.

Roy gave a more detailed account. He put Johnny’s antibiotics on the table, Johnny nodded his thanks to Roy and opened the bottle and swallowed one down with his chili. Mike came over and put three bowls of apple pie a la mode on the table. “Oh man, pudding too. Man, I’m in heaven” said Johnny as he finished off the last of his chili.

Cap sat down in the rec room with a coffee to watch some TV before heading off to bed. One by one the men made their way in to take up their usual position in the rec room to watch TV.  Marco went and phoned his cousin Ricardo to see if he could fix his thermostat.

Soon Johnny was snoring softly with Henry laid out on his lap. Roy joined Johnny on the couch, after talking to Joanne. He wasn’t far behind Johnny before he too was fast asleep.

 The klaxons sounded about thirty minutes later and the squad was called out to a woman down.

The men got another two calls before making their way back into the station. Their last rescue called for them to help a teenage girl that had climbed out her window to see her boyfriend and she had got her leg caught in the tree.

A trip to Rampart confirmed a broken ankle and a mild case of hypothermia. She was grounded for 3 weeks by her parents. All up one unhappy teenager, two miffed off parents and two wet, cold and tired paramedics.

It was close to 2.30 AM when the squad backed into the station and the door went down.

Johnny and Roy dragged their tired bodies out of the squad and across the apparatus bay shuffling tiredly to the bathroom to start their nightly bedtime ritual. With their turnouts ready by their bed they quietly settled in to get whatever sleep they could get. If they were lucky they would sleep till the wake up tones in four hours.

The dorm was quiet apart from the soft snores emanating from Roy and Cap. Chet was snoring loudly as was Mike and Marco was mumbling away in Spanish from time to time.

Henry was spread out on the couch and waffling quietly.

The klaxons called the engine out to a dumpster fire at 0400hrs. Roy fell back to sleep straight away but Johnny was having difficulty getting back to sleep. He had woken up with the klaxons feeling cold and his knee was slightly sore and felt stiff. He pulled the blankets around him a bit tighter and tried to conserve his warmth. He flexed his knee a few times to limber it up. He was just starting to doze off when the engine returned and the four weary men made their way back into the dorm.

The smell of smoke wafted in with them. With a bit of luck they could get another hour of sleep before the wake up tones went off. Johnny was asleep within ten minutes of their return.

The wake up tones generated various moans and groans from the men around the dorm. Cap acknowledged the tones and got out of bed with a sigh and the occasional creak of his joints.

Johnny was still feeling tired. His headache hadn’t abated much but it wasn’t any worse. His knee was sore and stiff. It hurt to stretch out his leg. Walking proved painful. He sat back on the side of the bed and gave a slight shiver as his skin left the warmth of the blankets and met the early morning air.

Roy saw Johnny just sitting there on the side of his bed rubbing his arms briskly. He looked tired and slightly pale. “You ok, Johnny? You look kinda peaky and the worse for wear. How’s ya headache?” Roy enquired.

Cap overheard and peered over the brick divider.

”He’s right John, you don’t look too great there pal.”

  Johnny gave Roy a withering stare, “I’m ok Cap, honest. Just didn’t sleep well or long enough that’s all. Now, coffee calls with an antibiotic chaser if I’m not mistaken.” With that Johnny got up again. Took two steps before pain flared up in his knee. Stifling a moan, Johnny stopped and to cover his tracks gave a prolonged stretch and yawn as if awakening his body.

“Johnny, are you alright? And be honest with me” Roy demanded.

Cap stood there with his arms folded across his chest, “Gage.” That one word by Cap was all Johnny needed to know he was not going to get out of this as easily as he first thought.

“Fine, fine. Here Roy, feel free to examine me to your hearts delight. Here I’ll save you the trouble. Patient has slight and I mean slight pain over right knee. Headache gone, nausea gone, thirst and full bladder present,” Johnny ended on a huff. “Oh, don’t forget patient currently on antibiotics which he is due now hopefully with a cup of coffee to quench the thirst.”

 Undeterred Roy went and got the biophone and trauma box. “I don’t believe this” Johnny mumbled under his breath. Roy proceeded to take Johnny’s temperature and stuck the thermometer into a resisting mouth. “You forget Junior, the only reason Dr Brackett let you come back last night was if I monitored your condition, so now I’m monitoring your condition. So sit down and be a good patient”

Grumbling under his breath about mother hens and overzealous doctors Johnny made his way back to his bed and stuck out his arm for Roy to take his blood pressure. Several bruises adorned his arm from Brice’s failed attempts yesterday to cannulate him. “Geeze, Gage, did you get attacked by a bunch of vampire bats or what?” Chet said as he took the scene in before him.

The other guys were hanging around to, their trip to the kitchen for coffee halted when they heard Cap talking to a pale looking Johnny. Mike let out a small chuckle and Marco just looked up to the ceiling. Spurred on by his colleagues responses Chet went in for another jibe only to be thwarted by a cold glare from Cap.

Johnny was already feeling under scrutiny and was willing everybody to have suddenly full bladders requiring a dash to the latrine. Instead they were grouped around the brick divider watching Roy take Johnny’s vital signs. To add insult to injury Mike was setting up the biophone. Roy completed gathering Johnny’s vitals.

“Well I don’t think we need to be contacting Rampart, Junior. Your temperature is borderline at 100.1 but apart from that everything else is normal.” Roy said as he was packing up the equipment.

Feeling like he had won that round Johnny gave Roy a look to say I told you so. Standing up he made his way through the guys to go to the latrine before seeking that first cup of coffee.

His right knee was sore but the more he walked the more it loosened up. Finally getting to the coffee pot and seeing it was empty he started making a fresh brew. He took his antibiotic and aspirin with a glass of water while he waited. The other guys were making their way into the kitchen too and started getting breakfast on the table. Marco was making the toast while Chet was doing scrambled eggs for everyone.

The start of their second consecutive 24 hour shift found all the men around the table eating and passing the coffee pot around. Cap had the newspaper and using his rank got to read it first amongst the men. Chet was expressing his admiration for the World Trade Towers in Manhattan which were gracing the front page of the newspaper that Cap was now holding up reading. Chet was espousing his plans on going to see them on his next vacation. “They are the tallest buildings in the world and they are right in our backyard. I plan to see them and go to the top and look down at the world”

Johnny couldn’t help but stare at Chet, Chet who felt giddy at the top of the hose tower on a windy day. “Yeah right buddy. Somehow I don’t think you could manage the ride up in the elevator let alone the lookout floor,” said Johnny. “Let me know when you’re going and I’ll supply you with a barf bag.”

Chuckling Johnny got up and started out to the squad to do the morning calibrations. Roy was following behind sharing Johnny’s chuckle in getting the better of Chet.

Chet’s aversion to heights was well known in the department. Roy would be a close second if truth be told but his job as a rescue man was working as an aversion therapy of sorts and he felt more and more confident when faced with a high rescue. Mind you having a partner akin to a mountain goat was a big boost to his confidence.

Johnny let out a low groan as he bent down to place the biophone and defib on the floor and set about contacting Rampart. His knee felt tight and stretched against the dressing and stitches. His forehead wound was bruised but clean and apart from the occasional twinge when he knocked it against his helmet it wasn’t really a bother.

 His knee was proving to be a different story. Disguising his discomfort from Roy he set about with completing his tasks.

Johnny’s low moan didn’t go unnoticed by Roy. His mother hen radar was in overdrive. His suspicion was that Johnny was downplaying his discomfort. His vitals were fine but he would continue to monitor him surreptitiously.

Dixie greeted him warmly on the other end of the biophone. She wished them a good shift and a promise to buy them a cup of coffee later in the day.

Johnny was given latrines and the apparatus bay. Roy was on KP duty.  Chet was coming out from the dorm room having thought up a great idea for playing a phantom attack on his hapless pigeon. He made his way into the kitchen and seeing the coast was clear snuck into the cupboard to retrieve his weapon of choice. He quickly completed setting up his prank and then returned the evidence back to where it belonged. He had to set up a water bomb as well as that was only to be expected.

The squad left to collect supplies; they were a bit down on somethings from all their runs yesterday. The guys had tried to stay on top of everything but there were a few oversights.

They collected their supplies and cashed in on Dixies promise to buy them a cup of coffee. They stood around the base station talking for a bit while drinking a cup of coffee with Dixie.

They were heading back to the barn when the mic erupted alerting them to their first call of the day. A woman trapped response. The sirens went on and the Squad did a U turn and went back the way they had just come to reach a woman caught inside the anteroom at St Vincent’s Chapel. Things wouldn’t have been so bad apart from the fact that 200 guests were waiting for the woman to walk down the aisle and the organ had been playing several hymns and was now doing a boogie number to keep the crowd entertained while Roy and Johnny set about removing the door from its hinges.

The door had been locked and the key lost somewhere in the gardens outside. The little flower girl thought it would be a good idea to play outside against her mother’s wishes so she locked her mother in with her Auntie, the hapless bride to be, and went to play hide and seek with her brother the page boy.

Both children thought it a good idea as they were both bored with the entire goings on and just wanted to go out and play. Both children getting completely dirty in the process.

Having successfully got the bride and matron of honor out it was then discovered that the little boy sensing he was in trouble had climbed a tall tree round the back of the church to avoid being found out by his angry parents.

 Johnny was high up in the tree to retrieve the boy when the branch he was standing on gave way. He hit the branch about a few feet just below that and his legs unable to gain purchase went either side of the branch and with a hard and fast descent, Johnny ended up straddling the branch. Tears sprung instantly to his eyes.

He doubled over gasping at the excruciating pain in his crotch. Roy could see at once that Johnny was in trouble. He called up and gaining no response got on his HT and requested Engine 51 to be dispatched to their location as well as calling in a Code I.

Roy was putting his life belt on and slung a coil of rope across his shoulder and started making his way up the tree. The little boy seeing that another man was coming up started to cry and in his desire to be down and in his mothers’ arms started to scramble down the tree.

He unintentionally stood on Johnny’s’ hand which was holding onto the branch to the side of him. Then he grabbed Johnny’s right knee to help him get even lower.  Johnny muffled another cry as the boy reawakened the dull throbbing pain he had had in that knee since yesterday.

The boy met Roy halfway down the tree and Roy helped to lower him to the ground where by now a large group if not the whole congregation of wedding guests had come out to see the rescue and ensuing chaos up close and personal. The boy’s father clasped his son to him as he got closer to the bottom of the tree and set him on the ground. His mother was there gently brushing his hair back off his smudged face repeatedly asking if he was hurt anywhere and not giving the boy time to answer before repeating the question again this time while hugging the child close to her chest and fearful to let him go.

Roy was in a bit of a dilemma. He wanted to go see to his partner who hadn’t moved since his unfortunate fall, but duty had him going down and checking out the boy. Apart from a small tear in his page boy suit he was unharmed.

The parents signed a waiver and eager to get the wedding and the attention back on the bride and groom and off their wayward children started ushering the guests back into the chapel where distant sounds of Rock around the Clock from the organ could be heard emanating from within.

Roy once again started up the tree. Johnny was now capable of a few words at least...All of them of a very colourful persuasion and not fit for children’s ears.

The men from Station 51 arrived and were directed round the back by one of the guests who preferred the outside entertainment to the planned inside entertainment.

Cap got a quick update by Roy through the HT and ordered the men to get the biophone and trauma box just in case. He involuntarily hunched over when he heard of the nature of Johnny’s current malady.

Roy made it up to beside Johnny and took one look at the pain filled watery brown eyes and pale complexion to see his partner was still in some agony and movement wasn’t going to help it any. “Got ya good and proper I take it” said Roy as he was taking Johnny’s pulse.

“Ya could….say that.” Johnny squeezed out through clenched teeth and short breaths.

“Um, er…. is anything busted down there junior?”

“I don’t…. know. Don’t think so. Just ….get me …. Out of this … tree.”

Roy worked quickly to attach the rope to Johnny’s lifebelt. He then climbed higher in the tree and hooked the rope over a sturdy branch and sent the rest down below.

Chet and Marco grabbed it and acting as an anchor started to pull on the rope slowly lifting Johnny away from his current perch. Johnny’s initial gasps and then low moans could be heard by the men down below. Roy accompanied Johnny on the slow ride down.

Once back on terra firma Johnny refused for Roy to do any form of assessment apart from vital signs and contact Rampart to inform them of their arrival for further assessment.

Dr Early approved as apart from pain relief and ice out in the field there wasn’t a lot more they could do. With the help of Roy and Mike, Johnny made it into the squad. Chet had gone into the reception room located to the side of the chapel and got some ice from the barman and placed it in a plastic bag. He solemnly gave it to Gage before the squad made its way to Rampart to have a closer exam by Dr Early.

Forty minutes later the Squad backed into the bay. Johnny gingerly got out and slowly walked into the rec room to lay down on the couch. He still had his morning chores to complete and it was getting on to midday.

Cap came strolling into the room and seeing Johnny lying there with a bag of ice still in use asked if he was ok to work as Dr Early had passed him fit for duty but looking at the pale paramedic Cap wasn’t too sure if the right call had been made.

“I’m fine Cap, honest. I’m just a bit tender there but nothing that won’t stop me in my duties. A bit of pain relief an’ ice is all that’s needed at most” Johnny replied as he shifted on the couch with Henry down by his feet.

Truth be told his knee was causing more pain than his groin right now and with everyone’s’ attention on this latest injury he could deflect the attention away from his knee.

“Well, ok. But Johnny if you develop any pain or complication from this you tell me straight away and that’s an order” Cap stood at the side of the couch with his arms folded across his chest.

 “Yes Sir” Johnny quietly replied.

During lunch and before Johnny could do his chores the squad was called out for a man down, possible OD. The man didn’t make it. By the time they got him to Rampart he had cardiac arrested and nothing got him back. A series of calls proceeded after that and it wasn’t until 8 PM that the guys made it back to the station. They were tired and hungry.

Johnny was at the bathroom sink washing his face and hands before making his way to his locker to get a couple of aspirin and antibiotic dose for his knee which was hurting more than it had all day. It was still feeling tight and sore but he hadn’t had a chance to look at it to see what it was doing. He realised he had missed his lunchtime antibiotic dose as they got called out before he could take it.

Chet came in and told him that there was some dinner in the kitchen if he was hungry. Also that he had done the latrine for him and Marco took over the KP for Roy otherwise they would have all starved that day.

“Thanks Chet, guess I owe ya one. Roy was wondering about that, he was gonna float the idea of pizza around instead of cooking a late dinner and we didn’t fancy soup and sandwiches.”

“Yeah, Roy said but this way you owe us a favour, especially me and Marco. I can’t wait to collect.”

 Chet let out an evil little cackle and was making his way back to the rec room when Johnny called out “Hey Chet what we having for dinner?”

“Soup and sandwiches,“came the reply followed by loud laughter. Johnny opened his locker muttering to himself about phantoms and that being the last time he’d get one over him when a loud sproing was heard followed by a splash as a water bomb hit him squarely in the face and chest. Ok make that the second to last time Chet would get one over him.

He dismantled the water bomb and carefully set it up inside Chet’s locker and then loaded it with water and some cheap and nasty smelling cologne he brought in especially for this very thing. He put the cologne in a plastic bag that would explode on impact. Failing that as least the water would make him wet.

Then he dry swallowed two aspirin and the antibiotic. Wanting to put Chet off the scent about a possible payback he pretended to have just been hit with the water bomb. He yelled out Chet’s name at the top of his lungs and made to run into the rec room. The pain flaring in his knee when he had run a couple of steps put a stop to that so instead he walked quickly into the rec room, located Chet and gave him a filthy glare.

The guys all looked up as Johnny entered the room. They had heard him call out just before and weren’t surprised to see him soaking wet and his hair hanging over his eyes. He looked pale and tired Mike thought.

Marco thought he needed a haircut, how could anyone see out of that much hair. Chet saw another master plan come to fruition and he still had his coup de grace to happen, oh life was good. Phantom 1, Pigeon 0.

Roy saw his hapless partner and wondered when he would learn.

Cap saw the beginnings of a possible prank war and was quick to nip it in the bud.

“John, have ya dinner pal before it gets cold. Chet go clean up the mess. Next shift put yourself down for latrines buddy” Cap stated in a clear no nonsense voice.

“Ah, I’ve already cleaned up the mess Cap. Didn’t want anyone to slip in it.” Johnny replied as he brought a bowl of soup over to the table and joined his friend quietly eating his dinner. 

Roy took a good look at Johnny and was trying to figure out if it was little beads of sweat adorning his forehead or the water from the water bomb. He wasn’t able to decide.

Remembering that he had a slight temperature this morning he went to feel Johnny’s forehead only to have Johnny shoot back on his chair.

“Wotcha doing?” an alarmed Johnny exclaimed.

Roy shrugged his shoulders and pointing at his friends head stated, “Just wanting to know if your still running a fever or not. You look a bit sweaty and pale there Junior”

“Well I’m fine, just leave me alone and let me eat dinner, I’m starvin’, an’ for your information its water from Chet’s water bomb okay.” Johnny glared at Roy and then bent down to resume eating his soup. Roy reluctantly acquiesced and resumed dunking his sandwich into the tomato soup.

After the dinner dishes had been washed and put away, Johnny and Roy sat at the table updating the logbook and sipping coffee and eating cookies. The station was called out to a structure fire just as the last entry was made.

The bungalow was nicely involved and the family were huddled together wrapped in blankets from the neighbours as they watched their house burn.

 They had been out to a friend’s place for the evening and upon return had seen smoke and flames rising from their house. Their two small children and babysitter stood silently by the parents. The oldest boy had tears running down his face as he thought of all his GI Joes going to heaven.

The little girl of three didn’t quite understand the significance of it all yet but her big brother was crying so it must be bad so she starting crying too.

The babysitter was apologizing repeatedly. She had been smoking in the house and had left a lit cigarette on the armchair while attending to little Rosie’s nightmare. She was thinking her babysitting and smoking days were over...A thought that turned out to be correct in the long run.

The crew of 51 quickly had the flames under control and were now looking for hotspots and using their pike poles were opening up wall cavities known to harbour flare ups later on. The actual damage to the house was all repairable. It would just take time and was mainly focused in the lounge and hallway. The family had been very lucky in so many ways.

Returning back to the station and cleaning up the guys one by one went to go to bed. It was after 11 pm and it had been a long 48 hr shift so far especially for the squad. They still had another 9 hours to go before they could go home. They were praying for a quiet night.

***************

The klaxons went off just as Johnny and Roy were walking into the dorm. They were called out to a woman down. Making their way to Cobblestone Drive was relatively quick at this time of night. They were greeted at the door by a highly excited husband and managed to get out that the wife had woken up twenty minutes ago with sudden back and abdo pain and they had to come quick.

The husband was tugging on Johnny’s turnout sleeve. Roy was following behind. The husband was still talking a mile a minute and trying to grasp what he was saying wasn’t easily as he kept jumping from one thing to the next.

Upon entering the bedroom they saw the obviously heavily pregnant woman panting and puffing with her knees bent and then groaning in-between what were obviously contractions. 

The wife was just as excitable as her husband in-between the contractions and grunts. It turned out she was 7 and a half months pregnant with twins. Roy went and got the OBGYN box. Johnny set up the biophone and contacted Rampart.

A quick glance showed the crowning of the first baby. The woman was yelling that she had to push again and bearing down more of the baby appeared.

The cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck and tightened with every contraction. With no time to wait Johnny put his hands in and gently eased his fingers between the cord and the baby’s neck. He coached the mother to steady her breathing and with the next contraction helped eased the baby’s shoulder out. 

Roy had made it back into the room by now and the father was looking very pale and sweaty. The amount of blood on the bed was his undoing and he promptly fainted into Roy who was still holding the OBGYN box.

Unable to get a good hold on the husband they both went crashing to the floor. The box opened when it hit the floor spilling its contents.

With the next push the first baby was out. He was limp and a little bit blue. “Roy are you okay” Johnny quickly asked as he could do with some help here with the baby who wasn’t breathing.

Roy got to his feet and saw the lifeless miniature body that Johnny was holding. He was rubbing the child’s feet and requesting the suction and oxygen.

Roy was looking through the spilled contents for the equipment he knew was going to be needed. He handed Johnny the baby suction tip and oxygen.

While he suctioned the baby’s mouth and nose Roy was on the phone to Rampart updating them on the situation and getting orders to pass on to Johnny. The mother was hysterical wanting to know why she couldn’t hear any crying, the father was coming around and fumbling on the spilled contents on the floor from the OBGYN box.

He needed something to hold onto to get purchase as he was still feeling lightheaded. He grabbed onto Roy’s turnout coat and pulled himself up. Roy not expecting to be grabbed around by his collar and yanked backwards started to choke and then felt himself falling back towards the floor.

Both he and the father met the floor with a resounding thud. Into this melee the ambulance attendants turned up. The baby made a weak cry followed by another and another until he was crying in earnest and loudly at that.

The shared look of relief between Roy, who had scrambled back up, and Johnny didn’t go unnoticed by the mother. “You saved by child, thank you, thank you…..Ohhh,” another contraction hit and the woman started to push again. Johnny quickly clamped the umbilical cord and cut it handing the baby over to Roy to do any further assessments.

The father, who was now standing at the foot of the bed having used the dresser to get himself up, was beaming proudly at his new son and wife until he realised that baby number 2 was coming.

He then went into panic mode again and started hyperventilating. He was taken by one of the ambulance attendants and made to sit on the floor away from the action and given a paper bag to breath into that Roy had been waving in their direction.

While the father was puffing away, the mother was huffing her way through the second delivery. A particularly strong contraction hit and her legs bent up and came down with a whacking force on Johnny’s knees. She braced her feet against his knees and pushed with all her might.

The pain Johnny felt in his right knee made him want to pass out there and then. He bit back a scream and panting in synchronicity with the mother helped her through the contraction and the crowning of the second baby. This time the delivery went smoothly and baby boy number 2 was safely delivered into the world five minutes after his big brother.

His loud cry filled the room and the anxiety of everyone present dropped to normal levels. They hadn’t realised until they all heard the cry just how wound up and subconsciously nervous they were of a repeat performance of baby number 1’s slow take on life.

Both babies were wrapped up, the mother cleaned up and bundled onto the gurney holding one of her little babies. The father straightened up and took baby number 2 and the new proud family made their way into the back of the ambulance. Johnny followed and stowing the biophone and drug box climbed in last. Roy tapped the doors before he went back in and cleaned up their mess. He closed the door on the house and made his way 10-8 into Rampart.

Betty was at the nurse’s station with Dr Morton. Both were several hours into their night shift and were looking a little frazzled round the edges. It had been a busy night in ED so far.

A lot of patients with little ailments that could have waited till morning or been treated by their own family practitioner but instead the patients had decided that tonight was a good time to get that three week pain seen to or the cut on their finger that wasn’t even bleeding and was so miniscule that you needed a magnifying glass to see it. OK, maybe not that small but definitely not requiring a three hour wait to get it seen to in the middle of the night. But here they all were doing just that.

Roy approached Betty with a list of supplies needed. It didn’t pay to leave the OBGYN box undersupplied. Especially when just used for a twin delivery. Both babies were being seen by a Pediatrician and were going up to NICU as they were 6 weeks premature. The Obstetrician was there seeing to the mother and complimenting Johnny on his expert care and delivery of all those involved.

The mother wanted to know his partners name as well and promised to bring the babies into the station when they were discharged and everything was in order.

Johnny beamed at the new parents and paid another quick visit over to the incubator were two little boys laid with oxygen, and monitoring on. Their eyes were wrapped from the harsh glare of the incubator lights and little name bands swam loosely on their little legs. Johnny limped out of the room with a promise to visit them the next time he was on duty. The babies wouldn’t be going home for some time.

Roy turned at the sound of the door opening and saw his smiling partner come out of the room. He noticed the limp immediately and frowning approached his partner. “What happened to your leg?”

Johnny waved it off as nothing and proceeded to tell him how the mother had kicked out during labor and connected with his knees. But it was nothing that a little bit of aspirin wouldn’t fix. He made his way over to the counter and recited the events of the birth and the comedy in the background of the father and Roy putting on a Laurel and Hardy performance.

With everyone laughing and with attention safely diverted from him again they made their way out to the squad with Johnny carrying the supplies for the OBGYN box.

It was now past midnight and both paramedics were tired. They hadn’t gone more than a mile out from Rampart when they were called out to another child down call.

Hitting the lights they made good time to the little house with all the lights on and a worried father standing at the door. Calls on children always made their guts clench. It was the fear of the unknown with children callouts. How severely were they injured or sick? Were they at deaths door already and beyond their help? Children didn’t have the same reserves as adults and went downhill quicker. The need to give quick first aid was always heightened with children.

The father helped with the gear while relating that his daughter Wendy had a cold for the last two days and her asthma was playing up. His wife had been giving Wendy her asthma medication and they had tried steam therapy but Wendy wasn’t getting any better. She was slightly blue around her mouth and really struggling to breathe.

Rushing into the living room they saw Wendy sitting forward propping her elbows on her knees. A typical tripod presentation. She was working hard to breathe and her neck and ribs were retracting with every tight and hard won breath. Johnny quickly set up the biophone while Roy set about keeping the little girl and her parents calm. He quickly obtained the girls vital signs.

“Rampart, this is squad 51, come in” Johnny repeated twice before the base station was answered by a junior nurse. She took down the vitals and instructed them to start the patient on 6L of oxygen. She would go and get a Dr to take over the call. That was one of the problems on night runs. There was a skeleton staff on at night in ED compared to the day.

Doctors were usually tied up seeing patients and you had to wait to get your calls answered and then if really unlucky wait again for a doctor. Just like it was unfolding tonight.

Dr Cull, a senior resident came on the line. He ordered a one off ipratropium and salbutamol nebuliser, then after that back to back salbutamol nebulisers only, an IV line to be inserted but not used unless required. He increased the oxygen to 10 litres via nebuliser and ordered her in as soon as possible. He released the button and had the on call Pediatrician paged to ER.

Roy set about making up that first nebuliser and Johnny placed it over the girls face. The frightened look in the little girl’s eyes touched Johnny down to his core. “You’re gonna be OK sweetheart.

This is just a little bit of medicine to help you breath.” He gently said while adjusting the mask over the girls face.

 The ambulance arrived and the girl was quickly loaded into the back with Johnny and the mother sat in the front with the father following in the car. Roy followed the entourage and they all arrived at Rampart one after the other.

Having handed over to Dr Winston from Peds, Johnny left the room rubbing his head and looking decidedly unwell. He still had the limp and now a headache to boot. He needed aspirin and a cup of coffee.

Roy was also rubbing his head and gave a small smile when he saw Johnny muttering about aspirin and opening the drawers at random giving each one a quick glance while he hunted for the analgesia. “Second drawer on the left. Besides the tongue depressors” Roy informed Johnny while taking another sip of his coffee.

Johnny gave Roy a brief nod in acknowledgement and having found them quickly downed them with a mouthful of coffee that Roy had already poured for him. Grimacing at the taste of both the coffee and aspirin he shuddered involuntarily as the taste sabotaged his taste buds with a vengeance.

“C’mon lets’ get out of here and get to bed. I’m bushed and it’s well past my bedtime given the busy-ness of this double shift. Man, when will management realise that double shifts don’t work. They just leave you feeling tired and drained and then by the time ya feeling somewhat human again ya gotta come back and do another 24 in two days’ time. Whose bright idea was that? And another thing…” Johnny was getting himself worked up to another rant and Roy was waaaay past listening at this hour.

He grunted an acknowledgement and then indicated they should go by nodding his head to the bay doors. Johnny could still be heard ranting as the bay doors closed behind them. Morton and Betty hearing the tail end of Johnny diatribe looked at each other and smiled while passing in the corridor. Each had a patient demanding attention for their minor illness and didn’t have time to comment about Johnny’s antics.

On their way to the barn Johnny finally stopped ranting about shifts and became quiet. Roy feeling beyond tired himself was just thankful and didn’t realise that Johnny had finished abruptly half way through whatever point he had been making. Roy had stopped listening when he turned the key in the ignition and focussed on the roads to make sure they got back safely.

“Pull over” Johnny said urgently. Roy took a minute to realise what Johnny had said. It still didn’t compute until Johnny repeated it again this time with his hand covering his mouth and Johnny making convulsive swallowing noises.

Roy pulled the squad over to the side of the road. Johnny opened the door and vomited. He was still leaning out of the squad, not having time to get out and be a bit more discreet in front of his partner.  Some of the vomitus has splashed onto the running board by Johnny’s door and he was feeling slightly embarrassed by this.

 Roy seeing his friend’s distress retrieved a bottle of saline and poured it over the mess washing it away. Johnny gave a quiet thanks and laid his head back against the seat. He didn’t feel any better but all he wanted to do was to rinse his mouth out, replace the aspirin he had just brought up, go to bed and get some sleep.

His head hurt, his body was aching, his knee was throbbing and he was feeling hot and clammy. The nausea hadn’t settled with the vomiting. He thought he might have the flu coming on. All those callouts in the thunderstorm yesterday must have caught up to him. He had spent a long time in wet clothes and being hungry.

“Before ya say anything Roy, I think it might be the flu coming on, that or I’ve used up all my reserves and feel completely washed out. Besides I know you feel the same. We had that little aspirin party for two back at Rampart if memory serves me correctly” Johnny ended on a sigh. “The stations just up ahead. Lets’ just get back and into bed. I just need some sleep and a couple of days off with lots of rest.” With that Johnny closed his eyes and willed the nausea to settle. He didn’t want to throw up again.

Roy climbed back into the squad. The solitary flagpole outside the station which was a block away reflected the streetlight shining on it so that it glowed down one side. Glad to be so close to bed and hopefully with no more callouts Roy started up the squad, “I hope your right buddy because I’m not far behind you on the dead on my feet stakes.” Roy said as he reversed the squad into the bay.

The apparatus door came down and the two tired men shuffled and limped their way into the latrine and then the dorm. Johnny thought about the aspirin but didn’t trust his still queasy stomach so he went without.

Setting up their turnouts for the night they both settled into bed. Johnny gave a slight cough and sneeze as something irritated his throat and nasal passages. Yep I’m coming down with the flu was Johnny’s last thought before sleep claimed him instantly. Roy was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

***************

The wake up tones went off rousing the men from a deep sleep. Chet was the first to sit up in bed and remembering his prank got up and looked over at Johnny. Oh man, this was gonna be great. It had worked a treat and he couldn’t wait for Gage to discover that the Phantom had once again excelled in being the master of the pranks. Phantom 2, Pigeon 0.

With his polaroid at the ready, for what good was pulling off one of the greatest pranks if there was no evidence for it to go down in the firefighter’s hall of fame. He started taking photos just as Johnny turned and glared at him. He couldn’t have planned it better.

Gage had had a fitful nights’ sleep. He had slept through but felt like he hadn’t slept at all. His eyes felt sore and irritated. He felt itchy all over and even his hair felt odd. He still had a headache and definite fever. He felt hot and achy everywhere. His knee was throbbing and felt tense and it was agony when he moved it. Rubbing his arm through his hair he noticed it was stuck in clumps and crusty. Roy looked over and gasped at what he saw and tried to stifle his laugh. He failed and soon was joining everybody else in full blown laughter. Chet by now was doubled over, his legs crossed and tears were coming out of his eyes.

Cap peered over the brick divider after replacing the mic to acknowledge the wake up tone.

He was speechless to say the least. His mouth started to curve upwards in a wide smile before he too broke out in full belly laughter.

Mike was clutching his sides as his laughter bordered on painful as he was laughing that hard.

Marco returning from the latrine saw his clueless crewmate sitting up in bed covered in flour. He must have drooled through the night as what could only be described as little rivulets of dried paste ran from either side of his mouth.

His hair was stuck to his forehead in matted pasticles for want of a better word. His face and arms were white and the flour had stuck to his neck and forearms. He looked like a mummy with leprosy as little bits of pasty flour flaked off him every time he moved.

Cap had only ever heard of White Knight pranks but had never seen one pulled off with such success. Having to restore order he instructed Gage to go have a shower...Chet to clean up the mess only after he had got enough photos and then for Marco to start a pot of coffee. Twits, I’m working with Twits he bemoaned to himself. In reality he wouldn’t change a single thing. They were his twits and he was very proud of every one of them.

Johnny flung back the covers creating a cloud of flour to rise up around him and settle back over his hair, turning it grey and his shoulders so that it looked like he had terminal dandruff. He looked like a creature arising from the white lagoon. His legs were caked in flour and as he went to stand up cracks appeared on his arms, face and legs from where the flour fell off and landed on the floor. This caused the guys including Cap to laugh even harder.

 Johnny immediately gasped and fell back onto the bed.  He was clutching his knee and moaning. The guys quickly realised that something was wrong and the laughter stopped and concern replaced their once smiling faces.

“Johnny, what is it? What’s wrong?” Roy demanded to know as he threw his own covers back and started making it over to his fallen friend.

Johnny was rolling from side to side on his bed. Flour plumes raised and settled back down with each movement. “Knee, it’s my knee Roy, it’s on fire. Hurts too. Feel…feel…..sick. Like I’m gonna…..throw up….again. Ohhh…” With that Johnny threw up over his flour encrusted bed and into the wastepaper basket that was hurriedly shoved under his nose.

“Marco go call in a still alarm. Mike get the biophone and trauma box. Chet start helping Roy to get John onto Roy’s bunk. Then you can strip down Johns’ bed. This flour is going everywhere each time he moves.” Cap went and got a wet wash cloth and towel to help clean Johnny’s face.

 It was pretty hard to take Johnny seriously when he looked like Pogo the Clown. The guys got Johnny onto Roy’s bed and Chet set about doing a quick strip down of Johnny’s bedding. Chet tried to keep the flour in the sheets as much as possible. He didn’t know whether he had been a bit liberal with the flour or if a little went a long way or both.

Marco returned after Mike and watched as Roy set about getting Johnny’s vitals. As Johnny’s face became cleaner and more human with every passing of the wash cloth they could see the fever flushing his cheeks and his fever bright eyes staring at everything Roy was doing. His chest was rising up and down at an alarming rate and little bits of flour broke off with every breath. Cap was washing the hard paste adorning his hair with a bit more force. He could feel the heat radiating from Johnny.

Roy got on the biophone and called Rampart. He was not surprised to hear Dixie at the other end. It was the start of her morning shift. Dixie was surprised to be hearing from them so soon. She knew it wasn’t a call out as the fire scanner and base station had been quiet. She thought they were doing their morning calibrations a bit earlier than usual.

“We have a male paramedic, age 25 complaining of severe pain in his knee. He received a 2 inch laceration to his knee from broken glass at a MVA yesterday. He has been taking oral antibiotics for that wound. Vital signs are bp 125/60, resps 24, pulse 105, temp 102.6. Pt has vomited x1 but had an earlier vomit about 1.30AM. There is heat and extensive erythema surrounding the wound. Knee appears swollen. There appears to be ooze from the wound. Patient is in severe pain, Rampart, please be advised patient is John Gage. Squad 51 out.”

“Squad 51, cannulate and draw bloods for cultures, then commenced on 1 litre Normal Saline IV, TKO. Administer 10mg Compazine IV, then 5mg MS IV. Start on 6L Oxygen. Rampart out “replied Dr Brackett. Roy set about putting a needle in Johnny’s arm. He then gave him the meds and IV Fluid.

Johnny became a little spacey once the morphine and Compazine kicked in. The oxygen was delivered via a mask and Johnny kept trying to remove it as the plastic smell made his nausea reawaken. His co-ordination was slightly off and his limbs felt heavy just like before you fall asleep. Still he kept persevering and Roy kept grabbing his arm stopping him in the process.  The ambulance arrived shortly after Roy had caught Johnny’s arm for the 6th time. Johnny’s sudden paleness and hitched breathing alerted him to what was about to happen.

“Quick roll him, he’s gonna be sick.”

Whipping off the mask and turning him onto his side Johnny heaved into the wastepaper basket once again placed under his face. There was very little to come up. However the dry retching lasted for some time and tears squeezed out of his bloodshot eyes. His nose was snuffly and the red colour of his face slowly receded back to that of pale clamminess. With a groan he was put onto his back and transferred onto the gurney.  Blankets covered his feverish body and the oxygen tank was placed between his legs, his IV fluids placed under his shoulder. He was then wheeled out and into the back of the ambulance. Roy settled in beside his partner and Chet stowed the biophone and trauma box at the end of the seat. Closing the doors he gave it the customary two taps and watched as it made its’ way to Rampart.

Johnny was wheeled into treatment room 2 where Dr Brackett was waiting to receive him. He was slightly taken aback at the white substance adhering to various parts of Johnny’s body. Roy explained about the flour prank and Dr Brackett smothered his grin. Dixie got a bowl of lukewarm water and started to wash down her favourite paramedic.

“Wish I had been there to see it” Dr Brackett said quietly to Roy out of Johnny’s earshot.

“Don’t worry, Chet took a couple of photos.”

Having taken a new set of vitals and seeing the temperature had risen to 103 it was decided to admit Johnny.  His knee was oozing pus and looked very   infected. He was put on IV antibiotics and kept nil by mouth in case there was no improvement and he had to go to the OR for a washout.

Johnny was settled into a room and getting IV antibiotics every six and eight hours. There was no improvement and Johnny’s knee continued to ooze and throb. Johnny couldn’t get comfortable. There was a pillow under his knee but that didn’t really help the pain much.

His headache was worse and he was feeling dreadful. He was flushed and feeling hot and achy all over. He had also had a couple of bouts of diarrhoea from the antibiotics.  

Dr Brackett came in after reviewing Johnny’s chart. “Well, Johnny it looks like we will have to go in and debride that wound. Looks like an infection has taken a good hold. I honestly thought you would be in a better condition than what you currently are. Your temp is up to 104.7 and you’re quite tachycardic from the fever. I’m gonna start another drip as you’re getting a bit dehydrated and hypotensive. We need to take a more aggressive stance on this. We’ll also start cooling cares.” with that Dr Brackett scribbled some orders on Johnny’s chart then went to make arrangements to book an OR and contact Roy. He saw Johnny’s nurse and informed her on the new plans and instructed her to give Johnny some more morphine as he was due some over an hour ago.

Johnny started to fret the moment Kel walked out the door. He was really tired and in pain and he was not a fan of being under the knife.

The door opened to reveal the crew of A shift. They entered expecting to see some improvement instead Johnny looked awful. His hair was lank and plastered to his forehead. His face was flushed and his cheeks were red as a tomato. His arms were slick with sweat and the oxygen mask was hanging limply around his neck blowing cool oxygen onto his skin. He had removed it earlier to be sick and he hadn’t replaced it. His hospital gown clung to his chest and highlighted his slender frame.

He told them of his planned trip to the OR and how of all the parts of the body it was injury to his knees that made him feel queasy. For Roy it was his eyes, Chet said anything to do with his manhood made him feel sick which got a few sympathetic nods from the guys and a blush from Johnny, who was only too familiar with that scenario.

Marco said it was his throat, Mike said nothing made him feel queasy when he thought about it and Cap just replied fish, though how that had anything to do with the conversation was anybody’s guess.

The nurse came in and started another IV in amongst the bruises from Brice’s failed attempts a couple of days ago. She connected another bag of IV saline and gave Johnny his rather late dose of IV morphine and anti-emetic.

Johnny became drowsy and slurring his speech before too long. He was struggling to stay awake but in the end the drugs won out and he succumbed to a drug induced sleep.

Mike, Marco and Chet left as Johnny was out to the count. Hank and Roy sat around the bed talking quietly until Johnny was taken to the OR where his wound was washed out and debrided.

After having a bad couple of hours in recovery vomiting up everything including his toenails, Johnny was loaded up to the gills with anti - emetics and when he was stabilised transferred back to his room where Roy was waiting for him. Johnny looked a decidedly green colour. He was drowsy but woke up easily enough only to complain of nausea and vomit a few more times. Roy repositioned Johnny’s leg on the pillows and placed a cold cloth on his forehead. He still felt hot to the touch. If a definition was needed for miserable a picture of John Gage would suffice.

Roy phoned Joanne knowing she would still be up and informed her of how things were going with Johnny. She told Roy to give Johnny get well wishes from her and that she would see Roy whenever he felt happy enough to leave the hospital. She would come visit Johnny tomorrow morning during visiting hours. Roy put the phone down and went to take up his bedside vigil.

Johnny was tossing his head back and forth on his pillow. He was soaked in sweat. His temperature was 105.8 with no sign of coming down. At 8 PM Dr Brackett popped in to check on Johnny. He didn’t like what he saw.

“How’s he doing Roy?” Brackett asked as Johnny continued to thrash on the bed. Sweat was glistening on his forehead and upper lip in little beads. The bruising from his head laceration was evident, with the sutures resembling a caterpillar crawling across his fevered brow.

Roy replaced the cloth he had been using to wipe down Johnny with into the bowl of ice water. “He’s been delirious and throwing up quite often. He’s woken a few times and seems quite out of it. I would have thought he would be turning the corner by now. Will he be alright Doc?” Roy asked with concern evident.

“Well, we could just be looking at a post op temp but with Johnny you can’t sit back on your laurels thinking it will pass in a day or two as they would normally. I’m going to change his antibiotics. One doesn’t agree with him and quite frankly I don’t think it’s helping matters at all. I’ll add another antibiotic to the mix. The wound cultures won’t be ready for another day or so. It doesn’t help with him not having a spleen. Seems Johnny’s paying the price again and again for that unfortunate night”, Brackett left the room after looking at Johnny’s knee. He added another antibiotic to Johnny’s chart and crossed out another.

Through the night Johnny showed little if any improvement. Blood cultures were also drawn to make sure that they were on a winning combo just in case there was a secondary infection causing Johnny’s current status. Cooling blankets and a fan directed at Johnny also materialised in the early hours of the morning. The night nurse marked the edges of the erythema to see if there was any spread on the next check.

Johnny’s right lower thigh, knee and upper shin were a brilliant scarlet red and hot to touch. It was swollen regardless of the high elevation. There had been some spread from the lower markings however there was no increase in the swelling of the joint. Roy looked upon that as the first positive sign of the night.

In the morning Dixie popped into the room before her shift started. Johnny didn’t look any better. He had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes were sunken in their sockets. His eyes were open and followed her as she approached him. He looked more lucid. That was a good thing.  She noticed that the greenness had gone but was replaced with the flush of a high fever.

Roy was fast asleep with his head resting on his chest. He had a little double chin she noticed when his head was like that. Someone had put a blanket over him through the night.

He stirred when he heard her whispering to Johnny. Johnny croaked back an answer that he was feeling lousy but better than yesterday and not as good as tomorrow.

Dixie smiled down gently replaced the oxygen mask that Johnny had taken off sometime through the night. She laid her hand on his forehead and could still feel the heat there but it wasn’t as bad as before.

“Johnny, I do believe you have turned the corner. Your fevers down and even though you look like death warmed up as least you aren’t knocking on his door anymore. You had me quite worried young man. The least you can do is make this ol’ broad happy and get better real soon and out of my hospital” all the while Dixie was taking Johnny pulse and put a thermometer in his mouth.

Johnny tried talking around the thermometer but Dixie hushed him and threatened to put it where the sun don’t shine if he continued to talk, that promptly quietened Johnny down.

Roy got out of the chair and took Johnny’s hand. Pleased to see he wasn’t radiating the heat like he was before. He smiled down to his friend and greeted him with a cheery good morning.

The night nurse came into the room to do a final check before handing over to the morning staff. Seeing Dixie doing her vitals for her she went and did his bp on his other arm. Dixie called out the results to the nurse who plotted them down. “Good morning John, you’re doing a lot better every time I do your vitals. Your fever broke around 4AM, keep this up and you’ll be out of here before I’m back from my three days off” the nurse said with a smile.

“102.3, that’s really good Johnny,” Roy said. Johnny could only look at Roy as if he had lost his mind.

“How about you and me swapping places and see if you think that’s a good temperature” Johnny whined.

“Sure, no problem, just wouldn’t want to swap places with you when it was 106.4 like it was at 1 AM this morning.” Roy replied

Johnny’s jaw dropped open in shock and not having an answer for that snapped his mouth shut and resettled back into the pillow.

Dixie left shortly after as she had to report to duty downstairs. Roy went to grab a cup of coffee and phone Joanne while the morning nurse washed Johnny, changed his linens and put up his next two doses of IV antibiotics. She also hung a new bag of fluid as charted. The cooling blankets were still in use but with any luck they would be removed later today if his temperature continued to drop. His wound was checked, cleaned and redressed. There was no further spread of the erythema.

By the time Dr Brackett came to check on Johnny in the morning he was sleeping lightly with the oxygen mask once again at his neck. Roy had stayed till Johnny had fallen asleep then he too went home to get a proper sleep in his own bed and catch up with his family. He and Joanne would pop in and see him before picking the kids up from school.

Dr Brackett reviewed Johnny’s chart, looked at the wound and noted the overall improvement. He charted a very slow bag of IV fluid and changed his diet to light instead of NBM. He thought that Johnny would not need to return to OR. It was obvious that he was on the upswing and they had knocked the infection on the head. He even crossed off the oxygen therapy since he was managing quite well without it more often than not. Though how his neck would cope without getting a blast of continuous oxygen was anyone’s guess.

Johnny didn’t wake until his door was banged open and a nurse placed his meal down on his bedside table. Even then he woke with a start at all the noise. He looked around slightly disorientated and bewildered by what was going on. His morning nurse raised his bed so that he could eat  better and moved the table in front of him. She removed the lids and a warm plate of macaroni cheese and a bowl of Jell-O looked back at him.

“Dr Brackett changed your diet and stopped your oxygen too. If you keep this down you’ll lose the IV fluid tonight. However the IV antibiotics stay for now,” the nurse said as she saw the bewildered look on Jonny’s face and read his confusion correctly. “Your friend said he would be in later with his wife before getting the children. At least I think that’s what he said” she said before replacing his call bell by the side of his bed. She filled a glass of water and placed it by the lunch, next to his grape juice. Then she put an emesis bowl beside him “Just in case” she said “Enjoy your lunch” she said before popping out and going into the next room to give Mr Hollingsworth his meal.

Johnny sat there dumbfounded at the whirlwind of a nurse that had just been and gone within minutes of entering his room. His tummy rumbled and he started to eat very slowly. He had had enough vomiting over the last few days to last a lifetime and his stomach muscles were sore to say the least. He also took this quiet time to take stock of how he was feeling.

His headache, nausea and achy muscles were gone. He didn’t feel so feverish but had to admit he was still warm. His knee was still sore but not throbbing like it was earlier. He put his hand over the knee and felt only slight warmth there now above and below the bandage. It was still elevated on pillows. He went to move it and although it hurt it didn’t feel as tight as before. If the cost was having to keep the IV in and get more IV antibiotics then that was a small price to pay if it meant he could go home soon. He finished his lunch and the drinks and pushing the table back for easier access, he pulled his covers down to see the redness was still there but it was moving away from the earlier markings. With a smile he settled back and drifted off to sleep.

Roy and Joanne entered the room quietly and saw Johnny sleeping. They were about to go when Johnny opened his eyes and greeted them with a crooked grin. Joanne went up and kissed his cheek. His skin was still warm but from what Roy had told her he was nowhere near as sick as he had been yesterday. He looked tired and pale but welcomed them in and propping the bed up repositioned himself to have a nice long chat with his second family.

Chet and Marco arrived about half an hour later and seeing the time Roy and Joanne left to pick up the kids from school. Chet and Marco sat in the vacated chairs and settled in for an afternoon of catch-up. Chet had some photos that he wanted to show his pigeon before he displayed them to everyone else of course. Even Johnny had to admit that Chet had got him good and proper.

Marco nudged Chet in the ribs and Chet begrudgingly gave Gage his dues. “Yeah, well, I’ve got to hand it to ya pal. You got me good and proper too with the water bomb and cologne in my locker. You should’ve seen the look the lady at the dry cleaners gave me when I walked in. The smell met her before I did. My car reeks of it too, and the clothes were in the boot” Chet complained, although secretly he was happy Gage had got one up on him for once. He always enjoyed the game more if he had a worthy opponent and Gage was coming along nicely.

Johnny had forgotten all about that. It seemed so long ago. He was just sorry he had missed it. That explained the slight odor in the room. Chet had on the same shoes from the water bomb and some had landed on his shoes. Luckily the smell wasn’t strong and Marco’s quesadillas were permeating the room and making everyone’s mouth water.

Giving into temptation he opened the container and eyed the Mexican treat with avarice. Marco had even brought paper plates and cutlery. He had been a patient in hospital before and knew it was just easier to bring these in from home instead of asking the ward staff if they had any spare plates and cutlery. Soon three men were wolfing down beef and capsicum quesadillas with salsa and guacamole on the side. Johnny stopped after one portion. He didn’t want to risk being sick and going back on the IV’s. Chet and Marco ate the rest and let out a loud belch afterwards.

The nurse came in and connected Johnny to his IV antibiotics. She took his vital signs and told Johnny his temp was down to 101.8. She informed him that when it was 101 even they could remove the cooling blankets. It was all progress as far as Johnny could see.

At the end of visiting hours the guys left saying they had a few errands to do before work again tomorrow.

Johnny had slept enough. He wasn’t tired and decided to turn on the TV. Cartoons were running on the channel, he flicked the channel button and a repeat of ‘I Dream Of Jeannie’ was just starting. He sat back with a grin on his face and although he had seen it before, prepared to watch Jeannie get her master into more trouble. That skimpy outfit should be banned he thought, Spirits above, what was he saying. He couldn’t get enough of that outfit. Pity there weren’t real life Jeannie’s around today. ‘The Brady Bunch’ followed and then ‘The Monkees’.

Following dinner and more antibiotics with vital checks done, Johnny was allowed up for a wash with supervision. Roy had turned up for a little while and seeing Johnny being helped out of bed for the first time in two days he offered his assistance freeing up the nurse to see to her other patients. Leaning on Roy so he didn’t put a lot of weight on his bad leg he made it to the bathroom and did his evening ablutions even if it was only 7PM. Roy helped him back to bed and noted that the cooling blankets had been removed and his bed turned down for the night.

“So any idea when you’re getting out of here?” Roy asked Johnny as he was helping him swing his legs back into bed.

“Yeah, Brackett was in here earlier looking everything over and if I continue to improve I’ll be discharged day after tomorrow. Ah, do you think one of the guys could bring my jeep over for me after work so I can drive myself home when I’m discharged”

“I think that can be arranged. Wonder who I’ll get for a partner tomorrow. Hope it’s Gil. I hear he’s looking for overtime now that his wife is pregnant”

“Yeah, I heard that too. Hope you do pal, I hope you do. Worst case scenario you could always get Brice”

“Nah, he’s on leave as of yesterday. He’s off to Des Moines for his sisters’ wedding.”

“What a winter wedding! That’s a first.” Stated a surprised Johnny

“Sounds like his sister had to get married. Apparently she’s the black sheep of the family from what Brice was saying”’

‘Oh…Which means she's like the rest of us, Human!!”

With that the two best friends laughed and seeing the start of Adam 12 on TV, Johnny turned up the volume. Roy turned his chair around and together they watched the show.

Johnny gave Roy a pillow from his bed for him to put on the hard plastic chair. Roy stretched out and put his feet on the end of Johnny’s bed, being mindful of his bad leg.

During the ad break, Roy went and got them both a coffee from sweet talking the nurses at the station. Upon his return Johnny had out Joanne’s Cookies that Roy had brought in with him that evening. They were all set for a nice snack, watching their favourite programme while the rain that had started up again lashed at the windows.

In the morning Dr Brackett reviewed Johnny’s chart and then the man himself. The knee was looking much better. He wanted Johnny to get up and start mobilising on the knee but didn’t want him to overdo it either. Right now he needed to rest his leg for the cellulitis to resolve but he had to move the joint so that septic arthritis wouldn’t set in and stiffen the joint. Johnny was allowed toilet privileges only and was encouraged to walk up and down the corridor a few times today but that was it.

One more day of IV antibiotics and then he could go onto orals. He could also go home if he stayed well. His temp was sitting at 100.7, all his other vital signs were stable. His latest bloods showed he wasn’t dehydrated anymore and his electrolytes were all within normal ranges even though his potassium was a bit low. But now that his diarrhoea had stopped that would soon rectify itself. His blood cultures and wound cultures showed he was on the right antibiotics.

Not only was Dr Brackett pleased but so was Johnny. This time round his stay hadn’t been too bad. He had had very nice and efficient nurses who gave him a bit of leeway with visiting hours and often returned his flirtations. They sat and talked with him when they had time or when he was bored watching TV or reading. He had asked Joanne to buy him a box of chocolates and a thank you card so that he could give it to the nurses when he left. He would repay Joanne later when he could get his hands on his wallet.

Roy had brought them in with him last night and Johnny had already filled out the card with his thanks for their great care. They were sitting in his bedside table drawer ready to give to the Charge Nurse as he was leaving.

His day was uneventful and his highlights were going to the toilet by himself, always a pleasure. It beat bedpans and urinals any day of the week. He also went for a walk up and down the corridor twice and pushing his luck he went down to ED to see Dixie and got caught by Drs Brackett and Early instead. He was reprimanded and ordered back to his room and told to rest his leg.

“But Doc, I came down in the lift and this is still equal to the length of the corridor upstairs so how can I be overdoing it?”

Given that logic, Dr Brackett had no comeback and muttered something about know-it-all-hose-jockeys under his breath. Feeling he had won the war he saw Dixie at the nurse’s station and as soon as she saw him she got up and gave him her stool. She poured him a cup of coffee and for the next twenty minutes they sat there and talked as friends do. Roy was coming in with a patient she told Johnny so he decided to stay downstairs until Roy came. They would go upstairs together if time permitted for Roy.

Roy was surprised to see Johnny sitting at the nurse’s station and initially thought he had been discharged a day early. But the IV was still in his bruised arm and he had on his pj’s and slippers. Grinning at each other, both men gave a quick nod in agreement to their unspoken communication. Dixie always marvelled how these two very different men could be so very alike that words weren’t needed.

After Roy handed over the patient to Dr Early, he left to go get his partner who was waiting for him on the other side of the door. Together they made their way to the elevators and got off at Johnny’s floor. Johnny got into bed and almost in a repetition from yesterday Roy sat down on the chair with one of Johnny’s pillows under his bottom.

Roy had Gil for his partner that day and if Johnny was still off for their next shift in 3 days’ time Gil would be his partner again. Roy had the HT with him but it remained silent throughout and it wasn’t long before Gil came up to see Johnny too having just got there with the squad. The three paramedics were having a good old chin wag when the HT came to life sending them on a run to a woman down at a shopping mall.

Later that day, Brackett paid another visit to Johnny who was lying in bed with his leg elevated on pillows yet again. His knee was slightly sore and swollen from all his earlier escapades but it was nothing worse than a dull ache. Brackett removed the dressing and was pleased with the state of the wound. The nurse was present and he instructed her to put only a light dressing on it as it was healing well. A few more days and he wouldn’t need a dressing at all.

Johnny pulled his blankets closer to him and snuggled down. He put his arm over his eyes and soon settled off to sleep. He slept right through his antibiotic and dinner. He awoke a few hours later feeling hungry and with a full bladder. He saw to his bladder then rung the bell to see to his stomach. His nurse seeing he had been sleeping when meals were delivered had saved his and offered to heat it up in the little toaster oven in their staffroom.

Johnny accepted this kindness and with nothing else to do turned on the TV and flicked through the channels until he came across something remotely interesting, looks like Steve Mc Garrett was on to the killer Johnny thought. Further flicking didn’t show much more to whet his appetite, so he returned to Hawaii 5-O.

After eating his slightly crisp around the edges reheated dinner and a cup of coffee he was surprised when his nurse came in and started to prepare the other bed for a new patient. Johnny groaned to himself. Gone was the privacy and he was hoping that his new roommate wouldn’t be of the loud obnoxious sort that he always seemed to be lumbered with when he had to share.

He was dying to ask the nurse who was coming and what was wrong with them but he was too professional to do that and knew the nurse couldn’t tell him anyway. He would just have to wait.

Twenty minutes later his new roommate was wheeled into his room. Johnny didn’t want to be seen as nosy so he turned his back allowing his roommate some privacy while they got him settled into bed. The curtain dividers didn’t really allow for much privacy between beds but it was the thought that counts.

After the nurses had gone Johnny still hadn’t rolled onto his back until he heard a familiar voice call out his name. “ Aren’t you gonna say hello to your best friend, Johnny?”

Roy was occupying the next bed and he was sporting a rather spectacular black left eye and bruise over his forehead.

“Roy!! What are you doing here? I mean I’m pleased to see ya an’ all but isn’t this a bit drastic just to have the pleasure of my company as such?” Johnny laughed but was deadly serious underneath it all.

“I got a bit of a bump on my head and Morton being Morton overreacted and well , here I am.” Roy finished but not before he went a bit pale and threw up into the emesis bowl he hadn’t stopped clutching since his arrival.

“Yeah, I can see he was over cautious as usual” Johnny said as he got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom to get his friend a cold cloth and a cup of water to rinse his mouth out with.

 “Thanks, Junior.” Roy rinsed and spat out the water from his mouth. He settled back into bed and Johnny took his emesis bowl away and gave him another from the bathroom. He then rung the bell and waited for the nurse to come.

When she did Johnny asked for more emesis bowls, “Just to be on the safe side Roy” he said as he rolled his eyes heavenwards after Roy complained about Johnny being a mother hen.

He then enquired if Roy had been given anything for the nausea. Morton wasn’t always very generous with his meds. Hopefully as he became more experienced he would also develop a sense of managing conditions with more than one med.

The nurse came back a short time later with an injection of Compazine and slowly injected it into Roy’s iv port. Roy was asleep in a very short while. Johnny laid in his bed watching his best friend sleep. Joanne entered the room in a rush. She glanced over to the other bed and saw her Roy fast asleep and looking very vulnerable. She held back a sob but couldn’t stop the tears from running hotly down her face.

Johnny got out of bed again and this time gave Joanne a hug and let het cry on his shoulder. All the while he patted her back and stroked her hair; like she had done to him many times when he had been unwell or upset. She soon got her emotions back in place and standing up straight she adjusted her skirt, more out of habit than necessity and turned to face her husband once again while asking Johnny how Roy was.

He pulled up a chair and put his pillow on it again and ushered her to sit between the two beds. She held Roy’s hand and through all this he never stirred. A point that had Joanne worried until Johnny related to her what had transpired earlier and that was why he was sleeping. Joanne relaxed slightly into her chair. She enquired after Johnny’s wellbeing and he remembered to thank her for getting the choccies on his behalf for the nurses.

The two of them sat in companionable silence. One watching her husband, the other observing the love one held for the other. Feeling like an intruder, Johnny closed his eyes and fell asleep.

When he next awoke, Joanne had gone, the nurse was in doing neuro obs on Roy and Johnny’s bladder was saying hello. He got up and made his way into the bathroom. From what he could hear Roy was passing all the questions with flying colours. The nurse then did Johnny’s vital signs and came back with his penultimate dose of IV antibiotics.

In the morning the nurse hung up his last bag of antibiotics, Dr Brackett came in and reviewed both men’s charts. True to his word he ordered Johnny’s iv out after the antibiotics were finished and that he could go home. Roy had done well on his neuro checks overnight and apart from a slight headache he was asymptomatic. He had no more nausea and only that one vomit. Brackett stated he would check on him after breakfast and if he kept it down he could go home.

Both men were smiling when Brackett left the room.

Joanne entered the room sporting a wet patch down the front of her blouse and halfway down her skirt. Both men wanted to know what had happened and all she could say was Chet and Johnny’s locker. The rest they could fill in for themselves. It seemed Joanne had sprung Johnny’s welcome back surprise by Chet.

Unfortunately for Chet, Cap was in the locker room at the time escorting her to Roy and Johnny’s locker to collect their clothes and belongings and witnessed the event.

 Chet had a month of latrine duty in his future and “volunteered” to show Chris’s boy scouts group around the station. Joanne couldn’t talk for laughter as she wasn’t really mad at Chet. Heck, it was only water. As a mother she had had worst things like baby vomits amongst other things deposited on her clothes.

Roy kept his breakfast down and only needed plain Tylenol for his headache. Kel returned and seeing three happy expectant faces and no signs that warranted further stay at hotel Rampart agreed they could go home. Johnny was to have crutches before he left but he already had a pair at home. No one was surprised to hear that. He was to use them initially to rest his leg then when it could manage everyday activity he could stop using them. He had a week of further oral antibiotics and another ten days at least before he could return to work. But first he had to come back for Brackett to review his knee and remove his sutures adorning his face and leg in one weeks’ time. Brackett would have a better idea then when he could go back to work.

Roy was off for the next shift but would in all likelihood be back for the one after that. He had to come back the day before then and get checked over by Drs Brackett or Early and cleared for work.

Joanne went to find the wheelchairs. The guys got dressed and waited for their paperwork and prescription. Later that morning Dr Brackett arrived with Dixie in tow. He gave the men their respective papers and told them to stay out of trouble, he didn’t want to see them again until their appointed times. This last comment was directed more at Johnny than at Roy. Both men just grinned and gave a solemn oath that they would behave.

Dixie pushed Johnny out to the front entrance and Jo was pushing Roy. Dixie leant down and gave Johnny a sisterly kiss on his cheek and told him to get well soon, She then went over to Roy and reminded him to rest up and look after himself and to stay away from falling walls.

Joanne gave Dixie a hug and invited her over for a coffee morning and a girl’s day out next time she was off. “ I look forward to it,“ said Dixie as she went back inside as duty called and her break was over.

Jo went and got the car and pulled up front. Roy got up and waited for Johnny to get up. “You planning on getting up anytime soon there, partner?” Roy said as he looked down at Johnny.

“Eh, what? Um, yeah, yeah, just whereabouts is my jeep?”

“I think you’ll find it’s back at the station. You’re coming home with us for a day or two so Joanne can fatten you up some and little Jenny has been practising her nursing abilities on her dolls specially so she can look after you”, Roy said with a glint in his eye. 

The food part was enough to make his mouth water, Joanne was a wonderful cook, Jenny on the other hand made a drill sergeant look like the Tooth Fairy. He groaned inwardly as he had images of Jenny bossing him around for the next two days.

Putting on his best hard done by face that didn’t fool anybody Johnny got up from the chair and putting his arm around his best friend promised Roy revenge when he least expected it. After all I’ve been learning from the best he said as he got into the back seat of Joanne’s station wagon.

 The End

 1/13/16

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