"I'll ride in with the victim, see you at Rampart." Roy DeSoto climbed into the back of the ambulance and sat with their patient.
The victim wasn't too seriously injured, which was very fortunate, but she was young, scared and needed a friend. The girl was only twelve years old. She had fallen off her bike and broke her arm. Squad 51 had received permission to treat her from her parents over the phone.
Patting the closed ambulance doors Johnny watched as the emergency vehicle sped away to the hospital; non 'Code-R'.
Johnny put the bio-phone back into its compartment, along with the unused splints and climbed into the Squad's cab to drive off and pick up Roy at the hospital.
The traffic was unusually light that day, very few cars on the highway and even fewer on the streets. Johnny yawned while he was driving, enjoying the beautiful day and being grateful for the minor injury they had to run on. The ambulance was long out of sight. The hospital was about 15 minutes from the scene and it seemed as though the ambulance managed to hit all the green lights, while it seemed like Johnny hit all the red ones.
Pulling up to and stopping at yet another red light, Johnny noticed a familiar looking car heading down the road from his left. Before he had a chance to place the where he had seen the car, a large truck sped through the intersection across from him and slammed hard into the car's side as it crossed the intersection. Johnny watched helplessly as the smaller car was pushed sideways out of the road and into a telephone pole on the curb, finally grinding to a stop with glass and metal raining down in all directions.
"Aw, man!" When the crash mercifully ended Johnny quickly picked up the radio's mic and called in the accident to dispatch. "Squad 51: two vehicle accident at the corner of Main and Maple. Unknown number of persons injured at this time. Requesting an ambulance to this scene and Engine 51 for assistance."
Johnny took his finger from the button and waited for a response. '10-4, 51 dispatching Engine 51 to your location'.
Paramedic mode instinctively turning on, Johnny climbed from the cab and jogged over to the crumpled large pile of metal that was once two separate vehicles. He pulled on the door handle of the large pick-up truck first but it was jammed, however the window was rolled down. He looked inside and saw that the driver was miraculously uninjured. The driver, a man wearing a dirty business suit, also reeked of booze!
'Wonderful, another drunk driver…' Was all Johnny could think as he visually assessed the victim before reaching inside the mangled cab.
"Can you hear me?" Johnny reached in to take the man's carotid pulse. "I'm here to help you. My name is John Gage and I'm-"
The drunk man abruptly slapped Johnny's hand away from his neck. "I don't need anything from you…" His words were bitter and slurred.
"Alright... but I have to check you out anyway."
"I said 'no'!" The driver was getting angrier.
"Okay fine, I'll check on you later." Johnny put up his hands in a gesture of surrender. He's had one too many close encounters dealing with intoxicated and stubborn victims.
As he turned away from the truck Johnny saw that Officer Vince Howard had pulled up to the scene to take control. Johnny was walking to the other car, eager to check on the other potential victim, so he called out to Vince over his shoulder. "Hey Vince, we got another boozer behind the wheel of the truck."
"Damn." He put his hands to his hips as he strolled to the truck. "Just once I'd like to have a shift where I didn't have to pull a drunken fool out his car."
"Yeah, me too, Vince. He seems fine, just upset. I'm going to check on the other driver."
"Right, he ain't going anywhere." Vince stood by the truck, playing baby-sitter to a drunk was the one part of the job that no one bothered to mention during training.
Johnny looked over the decimated car that was pinned between the front of the truck and the splintered telephone pole. All four doors on both sides were jammed shut, either from the impact of the pole or the impact of the truck. He'd have to wait for the Engine crew to arrive with the 'jaws' before he could even hope to pry one door open.
In the distance Johnny heard the approaching Engine's sirens, which was only drowned out by a sudden painful cry from the woman from inside the car. The victim was now awake and in obvious pain.
"Ma'am?" Johnny walked over to the hood car, avoiding as much crumpled metal as possible, and tried to peer in through the cracked windshield. "Ma'am, can you hear me?" No audible response could be heard but he saw limited motion inside the destroyed car. 'She has the strength to move, that's good.'
Moving around to the rear of the vehicle Johnny saw that the entire back windshield had been broken out. The bits of glass littered the ground and trunk. Thinking quickly Johnny returned to the Squad and pulled his turnout coat from the cabinet, and a small notepad of paper and pen from the glove box. Quickly returning to the car he draped the thick turnout coat over the remaining bits of broken glass of the missing rear windshield.
The requested Engine pulled up and parked adjacent to the destroyed car. Johnny put the small pad of paper and pen in between his teeth as he carefully slipped into the car, using his coat as a means of protection against the sharp shards of glass. With precise control he pulled the front passenger seat back until it was flat against the back seat, he then climbed over the seat and into the front to treat the woman behind the wheel.
She was also pregnant.
The woman had squirmed about in her seat uncomfortably and passed out again. Her face leaning toward her door and away from Johnny. He placed his hands on either side of her head, turning her head so she was facing forward and gently laid her back against the seat. He froze in place when looked at the victim's face. He just knew that the car was familiar to him.
"John? What do you have in there, pal?" Captain Hank Stanley was talking to Johnny from the outside of the car through the broken front windshield.
"Cap, it's... JoAnne." Johnny tried to keep his voice calm and controlled, although he was absolutely furious at the other driver.
"What!?" Hank struggled to get a clear view of the victim through the multiple spiderweb-like cracks in the windshield.
"It's JoAnne. DeSoto." Johnny was having a hard time believing who he was seeing.
"Is she alright?" The concern in his voice was evident.
"I don't know, yet." Reality set back in and Johnny began to take in JoAnne's condition. He checked her pulse, absolutely ecstatic that he found it to begin with, then her respiration and wrote down her vitals. Then with a shaking hands he placed his hand on her belly.
"Cap, I need you to contact Rampart for me. And uh… This is the worst possible time to tell you this, but…"
"What's wrong Johnny?" A sudden sense of dread filled him. He had heard that tone of voice when Johnny or Roy had patients who were in critical condition.
"Well, Roy wanted to keep it a secret... at least until after it was over... but..."
"What?" Hank knew that whatever was going on was of absolute importance.
"She's uh... she's pregnant Cap." He closed his eyes as if he could block out the emotional strain that was about to take hold.
"Did I hear you right? She's 'pregnant' ?!"
"Yeah… 8 ½ months to be exact…"
"Jesus…"
For the first time since Johnny had known Captain Stanley he could see and hear that the seemingly indestructible man had obviously been shaken to his core. "Is she… is the… baby… okay?"
"Cap, I just can't tell at this point." He took his hand from her stomach. "I can feel light fetal movement but I need Rampart now!" Johnny tore the small slip of paper that he had written her vitals down on, and handed it out through a small hole in the windshield to his captain's awaiting hand.
"You got it!"
Hank disappeared from view, Johnny could hear his footsteps running toward the Squad. A low moan from JoAnne made Johnny's heart sink. He carefully placed his hands on either side of her face and gently turned her head so he could make eye contact with her.
"It's okay. You're going to be okay, JoAnne. Can you hear me?"
She blinked hard a few times, waiting for her vision to clear. It took her a moment to realize that she was not only looking at John Gage, but she was in a mangled car. Her car! "Johnny?" She started to move around a little, pressing one hand to her belly and finding Johnny's hand already there. Her other hand went to the side of her aching head. She felt something warm and sticky on her fingers and looked at them. Blood. "What happened?" She was struggling to keep calm as a sense of pain and fear started to overwhelm her.
"You were hit by another car. It looks like you have a small cut on your head. Are you in any pain?"
She stifled a small sob as reality began sinking in. "My legs…"
"Your legs?" Johnny looked down and saw that her legs had been pinned under the dashboard and steering wheel. "You're pinned, we'll get the 'jaws' and get you out, okay?"
She moaned again in pain.
"JoAnne? What's wrong sweetheart? Your head?"
"No... Johnny, my water broke. I was already on my way to the hospital…"
Johnny's eyes widened in fear. JoAnne was already in labor before the accident and with her legs being pinned it would be impossible for her to deliver. To top it all off there was no way to tell how long she, or the baby, could wait.
"How long ago was this?" His mind now focused on getting her out of the car as soon as possible. "Do you remember when you went into labor?"
She closed her eyes in pain. "Tw-twenty minutes ago. I think. But I was having contractions all morning." JoAnne stifled another sob as full extent of her painful injuries began flaring up, one by one. "I thought it was false-labor but, this is it! I should've called the station. I should've-"
"Hey, everything's going to be fine, don't worry about it. Everything's okay, we'll get you out of here and then you'll be at the hospital, with Roy." Johnny wanted to keep her as calm as possible, as long as possible. Shutting off her completely unfounded guilt trip was a good start.
"Roy! Where's Roy?" JoAnne's voice was trembling.
"He's already at the hospital, he'll be there when we arrive. Okay?"
"Okay."
Another shriek of sirens indicated the the ambulance had finally arrived at the scene. Two attendants pulled the gurney from the back of the vehicle and were waiting to see where they would need to go first. The truck or the car.
Meanwhile, Vince had finished questioning the drunk driver and placed him in the back of his car. He was now working crowd control doing his best to keep the onlookers at bay. He motioned for the attendants to move over to the car.
Hank had returned to the windshield. "Johnny, I made contact with Rampart, they want you start an I.V. if you can."
"It'll have to wait until she's out of the car. Her legs are pinned and-" Before Johnny could finished JoAnne let out another moan of pain, Johnny let her squeeze his hand until the pain passed. "-and she's already in labor."
"Mike! Bring the K-12, we're going to take the roof off and use the chains to pull the dash back. We'll get her out with a backboard." Hank returned his focus to Johnny and JoAnne, still inside the car. "Johnny, is there anything I can do?"
"Think you can get a hold of Roy at the hospital?"
"I'll see if Rampart will let him through. Hang tight!"
Chet appeared next at the front windshield. "Johnny, I'm going to pull this glass out before we start cutting. Here, use this." He handed Johnny his turnout coat, Chet had taken it from the back window. "Cover up."
"Right." He turned to JoAnne and brushed a lock of stray hair from her face. "It's going to get a little messy and very loud, but it's normal and everything's under control."
"Okay." She closed her eyes tighter and let out another moan of pain and squeezed his hand harder. "Please don't leave me."
"I'm not going anywhere. I promise." As he covered JoAnne with the coat he turned to Chet and spoke in a low tone so he wouldn't accidentally upset JoAnne. "Her contractions are only 4 minutes apart, we need to move now!"
"Right, I'll tell Stoker to get his saw over here, pronto."
Hank returned to the car with the bio-phone in hand. "I got Roy on the line." He passed the phone through the hole in the windshield to JoAnne's shaking hand.
"Roy?" JoAnne was almost in tears at hearing his name.
'Yeah, it's me. How are you doing?'
"I'm okay. Johnny's with me.
'Then you're in the best hands.' Despite being in the hospital JoAnne could feel his worry for her and their unborn baby.
"But I'm still scared."
'That's okay, I am too. But you're going to be alright and so is our baby.'
"Okay, Roy. You're right."
'JoAnne, I love you!'
"I love you too, Roy." She let out another cry of pain and she pushed the phone from her ear.
Hank took back the line and addressed his absent paramedic in a calm, controlled tone. "Roy? Listen pal, we're going to get her out now. I'll let you talk to her as soon as she's loaded up, all right?"
'Yeah… I'll be waiting...'
Johnny swallowed nervously, the sound of JoAnne's cries and the desperation in Roy's voice through the phone didn't help matters. He made sure JoAnne was completely covered under the coat before he covered himself under the same coat as he took her hand in his.
Outside the car the K-12 roared to life, a deafening squeal filled the air as the saw blade cut through the edges of the door frame that connected to the dented and uneven roof. Small sparks showered down on the two passengers, but thanks to the coat the heat did not burn them. It seemed like forever but within two minutes the roof was loose and being lifted away from the body of the car.
Hank continued to call the shots as the surreal scene unfolded. "Okay, boys: lift!" Right on command, the roof of the car was lifted away and thrown to the side of accident scene. "Marco, get the 'jaws' and a chain, we're going to pull the dash back and free her legs now. Chet, get the backboard ready."
Hank watched anxiously as his men did as they were told, their movements were swift and precise like a choreographed ballet.
Johnny uncovered himself and JoAnne. She never let go of his hand and every time she felt pain she would squeeze a little harder.
"John, how is she?" Hank asked, leaning toward the composed paramedic.
"I don't think she'll make it to the hospital Cap, we're cutting it real close here."
"Yeah, I'll try to pick up the pace."
JoAnne let out another loud moan as her legs were finally freed and the numbness began to fade. Her legs were put to 'sleep' from the temporary circulation cut-off, and now it was starting hurt. She moaned again in obvious pain as yet another contraction hit.
"Let's go, JoAnne." Johnny managed to place the small backboard, with Chet's help, behind her with one hand so she could hold onto his other hand.
Johnny was turning and tilting the board toward himself so Chet could lift her legs and place them on the board. Chet then carefully fastened the support straps near her chest and across her legs as she was awkwardly lifted out of the wrecked car and carried over to the awaiting gurney and finally into the ambulance.
On this day JoAnne was placed onto the gurney, not by the ambulance attendants, but by Roy's 'brothers' and friends. Her brothers and her friends.
"Here's the bio-phone John." Chet handed to device to Johnny as he walked beside the wheeled gurney. As the ambulance doors closed, Chet at the last minute decided to go along for the rise and possibly give Johnny a hand. "Just in case, you know, you need some help."
"Thanks Chet."
The ambulance sped away from the accident and off to Rampart. Before Johnny could even make contact with the hospital again JoAnne let out a horrible cry in pain. He didn't have to ask, he knew it was time.
"JoAnne, we're about 5 minutes from the hospital, can you wait?"
"No! It's coming now!"
"Okay..." He smacked the small window that connected the back of the ambulance to the cab to get the driver's attention. "Hey, pull over!"
The driver did as he was instructed. The ambulance pulled to the side of the road and sat idle, flashing its emergency lights.
"Chet, get behind her and let her lean against you, okay?"
"Right." Chet did as he was asked. She immediately grabbed onto Chet's hands and squeezed hard.
Johnny had taken a blanket and draped it over her legs. He pulled on some latex gloves and prepared for the inevitable birth.
"Aren't you going to call Rampart?" Chet was nervous and scared for both JoAnne and the baby.
"No time, Chet. This baby is coming now. I mean right now!" He helped JoAnne pull her legs back. "All right JoAnne, let's work together. I've done this many times, so you don't have to worry about anything."
Chet braced himself as JoAnne pushed against him. Johnny didn't blink, he had never been more focused on anything before in his life. On this day he was helping a life enter the world. The life was the newborn child f best friend and partner.
"One more, you doing good." Johnny encouraged. "Push!"
On that note, with her one final push, the back of the ambulance was quickly filled with the sounds of a healthy, screaming baby boy.
JoAnne let out a cry of relief and joy as she finally relaxed. Chet kept one hand with hers as he ran his fingers through her sweaty hair. Johnny proudly wrapped up the baby and handed it to JoAnne.
"It's a boy." He breathed a sigh of relief and motioned for the driver to get going again. "And he's okay."
It had been almost fifteen minutes since Roy had any contact with his wife or partner or anyone else about what was going on. He was waiting, terrified, at the entrance door to the Emergency Room. Dixie had attempted to get Roy to sit down and relax but that was never going to happen.
The sound of the approaching ambulance made Roy tense up. As it pulled into the parking lot and backed up to the doors, Roy walked over and pulled the ambulance doors open. Inside he saw the smiling face of his wife holding a small, crying infant in her arms. Roy jumped inside and immediately kissed his wife's forehead. Johnny and Chet just sat back and smiled as Roy held JoAnne's hand while the orderlies wheeled the gurney into the hospital.
Dixie noticed that the two firemen were hanging back and seemed a little spaced out, so she decided to call them back to Earth. "Johnny? Johnny?" Dixie was standing in the opened hospital doors.
"Huh? What? Did you need something Dix?"
"Yeah, I need you guys to get out of the ambulance."
"What?"
"Well you've been sitting there in a dream for five minutes now. It's time to wake up."
"Oh, sorry! Let's go Chet."
The two firemen walked into the Emergency Room, not saying anything. The big grins on their faces told the whole story.
"So, how are they doing?" Johnny asked confidently as he strolled over to the desk where Dixie was filling out paperwork.
Dixie responded in her oh-so causal manner. "Well, she's happy and crying, so she's like any other typical new mother. Roy is kicking himself for not being there, and is convinced he could've done more, so any like any other typical father. And the baby is crying and fussing..."
"So any like any other typical baby." Johnny finished her sentence for her.
"Everything looks good, Dix: 7 lbs 2oz." Dr. Brackett had exited exam room 1 where the DeSoto family had been taken.
Dr. Brackett noticed Johnny and Chet standing with Dixie. "Hey, Johnny, you did a real good job."
"Yeah, well, " He playfully slapped Chet on the shoulder. "I had a specialist with me this time."
Chet grinned. "Well, you know you'd be lost without me Gagey-baby."
Dixie chimed in. "Kel, how long do you think we'll have the DeSoto's as our guests?"
"Well, I'd like to keep both JoAnne and the baby here for about a week of observation."
Johnny frowned a little. "But… they're fine. Right?"
"Yes, Johnny, they're fine. But with the baby being born a little premature and JoAnne going through such an emotionally traumatic experience after the accident, well, they just may need a little extra attention."
Dixie kept her cool and helped ease Johnny's worry. "Well, trust me Kel. That baby is already a real charmer, he'll have more attention than he'll know what to do with."
Dr. Brackett heard his name being paged to another room over the intercom. "Dix, keep me updated, will ya'? He turned on his heel and entered exam room 4.
Chet just realized how exciting the entire situation had been and how scary it must've been for the rest of the guys who were left behind, wondering. "Maybe we should call the guys, right Johnny?"
"Yeah, I think you're right." But he didn't bother to move from his spot, he was too swept up in the moment to focus on anything else.
"Here Chet, you can use the phone in the lounge." Dixie escorted Chet to the right place.
As Chet disappeared, Roy appeared from the room where his wife and newborn son still resigned. He came around the corner with tears of joy and relief in his eyes, he was rubbing at his chin with nervous energy. He saw his partner and smiled a grin that Johnny had never seen before.
"Well, partner, congratulations on being a father for the third time!" Johnny offered his hand so he could shake Roy's.
Roy grabbed is friend's hand, then pulled Johnny toward him and wrapped both arms around his partner. Johnny wasn't expecting a hug, it nearly knocked the breath out of him.
"Thank you."
"You never have to thank me, Roy. You and JoAnne are the only family I have, you're practically my big brother. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know. But... I'm going to thank you anyway. And I'm going to want to thank you every time I look at my son."
Roy finally released his grip on Johnny and stepped back, rubbing a few remaining tears from his eyes. He took in a deep breath to calm his nerves.
"Well, you know, Chet came with me and he's in the lounge letting the rest of the guys know the great news."
"That's good, they should know."
"Um… Why again did you swear me to secrecy about this whole 'new baby' thing, anyway?"
Roy smiled a little, appreciating the irony of the whole situation. "Because I didn't want them to make a deal about it."
"Too late!" Johnny laughed. "Besides, a new addition to the family is always going to be a big deal."
"Yeah. I'm going to spend the rest of my shift here, I'll call you later, okay?"
"Okay."
As Roy re-entered the exam room, Johnny shouted after him.
"Hey, what did you guys name him?"
Roy paused, his hand on the door. "We named him Anthony. And his full name is Anthony Gage DeSoto."
Johnny just stared at his partner, except now he was trying to force back tears of his own.
The two medics just smiled at each other as Roy finally returned to his wife and son. Johnny leaned back against the wall and slid to the floor, unable to express the enormous sense of pride and love he felt.
Dixie stepped out of the lounge, her eye caught Johnny sitting on the floor. "Johnny? Are you alright?"
He smiled up at her, tears of joy in his eyes. "Yeah, Dix. I'm great!"
-The End
Author's Note: To me, this just seemed like a situation that would've possibly happened in the show. Oh and because someone actually asked this: The significance of the baby's name is his MIDDLE name being 'Gage'. As in, named after John Gage. The name 'Anthony' simply comes from the fact that I'm an Iron Man fan and in general, I like that name.
And as a 'guest' reviewer seems to believe, it is actually common for firefighters to keep certain things out of the station and certain things out of their homes, in order to deal with situations that can be emotionally taxing. I know this for a fact, my father is a firefighter and has been for as long as I can remember. The brotherly bonds are still in tact, even with a few secrets being kept from one another. Part of the brotherly bond and camaraderie stems from understanding a mutual respect for privacy.