Watch Out for the Quiet Ones

by KathyAnn5

Captain Hank Stanley walked from his office and entered the day room. The bay door slowly started to rise announcing the return of the squad after their third run of the morning.

"Marco, is lunch about ready?" Cap asked leaning on the back of a chair and surveying the 3 men in the room – Marco at the stove, Chet and Mike sitting at the table. "Roy and John just returned and I'm sure they must be starving."

"Just putting it on the table now, Cap."

"Good. Then let's…"

SLAM! The sound of the squad door being violently shut made all the men jump.

"There's GOT to be something we can do!" John Gage's angry voice echoed through the bay.

"Johnny …" Roy began, but was cut off by Gage's angry retort of "JUST FORGET IT!"

Footsteps could be heard crossing the bay and then the sound of the locker room door hitting the wall as it was slammed open. This was followed by the sound of the other squad door being shut with unnecessary force. Roy stormed into the day room almost colliding with Cap who had gone to the doorway to check things out.

"Uh, sorry, Cap," Roy stated, his voice showing frustration and not just a little anger. He went to the table and dropped into a chair sighing heavily.

"Roy… bad run?"

Roy looked up at his captain. "Yeah,… no,… I mean…"

"Gee, Roy. You're starting to sound just like Gage," Chet said with a little smirk.

Cap just gave him "the look" and Chet tried to hide behind his coffee cup.

"Want to try that again, pal?"

Marco placed a cup of coffee on the table in front of Roy. Roy looked at the cup; picked it up and taking a sip gave Marco a nod of thanks. Taking a deep breath he looked at Cap. "No, it wasn't exactly a bad run. It's just a run we've had to make too often lately and there doesn't seem to be anyway to prevent them."

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Roy."

"The call was for an injured child. They're always a little harder to take emotionally anyway, but Cap, we've been called to this same address five times in the last six months. We've checked with the other shifts and the total is nine calls in six months. They started out as minor injures but they keep getting more serious.

Cap, this last one, the little girl, she's nine years old, had a broken wrist and a mild concussion. Her mother said she 'fell off her bike.' Johnny thinks … Johnny and I think that someone is deliberately hurting her. Dr. Brackett thinks so, too, but we have no proof. Roy's voice was slowly rising in volume as his frustration and anger showed more and more."

"Hey. Easy, Roy," Cap soothed. He placed his hand on Roy's shoulder to try to settle his normally stable paramedic.

"The worst part is, Johnny knows the parents. He went to school with the mother. The father is from his home town and is a few years older."

"Wow!" Cap was stunned. The others sat in surprised silence. Mike caught Cap's eye and Hank nodded his approval. Mike grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out the door to find Johnny.

Mike looked in the window of the locker room door and saw Johnny sitting in his locker, arms folded on his knees, head bowed. He slowly opened the door and handed the cup toward Johnny.

"Peace offering?"

Johnny's head shot up, his face hard with anger. Seeing Mike and the offered cup, his features softened to a look of total sadness. "Thanks, Mike," he said softly taking the cup but remaining seated in his locker. Mike sat down on the bench.

"Johnny, Roy told us what's going on," he began. "Want to talk about it?"

"What's to talk about? A kid's getting hurt and everybody's just letting it happen!" He stood up, placing the cup on the bench.

"Roy said that you had to have proof to …"

"Sure, sounds simple; doesn't it? Well, you try getting' a straight answer out of that family." He stood up and began pacing the locker room. "The dad hardly says two words to us when we're there and all the mom says is that Angie, that's the little girl's name, Angie fell or tripped or whatever. And Angie's so scared that she won't say anything other than where it hurts." Johnny's voice was rising in volume as his pacing quickened.

"Johnny," Mike said quietly.

Johnny stopped his pacing and looked at Mike. Sighing, he sat down on the bench and wrapping both hands around the cup, took a sip.

"Sorry, Mike," he began. "This one hits kinda close to home."

"Yeah, Roy said you know the family."

"

"Maggie, Mrs. Garrison, and I went to high school together. We were both on the track team and the school newspaper staff. Graduated the same year. We actually dated a few times, too, but her family didn't think I was good enough to be goin' out with their daughter. Guess they didn't want their neighbors to see a 'half-breed' comin' round to take their daughter out.

Mr. Garrison, George, was about three years older than us. His dad owned a big lumber mill in the area and was rollin' in dough. George's parents were good people; really involved in the community, helpin' out when there was a need, really concerned about people.

Maggie's parents thought he would be the perfect match for their daughter. Well, the two families played matchmaker and they got their wish. Maggie and George were married a year after she graduated from high school.

I knew a side of George Maggie's family never saw. He was a bully and treaded everyone around him like dirt. He was a mean drunk, too. One time he… well, never mind. You get the picture."

"Yeah, Johnny, I know exactly what you mean. I saw the same thing several times growing up. Being from a military family we moved around quite a bit. I met a few kids who tried to use their father's position or rank. Guess they thought they should automatically be "top dog" just because their father was. They forgot that their fathers had earned their ranks and positions and that they came with certain responsibilities, not just privileges."

"Wow, Mike! You OK?" Johnny asked with a grin as he grabbed Mike's wrist to check his pulse. "Where did all that come from?

"OK, John, OK!" growled Mike as he pulled his hand out of Johnny's grasp. You've been hanging around Chet too much." Mike tried to look stern but couldn't stop the grin from showing.

"Let me finish, Johnny. Look, these people have dredged up some pretty unhappy memories for you. Combine that with your penchant to disregard 'Rule #1' and you find yourself in the state you're in right now. Johnny, you and Roy are the best at what you do. You've had difficult situations before and you've handled them. This is another difficult, albeit unique situation and I'm confident that you'll find a way to handle this one as well.

All I'm saying is that I can understand your frustration and if you ever want to talk, I'd be happy to listen."

"Thanks Mike. I appreciate it."

"No problem, John. If you ever want to take your frustrations out physically, let me know and I'll go running with you or you can meet me at the gym for a good workout. Just don't take it out on the squad any more. You don't want to have to deal with Charlie.""

They stood up and Mike clapped Johnny on his back. "Now, how about some of Marco's chili. I'm hungry, so I know you must be starving!

Johnny's stomach answered with a loud rumble. They both just looked at one another and laughed. As they started out the locker room door, the tones sounded sending the station out to a structure fire.

TBC

Submitting a story always makes me nervous - did I make any glaring mistakes, am I true to the characters, is it worth anyone taking the time to read it? Guess I'm kinda insecure about my writing abilities. :) Anyway, hopefully you will enjoy this. I think it will be around 4 chapters in length. Reviews are always welcome.