So, fun fact: I'm currently in Montana to do a museum studies internship! So if anyone is ever passing by the Custer Battlefield Museum in Garryowen MT, let me know. Name's Courtney, and I'll be happy to chat :)
This is another one of my stories that I wrote for Emergency before posting anything. I haven't been able to watch lately because I don't currently have access to Netflix here in Montana, though I hopefully will by the end of the summer. I've tried to edit while typing and adding in some of the concrit I got on my other two fics.
Like my other fics, most of the character background is largely headcanon. I did try to pull some stuff from Wikipedia, but I'm still working on it. As always, concrit is encouraged and appreciated. I'll do my best to fix any errors.
I have done my best to research Oklahoma Seminole and their native language, and I have come up with Creek (Mvskoke) as that language, and have found ecke (pronounced 'itch-kuh' to the best of my knowledge) to be the proper word. If this is incorrect, please tell me and I will do my best to fix it as soon as I can.
Edit-6 Jun 2014: Changed some facts about Roy and Joanne I'd gotten wrong.
Truth be told, Roy DeSoto knows very little about his new partner John Gage. He seems like the typical brash young fireman, winking at all the ladies and chasing the nurses at the hospital and not wanting to settle down. He knows John is smart, of course, or he wouldn't have gotten through paramedic school. Roy knows he's a hard worker in the field, prepared to do anything to save a life, knows he will get the job done. Beyond that, John Gage is a bit of a mystery, and Roy's okay with that. They've been partnered up for a little less than a year, and he hates to pry into people's business when he's not on the job. If there are things that John doesn't quite feel comfortable telling him just yet, then that's John's business and his alone. Roy hasn't exactly spilled his whole life story, either. He knows that John will have his back when the time comes, and that's all he really needs to know for now.
When they end up falling through the floor of a burning house, Roy knows they will be okay. Roy's the one who goes through first, with a loud yelp and a crash, somehow managing to grab on to the edge of the floor to keep from going through completely. John whips around almost immediately, probably more at the crash than Roy's shout, and he's at Roy's side, grabbing his arms and trying to pull him up. The floorboards creak ominously. Roy can feel the ones holding his weight bending. He opens his mouth to tell John to get out before he falls, too. The sound is violent and deafening as the floor gives way under John, sending them both tumbling into the basement below. Roy manages to twist himself and lands hard on his left side, though not hard enough to break anything; he'll be black and blue for a while. The basement seems relatively smoke free for now, so Roy pulls off his mask to look for John, calling his name over the dulled roar of the fire. He does not get a response, but he does find him.
John fell right on his back and gear, knocking the wind out of him. Roy hears him struggling for air as he gets closer. It's worse when Roy sees John's unfocused and glazed eyes and realizes he may have gotten a concussion, too. Roy grabs for his H/T and swears loudly, finding it had been broken in the fall. They are alone until someone can find them. The house creaks above them, and Roy adjusts himself so if the house collapses, he can protect John. He pulls off John's mask to hear him sucking air. He replaces it so John can have clean air and tells him calmly, "Breathe, Johnny. You just got your wind knocked out. Come one, try to breathe. You know how to get by this. Just calm down and breathe. Breathe…"
Instead, John tenses, trying to get up, his breaths coming in wheezing gasps. Roy tries to calm him down. He can't be sure if John has a spinal injury or not and doesn't want to move him, but the younger man is bound and determined to get up. Roy pushes him back down, holding him there and removing the mask again, explaining, "Johnny, you need to stay still. I need to make sure you don't have a spinal injury. Come on, now, you know that, Johnny. Just-"
"Please, mister, please," John whimpers, his voice small and childlike, his eyes still wide and glazed, "My-my papa, where's my papa? And m-my ecke… where's ecke? Please, I want my ecke!"
"Johnny, what are you talking about? What's wrong?"
John is clearly confused and nearly hysterical, his unfocused eyes wide and wet, tears streaming from the corners and tracing clean paths through the soot on his face. He continues in the same small voice, "There-there was that other c-car! It hit our car and didn't even stop even a little bit! I want my-my ecke! My arms hurts real bad, please, just get me my ecke…"
Roy has no idea what an ecke is. He's not even sure what language it is. He does his best to soothe John, and once he's sure his spine is uninjured, he allows John to sit up. The younger man presses himself into Roy's arms, still crying. Roy gently feels around John's head, finding a sizeable lump at the crown. He feels bad for his partner, concussed and confused and remembering an awful thing from long ago.
"M'tired," John slurs.
"I'm sure you are, John, but you have a concussion, so I can't let you sleep just yet," Roy tells him gently, "Just talk to me for a little bit 'til someone comes and gets us."
"Whaddaya want me to talk about?"
"Whatever you want. Just talk."
And John talks. He talks about living on the Seminole reservation in Oklahoma and being watched by scientists and anthropologists and being used as a guinea pig because he was a 'half-breed' and 'scientifically interesting'. He talks about how his parents (turns out ecke is Creek for 'mother') took him to Oklahoma City for a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo when he was seven and ended up in a bad car accident in the city when a drunk driver blew a light and T-boned their car. He talks about his parents dying at the scene, his own minor injuries, the fireman who rescued him and held him while he cried for his parents, about waiting for his aunt to retrieve him from the hospital. Roy isn't sure when John pulled away and was able to sit up on his own.
"I was, uh… I was thinking of my parents when I really decided to go through paramedic school," John says, sniffing and wiping at his face, "Sometimes… well, working a job like this… I wonder if maybe people like us had been around then if…y'know, well, if they'd be alive today…"
"Maybe they would… maybe not. Look, you were just a little kid. There's nothing you could've done to change it, especially not fifteen years or so after the fact."
"Yeah, I know that, but-"
"No buts. Come on, keep talking. Tell me what happened after your aunt came and got you."
"She took me back to the rez to live on her ranch with her and my uncle and cousins. Learned how to ride horses and rope cattle and mend fences, all that kinda stuff. Great life for a kid, and my aunt and uncle were good to me. Made sure I went to school and got good grades, kept my belly full, took care of me when I was sick or hurt. When I was fifteen, they moved the ranch up here to just outside LA. LAFD came when one of our barns caught fire, helped rescue some of the horses that were still in there, and I knew I wanted to do that. Wanted to be a fireman and help people like they helped us… helped me when I was a kid."
His voice began to fade at the end of his story. Roy's anxiety ratchets up.
"And you're doing a damn good job, Johnny. I know they're proud of you."
"Who?"
"Everyone."
John says nothing, having finally slipped into unconsciousness. The creaking around them grows louder. Roy feels his heart pounding, his pulse throbbing in his ears.
"DeSoto! Gage!" a voice calls from above.
Roy looks up. Lopez is looking down at them, Kelly by his side with that silly fuzz growing on his upper lip. Lopez calls down, "You guys okay?"
"Gage is unconscious," Roy replies, "He's got a concussion. Just blacked out. No spinal injuries but he got his wind knocked out when we fell. I've only got minor injuries."
"Hang tight, we're gonna get you outta there," Kelly yells down, "The stairs are blocked."
"Just be careful. This house has been making some sketchy noises. It may well collapse soon," Roy shouts back, "You better make sure this house is stabilized before you come down here. We can't afford to get you guys trapped down here, too. What did Stoker-"
A loud crash from the back of the house draws their attention. Part of the second floor collapses completely, sending shockwaves through the rest of the building; John doesn't stir. Cap's voice comes over the radio, ordering, "Lopez, Kelly, get outta there! That building's gonna come down any minute!"
Kelly replies, "10-4 Cap, but we found DeSoto and Gage. We can-"
"I said get out, now get out! Toss DeSoto an H/T and get out!"
Roy gratefully catches it, placing it safely between his body and John's, then looks around for a safer spot, finding one up against the basement wall. He pulls John over to it just as more of the house collapses, crashing loudly into the basement. John makes a quiet noise and tries to curl up very small. Roy makes sure the radio is safe once more, carefully tucking it between their bodies, puts his helmet back on, and curls over John protectively. His heart hammers in his chest. The house shudders violently above them. John shifts in his arms, awake and disoriented, panicking, "R-Roy! Roy, the-the house is come-coming down-!"
"I know, Junior!" Roy shouts over the din, "I know! Just calm down! We're gonna be alright! I've got you!"
"No, it's not safe, Roy! The others-!"
"They're fine! Just don't move! They-!"
The sound of the house finally giving way is deafening, a cacophony of snapping wood and cracking metal. Roy feels debris colliding with his helmet and gear and bruised left side, and he grits his teeth against the pain. John gives a shout, throwing up one of his arms up around the back of Roy's neck, trying to protect him. Something particularly heavy crashes just behind Roy, and it sets his teeth rattling in his jaw and jars his spine. Pain flares violently in Roy's injured shoulder, causing him to cry out. John's arm squeezes Roy a little closer. Roy's grip on John tightens as he fights through the pain; he hopes he isn't hurting John. He isn't sure how long they stay like that, huddled together, each protecting the other even after the house was done collapsing around them. Roy finds himself shaking but unable to let go of his partner. All he can hear is the rush of his blood and drumming of his heart. Through the haze of pain and pounding blood, he hears a voice, faint but soothing, trying to calm him. He's startled to realize he's seated, no longer crouching over his partner. They sit facing each other, the intact H/T sitting in John's lap. It's dark all around them save for a thin shaft of sunlight.
"Are you alright, Roy?" John asks, "You look pretty shaky."
"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you, John? You feelin' okay?" Roy replies, reaching for John.
He almost blacks out. Pain explodes in his left shoulder, so intense he can't even shout. All that escapes his mouth is a gasp. Tears form in his eyes.
"Roy, what is it? What's wrong?" John asks quickly, "Tell me."
"M-my shoulder," Roy gasps, "Fell on it earl-earlier when the floor caved in. Somethin' fell on it just n-now when everything went. God, it hurts, Johnny. Hurts like hell…"
John starts to say something, but the H/T crackles into life with static and Cap's voice saying, "DeSoto? Gage? This CPT Stanley. Do you read me? Over."
John fumbles with the radio, his fingers still clumsy. Roy takes it with his good arm and replies, "CPT Stanley, this is DeSoto. I'm here with Gage. We-we read you. Over."
"Did you sustain any injuries in the collapse? Over."
"Cap, Gage sustained a concussion in the initial fall and was rendered unconscious for a period of time. I received an injury to, uh, my left shoulder in the collapse. We can't be sure of the extent of these injuries at this time. Over."
"Did you manage to move before the collapse? Over."
"We did. We are approximately… fifteen feet from our original location. We are situated up against the basement wall at the front of the house. We're, uh… we're blocked by a lot of debris, Cap. Over."
"The rest of the structure has been stabilized. Stoker, Lopez, and Kelly are already in. If you can, make some noise so they can hear you. Over."
"10-4. Out"
John yells for Kelly. Roy just yells. It isn't long before they hear shifting debris and see Kelly's goofy face appear in front of them (though Roy's never been happier to see him). Roy pushes John forward when there's a big enough hole in the debris, telling Kelly and Lopez, "Take care of Johnny first. He's got a-a concussion, nasty knot on the back of his head," and using his good arm to hold John up. In turn, John tells them, "Be careful with Roy. His, uh, his shoulder is real bad. The-the left shoulder," as Kelly leads him away. Lopez and Stoker come in for Roy, but as soon as the bad shoulder is jarred, he blacks out.
He wakes at the hospital, blinking in the bright light. His left side throbs dully, his shoulder more sharply. Roy shifts, giving a pained grunt when he does so. From a spot on his left, he hears, "Roy, you're awake…"
He turns his still-swimming head to see John in the bed beside his, grinning like a fool. Roy feels one grown on his own face to match.
"You alright, Junior?"
"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a little bump on the head."
"I'm alright. Feels like I got nailed by a truck, but I'll live."
They share their smiles for a moment. They've been through something today, something they won't soon forget, something they conquered together. John could have talked about anything in that basement: his last date, all the girls he's kissed, his time at Station 10, the next prank he would play on Kelly. Instead, he told Roy about himself, about his life, his past. He didn't have to do that, and Roy knows that. Roy knows a lot more about John now than he ever had, but most importantly, he knows how much John trusts him.
That's when Roy starts spilling his guts to John. He tells him about how he decided he wanted to be a fireman when he was a kid because firemen saved him and his friend while he was staying at the friend's house overnight. He tells him about meeting Joanne in their fourth grade class and how they started going steady their freshman year of high school and that he took her to every dance the schools had. He tells him how he joined the army right out of high school and worked fighting fires on a base in Germany. He tells him about coming back and proposing to Joanne and him joining the LAFD and them getting married and his buddy getting killed in a warehouse fire and the number of times he thought about quitting until Joanne talked sense into him and how happy he was the day Chris was born. Roy tells him everything he can think of, and he's grateful for the privacy curtain because he isn't quite sure when his eyes got so wet or when John got out of bed to comfort him. John is there, though, arm draped over Roy's shoulders (like it had been in the basement of that house), saying, "Hey now, partner, I'm the one with the concussion. I'm supposed to be havin' the mood swings, not you."
"Yeah, well, they have me on painkillers, so I think I'm entitled..."
John huffs out a laugh and gives Roy a gentle squeeze as Joanne arrives with the kids, a rambunctious three-year-old boy and a sleepy baby girl of one. Once Chris is finally tucked into Roy's side and sleeping happily, Joanne starts thanking John profusely and inviting him for dinner and telling him to call if he ever needs anything.
"Oh, I just can't thank you enough for keeping Roy safe, John."
"No… no, I didn't do anything special," John replies shyly, "I just… shoot, I fell in the hole tryin' to help him, and-and he did more for me than I did for him."
"I know he did, but you helped him, too and-"
"Mrs. DeSoto, I didn't do anything special I-"
"You'll call me Joanne, John. No buts-"
"Aw, come on," Roy finally interjects, "John, you go lay back down. Joanne, just sit and relax. If it makes you feel better, I think both of you are right."
"What makes you say that, Roy?" Joanne asks.
John looks at him quizzically from the other bed.
"Well, I think neither one of us would have gotten outta there if it wasn't for the other," he says calmly.
Joanne offers him a soft smile, reaching out to touch the baby's hair, twirling a piece around her finger gently. John blinks at him, a flush creeping up into his face. He mouths like a goldfish, clearly wanting to say something to the contrary, and Roy won't allow it. John's proved himself a good friend, a good partner, and a good man, so Roy stops him before he can disparage himself, saying, "Now both of you be quiet, or these two'll wake up again, and I don't think I'm quite ready for that just yet."