SPIRIT IN THE WIND
By Charli911
Disclaimer: Emergency!" and its characters belong to © Mark VII Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. No infringement of any copyrights or trademarks is intended or should be inferred. This is a work of fiction, and any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
I do not own the men and women of Emergency! I only use them here for the purposes of entertainment. No money is made and I hope the creators, writers and actors appreciate that they're creation still resonates with fans after all these years.
/
CHAPTER 1
The procession was a long one. In the front was a fire engine, lights flashing, but siren silent. In the hose bed of the engine sat a coffin, draped in the American flag. The engine moved lowly, as if the weight of the coffin was too much for it to bear. The engine was followed by a long lack limousine, carrying the widow and son of the man who lay in the coffin.
He'd been a young man. A firefighter with just 3 years on the job. And he'd died saving his fellow firefighters.
Police officers on motorcycles led the procession through the traffic. Citizens stopped their cars and watched the long trail of fire department vehicles and personal cars pass by them. There were so many mourners that it took the procession almost an hour to crawl by. Some of those watching exited their cars and bowed their heads, others crossed themselves in prayer. Men removed their hats, while mothers answered questions about the sight from curious children. It was quiet, eerily quiet, out of respect for the fallen hero.
As the engine pulled up to the cemetery and the burden was lifted from the rear, the bagpipes began to play. The mournful melody blew across the rolling hills, propelled by the soft breeze. Six men in full dress uniform, wearing while gloves, carried their comrade to his final home. A sea of uniforms flowed out from the gravesite, each wearing a black band around the arm.
They were there to bury one of their own.
/
Roy DeSoto and John Gage were on the deck in Roy's backyard, Johnny sitting on the railing, Roy standing next to him, leaning against the top rail. Other members of their crew were there as well. Marco and Chet were sitting at the picnic table, talking to Mike Stoker. Stanley was talking with his wife and Chief McConikee.
Johnny took a sip of his beer, dangling the bottle between two fingers.
"Man, I hate funerals," he stated. "I've hated them since I was a kid."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Roy agreed, quietly. "Something like this really makes you think. Eric was younger than all of us. And we were just in the next room when that ceiling came down on top of him. We're lucky the whole roof didn't cave in. That could have been any one of us."
Roy felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his captain standing behind him.
"If you dwell on that, Roy, it'll eat you up."
"Yeah, Cap, I know. But it's hard not to think about it when you come that close."
Roy glanced over and saw his wife, Joanne, talking to Beth Stoker and Linda Stanley, both firefighter wives, like herself. He thought back on the widow of the dead firefighter they'd buried that day.
Johnny looked over at his partner. "Roy, we've come close a lot in the past. It's the nature of the job. As long as we're careful, we'll be okay. You and I will probably die of old age, still rescuing people when we're ninety."
"I don't know about you, Junior, but I plan to retire long before I hit 90!" He looked again at his wife. "I just wonder how Joanne would cope if I ever got killed on duty. It's hard on the wives, ya know?"
"Roy, it wouldn't matter how you died," Johnny pointed out. "It would still be tough on her. But she's a strong lady. She's been worrying about you for a lot of years. And the fire department has a lot of support set up for spouses."
"Yeah, I know that Johnny, but it would still be hard on her."
"Yes, it would. But I would be there to help, so would the Cap, and the rest of the guys. And she has a really close family, too. It would be hard on her, but she'd get through it, Roy," Johnny assured him. "I'm just glad I'm not married. I wouldn't want anybody to have to go through that on my account."
"Ah, but Junior, it's nice to have someone worry about you so much, to care if you make it home at night."
"Oh, my folks worry about me, that's enough right now. At this point in my life, I don't think I'm ready for someone to sit at home and wonder if I'll live through my shift at work. When I die, just send my remains home to my folks, so my ashes can drift on the winds in the mountains."
"That's very poetic, Johnny," Roy remarked. "But don't plan on that any time soon. I'm not ready to break in a new partner yet. Besides, I plan to have you give the toast at my retirement party."
"What retirement party?" asked Joanne, joining them and sliding her arm around Roy's waist.
Roy laid his arm across her shoulder before answering her. "Mine, when I turn ninety!"
"I hate to tell you this, Roy DeSoto," Joanne informed him, "but I don't plan on waiting around until you're 90, for you to retire. Fifty-five, buster, and that's it!"
"Yes, dear."
"Food will be out in about 10 minutes," she told the trio.
"Thanks, honey," Roy said, catching a fleeting sadness in Joanne's eyes. "You okay, Joanne?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. It's just that I always look forward to seeing your whole crew together. I just wish this was a happier occasion."
"We all do, Joanne," Stanley assured her. "This kind of thing is never easy. I know it's particularly hard on you wives. I appreciate you allowing us into your home today. I would have done this at my place but with the remodeling, we would have been tripping over piles of bricks and lumber."
"Not a problem, Hank, but I want to be sure that the next get-together is a happy one. Somebody's birthday or something."
"I like to get presents, Joanne, you could have a party for me," Johnny hinted.
"You just had your birthday, Johnny. One of those a year is all I can handle. But we'll think of something. Now, why don't you all come help bring the food out."
/
Later that night, after the others had gone home, Roy walked out back to put the trash out. As he turned back to the house, he noticed Joanne curled up on the bench, quietly crying.
"Joanne? Are you okay, honey?" he asked, sitting next to her and putting his arm around her.
"I'm fine, Roy," she told him, wiping her eyes.
"Then why are you crying?"
"I just keep thinking about Angela Travis. How is she going to cope with this, Roy? She's so young, and their son isn't even a year old yet."
"Honey, the fire department will help her. So will the guys at Eric's station. She's family to them, they won't let her go through this alone."
"I know that, sweetheart, but there's only so much that others can do for you. I..."
"You're wondering how you would cope if it were me?" Roy ventured.
Joanne looked at him, moving from the comfort of his arm, and turning to face him. "I'm sorry, Roy, I don't mean to make this day harder for you. But it does scare me. Everytime I hear about a fireman being killed or injured, it makes me think about the kids and how we'd get by without you. It frightens me more than I care to admit."
"I don't know what to tell you, Joanne. We've talked about this before. You know that I would never deliberately put myself in danger or take foolish chances on the job. I take every precaution I can and use all the equipment I have available to me."
"I know, Roy. I know you do everything you can to be sure to come back to us after your shift. And usually it doesn't bother me so much. I guess it's just at times like this, the feelings kind of bubble to the surface and it's hard to fight my fears. I see that coffin going down the road on top of the engine, and it tears my heart out, thinking someday that might be you."
"I love you, Joanne. And I promise I will always do everything in my power to come home to you, and Chris and Jennifer."
Joanne reached up a hand and touched his face, smiling affectionately. "Well, then, Roy DeSoto, that's good enough for me. You've done a good job so far, so I guess I'll just have to trust you to continue. And trust in that motley crew you work with, that they'll watch out for you too." She gave him a light kiss and settled back into his arms. They sat there for a long time, watching the stars.
/
Two days later, Roy and Johnny were back on duty, headed over to Rampart to re-supply. It was their first day back since the funeral of Eric Travis, and the stationhouse had been unusually quiet. It was normally that way after the death of one of their own. Each man got to thinking about his own mortality. But they would bounce back, they always did. Leaning on and supporting each other, they would get past it. And judging by past incidents, it would probably be Johnny Gage and Chet Kelly who would lead them out of the doldrums.
But Johnny had been subdued all morning, not talking much, not responding to Chet trying to make a joke at his expense. As they drove to the hospital, he was still quiet, staring out the window. Roy knew that Gage had gone hiking in the mountains the day after the funeral. Usually that would bring him out of any bad mood he was in, but this time it hadn't seemed to work. And that worried his partner.
"Hey, Junior, are you okay?" Roy asking, glancing across the seat at the younger paramedic. When Gage didn't answer him, he reached out and tapped him on the arm. "Johnny, are listening to me?" he tried again.
Gage jerked his head around when he realized that Roy was talking to him. "What?" he asked in confusion.
"Are you alright? You've been zoned out all morning. What are you thinking about?"
Johnny looked away, slightly embarrassed by the fact that he hadn't been paying attention to what was going on around him. Not a good thing for somebody entrusted with people's lives, he thought.
"Sorry, Roy," he said, somewhat sheepishly. "I didn't hear what you said."
"I kinda got that impression," Roy joked. "No reason to be sorry though. You looked a million miles away. Anything you want to talk about?"
"No, I was just thinking about the funeral. I didn't know Eric all that well, you know. I worked with him a few times, knew him enough to say hi, like that."
"Same here, so what's the problem?"
"Nothing Roy, it's just that..." Johnny glanced at his partner, then back out the window. "Nothing, never mind, it's not important."
"C'mon, partner. It's important enough to still be bothering you two days later. What is it?"
Gage looked back at Roy, a question on his mind, but not quite sure if he should ask it. "I just…well...I was wondering...tell me if I'm getting too personal, okay, but I'm curious. You and Joanne have been married, what ten, eleven years?
"Eleven years, yeah, why?"
"What do you say to her when something like this happens? How do you deal with it?"
Roy was quiet for a long moment, turning his gaze back out to the road in front of him.
Thinking he'd overstepped his bounds, Johnny apologized. "I'm sorry, Roy, I shouldn't have asked that. It's a personal thing. Sorry."
"No, Johnny, it's okay. It's just that Joanne and I did talk after you guys left the other night. I found her sitting outside on the deck, crying."
"Crying? Oh, man, that must have been tough on you."
Nodding, Roy said, "I know she gets scared when she hears news reports about someone being injured or killed in a fire. We've talked about it a few times in the past. She worries about how she'll get by. I worry about it too, ya know. I wonder if she'll be able to survive on what my pension and insurance will give her. It's not something either of us likes to dwell on. But when one of us has doubts, we sit down and discuss it. I try to be honest with her about the dangers and she tries to be up front with me about her fears."
"I don't think I could handle that, having somebody worrying about me all the time. You and Joanne love each other so much...she'd be devastated if something happened to you. I don't think that I would want to be the cause of that kind of pain."
"If you love somebody enough Johnny, you have to put up with the pain, too. It goes with the package. And it's worth it. If something, god forbid, happened to Joanne or one of the kids...I don't know what I'd do. But I wouldn't give up what I have with them for anything in the world. That's what being part of a family is all about."
"Yeah, I wonder about what it would be like to lose somebody that was that close to me. When my grandmother died last year, I think that was the worst, but she'd been sick so long, it wasn't like it was a shock, you know. I can't imagine being so close to somebody that you'd just fall apart if they died unexpectedly. Or that someone else would react that way if I died."
"Someday, Junior, someday you'll understand what it's like."
/
Over the next several weeks, things got back to normal at the station. Johnny and Chet started getting on each other's nerves again...and on the Captain's nerves. And Gage started flirting with the new nurse, much to the chagrin of Dixie McCall, who should have been used to it by now.
Things were back to normal in the DeSoto household too. The kids were fighting over the new video game and Joanne continue to add to the list of household chores she always had ready for Roy on his days off.
And there was no more talk of funerals and death.
/
He was working in the yard when he heard the doorbell. Removing his gloves and brushing the dirt from the knees of his jeans, he walked inside and through the house. He opened the door to find Captain Stanley standing there, a look of utter anguish on his face. He looked about ready to collapse and appeared to have been crying.
"Cap, are you okay?" he asked. "Cap?"
Stanley looked him in the eye and shook his head. "I've got some bad news..."
"C'mon out back, we can sit and you can tell me what's going on."
Stanley followed him outside and dropped into one of the chairs.
"Okay, Cap, now what's going on? Is your family okay?"
"My family?" Stanley asked, looking up in confusion. "Oh...yeah, Linda and the kids are fine. It's not them."
"Then what, Cap?" he was getting concerned.
"It's Johnny..."
"Johnny?" Roy asked, his stomach lurching. "What's happened to Johnny, Cap?'
Stanley stared at the ground, leaning forward in the chair, clutching his hands together.
"Cap, tell me what happened. Is Johnny hurt?" Roy asked quietly, getting no response. "Hank, tell me!"
"I got a call from headquarters a couple of hours ago." Stanley closed his eyes and shook his head. "The Highway Patrol called them this morning. Johnny was in an accident."
Roy remained still, waiting for Stanley to continue. But the Captain turned away and went back to staring at the ground.
"Roy..." Stanley took a deep breath. "The accident...Johnny's car went over a cliff on the Pacific Coast Highway this morning."
"And?" His voice was a whispering as he stared at Stanley, willing him to say that Johnny was okay.
"His car went over a cliff...and exploded on impact..."
"What are you saying, Hank...is Johnny...is he okay?" Please tell me he's gonna be fine. Maybe he's hurt, but he'll pull through.
/
