Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the show or its characters, just love to watch them, read about them, and write about them!
Fatal Blow
John Gage had just finished changing into his uniform and was walking, late as usual, into the bay for roll call when the tones sounded out …
Station 51, station 86, truck 110, structure fire, 117 Vandorn Street, Time out 8:23
Captain Stanley thumbed the mic as he jotted down the address "Station 51, KMG 365"
The engines, lights, and sirens roared to life in the mid morning hour.
"Well I guess this is one way to start the day…..maybe Cap will forget I was late and wont put me on latrine duty.." Johnny smiled over to Roy
"I doubt it, Junior" Roy smiled and just shook his head at his partner as he followed big red through morning rush hour to their destination.
The old abandoned apartment building was fully involved as 51 approached. Captain Stanley was already on the radio giving instruction and calling for a few more additional units to assist.
No victims were involved so Stanley assigned John and Roy to different hoses with the rest of their crew….
"Hey John!" Stanley called after his youngest paramedic
"Yea Cap?" Johnny ran over to see what he needed
"There's some spotting out back where the fire has spread to some trash cans, take an inch and a half back there and contain that would ya pal?" Cap smiled at him
"Sure Cap!" John jogged lightly over to the engine and pulled off his line and headed around the back of the building.
Even though he wasn't in the building Johnny could still feel the immense heat radiating at his back, he had a feeling they were probably only seconds from the building flashing. He finished dousing out the flames in the nearby trash cans when the sonic BOOM shook the building and the ground under his feet.
The blast sent debris flying in all directions as firemen on all sides hit the deck to duck the soaring objects. Johnny had been knocked clear off of his feet from the blast and the back of his head contacted with the corner of the large metal trash can. He fell quietly unconscious.
Captain Stanley looked around satisfied as every fireman appeared to be getting back into their hose positions and it appeared no injury had befallen any of the men.
Johnny was out only for a brief minute or two. He blinked his eyes several times becoming aware of his surroundings again. He shook his head slightly to rid his mind of the cobwebs in it and sat up. He wasn't sure if he had been knocked out or not, but he did have a slight headache.
He reached around and rubbed the back of his head. It was a little sore, but he otherwise felt fine. He decided it was nothing and that he needed to get back to work. The fire looked like it was slowly coming under control and he had finished his assigned task from Cap so he returned to the front of the building.
"Hey John… we all good back there pal?" Stanley asked
"Yep, its out" Johnny smiled and returned his hose before joining a line back with Chet and Marco.
Stanley thumbed the HT, "LA this fire is under control, all units out 45 minutes"
As the men began to return their hoses to the engines, Mike and Roy were carrying one of the ladders they had been using back. Mike tripped over a hose and let go of the ladder making Roy sway heavily with it and lose control, smacking it right into Johnny's mid section.
"ugh…" Johnny managed to let out the subtle groan as the heavy rungs smacked him in the rib cage and took away his breath. He stayed bent over for a minute to regain his normal breathing pattern.
Roy had placed the ladder on the ground and went over to Johnny to make sure he was okay.
"You okay partner?" He asked his hunched over friend putting a hand on his back
John put up a hand in protest to any concern "yea…. F-fine… just had the wind knocked outta me… I'll be good in just a sec" He shook his head as he pulled himself to a standing position and took in a sharp deep breathe and holding his ribs momentarily.
At this point Captain Stanley had made his way over to the two.
"You okay John?" Cap asked
"Yea, Cap… just got the wind knocked outta me" Johnny winced a smile.
"uh-huh… well I'm standing the squad down until you make sure that's all!" Cap shot Johnny a sharp look.
Just as Johnny was about to protest, Roy interrupted.
"That'll work, Cap … C-shift left the drug box pretty empty on their last couple of runs and we could use a refill at Rampart so John can have the Docs take a quick look" Roy smiled at the Captain and at his partner.
"Okay" Johnny agreed.
Dr. Brackett switched the light off on the x-ray box after viewing Johnny's films.
"Everything seems to look fine John" Brackett smiled. "You might be a little sore for a couple of days as there is some minor bruising…. Would you like me to wrap them for you or anything?" Brackett asked his patient
"Nah Doc, its okay…. It feels pretty good… really" Johnny ran his fingers over the couple of sore ribs.
"Well at least take a few of these so you'll be comfortable the rest of your shift.." Brackett smiled and handed Johnny a few aspirin.
"Thanks Doc" Johnny swallowed down the pills.
Johnny hopped off the exam table and gingerly put his shirt back on before heading out of the room to find Roy restocking their supplies.
"So whats the verdict?" Roy stopped his conversation with Dixie and turned his attention to his partner.
"Good to go..." Johnny flashed his normal warm Gage smile. "Hey… you wanna grab some breakfast in the cafeteria? We missed eating before the call this morning and I'm starved!"
"Yea, I'll take ya up on that Junior, I could use a bite to eat myself!" Roy smiled and grabbed the drug box off the counter "See ya later Dix"
Dixie smiled and nodded at the two paramedics as they headed down the hallway towards the hospital cafeteria.
Johnny reached up and casually rubbed the back of his head as he sat across from Roy at a table outside of the hospital.
"You good partner?" Roy inquired at John's rubbing the back of his head
"Yea…m'fine… just a little headache…" John continued rubbing
"Well, you gonna eat the rest of your food before we get toned out?" Roy looked down at John's plate, hardly touched.
"I dunno….. not really that hungry anymore…" John pushed his plate away a couple inches
It was then Roy knew something must be up… John Gage did NOT push away food!
"Hey, whats going on? … are you really okay? … you feel sick or something?" Roy asked leaning across the table to get a better look at his partner
"m'fine! … just a little headache… I'm heading back to the squad… I'll see ya out there…." Johnny continued rubbing his head and left.
'huh' Roy though to himself… something was definitely up.
Johnny placed a hand on the wall in the hallway leading back down to emergency to steady himself after a slight sway. He shook his head and rubbed his face for a moment. What was going on? He thought to himself. His mind seemed clouded. He suddenly had to take a double take at his surroundings…. Rampart? He asked himself forgetting how he had gotten there.
He looked down to notice he was in his uniform, so not a patient. He suddenly felt a wave of nausea and closed his eyes and rested his back up against the wall. After gaining his composure he headed back down the hall. Walking by Dixie sitting at the nurses station he didn't even so much as wave a hand gesture to say hi as he continued by.
Dixie watched Johnny walk by clumsily and continue down the hallway, past the exit out to the squad and down by reception into Brackett's office. She didn't think much of it and returned to her stack of paperwork she was filling out at the desk.
Johnny couldn't focus on anything, he had no idea of his surrounding or where he was, yet he continued to open the door and walk into Dr. Bracketts office.
Kel Brackett stopped his conversation with Joe Early who was sitting with one leg on the corner of his desk and looked up at Johnny who walked in through the open door.
"Can I do something for you John?" Brackett asked puzzled as why the paramedic had just strolled into his office… Johnny didn't answer for a moment so Brackett asked again "You okay Son? Did you need something" He was now beginning to stand and walk over to Johnny, followed closely by Dr. Early. "Is it your ribs?" Brackett couldn't think of anything else.
He noted the far away glassy look in the paramedics eyes causing a plethora of questions to enter into his mind. Johnny finally shook his head slightly and answered.
"uh….. no…. um… I should g-o" Johnny slurred over his words slowly and swayed once more as he turned to leave
"Woah, woah… not so fast there fireman…" Brackett said as he grabbed a hold of Johnny's arm, afraid he might fall over. "Why don't you take a seat here" He more or less pushed Johnny down into one of the chairs in his office as Joe Early stood close by eyeing him over with concern in his eyes.
"Can you tell us whats going on John?" Dr. Early asked
Johnny didn't answer.
"Johnny?..." Brackett shook his arm for a second "Johnny?... can you hear me?" He rubbed the paramedics sternum briefly after getting no reply and noting the distant look in Johnny's eyes.
"…huh?..." Johnny looked up at the painful stimuli applied "umm…. I gotta go… I-I-I gotta go meet Roy" Johnny reached his hand up and rubbed his head again.
"John, can you tell me where you are? What day it is?" Brackett inquired "Did you get hurt at all?" As Brackett continued questioning the young paramedic in his dazed and confused state, Dr. Early had already gone down the hall to get an exam room ready and sent Dixie back to retrieve Brackett and John.
"Kel?" Dixie inquired as she entered the office
Brackett stood and put his hands on his hips and shook his head "I'm not sure Dix… presents as a head injury… I'll know more once we get him into a room and get a better look at him"
He walked back over to Johnny slumped in the chair and staring off into the wall. With Dixie's help they got him standing to his feet and they were met with a slight sway.
"Woah there Tiger…. Can you make it to the room?" Dixie firmed up her grip on Johnny's arm
"I can do it….. I've got it" He slightly tugged his arm away from her in protest.
She and Brackett practically held all of his weight on the way out of the office and down the hallway. It was obvious that Johnny was becoming less and less conscious as he began to get heavier and his head started to loll to the side. Dixie was extremely relieved to see Roy walk back in through the ambulance doors and run to their side to relieve her of holding onto Johnny. She ran ahead of the two and opened the door to exam room 2 for them as they hurried their friend in.
Brackett felt some of Johnny's muscles starting to spasm and in a panic shouted out.
"Get him onto the table now… he's going to seize!"
No sooner than he said it Johnny's body threw itself into a full seizure.
"Hold his legs Joe! Roy, keep his head and neck as still as you can… I think we're dealing with a head injury… I don't want him to hurt himself any further!" Brackett barked out orders as he put his own body weight gently onto Johnny's mid section.
"Dix, I want x-ray in here, full skull series, and blood gasses drawn!"
As Brackett finished yelling out his orders Johnny's seizing body went limp.
"Roy! Breathing?" Brackett asked
"He's struggling…" Roy responded back and was already moving out of the way as Dr. Early had grabbed the necessary tools to intubate him and was speedily performing the task at hand.
"Lets get that in and O2 on him stat!" Brackett grabbed his otoscope and began looking in Johnny's ears "Roy can you get some vitals on him…." He ordered.
Roy looked down at his partner momentarily with a swarm of professionals over him. Brackett peering into his ears closely, Dixie drawing vials of blood, Early attaching oxygen to pump into his lungs….. but Roy shook it off and knew he had a job to do….get Johnny stable first, then he could let his emotions and questions take over him.
"BP is 190/85… his pulse is 65… respirations are 15" Roy looked over to Brackett as he finished reporting
"I don't like it…" Brackett said as he stood up and looked over Johnny's limp and unresponsive life form on the table before him "He's got fluid in both his ears and nose… his vitals are consistent with a head injury too... and a bad one…Dix, call OR and have them send up a neurosurgeon, we wont know for sure til we see the films, but I'm almost certain he's got a lot of bleeding on….. dammit…." Brackett clenched his fist and smacked the gurney
"What is it Kel?" Early inquired
"I gave him some aspirin earlier for his rib pain…. If he's got a head injury I sure didn't help it with that… wheres x-ray!? We need those films yesterday!" Brackett stormed out of the room
Dr. Early looked down with concern on his face as he walked over to Roy.
"Do you remember him sustaining any kind of blow to the head today Roy? Or notice anything at all?" Dr. Early asked
"He never mentioned anything… seemed fine… until we grabbed a bite to eat just now.. he suddenly wasn't hungry anymore… but I really don't know Doc" Roy felt helpless to the whole situation.
"Dix, monitor him closely until x-ray gets here.. come find myself or Dr. Brackett if anything comes up… Roy, you better call this in and stand down your squad until you've got a new partner" He patted Roy on the shoulder
"Yea… I've got a few phone calls to make…" Roy nodded in agreement and started to leave the room, turning around to glance once more at his still partner
"Its okay Roy, I've got my eye on him." Dixie smiled up at him as she stood by Johnny's bed holding his hand.
To be continued… thanks for reading and for any feedback!