Just Trying To Do What's Right
"Five minutes till Roll call!" Captain Stanley's voice rang through the station.
Roy tucked his uniform shirt in and looked over at the locker that had yet to be opened that morning. 'Guess we know who's going to get latrine duty this morning.' Roy thought to himself as Chet and Marco moved out of the locker room talking about their weekends as they walked.
Roy let out a sigh before shutting his locker door and moving into the kitchen for a cup of coffee before Roll call.
Both the truck and the squad were still out on a run so the station seemed empty as Roy accepted a cup of coffee from Mike before sitting down to drink it.
"Looks like Johnny had a late night," Mike commented as he sat down next to Roy to drink his cup of coffee. Between sips of coffee Roy looked at the door, still no partner walking through.
As the rest of the crew moved into the empty bay to line up for roll call, Roy made one last check of the locker room. The men stood in line up minus one for three minutes past the time they were supposed to start their shift.
The men started shifting nervously and Mike announced, "I'll be right back."
Just as he stepped out of the line up Captain Hank Stanley stepped out of the office with a clip board in his hands. Captain Stanley carefully schooled his facial expressions then stepped up in front of his men and looked up into their faces. With cautious curiosity the men watched their captain as he moved his eyes down the line up. "Anybody know where Gage is?"
No one answered and only a few shook their head at the question that had been asked. Hank took in a deep breath and held it then blew it out slowly.
"Alright let's get started. I just got off the phone with headquarters," that explained the captain being late for roll call. "C Shift has had a bad one, one that has kept them out all night. They'll be back here shortly but there are a couple of bullet holes in the hoses, this station is stood down until the police have finished their investigation and then we need to work quickly to trade out the hose so we can get back in service.
Mike would you please make sure there's a fresh pot of coffee for the men, Marco if I remember right there is some ready to bake cinnamon rolls in the refrigerator do you think you can get those baking. I'm sure I can count on all of you to offer moral support to our brothers and let them know that we're there for them. They are being required to stay at the station until released by the police. That could end up being a very long morning for them. We are to accommodate and assist in the investigation; however we are asked and to stay out of their way the rest of the time."
"Do we know what kind of a rescue they had?" Roy asked in preparation of his assignment to offer moral support. Without the squad he wasn't going to be able to do much medically.
"Sorry I was not given that information. The last call logged came in as an assist police," Hank answered and then dismissed his men to attempt to make the station more comfortable for the returning crew.
Hank had just turned to head to the office and call his wayward paramedic when the bay door opened and the engine backed into the bay. Hank paused and watched the engine back into place looking over the side for signs of bullet holes and then to the men in the crew seats. Just as he had feared their faces were solemn and blank with trauma.
Captain Tollins the unlucky C Shift Captain swung out of the cab of the engine before it stopped moving and hurried around to the driver side.
"Hank?" he called.
"I'll be right with you Ron, I've got one I need to wake up and get him to work." Hank responded and proceeded toward the office preparing to be appropriately upset with Gage.
"Hank," Ron repeated and one look at his face and Hank knew whatever he needed couldn't wait. Captain Stanley altered his course and stepped up to the side of his counterpart to have his gaze directed up into the cab as the engineer pushed the driver's door open.
Hank first noticed the face of the engineer which held the same solemn expression as the rest of the men who were still in their seats turning to look into the cab. The engineer's hand, rested on the shoulder of his missing Paramedic, currently seated in the middle seat, John Gage was covered with blood and looked as if he didn't know for sure where he was.
Hank stood motionless and confused for a moment, confused as to what had happened as well as confused about what to do next. He took in a breath and held it before blowing the air out slowly, in which time he realized that if any of the blood that was covering his paramedic was his, he'd be at Rampart and not at the station sitting in the middle seat of the engine.
"The Chief instructed us to bring him back to the station, his apartment is now a crime scene under investigation, He couldn't remember if he had a change of clothes in his locker or not but he needs to shower and the police need the clothes he's wearing for their investigation." Captain Tollins helped Hank with the 'what to do next'.
"Roy!" Hank summoned and wasn't disappointed with the speed in which his paramedic jogged to his side. "See to your partner."
"His clothes need to go in this bag." Captain Tollins added as he took the plastic bag, marked evidence from his engineer, and handed it to Roy. The Medics were instructed to bring him back a set of scrubs just in case he doesn't have any other clothes in his locker; I'd advice against putting him in uniform."
One look at their friend and both Roy and Captain Stanley had to agree.
"What happened?" Hank started turning to look at his counterpart.
"Domestic violence case gone bad, real bad, we honestly don't know what he saw or what happened in there. My medics just dealt with what he managed to throw over the balcony railing to them, while the rest of us stood by to give fire support and offer a distraction with the sirens and water streams from the hoses. He was alone with an armed gunman and another injured hostage for several hours, after getting two police officers with gunshot wounds and four totally terrified kids who were holed up in the apartment next door to where all the action was taking place, to three pair of medics at the site. When all was said and done one person left the second apartment in an ambulance the other in a body bag and we were told by the chief to bring John here back to the station with us."
The previous shifts Engineer began to shake Johnny trying to get him to respond and get out of the engine.
"Let me," Roy called, wiggling his fingers toward himself to encourage the engineer to climb out and make room for him to get to his partner. As the engineer moved out of his seat, Roy placed his feet in the step holds and pulled himself up at the same time. Once Roy was behind the steering wheel he quickly took a hold of John's wrist to count a pulse, before placing both hands on the side of John's face.
"Johnny, Johnny can you hear me," Roy talked as he pulled John's face toward him. With only a faint sign of recognition in his eyes, Roy was inspired to check his friend's pupils as he continued to talk, "Come on Johnny talk to me." Both were dilated his friend was going into shock. "I need the first aid kit off the engine."
Hank raced around to the other side of the engine arriving in time to take the first aid kit from one of the previous shifts linemen, the first aid kit on the engine didn't carry near the amount of stuff the squad carried, just some bandaging, to treat minor stuff or keep bleeding under control until the squad arrived, and the supplies necessary to gather vitals. Since the squad wasn't back yet it was all they had. There was a limited supply of ammonia ampoules that Roy was thinking about using to get his partners
attention if he needed to.
With the first aid kit in his hands Hank pulled himself up into the cab on the other side of his youngest Paramedic and after opening the kit and placing it where Roy could grab what he needed, Hank started rubbing John's back.
"Cap?" John acknowledged his superior, "Sorry I'm late."
"That's okay John, from what I can see and what I'm hearing you went to work rather early." Hank kept his hand on his man, as a show of support but stopped rubbing his back while Roy took a blood pressure reading.
"How is it?" John asked as Roy released the pressure on the cuff.
Roy was relieved to have his partner and friend talking to him, "It's a little low, even for you," Roy replied but he could already tell that things were improving. John's respirations were deepening and his color improving as well as improvement in his alertness. Roy knew that he'd get much better readings when he rechecked them in five minutes. Roy still noticed the trembling hands, still showing blood left behind after he'd washed his hands in the fire hose. One look at their captain on Johnny's other side and Roy knew he'd noticed too.
"Cap," Johnny started to talk, his voice trembling slightly also, "I'm, I'm, I'm really alright I just, I think I need some time to, to a, to pull myself together, um, a, little, be, before I a, before I can work."
"That's alright Pal," Hank placed a hand on the back of John's neck and gave it an affectionate squeeze. "You take all the time you need. When you're ready to move a little let's start by getting you out of this cab and getting you cleaned up a little. How does that sound?"
Johnny was just starting to move toward getting out of the engine when Hank looked through the windshield and noticed several strangers entering the bay wearing police uniforms and jackets with markings identifying them at law enforcement of one kind or another.
Hank helped John down through the passenger side as Roy hurried around to help his partner once he was on the ground. As Roy took over steadying his partner from the Captain he found Chet had stepped up on John's other side and his face was showing his concern.
They let Johnny set the slow pace for the locker room and soon found a police investigator had fallen in step behind them. While Roy and Chet worked together to help Johnny strip out of his bloodied clothes, He was allowed to retrieve his wallet and keys from the pockets and then the police investigator at their side took the blood soiled clothes in his gloved hands and folded them, just enough to get them all in the evidence bag. That included his socks and his underwear as a towel was wrapped around his waist
for his own dignity.
Roy stood with his hand on the shower door as Johnny soaped up in a heavy lather and then rinsed off before soaping up again. Normally someone would be saying something about all the hot water he was using but not today.
As Roy watched to make sure John was alright he noticed the red coloring in the water that ran down the drain even the second time around.
While Roy watched the shower, Chet went through John's locker finding something for him to put on when he got out. In the bottom drawer was opened and half used packages of boxer shorts, t-shirts and socks, but the only other clothing found was uniforms, something they all agreed Johnny wasn't
ready for.
While Chet was thinking of anything he might have in his locker, that Johnny might be able to wear, Mike came through the door carrying a steaming hot cup of coffee and Cap right behind him carrying a rolled up pair of surgical scrubs. With that Roy knew the squad was back and thought hard if he needed
anything out of it for Johnny. The only thing he could think about was the bio-phone and he decided he'd rather use the station phone instead.
The water in the shower was turned off and Roy was quick to pull the door open and hand over a towel to his partner and then he took a solid hold on his upper arm to steady him, while John wrapped the towel around his waist and tucked it in. From there John was coaxed to sit down on the bench in
front of his locker before he worked with a second towel to get most of the water out of his hair.
John looked up at his friends and shift mates standing around him. Noticing the steaming cup of coffee in Mike's hand Johnny could only shake his head, not only was he not sure his stomach was ready for anything to come into its vicinity, his hands were still shaking far too bad to hold it and the last thing he wanted right now was a coffee burn or worse to burn someone else.
Hank held the rolled up scrub suit in his direction noticing Roy was still keeping a hold on his upper arm. "There are a couple of police detectives in the office waiting for you as soon as you're ready to give them your statement."
What little color John had gained in the hot shower was lost instantly, in response to his captain's information. He wasn't sure he was ready to relive the long harrowing nightmare he had just been delivered from and it showed.