Disclaimer: Emergency! and all the wonderful characters contained therein are the property of Universal, and Mark VII. No profit or gain will be garnered from their use.

Authors Note: When I first found Emergency Fan Fiction, I happened upon a piece by Dianne entitled "To Need or Not To Need." This delightful story was humorous, yet resoundingly touching for me, and every time I go back and read it (There have been many times by now) I wish for more. Having taken the leap into Fan Fic land, I asked Dianne if I could compose a companion work using her story. With her gracious permission, I offer the following tale. There will be more than one chapter.

Reading Dianne's story "To Need or Not To Need." will provide valuable context. The original story is set immediately after the cave rescue from the "Wedsworth Townsend Act" pilot episode. My story picks up the day after Dianne's tale concludes.

The Path through Discomfort

Chapter 1

Johnny Gage woke slowly. Where was he? Sleepy coffee colored eyes opened to investigate his surroundings. He wasn't in his apartment. The bright drapes on the windows were not familiar to him. As wakefulness slid gently into his hazy brain, he remembered. "I'm at Roy's house" he thought. With a soft sigh, he closed his eyes blocking out the dim early morning light peeping around the edges of the curtains. He took another long breath, and his mind began to drift back to the events of the past few days.

Johnny recalled how two days ago he'd been injured in the rescue at that tunnel collapse. He had known those rocks falling on him would naturally have left him sore, and had summarily dismissed the nagging headache he'd felt as boulder dodging aftermath. It was beyond comprehension for Johnny that a little scraped head, and a few bruises could cause such a stir with his new, as it turned out….brothers? He hadn't really concealed an injury when he hadn't whined about his physical discomforts after the rescue. You have to recognize something to conceal it, and Johnny had experienced things in life which were far more interesting than these minor scrapes. To Johnny small scrapes like the ones he had from this event were really not very significant.

"These guys sure made a big deal of minute damage" he said softly to himself. "Really wasn't hurt all that bad." he said, again thinking aloud. He hadn't been trying to evade treatment; he was simply avoiding the appearance of weakness. It was self preservation in Johnny's world to cover weakness, and injury was definitely perceived as weakness. Who knew his new crewmates would expect him to come clean, as it were, and show himself in his wounded vulnerability?

Johnny didn't like feeling so weak! But then Chet Kelly had seen his cut forehead and summoned the troops. "Gawd!" he said aloud, wincing at the very uncomfortable memories of the scene that had ensued. Johnny remembered Mike Stoker and Roy unceremoniously escorting him from the locker room, through the apparatus bay and into the day room. They would have dragged him out wrapped only in a towel, if it hadn't been for Chet taking a moment to wrap him in a robe! Johnny shivered involuntarily as the memories unfolded.

Then, right there in the day room, with the entire crew present and accounted for, Roy examining Johnny's injuries: "oh, how humiliating!" Johnny thought, squeezing his eyes more tightly closed as he pondered the situation.

Before Johnny had been able protest, there had been the call to Rampart, followed by the order that Johnny should be transported as soon as possible. "Incredible!" Johnny thought as he reviewed the events that came next. He thought about Stoker leading him by the arm to the squad, then sliding in after him to block his escape. He remembered demanding they pull the squad over, and begging for them to just forget the whole thing. None of his pleas had mattered. To Rampart he had been ordered, and that's exactly where he had been taken.

Pausing briefly in his revelry, John turned onto his side, unaware of the care with which he was moving in the bed so as not to bump or strain his bruised hip. After readjusting his position, Johnny burrowed more deeply into the covers as if he could hide himself from the discomfort of the memories he was reliving.

"They wouldn't even let me escape after the hospital ordeal should have been done! " the voice in his head exclaimed with silent fervor. Johnny had tried to make a hasty retreat. He'd slipped out and called for a cab to take him home to the solitary safety of his apartment. But Mike Stoker had come across the cabbie before Johnny could get out of the hospital building, and Stoker had sent the cab away. Then Roy had stormed into the exam room and thoroughly chastised Johnny for his escape attempt, right there with Mike and Dixie as onlookers! Next Roy's wife JoAnne appeared. How had she known? It had never crossed Johnny's mind that these people would care at all how he fared after a rescue. To find they were determined to make sure he was properly cared for was astoundingly stupefying, horribly wonderful? for Johnny.

Johnny's insides squirmed in discomfort as the memories of recent events washed over him. His mental discomfort was intense, so much so that he was driven to movement. In an attempt to avoid reviewing anymore of those fateful thoughts, or emotions Johnny quickly turned his head away from the window, toward the door that led into the hallway. The sudden movement brought an aching reminder that, indeed he likely had gotten a concussion from that rock to the noggin. A flash of pain and wave of slight dizziness found him causing a soft moan to escape his throat. "I can't believe this!" Johnny said aloud in response to the slight headache, and dizziness. With a sigh, Johnny opened his eyes…to find Roy standing quietly in the doorway, watching him intently.