Phone calls in the middle of the night are never good, still there are times when they need to be made.

Bitten

The station was mostly quiet. There was the mumble from one corner of the dorm, and the sound of squeaky springs as someone turned over in bed from another section of the room. If anyone would have been awake enough to notice there was the quiet clicking of Henry's claws on the hard floor as he made his nightly check of his people during the only time they wouldn't notice he got off the couch.

The quiet was shattered by the ringing of the telephone on the desk next to Captain Stanley's bunk, something that didn't happen very often and when it did there was at least a 70% chance that there was a drunk on the other end of the line who had misdialed the number he intended. Hank suspected it was the same drunk each time and that the station phone number was just one number off of the Harry the guy called to come get him and give him a ride home.

"LA," Hank yawned into the phone, "County Fire department Station 51, Captain Stanley speaking," Hanks voice was professional but his men in the room with him, half listening, have trying to go back to sleep, could hear the annoyance in his voice from being awaken at this time of night. Mike pulled his watch into view and pushed the button to light it up so he could see what time it was. Three a.m. Yep he was annoyed too.

"Captain Stanley, this is Dr. Brackett," Hank jumped to attention, "I'm sorry to wake you but I need to talk with Roy DeSoto, it's rather urgent. You're going to need to take the squad out of service."

There was no doubt in Hank's mind that this was a serious situation, he was also sure it had something to do with that kid his paramedics had been fretting about for nearly a week.

"Roy," Hank called out and then knew he needed to let his man know quickly that nothing was wrong at home. "It's Dr. Brackett from Rampart, he says it's urgent."

Not awake enough to feel the concern he thought he should, Roy stumbled toward the phone in his bare feet and underwear. He hadn't seen the need to pull on his bunker pants, he was pretty sure what this call was about and he knew neither he nor Johnny were going to be happy about the news that was about to be given. When Roy reached the desk he was surprised. He had expected to see the phone handset sitting on the desk while he captain was climbing back in bed. Instead he saw his captain holding the chair for him with one hand and the handset stretched in his direction with the other. There was no longer annoyance on his Captain's face but there was obvious concern.

"This is DeSoto," Roy spoke into the phone as he felt his captain place a hand on his shoulder and push him into the chair he was holding.

"Roy," Dr Brackett started then paused to take a breath, "The Worthington boy died an hour ago. We've had a possible diagnosis we've been working to confirm since yesterday afternoon. Now that he's dead we were able to draw a sample from his brain to get the results it was going to take us several days to get while he was alive. Roy I need you to get to the hospital as soon as you can."

Roy sat stunned in the chair, the phone still held to his ear but he wasn't responding. He didn't hear his captain behind him pick up the mic to the radio that was there and call the station out of service until further notice, he didn't notice the rest of his crew mates sitting up in bed paying attention to every word that was being said, Roy didn't even notice his partner walking around the partition as he pulled his bunker pants up the rest of the way and then worked to button and zip his pants as he walked. He was vaguely aware of Dr. Brackett trying to get a response from him more than once but he just couldn't respond. Finally he showed some form or recognition when he held the phone back to his captain. "Dr. Brackett wants' to talk to you for a moment."

Roy felt the phone taken from his hand and then he turned his mind back in time as he rubbed at the inside of his upper arm. This whole thing had started six days ago.

The call came in as a sick child, the kind of call that started to put a knot in Roy's stomach, any call involving a child did that to him, Once they got there they were met at the door by a woman in near hysterics. "This way, please hurry, it's my son he's really sick, he's so sick he's delirious, please hurry."

"How long has your son been sick ma'am?" Johnny asked as he moved quickly in pursuit of the woman leading the way, there was no need to wait till they could actually see the patient to start getting some kind of history on him.

"Um, it's been about four days now, our family doctor diagnosed it as the flu and told me to keep him down and quiet and give him lots of fluid, but last night he started having trouble swallowing, I called the doctor's answering service and the doctor on call told me to give him a cool bath and if he wasn't better by this morning to make an appointment with our family doctor. But Dr. Jones is out of the office all day today and the nurse couldn't get me in with another doctor until this afternoon. He's so sick I didn't know what to do so she told me if I was that worried I should call you guys."

By now the paramedics were entering the bedroom where the boy lay thrashing on his bed, he was covered with wet towels and his pajama's had already been pulled from his body and thrown into a corner of the room, a quick touch of his forehead said his temperature was high.

While Roy was holding his hand on the boy's forehead Johnny was checking a pulse. "140 and bounding," Johnny then moved his hand to the boys stomach, after shifting the position a few times he called out, "I can't count his breaths he's moving too much."

Roy got on the bio-phone to contact Rampart, Dixie had answered and he gave her the information he had only to have he say, "Stand by 51, we're getting a doctor."

Knowing they would want a blood pressure and an actual temperature on the boy instead of just he's hot to touch, Roy turned to get the thermometer out while Johnny was wrapping the pediatric blood pressure cuff around the boy's arm.

The boy became panicked with the cuff being placed around his arm and started to fight so Roy wrapped his arms around the boy to hold him still while they tucked the thermometer under his arm and Johnny could get a blood pressure.

Still the boy fought with all his might but nothing a strong firefighter couldn't handle. Johnny worked as quickly as he could to get his readings and was trying to reach for the bio-phone when the boy managed to get his head under Roy's arm and took a bite out of the fleshy side under is forearm. It took both Johnny and Roy to pry the kid's mouth loose from Roy's arm and there was no question on either of the paramedics' part that stitches were going to be required.

By then the police had arrived and the officer helped to hold the boy down while Johnny threw some gauze to Roy for his arm and then took over the care of the patient until Roy could apply a couple pieces of tape and join in. It took two people holding the boy's arm still so that Johnny could start an IV and then they taped it down extra securely. When the ambulance arrived they were quick to add restraints to the gurney and the boy was tied down to keep him from pulling the IV before they got to the hospital.

Roy felt fine to drive but not up to wrestling with the kid with his bite so Johnny rode in the ambulance with him and Roy followed behind in the squad. The police officer placed the panicked mother in the cab of the ambulance and they were off. The cop followed them to the hospital to finish his report.

By the time Roy managed to get into the hospital the boy had been paralyzed with drugs and an airway installed. Johnny was being shoved out of the room so that they could do a spinal tap and none too soon for his liking. There was no question in anyone's mind, that kid was really sick.

John was quick to see to it that his partner was taken to the next available treatment room and got his first real good look at the bite on Roy's arm.

Dr. Morton told him right up front that because the kid was so sick he wanted to wash the wound out extra thoroughly and start Roy on prophylactic antibiotics immediately. Roy wasn't in the mood to argue so while the doctor went to work Johnny gave the captain a call at the station and gave him the low down on what was going on. He then spent an extra amount of effort to scrub his face and hands. He even used strait up rubbing alcohol to disinfect his hands in an effort to keep from catching whatever it was that the boy had.

An hour and a half later, Roy was released for duty but was told to let Johnny do all the lifting because he might pull out his stitches if he were to attempt it. John even offered to drive for the rest of the shift but Roy didn't feel good enough to put up with his partners driving quirks that often drove him nuts.

Roy had a bandage wrapped around his upper arm, extra bulky because he was going back to work, and a big lump in his pocket in the form of some pretty potent antibiotics. He had been told to be sure to take them with food or at least milk.

Before they left the hospital the boy's father had been called at work and was there. When they came to the hospital later that day with another patient both sets of grandparents were asking where they could find the family waiting room for the isolation ward.

When Dixie was asked how the boy was doing, her only answer was, "not good".

When they asked if they knew what he had yet, she only shook her head. "Some form of encephalitis they think, they're still doing testing."

Roy was called at home twice while he was off shift to check on how he was feeling, each time he was asked to take his temperature, each time it was normal. Dr. Brackett finally asked him to come into the hospital to let him look at the bite again.

Once the wound was unbandaged and looked over carefully, Dr. Brackett sighed. There was nothing out of the ordinary for a healing bite wound but the boy who had done the biting was in critical condition with a now confirmed case of encephalitis. With Roy's consent Dr Brackett proceeded to inject a hefty dose of Gama globulin into each of Roy's hips. He chose to give the shot personally and proved the rumors are true; doctors don't give shots as painlessly as the nurses do.

When Roy left the hospital he was wishing he didn't have to drive home and sit on the two lumps that were in his hips. The doctor was clearly concerned and because of that concern so was he.

Roy made a point to get extra rest while he was off shift; he believed that adequate rest was the best way to help his body fight off an infection. Dr. Brackett had told him that they had ruled out bacterial meningitis and confirmed that the boy had some kind of a virus so the antibiotics probably wouldn't do a whole lot of good, but he also advised Roy to continue taking them until they were gone.

Roy wasn't really aware of it at first, but he kept his distance from the rest of his family, choosing to spend most of the day alone in his room and to sleep on the sofa during the night after his wife came to bed.

When JoAnne pointed out his behavior he realized she was right and confessed he was afraid of giving something to her or the children. "Just give me a little space Jo, at least until we find out for sure what that kid's got. I just keep thinking of that time Johnny got so sick with that monkey virus. Tim Duntley died from that virus, it's a miracle that Johnny and Dr. Brackett didn't."

Roy looked at his worried wife, he wanted to hold her, to kiss her on the lips and tell her everything was going to be alright. "I just don't want to take any chances," he pleaded for his wife to understand.

Her husband's distancing himself worried her, but his revealed concern further scared her to death.

Roy arrived for his next shift, he was still taking the heavy duty antibiotics and as a result he was slightly sick to his stomach and needed to make regular pit stops in the men's room. Hank offered to give him sick leave until he finished the meds but Roy assured him that he was fit for duty and didn't want to be around his family until he knew everything was clear.

"But you don't mind sharing with us?" Captain Stanley questioned.

"No one here tries to make me feel better by trying to hug me or kiss me every five minutes, and other, such risky behavior." Roy tried to explain.

"I hope not," Hank finally understood and offered a bit of humor to the situation.

For his part, Hank saw to it that a large supply of yogurt was brought into the station. He admitted that it might be a wives tale but it was supposed to help with the side effects of the antibiotics. Roy accepted his offering and felt that the yogurt was helping at least a little.

Throughout the shift they checked on the Worthington boy whenever they were in the hospital. The reports were never good but they reported that he was still alive so there was hope. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta was now weighing in and a representative from their labs was on site. The only thing they had determined for sure was that it was a virus and the belief was that if they could just keep the kid alive until the bug ran its course, there was a chance.

The shift came to an end and then there was a quick twenty-four hour turn around and they were back on duty again.

Roy was actually late for work that morning because he had to stop by the hospital to have his stitches removed. Dr. Brackett had assured him that he'd be able to make it to work on time but then spent an extra amount of time looking over the wound before he let Roy leave.

Brackett did call and let the Captain know it was an excused tardy so Roy wouldn't be in trouble and he did get there by the end of roll call.

John and Roy continued to check on the boy every time they were in the hospital and they were starting to feel hopeful that he was still alive. Dixie tried to temper that hope but stopped short of saying they were sure he wouldn't make it.

Then late the previous afternoon, there was an influx of authority figures visiting with Dr. Brackett. They were led to his office and the door shut behind him.

"What's all that about Dix," Johnny questioned as Roy looked on.

"They think they've got a break on what the Worthington boy has." Dixie offered with no more information.

"Has someone else come down with it?" Roy was quick to ask.

"Maybe," Dixie answered in gloom, "But it's too soon to tell."

-0-

"John, you better drive Roy over to Rampart, they'll be ready for him when you get there." Hank spoke bringing Roy back to the present as he helped him out of the chair. "I'm sure it would be alright for you to change into your street clothes if you'd prefer there, Pal. I bet they're a lot more comfortable than you turn out pants."

"Yeah. . . Yeah, that might be a good idea." Roy mumbled as he stood up and turned around twice in confusion before he headed for the locker room. John headed for his jacket not stopping to ask questions. He knew he'd get Roy to fill him in on the details during the drive to the hospital.

Roy pulled on his jeans and tennis shoes, then pulled his shirt on but didn't stop to button it up before he walked like a zombie to the squad. Mike was at his side and guided him to the passenger side opening the door for him. Once the door was shut behind him Johnny hurried around the squad and climbed in behind the wheel.

Hank pushed the button to open the bay door then stepped next to the open driver's window while it opened.

"John, call me from the hospital and I'll let you know when Roy's replacement will be here. Would you like me to call JoAnne, for you Roy?"

"NO!" Roy nearly shouted. "No, it would only terrify her if you call her this time of night; I'll, I'll call her from the hospital, um, a little later."

"Alright then, it's your call," Hank accepted his paramedic's choice. He didn't completely agree with him but he accepted his choice.

The squad pulled out into the darkness, there were no lights and sirens, this was a, none code R response. Hank walked after them as far as the edge of the bay and stood watching even after the squad turned the corner and couldn't be seen any more.

Mike stepped up to his side and in the back ground, Chet and Marco were walking up as they pulled their suspenders over their shoulders, they stopped in mid bay feeling for sure that their captain would fill them in soon.

At last Hank pushed the button to close the bay doors and turned to face his engine crew.

"The kid that has had John and Roy uptight for the last three shifts died tonight." Hank offered as a beginning of an explanation.

"This is the same kid that bit Roy on the arm right?" Chet clarified, they all knew something was up or the paramedics wouldn't have been sent to the hospital.

"Yeah, that's the one," Hank hung his head then took in and let out a deep breath. "Once the kid died they were able to do some tests that they couldn't do while he was alive to determine what he had."

"It must be something really serious or they wouldn't have asked for Roy to come in to Rampart in the middle of the night." Marco offered up his observation.

"You can say that." Hank took another hesitation breath. "The kid died from rabies."

"Rabies!" the three men exclaimed in unison.