With You All the Way, Baker.
"Ponch!?" Jon called, almost out of breath. It was a hot day in Los Angeles. Officers Jon Baker and Frank Poncherello were on their way back to their motorcycles after a long foot chase. Normally if anyone were out of breath, it would be Ponch. He didn't know the proper way to run and breathe at the same time. Well, at least that was what some people told him. People told him not to breathe so fast all the time. The blonde older officer still tried to get to his partner. The younger, more energized officer walked ahead, unable to hear his name being called. "Ponch!" Jon called again. To his relief, this time Ponch heard him. He turned slightly, and Jon could see he was on the phone. "What!?" Ponch asked, covering the speaker. "Just wait right there!" Jon yelled in reply. Ponch gave him thumbs up to let him know he heard him. Then he got back to his phone conversation. Jon sped up his walk and it turned into a slow jog. He finally got over to his best friend. "Who you talkin' to?" he asked in a low voice. "Sarge," Ponch whispered back. Jon gave him the "ok" sign with his hand. "Oh come on, Sarge! Really?" Ponch asked sounding distressed. "Oh…ok fine…whatever. You—I'll tell him." Ponch looked at Jon. The misery reflected in his eyes told the blonde enough. Ponch had been having some family issues. "Hey, it'll be ok, Frank," Jon heard Getraer say. "Yeah, sure…Bye," Ponch replied. After Getraer said good bye as well, Ponch hung up. "Family issues again?" Jon guessed. "This time, if I say no…they won't ever talk to me again. I feel like I might let them down," Ponch replied. Jon put a reassuring hand on Ponch's shoulder…
Suddenly Ponch woke up from his dream, it was around midnight. He was still tired, but something woke him up. He was very thirsty. He reached for the water he had beside his bed. He'd been very thirsty the past few weeks. In addition to the unquenchable thirst, and lingering fatigue, the past few weeks he was irritated by the least little thing lately, and his muscles ached like he had the flu, he even thought he might have lost weight. At times he would get so confused he didn't recognize where he was. It was getting hard to deny something was wrong. The bad thing was that drinking so much led to many bathroom trips Jon was beginning to notice how often he needed to stop. Not to mention it was sometimes difficult to get Jon to drive slightly in front so he could follow and not admit he did not know where to go. Ponch finished with his drink, and then yawned, he was so tired he could not think about his problems any more. It was still dark in the room which made him even more tired, somehow his brain recognized that the darkness meant he did not have to get up yet. So helpless to fight the drowsiness he fell back asleep.
oOoOo
Later on, when Ponch was supposed to get up for work, it was hard to get himself going. He tried every excuse he could think of to stay in bed. He even was close to calling in sick. He felt sick, but was not about to make a big deal about it. He slowly pulled himself out of bed. His body protested, wanting to lay back down. When he finally got up, he felt like throwing up. He slowly made his way to the bathroom, not feeling too well. Mere seconds after entering, he felt his knees buckle underneath him and toppled to the floor.
oOoOo
Jon had been waiting for Ponch a while and was getting bored. He sat in the break room, holding the ding dongs he had bought especially for his Puerto Rican partner. Finally, he saw his partner walk in. Unfortunately, that cheeriness Ponch normally had was replaced with tiredness. "Hey, are you all right?" Jon asked, pulling out a chair. Ponch tried to sit down, but, because his vision was a little blurry, he couldn't pin point exactly where the chair was. So he missed and ended up on the floor. Jon came over beside his partner. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked. Ponch was hugging himself.
"Jon…" Ponch started.
"Hey, does your stomach hurt or something?" Jon asked.
Ponch slightly nodded. He reached for Jon's water bottle.
Jon grabbed it for him and handed it to him. He was right beside Ponch and let him lean on him. Ponch was sipping the water, although a lot of the water actually missed his mouth. Jon then took the bottle away. "I don't think dribbling water on yourself is helping with your thirst," he teased.
Ponch tried to laugh, but he wasn't in a joking mood. He felt awful. He looked at Jon then tried to get up.
"Hey, I think you should stay sitting right now," Jon said.
"B-Bathroom…" Ponch said quietly.
"Oh, ok," Jon replied. He helped Ponch up and slung the olive-tinted arm over his shoulder. "I'll help you there," he said.
Ponch shook his head. "No, Baker…I can get there myself," he said, trying to get away.
Jon grabbed onto him. "Ponch, I don't think…" he started.
Ponch got away from Jon and didn't make it very far. He leaned on the doorframe in the doorway. "Jon?" Ponch asked wondering if Jon was still there.
"Yeah?" Jon asked.
"Can you…" he started.
Jon nodded and was beside Ponch within two seconds. "So, what's going on?" he asked as he helped Ponch to the bathroom.
"I haven't been feeling all that great…" Ponch started.
Getraer happened to hear that and came out of his office. He was on the other side of Ponch now. "Frank, what's going on?" he asked.
"S-S-S-Sarge?" Ponch asked looking over towards his sergeant.
"Hey, are you sick?" Getraer asked. Ponch looked at him with a look in his eyes that screamed "YES!" but then he shook his head no. Getraer rolled his eyes. "Frank, I'm going to take you to the doctor," Getraer said.