It started out as any other typical day at Station 51. The Squad was as per usual, the first to arrive at the scene of the reported car accident followed closely by Engine 51. But for once the ambulance arrived at the scene before the station house and the attendants were patiently awaiting the rescue squad to go into action.
The ambulance parked a few feet from the wrecked car. As the station arrived each man scoped out the unfortunate scene that had been played out before their arrival. At this moment no one knew of the carjacking. By all accounts it looked as though the driver had lost control of his car and collided with a tree, loose leaves and broken branches were scattered all over the street and part of the sidewalk.
The squad pulled to the side of the street a few yards in front of the wrecked vehicle with the engine parking a few yards behind it. While the engine crew assessed the damage to the car and the risk of a potential fire hazard, the paramedics were preparing to extricate the victim who was still inside the wrecked car.
Johnny Gage got to the driver first and peered through the broken passenger side window. "Roy, it looks like he's got a concussion and some small lacerations about the face and forehead, and a few larger ones around his arms and chest."
"Right, I'll get everything set up." Roy DeSoto, ever efficiently began setting up the makeshift triage center. As soon as the victim had been extricated from his vehicle they would be able to begin a proper diagnosis and call into Rampart Emergency for treatment.
With the two paramedics focused on the victim the engine crew, specifically Chet Kelley and Marco Lopez, worked to hose down the leaking gasoline and spilled oil to prevent an explosion.
"Hey Mike, come look at this." Captain Hank Stanley was eyeing the road from the direction that car had driven before it crashed.
"Yeah, Cap?" Mike Stoker was at his Captain's side within seconds.
"Look at this: See these skid marks? It doesn't look like he even tried to slow down." He gestured street that had been blackened by the cars worn tires.
"Yeah, you're right. I wonder why."
With all eyes on the scene of the accident or the victim no one had noticed a strange man watching them work from behind several of the downed tree branches near the car.
As Johnny inspected the victims wounds more closely he noticed that some of the cuts, especially about the arms and chest seemed too straight, too perfect to be caused by flying debris from the crash.
"Need any help there, Gage?" Chet had finished with the washdown of the gasoline and decided to lend a hand to Johnny and Roy. He poked his head through the driver's side window, which 'luckily' had been broken open by the crash.
"No, I'm good. No, wait!" He pointed to the suspicious cuts on the mans arms. "Is it just me or do these cuts here look a little different from these cuts there?" He then pointed to the smaller cuts on the mans face.
"Well, yeah, now that you mention it they do seem to be a little off. I'm no medic but I've seen my fair share of injuries."
"Right, well, tell Roy-" Before Johnny could finish his sentence, he felt a giant hand grab him from behind by his shoulder and pull him out of the car.
Chet looked up over the roof of the car and saw an intimidating man holding a knife to Johnny's throat. The man's eyes were dilated, his face beet red and he was sweaty profusely. The six-inch blade glinted in the bright sunlight as it pressed precariously against Johnny's skin.
"It wasn't my fault!" The crazed man's words were shaking but loud and aggressive. "I just wanted his car, I just wanted his damn car! All I wanted was his damn car!"
At the sound of the commotion the rest of the Station 51 crew turned their attention to the lunatic with the knife, and still in his grasp was their colleague Johnny who was at the mercy of his knife and maniacal behavior.
Captain Stanley kept his cool knowing how perilous the situation had just become. "Mike get on the line to HQ and tell them we need police assistance now!"
The madman was starting to panic at the sight of the other five men, all in uniform. "Keep away or I'll knife your friend here!"
Still keeping cool Captain Stanley was able to communicate with the dangerous man without aggravating him. "Okay, just take it easy. We won't come near you."
Johnny was understandably nervous. A knife to the throat was a new experience for him but he remained calm just as his Captain remained calm, and tried to communicate with his captor. "Look, I don't know what happened here and honestly I don't care. Just let us help that man and we won't bother you, all right?"
"No, no, NO… You're trying to trick me! You want me to give you the knife… You want me to go to prison, I'm NOT GOING!" He was practically growling as he uttered his paranoia. He tightened his grip and Johnny's shoulder and pressed the knife harder against his throat.
"No one is going to take your knife and no one is trying to trick you. I'm a paramedic and so is my partner." He pointed toward Roy who was by the Squad feeling absolutely helpless as Johnny was being held hostage. "The only reason we're here is because that man in injured. All we want to do is take care of him, okay?"
"No! It's a trick." Somehow his face had become a deeper shade of red.
"Listen pal," Roy chimed in from the squad. "he's telling you the truth, so am I. Just take it easy and this will all end peacefully, okay?"
The sound of police sirens in the distance made the man tense up considerably. His vice like grip on Johnny's shoulder was relentless. "You called the cops!?"
"They're just coming to check out the situation." Captain Stanley resumed the ill communication with the lunatic. "They don't know who is involved, what happened or why. They just want to ask questions, that's all."
The man relaxed a little, his shoulders falling lower but his grip on Johnny's shoulder, and on the knife, did not falter.
Stanley tried to keep the man's attention. "What's your name pal?"
"What do you care?" The man was so tense now that he was answered through is clenched teeth.
"Well, we have to call you something, right?"
The man turned his gaze toward Stanley who was standing with Stoker next to the engine. When he turned his head away from the wrecked car, both Chet and Marco went back to the victim and managed to pull him out of the car window swiftly without the madman even noticing. Walking in perfect unison they escorted the victim to the ambulance.
The madman finally gave an answer to Stanley. "'Bill'. Just call me 'Bill'."
"Alright 'Bill', let's talk this out." Stanley was relieved that he might actually be making some progress.
'Bill', was a man well over six feet tall with the build of any respectable quarterback, and he was on the brink of losing what little self-control he had left. Feeling nervous he began to look all around, paranoid that someone was going to attack him and take the knife. He turned his head, and his attention, back to the now empty car and saw that the driver had already been removed. He was being loaded into the waiting ambulance.
Chet smacked the back of the ambulance twice, urging it to leave for the hospital and keep the victim safe.
"I knew it! You were trying to trick me! Do you think I'm a FOOL?" 'Bill' pressed the knife's blade firmer against Johnny's throat. A small trickle of blood began to stain the blade as it finally damaged the delicate skin beneath.
"No, we never thought you were a fool and we didn't trick you! We just needed to get him to the hospital!" Stanley was desperate to keep 'Bill' as calm as possible but the ever approaching police sirens made his attempts moot.
Knowing how close he was to danger Johnny decided he needed to act. Thinking fast Johnny grabbed a hold of 'Bill's' arm in an attempt to wrestle the knife away while he was still distracted by the arriving police back-up. As soon as Johnny had a grip on the knife 'Bill' raged and took his aggression out against the medic, frantically trying to get his knife back.
Chet and Marco boldly jumped on 'Bill's' back and grabbed a hold of his arms to pull him away from their colleague and friend. Roy watched the horrible scene from a distance, he didn't want to risk injuring himself or worse, a friend. As much as it pained him he stood his ground near the squad.
During the dangerous struggle everyone seemed to lose sight of the knife. 'Bill' had a deathgrip on its handle and we wasn't going to let his only leverage get away from him so easily. While Chet and Marco fought to keep 'Bill's' arms at bay, Johnny continued to try to wrestle the knife from 'Bill's' hand.
Using all his pent-up strength 'Bill' managed to plunge the knife forward out of Chet and Marco's grip and toward Johnny who was not anticipating the attack. Johnny felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and his shirt quickly become warm and sticky with his own blood. All he could do was keep his own grip on the knife, still imbedded in his abdomen, and 'Bill's' hand, hoping 'Bill' wouldn't move the blade around causing further injury.
The police sirens were very close to the scene, the approaching sirens drew 'Bill's' attention. Marco again grabbed 'Bill's' hand and started to pry open 'Bill's' clenched fingers until his at last grip was loosened on the knife. Seizing the rare opportunity Johnny grabbed on to the freed knife handle and stepped back from the chaotic battle.
From the distant squad all Roy could see was that Johnny managed to get away from the madman and watched as he staggered away from the scene with the knife in his hands. He could also see that Johnny was desperately clutching the knife by its handle near the front of his torso with a look of fear plastered across his face.
With Johnny finally away from the attacker both Mike and Stanley assisted Chet and Marco in restraining 'Bill'. As the four men finally pinned the enraged attacker to the ground the police car finally pulled up to the scene, with Officer Vince Howard at the wheel.
The experienced cop pointed his firearm at the man and ordered him to "FREEZE!" Upon seeing the drawn weapon 'Bill' immediately stopped fighting, he knew when he was beat.
Johnny had managed to take only a few steps away from the scene, still clutching at the knife and his abdomen, when he suddenly collapsed. He fell onto his knees and finally onto his stomach the pain obvious on his face.
Seeing his partner fall Roy ran over to the downed man as fast he could. "Johnny? Johnny are you alright?" Roy had his hand on Johnny's shoulder.
Through a moan and gritted teeth, Johnny managed to answer feebly. "No. Sorry Roy, I was a little careless."
From the corner of his eye Roy saw a red puddle beginning to pool beneath where Johnny laid. Carefully Roy turned his partner over onto his back only to see the knife's blade, all six inches of it, imbedded in the abdomen of his best friend. A crimson stain blossomed quickly from around the hilt staining the once blue shirt a sickly red.
But, to make matters worse, the knife was not staying in place. Without Johnny's weight pressing down on it the knife became loose and was slowly ebbing itself back out of the wound with every one of Johnny's quick, panting breaths.
"Oh God… Johnny." Roy didn't know what to say, but he did know what to do. "Gonna' need some help over here!" His hands went instinctively to the wound and began to apply pressure, ignoring Johnny's painful reaction to his touch.
'Bill' was abruptly taken away by Vince in handcuffs and had been locked away in the backseat of the police car. As Vince drove away from the scene the rest of the Station crew were able to give their full attention back to their own man.
Roy's training taught him to never pull the knife out of a stabbing victim, but the knife wasn't going to stay in place any longer. The knife had already become so loose from Johnny's fall and heavy breathing that it was superfluous to let it remain imbedded in the wound. With a firm grip Roy pulled the knife out at a steady, calm pace, as straight and fluid as possible.
Johnny didn't even react to the knife being removed, a poor signal in Roy's mind.
Without the obstruction blocking his view of the wound Roy peeled back the fabric of Johnny's uniform shirt to examine the wound. The knife was effectively acting as a 'dam' in the wound, with the dam gone the amount of blood flow was dangerously heavy. Roy pressed his hands back down onto the wound to stem the bleeding, his hands quickly becoming as red as his Johnny's now stained shirt.
"Just hang in there pal. I'll get you patched up and to the hospital, okay?"
Johnny did his best to force a his famous crooked smile as he weakly nodded in head.
"Roy, what the hell happened?" Stanley was standing over the two men, looking down over Roy's shoulder at Johnny who was laying injured on the street.
"The knife Cap, it got him."
Stanley didn't flinch as he called out his next order. "Chet, Marco, bring over the equipment now! Gage is down! Mike, call it in!"
Each man knew his role and each man knew how to work efficiently, even when there was a time limit. The crew sprung into flawless action.
"Here you go Roy." Chet handed Roy the bio-phone and drug box. "What can I do?"
"Get his blood pressure for me." Roy didn't dare to remove his hands just yet.
Chet didn't audibly answer, he just went right to work. He opened the drug box and attached the BP cuff to Johnny's arm and began to test his pressure.
Slowly removing only one hand from the wound Roy had picked up the bio-phone and set up the line for Rampart.
'Rampart this is Squad 51, how do you read?'
There was no mistaking head nurse Dixie McCall's voice on the other end of the line. "This is Rampart. Go ahead 51."
'Rampart, we have the victim of a stabbing in the lower right quadrant of the abdomen. Be advised that the victim is paramedic John Gage.'
Dixie's hand shook a little as she was writing down the information. She knew only too well how unlucky Johnny seemed to be with on-the-job accidents, but that didn't make it any easier anytime her friend became the reluctant patient.
"10-4, 51." She finally answered. After a brief pause she was able to recollect herself and resume full 'nurse mode', she asked one of the passing nurse students to find Dr. Brackett for her. "51, do you have any vitals?"
'Still working on it Rampart. Stand by.'
"Standing by 51."
Dixie could only imagine what the scene looked like. As Dr. Brackett entered the base station he knew something terrible had happened just looking at Dixie. He could see the fear and concern in her bright blue eyes as he approached the emergency contact line to the squad.
"What have you got, Dix?"
"51 is dealing with a stabbing victim. It's Johnny Gage."
"Gage?" Dr. Brackett sounded completely perplexed. How could a paramedic get stabbed?
"Yeah..." She handed him the small notepad and pencil to take down the vital signs.
"How did that happen?"
"I don't know, Kel."
Just then the ambulance with the car crash victim pulled into the ambulance bay. Two orderlies wheeled in the victim and Dr. Brackett went to check on him briefly.
"What happened? Why is this man not being attended to?"
The ambulance driver had followed the orderlies into the E.R. and was ready to explain the insane scene that had happened just moments earlier. "Doc, he was originally the call that 51 responded to. But some knife wielding maniac showed up and started threatening everyone and took John Gage as a hostage."
Dixie was overhearing the explanation from the base station, her eyes widened with fear.
The driver continued. "No one could get anywhere near this poor guy and help him. But when that psycho was distracted two of the firemen grabbed this guy and got him into the ambulance and we brought him here as fast as possible. There was no time to do anything else."
Dr. Brackett just sighed. He was still annoyed at the man being brought in without being treated and without a supervising medic, but he understood just how unusual and risky the situation had become.
Dixie spoke up. "Take him to exam room two. I'll call Dr. Early."
"Cap, can I get a hand here?" Roy motioned for Captain Stanley to apply the pressure while he began his examination of his best friend.
Stanley knelt down ready to do as he was asked. "You hanging in there Johnny?"
"Yeah. I'm still here." Johnny was beginning to sweat, his face was pale and eyes had closed in a pointless attempt to block out the pain.
Roy cut a hole in the remaining t-shirt to expose the wound fully. It wasn't as bad as Roy had imagined it would be, but it was still severe. "Okay Cap, place your hands right here."
"Got it."
After attaching the leads from the portable heart monitor, Roy took the stethoscope from the drug box and listened quickly to Johnny's chest. He started at his heart to monitor his heart rate, then he repositioned the bell to listen to both of Johnny's lungs. He placed his hand gently on Johnny's abdomen to count his respirations.
"Chet, do you have the BP?"
"Yeah Roy, it's 100/70." Chet wasn't a medic but he knew from the look in Roy's eyes that Johnny's BP was too low.
Roy had written down the vitals quickly before using the penlight to check Johnny's pupils.
"Let me see your eyes Johnny."
Johnny complied silently and opened his pain filled eyes. Roy flicked the light up and down in one eye and then the other. Exam complete Roy called back into Rampart.
'Rampart this, 51.'
Dr. Brackett had taken over the call in place of Dixie. "Go ahead 51."
'Vitals are: Pulse 104, BP 100/70, respirations are 20; rapid and shallow, pupils are normal and reactive. The victim is still conscious and coherent but in considerable pain.'
"10-4, 51." Dr. Brackett looked over his shoulder at Dixie, she shared the same concern as Brackett. "51 start an I.V. with ringer's lactate, wide-open. Also put on 2 liters of oxygen, 5mg MS I.V. and apply as much pressure to the wound as possible. Transport immediately."
'10-4 Rampart.'
Dr. Brackett sighed "Dix, he's stable, he's awake and he has arguably the best paramedic in L.A. County taking care of him."
"I know Kel."
"But you still feel like you should do something." Dr. Bracket and Dixie have known each other for years, they could read each other like an open book.
"Yeah."
"Don't we all."
The second ambulance arrived at the scene, it had been called when Mike reported the incident. Working together Roy and Stanley lifted Johnny up and onto the gurney, careful not to bend his abdomen. Johnny was beginning to fade out as he was secured to the gurney and was being lifted into the back of the ambulance. Roy climbed in and sat beside his partner while Stanley accompanied his two medics and continued to hold the pressure on the bleeding wound.
Two quick thumps on the closed doors and the ambulance was racing off to the hospital.
After administering the ordered I.V.'s Roy put his hand on Johnny's chest to reassure his friend and doublecheck his breathing. "Hey, just hold on a little longer, okay?" His pleaded with his partner as he slipped the oxygen mask over Johnny's face.
Johnny struggled to open his eyes and look at Roy. "Hey, Roy…" His voice was barely a whisper and the mask muffled his words further. His face was paling before Roy's eyes.
"Yeah Johnny?"
"I don't... want..." His body suddenly relaxed and he fell silent. Johnny's eyes slowly shut again as his head lolled lifelessly to the side as he took in a sharp breath and slowly released it.
"Johnny? Johnny?" Roy was gently shaking his friend's shoulders trying to wake him up when the high-pitched screaming of the heart monitor told him that Johnny's heartbeat had become erratic.
"Roy?" Stanley's voice carried his worry heavily.
Roy though to himself 'Hypovolemic shock*'. "He's in v-fib!" He turned his attention to the driver. "Hey, pull over! Cap contact Rampart again. Starting *C.P.R.!"
As the vehicle pulled to the side of the road Roy began chest compressions trying to get Johnny's heart beating normally again until Rampart order defibrillation. All the while Roy prayed that his compressions wouldn't cause any further harm to his injured friend in the process.
Stanley made contact with the hospital. "Rampart this 51."
Again Dr. Brackett's voice filled the line. 'Go ahead 51.'
"Victim has gone into v-fib. Chest compressions have been started." Stanley watched as Roy pressed his bloodied hands into Johnny's chest over and over. "Sending you a strip now." Stanley flipped the switch which transmitted Johnny's current heart rate over to Rampart for diagnosis.
At least ten agonizing seconds of silence filled the ambulance as the two men waited for a response from Dr. Brackett at Rampart.
'51 defibrillate at 400 watt seconds, now!'
"10-4 Rampart."
Acting as Roy's second pair of hands Stanley charged up the defibrillator to the and lifted up the paddles to hand them to Roy as soon as the desired charge was reached. A loud whine signaled the charge was ready and Stanley leaned back, reluctantly taking his hand from Johnny's wound and pulled the oxygen mask away from his injured friend's face.
Placing the paddles on the apex of Johnny's sternum just to the left of the heart and the other paddle just below the heart, Roy said a single word. "Clear…" The charge surged through the downed paramedic's heart, the jolt forcing his back to arch, lifting him slightly upward off the gurney.
Both men looked at the heart monitor. "No conversion." Roy's voice was a little shaky. "Charging again."
The whine of the defibrillator resonated loudly in the back of the ambulance as the charge reached its level. "Clear…" Once more a jolt of electricity surged through Johnny's body and once more his body responded physically by lifting upward off the gurney.
Roy and Stanley looked over at the monitor as the stable rhythmic beeping returned. Johnny's heart had begun beating normally again.
"He's back." Roy breathed a sign of relief as he spoke, replacing the oxygen mask over Johnny's face. He turned toward the driver. "Let's get going!"
The driver pulled back onto the road and resumed the ride to the hospital. Roy grabbed the receiver of the bio-phone and resumed contacted Rampart. "Successful conversion. E.T.A., less than 1 minute."
'10-4, 51. We'll be waiting.'
Stanley carefully placed his hand back on Johnny's heavily bandaged wound and pressed hard enough to keep pressure, but not so hard as to cause pain. Roy hung up the bio-phone and pulled out the stethoscope again as he listened to Johnny's blood stained chest.
"His lungs are still clear and his heartbeat is strong." He spoke out loud to no one in particular.
"Roy?" Stanley didn't look at the senior paramedic, he just stared at the younger man's pale face.
"He's going to make it Cap, he has to." Roy already knew what it was that his captain was going to ask.
Roy shrugged his shoulders in an exhausted manner as the ambulance suddenly slowed, and then change direction. They had arrived at Rampart and the ambulance was backing up toward the doors.
The doors flew open and two orderlies entered the ambulance and pulled the gurney onto the ground and began wheeling it into the hospital with Roy and Stanley walking alongside the gurney. Dixie directed the gurney by pointing toward exam room 1.
Johnny was wheeled inside the room where Dr. Brackett was already waiting. Roy and Stanley followed Johnny into the room but they stood back, their backs pressed against the wall knowing that he was now in the best hands. The orderlies lifted Johnny carefully from the gurney onto the exam table. Dixie replaced the oxygen from the smaller portable tank on the gurney, to the larger one already set up in the room. She did the same with the heart monitors while Dr. Brackett listened to Johnny's chest.
With the orderlies gone, it was just Dr. Brackett, Dixie, Stanley, Roy and Johnny, the ever reluctant patient.
Dr. Brackett checked the soaked through bandage on Johnny's abdomen and applied fresh gauze. He lifted Johnny's eyelids and checked his pupils with his penlight. "Johnny? Can you hear me."
Johnny tried to move his head and speak but he was too weak and too tired. Dr. Brackett eyed the monitor and picked up Johnny's hand to take his radial pulse. Before Brackett laid Johnny's hand back down on the table he asked again for Johnny to respond. "Johnny, if you can hear me lift your index finger on your right hand for me."
Roy and Stanley watched quietly from the back of the room as they saw Johnny's pale finger start to slowly move. He was awake, he was coherent and best of all, alive!
"Dix, let's get x-ray down here. I want to make sure the knife didn't chip any of his lower vertebrae. Also check his B.P., type and cross-match. He's going to need blood and fast."
"Right Kel." Dixie picked up the phone on the wall in the room and called in Dr. Brackett's orders.
Roy finally spoke up. "Doc? Is he going to be all right?"
Dr. Brackett looked at Roy, a little surprised he was in the room because he was being so quiet, but then again he knew all too well that Roy wouldn't be far away if Johnny was injured.
"Let's go outside, and let Johnny rest for a moment."
Roy and Stanley followed Brackett. Dixie remained in the room to keep vigil over Johnny. Outside the exam room the three patrons were greeted by the rest of Station 51, who had followed the ambulance in the engine and brought in the squad.
"Doc?" Roy asked again.
"Don't look so worried, would ya'?" Dr. Brackett managed a sincere smile that instantly eased everyone awaiting his answer. Well, everyone except for Roy.
Stanley instinctively knew that Brackett wanted to talk to Roy alone. "Come on guys, let's go get some coffee." He motioned for his crew to follow him to the doctor's lounge.
"Roy?" Dr. Brackett put hand to the concerned medic's shoulder. "He's strong. He's alert. And he had you to take care of him."
"Why did he go into v-fib? I applied pressure and gave him the correct medication. Why did it happen?" Roy didn't look Dr. Brackett in the eyes, he couldn't.
"Well, from what you reported as his vitals I'd say it was caused by shock complicated by blood loss." He could see his honesty had only shaken Roy further ad he knew that Roy wasn't asking about the physical response to the trauma but the emotional trauma that was still to come. "What's important is you brought him back and kept him stable. You know Johnny better than anyone else in this hospital, do you really think he'd just give up like that?"
Roy laughed a little. There was no denying that Johnny was by far the most stubborn person that he had ever met. Luckily that made him a great firefighter, a dedicated paramedic and a loyal friend. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Dr. Joe Early had finished examining the car crash victim brought in earlier and was now focused on Johnny's condition. He had seen Brackett and Roy talking and decided to wait a moment before gaining Brackett's attention. "Kel?" Dr. Early took the liberty of retrieving Johnny's x-rays from the technicians. "His x-ray's are back."
Dr. Brackett asked Roy the obvious question. "Care to join us, Roy?"
"Sure."
The three attending medic's returned to room 1 where Johnny still lay with Dixie at his side. He wasn't unconscious, merely resting. He stirred at the sound of the door opening and people walking in, Dix ran her hand through his dark hair in a soothing manner.
The distinct sound of the x-ray templates being lodged against the viewing lights was enough to tell Johnny exactly what was going on, without him needing to ask or even look around.
Brackett sounded very optomistic. "No sign of any breaks or chips, not even a fracture."
Roy sighed in relief. He wasn't concerned about the knife nicking Johnny's ribs so much as he was worried his own C.P.R. might have caused some damage*.
Dr. Early's question was fair even though it was disheartening. "What about internal damage Kel?"
Dr. Brackett took his stethoscope from around his neck and used it to listen to Johnny's chest once more before pressing his hands against Johnny's abdomen, probing his entire torso for any sign of internal bleeding. He checked Johnny's blood pressure once more before turning his attention back to Dr. Early and Roy.
"His blood pressure is stable, he's breathing on his own, no sign of congestion in either lung and no rigidity in his abdomen. I'd say he's incredibly lucky, the knife must have struck muscle tissue only and missed his organs. A few sutures to close the wound, a blood transfusion to replace what he's lost, some antibiotics and at least 24hrs of observation. I think he'll be out of here within 3 days. That's if he decides to actually coöperate with us for once."
Roy finally smiled, Johnny was already on the road to recovery. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, feeling the tension and worry leaving. "I'm going to go tell the guys." Roy motioned for the door behind him with his thumb over his shoulder before swiftly stepping outside.
Dr. Early shook his head in amazement. "You know Kel, I think if Roy and Johnny ever got separated from each other Squad 51 would never be the same."
"You know Joe, I think you're right."
"Tell me about it…" Johnny finally found the strength to speak. He smiled to himself from beneath the oxygen mask before quietly falling asleep once again, knowing that when he woke up he's be patched up and ready to get back to the Station within a few days.
As the third day of Johnny's hospital finally came to an end, Johnny was more than excited to go back to his apartment and relax. The day before Roy had stopped in for a visit and dropped off a pair of clean clothes for him to wear when he was discharged. Just as he was about to slip his t-shirt on over his head there was a knock on the door of his room. Dixie opened the door just slightly and peered inside. "Can I come in?"
"Sure Dix, I mean, as long as you don't have a needle."
"No needle, I promise." Dixie smiled and walked inside. "Just sign these and you're free." She handed him a clipboard and pen.
"'Bout time, I miss sleeping in my own bed."
"Tired of our company already?" Dixie teased.
"It's not so much you as it's the hospital itself." He handed the discharge papers back to Dixie and resumed pulling on his shirt, but as he raised his arms he suddenly flinched and clutched at his tender abdomen.
Dixie didn't want to hurt Johnny's pride but she couldn't bear to see him in pain. "Need some help?"
"Nah, I just need to remember not to move around so fast." This time he leaned forward so he wouldn't have to lift his arms to high. He managed to slip on his shirt just fine and grin at Dixie. "See? No problem."
"You are a problem." Dixie returned his grin.
"Hey!" Johnny couldn't help but laugh."
"But you're my problem, and I love it!"
There was a second knock on the door, this time it was Roy. "Hey partner, how ya' feeling?"
"Better. MUCH better."
"Good to hear. Ready to go?"
"Like you wouldn't believe!"
As Johnny walked toward the door he playfully waved good-bye to Dixie and patted Roy's shoulder. "Man, it's good to be alive!"
-The End
Author's Note: *damage to a person's ribs from the act of C.P.R. is not uncommon. A person with weak bones either from advanced age, illness or poor diet are frequently the unlucky victims of fractured ribs due to the repeated compressions against their chests. Not intentional, but it does happen!
*hypovolemic shock occurs when a person has lost a significant amount of blood.
Also, people who review this story and point out the flaws seem concerned that I am offended or simply cannot take a critique. I assure you that I can and am in no way offended. I actually welcome this type of feedback, how else can I improve myself without first acknowledging the flaws? And when more than one person points out a single passage in the story that needs to be re-worked, then odds are it does need to be re-worked and I should re-work it and not take it personally. Not that I ever was.
And... For the 'guest' reviewer who tried to tell me that 'fractures' and 'breaks' are the same thing. They're not.
Fracture: an imperfection caused by an injury that causes pain and mild instability in the bone afflicted.
Break: an injury that causes the bone to separated into different pieces causing complete instability.