Hello again, and welcome to my latest story. Again, it's set around Decision.

As you'll have guessed, I love this episode. It's such a wonderful showcase for Roy's character, and Kevin's acting for everything he goes through.

The only thing that niggled me a bit was the last scene. I know it was played for the 'two cents' joke between them, but I'd have thought Roy would tell Johnny that he'd decided to stay a bit sooner. So here's my alternative ending for what is still my favourite 'serious' episode.

Enjoy!

Lessons Learned

If there had to be house-fires, at least this one had ended as every firefighter would hope. No deaths. No casualties. Even the family dog had survived.

For Roy DeSoto, there was an even greater relief as he watched this joyous huddle of hugging arms and wagging tails. A warmth inside him, that didn't just come from another successful rescue, or the pride in his partner's eyes.

As if by an unseen force, all the 'what ifs' and 'if onlys' that had weighed so heavily upon him lifted away. Hope and belief replaced all the doubts and guilt that had haunted his conscience, and clouded his judgement.

Johnny and Brackett were right. This was what he'd trained for. Not just to rescue victims of fires, floods, and everything in between, but to save their lives too. To be a firefighter and paramedic. With just a tiny change to his childhood dream, this was what he'd been born to do.

Such deep thought could wait 'til later. He'd never been much for that anyway, let alone when he was this tired and filthy. All he wanted to do right now was get back to the station, clean up, and grab whatever sleep this crazy job allowed him.

Simple enough, right? Well, no. Not quite. As he rose to his feet, his suddenly anxious partner had other ideas.

"Whoa, easy! Roy? Hey, you're not going anywhere 'til I've checked you out."

'Easy'? What 'easy'? Okay, so he may have swayed a bit, but he wasn't hurt. There was no reason for Johnny to be holding his shoulders like this. Was there?

About to ask this aloud, Roy then saw the same concern on Hank Stanley's face too. And within it, he could still see the silent message beyond. For him, his captain, and his partner - yes, that had been too damn close.

"It's what you both do, pal," Hank reminded him through one of his near fatherly smiles. "Just let him do it, okay?"

In Cap-speak: 'he's just had the fright of his life, and he needs to work it out.'

Glancing down at the charred ends of his lifeline, realization hit Roy like a freight train. Maybe it was delayed inhalation, but suddenly his voice couldn't move past his throat. Even the normally cheery smile had a shakier feel to it as he let Johnny steer him towards the Squad.

Running on adrenaline, his instincts, and every part of his training, there'd been no time for the threat to his life to register. Facing every firefighter's worst nightmare, he'd just focussed every part of his strength and courage to get himself and his patient out of it.

But for Johnny, to be holding the other end of that broken line. To then realize what it meant.

'Oh, God. Johnny.'

From his own experience, Roy knew all the terror he'd pushed from his mind would have been felt instead by his partner. The detachment of his training would have crashed against the horror of watching his best friend burn to death.

Of course, it hadn't ended that way. Apart from some nicks and bruises that he'd feel more in the morning, he'd come through it all unscathed. So the hand that still gripped his shoulder while the other checked his pulse really wasn't necessary. But there was no way in hell that Roy was going to move it.

Instead, he pressed his own fingers around Johnny's wrist. Let this simple physical contact reinforce the reality that hadn't quite reached his partner.

"I'm fine, Johnny. It's okay, I'm fine, and right here. I'm not going anywhere."

He'd stressed those last four words for a reason. As confirmation as much for himself as for Johnny that his crisis of confidence was over. The threat to his life had passed, and so had his decision to leave. And Johnny's reaction to them was all he'd hoped for.

Anxious brown eyes magically turned to those he knew so well. The world's biggest puppy in its human form, with all the excitability to match.

"So - So you're staying, right? You're not gonna quit?"

Now he could smile. Roll his eyes, and shake his head, in the way that only his partner could invoke. Damn if one of these days, he'd toss a stick for him, and see if he'd go fetch.

"Yeah, Junior, I'm staying right here..."

And just so things didn't get too mushy -

"...if just to keep you out of trouble."

Somehow - and he really didn't care about the 'how' part - he was halfway to the cab before the penny finally dropped.

"Hey!"

After that, of course, all danger of mushiness vanished faster than Marco's chilli.

"...it's not like I go out looking for it, you know?"

"...and yet it still finds you..."

"...and what trouble have you gotten me out of anyway?"

"What, you mean chronologically or alphabetically?"

"Oh, go ride a hose."

If not for the laughter that betrayed its true feeling, Roy might have taken it seriously. Instead, he threw the same broad grin towards his partner as Johnny returned to him. And, as they so often did, the same thought pinged through their minds in the same moment that it chuckled out of Roy's mouth.

"Damn, that felt good."

"Good enough for us to pull over and let me drive?"

"Nice try, kiddo, but... no."

They were still debating the finer points of age and ranking seniority when the lights of their station welcomed them home. But as he backed the Squad back into its bay, Roy suddenly frowned.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

Studying the 'he' in question, Johnny frowned too. The figure who now strode towards them was unmistakeable. And, after what he'd put his partner through, not exactly welcome.

Watching his eyes narrow, Roy couldn't help but smile again as he released his door and stepped out of the cab.

'Down, boy.'

For Larry Sunderlin, his thoughts were rather more serious. The impassioned defence that Dixie McCall had made for one of her boys now stood in reality before him. Covered in soot, and reeking of smoke, this 'best in the damn business' had, indeed, gone where he'd never dare.

So had the brothers that Rampart's head nurse had taught him on too. As one, they'd closed ranks around the young man that he'd misjudged so badly.

Against this wall of wary stares, he felt very much the outsider. But then, from a source he'd neither expected or felt he deserved, a quiet voice still offered him a cautious civility.

"Doctor Sunderlin. Is there something I can do for you?"

Ah, straight to the point. A trait that earned him another point of approval, and just a hint of a smile, as he did the same.

"Yes, there is. I'd just finished an emergency surgery at Rampart, and saw the news on that fire you've just come back from. I know this may not be the best timing for it, but after seeing what you did back there... well, I owe you a long due apology."

Out of courtesy, he'd already extended his hand. From the core of his own character, Roy had already taken it into a shake of forgiving acceptance. And from this truce came another peace offering that, again, caught him completely off guard.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it. And I'm sorry about Dr Eccles. I only knew him by reputation, but... well, from all I've heard, he was an incredible doctor."

In the reverent silence that followed, Sunderlin nodded. There'd be no chance to see it now, of course, but a growing respect for this young man made him say it anyway.

"Yes, he was one of the best doctors I worked with. In fact, you... uh, remind me of him. Whatever he had to do to ensure it, the life of his patient always came first. And if he'd lived to see it, then... yes, he'd have been as impressed by this paramedic program as I should have been."

Another part of his apology, accepted with the same grace as before. And even if it came with the term that he hated - well, on this occasion, he'd let it slide.

"Well, if you can stay for coffee, doc, I'd be happy to take you through it."

Okay, so he hadn't expected any of this, but Sunderlin's curiosity was already changing to genuine interest. If this really was the future of emergency medical care, then the least he could do was learn more about it.

To his greater relief, the others had accepted his apology too, and left them to it. Only the younger partner had stayed behind, watching him with thankfully friendlier eyes. But as Roy, as he'd insisted to be called, went through their gear, so Johnny joined in too. And by the time they reached the drug box, animosity and ignorance had changed to admiring approval.

"You really have everything you need in here, don't you? Yes, I see now why Congress approved this program so quickly. For so few of you to cover such a vast area, with so many people, I had no idea it was needed so badly."

Pausing to reflect on what he'd just said, Sunderlin then smiled towards what he now recognized as one of its greatest assets.

"And you, Roy. I heard you were one of the first six to be trained."

Against two startled glances, the smile widened into a wry grin. Yes, when Larry Sunderlin was taught a lesson, he learned it well. And Dixie McCall had been one hell of a teacher.

"Your Nurse McCall, she's... uh... justly proud of what you do."

Okay, so much of that pride had come through tearful rage at his ignorance, but - well, neither of them had to know about that. Besides, as wry glances between them suggested, Rampart's head nurse took no stupidity from them either.

Even so, there was something special here. Very special. A partnership that he'd come damn near to breaking apart. But as the tones sounded, and their captain sent them out on their latest call, Larry Sunderlin watched them go with a wholly new perspective.

Just days ago, he'd tried to use his influence to wreck Roy DeSoto's career. Now he'd use it to support the program that he'd once dismissed with such ignorant scorn.

He owed it to the doctor, the friend, who'd still died in a fully equipped emergency room. He owed it to all those who'd also died because no-one around them knew what to do. But most of all, he owed it to Roy and his partner, whose skill and courage had saved countless lives in their place.