Chapter 1
The call came through on a Saturday shift: "Squad 51, burn victim, Friendship Park, East 220th Street, cross street Wilmington, time out, 13.36." John Gage and Roy DeSoto, firefighter paramedics with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, drove to the park where a community barbeque was taking place. There were many older people milling about, but a young man approached the squad as they pulled up to the curb. They were directed to a picnic table, where a slender young woman in her early twenties, with long wavy red hair and freckles on her nose, wearing a pale green sun dress, had wrapped an older white-haired man's hands with wet towels and placed them into a cooler filled with ice that had been used to keep sodas cold. A barbeque with hamburgers still on it was nearby, smoking terribly, with an empty bucket beside it on the ground, and some fuel in a can beside that. Roy looked at the young woman and gave a start of surprise. He smiled at her and said, "Hello, Miss MacKay!"
She smiled back and said, "Hello, Mr DeSoto."
"Call me Roy."
"Then call me Jane."
Johnny was busy setting up their gear and looked over with interest. Roy noticed and introduced him: "Johnny, this is my daughter's school teacher, Jane MacKay; Jane this is my partner John Gage."
John looked at her more closely, obviously impressed. "Did you do this, wrapping his hands in towels and icing them?"
"Yes, I hope that's all right – it's just that he was in so much pain from the burns, and I knew that getting the heat down is the first priority to stopping tissue damage." Roy reassured her, and the ambulance arrived.
John whispered in an aside to Roy, "How did she know that?" and Roy shrugged, raising his eyebrows.
Jane spoke to the injured man, getting close enough that she could put her hand on his shoulder and make eye contact with him. "Mr Watson, you are going to be fine now, with the help of these paramedics and the doctors at the hospital." Roy grinned. Jane stood back and watched as Roy and Johnny spoke with the hospital and worked on the man's burns. She seemed to look a lot at Johnny, and there was something in her eyes as she watched him gently help Mr Watson, and talked him through the placement of the bandages and insertion of an IV drip.
Mr Watson looked imploringly at Jane. "Would you come to the hospital with me? I don't know anyone else I can ask, and I can't do anything with my hands…" his voice trailed off. It was obvious that he was in a lot of pain. She looked at Roy, and he nodded. "I'll get your things together and come with you, then," she told Mr Watson. Roy introduced her to the ambulance driver and she got into the cab. By now Mr Watson was on a stretcher and being loaded into the back of the ambulance. Roy climbed in after him, and John got into the squad to follow them to the hospital.
When they got to Rampart General Hospital, the Emergency head nurse, Dixie McCall, directed the ambulance attendants into Treatment Room 3. Mr Watson called for Jane. Jane looked quizzically at Dixie, and she nodded and opened the door wider for her to enter. Dr Kelly Brackett, F.A.C.S., was already unwrapping the new bandages that John had applied in order to check Mr Watson's injuries. Jane was asked to give an account of the incident as Mr Watson was in too much pain to talk. Dixie asked Roy if he would take Jane into the waiting room, and they walked together, talking about what had happened and why Jane was at the barbeque.
"I volunteer at a community center on Saturdays to help with the older people who don't get out much. The center sponsored the barbeque today so that some shut-ins could socialize and get fresh air. I've been visiting with Mr Watson for a few months – his wife died last year and his children are all living far away – Mr Watson had become depressed and reluctant to go outside, even to do his groceries. Today was a real success, and he was doing so well that he volunteered to cook the burgers. Someone thought that there wasn't enough fire in the barbeque and while Mr Watson was putting on the meat with his hands, they helpfully added fuel to the coals, which…"
"Which of course blew up the flames and burned Mr Watson"
"I suppose you must see quite a lot of this sort of thing, being a fireman and a paramedic."
"Far too often. So you spend all your weekdays working with little children in a classroom, and your weekends volunteering with old folks."
"I guess it seems silly, doesn't it? But since my parents died I really feel better if I have something I have to do, and it does make a nice contrast – 6 year olds Monday to Friday; 70 year olds on Saturdays…"
"And on Sundays you rest?"
Jane laughed. "I sure do!"
John came up to Roy just as Jane was laughing, with supplies in his hands and an aggrieved expression on his face. He resented that Roy, a married man, got to talk with this pretty young woman, and seemed to know her already, while he was stuck getting IV bags from the supply room. It just wasn't fair. Jane looked up at John and smiled, and he couldn't help it, all his resentment flowed away and he grinned back at her. Roy cleared his throat. "We'd better get back to work. It was a pleasure to see you again, Jane."
"It really has been," replied Jane, but she was looking at Johnny, as if she was interested in this tall dark haired young man.
Back in the squad, while heading back to the station, John called in their availability and started to ask Roy some questions. "So, Jane is your daughter's teacher, huh? She looks pretty young to be teaching. How old is she?"
"I don't know – early twenties? Old enough to be a teacher."
"Yeah. Huh. So how did she know what to do for that burn victim?"
"I don't know – we didn't talk about that."
"Well, what do you know?"
"What's with all the questions?" Roy glanced over at John. "NO. You are not hitting on my daughter's teacher, no matter how cute you think she is."
"What are you talking about? I'm not hitting on anybody! I'm just asking some questions about someone you know and you don't seem to want to tell me anything! Which speaks for itself, Roy."
"You know what? We are not having this conversation. I don't even want to know what's going through that head of yours."
John snorted. "Yeah, well, I know what's going through your head!"
Roy glared at him. "You do not! You never do! You only think you do! And I'm not talking to you!"
"Fine," retorted Johnny. And they finished their ride in silence.
A few days later, back on shift, Squad 51 was at the hospital bringing in a sick child when Dixie stopped them in the hallway. "By the way, I meant to tell you - that young woman who came in with you and the burn victim the other day, she's quite impressive."
Roy was surprised and asked, "In what way?"
"There are not many people I can think of who would come in every afternoon to spend time with an elderly man to whom she wasn't related, just out of kindness."
"Oh, really?"
"Yep. She comes here straight from her job, and spends an hour reading to him, and now a few other patients who don't have anyone visiting also get in on her visits."
Johnny asked, "Will she be here today?"
"I don't see any reason why not."
Roy asked, "What room is Mr Watson in?"
"Three oh four," then she looked at Johnny on the side and added, "but she doesn't get here until about 4:30, and stays until supper time, when she helps him eat."
"Okay, see you later, Dix. Take care."
Nothing more was said, but on their next run, they happened to be at the hospital when John asked for the time. Roy looked at the clock and said, "You'd like to check on Mr Watson, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah, if that's okay."
"Why not? Let's go see if she's there."
"You mean 'he,'" replied Johnny.
Roy countered, "I said 'she' and I meant 'she.'"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Roy – we often go check on people we've brought in." Roy just rolled his eyes.
As they got to 304, they heard several people laughing inside the room. Mr Watson was sitting up in bed with his hands in bandages, and his roommate was also sitting up. Two other people were there in wheelchairs. Jane was reading from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and doing different voices for different characters. She looked up from her reading when the door opened and blushed when she saw Roy and John. Roy said, "Don't stop - sounds great!"
Mr Watson beamed at him. "I don't know what I would do without Jane. She's been my entertainment and private nurse – and now I have all these new friends too!"
Jane got up from her chair. "I think I'll let you gentlemen visit for a while." Everyone protested at her leaving, but she headed for the door. When she got there, she had to pass close by John.
He looked down at her lightly flushed face and said, "Hello, again."
She looked up into his eyes and started to say "Hi" but it seemed to disappear, and they both stood looking into each others eyes, until Mr Watson laughed and broke the spell. "She sure is a wonderful girl," he commented, and the other patients in the room agreed.
Johnny was uncharacteristically quiet after they left the room. Roy finally asked, "You okay?"
John seemed distracted. "Hmm? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I feel great. Really good, in fact. Why do you ask?"
"You just seem very quiet, that's all."
"Oh, yeah? I didn't notice." And he fell back into his abstraction.
Roy tried again when they were in the squad. "So, everyone seems really taken by Jane. She is pretty wonderful, isn't she?" John agreed in an offhand way, and Roy sighed.
The next day John was off duty and dropped by the hospital in the afternoon to see how Mr Watson was doing. Dixie smiled when he told her that. Jane seemed to blush again when John entered the room, but he spoke to Mr Watson first and asked how he was doing. Jane watched him out of the corner of her eye. She got up to leave, and he followed her, both of them saying goodbye to Mr Watson. In the doorway they bumped into each other accidentally and excused themselves.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"No, it was my fault."
John looked down at her, his hand resting on her elbow to steady her. She seemed to be breathing quickly and didn't look at him right away, but then raised her eyes to meet his. What ever he saw there reassured him, because he said, "Are you doing anything this evening? Or tomorrow? I mean…"
She gave a little laugh and said, "I'm not doing anything this evening, but tomorrow I have my volunteer work at the community center."
She looked at him closely. "Would you like to come with me?"
John grinned and said, "I'd love to. How about we make some plans over some supper?"
Jane smiled back. "Would you mind if I made the supper? I have some food that I've already started to prepare waiting for me at home."
"I'd love that. You know I do some cooking too? Yeah, we all have to take turns at the fire station," and they left the hospital together talking about food.
