From the Beginning Part 2

He slowly opened his eyes to see the ceiling tile above him. At first, he couldn't tell where he was. Then he realized - he was in Rampart. Johnny began to lurch out of his bed when he felt a hand push him down. He looked at the hand to see who it belonged to.

"Hey no taking on the world just yet".

"I wasn't"

"How you feeling?"

"Ugh like a ton of bricks fell on my head, but I'm fine otherwise"

"That's good" Dr. Brackett held up two fingers. "Now Johnny, how many fingers do you see?"

"2"

"Do you know what year it is?"

"1980"

"Who's the president?"

"Jimmy Carter"

"Well I'm happy to report that you'll be fine."

"That's great doc, but I remember something too"

"What's that?"

"I got knocked out at that accident scene. But Beth was there too. How is she doc?"

"Well Johnny. I have some bad news and good news."

"What is it doc?"

"Well which would you rather first?"

"....I guess the bad. If it's bad, it possibly can't get worse from there". Dr. Brackett looked at Johnny. He paused a moment before he spoke up.

"Johnny.....there's no easy way of saying this.....Johnny, I'm sorry. Beth didn't make it."

Johnny's mouth dropped wide open. In that moment did he feel sick to his stomach. He felt his whole world come crashing down on him. gave Johnny a few minutes to get himself together when he started talking again.

"Now Johnny, I have good news."

"Good for you, but I just lost my wife...OMG the Baby...THE BABY". Johnny had tried to leap out of his bed, but Brackett pushed him back in.

"JOHNNY listen to me!"

"No offense doc ,but WHY do I want to hear your good news. I just my wife and child..."

"That's the whole thing of what I have to say next Johnny..."

Dr. Early entered the room. He had cut Dr. Brackett short.

"Sorry to intrude, but I heard Johnny down the hall."

"Real funny doc. What do you want?"

"Well I just need you to sign these forms."

"What forms? My usual admitted into Rampart forms?"

"Well we have to do that later. But these need to be signed right away"

"What is it?" "Consent to treat forms."

"Doc, forgive me for being rude....now and on this next question, but don't you think that it's a bit late for that?"

"No. Pediatrics needs it before they can do anything."

"Pediatrics"

"Yeah...oh... I see Kel hasn't told you yet"

"Tell me what?"

Dr. Brackett gave a soft smile to Johnny. "Johnny, the good news I was trying to tell you...the baby made it"

"what?"

"Well this part isn't good news, but Beth died trying to save the baby.... but Johnny, the baby made it!"

Johnny put his hand on his forehead. He couldn't believe it! Their baby....his baby survived the accident.

"But if she made it...OH MY GOD!! HOW IS...WHERE IS?!?"

"Daddy, she's doing fine."

Before, Johnny had begun to cry tears of sorrow. Now he was beginning to cry bittersweet tears.

"She...it's a girl?"

"You heard right."

"Oh my god...my little girl made it."

"Yes she did."

"But doc, if she was born now, she's a premie...DOC..."

"Johnny, when she was born we gave her a little oxygen, but this morning we took her off the oxygen, and so far, she's doing she still needs immunization..."

"Don't say more. Got a pen?" Dr. Early handed the forms and a pen over to Johnny. He started signing them.

"Johnny, I don't think you'll forget, but soon after, we'll need to get her..."

"I know I ..when can I..." Johnny was cut off when he heard the door swing open and screaming. He looked over to see Roy walking in, and in his arms, the little girl.

"Doc, I don't know who we need to tie down- Johnny or this cutie pie here. For being a few weeks early, I swear, she's got a real strong set of lungs."

Dr's. Brackett, Early, and Johnny started smiling.

"Johnny? Can you see if you can calm her down?"

Roy walked up next to Johnny. Johnny puts his arms out, and Roy gently placed the baby in his arms. Johnny started hushing her and rocking her gently. He softly started talking to her.

"Hey little girl. It's daddy. It's ok. Everything's going to be alright, I got you"

Finally the little girl started to quiet down. He looked down into her face, only to see a beautiful set of brown eyes looking up at him. He started stroking his finger across her cheek, when a little hand reached up and starting to wrap her hand around his finger.

Roy spoke quietly."I remember when Chris and Jenny were first born. You look at them, they look at you, and all the problems you have just suddenly go away."

"I think we can all relate to that."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Dixie walked in quietly.

"I heard our star patient was in here."

"Of course I am..."

"I wasn't referring to you Johnny. I was referring to that sweet baby girl of yours"

She looked over at the girl and started smiling.

"Look at her, she looks like she's already attached to Johnny."

"Of course she is Dixie." The room went quiet for a few when they heard an announcement from outside.

"Dr. Brackett, Dr. Early, Nurse McCall, please report to emergency" came across the intercoms.

"Well that's our call to go."

The two doctors and Dixie were ready to walk out when Roy asked "do you need to take the baby back now?" answered his question.

"Well, I think it'll be fine if she stood with Johnny a little bit longer."

With that he ran out the door. Roy sat down next to Johnny and watched him looking down at the baby.

Finally Johnny asked him "hey Roy?" "yeah Johnny?"

"Did Beth suffer?"

This was a question Roy wished he didn't have to answer. He felt that he had to tell Johnny the truth, and at the same time, he couldn't.

He answered "Well Johnny, they made her comfortable as much as they could"

Johnny paused before he asked "did she know...did she know she was going to die?"

Roy took in a deep breath and answered "Johnny, that's the only reason why that little girl there is alive" Johnny looked down at her, and then at Roy. "You mean, she died trying to save the baby?"

"Yes Johnny......Johnny, she told me if she lived and that the baby died, she couldn't live with herself. Matter of fact, she was afraid you wouldn't make it if anything happened to the baby...She had wanted me to tell you she was sorry and not to be mad at her"

"ROY? What did you tell her?"

"I told her you would never ever be mad at her, and that you loved her too much to be mad at her." Johnny paused again and spoke up "I never said goodbye to her."

"Nobody did Johnny"

"But she died and my little girl came into this world alone..."

"Johnny?"

"Yeah Roy?"

"I was with Beth all the way to the end...and I was with that munchkin from the beginning. Beth asked me to stay with her. They were never alone." Johnny closed his eyes for a moment and smiled. He opened his eyes again, looked at Roy and began to tell him "Roy, you didn't have to..."

"Junior, I wanted to."

"Thanks Pally. Thank you. You don't know how grateful I am right now. Thanks.."

"It's ok. I'm glad I could help out." They quieted down and watched for several minutes at the little girl sleeping. Johnny finally broke the silence.

"Hey Pally?"

"Yeah Junior?"

"I have a serious problem"

"What's wrong?"

"I have no idea what to name her"

August 27, 1980

The funeral home was filled with friends and coworkers who came out to pay their final respects to Beth. Roy and his wife Joanne were inside talking to Hank, his wife Lori, their two teenage daughters Emily and Sarah, Marco and his wife Rita, Chet and his wife Kim, Mike, his wife Laura, Kel, Dixie, Joe, his 20-something-year old son Nick, and Mike Morton as they waited for Johnny to arrive so the service could start. Roy's kids, Chris and Jenny, sat outside on the steps waiting for Johnny to come.

Finally they saw a white land rover pull into a parking space. They ran over to the driver's side of the land rover. Once Johnny stepped up, a 10 year old, blonde hair, Jenny ran and gave him a hug.

"Hi Uncle Johnny. I'm sorry about Auntie Beth. I'm really going to miss her."

A 13 year old, brown hair, Chris hugged Johnny. "I miss her already Uncle Johnny."

"I do too Chris. But there's something you two both need to know. She loved all of you very much."

"I know Uncle Johnny. I know". Jenny grabbed onto Johnny's hand and began to pull him.

"Come on, let's get inside and get this over with."

"Good idea."

"I heard talks of Uncle Chet starting a riot. Uncle Chet didn't have any food and I don't want to see him start a riot."

"Ok ok I'm coming. But first I need to get something before I forget."

"What do you need to get?" Johnny opened the back door on the land rover. Chris and Jenny stood there anxiously, wanting to know what Johnny was getting. Finally, Johnny pulled out a car seat and closed the door.

"We can't forget your cousin, can we?" Chris and Jenny stood there with big smiles on their faces.

Jenny started getting excited. "is that??? Is That??? IS THAT???"

"Yes it is. The doctor let her go home today." Chris stood there with a big smile, while Jenny started squealing.

"Chris, Jenny, meet your cousin."

"What's her name?"

"Well I'll tell you when I tell everyone else."

Johnny was having a hard time holding onto Jenna while Jenny was pushing against his arm.

He finally suggested that they go inside. Chris and Jenny ran ahead to let everyone know that Johnny was there.

"Ok everyone Uncle Johnny's here and boy oh boy does he..."

"Shut up Jenny. You got a big mouth"

Joanne cut in between the two kids.

"JENNY! CHRIS! What did I say about behaving yourselves? And Chris, what did I say about telling your little sister to shut up?" Both kids answered in unison "Sorry Mom." Roy got up and walked to the front door to greet John.

"It took you a while..." He shut up after he saw the car seat.

"Sorry Roy. Babysitter backed out on me the last minute."

"No need for apologies. They let her go home today?"

"Yeah. Nice timing of them."

"You think she'll disrupt..."

"Well if we hurry up in there..." Johnny and Roy walked to where everyone was seated. Tiny bits of chatting were going on in the room until Roy entered.

"He's here."

Everything then came to a complete halt. Chet turned around and made the first comment.

"Finally Gage got here! What took him so long? Did he get lost?" The blonde headed woman who sat next to Chet, his wife Kim, got mad at Chet and elbowed him.

"Ah don't worry about it Kim. Well Chet, for how much I hate to burst your bubble, NO I didn't. Try babysitter backed out on me last minute."

Everyone turned around to see Johnny walk in with priority of focus in the room shifted onto the newborn.

Johnny spoke up. "Everyone, I have with me, Jenna Beth Gage."

Everyone turned around in their seats to try to the the baby girl and cooing, but Johnny cut them off.

"Hey, now I know everyone wants to drool over her, but right now it's Beth's moment, not Jenna's. Give Beth her moment and I promise everyone will get a chance to drool over Jenna later." With that being said, the service went off without a hitch.

3 Weeks Later

Hank had given Johnny some time off to recover from his loss and to get settled in with fatherhood. As fast as he got the time off was as fast the time flew spent all of his time focusing on his top and only priority,Jenna, making sure she was getting enough love and attention, and making sure she would be taken care of when it was time for him to go back to work.

Finally came the time when Johnny had to go back to work. He was heading in to the station when he made a stop at Roy and Joanne's house. He got out of the land rover, took out a sleeping Jenna, and walked up to the house. Johnny rang the doorbell, and heard Joanne yell out "COME IN! IT'S OPEN"

Johnny did as Joanne told him to do, and walked in. He waited by the entrance when Joanne came to greet him.

"Hi Johnny! Roy already got a head start on you"

"Oh that's fine. I figured he would. Are you sure about this?"

"Watching Jenna? Johnny, I'm absolutely sure. She can't watch herself, Roy and the kids aren't here, and I could use some company."

"Well I just don't want to be pushing her off..."

"Johnny, you're NOT pushing her off on me or anyone."

"Joanne, I can't thank you enough for wanting to take care of Jenna when I'm at work"

"Johnny, Beth and I were best friends,you're Roy's best friend, and you keep Roy coming home to me after every shift. Please the least I can do for you is to help you out with her. Besides, you don't make the greatest salary. Where are you now in days going to find cheap help?"

"You're right. Thank you"

"Speaking of salary, you should go now before you wind up with latrine duty" Johnny laughed and handed a backpack to Joanne.

"Alright, well here's her stuff. I have bottles, diapers, her blanket..well I think I have everything in here she'll need...and you know what to do and who to call if something happens?"

"Johnny I'm sure you have everything in here. Plus I have the stuff you gave me when we agreed to this. Also did you forget I have two kids of my own? I know what to do. She'll be fine. Now you're going to be late. GO!!......Wait before you go"

"HA! See? I knew you would ask something...well lucky for you, I'll know the answer"

"Oh I don't have a question. I was going to say before you go, you might want to give me something...or someone" Johnny looked down to realize he was still holding Jenna's car seat.

"Oops. You're right" He placed the car seat down on the ground, leaned down, and gave Jenna a soft kiss to not wake her up.

He whispered to her softly "Daddy has to go to work now. Aunt Joanne is going to watch you. I'm going to miss you sweetheart. I'll see you in the morning" With that he walked out the door and out to the land rover.

Johnny barely made it in to roll call on time.

Luckily for him, "the Phantom" struck with a prank so big the previous shift, it screamed latrine duty next shift. After roll call was over, Johnny and Roy were going to check the equipment in the squad. But before they checked "Hey Roy, I need to make a call real quick."

"Ok" Johnny went into the kitchen and used the phone. He dialed a number and waited a moment before the person on the other end picked up the phone.

"Hey Joanne? It's Johnny! Listen, I just wanted to know how she was do.......I know I know........ok I won't but first......are you sure???.....ok talk to you later." He hung up the phone, glanced and shrugged off the looks he was getting from Chet, Marco, and Mike, and went back to the squad.

After he left, Chet, Marco, and Mike started plotting.

"Chet you really should get to work."

"Mike, Marco, don't you see the opportunity for the phantom?"

"Listen amigo, you're on latrine duty today because of the phantom last shift. Do you really want it for a week?"

"Well wouldn't it be worth it? Look at him!The kid is the first person to have him distracted. She's got him wrapped around her little fingers. Why not take advantage?"

"But that's even low for the Phantom"

"Good point Chet, but he has a point there too Mike"

".......fine. Count me in"

Roy and Johnny went through the squad making sure they had enough supplies, the equipment worked, and performed a morning radio check to Rampart.

Johnny and Roy started polishing the squad when Marco called out "HEY JOHNNY GET IN HERE QUICK! JOANNE'S ON THE PHONE!!!SOMETHING ABOUT JENNA"

With that he quickly dropped his rag and made a fast dash to the kitchen. He slammed open the door, and ran under the doorway when it finally hit him. He stopped short and wiped the water out of his eyes to realize he had been victimized once again by the Phantom's water bombs. He looked to see Mike pull open a newspaper, Marco putting his head down, and Chet laughing. Johnny angrily glared at Marco.

"Sorry Johnny I had to scream it. Looks like you're right Chet- she has him wrapped around her finger."

Hank finally entered the kitchen, to see Chet standing there smiling, and Johnny dripping wet.

"Do I really need to ask how this happened?"

Johnny growled "the Phantom...and the new low he's hit" and stormed out.

Hank looked at Chet.

"New low? What happened?"

Mike jumped in before Chet could get a word out.

"He had Marco scream for Johnny that something was wrong with Jenna and came charging in Daddy Gage. Well Daddy Gage was too distracted by Jenna he fell victim to the Phantom once again."

"I see...using an innocent child to lure the victim. I admit, that's clever..very clever. But using an innocent child? That is a new low indeed.... Hey Chet when you see the Phantom, let him know using an innocent child in his games calls for 1 week latrine duty!"