WHAT'S OUT THERE

by ardavenport

)()()()(- - PART 3 - -)()()()(

"There you are."

Johnny, stretched out on the sofa, started and looked up at his partner. The Rampart break room TV was on with the sound down low.

"Finally!" He sat up, pulling the suspenders back up over his white t-shirt.

"Yeah, sorry I'm so late. They had another gas leak and they had to take care of that before they could really knock down the fire. They ended up calling a third alarm on it. And there were a few injuries. I've already been here and back once with the squad."

"Are you here with the squad now? This late?" Johnny gestured toward Roy's clothes, fireman's pants and boots, white undershirt and dark blue Nomex jacket over that.

"No, we're off, I just drove over here in my car to get you."

Johnny eagerly stood. "Is the station open?"

"Yeah, power's back. Are you sure you're okay?"

Johnny looked exasperated. "Yeah, I'm okay. You and everyone who's come in here has been asking me that. Dixie, Doctor Morton, Carol, Linda, Doctor Brackett, even Bellingham and Brice came in here. The last thing I need right now is medical advice from Craig Brice."

"Oh yeah, They've called Station Sixteen on the fire, too. Was there much on the TV about it?"

"Some. But there was more about evacuating the neighborhoods than the fire. Now they're just playing soap operas."

They got to door which opened just before Roy touched the doorknob. Doctor Early, wearing sweat stained green surgical scrubs shuffled in.

"Hey, Hi Doc."

He acknowledged them with a weary nod and 'Hi, guys,' passing them on the way to the coffee. Puzzled by the silver-haired doctor's subdued greeting, the two firemen paused.

"Uh, Doc, how did that other guy do, the one who hit me?"

The few seconds it took Early took to answer told them what he would say before he spoke. "He didn't make it." He sat down at the small break-room table with his cup. The coffee smelled like it had been sitting in the pot for awhile, strong an slightly burned.

"Oh, um, sorry to hear that." Johnny couldn't think of anything else he wanted to say, letting Roy ask the obvious.

"What happened? I thought he only got hit once."

"Sometimes once is all it takes." Early sat forward in his chair with his hands around his coffee cup on the table. In his side vision, Roy caught Johnny nervously rubbing the sore spot behind his ear while the doctor continued. "He had a skull fracture and he started hemorrhaging; I relieved the pressure, but there was too much damage; I couldn't stop it." Elbows on the table, Early folded his hands together.

Roy gulped, feeling acutely aware of the vast difference between what paramedics and doctors did. "Well, what's going to happen to the guy whole hit him?" He sneaked another covert glance at his partner.

Early shrugged. "I don't know. The cops think it was an accident. I just spent the last half hour talking to them. They'll probably want to talk to you, too."

Johnny gave a nervous half smile. "Well, uh, I guess they'll know where to find us. But why'd he hit me?"

"Well, the police told me that his wife said that he panicked. They thought they could smell some kind of gas and he wanted to take your air mask. Apparently he'd boxed professionally and when his friend saw him attacking you he just hit him with the wrench to get him to stop."

"Oh, well," Johnny self-consciously dropped his hand, "the guy really knew how to throw a punch."

Early shrugged again. "I guess so. How're you feeling, Johnny?"

"Uh, um, fine. Just great, Doc." His hand went back behind his ear again.

Early's expression turned a little mischievous. "Don't worry about it. You're fine. I saw the x-rays."

Johnny did not look too reassured. "Oh, uh, okay, that's good."

"Come on," Roy tugged on his arm, "let's get out of here." With a final goodbye to Early, they left. Out down the hall with greetings-in-passing to Brackett and Dixie McCall on the way. Out past the waiting area. Out the entrance. Roy led Johnny out to the parking lot where his car was and they went in silence back to the station.

Station Fifty-One looked perfectly fine in mid-morning. The engine and squad were out with B-shift, but after they had gone to the locker room and changed, they were surprised to find Captain Stanley in uniform, in the office.

"You want to help fill out this incident report?" Stanley jabbed a pen down at the paperwork on the desk. Neither Roy nor Johnny wanted to volunteer for extra paperwork duty but they did tell Stanley what Early said about the man who hit Johnny.

"Oh, we get to help with a police report, too? Lovely." Stanley's smile was anything but cheerful.

"Glad we could help."

Roy didn't think Stanley appreciated Johnny's version of 'help'. Stanley did fill them in on what had caused the blackout, gas leak and fire.

A drunk had gotten lost and confused in the fog and hit a telephone pole with his car. Station 36 had responded to that and the utility company sent a crew to repair the damage. But on the way, the utility truck actually hit a power pole (there was still some debate about another car being involved; it apparently left the scene) and caused the blackout. The sudden power outage caused the gas leak when the backup power at the chemical plant shorted and started a fire. The men working there got out with their emergency survival gear, but there was a delay in reporting the accident since the power outage disabled the plant's file alarms. Then there had been a minor panic at headquarters when Station Fifty-One didn't answer their alarm because the worst case scenario was that they had all been killed by the gas. Until someone thought of trying the telephone.

The two paramedics filled out the squad's log book before leaving their Captain to his paperwork. Roy noticed his partner rubbing the sore spot behind his ear again as they left the office.

"Hey, how about coming to my place for breakfast? Or lunch maybe?" They crossed out of the shade of the rear of the station into the mid-morning sun.

Johnny perked up. "Sure. But will it be okay with Joanne and the kids? Isn't your mother-in-law visiting?"

"The kids are still in school. And Joanne and her mother are at her mother's cousin's funeral."

"Weren't you supposed to go to that?"

Roy shrugged. "I guess I missed it now. I called Joanne. She's not happy, but she understands." And Roy privately preferred a three alarm fire and a poisonous gas leak to going anywhere with his mother-in-law any day. Johnny nodded and turned toward his Range Rover.

"Uh, hey, why don't I drive us?"

"Hunh?" Johnny looked at first baffled and then critical. It was a ridiculous suggestion. If Roy drove Johnny to his house then he'd have to drive him all the way back to the station later so he could get his car. Brackett had told Roy that Johnny was fine. He hadn't specifically said that he shouldn't drive, but he should 'take it easy' for a couple of days.

Roy saw his partner's expression turn thoughtful and he knew that Johnny was thinking the same thing he was; Doctor Early in his surgical scrubs telling them that he'd just lost a patient who had been hit 'only once.'

Johnny shrugged his consent. "Sure."

)()()()(- - End PART 3 - -)()()()(