"Have I ever gotten you hurt? Well, hold on. There's a first time for everything!" Unit 615, Clay County EMS

"Roy?"

"Yeah, John?" He turned to look at his junior medic. Expressive brown eyes stared back at him, then looked away quickly, as if not wanting to show something, to give himself away.

"Why do you always drive?"

Roy grinned, then patted the steering wheel fondly. "I was here first?"

Johnny smirked. "Great. So I'm stuck in the passenger seat until we're riding around the old folks home in our wheelchairs?"

"Sure. And even then, you'll always ride on my right, just out of habit."

Johnny was quiet for a moment, and Roy thought that was the end of it, just a simple exchange to pass the time, but then he spoke up again. "So is that it? Habit?"

Roy turned the curve a little too sharply, and as he turned to face Johnny he saw the younger man wince and grip the door handle a little too tighter. "You're serious, aren't you? It bothers you that I always drive?"

Guilt flooded Johnny. He didn't want Roy to think he didn't trust him. "No! I mean- Well, a little… It's just…" He paused to put the words together in the least offensive way possible. "It just feels really helpless over here, you know? Anything in the world can happen to me over here and there's not a damn thing I can do about it."

"So, you want to put me through that instead?" Roy joked.

Johnny flushed, not realizing Roy was teasing. He had put off bringing this up for a long time, not wanting to hurt his friend's feelings, but this time it slipped out without his permission. "No, I just…" He dropped his head. "Never mind."

Roy tapped his partner on the arm, and waited until he looked back up from his lap. "Might as well say it as think it, Junior. Talk to me."

Johnny opened his mouth, and then closed it again, unable to find the words, so Roy stepped in for him. "This last run, I drove a little faster than usual. Not reckless, just a little faster, because Chet called for us and said the guy wasn't breathing. It got a little rougher in here than I would usually let it get." Johnny nodded. "And that made you a little…what? Nervous?"

"No, Roy, I-" He wasn't sure how he was going to finish it, so he was relieved when Roy held up a hand and cut him off.

"Johnny, I know you trust me. You know that I would never do anything to get either of us hurt. You know I very rarely give in to the rush of adrenaline while I'm driving, but I guess I must be going a little faster lately than I thought. Brice complained about it the other day."

Johnny's eyes got wide. "What did he say?" He said in a tone that very clearly said "I'll kill him!"

"Relax. He just pointed out that the phrase "Due regard" only protects us from getting a ticket and does not protect us in case of an accident. Of course, he said it in his typical superior "Brice" attitude."

"And you told him to cram it, right?"

The older medic grinned. "So you're the only one allowed to complain about my driving?"

"I wasn't-"

"I told him to put his seat belt on, hang on, close his eyes and shut up."

Johnny laughed heartily at that. He would have paid anything to have seen the look on the "perfect" paramedic's face when his calm, cool, composed partner told him that. That must have been priceless.

His partner smiling and for the moment content, Roy reflected back on what Johnny had said. Helpless. Roy knew the passenger seat was the most vulnerable place in a vehicle, most likely place for someone to be injured. He knew Johnny knew that, too. And he was right. From the passenger seat, there is absolutely nothing he could do to protect himself. He had never thought about the level of trust it required of his partner to sit there, literally trusting him with his life while he drove like a maniac. "John, did I scare you on that last run?"

Johnny thought about it for a moment. He trusted Roy completely. He knew that Roy would give his own life before he would do anything that would get him hurt, knew that it absolutely killed the older medic to watch him take the risks that came with the job, because he felt the same way about him. And while his stomach had hit his throat a time or two, there was never what he would qualify as fear. No weak-in-the-knees, I'm-gonna-die, life-flashing-before-my-eyes feeling. If he was going to be helpless and vulnerable, like riding in the passenger seat of a truck made by the lowest bidder going code 3, he'd rather it be with Roy than anyone else. It all came down to trust.

"Nah, you didn't scare me."

"Good," Roy said.

Johnny was looking out the window of the squad, deliberately looking away from Roy when he added, "I did have to close my eyes a time or two, though."