TS6

Johnny was feeling great, or rather incredible. Victoria had left and she would be back in the morning to pick him up and continue what she promised, being gentle with his injuries, of course. He knew Roy would expect Victoria to dump him because of his job but that's where he was wrong. Him being a firefighter had turned her on in the first place. Right now he couldn't even say where he had met her, maybe at a party or maybe . . . He shook his head, he just couldn't recall where. All he knew was there was an immediate connection, like live wires meeting up and causing sparks. She was just incredible and he had no other way to describe her.

Sighing, he put his arms behind his head and was getting comfortable. Dinner was over; he'd get his meds and then have a nice long sleep. The door opened to his room and he expected to see some student nurse or candy striper. Instead his favorite ER nurse strode into his room.

"Hey Dix," Johnny waved as the head nurse ER came into his room. He was still on the high from his time with his lover.

Dixie walked purposefully to his bed and violently plumped his pillows. "Are you okay? Everything fine?" She finished and stood there hands on her hips, her mouth in a tight tense line.

"Uh, yeah," the injured man leaned back against the pillows. He was confused by his friend's behavior; usually Dixie always had a kind word or smile when he was injured.

"Good. I just wanted to be sure you knew this was a hospital," she growled. Dixie tapped her foot and crossed her arms, her annoyance growing.

"Well Dixie its hard not to you know. The bed," Johnny swept his hand around the room, "you. I mean the whole room. Kinda hard not to, you know." He was still clueless as to the nurse's rising frustration.

"Good. Good. I just to make sure you knew this wasn't your bedroom," Dixie glared at him. Her blue eyes were full of anger and disappointment.

"Of course I know it's not my bed…" Johnny blushed. "Dixie, I can explain." Suddenly he knew, and understood why he had been treated like a small child.

"You almost gave a candy striper a heart attack John. If it happens again I swear I will report it," Dixie pointed her finger at him.

"No, I can promise Dixie it won't happen again, ever. Really!" Johnny couldn't believe what just happened, he thought. No, he wasn't thinking, but now he knew better.

"Good. Goodnight," she waved and left him alone.

The phone rang making Johnny jump.

"Hello," Johnny expected to hear Victoria's sexy voice.

"Hey Johnny," Roy said.

"Oh," Gage was disappointed. "Hey Roy." He figured Roy wasn't mad at him anymore since he got hurt. He could always count on his friend for that.

"Don't sound so happy to hear my voice," Roy growled.

"I thought you'd be Victoria. Sorry," Johnny slid further down his covers.

"Well the reason I called was I wanted to know if you needed a ride home tomorrow," Roy asked.

Johnny could hear the TV in the background.

"Um, actually Victoria is picking me up Roy," Johnny grinned.

"Of course, how could I have been so dense?" Roy said bitterly. "Always Victoria."

"Hey Roy, look you deserve to spend time with your family, okay. Besides Victoria..."

"I don't want to know, Johnny. See you on shift," Roy hung up.

Johnny hung up the phone wondering why Roy sounded so jealous.

Roy hung up the phone and stared at it, wondering if his partner and friend would ever come to his senses.

"So how's Romeo," Chet sidled up to Roy. "He okay?"

"Yes Chet, he's okay," Roy sighed and looked at Kelly. "His girlfriend is picking him up."

"Oh so I guess you got replaced," Chet grinned.

"Chet, we all got replaced," Roy headed out to the dorm.

#######

Johnny whistled as he came in. For once being hurt wasn't so bad. He quickly changed and headed towards the bay to find everyone there.

"So John, are you ready to work?" Cap asked him. The man had a scowl on his face and his stare was intense.

"Yeah sure of course," wondering what he had done to get the third degree.

"Good because you have latrine duty, Roy cooks, Marco and Mike hoses and Chet dorms. Please check out the recent bulletin board postings," Stanley turned and headed towards his office.

The rest of the crew disappeared leaving John and Roy alone in the bay.

"I did the checks. We need supplies," Roy said slowly. He walked to the office. "Cap, we're going for supplies."

Cap waved him off.

Roy chewed his lower lip as they drove to Rampart. His friend was making a big mistake; Victoria was still dangerous in his mind, but he wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was his cautious nature but he felt Gage was in for a world of hurt.

"Hey Johnny," Roy kept looking front. "I thought you told me Victoria was a blue eyed blonde." He was curious if maybe, by pure chance Victoria had dumped him.

"Oh that," Johnny snorted and counted the hours until he would see his lover again.

"Oh that?" Roy returned the snort. "That wasn't the same woman."

"Yes it was Roy. You see Victoria is easily bored and well…she changes her hair color and her eyes like you and I change shirts. Actually it's pretty exciting," Johnny grinned thinking of Victoria. "I never know what she'll be like when I get to her place."

"Oh," Roy sighed and let the subject drop. He really didn't want to hear the attributes of Johnny's current love. "And she had a different name too."

Johnny snorted again, "Well if you must know her name is Victoria Morgan Caine. She does that too, you know mess around with her name, makes her more exciting if you know what I mean," Gage's grin got larger as he talked about her.

"Oh, okay, mystery solved. Let's stay focused huh," Roy backed the squad into Rampart.

The rest of the shift was slow, leaving plenty of time for Johnny to dream about Victoria. His time in the hospital made him reflect why he found her so incredible. Maybe because she was so free thinking and unrestrained. Victoria made him feel like anything was possible.