Pulling together

Since it was rather obvious that he had misunderstood something Hank turned his mind back to the phone call and tried to replay every word Marco had said through his mind. It was true that Marco hadn't told him that Chris had been killed he had just come to that conclusion when JoAnne and Jennifer had been talked about as being taken to Rampart with no further details other than to say Jennifer was in deep shock. He had talked of Roy being placed in the squad by the captain at the scene and Hank had just assumed the worst when there had been no mention of Chris. As he watched the color come back into Johnny's face Hank was glad he hadn't called the rest of the guys yet.

"I know I must look bad but you guys look like you've seen a ghost." Roy commented quietly as he stood to shake hands with his friends whom he was glad to see.

"Marco gave me a call to let me know you were here and needed someone to give you a ride home. He got a call while he was on the phone and didn't have time to give me all of the details so after he hung up I tried to piece together what he did tell me and came up with some wrong conclusions." Cap explained.

"Wrong conclusions?" Roy questioned clearly quite confused.

Hank let out a deep breath and locked his eyes on Chris. "He told me there was a code F then said your wife and daughter were taken to the hospital and you were put in the squad but no mention of—" he gave a nod in the direction of the boy who was still hanging on to Johnny as if his life depended on it.

Roy closed his eyes with understanding and shook with terror as he placed his hand on his son's head. Finally John gained enough control and bent down to hold his claimed nephew so that the boy's arms could now be wrapped around his neck.

Seeing that his son was being given the affection he needed Roy let out a sigh of relief and rubbed his son's head while shaking his own.

"It was a neighbor boy," Roy spoke softly, "just a few doors down the street."

Roy then turned his gaze back to the hospital bed and his sedated little hero. "While the father was on the phone calling the department, the mother ran to my house trying to find me. Jen was home alone so she ran to see what she could do until the squad arrived. From the report Jen gave the police investigator he was still alive when she got there but-, the first police officer on scene called it." Roy paused and chewed on his lip for a moment.

"Jo," he gasped then tried again. "Jo had a miscarriage this morning, we spent most of the day at the doctor's office. When we got home we were detoured around the accident scene. I was helping Jo into the house when I heard the smoke alarm. I went inside to find a pot of something burning on the stove, by the time I put pot in the sink and opened up some windows and door to let the smoke out I realized no one was home and knew where Jennifer had to be." Roy chewed on his lip in anger with himself. "I was so angry with her for leaving the house without turning off the stove. When Chris came home I had him watch Jo and I went to find her. When I first saw her she was sitting on the bumper of the squad being treated for shock. They let me go to her and she was so unresponsive," Tears were starting to build up in his eyes but he held them in. "When the coroner brought her bag over thinking it was the paramedics they had the blood pressure cuff separate and I knew, I knew she had done more than just see it happen."

Hank reached up and gave his friend's shoulder a supportive squeeze, then thinking he was trying to steer Roy's thought to a happier time, "Sounds just like the time JoAnne brought her to the station after she delivered that baby."

Roy's emotions took his voice away as he scrunched up the muscles in his face to fight back the tears.

Hank helped him to sit on the second bed in the room and rubbed his back, finally Roy was able to speak again.

"It was ten times worse Cap. She responded to me a little and was able to tell the police officer what she knew then she asked me if the kid was dead. . . the little boy under the truck was the same one she helped deliver the first time she was like this. She held him when he came into this world and she held him when he left it. Once I confirmed he was gone she just went limp in my arms, her blood pressure dropped so low they had to give her atropine."

"He was just a little kid," Chris cried into his adopted uncle's ear. Johnny pulled him tighter in his arms and just held on tight.

"You all need to eat something," Emily Stanley started to mother the group once the emotions gained a little control. "What sounds good?"

"I'm not really hungry," Roy declared, "But Chris must be starved after track practice." He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and handed several paper bills over to Chris. "I bet your uncle Johnny would take you to the cafeteria to get something to eat. Could you bring back some soup for your mom?"

Johnny agreed and Emily went along as well leaving Hank to sit with Roy and talk of how he was handling everything, of his needs for time off work and the resources that the fire department had to offer for him and his family.

When the food crew returned they had something for everybody and Johnny's jacket was draped around Chris's shoulders. Johnny then simply placed the warm club sandwich in Roy's hand and guided it to his mouth for the first bite. That was all it took for Roy to realize he was hungry after all.

Jenny continued to sleep and medications given to JoAnne for post miscarriage cramping kept her groggy and dozing at her daughter's side through the evening. Hank and Emily eventually left taking Chris home with them for the night but Johnny stayed. As the night wore on and the sedatives wore off Jenny started to move in her sleep, her movements shown of unpleasant dreams and every time she started moving Roy or JoAnne would reach out and touch her, caress her face and brush her hair away while they talked soothingly of everything being alright. They knew it was a lie, but one their little girl needed for a while at least.

When JoAnne needed to take a trip to the bathroom Roy was at her side to make sure she was steady on her feet. Johnny slipped in next to his little princess while they were gone. Holding her hand and rubbing her fingers.

When Roy and JoAnne returned they began to talk. They kept their conversations quiet but their voices still disturbed Jenny's sleep. Still there were so many questions JoAnne wanted to ask and most of them Roy didn't have the answers for. There was also the need to talk together and come to a joint understanding about how their lives were going to proceed from this point.

Johnny convinced them to go to the cafeteria where they could talk more freely and get something to eat now that Jo's stomach was settled down. Hesitantly they agreed because Johnny would remain at Jenny's side.

While Roy and JoAnne were gone, and they were only gone for fifteen minutes, the nurse came in to check Jenny's vitals. As the cuff was being inflated Jenny opened her eyes and looked around.

"It's alright sweetheart," Johnny responded to her awaking.

Jenny didn't say anything she just watched the nurse do her work then carefully lifted her arm to see the IV taped down.

"Now that you're awake young lady, do you need to go to the bathroom" the nurse asked with a friendly smile as she removed the blood pressure cuff from around Jenny's arm.

Jenny nod her head and sat up in the bed. Johnny helped pull the blankets off of her and the nurse helped her to the bathroom with her IV and stayed with her till she was done then brought her back to her bed.

Johnny was eager to tuck her blankets back around her and kept a smile on his face. Johnny had been able to tell that her blood pressure was holding where it belonged. She looked good and he didn't want to do anything to change that. While Johnny tucked the girl in the nurse did her charting.

"It says here young lady that you haven't had anything to eat for quite awhile are you hungry?"

Jenny thought for a while and then nod her head.

"I'll go order you something to eat then." The nurse spoke pleasantly and left the room.

"You're Mom and Dad just went to get a little something to eat themselves they'll be back any minute." Johnny leaned forward and talked to Jenny while he smoothed her blankets out and raised the head of her bed before encouraging her to rest back. He was growing concerned that she hadn't spoken yet.

Jenny took another long look at her IV line.

"That's just so the doctors can give you medicine if you need it." Johnny explained.

"Am I going to be okay?" Jenny asked in a frightened voice.

Johnny sighed in relief at the sound of her voice, "Yes sweetheart you're going to be just fine. You just got a little shocky and your blood pressure got too low there for a little while."

Johnny once again took Jenny's hand in his as he made sure she knew she had his full attention. "How are you feeling right now?"

Jenny didn't answer she worried her lower lip with her teeth. "Does mommy still have a tummy ache?"

"She's doing a lot better," Johnny answered letting the little girl in the bed lead the conversation. "Your Dad took her to the doctors today, well yesterday now and the doctor was able to help her feel a lot better." Jenny still looked hesitant, "You're mommy and daddy will be here in a minute you can see for yourself when she gets here."

As if on cue Roy and JoAnne came through the door and smiles grew on their faces when they saw that their daughter was sitting up talking.

"Hey sweetie, you're awake." Roy hurried around the bed and sat on the side of it and started to rub her legs as JoAnne sat on the other side of the bed and ran her fingers through her daughter's hair.

"How are you feeling honey?" JoAnne asked.

Jenny got a sudden panicked look on her face as she sat up straight in bed, "I think I left the stove on!"

"It's alright sweetie," Roy leaned forward and placed his hand on her forearm, "I turned it off. The rice you were cooking burned but other than that everything is alright."

"That was so good of you to try and fix dinner by yourself." JoAnne praised her daughter

Jenny once again leaned back in the bed and looked at each person around her. "Where's Chris?"

"He went with Mr. and Mrs. Stanley to their house for the night," Jo answered, still brushing her hand through Jenny's hair as she talked.

"Alan's really dead isn't he?" Jenny said the hard thing that everyone else was afraid to.

"Yes," Roy was the one to answer. "He was hurt too bad, there was nothing you could do to help him."

"If you had been there could you have helped him?"

"No sweetheart no one was able to help him," Roy answered, "He was just hurt too bad."

"What if you had had your de, defab,-"

"Defibrillator?" Johnny tried to supply the word Jenny was trying for.

"Yeah, that thing, if you had one would you have been able to save him?" this time Jenny locked eyes with Johnny for her answer.

"I can't know that for sure without knowing what his injuries were but not very likely honey. It doesn't work when there's lots of trauma, injuries to the body," Johnny answered honestly.

Jenny sat silently in obvious thought before she threw herself into her mother's arms crying. She managed to pull the IV out in the process and Johnny was the fastest one to apply pressure to stop the slight bleeding. Leaving Roy to work his way around to the other side of the bed next to his wife where he could hold both of his girls tight.