Chapter 7

Johnny headed straight for the ER. While he could plead his case, well, Claire's friend's case, to the head of the ICU or someone in administration, he knew he would have better luck talking to people who he knew, and who knew him. He made a bee line for Dixie McCall.

Fortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of traffic in and out of the ER right now, so she didn't look completely bogged down.

"Hey Dixie!" he called from a little way down the hall.

She waited until he reached her desk to reply. "Hey, what are you doing here stranger, in civvies, no less? I thought you were off shift and heading home for some sleep. You had a lot of runs last night."

"We sure did!" he agreed. "The accident that everybody is still making such a fuss about…well, it's been on my mind a lot, and so has the girl. So…"

"So, you thought you would stop in to see how she was doing," Dixie interrupted him.

"Yeah," he said, not quite looking Dixie in the eyes.

"Hey Johnny, don't look away from me," she told him seriously. "I know all about the 'don't get involved with the patient beyond their immediate care rule.' I could have written the darn thing. But there are some that just slip around our walls and defenses and we can't help caring more about them, and wanting them to get better." He glanced up and saw the sincerity in her eyes and grinned.

"You got me, Dix. I know we aren't supposed to really 'care', but if we don't care about the people we help, in some way, what good are we? They could have one of the robots on TV do our jobs, you know?"

"Well, I don't know if there will ever be robot medical personnel. You know how much patients complain about our cold hands? Imagine what they would say to a robot's hand," she grinned at him.

"Hey Dix, can I buy you a cup of coffee? I have a problem I could use your expert help on."

"Sure. Carol, I'm taking my break in the cafeteria with Johnny here. Can you cover for me?"

"No problem, Dix," came the reply.

"Okay," Dixie told Johnny as they settled down at one of the small tables on the patio, "tell me what the problem is."

"The girl who was in the accident, Claire Rogers… did you know that her own family disowned her because she was marrying someone who wasn't white?" He saw the look of shock on Dixie's face.

"I thought it was just his parents that didn't want them to get married."

"No, from what her friends told me both families hated the idea of an inter-racial marriage. I gotta tell ya Dix, it even hurts here," he said quietly pointing to his own chest. "I know what it's like to be rejected because of your race. I'm sure they would have had their struggles as a couple and so would their kids, but to deny love to a child, any child - because of race is just plain wrong!"

"You'll get no argument from me, Johnny," she said, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. They each took a sip from their coffee, to regain a little perspective.

"What I was thinkin' Dix, was if she has no family who will see her or care about her, but she has a "church family" that loves her and wants to be with her, shouldn't they be allowed too?

"I mean, after all, everybody lets the guys stay with me when I'm stuck…." Dixie just gave him "the look" and Johnny immediately changed his wording, "I mean, when I'm a patient here the guys, not only from 51s, but from other stations are allowed to visit if it's not too bad, right?"

"Right," she agreed.

"So I don't think this should be any different, do you?" he told her, working up a head of steam. "And she doesn't even know that her husband of less than an hour, is dead yet. I mean, I would hate to not know about something like that!"

"I know, Johnny. The first thing you do is ask about Roy, and you are the first one on his mind too. Well, after Joann, of course."

"So, what do you say, Dix? Don't we all benefit when we have our families, real or otherwise, around us when things get bad?"

"You make a good point, Johnny. Now, am I just the warm up and you are going to go find the hospital administrator on the 5th floor, and tell him all about your idea?"

Well, no," he waffled. "I was hopin' you could help me out. I mean, who needs to talk to the administrator? What does he know anyway?" He leaned in a little closer and softly asked, "do you think Brackett would understand? Would he be willing to help out?"

"I think he just might. Now who gets to tell him the good news, you or I?"

"I guess it's not fair to stick you with it," he said, hoping she would volunteer to do it anyway. But no offers were forthcoming. "Do ya think you could come talk to him with me, Dix?"

"I think I could do that, Johnny. Let's go find him!"

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