Over the next week Johnny saw a lot of his friends from station 51. They helped him pack up his belongings. Chet was taking some of John's furniture that he didn't want to keep. Cap and Mike agreed to store what furniture John wanted to keep, it wasn't forever, and they were glad to keep that link to their friend.

Johnny was packing his clothes when Chet walked in and sat down watching. "Why are you keeping your Paramedic shirt?" he asked.

"Well Chet...I'm going to try this on every so often to make sure I haven't put on any weight. I'm not going to be as physically active anymore and I don't want to lose my...you know...fitness" Johnny shrugged.

"As if that's ever gonna happen" responded Chet.

"Well it just might" Johnny exclaim "I'll be sitting around a lot, lectures, studying and doing assignments. Mentally I'll be active but not physically." Johnny continued to pack. "Besides I want to keep it as a memento"

"The day you put on weight I'll run up and down the hose tower ten times" retorted Chet. "You'll be out there jogging as usual every chance you get"

"Yeah" Johnny shrugged his shoulder "You know Chet you should try it...In fact, you should come jogging with me." Chet snorted "No think about it, I could swing by and pick you up and we could catch up and exercise at the same time. It'll do you good Chet..."

"You're starting to sound like a doctor already" Chet countered. "John I'm not the one who'll be sitting around", John snorted.

"What do you say, come for a run with me tomorrow? See if you like it and if don't well...maybe we can find something else to do" Johnny reasoned.

"Ok, but on one condition" Chet's eyes were twinkling.

"What?" Johnny looked questionably and suspiciously at Chet.

"You let me buy you breakfast after the run" Chet smiled at his friend.

Johnny smiled "You're on" then he stopped mid packing and looked at Chet confused "As long as it's a proper breakfast and not donuts"

"Well in that case we'll go halves. I've seen how much you eat Gage."

"Chet" Johnny frowned and then continued to pack.

"When do you start working at Rampart?" Chet asked on a more serious note.

"Day after tomorrow. Twelve hour shift with Brackett." Johnny sat on his bed. "I am doing the right thing?" Johnny looked at his friend for reassurance.

"Once you start working, you'll know you've done the right thing. Besides who else is going to give me free consultations." Chet shrugged. Johnny sighed and shook his head.

"Help me finish packing these clothes." They packed in silence. Everything was moved to their various locations. Chet and Johnny ended up at Rampart.

"Kind of small Gage" thought out loud Chet.

"Yeah...well...it's cheap and besides I'll just be sleeping here." Johnny shrugged "It's all I'm gonna need for the first couple of years."

Chet stayed and helped Johnny unpack. "I'll pick you up at six" Johnny arranged. Chet reluctantly accepted and left. It was early evening so John went for a walk to check out the building. He looked for fire stairs and located fire extinguishers. He chuckled to himself and thought 'Can't take the fireman out of the man'

Chet complained furiously about the run but agreed to another after end of his next shift. Johnny knew Chet was all talk. Before he knew it, his first day as doctors' aide was upon him. He made his way up to ER and greeted Dixie.

"You ready?" she asked amusingly.

"As ready as I'll ever be Dix" replied Johnny.

"Let's get you outfitted first." Dixie took him to supplies and arranged for his pass to obtain his white uniform. She showed him where to leave his used uniform at the end of the day. She also set up his locker in the doctor's lounge.

He made his way down to Dr Brackett's office. He knocked and entered.

"Johnny, come in." Brackett was smiling. He looked his former Paramedic up and down. "This is going to take some getting used to" he exclaimed smiling. He liked what he saw.

"I don't know if I said this...with everything going on over the past couple of weeks...but...thank you Doc I really appreciate everything you've done for me and I'm not going to let you down." Johnny shook Brackett's hand with all sincerity.

"I wouldn't expect anything other than your best Johnny. I learnt that a long time ago" Brackett smiled proudly. "Well let's get started. First thing we do is go through the charts from the previous night" Brackett went on to explain the charts and what to look for and was very adamant to question anything that didn't look right. Johnny immediately pointed something out and Brackett smiled. "That's a very common mistake on charts, I'm glad you saw that." Going through charts took quite some time; Johnny was learning the hospital jargon.

Brackett was soon called to an emergency; Johnny tagged along and observed but helped with what came under his Paramedic certification. Brackett explained what and why he was doing certain procedures; Johnny listened carefully and took note of the kinds of questions Brackett asked the patient. The shift passed quickly and Johnny fell into bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow. He dreamt of charts and drugs and patients.

When he woke the next morning he made sure he had a good breakfast. Meals came at odd times during work; patients couldn't wait for you to have a lunch break. He packed his lunch to save money, grabbed his chemistry text book to start reading to get a head start on his course. Johnny met the new Paramedic team for station 51 A shift. One of the Paramedics was a trainee from way back Billy Hanks.

"You look good Johnny" Billy said to his former Paramedic teacher.

"Thanks Billy. How are you settling in? Chet's not being too much of a pain is he?" asked Johnny.

"No we both worked him out pretty quickly" responded Billy.

"Oh" Johnny was bewildered; it had taken him close to a year to work Chet out. He shrugged and resigned to the fact that he had little experience with Chet's behaviour on the reservation growing up."Say hello to the guys for me" he called out to them as they were leaving.

Johnny worked a few hour s at Dr Early's clinic doing vital checks and administering shots when required. His Paramedic Certification enabled him to carry out a lot of mundane procedures for Dr Early. Before Johnny knew it, his first day of medical school was upon him. The first week was orientation. He sucked up all the information like a sponge. After his first day he went to Roy's for dinner.

Roy and Joanne shook their heads. Johnny didn't stop talking from the minute he arrived. After he left, Roy looked at his wife smiling broadly "I've never seen him this happy since we were certified and he became one of the best Paramedics in the county. He's gonna be one hell of a doctor" Roy affirmed.