Part IX
There really wasn't any question about putting Roy and Chet into the same room to recover. Both men settled a lot once they actually got a look at the other. Marco, Mike and Cap had all been waiting for when they were settled and the whole crew was together for the next hour before Joanne and Mrs. Kelly arrived. Dixie had waited until the sheriff's department took Poole out of the building before calling the families. If Poole didn't already know what they looked like, Dixie wasn't about to show him.
It was decided that telling the women over the phone what had happened wasn't a good idea and that it was equally a bad idea to let them see the men without prior warning, so Dixie was waiting for them and borrowed Kel's office to have a talk. Between them, they ran the gambit of emotions. Mrs. Kelly felt both guilty and furious that she had been so close at the start of her son's ordeal and hadn't known anything was wrong. Joanne was spooked that Roy had been attacked by a former firefighter. It shook her feelings of stability that one of the ones that she generally trusted to watch her husband's back had been the one that needed to be watched out for.
Dixie kept them together and talking until they both felt under control. She gave them warnings about some of the problems their respective guys were dealing with and then escorted them to the room.
In the first bed, Roy seemed currently asleep with Johnny hovering nearby. He really didn't know what they could have known to do differently to have prevented what had happened, but he still felt that there should have been something.
In the second bed, Chet's hands were still swollen from the lengthy amount of time his wrists had been tied, so Marco was in process of feeding pudding to his friend. It was the actual sight of someone having to feed her grown son as if he was an infant that really drove the reality home to Chet's mother. She managed to keep her emotions in check though - right up to the moment Chet saw her and started apologizing as if he'd avoided her on purpose.
She didn't seem to know where to put her hand, so she swiped away the few tears that had escaped before she ended up raking it through her slightly greying dark red curls.
"Chester B. Kelly - don't you go taking the blame for what was done to you. Oh no - not your nose again? I've never met another with so much trouble with their nose."
As Joanne reached the side of Roy's bed, he startled awake, breathing hard. Johnny immediately took hold of Roy's left hand and started talking to him. It took a minute before recognition of where he was slowly began to come to him. And with that came realization that Joanne was there. Not letting go of Johnny, Roy reached out for her with his right hand and gathered her close when she came near enough.
As they got ready to leave the patients to the care of Joanne and Mrs. Kelly, Johnny pulled his other three crewmates to the side and filled them in on what he'd learned from Chet about Sam Davis. Marco was particularly annoyed about the level of what he considered flat-out bullying that had been done to his friend. Hank raised his hands.
"Not saying that anything will happen or that I want to know about it, but anything that Davis has done at our station is fair game in return. See you first thing in the morning, fellows."
Even Mike had an uncharacteristically sly grin on his face as he put his head together with Marco and Johnny.
The beginning of the next shift found Johnny's temporary partner to be Craig Brice - who in turn found himself on the receiving end of a 'joy' buzzer when Sam Davis introduced himself to the rather serious looking paramedic. Brice didn't even comment on it - just went on his way as if absolutely nothing had happened.
Brice ignoring Davis seemed to send the man into a bad gag frenzy. Brice accepted 'trick' gum that was super hot without seeming to notice the difference as he chewed it. He took a dustpan and broom and swept up the fake vomit as it coming across it was an everyday occurrence and didn't react to a whoopee cushion any more than he would have if he'd been deaf.
The way that Brice had Davis' full attention gave the other three ample opportunity to rig their own surprises. After going through fake vomit under his pillow, whoopee cushions on his mattress and a greased locker, Davis had a meeting with Captain Stanley and 'regretfully' informed him that he wouldn't be able to take any more over-time at Station 51. Hank thanked him for filling in for as long as he had and was able to find another lineman to fill in without difficulty.
The next shift was much quieter and when they were all seated with coffee, Brice asked to be filled in on what had been going on. He knew DeSoto and Kelly were in the hospital, but didn't know why. As the details came out, Brice just shook his head in dismay.
"I know that the man wasn't the most rational I've ever seen, but - no offense - why did he just go after DeSoto and Kelly instead of all of you?"
"For some reason, he didn't like Chet from the start. As for Roy? Poole was blaming him for not being able to find a job in another fire department. Said he'd heard that a paramedic had been talking about what happened here and decided it was Roy that did the talking."
Johnny hadn't been looking directly at Brice while answering, but he turned when he heard Marco speak.
"Hey, Craig - you alright there?"
The reason for Marco's concern was immediately apparent. Brice had gone pale as a sheet. Mike grabbed a glass of water and offered it. Brice took it and drank a couple of gulps before speaking.
"I - think that was me. Remember that paramedic conference in San Francisco that you and DeSoto couldn't go to, Gage? I talked about that fire incident - where he'd ordered DeSoto and Kelly to stay in the building."
Hank had come out of his office when he'd seen Mike run over for the water.
"Brice - what happened with Poole? Don't start thinking that any of it is your fault. The man was a walking time-bomb. If that hadn't set him off, something else would have."
"Yeah, man. I mean, it's not like you would have exaggerated or lied about what the guy did. I'm sure word was getting around before that."
Nodding slightly, Brice took a deep breath.
"You're right about that, Gage. In fact, someone asking me if I'd really seen Captain Poole suspend all of you is why I was talking about it to start with."
"See? They already knew. They just wanted to hear some first hand details."
Deciding it was a good time to change the subject, Mike cut in.
"Mind if I ask you something, Brice? How were you able to ignore Davis the way you did?"
"That stuff? That was nothing. I've been a magnet for guys like him since I was in junior high. I learned a long time ago that totally ignoring that stuff means they eventually get bored and go bother someone else."
Roy was able to come back when the next rotation started and the doctors estimated that Chet would return two rotations after that. In between, the other five members of A-Shift and some of their family members all descended on Mrs. Kelly's house where Chet was staying to finish out his recovery.
Chet's expression was an odd mix of shocked, embarrassed and pleased when he found out the others had come to do the painting work that he'd originally been supposed to do at his mother's house. With some working inside and the rest working outside, everything was accomplished in one very long day. Captain Stanley drove Chet and his mom to Chet's place so that they could sleep there overnight and be away from the paint fumes.
Mrs. Kelly waved as Captain Stanley left, then went over to settle Chet down. He was getting more strength back every day, but this long day with his crewmates around him had worn him out.
"That's a very good group that you work with now, Chester."
"You're right, Mom. They're the best."
As he started to doze off, Chet mused that there were things that remained to be dealt with. Poole's trial, for one, was bound to be an ordeal for both Roy and himself. Still, with the support of the rest of their crew, he knew they'd be able to handle it. The important thing was that both of them were going back to the jobs they loved.
He remembered Sam Davis and snuggled deeper under his blankets. Since Gage had had to put up with that guy, he supposed the Phantom could take an extended vacation?
Naw.
With a soft chuckle, Chet drifted off to sleep.
