Roy was up before his alarm went off, which was a bit surprising considering how late they had stayed out celebrating his reinstatement and the fact he probably should have stopped two beers before he did. He knew it was just from being so happy to be back on shift. The last couple of weeks had been torture.

He slipped out of bed and headed toward the shower. He let the hot water flow over his body and help ease the slight hangover headache. Roy figured he'd pop two aspirins before he headed out the door. Roy stepped out of the shower and quickly dried off. He took the mirror and swiped at the steam on the mirror before thinking about it. "Crap," he said out loud. Joanne hated when he did that, she said it streaked the mirror. He should have time to get some Windex and clean the mirror, he thought, as he finished wiping the steam away.

It only took a few more minutes to shave and throw on his jeans and plaid shirt. He headed downstairs to see what he could find for breakfast. He smelled bacon the second he opened the bathroom door. He let his nose lead him into the kitchen where he found Joanne making pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast.

"Wow, Hon, that really isn't necessary," Roy said, taking in all the food.

"One more bit of a celebration," Joanne said, handing Roy the aspirin bottle and a glass of water.

"That you're getting the house to yourself for the day?" Roy teased.

"Well, yes, as a matter of fact," Joanne replied, only half teasing. She loved her husband and children, but she could get so much more done when they were not around.

Roy took the aspirin and took a seat at the table as Chris and Jennifer appeared in the doorway.

"I smell bacon," Chris said.

"I smell pancakes," Jennifer added.

"You smell both; sit down at the table," Joanne said, grabbing a plate for Roy and starting to dish his breakfast.

Roy enjoyed his breakfast and a second cup of coffee. He listened to the kids talk about what was going to be happening at school that day. Joanne shewed them up the stairs to get ready for school as Roy finished his second cup of coffee.

"I should get going to," he said, standing up to carry his plate to the sink.

"I've got it," Joanne said, taking his plate. "You should get in a bit early; you know the guys are going to be going crazy having you back."

"Johnny will at least," Roy said with a smirk. "I saved him from working with Craig Bryce."

Joanne laughed having listened to Roy complain vehemently about Bryce on more than one occasion.

Roy leaned over and gave her a kiss. "See you in the morning."

"Be safe," Joanne said. "I love you."

"Love you too," Roy said, stopping to give her one more kiss. You could never take your loved ones for granted in this job.

E

The room broke out in thunderous applause as Roy walked in the back door of the station to enter the kitchen area. All the shifts that worked out of Station 51 were present. C shift was not out on a run and the members of B shift had come in to see Roy on his first day back. Roy couldn't stop the blush that colored his cheeks from all the attention.

"C'mon guys, I've taken more time off for vacations than this."

"Yeah, but this was no vacation," Johnny interjected.

"No," Roy shook his head, "No, it was not and it feels great to be back!"

Johnny handed Roy a cup of coffee. "I know you need this," he said quietly, a knowing look on his face.

Roy took the cup. "I'm doing pretty good; I already took a couple of aspirin."

The phone rang and Mike picked it up since he was closest to the phone. "LA County Fire Department, Engineer Mike Stoker speaking."

"Hi, Mike, it's Ashley. Is Roy there yet?"

"Yeah, Ash, he's right here.

"Roy, Ashley," Mike held out the phone.

Johnny looked over at the phone and at Mike, but didn't say anything.

"Hi, Ash, everything okay?"

"I'm calling to congratulate you on getting back to work. I'm sorry I missed the celebration," Ashley said, when Roy got on the phone.

"Yeah, where were you?"

"I had a few things I needed to handle with the move and it couldn't wait. I'm really sorry. We'll get together soon to celebrate. Maybe if we get some down time this afternoon I can buy you lunch?"

"Johnny and I would both like that," Roy said.

"If neither of us have calls, let's try to catch up around 1:00 PM," Ashley suggested.

"Sounds great."

"I need to get going; C shift is just getting back from a call and I need to touch base. Have a good day back, Roy; and stay safe," Ashley said, before hanging up the phone.

Johnny saw Roy hand up the phone. "She didn't want to talk to me?" He asked, going to stand next to Roy, so no one else would overhear the question.

"The squad was just getting back and she needed to touch base with C shift. We're gonna try to get lunch together," Roy put a hand on Johnny's shoulder. "And try to be nice."

"I am nice," Johnny protested, following Roy as he left the dayroom and headed toward the locker room.

E

The sounds of chairs scrapping against the floor immediately followed the sounds of the tones going off calling the station out to their first call of the morning. They had been taking a leisurely start to the day as they all enjoyed a cup of coffee and updating each other on the information they had been able to find to help Roy's defense against the Army.

Johnny stopped briefly and looked at the map, running his finger along a red line to find the destination. He looked at cross streets and quickly moved to the squad. Mike was slipping on his turnout and pulling himself into the engine. As Captain Stanley pulled himself up and into his spot, Roy hit the lights and pulled the squad out of the bay; followed closely by Mike.

No one noticed the light brown van that pulled out behind the vehicles.

Roy took in the mass of twisted metal from the four car accident and selected an optimal place to park the squad so they would have quick access to all of their equipment, but would not be in the way of the engine or ambulances.

Johnny jumped out as Roy put the vehicle into park and quickly moved to the first vehicle to check on the single occupant. "Hi, how ya doin'?" Johnny asked.

"I think I broke my leg," the man said, through clenched teeth.

Johnny had opened the door and he knelt down near the man and quickly took in the torn pant leg and the already bruising leg.

"Other than your leg, do you hurt anywhere else?" Johnny took the man's wrist and quickly calculated his pulse.

"No, just my leg."

Johnny looked at the other cars and knew there was a strong probability that there were people far more injured than his first victim. He quickly checked to make sure there wasn't any outward bleeding, he checked the man's stomach for tenderness and checked his pupil responses. Comfortable with the fact the man was stable and not in any immediate danger Johnny prepared to move to the next vehicle.

"I need to go check the other victims. Don't try to move, you're safe here. I'll be back in just a few minutes and we'll set your leg and get you on the way to the hospital, okay?"

The man nodded.

Johnny looked to see where Roy was and how he was coping with his victim.

Roy had also moved on from the first victim he had checked and was just approaching a woman with two kids. The woman was frantically trying to get out of her seat to check on her children, who were both crying, but she was pinned by the steering wheel.

"Ma'am, my name's Roy DeSoto. I'm a paramedic with the fire department. I need you to stop moving, you could seriously injure yourself."

"My kids! I've got to get to my kids."

"I'm right here, ma'am. I'm going to check them out right now; but I need you to calm down and stop moving."

When the woman continued to struggle, Roy changed his direction and went to her first. He put a firm hand on her shoulder and held her back against the seat. "Calm down! I need you to calm down. I can't help your kids if I have to be up here keeping you from hurting yourself. You've got to stay still for me."

The woman looked at Roy, for the first time she stopped struggling.

"If you will stay still for me and just try to relax, I'll check your kids out first and then come back to you, okay?"

"Okay," the woman nodded, slightly breathless from her struggling.

Roy ran a quick professional eye over the woman before moving to the backseat. Her pupils were equal, she appeared to be making sense. Her breathing was heavy, but it wasn't labored, so he was pretty sure it was from her struggling. He didn't see any obvious bleeding, but she had obviously hit the steering wheel pretty hard, so he wouldn't rule out internal bleeding.

Roy opened the door to the backseat to look at the little boy that was in the car seat immediately behind the mom. He checked the car seat and was impressed on how well it was installed. The car seat had stayed in it's appropriate location and Roy quickly assessed that while the little boy may have some bruising from the restraints, he had been held in place well by his car seat and was most likely crying because he was scared and his sister was crying.

Roy quickly ran a hand over the little boy's head, half trying to soothe him and half trying to check for any bumps. "It's okay, buddy. You're okay."

The little boy took a quick breath and stopped crying for a second.

Roy gave him a brief smile. "I'm gonna go check your sister now. You just hang tight for me." Roy wasn't sure how much the little boy understood, Roy guessed him to be about 14 months, but he was looking at him and Roy figured just the calm voice would help.

"Ma'am, it's okay to talk to your kids. Try to keep your voice calm. Let them know you are okay, and they're okay. Let them know that I'm here to help them," Roy suggested, as he moved around the back of the car to get to the little girl.

He struggled to get the door open.

"Mike, I need a crow bar," Roy called out.

Mike ran over the squad and opened the top compartment pulling out a crowbar and heading over to Roy.

Mike placed the end into the seam of where the door met the car and put pressure on the door. Roy was pulling on the handle and an area near the window that was bent enough to give him a good place to hold. Between the two of them they managed to pop the door open in just a minute.

"Do you need anything?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I see Johnny is checking the last car so we're gonna be ready to call Rampart here in just a minute. Why don't you get the biophone hooked up for me?" Roy suggested.

"Sure thing," Mike said, moving back toward the squad.

Roy knelt down near the little girl.

"Hey, sweetie. My name's Roy and I'm here to help you," Roy said, quickly assessing the little girl's overall appearance. She had a swollen and bruised bump on her head, but it wasn't bleeding. From the way she was holding her arm and crying though, Roy was willing to bet she'd broken her arm.

"What's her name?" Roy asked the mom.

"Sarah."

"Sarah, my name is Roy. I'm gonna need to check you out okay. Does your arm hurt?" Roy asked softly.

The little girl sniffed and nodded.

Roy continued checking her, and glanced over at Johnny to see how he was progressing. It looked like he was busy with the last victims. Roy looked to the side where Mike knelt down to set up the biophone.

"Why don't you go get Johnny's notes on his victims so we can call all of them in to Rampart?" Roy said, gently moving his hands to the little girl's arm. Yep, definitely broken, he thought, able to feel the difference in the structure of her small arm. The little girl cried out and pulled her arm away.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. I won't do that again; I just needed to check your arm."

Roy moved back to the front seat to check the mom. "Your little boy is fine. He's probably going to have some bruising, but there doesn't appear to be anything serious. Sarah's got a broken arm, but otherwise she looks to be okay," Roy filled her in, while preparing to take the mom's blood pressure.

He could hear Mike coming back behind him. Roy finished taking preliminary vitals and moved over to the biophone to call in all the victims. He could see Johnny moving back to his first car with the materials to splint the guys leg.

Roy made the call to Rampart and advised Dr. Early of all victims, their vitals and the assessment made by himself and Johnny. Dr. Early gave him the treatment plans for each victim. Roy notated the information next to each victim's information in their respective notebooks and read them back to Dr. Early as confirmation.

Roy gave Mike Johnny's notebook. "Take this back to Johnny and tell him treatment plans confirmed."

The members of Station 51 worked to free the victims from the wreckage and no one noticed Dennis Kramer standing on the sideline watching them work.

Roy bent over the little girl to give her a small dose of pain medication per Dr. Early's instructions.

"Don't let him give her anything, he'll kill her! He killed my brother!" Dennis yelled out to the mother. "He gave him too much pain medicine on purpose and killed him!"

"No!" The mother started struggling against the restraints holding her to the backboard. "My baby, don't hurt my baby!"

"Get him outta here!" Captain Stanley said to the nearest police officer.

"Ma'am, just relax. Roy's a great paramedic; your daughter is in good hands," Chet tried to reassure her, but the woman kept struggling violently. Chet bent down to try to hold her against the backboard, but she suddenly gasped and leaned back on her own.

Roy had already administered the pain medicine before the mother had even cried out so he quickly moved over to the mother. "Mike, get Rampart back on the line," Roy called out, not at all liking what he was seeing develop. The woman appeared to be having difficulty breathing and her color was getting ashen.

"Ma'am, are you hurting anywhere?" Roy asked, as he knelt down next to the victim.

"My chest hurts," she said, her voice strained.

"Is it hard to breathe?" Roy asked, putting a hand on her abdomen.

The woman nodded.

"Your daughter is fine. We are just here to help and no one is going to hurt you," Roy reassured her. The woman seemed to have forgotten everything Dennis Kramer had said, her own injuries requiring her attention.

Mike handed Roy the biophone.

"Rampart, this is Squad 51, patient 5 has developed chest pain and is having difficulty breathing. Suspect a possible pneumothorax," Roy relayed the information.

"51, administer oxygen and transport immediately," Dr. Early's voice came over the biophone.

Roy nodded to the ambulance attendant, who quickly moved over to allow them to move the woman onto the stretcher.

Vince joined the other police officer in moving Dennis Kramer toward a police cruiser as Dennis continued to call Roy a murder and shout obscenities at him and the rest of the men. Captain Stanley saw something large and black moving to his left and quickly glanced to the side. He felt his heart sink as he realized it was a television news crew filming Dennis Kramer and Roy as he moved with the woman toward the ambulance.

Roy loaded up with the woman and her two kids, while Johnny went in the second ambulance with the other victims that needed transport.

E

Kyle looked at his watch as he and Ashley exited the Treatment room from dropping off their latest patient to Rampart. "My friend Paul and his wife just had a baby and are in the maternity ward. As long as we don't get a call I was gonna run up and say hi, see the baby. Want to grab something in the cafeteria and we can take it upstairs. I'm sure they won't mind."

"Actually, I saw Squad 51 in the parking lot. I'm gonna grab lunch with Johnny and Roy. But, if you need me I'll be in the cafeteria."

"Sounds good," Kyle said, moving toward the elevators.

"Dixie, do you know where Johnny and Roy are?" Ashley asked.

"In the doctor's lounge," Dixie said, heading toward a treatment room.

"Thanks."

Roy wadded up the paper wrapper from his burger and threw it down on the table. "I can't believe this is on the news," watching the news story of the automobile accident with Dennis Kramer screaming at him and calling him a murder was killing Roy's appetite. He was glad he'd already finished his burger before the story started, because there was no way he could have eaten anything after watching this.

The cameraman had started taping just before Dennis Kramer had called out to the woman, so they even had her struggling to get off the backboard and showed Roy with a needle still in the little girl's arm. Dennis's voice in the distance screaming that Roy was going to kill her.

"This is total crap! I can't believe the station aired this," Johnny said, his mouth full of burger.

Ashley walked into the doctor's lounge and saw the remains of the guy's lunch. She looked at her watch. It was only 12:50 PM, she wasn't late for their 1:00 PM lunch plans.

"Hi," Ashley said, unsure what was going on, but feeling a little hurt and angry that they'd eaten without her.

"Hey," Johnny and Roy said in unison, completely absorbed in the TV.

Ashley moved further inside the room to see what had their attentions, but the story switched back to the newsroom and the anchorman started talking about the upcoming weekends and events planned in the city.

"What's going on?" Ashley asked; she could tell the guys were upset, but she had no idea why.

Just then the H-T Roy had laying on the couch next to him went off, advising them to report back to the station.

"Well, that can't be good," Johnny said, grabbing his and Roy's trash and heading for the garbage can.

"Squad 51, 10-4," Roy replied. "Nope."

"See you later, Ash," Roy said.

"Sorry, Beautiful, we gotta go," Johnny said, as he was opening the door, neither one really looked at Ashley or they would have seen the hurt expression on her face.

Ashley watched the door swing closed. She sat there for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. She didn't want to go find Kyle on the maternity floor, but she really didn't want to sit in the cafeteria and eat by herself.

Ashley fished some change out of her pocket and put it into the vending machine, selecting a banana. She carried it back to the Squad and sat in the squad in the parking lot, waiting for Kyle to return.

Roy started backing the squad into the bay a few minutes later. "Oh shoot!"

"What?" Johnny looked around, trying to see the problem.

"We were supposed to have lunch with Ashley and we ate without her and never said anything to her."

Johnny sighed. "Great, another black mark against me."