Emergency! characters belong to Universal and Mark VII. No copyright infringement intended. All original characters and story plot belong to Ariane Rivendell and are not to be used without permission. As always, grateful thanks to my beta readers! [chapter 11 posted 7/29/12]
Chapter 11
[Day 11: off
Day 12: off
Day 13: 24-hour shift]
"Stoker! You here?"
The engineer jumped a little at Cap's echoing yell in the apparatus bay, trying to make himself heard over the rain. Setting down the coffee urn on the stove, Mike checked his shirt for the coffee drop he saw jumping like a flea from the pot – figuring it must have landed on him - and crossed the kitchen threshold into the bay. "Yeah, Cap?"
Cap came up to him between the wall map and the Squad. "Where is everybody?"
"Locker room."
"Call Charlie, will you? Cap'n Hookrader said Dietrich reported that the pressure gauge for pump 2 isn't working. Again. I've stood the Engine down till he comes and fixes it."
"Sure thing, Cap."
"Roll call in 10."
Mike watched Captain Stanley whirl around and return to the office. Mike's eyes fixated as the conversation summoned a memory…
…Cap flinched violently, his eyes flying open in wild, sheer panic, breathing hard. 'You're here?'
'Yeah, Cap. We're here…'
Mike breathed in sharply, eyes wide with realization. He passed through the memory again, eyes roaming the bay beneath furrowed eyebrows. Needles of disquietude descended into his gut and he felt even more urgency to talk to Roy. Voices from the dorm intruded on his thoughts leaving him no time to ponder them further. He had to relay Cap's order about roll call and put in a call to the motor pool.
Minutes later, the men of Station 51's A-shift stood in uniform and at attention in the station's apparatus bay, between the Engine and the Squad, listening morosely to the sizzle of the rain outside.
Captain Stanley emerged from his office with the enthusiasm of a kid going to the dentist, did roll and read the announcements.
"C-shift had a hell of a run, early this morning, in the rain and the mud, so I want you boys to clean out the cab, the exterior and get all the compartments cleaned and organized. Engine's stood down till Charlie gets here to fix that gauge," he ordered, pointing at the dirt-encrusted Engine behind them.
"Uh, Cap," Roy piped up, "Johnny and I are gonna have to do a 10-8 to Rampart right after roll call –"
"Go right ahead. But you two are gonna help with the Engine, when you get back."
"Not a problem, Cap. Wasn't trying to get of it," he jovially remarked.
Stanley ripped Roy a look of sheer indignation, eyes narrowing for a moment until he finally glanced away. "When that's done, we need to go over the list of fire code violations that B-shift found at that auto repair place over on Bellevue. Oh, and I forgot to mention that C-shift had to call in a plumber for a leak in the latrine. They say it was fixed, but keep an eye out for any leaks."
He dismissed his men and then retreated back into his office.
The crew of Station 51 slowly broke formation, eyeing each other with shared empathy, but not knowing what to say amid the heavy air of Cap's surly mood. Roy and Johnny languidly made their way to the Squad for their morning radio and calibration check with Rampart. Stoker headed into the kitchen to check on their food rations while Marco and Chet started gathering supplies to clean the Engine.
"What the hell was that look he gave you?" Johnny whispered to his partner.
"What look?"
"'What look'. I swear, you can be dense, sometimes. The one he just gave you when you said you weren't tryin' to get out of cleaning the Engine."
"Oh. Yeah, I don't know. That was kinda weird, wasn't it?"
"Kinda? Looked for a moment like he was gonna bust you back to the Academy." Johnny made a face and opened the compartment to get the biophone.
"When you're done with the calibration check, we'll head over to Rampart."
"Which ones did Hansen say got mixed up?"
"The lidocaine, diazepam and the ringers and the MS. I've got the list right here," Roy said patting his shirt pocket but feeling it empty. "Actually, I think I left it in the kitchen."
DeSoto headed back to the dayroom, hoping he'd soothed his partner's curiosity about Cap. Of course he'd seen that look Cap had thrown him – how could he not have? And it seemed to him, it was nearly that same look Cap had snapped at him and Mike in the kitchen the other day when Mike wondered whether Cap was looking in the fridge for the milk. For the sake of morale, however, he wanted to downplay any odd behavior on Cap's part until he had a chance to talk to Stoker.
Roy grabbed the list he left on the table and stuffed it into his pocket. As he started back toward the Squad, he heard his shift mates' voices by the closet near the kitchen door.
"It's gonna be a long shift. Again," Marco commented by the kitchen door, rags bundled in his arms.
"I wish we knew what was eating at him. All this last week or so he's been a grumpy hard-ass. I mean, you don't think he's angry with us, do you?" Chet asked, grabbing another can of cleaners.
"Well, I think if he were angry with us, we'd know about it. No, this is something different," Marco replied.
I'd better nip this in the bud. Roy headed out to circumvent any further speculation and rumors about Cap or at least quell any open discussion until he and Mike had a chance to put their heads together.
"Hey, Roy, what do you think Cap's trip is?" Chet asked DeSoto as he stood in the kitchen doorway.
Roy leaned conspiratorially over to them – flicking a quick glance at Johnny who was quietly sneaking over – and so didn't catch the warning looks from Chet and Marco as he spoke. "Hey guys, look, I don't know what his trip is, but let's leave it be, okay? For now. Let's wait to talk about it some other time."
"Talk about what, Roy?" Cap was at his elbow.
DeSoto jumped as he whirled back to see the stern expression of his captain. "Oh. Sorry, Cap. Kinda snuck up on me, there," DeSoto smiled and tried to sound casual.
Captain Stanley just looked at him.
"Oh, uh, we were just wondering about that auto repair shop you mentioned earlier. I was just saying that, uh, well, you know, instead of conjecturing about what those violations were that you mentioned that we should just wait until, you know, we, uh, we actually discuss it and then we'll know what the uh, the concerns are, instead of, you know, wondering…about them."
"OK. Can I get past you now? I'd like to get in there and grab some coffee."
"Oh yeah, yeah, sure. Sorry, Cap." Roy moved from the kitchen doorway to let the captain by, then let out a breath, rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall.
Marco smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. 'Nice save', Chet mouthed as he Marco started for the Engine.
Johnny and Roy exchanged glances. "C'mon, partner. Let's get to Rampart before you put a foot in it," Gage grabbed Roy's arm and steered him back to the Squad.
~!~
Roy flapped the bedsheet in the air and started to lay it over Johnny's bunk. He was hoping to get some time to talk to Mike about Cap this shift. His days off had been filled with errands, family time and home repairs and he hadn't had time to ponder anything Mike had told him at the dinner at Manny's. Other than Cap's sniping at he and Mike in the kitchen last shift, he couldn't think of anything else that'd happened to pique his curiosity. He turned at the sound of footsteps to see Mike Stoker walk in to the dorm.
"Hey, Roy?" Stoker looked around to ensure they were alone.
With a slight frown, Roy followed the engineer's lead, not knowing precisely what he was looking around for. "Hey, Mike. Is Charlie still here?"
"No, he just left. We need to talk. Something underhanded is going on around here. Something to do with Cap."
The bedsheet in Roy's hand deflated and his face immediately matched the engineer's anxious expression. "Well, I know we figured there's something going on with Cap, but…underhanded? You think whatever is going on is being done on purpose to undermine him?"
"No, that's not it. Maybe underhanded isn't quite the word. More like sneaky, I guess."
Roy's internal alarms began to ring a little louder, "What do you mean? You find any more phone messages?"
"No. Not yet anyway. But that's only part of it." Mike looked around again.
DeSoto's ears perked up. "Okay. What else is going on?"
"Remember that TA over at Deadman's Dip, when those two boys stole the ambulance that overturned?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"When you and John were getting the kids out, Captain Steiger had Cap on 86s running board. Like Cap wasn't feeling well or something."
"Well what was wrong with him?"
"I couldn't hear anything they were saying at the time. But when I asked Cap about it later, he said he had felt dizzy. But I don't buy it, Roy. If he really had felt dizzy, why didn't Captain Steiger have you guys check him out? When I noticed he had Cap sitting on the running board, Steiger just looked at me and told me to take over the rescue operation, like he was trying to get me to leave them alone."
Roy's eyes narrowed as he pondered that for a moment, considering it in context to Mike's observation about things being sneaky. "Like you saw something you weren't supposed to."
Stoker nodded.
Roy leaned against the brick divider, "Are you sure you didn't just happen upon a private conversation?"
"They weren't just talking, Roy. Captain Steiger was holding onto Cap like he expected him to fall right over."
"Well that's unusual," Roy muttered, wracking his brain for other explanations but coming up short. "Is that all? Just that and the phone messages?"
"Did you notice him at the dinner at Manny's?"
A small, devilish smile crept onto Roy's lips. "Well, I noticed he was there. But I know you were watching him. That's how you dragged me into this looney caper of yours, remember?"
"You better watch it, Roy. I gave the men in white coats your phone number."
"Don't tell Joanne. She'll help them put on the straitjacket."
The two men chuckled, glad to have something ebb away the increasing tension.
Roy folded his arms, "So what did you notice at Manny's that you didn't bother to tell me then?"
"Well, just that he seemed distant, you know? When Chef was preparing the salads, Cap was staring at the table the whole time. Even when he first walked in he seemed…nervous, I guess. Like a probie on their first day on shift."
DeSoto smiled. "I'm usually nervous around Captain Hookrader and C-shift. But none of that sounds very sneaky, Mike."
"Even if Captain Hookrader is hovering around you without trying to make it look like he's hovering around you?"
Roy moved himself away from the wall, "You think that's what it was?"
Mike shrugged. "He followed Cap. And they were gone for quite awhile. That one waitress, Lisa? She said she saw them go out back."
DeSoto's eyes widened at the memory…
…Stanley pressed the heel of his palms to his eyes. Then in one sudden movement, he moved the chair back as he rose, and walked quickly across the room, seemingly following Mike's previous path to the Men's Room.
Roy started to push his chair back to go after him, sensing something off-kilter in Cap's manner as he watched him move across the room. But a hand stayed him. DeSoto looked and noticed Mike's hand on his arm, then followed Mike's gaze to Hookrader, who was trailing after Cap. The two senior men of A-shift exchanged a glance, both keeping a wary eye toward the hall…
Roy held Mike's eyes as he went through their list. "Captain Steiger covering for Cap, Captain Hookrader—" Roy's eyes narrowed. "The phone messages from all those captains…"
Mike nodded.
Roy rested an arm up along the top of the divider, a loose fist against his mouth. "That's all been within the past week and a half or so, hasn't it?"
"Yup."
"You know, it might be that he's just worried about Captain Kachowski's wife."
"I thought about that, Roy. But something Cap said this morning made me remember –"
"Where the hell is everybody!"
The two firefighters jumped at Cap's voice in the bay right outside the door. Roy grabbed the bedsheet that he didn't remember dropping as Stanley burst into the dorm to see his two senior men.
"Mike, where the hell is Charlie?"
"Oh, uh, he left, Cap."
Stanley's hands splayed out, "Was somebody gonna bother telling me? I need to put the Engine back in service!"
"Sorry, Cap. I thought he told you he was leaving."
"'Sorry, Cap.' That's all I hear around here, anymore. Roy, are you done?"
"Uh, not quite. Just finishing up mine and Johnny's bunks."
"Well, hurry it up. I want to get started on those violations on that auto repair shop."
"Hurrying it up, Cap."
"Yeah, swell," Stanley muttered and he turned on his heel and stormed out as quickly as he'd stormed in.
Roy re-laid the sheet on his partner's bunk. "Guess we'll have to finish this later."
Stoker nodded ruefully and headed for the latrine.
~!~
[dinner time]
The Squad backed in to the bay and Cap saw his paramedics get out as he sat in his office perusing through HQ's latest needs assessment statistics for their district. Johnny's voice echoed in the bay, his complaining tone barely registering to the focused captain.
Minutes later a soft knocking sounded and his view of the familiar red truck became eclipsed by the figure of Marco at the door. "Chow is on, Cap."
"Yeah, thanks." Cap rose, ready to follow his lineman, but aimed for the latrine, instead.
As he entered the bathroom area, he noticed the blue silhouette of a uniform on a hangar hanging inside the shower stall, a patch of yellow on a sleeve, and the sound of water dripping. He turned and saw Gage at his locker donning a uniform shirt and his hair looked wet. Cap's feet shuffled to a stop as he took it all in. "What happened to you?"
Johnny threw his captain a disdainful look. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," the young medic breathed in resignation as he buttoned up a clean shirt.
Stanley sighed and headed into the latrine.
Gage realized it too late and his eyes widened in alarm. "Cap, don't–!"
His warning cry was lost amid Cap's surprised shout. Johnny's heart stopped when muffled thumps and groans were heard.
"KELLY!"
As if on cue, Chet appeared at the locker room doorway with a mop, "Oh no…" He and Johnny exchanged a panicked look of horror before both men raced into the latrine area to check on their captain.
The mustachioed Irishman swallowed hard at the image of his captain picking himself up on all fours and whipping water off his hands. "Son of a bitch!"
"Oh, no no no no… Aw hell, Cap…" Kelly threw the mop to the side and moved to help him up, but Cap yanked his arm from his underling's grasp. "Cap, I'm sorry. I was just coming to clean it up–"
"This is a fire station, Kelly! Not a circus! In case you haven't noticed, it is inherently dangerous to have water on tile! This stops right here and now," Stanley growled, wiping his hands on his uniform pants. "You will stay here and mop this up – !"
"Of course, Cap – "
"And you will spend the entire rest of the shift cleaning this latrine until lights out! Is that understood!"
Johnny and Chet threw appalled, quizzical looks at each other and came to the same conclusion at the same time, but it was Johnny who dared challenge Cap's order. "Um…Cap – ?"
Captain Stanley barely turned his head, his eyes at the corners. "Does it look like I am talking to you, Gage?"
"Uh…no, sir…"
"Then butt out." Stanley's eyes slid back to his unmoving lineman. "Is that understood, Kelly?"
"Perfectly…Cap." Chet's hangdog expression peered up at his superior.
Stanley roughly grabbed some towels out of the dispenser and briskly wiped himself off. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like some privacy."
"Sure, Cap," both men said nearly in unison and stepped out toward the locker area.
Johnny's expression was stormy as he thrust a pointed finger in Cap's direction, "Chet, you need to tell him!"
"Tell him what, Gage? In about two seconds, he'll figure out that it's the leak that C-shift supposedly had fixed."
Johnny threw the confidently smiling Kelly a suspicious look. Chet turned and walked back to the latrine area. Equal parts curious and protective, Johnny slowly followed and walked in just as Cap crossed the room to leave.
"Don't help him, John. That's an order." And Cap was out the door.
Gage's anger skyrocketed and he threw Kelly a thunderous look, "I'm gonna tell 'im." He started after Captain Stanley, but in a flash, Chet placed himself between Johnny and the door.
"Leave it alone, Gage—"
"Like hell, Chet—"
"Look, just leave it alone, alright?"
"Well, how is that fair? You're not responsible for that water being there!"
"You really think he's gonna care, John? Right now, he just wants to blame somebody. The minute he thinks he's wrong, it'll make his mood worse." Chet smoothed the front of his shirt, "No, better he thinks he's solved the problem than make everyone's life – and by that I mean mine – more miserable."
"Kelly…"
"Look, it's not gonna matter what I say. In the state he's in, he's gonna believe what he wants to believe."
"Chet – !"
"Gage, I'm tellin' ya, just leave it alone. I mean, after all, it's only water. It's really no big deal. So stay out of it before your nose puts mine permanently to the grindstone."
"No big deal? What about the next time, Chet? Huh? What then? Is he gonna make you clean the Engine all by yourself because Mike ran through a mud puddle?"
"Gage! Drop it, already!"
Johnny visibly backed off and held his hands up, "Okay. Alright. Fine."
Chet breathed out and spread his arms apart, "I swear, John, you're like a mutt that's never been fed a bone before. You just can't let it go, can you?" Chet sighed heavily and went to retrieve the mop.
"I am not a mutt! And for your information, I am letting it go. I mean, go right ahead! Spend the entire night cleaning the latrine. I don't care!"
"Fine! So take your non-caring attitude and beat it!"
"Alright! I'm leaving!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Hey fellas!" Marco was standing in the locker room doorway. "Didn't you hear me calling you? Chow's on. C'mon!"
Chet threw the mop down and stomped out, glaring at Johnny before brushing past his fellow lineman. Johnny huffed and glared after him, in turn, before stalking past the Hispanic.
"Ay karamba," Marco grimaced and followed his angry shift mates.
~!~
[some hours later]
ka-plock! ka-plock! ka-plock! ka-plock!...ka-plock!…plack!...
Roy caught the ping-pong ball on its upward bounce from the floor and turned back to the ping-pong table. His eyes searched around to ensure no one else was in the apparatus bay. Then they settled on his opponent. Roy gave a slight gesture of his head toward the open back bay door and Stoker nodded in acknowledgement.
DeSoto threw the ball over the net back to Mike.
"5 serving 3," Mike said and served.
ka-plock! ka-plock! ka-plock! ka-plock!...plack, plack, plack, plack, plack…
"I'll get it," Stoker said and ran after the ping-pong ball that was headed out to the parking lot.
Roy looked around then followed the tall engineer.
"Did Marco or Johnny talk to you?" Roy asked as Mike traipsed over to his truck, walking slowly to allow DeSoto to catch up.
"No. You know what the fighting was about?"
"Yeah." Roy settled next to Mike against the truck's bumper. "According to Johnny, Cap slipped on the water that was leaking outta the tank in the latrine, and he figured that Cap assumed that Chet had gotten Johnny with another water balloon prank."
Mike bobbled the ball in his hand, "How'd he figure that?"
"Because Cap walked in when Johnny was changing his uniform. Johnny figured Cap put two and two together and assumed he got four."
"Why was he changing his shirt?"
"The mother vomited on him."
"Not the kid?"
Roy grinned, "Do you believe it?"
"If it's Gage, I believe it."
"I guess the mom was a lot more queasy about seeing that fracture than her son, was."
Mike simply nodded. "So what else did Johnny say?"
"Well, Chet walked in about then with the mop and so I guess Cap figured a Chet prank was responsible for the water on the floor. He ordered latrine duty on Kelly right then and there. Needless to say, Johnny was pretty miffed, threatened to tell Cap the truth, but Chet didn't want to make a fuss. Probably smart with Cap's mood today. Johnny figured 'nothin' doin'' and the fight escalated from there."
"So Chet's still in there?"
Roy looked over to the door to the latrine. "Yeah."
Mike sighed and leaned back against his truck and looked out as if thinking.
Roy absently twirled the paddle in his hands. "Earlier, when we were in the dorm, you started to say something. But then Cap walked in. Do you remember what you were gonna say?"
Mike sighed again, shoved off his bumper then turned and put his foot on it. "Did you know he's taken up smoking?"
Roy's eyes narrowed as he looked at the tall engineer, "How do you know he's taken up smoking?"
"I saw him. Last shift."
"Where?"
"Out here, in the parking lot."
Roy pondered that then half shrugged and twirled the paddle again. "Well, I still think he's just worried about Captain Kachowski. I've never known him to be a smoker, but who's to say he can't do that if he wants. It's certainly not the best way to handle stress, but –"
"Roy, it was early in the morning. Before dawn. Like he was sneaking it. I guess I was too tired for it to have hit me at the time, but after I came back to bed, I realized that I've never seen him smoking during shift. But it seemed like he hadn't just started, either."
"Hold on. Start from the beginning. When did you say this happened?"
Stoker relayed to Roy the events of the early morning from their last shift and his seeing Cap sitting on his car, lighting up.
"I kinda smelled it on him a little past couple of shifts. But I figured maybe Judy had started or it was Cap'n Kachowski. I know Cap's been spending a lot of time at their place, helping out and all that. Figured maybe he'd picked it up from him."
"I guess that's not the case. Alright, Mike, so what do we have? Cap smoking, Captain Hookrader at Manny's, that apparent dizzy episode with Captain Steiger, right, at that ambulance rescue?" Roy ticked off each observance on his fingers.
Mike nodded.
"What else?"
"Cap's mood sucks."
Roy nodded empathetically. "Yeah, well, there seems to be a few instances of that. What else?"
"The phone messages."
"You're right. The phone messages. And then that thing with Kelly, tonight. So the question is, when did all this start?"
Both men stared into the Los Angeles night, pondering over the events of the previous week and a half. The light breeze rustled the leaves of the nearby bushes, their gentle sound overrun by the occasional traffic. The senior paramedic glanced at the night sky, the rain and clouds finally clearing after blocking the Southern California sun for most of the day.
The rain…
Roy shifted against Mike's truck. "Hey, y'know…"
Mike shifted serious eyes from the 405 to the blond firefighter, "What?"
Roy's eyes held the engineer as he cajoled the memory out of vagueness. "I just remembered. 'Bout a week ago…maybe it was longer, you remember when Johnny made hot dogs and burgers? And Cap came in and complained that there weren't any left?"
Stoker's eyes narrowed as his own memory tried to catch up with Roy's. "Yeah…Johnny ended up making him an extra special burger."
"Yeah. Johnny delivered it to Cap in his office, even though he was on the phone. When he came back, I was helping him clean up the grill. Johnny seemed a little upset and when I asked him what happened, he said he thought Cap was crying."
A raised eyebrow was the only indication of his surprise, "Cap was crying?"
"According to Johnny."
Stoker thought for a moment. "Maybe that's when he found out about Captain Kachowski's wife?"
Roy glanced at Mike and then his eyes roamed about. "Yeah. Maybe. When was that, about the same time, wasn't it?"
"Think so. You know, Roy, I've been noticing that Cap's been having a hard time sleeping, lately. In fact, he wakes me up. Every time we're on shift."
"Breathing kinda funny?"
"Yeah. He wake you up, too?"
"Once before. Figured it was just a one-time thing, but I guess, since you're closer to him, you'd notice it more. He's been doing that every shift?"
"So far."
"Okay. So it sounds like he's really stressed over Captain Kachowski."
Mike bounced the ping-pong ball in his hand for long moments. "Maybe. But it still doesn't explain those phone messages."
Roy deflated as he considered that piece of the puzzle. "You said you noticed it twice. When was the first time?"
Stoker bounced the ping-pong ball off the bumper of his truck as he extracted that particular memory. One bounce got away from him and he ran after it. "I think it was about a week ago," he said upon his return and tossed the ball to Roy.
Roy caught the ball, reaching for it as a gust of wind threatened to veer it off-course, "Well, maybe that's something else, entirely. I mean, maybe we're putting clues together that don't really belong together."
Stoker made a face. "I doubt it, Roy. There's something else – "
The klaxons sounded, calling the Engine to a fire at the auto repair shop on Bellevue that they'd just spent that day talking about.
The Engine crew would later return to find the paramedics fast asleep.
~!~
Mike backed the Engine in, keeping an eye each on the Squad backing in next to them and the wall of the bay. Chet and Marco slid off the rig and, exhausted, shuffled to the showers with Roy and Johnny trudging in after them.
Stoker looked over to the officer's seat and saw Cap leaning against the door, dozing. "Cap? We're here." No response. Stoker shook him, "We're here, Cap."
Cap flinched, his eyes flying open in startled, sheer panic. 'You're here?'
It was a wild, desperate tone and Cap pawed at Stoker with his left hand, as if to reassure himself he was there, nearly using his engineer as leverage to pull himself to an upright position.
Mike grabbed Hank's hand and pulled him up, 'Yeah, Cap. We're here...'
Hank Stanley's panting breathing woke him up again. It seemed louder, tonight. Stoker rubbed an eye, scratched at his hairline and propped himself up on one elbow, wondering, again, if anyone else was awake.
Cap moved, then, turning over and shifting restlessly. He finally pushed back the sheets and got up.
Stoker guessed this seemingly new routine. Into the bathroom. Run the sink. Take a shower. Get dressed. Into his office.
Sure enough…
He looked at the clock. 5:11. Right on cue. The darkness before the dawn.
But a new sound this morning. Stoker listened. Rustling. Someone else was awake. A bunk squeaked and footsteps padded past his sleeping area, following the captain.
DeSoto.
Roy slowly entered the bathroom area, squinting at the light.
Hank spotted him in the mirror and nodded, "Roy."
"Mornin'."
"You're up early."
Roy flashed a friendly smile. "I could say the same about you, Cap."
"Yeah, well, couldn't sleep. No use fighting it. Besides, it's a good chance to get some work done before B-shift comes in."
Yeah, I know you "couldn't sleep". The senior paramedic hesitated, frowning.
The captain eyed him. "Something on your mind, Roy?"
"Cap…?"
Stanley straightened at the sink then leaned against it, waiting.
Roy looked everywhere else before gathering up the nerve to look his captain in the eye. "Is there, uh…is there anything you want to…you want to talk about?"
Stanley's eyes furrowed. "Roy, it's 5 in the morning!"
Well, what better time is there, Cap? You seem to avoid us the rest of the time...
"Can this wait?"
No, it can't. Roy paused. "Yeah…yeah, it can…it can wait."
"OK." Hank started his morning routine again, but realized Roy was still there. Hank stopped and looked at DeSoto in the mirror with some irritation. "Anything else?"
"No."
Stanley frowned and turned to face his senior paramedic, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, Cap."
"You sure?"
"Yeah." Are you?
"OK. Well, if, uh, if there's nothing else, I'd like to finish getting ready. If…if you don't mind."
"Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry, Cap." Roy smiled apologetically, ducked away and headed back to the sleeping quarters. As he returned to his bunk, Johnny turned over and looked at him, questioningly. Roy shook his head. Johnny sighed and slapped back onto his pillow and stared at the ceiling.
