Just as Rachel reached for the lock on the locker room door, the door rattled. Startled, she took a step back before she managed to recover from her shock. "What the..." she heard Roy's muffled voice on the other side.
"Sorry," Rachel called out quietly as she scrambled to unlock the door. As she pushed it open her cheeks burned with embarrassment. This was the first time she'd been caught.
"Do you do that often?" Roy asked as he held the door open. It was the first time he could remember finding this particular door locked. In an all male station house there really wasn't much need. But then, with the arrival of the displaced, particularly the Barbie twins, he'd come to appreciate the presence of that particular piece of hardware. The senior paramedic was just surprised that Rachel had felt the need to use it too.
"Yeah, every time I take a shower. Sorry," Rachel replied, feeling very uncomfortable. Since the incident with Samantha, she hadn't really had any time alone with the man.
"No need to be sorry. Do you usually take showers this time of night?" Roy had suddenly realized that in all the time she'd been here, he hadn't seen Rachel take a single shower. Yet she was always clean.
"It's when it's quiet. I don't like to lock the door when the there are people around if that makes any sense," Rachel admitted. Trying to be unobtrusive, Rachel took three steps to her left in an attempt to move beyond the man. She trusted Roy but she didn't like feeling cornered as she did at the moment.
"Yes, it makes sense to me. I was just going to get a glass of water when I noticed that man sitting by Bob. Who is he?" Roy had felt a momentary panic when he realized that Rachel wasn't watching the ill man and that he had no idea who the man watching him was.
"His name is Mac Gerhardt. He works with Bob. Mac wants to take him to the hospital in the morning," Rachel replied. As casually as she could, she took another three steps toward the equipment bay.
"Do you think Booth will let him? I mean, despite all of us hoping that he would allow himself to be admitted, I'm not sure the government will appreciate separating you. They put all of you here together for a reason. I just haven't been able to figure out what the reason is yet." Roy had been pondering the plight of the displaced, even on his off days. As random as it seemed to be, he wasn't sure that it really was. The Winchester brothers were both here. Nick and Grissom worked together and knew each other before they came to be here. Obviously not all of it was random.
"Booth said he would," Rachel countered. She didn't like where Roy's thinking was leading them, especially if it happened to be true.
"I'm sure he assumes he can. I don't know. I don't mean to upset you or any of the others, I've just been thinking." With a crooked grin, Roy headed into the locker room, the glass of water forgotten.
Thinking hard, Rachel stood and stared at the door for several moments before heading back into the dorm room.
Early the next morning Booth spent several minutes on the phone arguing with his superiors. Roy's hunch had been right. The people in charge weren't so keen to have the group separated. Until Bob's condition was life threatening, they didn't want to send the man to the hospital. They were quite content to have Dr. Brackett come and check on him on his own time.
Booth was extremely disappointed in his superiors' decision. He understood that manpower was strained to the limit with the appearance of all these people but he didn't like the idea of threatening Bob's life because of lack of resources. But orders were orders. Taking a deep breath, Booth smoothed his suit jacket, stood up and left the office. This was not going to be a fun conversation.
"Are we ready?" Mac asked as soon as the FBI agent entered the bunk room. The firemen had left the room half an hour before and were ready to face another day. Ed was still asleep on his bed along the back wall. The Winchester boys had also been awake since the firemen stumbled out of the room but had kept their eyes closed and feigned sleep. Nick and Grissom were all ready in deep conversation with Spencer as the three of them exited the room.
"It's a no go. I'm sorry," Booth admitted. He had trouble facing Rachel and Mac. It felt like a personal failure.
"What do you mean?" Rachel demanded from her position beside Bob's bed. The military man was sleeping soundly despite all of the activity around him. The dark bags under his eyes had virtually disappeared and he had more colour than the night before. As much as this all gave Rachel hope, she really wanted to see Bob in the hospital. Now that they finally had the man agreeing to go, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"My superiors are refusing to allow me to move him. They say that there isn't enough manpower to protect him while he's there. I'm sorry. I tried every tactic I could think of and they still refused," Booth informed them. He didn't much like the look Mac was giving him but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Without waiting for their responses, he turned and left the room.
"That's just great," Rachel grumbled. She glanced down at the sleeping man again, feeling helpless. She didn't much like that feeling.
"I can't say I'm surprised," Mac admitted. Frustrated he ran a hand through his close cropped hair and resumed his position at the head of Bob's bed. It looked like they weren't going to be going anywhere for a while.
"I just can't believe it. Do they not care at all about his health?" Rachel had stood up and was pacing back and forth down the aisle. It suddenly seemed like she had a lot of pent up energy. It was either energy or exhaustion threatening, she wasn't sure which.
"Logistics take precedence. That's true of most things. Besides, I don't think he's any worse than he was last night. Will Dr. Brackett be in today to check on him if we don't take him to the hospital?" Mac asked. He was crouched against the back wall. Shutting his eyes, he allowed his head to lie back until it rested against the cool surface. He hadn't slept in more than 24 hours. It was beginning to catch up with him.
"I'm not sure but probably. Dr. Brackett was worried," Rachel said. Further discussion was pre-empted by the arrival of Johnny and Roy. Booth had filled the others in.
"You two must be exhausted," Johnny said. "Get some rest. We'll wake you if the tones go off."
Unsure of what else to do, Rachel moved over to Roy's bed. The paramedic had all ready changed the sheets in anticipation of the next shift coming in. For some reason it was the only bed Rachel was really comfortable sleeping on. Too tired to care, Rachel simply collapsed on top of the blankets and was asleep in moments.
"We'll watch him," Roy assured the crouching man. He had a hard edge about him that seemed to fit in well with Bob's demeanour. It kind of made the senior paramedic nervous though.
"If he wakes up or anything changes, wake me immediately," Mac ceded. He needed sleep if he was to take care of his junior team member. The paramedics had been tending him since Bob came here, they could continue to do so for a few more hours. He'd set up a proper rotation when he was rested.
Roy nodded his head in agreement. A quick glance at the two men and Mac moved over to the bed beside Rachel and was instantly asleep on top of the covers.
"What about chores?" Johnny asked as he took up position in Rachel's chair. Even when they weren't on runs, all firemen on shift had other duties to perform.
"I'll do them," Roy said. "At least until B shift comes in anyway."
