Chapter 12
During the ride to the hospital Laura remained calm and encouraging in her conversations with her patient as she continued to keep her hand in the womb holding the trying to be born child away from placing pressure on and cutting off his or her life line. Rampart had confirmed that they were ready and they were to head straight for OR 4 when they arrived at the hospital. Laura spent the ride in calmly explaining to her patient what they were going to do and why and even though the patient was scared Laura was very reassuring explaining that she could feel a steady heart beat and felt certain that the babies were alright. Laura was even able to get a carotid pulse on the second twin while in rout.
Roy continued to monitor the vitals on the mother and follow Laura's orders, once the ambulance backed up to the doors he was out the side door of the ambulance and helping to move the patient out.
Laura placed her feet on the lower bracket of the gurney and gave the call to, "move her in."
Once inside the operating room the patient was moved to the operating table and the gurney and paramedic were moved out as a surgical nurse was applying a surgical bonnet and face mask to Laura. By the time this was done the Mother was under anesthesia and a sterile drape was thrown over Laura. With in three minutes there was an infant's first cry followed quickly by a second and Laura was then able to remove her hand from her patient and let out a sigh of relief.
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Mean while back at the accident sight Captain Hank Stanley was feeling more like the father of a bunch of squabbling teenagers.
"Cap we can't just leave her car here. It could get stripped or the whole thing could get ripped off," Chet argued.
"Yeah Cap this isn't really the best part of town," Marco agreed.
A quick look at Mike told the practiced Captain that his engineer was in silent agreement. As Johnny climbed into the second ambulance with the last two patients meaning someone was going to have to drive the squad to the hospital. This was a common occurrence and both Chet and Marco took turns doing that and then they would return to the station with the paramedics, sometimes getting to go along on a call before they got back, but there was only room for one extra person in the cab of the squad, not two.
Taking in a deep thinking breath Captain Stanley gave Officer Howard a look and made a decision. "Chet you take the squad in, Marco you drive Laura's mustang," (Captain Stanley had also overheard his linemen talking about something that Chet and Johnny said to Laura that was rather offensive,) you have my permission to use one of the screwdrivers off the engine to put her new license plates on before you do. Mike and I will follow you to the hospital with the rig."
The look of victory that Marco gave to Chet was priceless.
Mike took one license plate and Marco the other and the two of them had the car totally legal in no time. Mike then took the screwdriver from Marco and opened the car door for him to get in as Captain Stanley handed over the keys he had taken from Laura's pocket.
"Make sure you don't scratch anything," Hank advised as Marco gleefully adjusted the seat and mirrors to his height.
Now that he had a more complete story Vince had decided not to give Laura a ticket but he did need to get her statement. As the last tow truck headed off in the opposite direction the squad pulled out toward Rampart followed by a police car a blue convertible driven by a fireman and a big red fire truck, what a convoy.
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Once Laura was no longer needed she stripped off her gloves and stepped up to the scrub sinks. Once cleaned up she basked in the sound of crying babies as she stepped into the hall to figure out what to do next.
She managed to arrive in the emergency department just as Johnny was coming through the doors with her patient's husband and she knew what she needed to do first.
"I'm pleased to inform you that you are the proud father of two beautiful baby girls, and judging by the screams I heard from them I can tell you that they both have a great set of lungs and your wife is going to need your help walking the floor with them."
"Already!" the man with a head injury exclaimed.
"We had to move fast to save them, but they're doing just fine," Laura explained and calmed.
"And My wife? Is she alright too?"
"She's still in surgery, they need to sew her up yet, but she's doing just great. About the time they get you all patched up they'll be able to take you up and you can introduce your wife to her daughters." If the man was worried Laura's smile put him at ease and he motioned to the orderlies moving his gurney to move along. As Johnny walked beside him congratulating the new father while a police officer walked along side the second victim as he was rolled down the hall.
Roy stepped up to her with a cup of hot coffee, which Laura graciously took but didn't drink, and the two talked shop for a few minutes complimenting each other on their work and skills until Chet walked through the door looking for the paramedics. He was fallowed closely by Officer Howard and Laura took in and blew out a breath of air.
"Well now it's time for me to face the consequences of not knowing my way around this town." Laura excused herself and walked over to the police officer as Roy managed to keep his smirk to a mere smile.
By the time Mike and Captain Stanley made it through the door Officer Howard had informed Laura that under the circumstances he was not going to give her a ticket but that he still needed to get her statement and Laura was able to hand him the cup of coffee she had no intensions of drinking.
"I was stopped at the light," Laura began her side of the incident, "when I notice that the name of the street wasn't on this map that was drawn for me." Laura pulled a piece of paper out of her back pocket and handed it to the police officer as she continued, "I was trying to decide what to do and was a little slow moving when the light turned green so the guy behind me started honking his horn that frustrated me even more then he pulled around me on the left and hit that other car that was making a right hand turn head on."
"Ma'am," the police officer was looking over the map she had handed him, "The reason that street wasn't on your map is that you were going the wrong way."
"You mean I wasn't driving north."
"You were driving north but these streets are to the south of where you were."
"Isn't this an N for north," Laura pointed to a spot on her hand drawn map.
"Actually I think it's where someone scribbled on the paper to get their pen working." The Officer looked closely.
Laura slapped her hand over her eyes and then spread her fingers so she could open one eye, "So I was holding the map upside down?" Laura took in and blew out a breath as the Officer nod his head in the affirmative she then shook her head as she slid her hand down her face, "I'm hopeless."
"How long have you been in town?" the police officer kindly asked.
"A, lets see," Laura started counting on her fingers, "Five days now. But today is the first day I've been driving on my own."
"How did you get your black eye?" the Officer questioned.
"Oh that," Laura placed her hand under her colorful eye, "The, a, plane I arrived in hit the ground a little abruptly."
"You aren't by any chance the pilot that made that crash landing on the street in front of the fire station five days ago are you?"
"Well not let's get a few facts straight here." Laura began with a hesitant posture and embarrassed look. "First of all it was an emergency landing not a crash landing, there is a difference. Second of all I wasn't the pilot I was the passenger that just happened to know enough about flying to pull the plane out of a nose dive after some kids toy rocket broke through the cockpit window and hit the pilot in the head knocking him unconscious. And these excellent firemen were so gracious to clear the street for me at that moment so I could put it down I just had to take them up on it. The only problem was they didn't quite clear a long enough run way."
"I'm afraid we would have needed a little more heads up to be able to clear more of a run way." Captain Stanley piped in with a smile.
"As I remember things it was good we had our heads down," Marco spoke up having just entered the emergency department. He was still wearing the most incredible yet taunting smile on his face.
"Well we're all here now we best be getting back to work." Captain Stanley announced with a clap of his hands.
"Here's your keys," Marco handed them over, "I parked it in the shade and put the top up so the wind wouldn't blow the leaves inside and Mike and me put your license plates on for you." Marco listed before adding, "Oh and she drives as sweet as she looks," He gloated.
"Oh thank you," Laura praised and stepped forward planting a kiss on his cheek leaving a lipstick mark behind.
"Here's your wallet," Mike handed it over, "Do you need me to draw you a map to get home from here?"
"No," Laura was confident, "I know my way back to the apartment from here. "Right out of the north exit of the parking lot, Left just past the mall and then straight until I come to the apartment building on the right." Laura listed thinking each move as she spoke and watching the looks on the faces to make sure she was getting it right.
"You may want him to draw you a map." The police officer entered the conversation again. "The street past the Mall is closed while they repair a water main brake, It's not expected to open again for another six hours."
"Here's some paper," Dixie chuckled as she pulled a paper pad from her pocket, she and doctors Brackett and Early had been standing on the fringe of the group listening to and enjoying the banter that was going back and forth.
"I got a better idea," Laura declared and turned to Dr. Brackett, "Could you possible use some help around here until my path home is cleared for passage?"
Brackett couldn't keep a straight face any longer and started laughing as he shook his head. "Well Dr. Early do you think we can use this lady's assistance?"
"Sure that just means more breaks for me," Dr. Early grinned.
"Me too," Brackett chimed in.
"Great, I'll go get my lab coat out of my car," Laura smiled and followed the firemen through the emergency doors on the way to her car.
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Back at the fire station the men climbed off of their equipment and readied their turn out gear for the next call before heading to the common room.
"Lopez, you need to go wash your face," Captain Stanley instructed.
"AW Cap, do I got a," Marco protested.
"Yes you got a," Cap countered, "I can't have you rolling on a call with that lipstick on your face. Everyone will wonder what we're doing around here between fires."
"All right," Marco reluctantly headed for the bathroom while Chet moved to the kitchen. It was his turn to cook dinner and he had a big surprise for the guys.
By the time Marco joined his crew with a clean face everyone but Chet was sitting around the table drinking various liquids and watching Chet put ingredients into large plastic bags before folding the top over and wrapping a rubber band around it tight.
As his crew mates exchanged dreadful glances Chet carried the bags to the table before announcing. "Okay dinner should be ready in about five minutes but I'm going to need all of ya's help."
"What are you up to now Kelly?" Captain Stanley took a stand and was prepared to order pizza.
"It's one of the recipes that are in the manuscript that Laura gave me last shift," Chet offered as an explanation. "You're all gonna love it."
That explanation brought with it a measure of willingness but they were all still skeptical as they eyed the bags on the table.
"Alright Kelly what do you need us to do?" Cap again took the lead, He and Chet had had a rather serious discussion over the phone while they were off shift about other parts of the manuscript and Hank knew his lineman was taking his roll as the teams court Jester very seriously.
"First let's all stand up around the tables," Chet instructed and Hank used his authority to compel the team's compliance. "Okay now hold hands and get yourselves evenly spaced around the table." Chet continued after they were all on their feet.
"What are we going to do hold a séance over it?" Johnny asked as he reluctantly complied on his captain's unspoken orders.
"You can if you want," Chet countered finding it interesting that the same conversation was written in the manuscript.
"Okay now, we need to keep these bags moving for five minutes." Chet explained as he started picking up bags and throwing them to his team mates, "come on keep them moving toss them to some one else, they need to keep moving," Chet coached.
The liquids that were triple bagged was the hardest to keep a hold of and managed to get dropped several times. Marco was the first one to get hit in the face with one of the bags but not the last as the bags flew around the room at a growing rate of speed. When the timer in the middle of the table signaled the five minutes was over it took another couple of minutes to bring the bags to a resting position on the table and although they would never openly admit it the guys had had fun.
One bag was then dumped onto a cookie sheet and placed in a preheated oven, the one with liquids had the corner cut and it's contents was poured into a picture of ice, while the remaining bags were dumped into serving dishes and place on the table. "Dinner is now served and I think you will be pleased to know it contains everything needed for a balanced meal and we all had five minutes of aerobic exercise making it." Kelly announced, "And by the time you're finished with the main course desert with be ready."
As they ate they realized that dinner consisted of three different salads and they were all tasty. And desert turned out to be bar cookies which were quickly inhaled. All in all it was a meal they would willingly participate in making and eating again. Clean up felt easier too because there were no pots and pans and the plastic bags were just thrown away.
The night was a busy one for the station and when the next shift arrived they were more than ready to head for home but the memories of Chet's dinner still brought a smile to their faces and they changed out of their uniforms in the locker room.
"Hey Chet," Johnny got his attention, "Do you think I could get that recipe you used for dinner last night, it would be great to do that at a party sometime."
"Sure I'll copy it off and give it to you next shift." Chet agreed feeling somewhat full filled.
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When Mike pulled into his parking stall he climbed out of his truck and yawned. Just then he noticed Laura driving past him and pulling into her stall and remembered the map Cap had given him for her. Pulling it out of his truck he hurried over to give it to her as she was pulling a large box and two bags of clothes out of her trunk.
"You're going early this morning." Mike called as he drew close taking the box from her hands.
"Actually I'm just finally getting home from the hospital," Laura grimaced.
"You worked there all night?" Mike was surprised but he remembered they had had a long night and knew the paramedics took in several victims of the two fires they worked on.
"Not all night," Laura answered, "After about three this morning Dr. Bracket and I talked about what was going to be expected of me on my new job and some of the things I still feel I need some training in and then they made me get some sleep in the doctor's lounge before they let me drive home."
"Well good for them," Mike approved but it was clear by the tired look on Laura's face that she didn't get enough sleep.
Mike carried her box to her door and she opened it and laid her bags on a chair just inside before turning back and taking the box from Mike. "I still need some sleep, she excused herself."
"I can tell," Mike agreed as he reluctantly let go of the rather heavy box full of wall plaques, books and similar items.
"Oh," Laura added an after thought as she was closing the door on Mike. "I'll be going to work with you next shift. Dr. Brackett arranged for me to ride along with Gage and DeSoto for a week to get more familiar with the paramedic program here."
Author's note: I can't promise to get all the chapters out this fast but it does help to know someone is reading it and wants more.