The Boot
Chapter Twenty Nine
By GCS
DISCLAIMER: "Emergency!" and its characters © Mark VII Productions, Inc. and Universal Studios. All rights reserved. No infringement of any copyrights or trademarks is intended or should be inferred. This is a work of fiction. This story is only written for entertainment. No financial gain is being realized from it. The story, itself, is the property of the author.
Johnny felt sick.
He was lying down on a rocking surface and his head hurt really bad making him sick to his stomach. Truthfully, he ached all over. He opened his eyes and looked around noticing the now familiar inside of a Mayfair ambulance. He swallowed several times trying to remove the burning sensation from the back of his throat. A mask covered his mouth and nose, and though it blew fresh oxygen on his face it made him feel claustrophobic.
"Hey you're awake." Tony smiled at him.
Johnny tried to sit up, but the straps on the gurney kept him from it. He didn't like being tied down. He pulled at the straps with his arms.
"Take it easy. You got knocked out back there. We're on our way to Rampart to let the doctors check you out." Tony noticed the stressed tension in Johnny's eyes. He thought he saw a flash of terror in the deep brown eyes. "Just take it easy."
Johnny pulled again at the straps, but gave up without too much of a fight. He knew from experience that he couldn't free himself unless he could get at least one hand free. He squeezed his eyes shut and willed his discomfort of being tied up back down.
A few minutes later the confusion of waking in the back of an ambulance and the initial concern about being restrained subsided, and Johnny suddenly remembered what had happened to land him strapped to a stretcher on the way to Rampart. His eyes shot open wide. "Bill!" he almost yelled the name.
"Is fine thanks to you." Tony patted Johnny on the shoulder. "He's still back there helping with clean-up. If you're lucky you'll be back there in a little while too."
Johnny closed his eyes and nodded. He had vowed to himself that he wouldn't let another crew mate be injured like he had Cody, if he could prevent it.
A short time later the ambulance backed into the bay at Rampart. When the driver came around to the back of the rig to open the doors it was two firemen who stepped out instead of one still on the gurney. Johnny had talked Tony into letting him up.
Joe backed the squad in beside the ambulance and stood waiting to help with the gurney when he was surprised to see Johnny stepping out the back doors first. He looked at Tony with his mouth open ready to ask what was going on…but the words didn't get a chance to leave his lips before Tony stepped out behind Johnny and answered the unanswered question. "What? He said he's okay. I'm not a doctor. If a guy says he's okay then I guess he's okay."
Joe's eyes turned to follow the younger man as he rounded the corner just inside the double doors and headed to a treatment room. "You know he's not okay."
"How do I know that? He said he was just tired. I know he is. He nearly collapsed at that fire earlier. We were all hot and tired. None of us got enough sleep tonight. So he got knocked down back there. So did Bill, but he was walking around and ready to help with clean-up. Gage said he's okay, and the doctor can decide if he is or not." Tony moved past his soon to be Ex-partner. "I'm gonna see if I can find a cup of coffee." He stopped just inside the double doors and turned back to Joe. "You coming?"
"Yeah I'm coming." Joe caught up with Tony. "But you know Gage has a tendency to say he's okay when he's not. I don't get it with that guy."
"Why not…we all do it; we firemen are always suffering from heat exhaustion, bumps, bruises, cuts and minor burns. Never slows us down unless we drop like a rock…does it?" Tony said with a tinge of aggravation in his voice. "If we ran to the hospital every time we felt a little bad we'd never have enough people to put the fires out."
Joe scratched his head where his helmet had left his hair damp and thought about what Tony had said. "I guess you have a point there, but Johnny…he just seems to get hurt a lot and doesn't always admit how hurt he is, besides he did drop back there."
"Come on Joe, I need some coffee while we wait on Johnny."
Inside the treatment room Johnny sat on the exam table waiting for a doctor. The nurse had him take off his shirt, but since he was ambulatory she had let him keep his turnout pants on. He winced when he pulled the t-shirt over his head. He was sore and stiff. His back muscles were tense. 'Probably bruised from that stuff that fell on us.' He stretched his neck and shoulders trying to ease the tightness some before the doctor came in.
A young blonde haired Caucasian man in a white coat came into the room. "What do we have, Carol?"
"A firefighter, doctor; he was brought in from a syncopal episode." The slender black nurse busied herself preparing a chart.
"What's his name?"
"I was just getting to that." The nurse turned to ask Johnny who thought it was very strange how doctors and nurses always seemed to talk about him as if he wasn't right there.
"John Gage." He answered before she could ask. "Station 10, LA County Fire Department. What's a syncopal episode?"
The doctor glanced over at the smart-alecky way the patient answered before the nurse was even ready to ask. He didn't answer the question, but instead turned back to the nurse. "What are his vitals?"
The nurse looked back at the chart embarrassed. "I'm sorry doctor. He got out of the ambulance of his own accord, and I brought him here. I haven't had a chance to get the vitals. I'm sorry."
Johnny couldn't help the uneasy feeling the guy in the white coat gave him. He started to get up from his seated position on the exam table and reached for his clothes that lay beside him.
He felt a hand on his arm. "Just where do you think you're going?"
"I'm leavin'." Johnny said as he slid off. "This is a waste of time." He swayed slightly from the quick way he tried to get up and flee the room.
"Easy there."
"I'm alright…just tired." He straightened up and tried to pull his arm away.
"Sit down." The white coated man demanded.
Johnny didn't respond well to the demand. In his past demands like that were usually followed with a slap or punch of some sort; he flinched and pulled back. His eyes narrowed and his body tensed making his bruised back spasm, but he stood stark still.
The resident mistook the masked fear as rage and told the nurse to alert security to his uncooperative patient. Johnny didn't move. The tension in his body further added to the exhaustion he already felt. He didn't want to cause any trouble. He tried to slow his racing heart by taking a few deep breaths and trying to clear his mind of the feelings that had crept in. He closed his eyes; like he had earlier on the hose rack, he tried to remember how to meditate like he had learned back on the reservation to calm himself. "I…I'll sit." He softly said as he moved slowly back to the exam table.
The resident stepped back quickly when the unruly patient moved. He stumbled against the equipment tray and almost fell. Johnny instinctively reached a steadying hand to him. The man stumbled further away from the helpful hand. "Don't touch me!"
Johnny raised his hands. "I was j..jus' t..tryin' to help."
Security, having heard what they thought was a ruckus, burst into the room ready to apprehend the perpetrator. What they saw was a rattled resident backed against the storage cabinets, ER nurse Carol across the room with a chart and pen hanging at her side and her eyes wide, and a tall skinny young man in fireman's turnout pants with his hands in the air in a non-threatening stance. "What's the problem in here?"
Johnny's mouth opened, but no words would come out. He knew he was in trouble here, but like when he was a young boy and often ended up in trouble, he didn't know what he had done. He just wanted to get out of there and back to the station.
Tony and Joe having seen security race down the hall to the treatment room they knew Johnny was in followed and now stood in the doorway to the treatment room. "Johnny are you okay?"
Johnny looked like a panicked animal ready to bolt its captors. He looked from the security men to Tony and then to the resident. His mouth moved like he was going to say something, but his eyes rolled back, and he slid to the floor instead.
Tony and Joe pushed past the resident, the nurse and the security men and helped their barely conscious crew mate up and on to the exam table without a word. Tony shot daggers at the resident, but he and Joe stepped back against the wall to wait until Johnny was checked out. Nothing would make the two "guards" leave even if it wasn't normal for rescue men to be in the exam rooms.
The security officers turned to the resident. He was known to be overly nervous and had called for them before for no apparent reason. "Everything seems to be okay here." The senior officer said. "We have real problems to deal with if you don't need us anymore."
The resident had the good graces to look sheepish, "Uh…we're fine thank you." He walked over beside Johnny. "Nurse, get me some vitals." He slipped the stethoscope into his ears and placed the disc on Johnny's chest to begin the exam."
Johnny only slightly knew what was going on around him. He felt the coldness of the stethoscope and hands on his wrist, but he lacked the strength to pull away at the moment.
The nervous resident did a cursory exam without even asking how Johnny was hurt in the first place. He declared him as suffering from heat exhaustion and released him to his friends. "Keep him hydrated for the next few hours. He should be fine." He turned and slipped from the room before anyone could ask him any questions.
Nurse Carol couldn't believe the resident had not asked for any blood tests or X-rays. He hadn't even recommended an IV which was standard protocol for firemen with heat exhaustion. She smiled to the familiar rescue team. She knew most of the rescue teams that brought victims into the ER. "Tony, I'm sorry about the way the doctor acted. He really is good at what he does, but he's just skittish." She smiled to try to ease the tension in the room. "Your friend really should be okay in a few hours. I know the doctor didn't say anything, but how long is it until he gets off shift?"
Tony looked at his watch. It was nearly six o'clock in the morning. "Don't worry about it Carol. By the time we get back to the barn our shift will almost be over."
"Well…" She looked at the chart and sighed. "Make sure he drinks plenty of water or juice." She then slipped from the room as well. When she got to the nurse's desk she ran into her supervisor. "Good morning Dixie."
Dixie looked over at her friend and immediately knew something was amiss. "Carol?"
Carol looked into kind blue eyes, "It's just that new resident, Dixie. He seems like he's going to make a good doctor someday, but I'm not sure if he can handle the craziness of the ER."
"What happened this time?" Dixie knew exactly what Carol was talking about. She too had seen the new resident lose his "cool" with an upset, injured patient. People just didn't sit still and quiet when they were in pain or sick. They were nervous and scared. The new resident was yet to learn how to calm his patients. He was too "clinical" for her tastes, too tightly wound and too quick to call security when they weren't needed. "Did he call security again?"
Carol smiled at how easily Dixie could ascertain a situation. She nodded to the affirmative.
Dixie closed the chart she had been reviewing and reached out her hand for the one Carol had just brought out of the exam room. Carol handed it over without complaint. Dixie's eyes widened. "Johnny?"
Carol looked at her superior with questioning eyes. "You know him?"
"Yes, I do." She slid from her stool and walked toward the exam room with chart in hand. When she pushed open the door she found Tony and Joe struggling with a mostly limp Johnny Gage, trying to pull his t-shirt back over his head. "Tony, Joe…" she greeted, "just leave it off while I find Dr. Brackett or Dr. Early."
The two rescue men smiled at the familiar nurse. They knew she would sort things out for their friend. They eased Johnny back down onto the exam table and retreated to their earlier spot against the wall.
Dixie returned a few minutes later and re-started the chart. "Okay boys, who wants to tell me what happened to Johnny this time?" Her blue eyes sparkled with calm assurance.
Joe cleared his throat to answer, "He uh…there was a roof collapse. He was hit with some debris and knocked out or passed out. We don't really know."
Tony broke in, "He had already been exhausted…earlier at a fire. We gave him some water. He seemed okay. It's been a rough day Dixie."
"Okay so…heat exhaustion, possible injuries to his…?" She looked at the men for the answer.
"Back." They said in unison.
Dr. Brackett entered the room. "What have we got?" He stopped in his tracks when he saw who the patient was. "Again?" he looked up questioningly. He didn't care for the young man on the table. He had to be reckless to keep getting brought in to his ER. His mouth pursed and his lip twitched. But he had a job to do. "What are his vitals?"
Dixie looked at Carol's notes and read off the details.
Dr. Brackett listened to Johnny's chest, looked at the bruises on his back; ordered some blood work and an IV of D5W to hydrate. He didn't find any broken ribs or overly tender places on his back to warrant X-rays. He knew the man would be sore, but that came with the job. "Call me when the lab work is back. In the mean time gentlemen, we don't usually need your help in the exam room. Why don't you wait in the cafeteria? We'll send for you when we know if he'll go back on shift or needs to be admitted."
"If it's all the same to you Dr. Brackett, after all the excitement before…we'll just stay here with Johnny." Tony answered for them both.
Kel looked at Dixie for an explanation.
"I'll explain later." She flashed him a look that said "Not Now."
He nodded his understanding and turned to leave. "I'll be in my office."
Dixie noticed Johnny looking up at her with tired brown eyes. "Hey tiger…we'll have you fixed up in no time." She patted his shoulder before moving over to the medicine cabinet to gather the IV supplies. "Why don't one of you get Johnny some water? The more fluids we can get into him the better." She had returned to the patient who by the look in his eyes knew he was about to get a needle stick. "Relax Johnny, you know I won't hurt you." She knew his dislike of needles.
He closed his eyes to block out the site of the offending needle. When Dixie picked up his arm to find a good vein he clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut. Dixie felt his body tense, but she continued her work. He was so tense at the thought of getting stuck by the needles to start the IV and draw blood that he didn't even notice that she was finished before he even knew she had started.
Dixie raised the head of the exam table so Johnny could drink the water Joe held out to him.
He turned the cup up to guzzle the liquid, but Tony cleared his throat from across the room to remind him to take it slow. Johnny smiled sheepishly as he lowered the cup to his lap.
Dixie smiled at the men. "I'll be right back." She left the exam room to take the blood sample to the lab. She was pleased to note that Johnny's color looked better already.
"Man you dropped like a rock earlier." Joe started the conversation once the three firemen were left alone.
"What happened with that other doctor?" Tony asked.
Johnny shook his head in wonderment. "I have no idea." He simply stated. "He thought I was gonna hurt him or somethin'. All I did was get up to leave. They were talking about me like I wasn't even here. They didn't even ask me why I was here."
"You looked scared." Joe declared.
"Well you would be scared too if they called security on you." Johnny shot back defensively. "I told you I was alright."
"You don't look alright to me." Joe rebutted. "You're lying on an exam table with that liquid running into your veins aren't ya?"
Johnny looked at the tube running to his arm. "'snot necessary."
"Dr. Brackett said it was." Tony said teasingly. Things were getting a little too argumentative for his liking. He wanted to try to diffuse the disagreement at hand before it got ugly. "Besides, now that Dixie knows you're here there will be no leaving until she lets you go." The three men chuckled at that. They knew Tony was right.
