A/N: Surprise! I'm still alive! Ha ha ha! Before you all start throwing whatever is closest to you at me for a very very very late update, enjoy chapter 6!
*Note: (In case you haven't noticed) I have zero to no medical understanding what so ever. So, any and all mistakes are mine!
Happy reading!
Roy's hand on his arm stiffened. Johnny took another shallow breath and listened intently to the conversation between Brice and his partner, trying to glean as much as he could without his eyesight.
As a child he'd thought it was fun to cover his eyes on a pitch black night and pretend he was blind. Many kids were scared to death of the dark from an early age, but Johnny never was. There was a part of him that loved the dark. Really, he enjoyed sitting in the pitch black dark listening to the world around him.
Perhaps he was at peace with the dark because he knew opening his eyes would guarantee his sight in a split second. Suffice to say, it was eerie to have no such comfort now. His breath quickened and panic gripped his throat thinking about living in the dark for the rest of his life.
He was blind! What was he going to do with his life? How would he live? How would he do a simple thing like pouring milk into a glass or walk down a hallway without landing in a heap on the hard floor?
"Johnny?" A face-less pair of hands gripped his face. Meanwhile Johnny's chest heaved in panic. "Johnny I need you to calm down for me."
Johnny closed his eyes, sobbing. It was surreal to feel his eyelids close, but not to experience any light change behind his eyelids. Roy slapped his cheeks trying to get his attention. He needed to answer Roy. What would his partner think of him sobbing like a baby making a fool out of himself?
"Come on partner...what's going on in that head of yours?" When Johnny didn't answer Roy was starting to get anxious. "Johnny!" He snapped. "Johnny I need you to talk to me!"
Johnny retreated back into his own mind. He wasn't strong enough to face reality or himself. Sinking back into the darkness, he breathed out a soft breath.
Some fights couldn't be won.
Kelly Brackett nervously hovered over the radio. Brice was instructed to radio in when they got Johnny out of the car. It had been nearly ten minutes since the last transmission and he was going stir crazy. He wanted to demand an update to satisfy his own anxiety but he knew all that would do is take resources Johnny desperately needed. As a physician he was concerned about Johnny's condition. As a friend, Kel was downright scared.
When the paramedic program started he'd been against it from the get go. He was a doctor, and being a doctor meant he looked out for the welfare of his patients. He was more than uncomfortable to think he was treating patients only through a radio. Thousands of possibilities had run through his head.
What if a major injury was missed? What happened if a patient wasn't treated correctly? How could he help strangers treat patients without being there in person leaving open the door to an assortment of possibilities?
To say the least he was critical of the idea of having over trained firemen 'playing doctor'. Then Dixie was hurt… Roy and Johnny had crossed the very line he'd drawn strictly in the sand. What they did should have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he couldn't trust any hose jockey playing doctor. Instead it did the opposite.
In a split second he'd gone from being the program's worst enemy to their strongest supporter. Kel rubbed his hands together wishing he had something to occupy his hands with as he waited. Again, he wrestled down the desire to demand an update.
Joe Early breezed into the room. "Kel, have you seen-" Joe broke off seeing the tense expression on his colleagues face. Instantly, he stepped closer in full doctor mode. "What's wrong Kel? Are you ill?"
"I'm fine." Brackett said, trying to calm his friend. His heart felt lighter now there was someone else in the room to consult with. He motioned to the radio. "51 called in a car accident more than ten minutes ago at Sierra Falls."
Joe was starting to put two and two together. "Sierra Falls...isn't that where-?"
"-Johnny lives." Kel finished for him. Joe's heart sank to his toes.
Kelly Brackett's normally guarded expression was wrenchingly open and filled with emotion. Before Kel continued, Joe already knew there was more bad news coming.
"Johnny must have never made it to work because Craig Brice and Roy were the two paramedics on duty. From what I can gather Johnny is a victim in a two vehicle accident. The driver of the other vehicle is stable, it seems like he got away pretty much unscathed."
Joe Early's mouth was suddenly dry. He had the urge to go home and pull the covers over his head and rue the day had ever even started. Thankfully, the surgeon in him took the lead, calmly, he waited for Kel to continue.
"Johnny wasn't as lucky. His left arm is broken in two places, pinning him to the door." Kel took a calming breath before he continued to share his news. "He has a hematoma to the base of his skull and his eyes are dilated and unresponsive to light."
Joe pursed his lips but didn't comment. By his years of experience working closely with Kel, he could tell the worst was yet to come.
"Roy also said Johnny was impaled by a half inch rod."
Joe's eyes widened. "Did you say impaled? Do you know how bad?"
"Roy said the rod punctured his back and is embedded in his stomach." Joe winced in sympathy.
"An injury in that position would result in a massive amount of blood loss. Johnny needs immediate medical attention…" Joe turned his wrist to look at his watch. "The ambulance should be here by now? What's holding them up?"
Shaking his head, Kel leaned against the counter. "Roy said the rod is pinning him to the seat making it impossible to extract him before the ambulance is on site."
Joe Early blanched as he thought of having to remove the rod from Johnny's stomach. Not for the first time he was thankful he wasn't a firefighter. As a doctor he saw his fair share of gruesome injuries but it was nothing like the brutal field medicine the firefighter performed. Treating victims with a large stock of medicine to relieve pain was one thing, while dealing with critical patients without a medicine cabinet was another.
It was Kel's turn to look at his clock. "The ambulance should be arriving on scene right now. I advised Brice and Roy against extracting Johnny from the vehicle before the ambulance arrived. He's already lost four pints of blood as it is."
"The ambulance is well stocked with everything they need. Not to mention, Johnny's chances increase once he's on the road. Although, his head injury may make things tricky."
Kel and Joe exchanged a look. Because of the head injury it was too risky to give permission for a sedative or pain medication. That meant Johnny wouldn't have any medicine in his system to make freeing him easier.
Roy's hands trembled. Mike and Marco had forced open the passenger seat door behind Johnny. Seconds away from extracting Johnny, Roy had moved closer to his partner holding his prone body. For the hundredth time today Roy checked his friend's pulse. Listening intently to his partners breathing, he anxiously counted every inhale and exhale.
Over Johnny's shoulder Roy watched Mike and Marco cut the back supports off the chair so they could pull the rod out of the chair. He shivered as he thought of having to cause his friend more pain. Craig Brice leaned towards him, an ambulance attendant trailing him with a gurney.
"I just informed Rampart the ambulance is here. Brackett says to get him to Rampart as soon as we can."
The blonde paramedic released a ragged breath and smoothed down an unruly lock on his partners forehead leaving a smear of red. Glancing down, he noticed the growing red puddle seeping through the pressure bandage coating his hands and arms.
Hastily, Roy locked eyes with Brice. "We need to get him out of here fast! He's losing too much blood and he'll only lose more when we move him."
"We still need to decide how to get him to Rampart. Do we remove the rod here or cut it off and let the doctor's remove it where they have more equipment?" Something close to concern covered Brice's face.
Surprised at the emotion Brice was showing, Roy forced himself back to reality. There wasn't time. Not when the life blood of his partner was steadily draining out of his body. Coming up with a split second decision, Roy addressed Mike and Marco.
"Are you almost done?"
Mike glanced up long enough to nod. "We're almost through? What's the plan?"
"Let me know when you can bend the seat back but don't cut all the way through. We need to see how close the rod is to his spine before we get him out. The last thing we need is a spinal cord injury."
The K-12 droned loudly working to free Johnny. Quickly Mike cut the back of the chair powering down the saw to let Roy know they had followed his orders.
Brice wordlessly reached inside the Rover and held Johnny secure in his arms as Marco and Mike worked together to bend the seat back carefully. Roy called for Marco and Mike to stop moving the seat. Then he twisted around his unconscious partner and examined his back. His lips thinned as he took in the blood soaked seat.
"Marco, can you take over for Brice?" Immediately, Marco navigated around Brice and wrapped his arms around Johnny holding his crew member in a seated position. "Brice, come look at this."
Brice poked his head into the back of the Rover so he could access Johnny. The man fought to keep his composure at the sight. The metal rod had punched into Johnny's back terribly close to the man's spine. The paramedics shared a long look. Removing the rod had just got a whole lot harder.
"Mike-" Brice said in his most professional voice. "I need you to contact Rampart for us. Tell them we have a better angle on the puncture wound and the rod is dangerously close to his spine. We'll need instruction on how to continue."
"Right away." Mike ducked out of view followed by a radio squawk.
Brice backed out of the Rover and reached for a pressure bandage. Deftly, he packed it around the rod as best he could while Mike talked with Rampart. An instant later Mike peeked inside the cab.
"Rampart said to cut the rod as close to the wound as we can and secure it for transport." Mike climbed into the back of the Rover and powered up the K-12.
Ambulance sirens and lights broke the still silence. Most travelers were already arriving at work cutting down the early morning rush hour. Inside the ambulance, Roy anxiously hovered over his unconscious partner lying deathly still on the stretcher. The trauma blankets had been pushed aside allowing access to the mortal wound still leaking precious life blood. Roy ached as if it was his own blood dripping into the saturated pressure bandage.
He adjusted the IV's dripping vital blood and medication into Johnny's veins. An oxygen mask covered the lower half of Johnny's face, pale with blood loss. Roy shook out his shaky hands and wished the ambulance would go faster. Pointedly, he avoided the maroon smudged bandages padding Johnny's torso. There was blood literally everywhere.
To prove his point, Roy looked down at his blood stained shirt. Suddenly he wished someone in management would have known better than to choose a light colored uniform to dress firefighters and paramedics in. The light blue shirts were easy for civilians to pick them out of a crowd easily, but they were notorious for showing stains.
Joann could work miracles with a washing machine and a bar of homemade soap on any stain that a drycleaning service couldn't get out, but this shirt was beyond repair. Roy made a mental note to make sure the shirt got to the garbage can before Joann saw it. His wife had seen plenty of shirts come home with suspicious stains. However, this particular one was one that was better off not ever seeing the light of day again.
The blonde paramedic sighed audibly in relief when the ambulance slowed down, backing into the ER entrance. Hurriedly, Roy shoved open the back doors and pulled the stretcher out. Johnny had thankfully lost consciousness after cutting the rod from the seat. It had been unnerving to watch his partner lay unconscious through the entire ambulance ride. Sternal rubs hadn't drawn any reaction.
It wasn't looking good, not at all. Roy thought. An unexpected hand dropped onto his shoulder. Dixie and an orderly efficiently pulled the stretcher out of his white knuckle grip. Roy made an awkward attempt at catching the stretcher with his partner, keeping pace with Dixie. The blonde nurse blocked his pathetic attempt easily-too easily. It was clear Dixie wasn't allowing him to take a step further.
"Dix-" Roy started to protest only for Dixie to give him a hard look near.
"Roy why don't you go wait in the Doctor's lounge?" Dixie pushed Roy away from the gurney. "I'll update you on Johnny's condition as often as I can. You have my promise."
The head nurse turned her back to him, expecting her suggestion-more like an order-to be heeded. Pfft, like that was going to happen… Roy pushed forward ignoring Dixie. He nearly made it to the treatment rooms when Dixie abruptly stepped in his path forcing him to halt. The orderly continued down the hall wheeling Johnny into treatment room 3.
"Dixie you can't expect-" Roy began to argue again only for the pretty nurse to cut him off.
"Roy don't argue with me." Dixie said sternly. "I know how close you and Johnny are. I promise you we'll do all we can for him. You did a fine job getting him here Roy, now it's our turn. You're too close to Johnny to be level headed right now." She pointed down the hall with a perfectly manicured nail. "Now go to the Doctor's lounge and wait for Brice to come." She ordered like a drill sergeant. Then her tone softened. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of him."
Roy opened his mouth to protest, only to find Dixie swishing through the door of the treatment room. Numbly, he peered down the hall where Johnny had disappeared. Dixie had never spoken to him that way-at any time.
In his mind, he knew Dixie was right-to some extent. Maybe he did need to give Brackett space to work on Johnny without getting in the way, but his heart said otherwise. There was no way he was going to allow Dixie to keep Johnny out of his sight for one second, no matter what.
Slowly, Roy stood beside the door to the treatment room. If he went inside he was definitely going to get a scolding from Dixie and Brackett. One he'd never live down, but it would be worth it so long as he could stay by Johnny's side.
The blonde paramedic pushed open the door and stepped inside, ready for the fight sure to come.