Chapter 16
One Month Later
It had been two years since Kim had left with Joey. No trace of him anywhere. Jimmy stopped going to Melanie and Catherine's houses looking for Kim. He had resigned himself to the fact that he'd probably never see his son again. And seeing Melanie and Catherine only made him angrier. He knew they knew where his son was.
Today, Joey's 10th birthday, Jimmy sat by himself up on the roof of the firehouse. His friends kept telling him to get on with his life. They were all worried about him. He had settled his differences with Lombardo and it turned out that he was not the father of Linda's baby. "Thank God for small favors," he thought to himself. Lombardo was a great Dad and he loved being a family man. It seemed as though all was forgotten and they were good friends again. Linda even kept trying to fix Jimmy up with her friends from work. Jimmy just wasn't interested.
He ran into Brooke from time to time. She was civil to him, but he never could look her in the eye. He felt too guilty about how he'd hurt her. But then, he hurt every woman that he'd ever been involved with.
Jimmy was brought back to reality by the sound of Alex's voice. She was in the window of the upstairs yelling up to him. "Hey! Doherty! Let's go. We got a job!" she said, pausing for a moment to make sure that he'd heard her this time. "Coming," he yelled down to her. Alex headed down stairs to jump on the truck. Jimmy followed close behind. At least he still had his job to keep his mind occupied for a little while. He grabbed his gear and jumped on the truck as it pulled out of the station.
"Whatta we got, Cap?" he called over to the Captain who had a worried look on his face. He'd seen Jimmy go downhill ever since Kim had left. He always used to be aggressive in a fire, but he was different now - he took greater chances. It was like he didn't care if he got hurt or even killed in a fire. He'd tried to talk to Doherty on several occasions and finally had it out with him. He remembered the day well.
~~~~~~~~~~
I"Doherty! My office. NOW!" the Captain called to Jimmy when they had gotten back from their last call. He'd just gotten off the phone with the doctor at Mercy. D.K. was going to be okay, but he was lucky. He'd be back to work in a couple of shifts.
Jimmy knew he was in trouble. He'd taken too big of a risk and one of his best friends had paid the price. He walked into the Captain's office, head down.
The Captain walked over and slammed the door shut. The guys outside of the office all flinched when they heard the slamming of the door. Then, they heard the muffled sounds of the Captain reaming Jimmy out for his stupid actions.
Billy Walsh looked over at Lombardo, "We gotta do something about him. He's gonna get himself or someone else killed soon."
"I know, Billy. I can't believe Kim just left like that. He needs to see Joey. I'm gonna stop by Kim's old apartment and see her sister. See if I can get anything out of her," he said, and was then interrupted by the opening of the Captain's door.
"I mean it Doherty! I'll pull you in a heartbeat if you don't get your head out of your ass," he finished as Doherty came out and headed up to the bunkroom./I
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Cap? Whatta we got?" Jimmy asked again, pulling the Captain back to the present.
"Car accident. Nothing too bad," he replied turning back to the front and then telling the driver where to park the truck as they pulled up on the scene. "Okay, guys. Do your thing," he said as the crew began going about their assigned duties.
Jimmy was kind of disappointed that there wasn't a working fire they were going to. Those kinds of calls took his full attention. This kind of call was more of a cut and dried response. Everyone had a job to do and they did them well. Sometimes you didn't even have to think about what you were doing. And that's when things get dangerous.
Doc and Carlos were already on-scene and inside the car with the patient. The patient was critical and needed to be extricated as soon as possible. Jimmy went to the hood of the car and lifted it. He started to go about the job of disconnecting the battery, standard operating procedure at any car fire or accident scene. As he reached over to rip the cables off, there was a spark and the battery exploded. Jimmy jumped back at the first sign of the spark, but wasn't able to beat the explosion of the battery that followed. He caught the explosion full in the face, the battery acid spraying over him. Billy immediately hit him with the water from the hose that was at the ready for any kind of emergency - another standard at this type of a call - to wash away any fire and dilute the acid. Alex dropper her tools and immediately went to Jimmy's side.
"Jimmy! Let me see. Jimmy you have to let me see," she said, trying to pull his hands away from his face. Finally, the Captain was there and helped Alex get his arms down so she could take a look.
"What's goin' on out there?" Doc called out from inside the vehicle. He knew from the sounds that something happened and someone got hurt. He just didn't know how badly or if he should call for another rig.
"Jimmy got hit in the face when the car battery exploded," one of the firefighters yelled in to Doc.
"How bad?" Doc asked, continuing with the care of his patient as the rest of the fire crew cut the posts with the jaws and began to peel the roof back in order to get the patient out.
"I don't know. Alex and the Captain are with him," came the reply.
Finally the roof was removed and Doc stood up to look over at Jimmy. "Alex! What do you need?" he yelled over to her as she reached into the open trauma kit alongside the car and grabbed a bottle of sterile water used for burn patients. She opened the bottle and began pouring it over Jimmy's face and neck to get any remaining acid off of him. Jimmy was in quite a bit of pain, both from the shock of what happened and the burns.
"Chemical burns to the face and neck. I don't know if he ingested anything. He had safety goggles and his gear on so that saved his eyes, hands and body. We got him pretty quick with the water," Alex said, looking up and nodding at Billy who had been the quickest to react. "Hopefully, the burns won't be too bad."
"Do you need me?" Doc asked, as he and Carlos finished putting their patient on a backboard and began removing him from the car with the help of the firefighters.
"I've got him. He can probably ride in with you guys. I'll get some vitals on him for you," answered Alex.
"Jimmy? Can you hear me?" Alex said as Jimmy suddenly fell silent. "Jimmy?" she said again, beginning to get alarmed.
After a moment, Jimmy quietly replied, "Yeah, Alex. I hear you."
"Did you ingest any of this stuff?" Alex asked him, as she slowly helped him to sit up. He thought for a moment, taking time to notice any funny taste or pain in his mouth.
"I don't think so. That's unfortunate," he said sadly. "Did anyone else get hurt?" he asked, suddenly afraid that he'd hurt someone else with his inattention.
"No, just you big guy," came the response from Billy, who was removing Jimmy's gloves and helping him out of his contaminated turnout coat. Alex was removing his goggles.
Jimmy opened his eyes and looked over at Billy. "Thanks, man."
"Anytime, Bro'," Billy responded slapping Jimmy on the back and heading back to the car accident to finish his job.
Alex went about the task of treating the burns to Jimmy's face. "So how bad are they?" he asked her.
"Not too bad. I think Billy got to you pretty quick," she said, looking at him, thinking about his comment of a few minutes ago. She made a mental note to quietly mention it to Doc before they left for the hospital. She knew who was working in the ER that day and knew that he'd keep it as confidential as he could. Couldn't hurt to have someone come in and talk to him - especially after a comment like that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jimmy finished up at the hospital. Luckily he just had some minor burns to his face. They'd heal in time and with very little or no scarring. He was lucky they'd said. Funny, he didn't feel lucky, he thought to himself as he walked in the darkened street, a box under his arm.
He knocked on the door and waited for Catherine to answer the door. He wanted to drop off a birthday present for Joey. He'd been doing that for his birthdays and Christmas for the last two years now. He knew he was getting the presents, because every once in a while, he'd get a thank you card in the mail from Joey. The return address on the envelope always read either Catherine or Melanie's address. So he was mailing them there and then they were forwarding them on to Jimmy.
Catherine opened the door without thinking, the cordless phone to her ear. She stopped talking into the phone. "Jimmy," she said in a whisper, but loud enough to be heard on the other end of the phone.
"Grandma?" came the voice from the other end of the phone. Joey had called his grandmother to thank her for the presents that she and Melanie had sent to him for his birthday. "Is that my Dad?" he asked.
Catherine was flustered for just a moment, but long enough for Jimmy to take the phone from her. "Joey?" he said into the phone, tears springing to his eyes as he heard his son's voice for the first time in two years.
"Dad. Are you okay?" Joey asked him, Kim coming up behind him when she heard Joey was talking to Jimmy.
"Yeah, Pal. I'm great now. Happy Birthday, Son," he said, tears falling down his cheek.
Suddenly Kim was on the phone. "Jimmy," she said. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this right now," she said, hanging up the phone.
"Kim! Joey!" yelled Jimmy into the phone, but all he heard was the dial tone. He handed the phone back to Catherine and turned to walk away.
"Jimmy," Catherine called after him. "Are you okay? You look like you're hurt," she said. "Can I do anything for you?"
Jimmy continued down the steps, not turning around, just waving Catherine off as he continued down the street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mom! Why did you do that?" asked Joey with anger in his voice.
"Joey," Kim started only to be interrupted by her son.
"No Mom! He's my father. I wanted to talk to him," he said storming off to his room. He'd been asking to see his father for a while now. His friends had been doing things with their fathers and even though Bobby was always there for him and they were very close, he still felt slighted and his anger was building.
"Kim," Bobby said from behind her. "You need to fix this," he said simply, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I know," Kim said. "I know."
One Month Later
It had been two years since Kim had left with Joey. No trace of him anywhere. Jimmy stopped going to Melanie and Catherine's houses looking for Kim. He had resigned himself to the fact that he'd probably never see his son again. And seeing Melanie and Catherine only made him angrier. He knew they knew where his son was.
Today, Joey's 10th birthday, Jimmy sat by himself up on the roof of the firehouse. His friends kept telling him to get on with his life. They were all worried about him. He had settled his differences with Lombardo and it turned out that he was not the father of Linda's baby. "Thank God for small favors," he thought to himself. Lombardo was a great Dad and he loved being a family man. It seemed as though all was forgotten and they were good friends again. Linda even kept trying to fix Jimmy up with her friends from work. Jimmy just wasn't interested.
He ran into Brooke from time to time. She was civil to him, but he never could look her in the eye. He felt too guilty about how he'd hurt her. But then, he hurt every woman that he'd ever been involved with.
Jimmy was brought back to reality by the sound of Alex's voice. She was in the window of the upstairs yelling up to him. "Hey! Doherty! Let's go. We got a job!" she said, pausing for a moment to make sure that he'd heard her this time. "Coming," he yelled down to her. Alex headed down stairs to jump on the truck. Jimmy followed close behind. At least he still had his job to keep his mind occupied for a little while. He grabbed his gear and jumped on the truck as it pulled out of the station.
"Whatta we got, Cap?" he called over to the Captain who had a worried look on his face. He'd seen Jimmy go downhill ever since Kim had left. He always used to be aggressive in a fire, but he was different now - he took greater chances. It was like he didn't care if he got hurt or even killed in a fire. He'd tried to talk to Doherty on several occasions and finally had it out with him. He remembered the day well.
~~~~~~~~~~
I"Doherty! My office. NOW!" the Captain called to Jimmy when they had gotten back from their last call. He'd just gotten off the phone with the doctor at Mercy. D.K. was going to be okay, but he was lucky. He'd be back to work in a couple of shifts.
Jimmy knew he was in trouble. He'd taken too big of a risk and one of his best friends had paid the price. He walked into the Captain's office, head down.
The Captain walked over and slammed the door shut. The guys outside of the office all flinched when they heard the slamming of the door. Then, they heard the muffled sounds of the Captain reaming Jimmy out for his stupid actions.
Billy Walsh looked over at Lombardo, "We gotta do something about him. He's gonna get himself or someone else killed soon."
"I know, Billy. I can't believe Kim just left like that. He needs to see Joey. I'm gonna stop by Kim's old apartment and see her sister. See if I can get anything out of her," he said, and was then interrupted by the opening of the Captain's door.
"I mean it Doherty! I'll pull you in a heartbeat if you don't get your head out of your ass," he finished as Doherty came out and headed up to the bunkroom./I
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Cap? Whatta we got?" Jimmy asked again, pulling the Captain back to the present.
"Car accident. Nothing too bad," he replied turning back to the front and then telling the driver where to park the truck as they pulled up on the scene. "Okay, guys. Do your thing," he said as the crew began going about their assigned duties.
Jimmy was kind of disappointed that there wasn't a working fire they were going to. Those kinds of calls took his full attention. This kind of call was more of a cut and dried response. Everyone had a job to do and they did them well. Sometimes you didn't even have to think about what you were doing. And that's when things get dangerous.
Doc and Carlos were already on-scene and inside the car with the patient. The patient was critical and needed to be extricated as soon as possible. Jimmy went to the hood of the car and lifted it. He started to go about the job of disconnecting the battery, standard operating procedure at any car fire or accident scene. As he reached over to rip the cables off, there was a spark and the battery exploded. Jimmy jumped back at the first sign of the spark, but wasn't able to beat the explosion of the battery that followed. He caught the explosion full in the face, the battery acid spraying over him. Billy immediately hit him with the water from the hose that was at the ready for any kind of emergency - another standard at this type of a call - to wash away any fire and dilute the acid. Alex dropper her tools and immediately went to Jimmy's side.
"Jimmy! Let me see. Jimmy you have to let me see," she said, trying to pull his hands away from his face. Finally, the Captain was there and helped Alex get his arms down so she could take a look.
"What's goin' on out there?" Doc called out from inside the vehicle. He knew from the sounds that something happened and someone got hurt. He just didn't know how badly or if he should call for another rig.
"Jimmy got hit in the face when the car battery exploded," one of the firefighters yelled in to Doc.
"How bad?" Doc asked, continuing with the care of his patient as the rest of the fire crew cut the posts with the jaws and began to peel the roof back in order to get the patient out.
"I don't know. Alex and the Captain are with him," came the reply.
Finally the roof was removed and Doc stood up to look over at Jimmy. "Alex! What do you need?" he yelled over to her as she reached into the open trauma kit alongside the car and grabbed a bottle of sterile water used for burn patients. She opened the bottle and began pouring it over Jimmy's face and neck to get any remaining acid off of him. Jimmy was in quite a bit of pain, both from the shock of what happened and the burns.
"Chemical burns to the face and neck. I don't know if he ingested anything. He had safety goggles and his gear on so that saved his eyes, hands and body. We got him pretty quick with the water," Alex said, looking up and nodding at Billy who had been the quickest to react. "Hopefully, the burns won't be too bad."
"Do you need me?" Doc asked, as he and Carlos finished putting their patient on a backboard and began removing him from the car with the help of the firefighters.
"I've got him. He can probably ride in with you guys. I'll get some vitals on him for you," answered Alex.
"Jimmy? Can you hear me?" Alex said as Jimmy suddenly fell silent. "Jimmy?" she said again, beginning to get alarmed.
After a moment, Jimmy quietly replied, "Yeah, Alex. I hear you."
"Did you ingest any of this stuff?" Alex asked him, as she slowly helped him to sit up. He thought for a moment, taking time to notice any funny taste or pain in his mouth.
"I don't think so. That's unfortunate," he said sadly. "Did anyone else get hurt?" he asked, suddenly afraid that he'd hurt someone else with his inattention.
"No, just you big guy," came the response from Billy, who was removing Jimmy's gloves and helping him out of his contaminated turnout coat. Alex was removing his goggles.
Jimmy opened his eyes and looked over at Billy. "Thanks, man."
"Anytime, Bro'," Billy responded slapping Jimmy on the back and heading back to the car accident to finish his job.
Alex went about the task of treating the burns to Jimmy's face. "So how bad are they?" he asked her.
"Not too bad. I think Billy got to you pretty quick," she said, looking at him, thinking about his comment of a few minutes ago. She made a mental note to quietly mention it to Doc before they left for the hospital. She knew who was working in the ER that day and knew that he'd keep it as confidential as he could. Couldn't hurt to have someone come in and talk to him - especially after a comment like that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jimmy finished up at the hospital. Luckily he just had some minor burns to his face. They'd heal in time and with very little or no scarring. He was lucky they'd said. Funny, he didn't feel lucky, he thought to himself as he walked in the darkened street, a box under his arm.
He knocked on the door and waited for Catherine to answer the door. He wanted to drop off a birthday present for Joey. He'd been doing that for his birthdays and Christmas for the last two years now. He knew he was getting the presents, because every once in a while, he'd get a thank you card in the mail from Joey. The return address on the envelope always read either Catherine or Melanie's address. So he was mailing them there and then they were forwarding them on to Jimmy.
Catherine opened the door without thinking, the cordless phone to her ear. She stopped talking into the phone. "Jimmy," she said in a whisper, but loud enough to be heard on the other end of the phone.
"Grandma?" came the voice from the other end of the phone. Joey had called his grandmother to thank her for the presents that she and Melanie had sent to him for his birthday. "Is that my Dad?" he asked.
Catherine was flustered for just a moment, but long enough for Jimmy to take the phone from her. "Joey?" he said into the phone, tears springing to his eyes as he heard his son's voice for the first time in two years.
"Dad. Are you okay?" Joey asked him, Kim coming up behind him when she heard Joey was talking to Jimmy.
"Yeah, Pal. I'm great now. Happy Birthday, Son," he said, tears falling down his cheek.
Suddenly Kim was on the phone. "Jimmy," she said. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this right now," she said, hanging up the phone.
"Kim! Joey!" yelled Jimmy into the phone, but all he heard was the dial tone. He handed the phone back to Catherine and turned to walk away.
"Jimmy," Catherine called after him. "Are you okay? You look like you're hurt," she said. "Can I do anything for you?"
Jimmy continued down the steps, not turning around, just waving Catherine off as he continued down the street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mom! Why did you do that?" asked Joey with anger in his voice.
"Joey," Kim started only to be interrupted by her son.
"No Mom! He's my father. I wanted to talk to him," he said storming off to his room. He'd been asking to see his father for a while now. His friends had been doing things with their fathers and even though Bobby was always there for him and they were very close, he still felt slighted and his anger was building.
"Kim," Bobby said from behind her. "You need to fix this," he said simply, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I know," Kim said. "I know."