Looking up from his cup of coffee as the break room door opened, Allen felt his heart sink and his stomach begin to knot as his partner poked his head into the room and growled, "You ready?"

Jumping up to follow Roy, Allen felt Mike Morton grab his arm, momentarily stopping his egress from the room as the young Emergency intern looked up at him and promised, "I'll talk to Brackett about what we were discussing and let you know."

"Thanks Doc," Allen nodded before looking anxiously back up at the now empty doorway, aware that if he lingered any longer, he would suffer DeSoto's wrath for the rest of the shift before he looked back at Mike and sighed, "I better go … Roy's …umm…Roy's waiting for me …"

Mike nodded as he released the once confident paramedic's arm and watched him reluctantly walk out of the room. Pushing himself up from the table, he picked up the two coffee mugs and placed them in the sink before he turned and followed the young paramedic out of the breakroom. Standing in the breakroom doorway, he watched as Allen reluctantly trailed behind Roy as they left the Emergency department. Waiting until they had both disappeared from sight, he turned and went in search of the Emergency's head doctor.

Spotting Dix, Kel, and Joe waiting in front of the elevator, he hurried down the corridor, reaching them just as the elevator doors slid open. Following the three of them into the elevator with them, he turned and watched as Dix hit the button to take them up to the ICU before he asked, "How's Gage?" as the elevator gave a jerk and began to rise.

Kel's mouth twitched before he answered, "Critical. We had to repair a tear in his liver and have him intubated to protect his airway until the burns start to heal and some of the swelling subsides."

"What about his spine?"

"He's fractured two vertebrae," Joe told him quietly, "As for any spinal cord damage, it's just too early to tell."

"Damn," Mike murmured as they all fell quiet, each momentarily lost in their own thoughts about the future of the young paramedic as the light above the door that indicated they were passing the second floor lit up before going out again.

"I just ran into Allen Hodges down in the break room down in Emergency, I guess he was waiting for Roy," Mike began softly as he continued to stare at the lights as they counted down another floor before he turned and looked at Brackett. "He's wanting to talk to you or Dix, Kel, he's asking if it's possible if for him to work with another partner and if it's not, just how he would go about dropping out of the paramedic program altogether, so he can go back to just being a hose jockey."

"He asked about swapping partners?" Kel cocked his eyebrow, surprised. Like Johnny, Hodges had all the makings of a great paramedic and he had hoped that under Roy's guidance that he would become just as good a paramedic as Johnny.

Mike nodded. "Or dropping out of the program altogether."

"Just like Johnny." Joe murmured.

Kel nodded, his eyes never leaving Mike as he asked, "Did Allen tell you why?"

"No, just said that he didn't want to be partnered with Roy anymore, but he refused to tell me why. Just said the partnership wasn't working, but-" Mike paused.

"But what?" Joe asked.

"It wasn't anything that he actually said, it was more the anxious, defeated look on his face and the way that DeSoto snapped at him when DeSoto came in and told him it was time to go." The young intern shrugged as the elevator door began to slide open. "I guess the look on Hodge's face just reminded me of the look on Gage's face each time I saw him in the weeks before he transferred out of Station 51. It was the look of someone who has totally lost all his passion and love for the job."

Kel traded glances with Dix and Joe before they stepped out of the elevator. "Thanks Mike," he said as he turned back to Mike.

Mike nodded. "I better get back down to Emergency before Carol has my head on a platter for not being where I should be." He shook his head as he hit the elevator button to take him back down to Emergency, murmuring as the elevator doors slide closed, "I don't what happened, but she is no longer in the good mood that she was in earlier this morning."

Waiting until the elevator doors closed, Joe shook his head, "First Johnny and now Allen."

Kel sighed as he turned and began to head towards the ICU. "Did you notice the tension between Roy and Benjie when we first entered the room."

Joe nodded, "You could cut the tension between the two of them with a knife!"

"Roy was also arguing with Carol when I got here." Dixie added softly, "I had to intervene, I could hear Roy's yelling from the nurse's station as I entered the department. I had to read him the riot act after I got him into your office about harassing and abusing my nursing staff."

"Did he say anything about what's going on with him?" Kel asked.

"As to what is going on with Johnny or Allen, no," Dixie began slowly before adding, "but he did tell me what is happening in his personal life. He told me that Joanne's left him."

"Left him, did he say why?" Kel asked, surprised.

"He said they had a fight, and she took their son and moved back to her parent's house."

"Do you think that his problems at home could be interfering with his work?" Kel asked, frowning.

"No...no, I think it might explain some of his irritability," Dixie shook her head before she looked back at Kel and sighed, "But I think that there is something more going on with him, I just wish I knew what it was."

Joe nodded his agreement as he turned to Kel, "So, how do you want to handle this, Kel?"

"After we check on how Johnny's doing, I am going to call Roy in for a talk." Kel's mouth settled into a grim line before he turned and headed towards the ICU as he growled over his shoulder, "We can't afford to have any more paramedics wanting to leave the program because of whatever is going on with him."

E!E!E!E!

Slowly climbing into the squad's passenger seat, Allen tried hard to ignore the impatient and annoyed look on Roy's face, as he reached across and grabbed the radio and made them available. Sitting back as Roy steered the squad out of the hospital grounds before turning left to head back to the station, he asked softly, "How's Johnny?" He shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable for asking as he saw Roy's hands tighten around the steering wheel as he added weakly, "I…I…umm… ran into Morton in the break room and he … he told me about Johnny being caught in the building collapse this morning. I-ah-I just thought after Cap called you into the office and then the trip to Rampart for supplies, we didn't need, that that's why we…" Allen's voice trailed off as Roy remained silent and continued to concentrate on the road ahead. Sighing, he turned and began to stare out of the window.

"He's critical."

He jumped as he heard Roy's soft answer and turned back to look at Roy in surprise.

"Johnny's critical." Roy whispered, his voice trembling as the knuckles on his hands turning white as his hold on the wheel tightened even further. "They… they think that he may have suffered some spinal cord damage, but they won't know how much until he's conscious and some of the swelling goes down." Roy suddenly slammed his hand against the steering wheel making Allen jump in his seat again, as his anger suddenly boiled over once again, shocking himself with its heat and uncertain just where the anger had came from as he heard himself growl. "Damn it, I warned Gage this would happen one day, but he didn't listen to a word that I said! He doesn't listen to anyone and just takes too many damn, insane risks, and too Hell with the consequences it might cause for him or his partner… "

Allen opened his mouth to defend the injured paramedic but closed it again, afraid that anything he would say would only turn Roy's hair-trigger anger back onto him. Swallowing hard, he gave a single nod of agreement, despite silently disagreeing with everything Roy had just said before he turned back to stare out of the window again.