Joann gripped the passenger door in horror as two vehicles collided in front of her with a deafening crash. Roy exhaled forcefully from the driver seat saying, "I wasn't trying to work today." He pulled his car in front of the wreck, at a slight angle, so that his convertible blocked the crashed cars from oncoming traffic. "Stay in the car, okay honey?" he ordered, "I'm going to see if everyone's okay." Joann nodded, then released her grip on the door. She flexed her hand to return blood flow to the white knuckles, vaguely overhearing Roy in the distance order someone to call the fire department. She looked up at the pile of metal that used to have definitive shapes to find Roy. With a jolt, she realized he didn't bring the first aid kit he kept in the trunk. With renewed resolve, she opened the door.

Despite his lack of proper equipment and uniform, Roy was in his element. There were three injured people in total, two in a truck, and a single driver in a sedan. The diver of the sedan was obviously beyond help, so he moved on to the truck occupants. Both were unconscious, but after quick triage, it was obvious the passenger was more serious. Her abdomen was already firm and there was minor bruising forming underneath the lap portion of the seatbelt. Roy hoped that a squad would get there soon, she needed fluids and an OR. "Was that my name?" he thought as he counted a pulse. He looked up, his count lost. "What are you doing?" he asked his wife who was standing in front of him timidly. "I wanted you to stay in the car." He didn't want her to see the sedan, it wasn't pretty.

"I thought you might need this," Joann said, holding up his first aid kit. "I can help," she said bravely. Roy smiled warmly, he knew she couldn't stay in the car, despite the fact how scared she was, not that she'd admit it.

"Okay," he said simply. "Toss me the BP cuff and stethoscope," he directed, turning his attention back to the unconscious woman. He smiled to himself as he counted the feeble pulse. Joann might not be Johnny, but she was better than just him.

"Here you go," Joann said, offering the cuff and stethoscope. To her surprise, Roy seemed to ignore her for a moment, she was about to speak again when Roy turned and took them, nodding his thanks. "Oh," she silently breathed, realizing he was taking a pulse.

"Do I have IV supplies in my kit?" Roy asked himself as he took a blood pressure. He didn't have hospital permission, but he was confident they would immediately order an IV, if not two.

Now that Joann was there, he widened his situational awareness of the scene to include her, which is how he felt her gaze turn to the other car, "Don't look at the sedan," he told her sternly. He was going to protect her as much as he could. Before Joann could argue the point, he asked, "Do you know what an IV needle looks like?" Joann nodded. "Great, see if you can find one, I want the green one if there are multiple colors." He knew the task would keep her occupied, and hoped it would distract her curiosity for the time being.

"On it," Joann said with determination. She wondered if Roy was going to bandage the cuts on the woman's face, that was the only injury she could see. "What about the driver?" she questioned as she rummaged around.

"He'll probably be fine, she's more serious," Roy told her. "Any luck?" Joann was about to shake her head, when she spotted a needle with green packaging.

"Why green?" she asked, handing it over to Roy.

"Tell you later, I'll need some other things, pass the bag over," he said. He thought about walking her through the process and explaining it to her, but this was not a teaching moment. He quickly set up an extension set, flushed it, and grabbed an alcohol prep from his kit. Turning back to his patient he said, "Little pinch here ma'am."

Joann watched him work, smiling when he still talked to the patient who probably couldn't hear him. There were times Joann wished Roy had a different job, a regular 8-5 job, but it was moments like these that she knew Roy was in the right occupation.

"Sharps," Roy methodically said as he put the used needle under his foot. "Can you hand me some tape?" he asked, "Should be in the outside pocket." Joann was distracted when the moaning started.

"Sir, calm down for me." she heard Roy say, and she looked up to watch. Roy turned his head back to her and simply said, "Tape," repeating his need.

"Right," Joann said, thoroughly impressed her husband noticed her unintentionally stopping in her search.

When Roy knew Joann was looking again, he returned his attention to the driver. "You've been in an accident and you need to stay still," he said in a calming tone. Finding the tape, she handed it to Roy, who took it wordlessly and taped down the woman's IV as he simultaneously calmed the driver, who seemed to be listening to Roy now. "I'm a paramedic with LA County Fire Department, you could have spinal injuries so I need you to stay still," he directed the man. "Good," Roy congratulated when he stopped moving. "Take some deep breaths for me." Roy waited until the driver did just that before asking, "Where do you hurt?"

A siren sounded from behind them. Joann turned and looked, an engine parked in front of Roy's convertible, turning sideways just like Roy did, protecting both the citizen car and the squad who parked closer. Joann wondered if Roy intentionally parked his car like that, or if it was just habit.

"Ma'am, are you involved?" the white striped helmet asked her, pulling her away from her musings.

"No Captain," she replied, surprising the firefighter by addressing him by his rank, "We were just driving by, my husband's a paramedic at 51."

"Okay, I need you to stand back for me," he said, gently taking hold of her arm and leading back towards the engine. Joann nodded, knowing her job of helping Roy had passed. She watched as the paramedics walked past her, equipment in hand. Slowly, she inched forwards to Roy's car so she could listen. She knew almost nothing would make sense to her, but she was still curious to see what Paramedic DeSoto was like.

"DeSoto?" The two medics questioned. Joann thought it was weird hearing her husband addressed by their last name, Roy didn't seem phased. "You good? I thought that was your car blocking this," they said, pointing at the convertible Joann was standing next too.

"Yep, not involved. You have a sharps container?" Roy redirected the conversation with a question. He lifted his foot and held the used and secured needle for them to see. The two medics procured a sharps container from their drug box as Roy started his report. "Sedan driver's DOA. Truck driver's awake now, but was unconscious when we got here. He's a 37 year old man, complaining of head and neck pain, don't have a collar but told him not to move, he's been cooperating." Roy looked at the passenger and continued, "She's still unconscious, only responsive to pain, tachy, and hypotensive. Pretty sure she's bleeding in her abdomen, she's already got seatbelts sign," he reported, slightly lifting her shirt to show the medics the bruising. "Got an 18 for you in the right arm, and she's 34." Roy stepped back with his kit as the uniformed medics stepped in.

"Thanks DeSoto," they said, already hooking up the biophone. "You did half our jobs for us!" they exclaimed.

"We watched the whole thing happen," Roy explained, pointing at Joann. "Couldn't just drive away." They nodded knowingly. "So, how's your day been so far?" Roy casually asked the two.

Roy's question surprised Joann, didn't they need to concentrate?

They both shrugged, "We're here," one said with a flat voice, "But it's been alright so far," and in the same breath he called Rampart.

"Do you guys have any questions before I split?" Roy asked the one not on the biophone.

"Sedan's DOA?" the other confirmed with Roy.

Roy nodded, "Wasn't wearing a seatbelt," he said grimly. Hearing the interchange, Joann looked over, even though Roy told her not to. She gasped, now understanding why Roy was so particular about their family wearing seatbelts. She realized she had been staring longer than she thought when Roy startled her. "Jo," he said trailing off, "I didn't want you to see."

"I'm fine," she told him, tearing her gaze away from the car.

Roy stood in front of her, blocking her view. "You okay?" he asked tenderly. She nodded.

"I'm gonna see if their engineer will let me wash my hands with the reel line," Joann looked down at his hands, there was blood on them. "You okay?" he asked again. Joann nodded and got back into her seat, clicking her seatbelt with vigor.

Roy returned to the car after washing his hands and speaking with the Captain. "You ready?" he asked, resting a hand on her leg. He was worried, he really didn't want her seeing the sedan driver.

Joann nodded. There was silence as the two drove away from the scene. Roy knew Joann was going to ask questions, so he waited patiently. "Why green?" she finally broke the silence with. Roy was taken aback, of all questions, that wasn't the one he was expecting at the front.

"It corresponds to the size of the needle." Roy explained.

"Why didn't you bandage the cuts on her face?" she asked next.

"They were superficial," he answered, "The dangerous bleeding was going on inside." Joann nodded, that she understood. Fix the bigger leak first, then worry about the drips.

"Will she make it?"

Roy sighed, "I don't know, she wasn't compensating well," he admitted. Noting Joann's confused face he clarified, "Her blood pressure was low and her heart rate fast, she lost, and is still losing, a lot of blood." There was silence, then, "Do you still want to go grocery shopping?" he asked gently, "How about just getting pizza tonight?" he suggested instead. She was still upset and he knew it. Joann nodded, lost in thought. Instead of making a U-turn, he elected to go a different route to avoid the accident.

As they drove through the neighborhood streets, a song popped into his head, so he pursed his lips to whistle, but refrained. It didn't seem right when Joann was struggling to deal with what she saw.

She must have heard his intent anyway because she suddenly asked, "Are you okay?"

Roy blinked, "Uh, yeah." He looked sideways at his wife while driving through suburban traffic. Why was she worrying about him?

"Here I am, acting all soppy, barely able to string a sentence together, and you're just, dealing, chatting with coworkers like you're going out for dinner and drinks."

"Oh," He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel, "I didn't mean to sound insensitive Jo."

"That's not what I meant," she said, frustrated she couldn't express her thoughts. "I mean, you all just saw something horrific, and you're just chatting about how your day's going. Now you're whistling, how does it not bother you?" she concluded, hoping her jumble of a sentence made sense.

Roy didn't answer. He took the time to find a safe place to pull off the road. Finding a playground he parked, letting the background noise of happy children laughing and screaming fill the air. After a moment he said, "It does bother me Jo," he turned and gave her his full attention, "It bothers all of us, but if that's all we focus on, we'll lose ourselves." Roy cupped her hand that was resting on the console between them, "It's okay to not be okay, Jo. We just deal with it differently, 'cause it's sometimes a daily occurrence." Roy paused, letting the words sink in. "It was awful back there," he said. "I deal with it by being annoying and paranoid about seatbelts, and coming home everyday to see you, and Chris and Jenny."

Joann nodded, thoughtful. "I think I understand." Smiling weakly at Roy, "Can we get a veggie pizza too?" she asked, knowing it would be an unpopular choice.

Roy grinned, "We can get all the veggie pizza in the world," he promised, picking her hands up and kissing them.

Joann always knew Roy, Johnny, and the guys, saw and dealt with awful things at work. Now that she had a taste of it herself, she had a whole new level of respect for them. She couldn't imagine mentally preparing herself before going to work everyday. She would never again complain about Roy harassing them to wear seatbelts, or driving hours to drop off or pick up Johnny from the middle of nowhere. They had all learned to cope. Hopefully, she'd never have to learn to cope like that, but she was thankful she had such a strong support group. Today, she fully understood why the fire department was such a family, and why it couldn't easily be explained. No one could fully understand it unless they experienced it first hand. Not for the first time, she was proud that her husband was involved in such a group of people.