Chapter Nine
Monday Night - 1700 C Shift
"Thanks for getting this together." Marco said to Beth, Joann, and Emily. The entirety of A Shift were all sitting on the DeSoto's patio, celebrating Chet and Marco's discharge from Rampart. The A shift children were running around the backyard, playfully yelling. Both Marco and Chet had been cleared for duty and the six of them were looking forward to getting back to work, together. No one was offended when the A shift men choose to sit next to each other, as opposed to their significant others. The three women definitely wouldn't mention that, when possible, they were all sitting shoulder to shoulder.
Marco nodded in agreement, then said. "I think I don't like getting called to a brush fire when we're off."
"Neither do we." Roy agreed, pointing at himself and Johnny. "You know they had me working as an engineer?" he added, "I was refilling the copter's water tanks." Roy said in disbelief, "It just doesn't make sense." He rubbed the back of his neck in thought.
"I think I treated almost every Code-I." Johnny said, "'Cept you Chet, sorry man."
"Don't worry about it babes." Chet replied, waving his hand in dismissal.
"Now I think about it, I'm pretty sure I heard 'em call you in at Rampart." Johnny said, "Hearing your own squad over the radio is weird." Roy frowned, he was reminded of treating 51's B shift who were patient's themselves shortly after treating Chet.
"Well," Hank said, getting everyone's attention. "Chief McConnikie called me yesterday and told me some news you might be interested in." Hank said, sounding official. Everyone looked up in curiosity. "Chief Rable was fired yesterday." He paused, letting his crew take in the information. "He was charged with um," he cleared his throat, "Per Chief McConnikie, negligence, cruelty, and misuse of manpower and property."
"Sounds about right." Johnny said matter of factly.
Roy frowned again, he was used to his friend seeing the best in everyone. John was one of the most forgiving people he knew, he worked with Chester B. Kelly. "I mean, it was rough, but…" Roy trailed off, not able to voice his thoughts.
"You didn't get the front row seat I did." he said bitterly. Roy exchanged a look with Joann. "I was the only medic at command, I watched crews come and go, looking more spent each time they came in. B shift passed and turned into C shift, with B crews still working and no relief in sight. I treated a crew who'd been working for 36 hours. The engine had to leave them on scene to get me, which left them alone. The only conscious person left on scene was a green medic. He was alone, in the dark, caring for his partner who had a house sitting on his chest." Johnny sighed, "We were the only medics standing at one point. It was bad enough that Brackett himself came out, the Chief of Rampart Emergency." he huffed, his rant over. "Rable deserves everything the county charged him with."
Roy raised his eyebrows, he had several questions for his partner, but now was not the time to ask them, there were too many people.
Hank cleared his throat again, "Hmm, well, thankfully, it's all behind us now." Everyone was grateful, Joann, Beth, and Emily nodded passionately. They hoped it would never happen again.
Sunday Night - 2020 C Shift
Marco and Chet left the DeSoto's together. Despite getting cleared for duty, Marco's hands were still sore and healing. Chet had convinced Marco to stay at his apartment until they were completely healed. Normally Marco would politely decline and stay at his mother's house, but this time was different. The fire had shaken them. "Here ya go." Chet said, offering a beer to Marco. They were sitting in Chet's living room. The TV was on, but they weren't paying attention to it.
"Thanks." Marco said. They were both quiet, comfortable in the silence. "You think Johnny's okay?" he asked. The anger coming from their shiftmate was rare.
"Roy'll talk him down." Chet said, though he frowned. "He had to stand down my rookies, and I'm sure he treated them again later on." He sighed, "Can't imagine how crushing that was."
Marco nodded, "He treated me twice too." He took a sip, "Practically snarled at me. The time I was awake I mean." Marco explained when Chet looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't tell anyone about my blisters…" he trailed off. Chet huffed, annoyed his friend slipped back into old habits. Marco chuckled suddenly, getting Chet's attention. "My rookies thought he was a bit harsh."
"He's almost worse than me when it comes to 'Mother Henning'." Marco looked at his friend incredulously, then around the living room. "Okay, maybe not as bad as me." Chet amended. Marco nodded with a smile.
"Hey, Chet," Marco said, his tone of voice more serious. He held his bottle up, Chet saw what he was doing and raised his own. "A la vida." he said, clinking his bottle against Chet's. "To life." he translated.
"To life." Chet echoed.
Sunday Night - 2030
The moon crept over Los Angeles' sky. Everyone had left the DeSoto's, everyone except Johnny. He was sitting on Roy and Joann's back patio, nursing a soda. Joann and Roy had momentarily disappeared to put Chris and Jenny to bed, a chore not made any easier by the party. John sighed, he hadn't heard any updates on how the medic from 19 was doing. To be honest, he didn't really want to know. Which, he thought in retrospect, was selfish. He sighed again, his mind was spiraling in a hundred different directions, he was having trouble picking one strand to think about. He stood from the picnic table bench and walked to the grass, putting his hands in his pocket and looking up at the sky.
"I brought you this." Roy said, holding a beer. Johnny jumped, Roy seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Sorry junior." Roy apologized, joining his partner.
"S'alright." Johnny said, taking the brown bottle. "My mind was elsewhere."
"I know." Roy took a sip and retreated back to the picnic table. "I'm pretty sure Jenny is upstairs holding a secret tea party with Fluffy." Roy said with a smirk. Johnny smiled, he could picture Jenny under a blanket with a flashlight, a teacup, and her stuffed bear.
Johnny glanced at his watch and sat next to Roy, "It's not that late for tea." he said. He chuckled when Roy rolled his eyes. Comfortable silence wrapped them. Crickets chirped and the moon appeared from behind a cloud. "Sorry I burst out earlier." he said quietly.
"How long has that been bothering you?" Roy asked, treading lightly. He wasn't going to accept John's apology, there was nothing to apologize for.
John sighed, "It wasn't just that." he paused, putting his thoughts together. "It's just, I saw a million crews come and go, including Chet and Marco. I'm the one who bandaged Marco's hands. Everyone looked worse every time they came in, and I couldn't do anything about it." He took a sip, "It was just icing on the cake when 19's crew went down. Rable didn't seem to care both of them had been working 36 hours. Troy, the younger medic, passed out the minute we got his partner to Rampart with a pulse." Roy took note of Johnny's phrase, 'With a pulse'. Johnny looked off in the distance, oblivious of Roy's thoughts and continued. "I watched medics, firefighters, and rookies go down one by one, and I couldn't do anything about it. And I knew most of them."
Roy remained silent, thinking of an appropriate response. 'You should've talked to one of us.' Wasn't going to work, their shiftmates barely saw each other on the fireground, and there were two new rookies at the firehouse, making it, in Johnny's opinion, an unsafe space for a heart-to-heart. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that alone." Roy decided to say.
"It didn't help the first time I saw you was at a pump panel instead of behind the wheel of a squad."
"Yeah," Roy said, rubbing his neck with his hand. "Not what I would've done." he added.
"I think he mighta' died Roy." Johnny said. "It took forever for me to get down there, then to get him extricated, and finally to Rampart."
Roy had no words of advice other than, "Part of the job John."
"No it's not. 36 hours is a long time on a brush fire."
Roy took a sip, after swallowing he said "You're right." He shifted on the bench, matching Johnny's posture, shoulder to shoulder with him. He felt Johnny sigh. He couldn't change how John was feeling. There was no fix to what happened in Klondike Canyon, the man responsible had already been fired and charged. John could only recover with time. And Roy could only draw Johnny's attention to something that mattered. Something they both cherished and held to the highest esteem. Roy held out his bottle in a toast, "To life John."