Chapter Eight

To say Specialist Mike Stoker was surprised to see John Gage sitting in the dayroom, an hour before their shift, in uniform, and sipping a cup of coffee, was an understatement. "Morning," Mike said in greeting, hiding his surprise, "You're here early." he added.

"Yeah, woke up and couldn't get back to sleep." Johnny yawned, as if his body was reminding him of his lack of sleep. "Coffee's fresh." he added to the engineer who was now peering questioningly at the pot filled with the black liquid.

"Thanks," Mike replied, no longer inspecting the pot and happily pouring a cup. "Everything okay?" he asked in concern, worried about the younger medic.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good." he replied and took a drink of his coffee, avoiding his coworkers questioning eyes. The bay door opened and the squad could be heard backing in. "I'm gonna go check out the squad." Johnny said as he stood, taking his cup of coffee with him. Outside, he ran into Captain Stanley walking in. Johnny silently cursed his bad luck, out loud he bade his Captain a good morning.

"Mornin' Gage, you're here early." Stanley replied.

"Gotta share latrine duty with Chet every once in a while." he quipped lifting his cup of coffee in jest. Stanley smiled and chuckled, falling for the deflection. He turned and headed for the office. Johnny sighed in relief. He was dreading Roy's arrival.

"Well isn't it Charlie Dwyer." Johnny said, cheerfully greeting the exhausted looking medic. "Sorry your guy's shift was so long." he said, assuming from the dead look of both medics.

"Comes with the job." The D shift medic said shrugging his shoulders closing the driver door. "I, for one, am excited to go to sleep."

Johnny smiled, "Drive safely." Johnny said to the retreating man. Dwight, who was Dwyer's partner, was still sitting in the passenger seat, pulling out all of their run slips. Johnny reached his under him pulling out a clipboard from under the seat. "Sorry Mark," he said, apologizing for reaching around him. "Looks like you're stuck with me until Roy gets here," he added. Mark just nodded, walking away while trying to organize paper. When Johnny opened the nearly empty drugbox he said, "Jeez, they weren't kidding." After only looking for a handful of minutes, the list was already pretty long. Clipboard in hand, he walked over to the office. "Hey Cap!" he said knocking on the door.

"What's up John?" Stanley asked.

Johnny walkedin, "After roll call, we've gotta get over to Rampart. Our restock list is ridiculous."

Stanley nodded, "Understood." he nodded his head. "Hey John," Hank said when Johnny turned around to walk out the door. Hank sounded serious, "Apparently a woman came to the station on C shift and left a note for you, Captain Dennis kept it in the office. He said the woman looked like you." Stanley held out an envelope with his name on it, hoping the young man would answer his unasked questions. Johnny's face blanched, and his hands shook. "John, you okay?" the Captain asked, concerned. "Do I need to get Dwight in here?"

"No, no. I'm good Cap, thanks." Johnny said while shakily taking the letter from the outstretched hand. He held the envelope inspecting it, as if it would answer all his questions. He remained silent, much to his Captain's despair. He took a breath and walked into the bay.

As Johnny was leaving the office, the bay door opened again and the engine backed inside. The engine shut off, Davies, a lineman hopped out the back and saw Johnny walking out of the office holding a letter. "I hear from C shift that a lovely lady came by the station asking for a certain Paramedic John Gage."

Johnny didn't initially react, his mind racing a million miles a minute. "Oh." he was able to get out.

"She was beautiful, according to their engineer," he said again.

"She must have been," D shift's other lineman replied, "Only the best for Johnny."

John was able to finally check his emotions and deadpan "Ha Ha," in response. "Very funny folks."

Stoker entered the bay after hearing the engine back in. Looking at 'Big Red' for the first time that shift, "What did you do to my engine!" He exclaimed, looking at the muddy and filthy engine.

"We didn't do anything, it's the roads fault." the D shift engineer replied. He changed his tone to a more professional one, "There was a pretty bad mudslide up north, sorry we didn't get a chance to clean it Stoker, it kills me to see her like this." Mike nodded, inspecting it for 'injuries'.

Johnny was thankful Mike walked in when he did. He was able to walk out with no one noticing. He sat on the bench in front of his locker turning the envelope over in his hands.

"Whatcha got there Johnny?" a familiar voice asked, almost appearing from nowhere. Roy opened his locker and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"A letter. From her."

"Oh," came the simple reply, "That's good though, right?" he asked, confused why Johnny looked like he was about to read a death sentence.

Chet walked in with a teasing air after hearing all the conversation in the bay. "I hear you got a letter Gage." he said walking over to his locker. John didn't respond, still staring at the folded white paper.

"Yes, he does. Leave it alone Chet." Roy answered sternly for him. Chet looked up, surprised at Roy's tone and actually observed the scene. He backed off when he saw Johnny clutching the letter in fear, face white as a ghost.

"Sorry John." the lineman replied seriously.

"It's fine Chet." Johnny said. He stood up and threw the letter in his locker. "Roy, our restock list is nuts, Cap already knows."

"When did you get here?" Roy asked, amazed that his friend was already in uniform and had already started checking the squad over.

"Too early, six, I think." he replied walking out the door, leaving the two confused A shift members behind.

"Roy, is Johnny okay?" Chet asked, legitimate concern in his voice.

"It's not my place to tell, just tell the phantom to stay away for now." Chet nodded. Roy walked out of the locker rooms in uniform, buckling his belt, he made his way over to the squad. He found Johnny untangling the ropes. Roy decided to stick to work related things as D shift was still mulling about. "What do we need pally?"

"List's on the drug box." John said from the back of the squad. Roy picked up the list, after glancing at it he whistled. "It was a busy shift." Johnny needlessly explained. "They made sure to leave at least one of everything for us though."

"How kind." Roy dead panned.

"Roll call in five gentlemen." Captain Stanley said to them as he walked over to the locker room to give the warning. They both nodded their heads, confirming they heard him.

"Let's wrap up here Johnny." Roy said, hoping his partner would catch the terrible dad joke, as Johnny was now re-wrapping the ropes. Johnny did and he rolled his eyes loudly in response.

"Alright gentlemen," Stanley said when he had five people standing in front of him. "D shift had a heck of a night, so let's start with the apparatus before we move onto station chores." There were nods of consent. Roy glanced a worried look over at Johnny. Stanley continued, "Marco, you've got latrines today, Chet and Mike, hang the lines. But, for the love of god guys, let's wash the engine first." There were three heads nodding vigorously, looking over at the mud caked engine. "Roy, you're cooking and have the day room, Johnny, you've got bunk and locker rooms. I hear the squad needs to restock, so you can leave right after this. That's it everyone, let's get to work."

The four assigned to the engine started washing her right away, even Captain Stanley joined, forgoing his paperwork. Roy and Johnny quickly looked over the rest of their equipment and soon were driving over to Rampart. "Guess we'll see who's on duty this morning." Roy said, filling the empty silence in the cab. Johnny made a guttural response, remaining silent. Roy sighed, letting the silence win this round.