A Month Later
"I'm going to shoot him! I'm just going to wring his neck." Linda was yelling in the ice cream parlor about what she was going to do to Mark Rupp. She kept her hands moving in anger but still somehow managed to keep her ice cream attached to her ice cream cone. "Do you know I just got rid of the bruise he left on me when he dropped me in that trust exercise. That jerk. And then last week, you know when we we had to lay hose? He lifted the hose just as I was walking over it. Nearly broke my wrists trying to catch myself. I ended up scratching my palms. And don't forget about the playboys in our lockers! I know he was a part of it and I bet Jared was too. That's low."
"Hopefully, once we prove ourselves and graduate things will get easier." Jen naively thought. She sat down across from Linda in the corner of the parlor. They were waiting for David Dixon and Jen''s older brother, Chris. David was the only guy in her squad that would give her the time of day and treated her like she was actually a human being. Linda hadn't made any friends in her squad. David was the only one out of their two squads who was willing to spend a Saturday afternoon to go over the first aid information.
"Hon, I love you girl. You're sweet, but come on. Do you really believe that the guys are going to be accepting of us feminist rebels?" Jen was looking into her banana split, thinking about what Linda had said. She didn't care about being a feminist rebel. She just wanted to be half the paramedic her father and Uncle Johnny were. She realized that it would get worse with the old timers. She was lucky that it was only a few guys that were picking on her and not more. She never really realized until that moment that this was a big deal for a woman to join the department.
Her mind shifted from questioning how the guys were going to treat her to asking herself if it was really worth all this hard work to be working with people who would probably make her life miserable. She saw the bond formed between her father and her uncles and she wanted that acceptance and friendship, but she realized she probably wouldn't get it.
"Hi Jenny. Linda. How are you guys...er...all doing today?" David came over holding a vanilla ice cream in one hand and his stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, and penlight in the other. Jenny realized that physically he looked like Johnny. He was tan, tall, and lanky, but still good looking. He had short dark hair and brown eyes. However, unlike Johnny, he reminded her of Mike Stoker as being silent and shy. He slid in the booth next to Linda.
"I'm doing better now that I get a two day break from Mark. I'm afraid of what he's going to do next week with extrication. He'll be chasing me around with God knows what tool. I'm telling you, I'm just going to strangle..."
Jen was glad that she had Linda for support, but sometimes she complained too much. And she was feisty and a bit too loud. "We're good. My brother should be getting here soon. He's coming straight from the hospital."
David just nodded. "So, what was I saying about Mark? Oh he's..." Linda started. David wasn't listening and neither was Jen. During Linda's rant, David would try to steal a couple of glances at Jen. He liked her strong attitude but wasn't overly confident or cocky. He liked her naivety, it was refreshing to the Los Angeles pessimism.
Linda was still talking until Jen interrupted her when her brother came over. "Linda, David. This is my brother Chris." They all shook hands and made their greetings. He sat down next to his sister and the rest of the group. They talked about how the academy was going before they took out their equipment.
Jen pulled out her pink stethoscope her dad bought her for her supposed nursing class out of her purse. It matched her pink blood pressure cuff. She remembered the first day of class where they talked about the first aid equipment and dealing with Jared making comments about the bright pink color blinding him.
"Girl, you got to ditch the pink and get a manlier color. Like black or at the very a dark blue. You're going to give us women a hard time with that pink girly equipment." She held up her own black stethoscope and blood pressure cuff.
She looked down at her equipment with a frown. Was she too girly for this profession? She thought she was going to go through the academy and everything would be alright. The toughest thing about the academy would be the tests. She never thought about the other recruits. "You know what? I like my pink stethoscope and bp cuff. And it's special to me. My dad got it for me and I'm going to keep it."
Linda shut up and raised her eyebrow. She'd never heard the girl stand up for herself. She smiled. "Well, she has a backbone after all!"
Jen didn't know how to take it. She had mixed emotions of anger and pride. She did have a backbone and she needed to stand up for herself. Especially with the guys. She said anything back. David looked around, feeling a little awkward. It took a few minutes for the group to refocus and to start going over the real reason they were there which was to study basic first aid. The four of them went over blood pressure readings, what different pupils sizes meant, and stethoscope placement.
Linda looked at her watch and realized it was a little past five o' clock. "I'm going to be late for my date." Jen was a little hurt. Linda was supposed to be her friend and she didn't even tell Jen that she was dating someone.
"What's this guy like?" Jen asked.
"He's the biggest ass I've ever meet. I'm either going to get him to accept me or maybe I'll just poison his drink. I still can't believe I agreed to see Mark. What was I thinking?"
Jen couldn't believe what Linda had said. This woman who spent a good twenty minutes talking to herself about what a pain Mark was and her she was going out with him. David got out of the booth so that Linda could get out. Chris stood up as well.
"Hey sis. I think I'm going to go too. I'm tired. Want me to walk you to your car?" He asked Linda. She grabbed his arm and half drug him to the door. "Nice to meet you David. See you around!" He yelled out over his shoulder. David sat down across from
"You're brother seems nice," David said, trying to come up with something to talk about. He started to fidget with his fingers.
"He's only nice when he's around people outside of our family!" She laughed and he smiled. "Really, he's great, just don't let him know I said that. He's really my only support I have in the academy." A frown crossed her face thinking about the secret she was keeping from her parents.
"You're parents don't approve of you in the academy?"
"They don't even know I'm in the academy to begin with. My father is a fire captain who lost one of his crew members. I don't know if he could take it if he knew I was going through the academy. And it doesn't help that his best friends make up half the cadre." She really didn't want to go through all the details with David, even though she liked him. She was just afraid that she'd scare him away with all her drama. "What about you? What made you chose to be LA county's best?" She smiled.
He was a little hesitant talking about himself. He wanted to know a bit more about her situation. "Well, I graduated from UCLA with a business degree just like my dad. I went into business with him. Then I realized that I hated my job and major and I saw the recruiting poster and realized I want to help people. My parents, unfortunately, didn't think it was a great idea.. They're not too happy about it." He chuckled. That was putting it lightly. He remembered his father yelling at him and his mother crying. He shortly moved out of the house and had yet to talk to them since then.
The two sat there for another hour just talking about random things from their likes and dislikes to what they thought about the academy so far. He loosened up easily enough after a few minutes and they ended up having a good time.
Jenny decided to take go for a long drive to clear her mind. She was thinking about the bonfire at Johnny's ranch the next day. Every month the original crew of station 51 shift A would get together. This month was Johnny's turn. She drove around town, the anxiety getting to her. It had been easy for Johnny to keep it a secret for so long, because John rarely talked to Roy during the academy, except to see how his crew was and how they were behaving. She was worried that a long time together would mean a slip up by Johnny.
She didn't realize that she had driven across town to Johnny's place. She parked out in front of his place debating whether or not to stop by. Maybe discuss why she was keeping a secret. She started the car back up and was ready to pull away when she saw Johnny yelling for her. He pulled out his lawnmower and rolled it over to the side of the house and came over to the car.
"Well, Miss Desoto, how are you doing this lovely day?" He hadn't talked to her outside of the academy in the past four weeks. She parked her car and got out. She was breaking the rules by meeting with a member of the cadre outside of the academy.
"Uncle Johnny, we should talk." She gently shut her door slowly. She made her way around her car and he met her in front of her car.
He placed his arm around his shoulder and smiled. "Come on Jenny-Bean. I've got ice tea in the fridge and ice cream in the freezer." He guided her to the front door and ushered her in like a perfect hostess.
"Thanks, but no ice cream today. I just came back from the ice cream parlor across town." She sat down on the comfy couch looking at the Indian artifacts hanging on the wall and sitting on the mantle. She didn't know what she was doing here.
Johnny carried in two glasses of ice tea and set one down on the coffee table in front of Jenny. He sat in his recliner and set his own drink on the end table next to his chair. "So, Jenny, what's on your mind?"
She paused as she contemplated what she was going to say and how she was going to say it. She decided to just spill the beans. "I'm sorry. I know I'm putting you between a rock and a hard place with you keeping a secret from Dad. I know what happened between Chris and him. Dad talked him out of joining the academy four years ago. I thought I knew how hard the academy was going to be, but I didn't even think about the guys not accepting me. You don't know how much I wanted this. To be a paramedic." Johnny smiled at the memory of Jenny bandaging various items with old bed sheets-from baby dolls, to stuffed animals, to Uncle Johnny at times. "But I know that if dad looks me in the eyes, I'm going to give up. I see the sadness and pain. I need to prove to myself that I can do this, but I think that he might be able to stop me. I will tell him after graduation. I promise."
"Do you realize the position that you put us in. You may get hurt in the academy and then what. Firefighting is all about facing your fears. Each one of us are afraid that we are going to get hurt doing this job but we go ahead and face our fears. I won't tell him but I think you should." The two were silent while Johnny hoped his advice sunk in.
Johnny then realized her point. He closed his eyes thinking back to shortly after Roger Whitney's funeral. Roger Whitney was a hard worker and he seemed to be a nice guy through the short interactions between his shift and Johnny's shift.
-FLASHBACK-
Roy looked at Roger's family dressed in black, crying over their son. The preacher's voice was drowned out by the two crying. The father trying to comfort his wife while holding back his own tears, but he couldn't last long. Roy stood between Hank and John. All three were in their blue Class A uniform. The uniform that was worn at graduation, award ceremonies, and also funerals. Roy's wife sat in the back of the crowd next to Emily Stanley.
After the funeral, Johnny went to Roy. Hank and Johnny talked the day before about their worries about Roy. He became withdrawn. The three firefighters joined together. "Hank why don't you take Joanne home. Roy, why don't you come over to my place and we talk."
Roy only nodded his hand. Hank gathered his wife and Joanne and walked them to the car. Roy went with John to his Jeep Honcho.
The only sound in the truck was the radio. It was not until Roy sat down on the same couch where Jenny was now seated before he opened up.
"I can't believe Roger's gone. Damn it, I'm a God-Damned captain. It's my responsibility to protect my firefighters." He quickly got up from the couch and started to pace in the living room. "He died under my watch. And his parents. Jesus, Johnny. I let their son die."
"Roy, death is a risk we take every day. It was a freak accident. It's not your fault. You can't blame yourself." Roy stood at the mantle picking up a picture of Johnny, Roy, Joanne, Chris, and Jenny at one of the family picnics. He fingered his children's faces. His tears coursed down his cheek and landed on the pictured. Johnny came up to him and placed his hand on his shoulder.
Roy took a deep breath. "I just keep thinking about his parents the entire time. I can't imagine losing a child."
A/N: Again please review (pretty please with sugar on top).