Johnny

I walked into shift on my first day and I have to admit I was nervous. I didn't know anyone and I was just glad that I wasn't a rookie because they'd make my life hell. This wasn't a job that you could pretend to like the guys and get through it- these guys were your family. Through thick and thin, they had to know that you had their back- your life and theirs depended on it.

"Johnny, welcome on board," The Chief said when I walked in. He walked me towards the living space. There were three guys sitting on the couch watching some television show and I assumed everyone else was in the locker room or sleeping.

"Johnny these are our lieutenants, Charlie Green and Sam Hudson. This is Sam's second in command Tony. Boy this is Johnny Cade, the new paramedic."

"Where did you work before?" Sam asked and I smiled,

"Maine, Bar Harbour. We did a lot of marine work on top of the road assistance."

"You're an advanced care paramedic?" Charlie asked and I nodded,

"Yeah." They smiled and told me to help myself to some breakfast. Part of me hoped I knew at least someone here but I had a good feeling I wouldn't. I wasn't very hungry- Elena had stuffed me before I left but the food looked delicious.

I sat at the table and started eating, and the boys came to sit with me.

"So are you married?" Charlie asked, he also had a plate of breakfast,

"Yeah, I've been married for eight years. You guys married?" Charlie nodded and Sam shook his head,

"I've been married for almost fifteen years," Charlie said, cutting some of sausage.

"I haven't found the right girl, I've decided to put the job first."

I nodded in understanding. Sometimes the job got hard on Elena and I, there were a couple times already we'd come close to thinking of calling it quits but that was when we first got married.

"That's fair man. You got kids?" I asked, looking at Charlie and he nodded,

"Yeah, I've got two girls, both are a handful." He said, "They just started getting into the fashion trends and it's costing us a load of money. I also don't like how quickly they're maturing. You got kids?"

I nodded, "Two girls as well. Easton is three and Eleanor is a year old."

Charlie grinned, "You'll have lots to look forward too then. Especially when they get their period."

"Hey," I said playfully, "Don't make me start thinking that far. They're already growing too fast."

He chuckled and I took a sip of my orange juice, and a bunch of guys all walked in.

"You must be Johnny," One of them said, reaching to shake my hand. I stood up and shook each of their hands as they introduced themselves.

"My cousin worked with you up in Maine, Doug Heart." One of them said and I grinned. Doug was a class act- absolutely hilarious but he would willingly die for anyone. He was one of the best fire fighters that I'd ever met.

"No way, Doug was one of the best guy's I've ever met." I said. They each got a plate of food and I wondered where my new partner was. Just as I finished my breakfast two girls walked in, one was in the uniform the paramedics wore and the other was in the same pants as the firefighters.

"Hey Johnny, I'm Heather, your new partner. This is Amanda, she's on Charlie's team."

I shook their hands and she smiled,

"Did you get breakfast? These boys have a habit of hogging all of the food." I nodded grinning.

"Alright why don't I show you around?"

"Yeah sounds good, just let me wash my plate."

"Oh you don't gotta worry about that, that's the Rookie's job." Sam said from reading the paper. I smiled and rinsed my plate off at the least and walked with Heather to the locker room. There was a relatively big locker with a piece of masking tape that looked relatively new. I wrote my name on the tape and put my duffel bag in and I started personalizing it with pictures of my girls, a couple pictures of Elena and I, and an older picture I have of the guys and I. It's gotten me through thick or thin and I intended to keep it that way.

"So how did things go with your last partner?" Heather asked and I nodded,

"Good, he was practically my best friend. I hated leaving the guys I worked with, they were a second family to me but I had to come home to my family. I figure working in a job like this your partner pretty well be close to you or it'll make this job so much harder."

She nodded in agreement and I pulled out a newspaper article from Maine that reminded me that we were all in fact humans.

Paramedic kneels (in tears) to remember the fallen.

That had by far been one of the worst shift I've ever worked. The news had made it around the world quicker than I could call my wife or the boys for that matter. I had my phone turned off as I typically did when I worked in the field and when I had gotten back to the fire house and sat in the break room and turned my phone on it was blowing up with constant texts, every minute there was someone trying to call me.

'How do you feel about this?'

'How do I feel about this? Heart broken. A drunk driver has ripped apart five families and successfully wiped one out of existence.'

I remember them trying to shove a camera in my face and I remember our chief getting in their faces to back off. Not one of us didn't leave in tears. A father and his infant daughter, a mom and her two young sons, a teenage couple, and mother, father, and three boys. All the ages that Pony, Soda, and Darry were when their parents died in the accident.

That accident shut the highway down for two days and there were still memorials all around town to remember them. Elena and the girls had missed that accident by five minutes. Five minutes was all that stood between us mourning the loss of citizens than me mourning the loss of my family.

Heather watched me warily, firehouses across the country all stood with us the day of the funeral of the families, every fire in every city (unless they were on a call). I put the article in my locker and put my duffel bag in the locker, locking it.

"Why don't we go and get some coffee? We're usually quiet around this time of night."

"Yeah sure, sounds good to me." I stood up and went to the truck with her, climbing in the passenger side.

"Do you want to get to know each other? With my last partner we… We started by opening up with the worst cases we've dealt with."

I nodded, "That's fine… I know they'll be a little hard to talk about." She nodded in agreement and pulled into a McDonald's for some coffee,

"The worst case I've ever had… We were outside of a religious centre and there was about twenty citizen's inside and there was a group going around and trying to execute each of them. If they surrendered they wouldn't be seriously injured. Sam and I decided we had to go in, there were a lot of people bleeding to death and the SWAT team was still twenty minutes out. Peter, my partner at the time, wanted to go in and try to help at least. So we all dressed as much down as we could to try and blend in and we snuck our way in. Peter and I split up so that way we could get as many people saved as we could… And I went to where the more serious injuries were so I could get them stable. Then there was a gun shot… And I heard yelling and a few more gun shots. I went out to see what happened and… There was three of the five guys on the ground being held down by some of the team and… A-And Peter was slumped against the wall and his… His head was essentially blown to pieces."

"Heather… I'm… I'm so sorry." I said. That would explain why she'd gone through so many partners after Peter.

"You?" She asked, sipping her coffee,

"This isn't the worst but… Tom and I were called to a rough area for a collapsed person in the middle of the night… And when we got there it was an alleyway that we got called too often for drug addicts or homeless people so we drove into the alleyway and as I got out and went to the back to get the stretcher I was shoved against the back and I heard the click of a gun… Growing up in the East side of Tulsa you start to learn what those things sound like. One guy pistol whipped Tom and he was out cold and they made me get on my knees and they shoved the gun against my head while they robbed all of the medication out of the ambulance.

"They shot my arm and pistol whipped me as well. I remember being shaken and I woke up to the flashing lights of our fire truck and the squad was there. Chief was furious but not at us obviously. Liam stitched up my arm and we went back to the fire house. Elena was waiting for me there- they'd called her to see if we'd stopped n to see her. She was almost nine months pregnant at the time and she was absolutely terrified."

"Wow.. I'm sorry Johnny." I shook my head,

"It wasn't my worst case… My worst case I've never told anyone about. The only ones that know what happened are pretty well Tom and the chief… I couldn't tell anyone. But… it was pretty well the reason they made it mandatory that paramedics learn some sort of self defence."

"Oh… I… I heard what happened in that case… I'm…" She seemed speechless and I looked away. Her phone started ringing and she looked at me apologetically before answering,

"Hi sweetie." I checked my phone and I saw a picture from Elena of Easton sleeping on my side of the bed and Ella asleep on Elena's chest.

Heather sighed, "Put your daddy on the phone." She paused, "Tim what the hell did we just talk about? You're not supposed to be drinking when you are in charge of the kids."

"No, one of them didn't rat you out, what are you twelve? Timothy you're in charge of our children and they're not old enough to look after themselves or you. Stop drinking or I swear to god."

I texted Elena to see if she was still awake- I knew if I called her she would wake up but I didn't want to wake her.

"Okay, goodbye." Heather said ad she sighed,

"I guess this is what I get for marrying a hoodlum."

"Who's your husband?" I asked curiously and she smiled,

"Tim Shepherd."

"Wow… You… You actually married Tim Shepherd?" She nodded,

"I fell in love with him and his bad boy ways and then I got pregnant… We've been together since. My parents made us get married but… He usually is sweet."

"What does he do now?"

"He's a truck driver… Really the only job he could do with a record like his." That's fair, it was still surprising that Dallas was a plumber with his record.

"Long haul or local?"

"When we were younger and the kids were smaller he was a local driver but now that our youngest is five and my parents are more involved he really enjoys the long haul drives. At this point he's already been to every state at least once."

"How did you two meet?" I asked and she grinned,

"He was just about to hot wire my car and I caught him." I chuckled,

"Definitely something I can see Tim doing."

She reached forward to turn down the radio and I saw a 'RK' on her wrist,

"You're Louie King's younger sister aren't you?" I asked, realizing how why she looked so familiar.

She nodded, "One of the reasons my family didn't support my marriage to Tim." I nodded in understanding and she smiled,

"So how did you meet your wife?"

"In college… She was there and majoring in history and education. We lived in different residence buildings but her friend lived next door to me… The first couple months she hung out with the 'my daddy is a lawyer' type of guys and they kept picking on me from being from the south and they started getting pissed when I had a nice come back to every one of their jokes and… There was a huge party when I was studying one night and she knocked on my door because three guys kept trying to keep her to themselves and… We were inseparable since."

"What were they saying to you?" She asked curiously and I smiled,

"Stupid shit, they mocked me for being so polite and the chivalrous things like opening the door for a woman. I remember one time, Elena and her best friend were sitting at one of the table in the cafeteria and they were with the group of guys that liked to bother me and I remember they got my attention so I would take my music out. So they ended up saying something stupid like "we heard rednecks party in the bush. That sounds fucking lame," I said, "And I think I said something to the effect of 'you forgot about the orgies in the river'. And the girls lost it and those guys I swear had never wanted to kill me more."

She laughed and I sipped my coffee, "Alright what was your best shift?"

"My best shift… There was a car that had crashed and fallen into the river.. From what we were told there were two young children and a mom and they had swerved to avoid a pedestrian… The mom was unconscious but the oldest of the children was seven and his father facetimed their phone so we could see what condition they were in… Basically the little boy helped us rescue them. The car was wrecked but everyone was okay, the mom was kept overnight for observation."

I smiled and nodded, "That's great, nothing better than those."

"How about you?"

"Well… I'd have to say the shift I delivered my daughter."

"Shut up!" She said and I grinned and shook my head,

"We were having a 'family day' at the house, everyone that had a family was there and Elena was expecting our first girl. Her parents were travelling and her sister was in California for work.. Chief agreed to let her stay as long as everyone promised to keep it on the down low since she was already passed her due date. So during this whole family day thing I didn't exactly notice that she was in pain, she is extremely good at hiding her discomfort. So I was talking to some local kids since we were showing them around the house and letting them sit in the trucks and sound the sirens, and it was actually Tom that noticed something was wrong.

"She admitted she was in labor and we loaded her into the ambulance and she waited so long to tell us that she was already fully dilated and one of the firefighters that was an ex paramedic came to drive while Tom came to help me in the back. Elena did the whole thing without pain killers and by the time we got to the hospital my daughter was born."

Heather grinned, "That's amazing Johnny… Tim wasn't even there when the kids were born. With Peter and Michael, our two oldest, Tim was in Colorado and Minnesota respectively, when I had David, Tim was here but he was on a bender, but he was there when our youngest, Henry, was born."

"Wow… Was anyone there with you?"

She nodded, "Regardless of the fact that my parents didn't want to be in my life until two years ago, both of my brothers and most of their gang members were there for each birth… They helped me get through it. Tim was really sorry he missed them… He was on the phone with my brother while he missed Peter and Michael… My brothers sent out their gang to beat the shit out of him when David was born- I didn't know about that part- and when Henry was born I had everyone in the room with me. It made it so much easier." I nodded, I knew that the bond I shared with Elena grew stronger after I delivered our first child- most guys never want to see that wife in that position. It wasn't pretty, but it was something that made us grow closer together. There was literally nothing else to hide from each other after that day.

I felt better about being Heather's partner now- she pretty well knew the good and the bad, but every serviceman had the stories that they'd never ever talk about unless it was with their partner that experienced it first hand.

After the shift was over we all left around four in the morning and I hoped I wouldn't disturb the girls while they slept. When I got upstairs I went into each of my girls's rooms and kissed their heads before going into my room. Elena's side of the bed was empty and when I went over I could tell she was just in there- the bed was still warm.

She walked back in and she looked so beautiful- in one of my shirts and her hair was sitting against her messily.

"Johnny?" She asked softly and I nodded, wrapping my arms around her and kissing her head,

"Hey baby, how are you?" I whispered and she shrugged, sighing softly as she rested her head on my chest,

"Tired… But you're home. How was your shift?" She asked and I kissed her head,

"It was good baby, we didn't need to do more than take someone to the hospital for a broken arm." I'd already talked to her and told her all about Heather Shepherd.

She climbed back into bed and I changed out of my clothes and climbed in beside her, taking her into my arms. She started breathing slowly and it took me awhile to realize I was at home before I fell into a deep sleep.

Usually when I got home the first few hours I slept were choppy- I would wake up every half hour or so and if I heard a loud noise or a phone ring I'd be up. But after two hours of waking up and realizing I'm at home I'd sleep for five hours straight.

When I looked at the clock I realized it was roughly eleven thirty and I could hear the girls giggling downstairs. I rubbed my eyes and gave myself a couple minutes to wake up, before changing into a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt, going downstairs.

"Dada!" Easton squealed and she came running over, hugging my legs tightly. I bent down and picked her up, holding her close to me. This was the best part of working these shifts- all of my girls were so happy to see me. Ella started squealing from her spot on Elena's lap. I grinned and sat beside Elena, kissing her softly before kissing Ella's head as she leaned towards me for attention.

"Hello Ella Bella! Did you have a good sleep?" She nodded and grinned at me and I chuckled and kissed her head. It was only after that I noticed that Dallas and Beth were here and I smiled,

"Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Good, sorry to stop in unannounced, how did your first shift go at the house?" Dallas asked and I shrugged,

"Not too bad, you'll never guess who my partner is." I said, happily taking Easton into my arms as she crawled into my lap,

"Who?"

"Mrs. Tim Shepherd."

"Bullshit. There's no way that Tim's married."

"It's true, married with four boys."

"Well shit, I'll have to catch up with him." I nodded and Beth smiled,

"Well there's a reason we stopped in today, and I'm sure you both have some idea. Now that I'm getting closer to the due date we were faced with the task of figuring out who to make our son's godparents… And the only people that Dallas and I could think of… Are you both. So what we're wondering is… Will you be our son's god parents?"

"Oh my gosh of course!" Elena exclaimed and I nodded,

"We'd love that guys," We both stood up and went over to give them a hug,

"Thank you so much," Beth said, rubbing her bump.

"Could I feel?" Elena asked and Beth nodded,

"Yeah of course! He's kicking now," She said, taking Elena's hand. She grinned but I noticed the look my wife had and I had a funny feeling about that look.

"Did you want to feel Johnny?" Beth asked and I nodded,

"Yeah sure," I said, gently putting my hand on her bump. I grinned when the baby kicked and Beth smiled,

"Easton? Would you like to feel the baby kick?" She nodded and came over, and I sat her on the arm of the couch beside Beth. She felt it and started giggling. When Elena was pregnant with Ella Easton was too young to remember it.

"Dada?" Easton asked, looking over at me while she had her hand on Beth's bump,

"How did baby get in tummy?" I practically choked and looked at Elena. Thank God she was more prepared than I was,

"Well sweetheart, what happens is… Daddies get a seed and they use the seed and put it in a mommy and… If the mommy and daddy are right together then they will make a baby."

She nodded, seeming to be happy with the answer and I sighed in relief.

"Well we're going to get going, my parents are coming down to visit from Guymon." Beth said, "Do you mind if I use your washroom?"

Elena shook her head and took her to the washroom and Dally looked at me,

"So you and Elena will still be there tomorrow right?" He asked and I smiled and nodded,

"Yeah. We're picking the gift up later today. I'm surprised you put this all together man."

"Yeah yeah… I just want her to be happy."

I grinned and patted his shoulder, "You're doing a good job man, believe me." He smiled and we said goodbye and Elena's parents came in,

"Hello Johnny, how did your shift go?" Dad asked and I shrugged,

"It was a quiet shift thank god."

He nodded, "Well we were thinking of taking the girls to the mall and maybe to the aquarium depending on the time."

I knew Elena had probably already approved of the plans- we tended to usually want alone time once I was finished a shift. Four days was long for her and most of the time FaceTime or talking on the phone didn't exactly do it for her.

As embarrassing as it was I'm pretty sure her parents also knew that. Ever had flown back to Maine to finish a project and if her parents left with the kids Elena and I would be alone.

"Babe? I have a present for you upstairs." She said, taking my hand and leading me upstairs. I grinned and went with her eagerly, kissing her neck softly. I grinned when she turned us around to sit us on the bed.

"What is it?" I asked as she handed me a small box. She bit her lip and smiled,

"Open it." I took the bow off and I opened the top of the box, covering my mouth.

"L-Lena…" I whispered, she sniffled and grinned,

"Congratulations…" She said, barely above a whisper. I pulled her closer to me by her hips and I gently kissed her stomach. In the box were two pregnancy tests- both positive.

"I… We're having another baby…" I whispered in awe. She ran her fingers through my hair and I pushed her shirt up, kissing her belly button,

"Hi baby… Daddy can't wait to meet you… You're going to be so loved and so spoiled," I whispered, kissing her stomach again. Elena sniffled and bent down to kiss me. I gently pulled her into my lap,

"When is your doctor's appointment babe?" I asked, kissing her neck softly,

"Next Tuesday, I made it for mid afternoon so you could sleep in and get a quick cat nap before you start your next shift." I nodded and kissed her,

"I love you so much gorgeous," I said.