Chapter 6

Rick's Beer

NYPD Sergeant Jamison Reagan paused with his hand on the polished brass rail of the door to the Hook & Ladder Pub in midtown and asked for a bit of forgiveness and courage from his blue-blooded brethren before making his way into enemy territory as he entered the confirmed smoke eater's lair in search of a particular rescue man he owed an extraordinary debt to… payable in full of course with the tab for a round or two of good black ale. Jamie ignored the raised eyebrows and smirks from a number of patrons who recognized the son of the city's top cop as he made his way towards the solitary figure sitting down at the far side of the bar.

"Two more," Jamie nodded to the bartender while he pulled up to the stool next to Rick Fellows and took a seat as a couple of thick foaming glasses were deposited in front of them.

"Took you a while to show up," Rick smirked as he tossed another empty peanut hull on the small pile that was accumulating in front of him and glanced to the side. "Wasn't sure you had the guts to cross the red line and walk in here although I'll admit you look a bit better than the last time I saw you," he observed with a hard squint in the dark lighting of the bar. "Is that a tan, Reagan?! Where the hell did you get that?"

"San Diego," Jamie admitted as he pulled a basket of pretzels over from the side.

"Ah," the older man chuckled as he took a sip of the fresh foam. "That's right… there was a lot of talk about going to the beach that night as I recall. Good for you, bud," he smiled as he pushed his sleeves up revealing a number of tattoos while glancing over to catch the scores running across the muted flat screen in the corner. "I gotta tell you though, I didn't figure you'd be making that trip when we were down in that hole… you were one lucky bastard that night. Can't say I've seen much like that in all my years of doing this, and that's sayin' something," Rick revealed. "First off, everything fell around you just so like a damn bunch of Jenga blocks and then with the cold… usually once you get a vic going down that fast and talking about putting things in order like that, well… you know."

"Yeah, I do," Jamie agreed as he sipped his beer while thinking back to a few of the tough calls he'd had over the years, the hardest being those last few minutes with Vinny in that courtyard. "I don't know how to say it, man. Just wanted to thank you for not giving up on me in there," he said with a tight throat as they both relived some of the emotions from that night. "Somehow that doesn't seem like enough, but it's all I got. Thank you… from me, my family, Eddie and that little girl we have now. You don't know how much it means to all of us."

Rick nodded as he kept his head down and shelled another peanut. "Best part of the job, Reagan, is when I get someone like you out… makes up for some of the others. I really hate to lose. Where I come from we don't leave anyone behind."

A few more quiet moments passed while they contemplated that before Jamie brightened suddenly with a grin. "Hey, I did it last week though… we got Kaylin's adoption finalized, and I asked Eddie to marry me when we were out in California."

"No kidding, a real family man now! Good for you!" Rick exclaimed with a smile as he reached over and smacked Jamie's shoulder. "Well anyway, I take it she said yes," he continued thinking about the hell that woman had gone through for him just a few weeks earlier. "Eddie… she's a real spitfire… she'll keep you in line. I don't mind telling you now that I wouldn't have got you out in time if it hadn't been for her and your rookie, George. Helluva good kid that one. Heard your dad has him under his wing now... s'good move for him. He came through for you, but wasn't gonna have it left in him for the street anymore. Seen newbs like him flame out after something like that when they had the chance to think about it," he admitted as he groaned a little and stretched his back out before hunching over his drink a little once again. "Getting too goddamn old for this weather," he moaned. "Maybe I should look at heading south a little."

"George is where he belongs now, for sure," Jamie agreed. "Couldn't have brought that whole crew down without him though," he mused. The pair were silent again for a minute before Jamie piped up once more. "So why is it you're still the first one down the rope, Rick?" Jamie asked as he knew his friend had already put in a twenty-year stint as a Navy Corpsman combat medic attached to the Marines to pull a full pension before returning to the city and joining the FDNY several years earlier. He had quickly become known as one of the best rescue men in the business and was definitely the first one you wanted to see coming down after you if it was your ass on the line. It was a hard way to draw a paycheck though as evident from the multitude of scars crisscrossing his arms and the aches that multiplied throughout his body whenever the weather turned cold and damp like this. "Hit us again," Jamie motioned to the bartender as he pushed his empty glass forward.

"You off all your meds, Reagan?" Rick chided as he took a few heavy swallows to catch up and do the same. "This ale has a kick like a mule after a while."

"I'm good," Jamie confirmed. "Got myself back on desk duty as of now. Should be out on the street in another few days or so."

"That's why," Rick answered obscurely.

"Why what?"

"Why I'm still the first one down the rope," Rick answered. "You asked me the question, but I wonder the same about you, Harvard," the former Marine emphasized. "By all rights you shouldn't have come out from under that rubble, but here you are pushing yourself to get back out there, and why do I have the feeling you'd be the first one to dive in again if you had the chance? Why'd you jump off that bridge to save a kid that wasn't yours? It's the same for both of us, the job… hell, it's in the blood."

Jamie nodded as he considered that point. "You're right, it's all I've ever seen myself doing. I tried law to please some other people, but it would have left me miserable. I always wanted to be just like my grandpa and father… to do the work that they did and have the stories they had to tell."

"I followed my old man and upped in the Corps when I was just eighteen," Rick revealed. "Spent the better part of the next twenty years on active duty in every hellhole you could imagine pulling out kids younger than me… having too many to count die in my arms. I came home for good after that last tour in Afghanistan in twenty-ten because I made a promise to my wife," he said as he subconsciously turned the imaginary ring on his finger. "Married her at the courthouse the week before my first trip overseas when she got knocked up… got a little girl of my own that's almost 26 now and ready to have her own baby," he laughed. "I'm gonna be a grandpa next month when I'm 45 and you've got a two-year-old… isn't that funny, huh? Stayed married to Ellen through all that hell and we ended up separated less than six months after I came home for good because I was a basket case sitting around the house with nothing to do. Decided to join the FDNY and got divorced the next year. Guess we were always better at the long-distance stuff. Get along just fine now that they're both down in Houston and only see me a few times a year just like before."

"I never knew that about you," Jamie muttered before offering a little smirk. "Grandpa, huh?" he shook his head. "Whew, no way. Kaylin's not dating until she's at least 30. I wanna be old before I see that; besides there's too many men packing in my family for any guy to think otherwise."

"Yeah, sure… that's what I said about Sarah, and it usually takes a hit of something harder than this ale to get me to admit that didn't work, Reagan."

"So what will you do then," Jamie asked as he was now halfway done with his second glass and starting to feel a warm buzz. "You know, when it's time to put away the rope… to keep from being a basket case. I don't ever see you sitting at a desk."

"Me? Nah, that would kill me for sure," Rick admitted. "It'll be hard not to be the one on the front line, and I really wish I could find some way to keep saving kids like you. That day's coming up sooner than I'd like according to my doc though. I won't pass the yearly physical soon… only so many patches you can put on things and I've worn out some of my parts already. I took classes to get certified as a counselor at a local veterans center where I volunteer and for a paycheck I'll probably end up at the academy as an instructor, I guess… passing on some of the things in my bag of tricks like that gastric lavage we tried… bought you a couple of minutes anyway. Might have made the difference."

"Yeah, and I meant to not thank you for that," Jamie smirked. "God, that was awful, would've taken a swing at you if I could have."

"I know that," Rick continued with a small smile at Jamie's revelation. "That's why part of the trick was to pin you down first. Combat field medics learn to use whatever it takes to get it done right and fast. Can't be sweet-talking a likely with bullets flying over your head."

"So that's why you're so good under pressure," Jamie surmised. "You needed a whole different skill set to deal with what you had to over there and that's what makes you one of the best at your job here. My brother, Danny, he spent some time overseas in the Corps in Fallujah and he never talks about it except to tell me I have no idea what it's like to do that. He tends to do things his own way too."

"Most guys who saw combat don't open up about what they saw, in my experience," Rick offered a familiar answer as Jamie recalled having the same conversation with Renzulli once after a decorated Marine was found beaten to death in an alley and his brother tore himself up after catching the case. His reply was the same.

"My grandfather made it back from Korea, my dad from Vietnam and Danny from Iraq. My junior year, I went to Europe. I think it was the first time a man in my family left America without a rifle in his hands," Jamie revealed once more. "Mom had me on the fast-track through law school. She never wanted me to be a cop either so there was for sure never talk of me going into the military."

"Heh, that must really have rankled your brother."

"Yeah, he says I make the family proud… the bleeding heart, pay it forward, peace, love and happiness side of the family... they're real proud of me, and that his side makes my side possible."

"He's got a point; I mean that's kinda the whole reason behind having a strong volunteer military force in the first place," Rick offered as he took another sip. It seemed odd to be discussing politics with the kid, but in all honesty it was kind of nice to talk to someone who was struggling to see both sides without the usual preconceptions.

"I know and Danny's probably right about that… we see things differently, and I don't pretend to understand what went on with him overseas. I might risk my life on the streets here, but I go home to a family that has Sunday dinner every week; it's not like I'm alone in a country where most of the people would rather I be dead, although sometimes that's not so cut and dried here either given the climate lately," Jamie added sadly. "Sometimes as cops we show up on a scene and I have to wonder if we're the good guys or the bad guys. At least people are usually happy to see your truck roll in, especially if their house is burning down, or say a building fell on top of them."

"That's a bit like it is overseas too," Rick acknowledged. "You've got people that need you and others that would rather pop you off without a second thought. The hardest part is telling them apart, and you can't go by the color of the flag they're waving."

"Yeah, that came up for discussion a few months ago too when that group made the scene in Veterans Plaza and burned the flag," Jamie added. "Dad hated it, but had to do his job; Danny was dead set against it no matter what, but the lawyer side of me recognizes the fact that in this country they're entitled to their point of view… it's protected under the First Amendment even though it turns my stomach the same as every other man in our family. My brother called me the golden child who never even wore a uniform, and I told him that I wear one now, and no one respects what the flag stands for more than I do."

Rick laughed. "And how did that go over with Danny boy?"

"He told me to hop on an airplane, go to some god-forsaken hellhole, and watch all my buddies get blown away, then talk to him about what the flag stands for."

"Not much different from what you saw when that partner of yours took one in the throat in that courtyard at Bitterman is it?" Rick asked bluntly. "Just sayin'," he frowned. "Dead is dead, be it for the flag or a badge… it's still hard on everyone... although yeah, I guess it is different for a soldier and sometimes it takes one to know one. A lot of times coming home to the good old US of A where the flag is flying high every day is the worst thing that happens to some of these kids and we lose more of them over here than we do in combat... like that boy that took a header off the George Washington yesterday. Just twenty-three years old, decided not to re-up when his first stint was done and got lost back here. The cops on scene first had him talking for a bit, but then he clammed up and I didn't have enough time to get to him… if I have a few minutes I can usually turn them around, but he's just one more I couldn't do anything for… God, I just hate to lose them like that!" he said as his voice raised and he slammed his fist down on the bar hard enough to make the glasses rattle, garnering a few knowing glances from some of the other patrons in the bar. "It's okay," he assured as Jamie raised an eyebrow and looked around, certain he'd find himself challenged by Rick's whole crew if they thought the visiting cop had somehow disrespected him. "They're all used to me going off whenever we fail a kid like that."

"Would it have made a difference," Jamie asked as he settled back down and waved for round three, "if those officers would have known how to approach him as a soldier instead of just another EDP on a bridge?"

"Yeah, it might have," Rick agreed. "You sure about this, Reagan?" he asked as the next pair of dripping glasses arrived. "You're getting awfully cozy here with us smoke eaters. Don't want to corrupt that precious blue blood of yours any more than it is, what with you being the hippie child of the PC and all… can't have you come all the way over to the dark side. You're not drivin' tonight, right? Cause I just live up the block..."

"Cab," Jamie confirmed with a small laugh, "and I gotta stop after this one, or otherwise Eddie will put me back under those bricks herself. We're driving up to Rochester tomorrow for a couple of days so I can meet her mother and tell her about the engagement," he blew a deep breath out. "Didn't get a chance to do that before I proposed because of everything that went down with being laid up in the hospital and Kaylin's adoption. I'm not exactly sure how it will go over with Mrs. Janko… so I probably need a few more of these in me before that sounds like a good idea."

"Man, if she's anything like my ex-mother-in-law, you're better off walking straight into a machine gun nest," Rick muttered before continuing. "For that kid on the bridge though… yeah, if the guys that got to him first knew how to approach him, it could have made all the difference. A lot of time they're just looking for someone to understand where they're at and listen to them."

Something clicked in Jamie's brain with that and now he was certain he knew the right way to repay Rick for what he had done, as well as pay it forward as he could for the rest of the people he was indebted to for serving in the military. So many of the emotionally disturbed people… the EDPs as they were called on the job… that cops encountered regularly as first responders had military backgrounds. If more was done to prepare the officers properly, potentially hundreds of lives could be saved and families spared the agony of living with that reality.

"Hey Rick, just how far would you be willing to go to help out some more of these guys?" Jamie started. "Would you be up for coming over to the blue side a bit… maybe even show up at 1PP for some meetings?" he asked with a little hesitation given the ongoing deep-heated rivalry between the police and fire departments; there were very few instances where the two were aligned and willing to work together on a common goal.

"What are you getting at Reagan?" Rick asked suspiciously.

"I lost one like that too a few months ago," Jamie explained. "A young girl… Jenny Strong. I really wanted to help her. She had issues and her dad was trying to deal with them but he couldn't do it alone and she ended up hanging herself before I could get her into a program. I was hamstrung at every turn… from the city agencies to our own lack of training inside the police department for dealing with EDPs. My dad and I talked afterwards… I wanted to see if we could develop a better approach to the way things are done and he agreed. Has me putting together an advisory committee to study how the NYPD can improve the way we deal with the mentally ill… all the way from the initial contact through how they are processed in the system."

"Comprised of who?" the rescue man asked with a sudden spark of interest as he had always seen the potential for something in this area, but never a way through the sea of red tape to get it done… and yet here was this Reagan kid sitting next to him now with the same thoughts, connected to the right brass up to the hilt and easy to work with.

"The best people I can field," Jamie answered. "John Jay, Payne Whitney, Health and Human Services, and also from the front lines here… both lines," he emphasized. "Blue and red if I can get them to work together."

"You asking me?"

"God, YES!" Jamie replied enthusiastically as he turned to face him. "I've got no one from our department with your military experience who knows what those guys need right when they're in crisis like that. Like you said, sometimes it takes one to know one and the right approach can make all the difference. I know we can't save them all, but I hate to…"

"...lose any of them," Rick finished for him as he pursed his lips and nodded, thinking how the outcome might have been very different for the young man that slipped away yesterday. "Yeah… I mean HELL YEAH!" he exclaimed as the same eyeballs popped up to look at him from the other tables. It wasn't often their dedicated but somewhat lone wolf-type of colleague got wound up in their company like that anymore, and never before when sitting with someone perceived as a privileged cop. "I knew there had to be a reason I saved your sorry ass twice, Reagan!" he said as he smacked his hand down on the table again. "You hear that boys?" he called out to his fellow firefighters. "I just got myself invited down to 1PP!"

"So you're in?" Jamie nodded with a sideways grin for the sprinkling of cheers, jeers and applause at that announcement. "We're starting up next week. I'll get you on the contact list so you have the details."

"Yeah, I'm in even if I've gotta suck it up and walk into that big blue house of your daddy's. You tell me when and where and I'll buy the beers after," he added. "Just do me a favor and don't make it a cop bar… got it flatfoot?" he huffed with a smile as a parting jab just to leave no doubt that the red versus blue rivalry was still intact.

"You bet, hose jockey," Jamie smirked as he settled up the bill and turned to leave. "Hey, I'm done for tonight… need my beauty sleep so I make a good impression on momma Janko tomorrow. I'll see you later, Rick."

"Hey, Reagan," Rick called after him. "I don't want to have to come pull you out of any more tight spots. Just remember to keep your head down when you meet the mother-in-law, okay? I'd hate to lose you now," he grinned.

"Yeah, I'll try to keep that in mind," Jamie laughed. "Thanks again, bud."

"No, thank you," Rick muttered to himself with a heavy sigh as he heard the bell ring and the door close behind him. "And all those boys will thank you too for giving a damn about them, Sergeant 'pay it forward, peace, love and happiness' Reagan. Your side makes our side possible too sometimes. Oorah."


Okay, that was a bit different, but I was trying to bring together some of the ideas that were on the show so far this season and string them along a little since I liked the idea of Jamie moving forward with a project such as the advisory committee and was hoping it would have come up as a recurring point and not just a one off like the time he got to play detective for Frank (successfully I might add). My former Marine buddy Rick seemed to be the perfect tie-in with that EDP storyline, the cops vs. firefighters and the flag burning episodes since I thought that could have been explored further as well, especially with Danny's outburst. Off my soapbox now, and next we are on to a pure werks-world snapshot entitled "Mommazilla" as Eva Janko enters the picture for series two. 'nuff said. :-)

Oh and thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers for that little girl. Did not get an update yesterday, later tonight for sure.