Checks and Balances

Chapter 3

Johnny was quiet on the ride back to the station. Roy called the dispatcher to let him know that they were available. Once Roy backed the squad into place he turned off the engine and looked at his partner who was still being uncharacteristically quiet.

"Everything ok there, Junior?"

Johnny looked at Roy and then past him. "I'm not sure..." he said, as he pointed out Roy's window. "I'll tell ya in a minute."

Roy turned his attention to where John was pointing and saw a very serious looking Captain Stanley standing there staring at the men in the squad.

"Uh-oh. I guess we'd better see what's up," Roy said, as he opened the door and slipped out of the cab.

Roy and Johnny exchanged a confused look as they followed what appeared to be a very irritated captain into his office. Once inside, Stanley turned to his younger paramedic. "So? Are you all right?"

Johnny stepped back slightly, somewhat taken aback by his captain's tone. "Uh, yeah sure."

This time Captain Stanley turned to Roy. "Here I thought you guys were right behind us, but when you didn't turn up at the station I called the dispatcher. How in the blue blazes do you two do it? How do you end up responding to a non code R and then having one of you end up being the only code I from the scene?"

Roy shifted from foot to foot. He should have called the station. He had honestly let that detail slip his mind. It had, after all, been a very long day. "Uh, well ya see, Cap..."

"And how did I know it was you?" Cap interrupted, as he once again turned his focus onto the younger paramedic. "Because almost an hour ago I got a call from a very grateful mother asking how fireman Gage was after falling fifteen feet off the roof of her house while in the process of rescuing her two year old daughter. Imagine my surprise when I can only tell her that I didn't have a clue what she was talking about!"

Roy saw movement out of the corner of his eye. The office door was open and he saw Chet's curly head for a moment. The guys must have heard about the phone call. Judging by the fact that Chet and possibly the others were lurking just out of sight, Cap must not have given any details about that call. In the back of Roy's mind he was wondering what they thought of the earful they were getting now.

"Do either of you know what I have been going through since I got that call? Obviously, you're all right. You're standing here in my office. It never once occurred to you to call your captain, you know the guy who has to fill out all the paperwork, to tell him what is going on with his men." The angry man turned back to Roy. "That I expect from him, but not you, Roy."

Roy was crushed at that last statement. He knew perfectly well that Cap was just venting his frustration. He found out that Johnny had been injured, possibly seriously, in a very unfortunate manner and was now blowing off all the worry. Getting told that he should have known better touched a nerve, because he did know better. He should have contacted the station to let everyone know what was going on.

"I'm sorry, Cap..." Roy began just as Johnny said,

"Hey!" ready to form an objection to Cap's last comment when he fell silent at the look on Cap's face.

Captain Stanley looked at both men and his features softened. He was clearly relieved that they were both safe and back in quarters. "It looks like you could use a change of clothes, John. Why don't you go do that while we get some dinner out for you two?"

His fears and frustration vented, Cap was back to his old self and ushered the two thoroughly chastised men from his office. Roy nearly bumped into Chet as he stepped out of the office and the other men of A shift quickly dispersed rather than incur their own lecture about eavesdropping.

Johnny went straight to his locker and opened it to pull out a clean uniform shirt. The old one was still in the seat of the cab where he intended to let it hide for a little while until he was certain that Cap was in a better mood. Roy was right behind him and saw him struggling to get the jacket off.

"Here, let me help you with that." Roy offered knowing how sore Johnny's shoulders were. Dr. Brackett had applied new smaller bandaging to the abrasions but Roy knew that they would be irritated and possibly itchy.

The bruise that had begun to form when Johnny was being examined by Dr. Brackett had grown to encompass both shoulder blades, all the way across the spine, and had turned a deep purplish red, looking about as awful as a bruise could look.

"Holy Cow!" came Chet's voice. "You'd better not let Cap see that or you'll get another lecture."

Mike whistled at the sight. "Man, Gage, you sure can land yourself into some spots. That looks terrible..."

"And painful!" Marco added.

Johnny put his shirt on over the injury scowling to himself. Roy could tell that the guys' scrutiny was bothering him. "Yeah, well, you guys better get out to the kitchen before Cap comes looking for ya."

Roy knew that the captain's focus was off Johnny now that he had had his say, but an hour's worth of worry was probably not completely gone with just one 'lecture'.

The guys looked at each other and shrugged, but they dispersed and Roy turned to his partner. The look on Johnny's face said it all to Roy. "Hey, they are only concerned about you."

"Oh yeah, sure. You wait, Roy," Johnny predicted. "There will be cracks about clumsiness, losing my balance, or something like that. I'm never gonna hear the end of it."

Roy shook his head, smiling at his partner. "I think you underestimate the guys."

Johnny stepped over to the sink and splashed water on his face. He obviously wasn't buying it and it showed in the taut muscles of his arms. He grabbed some paper towels from the dispenser, blotting the water and turned to face Roy.

"Mark my words. I don't think I'm underestimating anyone, especially Chet. You'll see, these guys are gonna give me the business."

Johnny crumpled up the wet toweling and chucked it in the waste basket before coming back and sitting down on the bench. "Man, I sure wish that lady hadn't called."

"Hey, she was just concerned and grateful. Look, Junior, I think you're making too big a deal about this."

Johnny slowly stood up, muttering under his breath as he finished buttoning his clean shirt and gingerly tucking it in.

Roy closed the locker door for him and said, "Come on. I don't know about you, but I'm starved."

Johnny followed Roy out of the locker room and across the apparatus bay. They could smell Mike's fried chicken coming from the kitchen. As they stepped through the door Roy had to smirk. Johnny knew his crew mates so well. One of the chairs had already been completely wrapped in a thick layer of toilet paper. John caught sight of it and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Aw, come on, Gage. Mr. Whipple sent over his best case of Charmin. He even said you could squeeze it," Chet crooned. "We don't want you falling or anything, so we made you a nice soft chair to sit on."

Johnny looked at Chet with an expression that said this wasn't over as all the men laughed. Then his face brightened. The guys had used so much toilet paper on the chair that it actually looked somewhat comfortable and his back was pretty sore. He stepped over to the chair and waited, looking at Chet expectantly.

Chet looked a little confused until Roy whispered loud enough for all to hear, "He's waiting for you to pull out his chair."

Chet turned an incredulous stare to Roy.

"Hey, you started this, Pally. Don't get cheesed when he plays along," Roy admonished.

Chet smirked and bowed slightly as if taking the challenge. He stepped over to the chair and pulled it out for Johnny. After getting him pushed in to the table, he turned and grabbed a white hand towel from the drawer and a hot mitt. He pulled a hot plate of food from the oven, then threw the towel over his forearm like some kind of waiter in a fancy restaurant and served the plate to Johnny with a flourish.

"Hmm, so this is how ya get a little service around here." Johnny grinned, playing the joke for all it was worth.

Before Chet could reply, Marco interrupted. "Don't keep us in suspense. Tell us what happened."

Mike joined the men at the table. "Yeah, tell us. Cap didn't say anything."

Cap had just come around the corner as Mike spoke. "That's because I didn't really know anything other than what Mrs. Benjamin said on the phone. So yes, guys, do tell how this call happened. The last thing we knew you were headed back to the station behind us."

Roy looked at Johnny who held up a drumstick and quirked a grin at his partner. "You told the story so well before..."

All eyes turned to Roy who relayed the entire event from the time they came across the people gathering outside the Benjamin home, and even added the part about Johnny acting modestly when Roy told Dixie about the rescue.

The men of Station 51 seemed duly impressed with the story as Roy told it, and Chet even remarked, "Wow, Gage, that is some story."

"Yeah, no need to be modest, Johnny. You were a real honest hero today." Marco added.

Johnny shifted in his seat obviously feeling a little uncomfortable with the conversation, yet a small smile still shone through. "Yeah, okay, I'm a hero, but..." John stopped for a moment before he continued, "...I didn't do anything that any one of you wouldn't have done."

Roy looked sharply at his partner. Did he sound out of breath?

Chet and the others didn't seem to notice as Chet went in for the killer comment. "You know, Johnny, you are absolutely right. Any one of us would have done the same thing..." he paused for effect. "...only we wouldn't have fallen off the roof when we did."

Johnny gave Chet a sour look, then turned his attention to Roy with an expression that clearly said, 'I told you so.'

"See what I have to put up with?" The younger paramedic complained.

Cap came to the rescue. "All right, that's enough, Chet. Let the guys get something to eat before they get called out again, will ya?"

Roy made no bones about digging into his food. Neither of them had had a chance to sit down to a full meal yet that day and Mike's fried chicken was worth sitting down to. It didn't take long for Roy to notice that Johnny was just staring off into space instead of eating.

"You okay, Johnny?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, just thinking."

"Okay, I'll bite."

"I was just wondering how..." John paused slightly "...that little girl got out between those bars."

"Well, she was pretty small, even for a two year old. Joanne has a friend, Colleen, who has an autistic boy. Something similar happened with her son. She told Joanne that after that incident they ended up bolting the windows shut. Wouldn't surprise me if the Benjamin's do the same thing real quick."

Johnny was about to comment on that when the tones went off again for them.

"Squad 51, Woman down at the Natural Museum and Art Gallery, 1431 Wilshire, cross street Fairfax. 1 4 3 1 Wilshire. Time out 19:52."

Johnny set down the piece of chicken in his hand untouched, and groaned. "Not another one! What is this, an even dozen calls for today? Enough is enough!"

Roy jumped up and headed for the squad, Johnny right behind him. When Roy handed the call sheet off to Johnny, he noticed that his partner's hand felt oddly cold, but the thought was lost as they pulled out and headed for downtown LA.

As Roy pulled up to the curb outside the museum he glanced over at his partner who was looking out the windshield at the crowd of people in fancy dress gathered outside the building.

"Must be some kind of new exhibit or something." Johnny remarked.

Roy looked over as well. "Yeah, I guess." The paramedics got out and were met by a man in a tuxedo.

"Hurry, right this way."

Johnny and Roy grabbed their equipment from the side compartment and hurried after the gentleman who led the paramedics up into the front lobby of the museum where a small crowd had gathered around a woman who was lying on the floor.

"What happened?" Roy asked as he and Johnny squatted down next to the victim and began opening their equipment.

The man in the tux stood wringing his hands. "She started acting oddly, like she was drunk, but Darla doesn't drink, not a drop. She never has. I tried to get her to go with her sister Clara to the bathroom, but she started screaming at me, and Clara, and anyone who came near her. Then she just passed out cold."

Johnny opened up the biophone while Roy began taking the woman's vital signs. "Sir, is Darla a diabetic?" he asked the man.

"Uh, yes she is, but I know that she took her insulin today. I was there when she did."

Johnny had gotten Rampart on the line, and Roy continued to talk to the man in the tux. "Has she had anything to eat since she took her insulin?"

"Rampart, this is squad 51." Johnny coughed slightly then continued, "how do you read me?"

While he waited for a response, Roy called out the vital signs. "She's diaphoretic, pulse is 95, BP is 100 over 70, respirations are 12."

"We read you, squad 51." Dr. Early's voice came on over the phone.

"Rampart, we have a female victim age approximately 35 years old. She is a diabetic on insulin. She is unresponsive, diaphoretic..." cough "Pulse is..." Johnny looked up at Roy for the pulse rate.

Roy frowned at him then repeated the vitals. "Pulse 95, respirations 12, BP 100 over 70."

Johnny wrote down the numbers as Roy repeated them. "Uh, Rampart,..." cough "The pulse was 12, uh, just a minute, Rampart, that's a pulse of 95, respiration is 12, BP is 100 over 70."

Dr. Early's voice came back over the speaker. "51, has she had her insulin today?"

"Uh, that's affirmative, Rampart," Johnny said, as he pulled out a bag of IV fluid.

"Give the patient 50 CC 50% Dextrose IV push. Start an IV of D5W and take the blood pressure again." Early ordered.

Johnny set up the IV bag while Roy inserted the needle and filled the syringe with the dextrose for the IV push. When Johnny handed the IV bag to Roy the older paramedic looked at it and frowned. Dr. Early had clearly ordered D5W and that was an order that they both would have expected, but the IV solution that Johnny pulled out was Ringers Lactate.

"Johnny, that's not D5W," Roy said, and he handed the bag back to Johnny.

Johnny frowned at the bag in his hand turning it over as if seeing it for the first time. "Uh, yeah," he said, as he set the opened bag back into the drug box and pulled out the correct IV solution.

Roy stepped over to the drug box and handed Johnny the stethoscope. "Get a new set of vitals. I've got this." He said, indicating that he would finish setting up the IV solution.

Johnny did as he was asked, and called in the update to Rampart.

"10-4, 51. Transport as soon as possible." Dr. Early said.

Roy had established the IV just as the ambulance attendants arrived with the gurney, and helped the men get the woman on the gurney while Johnny began closing up the drug box and other equipment.

"I'll ride in with her," Roy said, as he grabbed the biophone and drug box. The woman began to rouse and Roy concentrated on keeping her calm as the gurney was rolled out of the lobby. "You're going to be all right, ma'am. We're taking you to Rampart General."

Johnny took the defibrillator and oxygen tank with him back to the squad. Roy glanced at his partner as a nagging feeling kept distracting him. Johnny's back must have been bothering him. Roy could clearly see that lifting the oxygen tank was painful from his position as he got up into the ambulance.

He didn't have time to worry about Johnny because his patient needed his full attention as she became verbally combative when she realized she was being loaded into the back of an ambulance. Johnny finished packing up the squad and climbing into the cab he followed behind the ambulance. Roy glanced out the back door window and saw the squad following them about a block behind but frowned in complete confusion when the ambulance made a left hand turn onto Wilmont and the squad kept going straight.

"Where is he going?" Roy wondered aloud, but his attention was diverted to the patient.

"What are you talking about? Why are you doing this to me? I want to go back to the exhibit, right now." The woman demanded.

"Ma'am, we are taking you to Rampart General Hospital. You had a reaction to your insulin and lost conciseness." Roy explained again.

"I did? I think you said that already didn't you?" she asked calming down slightly.

Roy looked out the back window again as though the squad would magically appear behind them as he spoke. "Yes, ma'am. You will be just fine. Your blood sugar just got a little low."

So went the rest of the ride to Rampart, with Roy explaining the situation to the patient over and over again while continuing to glance out the back window hoping to see his partner.

Once the patient was in a treatment room and Roy had given his final assessment report he stepped out into the hallway expecting to see his partner, but there was no sign of him. He walked over to the base station, where Dixie was just finishing up a call with Squad 10.

"Hey, Dix, you seen Johnny?"

"No, Roy, why? What's up?"

Roy didn't answer her. Instead he stepped purposefully to the land line and dialed the dispatcher.

"LA this is paramedic Roy DeSoto. Can you give me a status on Squad 51?"

"Squad 51 is enroute to Rampart hospital. Hold on a moment please."

Roy frowned as the worry nagging at him took a sharp upswing. He looked over at Dixie who came over to stand beside him, concern in her eyes mirroring his own.

"Squad 51 just reported arrival at Rampart ER."

"Uh, okay. Thanks," Roy said, as he hung up the phone.

"What's going on, Roy?" Dixie asked.

"Johnny didn't follow the ambulance in. We turned off Fairfax on to Wilmont and he went straight."

Dixie shrugged. "It happens, Roy. I'd hate to admit how many times I've been driving home on auto-pilot after a long shift and missed the turn-off to my own house."

"That's not all." Roy wasn't finished. "Dr. Early ordered D5W and Johnny set up an IV with Ringers Lactate. I caught the mistake and we gave the patient the correct IV, but now this?"

Dixie patted Roy's shoulder reassuringly. "Well, Roy, anyone can make a mistake, even Johnny. You guys have had a really long day. I think I have seen more today than I have in the last two shifts."

Roy sighed, wanting to feel reassured. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm sure that's all there is to it."

Dixie smiled at him and nodded past him. "Well, why don't you ask him?"

Roy turned and saw his wayward partner walking down the hall toward the base station with the HT in his hand.

"Hey, what happened?" Roy asked.

Johnny acted like he wasn't sure Roy was speaking to him and looked behind him to see if there was someone else there. He looked back and pointed to himself with a clear question on his face.

"You disappeared. One minute you were following the ambulance and then you weren't."

Johnny's face fell as he shrugged a little. "Oh, that. I, ahh, missed the turn."

Roy wasn't buying it. Johnny wasn't telling him something. "How did you miss that turn?"

Johnny looked decidedly uncomfortable and lowered his voice. "I got distracted. I was thinking about that... um, you know that thing back there... and realized too late that you were turning. I just went around the block."

It was Roy's turn to look confused. "What're you talking about?"

Dixie spoke before Johnny could form a reply. "Johnny, are you talking about the Ringers versus D5W?"

Johnny's mouth opened and he glared at Roy. "You told her?" He looked back at Dixie. "No offense, Dix."

Johnny looked back at his partner incredulously. Dixie shook her head. "Why is it such a big deal, Johnny? Anyone can make an honest mistake, especially since you guys have been going practically nonstop all day. Why do you think we nurses keep checking each other? It's the best way to protect the patient."

Johnny just shook his head and muttered, "Thanks, pal," as he turned to walk off.

Roy watched Johnny stride away feeling helpless. He hadn't meant to betray Johnny's trust, he was just concerned about him. Johnny was as sharp as any paramedic in the business and it wasn't like him to make a mistake like that. Of course, Johnny would feel upset about it. It isn't really surprising that Johnny was preoccupied by making a mistake causing him to miss the turn off Fairfax. Becoming obsessed with a mistake, especially one with a patient, was very much like his partner.

"Roy, he'll be fine. You know how sensitive Johnny can be. Just give him a little while to cool off." Dixie said in a comforting voice.

"Yeah, you're right. Hey, I gotta go catch up with him, Dix. See ya later."

TBC

A/N: I would once again like to thank my betas Outhaknowbetter and The Delirium Threemen for putting up with me. Thanks to their help and advice I have been able to clean up some sticky spots both medically and with story flow. You guys rock.