Chapter 20

Joe Early had joined the rest of the crowd to await news on how the surgery went, as did Roy and Johnny, who had somewhat composed himself. Every minute was unbearable.

Then Kel Brackett pushed open the door and walked in, looking completely exhausted. "She made it through the surgery." Cheers flew around the room but Brackett's face didn't share their relief.

"What is it Kel?" Joe knew there was more it than that simple statement.

"She's not out of the woods yet. She lost a massive amount of blood, we repaired everything but there are still high risks of pulmonary or cardiac complications, as well as infection. The orthopedic surgeon was able to put in place pins to allow her hip fracture to heal correctly."

As they had numerous times before on this day, the men did the only thing they could do...pray.

Joe made the phone call that every parent dreads answering. It set off a chain of phone calls in Pennsylvania and the Dakotas. It was arranged that A.J.'s grandparents would drive in from the Reservation and her parents and maternal grandparents would fly in from the East. Despite having two very different cultures, both sides of her family were very close.

When she was brought to recovery Gage was waiting. Her skin was now clean and soft again, no traces of the blood that had been plastered on her face when they found her. She still looked so small and fragile, as if the bed were going to swallow her up.

Several hours had passed and she was still unconscious. Brackett had warned that the next 72 hours would be critical. He spent that time talking to her, as if any moment it would become a two way conversation. The others had each separately come in to give her their support. Then they grudgingly took the apparatus back to their individual stations, and then went home, at least for a few hours of sleep. They each had one wanted to stay but were told that the staff would go crazy if they did. Dixie had their numbers and swore that she would call if there was any change. No one was stupid enough to try and get Johnny to leave her side.

Another blessing was that for the A-shift, there was four days of off time coming to them, as per their regular schedule. This made life a little easier on Johnny and Roy. He wasn't about to leave his partners side. He had called home and explained everything to his ever loving and patient wife, Joanne. She had started crying on the phone. She brought Roy some clean civilian clothes, after she dropped the kids off with friends.

Leaving Gage to get them some coffee, Roy met up with her. "Jo, thank you so much for bringing me all of this." He often wondered what he could have done to deserve a woman like her.

"How is she doing, Roy?" Joanne had been in Johnny's new found position before. She could remember each time Roy had been in a hospital bed, fortunately most of those times had not been as dire as this.

"All we can do now is wait. He refuses to even take his eyes off of her, as if his stare is keeping her alive......" His voice broke; fatigue and grief were wearing down his resolution not to cry.

"The kids and I will be fine; you stay with Johnny...he needs you right now."

If she hadn't loved him since elementary school, she would have picked a man who was anything other than a firefighter.

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It had been over 18 hours and Gage hadn't eaten or moved from his century post for even a minute. Roy was trying to pry Johnny from his seat, if only for little while. "Come on partner....you have to keep up your own strength. If you collapse, I am never going to hear the end of it, when she wakes up." He smiled slightly, picturing her doing exactly that.

"What if she wakes up and I'm not here. What if something happens and I'm not her to say......" Tears were filling up in his already swollen red eyes.

"Listen, Joe is outside in the hallway. He's wants to sit with her for a while. She won't be alone for one single second. Dixie will page us if something happens. You have to eat something; you don't want to look like a walking skeleton when she wakes up, right?" Roy would beg if he had to, Johnny needed to take a few minutes, just to vent some of the stress that was building up inside.

"Alright, but just for a few minutes, then I'm coming back." Although he couldn't show it right now, he was thanking GOD for Roy DeSoto. He knew Roy was right, he was starving. He walked to her bedside, leaned over and softly kissed her forehead. "I'll be right back, Joe's going to be with you, you're never alone."

The cafeteria was just opening and the only they had out was pastries and coffee. Still it was at least something to squelch down the acid in his stomach. They both sat down in a booth, not knowing what to say. The two men had been through hell and back so many times, they lost count. Every shift Gage knew he had to make sure that Roy made it home to Joanne that had been his promise to her from the first day he met Roy's family. It wasn't that Johnny didn't value his own life but he had never had much of a family of his own, until now.

"I shouldn't have waited." Johnny blurted out.

"Shouldn't have waited for what?"

"All day....I knew something was wrong...why didn't I figure it out! If we had gotten to her sooner...." He was alert and focused by the guilt that was starting to consume him.

"Stop it Johnny. This wasn't your fault! If anyone is to blame it is the maniac that ran them off the road, no one else.... do you understand?" The tone in Roy's voice made him look up.

"I know, my brain knows it but my heart is a different matter." Thinking of the person who did this brought the same rage and thoughts of revenge as the night that A.J. had told him what she had never told anyone else.

More silence accompanied them, as the finished their coffee. Then something inside of his head began shouting that something was wrong. He drew in a sharp breath, which was noticed by Roy.

"Johnny are you alright? What is it, what's wrong?" His friend's tanned skin had just paled a few shades.

"A.J.! I have to get back to her! Something's wrong......she dying!" He sprinted down the hallway, to the elevator, with Roy two steps behind him.

His fears were confirmed when he rounded the corner to find numerous hospital staff coming out of her room, the last person to walk out was Dr. Joe. He looked like Johnny felt. His face was haggard, dark circles were shading the skin under his eyes.

"Doc, is she alright? She didn't....I mean she's not...." Johnny's eyes were pleading. Roy had already positioned himself behind Johnny, just in case.

"She went into full arrest again. Her lung was collapsing, the right one this time. We had to put in another chest tube. She has a normal response to pain, that's a good sign. Right now she's in a coma. They are going to run some more tests to confirm what Kel thinks is the problem."

"What does he think is wrong?" Roy asked, never taking his eyes off his friend.

"It looks like she's developed pulmonary contusions in both lungs, which wouldn't be uncommon because of the blunt trauma she suffered. It's being complicated by an infection.... probably pneumonia. Johnny we had to put her on a ventilator, to take some of the stress off her lungs, giving them time to begin to heal." It was times like these that Joe wished he could be in denial about his niece's condition.

Once again Roy guided him to sit down. He hadn't collapsed in arms like before, now it was as if his hope was dwindling away. Joe knelt in front of him, and forced him to look into his eyes. "Johnny, everything that medicine and science can do, has been done. Now it's up to her, she has to fight. We both know that is one of many things she excels at! Keep talking to her, I am certain that she can hear us." At that moment, Joe could see the depth of love that the young paramedic had for her.