I was up late waiting for some one to come home from a party so here's the next chapter a head of schedule.

Chapter 15

When the squad backed into the bay John had his nose in his copy of 'keep the rescuers rescuing'. "Man that girl really knows what it's like for us," he said turning from his book to his partner who was still in the squad. "Did you see the difference in Stoker?"

"It was a definite improvement that's for sure." Roy had to agree. "I just hope the change lasts after the girl goes back to were she came from."

"Did I hear you right," Captain Stanley walked up to the squad and spoke to his paramedics through the window. "You've seen Mike?"

"Yeah, He was at the hospital waiting for a friend." Roy discreetly informed his captain. "And he looked a lot better than he has in months."

"Chet was right; Mike was at the bus accident today." John added.

"He was?" Captain Stanley questioned with a much less than pleased look on his face.

"I told you I saw him," Chet walked up on the passenger side if the squad.

"According to Mike, he and Laura were right behind the bus when the accident occurred and the two of them were the first ones to respond and spent the whole time inside the bus patching up some of the worst injured." Roy filled in details.

"So where is he now, still at the hospital?" Captain Stanley asked.

"No, He's taking Laura home with him to fix her a nice home cooked meal." Johnny revealed with flare. "I'm betting she spends the night, maybe even longer."

"I sure hope you're wrong about that." Their Captain said with a worried look on his face as he moved toward his office mumbling something about negative teddy bears.

"What's a negative teddy bear?" Chet questioned the already confused paramedics.

Roy and John looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders before John opened his book and checked the list of contents for anything related to teddy bears.

"Where did you get that?" Chet exclaimed when he saw the title of the book.

"At the book store," John answered as he pulled the book out of Chet's reach. "If you want one you're going to have to get your own."

"I just want to read one chapter," Chet reached into the cab of the squad as far as he could through the window. "Pretty please."

"Trust me Chet you don't want to know," Johnny closed the book and slipped it underneath himself sitting on it.

"Why what's it about?"

"People who are obnoxious," Marco called out from the doorway of the common room.

"And annoying," Johnny added still sitting in his seat in the squad.

"I think it used words like neurotic and insight homicidal tendencies." Roy added as he got out of the squad.

"If you really want to know what it's about Chet, just look in the mirror." Marco added the last insult before ducking back into the common room to finish dinner.

"Like I said Chet you really don't want to know," Johnny added still sitting on the book in his seat in the squad.

Dejected Chet turned and slowly walked away and after sticking his head out the window to make sure he was gone Johnny finally got out of the squad and stuffed his copy of the book in the inside pocket of his uniform jacket.

Unbeknownst to any of them Captain Stanley was able to hear every word of the conversation from his office as he sat there debating with himself weather or not to call Stoker at home and if he did what would he say to him.

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Mike guided Laura into his apartment, she really didn't feel well and it showed. Guiding her to the sofa he quickly headed for the kitchen to get her a glass of milk to take her new antibiotics with only to be able to tell by the clumps that landed in the glass as he poured that the milk had gone bad while he was gone. Thinking back he realized that he hadn't been to the store in nearly two weeks and marveled at how much better he felt than the last time he was in his apartment. Pouring the milk down the drain Mike searched his cupboards and managed to find a can of soup that he started to warm up. Standing in the doorway to his kitchen Mike watched as Laura looked out his living room window. She had done so much for him, in a way she had given him back his father or at least the ability to see him as a hero and to feel his love for his family.

"I'll have something for you to eat in just a minute." Mike called to Laura from the door of his kitchen. "You're welcome to go lay down on my bed while you're waiting."

"A, NO, that's way too scary to even think about," Laura turned away from the window holding her left arm with her right hand; it was so obvious that her shoulder was hurting.

"I'll make an ice pack for your shoulder. You can at least make yourself comfortable on the couch. I'll get you a couple of pillows."

"Mike," Laura looked to her host and studied his face, "You know it's not even a good idea for me to stay here tonight."

"I just want to see to it that you get a good meal." Mike swallowed nervously. "You need to rest if so your body can fight that infection. I'm not sure how much rest you could possibly get in that camper of yours in this heat."

Mike managed to fill a plastic bag with ice and coax Laura to sit down on the sofa as he carefully packed her shoulder with the ice before slipping into his room and pulling the two pillows from his bed and bringing them to Laura. By then the soup was warmed so Mike dished up a bowl of it and brought it to Laura coaxing her to eat and then take her pills. He was both pleased and worried when she took one of her pain pills along with the antibiotics.

"I need to go to the store and get some supplies for dinner." Mike informed Laura as he tried to settle her in with pillows and ice. "I wasn't planning to be around for a few days and let my pantry get a little empty."

"Look, maybe you should take me back to my truck while you're out." Laura began to peel herself off the sofa.

"No," Mike placed a hand on her shoulders and gently pushed her back. "You need some rest, you'll be alone here with no one to disturb you and I'll take my time so you don't have to worry about me." "There's air conditioning here and you'll rest a lot better than in your camper."

"All right," Laura gave in beginning to feel the first effects of the pain pill, "but as soon as dinner is over either you take me back to my truck or I'm calling a cab."

"Okay," Mike agreed but he was hoping to be able to change her mind when that time came.

Laura rested her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes but her ears were tuned in to the sounds around her as the drugs in her system started to do their job. As soon as Mike shut and locked the door behind him Laura peeled off of the sofa and searched for the phone.

"LA county fire Department, Captain Stanley speaking,"

"Hello there, Captain Stanley this is Laura Elmer."

"What can I do for you Miss Elmer?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Mike is doing better. I think he's ready to come back to work. We've found most of his answers for him and I suspect by the description given of how his father went into full arrest that the autopsy report is going to show he died from a blood clot to the heart. I'm sure your paramedics can help him understand the terminology and explain that report to him when it arrives."

"I'm sure they can, is there anything else?"

"Yea, I'm going to have to turn our boy over to you now. It's time for me to fade out of the picture before I do more harm than good."

"Are you talking about the negative Teddy bear effect?" Captain Stanley quoted from Laura's book.

"Damn you're good; I wish I'd had a friend like you around when I needed 'em, then maybe I wouldn't be such a mess right now." "Yea, Mike's getting a little too Florence Nightingale on me, as soon as he gets back from the grocery store I'm going to make him take me back to the hospital."

"Are you alright? Do I need to send someone over there?" Hank grew somewhat alarmed.

"NO, it's nothing life threatening. I just have this infection and then new antibiotics they put me on are making me sick to my stomach. We're going to have to try something else." Laura answered before adding a quick, "I got 'a go," and hanging up the phone.

Hank listened to the dial tone for a moment as he collected his thoughts. He then let out a deep breath and dialed Mike's home phone. He let it ring as his mind raced through the list of reasons Laura might not be answering. He was just about to call in a silent alarm and head the station over to Mike's apartment when the phone picked up.

"Laura! Are you alright?"

"Yea, Yea, I am now. I just had to throw up but I'm alright now."

"I'm going to send my paramedics over there."

"NO! no that's not necessary. I'm fine now, I'm just going to rest until Mike get's back and then I'll have him take me to the hospital. I'll be just fine until then."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm a nurse for crying out loud, I can take care of my self till Mike get's back. Just take care of our boy for me. He's bound to have a down moment or two over the next while but that's to be expected. I'll be fine."

"Alright then," Hank sighed. "But if you need anything call, we'll be right there."

"I know you will. Now stop worrying about me, you have enough to worry about."

Reluctantly Hank hung up the phone but made a mental note to call back in an hour or two as he turned back to his paperwork. However his plans to call back were interrupted by a fire call.

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As the tired and famished firefighters filed back into the common room after putting out the fire in an old shed some boys had turned into a club house. Fortunately no one was hurt but the men were all hungry and their stomachs told on them. Marco's dinner had been successfully placed in the oven to stay warm and all was ready to eat even the table was set so it wasn't long before they were all chowing down when Hank noticed one of his men was missing.

"Where's Chet?"

Four men stopped filling their faces for a moment to look around and confirm for them selves that Chet was indeed missing,

"Maybe he decided to take a shower," Marco suggested and Hank got up to go find his missing man remembering the conversation about the book he had over heard and sure that was part of why he was missing in action. As he pushed his chair back under the table the phone rang and he reached up and answered it.

"LA county Fire department, Captain Stanley speaking," There was a concerned look on his face as he turned to face the men seated at the table.

"John, Roy, It's Mike he needs to talk to one of you." Hank held the phone out and since John was the closest he took the call.

"This is John," he said with his mouth full then swallowed as he turned a concerned look in his partner's direction. "How hard have you tried to wake her up?" Hank froze in his tracks, "Have you tried a sternal rub? " "Okay, okay, how about a pulse, you can do that can't you?" John looked down for a moment as he took in and blew out a deep breath.

"What is it John?" Hank asked.

"Mike can't wake his girl friend up." Just then he flashed a panicked look at his partner. "Is she breathing?" Then addressing Roy, "Her pulse is 40."

"We better get over there." Roy said mirroring John's panic as he pushed himself from the table.

"Okay Mike, we're on our way. Keep an eye on her and Watch her breathing, if her pulse get's any slower start CPR." John instructed into the phone, "We'll be there as fast as we can."

"Come on everybody," Hank called out, "We're all going." He then caught John's arm as he hung up the phone and told him about the earlier phone call and that she had been throwing up before moving to the base station to call in a silent alarm.