Chapter 18

When Hank pulled into the parking lot he was quick to notice Mike's truck. As he pulled into the stall next to him he took in the dress uniform hanging in the back window and could see that Mike was turned sideways behind the steering wheel resting his head against the door frame. He could hear a faint hint of music coming from Mike's truck and could see him waving his hands to the beat of the music.

Smiling Hank got out of his car and as he shut his car door Mike jumped and turned around to see where the sound had come from. Seeing his captain Mike waved then turned off his radio and grabbed for his uniforms before pushing his door open and getting out.

"You're here early this morning," Hank called his smile carrying over to his voice.

"Yeah, I thought I'd stop in and visit Laura before I came to work but I was told that she had been sleep walking early this morning so the Doctor on call ordered a sedative to knock her out and she has a 'do not disturb order' until she sleeps it off."

"How is she doing?"

"Improving nicely according to Dix," Mike reported as he walked in along side his Captain. "Dix also said that she's been talking to a shrink about some of the nightmares she's been having and I guess that's been opening up some pretty rough memories."

"After reading the first few chapters of that last book of her's I can believe it." Hank reported as he opened the door to the station and held it for his engineer to walk through with his load of dry cleaning. "When is your family going to arrive today?"

"I was told that Chief Jenner would be here at 1100 hours. My Mom and youngest sister plan to be here around 10 to get a tour of the station but my sister who just had her baby and her husband will come closer to 11."

"So your sister finally had her baby," Hank smiled, "Does that mean we won't be getting any more of those calls around dinner time, asking you to refresh your brother-in-laws memory on emergency child birth procedures?"

"I don't think so. When the time finally came the only thing he could do was pull his hair out and hyperventilate." Mike chuckled at the memory, "It's a good thing Laura was there, it turned out to be kind of a tricky delivery, and then we had trouble getting the baby to start breathing on its own."

"It sounds like you had a very exciting few days off. Delivering a baby and then rescuing nearly 120 teenagers from a wrecked bus," Hank revealed he knew about Mike's activities, "And then dealing with Laura that night at your apartment. Did they decide what the problem was?"

"Some kind of reaction to the antibiotics, they think," Mike sighed, "She really needs this rest she's getting I think it's a good thing that they finally knocked her out."

"You look a hundred percent better than you did the last shift you worked." Hank spoke to the fireman with his dry cleaning flung over his shoulder as they stood in the empty bay. Both the engine and the squad were on a run.

"Laura led me to all the answers I've been looking for and a whole lot more. Then she sat with me and my family and guided us as we talked out our feelings and got everything out in the open in a way that we never would have been able to do alone. I now know my Father died as a hero. But there's two things that I found out that have really brought me a feeling of peace."

"What are they?" Hank asked.

Mike's eyes grew moist but didn't leak as a warm peaceful smile graced his calm face. "My Dad died knowing that I'd be proud of him when I found out what he'd done and Randy let him wear his fireman's helmet once they were out of the hole. He looked like a grown up kid when they were loading him into that medical transport bus." Mike scoffed feeling the things that brought him peace would seem strange to his Captain. "It also helped to know that things were never as bad as I always thought they were."

Captain Stanley simply smiled at his friend and placed his hand on the engineer's uncovered shoulder. "It's good to have you back Mike; it is so good to have you back."

"Thanks Cap, for everything. For putting up with me and standing beside me all these months and for everything you've done."

"That's what Captains are for."

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Chet was parked across the road from the station where he knew no one would be looking as they headed in to work. He wanted to be the last one through the doors this morning to maximize his little approved joke. He knew the Captain was already at work he could see him through the office windows and from his parking place he could see that Stoker's truck was already behind the station.

Already in uniform Chet drummed on the dash board as he watched Marco pull into the parking lot and a few minutes later Roy and Johnny reached the drive and almost the same time. Chet turned on his ignition and gave himself two minutes before he maneuvered his van into the parking lot and pulled his copy of 'keep the rescuers rescuing' and opening it up kept his eye's fixed on the pages as he walked into the locker room.

"Hi guy's," Chet said not taking his eyes from the book but out of the corner of his eye he greatly enjoyed the surprised and horror struck expressions on the faces of Roy and Marco but most of all Johnny. Chet opened his locker and tossed in his duffel bag never once taking his eyes out of the book then walked back out of the locker room, "See you at roll call."

Standing just out of sight Chet listened to the commotion in the wake of his departure.

"Man, are we in for it," Marco exclaimed.

"Yea, especially after how we laid it on him last shift." Roy sighed as he leaned against his locker door.

"What are you guys worried about," Johnny groaned, "I'm his favorite pigeon."

"He's got a point there," Roy looked to Marco, "Now what are we going to do?"

"John, if I were you I'd go ask Cap if you can start your vacation," Marco advised.

"Some how I don't think two weeks would be enough to save him from Chet," Roy let out a deep breath of concern.

"Me either," Johnny admitted.

Chet held his hand over his mouth to make sure no one heard him snicker and then turned his attention back to the book and made his way into the common room for the last pigeon.

In the common room Mike was sitting at the table with a sewing kit sewing a button on his dress jacket when Chet walked in.

"Hi Chet," Mike managed after Chet had sat at the table.

"Today's gonna be a big day for you isn't it." Chet figured out his friend's distraction. "Is Miss Elmer going to be here for the event?"

"No, she's still in the hospital." Mike answered as he checked the rest of his buttons to see if any of them were loose.

"How long's she gonna have to stay there?" Chet felt a little concern.

"I'm not sure, but Dixie was saying that she's improving so hopefully she'll be out in a day or two." Mike reported as he put his sewing kit away.

"That's good," Chet responded and thought about asking if Mike would get her autograph for him but chose not to at the time. Like his other crewmates that had read her work he was amazed at how well this woman named Laura Elmer found the words to explain how he felt at the end of a hard rescue especially when fatalities were involved. Even thought he wasn't finished with the book he felt comforted by the suggestions he had been reading to make things better and to help him cope.

Chet also felt a great weight on his shoulders as the team's court jester and wanted to understand how he could fill his roll to the best of his ability. But right then he was having fun watching the reaction of his crewmates as they saw what he was reading. Mike however was a different story he could clearly not care in the least what Chet was reading and somehow Chet thought he understood.

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Kell Bracket had drug his rounds out as long as he could but now there was only one patient left to check with. He had read her chart first thing this morning but once he learned that she had been sedated by the Dr. on call during the night he choose to wait to see her last. Laura Elmer had made it very clear that she didn't want to be sedated and as much as he had wanted to do it he had given in to her demands on the issue. Checking his watch he figured it would be at least another hour before she would be awake but he didn't have any other patients to see so He decided to stop in and check on her anyway.

Quietly opening the door he found the bed empty and stepped inside to investigate. On closer examination he found that not only wasn't Laura Elmer in her room, she had pulled all her IV's out. Bracket moved quickly to the nurse's station and called security.

"We have a missing patient from room 412, she's under the influence of sedatives and according to the nurses records she was last seen only ten minutes ago. Her camper was parked in the parking structure check it out, I want all the man power you can put on it." Bracket hung up the phone and began asking himself just what his patient had meant when she said she gets very scary on drugs. He really wanted to know more details about what happened after her brother had committed suicide.

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Back at the fire station the crew of 51 were adding the final spit shine to the station and Mike looked out of place among his crewmates because he was the only one in his dress uniform and everyone else was in their work uniform.

Mike had just finished polishing the front end of the engine when the station's door bell rang.

"Mike, your Mom and Sister are here." Captain Stanley called from his office before walking out into the bay leading the two women to see their son and brother.

Mike turned to his mother with a big smile on his face as he bent down to give her a hug before playfully slapping his sister on the shoulder.

The rest of the crew stowed their cleaning supplies and moved into place to meet Mike's family members.

"So when is Laura going to get here?" Sarah asked with a sly grin on her face.

"That does it," Mike shook his head, "Marco, Chet, Johnny, I'd like you to meet my sister. She's available. How would you three like to give her a tour of the station?"

Chet was the first to recover from the shock and placed his hand on the engine in front of Sarah, "Hi there, I'm Chet, what would you like to see first?"

Hank moved up to his engineer and quietly asked, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"After the harassment she gave me last weekend she has it coming." Mike answered.

"If she goes out with one of them you are going to double date with them right," Mom wanted to know.

"I'll volunteer to drive." Mike answered and Captain Stanley joined him with a reserved snicker.

"So," Mike's Mom grinned with her arm around her son's waist as she gestured toward the fire engine, "is this my first grandchild?"

Everyone in the station chuckled but none more than Mike.

"I'm sure glad I didn't have to burp and change diapers on this one," Mike's Mom added before everyone had time to recover.

Mike just put his arm around his mother's shoulder and gave an affectionate squeeze, "You want to sit in the driver's seat?"

"I'm gonna need a step ladder."

Mike just moved over to the engine and opened the door before showing his mother where to place her feet to climb in and then climbed up next to her and stood just outside the door to point out the different knobs and levers and help her tighten the strap of his fire helmet on her head.

Hank watched the engineer and his mother as they turned on the sirens and blasted the air horn. He noticed the twinkle in the older woman's eyes and remembered the two things Mike had said brought him real peace.

Hank turned his attention to Mike's sister who wasn't enjoying herself nearly as much as her mother. Even the three Romeo's of the station were noticing how nervous she was and started backing off to give her some space as Johnny showed off the squad and told her about all the equipment they had on board. Sarah was at least pretending to be interested and even asked a couple of questions.

Everyone froze when the Klaxons sounded.

Station 51 possible jumper Rampart General Hospital, report to Dr. Bracket. Repeat report to Dr. Bracket it's advised that you arrive non code R. time out 10:15

Mike quickly lifted his mother down from the engine before kissing her cheek and telling her she and Sarah could wait in the kitchen. He then pulled his turn out coat on and climbed in behind the wheel and waited for his Captain to take his rightful seat.

"You know, If Laura's awake she might be a real help on this one," Mike mentioned as they pulled out of the station with the lights flashing and sirens blaring, he would turn those off when they were about a block away from the hospital.