Okay so as per the reviews I did take my time and really try to edit this chapter to the best of my ability. I do hope you guys can see the effort from the previous chapters compared to this one. I will continue to try my best to eliminate all mistakes before posting but I do appreciate all the readers who still give this story a chance.

Captain Stanley paced his office with a renewed vigor. At first when his two paramedics left with his engineer, he had gone to his office to sulk and think. Captain Stanley had called up headquarters and asked for a replacement engineer then stared at the phone willing Roy to call and give him an update. After a few long minutes the phone never rang and Hank, having felt restless, decided to stretch his long legs and walked around his office in silence. Soon a few laps became a few more and the lanky captain fell into a soothing pattern. He was worried, and when Hank was worried he paced. Around and around he walked not even bothering to stop when C-Shift came back from their run and packed up to leave for the day. He offered the leaving Captain a wave but otherwise he continued his steps unfazed. When his two other firefighters arrived at work, Hank gave another short wave and a brisk hello but continued to walk. Marco stood at the door worriedly, clearly having a silent debate with himself on whether or not he should ask the captain what was wrong. When the replacement engineer arrived a few seconds later, Marco cleared his throat; his curiosity was too much to ignore any longer.

"Cap," he began, as he watched his superior continue his pacing "is everything okay with Mike?"

At the sound of his engineer's name, Hank stopped dead in his track. "He needs a shift off" he explained morbidly but oddly flat; something Marco picked up on right away.

"Oh, well, is he alright?" The concern was evident in the younger man's voice though whether it was for the missing engineer or the distraught captain in front of him was anybody's guess.

"Yes- well no- Mike- he came to work today pretty beat up."

"Beat up? Mike? Ay dos mios! Cap what happened?" At this point Chet Kelly had wandered by the office too, his ears catching the last bit of conversation. "Someone beat up Mike, Cap? Who was it? Is he alright? Where are Roy and Johnny? Were they there too?"

Hank raised a hand to silence his men and took a weary seat on top of his desk. "They took him to Rampart," he noticed the worried looks on his men faces and knew they probably mirrored his own. "He's going to be fine guys" he tried to sound convincing but he knew he was failing, "he will miss a few shifts and be back before we know it."

"Who did it to him?" Chet voice was filled with anger and venom as he subconsciously balled his hands into fists.

Captain Stanley debated whether or not to tell his guys knowing it wasn't really his place. Really it should have been Mike to tell them, but with the young engineer in the hospital who knew when he would be able to talk to Chet and Marco. Plus Lopez and Kelly would never be able to go about their shifts without knowing what happened to their friend. It would drive the captain crazy. For his own sanity, and because he knew this men were coming from a place of concern for their station brother, Captain Stanley decided to tell them the truth. "Mike came home to find Tricia with some new boyfriend. There was a tiny altercation and then this new guy called up his friends to beat up Mike with some baseball bats." Hank watched as both his men's eyes grew wide in alarm. "They did a number on Mike- I won't lie but he held his own, or so he says. Not that that makes it any better. But listen guys I need you to be quiet about this. Let Mike be the one who tells you when he's ready."

Both men nodded in understanding but stayed silent. Finally, just as Captain Stanley was ready to clear his throat and tell the boys to get going for the day, Marco looked up. "What did the police say?" he asked wearily.

"Police?"

"Yeah Cap, when Mike called them" Marco looked to his captain in alarm. "He did call them, didn't he?"

Hank looked down ashamed. The Police! Why didn't he think to call them? He cleared the lump in his throat and looked back at his inquiring men. "Well no Marco, he didn't. We were so concerned with getting him checked out… we didn't think-".

"Cap you gotta call them" interrupted Chet impatiently. "Get a restraining order, or better yet call a lawyer and have him get divorce from that witch!"

Marco held up his hand to quiet his partner next to him, "at the very least get the incident on record Cap."

The captain nodded, "you guys are right. I'm going to call Officer Vince. Will you handle the chores until I finish?"

Before the two could answer the temporary Engineer knocked on the office door. "Um excuse me sir but your two paramedics just arrived in the parking lot, should I tell C-Shift's boys they can head out?"

Captain Stanley's eyes lit up, "Yes thank you Smith, and send DeSoto to see me once he is dressed. Chet, Marco, go tell Johnny that roll call will commence in twenty and don't badger him on Mike's condition alright? I'll ask Roy and discuss it with you all later."

All three men nodded to their instructions and left the office. As Hank waited for his senior paramedic to come in, his hand floated over his phone absentmindedly, thinking back to the police conversation. He should have called right from the beginning. As Mike's captain, as his friend, he should have known right away that some sort of report should have been made, hell, Hank spent half his day at work writing reports, it's second nature now. Captain Stanley had let worry impact his judgment and that was a mistake that he couldn't allow to happen again. As much as he wanted to make up for his mistake and call Vince now, Hank ultimately decided to wait until after he heard from Roy to call in the report. He put his hand back down on his desk and stared out his window impatiently. When the door finally opened, Hank watched as his senior paramedic took his time to close it, running down his captain's patience with each additional second. "Roy, thank God. I feel like I've been waiting for hours."

Roy gave a weak smile at his captain's exaggeration and took a seat opposite the desk. "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to call, but he was getting x-rays and being admitted when we left. He's in good hands" the paramedic added at the end to offer his captain some reassurance. "Brackett will take good care of him and he will be released probably tonight baring no complications."

"Good, good that's good." Hank stood back up and almost seemed ready to pace again. His senior paramedic watched him carefully but stayed silent. Hank meanwhile continued to mumble. "Okay he's in the hospital so I'll tell Vince to interview him there. That will work. Vince will go there and the report will be done by today."

"Vince?"

Roy's voice interrupted Hank's thoughts and he whirled around to face his man. "Yes Officer Vince. Chet and Marco brought up good points. We should have called the police, had a report filed out."

Roy looked unsure, "Cap you can't call the police."

"The hell I can't Roy, we should have done that from the beginning! The minute I heard about Stoker I should have called the cops. I don't know what I was thinking," he seemed to be going on another tangent, "I should have known better."

"No Cap I get what you're trying to do but that's… well now that not the answer."

Stanley looked confused for a moment, "What do you mean Roy?"

His senior paramedic sighed, "I feel like this is a major situation."

"Yes Pally, it is" Hank enunciated his words as if he was talking to a child, "this is a major situation and that's why we need to go to the cops and make sure that a report is filed and-"

Roy waved him off impatiently and borderline disrespectfully, "No Cap, I mean this is a situation that Mike needs to identify as one where he needs help." He took the same condescending tone as his captain did before. "We can't do this for him."

"Well Roy he's done that, he's come to us for help." Hank crossed his arms protectively over his chest, "the man was beat up by numerous men and is now in the hospital, what's the big deal if we call Vince for him."

Roy shook his head angrily, "but Cap, you're wrong. Mike didn't come to us, he didn't call us. He came to the station and was found, there's a difference. If he had driven to a random parking lot or any other place but here, we'd have never known he needed help. You're his best friend and he didn't even call you. C-Shift did." Roy felt as his anger diffused with worry. "What if they had guns or knives, Cap? What if they beat him so bad he was unconscious or had a head injury? His solution was to just drive his car and sleep it off?"

Hank knew his senior paramedic was right but he still felt defensive, "well what are you saying Roy?"

"I'm saying that Mike needs to know that he needs to look for help in these situations. Sleeping it off is not a viable solution. He needs to call the police, or go to the hospital, or even call one of us. He didn't do any of those things. And you calling Officer Vince for him doesn't solve his problems either Cap." Roy lightened his tone towards the end of his speech as he watched his captains face look guiltier. "I know you're trying to help him Hank" Roy felt a little odd using the captain's name in a work setting but chose not to dwell, "and I know it's easier to think that doing for someone is helping them but it's not in this case Cap. How do we know this is the first time something like this has happened to Mike?" Roy looked at his captain as the senior man pondered the paramedic's words. "We all know the type of person Tricia is. The emotional abuse she has put Mike through all these years but Stoker… damn it Stoker has ALLOWED it to happen. He hasn't done anything to stop it." Roy took a breath, "he just rolled over."

"I wouldn't call it rolling over DeSoto."

Roy grimaced at his captain's tone and knew he had hit a nerve. He held his resolve though and pushed forward, "Mike Stoker is stoic Stoker Cap, he rolls with the punches, nothing seems to faze him, hell he can go three shifts without saying a word. He stayed in this awful marriage-"

"FOR HIS SON" interrupted Hank angrily.

"For whatever reason," countered Roy calmly. "He stayed, he accepted, he allowed it. And now we find him beat to hell and we are all running in circles to help him but he hasn't done anything for himself." The younger man could still see his captain fuming at his words. "Damn it Cap, I'm not saying I don't want to help him, I just want Mike to want the help! Do you see where I'm coming from? Do you see that Mike would have been perfectly content with coming to work today without telling us his knee was fractured or his ribs hurt? What have we missed over the years Cap? What has Mike not told us?"

Hank stared at his fellow firefighter and let his anger dissolve, "You're right Roy. He gave out a breathy sigh, "what would you have me do instead?"

"When Mike gets released later tonight, we can talk to him and let him decide how he wants to proceed. We can nudge him in the direction of calling the police or a lawyer but we can't force him. Mike needs to do this on his own." Roy saw his captain ready to butt in and he held up his hand. "Not completely on his own of course, we will be there for him, but it's time for Mike to stand up for himself and act like the adult he is. If that means divorce then he gets one, if it means restraining order then he does that too. This situation has gotten out of control and if it requires some force to get our friend back on track, then that's our job as his brothers, Cap. We are the only family he's got."

Captain Stanley nodded slowly, "alright, I'll talk to him when he is released. We will… we'll straighten this out. Show Mikey it's time to do something." He gave a shaky laugh, "Christ Roy, this is not how I thought this day would go."

Roy offered a sympathetic smile at his captain. "I know Cap, I know, but we will get him through this." Suddenly the klaxon went off and Roy jumped to his feet as he headed swiftly to the door. "If I head to Rampart I'll give you another update on Mike" he told the older man calmly.

"Thanks Roy, and thanks for the lecture" he gave the senior paramedic, "don't tell the others but you sure ripped me a new one." He gave a slow grin.

"Anytime Cap." Roy offered a genuine smile this time and closed the door soundly on his way out. The minute he left Hank was back up on his feet, pacing with that renewed vigor and renewed worry once more; this was going to be a long day for them all.

I know it may seem I took a bit of a liberty with Roy and made him seem a bit harsher towards the whole situation, but he seems logical to me and most likely out of all the men to realize that calling the police and doing everything for Mike wouldn't actually solve the problem that Mike never sought out help in the first place. Again it's stretch on the character but I don't think it's too outrageous.