Hurry Up and Wait

Once the ambulance pulled away and the squad followed, Hank began to retrieve whatever equipment was still lying around and while he did so he took a good look around. To say the apartment was run down was an understatement. The linoleum in the bathroom and kitchenette was worn thin in multiple places as was the carpeting throughout, especially along traffic pathways. Tiles were missing in the shower and the enamel in the sink and tub were worn down and rust was showing.

The place was clean, well as clean as it could be after a car crashed through the wall but there was a real need for a fresh coat of paint and there was very little in the way of furniture. What was there looked to be second hand probably from a nearby thrift store.

As they were climbing back on the engine Hank took a hold of Chet's arm to get his attention. "Do you know if Marco is having financial problem? I just asked because I thought he should be able to afford a nicer place than that on his firefighter's income."

"I don't think he was planning to stay here very long." Chet let his captain know what had been talked about between the two of them. "I know he moved in a hurry from his last place because there were a lot of fire code violations. He turned them in to the authorities and when they found out they made his life miserable. Once he was certain they didn't plan to do anything to fix the problems and make the place safer he moved out as quickly as he could and advised the rest of the tenants to do the same. I think he just took the first open apartment he could find at the time."

Hank took a good look around the small apartment complex. As run down as it was it also looked as if every other apartment was occupied. Maybe he'd wait a while to redo the phone and address list for his crewmen. It was pretty certain that his lineman would be moving again real soon.

-0-

Marco was grateful to have the wall and car off of his chest but he had to admit the board he was now strapped to was nowhere near as comfortable as his mattress. As he squirmed against the restraints trying to find a comfortable position, Johnny checked his vitals and listened to his chest again.

"How ya hanging in there Marco?" Johnny questioned after he pulled the stethoscope ear pieces from his ears.

"Board's not very comfortable," Marco answered his friend. He had been so happy that it was his team that responded to his rescue. Even though he was now free he was still feeling anxious.

"I hear ya," Johnny responded with a comforting grin for his friend. "Just hang in there and we'll get you to Rampart and then see what we can do to get you off of that thing."

Marco gave a nod of his head against the foam collar around his neck. "Chest is still a little tight," he admitted. "Not as easy to breathe as it should be."

Johnny remained outwardly calm but Marco had seen that look of controlled concern before, many times before.

John gave Marco's chest another listen with the stethoscope, this time sliding the stethoscope inside of his t-shirt to make sure he was hearing his best.

"Okay, Marco, I don't hear anything to worry about right now but I'm going to let Rampart know and see what they want me to do." John picked up the hand set to the Bio-phone and repeated Marco's complaint to Dr. Morton on the other end of the radio waves.

Dr. Morton gave the recorded vital signs and notes the nurse had taken another quick glance before ordering an EKG Strip.

Marco could feel his heart speed up a little as John slapped the sticky patches on his chest and then worked the wires under his t-shirt before picking up the hand set again "Okay, Rampart, this is lead two."

For a few moments there were only sounds of the sirens and the ambulance working over bumpy roads and unyielding traffic. Finally, Dr. Morton's voice came back. "It looks good, 51, what's your ETA?"

Marco sighed with relief as John told the doctor that they were just two minutes away. John then placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hang in there Marco we're just about there and then we'll see about getting you off of that board."

They had no sooner moved Marco over to the treatment table in Treatment Room one when a nurse made short work of cutting his t-shirt up the middle and down each arm to get it out of their way. John was then able to get a better view of the bruising on his friend's chest but he had seen it before just in smaller patches at a time, not all at once.

Roy arrived and carried Marco's clothes and duffel bag in, he joined Johnny and the doctor in the hallway as they waited for x-rays to be taken. Johnny was filling in the doctor in more detail about the conditions in which they had found their friend, including the broken clock that indicated he'd been there for over four hours.

The two paramedics stayed around the hospital longer than they would have for any other patient but before the x-rays were returned and the exam finished they were called out on another run.

-0-

Back at the station Hank's first order of business was to call in a replacement for his lineman. He then had to dive into the paperwork to explain why he needed a replacement so that Marco wouldn't get into any kind of trouble with headquarters. He was reminding himself for the umpteenth time that Marco had looked good when they loaded him in the ambulance. His vitals were good and he was joking with them. Still he was eager for his paramedics to return with word of what the doctors found and how they thought he was.

Hank was less than pleased when he heard his paramedics being called out on another run before they returned to the station.

Resolving himself to the wait at hand, Hank turned his thoughts once again to the condition of the apartment his lineman was living in. He silently vowed to do what he could to help him find a more suitable place to move into next.

-0-

By the time John and Roy returned to the hospital with their next patient Marco had been removed from his back board. He was now wearing a hospital gown and resting in a bed with the head slightly raised making it a little easier for him to breath. Something mild had been given to him for his pain but it was confirmed that he had a concussion and that nothing was broken he was just totally black and blue. They would be keeping him in the hospital for at least twenty four hours to monitor his breathing and his concussion. While John and Roy were there with him they helped him make a phone call to his mother to let her know he was in the hospital but was going to be fine. At least they were sure he said something like that, Marco spoke in Spanish the whole time.

When they finally returned to the station John and Roy were not at all surprised to be quickly surrounded by the rest of the crew wanting information on their friend. Once a report was given on the extent of Marco's injuries, Chet let them in on the situation in Marco's mother's home. A younger brother had gotten married and was expecting a child but didn't have the means to get a place of his own. Marco had moved out so that the young couple could have the room he and his brother once shared and now if he were to go back the only place for him to sleep would be on the sofa.

When John and Roy stopped by to check on Marco latter that day they brought the offer of five different guest rooms to stay in until he was able to find another place to live.

The rest of the shift was busy. John and Roy had managed to stop in and check on Marco once more before visiting hours were over but they found his mother and sister with him so they kept their visit short.

There had been a late night warehouse fire that drained every ounce of energy the men had in them but when they arrived back at the station after their shift was over they all went to the hospital to visit with Marco.

When they walked into the hospital room they found Marco dressed and moving very slowly to get his socks on before putting on his shoes. It was clear with one look that Marco was stiff and sore and movement was not something he wanted to do but he was moving very slowly, but moving all the same.

Chet knelt on the floor and unceremoniously put Marco's shoes on for him and tied them.

"You look like your getting out of here," Cap commented as he watched the obviously painful motion of his lineman.

"Yeah," Marco responded, his gratitude for not having to bend over and tie his own shoes outweighing his embarrassment at needing help to get dressed. "The insurance adjuster from the guy who's car crashed into my apartment called this morning. He's going to go by my apartment to look at the damages. If I can get there before he leaves he'll give me a check to cover the damages, otherwise I'll have to wait until the check comes in the mail. Since I don't currently have a place to live I have no idea how long it might take for the check to catch up with me." Marco grimaced as he tried to get to his feet only to have Mike nudge him back into a seated position on the bed. "Also the landlord said if I'll get all my stuff out and move my truck today he'll refund all of this month's rent and since the damage done to the apartment isn't my fault he'll refund the cleaning deposit too."

The men knew what was needed now so while Mike, Cap and Chet kept Marco sitting on his hospital bed, John and Roy went to see about his release papers and a wheelchair. They found that Dr. Morton was well aware of the urgency in Marco's need to get out. They also learned that he had a mild case of inflammation in the lining around his lungs and needed to take it easy for a few days.

"He's not in any real danger, but he is going to feel pretty stiff and sore for a few days until those bruises heal up a little," Dr. Morton explained to John and Roy. "I sure wouldn't want to be trying to move right now if I were him but it's not like he has a whole lot of options."

John and Roy returned to their friend's room with a nurse carrying Marco's release papers and his pain medications and the wheelchair to move him out. As tired as everyone was, Roy and John had managed to get them informed of Marco's needs and once Marco was loaded into Chet's wagon the rest of the crew followed them back to what was left of Marco's apartment.

The manager was there talking with the insurance adjustor when they arrived, it was clear by what little they overheard that the manger was much more interested in his own benefits than that of Marco's but then when they really thought about it, what more could they expect.

Marco was able to walk through his apartment with the insurance adjustor and his fellow crew mates at his side. The first thing that was obvious was that the place had been looted after the firemen had left. Much of the furniture and kitchen appliances, as little as there were, were now gone. The bedroom was pretty much untouched by looters but what was there was also damaged beyond repair.

Marco was lead to the seat of a car to finish negotiating with the insurance adjuster and his landlord with Mike at his side to keep the guy from taking advantage of Marco while he wasn't feeling well. The rest of the guys got whatever else they could out of the ram shackled apartment and started loading it into one of the two trucks that were backed up to the now completely removed front door. John and Chet managed to move some heavy debris out of the way so that they could get to the bedroom closet and pulled all of Marco's clothes out as well as anything he had stored on the shelves there and loaded it all in the back of Chet's wagon.

The rest of Marco's remaining possessions were easily rearranged into the back of his pick up. One over stuffed arm chair, two kitchen type chairs, mismatched, one small kitchen table, two end tables along with a few dishes, pots and pans and a toaster were pretty much all that was left. The lamps that had been on the end tables were gone when they arrived at the apartment and so was the TV and the coffee maker. The power had been cut to his apartment when the car crashed through the wall so everything in the refrigerator was deemed spoiled.

Hank and the men were able to testify that those things had been there when they left the day before. When Hank mentioned that he could get several police officers to confirm his statement the landlord agreed to throw in an extra couple hundred dollars to reimburse Marco for the missing items. He admitted that it took him longer to secure the premises than he hoped it would.

With two checks in hand, Marco was returned to Chet's wagon and taken to the bank to deposit his checks before someone decided to cancel them. And then, without preamble, Marco was taken to Chet's place and with the help of John and Roy guided to the extra bedroom and after given his pain pills was tucked in bed, no argument accepted.

Once Marco had succumbed to the pain medication and was asleep the rest of his crewmates and captain gathered around his truck to secure a cover over the last of the man's possessions.

"I can keep this in my garage to keep him from being ripped off any more until he can find another place to live," Cap offered.

"There's an empty apartment in my building," Mike responded, "I'll talk to the landlord and tell him I have a friend who needs it."

"There's one in my apartment building too," Johnny added, "They give me a discount on my rent because I'm a fireman and a paramedic, they like it that I can help out with some of the other residents."

"Well it sounds like Marco will have a choice to make," Roy tried to diffuse any argument that might surface. After all it was Marco's choice where he wanted to live.

"It sounds to me like either one of those choices are better than the place he just left." Hank sighed in relief before turning to the quiet Chet. "When he wakes up tell him that I have some extra furniture in my basement he can have. There's a queen sized bed and a sofa for sure, I can't remember for sure what else we've put in that corner of the basement but if he can use it I know my wife would like to get it cleared out."

Feeling as if they had done all they could do, they all headed home while Chet hung his head low and walked back into his apartment. His gut still filled with guilt at the thought that his friend had lay trapped with a car on his chest for over four hours before help arrived. If only he had understood the feeling that had awakened him in a panic; he had long ago figured it to be about the same time Marco must have woken up to realize he was trapped.