The Boot

Chapter Five

By GCS

DISCLAIMER: "Emergency!" and its characters © Mark VII Productions, Inc. and Universal Studios. All rights reserved. No infringement of any copyrights or trademarks is intended or should be inferred. This is a work of fiction. This story is only written for entertainment. No financial gain is being realized from it. The story, itself, is the property of the author.

Rocking in the back of the ambulance did nothing for Johnny's aching head, and now he felt sick to his stomach. He opened his eyes and looked around the small compartment, but quickly closed them, willing himself to not be sick.

"Johnny?" Tony looked over at him noticing his paleness. Johnny licked his lips and swallowed repeatedly. "You okay?"

Not wanting to lose the battle with his stomach Johnny slowly nodded. He wasn't okay. He was cold to the bone, exhausted, and sick from swallowing all that filthy water. "Is…um," Johnny swallowed, surprised at how dry his throat felt after swallowing so much water. "Is he going to be okay?"

Tony glanced over at the young man. "I think so. How are you feeling?"

"Tired." Johnny couldn't suppress the yawn that escaped. "How did you become a Rescue Man?"

Tony chuckled, "Well Johnny Boy it kind of happened in the same way you just did."

Johnny's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. He turned his head slowly from side to side. "Oh no…not me…no way…I'm a hose man."

"Sure you are for now Johnny, but I'll be willing to bet in the next few months after Cap's seeing what you did today that he's gonna send you in with Joe and me for back up whenever the opportunity arises. He's on the lookout for Joe's replacement."

"Where's Joe going?"

"He's moving out of the county in a couple of months. He and his wife are expecting their first child and want to move closer to family. I'll be getting a new partner." He reached over and adjusted the mask on Cody's face. "A lot of what we do is go in and pull people out of bad situations and try to get them to the hospital. Of course, we administer basic first aide and CPR, but first we get them out. It's hard work and dangerous. I mean fire fighting in general is dangerous, but we go in the middle of it. We go down the side of cliffs, drop out of helicopters, and climb up to some pretty high places to help people get down. I love my job, John."

"I can see that, but what makes you think I would be good at it?"

"I saw you jump in that water after Cody without even thinking of yourself. That's what it takes." Tony looked over at Johnny studying his face.

Cody chose that moment to wake up. He reached up and pulled the mask from his face. "Wha…wha…hap..pened?"

"You got yourself blown into the water and Gage here pulled you out. He saved your life." Tony smiled at Johnny.

"He di'n back me up. Iss his f…fault. He left 'is post." Cody slurred and glared at Johnny who simply closed his eyes and leaned back again.

Tony looked from Cody to Johnny and then back again, "Well what matters Cody is he pulled you out and thanks to him you're still alive. Now calm down and put this mask back on."

The ambulance swung around and backed into the Emergency department at Rampart General Hospital. The doors flew open and Tony helped the attendants lower the gurney to the ground. Johnny watched them wheel Cody through the automatic doors.

He slowly climbed out of the back of the ambulance and followed the group inside. The bright lights in the emergency room hallway assaulted his eyes making his head swim. He squinted down the hallway looking for the direction they had taken Cody. He followed them to the treatment room.

Everyone moved in high speed pushing patients in wheel chairs and on gurneys. Doctors called instructions to passing nurses.

Suddenly he felt hands on his chest stopping him from entering the treatment room Tony had just disappeared into, "You can wait for them in the waiting area." The petite nurse smiled up at him and pushed him in that direction. "Right down at the end of the hall." She didn't know he had been in the explosion at the docks. She didn't ask him if he had suffered any injuries.

Too tired to discuss it he simply turned and trudged slowly to a hard plastic chair in the far back corner of the waiting area. There were no other chairs available. His hurting head throbbed along with each wail from the crying children also sitting in hard plastic chairs, and his heart beat in tune with the tapping feet of the parents already at the end of their patience. Johnny squeezed his eyes shut and rested his head against the coolness of the wall beside him. He folded his arms tightly against his chest hugging his turnout coat tightly trying to ward off the cool air-conditioning. Slowly the loud noises around him faded to buzzing. Then he drifted off into an exhausted slumber.

In the treatment room, Tony explained to Dr. Brackett how Cody had been blown into the water stunned and weighted down by his gear and quickly sunk below the surface. He told Brackett about the new fireman who had dove in after his crewmate and pulled him up including details about the CPR he'd performed and oxygen therapy following. "His vitals are good now Dr. Brackett."

"Thank you Tony. We'll take it from here. You can wait outside. I'll let you know in a few minutes if we need to keep him overnight." Dr. Brackett ordered x-rays of Cody's lungs, neck, back, and skull, blood samples and a repeat vitals check as Tony left the room.

Tony walked over to the nurse's desk to inquire about Johnny. "Hello Ms. McCall."

"Well hello Tony. What brings you by tonight?" Dixie McCall asked.

"I brought in a couple of boots from our station hurt at a dock fire. Cody is in with Dr. Brackett. I was wondering which room they took Johnny to." He glanced at the opening door to one of the other treatment rooms. Dr. Early came out and walked over beside him.

"Hey Tony, how's the rescue business tonight?" He patted Tony on the back.

"It's busy Doctor Early. Did you check out my other Boot?"

"Unless your Boot has long blonde hair and is wearing a mini skirt. I don't think I've seen them." Dr. Joe Early laughed at his own joke.

"Ah no, Doc, he's about six feet tall and is wearing turnout gear. I wonder what room he's in." Tony looked down the hall.

"Well Tony let's find out." Dixie got up from her stool and started down the hall. She pushed open the first door and glanced inside. "Nope not in here." She moved to the next door and peeked inside. Letting the door close she looked at Tony. "Not here either. Are you sure he isn't waiting for you in the waiting area?"

"No, but I'll check." Tony started toward the waiting area.

"Well wait up I'll go with you." Dixie followed Tony.

When they reached the waiting area, they looked around. At first, they didn't see Johnny. He had managed to pull another chair over, curled his thin body into a tight ball huddled beneath his turnout coat, and was sound asleep.

Dixie walked over and brushed the thick wavy black hair away from his face to get a good look at him. "What happened to him? He's cold." She looked up at Tony and then turned her attention back to Johnny. "Hey sweet heart, it's time to wake up." She shook him slightly. "Come on now I need you to tell me what happened to bring you to Rampart." She lightly pinched his ear causing him to flinch. "That's right. It's time to wake up." She reached for his wrist to check his pulse.

Johnny squinted at the vision of beauty before him. What he saw were the most beautiful sparkling blue eyes he'd ever seen and a brilliant smile. He blinked several times trying to clear the sleep from his eyes.

"He dove in the water and pulled out the other guy. He was under for a while…swallowed some water. Cap thought he should get checked out." Tony explained.

"Well I think the first thing we need to do is warm him up. He's pretty cold. What did you say his name is?" Dixie again brushed the damp hair from his forehead.

"J..John…Johnny." Johnny answered her slowly. "Johnny Gage ma'am."

"Well Johnny let's get you into a treatment room and out of these wet things." Dixie stood and held out her hand to help him up.

Johnny took her hand and rose slowly. He immediately felt at ease with her. He thought he would follow her anywhere.

Once in the treatment room Dixie helped him out of his turnout coat only to discover the shirt beneath was even wetter than she thought. She watched him fumble with the buttons for a few minutes and then took over for him. "Let me." She pushed his hands away. Johnny blushed a deep red and lowered his gaze to his feet. "Don't be embarrassed. Your obviously too chilled to be able to do it." She raised his chin so she could see his eyes and she smiled a reassuring smile and winked at him. He rewarded her with a smile of his own. "Now that's better. Can you get your pants or do you need help with them too?"

"Uh I…um…they…ah…" Johnny turned even redder and looked to Tony for help.

Tony shrugged and laughed. "I can't help you Johnny Boy. Nurse McCall is in charge here. I'll just wait out here." He pushed out of the room leaving Johnny alone with Dixie.

"I assure you Mr. Gage, I am a professional, and I have seen more than I care to describe at this time. Now you can either drop those wet pants or I'll have to cut them off." Her hands went to her hips and her foot tapped as she waited for him to move.

Johnny turned his back to the nurse, pulled his turnout pants down, and slipped out of them and his boots. Now colder than he was a few minutes ago he stood shivering in just his regulation black socks and his red boxers.

Dixie noticed the bruises on his back from the high-pressured water at the drills earlier in the day. "On the table mister and give me those socks. When I get some warmed blankets on you I will let you slide out of those fancy red boxers too." She spread a very toasty blanket over the shivering man and held out her hand for the under garment.

Johnny slid out of his boxers and held them out to her, but he diverted his eyes to the other side of the room. He felt warmer, but still shivered. Dixie added another blanket. "T..th…thanks."

"I'll be back in a few minutes with a doctor and some scrubs you can put on after he checks you out." She smiled at the very young looking man.

Now warmer and dry, all-be-it nude beneath the warm blankets, Johnny put his arm over his eyes to block out the bright lights and promptly fell back to sleep.

Dixie returned to the room with Dr. Joe Early in tow. "He's slightly hypothermic, but I think now that he's dry and under the warming blankets he's doing better. His color is definitely better. He has some significant bruising on his back."

"Get me some vitals Dixie." Joe requested as he listened to Johnny's chest.

Johnny began stirring. He woke up and lowered his arm so he could see what was going on around him. A doctor with white hair stood over him listening to his chest while the pretty nurse took his arm and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his thin arm.

"Well hello there Johnny. I'm Dr. Early. I heard you went for an unplanned swim today." He smiled.

"Um yeah."

"Your chest sounds a little congested. Can you sit up for me? I want to listen back here." Johnny sat up. "What happened to cause these bruises? Did you hit yourself when you went into the water?"

"No sir, that was from a high-pressure water blast during some hose drills this morning. They don't hurt much." Johnny flinched a little when Dr. Early probed his back.

"I don't think they're anything to worry about. They will be sore for a day or two. Your congestion may be another matter though. I think we can give you some oral antibiotics to help with that. Have you ever had pneumonia before?"

"When I was little I had it a couple of times on the res…um back home." Johnny stuttered. He'd almost said something he didn't want to say. He really didn't want people knowing he grew up on a reservation. The Indian jokes were bad enough as it is without anyone knowing that he'd actually lived on the reservation for the first twelve years of his life.

"Are you allergic to any medications?" Dr. Early made some notes in his chart.

"Penicillin."

"Anything else?" Joe made another note in the chart.

"No sir, not that I know of."

"Okay, I'm going to let you finish out your shift, but if you have any other symptoms or your congestion gets any worse I want you to come back and see me." Dr. Early gave a prescription to Dixie. "Have this filled and then he can go." Dixie took the paper and left to get it filled. "It's nice to meet you young man. I heard that you saved your friend today."

"I didn't do anything special." Johnny didn't think he deserved any praise. After all, he had left his position behind Cody. If he'd done his job of backing the man up he might not have gone into the water in the first place.

"Well that's not what I heard. You saved his life. You should be proud of yourself for that." Joe patted him on the shoulder. "Now I'll get out of here so you can get dressed. When Dixie comes back with that antibiotic you're free to get back to work."

"Yes sir."

Joe paused outside the treatment room door and thought about the young man inside. 'That one's seen a lot in his young life. There's something about him…I just can't put my finger on it, but I bet we'll be seeing a lot of him in the future.'