Roy sat out back in his car listening to the traffic on the 405 and thinking. How could Johnny do this to him? He was embarrassed enough when he came off that coaster. He knew that his family definitely would tease him about for years to come, but it wouldn't be in front of people he had to work with. People whose respect he didn't want to lose. The crew needed to trust each, not start thinking he he'd fall apart every time heights were involved. He closed his eyes and leaned back further in the seat, a massive headache was starting. Just what he needed on top of the rest of this mess.
Johnny found Roy outside, but before he could go over to his friend the tones blared. In under a minute, the engine and squad were headed out to their call. It was a quiet ride with Roy only acknowledging Johnny's directions. Once on scene, the entire crew worked as seamlessly as ever and soon had the blaze under control. The home owner only had some minor burns and scratches and refused a trip to Rampart. He assured the paramedics he would see his own doctor and scrawled his signature on their refusal of treatment form.
Johnny and Roy packed up their gear, climbed back into the squad made themselves available .
"Hey Roy, about that picture…"
"Not now Johnny, I really don't want to talk about this."
"But Roy, I didn't …"
"Later Johnny."
The rest of the ride back to the station was made in silence.
Unbelievably Station 51 was having a quiet day. Any other time they would be enjoying the respite, but with Roy avoiding all of them and barely speaking, it was not turning into a pleasant shift. One by one, the crew approached Roy to apologize but he just waved them off. Cap finally had enough of it and called Roy into his office.
"Shut the door, will you pal. Have a seat."
"Cap, I really don't want to discuss today." Roy told him.
"Well that's too bad, because I do. I have to admit we're all at loss regarding your reaction to the picture. Care to tell me what the issue is?"
Roy squirmed in chair for moment before answering. "I just don't like you and guys seeing me like that."
"Like what? Having a good time? Enjoying your days off with your family? "Cap was seriously puzzled.
Now it was Roy's turned to looked puzzled - "No, like panicked, afraid of a rollercoaster ride. I don't want the guys to think I'll freak out whenever heights get involved. They need to know they can trust me to do my job."
"THAT's what this whole thing has been about, you twit? When have we ever expressed doubts about your ability? All of us trust you implicitly. You think one lousy picture is going to alter our entire view of you?"
Roy hung his head as he realized how he'd blown this whole thing out of proportion. "Guess not, Cap. I suppose I wasn't really thinking at all. "
"Now that we have this little matter cleared up, why don't you take a few minutes a look through everything Johnny had in the packet for you. You can use my office. Maybe afterwards you can do something about getting those hangdog faces off the crew for me." Cap tossed the packet onto the desk as he walked out, closing the door behind him.
After a few seconds of staring, he ran his hand over his face, and finally reached for cause of today's debacle. He gingerly removed several items. Right on top was the dreaded rollercoaster picture. As he flipped it over he found a note Johnny had written on back, "My best pal and his kids – on one of the most fun days I've ever had." Roy hung his head and swallowed. Carefully, he placed the photo front side forward against the pencil cup where he could see it before continuing. There were some more rollercoaster shots – when did they start putting cameras on those contraptions to begin with? Shaking his head in bemusement, it came to him that these photos must be the reason Johnny was continuously running in and out of the gift shops at the rides' exits. That partner of his never ceased to amaze him. He did all right under my nose too, Roy thought. I never even suspected what he was up to.
The final item was a photo album. Roy took his time going through the pages. Now and again certain photos elicited wide grins but every last one of them was smile worthy. Closing the book, Roy leaned back in chair and admitted to himself he had caused the whole crew unnecessary grief over a harmless prank. He gathered all the items together and carefully repacked them. Joanne was gonna love this, the kids too. However, it was time to go out there and do some serious apologizing, especially to Johnny. Heck, he didn't even have anything to do with tacking up the photo on the bulletin board. The only thing he was guilty of was giving his partner a wonderful gift. He also should have known better than to leave any unopened package anywhere near the Phantom. The temptation was more than he could handle. It was time to go eat some crow. Come to think off it, with Chet cooking tonight, crow was probably the most palatable item on the menu.