Part VII

While driving to his place, Johnny thoughts went back to Chet again. It occurred to him that no-one else on their shift even knew that Chet had had a problem. And Chet lived alone. The more Johnny thought about it, the less he like the fact that nobody might see or check-in with Chet on their days off. Finally admitting to himself that he wasn't going to get any sleep until he checked on him, Johnny altered his route to take him to Chet's apartment.

As it turned out, Johnny didn't have to go that far. He saw what appeared to be Chet's car pulled off the road near a small park. Johnny pulled up and parked himself. It only took him a moment to confirm that it was Chet's car, so he started walking around to look for his co-worker.

It didn't take him too long to find him. There was a large tree that was circled by a bench. Chet was sitting on it, back against the tree trunk with his eyes closed. There was also a folder by his side. Seemed like an odd thing to bring into a park, but Johnny thought a lot of things that Chet did were on the odd side.

Johnny wasn't sure for a minute if Chet was awake or not, but as he got closer, Chet's eyes opened. They were still very obviously irritated as they narrowed in recognition as he saw Johnny. When he spoke a moment later, it became clear that his eyes weren't the only thing irritated. Chet's voice was very husky.

"Gage? What are you doing here?"

The roughness of his voice worried Johnny, but the tone of the question confused him. Chet sounded a little annoyed and very puzzled. Johnny suddenly felt a bit embarassed for following Chet, but his concern trumped that.

"I was headed to your place and saw your car over here. Are you alright?"

"Why were you headed to my place?"

"I wanted to check on you, You didn't answer my question, man. Are you alright?"

"I will be. If they give you a boot, don't let Poole ride him too hard, okay?"

The last sentence was one too many for his sore throat and he started coughing. When he got up, Johnny could see the reason Chet had picked this place to sit - there was a water fountain nearby. Johnny eyes narrowed. Swallowing obviously was at least a little painful.

"Chet? I'd feel better if you'd let me take you in to Rampart. And why are you talking about a boot?"

Moving back over to the bench, Chet laid his hand down on the folder. He didn't address the comment about Rampart.

"Transfer request."

Glancing down at the folder, Johnny stared at it for a minute, then shook his head in dismay.

"You want to leave 51?"

"No. Can we not talk about this? My throat is kind of bothering me."

"Yeah, I can see that. Come on. I mean it, you should really see a doctor. I'll take you to Rampart. I think Dr. Early's on. Bleach fumes aren't too bad in moderation, but if you get too many of them, it can lead to some nasty side effects."

There was a hesitation, but Chet finally threw up his hands.

"Fine. Whatever."

He picked up the folder and followed Johnny back to where their vehicles were parked and looked a bit exasperated that Johnny wanted to drive him. But to avoid arguing, Chet just tossed the folder onto his own passenger seat, then locked up his car and climbed into the Rover's passenger seat. He didn't say so much as another word on the drive to Rampart.

When they arrived, Johnny had to remind himself to park in the parking lot, but he still walked Chet in through the emergency entrance. It was where he knew everyone and where he was most likely to find Dr. Early.

The first one that he found was Dixie. Or more correctly, she spotted them.

"John? Is something wrong?"

"It's Chet here, Dix. I think he inhaled way too many bleach fumes than was healthy for him. Is Dr. Early around?"

"Sure thing - I'll page him. Take Chet into treatment room three."

Johnny steered Chet toward the treatment rooms that he knew as well as he knew his way around the station. He had just gotten Chet to climb up onto the examination table when Dr. Early came in with Dixie close behind.

"Kelly, isn't it? Let's take a good look at you. About how long were you around the fumes?"

"Any time we weren't out on a call, really. So most of the shift."

That earned a raised eyebrow and a disapproving look toward Johnny.

"This happened at the station?"

Johnny held his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"Sure did, doc. But I didn't know anything about it until near the end of our shift. When I got a look at his eyes, I had him go out back to the open air."

"Good. So, what strength bleach are we talking about? Household or industrial?"

"Industrial."

"Diluted?"

"Full strength."

"Well, that certainly explains a lot. Open your mouth and let me see how much damage you've done."

Flashing his light inside and taking a good look at the irritated membranes, he called out orders to Dixie.

"Well, not good, but thankfully not as bad as I was afraid it might have been. Let's set up some humified oxygen therapy. You're a little dehydrated too. Probably because it hurts to swallow? Just shake your head or nod. Try not to talk more than you have to for now."

Chet just nodded. Even the little he'd spoken to answer the questions had left his throat feel raw.

"Alright, you'll be staying with us a little while, but if everything goes as I expect it will, only for a few hours. I'm going to start an IV as well to help with the hydration issue since you'll be stuck here for the oxygen therapy anyway. And I'll give you a little something in that for the discomfort. John? Are you going to be around awhile? I'd like to talk to you if you have the time."

"Sure. I guess I'll be staying until Chet's ready to go. I drove him in."

"Good. I'll be right back with you after we get Kelly all set up."

Johnny followed along to see what room Chet was going to be in. He hesitated, but then made the call to Station 51 to let the B Shift Captain know that Chet was being worked on since the incident happened at work and would need to be in the reports. Once that was done, he looked at the phone again before repicking it up and dialing Roy's number.