Part VIII

The phone only rang a couple of times before it was picked up. He knew the voice immediately.

"Hi, Kimmy. Is your Dad awake?"

"Daddy's not home right now, Uncle Johnny. Mom! It's Uncle Johnny!"

He winced a little as Kim forgot to take the phone away from her mouth before yelling for her mother. There was a little clattering as Kimmy dropped the phone onto the table top, then Joanne picked it up.

"Johnny, it's good to hear from you. Roy was trying to call you earlier but you weren't home."

"I still haven't made it home, Joanne. I'm at the hospital and -"

"Hospital? Johnny, what's wrong? Was there an accident? Are you alright?"

"Easy, Joanne - easy! I'm fine. Honest. I drove Chet here for a checkup. Hey, why was Roy trying to call me?"

"He's over at Mike Stoker's right now. He was wanting you to go there with him. Do you have the number? Wait - you took Chet to the hospital? Our Chet?"

Even with the current situation, Johnny couldn't help but chuckle at the way Joanne referred to Chet.

"Yes, our Chet. He took in too many cleaning fumes. Dr. Early has him on some sort of oxygen therapy. We'll be here for a couple of hours at least. Tell you what. When I get off the phone with you, I'll call Mike's and give them both an update."

"Thanks, Johnny. I know Roy will appreciate it. Chet won't be kept overnight?"

"Not if everything goes according to plan."

"Give me a call and then bring him over when they release him. I'll make dinner for everyone. You'll be too tired to cook and I doubt he'll feel like it either after a day at the hospital."

"Sounds good. Oh - you might want to gear it to something easy to swallow. He's got a really sore throat right now."

"Something on the creamy side. I think I can manage that. I'll see you later, Johnny."

"Right, Joanne. Thanks."

Digging out his own list of crew member numbers, Johnny dialed the phone again. The sleepy voice didn't surprise him. The fact that it wasn't Mike's voice did.

"Marco?"

"Johnny? Hey, amigo - why are you calling my house?"

Obviously Marco wasn't quite awake yet.

"I'm not calling your house, Marco - I'm calling Mike's house."

There was a silence then something muttered before Marco spoke up again.

"Guess you're right. I forgot where I feel asleep at."

"I'm glad you're there actually. Are Roy and Mike nearby?"

"Roy's on the recliner half-awake, Mike's in his bedroom. Why? What's up?"

"I wanted to let you guys know that Chet's at Rampart -"

As with Kim, Johnny winced as Marco yelled into the phone.

"What? What happened to Chet?"

That had Roy blinking and waking rapidly as well as getting Mike's attention. It took a few more minutes to get the story across and straight. As soon as they determined between them that Marco was in the best shape to drive, they said they be headed out to join Johnny at Rampart as soon as possible.

Johnny had just hung up the phone when Dr. Early caught up with him.

"Come on into my office, John. Coffee?"

"I hadn't intended being up this long, doc, so I wouldn't turn it down."

They stopped by just long enough to each grab a cup of the fortunately fairly fresh pot. Once they were in his office and seated, Dr. Early sat his cup down on his desk for a minute.

"Dixie's with Chet right now. And she was mentioning something to me the other day about things at your station. Is everything alright between you and Roy?"

"Oh for... nothing is wrong between me and Roy. What is up with everybody thinking we have a problem?"

"Speculation runs wild when certain questions get asked. And when the other units with paramedics get feelers as to whether or not they'd take Roy in on a transfer? Well, the Fire Department's not going to bust up the best paramedic team out there without a reason and the first thing that comes to mind is that you and Roy aren't getting along any more."

"Roy's not put in for a transfer. That's craz -"

The way Johnny stopped mid-sentence definitely had Dr. Early's attention.

"What is it, John?"

"Chet. Chet had a folder with him and he said it was a transfer request. Chet's not really the folder type, y'know? He'd be more likely to stuff paperwork in his back pocket. Aw man."

"I'm afraid I'm not following you, John."

"It's our temporary Captain. I'm thinking that maybe he gave that folder to Chet. He doesn't like Roy either. I wonder if he's been pressing Roy to transfer out?"

Johnny then went into what Captain Poole had told him about what his opinion was on the paramedic program and how he'd said that Roy had only pushed for the program because he couldn't cut it as a real fireman. Johnny also told the doctor about the new rules that Poole had instituted to put as many limits on their interaction with Rampart as he could.

By the time Johnny had finished, Dr. Early looked about as irritated as Johnny could ever remember seeing the man.

"Does Kel know anything about this?"

"I doubt it. One thing we were specifically told was not to fraternize with you guys."

"Fraternize? This Poole character does know that we're all on the same side, doesn't he?"

"No, I honestly don't think that he thinks we are. I think he'd be perfectly happy if we just loaded victims into the ambulance and that was the end of it for us."

"I see. Johnny, thanks for filling me in. Why don't you go on and check on Kelly? I'll be back in there in around an hour to see how he's responding to the therapy."

"Right. Thanks for the coffee."

Once Johnny had left and the door was shut again, Dr. Early picked up his phone.

"Kel? I didn't wake you, did I? Good. Sorry to call you at home, but there are a couple of things going on that I think you need to be aware of,"