I have no excuses beyond the fact that school is hard and I'm flying solo on this story again...hopefully, I'll have some time to work on this during the weekend. THANKS FOR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
Chapter 6:
"She's gone."
Brackett pulled the sheet of the too-young face and sighed. Somewhere between the paramedics and the ambulance attendants bring the girl in, she'd gone into respiratory arrest and her heart had stopped, maybe as a result of that or the drugs. He suspected that the autopsy would show that she had some sort of heart defect. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something slightly off. He made a mental note to talk to the paramedics later. Morton had taken the call to begin with, but had been pulled away by a nasty gunshot wound.
Walking out of the room, he was chagrined to see that there was a police officer standing by the nurse's station, presumably waiting to see him. He would answer the same questions with the same answers: they had done everything in their power to save her, but in the end she was another fatal OD.
"Hey, Doc," John Gage pushed away from the wall outside of the exam room. Funny how he hadn't noticed him.
"How is she?" Roy asked.
The look on his face must have said enough because both their faces fell. "There wasn't anything you could have done." The words sounded hollow in his own ears.
"Man, that sucks," John Gage muttered, slamming the squad door harder than he needed to, "What kind of guy gives a girl enough drugs to OD on, then just leaves her to die?"
"Squad 51, available. Returning to Base Camp 2," Roy said into the radio before starting the squad.
"10-4, Squad 51."
"She was barely old enough to drink," Johnny continued darkly, "and now she's dead 'cause her boyfriend or her dealer or whoever couldn't be bothered to hang around long enough to make sure she'd be okay. Or tell us what she might have taken. We might have been able to save her."
"I know."
"It sucks bad enough when the ones you can't save die. Like that guy who got crushed by the load of steel I-beam, there was nothing anyone could do for him. But she might have had a chance," he made a frustrated noise, "if the Docs had known more about her they-"
"I know, Johnny. I know. She shouldn't have had to die that way, surrounded by strangers in a hospital room. Let's just drop it, okay?"
The radio cut in, really putting an end to "Squad 51, woman in labor, 23 Loveville Road. Twenty-three Loveville, cross street Keith. Time out, 10:46."
"Squad 51, 10-4," John said, reaching for his helmet. Lose a girl to drugs, then head across town to deliver a baby. All in a day's work.
The squad roared up to 23 Loveville Road, a quaint little cottage with toys scattered in the yard. The paramedics hauled their gear up to the front door but before either of them could knock, the door flew open to reveal a frazzled looking girl of about sixteen, "Oh. My. God. Finally decided to show up, huh? Well, you're too late!"
"Miss-"
"She already freaking had the kid! I just helped deliver a baby. Oh. My. God. I am never having children, like ever."
"Miss, where is-"
"I was just babysitting the other kids, and she goes into labor. The car's with her husband, who incidentally is nowhere near any sort of phone, and she's just- like, bam! Baby number five. I think I'm going to throw up," The girl pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Miss, where-?"
"Oh, back bedroom. Here, I'll show you."
She spun around and trudged down the tight hallway, which came across as cozy rather than claustrophobic.
"Maggie, can we come out?" a plaintive voice called out from behind a door as they passed.
"No, Eddie, not yet. Keep an eye on your brothers."
"Is Mommy okay?"
Maggie shrugged at the door, "There are some nice firemen here to help her. I just need you four to stay in your room and be good, okay?"
Without waiting for an answer, Maggie led the two paramedics to the sunny back bedroom. A pretty, tired woman who looked a little over thirty smiled, "You missed the show," she smiled, revealing laugh-lines.
"So we hear," Roy said, setting his gear down.
"I need to use the restroom," Maggie said from the doorway before fleeing the way they had gone.
Johnny motioned at the babysitter, "Made quite an impression on her, huh?"
The woman laughed, "I did. Poor thing, I hope she's okay."
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Roy said, peeking over at the baby, who glowed healthily, "How are you doing Mrs…?"
"Irene Alden. I'm doing fairly well, a bit worn-out. But isn't she gorgeous?" Mrs. Alden held out her baby, "Finally, a little girl."
"She's beautiful," Roy agreed, "Since we're here, mind if I take a look at her?"
"Go right ahead," Mrs. Alden smiled once more at her baby before handing the bundle to Roy.
"So, this is your fifth?" Johnny said digging around the drug box for he PB cuff.
Mrs. Alden laughed, "Yes. I'm an old hat at this by now. Nursed right off the bat, and this was by far the easiest birth of the five."
"When were you due?"
"Day after tomorrow. She's just a bit early."
"Have you done a home birth before?" Roy asked, glancing around the room. Everything was very orderly and the baby's umbilical cord had been expertly taken care of.
Mrs. Alden smiled again, which seemed to be normal for her, "You could say that. I'm a CNM. A midwife."
Johnny looked impressed, "Well, that's handy, huh?"
"Yes, it has its moments. I hate to be a bother, but can one of you go check on Maggie? She's probably hyperventilating in the bathroom. And send the boys in?" She smiled beseechingly at Johnny.
"I can do that," the dark haired paramedic said standing up, "I'll go see if the ambulance is here yet, too," he said to Roy.
John left and Roy handed the baby back to her mother, "She's looking good, Mrs. Alden, but we'll take the two of you to the hospital just in case."
"Just call me Irene. Mrs. Alden is my mother-in-law," Irene frowned briefly, "who is going to have a cow when she finds out about this. She's not very fond of me as it is. Somehow, it will be my fault that I didn't have the car."
"But your husband, her son, has it," Roy pointed out.
"True, but her baby can do no wrong," she shrugged, "not that I really care at this point. I've got a beautiful little girl, don't I sweetie?" Irene cooed at the baby.
There was a commotion from the doorway as four boys, ages ranging from about ten to about four , tried to push one another out of the way, "Mom!"
"Where's the baby?"
"What is that?" The youngest reached the bed first and pointed at the red-faced infant who was fast asleep, "It's all red and ugly!"
"You were uglier than that, Jamie," the tallest of the bunch informed him.
"He looks like an alien," another brother decided.
"She," Irene said, "is your new sister and you all looked just like this when you were born."
"It's a girl? I hate girls!" the boy who hadn't spoken yet declared.
"Joshua! You don't hate me."
"But she's-"
"Enough!" Irene held up her free hand. "Edward, Luke, Joshua, and James, I expect that you will all take good care of you sister. She's so much younger than you, we all need to protect her and help her grow up. You will not call her an alien and you will not say that she is ugly, you will just love her as she is," she surveyed her brood, "So, who wants to hold her first?"
The cries of, "Me, me!" could be heard all the way down the hallway where Johnny sat with Maggie, who had stopped hyperventilating and was now recounting how she had had to cut the umbilical cord.
"Well, you did a real fine job," Johnny said at the end of her story, "helping with the birth, calling the paramedics, you did everything that you should have."
Maggie perked up, "Really? I was freaking out the whole time."
Johnny shrugged, "I was the same way when I delivered my first baby."
From outside, the sound of sirens could be heard. Johnny stood up from his seat on the edge of the bathtub and held out a hand for Maggie, "Well, sounds like the ambulance is here. Time to take the baby and Mrs. Alden to the hospital."
They made it back to the bedroom just as Roy and the ambulance attendants finished helping Mrs. Alden onto the stretcher and extricating the baby from one of the brother's arms, "What are we gonna name her?" he demanded.
"How 'bout Flower?" the youngest boy suggested, "or Candy? Candy is yummy."
His mother laughed, "We'll have to think about that. I need you boys to wait here with Maggie for Dad, okay?"
"His office said they'd get the message to him," Maggie said as she and the boys followed the stretcher to the ambulance, "the boys can come stay with my mom and me tonight if need be."
"You are such a dear," Irene said to Maggie, blowing her boys kisses, "I'll have Matt call later and set something up."
Roy followed the stretcher into the ambulance, "Meet us at the hospital?" he said to Johnny.
"Sure thing," John nodding. He slammed the ambulance doors and waved to the driver.
He turned back to the squad, smiling at the foursome of serious boys. "Thanks Mister," the tall one said, "even though Maggie did all the work."
John laughed, "She did a good job of it, too. Congrats on the new sister."
He hopped into the squad, started it, and followed the ambulance towards Rampart.
The ambulance ride was quiet with mother and child both content. "I can't get over it; a girl. Finally," Irene commented, touching her baby's cheek, "Do you have kids?"
"Two," Roy nodded, "a boy and a girl."
"That's sweet, one of each." Irene glanced down at the baby, "Now I need a name for you. I didn't even bother to pick out any girl names."
They were silent for a few minutes, the baby soundly asleep and the mother contemplative, "My little bundle of joy..…ha, Joy! What do you think of the name Joy?"
Roy had thought a lot about the name Joy in the last few hours. He looked between the happy loving mother and the little baby and thought about the poor girl in the lonely house. He decided that Joy was too pretty of a name to be tied to the memory of a life wasted.
"It's perfect."
"I think so, too. My little bundle of Joy," Irene cooed.
"Everything looks good," Doctor Early announced a little under an hour later, "You two can go home tonight if you'd like."
Before Irene could answer, the treatment room door swung open to reveal a handsome man in a rumpled suit, "Irene! I'm so sorry, I missed it! Are you okay? Is the baby okay? What happened? My secretary said that the babysitter sounded frantic-" he stopped when he saw the pink blanket. "It's a girl?"
Irene Alden nodded, "Yep. Meet your daughter, Joy Isabelle. Born at 10:30 this morning."
"It's a girl?" Tim Alden said again, looking a little shell shocked, "Really?"
Mr. Alden caught the paramedics just as they were about to head back to Base Camp #2. "Wait, wait! Are you the paramedics that brought my wife here?"
The two glanced at one another, "Mr. Alden?" Roy guessed.
"Yeah. I just wanted to thank you. It's a girl, can you believe it?"
"A very pretty little girl," Johnny agreed, "congratulations."
"It's really a girl," Mr. Alden shook his head, "who would have thought-"
"Squad 51, are you available?"
"I'll let you go," Alden said, "Thanks again, it's a girl!"
"Squad 51, available," Roy acknowledged, smiling at the retreating back of the new dad.
"Squad 51, firemen injured. Meet Copter 12 at Rampart General. Copter ETA, six minutes."
"10-4. Squad 51, KMG-365."
Review? I don't deserve them, but...
Striker