Roy placed the receiver down and sighed. It was like a wall of silence had been built between him and Johnny. 'And I put it there' he said softly. How could this have happened? Only six weeks ago Johnny had saved his life and he was repaying him by not giving him any of his time.
What a hypocrite he scolded himself; he had sat in the hospital knocking the character of Tom Wheeler and he was doing the exact same thing. He didn't like himself and knew he had deeply hurt his friend when he had needed him most. No wonder the Cap found it hard to carry on a conversation with him; he had lost the respect of his Cap and his best friend. How was he going to fix this and keep his wife happy at the same time?
The next morning Johnny was taken down to orthopaedics. He had not slept well. He had been jerked awake after experiencing the sensation of falling in his sleep, several times. Dixie and Dr Brackett were waiting for him and couldn't help but frown at the dark circles under his eyes. Johnny was very subdued but tried to act upbeat when they began to cut off his casts. Dixie didn't buy it. Cap was waiting outside having come straight to the hospital from end of shift.
Dixie left the room to talk to Cap. "How is he Miss McCall?" She smiled at Cap's address.
"They're still removing the casts. Johnny seems very down this morning. Did you speak to him at all last night?" she asked him.
Cap sighed "No but I can guess who did and is acting the same way this morning".
"Roy" said Dixie. "As usual his timing is just perfect" she stated sarcastically.
"He asked me how John was yesterday and I lost my cool. I told him that John had a phone in his room and he should be using it instead of asking a third party how John was." He rubbed his hand over his face"I guess the conversation didn't go well".
It was Dixie's turn to sigh "I've been trying to keep Johnny in good spirits Hank. He can so easily fall into depression and really lose what ground he's gained with his recovery" she said despondently.
Cap straightened up and took a deep breath "Well I for one am not going to let that happen. We've worked too hard."
Dixie smiled and also took a deep breath. She opened the door and they both entered the room. Johnny was looking at his white withered left arm and leg.
"Try moving your leg Johnny" instructed Dr Brackett. Johnny concentrated and was able to lift it a couple of inches off the bed. "Now your arm" he instructed. Johnny found this a lot harder as his strength and concentration was waning because of the restless night. Dr Brackett's mouth twitched and he frowned. Johnny had taken a backward step in his recovery and he was worried for his friend. "Just rest Johnny. They'll take some x-rays to make sure everything is fine and then you can have a nice hot shower. Don't try anything till I come and see you." He patted Johnny's shoulder and looked at Dixie and Cap with concern.
Cap followed Johnny to x-ray and waited with him. He then followed alongside him back to his room. He kept his hand on his shoulder trying to reassure his friend. He waited till they were back in Johnny's room before talking to him about Roy.
"I'm guessing Roy called you last night, and it didn't go well" Cap said as he watched Johnny carefully. Johnny glanced at Cap and pursed his lips together.
"Yeah...he asked me how I was".
"And?" asked Cap.
"And I told him I was doing good...and...nothing. It was like I was talking to a total stranger Cap...It was like he was making the phone call out of duty" Johnny sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair. He had rerun the call over and over in his head trying to convince himself that Roy was asking out of friendship, but he was then and still was, unable to salvage any kindness in Roy's words.
There was a knock on the door; Johnny called out "Come on in". The door opened and Kirk and Stoney walked in carrying a bag of goodies.
"Hey Johnny boy...Captain Stanley" greeted Stoney. Cap shook hands with both men and saw a smile light up Johnny's face. Cap smiled to himself and sighed with relief. There would be time later to discuss Roy but right now Johnny needed these high spirited friends.
"We can take care of Johnny if you want to take off Cap. I know you just got off shift. We can stay with Johnny all day. That's if it's ok with you Johnny?" said Kirk.
"That's fine by me fellas...Johnny's probably getting sick of me anyway" said Cap chuckling.
"Cap, don't say that" Johnny was mortified. He valued his time with Cap and appreciated him giving up his family time to spend it with him.
"John I'm going to leave you in these two capable men's hands. Behave yourself and don't overdo it." Cap said to Johnny. "He needs to take a shower now that his casts are off" he told Kirk and Stoney. They nodded and looked at Johnny with mischief in their eyes. "See you on Saturday Johnny".
"Bye Cap. Say hello to the family for me" Johnny waved at Cap as he left. Johnny rubbed his hands together "What's in the bags?"
Kirk and Stoney looked at each other and wiggled their eyebrows. "Shower first, goodies after" said Stoney. Johnny pouted but soon smiled at the thought of having a nice hot shower.
Cap let Dixie know what was happening with Johnny. She laughed and shook her head. "It's just what Johnny needs. Stoney told me he couldn't help out because he was moving house, but now had plenty of time."
"I guess some of his friends had legitimate reasons" said Cap. Dixie nodded in agreement.
"Some did..." she trailed off thinking about all the other friends who had let Johnny down.
Roy worked on his backyard, his new partner Adam and his family were coming over for a barbeque. Joanne and Adam's wife had become good friends and the kids seem to get on well also. Having Adam for a partner had its advantages. Joanne on several occasions had commented how much nicer it was to have new friends that had the same interests as themselves. If he had been honest with himself he would have seen the seeds being planted by his wife. She wanted Roy to keep Adam as his partner rather than Johnny. Adam had more to offer to their friendship than Johnny and she liked it. She had forgotten about all the help Johnny gave to the family and the fact that it had been unconditional help. Johnny never asked for anything in return.
Over the next few days more and more firemen turned up at the hospital to help. Kirk had spread the word about Johnny. Retired firemen, from stations Johnny had worked at before station 51, who had lots of time on their hands, came at all hours to help. Dixie was given a list of phone numbers of friends who were available anytime. Kirk had turned out to be a better friend to Johnny than Roy.
When the day came for Johnny to take his first steps, it was Dr Brackett, Dr Early, Cap and Dixie who were there to watch. Dixie had called one other person to be included in the fold of close friends to witness Johnny's triumph and that was Kirk.
Johnny was helped from his chair by Cap and Kirk. He swallowed hard; he so wanted this to be successful. Cap and Kirk each gave him an encouraging slap on the shoulder. Johnny held the parallel bars tightly and directed all his concentration to his legs and feet. He slowly raised his right leg and took his first small step and then raised his left leg again taking a small step. Sweat covered his face and he screwed up his face with concentration as he let his grip on the bars loosen. He was able to take another couple of steps before losing his strength and concentration.
Cap and Kirk grabbed him from either side and guided him to his chair. Johnny was exhausted but had a grin from ear to ear. He knew these were the first steps towards going back to his life as a Fire-Fighter/Paramedic.