Chapter 12

When Brackett and Gage got down to the nurses' station they topped off their mugs and looked at the various people streaming around the hallway.

"I wonder where my partners got to," Johnny mused.

"They got a call," Dixie reported as she closed a chart, looking with concern at her sometime lover. "They'll be back. Man down."

"And here I was hoping Monday would be calmer," Kel pretended to moan. The red light flashed in the communications room and after flashing a grin he headed in to take the call. Dixie turned to the waiting paramedic.

"Everything ok?" she asked. "He seemed pretty shaken."

"Well, of course he was shaken," Gage said seriously. "You were threatened, Dix! He does not want anything to happen to you! It's just that addicts are completely unpredictable. He could have shot either of you instead of just hitting Doc."

"Yes, I keep thinking about that!" she agreed. "I know he worries about me, but I worry about him! He shouldn't always have to be the strong, in control, man!"

"That's just how he's wired," Johnny shrugged. "It's a hard habit to break." He splayed his hand on his chest. "I certainly don't want to come across as weak or afraid to most people! Roy and Cap are the only two I'd consider seeing me that way. And Doc," he added.

"Well, you strong, in control, men will break some day if you don't allow yourselves to let go," she lectured.

"Yep, I know that!" Johnny agreed. "That's what Roy and Cap are for!" She had to smile at that. Johnny might be a bit silly and goofy, but always projected a strong male bearing. She then wondered who Kel 'let go' to. He certainly maintained a strong dignity around her and Joe most of the time.

She set that line of thought aside for later rumination. Too many uncomfortable realizations jumped into her over-imaginative mind.

Twenty minutes later Stephan came in holding an IV as the attendants wheeled in a man that had met the wrong end of baseball bat at a little league practice. A young slugger managed to crack a couple of his coach's ribs.

"Hey, Junior, you about ready to go fix lunch?" Roy asked as he wandered in.

"Of course," he smiled. "Just need to set up the hoagie express!"

Soon the paramedics were back at the station and the entire crew lined up for their lunch. Chet was full of questions about Johnny's summons to the ER, but he wasn't getting any answers. Or at least, no answers that he liked!

Johnny had not shared with Roy or Stephan what had happened in the closed office; they only knew that Brackett and Dixie had been threatened at gun-point. Of course, Roy could connect the dots and could figure out what probably happened. He kept his thoughts to himself respecting both men's privacy.

Johnny had settled on the couch, Henry availing himself of the junior paramedic's lap, reading a 'Wheels and Gears' magazine. For all the cars he drooled over, he never actually thought about buying one. He'd traded Roy just once, a sweet convertible, deciding quickly it didn't suit him.

But he could still look!

"Man, this Porsche is great!" he said as he checked out both the car and the lovely model draped on the hood. Mike glanced over and chuckled.

"And the car is good-looking, too," he teased.

"There's a car on the page?" Gage said in faked surprise.

"Ok, share!" Stephan said as he pulled a chair from the table to join the conversation. The magazine was duly turned around for the Hawaiian to enjoy.

"Mmm, that's one maikai wahine!" he grinned.

Which brought Marco and Maddie over for a look.

"My poppa said that there were beautiful women all over Hawaii," Marco said. "Then momma whopped him on the arm" This elicited a chuckle from the men.

"Hey, 'they' said there were beautiful women all over California," Maddie pointed out. "So I checked 'em out when I went surfing. I think the Hawaiians are better and worse." Conversation now turned to attractive women. Chet wandered into the day room and saw all the men talking. He sidled over trying to find out exactly what he was missing.

The conversation had meandered to some of the strange swimming outfits they'd seen on both men and women. Of course, coming into the stories at this point gave Chet a very narrow view of the conversation.

Stephan was explaining some of the tourists from Europe and the definite difference in styles. Some of the women suits were ok, but there was some sort of tiny, tight suit some of the men wore that left nothing to the imagination.

"That may be alright for someone like Johnny," Roy said, "But you wouldn't catch me dead in one!"

"Yeah, most of us are definitely baggy trunks kind of guys," Mike agreed.

"You guys know you're all really weird, talking about men's suits," Chet said with a grimace. "I sure don't want to think about Gage in tidy whities!"

"Che-et! You're sick!" Johnny shot back. "Like any one of us was thinking about that!" There was a general murmur of agreement, but Chet persisted in acting like his eyes were burning, continuing to complain about the awful sight.

Gage got up from the couch and headed towards the door.

"I'm gonna lie down awhile," he said, wanting to distance himself from Kelly. No need to feed into the insanity. Chet immediately took over Johnny's spot, letting the dog settle on his lap.

Instead of continuing the conversation, Roy pushed up and left as well. Within a 90 second span all the crew disappeared out the door save Chet. He turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels.

Hank Stanley finished the last incident report and decided to see what his men were doing. Much to his surprise the kitchen and lounge area were empty except for Chet and Henry.

"Un, Kelly? Where did the crew go?" he asked somewhat surprised.

"Don't know," Chet replied as he settled on a game show. "They all left." Hank glanced over his linesman and wondered what exactly had happened.

Kelly must have been bugging the paramedic and the younger man decided to distance himself from the teasing. Then the rest of the crew must have followed. Sighing, Hank ran his hand through his hair. He kept hoping that Chet would stop his relentless teasing over the years, but no matter how he was disciplined or reprimanded the man kept up his Phantom act.

At least John had gotten help and learned how to deal with the continued low-level harassment. He was a great target given his reactions and the fact he generally never held a grudge. Perhaps if he'd stew and snap back like the other men did Chet would stop. But that wasn't John Gage! Occasionally he did fight back, like hog-tying the tormentor last shift, but that was somewhat rare.

Walking out of the kitchen he headed over to the dorm, the other air-conditioned part of the station. He found the rest of his crew there.

Gage was sitting on the brick divider, somewhat like Humpty Dumpty. Mike and Stephan sat on his bed below him. Then Marco, Roy and Maddie were on the other bunk. They were having a good time discussing venues for each group to visit.

"Gentlemen?" he began, "any reason you're in here?"

"Not really, Cap," Mike took over. "Quieter here." Hank nodded solemnly.

"Discussing things to do here and in Hawaii?" he asked.

"Yups!" Maddie said. "Wanted to see what we could do over our last two off-shifts."

"Well, I have a couple ideas," Stanley said. "But I'd rather be sipping iced tea and sitting at the table." His six men just stared at him before Johnny got up his nerve.

"Yeah, but we had some trouble talking in the break room," he said. "At least, I was having some trouble. I guess the rest of the guys can go back with you. I'll just take a nap."

"Hey! I'm not going anywhere," Mike said. Maddie and Stephan quickly agreed.

"We'd prefer to stay here, Cap," Marco said. "We're doing fine."

"I get the feeling Kelly isn't being a good crew mate," the captain said, hoping for a reply. He was not disappointed.

"He keeps picking on Gage," Stephan said. "I mean, teasing is fun and all but he just kind of pushes it."

"He's just being Chet," Johnny actually defended the man. "He's a little worse than normal 'cause of the heat." Several men rolled their eyes.

"Only you would say that," Marco said. "I'd say he's being an a..., uh, bigger pain than usual."

"Come on, guys," Hank said definitively. "Let's go where we can have a snack and plan our time off." He moved over to Gage and held out a hand. Reluctantly the junior paramedic accepted the help and lightly hopped off the wall. He dutifully followed his captain back to the kitchen.

Roy and Mike pulled out a big bag of tortilla strips and a couple different salsas. Stephan pulled out one of the pitchers of iced tea while Maddie and Hank put ice in large glasses. Johnny and Marco busied themselves clearing the papers off the table and wiping down residual crumbs from lunch. Soon the seven men were settled and munching.

"So, that Atlantis Park sounds interesting," Maddie said, "for the kids."

"Yeah, it's a lot of fun," Johnny agreed as he scooped up some of the milder salsa.

"We can pack a picnic and make a day of it," Roy suggested. "I mean, it's pretty tame, but my kids like all the areas they can play make-believe."

"Yeah, remember Chris and Jake?" Hank said with a fond smile. "I never thought we'd get 'em off the pirate's ship."

"Well, I know Becky and Jennifer enjoyed playing princess," Mike commented. "Ruthie is really good with hair!"

"Don't forget the make-up!" Chet suddenly appeared over Gage's shoulder to snag some chips. The paramedic flinched, but didn't give any other reaction.

"Hey, Matt said his son, Jeff, wants to go fishing," Stephan suddenly perked up. "I mean, we can fish off the islands, but I guess he's seen all the lake and stream fishing on TV."

"Don't tell me," Chet smirked. "The fishing show?"

"That's Chet's favorite program," Marco commented, "it's the closest he gets to catching fish!" Several snickers lifted from the table.

"Hey! I've caught fish before!" the beleaguered linesman protested.

"Yeah, he has!" Gage said stoutly. "I personally watched him get the ping pong ball into the little glass bowl at the carnival and get a goldfish!" This brought more laughter and finally Chet grinned as he poured out a glass of tea for himself.

"Ok, Ok, I give," he said. "Tell us about Jeff."

"Not much to say except he'd like to catch a fish that can't drag him off the boat," Stephan said. "Guess when they went deep sea fishing the fish were bigger than him!"

"What about Pyramid Lake or Upper Big Tujunga Creek?" Mike suggested.

"Pyramid would be the best," Johnny said. "They stock it a couple times a week and we can get a day pass for fishing."

"And there's plenty of things to do besides fishing," Roy added. "We can roast hot dogs for lunch."

"It sounds great to me," Maddie said, "but I can't picture Chrissy being that interested in what amounts to a second picnic for her and the rest of the ladies."

"They don't have to go with us," Hank said. "Maybe they'd prefer to do a girly thing like having tea at the Huntington Museum."

"Yeah," Roy perked up. "They could go get manicures or whatever and then get dressed up a bit and have those little sandwiches and tea in the fine china cups!"

"That sounds like something the ladies would definitely like," Marco chipped in. "Momma would love to go along, too!"

"I'll give Emily a call and see if she can co-ordinate," Hank said. "Then we'll go fishing."

"I don't know, Cap," Johnny said. "You sure Chet wants to fish? I imagine he'd do lots better with a pedicure and watercress sandwiches!"

"Ooooh, yeah!" Chet hammed it up. "A little white frosted polish and maybe a mud facial! Just open up my pores!" They all had a good laugh as the mustached man pretended to look critically at his fingernails.

Finally the tones sounded. "Station 51, brush fire, Eldorado Regional Park East, 7550 Spring Street. Nearest cross street, 605 Freeway, south. Time out 3:05"

"Station 51, KMG 365," Stanley responded. Gage and Stoker glanced at the map and quickly agreed on the best way to access the park. Soon they were zipping down the freeway towards the park.

The smoke was easy to see, although there wasn't much of it. The attendant at the gate waved them through, directing them towards the group camp ground area. People looked up as they passed, little kids waved, but fortunately no one got in their way.

Johnny and Stephan both pointed out the fire, it had gotten into the tall grass near the fence by the freeway. Several people were waving them down, including a dozen Boy Scouts in uniform. The engine was quickly whipped into place, hoses connected and pulled out while Hank directed the operation.

"Mister!" several scouts came up to Gage and Desoto. "A couple of people were burned. We have them under some shade waiting for you."

"Hey! Cap!" Roy yelled, "victims!" He received a wide wave and soon the three paramedics were hustling into the nearby cooking shelter. Here they found two people lying on tables, feet elevated slightly and wet sheeting on arms and torso.

As Stephan and Roy gathered vitals Johnny set up the biophone and established communications with Rampart. They quickly had IV's in and light doses of morphine to take the edge off. At least the burns were mostly first and second degree. Only one small area on the scout master's arm was a definite third degree.

The scouts themselves were milling about upset. Mike and Maddie worked together to pull them closer to Big Red and calm them down as they monitored their gauges. It seemed that the wood pile for the fire had been too close and sparks had blown the short distance catching the dry wood on fire. When the two adults attempted to put the blaze out one managed to get his uniform too close and it caught on fire. The second adult tried to put it out and his sleeve began to burn. Then a couple boys got the brilliant idea to throw water on them both with mixed success. Finally another scout brought out blankets and they men were wrapped, smothering the flames.

Both Mike and Maddie reassured the young men that they had done everything right, that the quick thinking on their parts certainly minimized the injuries. They also praised them for quickly getting help before everything got totally out of control. Between the two men they had all the boys calmed down.

Soon the ambulances arrived and the two victims were whisked away. The firemen made very sure the entire fire was out, hosing down a large swath of drying grasses. Gage took off for the hospital but the engine waited until some more adults came to take over the camping trip.

Walking into ER Johnny headed for the lounge wanting a long drink of cold water. This accomplished he headed for the nurses's station. Carol and Morton were there, filling in various charts. The paramedic decided to pull out a few supplies for the squad.

"John, I wanted to thank you for helping Kel this morning," Mike said as he held out his hand.

"No problem, Dr. Morton," Johnny shook his hand. "Just glad I could help."

"You know, I was very uncomfortable when your and Kel's little living arrangement went over a month," he admitted. "I mean, I guess I figured you were pretty immature and might drive Kel crazy."

"I am certainly not like Doc at all, am I?" he said with a crooked grin.

"Well, let me say you've both done well together," Morton said. "I mean, you're still the immature goof ball and he's still the stoic stick in the mud, but then again, you've both changed for the better."

"Stick in the mud?" Brackett said as he sauntered up behind his younger colleague.

"Hey, he calls it like he sees it!" Gage said with a straight face.

""Yeah, goof ball covers it!" Brackett growled.

"Better than stoic!" Gage shot back. "Sounds pretty darned boring!" Both men laughed and were soon joined by Carol and Mike.

"So, how are the patients?" John asked.

"Mine's going to be ok," Kel said. "Some burn cream and analgesic for some pain. I think Joe's is a little worse. He had some damage done on his forearm that'll need some debridement. Probably stay here a couple days."

"They were lucky they had people around them," the paramedic said. "The fire was contained and they were taken care of properly."

"Ready, Junior?" Roy asked as he walked up with Stephan.

"Yups," he grinned.

"You need to get dinner going!" the visiting paramedic said. "I mean all of your crew likes it, so it must be special!"

"Oh, it is," Brackett agreed. "I'm stopping by to snag some of it." This caused four sets of eyes to swivel in his direction in curiosity.

"That good?" Mike asked lightly.

"Actually, I wanted to talk with Stephan and the engineer, Salva, about their impressions of working paramedic teams," Doc said. "I haven't had a chance to as of yet." This made sense to the small group.

"Well, then, Johnny," Carol made a shooing gesture, "get going and get dinner ready!"

later that night

Maddie watched with great interest as the entire engine crew raced into the kitchen after returning from a trash fire. The paramedics had already set the table. The air was full of savory scents and when the oven was opened he could feel his mouth salivate.

Gage put the roaster on the stove top and pulled off the aluminum foil. A second, smaller, foil pouch joined the large pan and was carefully torn open. Roy had set out nine plates and supervised his partner as the food was divided up.

A large green salad hit the table as well as milk and iced tea. The infamous pot of coffee sat on the stove for the believers.

"Hey Doc!" Chet's voice rang out. "Talk about your perfect timing! Oooh! And ice cream! You can stay!" The linesman smirked as he latched on to the three cartons of frozen dessert.

"Good evening, gentlemen," the 'stoic' doctor smiled. He moved over to the sink to was his hands and soon was helping pass out the plates. The men settled down to eat. After a couple bites Stephan looked up with a big sigh.

"Oh, man, this is great!" he said. "Reminds me of Thanksgiving and roasted pork at a good luau!"

"Yups!" Maddie agreed. "We got to get the recipe!"

"Cookbook!" most of 51s chimed in together.

"We'll give you one of our ever-growing cookbooks," Hank said. He speared some carrot and potato and popped them into his mouth. The men continued to attack their plates. Well, Brackett didn't inhale it quite as fast but then he didn't have the tones hovering at the back of his mind ready to sound off.

Soon conversations cropped up and Maddie was telling the ER doctor all about his experiences at the 8s and so far at the 51s. Stephan started to put his two cents in and soon they were laughing over some of the silly things they'd seen and done. Brackett reflected that the 51s certainly had a lot more going on than many of the other stations in his service area. Not the service calls, those were somewhat uniform, but the silliness around the station.

"I was wondering exactly what John used those gauze braids for," Kel asked as he accepted a little more of the dressing.

"We weren't here for that," Stephan said. "Matt said he roped and hog-tied Chet." This caused the doctor to start to choke on a mouthful of bready goodness.

"Oh, great, now Chet's gonna kill the doctor!" Marco teased. Hank, the ever-present leader, stood up and put a hand on the man's back.

"Like I tell Gage," he directed firmly, "spit it, swallow it or I heimlich it!" Kel worked on clearing his airway and took a couple sips of tea.

"I... would pay to see... that," he eeked out. Johnny grinned. Chet looked worried.

"Naw, no, Doc, wasn't really that interesting!" the linesman quickly said.

"I don't know," Hank pretended to consider the concept. "I think it'd be worth it."

"We could time Johnny," Marco chipped in. "See if he could improve his time!"

"Hey, why don't I help do the dishes?" Chet jumped up and started to clear the table and start the water in the sink.

"Thanks guys!" Mike was grinning. He had cleanup.

"Always willing to help a friend," Marco snickered.