Oh patient (and not so patient) readers. Look! I updated! I appreciate all the kind words sent to me over the past 4+ years (YIKES!) and I certainly hope a certain Sgt foot has healed successfully after stomping the floor so harshly. I am back to finish this story. I'm aiming for once a week, so tune in next Wednesday, same bat time, same bat channel.
Let me know if I managed to keep in the same tone as the original story!
Crosstrainers
chapter 33
Jake was definitely not sleeping when his parents arrived. No, his eyelids were simply down as he contemplated having to go home tomorrow. He rubbed his aforementioned eyes.
"Noooo! If you're back we have to pack!" he groaned piteously. He was not too thrilled with his father's deep chuckle.
"You're just afraid you'll have to sit by your sister on the flight back," Hank observed.
"I'd rather sit with Jenny!" Jake mumbled under his breath. He stretched and stood up, Ruth was already leaning against her mom.
"Pack? You think I'd let you or your father pack?" Emily chipped in. "Most of the clothing is clean! You two would just shove them all into the suit cases and snap them closed!"
"Don't worry, son, Mom's already taken care of it," he confirmed. "And if you want to sit with Jenny…" Hank laughed at the glare directed at him.
With a hug from Emily and a slap on the back from Hank, the Captain and his family left Johnny's suite. Now he just needed his pally to pick up his kids and he could get some rest!
Roy DeSoto cheerfully swung his wife around the dance floor one last time. Thanks to his partner, Joanne and he had more than made up and were no longer at odds. Although he'd miss her, and the kids, at least they'd part on good terms and not be miserable and angry for the next week.
They'd had a wonderful afternoon of relaxation and adult 'conversation' followed by a romantic dinner in a nearby seaside restaurant. One last lingering kiss then the parents came back.
"Let's go get the kids," Joanne said smiling happily. "We can pack and get your things together to bring down to Johnny's room in the morning."
The powers that be decided the two visiting paramedics could keep the nicer corner suite for the rest of their stay. They'd even been given a disbursement to spend for the final week. A generous one at that! It seemed between Brackett and the paramedics they had curried favor not only from the fire department but all three participating hospitals as well.
Johnny had been more than happy to pass off the sleeping youngsters to their parents. He debated having a beer but decided a shower and bed sounded much better. He figured he'd already passed his drinking quota days ago. Plus all the excitement at Hananuma Bay really wore him out!
When Kel made it in a little after midnight he tried very hard to be quiet as he packed his suitcase and garment bag. He'd actually bought a new, smaller suitcase because he'd had a lot of fun shopping for his friends and himself! But even with his stealth Johnny roused and switched on the bed lamp.
"Hey, you just getting in?" he yawned.
"Yeah, sorry I woke you!" Brackett apologized.
"'s ok. I sleep pretty light," Johhny stated. This drew a disbelieving look complete with lifted eyebrow. The sleepy man had to squint to see it clearly, than sat up throwing his hands into the air.
"Ok, ok, so maybe not that light!" he grumbled.
"You sleep through everything! Except the tones and the kids!" his friend pointed out.
"The important things!" Gage glared at his room mate. Kel smirked and agreed.
"You ready to fly solo?" the doctor changed the subject.
"Solo? After the two weeks we've had I think I'll be muuuch safer solo!" but a sly smile softened the complaint.
"Oh, right, I'm the trouble magnet," scoffed Kel. "I think not!" They both chuckled.
"Yeah, I'll be fine Doc," Gage offered. "Anyway, Roy is moving in tomorrow so I certainly won't be solo! He may complain about me being the energizer bunny but he gets antsy being away from Joann and the kids."
"Just a week, and from your schedule it'll be plenty busy! I think I'm going to sleep for a week when I get home!" Brackett declared.
"After you sort the mail," Johnny teased.
"After I sort the mail," he returned. "At least I get a two-day break to get myself back on California time."
"Yeah," another jaw-cracking yawn. "Well, safe trip and all that stuff. I bet Jake'll want to sit with you!"
"He already suggested it. Twice." This elicited another sleepy chuckle as the paramedic returned to the comforts of his bed.
"Night Kel."
"Night, Johnny."
***** ^.,.^ *****
Morning came with Roy dumping his suitcase and uniform bag onto the couch. He helped himself to some coffee and proceeded to watch his partner button up his uniform shirt.
"Kel's still in bed," Gage reported. "The flight is this afternoon. They're going to be back in LA by 9 tonight."
"Joanne's all ready to go. Already missing you, pally!" Roy smirked. Johhny smiled back as he picked up his bag. With a nod the two headed out the door.
***** ^.,.^ *****
Roy found himself staring at a large raccoon. Well, not exactly a raccoon, but the paramedic certainly had the eyes for it. He thought back over the past two weeks vaguely remembering Gage talking about a broken nose.
"Hi, Roy DeSoto," he said amiably shaking hands with the quasi-raccoon.
"Jerry Harris, and this is my partner, Jim Irvine," he said with a sheepish smile.
"This is Jer's first day back since he got tagged by a panicked tourist," Irvine explained. "He's kind of hiding from the crew.
"I can understand that," Roy grinned.
"I already had some clown put a bowl of water by my donut so I could wash it before I ate," he nearly whined.
Roy managed to quell his laugh, although it was a near thing. He followed the two men into the locker room and put his things away. Then they went into the Captain's office and met Tom Hunter.
"Welcome to the 5's," Cap greeted him. "You missed the malsadas, but there's always coffee."
"I think I'll just have the team show me their squad and set-up," he responded. Jerry looked happy at that announcement. Hunter gave his paramedic a side-look.
"Why, Harris, you think one of the guys might have something else for you?" he said.
"Think? Think? You betcha they have something else. Probably a lot of something elses!" the double-black eyed man stated firmly.
Hunter smiled and indicated they go out into the bay. The men were happy to show off their squad and their equipment. Roy noted the small spiral pads and pens in both men's shirt pocket.
Neither paramedic had any specific questions, although Harris was very interested in having a trainer out with him on his 'first day'. He'd missed most of Gage's shift.
Before Jerry had to 'brave' the lounge, the tones sounded.
"Station 5, station 14, multiple vehicle accident, H1 west. Enter at Keeaumoku Street. Time out 9:42" the voice intoned.
Hunter rogered the call, handed location slips to his engineer and paramedic, and climbed into the cab of the engine. It didn't take much time to smoothly exit the bay and head towards the accident, lights flashing.
Ahead, Pika laid on the big engine's horn. Roy could see a car had tried to cross the intersection before realizing the emergency vehicles were coming.
"I hate that! I can't understand why they don't see us," Irvine complained as he laid on the horn as well.
"John and I never figured it out," DeSoto said, leaning against the dashboard as the squad swerved through traffic. Fortunately, they made it to the ramp without any more problems. The freeway itself was backed up, but thankfully the shoulder was clear and they continued down to the crash site.
It was a mess. At a glance Roy counted four cars and a pick-up truck. Smoke and steam drifted up from two engines. One lone officer was attempting to direct traffic.
"Richards, Moana, pop batteries. Pika, get a hose set up," Hunter quickly dispersed his men. "Harris and Irvine, look to the cars and start your triage."
Station 14 pulled up as the 5's scattered. Several highway patrol arrived as well and quickly cordoned off the accident. There was just enough room to squeak cars around the pile-up on the inside lane.
Aleka Choi, one of 14's paramedics, came over with her equipment and began assembling a triage area. Roy helped and soon the first injured limped over. A distraught mom with two children were seated on the bumper of a squad. Besides the fright and some bruising from seat belts they were left to two police officers.
A call for backboards sent Harper, 14's linesman, running to collect and deliver. Roy did a quick check and prepped iv's. Even though it had been slow going because of heavy traffic, there were at least two serious injuries. The jaws of life were called for and soon the sound of ripping metal filled the air.
Triage picked up as Aleka and Roy began splinting, wrapping and taking vitals.
"There are five injured," Cpt Hunter reported. "One is still being extracted. Head wound, broken leg and chest contusions."
"We'll split the mot injured pair between Hawaii Med and Castle," Aleka determined. Soon vitals were being relayed and treatments were begun. The first two sent off with Roy were a gaping head wound and a broken arm. The man with the head wound was with the mother and two children. Given their rental was totaled, one of the officers would bring them to Hawaii Med.
It took the combined efforts of both stations to pry open the crushed 2-door Pinto. The noise from the straining metal was hellacious; the trapped driver barely conscious. Harris decided to call in the life flight copter as they worked on extracting the victim.
At least the freeway was clear for the helicopter to land!
After a tense twenty minutes Alvardo, from the 14's, climbed aboard the medi-flight for the quick flight to Castle.
Irvine offered to go in with the other two less critical patients leaving Harris and Choi to clean up.
***** ^.,.^ *****
It was strange walking into the 16's and not seeing the A-shift men. Johnny simply shook it off and soon was introduced to Cpt. Fredricks, a no-nonsense man with a high and tight hair cut. He gruffly introduced him to his team.
It was quite a diverse team! There were two women, Kalua Jones, a linesman, and Nariko Hisato, the senior paramedic. Where Jones was tall and muscled, Hisato must have just made the height requirement. But her grip was strong and her bearing secure. Her partner, Khari Zuberi, completed the… interesting… pair. He was at least 6'6" with a tight, short afro framing his face. He had an interesting accent, not quite British, and a deep voice.
"Your partner, DeSoto, was here over a week ago," Hisato commented as they went through the squad.
"He was a good trainer, but we have questions!" Zuberi added with a smile.
"A week working in the field will generate them!" Johnny agreed. "What can I help you with?"
Soon they were sitting at the table with small spiral notebooks and the station log. Using their last few runs, he explained how keeping track of patients and vitals would make triage and reporting easier.
Akuma Daichi, the engineer, watched intently from his vantage point leaning on the door jam while Danny Fields, a linesman, simply sat at the table listening.
"I could use the same sort of system," Daichi said, "but adapt it for my area. It would make it easier than using 'educated guesses' and jumbled memories to fill out my reports!"
Johnny simply reached into his pocket and pulled out an extra spiral. "'oe ka huhu peni inika!"
"What?" "Huh?" three voices intoned while Hisato laughed.
"You need a pen, Akuma," she managed cocking her head towards Gage.
"Give me!" she demanded. He gave his trademark crooked grin.
"Uh, may have spent a little time with some natives that put me through language immersion years back," he admitted.
"Oh, yeah, the surfing thing," Zuberi said waving his hand as if not important. "I think only Danny surfs a little." He earned a bigger grin as Johnny realized he wouldn't be bothered about his 'celebrity' standings!
They returned to the logs and continued their discussion.
They actually made it to lunch time, with the food prepped and ready to serve, when the tones went off. Capt Fredericks emerged from his office (where he'd been all morning) to take the call and pass out location slip to Alvardo.
"We'll save you some!" Daichi said. Then a new set of tones rang out.
"Cancel squad 16. Station 16, report of a house fire, 312 Naai Street. Cross street Kula Kolea Drive. Take hwy 63 to Nalanieha Street west. Time out, 12:25."
Location slips once more appeared as the crew pulled on hats and climbed into their respective rigs. The big engine lead the way, siren and horn blaring.
It was indeed a house fire, smoke pouring out one side of the tract home. An older couple were sitting together on the grass, clinging to each other while several other people stood protectively around them. Fredericks quickly dispatched his team man the hoses and check for victims.
Zuberi approached the couple on the ground, the circle parted for him. Hisato followed closely behind with the med kit and phone.
"Eme was cooking lunch," the older man said, "and somehow the stove started burning. I tried turning off the burners and oven, but it kept burning."
Eme sat tearing a dish towel apart staring at the house.
"I saw the smoke," stated one of the women in the group. "I called Niko and we were able to get Eme and Quon outside."
"Thank you!" Zuberi smiled as he turned all of his attention to Eme. Hisato was able to get Quon to move a bit away to assess him.
Gage worked on setting up the phone and gathering more information from the helpful neighbors. The family pet, a lap-sized mutt, had already been brought over to a neighbor's home to be safe. It was only the house itself that needed saving.
Quon's vitals came first (the woman was fretting and it was difficult to get her blood pressure). He wasn't on any medication and although his blood pressure was a bit on the high side, it was within reason given the house fire.
Unfortunately, Eme was bordering on hysterical and Hisato moved over to help her partner calm her down. Stewart was on the phone with Johnny and soon a small dose of diazepam was injected. As she calmed, they were able to start an iv and convinced her to lay down, her feet raised up. Mr. Weyan, the patients' last name, sat by her, holding her hand and speaking gently.
Before the ambulance arrived the 16's had doused the fire. While checking that all hotspots were out, Niko and another neighbor took a quick look at the damage.
"Hey, Eme, it looks like just the stove and the cupboard next to it were damaged. Maybe a little bit of the wall," the young man crouched down to talk to the couple.
"We'll clean up a bit and see exactly what will need to be done," said the second neighbor. "I bet Shu will be able to help call for the insurance adjuster and we can get everything fixed wiki wiki!"
Although Eme was silent, the tears had stopped and she smiled sweetly. Quon thanked them and they began discussing going to and returning from the hospital. The ambulance pulled up and soon Mrs. Weyan was off to Queen's with Zuberi on board. Hisato and Gage began cleaning up and stowing their equipment away.
"You two really work well together!" Johnny said.
"Yes, we do. And we get teased all the time between all our differences," she grinned.
"He does have a better hair cut," Gage allowed, mischief sparkling in his eyes. He earned a snort from his trainee.
"Yes, he does," she flipped back shoulder-length hair that had fallen out of her elastic. "But I can out-run him any day of the week!"
With a chuckle, they finished packing up and went to report to Fredericks.
