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Tom should have known to shut up but he didn't, Security was invited to escort him away from the group as Hank allowed the hospital lawyer to open the envelope and go through its contents, Johnny was encouraged to move forward with the paperwork.
"Okay the procedure is. . . ," the nurse Maureen, someone Johnny had tried to date several times during the last year, talked or rather mumbled to herself as she filled in the blanks on the form beneath her hands, "and the Dr. is …. And the responsible party is John R Gage… Okay Johnny what is your relationship to the patient?"
John was watching anxiously scared to death that Elise wouldn't get to the OR in time. He was trembling with fear and memories of what he'd done to her at the accident scene. His mind filled with her unresponsive hand in his. Would he feel her heart beat against his chest again? Would they share each other's warmth and gentle touch?
The sound of a gurney bumping against the door instantly pulled Johnny's attention down the corridor where they were moving Elise to the elevator. As the elevator doors closed John felt a strong comforting hand on his shoulder and turned to see his partner and best friend at his side looking at him through silent and concerned eyes.
"Johnny, I need to know your relationship to the patient," Maureen repeated to get John's attention.
"Hus, Husband," John stumbled out looking back at the now closed elevator door, totally oblivious to the stunned and silent stare that was coming in his direction from the nurse across the counter.
"I had no idea you were- How long have you been married?" the nurse asked.
John's gaze remained fixed on the elevator at the end of the hall he hadn't heard the question.
"They were married yesterday afternoon," Roy answered for his friend.
"I'm sorry Johnny; you know the doctors will do everything they can for her." Maureen tried to comfort deaf ears.
Roy gave John's shoulder a gentle squeeze and he turned back to the nurse. "Where do I sign?"
The nurse pointed to the line marked by an X and Johnny pulled the pen from his pocket and put it to the paper as the Lawyer stepped up next to him and handed the nurse several papers. "We'll need copies of these in the patient's file and then return the originals to Mr. Gage here."
As soon as the lawyer moved away John felt a second hand on the back of his neck and turned to see his captain standing next to him.
The look on John's face told Hank he was no longer able to hold it all together. "The administrator said we can have the waiting room outside the surgery suit all to ourselves. He said that security would see to it that the rest of the family is kept in another area."
After making sure John was no longer needed at the desk Hank led the way of dragging his paramedics toward the elevator and from there to the waiting area Hank had been told about, Where John was pushed onto a bench and his partner quickly sat next to him.
"I need to make a phone call, will you be alright here with Roy until I get back?" Hank received no response.
"I'll stay with him," Roy nod the Captain toward the phone as he started to rub John's back.
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Chief McConnike answered the phone on the first ring, and every eye in the station was on him. He quickly accepted the information about Mrs. Gage being taken to surgery for a procedure that was expected to take around an hour. He then informed the Captain that the station had been stood down for an hour to give everyone a chance to deal with their feelings and that he should stay with Gage until his wife was out of surgery. Since the squad was also out of service Roy should hang around too.
When the phone was hung up Chief McConnike kept his back to the rest of the men while he took a deep breath and blew it out.
"Well men, that was your Captain. He said that Mrs. Gage has been taken to surgery for a procedure on her heart that should take about an hour. If everything works the way they hope it will they'll be able to stabilize her heart rhythm and everything will be alright."
"And if they can't?" Chet asked still feeling extreme guilt at the remark he had made just before the run.
"Let's not even think that way," Mike spoke up.
Chet sighed and nod his head, "Yeah, that would be too much to bare if Gage were to lose his wife the day after they got married."
Marco remained silent as he sent up silent prayers for his friend and his new wife. But they all were having difficulty wrapping their heads around the topic of 'John Gage Married?' With that issue unresolved in their heads her impending doom was so far away that they couldn't really touch at it.
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As he hung up the phone from talking to the Chief, Hank let out a deep sigh, he then picked up the phone again and dialed his home, he knew his wife would want to know about the current events.
When Hank had finished his short conversation with his wife he returned to the side of his paramedics. John was still in a daze but he did have a little more color in his face.
"The station is stood down for an hour so you can stay here if you'd like or you can take the squad back to the station," Hank informed Roy. "They have a replacement for John coming in and he should be there about the time the station goes back into service."
"Then I'll stay," Roy made his choice, "Could you stay with John while I make a phone call? I better let JoAnne know what's going on here."
"Sure," Hank sat on the other side of John and took over the back rubs as Roy rose to his feet and headed for the phone.
"Oh Roy," Cap stopped him, "Make sure she's sitting down when you give her the news."
With that John smirked at his captain's side and almost managed one of his crocked smiles.
As Roy walked to the phone Hank got a little aggressive at rubbing John's back and his arms. He felt a need to get his circulation moving and liven him up a little.
John responded by turning to him with frightened eyes. "They wanted to have her in a stable rhythm when they did this."
"I know pall, but they'll do the best they can and she's a strong woman, she's just like you from what I'm told and look at all the times you've pulled through," Hank offered an encouraging smile.
Johnny gave half a smile back and looked at the floor, "The rest of the guys are mad at me aren't they, for not inviting them?"
"A little," Hank acknowledged, "But they'll come around when they get all the facts."
"I don't know if I want them to know all the facts," John revealed, "I don't want them to think I married Elise out of charity or some sense of bed side manner, I really do love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her, not just some short term convalescence."
"I know that John, and I'm sure they'll figure that out fairly quickly," Hank continued to rub John's back. "They'll just need a little time to get over their shock. It's going to be hard to keep it a secret with all that Elise is going to have to go through and if they know they'll be able to be a support to you through it all. That was one of the things that Elise was worrying about while she was in my office this morning was whether or not someone was going to be there to help you through everything."
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Roy stood at the phone booth listening to the phone ring. As he rehearsed in his mind what he was going to tell his wife his mind was reeling and still in mild shock.
"Hi JoAnne I have something to tell you." "No I'm fine and Johnny's fine, at least physically, I've been instructed to make sure you're sitting down first."
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"Roy, you're scarring me, Okay, okay I'm sitting down now what's going on?" JoAnne sat on the stool next to the phone nervously playing with the phone cord as she waited for her husband to tell her what was going on.
"Johnny did what! Roy is this some kind of a joke?" JoAnne gasped as she let what her husband told her settle in. "So he's really married? For real?" "You've seen what?" "Is she nice?" "Why didn't he wait till we got home?" "Did he invite the rest of the guys?" "No hu."
"What do you mean you don't understand either?" "He's only known her for four days!" "When do I get to meet her?" "She's in surgery, so is she a nurse there at Rampart?" "She's the patient!" "The Day after their wedding?" "How bad is it?" "Okay, okay Roy keep me informed, give Johnny my love and a hug for me and, and tell him congratulations too."
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"JoAnne said to give you her love and to tell you congratulations," Roy relayed as he rejoined his captain and his partner.
John looked up at him with questioning eyes, "Is she mad at me too?"
"About what?" Roy tried to play dumb.
"You know about what. About not being invited to the wedding that's what."
Roy waited to answer for a moment and sat in a chair in front of John, "We're all wondering why you didn't include us, no one knows what the rush was or even if you were sober at the time. We're all still in shock over your news, none of us even knew you were dating any one right now."
"Well I can testify that he was definitely sober at the time," Hank cut in to try and take some of the pressure off of his paramedic. Hank then bumped shoulders with John and gave him a look that he hoped would encourage him to tell Roy what he wanted to know.
"Roy, you have to believe me I would have loved to have you and your family there, We had to make our move right then because of all the conditions we had to meet—"John stopped in mid sentence as he looked up and noticed about five of his unhappy in-laws being herded into the next waiting room, far to close down the hall way for his comfort, "to make sure her family couldn't stop us or undo it." Johnny finished his sentence only to look at his friend and see that he was totally confused.
"John," Captain Stanley intervened, "I think you need to start at the beginning just like you did with me."
After taking a deep breath Johnny started with the convention in Reno, That Roy surprisingly remembered, and proceeded with the same story he had told Cap until he got to the point where he had been told that she no longer worked at the hospital and he sent her a letter telling her he'd do whatever he could to help her.
That's when John heard the elevator door open and looked to see if it was for him, and saw Dr. Brackett hurrying in his direction. John didn't like the look on his face so he hurried to meet him in the corridor. Hank and Roy weren't sure if they should go with him so they watched.
John's face turned pale and he had to reach out to the wall for support, Dr. Brackett took a hold of his shoulders to offer him support as he looked to Hank and Roy through the open door. They got the message and hurried to John's side each one taking a hold of one of Johnny's arms to hold him up.
"Take it easy John, I'll have the nurse get the paperwork started just in case, we should know in the next ten to twenty minutes if we'll have to crack the chest." Bracket finished his conversation and hurried off past the other waiting room where a security officer stood at the door and five very worried looking people huddled in the door way.
John was guided back into the waiting room and sat down again with a support person on either side of him, each holding a hand on his shoulder.
"Johnny what happened, what did Brackett say?" Roy coxed.
Johnny remained stunned but licked his lips and began to speak, "They, um, they found some foreign material in her heart. Probably part of her partner's helmet. They're going to try and get it out with the thing they're using to place the electrodes but if they can't they'll have to open up her chest and do full open heart surgery."
John put his head in his hands as his two friends rubbed his back, he then came up for air and looked to Hank. "Her family must think she's dead by the way I acted, they should be told what's going on but I don't think I can face Tom or Greg right now."
"I'll go tell them," Hank offered and walked out of the room and down the hall. The security guard stopped him at the door but the people inside came to the opening so Hank relayed the information while the security guard stood between them. They all sighed when told that Elise was still alive. This time it was the three women in the room that did most of the talking, Hank was left puzzled by the expressions on the faces of the two men, still once his message was given he returned to his crewman's side. He would wait till he knew for sure if they had to do full out open heart surgery before he called the station. Meanwhile the story telling had come to a halt as John anxiously awaited word on his wife.
It was only ten minutes later that their attention was turned back to the elevator as Dr. Brackett walked in their directions smiling and holding up a test tube vile.
"Dr. Worley was able to pull it out." Brackett informed as he shook the vile in his hand. Inside rattled what looked like a black fiberglass thorn. "Her heart rhythm is perfect now and we've only had to turn the pacer on at its lowest setting. They're sewing her up now and she should be on her way to recovery in around 15 minutes from now, I'll have a nurse come get you."
Johnny let out a heavy sigh of relief as the tears began to flow. "Thanks Doc for everything, I mean everything."
"You're welcome Johnny, I'm happy to be a part of this one. That young lady in there deserves a break," Brackett responded with a slap on John's knee.
"Doc," Johnny had one more request, "Could you please stop by the other room and tell them she's going to be alright on your way out. They deserve to know."
"Sure Johnny," Brackett agreed.
As soon as the Doctor left Hank went to the phone to call the station and Johnny waved Roy in the same direction to call his wife. Once he was alone he rested his face in his hands and wiped the tears from his eyes before sending up a silent prayer of thanks.