After the injured victim was prepared for transport and as the technicians were loading the gurney into the ambulance, Cap pulled Roy aside. Indicating Johnny with a nod of his head, he quietly said, "Get him checked out while you're there."
Roy glanced at Johnny and then back at Cap. He nodded and stepped up into the ambulance.
Cap closed the doors and rapped twice on the window. He folded his arms as he watched Johnny get into the squad. He had noticed that the paramedic moved a bit stiffly during the rescue, and Johnny's protestations to the contrary, Cap did not believe the paramedic was "fine." But, if Rampart cleared the man, Cap would have to be satisfied.
Roy exited the treatment room and looked around for Johnny, not really surprised to not see his partner at the supply station. Hazarding a guess that Johnny had not even come into the emergency department, Roy went out to the squad. His hunch proved correct.
Roy leaned down to the passenger side window of the squad. "Cap said for you to get checked out while we're here."
"He did not. You just want me to get checked out." Johnny looked out the front windshield.
"Huh-uh. He told me to have you get checked out."
"Oh, yeah? Well, why didn't he tell me?" Johnny's anger simmered slowly.
"Look, I'm just the messenger. Do you want to call him?" Roy asked calmly.
"Oh, man. I do not believe you." Johnny glared at Roy and then pushed the squad door open, narrowly missing his partner.
Roy kept his expression carefully neutral as he quickly stepped back out of Johnny's way. His partner was a walking time bomb today, and he did not particularly want to be at ground zero when he went off.
Dr. Morton spotted Johnny and Roy coming down the hall. He stopped, eyebrows raised. "Looks like you were on the wrong end of something, Gage."
A sullen glare was Johnny's response. Roy smiled nervously, saying, "The Captain asked if you wouldn't mind checking him out."
"Sure thing. Right this way." Dr. Morton tried to steer Johnny by the elbow.
Johnny jerked his arm out of Dr. Morton's grasp and favored Roy with another withering glare as he pushed open the door to the treatment room. Dr. Morton exchanged a glance with Roy before following the irate paramedic into the room.
"Up on the table." Dr. Morton patted the examination gurney as he reached up to switch on the bright examination light.
Face devoid of expression, Johnny tried to comply as smoothly as possible, so as not to reveal the extent of his injuries. Dr. Morton had already seen how Johnny moved, however.
"Lie back." Dr. Morton adjusted the light. "When did this happen?" he asked as he gently palpated the paramedic's face.
"Last Tuesday," he replied curtly.
"Uh huh. You should have come in earlier. Well, nothing seems to be broken. It looks like you have an infection in your lip, though. I'll prescribe an antibiotic for that. Are you allergic to anything?"
"No." Johnny sat up and started to get off the table.
"Hold still. I'm not done." Dr. Morton felt Johnny's head for lumps. "So, what happened."
"Nothing."
Dr. Morton fixed him with a hard look. "Doesn't look like nothing. You've got a lump here. Were you unconscious at any time?" He shined his pocket light into Johnny's eyes.
"No."
"Vomiting?"
Johnny hesitated fractionally before shaking his head and looking away. He started to get down from the table once again.
Dr. Morton stopped him with a hand. "Hold on."
"What for?" he asked with exasperation.
"I'm not done, yet. I want to check the rest of you."
Johnny's eyes glanced over at the door and then back to Dr. Morton. "My ribs are just bruised."
"Mind if I take a look?"
"They're bruised, not broken. There's nothing to see." He crossed his arms and tilted his head defiantly, lips compressed.
"Thank you, Dr. Gage. Now, would you mind unbuttoning your shirt to let me take a look?"
Johnny complied with a huff. A muscle in his jaw twitched as he fought to stay calm under Dr. Morton's touch. He flinched a couple of times as the doctor's fingers brushed a particularly tender spot. When Dr. Morton was done, Johnny started to sit back up.
"Okay. It looks like you were right. A couple of them may be cracked, though. Lie down."
"Now what for?"
"To check for abdominal tenderness, Gage. Now, lie down and quit giving me a hard time!" The uncooperative patient was pushing Dr. Morton to lose his already short temper.
"I don't have any abdominal tenderness!" Anxiety was causing Johnny to begin to lose the very tenuous grip he had on his famously short temper as well.
"Then you shouldn't mind if I check!" Dr. Morton palpated the upper quadrants of Johnny's abdomen. When he reached to undo Johnny's belt buckle, Johnny batted his hands aside. "I'll do it."
Johnny held his breath and counted the acoustic tiles in the ceiling as Dr. Morton finished the examination. He no longer paid attention to the doctor or what the man was doing.
"Would you mind breathing? Johnny!"
"What?" Johnny looked confused and startled for a second.
"I said, 'would you mind breathing?'" Dr. Morton paused, stethoscope in hand, eyes carefully regarding the paramedic's face. When Johnny started breathing, Dr. Morton listened to the breath tones.
"Okay. Sit up again." The doctor listened to Johnny breathe some more. Both the heart rate and the breathing seemed to be slowing now as he continued to listen.
"Okay. We're done now." He folded his arms as he watched the paramedic get off the table and turn his back on him as he angrily began refastening his clothing.
"How did this happen?"
"None of your business," Johnny snapped over his shoulder, hostility glittering in his eyes. He knew that if he told Dr. Morton he was mugged, the doctor would have to file a police report.
"I see someone come in here with injuries like you have, it becomes my business!" Dr. Morton responded to the angry challenge in kind.
"I did not ask to come in here!"
Just then Dixie poked her head into the room. She raised an eyebrow at the appearance of Johnny's face, but didn't comment on it. "Are you two done? We need this room." Dixie looked at the two men questioningly, noting their angry postures. The tension in the room seemed almost a palpable thing.
"We've just finished," Dr. Morton finally said to Dixie. Turning back to Johnny as they exited the room, he added, "Come outside and I'll write you that prescription for antibiotics."
"Are you going to tell my keeper here that I'm cleared to work?" Johnny indicated Roy with a jerk of his head.
"Yes, you're cleared. Try to take it a bit easy on the heavy lifting, if you can. Come back if anything gets worse."
Johnny took the prescription that Dr. Morton held out, and wordlessly stalked in the direction of the pharmacy.
Roy smiled apologetically and started walking backwards in the direction his partner had taken, "I'd better go."
Dr. Morton stood with arms crossed and did not return the smile. "What happened to him?"
"Uh, he told us he was mugged."
After a pause, Dr. Morton nodded his head and asked, "Did he report it?"
"Yeah. But he said that the police said they wouldn't be able to do anything."
The doctor looked like he was going to say something more when a student nurse standing in the doorway of the treatment room summoned him. "Dr. Morton? You're needed in here."
Dr. Morton disappeared into the room and Roy turned to follow after his angry partner.
A car pulled out from the back of the station just as the paramedics returned from Rampart. Johnny recognized Chief McConnike behind the wheel. "Great," he muttered, trying to nonchalantly shield his face with a hand as Roy backed the squad into the bay.
Cap emerged from the office as Roy turned off the ignition. "How'd it go?"
"Uh, the victim is going to be okay." Roy glanced over at Johnny before continuing. "Dr. Morton checked Johnny and said he's okay for work, but needs to go easy on lifting."
Cap nodded as he watched the angry dark-haired paramedic exit the squad, and then he spotted the bottle of pills in the man's hand. "What is the prescription for, John?"
"Antibiotic. For my lip," came the terse reply that was just short of insubordination.
"Cap?" Roy deliberately asked a question. "Was that Chief McConnike we saw just leaving?"
Pulling his attention away from Johnny, Cap responded, "Yeah. He just came by for a follow-up on those false alarms. It's kind of odd the way they just suddenly dropped off. We're thinking the arson at the warehouse is the key. I don't know if they'll ever find out who was behind them."