July, 1977

The men enjoyed their ritual morning cup of coffee before tackling the rest of the day's housekeeping assignments. Johnny leaned against the counter as he sipped the brew in his mug and munched on a donut from the package that Cap brought in that morning. The others sat around the table. Chet and Marco were talking about their respective dates on the previous days off.

"How come we never hear anything about any of your dates anymore, Gage?" asked Chet. "Are you becoming a Japanese priest, like that kung fu TV show?" Chet made a fake, martial arts noise while slicing his hands through the air.

Johnny flushed slightly. "That's about a Chinese priest, Chet."

"Whatever. You never go out any more, Gage."

"I go out. You just don't know any of the girls. So what are you now? My social director?"

"Well, you can use all the help you can get with the chicks." Chet smoothed his mustache with his thumb as he spoke.

"I don't need your help. I've been busy." He had to stop himself before he told any lies that might trip him up later. He turned around, dumped the rest of the coffee into the sink, rinsed out the cup, and put it in the dish drainer. Wiping his hands on his pants, he announced, "I'm going to go clean the latrine."

Chet watched him go, without making another comment. He and Marco exchanged a glance. After a beat Chet said, "He's really different now."

"Yeah," Marco agreed. Mike also nodded his head. The three looked at Roy, expectantly. Roy just shrugged his shoulders and continued drinking his coffee.

"Why do I see so many people sitting around the table? Don't you men have enough to do?" challenged Cap.

"C'mon, Chet. Let's go hang hose." Marco and Chet hurriedly rinsed out their mugs and left the kitchen. Chet's voice could be heard, saying, "Must be all those vegetables he eats..."

Mike regarded Roy for a moment longer, shook his head almost imperceptibly, and then left to attend to the task that he had been assigned.

Roy met Cap's eyes, and shrugging again, shook his head briefly. He, too, rinsed out his cup and then set out to perform the housekeeping duty that fell to him for the day.

Cap mentally shrugged, and after adding more coffee to his cup, headed for his office to try to tame the paper monster that dwelt within.

A few hours later, Cap entered the latrine just as Johnny finished cleaning it and was gathering up the cleaning supplies. "Nice job, John. The place really shines."

Pushing his hair back from his sweaty forehead, Johnny smiled, "Thanks, Cap."

Cap frowned, a wave of paranoia surging through his body. "Chief McConnike isn't coming over here today, is he?"

Johnny shook his head and smiled more broadly. "Don't think so."

Everyone worked in the engine bay, cleaning the apparatus after the last run. Chet sang as he polished the engine, "I can't get no-o sat-is-fac-tion! But I try! And I try! And I try! And I try! I can't get no! No, no, no!"

Rationally, Johnny knew the song wasn't directed at him, but it irritated him anyway. He did manage to keep his mouth shut however. Inhale, ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku. Exhale, ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku.

Chet serenaded the rest of the crew with a different Stones' hit now. "She's a ho-o-o-o-on-ky-tonk wom-an! Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk girl!" It wouldn't have been so bad if Chet sounded more like Mick Jagger. At least Chet wasn't singing Paint It Black. But then, Chet probably wouldn't sing a song about depression; he would stick to songs about sex and women, like the one he was presently warbling. "Oh, brown sugar! How come you make me feel so good?" No one felt more grateful than Johnny when Marco finally demanded that they turn on the radio.

They had just delivered their patient to Rampart and were preparing to head back to the Station.

"Squad 51 available."

Roy hesitated, hand on the key in the ignition, and then spoke. "I have an extra ticket to the Angels' game tomorrow. Want to come?"

"Uh, no thanks. I have something else to do."

Roy looked over at his partner in exasperation. "Why are you avoiding me?"

That familiar deer-in-the-headlights look swept over Johnny's features as he stammered out yet another excuse. Roy had long since stopped asking for help with the never-ending multitude of projects that accompanied home-ownership, as his partner always seemed to have one reason or another as to why he couldn't come over. "Have I done something to offend you?"

Johnny sighed and looked down at his feet. "No, Roy, you haven't. It's not you. It's me. I'm sorry. Why don't you ask Chet or Marco? I'm sure they'd like to go."

Now Roy puffed out a small breath of irritation as he started up the engine. If he wanted to spend time with Chet or Marco, he would have asked one of them in the first place. "You are driving me nuts, Johnny."

Johnny leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "Yeah, me too."

"Did you think about talking with someone yet?"

"Why? Are you afraid to work with a crazy person?"

"I didn't say that. I just think you need to talk with someone."

"You got a problem with the way I'm doing my job? You want a different partner?"

"I didn't say that, Johnny! I just said… Never mind. Let's drop it."

"Okay."

The remainder of the ride continued in silence. When they arrived back at the station, the rest of the crew sat gathered in the break room, watching a documentary program on public television.

As he entered the room, Johnny heard the tail end of the commentator's introduction, " ... the shockingly common occurrence of prison rape." He immediately reversed direction, backpedaling into Roy, inadvertently trodding upon his partner's toes. "Sorry!" Johnny whirled around, knocking Roy back a step farther as he fled into the kitchen.

Roy stared nonplussed at the rapidly retreating back. None of the others seemed to have noticed the scene in the doorway. He glanced at the television, which now showed a man standing in front of a building, talking. He headed into the kitchen, where he found Johnny standing over the sink, drinking water. "Are you all right?"

Trying to slow his breathing and calm his pulse, Johnny had not heard Roy come up behind him. He jumped back, eyes panicked. 'Does he know?' Then, noting Roy's confused and concerned expression, he forced himself to breathe deeply. 'He doesn't know.' "Uh, yeah. Just thirsty. Sorry about stepping on your foot," he said as casually as he could manage, dumping the glass of water out and then filling it up again. 'Go away.' He sent the silent thought to his partner while pretending to drink water. When Roy didn't seem to get the telepathic message, Johnny set the glass down and headed towards the door opening out to the engine bay.

"Where are you going?" Roy asked, with a puzzled expression on his face.

"To the latrine, if that's okay with you," he replied, never breaking stride.

Roy looked at the glass in the sink and then mentally shrugged as he rinsed it out and added it to the dish drainer. Pouring himself a cup of coffee before wandering back into the break room, he gave Henry a gentle shove to move him over and sat down on the sofa to watch the ball game now playing on the television.