OK, finals are over and you all plead so nicely here's another Christmas present. I've been asked about the timeline. This is the last shift of the second week since Jenny's accident so just over two weeks have past. Hope you enjoy!

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Roy missed most of the call Captain Stanley had made back to headquarters because of the flushing toilet and the running water but he did catch the request for more equipment, another squad and another ambulance to their location. It only served to anger him more. "Great, Gage. Because you're dawdling Cap had to call out for another squad to replace us. Where the hell are you?" He left the room and took to pacing in the doctor's lounge. He glanced back at his watch for the hundredth time. Nearly 20 minutes had passed since he'd left the accident scene.

Frowning, he walked back out into the hallway and up to the desk where Dixie sat, the ever present stack of charts spread out before her. She looked up with a smile, which faltered at his black countenance. "Don't worry, Roy," she began but Roy made a dismissive motion with his hand. "Where is he? It should have only taken about fifteen minutes to get here from the scene. Even if he ran into traffic he should be here by now."

Dix looked back toward the radio behind her, "Well, they might be a little busy right now. I heard him call in . . ."

But Roy wasn't listening and interrupted again, "I heard Cap call for reinforcements." He growled. "If Gage had been here like he was supposed to we could have returned to the scene for Cap. But noooooo, he's off joyriding somewhere around LA like an over grown teenager with his daddy's car."

Now it was Dixie's turn to frown darkly. She carefully placed her pencil on her desk. "Now Roy. You and I both know Johnny . . ."

"is rash, immature, irresponsible and sometimes down right untrustworthy." Roy completed her sentence. Dix drew herself up, her manner cold, her eyes flashing. "That is not what I was going to say!" She snapped. "And we both know that is not true! John Gage . . ."

"Is an overgrown kid who acts worse then a pre-pubescent teenager most the time." Roy interrupted yet again. He snorted in disgust, "Dixie, face it. He's got you all mushy with his big-eyed little boy looks and silly grin just like every other female around. You are way too easy on him; you forgive him way too much." Roy slapped the desktop in his frustration. Dix stared at him in disbelief. 'Does he believe that load of …? He knows Johnny perhaps better than anyone, how can he . . . .? Lord Have Mercy! Things are much worse than I thought.'

Before she could organize her racing thoughts into the blistering response she wanted to blast the paramedic with, the phone behind her rang. "Pardon me, duty calls." She said coldly and turned her back on Roy who muttered darkly and stalked off. Just then Brackett came by, glancing once at the rapidly disappearing paramedic, "What is Roy's problem?" He asked as Dixie hung the receiver up.

Dixie's face twisted into a scowl, "Same old thing. Kel, I'm really beginning to worry about this. The things Roy was just saying about Johnny . . ." She shook her head as she told the ER Head what had just transpired. Brackett frowned. "You're right; this is getting to the point where it sounds like it's beginning to affect their work. I guess it's time I set them down for a talk." Dixie nodded, her face scrunched up with worry.

Brackett smiled at her, "Don't worry Dix," he soothed, "I'm sure it will all work out well in the end."

Dixie tilted her head, lifted an eyebrow and wrinkled up the side of her mouth in disbelief, "Well, maybe, but I'm just worried about what might happen first."

Brackett smiled as he patted her arm. "I'm going to get a cup of coffee and hopefully a moments rest." But before the doctor could make it very far, the light over the base station began going off and a voice called, "Rampart, this is Squad 51. Do you read me?" The two exchanged looks as Brackett shook his head, "It never fails. I guess I'm just not meant to drink any coffee today."

Fifteen tense minutes and several heart stopping moments later, both Drs. Early and Brackett stood ready near the swinging doors while Dix hovered anxiously behind them. The sound of an ambulance siren became louder and from past experience the trio knew the awaited vehicle would just be entering the hospital complex.

Unexpectedly, the glass doors opened and a bedraggled bloody figure staggered in, clutching a misshapen arm to his body. He spied the three standing there and called out, "Thank God! I need some help here!"

Immediately, Dix grabbed a wheelchair and moved it toward him while Dr. Brackett stepped forward, swiftly looking over the injured man. "Kel, four is ready." Dixie said even as she caught another nurse's eye who rushed forward to take the man into said room. Brackett looked once toward the glass doors, seeing the awaited ambulance now backing up.

"Go, Kel. I've got him." Dr. Early's calm voice came. Brackett spared his colleague a quick grin, knowing Johnny would be in good hands and knowing that as soon as he could, he too would be at the wounded paramedic's side.

Dr. Early pushed through the doors just as the driver ran around the vehicle and both reached for the ambulance doors. However, they swung open from the inside before either man could touch them. Wheeler jumped out quickly, released the catches on the gurney and pulled it out. Kirk followed the gurney out, holding the IV bags high in his hands.

"His BP is up slightly, now reading 108/72. His respirations are better too so we switched him to a nonrebreather 11 lpm. He's been showing signs of coming back around. We had to tourniquet his right arm; it was the only way to stop that bleeding. That was five minutes ago." Kirk made a fast report as the group trotted down the hall and disappeared into room 3. With quick efficiency, the four men transferred the injured paramedic from the gurney to the exam table. Each man paused briefly to mutter, "Good luck Gage" before they took the gurney back out of the room.

Dr. Early leaned over the table, smiling at the sight of dark brown eyes blinking up at him. "Hello Johnny," he greeted and saw the answering upturn of lips under the mask. Then the doctor became all business. "Carol, get a new set of vitals and get the rest of those clothes off him. Notify x-ray, I want them in here yesterday." He paused in his orders as he began his exam but still called out the tests he wanted done even as his fingers searched out and carefully examined each wound. The two nurses swarmed around the table, drawing blood, removing his clothes, setting up a Foley catheter all in a quick practiced fashion.

Dixie paused in her ministrations to lock gazes with the brown eyes watching her. She smiled softly and saw his lips turn upward again. "Ssssorry," he stuttered.

"You've nothing to be sorry for," Early intervened. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Johnny made a face which turned into a grimace of pain, "D . .dn't run . . .fast enuf."

Dr. Early chuckled briefly then caught Dixie's eye. "Dix, call Dr. Bentley; I want him on a consult. And see if you can find out what the delay is on that blood." He placed a gentle hand on the paramedic's shoulder and waited until Johnny carefully turned his eyes toward him. "Just relax Johnny, we'll take good care of you."

Any answer the young paramedic might have been ready to give was lost as an angry figure burst through the treatment room door.

As Roy headed down the hall, he again raised the HT to his mouth and depressed the call button. "HT 51 to Squad 51 come in."

Nothing.

"HT 51 to Squad 51, answer please."

Still nothing. Roy ground his teeth. Looking around, he found himself near the cafeteria and the smell of food made his stomach growl and his mouth water. He quickly went through the line picking up a plate of some sort of tuna casserole and coffee. While he ate, he continued to think dark thoughts over his missing partner. Another glance at his watch showed another 15 minutes had passed. He took care of his tray, tried calling the squad yet again and went to relieve himself of recycled coffee. As he stalked back toward the ER another look at his watch showed it was now nearly 45 minutes since he'd left Johnny at the scene.

Still muttering dark curses under his breath, Roy burst through the elevator and nearly ran into Kent just approaching the nurse's station. "About time you got here! Where the hell is Gage?"

Shocked speechless at the paramedic's outburst, Kent glanced at the treatment door he'd seen a brief glimpse of their fallen shiftmate through. Still muttering under his breath Roy shoved the door open. In his anger, the only thing his sight registered was his partner's face turning toward him. "Where the hell were you? Just how immature can you be! We can't stay unavailable while you take department equipment on a leisure drive; people need us to be out on the street. Don't you realize when you're wearing that uniform your time is the department's time? Don't you have any sense of responsibility?"

"Yes," Johnny mumbled from under the mask he wore.

"You should have been here a half hour ago. It only takes 15 minutes max to get from the scene to here. If I can't trust you to drive the squad straight here from now on, you'll accompany the patient. If I can't trust you to even do that, then maybe you should be in another line of work. I can't babysit you while you act like an irresponsible teen."

"I'm sorry, Roy," Johnny's voice was barely a whisper, though Roy didn't seem to notice as he geared up with more reprimands to what his mind told him was his partner's irresponsibility, totally oblivious of the shocked expressions Dr. Early shared with Carol and Dixie.

In two quick steps Roy loomed over the figure on the table, his eyes flashing with anger. "You're sorry! You're sorry! That's all you seem capable of lately, saying you're sorry. Well I admit, you are sorry. As sorry a piece of work as I've ever seen. How you ever . . . ."

Roy continued as Johnny's eyes slowly closed while he still whispered, "I'm sorry, . . 'm . . .sor—ry, . . sor . . ."

"Doctor, his pressure is dropping, 78/66" Carol interrupted. Instantly the previously stunned emergency room crew energized into action. "Get me a set up for a central line. Carol, where's that blood I ordered?" He looked down at his patient, noting the pale wax-like features, the fluttering eyes. "Johnny? Stay with us here! Johnny!" He rubbed hard on the injured man's sternum but only got a slight twitch of one hand in reaction.

For the first time, Roy looked around, noticing his partner lay on the exam table with his bloody uniform cut from his body. Multiple formerly white dressings, now stained red, covered Johnny's torso and legs while other less severe cuts oozed life from his face, neck, arms—just about everywhere else. On his bared chest, Roy could see the dark discoloring of bruises between the reddened patches.

The activity around the table forced Roy back against the wall where he watched the frenzied action wide-eyed. "What happened?" he whispered not expecting an answer and jumped when he got one.

"Gas explosion in one of the stores near your last rescue." Dixie replied, remembering the heart stopping words she'd heard Johnny speak over the dispatch radio moments before Cap called for more units after the explosion. The door burst open and Kelly Brackett strode in. He glanced once at the figure on the table and faced Dr. Early, even as he grabbed the chart out of the nurse's hand. "How's he doing?"

"Not too good right now. We can't get this bleeding under control so we need to try and stabilize him as much as possible then get him up to surgery. He's got several pieces imbedded pretty deeply and I don't like the look of his right hand." Dr. Early replied as he finished placing the catheter into Johnny's chest. Brackett lifted the bandage over the area on Johnny's lower abdomen and his face twitched. Then he pulled back the dressings on his right hand. "Yeah, you're right. That piece nearly went through. Dix, call Dr. Bentley. We're going to need his magic if he'll ever have use of that hand again."

Dixie exchanged a brief look with Dr. Early as she nodded and stepped to the phone just as Carol hung it up. "OR 2 is ready and waiting for us, Doctor." She said and as she did, an orderly opened the door, carrying in his hand two bags of blood. Dr. Early saw it, "Good. Carol get that blood into him on the central. Kel, better add an Otologist to that list. Looks like he ruptured his right eardrum."

Kel's mouth twitched again, "Blown TM? Damn, that means other possible blast injuries. Has x-ray been notified yet?" Carol nodded. He grunted, "Good. Make sure they do abdominal and skull as well as thoracic. We'll have to be aware of torn intestines or blast lung."

"I already ordered them Kel," Joe interrupted with a faint smile, "I'm on it."

Carol completed attaching the blood to the line going into Johnny's subclavical vein and quickly took vitals again. "Pulse now 56 and strengthening, BP 84/56. Respirations 22."

Dr. Early breathed a sigh, "Good, he's stabilizing. All right people, let's get him prepped. He's got a date upstairs. Carol, get me a set up for an ET tube. If he does have blast lung it might not show yet on the x-rays and I want him on high O2 support until we can rule that out."

He looked up as the x-ray machine rumbled through the doorway. "I need a full skull series as well as thoracic, abdominal, and spinal and I need them ASAP. Bring them up to OR2 as soon as they are done." He looked back at Kel, "You gonna help? We've got a lot of debrising to do on our young friend." Kel nodded his head as he slapped the other doctor's shoulder. "I wouldn't miss it."

Kel looked over to where Roy stood, his hands white as he gripped the Handi-talkie, his eyes glued to his partner's still form.

'Blast injuries, oh God. Brain trauma, possible hemorrhaging intestines, blast lung—all injuries indicative of being caught in an explosion—all potentially fatal,' these facts raced through Roy's mind as he stared at the bruised bloodied form of his junior partner.

The door pushed open again and other doctor walked in. "Kel? What we got?" he asked as his gaze swept around the room. He settled briefly on Roy and smiled, "Mr. De Soto! How that little girl of yours?" Roy merely nodded as Dr. Early caught the new arrival's attention. "Ken? Take a look at this?" He followed over to Johnny's side and carefully examined his wounded right hand. He reached out and picked up the other hand, looking it over as well then pulled back the dressings over Johnny's abdomen. He stood, "You have a room ready?" Early nodded. Bentley laid a gentle hand on Johnny's shoulder and smiled at the young man who peered blearily at him from half closed eyes, "Don't you worry about a thing, Johnny. You'll be in good hands soon—mine. I'll do everything I can for you." Johnny gave a faint nod and closed his eyes again. The three doctors, Roy and the nurses all left so that the x-ray tech could do his thing. Once in the hallway, Kel cocked his head at Bentley and asked, "Well?"

Bentley raised his eyebrows and sighed, "There is significant damage to the hand. Initially I'd say he's severed both the flexor and the extensor tendons in his right hand and possibly his left as well. I'll know more after I get in there but surgery is a given if he is to have any use of those hands later on." Both Kel and Early exchanged worried looks and Kel sighed, "That was about what we figured as well."

Ken smiled brightly, "Never fear! I am an expert in my field. We'll have young Robin back paramedicing in no time." Both doctors grinned faintly at his levity. Ken turned his attention to Roy who, since being moved out of the treatment room, hadn't made any other voluntary movement. "Don't look so worried, Mr. DeSoto. As I told your young partner, he's in good hands." He smiled again. "I wouldn't let anything happen to young Jenny's Uncle Johnny!" At that, Roy's head came up and he stared at the doctor in front of him.

Ken nodded, "Yes. Kel here can tell you how impressed I was over the diligent care your partner gave the girl. I've been hearing a lot of good things about you two. And not just from your number one fan, Miss Jenny!"

Roy looked surprised and blinked, "He . . .he did?"

"Of course he did Roy!" Dixie cut in, her voice chiding but her gaze sharp. "Do you expect him to give any less then his best?"

Ashamed suddenly, Roy dropped his gaze back to his feet. "No," he muttered, "I guess not."

The moment was ended as the x-ray machine rumbled back out of the room and the three doctors headed off. Soon the door opened again and two orderlies wheeled the gurney out. Roy watched his partner until he disappeared into the elevator, then turned and headed in the opposite direction.

He found himself near the emergency doors and paused. A hand on his shoulder caused him to turn around and he looked into the worried faces of Tom Wheeler and Kirk Mueller. "Thanks guys," he murmured.

Both nodded, "How's Johnny?" Tom asked.

Roy shrugged, "His . . .uh BP dropped and they still couldn't stop the bleeding. They've . . .uh. . .taken . ..him on up to surgery."

The two 110's medics exchanged a look and shook their heads. "Damn." Tom commented.

"What about his hands? Did they say anything about his hands?" Kirk wondered. Roy nodded and told them what the surgeon had told him. Silence reigned as Kirk slid his own hands deep into his pockets and Tom wiped a hand down his face.

"Roy," he began with a shake of his head, "I tell you. When we rolled up on the scene and saw that trainee of yours shaking the stuffings out of Gage, screaming at him like some sort of demented creature . . ."

Roy's head came up, "What?"

The two nodded, "Yeah, didn't you know?" With that, they told him about what had happened on scene, how Kent hadn't treated Johnny's wounds or started an IV or even started the unconscious man on O2. Roy just listened, stunned. Then suddenly the HT in Kirk's hand went off and after another sympathetic set of back slaps and requests for updates, the two raced off.

Roy followed them slowly, stopping by the driver's side of squad 51. He could see the pitted marks and imagined the debris striking the vehicle. Traces of deep brownish red splotches coated the running board and he knew it was blood. He reached a trembling hand out, tracing the dent in the door, knowing it was the outline of Johnny's body.

Roy had no idea how long he stood there, gazing at the door of the squad while all the things that had happened in the last 48 hours coiled around in his brain. He was still standing there when the smell of perfume reached his nose and a manicured hand lay gently on his elbow.

"Roy." Dixie's soft voice tickled his ear. "Come back inside. There's coffee." The head nurse led the senior paramedic for 51 back into the ER, past where Kent stood by the door. She looked the trainee in the face as they passed, saw the look of shame and the downcast eyes before the other man turned from her and sighed. He'd already confessed his actions to her earlier and she'd heard the report given by the medics from 110's. She shook her head as she led the sad entourage toward the lounge. 'Oh Roy. When you set out on this misguided campaign, I'm sure you had no idea what a mess you'd be creating.' She knew there would be consequences that would have to be faced and questions that would have to be answered, she hoped she could be there to guide all those involved.

She made sure both men were seated and had a fresh cup of coffee in front of them before she left to check on yet another friend still in surgery.

Kent sat for a long time, staring blankly into his cooling coffee with occasional stealth glances at the man in front of him. Roy's face remained blank, his eyes fixed on some location in the distance. Finally, he took a deep breath and began, "Roy? I'm . . .I'm sorry."

Roy shifted his gaze toward Kent and gave a halfhearted nod. Kent took that as encouragement and continued, "I was just . . .surprised, you know? And . . .and caught off guard. I mean, one moment we're packing up and then Gage is wondering off by himself then suddenly he's running at me, screaming something and . . .and then all hell broke loose." Roy continued looking at him but made no comment so Kent felt a little bit more confident. He gave a slight grin, "I mean, after all, I can't read Gage's mind, I had no idea what he was doing. I thought he was just fooling around—again."

Again Roy merely gave a faint nod. Kent started to relax. 'This might not go so badly after all, I mean Gage is alive so no harm done. Roy doesn't seem to think I screwed up.' He sat back further in his seat and grinned, "This could be a good thing. With Gage out of the way, you and I will have more time together at scenes. I tell you, I'm really looking forward to spending more intense training time with you."

The words Kent was speaking slowly began to penetrate the numbness Roy felt surrounded with but before he could respond the door opened and four very dirty firemen entered.

"How's Johnny?" came the immediate questions.

Kent looked up and smiled, "He's alive.' He restated and wondered at the hard glare given him by the others. He thought he'd gotten along fairly well with the engine crew up until now. 'No matter,' he thought with a shrug, 'They're just fireman. The only one who matters is Roy. Oh, and Cap, his opinion is important too.' Ignoring Kent, four sets of eager eyes turned to Roy, "Roy, how is he?"

Roy looked down at his hands, "I don't know. He was still pretty unstable when they took him up. He's in surgery now. Dr. Bentley thinks he might be able to repair his hands. He might . . ." He paused as that horrible list came to mind again, "He might have blast injuries. They are checking on that."

All four had had enough training to understand the potential seriousness but maybe not all the medical ramifications of what Roy said. However, each had seen what being caught in an explosion could do to a human body. Chet swore under his breath and turned away. Marco closed his eyes and began muttering in Spanish while Mike dropped his head. Cap sighed loudly, "Well. uh, Roy? I'm sorry but I can't pull you off duty. We're too short handed. Headquarters wants you to take the squad over to maintenance and get a spare then report back to the barn. John's replacement should be in by then."

Roy nodded and stood. Each of the other men slapped Roy on the back and murmured words of encouragement as the pair walked toward the door. Once there Roy turned again and faced his captain, "Cap?" The look in his eyes told more than his words could express.

Cap smiled and dropped a hand onto his senior paramedic's shoulder, "We'll wait here as long as they let us. Chief stood us down for a while so we could. Don't worry, as soon as they let us know, I'll let you know." He looked his friend in the eye, "He's got the best doctors working on him, Roy." Roy gave a faint nod, knowing it was true but still unsettled. The weird twisting emotions keep flowing through him but didn't seem to be affecting him.

He felt . . . nothing.

Without another word, he left, Kent right behind him. The ride to the maintenance shed was a blur for Roy. He was faintly aware of Kent jabbering happily but never heard a word he said. Unbidden a clear thought came to him, 'He jabbers worse than Gage. Gage would know I am upset. He would be concerned about how I am, not sitting there blabbering on oblivious.' As fast as that thought came, came another which hit him so hard, he nearly gasped under the impact.

'I miss Johnny.'

Back in the lounge, three sets of eyes turned to their boss. "Cap?"

Cap held up a hand, "I know nothing more that I just told them, at least right now."

Chet inhaled deeply but Cap cut him off, "There will be an inquiry as there is anytime a fireman is injured on duty. Each of you will be required to fill out an incident report as usual. Any other decisions will be made higher up." He knew that wasn't what his crew wanted to hear, but it was the way things were. He sighed heavily and wiped a hand down his own face. Whenever he closed his own eyes, he saw again the chilling sight of Kent viciously shaking Johnny's unconscious body. 'My God! Did he hurt him worse doing that? I saw 110's put him in a c-collar and backboard him before they moved him, could that shaking have hurt him worse?. I shouldn't have left him with Kent.' But even as he felt the guilt from that thought, he knew there was nothing else he could have done. Johnny had been right; his responsibility had been as incident commander until relieved by the Chief. And everyone had thought Kent's training was going well. Who knew he would blow it when it came to crunchtime?

He glanced at his men. Each had moved off into a chair, tiredness clinging to their bodies as much as the soot on their faces. "Why don't you take turns going and getting cleaned up alittle. I'm sure it'll be a while before we get any news." Nodding, Marco and Chet left. Mike stayed, his gaze on his feet. Cap watched him silently, instinctively knowing his second-in-command was deeply troubled. "Mike?"

Mike shook his head, "I knew something like this was gonna happen, Cap. I saw it coming. I saw it coming and yet there was still nothing I could do to stop it."

"Now Mike," Cap began, "No one could know that there was a gas leak there. We're just damn lucky John smelled it and reacted as fast as he did. No one knew he'd be hurt by it.'

Mike shook his head, "No, Cap. That's not it." Then he chuckled slightly, "Although, of all of us to catch the leak, it would be Johnny."

Cap returned the chuckle as he completed the thought, "And of all of us to be caught in the blast, it would be John." The two shared a fond smile for their young 'adventurous' co-worker at that thought. Then Mike turned serious again, "No, Cap. That's not what I meant. I mean I saw how Kent was acting on scenes. He wasn't really helping anywhere. He let Johnny do most of the work, even when Roy told him to do something. He never did anything without Roy telling him to do it. The most I've seen him do on his own is talk to Rampart and pull dressings. I was afraid that if it came to the point where he'd have to act on his own initiative, he wouldn't and now? Well?" Mike ran his hands over his tired face then dropped his head into them. His voice muffled now, he finished with a quiet, "I keep seeing him shake Johnny."

Cap moved closer and patted his engineer's shoulder, "I know. Me too."

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