Part XII

Chet had had to drive the squad to Rampart for their replacement paramedic team and now he was stuck there until Brice and Mackie restocked the squad. It sounded like it might take awhile as Brice wanted to do everything in alphabetical order. It also sounded like Johnny and Roy would need about a month to get all their stuff back in the places that they preferred them to be.

Well, since he couldn't leave until they were ready, Chet figured he would make use of his downtime to check in on Roy. Sauntering toward the elevator with his HT in hand, Chet punched the button, heading up. Roy's room wasn't too far from the elevator. Chet didn't bother to knock before opening the door and glancing in. Pausing in the doorway, a grin formed and he fought back a snicker.

Heading down the hall glancing over a chart in his hand, Dr. Early noticed Chet's stance and slowed.

"You look amused. They did tell you that we don't allow water balloons, right?"

Feigning a wounded look, Chet sighed.

"Man. Booby-trap a few lockers and a guy gets labeled for life. Nothing to do with this though. Take a gander, Doc."

Curiousity won out and he went over. Leaning in through the door, Dr. Early found a smile forming as well. Roy and Kim were soundly asleep on one bed while the other bed barely contained the joint sprawls of Johnny and Chris. Chet leaned against the doorframe.

"They always look so innocent when they're asleep, don't they?"

"The kids?"

"Naw - Gage and DeSoto."

"I heard that, Kelly."

"You would, Gage."

"Why did I even bother discharging you, Johnny?"

Johnny propped himself up carefully trying not to wake Chris.

"Well Doc, I guess because I pestered you constantly until you did?"

That got a chuckle out of Early.

"Now that you mention it, that probably did have a lot to do with it."

The nurse spotted Dr. Early by the room and came over. Chet gave her a smile that she filed away but pretended not to notice as she stayed professional in front of the doctor.

"Sir, so that you know, Mister DeSoto refused his last dose of pain medication. He also insisted on the children remaining."

"Well, if he was hurting too much, he wouldn't be sleeping as well as he seems to be. As for the kids? Not exactly regulation perhaps, but I think we can cut a little slack since he missed out on spending Christmas with his kids, don't you?"

The talking didn't seem to phase either Kim or Roy, but Chris yawned before opening his eyes and looking totally embarassed at having fallen asleep next to Johnny.

"Umm - hi, Dr. Early."

"Hello, Chris."

Chet gave the young man a sympathetic look and spared him from any teasing. He'd been the victim of that often enough as a teen himself, so he considered kids off-limits for the most part. Adults - or as close as Gage got to being an adult? Fair game.

"Dr. Early? Will Dad be out before New Years?"

"That would be up to Dr. Brackett, Chris. But if your dad is able to keep resting as well as he is now, I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Good sleep is a major factor in healing, you know."

Joanne hung up the phone after finishing her conversation with her sister. Cathy was right. She should have told her mother to back off of Roy. As much as Roy could - and did - complain about her when it was the two of them talking, he never picked a fight with her mother and keep his tone polite with her. Sometimes a chilly politeness, but polite nonetheless. And he always insisted that the children mind their manners with her as well. He also never told her not to visit and, unless the visit conflicted with work, he generally would go himself even though he knew he was in for a less than pleasant time.

She also thought back to Cathy's comment about the envelopes full of fertility suggestions. That was low. But really, was it any lower than all the veiled and not-so-veiled insults to Roy? Joanne took a deep breath. She and her mother were going to have to have a few ground rules set before irrepairable damage was done between her children and their grandmother.

"Kids? I need you to put away whatever you're doing and get ready to go. We're going to go to see your Aunt Cathy."

Cathy had agreed to watch the kids for her while she went to have a talk with Mom. She wanted to take care of that before going to see Roy. They needed to have a very long talk. Cathy had agreed to watch the kids for that as well.

After a couple of minutes, she realized she wasn't hearing them getting ready. Had they fallen asleep? Shaking her head, Joanne headed upstairs to the bedrooms. And then panicked.

Her thoughts were going a mile a minute. She knew they weren't in the back yard. She'd been looking out into the back yard just a few minutes before. Where might they have gone? Who might they have called?

After a minute of running over possibilities in her mind, she grabbed the phone back up and called Rampart.