DISCLAIMER: All characters, sans Julianna, belong to Mark VII and NBC Universal.
A/N: This is a bit longer than the previous chapters, so I hope you enjoy it. ~Kaiti
Roy arrived a few hours later after delivering a patient to Rampart. He took a few minutes to head to Johnny's room and wasn't surprised to find Julianna in Johnny's room, her head on his chest.
"Juli. Hey, Juli," Roy whispered.
Julianna opened her eyes and was disoriented. She sat up when she realized she was in the hospital. She noticed Johnny still had a hold of her hand and she'd been resting on the bed.
"Roy, what time is it," she asked.
"It's about 6 in the morning. We just dropped a patient off and I wanted to check on Johnny. Mike called the house, but you didn't answer, so he figured you were still here, probably with Johnny," Roy said.
"Well, I was heading home last night because Sheila decided she was going to stay with him. Johnny got upset and Brackett threatened to sedate him. Beth came rushing down to find me before I left. I came up here and he calmed down immediately. I guess I was more tired than I thought," Julianna said.
"It's fine. I'm sure Johnny wanted you to be here," Roy said.
Beth opened the door. "Hey, Dr. Stoker. I'm going to check his vitals. You want to go and get something to eat. I'll make sure to tell Johnny that you went with Roy. You can come back when you're done," Beth said.
"Thanks, Beth," Julianna said.
She slowly pulled her hand free of Johnny's and, without thinking, kissed his cheek. She followed Roy out of the room and they headed to the lounge in the ER.
"I'm guessing, since you had some sleep, Johnny had an easy night," Roy said.
"Yeah. The meds Brackett gave him helped," Julianna said, taking the cup of coffee from Roy.
Roy smiled. "You were with Johnny. That's all he cared about, I'm sure,"
Julianna nearly blushed. "Well, he is my friend. I don't want anything to happen to him," she said.
Julianna and Roy made small talk for a few minutes while they finished their coffee.
"You thought about the fireman's ball," Roy asked her.
"Yeah. Bob made a bet with me that we'd go if he didn't get a date," Julianna said.
"You been asked," Roy asked.
"Chet offered, but that would be like going with Mike, which I did do my junior year of high school. Don't ask," Julianna said.
"I'll have to ask Mike about that one. Sounds like it might be an interesting story," Roy said.
"He'll never tell. It's our little secret," she said, smiling.
Dr. Brackett entered the lounge. "Roy, Juli. Thought you'd be resting. I took you off the schedule after what happened with Johnny," he said, sitting down with his coffee.
"I'm fine, Kel, really. I slept last night," she said.
"She slept in Johnny's room," Roy said and Julianna rolled her eyes at him.
"Well, I think Johnny will do better if you're with him today. I've told the nurses not to let anyone in there. Beth got my meaning and said she wouldn't let Sheila in the room unless Johnny asked for her. You and Roy should be able to go in and stay as long as you need," Kel said.
"Thanks, Doc," Roy said.
"Well, we should probably get back to him. Johnny's probably awake and ready to get out of here," Julianna said.
"I'll probably discharge him this afternoon. You get some rest," he said, laying a hand on her shoulder.
She and Roy went back upstairs to Johnny's room. As Julianna passed the nurses station, Beth called for her attention. "Dr. Stoker, can I talk to you for a minute," she asked.
"I'll be there in a minute, Roy," she said.
She went to the nurses desk with Beth. "What's wrong," Julianna asked.
"Oh, nothing. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be bothering you. Especially if you're worried about John," Beth started.
"Beth, what's on your mind," Julianna asked.
"It's about Bob Bellingham. Are you dating him," Beth asked.
"Bob and me? No, we go out together for bowling or dinner or something, but we're friends. Why," she asked.
"I've been thinking about...well, asking him out. Think that's too forward," Beth asked.
Julianna smiled. "I don't think so. But, if you want, I can put a bug in his ear. Let him know if he asked you out, you might be open to saying yes," Julianna said.
"I can ask him. I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't upset you by asking him," Beth asked.
"No. I'd be glad to see my friend with you. And, if you're going to be dating Bob, you should call me Juli," Julianna said.
"OK, Juli. Oh, by the way, I think you and John make a cute couple," Beth said, before heading back to her duties.
Julianna didn't respond, she just entered Johnny's room and found him sitting up in the bed having an animated chat with Roy.
"Jules! Roy said you were right behind him," Johnny said.
"Beth needed to ask me something. That's all. You're looking better," she said, nearing the bed. "Brackett said he'd let you out of here this afternoon," Julianna added.
"That's great. You going to keep me company," Johnny said.
"Don't you have some nurse you'd rather be flirting with," she asked.
"Well, actually, there's this cute doctor I've had my eyes on for quite some time. I'm thinking I should flirt with her," Johnny said.
"Have you mentioned to this doctor that you might be interested," she asked.
"Oh, she knows," he said.
Enjoying the sound of Julianna and Johnny getting along, but not wanting to overhear, Roy cleared his throat. "I'm going to see what's keeping those discharge papers. I'll be back in a bit," Roy said.
Julianna held up the duffel that Roy brought from the station. "You want to change," she asked.
"Yeah. You going to keep me company," he asked.
"Actually, I have some errands I need to run and want to check on Mikey. How about you call me," she said.
"I'm going back to Roy's for the night. Jo's already told Roy there was no negotiation to it," he said.
"She'll take good care of you," Julianna said.
Roy came back in the room with a wheelchair. "You ready to go," he asked.
"Let me change," Johnny said, getting out of his bed and heading into the bathroom.
"Juli, I got a problem. Joanne just called and Chris has a stomach bug. I'm afraid to bring Johnny home," Roy said.
"I agree. With the ordeal his body's been through he'll be weakened by it. Well, we have an extra room at my house, I guess he can stay with me," Julianna asked.
"That's perfect. Johnny doesn't need to go home to an empty apartment," Roy said.
"Can you grab him some clothes and bring them by my house? I'm sure he'll want to be in his own clothes," Julianna said.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Can you manage to get Johnny down to the car. I've got his keys, so I can do that now. See you in a few minutes," Roy said, heading out the door.
Johnny emerged from the bathroom and looked for Roy.
"Where'd he go," Johnny asked.
"He's going back to your apartment to get some clothes. Chris is sick, so we decided you're coming home with me," Julianna said.
"I am," Johnny asked.
"Yeah. I get to play nurse," Julianna said.
"Mike's not going to like that," Johnny said, his eyes twinkling.
"No one said you'd get to play doctor," Julianna said, pushing the wheelchair out the door.
Neither said a word as she pushed him out of the elevator to the ER entrance, where she'd parked her car.
Joe Early came around the corner and spotted the two.
"Juli, let me do that," he said, taking the handles of Johnny's wheelchair from her.
"I'll pull the car to the ambulance entrance," Julianna said, skirting out the door before either could say a word.
"So, how are you and Dr. Stoker," Joe asked Johnny.
"To tell you the truth, Doc, I don't know. I honestly don't know," he replied.
"Well, good luck. Whatever you figure out," Joe said as Julianna pulled her car into the parking space for Johnny to get in the car.
"Thanks, Joe," Julianna said.
Julianna drove Johnny to her house and helped him inside.
She made him sit on the sofa.
"I know you want to go up to bed, but you don't want to tire yourself out too much. Rest here, I'll bring you a drink and then you can go up to the guest room," Julianna said.
"You're an awful forceful nurse. Hope your bedside manner as a doctor is better," Johnny said, pouting.
"I've never had a complaint," Julianna said.
She went to the kitchen and brought him a glass of milk. "I'm warming some of my chicken soup on the stove. You can have that for lunch," she said, sitting next to him on the sofa.
"Thanks for taking care of me," he said.
"Well, I know you're an awful patient," she said.
"Are you talking about the time I had bronchitis and you came out to help my aunt take care of me," he said, drinking his milk.
"She called that morning and said you were sick and were being impossible. She loved you, but you were driving her crazy. I came over and babied you, but didn't let you give me any crap. Then you got to take care of me with the broken ankle," Julianna said, heading into the kitchen to get the soup.
"That was such fun. You WERE the worst patient in the world," Johnny said, smiling at at her.
"OK, I'll give you that," she said, handing him the soup.
He took a few bites and Julianna noticed he was getting tired.
"OK, you want to sleep here for a few hours or do you want to try to make it to the guest room. Doesn't matter to me," she said.
"Can you stay with me on the couch," Johnny asked.
"Sure. Just let me get something," she said.
She was heading up the stairs when the doorbell rang. Figuring it was Roy, she opened the door. Roy stepped inside and Julianna said to go into the den.
Roy went into see Johnny and Julianna went about her previous task.
She went up to her room to change into her more comfortable clothes and grab a book. She went back downstairs with a quilt and extra pillow.
"Is that the quilt Aunt Ruby gave you," Johnny asked.
"Yeah. I left it here when I moved out, but mom kept it. I found it on the foot of my old bed when I came home," she said.
"I wondered what happened to your old furniture," Johnny asked.
"I upgraded. Mike moved into the master bedroom, since it is his house now. He got me new furniture when I came home. We gave my old furniture to one of the families that lost stuff in a fire," Julianna said, adjusting the pillows so she and Johnny could relax.
Julianna wrapped the blanket around Johnny and then he wrapped his arms around her waist and fell asleep with his cheek on her stomach. Julianna started reading her book, but soon found her eyes drifting closed.
Neither was sure how it happened, but Julianna and Johnny fell asleep on the couch, and Julianna ended up on Johnny's chest.
Mike came home from an afternoon at the beach with Barb before she headed into work and found his sister and friend. He wasn't exactly surprised to find Johnny at the house.
He made his way into the kitchen and decided to get some pizza for dinner. He figured, too, that when Julianna and Johnny woke up, they'd be hungry.
He headed back out to his truck and headed for the pizza parlor.