Inside the ambulance, Roy was relieved to find John's vitals were unchanged when he rechecked them. Although he had hoped they would improve with the IV, at least they weren't getting much worse.

Now, if he would just open his eyes or something, Roy fretted as each sternal rub was met with silence.

Roy sighed. If there was one thing he knew about his partner, it was that Johnny never did things the easy way. Feeling the bounce of tires entering Rampart's parking lot, Roy began rechecking the vitals one last time when he thought he heard something.

Pulling out the stethoscope from his ears, he asked loudly, "Johnny?"

Waiting a few seconds, he shook his head, sure he was imaging things. Just as he got ready to put the stethoscope back in, however, he saw Johnny's lips moving.

"Daaadddd…." Johnny partly whispered and partly mumbled

"Johnny, it's okay. We're at Rampart. You're going to be fine," Roy reassured him as the doors to the back of the ambulance opened.

"What's going on, Roy?" Dr. Early asked.

"He said something, I'm not sure what as it wasn't clear," he said, climbing from the back of the ambulance as he helped with the stretcher.

Dixie directed them immediately into treatment two before following.

"He hasn't awoken except for that brief moment and hasn't moved," Roy reported, helping move Johnny over to the exam table.

"Dix, let's get the x-rays right away and some new vitals," Dr. Brackett ordered.

While Dixie was on the phone to ensure that x-ray was on its way, Roy moved to get fresh vitals. This time, as the blood pressure cuff tightened, he could see Johnny moving his lips again. Finishing up as fast as possible, he reported that the blood pressure was now 175/120. Dr. Early and Dr. Brackett both frowned over that, as well as hearing that John's pulse and breathing rate had increased slightly.

"Johnny, can you open your eyes?" Dr. Brackett asked.

Opening one lid with his finger, Kel shined over John's right eye. Before he could check the other eye, both eyes of Johnny's eyes suddenly popped open. Trying to move and finding he couldn't, Johnny began screaming for help. Dr. Brackett backed away in surprise as the screaming started, while Roy tried reassuring John, but nothing worked. It wasn't until Johnny ran out of energy a few minutes later that the panic-stricken cries ended.

"Da, ma? Where yous? Help!" Johnny whimpered in terror, shaking with fright.

"Johnny…" Dr. Brackett began.

"NO!" Johnny shouted, struggling to get away again. When that didn't work, he began crying harder in terror. "Leave 'lone. Do no any. GO 'WAY! Want ma, da. Pls' me home."

Brackett immediately backed up and went by the other three.

"Joe, what do you think is going on? I mean, I've seen head injuries cause speech problems like this before and I've seen amnesia cases as well. However, I have to be quite honest and say this is out of my depth."

"I'm not too sure either. He obviously has some sort of head injury now. I'd say amnesia as well, but he obviously remembers part of his life. I don't know how much though, but it sounds like from when he was a young child. Hmm, I wonder… I suppose it's possible, but…" Joe mused.

"What do you think is going on?" Roy asked between his teeth, his patience near the end, his frustration and fear seeing his best friend like this making him want to shake the doctors for answers.

"Why don't we get x-rays of his head and a CT scan? My main concern is that there is some sort of bleeding going on that we need to address. While we are waiting for the results, I will explain what I am thinking, alright? I'd like some time to look up some information and think anyway," Joe decided. "Right now, we need to remain calm for him and take it slowly. Be patient. It seems like as of this moment, he doesn't remember us. He does at least remember a time when his parents were alive. Roy, do you know when his parents died? That might give us a frame of reference for his mindset."

"God, I don't know for sure… I know his aunt took him in when he was around eleven. But it took a few years to track her down, so that means, he had to be what, eight, maybe seven years old? I don't know," Roy sighed and shook his head in disbelief. "You mean to tell me that in his head, Johnny still believes he is a child?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Roy, he responded to your voice before, so why don't you try to and explain what is happening. Go slow and take it easy. I don't want to have to sedate him if we don't have to. Kel, I suggest you stay away for now. I could use your help anyway," Joe wrote a list of books he wanted and gave it to him. "If you could get these for me from the medical library, I'd be grateful. Dixie, you can stay, but for now, just let Roy explain who we are and what is happening. Let's see if this will work."

"I'll do my best doc," Roy whispered, scared for Johnny.

Approached the gurney where Johnny was still sobbing and trembling, Roy could see he was trying to look around as much as possible. A few feet away, Roy stopped.

"Hey, Johnny. My name is Roy. I know this must all be scary for you, huh?" Taking a few steps closer, Roy continued. "See, what happened is that you had an accident. You hit your head pretty hard. I know some first aid stuff that helped you out so I went with you to the hospital here."

"Hos'ital? No clin'?" Johnny asked. "Go home. Mama, where, go…" The last few words were stuttered as his fear seemed to grow. "No bad, go."

"Shh, shh, it's okay. A hospital is like a clinic, but they have doctors who can do some more things," Roy came next to his gurney. "You can't move much at all so that the doctors can make sure you are okay. That is why you can't move, not because you are bad. We know you hurt your ankle pretty bad. You have some scratches and bruises on your back that need to be looked at as well. And since you hit your head pretty hard, you were asleep for a while, so we need to make sure you aren't hurt."

Hearing Roy explain how a 'Doctor Early' and a 'Nurse Dixie' wanted to look at him, Joe and Dixie slowly approached the bed.

"It's okay, Johnny," Roy soothed, brushing the hair from his eyes.

Frowning, he realized there was a small lump there that he hadn't noticed in his initial assessment. Brushing aside the hair more, he nodded towards the bump as it was revealed. Seeing the bruising, Roy realized it hadn't taken place today and was at least a few days old. Switching gears, he went back to explaining what was going to take place.

"Okay, Johnny, as promised, we will let you know what will happen to you, okay?"

"Ev'n half?"

"What do you mean, sweetie?" Dixie asked, confused and a bit concerned.

"No whate, red, buth…"

"Ahhh," Dixie said, trying not to let her tears show. "Well honey, I don't care what color you are. You could be purple or orange or green or even be lots of colors all at once and I would still like you from what I know about you."

At that thought, a small smile appeared on his face and afterwards, Johnny didn't mind when Dixie to come by his gurney. When Dr. Early told him that it was a good thing she didn't mind those who were part green, since he was part Irish, Johnny smiled a bit even though he wasn't quite sure what he meant.

"Wat, name how?" he questioned, weary again. "You stange."

"You came here to live a while ago. We met you then. Right now because of the bump on your head, you forgot some stuff. It will be fine though," Roy assured him.

Johnny yawned as he tried to nod. Finding out he couldn't, he began panicking again.

"Go!" he shouted, forgetting why he couldn't move. "MA! DA!"

When neither of his parents appeared, he began crying. "No bad, ma, da, go…"

"Honey, it's okay, it's okay…" Dixie tried soothing. "I know it's scary, but we don't want you to move until we know you aren't hurt, so we have you taped to a board. Just like…well, I'm not sure, what would you tape down so it doesn't move?"

Sniffling, Johnny thought before answering, "Floor."

"There you go then," Dixie said, as he calmed himself down.

Wiping his nose for him, she asked Johnny if he was ready for Doctor Early to start looking him over. Shrugging the best he could, the three of them began with Roy patiently explaining each step and what would happen before anything was done.

As the x-ray tech came in, Johnny again became scared.

Whoa, huge…it could eat me, he thought in wonder. Man is dark person? How…

"It's alright, Johnny," Roy tried calming him. "It's just Jack. He is going to take pictures of the inside of your body, so Doctor Early can see your bones. Isn't that cool?"

"Don't worry, Jack," Dr. Early smiled at Jack and patted him as he stepped out of the way. "Johnny got knocked around fairly well, so he is having some issues. Just let Roy know what you are about to do ahead of time and he will explain it to Johnny. After that, when Roy tells you Johnny's ready, you can go ahead and do what's needed. That will help everyone out."

"Roy," Johnny tried whispering, knowing his dad would think what he was about to say was rude. But he couldn't help it; it was amazing! "To'ch black, 'fraid?"

Smiling, Doctor Early looked down at Johnny, "Johnny, what Nurse Dixie and I said was true. We know you and like you just because you are you. We like Jack because we know Jack is a good person. Color doesn't matter. In fact, we have a doctor here who is black."

"Reals?" Johnny seemed astounded by this.

"Yep," Dixie confirmed, eyes sparkling. "If someone can do the job, wants to do the job, than they can."

"So, I firemen?" Johnny's own eyes were sparkling now. However, when everyone started laughing and smiling, his own smile went away, thinking it wouldn't be possible. "Think no."

Roy was glad he could practically read his partner's mind, even if he wasn't quite himself at this moment, "No, Johnny, it's just that, yes, you can be. It's great that you want to be. Now, how about we get those x-rays done?"

"K," Johnny said, figuring he had no choice and prepared himself for the next round of what he thought of as 'torture'.

Long as it gets me out of here and back to my parents though, I don't care what happens, John sighed mentally in resignation. Hate it here, it's too scary and I just wanna go home.

An hour later the results were in and Johnny had nodded off to sleep. Roy slipped outside the exam room and headed to the doctors lounge where he was told to meet Doctor Brackett and Doctor Early, leaving Johnny in the care of Dixie. Getting a cup of coffee, he sat down at the table with the two doctors.

"So what's the verdict?"

"First, do you know when that older bump on his forehead occurred?" Dr. Early asked.

"No, truth be told, I didn't notice it until we were in the exam room," sighing, Roy sipped his coffee. "Honestly, if I had to guess, it a few days ago, although what happened and when, I have no idea. It's just a few things that have happened since Jenny's birthday party were adding up and I was going to try to take him in today to see one of you."

"What symptoms?

"Well, a few days ago, after he got back from the store, Chris pointed out how he didn't fill up his plate like he usually does and then didn't eat everything on it. And we all know how unusual that is."

Nods came from both doctors. It seemed like Johnny had a bottomless pit somewhere where food went. Whenever he wasn't hungry, than it was time to be concerned.

"Chris also brought to my attention that he was sacked out on a chair almost asleep. Johnny looked so tired, I told him he could stay in his room, but he just said he wanted to go home. Even left early."

"Did he seem tired before that?" Dr. Brackett asked.

"No, he seemed his abnormal, hyper-active self. Well, you know what I mean," Roy blushed, knowing he should have monitored his thoughts better.

Dr. Early smiled, trying to cover a laugh as he did know normal didn't exactly cover John Gage. Dr. Brackett just frowned more.

"Anything else?" Dr. Brackett asked. Sure, those things were odd for Johnny, but not enough cause to warrant what they believed was going on.

"You know how he called in sick last shift? He said he thought he was just coming down with the flu or something. He claimed to just be really tired since he wasn't sleeping well. Johnny told Cap that he felt dizzy, but wasn't too worried since it was typical when he became so tired and had a headache. I guess he also felt sick, but chalked that up to the dizziness. But despite that, he just seemed, well, off…" Roy struggled to explain things. "He just seemed like anything could set him off. Then, today at work, the phantom struck and Johnny just, I don't know. He started yelling, cursing, and actually would have gone after Chet I think if I hadn't stopped him. Took him a few minutes to calm down, but he did. He just said that he was tired and was causing a headache. He didn't look right but wouldn't let me examine him. By the time we got dressed and I was thinking of heading to Cap's, the Klaxons' went off. You know the rest."

Sighing, Dr. Early thought he knew did know what was going on now. Unfortunately, how to address the problem and how to fix the problem, as well as tell Roy were going to be far from easy.

"It's not good is it Doc?" Roy asked, looking deep into his coffee cup, not wanting to see their eyes.

"It depends on a few things actually," Dr. Early started expounding.

"Should I call Jo to be here before you explain things?"

"Might be best," Dr. Brackett put in. "I can tell you though, it would be best if we put him under sedation in order to help him. There is one thing we know for sure and that is that John will need surgery."

Taking a deep breath, Roy got up to call his wife. While he waited, he cautiously woke up Johnny and let him know that a medication was going to make him sleep and when he woke up, he might have a tube down his throat. No one was sure how much Johnny was understanding, but hopefully, knowing ahead of time would mean less anxiety and fear for him later.