She rose, moving the exam tray Mike would need for Roy in a few minutes. She gave Roy time to absorb her words. Dixie's own eyes were full and watery, but she didn't let any tears fall. She felt too much conviction to let emotion rule her. Especially when someone needed her to be a firm strength. Especially during times like this one.  A friend in need...  she thought. "Joanne and the kids are on their way. I called them myself." Some of her strength finally transmuted to DeSoto. Roy nodded, quickly drying his face. Internally, he felt horrible, being weakened in body physically, and emotionally, down to his very soul. But if he had to be vulnerable. He could think of no one better suited to share his pain outside his immediate home or working family, ..than Dixie. "Where's Johnny?" he asked, his voice a little clearer. Dixie answered truthfully, "With Marco. He's been glued to him ever since he ..went down." Roy's chest tightened and he clenched his teeth, denying the physical injury there, but one hand moved up to his chest unbidden. Dix didn't miss his symptoms. She wrapped a grip around his wrist checking. "Short of breath?" She paused a few seconds, counting his pulse. "Uneven. I'm getting you on an EKG." She was still patching him up to the monitor when Dr. Morton entered the room. Without a word, he went to Roy's side, checking his pupils and overall condition in his trademark gruff manner. He spent a minute studying the strip Dixie produced from Roy's leads, then he spoke. "Residual elevation on your T waves. That's typical with excessive electrical contact. They should resolve in an hour or so. You'll be fine there without the necessity of me medicating you." He began a belly probe and chest percussion exam. Both Dix and Roy were puzzled at his silence during it. Morton sighed and eyed the both of them before saying, "I am breaching doctor/patient confidentiality by saying this to you both, but Marco's EEG is showing plateau leveling with a negative Bebinski finding." "Mike." Dix scolded. Morton was frank, "Dixie, Roy doesn't want to be coddled. Isn't that right, DeSoto.?"  He said, turning to his patient. Roy shook his head in tiny agreement but was deathly afraid to hear more. "Do I go on telling you anything, Miss McCall?" Mike asked. "If you don't trust yourself to hear this, you can leave the room right now." He said, taking off Roy's oxygen feed so he could look into his nose for dust or blood. She held her tongue. Dr. Morton went on, "I didn't stay in the treatment room long enough to hear all of what Dr. Early and Dr. Brackett were discussing on Lopez," he indicated DeSoto, "for they told me YOU were still out cold then and needed to be seen. But I will tell you this. It's too soon to tell anything with absolute certainty. There are steroidal treatments we can use to try to induce a return of frontal lobe functioning. But it's going to take time to clean out all the Diazepam toxins from his system. Until then Marco's coma is being streamlined and deepened with anti-inflammatorys and his body core temperature's being dropped until his brain tissue begins to heal itself. Now,. let's just finish up here and stop talking about Lopez." He smiled slightly. "You didn't hear this news from me. Is that understood? My butt could be canned even discussing him." Two heads nodded. Dr. Morton went over Roy with a fine tooth comb and then he drew a red top. "Nurse, run this to the lab. Have them run a cardiac creatin series, CBC and electrolytes." Dixie took the phial and headed for the door. "Oh, and have them look for renal proteins. I want to make sure your kidneys fared as well as your heart did, Roy." But Roy wasn't listening to him. Dixie shifted her gaze from Roy to Mike, reluctant to leave, but finally, she did. The closing door returned silence to the treatment room. Doctor and paramedic went eye to eye when the rest of the exam was over. Mike rubbed his chin for a moment, and considered something. Without saying a word, Dr. Morton pulled down the bed's side rail and handed out to Roy his T shirt and uniform that had been resting across a nearby chair. He swept a gesture for Roy to get out of bed, uncharacteristically kind. Roy looked at Mike questioningly, coming out of his deep thoughts.  "Doc?" The "get vertical" and go invite was not standard for one in Roy's condition. "I'm releasing you." Morton said, peeling off EKG patches and the BP cuff off Roy. "No point in you lying around here worrying about all this, now is there?" He held up the rolled EKG from his chart. "There's nothing I'm seeing here that warrants an admission." Roy sat up, testing his own balance and took the shirt, taking and then pulling on the T and then the uniform. Morton held up a finger. "But I am ordering you away from Marco." That stopped DeSoto. "Why?" Roy asked. "Don't tell me it's for my own health." he said a little defensively. Morton moved to the door, and opened it. Vince and his partner Garner stood there leaning against the wall. They had been standing outside Roy's treatment room waiting. And they were on duty. "They asked me to inform you not to see him." Morton told DeSoto. Mike wished he could say something encouraging, but nothing more needed to be said. All four of them knew why officers were present. Vince studied his shoes. and both he and Garner whipped off their helmets in respect. "Sorry Roy. Standard procedure." Vince said uncomfortably. Roy buttoned his shirt, moving out into the hall, a horrifying thought coming to mind, "Am I being arrested?" But Vince didn't say anything more. Garner said, "Dr. Brackett would like to see you in his office. He'd like to see you right away." Dr. Morton set a gentle hand on Roy's shoulder. "I'll call you with your lab results. Take care." "Appreciate it, doc." DeSoto said as Morton walked away down the bustling, busy noon time hospital hallway. Roy's mind was numb. He was highly aware of the presence of the two police officers flanking him. It made him feel like the worst of criminals.  Maybe I am one. One of the worst kind. Hurting Marco like this is unforgivable.  he thought. The short walk was soon over and he turned to the left, first knocking, and then settling a still dusty hand on the chief physician's rich mahogany and brass door knob until he heard a reply of, "Come in." It took all of his concentration and will to finally open the door. ---------------------------------- Gage was inches away from Joe as he worked over Lopez. He fussed with the bird's link to Marco's mouth, watched the respirator pump beyond his taped airway billow adequately, and handed Early medications and equipment before the doctor even asked for them. Finally, Dr. Early said. "Johnny. Thing's are well under hand here. Why don't you go grab a cup of coffee?" Johnny looked up from an unconscious grip he had on Marco's brachial pulse that he was using to monitor Lopez closely. "Hmm?" he said distractedly. Dr. Early saw the firm grip Gage had on Marco. And the palpable fear he had of even considering letting Lopez out of his direct care. Joe nodded tightly and then reconsidered sending the dark eyed paramedic from the room. "Hand me the cooling blanket will you? I'll rig an internal thermometer. We're going to lower his core body temperature to ninety four degrees." "Right doc." Gage moved into activity. They rolled Marco's bare body onto the plastic coils and bundled him up inside of it snuggly once the doctor had his internal thermometer probe in place. He switched it on. Dr. Early watched the degrees indicator drop and adjusted a dial until the reading showed 94. A bleep made both men jump. It was the EKG, reacting. A random PVC. Johnny ran to the display his face brightening. "Is he feeling that cold, doc? Look." he said, pointing,. as another PVC inserted itself, breaking the abnormally slow beat tracing on the monitor. Dr. Early bent over Marco's chest, listening manually with his stethoscope. Johnny held his breath. Dr. Early shifted his listening to Lopez's abdomen and to the intestines lying just beneath. He lifted his head, eyeballing Gage. "There's no sounds of bowel movement, Johnny. He's still in his coma. It's possibly the steroids Dr. Brackett gave him to reduce cranial swelling that is causing that arrhythmia. Steroids have a tendency to do that quite often. It's just a random aberration." The PVC mocked them by not repeating. "Damn."  Johnny said, standing up and walking away a few steps, hands on his hips. He then felt his long aches and fatigue and the weight of his job like a ton of bricks. He leaned over, hands on knees, coughing hoarsely at phlegm he suddenly felt strangling him. "Took in a little dust?" Dr. Early asked. Johnny nodded without looking up. "Just a bit. The camper blew up a few minutes after we got the two little girls out safely." Dr. Early pointed to the O2 port on one wall with a pen, a silent order. Wearily, Gage rose and sat on a stool by it, moving his seat so he could still be close to Marco's head and grabbed a demand valve from the basket for himself. He began using it, sucking in its pressurized oxygen to clear his lungs in several cleansing breaths. He startled, looking down when he saw that one of the attending nurses had already put protective ointment into Marco's eyes and had taped them shut. Only patients moving to the Intensive Care Unit or to surgery got that done to them. Highly disturbed, He took in more O2, coughing when the cool oxygen made the dusty snot in his chest bubble, then he spoke, and "He's not going to wake up anytime soon is he?" Dr. Early was studying Lopez's EEG monitor intently but he looked up at Johnny instantly. "I am not going to lie to you, Gage. Marco's condition is very serious. Diazepam is poisonous in high dosages. It kills cerebral tissue very quickly if it's not counteracted fast enough. These Narcan drips can only do so much. Marco's system was already weakened from the electrical shock he received. His heart was racing then, because his blood pressure was depressed and from those involuntary seizures. Most likely, quite a bit of the paralyzer made it to his brain before you injected the counteragent." Johnny buried his face into his free hand and rubbed tired eyes. "Oh, man.. Roy's gonna freak out over that." He took in more O2.  Then he spoke again, blinking without seeing, the posters on the wall proclaiming the success of the fledging LA County paramedic program to date. "I should have seen he wasn't up to it. He hasn't slept for close to two days." Dr. Early just listened while Gage vented, "Hell, even Cap dismissed Roy's tiredness at breakfast. he even gave me these." he grinned, pulling out the smelling salt pack Cap gave him. The sight of one missing, the one he had used on the woman made his grin wash away and he tossed them onto the bed. He couldn't bear to look at them for they had been an eerie premonition of what was to come. "I should've stopped him. I should've seen the warning signs." he said, watching the respirator fill Marco's chest with air before it released it again in electronic uniformity. Up and down, automatically doing its work with perfect machine like precision. Gage ruffled fingers through Marco's hair, picking off the bits of debris, clinging to it. "What's going to happen to the both of them, doc?" He asked at last. At that thought, Gage lost it. Tears sprang out. He sank his face into his arms, caressing Marco's head and began to weep. Joe took the O2 mask out of Johnny's hands and just sat with him. An arm over his shoulder. He sent the nurses out of the room. John cried for a time. Then the two silently fell to watching Marco's slow EKG and the even slower brain wave EEG monitor without needing to speak anymore. It wasn't the time for words any longer. It was time to start praying. A chaplain entered shortly thereafter to do just that. Johnny had to leave the moment he saw the purple cloth around the chaplain's neck.  Oh no. Lopez isn't going to get Last Rites if I have anything to do with it. I'll find Brackett. Yeah. Maybe there's a more aggressive treatment out there he knows about. He stood, swiftly, hiding his thought from the doctor. He mumbled to Dr. Early. "Gotta go find.. Roy.. You keep me posted, you hear?" he said, fiercely wiping his face dry. "Call me at home, or the station. Hell call me via dispatch if Marco changes even if I'm on another run. Promise me that, doc." Joe looked up, very somber, "I will." Johnny left to go find Brackett. --------------------- Roy turned the brass knob. Kelly Brackett, he expected to see, framed by his golden leafed medical books lining the walls of the rust colored office and sitting behind the broad desk with its nameplate displaying on one edge of it. But he didn't expect to see another man in one of the visiting chairs. "Cap?" Roy exclaimed in surprise. He let Vince and Garner into the room behind him, so shocked that he almost forgot they were even there. "Would you close the door, Roy?" Brackett asked. "And have a seat." "Sure, doc."  Roy did so and took the chair next to Captain Stanley. Hank was still in his trenchcoat, and his helmet was on the floor. Roy thought,  He didn't even leave it in the engine cab?  thought a ridiculous ramble.  I hope Marco's ok. And Chet. The distraught paramedic looked around the room, not getting anything from the unreadable expressions from the man who had taught him emergency medicine nor from the man who was his station's captain. He broke the awkward pause that followed by asking, "How's Kelly doing?" with a falsely encouraging smile. Hank shifted uncomfortably in his seat, sniffing, and didn't find a position that made him feel better, "H- he's just fine, pal., " he said, clapping his gloves together with a cheeriness that was forced. "He woke up in the ambulance according to Johnny, and and.. and spit out his EOA." he laughed slightly. " Heard he complained the whole way in. The doc here says he's been moved to CCU just as a precaution for a couple of days." Roy smiled bigger, a bit. It fooled no one. Hank added, "Kelly's been asking about you. Said something about wanting "the" pinup for his room. ah,. know anything about that?" Roy scratched his head, "He meant Johnny's Smoky the Bear poster, Cap. They've been stealing it from each other ever since their Phantom stunt war ended. It's in Gage's locker." "Fine, Roy. I'll. have one of the guys bring it to him." Cap said. Roy refused the icy feeling that seeped into him. Now why does one of the guys have to do that? What's going on here?   But he felt his mouth mechanically say, "I can do that, Cap. Morton's just released me medically." Cap actually looked away from DeSoto and that frightened Roy more than anything else he had seen since the OD occurred. Kelly Brackett steepled his hands, looking very tired. "Roy. there are detectives here, working with these two police officers." "What?" Roy asked, stunned. He then noticed the angry red on Cap's face. And the same color on Brackett's a moment later.  Have they been arguing about me? Brackett met Roy's eyes squarely. "I've been ordered to have you step down as your station's paramedic pending a full investigation. by orders of a Detective Fielder, coming from FEMA itself. You know the organization is like the FBI for the EMS service." Roy stood, and anxiously began to fidget. "Why, doc? I mean, I know I made a horrible mistake out there. But don't you have to have criminal charges before--" A new man entered the room, fully in a three piece power suit armed to the hilt with official looking papers. "We have those charges sir. Gross Nonfeasance, Mr. DeSoto. Your lack of professional judgement almost killed a man and these two officers over here were witnesses to it." Cap's look at Vince and Garner almost burned them. Cap shot to his feet, "What!? This is getting ridiculous Doctor Brackett." he rounded on Kel, "You only told me Roy had to take a leave of absence, You never said anything about this kind of thing!" Brackett looked shaken. "My hands are tied, captain, as are yours." he said severely. Anyone who knew him knew the head ER physician was highly worried, not angry. Kelly stood and turned to his first, best paramedic. "I'm sorry Roy, But I am going to have to ask you for your badge and departmental ID." Cap stabbed a hand on Dr. Brackett's desk. "In a pig's eye! You said nothing about resigna--!!" Roy shook his head, "Cap. Cap. ". he said, setting a hand on Hank's coat.  "Stop." he said quietly. Captain Stanley still had soot on his face. And there was a look of helplessness there that Roy had never seen before coming from him. But he knew that emotion. It was an emotion any firefighter worth his salt got when things suddenly rocketted out of firm control. Roy repeated himself. "Just...stop." He looked around the office, smelling the sweat coming off him, Vince, and Cap and the musky civilized cologne off of Fielder and he felt suddenly old and worn. It was serious this time. Nothing that could be fixed or patched up, or forgotten. Without another word, he unpinned his uniform's shield and threw his wallet medic's identification card with it onto Brackett's desk. The badge bounced, falling onto its front and rang as it rocked there on the shiny wood, until Kelly Brackett's hand stilled it. Cap wouldn't even look at it, instead settling his eyes on Roy's, in apology. DeSoto nodded to Cap in acceptance of all and he turned to the detective and raised his wrists palms up, together. It was Vince's turn to look away. He motioned to his partner to attend to DeSoto instead. He himself couldn't bear to do it. Garner brought out his metal handcuffs, and opened them reciting the beginning of the Miranda Rights all of them had only heard on TV. "You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for you for your trial in a court of law..." Cap dropped his head as he saw Roy's dusty and bloody hands bound behind his back.  Hero's blood. From those he's trained to save, God damn it. Even Dr. Brackett was speechless. But then he said as Fielder opened the office door to let Vince and Garner lead Roy out, "Roy.. I'll do everything in my power to handle this." he promised, " Absolutely everything." Roy gave him a pained look before he was led away. The door shut. Cap slammed his gloved fist into the desk. "It isn't right! Roy doesn't have an evil bone in his body." Kel reacted, "I know that. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this entire hospital knows that too. Believe me when I tell you now that I AM on your side captain. But technically, what DeSoto did to Marco is legally construed the same as an attempted murder.  accident or not with just the facts in black and white, on paper alone." he said angrily. Then he sobered. "Now it's up to us, to convince the courts to see just what kind of man we already know DeSoto to be. One of the best paramedics you or I or this county has ever seen." --------------------------- Out by the Emergency entrance, Johnny saw the back of Roy's head out by the squad and was overjoyed that he had his blue uniform shirt back on and was ambulatory. "Roy!" he shouted. But then he cast his eyes lower and saw metal cuffs around his wrists behind his torn and soiled back. In a sudden haze, he saw Vince guide Roy's head into the back of their squad car before he, too, climbed into the front seat. The police car started pulling away and Johnny saw Roy's face lean against the window, drained, with eyes closed. A pure fury gripped him, "No.. Roy!!" Gage started running dodging around patients and nurses and doctors who were wondering what the paramedic was shouting about. "Please. I have to get through. My partn-- Who the hell released him from hospital custody? He's injured!" he demanding of the passing doctors around him. But no one spoke up or answered his loud demand. A sharp impact stopped him in his tracks. It was Cap, wrapping powerful arms around him in a bearhug. "No, Gage. Let him go.." Johnny broke away and again they jostled. "Cap, they just can't DO that. I gotta tell them the truth. I was th--" Cap whirled Gage around, his helmet's strap dangling under his chin, "I know that, pal. But you have to let him go. Don't embarrass him further. He's completely devastated as it is." he reasoned. Gage stopped trying to leave. But he didn't take his eyes off of Roy's police car until it turned a right turn under the hospital walkway and was gone. Johnny turned back to Cap, suddenly seeing how incongruent a completely outfitted firefighter seemed inside Rampart. Already eyes were drawing to Cap and whispers beginning. Cap noticed this, "Come on, pal. We're sticking out here like sore thumb. Let's grab some coffee and go see Kelly, ok? Would you like that? I know I would. I've already cleared it with dispatch that the station will be out two hours. Lord knows we need some breathing room after all this hellish business." Johnny still looked stunned. Cap lightly tapped him on the face, "Hey. pull it together. Joanne and the kids will be here soon and we're the ones who are going to have to tell her what's going on. Dix has already agreed to stall them until WE'RE ready for them. So let's go." Cap guided John by the shoulders and into the nurses' lounge. "Tell me about Marco. What's his current condition.?'' he said, sitting Gage down. Mechanically Johnny began telling him and he felt a steaming cup of coffee thrust into his trembling hands. The odor of java that was so inviting that same morning smelled suddenly like the most vile substance on earth. He closed his eyes against the world, denying everything but the feeling of his captain's glove still on his shoulder while he talked. Unbidden, he saw a vision of Marco's cross taped eyes sunk in a pale face behind his own closed eyelids and his own shot right back open again and he gasped. Cap was still urgently talking to him, not taking eyes off of his junior man, now awfully partnerless for an unknown length of time. He knew it would be even harder for Gage when he got back to the station and saw Gil already in place as 51's temporary paramedic fill in. "Easy, pal. I know this going to be hard for the whole gang. Just hang tough. Before you know it, we'll be right back together soon sharing another of Marco's four alarm breakfast recipes. And that will be during a very, very routine A shift, ok?  Gage? Drink up. Things will be normal again if I have anything to say about it. You can be absolutely assured of that, pal." Deep inside, Gage knew things weren't going to be normal again for many many days. Not by a long shot. -------------------------------------- An hour went by slowly, and soon, he found he was back to base at the station house. Johnny Gage pulled the squad back into the garage about half way, then stopped, staring at the brilliantly blue California sky overhead.  Seems so unreal. That fogbank might have been a mirage for all I'm seeing here.  he thought squinting in the sunlight.   It caused a whole lot of heartache for such a short lived thing. For the third time, he glanced over at the passenger seat in reflex. It felt odd being in the driver's seat, the most profound sensation was knowing the reason why he was there. And he couldn't ..quite get over it. But Gage pushed his troubling feelings aside when he saw that the engine had beaten him back from Rampart. They're going to need me to be the same Johnny Gage I always am, with my joking and complaining. Somebody has to be the one to act normal around here. We're a station crew with three men down. Sighing, he turned off the lights and put the truck in park, took off his black helmet, and got out. He headed straight for the showers. Gage whistled a tuneless measure to cheer himself up with a shouldered towel and shampoo and soon, he found himself walking by the sinks. He was shocked to find another fireman with ginger hair shaving by one of them. He stopped whistling. The other man turned around. "Hey Johnny." Johnny didn't move. but he replied, "Hi, Gil. "He hid a reaction of resentment. Roy's fill in had already been summoned. It was the way of a 24/7 fire department.  He curbed any sharp tone by lowering his eyes and mumbling. "Who else came out with you?" Gil, was bright, free of worry. "Oh, Moreno from Eight's and..uh, I think Odegard from 14's." he said, carefully carving a path through the foam on his face. "Good man Odegard," Johnny remarked, "Heard he just got his rear pumper lieutenancy last month. Got promoted the same time as Lop--" he broke off. He studied his shoes, tapping one toe against the tiled wall frame. Gil caught a bit of John's reluctant acceptance of him filling Roy's place and nodded, "Listen uh, Johnny. If it means anything at all. I rushed ahead of the line and volunteered myself to make this reassignment a little easier for you." Gage said, "Gil. don't pay any attention to my face right now. It's not listening to me at all at the moment. What you think you see there, isn't about you. It's about me not being able to cope fast enough." he said, irritated at himself. "My whole world's been turned upside down in." he looked at his dusty watch,." a little under four and a half hours." And he threw him a dry look and frown. "My brain's seriously fried." But Gil Sheppard went on, feeling an explanation would make himself feel more comfortable. "I barged on ahead of Brice thinking I was the lesser of two evils..heh."  he said wiping off the last of the foam on his face. "Look, I know I can't fill your partner's shoes one hundred percent, a close working team doesn't spring up well oiled over night. I figured I'm less caustic that HE would've been." Johnny walked over next to Gil, and leaned two hands on a sink. "Sheppard. " and he held out his hand. "I'm glad you're here. Welcome to Station 51, partner." and he actually smiled on one side. Relieved, Gil broke off and took Gage's hand. "Been a long time, Johnny. We haven't hung out since Pam died." He shook a callused firm hold,  then let go, turning back to the mirror. "It's been what? Five years?" John, too, studied the mirror and saw the soot and wear of the morning on his forehead and clothes. "I look like a sight for sore eyes." he sighed heavily, "Yeah. Something like that. What've you been up to, lately? I thought you took that cush job up north in the Sierra Nevadas with Station Ten's,  riding shotgun with their elite high country rescue helicopter unit." "I'm still there. But it's not exactly fire or tourist season. Things are slow. And then when we all heard your run go out this morning and then your radio transmissions about Chet and Marco and Roy on the scanner, I knew I had to come and help you guys out, you know. I've got too much history with this station house to just do nothing." Gil said as he absently rinsed the sink. He gave an exaggerated, short polish to one particular carved graffiti heart near his sink, still displaying the faint initials of G.S and P.B. and eyed Johnny from the corner of his eye to see if he noticed the teasing move. Gil and Johnny once competed dating wise for Pam. Gil was the one who eventually won her hand. Johnny dropped his head and put hands on his hips smiling even wider. He was caught. Gil's maneuver had worked. For the first time Gage felt good feelings since the pile up call. "Yeah, Pam always did link us all up together, and between you and Roy,. and Pam, you three finally finagled me into entering the medic program and got my rear off being a rescue man on the engine. How could I refuse the challenge? I didn't stand a chance, a zitfaced teen fireman, standing alone, against two paramedics and a flight nurse telling such tales of heroism and bravery? Not a chance in the world." Gil laughed. John patted his arm in appreciation, "Thanks for being there for the both of us." He meant Roy and himself. "Then ..and now. See you in a bit." And he left to clean himself and get into a new uniform.  Before he got all the way into the water room, he stopped, "Oh, and Gil.." "Hmm??" the tall red haired man grunted around his toothpaste. "Thanks for upstaging Brice. I might have murdered him on the very next run we went on.." "No problem." ----------------------- The county jail physician had noticed DeSoto's arrival through the main doors of the LA county PD, and grunted at the dusty look falling over the minor burns that were still half treated on Roy's arm and chest. He followed Roy through his search, fingerprinting and clothes changing process, attending him silently. Nervously, Roy told him that he had been treated and released by Rampart General officially due to extenuating circumstances, most likely from the detective's eagerness to take him into custody, but the older grizzled man would have nothing to do with that excuse. He treated and covered Roy's blisters with several two by twos and Silvadene.  To Roy's dismay, the handcuffs were not removed the whole time.  Finally, as the older doctor was putting away his supplies, Roy spoke, "I've been through a lot today. I don't usually have a pair of handcuffs locking my wrists together like this. I've a wife and two small kids coming. If you'd just take them off. I'd sure appreciate it." he requested. The old doctor didn't look up, and quipped wearily, "That's what they all say." He took Roy's measure fully. But then said kindly." You don't strike me as a felon Mr. DeSoto, quite the opposite in fact. I'm sure whatever it is you're in for will straighten itself out." Roy didn't say anything contrary, but nodded noncommittally. "I sure hope you're right, doc." "Keep them dry.." the jail physician said. "I'll see what I can do about those restraints." And then he left Roy to his solitude. The attendant guard helped him to change the rest of the way into his overalls without saying a word. Roy's apprehension grew at the cautious manner in which the man handled him.  As if I were a powder keg, about to go off. Ten minutes later, another guard returned and freed Roy from his bonds without questions and he was taken away. The doc was as good as his word. ---------- It was sometime later, Roy was staring at the ceiling of his jail cell, tracing a crack in its official steel gray shine, drawing along it with a finger from his place on the cot while lying on his back. His own mind haunted him. Sunlight through the shadow of leaves from the window made shapes of a checkerboard that flickered on one wall. Its cheerfulness seemed vile to him and he couldn't bear to look at it. Roy sighed, shifting onto his side, to avoid it and scratched at an itch, then winced when he caught a blister's top accidentally with a fingernail.  Just how did I wind up here? The memory he had of the ride in was from a protective haze that had divorced him from his surroundings. Now the gray cell's quiet was restoring his senses. He smelled disinfectant and chlorine from the toilet. And heard the echoes of bar gates slamming as people were moved about around him. Slowly, he forced himself to run over events in his mind of what had taken place that morning. DeSoto folded his elbows above him on the pillow and rested his head on his arms, very sobered by the enormity of how quickly things had changed. Why didn't I see I was unfit to handle Marco's med? I just won't buy the excuse of a headache from the jolt in the floor. I've taken harder knocks than that and still carried out a rescue afterwards. Just where in the hell did I go wrong here?  But answers eluded him as easily as smoke on the wind. A lurid grogginess rose up, masking out his thoughts again in a protective pall. Even before his eyes drifted shut, Roy fell into an exhausted and troubled sleep. ------------ He awoke to a gentle caress on his cheek. Lily of the valley perfume told Roy who was with him. "Joanne? "  he whispered. Roy's wife of seven years placed her head on his nearest shoulder and just laid there, smoothing out its loud orange jail colored material from her place on a chair. She had been watching him sleep for half an hour until her need for contact made her wake him. "Honey, I heard, I'm so sorry about Lopez. It's awful.  Are you ok?" Joanne didn't even begin to imagine the guilt Roy must have been feeling, for volumes of it filled his eyes, making them cloudy. But Roy kissed her head tenderly, and set his hand on the two of hers. "Physically, yes. Emotionally, well, the count's still out on that one. How else can you feel on the day you almost kill one of your coworkers?" Joanne covered her mouth, blinking to shut out her tears and she just wrapped her arms around her husband as if to drive out all of his pain and remorse with just the warmth from her body. Roy closed his eyes, letting silent tears fall but he didn't, couldn't make a sound. Joanne soothed away his chills when he started shaking and gave him her own light jacket to use, pulling it up around his neck. Roy coughed, sitting up, and got a  grip over his fear, studying her eyes, "A-Are the kids here? I don't want them to see their father like this.." Joanne replied, "Don't worry. When Cap and Johnny told us you had been arrested and were no longer at the hospital, I came here alone. Bernice from down the street has them until we get back home." Her last sentence jarred through Roy's senses. "Until WE get home?"  He sat up and they broke apart. "Yes, didn't you hear? Johnny's met your bail. I was allowed back here to come get you." Joanne said with consternation. "Didn't the authorities tell you anything about being released?" "No. No one's told me a thing. Not even the jail doctor. He treated my burns, but kept cuffs on me the whole time." Joanne got a little angry. "Well, they're off now. And I wouldn't be surprised if the officer outside comes in here to open the door any second now. He told me he'd come get us as soon as we were ready to go. I told him to wait so you could rest a little more and to come back when you were awake and talking again." Sure enough, Joanne's guard heard conversation and entered the jail block. He unlocked Roy's cell door, leaving it wide open. "You're free to go, Mr. DeSoto. Detective Fielder is releasing you into house arrest custody until your extradition hearing tomorrow morning. A Mr. Gage covered your bail for you." And the young man left them alone again. "Let's go home, Roy. I don't like it here." Joanne said. --------------- Gil and Johnny were spit and polished for their shift and they made their way around squad and engine to the kitchen, talking animatedly. A voice called from the captain's office. "Gage, Sheppard. A moment if you will."  It was Cap. "Right there." Johnny said. His short lived good mood evaporated immediately. It was Hank's official business tone showing in his voice. "Coming, Cap." Gil said. The two paramedic friends entered the office. Gage spun around and almost left again when he saw who was with his captain. Detective Fielder rose to his feet, "Johnny Gage?" and he offered his hand. "Detective Fielder, from the Investigative Office, FEMA." John took the hand, blank faced, eyeing the wall. He was intently aware of Cap watching his reactions. "Yes. I'm Johnny Gage. I'm Roy DeSoto's partner with the paramedic squad here." he dropped the detective's hand quickly and sat in a chair, putting his feet on Cap's desk, at once challenging and sarcastic, barely civil. Hank surprisingly, grinned at John's body english, and didn't mind the feet sitting on his papers at all. He inwardly despised this Fielder almost as much as his paramedic did. Gil, instinctive firefighter to the last, sat with Gage, folding his fingers with elbows on knees before him, leaning in on the conversation to show his unswaying support nonverbally. Johnny looked at Fielder and didn't look away. "Exactly what can I do for you, sir? Quite frankly, I'm mad as hell you even had him arrested!" Fielder raised his palms in surrender, not at all phased by the accusation. "Now that wasn't my call at all. The PD saw an illegal offense taking place. By law, they were required to act. It was my job to get him to take a leave of absence and to investigate the why and how of what happened. It's the knee jerk protocol of the PD alone that even had Mr. DeSoto cuffed and hauled away without an actual crime scene statistic." "Crime scene statistic.." he grunted angrily. "huh. You're talking about the fact that Marco Lopez hasn't died yet." John said incredulously. Fielder inclined his head. "No body. No crime." Gage scoffed, "Oh, that's nice and tidy, now isn't it? My partner is figuratively hanging himself already over this overdose and then you come along, making him feel like he's Hitler's Dr. Mengele' or something by taking away his paramedic's badge. That's real class, man. Real class." and he kissed his fingers sarcastically in an Italian salute. Fielder sighed deeply from his place, leaning on the wall and he studied his shoes, setting his hands on his hips. The phone rang, interrupting them all. Hank grabbed it up a little too fast, "LA. County Fire Department. This is Captain Stanley." "Yeah..?"  And he wrote down some information on a notepad." Yeah. I'll tell him." Then he hung up the phone, smiling just a bit, "Just heard from Joanne, Johnny. Your bail went through. DeSoto's home now. The kids are at the neighbor's down the street." "Good." Johnny said, glancing briefly at his captain. "At least something's going right today." Fielder wasn't blind to the fire crew's need to vent. He knew how close an engine crew's company could become. It was a little how he considered his own family of detectives to be at the head offices. He gave the men in front of him the benefit of the doubt. "Listen to a voice of wisdom here.  A little bird always tells me this when I'm cornered in a plaintiff's own bailiwick." He drew quotations in the air, " ' I- am- not- the - bad -guy'.hmm?" And he flung his hands wide. Gage and Cap instantly regretted their attitudes. Fielder went on. "In fact, I am here to show that Roy DeSoto isn't one either. The mistake itself is being investigated. Not the man.  Roy DeSoto's fitness for continued service lies with this fine gentleman seated to my left, Mr. Gage." and he gestured to Cap. Johnny and Gil looked up in surprise. "Cap, is this true?" Cap didn't change his expression much but he did look pained.  "In part." and he started to quote a departmental regulation. "Section nine, paragraph 14 in the county's captain's manual. 'In the light of an error of judgement in the field from crewmen under a captain's command, resulting in police action, it is up to the station captain to determine the continued fitness of the effected crewman to perform in his assigned role and course of duty." "So what are you going to do, Cap?"  Gil asked. He saw that Johnny was beyond words. "What the man says. Investigate." and he leaned back against the wall, with fingers laced behind his head, "Now I'm not a whiz on this paramedic's stuff, I don't pretend to be. So I've asked Kel Brackett to be my adjudicator.." Johnny nodded with satisfaction, pleased with the choice. Cap threw a gesture at Fielder. "Sound fair enough?" "The head ER MD?" Then he nodded. "That's acceptable. I'll make arrangements." But Johnny still had a question. "But how are you going to "check" Roy out?  He's been suspended. Can't investigate the work of a paramedic out of uniform." he said, still a touch defensive about the whole affair. Cap made the move of a batter hitting a pitch from home plate. "That's Brackett's department, now isn't it? I have full confidence in the very doctor that trained DeSoto to know and determine, if he's still got the right stuff ..or not." Then Captain Stanley rose, concluding the meeting. "Come on, lunch is getting cold. Odegard's trademark stew on the stove.  Join us, detective?"  he invited Fielder. "Don't mind if I do, captain. That's if.. Gage and company are amenable.." Johnny forced himself to grin and gallantly indicated the door. "I am. Eat with us. And I promise not to beat you to a bloody pulp." His grin went bigger. Gil smacked Johnny's shoulder. "That's what we got a punching bag out back for, Gage. For those oh, so macho aggressive protective tendencies of yours. You should start using it right after you tame that growling stomach of yours. I could use a partner in a better mood as fast as I can get one." "Oh. ha. ha."  He was the last to trail out of Cap's office. He mumbled to himself. "I think I will.." The four men were walking by the wallsized map of L.A. county by the wall when a jarring shimmy came up from the ground, unbalancing them. The dispatch mike came off its spigot on the wall by the intercept alcove and bounced on the floor. It jittered there, and all eyes watched it. "whoa." John exclaimed, "Now that's what you call a tremor.." and he grinned at Fielder's suddenly pale face. "Happens all the time this far south."  He explained to the detective. "Guess your city of Malibu's spared this kind of excitement at FEMA headquarters, huh??" It wasn't past him to torment the detective ..yet. He easily "surfed"  the cement floor subtle undulations. Fielder sighed at his show of weakness with a little frustration. "It doesn't get anything this bad. How strong do you think it is?" Gil checked the width of the power cords swaying back and forth near the garage's ceiling. "From the look of it, only a 2 on the Richter's scale." "Only ..a 2." Fielder echoed. Gil slapped him on the shoulder. "It's nothing. Come on, let's eat. You can still walk during one of these, just, bend your knees a little bit. There. That's right." Cap was stooping to replace the microphone when the overhead grid toned a station's check. It gave the Earthquake Alert Call Sign tones, then the familiar dispatcher came online. 'L.A. County to all stations. Topographical survey confirms a level two earthquake spike. This is a communications check. All stations report in.' Captain Stanley toggled a switch. "L.A., This is Station 51, Communications are patent and clear. You read just fine. 51, out, KMG 365." The sounds of the other stations and units in the county were still coming on the overhead speakers in the kitchen when everyone finally sat at the lunch tables. Around them, the station house creaked and groaned audibly, complaining while the slight tremor continued. Odegard was wiping off some gravy that had spilled at the start of the ground shake. "Ooo, no earthquakes on my shift. you hear me?! This gravy's is too good a batch to go to waste.. so Knock it Off!!" he said, shaking a fist at the window across the kitchen. The ground stilled. "Thank you very much.." and he tossed a pinch of salt over his shoulder for luck. All the guys laughed at his comic relief. The station 51 gang and the Malibu detective began to share their meal and talk, dismissing the minor earthquake from their minds in moments. They turned to filling the hunger in their bellies soon after. ----------------------------------------------------- Roy and Joanne were disturbed from their hard won, peaceful afternoon nap soon after they had comforted each other physically. It was their malamute, Shania, howling a short series of yaps from the yard. At first, Joanne thought it was Bernice, escorting the kids back home early. But then the house began to rock, very slightly. Joanne cracked an eye, watching the tassels on the lampshade dance. She buried her head in her pillow. "Oh, for Pete's sake. Hon. it's another tremor." "What?" Roy mumbled sleepily, he was still groggy but relaxed from the aftermath of their lovemaking. He shifted from his back from how he had been slumbering, to his side, snuggling up close to Joanne once more, wrapping protective arms around his wife's barely rounded, pregnant belly. "Oh. The ground's shaking. Yeah, I can feel it. Nothing to worry about. It's just a ...just a.. " and he began to snore. His breathing leveled off once more. Joanne was instantly comforted by his lack of concern. "Just so you're ok. And the kids. That's all  I need to know.." She too, soon, drifted off to join him in dreams. --------------------------------- Rampart General was alerted through the same agency that ran the fire department dispatch in all of their emergency paramedic calls. About the Richter alert, she herself didn't feel anything. Rampart had backup generators and backups to those backups in a redundant three way linkup. And the main hospital building she was in was too big to even twitch for a level two. Needless to say, she entered the base station as per protocol, reaffirming city wide communications with all nine firehouse paramedical units. Dixie picked up the land line confirming full band transmission to them first, through the fire department's dispatch manned base. Then waited to see if any rescue squad wanted to check out their equipment afterwards. There was only one call ; from Station 36, in Anaheim. They wanted only a session on the radio monitor to test their defibrillator's EKG relay readout. The head nurse obliged them, getting a perfect EKG series from 36's equipment from their location at their station. Including a mock defib against their unit's test plating, remotely. "36. Your defibrillator's output calibrates green. You're good to go. All four leads register fully." "10-4, Rampart. Squad 36, out." Shrugging, Dixie McCall left the tiny room and she turned  on the red lined radio above her work station. It was tuned to the state's official EMS bulletin scanner frequency. Soon, topographical data began issuing on the ground tremor's progress across Los Angeles. She saw Dr. Morton walking by and he raised an eyebrow when he saw the disaster scanner turned on. "Oh, it's nothing, Dr. Morton. A minor tremor , topping only a  2.4 peak in Anaheim, which lasted, in any one spot, for only 20 or so seconds. The EMS room is quiet." she said jerking her nurse's capped head at its status board, showing all stations at their bases. "Not so much as a peep so far from any of them." she meant of the firehouse rescue squad departments city wide. "I see. That's the third alert this month." "Yeah." "I'm feeling lucky, Miss McCall." he muttered, changing the subject and he hefted his chart in her direction, meaning the patient whose data was contained within it. "Oh?" she toned, up a scale, looking for good news. Dixie caught the name of the chart Mike was looking at. "Marco Lopez." she read aloud,  "How's he doing?" "Swelling's going down. He's still comatose and the aberrations on his EKG have gone away. He's off the respirator, breathing on his own." Mike said with a half smile. Dixie looked up still serious, "Is that good?" Morton's face fell. "It's hard to say. His pupils are still fixed, showing deep coma, but it's encouraging to see he's off life support. That might be a sign that Kel's steroidal treatments are having a positive effect and that the Narcan has begun to clear out all traces of Diazepam from his cerebral tissues." "When will you know more, doctor?" Dixie asked. "The neurologists say if there's any rallying to be done by Marco, he's got to show further improvement by nightfall. If he doesn't respond to stimuli appreciably then, we'll have to start speculating that this toxic coma of his might be permanent." Dr. Morton walked away after leaving Marco's chart in the wooden carousel on her desk. Dixie was left only with immeasurable sadness. Unconsciously, she looked at her watch. It was 3 PM. Marco Lopez. You've got four and a half hours to wake up. Or you're never going to, ever. Dixie turned back to her work. -------------------------------- Joanne shook out of a featureless dream, jolting awake and she sat up. Around her, the house was sunny and silent and the birdsong outside the window soothed her spirit. Mrs. DeSoto pulled back the curtains and saw that Shania, too was resting, curled in the sun, by the dog house outside, oblivious to the jays bathing in her water bowl. Grinning at her pet's somnolence, she shifted in bed, and saw Roy's broad back as he slept next to her. She reached out to caress him once more to reassure herself of his physical nearness but changed her mind.  It's better he rests. Tomorrow's only going to be hard on him, too. She looked at the time. It was 4:47 PM.  Oh my. I've got to go to Bernice's before her company comes over. What time we're they arriving for her party again? Oh, yes. Five o'clock. I still have time.  Rising carefully, Joanne got on some clothes, undergarments followed by a soft plaid shirt. She had just buttoned her jeans when Roy shifted, complaining that he couldn't hear the radio, calling in his sleep that he was "available." A familiar mothering pang made her go into the living room for his walkie talkie. She returned to the bedroom and switched it on to a universal frequency, so he could hear the usual babble between the fire departments corresponding with each other and with dispatch as they went about their day. She set the radio on the night stand near him but turned it low enough so that it wouldn't wake him if a call went out for his station. At once, Roy settled down and stopped mumbling. He grew still again, sinking back into slumber. He's most probably listening to it right now.  she mused.  That's just fine. The station is his second home. Joanne kissed him and hurried down the street to collect the kids from Bernice's. ---------------------------------------------- The lunch dishes had just been piled by Mike who had been assigned that detail when a knock on the outer door caught all of their attentions. Puzzled, Cap rose from his chair, leaving the newspaper he had been reading on the table. He went to the kitchen's side entrance access door and opened it. Kelly Brackett stood there in flight fatigues with a folded bundle under one of his arms. "Hello Captain. Thought I'd drop by and start doing some of that adjudicating I promised you I'd start doing." And with that, he barged into the kitchen. He had a field medical pack with him, a teaching one. Grinning, Cap got out of his way.  Time for Operation Wake Up.  he thought happily. "I thought this was your scheduled day off, doc?" John remarked. "It is. I'm not really here if anyone asks. Kapeche?" Brackett challenged. "Clear as crystal." Gage said, getting back to his plate of food. John had an inkling of what his superior was planning, but hadn't quite yet pegged exactly what it was yet. Cap ambled back over to his chair. "Coffee's right over there. doctor. Have you eaten yet?" "Heavily." Kel answered, he grabbed the cup Moreno hastily pro-offered him after he received a less than subtle cue from Cap to give him one. Detective Fielder was rolling up his sleeves, his suit coat over the back of one chair when he noticed the doc standing next to him, "Oh, hello, Doctor Brackett. Come to do some paperwork? I was just going to help out here some." and he smiled hugely. "Don't let me stop you. In fact, I just might keep you on the job, Fielder, afterwards." The rest of the gang already knew what was up and gathered around to watch curiously. Finally, the light dawned on Gage and he began to chuckle, too. The detective felt being ganged upon but to his credit, didn't let it effect him. He stayed relaxed and friendly, "Oh? How, so.?" Brackett reached up and pulled off Fielder's expensive clip on tie and tossed him his folded bundle. "Put these on. I just heard from your superiors that you have to listen and follow every request I make of you.." Fielder caught the clothes, dropped his dish towel on the counter and opened them to see what they were. It was a tunic identical to the one Brackett was wearing. "Well, yes. Technically that's true, within reason." he answered truthfully, but confusion still marred his voice. Brackett grinned diplomatically back, "Oh, believe me. I am being very reasonable, Mr. Fielder. You see, I've just authorized you to be allowed to participate on a paramedic ride along for an entire eight hour working shift. That way, you can see what our front line medical men do up close and personal. Maybe by the end of the day, you'll see just what kind of stresses and pressures that men like Johnny and Gil here, face everyday." Fielder nodded, "If this has something to do with your man DeSoto.. I can't reverse his rescinded license without due cause." But he got into the suit without protesting further. "Fair enough. I am only asking you to ride along with us just as an observer. Captain.. That creates a problem. The squad can only hold three men." Captain Stanley didn't even hesitate. "Sheppard, take the rear pumper slot on the engine next call, you're a water man until situations change it." "You got it, Cap." Gil said instantly. Cap held his hands up in a there you go gesture and got back to his paper. "Problem's solved, Dr. Brackett." "Oh." Kel said, blinking a few times, "That was easy." Cap muttered from his pages, "Always is when you're captain." The guys around him laughed until a glare from Hank over the paper stopped them. "Need anything else?" Cap asked Kel cheerfully. Brackett pursed his lip, thinking but Gage finished his eventual thought. "No.no no. no.. We're set. Now all we need is a r--" A two tone call went out over the intercom. 'Station 51. Citizen reports a smell of gas on the 1800 block of Supomeda Ave. The gas company has been notified. On the corner of Mitchell and Supomeda. Mitchell and Supomeda. Time out 16:49.' Moreno remarked, "Hey I know that area. It's a warehouse district on the edge of an apartment complex. The site's an empty lot if I remember correctly." "We all know that area, Carlos." Cap said, "That's the edge of the Streger factory wing. Remember them guys? There's a track worn in their frontage road from our squad pulling in every week to hand out pipeline violations." "Oh, that's why they're so familiar." Moreno groaned. The guys got up and moved out. John shouted when Fielder just stood there. "Let's go. Let's go. That's us. Get the lead out, Fielder, I gotta fit you for a helmet for you to wear too." And he shoved the man to hurry him along. Brackett took his pack with him. Cap acknowledged their response, "Station 51, KMG 365." And then he got on his overcoat. There was some initial elbow jostling as the bigger Fielder squeezed into the squad with the smaller Brackett in the middle with Johnny taking the wheel but they made good time and still pulled out ahead of the engine. Station 51 activated lights and sirens, which cleared the busy boulevard of traffic and both rescue vehicles turned left to head north into the suburb district of West Lake Village. ---------------------- They stopped about 800 yards from the corner they were given and halted their vehicles. Cap stepped out of the cab of the engine and ordered. "Everyone put masks and air on until we find the problem. I don't want to put anyone at risk until we know more." "Right." they said. Gil got his apparatus on quickly then jogged over to the squad with a gas spigot wrench. He tapped Johnny, who had geared up just as quickly, on the shoulder. "Do you want me to help him get this on?" He pointed to the detective turning straps over, trying to see how the harness went on. Gage nodded, and handed his spare tank to Gil to give to Fielder.  Awkwardly, the tall civilian man put on the strange equipment with the fireman's help. Brackett, already trained and equipped, was ready to go. He stood by Cap as Stanley coordinated plans for a search. "Stoker. Moreno, head east to that substation. See if you can find anything.  Odegard, Sheppard, head north. Doctor Brackett, hang back with me. Johnny, take Fielder. He'll be an extra nose here, pal. Tell him what to expect and keep him safe." "Got it, Cap." Gil said, "What about me?" "You're with us. We'll head south. I see yellow gas line flags over there down in that ditch. O.K. move out people and keep in contact via radio at all times. Check in every five minutes. Move out." The men split up into their four groups and headed into four different directions. Five minutes walking distance from the trucks, the stench of the nitrous oxide indicator grew stronger. It was Johnny who found the leak. It was coming from a fresh crack in the earth. Luckily, a nearby valve was downpipe from it,  sticking up in the open field.   He had spotted it easily. The day breeze was blowing the deadly gas downwind, away from the nearby apartment houses to flow harmless over the LA riverbed. Breathing heavily inside his mask, he brought his radio to his mouth, "Cap! We found it. Looks like the earthquake disrupted this line. There's a new erosion crevasse intersecting the pipeline over here. I have found the shutoff valve. But I'm seeing clear signs of further substrate instability. Over." He gestured to Fielder to hand him the pipe wrench. Dimly the radio in his hand replied. "Got that, Gage. We've just been notified that the gas company is turning off service for the whole area in less than a minute." Gasping through his regulator mask, Johnny tightened the emergency valve until the hiss of gas ended.  Then he pulled Fielder back with him to the road. Back in clear air, Johnny removed his hazard helmet and pulled off his face mask. Fielder joined him doing the same thing. "Whew, That was close. Another five minutes and that whole neighborhood would've gone up into smoke." "How so? It seemed to be such a small leak." the detective said, eyeballing his unfamiliar breathing equipment. Gage watched the indicator on the valve station sink to zero as Cap's promised gas company shutdown, happened before his eyes. Johnny's expression grew very serious. "Fielder, that's natural gas. It hangs together on the ground like fog and is very volatile. Even a leak that small can spread for hundreds of yards until it encounters someone's open window well. After that it's just a matter of time before the gas bank encounters a pilot light in the basement. Then, " And he gestured a huge explosion. Fielder paled. "How often does this kind of leak occur?" Gage sighed wearily, "During every earthquake man, during every single, solitary one of them. This part of town lies in a fault line. My station's been handing out pipeline violations to this land owner for years. Nothing gets fixed. He's rich enough from those warehouses to keep up paying all the fines." The detective thought on it. "You think the city would have planned ahead and not put in those warehouses over there so near the fault. Even I can see it along there.. and there." "Tell me about it. What you see before you is a good example of your typical inane land developer's ignorance at work." Gage said sweeping a glove over the landscape showing the factories and the riverbed and the field they had just escaped. He stood a moment wiping the sweat from his eyes before sighing. "All right, looks like the gas has dissipated. Let's start heading back." Fielder, unknowingly, stepped back into the field near the crevasse. heading towards where the unseen rescue trucks were parked. "Fielder! No!! That ground's unstable!!" But the fragile ground gave way under the big man made even heavier by the forty five pound breathing apparatus strapped to his back. He plummeted into a fast yawning hole. Johnny leaped and by some miracle, caught him. He grabbed his arm at the elbow, "Hang onto me! Hang onto me." Fielder gasped, yelling. "Ahh!" "Give me your other hand, Fielder. Your other hand! Ughhh!! I got ya.!!" He tried not to watch the earth sink and disappear underneath the detective's dangling feet. "Don't look down. Just hang on! I got ya." Gage could hear the ground still caving in underneath him beneath the ribbon of road. Slowly, over agonizingly long seconds, he hauled the detective out of the growing sinkhole and crevasse using the straps from the air bottle and finally, using his pants belt, dragging Fielder onto the solid concrete road beyond the gaping edge. Both men collapsed on their sides, gasping for a minute while they got their winds back. Then they helped each other to their feet. Gage looked at Fielder carefully, "You ok? I just about tore your arm off grabbing ya." Fielder shook his left arm, "Good thing I work out with weights every morning. Or I would've been missing that arm." he leaned over unsteadily but grinning. Gage said, "Here, we won't be needing these things anymore. The gas is off." And he helped the shaken detective out of his air bottle equipment. The radio, by an odd stroke of luck, hadn't been swallowed in the cave in. It still lay on the frontage road. Johnny scooped it up again. A cloud of dust rose into the air from the crater where the field had been. "There's no way Cap's going to miss seeing that. He's going to come running. Man, that's a big cloud of debris.. I wonder what's happening down there.." No sooner than the words escaped his mouth, than the spidering crevasse grew, sinking in a new crack straight towards the row of houses and the trees lining the yards there. "Oh, no." He got onto his talkie, "Cap! Cap! Looks like we got us a full fledged sinkhole in progress. Fifty yards across and growing. It's headed for those homes over there!" "We're checking it out, pal. Do the same!!" he ordered. Gage pulled off his apparatus and started running down the only safe place he could, the concrete road, trying to follow where the rumbling crevasse was heading. Fielder kept up. Then he saw a large Eucalyptus tree containing a treehouse. He briefly saw a head in its window looking up in horror before the whole tree toppled over from its roots losing purchase in the loosening ground. Gage heard a male scream just before the rumbling ended. It cut short just as the massive splintering tree settled to earth. Silence reigned, the sinkhole was finished eating. For the moment. He took a risk and leaped over the crevasse into the effected backyard.  He turned right back shouting at Fielder, "Go back to the squad. Get the guys and the medical gear!!  Right rear compartment. Grab the white, red and black boxes. We've got a man trapped in here!  Go!!" Fielder disappeared over the rise pelting away strongly. Johnny pulled out his radio as he fought his way through the jumble of branches. He made sure his helmet stayed on his head, feeling vulnerable among the cracked tree limbs jutting all around him.  He got to a heavily shaded section and saw a nailed wall, partially crumpled. The treehouse! "Hey!  Can you hear me?!! " Only the wind filled the backyard and birdsong. "Hey!!" Johnny yelled even louder. He couldn't see anything through the leaves. Then a moan. To his left. Gage scrambled over a thick fork of the tree and down into the shattered house.  His victim was a teen aged boy, wearing a blue football jersey. Johnny got onto his radio. "Squad 51 to engine 51. I have a causality." He looked around at the surrounding houses for an identifying landmark or house number, none were apparent from his angle.  Damn.  He reached for the boy's neck for a carotid. It was there, but fading fast. Nor were there any cars or people about in the neighborhood.  Everyone's still at work. he speculated.  Fat lot of good it'll do me now. I need someone to tell me where we are.. "Go ahead, Johnny!" Gil answered back on the radio. Gage got an idea. "Hang on for a 10 -20." he gasped, crouching nearer the teen's head. He set the radio on a branch and leaned down. "Hey. can you hear me?" The boy moaned and opened his eyes. "Listen." Johnny said, holding his face carefully to keep the boy from moving around. "Help's on the way. but I need to know what your house address is here." The young man began to sag in shock. John dug a pen cap into the top of one of the boy's fingernails to rouse him further. "Listen to me. What's your address?? Hey, we're going to need help getting you out of here." The teenager gasped at the inflicted pain and didn't open his eyes.  But Johnny thought he had been understood. He moved near the boy's mouth to listen as he began to move his lips. "Sev-- nn,  ni." The effort wore out the injured teen, he fell silent, just trying to draw breath. "All right. All right." Gage said, keeping a hand on the young man's chest. "Just take it easy. We'll find another way to let them know where we are." he said, beginning to cut open the football jersey to expose a soft spot his fingers had found from his assessment, with his shears. "Just try to relax." Gage didn't like the way the teen was breathing. It seemed that he had broken ribs on that discolored left side and a distinct sound of bubbling, which attested to fluid building in his chest. Johnny mumbled to himself. "Oh great. Pneumothorax."  His lung's collapsing. But his sweep of the boy's legs showed no fractures and his back and neck were fine and in proper alignment the whole way down his spine from what he could feel. He got back to Gil, clicking the talk button, "Gil, He said something like. seven or seventeen or seventy nine.. I can't be absolutely certain. We won't be able to get a definite address of this house." Then, he remembered. He fell onto his backup plan. "Watch for Fielder!! He knows where we are!!" "I'm on it!" A few seconds later. "I think I see him a quarter of a mile up the road. Hang on!!" Johnny could hear Cap and Moreno and the others calling back and forth to each other, both live and on the talkie trying to find him. He had done all he could. He had to start concentrating on keeping his victim alive now. He crouched back over his patient. "Hey. how are you doing?" The teen focused uncertainly on Gage's face, but the nail rub had definitely brought him more to consciousness. "I'm with the L.A. County Fire Department. Saw your tree go down." he joked. "Quite a sight." The teen smiled a bit, then winced in pain as something sharp dug into his side again.  Ow. something's busted." A low rumble made him cut off what he was saying. A sudden new shift in the ground made a new dust cloud roar up around them. The shattered tree began to "crawl" around them as the sinkhole shuddered into life once more. The ground sagged beneath them. Gage threw himself on top of the kid's face and chest as a huge section of tree came down on top of them both. --------------------------- Gil and the other men got together to swap info. Breathlessly, Fielder shared the news. "You say Gage was near the leak on the other side of the field.?" Cap said, leaning out of his cab, looking toward the rising dust cloud. He didn't think either the engine nor the squad were light enough to drive onto the weakened frontage road. Only the concrete's rock hardness kept the road in one piece. A lot of the earth under it, had vanished.  "All right. Grab your gear, all. We go in on foot. Show us where he is Fielder. " He raised his talkie to his lips. "Engine 51 to Squad 51, come in." There was no reply. "Engine 51 to Squad 51, Come in.." Still nothing. And Captain Stanley didn't like the fact that the ground was rumbling again from over where Fielder had come running. Cap leaned in the cab and flicked on the air horn, hitting it twice in a summons. Then he shouted over the loud speaker. "Gage!! If you can hear us.. Hit your squelch, buddy." They all looked at the Cap's handy talkie, waiting for the double squeal that was the standard reply for any man lost. The static remained. Cap got onto his CB radio. "L.A. we've got a search and rescue operation on our hands. Roll an additional responding unit to our location. We've multiple cave-ins. Casualties involved. Tell them to use the east road only upon arrival." "10-4, 51." Cap hopped out of the engine and ordered all to grab extrication and medical gear and two sets of stokes as he heard the new rescue call roll out from dispatch following a new set of summoning tones.  Station eight was rolling out to aid her sister station. "Engine 51. This is station 8. Our ETA is ten minutes." "A long time." Brackett who had been listening intently, had his medical bag. "Would it help if I tried to find a way in down that lane in front of those houses?" Cap looked where Kelly Brackett was pointing. "Couldn't hurt. Fielder. You go with him." Gil handed the detective the biophone and trauma kit. "You got airways in there?" he asked the doc about his satchel. "A ton. I got a D tank in here, too." Sheppard nodded. "Good, then we'll keep our O2 on this side of that crevasse. That way will have a double chance on one of us reaching Johnny with one of them." Brackett and Fielder left on the run towards the tree filled neighborhood's entrance road. Cap, Gil, Odegard and Moreno ran back down the frontage road to the site of the leak. The dust made it hard to see much so they ran north a bit more until they got into clear air. The sinkhole was huge, stretching more than sixty yards across and its far edge had eaten more than six large trees. Gil's heart sank.  I hope Johnny's not down there. He doesn't stand a chance. -------------- Roy woke up, tightening every muscle. He wasn't yet awake, but he could've sworn he heard Johnny nearby. Then his eyes focused past the clock to the walkie talkie beyond and he heard a pain wracked voice again. "Squad 51 to L.A. Do you ..c- copy?" Roy flung himself across the bed to grab the radio. "Johnny! It's Roy. Where are you?" But Johnny's dry voice just repeated its hail. "L A. Over. I'm with a victim. caught in a landslide..*ugh*. I've been injured, do you read.?" Roy tried again to contact his partner but it was horrifyingly clear that Johnny could only send and not receive on his radio.  DeSoto dressed as he had never dressed so fast before, into a T and jeans, and then switched the frequency to dispatch headquarters. "L.A. This is squad 51. Repeat Engine 51's 10 -20. Emergency." He knew dispatch would react to his call sign anyway, being ignorant of personnel shift assignments for each paramedic at each station. Roy would get his information regardless of whether or not he was on duty. "51, the address was reported as being on the 1800 block of Supomeda and Mitchell. Last update, Engine 51 reported a resolved gas leak, then multiple cave-ins. A paramedic is transmitting but isn't replying to incoming hails. His location is unknown." Roy's voice cracked, "That's six blocks from here.." He lifted his talkie to his mouth. "10-4, LA. Out." It was 5:45. At the door he caught Joanne and the kids coming in. "Oh hi Roy. Bernice offered the kids hotdogs at the party and I couldn't resist her fondue." She held up a crock pot, "Saved you some." Michael launched himself in a child's greeting at his father and so did the younger Jessica. Roy caught them into an automatic hug, but set them down immediately. "Kids, not right now, Daddy's real busy." His urgency caught his wife right away. "Roy, what's the matter.?" she said, setting the pot on the hallway table. "It's Johnny, He's at a rescue just over the hill. There's been a cave in and I think he's trapped." As he spoke his fingers twisted the radio back to Johnny's frequency. showing her what he had found. "My patient's vitals are worse.. I think my arm's broken." They all heard a pained soaked Gage report. Roy took off at a dead run around the house after snatching up a sweatshirt John had forgotten at his house a week ago. Joanne ran after him, telling the kids to stay in the house and to wait for her. She met Roy, oddly, in the back yard. He was undoing Shania's chain. "Roy,, I know it sounds bad. But you can't leave here!. Aren't you under house arrest?  The other men on the crew can get help to him." Roy looked up from the knot he was untying around Shania's collar. She was whining picking up the human's sudden distress. She began howling.  "I'm going, Joanne! I'll deal with the legal consequences later on.  I know that neighborhood. I've got the best chance of reaching Johnny. Our house is on the other side of the hill from the cave in. I've got clear access from this side!" He knelt by the excited Malamute, grabbing her collar. "Shania. "  He thrust Gage's sweatshirt he had snatched up under her nose. "Find Johnny. Go. Seek. Find Johnny. Now."  He let her go as the dog latched onto something on the wind and lifted her head. She took off running uphill towards Mitchell Road. Joanne called after Roy, shouting desperately, "Oh Roy,, be careful.!" "Keep the kids inside, Joanne. Don't let them follow me." He fought to keep up with Shania, regretting that he had flung her leash off in his haste to start her tracking Gage. As he ran, he listened to the radio pressed next to his ear for more clues..  Come on , Johnny. Keep talking. I'm coming. ------------------ In the wreckage of tree, Gage was leaning against a huge limb, favoring his left arm. He suspected a humerus fracture on himself.  A simple one. But enough to cripple me.  he cursed. He curled around the teen's head once more as he sent another radio transmission out on his station's frequency. "I'm at a treefall, inside a collapsed treehouse." He cast his eyes around the hidden tangle. "I'm hearing ..water, so I can't be that far away from the riverbed." he gasped. He didn't know if the radio was even working. A heavy limb had cracked its casing in the last cave in. A moan from the boy drew his attention downward. "L-Lissst-n. to  me. If ..I..on't make it--" the teen panted. "Hey, who said you're going to die now?" Gage told him, adjusting the boy's head and neck to give him the best airway possible. "Just stay with me. all right. You're going to have to keep awake from now on. You think you can do that for me?" The teen coughed, and bloody froth bubbled out of his nose. Johnny cursed.  Yep. Definite a pneumo. A tension pneumo from the looks of it.  "Hey, what's your name? I see you are a Pittsburgh Steelers fan here," as he pointed to the teen's cut open jersey, and nodding. The teen smiled, "Steven-n. S- Sure am. Best team in the whol--" his eyes began to roll in the top of his head. Johnny dug his pen back into one of Steven's nails. "Hey.   Wake up." Steven's eyebrows rose but he didn't open his eyes. Johnny told him the reason to fight harder. "Steven. you've got to keep awake. I know how hard it is. But we've got a problem if you go out on me. I've only got the use of one arm here."  If he codes. I won't be able to do his CPR.   "Not much I can do after that to help you. So keep listening to my voice and try to concentrate on staying with me. Ok ? Help is on the way. But you're going to have to just hang in there as long as you can. It won't be long now."  I hope.  he amended. Another nearby rumble created another cloud of dust and twigs and more branches rained down on Gage and Steven. One caught Gage across his broken arm. He blacked out. ------------------- When he came to, the dust was only slightly less.  I couldn't have been out long. Frantic, he looked over to Steven. A thick tree trunk about six inches in diameter lay across Steven's throat. His face was blue. Groaning, Gage dragged himself over to the boy and used his legs to push it up and off of his neck.  He flopped down in agony around his arm at the pain the effort cost him and gasped for long tortured seconds.  Come on. Check him.  he told himself. Gage found a weak heartbeat but there was no sound in his lungs.  Not even trying to breathe anymore. He dug a hole in the dirt with his good hand until Steven's head flopped back opening his airway again.  Gage tucked his broken arm into his shirt with his other hand, swallowing around his own pain, then leaned over, giving the boy a couple of short breaths mouth to nose, using the grip of his good hand to hold his jaws shut. It was the best he could do with the use of only one arm. "Come on, Steven!  Don't give up on me now." The chest beneath his hand didn't rise. Again, a series of short breaths, this time more of them, more forcefully, but not enough to exacerbate the torn left lung. "Hey. wake up!!" Steven jerked, and began to cough and wheeze weakly, Johnny used a shred of jersey to soak up the blood in the boy's mouth as he began to breathe once more. "That's it. Be a fighter." He slid his fingers to Steven's throat to monitor the thudding pulse there.  Come on, Cap. Find us. We don't even have that golden hour for this one. We gotta make every second this boy has count. ------------------------ Dr. Early and Dixie McCall were bent over Marco's bedside with an aural scope and penlight. It was almost six o'clock. The deadline the neurologists had said would mark the demarcation between a miracle and a tragedy for Lopez's future prognosis. It was time for a change. Dixie handed Dr. Early his different scopes as he checked inside Marco's ears for the color and perfusion of his eardrums.  "They're pink. His parasympathetic nervous system's made a comeback. Open one of his eyes and shine this light in it. I want to see if he reacts." Dixie did so, peeling away the protective tape, soon, noting again the awful dilation of  Lopez's pupil from the norm. Dr. Early ordered. "Observe his pupil closely." He raised Marco's metal chart and brought it sharply down on the bedside table inches from Lopez's ear creating a very loud impact sound. Dixie saw the black circle shrink sharply, then relax back into its normal size. "Joe! It's reactive!" Dr. Early freed Marco's other eye and saw the same result, "He's coming out of it." And one of his hands found a waiting epinephren syringe from a nearby crash cart and quickly injected a few cc's of it into Marco's IV port. Joe and Dixie held their breaths. Then the EKG monitor began to speed up into a blissfully normal sinus rhythm. "Uughhhhhhhhhhh..." Lopez said and blinked. "He's awake." she grinned. "Yeah, but does he have any frontal lobe damage?" Joe wanted to know. Dixie leaned in, "Marco. Marco. Can you hear me?" His eyelids twitched and he sighed, a rich wonderful voluntary sigh. ".w-who wants to know??" Then his eyes opened and he smiled with a full intelligence behind his look at doctor and nurse. "Oh, it's you guys. Though you were mama calling to me for a sec, Miss McCall." Joe straightened. "Well. I guess the answer to my last question is a very resounding no." "No !!" Dix said simultaneously beaming happily. "I guess Gage finally gets his dream phone call after all. she said. Dixie reached for the landline on the wall, "Yes, hospital operator? Patch me through to the fire department's dispatch. I need to get in contact with a Fireman Gage at 51's in a relay as soon as possible. Yes. I'll hold." "Hey, what's going on?" Marco asked. -------------------------------------------------- Roy's lungs were near to bursting. He could see the dust cloud coming from a backyard in the next row of houses down from where he was running. In order to make time, he'd have to find a short cut. Shania seemed to agree. For she took a low hedge fence in a giant leap into precisely the most direct descending yard, whose last fence framed the one the sinkhole had claimed.  Roy held onto his radio a little tighter, and shouted into it. "Hang on, Johnny, I'm coming.! Shania. locate Johnny. Find him. There's a good girl." Together, dog and paramedic ran towards the fallen tree and the debris they could both see inside of it, 500 yards away. There wasn't any more dust rising from it, nor were there any more transmissions from Gage. "Johnny!!" ----------------------- "Mr. Gage?" It was the detective.  "I got your doctor here." Brackett leaned over the edge of the sinkhole, "Johnny how are you? You sound bad.." Gage looked up even though his head was beginning to spin, "I'm fine. Just my arm. It's this kid I'm worried about. A possible tension pneumo. He's already quit breathing once on me. Get down here!" "How? We don't have a rope?" Fielder said. "Use this!" a new voice said, and a good solid clothesline was flung down into the hole, already tied to a secure tree. Fielder gaped, "DeSoto? What are you doing here? You should be in house custody." "Yeah well, there's two people who need me more than any court justice does so I'm going. Arrest me later." he said, "Come on, doc. You first. You've got the equipment. Me and Fielder will hold on to your line until you're down there." Shania showed her fearlessness and negotiated the loose earthen wall, showing the men the most solid places to put their feet. She leaped the rest of the vertical drop and ran to the object of her search, Johnny. She sat by him, and pawed his leg once to show she completed her task. Roy quickly rigged a seat rope web and Kel stepped into it. "Use the same footholds my dog used. Her instincts are always good whenever I rock climb. Should work here." The malamute rose and went over to Steven, staring into his face, whining. She licked his chin once and barked at Johnny. "I know. I know.." Gage muttered. "Just hold on there girl, we aren't as nimble as you are. kay?" he grinned, pushing her away from his patient's face with his foot, to make room for the doctor to land near them. "Ok, doc!! Come on down.." Kel was lowered to the bottom in record time. He dropped the rope and unslung his pack, opening it.  He paused near Johnny long enough to see how shocky he was. He ordered, "As soon as I get this kid stabilized, I want you to get on a cannula, Johnny. You'll be more comfortable. Without it, you're fair game for passing out. I wouldn't give you ten minutes more before that happens. I don't want the guys to have to stokes you out too. That'll slow us all down getting the kid out." Gage just nodded wearily. "I will. See to him first." "Spoken like a true hero.." Brackett said. The words weren't lost on the detective watching them. He grew thoughtful. Kel got to work. Johnny spoke from where he was folded on the ground, "His head and neck's clear. No abdominal guarding, no fractures apart from the ribs on that left side. His pulse's rising. He's breathing shallow and he's got rales in that lung, doc. And I think I heard some crepitus under the skin over that spongy area." Brackett felt the site of the rib breaks. He heard and felt the plastic bubble wrap like patch Johnny mentioned right where he said it would be, "You're right Johnny, He's leaking a lot of air here. Definitely a tension pneumothorax." But Johnny wasn't listening. He was watching Steven. "Doctor Brackett. Check him. I think he's--" Kelly felt for a neck pulse. He didn't find one. "He's arrested. Roy! Get down here!! Johnny's not going to be able to help me." Fielder shouted, "Wait a minute, I can't authorize that!!  DeSoto can't treat a man without a license and letting him could cost not only my job, but yours!" Shania began to growl at the nervous stranger above her. She didn't understand why her dislike of him grew. Only that it did. Brackett looked up from delivering a breath to Steven before he shifted to his chest, beginning CPR. "Do you want this kid to die, Fielder? Cause most assuredly he will. in very short order! Hurry up, Roy." He shifted his hand position again, keeping his compressions even to minimize the damage internally. "Gage, you stay put." he snapped when Johnny tried to move closer. "Twelve, thirteen, fourteen." Then Johnny and Roy's radio came to life. It was Dixie. "Rampart to Squad 51, guess who's wide awake and asking for breakfast?" They all could hear Marco's voice talking in the background. Brackett turned eyes on Fielder as soon as he finished delivering another set of breaths. "Looks like you no longer have a case, detective. Let him pass!! NOW!!!" Fielder sobbed, relieved that he was legally freed and he moved aside, grabbing the rope. Soon, Roy got to where he most wanted to be, down to where two lives could be saved by the skill of his own two hands and a little bit of luck. -------------------------- "So did he make it?" Lopez wanted to know. "Of course." Kel said, folding his arms together. "I was his attending physician." From the bed next to Marco's, Johnny protested. "Hey, who was the first rescuer on the scene? Huh?  Me.." he said. "I should get at least partial credit for Steven's save." Chet looked up from his funnies from a third bed, "Yeah, Johnny, but it was all of you, as a team that really saved that kid's life.  Even your dog, Roy." Everyone chuckled, infectious giggles spreading. Roy smiled, pleased, and rubbed the sweater he was wearing over his arms. "I would have brought Shania here to our little get together. But, it's against hospital rules now isn't it Dixie?" Nurse McCall felt put on the spot and interjected, "Well,. I didn't make up the rules now did I? But.. I seem to remember a time where a certain ER doctor I know once operated on a goat he himself let into the hospital.. isn't that right Dr. Brackett? Now that, was an infraction.." she emphasized the last word. Brackett wore his best snarly grimace, "No dogs. Period." But that ploy just set everyone off again. A knocking at the private patient room door got all of their attentions. Johnny said, "Hey, maybe it's Cap and the rest of the gang. Come in!" he shouted. Detective Fielder entered the room with a box wrapped in gold ribbon. Immediately the mood in the room chilled. "I ..uh, hope I'm not disturbing you, fellows.." he began. "Who's he?" Marco and Chet piped up simultaneously. "Shhhh!" the rest of them said. Finally, Johnny relented, "What do you want detective." It was not a question. "I.. wanted to apologize to you, Mr. DeSoto for my out of line behavior at the cave-in. I was more concerned for my own financial health than I was for the health of that teenager or your partner here. I... wanted to make it up to you fellas somehow." he set the box on the bedside table over Gage and slid it near Roy.  "Just a small token." Chet, Marco, Dixie , Brackett and Johnny, all looked at Roy to see what he would do next. Roy, graciously,  unwrapped the golden ribbon and opened the lid, looking inside.  He pulled out a check and read it. "For the US Firefighters Fund, a sum of twenty thousand dollars. Mr. Fielder, I'm speechless. This is.. this is the station 51's disaster charity. How did you find out about it?" "A little bird told me." he said sharply, right before it melted into a full warm smile. Roy looked at Fielder then offered him his hand in friendship, truly touched. Detective Fielder returned the grasp and smiled slightly. "Put that money to good use. And.. use any extra for, " and he pursed his lips, thinking,..".. a sleep deprivation awareness class for the next fire fighting seminar coming up, ok? Your case could teach other paramedics about the dangers of that risk. Look at what we've learned from it." With that, he left the room. Gage fumbled for the box trying to reach the check with his unencumbered arm. "A twenty thousand dollar check? No sheet..." he said incredulously. "Let me see that. I've never seen a check for so-" Something inside the box thunked around underneath the tissue paper folded there. "Hey, Roy. There's something else in there. I think you'd better take a look." Johnny said. Roy unfolded the wrap further and saw his badge and wallet ID. "Well I'll be.. He managed to get the police case thrown out of court." A shaft of sunlight sparkled on the badge's back, making Roy look down. He brought it up closer to his eyes, "Hey, an inscription's been put on the back on a tiny plaque." "What does it say?" Chet said, his funnies column long abandoned. Roy tipped his paramedic's badge into better light and he read. "To all the heroes who save lives by their countless thousands at the peril of their own. May our need for them dwindle and become no more." His eyes misted over, and he said, "Never knew Fielder was such a poet." Marco said it all in the end, "Never knew we were such a tight knit group to even be stupid enough to consider doing that kinda hero stuff, yyuck." he said, holding fingers against his own weepy eyes. Johnny laughed so hard, his cast hurt, giving him the perfect alternative excuse, for his crying. Dix and Kel left the room quietly to let them heal, together. author's comments: I wrote this piece for sheer joy of it after fans begged me to write more. I apparently have a very vivid style that makes my stories feel like a real Emergency episode. This series is responsible for getting me into the emergency medical field, working as an NREMT in Minnesota. P.S.   I love you Johnny Gage and Roy  DeSoto, you are my heroes. The actors aren't so bad either.  :) :) :) All references to the Sept 11th US terrorist attacks in the final scene were intentional, the only way I know how to honor them..by setting adrift, a bit moment of their memory, even if only as a passing connection made within the mind of the reader. return to main page