Keep You Hat On! by Icecat62 "Turn here Roy." Pointing to the left, Gage could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Every call, no matter what it was, never ceased to make him wired and ready for action. As they pulled up to the scene, he hopped out of the cab of the squad and began pulling his gear from the compartments. Yes, he thought of it as his gear. Any rescue that involved climbing or rappelling, he always made sure 'he' was the one who would be doing the job. It wasn't that he felt that his partner couldn't handle the rescue, it was something he actually enjoyed. Climbing, whether it be on duty or off, called to him. There was something about the height, being so far above the ground, that sent his spirit souring. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn he was an eagle in a previous life. Pushing his helmet back, he shielded his eyes from the midday sun. "Well Roy, whaddya' think?" "It's kind of high." He couldn't help turning to look at Roy and smiling. "Yeah it is, isn't it." He snickered as Roy shook his head and sighed in resignation. It was a well-known fact that he didn't relish the high rescues. Too many jokes and references to his dislike of heights were well known around the station and to be honest, it was known throughout the department as well. Cap walked up to them and clapped Roy on the back, smiling the entire time. Looking skyward, his smile broadened. "He's up there isn't he?" Roy sighed again. "Yes, he is." Gage decided to put an end to Roy's torment. He knew that if push came to shove, Roy wouldn't hesitate to scale any height. "Well Cap, I think I could climb the scaffolding, then make my way along that piping. It looks like the same thing as that guy on the crane we rescued last year." Cap nodded his head in agreement. "That sounds good to me, just make sure you don't get your hand caught in the pulley this time." "I didn't get my hand caught, it was my glove." "John, your hand was in the glove, the glove was in the pulley." "It was the cuff, not 'my' hand." He ended their debate, by sharply pulling the buckles to his belt tightly around his waist and hefted the ropes over his shoulder. With a cocky grin, he made sure he tugged the strap of his helmet in place. Turning to Roy, he was all business. "As soon as I get him tied off, I'll send the rope down to you." **************************************************** The climb wasn't all that hard. One hand over another, pulling himself upward, he made his way to the top. Slowly inching his way along the piping, he snapped the clip onto a loop and lowered himself the few feet to the platform where the steel worker was laying. Slowly working his way over to the man, he checked for a pulse. He pressed his fingers a bit harder into the jugular, his face dissolving into one of defeat. Bringing the HT up, he toggled the button. "The victim is Code F. I'll work on getting the scaffolding down." He spent a few seconds looking at what was once a living, breathing human being now reduced to nothing more than an empty shell. He hated the feeling of cold skin. He hated losing a rescue before he even had a chance to try. The man at his feet had been gone too long. The cold skin, the blue lips and gray skin all told him what he needed to know. Making his way to the pulley system, he shook his head. It was a simple jam. If the worker had been able to lower himself to the ground, maybe he could have gotten some type of help sooner. Being suspended high above the ground, he had been issued a death sentence. Releasing the jam, Gage began slowly lowering the scaffolding down toward the ground. As he drew closer to the ground, he could feel something was wrong. Looking at the pulley that he had freed the jam from, he couldn't see anything wrong. Just as he turned to look at the opposite pulley, the scaffolding shifted, throwing him down. He was only twenty feet above the ground, but it might as well have been a hundred. As the workers body began to slide off, he instinctively grabbed for it. The additional weight did something he hadn't expected. The railing on the scaffolding that he had clipped his belt to snapped, sending him sliding down the tilted planking. The worker's weight drug him quickly down, knocking his helmet off. The feeling of weightlessness terrified him. The plummet to the ground was quick and the landing hard. For one split second he could feel pain, then blackness claimed him. ******************************** Taking the call on the HT, Roy began putting the equipment back in the squad. He hated having to use the tools of the trade, but most of all, he hated a call where he never had the chance to put them to use. Death had left its calling card high above them, taking another life without a second thought. Closing the compartments, he turned back to watch Gage as he lowered the scaffolding. A nice routine recovery. The moment the thought went through his mind, the scaffolding tilted, then to his horror he watched as first the worker's body slid off, then Gage tumbled after him, his helmet flying away from his body as he plummeted to the ground. Before their bodies made contact with the ground, Roy was running toward them. He could hear the sound of flesh impacting with dirt and the dull thud of Gage as he landed. Scrambling up the dirt pile, he knelt down beside Gage, his hand automatically checking for a pulse. "Johnny...Johnny can you hear me?" He hadn't expected to hear him reply. His hands continued their exploration of Gage's prone figure. Surprisingly, he didn't find any broken ribs and his spine seemed unaffected by the fall. It wasn't until he checked the legs that he found a break. Cap, Chet and Marco came over with a stokes and equipment. Roy had made contact with Rampart, loaded Gage onto the stokes and was now heading toward the waiting ambulance. The horror that he had felt when he watched his partner fall was now replaced by a cold fear. Gage had only responded to pain stimuli from a sternum rub. Roy wanted to see him awake and able to talk. ************************************ The doors to the ambulance closed and he heard the slap of Cap's palm on them. The slight sway of the vehicle increased as they picked up speed. Looking at his watch, Roy wished they could go even faster. Taking the pen light from his shirt pocket, he leaned over, prepared to check Gage's vision. He pulled back in surprise as he was met by two brown eyes squinting at him. A slow smile came to his face. "I see you decided to wake up." Licking his lips, Gage's eyes darted around the interior of the ambulance, then his eyes registered surprise. "I'm not dead?" Roy's own smile widened. "No Junior, you're alive." "How?" Roy didn't really want to tell him, but he figured sooner or later he'd find out. More than likely it would be Chet that would tell him. For some reason Chet liked to talk about their weird or morbid rescues. "You landed on the worker." Gage's eyes widened. "I...I landed on..." Roy placed a reassuring hand on Gage's shoulder. "Johnny, he was already dead, he didn't feel a thing." "I know, but..." Closing his eyes, he swallowed back the bile that was rising to the top of his throat. He was alive because he crushed the body of a dead man. What if the worker had been alive? "Johnny, he was dead...you're not." Opening his eyes, he looked at Roy. He tried to nod his head, but it was securely strapped down. "Uh Roy? My helmet?" "It got knocked off. I don't know where it is." "Cap's gonna' kill me. He'll think I didn't strap it on." "Johnny, I don't think he'll care about it." "You think so?" "Yeah." ***************************** Walking down the hall, Chet looked around, hoping to spot Roy. Instead, he saw Dixie. "Miss McCall, is Johnny okay?" Dixie was use to having people forget to say hello or use other pleasantries. When someone was hurt or injured, she really didn't care either. "Yes Chet, he's doing fine." "Really?" "Yes, really." "Can I see him?" "Well, he's in getting x-rays and we're pretty certain he'll be needing a cast..." "Can I see him before then? I mean, if we get a call, I don't know when I'll be able to get back." Shaking her head, Dixie began leading Chet to the exam room where Gage and DeSoto were. Just as she reached the door, the x-ray technicians came out. Walking in, Chet went straight to the table where Gage lay. "Hey John." Gage gave Chet a glazed look, the morphine in his system made his reactions sluggish and blissfully pain free. "Hey there Chester." Roy looked down at Chet's hands. "What's that?" Chet held up a flattened metal object. "Uh...I'm sorry. When I backed up the squad, I kind of ran over it. I didn't know until it was too late and...well...here." He held the crushed helmet out to Gage. Roy frowned at him and took it. Chet shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, it was an accident." Gage mumbled sleepily. "Yeah...accident...Cap'll be pissed." Chet's face fell. "I didn't do it on purpose!" Gage smiled sleepily. Deep inside he knew he had gotten to Chet. Roy couldn't help smiling too. The helmet may have been crushed, but at least Gage wasn't. FEEDBACK |