THE STORY OF FRIENDS by Mary Ann "Gage!" Hank's bellow from the doorway startled Johnny out of his search. "Yeah, Cap?" He asked innocently, looking up from the desk drawer he was searching through in his lap, while sitting on top of Hank's desk. "Yeah Cap? Yeah Cap? Is that all you have to say? Look at what you did to my office, ya twit!" Hank gestured to the chaos that was now his office. Johnny glanced around nervously taking in the destruction he had wrought while on his mission. "I'm sorry Cap, I'll clean it up, just as soon as I find what I'm looking for." "And just what are you looking for?" "A pen refill. I saw some in here somewhere the other day. My green pen's out of ink." "That's a good enough reason to tear my office apart?" Hank asked incredulously, he grabbed his pen out of his shirt pocket and held it out to Johnny. "Here, for pity's sake. Take mine." Johnny held up his hand, and shook his head. "No offense Cap, but I need my green pen." "Don't tell me you're superstitious?" Johnny sighed, and dropped his hand. "Look, call it superstition if you want, but the one day I didn't have it with me, I almost bought it in a cave-in." Hank frowned as he searched his memory. "I don't remember any rescues where you got trapped in a cave-in?" "I do." Chet interrrupted from the door. "That was the one where the whole Junior and Pally thing started, wasn't it?" "Need something Kelly?" Hank asked pointedly, shooting Chet his best captain's face. "Ah, no, Cap, just getting to the latrine now." Chet backpeddled out of the office, remembering just why he was on latrine duty again. "That's better." Hank grinned, picking up various items from his chair, and sitting down. "I always wondered where Pally and Junior came from." "Oh, yeah. Well, I guess it all started in the training class I was in that Roy was helping to teach." Johnny answered, gazing out the door, a far away look on his face, he began to tell his story. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Damn that DeSoto!" Johnny thought to himself irritated, when Dixie had stopped him in the middle of injection practice. "What a show off." He thought, steaming as the needle Roy now held punctured his skin. He stood back fuming until Dixie called lunch break for the class, then he stormed into the hall. "Gage! Wait up!" He heard that familiar voice call to him. "Might as well get it over with now." Johnny sighed, and stopped, allowing Roy a chance to catch up with him. "What do YOU want?" He asked him, his voice dripping with sarcasm when Roy had caught up. "I knew it, something's wrong, I've been watching you since the injection practice. I didn't hurt you too bad with that shot, did I?" "Hell, yeah the shot hurt, but it's more than that." "Want to talk about it?" Roy asked as they fell into step with each other heading for the cafeteria again. "I'm quitting." "You're what?" Roy looked at him stunned. "You heard me." Johnny stopped and faced him. "I'm quitting, I'm just no good at this." "Look, I wasn't much better when I first learned how to do everything." Johnny snorted. "Couldn't prove it by me. You sure enjoyed showing me up in there, didn't you?" He accused pointing a finger at him. "Showing you up? I wasn't showing you up. I thought I was helping you out." "Helping me out?" Johnny repeated, laying his hand on his chest. "Oh, that's good. Helping ME out. I was doing fine until Dixie stopped me, and YOU just couldn't resist making ME look like an idiot." "No, you weren't just fine, and if you'd stop acting like a two year old for a minute, you'd see that!" Roy shot back, his own temper flaring. "A two year old, you think I'm acting like a two year old! What makes you the expert?!" He shouted at Roy. "Because I happen to have a two year old at home, and you're acting just like him!" Roy shouted back. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, my name is not Roy DeSoto Junior!" Roy opened his mouth to answer him, when the absurdity of Johnny's statement dawned on him. He began laughing hysterically. "What's so funny?" Johnny demanded to know. Roy finally found his voice again. "I was just thinking that if you were Roy DeSoto Junior, I'd have to be asking Joanne who she was hanging around with when she got pregnant, you definately don't take after my side of the family, or hers for that matter." Johnny broke out in a lopsided grin. "Yeah, I guess no one could ever accuse us of being twins." They both laughed for a moment, and then Roy became serious. "Look if you're having trouble with the training course, I'd be happy to help you out. Why don't you come by my house for dinner tonight, and I'll help you study." "You'd do that for me?" "Yeah, sure." "Okay then, you sure your wife won't be mad?" "No, I'll give her a call and tell her to expect one more for dinner." He smiled at Johnny, and punched him playfully in the shoulder. "Come on, Junior, as long as I'm getting you dinner tonight, the least you can do is spring for lunch." "Alright pal, you got a deal." Johnny agreed laughing, as they again headed for the cafeteria. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first shift after the paramedic bill passed, Roy caught up with Johnny as they changed into their uniforms for their shift. "Well, Johnny, you ready to face today?" "I'm ready, I just can't believe it that's all. It's finally happening. No more swinging by Rampart for a nurse." He answered and grinned at Roy while he buttoned up his shirt. "Good-bye impotent wonders." Roy joined in Johnny's festive mood. "No more traffic control." Roy burst into laughter. "That's one thing I'm definitely not going to miss." "I know. Come on, let's get some coffee before roll call." "Right behind you." Roy agreed tucking in his shirt and sitting down on the bench to put his socks and boots on. "Morning, everybody." Johnny sang out to the rest of the crew seated at the table, making his way to the coffee pot. "Morning." Mike and Marco called back. "Well, well, it's the mighty paramedic." Chet baited. "Oh, shut up Chet, you're just jealous." Johnny shot back filling his cup, he turned around to lean back on the counter, glaring at the stocky fireman. "Jealous? Jealous of what?" "Jealous that you'll be running on every fire call, and I can just sit back relaxing and wave good bye." The alarm sounded, and all the men stood up from the table. "Squad 51, possible heart attack. 4397 Monihan, 4 3 9 7 Monihan, cross street Plymouth. Time out 08:01." Chet smirked as Johnny hustled past him. "Looks like you had that backwards pal. Bye bye." He sat back down chuckling as he waved to him. Johnny shot him a withering look over his shoulder while racing through the doorway into the equipment bay. Captain Hammer handed Roy the call slip, and opened the bay door for them, as Roy quickly handed the slip to Johnny, and pulled the squad out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Roy pulled the squad to a stop in front of 4397 Monihan, a petite, blue haired elderly woman met them on the curb. "Please help, it's my husband Ronald, he's having chest pains. I called his doctor after his nitroglycerin tablet didn't bring him any relief and his answering service told me to call the fire department. Did I do the right thing?" She asked worriedly, wringing her hands and watching the two firemen pull their equipment out of the side compartment of the squad. Johnny stopped long enough to flash her a reassuring smile and lay a comforting hand on her arm. "Yes, ma'am, you did the right thing, now where's your husband?" "Right this way." She led them into the house and over to the living room couch where her ill husband lay. Johnny and Roy swung into immediate action. Johnny began setting up the biophone while Roy started assessing their patient. "I understand you're having some chest pain, sir." "Yeah, started about an hour ago." He asnwered a little breathless. "Well, we're gonna check you out, and get on the phone to a doctor. You just try and relax." Roy turned away from the elderly man, looking at Johnny. "Can you set up some oxygen?" "Yeah, get the vitals, and get him patched in, I'm sure they're gonna want a strip." Johnny hooked up the oxygen for their patient, and placed the mask on his face. "Now just try to breath easy." He told their patient, laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You got the vitals Roy?" "Yeah, B.P.'s. . ." "Hang on." Johnny reached into his front pocket for a pen, and frowned when he realized he had forgotten to put one there when he'd dressed that morning. He looked at the elderly woman. "Ma'am could I borrow a pen please?" Roy looked up briefly from their patient, an amused, questioning look on his face, Johnny just shrugged in response. "Sure, dear. Here." She handed him one from the desk. "Thank you ma'am." He clicked the pen, and held it poised over the notepad. "Okay Roy, shoot." "B.P. 110/60, pulse is thready 90, respirations rapid and shallow." "Got it." Johnny nodded, and turned the dial on the biophone, activating it. "Rampart, this is Squad 51." He waited a few moments for a response. "Go ahead 51, we read you." Kel Brackett's deep voice answered back. "Rampart, we have a male, approximately 70 years old. . . " "76" The wife corrected. "Correction Rampart, 76 years old. He's suffering from chest pains, onset about an hour ago. No relief from nitroglycerin. B.P.'s 110/60, pulse 90 and thready, respirations rapid and shallow. We've got him on 6 liters of oxygen." "10-4 51, can you send me a strip?" "We're patching him in now, stand by Rampart." "All set." Roy told him plugging in the connector cable. "Rampart, we're sending you a strip." Johnny flipped the switch, and rocked back on his heels to wait for Kel's reply. "51, I'm seeing PVC activity, start an IV D5W TKO, 75 mg Lidocaine IV push, then set up a Lidocaine drip, 3 mg per hour. Give him 2 mg MS IV for pain and transport as soon as possible." "10-4 Rampart." Johnny acknowledged, dropping the handset back in the orange box. He unconciously threaded the pen he'd borrowed back into this front pocket, as he reached for the IV box. "I'll get the IV started." He told Roy, grabbing a set up package out. "Okay, I'll go meet the ambulance." Roy agreed, hearing it pull to a stop out front of the house. "Where are you taking him?" The wife asked following Roy outside. "Rampart General. It's a good hospital, he'll get excellent care there." "Oh, I know he will. They took wonderful care of me there last year when I had pneumonia. I was just wondering if there was any way I could ride in with you? You see, I don't drive, and I'd have to call a cab, I'd rather be with Ronald, in case. . . Well, I'm sure you understand." "Yes, I understand. We're doing our very best for him ma'am. How about you ride up front in the ambulance?" "Oh, thank you very much. I'll just grab my purse." She smiled gratefully at Roy and left to retrieve her purse. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johnny waited at the nurse's desk for Roy to emerge from Treatment Room 3 where he'd just escorted their heart attack victim in. While he waited, Johnny pulled down the supplies he knew they'd just used and needed to replace. "Well, if it isn't one half of my premiere paramedic team." He heard Joe Early's teasing voice behind him. "Premiere? Isn't it a little too soon to pin that label on us?" He asked smiling at the doctor. "Yeah, you're probably right in that context, but I was refering to the fact that you've brought in the first run as paramedics that I've been here to see. I just got back from vacation." "Oh, well in that case, I guess I'll just have to say thank you then." Joe looked at his watch. "You guys didn't waste any time it's only 8:45 am. What time did you get the call?" "8:01." Johnny answered, grinning at him. Dixie walked around them to her seat at the nurse's desk. "Hi there Johnny." She said as she passed him. "Hi, Dixie. Where's the requisition forms? Need to restock some things." "Here you go." She handed him one from under the desk. "Thanks." Johnny pulled the pen out of his pocket, and clicked it, as he began writing, he noticed the pen. "Oh man. Where's the wife of the patient we just brought in?" "In the waiting room, why?" Dixie told him, pointing with her pen in the direction of the waiting room. "I'll be back in a minute, I've got to return something." He walked into the waiting room, and approached the elderly woman. "Ma'am?" She looked up, and recognizing him, she began to stand up. "Yes?" "Oh, no, don't get up, please. I just wanted to return your pen." He quickly sat down next to her and held it out to her. "Tell me something." She requested, smiling at him. "Is it true that Ronald was the first person you've been able to take care of?" "As a certified paramedic? Yes, he was our first." Johnny answered honestly. She nodded. "I overheard one of the doctors say that the way you took care of him at our home probably saved his life." "I'm glad we were able to help. Last week, we couldn't have done so much to help." "Then it was a blessing that this happened when it did." She took Johnny's hand with the pen in it, into her two hands and squeezed it gently. "You keep the pen, as a reminder of your first save." "Are you sure ma'am?" "I'm sure. Besides, I've always thought green was a lucky color, must be the Irish in me." "Thank you ma'am. I'll always remember you and your husband." Johnny thanked her shyly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few months passed, and Johnny was filling out the log after another run. "Oh damn it." He sighed. "What's wrong?" Roy asked, looking up from his own paperwork. "My pen just ran out of ink." "I've got a spare one in my locker, if you want to borrow it." Roy offered. "Yeah, I guess I'll have to borrow it, although, I don't think it'll bring me as much luck as this green one has so far." "Let me take a look at it for a minute." Roy requested, holding out his hand. Johnny handed him the green pen, and he unscrewed it. "You're in luck, it's one of those refillable kind." "Really?" Johnny grinned at his partner. "That's great. I'll stop off to the store tomorrow when we get off shift and buy some refills." He took the pen back from Roy, and headed for the locker room. He put the empty green pen in his locker, and pulled the spare pen Roy had offered out of Roy's locker. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That evening at dinner time the alarm sounded. "Station 51, child trapped, meet the informant at the intersection of Montigue and Fire road 27. Montigue and fire road 27. Time out 18:10." "Never fails." Johnny sighed gulping down his milk as he and the rest of the crew left their dinners half eaten and headed out. "Take a bite, or close your eyes." He grumbled good naturedly as he swung around the back of the squad on his way to the passenger seat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Roy pulled the squad to a stop near the man standing by the side of the road, fantically waving his arms. "What happened?" "Darn kids, I told them not to play up there, but what do I know, I'm just an old man. . ." "Sir please." Roy interrupted, growing impatient. "Sorry, a couple of boys were up there playing around some of those airshafts for the abandoned mines. I told them not to, but anyways, about 20 minutes ago, one of them came running down, yelling about his friend falling down one of them. I sent him off to get to a phone and call you, and waited for you here." "Do you know exactly where he fell?" Johnny asked. "Yeah, I'll show you, you won't be able to get your fancy rigs up there, you'll have to walk up from here." "Okay, hang on." Roy nodded to the old man and pulled the microphone off it's hook. "Engine 51, this is Squad 51, we'll have to park here and hike up." "10-4." Captain Hammer acknowledged. "Stoker, you stay with the rigs, Lopez, Kelly, follow me." The men parcelled out the rescue equipment they felt may be necessary to rescue the fallen boy and followed their guide up into the hills. "That's the one." He stopped, pointing to a hole in the ground, some broken wooden boards still partially covering it. "Okay, we'll take it from here." Captain Hammer told him as he and the rest of his men advanced on the hole. Johnny got down on his stomach and inched over to the hole's edge. "Can you see anything, Gage?" "I don't know Cap, I think a lot of stuff came down on top of him. I need to get down there to see what's going on." "Alright, we'll lower you down on a rope. Better take an HT with you, keep our lines of communication clear." "Right Cap." Johnny nodded, taking the HT from Roy. Roy was suddenly filled with the odd feeling of foreboding, a feeling he could only describe as waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Be careful." He warned his partner. "You worry too much." Johnny grinned at him, tying the rope around his waist. "Yeah, well, somebody has to." "I'll see you soon pal." Johnny told him inching back over to the airshaft. They lowered Johnny into the airshaft until they felt him reach the bottom, a few moments later, he called over the HT. "Engine 51, this is John, he's alive. I think we can take him up on the rope. I don't think he's got any spinal injuries." "Okay John, let us know when you're ready for us to pull him up." A minute later Johnny answered. "Okay, take him up." He set the HT down on the ground, to use both hands to guide the boy into the airshaft, then stood beneath, watching the boy's progress up out of the hole. He was almost to the top, when he heard and then felt the earth rumble under his feet. "Damn it! Of all times for an earthquake!" He yelled out loud to himself in disbelief, diving off to one side as debris rained down from the shaft he'd been standing under moments before. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Roy felt the earth begin shaking as he was pulling the boy out of the hole. He watched in horror as the opening began crumbling, filling itself in. "Johnny!" He shouted lunging for the opening. "Roy, there's nothing we can do right now." Captain Hammer caught his remaining parmedic before he reached the hole. "You've got a victim to take care of. I'll start co-ordinating a rescue for John. You do your job, and I'll do mine, okay?" He squeezed Roy's shoulders trying to soften the words he knew must be said. "Yeah okay." Roy choked out, the knot in his stomach tightened, and his shoulders slumped, he turned back to the young boy they'd recently pulled out of the airshaft that was no longer there. He tried not to listen to the messages flying around him as he treated the injured boy, but it was hard not to miss. Especially the silence over the HT as the cap tried unsuccessfully to raise Johnny on the radio. Nothing had been heard from Johnny since the earthquake had struck. Just before he was ready to transport his victim in to Rampart, Squad 16 arrived as back up. Roy immediately approached his captain. "Cap, I want to stay here. 16's are here, they can transport the boy in." "I don't know Roy, we're not too sure exactly what we're gonna find down there." He told Roy, knowing how close the two paramedics on his shift were. "I know, I just need to be here." "Alright then." "Thanks Cap." Roy returned to his victim. "Tom, can you and Mark transport him in? I'd like to stay here." "Yeah, sure." Tom agreed, and then nodded towards the collapsed airshaft. "He's tough Roy, he'll be okay." "That's what I keep telling myself." Roy answered, walking back over to his captain. "So where are we at?" "We've lowered two digging teams into the mine, one on each side of the caved in air shaft. They're digging in towards the middle. It's all we can do now." Captain Hammer explained. Roy looked at his captain, a determined look on his face. "I want to help dig." "Roy, you're the only paramedic on scene now, if I send you down with one team and the other team at the other end finds him? No, it's better if you wait up here until we find something." "Yeah, I guess you're right." Roy agreed, sighing in frustration, and defeat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The digging had entered it's third hour, and still the HT remained silent each time they tried to contact Johnny. Roy felt his frustration mount, replacing his hope of Johnny surviving the cave in. He heard the HT finally crackle to life. "Engine 51, this is Team 2, we can hear coughing." Roy didn't wait to hear the rest of the transmission, he bolted for the airshaft team 2 was using, his paramedic gear already packed hours ago. "Get me down there." He said impatiently to the firemen around the hole. They lowered him down, and he used his flashlight to guide his way as he followed the voices to where the men were digging. "You heard coughing?" "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's Johnny." Marco answered him. "How far?" "It's hard to tell, maybe a few more feet." Chet estimated. "Got another shovel?" "Over there." Chet gestured to the side wall of the tunnel. Roy grabbed the shovel and they continued digging. After a moment, they heard the coughing again. "Shh, did you hear that?" "Yeah, sounds closer this time." Chet told him. "Johnny?!" Roy shouted. "We're coming for you!" "Hurry. . . Hard to breathe!" He heard Johnny's faint reply. "Damn, it must be airtight in there. We got to get to him now." Roy and the others began digging with more zeal. "Hang in there pal, we'll be there soon!" He called to his partner. It took another 20 minutes of hard digging when Chet felt his shovel give way through the wall of earth. "Roy, I think I'm through." Roy moved to Chet's spot, shining his flashlight into the cavern in front of the wall, through the small shovel hole. "I can see him." He stepped in closer. "Johnny, you still with us?" Johnny raised his hand to shield his eyes from the bright light after being in total darkness for so long. "Somehow. . . I knew. . . it'd be you. . . Pal-ly." His arm dropped and his head lolled forward, touching his chest. "He's out, come on, let's get this hole opened up. We need to get some air in there to him." Roy, Marco and Chet worked furiously chopping at the hole to widen it. Roy crawled through as soon as it was large enough, his heart beating in his throat as he checked Johnny for pulse and breathing. He let out a sigh of relief when he found both. "Go back to the hole and have them get the line sent down. I want to get him up top as soon as possible." He instructed, checking over Johnny for any major injuries, not finding any, he quickly slung his partner over his shoulder, carrying him back to the rescue shaft. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was the next morning when a civilian-clad Roy and Chet approached the nurse's station. "Good morning Dr. Morton, how's our favorite patient doing today?" Roy asked smiling at him. "How do you think? He's driving everybody nuts about getting out of here, that's how." Mike answered with a grin. "And when's that going to be?" Chet asked, trying to appear uninterested. Roy and Mike exchanged a knowing grin before Mike answered. "I'd say probably as soon as we get his morning blood work back, everything looked good overnight." "So he can return on his next shift?" Roy asked, knowing that Chet wanted to know this information as well. "Yeah, he should be fine to go back your next shift." "Great, can we see him?" Chet inquired. "Sure, room 230." "Thanks." Roy and Chet rode the elevator to the second floor. "This way." Roy pointed as they stepped off. Chet followed behind, when Roy pushed the door to 230 open. "Hey Johnny." "Hey guys." Johnny greeted, barely glancing at them, while returning his attention to the story he was telling the two student nurses sitting by the side of his bed. "Anyways, just about the time I was thinking about regretting every wrong thing I've ever done in my life. All of a sudden there was this bright light shining in my face, and there's Roy calling my name." "At least he remembered your name." Chet interrupted grinning. "What's that supposed to mean?" Johnny asked him, a blank look on his face. "You mean you don't remember what you called Roy?" Chet asked. "This is too easy." He chuckled inside watching Johnny fall for the bait he'd thrown him. "No, what did I call you?" Johnny turned to look at Roy. "Look it's no big deal, you were on the verge of passing out, so I was just going to let it slide." Roy told him diplomatically. "Aw, come on Roy, you're gonna let what he called you slide?" Chet teased, baiting Johnny more. "What did I call you?" Johnny repeated falling for the bait yet again. "It's not as bad as Chet's making it sound...you called me 'pally'." "Pally? That's it? That's all I called you?" "Yeah, don't worry about it." Roy reassured him. "See Chet, that's what being a real pal's all about." Johnny smirked at Chet. "Pal, don't you mean pally?" Chet continued his teasing. "He's my partner, and I'll call him anything I want." Johnny shot back, emphatically. "Now hold on." Roy pointed a finger at Johnny. "You can call me Pally, only if I can call you Junior." Johnny thought about it, flashing back to the memory of the first time Roy had called him that. He shot Roy a lopsided grin, and extended his hand to him. "You've got yourself a deal, Pally." "Alright then Junior." Roy shook his hand grinning back at him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As he finished his tale, Johnny found himself back in the present, still sitting in Hank's cluttered office. Hank smiled at him. "Well in light of that story, I guess we'd better get you a refill for that pen." He pulled open his top desk drawer. "You didn't look in this one yet, did you?" "No, that was the next one I was planning to check." Johnny shook his head, not looking up from digging through the drawer in his lap again. "Should have looked in this one first." Hank told him, tossing a package of refills into the drawer in Johnny's lap. Johnny's face brightened into a smile. "Thanks Cap. I'll get this mess cleaned up, I promise." He pulled his green pen out of his pocket, and unscrewed it. At that same moment, the alarm sounded. "Squad 51, man down, 3622 Milford. 3 6 2 2 Milford, Cross street Pratt. Time out 11:46." Johnny fumbled with the pen, trying to put the new refill in it, his haste making him clumsy. Roy hurried past the office door on his way to acknowledge the call. "Let's go Junior." He called out. Johnny flashed Hank a lopsided grin as he finished screwing the pen back together. "Right behind you, Pally." He called back rushing from the office. Hank chuckled, glancing around his demolished office. He leaned back, lacing his hands behind his head, and propping his feet up on his desk. He smiled as he watched the squad pull out of the station, sirens and lights running. THE END Thanks to Janet, for issuing such a wonderful challenge, that made this story possible. Did I humor you enough with the green pen mention? Also, special thanks to Ria for beta-reading this one for me. Any medical error are the fault of the author, despite help from friends, you know who you are. |