SWITCH

Copyright Kajakat and Betty Stull


When the news ended, RiJ reluctantly left the DeSoto’s house for the second night in a row.  Although he was still unhappy with the way things were, he was happier knowing how much his family loved him.  He also had a deeper respect for Johnny, who seemed to have gone out of his way to include Roy in the family’s activities.

Once RiJ was out the door on his way home to “his” empty bachelor pad,  JoAnne encouraged her “husband” to come to bed.

“Roy, hon, please come up to bed tonight.  I missed you last night.”  JoAnne cooed as she wrapped her arms around JiR’s neck.

Johnny wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to get out of it tonight.  He couldn’t do this to his best friend.  Roy was like the brother he never had.  So he lied, hoping to buy him enough time that JoAnne would fall asleep waiting for him.

“Jo, honey, I’ll be up to bed in a bit.  I need to make sure everything’s locked up.”  He gave her a quick peck on the cheek.  JoAnne was puzzled by his shyness.  She in turn gave JiR a luscious kiss before heading upstairs.

“I’ll be waiting for you.  Don’t take too long.”  She patted JiR on his backside and went upstairs.

JiR swallowed hard.  He hoped he could delay things long enough for JoAnne to fall asleep.  Walking out of the house, JiR checked the garage, his truck, his sports car and JoAnne’s car.  He killed another ten minutes by walking around the house checking the downstairs windows from the outside to make sure they were all locked.  Finally, JiR walked back inside “his” house, locking the front door.  He checked the back door and turned off the lights before slowly walking up stairs.  As he walked down the hallway, he could see the light from a lamp shining out of “his” bedroom.  Taking a deep breath, JiR poked his head through the doorway to his bedroom.  Inwardly, he prayed JoAnne was asleep.

“I was beginning to wonder what got you.  I thought I was going to have to call out a search party to find you.”  JoAnne said.

Johnny was caught off guard.  There was Roy’s wife lying in bed with her back propped up by plump pillows.  The blankets were only pulled up to her waist.  The nightgown she wore reveled more than it covered.

“Well are you just going to stand in the doorway or are you going to join me in bed,” she said patting the bed beside her.

“I’ll be with you in a minute.  I need to use the bathroom,” he replied.  JiR notice a set of pajamas sitting on a chair in the corner of the bedroom.  He quickly walked across the room trying hard to keep his eyes averted from JoAnne.  Snatching up the garments, he walked back across the room and into the master bathroom.  He closed the door behind him.

JoAnne watched her “husband’s” movements.  She was a bit puzzled as to why he was acting so nervous around her.  She waited several minutes for JiR to return.  When he didn’t, JoAnne got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom.  “Roy?  Is everything okay?” she asked after knocking on the door.

The knocking startled Johnny who dropped the mouthwash to the floor.  It was a plastic bottle and its contents spilled allover.

“Roy?  Are you sure you’re okay?  What fell?”  JoAnne asked.

“Nothin’ Jo.  I just dropped the mouthwash.  I’ll clean it up.”

JoAnne opened the door to the bathroom.  JiR only wearing “his” boxer shorts was on his hands and knees cleaning up the spilled liquid.  He jumped when he heard the door open.  He grabbed his pj's and held them next to his body to cover himself.

JoAnne laughed.  “Roy DeSoto!  Stop acting so silly.  It’s not like I’ve never seen you in all of your delicious glory!”

“I know Jo.  I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight.”  He feigned a yawn.  “I guess I’m just really tired.  I didn’t really sleep the best last night.”

“Now whose fault is that?  Sleeping in your chair downstairs is not the most comfortable place.  Come on!  Let’s get you tucked in so we can both get some sleep.”

JoAnne led “her” husband out of the bathroom.  Dressed in his pajamas, he crawled into bed.  He kept his body as close to the edge as he could.  JiR pretended to drift off to sleep quickly.  JoAnne gave her husband a kiss then cuddled into him falling asleep quickly.

Johnny was listening to JoAnne’s breathing.  He moved his head closer to hers and started to stroke her hair.  He was about to put his arm around her when he realized what he was doing.   He carefully crawled out of the bed and tiptoed down stairs with a blanket.  Getting comfortable in his chair, he soon fell asleep, thankful he was able to extricate himself from a very dangerous situation.

The next morning, JoAnne woke to find her husband once again in his chair in the living room, sound asleep with their daughter curled up next to him.  Sighing, not really understanding what had been going on with him the past couple of nights, she woke JiR so he could get ready for work.  After a shower, shave and a good breakfast, JoAnne thought her husband would feel better.

JiR grabbed his pressed uniforms and left for work almost forgetting to give his ‘wife’ a kiss goodbye.

“Oh Roy?  Are you forgetting something?”  JoAnne asked after clearing her throat.

JiR looked at his wife a bit confused.  JoAnne walked up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck.  He finally got the idea.  Reluctantly, he surrendered to a kiss before getting into his car and going off to work.

Both Roy and Johnny arrive to work at almost the same time.  They both planned to act as normal as possible during the shift so not to tip the others off that something was amiss.  The only thing was they forgot that this would extend to the locker room too.  When they walked in, JiR headed for Johnny’s locker and RiJ head for Roy’s locker.  Of course Chet and Marco were both inside the room changing.

“Hey Gage, whaddya doing?”  Chet asked.

At first JiR looked at Chet, but stopped himself before he spoke.

“What do you mean?  I’m changing.  Why?” RiJ replied.

“Did you bang your head this morning.  Did you lose your brains?  That’s right, you don’t have any.  That’s Roy’s locker.”

“Oh yeah.  A little tired I guess.” RiJ replied then moved over two lockers to his.  When he opened the door, a water bomb greeted him.

“CHET!” RiJ shouted.

Chet chuckled, “I guess you are a tired pigeon.  It’s the phantom’s classic water bomb in the locker first thing in the mornin,” he said and walked out of the room whistling.

RiJ stood dripping with water.  He now discovered something new about his partner.  He understood how Johnny felt about being at the butt of Chet’s prank’s all the time.  And this water bomb was trivial compared to some of the other pranks the phantom pulled on his partner in the past.  Looking over at his friend, he could see a variety of Johnny’s grin appearing on his face.

“It’s not funny.” RiJ said, wiping the water of his face.

“I know.  But it is funny to see it happen to someone else for a change.  I seem to remember tellin’ you the same thing a few times, but you laughed along with the rest of the guy’s anyway.”

“Sorry.”

“Apology accepted.  Friends?”

“Friends.”

“Well, we better get changed into our uniforms so we can be ready for roll call.  Oh and while you’re at it, partner, you better clean up that water before the Cap sees it.” JiR said pointing to the floor with a chuckle in his voice.

"Roy, I never realized all you have to do in the morning to get here.  Man, if it wasn't for JoAnne, I don't know how you'd do it.”

"JoAnne?  How is she?  You didn't..."

"Nah, I slept in your Lazy-Boy again.  But I did have company.  I woke up and Jennifer was with me."  He didn’t want to say that JoAnne was getting a bit suspicious.

That put a grin on RiJ's face.  He commented softly, "Yeah, she likes to do that.  Boy do I miss them."

"Any calls for me?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, I spoke with Suzanne the other night.  She's really delightful to speak with." Roy said.

"So, are you going out with her?"  JiR asked.

"Well, if it's just dinner, I don't see the harm in it."

"Good."

The two men walked into the kitchen.  RiJ went to the cabinet to take out two mugs for coffee.  Upon opening the door, he was hit by a water balloon.  Everyone laughed.

"Gage, you're the perfect pigeon.  How many more times will the phantom hit you today?" Chet said.

RiJ looked at JiR and saw he was laughing.  So RiJ was going to have to spend the shift awaiting future phantom strikes.  JiR was so glad that someone else was going to have to deal with the phantom's pranks.

They continued about their business and were lucky to have an uneventful shift.  After work the two men had no choice but to return to their lives.  Roy had a date with Suzanne that Johnny insisted he go on.  Johnny went home.

***

"Hi Daddy!" Jennifer said with enthusiasm.

"Hi Pumpkin!"

"Pumpkin?" that's what Uncle Johnny calls me."

"Well, today I like that name."

And that's what JiR's evening was like.  It was a typical night at home, doing chores and errands.  Johnny didn't want to spend too much time inside, so he decided to tackle all of the outside tasks.  At some point, Chris came outside to help his "Dad".

After a quiet dinner and an evening watching television, JiR put "his" children to sleep.

"I really appreciate you helping me with the yard.  You must have saved me hours of work."

"It's okay dad, I enjoyed it."  Chris said.

"Well have a good night's sleep.  I'll see you after my next shift."  JiR kissed his son on his forehead.  A wave of emotions swept through Johnny's body.  He saw how blessed Roy is, having two wonderful children and JoAnne.  The mere though of JoAnne, however, caused anxiety within Johnny.  He couldn't spend another night in the living room.  He back was bothering him from sleeping on the chair.  He’d have to go upstairs and have a good night sleep or he’d be endangering himself and his friends on the job.

Johnny went to his bedroom late and much to his relief, JoAnne was asleep.  He changed into his pajamas.  He would have preferred to sleep in his boxers, but knew better.  He quietly got into bed and moved to the opposite end as not to be near to JoAnne.  As much as he wanted to stay awake, slumber overwhelmed him.  He was just about to fall asleep when he felt a hand caressing his face.  It was JoAnne's.  She moved closer to him and was moving her hand over his body, touching him in all too familiar places.  She began to unbutton his shirt.  JiR panicked.  What could he do?  This was Roy's wife - ROY'S WIFE.  He couldn't do what she wanted him to do, but could he risk saying no?

With JoAnne's increasing activity, JiR's body reacted, as it should have.  No matter what mantra he internally repeated to distract himself, it didn't work.  As much as JiR didn't want to make love to JoAnne for all the right reasons, he knew it wouldn't work.  He moved closer to her and softly said, “JoAnne.”

***

While JiR was making love with JoAnne, RiJ was out with Suzanne for their second date.  He had a wonderful time with her.  They went to dinner then walked around the park.  They settled on a park bench and talked about stuff.  Suzanne and RiJ talked about many things, such as why they choose their line of work.  RiJ let Suzanne do most of the talking and was careful not to talk about "himself", knowing he could say the wrong things.  The more they talked, the more Roy reacted to her.  She was attractive, witty and intelligent.  These were traits he found attractive in women.  As the hour grew late Roy took Suzanne to her home.

At the entrance of her apartment Suzanne turned to face RiJ.  While fingering the buttons of his shirt, Suzanne seductively looked into his bluish-brown eyes.

"Why don't you come in for some coffee?" Suzanne said temptingly and RiJ did.

Roy was out of control.  His body was betraying him.  He wanted to do the proper thing and leave.  He was betraying his wife and his friend by being in Suzanne’s living room.  But he was lonely and Suzanne was so charming.

Suzanne was fiddling in the kitchen and RiJ sat on the couch.  It was a very long time since Roy was single.  Even when he was, he was dating JoAnne.  He didn't want to admit that he wasn't as experienced as his Romeo partner. 

Suzanne came out from the kitchen with two cups of coffee.  She put them down on the table.  RiJ picked his up and put sugar in it.  Suzanne picked hers up and took a sip.  She put her cup down and moved closer to RiJ.  His eyes widened.  She took his cup from his hands and put it on the coffee table.  She reached over to him and kissed him.  At first, RiJ didn't know what to do.  With Suzanne's intensity Roy responded in kind.  As their actions became more passionate, Suzanne led RiJ to her bedroom.  RiJ’s body betrayed him and he spent the night with Suzanne.

***

The sun beaming in around the curtains caused JiR to stir from his sleep.  With his eyes closed he stretched.  The smile that spread over his face turned to horror as he remembered the events of the night before. "What did I do?  I just slept with Roy's wife.  Oh man, if he finds out, he's gonna KILL ME."

"Mornin sleepyhead.  I guess you're tired out from last night.  I'd say last night was for the record books.  Just when I have you figured out, DeSoto, you do something new!  Maybe I should let you sleep in that chair more if it means we get a night like that!"  JoAnne said with a smile on her face, stroking her “husband’s” nose with her fingertips.

All JiR could do was nervously laugh.  He didn't want to remember last night's activity.  He had to put it out of his mind forever. 

“Well, I would love to lay here all day with you, but I’ve got the kids to get up.  Breakfast will be in about twenty minutes,” she said giving JiR a passionate kiss before climbing out of bed and leaving the room.  When JiR was sure he was alone, he got up to take a shower.  When he got into the bathroom, he locked the door.  He knew he'd be okay once he got to work.  He swore right then to never, ever, tell Roy what took place. 

***

Roy woke up and didn't recognize where he was.  He reached over to the other side of the bed and felt another body sleeping next to him.  He turned over and noticed it wasn't JoAnne, but Suzanne.  Roy panicked. 

"What did I do?  Oh my God, what did I do?  JoAnne's gonna kill me.  Johnny's gonna kill me."  These thoughts scared Roy.  He had started a relationship with a woman that he had no right to begin.  Before anything else could happen between them he got up, gathered his clothes, dressed and left the apartment.   Hurrying toward his Rover, Roy vowed never to tell his wife or Johnny about the events of the previous night.  He had no idea how Suzanne felt and that variable scared Roy to death.

*****
The two men met in the station and were unnaturally quiet.  Both were guilty from their previous night's activity.

Speaking softly, JiR said, “Hey Roy, when do ya think this is gonna end?”

“Soon, I hope.  Real soon.”

Just then, the klaxons went off.  "Station 51, structure fire, 123 Le Mans Place, 123 Le Mans Place, time out 08:31."

Captain Stanley picked up the mike and responded, "Station 51 KMG365."  He gave the address to JiR who gave the address to RiJ.  Then, the Captain took his seat next to Mike in Big Red.

When they arrived on the scene, the house was on fire.  Smoke was coming out from the top floor. A woman was motioning to the men as they pulled up.

"My son is still up there in the first room," she pointed.

"Roy, John get your gear and go up to the second floor to find her son.  Marco, Chet take an inch and a half in with you." Captain Stanley said.

Roy and Johnny put on the SCBA gear and ran inside the house.  Even though their bodies were switched, they still worked as a team, anticipating their moves exactly. 

Since they were the only two searching, and it was force of habit, they reverted back to calling each other by their own real name.

JiR said, "Roy, I'll take this room and you go into the other."

RiJ said, "Okay."

JiR went into the small room and saw the boy hiding in the corner.  The boy was cringing and coughing.  He walked over to the boy and took his mask off his face and placed it over the boy.

"Here, breathe this, you'll feel better.  Hey Roy, I got em." JiR said with a cough, as he was breathing in the smoke.

RiJ came into the room.  JiR picked up the boy and put the mask on his face for a minute.  RiJ took the boy from JiR's arm and said, "Let's get outta here, NOW!"

The two men began to work their way from the second floor to the first. RiJ was leading the two, clutching the boy to his chest.  JiR followed his partner.  Chet and Marco had the hose and were concentrating their efforts in the kitchen.

A beam from the 2nd floor broke loose and would have hit RiJ if JiR didn’t knock him out of the way.  It then hit JiR squarely on the head and shoulder and knocked him down the stairs.  RiJ couldn't do anything, as he had the boy to attend to. RiJ noticed Chet and Marco concentrating their efforts in the kitchen. Grabbing their attention and pointing to his partner, RiJ ran out of the house with the boy.

Chet tapped Marco on the back to let him know he had to leave to help JiR.  Marco nodded his understanding. 

Outside, RiJ pulled his mask off his face and yelled over to the Captain.  "Cap, we need help.  The ceiling collapsed and John, eh Roy's trapped inside."

The Captain heard RiJ's shout and quickly ran into the house.  He saw Roy laying on the floor unconscious with Chet trying to aid the downed firefighter.

"Kelly, let me give me you a hand with Roy."

"Okay Cap."

The two men grabbed JiR and brought him out to where RiJ had set up.  Mike was helping RiJ with the equipment.

"Rampart, this is Squad 51.  How do you read?"

Dixie's voice responded, "Loud and clear, 51."

"Rampart we have two victims from a house fire.  Victim number one is a six-year-old boy with smoke inhalation.  We have him on 4 liters of oxygen.  His vitals are...” and RiJ relayed the vital signs to the hospital.

“Stand-by for readings on the 2nd victim.  Be advised the second victim is Roy DeSoto.

Dixie was alarmed to find out that Roy was hurt.  All she could say at the moment was,
"Standing by.  On victim one, continue oxygen and transport as soon as possible."

RiJ went to JiR.  He frowned.  He bent down beside his partner and began to take the readings. 

"Mike, can you relay this info to Rampart?"

"Sure Johnny."

RiJ looked up at Mike when he said that.  He was panicking.  What if something serious were to happen to JiR?  The stress of this situation was taking its toll on Roy.

"Tell Rampart we have an unconscious male paramedic 27 years old.  He has possible smoke inhalation and concussion.”

"Johnny, don't you mean 31 years old?"  Mike asked.

RiJ looked up and shook his head in agreement.  He gave Mike the vitals, which he gave to Dixie.

Rampart relayed instructions and RiJ followed them.

"How is he, Johnny?" the Captain asked.

"I dunno.  I hope he’ll be okay." Roy said, his voice wavering.

"Do you want me to call JoAnne?"

RiJ looked at the Captain as if he had six heads.  Then he realized what he was asking.

"No, Cap, that's okay, I'll call her once I get to Rampart," he said somberly.
***

JoAnne ran into the hospital waiting area.  She saw RiJ sitting there.  He stood up to greet her.

"Any news yet?" she asked anxiously.

"No, none yet." RiJ replied.  He placed his hand on her arm.  Dixie saw the two and walked over to them.

"Why don't you two wait in the doctor's lounge?  I'll let Dr. Brackett know you're there."

"Thanks, Dix." RiJ replied.

The two walked into the empty lounge.  JoAnne couldn't keep her composure any longer.  She started to weep.  She looked straight into RiJ’s eyes and cried.

"Every time I get this kind of phone call I swear I won't lose it.  Yet once again, I'm losing it.  I'm so glad Roy doesn't ever see me this way.  I've tried to accept his profession, but there are times..." She didn't finish her sentence as she broke down.

RiJ looked at her.  He never really thought about how his injuries hurt her.  It’s not something that you’d want to speak about anyway, especially those who you love.  He wanted to put his arms around her to comfort her.  Then, he thought, what would Johnny do in this situation?  So, he decided to follow his heart.  He walked over to JoAnne and held her.  She just continued to cry into his chest.  RiJ held her in his arms, cherishing the moment and at the same time worrying about his wife and what this was doing to her. 

He walked her over to the chair so she could sit down.

JoAnne looked up at "Johnny" and said, "You know, I'm usually worried about you."  She laughed and continued, "It's usually Roy calling me to tell me that you've done it again.  You've been bitten by a rattler, injured from a gas explosion...  I don't have to tell you.  But this, this is so hard.  Johnny, I can't let anything happen to him.  I don't know what I'd do without him."  She buried her head in her hands.

“He’s been acting so strange lately, Johnny.  I’ve found him sleeping on the Lazy-Boy chair and I know he doesn’t sleep well there.  I just hope he didn’t cause this accident because he was so tired.”

RiJ listened to what JoAnne said.  He was relieved to confirm that Johnny was on his best behavior.  He also was guilty that Johnny may have been tired which led to this accident.  But then he realized the beam gave way due to the fire.  It would have hit him, if Johnny hadn’t pushed him out of the way.  The strain of this whole situation was getting to RiJ.

“No JoAnne, don’t think that he was tired.  The beam gave way.  It was an accident.”  RiJ said gently.

RiJ sat down besides JoAnne and rubbed her back for comfort.  JoAnne's confession had an intense impact on Roy.  He knew that a firemen's job was toughest on the families.  He'd been fortunate not to experience too many injuries.  But in this case, Johnny continued with his dumb luck and was injured, trapped in Roy's body.  This entire experience gave new light to Roy.

While RiJ was consoling JoAnne, Dr.  Brackett came into the lounge.  They both looked up.

"Roy will be fine.  He came around while he was being examined.  Apart from a little confusion, he's okay."

RiJ quickly became alarmed when Brackett mentioned that JiR was confused.  Roy was certain it had to do with the fact that Johnny wasn’t in his own body and his foggy brain wasn’t processing things correctly at the moment. 

"Can I see him?"  JoAnne asked.

"We're moving him to a room.  I want to keep him overnight for observations.  We'll let you know when he's settled."

JoAnne turned to RiJ and smiled.  That simple action took years of distress off of Roy's heart.  He smiled, with a typical Gage grin, back at his wife.

***

The two were brought to "Roy's" room.  JoAnne walked over to his bed and discovered he was resting.  She took his hand and he stirred.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi, Jo."  JiR noticed that Roy was in the back of the room.

"How are you feeling?" she asked her husband.

Stifling a cough, JiR replied, "okay I guess.  They just wanna keep me overnight."

RiJ walked closer to the bed.  He looked at his partner and was grateful he was going to be okay.  All of a sudden, the room began to swim and he collapsed.  Seeing what happened, JoAnne went to get a doctor.  While this was going on, JiR also became lightheaded.  It was reminiscent to passing out by the squad when this whole fiasco began.

Dixie and Dr. Brackett came into the room and saw Johnny lying on the floor.  Dr. Brackett and Dixie lifted the fallen man onto the vacant bed.  Dixie began to take his vital signs.  With all of the excitement, no one noticed Roy trying to get up.  He looked over and saw Johnny lying on the next bed.  He looked at his hands and felt his head.  He realized he was back in his body.  He started to move, but felt pain.

"Roy, don't move, Dr. Brackett has it under control," JoAnne said.  She reached over and kissed Roy on the forehead.  He closed his eyes treasuring the moment.  A moment he thought he'd never feel again.  He realized, then and there, the switch was over.

Johnny started to come around.  "Where am I?"

"Well Johnny, it looks like you had a syncopal episode."  Dr. Brackett said.

"I fainted?"

"Yes, you did."

Johnny looked over and saw Roy in bed with JoAnne standing besides him.  Then, he remembered what happened.  He started to feel better and wanted to get up.  He was quick to realize that his soul was back in his own body.  As he moved forward, he became dizzy again.

"Don't move so fast, you hose jockey.  I think you're a bit dehydrated.  I want to check you out."  Dr. Brackett said.  “I have a feeling that you’re gonna be here overnight too.”

***
It was several weeks since Johnny and Roy's souls returned to their own bodies and their lives were back into their own routine. The two men joked about their experience, but didn't reflect much on all of the events that occurred.  They were deeply ashamed of their actions and knew they each had to keep their private episodes just that, private.

"Roy, you've got a visitor."  Captain Stanley announced and escorted JoAnne to the backyard.

Roy walked over to his wife and kissed her on the cheek.  "What brings you here, hon?"

"I've got some news to tell you Roy!"

Johnny got up to leave when JoAnne said, "Johnny, you can hear this too."  She paused but continued, "I'm pregnant!" 

Roy had the biggest smile on his face.  "You're pregnant?  How can that be?  I mean I know how that can be, but, how far along are you?"

"The doctor estimates that I'm five weeks pregnant."

Roy went to his wife and hugged and kissed her.  John went over to congratulate the happy couple.  Johnny did the math and realized that if JoAnne was correct with the timing, he was with her five weeks ago.

Johnny left Roy and JoAnne alone to share their joy.  When he went to the kitchen, he pulled a piece of paper from his shirt.  It was his fortune from his fortune cookie.  He read it and read it again.  He got chills after reading the fortune again. It said, “The next woman in your life will give you a gift that you can never acknowledge.” He scratched his head wondering if he just witnessed his present.

TO BE CONTINUED ???




(Janet’s comments.  I have to thank Betty for being my collaborating partner.  She is the salt to my pepper.  I also have to thank Barb B again for being my beta reader.)

(Betty's comments - I would like to thank Janet for giving me the opportunity to work with her and for providing the back bone to this story,  It was a lot of fun!)