The Bet by Alexandra Reid When Roy DeSoto walked into the locker room at Station 51, he found his partner and best friend, John Gage, sitting half-dressed in his locker, his face buried in his hands. "Morning Junior," Roy said as he opened his locker. "Morning'," came the muffled reply. Johnny didn't even look up. Roy dressed in silence, half wondering what was bothering his friend so much. Johnny didn't even look up when Captain Hank Stanley poked his head into the room to tell them roll call was in ten minutes. "C'mon Johnny, you need to get dressed," Roy said, closing his locker. "Why?" Johnny's face remained hidden in his hands. "Because it's time to get to work, you know that," Roy said, beginning to worry about his best friend. "You heard Cap; it's almost time for roll call." When Johnny didn't respond or move, Roy quietly left the locker room to find Hank. The Captain was in his office going over paperwork. "Hey Cap," Roy said from the door. "There's something wrong with Gage." "What?" Hank asked, with increasing concern. "Is he all right?" "I don't know," Roy replied. "I can't even get him to look at me and he's barely talking. Can we skip roll call so I can try to figure out what's up?" Hank frowned. "Go ahead, if he's sick or something's on his mind that'll affect his job, I'll need to know about it." "Thanks Cap," Roy said. He hurried back across the bay to the lockers and grew even more concerned when he saw Johnny hadn't moved. Roy sat down on the bench facing Johnny. "Junior, c'mon talk to me," he said. "What's wrong?" "Can't tell because you'll hate me," Johnny's muffled reply came. "Everyone'll hate me." "No one's gonna hate you," Roy said. "Least of all me, you're my best friend. I could never hate you." Johnny didn't move, his face was still hidden by his hands. "Yes you will." Roy sighed. "I've never seen you this worried before," he said. "Not even when we ended up paying for the picnic because of that bet you made." Johnny flinched when Roy mentioned the word bet. Roy noticed and sighed. "Not again," he said. "Johnny, did you lose another bet?" "Yeah." "Junior, when are you gonna learn?" Roy asked. "Is this gonna affect the whole station again?" "No." "But it affects me?" Roy asked. "C'mon, tell me, it can't be that bad." Johnny finally looked up and Roy was shocked to see the fear in his deep brown eyes. "Pally, when it's time for me to pay off Chet, neither you or Stoker are gonna want anything to do with me again," he whispered. "I thought for sure I could win and finally put Chet in his place, but he won. Not only did I lose the bet, I'm gonna lose two of my best friends." Roy was tempted to go to Hank and let him deal with the whole mess, but knew Chet would be impossible to live with, especially if he saw how upset Johnny was about paying off the bet. "Come on, finish getting dressed and find out what your daily assignment is. We'll face Chet together when you come into the kitchen." "I don't know if I can, Pally," Johnny whispered. "Sure you can, c'mon; I'll always be your best friend. Now let's go show Chet that nothing can affect a friendship like ours." While Johnny finally finished dressing, Roy went and found Mike, who was as always, working on his engine, Big Red. He quickly filled the quiet engineer in on the problem and his plan to get back at Chet. He and Mike agreed that no matter what happened they would act as if it didn't bother them and teach Chet a lesson he wouldn't forget. When Johnny finally walked into the kitchen, he found all of his shift mates waiting for him, just as he'd known they would be. Hank looked concerned, Marco confused, Chet smug, and Mike and Roy were determined. "Ah the pigeon has arrived," Chet said, rubbing his hands together. "Gage, are you ready to pay off your bet?" Johnny swallowed hard and nodded. Chet's smile grew as he saw how nervous John was; this was the perfect joke and the perfect payout. Chet was glad, however, that he'd won because there was no way he could've gone through if he lost this one. "Roy and Mike would you stand up please?" Chet said. He moved them around so they were standing side by side, facing everyone. "Ok John, whenever you're ready." Gage, looking like he was going to pass out, walked over and stood in front of Roy. His brown eyes apologized for him as he took and deep breath and leaned in. Roy's eyes widened in shock as his partner and best friend kissed him, just pressing their lips together, but a kiss nonetheless. When Johnny stepped back, Roy gave him a smile of encouragement. "It's ok Junior, be strong," Roy whispered, so that only his partner could hear him. Johnny nodded and moved over to stand in front of Mike. "It's ok," Mike whispered, just as quietly, his blue eyes understanding. "Show Chet how strong you are." Johnny swallowed hard and leaned in to kiss Mike, again just lip to lip. When he stepped back, Johnny turned and ran out of the dayroom. Roy and Mike looked at each other, their eyes agreeing they needed to check on Johnny. Hank turned on Kelly. "What the hell was that?" he yelled. "Another hair-brained joke to make Gage look like an idiot? You went too far this time. YOU," the Captain pointed at Chet, "have latrine duty for the next two months and you have to make a public apology to Gage this afternoon. I suggest you put the phantom into retirement." Hank took a deep breath and turned to Roy. "Go check on Johnny. I want to make sure he's ok." Roy nodded at the Captain and then looked at Mike; the two left together looking for their wayward friend. Mike spoke up. "I don't believe Chet," Mike said. "Doesn't he know when to quit? I'm just glad it was us, Johnny's close friends, and not Hank and Marco." "I was hoping Johnny would stand up to him when it was all over, but I guess it was too much," Roy replied. "Our lack of a reaction was something though. I doubt Chet expected us to be so calm about it. Still, I can see why Johnny was so scared about losing our friendship." They finally found Johnny curled up on his bunk, facing the wall. Roy sat down on the bunk next to him. "Hey Junior." "Go 'way," Johnny muttered. Mike joined Roy on the edge of the bunk. "No," he said softly. "C'mon Johnny, look at us." "No." Hank came into the dorm and stopped by the wall by his own bunk. He couldn't believe how childish Kelly had been, to embarrass Gage so completely in front of the whole crew. Hank was glad Roy and Mike were being so supportive; most men would've gone to pieces over something like this. He only hoped they could get Johnny out of this funk, because they needed him back to normal. They had to help him get through this. |