Disclaimer: The characters of Emergency! don’t belong to me, nor
does this original episode. :o) They all belong to Mark VII and
Universal. Just having fun with an alternate idea. No copyright infringement is
intended.
Note: The
character of Phil belongs to the creators of Emergency!, and was a fill-in for
an ill Chet in this episode. If you haven't seen this episode for a while, you
may want to before reading this. The story picks up where Johnny and Roy are
transporting a heart attack victim to Rampart and the ambulance they're in is
hit by a car.
Back Up – An Alternate Ending
By Audrey W.
The ambulance took a second hit as a large pickup truck
sent it into a spin, its rear doors flinging open. The truck came to a stop a
short distance away.
The collisions threw the two
paramedics off balance. Leaning over the heart attack victim, Johnny
was thrown
first against the side of the ambulance, his head banging against the window,
then backwards. Unable to grab
anything to stop his fall, he tumbled from the ambulance, hitting the back of
his head on the doorframe on the way out. An unconscious Gage
was tossed onto the pavement, where he lay unaware of the mayhem around him.
Roy was
lifted off his feet, landing on the floor of the ambulance on his side. Loose equipment battered his body. Roy tried to fend off the objects assaulting him, but it
all was happening too fast. He felt a sharp pain as the biophone hit the left
side of his head, then everything faded to blackness.
Not seriously injured, the driver got out of his
truck, his mouth open as he stared at the sight before him.
~*~*~
Having been assigned to drive the
squad to Rampart, Marco came upon the scene soon after the accident
occurred. Several civilians were gathering around something in the
street - he couldn't make out what it was. A few other people
were running towards the three vehicles involved in the accident.
As he got out of the squad, the
fireman could hear the voices filtering over from the onlookers.
“Is he dead?”
“Did you see what happened?”
“The guy fell right out of the back.”
“Is he breathin’?”
As Marco quickly neared the small
group of people, he recognized whom they had been referring to.
“Johnny!”
Taking in Gage's battered
appearance, the Hispanic man knelt down by his shiftmate. Marco suddenly
remembered that John wasn’t the only one who had been in the back of the
ambulance.
What about Roy?
~*~*~
Slowly Roy began to come around.
He could see a couple of people he didn’t recognize peering in at him, and that
was it. Since no firemen or police were there yet, he guessed he hadn't been
out long. He blinked a few times to clear his vision. As Roy scanned over the
interior of the ambulance the paramedic felt a sudden panic. Their patient
was above him, still secured on the stretcher, but. . .
Where’s Johnny?
~*~*~
Being that they weren’t injured,
the ambulance attendants took action as soon as the vehicle came to a stop. The
driver radioed dispatch for help, while the other turned
around in his seat and called out to the paramedics. Only silence remained
in return. He jumped out and rushed to the rear of the vehicle, the driver coming up behind him. Two
witnesses were already leaning inside the open doors. Quickly taking in the
scene around them, the attendants saw Gage lying in the street with several
people looking on. The squad was parked nearby and Marco was squatting down
beside the injured paramedic. The other
wrecked vehicles were towards the side of the street.
“Hey, Gary, I’ll go see if he
needs help!” The one offered, referring to Marco. The driver nodded, then
turned his attention to the bystanders and Roy. The blond paramedic was still
lying on the floor of the ambulance, but was making an effort to get up. Gary
knew that Roy might be seriously injured and too out of it to realize that
fact. He quickly squeezed between the two onlookers and climbed up into the
rear of the ambulance. Squatting down, he placed his hands on Roy’s shoulders
to keep him still. “Hey, don’t move. You might have a back injury or something
you’re not aware of.”
“John. . .Johnny?”
“Kyle’s checking on him, Roy.
It’ll be okay.” Gary looked up at the heart patient. Patting Roy’s shoulder, he
quickly stood up part way and leaned over the man on the stretcher. He checked
his pulse and saw that the patient still wasn’t breathing on his own. Knowing
it was life or death, Gary continued the assisted breathing the paramedics set
up. He glanced over his shoulder at the open rear doors. I hope help gets
here soon.
~*~*~
Marco was trying to get any kind
of a response from Johnny when the ambulance attendant came running over to
assist. The Hispanic fireman looked up from his squatted position.
“He’s not showing any level of
awareness at all. No reaction to pain. How’s Roy? Did he get injured?”
The attendant, Kyle, kneeled down
on the other side of Gage. “I think DeSoto’s hurt, but I don’t know how bad.
Gage is lucky he’s alive.” The man stared at the multitude of road rash marks
on Johnny’s left arm and at his torn left pant leg. He figured Johnny probably
had road burns there as well. The left side of his head was scraped, but not
nearly as bad. By nothing short of a miracle, his head hadn’t taken the brunt
of the fall, thus sparing him what most likely would have been a fatal injury.
There was, however, a large lump on the back of his head.
“I can feel a bump here,” Kyle said, his hand still in
place.
The sound of a siren approaching caused both men to scan
the street, anxious for help to arrive.
“Do you know if anyone else was hurt?” the attendant asked,
bringing his attention back to Gage.
Lopez looked towards one of the other cars involved. “A few
people were checking on the other victims when I got here. No one’s yelled for
help.”
~*~*~
As the remaining crew of Engine 51
came up on the scene, they were in a state of disbelief and shock. Nothing
could have prepared them for what they saw as they climbed down from the truck.
Hank met Marco as the fireman trotted over to fill him in.
“What the hell happened?”
“The ambulance was involved in an
accident. Looks like the car and truck both hit it. Everybody seems okay
except for Roy and Johnny."”
The captain turned around to give
his other two firemen instructions. “Phil, Mike, go check on the other victims
involved. See if they need paramedics.” He returned his gaze to Marco. “How bad
are Gage and DeSoto?”
“Johnny fell out, Cap. I can’t get
any kind of response from him. Roy’s still in the ambulance. . . I don’t know.”
On the words that John had fallen
out, Stanley brushed past Marco, as he got the update on Roy. He hurried over to the form still in the
street.
“The paramedics better get here
pretty quick,” Captain Stanley said as they neared Gage. Taking in Johnny's
appearance, he had a hunch it was bad. He heaved a deep sigh as he looked at
the disaster surrounding him. “It sounded like Squad 36 was the closest
available, and they’ve got quite a distance to cover.” He looked at Kyle, who
was still by Johnny’s side.
The attendant shook his head at
the unspoken question, then answered “Not good.”
Marco kneeled back down on the
ground near his shiftmate. He leaned in closer as Gage lay unmoving except for
the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
"It's okay, Johnny. You'll be
okay."
The paramedic didn't give any kind
of response indicating he had heard Lopez, but no one expected it.
As much as he hated to leave Gage,
Hank Stanley wanted to know about DeSoto and how he was faring. He headed
towards the rear of the ambulance as two police units arrived on the scene.
~*~*~
Phil and Mike had checked out the
other victims and found them to be okay. The woman who had hit the ambulance
kept apologizing to the firemen for what had happened. Not knowing what else to
do, Phil reassured her that it was going to be okay. Mike kept the man from the
truck calm as two police officers approached from the intersection.
“They just need to know exactly
what happened,” Mike reminded the man. “Just tell them what you remember.
That’s all they need.”
“But it’s not my fault,” the man
repeated. “When the car hit the ambulance, it got in my way.”
“Just explain that to them,” the
engineer tried again. He gave a weak smile as one of the officers stepped up to
the man to question him.
“Anyone here need medical help?”
The policeman asked.
Phil and Mike both shook their
heads. “But they probably should go in to Rampart just to be checked in case,”
Chet’s replacement said.
Both officers nodded. One took the
woman by the arm, steering her away from the driver of the truck. He opened his
note pad and began questioning her. At the same time, the other policeman
questioned the man.
Seeing their charges were being
taken care of, both firemen trotted towards Johnny.
~*~*~
The ambulance driver was still
with Roy and the heart patient. DeSoto had been in and out of awareness, and he
knew the paramedic needed medical attention. Unfortunately Gary couldn’t take
care of both adequately and the other victim took top priority. The patient aspirated
prior to transport and was in extremely critical condition. The driver noticed
Roy waking again, struggling to get up.
“Don’t move, Roy. You’ve been in
an accident.” He glanced at the two onlookers. “Could you help to keep him
still?”
One man nodded and gently pushed
the paramedic’s shoulders down.
“How’re they doing?” Stanley asked
as he peered around the man, into the ambulance.
The captain could see the distress
in Gary’s expression. “This guy needs to be on his way to Rampart . . . now!
”
"The heart. . .attack . .
.patient. . ." DeSoto said weakly. “An’ wha’…where's . . . Johnny?"
“Your patient is hanging in there,
Roy. He’s right here. The paramedics. . .” Gary noticed Hank shake his head as
he mouthed ‘Not here yet.’ The ambulance driver continued. “My partner’s with
Gage. You just worry about yourself right now, okay?” He waited for the blond
man to relax somewhat. “Take it easy. Help’s on the way.”
Roy wasn’t sure he was hearing
right. On the way? Shouldn’t they be here by now? Maybe it hasn’t
been that long. . .? His eyes slowly closed as he drifted to
unconsciousness again.
Stanley had seen enough. He pulled
out his HT and called into dispatch, questioning where the paramedics were.
“ETA is three minutes, 51.”
He frowned. There was no guarantee
that John or the heart patient had three minutes. Two ambulances
arriving on the scene offered a slight relief. At least when medical help did
arrive, victims could be transported quickly.
~*~*~
Phil and Mike rushed to where
Johnny was still lying in the intersection, unconscious.
“Need any help?” Phil asked,
kneeling down.
Mike was ready to do the same when
he glanced over at the wrecked ambulance. Captain Stanley was standing at the
rear, a concerned expression on his face. The engineer decided to see if that
look had anything to do with DeSoto’s condition. Stoker started towards the
captain, as Phil, Kyle and Marco stayed by Gage's side.
“What in the hell is taking the
paramedics so long to get here?” Kyle asked, after he checked the
injured man's pulse and respirations for a second time.
Lopez shook his head. “Johnny and
Roy were getting calls for all sorts of non-emergency situations today. And
squads farther away were being sent to this area for the more serious rescues.”
The men exchanged relieved glances
as Squad 36 finally arrived at the scene.
Captain Stanley was right over to
greet the paramedics and give them a quick rundown on the situation. One headed
for Johnny, the other to the wrecked ambulance, where he quickly helped to lift
the heart patient out on the stretcher. Not wasting any time, the victim was
placed in a waiting ambulance and was on his way to Rampart, 36’s paramedic
along with him.
Having been informed Roy was the
least injured of the three, the other paramedic instructed Phil to go tell Gary
to continue keep an eye on DeSoto and yell if he needed help.
“Can you get Rampart on the horn?”
Marco nodded, opening the biophone
and setting up the antenna. As soon as Brackett answered on the other end, Dale
Bradley from 36’s grabbed the receiver out of Lopez’s hand. The Hispanic
fireman listened as vitals were reported to Rampart.
“ . . .pupils unequal and sluggish, and the victim is unresponsive
to stimluli.”
~*~*~
Brackett instructed an IV be
started on Johnny and that spinal precautions be taken. He then
turned to Joe Early, who was talking to Gary on another frequency.
“How’s Roy doing?”
The doctor shrugged. “I think
he’ll be okay, Kel. He’s not complaining about any back pain, and there’s no
sign of rigidity to his abdomen. Sounds like he might have a moderate
concussion, though, and some bruises.” He paused a moment, then asked, “And
Gage?”
Brackett shook his head. “It
doesn’t look good. The sooner they can get him in here, the better, though. I
don’t like the fact that he’s still unconscious and unresponsive, and it took
so long for medical help to arrive in the first place.”
~*~*~
Roy felt himself lifted and placed
on a stretcher outside the ambulance, a backboard underneath him and c-collar on for precaution. Now that he was
awake again, he wanted to know more details about the welfare of his partner
and the man they had been transporting, but he knew that information would come
when it was available. Gary wouldn’t lie to him just to tell him anything.
Captain Stanley was back over near
the wrecked ambulance and could tell Roy was very concerned and needed to know
more about Gage’s condition, other than a simple ‘he’s in good hands.’ But he
didn’t know much more himself. While it was true that Johnny had looked to be
in bad shape when they first arrived on the scene, it was impossible to know
the extent of his injuries from first glance.
“Roy, I’m sure John’ll be okay,”
was all Hank could say. If only the damn squad hadn’t taken so long to get
here.
~*~*~
Once Gage was placed on a
stretcher, still on a backboard as well, he was taken over to and lifted
inside the waiting ambulance. Roy was already inside trying to stay as alert as
possible so he would know what was going on. Bradley carried Johnny’s IV bag
gently between his teeth as he helped to place the injured man in the vehicle.
Watching the paramedic, Mike and
Captain Stanley were reminded of Johnny at work. He often carried a patient’s
IV bag in the same manner while he helped to get them ready for transport. The
dark-haired man had done it so often that he had finessed talking while it was
still in his mouth.
Hank waved Marco over from where
he stood beside the ambulance. “Why don’t you take the squad back to the
station. Headquarters is sending a replacement paramedic team and they’re gonna
need a vehicle.”
“Right, Cap.”
Once Lopez was on the way, and the
ambulance carrying his paramedics departed the area, Captain Stanley walked
over and stood by the engine a moment, surveying the wrecked vehicles at the
scene. The police were marking where the ambulance tires were resting, a method
that would help to investigate the accident. He was confident that between
statements that witnesses made, damage to the cars and where the vehicles ended
up, it would be determined who was at fault and hopefully that person would
have learned a lesson here. Stanley shook his head. Times like this made him
angrier than words could express. People needed to give the right-of-way to
emergency vehicles when the lights and sirens were in use and it was a shame it
sometimes took an incident like this to make them realize that.
Accidents like this shouldn’t happen.
He caught movement to his left and
saw Mike approaching, Phil with him. Hank sighed. “Let’s go.”
Both men nodded and the three
engine crewmembers climbed up into their truck.
“Captain Stanley, are we gonna be
allowed time to check on Johnny and Roy?”
Phil wondered.
“We’re not being let off duty, if
that’s what you’re asking. But you can bet I’ll be calling Rampart often. I’m
not gonna be at ease until I know those two are really gonna be okay.”
The fireman nodded
solemnly. He had a feeling Chet Kelly was going to wish he’d been on duty.
Especially if this turned out to be the last shift with DeSoto and Gage as
partners. No one could even begin to imagine what the rest of the afternoon and
evening were going to be like.
~*~*~
Roy was taken into one treatment
room, as Johnny was whisked down the corridor towards another. The dark-haired
paramedic groaned slightly as he began to feel the sensation of moving.
“In here,” Dixie said, holding the
door open. She glanced down as Johnny was wheeled past. The paramedic looked so
battered and vulnerable to her. The head nurse stepped inside behind the others
and stood by, ready to assist when the time came.
“Any sign of consciousness?”
Brackett asked, as Johnny was transferred to the exam table, the backboard
still underneath him.
“Just a few groans now and then.”
Bradley watched as the doctor began to check Gage’s pupils. “He grimaced a
couple of times, so I’d say he’s feeling some level of pain from his injuries
now.”
“That’s a good sign,” Kel replied.
He examined the road burns, while Dixie took Gage’s vitals. “Dix, we’re gonna
have to irrigate these abrasions. The grime is in pretty deep, so we’ll have to
use a brush to get the embedded dirt out.”
Bradley winced. He had never
experienced what Johnny would soon be going through, but just the thought of it
hurt.
“Johnny!” Brackett called out,
trying to get a response from the paramedic. He placed his left hand in Gage’s
right. “Johnny, squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”
A light grip on his hand brought a
smile to the doctor’s face. He took his hand from the younger man’s grip and
patted his shoulder. “Good job. Can you open your eyes for me?”
Johnny’s eyes fluttered open to a
squint. The paramedic gave a barely audible moan.
“Now there’s an improvement.”
Brackett said, grinning at the others. He quickly took his attention back to
the patient. “Johnny, do you know where you are?”
Gage stared up at the unfocused
image above him. Unable to clear his vision, he closed his eyes again, not
giving an answer. He mind drifted into oblivion as he became unconscious
again. Dixie, Kel and Bradley exchanged worried glances. Dixie quickly carried
on with her duty of calling for the Echoencephalogram, X-ray and setting up to
clean out the abrasions.
~*~*~
Doctor Early was in the other room
with Roy. The blond paramedic was becoming more aware, but had suffered a
moderate concussion, along with a few cracked ribs. X-rays were ordered for
DeSoto, to make sure nothing was being overlooked.
Roy looked up at the doctor taking
care of him. “Doc, any word . . .on Johnny?”
“No, but Kel’s with him. He’s in
good hands, Roy.”
“Can. . .can you . . .find out? He
looked. . .he never came around on the way here.”
Joe frowned at the comment. It was
unfortunate the partners had to be transported in the same ambulance. He forced
a reassuring smile. “As soon as they get here with the x-ray equipment, I’ll go
see what I can find out. In the meantime, try to take it easy and rest.”
Roy nodded slightly. “It took. .
.help forever to . . .get there.”
“We’ll look into that, Roy.”
DeSoto wished he could have
something to ease his headache while he waited for word on Johnny. But he knew
it would have to wait until some of the tests were complete. For now, closing
his eyes seemed to alleviate part of his discomfort.
~*~*~
Having left his patient with the
x-ray technicians, Joe Early slipped into the treatment room where Kel Brackett
was still working on Gage. The dark-haired doctor glanced up at the new
arrival.
“How’s Roy doing?”
“I’d say once he finds out more on
his partner, he’ll be better. Right now it seems to be all that’s on his mind
and not knowing has been hard.”
Brackett looked first at Dixie,
then at Johnny’s unconscious form on the table. “We still don’t know, Joe. He
did open his eyes once, and he could understand my request to squeeze my hand .
. .”
“Sounds like improvement to me.”
Kel looked up at Early. “Yeah, but
he didn’t demonstrate any sign of awareness to his surroundings or me. It
was only a matter of seconds and he was out again.”
“You think he’s got a serious
brain injury?”
“We’ll know as soon as we get the EEG results. Looks like that
won’t be much longer,” he said as he nodded behind Early, towards the door. The
technicians were bringing in their equipment. Brackett gave his instructions to
the men, then exited the room with Dixie and Joe. The three hospital staff
members gathered together at the base station.
“Wait until we have tests back on
Johnny before you give any news to Roy. I’d hate to have him fed anything that
may be inaccurate from what’s really going on.”
“You’ve got it, Kel.”
~*~*~
Hank Stanley hung up the phone in
his office and sighed. He’d just gotten an update on DeSoto and Gage, and he
was relieved to hear Roy was going to be okay. Johnny was doing better, but was
still very critical.
The captain pushed his chair back
from the desk, and headed for the dayroom.
~*~*~
Marco looked up from the magazine
he was absently flipping through. Like the rest of the crew, he was having a
hard time keeping his attention focused during spare time. The injured
paramedics were foremost on everyone’s minds. “Cap! Any word on Roy and John?”
Lopez, Mike and Phil, and the two
fill-in paramedics now on duty, waited anxiously for Hank to answer.
The captain put his hands in his
pockets and leaned against the doorframe. “Roy’s got a moderate concussion, two
cracked ribs and a sprained knee. No serious internal injuries. He’ll be out a
few weeks. John’s got a severe concussion, a severely bruised left hip . . . only
time will tell if he’ll make a full recovery from the head injury. Right now,
he’s still unconscious. But,” Hank added, “ they think Gage was out before he
hit the pavement, which probably saved his life. His body was relaxed like a
rag doll . . .more or less the same result a drunk in an accident gets.”
The men nodded, no one needing to
say anything. They were all glad to get the good news on DeSoto, and grateful
Johnny wasn’t hurt worse. But the report on the younger paramedic made it hard
to feel at ease.
“Well, I’d better go call Kelly
and give him the news.” With that, Stanley turned and headed for his office.
Phil leaned back in his chair and
stared at the pot of stew he created. No way could he or anyone else eat right
now. He slowly got up from his seat and placed the pot of now cold food in the
refrigerator.
Marco thought about his horoscope.
It was supposed to be an uneventful day, a good time for reading a book, the
forecast said. This day had turned out to be anything but uneventful.
~*~*~
Roy turned his head to the side and smiled wanly at
Joanne sitting in the chair near his bed.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” she began as
she leaned forward and lightly kissed him on the lips. She pulled back and
looked down at her husband. “How’re you
feeling?”
“Like I’ve been knocked around by
a prize fighter,” he answered groggily. “I hurt everywhere.” He moved his
sprained knee slightly, the ice pack on it still firmly in place.
“Doctor Early said you’d probably
be sore. You must’ve really got thrown around in the back of the ambulance . .
.” Her voice cracked and tears pooled in her eyes. As she blinked to clear her
vision, a tear trickled down her right cheek.
“Hey. . .”
“I’m okay, Roy. It’s just . . .you
and Johnny. . .you came close . . .”
At the mention of his partner’s
name, Roy became alarmed. He never had gotten word on how Gage really was.
“Is Johnny . . .okay?”
Joanne nodded, wiping at her eyes.
“He . . .uh . . . he’s in critical but stable condition. That’s all I know.”
Roy sighed. “Dammit.”
“Honey, he’s gonna be all right.
Doctor Brackett said the prognosis is good. They just don’t know--”
“What? Don’t know . . . what?”
“He hasn’t fully regained
consciousness yet. They don’t know how bad his brain got jostled in the accident.”
Roy didn’t say anything in reply.
He absently chewed his lower lip in thought.
“Roy, I’m sure he’ll be okay.
Don’t think the worst . . .give Johnny a chance to wake up and get a handle on
things.”
Again the blond paramedic didn’t
answer. And when he finally did, he moved on to another subject.
“How long . . . have you been here?” He asked, his voice
still sounding groggy.
“Around two hours.”
“The kids?”
“Captain Stanley’s wife called
when she heard what happened, and offered to watch Chris and Jenny until
visiting hours are over. That’s a good crew you work with, you know. They’ve
been calling frequently to see how you two are doing.”
That didn’t surprise the
paramedic. He knew that in times of trouble, they’d all be there for each
other. And he sure couldn’t imagine working beside anybody but Johnny right
now.
You’d better be okay, partner.
~*~*~
Dixie came into Rampart early the next morning, a little
before her next shift was to start. She carefully eased the door to Johnny’s
room open and slowly walked over beside his bed. She looked at the bandages
that covered the road burns on his skin, wincing as she recalled
Johnny's grimaces while they were cleaning the abrasions out with a
brush and solution. The nurse had found it tough to assist with the
task and she wished there could have been another way to do it. For whatever
reason, none of it brought the man to a full level of consciousness.
Dixie pulled over a chair and sat down, gently reaching out
for Gage’s right hand. “Hang in there, Johnny,” she said, giving a light
squeeze.
It was when she felt the squeeze in return that the nurse
looked over at his face and noticed half open eyes staring at her, a blank look
to them. Dixie reached for the call button with her other hand. When a staff
member on the floor peeked in to see what was going on, the head nurse
requested Brackett be notified immediately.
~*~*~
Joe Early and Dixie watched as Kel Brackett finished
examining Gage. The doctor shone a penlight in the paramedic’s eyes, testing
the pupil reaction again.
“You still seeing blurry?”
“Yeah,” came the whispered reply.
“Can you remember anything about the accident?”
Johnny waited a few seconds then slightly shook his head.
He couldn’t remember anything beyond. . . “Cherry stew,” he mumbled.
“What?”
“Stew . . . Cherries an’ stew. . .”
The three observers shrugged at one another.
“I don’t know, Kel, but if I ate cherry stew, I don’t think
anything could make me forget it either,” Joe said with a smile. “Who knows
with six firemen what they come up with for variety in their diet.”
Brackett grinned. “Well, at least he can recall something.
Dix, call the station and see if they remember when and if they had that dish.
It’ll give us an idea of how much he’s lost in the way of a timeframe.”
The nurse nodded and left the room. She couldn’t wait to
let the men on A-shift know that Gage was finally awake. Sure, he wasn’t seeing
clearly yet and he was disoriented, but it was a relief to have him making progress,
slow or otherwise. Her next step after the phone call would be to tell Roy.
~*~*~
The expression on Roy’s face as Dixie delivered the update
on the younger paramedic was enough to show how much his partner’s welfare
mattered to DeSoto.
“What about the blurred vision, though?” The blond man
wondered. “I mean. . .is Brackett concerned about that?”
“You know it’s common to have problems with vision after
suffering a concussion,” Dixie explained. “It’ll take awhile, but Kel says it
should clear up.”
“I can’t believe he only remembers the stew,” Roy grinned,
sitting propped up in the bed. “We didn’t even eat it. Must be the idea of it
was enough to leave an impression.”
“Must be.”
The nurse and paramedic grew serious again, knowing full well
the situation could have been a lot worse. Roy sighed as he shifted his
position slightly.
“Dix, you know . . .it took a long time for a squad to get
to the accident scene. And we’re just lucky that our heart patient and Johnny
hung in there until they did arrive.”
“I know. We’ve been talking about it. But Doctor Brackett
says there’s really nothing we can do. . .there’s no way of knowing if a more
serious call is going to come in soon after a less urgent one. And even if
there was, there’s no way to know for certain which is which.” She sat on the
edge of his bed. “People react differently to situations and someone might
downplay a condition that’s very serious or overplay a trivial one in a panic.
We won’t know until a paramedic unit is there to see what’s going on.”
“Where was Squad 45 when our accident was reported? They
should’ve been the closest.”
Dixie sighed. “They were dispatched out on a call for an
unknown type rescue. Turns out a woman had broken her finger and didn’t want to
drive herself to a doctor.” She gave an apologetic look. “No one knew that
until they got to the scene.”
Roy frowned. “Figures.”
“Someday we’ll get a better system than we have now, Roy.
But until then, it’s really not all that bad. The paramedic program has come a
long way.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “You’re right. Our heart patient
wouldn’t have made it at all if not for paramedics.”
Dixie stood up and walked towards the door. “Hang in there,
Roy. You’ve got a good family, a partner on the mend, a crew that cares about
you guys . . . can’t ask for too many good things at one time.”
DeSoto gave a small grin. No, I can’t. Those
right there are the most important.
~*~*~
Alone in his room, Johnny waited for the latest dose of
medication to take effect and ease the tremendous headache he was experiencing.
The paramedic was feeling all the pain from the accident now that he was awake.
His vision had slightly improved after awhile, but that only made for nausea as
the room seemed to tilt and move around on its own.
Johnny groaned. This, too, shall pass . . .soon, I
hope.
~*~*~
It was early afternoon the following day and Johnny was
still battling the nausea, dizziness and headaches, though his vision cleared
completely. The door to his room opening caught the groggy man’s attention. He
smiled weakly when Captain Stanley peeked inside.
“Hey, pal, how’re you doin’?”
“Okay, Cap.” Slightly elevated in his bed, Johnny tried to
scoot up a bit, wincing at the pain it caused on his left side.
Hank Stanley was over to the bed in seconds, ready to press
the call button. “You okay?”
Gage forced a grin, ignoring the stinging it caused with
the abrasions on his left cheek. “Yeah,” he answered tiredly. “I guess I can’t
do that.”
“Well, don’t rush things.” Hank paused. “I saw Roy. He’s
doing a lot better today.”
“Yeah? That’s great.”
“I’m just glad both of you are doing so well. When we came
up on the scene. . .”
“I know. I heard,” came a groggy reply. “But I don’t
remember any of it.”
Stanley smiled. “I hear you remember the stew with
the cherries in it.”
“Yeah. Cap, we didn’t eat that stuff . . . did we?” he
asked, grimacing.
“Nah, no one got a chance before we all got toned out. Then
none of us felt like eating afterwards.”
“Good thing, huh?”
“I’ll say. But there’s probably still a whole pot of it at
the station if you want any.”
“Cap, please. I’m nauseated as it is.”
Hank had to smile. “Relax. . .that stuff is going in the
trash, if it’s not there already.” He started towards the door, as he could see
Gage was getting sleepy. Reaching for the doorknob, he paused and turned
around. “Hey, Chet wanted me to tell you he’ll be by when he’s feeling better.
Right now he couldn’t see you or DeSoto if he wanted. . .he sounds
terrible.”
“Tell ‘im thanks,” Johnny mumbled.
“I will.” As the captain stepped out the doorway, he looked
over his shoulder, a smirk on his face. “You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if
the ‘Phantom’ influenced Chet to call in that recipe to Phil.”
Johnny gave a lazy grin. Now that he thought about it, the
captain was probably right.
~*~*~
A few weeks later things were back to usual with all of
A-shift together again. Gage and DeSoto were just about to walk into the
dayroom after roll call when C-Shift backed in with the squad.
“This is a dejavu. . .” Roy commented. He shook his head
when his partner gave him a baffled look. He’d forgotten Johnny didn’t recall
everything from the shift that had ended early for them with the accident. The
senior paramedic walked over to the vehicle expecting to hear how many needless
runs they had been on.
“So? How was it?”
“Not bad. . .not at all,” Dwyer answered. “We only had
eight calls and all of them were legit for once.”
“Good. Maybe people are starting to realize the importance
of us being available for real emergencies.”
“We can hope.”
Gage and DeSoto watched the paramedics from C-shift walk
towards the locker room, then began to do a shift-change inspection on the
equipment in the squad.
Squatting as he looked over supplies in the drug box,
Johnny paused, resting his right arm on his knee. “You know, Roy. . .sometimes
if you leave things alone, they just work out on their own.”
The senior medic gave an incredulous look at his partner. “You
were wanting to fix the system just as much as I was.”
“Maybe so . . . but that was before. Now I see it’s already
fixed itself.”
Roy opened his mouth to reply when the Klaxons sounded.
“Squad 51, man down, 3882 Market Street, Room 481, cross
street 14th. Three eight eight two Market, time out 8:21.”
“Does that address ring a bell?” DeSoto asked.
“I think so. . .Wild Bill?”
Roy nodded. “Wild Bill.”
Gage grinned, proud that he could recall whose address it
was despite what happened and after all the time that had passed. His
expression changed to a frown when his partner pointed out what the call would
probably entail.
“You had to say the system’s fixed, didn’t you. Now we've
most likely gotta deal with the who-knows-how old injuries and scars of Wild
Bill again.”
“Well, I -- how --” Johnny watched as Roy got to his feet,
placing the boxes back in the compartments and shutting the doors. The blond
man disappeared around the vehicle and acknowledged the call.
Gage stood up and hurried to the passenger side of the cab.
“Ah, c’mon, Roy. You don’t believe in
jinxes, do ya?”
As DeSoto drove the squad into the street, Johnny began,
“You know, maybe we can think of a solution to this kind of problem afterall.
If we just. . .”
Roy listened as his partner
carried on. The senior paramedic rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly.
I hope someone finds the answer before he drives me nuts.
Thanks to Jill H. and Kenda for the beta read! And to
Peggy for answering a couple of questions. :o) ANY mistakes, medical or
otherwise, are strictly mine.