All things “Emergency” belong to Mark VII Productions and Universal Studios

All music and lyrics contained herein by Jeff Lynne, produced by Jeff Lynne.

Warning:  This story contains some parts with graphic violence. Continue at your own risk!

DDAANNGGEERROOUUSS  DDEECCEEPPTTIIOONNSS 

By Ocean

It was nearly 5 a.m. in Los Angeles and a steady drizzle had been falling for most of the night. Ominous streaks of lightning had begun to flash softly in the distance; a stronger storm was slowly creeping toward the city.

            John Gage lay sleeping in his hospital bed at Rampart general after finally falling back into another drug-induced sleep about 3 hours earlier. It had been a rough day.  He had been brought in by ambulance about thirty hours earlier, distraught and delirious from pain. His partner, Roy Desoto, had been in the ambulance with him, not as a paramedic this time, but on another gurney beside his, in a stunned and seemingly catatonic state.

            Johnny spent most of the night in the ER first to stabilize his vitals, then to wait for the orthopedic surgeon that Dr. Brackett had called to arrive to do the surgery.  According to Dr. Brackett, Dr. Robert Stevenson was the best. A little later, Johnny had spent the early morning hours in surgery, followed by two very unpleasant hours in the recovery room. It had taken the better part of five hours for Dr. Stevenson to repair Johnny’s splintered and crushed bones. Dr. Stevenson was guardedly optimistic that with intense physical therapy, there was a reasonable chance that John Gage would be able to walk normally again. No promises were made however; these legs had been broken before – they could only take so much.

            Johnny had awoken in the recovery room feeling disoriented and nauseous. His mind was in a fog as he heard people speaking softly around him, unable to open his eyes yet.

            Where am I? He tried moving but found that he couldn’t. Something was holding his arms down; his left one seemed to be encased in something heavy. A shroud of panic began to smother him as the realization set in that he was restrained.

            No! Not again! He started to struggle when he felt arms grasping his shoulders.

            “Mr. Gage. Mr. Gage! Please try to calm down! You’ve just had surgery.”

            Who…? That…doesn’t sound like her. Surgery? Wha-?

            He opened his eyes a crack and scanned the room, the memories coming back slowly through a fog.

            The voice he heard had not belonged to whom he thought; instead, it was a pretty young nurse speaking to him.

            “That’s good, Mr. Gage; now I’m going to take off the restraints, so just stay calm, okay? Good,” she crooned. Putting her hand on his forehead she asked, “How’re you feeling?”

            “Uhhhng,” he moaned, feeling his mouth starting to water. “Sick....feel sick,” he looked at her pleadingly.

            “It’s okay,” she said, grabbing the emesis basin. “We’re going to just roll you on your side a little bit; that’s it.” She quickly lifted him up a bit as he emptied what little was in his stomach.

            “All done?” she asked. “Not much fun, I know,” she said softly as he laid his head back down and closed his eyes, panting through his mouth.

            “Anesthesia can do that to people sometimes; try to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, okay?”

            He knew all too well about anesthesia; he’s been through it too many times for his taste.

Pain that had been in the background suddenly became acute. It streaked up and down both legs; every beat of his heart pulsing the agony through every nerve in his body. His arm was throbbing now too, spreading a hot ache across his chest and abdomen that felt like fire.

            He groaned miserably, trying to do what the nurse suggested.

            In through the nose, out through the mouth. I can’t! Oh, shit, here I go again. He looked around desperately. Where is she?

            He saw her, clear across the room attending to another patient. A frantic lunge was made for the emesis basin, to no avail. He couldn’t reach it. It was on the side near his bad arm. Struggling to turn onto his side, he vomited again onto the exam table. Rolling back, it ran down his cheek and into his hair and ear. He closed his eyes, trying to hold back tears.

            Oh, man, I can’t believe this.  His face flushed in anger as he closed his eyes in frustration.

            A second later, he felt a cool wet cloth wiping his face and head, then hands quickly replacing the pillow he was laying on. His nostrils were filled with a familiar perfume, and he heard a female voice.

            “Hey, good-lookin’,” she said with a soft smile.

Johnny slowly opened his eyes and focused on his dear friend and favorite nurse’s face. “’Fraid I’m....not gonna be winnin’....any beauty contests today.... Dix,” the corner of his mouth upturned slightly attempting a crooked grin. “What’re you doin’ here?”

            “I work here, remember? Besides, Kel told me you were out of surgery. I had a coffee break coming, so I though I’d come up and see how my favorite paramedic was doing,” she said warmly placing another cold wet cloth across his forehead.

            “So, I’m....your favorite...huh?”

            “You bet.”

            “You better not....let that get around....the other guys’ll be crushed.”

            “Well, I’m going to be crushed if you don’t hurry up and get well.”

            He nodded slightly, closing his eyes. His eyes flew back open and he inhaled quickly, feeling the saliva building up in his mouth again. This time, Dixie was ready and helped roll him, steadying his shoulders as he started to dry heave. She gently rolled him back when she was certain he was finished.

            “I think we need to do something about that; you try to relax and I’ll be right back,” she said soothingly.

            “Dix, I....need something for pain....it’s really bad,” he breathed out.

            “You got it, handsome,” and she was gone.

            Yeah, right, I bet I look real handsome right now.

            A moment later she returned, and Johnny felt someone adjusting the IV in his arm. Within moments, the pain dulled, and he felt himself floating. Just before he slipped away, something important entered his mind, something about Roy, but he wasn’t quite able to grasp what it was or verbalize it.

            When he awoke again, he was in another room. He could see dull gray clouds floating by through the slats in the blinds, and somewhere in the distance he heard someone moaning. The sounds of doctors being paged hummed in the background. He looked around and found he was alone.

            The clock said 2:05. With effort, he gazed down at himself in shocked disbelief. Both of his legs were encased in casts; one was in traction, the other resting on a pillow. His left arm was also in a cast, and was in traction as well. Bandages covered most of his chest and abdomen. An IV snaked out from sticky tape on his other arm; he followed the tubes upward to two bags slowly dripping their contents into his arm.

The pain had come back with a vengeance; he realized that’s what had awoken him. Noticing the call button close to his hand, he pushed it.

            A nurse appeared, and seeing the distressed expression on his face and his deep breathing, knew immediately what he needed. She returned shortly with a syringe, and Johnny sighed with relief shortly after she injected it into the IV portal.

            The rest of the day had consisted of a blur of pain medication, dreamless sleep, awakening in agony, and then having a nurse appear with more pain medication. A few times he felt hands wiping a cold liquid across his chest and abdomen, which caused those nerve endings to reawaken with pain, and then felt himself being covered up again.  At least the nausea seemed to be gone. Johnny was vaguely aware that people had come in to see him; Cap maybe? But he was too out of it to notice.

            Captain Stanley sat in the chair next to Johnny’s bed staring out the window at the dense clouds slowly creeping by. His attention turned toward the door as he heard someone entering.

Chet’s head peeked in through the door. Seeing Johnny was asleep he spoke softly. “You seen Roy yet?”

            “Yeah, stopped up there a little while ago. How’s he doing now?”

            “Better; says he has a hell of a headache. He’s hoping he’ll be able to be released tomorrow or the next day. He’s pretty shaken up; worried about Johnny,” Chet stated seriously.

            “Yeah, he’s not he only one.”

            They both looked at Johnny’s prone form on the bed, his dark eyelashes and furrowed brows making a sharp contrast against his pale skin. A large bruise had spread across the left side of his face and the bridge of his nose. Chet shook his head slowly and blew out a slow breath that became a whistle.

            “Man, how does Gage get himself into these messes?” Chet wondered.
            “I don’t know, Chet. It’s hard to believe that someone could do something like this to a person.”

            “Yeah. Have you talked to him at all?”
            “Nah, he was sort of mumbling something a little while ago; sounded like he was saying something about Roy. They’ve got him drugged to the hilt; I couldn’t understand him.”

            “Probably a good thing, by the looks of him.” Chet eyed the casts and all the bandages and the IV’s.

            “Did the doc say how long it was going to take him to recover?”

            “Well,” Cap said with a sigh, “he’s not going to be able to do much of anything until he gets these casts off, which I guess will be about four to six weeks. They’re hoping that with vigorous physical therapy, he’ll maybe be able to walk normally again.”

            “Wow. He may not even be able to return to work after this! Man, that’ll kill Johnny,” Chet said with an edge of sadness.

            “Well, we’re just going to have to be there to help him through it, pal. Let’s think positively, shall we?”

            “Yeah,” Chet nodded. He’s going to need more than just ‘physical’ therapy to recover from this.

            Cap regarded Chet as he stood still staring at Johnny, lost in his own thoughts. He decided to let Chet have some time alone with his friend. “Listen, I think I’m going to head out, ah, I’ve been here for awhile. Give me a call if there’s any change or any new information from the doctors, okay?”

            “Sure, Cap. See you tomorrow.” Chet settled himself down in the chair the Cap had just vacated and sighed.

            He shook his head again. “Jeez, Gage, I’m sure glad that chick wasn’t interested in me,” Chet mumbled to himself.

            Chet glanced up as he noticed Johnny stirring in the bed. His arm with the IV in it flopped down from his stomach to the side of the bed; his head slowly moving from left to right.

            His mouth opened slightly and a soft “uhnnn” escaped his lips; his brows starting to furrow together.

            “Johnny? Hey, man, it’s me, Chet. Is there anything I can get you?”

            Heavy lids opened slowly, revealing glazed eyes that didn’t focus on anything. “R....Roy...where’s Roy....he’s....hurt....”

            “Johnny. Johnny, can you hear me? Listen, buddy, Roy’s okay – do you understand? Roy is going to be fine, man. Don’t worry about Roy; he’ll probably be in to see you any time. He’s here at Rampart; he’ll probably be going home tomorrow, okay?”

            Johnny settled his gaze on Chet for a moment, then closed his eyes. A deep sigh was followed by a shortness of breath as the trauma once again became acute.

            “Hang on, pal, I’m going to get a nurse in here for you.” He reached for and pushed the call button. Chet could tell Johnny was in agony.

            A minute later a nurse appeared. She was black and looked to be in her mid fifties as she walked up to the bed. Her nametag read ‘Beatrice’.  Picking up Johnny’s wrist to check his pulse, she noted the distress he was in.

            “What’s wrong sweetcakes, you hurtin’ again?” she drawled.

            Sweetcakes?! Well, at least Gage has a nice nurse this time. I remember him telling me about that army sergeant he had for a nurse after he was hit by that car.

            Johnny looked up at her briefly with pain and desperation in his eyes.

            “Well, you just hold tight, and I’ll be right back with something that’ll make you feel a lot better, okie dokie?” She stepped out of the room.

            Johnny lay with his eyes closed, panting. He squinted up at Chet for a moment, trying to focus on his face. “Chet....”

            Chet could hardly stand to watch his friend suffer any more. He forced a half smile to his face and touching Johnny gently on his good shoulder said, “Hey, pal, I’m going to get going and let you get some rest. Feel better, okay?”

            Johnny barely nodded as Chet passed the nurse entering the room on his way out.

            She administered the drug, and Johnny was out again within a matter of minutes, unaware that darkness had once again descended over the city.

            The rain was coming down harder now, blocking any hint of a sunrise. The lightning was flashing much brighter, making an eerie kaleidoscope of shadows across the walls of the hospital room. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash and simultaneously the thunder echoed loudly, reverberating through the building, seemingly rattling all the windows in their frames.

            The sudden jolt startled Johnny from his delirium, and he felt as if he were falling. He glanced around wild-eyed, breathing heavily, thinking the explosion he heard was a gun. Slowly he got his bearings and realized he’d been dreaming. Looking over at the window, he saw the rain running down the panes of glass in rivulets as another loud boom echoed.

            His breathing slowed, and with that he realized the pain was back again.

            “Damn it!” he cursed. Damn storm had woken him from his peaceful oblivion, only to be assaulted again by not only pain, but by the horrible memories of what had happened.

            Sharper cognizance brought immediate thoughts of Roy, and with it, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Where is Roy? Is he okay? Gage had been so out of it the day before; he hadn’t been able to find out. He strained his memory and thought that somehow in the blur that had been yesterday, that he remembered someone saying that Roy was okay. But he wasn’t sure. He had to find out. His heart raced as he suddenly remembered hearing a loud blast from that night – a gunshot. Who fired the gun? Could Roy be....dead? No, he told himself; he couldn’t be. If Roy were dead than I would be dead too. But if anything had happened to Roy because of him, he would never be able to live with himself.

            He shifted slightly in bed, causing the pain to spike through his entire body, throbbing with every pulse of his heart, stealing his breath away. Slowly he reached for the call button. He lay as still as he could, waiting for the nurse to come.

            Closing his eyes, he tried to think of something pleasant, and a woman’s smiling face floated into his mind:  Kathy.

            Oh, Kathy. Beautiful, sweet Kathy. Oh, I wish you were here right now. I wish I could see your pretty face, your beautiful eyes...

            Adrenalin exploded through him.

            Kathy! Oh my God! She’s due back any day! When was it? Tomorrow, or the next day; or was it next week? He couldn’t remember.

            What day is it? Oh, Man! How am I every going to explain this to her? When she hears the story, she’ll dump me like a load of bricks! She’ll never understand what I did, and I don’t blame her. And just when things were starting to go so well!

            God, how could this have happened? Why do these things always have to happen to me? Look at me. I’m a mess. My life is a mess! Roy may be hurt because of this; how will Joanne ever forgive me if something happens to him? I won’t even be able to forgive me. And Kathy certainly won’t be able to. Hell, I might even lose my job; I don’t even know how bad my injuries are. What if I can’t go back to work?

            An icy depression slowly snaked through him as the circumstances became overwhelming. Sadly, he thought again about Kathy, and how now everything was probably ruined. What a beautiful, but short, relationship it had been.

His mind drifted back to the first time he met her. It had been her second day on the job as one of Rampart’s new emergency room nurses. The station had been called out to an apartment building fire that evening....

            The building had been fully involved when they’d arrived. Roy and Johnny were sent up to the third floor; word was that there was at least one, maybe two people left inside that hadn’t gotten out of the building.

            Thick, black smoke surrounded them when they entered the apartment. Johnny found a woman in the bathroom coughing and ready to pass out. Pulling her over his shoulder, he called to Roy as he exited.

            “I’ve got her! I’m going out!”

            “Okay!” Roy called back. “I’m going to finish searching! I’ll be right out in a minute!”

            “Hurry!” Johnny yelled, knowing there was little time.

A ladder was waiting for him at the window, and his respirator alarm went off as his feet touched the ground. Only five minutes of air left. Good thing I got out when I did.

            Knowing that Roy’s air would also probably be out soon, he carried the woman over to 36’s paramedics and laid her down, letting them take care of her. Quickly, he ran to get another tank of air, and scurried back up the ladder to retrieve Roy.

            Johnny quickly scrambled back in through the window, once again enveloping himself in smoke.

            “Roy!” he called. “Roy!”

            “In here!” he heard a voice call from the bedroom.

            “Did you find anyone else?”

            “No! There’s no one else here! I’m coming out!”

            “Hurry! Let’s go!” Johnny called, knowing that Roy’s air would be about out.

            Johnny was just barely able to make out Roy’s shape through the dense smoke, when he heard a sickening whoosh and then a loud cracking noise coming from the ceiling. He barely had time to dive under a nearby dining room table when the whole ceiling broke loose and came down in flames.

            Cautiously, Gage opened his eyes, removing his arms from their protective position over his head. Debris surrounded him.

            Shit! I’ve got to get to Roy!

            Frantically, he began pushing at the chunks of plaster and wood that had fallen around him. Through the din he heard a high-pitched whine. Stopping for a second to listen over the roar of the fire, he realized that it was Roy’s respirator alarm going off.

            With renewed determination verging on panic, he started kicking at the debris around him. It was slow going alternating between kicking the stuff loose and then manually shoving it out of the way with his hands. Finally he made a hole big enough to peek through, but couldn’t see anything through the smoke.

            “Roy! Where are you?” he screamed.

            No answer.

            He kept at it in a frenzied state, and when the hole was almost big enough to fit through, he used all his effort to crash through it with his shoulder. He fell forward onto his face, then picked himself up and stumbled across the room toward the place he had last seen his partner.

            Roy was lying in the doorway on his side not moving; a large piece of wood had fallen across the lower part of his legs.

            Johnny knelt down next to him, and tearing his gloves off, felt for a carotid pulse.

            Weak, but there, thank God!

            He was relieved to see that Roy’s air mask had been knocked askew from his face. Roy probably would have suffocated before Johnny had had a chance to get to him after his air ran out, although breathing in the smoke wasn’t good either.

            Next, he placed his hand on Roy’s abdomen.

            Respiratory arrest! With speed born of practice and desperation he pulled the mask away and slightly tipped Roy’s head back; then began rescue breathing.

            Come on! He counted breaths. Two, three, four; he saw Roy’s chest rising and falling with each breath.

            He took a second to grab for the HT. Thank God it was still in his pocket.

            “Engine 51, this is John!” He gave another breath to Roy.

            “I need help on the double up here!” Another breath. “Roy’s down and we’ve had a ceiling collapse!” Another breath.

            “10-4, HT 51, we’re working on it.” Cap’s voice was tight. “Should be there in a few minutes.”
            “Make it sooner! We don’t have a few minutes!” Johnny shouted.

            “10-4. Hang on, John.”

            Gage continued breathing for Roy. Sweat was trickling down his back, face, and neck now. He’d been so consumed with breathing for Roy that he didn’t notice how close the fire was getting. It was almost impossible to get a breath of air without smoke, and he began coughing raggedly between breaths.

            The heat was intense, nearly unbearable. His turnout coat felt like it was melting to his back, and suddenly a searing pain raced up his lower leg. Falling sideways to his hip, he instinctively jerked his leg out from under him. A frantic backwards glance revealed his pant leg was on fire. Gasping, he grabbed his glove and tried batting at the flames. Leaning awkwardly over Roy, he tried to give another breath, but barely got any air out.

The pain of feeling his skin burning was too much to bear, and crying out, he desperately lunged for his leg again. Now his turnout was burning too, and for a sickening moment, he knew this was going to be the end. He and Roy were going to burn up in this fire.

Almost before he finished that thought, he felt the cold spray of water dousing him. Behind him, Chet and Marco were making their way over the rubble toward them with the hose. He turned back to Roy, and saw him stirring and his chest rising slightly.

Letting out a huge breath of relief, he looked up at his comrades and yelled, “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

Johnny hurriedly followed Roy’s gurney down the hall and into the treatment room, holding the IV bag. He stayed in the treatment room as the attendants transferred Roy to a table. Shakily, Johnny hung the IV on the pole, and started to move his equipment out of the way.      

Taking a step back, he watched as Dr. Morton barked orders out to a half a dozen people. Roy had not regained consciousness, and Johnny stood unevenly, worry etched onto his features, as Morton worked over Roy.

Mike glanced up, feeling Johnny’s anxious eyes on him. There were already too many people in there for his liking.

“Kathy,” Morton looked at the new ER nurse and cocked his head toward Johnny, “why don’t you take him out of here?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Johnny felt a soft hand on his forearm pulling him backward toward the door. He looked up at the face attached to that hand with such grief, the new nurse’s eyes filled with sympathy.

“No, wait! I want to stay.”

“Come on, Doctor Morton will let you know how he’s doing as soon as there’s any news.” Standing here worrying isn’t going to help. Come on,” Kathy said, gently pushing him out the door.

Johnny walked as if he were in a daze as Kathy guided him down the hall to the staff lounge. Turning toward him with a cup of coffee in her hand, she saw him standing near the window gazing into the darkness, his eyes focused on nothing.

“How do you take you coffee?” she said gesturing to the cup of steaming liquid in her hand.

“What?” He turned slowly to look at her, then his eyes dropped to the cup she was holding.

“Oh, uh, black...thanks.” he took the cup from her and let out a deep sigh.

Kathy sat down at the table. After a moment of awkward silence she asked, “Is he a good friend of yours?”

Johnny drew in another breath and slowly exhaled. “Yeah...my best actually. Um, he’s also my partner.”

“Oh,” she said knowingly. Johnny’s face gave away just how much the other man meant to him. “You both paramedics?”

Johnny nodded.

Another minute of uncomfortable silence went by. Kathy didn’t know why, but her intuition told her that this man needed to talk. She decided to try to draw him out. ”What’s your friend’s name?” she asked.
            He looked uncertainly at her. “Roy.”

She nodded. “Have you been partners a long time?” 

“Well, “ he started, taking a seat at the table next to her, “almost nine years. As a matter of fact, Roy got me started in the paramedic program. I probably wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for him. He talked me into joining.”

“Really? So is that how you two got to be such good friends?”

“I guess so. Roy’s been a good friend to me ever since we met. And his wife, Joanne, she’s great too. Lots of times I go over to their house after our shift and Joanne always fixes us this huge breakfast.” He smiled softly and looked down at the table.

“She’s always inviting me over to dinner and including me in things they do.” He smiled bigger. “She always tries to set me up on blind dates.” He shook his head.

Kathy was smiling now too. She was glad to be able to take his mind off his worries for a moment. “Any of them ever work out?” Kathy asked.

“Nah, but that doesn’t keep her from trying,” he said wryly.

Kathy looked up shyly at his deep brown eyes. They looked so sad and tired, and despite all the black smears across his face and his disheveled hair, she thought him to be strikingly handsome.

“Does Roy have any kids?”
            “Yeah, he’s got two; a son, Chris, who’s almost twelve, and a daughter, Jennifer...she’s ten.” He paused a moment, “They call me ‘Uncle Johnny’. I guess you could say Roy’s family has kind of adopted me,” he said wistfully.

“That’s really nice,” Kathy said genuinely. “I guess your family must live far away, huh?”

Johnny’s face clouded over for a moment, and he said looking away, “Yeah, you could say that. Real far away.”

Kathy raised her eyebrows at him, not understanding. Johnny looked back at her, seeing her confusion.

Damn, how did we get into this conversation?

“Um, well...I don’t have...I don’t have any living family members left. Well, except for my aunt, but unfortunately she’s in a nursing home now, and doesn’t recognize me most of the time when I go to see her.”

Kathy looked at him, stunned. “Wow, I’m so sorry. You’re so young to have lost both your parents.” Kathy felt bad for bringing up a subject that was obviously painful to this dark-haired man whom she was beginning to become mesmerized with. 

Kathy was kicking herself now for being too nosy. Good going, Kathy. He’s already upset enough about his friend, and now you have to bring up his dead family.

“It’s okay; it was a long time ago,” Johnny suddenly got up and started to pace. He stopped abruptly as if remembering something.

“Oh my God, I’ve got to call Joanne!” He rushed over to the telephone on the wall.

“Can I call out of the hospital on this line?” he questioned.

Kathy walked up to him and put her hand on his arm. “Yes, you can, but why don’t you wait another couple of minutes? I’m sure the doctor will be in shortly, and then you’ll have more information to give his wife.”

“I can’t,” he said frantically, “Joanne would never forgive me if I didn’t call her and something happened....” his voice trailed off.

Johnny had just picked up the telephone receiver when Dr. Morton walked in. He haphazardly put the phone back and practically lunged for the doctor.

“Doc...?” Worry was written all over his face.

Dr. Morton smiled softly. “Have a seat, John,” he gestured toward the chair. “I think Roy’s going to be fine.”

After having called Joanne, Johnny hurried back to the treatment room where Roy was to look in on him. He had awoken a short while ago. Dr. Morton had consulted with Dr. Early about Roy’s head injury. He relayed to Johnny that it didn’t appear that Roy had suffered any neurological damage, and that John’s rescue breathing had surely saved his life.

Roy was groggy, and his throat hurt from all the smoke he had eaten. His right leg was also pretty tender from where the ceiling beam had fallen on him, but miraculously, his leg had not been broken. Dr. Morton had some more tests he was going to run on Roy just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, and so Roy would be Rampart’s guest for at least one or two nights.

A huge weight was lifted off Johnny’s shoulders after seeing and talking to Roy; he had been terrified that Roy had been without air too long and would maybe suffer brain damage. Now it looked as if everything would be all right.

Johnny stepped out of the treatment room for a moment to look for Joanne. He saw her rushing her way down the corridor; Johnny made his way toward her.

Kathy was at the nurse’s station when she saw a frantic woman rush up to Johnny, only to be enveloped in his arms. Tears were streaming down her face. Kathy assumed it was Roy’s wife.

Johnny held her tight for a moment, rubbing her back in comfort. He held her away from him a bit then tipped his face to look into her eyes.

“Hey, now. It’s okay, Joanne. Roy’s gonna be fine,” he soothed.

“I know,” she said sniffling, “It’s just....”

“I know, c’mon now, don’t cry,” he said and reached over to the nurse’s station to grab a tissue.

“Here.” He wiped her cheeks with the tissue.

“Now, you’ve got to believe me, Doctor Morton said Roy’s gonna be good as new in a few days. Would I lie to you?”
            Joanne smiled up at him and blotted her eyes with the tissue. “No, I know you wouldn’t.”

“Okay then. C’mon. There’s an anxious husband in there waiting to see his wife.” He smiled and reaching out, held the door open for her to enter the room.

Kathy smiled softly at the scene. She had been touched by this young paramedic’s tenderness. Johnny watched a moment as Joanne went over to where Roy was waiting and tenderly kissed his forehead. He let the door swing shut.

He stood outside the door for a moment, and taking a deep breath, closed his eyes. Suddenly all the adrenaline that had been pumping through him the last few hours shut off, and he felt exhausted. An instant later he became aware of a horrible burning pain on his lower leg. He looked down and saw the burnt and charred leg of his turnout pants. A wave of dizziness washed over him and he felt sick.

Ugh, this burn hurts like hell! He suddenly felt a bit disoriented. He looked around a moment trying to decide what to do. Joanne’s with Roy; he’s probably just gonna sleep. I gotta find a ride back to the station. Cap’s gonna want to know how Roy is.  He’s probably worried. I’ll take care of the burn when I get back.

As he started to limp down the hall, Kathy looked up and noticed his awkward gait. She caught up to him.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked with concern in her voice. “You’re limping.”

“Yeah,” he said breathlessly, “Think I got a little too close to the fire back there tonight. I’ll take care of it when I get out of here. Got to get a ride back to the station.”

“Wait a minute, let me take a look at that leg.”

Before he could protest, she bent down and lifted the charred pant leg. Gasping, she saw a large burn running up the back of his calf. “You’re not going anywhere. That’s a bad burn; you need a doctor to take a look at that. Come on with me.”

He didn’t have the strength to argue, so he followed her into another treatment room. After settling him on the exam table, she called for a doctor. His leg was really hurting now, and he thought he might be sick as he lay back on the table.

Dr. Morton entered the room, “Gage, you still here? You and your partner going to tie up our ER all night with your injuries?” he said lightheartedly. “Got a little burn, do you?”

Johnny just lay with his eyes closed while Mike pulled his pants leg up.

“Jesus, Gage, why didn’t you have this looked at sooner? He said incredulously. “Pretty painful, is it?”

“Yeah,” Johnny panted.

Morton looked up at him. “I can see that. We’ll get you taken care of.” He then instructed Kathy to administer some pain medication while he treated Johnny’s burn.

Johnny was feeling much better about a half hour later. Dr. Morton arranged for someone to pick Johnny up, and he finally left the hospital around 2 a.m.

Two days later, Johnny and his temporary partner, Frank Miller, were back at Rampart after a run. Frank was still in the ER room. Johnny was bent over at the nurses’ station with his elbows on the counter checking off the items on his supply list. He felt a hand touch his forearm, and looked up right into the face of Kathy Taylor, the nurse who had been at the hospital helping when Roy was brought in.

Startled, he took in her face, remembering her from the other night. He stared at her for several seconds, his eyes locked onto hers. He couldn’t tear them away, and he stood there speechless. With all the stress and exhaustion gone from the other night, he suddenly realized how beautiful she was. But it was her eyes that captivated him the most, because they reminded him of someone whom he had not seen in a long time – his mother.

Her eyes were exactly like hers had been; big beautiful blue-green eyes with brown speckles around the edges, and long dark lashes. How could I have not noticed the other night?

Kathy spoke. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

Hearing her speak snapped him out of it. “Oh...oh yeah, of course I do! Kathy. Right?”

She nodded. “Kathy Taylor.”

“John Gage. Uh, Johnny. Please call me Johnny,” he said smiling warmly.

“I know,” she said with a smile. “I hear your partner is doing much better.”

“Oh yeah! Roy? Yeah, he’s doing much better. He went home this morning.”

“Well, I just saw you here and I wondered how you were doing? How’s your leg?”
            “Me?” he asked splaying his fingers across his chest. “I’m doing fine, just fine. My leg’s much better...thanks to you,” he said trying to turn on the charm with a lopsided grin. His faced turned serious. “You know, I want to thank you for everything you did the other night. You really went above and beyond the call of duty hanging out with me while I was waiting to find out about Roy. I want you to know how much I appreciate it, and for taking care of my leg.”
            “No problem; I’m just glad I could help. You looked like you could use a friend that night.”

“Yeah, I did.” He hesitated a second. “Listen, um, would you like to, um, get together sometime...I mean outside the hospital? I mean, I know you’re new here, so maybe I could show you around?” His eyebrows were raised apprehensively, almost expecting her to decline.

“I would love that,” she replied with a large smile.

Wow, she has a beautiful smile!

“Here,” Kathy offered, “here’s my phone number.” She handed him a piece of paper. “Why don’t you just call me when you have some time?”
            Gage smiled wide from ear to ear. “Great! Hey, I’ve got Thursday and Friday off; how about a trip to the beach one of those days?”

“Friday’s good for me. Oops! I’ve got to go! Call me and I’ll give you directions to my apartment.” She ran off toward one of the ER rooms as a patient was being wheeled in, waving back at him.

“Okay!” Johnny called after her. He stood there with a silly smile on his face staring down at the piece of paper in his hand. Then he noticed paramedic Frank Miller standing next to him.

“Still hitting on all the nurses, eh Gage?”

“You better believe it, pal,” he said thumping Miller on the back. “Got a date at the beach on Friday with a gorgeous new nurse, and I’ve got Roy to thank for it!”

Frank looked at Johnny like he had two heads as Johnny grabbed the supplies and bounded down the hall.

Roy? He said to himself scratching his head.

Their first date had been perfect. Johnny had picked her up at her apartment at 11 a.m. He couldn’t help staring at her as she opened the door. Her hair, which he had only seen pulled back at the hospital, hung loose about her shoulders, and was a beautiful shiny honey brown with soft waves. She had blue jean shorts on and a simple sleeveless white cotton top and flip-flops on her feet. Her swimsuit was underneath her clothes. Johnny didn’t think any girl could look more appealing than she did at that moment, and he smiled at her.

“Come on in,” she invited, holding the door open. “I’ll be ready in a second.”

As she turned away for a moment, he stood looking around. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he suddenly felt a heavy weight land on his shoulder. Kathy heard him gasp, and turning, began to laugh. Johnny turned his head to find a large longhaired white cat sitting on his shoulder, its pink nose investigating his ear. Kathy went over and lifted him off Johnny’s shoulder. “Come here, buddy,” she said holding the fluffy cat in her arms. He was majestic, all white, with just a spot of black on the top of his head; his huge fluffy tail must have been close to 4” in diameter. “Johnny, meet Ollie.”

Johnny smiled his crooked grin and reached out to pet the cat. “Hey, Ollie. You know, you almost caused me to go into cardiac arrest?” He stroked under the cat’s chin. “Boy, he’s some cat.”

“You should feel honored, Johnny. He only does that to people he really likes.”

“Oh, yeah?” Hey, looks like I’m off to a good start. It always helps if the pets like you.

She went into the kitchen for a brief moment, and when she returned, she had a large picnic basket in her hand.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“I thought we might get hungry, so I packed us a lunch,” she said enthusiastically.

“Great! Let’s go!”

She grabbed a jacket and they both hurried out the door toward Johnny’s Rover.

They were both hungry when they arrived at the beach, so they ate the lunch first, while lying on the blanket Johnny had brought. The lunch broke the ice, and after that they were becoming very comfortable with one another, almost like they had known each other for a long time.

It had been overcast during the lunch, but the sun came out for a brief while, so they decided to brave the water, as it was rather cool.

Johnny’s eyes practically popped out of his head as she skimmed off her clothes to reveal her bathing suit. It was a rather modest bikini, but it didn’t need to be extremely revealing for Johnny to appreciate her body.

She noticed him gazing at her and smiled shyly.

“That’s a really nice...uh, bathing suit,” he commented, thinking, Yeah, and what’s inside it ain’t too bad either!

“Thanks.” He didn’t notice that she was admiring him in the same way as he pulled off his jeans and shirt.

“Wow, where did you get that scar?” she pointed to the five inch incision scar on his abdomen.

“I was hit by a car a few years ago,” he replied looking down touching the scar. “We were out on a run to some bar late at night, and some guy ran me over; it was a hit and run. They had to take out my spleen.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s terrible!” Then she looked down and saw scars on both his legs too. “What about those?”

“Hmmm, well, this one,” he pointed to his right leg, “happened when the car hit me. It broke my leg, and I needed surgery. I still got a piece of metal in there,” he smiled. “And this one,” he pointed to his other leg, “happened at a fire. Building I was in blew up and I fell down the stairs and broke my leg, which also had to be operated on,” he thought remorsefully about the birthday party for Dixie that he had missed because of that accident.

Kathy looked at him shaking her head. “I guess your job is pretty dangerous.”

“It can be,” he shrugged. “Hey, let’s quit talking about my scars and hit the water; unless,” he smiled wickedly, “you have some of your own you want to show me.”

“No, I don’t have any scars,” she looked at him seductively, “just beauty marks.”

He raised his eyebrows at her and waggled them. Standing up, he held out his hand and pulled her up off the blanket.

They had a great time in the water, although it was freezing. Johnny dove in first, and when Kathy wouldn’t get in past her knees, he chased after her, picked her up, and dumped her screaming and kicking in the water. She came up sputtering, yelling that she would get revenge. A little while later, when Johnny wasn’t expecting it, she jumped up on him and dunked him under the water. That time he came up sputtering.

“Hey!” he yelled.

Shivering, Kathy held out her hand for him to shake. “Even?”
            Johnny took her hand as if to shake it and instead, pulled her up against him, closing his arms around her. He held her for a moment as he looked into her eyes. The waves were crashing around them as he bent his head down to hers and kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around him. Her soft lips were cold and wet, and she tasted like the oranges she had brought for lunch.

Breathlessly he said, “Now we’re even.” Then he kissed her again.

Kathy continued to shiver, although it wasn’t only from the cold water. They walked back to the blanket, and after drying off, put their clothes back on. They decided to take a walk along the beach. They walked for over an hour hand in hand and talked about everything.

Johnny couldn’t believe how easy she was to be with, and how much they had in common. Kathy was the outdoorsy type, and loved to camp. She was thrilled to find out that Johnny had horses, and he promised to take her riding. He told her how he had just bought his ranch, and about his two horses. The ranch had been kind of rundown, so he got a good price on it, and fixing it up had been an ongoing project. The horses had cost a fortune, but he had been saving for quite a few years, ever since he had gotten the urge a few years back to start riding again.

He found out that Kathy’s hobby was photography, and that she even had her own dark room set up in a spare bedroom in her apartment. Of course Johnny told her about his interest in photography, and she promised to teach him how to do some printing.

They loved the same kind of music and books; she even like to bowl. And of course, they had their medical background in common as well.

They ended their date by getting a bite for dinner at a little informal seafood shack on the beach. They sat outside and had beers, Greek salad, and shrimp while a two man band played reggae music.

“I really had a lovely time today,” Kathy said as they stood together in front of her apartment door.

“Me, too, uh, maybe we could get together again soon, do you think?” He took both her hands in his.

“I would love that! I’ll check my schedule tomorrow and let you know when my days off are, okay?”

“Sounds great!”

They stood there awkwardly for a few moments; Johnny wasn’t sure if she was going to invite him in.

Kathy gazed into his deep brown eyes and felt butterflies in her stomach. God, I want him to come in so much! I don’t dare ask him – not yet. It’s too early...this is only the first date! I should leave him wanting more! Besides, remember what happened before? You felt this way about Jim at first too. Then look at what a creep he turned out to be! No, take it slow! Kathy secretly debated with herself.

Darn! She’s not going to invite me in! Oh well, that’s okay. Just take it slow, Gage. She’s already agreed to another date; don’t jump in so fast! Remember Valerie? Something tells me this girl is going to be worth waiting for. Man! I don’t want to go!

“Well, “ Johnny cleared his throat, “it’s getting late. We both have to work tomorrow, so I’ll, uh, just...see you later.”

They stared into each other’s eyes, then, like magnets drawn to each other, their lips found each other’s and they kissed goodnight. It was a long, soft, tender kiss, neither one wanting to break apart from the other. Finally arms that were wrapped around each other slid apart.

“Bye,” Kathy softly called after him. Johnny smiled and waved, then was gone.

The next morning Roy was back at work and was putting the finishing touches on his uniform when Johnny came bouncing into the locker room.

“Gooood mornin’!” Johnny said enthusiastically when he saw Roy. “How’re you doin’ this mornin’? It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

Roy eyed Johnny with a small smile. “You seem to be in an awfully good mood today, Junior. Are you that glad to have me back?”

Johnny’s smile faded. “Huh?” Then it dawned on him. “Oh yeah, Roy! Good to have you back! How’re you feelin’?”

Roy raised one eyebrow. “Fine, fine. Why do I get the feeling that me being back isn’t the cause of your happiness?”

“Well, of course I’m glad to have you back, Roy. As a matter of fact, I owe my great mood all to you!” Johnny said enthusiastically while pulling off his shirt.

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Roy,” Johnny looked around the locker room to see if anyone else was around. “I went on a date with the most incredible girl yesterday, and I have you to thank for it!”

“How am I responsible for that?” Roy asked skeptically, not sure if he really wanted to know.

 “Well, see, you remember the other day when you ended up in the hospital after that apartment building fire?” Johnny pulled his uniform pants off the hanger.

Roy nodded. How could he forget?

“Well, that night there was this new nurse working the emergency room. Her name is Kathy. She hung out with me the whole time the doc was taking care of you. Anyway, to make a long story short, I asked her out and we spent the day together yesterday!”

“You mean while I’m laying in the hospital injured you were hitting on nurses? I can see where I rate!”

Johnny furrowed his brows at Roy. “No, NO, man! It wasn’t like that!” Johnny said waving his arms about. “I mean, I was out of my head with worry, and, well, she was just trying to comfort me, that’s all. I didn’t even think about asking her out until the next time I saw her!”

Just then Chet walked in. “You didn’t think about asking who out, Gage?”
            Roy ignored Chet’s comment. “Comfort you?” Roy asked incredulously.

“Well...yeah.” Johnny started to pull off his jeans. “I mean, jeez, Roy; I didn’t know how long you’d been without oxygen when I got to you. And when you didn’t wake up, man, I thought you might have brain damage or something. I had these visions in my head of having to tell Joanne that you were going to be a vegetable the rest of your life.”

“Oh.” Then Roy realized how worried Johnny must have really been about him. Usually it was the other way around, Johnny getting hurt and Roy being the worrier. He knew what it felt like.

Johnny rambled on, “Not to mention the fact that I wasn’t too excited about having to have Brice for a partner for the rest of my life, which is whom I probably would have been paired up with. Man, I’ll tell you, it’s a good thing....”

Roy looked over at Johnny and glanced down to see a white bandage wrapped around his calve.

“Hey, what’d ya do to your leg?”
            Johnny looked down. He had put the bandage back on after his date with Kathy at the beach. It had started hurting a lot more after their swim in the ocean; the salt water hadn’t been too good for it. “Oh, that? That happened at that apartment fire. The, uh, flames got a little bit too close for comfort I guess.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Chet piped in. “Ol’ Gage here just about became a human torch that day. If Marco and I hadn’t been there to save the day, you guys would have been toasted to a crisp. Gage here was on fire when we got to him.”

Roy’s eyes grew wide. He looked at Johnny. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. The only thing that got burned was my leg.” Twisting and looking in the mirror at the back of his head he added, “Singed my hair a bit, but fortunately I didn’t have to cut it.”

Roy looked thoughtfully at Johnny. “You know, I never did thank you for what you did. I, uh, I guess I owe you my life.”

Johnny smiled, a little embarrassed. “Hey, no problem, Roy. That’s what partners are for, right Pally?”

“Yeah, Junior.”

Johnny started out the door shaking his head. “Good thing you got me to keep you out of trouble.”

Roy stood there with his mouth hanging open as Chet followed Johnny out the door. As it swung shut he heard Chet say, “So, who’s this chick you asked out, John?”

Later that day, John and Roy were at Rampart after a run getting supplies. As they chatted with Dixie at the base station, Johnny looked over and saw Kathy coming out of one of the treatment rooms.

“Uh, excuse me,” he said hastily and trotted over to talk to Kathy.

“He works fast, doesn’t he?” Dixie said with a smirk on her face.

“What do you mean?” Roy asked.

Dixie nodded at Kathy, “She’s only been here about a week.”

“You ought to know by now it doesn’t take him long. I think he’s got radar in the back of his head that starts beeping every time a new nurse starts here.”
            Dixie laughed. “Uh, oh. Looks like maybe the romance is over already.”
            Johnny was walking toward them with a long face.

“You ready?” he said somberly.

Roy eyed Dixie, “Let’s go.” He handed some of the supplies to Johnny.

Johnny walked on ahead looking like he had just lost his best friend. Roy caught up to him at the squad.

They climbed in; Johnny stared straight ahead.

“Was that Kathy you were talking to?”

Johnny nodded glumly.

Roy nodded knowingly. “Dumped already, huh? Looks like you set a new record – go on a date and get dumped less than 24 hour later.”

Johnny slowly looked over at Roy with irritation. “What are you talkin’ about?”

“Kathy. Your new nurse. She just told you she didn’t want to go out with you again, didn’t she?”
            “No, of course not!” Johnny said with exasperation.

“Well, then why the long face?”
            “I went over to talk to her about her schedule so we could plan our next date. Well, it seems she’s been accepted at John’s Hopkins to start a surgical training course. She leaves next week. She’ll be gone for 8 weeks. I’ll be lucky if I get to see her one or two more times before she leaves.”

Roy grimaced. “That’s too bad. But, hey, 8 weeks isn’t that long. You can see each other when she gets back.”

“Yeah, right. If she even remembers me after 8 weeks.”

“You’re acting like it’s the end of the world.”
            “No, I’m not! It’s just that...it’s just...man, Roy...this girl is incredible! I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait 8 weeks to see her!”
            “Johnny is there any girl who you’ve ever been out with that wasn’t ‘incredible’ after the first date? I mean, you say that about every girl!”

Johnny scowled at Roy. “Man, I should have known you wouldn’t understand. You know what your problem is, Roy? You’ve been married tooooo long. You forget what it’s like to date. Just forget it. Let’s just forget about this whole conversation!”

Roy rolled his eyes. The drive back to the station was quiet. Then Roy broke the silence.

“So, did you get another date?”
            “Huh? Oh, yeah, we’re going out Thursday night.”

“Good.”

And they did. And they had a wonderful time again. Kathy was due to leave in 5 days. Johnny desperately wanted another chance for them to get together before she left, and Sunday was the only day they both had off. As they started making plans, Johnny remembered that he was supposed to go to Roy’s house on Sunday afternoon for Chris’ birthday party. He knew the party would last well into the evening.

Kathy looked disappointed. “It’s okay, I understand. I wouldn’t want you to break your promise to be there on my account.”         

She is so nice! Most girls would have gotten angry at the thought that their date would be broken because of a kids’ birthday party.

“Hey, I know! Why don’t you come with me! I really want you to meet Roy and his family. It’ll be fun! What do you say?”

“Well, if you’re sure. I mean, they don’t even know me. I don’t want to invite myself.”

“You’re not inviting yourself. I’m inviting you. They won’t mind at all. I know they’ll love having you!”

“Well, okay!” Kathy said enthusiastically.

The party did prove to be fun, and Roy and Joanne were both impressed with Johnny’s new girlfriend. Chris and Jennifer were a little miffed at first at having the share their Uncle Johnny, but Kathy soon won both their hearts.

They had a nice informal picnic outside on the deck, and everyone had just stuffed themselves with birthday cake. Johnny had gone inside for another beer when Kathy came in carrying some dishes. They were alone for the moment.

Johnny walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her as she set dishes in the sink. Kissing her neck he murmured, “Having a good time?”
            She turned, smiling. “I’m having a great time. You were right; Roy’s family is really nice. Maybe we could double date with them sometime?”

“Sure, sounds great.” He looked down at her tilting his head a little. “You know, you’ve got some icing on your lip?”

“I do?” She raised her hand to her mouth. “Oh, gosh, I bet I look like an idiot.”

“No, you don’t; I kinda like it. Here, let me get it off.” With that, he lowered his face toward hers and sensuously licked the icing off. The sweetness spread over his tongue as he moved his mouth over hers and started to kiss her.

Kathy almost melted when he licked the icing off; heat radiated through her body and she felt weak. It was getting hard to resist this incredibly sexy man. She wrapped her arms about him, and he pulled her tightly against him, kissing her deeply.

Without warning, Roy and Joanne burst into the kitchen carrying an armload of dishes. Roy stopped, stunned for a moment when he came upon the scene, and Joanne ran right into him causing her to drop a plate onto the floor which crashed loudly.

Johnny and Kathy were abruptly jolted out of their embrace at the sound and stood staring, embarrassed at being caught.

“Roy! What are you doing stopping like that so quickly when I’m right behind you?” Joanne scolded bending down to pick up the pieces.

Roy stood with his mouth open looking at Johnny and Kathy, his face red with embarrassment. He had had a few beers and was unable to contain his next comment. “Well,” he stammered, “I just didn’t expect to see our two dinner guests here making out in my kitchen!”

“Oh, God,” Kathy muttered softly, mortified.

Johnny had a smirk on his face. He shrugged and said, “Well, we just figured your kitchen was about due for some excitement. Besides, next time why don’t you knock before you just come barging in?” A big grin then spread across his face, and then Roy and Joanne smiled too.

Roy rolled his eyes and Joanne shook her head at him. “John Gage, you are bad! Now help me clean up this mess!”

Roy folded his arms across his chest and said, “I’ll have you know this kitchen gets plenty of excitement!”

“Roy!” Joanne yelled, this time she was embarrassed.

The evening ended with everyone wishing Kathy well with her surgical training and with hopes to see her again when she returned in 8 weeks. Johnny then drove her home.

This time Kathy did invite Johnny inside since it would be the last time they would see each other for a while.

Kathy made a pot of coffee and they sat on the sofa and talked a little. Their coffee grew cold however as the talking stopped and their arms and lips found one another’s. After nearly an hour of intense kissing on the couch, they both broke apart, breathless, knowing that what they were doing couldn’t continue unless it moved to the bedroom. Instead, they decided to say good-bye, both somehow knowing that they wanted to wait until it would really be special, and that this evening wasn’t the right time.

They lingered at the door for a short time, not knowing what to say. Their time together had been so short, but both sensed the intensity of the relationship.

“Well,” Kathy said resignedly, “I guess I’ll see you in eight weeks?”

Johnny nodded. “You be sure and call me as soon as you get back, okay?”

Kathy nodded.

“And.....be careful.”

“I think I should be the one saying that to you.”

Johnny smiled his crooked grin. “Don’t you worry about me. I can take care of myself. You just take care of yourself.”

“Okay,” she said softly.

They kissed one last long slow sensuous kiss, then Johnny turned and left. He looked back at her briefly and winked at her. He knew her smile would be imprinted on his brain the whole time she was gone.

Two weeks went by agonizingly slow for Johnny, and the crew at station 51 was starting to notice that he seemed increasingly quiet and depressed. Roy especially noticed that John was not his usual jovial self, and anymore while they were riding together he just stared out the window with his chin resting on his hand. Roy knew what the problem was, so he decided to just leave Johnny alone, hoping that he’d snap out of it soon. He was a little surprised that Johnny had gotten so hung up on a girl so fast.

Jeez, I hope it’s not going to be another Valerie! But Kathy’s a lot smarter than Valerie was, and she seems sincere. I hope she doesn’t have any skeletons in her closet for Johnny’s sake.

            Johnny was sitting at the table in the kitchen fingering a cup of coffee that had grown cold while staring at nothing. He had just finished changing into a clean uniform shirt after discovering that the Phantom had been at work earlier setting up a water bomb in his locker. Roy was reading a magazine when the engine pulled back in the bay. Chet breezed into the kitchen and headed for the coffee pot.

            “Hey, Gage, find anything interesting in your locker?”

            Johnny kept staring into space.

            Chet sat down at the table and looked at Johnny, then looked up at Roy, shaking his head.

            “Man, Gage has it bad this time.”

            Johnny appeared not to have heard him.

            “Earth to Gage!”

            Johnny looked up at Chet. “Huh?”

            “Huh?” Chet repeated. “Jeez, Gage, you’ve been acting like a zombie for the last two weeks. You know, the Phantom is starting to get bored with you.”

            “Good. Maybe he can find another pigeon.”

            “What’s the matter, John? It never took you this long to get over it before when you got dumped by a chick.”

            Johnny looked up at Chet with a disgusted expression on his face. Before he could respond Roy chimed in from across the room.

            “Oh, he didn’t get dumped. He’s just lonely because his girlfriend’s gone for 8 weeks.”

            “So, go out with some other girls while she’s gone. Hey! Where do you keep that little black book, Gage?”

            Johnny had just opened his mouth to say something when Roy interjected, “Oh, I don’t think he wants to do that, Chet. He’s really in deep this time.”

            “Oh, yeah? Who is she, Gage? Is it that new nurse you were talking about....uh, what’s her name....uh, Kathy?”

            “That’s the one,” answered Roy.

            “Well, in that case, can I have your little black book?” Chet looked over at John very sincerely while biting into an apple.

            Johnny’s head had been swinging back and forth between Roy and Chet during their conversation about him; his mouth half open trying to get a word in.

            “Do you MIND? I can speak for myself, you know!” Johnny said exasperated.

            “Sorry,” Roy answered.

            Captain Stanley walked in at that moment. “Hey, John, what are you fixing us for dinner tonight?”

            John looked up at him like a deer caught in headlights. “Oh, man! It’s my turn to cook tonight, isn’t it?”

            “Yeah, unfortunately.” Chet answered. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a run at dinnertime.”

            “Hey,” Johnny snorted, “I’m not a bad cook! At least you don’t have to take antacids after my cooking.”

            “Yeah, well, I think we’re all just sick of hamburgers, Gage. I mean, there’s only so many ways to cook ‘em.”

            “How ‘bout hot dogs?”

            Chet rolled his eyes.

            “Hey, John. Why don’t you cook something out of that cookbook that chef gave you? That soup you made last time was out of this world,” Cap suggested.

            Johnny looked at Roy, who was cringing.

            “I remember that,” Chet said. “it was that green stuff. That was good. Good idea, Cap.”

            “Uh, yeah,” Johnny stammered, “that’s....that’s a good idea, Cap. I’ll do that. C’mon, Roy, we’ve got some groceries to buy.”

            Roy met him at the squad. As they pulled out he saw Johnny thumbing through the cookbook. “Why don’t you try something a little easier this time?”

            “Man, I don’t think anything’s easy in this cookbook!” He studied it more closely, squinting his eyes. Shortly, they pulled into the parking lot at the Mega Mart.

“Wait! Hey, look at this, Roy,” he said pointing, “this sounds great!”

            Roy peered over. “Chicken cordon bleu? What’s that?”

            “Look, there’s only...twelve ingredients. We can handle that, can’t we?”

            “We?” Roy said sarcastically. “You mean, you. You can count me out. I would have been fine with the hamburgers.”

            “Okay, fine!” Johnny exited the squad and walked toward the store waving his arms. “Fine don’t help me! You just wait! This is going to be the best dinner you guys have ever eaten!”

            Roy caught up to him as they entered the grocery.

            Charlene Daniels’ cart was full. She had been shopping for two hours and she finally decided she needed to get in the check out line. Begrudgingly, she walked toward it, disappointed that she had again missed the person she had been hoping to see here today.

            Where are they? She thought to herself. They were here the last two Wednesdays just about at this time. Determinedly she thought, if I have to come here every Wednesday for the next year, I will, until I see him again and figure out a way to meet him! Her mind wandered and she dreamily pictured the tall dark handsome fireman she had seen here the last two weeks. She ached to see him again. The first time she had seen him, talking and laughing, gesturing with his arms animatedly at his friend, she knew she had to have him. There had to be some way.

            Maybe I should come an hour earlier – or an hour later? Maybe I should just stake out the parking lot and watch for him? Yeah! That’s what I’ll do!

            She looked up, and her heart caught in her throat. He’s here! Oh my God, he just walked in!  Her heart started pounding and she turned her cart around.

            She watched as his friend grabbed a cart and they began to walk down the aisles together. The light-haired one was pushing the cart while her dark-haired one was grabbing things off the shelves and throwing them into the cart.

            She followed them but kept far behind. What am I going to do? I’ve got to figure out some way to encounter him! Ten minutes went by. They looked like they were almost done shopping.

            Suddenly, looking down at her full shopping cart, she thought of a plan. She hurried up the next aisle and watched them coming down the other aisle in the large round mirror. This is perfect! I’ll have to time it just right!

            She got her shopping cart ready and started down her aisle, keeping watch on them in the mirror. They were just coming to the end of their aisle, just ready to turn the corner. Now! She barreled out of her aisle pushing the cart with as much speed as she could.

            “Okay, that’s it, I think,” Johnny said as he threw the last ingredient in. “Now all we need is the chicken. Let’s see, how much should we get....I think I’m gonna have to double this recipe,” he said scratching his nose, lost in thought.

            They started to turn the corner at the end of their aisle. Roy saw it coming, but it happened so fast, he couldn’t get any words out of his mouth in time.

            Someone with a huge shopping cart full of groceries plowed right into Johnny, knocking him off balance. With an “ooomph!” he fell against their shopping cart, pushing Roy into a large display of cereal boxes that had been stacked at the end of the aisle. Roy caught himself, but not before a dozen cereal boxes had cascaded over his head to the floor. Johnny landed hard on his derriere as the other woman’s shopping cart rolled over his foot.

            “Ooow!” he yelped. He gingerly pulled his foot out from under the cart. With one hand he rubbed his hip and with the other he grabbed his toes, his eyes squinted in pain. A crowd of people had stopped to stare.

            The driver of the cart had rushed over to where Johnny sat and was apologizing profusely.

            “Oh, my God! I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you! Are you all right?”

            With his head bent down and teeth gritted together Johnny snarled, “Why don’t you watch where you’re go – ”

At that moment, his eyes shifted upwards and his vision was filled with the chest of a very well endowed woman who Johnny thought could easily be that of Miss October. She had a tight blouse on that was so low cut that he could see straight down into it. She was only a few inches in front of his face as she crouched down in front of him.

            “I am terribly sorry!” Charlene rambled on, “I am such a klutz! Are you hurt? Oh, here, let me help you.” She had Johnny by the arm and was trying to help him up.

            Roy, in the meantime, was busy trying to put the cereal boxes back up on the display. He looked over at Johnny and had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the expression on Johnny’s face.

            Johnny’s eyes slowly panned up to the woman’s face, who was now trying to pull him off the floor. She had kind of an exotic face with sharp features and piercing blue eyes. Her long bleach blond hair fell down across her chest. He could see as she stood that she was fairly tall, around 5’9”, and she was in very good shape, almost muscular. Her tight clothes showed off a very curvaceous centerfold-type body.

            “Thanks,” he said swallowing, “I…I’m okay. Don’t worry about it.” He grimaced as he stood up. Trying to put weight on his hurt foot, he winced and limped backward.

            “Oh, you are hurt!  Here, let me take a look at your foot.” She bent back down and started untying his boot to take it off.

            “Really, I’m okay! I’m fine!” Johnny yanked his foot back.

            “Maybe I should have a look at it, Johnny,” said Roy now also squatting by Johnny’s foot.

            “Look, I’m FINE! Really!” Johnny was getting annoyed now and just wanted to get the heck out of the store.

            “Why don’t I take you to the hospital?” Charlene insisted.

            “Look, I don’t need a hospital!” Johnny said through gritted teeth. He wanted to be polite but this woman was really becoming irritating.

            Roy looked at him skeptically. “Johnny, why don’t you just let me take a look at it?”

            Johnny sighed. “Look, if it’ll make you happy, I’ll have one of the docs look at it the next stop we make at Rampart, okay?”

            “Sounds reasonable to me,” Roy said nodding.

            “Look, uh, miss –“

            “Charlene –“

            “Charlene. It was just an accident. I’m fine, REALLY. Roy, we better get the rest of our stuff.”

            “I just feel awful about this,” Charlene lamented. “Will you at least let me know how you are? Or, how about if I call you later to make sure? It’ll make me feel much better to know that you’re okay once your doctor checks you out. I just won’t be able to sleep tonight thinking I may have hurt someone.”

            “Okay, sure, you can call,” Johnny said resignedly. “I work at station 51; ask for Johnny.”

            “Oh, thank you. That makes me feel better!”

            Just then the HT came to life, “Squad 51, what’s your status?”

            Roy responded, “Squad 51, available.”

            “Stand by for call, Squad 51.”

            “10-4.”

            Johnny and Roy turned to go, leaving their cart sitting in the aisle.

            Charlene waved with a satisfied grin on her face as she watched Johnny limp out of the store. “Bye!” she called.

            The call didn’t turn out to be serious. Back at Rampart, Johnny sat on the examination table while Dr. Early examined his foot.

            “Doesn’t look like anything’s broken, Johnny. Probably just bruised your toe. We’ll take an X-ray just in case.”

            “’Kay, doc.”

            Just then Dixie and Roy walked in. “Heard we had another grocery cart victim,” she said with a sly smile on her face.

            “’Fraid so, Dix,” said Dr. Early.

            “I tried to tell you guys those things were dangerous.”

            “That’s right,” Roy said snapping his fingers, “I forgot you have first hand experience with them!”

“You know,” Joe continued, “I think somebody ought to get some legislation passed to outlaw those things. They’re entirely too dangerous.”

“Or at least put some warning labels on them, don’t you think, Johnny? Or, maybe they just need to install some stop signs in the grocery stores at the end of the aisles.”

“Now there’s an idea, Dixie.”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “Oh, you guys are just a laugh a minute.”

“Well, you certainly can bump into some interesting people with those carts,” Roy said mischievously.”

            “Oh, really, Roy? Like who?” Joe took the bait.

            “Never mind who. Doc, can we just get that X-ray done so I can get out of here?” Johnny pleaded.

            “Sure, Johnny. So, what’d she look like, Roy?”

            “Well, Johnny said – “

            “Roy, would you shut up!”
            “ – she looked just like Miss October. He should know; he’s got a poster of her hanging in his locker.”

            “Did you get her number?”

            “No, but she got his,” Roy said waggling his eyebrows. “You know, Johnny, I think that woman had the hots for you. I have a sneaking suspicion she ran into you on purpose.”

            “Oh, please, Roy. Look, if you’re not going to get this X-ray going, I’m leaving!” Johnny started to jump down from the table.

            “Okay, Johnny,” Joe Early said laughing. I guess we’ve ribbed you enough.”

            “Now you know how it feels,” commented Dixie. “When I broke my foot on one I thought I’d never hear the end of it!”

            “Yeah, well, if you recall, Dix, I didn’t tease you about it at all,” said Johnny.

            “You’re right,” she said patting his shoulder. “Lay off, you guys, will ya?”

            “Okay Dix,” Roy said, “besides, when the guys at the station hear what happened...”

            “Aw, man, Roy; you wouldn’t!”

            “So, how much you gonna pay me to keep my mouth shut?”

            “PAY you? Man, I don’t BELIEVE you!”

            “Okay, how about you do the next four latrine duties for me?”

            “Forget it! Some best friend you are! Man, I can see this is gonna be a long day.”

             Sometime later, they arrived back at the station, satisfied that Johnny’s foot would be okay.                 

            “Well, it certainly took you guys long enough at the grocery. This dinner better be good, Gage,” Captain Stanley commented.

            Johnny put his hand to his forehead, “Aw, shoot! We forgot the groceries, Roy. Now I gotta figure out what to cook for dinner!”

            “No groceries!” Chet said incredulously. “What have you guys been doing, picking up chicks?”

            “Sort of,” Roy said.

            Captain Stanley raised his eyebrows at Roy’s comment, so Roy proceeded to tell the guys exactly what happened, much to Johnny’s chagrin. Resignedly, Johnny pulled the hamburger out of the refrigerator and started to make dinner, while the guys laughed over Johnny’s shopping cart accident.

            Dinner was filled with wise cracks about “Miss October” and Gage’s knack for getting into accidents.

            Chet had said, “Man, Gage, first you get run over by an automobile, now a grocery cart. What’s next, a skateboard?”   

            Johnny had scowled at that comment.

            Dishes were cleared away and the evening went by fairly quietly until a blond-haired visitor stopped by unannounced at seven-thirty. Chet’s eyes bugged out of his head when he saw the scantily clad woman walk in.

            “Hi, Johnny!” Charlene called enthusiastically as she entered the day room. She was carrying two grocery bags full of items.  She looked up at Roy not knowing his name.  “Uh, hi, uh....”

            “Roy,” Roy said answering her question.

            Both were very surprised to see her and exchanged glances.

            “Well, hi, uh, Charlene; what are you doing here?” Johnny asked pasting a smile on his face.

            She set the bags on the table and started to pull the items out of the sacks. “Well, I just felt so bad about what happened today, and after you left I realized that you hadn’t had time to get your groceries. So, here they are!” she gestured toward the items. “Oh, and I also bought you some chicken, since I heard you mention you needed some. I hope it’s enough.”          

            How did she know – ? I don’t remember saying anything about needing chicken to her! Both Johnny and Roy looked confused as they were both thinking the same thing.

            “Well, uh, thanks,” Johnny stammered, “that’s awfully nice of you. But it really wasn’t necessary – ”

            “Oh, yes it was! Oh, and here,” she handed Johnny a plate wrapped in foil. “I made these for you. I hope they make you feel better.”

            Johnny took the plate and lifted up the foil to reveal cookies. Meanwhile, the other guys had begun to gather around. “Thanks,” Johnny said smiling but a little embarrassed.

            “How is your foot, you poor thing? Did you have a doctor check it out?”

            “Oh, my foot is fine, just fine,” Johnny assured her. “We really appreciate you stopping by....”

            “Well, like I said, I just feel terrible about what happened. This really just isn’t enough. I’d really like to do something else for you.”

            “Oh, that’s really not ne – ”

            “I know!  I have a wonderful idea! Why don’t you let me cook dinner for you! I’m a great cook! I’ll make you a home cooked dinner! I bet you never get to eat home cooked dinners, do you? That’ll be perfect! When is the next night you have off?”

            Johnny felt like he was being backed into a corner. “Well, I – ”

            For some reason he would later regret, Roy couldn’t resist his next comment. “We’ve got tomorrow off, remember Johnny?”

            Johnny’s mouth hung open as he looked incredulously at Roy. “Oh...yeah! That’s right, Roy, thanks for reminding me. I almost forgot. Yeah, we’re not working tomorrow.” Johnny said through a fake smile with his teeth clenched.

            “Don’t mention it,” Roy said with a smirk.

            “That’s perfect, then!” Charlene said excitedly. Here’s my address,” she handed him a slip of paper. “How about you come over around seven o’clock?”

            “Uh, well, okay, I guess that would be okay.”

            Just then the tones sounded, Squad 51, possible heart attack....

            “Uh, listen, I got to go!” Johnny called as he ran out the door.

            “See you tomorrow!” Charlene called back waving.

            “You know, I like home cooked dinners too.” Chet said hopefully.

            Charlene watched with excitement as the squad left the engine bay.

            Back in for the evening, Johnny exited the squad, slamming the door. He followed Roy into the dayroom.

            “Thanks a lot for opening your big mouth about us having the day off tomorrow to Charlene, Pally.”

            “What are you so angry about? I thought you’d jump at the chance to have Miss October fix you a home cooked meal.”

Johnny reached over and removed the foil from the cookies she had brought, grabbing one. Roy helped himself to one also.

            “I like making my own dates if you don’t mind,” he answered, shaking the cookie at Roy. “Besides, it’s not a date, it’s just a dinner. That’s it.”

            Both took a bite of their cookies.

            Chet looked up from his place on the couch with Henry. “Hey, I’ll go in your place, Gage, if you don’t want to go. ”

            “I just – ” Johnny stopped chewing his cookie and a grimace spread across his face. He looked over at Roy, who had also stopped chewing, and had his hand up to his mouth.

            “Yech!” Johnny exclaimed running over to the sink and spitting the cookie out. Roy was beside him in a second spitting his out as well.

            “What is in these things?!”

            “Ugh! I don’t know, but I need a glass of water.” Roy retrieved two glasses from the cupboard and filled them with water.

            “Chet!” Johnny looked over at Chet with squinted eyes, “What did you do to these cookies?”

            Chet looked indignant. “I didn’t do anything to them, guys. Honest. I’ve been here on the couch ever since you left.”

            Johnny and Roy looked over at Marco, who was nodding confirmation.

            Johnny looked over at Roy with alarm. “Oh, my God; I have to eat a whole dinner at her house tomorrow!” I’m probably gonna have to have my stomach pumped! Thanks a lot for ruinin’ my Friday night, Roy!”

            Roy looked at Johnny sympathetically. “Sorry. Hey, if you want, I’ll call Rampart for you and tell them to expect you sometime tomorrow night.”

            “Ha – ha,” Johnny said angrily, and walked out of the day room, dumping the cookies in the trash on the way out.

            The shift finally ended, and Johnny changed and left without saying good-bye to anyone. He was dreading the coming evening. He didn’t want to go over to that girl’s house. What he had wanted to do was to get a few chores done after a nap, then maybe go for a ride on his horse, and come home and watch the ball game and drink a beer. And think about Kathy.

            As the day wore on, Johnny became less upset about having to spend the evening at Charlene’s. He thought about the upcoming evening as he stepped in the shower. Oh well, maybe I’ll have fun. She seemed like a nice enough girl. Nothing wrong with making new friends. Besides, it’ll be nice to enjoy a woman’s company for an evening. Kathy had been gone for only a short time, but Johnny missed her intensely already. He felt a little guilty about spending the evening with ‘another woman’, but then reminded himself that it wasn’t really a date, just a dinner.  Besides, he and Kathy weren’t married, for heavens’ sake. They had only been out on a few dates. Still...

            Johnny arrived at Charlene’s promptly at seven o’clock. He had left a little early because it had started to rain. She only took a moment to answer the door after he rang the bell.

            “Hi!” she exclaimed enthusiastically as she opened the door for him. Her eyes raked over him over like he was a tender piece of meat. “Come on in!”

            Johnny smiled and walked into the apartment. As she took his jacket, he noticed that again, she was dressed very provocatively. She wore a long flowing white jumpsuit with bell-bottom legs. It was very low cut and tight enough to show off her curvaceous body. Several silver strands of chains glittered around her neck and at her wrists, and her spiked heels made her almost as tall as Johnny. Her long straight blond hair was pulled up into a loose chignon with lots of wispy strands falling around her face.

            Johnny immediately felt a little uncomfortable as he looked around the apartment and realized how seductively she had set the mood. The lights were on low, there were candles burning everywhere, a fire was crackling in the fireplace, and a soft jazz music was playing on the stereo.

            Charlene came out of the kitchen holding two drinks. She handed one to Johnny.

            “What’s this?” he asked looking down at the glass.

            “These are my famous martinis. Nobody makes them like I do.”

            Johnny nodded slowly still looking at the glass. “Martinis, huh? I never drink these; I guess I’m more of a beer man,” he commented with a slight quirk of a smile on one side of his mouth.

            “Oh, you have to try mine; they’re wonderful. They make you feel warm all over.” She shrugged her shoulders up a little. “Go ahead, try it.” She lifted her glass toward his and said, “Cheers!” as she slowly took a sip.

            “Okay, cheers,” Johnny toasted her in return and brought the drink to his lips. He took a swallow, then sucked some air into his mouth and smacked his lips a little. He tried another drink.

            “Good, huh?”

            “Not bad,” he admitted, and took another drink. She was right; the martini did make him feel warm all over.

            Not knowing what to say, Johnny commented, “You have a very nice place here.”

            “Thank you. It is cozy, isn’t it?”

            “Yeah, cozy,” Johnny cleared his throat uncomfortably as he looked around.

            “Dinner will be ready in a little while. Would you like to sit down?”

            “Sure.”

            They walked into the living room and Johnny sat down on the sofa. Charlene followed him over and sat down next to him rather closely.

            They talked for a while; Johnny found out that Charlene was an exercise instructor at a local health club. She had gotten her degree in physical education. I guess that explains her great body, Johnny thought.

            She wanted to hear nothing but Johnny talk about his job as a fireman; the types of rescues he went on, especially the dangerous ones. Johnny was almost finished with his martini when Charlene filled his glass again.

            “Cheers,” she said again, holding up her glass and handing him his.

            “Cheers,” he said reluctantly as he took a sip. He was already beginning to feel the first drink, although he had to admit it did give him a very relaxed nice warm feeling.

            They had almost finished their second drink when Charlene announced that dinner was ready. Johnny took a deep breath and sat down to eat, wondering if he’d be able to stomach her cooking. Oh, well, if I keep drinking these things, I won’t be able to taste it anyway, he chuckled to himself.

            Johnny didn’t know what it was that she served him, and he wasn’t about to ask. It had a strange flavor and texture to it, but he ate it anyway, and out of politeness smiled and told her it was very good. She had served wine with dinner, and Johnny could tell he was getting intoxicated, and figured she was too. He finally asked for a glass of water.

            When they were finished, he helped her carry the dishes to the kitchen and then walked into the living room and sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace. He was trying to think of a way to tell her he had to leave, when her saw her approaching the sofa carrying two glasses of brandy. She handed him one.

            “Thanks, but I don’t think I should drink any more,” he said setting the snifter on the table. “I’ve got to drive home.”

            “Oh,” she said disappointedly looking down. “I bought this special just for tonight. Won’t you stay a little while and enjoy it with me?”

            “Well,” he hesitated.

            “Besides, we haven’t had dessert yet; and I think you’re really going to like it.”

            Johnny’s eyes opened wide. “Oh, man,” he patted his stomach, “I am so full I don’t think I could eat another bite! But thanks anyway.”

            She smiled wickedly at him. “Oh, don’t worry. The type of dessert I was talking about won’t fill you up.” With that, she set her snifter down on the table and slowly leaned toward him. She put her hand behind his neck and pulled him toward her, kissing him. She continued kissing him, sensing a little resistance from him.  

            Johnny broke away from the kiss. “That’s, uh, some dessert you’re serving, Charlene.”

            “You know,” she purred, “the great thing about it is that you can have as much as you want and never get full.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips to hers again, kissing him more passionately.

            Johnny closed his eyes. He couldn’t figure out what was making him uncomfortable. After all, here was this sexy woman coming on to him, and he knew she just wanted to get laid. It did feel good to be kissing a woman, and getting laid would feel even better. It seemed like forever since he had last had sex. But there was something about her that he just didn’t like; maybe she was just too pushy. He didn’t like women that came on too strong; he enjoyed being the instigator. And the fact was that he would much rather be doing this with Kathy right now than with this woman.

            As he kissed Charlene, he started to think about Kathy. Had he not been tipsy, he probably never would have allowed himself to start to imagine it was her he was kissing, which led to him pressing his lips harder into Charlene’s, intensifying the kiss. Suddenly he felt her hand between his legs rubbing him, his body already responding to her touch.

            “Oh, God,” he moaned, “...Kathy,” the word was out of his mouth before he realized he’d said it.

            He felt her pull away. He didn’t see the slap coming, but he felt the sting as Charlene’s hand sharply struck his face.

            “Who the HELL is Kathy?’ Charlene growled.

            Johnny put his hand to his cheek and looked at her like a deer caught in headlights.

            “I, uh, I – I, I’m sorry,” he stammered rubbing his cheek. “I – I – It’s just that, well,” he tried to think of a fast explanation, “when I first met you I thought you looked like someone I used to know named Kathy, and, well, I just keep wanting to call you that when I see you. I mean, you look like a Kathy, you know. Doesn’t that ever happen to you when you see someone new?”

            “Oh,” Charlene said looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I guess I got a little carried away.”

            He stared at her a moment, the sting in his face bringing clarity. “It’s okay; uh, look, I’d better get going, it’s getting late.” Standing up, he glanced at the clock and reached for his jacket. It was almost 11:00. He swayed a little as he tried to put the jacket on.

            Charlene jumped up off the couch and intercepted him.

            “Wait! I’m so, so sorry. Now I’ve spoiled everything! Please don’t go!”

            “It’s really getting late, and I have to work tomorrow; I’m sure you do too. It was a nice evening, thank you for the dinner.”

            She grabbed his arm. “Look, you really shouldn’t be driving, you know. I’d feel terrible if you got into an accident on the way home. Why don’t you stay a little while longer?”

He looked down at her shaking his head slightly.

            “Oh, Johnny,” she murmured wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. I just really want you to stay.” She started kissing his neck and ear, and he relaxed a little.

“It’s late, Charlene,” he murmured.

 “Pleeeease? Johnny, I can’t let you go. I’m sorry, it’s just that...well...you are just so sexy and you’ve got me so turned on, that...if you don’t stay, I just think I’ll explode!” Her mouth moved to his chest as her fingers worked to unbutton his shirt. As she was kissing his chest, she slowly slipped her hand inside the front of his jeans. He dropped his jacket and closed his eyes.

            “Oh, I knew it,” she murmured, stroking his ego.

            He stood there rooted to the floor. Distantly, he realized that his jeans were now undone and that Charlene was sinking to her knees. He gasped as she began working very hard to convince him to stay.

            His feet were lead; he couldn’t move. Time went by; he didn’t know how much. He felt like he was going to explode, and then she was standing in front of him unzipping her outfit. She slowly slid the jumpsuit down her shoulders and to the floor, standing naked before him except for her spiked heels.

            Any resolve that he’d had earlier to leave had just melted away. She took his hands and drew him toward her.

            “Charlene,” he whispered breathlessly, “do you have....uh.....are you – “

            “Don’t worry about it,” she said kissing him. “I’m on the pill.” She lowered herself to the shag carpet in front of the fireplace, pulling him down on top of her.

            Johnny and Kathy were walking down a deserted beach together, their arms around each other. Johnny had his hand hooked around Kathy’s waist, caressing the soft curvy skin there. Water splashed around their feet as they waded through the frothy surf. They were watching a beautiful sunset as they walked. Kathy stopped walking, and turning toward him, slowly took off her bathing suit. He stared at her in awe as she wrapped her arms around his neck and began kissing him. Slowly, they sank down into the sand together, the tide rushing into them as they made love.

            Johnny felt something kick him and he jerked awake. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, disoriented as to where he was. He felt someone’s arm and leg draped across his body. Who’s in my bed?

            Looking down, he realized he wasn’t in his bed, but in Charlene’s. Groaning inwardly, he looked around the room for a clock. Seven-thirty a.m. Seven-thirty!! Damn! I have to be at work in a half hour!

            Gingerly he wiggled out from under Charlene, who was snoring, and out of the bed. His head was pounding as he made his way into her bathroom. I gotta take a shower at least.

            He climbed into the shower and let the hot water wake him up. It felt good to let it wash over his face and head. He opened his mouth and let the water run inside, then spit it out. After exiting the shower, he looked around for a spare toothbrush. Finding none, he decided to rinse his mouth with her mouthwash. He wasn’t about to use her toothbrush.

            Walking back into the bedroom and seeing Charlene was still asleep, he went out into the living room where he found his clothes laying on the floor. He dressed quickly and quietly left the apartment.

            He drove as fast as he could safely to get to work, unrolling the window to let the cool wind blow his wet hair dry. He still had a pounding headache, but he felt a little better after the shower. He tried to take deep gulps of the damp air into his lungs to ease the uneasy feeling in his stomach.

            He made it to work at six minutes ‘till eight. He ran into the locker room and threw his locker door open, desperately hoping to find at least one clean uniform hanging there. Sighing in relief at finding one, he tore his shirt off. Roy was just tying his shoes and looked up at him with amusement shining in his eyes.

            “Running a little late today, huh?”

            Johnny looked over at Roy in surprise; he hadn’t even seen him sitting there.

            “Uh, yeah...I overslept,” Johnny answered through a yawn.

            “Have a late night?”

            “Kind of.” He was now pulling on his pants.

            “Hey, weren’t you supposed to go over to Charlene’s for dinner last night?”

            “Um, yeah.”

            “So, how did it go?”

            “Fine,” Johnny answered shortly, tying his shoe.

            Roy had opened his mouth to ask another question when they heard the Cap call for role call. Johnny ran his fingers through his hair as they both ran out the door into the engine bay. Roy, John, Chet, Marco, and Mike all lined up for their assigned duties.

            Captain Stanley glanced at Johnny. “Uh, Gage, where’s your badge?”

            Johnny looked down at his uniform. “Oh, sorry, Cap; it’s in my locker. I was, uh, runnin’ a little late today.”      

            “Okay, be sure to go get it when we’re done here.”

            “Yes, sir,” Johnny said sheepishly.

            “Okay, Roy, you’ve got latrine, Mike, day room, Marco and Chet we need some hose hung, and Gage, you’ve got the dorm. Let’s get busy.”

            Heading back to his locker, Johnny retrieved his badge, then grabbed a couple of aspirin out of his bag. He popped them into his mouth and swallowed them down with a glass of water. Next he grabbed his toothbrush and started to brush his teeth. He eyed Roy standing behind him in the mirror looking at him. He was holding a rag and some cleaner.

            “Uh, I’ll be out of your way here in a minute.”

            Roy shrugged, “It’s okay, take your time.”

            Feeling Roy’s questioning eyes on him, Johnny finished quickly, and wordlessly brushed past him into the dorm. He knew Roy was going to ask him questions about his night out and he didn’t want to talk about it. He went to the closet and grabbed some clean sheets, then proceeded to start stripping the beds.

            Stopping to gaze out the window, his mind wandered to the night before. He felt uneasy. Man, she was a weird chick.  He played their lovemaking over again in his mind. Making love to her had been like having sex with a wild animal in heat. She couldn’t seem to get enough; even after climaxing three times she had wanted more. And the things she had asked him to do! First she had begged him to hit her. After getting over the shock of that request, he had refused. Johnny wasn’t exactly a prude in bed, but he would never hit a woman. Maybe he was old fashioned, but he didn’t get off on the S & M stuff. He liked to make love to a woman, slowly and sensuously. He liked to please a woman with his body; that’s what turned him on – not violence and dominance. Dominance seemed to be what turned Charlene on.

Then she had wanted him to tie her up. When he had refused that, she asked if she could tie him up. Again, he refused. He wasn’t about to let some chick he hardly knew tie him up. She liked being aggressive and wanted aggression in turn. He finally relented and pinned her arms to the floor, not letting her up as he pumped into her. The harder he held her down the more she loved it.

Refusing to let up, she wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and kept him up until nearly 3:00 a.m., when they finally dragged themselves to her bed and collapsed. He hadn’t had the strength to get dressed and go home.

Johnny sighed lost in thought. Oh, well, what the hell? Just another one night stand. Had plenty of those, haven’t you Johnny? Don’t have to see her again, thank God. He slowly shook his head. Man, I’m gettin’ too old for this. I’m tired of one-night stands. I miss Kathy.

Roy walked back into the dorm looking for Johnny. He found him standing stone-still next to his bunk, his hand frozen in midair limply holding a sheet.  Gage’s was staring out the window, oblivious. Roy watched him a moment, then saw him slowly shake his head.

Roy took a few steps closer to Johnny. “Hey,” he said softly.

Johnny continued to stare, lost in thought. Roy thought his expression looked sad.

“Hey, I, ah, called you last night while you were out.  Did you get my message?”

 Startled, Johnny dropped the sheet. His head snapped over to the direction of Roy’s voice. “Huh?”

“I said, I called you last night. Did you get my message?”

“Message? What message?”

“I left you a message on your answering machine. Didn’t you get it?”

“No, sorry, I didn’t.”

“You just got that answering machine, is it already broken?”

“No, of course it’s not broken.”

“Well, you could have called me when you got home. You know Joanne and I stay up late. I needed to talk to you.”

“Roy,” Johnny said in a slightly exasperated tone. He looked around the dorm to make sure no one else was around. “If I’d have been home, I’d have gotten your message, and I would have called you.”

Roy stared dumbly at Johnny.

Johnny sighed. “I wasn’t at home last night. At. All. All night. Okay?”

Roy’s eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped open as he stared at Johnny a moment. He slowly nodded, muttering an uncomfortable, “Oh.” He thought a moment and his expression changed to incredulity. “You mean you spent the night with her? I thought you didn’t even like her!”

“I don’t!” Johnny hissed. “Would you be quiet! You don’t have to broadcast it to the entire station!”

“Why – ” began Roy as the tones rang out. Squad 51, child trapped. 451 East Glenmore; time out 8:41.

Johnny and Roy ran to the squad. It took them ten minutes to get to the scene. It turned out to be a one year old that had gotten his head caught in the rails of his crib. They were able to free him easily after cutting one of the rails. The child seemed to be okay, just scared, so the two paramedics simply recommended that the mother take him to see his family doctor.

Roy glanced over at Johnny as he drove. “We need to stop at Rampart; we’re low on supplies.”

“Okay.” Johnny had returned to his earlier thoughtful state and was again staring out the squad window.

“So what’s eating you?” Roy asked.

Johnny glanced at Roy and then away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Thinking about your date with Charlene?”
            “It wasn’t a date, it was a dinner. And I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” Roy held his hands up. “Sorry I asked. You’re awful touchy about it.”

“I am NOT touchy. It was just weird, that’s all.”

“What’s weird?”
            “Charlene.”

Roy rolled his eyes. “You know, you say that about almost every girl you date.  She’s either ‘incredible’ or ‘weird’.”

“I do not. And there is something weird about her. I just can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something wrong with her. She gives me a creepy feeling.”

“Apparently you didn’t feel creepy enough to keep from going to bed with her.”

Johnny snorted. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“What’s there to understand? If you didn’t like her and she made you feel creepy, then why did you sleep with her?”

Johnny was quiet a moment, and his face grew serious. “I didn’t want to, Roy. She...well, she practically forced me.”

Roy’s eyebrows went up and a small smile spread across his face.

Johnny saw the expression and scowled. “I knew you wouldn’t understand. I don’t even know why we’re talking about this.”

“Look, I’m sorry. I can see it’s bugging you. Why don’t you just tell me what happened?”

Johnny looked at Roy in surprise. “Gettin’ kinda nosy, aren’t ya?”

Roy rolled his eyes again. “I don’t mean that. I mean, why don’t you just tell me what she did that makes you think there’s something wrong with her?”

Johnny sighed. “Oh. Well....”

Roy knew he had just opened a can of worms. You asked for it, DeSoto.

Johnny started his story. “I get to her apartment, right? The first thing she does when I come in the door is hand me a martini.”

“A martini, huh? I thought you were more of a beer man.”

“That’s what I told her. But then she says, ‘oh you have to try this. It’ll make you feel warm all over.’” Johnny imitated her voice using a high tone.

“So, I drink the drink and I’m no sooner done than she pours me another one. I swear, Roy, all she wanted to do was pour me full of alcohol. She had wine at dinner, then brandy after dinner. I think she was trying to get me drunk.

And you should have seen her apartment! She had all the lights dimmed low, and music on, candles lit, a fire in the fireplace; you know.”

“Sounds kinda nice to me,” Roy said dreamily.

“Well, it would’ve been nice if it had been somebody that I wanted to be with. But she led me to believe that she was just going to cook me a nice friendly home-cooked meal to apologize for running me over with her grocery cart. Then I get there and she practically....” Johnny hesitated.

“Practically what?”

Johnny was too uncomfortable to verbalize the answer.

“Johnny, it sounds to me like this is just a case of a girl who’s got the hots for you. I still haven’t heard anything yet that sounds so weird.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t know everything else that happened.”

“So, tell me.”

Johnny looked at Roy, then back out the windshield. “Well, so anyway, we eat dinner, which certainly wasn’t anything to write home about. I mean, I don’t even know what it was that she made, and I wasn’t about to ask. Something with tofu I think. So, I go over and sit on her sofa after dinner trying to think of a way that I can get out of there. And then she comes over and sits down real close to me and says how much I’m going to like dessert. And she wasn’t talkin’ about food.”

Roy smiled.

“So, she starts, you know, comin’ on to me, and we’re, you know...on the couch, and then,” he sighed, “I accidentally called her ‘Kathy’.”

Roy looked over at Johnny with surprise. “What did she say then?”

“She didn’t say anything. She hit me. Hard.” Unconsciously Johnny brought his palm up to his cheek where she had struck him.

Roy’s head snapped back to look at Johnny. “She hit you?” He asked incredulously.

“Yeah. Well, she slapped me across the face. Almost knocked me off the couch. Then she started screaming at me wanting to know who ‘Kathy’ was. So, I made up some excuse and then she calmed down.”

Roy blew air out his mouth. “Well, I guess Joanne would be pretty upset with me if I did something like that.”

“Yeah, well she’s not my wife. It was only our first date.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t a date.”

“It wasn’t! So, anyway, I figured then it was probably a pretty good time to leave, so I got up and found my jacket and started to say good-bye, and she practically went berserk!

She started hangin’ onto me begging me not to leave. She tried to convince me that I shouldn’t drive and all. And then she, uh, tried really hard to persuade me to stay, if you know what I mean. The next thing I know she’s got all her clothes off.”

“So, then what happened?”

“Jeez, Roy! I’m not going to give you all the details.”

“And I don’t want ‘em. I just wondered if there was anything else she did that was, you know, weird.”

Johnny sighed, shaking his head. “Man, I don’t know. It’s just that she was....wild, you know? I mean, she reminded me of an animal in heat. She just was so....aggressive, a-a-and she would have kept me up all night if I’d have let her. And some of the stuff she wanted me to do – you wouldn’t believe it.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I can’t tell you everything. But, she wanted me to hit her, and then she wanted me to tie her up! Then she wanted to tie me up. And – ”

“Did you?”

John looked disgusted at Roy. “Roy, c’mon; you think I would ever hit a woman? And I sure as hell wasn’t going to let her tie me up! Who knows what she would have done? And,” he continued rubbing his shoulder, “she bit me.”

Roy snorted, trying not to laugh. “I’m not going to ask you where.”

Johnny kept rubbing his shoulder. “Right here,” he pointed.

“Sounds like you had some date.”

“I told you – ”

“Yeah, I know, it wasn’t a date, just dinner.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll tell you one thing; I’m NOT going to see her again. She is way too aggressive and dominating. You know the really weird thing is, I got this creepy feeling that she planned the whole thing, you know, right from the moment she crashed into me in the supermarket.”

“You’re paranoid.”

“I am not. I had a weird feeling about her from the beginning, and I’m not about to hang around and find out any more weird things about her.”

“Well, if what you say is true, I just hope you, ah, had enough sense to use...some protection.”

“Roy, I’m not stupid! Of course we used protection. She was on the pill.”

“How do you know that?”
            “She told me.”

“She told you. And you believed her? Did you actually see the pills?”

Johnny got a worried look on his face. “Well, no,” he stammered, “but why would she tell me she was on the pill if she wasn’t? I mean, you can’t just go askin’ to see the pills, you know. I mean, that’s not exactly cool.”

Boy, am I glad I got married young. “Johnny, why do you think she might lie to you? You said yourself you thought she had this whole thing planned from the beginning.”

Roy looked over at Johnny and saw the panicked look on his face, and regretted two things – first, that he’d said something that he knew would upset his partner, and second, he might be stuck hearing Johnny lament about it the rest of the day. “Look, just don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Johnny looked stricken as Roy’s words sunk in. “You’re right, Roy. Oh, man!”

The rest of the day Johnny tried not to think about what Roy had said. It was almost impossible not to. What if Roy was right and Charlene had lied to him? What if she got pregnant?

Afternoon wore on into evening, and Johnny started to relax. He decided he was not going to worry about something that was NOT going to happen.

Marco had fixed chili for dinner and the guys were just finishing up, not having been interrupted for once by the tones.

“Delicious dinner, Marco!” complimented the Cap, which was followed by unanimous agreement from the rest of the guys. “Don’t forget, Gage, you’ve got the dishes.”

“Right, Cap,” Gage said begrudgingly.

The guys cleared the table while John started the dishes. Chet, Marco and Mike retreated to the day room to watch TV, the Cap went to his office to finish some paperwork, and Roy remained at the table doing some paperwork of his own.

Roy sensed someone quietly coming through the doorway and looked up. Surprised upon seeing Charlene, she looked at him and held up two fingers in a “shhh” gesture. Chet looked over to see her quietly coming up behind Gage, who was oblivious to her with his back turned. He whistled while he rinsed a plate.

“Agh!” Johnny nearly jumped through the ceiling as he felt someone’s arms reach around, from behind, and grab his crotch. He quickly turned to see who it was, not being able to imagine one of the guys doing that to him.

“Charlene!” He was shocked to see her and stood there with dripping hands. “What are you doing here?”

“I missed you,” she purred, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She then pulled him toward her and started kissing him.

With wet hands, Johnny grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her away from him, glancing around to see if anyone had noticed what had just happened. Embarrassed for Johnny, Roy looked away, and John noticed the others had quickly turned their heads back to the television. Chet was smirking.

“Charlene,” he growled in a very low voice through gritted teeth, “I’m at WORK. Please!”
            She tried to wrap her arms around his waist. With a hurt look on her face she said, “You didn’t even say good-bye this morning.”

Johnny once again pulled her hands away from him. “Ah, Charlene, why don’t I show you the engine bay, okay?” He led her out of the day room and into the engine bay.

“Oh, good, now we’re alone!” She said excitedly. Captain Stanley was just coming out of his office and was looking down at some papers in his hands when he heard Charlene.

“Oh, wow,” she exclaimed looking at the engine, “wouldn’t it be great to do it up on that?” She then started to unbutton Johnny’s top button of his shirt while trying to kiss him again.

Captain Stanley looked at John with raised eyebrows and with a ‘Don’t even think about it’ look in his eyes.

John’s face turned red and again he pulled Charlene’s hands away from his shirt.

“Would you STOP!” he growled irritably.

Charlene looked like she was ready to cry. “I thought you liked me,” she whimpered.

Johnny sighed and stammered, “I – I do. But I’m at work. You can’t be doing this – ”

“When can I see you again?”

He struggled to think of an answer when the tones sounded.

Squad 51, possible heart attack, 155 Westmore. Time out 20:15.

“I gotta go!” And with that, Johnny ran to the squad, leaving her standing there in the engine bay.

Captain Stanley handed the slip of paper to John and the squad quickly left the station.

Chet sauntered out into the engine bay and up to Charlene. “I guess they got a run.”

“Yeah,” she said dejectedly. “How soon do you think they’ll be back?”

“Well, you never know with a heart attack. Could be hours. Uh, my name’s Chet, in case you don’t remember me. I met you the last time you stopped by. Uh, your cookies were delicious! Maybe you could – “

“I better go.”

“Oh! Well, I’ll walk you to your car.”

Chet escorted her out to the parking lot. “Uh, hey, Charlene; you know if you ever get tired of Johnny, I – ”

Charlene looked at Chet with a devious smile and said, “Oh, I could never get tired of Johnny; if you know what I mean.” And she climbed into her car.

Now Chet was embarrassed. “Sure. Well, uh, see ya around, okay?”

She waved and took off in her car.

The squad pulled back in at around eleven p.m. It had been a heart attack call. The victim was a 53-year old man, and they’d had to defibrillate twice when his heart stopped, but the two paramedics were able to attain a sinus rhythm before transporting him to the hospital. It was a close call, but Dr. Brackett thought he would make it.

Johnny and Roy stood in front of the mirror brushing their teeth, getting ready to call it a night. Chet ambled into the bathroom, then wrapped his arms around Johnny from behind and said in a high female voice, “Oh, I missed you Johnny! You didn’t say good-bye this morning.”

Almost choking on his toothpaste, Johnny pushed Chet off and yelled, “Get away from me!”

“Uh, hey, John, I think you’ve got some lipstick there on your cheek.”

“Where!?” Johnny peered into the mirror looking for the lipstick that wasn’t there.

Chet peered over his shoulder trying to show him, then looked down and pulled Johnny’s T-shirt back a little. “Whoa! What’s this, John? Did you get bit by another snake? Or is that a hickey?”

Johnny whirled at Chet, thoroughly annoyed now. “Get off me!”

“Touchy, touchy, aren’t we? Aw, c’mon, Johnny. I want to hear about your date. That’s one wild chick.” Chet followed Johnny into the dorm. “What was she like? Was those things really as big as – ”

“Chet, shut up!” Johnny climbed into his bunk and pulled the covers over his head.

“Come on, Johnny...”

“Good night, Chet!” Johnny rolled over on his stomach and pulled the pillow over his head as Roy walked in and sat down on his bunk.

“Don’t look at me,” he responded to Chet’s stare. “I’m not saying a word.”

“Kelly, go to bed!” the Cap yelled from his bunk.

Chet sulked to his bunk and lay down. He quietly said, “Jeez, I haven’t had a hickey since high school!”

Part 2