Johnny tried to ignore it, but couldn’t. It kept bothering him at home and at the station, most especially at bedtime.

Now for the fourth night in a row he laid awake, the pain almost unbearable. Aspirin and ice packs had been of some help at first, but now, nothing seemed to relieve the constant throb his jaw was experiencing. 

Johnny decided to get up and go to the kitchen to keep from waking any of his crew mates with his constant movements. As he pulled on his turnouts, Roy woke and looked at him. 

"What’s wrong?" Roy asked. 

"Nothin'. Go back to sleep," Johnny answered. 

Roy watched as Johnny left the dorm. He knew something was bothering his partner, and had been for the past few days. He pulled himself out of his bunk and went in search of Johnny. He found him in the dayroom lying on the couch with Boot at his feet. 

"Johnny, what’s going on? Are you sick?" Roy questioned with concern. 

"No, I….I…" Johnny stuttered. 

"Come on, John, if you’re sick…."  

"I have a….toothache," Johnny admitted. 

"Ouch! How long?"  

"Four days! Man, Roy, it’s killing me!" This wasn’t an easy confession for Johnny to admit. 

"Want me to take a look?" Roy offered. 

 "Nah." 

"You want me to get Cap to call in a replacement for you?" 

"No, I’ll be OK," Johnny said. 

Roy’s right eyebrow raised with Johnny proclamation of being ‘OK’. Where had he heard that line before? His

partner looked absolutely miserable. 

"Have you made a dental appointment yet?" Roy inquired. 

"Uh….no." 

"You need to first thing in the morning. You don’t want that tooth to get abscessed." 

Johnny’s face reddened with embarrassment. How was he going to admit to his best friend, or anyone else for that matter, that he was afraid to go to the dentist? He knew he was going to have to go, there was no way he could stand the suffering much longer.

Assuring Roy that he'd be fine, Johnny urged his partner to go back to bed and get some much needed sleep. Roy, though hesitant, bid a goodnight

to his hurting friend and returned to the dorm. Johnny resettled himself on the couch hoping that the aspirin he took, after Roy left, would help to alleviate the ache. After what seemed like forever, the pain eased somewhat and he fell into a pain-filled slumber.

~~~%%%~~~%%%~~~%%%~~~

 Waking after a fitful sleep, Johnny realized that he was on the sofa in the dayroom.

"Oh man, it's still dark. Wonder what time it is?" he pondered.

"Just a little after three, John."

"ARGH!" Who are you or better yet, what are you?" Johnny stammered.

"Johnny, Johnny, Johnny you silly boy, I'm the tooth fairy."

"Tooth Fai... Wait a minute! This is a joke, right? I bet Kelly put you up to this."

"No joke, son. I am the Tooth Fairy."

"Yeah, right!" Johnny snorted.

"You use to believe in me when you were younger, John. Always looked forward to your reward when you lost a tooth."

"Hey, I was just a kid."

"Yes, you were. That's why I'm so disappointed to be here now."

"What'da mean?" Johnny questioned, still not believing that he was talking to the actual Tooth Fairy.

"What I mean is, you haven't been following proper dental hygiene."

"I brush my teeth. I floss. I use mouth wash. Your name wouldn't happen to be Brice would it?" the hapless paramedic argued.

"No, no, my name is the Tooth Fairy, not Brice; and as for the rest that's all fine and good but you have left out one very important step."

"What's that?"

"You are lax in your efforts to visit the dentist."

"Uh, well!" Johnny was perplexed not only as to how this giant tooth knew, but also, by the reality of the whole situation.

"John, I'm here to take your pain away. You will never have another toothache, never."

"Wow! That'd be great! How ya gonna do that?" Johnny, now excited that the giant molar was going to take away his pain.

"I've come to take all of your teeth. You obviously have no respect for what you have and I'm here to take them, all."

"What?! Are you crazy, you can't take all my teeth, they're still in my mouth!" Johnny protested.

"Yes, they are, but not for long." The huge non-cavity molar pulled out a pair of pliers and advanced toward the couch and Johnny.

"Wha...what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to begin removing your teeth." A wicked laugh erupted from the shiny white tooth.

"Noooooooo!"

A piercing scream woke Johnny from his restless sleep. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he realized he wasn't alone; the five other members of Station 51's A-Shift were peering down at him. That's when it dawned on him that it was his scream that had awakened him and apparently everyone else.

His face tinted red from embarrassment for the silliness of the nightmare he'd just experienced.

"Sorry, guys," Johnny apologized.

"No problem, pal. You sure you're ok?" Cap inquired.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I woke ya."

"Well if you're sure you're all right..." Cap tried once again to reassure himself that John was indeed fine.

"I'm sure. Thanks, Cap, all you guys."

"Well guys, let's go see if we can get a few more hours sleep. Night, John."

With that Cap left followed by, Chet, Mike and Marco; Roy remained. He wanted to make sure his partner was ok, all right and indeed fine.

"You sure you're ok?" Roy queried.

"Yeah! Sorry about that. I'll be fine, why don'tcha go back to bed an try to get some more sleep." Johnny gave his worrisome best friend a pale imitation of his famous crooked smile.

"Well, if you're sure?"

"I am. Thanks, Roy."

Roy patted John on the shoulder then turned to leave.

"Uh, Roy?" Johnny whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy?"

"What..?"

"Nothing! Uh... I'll be making an appointment with the dentist first thing in the morning."

"Good!"

"Night, Roy."

"Good night, Junior." 

The End

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