It was 8:00 a.m. The men of A-shift at Station 51 were heading towards the locker room to change into their street clothes, weary from the excessive amount of runs throughout the night. The normal banter between the firefighters was unusually quiet, including the two most antagonistic of the bunch, John Gage and Chet Kelly.

John and his fellow paramedic, Roy DeSoto, had been later than the others in getting back to the station, having to follow up that last run to Rampart Hospital. Sighing, Johnny sat down on the inside of his locker, propped his feet up on the bench in front of him, and closed his eyes.

"I don’t know if I even have the energy to change, Roy."

"I hear ya’, Partner," Roy answered wearily.

Chet, quiet until now, but never one to miss an opportunity to needle Gage, piped up. "Oh, and you guys have it SO rough!"

"Don’t start, Chet," warned Roy. He knew how cranky his younger partner could get when he was this tired and was not in the mood to pry these two apart from a verbal confrontation.

"Oh no, Roy, let’s hear it. Chet here has NO idea what’s he talking about most of the time anyway, so this should be real interesting!" If Chet wanted a contest on whose job was toughest, Johnny was more than willing to accommodate him. He gestured dramatically over to Kelly, giving him the floor.

"Well, Johnny, it’s just funny hearing you complain about how tired you are. While you two are off on your cushy little ride in the ambulance to Rampart, the rest of us are stuck behind, mopping up after the fire!" Chet’s voice was raising a decibel for every breath he took.

"Well, Chet," Johnny said calmly, surprising his partner, "you see, it’s like this… if you were smarter, maybe you could have been a paramedic too and enjoyed those nice cushy rides to Rampart."

Touché, thought Roy to himself. It wasn’t often that Johnny got in a good lick after one of Chet’s disparaging remarks, especially when he was as tired as they were now. He was duly impressed. Unfortunately, in the middle of Johnny’s coup d'état, Captain Stanley walked into the locker room.

"What was that I heard?" Cap asked the room in general, not certain he really wanted that last statement repeated, but he knew from experience that a question like that coming from him was the surest way to stop the conversation.

"Uh, nothing, Cap," muttered Johnny. "Chet and I were just talking about that last run."

"Oh, yeah. Brutal one, huh? For the whole crew!" This was Cap’s way of letting Chet and Johnny, and anyone else who was curious, know that he had heard the conversation in question, ending the urge to continue once he was no longer in the room

Heading out into the parking lot, it was Roy who finally broke the silence.

"So, Johnny, what are you doing on your days off?" The two of them were the first out the door, nearing their cars, which were parked side by side.

"Sleep!" replied Johnny, feigning weakness in his knees. "How ‘bout you?"

"Wish I could," groaned Roy, "but my daughter has a recital at two this afternoon, which Joanne promised I would attend, since I’m off today. Chris has a Little League parent’s meeting tonight, and, I’m sure, there will be a nice long ‘Honey-do’ list waiting for me when I get home to keep my morning more than filled."

" ‘Honey-do’ list?" Johnny asked with a quizzical look on his face.

"Yeah, you know… " ‘Honey, would you do this?’, ‘Honey, would you do that?’ " Roy half-joked, making his best ‘Joanne’ impersonation that he could muster.

Johnny looked over at his partner and best friend. "Man!" he laughed. "I don’t see how you do it, Roy. There is no way I could work this job and then go home and work, and then turn around and have to play ‘Dad’. No sir... It’s going to take all my strength today just to make it through the front door and collapse into my water bed!"

Reaching their cars, Roy leaned against the side of his as he watched Johnny climb into his own vehicle. He shook his head at his younger, carefree partner as a slight grin slowly spread across his face.

"What? Johnny asked defensively, catching the smirk on Roy’s face.

"Oh, nothing, Partner, nothing at all." Deep inside, Roy knew that Johnny would one day find a family of his own and love every minute of it, just as he did.

"See you in a couple of days, Roy. Don’t work too hard!" Johnny grinned as he backed out of his space.

Johnny had barely pulled up into his driveway when a young dark-haired boy came running at breakneck speed across his front lawn.

"Whoa, Pardner, slow down there. Where’s the fire?" Johnny yelled as he leaned out his driver’s window, grinning from ear to ear.

"Johnny!" screamed the young boy happily at the top of his lungs.

Scarcely making it out of the vehicle before the boy hurled himself at him, Johnny scooped the youngster up in his arms, nearly falling over backwards from the force of the blow.

"Whoa there, Junior! You want me to have to call the squad?" he joked laughingly.

"No way, Pally!"

Johnny beamed over the use of the familiar nicknames. Still laughing, he set the boy down on the ground, turning his grin into a serious, over-animated frown of the brow, giving the young lad a quick check-over.

"Well, Sir? Do I pass inspection?" the boy asked, quickly following suit with an equally mock-serious tone. He stood solidly at attention, waiting for a response.

"Well, Junior Fireman Roberts, it appears you’re needing a haircut." Johnny informed the boy as he eyed the long, unruly locks curling over the boy’s forehead

With that, Billy rolled his eyes as he glanced up at Johnny’s own hair. Johnny gave a rueful shrug, breaking into a hearty laugh.

"Okay, okay… got me on that one, Billy!"

"Come on, Johnny, let’s go!"

"Slow down there, Little Buddy, where are we going?"

Billy had Johnny by the hand and had already dragged him halfway across the lawn before he knew it.

"We have to practice, Silly! Tonight’s the big night!" Billy said over his shoulder, still tugging on Johnny’s arm.

"Slow down…slow down…" Johnny pulled back on Billy’s insistent tugging and turned him around. "First of all, this is just a parent’s meeting tonight, not try-outs. Second of all, it’s for big people only. I don’t think kids are allowed." Watching Billy’s expression fall to the ground, Johnny knelt down and put his hand on his shoulder, "But! That doesn’t mean we can’t get some extra practice in right now!" Billy’s face instantly lit up as he grabbed Johnny’s hand again, and the two of them disappeared around the back of the house.

Two months later, and tonight was the night. Johnny was nervous as a cat, though he tried to hide that fact from his fellow firefighters. Despite his best attempts though, it was obvious to the whole crew that something big was up with John Gage.

"What’s the matter, Johnny?" Chet taunted. "Big date tonight? Or, make that, a date tonight? How long’s it been now? Weeks? MONTHS?" Chet giggled at the thought of Johnny spending his nights alone, pining away for female companionship.

"SHUT UP, CHET!" Johnny’s raw nerves were getting the best of him. He just wanted to get out of there, go home and prepare for tonight. Roy had been a little concerned about his partner’s preoccupation all shift, though it never seemed to affect his duties on the job. It was only when they had too much down time did he notice the distraction and obvious nervousness. He had been tempted to ask if there was something he could do to help out, but every time he broached the subject, Johnny shrewdly changed the subject, or out-and-out ignored him. Whatever the problem was that was plaguing Johnny, Roy hoped that his friend could work it out for himself and not wait till he was totally wigged out, which was par for the course.

"Coming tonight, Johnny?" Roy asked when he was fairly certain Chet had been properly silenced. Looking over at Chet, he watched the Irishman shake his head in amusement. Please, Chet, for ONCE, listen to Johnny and SHUT UP!

"Huh?" Johnny looked up distractedly.

"Are you coming by tonight? Chris’s big game is tonight and he was wondering if you were still coming." Roy had been a little perplexed over Johnny’s behavior the past few months. Johnny had always been his son’s staunchest supporter when it came to baseball, taking the time to coach him in the back yard, showing up for most of his games, and even taking on the task of chewing out the umpire when he felt Chris had been unduly called ‘out’.

This year, however, Johnny had been conspicuously absent, not only at the games, but also at their house for practice sessions. Chris had been confused and a little hurt. Roy didn’t know what to tell his son, except that something must be going on with his partner. Being a kid though, Chris didn’t fully understand that reasoning. It had even gotten to the point that Joanne was about to intercede on their son’s behalf and try to talk to Johnny herself. It was only at Roy’s impassioned request, siting self-preservation on the job, that Joanne let the matter lie. He was the one who had to work with Johnny, and his partner was flighty enough without making him angry on top of it all.

"Game?" Johnny asked absentmindedly.

"Yes, Johnny. The ‘big’ game is tonight and Chris really would like to have you there. It’s a double header actually. If they win the first game then they play again. From what I hear, the team they might play in that second game is pretty tough. It’s a new team they put together this year, so the coach is new too, but not bad, considering they’ve only lost their first game and then have gone through the loser’s bracket undefeated so far. Chris is pretty nervous about it. I think having you there would be a big help to his confidence. If they beat this team, that makes them the Champions."

"Um, I don’t know, Roy." Johnny was clearly uncomfortable with this conversation. "I’ll have to see what comes up…" Johnny grabbed his jacket from his locker and exited the locker room hurriedly.

"What’s up, Roy? You guys have a fight or something?" Chet asked sincerely.

"No… Roy said thoughtfully. As he turned to leave, he added, speaking more to himself than to Chet, "not yet anyway…"

Roy pushed his way through the crowd of parents and well wishers in search of his son. Spotting Chris, he waved him over, grabbed him, and gave him a huge hug, embarrassing the young man to no end. Joanne was right behind him and Chris knew he’d have to endure at least one more display of public parental affection before he could return to his team. Parents!

Roy had been beside himself most of the game. Trying his hardest to be a good ‘ball parent’, he’d kept his yelling to a minimum, which was more than could be said for his wife. As many times as he’d witnessed it, he could never still quite believe it. This normally mild-mannered, gentle woman that was his wife, and mother to his children, transformed into a screaming maniacal demon in front of his eyes when it came to tournament games.

The game had ended in a spectacular finish. After neck-to-neck scoring throughout the game, the last half of the final inning had come down to their team being two runs down, with two outs, 'men' on second and third bases, a full count, with Chris at bat.

The pitcher had wound up for the final pitch of the game. The ball was thrown. Chris swung, and CONNECTED! The home crowd had gone wild. The ball soared high into centerfield. The centerfielder ran back, back, back… The ball hit the glove, causing a collective groan from Roy’s side of the bleachers, and victorious screams from the other half of the bleachers. The centerfielder, however, had been caught off balance. He tumbled backwards, the ball rolling out of his glove when he hit the ground. By this time, Chris had rounded second base. The other two boys had already hit home plate, tying the game. The rightfielder ran for backup and scooped up the ball, throwing it to the second baseman, but Chris had already passed him up. The second baseman swung around and heaved the ball to third base, overthrowing it as Chris rounded the base. In a mad scramble, with the crowd roaring, the leftfielder and third baseman raced after the ball. The third baseman reached it first, snatched it off the ground, and threw it towards the catcher. In a cloud of dust, Chris slid across homeplate as the ball hit the catcher’s mitt.

"SAFE!" screamed the umpire above the din in the bleachers, making a wild gesture with his arms.

Suddenly, the screaming and groaning from the bleachers switched sides as they realized that Chris scored the winning run. Roy and Joanne were jumping up and down in excited frenzy.

"That’s my boy!" yelled Roy to anyone who would listen and noone in particular.

The crowd had finally died down. The losing team and their supporters had left dejectedly, while the winning team and their supporters were still basking in the glow from their incredible win. Meanwhile, the team and parents for the next game slowly started to filter in. There was an hour to kill before the next game, ample time for the winning team to refresh themselves, and for both teams to warm up . It wasn’t until Roy sat down in the bleachers again that he noticed a certain dark-haired figure standing next to the concession stand.

"Johnny!" yelled Roy, standing and waving his arms to get his attention. Funny he hadn't noticed him standing there earlier, but considering the intensity of the previous game maybe it wasn’t such a surprise. At any rate, he was relieved to see that Johnny had made it to the game after all. "JOHNNY!" When Johnny still did not turn in his direction, Roy excused himself and made his way over to his partner.

Still pumped from adrenaline, Roy practically knocked Johnny over when he slapped him on the back.

"What the…?" Johnny turned around to face Roy. "ROY!" Johnny jumped back when he saw him, looking both surprised and scared as he stared into the grinning face of his partner.

"Did you see it? Did you see Chris? What a game, huh?" Roy shouted enthusiastically.

"Uh, yeah, nice hit," Johnny answered.

"NICE? It was stupendous. It was incredible. It was… it was… SPECTACULAR!" Roy was on a definite high!

"Yeah, all that too." Johnny was uncharacteristically subdued.

Before Roy could say anything in return, two boys ran by them, nearly knocking them both over.

"Hi Johnny!" "Hi Johnny!" They both yelled as they flew by.

"Hey guys!" Johnny yelled back.

Roy seemed undeterred in describing the final at-bat to Johnny as he continued to deliver his monologue of the last play, blow by blow, replaying the scene, until he noticed Johnny’s lack of enthusiasm. Before he could question him about it, yet another boy ran by them with a "Hi Johnny!"

Roy looked at Johnny, confused. "You know these kids?"

"Uh, yeah, I do."

Roy just stared at him, waiting for him to continue, while Johnny just stood there, looking increasingly uncomfortable. Squirming where he stood, Johnny shrugged his shoulders, trying to think of a plausible explanation to offer.

Just then, another boy ran up to Johnny, only this one stopped dead in his tracks, when he reached the two men and threw his arms around Johnny’s waist.

"Hi Johnny!" Billy smiled up at Johnny with unmistakable admiration.

"Ah, Roy, I’d like you to meet Billy. He’s, ah, he lives, um, he’s…."

"C’mon, Coach! We’re over here!" yelled yet another boy as he ran past the threesome. Billy ran after the other boy and yelled back to Johnny.

"C’mon, Johnny! We gotta warm up! We’re gonna KILL these guys!"

If the comfort level seemed below normal for Johnny before, it was downright intolerable now as he half smiled, half frowned at the man in front of him. He ran his hand through his hair and down his neck in nervous energy.

"COACH!" Roy shouted in disbelief.

"COACH?" Roy repeated. He hadn’t noticed before, but beneath Johnny’s jacket was the jersey of the opposing team.

"Hey, Roy, I can explain," Johnny started. "Really, I, ah..."

Before he got another word out, the umpire had approached them and interrupted. "Are you Coach Gage?"

"Yeah… that would be me," Johnny muttered in reply.

"We need your starting lineup if you want to get that ready for us."

"Sure thing, be right with you." Johnny turned back to Roy.

"I’ll explain everything later, okay?" he offered to Roy.

"You BET you will, Junior, you bet you will…"

Johnny knew he had to leave, but not without trying to say one more thing. Once more, he was interrupted.

"JOHNNY!" His entire team had shouted in unison to get his attention and was laughing wildly at the uproar they produced. When Johnny turned back, all he caught of Roy was his retreating back.

Oh man! he thought to himself, but turned to run to his team. He had work to do.

Roy was still fuming when he returned to his section of the bleachers.

"Did you find Johnny?" Joanne asked innocently.

"Yeah, I found him," Roy answered glumly.

"Well?" Joanne wondered what happened to change her husband’s mood around so drastically. "Is he coming to sit with us or not?"

"Not."

"What! Did you two fight again?" The only time Roy got into this kind of mood was when he and his partner were at odds with each other. She shook her head wondering how these two guys could get into any argument in that short of time. Roy had only been gone for a couple of minutes.

"No, no fight. He’s watching the game from somewhere else."

Based on experience, Joanne decided it was best to leave this alone for now. She was here to watch her son play ball, not to play mediator for two grown men. Sighing, she turned back to the ongoing conversation with her friends.

Roy sat impatiently waiting for the game to start. Chris’s team had gone into the field to warm up while the ‘other’ team seemed to be having a team meeting, with Johnny thick in the middle of the gaggle of ten-year-old boys, looking very much like an overgrown boy himself. It suddenly dawned on Roy that he hadn’t warned Chris of Johnny’s coaching position, but it was too late to do anything about it now. The game was due to start any second.

The umpire called the two coaches out to the mound just before the game. Johnny trotted out to the infield with that lopsided grin on his face, confident and easy, which ticked Roy off even more.

"Roy?" Joanne turned to him. "Isn’t that… is that Johnny? Did you know…" One look at her husband’s face told her she didn’t have to finish her question of whether or not he knew Johnny was coaching a Little League team, much less this team.

Through much of the first half of the game, Roy was so mad at his partner for not telling him about this latest little activity of his that he had a hard time concentrating on the game. He was only aware that the game was extremely close, tying after each inning. Unable to sit still, he offered to get cokes for everyone. Once he was down by the concession stand, he paced back and forth waiting for the lady behind the counter to fill his order. He was angry that Johnny hadn’t said so much as one word about this, but he was angrier with himself for letting it distract him to this length. Shaking it off, he gathered up the promised cokes and returned to the stands.

Calmed down slightly, he started to watch his partner on the other side of the ballfield. Johnny was doing his own share of pacing, but that infernal grin never once left his face. Obviously, he was enjoying his new duties. Even when he tried to complain about a bad call here and there, it was only a matter of seconds before that grin returned, then he was clapping and cheering on his boys again. In turn, the boys on his team seemed to reflect their coach’s attitude with their own sets of grins. Roy watched in earnest as Johnny greeted his team off the field, slapping high-five’s right and left to each boy as he passed.

In comparison, Chris’s coach was continually yelling at the boys, but there was no trace of a grin on this man’s face. His face turned red when he spotted a blunder and he yelled angrily at the umpire countless times. The boys on Chris’s team looked tired and worn out, but Roy suspected it wasn’t so much from the fact that this was their second game of the day, but more from the constant chewing out from their coach. Roy wondered if their coach had always been like this and he just hadn’t noticed, or if it stemmed from the exaggerated difference between the two men in charge.

Just as Roy decided he had to give Johnny an honest chance to explain once the game was over, he noticed that the boy he had introduced him to, Billy, was ‘on deck’. He would be next at bat.

Okay, Junior, let’s see how well you coached these boys.

The boy currently at-bat had struck out and Billy stepped up to the plate. The pitcher looked over at his coach, watching his signals, nodding in acknowledgment. With a wind-up that would have impressed any coach, the pitcher threw his fastball.

THUMP!

The wildly thrown ball hit Billy squarely on the back as he turned away from it to avoid the flying leather missile, knocking the boy to the ground. Instinctively and instantaneously, both Johnny and Roy ran out into the diamond.

"Billy!" Johnny had beat Roy to his injured player by mere seconds.

Roy knelt next to the boy, ready to assess his injuries, but was more startled by the terrified look on his partner’s face. Billy was lying on his back, gasping for air, but it was Johnny’s face that was turning ashen.

"Take it easy, Johnny…" Roy looked at his partner, placing his hand on Johnny's arm for reassurance. "Billy?" he addressed the boy lying on the ground, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I’m alright." Billy said, finally able to catch his breath. He tried to sit up but Johnny held his hand on his chest to keep him down.

"Easy, easy… Just lie still." Johnny insisted.

"I’m alright!" Billy insisted right back. "Just got the wind knocked out of me, that’s all."

Johnny let out a sigh of relief as he and Roy helped the lad to his feet amid cheers from the crowd. "You’re sitting this one out, Partner," he told the boy as Billy made a face at him. Johnny motioned for another boy to fill in for his injured player, and watched as Jason took Billy’s walk to first base.

For Roy, this little scenario had a definite flavor of déja ‘vu. How many times in their careers had he and Johnny played out this exact scene, with a slight reversal in roles? When he was sure all was well with both of them, he turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his arm. It was Johnny’s hand.

"Thanks, Roy…" Johnny eyes were full of gratitude and relief.

Roy just nodded and vacated the playing field as the game was about to resume, but not before stepping in close to his own son’s coach. Knowing full well the coach was aware of his profession, he uttered in a low threatening whisper, "Instruct one of your players to do that again, and you’ll be needing my services."

Roy knew that the coach had signaled for the pitcher to intentionally throw that ball to the inside, for the express purpose of walking the next player. It was not something Roy disagreed with, in the spirit of the game, but Roy suspected there was more to that call. Throwing the ball to purposely injure a player was something he disagreed with very much!

Satisfied that he gotten his point across, Roy returned to the bleachers to enjoy the rest of the game with a renewed sense of satisfaction. He was relieved to see that Billy had recovered from his little ordeal enough to reenter the game by the next inning.

The final inning of this game was playing out nearly exactly the way the last game had ended. Chris’s team was down by only one point this time. There were two outs, Chris and another boy were on base, and their designated hitter was coming up to bat.

The ball was thrown. The ball was hit. The ball went far into left field. The ball landed in the player’s glove. The ball bounced right back out. By the time the outfielder got the ball all the way to homeplate, Chris had safely landed the winning point.

The crowd went wild. Roy jumped up so fast, the pop he’d been holding spilled all over his shirt, and Joanne was now hanging on his neck screaming in his ear. Chris’s team had pulled it off. They had won the tournament.

In the midst of all the excitement, Roy suddenly remembered the losing team, and their coach. Trying to catch a glimpse through the standing spectators, he shouted to Joanne that he was going down below. Giving him an ‘okay’ nod, she continued her jumping up and down and yelling for her son’s team.

It’s probably safer down here anyway! He mused to himself.

Making his way through the other sets of parents, he finally found himself next to the dugout on the other side of the field. Instead of the solemn, somber faces he’d expected from a losing team though, he was met with a pack of boys who were cheering and whooping just as loud as his own son’s team.

When Johnny caught Roy out of the corner of his eye, he made his way over to him, with a grin so wide that Roy thought his face would split.

"Congratulate me, Partner! We made second place!" Johnny shouted over the din.

"Yeah, uh, congratulations." Roy was more than a little confused. "You DO know it was second place?"

"You BET! Isn’t that GREAT!"

Billy came running over to Johnny and jumped at him as Johnny grabbed him in mid-air and gave him a huge hug before depositing him back on the ground.

"Great game, Junior," Johnny told the boy.

"You BET, Pally!" replied the boy as he raised his hand for a high-five.

Roy raised his eyebrows as the boy turned to address him.

"Hey! Are you Roy?" asked the boy.

"Uh, yeah, I’m Roy DeSoto, Johnny’s partner." Roy answered back.

"Johnny told me you’d be here today," Billy said excitedly. "Did you see me? Didn’t I play good? We got second place! Did you see that?" Roy looked over at his partner as he was positively beaming at the boy by his side. "Johnny said we’d be lucky to even get into the tournaments, but we did! And we even won a trophy! Isn’t he the BEST?"

"Yeah, Billy, he is…" Roy wondered about the relationship between these two in front of him, because it certainly appeared to be more than a coach/player thing they had going on between them.

"Yeah, Johnny told me 'Big Brother' would be watching today, so I didn't have to worry about anything. And he sure was right!" Billy shouted excitedly.

Johnny watched as the boy ran off, with a look on his face that said he really cared about this boy. He turned to Roy and shrugged. "What can I tell you? He has a bad case of ‘Hero Worship’."

Roy was about to say something but just then a huge container of ice cold Gatorade washed over his hapless friend and a dozen sets of grubby little hands pulled him to the ground, laughing all the while. From where Roy stood, it was hard to tell where the grownup ended, and the kids started.

Realizing that he still hadn’t talked to Chris, Roy made his way over to his son’s side of the field just in time for the trophies to be presented.

As Roy and his family started to leave the ballfield, he strained his neck to search for Johnny.

"What’cha lookin’ for, Dad?" asked Chris.

"Oh, I was just looking for Johnny one last time," Roy answered.

"Oh, he went home first!" Chris replied.

Roy turned to his son. "First?"

"Yeah, did I forget to mention I invited him and Billy over to our house after the game?"

Roy looked at his son bewilderedly. "Yes, I guess you could say you forgot to mention that..."

"Well they are, so let’s GO!" Chris ran ahead of his father for the car. His son seemed undaunted over the fact that Johnny had been coaching the opponent’s team.

Kids! thought Roy, just when you think you know what makes them tick…

Roy was sitting out on his deck consuming a nice cold beer by the time Johnny and Billy arrived. The boys took running off for Chris’s room to rehash the game over for the nth time and Johnny joined his friend outside. Roy handed Johnny a beer out of the ice chest as Johnny sat in the deck chair next to him.

Clearing his throat, and staring straight ahead, Johnny started the conversation rolling. "I guess I owe you an explanation."

"Yes, you do…" Roy admitted, pausing for a second, "but first I owe you an apology."

"You do?" Johnny looked over at Roy. He had no idea what Roy had to apologize for.

"Yes, I do… Chris told me that you came up to him before the game and told him you were coaching the other team." Roy paused a second. "I should have known you’d make it right with him before the game started."

"Well, I didn’t want him to be upset or hurt him. I love that kid, Roy."

Roy leaned forward and deliberately looked at his partner before he asked him the next question, wanting to see his reaction with his own eyes. "You love Billy too… don’t you?"

Johnny’s face softened at the mention of the boy, losing himself in his thoughts as he spoke aloud. "He’s a great kid, Roy. He’s bright. He’s funny. He’s smart. He’s a real tough kid, too, you know? But there’s a lot more to him at the same time. There’s something else you should know too, Roy... Billy’s also my little brother."

Roy was totally confused now. "Little young to be your brother, isn’t he, Johnny?" He knew Johnny’s parents and knew there was no way this kid could be related in that fashion.

"No, not ‘brother’, Roy, ‘Little Brother,’ as in Big Brother/Little Brother. The program, you know?"

"Johnny? You never mentioned…" Roy’s voice trailed off, realizing now what had been occupying his partner’s time for so long now.

"Well, it’s not like I went looking for it. It… he… just sort of found me. And, I didn’t want anyone to give me a hard time about it. You know, I’m always razzing you about being so busy with the kids and all. And I wasn’t really sure if I was cut out for this or not, and was afraid if I gave up on it or it didn’t work out that the other guys would call me a quitter, or give me a hard time about the kid, or whatever…" Johnny sighed. "I had no idea what was going to come of it. He had a lot of problems at first." Johnny’s thoughts were taking him back to those first days with Billy.

"Well, from the looks of things, seems you’ve been able to work some of them out." Roy smiled at his friend sitting next to him, amazed at how little he knew him sometimes.

"Well, yeah, we did. All he needed was someone to believe in him and do things with him. He’s a great kid, really."

"Ah, Johnny…" Roy started to say, "about that ‘Junior/Pally’ thing…"

Johnny snorted a small laugh. "Oh, that?! That was sort of an accident. I was telling him about you and what we did and things we did around the station and I guess that was one of the stories I slipped in. Well, one day I called him ‘Junior’ without thinking, and next thing you know, he shot right back with ‘Pally’." Johnny smiled again at the memory of that conversation, "and, well, it just sort of stuck after that."

Johnny’s face sobered as he turned to Roy. "I want to thank you too for coming down when Billy got hit with that ball. I don’t know what happened. It was like I went numb for a second there. I was ready to throw him into the back of my car and speed over to Rampart. Talk about overreacting!"

"It’s not easy being ‘Senior Partner’, is it?"

"Not at all." Johnny shook his head. "I still don’t see how you handle it, Roy. I don’t think I could handle a kid of my own. My nerves would never take it."

"Oh, I think you’d handle it just fine, Johnny, just fine."

Johnny took in a deep breath. Okay, Johnny, one last thing to get off your chest. "So, we’re alright then? I mean, you’re not mad at me?"

"Well, one thing…"

Johnny grew nervous all of a sudden. "What’s that?"

"That next year, both Billy and Chris are on your team!" Roy said with a gleam in his eye.

Relieved beyond belief, Johnny breathed a sigh and smiled, "Well sure! But… we lost, Roy."

Roy paused a moment and then said, "I don’t know. From what I could see, there weren’t any losers on your team, Johnny, not a one…. Now, Junior, let’s go see what our boys are up to."

"Right behind you, Pally." And that infernal grin was once again pasted on Johnny’s face, right where it belonged.

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Guest Dispatchers         Stories by Dianne bay