Jill Hargan suggested a story to the episode 'The Game', explaining why Johnny and Roy didn't have their own vehicles at the Coliseum, and how they eventually got back to Carson. This is my idea on what happened after they found themselves stuck at an empty stadium.
Post Game
By Audrey W.
John Gage and Roy DeSoto still couldn’t believe it. Sometime while they were transporting a heart attack victim from the college football game at the Coliseum to Rampart, or while they were on their way back, the sporting event had ended and everyone had left.
The paramedics stood just outside the press tunnel they’d come through, in the now empty space where the ambulance that had dropped them off had been. Gage had the case with oxygen and the biophone in his hands; his partner had the drug box, data scope case and handie talkie, with no one to contact at the moment.
“Man, why didn’t we just drive ourselves in the first place?” Johnny wondered. “We wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Because you said the traffic would be horrific and we’d be better off carpooling with Cutler and Lewis. ‘Anything’s better than driving to Bakersfield’. Remember those words?”
Johnny scowled. So it was his idea. But it wasn’t his idea for Cutler and Lewis to leave without them.
“I don’ get it.”
Roy looked at him in surprise. “I’ve heard of denial. But that’s ridiculous. You suggested we carpool and now here we are without a ride.”
“No. . .no, that’s not what I don’t get, Roy. That’s not it at all.”
The senior paramedic waited for a better explanation.
“Why would they leave without us?”
“Maybe they figured we’d be tied up long enough, we’d see on TV that the game had ended and there was no need to come back.”
“So maybe, they’ll come back and get us when word gets out we’re not at Rampart.”
Roy shrugged. It was certainly plausible. But what if they didn’t check?
“Let’s walk out where they’ll see us when they come back.”
“If they come back.”
“Roy, they’re gonna come back. They hafto.”
DeSoto wondered why he was going to listen to his partner again since that’s what got them away from Carson without their own transportation anyway. But he found himself doing just that.
They hadn’t gotten very far, however, when a four-door sedan came toward them, the horn honking to get their attention. The paramedics stopped and waited as the car was brought to a stop in front of them.
Johnny’s lower jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe it. A car full of college-aged cheerleaders, still in their skimpy uniforms, was right there in front of him.
“Hi, fellas. Aren’t you the firemen that were on the sidelines during the game?” One girl asked, then cracked a piece of gum in her mouth making a ‘pop’ sound as she waited.
When Johnny didn’t answer, Roy jumped in. “Yeah. . .yeah, we were. Part of the time. There might’ve been some others before and after us though.”
“But you’re the cutest,” another girl said. She was leaning over the back of the front seat. “Especially him,” she indicated Johnny with the nod of her head.
“Uh. . .Uhm thanks.”
Roy couldn’t hide how awkward he felt.
Johnny grinned slightly as he felt his face grow hot with embarrassment. “You aren’t . . .uh. . . you’re not so bad yourselves.”
Roy rolled his eyes. No wonder his partner was still single, with lines like that.
“What’re you still doing here?” the front passenger with platinum blonde hair in pigtails asked.
Roy hesitated, figuring Johnny would want to tell them. But when he stammered on his words at first, the senior paramedic went on to explain the whole situation instead.
“. . .and so here we are,” he finished with a small smile and shrug.
“Well, we could give you a ride,” the girl in back offered.
“Uh, I don’t--”
“Sure!” Johnny quickly interrupted.
Roy eyed his partner in wonder. What was he thinking?
“Uh. . .Johnny. . .we have a ride--”
“Roy, we don’t know that. ‘Sides, you don’t wanna turn down these nice chi—uh young ladies, do ya?”
The cheerleaders pouted as if to make Johnny’s point.
Soon Roy found himself in the back seat between two of the girls, all four sets of pom-poms on his feet and the floor. Johnny was in front in the middle. Roy had the drug box on his lap, but the rest of the equipment had been placed in the trunk, including the momentarily useless HT.
“So, where should we go?” the driver asked, her voice full of enthusiasm.
“Carson sounds good,” Roy offered. Wasn’t that the point of them getting the ride?
The four girls and Johnny all sounded disappointed. As they started on their way, the dark-haired paramedic in front asked, “So who won, anyway?”
“Give me a U, give me an S, give me a C,” the four girls chimed together. Johnny thought their way of answering was far out. Roy thought they were ‘far out’. . .as in ‘out there’. But he sure didn’t tell them that.
It was going to be a long ride to Carson.
~*~*~
Cutler and Lewis waited in the Nurses’ Lounge at Rampart after having discovered that Gage and DeSoto were no longer there. The two sat at the round table, a cup of coffee in front of each of them.
“I guess we wait for the ambulance to bring them back so we can give them a lift to their station.”
“I can’t believe they really went back. Surely they had to know the game was over.”
Lewis shook his head. “Obviously not, or they would’ve still been here.”
“I just wanna get home. That was the most uneventful boring assignment we’ve ever had, aside from the game anyway. Not one call for us.”
“I know. I thought we’d at least get a couple.”
“I guess Gage and DeSoto lucked out.”
“How so?”
“Well, being they came here by ambulance, we know they got one call for sure.”
Though none of the rescuers wanted to see anyone hurt bad or ill, they did like to serve a purpose while on the job.
~*~*~
The ‘lucky’ paramedics were just a short ways from the stadium when it hit Johnny. He furrowed his brow.
“We told you girls why we were still at the stadium. But how come you were? Shouldn’t you be at a victory party or somethin’?”
The platinum blonde on his right answered, “We would’ve been but Mandy forgot her purse in one of the bathrooms. We had to come back.”
Mandy was beside Roy and chimed in, “And it’s a good thing too, or we wouldn’ta found you guys!” She looked at Roy and smiled. “Aren’t you glad?”
He could only offer a weak smile. “Sure.”
He just hoped his wife would be glad once he explained why he smelled like Here’s My Heart perfume. The aroma was so strong in the car from the four girls, he and Johnny both were likely to smell pretty till they could get showered at their homes.
“Give me a G!” Mandy shouted.
“G!” The other three cheerleaders echoed.
“Give me an L!”
“L!”
“Give me an A!”
“A!”
“Give me a D!”
“D!”
“What’s that spell?”
“Glad!”
“What’s that spell?”
“Glad!” The three girls repeated.
“C’mon, guys, have some fun!” Mandy encouraged their male passengers. “What’s that spell?”
“Glad!” But it was only female voices again.
Roy remembered why cheerleaders often were annoying. Johnny wondered how long his ears would be ringing from the loud shouts beside and behind him in the enclosed space.
~*~*~
Cutler and Lewis looked at one another, mouths open in shock, when they got the news that Johnny and Roy didn’t return with the ambulance.
“They’re gonna kill us.”
“They’ll never let us hear the end of it, that’s for sure. But we’d better go pick ‘em up,” Lewis said.
“Maybe we should wait a bit. Give those two time to cool off.”
“You really think they’re gonna be in a better mood the later we are?”
“No, but it would delay having to listen to them make their point the whole way back to Carson.”
Lewis shook his head at his partner’s voiced thoughts. “C’mon, let’s get this over with.”
Both rose from their seats at the table and headed for the door.
~*~*~
“Do you get to work at all the college games?” Trudy asked. She was the other girl in the back seat, her red hair in a ponytail.
Man, I hope not, Johnny thought to himself. He’d more than learned his lesson in the advantage of watching a game on television as opposed to live.
When his partner didn’t answer, Roy spoke up. “No. . .no,” he shook his head. “This is our one and only time.”
All four girls let out a sad sigh in unison.
Johnny glanced at the two on either side of him in amazement. Was there anything they didn’t do as a unit? Well, there had to be one thing. . . he hoped.
~*~*~
“Slow down, you’re going to get a ticket.”
Lewis glanced annoyingly at his passenger.
“I’m not going as fast as you think. In fact, I’m right at the speed limit.”
“Oh. I guess it just feels like we’re getting there too soon.”
Lewis rolled his eyes. “We’re barely out of Carson.”
Cutler frowned, then suddenly brightened and snapped his fingers. “I got it!”
“What?”
“How we can come out of this as the good guys. We left because Gage and DeSoto weren’t anywhere to be found, right?”
“Well, technically. We forgot we were supposed to give then a ride back.”
“Because they weren’t there; outta sight, outta mind. And why weren’t they there? Because technically they left us first!”
Lewis shook his head. “You’ve been around Johnny too much. His logic’s rubbed off on you.”
Again his passenger frowned. It had sounded reasonable enough to him.
~*~*~
A couple of ‘cheers’ and a few miles later, the driver of the sedan groaned. “Oooohh. . .”
Johnny turned his head sharply. “Are you okay?” He asked, his paramedic instincts suddenly kicking in.
“Yes. I’m just sad that we just passed the ‘welcome to Carson’ sign.”
Roy’s weak smile widened. Johnny looked forward and sure enough, familiar scenery was in sight. A crooked grin spread across his face. If they could just make it to their own transportation without anymore ‘give me uhs’.
Gage swore he’d never ride with a car load of cheerleaders again. Heck, he wouldn’t even date one.
Well, maybe not, anyway. . .
~*~*~
Lewis and Cutler stood outside the Coliseum, dumbfounded. They’d searched all over the place, even asking grounds keepers if they’d seen two other paramedics. But Gage and DeSoto were no where to be found. . .again.
“They left us!”
Lewis sighed. “They must’ve gotten a ride. I guess that just leaves us one thing to do.”
“Go home?”
“After we stop by Station 51 to make sure their cars aren't still there. If they're gone, we’ll know the guys made it back okay.”
Cutler decided after this, Gage and DeSoto would never hear the end of it from him. He’d be sure and toss out a reminder with any opportunity that came along. All in fun, he thought with a grin. Teasing between any firemen was always just in fun. The levity was often needed.
~*~*~
Johnny and Roy waved ‘good-bye’ to their overly enthused chauffeurs. As the girls pulled away after dropping the men off in front of Station 51, Roy glanced at the small tablet still in his partner’s right hand.
“You’re not really going to call any of them. . .”
Gage looked at the four names and phone numbers listed, a pained expression on his face. He’d always dreamed of dating a cheerleader. Or at least he figured he must’ve at one time or another. But any of these particular chics?
“Nah,” he said as he tore the sheet of paper off his note pad. He stuck the pad in his shirt pocket, then folded up the paper and stuck it in his left pant pocket.
“I thought you weren’t going to call them. . .”
“I’m not.”
“Then why hang on to the list?”
“Because it’s probably the only time I’ll ever have four cute cheerleaders’ names and numbers in one place.”
“What’re you going to do, frame it?”
Gage shrugged. “I just might.”
Roy rolled his eyes, then motioned with a wave of his right arm for Johnny to follow. “Let’s get going.”
They picked up the medical supplies they’d set on the ground near their feet and headed for the rear lot. They’d have to turn in the supplies on the way home, but that was okay. At least they were finally on their way home.
~*~*~
Cutler and Lewis wondered when exactly Gage and DeSoto had picked up their vehicles. The men on duty at the station were out on a call when they had come by, so no one knew for sure.
“Well, at least we know they made it back.”
“Yeah,” Cutler glanced at his watch. “Probably a couple of hours before us.”
“Next time the department asks for volunteers to cover a game, let’s say. . .”
“No thanks,” they said in unison.
~*~*~
Johnny followed Roy home, then stayed to have dinner with the DeSotos. The men were starving by the time they turned in the supplies and were on the road again. Roy got a hold of Lewis by phone, thus everyone knew each other had made it back from the game despite the big mix-ups.
Joanne gave Roy a little bit of a hard time about smelling kind of feminine, but Johnny suffered most with the teasing when Roy’s little girl Jennifer told him he reminded her of a pretty flower.
At the end of the evening, as Johnny walked down the sidewalk toward his Land Rover, he heard Roy call out, “Hey!”
The younger man turned around. “What?”
“Give me a--”
“Break, Roy,” Gage interrupted. “Give me a b_r_e_a_k break.”
Roy grinned and gave a wave. Johnny returned the gesture, then continued on to his vehicle, very hopeful that Roy’s ‘cheerleading days’ were over before they started, and that no one else would ever hear the complete truth of how their 'dream assignment' at the game turned out.
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