Between A Rock and A Hurl

by Wanda Hargrove

Johnny entered the apparatus bay of Station 51 at a slower pace than he normally would.  Man, this indigestion is getting worse, he thought as he popped another antacid into his mouth. This made four that he had taken since he had gotten up this morning.

He tried to hurry, but the nagging pain radiating from his upper right quadrant that also shot through to his back, prevented him from moving more quickly than a snail.

He ignored Captain Stanley's quizzical look and leaned back against the engine, hoping that if he put some pressure on his back it would alleviate the pain a little. He closed his eyes, softly sighing.  They flew back open again as he felt a cool hand being pressed against his forehead.

"You okay, Johnny?" Roy stared at him in concern.

He slapped Roy's hand away from his face. "I'm feeling fine, Mother!"

Johnny stalked away to start on the day's work helping Marco clean the hose on the hose tower.

Johnny climbed up to the top of the hose tower and began lowering one of hoses. That's when the pain became more intense. He tried to fight it off, but it grew as he lowered the hose to Marco. He broke out into a cold sweat.  Slowly he made his was down from the hose tower, his whole body shaking with the effort to keep from passing out.

"Johnny?" he heard Marco ask.

Johnny tried to respond; it was a major effort because the pain was making him nauseous. He felt Marco's hands helping to steady him. He tried to wave his co-worker off, but he felt his knees giving way. The last thing he heard was a shouted, "Cap!"

Johnny vaguely felt hands carrying him, and softly moaned as he felt himself being laid on something soft. He felt the now familiar pressure of a BP cuff being inflated on his arm. The tightness felt like someone was trying to cut his arm off.

He jerked awake when a pungent odor was wafted under his nose. He looked up into the face of a concerned Roy DeSoto. He groaned a moment as he felt the pain coming back, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as before.

"You gave us quite a scare, Junior," Roy commented as Johnny slowly started to rise from his bunk. "What happened?"

"I'm okay, just got a little dizzy." Johnny waved Roy off.

Johnny heard his commander's voice and looked up at Captain Stanley. "Are you sure you're all right, Pal?"

"I'm sure. I just got a little dizzy, that's all."

"What do you think, Roy?" Johnny heard Stanley ask his partner.

"Well, he seems to be okay. But you know Johnny..."

Johnny shot a hurt expression at Roy.

Chet piped in, "Well, Cap, that's Gage."

"What's that supposed to mean, Chet?" Johnny asked as a new surge of pain shot through him. He continued his inner struggle as he felt the bile begin to rise. Quickly he gulped a breath of air, trying to keep the rising bile down.

"Oh, nothing, Gage. Just that whenever anything happens to you, it's never a small thing."

Johnny rose from the bed and looked at Stanley. "Really, Cap, I'm fine."

"Well..." Captain Stanley looked as though he were thinking it over. "Alright, Johnny, but if this happens again, I'm calling in a replacement."

"Thanks, Cap," Johnny replied gratefully. He strode out of the dorm, heading outside to try to calm the queasiness when his stomach wouldn't calm down. Moving over to the side of the station building, he leaned over as far as he could and threw up the contents of his stomach, which were only antacids and the little bit of breakfast he had tried to eat.

Once he was finished, he noted that he actually did feel a bit better, and whistled tunelessly as he hurried to help Marco finish scrubbing the hose.

Both Marco and Johnny were walking back into the station when the smell of Chet's chili hit him like a brick. It caused his stomach to go into complete turmoil as he ran through the dayroom heading for the latrine.

He ran into the bathroom and made it to the stall just as he began to cough and gag. Although it was dry heaves since he had emptied his stomach earlier, he could still feel the stinging of bile to the back of his throat.

Johnny walked out of the latrine and headed to the sinks to splash some water in his face. Once he was done, he looked up at his reflection in the mirror. "If I didn't know that a man couldn't get into a woman's delicate condition, I'd think I was pregnant."

Unknown to Johnny, Chet was in the locker room and overheard Johnny's comment. A smile lit Chet's face.

Johnny decided that the only way he could get away from the smell of Chet's cooking was to go work on the logs in Cap's office. He was going over them when he felt another presence in the room. Looking up, he spied Chet standing behind him holding a bowl. Johnny began to rub his right side.

He watched as Chet set a bowl in front of him. Johnny began to gag again as he looked down at the contents. Dill pickles and ice cream. "Ugh..." Johnny moaned as his rebellious stomach began doing flip-flops again. He could feel the bile rising as he tried to down another antacid, but that combined with his uneasy stomach only made him feel worse.

He rose out of his chair and raced across the apparatus bay trying to reach the latrine. This time he didn't make it, and he began to vomit. He didn't even see the pair of shoes that his emesis hit, but he heard the unmistakable, "Geez, Gage!" from Chet Kelly.

Captain Stanley heard the sounds and hurried from the dayroom over to Johnny's side, and he gently supported the younger mans' forehead. Finally, Johnny was spent and he wiped his mouth with a paper towel that someone else had supplied.

"Thanks," he called as he started to stand up, but he was wracked by another wave of pain that doubled him over and took his captain by surprise. Stanley had to adjust his weight so Johnny's weight didn't topple them both.

"How long has this been going on, John?"

Johnny noted the concern in his captain's voice. "For... a few... days..." Johnny managed to get out between waves of pain.

"Call for an ambulance, Chet, then get this mess cleaned up."

"Aww, Cap..."

"Do it!"

Johnny felt the swirling blackness overtake him again. The voices of his friends and co-workers sounded like they were coming from a tunnel.

Johnny slowly came around to the sound of sirens. "Wha..." he groaned as the pain came back again with even more ferocity than before. The nausea he felt was worse, and he moaned and rolled over to the side of the gurney, retching.

He noticed the blackish color of his vomit. I'm bleeding internally, he thought.

He heard a groan and for the first time noticed his partner's bile and blood-splattered uniform. "Sorry," he mumbled as he grimaced again from another wave of pain.

Johnny felt Roy pat his shoulder, "That's okay, partner. Let's just find out what's gone wrong."

Roy had seen that Johnny was losing control and had tried to get out of the younger man's way, but he wasn't fast enough.  He frowned as he took another set of his partner's vitals.  He's going into shock.

Johnny woke again to find himself in one of Rampart's treatment rooms. Doctor Brackett was bending over him, saying something that he couldn't quite fathom. His eyes slowly slid shut again.

"Doc, how's Johnny?" Roy asked as Brackett exited the treatment room.

"Well, Roy, Johnny has had a very severe pancreatitis attack, caused by gall stones that have backed up into the duct of the pancreas. What concerns me the most is the rupture. We're going to send him to the OR to find out where the bleeding came from and also clean out all those gall stones."

Johnny slowly opened his eyes, and tried to move. That's when he noticed his pain was different. This time it was pain of surgery, not of the pain he had been experiencing earlier. He sighed in relief. Now he knew he was on his way to recovery.

The End