Disclaimer: The characters of Emergency! belong to Universal and Mark VII. Ed Marlow was created by Jim Owens. No copyright infringement is intended.

The Trainee

– a different version –

By Rona

“Long way down,” Johnny commented, looking down to the injured man below.  “Let’s go.” He tightened his grip on the biophone and set off.

They picked their way slowly down the cliff, wondering if the man at the bottom was still alive. He had not moved at all since they had come on the scene and if he had fallen down… it wasn’t a comfortable thought.

Suddenly, the sandy cliff face crumbled under Johnny’s feet and he stumbled, the biophone flying from his hand and bouncing down towards the stony beach. Johnny slid helplessly, reaching frantically for a handhold to stop his precipitous descent.

He finally crashed to a stop amongst some scrubby bushes clinging by their exposed roots to the side of the cliff. Johnny wasn’t moving. His helmet had come off yet again and was bouncing down the slope, following the biophone.

His heart in his mouth, Roy managed to control his descent and stopped by his partner’s side, putting his hand on Johnny’s arm. The other man didn’t move. Swallowing, Roy glanced down at the unmoving figure on the beach and knew where his priority lay, even if his heart was arguing the facts. “Ed,” he gruffly ordered the trainee, “help Johnny.” He continued to slither down the cliff.

Halting by Johnny, Ed Marlow slowly looked the other man over. He was a year or two older than Johnny, although he was just completing his paramedic’s training now. Ed had seen service in Vietnam and often found the civilian way of doing things rather too hide-bound. Now, he relished the chance to get his hands on a real, live patient. He grasped Johnny’s wrist and felt for his pulse.

Further down the slope, Roy quickly checked the fallen man and retrieved the biophone. He feared that the device would be destroyed after its tumble down the cliff, but it appeared to be in perfect working order. However, they were obviously in a dead spot, because he couldn’t raise Rampart at all. He next tried the HT, but although he was receiving calls on it, his were not getting out.

They were in a dire situation. Roy knew that the Coast Guard helicopter was coming, but that didn’t help with the treatment of the man who was lying in front of him. He was going to have to get a relay set up with Rampart via the squad radio. He glanced up to see how Ed was getting on with Johnny. Either Ed or Johnny was going to have to man the radio.

Above him a scream rang out.

*******************************

“Gage? Can you hear me?” Ed was checking Johnny out. The only obvious injury he had found was a bump on the back of Johnny’s head, but it wasn’t bleeding. Johnny’s arms were scraped and would be bruised. Ed ran his hand down Johnny’s legs and found that Johnny’s left kneecap was dislocated.

Hesitating for no more than a second, Ed knew that he had to act. Johnny’s knee was swelling even as he checked it out. There was no question – it had to go back into place right now. Even then, Johnny might be facing time in plaster, but…

Swiftly checking that the other knee was all right, Ed moved around so that he was above Johnny’s knee and grasped it in both hands. He had only done this once before and for a moment, he couldn’t quite remember how he had done it. Then, as Johnny groaned, his hands found the place and he moved.

An agonising scream announced Johnny’s return to consciousness. His whole body jerked in response to the hideous pain that coursed through his leg. Johnny was totally disoriented, having no idea what had happened to him. He was almost dislodged from his position on the hillside.

“Ed! What’s wrong?” Roy shouted, his heart pounding.

“I reset Johnny’s dislocated knee,” Ed shouted back. “He was closer to consciousness than I anticipated, but he’ll be all right.”

“What?!” Roy was furious and stunned, but he knew now was not the time or the place to tear into the man. They needed help urgently. “Ed, leave Johnny and get up to the squad. Set up a relay with Rampart. Tell dispatch that we have a Code I here.”

“All right,” Ed agreed. He cast an eye over Johnny, who was sweating and pale. “Hang in there, Johnny, I’m going to get help.”

More oriented, but in a huge amount of pain, Johnny simply nodded. He didn’t think he could move if his life depended on it. He swallowed against the nausea that rose in his throat. The last place he wanted to get sick was on the side of a cliff. He still couldn’t figure out what had happened to cause such awful pain – he simply had to try to ride it out.

“What… what was that?” asked the anxious patient on the beach. His arm was badly broken.

“My partner got a fright,” Roy replied, soothingly. “Don’t worry. The helicopter will be here soon.” Over the HT, Roy could hear Ed setting up the relay. Within a couple of minutes came the instruction to give the victim MS for the pain. Roy had expected the order and the drug was within reach. He quickly followed the order, wishing that he could give Johnny something for the pain his partner had so clearly been feeling.

The helicopter was in sight now and Roy smiled reassuringly down at his victim. Ed was slithering cautiously down the slope to help him load the young man into the stokes that the chopper would lower. Roy knew that they would then need another stokes for Johnny. Getting him into it would prove to be extremely tricky.

They soon had the first victim packaged and the stokes was hoisted skywards. Roy raised the HT. “Copter 10, we have another victim. Please send down another stokes and stand by.”

“Standing by, 51,” agreed the pilot. Another wire stretcher was lowered from the chopper’s belly. Roy unhooked it and started up the steep slope to where Johnny lay.

One look at his partner’s face was enough to tell Roy that Johnny was in agony. “How’re you doing?” he asked, as he slid a splint onto the injured leg.

“Hurts,” Johnny breathed. His teeth were gritted so hard against the pain that his jaw ached. “God, Roy…”

“Easy,” Roy soothed. “We’ll get you to Rampart.” He shot a glare at Ed, who appeared sublimely indifferent to Johnny’s pain.

They soon had Johnny strapped into the stokes and Roy glanced at Ed as the basket was hoisted skywards. “I’ll go in the chopper, you bring in the squad,” he ordered. “And when you get to Rampart, we’re going to be having a conversation.”

“Okay,” Ed agreed, looking mildly surprised. “See you there.”

****************************

Professionalism carried Roy over the initial minutes of arriving at Rampart. He turned the original victim over to Joe Early, explaining what had happened and then he left in search of Johnny, who turned out to be in treatment three with Kelly Brackett.

“What’s the story, Roy?” Kel asked, drawing the paramedic aside.

Quickly, Roy told Brackett what had happened. Brackett’s face was neutral, only the twitching of his mouth indicating how worried he was. “What kind of dislocation was it?” he asked urgently.

“I don’t know,” Roy replied. “I didn’t treat him, I asked Ed to keep an eye on him.” Roy met Brackett’s eye. “He reduced the dislocation, doc.”

Brackett’s breath caught. “What?” Roy nodded.

“All I heard was Johnny scream.” He swallowed hard as he heard that dreadful cry in his mind once more.

“If it was an anterior dislocation – and it most probably was – Johnny could be in real trouble,” Brackett thought aloud. “The popliteal artery could be compromised.” He turned. “Carol, set up for an emergency angiogram, stat,” he ordered.

“What’s happening?” Johnny murmured.

Crossing to the examination table, Roy smiled down at his partner, hoping he could hide the worry. “Doc Brackett is just going to do some tests on your leg,” he replied.

Blinking, Johnny forced himself to ask the question he dreaded getting the answer to. “Ed did something to my leg that he shouldn’t have, didn’t he?”

Slowly, Roy nodded. “He reduced a dislocated knee,” he explained and Johnny winced.

“He’s mucked it up, hasn’t he?” he asked.

“We don’t know that,” Roy hurried to assure his friend. “Doc Brackett is going to do some tests.”

Their eyes met. “Over trained,” Johnny muttered, quoting Roy from earlier that day. “Over confident. Thinks he knows better than the doctors.”

“He didn’t wait to ask the doctor what he should do,” Roy agreed. He felt really badly for Johnny, but figured that his friend needed to know the truth.

Another wave of pain shot through Johnny’s leg and he closed his eyes, panting to keep control. He was quite glad when the sudden bustle announced the start of the tests – for he didn’t know what to say or think.

******************************

It was cool in the x-ray room, but Johnny was barely aware of it, even though he was only clad in a hospital gown. He drifted serenely on the sedation and painkillers he had been given and he was only subliminally aware of the catheter being inserted in his groin. He felt heat as the dye was injected into his veins, but the sensation only lasted for a few seconds.

An indeterminate amount of time later, Johnny realised he was in a room in Rampart. He blinked sleepily, slowly realising that his injured leg was immobilised, then he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to move it for a few hours after the angiogram was completed. The room was empty; his only companion was the IV pole that dripped clear fluid into his arm. Saline, Johnny supposed, to keep him hydrated. He wondered vaguely what time it was, but focusing on the clock in the room was too hard and he slid back into sleep.

He was roused some time later by a friendly young nurse. “Mr Gage? Time to wake up. Doctor Brackett will be by to see you shortly.” She gave him a professional smile, which Johnny returned as best he could. “Are you in pain, Mr Gage?”

“Some,” Johnny admitted, too tired to insist that he was fine.

“I’ll see if I can give you anything for that,” she replied. “I’ve just got to check on your catheter site.” She moved the blankets over and lifted the gauze pad. She made a satisfied noise, replaced the pad and tucked the blankets in again. “That looks good, Mr Gage.”

“Call me Johnny,” he mumbled.

His room door opened and Dr Brackett came in. Johnny searched his face for clues and concluded that things couldn’t be that bad. Brackett wasn’t smiling – he seldom smiled – but nor was his mouth twitching, which was usually a sign of bad news.

“What’s the verdict, doc?” he asked.

A small smile crossed Brackett’s face. “Well, the good news is that the popliteal artery hasn’t been compromised by the reduction of your dislocated knee.”

Relief swept over Johnny for a moment before the doctor’s words registered fully. “What’s the bad news?”

Making a wry face, Brackett reflected that he really needed to watch what he said around Johnny. The young man so often seemed like an overgrown kid that it was sometimes difficult to remember that he was highly intelligent. “The bad news is, because the reduction wasn’t done by surgery, you have a hairline fracture of your kneecap.”

“Broken!” The cry seemed to echo in the room.

“We’ll take you up to surgery right now and repair it,” Brackett told him. “It’s not a severe break, Johnny. I don’t anticipate you being in a cast any longer than you would have been for the dislocation.”

“Really?” Johnny looked sceptical, but before he could pursue the argument, the door opened to admit orderlies with a gurney. Johnny looked faintly stunned. “You really did mean right now, didn’t you?” he asked, as Brackett shot a pre-med into his IV port. Johnny felt it begin to take effect immediately. “Where’s Roy?” he slurred.

“He’s on a run,” Brackett replied. “He’ll be back later.” He nodded to the orderlies, who lifted Johnny onto the gurney and rolled it out of the room.

**********************************

The surgery to repair Johnny’s broken knee was straightforward, even if Johnny did vomit everything bar his toenails afterwards. They finally got the nausea under control and moved him to a room. Brackett made sure that Johnny was resting comfortably and then went back to the ER to wait.

Only about another hour passed before Roy, Ed and Dwyer, Johnny’s replacement, came in with a diabetic man who had fallen into a coma. Neither Dwyer nor Roy were talking to Ed, who looked stunned. Joe Early was waiting for the paramedics and rushed the patient into room two. Brackett went over to them and beckoned to Roy and Ed. “My office, you two,” he ordered.

The two paramedics took seats in front of the desk. Brackett sat down slowly. He hated this, but it had to be done. “Ed, your actions today have put two men in an unenviable position. Fortunately, neither one has suffered irreparable injury, but we can’t have any repeats of this behaviour. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’re cut out to be a paramedic.”

Ed said, nothing, just continued to stare as though shell-shocked. He nodded slowly to show that he had heard. Roy looked at him and then glanced away. He had wanted Ed out of the programme, but the man’s remorse was tough to watch. “How’s Johnny doing?” he asked.

“There was no damage to the popliteal artery,” Brackett replied. “He was lucky. But the reduction of the dislocation had led to a hairline fracture of the patella. We repaired it surgically and Johnny is resting. He’ll be off about 6 weeks all told.”

“That’s a relief,” Roy replied. “Can I see him, doc?”

“I wouldn’t expect much from him,” Brackett agreed. “He had a pretty rough time with the anaesthetic, as usual. He’s pretty tired.”

“I won’t disturb him,” Roy smiled and Brackett nodded.

“Room 205,” he told Roy and watched the paramedic leave.

“I’m sorry,” Ed mumbled. “I’m so sorry.”

Compassionately, Brackett squeezed the man’s shoulder and then left him alone. Sorry was too little, too late. There was nothing that could be said.

************************************

At first glance, Johnny seemed to be asleep, but as Roy crept to his side, the dark brown eyes opened and peered at him. “Hey,” Johnny breathed.

“Hey yourself,” Roy smiled. “How’re you feeling?”

“Okay,” Johnny mumbled. Roy knew that he would still be heavily medicated. “Roy, what happened to Ed?”

Sighing, Roy shrugged. “Brackett washed him out of the programme.” He didn’t tell Johnny about their last rescue, where Ed had thought the victim was a junkie. There was no point.

“Poor guy,” Johnny whispered. He yawned widely and Roy took the hint.

“See you later, partner,” he said and patted Johnny’s shoulder awkwardly. Johnny was asleep before Roy exited the room.

As he walked to the elevator, Roy reflected that there weren’t many guys, himself included, who would have so readily forgiven someone for causing a potentially career-ending injury. But that was Johnny Gage for you. He smiled fondly.

Suddenly feeling better, Roy went down to rejoin his temporary partner.

The End

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