Johnny's Angel Part I

Johnny called for the guide and the rest of the group and let them know the teens had headed into the cave. He said he was going to go back and get them. The rest of the group followed as Johnny and Nicole ran to the cave. They had just reached the path in front of the cave when the rocks and mud just above the opening started to rain down on them. The group outside the cave ran into the surrounding trees for cover as the entrance to the cave was covered up. When the slide stopped, Johnny ran to see if he could find out anything about the four teens. Nicole was right behind him.

Carefully climbing up the side of the cave, Johnny found an opening. He realized he could fit into. He called out to the teens and found that they were scared. Turning to head back down the hill to get some rope to tie around his waist and a couple of men to help lower him in, he bumped into Nicole who had followed him and had taken one look at his worried face.

“I can fit in there.”

Johnny jumped at the sound of Nicole’s voice. He hadn’t noticed that she had followed him. “I’m going in.”

“I can go in with you to help get those kids out as fast as we can. You don’t know the extent of their injuries and remember I’ve had training because of my job at Rampart. I’m not a nurse, but because of the domestic violence, abuse and rape cases I work with, I have more training than just giving basic first aid. I’ll fit. I can go in and help you check on the condition of those kids.” Nicole knew that Johnny was concerned with her safety.

“You’re right. I’ll be right back with some rope and someone to help lower us down and pull the kids out, ok.” Johnny’s paramedic training had kicked in. He knew that Nicole was right. He didn’t know the extent of the teens’ injuries and they were too scared to provide him with any information. The two girls were crying hard and he prayed that Nicole would be able to calm them down. At least he wouldn’t have to deal with two hysterical teenaged girls on his own. Nicole saw something in Johnny’s eyes she couldn’t quite place.

Johnny turned from Nicole and called down to their guide who was waiting at the base of the hill they had climbed. “I need some rope up here and two men. But whatever you do, be careful climbing up. We don’t want to cause another mudslide or a cave-in.” Soon two men made their way carefully up the side of the hill. Someone handed the rope to Nicole who handed it to Johnny. Johnnywas happy to see that the guide had sent up two walkie-talkies as well as the rope.

Johnny tied one rope around Nicole’s waist and the other around his waist. The look that Nicole could not explain was still in his eyes as Johnny carefully lowered her first holding onto her as long as he could.

Nicole asked for some slack in the rope as she reached the floor of the cave. Looking around she found the four teens huddled together in one corner. They appeared to have some cuts and bruises and one looked like she might have a broken arm, but all inall they looked to be in pretty good condition. “Hi, guys, we are going to get you out of here.” Johnny joined her as she saw the smiles that spread across their faces when she told them they would get out of there. “Johnny, all four seem to be in pretty good shape. They have cuts and bruises. Some of the cuts will need stitches, but will be ok until we get them up top. One girl looks like she may have a broken arm. I’m going to use my belt and immobilize her arm against her chest. From the looks, all four will fit through the opening.”

Johnny was on his walkie-talkie as Nicole related the information about the teens’ conditions. He was glad to hear that no one was serious injured. He let the men up top know that they would be sending the teens up shortly. If they worked quickly and carefully, they would have all six of them out of the cave in about an hour. “Ok, Tie the rope around the girl with the broken arm first. Tell her to let us do all the work.”

As soon as she was ready, Johnny got the teen in position to be pulled up. Her friends huddled nearby. Before sending the first girl up, Johnny turned to all the teens. “Whatever you do, be very careful getting out of here. The ground is not too stable and you could causea cave-in if you move around too much. Let the men on top do the work.”

The teens all nodded but Johnny wasn’t too sure they were really paying attention. He could tell they just wanted to get out of there.

The rest of the other men in the group had positioned themselves below the two men on top so that they could “pass” the teens down the hill. The end of one rope was tossed down and the men grabbed it. When Johnny called over the walkie-talkie, they slowly pulledtogether so that they wouldn’t cause another slide. It only took about three minutes for the girl to be lifted out of the cave and helped down the hill. It wasn’t long before they had the other girl out of the cave. As they started pulling the third teen up, a rock slid down and he started to panic. He hung from the rope, but kept turning around causing the rocks at the top to begin to teeter.

“Stop moving around or you are going to start another rock slide.” Johnny yelled at the teen. The men were careful but hurried a little so that the teen wouldn’t bring the whole thing back in on top of the three people still in the cave. They were successful in getting him out without the teetering rocks being sent back down below. Before he called to send the fourth teen up, Johnny looked him straight in the eye. “You saw what happened when your buddy panicked and didn’t let the men up there do all the work. Please don’t do what he did—just let them pull you out.” The teen nodded. He just wanted to get out of there. Johnny gave the signal and the men on top started to carefully pull him up. But the teen hadn’t listened. When his feet were within touching distance of the rocks around the opening, he started looking for a place to put his feet to help push him up and out of the cave. As they got him to the top of the opening, he found a small space where he put his foot and pushed causing the rocks to give way below him. Soon the opening was covered by a pile of rocks.

Down below Nicole had tried to escape the falling rocks, but couldn’t get out of the way in time. A rock that Johnny would later describe as a small boulder hit her on the back of her left shoulder knocking her to the ground and landing on top of her. Another large rock fell on her right leg pinning it to the cave floor. The pain was unbearable. She tried moving to see if she could roll the rocks off but it only caused her more pain so she just lay still. She wondered how Johnny was. “Johnny?”

Johnny heard someone calling him through the thick fog. As the fog slowly lifted, he remembered the cave-in. He then realized it was Nicole that was calling his name, but her voice was filled with pain.

“Nicole, where are you hurt?” He slowly sat up realizing he had been lucky. When the teen started kicking his feet trying to find a place to push himself out, Johnny had moved over to one side of the opening so he could yell up at the teen. A rock had hit his shoulder and he had hit his head on the cave wall when he jumped. Other than that he felt he was in pretty good shape. He ignored the pain and pulled himself up. Turning towards Nicole, he saw the reason for her pain and hurried to her side. However, his haste was his undoing. As soon as he kneeled beside her, the dizziness caught up with him and he blacked out.

Nicole had been elated when she heard Johnny’s voice and his movements towards her. But when he passed out, she began to worry. It was then she remembered he had handed her the walkie-talkie before the cave-in. She hoped it had survived as she painfully brought it to her mouth. “Is this thing working? Can anyone hear me?”

The members of the group left on the outside of the cave were worried. None of them were really trained in this kind of thing and didn’t know what to do. The guide jumped when the walkie-talkie came to life. She grabbed it from the man who had been the contact on the outside of the cave. “Nicole, this is Susan. Are you and Johnny alright?”

“Well, I’d be a whole lot better if these two rocks would be kind enough to find somewhere else to take a nap. They are just a little heavy. Johnny decided it was time for a short nap while we wait for you to come and get us.” Nicole heard the concern in Susan’s voice and tried to make light of the situation.

Susan could hear the pain in Nicole’s voice. She was silently glad that Nicole was trying to make light of the situation. But from the sound of her voice, Susan knew that Nicole and Johnny were both in trouble. “Nicole, what rocks? Where are they sitting? How long has Johnny been unconscious?”

“Two rocks fell on me when they slid. One is sitting on my back on my left shoulder area. The other one is sitting on my right leg. I tried rolling over to roll them off, but it hurt too much to move and they are too heavy. Johnny was out for a few minutes when the cave-in first happened. Then he came to and tried to come to my aid. That was when he passed out again.”

When Susan heard where the rocks were, she knew it was better for them not to be moved until help arrived. “Nicole, just lie still and we will get to you as soon as we can.”

Things started fading for Nicole. She pressed the button on the walkie-talkie to answer Susan. “I won’t move. Please just hurry. It—“Then her world went black.

“Nicole, ---- Nicole.” Susan realized that Nicole had passed out. Calling down the hill she told one of the other hikers to call the fire department and an ambulance. She asked one of the men to join her and they carefully started pulling rocks away from the opening. They didn’t want to cause another slide or send any more rocks down on top of the two people in the cave. It was slow going but everyone knew they had to be careful. All the hikers prayed they would reach Nicole and Johnny soon and that they weren’t too badly injured.

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

Everyone worked as fast as they dared. Susan would periodically try to contact Nicole again, but so far had not received any answer. Hearing the sirens that indicated help was arriving she tried one more time. “Nicole, can you hear me?” The faint “yes, Susan, I hear you,” surprised her. “How are you doing? How’s Johnny?”

“It hurts. Johnny is moaning and maybe starting to come around.” Nicole fought the blackness that threatened her once again.

“Hang on, help has just arrived. We’ll get you out of there as soon as we can.” Susan knew their “golden hour” was running short.

“Ok, and thanks Susan.” Nicole was too weak to say anything else.

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

Susan and the men helping her had joined the group at the bottom of the hill by the time the men from Station 16 had arrived. The Captain was the first one to the group. “What have you got?”

“There’s a cave up there that four teenagers had gone into to explore against the instructions they were given. Just as they entered the cave, there was a rock/mudslide and the entrance was almost completely covered. Two of my hikers, John Gage and Nicole Schall went into the cave to check on the teens. They got the four kids out. However, as we were bringing up the last two teens the first one panicked when a rock slid causing the scene to become unstable. The last teen decided to try to help by pushing himself out and pushed against the unstable rocks with his feet causing the whole thing to cave-in. Now the entrance is completely blocked and Nicole and John are inside. I don’t know the full extent of their condition, but Nicole is lying on her stomach with one rock sitting on her left shoulder and another sitting on her right leg.
She was unconscious for about ten minutes, but I just talked with her as you drove up. John has been unconscious the whole time except for about a minute when he tried to help Nicole. It isn’t very stable up there.”

“John Gage is in the cave?” Craig Brice prayed that both victims were going to be ok.

“Let’s go see what is going on. Craig, you and Charlie go up there with this lady and see what we need.” Captain Stevens knew that Johnny was one of the best paramedics on the force. He prayed that both Johnny and Nicole were not too badly injured.

Charlie Dwyer, who was working for Bellingham, was picking up some overtime this shift. He and Craig followed Susan back up the hill. “Nicole, are you still with me?” Susan wanted to let Nicole know what they would be doing.

“Yes, I’m still here.” Nicole had been getting drowsy and was glad to hear Susan’s voice.

“Hang in there, ok? I’m going to let you talk to one of the firemen who are here.”

“Nicole, my name is Craig Brice. Can you tell me the extent of your injuries and those of Johnny?” Craig listened as Nicole once again explained about the rocks sitting on her shoulder and leg. He frowned as she described the blood flowing from a gash on Johnny’s head and the description she gave of Johnny’s shoulder. Nicole, we’ll get you out soon.” Craig could tell that she was losing the battle with consciousness again.

“Thanks, Craig.” Nicole’s world went black once again.

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

It took the men of Station 16 several hours to get an opening large enough for Craig to be lowered down into the cave. They were being careful not to start another rockslide. When Craig reached the cave floor, he made his way to Nicole’s side. Doing a cursory assessment of her injuries, he pulled out his HT. “Charlie, send down the stokes, backboard, c-collar, shock suit, sandbags and equipment. Then you need to get down here as quickly as possible. We need to get both of them out of here as soon as possible, but we are going to have to stabilize them first.”

Charlie could hear the worry in his partner’s voice. He knew that Craig had been “loosening” up and actually really cared about John Gage. He knew that Johnny and Craig had even double dated a couple of times. “I will be there in just a few more minutes. The equipment is on its way down to you now.” Charlie lowered the stokes with all the equipment that his co-workers had brought over to him.

Craig quickly got the equipment and went to work getting Nicole’s vitals. It worried him that she didn’t move or make a sound the entire time he was working on her. After getting the information, he quickly got Johnny’s vitals. Johnny had been moaning and just on the verge of consciousness. When Craig put the blood pressure cuff around his arm, he opened his eyes. “Brice?”

“Yeah, Johnny, it’s me. It’s about time you woke up. Besides your head and shoulder, do you hurt anywhere else?”

“No.” Then he started to get agitated. “Nicole, she has the rocks sitting on her.”

Craig pushed Johnny back down. “Charlie is on his way done and we will take care of her. You need to lie there and take it easy. Why don’t you watch me so you can critique my performance?”

Johnny grinned. “Craig, did you just crack a joke?”

“Yeah, Johnny, I did. But you know what? It’s almost time for my evaluation. Since you are a ‘senior’ paramedic in the program, why don’t you watch me and maybe I can get it taken care of today.” Craig was trying to keep Johnny’s mind off the possible injuries those rocks were hiding. He picked up the HT. “Charlie, we really need to get them out of here now and I need you down here before I try to do anything else.”

“We’ve got enough room for them to lower me down. I am on my way.” Charlie handed the HT to one of his co-workers as he was lowered into the cave. Taking one look at Nicole, he knew why Craig wanted him down there before he did anything. When they moved the large rock off Nicole’s back, she could begin to hemorrhage internally. If that happened, she would need the shock suit put on immediately. He was at Craig’s side giving assistance as soon as he could.

The two men worked together to remove the rocks. They had discovered that although they weren’t huge rocks, they were heavy. The largest part of the rock that covered most of Nicole’s back was resting on her left side and had definitely broken some of her ribs. The rock on her right leg had broken it in two places. Charlie laid out the shock suit and helped move it under Nicole after Craig had removed the rock from her leg. When it was in place and ready to be fastened, Craig moved across from Charlie and together they lifted the rock off her back. Craig had left the blood pressure cuff in place and quickly started to take her blood pressure. As he feared it was dropping fast. “Fasten the suit NOW!” He once again took her blood pressure as Charlie quickly fastened the suit. He was please to find that it was starting to come back up and stabilize.

Nicole had been lying on her stomach. Johnny’s eyes were filled with worry as he watched the two paramedics work. As Charlie placed the c-collar around her neck, Craig moved the backboard into place. They gently rolled her onto the backboard and fastened her to it. Then they carefully placed her into the stokes and added sandbags to counteract the damage to her ribs.

Only then did Craig take the time to contact UCLA Medical Center, Squad 16’s home base station. Charlie had already anticipated UCLA’s instructions and had the IVs and medicines ready when Craig repeated the instructions he had received from Dr. Jones. Once they had the IVs started and Nicole and Johnny packaged, Craig picked up the HT. “Cap, we are ready to have you lift the stokes out now. You’ll need to be careful.”

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

It took the crew of Station 16 another twenty minutes to get Nicole, Johnny and the two paramedics out of the cave. Just as they pulled Charlie out the rocks gave way and soon there was no evidence that cave even existed there. It had taken them ten hours to get them out of the cave and on their way to the hospital.

They were just starting to put Nicole in the ambulance when she started to come around. Craig was by her side instantly. “Nicole, you’re going to be alright. We are taking you to UCLA Medical Center.”

“Johnny?”

“I’m right here, Nicole. Just take it easy. We’ll be at the hospital soon.”

“Johnny, it hurts.”

“I know it does, but the personnel at UCLA will help you.”

Nicole smiled and then blackness overtook her world once again. By the time they reached the hospital, it was 28 hours after Johnny and Nicole had first met. It would be another day before Johnny was due back at Station 51.

“Johnny, I’ll call Roy or Captain Stanley for you.” Charlie knew his crewmates would want to know what happened. However, Johnny’s response surprise both Dwyer and Brice.

“No, I’ll call headquarters and ask them to get me a replacement. Don’t call anyone. And by the way Craig, I’ll be happy to give you a very good evaluation.” Johnny turned his head and closed his eyes, effectively ending the conversation.

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

Roy was reading the paper at the table drinking his coffee. Mike and Marco were sitting on the couch debating the latest basketball game. Captain Stanley was in his office getting the morning’s announcements ready for roll call. Chet was whistling as he made his way across the bay towards the day room for a cup of coffee. No one noticed that Johnny had not arrived yet.

Captain Stanley walked into the day room and called the men together for roll call. No one noticed Johnny wasn’t there. No one noticed that Charlie Dwyer had stayed over and was standing in Johnny’s place in line. No one had time to notice as the klaxons sounded just as Captain Stanley finished roll call sending the station to an unknown rescue.

Hank wrote down the address and handed it to Roy who turned to hand it to—Charlie Dwyer? It was like Dwyer was supposed to be there. Hank didn’t remember seeing Johnny this morning now that he thought about it. He couldn’t recall Johnny calling in sick or asking for time off. Had he said anything last shift? Hank made a mental note to ask Roy what was going on when they got back to the station.

The unknown type rescue turned out to be an attempted suicide. The man had taken an overdose of pain killers. Ten more minutes and they wouldn’t have been able to save him. As Roy walked down the Rampart’s hallway, he thought about the distraught man in treatment room 3. He had been so upset when he regained consciousness. His last words kept running through Roy’s mind. “Why didn’t you just let me die? Everyone is mad at me for something and no one will even tell me what I did. They won’t talk to me and leave when I enter a room. No one will even care if I’m gone. Why couldn’t you have just let me die?”

Roy felt sorry for the man. He was right—no one could make anyone be friends or family with someone else. That was a choice each person had to make on his own. Roy thought about Johnny and the fact that he had no family—well, not biological family. He was determined that Johnny would never feel like nobody cared. Why, Johnny was always over to their house for dinner. Wasn’t it—no wait a minute. Roy stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. When was the last time he had invited Johnny over for dinner? He hadn’t even realized Johnny wasn’t there this morning until this run and he saw Charlie sitting in Johnny’s place. Roy started thinking about the last few weeks. He realized he needed to get back to the station and talk to the Captain NOW.

Charlie Dwyer was standing by Dixie’s desk as Roy rushed by. “Come on, Charlie, we have to get back to the station right away.”

Not knowing what was going on, Charlie said a hasty goodbye to Dixie and followed Roy out of the hospital. The ride back to the station was a silent one as Roy was deep in thought. He didn’t even ask Charlie why he was there in Johnny’s place.

As soon as he turned off the key, Roy was out of the squad and headed for Captain Stanley’s office. He was relieved to find him there. “Cap, can I talk to you for a minute? It’s really important.”

“Sure Roy, come on in.” Hank waited as Roy entered, closed the door and took a seat across the desk from Hank. “What’s on your mind?”

Roy told Captain Stanley what had been on his mind from the moment he left the treatment room at Rampart Hospital. At first Hank didn’t want to believe Roy, but as he thought back over the last few weeks, he knew Roy was right. They needed to find out why Dwyer was still there and to talk to the other guys.

Charlie Dwyer knew by the looks on their faces when they entered the dayroom that Hank and Roy needed to talk to Mike, Marco and Chet without him around.

“Charlie, why are you still here? Are you filling in for Johnny, and if so, why?” Hank realized something that he didn’t want to vocalize just yet. Four stunned men turned to listen to the conversation as it unfolded.

“Didn’t headquarters call you?” Charlie had offered to take half of Johnny’s shift. Craig Brice was coming in at 6 p.m. to finish out the shift.

“No, I haven’t received any calls from headquarters.” Hank was a little unnerved that Charlie Dwyer knew what was going on before any of them did.

Just then the phone rang. Charlie picked it up since he was closest to it. “Station 51.—oh, hi, Chief. Yeah, he’s right here.” Charlie held the phone out to Hank. “It’s Chief McConikee for you.”

Hank took the phone. “Hello, Chief.—well, you’re welcome.—Yes, he stayed. Oh, ok, then I’ll expect Craig at 6 p.m.—How bad is it?—Ok, we’ll ask him.” Hanging up the phone, Hank turned to Charlie. “What happened and how bad? Why didn’t anyone call us?” Hank was afraid to hear the answers to his questions.

Charlie knew what he was asking even if the other men didn’t. “Well, he was hiking with a group in the foothills outside of LA. There was a small cave that four teens went into to explore against the orders of the guide. A rock/mudslide pushed them into the cave. Johnny and another hiker by the name of Nicole Schall went into the cave to get them out. I guess Nicole is a caseworker at Rampart and went to help provide what medical aide she could. Anyway, they got the two girls out fine. When the first boy was lifted out, he started to panicked and made the edges unstable. But it was the fourth kid—the second boy—that really did it. When he got close to the top he tried to help by finding something to push himself out of the cave. Well, he caused a cave-in. It took us over ten hours to get Johnny and Nicole out. We took them to UCLA
Medical Center. But something tells me Johnny was relieved that he wasn’t being sent to Rampart. He ended up with a mild concussion and a bruised shoulder. I offered to call either you or Roy, but he said he didn’t want me calling anyone and he would call headquarters. He didn’t say anything else after that.”

“That explains why someone from Rampart didn’t call one of us.” Roy knew that Dixie or Dr. Brackett would have called one of them. Or would they have? If Johnny didn’t want them to call, they would have had to abide by his wishes. “When did this happen?” Maybe Johnny just hadn’t had time to call them yet.

“Two days ago.” Charlie wondered what was going on with these men.

“Charlie, would you go clean the dorm? I need to talk to these guys.” Hank didn’t like the memories he was having of the crew’s actions over the last few weeks.

“Sure, Cap.”

As Charlie walked out of the room, everyone pulled up a chair to see what Hank had to say. “Guys, before we talk about Johnny, do any of you know anything about a request from headquarters to take food to a family?”

Charlie had walked back in to get a cup of coffee. When the four other men just shook their heads, he spoke up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it’s that new program headquarters has where each of the stations was requested to provide a meal to a needy family. Don’t you remember the calls went out two weeks ago with the meal delivered last week? I helped Johnny deliver your meal since it was close to the family our station delivered to. But I have to say you guys went above and beyond. I can’t believe how much food you all provided. It should last them at least two weeks.” Charlie didn’t notice the surprised looks on the guys’ faces as he took his coffee and headed back towards the dorm to complete his assigned duties.

“Johnny must have taken the call and did the whole thing by himself.” Hank couldn’t look any of the others in the eye. All he could do was sit and stare at the table.

“But why didn’t he say something to the rest of us? We would have all helped.” Chet wondered what was going on.

“Well, when was the last time Johnny came into the dayroom other than to eat or grab a cup of coffee during the times we were here in the station? And when was the last time we listened to what he had to say or included him in our conversations?” Hank’s stomach was beginning to knot up.

“The last time I can remember for sure that he was in the room was when we were discussing Valentine’s Day plans. Even then I don’t remember him being involved in our discussion that much. I don’t remember any of us including him.” Mike couldn’t believe what he was saying.

Hank thought about the last few weeks. “Roy, has something been bothering Johnny lately?” He hoped that the feeling he had in the pit of his stomach was not right.

“I honestly don’t know. The last real conversation I remember having with Johnny was when we were talking about Chris’s summer baseball program several weeks ago. Oh, man.” Roy remembered something else he would rather forget.

“What’s wrong, Roy?” Hank wasn’t the only one to realize they had ignored the youngest member of their crew. Mike was beginning to realize they all had inadvertently started taking Johnny’s presence for granted.

“Johnny was supposed to come to dinner that weekend to discuss helping me coach Chris’s baseball team. But Friday night Joanne and I decided to go visit her sister for the weekend. I never called Johnny to cancel and I never said anything to him about it when we got back to work. I don’t remember the last time he came for supper or to help me out around the house. I don’t even remember the last time he came into Rampart after a run. He is usually sitting the squad waiting for me.”

“Uh, guys, when was the last time Johnny shot hoops with us or watched TV with us or played cards with us?” Chet was beginning to feel like a heel. “And we’ve gone out to breakfast together at least twice a week the last few weeks. Did any of us invite Johnny or even miss him when he wasn’t there? Have any of us even talked to him lately? And the pranks that I’ve been pulling lately have been very hurtful and all of us have laughed and then ignored him. We also have been razzing him pretty hard about his girl troubles and anything else we could. Although he has eaten meals with us, I don’t remember him being around much other than on runs.”

“Knowing Johnny I bet he feels like he has done something terribly wrong and that we are all mad at him. I wonder if he was beginning to feel like that guy we took to Rampart today.” Roy had made himself a promise that Johnny would never feel like the guy they had saved. But now he had to wonder if it was already too late.

“How’s that, Roy?” Marco looked at the pain etched in Roy’s face.

“He said that everyone was mad at him and wouldn’t tell him why. He said that everyone would leave every time he entered a room. He said that no one would care if he was gone. Isn’t that what we’ve done to Johnny? I can’t remember the last time that I stayed in the room when he came in. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be in the same room with him, but he seemed to come in every time I thought of something I had to take care of. I made myself a promise we wouldn’t let him feel abandoned since he has no family.” The words of their patient were continuously running through Roy’s mind.

“Well, I think we did just that.” Mike voiced the thought running through all their minds. “I think we all just started to take his presence and good nature for granted. We all got so busy with our own lives, we just assumed he would be there when we needed him but forgot that there might be times he needed us. We weren’t here for him.”

Just then the klaxons sounded sending the station out to a structure fire. The thoughts of what they had done to Johnny were pushed to the back of their minds, but they weren’t forgotten.

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

Dixie, Dr. Bracket and Dr. Early were all waiting at the emergency room doors as the ambulance backed into the bay.

Dr. Brackett helped pull the stretcher out of the ambulance. “What have you got, Roy?”

Dixie followed behind as Roy updated the medical staff on the patient’s condition. Dixie grabbed Carol as they headed into treatment room 3.

As the activity calmed down and the patient was being settled for transport to a room, Carol, Dixie and Roy exited the exam room. Carol looked at Roy. “How did Johnny get injured this time and how bad are his injuries?”

Roy was surprised that Carol would know that Johnny had been hurt. Who would have told her?

“Johnny’s been hurt? How did it happen and how bad are his injuries?” Dixie echoed Carol’s questions. She didn’t remember Johnny being brought in.

“Yes, he and a lady by the name of Nicole were brought in two days ago. It must have been while you were at lunch. UCLA was full because of a major MVA, so they reloaded them in an ambulance and sent them here. I think they are upstairs. The funny thing, though, was that Johnny asked for Dr. Andrews to be his attending physician. When I asked him if he wouldn’t rather have Dr. Brackett or Dr. Early or even Dr. Morton, he turned away and said no. Oh, and ah—Dixie—ah—he doesn’t want you to visit him either. I would have mentioned it sooner, but I thought
you already knew.”

“Why wouldn’t he want me to visit him—what’s going on?” Dixie didn’t get any immediate answers to her questions as the orderlies arrived to take the patient upstairs. When the orderlies had taken the patient to his room, the three reentered the exam room and Dixie again asked her questions.

“Um, Dixie, before I even try to answer your question, let me ask you one.” There was something that Roy had been thinking about and how he answered would depend on the answer to his question.

“Ok. What?”

“When was the last time you remember Johnny coming into Rampart after one of our runs? When was the last time you remember talking to him?”

“Well, um—uh—I guess the last time was a few weeks ago when you guys brought in that little girl he pulled out of the crushed car.” Dixie froze.

“Did you even miss him since then?” Carol remembered a couple of times seeing Johnny trying to talk to Dixie and the three doctors and getting ignored.

“Um, oh, man, no.” Dixie’s heart broke.

“Well, I remember seeing him a couple of times waiting for Roy when the three doctors and you were standing together talking. He asked you how the patient was and was totally ignored. Then Roy walked out of the treatment room and straight out of the hospital. I think after it happened the third time that was the last time I remember him even coming in.” Carol wondered what was going on.

“Roy?” Dixie hoped she was wrong.

“Well, yeah, Carol’s right and what’s worse is that for the last few weeks it was like he was invisible at the station, too. None of us remember one time in the last few weeks that he spent any ‘down’ time with us and none of us remember the last time we included him in any of our plans. The last real conversation I remember having with him was several weeks ago. He even handled a special request for the station from headquarters on his own because none of us would listen to him.” Roy wondered how they were going to make this up to Johnny. He was Roy’s best friend and brother. What had they done? All of them had gotten too busy with their families and Johnny was left out. They sure hadn’t treated him like a brother or even a friend.

Roy and Dixie quickly headed towards the nurses’ station. “Sandy, can you find out what room John Gage is in and if you can find a lady by the name of Nicole who was brought in at the same time as Johnny?” Dixie wanted to see Johnny for herself.

“Dix, what’s up?” Dr. Brackett and Dr. Early walked up just in time to hear the last part of Dixie’s request.

While Sandy looked for the room numbers, Dixie and Roy filled the doctors in on what had been happening. As much as both doctors wanted to refute what they were saying, they knew that all of them had actually ignored Johnny.

“Johnny’s in room 412 and there is a Nicole Schall in room 414.” Sandy knew the group would be heading up to Johnny’s room. “I’ll mind the desk.”

Dixie smiled at her and the four friends headed for the elevator. Roy was the first one to break the silence. “How do we face him? What do we say to him?”

“I don’t know Roy, but whatever it takes, we will prove to him how sorry we are.” Dr. Brackett couldn’t believe how they had treated one of the best friends a person could ask for.

Dixie slowly opened the door. Johnny was staring out the window. He turned his head when he heard the door open, but he didn’t smile. With a sigh, he turned back towards the window.

“Hi, Johnny, what brought you to Hotel Rampart?” Dixie wasn’t the only one to hold her breath waiting to see if Johnny would even answer.

“Four teens and a cave.” The four looked at each other. At least he wasn’t telling them to get out.

“Exactly what happened, Johnny?” Dr. Bracket was hoping they could get Johnny to talk. That would let him determine Johnny’s state of mind and how deeply they had all hurt him.

Although Johnny told them everything that had happened from the moment he had seen the four teens take off towards the cave against orders, his voice was flat and he wouldn’t look at any of them. Johnny’s thoughts were on Nicole. He didn’t quite understand why, but he was very concerned about her. She had found a special place in his heart even though they hadn’t known each other very long. He was also surprised with himself when he realized that although she wasn’t the type he would normally date, he really wanted to ask her out.

He was deep in thought when he heard Roy’s voice. “Johnny?” Roy hoped he would at least look at him, but that wish wasn’t granted. “What is the extent of your injuries and how long do you have to stay in here?” Roy wanted to hear from Johnny himself how badly he was hurt.

However, Roy didn’t get his answer right away. Dr. James Andrews walked into the room. “Oh, hi Dix, Kel, Joe, Mr. DeSoto.”

Johnny turned towards the doctor. “Hey, Dr. Andrews, how is Nicole? I keep asking but no one will tell me anything and it’s been two days. Is she alright?” It was the most animated the other four had seen Johnny since they entered the room.

“Well, Johnny, she had to have surgery. She has four broken ribs, some internal bleeding, a pneumothorax, a broken collarbone, a dislocated shoulder, and a broken leg. We put her on a respirator so her lung can heal a little. She should be as good as new in about six weeks.” What Dr. Andrews didn’t tell him was all the old injuries that he had found that showed that Nicole had sustained lots of severe injuries in her life. Injuries he was sure were intentionally caused by the hands of another human being. Until he had a chance to talk to her and really examine the injuries, Dr. Andrews didn’t want to voice his suspicions. He was also wondering what was going on between his patient and the four people standing in the room. He knew that Johnny had requested that they not handle his case or visit him.

“Thanks, Dr. Andrews.” Johnny turned back to looking out the window. Dr. Andrews took his vitals, made notations on his chart and patted him on the leg. “Everything looks good, Johnny. I should be able to release you tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” Johnny didn’t watch the doctor walk out of the room.

“Johnny?” Roy still didn’t have an answer to his question.

There were several minutes of strained silence in the room. The four visitors were just about to give up and leave when a very quiet “what, Roy?” was heard.

“How bad are your injuries and who is Nicole?” Roy’s hopes raised a little. At least he hadn’t shut them out completely like they seemed to have done to him for the last few weeks.

“I have a mild concussion, ten stitches and a bruised shoulder. Nicole is a lady I met in the hiking group. She helped get the teens out. Actually, she works here as a caseworker.”

“That’s why the name sounded so familiar. Kel, she’s the caseworker that came down when we had that deaf family about a month ago.” Dixie had been trying to figure out where she had heard the name Nicole Schall before.

“I remember her. She was good with the deaf family.” Kel marveled at the courage of the woman.

“She was great with the teens, too.” Johnny had turned to face his friends. The smile still had not returned, but he was looking at them.

Just then the HT in Roy’s hand went off. “Johnny, I have to go. Would it be alright if I came and picked you up tomorrow when you are released?” Roy knew the extent of the relationship of the men at Station 51 depended on Johnny’s answer.

Johnny looked at the window and then back at the group standing at the foot of his bed. “I’ll get a way hone. I am not going to impose on you. I’ll call a cab or take the bus.”

Roy realized what Johnny was feeling and knew he had to start somewhere. “Johnny, you aren’t imposing. I really want to do it, please? I’ll see you tomorrow.” Roy turned and left with one last look at his partner.

“Only if I don't find another way home, I’ll let you know.” Johnny turned back to watch out the window effectively ending the conversation and the visit as Roy closed the door. Dixie, Dr. Early and Dr. Brackett walked out of the room a little encouraged. Johnny had at least talked to them. But there was still something in Johnny’s demeanor that showed he had been deeply hurt and the three friends determined they would not ignore him again. No one noticed the tears that silently slid down Johnny’s cheeks as the others left the room.

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

Dixie smiled as she walked as far as the main desk with one member of her favorite paramedic team. Roy had just ridden in with a kid who had fallen off his bike and broken his arm. “I went out to his favorite place and snuck him in a hamburger, fries and a malted. Boy, you should have seen the way he wolfed it down. Carol said he hasn’t been eating since they brought him in.” Roy’s smile was a sad one.

“Did he talk much?” Dixie saw the pain in Roy’s eyes.

“He actually is blaming himself for us ignoring him. All he would say was that he was sorry for whatever he had done to make all of us mad at him and hoped that we would let him know how he could correct it. He asked me to let the rest of the guys know that whatever he had done he wouldn’t be doing it again because he would be resigning from the department. I didn’t get a chance to tell him that he hadn’t done anything—that it was our fault, we got called out on this run and I didn’t want to leave the conversation in the middle for him to take the wrong way. At least I got him to agree to letting me take him home tomorrow.”

Dixie was filled with guilt. Why hadn’t she missed Johnny’s infectious laugh and boyish antics? What was so important in her life that she shut out a very important part of it? “It may take a while, Roy, but we will show Johnny that he didn’t do anything and that we won’t let it happen again.”

“Hey, Roy, we’ve got a call. See ya’ later, Dix.” Charlie Dwyer let Roy know that duty called.

The squad was near the station when the call got canceled. Although Roy had wanted to visit Johnny, they headed back to the barn.

Roy walked in the dayroom to see four gloomy faces. Between the calls for the squad and the calls for the engine, this was the first time the crew had been together since Charlie Dwyer arrived that morning.

“Man, how could we just ignore him like that? How do we face him again? Can we go see him at UCLA Medical Center tomorrow?” Chet wasn’t giving anyone time to answer any of his questions.

“Would he even want to see us?” Mike wondered how they could make amends.

“You won’t see him if you go to UCLA.” Roy had some news for this group.

“Why not? He doesn’t want to see us does he? How do you know that Roy?” Chet was getting discouraged. They had to show Johnny they cared.

“Because he’s not there.” Roy hadn’t even had a chance to tell Charlie Dwyer that Johnny and Nicole had been transferred to Rampart.

“He’s not!” Charlie knew that with the injuries Johnny had sustained that he would have had to stay in the hospital.

“No, UCLA was too busy with a major MVA just after you dropped them off. So they sent Johnny and Nicole to Rampart.” Roy wished they could go back in time to the last time he had invited Johnny over for dinner and redo the last several weeks. But of course that was impossible. Now they needed to pick up the pieces and start over from here.

“You’ve seen him?” Now all five men were crowded around Roy.

“Yes. Now, if you all sit down, I’ll tell you what I know.” Roy sighed as he pulled out a chair and sat down. Waiting for the others to take their seats, Roy told them of the three visits he had with Johnny that day. He didn’t tell them about Nicole and that he thought Johnny really like her. That was Johnny’s place, but he was sure Johnny was smitten with the lady. “I’m going to pick him up tomorrow when he is released. Joanne has already agreed that he will stay with us for a few days while his shoulder is still healing. I just hope he doesn’t turn me down. I really need to get through to him.”

“He’s really ok?” Chet wanted to know that his friend was still his friend.

“Well, physically, yes. But he hasn’t smiled yet and was barely talking to me. But the worst part is that he is blaming himself for us ignoring him.”

“WHAT?!” Five voices came at Roy at once.

“He told me he was sorry for whatever it was that he had done to make us all mad at him and that he hoped we would let him know how to correct it. He asked me to tell all of you that whatever he did, he wouldn’t be doing it again because he is planning on resigning from the department.”

“You set him straight, didn’t you, Roy?” Chet was really worried now. He knew the guilt trips Johnny usually had. But this was NOT Johnny’s fault.

Roy sighed as he saw the hopeful faces staring back at him. “No, I didn’t get a chance to. We were called out on a run and I never got a chance to make it back up to his room.”

“You know, there was something he said in the ambulance that I thought I was imagining because he said it so softly. But after what I’ve learned, maybe I was right.” Charlie thought back to the ambulance ride.

“What was that, Charlie?” Captain Stanley was riddled with guilt. How could he let this happen to one of his crew?

“He said that he didn’t know why we bothered with him. No one would care.”

“We’ve got to make him know that it wasn’t his fault and that he is special. Man, what did we do to him?” Mike knew how sensitive Johnny could be.

Hank stood up and walked over to the phone. The guys watched, wondering what he was doing. He sighed as he picked up the phone and dialed. “I would like to speak to chief McConikee please.—Chief, this is Hank Stanley. There is a situation that my crew needs to take care of and I would like to put the station out of service for a few hours.—Yeah, how did you know?—He did?—Yeah, I’d like to get it straightened out, too.—Thanks. Yes, I’ll let you know.” With a sigh he turned to see four worried faces staring back at him. “The Chief is putting us out of service. It seems Johnny called him last night and had a long talk with him. He thought he had talked Johnny out of resigning at least for right now. Guys, we are going over to the hospital to see Johnny and let him know he can’t quit. We’ll take the rigs and make ourselves available from there once we make Johnny realize how much we need him here.”

The words were hardly out of Hank’s mouth before four men were running to the rigs. Charlie Dwyer was close behind. He thought about what had happened in this station. He made himself a mental note to talk to Captain Stanley about it. This was something that headquarters needed to know about—not for disciplinary purposes, but to make sure it didn’t happen anywhere else. This was the closest knit crew in the county. If it could happen to them, it could happen to anybody and their jobs were stressful enough.

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

Dixie looked up as the six men entered the emergency room. Seeing the determination on Hank’s face, she knew where they were headed. Since it was quiet in the ER at that moment, she grabbed Dr. Early, Dr. Brackett and Dr. Morton. “Captain Stanley, do you mind if we go along. I think we need to be there, too, as we are a part of this.”

Hank realized they knew without asking where the firefighters were headed. “Yeah, I think it would be a good idea. Let’s just pray that it isn’t too late.”

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

Johnny looked up as the door opened. He figured it was the nurse coming to take his vitals once again. But he was surprised when the ten people filed into his room. “Isn’t there some kind of law against this many people in this small a room?” He didn’t want to talk to any of them yet. Turning his head to look out the window, he wished they would all go away. But he didn’t get his wish. Instead they gathered around his bed effectively closing him in on three sides. There was nowhere for him to look without seeing at least one of them. Sighing he closed his eyes. What did they want from him?

“Johnny?” Roy hoped that Johnny would talk to him since he had before.

You could have heard a pin drop in the room as several minutes passed before a sound was made. Just as the group was beginning to think they weren’t going to get anywhere, Johnny’s voice could barely be heard. “You know, no one answered my question about there being a law against this many people in here.”

“Right now, we are very concerned for a very special friend. None of us cares if there is a law against it or not. We would all gladly go to jail if we knew our friend was going to be ok.” Roy saw Johnny’s brown eyes peeking through slits as he looked at Roy.

“Your friend isn’t worth going to jail for.” Johnny opened his eyes fully and looked only at Roy.

“Oh yes he is. He’s worth that and so much more.” Roy realized they were getting through to Johnny.

“Even when he does something so bad it makes everyone so mad no one wants to be around him or talk to him?” Johnny still wondered what he had done to make everyone mad at him. It must have really been bad but he couldn’t think of anything he had done.

“Johnny, you didn’t do anything to make us mad. We are the ones who made the mistake. As we got involved in our own lives and families, we left out one very important person. It is no excuse, Johnny.” Chet really cared a lot about Johnny, even if he did tease him unmercifully.

Johnny sighed and closed his eyes. “Right, so important that you can forget about them and ignore them and not realize it or care?” The hurt was evident in Johnny’s voice. “No, it had to be something I did to cause that kind of treatment. If you don’t want to tell me how I can correct it, that’s ok. You won’t have to worry about working with me either on a regular basis or as a sub. I am quitting the department.”

“Johnny, you didn’t do anything. You can’t quit.” Hank was desperate now.

“No, Johnny, it wasn’t you. It really was us. Please believe us.” Marco prayed they hadn’t lost a very good friend.

“Johnny, I don’t know how any of us could treat you like that and not even realize it, but we did. It was NOT something you did.” Roy was even more desperate than Hank.

“Johnny, we took your presence for granted. When things got hectic in our lives, we just assumed you would always be a part of it. But you did nothing wrong. As a matter of fact, I don’t know why you didn’t transfer out of the station before this. I don’t think I could have handled being treated like that either—especially if I didn’t have anyone at home to talk to or help me deal with it.” Johnny’s eyes opened and got big as Mike said more in that short time than Johnny had heard him say in a VERY long time.

As usually was the case, Johnny couldn’t hold a grudge or stay mad at the people he had always felt were really his family for very long. He was already beginning to forgive them.

“Johnny, you are one of the best paramedics in the program and I should have realized there was something wrong. Please forgive me.” Dr. Brackett realized he had slipped in his duties as paramedic advisor.

“We’re sorry too.” Dr. Early’s eyes pleaded with Johnny as Dr. Morton nodded his head.

“Johnny, I have always thought of you as my little brother. You can’t leave. Now I realize what has been missing the last few weeks when I went home at night with an empty feeling—it was your laughter and mischievousness.” Dixie prayed Johnny would forgive them all.

“If you think of me as your brother, does that mean that you are Roy’s or Joanne’s ‘sister’?” The lopsided grin had found its way home.

“I think I’ll claim Joanne as a ‘sister.’ I’m not sure I can handle being Roy’s ‘sister or that I would want to claim him for a ‘brother.’” Dixie’s comment and the look on Roy’s face brought a laughter that erased the tension in the room.

“Johnny, I need to ask you a question.” Hank wondered why Johnny would do as headquarters requested even though the others didn’t help.

“What?”

“Charlie told us there is a new program at headquarters that asked each of the stations to provide a meal for a needy family. Did you take Station 51’s call and handle it all by yourself? If so, why?

“Yeah, I took the call. I tried telling you guys about it, but no one would listen. Either someone interrupted me or everyone left the room when I started talking. I couldn’t let headquarters down and I wasn’t about to tell them what was going on. So I just did it myself and told them it was from all of us. I did it to help the family.”

“But, Johnny, when we delivered all that stuff it was so much more than headquarters requested—you provided them with groceries to last a couple of weeks. Why?” Charlie hadn’t realized that the others didn’t know about the request until that moment.

“Because I know from personal experience what it is like to have to go without food. I just wanted to help them. I needed to feel that I was useful and worth something.” The collective gasp was audible as everyone realized that Johnny had just let slip a little about his past—something he had done very seldom.

“Johnny, we will all pay you back for what you did. We really need you around the station—you keep us on our toes and keep the fun in our lives. You are worth something, Johnny.” Mike realized at that moment just how special Johnny really was.

Everyone knew it was going to take time for Johnny to get over the hurt they caused him by ignoring him, but since he was willing to try, they were all going to do everything they could to regain his trust and love.

“Johnny, all of us here are going to do everything in our power to let this never happen again. We all love you and want you to know you are a very important part of our lives.” Roy’s smile matched Johnny’s as he realized he had his “brother” back.

“We sure will!” Chet was the first one to make the promise, but it was one that everyone else in the room agreed with and intended to keep.