Treading Water–Part 8
By Nancy F. Thysell (the Nifty Lady)
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
It was late when Chris finally made it home. Johnny pulled in behind her. They had an enjoyable evening with Roy and JoAnne. First they had gone to see the movie "Saturday Night Fever," and Johnny kept imitating John Travolta’s disco moves, much to the embarrassment of the other three as they returned to the car. After that they went to dinner. When they returned to the DeSoto’s home, Johnny insisted on seeing Chris home safely, so they said goodnight to Roy and JoAnne outside. Then Johnny followed Chris home. He came up to her as she pulled out her packages from space behind the seat. She handed the bags to him. His face lit up when he saw the bag from Victoria’s Secret. He held it up and grinned at her.
"Is this the purchase JoAnne was talking about?" he guessed. Chris grabbed it from his clutches before he could peek inside the bag.
"Yes!" she admitted. She carried it to the door. Johnny followed on her heels.
"You gonna show me? Hmm?" Johnny begged. Chris unlocked the door and gave him a half grin.
"Maybe. If you’re good!"
"I’m good! Honest!" he professed with a smirk. Chris rolled her eyes and turned on the light. She walked into the living room and crossed to the bedroom door, turned and took the other bags from him. Then she pushed him away with her hand.
"You, wait here. I’ll go put it on and model it for you. Okay?"
"Really? I mean you don’t mind modeling it for me before the wedding?" he asked with some anticipation.
"I think this will be okay. Just give me a moment," she told him as she shut the door.
Johnny perched on the sofa and waited. Chris laid her packages on the bed and opened the bag from Victoria’s Secret. She took the black satin teddy and put it in away her dresser. Then she removed the other item. Carefully she removed the price tag from the white lace cuff of the fingerless gloves and pulled them on. The sheerness of the lace and the delicate pattern made her feel like a princess. The ruffled cuff was adorned with a pearl drop and rhinestones. She smiled to herself and wondered what Johnny’s reaction would be. She glanced toward the living room. Well, the gloves definitely wouldn’t be anything he’d be expecting. She moved to the door and took hold of the door handle.
"Ready?" she called through the door.
"I guess," Johnny replied. She opened the door and struck a pose.
"Ta da!" she exclaimed with a flourish of her gloved hands. Johnny looked at her blankly. In the subdued lighting of the room, he didn’t see the gloves.
"What?" he asked somewhat disappointedly. Chris lowered her hands.
"You don’t like them?" she asked equally disappointed.
"Like what?" he asked honestly. Chris held out her hands and now he saw the gloves. He felt confused.
"You bought gloves? At Victoria’s Secret?" Now he did feel disappointed. So was Chris as she crossed to him and stood in front of him.
"You’re disappointed! I thought you’d like them."
"No. No. I like them. It’s just not the sort of thing I pictured from a place like...well, you know. I thought it’d be something sexy."
"You don’t think these are sexy?" She was teasing now.
Johnny held her hands and rubbed his thumbs over the material.
"Well, I guess it depends on what else you’re wearing," he finally admitted with a lopsided grin. "Or not wearing."
"You silly. I bought these to wear with my wedding dress!" she informed him.
"They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful." He kissed her gloved hands then he turned her hands over and kissed the insides of her wrists. Chris felt the electricity shoot through her. Johnny smiled as he felt her tremble. He pulled her into his lap and his lips found hers. She wrapped her arms around him and ran her fingers through his hair. Maybe she should have waited to share the gloves with him she wondered as she melted into his passionate embrace.
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
The following Wednesday, Roy noticed that Johnny seemed unusually quiet, especially for Johnny. But Roy didn’t say anything. He figured that when Johnny was ready to talk, he would. They responded to several runs that morning and whatever was bothering Johnny wasn’t interfering with his work, so Roy left him alone.
After lunch they had a multi-car accident on the 405 with several victims. Roy brought the squad in behind the ambulance. He parked the truck and then made his way into the ER. The hospital staff was busy caring for numerous patients this afternoon. Roy walked up to the base station and set his handi-talkie on the counter. The young student nurse sitting there flashed him a smile.
"Hi Becky," he greeted her. "You seen my partner?"
"Hi Roy. I think he’s in treatment four. I saw the portable x-ray headed that way a moment ago so he should be out here in a minute," Becky informed him as she picked up a chart and headed toward the waiting room. Roy turned and poured himself a cup of coffee from the ever present pot in the station.
Johnny appeared a moment later. He had blood on his uniform from the last rescue. He looked tired.
"How’s he doing?" Roy asked of their victim. Johnny shook his head.
"Dunno. They’re doing x-rays now. Looks like a lot of internal injuries," his partner responded.
"Hope he makes it," Roy commented hopefully. Johnny nodded in agreement as he moved over to the coffeepot to help himself to a cup as well. Roy started filling out a requisition slip for supplies once he finished his coffee. Dixie arrived at the base station just as he completed the form.
"Hi guys," she greeted with a smile.
"Hey Dix," Johnny responded.
"Hi Dixie. We need a few more supplies," Roy said as he handed her the form. She looked it over and initialed it.
"Don’t you always," she teased. She helped them get their replacement supplies together. Once that was done, she sat down on the stool behind the counter and relaxed.
"So, Johnny, it’s not much longer now is it?" she observed. Johnny looked up from his nearly empty cup and a smile crept across his lips.
"No. Just a couple of weeks," he replied.
"Actually it’s exactly ten days," Roy offered. Johnny suddenly felt stunned. Was really only ten days until his wedding? It didn’t seem real. Roy’s hand on his shoulder brought him back to the present.
"Yeah, and we’ve got a big party planned for our bachelor here next Monday," Roy chortled. Dixie raised a suspicious eyebrow.
"Really? What does Chris think about that?" she inquired in a teasing manner.
"Oh, Chris won’t mind. She’ll be back in Kansas," Roy informed the nurse before his partner could respond.
"Really? You two aren’t going together?" Dixie seemed surprised.
"No. She has a lot of things to take care of at home before the wedding so she’ll be flying out on Saturday. I fly out on Wednesday. Gee, that’s only a week away. Man! The time sure is flying," Johnny commented, a bit amazed. He looked up at Roy like he suddenly thought of something. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah. We’ll see ya later, Dix," Roy said as he picked up their supplies. Johnny grabbed the handi-talkie and they headed for the squad.
"Bye Dix," Johnny called back to the nurse.
"Bye guys. We’ll see ya later!" she called after them. She knew that most likely, she would be seeing them again before their shift was over. It was the nature of the job.
Once inside the squad, Johnny turned to Roy as he turned the engine over and put the squad in drive.
"Roy, I had a thought and..."
"Is that a first?" Roy quipped. Johnny scowled at him.
"I’m serious here, Roy!"
Roy chuckled and stole a glance at his partner and saw his serious expression. He hesitated at the end of the access street before pulling into traffic.
"Okay Junior. What is it?" he said sobering himself. He pulled out as Johnny struggle to get out what he wanted to say.
"Well, I was thinking about next week," he started.
"Yeah?" Roy asked and waited.
"I was thinking that maybe you should come with me to Kansas."
Roy shot his partner a surprised look.
"What?"
Johnny seemed a bit frustrated. "I need you there Roy. I don’t want to get married without my best friend. I need you to be there to be my best man."
"But how? Johnny I can’t..." Roy started to protest.
"I’ve been working some extra shifts Roy and I want to fly you out to Kansas with me. Man, I don’t think I can go through this alone," Johnny admitted. Roy pulled the squad over to the curb and parked. He turned to Johnny.
"You’re serious, aren’t you?" he asked his partner. Johnny gave him a nervous grin.
"Yeah. And I need to know if you’ll do it, ‘cause I’ve got to buy your ticket today. They need a seven day advance."
"You know I want to be there but I’ll have to check with Jo," Roy replied. He wasn’t expecting this. He had to admit that he had felt disappointed when he realized that he couldn’t stand up with his best friend at his wedding but logistics had made that seem impossible. Now Johnny was presenting an offer for him to be there and he wanted to go. He was positive that JoAnne wouldn’t object but he couldn’t commit to Johnny without checking with her first.
"I know. Come on, let’s get back to the station so you can call her," Johnny urged, relieved that he had Roy on his side. He knew that deep down. He just wanted to know it on a higher level.
Roy grinned as he pulled back into traffic. "Okay Junior. Keep your pants on," he chuckled. Once they reached the station, Johnny was antsy until Roy had reached JoAnne. Of course, JoAnne said he could go. But they decided it would be better if Roy traveled on Thanksgiving Day so he could be at home Thursday morning with JoAnne and the kids. It turned out that the price for traveling on the holiday was lower so that worked in Johnny’s financial favor. Johnny was like a kid with a new toy. He was amazed how relieved he felt over knowing he wouldn’t be alone at his wedding. Sure Chris would be there but she had her whole family for support. Now he had Roy. Life couldn’t get any better than that.
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
Chris’s flight was at 3:54 p.m. the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Johnny had to work that day but he got Tom Dwyer to cover for him a couple hours so that he could take her to LAX to see her safely off.
They sat waiting at the gate for Chris’ flight to board. Johnny held her hand and looked lovingly into her eyes. Chris thought he looked particularly handsome in his paramedic’s uniform. She noted that more than one stewardess had checked him out.
"I can’t believe I won’t see you for almost five days," Chris told him.
"Me either," he admitted. "I’m sure going to miss you."
"You’ll call me?" she asked for reassurance.
"Every day. Can you believe by this time next week you’ll be my wife?"
"No. I’ve been dreaming about this for so long now, it’s hard to believe it’s really happening."
"Now, you have all the arrangements made for a place for me and Roy to stay, right?" Johnny double-checked.
"Yes, honey. Daddy’s handling all those arrangements. Are you ready to meet the rest of my family?"
"As ready as I’m ever going to be. Seems strange going from being a bachelor with one aunt to having a wife and a whole bunch of in-laws," he admitted. Chris laughed.
"They’re going to love you!" she assured him. "You’ll see."
Chris’ flight was finally announced. She griped Johnny’s hand tighter.
"I wish you were coming with me," she whispered. Johnny smiled knowingly at her.
"Me too. But I’ll be seeing you in just a couple of days," he promised. "Besides, with moving all your stuff to my house, I’ll be plenty busy." He laughed. Chris nodded. She hated leaving all that for Johnny to take care of but she didn’t have time to do it herself. Her lease on the bungalow ended with the month and they had to get all of her stuff moved into Johnny’s house anyway. He had talked the guys from the station to come over on their next day off to pack it up and move it over to his house. So he’d have more than enough to do over the next few days. It suddenly seemed peculiar to her that she’d becoming back to live in a new place and she’d be sharing it with Johnny. Not that she wasn’t looking forward to that, it just felt different.
They both looked up and realized that everyone else had boarded. It was time for Chris to go. Johnny pulled her into a fierce embrace and she trembled as he released her.
"I’ll miss you," she whispered breathlessly.
"Me too. I love you," he whispered back.
"I love you, too. Be careful," she admonished.
"You too," he said as he walked her to the gate. Reluctantly they released their hands and she handed her ticket to the agent. Johnny watched her until she was out of sight down the passageway. Then he moved to the window and stayed there until the aircraft taxied out to the runway. Five days and counting. Reluctantly, he turned and went back to work.
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THE END–BUT TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT SEQUEL–COMING FULL CIRCLE
Author’s Note: Again, I want to thank my fans who encouraged me to keep writing on this story, and no, it hasn’t ended yet. You’re just going to have to be patient for the sequel to this one. Thanks again to my proofers Tina and Audrey. And good fans like Dorie! Couldn’t have done this without your help. Until the next part, thanks.–Nancy
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