Author's note: I guess it is time for me to try my hand at this. I have never written any kind of short story before and have absolutely no talent for this. I have read all of the short stories and think they are wonderful, and I truly enjoyed "Emergency!" as a late teenager (wish I could find it on TV again!). So I thought I would give it a try. Thanks to all those who have gone before and issued the challenge.
It was a Friday evening on a slow day in early May, not too unusual, but things would surely liven up as the night wore on. There had only been two calls since early afternoon, one for a six year old boy who had fallen off a swing at recess and broken his arm, and one for an insurance salesman with chest pain. Since then all had been quiet. That was fine with the Station 51 "A" shift crew. It gave them some extra time for relaxing. Most of the guys were either reading or watching the news on TV.
Around 8 PM, Stoker yelled, "It's time for a poker game!"
John put down his book and said, "Not this time. You broke me last shift." With the prospect of the closing costs looming on the house he was trying to buy, poker was not in his immediate future.
Roy decided to review some emergency medical journals in order to prepare for upcoming re-certification. He was still four continuing education units short. He turned to John and said, "How about some review?"
"Thanks but no thanks," John said. After thinking about it for a minute he went back and said, "Yeah, I'm still a few hours short too, if we review these articles it should give us enough." I hate re-certification time, he thought to himself.
"That's was I was thinking, too," Roy agreed.
Chet was unhappy, he could think of nothing more fun than beating Johnny at a game of poker. "Probably a good thing you are too chicken, Johnny, you never did have a poker face," Chet said.
Roy and John continued their CEU review while Mike, Chet, Marco and Cap engaged in a lively game of 5 card draw. Chet was obviously losing as indicated by the increasing noise level.
"Will you guys drop the noise level a little, I can't hear myself think!" Roy complained.
"Okay, okay! I think I just about have Kelly whipped," Mike Stoker laughed. The rest of the guys had a good laugh at that too. It was generally fun to see Chet taken down a notch or two every now and then. All was in good natured fun though, it was common knowledge that the guys from 51 were very tight knit and would go the distance for each other. Captain Hank Stanley was openly proud of the fact that his shift had the reputation of being one of the closest knit in the LA County Fire Department.
Around 11 PM as the guys were getting ready to turn in, the alarms went off. The dispatcher announced a "Possible knifing at the Oaks apartment complex on 5th and Beverly, apt #3."
"Great," said John sarcastically, "I love knifings."
"I know how you feel about knives, I'll handle this one if you want me to," said Roy.
"Thanks," John said. John never really understood why, but knifings just really bothered him. In fact, all violence bothered him. He loved his job, was exceptionally good at it and, as a compassionate person, obtained satisfaction at being able to aid people in distress, but he loathed the acts of violence that put people in pain. Roy felt pretty much the same, only he hated guns the way John hated knifes. They understood each other and did their best to support each other in the emotionally stressful world of EMS. Roy was driving and was concentrating on safely getting around motorists that just did not want to yield to the lights and sirens, so John called dispatch for an update. Dispatch informed them that law enforcement was en-route and they should wait at the corner until called in by the police.
"Sounds like a domestic disturbance," Roy said to John. These calls always put fear into law enforcement as well as paramedics. They had the potential to become violent and endanger the emergency response personnel. Roy and John had no problem waiting to insure their safety but were concerned for the victims and did not know what they would encounter. While waiting, they mentally prepared for the worst, having been together as long as they had, there was very little talk, they each knew what the other was thinking.
After what seemed an eternity, dispatch gave them the okay to enter. As they pulled up on scene, they met Vince. "What do we have, Vince?" Johnny asked.
"Just a family quarrel, seems he has blown his paycheck on booze, gotten drunk and beat on her a couple of times and tonight she had it, so she threatened him with a knife. One of the neighbors heard and called us, but there has been no stabbing," Vince said.
"Well, how badly was she beaten?" Roy asked.
"She has a few bruises on her face and arms, and one of her eyes is pretty swollen," Vince replied.
"Maybe we should have a look at her," John said. Roy and John entered the apartment to find a 35 year old female with bruises in various stages of healing. It was apparent that she had been a punching bag for somebody for a long time. These things were always difficult to see. How anybody could put up with this and how anybody would want to inflict pain on someone they loved was beyond comprehension John thought. He sure did like the ladies but his daddy had taught him to treat them with respect.
Roy checked out the victim, who appeared to be fine, and she declined transport to the hospital. While Roy was getting her to sign a refusal, John took the equipment back to the squad. "Looks like she doesn't want to go, but hang around for a few anyway," he told the waiting ambulance crew. She may change her mind, he thought. Meanwhile, Vince wandered over to check in with Johnny while two other officers were securing the suspect in the police car. "I think my father would beat me within an inch of my life if he ever knew I had hit a woman," John said to Vince.
"Yeah, me too," Vince replied.
Roy finished up and came out to join them. "What do you say we hang around a few minutes more?" he asked. "She is pretty upset, she may change her mind," he added.
"Sounds good," John agreed. John turned to climb into the squad, may as well listen to some music on the radio, he thought. At that very instant, they both heard screaming and shouting as the woman came running from the front of the apartment. After that things seemed to move in slow motion. The female police officer that had been inside with the woman was screaming "She has a gun, she has a gun!" The woman was screaming that she would kill him. Before anyone could react, the woman began shooting in the direction of the police car that held her husband. The gun was heavy and she was a poor shot. In slow motion, John watched Roy begin to tumble to the ground. Vince reacted and finished throwing both of them to the ground to protect them with his own body. At the same time, the officers that were in the apartment managed to disarm and subdue the woman.
As soon as the shooting stopped, Vince got up to see who was hurt. John was covered in blood and Vince thought he had been shot.
"Not me!" John yelled, "It's Roy! Get the trauma kit and drug box off the squad!" he yelled to the EMT's from the ambulance who were, thank goodness, still there. John immediately checked Roy to insure he had an airway and pulse. His own heart was racing as he feverishly set about treating his friend and partner. Joanne will never forgive me if he dies, he thought. As he used his trauma shears to cut off Roy's clothing he fought his own rising panic. Be cool and keep a level head, he said to himself, it would be no good if he made mistakes because he could not think straight. "Hey, talk to me buddy!" he shouted to Roy.
"I can hear you," Roy said weakly.
As he continued to assess Roy's injuries and control bleeding, John yelled to the EMT's to get him on 15 liters of O2 and spike two bags of Normal Saline. As John and one of the EMT's carefully rolled Roy onto the backboard, they noticed only one exit wound instead of two under the area near Roy's shoulder. That meant there was a bullet inside somewhere. Judging by the entrance wound and the trajectory John was fearful that it may be close to his spine.
"Be very careful moving him," John instructed the EMT's. "Roy, can you feel your legs and feet?" John asked.
"Yeah," Roy whispered, "But it is hard to breathe."
"The oxygen should help, just try to calm down and concentrate on breathing," John said, as he tried to reassure his friend. Just before departing for the hospital, John started two lines, one in Roy's arm and one in his neck , they were the only veins he could find. Roy was beginning to loose consciousness and was becoming shocky from loss of blood.
While en-route to Rampart, John finished his assessment, got Roy hooked up to the heart monitor and called in to give his report. By now Roy was out of it and his vital signs had become unstable, he was becoming tachycardic as his heart was working desperately to keep moving the decreasing blood volume through his body. "Just hang on a while longer, we're almost there," John said to his unhearing partner.
At the hospital, the ambulance was met by Dr. Brackett, Dr. Morton and Dixie. They were shocked to learn that the patient was Roy. "We'll take good care of him," Dixie said to John.
"It looks like one of the bullets may be near his spine, so we took spinal precautions," John told Dr. Brackett.
"I know you followed your protocols and did the best that you could," he tried to reassure John.
"Why don't you get a cup of coffee and call the station and let them know what happened," Kathy O'Brien, one of the other nurses said.
John called the station and got Cap out of bed. "I'm sorry I woke you, Cap, but we have a problem," John said.
Hearing the barely controlled panic in John's voice, Captain Stanley instantly became worried. "Okay, slow down and tell me what happened," he asked. John quickly relayed the account of the shooting and asked Cap if he would call Joanne. "It's the middle of the night and she will be panic stricken, I'll call my wife to go over and watch the kids and I will go pick her up and drive her to Rampart," he told John.
Everyone had heard the phone ring and heard the note of concern in Cap's voice. They knew something was very wrong and got up too. "What happened, Cap?" Mike asked. Hank quickly explained that Roy had been shot twice in the chest and had a collapsed lung, a possible laceration in the sac around his heart and that one of the bullets may be lodged near his spine.
"Maybe we should go over to the hospital to be with them," Marco said.
"Okay, but be ready to respond if needed," Cap instructed as he went to call his wife.
"Let me get a clean shirt for John, he might need it," Chet said. Even though Chet and John seemed to heckle each other a lot, they both had deep feelings for the other. It was a small thing, but not without its significance as Chet went and got a clean LA County Fire Department T-shirt out of John's locker.
A few minutes later Hank Stanley found himself at the door of Roy's house. He waited a minute to collect himself before he rang the door bell.
A few minutes later, Joanne answered. As soon as she saw Captain Stanley, she feared the worst. "My God, what happened to Roy?" she wailed.
"It' okay, Jo, there was an accident on a call, he was shot in the chest, but is at the hospital now," he told her. "Go change and I will take you to the hospital," he added.
While he was waiting, his wife arrived to look after Chris and Jennifer. Thankfully, shy Jennifer really took to Nora, his wife. "I'll let you know how he is as soon as I can," he told her as he got ready to leave with Joanne. Nora hugged Joanne and told her not to worry about the kids, she would get them school and take care of them after school too.
By the time everyone arrived at Rampart, Roy was already in surgery. There had been no time to wait for Joanne so she could see him. The x-rays and CAT scan had revealed a pericardial tamponade caused by a tear in the lining around his heart. The x-rays had also confirmed the location of the missing bullet. It was sitting right next to his spine, any movement could cause paralysis. It was imperative that Roy had immediate surgery to repair the tear and remove the bullet. Joanne was at least bolstered by the fact that John had treated Roy at the scene and had stayed with him all the way up to the operating room door. She really wanted to speak with him, but he was not around. The surgical waiting nurse said she thought he had gone to the men's room.
Cap, knowing John would be upset, went looking for him, and as the nurse had said he was indeed in the men's room. Hank found him sitting on the floor leaning against the wall and staring at the opposite wall. "Joanne is here," he told John. Hank squatted down next to him and noticed how badly he was shaking. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay," John replied.
"You look like hell," Cap said as he gently touched his arm. "Chet bought you a clean shirt," he added.
"Would you get it for me? I don't want to face Joanne covered in blood" John asked. While Cap went after his shirt, John got up and washed his face and hands. After Cap returned, he changed his shirt, tossed the bloody one in the biohazard receptacle in the corner and got ready to go see Joanne. He knew she would want to know what had gone so terribly wrong on the scene and he needed to talk about it, maybe to absolve him of the guilt that had begun plaguing him.
"Do you want to tell me what happened first?" Cap asked.
"I don't really know what happened, it was so fast," John said. John recounted the story in as much detail as he could remember.
"You two did not do anything wrong," Cap explained, "Nobody can control a scene like that, all you can do is respond, and you did the right things for Roy."
"Why him, - why not me, he has a wife and family that need him, I have nobody!" John cried, with unhidden anguish in is voice. He could no longer control the tears that had been threatening. "I'm afraid I'll loose him, and I don't think I can handle that. If I was just a little closer, maybe I could have pushed him out of the way!" John continued as he cried. Cap listened as John continued to talk, he knew how much Roy meant to John. They were closer than some brothers. He also knew that John would have taken the bullets himself if that would mean sparing Roy and his family suffering.
John slowly got control of himself, splashed cold water on his face, and thanked Cap for letting him talk. Cap put his arm around John's shoulder and together the two men went to see Joanne and wait on any word about Roy.
After four hours in surgery, Roy was moved to recovery for a short time to make sure he was relatively stable and then was moved to the surgical intensive care unit. He was on a ventilator and was still unconscious when John got to see him. The rest of the guys were allowed to see him through the observation window. Joanne was sitting with him holding his hand when John came in. Both of them immediately began to cry. They did not know whether Roy would survive or not. His condition was considered grave. Joanne hugged John and thanked him for being there for Roy and taking such good care of him. Dr. Brackett had told her that if very careful spinal precautions had not been taken in the field, Roy probably would have been paralyzed, if he had survived at all.
Unfortunately, station 51 was on duty and had to return to quarters for the few hours remaining on their shift, but John was allowed to take personal time and stay at the hospital since they were a paramedic short now as it was. He promised to call if there were any changes. He and Joanne continued their vigil as the sun rose over the mountains in the east and cast a warm glow on the Pacific Ocean. Roy was restless and obviously in pain as the anesthesia wore off. As soon as he was able to breathe on his own, he was extubated and the ventilator shut off. As soon as it was late enough, Joanne went to call Roy's mom and the kids. John took this opportunity to observe his friend as he slept. It had been a tough night, and it looked like Roy would survive, but would he be able to return to work? As Roy slowly woke, John took his hand and held on tight, "don't you even think about leaving me," he admonished Roy. Roy gazed at his friend and tried to smile just a little around the NG tube still in place. The effort exhausted him and he drifted back to sleep.
Later in the day the rest of the crew came in to see how Roy was doing. Dr. Brackett and Dixie had stopped by too on their way home from the long night shift. The next morning, Roy was moved out of the SICU and up to the post-op floor. Visiting hours were pretty liberal and the party was soon in full swing. "I'm going to have to go home to get any rest," Roy said. The head nurse eventually ran everyone off and John finally went home to bed. This sure feels better than the couch in the waiting room he thought to himself as he sprawled face first across his bed. His last thought before falling off to sleep was that he needed to thank Chet for bringing him a clean shirt.
A few days later Roy was released and sent home for a lengthy recuperation. I could get used to this he thought as he sat on the deck with his coffee and watched Marco and Johnny mow and weed eat his lawn.
Through out the weeks of Roy's recovery the two friends spent much time together. Roy would be able to return to work soon, which pleased John immensely. "I don't think I can take much more of Brice, I swear he still laughs at me over that nightmare I had and wants to make it come true!" John laughed. Roy remembered Johnny's worst nightmare too and knew that John had had a difficult time with Brice. But after the warehouse fire John had slowly come to trust Brice as a firefighter. They may never be friends but they understood each other and respected each other as fellow firefighters.
As John got ready to leave after dinner that evening, Roy realized he had not verbally thanked Johnny for being there to care for him. Now was the perfect opportunity and so Roy walked John out to his truck to have a private moment with him. It surprised him that he found it difficult to say the words of thanks. Instead he just hugged him and cried. John understood.
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