The Big Wave

By

Barbara

It was 8 a.m., Paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage from A-shift are in the locker room of Station 51, dressing for roll call. "Hey Roy, how were your days off?" Johnny asked as tied his shoe lace.

With a smile, Roy said, "Oh just fine! Joanne had a small list of things for me to do, which didn't take too much time. Afterwards I took the kids to the park. What about you?"

A grin formed on Johnny's face as he proceeded to tell Roy about his days off. "Oh not too much really, just had a date with a really great chick. Roy, she was incredible!"

Roy laughed, as he often did listening to his partner of many years talk about his latest of many women. Johnny continued to talk on and on.

They walked into the dayroom and headed to the stove for their first of many unfinished cups of coffee. Johnny grins as he pours the coffee for himself and his partner. "Morning Guys" echoed Captain Hank Stanley as he sifted through a newspaper.

"Good Morning" rolled across the room from Roy and Johnny. Both men sat down with their cups, and listened to the other men from their shift tell about their days off.

Captain Stanley walked out into the station bay for morning roll call at which time he assigned them all the stationhouse chores that needed to be done for the day. After roll call his men shuffled about while Hank went into his office where he spent most of his time. Afterall a Captain's job is never done. Roy and John checked all the equipment on the squad, then started to clean and wax it. Marco, Mike and Chet cleaned and polished the engine.

Cap came out of his office and looked around. "John pal, can I see you in my office for a minute? Please."

John shot a puzzled look at his partner. "Sure Cap!" He followed Cap into the office.

Chet snickered, turning to Roy, "Hey what did Gage do this time?"

Roy, knowing his partner so well, wrinkled his face and rolled his eyes, "I haven't a clue! I hope it's not too bad!"

With a chuckle, Chet and Roy headed for the dayroom while Marco and Mike just shook their heads and walked to the dayroom as well for yet another cup of coffee. Anxiousness filled the room as they waited for Gage to come back.

Cap motioned for John to take a seat. He sat down, his mind struggled and pondered over what he had done this time. Cap leaned back in his chair. "Hey pal, Station 8 needs a firefighter for tomorrow. They wanted to know if you were free to do some overtime, as you're due for a shift break anyway, and you know that you have to pull one shift every other month as a firefighter. It needs to get done before you run out of time."

Relieved it was nothing serious, John nodded , "Oh sure Cap. I'd almost forgotten about that." He would report to Station 8 as soon as his shift was over. One of other men at Station 8 would stay until John got there to relieve him. He walked out of the Captain's office, thanked him for the reminder and headed to the dayroom for another cup of coffee and a round of 'Hey Gage, what did you do this time' from his fellow co-workers.

Chet asked "Hey Gage?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you get in trouble for this time; and does it get me out of latrine duty for a month?

"Shut up, Chet!"

The two of them always had a way of picking on one another, and today was no exception. As John sat down, he looked up at Chet, "If you must know, Cap just reminded me that I've not done my fire fighting shift as of yet, and Station 8 needs help next shift, so I'm going to pull in some overtime." John saw Chet's face frown for he really wanted to get out of latrine duty.

Roy and John's shift had been a rather slow and quiet, with the engine company being toned out twice during the night for dumpster fires, which didn't require paramedics. The Squad was toned out after the wake-up test tones, which ended up being cancelled. Returning for more coffee and some breakfast, everyone sat around waiting for their replacements to arrive. No sooner were the dishes done, the next shift strolled in.

"Hey Johnny, call me when you're off duty at Station 8. Maybe we can get some fishing in or something" , said Roy.

"Sure thing, Roy."

Roy headed home, as Johnny set off too report to Station 8.

John strolled into Station 8 with a smirk on his face, he exclaimed, "Hey guys!" walking past the Captain. He liked this station as it could be called a 'real station' with its firepole to slide down.

"Hey Gage, about time you got here. Are you getting lazy on me?"

John laughed he headed towards the coffee and to join the rest of the crew from Station 8. "Ha Ha Cap! You know I just got off duty from a real station. They even have a great Captain there too." He had worked with Captain many times in the past, and he knew he was a nice guy, but he often wondered why he never went further than Captain - - he knew everything when it came to fires.

After roll call, the men scattered with their various cleaning chores. However, since John was not a regular at the station, he was given latrine duty. He shook his head and complained, " Aw Man! Cap that's not fair! I had latrine duty yesterday at 51!"

Captain Lanny smiled at his dark haired friend, "Well if you showed up on time for work at 51 more often , then you would've gotten out of it here. Pointing his finger in the direction of the latrine, Captain barked. "Now move!"

Scowling, Johnny put his hands in his pockets and shuffled away towards the supply closet to start his cleaning task. The whole time he was wishing and hoping for the tones to sound off for a fire, maybe a big fire, just to get him out of doing latrine duty. It never happened. The morning came and went, the station was quiet, with the squad only going out on several calls. Each time the tones dropped for the squad, he'd get up quickly to respond, but realized he was not working that, and would sit back down and wait. Lunch came and went. Captain Lanny decided that since John was there for his fire fighting time, it would be a good time for them to do some drills. No sooner had they begun at the hose tower, a long tone rang.

*STATION 8 RESPOND TO A CAR FIRE AT SPANKY'S BOAT ARENA* Time out, 1400 hours.

Putting on their turnout coats, the men hurried for the engine, and headed off towards the scene. John knew the Arena was only 10 minutes away, and it only being a car fire, he knew they wouldn't be gone long, but he was just so glad to be out of the station. If only he could predict what was in store for him at this fire, would he not be so anxious to be going.

Station 8's engine rolled onto the scene of the car fire. Captain Lanny instructed John and Sam to pull the reel lines and extinguished the fire. The car had exploded before they arrived and there wasn't much left to put out. After it was extinguished, the engineer, Steven began to rewind the hose, while the Captain and Sam went to investigate how the fire started.

Johnny was left behind to put away the rest of the fire fighting equipment. Walking around the other side of the engine, he stopped. Looking out over the water, at the boats docked, he began daydreaming. "Man I wish I was out there right now." He walked further down the dock, reaching its end. He turned to see if the Captain was returning, when he realized he still had the prybar and other things in his hand that he was suppose to be putting away. "No sign of the Captain" he thought. His attention wandered out to the boats again. Looking out over the water he saw a boat sail by with two girls on it. They waved to him. He smiled and waved back just in time to see them retire below. Once his focus wasn't on the girls, he looked beyond their boat to a large cruise ship. As the cruise ship steamed by, a large wave rippled away from it, heading towards the small boat with the two girls on it. He knew they were going to need help when the wave hit, as other large waves were following close behind the first one. Without a moments thought, John yelled to Steven to get some help.

Dropping the equipment that was still in his hands, he flipped off his helmet and tore away the turnout coat and dove into the water. Swimming rapidly, he headed towards the boat, not knowing that Steven had started up the pump on the truck, and never heard John's call for help. As he swam for the boat, he was hoping he would make it there before the first wave hit, he didn't. The boat rolled on its side, falling in his direction.

The girls screamed as they felt the boat began to rock back and forth.

"Karen, what's going on?"

"I don't know! It feels like we're rolling to one side."

With all their might the two girls held on to whatever they could find to brace themselves, as what seemed like eternity passed. The boat came to rest on its side.

"Karen? Can you hear me?" She wasn't sure where her best friend was. "KAREN?!" She said, this time a little louder. From underneath her she could hear a faint sound.

"What?"

"Are you alright?"

"I don't know Maura. I hurt all over. Something is on me and I can't move. What about you?"

Maura did a once over of herself and felt a pain in her arm. "I'm fine. Just hurt my arm a little. Karen, I think I might be on top of you. I'll try to move so you can get free. Let me know if when I move, I hurt you, alright?"

"Okay!"

With that Maura started to work her way off her fallen friend. She pulled herself toward the part of the boat that had the less amount of debris. After a few minutes she was clear. "Karen?"

"My leg!! I think it's broken. It hurts real bad!"

"Alright, don't move. Let me get you out of here first, then we can take a better look." From the swelling and Karen's exclamation of how much it hurt, she knew for sure the leg was broken.

"Maura, do you think someone will find us out here? Do you think anyone saw the boat tip over?"

"I'm sure they did, Karen. It won't be long before someone is here to rescue us."

"Are you sure!! I'm really scared and my leg hurts.

Maura nodded her head in the direction of Karen, hoping in fact that someone would come soon. They had seen a firemen at the Arena looking their way and hoped that he had been looking their way had seen the boat roll over. Little did they know he had seen the wave approaching, dove in and was making an effort to reach them when the wave struck.

They fumbled their way out from the cabin, both soon discovered that the door was below the water, and if they opened it, the cabin would flood and they would drown. They were unaware that the second wave was barreling down on the boat. They screamed as it hit, holding on to each other. Tossing and turning the boat turned upside down as they both tumbled like rag dolls again. With the pain in Karen's leg and Maura's arm, they yelled out, wondering if they were going to get out of this alive.

Johnny had no time to react this time as the second wave hit, lifting his body up then let back down. He was being pulled under. With all his strength he reached out to find something to cling on to. With each movement, the boat rocked between him and the water. Suddenly he felt himself shoot straight up into the deck. As his hand and arm made contact, so did his face. A new pain was felt throughout his body. This time he could not control the cry of pain that roared out of him, expending what little air was left in his lungs. To his surprise his lungs filled back up again with air, not water. His relief quickly faded as he knew at that point his whole body hurt. As minutes ticked by, John knew he needed to find out where he was. With his good arm he reached into his belt pouch and pulled out his penlight. "Wow!" he exclaimed when he saw the deck of the boat above his head. "I'm under the boat!"

Meanwhile, back on shore, Steven had replaced the reel line and decided to see what Gage was up to. He had known John for years, and never in all this time, had he known him to be this quiet. Nearly fifteen minutes had gone by and John Gage had not said a thing. As Steven called out as he headed around to the other side of the engine, "Hey Gage, what's her name?" expecting to find Johnny sitting in his seat, sleeping. He thought the previous night might have been a busy one for the paramedic of Station 51. As he rounded the corner, all he saw was John's helmet and turnout coat and the prybar he was suppose to be putting away, on the ground.

On the ground along with everything else were Gage's gloves. He looked left. He looked right. No Johnny. He wondered if Johnny had wandered off to talk to some girl nearby that had caught his attentions. He was nowhere to be seen. Steven muttered to himself, "Man, Gage, Cap sees this stuff thrown here like this, he'll have your butt in a sling." He decided to put the things away for Gage so his friend wouldn't catch it from the Captain. He returned to his seat behind the wheel of the engine. If only he had known to look out over the water, he would've seen the second wave hit the boat and caused it to flip upside down, trapping Johnny under it.

In the boat, Maura and Karen had freed themselves once again from the tangled mess. Maura took the time to look around to find something to use for their various cuts and breaks. She had taken a few first aid classes, but even at that she wished she had a little more help in this situation. She found what she needed to take care of her friend. As she moved, Karen let out a cry of pain, Johnny heard it too. At first he wasn't sure if what he heard was someone in the boat, or just the emptiness of this underwater ceiling. He knew there was only one way to find out for sure. He called out and waited for an answer;. Nothing. He tried again.

"Hey! Can anyone hear me?"

As he yelled loudly, he soon regretted it as he had forgotten about his head. A wave of nausea hit him so he took in a few deep breaths to keep from getting sick. Moments later he felt his stomach return to a place where it belonged, and his head feeling less painful. He wished his leg and arm had found a similar place as well. His leg didn't feel that bad, but his arm was stuck above his head. He could feel the draining of blood from the injured limb. The pain was so great that he had almost forgotten about calling out, until he heard a voice above him call out,

"Hey, can you hear me?"

"It has to be one of those girls I saw on that boat earlier . Yes I can hear you. Are the two of you alright?"

"Karen has a broken leg, and I think my arm is broken as well. Can you get us out of here?"

"What's your name?"

"Maura."

"Hi, my name is Johnny Gage. I'm a firefighter/paramedic. Can you get out of the boat at all?"

"No, the door is under the water."

"Alright, whatever you do, don't open any windows or the door. Understand?"

"Listen, will you please just get us out of here. I don't mind telling you that we are both scared to death in here!"

"Maura, listen sweetheart, first off you have to calm down. The rest of my crew will be here soon to get you out. However they will be cutting you out of there, so I need you to do me a favor. When they get you out, will you let them know that I am down here as well, and I need a little help as well." When John said that to Maura, she looked over at Karen as another wave of fear washed over her face.

"Are you hurt? What's wrong?"

"I'm alright. I'm not hurt. Just got myself a little stuck here, that's all." He knew that was a lie to them as he winced in pain once again.

"Hey, Mr. Gage, are you the fireman we saw on the dock a little bit ago?"

"That's me, and call me Johnny." He smiled.

If only she known there was a smile on his face, it would've made her feel so much better, that's for certain.

Maura turned and looked at Karen, "It's him!" She didn't need to say anymore as that had made Karen's day seem a little' brighter.

John knew he was hurt and would be needing help fast. As his eyes began to get more blurry, his head became increasing dizzy. The only good thing he knew at this point was his arm was stuck above his head and if he were to pass out, the situation would prevent him from drowning. He also knew that if he had let the girls know he was injured, it might create a panic and that was the last thing he needed to deal with.

While all three were having their share of troubles, another boat that has been caught in the wake of the ship was having problems of its own. Audrey and Gayle struggled to keep their small sailboat from capsizing, until one of the booms broke free, walloping Audrey's nose, knocking her out cold! Panic overtook Gayle as she hurried around the boat, figuring out how to maneuver it in the direction of the docks. She knew she had seen a fire truck parked at the Arena, so she made her attempts to go there, hoping she'd make it in time, for her sister's sake.

Steven, who was still sitting in the engine, wondered how much longer things would take and when everyone would return. Boredom was setting in and he was wanting to get back to the station where a few things needed his attention. As he sunk back into the seat, he heard a scream. He jumped from the engine and ran forward to the end of the dock, looking around. He spotted the sailboat heading for the dock. As soon as he knew they could hear him he yelled. "What's wrong?"

"My sister got knocked out by a loose boom."

"Hold on and I will get some help!" With that he ran back to the engine and grabbed the microphone.

"Engine 8 to HT 8?"

"Go ahead Engine 8."

"Cap, we have a hurt woman on a boat coming into dock now."

"10-4, Engine 8"

Steven hung the mike up as he listened to Captain Lanny radio LA Dispatch for a squad and ambulance. As he climbed down from the engine, he could hear the clamoring of boots from his Captain and Sam as they ran to him.

Captain Lanny looked at Steven, "Where at?" as he watched Steven point towards the sailboat that was almost at the dock. "Okay, lets see if we can help them out until the squad arrives. Hey by the way, where's Gage?"

With a lump in his throat, Steven continued, "Cap, I thought he was with you."

"No! I told him to stay here and help you get everything cleaned up and put away. He was suppose to stay put! When was the last time you saw him?"

"I found his coat and helmet on the ground 45 minutes ago. However, I last spoke to him 15 minutes before that."

"What? That's been an hour total!"

Captain Lanny and Steven headed for the sailboat as Sam wandered around the arena, searching for Johnny. He found no sign of his fellow worker. Meanwhile, the other two men reached the now docked sailboat and helped carry the injured woman off the boat just as the squad pulled up.

"Is my sister going be alright?"

Dwyer asked, "What's her name?"

"Audrey! It's Audrey. Is she going be alright?"

"Yes she'll be alright. We're taking her to Rampart Hospital. They'll check her out. Are you alright?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just that wave really caught us off guard."

Captain Lanny had been standing there listening to the whole thing. He turned quickly. "WHAT WAVE!?"

Captain Lanny listened as Gayle told him about the large wave that had hit the boat and injured her sister. Afterwards he went to go find the rest of his engine company. He found Steven and asked, "Did you happen to see the wave Gayle was talking about or hear anything when it struck?"

"No Cap. Why?"

"Well we can't find Gage anywhere. I also have this bad feeling that he might've seen a boat in trouble and swam out there to try and help. Get me a pair of binoculars so I can take a look."

"But Cap, don't you think he would've said something to me before he'd have done something like that?"

"If he was in a hurry he would've maybe just yelled out for some help, and just dove into the water, thinking possibly you did hear him."

The Captain took the binoculars and started to scan the waters for his missing man. Suddenly he pointed at something out in the water. "THERE! I see something! It looks like the bottom of a boat." He quickly called LA Dispatch to have Station 110's boat come to his location. He turned to the Paramedics of Station 51 and told them what was going on. "Dwyer and Sarah, looks like I might need you for another rescue."

Sarah, who was the first female Paramedic in LA County called into Rampart, asking for permission from Dr. Brackett, if they could send their patient in without a Paramedic riding along. She also informed him that there might be others coming in as well and to stand by.

Johnny was starting to feel the effects of the cold water and the dizziness in his head. He was also having difficulty keeping his eyes open but knew he needed to stay awake just a little while longer. His fear was building as he could feel the water slowly rising, knowing the tide would be coming in soon and he would be in real trouble then. With this fear he called out, "Hey Maura?"

"Yes Johnny?"

He listened as she sounded so strong and sure of herself. "Have you heard anything from up above?"

"No Johnny, I haven't heard anything. Are you sure you're alright? You don't sound too good."

"How's Karen doing?"

"She's asleep. Johnny, you didn't answer my question. How are you doing?"

Johnny knew he needed to tell her, but was worried that if she knew how badly he was hurt, it would cause her to panic, and he needed her to remain calm. "Maura, how is it that you know so much about first aid?"

She started to tell the him about her first aid training and how she wished now she had taken more classes. Telling him a little more, she stopped herself before she went into a long tale about her first class. "Hey Johnny, quit stalling and tell me what's wrong with you!"

He knew from how she sounded he had met his match. "Maura, you wouldn't happen to know someone by the name Roy DeSoto?"

"No I don't. Why? Who is he?"

"He's my partner at Station 51, and you sound just like him with your demanding of wanting to know how I am." He had to laugh at that, but regretted it afterwards as it made his head hurt even more.

"Johnny, that's nice and all, but I am still wanting to know what's wrong with you. I can hear it in your voice that you're not doing so well. So stop changing the subject and tell me what I want to know!"

He could hear the anger building in her voice. "Alright! Alright, where do I start?"

"JOHNNY!!!"

With a voice that had so much force behind it made him jump some, he gave up. "OK! I'm sure that I have a broken leg and my arm is stuck in the deck over my head and it's broken too. With it being stuck like it is, the blood has drained away from my fingers and it hurts like hell. They are also numb and I can't move them at all. Now for the best part. I got smacked rather hard by the mast, on the back of my head, and I have one killer headache."

She knew from what he'd described, that he was hurt badly. Just knowing that he was stuck in this cold water with a head injury was bad enough. She was surprised he was still conscious. She turned to wake up Karen. She knew her friend would want to know about Johnny and that they would both need to talk to him to keep him awake. Maura also was aware that shock would become a major factor soon.

Maura tried talking to Johnny, but he was getting more and more quiet. She knew what was happening so she decided this was a job for Karen. She knew that Karen was the biggest flirt, and it wouldn't take long to get him to start talking to her.

"Hey Johnny?"

It was becoming more difficult to stay awake, and the last thing he wanted to do was talk. He wasn't sure why he was feeling the way he did. The splitting headache he knew was a result of the head injury but the heavy breathing and weakness he wasn't sure. With very little consciousness left he answered, "Yeah Karen?"

Quickly she proceeded to flirt with the Paramedic. "What's your favorite meal?"

Dizziness swept over him; his vision blurred as he mumbled out "Hamburgers".

Maura listened to her friend chatter away with the man under the boat, trying to keep Johnny from slipping into unconsciousness. She smiled as she heard Karen make a date with Johnny.

"Johnny? There was only silence.

Maura knew something was wrong when she didn't hear him respond. "Johnny? JOHNNY!?" All she could do now was pray that he'd give her some sort of sign that he was alright. She looked over at Karen who had tears in her eyes. She inched over to her and put her arm around Karen's shoulder and just held her close. In the fifteen minutes Karen had talked to Johnny about favorite foods, she had really started to like him a lot. Karen wanted this date with Johnny to happen and she was not going to let him get out of it that easy. Fear of being trapped and being upset because Johnny hadn't answered her, Karen broke down and started to cry.

Back at the Arena the crew from Station 8 and the Paramedics of 51 waited for Station 110's boat to arrive to pick them up and take them to the overturned boat. When it arrived, they climbed aboard quickly and in no time reached the disabled boat. Each person knocked on the bottom of the boat, listening for any signs of life.

All at once Maura heard something and hushed Karen up.

"What's up Maura?"

"I think I heard something!"

Looking down at her feet Karen wondered if it was Johnny.

"No Karen, this came from above, not below. Shhh Shhh. There it is again!" Maura was certain that someone was walking around on the bottom of the boat. She groped around, found a book, and started to pound on the floor above her head.

Hearing the knocking sounds the crew of Station 8 and the two Paramedics quickly hopped into action, knowing there was at least one person alive. They all hoped it was their missing man. Dwyer and Sam walked along the boat bottom, not until they reached halfway, did they hear banging from underneath. Dwyer stomped his feet three times. Three thumps echoed back to him.

Hoping it was Johnny, Sam yelled out, "Hey Cap, we have something here!"

Karen and Maura hoped that the crew was finally here to help Johnny. They were both a little alarmed when they heard the roar of the K-12 as it made its way through the bottom of the boat. Several minutes later two people jumped in and started to look around.

Dwyer looked at Karen, "Are you girls alright?"

Surprised she asked. "How's Johnny?"

Sarah paused. "Johnny?"

Slightly puzzled, Karen continued. "You did get him out from under the boat, right?"

With hearing this news, Dwyer climbed out from the boat's bottom. "Cap!?

"What's up, Dwyer?"

"Cap, one of the girls below said that Johnny's trapped under the boat. She also said that they've not heard anything from him in awhile. We need to get under this thing fast!"

"Right!"

Sam was sent down to help Sarah as Dwyer and Kris, from Station 110 put on scuba gear and dove into the water. It took only moments to find Johnny, who was indeed was out cold. Prying Johnny's arm free, Dwyer removed his own air mask and placed it on Johnny's face. Taking a deep breath, Dwyer resurfaced with the motionless Johnny.

Meanwhile Sarah had gotten the girls splinted and helped them off boat. Karen's only concern was for Johnny if they gotten him free. Sarah could only give her the information she had. "They are getting him out and I'll let you know something as soon as I can." She heard Dwyer and Kris resurface with Johnny in Dwyer's arms.

"Sarah, get over here fast!"

Leaving the girls with Sam, she headed towards Dwyer. She watched as the Captain helped pull the lifeless body into the boat. Moving quickly she made her way over to where Johnny was laying. She took his pulse and checked his airway. "Dwyer, did he drown?"

"No. He ran out of air down there. He was trapped in an air pocket under the boat. His arm was stuck, and I think that prevented him from drowning."

Starting CPR, Sarah found no signs of life coming from her friend. She had no idea how long he had been under the boat without air. Hoping the coldness of the water would slow down any of the effects of not having air, she continued to work on Johnny.

Dwyer set up everything and reported to Rampart. "Rampart, this is Squad 51! How do you read?"

Waiting for Dwyer to contact Rampart, Sarah set up the defribulator and checked on the scope for a heartbeat. Nothing!

Johnny was showing flat line! How long could he last before he was declared dead.

Sarah yelled to Dwyer to set up the paddles. "Hit it! 400 watts per second!"

Dwyer counted off. "1...2...3...4"

"CLEAR!" Sarah placed the paddles to Johnny's chest. Nothing. She zapped him again until a blip was on the screen.

RESCUE 51. This is Rampart. Go ahead.

Dwyer rattled off the information to the Doctor. "Rampart, we have a fireman down at our location. He was trapped under a boat. We believe he's been trapped for an hour. Upon our arrival, patient was unconscious, and not breathing. We started CPR, defribed times two and we now have sinus rhythm. BP is 90/50, pulse is 20, reps 25 and assisted. He is cold and clammy due to exposure. Also Rampart, patient has a broken leg and arm and possibly a concussion. His lungs sound clear."

"10-4, 51. Start two IV's, D5W. Also start warming measures and give me the vitals every five minutes and transport immediately. What is your ETA?"

"Rampart, ETA is forty-five minutes."

"10-4."

"Rampart, be advised we have two other victims coming in. Two girls with cuts and bruises and possibly a broken arm and leg."

"10-4, 51."

At the hospital, Dr. Brackett called Dixie and Dr. Early, informing them of what was coming in. Dr. Morton was in another exam room taking care of Audrey, who had been brought in earlier. Little did they know that the patient coming in critical condition was someone they knew.

Sitting in the ambulance, Sarah grew impatient as it took forever to back up and pull into the Emergency doors. The door flew open and Dr. Brackett was there to greet her. "How's he doing?"

Removing the stretcher from the ambulance the staff of Rampart had their first glance at the patient.

From out of nowhere someone yelled. "JOHNNY!!!"

Rushing down the hall alongside the stretcher, Dr. Brackett pushed opened one of the doors to an exam room asked Sarah what had happened to Johnny.

"I'm not real sure, Doc. All that I've been told, there was a large wave that hit a small boat, it capsized. Next thing we knew, Johnny was missing." She watched as they lifted Johnny off the stretcher and onto the exam table.

Dixie shook her head. "Leave it to Johnny!"

"Hey Dix?"

"Yeah, Sarah?"

"Don't count him down just yet. From what I understand, he's got himself a date with one of the girls on the boat."

Everyone chuckled as they knew the reputation of the man they examining. Dr. Brackett ordered several tests to determine Johnny's injuries.

Not wanting to miss a thing, Dr. Brackett ordered a full series of X-rays. He wanted to make sure there was nothing more serious than the obvious. Sarah and Dwyer wanted to stay with Johnny, but he decided that it would be best for his patient to go on a ventilator for awhile. He asked them both to leave while he set Johnny up on the machine.

Sarah called the station and got permission to hang out at the hospital. She and Dwyer headed to the doctors lounge.

"Hey Sarah?"

"Yeah Dwyer?"

"I think you better get a hold of Roy. Johnny doesn't look too good, and being that Roy is the closest thing to family he has, I think he should know."

"You're right. I'll go call him now." She walked over to the phone and dialed Roy's number. The phone rang a few times, then someone answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey Roy, it's Sarah."

"Hey Zapper! What's up?" Roy couldn't help but tease her.

Johnny had given Sarah the nickname 'Zapper' when she was in paramedic training. She had earned the name the hard way, and neither Roy nor Johnny would ever let her live it down. One of the first things you learn is how to use the defribulator. You do the count as it charges '1 2 3 4 and then you call out CLEAR' and you defib the patient or practice dummy. In Sarah's case, she was so excited about getting to use the defribulator that she zapped the dummy before she yelled out clear. She even took out poor Dr. Brackett and one nurse with her practice zaps. She would never live this down! So from that day on, Roy joined Johnny in calling her 'Zapper', even Dr. Kelly Brackett called her that too.

"Roy, something happened today and we thought you'd like to know right away."

"Zapper, you alright?" His voice was changing to a more serious tone.

"Yeah Roy, I'm fine. Uhm, Roy. It's Johnny." On the other end all she could hear was him breathing. "Roy are you still there?"

"Ah, yeah, Zapper. What happened?"

Hearing fear building in his voice, as she told Roy all she knew. She told him he was at Rampart and that the doctors were working on him. "Roy?" She needed to mention one more thing. "He's not been conscious since we got to him. That was over an hour ago. Dr. Brackett has him on a ventilator. Dwyer and I are going stay here until you can get here."

"Alright, Zapper. I'll be there as soon as I can. I want to call Captain Stanley and the rest of the guys before I head over. Thanks Zapper!"

"See you soon, Roy."

Hanging up the phone, he turned to Joanne who was standing behind him. The look on his face as she stared at her husband made her mind know instantly it had something to do with Johnny. While he dialed Station 51, he explained to his wife what Zapper had told him. Reaching Captain Stanley, he told him about Johnny, and that they should all get to the hospital as soon as possible.

Roy arrived at the hospital and was not the least bit surprised to see Squad 51 still parked at the Emergency entrance. He ran in and went immediately to the nurses station, where he knew he could find Dixie.

"Hey Dix, how's Johnny doing?"

Not even looking up, she recognized the voice. "Roy, he's still out. He's got a nasty concussion, broken leg and broken arm. Both of those have been set already. He'll be heading into ICU soon. Kel wants him there so we can monitor him closely, since he's still not awake. Not sure why he isn't waking up. There was very little water in his lungs and the bump to the head wasn't real bad. Oh, also Roy, the rest of the gang is in the lounge. You can see Johnny as soon as we have him settled in his room."

"Thanks Dix!" with that he gave his favorite nurse a big hug. He needed that she needed the hug as much as he did.

He headed to the lounge to meet up with the rest of the crew from Station 51. Walking into the lounge he saw his co-workers expectant faces all curious to know how Johnny was.

Cap chimed in first. "Any news, Roy?"

Roy told them everything he had just heard from Dixie.

With a shaking voice Chet asked, "Man, can anyone tell us what happened out there?" He was holding the hand of someone Roy was unfamiliar with.

"No Chet, all we know is what I head from Zapper when she called me at home. Hey Chet, who's your friend?" Nothing drove him crazier than when Chet forgot his manners.

"Oh sorry guys, this is Liz. We were on out way out to dinner when Roy called. She knows Johnny and wanted to come along to see if there was anything she could do to help." Slightly embarrassed by the whole thing, Chet started to introduce her to all the guys.

Everyone sat around waiting, pacing, wondering. Twenty minutes passed before Dixie and Dr. Brackett entered the room. All quickly got to their feet anxious to hear the news. Pointing her finger back to the seats, motioning for all to sit back down, Dixie said, "Sit down everyone, please! Dr. Brackett will fill you in on Johnny." Knowing not to mess with Dixie, everyone sat down quickly.

Pouring a cup of coffee, Dr. Brackett began, "Johnny's in ICU right now. He's still unconscious. We're not sure why he's not waking up. It would be understandable if his lungs had taken in a lot of water, and he had been without air for a long time. It just seems like Johnny doesn't want to wake up." With a chuckle he added, "That boy sure does like to keep me on my toes, doesn't he?" He turned, sipped his coffee and looked at Roy. "It's your turn to go talk to that partner of yours and see if maybe you can wake him up."

"I'll do my best, Doc. Can I go now ?"

Dixie smiled as Kel nodded. She knew if there was one person in this world that could possibly wake up Johnny, it would be Roy DeSoto.

Although Johnny had been hospitalized many times since they'd been partners, Roy was never able to overcome his feelings each time he would see his friend hooked up to various machines. Walked to ICU, Roy followed the sounds of beeps, and reached his friend's room. Breathless, he saw all the tubes that ran from the machines to the lifeless body on the bed. Once again he stood there helplessly watching his partner, his best friend, lie there connected to all the machines, fighting for his life. So many times he'd walk into a hospital room to see Johnny hooked up to these devices, never wanting to have do it again, but knew more than likely he would have to, given his track record of injuries.

"Hey Junior! If I'd have known that you didn't want to go fishing, I could have made other plans." He watched Johnny's face, hoping for a small smile, but it never appeared. "Oh yeah, Captain Lanny and Captain Stanley said you got your recertification hours in today, so that's out of the way. Also Captain Lanny said something about not wanting to see your ugly mug around his station for a long time. He said it'll take six months to get everything back in order after your visit." Again, no signs of waking up came from his friend. He knew Johnny was in there somewhere and he was not going to give up until his partner was awake. Pulling up a nearby chair to sit by Johnny's bed he thought to himself, "if this doesn't bring a smile to his face I don't know what will." "I had a chance to talk to a friend of yours before I came up to see you." He couldn't help but smile as he talked. "Dr. Brackett said this friend of yours can't wait to get up here and see you up close. She wants to see you, but the Doc told her she has to wake until you're awake. Oh and something about her name is Karen. She's one of the girls from that boat that attacked you. Well partner, seems that before you passed out, you made a date with her and she's not going to let you wiggle out of it!" Once again Roy let a smile cross his face. "Hey, it's alright. She's cute!"

Johnny's eyelids fluttered a little. Roy's smile got bigger and bigger as he watched. Then little by little, they finally opened slowly. "Hey partner, welcome back. I'll be right back!" Roy was on his feet and out the door quickly. He needed to let everyone know that Johnny was awake. He knew then his friend would be fine after all, it took was the mention of a girl to get those eyes to open.

"Dr. Brackett?"

"What's up Roy?"

"Nothing much, just thought you'd like to know that Johnny's awake!"

With that the group let out a cheer and Roy, followed by Dr. Brackett and Dixie, headed into Johnny's room. Once in the room, Roy and Dixie stood by Johnny's bed. They were both glad to see that he was indeed awake. However, his eyes stared blankly, like there was nothing on inside his mind. Dr. Brackett checked Johnny to make sure he was alright. The doctor asked Roy to step out while he removed Johnny from the ventilator. They all knew how much he hated that machine. When the tube was out, Kel lifted a cool drink to Johnny's dry lips and reminded him to take small, slow sips. "Okay Johnny, you know the drill, tell me your name."

"John Gage" he whispered.

"Where are you at?"

"Rampart."

"Good boy, no can you tell me what day it is?"

Dixie watched as John thought long and hard on this one, it seemed like such a long time before he finally answered.

"No. No I don't know."

Dr. Brackett could tell by the way Johnny's chest rose and fell, that he was very upset. "Hey John, calm down! You've done great, you got two out of three and the two you got were the most important. Now I have one more question to ask and this is going to be the hard one, alright?" Johnny just nodded his head yes.

"Do you know what happened to you? How you got hurt?"

After a few moments John's eyes closed. Dixie thought he had drifted asleep until he started to speak. "Fire call . . . Saw a big wave . . . Two girls on a boat . . . Swimming . . . Boat rolling over . . . Me trapped."

Dixie could not help but smile, for the man who had just said very few words managed to say it all.

Kel was please with Johnny's answers. "Well, looks good. We'll have you in a regular room tomorrow, but I'm afraid you'll be here for awhile until that arm and leg is better. As far as that head of yours goes, looks good too. All you have to do is let me know if the headache starts to get worse and I'll give you something for the pain, alright?"

"Alright."

"Okay John, I'm going to call Roy back in now. But don't overdo it; you still need lots of rest, so Roy can only stay for a little while."

"Thanks" was all that came from Johnny.

As he walked out of the ICU room, Dr. Brackett couldn't help but take another glance at his young friend. He headed straight for Roy.

"How's he doing, Doc?"

"He's doing alright, Captain Stanley. He seems to have remembered everything but what day it is and that's fine. However he does seem to have something bothering him, but I'm not sure what that is. Roy, I could use your help on this one. He may just be confused, I don't know, however Roy, don't forget that Johnny needs his rest, so don't stay long."

"You're the boss, Doc." With that, Roy turned and walked toward the ICU room. He started down the hall and was stopped by Captain Stanley.

"Hey Roy, I think we're going to get out of here. Will you let John know that we were here and that we will be back tomorrow to see him, when he's up to more company?"

"Will do, Cap."

"Roy?"

"Yeah Chet?"

"Will you let John know that I would have stayed around but I did tell Liz that I'd take her out to dinner and after all Liz here is a lot cuter than he is!" With that remark Liz hauled off and slugged Chet a good one.

Liz called to Roy "Will you tell Johnny 'Hi' and that we said to take care?"

"Sure Liz, thanks for coming."

Liz grabbed the back of Chet's collar and began to drag him down the hall.

Out of nowhere came the soft voice of Mike Stoker, "Chet's no match for her."

The room erupted in laughter. Marco and Mike gave Roy message for John as well. Roy promised to give John all the messages from the guys and said good-bye to the crew of Station 51 before returning to Johnny's room.

Roy could also tell that something was bothering Johnny. "Alright Johnny, something's bothering you, isn't it?"

John didn't answer he just turned away and looked at the wall.

"I thought so. Okay John Gage, listen up! You got to the boat and yes you got yourself in a little jam. The girls were rescued and are going to be fine. If you don't believe me they are both right here in the hospital. One has a broken arm, the other a broken leg. That's it. Also let's not forget that you have a date with one of them.

"Wasn't a dream?" Roy almost didn't hear him.

"Nope, not a dream. You have a date with Karen and she's not going to let you out of it either!"

"That's alright. Will keep date with her."

Roy knew Johnny was feeling better now. He always had this think about worrying about the victims before anything else, and this time was no different.

"Hey Roy. Need to sleep . . ."

Roy could tell that he was asleep before he had finished his sentence. "Night Junior." Roy turned to leave his partners room and was startled to see Dixie standing behind a wheelchair. There was Karen, in the wheelchair with a big smile on her face. Smiling, too, Dixie leaned over Karen and said "See Karen, I told you he was alright and that he planned on keeping your date just like he promised you."

Roy was glad that everything was going to be alright with Johnny. Johnny and Karen would have their date in a few weeks when Johnny was feeling better and his partner would soon return to Station 51.

The End