\\\@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@/// March 5th, 2011 From the Founder of Emergency Theater Live.. (Patti Keiper) http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/emergency.html Below lies the Episode Guide for all Emergency! productions being created at Voyagerliveaction.com and the complete archive of our 51 Emergency episode stories, and three episode specials. Six more of movie length are planned at the writing site, the first of which has been completed and is now part of this text archive. CONTENTS in this file.. ---------------------------------- First, are the short sentence summaries of all ETL stories in one or two sentences in story appearance number order. Second, is the same list of stories, only with longer very complete and detailed summaries of the episodes in story appearance number order. Third, is a main character injury tally by episode list which uses each story's title and appearance order number as references for those readers who like to see scenes of the characters themselves getting sick or hurt. And fourth, the stories themselves in their entirety. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The most current ETL story is still being written... Movie Two- En Route ( Episode 54) This story wil conclude on January 1st, 2011. Here is the slideshow video trailer about this story from You Tube http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/specialtrailer2.html (Will be activated by August 4th, 2010) Included below at the very bottom of this file is this special story at its most recent scene so far. Freeware that is perfect for searching this or any other text archive by key word or exact sentence is the Edit Pad Classic, whose zip you can download right now at ETL's server. This is no longer available on the world wide web at large for free. http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/EditPadClassic.zip EditPad Classic (Text reading, writing, and search utility) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BONUS-- Page where you can download Emergency gifs, cursors and icons. http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/emergencyiconspage.html BONUS-- Page where you can see pictures from the day Engine 51 retired from Yosemite.. ( August 8th, 2008. ) http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/engine51-2.html Contains a new picture of Engine 51 at her final home next to Squad 51 as donated by Joe Wychek, VP of the CLAFMA museum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MAIN STORY FILE CONTENT STARTS HERE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ****WARNING**** These are story spoilers and will take away plot surprises if you read them now before viewing any of the screengrab illustrated, music soundtracked originals. Decide now if you want to read what each episode is about before doing so. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Full Moon Blues- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 1, Season1 on 51 loses sleep over a bizarre string of runs. The situation only worsens when the biggest disaster call of a lifetime pays a visit close to home. Chapters: 2 - Words: 48683 Published: April 2003 2. Father And Son- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep2, Season1 Dr. Brackett gets a headache when his father moves into town. The crew of Station 51 get a surprise on their doorstep and face a creepshow batch of rescues. Chapters: 1 - Words: 38059 Published: May 2003 3. Juxtaposition- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep3, Season1 Roy DeSoto fa dodo ces every father's nightmare when his son is trapped in a mudslide. The gang deals with child loss up close. Chapters: 1 - Words: 21406 Published: June 2003 4. Within Sight- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep4, Season1 A late night visitor to Station 51 starts mayhem when an arson gang takes on the town. As a result, one of the best, may be leaving. Chapters: 1 - Words: 28163 Published: July 2003 5. Integrity Game- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep5, Season1 Johnny inherits a four footed friend and Dr. Brackett gets more than he bargains for on vacation. Chapters: 1 - Words: 17125 Published: August 2003 6. The Golden Horn- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep6, Season1 Captain Stanley comes face to face with a real hero and a brush fire threatens the lives and vehicles of Station 51. Chapters: 1 - Words: 31775 Published: October 2003 7. Crazy Days- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep7, Season1 Think you've had a bad day? Just wait until you find out what happened to the gang of Station 51 and Rampart. Chapters: 1 - Words: 24491 Published: November 2003 8. The Promise- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 8, Season1 What matters most is what everybody wants. Johnny Gage learns the power of a promise to Roy when a water tower collapse traps them both underwater. Chapters: 1 - Words: 22871 - Published: December 2003 9. Green Pen Of Johnny's- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 9, Season1 Find out why Johnny carries his green pens with him everywhere he goes. An airborne disaster stuns the city of Torrance. Chapters: 1 - Words: 39288 - Published: Jan-March 2004 10. From Loaves To Fishes- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 10, Season2 One big mountain, one very, very small crew. The gang misses their state of the art fire station and vehicles dearly when a firestorm surrounds them on a boyscout river kayak trip event. Chapters: 1 - Words: 15732 Published: June-July 2004 11. Shadows Of The Past- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 11, Season2 Santa Rosa county teaches the crew of 51's a valuable lesson on life. Then it tries to take it away again in the worst manner possible. Vacation spells relaxation for everyone, er...to a point. Chapters: 1 - Words: 11345 Published: June 2004 12. Crossing The Red Line- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 12, Season2 Mike Stoker feels the heat when crewmates and the engine get into more than just a little hot water. The city of Carson suffers catastrophe. Chapters: 1 - Words: 10567 Published: July 2004 13. The White Engine-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 13, Season2 The gang tries out a prototype engine and they learn how faithful man's best friend really is at a house fire. Chapters: 1 - Words: 14582 Published: August 2004 14. Twisted- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 14, Season2 A mile long moving disaster incites life or death decisions for both Rampart and Station 51. Chapters: 1 - Words: 27423 Published: September 2004 15. 00:51- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 15, Season2 Dixie's day off incites a riot of rescuing. A high angle recovery tries Roy and Johnny's penultimate paramedic skills. Chapters: 1 - Words: 30004 Published: October 2004 16. Devil's Due-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 16, Season2 Roy and Johnny inadvertantly meet two Bay City detectives named Starsky and Hutch and get themselves entangled in a web of intrigue when a criminal kidnaps the child of one of their patients. Chapters: 1 - Words: 21012 Published: November 2004 17. That Latin Flair-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep17, Season2 A vision leaves Marco circumspect around the holidays and inspires Roy and Johnny to do charity work for his church group. Chapters: 1 - Words: 17654 Published: Dec/January2005 18. A Fish Out Of Water-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep18,Season3 Station 51 gets wet working with the Baywatch lifeguards of Malibu. A myth almost drowns one of the guards but a miracle, saves him. Chris DeSoto learns Baywatch rescue skills. Chapters: 1 - Words: 29590 Published: February 2005 19. Sacred Ground-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep19,Season3 Johnny has a mishap at the station that makes him seek a tribal elder. A heavy storm spreads ill for the whole fire department county wide. Chapters: 1 - Words: 18350 Published: March 2005 20. Recertification-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep20,Season3 Station 51's gang gets buried in rubble during a robbery on a mall and casino. Can Dr. Brackett save them in time? Chapters: 1 - Words: 12401 Published: April 2005 21. Devil Winds-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep21,Season3 Captain Stanley and the staff of Rampart get stressed with the return of the Santa Ana winds in autumn. Wide spread chaos rules the night and far away from the city streets. Station 51 attempts the impossible. Chapters: 1 - Words: 22905 Published: May 2005 22. In Certain Terms-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep22,Season3 McConnike raises hairs in the gang and the crew of Station 51 faces a loss no firefighter should bear. Chapters: 1 - Words: 23510 Published: June 2005 23. The One That Matters-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep23,Season3 The unexpected arrives from a surprise source and Mike Stoker finds that he's the unwilling target of an adolescent fire buff. Chapters: 1 - Words: 21112 Published: July 2005 24. S.n.a.f.u.-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep24,Season3 Nothing runs normal for anyone working during a weeknight at Rampart Hospital and Station 51 and the gang faces h*llfire and water in an attempt to end a string of horribly bad luck. Chapters: 1 - Words: 25071 Published: August 2005 25. The Overhaul Principle-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep25,Season4 A Gage rival comes to roost at the station. Rampart comes under fire and Dixie inherits the position of head of triage. Chapters: 1 - Words: 29034 Published October 2005 26.The Shallow Light-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep26,Season4 Johnny declares war on a fast food stand. Station 51 answers rescues involving the very young and learns a lesson from them. Chapters: 1 - Words: 31955 Published November 2005 27. HeavyDuty-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep27,Season4 Old flames clash when things heat up a little too much at Rampart Hospital. Station 51 struggles through a heavy day of duty. Chapters: 1 - Words: 42394 Published December 2005 28. SmokeScreen-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep28,Season4 Johnny Gage gets a rap from a pair of detectives on Christmas Eve and an old, rich bum comes back to help out the gang. Chapters: 1 - Words: 60231 Published January 2006 29. WhereTheWindBlows-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep29,Season4 Station 51 meets an icon. The wind causes trouble both in the city and out in the countryside. Chapters: 1 - Words 71222 Published February 2006 30. Eligibility-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep30,Season4 A battle rages between Kelly and Gage for an opening captain's spot at Station 51. The very nature of sleep haunts the gang and their patients. Chapters: 1 - Words 82003 Published March 2006 31. All That Glitters-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep31,Season5 Chet's luck isn't as good as he thinks it is the day Johnny goes money grubbing with the best of them. Chapters: 1 - Words 71114 Published April 2006 32. Water Day Saints-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep32,Season5 Water and air are either allies or enemies for Station 51 amid triage chaos at both Rampart and on the street. Chapters: 1 - Words 91338 Published May 2006 33. California Dreamin'-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep33,Season5 Vacation off the mainland proves work never ends for the gang of 51's. Mike Stoker faces the scare of his life. Chapters: 1 - Words 100204 Published June 2006 34. No Sooner Said... -EmergencyTheaterLive Ep34,Season5 A feud between Chet and Johnny takes on new meaning during an excavation fire. A hero proves his worth with action. Chapters: 1 - Words 17455 Published July 2006 35. Captain's Prerogative-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep35,Season5 A disaster stuns Captain Stanley and an action taken leaves Gage unaccountably bitter. Craig Brice proves an unexpected balm. Chapters: 1 - Words 11232 Published August 2006 36. Tower Drill-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep36,Season5 Station 51 becomes instructors for the day at the fire academy. An old nemesis makes a return play on Gage and DeSoto. Chapters: 1 - Words 19325 Published September 2006 37. Primary Complaint-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep37,Season5 Roy DeSoto faces a life changing event during a rescue. Johnny becomes infatuated with an impossibility. Chapters: 1 - Words 21999 Published October 2006 38. A.M.A.-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep38,Season5 The gang lives vicariously at the circus during a paramedic program promotion gig. A young couple learns a hard lesson about going against medical advice. Chapters: 1 - Words 17003 Published November 2006 39. Burnout-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep39,Season5 Station 51 feels the sting of no sleep and the fury of an oil refinery fire. Will Chet ever learn his lesson? Chapters: 1 - Words 14555 Published December 2006 40. Canine Capers-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep40,Season6 Captain Stanley experiences the innocence of a little girl from the Make A Wish Foundation. Station 51 becomes overrun by dogs on the prowl. :) Chapters: 1 - Words 12003 Published January 2007 41. Attrition-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep41,Season6 Roy and Johnny go nuts while giving a schoolhouse demonstration. The 51 gang's world is turned upside down when the unexpected happens. Chapters: 1 - Words 15888 Published February 2007 42. Pilot Light-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep42,Season6 Gage gets creative making senior paramedic runs a little easier. A warehouse fire proves just how good a firefighter's mettle can be. Chapters: 1 - Words 20333 Published March 2007 43. The Quint Connection-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep43,Season6 Chet Kelly's engineer's test becomes a critical skill during a skiing weekend at Lake Tahoe. Dixie learns she hates the cold. Chapters: 1 - Words 31959 Published April 2007 44. Pump Peculiarities-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep44,Season6 One person effects the lives of everyone at Rampart Hospital and Station 51. Stoker is moved to action when the unthinkable happens. Chapters: 1 - Words 45055 Published May 2007 45. Richter Six-by Michael Donovan©-UniversalStudios/MarkVIIProductions© Ep45,Season6. Roy and Johnny relive a flashback about a county wide earthquake they worked while teaching paramedic class. Joe Early struggles to save a little girl and the gang, Chet Kelly. Script Dialogue and premise by Michael Donovan©. Chapters: 1 Words: 19544. Published June 2007 46. The Long Hours-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep46,Season6 The gang rescues friend and victim at the pier. Waiting becomes especially hard when complications develop post rescue for all. Chapters: 1 Words: 12044 Published July 2007 47. I.V. Push-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep47,Season6 A storm unsettles the gang and a lost girl claims ties with Johnny Gage. CHiPs Ponch and Jon aid a cliffside rescue. Chapters: 1 Words: 11008 Published August 2007 48.Hostage--by Susan Keenan©-UniversalStudios/MarkVIIProductions© Ep48, Season6. Moods are down when friends fall and when a foe comes to pay a call on Squad 51. Will Rampart's think tank save the day in time? Chapters: 1 - Words: 18683 Published: October 2007 49.The Helper's High-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep48, Season6 Bullets fly while Stoker struggles to fill some very large shoes in the wake of a personnel shortage in L.A. County. Chapters: 1 - Words: 23444 Published: November/December 2007 50.The Other Side-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep50, Season6 Station 51 squirms under a lull of no calls as Rampart becomes the eye of the action hurricane. The staff of both struggles to help a crisis with Nurse Sharon Walters. Chapters: 1 - Words: 31444 Published: January/February 2008 51.What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing..-ETL Ep51,Season6 Captains Roy and Johnny relive the best and the worst of their lives after leaving Station 51 upon their promotion. SEASON FINALE. Chapters: 1 - Words: 56998 Published: March/April 2008 A. The Face In The Mirror- EmergencyTheaterLive Special 2003 Roy DeSoto makes a mistake in the field and faces the possibility of losing his job. The gang responds to a fogbanked multicar pileup and run into trouble. Chapters: 1 - Words: 23657 Published: September 2003 B. Too Close To Home- EmergencyTheaterLive Special 2004 The gang at Station 51 enjoy Roy's discomforture over his superstition about DeSoto family vacations always getting cancelled. The gang gets sucked into another of Chet Kelly's half hazard schemes by getting talked into buying a racehorse. Chapters: 1 - Words: 16211 Published: August 2004 Movie Special One- The Fire Within (Episode 52) -ETL MovieOne, Season7 Station 51 trains with airport firefighters and runs into the unexpected on a deer hunting trip in New York State involving medical park rangers who help them rescue a lost boy with a chopper pilot and a pair of luckless kayakers. An icy disaster involving a jumbo jet and the airport terminal leads to conditions that threaten the lives of Station 51's crew. Chapters: 1 - Words: 124956 Published: June-December 2009 53. C. Fire In The Sky-EmergencyTheaterLive Special 2010 Roy and Johnny meet a pair of strangers from the far future. Can they save Chakotay and Tom Paris before the Borg find them in an echo 1976? Chapters: 1 - Words: 26277 Published: April 2010 --. The Gale Force Nightmare EmergencyTheaterLive EpSpecial, Season8 Engine 51's crash in high winds spark the worst in Johnny Gage and spells disaster for the whole gang in the form of a crime of the worst kind committed against Mike Stoker. TEXT ONLY PRODUCTION Chapters: 1 - Words 14568 Published: May 2010 54. En Route- Movie Two-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 54, Season8 Roy and Johnny learn the other side of EMS work when they are ordered to train EMTs at their own ambulance company for an entire summer. Dixie suffers career doubts and begins to reinvent herself. Chapters: 1 - Words 47373 Published: Jan 2011 55. Special D. Sierra- The Urban Rangers Roy and Johnny work with Yosemite Park Rangers in their rescue service. They encounter a pesky bear and woman ranger who proves to be their professional equal when Roy suffers a bad head injury in a fall. (still in production) as of March 1st, 2011 From the ETL Hosts: Emergency Theater Live Episodes- Rescue Logs ------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a more detailed version of the ETL Episode Guide and includes a synopsis of each story's plot events and a rundown of what rescues happened in the episodes. Following these, is a tally of injuries in a by-the-episode running total sustained by each of the main and supporting characters to date. Titles and Episode Order ----------------------------------- 1. Full Moon Blues- 2. Father And Son- 3. Juxtaposition- 4. Within Sight- 5. Integrity Game- 6. The Golden Horn- 7. Crazy Days- 8. The Promise- 9. Green Pen Of Johnny's- 10. From Loaves To Fishes- 11. Shadows Of The Past- 12. Crossing The Red Line- 13. The White Engine- 14. Twisted- 15. 00:51- 16. Devil's Due- 17. That Latin Flair- 18. A Fish Out Of Water- 19. Sacred Ground- 20. Recertification- 21. Devil Winds- 22. In Certain Terms- 23. The One That Matters- 24. S.n.a.f.u.- 25. The Overhaul Principle- 26. The Shallow Light- 27. HeavyDuty- 28. SmokeScreen- 29. WhereTheWindBlows- 30. Eligibility- 31. All That Glitters- 32. Water Day Saints- 33. California Dreamin'- 34. No Sooner Said- 35. Captain's Prerogative- 36. Tower Drill- 37. Primary Complaint- 38. A.M.A.- 39. Burnout- 40. Canine Capers- 41. Attrition- 42. Pilot Light- 43. The Quint Connection- 44. Pump Peculiarities- 45. Richter Six (by Michael Donovan©)- 46.The Long Hours- 47. I.V.Push- 48. Hostage-(by Susan Keenan©)- 49. The Helper's High- 50. The Other Side 51. What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing.. Special A. The Face In The Mirror- Special B. Too Close To Home- 52.Movie One- The Fire Within 53. Special C. Fire In The Sky- --. The Gale Force Nightmare- TEXT ONLY 54.Movie Two- En Route 55.Special D. Sierra-The Urban Rangers (still in production as of March 1st, 2011.) ****WARNING**** The information below is story spoiling and will take away plot surprises if you read them now before viewing any of the screengrab illustrated, music soundtracked originals. Decide now if you want to read what each episode is about before doing so. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Full Moon Blues- SEASON PREMIERE Johnny is stuck with a floor messing Bonnie in the bunkroom. The gang answers a dumpster fire and the squad gets stolen by drug users. Gage and DeSoto fuss over a sore throated Marco. An earthquake hits the station and collapses it. Cap is knocked out by falling debris, Marco's gassed in the kitchen from broken pipes and Johnny's buried under the hose tower and gets hand stabbed in the yard. The station gang gets quarantined in the middle of the disaster operations with Paramedic Craig Brice when Marco's discovered to have an ebola type retrovirus. Brackett and Squad 51 rescues a firefighter hit by a falling radio tower. A cure is found in the milk of flying fox bats by a team of CDC doctors from Atlanta flown in by the airforce.The gang gets a calm period of rest after the station gets rebuilt. 2. Father And Son- Kel Brackett makes a phone call to his estranged father to reestablish ties with him after many years of silence. Cap finds a puppy basket on the doorstep of the station. The gang answers an unknown type rescue at a movie mansion house looking like it's haunted. They find a kindly, cookie baking asthmatic with sepsis. The station handles an overturned anhydrous ammonia truck leaking a toxic cloud. Chet gets exposed and lung burned and a ruptured spleen during a desperate last second escape from the scene using the squad. The gang rescues an entrapped woman driver from under the truck. Kelly undergoes surgery for trauma sustained from his running fall during the truck rescue escape. Chet sneaks the station's wild resident mouse into Rampart. The squad answers a child skate boarder call. The gang returns to a second call to the movie mansion for a man down, but they find a fallen caretaker woman. Johnny gets trapped in the house's maze and falls down a flight of spring loaded stairs after hitting his head. Brice is called out to respond. Johnny awakens in Rampart and remembers seeing a "body" in the basement so the gang responds back to the house. They find a dummy and the male caretaker trapped in an iron maiden. Station 51 gives the lost puppy to the movie mansion caretakers. Kel Brackett makes amends with his parents. 3. Juxtaposition- Roy has feelings of dread during a rainy day. The station responds to a mudslide school bus accident. They rescue several students and the driver only to find a leg entrapped Chris DeSoto there as well. Marco nearly drowns in mud when the bus gets buried by another slide, entrapping Johnny, Roy, Chet and Marco inside of it. They meet a good luck charmed, miraculous fellow firefighter named Detello. DeSoto suffers a crisis when a child he loses down a storm drain's body is found the next day in the L.A. river bed. Chet takes Roy's place during a diabetic rescue on Johnny's orders. The station responds to a school fire and Roy makes a child rescue count with the assistance of the guardian angel like Detello. 4. Within Sight- Chet accidently breaks his knuckles hitting the station punching bag while working out anger over arsons who indirectly caused Mike Stoker to be blinded by steam. A woman social worker works with Stoker to find a juvenile fire bug at a softball game being played by project kids. Squad 51 rescues an asthmatic child at the game. Stoker teaches Chet how to be the station's fire engineer while healing. A popsicle selling ex-fire captain is trapped in a derelict fire station after it becomes the arson's next target. Stoker's favorite project kid is trapped as well, forcing Mike to use Boot as a guide dog to go rescue them both. In a twist, Stoker regains his sight only after the boy loses his permanently due to fire heat. Boot adopts the blind little boy in the ball park. 5. Integrity Game- Kel Brackett goes on vacation with his parents. Station 51 responds to a racetrack and treats several horse collided jockeys. Johnny adopts one of the injured horses in a surprise promise made to one of the victims. Detective Ron Crockett gets involved in an investigation into the accident. The Bracketts' ferry catches on fire near Catalina Island. Station 51 responds to rescue them. The racehorse insurance fraud violator is caught on the burning ship in a sheer stroke of luck. Station 51 buys the rights of Gage's trainer abused race horse from the track in cooperation with him, in order to give the promising colt to a jockey pair they previously treated at the track. 6. The Golden Horn- A delivery man collapses at the station due to heat stroke and is treated as a still alarm. Captain Stanley learns of Chief McConnikee's death from a building collapse and the gang takes the news hard. The gang responds to a car crash in a regional park during a rainless lightning storm. They treat a woman and her daughter for strange injuries. A brush fire's ignited around them and causes Cap to order an immediate emergency evacuation using the station vehicles. The gang escapes, but Engine 51 is badly damaged. Cap's found to be missing soon after safety is reached. Blood is found at the mouth of an old mine hole along with Cap's helmet and far below, Hank hallucinates about McConnikee while bleeding badly as he hangs, trapped over the mouth of an underground whirlpool. Gage and Roy go down after him. Before a belt can be secured, Johnny and Cap fall and are swept away into an underwater quarry. An apparition of McConnikee seems to aid in their rescue. Hank visits McConnikee's wife to pay his respects for missing the chief's funeral and receives the old hat he once burned behind McConnikee's back as a joke. Hanks repairs the hat and leaves it at McConnikee's gravesite in tribute to his hero. 7. Crazy Days- Dixie goes on the warpath looking for fresh coffee to grind for her empty pot at Rampart. Chet Kelly gets the third degree for gloating over Marco's lost bet penalty of hanging hose in the backyard tower. The gang answers an unknown rescue at the zoo, only to find no visitors, and a crazed drug overdosed employee releasing all the animals from their cages. Chet begins acting normally during lunch at the station, driving Gage batty. Brackett offers to get Dixie some coffee and leaves Rampart. Charlie the fire department mechanic finds out that he's got heart disease and is forced to retire from the vehicle shop. The gang answers a strange call at the La Brea Tar Pits, and Brackett assists them. Vince finds java for Dixie and a museum rewards the gang with fossil bones. Roy learns the horror of a roof fire at his own house. Henry, Boot, and Bonnie, all have a pillow feather fight in the bunk room. 8. The Promise- Johnny discovers Roy hiding a chest cold and treats him around Cap at the station. Roy tries to hide his wife's third pregnancy. The gang answers a truck crash hazardous materials call involving freon and a search for a missing van of teenagers. A water tower falls on Roy and Johnny trapping them underwater. An arrested girl Gage finds and abandons on scene for safety reasons turns out to be Dr. Morton's sister. Roy finds the wife and daughter of Johnny's deceased best friend in the heart of the disaster. Gage and Roy make a pact to watch out for each other in a solemn promise. Johnny learns Morton is pursuing a lawsuit for malpractice over his familial loss. Engine 51 responds to a stabbing only to find Roy's wife in jeopardy. Craig Brice responds to assist medically in his station's squad. Gage writes a resignation letter and the gang goes through heroics to rescue it from the post office network when he changes his mind. 9. Green Pen Of Johnny's Station 51 answers an explosives factory fire where Johnny's injured. Roy goes inside after a report of a little girl on a scaffolding inside the burning warehouse. DeSoto takes refuge in an elevator shaft with several other firefighters when a demolitions crew proves to be the only people left who could save them from the fire. Gage spends the night at Rampart with a little girl from the factory fire and her green markers. Craig Brice shows up at the station to be his replacement. An airliner jet suffers a wing hydraulic problem in mid air and crashes in Rampart's parking lot, severely damaging the hospital. Gage and his child roommate fight for their lives, while escaping the fumes using the back halls of Rampart. Station 51 responds to the disaster scene and begins emergency triage. Dixie's found hurt in the hospital from flying glass. Brice's station crew is discovered missing at the jet crash scene. Johnny tries to climb down the side of Rampart using a fire hose to save himself and the little girl. Boot, the dog, discovers them trapped by located a scent on a green marker pen and summons help and rescue. The little girl visits the gang later at the station and receives a medal for saving Gage's life by giving him atropine. 10. From Loaves To Fishes Chet finds Johnny unloading hay in the station's backyard one morning and asks why. The station responds to a fuel truck crash on a mountain side involving a highway tunnel. Gage and Roy are trapped inside with chlorine gas leaking from storage tanks. They escape the underground fire by using an emergency tunnel leading to a forest ranger's station now on a vigil over the new brush fire ignited by the accident. They meet the Sierra rangers rescue unit and get swept up into searching for some lost children at a riverside campsite before the fire gets there. Chet falls in love with the idea of horses. 11. Shadows Of The Past The gang plans a revisit to the same Santa Rosa County resort town that Roy and Johnny fell in love with a few months earlier. By a lakeshore, Mike Stoker's nearly trapped in a satellite outhouse fire. Attracted to the commotion, is a young college aged resort owner who invites them to breakfast up the mountain. Once there, they learn about a feral dog pack problem plaguing the town from their old friend, Sheriff Bittner and from Dr. Frick, the hippy rural doctor from the local clinic. Roy and Johnny rush off to a neighbor's to deliver a baby. At the inn, dogs attack the rest of the gang. Bittner suffers an angina attack. A flash flood reeks havoc on their the way to the hospital with the new mother and child and a mauled boy the doc found. The gang's separated from each other when they're washed away by a rising river. The inn girl struggles to revive the boy's father when he drowns and is herself bitten by a snake. The gang, Sheriff Bittner, and Doc Frick reunite in a thunderstorm and they launch a search for those still missing from their party. They find the inn girl and the boy's father by a sewage plant on the shoreline. In gratitude the townsfolk give the visiting firefighters the best guided fishing tour of their lives. 12. Crossing The Red Line The gang responds to an unknown type rescue at Carson City Hall. There they find a man with drug like symptoms. Johnny stumbles and breaks his leg on a stairwell while patient moving. Roy finishes and leaves with their victim in a Mayfair. Strangely, at the squad, Gage inexplicably collapses and quits breathing. The gang discovers fumes are to blame and launch an immediate evacuation of the city building. Without a paramedic at hand, Stoker's forced to use new training as an intermediate EMT to intubate Johnny. An actively producing meth lab is discovered in the basement. The station's barely clear using the squad and engine as evacuation vehicles when city hall disintegrates into a fireball bringing down the rest of the block around them. The gang finds refuge from the fire in a city morgue. Roy's ambulance is discovered missing and they launch a search in the disaster zone to recover their first victim and crew. Brackett and Dixie respond to the morgue to assist with triaging victims. Johnny awakens and shows his gratitude to Stoker by giving him the finer points on intubating people. Chet decides to become a paramedic. 13. The White Engine Chet Kelly gets neck deep into a new secret invention. Gage discovers a new fire engine in the backyard. But something's amiss. It's a pure white prototype that's being loaned to them to test out without any need for the accompanying squad and with plenty of space for Henry to ride along with them. They respond to a beach cliff house fire and tend to a burned senior with Craig Brice and his partner. Roy transports the old woman. Henry finds three kids stuck up a tree, trapped by smoke. After their rescue, Chet discovers Henry missing and goes searching. He finds Henry unconscious on a hillside from smoke. Cap orders the new engine to transport the kids to Rampart while Gage and Chet try to treat Henry in the cab. Brackett is Dixie-tricked into working with the vet from the county animal shelter, Barney Coolidge, to care for Henry inside a parked Mayfair ambulance. Chet demos his new invention, calling them shriek boxes. At a library fire, Craig Brice burns his hand on a hot doorknob and Chet's new devices save all of their lives when the ceiling comes down on top of them. 14. Twisted Roy and Johnny visits Craig Brice in the hospital and learn of an Amtrak train derailment. Belatedly, they're called out to triage a section of the train. They treat multiple victims and find out that Dixie and Brackett caught a helicopter ride to the scene and are doing triage nearby. Dixie discovers Brice's paramedic partner, Bob Bellingham, on the train with his newborn daughter. Dixie begins CPR on the night chilled infant. Roy and Johnny rescue a trapped boy and Marco finds a walking wounded. Gage is attracted by Brackett's whistle and responds to Dixie's baby rescue. Meanwhile, Dr. Morton suffers a meningitis exposure scare. Together, Kel and Gage treat the infant and evac her out by chopper. Roy discovers two people impaled on the same rod, a lawyer and the boy's mother, but only one of them can be attempted to save and he bulks deciding which one. Brackett relieves him of their care. The lawyer and mother flip a coin to decide who lives and who dies. Afterwards, Roy and Johnny strike a motorcycler with the squad on the way to a food tent and are taken hostage by the angry hispanic neighborhood bent on retaliation. Gage is found and treated by Cap. Vince Howard, the police officer negotiates for Roy's release after the head of the gang's mother suffers a heart attack. Marco translates for all while he and others care for her in Johnny's stead. Gage receives a hospital visit from Chet, Brice and Roy a few days later in an ironic reversal. 15. 00:51 Dixie is enjoying her day off as best as she can while nursing a cold. While sun bathing, she witnesses and responds to a pool diving accident and begins CPR after getting kids to help her rescue the teenaged boy. Roy and Johnny respond to the call and perform an emergency needle crich to establish an airway. Afterwards, Dixie faints and falls into the pool. She is rescued physically from danger but then refuses all emergency care despite her illness's symptoms. A dispute mounts and a police officer has to enforce a legal peace between everyone, citing Dixie's rights as a fully cognizant citizen. Joe Early, Kelly Brackett and the gang all work together to try and come up with a scheme to get Dixie to come in and get checked out by a doctor. Station 51 responds to a roller coaster accident and tangles with a cloud of bees. Later that night, Dixie makes an emergency phone call to the firehouse but collapses before saying anything. Roy and Stoker get a funny feeling and Roy asks for a silent code response to Dixie's house. Morton takes over the call when Dixie's found on the floor, unconscious. Joe and Brackett operate and repair her inflamed intestines following an appendectomy. 16. Devil's Due The gang gets antsy after forty eight hours and no runs. Roy entertains a coffee OD'd Johnny on a supply run to Rampart and they visit with Adam-12. Nearby, Detectives Dave Starsky and Ken Hutchinson chase a gunman down an alley and find an assault victim battered by him. Squad 51 responds. The detectives learn the injured woman's young son is being held hostage by the criminal somewhere in the neighborhood. Zebra Three runs escort to the woman's Mayfair on the way to Rampart, playing chicken with a train to speed up the transport. A clue to the kidnapper's whereabouts materializes from what Roy and Johnny overhear during the mother's treatment. Starsky and Hutch go check out her residence for more leads. Station 51 is assigned to medical standby during the hostage standoff that results. The two Bay City detectives pose as firefighters with the gang and undercover, they infiltrate the gunman beseiged business tower along with the night suave informant, Huggy Bear. They discover the missing boy in the power cut building, and a bomb. Fleeing, by hand lowering an elevator down its descent shaft, everyone braces for its detonation. It comes and the elevator plummets, carrying them down into a fire sprinkler filled sub-basement. On search, a frantic Stanley and fire crews find the trapped bunch. Chet Kelly revives a nearly drown David Starsky. Later, they all visit the recovering assaulted mom and child pair and return heirlooms the kidnapper stole to finance his sniper and kidnapping incident. 17. That Latin Flair Around the holidays, Station 51 responds to a car roll over near the L.A. River bed. They discover a passenger pinned under power wires and a missing ejected driver. While attempting to free the trapped man, Marco Lopez suffers an electrical shock which accelerates his heart dangerously. Roy and Johnny are forced to cardiovert him to prevent heart arrest. Lopez experiences a life after death vision of his dead father during the cardioversion and it changes him emotionally. The gang finds the second man's body in the riverbed. A week later, the gang helps the healing Marco aid a soup kitchen. Teenagers start a fire there and Roy and Johnny mount multiple rescues of the children and volunteers trapped inside the fast spreading grease fire. Chet's hands are burned getting a victim out. Later, Squad 51 responds to a finger hammered fainted man and bail out a dog pinned treed postman. Dixie offers to cook the gang Christmas dinner at the station and pulls a mistletoe joke on Roy and Johnny. At an L.A. Headquarters New Year's Eve party, Marco talks about his life after death experience with a boy who very nearly suffered the same thing during the soup kitchen fire and finds solace. 18. A Fish Out Of Water A little girl in a daycare center suffers a seizure. Squad 51 responds. Across town, a beach cop, Garner Ellerbee, of Baywatch, begins a patrol. Several Baywatch lifeguards get wrapped up in rescues, reports of an escaped naval dolphin and a burglar stealing stolen artifacts from a museum exhibit about the missing continent of Atlantis. One of the lifeguards thinks he sees a mermaid swimming in the surf on the day Station 51 offers to teach the lifeguard scout children CPR and nearly drowns from heatstroke. Roy and Johnny effect his rescue along with the County Baywatch Lifeguards. The head lifeguard lieutenant Mitch Buchanon's son, Hobie, finds the missing trained dolphin and a mysterious paraplegic woman ex-naval animal trainer who seems to know the skillful mammal. Policeman Vince Howard and a lifeguard named Craig Pomeroy catch the beach crook after a vehicle chase that turns into another surf rescue. Hobie and Roy's son Chris, befriend the little seizure girl from the daycare center who's attending junior lifeguards. They get into trouble on a stony pier when an oil leak from an oceanic drainage pipe catches on fire. Both the Station 51 gang and Baywatch operations crews mount a rescue of the children and the paralyzed woman trainer who is discovered to be the little daycare girl's mother, riding the back of the escaped dolphin. Later, at the zoo, Hobie and Chris muse over missing the navy returned dolphin while Roy and Johnny wonder what it would be like to become Baywatch lifeguards. 19. Sacred Ground Johnny Gage suffers a mishap at the station which causes him to seek out a tribal elder for a purification ceremony. Johnny becomes obssessed with atoning for his previously lost spleen which he failed to do a year earlier. Charlie the mechanic's notified of the dent Johnny's falling face made into one of the squad's door. Gage and Roy attend a tribal prayer session at a curioshop. Johnny learns a frightening premonition from a shaman. Station 51 responds to a child jumper call at the request of two CHiPs officers, Frank Poncherello and John Baker. They all rescue a suicidal young cancer patient in heavy rain from a high riseleadge. Charlie the fire department mechanic coerces Boot the dog into inviting the gang into playing a Twister Game. Station 51 responds to a college house prank of the worst kind. Station 51 is asked to respond to L.A. Headquarters itself for a power outtage check when their radio fails. They discover Sam Lanier, the dispatcher, collapsed on his communications board. Johnny suffers doubts and desecrates his personal prayer sack at Rampart. The next morning, Johnny dreams a dream sent by his shaman and regains his faith when he learns about a friend's death. Johnny, grieving, delivers an eloquent eulogy at the memorial service. 20. Recertification Kel Brackett feels the brunt of writing new paramedic protocols for the county and the agony of change filters down to Johnny and Roy. Station 51 responds to a shopping mall aerial walkway collapse. Roy and Johnny crawl into a buried escalator after some victims. Criminals use the disaster to try and knock off a mall run casino and in the process, Captain Stanley's shot. A further collapse buries the gang and the casino's surveillance and security department pulls out all the stops to aid the firefighters. Brackett responds to assist with triaging Hank's emergency surgery through a hole in the escalator. Dixie has some fun during a paramedic hospital meeting in the end. 21. Devil Winds Hank Stanley suffers from anticipating the start of the Santa Ana winds season. Mike Stoker displays a hobby of predicting brush fire versus wind intensity using maps. Station 51 responds to the first wind related rescue call of the season, a cessna hanging from powerlines. Rampart is swamped with minor category idiot ER phone calls, driving Dixie batty. Roy and Johnny lighten her load. Gage frets about his ranch, when Stoker predicts it to be in a red critical zone for fire risk. Station 51 gets called into the foothills on firestorm standby. Squad 51 treats a fireline firefighter for smoke inhalation and rescue Johnny's aunt from his ranch's burning caretaker's house. A tree torched barn puts Dixie in jeopardy, enticing a rescue using a horse. 22. In Certain Terms Dix and Kel share conmiserations about a busy day at Rampart. Station 51 scrambles to thwart yet another surprise inspection by Fire Chief McConnikee. Station 51 responds to a violent drug overdose call. En route to Rampart, their ambulance is halted by a nearby landslide and fire ants end the rescue abruptly. Attention shifts to a slide victim, a young boy in cardiac difficulty. Rampart worries about 51's cut off radio status. Station 51 responds to a man trapped under his slide toppled house and get basement hole buried in the process. Rescued, they mull over an invention Chet created that'll ease ambulance-in-motion CPR. 23. The One That Matters Gage complains about running out of uniforms one morning at the station. Bonnie is discovered guarding Johnny's ball of socks on his bunk. She's soon found to be in late labor and the father's speculated horribly to be Boot, raising concerns for delivery problems. Les Taylor and Dave Gordon from the L.A. County animal pound of the tiger-in-a-meat-shop fame are called in to emergency assist. Cap calls Rampart as backup and gets an off duty Morton and Dixie to come to the station. Station 51 gets a sports injury call at a high school. Stoker gets a voiceless hang up caller that puzzles all. Later, Dixie learns the mystery caller to the station is a young artist woman committing suicide by plant seed pod ingestion who's got a crush on Stoker. A clue in the form of a singing canary over the phone line provides the last bit of information on the girl's location. They save her from pool drowning at the last possible second. Mike Stoker decides to keep in touch with the depressed minor through her future chaperoned counseling sessions to help her heal faster. He promises her one of Bonnie's newborn pups as a token of friendship. 24. S.N.A.F.U. A fever sick Dr. Brackett crashes his sports car into a tree and Station 51 responds to free and treat him. Joe Early and Dixie McCall organize his surgical teams. The gang decides to BBQ at Stoker's house for some weekend R&R. Unexpected lightning strikes Chet and Roy on the patio from the sky above the golf course. Gage struggles to keep DeSoto viable. At Rampart, Kel saves a fellow patient from a broken off I.V. catheter moving through an arm. Dixie and Kel renew romantic ties. The gang visits those injured at Rampart, bringing a cake. Station 51 handles a massive rescue effort during a burst water dam incident. In the process, grisly evidence of a mass murderer are discovered during their swift water rescue. The staff at Rampart discuss the week's snafu effect with their doctor and paramedic patients after the call is over. 25. The Overhaul Principle Johnny goes to nap in the bunkroom and wakes up hours later to find Brice checking his lifesigns at his neck. Gage learns of Paramedic Craig Brice's transfer to his work shift. He and the gang respond to a gravel works accident involving a conveyer belt and a heatstroked child rock buried in a car. Fatigue afterwards causes Gage to fall asleep in the squad. Marco and Cap both feel trepidations about the bad gravel works call and talk about it privately. Brice and Gage set up a mutual joke for the rest of the station gang to suffer and they bring Kel, Joe and Dixie in on it, too. Nurse Carol and Dr. Early are caught in a hostage situation when a disgruntled patient pulls out a gun at Rampart. Police Officers Jim Reed and Pete Malloy of Adam 12 arrive with Station 51 when a fire alarm at the hospital is pulled. Dixie treats a shot orderly and shows a student nurse how to triage when she becomes head of triage during the Code Dr. Black, lethal weapons used emergency. Joe Early is found head injured and being held hostage by the rampant patient's wife in the man's patient room. Johnny and Brice effect a clever rescue. Later, they spring their joke on the others at the station using a parade route and a box of soda cans. 26. The Shallow Light Johnny Gage declares war against a hotdog stand owner. Squad 51 responds to a child trouble breathing call that turns out to be epiglottitis. The boy's cocaine addicted mother is handled by officer Vince Howard and his partner when she interferes with the rescue, endangering her son. Joe Early helps the druggie mother and her kids out at Rampart with advice. Roy shows up to work grumpy about a visiting mother in law and Chet falls for another water can Phantom joke planted by Gage. Station 51 responds to a highway mudslide with entrapment during a heavy rain and start a rapid triage and recovery operation. Johnny pulls a fast one on the hotdog stand owner and takes advantage of a hyperventilation incident on the man to win food favors. Johnny swears off pulling any more pranks on Chet just to see the solemn promise thoroughly freak Kelly out. Station 51 responds to a fake teenager suicide attempt involving heart pills. Roy and Johnny get their just desserts when the hotdog stand owner discovers the truth about the fake life saving assistance the paramedics carried out on him earlier in the week. 27. Heavy Duty Station 51 begins a high angle rescue of two snotty children stuck up a skyscraper and both paramedics get attacked by a pair of peregrines defending a nest. Rampart Hospital suffers an underground laboratory explosion that entraps Dixie McCall under debris. Dixie's current lover, Dr. Fred Hathaway, a surgeon, pulls out all the stops to try and skip triage to go look for her. Roy and Johnny, at the hospital on a supply run, rush to begin a rescue.They locate McCall but another explosion brings part of the parking lot and a truck down on top of all three of them. A burst water pipe complicates matters when the lab basement room begins to flood with rising water.. Gage tries desperately to dig them out after Roy blacks out from a drugged needle stick and nearly drowns. Dixie performs mouth to mouth on DeSoto while Hathaway helps free Roy's pinned ankle. Hathway sacrifices himself to save the others when it becomes a choice of rope lifting Dixie first when the pinning truck breaks free starts to tumble down on top of them. Kel helps Dixie deal with her lover's death and Roy teases her goodnaturedly in the hospital cafeteria days afterwards to try and cheer her up. 28. Smoke Screen Johnny Gage stops to aid an injured woman in an alley after hearing gunshots and gets arrested by Dragnet's Detectives Joe Friday and Bill Gannon for murder when the woman dies. Friday and Gannon get set for the Christmas holiday by exchanging gifts while casing out a church reporting a stolen statue of Jesus from a nativity scene. They talk to the padre of the church and learn that the shot woman was related to Fireman Marco Lopez. They go to Station 51 to break the bad news. On hearing it, Marco faints and gets treated. Fire Chief Houts get involved in the Dragnet investigation and gets Johnny a fire department lawyer. Houts volunteers Boot the dog to help the detectives locate further clues in the alleyway. The detectives befriend Maximillion J. Lorentz in a religious shop, the bum whose money stuffed mattress so intrigued Station 51 a few months ago. The bum tells them about a retarded church boiler room worker and two altar boys who may have been around the night Lopez's cousin was killed. Dixie and Kel try to help Gage unsuccessfully. Roy and Johnny are called to the murder scene to meet up with the detectives and Boot. Johnny notices his old, past apartment in a building nearby. Lorentz, the bum, steps out of the shadows and says he's the one who put up Gage's bail and he tells them about the children's fingerprints found on the gun, professing his real status as a high level, and wealthy P.I. They are distracted when the Christmas tree in Johnny's old apartment catches fire. Marco, with the squad after his hospital discharge, aids them in rescuing the people trapped up there. The church offers refuge for those fleeing the fire and a carbon monoxide leak is discovered in the church basement, the cause of two altar boys' sudden illnesses. Marco calls for paramedics to care for them when they do not awaken. Marco discovers the boiler room man in jeopardy in the basement and effects his rescue. Lorentz, the boiler man's real life brother, mistakenly tries to do the same thing and is overcome by CO fumes. He is rescued, too, by Boot. The altar boys admit to the detectives about playing with the gun they found in the boiler man's cookie jar and about accidently shooting the Lopez girl. Later, that Christmas night, the padre and detectives find the statue thief in the form of a little boy pulling a red wagon who only wanted to give Jesus a ride on it to thank him for getting the gift. The dragnet detectives apologize to Station 51 for frightening Marco by giving them a fully decorated Christmas tree. Brackett and Dixie give a Christmas gift to the paramedics of their own when Kel writes and ratifies a new paramedic protocol that prohibits any medic from entering a potentially dangerous scene until the police have fully secured it for safety, first. 29. Where The Wind Blows The gang complains about the windy morning. They receive a call to attend a radio antennae collapsed onto a residential house. CHiPs officers Poncherello and Baker get a tour of the hospital base station before they leave to go back to the freeway system. Gage and DeSoto make a pact to figure out a way to calm patients down on tense rescue scenes using psych techniques and decide to use their coworkers as guinea pigs. Chief McConnikee helps himself to Gage's guitar. Station 51 responds to a man down from an explosion at the docks and treat a deafened famous country western singer. Dixie gets to hear a new song the singer has yet to publish a capella and is deeply touched. Days later, the paramedics receive an invite from the singer to do some beach horseback riding. They receive word about a downed hiker nearby who jumped off a cliff to get away from his wind fanned up campfire. A pilot/orthopedic hiking surgeon arrives and performs a needle evacuation on his friend's leg to restore circulation to it. The fire worsens and Roy and Johnny and the doctor are forced to use fire shelters to escape the firestorm. The MD suffers an asthma attack and is treated. In a bar, the gang goes to the country singer's concert and is surprised when Gage is invited up on stage and plays side by side with him, singing an absolutely beautiful new, unreleased song called Windsong.( Brice covers him, playing the bongos. :) ) 30. Eligibility The gang burns off a little stress by playing softball in the pouring rain. They tease Hank for not joining in. Marco tells everybody about Cap studying for the chief's exam and that starts a wager between Chet and Gage about who'll be winning his captain's spot upon his promotion. Joe and Dixie at Rampart start making plans for the annual Fireman's Ball. Station 51's called out to rescue an autistic boy caught in a heating vent grill. Brackett responds to a car fire at the ambulance entrance and treats a father for a heart attack and the daughter for head injuries after he learns she crashed the car into the wall by accident worrying over her dad. The gang suffers a tired Hank's bad mood at the lunch table and pranks die aborning when Cap overhears Chet calling him old. He immediately challenges Chet to a CPR contest on the manikins. A ring at the visitor's doorbell pulls everyone away to a walk-in-to-the-station cardiac call. That night, they discover Hank Stanley has acute sleep apnea symptoms and pull out all the stops to get him to some help for the problem. Gage gets a bad feeling and not long after, Station 51 gets a crib death baby call involving Karen Overstreet, the female paramedic trainee who saved Roy's life once on a fire scene with a defibrillator. The staff at Rampart spend time with Karen and her husband through a grieving process and so does Roy and Johnny. Hank is finally convinced to get sleep evaluated at Rampart. Days later, the gang learns Cap got a nose job to fix his apnea and that the captain's spot is unavailable for Gage's and Kelly's little competition for at least another year. The gang happily remembers Dixie's stunning evening gown worn the night before at the Ball and all of them smile but Cap, who sadly reported that he must have missed seeing it for taking a nap. 31. All That Glitters The gang makes fun of Johnny when he's caught practicing how to pan for gold in a bucket out in the station's back yard. Later, at lunch, Chet kids Johnny for forgetting his gloves all the time while working with hot things when he cuts his own finger on a veggie knife and faints. The gang treats him and discover that he donated blood excessively before work. They give him the third degree and a little paramedic hardball for being stupid. The squad responds to a motorcross injury at a busy track. They encounter a second incident there involving two children colliding on bicycles. Gage stays behind to treat them while Roy transports the first rider. Chet plays right into a vampire themed gag on him. Station 51 gets called to a house fire and help a sister station's firefighter when he falls through a roof. Chet's taken out by a water heater ejected piece of wood and gets treated by another station. Johnny learns the art of gold dredging on his weekend off and rescues a diver from drowning. He shares a success story with the gang at work later on, in the form of a huge blue sapphire, and a hefty stipend, displayed with pride. 32. Water Day Saints Hank polices an annual meeting to find a way to help pay for a new invention of Stoker and Kelly's. They create a new holiday, an expansion on their usual fire station tour, called Water Day. Station 51 is called out to a mass casualty incident involving cars and trucks on the freeway and as first on the scene, they become head of triage operations. Gage heads the initial care on multiple victims and Stoker spots a problem with a man caught inside a cement mixer who becomes the priority first victim. Brackett arrives to assist in his difficult extrication. Water Day commences at Station 51 with a flood of children. A boy gets stuck in one of the station's bathroom toilets and has to be rescued. Rampart fields a busy night of patients gamely. During the quiet night at the station, Gage tries unsuccessfully to find out what invention Chet and Stoker are working on. Station 51 responds to an overturned tanker truck full of...maple syrup. :) The new invention arrives at Rampart for its phase two test via a stokes with a CPR manikin. It's an automated CPR machine that uses a contracting chest band and passes with flying colors even on a day old corpse. Gage learns tremendous truths about the ineffectiveness of modern day CPR from Brackett in a poignant demo using Stoker and Kelly's trial device. An exhausted Dixie and Brackett escape the hospital for some takeout and time in a hot tub. Station 51 responds to a ruptured natural gas line from a construction accident. They begin evacuations of the neighborhood downwind. They find Dixie and Brackett in the doctor's house, unconscious from gas asphyxiation and they treat them. A little girl bystander approaches the firefighters and shares some news about their station now being famous in her school because of a news broadcast that was filmed at the station about Water Day, making the whole gang smile. 33. California Dreamin' The gang suffers under a night of no calls. They mull over the energy crisis and the nitpicking starts in earnest between Chet and Johnny. Johnny hits on the idea of going to Catalina Island. Station 51 responds to a man with an altered level of consciousness at the supermarket. They find a druggie and Stoker soon finds his gun pointed at him in an isolated moment. After the crisis is over, Stoker blacks out and is treated for shock. Detective Ron Crockett shows up at the station to get more details about the weapon drawn incident and ruffles a few feathers. Roy meets his son Chris and his own father Ian on the island, who're there to do some cessna flying. Chet pulls a disappearing cliff diving act as a joke on Stoker. Chris gets a lesson on Catalina aviation from his grandfather, Ian DeSoto. Kelly goes gliding. Marco follows, tandem strapped to his guide, Kip, in his own glider. A wind gust flips Marco and Kip and they crash into a tree. Cap grows alarmed at the lack of radio from Marco and Chet mounts an airborne search. Kelly spots the downed glider and radios camp about it, then he goes in for a landing. Gage launches in another glider after dark to Avalon to round up some emergency help. Chet discovers a snake bite on Marco's leg and treats him in a fire warmed cave. Stanley flies at dawn in a Baywatch helicopter with Roy and Johnny and effect their rescue. They all meet the island's sole, but colorful, nurse and doctor pair at the hospital. A storm approaches and the doc offers the gang his house for shelter. Ian and Chris's plane gets lightning struck and makes an emergency landing at the airport with Avalon's FD on standby on the runway. Ian and Marco remain behind when the others go to the beach. They find and rescue two divers in trouble and take them by Baywatch boat to a decompression chamber. Later, they fully relax at the doc's house. 34. No Sooner Said Roy and Johnny worry about a Chet who was saying nothing untoward for once to anyone. Gage suffers a memory of regret concerning Kelly and enters a *flashback* about... Station 51 responds to a man trapped beneath a caterpillar tractor. Gage worries about the paramedic refresher coming up and bugs a mouth zippered Dixie about them. Station 51 responds to an excavation fire at a coal mining company. Chet Kelly is sent down an empty shaft by rope to check out an underground fire and he makes a disturbing discovery, bad air. The gang realizes the trouble and hauls him to safety, only to find Chet apneic. They resuscitate him and then black out one by one as a creeping gas overcomes them all. Chet, protected by an oxygen mask, reawakens and effects a transmission to summon hazmat help for everybody. Kelly awakens at Rampart to find himself and the rest of the gang being carbon monoxide treated and in isolation wards... for chicken pox that they found on Marco. The gang gets on each other's nerves during the days it takes to run the infection's course. Kelly gets positively conceited about his singled handed rescue of them all and Gage retorts right back at him with a cutting remark ....*end flashback* Roy sighs on the current cancelled rescue, telling Johnny that his sharp comment then must be what's making Chet ignore everyone now. Squad 51 responds to a call to a residence that had a service dog in attendance. On the way Gage and Roy debate about the new 911 phone system trials. They find a house fire in progress and that upsets Johnny even more when he realized the 911 operator failed to gather critical information about the call being a blaze in progress. They hastily summon their engine and others and then effect a rescue on their own and save a dwarfened cripple. The help dog is discovered not to have followed them out, so a search is begun by the gang to find him. Dixie is mesmorized by the gang's report of the research they'd recently done concerning the coal fire that almost killed them a week earlier. Roy wins the bet on who called 911 for the handicapped man and service dog fire. 35. Captain's Prerogative Captain Stanley awakens at Rampart, seriously hurt, and struggles to reconstruct his memory. He suffers a flashback of hanging hose in the tower when lightning struck him, two years earlier. Then he worries about the day's current injury on a scene that he had misjudged badly, causing all of his men to become caught in an explosion and building collapse at the pier. Gage speaks with Joanne DeSoto at Rampart about hope in the waiting area. There they learn about Chet and Roy's incoming helicopter flight and rush outside to meet Brice and the team bringing them in. Johnny learns Roy and Chet are serious but stable and that the others of his station are still missing under the debris field. Dr. Brackett shares possibilities of Roy's problems with Joanne and soon, both Roy and Chet are treated by trauma teams aggressively. Gage rushes back to the scene against orders. Cap, in another room regrets the command decision he made at the accident site. Joanne comforts Johnny in the chapel. Morton delivers good news about Chet, Roy and Cap's conditions. Stoker and Lopez awaken to find themselves injured and buried under a fallen building. They begin a crawling, escaping attempt to free themselves. Dixie and Brackett visit Hank post surgical with a well known fire chaplain. Cap has a precognition about the chaplain's future and is disturbed. He learns Marco and Stoker are alive and is comforted following a prayer. Gage tricks a rookie medic into taking his patient and sneaks over to where Brice is digging out his stationmates. Johnny goes into a hole and treats three others along with his two coworkers. Stoker does his best to calm a man trapped with him. Slowly, they learn the true extent of the disaster. Hank Stanley returns off duty to a station vacant during his usual A-shift, intentionally scheduled as abandoned while he and his men heal, and goes to sit in his darkened office while worrying about his up and coming disciplinarian Skelly hearing. He discovers his men, similarly drawn back to the stationhouse, serving out coffee in the kitchen. They forgive him the order that brought them harm and set up Brice as his arbitrator for his hearing. Craig finds a legal loophole that gives the gang a dismissal advantage. They actively ply to invoke it. Stoker begins his testimony the next day, with confidence. 36. Tower Drill Gage gets frustrated and storms off when the gang try to suggest that he needs a little help handling relationships with the opposite sex. Station 51 answers a person treed by an alligator call. Helpful postal workers and Les and Dave of animal control immobilize the gator while the gang sets up a life net in case the panicking woman fell. She does at a bad time and bounces partially out of the net, and onto the ground, injuring herself badly. Roy and Johnny treats her and uses a KED to protect her spine. They call in the Sierra Rescue rangers to fly her out. Station 51 returns from the call to a surprise visit from Fire Chief James O. Page and an old nemesis, ex-paramedic trainee Ed Marlowe. The chief asks Cap to sponsor Ed as an engineer's trainee in a new consideration. The gang has trepidations about the revisiting fireman and an order calling them to train cadets during the next Tower Drill session. Gage addresses his misgivings loudly in the office and Hank soon worries about his decision to accept the chief's request. Roy discusses the final firemen's test with his class and Ed makes sure to voice his opinion on matters clearly. Marlowe drives a course of cones in an engine while Gage runs a smoke exposure without scba drill. Cap is running a group of cadets through the drill tower when one of the young recruits panics and falls out a window when a sprinkler system fails. Marlowe effects a miraculous rescue using a rope and a ladder truck bucket. Chet pulls a joke by leaving a whoopie cushion under the fire chief's chair. Chet effects a tower recon from the ground in full scba and an infrared camera team. Hank coaches his recruits to safety. The chief gets his joking revenge on Chet by using some handy recruits. Ed Marlowe divulges his bungee leap rope knotting secret to Gage before parting on good terms with the entire gang for his new career as an engineer at 110's. 37. Primary Complaint Gage and Dwyer discuss the bet they have with Roy about Brackett's new love interest. Kelly pegs Gage accurately for having a crush on her, too. The gang discusses mixed reactions about the new 911 system. Roy and Johnny talk about good and bad luck on their way to a call in a nursing home. They treat a rapidly onsetting aortic aneurysm. On the way out, Cap runs into an old firefighter friend and shares good memories with him. The next morning, high spirits incites some impromptu singing by a rainy garage bay door. Squad 51 responds to a man trapped at sea. During the rescue, premature reef building explosives go off, injuring Roy. Gage frets until divers find DeSoto. Roy is found to be deafened during evaluation. Later, Brackett's doctor girlfriend examines Roy with an ENT specialist and Dr. Morton, and decide that Roy's eventual surgical recovery will be good. Johnny almost gives away the feelings he has for Kel's steady before he hastily retreats from the room. Gage returns to the station to share what he knows about Roy when Chet's ribbing about his forbidden woman crush irks him into walking away. Paramedic Gil Dwyer pursues him, learning more. Cap asks Gage up front about whether or not he's going to leave Brackett's close date alone. Gage asks if he's trusted to be honorable and in answer, the gang feeds him to help him get his mind off of her. Station 51 responds to a multiple tanker accident involving a front end loader fallen off a viaduct. A trucker is freed while a poisonous gas cloud threatens nearby neighborhoods. Chet and others work to free a woman from a sports car jammed underneath one of the tankers. Officer Vince tries to get the second uninjured trucker to admit what his cargo is but no one learns it before an explosion occurs involving nitric acid. Station 51 rapidly flees the scene with their victims on the engine's hosebed. Battalion soon orders Station 51 to evacuate a school under the path of the acid cloud's threat but they arrived too late to save a small girl. The remaining students and teachers are bustled into a protected gymnasium. There, Dwyer and Gage treat two burned children with help from Brackett and his girlfriend while Cap, Stoker and Marco carry out hose washing decontamination procedures. Afterwards, Roy and Johnny frankly discuss with Dixie, how she feels about Kel seeing another woman and both are surprised by the answer when a bet made between McCall and DeSoto reveals another secret Johnny Gage is hiding in his heart. 38. A.M.A. Roy and Johnny find themselves promoting the paramedic program at a touring circus show. Station 51 responds to Vince Howard's call for help for rescue from a siege by a tiger. Gage suffers stage fright and the attentions of a friendly elephant. A mock human torch rescue is staged ringside that's unexpectedly enhanced by clownery. A circus performer actively goes against medical advice following a diabetic syncopal episode after being revived by Station 51. Roy's family shows up to see a performance along with the rest of the gang. A trapeze artist from their earlier rescue suffers a traumatic fall and Station 51 tries absolutely everything to save him. Chet uses humor to cheer up Chris DeSoto following the incident. 39. Burnout Roy suffers the chore of reorganizing a new drug box for the squad. The gang feels the full effects of stupid calls and the lack of sleep. Boot tries to be the perfect ambassador. From the driveway of the station, Captain Stanley witnesses an explosion at the Arco refinery across the street. The gang treats two blast injured truck drivers escaping the disaster. Dixie and Brackett are horrified to see the event unfolding on TV. The paramedics climb a distillation tower after a lost plant manager spotted by a fire department helicopter. A gas leak explosion traps Johnny, Chet and Roy inside an Arco saferoom with only a drug box and a few scba air bottles. Smoke inhalation takes its toll on Chet and their Arco victim. Brackett devises emergency antidote treatment to cope with their exposure to poison gasses. The aftermath, days later, is viewed on a news broadcast telling of the fire's effect on the community. Dixie McCall is deeply disturbed by the fact that the tower refuge, used by the three firefighters during the height of the explosions, was completely destroyed shortly after they got out of there. Chet takes that fact hard. 40. Canine Capers Roy receives the wrath of a vengeful mother at the station in the form of a basket full of puppies. Squad 51 answers a shooting only to find themselves face to face with the barrel of a gun. Patrol Officer Vince Howard oversees the rescue and follows up on what becomes a murder investigation. A little girl visits the station as a week long guest ride-along through the Make A Wish Foundation with Charlie the mechanic as her chaperone and Dixie McCall as her attending nurse. Felicia, their station guest, endears herself to the gang through tiny acts of selflessness and open curiosity about their jobs. A car crash into an apartment building exposes a psych patient and helicopters are summoned for trauma. Charlie shows Felicia the world of fire department power tools. Roy and Johnny gives her a tour of a paramedic helicopter and answer delicate questions about mortality. Dixie shares the news of Felicia's death and Charlie tells of the eclipse that occurred the moment she died. Bonnie and Gage come away from the experience particularly effected as they learn about love. 41. Attrition Johnny and Roy try to get through a lunch hour, sniping at each other out of boredom for a lack of runs. They encounter a cold shouldered lifeguard and Bay City detectives while babe watching at the beach with Henry the station dog. Squad 51 gets gratefully lost hosting a fire department/ emergency services demo at a local school but have a problem with drifting embers. An emergency develops in the form of a little girl bleeding to death in a playground equipment accident, which turns into a high angle rescue involving a ladder truck. The child is airlifted out safely but not in time enough for Gage to grab a favorite dessert at Rampart's cafeteria. Dixie McCall works a graceful feminine miracle for the sake of Johnny's sweet tooth. Nitpicking causes Squad 51 to crash with another car that Engine 51 responds to. Dixie McCall is found to be the other driver. Dr. Brackett performs and emergency procedure to save her life during extrication. Cap and the crew are hard pressed to keep everyone safe and breathing. They welcome Craig Brice's aid with open arms. Brackett does a litte recruiting of his own calling in a pair of doctors from another city. All the firemen eagerly await surgical recovery news on Dixie and fall prey to the antics of their guest physicians. 42. Pilot Light Johnny Gage spends the morning fussing about the lack of patient history information the Station always seems to suffer on medical calls. He vows to come up with a solution. Dixie escapes her busy ER desk long enough to take a shower after a long CPR, trapping Joe Early at multiple phone lines. Squad 51 responds to a call at the police station only to find an unconscious Officer Vince Howard on the floor, barely breathing. Dr. Brackett pulls out all the stops diagnosing the patrolman's problem with the help of Roy and Johnny and Howard luckily survives a life threatening hypercalcemic crisis. Johnny re-agonizes over his secret invention that will revolutionize the way paramedics handle medical calls with senior citizens. Station 51 answers a warehouse fire with Station 110 and Squad 51 gets trapped inside a breakroom with two victims in heavy smoke with their air running out. Roy treats a hurt paramedic and Gage learns that his private invention has already been submitted by another. Chet does an amazing humanitarian act by coming up with a new protocol idea of his own and creditting Johnny for thinking of it to the chiefs. 43. The Quint Connection Kelly cringes under the attentions of the smoke eater at shift change when the older captain warns the substituting Stone about Chet's shinanigans. The gang, Dixie and Brackett get excited about an upcoming skiing weekend at Lake Tahoe. The gang attends a house fire and rescue two victims from smoke inhalation. The smoke eater corners Chet in an impromptu verbal oral engineer's examination. Dixie vows to camp next to a ski lodge lobby fireplace for the next two days. The gang and Rampart pair rescue a child from choking at a restaurant and meet up with the resort's local ski patrol. The vacationing bunch splits up in the great wild outdoors just in time to feel the effects of an avalanche. Stoker burns himself on camp coffee. They help out at a buried alive snow slide site, a cliff fall, and a car over the embankment rescue. Johnny wins a date with a beautiful EMT snow patroller and Marco celebrates a baby's survival by making a snow angel. 44. Pump Peculiarities The gang gets stressed out by a new Los Angeles River Flashflood Prevention Project and the problematic risks especially effect Mike Stoker. The staff at Rampart drive each other crazy on a slow day. Station 51 responds to a horse stuck in a mudhole. A little boy is rescued from a city controlled flash flood by a last second brain storming swiftwater technique Stoker creates. A fire chopper calls in a teen drag race gone bad in the riverbed. Roy DeSoto is stunned when an ejected fatality is his son. Mike Stoker collapses with paroxysmal tachycardia and is treated. Deeply moved by Roy's grief, Stoker designs an alcohol awareness program and puts it on for the high school whose students were involved in crash killing Chris DeSoto. As a gift of gratitude, the students send the gang a music video showing what they learned and how they felt about the experience. 45. Richter Six©- by Michael Donovan. Gage and DeSoto are teaching paramedic students about the reality of real life rescue. Roy relates a tale of when a large earthquake strikes the whole county in a flashback. The gang is shaken out of bed at the station to response to a total search and recovery operation at an area hospital collapsed in a quake. Dr. Brackett and Mike Morton deliver a premature baby. A man is discovered in a work room in cardiac arrest and Johnny pulls out all the stops to find a doctor to authorize his medications. One blinded in an acid spill volunteers to help. Station 51 and Joe Early rescue an unconscious surgeon and a little girl from an operating ward. DeSoto frets about the lack of word about his family. Gage tunnels into a fire stairwell, only to find two people dead. A spunky Salvation Army volunteer cheers up Roy and Johnny while dolling out food and coffee. Kel Brackett learns his new mother's husband is the blinded M.D. and gets involved trying to help their emotional crisis. Roy learns the status of his home neighborhood.The last of the earthquake victims are found but at a price, Chet Kelly is buried under debris in an aftershock. He is found with a fractured shoulder and is sent to be treated at Rampart by Dr. Brackett. DeSoto's story to his class concludes when the courageous doctor from the tale walks in to lecture. 46. The Long Hours Station 51 fills in for Station 110's fireboat on the ocean. Gage has a hankering to visit the beach. A light plane crashes off the Santa Monica Pier and both the gang and Baywatch lifeguards are called to assist. Dr. Morton is rescued from near drowning with a back injury and fractured arm. A surgeon's strike at Rampart threatens Morton's life when he is forced to be shipped to another hospital. Three generations are rescued from a burning house and treated for smoke inhalation. Kel is angered at a complication overlooked on his colleague and vows to stay at Morton's bedside through the crisis. Roy and Johnny assists at the intern's code blue seizure. The station responds to a bomb threat at the pier. A police officer is gravely wounded when it detonates. Dixie delivers good news about Morton so Chet, Roy and Johnny go visiting his bedside bearing a surprise homemade gift. 47. I.V. Push The gang suffers a sleepless night at the station under the fury of a cold winter storm. Chet discovers a teen runaway nearly dead from hypothermia in the back yard. CHiPs officers Frank Poncherello and Jon Baker assist Station 51 in saving a driver driven off a cliff. Johnny Gage suffers qualms when the face of the girl they saved from the cold becomes familiar in memory at Rampart. Dixie helps learn the teenager's identity and CHiP Bonnie Clark accompanies the teen to a retreat for runaways in the mountains. A second storm brings a tree down onto their cabin, trapping Gage and Joy Yellowbird inside, injured. Gage confesses a shortcoming to his young friend while a rescue is affected around them and finds peace after a years long broken promise. 48. Hostage©- by Susan Keenan© A house fire leads to a career ending health problem being discovered for a friend of Johnny and Roy. A game of basketball was interupted by another rescue call at a glass shop. Chet goes silent thinking he jinxed the guys. A young couple arrived at Rampart thinking they were going to become parents. Only to find out it wasn't quite time. Roy and Johnny are called called to rescue a child whose hand was stuck in playground equipment. Johnny and Roy are taken hostage on the way back from Rampart. They are forced to care for a heroin addict while his buddy holds them at gun point. Roy must get creative to disclose their location without saying it outright. The boys are eventually found and upon their return to the station greeted with Chet's voice returning, a warm dinner and a round of applause. 49. The Helper's High- Resources are stretched thin as LACO helps in a fire storm. Hank suffers lingering trouble from hitting his head during his days off. The boys have an interesting encounter with a drunk at a palm tree. After a fairly quiet night, Marco goes to take the trash out and gets shot in the hand. Mike has to say a heart breaking good bye to a dear friend from his military days. On the way to a call the engine has a run in with a loose log from a logging truck. Hank suffers a severe closed head injury. Mike is temporairly promoted to Captain in Hank's absence. Hank is welcomed back with a party full of friends and family. Mike and Hank share a candid conversation as they raise the flags on Hank's first day back. 50. The Other Side A day of null action spices up when technology is more attractive to a victim than self preservation when the driver hits the squad. Life is anything but normal when Station 51 responds to a traffic accident only to realize the first responder is dispatcher Sam Lanier. Sam sticks around once another car joins the fray. At Rampart, the fight is on to save Sharon Walter's life in the middle of an unusually quiet day. Then the hospital faces its own crisis when a minor earthquake reeks havoc on vital areas. Doctor Morton takes command when Joe and Kel are caught in the middle of the mess. Guess who saves the day? 51. What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing... SEASON FINALE Captains DeSoto and Gage reunite unexpectedly four years after their promotion away from Station 51. They begin sharing flashbacks of their lives during those separated years. Dixie confides confidence in the new head nurse of the E.R., Sharon Walters. Flashback, Dixie's appendicitis attack on her day off. Future Roy and Johnny decide to run in a manikin resuscitation exercise to Rampart to extend their visit with each other. Kel Brackett collapses due to high blood pressure in Hospital Administrator Dixie McCall's office and is treated by a responding Roy, Johnny and paramedic cadets. Feeling their own mortality, Roy and Johnny visit Station 51 and go calling on their old captain, Hank Stanley. They wonder about the real reason Hank burned Chief McConnikee's hat and find out why through Cap's flashback memory over lunch. Roy shares a time of his own when he suffers a nervous breakdown over the loss of a child on a mudslide bus rescue gone bad. They reminisce about Henry, the station basset hound's heart attack rescue. Hank shares the real reason why Captain Dick Hammer left the fire department before his own tenure there. Kel Brackett awakens in ICU, recovering from his near stroke from hypertension, and relives the trials and tribulations he suffered trying to relate to his own father. He plans a fishing trip and they make amends upon his discharge from Rampart. Back at the station, the three captains share the outcome of two games faced, but never completed in the eyes of any of them, a poker game with mafia, and the big USC football game where they originally missed the outcome of the game. They flashback to the week when a Make A Wish child, Felicia comes to shadow their careers before she succumbs to a fatal illness. Captain Gage gets to ply his revenge against snakes. Remembering pain, they recall and relive a rescue in which Chet Kelly reveals a secret life, after death. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special A. The Face In The Mirror Johnny and Roy have fun teaching a CPR class. The next day the gang finds Roy tired from all the overtime over the breakfast table and Cap gives Gage some smelling salts to use on him as a joke. The station responds to a multiple fog bound pileup on the freeway near the ocean. Gage and Roy begin triaging the first casualties. Two trapped girls are found in an overturned Winnebago. Marco and Chet begin to cut them free using a K-12. Cap worms in to help Roy treat the children. DeSoto begins to worry about his own lack of sleep. A live power line falls on the camper and electrocutes Chet and Marco. Gage immediately begins to handle their rescue and treatment. A new kind of defibrillator is found with some nearby beach lifeguards and it's quickly used to revive Chet. Roy is called out of the camper to sedate Marco's convulsions. Shocked by a powerline and fatigued, DeSoto accidentally gives Lopez too much diazepam, sending Marco into a coma before blacking out. Chet reawakens en route to the hospital, and learns about the overdose. Dixie delivers her own brand of therapy to Roy when he begins to despair about Marco. Morton orders McCall to release Roy to Dr. Brackett's office. Gage remains closeby while Joe Early treats Lopez aggressively, ignoring smoke inhalation injuries of his own. The doctor makes him treat himself with oxygen. Gage flees when a chaplain arrives to deliver last rites and protests when Vince handcuffs Roy and takes him to jail. Cap cares for Gage's racing emotions in the nurse's lounge. Johnny resents his superior's orders when Gil Sheppard steps in to replace Roy in the squad. Roy's treated by an old jail doc. Joanne soon takes Roy home after Gage posts his bail. Johnny fights every inch to contain himself when a FEMA investigator shows up to learn about what contributed to Roy's paramedic mistake. Countering, Cap asks Brackett to be his paramedic adjudicator. A mild earth tremor shakes the station and Rampart. Dixie learns of an improvement in Marco from Dr. Morton. Joanne takes pity on her sleeping husband, restless from the quake. She leaves an open HT on soft playback near his head on a nightstand to calm him. Brackett arrives at the station to effect a few changes and shake up the FEMA investigator. Station 51 responds to a report of a gas leak and go with Kel and the director to seal it off. They find evidence of multiple sinkholes near a forested neighborhood. The investigator almost falls into one and is saved by Gage. Another cave-in topples a teenager in a tree house and Johnny rushes to his aid, calling for more help via radio to Gil. Another earthquake knocks Gage out when a tree branch clobbers him. Brackett and the investigator launch a search of the field when Cap worries about Gage's lack of response. Roy wakes up, overhearing a broken outgoing only transmission from Johnny over the HT, professing that he's injured and with another. DeSoto bolts upright and breaks house arrest by using his dog Shania to track Johnny's whereabouts down. Under broken trees, Johnny works to keep his patient alive. At Rampart, Joe Early and Dixie find Marco recovering and celebrate. They leave to go call Johnny via dispatch about the good news. Brackett and DeSoto find Gage down a hole with the teenager with the help of Shania the dog. The investigator finally relents when the teenager codes and needs immediate paramedic and doctor help after he hears that Marco is awake and talking from Dixie through an HT radio patch. Later, at the hospital, everybody celebrates the teenager's saved life and Roy's aquittal. Everybody bristles when the FEMA investigator makes a reappearance, but the man is bent on apology. In a box, he gives Roy a check for Station 51's charity and DeSoto's returned paramedic's badge and license. Dix and Kel leave the room to let them all heal. Special B. Too Close To Home Roy and Johnny cut loose during a really good handball game. Gage teases Roy about making vacation plans again much to DeSoto's chagrin. Chet Kelly shares a brainstorm about Station 51 collectively buying a race horse and running her on the circuit to earn and split all the winnings. Everybody signs the contract, except Roy. Morton's teased by Kel when he shows up in a treatment room, paramedic treated for a trip and fall following a slip on a banana peel. Brackett orchestrates a nurse's revenge for Morton's earlier horrid bedside manner against her. Station 51 responds to a riot at the sports stadium arena. They meet Vince, in the thick of his element, arresting thugs. They treat a thrown cop, and a handcuffed gang leader, who starts to choke, with a flail chest. Dixie discusses her day with Roy and Johnny over coffee and then surprises them on a tour to go see a current favorite patient of hers, Dr. Morton. Joe Early expresses a frank opinion about the racehorse deal, deflating Johnny's enthusiasm. While leaving Rampart, they hear a disturbance in a hospital room and go investigating a loud noise. They find themselves trapped with a partially conscious Morton, post surgical, following an ankle fracture repair. They are spared Mike's usual scathes when sedation proves its worth moments later. Squad 51 responds to a man down at a ranch and soon realize that it's at Chet's sister's address. Their worries prove well founded when Chet is located, bleeding badly on a shattered chicken coup following a horse toss. They're about to treat him when their newly purchased race horse, crazed from fresh bee stings, charges them. All the medical gear, including the biophone, is trampled when Roy and Johnny choose to log roll Chet safely away from her under the fence. Chet is found in deep shock afterwards. He's oxygen support ventilated by the engine crew until an I.V., and a hemostat can be retrieve tricked from under the horse's hooves with a fire extinguisher. Joe Early and Dixie marvel at Chet's amazing recovery. At the station, shift change paramedics trade what-I've-wrecked-on-my-shift stories and bow their helmets to Roy and Gage's racehorse-gone-mad call for the highest damage total. Roy is teased about vacation planning again over lunch just as the tones go off for a shed fire.. at DeSoto's own house address. Cap lets Roy question the crowd and Vince about his kids as the garden shed starts to be hosed out. A neighbor's child, admitting to a sleepover, confesses that one of Roy's kids had played with matches, in the house. An errant spark ignites the house through the water heater. Roy, panicking, learns that his daughter is in the house from Joanne, his wife who faints soon after arriving home by car. He gets by all firefighters and into the house without his scba tank. Gage mounts a fast search for both daughter and his partner with an air bottle but only finds a dead kitten in the kitchen. He is forced to crawl on his hands and knees while looking for Roy due to thickening smoke. Roy's found unconscious from a blow to the head and is fireman carried out of the house by Johnny. Returning, he finds Jesse, Roy's daughter, in a closet and gets her out by sharing his air mask. A shot of epinephrine revives Roy from a nonbreathing state minutes later, and Gage finds his hands full with a confused combative partner for several seconds until he fully wakes up. The gang laughs when Johnny delivers a funny medical report to Rampart about the good positive change after he suffers a fit of high spirits. Movie One, The Fire Within (Episode 52) Part One A traumatized little boy travels to a park ranger station in coastline New York State with his grandmother to escape the memory of his father's death. An RN and Doctor Park Ranger team gets caught in an avalanche on a routine trail safety run. The Station 51 gang travels to the Appalachian Center National Park to participate in an extended season deer hunt before reporting to an airport fire station on the coast for career cross training. Hidden concerns effect the mountain ranger team's friendships throughout. The airport fire station crew suffers a practical joke war with the airport's control tower personnel and decide to get revenge. ARFF crew bond with a morning run along a runway at dawn. A fire chief gets Dr. Brackett's permission to use Roy and Johnny's paramedic skills. A Park Ranger captain paramedic befriends the sad little boy and decides a career shadow day will ease his grief. Station 51's deer hunt begins with a rocky start when Chet reveals his secret strategy for luring bucks. Chet outclasses Johnny archery wise on a deer target shooting contest. Gage gets the last comeback when Kelly chokes when targetting the real thing. The gang cheers up Kelly about his awkward first hunt over venison steaks. A cougar pays a visit to their deer camp and is taken out by a park ranger's mule and a female sheriff paramedic's bullet. Three sheriff paramedics kabbitz good natured banter at the national park's headquarters. The gang suffers the reality of the onset of sudden winter when their campfire needs a sudden snuffing. The sad little boy receives a tour in the park's rescue helicopter by their ranger pilot. Chet, fetching water for the coffee pot, discovers a river hypothermia victim, a kayaker in the shallows, and summons help. The station 51 crew begins treatment of their patient with warming and oxygen after radioing for assistance from the park lodge. They find a clue that their kayaker wasn't alone and begin a search upstream for a second victim. Bluebird Five, the tour chopper, overflies the gang's kayak rescue. Nurse and doctor park rangers worry over the call. 240 Robert sheriff's paramedics and helicopter pilot respond to the gang's incident. Chet and Roy marvel at a new steaming breathing device and intrabone I.V. which saves their first victim from death by cold. The second kayaker is found with a broken back and skull and is rescued from the water by Gage and Stanley. Johnny suffers deep body chilling. Sierra's paramedic park ranger Ted Cassidy treats Gage. Bluebird Five crashes after being caught in a dust devil. 240 Robert and the gang extricates the second kayaker with difficulty by chopper. Both river victims evacuated, the gang begins a new search and rescue operation for the lost boy and pilot from Bluebird Five. Johnny becomes enamoured of Morgan Wainwright, the 240 Robert unit's pilot. A nurse/park ranger recalls how she met the missing boy before she and the boy's grandmother rush off on horseback in a search operation. Gage has a run in with a cantankerous nurse and his doctor at the ranger lodge's hospital. The sheriff's female pilot shows romantic interest in Johnny. The boy and tour pilot come to on the forest floor below the crashed chopper. The pilot, gravely wounded, helps the child cope with parent loss while the boy struggles to care for the man's injuries. The searchers come up with a hypothesis of where the tour helicopter ditched and press harder on searching. Johnny reconciles with his lady doctor to amend their rocky start as patient and caregiver. The boy desperately tries to breathing revive his pilot friend when a femoral artery bursts and severe shock sets in. A smart mule locates the boy's lost navy cap and searchers soon find the lost chopper pair and begin emergency care. Part Two The park pilot, the crashed Bluebird Five chopper, and the boy are all airlifted to sources of repair and help. The child is reassured of his new pilot friend's eventual recovery by the rangers and park doctor. At dinner, the Station 51 gang tease Chet's still tender hunting impressions. The youngest park ranger girl tries a date attempt with her captain. Johnny wins the sheriff pilot's heart and she gives them all a farewell to remember as they start to travel to the coastal airport for their next trip stop at the airport's fire station. The gang is escorted to their training destination by the airport fire chief. Casual banter over the kitchen table bonds the two fire crews instantly. The L.A. gang is given orientation and training to airport firefighting in great detail. Dixie McCall phones them in New York to say howdy. An airport chopper paramedic arrives to the runway fire station with bad news about a distressed business commuter in the air. A passenger on the jet suffers cardiac arrest and collapses. A military jet is scrambled to assess the jet pilot's incommunicado emergency situation. Both Station 51's men and the ARFF crew pair up and respond in trucks with other fire services, to the runway. All the paramedics team up in ambulances or with first in crews. The jet lands on wheels but catches flame from a blown airlock door. The fire crews move in to rescue pilot and businessmen passengers. One by one, the casualties are moved to an emergency clinic by the airport terminal where the park doctor has rejoined them for triage operations. Roy and Johnny treat the cardiac arrested man along with their airport firefighter paramedic coworkers. All victims are evacuated to the airport clinic hastily being set up for them. In the airport tower, an air controller sees an ominous sight of the incoming lights of an international Concorde flight that declares a sudden ice bound air emergency. The situation goes pear shaped when the aircraft crashes, taking out a radio antennae and killing all on board. The flat lined heart victim is left abandoned on the side of the runway in the face of the new emergency. Damaged are the air control tower, the main airport terminal and three grounded passenger airliners still in docking place. A new massive large scale incident is declared and the airport fire chief hastily reassigns them all to specific rescue tasks. An airport fire engineer is assigned the radio room at the fire station with another firefighter. The 51 gang is split up between search and rescue of the control tower and main terminal, after organizing themselves with the triage doctor from the Appalchia park center. Captain Stanley is given command of a second rescue operation along with Mike Stoker. The fire engineer links up with a bus driver who has a ham radio for emergency communication. The fire station dalmatian is released to assist her crewmates outside. Armed with extra gear, air bottles and hoses, all the firecrews move into the heart of an inferno in a two pronged attack, one into the main terminal and the second into the blacked out and still burning air traffic control tower. Roy and Johnny rescue an air traffic controller from a burning control tower. Cap finds and resuscitates an airport worker on a search and rescue mission. A major aviation fuel leak is discovered in a ruptured pipeline underneath buckled flooring in the main terminal. Roy and Johnny rescue an air traffic controller from the burning control tower. People are found trapped inside a burning stairwell and inside a gated airliner. Only half the victims are extricated when the passenger jet explodes. Dr. Brackett goes to New York to help out in triage. A newborn, a lung burned man, and an ill child are treated in evac. The disaster green zone is relocated to a safer location in a city park near the airport as the fuel fire grows. Airport firefighters struggle to find a pipeline shut off valve to end the fire. A boy is rescued from a luggage conveyer belt but suffers cardiac arrest. A lady doctor in triage is effected when an EMT friend is found injured on the airfield. An airport firefighter is trapped inside a valve room with activated clean agent fire suppression gas. A female firefighter is overcome by heat. Station 51 and most of their airport fire host crew rushes in to rescue their man stuck in the clean room. Doctor Brackett treats and gives a pep talk to the female firefighter. Johnny and Roy begin a high angle rescue to enter the terminal around the roof hole created by the fuel fire. The trapped fireman is found buried under debris. DeSoto and Gage begin to shut off the main fuel valve again that had been started by their victim. Cap and Stoker are trapped on top of a collapsing parking ramp garage while rescuing an old man and little girl. They're forced to jump into a life net when cars begin exploding. Stoker is injured by shrapnel. The trapped fireman is freed and the fuel fire valve is shut off, ending all fire. Post incident, Dr. Brackett, the national park lady doctor, sheriff's lady pilot and all the arff and the Station 51 gang suffer emotional effects of the ordeal in conmiseration at the airport fire station over dinner. The lady firefighter and arff recovered from his clean room exposure muse over their future. The 51 gang is sleeping it off in a dark bunk room. All except Johnny, who's entertaining the lady pilot, on pillows. Special C. Fire In The Sky (Episode Fifty Three) Johnny and Roy go camping in Santa Rosa County. Gage burns his ankle on hot coffee. While on a solo meditation hike, Gage runs into two strange men named Chakotay and Tom Paris. He begins to treat the Native American Chakotay who has suffered air crash related injuries. He radios Roy to rendevous and begins to carry his new patient back to camp. They wait out the night before beginning to hike to a ranger tower to summon a rescue party of park rangers. Roy and Johnny don't like Tom Paris's evasive answers about their identities and reasons for being in their predicament. Chakotay subtlely orders Tom Paris to use his combadge technology to boost Roy's HT. A chopper's called in from Sierra Rescue. Tom Paris beams back to the ruined shuttle craft when Chakotay begins to exhibit dire Borg reaction symptoms and activates a new test version of the EMH for a cure of hypospray nannites. Then he destroys the ship after pocketting the EMH's holo emitter into a pocket. He then cures Gage of a Borg infection secretly by using a water bottle. Chakotay is flown to Rampart for emergency surgery. In an operating observation dome, Paris receives a transmission through his combadge and runs for a bathroom to answer it. He encounters a hologram of Reginald Barclay from Project Pathfinder inside the lens of a security camera. He is told to expect a new visitor as well as the only other surviving members of Starship Voyager's bridge crew. Tom runs into Boothby, working with Chakotay's surgical and ortho teams. Paris learns about being inside of an echo version of 1976 that has Halley's comet appearing years ahead of schedule because of the wormhole that Chakotay and he used to escape the Borg of their own time that caused their shuttle crash and Voyager's demise. Boothby shares that he is a Nexus ribbon duplicate El Aurien, a Listener, like Guinan. He states that the 1976 echo they're in has altered physics, one where any fire started by electrical means, begins an exothermic green plasma fire, one that can never be extinguished once started. And that there is an ancestor of one of the away team trapped with them inside of their echo timeline surrounding Los Angeles. He also reports a new twist happening inside of echo 1976, An aged Roy DeSoto appearing in a current newspaper photo.Tuvok and Janeway arrive to aid Tom Paris in reinitializing the shuttle EMH to cure Chakotay of his post surgical injuries at Rampart. Janeway determines that the background in the photo is the L.A. County fire museum. They all coordinate plans to go investigate the new anomaly there that was currently creating an alternate old Roy DeSoto from the echo 1976 one they already knew, after springing Chakotay from the hospital using Boothby's amnesia aura, they confront Old Roy DeSoto inside the time pocket, which is current day 2010. He is confused by seeing restored Squad 51 and newly arrived Ward Engine 51 sitting inside the museum in front of a mock up of his fire station 51. They treat him for untreated electrical injuries. Old DeSoto gets frightened when they tell him he splintered off of his 1976 echo, when he was shocked with a defibrillator by Karen Overstreet, a trainee paramedic. He leaps into the restored 2010 version of Squad 51 and rushes for the outer boundary of his museum time bubble trap and starts an irreversible green plasma fire. The away team rushes outside to meet him in echo 1976 to stop him from meeting his doppleganger self face to face, which would cause mutual annihilation of both the echo and real universes. They lay phaser fire at the emerging squad pushing through the time barrier, but are interrupted at the arrival of fire stations responding to a fire call about smoke appearing at the fire museum. They hide to escape being discovered as having future technology. Old Roy DeSoto makes it into echo 1976, but 2010 squad 51 does not survive the time barrier and returns back from where it came inflicting grave facial and head injuries to the Old Roy DeSoto. Janeway and her away team discover that Old Roy is wearing the modified time buffer combadge Tuvok created to protect against time paradox and stand back as the 1976 echo Squad 51 team of Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage treats him. Old Roy DeSoto cardiac arrests. Boothby holds back the away team, knowing that use of a defibrillator would cause another plasma fire outside. Meanwhile, Janeway orders her escape pod into the museum to self destruct to put out that plasma fire in 2010. Boothby soothes her choice that will forever strand the away team to 1976 Earth. Johnny Gage acts instinctively and is drawn into the green fire with old and young Roy DeSoto and Chakotay. Gage is the ancestor they've all been seeking and the time line corrects itself at the activation of the defib Roy used on his older self. Echo 1976 disappears when Old Roy is reunited with his own younger self in real 1976 as he is being defibrillated by Karen Overstreet at a house fire. Watching, Boothby confided to Janeway that the whole crash experience, the Borg, the destruction of Voyager, and both time echoes, were all an elaborate test for Janeway to prove to him that she was ready for becoming admiralty. He zips away back to the Nexus ribbon while the Voyager away team takes their reconstructed escape pod back through the Halley's comet wormhole, home. Boot, the station dog whines farewell as they depart. Special Story, The Gale Force Nightmare TEXT ONLY STORY The gang talks about Gage's weird behavior during a cold and windy day at the station. The whole gang rolls out for a motor vehicle accident call on the freeway. Engine 51 crashes due to high winds en route. Roy and Johnny are plunged into a paramedic's nightmare when they are forced to start a rescue of their own. A truck hits Squad 51 and blows up just after Chet pulls out medical gear and the biophone. Mike Stoker and Cap are found in the wreckage. Additional fire help is summoned by radio. Kelly aids Roy and Johnny in treating and locating Marco, Cap and Stoker but then suffers the aftermath of the crash himself. Gage and Roy take him out of the action and utilizes a second alarm crew to free the rest of the gang from Engine 51's wreckage. At Rampart, all but Roy and Johnny are admitted as patients and treated. Stoker is brought into surgery to fix internal injuries. Roy and Johnny visit Mike after his surgery in his ICU room. Gage reiterates the bad feeling he had before their rescue call and begins to blame himself for Engine 51's crash without revealing the reason why. They go visit Cap who threatens to physically get up to see his engineer himself when Dr. Brackett points out the obvious that he had torn his own stitches by moving. Chief McConnikee visits Roy and Johnny in the hospital nurse's lounge to tell them they are reassigned to another station while replacement vehicles for Engine 51 and Squad 51 are found. Dixie uses her gentle presence to calm Roy DeSoto's worries about the whole incident. She is called away to ICU at a disturbance and finds Mike Stoker agitated. She calls Roy and Johnny to come calm him down. Dr. Brackett entered the room to recheck Mike's medical status and finds just complications from coming out of anesthesia on the engineer. Cap shares with Roy and Johnny that Chet had been admitted due to injuries that he had kept hidden. Hank comes to visit Mike and is lectured by Brackett to slow down and return to his room. In the hallway outside of Stoker's ICU room, Roy confronts Gage once again of his unfounded anxiety but Johnny doesn't fess up. Kel orders them home. Mike Stoker's wife arrives and is filled in about her husband's condition. She reassures Johnny about his doubts on the crash as Roy arranges for Joanne to stay with her. Dixie complains about Hank's stubborn determination to try and visit Stoker again. Roy and Johnny tell her they'll talk to Cap in his hospital room. Hank orders his two paramedics home after he promises them that he'll finally rest. DeSoto and Gage sit in the hallway outside of Cap's room and seriously consider crisis debriefing with a counselor. Johnny falls asleep so DeSoto carries him to a bunk in a nearby residents' cubical closet. They awake to pizza and free I.V.s courtesy of Dixie. Refreshed fluid wise after a few intravenous lines and food, and good news about Mike. They fall asleep again on the cots. They awaken to find clean clothes left by Roy's wife. They go visit Marco and Chet to see how they are doing in their patient room. Vince Howard arrives to drop off Roy and Johnny at Station 51 so they could drive themselves home. But, too tired to do that, DeSoto and Gage settle down into the bunkroom at the empty station to rest. Roy confronts Johnny about his feelings over the accident. Not reassured, Johnny goes to sleep. At Rampart, Dr. Brackett is visiting Mike in a checkup when he notices that the engineer has fallen into cardiac arrest. He begins CPR and calls a Code Blue team to the room. They barely recapture a pulse after discovering that a wrong I.V. had been hung on Stoker's intravenous line causing too much potassium. Brackett raises holy Caine at the nurses' station to discover who made the error. He then goes to visit Hank Stanley to break the news about what had happened at his bedside. He shares the legal issues and the course of the next steps the hospital would take. Chet and Marco find out afterwards by phone about Mike's near death due to a mistake when Cap tells them. Roy awakens in the bunk room to a pale Johnny Gage who shares Mike's arrest scare that he learned from Dixie. They shower and take Roy's pickup truck back to Rampart. At McCall's desk, stress overwhelms Johnny and he faints. Brackett treats him. Roy calls Hank at his home following Stanley's discharge from Rampart to break the news about Johnny's collapse and the possible reason why. Hank returns to the hospital to set his paramedic straight. Johnny tells them about what was bothering him. A date that he thought he saw that was months too old on a can of engine oil in the apparatus bay. Hank takes charge and calls Charlie via Dixie, who was in the waiting room with his family, waiting for his turn to see Mike Stoker. Charlie the mechanic soon sets Gages fears to rest when he had Brice confirm that the year on the oil can was future hence. Cap falls asleep in a chair, watching Gage sleep when he finally relaxed in complete relief at the news. Joe Early and Dr. Brackett confer about the Stoker's I.V. error in his office. Roy DeSoto runs into a Spanish male orderly and is disturbed by the animosity he thought he saw in the man's eyes. Roy makes the rounds of the gang's rooms and tells Marco and Chet in their shared room of Gage's situation. Reassured as best as he could salvage, Roy decides to go see Dr. Brackett about the strange orderly he encountered who had looked so angry. Outside of Chet and Marco's room, he runs into Gage, truant from his hospital bed, Dixie, Maximillion the bum, and Lt. Crockett, the police detective. Max shares that he called Crockett for a good reason. He relates that his grand nephew, jealous of Max's rich inheritance, was possibly targetting the firefighters for being recipients of the bum's generosity in the past. Crockett orders police guards for all the gang of station 51 at their hospital rooms and family homes. Gage collapses and is treated for exhaustion by Dr. Brackett and Dixie. Gage wakes up and realizes the intruder fear he had about Stoker was actually a nightmare. He is reassured that all the gang is okay after the engine crash and only then does he begin to relax, that's until the Santa Ana winds start to blow once more outside his hospital window. Movie Two, En Route, Episode 54 Part One Dixie escapes the bustle of a boring work day by hiding in the paramedic base station, suddenly aware of negative emotions that are preying upon her. Joe Early enters the room and offers sage advice by having her seek out a paramedic appraisal of her nursing career thus far for rebalancing. McCall feels the weight of job boredom and is shocked when she suffers a snappy mood with the other nurses. Roy and Johnny get into an argument about another of Gage's crushes, this time on a female EMT on a Mayfair ambulance. At the station, Cap tries to conduct a monthly meeting but is met with empty donut plates, a sulking Henry, and a grumpy fire crew. He throws a surprise mock scenario still alarm that activates the EMS and fire department grid along with Rampart. The guys pull a prank on Marco using an I.V. line. En route to the hospital, a pair of female EMTs read Gage the riot act about cheapening their mock drill by his joking around. He learns a thing or two about their job perspectives and cooperates on livening up the training run for a new EMT. Things go smoothly, for a fake head bump until it came time for a faked seizure. At the hospital, Dixie is stuck with calming the angry EMT afterwards. At lunch the gang discusses recent events about the female EMTs and suffer bouts of food possession. Chet is ecstatic about a summer without Johnny until he learns who is replacing him when he leaves to go work for Mayfair in an exchange program. McCall escapes into the doctor's lounge for a desperate break. There Joe and Kel offer sympathies about her day and offer a new idea to recharge her unhealthy mood and attitude about her career. Dixie leaps at the chance to serve on a Mayfair ambulance along with Roy and Johnny. Station 51 responds to an unknown call at a marina warehouse, once there Station 8's Captain Stone waves them off when he discovers a failed arson attempt on an already burned building with no trapped victims or fire. Squad 51 receives a call about a woman down and leaves the scene. Traveling to the address, the two paramedics are increasingly nervous as the quality of the neighborhood goes down dramatically. The sound of gunfire prompts them to radio for police escort. They are met up with Vince and a CHiP cruiser. Howard orders them into bullet vests and they head off to go find the squad's patient before the resident gangs retaliate. They find out that their patient isn't a patient or unconscious. They referee a cat fight that breaks out involving alcohol. A boy is discovered suffering from self inflicted vitamin poisoning and Squad 51 begins steps to treat him aggressively. Johnny meets up with his EMT crush on the Mayfair ambulance. Complications arise when the gangs set a park on fire in the neighborhood, trapping police, ambulance and Squad 51 right where they are at the triplex. Copter Ten rescues the EMTs and paramedics by leading them to safety by guiding them along the L.A. Riverbed to a pickup point. A young EMT Gage is infatuated with is taught about emotional detachment on the job. Dixie, Roy and Johnny get fired up over the start of their summer as Mayfair Ambulance management staff on their first morning. They make new Mayfair EMTs at ease with pizza and light banter. Officers Poncherello and Baker from the CHiPs division make themselves known as participants for the summer's orientation. Johnny is stunned by the discovery of advanced paramedic gear on the fleet of Mayfair ambulances in the company garage. Joe Early checks up on Sharon Walters who inherits Dixie's head nurse spot while she's away as ambulance manager. The gang gets acquainted with Craig Brice and Bob Bellingham, battlion transferred paramedic firefighters, who will man Squad 51 in place of Johnny and Roy. Station 51 is first on scene to a truck fire and Cap is made the Incident Commander when it becomes apparent that a tunnel fire has caused a brush fire to start on a nearby hill. Mayfair ambulance is put on triage alert. Dixie sends CHiPs Baker and Poncherello to the incident when her office scanner mentions traffic control help is short handed. Together, CHiP Ponch and Brice and Bellingham find a teenager near a fatal fire in the tunnel. Cap and Marco rescue a trucker from a gas leak. Gage is treated for light fumes exposure. At Mayfair, Roy and Johnny crisis debrief all the EMTs about on scene death. Dixie learns about the loss of the iron poisoning boy so she creates a new tradition about celebrating saves in patients to cheer up the whole ambulance company. Chet is coddled into bed when Brice notices his high fatigue level. Gage asks his crush, EMT Rosalie out and she accepts. Ponch finds out Gage has won the future girl of his dreams and gives her up gracefully. Dixie is comforted by Kel after a hard day at the office. Joe is plagued by a chaotic night in the ER involving dogs. At a morning buffet, Dixie finally gets her answer from Roy and Johnny about her current status as friend and colleague in their eyes. A buffet breakfast at Rampart and a newscast awakens Dixie's and an EMT's instincts about something amiss in the larger scheme of things. Dixie's relieved when all Mayfair EMTs report for duty. Station 110 discovers a sudden ugly reality, receding ocean waters. The whole L.A.Co.F.D is mobilized when a tsunami hits their coastline. Mayfair Ambulance's fleet along with Station 51 reports in to a disaster Staging Area near Rampart in Torrance. Doctors Brackett, Morton and Early report to Triage as rioting breaks out from shocked evacuees in the surrounding neighborhoods. Rampart struggles to take in all critically injured, Mayfair arriving patients. Part Two Engine 51 mounts a search and rescue of a beachside hotel for tidal wave victims while fending off looters. Engine 10 and Captain Stone, assists them. A second large tidal wave strikes, effecting Mayfair Ambulance's patient evacuation route. Brice and his two CHiP officer EMTs find themselves on the shattered remains of a toll bridge. Gage's Mayfair ambulance is discovered missing. Battalion One assigns a USAR Taskforce to mount a rescue operation. Brice struggles to save a spinal injury victim. USAR discovers signs of a Mayfair crashing off a bridge. Gage resuscitates an EMT while trapped under rubble. The two get down to the business of survival without trying to kill one another. A USAR team takes in Roy and Bellingham into direct operations at the site of the bridge collapse. Morton triages Brice, the CHiP officers and their patient. Dixie breaks the news about Gage and the death of an EMT to the rest of the Mayfair Company. Brackett remembers the new biophone all Mayfairs now carry and notifies the Navy to set up a communications buoy to regain lost radio capability in the bay. USAR, Roy and Bob begin operations at the bridge. Communications are re-established out at sea for all the rescuers. Gage prepares to move himself and his EMT patient out of the buried ambulance for fear of a rising lunar tide. They crawl through the wreckage of the bridge to start their escape and discover another injured woman, a military technician who claims a family is trapped in a flooding van behind debris. Johnny treats life threatening symptoms on the woman and then goes after the other victims. He is caught underwater by a piece of falling debris. Roy and Bellingham sneak back to the pile using force. Ponch and Jon are sent back to the bridge by Brice and Dr. Early as eyes and ears when signs of the missing ambulance are discovered. Dixie suffers a flashback and is treated by Craig Brice. Brackett finds out about Dixie being triaged and there's H*ll to pay. A third tidal wave rescues Johnny and a victim from a van. USAR is forced to evacuate the bridge collapse as the new tsunami makes landfall. Sharon Walters deals with a riot at Rampart. Gage's Mayfair is found washed onto the beach and empty and the smashed toll bridge disappears beneath the waves. USAR orders a Coast Guard chopper to map out the sunken bridge and hollow caisson tower bases. Rampart is rescued from the mob by three CHiPs officers and Vince. CHiPs Ponch and Jon summon beach lifeguards to aid in the search. Dixie awakens from her rest break and returns herself back on duty as Mayfair's manager. USAR detects five heat signatures beneath a collapsed caisson in the middle of the bay along with a bloody blanket from the Mayfair ambulance's medical gear. Dixie checks up on Sharon Walters at Rampart. Divers find a way into the caisson. Gage has his hands full with a willful EMT patient. Engine 51 lands on the caisson with help from Baywatch lifeguards. Johnny learns about his new disease from a wise old lady, it's true love. USAR finds a hole leading to signs of survivors after a dive. Gage rehydrates his patients with I.V.s. USAR locates a panicking female child in the rubble and sedate her. Other sounds of victims are discovered. Ponch and Jon reconstruct water forces to pinpoint a probable search area for Gage and Rosalie's trapped location. Bellingham flies out the little girl from the rubble while Desoto and Brice discover three more victims. Dixie takes a Battalion Chief enforced breather and visits Sharon Walters at Rampart. Brice and Roy work fast to stabilize three victims they find but lose an unexpected fourth. The gang returns to station 51 in the engine for an overnight recuperation from rescue operations. Joe, Morton and Kel find comfort in each other's knowledge during a food break. Roy DeSoto's overworked state is discovered. CHiPs officers meet Battalion at their HQ and become a triage site. Vince Howard is found critically ill of an infected cut. Johnny and Rosalie set off exploring their surroundings when one of their patients dies. Dixie orders her Mayfair EMTs to body detail at search and rescue sites. Dixie visits Vince in ICU and works her calming magic. Ponch and Jon get a lightbulb idea to use Henry as a search dog. Roy finds out about the plan. Chet alerts USAR when Henry finds a scent. Johnny Gage heads back to the core chamber for medical gear when Rosalie develops cardiac tamponade. Henry discovers Gage's scent coming out of a crack in the collapsed freeway and USAR pulls out all of the stops to unbury the site. Roy, Brice and Bellingham are assigned there on medical standby. Henry is given an I.V. to rehydrate him. Three victims Johnny treated are found by Roy and Brice. An EMT with Johnny is killed, devastating Gage and making him give up the will to live when a cave-in occurs. Henry finds another hole leading to Johnny. Ponch enters and it's a race to free him before the rising tide fills the chamber. Brackett saves the day when Johnny slips into cardiac arrest due to drowning. Roy and Johnny deal with post traumatic effects due to the bridge collapse but are healed somewhat at the rising of a new one. Special D- Sierra-The Urban Rangers- (Episode Fifty Five) (STILL IN PRODUCTION) as of March 1st, 2011 ============================================================= ============================================================= By Character Injury Tally Johnny 1.Full Moon Blues-Buried by an earthquake toppled hose tower and hand stabbed by a rod. 2.Father And Son- Falls down boobytrapped stairs. Concussion. 6.The Golden Horn-Swept away underwater into a quarry, drowning. 8.The Promise-Nearly asphyxiated by freon gas in a collapse. 9.Green Pen Of Johnny's- Buried in explosives factory roof collapse. Smoke exposure from an airliner crash, inhalation shock. 12.Crossing The Red Line-Broken leg and benzene fumes apnea. 14.Twisted-Concussion from a crash while in Squad 51. 19.Sacred Ground-Slips on a mechanic's slide board at the station, knocked out. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 24.S.N.A.F.U.-Lightning ozone exposure. 27.Heavy Duty-Trapped by a fallen truck. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. Special A-The Face In The Mirror-Struck by tree limb, broken arm. 41.Attrition-Victim of a garbage fire and car accident. 47.I.V.Push-Concussion and broken leg in a storm/tree collapse. 52.The Fire Within-MovieOne-Hypothermia. 53.Fire In The Sky-Burns ankle on coffee. Almost becomes a Borg. --.The Gale Force Nightmare-Faints from exhaustion following a stressful fire engine crash. 54.En Route, Movie Two-Fumes from a fuel fire, scraped by sinking debris, cardiac arrest. Roy 3.Juxtaposition-Leg trapped in mud inside a school bus. 8.The Promise-Water tower collapse drowning, and gas exposure. 10.From Loaves To Fishes-Fall off a mountain cliff, chlorine gas. 12.Crossing The Red Line-Concussed in an ambulance explosion. 14.Twisted-Beaten up by a neighborhood gang. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 24.S.N.A.F.U.-Lightning strike. 27.Heavy Duty-Trapped by a fallen truck, stuck and injected with a drug syringe, near drowning. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. 37.Primary Complaint- Deafened in an explosion at sea. Special A-The Face In The Mirror-Sleep deprivation and electrical shock. Special B. Too Close To Home-Smoke inhalation. 41.Attrition-Receives minor injuries in an MVA. 52.The Fire Within-MovieOne- minor burn in airport fire. 55.Sierra-The Urban Rangers- head injury in a fall. Marco 1.Full Moon Blues-Retrovirus infection and gassed in earthquake 3.Juxtaposition-Buried in mud inside a school bus. 17.That Latin Flair-Electrocuted into unstable tachycardia. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 24.S.N.A.F.U.-Lightning ozone exposure. 28.Smoke Screen-Faints due to psychogenic reasons. 33.California Dreamin'-Hang glider crash/snakebite. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. Special A-The Face In The Mirror- Electrical shock and drug overdose. 49.The Helper's High-Shot in the hand. --.The Gale Force Nightmare-Injured in a fire engine crash. 54.En Route- MovieTwo-Victim of I.V. fluid overdose. :) Cap 1.Full Moon Blues-Knocked out by falling ceiling debris 2.The Golden Horn-Falls into a mine, hemorrhages. 20.Recertification-Gunshot to the chest. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 25.The Overhaul Principle-Stress and chest pain. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. 36.Tower Drill-Minor injuries from ceiling collapse. 49.The Helper's High-Severe closed head injury. --.The Gale Force Nightmare-Injured in a fire engine crash. Chet 2.Father And Son- Anhydrous ammonia inhalation and ruptured spleen during an escape using the squad. 4.Within Sight-Breaks knuckles on a punching bag. 7.Crazy Days-Falls into the LaBrea tarpits and nearly suffocates. 11.Shadows of the Past-Faints under a river. 17.That Latin Flair-Burns hands in a soup kitchen grease fire. 22.In Certain Terms-Fire ant stings. 24.S.N.A.F.U.-Lightning strike. 31.All That Glitters-Vagal faint from hypovolemia. Nailed on the back of the neck by a flying board. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out and apnea. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. Special A-The Face In The Mirror-Electrical shock cardiac arrest. Special B. Too Close To Home-Leg hemorrhage from a horse toss. 39.Burnout-Smoke inhalation breathing difficulty during an oil refinery fire. 45.RichterSix-Fractures a shoulder in an earthquake. 51.What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing..-Dies in a post fire collapse. --.The Gale Force Nightmare-Injured in a fire engine crash. 54.EnRoute-MovieTwo-Attacked by a head injured man, forehead cut. Stoker 4.Within Sight-Gets blinded and lung burned by steam. 11.Shadows of the Past-Trapped in an outhouse fire. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. 43.The Quint Connection-Scalded on hot coffee from a camp fire's pot. 44.Pump Peculiarities-Collapses from emotional stress with tachycardia. 52.The Fire Within-MovieOne-Stoker is injured by shrapnel in an airport explosion. --.The Gale Force Nightmare-Injured in a fire engine crash. Cardiac arrests from an I.V. murder attempt. Dixie 9.Green Pen Of Johnny's-Nailed by flying glass at Rampart. 15.00:51-Faints into a swimming pool. Collapses from appendicitis at home. 27.Heavy Duty-Concussion from an explosion. 32.Water Day Saints-Suffocated in a gas leak. 41.Attrition-Critically injured in an automobile crash. 54.EnRoute-MovieTwo-Experiences a flashback crisis, psych emergency. Early 25.The Overhaul Principle-Head struck, blunt whipped. 50.The Other Side-Gassed by nitrous oxide during an earthquake. Brackett 2.Father And Son- Punches window in anger. Cut arm and hand. 5.Integrity Game-Smoke inhalation during a ferry fire. 23.S.N.A.F.U.-Car crash, tree branch impalement. 32.Water Day Saints-Suffocated in a gas leak. 50.The Other Side-Gassed by nitrous oxide during an earthquake. 51.What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing..-Suffers a hypertensive crisis. Morton Special B. Too Close To Home-Slipped on a banana peel, broken ankle. 46.The Long Hours-Salt water drowning in a plane crash. Nurse Carol Evans 25.The Overhaul Principle-Body slammed into a door. Nurse Sharon Walters 50.The Other Side-Rheumatic fever attack. Patrol Officer Vince Howard 42.Pilot Light-Collapses in metabolic electrolyte crisis. 54.EnRoute-MovieTwo-Septicemia from an infected cut. Charlie the mechanic 7.Crazy Days-Learns he has heart disease at Rampart. Sam Lanier, L.A. dispatcher 19.Sacred Ground-Suffers a fatal cerebral hemorrhage at work. Chief McConnikee- 6.The Golden Horn- Killed by roof collapse onto his battalion chief's car during a fire. Paramedic Craig Brice 13.The White Engine-Burns hand on hot doorknob. 14.Twisted-Smoke inhalation, hospital recovery. Joanne DeSoto 8.The Promise-Stabbed by a mugger while pregnant. Chris DeSoto 3.Juxtaposition-Hurts knee in school bus mudslide. 18.Fish Out Of Water-Smoke inhalation, ocean pier fuel fire. 44.Pump Peculiarities-Dies in an alcohol related drag race. Henry the dog 13.The White Engine-Smoke inhalation and cardiac defect. 54.EnRoute-MovieTwo-Dehydration from search operations. Bonnie the dog 23.The One That Matters- Delivers a litter of puppies. =========================== The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode One- Full Moon Blues.. ******************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 3:04 am Subject: The Dead of Night... It was 5 : 30 am, the slight scent of smoke lingered still in the station house from the engine and squad only a half hour returned from a fatal fire, and the drone of avenue traffic outside was ceaseless. A single light was flicked on at the writing desk in the bunk room. "Gage! Do you mind!" Hank hollered. Johnnie looked up, mortified, in rumpled t-shirt and run pants, one suspender fallen down over his arm. "*Cough* Sorry, Cap. Uh, just a sec, I gotta...uh. Gotta make a phone call.." "Well hurry it up.." Chet mumbled even more grumpy then Cap was. "Shh!!!" hissed someone who sounded suspiciously like Marco and Mike in tandem. "Arff!!" Bonnie yapped in reply. Roy jumped in his bed from his sound sleep at the noise and nap jerked awake, "HUhhhHH?! Ohmygod..*sniff* ohhhh, it's the d*mned dog. Johnnie would you let her out? I'm too sleepy to...too sleepyyy toooo aaaa" "Yeah, ok. I will, buddy. Right after making a phone call." "Will you starting dialing already?!" Marco snapped, flipping over on his pillow and squinting in the light. He immediately buried his head under his pillow in a vain attempt to block out the idle unwelcome chitchat filling his bedspace. His voice sounded five octaves lower than normal and cracky. "ok, yeah. Just hang on.. I gotta, gotta look up the number here." Johnnie said. "Marco.. You shoulda let me and Roy take a look at ya after that four alarm. You're really losing your voice, man. A little O2 could fix--" "Gage!!" Cap called out from behind another rusty brick partition. "uh, what Cap? I was just helping out." Gage's smile twitched as he balanced the phone onto his ear while he dialed his number in the dim light he was trying to shield in vain.. "I am a paramedic after all. I mean it's my duty to be part of a team. To look out after the guys, 24/7 . Heh." he chuckled. "Well, it's definitely 12/5 for me Gage. Shhh!" Chet groused. "That goes for me, too.." Mike added. "Arff!!" Johnny jilted in his chair when he heard the sound of pissing fill the air. "No! Bonnie no!!" and he dropped the phone on the desk in a dive to reach the Boston Yorky squatting in the middle of the linoleum floor. "Bad girl.. Baddd.." he hissed in a whisper. Chet piped up sleepily, "What? That aimed at your date for refusing you yet again?" Then the scent of a second Bonnie misdeed reached them all. "Ahhggh." "Fah!!" "Gage! Clean it up NOW!" "Johnny,.. you should have hurried.." John was on his hands and knees scrambling for a foot locker under the desktop which held a roll of papertowels. He flipped open the door and hastily snatched for it, all the while stammering apologies and short failed jokes under the guys angry barrage. "Ow.! Ok. All right already.. " he said when a ballistic pillow from Marco nailed him across the butt. "I'm hurrying I'm hurrying. Just let me flush this..." and he hastened to the john with his steaming burden of towels. Bonnie cheerfully followed him the whole way. A brief peace reigned over the bunks except for the desklight and snores punctuated the air. Then Johnny came back into the room, sat down in the wooden wheeling desk chair and picked up the black phone receiver again. "Oh, no you don't.." Chet warned, loudly. "We've already lost the first five minutes of a long four days with no sleep." "Get to BED!!" Cap roared. "Groovy, Cap. Just what I was saying.." Gage knew he'd pushed as far as he could get away with and reluctantly set the phone down again, his whole purpose of non sleeping going unfulfilled. "Gage.. If you aren't under those covers in five seconds, I'm assigning you a month's tower detail!! Five! Four! Three!!" Gage shot out of the chair, slid on the floor in his boots in a dash for his cubicle. "Gage! The light!" Marco rasped. "Two!!" Johnny belly slid across the floor to the light's plug and yanked it. The room was plunged into total darkness. Bonnie began to howl at the rising tension from her human family. "Oh for Pete's sake, Johnny. Give her a snack.." Mike exclaimed. "One!" Cap roared. "Gotonebymybed!" Johnny squeaked as he dove, blind, into the air and landed on his mattress, the bed springs squealed from his impact about two seconds before-- "Zero!" Cap yelled. "Now not another peep outta you for the next hour and a half until dawn." "Sorry C-" "Ahahah..! NOT a single word." Cap seethed. "Ok." came Johnny's soft meek answer. "Gage!" "Allright all right. Sorry. Geez,, I mean all I was trying to do was--" "Hey Cap, should I zap him quiet with the defibrillator?" Roy suggested sleepily.. The gang erupted in giggles. Johnny just snorted as he hushed and petted Bonnie quiet as she pranced on his bed while he stretched out under the sheets, begging him for the treat he held in his hand. Gage felt wet doggy tongue slime his finger and the bite of tiny teeth as she grabbed it from him. "Ow,, hey.hey hey.." he whispered to the darkness. Then a thought occurred to him. "Hey guys? Do you think I just reinforced her little accident by giving her a cookie like this?" "Shut up!!" came five instant replies. Then the klaxon alarm went off and the house lights kicked on automatically. Dispatch issued the call and the gang were on their feet instantly. The call was.... --------------------------- Photo- The station speaker grill Photo- A spectacular night time fire at a warehouse with hoses spraying high. *********************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 4:14 am Subject: Rotten Luck >"Shut up!!" came five instant replies. >Then the klaxon alarm went off and the house >lights kicked on automatically. >Dispatch issued the call and the gang were on >their feet instantly. >The call was.... "Station 51.. Dumpster Fire. 427 Supolveda Ave. Cross/Street Maple. 427 Supolveda Ave. Cross/street Maple. Time out 0540." came LA's run. Chet struggled into his suspenders with a long suffering moan. "Oh, man. Gage. You're gonna pay big time for this.. I could of gotten to REM sleep." "Yeah..?" John said sarcastically. "Well, you should be thanking me. If you hit REM you'd be too groggy to man a hose for our fourth dumpster fire." he said, rushing after the curly haired irishman. Roy and John hit the squad and Cap got the garage door and thumbed the callback mike, "Station 51, KMG 365." "Hey, Cap!" Gage shouted over the loud rumble of the garage opening onto the street and the sounds of Stoker starting up the LaFrance and all the gang slamming their doors as they piled onto the Ward engine. Cap looked over grumpily, flipping up his overcoat collar and tightening his helmet's chin strap. "What? Can't it wait, we're going on a run here..!" "At least this one won't take long! That's only ten minutes away.." Gage said as Roy threw the truck into drive and peeled out of the garage top speed. The lurching almost gave Johnny whiplash. Gage rolled up his passenger window and turned on DeSoto. "Hey, Roy, what are you trying to do? Kill me? I was talking to Cap there.." "You mean my defibrillator comment didn't sink in? I wasn't joking." Roy said, flipping on the sirens and lights. The dark streets filled with the sirens of Station 51 soon after and the boulevard ahead of them emptied of traffic. His face was almost pure iron. Gage set a hand on his chin. "I don't believe you, man. You're really angry, aren't you? I didn't make Bonnie crap all over the station intentionally. I was only trying to-" "I know what you were trying to do, Johnnie.." Roy said, taking his eyes off their speeding route only in brief intervals to stab glares at his dark eyed partner. "It's just that sometimes you just don't think." He gripped the wheel tighter as Johnnie pointed out the next turn. "I don't suppose you get the fact that we've been on runs for four shifts straight. And on none of those nights have we gotten a stretch of sleep longer than an hour. I don't suppose that the term 'sleep deprived' has any meaning for you.." Gage readjusted his helmet on tighter when Roy thunked over railroad tracks a little too fast and it jostled off his head. He fought with it for long seconds until he finally tossed it onto the seat in frustration, going bare headed despite the Code R. Roy just glared at him, not saying much. They arrived, engine and squad onto a seedy city block that was quiet, full of sleeping apartment buildings with black wrought iron fire escapes and one burning dumpster down a dead end alley. Cap dragged himself out of the cab and viewed the sight of such an annoying type of fire with a groan. "Man.. Another one..How many does that make it Lopez? Four tonight?" "Yeah.." Marco croaked in his throat. "One an hour since that four alarm.." he rasped in irritation. Cap sighed "Ok, you and Stoker grab out an inch and a half, we'll have this washed in ten minutes. We gotta make sure that alley of junk hasn't sparked anything beyond that dumpster.." "Right.." Lopez nodded. On his way past Johnny, he couldn't resist a longer than average accusing stare.. Johnny felt ganged up on. "What did I do? All I did was get up to call Lydia. And Marco, I still want to take a look at your throat when we're done here!.." he shouted after the rushing Marco. Chet smiled. "Gage. You're not popular with him this week. Remember he remembers that he lost that bet with B Shift about how many times Bonnie messed on your bed." "Very funny.." John said. "Go make yourself useful and pick those crates up over there and move them out of the way for us.." Roy and Johnny saw Cap stand in the cab and report to LA that the incident was minor and that the station would be wrapping up in about twenty minutes. Mike and Marco approached the blazing dumpster and tried to hook its lid shut with a fire crook to smother it, but the lid had been tied back against the chain link fence. "Oh, man. Had to be hard.." Mike growled. Marco said to Stoker. "Gage put you in a bad mood, too?" he said hoarsely. "What?" Stoker said over the roar of the fanning inch and a half raising noisy steam from the belching dumpster as water began to suppress its flames. Cap took a sniff and asked. "Stoker.. You smelling turpentine?" A huge explosion ripped through the dumpster and it flipped end for end into the air straight up into the night sky and then down again.. "Look out!!" Cap shouted. Marco and Mike abandoned the hose and its high pressure water stream started bucking in the old newspapers and trash in the alley the moment they let go of its nozzle to run. The dumpster narrowly missed pinning their feet from where they threw themselves down onto the ground and its red hot edge landed on the hose, severing it. A hose burst drenched the entire gang in spitting ice cold water. Cap shouted from where he was standing and he barely managed to slam the engine cab door shut before the water got inside. "I don't believe this.. can we have any worse luck?" Stoker got to the pumper and turned off the water so that a new hose could be drawn and filled. A moan filled the silence.. from the ground where the dumpster had been. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute! There's somebody over there..!" Roy shouted. John ran to the squad and flicked on the squad headlights to shine into the piles of junk in the alleyway. As one the whole gang sifted through the garbage until.... ---------------------------------- Photo- Roy and John in turnout in fog. Photo- At night, firefighters battle a stack of burning pallets. ****************************** From: "Clairissa Fox" Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 12:38 pm Subject: Big Troubles.. >A moan filled the silence.. from the ground where the dumpster had >been. >"Wait a minute. Wait a minute! There's somebody >over there..!" Roy shouted. John ran to the >squad and flicked on the squad headlights >to shine into the piles of junk in the alleyway. >As one the whole gang sifted through the >garbage until.... "Hey I see a foot!" Marco said, thick with laryngitis. "Where?" Mike said, shining his torch where Marco had pointed. He saw Lopez digging in a pile of cardboard, and they all converged on the spot, flinging away water soggy debris when, another moan filled the air, this time, from another direction. Cap was sharp. "Hey gang, fan out." Meanwhile, Marco had located his foot, it was an old boot, rank with stale beer. "Oops, not here.." he said. The fog from the harbor began to spill into the alleyway, mingling with the smoke from the extinguished dumpster. Roy began to call out. "Hey mister! Can you hear me? L.A. County Fire Department. Keep talkin! We're trying to find you...." Another cry, this time legible.. "Over here.. Help me.. I--." Cap gestured to the left this time. "Hang on, I got my men searching for you right now. Keep making noise!" then he confided to Roy, "That's danged odd. How can someone that injured be in three places at the same time?" "Don't know, Cap.." Chet thrashed around with an old board, moving aside boxes, and bottles and half spilled steel trash cans, right down to the pavement when-- "Ahhhh...Stop!" Kelly froze. "Guys, over here. He just reacted to what I was doing! But I can't see anything in this fog!" Johnny, Roy, Mike, Marco, Cap, and Chet all ran to that area of the alley which seemed thick with rot, and refuge under their gloves. The stench was only made worse from the water the broken hose had sprayed all over. The headlights of the squad were uselessly muffled in the mist and Gage moved instinctively near Roy to have a reference point. All their flashlights hit the back wall and the damp brick work there under another fire escape. Gage erupted. "I can't believe we didn't find him!" and he whirled around. Cap said, "All right, everybody. Back the way we came." Just then, came the sound of a very familiar starter, and a motor of a truck roared to life. The ghostly headlights of the squad wavered. Gage noticed it right away. "Hey! Hey!!" Gage yelled, running and leaping over crates and boxes. "Cap!! Someone's making off with the squad!!" "What?!" came Hank's voice. "The squad.. It's just been stolen!!" All heads raised just in time to see the two beams of lights from the squad flip around in a high tailed spin as it made its get away. Cap raised his HT. "L.A. Respond a police unit to our location. A carjacker has just made off with our rescue truck.." ##Ten Four, 51. Advising L.A.P.D to your incident.## "I don't believe this..!" Johnny exclaimed. "Who would do something like that? We're on a victim search here..." Marco suddenly gathered to the others with an old speaker rigged to a battery operated recorder in his hand. "How about a bunch of pranksters?" And his glove hit the play button. Trailing moans, just like the ones they had heard following the dumpster's explosion and the same cry Chet had heard, issued out of it. "Oh, man.. we've been set up by drug addicts. Thought the address seemed familiar.." Gage groaned. "Isn't this the same neighborhood where the San Pedro gang hangs out?" Roy stood leaning against an old hat rack. "Yep.. They must be after the pharmaceutical box." he said with a sigh. "That tears it.." Cap said. "When the police get here, let THEM search for more of these planted recorders. I'm not wasting another minute on this.." he roared. "Why me? Why US!!" he said, marching away back towards the engine. His voice came floating back towards the gang. "John, next time you have the brilliant idea of using the headlamps. Close your door next time huh, pal?" Gage's face fell as he wiped off a trail of water running down his plastered hair left over from the wild hose. "Right.." Chet said, "I wonder if they'll trash the squad.." "Oh, Chet..." John said sarcastically moving over to Stoker to help them put the hoses, the good and the bad one, away. A minute later, Vince and Martins pulled up, reds flashing. The burly officers ran out with their guns drawn into the air until they spied the bedraggled, soaked firefighters all lined up along the running board of the pumper. One glance of the recorder and wires Cap tossed him and the way Gage was rubbing his face in frustration and weariness told him the immediate urgency was over. Vince waved his junior man to holster his weapon and did the same. "Everyone all right?" he asked setting his hands onto his hips. "We're fine. Anyone birdeye the squad yet?" Hank asked. Vince shook his head. "Looks like he or she made a clean getaway. And it'll take a while to locate it too. The seafog's rolled in for the night.." "Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll try to go for a joyride.." Chet said, wringing out his drenched overcoat around the rear hand bars of the pumper. "Not likely.." Gage commented. "Listen, ah, Vince. Can you give us a ride to the station house? It's cold out here.. "Yeah.." "Go on, fellas. " Hank said. "We'll meet you back there. No doubt Vince has a stack of paperwork for us to fill out for the police report.." Roy and Johnny both grabbed blankets out of the engine's stokes cab to use as towels and a way to keep the squad car's seats dry for the trip back. "Looks like a full moon.." Vince said as Roy, Johnny piled in the back of his car. They waited for the engine to back away from the dirty alleyway. It headed off, silent reds turning off, leaving behind two more police cars which had arrived to begin setting up the crime scene. Gage heard over his walkie talkie. "L.A. This is engine 51. Mark Squad 51 out of service until further notice." ##10-4, 51..## Johnny's head banged into the window frame as Vince drove them home, and he said closing his eyes. "Oh, man. If I had known this was going to happen, I'd have never made that phone call earlier, Roy.." "You had no way of knowing.. Just a bad run. That's all." "Chalk up another bad one in about four days of bad. I'm beat.." "We all are.." Roy said scratching his nose. "Just that time of year, I guess." Vince spoke up from where he was driving. "I know what you mean. The PD's been getting odd calls and pranks all week. Must be a conspiracy going on out there or something. But rest assured. The San Pedro gang's got h#ll to pay for this latest stunt of theirs. Grand theft auto is ten to twenty. No bail in this county for any with prior felonies." "It is? Good.." Gage said closing his eyes again, his arms crossed together for warmth. Roy had already taken off his sodden trenchcoat and had laid it on the floor behind the wire partition separating him and Vince. Then he too, nestled back and uncontrollably nodded off. Vince drove a little more gently the rest of the way to the firehouse and Martins turned down their radio's volume a few notches. -------------------------------------------------- Rampart General, was a madhouse. Dixie McCall was in high gear, one trail of hair falling over her face as she delegated a sudden flood of incoming through her ward. "What now?" she said of Station Eight's paramedic team with their burden.. "We've got a drug overdose.. Don't know where he managed to get it, but this guy's got all the ear marks of meperedine toxicity. Brackett's already ordered us to start Narcan. And we couldn't get in an NG tube. He's been convulsing too much." Gil replied. "Oh, great. Treatment two.. Uh, Dr. Morton will be there in a sec right after he deals with another street gang type in with the same problem.." Dixie was about to unwind for a few precious seconds mentally when Station 10 rolled in. They were working a full arrest. "What do you got?" "Police were chasing this guy for stealing an L.A. county rescue squad. He didn't watch where he was running by the harbor, hit his head, and fell into the water. Took us over three minutes to fish him out." "A squad? That explains everything. And from the way he's tattooed, I'll just bet he's related to the other five we've just received in house. Has the whole world gone crazy tonight?" "Must be.." "Treatment Two.. Interrupt Brackett's arm laceration. He's just making a row of stitches neat on another biker type. He can handle your man." Dixie said. She watched her orders being carried out and then got onto the red phone to staffing. "Yeah, This is McCall in Emergency. Could you send down a doctor to finish handling a minor laceration in Two? We've a code in. Thanks.." and she hung up the phone. Dixie looked up and began to wonder when the night would ever end. "I hate full moons." Dr. Early had saundered up to get from Dixie the next patient in from the barrio neighborhood. "Why? I think a full moon is romantic and very beautiful. " he said in his calm soothing way. "Not when it's turning a street gang into a pack of wild maniacs, it's not. A bunch of them just made off with a rescue squad and they had a heyday with the paramedic's drug box." she groused. "I know. I just pronounced one of them.." Early said, rubbing his hand. Both nurse and doctor fell into a somber mood. ------------------------------------------------ Roy and Johnny and the rest of the gang were all nursing steaming cups of old coffee around the kitchen table. Only Martins seemed to have enough energy to play tug of war with Bonnie. "And that should do it boys.." Vince said. "Your accounts here and the fact you finally located a tape recorder should put the last nail in the coffin on this gang's activity. Gage winced. "Let's just hope its not for a real one, Vince. I don't want to find out that anyone died here.. Thanks, buddies.." he said, giving the two officers a small grin as they left the station. Cap leaned back, already showered and in a clean uniform, from his chaise lounge. Bonnie came running over to tug at his shoes in play, but for once, Hank didn't shove her away. "I don't want to even know what Charlie found with the squad when the police called him out to tow it." "Was it spray painted?" Chet asked. "Don't know. Didn't you hear what I just said, Kelly? I don't WANT to know. It's bad enough riding shotgun with another station's squad like we're going to have to do for the rest of the day..." "Sorry, Cap.." Chet said. Marco suddenly set down the phone. "Hey everyone! My mama heard on the news about the squad being jacked and she and Mrs. Bandido have made us some breakfast burritos in sympathy. They're on their way now to drop them off." "Hey hey.." everyone smiled and the kitchen burst into a more happier mood as the sound of a rich meal that was imminent cheered them. Bonnie barked, abandoning Hank's shoestrings and ran around the table until she had her dish in mouth. She sat up, begging. The whole gang laughed. It was fifteen minutes later. The burritos had arrived, were utterly inhaled and the gang was now splayed out on chairs and couchs completely at ease with the world. Then they heard the outer garage doors open and saw Charlie backing the rescue truck into its usual place with his tow truck. Johnny gasped as he saw a peek of it through the kitchen door. The gang left newpapers and chairs to gather round in the pullup garage in a cluster. Roy opened up his mouth in shock and said......... --------------------------------- Photo: Dixie on a red phone. Photo : Cap crashed on a black chair. ***************************** From: "ecrewgroupie" Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 2:10 pm Subject: "Whew!" >Roy opened up his mouth in shock >and said......... "I can't believe it! Not a ding! Not a dent! Not a mark anywhere!" "Whew!" his equally relieved partner exclaimed, as they finished circling their seemingly unscathed vehicle, "We really lucked out! Man! We gotta be more careful from now on, though. We may not be so lucky next time." "Repeat after me, gentlemen..." Charley coaxed, as he came stomping stiffly up to the reckless pair. "There isn't going to BE a 'next time'!" Squad 51's paramedics cringed and stood there looking like a couple of school boys being taken to task. "I can't hear you..." Charley reminded the men, with a menacing glare. "There isn't going to BE a 'next time'," the pair parroted and continued to avoid any contact with the angry mechanic's narrowed eyes. Seemingly satisfied, the rescue truck's rescuer tossed their Captain the keys and began taking his leave. "Oh" he casually called back over his shoulder, "Before the two of you head off anywhere, you might wanna check out the side compartments..." -------------------------------------------- No attachments. **************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 4:11 pm Subject: Helping Out >Seemingly satisfied, the rescue truck's rescuer tossed their Captain >the keys and began taking his leave. "Oh" he casually called back >over his shoulder, "Before the two of you head off anywhere, you >might wanna check out the side compartments..." Johnny and the others watched Charley depart with a little more fear for his seemingly prophetic comment upon leaving, then they usually had, of him. Cap rubbed his nose, saundered over to a random door of the squad's flanks. And pulled. California kelp oozed out of the rappelling equipment compartment and onto his shoes into a noodled pile. Bonnie started barking at it suspiciously. Cap pursed his lips and said. "Chet, you start on clearing out this litter in here while Roy and John inventory what equipment we still got left.." Hank ordered. "Aww, Cap.." Kelly protested. "Aww, nothing. Tell me you know every single item in the paramedic inventory and I'll let you trade places with Gage and DeSoto. Do you? I'm not hearing anything......" "uh,, not really, Cap.." Chet mumbled. "I rest my case. Now gentlemen. I suggest we get to work. I don't know about you but I'd rather burn some elbow grease getting our squad compartments here back in order than have station 8's here with Brice and company aboard like they're scheduled to be doing starting at 1300 if we can't be absolutely call ready by then. Catch my drift..?" "Boy do we ever.." John said. "Brice might be coming here?" "Yep. So get cracking.." Cap said, clapping his hands together and then he disappeared into his office to change shoes. "I want to squash that possibility before it ever happens. Kapesh..?" his voice floated out to them. "Hey, Cap, uh, I thought we were a team. You know, the all together in this kind of thing.." Gage hollered after him.. "You know. Working through the good and the baddd.." he hinted.. Cap closed his door soundly. Roy peeled off a towel Chet threw into his face into one hand and he regarded Johnny thoughtfully. "You know, Johnny, you'd better ease up venting like that. Cap's a cap. And what he says, goes.." "I know that. I know that.. But why does he always have rank and privilege pull for him whenever he feels like it should? Always seems to happen during the hardest shifts. Especially full moon ones like today's." "Experience has its rewards, Johnny. And bailing out at will just happens to be one of them associated with Captain's rank." Roy said with a small shy smile. "Come on, I'll haul out the gear boxes and O2 to check them and you can get the dressings and splints taken care of, all right..?" Gage nodded and dejectedly followed him to the rear hatches of the trashed squad. Chet ducked when they opened those doors leading to the resuscitative apparatus, as beer cans poured out in a musical tumble onto the floor. Bonnie grabbed one and started growling as she attempted to chew it up. "Hey, give me that.." Gage said. "You'll break your teeth little girl.." and he traded slimy beercan for rawhide bone. "Here, take that.." he said. The toy he gave her was so big, it pulled the tiny dog's head to the floor and she had to tug with all her might to get to her customary spot under the engine to enjoy gnawing on it. Roy dug out all the cans he had discovered, chuckling at Chet's overstrung nerves and got to the O2 equipment and dragged it out. "Well, thank heavens for small mercys. Looks like this apparatus is ok." Johnny flipped open the drug box and found only air. "Not here. Figures.. All the unused syringes are gone too." The I.V. and dressings boxes were untouched, but in the stokes, they found a dummy, stuffed with trash and wearing a sign saying, "Thanks for being the life of the party, fireboys!" Roy heard Marco coughing as he leaned over to scrub saltwater off the hood of the squad and he casually said. "Lopez, check out the resuscitator for me will you? Johnny and I need to get a list together for a reissue of supplies." And he motioned for Gage to follow him into the kitchen with the drug and I.V. boxes. "All right.. " Lopez said, raspily. From around a corner, Roy watched Marco check all the psi readings and visualize the tubing connectors and regulators and then he smiled as Marco did a draw check on the mask over his own face with flowing O2. Lopez smiled as the oxygen soothed his raw throat and he took a few more thinking no one else was watching him. Johnny grinned, poking his partner in the ribs. "You crafty old.. You did that intentionally.." "Course I did.. Did you think that Marco would have let either one of us get any where near that throat after the night we've had.." "No..." Johnny said, shaking his head thoughtfully. "Well there you go.. That 02 will give him relief and take away some of that inflammation of his.." Roy said, as he sat at the kitchen table to check out the conditions of all their I.V. solutions and setups. John was considering Roy's angle of attack on Marco."Hey, Roy, I think I can trick Lopez into drinking my mother's honey birch bark tea to coat that throat of his.." "Not a chance.." Chet said making his way into the kitchen to dump out smeggy water from his bucket into the sink. "He's still sucking away out there and loving it, but ah, about him actually taking real medicine? Uh uh, Gage. Ain't gonna happen. Not in your lifetime." "Oh, really." Gage grinned. "We got him on oxygen therapy without him catching onto us fussing. What makes you think I'll fail with doing more?" Chet finishing filling his steel pail with hot water from the tap."Because Roy here is much better on the sly that you are, Gage. If you try anything else, let HIM do it.." and he walked back towards the garage. "Or, if you two are really concerned about Marco's cough, you can tell Cap about it." Johnny looked at Kelly as if the sky had fallen. "And ruin a great friendship?" "Not to mention the direct tie to a wonderful pair of burrito chefs.." Roy quipped. "That too.." Johnny nodded eagerly. "No way.. Chet. We're not going to resort to that.. Marco's not a baby. We'll just we'll just...uh, " "Fuss over him.." Roy completed for his stammering partner. "Yeah.." "Ok, have it your way.." Kelly said. Then his head peeked around the corner and he added, "I'll let you know how long he uses the demand valve." "You do that.." Johnny said with firm concern. ----------------------------------------- At Rampart, the fiasco with the San Pedro gang, had died down. Dixie, Joe, Mike Morton and Kel Brackett all sat around the nurses' lounge table nursing colorfully etched coffee mugs. None of them were saying much to each other. Until Dixie took her hand away from her chin. "Hey Kel, How did that drowning fare? You know the one who stole the squad from the fire department." "Didn't make it." "Oh," she said, suddenly interested in the cream swirling in her mug. "Sorry.." Joe piped up. "Two of the five aren't going home in body bags at least, Dix. They'll be facing trial for grandtheft auto and impeding official rescue service. Not to mention possession of narcotics." "Ah." McCall said without much vigor. Another long stretch of silence reigned. Until Mike said, "Hey, guys. Did you know that it was 51 whose squad was trashed?" Dix, Kel and Joe all erupted into reaction. "No, I didn't know.." "Oh, my.. Those boys have seen their share of misery this week." "That's too bad. Anything we can do?" Joe added. "I can see if I can swing some funds from the paramedic training program to cover their losses.." Brackett said. Dixie added, "And I and the other nurses can plan a party for the whole gang, to cheer them up a little. How about this weekend? At my place? I've a great little veranda, and a pool." "What a great idea. It'll take their minds off work for a while." Joe agreed. "Then it's settled." Dixie grinned. "As soon as I get off shift, I'll start making plans..maybe even a surprise party angle will work.." "Now wait a minute, Dix." Kel interjected. "How do we know Roy and Johnny's crew haven't already made plans for the weekend?" "Easy to check.." Dix smiled. "We have all the boys emergency phone numbers. We can call their friends, family and spouses to double check. I can do it." "And I'll make the Beef Bourginon." Early piped up. "What are you going to do, Kel?" "Wait a sec, I'm being dragged into this whole thing?" Dixie's look could melt steel. "And why not? You should at least make an appearance as the head of Emergency Services-Rampart ; to show your appreciation for all the hard work your two best paramedics and their stationmates have done for us.. Especially this week. Kel, have you seen their run sheets? They been frought with fatalities..or else, it's those crazy dumpster fires. That's bound to be more than just a little frustrating don't you think?" "Oh, all right. I guess I can bring a bottle of wine or two over for a few hours.." Brackett sighed, giving in to peer pressure. "Well, all right.." Dix said. "Now we have to come up with some entertainment." Mike Morton said, "I can always bring my guitar.." "You sing?" Joe said, almost spitting out his coffee. Brackett tossed him a napkin or two to clean up before the dribble reached his collar and white jacket. "A little.." Morton said defensely crossing his arms. But his smile was mild as he regarded his colleagues. "I do a fair job." "I sing too, doctor. " Dixie grinned. "And I'd be honored if you'd let me sit in on a few songs." "Be my guest.." "Then that's that.." Joe Early said. Everyone took his cue and rose in their seats, eyeing the time running out for their mutual breaks. "I'll let you know what time this Saturday boys.." Dixie said as they dispersed back into the hallway and to their own routines. ------------------------------------------ John looked up when he felt a tapping on his shoulder. "A minute ten. Twenty two breaths, Gage." Chet said, whispering around his newspaper at the table. "What..?" "That's how long and how often Marco connected with the O2 earlier, man. You said you wanted to know.." "Oh, yeah. Right. Thanks, Chet. Seems to have worked. He's speaking more clearly and that cough of his has been less." "One more assist in the bag.." Chet said happily secretive. "His mother will thank us for going through the trouble of fussing like this." "His mother?" "Yeah, she's the one who called Roy asking him to check out Marco yesterday night before we all went to bed." "You actually talked to Rose Marie Lopez?" John said with amusement. "I don't even think I've ever met her.." "Yes, sweet old thing. And we had a nice conversation, too.." Chet said. "Seems Marco's in the market for moving out of the house and into an apartment for the two of them.." "He is?" Roy said, munching on a bagel. "Money problems?" "No, just getting closer to assisted care for his mother. She says she's getting on and would like someone to come in every so often to help her out so Marco can free up more of his time to live his own life.." "She told you that?" Johnny asked, in a whisper. "Yeah, man. Like I said, she's a sweet little old lady who'll talk your ear off just as much as she'll fill your stomach with food you can die for.." Kelly admitted. "Oh. Maybe we should ah, should ..ah, help them out to find ...a place like that, Roy.." John said when Chet retreated back into his funnies section. "What do you think...?" he said uncomfortably rubbing a non existent ache in his neck. "Johnny, don't even go there. You know how private Marco gets with his personal life. If we're having this much trouble getting him cared for following fires, what kind of trouble do you think we'll get into prying into his private affairs?" Roy asked reasonably. "Well, I don't know. I.. I just think we should help him, that's all.." Johnny grinned and frowned with no confidence.. "Uh huh.. Easier said than done buddy boy.." Roy said, and he turned back to his snack, trying not to catch an irresistable snooze that seemed to be creeping up on him in the background. The noon day sun started streaming through the window onto the couch and Bonnie stretched out underneath it luxuriously lengthening her limbs and moaning with a contented whine. Cap quieted her with affectionate scratches on her belly without looking around his incident reports. "Nice job all, on the squad. We're back in business." Marco piped up from the water glass he was sipping gingerly. As yet, Johnny's herbal tea, was untouched. "Anything to keep Brice out of the station.." he quipped. Then he coughed a few times, clearing loosening phlegm from his chest. Johnny and Roy both cocked an ear to hear how those noises had sounded. Then the two paramedics both pursed their lips in grins of success behind their newspaper pages. Things sounded way better for Lopez. The phone rang and Captain Stanley rose to answer it. "L.A. County Fire Department. This is Captain Stanley... uh, huh.. " he said as he listened to his caller. "Uh,.. hang on.." He turned to the other guys and said..... ------------------------------- Photo- The luckless squad with equipment strewn about. Photo- Black and White of the Gang in the Kitchen. **************************** From : Katherine Bird Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Big Brother.. Date : Fri, 18 Oct 2002 21:42:50 +0100 (BST) >The phone rang and Captain Stanley rose to >answer it. "LA County Fire Department. This >is Captain Stanley... uh, huh.. " he said >as he listened to his caller. "Uh,.. hang on.." >He turned to the other guys and said..... "Gage,.. it's a Lydia Montegeaux, calling from San Bernadino, inside our district..." For some reason, Cap was beaming ear to ear. Johnny shot up from his chair quickly to snatch the phone away from Cap to cover the receiver before the entire company erupted into cat calls and hoots and whistles. "WHeeuuueeEEEeeee, way to go, Gage." "Is this that chick you were trying to call last night? Man she must be really hung on you Gage to call back after you didn't." "Another date? Hey fellas, five dollars down he doesn't arrange dinner plans during this phonecall. Put your gatas where your boca is.." Marco rasped. "I'm in.." Mike said, pulling out his wallet and throwing down a crisp five where Marco was pointing on the table top vigorously. Cap just threw up his hands. "You guys are relentless.. Now cut that out.. Give the man some privacy.." They ignored Cap because he was still grinning and even Roy threw down a rumpled bill on top of Chet, Marco and Mike's. John shot acid towards them all , hunching over around the mouthpiece of the phone, turning his back towards the rest of the gang after hissing a few indignant warnings to them all to hush down. Then he completely changed his tone of voice. "Uh, Lydia, Hi sweety. *Smooch* I love you, too. How's your arm today? Yeah? The doctors give you a big cast? Wow, I can just imagine. " he paused and his face beamed into a big smile as he slipped into a bonafide protective mode with his voice. The guys piped down when they realized that Gage was talking to a little girl of all things. All their mouths hung open, then one by one, they all retrieved their betting money back thoughtfully as they more or less politely easedropped. Mike started guessing. "Is this a kid you and Johnny had on a rescue?" Roy shook his head and shrugged. Chet said, "Cap, why didn't you tell us it was a little girl on the phone.." "Because it was none of your business, Kelly, now was it..?" he said from around the sports page. "I tried to warn you all to respect Gage's privacy...." Roy studied his now empty coffee cup and spun it around on its base in deep thought. "Yeah, that you did.." Johnny turned around towards the table again and suddenly finger snapped for a pad of paper and a pen, his green one still on the wordfind he had been working on before the phone call. All the guys hastily shot to their feet, to give the writing pad to him and his trusty pen.. "Give me that..." Johnny said, his voice's bite toned down, when he saw them kowtowing sheepishly to aid him because of their childish behavior a minute ago. He shuffled phone receiver to one shoulder and a chin and said, "OK, I got something to write on, hon. What was that again? 414 Rural route 60, San Bernadino Iduhapi Campground Resort? Yeah, so that was where I was calling into last night . It's that camp you told me about where the counselors take you into the woods and stuff for hikes and then teach Braille. Yes, that's right. You said your grandfather was sending you there this week. Yeah, That's not too far away for me to come visit ya.. I'll be coming.. Don't you worry..After all, I am your "Big Brother".." he grinned, and visibly melted as a very young voice warbled excitedly into his ear. "And I'm sorry about not calling last night like we planned for your cabin's sleepover in the morning in time for sunrise show and tell. I sorta kinda got interrupted..." And he glared at the gang for the treatment he'd received last night trying to contact Lydia. "Huh? No. no.. It's wasn't for a rescue. Just a.. just a tiny garbage fire.. Heh. " and he laughed. "Yeah, there's a lotta garbage in the city, that I'll admit. Yeah, I got it all right here. Your address and everything. You're really close, just a few miles away up in the mountains. I'll write and send ya a care package for you and the other girls all right? Ok. I promise I'll come visit ya on my shift off, yeah, I'll bring my firehat. I promise.. Ok, gotta go. ..Bye bye, Lydia.." And he hung up, smiling to himself hugely as he made his way back over to the kitchen table. The fellas were quiet, absorbing what they had overheard. Then Chet spoke up. "She a niece or something, uh, Gage?" "No..no. I.. I sort of volunteered for the Big Brother Program earlier this spring. Lydia's blind, and I got picked to be her sponsor for the summer. You know.. penpalling, picnics, that sort of thing. You see, Lydia's five and she requested a firefighter for her sponsor. heh. Guess she did that because her own father was one and passed on when she was three in a car accident...And, that's also, how she got blinded..." Johnny said. Then he cleared his throat self consciously. "Well.. now that all your nosy curiosities are satisfied.. I think I'll get back to my puzzles.." he said with a final glare of challenge. He met none, only nods of understanding and warmth. Chet spoke up again. "Wow, Gage, that's that's really something. Being a sponsor and all for her like that. I've heard of the Iduhapi retreat. That's in the heart of the San Bernadino Mountains, isn't it?" "Yep. Halfway between us and Station Ten. Believe it or not, it was Brice who told me about the Big Brother program they had going with the camp. I mean, I couldn't look like a fool and not help out you know what I mean?. He called me about it this spring.." Mike chuckled. "You mean you got suckered into volunteering because Brice was..." Johnny felt pinned when that truth was revealed. He just rolled his eyes and contented himself with tightening his lips. Marco coughed and said, finally sipping Johnny's special tea.. "Amigo, when are the two of you going to stop this one upmanship of yours. I mean. Even your paramedic re-cert scores were the same last month. I can just see it.. Soon, you'll start donating to the same charities in higher and higher amounts just to see who'll top the other.." "Yeah, well I draw the line there.. Brice is Brice is.. not my idea of a fastheld friend but there's station honor to uphold. Our station was the only one who wasn't involved with this Big Brother thing.. Couldn't let that stay that way.." "Appreciate it, Gage.." Cap said. "McConnike called about Station Ten's program and I was very very glad that you were already on the rosters. Only got a grunt of approval from the chief and no inspection dates." he said with relief.. "Glad to have obliged. I wash your back, and you wash m--, oh never mind, Cap. I'm having fun. Lydia's something really special and I'm really glad I can be there for her.." Roy smiled, getting up to fetch the coffee pot. "Want more coffee, Johnny?" he said. "Oh, no thanks." then he noticed Marco drinking his medicinal tea. "Hey, Roy.. He's doing it.." he said, holding up his puzzle page so Marco wouldn't hear him talking about him. "And Kelly here thought I wouldn't be able to get it by Lopez. Hehehe.. shows him a thing or two.." Roy rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, well. As long as Marco's cough goes away I'm happy." "Oh, it will. It will." Johnny said. "Between the two of us, we'll get him squared away." Chet had over heard. "Yeah, that's until the next big fire un-does all that nice preventative work.." "Shhst.." Gage said, knocking on wood. Marco licked his lips, draining the last of his cup and set it down while he read the National Geographic article he was turned to. Gage leaned in to Roy. "Hey, Roy, think I should sneak over there and pour more tea for him?" "Nah, don't over do it.. or he'll catch on.." "You're right." Gage said. "We'll just keep an ear out like we've been doing.." Roy said, "Ummmhmmm." from deep inside his article. Johnny turned back to his puzzle with a good heart, smiling when the next word he found in his paper turned out to be .. 'samaritan.' Bonnie barked when the clock struck one pm and the cuckoo popped out from over the couch, disturbing her nap. All was quiet for the next half hour until.... --------------------------- Photo: Gage smiling like a proud papa. Gif: A District map showing all firehouses in the Emergency show and their locations. Photo: Johnny's fireman's hat. ************************** From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject : [emergencytheaterlive] Bonnie's Bad Day Date : Mon, 21 Oct 2002 11:36:53 +0400 >Bonnie barked when the clock struck one >pm and the cuckoo popped out from >over the couch, disturbing her nap. >All was quiet for the next half hour until.... Roy noticed something strange. It made him do a double take from his newspaper. ::What th--?:: he thought. Bonnie had left her couch and was cowering under it, trembling. Roy nudged Johnny, who was deep into writing a pen pal letter to Lydia, the blind girl from his phone call, and he pointed Bonnie out without saying anything. Gage immediately frowned. "Chet, did you go and do something stupid like yell at Bonnie over some infraction or anything?" Kelly stopped working out with his hand held barbells on the exercise mat next to the mop cupboard. "What?Huh?" Then he noticed Bonnie laying low, too. "I haven't moved from this mat, buddy, since your phone call. I'm innocent this time. Maybe she's mad at you. It's your bunk she chooses to use as territory marking post on occasion." "Very funny.." Johnny said. He walked over and noticed Cap watching Bonnie, too, from his black recliner. "Cap, what do you make of it?" "I don't know. Maybe she's sick or something. Her food's hardly touched. Why don't you two go check her out? You and Roy are the stationhouse paramedics here.." he said in a no nonsense tone of voice that was also an order and he arched an eyebrow before turning back to his stocks page. Johnny began a protest, "Cap, I..." Hank briskly folded his paper to another page loud enough to drown out Gage's remark. Then he said, "Do I hear a little bird in here? Sounds like it's tweeting too hard or something.. Marco, why don't you go to the shed and open the main doors so it can get on its merry way.." Chet sniggered and so did Marco and Mike. Roy just rolled his eyes at his long time partner and was the first one to get up out of his chair to amble over to where Bonnie was cowering under the couch beneath Marco's legs. DeSoto knelt on his knees and peered into the darkness under the leather cushions. "Come here Bonnie.. Come on, girl. I just want to take a look at you.." he started baby talking when she picked up her muzzle from the floor and dipped her head at him, rising to her feet. "Yes, let me see you..." The tiny Yorkie whined a bit, and timidly wagged her tail but came finally into his hands. Roy picked her up, scratching her head and sat on the couch with her. Johnny sighed heavily and pushed back with a linoleum wood squeal in his kitchen chair and made a production of joining Roy with Bonnie. The dog was just as shy but affectionate with Gage as she was with Roy and that puzzled both men when nothing seemed amiss with her physically. Johnny said, "Now, Cap. I've been down this doggy exam route before. There's nothing wrong with her that we can tell.." "There must be, Gage. Have you ever known Bonnie to cower and hide before?" Cap countered. Chet piped up, "Not even after she's been using Gage's sheets as a latrine..." The guys laughed. Johnny glared at them. "Ok, all right you guys..So you've had good laugh off me. Now be quiet for a sec.."Then he lifted Bonnie's chin and went nose to nose with her. "Bonnie..Hey, I'm not annoyed at all here.. At least, not with you..." and he shot a look at Chet. "So what's your problem you little wriggling ball of fur?" Bonnie whined again and licked his nose bashfully. Gage caught his breath and pulled away, wiping doggy kiss off. "Yeah,.. love you too.." and he got up again. "Listen, Cap, I don't know what her problem i--hey... I know, maybe she's sick of her food. You know, maybe she wants a change.." "Yeah, a change like staying away from you, Gage.." Kelly said, unrelenting. "Why else would she be singling out your bunk and not anyone else's?" Cap threw an "end of fun" look at Kelly and replied. "Worth a shot there, Gage. Why don't you try some of that bacon from the crisper. There's some left over in there from breakfast." Mike said, "You mean, Marco didn't finish it all?" Lopez vigorously shook his head. "My throat's still rawer than anything. I only wanted a few bites.." "Ok. All right.." Johnny said holding up surrendering hands. "I'll bribe her, just like I do with the cookies at night to keep her from howling.." Bonnie watched Johnny go to the frig, listening to his babytalk tempting, right up until the bacon was held under her trembling nose. Her whine cut off and she sneezed with tension, jumped off the couch and retreated underneath it once more. The whole gang heard her whimpering start up all over again.. Johnny threw up his hands in resignation and shrugged. "I tried.." Then he looked at the bacon in his fingers and decided it looked pretty good so he dropped some of it into his mouth and the rest he slid under the couch with his foot. Cap concluded. "Chalk it up to another Bonnie personality quirk. Michelle did say Bonnie would be very like her mother that way." "Spitting image..." Gage grunted. Roy said, still slumped quietly on the couch. "I don't know.. This Bonnie's got more class. When she has a bone, even Steger on B shift can't get it away from her." "Heh. That's true.." Gage chuckled. Then he put his hands on his hips. "Why don't we just wait and see how she does for the rest of the day. If she's still off by shift change, we can just have them call the V-E-T later.." From under the couch, Bonnie's soft, incessant whines shut up. "Smart dog.." Marco said. "The old Bonnie never caught on to us spelling that word out l-.." Right then the doorbell on the side entrance rang.. "Ah, it's the school kids.." Mike said, "They're here with their teacher to get a tour of the firehouse.." "All right everyone.. Neaten up. Gage, tie your shoe.." Cap ordered. Gage lifted a knee and did so, losing his balance in his haste. Then all stood as Mikelead their guests into the kitchen. "Hello. Glad you could make it.. Everyone..this is Miss Cindy Thorne.. and these, running around us in figure eights, are seven students of hers from the Grover Middleland school.. " Stoker introduced. A short pixie like blond in a scarlet red dress came through the door and took off her sunglasses. "Fireman Stoker. Nice to see you again.. I hope it's not too busy a day today for that tour we prearranged." she said, shaking the hand of the man she had only heard on the phone before. "Not too busy.." Stoker grinned, letting go of her palm. "Glad you made it over. Traffic must have been a bear.." And at the same time.. Gage spoke, too. "No, no.. it's ok. In fact, we've done nothing much in the way of runs today.. except a few alley burns and a bunch of thugs who made off with the sq--" Johnny started up, but Roy nudged him subtly in the ribs in a hint. "Ah,..helped us get a lot of cleaning done today..." Cindy stayed focused on Mike, the one fireman she knew and replied to his comment. "The usual. I had the school van take us over instead of using the bus. I parked it in the back lot, is that ok?" "Sure.. that's fine. That's where we park our own cars.." Marco said. "That's right.." Cap brightened eagerly. "We have uh, milk and cookies for the kids if you'd like after the tour... Fireman Lopez's mother brought some over with lunch just two hours ago..." he said thoroughly gentlemanly. All the gang's faces lit up when the kids excited laughter and chatter about being in a real station house brought back childhood memories of their own and they gathered around the happy throng of seven children. "That's ok, captain. I made sure the kids had eaten before bringing them over. Last thing they need is more sugar. They're rowdy enough as it is.." the pretty teacher said as clusters of girls and boys ran in circles in a good natured tag game around them all. "Ok.. uh, would you like to split up the kids and have my men take one or two each to show them around the firehouse?" Hank asked. "That would be wonderful..Might work out better separating them like that. They can be a handful.." she laughed. " The kids were so excited about coming here for their annual field trip.." "No problem.. They know to rejoin you immediately if the call tones go off for us?" "Yes. We've rehearsed that just before coming here." Chet picked two of the older boys and said, "Right, You and you. We get to play with the sirens first..Race ya!!" and the curly haired firemen with his two shadows headed off in a mad dash for the La France.. "Aww, man.." said one boy not picked, watching them go.. Roy picked him up. "We'll all get a turn. Just be patient there. What Fireman Kelly doesn't know is that MY group gets to wear the helmets first.... Who's coming....?" "Me!! Me!!" came a girl's voice, a blond child dressed in blue and red. "Ok, looks like we go with this young lady here all right..?.." he said, setting down the disappointed boy. Roy and his two children trundled off to the garage shed after Chet's group of two. "Marco, why don't you come with me?" his voice floated back. "We'll get out our two helmets from the squad.." "Sure thing pal.." Lopez said, giving the elementary teacher a jaunty wave of departure. And he, too, disappeared through the kitchen door. Johnny took two more girls, twins, to show them the hoses in the back yard so they could play man the hose by the old engine parked out back. His two children eagerly ran up to the antique and climbed on board it. Cap saw where they were through the kitchen window and grinned when they all heard the brass bell go off as the two girls experimented.. Then he looked down at the final child, a very tiny boy with glasses, still holding his teacher's hand. He knelt by his side. "Hey son, why the long face? I'm the only fireman in this whole station house who's the captain.." "Wow.." he said, eyes getting really big.. "Yeah, so it looks like you and me are the only ones left.. That means we get to do the best thing before any of the others.. Mike's gonna stay back and chat with Miss Thorne here while we get to go do the tour.. Have you ever seen a dispatch radio before?" Cindy, Cap and Mike all grinned, thoroughly captivated by the cute awed expression on the boy's face when he slowly shook his head from side to side in hushed anticipation. Cap went on.."Well, I can let you talk to Sam, the man who calls out all the firemen everywhere to respond on rescues if you'd like.." "Wow.. can I really do that?" Cap winked at Cindy.. "It'll be the afternoon station's check.." he said aside. "Right this way.." Cap said, bending over and taking the herostunned boy's tiny hand into his own big one. They disappeared out to the garage, too, to the radio substation alcove by the big LA County map. Stoker was left with Miss Thorne by the table "Well, have a seat. This may take a while. The gang gets pretty entertaining whenever school tours stop on by...." "I can just imagine..." Cindy said.. as sirens and engine hoots and antique pumper bells filled the air punctuated by animated laughter from both children and firemen alike.. Then she heard a subtle whining that she hadn't noticed before because of her student's happy noises..... "Do you have a station dog around here, Mr. Stoker? I think I'm hearing one." "Oh, yes, That's Bonnie. She's having an off day today. She just started carrying on about two minutes before you and the kids arrived. It's nothing. As far as we can tell there's nothing wrong with her. She's right there under the couch." "Poor thing. She doesn't sound too happy right now at all. One would think that she was upset because of the kids.." "oh, no, Miss Thorne. She's usually running around playing tag with them full throt--" Mike broke off his sentence when Bonnie's crying suddenly ceased abruptly. A subtle low rumble rose from the ground and trembled into a great belching roar that slammed into their ears, shaking Station 51 up to the rafters . Laughter turned to screams from the children as the full teeth of a sudden earthquake threw them to the ground whereever they were from truck or hose like paper dolls. Out in the garage, the tremor burst open the main doors and they squealed in metal shrieks as they rose in their tracks until the fierce shuddering split them apart. --------------- In the fire engine..Chet grabbed his two boys and shoved their heads down onto the floor as he himself ducked as the ceiling came down in the garage, lights, rafter, roof and all, on top of the LaFrance, only narrowly missing Roy's side of the rescue squad. ------------------- Roy had his two students under the squad, and all three were choking on dust from the walls and from the stove's ruptured gas line pouring from the darkened kitchen. He hugged the children's helmeted heads tightly to himself and started to pray.. ------------------- Cap shouted but couldn't be heard over the roar of violated earth moving beneath the foundations. He yanked his terrified student deeper into the comm's alcove and pushed him against the wall to cover him up with his own body as the garage roof caved in behind them over the engine and part of the squad. ------------------- Simultaneously, out in the yard, Johnny managed to grab the two girls with him off the old engine and he brought them to the ground into the only open area away from the yard's brickwalls, before they swayed, disintegrated and collapsed around them. In his worry for the girls, Gage, wasn't fast enough to get himself into the clear. --------------------------- Only twenty feet away, the kitchen was remaining intact, shaking and shuddering. Mike Stoker and Cindy crawled under the swaying, shifting table, with Cindy screaming all the while for the children at the top of her voice. --------------------- Dust and tremendous destructive noise filled the air everywhere, for about a minute more, before silence fell over the place where six firemen, seven children and one teacher had been playing so joyfully a short time before. *** *** Cars on the boulevard outside Station 51, skidded out of control and screeched brakes as their equilibrium was thrown off as the earthquake sputtered and writhed around them. Then an awful quiet fell over stopped traffic as people, one by one, staggered from their halted vehicles. One driver looked up and couldn't believe his eyes. The firehouse he normally drove by everyday, had its garage collapsed down on top of its rescue squad and engine until only its outer walls were standing. "Oh my god..!" he said, "The crew must still in there!" and he and others rushed forward, but the earthquake had sent the water from burst hydrant out front, high into the air and smothering clouds of dirt and dust kept them from getting closer to the partially downed firehouse. From inside.. There was no sound coming at all until the tones for the California EBS system began to issue from the place the dazed auto driver knew was the station's radio alcove. A dispatcher's voice took up a new note of urgency when his board showed one base station horribly dark off his channel monitor. ##Station 51. Topological Survey reports a Richter Scale Class ground tremor in your vicinity. What's your comm and station status? ...Station 51, This is L.A. Respond....## Outside, the disbelieving driver didn't know if there was anyone still left alive in the rubble he was seeing to answer the call... ----------------------------- Photo : A very cute Bonnie wearing a red bow. Photo : The Station with both doors open, getting a tour with kids in the yard. Photo : A pile of red tumbled bricks in close up. Photo : A crushed fire engine. Photo : Station 51's block, levelled by an earthquake. Avenue and power lines in front are intact. Gif : The Emergency! title in red. Gif : An Earthquake alert symbol and icon in red and black. Audio : The disaster all call speaker tones, for four alarm call. ************************************* From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Aftermath Date : Mon, 21 Oct 2002 19:54:57 +0000 >##Station 51. Topological Survey >reports a Richter Scale Class ground >tremor in your vicinity. What's >your comm and station status? >...Station 51, This is LA. Respond....## In the blackness, the boy with glasses looked up. He could see a yellow light flashing on the radio over his head and could hear the dispatcher speaking. He was crying steadily in small sobs from where he sat up against the brick wall, and he looked out into the daylit ruins of the garage. A steady cloud of water misted from the shattered hydrant by the street into the bay and cleared away some of the worst of the dust. ##Station 51. Transmit HT as an alternative. All bands have been cleared for you. This is L.A.. Respond....## The boy looked down. Next to him on the ground was the fireman who said he was captain for the others. He was lying on his stomach and not moving. Remembering what his mother taught him about helping people, he got up, pushing wood chards and debris off of himself, he quickly snatched the microphone off its spigot and held it to his mouth. He knew about CB radios because his dad had one. "Mister... I'm in the fire house! The roof came down and I can't wake the captain fire chief.... Hurry!.." he sniffed, very frightened. Around him, rising warm wind from the outside and sounds of frightened people on the avenue filtered in to him. Gasping, the boy could see another foot underneath the red vehicle in front of him. It was Susie, his friend's, and it was starting to move as if someone were pulling her. There was a long pause as L.A. checked to be sure things were switched to a one to one frequency. Then..Sam's voice came back on the air.##Son. Understood. I've got help coming. It's on the way. ## Robbie could hear multiple call signs going out on the air behind the man's voice. All he could think about was that it was alot of numbers. 8, 10, 127 ,36, Batallion 14... He started to memorize them in his shock but the dispatcher man's voice dragged back his attention.. ##What's your name?## "R-Robbie.. my teacher's name is Miss Thorne.. We were here on a tour of the firehouse. " ##All right Robbie..There's been an earthquake and that's why things are fallen down. Do you think your fireman Captain Stanley, is still alive? ## Sam asked. "Yes.." Robbie replied. "He's making noises." #Good. How many besides your teacher were with you..?## "Seven, sir.." ##Ok. Now, I want you to get out of there if you can. Can you see the daylight from the main doors. Are they open?## "Y-yeah. But its hard to see... The fire hydrant's on and there's a funny smell in here.." Sam was side keying a dispatch to the gas company to shut off service to that block with one hand. He turned back to his microphone to Robbie, still inside the shattered fire station. Already, he was getting citizen's reports about further damage to the building next to Station 51 and minor reports of some more in nearby warehouses. But none were as bad as those coming in about the station house. #Robbie. Drop the microphone and leave. It's not safe for you to stay. Don't worry about your teacher and other classmates. There are more firemen and police on the way who'll take care of them. Now go.## L.A. heard the line disconnect as the child dropped the radio mike. Sobbing.. Robbie, gave one last look at Cap, who was moaning as he started to awaken, and crawled over him and over brick piles and sections of the ceiling rafters. He made his way through the spraying water from the ruptured water line and safely outside the collapsed garage. Sam switched to Station 51's HT frequency and started hailing. ##Station 51. This is L.A. monitoring on handheld frequencies bands. Your situation is noted and assistance is on the way...Gas company has been notified....Station 51, do you copy?## ========================== Once Robbie was outside, the auto driver who had stopped earlier, snatched him up. "Are you all right, son? Where were you?" He cast his eyes on the still dusting, smoking debris of the main garage. He couldn't see where the boy had come from at all. "I was in there..on a field trip..But I talked to the radio dispatcher man and he has other fire engines coming!" But then the situation proved too much and the tiny boy fainted in the man's arms. The group of people from the avenue gave shouts of dismay as the man lowered the boy to the cracked concrete of the boulevard to make sure he was all right. No one had the presence of mind to go into the firehouse, distracted because of their concern for the pale boy. ======================= Roy coughed and looked over his shoulder just in time to see Robbie safely getting out. His arms were full of two weeping little kids, still in their tour helmets. Marco, was nowhere to be seen. ::He was right here next to us...:: Roy thought, peering around in urgency. Overhead, he could hear the actions L.A. was taking to aid them all. He snatched up a handy talkie from inside the squad's shattered driver's window when the squad door didn't open. "L.A., This is Squad 51.. Still here. Stand by. I gotta get some of these children out..Will advise once I know more." Roy could almost hear the sound of audible relief in Sam's voice. ##10-4, 51. ETA of responding units is four minutes..## Already, Roy could hear PD sirens growing in the distance as they wove around scattered stopped vehicles on the boulevard. Roy wiped away blood from his forehead and he shouted, "Cap!!" "Ughhh..h.." came a moan from his left. Roy turned to the boy and girl, gripping their arms. "Now did you see where that little boy just went? He was getting out to safety.. Now I want you to follow him.." "We don't want to leave you..." one of them cried. "It's ok to be scared. But there are people out there who are going to be able help you better than I can in here. You're going to be fine.. I'll show you exactly where to crawl out.." Roy gasped. He lifted them over sections of the roof and winced as cold hydrant water covered them all. ::At least a fire can't start in here.:: He glanced down where he saw Cap struggling to sit but Cap waved him on even as he held his sore head. "Go, DeSoto.. Finish what you're doing.. I'm ok.." Hank said. "I'm not going to go anywhere until you're with me.." "All right.. Here, Cap.." and Roy tossed him the HT he had retrieved. He started shouting even as he picked up each child and watched them go through the tangle of metal garage door sheeting to the street. "Marco! Chet! Answer me!" A blast of an air horn from the engine under the worst of the debris pile cut through the hiss of spouting water and Roy smiled. ::Chester B, am I glad to hear you. You must've gotten your boys into the cab all right..:: Roy saw drivers intercept his tour kids even as they clustered around the first little boy lying in the street who was already waking up from his faint. DeSoto leaned heavily on the garage frame for only a moment before he went back towards the squad. Only half of it was buried. He touched Cap on the arm, who had staggered to his feet to hang onto the squad's mirror. "You better?" he asked as he pulled the passenger side door open for the paramedic helmets there and got out the two turnout coats from the side compartment he could reach. He handed Johnny's to Cap to wear and put on his own. "Yeah, I think so. I think a board hit me in the head when I pushed the boy out of the way..." he gasped, catching his breath.. "I heard Kelly's blast just now. Any sign of Lopez?" Roy shook his head. "Not yet." Then he thought of something else. "Mike!!" And he yelled to the kitchen which was now dark. A part of the roof outside had fallen over the window, blocking out the sunlight. The smell of gas was very strong when they both got there to where the door was partially jammed open. Looking through the cracked glass window in the door, they saw a pair of legs on the floor... Lopez's... "Marco?!!" Roy started to push on the door, trying to break it out of its jammed frame. "No, you need an air bottle in there. Go!" Cap said, pulling him away. Roy ran back to the squad, shoving and kicking away debris to get to the right store compartment. He got on his tank in record time. He was back at the kitchen entryway when Cap finally got the door open with a crowbar. Hank coughed as a wall of gas boiled out over him. "Get him out first. Then go back for Stoker and the woman.." Cap ordered Roy as DeSoto put on his face mask and reset his helmet over it.. A small form shot out from under their feet, from the darkness, yelping.. It was Bonnie.. She disappeared through a crack leading to the backyard as if on a mission.. Roy sighed in relief.. "Bonnie's alive. Gas can't be too bad in there.." he shouted through his face plexiglass. He got to Marco and grabbed him by the shoulders. Even as Roy did so, he shouted. "Mike!! Miss Thorne!!?" He couldn't see anything at first as his retinas still burned with sun dazzle.. But then he saw that the side door had been chopped down with an axe and opened and he caught a brief glimpse of Stoker carrying out Miss Thorne into the only direction he could, into the backyard.. She seemed out cold and he seemed to be hurrying more than just because of the gas danger. ::She must be worse off than Marco if Stoker left him behind.:: Roy thought. Then Cap's HT crackled as Roy finished dragging Marco out near where outside air was pouring through the children's escape hole washing away the gas fumes. Roy listened to a new incoming voice even as he watched Cap get Marco's airway secure for a listening check. It was Chet.. ##I'm ok, and two twin girls and the boys who were with me. We're out in the yard! I don't see Gage. But I think I know where he is.. Bonnie's digging through a brick pile..## came Kelly's voice. ##The woman's respiratory arrested. Stoker's working on her now.## Roy pulled off his mask and tank and snatched up the HT Cap had left on Marco's stomach. ##We hear you Chet. Hang on. Marco's unconscious, too. Let us get a handle on his situation and we'll be right there! We got the rest of the kids out. L.A.'s on the ball and the gas is getting shut off..## He heard the sirens from the approaching police car arrive and shut down. Very soon, Roy heard someone climbing over the debris in the driveway and a face peered into the place in the torn main doors where the children had gotten out. It was Vince. "You boys ok in there?! Everyone's fine out here by the road!" Roy shouted from his place by Cap and Marco, talkie still in hand and to his ear, listening to Chet's continuing report even while he shouted at Vince. "Go to the yard Vince!.. Johnny's trapped and Stoker and Chet's got an arrest victim.. We'll get out there with the gear soon as we can..Marco needs us right now." He ducked when Vince's body weight and movement jarred tilted rafters and made plaster pieces fall onto the three of them as he hastened to go where directed. Roy glanced back down to Marco, removing his overcoat. "Cap, is he still breathing?" -------------------------- Photo: Cap outside in a closeup. *Animated gif* Flames, burning low. Photo : The Gang in the station garage bay around the squad and engine. Photo : Close up of the Squad's gearboxes in their storage racks. Gif: The word "quick" in melted and burning metal, wafting smoke. Photo : Closeup of Roy outside, wearing a stethoscope. ***************************************** Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 23:37:20 -0700 (PDT) From: "Patti Keiper" Subject: Digging by Daylight.. Hank looked up. "Barely. He's gonna need O2 and I think something else is wrong with him. He feels awfully hot to me." "Yeah well, we gotta get him out of here first. Who knows when the gas company will get L.A's stop order. This earthquake might have given them higher priorities.." Roy said. "Last thing we need is 100 % O2 mixing with all the fumes in here." "Hey..Knock it off, t-that's my line." Cap quipped. Roy grinned, which levelled, as he concentrated on a quick assessment of Marco's condition. He got a grip on Lopez's carotid, and paused as he got an initial breathing rate visually. "Marco's doing well enough for an evac, Cap.. Watch him a sec. I'm going to see if I can free up a stokes for him and the resuscitator. Stoker's gonna need it if that school teacher's down too deep." "I remember hearing about her.." Cap shook his head, trying to clear it. "Yeah. That's right..S-Sounds like a plan.." Roy looked up at Cap. "Hey. You all right to be alone for a bit? You still look groggy." "It's nothing. I'm only a little woozy. Go.." he said, meeting Roy's eyes evenly with his own to show the truth in his words. DeSoto studied Cap for a moment but was finally convinced. He ran. He got to where the squad's rear compartment was and started to lift off rafter beams and ceiling pieces until he got down to the rescue truck's heavy equipment locker doors. Miraculously, he got everything he needed free in half a minute. He set the biophone, drug box, defib, O2, and the I.V. box next to the squad stokes on the brick strewn floor in the only narrow space available. Along the wall map's baseboard. On a whim thought, he grabbed shovel. ::There's not much digging Chet and Vince can do getting to Johnny with their bare hands.:: That done he shouted. "Cap.. How're you doing?!" Hank didn't answer right away. "Cap?!' "Huh? I'm fine. I'm fine.. What do you got over there?" Cap said. Roy moved to check out the split garage doors where Bonnie had run through to get to the back yard. He smiled and just about cried when he saw almost a two meter gap. :: Tipped on its side, the stokes could pass through that rear door fissure easily..:: "Found a way out. I'm coming back!" And he ran back through the dusty mist to the front of the garage, almost leaping over the debris piles. "Cap..did you hear me? We're getting outta here.." He screeched to a halt when he rounded the fender of the squad. Cap was crouched, still squatting on his feet, almost on top of Marco, but he was slumped over with his head sagging down. Roy grabbed his shoulder, his stomach flipping. But Cap immediately lifted his head. Recovering from his fright, Roy spelled it out in no uncertain terms. "Hey, are you going to be able to do this, Cap? If you're feeling hurt worse than you think you are, I can go get Ch--" "No. Roy, let's just get him out now. I'll sit down once we're outta danger.." Cap said, looking at his paramedic. He grabbed onto Marco's feet and picked them up, while Roy got his shoulders. "Come on.. Let's move. Look, his resp rate's already dropping off. Marco won't be able to wait much longer for O2 if you detour. Besides, neither Kelly nor Vince will want to leave trying to get Gage outta trouble without a fight. And that will cause a serious delay my friend.. Don't tell me that it won't." He wasn't happy, but Roy didn't protest further. It took several minutes, with Cap stumbling and sweating over boards and bricks for both of them to get Marco safely enscounced into the stokes and strapped in. They piled all the gear on top of him for a one trip carry, until they got to the split in the rear hanger doors Roy had found. Roy gestured for Cap to head on through first to accept gear in hand-offs. Soon the three of them were free from the shattered ruin of station 51's garage, and into clearer air and sunlight. Cap grunted when he saw the level of destruction around them in the yard. The high tan brick walls ringing the station were completely levelled. "My god, the epicenter must have been right here.." He barely got stumbling to where Mike was when he dropped Marco's stokes the last few inches to the ground. Roy said, "Think you're right, Cap. Now just take it easy over there.You've done all you can do.." he said as Cap sat painfully down next to Marco's head to monitor him. DeSoto grabbed the 02 apparatus and handed it over to Stoker, who was listening to a tentative recaptured air exchange on Miss Thorne. "How's she doing?" he asked Mike. "Got her partially back. She's breathing one out of three." he said, snatching for the demand valve. He began to use it full flow, letting her pull air when she could but assisting and taking over when she lapsed. "I got lucky. She never lost a pulse." Then he tossed a head back behind him. "You'd better get over there, buddy. Chet and Vince are having problems digging Gage out." "Is he conscious?" "Don't know.." Mike answered. "Sort of had my hands full here." "I'm going over there. She'll maintain all right. Here's more info on them." Roy dragged Marco's stokes near enough to the O2 so he could string a mask from the other port for Lopez. "Marco's really out. Breathing shallow. And he's febrile for some reason. Keep an eye on Cap, too. Possible head injury.." he said setting a ten liter flow for Marco through a non rebreather. Mike nodded. "Ok. Got it. Roy, I think the woman's problem is just the gas exposure. Nothing fell on either one of us at all.." "Noted. I'll contact Rampart as soon as we know about Johnny, too.." Roy said. He grabbed the shovel he and Cap brought and ran around the antique engine towards where he could hear Bonnie barking. On the way, he met the four tour students they all had gotten out of the station. "It's all right kids. Your teacher's not dead. We're just helping her on some oxygen. Your friends are safe, too, out in front. Just wait here where it's safe in the open. Don't go anywhere, all right?" Four heads nodded. The kids were shivering where they were clinging together seated on the ground, mousy with emotional shock. But Roy didn't see any critical problems on them so he left them alone in Mike's line of sight. He ran faster until he got to where Bonnie was letting the dirt fly high. Chet and Vince were in high gear too, still trying to dig next to a frantic Bonnie. Vince was beginning to get desperate, using his helmet. Roy dropped down onto the brick pile and laid to with his spade fighting down unbidden fears. "Heard anything?" "Not a peep." Chet said just as anxious. "There's NO way we can get to him, man. There must be half a ton of bricks here. This is where the hose tower was.." "Just keep digging. There's gotta be an airpocket or something under there." Vince said. "We hope.." Chet said. Kelly's shortness made Roy try to ease his doubts even as his own grew worse. "Part of the stack was reinforced concrete and wire. That wouldn't collapse flat." Roy said. ::Johnny. Hang in there.:: For several tense moments, there was just the "chuck" of helmet and shovel and bare hands, biting into soil and rubble. Then Kelly said, "Hold it! Hold it! Look!" Bonnie had moved to a different area of the debris pile and was cocking her head at a sound just beneath her. She began to dig madly and the pitch of her barking changed to one of excited discovery. There was a small cave beneath her and in her eagerness, she dashed inside of it. "Bonnie. No!!" Kelly warned. But the tiny Yorkie's tail reemerged unscathed, and soon, came the rest of her. When her head followed out of the hole, Gage's dusty sock and foot were tightly in her mouth. "Johnny!!?" Chet yelled, and he shoved Bonnie aside to bury his head into the hole up to the shoulders with both hands, reaching deep. "He's alive.. I can see him." came his muffled report. "His arms and shoulders are pinned pretty good in here. I think a small chamb--" There was another cave in and a plume of dust hissed out of the fissure and Kelly let out a startled yell. Vince grabbed onto his belt in a tackle to keep Kelly from slipping under the ground even further. His efforts proved just how unstable the regolith in their area was. Another collapse came, this one bigger and heavier. Suddenly, both Johnny and Chet started to thrash in panic as their airspace suddenly filled up in choking dirt and brick. Vince hauled Kelly out by his pants, with every sinew of strength, until inch by inch, the curly haired fireman was pulled free.. Chet gasped and choked on chalky grit that had blown into his nose and mouth. "Get him out of there!! *cough* The whole roof caved in.*cough. cough*" Roy started to dig underneath where Johnny's leg was writhing as quickly as he dared. It was Bonnie who found Gage's other pinned leg, twisted above the first just before his struggles began to weaken. Vince and Roy abandoned helmet and shovel and quickly each hauled on a leg full weight backwards, sliding awkwardly on the slippery brick pieces. "Come on. Let go.." Vince grunted to the earth. "He can't breathe.." Johnny's limp head dragged clear at last and thunked over a few boulders when all three of them fell on their butts. "Johnny. Can you hear me?" Roy shouted. He crawled to Johnny's head, accidently jarring him in his haste to get an answer.. Gage's mouth gaped open. A rock was inside blocking off his throat. Roy hooked it free with a couple of fingers.. "Johnny? Hey.... It's gone.. Come on spit it out." he said, slapping his partner's face, lightly. The sudden sting to the skin on his rock rubbed raw face, drove Johnny to full wakefulness and he flopped over onto his side, coughing wetly. He threw up a lot of dirt and mucous until he gasped in; the first solid breath of air he had taken since he'd been buried. "*Hack* Whaa? Roy?....*gasp* Oh man... I thought.. I wasn't ever ........gonna make it......out of t-there.. " Roy dropped his head in relief.. "So did we... Just keep breathing regular. You're still blue.." Gage added more as his head cleared. "Thanks for trying to shield me, Chet. Almost worked." and he sagged onto the ground in exhaustion, grateful to be seeing daylight and moving air. Then hypoxia nausea rose up and he got sick again. ::Mud this time. Better from my stomach than from a lung or two..:: "Got it all out?" Roy asked, still hanging onto him when he was through. Johnny nodded, without opening his eyes. "Yeah.. I think so." "Believe it or not, you're completely pink now after all that.." "I feel green.." "Just lie still for a sec. Hurt anywhere else besides your hand?" Roy asked. "My hand?" Johnny said, picking his head up and peering down. A bent rod was embedded through the bones in his left palm and was sticking out the back of it. "Aw Roy, why did you tell him about that? Now he's gonna freak out.." Chet said. "Oh, man.." Gage said, ignoring both of them. He curled around himself as his eyes seemed to reconnect his nerves centers into a core of agony through his impaled hand. "Royyyy?... this just isn't my day...ah, h*ll.." he grimaced. Chet was still coming down from Johnny's close call. "Not everyday a full moon earthquake scores a direct bullseye on Johnny Gage..That's for d*mned sure. " And he laughed. He stopped immediately when Gage caught his breath, around another spasm.."Oooo. Come on. It's time to get up Gage. If we let you think about it too long, you're going to have to be carried out of here." he said gently.. "l'll tape that immobile after we get ya over to the biophone." Gage let the three of them sit him up and then with a groan, he let the burly Vince lift him bodily to a very shaky pair of feet. Bonnie nearly leaped somersaults when she saw her favorite fireman finally standing vertical. She barked happily, frisking in the dust, until she saw the huddle of frightened kids by the old engine. She dashed off to be with them in a cloud of dirt.. Very soon, the kids snapped out of their dazed stares to timidly reach out to pet her dirty back. "Would you look at that.. Bonnie works better than smelling salts." Gage grinned, halting them all. "You owe her a ton of bacon, my friend. She's the one who found you, Johnny.." Kelly commented. "Well I'll be.." "Come on Captain Hook, let's get you cleaned up. If we don't hurry, you just might have to stay this way...." Roy quipped, glancing down at Johnny's speared hand. "Oh ha. Aren't you funny.." Gage replied sarcastically. He shifted his weight as Roy moved his good arm over a shoulder. Then he paled, when he saw what was dripping on his shoes. "What makes you think I wanna work after this?" DeSoto went on with his interrupted sentence.. "We've got three injured patients to attend to, not counting you. Don't worry, I'll let you black out if I have to, just as soon as another squad gets here to relieve you.." Roy nodded for Chet to start applying pressure to Johnny's brachial artery when the wound around the rod started to spurt as Gage's blood pressure rallied with his mental clarity. "You're all heart.." Johnny grinned weakly. As soon as they all got over to the others, Johnny promptly forgot his hand. "Chet, let go of me.. Just put a tourniquet on this. If I have to work, I'll do it verbally, You can at least get vitals sets.. Roy, what do we got? Looks like Miss Thorne's the worst of them.." he said, reaching over with his good hand to get the band Chet needed to stop his hemorrhaging. Gage grabbed it out of one of the gear boxes Mike had flicked open for him, between one of his positive pressure valve ventilations he was delivering to the stilled teacher. Roy said, "Natural gas inhalation. On her and Marco both. He's breathing ok, but she's partially unresponsive. Marco's also got an unexplained elevated temp. Cap found it assessing him. Cap's got a slight concussion I think. He was out for a while. I haven't gotten a look at his pupils yet.." "Chet you go handle that while Roy calls us in." Gage snapped. "Stop fussing with me." "Right. Almost got this secure.." Chet said, giving one last yank on the tourniquet around Johnny's upper arm. "There.." he smiled, biting a lip. "Going numb?" "Not fast enough..." Gage peeped in pain. "Good. You're set. " His eyes flickered downward.. "Give me that.." and he pulled out Johnny's penlight from his pocket to look at Cap. "Walk me through the neural, Johnny. I've only seen you guys do this a few times.." he said seriously, then he beamed, full charm, smiling at Cap as he knelt by him. "Hiya Cap. Great to see you winking those peepers at me. Thought you were dead for a sec in there. .." he leaned in with his light.. "This won't hurt a bit.." Johnny began instructing Chet by rote what things to look for. Soon, he had the info needed to share with Roy when he was ready on his end. DeSoto threw an eye on Miss Thorne to count the actual times she tried to breathe around Stoker's vents and he shivered in utter weariness. The initial adrenaline he always got in a crisis, was leaving him, letting him feel every bump and ache the earthquake had imparted to him. ::But.....It sure feels great knowing no one died. It could have been worse...:: He coughed once to clear out the acrid dust in his throat. Then he started writing in his note pad the findings in prep for a medical base station hail. Trussed up and no longer bleeding like a stuck pig, Johnny checked the psi on the regulator of outgoing 02 on the apparatus feeding Marco and the teacher's masks. ::Plenty of oxygen left here.:: he thought with satisfaction. He even nodded with approval when Chet was simply perfect getting an accurate BP off Marco where he lay in the stokes. ::94/60. Not too shocky..:: Gage thought after Chet had told him what it was. A minute later they all heard a chorus of sirens as the first of the responding stations rolled up to their scene. It looked strange seeing firetrucks actually rolling TO a firehouse, with all their reds flashing. Cap got on his walkie talkie as soon as he bird eyed the number on the pumper's door. "Engine 51 to Station Eight. We've got four victims in the yard. B-- -uh,...Bring three s-stokes.." The fast reply from Eight's Captain Stone made it clear that they knew who at least one of those stokes was for. ##Hank? Hang on. We're coming. Looks clear along your south exposure. Man what a mess. Hope you aren't bad yourself..## "I'm fair.." Cap replied. "Watch it in there. Gas leak in the kitchen. And don't tell me any details about the engine or the squad. I simply don't wanna know..We just pulled one of them back from the brink only this morning..!" he wailed. Nearby, Roy grinned and mentally downgraded Cap's medical status a few notches after overhearing his joking remark.. He brought the black phone receiver to his ear and plugged in the red comm box's aerial antennae. ##Rampart this is Squad 51, How do you read?## --------------------------- Photo : Chet Kelly sneering in jest. Gif : A resuscitator in a green case with the PPV connected up. Photo: A screengrab from Snakebite with Johnny on top of the engine, Chet and Marco nearby. ******************************* From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Fri Oct 25, 2002 7:58 pm Subject: Hard Run.. Special acknowledgements to Story Consult-- Justafan1701- on LACoFD Telecommunications and earthquake seismology. Mike looked down as Cindy Thorne started actively coughing under the resuscitator. He lifted it free to make sure she wasn't getting ill. "Easy.." he said as she began to struggle as some consciousness returned. He sighed in relief when he saw that she wasn't sick at all. "Miss Thorne. Keep this over your face. It's just an oxygen mask. You took in some gas in there from the stove but you're going to be fine." "Oh,hhh... Robbie? Rachael?....I can't see any of them.!" she said, gasping, knocking Mike's hands away. Cap near them turned from Marco. "Cindy! No.." he shouted and they both grabbed her head and shoulders when she suddenly sat up. Immediate dizziness almost made her pass out again. "Stoker, she's probably just worried about the kids. Hang on there a sec, pal." Cap took her face into his hands, cradling her cheeks, until he made full eye contact. "Cindy? It's all right. They're all out.. You are, too. Now just lie back down and let us make sure that you're ok. Help's already here from another engine company and we'll be outta here just as soon as we can. But first, you gotta take in some more O2. It'll help clear your head. And it will make you feel a h*ll of a lot better. All right?" Cindy coughed, trying to focus on Mike and Cap blearily, but finally, she let them lower her back down to the ground when their calm reasoning finally registered in her brain. Then she noticed Marco, "Oh, is he ok? He's hurt!..." she gasped, blinking in distress. "He's fine. His story's the same as yours." Mike said to her. "He's just decided to nap a bit longer than you.." Cap shot eyes at Stoker and he nodded in agreement for her benefit. "Now, just keeping breathing this in. " Hank said, setting the O2 back over her face.."That's it.. Nice and easy. Stoker's gonna stay with you for a while here until you get your equilibrium back." "But.." she said weakily, muffled through the mask as she tried to get used to it being there. "Don't worry about your students. There's a police officer here who'll watch the children for you.." he looked up.. "Annddd...right now, it looks like most of them are playing tag with our station dog..They're just fine, really." Cap said matter of factly with a huge grin, brushing hair and debris out of her face. Cindy Thorne closed her eyes when her shock suddenly overtook her mental will. "Oh, ..I've got to..reach their..paren--.." "We'll do that soon. Just rest for a bit. I'm sure tha--" Mike broke off his comment when she blacked out. He moved a hand to her carotid as she went limp. Cap eyed him but he waggled his head. "She's all right. Still moving air on her own. There's resistance here." he said, checking with a test vent on the mask into her lungs. "Got a pulse rate about 100. I'll get an actual draw count for DeSoto when he's set.." Cap sat back down onto his rump, letting his weariness show in his face again. He gingerly felt the back of his head and it came away bloodied. "Good. Keep on her, Stoker.. I'll get back to Lopez." Roy was only half aware of the teacher's brief episode of awakening. He was concentrating on listening close to the biophone. "Rampart this is rescue 5-1. Do you copy?" ** Static ** Roy changed channels on the biophone, to the little used all call band, redirecting his comm transmission to HQ LA. "L.A., this is squad 51, is our channel clear to Rampart? We can't seem to raise them." ** Static ** Johnny looked up from watching Chet immobilize the rod running through his hand, trying not to wince. "Think the repeaters are out?" he asked Roy. "Maybe.." DeSoto said. "L.A. must be scrambling to get an all stations check and haven't found out that our district's radio relay is down." "He got through before.. I heard him when the kids and I were still ducking down in the engine cab." Chet said. "That was landline, Chet." John said. "We were in the stationhouse." "I know. Things can change quickly following an earthquake.." Kelly said. "But, you know how good those guys are about reestablishing a comm net once a problem is detected." "Well, Miss Thorne and Marco can't wait." Roy said. He lifted his HT. "L.A., this is Squad 51." ##Go ahead, 51..## "Our radio telemetry seems to be out on our biophone. Is there anyway you can relay to Rampart General Hospital for us? We've four victims that need a doctor's attention right away.." There was a longer than average pause. Even Cap looked up at the delay. ##Squad 51. All channels have been utilized for emergency broadcast communication only. Disaster protocol is in place. Suggest using a landline to Rampart. If the telephone line to the station house has been effected, payphones are showing as still in service in your area. ## "Payphones?" Gage said incredulously. Cap piped up.. "Yeah. Payphones. They've got underground cabling. The same dirt which knocked out the repeaters alignment must have cushioned the payphone network. Makes sense. DeSoto, free up off the biophone. Let the man work. We'll try his suggestion first.." Roy shrugged, uncertain and embarrassed he even bothered L.A., who was now set in a higher priority moding. "10-4, L.A. We copy. We'll 10-8 to a landline." #Squad 51..# the head dispatch acknowledged. "Cap, why didn't you tell me not to biocall?" "Quite frankly, Roy, I'm not up on earthquake scenarios past the basics. I was in the dark just as much as you were. First time I've ever been in one." Hank shrugged. "First time for me, too.." came the voice of Captain Stone, from very near by. He waved his men over with the requested stokes and they clustered around the group in Station 51's shattered backyard. "So, far, we've all been using HT's. But only between units. I found out from McConnike about the landline trick for our rescue squad." "Who's here?" Gage piped up. "Gil and Brice...They're getting the 02 and their gear. We figured you boys wouldn't have had much equipment left after that.." Stone replied throwing a thumb over his shoulder at the rubble between the bunkhouse and kitchen ends of station 51. "Cap. We've been inside. The gas is off and we're already opening holes to ventilate. All the fumes are gone. And believe it or not. Your kitchen phone is working. Gil's already got Rampart on the line for you. Switch to our station's frequency on your handheld to get him. He's set to relay." Roy spoke up, "Thanks, Captain Stone. But I think I should field that call personally. I've got all our patient info up here.." and he pointed to his head. "One to one, that way, with the doctor would be faster." "Fair enough. I'll send Gil out here to assist Brice on treatment." Stone shrugged. They all turned when some of Engine 8's crew dropped down the rest of the rear door from the mangled garage using a short K-12 application, offering easy access back into the shattered heart of Station 51. "Oh, man.." Cap groaned. "I didn't want to see that.." he said as a falling rafter kicked loose from a wind gust, and smashed into the main dome light on top of the Ward's cab, pulverizing it. Vince piped up to Stone's men. "Ok, let's get these kids out of here. They're students from Grover Middleland school. That's their teacher lying over there. Move out. I've got additional squad cars here so we can evac all of them." Firemen moved to escort the frightened children away from the scene. Roy rose to his feet. "Johnny. Hey. I've got to go back inside. Take it easy now. And try to get along with Brice, huh? He's going to be senior assessor here, even over you, all right?" He jogged, gripping his handy talkie, and ran by Brice, who was coming, helmeted, with gear. "I know that. I'll be a professional!" Johnny shouted after his partner. He winced when the effort shot a bolt of pain through his hand. "That's professional patient, Gage. The moment Squad 8 got on scene, they bumped you out of service, man.." Chet said. "Don't rub it in, Chet." Johnny spat. His anger was tempered when Bonnie, suddenly free of her children charges, came running up. She reared up, planting kisses of worry and affection onto his chin. Johnny smiled in spite of himself. Brice rushed by Roy without even looking fully at him.. "The woman?" Roy said, running in the opposite direction. "Still breathing.. Marco's gas inhalation too!" he shouted after him. Roy wheeled, reluctant to leave the yard, until Cap re-enforced his departure to the kitchen phone with an arched eyebrow.. Captain Stone was on DeSoto's heels to make sure that flashlights were delivered to the dark kitchen for Roy's note dictation via landline. He sent more men arriving from the responding units to the surrounding area to cruise for trouble spots beyond Station 51's scene. As an after thought, he got his engineer to pull up 51's squad and the LaFrance out of the garage once the worst of the roofing debris had been pulled off of them. Stone huffed a breath on his sleeve and polished the door handle of the engine when he saw Hank watching him once the two trucks were free of the garage rubble. Cap chuckled when he saw that little move and lifted his HT. "Needs a lot more than a wax job, Ben.. Appreciate it, though." Stone added, ##I'll have my crew check em out. Neither of them are leaking fuel.. I got a fanning hose wash on them just in case.## "Take good care of my boys and my station.." Cap sighed, and he let Stone's men move him to a stokes for a lie down and soon, he was fitted with an O2 cannula and his turnout was removed. Hank's HT, however, stayed fast in his grip by his head, where he could hear everything, even as he let go physically and mentally. He felt a man move closer to monitor him as he closed his eyes. "Night, Cap.." Gage said, lying in his own stokes. "Don't doze too deep with that headcrack of yours." "I won't. Just don't gore Brice with that hand pike of yours." "Deal." Moments later, Brice finished crossing the yard and he knelt by Cindy Thorne first for a new vitals set. He looked up to see Bonnie still bathing Johnny's chin with kisses and Gage being too out of it to push her away. "Getting mouth to mouth from a dog, Gage? Must be protocol I haven't yet heard about." "Very funny. This dog saved my life, I'm not about to tick her off by complaining.." he said, lifting Bonnie into the stokes where she promptly laid down in between his legs, setting a worried muzzle and front paws onto his stomach, still softly whining with stress. Brice curbed his banter. "What have we got here Gage? Roy didn't tell me much.." "Stoker revived the woman. No trauma. Cap's got a blow to the back of his head. Pupils equal and reactive. Marco's out, febrile after LOC. BP, 94/60, Resp 12, shallow. Pulse 92. Me, I, uh.. Almost choked in a cave-in. Puked out a lot of ingested mud. Chest seems clear. And I got this little little..problem--mm ." he said lifting his stabbed hand. The sight of the rod made Brice pause and he sank his glasses lower on his nose to get a closer look at it from where he was listening to Cindy's breath sounds through a stethoscope. Brice asked Chet, "Blood loss.." he said. snapping his fingers, about Gage. "Oh, uh, Gage lost about 600 CC before I got that tourniquet in plac--" "Get him on a cannula, Kelly. 4-6 liters O2. Use our unit. Elevate his legs. Then position your captain with his head raised. I'll be right with you, Gage. Almost through assessing this woman." Brice said. But Johnny didn't answer. Gil arrived from the rubble and took Brice's pointing hint to check Johnny's consciousness level as Chet followed his medical orders to a T. The two Station 8 medics got to work.. --------------- Inside the dark and silent kitchen, Roy's face was illuminated by flashlight and he took the phone from the Station 8 paramedic waiting for him there. "Thanks Gil. I'm trading places with ya.." "Sure thing. It's Brackett on the line." And Gil ran off to the yard. Roy set his HT on the phone top and nodded to the fireman with the flashlight to go about his business, grabbing the torch from his gloves as he set the kitchen phone receiver to his face. Roy shifted the light under one arm so he could see his notepad. "Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?" As he waited for a return, Roy had his first real, thinking look at the devastation that the quake had brought to his station. He watched as a frightened sparrow arrowed through the airspace where the garage roof had been. ::Will we be able to get over all of this?:: came the thought, unbidden. A familiar voice broke Roy out of his fear. ##This is Rampart. Go ahead, 51. You're reading loud and clear..## Roy sighed and almost sobbed when Kel's steady confident baritone met his ear. "Doctor Brackett. We've uh, four victims at our location. The earthquake has pretty much destroyed the stationhouse here. Trauma is apparent. Three of my victims are... are Code I. Victim one. A female approximate age, twenty two. Found apneic from natural gas inhalation. Now breathing on her own on one hundred percent 02. Victim two. Unconscious. Moderate gas inhalation and etiology of unknown fever on ten liters O2. Victim three. Cave-in. Obstructed airway now relieved. Ingested mud. Foreign body impalement of the left hand. Arterial bleeding is under control. Victim four. Possible head injury with history of blackout, awake and oriented. Pupils equal and reactive." ##10-4, 51.## came Kel's voice. Roy could hear the man's concern seeping through his doctor mode even through his short reply back. #Can you give me full vitals for Victim one?# "R-right. doc.. uh. ..s-she's.." and his voice caught; the sudden realization of what had happened finally sinking in. "Well, she's like I said and..and.. I- I'm sorry doc.. I can't--" At the base station, Dixie and Kel's faces fell out of their professional shells at the sound of pain in his voice. Brackett was stunned, hearing his best medic fall apart on the job. He felt Dix tap him sharply on the arm and looked up to see her give him a do something look. ##Hang in there Roy, I'm with you. Gil tells me that you've got a full response already on scene so you've got plenty of help right there. Roy, you're not alone.. Dix is right here, too. We'll get your friends taken care of as fast as we possibly can here by working together. So don't worry. All you have to do is give me one detail at a time. Focus on that and we'll get through this difficult rescue just like we do all the others.## Dr. Brackett heard only badly concealed muffled sobs on the other end of the line. ##Roy, I guarantee it. It's just always harder when things hit close to home like this.## Roy felt unbidden tears begin to run down his face but he didn't say anything and he sniffled wetly, the weight of the phone call, reporting catastrophe, wearing on him. ##Now go ahead on the woman's vitals..## He heard Kel order. Roy cleared his throat and spoke.... -------------------------- Photo: A crushed fire engine. Photo : Dr. Brackett, looking down on us. Photo: Brice, smiling in a firehouse kitchen. Photo : Roy, wearing a stethoscope outside. Photo : An aerial view over Station 51, showing the block as totally levelled. Collapses everywhere. ******************************* From: "Cory Anda" Date: Sat Oct 26, 2002 2:14 am Subject: Big Time Complication "Hang on, we're HT to the outside here. Relaying direct to station 8's paramedics. Please stand by. Vitals to follow." Roy said. ##Standing by..## ---------------------------- Five minutes later, DeSoto had his initial medical orders relayed to the yard to Gil and Brice over his hand held. Dr. Brackett asked Roy one more question. ##What's your ETA on an ambulance ?## "We don't know that yet, doc. Depends on how badly the roads in our area are damaged." Roy said. ##10-4, 51. Get them here any way you can. When you can. ## "Yep.." Roy said, impatient. "Just wish I could." Kel added. ##I'll be frank with you, Roy. Gage, we can turn around, same with your captain and the school teacher. It's Marco I'm worried about. I don't like the fact that his vitals are sinking like this and the fact we can't figure out his LOC or snap him out of it with epinephrine. Or that sudden onset of fever.. And another thing, that odd bloody patching Gil found in his throat's d*mned pec-- Hang on Roy, Joe's telling me something.## There was a pause and Roy could hear the two doctors confirming a new development. Brackett came back online. ##Roy, we've got word there's a battalion triage station setting up near you. Joe's just heard about it from squad 99. They're treating victims there, just down the block from your 10-20. Perhaps you can move out to their location as an alternate to transporting here if the roads prove to be impassable. Wait a minute, on second thought, I want you to utilize them instead of us here at Rampart, understood? I'm getting orders now from FEMA for some of us to be flown in, over the alert scanner..## Dr. Brackett said. More warbles came that Roy couldn't quite make out. Then an exclamation.. ##Beautiful! That solved our problem, Roy. Just got my own orders to report out to your own area within the next fifteen minutes. I'll rendevous with you myself to see your victims. Count on me muscling in to be their attending MD.## "Appreciate it, doc.. listen, off the record. Just how bad is it out there?" ##My guess is extremely localized for the most part. All the runs coming in that are quake related are in the same one mile square area. No major fires, but my casualty reports are still sketchy.## A ruckus outside the kitchen caught Roy's attention; police clashing with media types. Roy's forehead furrowed as he gripped the phone tighter. "Listen doc. I know you're busy.. Could you do me a favor? Could you have Dixie call our families to let them know we're all right. No doubt they're pretty panicked watching us on their television sets, I see a camera crew out there right now, bumping heads with the PD." ##Will do, Roy. Contact base again if there are further developments. See you soon.## "10-4. Squad 51, out." Roy hung up the phone, and walked the few feet to the plaster powdered kitchen table in weariness. He wiped the sweat off his blood caked face with a dusty towel he found there and slowly began recapturing his wits, leaning against it, until a sensation of heat against his back made him jump off its edge. It was a coffee pot, still warm and steaming from where Johnny had left it before the quake. Roy stared at its unreal normalcy, smelled its perfumey steam curls, delicately wafting in his flashlight's beam, until a shout from the yard caused him to hightail it back outside as fast as he could.. "What do you mean it's my fault he's shocky?! I couldn't have started O2 on him any sooner because both lines were on Marco and the girl, who needed the help more at the time, Brice, so back off ! If Gage were awake, I'm sure he'd be agreeing with me wholeheartedly!" Roy got himself between Kelly and Brice. "Hey hey hey.. Hush down! Just what's the matter with you two? We've got nosy press types already in the driveway. This is no time to let personality clashes come to a boil where they might overhear it.." he said. All the while he spoke, Roy was watching Gil, who was keeping well out of it. He didn't miss Gil speeding up an IV of Ringers Lactate on Marco, nor his slipping in an oral airway on him. Roy's practiced eye also saw that Cindy's atropine, to boost her respirations, had already been administered from the sight of the yellow pop caps on the ground. Mike was now absent. ::Stoker must have gone on to damage patrol. Cindy's only on a light nonrebreather. At least, she's doing better.:: He got an OK gesture from Gil about her, pantomimed. Another part of his mind dealt with putting his two coworkers sharply into line. "Keep it down to a quiet roar if you two have to argue. Or better yet, let's all just do our jobs here, as a team.." he lectured. "We'll take a vote on who was right over a poker game once our butts are safe and sound on solid ground next week, all right..?!" Chet and Brice both studied the ground, then both looked sheepishly around to make sure that neither Stone, nor any of his men had overheard their petty bickering. "That's better.." Roy said, glaring at Brice and Chet, as he began crouching by Marco to look at his pupils. "Now here's the scoop. Brackett's on his way here. It's looking more and more that the roads might be out in our vicinity for there's a helicopter triage station area just down the boulevard. It's already up and running. So let's get our victims out of here and where we'll be able to do them the most good all right?" For two minutes, the four of them mobilized and packed up all of their equipment and supplies. Just then, Captain Stone returned to the yard. He was oblivious to the tension just evaporating. "Ok, everybody.We're moving out. There's a triage-" Roy cut in. "Uh, yes sir. Captain. We got word from Brackett about it. We're set.. We're ready to move when you are. Everyone is stabilized and supported on O2." "Fast work.. All right. Let's do it.." he gestured to his men who ran out of the station house following a very hasty cleanup and damage check. The runaway hydrant had long since been emergency capped. "But there's been a further change. We're opening your bunk house to these triage victims of yours and any others who are waiting turns to be flown out of the disaster area. Only the garage bay was unstable boys, the rest of the station checks out. You may be running a triage base station for this block from right here.." "Understood, Cap.." Brice said. "I'll move our gear into there." Stone looked down at Captain Stanley, who was mumbling to himself in his half sleep, giving random orders based on what he was hearing in his ear through the talkie. "Is he ok? Saw him go out a few minutes ago." "He's on just a precautionary I.V., and his vitals are fine, Cap." Roy said. "He won't be running any operations but that doesn't mean he won't be dreaming about us doing it. He's got quite a grip on that hand held. He's hanging on every word. Even in his sleep." he grinned. "His concussion appears to be minor." Stone didn't move from his hands on hips planted position, so Roy volunteered to him a quick a medical rundown on all the others too. "Ok.." Stone said, satisfied. "I'll let the triage head know what you got.." Stone got teams of men to grab the four stokes to haul them into the sleeping quarters of Station 51 and out of the hot California sun. Already, earthquake dust was making the air hard to breathe. ------------------------------ The bunk room was surprisingly intact. Not even dusty. A quick check showed that they had a viable phone line in there too, at the night writing desk. Only the power and gas service was knocked out. And Engine 51, itself, proved capable of supplying water needed for cleanup and first aid. Bonnie, stuck like glue to Johnny's stokes, sinking down underneath his covering blanket, so she wouldn't be discovered lurking there. Chet almost squished her with Johnny's O2 tank before he remembered. "Oh, sorry Bonnie. Keep watching him." he said to the breathing lump, as he transferred the D tank to the floor. The bunk house outer door was opened to daylight and portable lamps were brought in from the triage station for them to use. IV's were taped suspended to the wood working and blankets abounded. Gear from the two squads sat in a row on the floor the length of the room in the aisle. And more O2 apparatuses from multiple companies were brought in with another set of universal HT's and a makeshift command center board. Roy heard a helicopter land nearby, its wash sending eerie prop echoes through the shattered roof in the bay next room over, and he fervently hoped it was Brackett's. Cap and Johnny's stokes were set off the floor between chairs instead of using valuable bedspace, but Marco had been placed on a long board on a bed in prep for a priority move. He was first on the list to go. DeSoto set a defibrillator next to Marco with nervousness. He was the only one in the room so far who was at risk for one's use. Roy got another vitals set on him and frowned. He waved Brice over.. "He's worse. Rales now, in the lungs. And his fever's up. Help me get a temp on him.." "That fast? I don't understand what the problem might be. Gage said all he did was take in a little gas.." Brice said checking the placement of the mask over Marco's oral airway. "We were in a big fire two days ago, and before that, he had a bad cold. We've been busting our butts fussing over him to see a doctor ever since." "Did he go?" "Do pigs fly?" "Oh. I see. White coat anxiety syndrome." "Actually. No. " Roy grinned. "Marco's just a busy man. He has an aging mother he's been caring for and lately it's been taking up a lot of his time. " "To the point of letting himself be sick for days?" "Guess so. Marco's like that. Always doing for others over himself. He tells me that's why he's a fireman. " he smiled. But that smile faded. "He told us over dinner on Sunday that the two of them just got back from Mexico City, after burying a cousin. A boy I think, who had died suddenly. Help me here.." Soon, Brice and Roy got a temp off Marco internally. Roy held it up to the lamplight. "A hundred three? Brice, this has got to be an infection. I don't like it. And that gas inhalation's just getting Marco into hot water.." "It definitely brought out this illness to the foreground.." Brice agreed. Gil had been nearby, checking on Gage and Cap and the teacher. "Well, we'd better get him into some cold water before his central nervous system crashes out. His breathing response is too level and slow as it is.." Gil said. "Want me to patch him?" "Yes, his systolic is seventy eight and weak." Roy opened Marco's shirt and sheared his T shirt in two out of the way. Brice got out the defib paddles, holding them in the air above the bed. "Wait. Here. This is faster.." and he placed them onto Marco's ribcage and manually scoped him. All three medics looked at the tiny defibrillator screen. It was showing tachycardia, deep. "Look at that.." Brice exclaimed. "It's the fever..and partly the gas.." Roy said. "No PVCs though. He's sure holding well. That rate's just about 140. " "That's the epi Brackett ordered." Brice said. "It quickens but it strengthens too." "I'll get a strip off the portable monitor after I get him patched in.." Gil said. "The doc is going to want to see this.." "No doubt." Brice tossed away the paddles, leaving the unit between Marco's knees. "I'm going to go grab some ice from your frig. You do have some in there?" "Yeah.." Roy said. "Two bags." Brice left to get it. Roy and Gil got cloth sheets wet and stuffed them inside the plastic one they had used to bundle him onto the longboard. Cold water from the station's engine was used and liberally pooled, soaking the bedsheets inside the localized cold pack. Brice's ice was added to the bath around Marco's torso. "He's really out.. I'm not even seeing skin bumps from us chilling him like this.." Roy said, taking another BP. "It's up slightly. Getting a diastolic now with the systolic. 84/36." "His color's better too." Gil said, looking at Marco's gums and nail beds. Next to them, Gage stirred. Roy shifted on his knees and got a grip on his stokes. "Hey there." he smiled openly relieved. "Caught up on your beauty sleep, Johnny? Don't start stretching now. You're suspended on top of a couple of chairs. And you've an I.V. in." "W-Where are we?" "The bunks room. It's now a triage station." "Huh.. Had a weird dream. I dreamed that Lopez went into.." then he noticed the defib case open and saw the paddle cables abandoned on the blankets at Marco's feet. "Wait a minute.. Did you guys just work him?" "No, Gage. Just a scope.." Brice said. "Now a water bath.." "Bath?" Johnny asked groggily. "His fever's up?" "It's one hundred three. And he's showing rales in both lungs." "Whoa.. we got to get him outta here." Gage said. He almost tried to sit but then remembered Roy's warning about where his stokes was. Bonnie under his blanket, barked in warning. He only half paid attention to her being there. "What the h*ll is wrong with him? I don't get it." "Relax Johnny.. Brackett's been called out on scene. That helicopter you're hearing might be his. Or maybe even Marco's already. He's gotta get a doc's move order before he goes anywhere." Roy said. "I know that.. I know that.. Geesh.." Johnny waved his good hand, shooing Roy out of the way. "Gil,, hey, could you just ah.. Hey Gil ! Turn that monitor this way.. I wanna take a look at it.." Gil raised both eyebrows from where he was running a strip off Marco and purposely turned the view away from Johnny's line of sight. "Oh, for crying out loud.. I only wanted to-" "Gage.. You're a patient here. So act like one and just lie back and relax.." Gil said., crossing his arms together from where he sat on a stool. Roy and Brice grinned when Johnny's face pinked up with anger away from his original shocky pale shade. "This is my own stationhouse, my own district, H*ll, Marco's my own crewmate for Pete's sake! And I'm the resident paramedic." DeSoto made a wrong answer game show noise sound effect. "I'm the only official resident one ON duty one.." Roy said. "Yep. You're on the injured list, Gage, by every rule in the book.." Brice interjected. John kept up his quiet litany of complaining. "..I'm supposed to fuss.. It's my job.." "Ours now.." Gil piped up. Gage mumbled, out voted. "Ok ok ok, Got your point. Now Gil, if you don't level with me, I'm going to skewer you!" he said, menacing his injured hand. "Hey.." Chet said, grabbing Johnny's arm and pulling it back down again. "You'll loosen my bandaging there buddy.. I worked hard immobilizing that.." Then he checked his watch and saw that it was once again time to release Gage's tourniquet to let in blood flow. He let go the band. Johnny hissed in pain, glaring at Chet. " Agghh! Why didn't you do that when I was still unconscious?" he grimaced, watching a stream of blood well up inside and soak through his bandages. "I did do that. Five times.." Kelly complained. Then he played heavy eyes on the others. "Man, I don't know how you guys can get through your average workday as paramedics. Do you always get patients who mouth off as bad as Gage here? Talk about taking some heat. And I thought just dealing with an actual fire was bad. Johnny, stop being ungrateful. This is saving your hand. Not to mention saving your life.. And guess who's doing THAT.." He pointed proud thumbs at himself. "You're going to owe me big time.." Gage ignored Kelly. "Don't change the subject, Chet. Gil,...How's Cap?..Are you going to tell me at least that?" "Stable.." "The girl?" "Stable." "Me?" "Grumpy.." "Oh, haha.. And what about Marco?" The light moment in the room, fled. Roy spoke up. "We'll all hear about that once Brackett gets here. I see him coming. He's in the tan jumpsuit and he's brought along the big guns.. A huge, orange diagnostic field pack." He said, ducking low and peering through the open outside door to the boulevard. He could just see Kel making haste in their direction. Gage spoke up, as he too, could see the brown haired doctor coming. "Maybe that pack's for me. You know, surgical stuff. This rod's gotta come out of my hand. The artery's been nicked." "Don't count on it.. I'm seeing Atlanta CDC labels all over it.." Roy said. "What??" Johnny gasped. ---------------------------- Photo : Johnny and Roy looked stunned. Photo: A defibrillator that lies open. *animated gif * A running EKG showing elevated ST segments on a V-Tach. Photo: Chet, at night in the bunkhouse. ************************* From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Deeper In.... Date : Sun, 27 Oct 2002 21:12:20 +0000 The shadow got nearer, and Kel came through the door into the bunk room. He paused a bit while his eyes got used to the dim lamps in the space and the first bed he focused on was Marco's. Roy stood from Johnny's stokes, shoving the stethoscope waving around his neck out of the way when it snagged on the edge of Gage's wire bed in his haste to get near Brackett to give him his report, "Doc, glad you're here. He's worse. Much worse. We're trying to cool him down some." "Oh? What was his temp?" "One hundred three, taken R." "Good thing for the ice down.." Dr. Brackett said as he checked what I.V. was strung and the flow of O2 running on his patient. Roy added more, "Marco's BP has become low enough to warrant that EKG, we've had a strip going ever since I got a basement BP, about five minutes ago... Glad you ordered that epinephrine for him earlier. I think that's the only thing keeping him viable here." Brackett was studying the EKG strip Gil had stretched out on a table top and the live one showing on the station's heart monitor. "Ok, I want a twelve lead here from this double one. See that arrythmia in the QRS interval? That's most likely pathological." That hushed up everyone. Until Brice spoke up. "We knew he was sick. That was apparent on initial findings." "Yes, but have you ever seen someone with a cold downgrade so fast?" Kel said. Roy, Gil and Brice all looked at each other in alarm. Roy didn't even have to say anything. Then he eyed the bag Brackett had brought with him. "You know something we don't doctor? I recognize the insignia on that pack of yours.." Brackett made sure there were no civilians in the room near them who would overhear. Then his face fell into serious doctor. "I called the CDC on Marco's symptoms just before I flew out of the heliport. I remembered why Lopez's presentation seemed so familiar to me." "Doc, don't keep us in suspense here." Johnny said from his stokes. He had an elbow propped up behind his dirty head and had Bonnie on top of his stomach, calming her fretting with absent strokes. He had pulled off his nasal cannula so he could get it out of his face. "Did you know that Marco left the country recently?" "Yeah,.." Gil said. "Roy just told us here that he and his mother were attending a funeral for a cousin. A young boy.." "Well that young boy is the center of attention right now in Atlanta. Seems he died of an unknown hemorrhagic syndrome that's already claimed seven in Mexico City.." "Have they identified it?" "No, that's why I'm here. There's every chance that Marco has run into the same bug that's killed the boy.. His etiology so far, is following the same lines as the boy's did before he died." Dr. Brackett said, pulling Roy's stethoscope off and using it around the EKG leads on Marco's chest.. Johnny Gage nearly levitated from where he was lying. Only the straps holding him in the stokes, kept him there. "Are you telling me that Marco's got some kind of fast acting lethal plague?" "That's exactly why I'm here, Gage. To either confirm or rule out just that scenario. Atlanta CDC's already on their way. They should be here by nightfall." Kel said. "But we're in the middle of a disaster zone. We don't have time for a quarantine situation." Johnny protested. "Tell that to the bug, Johnny. It was here days before that earthquake even so much as twitched." Chet blanched. "Wait a minute, wait a minute.. Does that mean the rest of us might get sick from this thing?" Dr. Brackett nodded reluctantly. "It's a possibility, but the course of the disease is still in the guessing stages. Seven cases taking place in another country with a language barrier in the way puts a damper on fast information exchange. We're working on it. Now my job here is to isolate Marco best I can until we GET those answers gentleman. And I'm sorry to say, but this room and station is off limits to anyone on the outside. Anyone who's had direct contact with Lopez, is staying right here." Roy spoke quickly when Kel placed a hand on Marco's chest, pressing down the stethoscope's drum, trying to hear breath sounds over the noise of helicopters landing and taking off just outside the station house. "Shouldn't we just get him out of here to an isolation ward?" "He's not a flight candidate anymore Roy. He's got rales in both lungs and they sound real wet. And the edema I'm hearing is rising, right into his trachea. Get a suctioning device. He's gonna need it. Standing orders you three," Brackett threw an authoritative point towards Gil, Roy and Brice's directions. "If his respiratory rate falls below eight. I want him EOA intubated." "Right doc.." Roy said. And he and Gil hastened to make the changes. "And slow down his drip to TKO. I don't want his circulatory system overloaded. Last thing he needs is to drown in his I.V." At that, Kelly's face screwed up in worry. Chet spoke as Dr. Brackett moved to a steel bucket filled with water, and watched as he reached into his bag and pulled out a pint of powerful disinfectant and poured it over his hands. He used the water to rinse off and a sheet to dry before moving on to examine Cap and Miss Thorne. "Shouldn't we all wear gloves or masks or something?" Chet asked. "Too late.." Gage said. "Remember when I got that virus last year? If this germ's similiar, we've all touched Marco directly or indirectly already. We've all been exposed..." "Yeah, but Brackett hasn't.." Chet said, nervously. "That's his choice.." Brice commented and moved to give Brackett the run down he needed on the others in stokes in the room. Kelly slumped against the bunk wall and leaned over, trying to absorb the bizarre news. "Man, can our day get any worse?" Just then, Bonnie's low moaning turned into an agonized wailing of warning.. Chet leaped to steady Cap and Johnny's stokes on the four chairs when an aftershock seized up out of the ground. It lasted for more than a few seconds before the dead light fixtures overhead started to slow their swaying. The master HT came to life on the desk and it was Stone who was instantly on. ##Everybody all right in there?## Brice picked up the handy talkie and said, "At least, quake wise..." he muttered. ##Squad Eight. Would you 10-9 that?## Brice immediately suppressed his morbid sense of humor, "Uh, 10-4, captain. We're fine. But uh, we're going to have to cancel that copter evac on the sick fireman. The doc says he's too unstable for transport. And .... the rest of us will be staying right here with him for extenuating circumstances...." he said sighing heavily.. "I'm declaring a Condition Bio-Yellow, sir.." ## Excuse me, Did I hear that right? A Biological Hazard alert?## "That's correct, Cap. Atlanta CDC has authorized Brackett in here to declare one if he felt the need. And he has.. At no time do any of you out there enter back inside the station for any reason.." ##Ten four, Squad Eight. Understood, quarantine protocol laying down. I'll mobilize accordingly. Any of my men to report to you?## "That's negative, Cap. Just Gil and myself need to..and we're already here." ##10-4, Let me know details when you can. Station Eight out.## A quiet sobbing from behind them caught their attentions. Dr. Brackett had roused Cindy from her half state with an aromatic capsule and had changed her oxygen mask for a cannula. She was sitting up with her back against the wall in her stokes. Brackett was giving her a glucose injection into her IV, to help her get over some shakes. He had discovered she was a diabetic from her own account. "What about my kids?" she said. "Are they gonna get sick, too?" and her face crinkled in fear. Kel couldn't answer that so he stayed silent. Roy looked up from Marco's pulmonary care and said, "Oh, no. Ma'am. Not at all. You see, we got them all out before we even had contact with Fireman Lopez. They'll be fine.." and he tried to put on a convincing smile. He saw Brackett nodding slowly in agreement as he put away his syringe into the sharps container on the floor. "Feel better?" he asked her. "Much. I haven't eaten since five.. I-It's been a busy day..." Miss Thorne said bravely. Dr. Brackett grinned for show. "That it has. And it looks like it'll be even busier for a while. Try to get some rest. I'll have one of the paramedics stop back in a while to recheck your blood sugar levels." She nodded. "I'm sorry. I just didn't remember to wear my bracelet this morning. It was just ..I was so excited about bringing the kids here That I must have forgotten it...." and her composure broke again despite her best efforts to shore it up. Kel wrapped a wool blanket he had found around her shoulders and snugged her up, brushing hair out of her eyes and away from the cannula. "Why don't you just try to relax.. Get some sleep if you can. If you've family to contact, we'll do that just as soon as the phone lines lighten up a bit.." "A- All right.." she said, gripping his hand. He had to peel off her fingers to leave. "It's all right. "he said, placing a grip of his own over her cool one. "No one is going to be dying. At least, not in here." "Yeah.. " Johnny piped up. "That doctor leaning over ya is the head of Rampart Emergency Services and he's a d*mned good heart surgeon too.. No one dies around Dr. Brackett when he gets ornery, Miss Thorne.. And right now, all of us paramedics are duck and covering, just from the sound of his voice alone.." She laughed despite herself, and slowly her eyes closed as she dozed where she was on the wall. Brackett switched her I.V. to one of blood neutral solution and moved on to Cap's side. "Captain Stanley..?" Dr. Brackett said as he took a chair near his raised stokes. He gave Hank a little shake. "Hmmm? Oh, hi doc.. What are you doing here? Is it bad out there?" he said, suddenly remembering that he was on oxygen. He began fiddling with the cannula when the dryness in his throat from the oxygen just begged him to cough. "Have we backup here yet? The damage out in the yard was bad. There must be tons of people in trouble out there.." "Surprisingly, no.. So I've been sent in here alone to look you guys over." He saw Cap blearily frowning at the ceiling when the familiar surroundings confused him. Dr. Brackett pinned down his deja vu. "You're in your station bunkhouse, captain. And there's a helicopter triage center right outside, for your situation update." "Does that mean we're getting out of here soon?" Dr. Brackett and the others exchanged looks. Stanley didn't miss the exchange. "Hey, fellas, what's the problem here? Why-- why haven't we been moved out?" Johnny turned his head from where he was sitting up next to Cap and sighed. "It's another virus, Cap. And the originator isn't a monkey this time.. It's Marco himself.." "What?!" Cap tried to sit up but Dr. Brackett restrained him. "Hey.. now just lie back. No sudden moves until I check out that head injury in a little more detail." Cap blinked, still trying to gain focus as Kel looked at his eyes.. "Is he all right?" Kel didn't say anything, reluctant to; until someone else did. "He's serious, Cap. Blood pressure's in the basement. And his chest is filling up." Roy said. "But his EKG still looks fair.." he tried to smile for Cap's benefit with that slim good news. Cap swallowed hard lying completely still as harsh reality finally sank home. "How about us? Anyone else sick?" "Not yet. But all are at risk I'm afraid.." Dr. Brackett said. Then he changed the subject. "Hank, are you seeing double or any flashes of light, or anything abnormal? Ringing in the ears, pain or headache? This is a pretty sizable lump I'm feeling on the back of your head." "No, doc. Nothing odd at all. I feel basically fine.." he said. "Listen, doc. Shouldn't you be with Lopez over there? I'm nowhere near the invalid everyone insists I'm to be.. . In fact, I should be getting up to help YOU.." and he tried to rise. Brackett stopped him firmly. "No. Stay. He's been seen, too. You're my second to the last stop. Gage's surgery to repair that carpal artery, is next.." Cap got through the rest of Kel's exam, showing no remarkable deviations, but he had trouble hiding a few sobs of frustration and helplessness as he tried to get through it without making a verbal sound. Dr. Brackett pretended to tune out the emotional weakness playing out on Cap's face. "Think you need the O2 some more?" Kel asked him. "No.. Why don't you save it for somebody else?" he said distractedly. "My head's clear now.." Stanley said very quickly.. Then he lifted his HT. "Station Eight this is Engine 51." "Cap, what are you doing?" Chet said, looking up from his wrapping more dressings around Gage's hand. Cap set his talkie momentarily onto his stomach and he glared at Kelly and said. "Stoker's got a right to know about Lopez and what's happening in here. It would be wrong for us to keep him in the dark about his condition.." Kel raised inquiring eyes to Roy. "Doc, Mike did have close contact with Cindy over there, and I was near him also a lot of the time, while we were treating her. He might be a quarantine candidate.." DeSoto said grimly. Dr. Brackett replied. "Then Hank's right in calling him in here.." "D*mned right I am.. And I'm not liking it that he's part of this whole nastiness either.." Cap snapped. Everyone froze when the HT responded to Captain Stanley's earlier heads up. ##Go ahead, Station 51. You're up, Hank? That's great news! I'll be sure to tell my whole crew all abo-..## "Ben, I know about the quarantine.." Stanley said cutting him off. "So don't try to buffer me with false enthusiasm. Just send my man Stoker in here. He's been pegged as a risk factor.." There was a long pause on Stone's end. Then a click. ##He's on his way in.. He's been on your engine's wash down preventative detail so he's had no direct contact with anyone else except those medical casualties in your group..## "Understood, Stone. Engine, 51. Out." Cap said, and he laid his head back down, clutching the HT as if holding it would somehow get him out of the nightmare he found himself locked inside. Hank sighed as Dr. Brackett finished taking his BP. "Take it easy.. I'll keep you up on the latest developments, captain." "Appreciate it, doc.." Gil was just giving Kel the verbal rundown on Johnny, with Gage adding footnotes, when Mike Stoker appeared in the doorway. His happy face that the earthquake hadn't claimed more than a few buildings was an image no one wanted to shatter. But then someone, finally did........ ----------------------------------- Photo: B & W, Mike Stoker. Gif: A red earthquake alert gif Photo : Station 51 as it was before the earthquake. Photo : Roy prepping a bolus.. ***************************** From: Katherine Bird Date: Mon Oct 28, 2002 2:30 pm Subject: Reaching Out.. "Hey Mike," Chet called out as he carried blood soaked dressings from Gage's hand towards a medical waste bin. "Ever heard of the old adage, 'From out of the frying pan and into the flames?' "Yeah...." "Well, you're gonna wish you had a life net to bail out onto for this one, pal.." and he chucked his sodden bandages into the trash can with an angry overhand. "Kelly!" Cap admonished. "There are a million different ways to break bad news and only you could've picked the worst way possible.." "Cap, what's he talking about?" Stoker said mildly.. "Stone sent me in here, saying that I was to be a triage "go-for.." he said, still clueless. Then he saw Marco's shirt open and the gear for a pulmonary critical lying out on his bed; the suctioning device, the defibrillator, the running EKG monitor and the unopened esophageal airway. "He's going bad? Oh my g*d." And Stoker started over to him, pulling off his fire gloves, thinking he had been called to be a CPR standby for him. "Don't go any nearer to Marco, Stoker. And that's an order.." Dr. Brackett said, stopping him. "I won't allow it." Stoker pushed the doctor's hands away, unthinking, but Kel again held him back. Roy interceded verbally from where he was raising the head of Marco's long board up onto piled blankets to make breathing come easier. The water had long soaked into the sheets and only fast melting ice remained around him. These Roy piled into and under Marco's armpits. "Mike, it's not what you think. Lopez is-- He's not in danger of going out on us here. At least, not yet. What Dr. Brackett means is that if you come nearer, you'll be assuring a better chance of possibly becoming sick. You of all of us, are the least likely to have been exposed so far. You're here because you were in the yard earlier and because you were side by side with me after I got Marco out." Stoker's face fell and his angry look completely blanched into one of shock. "He's ill with something real bad?" he gasped as he tried to digest the horrid news. Dr. Brackett let him go. "I'm afraid so. It seems Marco recently had a small cousin die from a fast acting hemorrhagic fever type infection that's completely unknown to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. We're guessing your coworker contracted that same illness after attending the boy's funeral last week in Mexico. We find that he's exhibiting a massive systemic deterioration that is following a similar pattern to the one the boy suffered during the course of the disease." "He's going to die?" Mike said. "Not if we can help it." Stoker's haunted eyes flicked from Roy's to Cap's and back to Kel's and he fell speechless. It was Johnny who addressed Stoker's stunned silence. "Mike, Dr. Brackett's fully loaded with equipment. And the CDC's going to be here any hour to help us sort out all this mess. Marco didn't get sick until almost a week had passed following that funeral. So it'll be a while before any of us comes down with it. We have time on our side." He knew he had missed his mark entirely when Stoker erupted in uncharacteristic reaction. "Yeah?! Tell me another story. Marco may not even HAVE that Johnny!" Stoker said. "Why else would you be set up for an imminent crash?" he said throwing a hand out to Marco's equipment thick bed. "I'm not quiet because I'm thinking about myself here.." he snapped. "So spare me your platitudes..!" "Hey.. Now losing our heads isn't going to solve the prob--!..." Cap said, shouting. He immediately cut off for his yell had made his head shoot pain all the way down to his toes and he winced with a strangling gurgle, that was almost a sob. Captain Stanley covered his face with his hands, in a vain attempt to gain control. That made Dr. Brackett narrow his eyes in new concern and he moved over to Hank's wire stretcher to speak quietly with him for a moment about it. Cap's inadvertant cry had cooled his arguing crew's fire better than any withering "Cap" lecture ever could. All of them were cowed and silently they all got to work preparing and setting up everything they would need to preserve the ordered quarantine. -------------------------------------- Dusk had fallen, and all scene responding helicopters had been called off until first light. There was only one still scheduled to come in, to risk a night landing in a few minutes and that was the chopper bearing the Atlanta disease control experts. Dr. Brackett, and those unwounded, chose to sit on the floor, lined up against a wall all on a side, as they found themselves blinking, and still unresting, while they waited for a tell tale "thwop" of helicopter blades to come out of the starry skies. Their eyes similarly studied the tracing blip of activity on Lopez's monitor, hopelessly caught in its desperate amber dance, and the tiny light from it set their faces apart from the surrounding darkness. The only sound in the sleeping room of Station 51 was the wavering rhythm of Marco's irregular EKG as PVC's started marching more and more frequently across the screen. The EOA, still lay packaged and unused, on his abdomen. Dimly, in the background, they heard the shouts of firecrews and rescue workers outside, still sorting through the earthquake neighborhood for casualties. Bonnie, at last, had fallen into a fitful sleep. And the seismology reports finally coming in from Geological Survey, were showing that the ground was doing the same as well. The tiny aftershocks that came, barely jarred them from their frightening private reveries. Then there was a rustle as Roy excused himself verbally. He got up, stepping over pairs of legs and moved to the desk on the far side of the room. There he sat down in the squeaky desk chair turned on a battery lamp, and reached for the phone. The others slipped back into their irresistible snoozing as he began to dial out. Roy's face was now dust free, and the cut on his forehead had been tended to and bandaged, but the care he had received did nothing to ease the pain he was feeling inside from being away from his family. When the last number tumbled into the dialer, he did his d*mndest to keep all trace of it from his voice. "Hi, hon. It's me again. No, the last tremor didn't shake us too badly. Well, only Johnny complained about that one because his Bier block was starting to wear off. No. no. He's fine. Dr. Brackett did some terrific vascular work on his hand and that metal rod came out without problems. Miss Thorne's coming along. She even had some soup earlier. Cap's better, too. Doc finally authorized some MS for him after he was convinced that crack on his head was all superficial swelling with no underlying problems. Heh. He's even started captaining again. Well, unofficially of course. He's driving the other engine companies nuts asking for reports every half hour from his stokes. Yes, I heard. Only fifteen have died. We were very very lucky.." Roy's eyes filled at his next question. "H-How are the kids taking this whole "daddy's stuck away"thing? You didn't tell them everything did you? Good. No point to doing it, really, until you and I both have our answers. No, they're not here yet. And LAX is not taking any calls about any rescue operation's ETA. They're saving themselves for emergency inflight and relief traffic correspondence, only for situations priority marked in the disaster zone. Yeah. I know. Yeah, I-I'm agreeing with you, Joanne. The station's definitely in that area, but this virus thing is only secondary in their priorities." He held the phone away from his ear and actually almost grinned when his last statement brought a tirade of reaction from Joanne about exactly what she thought of the Los Angeles County Fire Department /FEMA protocols.. When she was through, Roy spoke again, answering her next question. "No, he's about the same. We're keeping him comfortable and we've managed to drain some of that fluid in his lungs. I'll be frank because we've agreed to be thoroughly honest with each other..There's been some problems. Blood's beginning to show in his sputum and his temp's going up despite the ice baths. No, he's still breathing on his own on one hundred percent O2. " He broke off actually grinning.. "You're beginning to sound like a paramedic here, with all these questions, you know that... And what did Chris just say, I didn't quite hear him.. Oh. LOL! 'That's because mommy's married to the best one in the whole world huh?....' Thanks for repeating that hon. That was cute." Roy closed his eyes trying to picture his wife and son in his mind sitting at the dining room table, on the phone with him, but the picture wouldn't come. "T-That was very cute.." and his voice cracked. "You don't have to call Rose Marie Lopez on his update Joanne. Vince is already there with Marco's mom. Yeah. He went there himself before the news broadcast the station as being downed in the quake on the TV. Listen hon, I'll call you the moment we know anything more, all right. I've got to go. Time for vital sets all around. And I see a few saggy IV bags above a few stokes, too, that need changing over. "Yeah. You WILL most likely know sooner than I when the CDC arrives. D*mned press. They almost got in here once. If it weren't for Bonnie, we would have been neck deep in plague panicky reporters once they learned the quarantine orders weren't viscious rumors. "On channel five? All right, I'll try to peek out a head at ten and wave when the live broadcast outside starts up. No we've no power. But I've got a watch. I can do this. Might cheer up the kids.. "Those reporters need a scare or two to get off the driveway anyway. Cap's already crawling out of his skin over the damage done to the station vehicles. It'll do him some good if I can get them all to just to clear off. " He grabbed a water bottle and opened it but he didn't drink, at her next words. "I - I love you too, Joanne. H- Hug the kids for me, will ya? Talk to you in the morning...Yeah, I'll let Marco know you're praying for him. Bye." And he set the phone down with a soft snick into the receiver. Roy got back over to the populated end of the bunk room and returned to the others, reluctantly. He had just sat back down to take a sleeping Miss Thorne's BP, when Marco on the bed, suddenly seized into a convulsion. Chet was there instantly, "Dr. Brackett!!" Brice, Gil and Roy jumped to their feet in moments, right behind Kel. They scrambled, reaching for...... ------------------------------------ *animated gif* An English Paramedic Ambulance. Photo : Johnny popping epinephrine shot caps. Photo : A shot of the squad and turnout coat, with full gear boxes. -------------------------------------------- End Part One... ******************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Tue Oct 29, 2002 6:14 pm Subject: Setback Special Website Acknowledgement for Episode Images being provided from... Guest....KMG365 at Tigger's E Stuff Website http://exit3.i-55.com/~ffaller/emergency/ Also special thanks to site EMS Medical Consult : P. Keiper NREMT Minnesota ----------------------------------------------- Marco's longboard and the O2 mask on his face. Johnny, jarred awake by the shouting, knew immediately what was happening at a glance. "Tip him over, guys, tip him over!" he said from his stokes. Brice and Gil each grabbed an edge of the long board and then turned Lopez onto his side, gracelessly. Roy slid Marco's non rebreather mask out of the way and angled Lopez's head back, laying his cheek on an arm. In between Marco's violent spasms, DeSoto pulled out the short oral airway that had been over Marco's tongue and snatched up the suctioning tube lying idle on the bed, he paused as he checked for signs that Lopez had vomited. "He's clear..." he said, throwing the probe aside and replacing the mask down over Lopez's nose and mouth. "Most likely because he hasn't eaten since this morning..." Roy stayed closely by his head, one eye intently watching the motion fluctuating ECG while the others moved into action around him. He sighed, seeing a bite stick wasn't needed when Marco's jaw released at a touch. Dr. Brackett nodded, agreeing about the lack of aspiration as he listened to the seizing fireman's chest with a stethoscope. "He's clear here, too. There's just that prior edema. All right. Let's get him back supine. Easy.. and tighten those straps. He's working them loose." Everyone watching, held their breaths as Marco's breathing came in hard gasps as his convulsions rattled the metal bedframe underneath him. Chet did his best to stay out of the paramedics way while making sure Marco didn't hurt himself. Mike, took a few steps nearer but stayed back, still uncertain and a little frightened about getting so near to Marco's illness. Craig Brice looked up from where he was pulling a backwash of blood from Marco's original IV with an empty syringe. "Serum glucose doc?" "You bet. If it's below 80 mg/dL, inject 25 g dextrose D50 IVP. These seizures might not be just febrilly induced. His blood sugar may have taken a nose dive or skyrocketted." Brice moved to a glucose monitor and quickly got a baseline off of his red top. "It's 62." "Follow up, Brice. That dex and 100mg Thiamine IV. I don't want him to lose a heart rhythm." Dr. Brackett said. "On it." Kel looked up at Gil. "Sheppard, run in a second IV, Normal Saline wide open. We'll risk the fluid overload. We need it for his sedation med. We'll bump it down after we've gotten these convulsions under control. Ughh." he grunted, helping Roy keep Marco's airway open. It took both of them to do it, when a bad series of shudders bucked him more violently, underneath their hands. Chet, meanwhile had gotten the resuscitator near and had set the demand valve mask available on Lopez's pillow. "Thanks," Kel said to Kelly. "But he's doing fine so far, even breathing broken like this." Roy looked up. "Time for diazepam, doc? "Yes, draw up ten milligrams. We'll titrate into his IV until he responds. If that doesn't work, we'll use Ativan, 2 mg IM. He's too shocky for paracetamol." ---- Miss Thorne was covering her eyes to keep herself from looking, and Cap noticed. "It looks scary for Lopez with those convulsions, Cindy. But he's not feeling any pain with them at all. Marco's muscles are just kicked into overdrive because of the low sugar in his blood and because of that fever. They're going to settle him down in just a sec here so he can breathe normally." ---- Roy prepared the syringe of medication Dr. Brackett had ordered as fast as he could. He heard Cap's reassurances to Cindy, but didn't look up. "Doc, want me to do it?" "Give it here.." Kel said to Roy, reaching out for the medication. "Take over watching his airway, Kelly." "Got him.." Chet said, firmly taking Marco's chin and head so he wouldn't obstruct as Dr. Brackett let go. Kel pushed all the air out of his syringe needle until the diazepam geysered high and then parked the newly strung and running NS IV Brice handed him under his arm to hold it while he injected the muscle relaxant slowly into its drip chamber.. They all watched for signs that Marco's convulsions were ending. About twenty seconds later, they did. The EKG monitor bleeped a changed beat alarm when the V-tach settled into a more solid sinus rhythm. The frenzied PVC's died away from the tracing pattern. Dr. Brackett set a hand on Marco's chest to feel for his respiration status. "There. That's better." he said about the ECG. Then he looked up again with a slight frown. "Kelly, hyperventilate him a few times. The diazepam's suppressing his intake a bit." Roy removed the old nonrebreather mask from Marco's face, as Chet took over with the demand valve. Kelly made sure it was sealed well over Lopez's nose and mouth. Then he thumbed the positive pressure trigger on the demand valve, until he had delivered four vents carefully into Marco's lungs. Dr. Brackett had out his stethoscope again. "Ok, hold off.." and he listened to the bubbling breath sounds. "That's all he needed. A boost. He's back.." Everyone gasped in relief and even Johnny let out the breath he was holding. Dr. Brackett smiled, pleased. "At least that was one problem easily solved. Get Marco's head elevated again while you're there, Kelly would you? And Gil, you can TKO that normal saline now." The dark haired doctor moved to turn on a strip from the monitor to take a closer look at how Lopez's heart had handled the incident. Roy had a question. "Doc.." "Hmm?" Dr. Brackett said, not looking up. "We lost all the ice around Marco. Do you want us to replace it?" Kel shook his head. "The diazepam will shut off that fever parasympathetically on its own. We can always get some more if his temp rises again. Get another one for reference for now, all right?" Roy nodded. Soon, he had a reading. "One hundred one." "Down. Despite the convulsions." Brackett remarked, satisfied. "Let's monitor his respirations to be sure they're stable." Gil, was getting a new, dry blanket for Marco when Stoker came up hesitantly. "Need help with that?" Sheppard grinned warmly, knowing the mental obstacle Mike had had to overcome to just be there. "Sure.. Tuck in that side, but keep his chest uncovered. We have to eye his breathing rate for a while." "Yes. I heard.." Mike said. Then he looked down..frowning.. "Hey doc.." he called out. "Look at this.. He's developing a rash or something. It's breaking out on his chest." Dr. Brackett stopped his ECG reading and bent over the bed. He felt Marco's throat and larynx, but found no swelling at all. "Hmm, no signs of anaphalaxis here yet... And his color's good. This looks more like an urticaria or a secondary maculopapular rash to me... but ah, following up on the first angle,.... Roy, Johnny... does Marco have any known allergies to medications?" "No, doc.. He's NKA on just about everything. Well, everything except for an intolerance for putting up with one of Chet Kelly's jokes." Gage quipped. "Oh very funny, Gage. Would that be like ah, say your own marked intolerance for any strikes aimed at you from the Phantom??" Kel grinned. The banter meant the firehouse gang was starting to relax again. "I heard about that whole one upmanship going on, from Dixie, a while ago. Who finally won?" "I did." "I did." said Johnny and Chet simultaneously. They made sharp stares, glaring at each other and then let they both ..let ...loose. "I had the last word!" Chet insisted. "No I did! Remember my very very slick "Are we going to eat off the table?" delivery line? Man, Chet. You fell for that completely, hook line and sinker. And don't deny it. The whole gang were my witnesses.. Isn't that right Marco..?" and he patted Lopez's shoulder despite the fireman still being unconscious. Mike Stoker piped up. "Chet was the last one to "one up" there Johnny, if I recall." "No, I thought he was er, I was.." Gage cocked his jaw, thinking back. He wasn't quite sure about that fact himself and it showed in his eyes. "Sorry, Gage. But the Phantom match, I do believe, went to Kelly." Cap said, with an amused smirk. "I wasn't directly involved or targetted with water bombs in that particular week of shenanigans, but I did follow all the action VERY closely, back then." "You did?" "You did?" John and Chet said as one. They looked at each other once more but this time, in complete and utter surprise. Then Chet asked. "Hey Cap. How did you know?" "Well, usually, all the water in the station is either in the Engine tanks or the sink when I don't have someone stuck on mop detail." he steepled his hands together over his chest as he thought back "Annnddd I .... noticed the dry, hot Santa Ana air that month suddenly got suspicious humid, only inside the station." Kelly and John both flushed red when they realized they had been outfoxed by Cap the observer, despite their efforts to hide the misadventure. "Didn't take long to find out what you two were up to.... at all.." Cap said, pleased as punch. Johnny complained after he picked up his jaw off his chest. "Well why didn't you stop him from doing all that from the beginning?"he pointed at Chet. He winced when that pointing hand was his post surgical one. "I must have spent thirty dollars in laundering bills and re-polishing streetside shoeshines that week." Chet sniggered but immediately stifled it. "Well, Gage.. Let's just say I had money riding on the outcome.." Hank trickled. Chet and Gage's eyes both widened in surprise at their captain. Stoker couldn't wait to elaborate. "He made out like a bandit, boys, while you two were playing Phantom. Called your every mutual moves play by play." "Oh- oh yeah?" Chet said, gaining back a bit of timid bravado in the face of finding out about his superiorly ranking boss's less than honorable conduct. " Just how much did you win off us, Cap? We do have a right to know.. You know, for the loss of face we suffered, the butt we must have been in every other shifts' table jokes as you gave them gritty details behind our backs.." Kelly huffed low in his throat. "Pah.. I'll just bet C shift must have been the ones who ran that betting pool that Cap cleaned up in." Cap grinned evilly around his O2 cannula as he suddenly shook his head slowly in the negative.. "Kelly,.." he tapped his ample nose, twice at the curly haired fireman. "...about the winnings.." he chuckled. "And...hate to break it to ya fellas, but...." and he took in a big satisfied breath, "I was that all secret kingpin.." Johnny and Chet fell utterly speechless. Even Roy's eyes got larger and he blinked, almost sticking himself with Marco's sedative syringe that he was holding onto, to document usage spent, before he caught on to what he was doing, and reset it carefully back onto the table. Captain Stanley smiled at his audience. "You gotta remember, a captain's ALWAYS on top of any situation.." Hank said with aplomp. "At a fire, or.." he said with mystery,...".. just waiting for one.." With that, he turned over in his stokes and went back to sleep. Dr. Brackett chuckled as he snugged up Marco's blankets to his neck when he was convinced the ill fireman had good control over his breathing and airway on his own. "Glad I work in a hospital.." "Oh? You mean, Morton, Dix and Joe, don't get you with zingers like this one every so often doc?" Gage asked, lacing his fingers behind his head. He grunted when he knocked his injured hand against the wall. He had forgotten about it. "No. Doesn't happen. Everyone's always too busy to do that sort of thing being always up to their eyeballs in emergency cases, Johnny." and he grinned. Dr. Brackett got up from Marco's side to make a note on his runsheet about the new rash spreading on Lopez's body. He made it a point to keep it the first thing to mention to the CDC team, when they arrived. And soon, the long awaited for chartered helicopter.. zoomed over the gaping hole in the roof of the shattered fire station to land on the boulevard. ------------------------------- Photo : Chet looking worried as he provides resuscitation to someone. Photo : Someone preparing an IV up close. Photo : Chet and Marco in a lighter mood. ****************************** From : "Roxy Dee" Subject : [emergencytheaterlive]The Grade Four~~ Date : Sat, 02 Nov 2002 08:41:36 +0000 In a wash of dust and debris, the foot rungs touched earth and five people got out, loaded to the hilt with sophisticated supplies and from the back, a mobile pallet of lab equipment from the chopper's cargo hatch. Police got them all through the clamoring press surrounding the station and allowed them to go into the barricaded off back yard. Once there, two of the five member team suited up in biohazard gear for entering the station, while the others stayed back to set up support tents and a rudimentary decontamination station out of the sight of public eyes. Captain Stone looked up from his place in the center of triage command and his thoughts turned once more to his fellow firemen held hostage not by smoke or fire, but by a germ.::Just how the h*ll are we gonna fight this ?:: Troubled deeply, he turned back to his organizational operations and tried not to feel helpless. He mentally hoped Captain Stanley would keep him updated on any news as it happened. The advance team's leader, a smallish, petite woman, picked her way through the fallen rafters and bricks in the garage to the bunk room. She went without preamble, to Dr. Brackett's side hefting a field autopsy kit, and a heavily sealed liquid nitrogenated container labelled extreme biohazard. This she set safely down in the middle of a tabletop. Kel looked up seeing them. "About time you got here, doctors. Marco's symptomology's advanced beyond your projections." "Sorry. Didn't count on breaking through a military line at the airport. The Guard was called out to maintain order because of your recent developing environmental setback." the woman replied, grinning through her plastic face piece. Kel grinned. "Is that what you microbiologists call an earthquake?" The ginger haired, french braided woman looked up, setting the rest of analysis gear onto an empty bed. "It can be, to us in the CDC, that can also mean the fact that this contagion might have succeeded in jumping an international border." Roy and Gil and Craig had looked up with alacrity from their medical monitoring just a minute before and were still stunned at the sight of the fully suited doctor. ::My god. This is more serious than I realized.:: Roy thought, eyeing up the woman's white bio-tunic, clearly air sealed. She had on a SCBA tank but her mask was not in place beneath her transparent hood. Then, the second member of the CDC's First In team joined her, having come from where he had placed microlab instruments in the lamp lit kitchen. "Jamie, the kitchen area looks intact, I'll have our team give it a wash down and have it covered. I've already told them to place our mobile lab in there.." "Understood, Steven.." she replied, her very blue eyes, glancing up at him. Then Roy overheard something else which made him glad Marco was still comatose. The woman scientist eyed up her study subject with the skill of an analyst, noting the rash, the abnormal EKG and the fluids hung over Marco's head, and what percentage O2 he was on while she spoke. "First thing, we're going to confirm or refute the theory of Mr. Lopez truly being our Patient X in the U.S. as the boy was for his country in Mexico City. We've brought pathological tissue samples from the Lopez child to verify any infection commonality in both him and Marco. So far, you'll be pleased to know, Dr. Brackett, that we've learned the disease most likely isn't transmitted by airborne vectors.." she said looking up. "Three of the victims down with the illness have no signs of insect bites." Kel said, "That's a relief, this summer there are insects a plenty. Glad they aren't a factor we're going to have to worry about here." Then he noticed the others watching quietly from where they were. "Oh. Sorry all. " He gave introductions to the rest of the room,.. "Everyone, this is Doctor Jamie MacPherson, head of the Special Pathogens Branch in Atlanta.." Roy and Johnny nodded. And so did everyone else but their uncertain looks remained on their faces, each looking emotionally worn in the dim battery light of the room. Dr. Brackett turned to Jamie's companion, "And this is her assistant head, Dr. Steven Taylor. These two are the people with whom I spoke this afternoon after we concluded your rescue call Roy..." The others didn't have anything to say, reduced to a slightly fearful silence by the frightening advancing reality of the circumstances surrounding them. "Gentlemen and maam.." Jamie said. "I know it's a little startling, having us appear like this, off a hightech, night flying helicopter, suddenly invading the scene in the midst of an already ongoing disaster. Myself and my associate are both geared like this strictly for precautionary measures. I'm happy to say it's been looking more and more that, whatever the contagion is, it infects only by direct body fluid transmission. So some of you who didn't handle Mr. Lopez may eventually prove to be uninfected. This mode of transmission is collaborated by the fact that the seven other Mexican victims have all have been reliably reported as having physically touched Benardo, as they prepared him for burial." Gil spoke up. "H-how do you explain Marco falling sick then? He arrived there much later according to Roy here.." Jamie cast her eyes down. "The boy's mother said he kissed Bernardo on the cheek before the casket was covered.." "Is she one who's sick?" Johnny asked. "I-- I mean, if Marco wakes up, he's gonna wanna know.." he said softly.. "Yes, Mr. Gage." Steven said. His suit crinkled as he sat on a stool at Marco's bedside, to read the chart Doctor Brackett and the paramedics were keeping on Marco. "She was still alive last report, as of a half hour ago." Miss Thorne timidly wrapped herself tighter in her wool blanket. "Is there anything you've found that may... prevent or slow this disease yet?" "Miss Thorne, we can't treat for anything yet beyond standard life supporting measures until we know exactly what it is we're dealing with here." Jamie said. "The wrong medication or antibiotic could alter immunophysiologic responses and actually allow this unknown disease to run its course even faster instead of buying any time." she answered. Gil asked one more question. "Has anyone infected held up in the face of this disease? Any one recovering?" Dr. MacPherson sighed. "No. That's what made us tentatively classify this outbreak as a possible Grade Four." "Grade Four?" Roy asked, "Forgive me for being ignorant but I'm unfamiliar with that terminology." he said, trying to smile without nervousness. "It must be something my partner and I don't deal with in the field working as paramedics.." "So you two are the ones who directly cared for Mr. Lopez? I need to ask you a few more details once Dr. Taylor and I get set up here. But to answer your question..." Jamie looked up from where she was skillfully drawing a blood sample off Marco, even with her suit's gloves on. "That ranking means a germ with a very high virulence and killing factor, Mr. DeSoto. There are only six known illnesses in this category that we know about, that have rapid fever with bleeding with its onset. Machupo Plague, Lassa Fever, Nipah virus, Hendra virus, Junin Plague, and the last, is one newly discovered, the Ebola virus.." "Ebola...." Chet said with rising fright. "I've heard of that. Oh, man.. it wiped out a whole village in West Africa last year.. Is that what Marco's got?" Jamie raised a gloved hand. "No,.." she insisted. "This body rash doesn't come with Ebola. This strain's new or rare. All we know is that it takes effect very very quickly and that it is a hemorrhagic syndrome type virus. Most likely in the Flavivirus family. Also, there's every chance that this bug may be another mutation of Dengue Fever, in its stronger variant , which is only fatal 30% of the time. Of those, there have been seventeen types of DHF discovered in the last ten years." Cap blinked, "Ok,.. Just ah, what can we do here to help you doctors out? I know for myself I want to do more than just lie around waiting for answers." He had been awake ever since the helicopter's motor blade noise woke him up. Jamie bit her lip, tilting her face inside her biohood. "Well for starters, I want to know as much as each of you can tell me about Marco's illness, when he got sick, what his initial symptoms were. What worked in making him feel better. That sort of thing. Details might give us something more to work on.." Roy spoke up. "Well, he had laryngitis real bad last night. It started a few hours after we all had a bad fire. Marco complained of a sore throat..." "And I noticed bloody patches in his nasopharyngeal area when I put in an oral airway this afternoon, doctor.." Gil replied. "Don't forget how O2 made his cough better." Chet added. "And how my mother's medicinal tea helped out too. Honey and herbs." Johnny said quickly. Steven shook his head and held up a glove, and his pen poised over the chart. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. One at a time. Slow down. Let's start from the beginning ok?" And they did. Soon, no one had anything else to add. Jamie read back what she had to everyone to reiterate. "...and then, Dr. Brackett, you said an instigated Glucose IV push, and diazepam along with some forced O2, ended his febrile seizure?" "That's correct. And his temperature went down two degrees from Roy's initial finding." "Got it.. Now, if you'll excuse me, Steven and I are going to compare this blood sample from Marco with those we have of his deceased cousin to begin a baseline analysis.." Jamie told them. Then she looked at Kel, switching to all doctor. "We're planning on using two virus isolation methods here, Dr. Brackett. First, a polymerase chain reaction analysis followed by an antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay." Kel nodded. "I agree that a PCR and ELISA comparison will reveal any marked pleomorphism under the microscope.." Cindy piped up. "Pleo what?" "What the germs are shaped like, Miss Thorne.." Steven replied. "A vital clue which might tell us what we're dealing with.." "Can I help you with anything?" Kel asked. Steven and Jamie looked around the room at everyone in stokes. "Can you leave your patients?" Roy spoke up. "Doctor. He can. Besides me and my partner, Brice and Gil are paramedics, too. We'll be fine." "Ok. Let's get at it then.." she nodded, satisfied. Kel and Jamie and Steven rose from their chairs, leaving with the path kit and the tissue cryo case holding the dead boy's tissue remains. Marco's vials of whole blood also accompanied them to the kitchen, where the newly erected, makeshift biolab awaited. The firemen, paramedics and teacher were left alone with their thoughts. On his bed, Marco startlingly moved, emitting a low moaning noise... Brice, Roy and Gil hurried to his side, to determine Glasgow status. "Marco?!" Gage called out.. Lopez reacted by.... ---------------------------- Photo: Dr. Brackett looking at your pupils with a penlight. Photo : Photo of Miss Thorne, in closeup. Photo: Of a blood filled IV bag. Photo : An awake Marco with a bandaid on his head. Photo: Station 51 at night. *************************** From : "Clairissa Fox" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Darkest Before Dawn.. Date : Sun, 03 Nov 2002 06:11:08 +0000 ...groaning again, but his encrusted eyes, didn't open. "Hey! Somebody help me down from here. I want to be the first one to talk to him. Now." Captain Stanley ordered. His voice held undeniably firm authority. Craig and Chet lifted Cap's stokes off the two chairs it was lying across and set it onto the floor. Hank grabbed their hands as they each also gripped a shoulder to help him sit up, gingerly. . "Wait, Kelly.." Craig said when Chet tightened the grip in one of his hands to give Cap leverage to get to his feet. Brice glanced at Hank. "Don't lie to me when you answer this. I'll be able to tell by your eyes. I don't care if getting you up was an order or not because you're officially sidelined. Morphine still making you dizz--? " "West is that way Brice!.." Cap pointed towards the open exterior door with his HT's antennae. "Now get me up!.." "Right. You're fine.." Brice said two seconds later. "Chet, make sure he doesn't crash into anything." he replied, his resistance crumbling. Stanley instantly pushed to his feet by himself before anyone could help him further. Kelly hastened to get Cap's oxygen tubing trailing behind him properly and snatched up his D tank to follow along as Cap made his way shakily to Marco's longboard on the bed. "What about me?" Gage complained. "I'm not dizzy." "No, but you were shocky post surgical. Get your BP up to normal and you can join him." Brice dismissed Gage's jibe with efficiency. Johnny cut off his rejoiner when DeSoto's quiet vocal urging began. Roy was examining Marco's eyes with a penlight. "Marco.. It's Roy. Can you understand me? If you do, I want you to open your eyes.." Lopez didn't, but he kept stirring restlessly in his fever. DeSoto took a pen out and dug its cap into one of Marco's nail beds, pressing down hard. The pain made Marco grunt and jerk his hand away and he coughed under his oxygen mask but he didn't form legible words. "Should we go get the docs? If Marco wakes up more, he might be able to tell them about how he's feeling." Stoker asked. Roy said. "No. We're gonna let him know what's going on here first. He might not even know that we were even IN an earthquake. That in itself is going to be one h*ll of a shock." Craig reached into the drug box and pulled out an aromatic capsule, holding it up questioningly. "Yes.." Roy nodded, taking it from Brice. He pulled down Marco's O2 mask so that it was sitting by his mouth on his chest. Then he cracked the aromatic in two, waving the capsule under Lopez's nose, following after his nostrils with it when Marco tried to avoid its fumes. Lopez's eyes finally opened with startled coherence. "Marco.. you with us?" Roy asked again. "Whaa?" Lopez coughed wetly, getting rid of the ammonia stench in his nose and finally, his eyes worked to focus on faces. On a thought, Hank pulled off his own O2 cannula, and he hastily hid it in his shirt collar to spare Marco some worry. Cap set a hand on Lopez's shoulder. "Easy there, pal." "*ugh.* C -Cap? " Marco asked blearily.. "W-was I in a fire?" he said. "Hard to breathe." "It's all right, Marco. We're dealing with that. You've got some lung edema but you've got O2 on. It's right here.." Cap said, placing the mask into Marco's sweaty hand. "Use it when you need it." Roy got a blood pressure as he watched Marco recover clarity. Captain Stanley went on, "Not exactly a fire, Lopez. More like a ..well, an earthquake." "What?" Marco whispered, his voice cracking. "It hit the stationhouse, Marco." Chet said taking a stool by his head. "But everyone's all right. Nothing serious injury wise." Marco felt night wind on his face and noticed the stars showing through the roof where the garage rafters had been. "Ohh.." "There's no roof?! H-How are the buildings on the rest of the block?? W-we gotta go help people.." he exclaimed, and tried to rise, but his board's straps prevented that. "Oh, no. no. no.." Gage warned Marco. "We've plenty of help out there, Marco. About eight engine companies worth. Casualties were light. We don't have to go anywhere so relax.." "W--? Johnny. It's dark?.. Why am I still here if I'm hurt or something? Should've been to Rampart already." he gasped. Cap and the others exchanged looks. Then Stanley looked down at his dirty hands and said. "W-we can't do that, Marco. Not yet. You see, there's another problem we're dealing with right now. But we've the best team around to help us out of this one. They came all the way from the other side of the country to--" "Cap. Just level with me. Don't beat around the bush. Last time someone did that to me it was the day I found out my little cousin Bernardo had died." Lopez said. Cap looked sharply pained and fought his emotion to the point of clenching his jaw to keep anything from getting out too fast. "Marco. It's not good news, just like the news was on Bernardo.." "Is it mama? Is she ok??" Marco said with alarm. Roy and Gil held him down. "She's fine. She's fine. The quake didn't reach the Palisades. Vince's already stopped in to check on her.." Roy said quickly. "Then why do all of you look like someone died?" Lopez said. "That's because, there's a very real chance that all of us just might do that, Marco." Cap said to the point and very very raw. "I don't understand.." Lopez said. His EKG picked up a little in stress and he started to gasp until Roy made him take a few breaths off the O2 mask. Captain Stanley continued. "Your cousin didn't go from some fluke fever, Marco. He was ill with something..." he sighed heavily. "..with something no one's ever seen before.." Lopez paled. "And now I got it? And the rest of you?" Cap just nodded. "It's a very real possibility that we've all been exposed. The docs here from Atlanta are working on the problem, even now, right here in the station.." he said, trying to smile. "Shouldn't be too long before they pull a couch or two out of the house fire." "I'm going to die?" Marco asked. Brice immediately replied. "No. It hasn't been confirmed what illness you have. So far, you've just a fever, and some fluid in your chest and a skin rash. Nothing we can't handle.." Marco blinked. "Craig? But you're working for eight. Your station's here?" "Yes, Captain Stone is right outside, running triage operations, with Cap here." he said. "Couldn't resist the call to dig out a couple of fire engines from their own garage, know what I mean? Had to save Cap here some face somehow.." Captain Stanley hefted his HT to encourage Marco that it was true. Lopez didn't say anything, and he just blinked at the ceiling, the nightmare still not yet accepted. Roy spoke up. "We're doing everything we can here, Marco. We're just under a temporary quarantine until we get some answers. And we've turned it into a regular campout.." he grinned. "Look, soup stove and everything." It faded when Marco's eyes filled and he began to sob softly. Roy went on. "I know things sound bad. And Cap and I know how you feel. It feels like everything all around you has..kinda been turned upside down and it's not a pretty picture to be waking up to. But know that we're in this together, Marco. A firecrew never abandons one of their own." "You got that right.." Cap agreed. "There's two very very good doctors here, a Steven Taylor and a Jamie MacPherson. And Dr. Brackett's been telling us that they are simply the best of the best in their field. I wouldn't be surprised if they...wrapped up things here in just a couple of days.." "But what about my family in Mexico? Are they still safe?" Lopez asked, angrily wiping away tears. "Yes. Bernardo's mother is ill but holding her own. But there are seven down there with the same symptoms as Bernardo's.." Roy replied. Then he looked down, fussing with an IV that didn't need attention. "And.. yours.." "So why didn't you bail out when you could, everyone?" Marco said, his frustration and anger building and he pegged them all with a viscious glare. "Marco. Calm down.." Cap said. But Lopez wouldn't listen. "I tried to! Only I wasn't running for the kids when the bricks started falling down all around me.. I just ran for the door.. Yes, that's what I did.." he sobbed. "Some hero, huh.?" Stanley sharply told him. "Lopez. Stop. Getting into self pity isn't going to solve--" "Don't you see, Cap?.. I ran! I'm sure you guys were real puzzled why I was in the kitchen instead of the garage with them." he cried, his eyes blinded by frightened tears. "And I wish to G*d I could be running away from all this right now..." he whispered. "Oh, Bernardo!... Oh, Mama!... I'm sorry.. I'm so.. sorry...Lo ciento por su dolor y herido.." and he started to cry in heaving choking sobs of grief and shock. Cap hugged him, and held him tightly as Marco finally gave in completely to his terror and fear. "Lopez. It's all right. We're here. And we won't be leaving you, pal. Not by a long shot.." "I want to die.. I want to die.. Oh, Bernardo...." Marco's sobs died away. At his silence, Chet moved forward. "He's out again?" Kelly asked with alarm, swallowing.. He helped Cap lower him slowly back down again onto the longboard. Roy looked at the EKG and took a pulse. "No. Just sleeping. " "What was wrong with him? I mean, I- I've never seen Marco act that way, Roy.." DeSoto met Chet's eyes. "Its nothing. He's a little raw partly because of the fever, and the diazepam, and most likely, from some inner feelings he's been suppressing ever since his cousin's funeral. Not the first time someone's buried family and then not reacted to it until weeks later.. He'll be better emotionally after a good nap." Johnny piped up. "Yeah, Chet. He's a human being, so give him some slack.." "I am. I am.. It was just a little frightening seeing him come unraveled like that." "Well you would, too, after surviving a funeral, the complete destruction of your workplace, an earthquake, and then capping it all off by coming down with a potentially lethal plague..Come on, Cap. Let's get you back to bed.." "I'd rather stay here, if that's ok with you.. Gage.." Cap said. "I can recupe just as well from a chair as a stokes.." "Ok. Just have Chet put your O2 back on.." Johnny said, rolling over to get some rest himself. Roy nodded in agreement and soon, Chet and he left Cap studying Marco's sweaty face as he slept fitfully. Cap was almost dozing from the heady effects of the O2 cannula when he realized that Marco and he were no longer alone, on just a feeling. He opened his eyes. Miss Thorne had gotten up and she had moved to the chair Roy had vacated. "He's almost my age.." she said gently. Cindy reached out to Marco's face to brush away a tangle of wet hair with compassion. Cap grabbed her hand, and shook his head, preventing her from touching him. "It's all right.. You firemen aren't the only ones known for self sacrificing oneself. And there are two million teachers out there all across the country who'll agree with me on just that point." Captain Stanley smiled and let her go. Then he afforded her some feigned privacy as she leaned down to admit a secret to his sleeping crewmate. Cindy wiped away Marco's tears with a gauze pad and bathed his face in a cool cloth as she talked. "You know, Marco. You weren't the only one who wanted nothing else but to run today..." she told his sleeping features.."Stoker here had to tackle me to keep me under that kitchen table until the quake had ended. So I think there's a bit of cowardice in all of us. It's not surprising to me that the ground failing beneath our feet brought some of that out in both you and me. But I'll just bet there hasn't been a single fire that you've ever seen where you didn't just go charging right on into it without hesitation. So you're one up on a whole lot of us teachers in the bravery department, Marco Lopez. Those kids knew that coming here today. And so did I... Just sleep...Things will be brighter in the morning. They always become that way, with the dawn.." In reply, Marco's EKG, slowed into deeper rest. --------------------------------- In the station kitchen improvised lab, Dr. Steven Taylor and Dr. Jamie MacPherson made a startling discovery on their specimen slides. They found....... ----------------------------- Photo: Cap at night calling on his HT. Photo : Chet sitting up in alarm on his bed. Photo : Marco looking very serious. Gif : A peaceful California dawn by the ocean. ***************************** From: finiterider@yahoo.com Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 14:56:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive ] The Red Devils-- ...bacteriophage. Simple, unknown; completely undifferentiated bacteriophage. "Steve. Come look at this. I pulled it off the fireman's gram negative stain." Jamie gasped through her contamination hood. Dr. Taylor joined her and bent down into the microscope. "Look at that Shepherd's Crook morphology. Could this be an RNA filovirus?" Jamie shuddered. "We've only hypothesized that evolution of phage in theory as a zoonotic model, no known living specimens are known to exist." Steven was thoughtful. " Zoonosis? Mexico has plenty of mammalian carriers. Mice, birds..." "Yes, but those vectors are everywhere. What is unique in Mexico city and nowhere else?" Jamie said. "It's tropical around Marco's family's neighborhood. Monkeys?" Dr. Taylor theorized. "None that are native.. Bacteriophage are weak transferring to foreign or human bred hosts. It would have had to evolve in one genus for decades to mutate to an infectious state strong enough to cross species barriers. Mexico has no native simians." Steve was finetuning the microscope as he dressed his sample with an enzyme catalyst to break down the virus into its separate constituents. He took the slide off and shook it while the solution broke it down. Then he replaced the slide. "Oh my g*d. Jamie,.. they're reassembling despite the protein dissolver.." "Self assembling? Retrovirus! That's a class neither virus nor bacterial, millions of years old." MacPherson said. "Then our contagion's host will have to be at least that old, too.." "Insectoidal?" Jamie guessed. "We ruled that out. No bites on half the victims, remember?" Steven sighed. MacPherson was undaunted. "The Marco house is deeply inside city limits on the edge of the mountains. No animals crawling in from the forest would go unnoticed there." "Birds?" "Too inefficient a metabolism for a retroviral infection. It would never survive in them." Taylor said, "I've tried on computer models." Jamie frowned.. "Their dogs and cats, and pigs and chickens were sacrificed by investigators. Couldn't have been them, they were all clean.." "Those animals are also young species. None older than a few hundred thousand years. Domesticated genetic lines. They can't be our hosts." Dr. Brackett had finished a toxicology series on Marco's blood samples and looked up when Dr. Taylor and Dr. Macpherson showed up in front of his work station. "Any progress..?" he asked. "Retrovirus.. Zoonotically transmitted. Our unknown is showing marked Shepherd's Crook pleomorphism and resistance to enzymatic lipase breakdown.." Dr. Brackett's eyes squinted and he blinked in reaction. "A retrovirus? I thought those were extinct and found only in the fossil record." "Not for some.." Jamie admitted. "The genus is rare, but can still be found in the wild. Just like the Listeria strain of cyanobacteria is still found in Yellowstone's hotsprings. That is living despite it being continually poisoned by our now oxygen rich atmosphere.." "Let me take a look at it.." Kel said. Taylor and MacPherson held out their hands to him to sit at the stool before the microscope. "Be my guest.." Taylor sighed. Then he pulled off his biocontamination hood. "We don't need these anymore.. This one can't reinfect anyone without an animal host.." Jamie concurred, shedding her biosuit too. "Totally true.." "Then the quarantine is unnecessary?" Dr. Brackett said. "Completely, doctor.." Steven told Kel. "Only body fluid precautions are necessary. Like you would do for any hepatitis or meningitis patient in one of your wards. Anyone healthy would be able to easily fight this off." "Marco wasn't healthy and so he got infected." Kel realized. "Most likely because he was burning his candles at both ends helping out his mother and working fires here. Roy did tell us that no one has gotten a lot of sleep for the last four days.." "Most certainly.." Jamie agreed. "And we hadn't been able to see these spirals and hooks until now, because when we got to the boy, he was already dead too long to present them clearly, except in the one splenic blood sample the forensic doctors managed to obtain. Your fireman's blood slide, has just made our problem crystal clear, doctor.." Brackett caught sight of the deadly, yet ancient retrovirus on the slide. He clearly saw the purple staining of the enzyme lipase chemical that Steven had added earlier, but the tiny contagion stubbornly held together in its spiralled stringed, oddly hooked shape. "Frightening. This germ is technically not alive here. But you're telling me that it can still reproduce?" Jamie nodded, agreeing with the hospital doctor. "Ummhmm. Just by latching onto any cellular RNA and telling it to make more retroviral capsules, with its own RNA, instead of normal stem cells." "Then what causes the symptoms and the fever and the bleeding?" Dr. Brackett wanted to know. Jamie said. "I have always hypothesized to my superiors that retroviruses have a piggyback contagion living in symbosis inside the spore capsule. Each, separated from the other, is harmless, but together in combination..." "Deadly and fast.." Dr. Brackett agreed. Dr. Brackett lifted a handy talkie wrapped in plastic on the table. It was linked to both the triage center outside and to the CDC team working in the firehouse backyard. ##This is Kelly Brackett inside Station 51. I'm lifting the quarantine. There's proof positive on further non transmission.## Dr. MacPherson lifted her own. ##Confirming the order Atlanta base. We're in the clear. Bodily fluid protocols restrictions only..## "How long will it take your people to use these slide images to identify the organism?" Kel said. "Only as long as it takes to take a polaroid slide image here and transmit it over TV satellite to the CDC.. Our specialists will peg this within minutes if we've seen it before.." "Then do it.. " Jamie started laughing.. "What's so funny doctor?" he asked. "I just learned the best way to do that doctor and it's even faster than our finest military.." "Oh?" "Use the reporters." she said. "They'll spread those images like wildfire. And the CDC will get them seconds after they air.." "Are you crazy? What about the panic that would cause doctor?" Steven said. "What..." she said dismissively. "You mean the earthquake hasn't already accomplished that? We can just label these pictures X Case Influenza and they'll be none the wiser.." Steven started to snicker, too. "Heh. Clever girl.." "I'm afraid I don't understand.." Kel Brackett said at their amused expressions. "X Case is CDC code for "identify and confirm this". Doctor Brackett. The word Influenza is bogus. Jamie wants to add that to make any viewers think we have just the flu in here to settle them down." Kel smiled, too. "I'll go along with that.." "I'll get right on it.." Jamie said. Soon, she had a polaroid of the slide showing the retroorganism stains and was jogging out the kitchen to head through the garage and the waiting press milling about outside for the ten o'clock news broadcast about to go on the air. A minute later, she was back. Dr. Brackett turned back to Steven Taylor.."Uh, doctor, in your theory, what's the best way to treat retroviral hemorrhagic fevers?" "Aggressive fluid management. I've tested Idouroxidine, an anti-tumor medication, against bacteriophage of this virulence...and I've had good results.." Steven suggested. Jamie immediately countered. "That's against bacteriophage Taylor, not retroviruses. No one's ever seen an active retroviral epidemic before.." Brackett silenced her with a growl. "Not until now.. I'm willing to try anything.. Marco Lopez's too unstable to wait any longer on a solution.. Even if it's just a temporary one.. He and seven others in Mexico are counting on us to help them now. Even if it's just a shot in the dark!" Jamie sighed, but let her colleague continue advising Dr. Brackett. "I'd try 150 mg IV QID for starters. That might arrest the synergistic bacteria in operation with the retrovirus's cellular division.." Steve said. Kel nodded his head, remembering something. "I have some already here. One of my senior paramedics had an unknown Asian Virus last year and I still had some viable doses available. I included them in that field bag you advised me to pack." "You know these injections will be stop gag at best.." Jamie said. Dr. Brackett washed his hands in the kitchen sink and dried them in a sterile towel. "I know.. But until we learn the animal who's the principle carrier from which to isolate an anti-viral serum, slowing down Marco's deterioration that way's the only hope we've got.." Suddenly, Chet's face peered through the kitchen door. His eyes got real big when he saw that the two microbiologist physicians were out of their containment suits. He shoved aside the door and said. "Hey, Dr. Brackett. You'd better get in here.. Marco was conscious for bit and talking.. Roy says he's still that way and only dozing.." "There's our chance to find out more clues about that carrier. Marco must have seen something down there that was new in his house animal wise.." Kel said, grabbing his HT for a reply from the outside. The news story delivering the image of Marco's germ to the whole state began to air. And Roy kept his promise by freaking out the reporters by leaning and waving from the station bunk house doorway so that his family and kids could see him. "Anyone wanna take bets on how quick the CDC will call on our answer?" Dr. Brackett said, gathering his gear and moving back to Marco's side. "No bets.." Steven said.. Chet was only puzzled when he overheard that little exchange. Then he started laughing when the camera man jumped back two feet when Roy pretended a fake sneeze into his direction. --------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett and Drs. Taylor and MacPherson all crowded around Marco's bed. Gil and Brice both backed out of the way. Craig said. "Ah, progress.. The quarantine's been lifted.." Gil looked at him as if he sprung a third eyeball. Brice merely tugged on his own sleeve to show his unbeliever that Jamie and Steven were now out of their biosuits completely. Gil caught on to that fact readily and accepted it eagerly. He knelt by Kel, telling him how long Marco had been conscious and how coherent he had been during those brief moments. Kel noticed Lopez was indeed, sleeping. He gently shook his shoulders. "Marco. Marco Lopez. It's Dr. Brackett. I need to ask you some questions about your family's home in Mexico.. Marco.. Can you hear me?" Cap jolted awake in his chair but then fell to listening when he realized an important discussion was about to take place. Chet joined him, crouching at his side. Marco's face finally animated and screwed up into an immediate liquidy cough that he barely managed to clear away in between breaths under his oxygen mask. His eyes opened fuzzily. "Brack--? Am I out yet??" "Not yet. Marco. Listen. This is very very critical that you hear me and answer as best at you can.." As he spoke, Marco's head sagged again into a half state. "Marco!! Front and center!!" Cap shouted. "Whaa? Inspection day already? Yessir!!" Lopez blurted out in sudden reaction. He started to give a mock salute but he couldn't lift his arm up all the way.. but his eyes snapped into a brighter wakefulness. Cap grinned and added more. "Just listen carefully, Lopez. This is not an inspection but a Q and A test. Reply to the doctors here as best you can." "A-all right. I'll get 100 %. I- I..don't want.. latrine detail agai---.... ohhh.." "Marco. Concentrate.." Kel urged. " t.......ryingggggg.." he sighed. Jamie leaned in close to Marco's ear. "Mr. Lopez.. When you arrived to your family villa in Mexico. Were there any new pets the kids were playing with?.. Anything strange or new?" "Pets? B- Bernado te gusta jovan gatos y..." "En Inglez,.. Marco.." Cap said. "Oh...hhhh uh, Bernardo likes kittens. Always new ones from the vineyards..." Jamie and Steven shook their heads. "Marco. Marco. How about something from the hills.. Something not domesticated. A mammal of some kind.." "Mama senora,.. ella es loco que se manana con el Diablos Rojos en la cielo noche porque ellos come en su flores..!" Marco wailed in his fever, still not very coherent.. "What?" Taylor exclaimed at the apparent spanish gibberish.. Chet said, straining to understand. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute.. I think I understand a bit.. Marco and I have a bet running that I can learn enough spanish to impress his mama by fall to win a complete, homecooked--" "Chet! Now's not the time..!" Cap roared. "Ok, ok, ok... Uh.. I think he said that the Donya Arana or the head woman in his household was going crazy that morning because of "red devils" from the night sky eating in her garden.." "Red devils from the sky?" Jamie frowned. Then Taylor clinched it.. "Bats.. Can't be anything else.. Specifically, Flying foxes!! They are all over Mexico. There's our sentinel anim---" he leaped up for the phone to reach his superiors in triumph.. Jamie leaned in to Marco as her colleague rapidly got into action with their team in Atlanta and those outside the station house. "Tell me more about the Red Devils.." "Que? No comprendo....." Marco sighed as he fever tossed on his pillow. Jamie threw up her hands in frustration. Chet coughed and in very bad Spanish asked, "Hablas mas pero Diablos Rojos. Nosotros tenemos muchas preguntas. Es muy importante Marco.." Cap even knew what that meant. "I'll say we have many important questions.. Lopez.. Stay with us!" Marco began to shout, delirious. "Todos muerte! No vive no mas en la noche. Bernardo traes uno a mi Tija.. Soy Triste.!!! Bernardo!!" Lopez repeated his moaning words. Over and over.. Chet blinked in stress as he translated shakily.. "He keeps saying they're all dead. That they were no longer alive by nightfall. That the boy gave a bat to his Aunt after it had died to show her? Now, he's blaming himself.." Marco's tirades continued until Dr. Brackett finally sedated him and turned him onto his side to rest. Jamie MacPherson started up on the Idouroxidine injection into his IV after Kel had gone on to examine Gage's status. Roy returned from his tormenting the reporters and said. "Man, I wonder who gave them that germ photo? Doctor... did you--?" "Yes, Mr. DeSoto we did.." Jamie said, gesturing for Brice to take another BP on Marco. "It was an end to a means.." "W-wait a minute. Did you find your answers? You're both out of your biocontamination suits. That's great. Must be if the quarantine is lifted.." Roy said happily, folding his arms. "So why didn't you tell the reporters that too?" Chet snapped. "Because it isn't over yet ! Yes, we learned what it is and where its came from.. But the serum that Marco's going to need comes from bats, Flying Foxes, according to one of the docs here. Now tell me how in the world are we going to find the right ones in Mexico from the middle of a city fringe jungle rainforest in time to save him, eh?" Roy's face fell into lines deeper than the San Andreas Fault. "We can always hope, Chet.." Jamie MacPherson looked up with a large degree of doubt locked onto her face. Then the phone rang. Both the one in the kitchen lab and the one on the bunk house desk. Jamie and Brice both leaped for it. She was faster. "Dr. MacPherson.. in LACoF station 51.." Everyone held their breaths when her face proved it was Atlanta on the line. She listened for a while then... "I understand sir.. I- I 'll get right on it.. Yes, mobilize the Mexico City team to collect the vineyard specimens.. Our victim says the dead boy played with some in the garden in the days before he fell ill. As you heard from Dr. Taylor, they are very probably our sentinel animal species. Oh, and chief.. We need one taken alive and sent here. I need to extract a blood serum from it.." She set the phone down shakily and sank into a chair at the desk by the battery operated lantern. Gil came over and set a hand on her arm. "You ok?" "Yes.. I- I just am a little stunned about the finding. We have a name for the contagion in our files.." Steven Taylor came from the station's yard and from briefing the team outside. He saw the look on Jamie's face and Gil crouched near her offering her coffee and he asked. "Jamie.. What is it?" "Steve, it's Grade Four Marburg.. Boss's just confirmed it." "Ohhhh..no. I'm so sorry..We're too late." Dr. Taylor sighed, leaning against the wall in defeat. Dr. Brackett was less than gentle. "Ok. What's Marburg..?" Jamie,s lips worked mechanically. "Marburg.. Theorized RetroViral Infection. Three known live cases recognized world wide in 1975.. Incubation period of 5-10 days, onset of the disease: sudden. Marked by fever, chills, headache, and myalgia. Fifth day after onset of symptoms, a maculopapular rash, most prominent on the trunk may occur. Nausea, vomiting, chest pain, sore throat, abdominal pain, diarrhea then may appear. Symptoms become increasingly severe and may include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure, massive hemorrhaging, and multi-organ dysfunction." Her last fact came in a whisper.. "No known cure.. All three reported cases were....100% ....Fatalities...." A stunned silence filled the darkened bunk room. Chet's face twitched in denial.. "No way.. no way, man.. Not Marco. No way in h*ll!!" Cap got to his feet and ripped off his nasal cannula. "Kelly, now getting upset isn't going to help matters any.." Kelly's face was a mask of torture and deep, deep emotional pain. It sullied his fine boned features, making a mockery of them. "I don't care anymore Cap! We ... have taken.....just about all we can here! And so have I. Look at us.. " he said flinging his arms wide. "Just look at us, Cap! Johnny was almost crushed today, so was the engine and squad. Miss Thorne over there was almost gassed to death. You almost bought it, too! And most of us here in one way or another.. Bonnie, too, for Pete's sake." He started pacing and kicked over an empty water jug in his frustration and rage.. "I'm sick of this whole thing! Being stuck here, watching things deteriorate like this. So just take it back, Cap.,, the whole g*dd*mned unlucky deck of cards we've been dealt over the last four days!! Cap, just make it go away. We gotta all return to base, we gotta all get some sleep, we gotta all be ready for a fresh start all together again, by wake up tone time.." Cap started to move forward.. "Chet...." he said softly. ."I would if I could pal.. Y- you know that.." Chet screwed his eyes shut and tears flooded out."Ah, man..... not Marco..pleeaaasseee not him.. It's just not fair.." and he started to cry, sagging down the wall by Marco's head. He reached out and caressed Lopez's hair with a hand, sobbing. His wracking cries panged everyone listening and soon, Cindy rose to speak quietly with Chet where he knelt on the floor. She said..... -------------------------------- Photo : Cap looking very very small. Photo : Marburg Retrovirus slide. Photo: Chet peeking through the kitchen door in fear. ***************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Tue Nov 5, 2002 11:31 pm Subject: Panacea... "Mr. Kelly. Listen to me. Things aren't all lost. Not yet. Marco's still alive. And of everyone here, I've seen none who've hovered more often in concern and caring, than you. Things look dark. But if you've hit bottom, then there's no where else to go but up, is there?" Chet didn't pay any attention to her, his face still buried in Marco's hair. Then quiet, calm Mike Stoker said something very profound. "100% fatalities.." he mumbled. "I just can't believe that at all. They're just words..." "What?" Chet said, looking up at his engineer coworker, wiping his red eyes and face with an arm. "They're just words.. All of them. That complete phone call from Atlanta. That Marburg report. Dry. Dispassionate. Just facts. How can we trust its end-all be-all credibility?" Mike said, thoughtfully. Miss Thorne began to smile. "There was never a thesis or report born that ever escaped revision. Mike Stoker, you're beautiful!" And she kissed him full on the cheek. She went rushing off to find Dr. Taylor and Dr. MacPherson. Chet's eyes immediately dried up into another emotion, one of jealousy. "Hey, how come you get all the chicks kissing you? Stoker, did you tell her it was you who revived her in the yard?" Mike said, "Nope. No one ever told her that she had even quit breathing." Then he rubbed some knuckles on his shirt's badge,"Maybe she just likes the quiet rugged type of fireman.. eh?" "Yeah?" Chet said, more like himself. "Well, how about a fireman who's not afraid to show his emotions openly.." Cap piped up with a grin.. "Well, then, everyone in the room here today would be unbeatable Cassanovas now wouldn't they, Kelly, if that were true. No, Chet, I think it was something Stoker said that gave Cindy Thorne an idea on another matter." "What do you think it was?" Kelly said, fussing with Marco's blankets. "Don't know. Does it look like I have an answer to everything..?" Cap muttered. "Absolutely.." "Yes." "Yes.." "Yep.." Roy, Gil, Brice and Chet all said to him. "Very funny. I think I'll quit my day job and become a mountain guru and charge people for my answers.." "Just don't sit on the wrong mountain. You may just get shaken off by another earthquake.." Roy kidded. "Oh, yes.. Now there's one answer even I wish I had. I wonder what's happening out there?" and Captain Stanley lifted his HT to his mouth. "Station Eight, this is Engine 51. Got an update for us? It's almost daybreak. Your station still light on a few hands..?" Gil, Roy and Chet and Brice all waved in protest and frantic denial, anticipating that Cap was actually going to have them reassigned to outside disaster detail because of the lifted quarantine. They all shook their heads rapidly and made all sorts of negative signs to silently block such a captain's action. ##This is Stone. Hank? We heard. The quarantine's over. Good going. Rooting for ya. Yeah, we're light staffed but upstate companies and crews are on their way to relieve us, even the Pasadena FD's on their way.## "Oh,..uh....just checking to see how you were. Captain Stanley out.." ##10-4, Engine 51.## Captain Stanley parked the HT onto one knee and levelled a look of "this better be good." at his men. Chet voiced their excuse perfectly. "Didn't I hear a particular fire house captain among us say that a firecrew doesn't abandon one of their own?" "Yep.." Roy and Mike said at the same time. Cap just harrumphed and got up to turn off his own oxygen tank sitting by his feet. "Man, I'm hungry.. Did they give us some chow here anywhere?" Three arms pointed to a nondescript crate by the water cooler. "Oh, thanks.. Smelled the soup, Stoker made Cindy earlier. Anything else to go with it..?" Cap said, rubbing his stomach. "Does it look like we had time to even think about food? Some of us haven't even slept yet.." Roy said without sting. "Yeah, well. I was walking wounded there DeSoto. And I'm a glowing testament to your paramedic skills if I got my appetite back. right. Now,..who'd like some soup and whatever else I can scrounge up? Hmmm?" Cap asked. Three sets of hands rose instantly.. "Fine.. I'm assigning myself chow detail for the day since I'm not cleared to captain anything yet. Just called me Cook if you want anything sooner.." he joked. And he moved off to get his men, and everyone else able to eat and drink, some hot meals. -------------------------------- Cindy was talking fast with Dr. MacPherson and Dr. Taylor. She was actually getting on their nerves with questions and nagging for details about Marco's bug. ".....so, your people have seen three cases like his..That's interesting. Hhmm. What I mean is..How truly were those cases like our situation? Were they in Mexico, away from professional help and treatments? I find it hard to believe that a bug like the Marburg would be singularly lumped in with Ebola, and Hanta and other virulent strains on a whim just based on a pathology report.." Jamie MacPherson slammed down her file onto the table and she finally faced the teacher standing before her. "Listen,..Miss Thorne. My colleague and I have been trying to work around your prattling for the last five minutes. Now I draw the line on a civilian who's a little nervous when that same civilian accuses me and my organization of not doing a proper job." "No offense meant, doctor.." Miss Thorne said genuinely.. "I'm just trying to plug for answers on behalf of a firehouse full of frightened firefighters who are sitting on the edge of their wits because an earthquake jarred them out of their normal lives like a bull in the china shop! I'm a teacher, and teachers question everything. Makes me very practical and worldly for my students if I'm absolutely certain of where I stand with any one subject. So I'm not questioning anyone's credibility here nor the CDC's tactics.. I'm only digging for a wider view.. Since when has any paper on a contagion written by someone else, ever stopped YOU from pushing the envelope..?" Steven actually smiled as he continued making test slides of Marco's blood to find an effective dose of Idouroxidine to slow the Marburg's meiosis. "She's got you there, Jamie. Let see, you bucked heads with boss, what... seven times already this year on various subject matters??" he poked. "Ohhh..." she huffed. "Stop ganging up on me, Steven Taylor. All right.. " Jamie said, dropping her work and snatching up Johnny's pot of luke warm coffee from the table. She poured out the plaster dust that was floating on its liquidy surface and grabbed a mug from the cupboard. Changing her mind, she grabbed three of them. And started pouring.. "Ok,..You got my full attention Miss Thorne. And Steven's.. I always claim that I have an open mind across professions, so here's putting the money where my mouth is. So, shoot. What questions do you have about our poor sick fireman and his dead little cousin? I'll answer anything that isn't classified material.." Miss Thorne wasted no time. "The Red Devils.. Were they present for your other three Marburg victims? Did you know about them..?" Jamie's face registered respect and a little surprise that Cindy went right to the heart of the same thought that had been nagging in her own mind ever since Marco's astounding account of them. "What??" she gasped. A sudden fax from a battery generator run machine across the room, bleeped and came to life by the microscope. It got all of their attentions when it lit up with a transmission. Steven walked over to it and waited for the sending to complete. "Wow, the main phone lines are up in the neighborhood. That was fast.. Italy's last quake took a week to reestablish full land line telephone service.." "Like our firemen, " Miss Thorne sighed. "Our phone and power companies are the best in the country. They'd have to be, being under the gun of earthquakes all the time in our state.." Steven snatched up the still warm sending from Atlanta.. "This is from Mexico.. Forensic photos of the vineyard.. " "Let me see.." Jamie said, taking one and moving over to the dawn's rising light by the kitchen window. Natural debris settling in the night had freed up some daylight there. "They're all adult bats.. No juveniles.." Steven looked up from another fresh report from the Mexico CDC team. "No fatalities as yet. Those seven are still holding. These vitals sets seem to be matching Marco's so far.." Cindy walked over to Jamie, and handed her the cup of tepid coffee the doctor had left behind on the table.. "Here.. May I see that?" "Huh.. ?" Jamie said, from a long distance away.. "Yeah. Sure.." and she saw the cup Cindy was handing her.." Thanks.." "No problem.." Miss Thorne delicately took the color photo showing the decaying bats in the vineyard lying on the ground in the Lopez garden, and immediately noticed something.. "Doctor...." "Yeah?" Cindy said, looking at aerial photos of the Lopez villa and the surrounding streets leading up into the mountains surrounding the city.. "Tell me something..I'm no bat expert here. But aren't all of these bats here males? I don't see any sienna furred females with them.. One of my students did a report on Flying Foxes last week and I clearly remember there being color shade distinctions between the sexes..." "What?!" MacPherson shouted. She grabbed the vineyard photo back and peered at it with a hastily snatched magnifying glass. Then she gasped and placed a hand on her mouth. "Steven!! Get over here.." "What is it? " Dr. Taylor shouted, running over to them from the other side of the room, he stripped off his latex gloves and tossed them into a disposal bin near the microscope.. "I'm coming. I'm coming.." "Look.. Miss Thorne's noticed something about the bats. They're all males.." Dr. Taylor blanched. "Sex specific etiology on the Marburg host? Ohmy.." and he ran once more for the phone directly linked with Atlanta.. "Miss Thorne.. I love you.." Jamie said, excited. "Steven and I were so busy wallowing in self pity about that standing report on Marburg that we didn't see new alternatives... Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou..." "What did I just set off? " Cindy said, genuinely puzzled.. "Mammals first milk. Full of antibodies that transmit to their babies in the first twenty four hours following birth.. The female Flying Foxes must have the ability to shake off Marburg to the extent of being able to survive long enough to transmit their immunity to their young. That's why the Marburg plagues of the past didn't make the species extinct! They've had millions of years to adapt to each other.." "You mean, you won't have to wait for one of the Marburg victims to fight off the infection on their own to get a serum?" "No.. For that serum's already been made.. In the female bats of that stricken colony!" -------------------------------------------- Steven was on the phone with his boss. "That's right sir. Find a gravid female near parturition. Isolate her mammarian pre-lactate and I'll just bet Marburg antibodies are there. They have to be. There were only dead adult males on the photos you sent us.." Dr. Taylor had three others on the California team listening in on other phones too so they were being appraised same as Boss was. "Yes sir.. No, don't send your samples to me.. Send us the bat herself.. Or better, yet, send several.. This antibody might need a living metabolism to stay viable.. Make sure they're due to birth their young within the next half day.. Yes sir,.. I'll let LAX and the air force jet unit assigned to us, know. Thank you sir.. What was that? It was a civilian who pointed this out to us. She's a teacher who was caught in the earthquake here in the firehouse. Yes, I'll get her name for you. And sir, make a rush on this.. The fireman's nearly critical.." and Taylor hung up the phone.. He was almost dizzy with happiness about the possible Marburg Achilles heel by the time he rushed back into the bunkroom to tell the waiting firemen and paramedics about their serendipitous discovery through Miss Cindy Thorne. ------------------------------------ Dr. Brackett was all grins as he flew through waking Johnny, out of his shocky sleep. "Hey.. Johnny... Rise and shine. The sun's already getting up. So should you." Gage coughed and he felt Dr. Brackett remove his oxygen as he blearily awoke. "What.. did I miss something important? Marco ok?" "Yes, and not yet.. I'll tell you more while we eat.." Johnny was immediately serious and he let Dr. Brackett sit him up and hand him some soup and jelly sandwiches that Cap had made for them both. Soon, Johnny knew about the rare Marburg epidemic and the new potential cure for it so ironically discovered by Miss Thorne. "Teachers are smart. I'll admit that.." he grinned. Then his face fell. "So, will they manage to isolate some mother flying foxes in time before Marco...uh.." "There's every chance.. Dr. Taylor told me they have air force jets scrambling just for us to get some here.." "Those plague bats are coming here?" Johnny said, chipmunk cheeked. He suddenly lost his appetite and set down his once bitten sandwich. "Something the matter with your sandwich? Shouldn't be with a fire department Captain on the chowline." "No.. just not hungry.. I hate bats.." Arfff!! Gage smiled down at Bonnie. "Seems she agrees with me..." he said absently scratching her head as she lay in his stokes. "Here you go, darling.. Have some.." and he fed her his sandwich, piece by piece. The ravenous Yorky nearly ate his fingers. "Ow.." But he was grinning. "You have to eat, Johnny, Or I'll have Brice start up another D5W IV on you." "I'll eat. I'll eat.. Just.. ..gimme that soup bowl. I'll work on that.." Dr. Brackett gave Gage the piping hot tomato soup thermos from the tray. "All of it or it's Brice over here in five minutes." Johnny glowered, but drank every drop. Then he set down his bowl and leaned in confidentially. "Say listen, doc. The other guys have been keeping me in the dark about Marco's true condition. Don't you think I should have the right to be in on that? I am a paramedic after all." "And I am a doctor, surprise surprise. They aren't telling you on my orders, Johnny. It's a clear cut case of doctor /patient confidentiality. Roy, Brice and Gil are the attending medics, you shouldn't have to have that excess burden of worry.." "It's no burden Dr. Brackett. He's my friend. And ..and ..and .. I just wanna know how he is...that's all.." "He's alive.. The tones on his EKG should be telling you that. And that, is all you need to know.." Kel said, finishing his food and rising to attend his next exam of Marco. "That' great doc. Just great..!" Johnny said sarcastically. But inwardly, he knew Kel was right. Captain Stanley made an announcement following their meal. "Listen all, we're not needed in the disaster station outside, but even though the official quarantine is over, all of us have to stick close to base for an innoculation once one is isolated all right? Miss Thorne, I'm sorry but that means even you'll have to spend another day in the station house." "That's ok. I've already talked to my family and they understand. They saw the news broadcast last night.." "Good deal. The water's running so we'll have hot showers for now or later. I suggest we all get some sleep. Gil, Roy, Brice.. Dr. Brackett has asked for me to get a schedule from you three about sitting up with Marco. Who's first?" Johnny raised his hand but Cap pointedly pretended he was invisible to the role call. Roy got the first two hour watch over Marco. "Wake me the first sign of trouble, Roy.." Dr. Brackett said. He stretched out onto one of the beds near the phone opposite Marco. "And Gil, I want to know if the biophones are working yet to Rampart. I'm out of the loop as far as emergency earthquake cases go, but I'll sleep better if I know Dixie isn't drowning in them over there." "Got it doc.. I'll do a check right now.." he replied. Gil dragged over the biophone and began a test rescue call. "Rampart, this is Squad 8 with frequencies check. How do you read?" While Gil waited for a reply, Brice, Miss Thorne, Cap, Jamie and Steven all found sleeping bags or beds to lie down upon. The five of them were asleep in moments. Gil got his communications check from Dixie herself and he, too, nodded off on a portable cot. Roy watched over them all protectively. Even the sounds of the ongoing recovery and rescue operations outside didn't wake them. All through the morning and into the afternoon, the outside attending firecrews made sure no harm befell those sleeping inside the crumbled Station 51 firehouse and it became something of a jealous superstition to go HT silent within sixty yards of their darkened bunkhouse. ------- Craig Brice spelled Roy three hours later. "How is he?" "About the same. I've only had to suction out his airway once. The EOA went in an hour ago. But he's still breathing. Watch that. He's in no need of atropine anytime soon. His pressure's holding so far.. Eighty systolic. But he's nearly unresponsive to the O2 now." "But he's still fighting this fever.." Craig said, trying to be encouraging. Then he noticed the mast trousers Roy had inflated only around Marco's legs. His jaw dropped open in surprise. "You know that the suit's contraindicated with pulmonary edema.." "I know that. But his internal bleeding's begun already from the virus. Only way I could get his BP to even register.. Had no choice." Brice bit his lip thinking, then he finally agreed with Roy's choice. "Shouldn't harm him much then as long as that abdomen compartment is left uninflated." "Glad you agree with me.." Roy said with some anxiety and a slight hint of anger. His protestation was mild at best. Brice actually smiled ....kindly.. "Get some sleep, DeSoto. I've got him now.. And I won't tell Brackett what you did. I'll take the blame if he finds out.." Roy's face registered amazement. "You don't have to do that.." "Yes I do. This is saving Lopez's life so the least I can do is save you from an inquiry. Brackett knows I'm already a stickler for protocol. Breaking that image he has of me on that for the first time will undoubtedly keep him from having it out with me officially until all this is over. Who knows, even then, he may not even remember the mast suit thing." "Thanks, Brice..." "Anytime,..........Roy.." Roy blinked. It was the first time Brice had used his first name ever. And it actually felt genuine. "See you after Gil's watch.." "See you then.." Roy took his time lying down and for a long time, the rising sun and stress kept him from fully relaxing.. But then, it was Bonnie and Johnny's snores that finally gave him surrease into an exhausted slumber. Hours past. Then........... ----------------------------------- Photo : Brice close in squad. Photo : Cap down, surrounded by gear. Photo : A flying fox bat.. Gif: Biohazard warning symbol. Photo: Dr. Jamie MacPherson working in a biosuit with the Marburg virus. Photo : Electron microscope image of the Marburg Virus. Photo : Roy and Johnny sleeping the sleep of the dead, late at night. ******************************** From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Ripples.... Date : Sun, 10 Nov 2002 06:41:44 +0000 There was a creaking. A calculated sound of cotton socked feet hitting tiled floor. Brice heard a hasty shush and a subdued whining from Bonnie behind his back. But he didn't turn around until Johnny Gage had tiptoed almost to the desk to where Marco's chart lay. He imagined the precise moment when Gage's hand connected with the metal of its surface.. Then he snaked out his own hand without looking and let loose. Smack! "Oww... " Johnny hastily whispered, angry. "Whatdidya do that for?" He said rubbing his reddening guilty hand. Craig turned around on his stool and placed his stethoscope around his neck from where he sat next to a feverishly sleeping Marco. "It seems to me that you don't listen very well to your attending physician orders, Gage.." "Whatdiya mean I don't listen?.. I'm one of the best paramedics Brackett's got. And unlike some people I know around here, I've never been written up.." and he pointed two sets of index fingers at the deeply snoring Roy, still lying under the brightening afternoon sun peeking through the holes in the roof. "I was just trying to..you know.. get a better feeling about Marco,.. you know..really put a finger on the pulse so to speak.." He tried to do exactly that and was rewarded with another stinging slap on his good hand for even trying to get near Lopez tactilely. "Hey!!" Johnny sat on the second stool and tucked his hand in between his knees to ease its smarting. "Now cut that out ! Geez.. I'd wonder if your kids aren't deathly afraid of you by now in any discipline situations of yours and your old lady's at your house. You could break some bones doing what you just did to me." He said sucking on his now twice throbbing hand. "We never have discipline problems with our children, Gage.." Brice said, still smiling cooly and very self assured from where he was checking out Marco's breath sounds around the EOA tube. "Unlike you, they respect authority..Everything is precisely orchestrated and everyone knows what is expected of them to do at any given time." "You know, Brice.. Of that I have NO doubts.." Johnny threaded his own IV bag tubing from around his legs and hooked it onto his badge to keep it higher than his cath's entry site. He also loosen his uniform shirt a tad. It still had dirt and blood all over it. He made his way into the darkened locker room and rummaged around until he found a clean one from his own quake opened locker and replaced it, unbuttoning and buttoning it one handed. He was stubborn enough to not ask for help from Craig. Finally, he said. "You know what your problem is, Brice?" "No..but I can count on you enlightening me on the subject.." Brice grinned closed mouth. "You're just too d*mned.......right all the time. I DID have no business sneaking up and reading Marco's status chart. But man, it's been eating me up only knowing part of the story.." he said indignantly throwing a hand at Marco's fluctuating EKG strip. The PVC's were back. "He could be throwing those because of a fluid loss intravascularly. And look, even his I.V. site and blood draw sites are beginning to hemorrhage on their own. He's got to be losing clotting factors by the pound.. " "I noticed that, too, Gage. But Roy's taken steps here with these Military Anti-Shock Trousers." That took Gage back, "He whaa?" "Went around authority again and used them without the attending MD's order.." Brice said, this time without a grin. "And I am going to take responsibility for it when the time comes.." Johnny was thoroughly taken aback. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute.. Roy uses questionable protocol and you're BACKing him UP?" "Of course. The patient was going to perfuse less than optimally without them so I saw no reason to deny him the choice.." Johnny had a hard time believing his ears. "You mean you're going to stick out your neck...for my partner?" "That's what firemen do, Gage.." "But we're not in a fire.." he said, a puzzled look on his face. It was rankling him that Brice was looking more and more altruistic and less and less like a rule tyrant. "That's correct." Brice said. Johnny squinted his eyes in suspicion at Brice and didn't say anything more while he tried to wrap his brain around the concept of Brice actually taking a fall for another. ::It just doesn't compute..:: he thought as he walked over to the food cooler for a sandwich. His appetite had returned, almost as voracious as the pain in his stitched up hand. He grimaced slightly when lowering it below his waist made it throb. Craig didn't miss the symptom. "Dr. Brackett told me to awaken him if there were any problems so I'll.." and he shook Brackett's shoulder before Johnny could stop him. "get him to look at you.." "Brice.. Wait a minute we have to orchestrate the whole mast suit thing fir--- Hi doc, uh,.. Marco's ok. At least I think he is.. You see, Craig here saw me bump my hand and.. uh, It's ...it's nothing really, about me, I mean.." Dr. Brackett was already upright on the cot and he grabbed Johnny's arm and did a capillary refill check on his effected fingers. At the same time, he was studying Johnny's face. "Uh huh..." he said skeptically. "So that's why your pallor's matching the color of your T-shirt eh? You know better than to let shock promoting conditions go untreated. And that hand of yours has got to be putting out some serious pain.." Dr. Brackett said. "Time we medicated you.." "No, doc.." Johnny started up. "That's not necessary.. I'm fine.. I .. I ..I just got up to...." and he hastily stopped himself from saying he got up to visit Marco's medical records. "Because I saw Brice had put him into ma--" Again Gage cut himself off.. "never mind.." he added quickly. Kel didn't look up from the shot he was preparing for Johnny. "See? You're not even able to complete a whole sentence. Johnny, I'd wish you'd show a little bit more good judgement for your own benefit. So far, I've had to protect you from yourself twice. Brice here's cool under fire as usual." Johnny's face fell at the words, "show good judgement" and he almost went apoplectic. "Wait a minute, doc. I've been the perfect angel through this whole earthquake thing. I only get a little devil horned about my patients." "You mean about MY patients.." Kel said crossing his arms no nonsense. "You haven't been on duty since this time yesterday. The second you took a header into that cave-in, you turned from Paramedic to Patient.. and into my demenses with me as your doctor. Now argue the fact and this pain med's gonna be IM instead of IV..." He finished, at a firm grumble. "Ok,.. Ok.. Just.. watch him good huh? Can't sleep a wink worrying about him." Gage said, handing over his D5W bag. "And don't you go slipping a sedative into there or I'm gonna wake up later more ornery than y--" Again Gage bit his tongue. Brackett glared and Gage withered sheepishly. Johnny really tried to be obedient, but then his eyes strayed to the mast suit's dial. "Hey Brice.. It's slipped a few psi in the left leg. Here let me just--" "Ah ah ah!" Dr. Brackett held up an admonishing finger, the meperidine syringe in between his teeth as he cleaned Gage's IV tubing with an alcohol pad. "Not another peep.." Gage moused down, and sat down. Satisfied, Dr. Brackett finished his injection into Johnny's I.V. and then moved on to exam Marco thoroughly. "Brice, I assume the real reason you woke me is this return of the arrythmias." Craig nodded. "That among other things.." he said, shooting a look at Gage as he pushed up his glasses onto his face. Johnny hung his head down in defeat and sighed heavily in annoyance. Already he could feel relief from his hand's stabbing and he fought the med's grogginess rising up. ::If I can't help out, I'm gonna at least watch. I'll sleep next week.:: he decided. His lurid sleepies washed away. Dr. Brackett took a pinch of Marco's skin and noticed the fold he created didn't settle flat again. "He's dehydrated. And I'll just bet his hematocrit's sky high. Brice, D/C the Lactated Ringers for another of Normal Saline. His pulmonary fluid is less marked. I won't have acidosis set in from having an I.V. the wrong chemistry. He's now a circulation poor case.." Dr. Brackett flinched when just touching Marco's eye lids for a pupillary check, brought trails of blood from his tear ducts. He grunted in surprise. "He's bleeding from all the I.V. sites, too. Nothing yet from his GI, and there's been no vomiting indications at all." Craig nodded. "Good. Hang in there, Lopez." Brackett grinned "You're a fighter.." Then Kel asked his next question, glancing over his shoulder. "Gage. What's Marco's blood type? We're gonna need to transfuse him. Dr. MacPherson told me that this illness causes consumptive coagulopathy big time." Johnny blinked.. "It's destroying his blood platelet counts?" "Yes. " "A +. I can get a few units off Roy and Chet. They are his blood type." "Then there's something I'll actually let you do.." Dr. Brackett ordered. "Get on it." Brice was curious. "Why the free flow hemorrhaging here, Dr. Brackett? I've never seen a fever syndrome do this before.." "Dr. Taylor surmises that the Marburg uses blood splattering through its victim's convulsions as a mode of host to host transmission like the common cold uses sneezing.. This surface hemorrhaging is just the first stages." he said. He drew up heparin from his drug box, a loading dose of 2,000 IU. "Craig.. Who thought of using the trousers? Good call." Brice didn't deign to reply and he tactfully let the moment slide. Kel gave the blood stabilizer into the Normal Saline IV. Then started a piggyback IV of more into the bag and secured it with a bright orange heparin label. "I want this heparin loading continued over the next twenty four hours. 10,000 IU's a day. It'll slow the platelet loss until we get the whole blood running into him from the other firemen..And I want him urinary cath'd. I want to know an exact renal output." "Right.." Craig said. Meanwhile.. Johnny was the perfect vampire. He sat quietly by Chet where he was snoring on the bed and pinned down the sleeping man's arm with a long board chin strap to the bed frames. Then he got his vein presenting with a tourniquet and started up a line, running the catheter's flow into a collection bottle. "How much should I draw out, doc?" Chet was so exhausted that he didn't even wake at all at Johnny's ministrations. "To first tolerance point. Say, 750 CC. Kelly's not injured so we'll go high. Get the same from Roy.." Kel suggested. "1500 CC's isn't going to last Marco long." "By then, we'll have our new supply from the triage station outside." he said, looking towards the desk where Craig Brice was quietly ordering some from Captain Stone over his HT so he wouldn't disturb the sleepers in the room. Johnny got his half liter whole blood from Chet and withdrew the catheter. He handed it off to Dr. Brackett who immediately began giving it to Marco. Gage, patted Chet's cheek. "Thanks Kelly.. Sweet dreams.." he sniffed, leaving a bottle of 7up by his head. "You're gonna wake up thirsty but it's for a h*ll of a good cause." Reacting to an evil streak of humor, he scribbled on the bandaid over the cotton wad in Kelly's arm crook. "The Phantom was here.." he whispered and drew a smiley face with fangs with an I.V. marker. Johnny shifted over to his partner and got as far as touching him when DeSoto stirred awake. "Sorry.. I need to get some whole blood from ya for Marco. His platelet count's taking a nosedive. Hold still." he whispered. Roy grunted, still very sleepy. Then he said. "All right." and he held his arm still, blearily watching Johnny raise and stick a vein. "More blood coming on the way?" "Yeah. Chet provided the first bottle. Brice is getting additional supplies from the triage station outside.." Johnny said, taping off the collection tube and mating its business end into the vacuum bottle he had set onto the floor. "You're gonna be a 750." The crimson flow began to fill it up rapidly. "Make it 850. I'm a big boy.." "Our secret.." Gage said without smiling. "Here.. " and he tossed another 7up bottle at Roy and left him to nap while the transfusion bottle filled. Roy was fast asleep before he could set the pop onto the table next to himself. Johnny left him cradling it. ------------------------------ From the stokes Johnny had been using the night before, Bonnie began to moan. "Oh, I don't like the sound of that..." Gage said. He, Brice and Dr. Brackett barely had time to secure Marco and all his I.V.'s when another earthquake aftershock shook the firehouse. Dust cascaded from the ceiling in white powdered trails and everyone was jerked awake by Bonnie's frantic barking as the tremor continued. It wasn't a severe one but it was long lasting and jolting enough to wake absolutely everybody past all hope of a return to napping. Even in the emotionally worn out Chet. All the HTs on the night desk erupted into frantic communications as individual fire companies checked in with damage reports and new developments in the disaster scene outside. The earthquake died away. It was immediately followed with the tones for a four alarm fire emergency through the HT lines. Captain Stanley was on his feet and running for the shattered garage door, hanging onto his I.V. before anyone could intercept him. He pelted outside, but got instantly winded before he even got halfway down the driveway so he skidded to a halt, hanging onto the battered LaFrance's driver mirror and waited as Captain Stone rendevous'ed with him at a dead run. "How bad is it? I heard the alarm tones go off." Hank asked. Then he sucked in his breath when L.A. identified the address of the new alarm call through his radio. "Yep. It's Arco, the refinery across the street. A pipe line has been ruptured. There's no telling when a side fire will set it off. I've got my men and half the assignments here not dealing with casualties, responding." Stone informed him. Cap's eyes shot across the triage tent strewn boulevard and he squinted into the mid afternoon sun. All seemed normal over there. Until he saw a curl of steam rising from a natural gas spire where it shouldn't have been. "Oh, man." he groaned, sitting on the runner board of his battered engine. "If only I had a functional crew, I'd get my men in there.." Stone grinned cockeyed. "Sit back and enjoy the show. And don't even think about leaving the driveway. I told Peters to slap handcuffs on you the moment your feet touch the road." he joked. "Oh really.." Hank said, grinning back. "Well, don't think I'll be going anywhere anytime soon. I've got four mother hens hovering over me constantly. Oh look, there's the worst one coming now.." Brice appeared in the doorway, at a run, making sure that Cap hadn't done anything stupid like dash off with a responding engine company. He stood next to Stone and wiggled gimme fingers at Cap to give him his I.V. arm. "Let me D/C that, Cap.." Hank didn't understand at first what Brice meant until Stone pointed down to the I.V. bag and tubing still in Hank's grip. "oh.. sorry, Brice. Just a little distracted here. There's a hotspot at Arco across the street." "I know. We all heard it on HT frequencies." Craig pulled out Hank's I.V. cath and bandaged the site. "If you're gonna be in public view. Look the part, Cap.." and he tossed Cap his overcoat and helmet. "Leave my sight, and I'll come after you.." he said. "Scout's honor.." Hank said, rubbing the itchy ache where the I.V. had been. "My head's fine for your reference." "Yeah? It may feel fine for the moment. Just wait until your shot wears off." Craig said seriously. Cap's face fell at that prediction and it remained while the two captains watched a worried Brice jog back into the sadly crumpled station 51. "So that's your story.. What about your man Marco?" "It's bad, Ben. It's some kind of bleeding fever called the Marburg Retrovirus. Overheard the CDC docs clutching at straws and ordering their team in Mexico to secure female bats of all things. Seems they might have a natural serum to this thing in their mother's milk." "Air Force in on that?" "I suppose so." Cap said. "I'll keep an eye out for a convoy conveying them here.. Anything else you need?" From seemingly right beside their feet, Brice's voice boomed out. "A + whole blood! Remember, Captain Stone? Step on it..!" Stone and Stanley both looked around in amazement that they were hearing Craig's voice outside when they looked down and saw an HT on the engine's runner behind them, set to two way intercom. Hank grumbled. "That !.." and he stifled his explicative. "...mother hen..." he said between clenched teeth., more softly. "Tenacious isn't he?" Stone grinned. "When he monitors a patient, he doesn't mess around. The guys call him the Tick for a reason. I'll keep you posted Hank.. And Brice.. I've got techs on the way with your blood bags.. They'll be there with you paramedics in five..!" he said, running across the street and to the scene of the Arco Refinery call. Mike Stoker appeared in full gear at the doorway. "Cap.. Can I go?" "D*mn straight you're going..Make yourself useful. And keep me up on a detailed report and I do mean detailed. Get in there.." he ordered, and snatched up Brice's spying HT. "Here.." he said to Mike changing its mode back to normal setting. Stoker grabbed it and took off running after Stone and joined the stream of firefighters and firetrucks, entering the refinery's grounds. Cap was left behind in the bright sunlight, wearing a groove in the driveway in front of his quake dusty engine and squad, as he began to pace with worry. Birds' sweet oblivious songs mingled with the wailing sirens in his ears and both sounded vile to Hank. "Oh, mother of G*d. What next?" -------------------------------------- Photo:: View through station door of the ARCO refinery. *animated gif*: Burning flames.. Photo: Chet lying down on a bed. Photo: A blood I.V. bag. Photo: Captain Stone. Photo: Building collapses and smoke. Photo: Cap at night with HT by laddertruck. Photo: Stoker and Chet in the yard. Photo: Johnny using his HT. ******************************* From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] On a Clear Day.. Date : Mon, 11 Nov 2002 08:52:59 +0400 Offstory- Acknowledgements to the Modena Intergate Emergency! Equipment Manifest Website for the fireman's courier battalion chief car photo. Mike Stoker arrived, and put on his full SCBA gear as he made his way over to the white helmeted batallion chief directing men where he wanted them. He said, "Stoker, Station 51, Engineer." the moment he was in the man's earshot. He was slightly surprised to see the man was Chief McConnike. The chief looked at Mike and saw his company HT. "Take your unit to the west end. Looks like the pipe rupture is underground, luckily not under a storage tank. An earthquake fissure's responsible for the leak indirectly." The chief wasn't wearing an air bottle, but one was set near him so he could suck a breath or two from its mask lying on the hood of his truck when he needed to. Mike Stoker took off his mask when a clearing wind blew the mirage like fumes wafting around them away.. "Sir,.. I'm the only one available from 51. The quake took out our station house." The wizened Batallion chief's eyes narrowed in instant sympathy. "What are you doing here, son? We've got more than enough man power to handle this.." Mike grabbed the chief's arm. "Please, McConnike, don't send me back. Hank Stanley's one of those Code I under triage watch. He sent me here to keep him up on things. It would mean a lot to him and the other guys if I stayed." The chief took in a long breath and sighed. "All right. Let me think. Find a place for you, huh? I know. Station Eight. They're down one man. He's been sent to the airport to collect an animal or something for a bunch of microbiologists in the area working on a bio-yellow alert situation." Mike told him more about that. "That's for us, sir. The animals are bats with a cure for one of my crewmates." "Oh? Hadn't heard much about any situation over on that side of the street..except for someone's HT joke about the fuss that Hank was raising about losing vehicles in the quake. Hookraider's got charge over that side of the block." McConnike said. "Everyone okay over there, son?" Mike's face went even stonier as he hid his fear for Marco. "For the moment.." McConnike missed nothing. He knew the battle waging inside Stoker better than he cared to admit. Finally, he looked up and met Mike's eyes. "All right. I usually don't let lone crew work a scene but if it's for Hank, I'll allow anything. Gotta show him no hard feelings for that hat stunt he did as a probie." "Huh..?" "Never mind, son. Get at it.. Round off Captain Stone's crew and head on in.." "Right.." and Mike put on his SCBA mask again and used his HT to find where Captain Stone's crew was stationed around the leak. "Thank you, Chief.." he waved to the older man. He got a heartfelt sendoff salute in return. Mike got to Stone's side two minutes later, after being pointed in the right direction by crews already on the job assessing the problem. Ben was deep in plans of the refinery with a team of plant engineers. When there was a pause in orders, Mike stepped forward. "Captain. I'm a fill-in. Stoker, engineer, for Station 51." he shouted to him through the breathing mask. "Drop the formalities, Mike. I already know who you are. Everybody on my crew knows each man in your stationhouse intimately. We've been watching over your scene for almost a day now, making sure nothing else went wrong and we were the ones who went over your building to ensure its structural safety." Ben said, shouting loudly to be heard through his own SCBA gear. "Now, I want you to familiarize yourself with what we got.. Two of my men say underneath that natural gas tower spire is where the ground fissure began. It's still settling in areas and that's how a fireman on inspection found it. His truck literally fell into it last tremor.. That is what ruptured the pipeline." Mike Stoker squinted up through his facemask's plexiglass into the sunlight and saw three huge storage tanks full of petroleum ringing them in a triangle and a water cooling facility, networked over their heads, tying the three tanks together into a complicated lattice of ductwork and piping, where the blue sky wasn't showing. Hastily thrown yellow cones had been placed beneath the open area, showing the newly discovered patches of ground instability. From the fissure, rising steam rose into the air and it smelled pungently of natural gas indicator even through his airmask's filter. The earthquake fissure had snaked its way under two large coolant water pipes, just missing the edge of concrete that was the bed for one of the oil storage reservoirs. ::Great, it's surrounded by three giant powder kegs.:: Mike thought gloomily. The place where the trapped battalion firetruck stuck front end down into the ground, was being liberally foamed and washed down to keep all possibility of fire from occurring. Dust was still mingling with the steam from the fissure as earth and debris settled restlessly around the aggressive hose wash playing down into it. Stoker turned to Stone. "Your man got out of that truck, ok? " he shouted over the noise of steam and shouts of firecrews giving and carrying out orders. "Yeah, he leaped out the window the second he smelled gas and luckily managed to fight his way out of the growing sinkhole. He says our problem's a transverse pipe break through the mother line leading from tank two here, clean, but entirely severed through." Stone replied. "It's the pooling gas that I'm primarily concerned about right now. Arco's engineers are already passively diverting all the gas out of this nearest substation in prep for a manual shutdown to this broken pipe. It's gonna take a bit. Even though the master valve at the top of this stack has been shut down, gravity will still cause the rest of the gas from that storage tank to drain out through the break. I'd say it's leaking around 200 gallons a minute into the ground. The capacity of that secondary gas holding tank coming from the larger one, is around 250,000 gallons total. Now the facility designers assure me that none of this gas will leak into the water table because an artificial catch barrier lies underneath this whole refinery complex. It was designed that way for just this kind of scenario." "Is the power off?" Mike said. "Yeah. Been so, since the first quake. All the shutdowns the refinery workers have been doing have been done by hand. Work's taking six times longer than normal to carry out their shutdown procedures.. That detail is the only thing keeping us from getting this scene under control as fast as anticipated." "Where do you want me?" "Take a front inch and a half with Stubbs. Then you'll get a better feel for things for that report to your captain. Keep your air bottle on. The wind's not strong enough to keep down these fumes.." Stone said, readjusting his helmet over his mask. "Yes, sir.." Stoker replied, rechecking the straps on his own bottle to be sure they were securely fastened. He ran over through the fire repellent foam and over to the first hose team playing a covering wash over the downed truck and the downhill side of the fissure. He tapped the trailing man's shoulder and took his place. The departing man gave Mike a thumbs up when he recognized the Station 51 engineer and gave him an affectionate thump on the back of his overcoat. Mike grinned, feeling protected and awed once again at the comaraderie shared between their district stations, drawn closer together, in the face of adversity.::And I don't even know him.:: He and others continued to fan a soup of gas hostile chemicals and water through their fire engine hoses into the fissure. Dimly, through the spray of water, Mike could see refinery workers scrambling like ants all over the piping station over his head, turning off valve after valve, in a desperate attempt to curb the leaking gas below. In between a fire engine chemical trade off to their water line, Mike thumbed his HT and spoke to Cap. "Station 51, This is Engine 51.." Cap was on instantly. ##Go ahead Engine 51.## "Cap. An FD vehicle falling into a ground sink caused the pipe break. It's foamed and being washed. But the danger of at least 250,000 gallons of natural gas getting into the ground still exists because the power outtages are effecting mechanized system shutdowns.. Fumes are moderate and blowing down wind away from the boulevard's triage area and you." he shouted through his faceplate. ##Casualities?## "None so far.. And Cap, on a side note.. A man's been sent to the airport for the bats.." ##That's good news.. Watch your back, Stoker. Thanks for the report.## Mike Stoker got a go ahead gesture from the new engine's engineer to charge the hose once more to continue their task. "Gotta go, Cap. Let me know what happens over there ASAP." ##We will, pal.. Station 51 out.## Cap's eyes were glued to the west and towards the refinery. "Be careful, Stoker. Even fumes are enough for a spark to ignite." he mumbled to himself. ------------------------------------------ Roy and the others in the bunk house were all awake and on their feet. Chet was right there by Marco as usual and he shivered, "Man.." he said, "..am I cold. Anyone got a blanket?" Kel Brackett tossed him one, smiling. Kelly bundled himself up inside of it and crossed his arms together to warm himself when a finger snagged on the cotton wad and bandaid Gage had left secured to his arm. "Hey.. What's this?" He immediately recognized the creator of the sinister smiley face drawn there. "Gage..!" he began. Johnny was showing Miss Thorne where to find shower things and a T shirt and jeans to replace her own dirty dress. "Be right there, Chet.." he shouted back from the locker room. Dr. Brackett added, "Before you go ripping into your crewmate about another Phantom strike. Blame me. I ordered him to take blood from you for Marco." Roy was just smiling where he was draining the last of his 7up bottle dry. "Got me, too, Chet. Didn't even feel it." and he pointed to his own cotton wadded bandaid. Chet's eyes flickered to the wall above Marco's bed and saw the blood bag hanging there. "You mean that's my blood hanging up there going into him?" "Yeah.." Roy said. He wondered if Chet was going to work himself into a faint over it all. He started nearer. But Chet's face widened into an amazing smile and he said, "Far out.. we're blood brothers, man. We're REALLY family now, know what I mean? Real tight like forever." Roy smiled shyly at Kelly's sense of wonder at a simple medical marvel. Johnny stepped into the room, closing the locker room door to give Cindy some privacy to shower and change. "Not forever Chet, only for about two weeks, until Marco's spleen and bone marrow makes more whole blood to replace yours and Roy's." Chet's face soured a bit, but the twinkle didn't go out of his eyes. "I'm not going to let you burst my bubble, pal. What I did, is saving his life, man. That's cool." Johnny was about to say it was he who gathered the blood donation and Brackett who actually completed the transfusion but he hushed down, settling for a secondary Chet tease idea. "Hey Chet, I know you're cold because I drained out all your blood. Bet you're real thirsty too. Here, have a pop.." Chet reached for it, and Johnny jerked it away, holding it over his head, making the shorter curly haired fireman grab for it unsuccessfully. "Come on, Chet. You can do better than that. Can't you?" And he tossed it to Roy without looking for him first, trying to get his partner in on a monkey in the middle game. Roy didn't go along with it and tossed the 7up to Chet anyway. "Johnny. Ease up. Let him bask in the transfusion thing. It IS kinda cool." "Yeah?" Johnny said, helping the teeth chattering Chet open the 7 up bottle. "Well, I don't need to exchange blood with anybody to know who my brothers are. In this station, we are all brothers. Tied just as deep in the blood as we are as a company's crew because of what we do here." He offered Chet half of his jelly sandwich. "Amen to that, Gage.." Chet said. Then he looked up, feeling that someone was missing. "Hey,.. where's Stoker?" Cap entered the bunk room just then with a followup about the Arco call going on across the street. "It's official, a natural gas ground seep. A big one underway. Mike says it was a fire truck inspector's vehicle that landed on the pipeline during the last trembler, which shattered it." "Anyone hurt over there?" Gil asked. "You can send Roy, Brice or me if you'd like. I've slept enough." "No, Stoker says that man got outta there ok.. Sounded like he's been put on a front wash down. He didn't sound overly nervous. Seemed like everything's under control. Oh, and he says the bats are here. A crewman from Eight's has been sent to go get them.." Drs. Taylor and MacPherson both sighed in relief. "That was fast. This is all new territory for us about this female mother bat immunity theory, but even that chance is better than we would have had even with immune plasma transfusions from the victims who've survived Marburg." Miss Thorne came out dressed in the clothes Johnny had provided and her head was wrapped in a towel. "I'm out.. Who's next..?" "Me.." Chet said. "I gotta warm up somehow.." And he shivered, rushing around Cindy in his blanket, clutching his soda in his other hand. On a thought, he ripped off his smiley face bandaid and stuck it onto Johnny's forehead with exaggerated deliberance, with a firm smack. "Here. I believe this fangy guy belongs to you.. I know I don't need him anymore." And he grinned as he disappeared behind the steamed up wooden door. The guys sniggered as Gage was left to pull it off along with a bit of hair. "Oww.." Arff! Johnny knew an amused doggy bark when he heard one. "Quit laughing, Bonnie. No more sandwiches for you girl if you keep that up..." Roy pointed to his arm. "Want mine to?" he said, pointing to his bandaid. "Still needs an artist's signature." "Ha ha.. very funny.." Gage said. Dr. Brackett looked up from Marco's EKG. He had taken a gamble and had pumped up the last chamber on Lopez's mast suit to its top level. The PVC's were gone. He was smiling when he got up to recheck Cap. "Johnny, grab one last vitals set on Captain Stanley here would you? And I don't think you need your I.V. anymore while you're at it, too, Gage. You've finally pinked up." "Thank you doc.." he said, joyfully pulling out his I.V. Roy was right there to put on his bandaid. "Welcome back to duty, Johnny." "You have no idea....." Gage gushed, patting the table for Cap to sit on for a blood pressure check. He exuberantly wrapped it around Cap's arm and pumped it up with style. Cap said. "Hey, am I next to be off medical leave?" "Give it until nightfall, captain.." Dr. Brackett said. "I usually watch black out concussion cases for at least twelve hours after the initial injury." Cap was crestfallen but compliant. He sat still, letting Gage take his BP. "Good enough for me. Maybe that gas leak at Arco will be over by then. One less headache for me to worry about.." and he laughed at his own joke. An HT crackled to life on the desk. ##Station Eight Firewatch to Station 51.."## Cap was still encumbered by a BP cuff, so Brice took up the call. "Go ahead Station Eight FW." ##This is Engineer Manney. I got three squeaking little friends with ASAP shipping orders that I'm to give to you, priority run. I'm almost there. I'm just up the boulevard rounding the refinery. My ETA is one minute.## "That's great to hear. We'll be waiting. The CDC lab docs are eager to get their hands on em." Brice said. "We'll watch for your vehicle." Everyone in the room started cheering at the good news. ------------------------------------- Over by the refinery, Mike Stoker noticed a feeling of something not right. He again glanced up above him and saw nothing amiss. But an unfounded instinct made him look back towards the boulevard in front of his demolished station. Then a movement and a glint caught his eyes through his air mask, near the refinery's entrance next to Station 51. The lighted natural gas chimney antennae tower where the steam had been rising, suddenly groaned in tortured metal and shuddered. Four hundred feet of solid metal and pipes suddenly gave way at the base, like a felled tree, from a hidden structural rend no one had seen. Soon after, the entire antennae spire began to fall towards the boulevard and the triage tents. Mike dropped the hose and went running out of the water's spray and jerked his handy talkie to his mouth. "Everybody heads up!!! Falling antennae tower!!!!" --------------------- Inside the firewatch fire department truck, Engineer Manney was whistling, imitating his bats' animated calls distractedly. Then he began humming the theme to Batman the series in a live ongoing patch to Station 51's desk HTs in an attempt to cheer them further with his imminent arrival. "Not long now, Robin. Just a short trip in the batmobil--" A sudden unexpected shadow over the road ahead of him made him look up. Manney screeched into an evasive turn to avoid the writhing crown of the refinery tower as it crashed down, blocking the entire road immediately in front of him. Massive pipes bounced free from the impact along the tower's crushed flanks and a huge oil cap ten feet in diameter suddenly richochetted off an empty civilian car's hood, rolling in his direction. Manney slammed into reverse, trying to avoid the crushing multi ton disk when the the second spire of the tower landed directly on top of his truck. The fireman had time to scream before more blocks of debris from the collapsing tower finally crushed in his windshield and ripped into his face. ----------------------------- Chet had rejoined his celebrating crewmates, the doctors and Miss Thorne, feeling much better after his hot soaking. He had just cracked his sodden towel at Johnny's butt when Mike's frantic yell reached them. All heads snapped up in the station and everyone's smiles evaporated. "What?!" Cap and everyone ran to the doorway, just in time to feel a great shuddering crunch impact less than a sixth of the way down the block almost immediately to the left of the garage's driveway. They ducked when metal railing shards began to rain down in the garage bay and onto them. Simultaneously.. they heard Manney, the courier firefighter's batman themed whistling break off into a scream. There was another sharp heavy noise over his frequency and the sound of squealing tires.. then nothing but static when the second half of the tower's top hit concrete. Cap snatched up Manney's HT and Mike's. "Stoker! Manney! Sound off!!" His heart was thudding wildly as he ran out into the street with the others into the cloud of dust left behind from the tower's impact onto the road. Cap coughed trying to see signs of any mangled tents or trapped people. There were none of either that he could see. "Roy! Johnny! Gil! Brice! Get in there! Chet, stay with Marco!" Then he started casting about for other signs of danger. Dr. Brackett burst through a cloud of dust and he joined Captain Stanley in searching the area. "Doctor, Stay by my side..No way in h*ll are we safe in this debris field." Cap ordered. "Keep within each other's earshot. Let my men search FOR you..They know what dangers to look out for.." The two rescuers began to be joined by stunned but unharmed triage doctors, nurses and patients answering their shouts. Soon, it became clear that only a few might have been harmed; the two not answering hails. Again Cap lifted his HT. "Stoker! Manney!! Report!!" --------------------------------- Photo : : Johnny takes Cap's BP Photo : The ARCO Refinery showing smoke and damage. Photo: Roy and Johnny wearing mask apparatuses by the engine. Photo: ARCO workers shutting down the gas leak. Photo: A fire engine at the refinery. Photo: A rescue squad spotlighting through dust for survivors. Photo: Manney's borrowed battalion chief's car, lying empty. Photo: A Flying Fox female bat. ***************************** From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Breath of Life... Date : Thu, 14 Nov 2002 20:32:54 +0000 Offstory- Acknowledgements to the Nexxie's E Site http://www.nexxie.owns1.com/index.html For Episode Screengrabs Back In Story-- He was met with nothing but silence over his hand held. Cap let out a cry of frustration and he cast about for Roy and Johnny visually, making sweeps under the choking dust and debris. ::Where's the d*mned Santa Anas when you need them? I can't see a thing!..:: Stubborn morning stillness remained. He directed triage personnel to leave the area with their patients all the while getting information in snatches from them as they ran past. It was confirmed. No civilians were hurt. "Roy! Gage!" Captain Stanley called out loudly. "Yeah Cap?" Johnny shouted, appearing as a ghost out of the dusty gloom,running as he pushed aside metal debris and wiring from the remains of the fallen tower. "So far, no one's in trouble. See if you can birdeye Manney's car. I'll get people on Stoker's end. They're not answering hails." Johnny said, "No wait, Cap. Uh, Stone and his men can do that. I really think he's ok. The way he was describing his scene earlier makes me believe they are on the other side of the refinery grounds, Cap." Just then, Mike came over the channel. ##L.A. Station 8 and Engine 51. Still here.## Cap sighed. "Ok...., Gage. Let's move. Manney said he was about a minute away from the station. If he had been coming from the airport, his vehicle would most likely be to the north." Gage, Roy and Cap all looked north. A huge pile of tower and metal debris lay tangled, fifteen feet high across the boulevard, almost concealing the roadway lanes. The dust began to settle. Then Johnny saw red metal. "There he is!" Cap got on his talkie. "L.A. This is station 51. Advise area units we have a man down in front of the stationhouse trapped in an FD vehicle. Send for immediate assistance.." ##10-4, 51.## Cap only dimly heard L.A. find a company to respond to his incident. Johnny, Cap and Roy went running, jumping over poles and pipes and ducking under sheeting until they wormed their way deep inside the fallen skeleton of the refinery antennae tower. Gage quickly ran to the front of the red fire department battalion car. All of its windows were shattered and spiderwebbed and they couldn't see inside. Gage cracked open the clearest passenger side door window with his helmet as a battering ram. "Manney??" A loud squeaking erupted at his call and something brown burst into his face and clambored out the window in a leap in prep to wing away. "Ahhh!!" Gage yelled in surprise. "It's one of the bats! Get her!!" The angry flying fox didn't fly, for one of her wings lay mangled at her side. She hissed until Roy captured her and bundled her up into his overcoat and he set it onto the ground. He weighed down the coat edges with debris to hold her captive. Johnny grimaced as he crawled around the partially crushed aircrate and he saw one more large dead bat lying across the seat. He shoved her to the floor to get to Manney. "Manney.. Can you you hear me?" He said struggling to get further inside the car to the front seat. All the while the remaining flying fox inside the crate chittered loudly in distress. "Cap! I can't get to him." Johnny handed the crate out to Roy. "Make sure this one doesn't get away, Roy, it's not injured!" "How is he?" Roy said, leaning in. "Don't know yet, this roof's jammed down tight!" He grunted as he struggled to get deeper into the car. Finally, he said. "Check him, Cap..." Gage said, still fighting to get closer around crumbled car roof. "I still can't get to him." Outside, Cap climbed his way to the driver's door and he, too, cleared away the shattered glass. He saw that Manney was out, with his head flopped back over the car seat, his helmet off. Cap felt Manney's neck for a pulse. His heart just about leaped and his eyes almost refused to see the blue tinge to the fireman's skin. "Oh man.. Move him! Move him..! No carotid." Somehow, together, Johnny, Roy and Cap got him free and they stretched him out onto the street, moving their victim as easily as they could to protect his spine. Johnny began mouth to mouth. "Get the gear!" Roy shouted to Dr. Brackett, Brice and Gil running their way down the road. "He's asystole!" Roy shouted as he began chest compressions after tearing Manney's shirt open down to skin. "Got it!!" Kel said."Keep working him.." In between breaths, Johnny noticed an ugly spreading bruise over Manney's heart. "Could be out ........because of this blow .........to the chest. Cap, check his pupils!" he said tossing his penlight to him. Cap checked. "They're reactive..Thank g*d." "All right, brownie points..........for us.." Johnny grunted, as he continued to breathe for Manney. "About time something went right.." Roy paused as he repositioned his hands for better CPR. "Doc, I'm not feeling any broken ribs here.." "Better and better.." the doc replied, as he and Gil got the defibrillator charged and ready. "Move, I'm going Epinephrine, IC.." he told DeSoto. Cap got out the resuscitator and began using it to free up Johnny. Roy gel-ed an EOA and at Brackett's affirming nod, inserted it into place, reconnecting Cap's ventilation valve to it. Brackett drew out the six inch syringe and drove it deep, releasing the stimulant into Manney's left cardiac ventricle. "All right. Roy start up again. Gil, get an I.V. going, D5W Wide open. Follow up with one amp sodium bicarb. Gage, give me the paddles.. Brice, get an Isoproterenol Drip set up. If he's truly cardiac trauma-ed, the beat's gonna be slow. He'll need that drip to maintain once he converts." Gage called out the wattage coming off the defibrillator. "Ok, one....two..three... four hundred watt seconds.." "Clear!" Brackett shouted. Manney's body leaped from the energy jolt delivered. Kel quickly replaced the paddles. A rhythm revealed like something out of a dream on the scope. Sinus tach. "Got him back.. Nice work, all.. Captain Stanley, start hyperventilating him. We gotta make up for lost time." Kel ordered. Cap doubled his venting time rate. "Moving to twenty a minute." As Manney's circulation recovered, Roy noticed something. "Doc, look. Manney's neck veins are distending bilaterally.." Dr. Brackett looked up from where he was listening to Manney's irregular heartbeat and breath sounds. "There's our reason for finding him without a pulse." Brice piped up, "Cardiac tamponade.." "Yeah, but his EKG's looking good. It's solid. I don't think it has advanced that far yet." "Gonna evac?" Roy asked. "No, I'm gonna leave well enough alone. If his perfusion drops off I'll consider a heart centesis, but not now." Kel said. Dr. Brackett nodded when Manney began to breathe on his own under his hands. Johnny's attention turned to the bats. The one was still leaping frantically around the crate mesh and the other one, too, under Roy's coat. "We gotta get Manney and them to the stationhouse.." Cap comm'd out. "This is Station 51. We need a stokes and two additional men to move a victim. Our 10-20's at....." he looked up to see which building front lay in the street.. "Stoffer's Warehouse by the newspaper stand.." ##10-4, 51. This is Stone. Got assigned your call. I've rerouted Stoker and some of my men to your scene. I'll be meeting you there myself!## Cap could hear the worry and concern in his co-captain's voice. ::Man, he sounds like me about Marco..:: Soon, Manney was taped and longboarded, I.V. secured and EKG linked, inside the stokes Johnny had secured from his station squad's rear store. He stopped Kel as they all got back to the station in an entourage of crew. "Doc. Should we even bring him in here with that virus going on?" Kel grinned with amusement. "Sure. Why not? We've got Batman's universal antitode now, don't we?" he said, tossing a hand at the two men carrying in the two screeching bats. Jamie and Steven met them on the run. "Good. Hand them to us.." And Jamie took the coat with the wounded bat, gingerly, while her colleague got the crated one. "D*mn, this one's bleeding. She might not be ok for us t--" Something dropped out from under Roy's coat and onto her boots. A newly ejected bat fetus. "There it is then, this one will do us no good anymore. She's just aborted." Then the microbiologist's head snapped around. "Wait a minute, where's the third one.." "It's dead." Johnny replied. "Crushed.." Jamie MacPherson sucked in her breath in stress. "Let's just hope this last bat's intact or there's absolutely no hope for us.." Steven said. The two CDC scientists disappeared into the kitchen lab with the crated bat to start work collecting her milk antibodies. Bonnie noticed the dead young bat right away. She wandered over to it and sniffed it, crying. She wrapped around it protectively as if to warm it. Gage made a disgusted face. "Bonnie..no.." and he knelt to dispose of it into Jamie's pathology cryo container. Bonnie would not be denied. She went rushing off to the kitchen to be with the other, still expectant female bat. Manney was moved next to Marco. Miss Thorne got to her feet. "Oh, is he all right?" she started up. Chet Kelly pointed to the fireman's EKG monitor. "He is now. That's a good rate going there.." Then he looked sheepish when all the medics glanced at him. Johnny was frank. "He's right. Manney's gonna be fine. He's got some heart bruising from hitting the dashboard but Dr. Brackett thinks the injury is minor. We'll know more when he wakes up.." Miss Thorne moved to sit by Manney's side. Gage noticed and leaned into Roy. "Dedicated little thing, isn't she?" "Know any teachers who aren't?" DeSoto rejoined. He left Johnny pondering that as he moved to check up on Marco. Stoker came rushing in the door. "Things are stable at the refinery.. No fire. How are things in here? Got here as fast as I could.." Cap smiled. "Things are ok. Manney was pulseless for a while but the doc says he wasn't apneic long enough to do serious damage. And we still have one viable bat left out of the three. Cross your fingers.." Mike crossed them, both hands, and the toes in his boots. "Anything I can do?" "Not a thing. But, stick around.." Cap ordered. "You...might like to stay a while.." and he tossed his head at the group of four medics clustered over Marco. Cap knew a dire sign when he saw it. Mike blinked. "Uh,, ok..I think I will.." and he sat in a chair to watch and worry along with Stanley. Dr. Brackett eyed his paramedics. "Marco's quit breathing. Someone bag him." "Got it.." Brice said, getting an ambu with a full flow line running to him. Dr. Brackett looked up. "Now it's a race gentlemen. Can we keep Marco going long enough until that serum's ready? How long can we keep up breathing for him like this manually?" "Forever man. We'll spell each other." Chet said with serious conviction. "When that ambu's O2 runs out, we'll positive pressure vent him on Eight's O2, and when that runs out, we'll still be able to take turns with us on a cannula, going mouth to mouth from what's left of our engine's O2." Kel face was serious but he smiled at Chet's self sacrificing mentality. "That last option is a last resort. I'll have no one directly exposing themselves to this Marburg bug unless we absolutely have to. We can always call the triage station for more O2 and maybe they can fly us in a bird ventilator before that happens." There was a shout outside, "Captain Stanley!" It was Stone. Hank said. "I'll be right back.." He met his colleague outside by 51's engine, and started speaking before Stone could fall apart. "Manney's fine. Revived and resting." "And your Marco?" Cap didn't say anything. But Stone said...... -------------------------- Photo: Johnny checking out an out Manney. Photo: Johnny giving mouth to mouth. Photo: Johnny and Captain Stone working a code. Photo : Roy prepping an EOA airway. Photo : Johnny with defib paddles and Roy with a stethoscope. Photo: Firemen with a gear loaded stokes. Photo: Chet looking hopeful. Photo: Captain Stone with his men on Engine 8. *********************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Sat Nov 16, 2002 3:14 am Subject: Full Moon Dues "Don't hide anything from me, Hank. You always clam up when one of your men gets into a tight corner. I'm with you. If there's anything I can do--" Stanley leaned on the engine, suddenly weary beyond what he could bear and he sat down heavily on a hose port. "Ben,..I- I can't fight this. Not any more. The whole past two days have been a h*ll of alot more than I , even as a firehouse captain, can take. I -I.. I.... think I've reached my cracking point." Hank admitted, his face lapsing into a very vulnerable pall. "That bug is worse than they were letting on. I just left my man in there on the receiving end of an ambu bag and there's absolutely not a g*dd*mned thing I can do about it to s--" and his voice choked off. Ben took off his helmet and set it onto the engine's footleadge, and drew Stanley into a tight embrace. "Hank. You haven't been a captain unless you care about your men more than you do yourself. And I've never seen a finer man for the job.." Captain Stone released Hank giving his arms one last squeeze of encouragement. "He'll be just fine. I've worked with the CDC people before, during that Legionaire's crisis of 1970. If Marco's got a pulse, they can save him." Cap tossed his head in disbelief, but Ben went on. "Now hear me out. I watched seventeen people come back to this Jamie MacPherson that one summer, when by all means, they should have been dead. She was right there, at their sides, not sleeping, hardly eating, face glued to the microscope and her spectography gels, until she had it licked. She's like a bulldog with a rag when it comes to these nastier bugs. So have faith in her and her colleagues. I know the methods she uses, works." "Ben, you don't know the half of it. I heard Dr. Taylor mention some lean odds about getting enough serum to turn Lopez around and they weren't in the double digits. Two of the three bats we managed to salvage from Manney's vehicle are dead or nearly so. " Cap caught himself when he caught Ben's calming supportive nod and gaze. "Wait a minute. We should be talking about our jobs here Ben. Not conmiserating in things that we can't change ourselves." Stone smiled. "Exactly right. So why worry?" and his teeth glowed under his dark skin. "Here, put this back on.." and Stone gave Hank's captaining helmet back from where he had recovered it from the driveway. "You left it behind going into that tower collapse, while running to save one of MY men. What were you trying to do? Break our tie of equal numbers of commendation medals? " and he chuckled. "No really, McConnike asked me to reinstate you to active duty. Said something along the lines of it being good medicine for the ranks. All of them." There was a weighed silence as both captains realized just how much the quake had claimed of their energy. And both, just shrugged it off by saying the first thing to come to mind. "I'd better be getting ..." Cap began. "...back to work.." Stone completed. They both laughed, a little more easily after that. Cap raised his HT in salute as Stone made his way across the boulevard back to the triage station and got a returning, "All's clear." gesture back. Stanley took a deep breath and then went back into the station. --------------------------------------- It was quiet in the bunk room for the second night. ::Deja Vu all over again..:: Johnny thought. ::Only this time, Marco's on borrowed time.:: His good hand ached from squeezing Marco's bag valved O2. Everyone's did. But no one complained. Gage looked up at Dr. Brackett only briefly from watching Gil's ventilations on Marco. Johnny was in his usual place of the last few hours, acting as sentry, vigilant for signs of gastric distension. "Doc, any word yet on the chopper with that respirator yet?" Kel shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Johnny. They.....got sidetracked moving out critical patients." he said reluctantly, knowing that his senior medic would react. "Yeah?!" Johnny complained bitterly. "Oh, really? Since when does saving lives come down to a decision based on numbers??" He immediately apologized. "Sorry, Dr. Brackett. I'm always edgy when things get outta hand. Especially when one of those hands, is mine.." "I'm no stranger to red tape either, Johnny. But with that modified airway I've got in place, the problems we've been having with keeping his trachea patent will be much less. If his varices hemorrhaging gets worse, I can always do a tracheotomy around any necrotic swelling." "And what good will that do?" Johnny spat. "Marco's got no way of clotting a surgical incision. He'll just bleed to death afterwards at an even faster rate!!" "Johnny....." Gil admonished. "He can hear you.." he said through clenched lips angrily, casting pointing eyes down on Lopez from where he sat, while still keeping the ambu's rhythm of breaths regular. "I know.." he said shortly. "Sorry." Gage left their sides and headed quickly into the kitchen improvised lab and there he sat into one of the chairs, seething with helplessness. He wanted solitude. But Chet Kelly wasn't about to let his running escape succeed. He gingerly peeked around the skewed door's window and knocked, still outside the lab. Jamie MacPherson and Steve Taylor were oblivious, deep in their work, and neither heard the two men enter in, nor talk. Johnny Gage didn't even look up. "Leave me alone, Kelly. I'm busy.." Chet's face split into an angry frown and he marched right on in, his earlier respectful shyness evaporating. "Busy doing what, Johnny? Feeling sorry for yourself? That rod didn't skewer you anywhere near your head, so stop acting like one has. Man, even you've told me a million times never to talk negative around unconscious victims, so why'd do it in front of Marco?" "Chet, you don't know what you're talking about so why don't you just shut--" Johnny said sarcastically. "Now wait just a doggoned minute here. A lot of people around this station are expecting the core crew to hold it all together man. Haven't you realized what's been going and evolving among us for the past three years? The station can't work without you paramedics being strong in situations, so just what are we supposed to do when you aren't?" Chet didn't wait for Gage to reply. "The answer is, you don't fall into that trap in the first place." Johnny didn't reply to Chet at all. He just continued to play with the toy ball one of the kids had left behind on a dinner plate and tried to ignore Kelly to the best of his abilities. Kelly went on, "Man, don't you know anything?" Gage didn't rise to Kelly's bait. Chet was undaunted. "Ok. All right.. You don't have to say anything but you're gonna listen to me. ..I'm gonna let you in on a little secret Gage, a big one. One that I've never ever told anyone.." Johnny just tilted his head, not liking his lecture at all and he avoided all eye contact with Chester B. "I look up to you paramedics more than you can ever possibly know, Gage." That made Gage glance up in surprise. "It's true..." Chet said insistently. "I've even dreamed of one of these times going into the paramedic program so I can make a difference out there, too, man. Like you and Roy do..." "Come off it, Chet. This is just some dumb speech you're giving me to cheer--" "No, listen. I'm very serious.." Chet said slowly, without blinking, eye to eye with him. Johnny was amazed that Chet's stare didn't waver nor show any hint of untruth, his mouth flopped open. Chet didn't give him time to speak. "I- I've been watching how you guys work for years, and it just sickened me when you folded like a stack of cards just now, with Marco..on professionalism." Chet had been spinning a coffee spoon around aimlessly and it spun off the table top to land on the linoleum with a loud crash.. Bonnie, near a seated place by the two bats' confinement, barked, sounding as if she thought someone was at the side station door. Her mistake made both Johnny and Chet break out of their mutual funks and the ironic humor of Bonnie's innocent reaction, made the two firemen, finally, laugh hard together, each breaking up into paroxyms of uncontrollable mirth. Johnny spoke, when he recovered use of his stomach muscles again. "B-Bet you won't last a week in the paramedic program.." Chet spat on his hand. "Shake on it.. A month's dish detail.." Johnny grinned a cockeyed smile and spat likewise in jest and they sealed their bet. Then Johnny's face turned cat with the canary and he said, "Better count on buying the rubber gloves, Chet. Cause you just lost that bet. Brice is teaching all the principle courses this year, in the signup program and he's known for a heavy work load, hard on study.." "He is??" Chet cried out, complaining. "Aww, man..." "Whaa..." Johnny said, spreading his hands wide. "Afraid of a little obstacle?" "Brice isn't a tiny obstacle Johnny, and you know it.. The whole station does!" "Shhh.." Gage jabbed teasely. "He can hear you..." he said, mocking the very reason Chet came in to dress down Johnny to begin with. Then he sheepishly admitted. "Thanks for yelling at me about Marco. I was outta line talking like that. It's just so,....d*mned frustrating seeing him dying in pieces.." Amazingly, one of the microscope lit backs turned around on a swiveled chair. It was Jamie. "No one's dying around here gentlemen, at least, among the humans anyway..." and her eyes made Chet and Johnny notice the cage holding the wounded bat. Its head was slowing sinking into the clear impossibly limp rictor of lifelessness. And even Bonnie knew it, she whined and scampered away from the cage in fear at the new lack of warm scent rising up. It was then Kelly and Gage noticed that Jamie's face was glinting with wetness in the dim lighting. Both firemen rose to be by her instantly. "What is it?" Johnny asked. "Are you ok, Dr. MacPherson?" Chet asked too. "Don't be upset the bat died. W-We still have the one.. Won't she be enough?" "I'm fine.." Jamie sobbed. "I always cry on occasions like this..." and her tears turned to a small smile of tired triumph and she held up a small pressure syringe of spun lactate proteins. Her grin brightened hopeful, by leaps. "We did it..!! Mr. Gage, Quickly. Go give this to one of the other paramedics for Marco. It'll take two hands to inject the serum into his endotrach tube." Chet and Johnny nearly leaped across the lab table to grab the tiny vile of hope. They both stopped on a dime when their jostling almost upset the grip Jamie had on it. Johnny and Chet both broke into a "no, after you" routine,...until .. Dr. Taylor sighed and flipped a coin into the air.., "Heads for the curly haired fireman, Tails for you.." Heads won. Chet held the tiny syringe cupped in his hands as if it were a fragile egg and he hastened, with care, back out to the others. His body was careful, but his voice was not.. "Hey Marcoo!! Hang in there pal... Guess what we got done cooking here....!!!!" Both firemen's shadows in the gloom, eagerly left the room. Jamie's head sank onto the countertop where she and Steve had been working, and just sobbed. Dr. Steven Taylor smiled and handed her a kleenix from his pocket. "Knew you were going to do that again. D*mnest thing I ever saw. Tears of happiness, heh. Who'd figure..?" ---------------------------------------------- Roy sat over Marco's bed, trembling. In his fingers, lay the precious serum shot. "Don't even breathe..." Kelly said to him. Then he caught himself. "Oh, Marco, I didn't say that about YOU.. so keep trying man.. I wanna see that chest rise on its own half an hour after this cure's in you.." he said close to Lopez's ear. Then he whispered. "Even Johnny's rootin for you. He almost started crying over you in the kitchen... " "Remember to tease him a bit about it when you snap out of it.. Shhhh." he said low enough so no one else heard. Stoker got out of Roy's way by removing the ambu bag after giving Marco an O2 flood's worth of vents. Roy began to titrate the serum's amber liquid into Marco's airway. "Easy.." Dr. Brackett said. "Here," he said. "Follow that I.T. with this saline flush. His lungs will absorb it better osmotically." And he handed DeSoto a 5cc saline syringe. Roy followed up. Mike immediately reconnected the ambu and forced O2 flow deep into Marco's lungs to make sure the serum reached as many spaces as possible inside his pulmonary tree. Then he slowed and lessened, backing off once more into a normal vent rate for a light, but firm ambu maintain. "Now, we wait.." Dr. Brackett said. Somehow, the black night blanketing the shattered firehouse seemed a little less oppressive to everybody surrounding Marco's bed, than it had just minutes before. ----------------------------------------------- Just as the new sun was rising over the refinery, Marco Lopez responded to epinephrine and soon began to gasp actively, fighting his airway. Cap thought. "Anyone's guess whose smile's bigger.. Way to pull it off, Marco..!" he said rubbing his shoulder affectionately. His last sentence was drowned out by everyone's cheers. In the mean time, Dr. Brackett and Brice concentrated on getting Marco extubated. Kel shouted. "Marco!.. on the count of three, I want you to exhale as hard as you can. Don't swallow. I know the tube's uncomfortable, but we had to wait until you were ready to go solo. Ready? One, Two..Three.." Lopez let out a gushing liquidy breath and Brice removed the EOA quickly, by deflating its gastric bulb with a 2 syringe and drawing it out with a fast careful pull to not snag the tender structures in Marco's throat. Roy had a suctioning probe set and soon, he was coughing only sporadically as his weakened muscles decided they could learn how to breathe again. Stoker helped him on the demand valve enough to keep Lopez mostly awake to work out fluid and blood still interfering with good air draw. Marco's hands finally pushed away the resuscitator a few minutes later. His eyes fluttered open, squinting in the bright sunlight through the holes in the station roof. "Hey, gang. Mama here yet? "he whispered. "She'd better have brought breakfast, I think...I think I'm.. getting hungry...Maybe,, maybe even for some b- bacon...Any left?" At his feet, Bonnie barked, and reared up on her haunches with her terra cotta bowl balanced daintily in her mouth. -------------------------- Three hours later, Marco was stable enough to be flown out by air. Johnny leaped out of the helicopter with a dirt eating grin on his face when Marco's mom flooded his face with kisses for saving her son's life, promising a whole year's worth of Monday morning burritos.. "It's the least I can do for the amigos of my Precious Hijo.." Rosa Marie Lopez said. "Hey! I heard that mama.." Marco's voice hollered out before the copter's chopper doors closed him off. "Wait on that regime til I'm back at the stationhouse working..! I don't want the guys to eat them all before I get back there." "Silly boy.." Marco's mom chuckled in a deep warm voice filled with a spanish flavor. "He still thinks Mrs Bandido and I cook on a limited budget. Just wait until I tell him we won de big California lottery, eh? Same day as the quake.." ------------------------------ At Rampart, days later.. Johnny and Roy were telling the rapt Dr. Early and Dixie McCall all about their three day, earthquake survival story. "Yeah.. when I woke up, I had a rod sticking out of my left hand. This long.." he said to Dix, enjoying the willies he was driving out of her. "Johnny. Cut it out.. Don't you know I'm squeamish?" she giggled. "You are?" Roy asked., blinking in surprise. Dr. Early mumbled. "Yep. Why do you think she's at the front desk of Emergency so much? Haven't any of you noticed she only goes into those treatment rooms of people who aren't gushing blood all over the floor?" Dix smacked Joe good on the arm for letting out her very very old secret. "Dixxxxx..." Johnny egged, teasing her. "Shhhh, if Kel ever found out. I'd be mortified.." Dixie said. "Who'd be mortified?" Dr. Brackett said, just leaving an elevator from an upper floor. "uh, nuthin.." Gage said. "She was actually saying.. "Morton confided".. Yeah, that's it. Morton confided that he can only sing in the shower. So that's why he got drunk and sang to us all on the guitar under the sprinkler like he did. He's got a great voice..man." "Soaking wet you mean.." Kel said, ruefully shaking his head. "I almost had to give him some Narcan to sober him up..." he joked. Gage waxed serious.. "Wow, you doctors and nurses really throw a wild party. I even think Cap's wife blushed at a few of those dance moves of yours, Morton. Where'd ya learn em? Maybe I could ..you know.. use a couple of them going out on dates and stuff.. Maybe I can finally snag a nurse who'll take me for who I really am, know what I mean? " Their happy chitchat made the trip up to visit Marco in his hospital room, bright. And Lopez was very very glad to see them all to hear about the huge Rampart to Fire Department wingding he had missed that weekend. ------------------------------ "And so there you have it boys and girls.." Johnny said, "A dozen tons of red steel and chrome with enough hose power to snuff out a whole three story house fire in just under an hour.." he said to his very attentive Groverland Middle school tour children dramatically. He made them jump by hitting the air horn, in its richest full brassy tone."Heheh.." he laughed. And they soon laughed along with him. "Glad to see you all back at the station.. Quite a different place than you last left it a month ago, isn't it?" "Yeahh..." A blond boy with glasses pushed forward. "Can I see the radio mike room again?" Johnny jumped down from top of the engine roof and waved Stoker out of the cab where he had been operating lights and firing off that blast cue for Gage. "Oh, hey Robbie.." Johnny said, kneeling by the child's side. "I've been wanting to see you." "You have?" "Yeah.." Johnny said. "I just wanted to thank you for doing what you did the day of the earthquake. You..probably saved all our lives.." he said, poking the boy in his nose. Robbie giggled. "I know I did. Lydia Montegeaux taught me real good what to do in ah emergency.." he said misquoting an adverb. "So did Sam the dispatch man." That surprised Johnny. "Lydia? I know a Lydia Montegeaux." "She's my best friend.." Robbie said. "She's right outside the station right now. She said her grandpa was here with her." "Is she now?" Chet grinned. "What do you say gang? Should we all go out and meet Johnny's hot date?" Chet and Marco, and Stoker and Cap all nodded eagerly. And Miss Thorne, too, who was a quiet audience. Gage let the others follow him into the yard. There, he knelt before his little blind Big Brother sponsor and grinned. "Lydia.. how come you didn't tell me that Chief McConnike was your grandfather?" "I didn't want to spoil the surprise..." she said timidly on her leg braces. The sun shining down on her face made her blind eyes sparkle the purest azure blue. Cap chuckled, lifting Lydia up onto his lap where he crouched with Bonnie in the crook of his other arm so she could meet and pet her. "That was some surprise girly.. Your grandfather managed to buy us a whole new set of firetrucks." and he winked at McConnike. McConnike laughed loud and deep. "Just wait until you make chief, Hank. Budgeting priority reshuffling's a major chief's rank perk.." Lydia's face was smiling as she hugged Bonnie. "Oh, Bonnie, you're almost as soft as Cinnabon at school." "Who's Cinnabon?" Stoker asked. "I don't remember your classroom having any pets.." "It does now... Jamie from the CDC flew us in a present last week from Atlanta. The kit from the Flying Fox Bat that saved Marco was ready to be weaned and needed a home." "He's here. He's here, Mr. Gage. I know you'll like him. I know you will." Lydia said, tugging Johnny's uniform sleeve. Gage started to fidget just thinking about bats. But he didn't let his reaction translate to Lydia. "Well, I don't know abou-- Say Lydia.. Is he in a cage? I think I could probably.....deal with ...him in a..crate or something..." "Chicken.." Chet hissed teasingly. "No, just particular.." he said firmly. Then he trickled.. "Uh oh......" Robbie came running, happily screeching around the corner with a blanketed moving bundle in his hands. Sticking out of it, was the cutest furry face the firemen had ever seen. Bonnie instantly began to lick the baby bat's face, smothering him in kisses. Johnny's bat phobia instantly evaporated as fast as Bonnie's maternal instinct had risen. "Wow, you know.. I think this little guy'd uh,, this tiny thing'd here, would even look cute under a full moon, don't you think gang?" "Ahhhhh!! Don't say those two words!!" Chet said, dashing off for the safety of the newly rebuilt station garage. "You'll jinx us for sure.." Laughs.. abounded. ------------------------------ That night, at the newly repaired station house, still smelling of new vehicles, the gang prepared themselves for sleep. "Hey, Roy.." "What..." he mumbled, flopped down on the pillow where he had fallen. He didn't even bother to take off his uniform nor his blue over coat. "Think I can sneak over to the phone to call Lydia tonight?" "You can try.. You know Bonnie'll start howling again when you're more than ten feet away from her.." "Oh. I know. I'll carry her over there with me. That way. She won't howl and she won't be able to take a whiz on the floor again.." John waited for Roy to reply but the reply never came. Roy was out like a light. ------------------------------------------- The next morning, Johnny's sheets were tangled up around him and Bonnie both, but Roy hadn't even moved. Gage's feet hit the floor and he wandered over to grab his partner by the wrist. He eyed his watch and then at Bonnie. "Hey Bonnie.. Look..He IS alive.." he said to the wriggling, all attentive Yorky looking eagerly in play invite at him. "He's only acting dead to the world. Gonna sleep a week for sure.." And he dropped Roy's hand onto his own face to judge reaction. Roy didn't move. "Make that two weeks and a day, Bonnie." A huge yawn split his face into two and he thought about it some. "Man,.. Roy's onto something over there. I think I'll just.. do ...a nap. yeah. All the other guys are still out.. Think I'll...just, close my eyes for just a......." Even when the full moon rose later that evening, the fates kept smiling kindly on the crew of Station 51 long after the silver disk sank below the horizon. They got in an unheard of duration of two days on duty with nothing to do but sleep and enjoy yard basketball games.. At long last.. Bonnie, was the only one unhappy about it. She couldn't get to Johnny's bunk unobserved long enough, for one of her famous sheet marking territory sessions... FIN ------------------------------------- Photo: Captains Stone and Stanley by the Engine. Photo: Chet checking in on morose Johnny. Photo: Roy with Marco's cure in his hand, scared. Photo: Dixie getting squeamish. Photo: Johnny and kids by the new vehicles. Photo: Roy with kids on the Engine. Photo: John meeting Lydia Montegeaux. Photo: McConnike by the engines. Photo: The Baby Flying Fox. Photo: Roy and John sleeping the sleep of the dead. **************************************** FIN FULL MOON BLUES Season One, Premiere... FULL MOON BLUES :) This Episode is Dedicated to Debralee Wrycza :) Who is Fighting the Big Fight.. :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Two.. FATHER AND SON ******************************** From: doc51@att.net Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 00:17:08 -0000 Subject: Fathers & Sons. Kel was in his office. It had been a crazy week. That day was no exception. It was enough to make him miss a rare dinner date with his dad. He picked up the phone and dialed his dad's number and waited for him to answer. --------------------------------------- No attachments. ****************************** From: "Jean Yasick" Date: Sun Nov 17, 2002 8:56 pm Subject: Possible Start The morning tones woke the sleepy men of station 51. Some days, the tones were a welcome sound. It meant the shift was over and the men had days off to relax and catch up on family things. But some days, like today, it was not welcomed. The engine crew had three runs during the night and the squad had five and it was only the first night of an 'experimental' two day shift the department was looking into to try and save money and maximize man power. Captain Stanley grabbed the mike and acknowledged Sam Lanier. Yawning, he walked towards the kitchen to start some coffee. Hank didn't make it to the kitchen, however. He heard a strange noise coming from the front of the apparatus bay. He quickly turned around to see what the noise was and was surprised to see a small basket laying over by the bay doors. He approached cautiously, knowing it hadn't been there the night before and was very concerned that it was there now. It meant that someone, somehow, had been able to get into the station, even though the doors were locked. As he got closer to the basket, the noise repeated itself, causing Hank to jump back. Once again, he approached the basket and carefully lifted the cover. He jumped when he saw what was inside. "Oh Man! This has to be some kind of joke!..... CHET! Get out here! NOW!" The men of station 51 knew their captain quite well. And they knew he did not use that tone of voice very often, but when he did, you better listen! So the men shoved Chet out the dorm door and followed a pace behind. "Yeah, Cap, what do you......." Chet stopped in his tracks when he saw the basket. "What the......?" "That is what I want to know, Kelly!" "Oh, Chet! You have gone too far now!" said Roy as he backed up a pace or two. "Really! But you have to admit, Chester B... it does bear a family resemblance!" teased Johnny as he pushed past Roy and headed into the kitchen to start the much needed coffee. "Funny, Gage!" Chet said as he pushed past Cap to get a closer look at the puppy that was now wakening from its sleep. Pulling the puppy out of the basket, Chet hollered into the kitchen, "She doesn't look like me at all...as a matter of fact, with a nose like that, she kind of resembles your last date!" With that, the black and brown puppy reached up and licked Chet on the tip of his nose. "Where'd he come from, Cap?" Chet asked as he tried to move his head away from the wet tongue assaulting his nose. "I don't know, but there's a note here. Let's see what it says." As Captain Stanley opened the envelope, the little puppy moved from Chet's nose to his chin and ran his tongue over the scratching stubble. Johnny walked back into the bay munching on a donut as Captain Stanley unfolded the letter. "Hmm... it's written in red crayon..... Dear, Fireman. My name is Chris and I am 7 years old. This cute puppy followed me home from the park, but Mom says he is ugly, and I can't keep him. I have seen that your fire station does not have a dog riding on the big red engine when it buzzes by my house, so I am giving him to you so your engine will not be lonely. Please take good care of him. His name is Chester and he likes to drink out of the toilet." As Cap finished the letter, Johnny could not contain himself anymore. He almost spit his donut out when Cap read the dog's name, but the toilet part just got Johnny's funny bone. "Well, Chester B. I see that Chester picked out the right person to bond with!!! Not only do you share a name, but you share an interest in latrines, too!" "Funny Gage! Very funny!." Chet replied, his face turning slightly red. The rest of the crew laughed for a few seconds, then Roy sobered up a bit as he asked the all important question. "So Cap, what are we going to do with her..uhm him..uh..whatever it is?" Roy asked. The rest of the crew looked at their fearless leader as he took the puppy back from Chet. Stanley cautiously turned the puppy over in order to find out for sure what sex it was. When he found out, he turned the puppy back over and looked at his men. They were all standing there like a bunch of five-year-olds asking their dad if they could keep it. He rolled his eyes and started to answer, only to be interrupted by the tones going off. ----------------------------------------- No attachments. *********************************** From : P. Keiper Date : Sun Nov 17, 2002 10:24 pm Subject: Merger It was a run for their sister station, Eight. All the gang let out their collective breaths in anticipation. Cap finally said. "It's a boy! I'll decide, tonight. Now shoo!" And he banished his men inside, cooing to the little beagle pup to calm him. The pup took to a blue laundry basket in Cap's office, filled with clean, storing, stokes ties and long board straps, like a fish to water and soon, went to sleep. Cap closed his door and said, "Shhh. Do, whatever you're gonna do. He'll be fine in here. Kelly. Get a dish of water and some chow for the little guy on the double. We'll leave it by him to find when he wakes up." ------------------------------ No attachments. ************************** From: rosanne iho Date: Sun Nov 17, 2002 8:12 pm Subject: Only In The Movies It was an absolutely beautiful, balmy, summer evening in Southern California. In the rec' room of Los Angeles County Fire Station 51, six firemen sat huddled in front of a TV set, watching the Dodgers and the Padres battling it out in a late-night double-header. The home team had taken the first game. The men cheered, as Dodger's pitcher, Don Sutton, struck out the Padres--one, two, three. The Dodgers came to bat. First baseman, Steve Garvey, hit a single. Outfielder, Dave Lopes, also singled. Sutton walked. With the bases loaded--and no outs--Dodger slugger, Dusty Baker, stepped up to the plate. "There's the wind up...and the pi--!" the announcer began, only to be drowned out by the Station's alarm. There was a group groan. "Station 51..." the dispatcher began. The television was flicked off. The rec' room reluctantly emptied. "Man down...unknown type rescue...213 East Morrow Drive...Ambulance responding... Two-One-Three East Morrow Drive...Time out...23:02." "Station 51...KMG-365," Captain Hank Stanley acknowledged, as his crews climbed into their respective rescue vehicles, tossing turnout coats and helmets on. He handed Squad 51's driver a copy of the call slip and then hurried over to assume his seat in the Engine. Moments later, the rigs exited the parking bay and pulled out onto the dark, deserted street in front of the Fire Station--lights flashing and sirens wailing. ######################## 213 East Morrow Drive turned out to be an enormous mansion with a tiled roof and gables, surrounded by an ancient cottonwood grove. The hedges lining the circular drive were untrimmed, and the large lawns lacked a manicured look, as well. The trucks pulled right up in front of the place. Their drivers cut the sirens, and their occupants piled out. The paramedics grabbed some equipment from the Squad's side compartments and then joined their fellow firefighters at the front door. Their Captain pressed the doorbell. An eerie 'gong' sound filled the air. The men exchanged amused glances and waited patiently on the moonlit porch for someone to appear. When nobody did, Stanley gasped--impatiently--and hit the 'gong' again...which resulted in several snorts of suppressed laughter. Hank gave up on the 'gong' and began banging a big, brass door-knocker. 'C'mon...c'mon...' Paramedic John Gage silently urged, 'These equipment cases ain't getting any lighter...' He finally set his heavy burdens down and took a step or two back, to stare up at the big, ugly abode. "Yah know...I saw a house just like this on the Late-Late Show the other night." "Yeah...Me, too..." Firefighter Chet Kelly quietly confessed, as his feet shifted uncomfortably beneath him, "It was in one of those horror flics." "Right!" John continued, "The butler kept a beautiful blonde heiress chained up in the dungeon! The place was loaded with secret passages and--" "--And that's the only place you're ever going to find a house like that," his partner, Roy DeSoto suddenly interrupted, "In the movies!" Gage stared sadly at DeSoto for a few seconds and then slowly shook his head. "No imagination!" "Kelly! Lopez! Grab some flashlights and check the back of the house!" their Commander bugled, bored with his banging. "Before we go barging in," he told his Engineer, Mike Stoker, "I'd better call dispatch and make sure we've got the right address..." He slipped a HT from his right coat pocket and thumbed the call button. "L.A., this is County 51..." "Go ahead, 51..." "L.A., request address check on our last call, logged at 23:02..." "Standby, 51...51, the call reads: Man down...unknown type rescue... 213 East Morrow Drive." "Roger that, L.A.," the Captain acknowledged, "51 clear." Stanley stared up at the house number--213--for a few seconds and then turned back to Stoker. "Mike, you sure this is East Morrow Drive?" "Well, if it's not," his Engineer began, "someone's been playing games with the street signs." "Man!" Kelly breathlessly exclaimed upon his return, "It's even creepier out back!" His Captain rolled his eyes and questioned the third member of his engine crew, "No answer?" Marco Lopez shook his helmeted head. "Well, we can't stand out here all night!" their Commander finally determined and turned the door knob. Stanley smiled, as the heavy portal swung open. There would be no need for the forceable-entry tools. "Fire Department!" he shouted as he stepped into the dimly-lit entryway, "Anybody home?!" No answer. The paramedics picked their equipment back up and then they, and the others, followed their fearless leader inside. "This is the Fire Department!" Stanley called out again, "Anybody home?!" Still no answer. In fact, except for the loud ticking of a clock in the entrance hall, the whole house was filled with an eerie silence. The paramedics sighed and set their heavy cases down again. Stanley turned to his men. "All right, Roy... You and Marco check upstairs! Mike and I will cover this floor. Gage, Kelly, you two get the basement! Move out!" "What are we looking for?" Kelly nervously inquired of his search partner. "Beats me!" Gage teased, "It's an unknown type rescue..." "How about the basement door--for starters!" their Captain impatiently prodded. The two foot-dragging firefighters fled the entrance hall. They managed to make their way into the kitchen. John jerked a door open--a broom closet. Chet pulled another portal open--a pantry. Gage latched onto a third door's knob and pulled. It's un-oiled hinges creaked, eerily. He smiled, triumphantly and motioned his search-mate over. Kelly flicked his flashlight on and shone it down a very steep set of basement stairs. "If there's a beautiful blonde heiress down there," Gage began, "I get to rescue her!" "That's not a dungeon!" Kelly reminded him. John stared sadly at Chet, and shook his head, "No imagination..." "Oh-oh no," Kelly corrected his colleague, "I've got an imagination, all right! That's why I'm gonna let you go first. That way, if there's a tall dude down there--with a long, black cloak and a wolf's-head cane..." he paused to tap Gage on the chest, "you get to rescue him!" John swallowed hard and started down the stairs. "Thanks!" he muttered, sarcastically. They got about two steps down and then stopped, hearing their Captain calling them. They gladly retreated and went racing back to the entrance hall. "Yeah, Cap?!" the panting pair simultaneously exclaimed, as they came skidding to a stop in front of Hank Stanley. --------------------------------------------- No attachments. **************************** Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 18:54:30 -0800 (PST) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: The Stuff of Dreams >Kel was in his office. It had been >a crazy week. That day was no >exception. It was enough to make >him miss a rare dinner date with >his dad. He picked up the phone >and dialed his dad's number and >waited for him to answer. The phone rang two times and the pauses showing his call going unanswered between them only increased his anxiety. ::Why am I feeling like an errant school boy? I'm forty two years old. Dad is just dad to me, isn't he?:: his thoughts rose. ------- ------- ------- "Because he's you're dad." Dixie's voice spoke from his memory of a conversation he had a week ago with his husky throated head ER nurse on just that same subject. "And you still look up to him. After all, you did follow in his footsteps getting into the medical field." she said. "Emergency medicine's a far cry from psychiatry Dix. I didn't follow anyone to get where I am today. Especially not him." Kel said a little defensively when Dix's comment stuck a little too far into the real truth of matters. "Also, I've branched off into cardiology, too, and that's an even more unrelated area than being some office bound, leather chair to couch side shrink." Dix's frosted eyebrows rose in amazement. "Oh? I'd say in that way, you and your father are in an area a little closer together my fine, fretting friend. You both deal with matters of the heart. Only yours deals with just the physical aspects of things. You fix the body whereas he fixes the mind. Quite a complimentary pair to have in one family, in my book. You should team up together, Kel. Even if just to compare professional notes or something. Might be a way for you two to work out differences." she said gently, handing Dr. Brackett a cup of coffee. "We are. I have dinner with him once a month." "Oh, really." Dix said, throwing disbelieving doe eyes at Kel. "There's twelve months in a year, Kel. And I distinctly remember setting up reservations at Mannie's for you and your father only twice total, since this time last year.." Kel's chin twitched. "I've been busy.." "Yeah, well so have I. " Dix countered. "Although in my case, I haven't been too busy to see family I care about, to drift apart from again, due to carelessness." From anyone else, Dixie's remark would earn a scathing sharp reply. But Kel and Dix were the best of friends, been old flames even, at one time. And what she said and felt, was still very very important to him. "You .....really think so?" he said, studying his hands and rubbing absently at their surgical dryness. Dix shoved a jar of hand cream at him across the lounge table. "I know so. I've seen you two cross by my desk everyday. Brent to his office on the ninth floor and you to yours. I can't believe you two even work in the same hospital. He could be in Greece for all the contact I've seen. I can read the whole state of affairs between you two just by the degree of scowling on your faces. You in particular, have a certain cheek twitch that pops up whenever you think of your father.." "I do not.." Dr. Brackett protested. "You do... Ahaa!" she cried out in triumph. "There it is again! That's seven times today already." She leaned forward, finely filed nails clicking on the formica table top. "And for me, that's a critical sign with only one treatment available in my line of thinking.......Go call him, Kel. Arrange one of those well overdue dinner dates. You both are in severe need for quality father/son family time.....Oh,.. Just one thing though.." Kel's face was sheepish as he used the cream Dixie had given him briskly to ease his chapped aching hands. "And what's that, Dix?" "Promise me you'll both leave your white doctor coats at home.." --------- ---------- --------- ---------- The phone rang a third time in his ear. By then Kel's cheek twitch had traveled up to his hairline. He groaned as the anxiety reached deeply under his skin. ::Come on. Pick up already..:: Finally... "Hello. Brent Brackett speaking.." "Dad?" A pause. ."Is...everything all right down there son? I didn't hear a disaster call go out.." Brent asked. "No. no no.. Everything's fine. Quiet night in fact. So far, only one station is out on a run. Station 51's." and he tried to sound natural as he laughed. "I....just wanted to say I'm sorry for missing our last dinner plans in May. I'd ...like to make it up to you.." There was a longer silence and then Kel heard Brent slip into his professional mode like he always did when analyzing the emotional tone of a situation. "That'd be fine son, free on the 18th? I'll have my receptionist book us. That will give us two days each to think of something to talk about, other than the shop talk like we always end up doing." "Thanks dad. I'll see you at our usual table." "Until then. And son..." "What dad?" "Don't work so hard. I can tell by how long your head nurse glares at me how little you've slept.." That comment embarrassed Kel deeper than words. "I'll see you later, pop." A muted grunt was a reply and the phone line clicked with a snick briskly a second later. "It's still a little mid artic but at least, the cracks in the icebergs are widening.." said Dix. "Here's to progress.." and she raised her mug to Dr. Brackett in salute. Kel didn't know whether to smile at his accomplishment or admonish Dix for easedropping on his phonecall. He chose to move on to other matters. He cleared his throat, taking a chart from Dixie's hand. The red light in the base station was still on, but not yet flashing. "51, call in with their rescue yet?" Dix regarded the tiny glass room and the quiet intercom phone still sitting silent by the recorder. "Nope. I just moved their status magnet to Away two minutes ago when I heard the call come in through L.A. dispatch.." she said, pointing with a pen from her desk to the scanner overhead. "Any indication what it is we got?" "None. It's an unknown type rescue so far. Literally.." "Hmm" Dr. Brackett said, handing 51's blank run sheet slate back to Dix. "Keep me posted. I think I'll check in on a patient or two while I'm waiting. Page me when 51 fires up." "Will do." and then she smiled, hugely as if with a private observation. Kel didn't miss it. "What?" "You're relaxed already. And all it took was a single itty bitty 30 second phone call." she chuckled. Kel's face twitched. "I'll recommend you for a Pullitzer." and he disappeared into treatment two, shaking his head ruefully. -------- ---------- ----------- At 213 East Morrow Drive, things weren't quite as rosy, down right creepy at that. >"Oh-oh no," Kelly corrected his colleague, >"I've got an imagination, all right! That's >why I'm gonna let you go first. That way, >if there's a tall dude down there--with a >long, black cloak and a wolf's-head cane..." >he paused to tap Gage on the chest, "you >get to rescue him!" >John swallowed hard and started down >the stairs. "Thanks!" he muttered, >sarcastically. They got about two steps >down and then stopped, hearing their >Captain calling them. They gladly retreated >and went racing back to the entrance hall. >"Yeah, Cap?!" the panting pair simultaneously >exclaimed, as they came skidding to a stop >in front of Hank Stanley. "Do you smell that?" Cap asked and he started to walk around the room, sniffing, suspicious. Chet and the gang started to copy him. Johnny immediately tensed. " Cap, what is it? You smell smoke or something?" Cap shook his head. "No..no.. not smoke.. smells like... like.." "Cinnamon ginger bread.." Chet said. "OoooOOoooo." Marco toned. "Do you suppose the witch from Hansel and Gretel lives here? Maybe we've all been called out to be someone else's dinner.." The gang cracked up. "Very funny guys. Creepy house or not, that's what I'm smelling. Gingerbread." Kelly noticed the dubious looks on all the guys faces..and he clarified defensively. "You know.. the kind grandma always makes. And it smells like it's coming from over..." The whole crew followed Kelly's nose to another dusty cobwebby door and he pushed it open. A brightly lit yellow kitchen with oversized stoves and ovens met their eyes. The station crew's light faces fell away when they found an old man slumped over a table, a phone's receiver still in his hand. Johnny and Roy ran over to him and Gage felt for a pulse. "He's alive.." The cookies, were just starting to burn. Marco pulled open the oven, and yanked out the scorched tray, and dumped it into the old over sized, old fashioned pump water handled sink. It took him a moment to figure out the pump was the only way to get to water. He finally pumped enough out to gurgle over the over hot pan. Mike turned off the gas in the oven. Roy shouted to his patient. "Hey,.. Mister.. Can you hear me? We're L.A. County Firefighter Paramedics. We answered your call.." The man didn't move as Roy checked his breathing, right where he was. Cap lifted his handy talkie to his mouth. "L.A. This is Station 51. We have a confirmed medical rescue. Respond an ambulance.." ##10-4, 51. Timeout 23:16.## Then Hank knelt by Roy and John as they took off their helmets and got to work. "Want him on the floor?" "Not yet. We don't know what we have. He's breathing ok at any rate. But we will need the O2." Chet Kelly came through the kitchen door with it breathless. "Got it here. That and the defibrillator." He handed them off to John who immediately got them set. Mike, got leads on an EKG ready on the blue monitor and waited to hand them to Gage and DeSoto when they were ready. Roy set the unconscious old man on a light flow through a simple mask, leaving him slumped across the table top face down, while John got a BP. "It's 90 over 64. Pulse 110 and thready." Roy said, "His respiration rate's 22 and shallow. Irregular.." He bent over and checked the man's pupils being careful not to move him much. "Equal and reactive." "Cardiac?" Hank asked. "Most likely." Roy answered him. "If this were a stroke, his eyes would've told us that. The scope will tell us more.. Give me those Stoker. I'm ready for them." Mike helped Roy patch the man up. As they did so, the old man began to moan and awaken and he lifted his head. Chet supported him in his chair as Roy and Hank got him oriented as to what was happening. "Easy there. Take it slow. How are ya doing?" Roy said to him. "Know where you are?" Johnny got on the biophone to Rampart, digging out his green pen from the biobox's lid. "Rampart, this is Rescue 51, how do you read?" The reply was.... --------------------------------------- Photo : Dix in a medium shot. Photo: Hank and Gage in helmets at a scene. Close up. Photo: Johnny treating a cardiac victim with O2 and EKG leads. ******************************* From: "Linda Taggatz" Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 23:27:41 -0600 Subject: Re: The Stuff of Dreams >Johnny got on the biophone to Rampart, digging >out his green pen from the biobox's lid. >"Rampart, this is Rescue 51, how do you read?" >The reply was... ..from Dixie. "Rescue 51, I read you loud and clear." --------------------------------------- No attachments. ******************************************* From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Thu Nov 21, 2002 2:37 am Subject: The Ginger Cookie Man and the Other Chester B > From Dixie. "Rescue 51, I read you loud and clear." Johnny looked up and saw that their patient was nearly conscious. He amended his notes on his writing pad. "Rampart, ah. We have a male, approximately 60 to 65 years of age. Found comatose and unresponsive. On eight liters of O2, consciousness is returning. Vitals are: BP 90/64, Pulse 110 and thready. Respirations are 22 and shallow. Rampart we do have a strip available. Lead two." "10-4. Relay your telemetry and I'll page Dr. Brackett. Please stand by.." Dixie answered. ##Standing by.# Johnny answered. Dixie got on the red phone and paged the inhouse operator. "Would you please page Dr. Brackett to the base station, stat. Thanks." and she hung up, writing down the information she had received. Roy in the meantime, put on his best paramedic smile. He watched as the old man looked surprised as full awareness returned as he put questioning hands up to his face to the mask flowing oxygen there. "Hi there. I'm Roy DeSoto and this gentleman on the phone is my partner, John Gage. We're paramedics from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Got your call there." The man gave an intelligible moan and he seemed to be hard of hearing. "Eh? Oh, my dearie. I HAVE caused a ruckus, haven't I?" Then he smelled wet ginger cookies in the kitchen. "Oh, no.. there goes all afternoon's work.." he said. Chet smiled for the man's voice sounded for the world like Mr. Hooper from Seasame Street. Kind and warm. "Yeah, well, rest easy sir. We got the gas turned off for ya." Roy set his hand on the man's stomach to get a new breathing rate. "So, what's your name? Can you tell me that?" "Eh? Oh, oh. It's Fajou.. Reginald Arthur Fajou. Been living in this house since... uh.... I can't remember rightly.. Could have been since the war.. or was that WW One?" he gasped. "I see. Listen, Mr. Fajou.." Gage said. "Do you have a history of any heart problems? Breathing problems? That sort of thing? You seem to be in a little distress here." "Ohh..." Arthur said, thinking.." Martha tells me I got asthma.. and....that's about it...." "Who's Martha?" Roy asked. "Your wife?" "Eh?..Ohnn no.. She's ma landlady. Heh. She's been real nice to me. Letting me bake for the kids working and filming at the movie studio and all." and he started to laugh in memory, weakily, until a wet coughing made him grip Chet's hand tightly. "Oh, my.. Not feeling so good today.. Little weak.." "Well, we'll get ya to the hospital and have a doctor take a look at you, ok?" Roy asked. "All right. If you say I have to go.. I I will. Don't want to get Martha mad at me. She's been so nice to me, don't you see? And,..I had a nice ...*cough* pan of cookies made just for her.. hhmm." "Yes,sir.." Roy said and he began to get a more detailed medical history on Arthur while Johnny got Kel Brackett on line. Gage began to relax as the reading showing on the scope indicated only some elevated ST segments on a sinus rhythm. Nothing dire. He set the phone and its cord over his shoulder while he listened to Arthur's breath sounds. He heard only light bronchial wheezing. "Ohhhh, that's cold sonny.." Arthur said of the metal drum Johnny placed on his skin. "Like ice.." "Sorry.. Easily fixed.." Johnny said with a grin and he warmed it in his palm with a breath before finishing his task. Mentally, he upgraded Arthur's consciousness level to good. Roy bumped down the percentage of O2 on their patient when Johnny gave him a thumbs down gesture. Gage said, "COPD's confirmed." "Ok, then, we'll just keep you sitting, allright Arthur? You can breathe better this way in the chair..?" Roy asked. "Y- Yeah.. That's why I came into the kitchen. Usually I stay by the fire while they bake, you see? But then I *cough* got a little dizzy.. and the room started spinning round and round. I got scared, you know.. So I called for help. Glad you boys are here, because.. I'm not feeling so good today.." Arthur sighed softly. His charm was irresistable to the other firemen hovering nearby and they all broke into grins of amusement. Cap noticed the pictures on the wall. "Say,, Arthur.. I know this movie.. And this looks like your front porch here on the poster.." "Heh.." Arthur grinned around his mask. "It is.. I've been baking cookies for the studios for so long, they.. they come over every once in a while...to make a movie.. know what I mean..?" Chet and Marco both nodded. "Sure do." Kelly piped up eagerly, joining in Cap's enthusiasm."We're great fans of most of them. Attack of the Ghoulies and last year's Grandchild of Frankenstein here. Do you really have an iron maiden in the basement down there? We didn't really quite make it down there before Ca-" Lopez smacked Chet silent before Cap could use the eye on him. "This is Dr. Brackett, go ahead, 51." Johnny continued his report. "Rampart our victim's got a history of chronic occlusive pulmonary disease. He admits to asthma. I've listened to him and he does sound a little wet on the left side. And his breathing's slightly labored. We've amended his liter flow to four a minute." Kel finished reading the report Dix had taken on him and looked up before thumbing the intercom. "Give me his strip 51. Is he coherent enough for you to get a oral temperature on him?" "That's affirmative on both, Rampart. Transmitting EKG." Johnny said, dialing the EKG monitor to send mode. Dr. Brackett eyed the rhythm he received. "51, I'm reading a normal sinus rhythm over here with only slight variations. Is the O2, helping his dyspnea at all?" "That's affirmative. He was slightly cyanotic when we found him on the table top but he's now pinking up albeit a bit clammy and chilled." Roy finished getting a temperature on Arthur. "Hmm.. 97.1" Johnny reported this in. "All right Johnny, start an IV Lactated Ringers, TKO only and transport as soon as possible. Keep him upright and comfortable and continue to maintain O2. That drop in temperature might be the early stages of septicemia or other etiology. I want a new vitals set in five minutes.." "10-4 Rampart. IV LR TKO and O2. New vitals in transit. The ambulance has arrived." Gage said. A few minutes later Arthur was warmly wrapped in wool tan blankets and his IV was in place in Marco's hand. As he was wheeling with the stationhouse crew he said. "You boys are so kind... when I get out ..you come back and I'll bake some nice, hot gingerbread cookies for you.. ok? You boys are so nice.." Gage grinned all the way into the Mayfair. It was he who rode in with Arthur the stage kids' cookie man. -------------------------------------------- The engine was already backed into the garage and abandoned by the time Roy and Johnny had replenished supplies and had made their farewells to the ill Mr. Fajou. The station house was quiet after Johnny and Roy turned off their backing reds, removed their helmets and left the squad. "Hmm. I wonder where the guys are? Are they sleeping?" Roy walked across the bay and peeked into the bunk house, flicking on the light for a sec. "Nope. The bed's are still made up.. All of them.." Johnny flicked a wrist up and checked the time. "Wow, no one's sleeping? It's almost three a.m..." Roy shrugged as they made their way by the large county map and into the kitchen. "Maybe they're watching the rebroadcast of the game...." "At three a.m..? Roy.. no channel airs games at three am in the morning.. Geesh.." he said as his calm demeanored partner preceeded him through the door he held open for Roy. No one was at the table nor at the frig. Johnny and Roy both turned on a dime. Looking towards the black leather couch and the TV chairs. The TV, was dark. And all the gang were on their hands and knees surrounding Henry's old dog house. It was still dusty and weather beaten from sitting in the yard. Chet was hastily scrubbing it clean with a bucket of water and Bon Ami. He looked up. "Heya guys.. About time you showed up. You almost missed the big moment. The little fella's about to go into his new home for the first time.." Johnny's jaw flopped open.. "You mean, uh, you mean Cap said Yes..?" he chortled, trying to keep his voice down. "Yeah, man. Guess the abandoned pup kinda got Cap's thoughts rolling about us losing Henry. It's been two years you know, since Henry's real owners showed up to claim him." he nodded. "Maybe, uh, maybe Cap's a little dogsick." "Maybe we ALL are.." Marco piped up eagerly, still on his hands and knees. The gang was carefully playing with the shy, but active beagle puppy keeping him in a ring before their laps, more than one trying to get the tiny guy to notice the doghouse doorway by tapping it. Roy and Gage joined them all on the floor, abandoning themselves to the moment. "Come on boy. Come on.. Don't you see it? There's a nice big bone in there.." Gage babytalked to the pup. "Eeeoowww" Kelly exclaimed. "Do you think we should really let him have Henry's old bone, Gage. Kinda dirty after two years in an old doghouse out in the yard." "Would you just hush.. I'm trying to bond here." Gage said. The moment Johnny looked up, the pup's attention wandered and he scampered over to the nearest lap he liked. Cap's. The pup stumbled gracelessly into Hank's stomach and then turned circles before settling down with a contented sigh after licking Cap's face once on the chin. "Well whatdiya know.."Roy grinned. "He knows who to thank doesn't he?" "Smart dog.." Hank said, keeping still as the new puppy closed his eyes. "uh oh,, looks like he's going ta sleep on me. Dang.. My leg's are going to, too, if I stay this way.." The gang hastily grabbed Cap by the shoulders and legs and Chet said. "Don't move Cap. You'll wake him. We'll move you to the recliner." "Kelly! Would y--" "ShhhhHHHH!" The rest of the gang said. The beagle whimpered but then started snoring again just as fast. Hank finally tossed his head. "All right. Lift me." he said, feeling ridiculous. Soon, he was settled in the black chair with the pup safely nestled like a sleeping Sphinx in his lap. The gang immediately made for the bunks, abandoning Cap and his puppy in the chair. "Hey, you're not just going to leave me here?" "Aww cap.. Do you really want us to make him cranky? I mean, these early puppy to family bonding days are crucial. You're just gonna haveta spend the night in the arm chair." Kelly reasoned. Cap scowled but stayed quiet. "All right. Just this once. Somebody get me a blanket." he said, adjusting the tiny pup's snoring face until his snores softened into easier sleeping breaths. Marco wasn't past teasing. "You know.. he just might have to sleep every night in your lap, Cap, after this.." "No he won't. Because if he needs to he can spend the night on somebody else's lap instead, like tomorrow night in yours Lopez?" "Aww Cap.. I can't sleep a wink sitting in a chair." "Didn't say it was an order. But.. Lookiethatcuteface. Can you deny him the benefit of a warm body's comfort?" "That's what a hot water bottle in the dog house is supposed to be for.." Marco said. "No dog is ever going to get into Henry's old doghouse." Mike Stoker said. "Chet's logged more hours in there than Henry ever did." The gang laughed. Johnny came back from grabbing a blanket out of a spare closet for Hank . "Here ya go, Cap." and he tossed it up into the air. "Gage, would you be careful?!" he said, barely saving it from burying the tiny dog. "You could've jarred the little guy.." "Sorry..Cap." Kelly was thoughtful. "Say, listen Cap. Now that we're keeping him, we can't just keep calling him Little Guy.. I mean uh, his previous owner says his name is uh,.." and he broke off in embarrassement. "Chester.." Gage said and the gang giggled. Cap said, "No, he's more like a "lapper" " he said patting where the puppy was lying deeply in slumber. "All right. Ok. We can call him Chester." Chet said defensively. "I just don't want to hear anybody and I mean anybody, ever.. call him Chester B.." Gage sniggered, "Why Chet? Does the B stand for something that really gets your blood pumping?" "No.. It's just--" Chet said, hastily avoiding Gage's advance on him in yet another attempt to ring it out of Chet what the answer was to that greatest of all Chet mysteries. Johnny grabbed Chet by the moustache and backed him into the wall. "Ahhh..owww.." Chet said, freezing as Johnny held him hostage with a twist of just one hand. "Hey come on, let go of m--" Johnny wrist lifted higher. "Once more Chet, what does the B stand for?" "NOthing." "What? I can't hear you." "Nothing at all. It's just a nickname....AhhhHH." "I don't beLIEVE you.." Gage singsonged. "It's trueeeEEE! Hey let go.." Cap's voice finally cracked out. "Gage..!" Johnny instantly let go, smoothing out Chet's collar where it had rumpled. "Next time.. You're gonna tell me.." and he walked back over to Cap and knelt by the tiny oblivious pup. "So, what shall we give to stand for little Chester here's second letter of the alphabet's initial eh? And it's just gotta be a "B"..." he smiled lipped fully cocked. And he met everyone's eyes. "Any suggestions?" ------------------------------- Photo : Cap glaring from his recliner. Photo : A very cute brown and white beagle pup looking at you, eager faced. Photo : Chet and Johnny squaring off, Roy looking on shaking his head in disbelief. ******************************** From : "satchie51" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Dinner Reservations Date : Fri, 22 Nov 2002 15:50:32 -0000 Outside Mannie's Restaurant.. Kel reluctantly relinquished his car to the restaurant's valet. He walked toward the entrance with the enthusiasm of a man facing his executioner, not his own father. Summoning his resolve, he approached the maitre d'. "Yes sir. How may I help you?" Taking a deep breath, he replied, "I'm joining Dr. Brent Brackett for dinner." The maitre d' nodded. "Ah, yes. He's been expecting you. Please come this way." Numbly, Kel walked to the familiar table. A distinguished looking gentleman was already seated. He glanced disapproving at his watch. "You're late. I thought perhaps you changed your mind." "I'm sorry. Things got a bit hectic in the ER at the last minute. I didn't think I was going to be able to get away," Kel apologized. The elder Brackett appeared dubious. "I see." "Dad…" "It would have been typical of you not to show up. You've been avoiding me like the plague for ages." Kel guiltily stared at his fingernails. In truth, he had initiated this dinner engagement at Dixie's urging. Over the past two days, however, he must have considered at least a dozen excuses to cancel this evening's plans. Emotional intimacy had never been his forte, especially with his father. He deliberately accepted the responsibility of two additional patients after his shift ended in order to stall for time. That's why he was running twenty minutes behind schedule. Breaking the awkward silence, Kel motioned to the waiter to bring him a drink. Brent raised his eyebrow. "Am I that unpleasant to be around that you need a drink?" "No. No, of course not. It's been a long day, and I'm tired and I'd like a scotch." Noticing the glass clutched in his father's hand, Kel retorted, "I see you're imbibing in your usual poison. Do you need alcohol to feel comfortable around your own son?" "You're being ridiculous." "Then stop interpreting my actions as though there's a hidden psychological meaning behind them. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." "Point taken," Brent conceded. "So how has work been, besides busy?" "Pretty much the same," Kel shrugged. "The new hospital administrator doesn't appreciate the value of the paramedic program to the community, so I've been having some interesting `discussions' lately." "Do you want to talk about it?" "Not really." The other man thoughtfully steepled his fingers. "Why not?" "Dad, I'm not one of your patients, all right?" Kel was developing an excruciating headache. He began to methodically massage his right temple. "Kel, for crying out loud! I'm a psychiatrist, not a witch doctor. It's an honorable profession. Unfortunately, you've always acted like you were ashamed of what I did for a living. I didn't get my degree out of a cereal box. I went to medical school at Harvard, and completed a residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins, perfectly respectable institutions. Somehow you never seemed to accept my vocation as a `real' job. Sitting in a plush office and keeping a schedule didn't seem to fit your definition of work." "Don't you think this conversation is a little one-sided? As I recall, you weren't exactly supportive of my educational choices either. I wanted to put myself through school so I wouldn't feel pressured to follow in your footsteps. I waited on tables, parked cars and even worked as an evening janitor at the university in order to put myself through school. Granted, I didn't have the same Ivy League education you had, but I earned my way through my own efforts, and I'm proud of that. And I distinctly remember how horrified you were when I announced I wanted to go into emergency medicine. You called it barbaric, and said I'd wash out in a week." Smiling smugly, Kel added, "Well, I'm still here." Shaking his head, Brent argued, "You still don't understand what this is about, do you?" "I presume you're going to enlighten me." The father sighed in frustration. "You've been so blasted determined to escape from what you perceived to be my shadow, you've been running at full throttle most of your life. You thought my occupation was boring, so you chose the most exciting one you could imagine, emergency medicine." Kel pondered this thought while he took a sip of his scotch. "But don't you see?" Brent asked. "You're still acting like this is some bizarre competition between us. It's not, you know." Mercifully, the waiter appeared to take their order. Kel had little appetite, but knew he was expected to follow the ritual. Without looking at the menu, he mechanically recited the desired items. His anxiety was mounting with each passing moment. Concealed by the linen tablecloth, he was clenching and unclenching his fists. "Dad, I simply wanted to be my own man. That's a normal desire." "That's true, if not taken to extremes. But you never know when to draw the line. Everything is all or nothing, black or white," his father chided. When you decided to become a doctor, you couldn't settle for just any specialty. You had to outdo me and prove you were better than your old man. And what could be more dramatically different than a field that deals with life and death issues every minute?" His father's words cut him with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel. An uncomfortable feeling in his stomach was making its presence known. Kel replied, "You've never accepted the fact that we're totally different people with different interests. Maybe sitting around talking to people all day long is your cup of tea, but it isn't mine. I thrive on the excitement of the emergency room." "What is it precisely that you find so appealing? Is it the power you wield of being the head of the department, or saving people's lives?" Kel's famous temper flared. "Saving people's lives, of course!" "And you don't think I help save people's lives?" Brent shot back. "You may have looked down upon my profession and the scheduled hours I kept, but they allowed me the luxury of being able to raise a family and participate in a healthy social life. On the other hand, you'd rather work like a maniac to the exclusion of all else. You're forty-two years old and you have no life to speak of. You're not able to sustain relationships, and your time is essentially confined to the hospital and your apartment." Color began to drain from the younger man's face. He was furious that his father would dare to presume to lecture him, particularly in a public setting. Undeterred, Brent continued. "Even though we rarely get together, we do work in the same hospital. I know you're working yourself into an early grave. Your long hours and avoidance of vacations are legendary. But it's taking its toll on you. You look exhausted. You're pale, you've lost weight and you look like you're not sleeping well." Incredulous, Kel warned, "This is none of your business." "You're my son. That makes it my business." A war waged within Kel. He was angry with his father for pursuing this line of conversation, and with Dixie for insisting he schedule this stupid meeting. Most of all, he was angry with himself for allowing events to unfold as they had. After all these years, he should have known better than to discuss certain topics with his father. It was a foregone conclusion he would always lose these heated debates. The throbbing in his temple worsened. "Dad, you have no right to make judgments about how I choose to live my life." Brent leaned back in the leather-upholstered chair. "Then answer me this question. Did you succeed?" Kel was thoroughly confused. "Succeed in what?" "Did you prove to yourself you're not me?" "I don't understand." "Obviously you thought I was so terrible that you went through extraordinary measures to avoid being like me. In personality, temperament, interests, profession, you've tried to be my opposite in every way. But you're a grown man now. You've established yourself." Brent's tone softened and he gently placed his hand on Kel's forearm. "Son, if you're still running away from something, do you even know where you're running to?" Suddenly Kel felt the room was closing in on him. Overwhelmed by nausea, he bolted from the table and raced to the men's room. Standing over the toilet, he proceeded to lose what little he had eaten earlier in the day. A few minutes later, he splashed his face with cold water to revive himself. He caught his reflection in the mirror. For the first time, he didn't see the cocky, self-assured head of emergency services at Rampart. He saw an insecure little boy wanting to be anyone but his father. -------------------------------- No attachments. ******************************* From : "satchie51" Subject : Shattered Date : Sat, 23 Nov 2002 20:54:00 -0000 Kel sat in his darkened apartment, contemplating the evening's events. Past experience conditioned him not to expect a cordial relationship with his father. The best he could hope to achieve was a peaceful coexistence, and the best way to accomplish that objective was simple avoidance. Yes, dear old Dad managed to undermine that plan. Kel erroneously assumed when he moved to Los Angeles, there would be adequate physical and emotional distance to discourage contact from his father. He planned to make perfunctory phone calls on special occasions, and perhaps travel home to Boston during the Christmas holidays. But his father ruined that brilliant theory. Inexplicably, six years ago he closed his posh private practice and joined the staff at Rampart. Justifiably, Kel was furious when he heard the news from the hospital administrator. His father didn't even have the decency to notify him personally, which he deemed unforgivable. Through hard work and perseverance, Dr. Kelly Brackett had finally attained the level of professional success he sought. He was held in high esteem as the director of emergency services of Rampart General Hospital, and he was supremely confident in his abilities. Unfortunately, his father's arrival signaled the return of his long and imposing shadow. It seemed there was no escape. Since that time, they both performed an exotic dance around the hospital each day. Kel would arrive early in the emergency room and immerse himself in the department's activities, pretending nothing had changed. Brent Brackett would appear later in the morning and wordlessly take the elevator to his ninth floor office. Occasionally the two men would pass each other in the corridors. They would awkwardly acknowledge each other with a nod of the head or a mumbled hello, and then abruptly break off eye contact. As a token of atonement for missed father/son quality time, Kel would arrange dinner at Mannie's once a month, although he frequently found an excuse to miss the appointments. Simply being in the older man's presence was humbling and painful. It was hard to believe there was ever a brief period in his life when he looked up to his father and desperately sought his approval. But over the years, the senior Dr. Brackett couldn't resist the temptation to mold his son into his own image. He became critical of Kel's brooding, intense nature, and began to psychoanalyze his every act. If there was some behavior or shortcoming his son possessed, there had to be a hidden psychological reason behind it. Therefore, it became his mission to eradicate the offending conduct. Brent did not anticipate Kel's reaction. Instead of meekly complying to accommodate his father's grand scheme, his headstrong son rebelled. He was determined to do the exact opposite of what was demanded of him. The relationship rapidly deteriorated, and they never recaptured the emotional intimacy they once shared. Tonight's disastrous attempt at dinner only reinforced Kel's growing sense of anxiety about the situation. How long could he continue this absurd charade? He walked over to the sliding patio door and placed his palm against the cool glass. It was a moonless night. Somehow it seemed appropriate for his increasingly dark mood. The more he thought about his father's words, the angrier he became. In a blind moment of rage, Kel slammed his hand against the door, shattering the glass onto the balcony. Stunned, he stared at the blood dripping from his arm. Several seconds elapsed before the significance of his action sunk in. He was bleeding. The calm, cool-headedness of his profession eluded him. Kel was emotionally dazed by the destructive act he had just committed. He wrapped his arm in a kitchen towel as he fumbled through his medical bag. After superficially cleaning his wounds, he applied some 4x4s as pressure dressings and wrapped his arm with gauze. In disbelief, he sat on his couch and buried his face in his hands. He lost track of how long he lingered there, when a loud knock interrupted his trance. "Police! Is everything okay?" Kel was totally confused. What were the police doing at his apartment? He slowly roused himself and answered the door. "Yes, how can I help you?" The policeman took in the physician's disheveled appearance. "Your neighbor called in a disturbance. She heard the sound of broken glass and thought you were being robbed." Glancing at the bloodstained bandages, the officer inquired, "Were you injured in the attack?" Confusion was quickly replaced by mortification as Kel realized his careless deed had attracted unwanted attention. "No, there was no robbery. It…it was an accident." The seasoned officer was dubious. Noting the location of the bandages, he wondered if this was a self-inflicted injury or perhaps a suicide attempt. "Why don't I take you to a hospital to have that looked at?" "No, that's okay," Kel assured him. "I'm a doctor. I'll take care of it." The blood continued to splatter on the floor as they spoke. "Sir, with all due respect, you look like you could use a little help with that. I'm sure it would only take a few minutes." Reluctantly nodding his consent, he followed the officer to his patrol car. He dreaded the inevitable barrage of questions he would be subjected to at Rampart. * * * * * Now that the initial shock had worn off, Kel was becoming increasingly anxious. His demeanor did not improve when the police officer insisted on accompanying him into the emergency department. Dr. Morton was the first person to notice his boss' presence. "Dr. Brackett! What happened?" he asked as he guided his mentor into a treatment room. "I had a little accident at home. It's nothing, really." The officer surreptitiously motioned to speak to the intern. Mike said, "Okay. Well, have a seat and I'll grab some blank forms from Carol. I'll be right back." Soon Mike returned, paperwork in hand. He efficiently took Kel's vital signs and frowned at his findings. "Hmm. Your blood pressure is really high. Has it been elevated lately?" "No," Kel wearily replied. "Then there has to be a reason for the sudden increase. Is it reasonable to assume it's related to the injury to your hand?" A pronounced silence was his answer. "How exactly did this happen?" Mike probed. After taking a deep breath, Kel barked, "I cut myself. Isn't it obvious?" "On purpose?" "Of course not! Do I look like an idiot? The glass door shattered!" Mike countered, "By itself?" Kel glared at his subordinate. How dare he presume to press this issue and humiliate him further. He had given his account, and that should end these ridiculous questions. Sensing they were at an impasse, Mike began unwrapping the blood soaked bandages. "These cuts look pretty nasty. There doesn't appear to be any vascular damage, but most of them are deep enough to require stitches." "Yeah, I figured as much." "I'll have Carol get everything set up. I'll be back in a moment." Mike made a hasty retreat and headed for the nurses' station. A nagging feeling tickled his brain. Kel's behavior and his description of the "accident" didn't add up. Perhaps there was a more sinister explanation. "Carol, who's on call for psych?" She consulted the schedule. "Uh, that would be Dr. Brent Brackett." The intern sadly shook his head. In the first place, it would be inappropriate to ask a family member to consult on a case. But it was also common knowledge the son and father had a strained relationship. Mike was certain the senior Dr. Brackett was NOT to be contacted in case of an emergency. He needed help in assessing whether Kel needed to be held for psychiatric observation in light of the deep slashes to his arm. Turning to the nurse, Mike said, "Page Dr. Early. I need him here as soon as possible for a consult, and tell him who the patient is." He waved Maggie over to the desk. "I need your assistance in Treatment Room 3." They entered to find an agitated Kelly Brackett awaiting their return. "What took you so long? Let's get this over with so I can go home." Mike removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I had a call I had to take care of." Kel impatiently offered his injured arm to the intern. "Well, get to work." Knowing it would take about fifteen minutes for Joe to reach Rampart, Mike carefully cleaned the wounds and began suturing the deep gashes. Fearful of antagonizing his boss, he kept conversation to an absolute minimum. He was enormously relieved when he heard Joe's gentle voice break the eerie silence of the room. "Hey, Kel. I heard you had a little mishap. How are you doing?" Mike concentrated on the task at hand, well aware of the menacing gaze that was being directed at him. "I'm fine," Kel growled. "Did they call you?" "Yeah. They're a little worried about you," Joe said reassuringly. "Well, they shouldn't be. I only need a few stitches and I'll be on my way." The white-haired physician sat down and folded his arms. "Kel, think about it from our point of view. A police officer brings you in. You're stressed. You have several deep gashes on your arm, and you're less than forthcoming about how they got there. What would normal procedure be?" A light bulb went off in Kel's head. "Cr*p. A psych consult would probably be ordered." "Do you know why this wasn't done?" "Because I'm the head of the department and Mike didn't want to embarrass me?" Joe informed him, "No. It's because your father was on call tonight." "I don't believe this!" Kel shouted. "I can't get away from that man!" He wildly jumped off the table, unexpectedly pushing Mike away as he was still suturing the wounds. "Kel, settle down!" Joe commanded. "You don't understand. I just spent a miserable evening with him. I've spent most of my entire life trying to break away from his grasp. But no matter what I do or where I go, there is he is!" The picture was coming into focus. Joe needed time alone with his friend. "Mike, I'll take care of this. Thanks for everything." After the door closed, Joe began. "Come back and have a seat and we'll talk while I finish sewing you up." With the enthusiasm of a lamb beinglead to the slaughter, Kel lowered his head and made his way to the exam table. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "About?" "Causing so much trouble for everyone. I try to keep my personal life private. But I guess everyone knows my father and I aren't exactly on the best of terms." "What happened this evening that was so upsetting?" Joe asked. "Oh, the usual." Kel tried to sound nonchalant. "We each have our own unique perspective on things." "That never caused you to put your hand through glass before." The dark-haired man's temper quickly flared, and then dissipated. "Well, I think in his own warped way he was trying to extend an olive branch, except it was thinly disguised as a reiteration of my faults since childhood. Suddenly, it all seemed so infuriating." His task complete, Joe began applying a dressing. "You know, you're a lot alike in one respect. You're both stubborn." A small smile crept across Kel's features. "I come by the trait honestly." "Look, this problem isn't going to solve itself. You're here, he's here, you need to get together and work this out." "You sound like Dixie." Joe grinned, "She's a smart cookie." "Don't encourage her!" Kel laughed. "She already thinks she runs the department!" "She doesn't?" Kel's mood sobered. "I suppose I need to tell her about this before she hears it from someone else." He rose to his feet. "I'll give her a call from my office." "I have a better idea. You can call her from my place," Joe proposed. "That's not necessary." His colleague firmly insisted, "I want you to come home with me tonight. After you call Dix, I'll give you something to help you unwind and get a good night's sleep. Take tomorrow off and collect your thoughts. In a week or so when you feel up to it, call your dad and make another dinner appointment. Maybe if you're the one offering the olive branch, you'll find the peace terms more agreeable." "After all these years, I'm afraid to hope," Kel admitted. "But at least you'll be able to find comfort in knowing you tried." Tossing his coat over his shoulder, Kel followed his friend out the door. --------------------------------- No attachments. *********************************** From: "Linda Taggatz" Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 21:31:45 -0600 Subject: Re: Shattered Kel and Joe soon arrived at Joe's apartment. It was cozy. In one corner stood a piano. "Nice place Joe." Kel said as he looked around. "Thanks." Joe told Kel to take the coat off and toss it on the chair. Kel complied, then sat down. Kel put his head in his hands. "I don't know anymore Joe. I don't know what to say to him. Maybe if we start talking about mom things will relax. But then, he never wants to talk about her." Joe got curious. "Why is that?" Kel shook his head and said "I wish I knew." -------------------------------- No attachments. *********************** From : "patti keiper" Subject : Breakfast Banter Buffet Style Date : Mon, 25 Nov 2002 15:21:22 +0000 Breakfast Banter Buffet Style >Cap's voice finally cracked out. "Gage..!" >Johnny instantly let go, smoothing out Chet's >collar where it had rumpled. "Next time.. >You're gonna tell me.." and he walked back >over to Cap and knelt by the tiny oblivious >pup. "So, what shall we give to stand for little >Chester here's second letter of the alphabet's >initial eh? And it's just gotta be a "B"..." he smiled >lipped fully cocked. And he met everyone's eyes. >"Any suggestions?" There was a brief pause, for the briefest moment, as Chet walked through the kitchen doors leading to the garage bay and the quiescent fire vehicles parked there. Kelly almost whispered his suggestion, ".....Bartholomew." and he trudged morosely towards the bunkroom. Gage and the others froze into place in their tight ring around Cap. Even Cap's finger paused, from stroking the little beagle's sleeping forehead. "W-W- What did he say?" "Oh my G*d. I don't believe it.." Marco said. "He said Bartholomew.." "Yeah, but was that a suggestion for Chester or was that in reply to Gage putting on a little elbow grease to Chet's moustache?" Stoker asked them all. Cap's eyes bugged out and all his smile lines smoothed out in rapt frankness. "The world may never know.." The gang chuckled in reply, but not Gage. Yipp! barked the sleeping puppy in his dream. The fellas immediately fell to shushing each other and tiptoed out of the kitchen, leaving Cap the honor of spending the first night with the new station mascot. Johnny's self satisfied smirk at a successful Chet tease fizzled into uncertainty as he pondered Stoker's musing. When they all were well out of the range of young canine ears, Gage asked his partner. "Whatdidya think, Roy? Whaa -- uh, which way do you think we should take Chet's answer..?" "Careful, Johnny. Don't get into it too much. Or you just may have a complex about it." Roy answered as he peeled shirt and pants down to boxers and a T shirt and sailed with an amused clunk onto his bunk. "You know how devious Chester B can get when it comes to getting you back for muscling around with him." Johnny's face alternately smiled and fell as he regarded Chet Kelly slumbering for all the world like King Nebenezzer on his bunk with his fingers laced nonchalantly over his chest. Gage turned his back on the sight, not sure about whether or not Chet was smiling or frowning. ::Can't tell behind that d*mned moustache..:: he groaned mentally, shifting irritably onto a shoulder to try and forget about it. Sleep was a long time in coming. ---------------------------------------- Breakfast was spread out like a posse's standard grub with a partial roasting steer the next day. The guys, feeling guilty about tricking Cap into spending first nightwatch over Chester, fed him right where he was, in the armchair. Stoker had even gone out into the yard and had picked Hank a magnolia for a bud vase with the breakfast tray he hand delivered to him. "Guys, you didn't have to do this.." Cap said, rubbing sleep mussed hair and his face as he shifted his weight in the chair gingerly around the still oblivious Chester Bartholomew lying like a tiny sack of potatoes in his lap. "Oh, yes we do, Cap. I mean, what fireman in any firehouse is more self sacrificial than a Cap? Am I right fellas?" Chet asked, shoving buttered toast into his hungry maw. He chewed, puffed cheeked as he added. "Made an example of all of us, for ditchin him and keepin him all last night away from the comfort of Cap's own bed." he said. He took a gulp of his too hot coffee a little too fast and started choking a bit. Roy gave his back a thump or two as he reached for a green apple from the fruit basket in front of the breakfast rib roast Stoker had smoking on the spit all last night. "Easy there Chet. Don't talk, chew." DeSoto said, taking a half moon bite out of his fruit. "Yeah.." Gage agreed, his own cheeks big with bagel. "I wanna get through chow without a still alarm, Kelly, if you don't mind.." "Very funny Gage. Tell me something there, uh, buddy. What uh, what is YOUR middle name if you don't mind me turning the tables on ya. And I'll just ask it since you don't have any facial hair for me to grab onto.." Marco nearly spit out his fresh squeezed pineapple juice chortling. Stoker rescued him with a toss of a folded towel. When the light laughter bubbled away into sounds of contented eating, Lopez said, "Yeah, Gage. You don't have anything on the back of your turnout coat. Just "Gage". " "My secret.. So shush.." Chet didn't give him any further clues to answering Gage's Chet mystery by responding back. Cap looked up from where he was adjusting a china blue bowl filled with steamed water moistened puppy chow on his breakfast tray under a ravenous Chester's face. The little one was eating so fast, he was snorting and almost tipping nose up into the food. "Whoops, slow down there Chester Bartholomew.. or you'll end up as fat as ol Henry used to be.." Chet looked up suddenly from his paper as if he was the one addressed. Just as quickly, Chet shot eyes back down to his plate. Johnny's eyes narrowed suspiciously when he saw that reaction. But for the life of him, he couldn't tell whether or not Kelly had thought Cap was speaking about him or the new puppy. ::I coulda told that a lot better if Kelly grabbed his stomach or something too, then, at Cap's comment. "Man.. I'll never find out my answer.." he grumbled to Roy. The guys laughed. "Yeah well, this too, shall pass. No doubt you and Chet will live to fight another day.." DeSoto said, regarding which piece of his sliced apple to devour next with his milk. Then he chose two at the same time and followed up with a thick bite of BBQ beef rib. He was the only one eating with a fork. The others were eating off the bone, including Chester Bartholomew. "Not if he keeps eating so fast like that he won't." Gage said cheek muffled with a beefy spear, glaring at Kelly. "I got a fine example of how obstructed airways happen, too, Roy, right in my line of sight.." Chet said, in retort back, making runway guide motions right at his current source of verbal torment sitting across the table from him. "Peace you two.." Cap said, finally extricating himself from the recliner, leaving Chester happily diving into what was left on his tray. Captain Stanley saundered over to the bulletin board and snatched down the weekly rounds chart board. He was the only one still in a blue uniform. The gang was still in T-shirts and pullover pants-and-boots. "The weekly fire violation rounds list. Today, only one on the books." "Aww Cap, can't it wait until after breakfast? Turns my stomach learning about folks who like living in a fire hazard zone instead of following codes." Chet complained. "Shutup and chew.." Cap replied. "You're gonna hear this one. In fact, all of you might have an invested interest in this case." "Oh?" Roy grunted. "Yeah." Cap replied. "We have an excessive brush violation at....213 East Morrow Drive..." All jaws stopped chewing when they remembered that the address belonged to one very very nice old man living in a very very creepy looking old house. Gage's mouth crooked open in regret. "Aww, Cap. We can't go handing out a fine to kindly ol Mr. Fajou.. I really like that guy. Wouldn't be nice of us to leave it tacked onto his front door like that to find once he gets outta the hospital.." he added sarcastically. Stanley snapped back defensively light. "You got any better ideas?" "Yeah..I do." Lopez said. "Come guys, we got nothing better to do this weekend, and I know that for a fact because there's no games in town. Why don't we just skip out on our normal routines and go over there to do a little weed control ourselves. It'd be easy for us. We're licensed to do a controlled burn." Both of Cap's eyebrows climbed up into his hairline. "Hey, that's a wonderful idea. We can all trade shifts mutually with Saturday's crew in trade for Friday and get this done for the old guy. I can have Eight's brush truck sent over for Stoker to use." There came a chorus of eager yes's and O.k.'s all around. Even another yip from Chester where he sat in the recliner near the licked clean dish tray. All heads turned. "Wow." Stoker remarked. "Maybe we found ourselves a new dish washer. Just look at Cap's tray. Clean as a whistle.." "Heh... Don't give him any bright ideas.." Cap said. "That's just a first morning privilege." he grumbled. "Wouldn't want him to pick up any really bad habits from us now would we..?" Chet made a show of licking BBQ off his plate by lapping it like a dog. "Very funny Kelly.." Cap said. "For that, you get latrine duty this morning.." "Awww, Cap.." "Aww, nothing. When you make Cap, you can find ways to delegate the more unpleasant firehouse duties in the least painful ways to your crew, too, just like I did.." he chipped up. "You're all heart.." Kelly mumbled. "What's that, Kelly. Didn't quite hear you? My other inferiorly ranked men are all laughing too hard." "I said, uh, you're so smart." Chet said, stirring his grits morosely. Then his eyes shot up in alarm. 'Uh, I don't mean "smart" as in sarcastic, Cap. At least not in, uh,, not in...that case..." he trailed off sheepishly, and escaped into the newspaper to hide from the moment in hot water. "Let's hope not, Kelly. The hoses in the tower need to be reloaded.." Chet was a mouse behind the funnies section. Stoker and Marco's hands raised up. "Give it to us Cap. Only fair.."Mike said. "We got out of it last time due to a timely dumpster fire call." "Good men.. Kelly, did you see that? Lopez and Stoker actually volunteered to do one of the sweaty jobs." Cap said. "Yeah, well I don't see them lining up for the smelly one.." Chet groused. "Quit eating like a horse and maybe the bathrooms would smell a little better in the morning Chet.." Gage retorted. "Yeah, I had to use a half can of Lysol Disinfectant just to breathe earlier.." Marco quipped, joining Gage's bandwagon. "I can't help it.." Chet said. "I was born with an efficient colon. At least I don't let them loose while giggling at erotic dreams in my sleep like Marco over here." "I do not.." Marco protested vehemently. Gage sniggered. "Uh, is that in reply to part A or part B of Chet's previous sentence Marco. Your crewmates would really really like to know." Marco just glared. "You try working in a firehouse with a mama who stuffs YOU full of beans and enchiladas just before your twenty four hours on shifts, I'd say you'd be tooting them too." "I'll stick with the engine's horn thanks.." Mike said. Gage scored a point in the air for Stoker. "Ok, ok, that explains the gassier aspects of your nightly exploits. Now, tell us about your dreams, Marco Lopez.... Is she cute?" "I'm Catholic!" Marco protested. "I don't have to confess to you.." "You might as well.." Gage warned in jest. "I see a greaaattt moustache gripping handle there under your nose..." and he rose in his chair. "Cap!!" Marco squeaked. Johnny was already in his chair and chewing his last bite of food by the time Cap's eyebrow was fully cocked into the firing position. Hank settled out of his warning glare and continued chewing the piece of apple he had stolen from Roy's plate. "What? I see no problem here. Except for maybe a stack or two of too many dishes. Lopez. Dish detail." "Awww, Cap. I thought you were supposed to safeguard your men." Marco said. "I just did. Do you see Gage pinning you against the wall where he had Kelly squirming last night?" "No." "Good, then hop to it. Stoker was the one who cooked today. Gage, you got floor detail, a full wet mop job. DeSoto, vehicle buffing, chrome only. Looks like rain today." "Well what about you, Cap?" Lopez still singing, stung. "I have a new chore. I get to show Chester here where to go..."he grinned. And he hefted up his little charge and wandered out cooly into the yard. The guys all rose from the breakfast table and fell to. Johnny was grinning at Marco's still red face from Chet revealing out a night secret so boldly, but even he wouldn't poke a man when he was down. ::Well, not a fire fighting coworker at any rate, just a victim on a scene to learn a consciousness level. Heh.:: he thought. Then he said, "Say Roy.. Us going out this weekend to help ol' Mr. Fajou is really gonna be fun. I mean, Vince's got the keys to his place, right? Maybe we can even all go in and clean up his kitchen too for him." Roy angled his head skeptically as he helped Lopez grumpily stack plates as he carried each armload to the sink. "I don't know, Johnny. Most gourmet cooks don't like people messing with their kitchens." "Who's to say Mr. Fajou is a gourmet chef? Well, maybe a pastry baking one.." he admitted. "Still wouldn't hurt to do this good deed thing a notch or two better." he grinned cockeyed. Chet piped up. "Yeah, maybe we can learn what's finally in that basement of his and in all those other creepy rooms, man." Johnny waggled his head. "I don't think Mr. Fajou would appreciate us snooping around his house now would you?" he moaned caustic. "Gage, that place's an historic landmark.." "You mean a haunted one.." Stoker quipped from around the newspaper. Kelly went on as if he hadn't heard Mike interrupt him. "...Mr. Fajou probably gives movie tours to the studio kids he bakes for all the time. I mean uh, what's the difference if it's kids or firemen getting thrilled to death in there..?" "A big one, Chet Kelly. The poor guy deserves a little privacy in his own home.." he insisted. Kelly's eyes hit the table and his fidgetting fingers drumming there."Looks more like the old guy needs a friend or two Johnny.." Chet said. "We can always act scared and nervous when he gets back and gives us a tour for doing his yardwork this weekend." Roy grinned, folding his arms over his shoulders. "There's that, Johnny. Come on, give in to a little curiosity..." "Nice sentiment Roy, aren't you Catholic too?" Gage said. "Doing a nice thing for somebody else isn't a sin.." he replied. Marco agreed firmly. "Look it up.." John shot both of them a disgusted look. Then the alarm went off, for a full station call. ##Station 51, Engine 18, Truck 127. Battalion 14. Truck overturn with a chemical spill on the Pacific Coast Highway at Southbound mile marker 513. Multiple vehicular involvement.Truck overturn on the PCH at Southbound mile marker 513. Cross street Dungeness. PD reports approach with caution. Be advised. An unknown gas cloud has prompted start of evacuation action from the CHP. Timeout, 07:10. ## Cap's shoes came pelting by the kitchen door and he received the call as the men moved out. He handed off Chester B to Roy who left the bewildered young pup safely on the recliner. "Be good pal. See you when we get back." DeSoto told the little dog, rushing out. Cap acknowledged the run. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365.." The entire company rolled out....... ---------------------------------------- Photo: A very sleepy Beagle pup. Photo: Roy and John getting set for resting on their firehouse bunks. Photo: Chet Kelly sleeping like King Nebenezzer. Photo : Station 51's rescue call speaker. *animated gif* A massive fireball explosion mushroom cloud. Photo: A gas cloud at an accident scene enveloping two running people. ******************************** From : "SM Fortis" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Restaurant Confessional Date : Wed, 27 Nov 2002 09:42:38 -0600 Grateful to be home in his own apartment, Kel stretched out on the couch. Despite Joe's advice he wait awhile before scheduling another reconciliation attempt, Kel promptly contacted his father and made reservations for dinner that evening. Patience never had been his greatest virtue. His colleague was right in one respect. If Kel dictated the terms of the meeting and tried to keep the conversation on message, perhaps he would feel more in control of the situation. He was determined not to feel pow