Boot happily trounced in seconds later, pulling DeSoto and Marco's pull ups and boots that had been tied to his collar. Roy collected them and gestured to the bay door. "Go back to guarding, pal. Thanks." Boot barked once and scampered out of the room to his duty. "Clever." grinned Mike. "About time he started pulling his own weight." Kelly bubbled, still smearing water lovingly over his face and head. Nobody yelled at him for getting water on the floor. Johnny eyeballed Cap. "Marco's not sick, Cap. He's just..." "...boiling in my skin. Who would have thought a Mexican like me could get a sun burn. Ouch!" Lopez complained when Roy felt his face again with an assessing back of a hand. "Will he need supplies and a report?" Hank asked. "Burn salve? Nah. He's got nothing that a little time won't cure. No blisters anywhere." Roy shared. "Don't I wish this was fire caused." Lopez groaned. "Then I'd get a sick day to go jump in the neighbor's pool." "There's always standing under the hose tower. The lines are still dripping." Stoker offered, smelling water and concrete wafting through the kitchen door he had propped open. "What about the mosquitoes?" Kelly asked, pointing at it. "They can't see where we are. The air's the same temperature as us." Stoker told him. Gage laughed from where he was draped over and hugging the coolish table top with alternating cheeks and his forehead. "My kingdom for an A/C." Cap whined, curling a few steaming toes. "Inadequate budget." Chet countered. "Remind me to burn McConikee's hat again A.S.A.P. in protest." Cap ordered neatly. "We could always blow off a few fire extinguishers on your chair, Cap. That'll freeze it up in a pico for a couple of hours." "Shush.. That's custom leather, Stoker." Gage chided. "Bite your tongue." "I'm sorely tempted to say yes." Hank said, holding up a finger. "But.. the other shifts would kill me for cracking the Corinthian throne." "Tell them you found a rubber snake in it and thought it was real." Kelly suggested. "You can blame me then." Hank just snorted and continued to suffer silently. Soon quiet reigned as the gang continued to sizzle like bacon on the outside. Finally, Chet echoed what they were all thinking. "Man, this is going to be one long, hot summer."

*********************************************************************** From: patti keiper (pattik1@hotmail.com) Subject: Jaded Sent: Sat 8/10/13 10:52 PM The tones went off.  ## *EEEeee oh OOOoooooo* Squad 51. Woman down. 425 West Burbank. 425 West Burbank. Cross street Alameda. Time out: 0335. ## DeSoto and Gage pulled on their pull up trousers and boots and made for the door.  Roy turned and shouted a request. "Kelly. Keep that on Marco. Make him eat some if you have to!" he said about the ice cream bucket chilling out his sunburn fever through his chest and abdomen. "I hate vanilla." Lopez groaned, growing uncomfortable with the frozen ice cream in contact with his skin. "Tough." barked Cap. "Will do. Will listen." promised Cap, picking up the handy talkie he was clutching with a hand while he dozed.  "Roll with your windows down. Should be cooler." Bark!   Bark!  said Henry and Boot as they greeted the paramedics jogging for the squad in the apparatus bay.  "To the wall, boys!" DeSoto ordered them with a sweeping gesture towards the county map hanging by the office.   The two dogs dutifully moved aside. They began sitting to let the squad out.  Roy called in their reply. "Squad 51. 10-4, KMG 365." on the radio mike inside the squad cab. Gage looked into his rear view mirror as they pulled left onto the boulevard. "Huh, would you look at that. They're not even going to chase us to the foot of the driveway tonight." "Would you?" Roy grinned, shaking his helmeted head as the hot breeze roared into the cab as they accelerated. "They're pretty smart for a pair of hot dogs." "I guess." said Gage, turning forward again to watch where they were going. "Our next turn's eight blocks up to the right. I think it's gonna be a house on the corner." he said, sighing as the hot wind began to dry at least some of the sweat pouring down his face.  "Maybe they'll have air conditioning." he hoped. DeSoto chuckled, moving over to the slow lane on 223rd Street. "We won't be in the house long enough to enjoy any of that. Load and go, remember?" "Maybe we can stall a little if she's not that critical. You know, two I.V.s instead of one, an extra neat bandaging job to plug all of the holes if they're any..."  Johnny said wistfully. Roy shook his head in disbelief. "I'll let you hang out in the morgue for a few minutes at Rampart. Will that be cold enough for you?" Soon, they rounded a turn and arrived at their address.  Other red flashing lights greeted them through the thick trees.

"Say, isn't that Vince?" Johnny said as they hurried to the curbside to park and unload their gear. "Yeah."  Roy frowned. "I didn't hear about a police intercept. Did you?" "Nope." Gage answered, quickly pulling out the datascope along with the rolling oxygen apparatus to go along with the red biophone and black I.V. and drug box that Roy was gathering.  "Scene must be safe, though, or we would have heard about it from L.A." The two paramedics in T-shirts, suspenders and trouser boots swiftly threaded their way through the dark wooded yard towards the front door that they could see was propped open with a foot stool. It was one of Vince's usual tricks to speed up paramedic arrival times. It seemed like every light was on in the house. A sign that each room had been thoroughly searched for missing people. "Vince?! Whatdiya got?" Johnny hollered as they entered the house. It was blessedly cool inside from central air. Immediately, he and Roy felt their senses sharpen as the cold plastered their wet clothes to their skin, raising goosebumps. It felt wonderful. "Don't know. She's not breathing too hot. We're in the kitchen!" came Howard's shouted reply. They rushed past the stark white, high end furniture to the rustic ranch brick design of the kitchen off the dining room. They spotted Vince using an ambu bag strung from his small car trunk oxygen tank. It looked like he hadn't much time to do anything else except keep his patient alive. Gage quickly set down his equipment and got on the woman's head for a quick carotid pulse quality check. "Any trouble ventilating?" "None. Color was always good. Even when I found her. But she's only fighting maybe one out of every four breaths I'm giving her. Gasps have been sporatic." the policeman reported, keeping the young woman's head back in the correct position with both knees while he bagged her carefully. The woman's skin was damp despite the chill in the house. An unnatural gray pallor paled her elegant Asian features. Johnny reported. "90 and thready." He rubbed a few knuckles into her breast bone, hard. There was no reponse. "No reaction to pain." he said, planning ahead for an airway. He swept two hands quickly along her arms and legs looking for bleeding or other obvious problems. "No wounds or fractures." Then he got back up onto his feet to take another look around the room. "Vince. What was the call that brought you here?" "Domestic disturbance. Neighbors reported some yelling ten minutes ago." Vince told him. "Who was she fighting with?" Roy wondered.  "Nothing's broken or out of place." he said. "Maybe the guy left." Johnny said, continuing his search for evidence while Roy opened the woman's silk blouse and patched her in to a cardiac monitor. "I don't think anybody else was here. Dispatcher said this gal's the sole house owner. Unmarried." Vince added. "A break-in?" Gage wondered. "Doesn't fit. All the windows are intact. I had to break down the front door when I spotted her on the floor." answered the policeman. "It was still chain latched." "She's getting brady but it's still regular." DeSoto reported, turning the EKG monitor screen up so Johnny could see it while Gage rapidly investigated the kitchen's counters, cabinets, and sink. "Huh. Air conditioners aren't furnaces, so fumes are out." Johnny said, making sure the gas stove and oven wasn't turned on. Then DeSoto saw it on the window sill. "Johnny. Over there above the sink. A pill bottle. Looks like it's empty." Gage hurried over and swept the brightly printed floral curtains aside to snatch it up. "Name's Anabelle Tanaka." he said, reading its label. "Prescription for Valium. A week old. Twenty tabs." "Matches the photo I.D. I found in her wallet." said Vince, keeping on giving breaths to the girl through the bag. A girl's photo matched the smooth, petite beautiful features they saw on their patient. The only difference was her collapse tangled, sweaty, long hair that had fallen out of a bun that had been kept in order with a jade hair stick.  Johnny pulled it out for safety and tossed it aside. The wallet was on the floor next to her head. Roy picked it up and rifled through its pockets. He found a business card to a psychiatrist's crisis line inside of it. "She might have a psych history." DeSoto said, holding up the doctor's card. "Our first guess? Let's go with a probable suicide attempt." Gage's face fell at the chance answer.  He placed a hand on her struggling chest to monitor her breathing attempts. "She can't be more than nineteen or twenty. I wonder why she decided to--" "Whoa, that's not right." Vince interrupted, noticing a change in lung resistance. Johnny moved his hand down to her abdomen and stomach and felt sudden knots there. "Roll her over, Vince. She's trying to vomit." Gage warned. "Okay." said Howard quickly, worried. His hands were shaking as he tossed aside the ambu bag to help out. Roy turned on the suction unit on the resuscitator to get it ready for use as Tanaka's stomach began to rock back and forth ominously. They soon had Anabelle on her side. DeSoto bent low and smelled the breath coming out of the purge valve of the tube he began using to clear some frothy debris that was pouring out of her mouth. "Smells like Diazepam."

"Oh, d*mn." Vince said under his breath as they worked quickly to get her cleared out and under ventilation again. "Did she choke?" he asked, gagging slightly on the sour odor of stomach acid and partially dissolved pills. "Lungs are clear." Roy said, listening to the limp woman's bare back with a stethscope. "She hasn't been down long. All right. I got it all. Roll her back and Vince, catch up by hyperventilating her for a few breaths.   Then fall back to a normal vent rate on her. I'll call it in." Johnny finished cutting away Tanaka's bra from around the EKG electrode patches and wires to prepare for possible CPR.  He dried shock perspiration off her torso with a towel and turned on the defibrillator. Then he placed its paddles on her chest and left them resting in place to take a manual reading to back up the automatic one on the screen to get a finer reading. "She's dropping off. Forty six a minute. QT's are looking odd." "It's vaso-vagal. Sorry, Johnny." Roy said as he set up the biophone. "I bumped the back of her throat with the suction tube." "She still might need pacing if that coma sets in any deeper." Gage suggested, planning further ahead. "Good idea. Leave 'em there." said Roy.  Then he opened a channel. "Rampart this is Squad 51, how do you read?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At Rampart, Dr. Early noticed the base station light buzzing red with a new transmission arrival. He entered the enclosed glass alcove and pushed the reply button. "Unit calling in please repeat." ##Rampart, this is Squad 51.## "I read you, 51. Go ahead." Early said, reaching for a note pad as Dixie McCall finished a phone call outside at the desk and joined him to listen in. ##Rampart, we have a female in her early twenties around 140 pounds, a victim of apparent benzodiazepine ingestion with no other signs of trauma. She is exhibiting moderate overdose symptoms with a suppressed breathing reflex but with reflexive vomiting. We have the patient's prescription bottle for Valium 10 mg each,   with twenty total pills. All are missing. She is under manual ventilation on fifteen liters of O2. Chest is clear. No pain reponse. Pulse is bradycardic and Rampart, she's still hypersensitive to upper airway stimulation cardiovascularly. Stand by for pupillary responses and a strip.## "Standing by, 51." said Joe. Dixie frowned. "Doesn't sound good. Shall I call Respiratory down?" Early nodded. "She's not going to improve until we counteract whatever she's taken. Set up for a gastric lavage." "I'll set up Treatment Five." McCall nodded and left the room. Roy returned to the airwaves.  ##Rampart, pupils are sluggish with evidence of nystagmus. We're ready to transmit an EKG.## "Go ahead on an EKG, 51.## Early reported. ##This will be Lead II.## DeSoto shared. Early pushed the receive toggle and a paper record began to stream out of the station's biophone receiver unit. He picked up the cardiac strip and read its rhythm. He toggled back to Roy. "51, I concur your finding of bradycardia with prolonged QT intervals. Search the house for any other possible medications. If none are found, start an I.V. of Normal Saline and administer 0.2 mg Flumazenil over 15 seconds. If she doesn't regain consciousness within 45 seconds, administer another dose every sixty seconds up to three attempts. Once she's awake, the effect should last about fifteen minutes. She may return into a highly agitated state, so be ready. You have permission to use restraints.Then transport A.S.A.P. If re-sedation occurs in transit, continue breath support on oxygen but do not intubate. Consider cardiac pacing if her rate falls below thirty with a loss of brachial pulses. We'll try the antidote again in twenty minutes." ##10-4, Rampart. Uh, .2mg Flumazenil / Normal Saline I.V.,  push every minute until consciousness, or times three. Continue breathing support and necessary cardiac pacing if pulses fall to carotid only during transport.## Roy repeated back. He lifted his head at  the sound of a Mayfair's approaching sirens. ##Rampart, our E.T.A is ten minutes.## "10-4, Squad 51." said Joe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the lavish kitchen, Gage nodded that he had heard the orders and began preparing Anabelle's antidote treatment.  He kept one eye on her face for signs of airway distress. ::Wow is she pretty.:: he thought. ::I wonder why she's been depressed.:: he wondered again. "Can she really kill herself with these pills?" Vince said, watching the bag he was using to keep the girl breathing. "Not by themselves. Valium takes a while. They would have eventually, but not today." Gage replied, handing over a prepped I.V. solution bag to his partner. "I'll go raid the medicine chest to see if we have to change our game plan. I'll be right back." he promised. Anabelle's body began to tremble even through her unconsciousness and Roy saw sudden goose pimples flush across her skin. Roy leaned a little closer into their patient's ear as he began to swab her arm down with alcohol for an I.V. start. "Easy there. Anabelle, I know you can hear me. You're not alone any more.  I'm Roy DeSoto, a paramedic your neighbors just called. I'm here with my partner, Johnny Gage, and a very caring police officer named Vince Howard. We're going to wake you up now.  Your house is okay.  Don't be afraid. I want you to relax and keep taking in that oxygen. In a minute or so, I'll give you a medication that'll make you feel a lot better than you do right now. Don't try to fight us. Nobody's going to hurt you. We're trying to help you. Okay?" He placed a warm hand briefly on the side of her sweat chilled porcelain face.  The twitchy movements under her eyelids seemed to ease and slow just a bit. Johnny returned, a little breathless after his rapid search. "There're no other pills. She's extremely healthy judging by the scale of the exercise room I just left. I found just some vitamins and a tube of toothpaste." he said, holding them up. "Good deal." Roy replied. The Mayfair's attendants entered the house with their mattressed cot and paused nearby to await orders. Gage waved them in immediately. "Load her up but cover her with just a sheet. It's too hot outside for blankets." "There's no airway in, fellas, for a reason." Roy also shared when he saw they noticed Anabelle being resuscitated. "She'll start breathing again on her own real soon. We're going to be administering an antidote to Valium once she's safely strapped in." he told them so they wouldn't be surprised if a struggle happened. Vince turned to the Mayfair EMTs. "Could I bum a new E tank off you boys for my next medical call? Mine's almost empty here." "Sure, we'll fill your old one once we get to the hospital." said one of them. "Keep the new one. We keep trading bottles all day anyway." "Don't we have the same suppliers?" Gage asked the three, still fighting being highly distracted by the mystery of their young patient. "Yeah. Northside Medical. For fire, ambulance and police oxygen." the EMT confirmed. As they left the house, Johnny noticed a picture of Anabelle standing with an older, very handsome Oriental lady who was obviously another family member. He snatched up the picture frame and tossed it onto the cot at Anabelle's feet on a whim.  He shrugged at Vince about it as the officer locked up her home using her keys he had found in a purse. "I've got a hunch about her." he explained, shrugging half heartedly as he began to sweat in the heat again. Vince nodded.  "Maybe it'll help." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inside the moving Mayfair, Roy DeSoto got the first injection of Flumazenil ready and paused with its needle at Anabelle's I.V. port.  He could see the red lights above Johnny, following behind in the squad through the window. A glance at the EKG monitor showed that Tanaka had recovered from her accidental vasovagal heart symptom fully and was ready for Early's prescribed antidote attempt. "Okay, Malcolm. She might wake up very fast and fight us once this takes effect." DeSoto told his EMT helper who was bagging oxygen into the girl's lungs. "I'm set." replied the man, tossing his head at the suction device and at additional cotton lined restraints he had lying neatly over his lap. DeSoto put his mouth near Anabelle's ear. "Anabelle? It's time to open your eyes." he told her. Then he pushed the medication home.

****************************************************** From:  patti keiper (pattik1@hotmail.com) Subject: Shattered Sent: Tue 8/13/13 7:58 AM Back at the station, the rest of the gang kept sniping. "Oh, that's so much better." sighed Marco as he sagged even further down into his wooden chair at the kitchen table as Roy's improvised instant chilling solution took effect.   "Are you fine now? Give it here. I'll dish us out some of that." Chet offered with an eager set of gimme fingers. "You can have it back when I'm done." "No." said Marco, hugging the frosty ice cream gallon blissfully. "Go chew some ice cubes." Bark!  said Boot entering the kitchen.  He sat down at Kelly's feet and started licking his chops with measured patience. "Cap." sighed Kelly as he blinked away cool water dribbling down his face. "Whose turn is it for dog chores duty today?" "Uhhhh, that would be me." Hank admitted, absently scratching an itch under his boxers' waist band with a thumb. "I'll get out a Rival in a bit. I think I'm finally getting comfortable." he yawned, his face damp with perspiration. "Two cans, Cap." Stoker reminded. "Uhhh,... Why two?" asked Stanley, still a bit sleepy from the heat. "That's over budget." "We now have two dogs. Did you forget already?" Kelly asked him. "Boot wandered in yesterday. Looks like he's going to be staying a while, too. I saw the bed he's already made using all of our mop heads in the closet. "Hey, Cap. You want a date with this? Your memory's foggy." asked Lopez, holding up the ice cream bucket. "You did order us to keep an eye on each other in a medical watch." "Fine. I did say that and yeah, I know I need some icing." snapped Cap irritably, getting up from his recliner. "But only after I feed the mutt."   "Mutts." Chet corrected. "Mangy mascots..." grumbled Hank as he stomped over to the cupboard in his bare feet to get out the cans of horse meat.  "Who eats at three thirty in the morning?!" "Cap.. heh. We d- " began Chet, grinning hugely. "No, don't answer that.  I walked right into it." Stanley retorted, rubbing his face as his own stomach growled in hunger. "Resident firefighter's stomach speaks sooth." chuckled Mike Stoker from where he was reading the newspaper in a mock headline announcement. Chet nudged around Cap's elbow and under the cabinet door Stanley had opened to reach the freezer to grope into an ice tray.  He thoughtfully drew out a cube and tossed it into his mouth. "Can we ditch the T-shirts and bunker pants at night for a while?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The lights and sirens of the Mayfair shattered the steamy night neighborhood's quiet as they traveled quickly to their drop off at Rampart General Hospital. DeSoto tossed away his empty syringe of antidote into the sharps bin at his shoulder. Then he took hold of Anabelle's upper arms firmly in cautious preparation. "Anabelle?  Can you hear me? Take a breath for us." he ordered loudly. Malcolm's ambu bag had delivered another hissing ventilation to the girl under his hands when it happened. Both of the young woman's legs shot up underneath the cot's safety straps and her back arched up as the sedative in her system swiftly reversed. Anabelle sucked in a huge bubbling gasp and let out an animal shriek as she began to struggle blindly against Roy and the EMT's grip on her.   "No, no... Anabelle! Don't fight us. You're just a little groggy because you're waking up." DeSoto said to her. Blood began to ooze out the corner of Tanaka's mouth onto her contorting face as she suddenly bit the inside of her cheek underneath tightly pressed lips. Her panic began to intensify at the taste of iron.  Her struggles grew more violent when she realized that it was the smell of blood. Breathing became huge and painful. "Is this a seizure?" asked Malcolm, throwing himself on Anabelle's head to keep her airway open as she fought for breath. Roy shook his head, grunting with effort.  "She's angry as h*ll.  These are withdrawal symptoms. Pull over!" DeSoto yelled to the driver. They fought to keep the girl's bucking body on the cot. Then he snapped out orders. "Keep her airway clear of that blood, Mal." "When I can." said the man, trying to get a wrapped tongue depressor in between Anabelle's cheek and gums to get a space wide enough for a suction tube. The Mayfair screeched to a quick halt along a curbside. DeSoto heard the squad's siren fall away as Gage flicked it off and pulled up behind them. Seconds later, his partner snatched open the rear doors. "What do you got?" "Abscission! Half awake! Watch her I.V. line!" Roy grimaced, his hands already full. Johnny shouted as he grabbed the effected arm. "Anabelle! Stop moving around! Listen to us. You're in an ambulance!" he yelled, protecting the catheter in her vein. The arm board Roy had used had dislodged. Gage used a knee to pin her hand down as he rebound its ties over her upper arm and forearm to keep plastic from breaking off into her bloodstream. Tanaka suddenly flipped onto her side with super human strength and two seconds later, it was as if a light had flicked on. Her rage turned to instant mortification and surprise as full awareness of what she was doing returned. The picture framed photo Johnny had tossed onto her feet for reference flew off the cot and shattered on the floor of the Mayfair. The unexpected sound of breaking glass made Anabelle suck in a hard won breath. Then she began to hold it as her face paled. It was fear. Roy and Malcolm immediately let go of their patient and took steps to put a new oxygen mask on her face. They watched as agonizing clarity and a very recent mental memory returned.  The girl quickly opened her leaking amber colored eyes. Johnny climbed off the cot, gasping in the heat that had been let into the Mayfair from its open doors.  He realized what he was seeing on her face was actually intense grief. "Annabelle? What-?" "....grandma... oh, ....Nai Nai.. Why did you leave me? Why did you have to die?...." she cried, coughing on the trickle of blood she had caused. And then the real flood of tears came.

*************************************************** From: patti keiper (pattik1@hotmail.com) Subject: Hot and Cold Sent: Thu 8/22/13 9:18 AM Roy and Johnny wheeled Annabelle efficiently into Treatment Room Five, led there by Dixie at a brisk walk. The young Asian woman lay quietly on the gurney with Malcolm supporting her airway with a palm's light grip lifting up her jaw. Joe Early raised an eyebrow at their switch to a non-rebreather mask. He and the respiratory therapist set up next to him exchanged looks of relief. "How's she doing?" Early asked as he waved over Toxicology to get a blood sample from the I.V. line. Roy looked up from moving her I.V. to a hospital pole. "She's compensating. But she's in and out. We dosed her times two. Her pressure and her rhythm are holding. 90 systolic and SR, regular at 54. We didn't have to pace. But she did struggle waking up at the beginning.  She's bitten the inside of her cheek or her tongue a bit. The bleeding's stopped." Gage eyed up Dixie ruefully. "We found out the reason why." he shared. Roy held up their H.T. still turned to a police channel. "She just lost her grandmother three days ago. Apparently, the two were living in that hillside mansion by themselves. Vince also found out for us that Annabelle was apparently raised by her. Might explain a lot." "Thanks." Early nodded, moving to the sweaty woman's head to take a look at the collatoral damage inside of her mouth with a tongue depresser. "Do you need us any more?" Johnny asked Joe, his eagerness to leave the room betrayed by stiffly executed professionalism. He passed over the emptied prescription bottle bearing Tanaka's name, also taking the radio from Roy as DeSoto gathered up their medical gear. Early shook his head and gestured to the two orderlies and a security guard waiting discreetly by a wall. "We've got it handled." The presence of the guard startled Johnny a bit. But then the necessity of it quickly sank in. Roy leaned into Annabelle and spoke once more into her ear. "Annabelle, these people will take very good care of you. Don't you worry. You're safe now." The semi-conscious girl didn't react through her recovery stupor. Johnny turned back as he and Roy opened the door to leave. He pressed the shattered portrait frame of Annabelle and her grandmother into Dixie's hands. "This is hers. I... thought we were going to need it to find her next of kin. It broke on the way in during the fight." DeSoto sighed softly, his eyes both worried and empathetic. "Could you tell her we're sorry for her loss?" "I will." McCall promised, softly caressing the web of cracked glass over the photograph. "I'll have this sent to Psych, after we get her admitted, to put into her room." The two paramedics didn't hear Joe snapping out orders to the support staff as they stabilized Annabelle and got her set for a gastric lavage. The door closed shut behind them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once in the hallway, Gage and Roy stopped at the usual water fountain alcove but they didn't drink.  Their minds were still very much on their recent patient. Johnny fingered the antennae on their handy talkie.  "I know I've said it in the past, but being on that call just now, drives it home real bad." "You mean how you feel about going on peds runs?" Roy asked. Gage nodded painfully. DeSoto sighed again, glancing back at the door. "I can see how. She almost could be child-like. She's not very big for her age. She's about the same age as my d--" he broke off, uncomfortable with the comparison and the corollation. "Yeah." Johnny agreed. "But your daughter's not the one who's suicidal. Maybe that's what made it worse for me this time, the fact that Annabelle decided to be that way, so fast." "Johnny, we don't know her previous mental history. Don't blame yourself for something someone else did on their own. You know they're going to hold her for evaluation for at least 72 hours. That will give the psychologist team and the grief counselor a good block of time to figure out exactly how emotionally stable she is. She won't be permitted to try again." Gage shifted unhappily and looked at the floor. "Hey. It's okay. Maybe we can stop by to see how she's doing later on." Roy said, absently studying the oxygen apparatus and the drug box he carried in his hands. Not saying anything, Gage abandoned the wall and started heading back towards the squad at first. Then he changed his mind and pointed towards the nurse's lounge. The idea of getting coffee, at any temperature, was suddenly overwhelmingly appealing. Roy followed him eagerly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twenty minutes later, the gastrointestinal team had finished pumping out Annabelle's stomach, completing the treatment that saved her life. "Stay with her until we get the second set of lab results." Early told McCall. Then he left. Dixie busied herself around her newest patient, gathering up damp towels and procedure wrappers and general tidying up. All the while, she kept a soothing expression on her face for Tanaka's benefit as she woke up bit by bit and began blinking blearily up at the overhead light. The young woman didn't even question the loosened cotton restraints still wrapped around her wrists.  "So I'm not dead." she said dead pan. "Did you really want to be?" McCall asked her softly, wiping away some blood from the girl's cheek with a cool towel. This brought a spate of tears and Annabelle suddenly looked down at her hands. An attempt to fidget with her nails was brought up short by the cloth manacles sharply. Their reality seemed to stun Annabelle then.   Sharp distress filled her features. "I'm so sorry!" she sobbed. "I didn't mean.. I..I.. didn't-- Oh, G*d. What did I try to do to those firefighters and that police officer? They were only trying to help me." Dixie drew up a stool and sat down by her side. A subtle backwards glance was enough to send the security guard and the orderlies out of the room. Once they were alone, Dixie took Annabelle's hand. "Absolutely nothing. The only one hurt was yourself.  And that was just a side effect of the Valium being counteracted in your blood stream. I'm sure they knew you weren't being violent intentionally." "Wasn't I?" Annabelle glared tearfully. "I was trying to commit the worst disgrace anyone in my family has ever tried. I tried to kill myself. Smother my own soul." she choked, terrfied. "Nai Nai will never forgive me."

"Heyyy." Dixie said. "You're sick with grief, Annabelle. This was just a stupid, impulsive reaction to suddenly losing family.  We never think straight when that happens. You'll work this out. Maybe not today, but soon, after you're back on your feet." Tanaka screwed her eyes shut tightly, sobbing. "I can't see how." "We'll help you learn how. All we have to do is talk about it." Dixie smiled. "Now can you sit up a little? That might help your breathing improve even faster." Tanaka sighed, and then she took that first active step on the way to healing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett had abandoned his office.  What he had learned from the active scanner was dire. He quickly gathered around the E.R. desk with a group of interns and orderlies. "The nurses are all tied up with the day's patients. Here's the scoop. They've got a navy jet exercise that backfired. Two planes collided in mid air. One crashed into the sea. The other plowed into the beach. But not before it took out a shipping pier. Fire Department Headquarters is still in its initial response stages, rolling out its people. I want this whole department expedited to Condition Orange. A.s.a.p.! Grab everything you can and get it ready!" he ordered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Out at the main E.R. entrance, Roy and Johnny were still belting in, when Squad 51 got its call. ##Squad 51, This is L.A.. Are you available for a response?## "L.A, Squad 51. We're available." said Gage, mentally kicking himself for not clearing them status wise a little sooner. ##Squad 51, Engine 51, Station 127, Foam 127, ..Aviation accident near the Gerald Desmond Bridge. Explosion and fire with casualties. At the intersection of Long Beach Freeway, SR-710, and Terminal Island, Port of Long Beach. The Coast Guard and Station 110 have been dispatched to assist. Meet Battalion One at Incident Command on Pier Two. Time out: 4:06.## "Squad 51, 10-4. Our E.T.A. from Rampart, twelve minutes." Gage replied when there was a radio transmission gap. They heard Cap's tired voice come over the speaker as he, too, acknowledged the call. ##Engine 51, responding, KMG 365.## "Chet's probably freaking out.  A pier fire in full turnout and scba? In this heat?" Roy grinned as the two of them put on their helmets. "Yeah. I just hope Marco's okay. He's barely had time to cool down from our last fire call." Gage agreed. "Let's hope Rest and Recovery has a good set up this time around. It wasn't their fault the water ran out." DeSoto said, glancing at his partner as they quickly pulled onto the night blackened boulevard with full lights and sirens. "Maybe we'll get to do a little ocean swimming." Johnny hoped. "In that water?" Roy eyed him up, incredulous. "Sure. It's cold, isn't it?" Johnny smiled, leaning up against the wide open window. "Relatively speaking. The nuclear plant's right there.  Have you forgotten?  All of the piers in that neighborhood are surrounding a hot discharge pond." Roy insisted.   The smile on Johnny's face instantly fell. "D*mn it. We just can't win today, can we?" he said suddenly serious and irritated. Roy didn't say anything at all, concentrating on the road flowing before them.

*************************************************** From:  patti keiper (pattik1@hotmail.com)   Subject: Out of the Fire Into The Flames... Sent: Sat 11/09/13 7:24 AM Tense minutes passed as Roy and Johnny listened to the buzz of radio transmissions tangling themselves around their call to gain more clues about what they'd be facing. "That's a relief. We're not going to be first in." Gage resigned himself to listing off possible scene complications he knew they might be encountering as the hot wind from their open windows snagged his shirt. "Magnesium fires..." Roy countered. "Sea water nearby to control them or push them away from the pilots. Surviving jet's on the beach." he reminded. "Okay. How about the shipping pier? Unknown bills of laden, fumes." Gage frowned, ticking off the possibilities on heat sweaty fingers. "SCBA with our extra bottles lined up next to our medical supplies. If we're lucky, we'll be doing triage as paramedics and not as full out firefighters with initial search and rescue." DeSoto planned ahead while he hoped for an easier outcome for them. "They know how busy we've been the last shift or two. Keep drinking water." he prompted, sucking down a whole water bottle from the crate they had buckled in on the floor between them beneath the radio. He still drove deftly, peering around it skillfully while he drank it dry and then reached for another. Gage's face flashed a surprise. "Water? Oh, yeah. I know I am, but I don't feel thirsty." Johnny admitted. "That's because you're still coming down from Annabelle. An overdose reversal like that would disturb anybody. Your adrenalin always stays longer than mine." "Mine's been high all week." Gage groaned, cracking open a water bottle and just sipping it. "Crazy calls. Hot fires. Too many calls. This drought." Roy glared at him convincingly. "Guzzle it. We're losing three times more hydration than we think we are." Johnny finally smiled. "Brackett's mantra?" "In a pinch. Before one or both of us gets pinched by being stupid because of a hotter than Hell summer on top of the job." DeSoto added with weight. "Heaven forbid. A sign of weakness before the chief or Cap? That'll keep all of us smart." Johnny laughed. "I'll park near R and R before we check in and get ourselves deployed. That way their folks can do a preliminary once over on us for the skinny on how we're doing condition wise." "Outside eyes, Roy. I like that idea." Gage sighed, wiping heavy perspiration from his brow. "It's hard to think straight today." Roy nodded in agreement as Squad 51's sirens crackled in the heat. He squinted painfully when even the red lights of the overhead Twin Sonic on the dark pavement seemed too harsh to handle.

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