Part XIV

In the waiting area, Johnny had no idea that he'd fallen asleep until Dixie gave him a gentle shake to wake him.

"Up and at 'em, tiger. Kel's just released Chet and Roy. Time to go back to the station."

Scrambling to his feet, Johnny tried hard but failed to stifle a yawn.

"I don't believe I fell asleep. Oh man, what will the Chief think?"

"The Chief thinks that your whole crew will feel better after you get a little solid rest."

McConakee's voice behind him sounded amused.

"You're in no condition to drive, Gage. Toss me the keys. I'll be driving the squad."

"Um. Yessir."

A half-awake, puzzled Gage seemed to be easy for the Chief to read.

"Dr. Brackett's coming with us. He'll be driving DeSoto and Kelly back. Come along."

Johnny just nodded and followed numbly. The figure in the passenger seat of the squad was probably the quietest he'd ever been during a drive. Finally, the Chief spoke up.

"Question for you, Gage. Does Captain Poole generally notice when the squad comes back in?"

"Yessir."

"What does he do?"

"Well - lately, all he does is yell three words."

"Out with it then. What does he yell?"

" Um - DeSoto - Office - Now."

"Really? This should be interesting."

Chief McConakee waited until Dr. Brackett had parked and the three of them had exited the car before he hit the button to open the door and backed the squad into position. Mike was polishing the engine and turned to give a nod to the paramedics, but froze in position when he saw who it was behind the wheel.

The Chief had no more than opened the squad's door when Captain Poole's voice rang out as predicted.

"DeSoto! Office! Now!"

Shooting a glance to Johnny, the Chief spoke softly.

"You had that nailed, Gage. I owe you men breakfast."

As he motioned to Roy to go ahead to the office, Chief McConakee gestured Mike over.

"Stoker. I presume you know where Lopez is. Find him and bring him here to join us."

The shouting began shortly after the door was shut. Dr. Brackett's glower was darkening as Mike and Marco quietly joined them. They were all motioned over to the table by the Chief and sat down to await whatever was coming next.

Once they were all seated, the Chief moved to the door of the office and rapped on it.

"Not now! We're busy in here."

The Chief opened the door at that.

"So I hear. DeSoto? Go join your crew at the table. Captain Poole and I need to have a meeting."

"Yes, Chief."

Roy wasn't going to argue. Standing on his leg in the office wasn't pleasant and he was looking forward to getting back off of it for awhile. Dr. Brackett looked up from where he was checking Mike's blood pressure and directed Roy to go to the couch to stretch his leg out. Again, Roy didn't argue.

Unlike Poole's 'talks' with Roy, the conversation between the Chief and Poole was quiet. They were in there for over half an hour when the door finally opened and Chief McConakee came back out and headed over to the table where the crew were waiting.

"Dr. Brackett?"

"Elevated blood pressure readings and signs of exhaustion. Nothing unexpected."

"Alright, men. You have one more rotation before Stanley returns, right?"

As senior man, the other deferred to Mike to answer the Chief.

"Yessir. Though all of us are currently on suspension."

"Well, I hope no-one planned vacations around that. None of you men are on suspension and I expect to see you all here at the start of your next rotation."

The relief was evident on all five men as they responded in near unison.

"Yessir."

"Fine. I'll be standing in for Stanley on those days, but since I'll be doing my usual job as well from here, I'll expect you to deal with the day to day tasks, Stoker."

"Yes, Chief."

"Any questions? Gage?"

"Just curious, Chief. You were at the hospital about the same time we arrived there?"

"Total coincidence. I wanted to follow up on the bleach incident with Dr. Brackett. I saw Brice and Belliveau – they told me about DeSoto and Kelly being brought in. Brice also told me some of what went on out there in the field, which confirmed some things I've been hearing back from other sources. Suffice it to say that Captain Poole and I have come to the mutual agreement that he simply isn't a good fit with the Los Angeles County Fire Department."

All the heads turned as the first sounds of the next shift crew coming in started to be heard. Roy was just pleased that they wouldn't be having any time alone with Captain Poole. That would have been far too awkward for his liking. As it was, none of them saw Poole. He remained in the office with the door shut.

The normal chatter among the incoming crew died when they saw Chief McConakee was there. Thanking Dr. Brackett for coming out to check on the men, the Chief headed outside with the crew to get out of the way of the incoming shift.

Joanne was waiting in the car outside and wasn't sure which sight worried her more – the Chief and Dr. Brackett being there or her husband's limp. Considering she was seeing some genuine looking smiles back on the guys' faces, she decided not to worry too much about any of it. She was bound to get the details over the scrambled eggs this morning.

Even though all of the guys were a bit nervous about being under Chief McConakee's direct command, they also all agreed it would have to be an improvement over Poole. And it was. With Mike overseeing most of the minor aspects of the shift, things quickly reverted back to their usual behaviors and patterns. McConakee found his initial opinion of Hanks' boys was confirmed by his interactions with them on runs. They were a good crew. An odd sense of humor among some of them, to be sure, but as a group on the job? They were solid as a rock.

When the beginning of the next rotation brought back Captain Stanley, he was shocked to find Chief McConakee there to pass the shift back over to him. Mike smiled faintly as he read the expression on Cap's face as 'what on Earth did you twits do while I was gone?'

After roll call, the Chief and Captain Stanley disappeared into his office for almost an hour. After the Chief left, Cap called the men together.

"Chief tells me you guys had a memorable time yourselves while I was gone."

He slowly looked from one man to another, particularly lingering over Roy and Chet.

"Everyone alright?"

They all exchanged looks that morphed into smiles. Mike spoke up.

"I think we're all good now. Welcome back, Cap."

That shift was like putting back on a comfortable old shoe after being forced to wear new dress shoes for awhile. The next shift began with the once-familiar sound of a splash as a water balloon exploded. Roy's head went forward to rest against his locker door. Here we go again.

"Kelly! Darn you, I don't have another clean shirt with me."

"Sure you do, Gage. See the box at the end of the bench?"

Puzzled, Johnny went over to the box and opened it. Still neatly covered in the plastic from the cleaners were his uniform tops and pants that he had been intending to drop off after the shift ended.

"Okay, Chet. You've lost me. What's this about?"

Chet just shrugged a little.

"The uniforms, well - I sort of just wanted to say thanks for taking me to the hospital. Brackett said that could have been bad if I'd just let it go."

"And the water balloon?"

Another shrug.

"Just getting things back to normal around here."

"That normal I could live without."

"Yeah, yeah. Just leave the wet stuff by my locker. I'll take care of it after work."

Johnny just watched as Chet wandered off, then began unbuttoning his wet shirt as he looked back to Roy.

"I will never understand that guy."

"He'll probably never understand you either, Junior."

"Hey! What's so hard to understand about me? It's not like I'm -"

As Johnny started to get wound up on what promised to be a lengthy monologue directed at his partner, Hank just chuckled to himself from where he'd been leaning and listening. The guys were back to normal – well, as normal as they got. Heading back to his office, he chuckled again.

"Twits."