Sorry it took so long but here is the final chapter.

Chapter 6

"OWW, AHH, OOH, OUCH, OUCH, OUCH, GEESE, OUCH OOH." Chet danced around in circles shaking his hand.

"CHET, YOU TWIT!"

"I'll go get a nurse," Marco offered.

Soon Chet felt two hands clamped on his arm holding his hand still and felt ashamed of his behavior as soon as he realized they were John's hands.

"Chet, John didn't carry on a tenth as bad as you are and he had over a hundred of those things in him." Cap gave words to Chet's embarrassment.

"Yeah, but he had 'em in his shoulder, you feel it more in your hand," Chet whined defensively.

Just then the door to the room opened once again and Dr. Brackett walked in ahead of Marco.

"Johnny, you promised to be careful with those things if we let you have them. I've already taken them out once."

"You're forgetting the one you pulled out of Dr. Morton's hand," Johnny reminded the good doctor. "And besides, I was being careful, Chet here's the one who got careless."

By this time Johnny had been able to get a good look at the situation. The quill was embedded in the web of skin between Chet's thumb and forefinger, and either originally or due to all the shaking and dancing he did, it was all the way through.

Without discussion John released Chet's arm with one of his hands and pulled the bandage scissors from Roy's belt pouch.

Using the scissors that were designed to cut through heavy coats and the seams on jeans Johnny clipped the barbed tip off of the quill.

"YEOWWW!" while Chet was trying to keep the doctor from taking a look at his hand Johnny gave a swift pull.

"Gage, you're supposed to let the doctor take things like that out," Chet screamed just a little too loudly for being in a hospital at eleven thirty at night. "That way he could numb it good before he pulled it out."

While Chet was yelling at Johnny, Dr. Brackett managed to get a hold of his hand and pull it where he could get a good look at the damage. "Well, no harm done, we wouldn't have numbed it for a single barb anyway, we'd have to stick you with a needle so we would just get it over with the same way Johnny here did."

"I would recommend that you scrub the area good with some disinfectant soap, though, and then I'll have the nurse put some salve on it and bandage it for you. We've just finished some gram stains from the ones we took out of Johnny and believe me these things are far from sterile." Dr. Brackett started to guide Chet to where he could wash up like he was being instructed to do but before he left the room he turned back to the group gathered in the room. "Roy would you get your partner back in bed, Johnny, I'm going to have the nurses start you on some IV antibiotics to get a jump on all the nasty little things that were carried on those barbs. Oh and while we're at it, lets send those barb things through the autoclave before someone else gets poked with them."

Roy did as he was told with a smile on his face as he pulled the covers up to just below the bandage on Johnny's chest.

"Well, John, I think we better go before we wake up the whole hospital." Hank gave his paramedic a slap on his leg as he ushered his men out. "You take care of yourself and let us know when the doc is going to let you out of here. One of us will come give you a ride home."

"Thanks, Cap."

Roy stayed behind to see to it that Johnny was situated and had a fresh pitcher of water. When he left the nurse was coming in with the antibiotic to piggy back into Johnny's IV and as she hung the bag of fluid next to the existing IV a tired Johnny gave a wave to his partner. "Don't do anything I wouldn't."

"That doesn't rule out anything," Roy smirked and went to find out who his partner was going to be for the rest of his shift.

By the time Chet was done in the ER his entire hand was as orange as Johnny's chest and heavily bandaged. To say the bandage was overkill seemed obvious but Dr. Morton explained that nothing else would stay in place on that part of the hand and he wanted to make sure it stayed well covered for the rest of his shift.

Back at the station, Dwyer was waiting in his night turn outs when Roy backed into the station. Roy opened the squad door and turned in his seat to face his temporary partner.

"What did Johnny do this time?" Dwyer asked shaking his head with a smile.

"He tangled with a porcupine," Roy answered leaning his elbow on the steering wheel before pushing himself to his feet.

Dwyer was surprised by what Roy had said but he was just as tired as the rest of the group so after reporting to the captain he agreed to call it a night and let any further discussion take place in the morning after wake up tones.

The Squad was called out just prior to the wake up tones going off. It turned out to be a chronically ill patient who was experiencing some respiratory distress. The patient's doctor was waiting for them when they arrived and they were quickly dismissed since the doctor was not familiar with the paramedic program and felt he had everything under control.

As the door to the treatment room was shut in his face Roy turned to see Dwyer right there behind him.

"Well." Tom looked at the closed door and let out a breath to release the adrenalin he had built up. "What do you say we stop in and check on Gage?"

Roy quickly agreed and the two men were walking toward the nearest elevator. "So, now that I'm awake for the day, what happened to Gage?"

"He was crawling through a pipe that only he could fit in, trying to find a kid who had run away from an abusive step father. . . " Roy began to tell the story while they waited for the elevator to arrive and continued once they stepped on. " Anyway we weren't worried in the least and thought Morton was going overboard with the IV. We were walking out when Dispatch came over the handy talkies and told us to contact rampart again. Seems porcupine quills swell when affected by body heat and the swelling pulls them deeper into the tissues, and John had thirty plus of those things moving into his lung."

"Wow," Dryer responded as they exited the elevator on the third floor. "I bet that was a wild ride in the ambulance."

"We had our moments but I was able to keep him focused on me and we got here in good time. Brackett and Morton had him under before I could turn the kid over to the specialist."

"So how bad was the pneumo?"

"Real slight, Brackett figured it would take care of itself once the quills were removed, if everything looks good this morning they're going to let him go home. If all goes well he should be back after next shift."

"That doesn't sound all that bad."

As they came close to Johnny's room Dr. Early stepped out into the hall and took a moment to write on the patient chart in his hands.

"Are you here to see Johnny?" Dr. Early asked as the two paramedics came closer.

Roy picked up on the look on Dr. Early's face quickly, "Is something wrong with Johnny?"

Dr. Early shook his head; this was one more example why he should never take up poker. "John spiked a temp early this morning. Nothing too serious just 102 but under the circumstances we jumped on things and have been watching him close. Kell had already started him on antibiotics based on the gram stains from those porcupine probes he was impaled with." Dr. Early paused and looked at the report in the file again. Shaking his head he looked back at Roy. "Those things were far from sterile. Anyway, I don't think it's anything real serious, he's responding well to the treatment, His temperature broke about half an hour ago and he's sleeping comfortably right now. I think it's in his best interest to let him continue, I'm just about to have the nurses hold his breakfast until he wakes."

Roy nod his head in agreement with the good doctor. "Can I just look in on him? I promise I won't wake him."

Dr. Early agreed and Roy stepped up to the door and opened it. There he stood in the door way watching his partner breathe, he was still bare from the waist up but the blankets had been pulled up a little farther on his body than they had been the night before. He had good color, he looked calm, and on the over the bed table was a specimen bottle marked with tape to show that its contents had been sterilized. Roy smiled and pulled the door shut once again and looked at Dr. Early with a smile.

"Um, about the infection," Roy got Dr. Early's attention, "Chet got one of those things in his hand, should we be worried about that? I only ask because it's so heavily bandaged since he was on duty that I'm wondering if I should take the bandage off and have a good look at it before he goes home."

"Dr. Morton got stuck with one of those things too; his hand is starting to show some signs of an infection. We've treated it with an antibiotic salve for now. As far as Chet goes I'd recommend he come in and have it evaluated again once he's off shift. Then we can treat him if need be. According to Kell they did disinfect the wound and treat it with an antibiotic salve before they bandaged it last night."

"Yeah, you're right, Doc, I was just being worried I guess," Roy responded feeling assured that precautions had been taken.

Roy returned to the station and reported on the newest development with Johnny, It was decided as a group that they would all go home and get some sleep and wait to visit with Johnny later that afternoon. Chet, however, was ordered by Captain Stanley to stop by the Emergency Room on his way home to have his hand looked at.

It was just after lunch when Roy found his way to the hospital ahead of the rest of the crew. He found Johnny sitting on the side of his bed looking out the window and rotating his right shoulder and arm. Roy was quick to notice that he had full and easy range of motion and seemed a little restless.

"Hi," Roy made his presence known, "how you feeling?"

"Good, good," Johnny answered then leaned back in the bed and threw his feet up over onto the other side of the bed before he sat up again facing Roy.

"Well, if that move is any representation of your recovery, you should be out of here real soon."

"Brackett said I can go home in the morning," Johnny was quick to report. "He wants me to have two more doses of the IV antibiotic and then he'll change it to some pills. I have to take the next shift off because of the pneumothorax, but then I'll be right back in the squad with you on the next shift." Johnny was happy and his usual high strung self. He was still bare from the waist up and had a bandage on his upper chest but there was evidence that he had had a shower since the orange disinfectant on his skin was several shades lighter than it had been when Roy had seen him last.

"Well, that sounds like good news," a voice came from the doorway as John and Roy looked up to see Captain Stanley standing in the doorway with Mike silently in the rear.

"Hi, Cap," Johnny greeted with a well rested smile.

The four men visited for a while and shared the happenings since they last met, the topic of who was going to give Johnny a ride home from the hospital was being discussed when the next two visitors entered the room. Chet was sporting a new bandage and a deeper color of orange disinfectant but he reported that all was well and that he should be able to take the bandage off and leave it off before his next shift.

It was Chet who noticed the special tape on the quills and Johnny was quick to pull the bottle away and stuff it in a drawer. "No, Chet, you can't play with my porcupine quills, they're dangerous to people like you."

Everyone was laughing at Chet's pout when there was a knock at the door.

Everyone looked up to see a man dressed in an army uniform standing in the doorway.

"Excuse me, I was told I could find a man by the name of John Gage in this room."

"I'm John Gage," Johnny responded wondering what his newest guest wanted.

"My name is Ryan Mitchell Dilworth Sr. It was my son, Ryan Jr. you were trying to rescue when you were injured."

"Oh yes, how is he doing?" Johnny was quick to respond, then he added, "These are my fellow crewmates, we all worked together to get Ryan out of that septic tank."

The man looked at each man in the room before taking a deep breath and offering an emotional, "Thank you".

"Ryan is going to be fine, his injuries, though extensive, are little more than bruises and a few cuts that he should heal from quickly. Right now I just hope he will heal emotionally just as easily.

"Ryan's mother was killed by a drunk driver when Ryan was a year old. Her sister was a godsend at the time helping with Ryan; I even left him with her while I did a tour of duty overseas. Three months ago I was assigned to serve the next two years and probably the remainder of my military career in Germany. I planned to take Ryan with me. I thought it would be a good experience for him and that when my time was up we'd tour Europe before coming back to the US.

"Janine, my wife's sister, didn't want me to take him with me. I guess he had come to think of him as her own son. So while I was at a one week orientation in DC she took him and left the state.

The man in the uniform hung his head to hide his emotions before shaking his head and proclaiming, "I can't believe what she let that man do to him just to keep my son away from me."

"I really wanted to tell you thank you for all that you've done for my son. I really appreciate that you took such good care of him and were so supportive of him as you carried him out of that canyon."

"We were just doing our job." Captain Stanley stepped forward with an extended hand. As the two men shook hands Cap added, "I'm glad to hear that your son won't be going back to that home."

"NO, he most definitely won't be going back to that house or those people. If I have my way they will never see him again," Ryan Sr. confirmed, after shaking hands with all of the men and thanking them personally he turned and left and all of the men felt better.

-0-

Several days later Johnny was standing at the front of a class of fourth graders telling them about porcupines as a large test tube with a rubber stopper in the top of it was being passed around the room. One of the largest of the quills was safely inside where the students could look at it carefully without risk of getting poked by it.

Back in Johnny's apartment were the beginnings of some very delicate jewelry made of porcupine quills and bright colored beads that he intended to use as Christmas gifts for JoAnne DeSoto and her daughter Jenny and his good friend Dixie McCall.

"Uncle Johnny, tell us about the person you rescued when you got poked by the porcupine."

"I can't do that Chris." Johnny pulled the excited young boy back in line. "I have to keep the person's identity and information confidential. All I can tell you is that everyone involved is going to be fine."

Author's Note: Wow, I really don't know where the time went, things are doing well here at home, it just started with a surprise visit from a friend I hadn't seen in a while and the call for help from a neighbor then one thing after another and before I knew it the next time I sat down at the computer it had been several days.

I needed to start some music to get my creative juices going and before I knew it I had multiple chapters flowing from all of the corners of my mind, for another story not the one I was writing. Now that I have finished 'Punctuated,' I'm going to be taking a break from Fan Fiction. I believe it's time to write about the further adventures of SHAR, (short for Spring Hope Annetta Rose) Nicholson and her side kick JAX, (Short for JacqueLynnette) Donaldsfield, AKA JD. Two characters from my most recently published E-book, titled, Silent Resolve.

If anyone is interested in checking them out it can be found through Barnes and Noble, Apple's I book store and LULU. Those who don't already have an account at one of the before mentioned locations can just type the name of the company followed by dot com and search for the Title 'Silent Resolve' to find it.

I really appreciate the support and reviews that I have received on Fan Fiction and look forward to coming back to do a few more stories once I've finished this next novel. Thanks to you all. I hope to find some exciting stories on Fan Fiction whenever I need a bit of a break so please keep writing.