It was roll call time. One officer after another found his way into the room. Most were more quiet than usual. Word had spread and by now everybody knew Swersky was going to quit. Captain Stick had done good work with letting the news slip. Sergeant Christopher would become their new Lieutenant. And that thought frightened many. Especially Sully and Yokas.
"If he'll get the job, I'll transfer to another precinct," Sully told his partner in a whispering voice. Swersky had been Lieutenant almost as long as Sullivan could remember, and many of the younger Officers like Davis or Gusler knew only him.
"Alright people, calm down!" Christopher ordered, clearly enjoying the new role he would have soon. He couldn't wait to kick some butts.
It became quiet in the roll call room when Swersky entered, some sheets of paper in his hand.
As if someone made an invisible hand sign, everybody stood up and they began applauding. It was their way of showing their respect to their parting superior. Not everybody liked Swersky around here, but everybody respected him.
The Lieutenant watched the 20 or so uniformed men and women giving him a standing ovation and tears formed in his eyes. He hadn't expected that. He was deeply touched.
"Thank you," he said and needed to clear his throat.
Everybody went silent, waiting for their superior to say something. Finally, when Swersky had gathered himself again, he looked up and met the eyes of every single Officer. Then he smiled.
"I think I need to day a few words…" Swersky had prepared a statement last night when he was home and his wife had already gone to bed, but now it seemed inappropriate. So he ignored the paper before him and improvised.
"To loosely quote Mark Twain: The news of my early retirement are highly exaggerated."
At first, nobody quite understood what they had just heard, but then it sunk in.
"You're staying?" Gusler asked and looked actually happy, much to the contrary to Sergeant Christopher.
"Yes, Officer Gusler, I'm staying!"
Everybody had found their way to the station today. Walsh and Converse were there, although they were both still on medical leave. Kim and Jimmy were there as well. They even had brought Joey. Sidney Edwards and Alex Taylor just had returned from a call. Doc and Carlos had seated themselves at the round wooden table. Thirteen people were present, but it was quiet. Everybody was rather subdued that day, their minds remembering long gone conversations.
Alex smiled when she remembered the day when Billy and Joe made her get on her bunk gear and they hung her to the pole on the wall where the fire extinguisher normally was. They wouldn't let her down and even covered her with a jacket, but Johnson still noticed it.
"And somebody…get Taylor off that damn wall!"
Jimmy remembered the talk they had shortly after 9-11 when Lieu had told him he was studying for the Captain's test but that he wouldn't take it.
"They'd assign me to another house. I wanna stay here now!"
Billy remembered the look on Lieu's face when he told him that they couldn't go into that burning warehouse to get Lombardo and the others out. He doubted it had been an easy decision and from that moment on, Billy had even more respect for his superior.
DK remembered the fun they had when Joe had told him he would become a father and that his kid was to be named Joe too. Somewhere in the middle of it, DK had suggested he could name his kid Oliver.
"You could call him Ollie for short."
"Hey, Ollie," Johnson turned around from the passenger's seat, "get the 6 foot hook!"
They couldn't believe it was the last day of active duty for Lieutenant Johnson. Everyone had gathered in the squad room, nobody saying a word, the tick-tack of the clock on the wall being the loudest sound. Carlos went over to the cooler to get a soda can and slit the glass doors open as quietly as he could. He chose a "Dr Pepper" and tried to open the can quietly too. But the sound of carbon acid finally making its way out startled everyone, causing looks to be shot at the young paramedic by everyone else.
"Sorry…," Carlos said, raising his hands as if he wanted to surrender.
"Geez, this ain't a funeral," he mumbled as he walked away from the cooler, taking a sip from the can.
Lieutenant Johnson came out of his office and walked over to the big wooden table with the squad's patch painted onto it.
"Nieto is right, guys. This is a firehouse, not a funeral home," he said, trying to hide how touched he was.
"We don't want you to go boss," Alex summed up what everybody was thinking.
Johnson turned over to face her and smiled slightly.
"Well, I won't."
Those three words didn't fail in effect. Everybody was fully alert again.
"Come again?" Billy asked, not sure if he had heard correctly.
Johnson got out a piece of paper from his breast pocket and tore it apart.
"I'm staying," he simply said and put the paper stack onto the table. "I can't leave you. You guys are my family. My other family."
After a moment of silence when everybody let sink in what they had just heard, MacNamara got up first, went over to his superior and held his hand out.
"Welcome home, boss!"