They Ought To Have A License

Chapter 5

When the ambulance backed into the bay at Rampart Emergency, Johnny took a deep breath as the back doors opened, and everyone prepared to plunge into the next part of this ordeal. Softly he picked Anna up from the padded bench, and passed the dozing child off to Roy who gently laid her onto the gurney two Rampart orderlies wheeled up to the back of the ambulance. As Roy laid the child down she opened her eyes groggily looking up at Roy. "Hey, you're ah…. Oh, what is your name?"

"Hey Anna, I'm Roy. We met back at your house. I'm gonna escort you into the building. O.K.?" Roy said reaching a hand out to grasp hers as his other hand held her I.V. bag aloft.

"K. I guess that's all right. Will Johnny take care of Abby then?" Anna said sleepily.

Johnny had stepped down from the back of the ambulance by now and he leaned over Anna gently patting her on the shoulder and saying "yep, I'm right here, and I'm gonna walk in with Abby while Roy goes with you."

Anna nodded as her gurney was whisked away with Roy in tow.

Johnny escorted Abby inside where Dixie directed them to treatment three and four, and followed Johnny with his charge into treatment four.

The two girls were met in the treatment rooms by a social worker for each child, and for Anna, Nurse Carol, while Abby got Dixie to supervise. The hospital staff knew these two little girls would likely be frightened at the flurry of activity taking place around them, and special care had been taken to assure the children would have an adult to walk through the process with them.

Both paramedics stayed with their charges, talking comfortingly to them and making introductions to various hospital staff members who entered the room. When the children were situated and each had a Doctor, Nurse, and Social Worker in attendance, the paramedics were excused to go make the squad available for duty. With kind farewells to the children, the medics left the treatment rooms, and met up in the hallway just beside the nurse's station.

"Come on Junior, let's make a stop in the lounge and have a cup of coffee. I think we've earned it." Roy said as he lightly draped his arm over Johnny's shoulder and began to lead his partner toward the lounge.

"Yeah, sounds good." Johnny replied stepping toward the lounge, and out of Roy's light embrace.

Johnny made it to the Doctor's lounge door first, and swinging the door open he stepped inside. Rather than stopping by the coffee pot, Johnny walked over to the sofa in the room and flopped down heavily. Roy stepped into the room and laying the handi-talkie on the table, he stepped up to the coffee pot. Withdrawing two mugs from the shelves above the urn, Roy filled both mugs, and turned carrying them over to the sofa where Johnny now sat, elbows resting on knees, chin resting in propped up hands.

"Here" Roy said handing a steaming cup to Johnny. "drink this. It'll help."

Johnny accepted the mug, and brought the hot bitter brew to his lips. Sipping the burning liquid his face twisted in a grimace and he said "aaahhh! Are you sure? This stuff tastes like it's been sitting here a while."

Roy took a sip from his own cup. "Ooofff!" he said with an equally unpleasant look decorating his features. "Yeah, that'll curl your toes. Oh well, at least it's hot." And he took another caustic sip.

Both men sat in silence for a few minutes, the act of sitting with one another offering some small measure of comfort to the shell shocked pair. Their last two runs had been real doozies, and both men needed just a few minutes to decompress.

Finally Roy broke the silence. "Boy, I tell ya…" he said, shaking his head as his mind's eye kept reviewing the memory of the twins injuries. "Ya know, whenever we get these domestic abuse calls, and they involve kids…. I know it's crazy, but I can't help but see my own kids in a situation like that." Roy again sipped his coffee as his mind continued to mull over the situation.

Johnny looked up at his partner. "You gonna be all right partner?" he said sympathetically. Johnny knew Roy pictured his own children when they rescued kids, and Johnny could only imagine how painful such a run would be for his partner.

Roy rubbed his hand across his eyes as if he could wipe away what he'd just witnessed. "Yeah, it's just….ya know. It's tough. When I think about it, there but for one twist of fate….I mean…..It could be my kids…ya know?"

Again silence reigned; each man sat entertaining his own demons.

"That'd never happen to Jen and Chris Roy. I wouldn't let it! You know I love those kids more than anything. I would never let 'em go to foster care! "Johnny said with conviction patting Roy's shoulder.

Roy smiled, turning to his best friend. "Yeah, I know. It's just….ya know, my mind still keeps running those worst case scenarios. Ya know how it is…" he remarked.

The paramedics again sat in silence, sipping their acerbic coffee.

Johnny kept re-playing the scene in that little bedroom. He saw bruised and broken children. He hoped those two girls wouldn't remember him as the guy who'd smiled at them, then plunged them into a drug induced quagmire. Unpleasant memories of similar experiences haunted his mind then.

Johnny's thoughts drifted back to an earlier time in his life. He remembered him and his parents riding in that old clunker Oldsmobile they'd had. They were traveling from the reservation to town for some shopping. It had been raining all day, and Johnny could still hear the sounds of the water pelting the car as they'd driven down the narrow two lane highway. Then the abrupt jerking of the car as Johnny's father had tried to avoid an oncoming truck, and they were tumbling and skidding.

Johnny shivered as he remembered realization dawning on his shocked brain when water began filling their car. The memory was so fresh he could still feel the iciness as it seemed to creep into every fiber of his being. Johnny's father had pulled Johnny from the car which had slid off of an embankment into a swift moving large creek. After getting Johnny out of the car, his father had gone back to rescue Johnny's mother. But the car had broken free, and after smashing into Johnny's father it had been swept down the stream carrying Johnny's mother toward certain death.

Johnny could still see his father lying on the bank of the creek, covered in mud and soaking wet the man lay bleeding and unconscious. The sounds of voices as travelers who had come upon the scene of the crash echoed in Johnny's mind. He remembered the whirlwind of activity that had followed. His father scooped up by the local funeral home and carried on a gurney to the waiting Hearse. The smell of leather and wood inside the passenger compartment of the Hearse as it sped the child and his father toward the nearby hospital. Johnny remembered being carried into the hospital behind his father's gurney, and the flurry of action in the emergency room.

But nothing had helped it seemed. The small boy had loitered in the corner of the room until someone had noticed him just after his father's body had given up on life. Johnny remembered cowering in the corner, terrified of the unfamiliar white faces clad in even whiter garments. Then there had been the pretty young dark haired nurse who had reached out to him, held him in her arms.

Unconsciously Johnny reached up and rubbed the place on his upper arm where as a child after that fateful accident he'd suddenly felt a sting. The nurse had held him smiling, and someone else had plunged him into a dark tormented sleep. When he had awakened, his life had changed forever. He'd never been offered the chance to say goodbye to his parents. Johnny had been whisked from the hospital, and a string of foster homes followed until he'd finally been grudgingly taken in by his uncle and aunt on the reservation.

Johnny shook his head as if attempting to banish the memories. Sipping his coffee again he looked around the doctor's lounge at Rampart. He felt another body bump his as Roy who had sat down on the sofa too gently nudged Johnny with his shoulder.

Turning his head, Johnny's tortured brown eyes were met with Roy's sad blue ones. "How're ya doin' there Junior?" Roy inquired with apparent concern. "You looked pretty lost in thought. Where were you?"

"I'm all right Roy. Just thinking is all. I wasn't anywhere, Just ya know…..thinkin" Johnny lied as he again sipped the wicked brew contained in the mug he held. "Aachhh….this is horrible coffee! What do ya say we go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat, and maybe some fresh coffee? I'm starved." He continued attempting to deflect Roy's attention.

Roy's blue eyes made no disguise of his disbelief in his partner's words, but he nodded his agreement to Johnny's suggestion of food and fresh coffee.. "Sounds good to me!" he replied as he rose from the sofa and turned grasping Johnny's hand pulling him to a standing position. Both men poured the remains of their coffee down the sink, rinsed their mugs, and after wiping them dry placed them back on the shelf above the coffee urn before turning and leaving the lounge.

After obtaining burgers and fries with fresh cups of coffee, the paramedics found themselves a seat at one of the tables on the patio of the Rampart café. They settled themselves and began to eat without speaking to one another. Johnny's silence told Roy more than a whole string of words could have about his partner's frame of mind. Johnny was usually talkative, unless he was upset about something.

After a couple of minutes of quiet munching Roy managed to make eye contact with Johnny and again questioned "You all right?"

Johnny sighed heavily as he contemplated Roy's quarry. It was nice sometimes to have a friend as perceptive as Roy, and then there was now. When someone was attuned to you, it was pretty tough to avoid openly dealing with things perhaps better left hidden.

Johnny knew there had to be questions in Roy's mind about some of the things from the previous run. It was also fairly obvious Roy's familiarity with Johnny had made it quite clear Johnny was upset. But the truth was, Johnny was troubled, and not really sure how sharing any of the stories of his childhood would be received in he and Roy's friendship. The last thing Johnny wanted was Roy's pity, and fearing with explanation he'd find himself viewed as pathetic, Johnny was loathe to discuss what he'd been remembering and feeling.

Lost in thought, Johnny didn't realize he'd neglected to answer Roy. The only response Roy had seen to his latest inquiry was Johnny's sigh. Again the lack of response spoke volumes. "Johnny?" Roy said raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

Johnny's deep brown eyes returned from their far away focus to his partner's concerned blue eyes. "Huh?" He intoned as he attempted to remember what Roy had just asked him.

"He's upset all right. Now how do I get him to start talking?" Roy thought as he considered his best friend. "That last run was rough, huh." Roy offered, hoping to lead Johnny into the conversation they both knew needed to happen.

Johnny picked up his coffee cup and sipped thoughtfully. "Yeah. It was." He replied evenly.

"Come on Junior. You know you need to talk about it." Roy thought, but all he said was "and…."

Johnny sat his cup on the table, and placing his elbows on the table he leaned his chin into his hands. "And….what?" he evaded.

"What did you mean when you told those girls you'd had a few days like they'd had?" Roy tried a new line of questioning hoping to draw his best friend into the discussion.

Johnny rubbed his temples with his fingertips, closing his eyes. After a few moments of silence he dropped his hands to his lap and looked over at Roy. "I meant what I said Roy. I spent some time shuffled around in foster homes. Some of 'em were all right, and some of 'em were bad. Ya know….people took in a kid 'cause they thought it'd make 'em look good to the community, or 'cause they needed the money paid by the state or maybe 'cause they were lookin for built in labor." There! He'd said it. Now Johnny looked at Roy to gage his reaction.

Roy listened quietly to the bit of information offered by his partner. Johnny had never revealed much about his childhood, and Roy knew what he was hearing was important. "Oh God Junior! What happened to you? Why did you end up in foster care?" Roy's mind was immediately filled with questions, and genuine concern for his friend. Carefully Roy weighed his reaction. Schooling his face into a kindly warm expression he encouraged gently "Tell me a little about it Johnny."

Johnny studied Roy's countenance. "Hmm…not quite the reaction I expected. I thought he'd be curious, or feel sorry for me. But, he's concerned. I can see it. Well duh….Of course Roy would be concerned. He really does care about me, and besides he's a care taker. But I don't see pity, and I'd know that look anywhere. All I see and feel is Roy's concern for me." Johnny thought, and he shook his head softly as a tender grin spread across his face. He felt a warm feeling envelope him as he saw the true affection and concern his friend spoke from with his request for more information about Johnny's past. "You I trust. This is gonna be hard stuff to hear though Roy. Do you really want to know?" Johnny's eyes met Roy's as those thoughts flashed through his mind.

"I really want to know Junior, or I wouldn't have asked." Roy answered Johnny's unspoken question as his crystal blue eyes held Johnny's gaze.

"Geeze….how does he do that?" Johnny thought as his grin broadened into a busted look and he ducked his head breaking eye contact.

"You do it to me too Johnny." Roy remarked. "Now, come on….tell me. I want to know."

Johnny shook his head laughing softly now at how well Roy read him, and silently acknowledging he too could read his partner. "All right, all right…." He said raising his hands in defeat. Johnny took a long breath and began his tale.

As Roy listened to the high points of Johnny's life unfold a myriad of emotions and thoughts flowed through him. There was the sadness of the hard times his partner went through growing up, outrage at the rough treatment, and awe at his best friend's survival skill. Roy listened to Johnny's tale with a growing sense of pride at how far his friend had come, and understanding of where Johnny must have been when Roy and Johnny first met.

After hitting the high spots of his history, Johnny stopped and sipped his now cold coffee observing his best friend's reaction to what he'd shared. Where Johnny somehow secretly expected to see pity, revulsion or withdrawal, he noted with surprise he saw only awe and pride? "What? He's proud? Of what?" Johnny thought with a look of utter confusion coloring his features.

"I'll go get us some more coffee." Roy said standing from his seat and striding away. When he returned with two more steaming cups Johnny noticed Roy's gentle smile as his blue eyes met Johnny's.

"What?" Johnny finally exclaimed unable to contain himself.

"I was just thinking how lucky I am to know a genuine hero, that's all." Roy replied sipping his coffee.

Now very confused Johnny looked questioningly at Roy. "What are ya talkin' about Roy? I'm no hero. I just did what I had to for survival." Johnny announced.

"Yeah well, considering how much you survived, I'm pretty impressed with your success. With a background like yours, it would have been easy for you to feel sorry for yourself, and end up never really making a life for yourself. But you are a success, and I don't just mean because you are a good fireman or paramedic. You my friend have walked through hell, and somehow are still brave enough to care…to love. That takes some kind of special person. I'm proud of you Junior! Honored to trust you and have your trust, proud to know you and call you friend." Roy said with conviction as he saluted Johnny with a lift of his coffee cup.

Color stained Johnny's cheeks as he listened to his friend. Roy was one of the people Johnny most admired, most wanted to emulate. To hear such words of praise from his friend was almost overwhelming, and certainly embarrassing.

Looking up then into Roy's eyes Johnny saw something else, confusion? "Oh yeah, he's wondering about the sedating the twins thing. I knew he'd eventually ask." Johnny thought with a heavy sigh. And he answered the unspoken question in his partner's mind with "When my Dad died in the hospital, I was one scared upset kid. The hospital staff sedated me Roy. I never got to say goodbye to him or my Mom. I slept right through the end of my wonderful old life into a new confusing and terrifying new one. I hated it! Hated the helplessness of being taken away by the drugs…." Johnny said,

"….and still do." Both men finished almost in unison. Then they both laughed at themselves.

"Well, that explains a lot Junior." Roy said, at first referencing the incident with the twins, but also Johnny's reaction just about any time he had to receive pain medication or tranquilizers or muscle relaxers of any kind. "He doesn't like being helpless. He doesn't want to be unable to see what's coming." Roy pondered.

Johnny again spoke aloud what had been in Roy's thoughts "Yeah, I don't like feeling….helpless. Ya know, not being alert to see what's coming."

"You really gotta stay out of my head Junior. I was just thinking the same thing." Roy gently teased.

Still chuckling, the paramedics finished their coffee, cleared their table and left the patio in search of Dixie to follow up on their patients.

Dixie informed Johnny and Roy the twins had been sent to pediatrics for a couple days, then would be placed in foster care.

Both men left Rampart hopeful this foster placement would be a better one for the twins than the one they'd had to witness as they rescued the girls.

Three weeks later.

It was a few minutes before noon when Roy backed the squad into the apparatus bay at station 51. The day had presented a steadily busy shift and both men were hoping for a little respite in order to have some lunch.

"Hey, Marco is the chef today." Johnny said as he opened the squad door preparing to climb out.

"Oh good! I am hungry" Roy replied as he too climbed out of the truck heading for the kitchen.

The paramedics heard laughter and smelled the aromas of something delicious, spicy and cheesy before they reached the kitchen door. "Hey, that sounds like Mama Lopez." Johnny offered as he got close to the kitchen.

"Yeah, it does." Roy agreed. "Hey! Maybe she brought lunch!"

And both men quickened their trek into the kitchen. Just before stepping inside they could hear the happy chatter of adults and…..children?

Walking into the kitchen the medics greeted Mama Lopez. She hugged first Roy, then Johnny. "Hello boys" she said. "I brought you lunch. My new babies wanted to thank you for taking care of them, and we thought a nice enchilada and tamale lunch would do the trick."

"Oh Mama" Johnny said gracing her with a smile "That sounds incredible!" She patted him gently on the face as she turned toward the couch where Chet was teasing two toe headed girls saying Abby, Anna, come here and say hello to Johnny and Roy.

At the sound of their names, two rosy cheeked fair haired girls scampered over to Mama Lopez. Johnny stood slack jawed for just a moment, then realization dawning, he knelt so he would be on eye level with the twins. "Well ladies! We meet again." He said with a dazzling Gage grin. He extended his arms and hugged both girls at once. Johnny's mind silently thanked the spirits for he knew his time the twins had scored a great family.

Roy looked in amazement at the scene, and then turned to Marco Lopez with a questioning gaze.

"Mama has always taken in foster children over the years." Marco stated matter of factly as if it were a well known thing. "When social services called, she couldn't resist these two. So now the Lopez family has two new girls." He proudly announced and he beamed down on the scene of the two girls animatedly chatting with Johnny.

Roy smiled warmly at Marco, and stepping over to Mama Lopez he draped an arm around her embracing her affectionately. "You're terrific ya know!" he said softly in her ear.

"Oh no Roy, I'm just a mama. God has sent me these two little blessings, and I am grateful." She sincerely replied.

The End…..of my little tale.

The beginning of a new and better life for a certain pair of twins.