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Johnny had been sitting in Station 51's break room for about five minutes when he heard a noise that was very similar to a bowling ball being dropped on hard wood. He looked out the window to see a flash of lightning as rain began to pour from the sky.
"Great," Chet Kelly said, peering through the same window. "We're gonna have a bunch of calls today if this keeps up."
As they continued to watch the rain they noticed Captain Stanley's car pulling into his normal parking spot. There was a pause after the car shut off, and then Captain Stanley - with something that looked weatherproof wrapped around his head - ran from his car to the station. Johnny hurried to the door and opened it, closing it as soon as Captain Stanley was inside.
"Thanks, Johnny," Cap said with a slight shiver. "Something tells me this is going to be a bad day for calls."
"I was just sayin' that, Cap," Chet said, taking a sip of coffee. "Say, where's Roy?"
As if on cue, Roy ran into the break room. "Oh, hey Roy! Didn't see you park."
"Yeah, well, that's because Joanne dropped me off. She needed to use my car today to take Jenny to her doctor's appointment because hers is in the shop."
Chet nodded sagely, taking another sip of coffee. "It must be hard having kids."
Roy just flashed him a small smile. Mike walked in, looking around and focusing on Roy. "Didn't have an umbrella?"
"No, that's in the car."
Mike raised an eyebrow. "So why don't you have it?"
"Ah, Joanne has the car," Johnny answered, sitting on the arm rest of the couch and swinging his legs. "Y'know, Roy, you should-"
"Johnny," Roy said, interrupting his best friend. "I'm sure you mean well, but I really don't want your advice on what to do about Joanne."
Johnny pouted and walked to the coffee pot. The tones going off stopped him from what would've been a very eventful silent meltdown.
'Station 51, Squad 51. Car accident on Fredonia Drive, injuries unknown. Time out 8:52,' came the dispatcher's calm voice through the speakers. They hurried to their positions and Johnny jumped in the squad as Roy took the address from Cap.
As the sirens turned on and the doors opened, Johnny considered the route they would take. Roy turned sharply onto Main Street and Johnny said, "Watch out! I think there's someone up ahead!"
Sure enough, as soon as Roy slammed on the brakes - Mike squealing on his as well to keep from ramming into the squad - a teenage boy appeared from out of the heavy rain. He ran up to Roy's window and knocked vigorously on the windshield.
Cap had appeared next to the squad by the time Roy rolled down the windshield, cursing internally as his uniform was dampened by the rain. The teen was yelling in Spanish and Marco quickly arrived to translate.
"He says he lost his mother when the rain started," Marco said, nodding to the boy as he continued to speak rapidly in Spanish.
A short Hispanic woman ran over to their little gathering, hugging the teen and saying over and over, "Mi hijo!"
Marco asked the woman a few questions in Spanish and then turned to Cap. "She is his mother."
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Roy asked, looking outside at the somehow heavier rain.
"Yes, I think so," Marco said.
Cap nodded. "Then let's get to our call."
Roy closed the door and continued down Main Street, turning slowly so as to not hit a curb. Their headlights were barely helping with visibility and the only reason Roy knew he was at Fredonia Drive was because he could see a car dangling from a tree up ahead.
He and Johnny got out and were joined by the rest of 51. "Johnny, go ahead and get a line set up with Rampart," Roy said, searching the scene for any other drivers.
Johnny nodded, running to the squad to get the phone and call Rampart. Cap looked at the car in the tree. "He probably hit this turn too fast and hit the tree. Although how he got in the top of the tree is a mystery."
Chet, who had been told to run ahead and report his findings, ran up to them. "There's three people in the car and one of them's a little girl. And there's another car that hit a house on the other side trying to avoid the car in the tree. One driver, and I think he's okay."
Cap nodded. "How easy will it be to get the second driver out of his car?"
"I think he might need the Jaws of Life. The driver's door looks pretty crumpled."
"Okay. Chet, Mike, you two go get that driver out. Johnny, go with them to see if we can move him. Marco, you and I are going to go with Roy to figure out the car in the tree."
They all nodded and went to their assignments, wading through the good four inches of rain on the ground. When they got to the car Roy said, "I think someone is going to have to climb up there."
-------
They got to go a good half-hour without a call, during which time the Phantom struck twice. The first was as soon as Johnny was in the kitchen. He opened a cabinet and water flew at his face. Still soaking wet five minutes later, the flour bomb in his locker was enough to make him curse.
As Johnny pulled strands of dough out of his hair he let the shower relax him. He knew it was going to be a bad day, purely because of the weather. Weather like what they were supposed to have for the next week was never good. At least not for paramedics and firefighters.
He was about to grab some body wash when the tones went off. "Shit!" he said, jumping out of the shower and grabbing his gear as soon as he could. He couldn't hear the announcement but he ran in just as Squad and Engine 51 were called.
As Roy pulled out of the fire station he turned to Johnny. "You've still got soap in your hair," he said, amusement evident in his voice.
Johnny harrumphed, shaking his head like a wet dog. The water in his hair flew everywhere, covering Roy's side with water and the occasional ball of dough. Roy shook the dough off as they arrived at their call: a massive high rise with people gathered totally around it.
They had to maneuver their way around the crowds to get inside, where they were met by the building's superintendent, as nervous man in his early forties. "They're stuck in the elevator," the superintendent said, his hands shaking.
"Don't worry, we'll get them out," Cap said, placing a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder. "Johnny, you and Chet get in the elevator and get those people out. Roy, you stay up here to haul 'em up. Marco, Mike, you two stay behind me so we can help whoever needs us."
With their positions and jobs given to them, Johnny and Chet hurried to the elevator shaft, where the doors were open but showed only a fourth of the elevator. When one of the women inside saw them, she almost fainted with relief. "Thank God! Get us out, please!"
"We will, ma'am, don't worry. Uh, do you know how many people are in there?" Johnny asked, peering down to look at her.
"Six," the woman said quickly. "Me, my sister, brother-in-law, mother, and the Johnsons. They live next-door."
Chet and Johnny exchanged a glance, and then began their unspoken plan. "Ma'am?" Chet called down. "We're going to try and pull you up, okay?"
"Alright!"
They took hold of the elevator wires, pulling with all their strength. Both men were relieved when the elevator began to move. When it was up to the door they attached the wire to a column and then began helping people out.
Johnny stepped into the elevator, feeling slightly nervous when it creaked. He got the last woman out, and Chet reached for his arm just as the elevator wire snapped. It was almost instant: the elevator began rapidly falling and Johnny plummeted to the floor, already unconscious by the time the elevator reached the basement.
-------
Roy snapped his head around when he heard the noise. He looked to Chet, who had a stricken look on his face. Cap, Marco and Mike all ran over. "What happened?" Cap asked.
"The elevator wire snapped," Chet said, pointing to the half a wire attached to a column nearby. "It should've held."
Roy looked over at the column. The rope had frayed apart and then snapped. "Cap?"
Their captain understood the looks on his men's faces. "Okay, Chet, do you know how far he dropped?"
"Basement, I think," Chet said, raising his right hand to wipe some sweat off his face.
That was when Roy noticed the blood running down Chet's hand. "Chet, come here, let me look at your hand-"
"No, I can wait," Chet said dismissively, pointing to the elevator shaft. "That's more important right now."
Captain Stanley peered over the edge of the elevator shaft. "Mike, go down to the basement and take Roy with you. See if the elevator is reachable from there. Marco, go check and see if anyone has rope of some kind we can use as a ladder. Chet, you're coming with me."
"Where are we going?" Chet asked.
"We're going to call an ambulance."
-------
Roy was practically running down each flight of stairs and Mike was only a few steps behind him. They reached the basement from the sixth floor in what had to be record time, yelling Johnny's name the whole way from the stairwell to the basement elevator.
The elevator doors were closed, so on a hunch Roy pressed the button to call an elevator down, which opened the doors to the sight of Johnny, huddled on the far side of the elevator, clutching his arm and just barely breathing.
"Johnny, can you hear me?" Roy asked as Mike shot back towards the stairs to tell everyone where Johnny was.
Roy was incredibly thankful he'd brought his med-bag and the radio down with him as he cautiously boarded the elevator, checking Johnny's neck to make sure he still had a pulse before setting up a line with Rampart.
"Rampart, this is 51," Roy said, already looking on the back of Johnny's head for any lumps.
"This is Rampart, 51, go ahead," Dixie McCall's calm voice came over the radio, somehow managing to calm Roy down, too.
"I have a patient in his late 20s with a probable head injury. He was in an elevator that fell six to seven floors. He has what looks to be a broken arm, and there may be spinal damage."
"Copy, 51," Brackett said. "Set up iv saline and transport as soon as you have proper equipment."
"Will do, Rampart," Roy said, continuously checking Johnny's pulse and setting up the iv as quick, hard footsteps came pounding down the stairwell. The rest of Station 51 ran into the basement, Chet limping slightly and cradling his right hand. Roy's breath stopped when he checked Johnny's pulse again, only to find nothing. He checked every vein he could, and then yelled out, "Somebody call Rampart! His heart just stopped!"
Chet ran to the radio, fumbling to use his injured hand as Captain Stanley began doing chest compressions so Roy could do mouth-to-mouth. Sound was beginning to drain out of the world for Roy, and he barely felt it when Mike took over.
It was like a fever dream. He just barely heard Chet screaming up the stairwell to the ambulance techs, and he managed to get into the ambulance with his partner only by a miracle. The sirens didn't sound like anything more than soft cries, and Roy didn't even realize they'd stopped at Rampart until Dixie ran up and coaxed him out of the ambulance.
She led him quietly to the waiting room where Cap, Mike and Marco were. When he asked in a daze where Chet was she informed him Chet was in a room, being treated. Reality slowly came back, but Roy was still in a daze when Chet walked into the waiting room.
"Chet, what are you doing out here?" Mike asked, looking Chet up and down but mostly focusing on his wrapped hand and the rope burns on his arms.
How had he gotten rope burns? As Roy looked around he saw that Cap looked like he was in pain, too. "Cap, what happened to you?"
"Just a little sore from doing CPR for ten minutes," Cap said, shaking his head as if to say it was no big deal. "Chet, you haven't answered Mike's question yet."
"I'm gonna wait for Johnny," Chet said, flopping into a chair and wincing immediately.
"He'd pass out from shock if he knew," Marco said good-naturedly.
They continued to talk - mostly of completely meaningless things - until Dixie came out and told them they could see Johnny.
Scrambled wasn't the right word. Limped, lumbered, and sleepily ran was a more accurate description of their dash to Johnny's room. He wasn't awake yet, but they decided they would each stay a while until he did.
-------
It had been ten hours since Johnny was put in a room. They'd been taking hour long shifts since they got off work and it was Roy's turn after Chet. Joanne had come to sit with them around three hours ago and was walking with Roy to make sure he was steady on his feet.
They reached Johnny's room and opened the door to find Chet half asleep in the chair next to Johnny's bed. Joanne walked over and tapped him on the shoulder, whispering to him that he could go back outside. He nodded slowly, as though trying to comprehend her words, before he shuffled out the door.
Joanne practically shoved Roy into the chair and then stood next to him, telling him all about Chris's day at school while they waited for Johnny to wake up.
Around forty-five minutes into their watch he blinked, and then winced. Joanne hurried out of the room to find Dixie, who came back with Brackett and Early on her heels. Joanne and Dixie talked outside the room while Roy tried not to doze off.
Roy wasn't really sure how long he'd been asleep when he woke up to the sound of Johnny talking. Normally he wouldn't have said or done anything special for this since Johnny's chatter was a regular occurrence in his life.
But Roy felt a tear slip down his cheek. His partner had died for several minutes, and he was suddenly realizing what could've happened if Johnny had died as he looked around the room. Chet was sitting in a corner, covering his eyes and trying not to let Johnny see that he had actually been worried.
Roy knew that everyone at 51 and at Rampart would've dearly missed Johnny if he had indeed died. Roy was glad he wouldn't have to go to his friend's funeral. Not yet, anyway.
-------
Their next shift was most certainly slower. Roy had a different partner but since Johnny had nothing to do, he was also hanging around the fire station and playing with Henry.
At one point they were just leaving a call when Roy's partner-of-the-day, someone by the name of 'Steve', asked Chet if they would've really missed Johnny if he'd died. Roy wasn't sure he'd ever seen the fireman get so angry quite so quickly. They'd had to swing by Rampart to get a few bandages and Roy had recounted the entire thing to Dixie. She'd wholeheartedly agreed with 51's side and was highly amused by Chet's defensive nature.
When just the engine was on a call Roy had walked over to Johnny and casually mentioned what had happened. The Phantom didn't play any pranks on Johnny for a while, and although Chet frequently assured everyone that it was purely a coincidence no one believed him.