Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, now am found
Once was blind, but now can see…

****

The annual Fire Fighter's Picnic was in full swing under a gorgeous sunny sky. The event was a popular one, a day for fire fighters and their spouses, children, family and friends…a day to enjoy life…a day to forget for a brief moment the inherent risk in their jobs.

Traditionally, one of the highlights of the day was the softball tournament. The competition between the crews of various stations was legendary and Station 51's crew was anxious to avenge their loss from the year before. By the time the games broke for lunch, 51 was still in the running.

"I'm telling you, Marco, you're giving out signals to the other team every time you bat," John Gage insisted, as he fiddled with the camera in his hands. He nodded toward the baseball diamond. "You're easy pickings, man."

Chet Kelly rolled his eyes at the paramedic. "Johnny, Johnny, Johnny. At least Marco got some home runs today, which is more than you've done so far."

Marco Lopez shot Johnny an amused look. "We've beaten every team we've faced today, Johnny. I don't see what your problem is."

Paul "Chili" Chilibeck grinned as he listened to the exchange. "Oh, the problem is simple, Lopez. Johnny here knows you guys play us next and," Chili mined holding a bat in his hands and smacking an imaginary home run, "Station 51's gonna be history!"

Johnny gave a snort of laughter. "I think you've got brain damage from inhaling too much smoke, Chili. No way is Station 14 beating us today."

"Cute, Gage." Chili rubbed his hands together. "So, care to put a little wager on it?"

Marco held up his hands, waving him off. "Nuh uh. Not me. My mother didn't raise no fool. I just want to have fun out there."

Chet was also shaking his head. "Forget it. Wouldn't put it past you two to cook up something to slant the bet. Come on, Marco. We need to go over some game strategies without him," a nod in Chili's direction. "Just like Johnny to consort with the enemy."

"Oh, funny, ha ha, Chet." Johnny made a face at the departing fire fighter.

"So?" Chili asked, as the two headed over to the picnic table where some of his family was sitting. "What's the wager gonna be this time?"

Johnny paused to consider. "How about whoever loses has to detail the other's truck for the next month."

"Good one!" Chili nodded approvingly. "I'm way overdue for a cleaning since we went on that hike last weekend."

"Well, you're gonna have to do yours and mine then," Johnny assured him confidently. "Station 51 is going all the way this year!"

Chili shook his head. "Not this year, Gage. You haven't seen Station 14's secret weapon…Josh Collins. He's a hitting machine…"

"Hey, Johnny, Chili." Teresa Chilibeck, Chili's younger sister, waved them over.

"Yo, Reece, Laura. Squish over," Chili commanded, dropping down between his two sisters.

Roy DeSoto joined them, shaking his head as he looked at Chili. "I can't believe how many family members you have here today, Chili. I've lost count how many aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters I've met."

"Yeah," Johnny sighed mournfully, sitting down beside Roy. "It's no wonder Chili always wins first prize for selling the most tickets to this thing. His family alone puts him miles ahead of everyone else. No one else stands a chance!"

"Hey," Chili shrugged, grinning. "Family's got to be good for something."

"Chili!" Teresa protested, reaching over to swat him on the arm. With perfect timing, Laura hit his other shoulder.

"Whoa!" Chili attempted to duck, laughing.

"You think you're such a comedian…" Teresa began and the trio was off, bickering as only brothers and sisters can.

Roy watched it all with a bemused smile on his face, not quite sure what to make of it. Johnny however, was used to their antics and ignored them. Setting his camera down, he grabbed one of the paper plates on the table and headed over to a nearby picnic table where Mama Chili and Joanne DeSoto were setting out yet more platters of food.

Mama Chili noticed Johnny. "Aah, Johnny. I was thinking that maybe you didn't like my food today," she scolded. "This is only your second trip. Are you okay? You're not sick, are you?"

"Just pacing myself, Mama Chili," Johnny assured her. He began stacking food onto his plate. "Don't you worry. I'm gonna stuff myself today. Have to make up for Chili beating me out of first prize, after all."

"Now, Johnny," Joanne teased, "just think of all the trouble you would have gotten into if you had won that waterbed!"

"Oh, I am," Johnny grinned, winking suggestively. "That's why I'm mad at Chili!"

"Oh, you!" Joanne gave him an affectionate smile as she shook her head.

"Mmmm," Johnny popped a piece of ham in his mouth. He surveyed the full table. "Mama Chili, you made enough to feed just about everyone here."

"And what's wrong with that, I want to know? Just my way of showing you and your colleagues just how much we appreciate the job that you all do." She watched as Johnny struggled to add more to his plate, but couldn't without making the food already on it fall off. She waved her hands at him. "Go. I'll bring some platters over to the table."

Johnny leaned down and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "You're the best." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Are you sure you don't want to run away with me?"

"Get away with you." The older woman swatted at him. "My husband's a police chief, remember? He carries a gun."

Johnny scooted by her, laughing.

Chili and his sisters were finally taking a break from their good-natured spat, much to Roy's amusement. He could see why Johnny fit in so well with Chili and his family.

"So, who won?" Johnny asked, as he dropped down on the bench.

"I'd say it was a draw," Roy declared quickly, trying to avert another battle. Chili, in the middle of taking a drink, laughed, and of course, swallowed wrong, and started to cough. His sisters watched him with satisfied smiles on their face. That would teach him.

Teresa eyed the mountain of food in front of Johnny. She shook her head in amazement. "You must have a hollow leg, Johnny. I don't know where you put it all."

He grinned at her as he deliberately shoveled a fork full into his mouth. "Hey," he mumbled around the mouthful of food. "I'm a growing boy."

"Now there's an oxymoron, if I've ever heard one."

"Huh?" Johnny shot her a puzzled look.

"Talk English, Reece," Chili admonished with a twinkle in his eyes. "We're not one of your students."

Teresa just quirked an eyebrow at him before looking back at Johnny. "It's an oxymoron because you're never going to grow up, Johnny." On Chili snort of laughter, she turned to him. "And neither are you, Chili!"

"That's right, sis." Chili nodded his head in agreement as he reached over to pat the top of his younger sister's head, much to her chagrin. She batted his hand away. "You act old enough for the both of us, right, Johnny?"

Johnny waved his fork at them. "Hey, I'm not getting into the middle of this."

Teresa smiled sweetly at him. "Now that, Johnny, is the smartest thing you've said all day."

Roy burst out laughing, tried to stop at Johnny and Chili's glare, but somehow that just made it even funnier. Giving up, he got up and headed over to his wife, his shoulders still shaking.

Teresa, satisfied that she had gotten in the last word, stood up and motioned for her sister to follow suit. "Let's go get a drink. We'll leave the children to play among themselves." The two sisters left, giggling like school kids themselves.

Teresa handed Laura a drink and helped herself to one. They were joined by one of their many cousins, Melinda, her two-year-old son hanging on tight to her legs. Laura picked up the little guy and began tickling him, much to his delight.

"So, Reece," Melinda teased, keeping her voice low as she glanced over at the table where Johnny and Chili were sitting. "Chili's friend, Johnny…he's real cute, hmmm?" You and he…" she let her words trail off suggestively.

"What?" Teresa burst out laughing. "Me and Johnny?" She turned to watch her brother and the paramedic in question for a moment, then turned back to Melinda, giving an exaggerated shudder. "That'd be like dating Chili!"

Johnny looked up at the sound of Teresa's laughter. "You know, Chili, I get the feeling that your sisters are always laughing at me."

Chili shrugged. "That's cause they are. Now you see what I've had to put up with all my life! Sisters! Can't live with 'em…" he heaved a theatrical sigh, "and can't live with 'em!"

The two men broke up laughing. Mama Chili smiled approvingly at them as she set down a couple of platters of food on to their picnic table.

"Thanks, Mama." Chili, still laughing, snagged a piece of homemade pizza.

His mother patted his cheek affectionately. "A good day, yes?"

"A very good day," Chili agreed.

"Good. You hold on to the good ones, remember them. Both of you."

"Uh huh, Mama," Chili waved the pizza at her. "We know… we know. Remember the good days to help you through the bad ones."

Mama Chili shook her head at his teasing tone. Looking at the two young men, she reached over to pick up Johnny's camera. "You know, Johnny, you're always the one taking pictures. I want to take a picture of the two of you together."

"Sure."

"Course there's a reason why Johnny doesn't get his picture taken," Chili joked, as he moved over to sit next to Johnny. "Replacing the lenses his face cracks gets expensive!"

Johnny elbowed him, the two men laughing. Mama Chili snapped the picture, capturing the moment. She nodded to herself.

Yes. A good day.

Johnny admired, once again, the softball trophy sitting on top of the television set. Victory had been oh so sweet. Rubbing his hands together in satisfaction, he headed over to the fridge for some milk. He reached for the door's handle. "Hey!" he yelped, pulling back his hand.

"What?" Roy, sitting at the table, looked up from the newspaper, frowning.

"I hate when that happens!" Johnny shook his hand, then reached out, carefully touching a finger against the metal handle. Nothing this time. "I got a shock again. That's the second time this morning. First my locker, now the fridge."

"Oh, it's just static electricity," Roy grinned, turning back to his newspaper.

"That figures," Chet jumped in as he moved away from the counter beside the fridge, skirting past Johnny. "Johnny's always giving ME static."

Johnny ignored him, finally managing to get the milk carton out from the fridge without further problems. He tipped the carton over his glass and….nothing. Empty! "Man, it's gonna be one of those days," he groaned, tossing the container into the garbage. "I can just see how the shift's gonna go…"

Roy sighed, shooting his partner a look over his paper. "Don't make a big deal out of this, Johnny…" he began, but it was too late. Johnny was gearing up to full rant mode. Mike Stoker smothered a smile, glancing at Chet. The stocky fire fighter wasn't hiding the grin on his face.

"I'm telling you, this isn't a good sign," Johnny insisted, looking at the skeptical faces of his colleagues. "You just watch…we're going to have a million calls today and they're going to be weird…"

SQUAD 51, MAN DOWN, UNKNOWN INJURIES, 3396 FILMORE AVENUE, CROSS STREET PARKWAY DRIVE. 3396 FILMORE AVENUE. TIME OUT 8:05.

"And it starts!" Chet intoned in his best Darth Vader voice as he followed the two paramedics out into the Engine bay.

"Chet!" Roy warned as he grabbed the slip of paper with the address on it from Captain Stanley. "Don't encourage him!"

"Hey," Johnny protested as he climbed into the squad. "You just wait and see. It's…"

Roy quickly hit the siren, drowning out his partner's voice. The squad pulled out of the station.

A middle-aged woman answered the door at Roy's knock, obviously distracted, worried. She waved the two men in. "Oh, thank God you're here. My husband. Please hurry. He's bleeding everywhere…"

"Ma'am? Where's your husband?" Roy hefted the equipment in his hands as he and his partner followed her.

"The basement. Tony…that's his name, Tony Rossi. He was…oh God…" Mrs. Rossi stopped suddenly, a hand over her mouth, shaking.

Johnny reached out to touch her shoulder. "Mrs. Rossi, please take it easy. We're gonna take care of your husband, okay?" He waited until she nodded. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"He's bleeding," she repeated as she hurried over to the basement door. "He's down there." She hesitated, obviously reluctant to go back down the stairs.

Johnny and Roy exchanged puzzled glances. Something definitely had the woman spooked. "Mrs. Rossi, everything's going to be okay," Johnny assured her as he edged past her. "I'll tell you what. We'll take care of your husband and you can keep a watch out for the ambulance, okay?"

Mrs. Rossi hesitated for a brief moment, before nodding her head. She gave a last glance towards the basement steps, then headed back toward the front door.

The paramedics started cautiously down the stairs. "Hello? Mr. Rossi?" Roy called out. "We're with the fire department."

"I'm over here!"

Johnny and Roy stopped on the bottom step, looking around. One section of the basement had been converted into a makeshift wine cellar of sorts. A large rack stood along one wall, filled with homemade bottles of wine. A long bench sat against the wall across from the rack, two large glass vats sitting on it. One vat held fermenting wine while the other had somehow shattered into several pieces, spilling wine everywhere. On the floor in front of the bench a man lay bleeding.

"Hi," Roy said, as he stepped gingerly around the glass shards. He knelt next to the injured man and began to quickly check him over.

Johnny handed Roy the BP cuff. "What happened, Mr. Rossi?"

Rossi grimaced as Roy pumped the cuff. "Damnedest thing. I decided…ouch…to try bottling homemade wine as Christmas gifts this year…" The man fell silent for a moment, flinching uncomfortably.

"Sorry," Roy said, before relaying the man's vitals to Johnny. "BP's 120/80, and pulse is 100 and steady." He began palpitating the various cuts on Rossi's face and arms.

As Johnny passed on the information to Rampart, Roy nodded at his patient, hoping to distract him from the pain of his examination. "So, you were making wine and…?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, I figured it would be a nice, personal touch kind of gift to give, you know? Anyway, I never made wine before so I wanted to sample some of the bottles to see if the wine turned out okay…"

"I think I see," Johnny frowned as he handed Roy some bandages. He looked at the rack where a couple of uncorked bottles of wine lay. "You drank a little too much and fell, huh? Kinda early in the day for that, isn't it?"

"What?" Rossi blinked at him. "Oh, no. That's not what happened. I just wanted to check to make sure the wine wasn't sour. I don't really drink myself."

"Uh huh," Johnny looked unconvinced.

Roy took that moment to sit back on his heels, looking at their patient. "Mr. Rossi, your vitals are good here, but you've got some cuts that are going to need some stitches. We're going to take you to the hospital, okay?"

"Oh, okay."

Roy handed the BP cuff back to Johnny. "The thing is I don't think the stretcher is going to make it down those stairs. Do you think you can walk with my help?"

At Mr. Rossi's nod, Roy placed his arm around the man's shoulder, helping him to his feet.

"Honey?" Mrs. Rossi appeared mid-way down the steps. "Is it safe yet? The ambulance is here."

"Safe?" Johnny looked up from packing the equipment.

"It seems okay now, dear." Rossi assured her as he and Roy made their way over to the stairs. He glanced back at Johnny. "You see, it's the first time I made wine, like I said. Seemed pretty simple…"

"I told you to read the instructions," Mrs. Rossi scolded half-heartedly, the worry still in her voice. "But you always think you know better. Now we're going to have to throw all that wine out."

"What? Why?" Johnny asked, standing up. Curious, he started to reach for one of the bottles in the rack.

Both Rossi's reacted instantaneously.

"NO!!!"

"DON'T!!!!"

Startled, Johnny turned to them, his hand brushing against a bottle. At the slight jostling, the plastic cork suddenly shot out, slamming into Johnny's shoulder, before ricocheting off the ceiling and down to the far wall before falling to the floor. At the same time, the wine in the bottle erupted, spraying the hapless paramedic.

"Oww!" Johnny cried out, rubbing the shoulder where the cork had hit. Moving to get away from the spewing bottle, he slipped slightly in the liquid on the floor and stumbled against the rack, jarring it. The motion set off a chain reaction. Cork after cork popped, careening off the walls and ceiling. Johnny dropped to the floor, arms over his head, trying to protect his head from the stinging missiles. A shower of wine flowed over him, drenching him from head to toe. A couple of the corks deflected off the second glass vat, shattering it as well.

In moments, it was over. The room looked like a disaster zone.

"Johnny, you okay?" Roy called out, still holding onto Mr. Rossi.

"Yeah." Johnny straightened up, wiping wine off his face, looking miserable. "I'm okay." He looked down at his wine soaked clothes. "Yuck." He shot Roy a murderous look as he squished his way over to join his partner. "Didn't I tell you today was gonna be weird…"

Roy started to say something, then decided that discretion was the better part of valor. He certainly didn't want to encourage Johnny's latest rant. He continued up the stairs, hiding the grin on his face as he replayed the scene in his head. Wait till the guys at the station heard about this one.

****

Nurse Dixie McCall smiled at Johnny as he stepped back into Treatment Room 2 after his shower. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, while using another to wipe his hair. "Well, at least you don't smell like a one man brewery anymore. Don't you know you're not suppose to drink on the job?" she demanded, smiling.

Johnny made a face at her as he finished toweling his hair. "After today, I think I'll be sticking to beer from now on."

Roy chuckled as he settled back against the counter, looking at Dixie. "You should have seen it, Dix. It looked like a big New Year's Eve celebration and Johnny was the main event."

"Glad someone enjoyed it," Johnny grumped. He winced as Dixie began examining the shoulder where the cork had struck him. "Easy!"

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Johnny," Dixie scolded as she finished her examination, though her smile took the sting out of her words. She picked up the set of orderly scrubs from the table, and handed them to Johnny. "Here. You can wear this until you get back to the station to change."

Gratefully, Johnny started to pull the shirt up over his head. "Hey, how's Mr. Rossi?"

"Oh, he's fine. Just needed a few stitches." Dixie busied herself putting supplies away. "If anything, he's feeling pretty stupid. Seems that he didn't put enough neutralizer in for the yeast and to compound the problem, corked the wine too soon."

"No wonder the bottles blew when they were touched," Roy laughed, shaking his head. "Just not his day, I guess."

"I know how he feels," Johnny muttered from under the shirt. He poked his head through the neck opening. "I'm telling you Roy. It's gonna be one of those days…"

"Don't start that again, Johnny," Roy warned.

"If I were smart, I would just go home, get someone else to do my shift…"

"Ah," Dixie laughed, getting it suddenly. She winked at Roy. "Don't worry, Johnny. We'll keep a bed open for you today, just to be on the safe side, hmm?"

"It's not funny, Dix." Johnny looked at her earnestly. "It all started this morning when I kept getting these static electric shocks anytime I touched metal…"

"I'm going to go wait out in the squad," Roy decided, quickly picked up the H.T. and started for the door. "Don't take all day."

"Not talking about it isn't going to make it go away, Roy!" Johnny called after him but the older man was already gone. He turned to Dixie but she made good her escape, scooting out the door, behind Roy.

Grumbling, Johnny finished dressing.

****

Roy looked up from his coffee, frowning at Chet. The stocky fire fighter was up to something, and from the gleam in Chet's eyes as he watched Johnny, Roy figured it had something to do with his partner. He suppressed a sigh. All he wanted was to get through this shift, without problems. Johnny hadn't let up on his theory that the day was cursed. Of course, the calls they had gotten so far that day had been definitely unusual. He shook his head. He knew it was time to worry when he started listening to Johnny's obsessions.

He turned to watch Johnny, who was talking on the phone.

"We're all set for Friday, Chili. Uh huh, uh huh…sure…yeah, sounds good. Okay, talk to you later." Johnny hung up and headed over to the coffeepot.

"Going skydiving again?" Roy asked, still keeping an eye on Chet, who studiously avoided his look. Now that had him worried.

"Uh huh. Friday."

Captain Stanley, who was also watching Chet suspiciously, turned to Johnny. "You guys are really into this skydiving thing, aren't you?"

"Yeah, Cap. It's unbelievable. I can't even begin to describe what it's like. It's…it's…"

"Now that's a first," Chet smirked, getting up with feigned casualness. He settled against the counter by the fridge. "Gage speechless!"

"Oh, shut up, Chet." Johnny didn't even bother looking at him as he reached for the fridge's metal handle.

"Aaah!!!" Johnny jumped back, splashing coffee on his hand. "Damn!"

Roy shot Chet a quick glance but the fire fighter just gave him an innocent smile.

"Another shock, Johnny?"

"Yeah." Putting his coffee cup down, the dark haired paramedic grabbed some paper towels off the counter to wipe up the mess on the floor. "What do you expect with the way today's going."

"Johnny, Johnny, Johnny. The problem's obvious here, pal. You just need to ground yourself before you touch anything…" Chet slapped a hand against his forehead. "What am I thinking? You're definitely not grounded…in reality, anyway!"

Johnny shot him a murderous look as he continued wiping up the mess. "Funny, Chet. Don't give up your day job just yet though…"

Roy got up and reached for the door handle. As he expected nothing. He glanced at Chet but before he could say anything, the tones sounded.

SQUAD 51. WOMAN IN DISTRESS. 1432 HARMON STREET. CROSS STREET, BELCHER AVENUE. 1432 HARMON STREET. TIME OUT 15:32.

"It's fine. Forget it," Johnny batted away Roy's hands as his partner tried to check out his left eye.

"Either you let me look at it here or we'll have the doctors at Rampart do it." Roy crossed his arms as he stared at his partner.

It had been a freak accident. The woman in distress call had been an elderly person who was having trouble opening the new childproof cap on her pain medication. They weren't surprise that she had trouble opening it because even Johnny and Roy had had to struggle with it. Johnny had finally managed to get the lid off, but when it gave the momentum of the force he had used in twisting up on the cap, made his hand fly up and he had ended up whacking himself in the eye.

Johnny sighed, dropping back down on the back bumper of the squad. "Okay, fine. Be that way."

Grinning at his partner's petulance, Roy examined Johnny's eye closely.

"It's a little red, but looks okay," he decided. "You're going to have a beaut of a black eye though but…" Roy patted his arm reassuringly, laughing. "I think you'll live."

"Gee, thanks, DOCTOR DeSoto," Johnny touched the eye gingerly. "You still think I'm imagining things today, don't you?" He stood up, frowning at his partner. "Look what's happened to me today…attacked by wine bottles, a ferret decided that I'd make a good gnawing post, I lost my helmet to that 5 year old brat with a stomach ache and now, sucker punched by a pill bottle. How can you say that I'm imagining it?"

"Oh, with you, Johnny, anything's possible," Roy assured him as he headed over to the driver's side of the squad.

Johnny stared after him, open-mouthed. "Huh?"

Roy climbed into the squad and waited for his partner to settle in beside him. He looked over at him. "Let's just say that with the way you've gotten yourself worked up about today, that maybe it's a good thing Dixie has a room set aside for you."

"You just wait. It's not over yet."

Roy sighed as he started up the squad. Thinking of Chet, he muttered to himself, 'that's just what I'm afraid of'.

****

Stanley padded back in from the locker room, through the dimly lit dorm on his way to his bunk. The even breathing of his crew told him that everyone was fast asleep, even Chet, who had definitely been up to something with Johnny. He grinned. The phantom was getting sneakier, subtler. Of course, he had to act like he disapproved of the whole thing, but in reality, the little escapades the men got into helped to keep morale up around the station. Lord knew their jobs were stressful, and letting off a little steam with pranks helped to keep the balance. Johnny just happened to be the twit who was on the receiving end of most of the pranks, he chuckled to himself. But even twits deserved a helping hand sometimes.

Climbing back into his bed, Stanley let out a satisfied sigh. He had a good bunch of men on his crew. He knew he could count on each of them in a tight situation and on that comforting thought, he drifted back to sleep.

STATION 51, ENGINE 14, HOUSE FIRE. 467 TYLER DRIVE. CROSS STREET MICHAEL AVENUE. 467 TYLER DRIVE. TIME OUT 1:45."

Awake instantly, Stanley quickly keyed the mike of the radio beside his bed. "Station 51. KMG-365."

Scrambling, he pulled up the suspenders of his turnout pants and he hurried after his men.

Engine 14's crew already had a good lock on the fire by the time 51 roared up. Stanley headed over to 14's Captain Frank Carroll.

"So, how's it look, Frank?"

"My men have the front covered, Hank. We could use your men in the back."

"Okay. Anybody inside?"

"No," Carroll shook his head. "The family managed to get out okay but it definitely looks like a case of arson."

"Damn!" Stanley turned back to his men. "Alright, get a couple of inch and a halves back there but be careful. The arson investigators are going to be in on this one, so try to keep as much of the scene intact as possible."

"Okay, Cap."

Stanley sighed as he turned back to Carroll. "What's that make? Three arson fires this month?"

"Yeah," Carroll rubbed a hand across his face tiredly. "At least this time we didn't lose anyone."

"This time…" Stanley echoed.

It took a good hour to get the fire out. The house was a total write-off but, thought Chili, as he looked over at the family sitting huddled in the back of a police car, at least they still had each other, not like the last fire… He didn't realize how much his face was reflecting his thoughts until Johnny moved up beside him.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Just thinking…"

Johnny grinned momentarily, but didn't say anything. Too easy a target. Besides, his friend really did look upset. "What's up?"

Chili made a face. He must look pretty bad if Johnny didn't take the opportunity to zing him. He shook his head. "I was just thinking about that arson fire a couple of weeks ago, the one where we lost the whole family…the parents, their three kids…" His face hardened at the memory. "They never had a chance."

"I know," Johnny followed Chili's gaze, and looked at the family whose home had just disappeared on them. "But this time we won, huh?"

Chili didn't answer him for a long moment, then with a concerted effort, roused himself out of his morbid thoughts. "Yeah. We did."

Josh Collins, a tall, gangly young man with a shock of blond hair falling in his green eyes, stopped beside them. "Come on, guys. Give me a hand packing up the hose out back." He grinned at Johnny. "Unless you think you're too good for that kind of thing now that your station is Softball Champion this year."

Laughing, Johnny followed the two fire fighters into the back yard. "Maybe that should be part of the tournament next year. Winning team doesn't have to do any clean up after fires," he suggested, eyes gleaming.

"Enjoy it while you can, Gage," Chili taunted, as he skirted the backyard pool. "Next year'll be payback time."

Johnny, intent on his conversation with Chili, didn't notice the hose lying on the ground begin to move as Marco and Collins started pulling it up. It rolled, throwing Johnny off balance. Arms wind milling, he fell backwards, and disappeared into the deep end of the pool!

"Johnny?" Chili quickly began shedding his turnout gear as he watched his friend sputter to the surface, weighed down by his heavy turn out pants and coat. Collins and the rest of the men ringed the pool, ready to jump in to help if needed.

"Hold on," Roy called out as he grabbed the grappling hook lying beside the pool and reached out with it for Johnny to hold on to. Flaying about, Johnny finally managed to grab onto the hook and kick his way over to the side of the pool. Roy and Chili helped pull him out.

"Oh, man," Johnny rolled over onto his back, panting from his exertion.

Stanley hurried over to them. "You okay, pal?"

"Yeah, Cap," Johnny let Chili and Roy haul him to his feet. He stood there looking like a drowned rat, a very unhappy drowned rat. "Man, I'm seriously running out of clothes to wear this shift."

Stanley couldn't help laughing at the look on his face. "Just what we need, you running around naked." He eyed the young man. "Why don't you and Roy head back to the station. We'll finish up here."

Roy nodded. "Thanks, Cap. Come on, Johnny. I've got some serious sack time I want to get in."

"Right. With my luck, I'll find a stray cat having kittens on my bed again," Johnny muttered, as he squished his way out toward the squad.

****

Johnny yawned as he stepped out of the squad. He watched the bay doors as they slid shut then turned to walk over to the storage locker. He hung his wet turnout coat in it and pulled out the spare one. At least part of him would be dry if they had another run tonight. As he headed back to the squad to hang the coat on his side view mirror, he noticed Roy standing there, staring at him.

"What?"

Roy crossed his arms as he leaned against the squad. "I don't know what worries me more…you're obsessing over the day being jinxed or..." he paused, sighing heavily, "that you might finally be right about one of your obsessions!"

"Well, finally! About time you listened to me." Johnny frowned suddenly as he noticed Roy giving him a wide berth as his partner began to walk to the dorm room. "What are you doing?"

Roy stopped, his face serious. "Well, the way your day's been going, I just don't want to risk getting too close."

Johnny shot him a murderous look. "Gee, thanks for the support."

"Oh, anytime," Roy laugh as he continued on his way to bed. The realization that there was only a couple of hours left to their shift put a smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep.

Chet was obviously trying to hide the fact that he was watching Johnny as the paramedic stepped up to his locker.

Johnny hesitated before putting his hand on the handle. He let out a relieved breath when nothing happened and quickly opened his locker. Maybe the jinx was finally over.

Chet frowned. Now, why the heck didn't it work? It did yesterday. Lost in thought, he reached for his own locker. "Yeow!!!!"

The rest of the guys, including Stanley directed questioning looks at Chet.

"I got a damn shock from my locker door," he whined.

"Welcome to the club, Chester B.," Johnny laughed. "Guess you're not so grounded yourself, huh?"

Chet ignored him as he quickly checked the inside of his locker door. He quickly found the wires and battery hidden there, since he knew what he was looking for, having setup the exact same thing in Johnny's locker and on the fridge door.

"What's that?" Johnny stared at the contraption in Chet's hands.

"Oh, like you don't know," Chet glared at him.

"Hey, good one, Johnny," Mike smiled at the look on Chet's face. "Got him at his own game."

"Huh?"

Marco eyed the wires and battery. "So Chet, I can see how you rigged his locker but how'd you do the fridge to just get him?"

Chet's eyes gleamed as he bragged, "I used a longer wired and hid the battery in the cupboard and made sure I was standing next to the fridge when he touched the handle. I just connected the wire to the battery at the same time…" He was shaking his head now, looking puzzled. "But there's no way that I thought he'd figure it out."

"I didn…" Johnny began but was interrupted by Stanley.

"Well, Pal, I guess the phantom just isn't as smart as he thinks he is, huh?" Grinning, Stanley stuck his hands in his pockets, rocking on his feet as he watched the guilty flush creep across Chet's face. Whistling, he turned and left the room.

"Chet!" Johnny started towards the stocky fire fighter. "Do you know what kind of day I had cause of you?"

Marco and Mike quickly moved out of his way. Roy glanced at his watch. Just a half-hour and then the shift would be over. If he could just survive the next thirty minutes, he would be home free….

STATION 51, ENGINE 14, SQUAD 10. CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT. 9678 COOPERTON AVENUE. CROSS STREET BLAIR STREET. 9678 COOPERTON AVENUE. TIME OUT, 7:33.

****

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace that fear relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

****

Station 51's vehicles pulled up outside the ten-story office building. A demolition crane stood in front of it, and had obviously managed at least one or two swipes at the building. A couple of police officers were trying to keep people back away from the scene.

Stanley swung down off the Engine and headed over to Officer Vince Howard, who was standing beside the crane, talking to an older man. He was clearly agitated.

"Vince. What do we have?"

"It's a mess, Hank." Vince frowned as he looked over at Stanley. "The building here sustained a lot of damage in those tremors we had a couple of month ago. It's been slated for demolition. The thing of it is, some of the street kids around here have been using it as a flop pad."

"I didn't know they were in there, I swear." The older man waved his hands as he talked. "They got past the guard we had here and…I didn't know…"

"You the operator of that rig?" Stanley asked.

"Yeah. I've never had anything happen like this before. I already made two passes with the ball when these kids come running out…"

"Vince, any idea how many kids are still in there?"

Vince turned to look over to where Squad 10's two paramedics, Charlie and Dwyer, were checking out two teenage boys. "According to the two there, there's three, maybe four kids still inside. They're not exactly sure."

Captain Carroll walked up in time to catch the tail end of the conversation. "Okay, Hank, let's set up search teams to check it out."

"Right."

"It's pretty messy in there," the machine operator said, as he bounced on his toes nervously. "Better be careful."

"Don't worry," Stanley gave him a brief smile. "It's our job. We know what we're doing."

The search teams broke into two groups to cover each one half of the building. One of the teams quickly found two of the kids and they were taken to the triage area set up by Squad 10. The search continued for the rest.

It was tricky going as the fire fighters climbed up higher into the building. Between the earthquake tremors and the wrecking ball, the interior of the building was in rough shape. The ball had obviously done some damage to quite a few of the support columns.

Johnny picked his way gingerly around another mound of broken concrete and wooden beams. With most of the windows boarded up, there wasn't much light to see by except for the eerie glow from the searchers' flashlight beams.

"Damn!" he swore, just managing to jump out of the way as a huge piece of the ceiling slammed down beside him.

Roy swept his flashlight over his way. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Over here guys!" Marco shouted, "I've found one of the kids."

Johnny and Roy quickly worked their way over to him. A teenager, about 17 or so, had fallen through a hole in the floor and was now trapped. The kid was struggling, trying to get out, scared and in pain.

"Hey, easy," Roy knelt down beside him, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. He spoke softly, trying to get the kid to stop moving so that he wouldn't aggravate his injuries. "We're going to get you out of here but you have to calm down, okay?"

"I want out, man. NOW!"

"All right. Hang on." Roy handed the H.T. to Johnny. "Better get a stokes up here."

Chet and Marco were crouched beside the kid, checking out how badly he was trapped. They moved some of the debris from around him.

Chet looked up at Roy. "I think we can just haul him straight up and out without hurting him anymore than he is."

"Let's give it a shot."

Chet and Marco stood up, bracing themselves over the kid, while Johnny and Roy stayed down next to him, to help ease him up out of the hole. Working together with practiced efficiency, they managed to get him out with a minimum of fuss.

"Shit! That hurts!!!"

"I know." Roy began checking the teen out. "Just relax."

"Like, so easy for you to say, man. Just get me out of this freakin' place." The kid flinched as Roy's hands moved over his left arm.

"So, what's your name?" Roy asked, continuing his examination.

Gritting his teeth, the kid gasped, "Sonic."

"Sonic?"

"Yeah. Sonic." He glared at the two paramedics, street punk bravado. "Who wants boring, ordinary names like Billy or Johnny or something…?"

"Boring and ordinary, huh?" Johnny chuckled. "Well, Sonic's definitely not ordinary."

"Hey, did you guys order a taxi?" Chili called out as he and Collins, carrying a stokes, made their way over to the group.

"Okay, Sonic." Roy placed a hand on the young man's arm. "We're going to move you now. It's going to hurt a little but as soon as we get you outside, we'll be able to take care of that, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Suddenly, the streetwise punk looked like a scared, lost little boy. "Just get me out of here."

Roy patted his arm reassuringly as he stood up. Marco and Chet quickly got Sonic into the stokes and were preparing to leave when the kid suddenly struggled to sit up.

"Wait! Did you find Ace yet?"

"Ace?" Roy asked as he tried to get him to lie back again.

"My friend, man. He's up there." Sonic gestured vaguely above him. "I heard him yell when the wall started to go but…"

"Okay, easy. Calm down. We'll find him."

The kid still looked worried but he settled down. Chet and Marco picked up the stokes and headed for the far stairwell. Roy turned to his partner, "I'm going to go with them. You guys better start searching for this other kid. He's probably worst off than his friend here."

"Okay." Johnny shifted his flashlight to his left hand as he pulled out the H.T. from his pocket. "I'll meet up with ya later."

"Uh, Johnny?"

"What?"

Roy paused for a moment, grinned. "Just don't go walking into any walls or anything, okay? I'm getting tired of patching you up." He laughed at the face Johnny made at him, then hurried to catch up with Marco and Chet.

Shaking his head, Johnny called Stanley on the H.T. to let him know that Roy was coming out and that they were still searching for another kid. He joined Chili and Collins as they made their way up the stairwell, onto the fourth floor. They began a systematic search of the rooms, calling out Ace's name, flashing their lights around the area.

No sign of anyone. They began making their way up to the fifth floor, moving carefully around dangling wires and jagged pieces of concrete.

"So, tell me, what kind of names are Sonic and Ace, anyway?" Johnny wondered as he reached down to shove aside a wooden beam in his way. "What's wrong with nice, ordinary names like Billy…or Johnny?"

"You're asking me?" Chili replied, grinning.

"You've got a point, CHILI," Collins laughed.

The three made it out of the stairwell, onto the fifth floor. Between the quake and the wrecking ball, the damage on this floor was extensive…sagging ceiling, warped floor, protruding beams, dangling wires. Many of the large concrete post that they could see had major cracks in them. The whole area definitely looked unstable.

Johnny glanced briefly through the large gapping hole in the far wall that had been caused by the wrecking ball. Moving careful around the debris, he started down the hallway, the others following behind. "You know, Josh, I don't think I've heard what your nickname is yet."

"That's cause I don't have one," the younger man answered quickly.

"Well," Chili drawled, "not one that he admits to, anyway."

"Chili!" Collins, a few steps behind the two men, stopped, glaring at Chili. "Don't you dare!"

"Oh, this has got to be good." Johnny turned back to look at him, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

Seeing the gleam in Chili's eyes, Collins started to protest, "Don't do it, man…"

And then all hell broke loose.

Without warning.

The building shuddered beneath them, knocking them off their feet. Before they could even react, protect themselves, the ceiling and walls caved in, the thunderous cacophony of sound deafening. Tortured metal screeching, ripping; wooden beams popping; mortar grinding…

Then…an eternity later…eerie silence.

"Hey, watch it," whined Sonic, as he held onto the swaying stokes.

Chet threw Marco a glance over his shoulder, shaking his head. The kid was starting to bug him. He had been whining the whole way down. It had been a slow trip as they climbed over and around all the debris littering the stairwell. Telling himself the kid was just scared, Chet adjusted his grip on the stretcher and continued down the stairs.

"Okay, hold on, guys," Roy called out as they stepped onto the landing of the first floor. He squeezed past the trio. "I'll get the door."

Roy had just made it past Chet when a thundering explosion filled the air. The three fire fighters fought to stay on their feet, looking up as a deep rumbling noise shuddered through the building.

"GET DOWN!" Roy shouted, dropping to the floor as he curled himself into a ball.

Chet and Marco quickly lowered the stokes, throwing themselves across it, trying to protect the young man in it.

The ceiling disintegrated above them.

****

"10-4, Johnny," Stanley acknowledged into the H.T. He squatted down beside Charlie and Dwyer. "Roy's coming out with another kid who's hurt. And apparently there's still at least another one in there. You need anything here?"

Charlie looked over at him. "We're okay. So far most of the kids we've seen have mostly minor cuts and bruises, but we're gonna send them in to Rampart to get checked out."

"Okay, I'll request a couple of more ambulances," Hank told him.

"Thanks."

Stanley stood up, surveying the area. He jogged over to Kerzner, the machine operator. "Do you think you can move this thing back out of the way here? I've got more vehicles coming in."

"Sure, sure." The man bobbed his head nervously, obviously still shaken up. He hurried over to the huge demolition machine, quickly started it up. Satisfied, Stanley beckoned Captain Carroll over.

"LOOK OUT!!!"

Stanley whirled, looking back behind him, and stared, stunned as the huge wrecking ball began moving, heading straight at the building. Kerzner sat in the cab, frozen, a panicked expression on his face.

"HEY!" Stanley yelled, as he and the other fire fighters started running towards the man, trying desperately to stop the inevitable.

They were too late.

The huge ball smashed into the building with an explosive bang, moving through it like a hot knife through butter. The impact caused the building to shudder, the ground to tremble.

A brief pause, and then, as though in slow motion, the building began to fold in on itself.

Vince Howard was already pulling Kerzner out of the cab, slamming the machine off. Stanley clicked his H.T. "H.T. 51! Johnny? Johnny?"

Nothing.

Stanley stalked over to Kerzner, Carroll behind him. "What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"The gear slipped…we had problems with it but they said they fixed it." Kerzner blanched suddenly. "Oh my God, oh my God. I'm gonna be sick…"

Vince quickly led the man away as Stanley and Carroll started over to the still settling building.

"I've got four of my men in there, Hank. I can't get them on the radio. How about you?"

"I've got four too. And who knows how many kids. I can't get anyone on the radio either."

The two Captains made it up the building's front steps, almost to the door. Following behind them, the fire fighters that had been outside during the crash were now anxious to get in and rescue their colleagues. Suddenly, the building seemed to groan again, and a large section of the front facing slammed to the ground in front of them.

"Get back, people!" Stanley ordered. "Now!"

Reluctantly, the fire fighters followed orders, backing off. Stanley clicked his H.T. "L.A., this is Engine 51. We have a major incident at our location. Respond another station, the Ladder Company and 4 ambulances. Also please notified the battalion chief."

Carroll shook his head as they surveyed the scene. "We're going to have to wait till this thing settles. It's going to be tricky as hell getting the men out."

Unspoken, the question of whether the men were even alive.

****

"Forget it. We're not getting out this way either," Roy decided, dropping down on one of the steps of the shattered staircase, exhausted.

"Damn!" Frustrated, Chet continued struggling with the debris blocking the access to the second level doorway. His breathing, like the others, was ragged from the dust filtering through the air.

Roy started to reach back to stop him, but decided against it. He knew the stocky fire fighter needed to be doing something, anything, to keep himself occupied. Hell, so did he. He didn't want to be thinking right now. Especially about Johnny. Instinctively he knew that his partner was most probably in bigger trouble than they were at the moment, since they were deeper in the building.

Using the beam from the flashlight that Marco was holding up to them from the bottom of the stairs, he checked out again the destruction around them. They had been lucky. Damn lucky. He stood up.

"How's' the ankle, Marco?" he asked, making his way back down to his colleague and Sonic.

Lopez shrugged, pasting a smile on his face, well aware that the kid was seriously close to losing it. "Fine. It only hurts when I move it."

"Well, then," Chet jumped in, trying to help keep things light. "I'm no paramedic but even I know the answer to that one. Don't move it!"

"Gee, good advice, Chet. Sure you don't want to try out for paramedic training?" Roy asked, tongue in cheek.

"Forget it, Roy. His bedside manner needs too much work." Marco flinched as Roy moved over to run a hand over his ankle.

"Oh, yeah, well, beggars can't be choosers, Marco," Chet retorted, as he finally gave up the futile effort of digging through the mess blocking the doorway. He gingerly made his way back to the others. "So I'd be nice if I were you."

"Now there's a frightening thought," Lopez said, giving an exaggerated shudder. "You as me!"

Roy laughed at the verbal dueling between the two men. Their tactic seemed to be working, he was glad to see. Sonic was much calmer now, his earlier hysteria gone. The kid was still scared but no longer freaking.

Sighing quietly, Roy sat down beside the stokes. They didn't have an H.T. to contact anyone. All they could do was sit and wait. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to listen for sounds of a rescue, struggling to hear over the groaning of the still settling building.

Nothing.

Removing his helmet for a moment, he brushed dirt from his hair, trying to stop his train of thought but unable to. If the rest of the building was as bad as it was in here, then it was going to take awhile before anyone would be able to get them out. The look on Chet and Marco's faces made it clear that they had reached the same conclusion.

Now that there was nothing to do but sit and wait, Roy found himself thinking once again about Johnny and Chili. He couldn't shake the feeling of dread that swept over him.

****

He didn't want to wake up. His head was killing him. Must have gone to Second Alarm last night, he decided fuzzily, and from the feel of it, really tied one on. So, where the hell did he end up, cause where ever it was, the bed he was lying on definitely needed a new mattress. He tried to move but groaned as a white-hot pain seared through his leg, chest, and head.

"Johnny? Yo, Johnny!"

Huh. He tried looking toward the voice, but the pain made him cry out. Gasping, he opened his eyes, trying to focus in the dim light. What…where? And why was it snowing? This is L.A. It doesn't snow in L.A.

"Come on, Gage. Don't do this."

"Uhhh…Ch…Chili?"

"Yeah. Oh, man. About time!" Chili exclaimed, letting out a relieved breath. "You okay?"

"Ummm…" Moving carefully, Johnny managed to prop himself up on his elbows. His ribs let him know they weren't happy with the movement and the room did a quick shift. "What…what happened?"

"Well," Chili's voice was light, "I'm no Sherlock, Watson, but I think the building fell down on us."

"Oh, well that explains this splitting headache," Johnny muttered. His head was spinning, making him nauseous. He closed his eyes, hoping it would help, but opened them quickly. Eyes closed was definitely not the way to go here. Squinting, he looked around, a dim light from somewhere off to his left allowing just enough illumination to see. And what he saw wasn't reassuring. A jumble of concrete, wooded beams, sagging ceiling… He blinked. The snow was actually dust filtering through the air. "Chili? Where are you?"

"Over here. Behind the pillar. Here, I'll shine the flashlight."

Johnny blinked in the sudden glare as the beam moved across his face. He looked to his left, trying to see his friend. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Chili swung the light in and around Johnny. "I heard Josh a while ago, but I couldn't get to him. It sounded like he was over there."

"Oh, okay." Johnny didn't think to ask why Chili hadn't been able to get to him himself. Spotting his own flashlight on the floor, he grabbed it. The H.T. was a few feet away, in pieces. No help there. He started to get to his knees when the pain in his left leg stopped him short. He pointed the light at his leg. Damn, looked like a compound fracture. He took a deep, shaky breath.

"Johnny?"

"I'm okay. Just catching my breath here." He swung the light around, searching, finally spotting Collins lying off to one side, surrounded by mounds of debris. He crawled carefully over to the blond fire fighter. "Hey, Josh…?"

No answer. He saw why when he flashed the light on the kid's face. There was no question he was dead, but Johnny still checked for a carotid pulse. No pressure beneath his fingers.

Suddenly, the nausea overwhelmed him and he turned quickly, vomiting.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Johnny tried to assure his friend as he wiped a hand across his mouth. "Just a little dizzy."

"Oh. How's Josh? Is he hurt bad?"

Johnny coughed, not answering right away. He shrugged out of his turnout coat and pulled off the blue jacket he was wearing underneath. He laid it across Josh's face, then pulling his coat back on, he turned to make his way across to where Chili was. He tried not to jar his leg, but wasn't entirely successful.

"Come on, man? How is he?"

Johnny could just make out Chili's face as he drew nearer, which was the only part of him he could see at the moment, the rest of his friend blocked by the pillar. "I'm sorry, Chili. He…uh…"

Chili stared at him for a moment, before closing his eyes. "Damn! God damn it to hell! He was just a kid."

Actually, Johnny thought distractedly, his thoughts still fuzzy, Collins had only been a couple of years younger than he and Chili but their extra years on the job had a way of aging a person.

Johnny continued working his way over toward Chili, his progress hampered by the mess strewn in his path. God, he didn't feel so good. He wondered if the other fire fighters had gotten out before the world blew up. There should have been enough time for Roy to have made it outside, he assured himself, needing to believe it.

Finally he made it to the pillar, and stopped. He finally understood why his friend hadn't moved.

Chili was trapped, from about mid chest down, under a huge slab of concrete. Johnny let out a shaky breath as he took in the scene.

Chili smiled weakly up at him. "It looks worst than it is, Johnny."

"Really? Cause I don't mind telling you that it looks like crap. And you too," he added, for good measure.

Chili shrugged. "Like you look any better," he retorted, taking in the blood dripping down Johnny's face from the gash along his hairline. He coughed suddenly, wincing as a spasm shook his body. "Ho boy."

Johnny went into paramedic mode. "Take it easy. Breath nice and slow," he instructed as he began checking him out. However, there wasn't much he could do without getting under the slab. Steeling himself, he tried lifting it…but couldn't. The angle was all wrong, he couldn't get any leverage under it. But from his cursory examination, he knew that he needed to get some of the pressure off of Chili's abdomen area.

He closed his eyes for a moment, fighting the sudden light-headedness enveloping him.

"Hey, don't check out on me here, Gage."

"I'm not going anywhere," Johnny reassured him. Straightening as much as he could under the low hanging debris, he reached over to grab a couple of pieces of wood and struggled to place them under the slab pinning Chili. It wasn't much, but hopefully it would help ease some of the pressure.

Chili sucked in a deep breath. "Thanks."

"Hey, " Johnny flashed him an easy smile. "I've gotta take care of you, otherwise your mom will stop feeding me."

"No chance of that, Johnny," Chili chuckled.

Well, I'm not taking any chances. Besides," Johnny added for good measure, "You still have to clean my jeep."

"You're all heart…"

His words were cut off in a shower of mortar as the walls and ceilings suddenly shifted, falling.

"SHIT!!!!" Chili flung his arms up over his face, helpless, unable to move. Johnny threw himself over Chili, trying to protect him.

The rumbling sound drew.

****

"GET BACK!!!"

Stanley and Carroll watched anxiously as fire fighters hurried out of the building as it swayed once again.

"Everyone okay?" Stanley demanded as he jogged over to Fire Fighter Jake Bluson.

The man nodded. "Yeah. We got out in time."

Carroll shook his head, clearly worried. "We're going to have to shore up as we go along, otherwise the whole thing's liable to cave in them."

"Yeah," Stanley agreed. He sighed. It was going to take that much longer to rescue the trapped men, but this way, no one else would be endangered. He joined Carroll at the planning board.

****

Johnny dropped down beside Chili, resting his back against the concrete slab. He was exhausted after a brief but fruitless search for a way out of their tomb. Grimacing in pain, he checked the rough splint he had made for his leg, stopping as the room did a spin on him.

"Whoa."

He opened his eyes to see Chili watching him with a worried expression on his face. "Just how serious is this dizziness, Johnny?"

"It's nothing…" Johnny began.

"Try again, Gage."

"It's just a small concussion, that's all. Nothing to get excited about."

"Uh huh," Chili clearly didn't believe him.

A small smile flitted across Johnny's face. "Well, okay. It's probably a good idea if I don't go to sleep right now."

Chili shifted uneasily under the slab, trying to contain his frustration. Forcing himself to slow his breathing down, he reached an arm up behind him, cushioning his head. "Okay, so we'll just have to make sure you don't. So, whadya want to talk about? Sports, politics, religion…or chicks?"

Johnny smiled. "Gee, let me think…"

****

Chet, Marco and Roy watched the rapidly expanding hole appearing beside the first floor door.

"Okay, guys," Stanley called as he poked his head through. "Almost there. We'll have you out of here in a couple of minutes."

"Good," Chet said, wiping the sweat from his face. "Cause I'm ready to blow this pop stand."

"Cap?" Roy leaned forward. "Any word on Johnny and the others?"

Stanley shook his head. "Not yet." He looked behind him briefly, then turned back to the men. "We're ready back here. We just need you guys to move up back out of the way, okay?"

"All right."

Chet helped Marco to his feet, careful of his broken ankle while Roy took care of Sonic. All four covered their faces, protecting themselves from the dust swirling through the air.

****

The air was definitely not getting any clearer. Johnny could hear the rattle in his lungs from all the crap he had ingested. Not being able to straighten up because of the low hanging ceiling wasn't helping matters either. He shifted, trying to find a comfortable position but it was useless. He could feel the cough start, deep in his chest. He tried to fight it, but trying to suppress the cough was about as difficult as trying to stop the phantom and his practical jokes. The thought made him smile briefly before the spasm in his chest wiped the smile away.

Finally, an eternity later it seemed, he stopped coughing. Exhausted, he laid his forehead against his knees, trying to slow down his breathing. They needed to get out of here now. He was in bad shape, he knew, but he was more worried about Chili. His friend looked relatively unscathed but Johnny knew that it was only an illusion. The heavy slab trapping him was most probably causing internal bleeding. He knew that shock would soon start to set in.

"You okay?" Chili asked quietly.

Johnny jumped, startled out of his thoughts. "Yeah. You?"

Chili grimaced. "All things considered, I'd rather be bowling right now."

Johnny gave a snort of laughter. "Well, considering the lousy scores you've had lately, that ain't saying much, my friend."

"Hey," Chili protested, animated for a moment. "I can beat you with one arm tied behind my back, and don't you forget it."

"Sure, Chili, sure." Johnny gave him a sly grin. "In your dreams." He leaned over to tap Chili's arm. "Think back to the other night. Man, I've never seen you bowl that badly before. Your date even had to help you out."

Chili shook his head with feigned sadness as he looked at his friend. "Gage, Gage,Gage. You just don't get it, do you?" He tried to laugh, but couldn't take a deep enough breath, though his blue eyes did manage to flash mischievously. "So naïve. Did you happen to notice how much attention my date gave me while she was teaching me the finer points of the game?"

"What?" Johnny sat up quickly, immediately regretting the move as his ribs protested. He inhaled a sharp breath. "Chili, that's…dirty pool, man."

"Why? Cause you didn't think of it first?" smirked Chili.

Johnny opened his mouth to argue, then shut it abruptly as he stared at his friend. Damn! "I've gotta remember that one!"

Chili laughed out loud at the look on the paramedic's face. "Learn from the master, Gage, learn from the master."

Johnny started laughing too, but stopped suddenly as he started coughing again. He struggled to take a breath.

Chili lifted himself up as far as he could, watching him helplessly.

Johnny finally stopped, wheezing. Drained, he leaned back against the slab.

Chili, relieved, dropped his head back down against the floor, closing his eyes.

The two friends fell silent.

****

"Thanks, Sandy. We're live on the scene of a rescue gone tragically wrong. It's been three hours since the accident that trapped fire fighters and street kids in this abandoned building behind me. Three fire fighters and a young man were rescued about an hour and a half ago but reports are that there are still five men trapped inside…"

Roy, perched on the back of the squad, was vaguely aware of the reporter and cameraman standing behind him but studiously ignored them. He was taking an enforced break from tunneling through the building. He was bone weary, exhausted but was counting the seconds until he could go back in.

"Here, pal." Captain Stanley crouched down beside the paramedic as he handed him a cup of steaming hot coffee. Gratefully, Roy took it, holding it between his hands, letting the warmth seep through him. "How ya holding up?"

Roy gave a small shrug.

"Hey, pal, you know Johnny. That partner of yours…"

"Don't" Roy held up a hand, his eyes sparking a warning. "If one more person tells me that Johnny's like a cat, with nine lives, I swear…"

"Okay, okay." Stanley smiled, holding up his hands, palms out. "But you know, I'll be honest here, sometimes I'm sorely tempted to get him a collar with a little bell on it.

Roy laughed, almost spilling his coffee.

Stanley chuckled, then fell silent, as he looked back at the building in front of them. Too long. It was taking too long. Five fire fighters lives hanging in the balance. "We're gonna find them."

Before Roy could say anything, Captain Carroll shouted over to them. "We just found two of the men! We need paramedics in there."

Roy was up and running, vaguely aware of other fire fighters racing behind him. Picking his way carefully but quickly through the shored up tunnel access the rescuers had created.

Jake Bluson was bent over an inert form on the ground. He looked up at Roy, his face streaked with dust, grime, sweat. He shook his head. "He's dead." Quiet, matter of fact, words laced with emotion.

Behind him, Charlie and Dwyer started working on the other unconscious fire fighter. Roy heard Chet's quick intact of breath at Bluson's word. Steeling himself he knelt down beside the fire fighter on the floor and slowly, carefully, turned the man over onto his back. Norm Carson, a fire fighter from Station 14. He closed his eyes briefly. It wasn't Johnny or Chili. Shaking his head to clear away the spider web of emotions threatening to overwhelm him, he confirmed that the man was indeed dead. He stood aside to make room for Chet and Stoker, carrying the stokes. He looked over at the man the other paramedics were working on. Peter Volden, another fire fighter from 14.

Charlie and Dwyer moved quickly, wanting to get Volden into another stokes, and out to the triage area as quickly as possible. The building was too unstable to risk working on him inside.

Roy stood aside as the two victims were carried out, then turned to begin taking his turn at excavating a path. Johnny, Chili and Collins were still missing.

****

Johnny finished checking Chili's pulse and respiration, frowning. He didn't what he found. His friend was definitely going into shock and there was nothing he could do about it. Sighing in frustration, he settled back down beside him. The creaks and groans of the building echoed around them.

"Chili?"

"Mmm?"

"This arson investigator thing you were talking about earlier. You serious about it?"

"As a heart attack," came the answer. The voice was getting weak, more of a husky whisper now.

"Why?"

"Why?" Chili repeated, a pause while he caught his breath. "I guess, I want to stop people who create the fires…not just fight them. And with my dad being a police chief…it kinda has a nice synergy, don't you think?"

"Synergy?" Johnny snorted softly. "You've been listening to Reece. Better watch out or you might actually learn something hanging with her."

Chili chuckled but didn't say anything. Johnny frowned. It wasn't like his friend to not give back a jab. He shook away the thought, determined to try and keep the two of them alert and talking for as long as possible. "You'll be itching to be back on the hose, man. It gets in your blood. I don't have to tell you that."

Chili nodded his head in agreement. "Uh huh. That's why I'm not going to…do it right away. I still have a lot of fires left to fight in me…"

The words trailed away, hanging between them. Johnny rested an arm across his eyes, not saying anything. They both knew how serious Chili's injuries were, that even with an immediate rescue, his chances weren't good.

"You know," Chili's halting voice finally broke the shroud of silence that had settled around them. "We've been friends a long time but…I don't think…you've ever said…what got you into fire fighting…"

Johnny stirred restlessly, trying to relieve the pain in his leg. "Biology and algebra."

"Huh?"

Johnny grinned though he knew his friend couldn't see his face. "I was in high school. Hated biology and algebra. Anyway, they were holding a disaster drill in the gym and needed volunteers to help out. And hey, I was game for anything that would get me out of those classes."

He stopped to catch his breath, pleased to hear Chili laugh. "It was so wild. They had policemen, fire fighters, ambulance attendants, doctors and nurses there. It was a pretty big deal and they all took it so seriously." Johnny stopped, lost in memories for a moment.

"And?"

"What? Oh," Johnny rubbed his eyes, trying to ease the ache behind them. He was so tired. "I, uh, I started talking to some of the firemen and they told me to drop by the station for a tour. I did and it kind of went from there. I just thought it was pretty cool…fighting fires, saving lives, you know…"

"Uh huh, and a way to impress women," Chili added in a knowing voice.

Johnny burst out laughing. "Well, yeah…"

Chili closed his eyes, a smile still on his face. "No wonder we're friends, Gage."

"Yeah," Johnny stared at the mess above him, not seeing anything. "Yeah."

****

"Get the hell away from me!" Chet faced the reporter and cameraman, anger radiating out of every inch of him.

The reporter pressed on, oblivious to the danger, "Did you know the fire fighter that died? And what about the ones still missing? What are their chances, realistically?"

Chet bounced on the balls of his feet, leaning in close to the reporter. "You listen to me, you bunch of vultures. Get the hell..."

Suddenly, Stanley was there, steering Chet away. A liaison officer from the department moved in to deal with the press. "You okay?"

The stocky fire fighter took a couple of deep breaths. "Yeah. It's just…it's only bodies to them, not people."

"They're just doing their job, pal."

Chet shook his head angrily. Stanley placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ready to take another turn inside?" he asked quietly, knowing that action would help to defuse the man's frustration.

Chet nodded. "Sorry about losing my cool…"

"Don't worry about it," Stanley said, with a wave of his hand. As Chet headed back to the building, Stanley jogged over to Carroll.

"10-4." Carroll clicked his H.T. and fell into step beside Stanley. "They've just checked the fourth floor. They didn't find anything. They're moving up to the fifth but it's getting tougher."

Stanley looked over to where the ladder truck was standing. They had hoped to get men up on the roof, to work from the top down, but the building was too unstable for that. A dangerous rescue operation but they had no shortage of volunteers. He smiled briefly at that. No shortage at all.

"Any word on your man Volden?"

"Dwyer just got back from the hospital. Says he's going to be okay. Oh, and Lopez just has a broken ankle."

"Good. That's good news." Stanley reached over and gripped Carroll's shoulder. The man had lost one member of his crew already, had one hurt and two others missing. He knew what his fellow Captain was going through. He should probably be relieved of duty, but Stanley knew the man needed to keep busy. So did he.

****

"We can't release names yet pending notification of immediate family. However, we have learned that the original response crews to the call included Fire Station 51, Engine 14 and Squad 10…."

The picture on the screen blurred, the words echoed, lost focus. Mama Chili couldn't take her eyes away from the television set. No names but she knew. She had been standing, not moving, since the first report.

And then her children began arriving, coming home, to be together.

Laura was the first one through the door, throwing herself into her mother's arms. "Mama."

"Ssh," Mama Chili rocked her, holding her close. The others came one after another, scared, worried.

"They say they can't tell us anything yet, " Nick Chilibeck, Chili's oldest brother reported, as he hung up the phone.

"Why not?" Teresa paced the living room, skirting around her mother, not wanting to be held yet. "They have to know who the men are by now. I say we go down there…" she waved a hand towards the television, which was once again showing scenes from the disaster area.

"No, Teresa." Mama Chili shook her head decisively. "The last thing they need is to worry about family while they're working. Your father will call if he finds out anything." She knew that her husband's status as a police chief allowed him access to information that others might not be able to get immediately.

"It's not Chili or Johnny, " Laura decided suddenly, looking back at her brothers and sisters and her mother. "They would have sent a duty officer from the department if it was Chili. He's okay. Chili's okay."

A few minutes later, Teresa, glancing out the living room window, paled. "Oh, no," she whispered, as she watched a car pull up into the driveway. It was an official Fire Department vehicle. And pulling up behind it, her father.

"Oh my God."

****

Johnny strained to hear a sound, any sound that would indicate how far away a rescue team might be but all he could hear was the popping, grinding noises of the settling building. Hell, who knew if a rescue attempt was even mounted. With the way the building was creaking, it would be pretty damn dangerous. And if they were looking for them, it would be slow going to do it safely.

Time.

They were quickly running out of it. Chili needed help now. He was in obvious pain, his skin cool, clammy, his voice weak, raspy. Johnny felt so helpless.

Time.

Well, time had already run out for Collins. He glanced over to where the young man's body was. He sighed.

"Gage, give it up."

Johnny pulled his eyes away from Collins. He gave Chili a puzzled look.

The trapped fire fighter pressed his hands against the slab pinning him, pushing slightly, an unconscious gesture. "It's not your fault. There wasn't anything you could do…" a pause. "There's nothing that you can do now."

Johnny could only shake his head, looking down at his hands.

Chili heaved a heavy sigh. "What is it with you" a gasping breath, "and your partner, anyway? You got a…God complex or something?"

Johnny blinked, focusing on him. "What are you rambling about?"

A heavy rasp. "You can't save the world…single handedly, you know."

"You're not making sense, man." Johnny pulled his pen light out of his holster and leaned over, bracing himself over Chili, fighting the pain the movements caused. "Let me check your eyes."

"Get away with that," Chili demanded, batting his hand away, defiantly squeezing his eyes shut.

"Look…"

"It doesn't matter, Johnny. You can't…do anything anyway." On Johnny's sharp intake of breath, Chili opened his eyes and looked over at his friend. "You hear me? There…isn't…anything…you…can…do." He emphasized each word, his eyes burning into Johnny's, trying to make him understand.

Johnny got it. He started to shake his head as realization dawned.

Chili shrugged, instantly regretted it as a spasm of pain shot through his body. It hurt but in a far off kind of way. Th sensation puzzled him. He floated with it.

****

"10-4" Stanley pocketed the H.T., looked over at Carroll. "They found the missing kid on the fifth floor."

"I'll send the paramedics…"

"Don't bother." Stanley rubbed a hand across his jaw. "He didn't make it."

****

It took Johnny a few moments to realize that Chili's breathing had changed, the rhythm raspier, the effort to draw a breath painfully obvious. He laid a hand on Chili's arm.

With a moan, Chili opened his eyes, looked around, confused for a moment. Unfocused blue eyes found Johnny. "Hey."

"Hey."

Chili's hands started plucking restlessly at his chest, almost as though searching for something. A moment of clarity, eyes clear. "Who knew…" labored breath, "that dying…would be…so hard, huh?"

Oh God. Johnny wanted to shout at him to fight, to hold on, to take the words back. This couldn't be real. But he knew that time had run out. For both of them.

"S'okay," Chili whispered, closing his eyes again. His hands began their slow dance over his chest again, plucking, searching. "Jo…Johnny…?"

"Yeah?" Johnny shifted, moving closer, settling against the concrete, his face level with Chili's.

"Talk me through…'

Talk me through. Johnny felt himself start to shake, from anger, shock, stress, fear. This was too hard. Too hard.

"…please…"

Johnny's breath hitched in his throat. He had to do this, he could do this. Just pretend that they were out on one of their hikes, talking about anything and nothing and everything….

"Okay," Johnny shifted again, trying to get comfortable, a useless exercise. Talk him through. "I've been wondering…why do they call it a DRIVEway when it's where you PARK your car, huh?"

A faint smile drifted over Chili's face. His hands stopped moving, came to rest up against the concrete slab. His breathing evened out, began to slow.

"And why do they sell hot dogs in packages of eight… but buns only come in packages of six? And…" God, he was dizzy. And he hurt. And it was getting so hard to breathe. "They can send a man to the moon but can't figure out…how to cure the common cold…"

****

"Anything?"

Roy clicked the H.T. "Not yet, Cap."

"Okay."

Roy could hear the concern in Stanley's voice. It had been over six hours of painfully slow searching - excavating, shoring, inch by inch through the crumpled remains of the building.

"You've got ten more minutes then the relief crew take over, Roy."

"10-4."

Roy sighed, dropping the H.T. in his pocket. Chet paused for a moment, looking back at him, then turned back to continue digging. Two fire fighters from Station 25 were working quietly, efficiently beside them.

Five more minutes past with still nothing. Roy kept working on automatic pilot. If Johnny or the other two were hurt, every moment was important. If…

"What?" he asked suddenly, turning to Chet.

"Huh?"

"Did you just say something?"

Chet shook his head. The other two fire fighters shook their heads as well.

Roy frowned, looking around. He had definitely heard something. There it was again. Roy pulled the H.T. back out.

"Cap. It's Roy. I think I hear something. Can you have everyone keep quiet for a minute?"

"You've got it, pal."

Roy waited as the other rescuers spread throughout the building stopped moving. Long moments, then a voice, faint, weak.

"…rush hour traffic…when you just…creep along…an inch at a time…"

"That's Johnny!" Chet burst out.

Moving quickly, he and Roy scrambled over to the area the sound was coming from.

"JOHNNY? JOHNNY?" Roy tried shouting through the mountain of debris in front of them.

"…how can there be a high…of minus 3, huh? Now there's an…oxymoron for ya." A cough. "Reece would be impressed…"

"DAMNIT JOHNNY!!!" Chet pressed his face as close as possible to the concrete and wood barrier. "Answer us!"

Johnny's voice faltered for a moment.

"JOHNNY! IT'S ROY!"

Silence.

Behind him, Captain Stanley eased his way up beside his men. "What's up, Roy?"

"It's Johnny. I can hear him, but he's not answering me."

"He's alive?!" Stanley turned back to motion to the rest of the crew. "Let's move it!"

As Roy stepped back, he strained to listen but couldn't hear the sound of his partner's voice anymore.

****

He could hear parts of the building shifting again. The movement seemed different somehow. The sounds were playing tricks on him, the pain in his head confusing him. Strange. He thought he had heard Roy and Chet's voice calling to him. But he knew they weren't really there.

No one was there

They had run out of time.

Eyes closed, one hand resting on Chili's chest. There was barely movement there. It wouldn't be long now. He wanted to keep talking, but he was so tired, so tired.

The noise was getting louder. He could feel the floor shake again. Damn, was the ceiling going to totally fall in on them now? Need to cover Chili, he thought as he tried to move but his body wouldn't respond. The lack of movement of the chest beneath his hand told him that it wouldn't matter anyway.

God, he was tired.

"Johnny. Hey, partner."

Roy? He sounded so real. He didn't want to open his eyes to see nothing there. Suddenly, he felt hands touching him, checking his arms, legs. He groaned, tried to move away.

"Easy, let me do all the work here, Johnny."

"What…?" He struggled to open his eyes, finally succeeded. He stared up into the concerned face of his partner. "You're…really here?"

"Yeah," Roy smiled down at him. Behind him, Chet and Dwyer, in a half crouch position, unable to stand upright, made their way in with the stokes.

"Hey, Johnny," Chet leaned down to smile at him. "Just like you to lie around while the rest of us have to work. Nice gig."

Johnny didn't react to the teasing. He groaned in pain as Roy eased him down, away from the slab that he had been lying up against. He could dimly hear the others working on getting Chili out. He tried to look, but Roy blocked his view, placing a reassuring hand on his forehead, as he checked the cut there. "Look, Johnny. We're going to have to move you out of here pretty quick, okay? This building's a mess."

"Chili…"

"Charlie and Dwyer are taking care of him.

Chet moved over, placing his hands under Johnny's shoulders, while Roy positioned himself at Johnny's feet. "On three," Roy said. Chet nodded.

"One. Two. Threeee."

"Ooooh…" Johnny hissed in pain as they lifted him. It flashed through him, white hot. He could feel consciousness slipping away. He fought it, struggling to see Chili.

Charlie and Dwyer were frantically working on him. "I'm not getting a pulse here. He's not breathing."

"Damn it."

With a quiet sigh, Johnny fell headlong into the black curtain of oblivion.

****

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home

****

Too bright. Hurts. Dizzy. Gonna be sick.

"Whoa. Hold on there, Johnny." A man's voice helping him, lifting his head while he vomited, then gently easing him back on the pillow. "Okay, just relax. You're okay."

Johnny blinked, trying to adjust to the overhead lights. "…bright."

"Well, I can take care of that," the voice said. Footsteps retreated. "How's that?"

Johnny opened his eyes again. Dim light. Better. A hand reached to touch the plastic tubing snaking across his face, anchoring in his nostrils. "Doc?"

Doctor Kelly Brackett's face swam into view. "Welcome back, Johnny."

"Huh?"

Brackett frowned at the confused look on Johnny's face. "Do you know where you are, Johnny?"

"Um." Johnny moved his hand up to touch the bandage on his forehead. "Rampart?"

"Good." Brackett gave him an encouraging smile. "Do you remember what happened?"

"A…a building fell on me…"

"That's right," Roy said, moving into his line of vision. He teased lightly, "But that hard head of yours did more damage to the building than it did to you, I think."

"Oh. Sorry." Johnny whispered.

Brackett laughed. "Well, looks like he's still a little confused but much more coherent this time round."

"Hurts."

"I'm not surprised," Brackett said, making a notation in Johnny's chart. "We'll give you another shot in a few minutes."

"How bad…?"

Brackett glanced at Roy briefly. "You're going to be okay. You've got a concussion, a couple of cracked ribs, congested lungs and a compound fracture of your left leg." He smiled. "We're going to have the pleasure of your company for awhile."

Johnny made a face.

"Don't be that way, Johnny." Roy grinned. "You've been wanting to meet some of the new nurses, so this'll be a perfect opportunity."

"Hmmm." Brackett crossed his arms across his chest as he looked down at his patient. "We'll probably have to give them danger pay."

Johnny frowned, trying to concentrate. He was forgetting something important. He looked over at Roy. "You're okay?"

"Yeah." Roy smiled at him. "I'm okay. I'm just glad that we got you out of there."

"You came…" And suddenly he remembered. Hands helping him, voices reassuring him. And Chili. Dead. Chili was dead.

"No…" he whispered, struggling to sit up. Pain shot through him like a red hot poker. With a groan, he slipped away again.

****

His next foray into consciousness brought more pain. Another doctor was checking him over, then Dixie was there. She spoke soothingly, asking questions. Tried to hide the frown at his dispirited responses.

A quick consultation with the doctor, and he felt the pinch of a needle and then he was drifting away. The feeling made him think of floating through the air, a parachute on his back, riding the wind…exhilaratingly alive, laughing at the rush, the feel…he held onto the memory as long as he could before fading away again.

****

"He's slept for most of the past 12 hours," Dixie said softly. She couldn't help the worried look on her face. "But when he's awake, he's too quiet. He doesn't really say anything except answer direct questions."

"That definitely doesn't sound like him, does it?" Roy turned to look at his partner lying so quietly in the hospital bed.

"You'd expect a bit of that after what he's been through," Dixie continued, "but, I'm starting to worry."

"It's got to be hard. He saw Collins die and Chili…" Roy let his words drop away for a moment. "He's probably doing a guilt trip on himself…"

A voice from the paramedic in question, startled them both. "It's that God complex thing we both have."

"What?" Roy came over to stand beside the bed, looking down at his friend.

"Just something…Chili said." Johnny stared down at the blanket covering him, his fingers restlessly plucking at the fabric. "Forget it."

"There's nothing you could have done for Collins. You know that, right?"

Johnny nodded, still not looking up.

"And you know that if you hadn't done what you did for Chili, he wouldn't have even made it this far…"

Johnny's head swung up at the words. "What? Chili's…alive?"

"Yes," Dixie answered quickly. "Didn't you know?"

"I thought…I heard them say…he was dead."

Roy silently berated himself at Johnny's obvious dismay. That's what had been bothering him. He had thought his friend was dead.

"Johnny. I'm so sorry. I never thought…but yeah," He smiled as he sat down in the chair beside Johnny's bed. "He's alive. He's not out of the woods yet, but he's alive."

Johnny took a shaky breath. Okay, he could deal with that. As long as there was hope.

****

Roy adjusted the cuff of his dress uniform, checked his watch, making a decision. He headed down the hospital corridor towards the ICU department.

Mama Chili looked up in surprise at Roy, worry creasing her face. "Is Johnny okay?"

"He's fine," Roy assured her quickly. "I just visited with him. He's okay."

"Good," The older woman said in a relieved voice. "I've been worried about him. I haven't had a chance to see him since…" she faltered a moment, before continuing. "I looked in on him a couple of times, whenever I had a minute away, but he was sleeping. I didn't want to wake him."

"I'm sure he understands you need to be here," Roy said, as he watched the young man lying so quietly, so deathly still in the hospital bed.

Mama Chili saw the question in his eyes, understood what he hesitated to ask. "There's no change. Time and prayers, that's what he needs right now." She suddenly noticed Roy's dress uniform. "You're going to the funeral?"

Roy nodded. "I'm suppose to be one of the honorary pall bearers…"

"But?" the older woman prompted, watching him closely.

Roy let out a sigh. "They're going to broadcast the funeral on television and I don't like the idea of Johnny watching it alone."

Mama Chili nodded, understanding. "He won't be alone. I'll sit with him."

"But Chili…"

Mama Chili's smile was sad but warm, as she laid a palm alongside Chili's cheek, rubbing gently. "My family is going to the funeral too, except Teresa. She wanted to be here, with Paully." She continued rubbing her palm against her son's cheek. "Teresa will sit with him. Johnny needs me too."

Impulsively, surprising even himself, Roy reached out and hugged the older woman. It was hard to tell who was comforting who.

****

Johnny shifted restlessly in his bed, trying to get comfortable. He hated hospitals, hated having to sit still, hated…just hated everything right now. He stared at the television, the blue funk almost overwhelming him.

He stopped moving suddenly as the live coverage of the funeral for Josh Collins began. As a reporter gave a brief recap of the tragedy, the picture switched to an overview shot of the church taken from a helicopter. It showed the path leading up to the church lined with fire fighters from across the country. The line seemed to go on forever. Johnny was lost in the image, not listening to the words. A picture of Josh Collins filled the screen, followed by a photo of Norm Carson whose funeral was going to be later that day.

Another photo. Johnny froze. Chili! A photo of Chili. He was dead? He died and no one told him. Johnny started hyperventilating, unable to take his eyes away from the screen, not hearing the words.

Wait. Another photo. Of himself. What? He finally focused in on what the reporter was saying.

"Fire fighter Paul Chilibeck, Station 14 and Fire fighter/Paramedic John Gage, Station 51 are still in hospital…"

"Johnny?"

He turned towards the door, staring at his visitor, words deserting him. In a heartbeat, Mama Chili was hugging him, holding him close.

Together, they watched the funeral service. It ended with a lone bagpipe playing the haunting melody, Amazing Grace. As the last strains faded on the air, the door to Johnny's room flew open.

"Mama!" Teresa ran into the room, her face streaked with tears. "Come quick. It's Chili." A big smile blossomed on her face. "He's awake. Chili's awake!"

****

Roy tried to hide his amusement as he watched Johnny frowning at Chet and Marco. The two fire fighters had managed to snag the last of the homemade cookies from the tin beside Johnny's bed.

Teresa, sitting next to Chili's bed, smiled at the dark haired paramedic. "Don't worry, Johnny. You know Mama's going to bring more food tomorrow."

Marco shook his head as he popped the cookie in his mouth, while balancing on his crutches. "Your mom's spoiling them, bringing in home cooked meals everyday."

"Spoiling us?" Chili gave a dramatic sigh. "Have you EATEN hospital food, Lopez? She's saving us, trust me."

"Yeah," Johnny agreed, as he patted his stomach contentedly.

Chet shook his head sadly, eyes twinkling. "I think Marco might just have gotten it right the first time, Gage. You'd use any excuse to stuff yourself."

"Oh, don't you know, Chet?" Teresa stood up, and began collecting the various food containers lying around the room. "Johnny needs to eat…he's a growing boy, after all."

Roy laughed, as he tipped back in his chair, balancing on its rear legs. "Seems to me I've been here before."

Roy continued to smile as he watched Johnny and Chili, enjoying the sight of the two friends together. It was going to be a long haul, a lot of rehabilitation sessions for both, dealing with both the physical as well as emotional trauma, but they were going to be all right. Back to normal in no time, he was sure.

"Here, Teresa. Let me help you with those." Marco quickly stepped forward to take the containers from her hands, tucking them under his arms, between the crutches.

"Hey, I was gonna help her with those!" Chet complained, glaring at Marco. He turned to look at Teresa. "If you're leaving now, I'll walk you down to your car,"" he offered, then blushed as he realized the others were staring at him. "Well…er…you know, it's not safe walking around alone at night…by yourself…"

"Uh, yeah, Kelly," Chili gave him a withering look. "And who's going to protect her from you?"

"I will!" Marco announced, with a self satisfied smile at the look on Chet's face. Quickly, he stepped up beside Teresa as she started for the door. He glanced over his shoulders at the two fire fighters. "See ya."

"Right, yeah. Bye, guys." Chet jostled Marco, trying to get closer to Teresa.

"Chet! Marco!" Chili warned but Teresa, looked back a him, winking.

"Don't worry, big brother. Night."

Chili listened as Teresa began talking to the two fire fighters as they left the room. "So, which of you two wonderful, brave fire fighters would like to volunteer their time to help me chaperon a field trip for my students…?"

Chili chuckled, a smug smile on his face. "That'll teach them."

"Teach them what?" Roy asked, glancing from Chili to Johnny.

"Well, you know those two. They'll be so eager to spend time with Teresa, they're gonna help her out and well," Johnny shifted against his pillow, grimacing briefly at the pain, but his eyes still gleamed as he looked at Roy. "Let's just say that she has a very…energetic group of students."

"Yeah, energetic…that's a good word for them," Chili agreed. "Course, hellions might be even better!"

Johnny and Chili exchanged huge smiles. Chuckling, Roy glanced at his watch. "Well, I've got to get up early for work tomorrow…"

Johnny frowned suddenly. "Wait. You never did say who you're partnered with while I'm laid up here."

Roy noted the apprehensive look on his partner's face. "Don't worry. It's not Brice, the walking rule book."

"Oh, good." The relief was evident in Johnny's voice. "Cause it's gonna be awhile before I'm back, you know."

"No problem. Danny Harker's good. Young, but knows his stuff."

"Oh…yeah?"

"Yeah." Roy looked serious, though there was a hint of a smile behind his eyes. "I think we make a pretty good team…so you don't have to worry about how long your recovery is going to take. I'm quite happy."

Chili wasn't entirely successful in muffling his laugh.

"Oh…" Johnny looked away from Roy, crestfallen, but trying to hide it.

Roy let him suffer for a moment longer, before standing up and tapping Johnny's uninjured leg. "I'm joking, partner. Danny's good but he's no John Gage!"

"That's all we'd need, another John Gage," Chili smirked.

"I knew you were joking," Johnny retorted, but the big grin on his face gave him away, although he did manage to throw Chili a withering look, which his friend acknowledge with an innocent grin.

"Well," Roy started for the door. "If I get a hospital run tomorrow I'll drop up to say hi."

As he reached the door, it opened. A very pretty, young nurse walked into the room carrying a tray of medication. Smiling a hello at Roy, she stepped over to the two men sitting in the beds. Johnny and Chili immediately perked up at the sight of her.

"Well, hiii…" Johnny practically purred at the young woman. "I don't think I've seen you around her before…"

Chili sat up straighter in bed. "Oh, lame one, Johnny." He flashed a mega watt smile at the nurse. "He can't help it, uh," quick glance at her nametag, "Ashley. He's not too bright, you know, and a building falling down on him hasn't helped…"

"Hey, now!" Johnny began to protest.

Roy stood watching for a moment, as the two men tried to out maneuver the other in a bid to get the young woman's attention. A familiar sight.

Shaking his head, smiling, he slipped from the room, Johnny and Chili's voices floating down the hallway behind him.

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