Copyright: August 2002 By Robin R. Neher 

THIS STORY IS WRITTEN FOR PLEASURE AND IS NOT INTENDED TO INFRINGE ON ANY PREEXISTING COPYRIGHTS THAT MAY BE VIOLATED. FEEL FREE TO SHARE WITH FRIENDS, BUT NOT FOR PROFIT. THIS STORY IS FICTIONAL, A WORK OF THE WRITER'S IMAGINATION. THE CHARACTERS AND INCIDENTS USED IN THIS STORY ARE PURELY FICTIONAL AND ARE NOT BASED ON ANY PERSON AND/OR PERSON'S ACTUAL EXPERIENCES. 

Title: A wiser fireman

Author: Robin R. Neher

Rating:PG

Pairing: N/A

Archive: Yes

Fandom: Emergency!

Summary: Johnny reflects on what he learned from the events in the episode, "Mascot"

Content Warning: HANKY ALERT!!! Angst. Mention of a death.

A WISER FIREMAN
By Robin R Neher

After Paula Slayton left station fifty-one, a young Firefighter/Paramedic named John Gage came back in from walking her out to her car.

"Johnny? Are you crying?" Chet Kelly asked.

"I just have something in my eye, Chet." Johnny replied, then made a beeline for the station's dormitory.

Johnny's partner, Roy DeSoto, immediately sensed that something was amiss with the young man and made his way to where Johnny was. Going into the dorm, Roy found the young dark-haired Paramedic, sitting on his bunk.

"Johnny? You okay?" Roy asked, gently.

"How could I have been so dumb?!" Johnny wept. "I let myself get attached to a dog!"

"Johnny, there's nothing wrong with admitting you cared for Bonnie." Roy offered.

"I should've listened to you to begin with and had her taken to the animal shelter." Johnny sniffed. "My and my big mouth!"

"Junior, in the heat of a rescue, you made a promise to reassure a concerned victim. In that kind of situation, it's not easy to think of the consequences of such a promise. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I wouldnt've done the same thing myself in your place."

"Paramedic rule number one, don't get involved with a victim." Johnny said. "I sure did this time. I guess if there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that I should think before I act next time. You think I'd learn by now."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked.

"When I was a boy, I would take in stray or lost animals around my neighborhood. You name it, dogs, cats, Etc. Most would stay for only a few days til their owners came for them. I was always sad to see them go."

"So?" Roy prompted.

"One day when I was around nine years old, I picked up another lost dog and brought it home. This time, no owner claimed her and Dad said I could keep her. I named her, of all things, Bonnie."

"Go on." Roy encouraged.

"Anyway, about two years later, I was leaving for school when I opened the gate and she got out. A car hit her. She was killed instantly." Johnny whispered, his voice cracking. "Two days after that, her owner showed up. Dad said I had to be a man and tell the man what happened."

******************************************

ELEVEN YEARS EARLIER......THE GAGE RANCH IN MONTANA......

"Johnny, this man is here about his dog." Roderick Gage informed his youngest Son.

"I believe you call her Bonnie." The 6'2 man told the eleven year old boy, showing him a photo of a Yorkshire terrier. "At least that's what your father here says."

"Yes, Sir." Young Johnny replied.

"Tell him, Son." Roderick Gage encouraged the boy.

"Tell me what?" The other man asked.

Young Johnny looked back and forth between his father and the stranger. His stomach was doing flip flops and his heart was pounding. This was new to the youngster. The death of his beloved pet just two days before was still fresh in his mind. The boy ran his fingers though his long black hair, nervously.

"Son, did something happen to my dog?" The stranger asked, kneeling down to the boy.

"Johnny," His father nudged his Son.

The youngster just turned and ran into the house.

"I'm sorry, Sir." Roderick apologized. "The boy hasn't been well lately."

"That's quite alright." The other man replied. "I have a boy about his age, so I know what you're going through."

With that the man took his leave after giving Roderick his address. After he was gone, Roderick went looking for his Son. As he entered the house, he was met by his eldest boy, Roderick the second."

"Have you seen Johnny?" His father asked.

"Yeah, he locked himself in his room again."The boy of Eighteen replied, without looking up from his studies. "Dad, why do you keep letting him bring home strays? He only gets attached to them, then cries like a baby when the owners come for them."

"Roddy, you know how sensitive your little brother is." Roderick reminded his namesake. "Besides-"

"I know, you don't have the heart to say no." Roddy sighed. "You never do, not when it comes to J. R. "

"Roddy, don't start that again." Roderick pleaded.

"Dad, you spend so much time coddling Johnny and his sensitivities! What about your other kids? You have two other Sons and a daughter that need you too!" Roddy reminded his Dad. "Why don't you just send John to his Grandma in LA like you planned?"

"Roderick, that is enough!" Roderick, Sr. bellowed. "That boy up there is my flesh and blood too, just like you! I'm not just gonna give him away just because you don't care for the fact that he's part Native American!"

"You're the one that knocked up that redskin bitch!" Roddy accused.

Roderick slapped his Son across the face, hard. Roddy's eyes widened in shock.

"Son, I-" Roderick stammered, realizing what he'd just done. "I didn't mean-"

Roddy just got up and ran out of the house before the elder man could react. At that moment, Rodrick's current wife, Carla, came downstairs.

"Roderick, did I just see Roddy leaving?" She asked.

"We had a fight." Her husband sighed.

"About Johnny, right?" The 5'3 woman sighed. "Rod, send the boy to LA. He'll be better off there with his grandmother."

"Carla, he's my Son." Roderick protested. "I'm not gonna abandon him."

"You didn't even know the boy existed til his mother died two years ago." Carla reminded her husband. "Honey, I know you care about Johnny, but what about Roddy, Ben and Ella? They're your kids too."

"I know, but I owe Johnny too." Roderick defended the boy. "He grew up on a reservation."

"Oh, here we go again." Carla rolled her brown eyes. "The poor little boy who wasn't accepted by his own people. I've heard it a hundred times, Rod. I'll tell you what's really going on here. You feel guilty for abandoning Johnny's mother, so now, you feel obligated to her bratty kid!"

"Don't you call him that!" Roderick growled.

"Why not?!" That's what he is!" Carla yelled, then stormed back upstairs.

*

THE PRESENT.........STATION51..........

"Carla took their kids and left him two days after that fight." Johnny told Roy. "It was my fault."

"Johnny, it wasn't your fault." Roy soothed. "If anyone's to blame it's Carla."

"Carla?" Johnny repeated.

"Yes, when she married your dad, she agreed to accept you as well as their kids. Unfortunately, some folks don't wanna raise other people's kids."

"Wait a minute! What's this got to do with Bonnie number one?" Captain Hammer was dying to know.

Johnny looked up to see that Hammer and the other members of A-Shift had joined him and Roy in the dorm.

"It's sounds like Roderick Gage loved you very much." Engineer Mike Stoker smiled. "You shouldn't feel ashamed of that."

"He's right, Son." Roderick Gage smiled as he entered the dorm.

Cap Hammer cleared his throat.

"Oh, Sorry, Cap." Johnny blushed. "Captain Hammer, I'd like you to meet my father, Roderick Gage."

"Captain." Roderick greeted.

"Behind you is my partner on squad 51 and best friend, Roy DeSoto. Next to him is Chet Kelly, Marco Lopez and last but not least, our Engineer, Mike Stoker."

"Sir." Mike greeted.

"Roderick, your boy here is one of the best Paramedics I know." Hammer smiled. "You can be very proud of John."

"I always have been proud of him." Roderick smiled.

"What brings you here, Dad?" Johnny asked.

"Johnny, I'm here because of Roddy." His father answered, nervously running a hand through his salt and pepper hair. "Your brother won't talk to me."

"Dad, what's going on?" His Son asked, suspiciously.

"I want you to come back home to Montana." Roderick stated.

"Dad, my life is here now." Johnny answered. "When I left the ranch all those years ago, I said I was never coming back, remember? I meant what I said then."

"You always were independent." Roderick sighed. "You're so much like your mother."

"Dad, I'm not going back there." Johnny stated. "Look, I'm on duty til tomorrow morning. Why don't you go check into a hotel, then go sightseeing?"

"Kay." Roderick sighed, then left the station.

"Cap, I'm sorry about that. I wasn't expecting him." Johnny apologized.

"Johnny, your Dad seems, well, lonely." Roy noticed.

"He is." Johnny revealed. "My brothers and sister have all turned their back on him. He's been married and divorced four times."

"Poor guy." Chet sympathized. "Why did his other kids turn on him?"

"Roddy came home from collage one night and caught Dad screwing his girl." Johnny answered.

"Oh boy." Roy shook his head. "The Gage family saga."

"I'm all he has left." Johnny told his friends.

"John, you said that you went to live with him after your Mother died, right?" Hammer asked.

"Yeah." Johnny nodded. "Why?"

"He just doesn't seem to treat you like a father should a Son." Hammer replied. "He acts more like you're his father."

"He does seem to think you can do no wrong." Roy agreed.

"He feels guilty for leaving my Mom." Johnny explained.

"Johnny, why would he all the sudden turn his back on three other kids for you?" Roy asked. "He didn't know you even existed before she died."

"So?" Johnny asked.

"It just all seems a bit strange to me." Roy said.

"Get back to Bonnie." Chet requested.

"Chet, we have a bigger problem." Roy told him. "Johnny, how does your Father see you?"

"See me?" Johnny asked. "Dad and I were close from day one."

"Close?" Cap prompted. "How close?"

"All the time I was growing up, I never had my own room." Johnny smiled. "We slept in the same bed."

"You slept in the same bed with him?!" Roy gasped.

"Up til I left home at seventeen." Johnny answered.

"Johnny, that is not healthy." Hammer said.

"He cared about me!" John defended his Dad. "It was not easy for me when I was on the reservation."

"How so?" Cap Hammer asked.

"I was considered an outcast there." Johnny replied. "I'm half white."

"I see." Roy nodded. "Johnny, don't you think your Dad is blind to the real you?"

"Well, Carla was right. I was sort of a brat then." Johnny admitted. "I don't think that Dad ever saw that though. I don't think he ever wanted to see that. He never made a big deal when I got in trouble. He'd pat me on the head and say, that's okay, Johnny."

"What if Roddy got in trouble?" Roy asked.

"Oh, he'd ride him all the time." Johnny told his friends. "If he even did one thing wrong, it was out to the barn for one hell of a spanking. I remember hearing screams from the barn as it was happening. It was the same with Ben and Ella too."

"But, he'd never hit you?" Hammer asked.

"He wouldn't even raise his voice to me." John replied. "Carla, however, would call me every name in the book if she felt I'd done wrong. She'd ride me everyday, all day. Dad too. I spent most of my childhood and teen years standing in the corner because of something she thought I did. Oh, she loved seeing me humiliated."

As Roy went to ask another question, the klaxon went off.

Engine 51, squad 51, maternity case. At the school. 1333 Emmanuel Ave. 1333 Emmanuel Ave. Crosstreet: Lewis. Timeout: 11:21.

"Station 51, KMG-365." Hammer responded, then took his place on engine 51.

The squad then led the way from the station, code R.

END PART 4: A wiser fireman